Hey gang, a few months ago I presented about timeshare and some aspects
about operating systems since the 1950s.
To buzz through a PDF or PPT version of the notes:
https://github.com/voidstar78/VCF2026
VCFSW has the talk archived here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hE235ti9XQ
Sorry being a bit dull as a speaker, but a few highlights:
- overview of Douglass Ross "Director Tape" for Whirlwind (only "what it
looked like" evidence that I was ever able to find, would be curious if
others knew more about it)
- 1965 Honeywell ADMIRAL OS: while I couldn't find much info about that
specific OS, what I did find what Honeywell went to bat for us all vs RAND
corp, putting an end some concerns about ENIAC hardware patents (that's a
very short version of it)
- today we fight about \ vs / slashes, when MULTICS split the difference
and used > (greater than symbol), at least as far as I could tell from the
manuals
- some verification that UNIX was (sort of) originally called UNICS (see
footnotes in the PPT notes), never formally written down but "verified" in
the past year
- I made a claim that Datapoint CTOS (1972) was the only OS ever on a
cassette tape (not to be confused with the late 1970s CTOS) - that said, I
suppose the MCM/70 did as well; really admires Mattis Lind's work on the
DP2200
I never found too much info about "tymshare" (apparently a late 1960s kind
of "corporate or business-to-business digital exchange" system, maybe for
inventory or check-processing?).
Tons of other OS's, obviously couldn't cover them all in a VCF talk. But
there are a bunch of addendum notes after the end of the slides:
- Mike Muuss ENIAC archive (at a .mil ftp if anyone wants to archive it
more properly?)
- I still claim that the word "operating system" was never used before
1960; the "SOS" or "share OS" was a name applied later (1962ish) to those
pre-1960s concepts [ afaik ]
- I couldn't fit in a bit about squozed :) really wanted to, just couldn't
make it fit
- AOSP, EXEC II, IBM 1800 derivatives (anyone ever see one of these in
the wild?),
Oh, not officially launched yet, but I'm now self hosting oldsayings.info
(with a telnet front-end at port 42525). Kicking around some ideas, but
it's reliably staying up now with Starlink as the ISP. I got tired of
waiting for fiber - but the county workers are getting closer, I see them
running it ranch by ranch.
Cheers, wish could have made it to VCF West this year.
-Steve
There's an EAI Analog computer listed for auction on HiBid. Even has
some docs:
https://hibid.com/lot/317096364/analogue-computer-mod-185-240-eai180
It's in Australia and it's local pick up but for the right person in the
right place.....
As usual: No knowledge or relationship on my part.
I've put my Vaxstation 4000/60 up for a year.
During that time it will be available to folks who have need of actual
silicon for testing and evaluation.
I'll just take your word, so there's no harm in asking for an account.
I have allocated 256 users, though that'd be a lot to ask of the system
at one time.
The system will soon receive a full complement of 104 megabytes ram.
The system will soon receive a dual fast-scsi controller to quadruple
disk bandwith.
Present storage is onboard small-word scsi with emulator and a full-
suite of 4gig 'drives'. Present memory is 40mb.
LCG framebuffer.
Network is limited to a single 10mbit ethernet link.
On the network are ample ssd storage and a dedicated i5 running the
same version of netbsd as the vax for cross-compile support.
The Alphastation is available on the same network at individual
request, also running NetBSD 10.1
If you want/need a VAX shell account, send me an Email and I will
assign one right back.
I would not mind help/advice in fine-tuning this system or anything at
all.
best,
jeff (Technoid Mutant)
https://devin.ai/cli
Not exactly the image I'd expect to see on a webpage advertising shiny new technology. It even shows that application running on the VT100 (simulated, but the evidence for that is pretty subtle).
Fun.
paul
I have about 150 dynamic RAM chips, 64K x 1 (4164 type) and 256K x 1 (41256 type) that I no longer want to keep around. They were pulled out of mostly working equipment some years ago, but of course I don't know if they've survived. If anyone is interested in them contact me off list.
I also have a similar number of standard TTL (e.g. 7400) that were pulled out of surplus equipment even longer ago (40 + years.) I haven't inventoried to see what all is there. Seems to be a lot of decoders (7442) and counters, shift registers, registers, and stuff like that. If anyone is interested in those, again contact me off list.
I am located in Georgia, USA.
I would prefer these go to someone that needs them rather than the landfill.
Thanks,
Will
Interesting but not anywhere near worth the asking price, I think.
A lot of rust and who knows what else.
Rare! Retro IBM 604 Calculator Plugboard, Pluggable Units, Vacuum Tubes -
Parts
https://www.ebay.com/itm/128026803244
Donald R. Resor Jr. T. W. & T. C. Svc. Co.
http://hammondorganservice.com
Hammond USA warranty service
"Most people don't have a sense of humor. They think they do, but they
don't." --Jonathan Winters
You're invited to help the planning of VCF Ontario 2027 by completing this
short anonymous survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VL2QD8N
The Vintage Computer Federation is contemplating running "Vintage Computer
Festival in Ontario" which would be in the Greater Toronto Area in 2027.
If you receive this invitation multiple times, please only complete it
once, to avoid duplication.
Take care!
Jeff Brace
VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President
VCF East Showrunner
VCF Fundraising Manager
VCF Evangelist
Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity
https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>
Hello everyone, (cross posting to TUHS)
I have an AT&T WE 321SB VMEbus single-board computer en-route to me.
It's sort-of a 3B2/3B5 on a VME card. It has WE32100 CPU, WE32106 MAU,
and a WE32101 MMU all running at 18 MHz. This seems to put it roughly
in-between the V2 and V3 3B2 architecture era. I believe it was
initially offered by AT&T as a WE32K developer system, but I'm not super
familiar with it's history. Once it arrives, I'll of course upload the
ROM dumps to several archives. The board does not come with an intact
filesystem or installation media. I am reaching out to see if anyone in
the community has or knows the whereabouts of any media or documentation
for the board or UNIX System V/VME software for the WE32K. I've seen
references to "WE 321EB Microprocessor Evaluation Board User Manual"
(AT&T Select Code / Catalog Number: CAT 451-019). But it also seems to
be missing from history. There is also photos of the install media
containing:
WE 321SB-VSU Software Utility Programs
VME Device Driver Utilities / VME Dual VSMD-32 SMD Driver
VME Device Driver Utilities / VME Ironics IV-1624 IS-I/O Driver-Source
UNIX System V/VME / Essential Utilities-Disk 2
UNIX System V/VME / Essential Utilities-Disk 2
UNIX System V/VME / Startup Disk
If you can help in any way in preserving another rare WE32K artifact,
please let me know.
Thanks,
Alan Hightower
Earlier this afternoon, a "lot" of Litton Monroe/Compucorp 1641-S cards were
placed on eBay.
There are a total of 17 cards.
Some cards are marked "Word Processor". My only guess is these were meant
to interface with an 1800 series calculator attached to the 300 I/O unit.
It would be a shame for this software to not be preserved.
It is a 6-day auction.
I have NO personal interest in the proceeds, but only wish they could go to
someone who would archive and share the software from these cards.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/327307267663
Don Resor
I apologize for interrupting more reasonable conversations about much
more interesting machines, but I would appreciate some assistance.
I didn't plan on having any x86 systems here, save for a bench machine
to make images using Teledisk and relations.
I did acquire a Kaypro 4+88 over time, which has an x86, as part of a
larger Kaypro rescue, for which I am grateful to those on list who
helped me with repairs and getting boot disks.
However, a number of years back, someone offered me a 5150 PC with the
(unknown by me until that day) 5161 Expansion Chassis. That seemed
unique, and I wanted to mess around with the expansion chassis.
Over the years, as part of rescues and helping out the VCF consignment
space years ago, a Compaq Portable I and a Portable 386 (with the plasma
screen) have ended up here, as well as a recent Panasonic Senior Partner
(cool system, IMHO).
That said, I am sitting here looking at a pretty clean 5160 XT that has
been significantly stripped. No FDD or HDD, no HDD controller, no video
card, no KB, fully populated 256kB mobo, but only 1 card installed (AST
SixPac). Unit powers up to long beep and then short ones (video issue,
which is understandable).
If I rescue a system, no matter what it is, I try to restore to
operational condition, with some practicality (using solid state media
instead of a HDD, stuff like that). This unit is going to need a lot of
work, and I am trying to decide how important it is to have both a 5150
PC and a 5160 XT, since the XT was such a marginal update to the PC
(-cassette, bit newer BIOS, 8 slots instead of 5). The PC setup I have
already has 11 slots combined, an HDD, and full memory, video, and KB.
Still, it is an original IBM PC XT, there's some history there.
I'm struggling with how much importance to apply to this "needs a lot of
TLC" unit, and I would appreciate constructive points. VCF MW is coming
up, and if I want to get this into someone else's hands to
restore/enjoy, then would be an ideal time. If it's important to keep,
VCF MW is probably a great place to grab the pieces needed to restore it.
Jim
--
Jim Brain
brain(a)jbrain.com
www.jbrain.com