- cctalk - classiccmp.org

Oh Q-Bus, you can be a fickle mistress at times....

by Chris Zach

So I had a fellow list member show up and trade me an AUI cable for reading some of his old RX01/02 disks to see if there was anything on them. Not a big deal, TALOS (my 11/83) has pretty much everything: 11/83 CPU board with FPJ11 MSV11-QD card with 4mb memory (lots o' disk cache) RXV21 plus RX02 drive RLV12 plus two RL02 drives (and an RL01 in a pinch) TQK70 and TK70 tape drive DELQA Ethernet DZQ11 4 port serial board And the MTI ESDI disk controller with a 330mb half height ESDI disk Overall it's a pretty fast and solid system. I have RT11 on DU4:, RSXM+ on DU0:, and plenty of power to do anything. However when we fired it up we got nothing on the terminal. Great. So I went to TITAN, which is another BA23 equipped 11/73 with: 11/73-B board wo FPJ11 2mb memory (Datamation) TQK70+TK50 (my other TK70 doesn't write properly for some God unknown reason) DEQNA Ethernet (it works) DHV11 8 port serial board That odd little 3016 real time clock board I never seem to get around to loading drivers for RQDX3 jumpered for RD54 running RSX11M+ (not bad with cache) 20mb HH drive with XXDP+ utils 40mb HH drive with RT11 5.4 all drivers (last version that supports the TU58) That worked, we were able to move over the RXV21 and read the disks, but I was wondering what was wrong with my main system. So after he left I pulled it apart. Problem seems to be the MTI card was not booting up properly, and since it holds the Q bus in a frozen state until the disk spins to ready it was blocking the system. Pulled it, cleaned the pins with 1500 grit sandpaper, put it back in, it now works. Great. So every once in awhile I guess I have to check the pins on these old 11's. They run well and are starting to be used more, but they still have weird problems from time to time. CZ

2 years, 1 month

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IMSAI BASIC PROM set?

by Bill Degnan

Anyone have the 2716 ePROM listing for IMSAI Basic. Version 1.4 or whatever. I once had it, can't find my copy. If not 2716, I'll take any listing that I can convert somehow. Thanks Bill

2 years, 1 month

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PCs Limited XT

by Bill Degnan

I am getting an error message when I boot up a recently donated PCs Limited XT clone. The error is ARC Turbo Board X Turbo System Error # 04 Does anyone have one of these boards, I believe the error means the board has been removed, and the system can't find it/bad board. If so, please advise the $$. I don't think the board is specific to PCs Limted, I found a general manual called "Turbo-XT Main Board" that seems to be the OEM of the PCs Limited-branded motherboard. I assume there is a separate daughterboard the the "Turbo" part. Yes? Thanks Bill

2 years, 1 month

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Did Bill Gates Really Say That?

by Ali

So I had always heard the quote "640KB is enough memory" being attributed to Bill Gates. However, recently I was watching Dave Plummer on YT and he said that it is not true: https://youtu.be/bikbJPI-7Kg?t=372 And apparently the man himself has denied it as well but it just will not go away... https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/PCWorld/story?id=5214635 So I guess like the napkin/disk story and the DR/IBM story this is another one of those vintage myths and folk lore with no real basis in reality.... -Ali

2 years, 1 month

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Rainbow H7842 PSU Fault

by Rob Jarratt

As some of you may be aware I am trying to find a fault in a Rainbow H7842 PSU. I am using Tony Duell's schematic from here http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/rainbow/duell_schematics/psu.pdf. I have been testing the Control Module by using a bench PSU to supply 15VDC to the input of the 7812 regulator (p2, PSU Sheet 1). My diagnosis shows that the control module is shutting down the PWM (p6, Control Module Sheet 2) because it is detecting an overcurrent in the -12V side (E3d on Control Module sheet 1, although I have determined that it is actually E3c). This seems to be because I measure a steady 0.6V on pin 6 of the transformer (p4, PSU Sheet 3). I just can't imagine where it might be coming from as the chopper won't be running. I had previously removed the transformer and there are no shorts between the pin 5-pin 6 winding and any of the other pins on the transformer. I checked all the DC outputs of the PSU when powering the 7812 from the bench, both on a working PSU and the non-working one. They are all at zero except the -12V output on the non-working PSU, which is +0.6V. But the voltage can't come out of nowhere. I am stumped and would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks Rob

2 years, 1 month

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HP2100A available

by William Donzelli

This is on Discord. I have an HP 2100A with a paper tape punch (a HP labelled Facit), tape punch (HP), and an 7900A disc. The thing is in decent shape - full of cards. The keyswitch is out of the thing, but I am pretty sure I still have it. Right now, I have me hands on the 2100A and Facit paper tape punch (with bracket) - can I get $1000 for this combo? When I get my hands on the reader and 7900A ( I think they are just buried!), we can deal with them later, as I do not like to sell what my hands are not on. Located around Kingston NY. Oh, I have a 5 foot rack for this thing, still back at the old house. -- Will

2 years, 1 month

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Re: Found the DSM orange manual

by Fred Cisin

>> DSM-IV is "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual" for mental disorders, >> and is On Wed, 28 Jun 2023, Ali wrote: > Fred, > You are showing your age ;). The DSM-V has been out for a while now and the > first revision (DSM V-TR TR=Text Revision, gotta love the Psych guys...) is > coming out (is out?) soon My age is getting quite difficult to hide. The "new" (now 10? years old) edition (DSM-V) is not without controversy, such as grief/depression; there are actually some who still prefer to use the DSM-IV. When we put the DSM-V on the shelf in Reference, we had some patrons asking us to bring back the DSM-IV. But yes, my joke should probably have been worded DSM-V

2 years, 1 month

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Need AUI cable

by Chris Zach

Anyone in MD got an AUI cable (few feet long) I can steal so I don't have to remove the bolts from the Pro/380's Ethernet socket or the pins on my 10bt ethernet MAU? Friendly note: If you try to boot a Pro/380 running POS 3.2 with Decnet installed and don't have the loopback plug the system will crash hard with a numeric error on the display. Noted. CZ

2 years, 1 month

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Need AUI cable

by Chris Zach

Anyone in MD got an AUI cable (few feet long) I can steal so I don't have to remove the bolts from the Pro/380's Ethernet socket or the pins on my 10bt ethernet MAU? Friendly note: If you try to boot a Pro/380 running POS 3.2 with Decnet installed and don't have the loopback plug the system will crash hard with a numeric error on the display. Noted. CZ

2 years, 1 month

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IBM/RT help

by Jonathan Katz

Hey folks, Now that I'm done moving house I have time to wrench on the 6150. Before moving it worked; you'd power it on, the LCD status countdown would get to an OK value, but the CRT wasn't legible. I figured I'd be wrenching on the CRT. Instead, now when I power it on, it powers on for a second or two and then shuts off. I'm assuming this indicates a short or power-draw somewhere. I've reseated the CPU and RAM cards, the peripherals, and unplugged the hard drives (2x ESDI) and floppy in case they had a fault that was drawing too many amps and causing the power supply to shut-down. I noticed nothing on the CPU or RAM boards (exploded caps, etc.) What should I look at next? -- -Jon +44 7792 149029

2 years, 1 month

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H7819-AA / VAXstation 4000/90 and 4000/96

by Jan-Benedict Glaw

Hi! As I'm preparing to setup my old hardware, I fetched two VAXstations (4000/90 and /96) from storage and cleaned one of them throughoutly. Then I gave power (to both of them), but both won't really start: all 8 diag LEDs are on (--> power available but CPU didn't start executing instructions.) I took the PSU (from the cleaned /90), a DEC H7819-AA, and measured it. Unfortunately I didn't find pinouts or schematics at a first search. The plate states that there should be 3.3V, 5V, 12V, -12V and -9V. I found most of that: +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | o | | DEC H7819-AA PSU 10 +---+ 1 | | (view at the bottom side) | | | | | | | | | | | | 18 +---+ 9 | | o | | +-------+ +-------+ | | | Fan | | Fan | | +----------------+-------+----+-------+----------------------------+ With above pin numbering, this is what I could find / measure / deduce: 3V3 brown 10 1 blue 12V 3V3 brown 11 2 black GND GND black 12 3 red 5V GND black 13 4 red 5V GND black 14 5 black GND 5V red 15 6 black GND 5V red 16 7 white -12V 5V red 17 8 blue (0.78V) (4.91V) lilac 18 9 brown (-1.65V) Most values look plausible, except those three in parentheses. At least one of them should probably be -9V wrt. GND I guess, but that's totally absent. And what's the other two? (If I got the colors wrong: Please forgive, I'm red-green blind.) That could be some "power-okay" indicator, or external switch-off? Maybe anybody has faced these issues and can point me to some docs or "well known to be failing" capacitors? I'd be quite grateful for any hints! :) ...and hope that maybe the above drawing/measurements will be helpful for anybody else later on. Thanks, Jan-Benedict --

2 years, 1 month

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Floppy recovery

by Warner Losh

OK. I have just read in a bunch of Rainbow disks. Most of them read fine on the first, second or third try. Some have a sector or three amiss (I've not yet checked to see if those sectors are mapped to the filesystem or not). Some appear to be 'unformatted' though sometimes they read with errors. These disks have what appears to be some kind of grime/mold/??? on their surface. Is there a good way to read these diskettes? To clean the grime off and allow the floppy to spin (they all are super loud)... At the rate things are going, there will be 5-10 of these... Warner

2 years, 2 months

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Looking for Tape Control Software TFORMAT for Irwin 110/125 Floppy Tape Drives

by Lothar Schröder

Hello, I have a number of DC1000 tape cartridges, with and without relevant data on them. I have 2 questions: 1. Has anybody the IRWIN TFORMAT software? 2. I want to make images from the cartridges. Has anybody done this? We tried with Linux Mint, but the drive is unknown. Thanks in advance Lothar

2 years, 2 months

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Dwight Elvey's KIM diagnostics board

by Cameron Kaiser

Does anyone have one of Dwight Elvey's KIM-1 diagnostics boards out there who would be willing to let me borrow it (I'm in southern California)? I would be happy to pay shipping and a rental cost, provide a deposit, etc. Please contact me off list if you're willing and the arrangements you'd prefer. Yes, I'm aware schematics exist, but I was hoping not to place my ability to fix this unit entirely upon my ability to assemble a board if a working one is already out there. -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser(a)floodgap.com -- I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. Now what? ----------------

2 years, 2 months

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Bob Applegate passed away

by Jeffrey Brace

Just letting everyone know that Bob Applegate passed away a few days ago. He had been battling cancer for some time. He was involved with vintage computing for some time. Here is his website: http://www.corshamtech.com/ This is the website for his memorial: https://everloved.com/life-of/robert-applegate/ Take care, Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

2 years, 2 months

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Linotype and other printing machines available

by Bill Degnan

Contact me off list if interested: Https://www.vintagecomputer.net/temp <Https://www.vintagecomputer.net/temp/linotype/>/KAP/ Items located in Kennett Square, PA USA. Bill Https://www.vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm

2 years, 2 months

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Re: Did Bill Gates Really Say That?

by John Ball

Along the same lines as the 640K quote, I vaguely remember reading a book that quoted Bill Gates when asked about developing any software for NeXTSTEP (Probably porting Microsoft Office to compete against Lotus Improv and Word Perfect) where his reply was "Develop for it? I'll piss on it!" It's been 20 years since I saw that book and I have never been able to confirm that was something he was quoted as saying, but it would then explain why Microsoft entirely ignored NeXTSTEP (or they were just too busy working on Windows and other unix ports). -John

2 years, 2 months

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CPT Phoenix Jr system unit? Monitor and Keyboard

by Rich

Hello Chris, I saw this old post while searching for stuff related to the CPT Phoenix word processors. I was an engineer at CPT Corp. from 1978 thru 1989 and helped design the CPT 8100, 8500, 9000, and Phoenix systems. The original monitor that I have has burned-out and I am searching for a replacement. You seem to have found/acquired the exact monitor that I have been looking for! Would you care to sell the monitor, and keyboard too, to me? I would be most appreciative. It would certainly find welcome home, back with one of its original designers. Best regards, Rich Jones Metasoft, Inc.

2 years, 2 months

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How much memory?

by Adam Thornton

> 640K was maybe "enough for anyone" > > Weird but I even seem to remember someone saying "who woukd been more than > 64k" > Ed# SMECC > > > And let's not forget "what's the hardest part about emulating Gerald Ford on a PDP-8? Figuring out what to do with the other 3K."

2 years, 2 months

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Looking for Itanium systems

by vivianne＠chinstrap.org

Hi all, I'm looking for various Itanium systems: IBM eServer xSeries 380 IBM IntelliStation Z Pro Type 6894 Fujitsu Celsius 880 Silicon Graphics 750 HP i2000 HP Integrity rx4610 Dell Precision Workstation 730 Dell PowerEdge 7150 If you have a system you want off your hands, I'll pay! Thanks, Vivianne

2 years, 2 months

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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 21 >Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2023 04:35:28 +0100 >From: Tony Duell <ard.p850ug1(a)gmail.com> >Subject: [cctalk] Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks. > >On Sun, Jun 4, 2023 at 10:57 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk ><cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> On Sun, 4 Jun 2023, Rick Bensene via cctalk wrote: <> > an example of early "mobile computing". (Tongue firmly in cheek). >> >> The original Osborne 1 had a 12V power input! > >Actually it's +12.6V and +5.6V and you have to supply both voltages. >It's one diode drop to the +5V (logic supply) and +12V (DRAM, disk >motors, monitor supply), the -5V for the DRAM is produced on the logic >board. > >I am told it was never used and that the Osborne battery pack came >with an inverter to provide 110V AC. > >-tony It (the Osborne Powr-Pac (tm) ) has a what the manual says is a DC-DC inverter that plugged into a Gould lead-acid battery (or the cigarette-lighter socket in a car) at one end and the AC input of the Osborne 1 at the other. I have read on this list that Lee denies that OCC ever sold them, but I have one that I bought for $50 at Compumat in Chicago on October 10, 1983 -- I still have the unit, receipt, and User Registration card. It came with a glossy-printed grey-and-blue manual, like other contemporary OCC products. If anyone wants a copy, I can email you a PDF scan of the user manual. Bob

2 years, 2 months

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Source for NEW (unused) punch tape

by robotguy＠gmail.com

For various reasons (including, but not limited to, insanity and obsessiveness*) I am building a diode laser based tape punch. It's not specifically for a classic comp, but I'd like to stick with standard format so that it'd be useful for making custom tapes for members in the future. I will probably need to make dozens of tapes so using actual, vintage rolls is out of the question. Does anyone know if 1" tape is used for anything else and where I might find some new? Otherwise I may have to add paper-slitter to my project list and make my own. *I've had the idea of a lost-media ARG stuck in my head for years.

2 years, 2 months

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Looking for information on Data General 602X magtape drive

by Bjoren Davis

Hello CCtalk, I recently bought the mortal remains of a Data General 602X magtape drive on craigslist. Apparently it had been stored outside. When I got it it had mudwasp nests and mud all over it and everything that could rust had. When it was decomissioned it was just cut out, so it's missing its chassis, hinges, controller board, power supplies, vacuum blower, vacuum pressure limit switches, etc. The cables to the heads are just cut (no connectors). But boy does it look cool, and it *does* have all three of its transport motors and its console PCB. There's very little identifying information on the drive. The front of the drive has a label "9 TRACK 800 BPI". The console PCB says "COPYRIGHT © 1973 BY DATA GENERAL CORP" "CONTROL BOARD FOR 75 I.P.S. DRIVE DGC NOVA 107-000275-17 /16" and has a sticker on the back "DRAWING NO. REV. 005-005-525-02 005-001-743-11". The date codes on the few chips I can read place it from 1976. I think all of this adds up to this being a model 6021 or 6023. I've been slowly disassembling, cleaning, and repairing it. The DG documentation at bitsavers is really good, but, sadly, the schematics are not available there. Does anyone have such schematics? I'm especially interested in the analog portion that connects to the heads, the connection to the BOT/EOT sensor, and a schematic for the console board I actually do have. My goal is to replace all of the missing controller parts with some SOC boards (e.g., a Teensy 4.1), ultimately to be able to use this drive to read and write tapes. I'd love to reuse the console board as it is. I've already replaced the vacuum blower with a $30 Bosch vacuum cleaner I also bought on craigslist. Thanks. --Bjoren

2 years, 2 months

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IBM RT Graphics

by Jonathan Katz

Hello! I have an IBM 6152 aka IBM RT system I rescued. (It may be a 6151?) I'm 90% sure it has colour graphics. The system does seem to POST correctly (according to the LED on the front) but the CRT is dead. I'm wondering if anyone has built an adapter to hook this to a VGA monitor. I'm a bit confused by the pinout. It has high and low bits for the RGB (and associated grounds for each colour.) So I'm not sure how that would work hooking to a more modern monitor. http://bio.gsi.de/DOCS/IBM/615x/faqshard.html Otherwise I need a crash course in fixing CRTs. -- -Jon +44 7792 149029

2 years, 2 months

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First non-IBM PC-DOS Compatible PC

by Tom Gardner

Hi: Doing some research for historical purposed – no litigation at all – trying to identify the first “legal” PC-DOS compatible PC, “legal” in the sense that it’s BIOS was not a copy of an IBM BIOS. Eagle gets the honor of being first MS-DOS compatible and getting sued for copying IBM’s BIOS 😊 The Compaq Portable which shipped in November 1982 is generally credited with the first legal MS-DOS compatible PC. AFAIK it could not run PC-DOS and those applications which depended upon certain IBM BIOS commands would fail. The first “legal” BIOS is generally considered to be from Phoenix which was announced in May 1984 and so far I have been unable to determine its first system deployments. FWIW Wikipedia points to HP, Tandy and AT&T as some time adopters of a Phoenix BIOS but my research so far is that Tandy’s T1000 family announced in October and November of 1984 was the first system to be PC-DOS compatible and it did not use a Phoenix BIOS! Such PC-DOS compatible HP and AT&T systems were much later and the Tandy BIOS was written by programmers of Tandon Corporation, the OEM supplier of the first Tandy T1000s. Can anyone identify a PC-DOS compatible PC announced earlier than October 1984? Citations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Tom

2 years, 2 months

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Fwd: [TUHS] Pixel 100/AP UNIX Computer

by David Barto

> Begin forwarded message: > > From: segaloco via TUHS <tuhs(a)tuhs.org> > Subject: [TUHS] Pixel 100/AP UNIX Computer > Date: June 7, 2023 at 12:17:14 AM PDT > To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society <tuhs(a)tuhs.org> > > After talking with the folks I bought the recent documents from, they let me know they are also selling a piece of hardware: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125714380860 > > After the link is an auction for an Instrumentation Laboratory Pixel 100/AP. A small booklet included with the many documents I received indicates as of 1982 the Pixel 100/AP ran a System III derivative. The booklet goes on to present a summary of user commands and options. Despite the System III basis, included among these are the C shell and ex/vi. > > I have no room for hardware or honestly at that price point it'd be worth the preservation effort. Hopefully it finds a good home, it includes an almost complete documentation set save for the small booklet I've got (which could be separate promo material for all I know) > > In any case, there were a few letters amongst the documents suggesting the original owner was involved in the production of this system, particularly in the area of OS details. If I find any noteworthy information I'll pass it along. > > - Matt G. > > P.S. If anyone knows of a preservation effort accepting new machines I can pass this along. This was originally posted to “The Unix Historical Society” email list and I asked the original author for permission to forward it here. If anyone is interested in such equipment. David There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third works. --Alan J. Perlis David Barto barto(a)kdbarto.org

2 years, 2 months

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The Colony source

by Hugh Pyle

David A. Smith has posted the source code for The Colony (for Mac, PC and Amiga) - the first realtime 3d adventure game. https://github.com/Croquetx/thecolony

2 years, 2 months

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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 7 >Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2023 02:41:56 +0000 >From: John Floren <john(a)jfloren.net> >Subject: [cctalk] Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks. >To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> > >It's funny that luggable power packs come up here as I'm trying to revive my Otrona >Attache... The power supply does nothing on AC input, even after a recapping, so I >thought I'd investigate the "DC Power Option" described in the manual. Unfortunately I >can't find any record that Otrona ever actually *sold* a "DC Power Option", which >would plug into an unpopulated 6-pin Molex connector on the back of the device. >Interestingly, the header inside the power supply labeled "DC Option" is a 7-pin >header, so I'm not sure which pin was "optional" for the external connector! > >I'd just replace the power supply wholesale with a little ATX supply or something, but >the machine needs 5V, 12V, -12V, and 15V; the latter is used to power the CRT and >represents a real challenge! I've yet to find anything that outputs all 4 levels at a >reasonable price. > >john > I have an Otrona Attache 8:16 with the DC option, so it was sold. (I used both the Osborne and the Otrona in Peru, so having a battery option was an advantage.) However, my Attache has the disk drives that both spin up at the same time, and the DC option does not supply enough power to properly spin both drives, so the computer will reboot if you try to read or write anything to disk while on DC! I’m traveling now, but will open up my Attache and take some pictures for you in a couple of weeks. Bob

2 years, 2 months

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Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Tony Duell

As you know I've recently restored a couple of CP/M luggable computers. I also have many other machines with floppy disk drives, 3", 3.5", 5.25" and 8" The machine I connect to the internet with is a more modern laptop runnng Windows 8.1. Essentially its only interfaces are USB ports. I would like to be able to : Download disk images (I assume in .IMD or .TD0 format) and write them to real floppy disks to use in my old machnes If possble, for the more common filesystems like MS-DOS or CP/M, be able to work with these images on the modern PC at the file level. For example, if I download a CP/M progam as a .COM file I'd like to be able to put it into a disk image of a Philips P2000C disk, then transfer that image to a real floppy and put it in a drive on the Philips machine. I understand there are designed based on a modern microcontroller that connecct to a USB port and a disk drive. Software on the PC translates between the disk image and the accurately-timed pulses corresponding to flux transitions on the disk. This unit links to a real disk drive, you run the software and it reads/writes a real disk in said disk drive. Now... I can handle a 'scope. I can handle a logic analyser. I can handle a soldering iron. I can handle an engineer's lathe. I can rebuld and align floppy disk drives. I can program most 8-bit micros along with PERQ microcode, PDP11 mahine code, etc BUT I don't have a clue when it comes to modern PCs, modern microcontrollers or USB ports. So what I am asking is for people to describe what to do as in : Buy this microcontroller board Buy this blank PCB and solder the components given in the BOM to it. Download this software and install it by doing this. Connect a standard floppy drive to this connector Run the software, specify the disk image file and sit back. -tony

2 years, 2 months

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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Fred Cisin

>>> Doubtful that VW Bug was on the Autobahn at the time, and, while the >>> . . . >>> Now, if the Bug had a trailer hitch, it could tow a trailer behind it with >>> a gasoline or diesel powered generator with sufficient capacity to run the PDP-8. >> Are you suggesting some kind of, say, portable computer? >> Runs, dodging and weaving. > I'm not sure that you could fit a complete Model 33-ASR Teletype in the > passenger seat of the Bug. I suppose if the Teletype was removed from > its stand, it might be able to sit on the seat, and be powered by the > same generator that runs the Straight-8. It is truly easy to remove the passenger seat. Just unlatch the adjuster and slide it forward off of the tracks. Then make brackets (out of the bottom of an old seat) to mount the base of the teletype to the brackets. I have known people who mounted equipment that way. Many/most VW owners did not clean and lube the tracks, so it was often difficult to slide the seat, and the latch spring did not re-engage. Ralph Nader mis-represented that as "Of VWs in accidents, 60%? had the seat come off of the track." The CORRECT statistic was, "Of VWs in accidents, IN WHICH THERE WAS SEAT DAMAGE, 60%? were the seat came off of the track." Which was, while still disconcerting and dangerous, trivial to repair by sliding it back on, and cleaning and lubing the track and latch, with no other damage. Removing the bottom of the back seat, and replacing it with a piece of plywood also provides a roomier and more secure base for the payload. Possibly even with enough room for a portable generator? (I don't know the power requirements for the machine, but I do know that VW bugs are not very amenable to trailering.) Be careful about putting weight on the back seat! VW had the battery under the back seat, and many owners did not have a cover over the battery to protect against shorting by the seat springs! A type 2 VW bus/van, preferably model 215 (with freight doors on both sides), would be far more suitable. Or one with sunroof? In some jurisdictions, the DMV would classify ones with any seats in addition to the driver's seat, as "Station Wagon"! To get commercial (lower cost) plates for my type 2 VW in Maryland, I had to submit pictures showing that there were no other seats, and they even kicked those back until I also included one showing that it did have a driver's seat. > It'd be really hard to operate the machine while driving, for sure. It'd be > far worse than messing with a smartphone while driving :-/. But, once > stopped somewhere pleasant, you could > actually develop programs using the punched tape reader/punch on the 33ASR. > It'd definitely be > an example of early "mobile computing". (Tongue firmly in cheek). . . . and, if you caravaned/carpooled, other vehicles could carry peripherals. No reason why we couldn't eventually have mobile computing! -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com

2 years, 2 months

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Tips on VME board access

by Kurt Nowak

Hi all, I have a Sun 3/110 with a faulty video section (hangs at boot when it polls the FB) and I want to be able to probe and troubleshoot the board. Does anyone have any tips on how to get at it since it's buried in the VME chassis. I was thinking of having an extension card made but thought I'd ask here and see what others have done first. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks -Kurt

2 years, 2 months

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VT180

by John Floren

Anyone on the list have a VT-180 a.k.a "Robin"? I got one for free a while back, but no disks. Wondering if anyone's in a position to make copies of their working disks and mail them to me -- I could have blanks sent, of course. I'm in the SF bay area. john

2 years, 2 months

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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Ali

>AH! NUTS! :)>Runs and ducks...That's actually pretty funny and much milder then what I was screaming...-Ali

2 years, 2 months

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Identify these drive read heads pdp11 related?

by devin davison

I picked up boxes of these disk heads when i picked up a warehouse stockpile of pdp 11 computers. Any idea what they are to? I want to say floppy? I have 2 different types of heads, in boxes. Please see pics, and if anyone needs heads, im the guy that has a bunch to part with now. Let me know what kind of drive they are for if you can, i have no clue. https://i.postimg.cc/nrHTdwcV/20230528-182840.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/y8JjrRBR/20230528-182834.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/sfcTBywM/20230528-182821.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/2y2GgFVQ/20230528-182809.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/4N2w5PCZ/20230528-182617.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/W1Q8R4bH/20230528-182614.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/28S2hJK2/20230528-182606.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/25hwCf18/20230528-182555.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/DZ3xGw9X/20230528-182543.jpg

2 years, 2 months

5
7
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Anyone in or near Spain that can read 6250 GCR 9-track tape?

by Chuck Guzis

List, I'd rather not put a customer through the throes of sending a 10.5" reel of tape written on a S/370 mainframe through international shipping. Anyone in the Barcelona area with the equipment and ability to handle reading this thing? Besides, I'm up to my ears in work. Thanks, Chuck

2 years, 2 months

3
4
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Continental 50 Pin connector vs. AMP 200276 50 pin connector - same?

by Jay Jaeger

I have an HP 2875B paper tape drive that I want to interface to. It has a 50 pin block connector (using well under 1/2 the pins). The connector manufacturer was Continental. I have already discovered, the hard way, that it is not a winchester connector - the pins on the 50 pin Winchester connector I just obtained via ePay that otherwise fits are too small in diameter and won't make contact. I *could* increase their diameter using solder - but -- yuck. The other connectors of this sort I am familiar with that have the same general overall size and pinout were made by AMP. Does any one know if the AMP connectors and the Continental connectors would be compatible? Thanks. JRJ

2 years, 2 months

2
3
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Gb Ethernet and 10Mb links

by Craig Ruff

FYI: The Ethernet standards dropped support for half duplex connections a few years back, so that if you have something that depends on half duplex links a recent Ethernet switch might not support it.

2 years, 2 months

6
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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks.

by Chuck Guzis

On 5/28/23 09:17, Tony Duell wrote: > I've come across the former and have the datasheets. From what I > recall it was common to use it a control store sequencer and have > microcode ROMs wider than the 8X300 needed, the extra bits were used > to directly control hardware. Power hog (well, it was bipolar) with a 3-bit opcode and a somewhat strange programming model. You could usually spot one by the 50 pin cerDIP and the external pass transistor. I think I still have a loose one in my hellbox--and at least two in old systems. --Chuck

2 years, 2 months

1
0
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Recovering floppies attacked by mould

by Tom Stepleton

Greetings, Amidst all the floppy archiving discussion, here's a slightly different question: The weather is warmer now where I live, so it's starting to be a good time to do messy work outdoors. I have some mouldy floppy diskettes that I'd like to try to read (mostly 5.25"), plus a good flux reader. What is the best way to attempt to image these floppies? My thinking right now is that for each floppy I can attempt this procedure: - remove the mouldy cookie from the infected disk jacket; discard the latter - give the cookie the best clean I can (how?) and allow to dry - place the cookie in a clean disk jacket - attempt to image - clean floppy drive heads Does this seem like a sensible plan? If so, what would be the best way to clean as much mould off the cookie as I can? Tools that come to mind are distilled water (tap water here is full of chalk), dish soap, cyclomethicone, and of course more fearsome solvents. I have kimwipes, microfibre cloths, and... 200-grit sandpaper, I guess :-) Thanks for any advice, --Tom

2 years, 2 months

5
4
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Rexon 30 aka CMC 7030 information needed

by Harten

Recently i digged out a system called Rexon 30, which was sold in germany/europe as a CMC 7030. The OS called RECAP BB was stored on a combined hard/removeable disk drive. There is no floppy or tapedrive at all. BB stands for a version of Business-Basic. The removeable pack got lost but there is a little hope that the OS is still on the fixed disc. There will be a lot of work for me before i can try to power up this system again. Maybe it never will. If anyone has information and/or software stored for this system, i would be glad if he/she can part it with me. Rolf --

2 years, 2 months

1
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Super I/O chips and Getting floppy images to/from real disks

by Joshua Rice

Interestingly, i'm looking at procuring a reasonably vintage laptop for a computer festival i'm planning to attend soon. It seems that many laptops of the PIII era use SuperIO chips, but i'm rather confused as to how "low level" they get. Some of you may remember my RCA MS2000. I've had great luck writing bootable images from a PIII machine with a "standard" 1.44mb floppy drive, despite the format being 70-track, SSDD. The machine's floppy controller uses a bona-fide NEC uPD765 though, so no surprises it worked fine... ( Here's a video of me playing around with it for the curious... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdKkaf-77dE ) I'm really asking if anyone has any recommendations for a laptop that is reasonably powerful, fairly modern (has USB), but also has a direct-connection floppy drive that can do device level shenanigans (via Omniflop) to allow me to write floppies in obscure formats. Bonus points if it can use it with a serial terminal emulator, and run the Emma02 RCA 1802 emulator on it as well. I, like Tony, don't drive, so i need something compact and portable for public transport travel. I've been eyeing up a Dell Latitude C series (C600?) But the whole SuperIO-over-parallel thing makes me think there might be proprietary drivers involved, preventing device level access of the floppy drives... Hopefully some of you might be a bit more wise. Cheers, Josh

2 years, 3 months

2
2
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HP 1000 A400, A600, A700, A900, A990 Servers, parts, & accessories

by Jesse Dougherty

Hi all, we are getting overstocked on the 1000 series stuff and wanted to see if anyone needed anything. We have most everything you could have in the 1000 A-series hardware. If anyone needs any loaded up A990 boxes we have a bunch of them configured below for $1,400.00 A990 Server 14-slot Micro 1000 Server 1 x 12990x A990 CPU 1 x 12221B 8MB Memory 1 x C2247A 1GB SE SCSI Internal disk drive 1 x C150xx DDS DAT Internal Tape Drive 1 x 12016A SCSI Controller board 1 x 12009A HP-IB Interface board 1 x 12005A Serial Interface board 1 x 12006A Parallel interface board 1 x 12040A Asynchronous Multiplexer Interface (MUX) board 1 x 02430x Voltage Jumper Board 1 x 12230A Front-plane memory connector (CPU to memory connector) Feel free to email if you need any HP 1000 hardware. Thanks Jesse Dougherty Cypress Technology Inc jesse(a)cypress-tech.com

2 years, 3 months

1
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Super I/O chips

by emanuel stiebler

Anybody out here, still in business using them? Which ones are still easily available? (I look for something which has 2 UARTs, FDC and IDE?) Thanks

2 years, 3 months

4
3
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ST-251 Data Recovery for Glenside Color Computer Club (GCCC)

by Jim Brain

At the most recent CoCoFEST!, I brought home the old Glenside Club Computer Hard Drive. The mechanism is an ST-251, and I was wondering if someone on-list would be willing to attempt to pull data off the drive. I have no ability to configure to read this drive type, and the data is not precious or anything, I just though we should try to pull it off for historical sake. I was not in the club when teh drive was in use, so I do not know what could be on it. I assume BBS data, but it could be anything. Happy to post to someone who wants to give it a go. If the drive needs to be destroyed to get the data, or if attempting to read the data destroys the drive, I will not hold anyone responsible. I don't even need the drive back, just data if it is recoverable. Jim -- Jim Brain brain(a)jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

2 years, 3 months

18
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Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 6 >Date: Sat, 20 May 2023 07:25:39 -0700 >From: Chuck Guzis <cclist(a)sydex.com> >Subject: [cctalk] Re: Getting floppy images to/from real floppy disks. > >On 5/20/23 04:21, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: > >> I was startled to discover my (long gone) Athlon XP box could only >> handle a single floppy drive. The BIOS has no option for a 2nd. >> >> I can't imagine that was a significant cost saving. > >It's a matter of pins. I believe that it started when the "SuperIO" >chip started packing in more support for various peripheral functions >and the 2 pins for drive select and motor control of an extra drive were >viewed as least important. Earlier versions of the chip often allowed >re-purposing the pins used for the parallel port as an interface for an >extra floppy--you saw this on laptop systems, which often had only one >floppy drive in any case. cf. Intel's PCISet chip sets. > >--Chuck My main computer is a 15-year old Dell Precision T3400 (Core 2 Duo). It can handle multiple floppy drives, but the BIOS does not allow 360KB 5.25" disks, only 1.2MB in that size. Bob

2 years, 3 months

2
1
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VCF Swap Meet June 10, 2023. Wall, NJ.

by Jeffrey Brace

VCF will be having another Swap Meet this coming June 10 from 8AM to 2PM for the general public and 7AM for vendors. Signup here to reserve a spot. <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLdDjGN1TtOjPxNq38VA43p36oW5HXuX0…> Same place as the previous swap meets in the big parking lot on Monmouth Boulevard in Wall, NJ <https://www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B011'05.5%22N+74%C2%B003'47.9%22W/@40.1848619,-74.0643212,350m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m6!3m5!1s0x89c228394afc24b3:0x793045909b6e8fba!2sInfoAge+Science+and+History+Museums!8m2!3d40.1857343!4d-74.0593097!3m5!1s0x0:0xbe14db9783fe1872!7e2!8m2!3d40.18486!4d-74.0633081> . A change for this year is that we will have some food being sold by the South Monmouth Fire Museum. This will be a fundraiser for them and a welcome service for our attendees. All the information that you need is here: https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/ Take care, Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

2 years, 3 months

1
0
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Paper Tape Reader Needed

by Mike Katz

I have just acquired a number of PDP-8 paper tapes. My reader/punch is not working at the moment (neither is my PDP-8 but that's another story). I am looking to beg, borrow or buy a paper tape reader or reader/punch (stand alone or PC04) so that I can archive these tapes as they are getting more and more rare. I would prefer a serial (RS-232) reader or reader/punch but I could deal with a parallel and create my own parallel to serial converter or get some kind of USB to parallel adapter. There are several "hand pull" types of readers out there (like the OP-80A) but I am afraid of damaging the very old fanfold paper tape by using my inconsistent hand rather than some kind of motor driven mechanism which is designed for smooth paper tape flow. Does anyone have any ideas or something they have to sell or donate? Please contact me by email directly. Note: This is also being posted to the VCF DEC Forum. Thank you, Mike Katz bitwiz@12bitsbe

2 years, 3 months

5
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Re: ST-251 Data Recovery for Glenside Color Computer Club (GCCC)

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 23 >Date: Thu, 18 May 2023 17:32:00 +0100 >From: Tony Duell <ard.p850ug1(a)gmail.com> >Subject: [cctalk] > <snip> <But that's a minor issue. The loss of RS232 communications is a lot <more serious. < <-tony Can you fix it using MODE.com from a DOS prompt? Bob

2 years, 3 months

3
3
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Re: ST-251 Data Recovery for Glenside Color Computer Club (GCCC)

by Robert Feldman

>Message: 21 >Date: Wed, 17 May 2023 04:56:05 +0100 >From: Tony Duell <ard.p850ug1(a)gmail.com> >Subject: [cctalk] Re: ST-251 Data Recovery for Glenside Color Computer > Club (GCCC) <snip> >As for the target machine having a serial port, one of the machines I >want to get stuff onto is an Osborne 1A. The serial port on that is >horrible. <snip> >-tony For CP/M computers such as the Osborne, you can read and write their diskettes on an MS-DOS computer with a program like Media Master. KayPro disks are harder, as there are problems formatting them on an MS-DOS computer. Bob

2 years, 3 months

4
6
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Using Teledisk 2.16 to read old RX50 images

by Chris Zach

Hi! Well, after a good bit of work I have finally gotten my Compaq XE4000 up and running with Windows 98, the BIOS all set, a new battery, and of course a 1.2mb 5.25 floppy that seems to be working. I'd now like to start sucking the rare images I have here on RX50 into a TD0 format which can be converted to a .IMG format which can then be used on the mighty GoTek's to allow people to run such operating systems as: Micro RSTS 2.1 Micro RSX (I forget the exact version) Micro-11 Maint disks Ultrix 11 Version 2.0 (all 30 disks) Before I start popping these in I have a question: I just did a test using an XXDP floppy and the message I got included Single sided, double density Interleave 1:1 Sector Size is 512 And then for each track from 1 to 82 (?) it said "Data, No ID adding sector 110" Is this right? Something else I might need to do for reading RX50's? Thanks! CZ

2 years, 3 months

7
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