Note in his "FOCAL Notes and Background <http://www.softwarepreservation.net/projects/FOCAL/index#Merrill2024>”, Rick Merrill said:
"Back in Maynard I took an editor, a floating point package and the specs for the JOHNNIAC Open
Shop System (JOSS) and ideas from the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming
System (MUMPS) and wrote an interpreter that would do the user's job on the spot and interactively"
> Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:33:46 +0100
> From: Hans-Ulrich Hölscher <vaxorcist(a)googlemail.com <mailto:vaxorcist@googlemail.com>>
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: FOCAL history
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>>
> Cc: Mike Parr <mikeparr(a)live.com <mailto:mikeparr@live.com>>
> Message-ID:
> <CABG6mpaVHJWhECDiuxHZQcj+GwohHqqh9=HWJR0f2ooT+0PnPQ(a)mail.gmail.com <mailto:CABG6mpaVHJWhECDiuxHZQcj+GwohHqqh9=HWJR0f2ooT+0PnPQ@mail.gmail.com>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Sorry, no:
> BASIC 1963
> FOCAL 1968
>
> Hans-Ulrich Hölscher <vaxorcist(a)googlemail.com <mailto:vaxorcist@googlemail.com>> schrieb am Mo., 13. Jan.
> 2025, 10:31:
>
>> Isn't FOCAL older than BASIC?
>>
>> Mike Parr via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> schrieb am Mo., 13. Jan.
>> 2025, 10:03:
>>
>>> I wondered about any influences from BASIC?
Hi everybody,
I used to own a SBC6128 which I built from Spare Time Gizmo's.
It was a PDP8 on a chip, using a Harris 6128 PDP8 on a chip. It featured a
serial port and an IDE disk interface. It was a heap of fun to use and
recreated quite faithfully, my PDP8 that I had access to as a kid circa
1985...
Sadly, I had to move a few years ago, and search as I can, I can't find
it. I also can't find my HP41 HPIL cassette drive, printer and
accessories but that's another story.
Does anybody have a bare PCB or a built one that they don't use any more?
I know I'm in Australia, but I don't mind paying postage. Happy to pay
whatever you need..
Kindest regards,
Doug Jackson
'FOCAL's history is now highlighted on the Software Preservation Group
web site.
Originally created for the PDP-8 in 1968, this simple, approachable
computer language significantly expanded the use of early DEC
minicomputers into applications not previously possible. It was
embraced by users in an extremely wide range of applications, like
education, psychology, aviation, medicine, to nuclear physics and
process control.
Read about the personal motivations and decisions that shaped this
language and its wide-ranging impact at:
https://www.SoftwarePreservation.org/projects/FOCAL
--
Bruce Ray
Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
Denver, Colorado USA
bkr(a)WildHareComputers.com
...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.org
All —
I haven’t posted to this list in the recent past, mostly posting to VCF or the S100 group. But, I’m trying to cast my net wide looking for some specific things for a project I’m working on.
I’ve done recreations/clones of two Lomas S100 boards – the Color Magic and the Thunder 186 (https://github.com/RichCini/LomasBoards). This set creates a two-board computer that can run unmodified PC-DOS. While it’s PC-compatible, it’s compatible in the Tandy 2000 kind of way. I started work on the Color Magic about 2 years ago, pending reversing the PALs, which happened this year. The Thunder 186 was much easier to recreate, and thus was done in a few months.
What this system currently lacks is a mass storage option. Lomas offered a SCSI board (which added an RTC and 4 serial ports), but copies of the manual and schematics aren’t known to exist on the Internet. There’s also a great alternative, the Lifeboat SCSI (for the Z-100 machines), but I haven’t been able to locate the software drivers or firmware for it (I have a manual which has the schematic and PAL equations).
Finally, I can almost get Windows 1.0 running on this setup, but it needs custom drivers. I have the drivers from the Tandy 2000 (aka, the "Tandy 2000 MS-Windows Pre-Installation Disk") which don’t work as-is but I believe could with modifications. I posted to the Tandy Discord server but if anyone should know of the existence of these sources, please let me know.
Thanks!
Rich
--
Rich Cini
http://cini.classiccmp.org
I've got a 7 track tape here that was written on a PDP-10 TENEX setup.
It's identified as a "mini-dump" tape. I can extract the data (PDP-10
5 char/word) successfully, but the format of the block headers (seems to
be about 6 words) eludes me. I'd like to be able to use the original
file names.
Does anyone have information on the mini-dump structure?
TIA
Chuck
Hello Mark.
The Oracle V2.3 manual is only partly usable for 4.1.4.
The build/install scripts copies a help file to [1,1] and you only need to
add the keyword and reference to the help file in mcr.hlp and dcl.hlp.
Yhos help file is mucht more usefull.
If you used the newsinst.cmd file after the installation, it will create a
demo database (scott/tiger), which has several similarities compared to V2.3.
Main difference for UFI, in v2.3 it is 'ufi personnel scott/tiger'
whereas in V4 it is 'ufi scott/tiger' for the basic demo.
Ed
--
Ik email, dus ik besta 😆
January 2, 2025 4:26 PM, "Mark Matlock" <mark(a)rsx11m.com> wrote:
> Ed,
> Congrats to both you and Johnny on bringing this Oracle software back from extinction!!
>
> I was a big fan of Datatrieve but haven’t worked with Oracle before. I downloaded the V2.3 manuals
> and have started reading them, but I ran into a question. To use the UFI, one needs to login with a
> user name and password. Is there a default one or how do you set one up? I configured my
> installation for two users.
>
> Thanks for this great software archeology development!
> Mark
>
>> On Dec 31, 2024, at 5:59 PM, Ed Groenenberg <ed(a)groenenberg.net> wrote:
>>
>> The wait was long, but it's finally available, Oracle V4.1.4 for RSX-11M+.
>> More at www.oracle-v2.online/oracle414
>>
>> Ed
>> --
>>
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>
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Peter,
The command file below is from a SYSGEN driver build of DDDRV from my system but I think it should work for yours. Note that OU: is defined by the SYSGEN process and should be set as a logical to your system disk (DL0:) or perhaps more simply just edited to be SY: Also, note that it uses RSXVEC.STB which should work on the pregenned RL02 RSX11M+.
[200,200]DDDRVBLD.CMD
;
; DDDRVBLD.CMD -- RSX-11M-PLUS loadable DD: driver build command file
;
; Created on 01-NOV-2024 at 14:00:05
;
OU:[1,54]DDDRV/-MM/-HD,SY:[1,34]DDDRV/SH/-SP,OU:[1,54]DDDRV=
SY:[1,24]RSX11M/LB:DDDRV:DDTAB
LB:[3,54]RSXVEC.STB/SS
LB:[1,1]EXELIB/LB
/
STACK=0
PAR=DRVPAR:120000:20000
/
If for some reason you need to assemble the DDDRV driver below is the SYSGEN produced assembly command files.
[200,200]DDDRVASM.CMD
;
; DDDRVASM.CMD -- RSX-11M-PLUS loadable DD: driver assembly command file
;
; Created on 01-NOV-2024 at 12:56:02
;
OU:[11,24]DDDRV,LS:[11,34]DDDRV/-SP=IN:[1,1]EXEMC/ML,[11,10]RSXMC/PA:1,DDDRV
OU:[11,24]DDTAB,LS:[11,34]DDTAB/-SP=IN:[1,1]EXEMC/ML,[11,10]RSXMC/PA:1,DDTAB
Good Luck,
Mark
>
> 1. I need some RSX11M+ TKB help (Peter Ekstrom)
>
> From: Peter Ekstrom <epekstrom(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [cctalk] I need some RSX11M+ TKB help
> Date: December 29, 2024 at 6:21:46 PM CST
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>
> I have RSX11M+ 4.6 BL87 installed and running on my real PDP 11/23+ and
> have gotten DECnet to work as well. But recently a need to access a TU58
> tape has come up, and turns out the DD driver on disk isn't built against
> the correct RSX11M.STB file. So I need to, I guess, recreate the DDDRV.TSK
> file. I have tried some very simplistic TKB commands but keep getting an
> error saying a required file is missing.
>
> I don't have the sysgen stuff on this disk... What I have comes from the
> pregenned RL02 image.
>
> Does anyone know how the TKB command line should look for this? I know, I
> am looking for the easy way out. I have skimmed through some manuals but
> nothing has stood out to me (I'm sure I missed it).
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> - Peter
Hello everyone,
I am working on a Rainbow 100A which is showing a diagnostic code on the
lights at the back of 0110101. This is supposed to be Message 1 "Main Board
Video".
I have disassembled the 8088 firmware and checked address traces with a
logic analyser and my suspicion is that actually this is something to do
with the interaction with the Z80 because it is reading a status from the
shared memory and then using that to set the status lights.
I have been unable so far to work out where in the ROMs the Z80 code lives
or where in the 8088 code it transfers it to the shared memory to allow the
Z80 to run.
Can anyone tell me where the Z80 firmware is in the ROMs? And does anyone
have any insight into the above error or have details of the interaction
between the Z80 and the 8088? The Technical Manual only goes so far
unfortunately.
Thanks
Rob
The IBM 1403 printer had interchangeable print chains. I know of only
four 1403 printers still working — two at the Computer History Museum
in Mountain View, CA, one at the IBM Technology Center in Böblingen,
Germany, and one near Endicott, NY.
All four have the 48-character "A" or "Business" chain, and CHM has a
16-character numeric chain that allows the printer to run twice as fast
for numeric-only output. CHM doesn't have an "H" or "Fortran" chain,
and as far as I know, none of the others do. The difference is that
parentheses are % and "lozenge" — a square with indented edges
— apostrophe is @, and = is # on the "A" chain. IBM also had a 64-
character chain that included box and line drawing graphics. BTW,
nobody seems to know what "lozenge" was meant to represent.
Does anybody know of an existing "H" chain or graphics chain for a
1403?
Van Snyder
