Help needed!
Nemonix NXETHER41/NXSCSI41
Intraserver KZCCA
DEC/Compaq KZCCA
All the same board, sold under multiple brands, the most prominent listed
here. Differences are mostly labeling and branding.
Looking for what is turning out to be an unicorn... I have a Microvax
3100-90 with the Nemonix NXETHER41 version of the card in it. This is the
"ethernet only" version of this option card. It was also available with a
SCSI adapter on it. As was the case with many hardware options back in this
era, this card, no matter which flavor you have needs a driver installed in
VMS in order for it to function.
The driver was distributed as a vmsinstal package called "VAX_SCSI" and
despite the name it included the drivers for the ethernet side of the board as
well as the SCSI.
It appears to have had multiple versions, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6. 1.6 is the
latest I have been able to find evidence for. What I have not been able to
find evidence of is the files themselves. Despite the Nemonix website still
being up, it appears to be a ghost town and none of the phone numbers or email
addresses work. The web archive shows some Intraserver pages from the early
2000s with links to download the files but the files themselves were not
archived. And unfortunately, DEC/Compaq did not see fit to include this on
the CONDIST CDs.
So my plea to the community here is... does anyone have the drivers for this
card or any leads to where it could be found?
Thanks!
Jim
Want to know what a chiptune is? How about what a chiptune is not? You can
learn a little bit about the technology, its history, how it makes sounds,
how it is implemented, and the culture surrounding it at this panel. All
ages and experience levels are welcome! And ...
After his talk, make your own chiptunes!
What’s the deal with all these 8-bit whipper-snappers and their beeps,
boops, and farty bass?Want to know what a chiptune is? How about what a
chiptune is not? You can learn a little bit about the technology, its
history, how it makes sounds, how it is implemented, and the culture
surrounding it at this panel. All ages and experience levels are welcome!
@inversephase is a real human person (not a robot, as you might have heard)
who writes game soundtracks and chiptune tributes for a living, runs Bloop
Museum, eats pizza, and even occasionally writes Bios.
INFO: https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
TICKETS: https://vcfed.org/2025/03/16/non-member-ticket-pricing-vcf-east/
VCF East is April 4-6
2201 Marconi Road
Wall, NJ 07719
I have made some progress on my IBM 1410 FPGA implementation:
- Communication between the FPGA and PC Support Program is now over UDP
instead of USB/Serial
- Tapes can now read/write reliably in non-overlapped mode
- Diagnostics can be loaded and run from tape
- Some tape issues still remain
See
https://www.computercollection.net/index.php/ibm-1410-fpga-implementation/
(especially the last three entries in the list.)
JRJ
VCF East 2025 is April 4-6.
Amiga Roundtables at VCF East Moderated by Dave McMurtrie and Dan Wood.
*Saturday roundtable* includes:
RJ Mical
Dale Luck
Ron Nicholson
Glenn Keller
Andy Finkel
Jeff Porter
Randell Jesup
Peter Cherna
*Sunday Roundtable* includes:
RJ Mical
Dave Haynie
David John Pleasance
Robert Miranda
Hedley Davis
Jeff Bruette
Don Gilbreath
Tickets here:
https://vcfed.org/2025/03/16/non-member-ticket-pricing-vcf-east/
Info here: https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
Many moons ago, I was working at a wind tunnel for aeronautic research.
In the first week, when I started on my job, my future colleagues threw a lot of outdated computer stuff into a large dumpster.
Only many years later, after I became more aware of old computing technology, I realized what that trash was. Duh!
I recently dug through our library and loaned some reports describing the equipment and the software at the time.
Besides several HP 2116, ASR-33, Tektronix 40xx, x-y plotters and more, I also read about their first (pre HP) computer, which was used to control data acquisition and postprocessing.
It was installed in 1966 and replaced by a HP 2116C in 1972.
This was a Pacific Data Systems PDS 1020. It was built into a table and featured an IBM typewriter for printed output and a reader and a punch for papertapes.
One report also contained the "listing" of the program, which is a 4-character hexadecimal dump (with unusual hex digits).
To give you a "feeling" for the code, here is an example subroutine:
0256 L0LS 5001
0258 525S- L0LS M029 CS7D 2260 L0LA M029 CS7D
0260 L011 3002 L0C3- A26M- CS81 3S5A- 7262- 227C
0268 0000 4500 2000 0500- 3000- 4000- 5500-
On bitsavers I found scans of some manuals with the instruction set and encoding.
However, these lack complete programs. Therefore, I have scanned and re-typed the original programs from my report in their original form. Now I am thinking about writing a simple simulator to read and execute these programs.
The PDS 1020 seems to have been a relatively low cost and hence successful computer, but searching the internet I can find only two machines which seem to be in museums. Maybe a few more have survived in personal collections.
#1: https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102686768
#2: https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/397741
Are there more? Are some of them in working order? Is there already a simulator available?
Martin
TEAC FD-55F floppy drives
https://retrocmp.de/fdd/teac/fd55f.htm
The TEAC FD-55F never appeared in the world of IBM compatible computers. Why is that? Because it was simply superfluous in the DOS world.
The TEAC FD-55F is a double-sided 5.25 inch drive that can write 96 tracks per inch (TPI) with 9 sectors per track. In other words, the capacity of a floppy disk is 720 KByte.
There were Radio Shack and other computers (NCR, etc.) that used this format (DSQD).
This corresponds to the capacity of the standard 3.5-inch double-density (DD) drive.
The 3.5-inch floppy disk format was supported since DOS version 3.2.
Introduction of 3.5” drives and disks by IBM (mid-1980s) was one reason why the 5.25 inch drives with 720 KByte storage did not find their way into the IBM world.
==
Further in the above web link:
Changing a Teac FD-55GFR drive to a FD-55F drive ... or,
How do I get my drive to spin at 300 RPM instead of 360 RPM ?
gb
Curious if there's anything in the community on them
They made a cpm based system that was used in HMI control room settings in
the 80's I've got the manuals for their pdm 800 series along with backup of
the software on 8in floppy from the mclelan mine in Lynn lake mb. Love to
find a system the one that went with my stuff got bulldozed into the ground
in 2009
I was wondering if anyone here has experience with the FD55-B with head
load solenoid.
I have a few working ones, but this one is not, and when I look at it,
it differs from the others in that the head "wiggles" up and done on the
side nearest the solenoid.
I can see it is tight on the rail oppose the solenoid, but on the side
nearest, the back of the head does not connect with the rail on the back
(which seems correct, as there is a piece of that extends out and looks
to slot into a sensor.
But, I'd assume the front mount would hug the rail, but it only does on
the top.
By pushing the head close to the disk in use, I can get it to work, so I
think this loose head issue is the only one.
I guess:
* Anyone seen something like this?
* Is this a broken rail mount on the head, or something else?
* If its broken and probably can't be fixed, anyone have a parts FD55-B?
* Can one replace the head on these (it looks like you can, but I admit
I have never changed parts in a drive mech.
Jim
--
Jim Brain
brain(a)jbrain.com
www.jbrain.com
