- cctalk - classiccmp.org

by Steve Lewis

So studying about 1960s operating systems recently, it occurred to me that the ASR-33 wasn't really "a thing" until the late 1960s. Yes, they technically existed since 1963, but even going through 1960s Datamation issues - you don't see a lot of ads or mention of ASR-33 until 1965. The IBM 1050 maybe existed in 1961 for the IBM 709, but even so - general thought is that CTSS (operating system) was largely initially developed using punch cards. So - are there any archives or collections of these original punch cards? Or are they essentially all gone/destroyed, since in general after some code was "perfected" it was likely then archived to tape? Anyway, apologies - it was just something that only recently occurred to me, that basically all of the original operating systems originated on punch cards: CTSS, Supervisor, AOSP, SCOPE, even MULTICs. So - do any of those decks of cards still exist in archive? Would be neat to see a photo of those - except it would be a shoebox of punch cards like any other, I suppose. Or is this wrong, and the top tier teams making these OS's, probably had teletypes and all the magnetic tape they wanted? -Steve

2 months, 2 weeks

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Everex Step/MP: Did it ship?

by Chris Zach

So back in the 1990's the dream server for me was an Everex system called the Step/MP. Cube shaped, EISA bus, could take multiple 386/33 CPU blades and ran SCO. But all I had was memories as there was very little info on the Net. Today I was going through a closet I haven't been able to access for 20 years and in the Computerworld 1992 25'th anniversary issue I found it: A 2 page monster ad about the Step/MP. $13k, could have six 486/33 CPUs, EISA/ISA bus, 64mb of memory stock with support for 4mb SIMMs. So it did exist.... Question is did any of them make it out there? SCO was the obvious OS, but given that it was a SMP system I wonder if there was an NT 4.0 HAL out there like there was for the NCR 3550/4300 series of multiprocessor systems. Anyone have one? Seen one in the wild? I am curious. Everex/STEP was always the best quality system for a server, right alongside Compaq. Sad they went out of business. Chris

2 months, 2 weeks

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Looking for Codex modem manuals/info

by Richard Cini

All – I’m working on a simulation project where I’m using two Codex 2121 LDSU (local data service unit) modems to simulate a leased line setup to a DECSYSTEM-2020. These modems use 2-pair cabling (TX+,TX-/RX+.RX-) and DCE DB25 connections. I believe each modem is working in loopback mode, but I can’t get it to work over the 2-pair interface between the modems (i.e., a loop back plug on one modem and terminal on the other). The only manual I’ve been able to locate is the sales brochure, not any kind of user manual. Anyway, have the interface cross-connected (i.e., TX to RX) but there are no polarity markings so I just used each pair in the same color order. Has anyone used this kind of modem before, have a manual, or know how to connect them? Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://cini.classiccmp.org https://github.com/RichCini

2 months, 2 weeks

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Re: Your subscription for cctalk mailing list has been disabled

by Alessandro Mazzini

Test ( sorry guys for cluttering , but I'm puzzled since I'm using Hotmail so... should not have this kind of issues ) -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org <cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Monday, March 2, 2026 7:03 AM To: mazzini_alessandro(a)hotmail.com Subject: Your subscription for cctalk mailing list has been disabled Your subscription has been disabled on the cctalk(a)classiccmp.org mailing list because it has received a number of bounces indicating that there may be a problem delivering messages to mazzini_alessandro(a)hotmail.com. You may want to check with your mail administrator for more help. If you have any questions or problems, you can contact the mailing list owner at cctalk-owner(a)classiccmp.org

2 months, 2 weeks

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Re: Operating system, on punch cards?

by bluewater emailtoilet.com

Punchcards? You want punchcards? I got punchcards. Not exactly what I think you are looking for but a large sample. Please check out www.punchcardarchive.com Check the Stats page for a quick summary. Beware the Album page. It takes a while to load. After all, it has to display 25532 cards. Not a full program but doing a search on CCROS in the Title field will show a few cards that represent a few bits of a read only S/360 program. Donald

2 months, 2 weeks

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Identifying This Component from VT100 Monitor Board

by Robert Jarratt

I asked this before a few years ago but didn't come to a firm conclusion. The two parts are shown in this picture: https://rjarratt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/img_20231221_1123… They are from a VT100 Monitor board. There is no schematic for my version of the board, but a related schematic is on p58 of this schematic: https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/MP00633_VT100_Schematic_Feb82.…. They are labelled Q414 and CR406, but the Feb 82 revision uses a different board and those two parts are in TO-220 packages rather than TO-3 as here.. I have removed both of them and tested them with a DMM. Neither of them measure as two diodes, they do not measure open circuit in any direction, so either they are both faulty or they are not transistors (unlikely). I have found a spec for a 2SB411 at https://alltransistors.com/transistor.php?transistor=10279. This seems to be a germanium transistor. When I last asked about this I had a conversation with Tony Duell, who was very sceptical that these could be germanium transistors, so naturally I am very doubtful that they are 2SB411 transistors. However, in the schematic Q414 is shown as NPN, the 2SB411 is PNP and this seems to match the way the part is connected on my board (Collector to HORIZ GND). I am working on a reverse engineered schematic. Can anyone tell me what these components are so I can find a datasheet for them? Better still a suggested replacement would be really helpful, especially if they are 2SB411s because they seem to be hard to find. Thanks Rob

2 months, 2 weeks

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Re: DECnet-RT

by Jacob Ritorto

Nice, Jay! Thank you > On Feb 22, 2026, at 18:44, Jay Jaeger <cube1(a)charter.net> wrote: > > On 2/21/2026 9:27 AM, Jacob Ritorto via cctalk wrote: >> Hiya. >> Is DECnet for RT-11 still lost? If not, anyone got a link to it? >> thx >> jake > > I may have *SOME* of it. I have three RX50's and one RX02 that have some DECNet RT V2.1 files. They are NOT distribution disks, and the disks have hand-written labels, so they might not even contain what the handwritten label indicates - I have not checked them out under SimH. > > Anyway, I just put them in my "bitsavers contribution" area of my Google Drive, and they can be found on my Google Drive at: > > https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fiOScGSpvLiVQ0yyOg2yC5EpqRKiKWQ5?us… > > JRJ

2 months, 3 weeks

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DECnet-RT

by Jacob Ritorto

Hiya. Is DECnet for RT-11 still lost? If not, anyone got a link to it? thx jake

2 months, 3 weeks

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NRAO Data tapes

by Dani Werts

Hello, I'm an employee with the National radio astronomy observatory here in Socorro New Mexico. As part of our NGVLA upgrades, we are seeking to get rid of old data tapes from the tape reel days of Computing. These contain things such as the boot loaders, OS, specific collection programs and antenna movement programs. I personally would hate to see these just wind up in the literal dumpster and would like to see them sent out to a museum or an archiving body that can preserve them and keep them safe as a dynamic part of history. If anyone is interested or knows someone who would be interested in the VLAs data tape library please let me know. V/R Danielle Werts Front end engineer VLA Socorro New Mexico

2 months, 3 weeks

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Recommendations for 8051 software tools?

by Paul Flo Williams

I've started working on a disassembly of the Digital VT320 video terminal, so I'm diving into 8051 assembler. At the moment, I'm using the D52 disassembler and am getting decent results, although I wished I hadn't used the analyse option to produce a starting control file; it doesn't cope at all well with code involving lots of jump tables because the control flow appears to break, and it decides that much of the code is just data. Ho hum. Nevertheless, the code looks pretty understandable at the moment, so the next stage is to annotate by hand, instead of updating the control file, and to assemble whenever I make a change so that I can be sure that I can produce the original ROM. There isn't an "A52" to match D52, so I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for a FOSS macro assembler that will take D52's output. I ask for a macro assembler because there are some modifications I'd like to make to the source file to clear things up. One of these would be to cope with the fact that DEC decided that all of their jump tables would have addresses in little-endian format, despite the 8051 being a big-endian device. So, the normal "dw" directive is not going to work for me, and I'll need to do something like: dwl macro %1 db low(%1), high(%1) endm (Totally pulling that syntax out of my bum, btw.) A quick search finds as31 and naken_asm - anyone use these? I'd also love to hear recommendations for emulator code for the 8051, preferably simple C because I'm going to need to hook up a 2681 DUART, 5911 EEPROM and DC7081 video chip (all presumably new code) to get this working. Paul.

2 months, 3 weeks

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