- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

Fujitsi 2444AC 9-track tape drive/PDP-11

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Hello friends, I recently acquired a NIB 9-track for use in my (someday to be operational) PDP-11/23+ or PDP-11/73 (I've lost track of the details). I got it on ebay for $150 but the shipping from CA to NY was not insubstantial :). The ebay ad showed a well-used unit but when it arrived it was clearly new in box! Nice when that happens :) Some pix: http://w2hx.com/x/VintageComp/Fujitsu-2444AC/ It is VERY heavy! Took me and my 17 year old (and a lot of sweat and swearing) to get it up to the attic where my burgeoning little vintage computing lab is shaping up. I should mention, I'd like this tape drive to be able to work in either the various DEC OS's available (RT-11/RSX/others?) and also Unix/BSD which I plan (hope) to get up and running. Now for some questions. 1. I've been told the QT13 is a very good card to interface here. I've been looking for a while on ebay without luck. I do see a QT14 on ebay right now at a good price, but I am not familiar with the "S" card business and what that means for use in a PDP-11 backplane. 2. Anyone have a QT13 for sale? Or based on my dec and unix interests, is there a better/recommended card? 3. Anyone have the 50 pin cables/connectors available? If not I feel confident I could make these up. But I thought I'd ask in case someone has a set getting in their way 4. Anyone ever make a pertec to USB project? Might be interesting to get access to old tapes on more modern computers? Thanks all! 73 Eugene W2HX

6 years, 11 months

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Service for converting CD-ROMs into ISO files?

by pdp11＠saccade.com

Hi, I have a stack of a few dozen CD-ROM disks with various files (old software, backup files, photos). I'm willing to pay a reasonable rate to have somebody read each of these in, convert them to .ISO files or some other reasonable format, and either make them downloadable or put them on a thumb drive. Does anybody know of such a service? I can find lots of services for converting audio CD's into MP3 files, but nothing that specifically handles data CD-ROMs. Any leads most appreciated. Please reply directly, as I don't often check this list. Thanks, jp

6 years, 11 months

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Hayes Transet Manual and Software

by silent700＠gmail.com

One of my few remaining Holy Grail items, I got a Hayes Transet 1000 this week. My three-part Hayes stack is now complete. I've scanned the manual and quick-ref card. The scan is not up to the quality of my usual work, as I tried a new technique using a DSLR instead of a scanner so I wouldn't have to take the manual apart. The results are good enough to read, but that's about it. I'll re-do it again someday with the proper tools. Here's the link: http://chiclassiccomp.org/docs/index.php?dir=%2Fcomputing/Hayes I have two manuals for the config software (alas only the Mac version of the software itself), which I'll try to do soon. I'll image the Mac disk as well. If anyone has the PC version of the software, I'd love it have it. -j

6 years, 11 months

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Looking for Silent 700 printhead

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I have two Silent 700 terminals (model 745) that I bought quite a few years ago (nonworking). Couldn't find a schematic. Last week I just happened to search for one - and found a complete service manual with theory of operation and full schematics! So I got them on the workbench. The more worn one wouldn't print anything on the paper but was otherwise working. I found that the nylon printhead pressure adjustment wheel had split and fallen off the solenoid shaft into the case, along with the pressure spring. Then it would print, but I promptly discovered that the printhead has several "dots" missing in a pattern that could not be accounted for by the driver circuitry. I confirmed it by swapping the printhead from the other one, and now it prints perfectly. So at least I have one working now :) The second one in half-duplex mode will only beep (Ctrl-G), CR and LF in half-duplex mode, so I know the keyboard is alive and there is power. But it otherwise won't move the carriage forwards (including space), or print any characters at all. Before I go to the trouble of diagnosis and repair, does anyone have a good printhead, or know where I can find one? No point in fixing it if the characters won't be printing properly when I'm done... thanks Charles

6 years, 11 months

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Old CE manuals

by cctalk＠emailtoilet.com

Still cleaning out for Nevada move. http://www.myimagecollection.com/cemanuals/ Last 2 are interesting. 2075 Processing Unit and some Russian machine EC4001. Number sounds familiar from my eBay sojourns. Available for cost of Media Mail shipping. These buggers are heavy. As last time, all or nothing. Donald

6 years, 11 months

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RS2030 MIPS workstation

by pete＠dunnington.plus.com

Anyone know much about early MIPS workstations? I'm trying to get a MIPS RS2030 to boot, without much luck so far. It goes through the selftest but stops with the internal LED display at "5" accompanied by a continuous beep. Known problems: - The Dallas DS1287 battery is flat; I can hack a 3V lithium onto that. I assume it should still work to some extent even if the contents are lost? - The RAM is highly suspect. I think it needs a minimum of 8MB to start up. It has a good complement of SIPPs, but some of them are definitely non-original and are actually 30-pin SIMMs that somebody has done a rubbish job of soldering short stiff wires onto. So I'd like to know what the RAM spec really is, whether I need to reprogram the Dallas chip (and if so what goes where), and what the diagnostic numbers on the internal LED mean. Anyone? -- Pete Pete Turnbull

6 years, 11 months

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I need some education (PDP)

by sales＠elecplus.com

So I called my buddy of 20+ years. Got old PDP junk left? Like what kinda junk? PDP 8 or 11? Hmm, got PDP 8 boards and BA11 boxes. PDP11 makes no sense, it is a series, 11/70 or what? I know NOTHING about this stuff. I told him slide in boxes with flippy switches. He laughed and said he will send me over a list of all the OLD DEC stuff left in the warehouse. Shipping will be from Calif. Pickup avail, or shipping, for rack stuff. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 11 months

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found in the shelf - Case study of control data corporation 1958-1967 by Steven Arnold Estrin B.S.B

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Found in the shelf in smecc library - Case study of control data corporation 1958-1967 by Steven Arnold Estrin B.S.B ?a master's? thesis -? anyone know? him or this? Ed# at SMECC

6 years, 11 months

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Decrepit old HDD

by sales＠elecplus.com

I have the opportunity to purchase some old 50-pin SCSI, ESDI, MFM, RLL etc. drives. There is no way to test them, and there are no refunds. There are no dents or obvious signs of damage, but that means noting. Is there any way to resurrect these if they are dead/defective? Any interest? Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 11 months

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Dallas drive

by sales＠elecplus.com

I plan to go to Dallas next week for a quick run. Things I know are there: IBM XT and AT computers with kbds, no monitors. (3 pallets last I checked) CASES of NIB 360K internal floppy drives (not diskettes) for the original IBM PC Some hdd for the original PCs, new and used Defective IBM monitors (flybacks are no longer made) Parts for 5140 computers, some NIB (no kbds) Original DEC things that have orange flippy switches-WARNING! Smells like dead rats and rat poop. Nasty condition! Looks something like this https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11 Lots of NIB off brand old computers, PCs, like Apex by Compaq Most of the stuff is PC or laptop related Let me know what u want and what u want to pay, I will bring it home and ship. Car will only hold so much. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 11 months

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Q Bus front panel

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I thought about it.. but.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133019966845

6 years, 11 months

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Honeywell Terminals?

by healyzh＠avanthar.com

Out of curiosity, how common are Honeywell terminals like would have been used on a DPS-8? Zane

6 years, 11 months

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Keyboards added today

by sales＠elecplus.com

Some you might want, since they go to Link terminals. http://www.elecshopper.com/nmb-rt8255c-at-keyboard.html http://www.elecshopper.com/fujitsu-fkb-4700-series-keyboard.html http://www.elecshopper.com/nmb-rt-101-keyboard-complete.html http://www.elecshopper.com/link-t27-keyboard.html http://www.elecshopper.com/macro-mc-27-keyboard.html Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 11 months

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Procedure to convert a vax into a stand alone workstation in a LAN

by ce.murillosanchez＠gmail.com

Hello; In my quest to try to see what the problem is with my vs/60, I want to convert it into a networked stand-alone machine, i.e. not use clustering at all.? What is the easiest way to do this? I still want it to do DECnet and TCPIP. Carlos.

6 years, 11 months

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Looking for DEC M8017-AA jumper settings

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mister PDP > reading through the "DLV11-E and DLV11-F asynchronous line interface > user's manual", the diagrams of the DLV11-E and F do not line up my > module. Oh, must be a later board rev, one that's not covered in EK-DLV11-OP-001. (I should have compared your pic with the manual illustration, sorry.) {Checks} Yes, there is a D rev etch; see page 22-3 of the "Microcomputer Products Handbook" (perhaps the single most useful book for early QBUS stuff - anyone who's working with that stuff should get one - they're not too hard to find on eBait). The layout corresponds with the image of yours. Noel

6 years, 11 months

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Looking for DEC M8017-AA jumper settings

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mister PDP > I have this DEC M8017-AA / DLV11 module that I am trying to configure > ... the only manuals or resources I can seem to scrounge up are for the > DLV11-E, DLV11-F, and DLV11-J. > If anybody knows what the jumper settings are, or where I can find > them Huh? According to EK-DLV11-OP-001, an M8017 _is_ a DLV11-E? If you need config info for a DLV11 (M7940), it's available in the "LSI-11, PDP-11/03 User's Manual" (EK-LSI11-TM-003), available in BitSavers. Noel

6 years, 11 months

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Looking for DEC M8017-AA jumper settings

by vintagecomputersmn＠gmail.com

Hello, I have this DEC M8017-AA / DLV11 module that I am trying to configure to act as a console. I have been trying to find a manual to tell me what jumpers go where, but the only manuals or resources I can seem to scrounge up are for the DLV11-E, DLV11-F, and DLV11-J. If anybody knows what the jumper settings are, or where I can find them, I would really appreciate it. Here is a image of the board I am trying to configure: https://ibb.co/MS3hphz Thank You, Gavin

6 years, 11 months

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Modern Rack Rails in Classic Racks?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Zane Healy > How safe is it to put modern rack rails (HP) in a classic DEC Rack? May I ask why you're doing that? Are you trying to mount modern units in an old rack? If you're trying to mount old units (RK05's, BA11's, etc) in an old rack, I've been working on finding old slide-mounts; e.g. I know the thing to order for RK05's. Noel

6 years, 11 months

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Q Bus front panel

by couryhouse＠aol.com

THAT IS? NEAT? AL NEVER? SAW THIS? BEFORE....THERE? WAS ALSO A? ?CHASSIS? THAT? DEC MADE? SORT? OF A LAB? COMPUTER TYPE OF THING THAT HAD? A? SWITCH AND LIGHT? FRONT PANEL AT ONE? TIME? FOR Q BUS??? I SEEM TO REMEMBER A? BROCHURE? ?ON IT ... AND IT IS? HERE.... SOMEWHERE. ED# In a message dated 4/29/2019 6:27:23 PM US Mountain Standard Time, aek at bitsavers.orgwrites: I thought about it.. but..https://www.ebay.com/itm/133019966845

6 years, 11 months

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Tek 4010 emulator

by aek＠bitsavers.org

for people not following alt.sys.pdp11 https://alt.sys.pdp11.narkive.com/k2ZKIuuw/pdp-11-programs-for-tektronix-40… https://github.com/rricharz/Tek4010

6 years, 11 months

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Raspberry Pi for vaxen turbochannel

by john＠ziaspace.com

> It occurs to me that the turbochannel slots have 4A each. It would be > entirely possible to print a whole open source board like the raspberry > Pi (or banana Pi, etc) on a turbochannel card and kill two birds with > one stone. I'n not quite sure why people are so interested in killing birds with stones, but perhaps that's a discussion for another time :) I've thought about doing something similar. I use my Raspberry Pis / small computers to do more than just MOP boot, serve NFS, and perhaps NAT or route to the Internet: https://hackaday.io/project/218-speed-up-pkgsrc-on-retrocomputers (it does need to be updated a little) It's not entirely clear whether you're talking about making a board that a Pi (whether Raspberry, Banana, or other compatible) can just plug in, or if you're talking about making a full TURBOchannel board that has a Pi on the board itself ("print a whole open source board"). If the full board, then it would make a lot more sense if it was interfaced directly to TURBOchannel and could present itself as various devices such as mass storage, ethernet and GPIO. Otherwise, why bother with the complexity? My VAXstation 4000/90 has a TURBOchannel adapter. It was not easy to find, nor was it cheap. I'm currently using it for a TC-USB card: https://web.archive.org/web/20170831062121/http://www.flxd.de/tc-usb/ So a Pi on a TURBOchannel card wouldn't be useful for any of my other VAXstation 4000/60 machines (nor VLC). Otherwise, it would make a lot more sense to instead mount a Pi in a 3.5" drive's space and use a Molex drive power connector to power it. One can even get fancy and get a 12 volt to 5 volt regulator to power the Pi. I looked in to the idea of using an ESP8266 in place of the AUI to give older machines wireless, but it seems this is hardly trivial: https://hackaday.com/2015/06/12/retro-edition-the-lan-before-time/ That also dissuaded me from imagining something that could plug in to the AUI port and interface with a Pi or other SBC. The same goes for a modern, inexpenive, small way to interface an SBC with the 10BASE2 ports on older machines. So I can't picture any better way to get ethernet from the back of the machine to a Pi / SBC, internal or otherwise, without an AUI and ethernet cable. How were you thinking of doing that? John

6 years, 11 months

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Excessive amount of time in interrupt stack mode

by john＠ziaspace.com

> The system is mostly idle, RAM is mostly free (there's 32mb), > there is almost no paging, but the CPU is spending upwards of 70% of the > time in the interrupt stack mode. If I had to guess, I'd say the most likely culprit is ethernet. Try disconnecting ethernet, perhaps the AUI, too, and see if it's any different. John

6 years, 11 months

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Greetings

by petermallan＠gmail.com

On 4/28/19 3:55 PM, Ray Jewhurst via cctalk wrote: > I am new to the list and would like to introduce myself. I > am a computer history buff who especially likes DEC machines. > I unfortunately don't own any hardware but I use Simh on a daily > basis. I would like to start off with a question. I see that Bitsavers > has a copy of VMS 1.5 and wanted to know if anyone got it working > with the Vax 780 simulator? > I hope to learn a lot from this group. Hi Ray, about 18 months ago, I did indeed install VMS 1.5 on a simulated (with simh) VAX-11/780. It was not particularly difficult, but it did take a bit more effort than I expected. Here is what I did and the problems that I came across. I am typing this from memory, so I might have mis-remembered the odd fact. The instructions tell you to create a bootable disk from tape using the DSC utility. However, DSC was something that ran in PDP-11 emulation mode on a VAX and was discontinued early enough in the evolution of VMS that it was not present on any of my simulated systems (VMS 4.x, 5.x and 7.3). I needed to build a VMS 3.0 system in order to complete copying the VMS 1.5 tape to disk. If you have a simulated PDP-11 system, you might be able to use that instead. Building the VMS 3.0 system gave me another problem in that I tried using a simulated TE16 (Massbus) tape drive to read the VMS 3.0 installation tape. This should have been fine, but actually I uncovered a bug in simh. Bob Supnik fixed the bug, but you do need to use an up to date version of simh to get the bug fix. If you need to use an old version of simh for some reason, then use a TS (Unibus) tape drive and all should be well. VMS 1.5 is primitive compared with later versions, but does have historical interest. Do let me know if you want any further information about my adventures with VMS 1.5. Cheers Peter Allan

6 years, 11 months

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Unknown 1970 Tapedrive

by jos.dreesen＠greenmail.ch

Was given a tapedrive in rather bad condition, but it has no manufacturers name on it. Pics on ftp://ftp.dreesen.ch/Tapedrive Anyone recognizes this ? The paddle PCB says "paddle board, 7/9 level tape handler." Not even sure if it is a computer tape drive or an instrument / data logger... Yours if you pick it up ( and be prepared to spend quit some time to clean this one up. Unit has seen more this its share of water over the years) Location : CH Jos

6 years, 11 months

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Newest Batch of Items from Sellam's VWoCW Just Posted

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Good Monday Evening (or Tuesday Morning if you are beyond the International Dateline)! Here is the latest batch of computers and boards and peripherals and things that I've carefully curated for your consideration and consumption from my collection: Homebrew Small Form Factor S-100 System Indus GT 5.25" Floppy Drive (Atari) ADPI Easi-Disk 5.25" External Serial Disk Drive Camwil Printwheel - Pica 10 Camwil Printwheel - Elite 12 Diablo Black Cloth Ribbon Diablo HiType-I FIlm Ribbon (6 pack) GP Technologies Printwheel - Titan Legal 10 Xerox Metal Printwheel - Titan Legal 10 Xerox Metal Printwheel - Vintage 12 Toshiba T1950CT Laptop Toshiba T4900CT Laptop Commodore 1311 Joystick (boxed) Microsoft InPort Mouse w/Mouse Interface Articulate Systems Voice Impact Pro Dysan 100 MD2HD 5.25" Floppy Diskettes (10-pack) Curtis Electro Devices PR5200B 32x8 Memory Programmer Asante FriendlyNet Adapter Perkin-Elmer PC AT Single T4 4 Meg Transputer CompuPro CPU 8085/88 CompuPro CPU 8085/88 (incomplete) CompuPro RAM16 CompuPro RAM21 Comrex The S100 TimePiece JVB Electronics Spool-Z-Q 100 MATCO Data Products EPROM Emulator/Programmer Morrow Designs MM256K CompuPro/Viasyn SPUZ 64K Viasyn Interfacer 3A (bare board) Viasyn Interfacer 4 (bare board) Atari XG-1 Light Gun Atari XE Keyboard IBM PCjr Internal Modem IBM PCjr RF Modulator MOS Technology KIM-1 (Rev. A) Commodore KIM-1 (Rev. G) Radio Shack TRS-80 64K Color Computer DEC Celebris FP 590 PC Links to information on these items and more can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hi… Photos are linked in the descriptions. I will be going back and adding photos for the last couple batches in the near future and will post an update when they are up. As ever, please contact me directly by e-mail via <sellam.ismail at gmail.com> to inquire or make an offer on a particular item. Thank you! Sellam

6 years, 11 months

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Anyone ever attempt repairs on CTI boards for DEC Professionals?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, All, In preparing for my VCF-East exhibit, I went through my stack of DEC Pro gear. The good news is I had enough working hardware to get a Pro350 running Venix fully operational. The bad news is that I don't have enough working hardware to have even a second functional Pro. One of my RX50 controllers has a mechanically bunged up CTI ZIF socket. It doesn't look repairable so I'm probably going to have to replace it with a transplant from another board. One of my standard (mono) video cards displays bit garbage on power-up. I haven't found schematics for it yet (bitsavers has schematics for the Pro380 CPU, the RX50 controller, the RX50, the RD50). I could probably pull the RAM and test it outside the board, but beyond that, I'm stabbing at things. I did a lot of googling around and I haven't seen a lot of repair details on these. Not really surprised about that, but I figure it was worth asking if anyone has attempted component-level repair on DEC Professionals. I'm sure there's lots of experience with board swapping - that will definitely solve my problems. Oh... and I happen to be one video controller short anyway. I suppose a partial machine made its way to me at some point. I know my Pro380 used to be a console for our 8530. I was able to rescue the console at least. I probably got the Pro350s sometime in the mid-1990s when people were dumping them. I'm still a bit puzzled why I have *5* 256K memory cards. There's only 6 slots and once you put in the RX50 controller, the RD controller, the video card, and possibly the color bitplane extension card, you've got 2 slots left. One fun bit - I was able to break into the Venix box using the 'guest' account (I guessed there was one) and run John the Ripper on an i7 Linux laptop to crack all the hashes. 10/12 took literally seconds. One password was '82', another was 'Bob'. The root password took a few hours because it was two dictionary words. In the end, though, they all fell. The default root password for Venix is in the manuals ('gnomes'). They at least changed it on this box, but 1984 crypto is no match for 21st Century cracking. I don't see DEC Pro systems talked about much - they were kinda slow and definitely limited in their expansion. For a time, they were a cute packaged PDP-11 system but that CTI bus connector is a royal PITA. I am not shocked there weren't that many peripherals for it, but for a "desktop computer", how many different kinds of interfaces does the average office user need? If anyone happens to be coming to VCF East this weekend and has dead Pro gear, I could use a card to pull a CTI connector from. At least I should be able to get the one RX50 controller going. -ethan

6 years, 11 months

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What do to with an Internet-connected PDP-11?

by rich.cini＠verizon.net

All ? ??????????????? Over the last few months, I?ve built myself a nice little PDP-11/23 with a SCSI interface/drive, extra SLUs and Ethernet. With the help of a few people, I was able to get an Ethernet configuration running, which is kind of cool. It?s been a great learning process getting this up and running. It?s a Q18 system, so memory is limited and I don?t think able to run BSD (I?m running RT-11 right now). So, for playing around, what can I practically do with this? Is it even possible to access any Web sites (unconventional browsing for sure; I?ve read about telnetting to port 80)? I?m sure email is possible, as is FTP/Telnet (I?ve used that inside my lab setup), but I don?t really know where to start with that. ??????????????? If anyone has any pointers/suggestions, I?d appreciate it. ??????????????? Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

6 years, 11 months

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What do to with an Internet-connected PDP-11?

by rich.cini＠gmail.com

Thanks. That?s how I was able to get on-line (with lots of help from JerryW). Great resource and highly recommended. Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of Brian Roth via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2019 9:51 AM To: Paul Koning via cctalk; Grant Taylor; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: What do to with an Internet-connected PDP-11? I apologize if this has been mentioned. http://shop-pdp.net/rthtml/tcpip.php Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 9:25 AM, Paul Koning via cctalk<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Apr 29, 2019, at 9:05 PM, Grant Taylor via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > > On 4/29/19 6:47 PM, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: >> I want to say that the OSU webserver for VMS supports running over DECnet, but my memory could be faulty. I?ve only used WASD on VMS. > > I think this sounds like a neat ~> fun thing to do. > > But how does a web server run over DECnet? > > I guess conceptually you can serve web pages across any protocol that can carry HTTP. > > But I guess you could also have a client that ran over DECnet or need a gateway to TCP/IP. Yes. What I meant is that one could take an existing HTTP client and server, or create one, substituting DECnet sockets for the TCP sockets. The protocol would work just fine that way. You'd need to decide how to deal with DECnet packet boundaries, something TCP doesn't have (a major omission). The simplest is to pay no attention to them, which is what I understand Ultrix "streaming DECnet" sockets to do. An alternative would be to make use of them, for example by saying that the entire HTTP header is in one packet and the payload (if any) follows in separate packets. paul

6 years, 11 months

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Excessive amount of time in interrupt stack mode

by ce.murillosanchez＠gmail.com

Dear ccmp'ers: For a while now, I noticed that my vaxstation 4000/60 with OpenVMS 7.2 had become sluggish, but I had not had the time to investigate the problem.?? The system is mostly idle, RAM is mostly free (there's 32mb), there is almost no paging, but the CPU is spending upwards of 70% of the time in the interrupt stack mode.? Currently, I am running it headless because I have not had the time to fix the monitor (it still has the framebuffer inside, but this sluggishness issue was present before with the monitor attached).? I have read that this can be caused by "faulty i/o devices that interrupt the cpu continuously".? What else can be done to locate the source of the problem? Regards, Carlos.

6 years, 11 months

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Nat Semi 16032 info discovered

by elson＠pico-systems.com

Back in 1984 I had cloned a Logical Microcomputer Co. Genix system based on the Nat. Semi. 16032 chip set. I had a dd dump of the distribution on floppies, but that was unreadable. I just found a binder with about an inch of fanfold printouts of all the device drivers, low-level system routines, boot loaders, etc in c source format. These were printed on my Honeywell "big iron" drum printer with a funny character set, so many of the ASCII 96 characters are printed using overprints. Like, { shows as a < overprinted with (. So, it might be tricky to scan and OCR it without training the OCR. Not sure anybody would be interested in it, anyway. Jon

6 years, 11 months

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Sun SS2 SBus memory expansion parts

by cmhanson＠eschatologist.net

I have the 32MB memory expansion card for my SPARCstation 2 (P/N 501-1823) but not the accompanying cable (501-1814) or 32MB mezzanine card (501-1824). Does anyone have either the cable or mezzanine card that they?d be willing to part with for a reasonable price? I?ve only found sellers carrying them for hundreds of dollars recently; I managed to snag the ?1823 from someone who was selling it far more reasonably, probably because they didn?t know what they could get for it. -- Chris

6 years, 11 months

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Greetings

by raywjewhurst＠gmail.com

I am new to the list and would like to introduce myself. I am a computer history buff who especially likes DEC machines. I unfortunately don't own any hardware but I use Simh on a daily basis. I would like to start off with a question. I see that Bitsavers has a copy of VMS 1.5 and wanted to know if anyone got it working with the Vax 780 simulator? I hope to learn a lot from this group. Thanks Ray

6 years, 11 months

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Tandem 6526 information?

by cmhanson＠eschatologist.net

A friend not on the list obtained a Tandem 6526 terminal. In the process of trying to refurbish it, the first 80 bytes of its ROM got trashed. Does anyone happen to have one so she could recover from this? Also, she has no keyboard, and no information about Tandem?s block mode or other protocols (much less the keyboard interface), does anyone know where to find such details or have a manual handy? ? Chris Sent from my iPad

6 years, 11 months

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Modern Rack Rails in Classic Racks?

by healyzh＠avanthar.com

How safe is it to put modern rack rails (HP) in a classic DEC Rack? The DEC racks have small holes, while the new HP racks, IIRC, have big square holes. It looks like the rails will work, they just won?t clip flush. Zane

6 years, 11 months

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Ultrix 3.0 VAX

by dennis.grevenstein＠gmail.com

Hi John, thank you for the idea. I finally managed to boot and install Ultrix 3.0. I prepared a new harddisk image under Ultrix 4.0. I could find /usr/sys/SAS.net/vmunix in the Ultrix 3.0 distribution tapes. This is a standalone kernel that will start the installation process. It can be booted like a normal kernel and can use the 3.0 tape images available from bitsavers. Dennis

6 years, 11 months

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H960 rack on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

H960 (rack only, really, although it looks like there are two NA11-N/S sheaths as well): https://www.ebay.com/itm/123729450695 Not a bad price; pick-up only though (just as well, considering how much it costs to ship the blasted things). Noel

6 years, 11 months

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NOS HP 7906 disk heads

by aek＠bitsavers.org

If someone needs top heads, this seems to be a decent price https://www.ebay.com/itm/303136246855

6 years, 11 months

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No subject

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Tom -? ?Thanks much for? ?filling in? some of the blanks on the history!? ?Ed# In a message dated 4/23/2019 2:36:37 PM US Mountain Standard Time, t.gardner at computer.org writes: ISS was an independent company in the era (late 60s) of the 714 (IBM 2314 compatible).? It was later acquired by Itel (a leasing company) and then by Univac and sort of disappeared in the 80s. Depending upon your application almost any plug compatible 2314 might work or could be made to work.? The interfaces were very much 2314 like except the PCMs and OEMs didn't use IBMs +/- 1.5v signaling levels on the interface but instead used DTL driver/receiver signaling.? There was also some weirdness in the power sequencing all of which can be worked around if u are up to it. Tom -----Original Message----- From: ED SHARPE [mailto:couryhouse at aol.com] Sent: Monday, April 22, 2019 11:37 AM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org; aek at bitsavers.org Subject: Re: Telex 20 Meg 10 platter very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list..r Thanks? Al? yes, that? is? the? one. and? as? I? recall? ISS? was a? offshoot? on? univac Do? you? have? any? Thanks Ed# In a message dated 4/22/2019 11:34:58 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: Thanks? Al? yes, that? is? the? one. and? as? I? recall? ISS? was a? offshoot? on? univac?In a message dated 4/22/2019 11:21:50 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 4/22/19 11:05 AM, ED SHARPE wrote:> Al,? the? drive? you mention at? its? largest? was? 7.5 meg? and? 6? platters... not? ? the? one Telex bought their drives from ISS.You're looking for a ISS 714 (ca. 1970) 2314 compat.https://ia800608.us.archive.org/15/items/TNM_Information_Storage_Sys… aek at bitsavers.org;cctalk

6 years, 11 months

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Elliott 5-level code: just in case you have some oddball 5-level paper tapes

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Immensely happy this morning to have finally tracked this down. This is a 5-level code by Elliott used on many of their computers. It seems to have used standard looking 5-level teletype I/O devices but with custom typewheel and keyboard/function bar encoding. It has 3 things in common with other 5-level codes: 1: Letter shift and Number/Figure shift 2: Null is all zeroes 3: Letter shift is all ones and also works as delete just like the other codes But some interesting properties, different than other 5 level codes: 1: Letter shift has the letters in alphabetic A-Z sequence. 2: In number shift, the lower 4 bits are the digit 0-9, and the upper bit is a parity 3: Figure shift, space, carriage return, and line feed are at the extreme top end of the code space right under letter shift. The code is documented in Figure B.2 of this wonderful document: http://rabbit.eng.miami.edu/oldcomputers/Elliott-400-series.pdf I'm a little surprised that my standard character code references don't mention this. This is a super elegant layout that any of the 1960's character code standard guys must've known about, but somehow it never made it into any of my usual reference books. Maybe MacKenzie was just too dismissive of all 5-bit codes. He mentions ITA2 for a couple pages and then never talks about 5-level codes again, but he never stops talking about BCDIC and he goes on and on about hypothetical 12-row punchcard ASCII. Tim N3QE

6 years, 11 months

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Televideo 925 character rom dump

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

When I saw this thread I thought 'Oh, I have a 925!' Which was working last time (years ago.) But wouldn't you know. When I checked, it's a Televideo 924. Off by one. But perhaps the character ROM content is the same? Anyway I will see if it still works, and secure all the ROM images. Today. I have the user manuals, but does anyone have schematics for the 925 & 924? Guy At 09:38 AM 23/04/2019 -0700, you wrote: >On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 8:25 AM Patrick Finnegan <pat at vax11.net> wrote: > >> On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 11:02 AM Jon Elson via cctalk < >> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >>> Is the ROM totally bad, or just losing a few bits here and >>> there? If the latter, you could probably read it out, figure >>> out how the rows, columns and characters are mapped, and fix it. >>> >> >> Considering that 925s are really common, and a replacement EPROM should be >> easy to source and program, this sounds like an overly difficult approach >> that will yield something different than what he wants. >> > >The thought had crossed my mind, but only as a last resort. I'm not >entirely sure what the internal fault is, but the end result is two rows of >every character have all bits stuck "on." I've verified that the ROM >addressing is correct and that there's nothing on the output side causing >this behavior. Patrick, thanks very much for offering to read the ROM! > >- Josh > > > >> Pat >> >

6 years, 11 months

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TSX-Plus help needed!

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

OK, I have figured out how to modify TSGEN.MAC, use PUTR to make a disk image, load it in SIMH, reassemble, relink, and *finally* send it to an RL02 pack via vtserver! TIme-consuming but doable. I've been wrestling with this all day. BUT - TSX+ 6.50 just will not run. At all. Using RT-11SJ (5.01), after typing "R TSX" I can hear the disc access for a few seconds, a pause, a few more accesses... then nothing. It just hangs. Nothing on the console either., no response to <CR>. When starting it in SIMH (the same disk image), I get the error message ?TSX-F-Computer line clock is not working. Figured that was just a SIMH thing. But the address/vector is correct in TSGEN.MAC... and when checking TIME in RT-11, the seconds advance in real-time like it should. On the real hardware, the error message doesn't display, and the clock is running... My old version of TSX+ is 6.16 and it runs fine on console and SLU 2, just needs rebuilt to use different serial cards than the original system. So where should I start looking first? RT-11 version incompatibility? Any TSX+ experts online? Thanks for any help. This is driving me nuts!

6 years, 11 months

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VTserver problem (bug?)

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

And even more bizarrely... it crawled its way up to the 7400K block, and now it's going at normal speed again! 10MB should be done soon. I have no idea what could be causing this major slowdown from 6.6-7.4 MB. It's not the drive because two different ones do the same thing (and they work perfectly otherwise)... Hopefully I won't have to go through the (edit, reassemble, relink, PUTR transfer to an image, vtserver to the disk) loop too many times, attempting to get my DHV11/16D to function with TSX+ 6.50... I had somehow inserted a couple of characters that didn't belong there while editing (bumped the keyboard maybe?) so I'm on the second pass. Also I found what looks like a typo in the TSGEN.MAC file if anyone's interested.

6 years, 11 months

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VTserver problem (bug?)

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

-----Original Message----- >But there is some kind of bug that always appears at the same point, in the >middle of the next 100K block after "6600K written". >The data transfer stops (no more head motion/ready light flicker on the >RL02), and the character that vtserver uses to indicate a write operation >just repeats endlessly and rapidly until I kill it. More information and a correction: I let it run on, and it is still reading and writing, but at a much slower and intermittent rate than the first 6.6 MB. The filler character is just a time marker of some kind, since I can still see the "r" indicating a read from the .dsk image, and the light on the RL02 flickers after a few of those. So it's slowed way down, but not stopped! Even more mysterious. Anyway, this disk has 13800 blocks out of 20800 used. If RT-11 stores data (including the directory structure) starting from block 0, I may be able to kill the writes after 7 MB. (Unfortunately I think I neglected to squeeze the image before sending it to the RL - and naturally the important TSX files are near the end - which means I have to wait for most of it). If I have to do it again, I'll squeeze and then kill it after 7 MB and see what I got!

6 years, 11 months

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(no subject)

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

>But there is some kind of bug that always appears at the same point, in the >middle of the next 100K block after "6600K written". >The data transfer stops (no more head motion/ready light flicker on the >RL02), and the character that vtserver uses to indicate a write operation >just repeats endlessly and rapidly until I kill it. More information and a correction: I let it run on, and it is still reading and writing, but at a much slower and intermittent rate than the first 6.6 MB. The filler character is just a time marker of some kind, since I can still see the "r" indicating a read from the .dsk image, and the light on the RL02 flickers after a few of those. So it's slowed way down, but not stopped! Even more mysterious. Anyway, this disk has 13800 blocks out of 20800 used. If RT-11 stores data (including the directory structure) starting from block 0, I may be able to kill the writes after 7 MB. (Unfortunately I think I neglected to squeeze the image before sending it to the RL - and naturally the important TSX files are near the end - which means I have to wait for most of it). If I have to do it again, I'll squeeze and then kill it after 7 MB and see what I got!

6 years, 11 months

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VTserver problem (bug?)

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I sometimes use vtserver to download disk images to the RL02's on my PDP-11/23+. Takes quite a while at 9600 baud, too :) But there is some kind of bug that always appears at the same point, in the middle of the next 100K block after "6600K written". The data transfer stops (no more head motion/ready light flicker on the RL02), and the character that vtserver uses to indicate a write operation just repeats endlessly and rapidly until I kill it. Does anyone else encounter this limitation, and if so, how did you fix it? Fortunately I haven't wanted to image a disk that's more than 2/3 full so far... I make sure to squeeze the disk in SIMH before transferring the image. But it'd be nice to be able to image a full (10 MB) RL02 and not have to worry about it failing. Any ideas? thanks Charles

6 years, 11 months

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Ultrix 3.0 VAX

by johnforecast＠comcast.net

Dennis, It sounds like you are looking for an Ultrix 3.0 standalone boot tape. While I found a number of people who claim to have a physical tape, with some claiming to have imaged the tape, I was unable to find an image on-line. That being said, it?s possible to use the Ultrix 2.0 standalone bootable tape (AQ-JU00C, available from bitsavers.org) with a couple of edits at the end - I did this to get 2.2 up and running. Since Ultrix 2.0 only supports a limited number VAX processors, the first stage has to be run on one of those processors, I always use microvax2. Subsequent stages may be run on any processor supported by Ultrix 3.0. Stage 1: I use the following .ini file: # Boot from standalone tape. This MUST be performed on a microvax2 instance. set rl dis set ts dis set rq0 ra81 att rq0 system.dsk att tq0 AQ-JU00C-BE_ULTRIX-32_2.0_SA_87.tap set tti 7b set tto 7b boo Attach the Ultrix 3.0 supported tape to tq0 when it asks. This stage will create the root partition and restore from the tape. No special handling at this point, just answer the questions as for a normal install. Stage 2: Use the VAX simulator for the target system (I used vax780) and boot rq0. After answering some questions it will fail trying to create a file system on /dev/rra0 which doesn?t exist - you need to edit /.minidevice as follows: # ed .minidevice 22 1 RA81 ra 0 TK50 tms 0 s/0/0g RA81 ra 0g TK50 tms 0 w 23 q Reboot the system and it will create a file system on /dev/ra0g, copy the base packages along with any you have selected and build a custom kernel. After all this reboot again and it will drop you into single user mode after complaining about "Can't stat /dev/ra0ga?. Edit /etc/fstab: # ed /etc/fstab 54 1 /dev/ra0ga:/:rw:1:1:ufs:: s/0g/0 /dev/ra0a:/:rw:1:1:ufs:: w 53 q Reboot again and you should have a functioning system. John.

6 years, 11 months

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SIMH question

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

This may be a silly question... but how can I transfer a text file from my PC into SIMH for PDP-11? Is it even possible to create a disk or tape image from source code? Attaching files requires them to be images... I have significant changes to make to TSGEN.MAC (TSX-Plus definitions file) and it will be MUCH easier to edit it on my laptop with a screen editor, than in SIMH (or on the real hardware) using the line editors! The only method that comes to mind is to start the actual 11/23+, open the text editor for input, then use a terminal program like Teraterm to "play" the file as though I were typing it in. But I don't have the rest of the TSX-Plus source files, linker, etc. so I would have to transfer them using VTserver anyway... thoughts? thanks Charles

6 years, 11 months

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SIMH question

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Glen Slick > when I wanted to assemble some code with the RT-11 assembler but wanted > to edit the source code elsewhere and then transfer the code into a > SIMH disk image. Someone should write the SIMH equivalent of Ersatz-11's 'DOS device' (which allows the -11 access to the file system on the host - and also the ability to send arbitrary commands to the emulator). I find it mind-bogglingly useful for going round the edit-compile loop, while using a good editor (Epsilon for me) on the host OS. Having written a Unix driver for the device, I have a sack of Unix commands that use it, e.g. to retrieve the file foo.c from the host, I just say 'hrd foo.c' to the PDP-11 Unix's shell, and it's there. Super-painless, and does't add any noticeable amount of time/work to going around the loop. I don't need to give the full file name since there's also 'hcd <dir>'. To change the switch register contents, 'sc <value>'. Etc, etc. How all you SIMH users manage without it is beyond me. Luckily I only need -11 emulation, so I don't have to put up with life without it - and would refuse to. If anyone is seriously interested in adding it to SIMH, there's an -11 device spec available; I strongly suggest using the same spec; then for Unix, at least, all the -11 code (driver, user commands) is already done. Noel

6 years, 11 months

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RK611 Technical Manual needed

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Anyone have a copy of the RK611 Technical Manual (EK-RK611-TM-001 is the version that's attested)? It's not online. (I have a copy in my fiche set, but my fiche reader died - no, it's not the bulb, already changed that! :-) Noel

6 years, 11 months

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Infocom mystery binary

by dave＠661.org

In one of the repositories of Infocom game source code recently uploaded to Github, there's an executable that appears to have come from an m68k Unix machine of some sort. It's at https://github.com/historicalsource/zork-german/blob/master/zap. Over at intfiction.org[1], it was initially claimed to be from a Macintosh. Then I suggested it was from a pre-Sparc Sun machine. Then someone else suggested it was from A/UX. Does anyone know anything more conclusive? I based my idea on what I got from running strings(1) on the file. Copyright (c) 1987 Apple Computer, Inc., 1985 Adobe Systems Incorporated, 1983-87 AT&T-IS, 1985-87 Motorola Inc., 1980-87 Sun Microsystems Inc., 1980-87 The Regents of the University of California, 1985-87 Unisoft Corporation, All Rights Reserved. [1] https://intfiction.org/t/infocom-source-code-posted/41156/23 -- David Griffith dave at 661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

6 years, 11 months

5
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micropdp11 and virtual memory

by dj.taylor4＠comcast.net

I've been compiling and running some Fortran programs on my microPDP11/53 computer and have questions about Fortran VIRTUAL arrays. Details: KDJ11-D/S cpu with 0.5 MB of ram, additional 1MB of Qbus ram.? I'm running RT11 V5.7 ZM and using the F77XM compiler, version 5 (I think). What I am seeing is that when I use VIRTUAL arrays instead of the usual memory below 64K the run times are dramatically slower.? Is this normal? Could it be something else?? The other memory board?

6 years, 11 months

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Televideo 925 character rom dump

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I'm working on a Televideo 925 terminal with a few problems, one of which is a bad character generator ROM, (a MOS 2332). Does anyone have a dump of this already, or have a working 925 they'd be able to dump the ROM from? Thanks in advance, Josh

6 years, 11 months

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Need part for Sun 2/129

by earl＠baugh.org

I?m in the process of restoring a Sun 2/120 and realized that the unit I have doesn?t have the back plate and cables for monitor and keyboard/mouse. I have spare parts to trade for 2/120 ( including a sun 2/120 keyboard cable I found today. ) or can do $$ Earl Sent from my iPhone Sent from my iPhone

6 years, 11 months

1
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Telex 20 Meg 10 platter very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list..r

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Thanks? Al? ?yes, that? is? the? one. and? as? I? recall? ?ISS? was a? ?offshoot? on? ?univac Do? ?you? have? any? Thanks Ed# In a message dated 4/22/2019 11:34:58 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: Thanks? Al? ?yes, that? is? the? one. and? as? I? recall? ?ISS? was a? ?offshoot? on? ?univac?In a message dated 4/22/2019 11:21:50 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 4/22/19 11:05 AM, ED SHARPE wrote:> Al,? the? drive? ?you mention at? its? largest? ?was? 7.5 meg? and? 6? platters... not? ? the? ?one Telex bought their drives from ISS.You're looking for a ISS 714 (ca. 1970) 2314 compat.https://ia800608.us.archive.org/15/items/TNM_Information_Storage_Sys… aek at bitsavers.org;cctalk

6 years, 11 months

2
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Telex 20 Meg 10 platter very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list..r

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Thanks? Al? ?yes, that? is? the? one.? and? as? I? recall? ?ISS? was a? ?offshoot? on? ?univac?In a message dated 4/22/2019 11:21:50 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 4/22/19 11:05 AM, ED SHARPE wrote: > Al,? the? drive? ?you mention at? its? largest? ?was? 7.5 meg? and? 6? platters... not? ? the? ?one Telex bought their drives from ISS. You're looking for a ISS 714 (ca. 1970) 2314 compat. https://ia800608.us.archive.org/15/items/TNM_Information_Storage_Systems_-_… aek at bitsavers.org;cctalk

6 years, 11 months

2
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IBM 6360 - interface help?

by anders.k.nelson＠gmail.com

CCing the list back in, and still looking for someone in the NY area with a Displaywriter (with disk drive) that could help me take some logic traces - ==== Quoth Nigel: just in case you missed it your reply only went to me. On Mon, Apr 22, 2019 at 1:45 PM Anders Nelson <anders.k.nelson at gmail.com> wrote: > Nigel - Wow, very cool! I assume you dumped a ROM feeding an 8048 inside the 6360 drive housing? Someone dumped the original ROM, it is in the github repo too. > FWIW, I also found a Displaywriter withOUT keyboard or disk drive: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1984-IBM-6580-Display-Station-Word-Process… If you want a 6580 keyboard you either have to get lucky or outbid the mech-heads...be prepared to bid a lot though. Estate sales are the thing to haunt to get one intact. ==== Thanks Nigel, more below! -- Anders Nelson +1 (517) 775-6129 www.erogear.com On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 11:45 PM Anders Nelson <anders.k.nelson at gmail.com> wrote: > Nigel - Wow, very cool! I assume you dumped a ROM feeding an 8048 inside > the 6360 drive housing? > > I agree a logic dump would be invaluable so if I can get in front of a DW > I'll capture and share all I find on my blog (and wherever else). > > Al - I found a USB conversion kit for this keyboard and it's all > open-source, so by reversing the key-matrix decode step in the kit's MCU > firmware we might be able to feed the original keyboard controller with > keystrokes from, say, another USB keyboard. A very roundabout hack but it > seems these keyboards are rare. Here are the conversion kit sources: > > Forum: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58138.0 > Direct: http://downloads.cornall.co/ibm-capsense-usb/ > > Any chance someone knows the original keyboard controller pinout and > protocol? > > FWIW, I also found a Displaywriter withOUT keyboard or disk drive: > https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1984-IBM-6580-Display-Station-Word-Process… > > =] > -- > Anders Nelson > > +1 (517) 775-6129 > > www.erogear.com > > > On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 11:12 PM Nigel Williams < > nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote: > >> Hi Anders, >> >> good luck with your exploration of the 6360. >> >> Back in Jan-2017, I assisted Sergey who did the MAME implementation of >> the Displaywriter, as Al Kossow mentioned in an earlier email the code >> is here: >> >> >> https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/97b67170277437131adf6ed4d60139c172529e… >> >> During this process I started disassembling the 6360, attached is a >> file that I developed with comments. It is incomplete but might help >> understand the protocol. >> >> One thing to keep in mind is that the Displaywriter is made up of >> (almost) standalone subsystems, so the floppy drive unit has its own >> 8048 microprocessor and accepts high-level commands from the system >> unit. >> >> Sergey and I were chatting about returning to work on the MAME >> Displaywriter implementation at some point. We really need a >> logic-analyser dump of the startup since it is very convoluted (it has >> a large section of code attempting to check that all the hardware is >> working so it is doing all manner of tricks to check things). >> >> cheers, >> nigel. >> www.retroComputingTasmania.com >> >> >> On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 6:42 AM Anders Nelson via cctalk >> <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> > Can anyone help with the protocol? >> >

6 years, 11 months

1
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Telex 274-61C Establishment Controller

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Picked one up, it is the last generation of 3274-style controllers before they went to 3174-style ca. 1988. I'd like to find manuals and the IPL diskette (1.2mb). The unit actually had an IPL floppy, but it disintegrated trying to recover it (there is signs of rust inside the hardware so the whole thing got wet). I took some pics of the boards (each one has a 68000 on it, only one board has eproms) and dumped the firmware which is up now under telex on bitsavers. Curiously, the floppy appears to be in FILES-11 format..

6 years, 11 months

2
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Ultrix 3.0 VAX

by dennis.grevenstein＠gmail.com

Hi, I am looking for images of Ultrix 3.0 installation tapes for VAX. I know that there are some on bitsavers: http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/bits/DEC/vax/ultrix/3.0/ However, I cannot boot them in simh. There are also 4.0 images that boot fine. I then installed 4.0 and looked at the 3.0 tape images. I could extract the base 3.0 filesets, but the standalone parts that allow booting a system appear to be missing. Thus, I could not even setup a remote installation environment. Can anybody help me out with bootable Ultrix 3 tape images? thanks, Dennis

6 years, 11 months

1
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TeleVideo MmmOST replacement

by pat＠vax11.net

I've finally have cleaned up sources and wrote up some documentation for my TeleVideo MmmOST replacement. Let me know if you have interest in this, need help, or could help me source a working TS-806 to compare this against. https://worldofvax.blogspot.com/2019/04/televideo-systems-part-vii-almmmost… Pat

6 years, 11 months

1
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Telex 20 Meg 10 platter very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list..r

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Telex 20 Meg 10 platter ?very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list thanks Ed# ---hope this works and see ds from phone ok... thx try it? again!In a message dated 4/21/2019 3:58:15 PM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: Telex 20 Meg 10 platter ?very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list thanks Ed# ---hope this works and see ds from phone ok... thx

6 years, 11 months

5
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CDC BK6XX BK7XX maintenance manual Vol2

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

I have a CDC BK6XX BK7XX Maintenance manual Vol 2 available.If anyone has an immediate need I will send it free but please passit on to Bitsavers after scanning as I did not see this one listed. Brian.

6 years, 11 months

3
4
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Telex 20 Meg 10 platter very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list..r

by couryhouse＠aol.com

2311? was? not? ?20? megs..... from? what? I? saw... what is the? ?#? ?for the? 20 meg? telex? drive?thanks? ed# In a message dated 4/22/2019 10:01:04 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 4/22/19 9:49 AM, ED (knuttjobb) SHARPE via cctalk wrote: >? Telex 20 Meg 10 platter ?very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list thanks Presumably he is looking for a Telex 2311-compatible drive, but who knows wtf Ed says.

6 years, 11 months

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Still looking for a RK611

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Hello, ?I have just about all the pieces I need to start work on getting at least one of my RK07's running. I found cables, terminators and cab kit but still need to find an RK611. I have just a few things I could trade. A very nice PDP11 labeled header panel for a DEC rack.No broken ears and not all scratched up. Brand new DECstation 5000/260 processor. Some non-DEC early PC boards. I would also pay a reasonable price for one. Thanks,Brian.

6 years, 11 months

1
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IBM 6360 - interface help?

by anders.k.nelson＠gmail.com

Hey all, I'm writing a blog post about this IBM 6360 disk controller I want to build: https://www.andersknelson.com/blog/?p=601 I've read through the service manuals and other docs on Bitsavers but I can't seem to find a deeper explanation on the protocol that runs over the DB-37 cable. I suppose I could bypass the controller inside the drive cabinet and directly control the drives but I bet it'll be easier/better to use as much of the electronics as possible. Can anyone help with the protocol? Thanks! -- Anders Nelson +1 (517) 775-6129 www.erogear.com

6 years, 11 months

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DEC PDP-11/70 cabinet setup

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Nigel Williams >> it's the same as all the other PDP-11 etc logo panels,... > when you say "same", as in the same text as well? Sorry, I should have been more explicit. 'Same physical shape' is what I meant; just different stuff painted on the insert. > thanks for the confirmation. Sure, glad to help. Noel

6 years, 11 months

1
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DEC PDP-11/70 cabinet setup

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Nigel Williams > I'm wondering if on a real 11/70 there is a 5mm gap between the > masthead and the rack blanking panel below it? If by "masthead" you mean the thing DEC calls a "Logo Panel" (see 11/70 Engineering Drawings, 'Unit Assembly', pg 1 of 5), it's the same as all the other PDP-11 etc logo panels, the -11/70 just has an inlay (thin metal sheet) which is painted differently. And yes, there's a 5mm gap between the top of the top 10-1/2" blank panel, and the bottom edge of the logo panel. Noel

6 years, 11 months

2
1
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Telex 20 Meg 10 platter very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list..r

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Subject: Telex 20 Meg 10 platter ?very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list.. Telex 20 Meg 10 platter ?very heavy monster drive needed drop line off list thanks Ed# ---hope this works and see ds from phone ok... thx-------

6 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Rgb intensity line

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

I am fashioning an RGB cable from parts. The computer (LNW80) does not send an "intensity" signal, it is only a 6pin rgb. The magnavox rgb 80 display that I wish to use to receive has a pin for an intensity signal. Other than "intensity" the rgb signals can be matched up. Question...what happens when a computer does not send an intensity signal to a display that has this input? I will find out soon enough but I am curious to ask before I begin should anyone have a suggestion. Do I need to add a resistor off of ground or something to fix it to something? Bill

6 years, 11 months

3
2
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DEC PDP-11/70 cabinet setup

by nw＠retrocomputingtasmania.com

I'm hoping to (partially) recreate an 11/70 setup, at least as close as I can get with what I have on hand (see the first pic in this gallery that shows the 11/70 advert): https://imgur.com/a/pvgUVmg I don't have the right masthead but I'm wondering if on a real 11/70 there is a 5mm gap between the masthead and the rack blanking panel below it? I can't see with these pieces a way to close the gap, but I'm curious as to whether the real thing also has the gap? thanks.

6 years, 11 months

1
0
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Plane of core memory

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Curious Marc > I believe 3 wire memory was first introduced by IBM in their 360 > systems ... They would almost certainly have patented their way to do it Correct (and your knowledge and memory is good)! Motivated by this clue, I looked in: Emerson W. Pugh, "Memories That Shaped an Industry" MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984 where the description of the invention of 3-wire core can be found on pg. 231; it was invented by a group of engineers, based on a similar idea used in Stretch. There is indeed a patent, No. 3,381,282, with six names on it. IBM must have licensed it, but there is nothing on that. I can highly recommend that book; it's in the same league as the later two books on early IBM computers from MIT Press on which he was a co-author. Noel PS: There was recent discussion here of the 8000 series; there are some details on that on pp. 189-191.

6 years, 11 months

2
1
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Care and feeding of true barn-find systems

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

Yesterday I rescued a Sun 3/260 that had been sitting in an open barn for years. It had been "running when parked" a dozen years ago.? It seems to have been covered by a tarp, but otherwise unprotected. All things considered, it doesn't look that bad but it is pretty rough. Any pointers on things that I should and shouldn't do as I start trying to bring it back to life? alan

6 years, 11 months

5
4
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MSCP Conformance tests?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

I'm working on implementing an MSCP controller on top of Joerg Hoppe's Unibone and I'm making pretty good progress -- RT-11 works and I'm working on getting 2.11bsd to boot from it in an 11/84 (it works well enough to load "boot" which then loads the kernel, then things fall over). However, given the complexity of the protocol I'd like to be able to test it against something official rather than going from OS to OS and hammering out issues as I find them. DEC's UDA50 diagnostics assume an actual UDA50 (and expect specific behaviors like onboard diagnostics, etc.) and I don't really want to emulate a UDA50 -- I just want to implement a generic MSCP controller properly. I'm assuming the answer is "no" but did DEC ever provide actual MSCP conformance tests (for PDP-11 or VAX) to allow third parties to test their implementations? Thanks as always, Josh

6 years, 11 months

1
0
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Plane of core memory

by ullbeking＠andrewnesbit.org

Hello all, I have been wanting to acquire a plane of magnetic core memory as a piece of computing history. My partner actually thinks they look very beautiful and says we should frame it, if we ever find a plane. At the time I was thinking about memory from the S/360. But in retrospect, this is not necessary. It would, however, be nice to know what computer a prospective purchase likely came from. It adds to the meaning. One of my online friends just pointed this to me, which I am considering purchasing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264262833353 There is no indication of what sort of computer it came from. However I have been told to check the bus connector. Does anybody here have any ideas? For example, what is it? Or, if you don't know, could you point me in the right direction so I can do the research myself? Thanks!! Kind regards, Andrew -- OpenPGP key: EB28 0338 28B7 19DA DAB0 B193 D21D 996E 883B E5B9

6 years, 11 months

18
29
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Control Console, but not PDP-10

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

The PDP-10 Control Console sold for $3,650.00. Amazing! Now consider a DSKY. Currently at $27,500.00. Auction estimate: $60,000+ Great provenance! ?The DSKY that saved Apollo 14.? https://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=5222 ?Apollo 14 LM Simulator Computer Display and Keyboard (DSKY) from MIT Instrumentation Laboratory? Historically significant Apollo Guidance Computer Display and Keyboard (DSKY) unit from the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, used by Don Eyles and Sam Drake to verify the software patch needed to avoid an abort during the Apollo 14 lunar landing sequence. The data entry and display device measures 8? x 8? x 6.5?, and has 19 keys and an electroluminescent digital display. The back of the unit retains its metal NASA parts tag which reads, ?Apollo G & N System, AGC DSKY Assy, Part No. 2003985-041, Serial No. RAY 26, NAS 9-497, Designed by M.I.T. Instrumentation Lab, Mfg. by Raytheon Co., " with yellow inspection stamps above. In fine condition. Accompanied by a detailed letter of provenance from the present owner, who was employed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory to design, build, and maintain the CM and LM cockpit simulators. He retained the DSKY in 1978 when the LM cockpit simulator was dismantled and discarded. The DSKY was the astronaut's interface to the Apollo Guidance Computer developed by MIT, and was critical to every aspect of the mission. Each program had a two-digit code and commands were entered as two-digit numbers in a verb-noun sequence. The device permitted the astronauts to collect and provide flight information necessary for the precise landings on the moon. It was the DSKY that provided the astronauts with critical burn times for engine firings, course corrections, trajectories, and other key calculations vital in getting a crew to and from the moon. The DSKY also reported the program alarm moments before the LM touched down on the lunar surface to land. During Apollo 14, a loose ball of solder floating inside the abort switch of the LM Antares caused an intermittent short circuit, threatening to accidentally activate the switch and rocket the module back into orbit during its landing sequence. In order to prevent that scenario, MIT computer programmer Don Eyles, a developer of the AGC's source code, was asked to hack his own software to find a workaround. This represented the most dramatic moment for MIT's programmers throughout the entire Apollo program, as they had just three to four hours to work out a fix, test it, and relay it to the astronauts in time for Powered Descent Initiation (PDI). Eyles accomplished his task in just two hours, developing a 26-command sequence to be entered into the DSKY that reprogrammed the AGC to ignore the abort button. The codes were relayed to Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell with ten minutes to spare, and the LM Antares successfully touched down on the lunar surface at 09:18:11 UTC on February 5, 1971. As the MIT DSKY used to verify the code that saved the Apollo 14 mission, this is an exceptionally important piece of space history. -----

6 years, 11 months

4
5
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Plane of core memory

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jon Elson > As soon as somebody figured out that you could combine the sense and > inhibit wires, everybody immediately went to 3-wire planes. I"m suprised the idea wasn't patented. Or maybe it was, and they made the license widely available at modest terms? Noel

6 years, 11 months

3
2
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PDP-11/93 and PMI Memory

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Well, I was finally able to get a PMI memory board to expand my 11/93 to the full 4 Meg. (Thanks Paul!) I thought it would be as simple as configuring what bank I wanted it to fill and inserting it (in front of the CPU). Sadly, that didn't work. First problem is the only document i could find is not for the actual version of the board I have. It has the same switch sets so I tried it anyway. Set it to be in the upper 2Meg and gave it the next CSR after the on board memory. No luck. 11/93 still reports 1024KWords and the Map command shows neither the additional memory or the second memory CSR. Anybody have any experience with this? Is there a switch I have to change on the CPU module to make it recognize the additional external memory? IS there something about PMI that I am missing? Any advice gratefully appreciated. bill

6 years, 11 months

2
1
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Latest additions to Sellam's sale list

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Happy Spring, fellers! Here is the latest batch of goodies for your perusing pleasure: Amiga 3000-25/50 Commodore 1902A Monitor Daystar Digital Turbo 601 Accelerator Radius Precision Color Pro 24XK Accelerated 24-bit Graphics I/F Atari Mega ST4 Atari Mega ST Keyboard (American) HP Plotter Pens 0.3mm - 5 pen BLACK Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.3mm - 5 pen BLUE Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.3mm - 5 pen PURPLE Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.3mm - 5 pen ORANGE Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.3mm - 5 pen RED Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.3mm - Multi-Color Custom Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.6mm - 5 pen GREEN Pack (Transparency) HP Plotter Pens 0.6mm - 5 pen BLUE Pack (Transparency) HP Plotter Pens 0.6mm - 5 pen RED Pack (Transparency) HP Plotter Pens 0.6mm - 5 pen PURPLE Pack (Transparency) HP Plotter Pens 0.6mm - 5 pen Multi-Color Pack (Transparency) HP Plotter Pens 0.7mm - 5 pen BLACK Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.7mm - 5 pen GREEN Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.7mm - 5 pen BLUE Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.7mm - 5 pen PURPLE Pack (Paper) HP Plotter Pens 0.7mm - 5 pen RED Pack (Paper) IBM PCjr with IBM PCjr Carrying Case IBM Terminal Controller Port Box IBM PS/1 Consultant Atari 520ST Atari Portfolio Technical Reference Guide HP 9815 Hayes Smartmodem 1200 Hayes Smartmodem 2400 Hayes Smartmodem OPTIMA 2400 Iomega PC800B SCSI Controller Star Micronics NX-1000 Multi-font Printer Disk interface bus monitor Electrohome TTL Color Interface Navarone Commodore 64 carthridge port expander Practical Peripherals Pocket FAX/Modem Apple StyleWriter II Sun Microsystems SPARCstation 1 Sun Microsystems SPARCstation Prototype Links to information on these items and more can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hi… Photos on the latest posted items will be available later this evening. You may always inquire if you require more information on a particular item. Per standard procedure, please contact me directly via e-mail to make an offer on a particular item. Thanks! Sellam

6 years, 11 months

1
0
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Digital Standard Mumps

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Does anyone know what the current status of this might be? I am fairly certain Mentec didn't get this and I am not sure anyone did. Did it merely die when everyone thought Mumps was on the down hill slide? Was it ever really a DEC product or was it something DEC picked up along the way after Mass General let it out of its cage? bill

6 years, 11 months

5
8
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PDP-11/83 w/FPU?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Allison > Experience is that an 11/23 or 23+ will run V6 as mine does. What changes did you make to get it to run? (I assume the stock binary wouldn't run.) Noel

6 years, 11 months

2
1
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PDP-11/83 w/FPU?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: W2HX > i have a few CPUs available to me, a 11/23+, an 11/73 and I also have > available to me an 11/83 > I would like to try to run as many different OS's as may interest me, > including some unixes as possible (bsd...etc). Early Unixes in general will run on those machines - but not straight off the tape (since they didn't exist then, and have quirks which aren't supported). I've brought up V6 on a /23 (which must have the KTF11-A MMU chip); here: http://gunkies.org/wiki/Running_UNIX_V6_on_an_-11/23 are instructions on exactly what (minor) changes need to be made for it to run. The /73 and /83 should be subsets of that, although you'll want to start with m45.s, because those machines support the split-I-D MMU of the -11/45. (A /23 Unix binary would boot/run on them, if you don't feel like doing a special one for them.) I haven't yet tried V6 on them; if you want me to, and do a writeup, let me know. The /73 and /83 have LTC registers, so on those you won't need the LTC hack. Also, you may know this already, but if not, note that the /83 is a PMI: http://gunkies.org/wiki/Private_Memory_Interconnect machine, and _MUST_ be plugged into a Q/CD backplane _only_; plugging into a standard Q/Q backplane will _damage_ it. > would I see any improvement in performance with the FPU compared to > without it? Or does the application running need to be something like > fortran to see any perceivable difference? As someone noted, the /73 and /83 implement thefloating point instructions in microcode, so the code can't tell if the optional FPJ11 FP hardware accelerator is plugged in or not. In general, only on applications (the language is not relevant) which are heavy users of FP would you see any difference. On the /23, with no KEF11-A FPU chip plugged in, there are no floating point instructions at all, so any application which tries to use them will blow out (although under V6 there's an emulator); see here: http://gunkies.org/wiki/Setting_up_UNIX_-_Sixth_Edition and search for 'floating point' to see discussion of it). > From: Ethan Dicks > v5, v6, and v7 UNIX shouldn't require any sort of math hardware. Don't know v5/v7 in detail, but AFAIK that's accurate. V6 can _support_ FP hardware on machines which have it, and is otherwised prepared to emulate those instructions (see above). > From: Paul Koning > I think that was typically called "EAE" (extended arithmetic element), > a Unibus peripheral that implemented integer mul/div ... It only > applies to 11/20 and 11/05 since all the other machines have the > relevant instructions built into the CPU. Also the -11/04 and -11/03 were both missing the EIS; the former could use the EAE, for the latter the optional KEV11-A or KEV11-B microcode chips both provide it. > From: Josh Dersch > The EAE was also an option on the 11/40. Technically, on any UNIBUS machine; on the /40, the EIS (added instructions, not the device model of the EAE) was available via an optional board in the CPU. Noel

6 years, 11 months

3
2
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Plane of core memory

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Thu, 4/18/19, dwight via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > My understanding was that the mercury delay lines > needed periodic repairs ( not sure what the cause > was but mercury does dissolve into many metals ). > If I were going to make a delay line memory, I'd go with > the magnetostrictive. These are practical to make. One just > needs a little ingenuity and a spool of piano wire. > Dwight Or still do a fluid one, but take Turing's suggestion and use gin as the medium. BLS

6 years, 11 months

2
1
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PDP-11/83 w/FPU?

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

?Hi friends. I am putting together a PDP-11 set up. i have a few CPUs available to me, a 11/23+, an 11/73 and I also have available to me an 11/83, M8190-AE . I would like to try to run as many different OS's as may interest me, including some unixes as possible (bsd...etc). My question is, are there any OSes that need the floating point option? Another question is, would I see any improvement in performance with the FPU compared to without it? Or does the application running need to be something like fortran to see any perceivable difference? Thanks

6 years, 12 months

6
5
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Testing...

by cctalk＠gtaylor.tnetconsulting.net

...cctalk digest mark as read. -- Grant. . . . unix || die

6 years, 12 months

1
0
0 0

Pleas ID this IBM system....

by h.j.stegeman＠hccnet.nl

Hi William, I contacted the seller and asked for the docs. He returned some pics with a pile of BBB's. Regards Henk www.ibmsystem3.nl

6 years, 12 months

2
1
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ATEX PDP-11 For Sale in Houston

by tsraguso＠gmail.com

I am selling an Atex PDP-11/34. The computer has: J11 CPU, 11 MB RAM, 2 BA11-LE expansion chassis, a second backplane, an SMD disk controller and LAN hardware. Items are all untested, sold as-is. Local pickup is preferred, but I will consider shipping freight. Please make an offer on the whole machine, or any piece of it.

6 years, 12 months

7
6
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Adding floppy drives to my PDP-11?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Charles Morris > it appears that the RXV21 will only work with an RX02 drive... So an RX02 can be jumpered to work with the non-DMA RXV11; but the DMA RXV21 can't be configured to work with an RX01. Which of these two is a more interesting/useful thing to be able to do? People at MIT used to theorize the existence of a virulent biological virus, 'Honeywell Brain Damage'; I wonder if there's a DEC mutation? > Just wondering what my options are for hooking up any kind of floppy > drives. I could sell the RXV21 and buy/trade for an RXV11 (M7946) > instead Those used to be fairly common on eBay for not many dineros; I only see one moderately expensive one at the moment, though. I'd definitely go this way, though - maybe Paul A has one available? Noel

6 years, 12 months

2
1
0 0

Dilog CQ1610 switch settings?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I have a Dilog CQ-1610 serial line card (16 ports!) that I'd either like to sell, or at least put it in my backplane and play with it since I have a copy of TSX+ :) But I can't find any info, especially the DIP switch settings. All I see is "emulates a Unibus DH-11" but that is not even close for hardware/layout. Any thoughts? thanks Charles

6 years, 12 months

1
0
0 0

"arx-149" computer. .. what Is?

by couryhouse＠aol.com

It is in a? metal? suitcase appears? to? be? military analog? computer Ed! In a message dated 4/15/2019 11:52:41 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 4/14/2019 5:44 PM, Sam O'nella via cctalk wrote: > Is there a specific reference you have for this? > > Sent from my Apple /////c > >> On Apr 14, 2019, at 2:16 AM, ED SHARPE via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> "arx-149"? computer. .. what Is?thanks ed# > I'd like to know too. I never could quite understand just what Marvin The Martian said. " The *** 32 * **** um *space ** xx ** later *, :)

6 years, 12 months

4
5
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"arx-149" computer. .. what Is?

by couryhouse＠aol.com

"arx-149" ? computer. .. what Is?thanks ed#

6 years, 12 months

5
4
0 0

DELQA?

by aaron＠aaronsplace.co.uk

Unsurprisingly the DEQNA card in my PDP-11/73 is quite unstable and results in 2.11BSD panicing. Is there anything that can be done about this? Other than unplugging it that is... I don't think there very much broadcast traffic making its way to the PDP. It's usually when I'm transferring files. If not, does anyone have a DELQA card they would be willing to part with (preferably in the UK) for a sensible price? Thanks, Aaron. -- Aaron Jackson - M6PIU Researcher at University of Nottingham http://aaronsplace.co.uk/

6 years, 12 months

3
3
0 0

FS: Qbus serial line cards

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I ran this ad back in 2015, will try again :) I was going through my board collection and found three PDP-11 boards I've never used in years and don't see a foreseeable need. No idea of condition, but they're visually clean and neat, stored in antistatic bags. The serial cards came out of my working 11/23+ but I've not tested them (since I already have a 16-line card and only 2 terminals). I have (one each): M7957 DZV11 Quad height 4-line serial card M8053 DMV11 "Microprogram Control" synchronous controller card (looks like it was intended for networking with 56k modems) Dilog CQ1610 16-line serial card. Make any reasonable offers. + shipping from US zip 65775. thanks Charles

6 years, 12 months

1
0
0 0

Adding floppy drives to my PDP-11?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I have a PDP-11/23+ with two RL02's in a corporate cabinet but no floppy drives. Also an RXV21 (M8029) card. My PDP-8/A has RX01 drives, and I was hoping just to run the cable over to the -11 when I wanted to use floppies on it. But after some searching, it appears that the RXV21 will only work with an RX02 drive... Just wondering what my options are for hooking up any kind of floppy drives. I could sell the RXV21 and buy/trade for an RXV11 (M7946) instead, to use with the RX01 in the other rack. Or look for an RX02 that won't break the bank - but that won't fit in the corporate cabinet. I do have another cabinet but it's got other rack-mount gear in it at the moment. What about smaller drives (RX50? RX33?)... can those be interfaced to the 11/23+ Qbus? Other thoughts? thanks Charles

6 years, 12 months

5
4
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Interesting article in Spectrum about IBM's System/360

by ce.murillosanchez＠gmail.com

Building the System/360 Mainframe Nearly Destroyed IBM https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-revolution/building-the-syst…

6 years, 12 months

6
7
0 0

Daisywhell typewriter emulating a TTY

by couryhouse＠aol.com

I? remember? in '79? ?a? KSR? Diablo? was? ?the? dream? KSR? printing? terminal? and? ?cost? like? ?3? grand? Oh? how? we? used? to? dream of having one of these? back then! We? do have? one in the museum's? collection...? although? ?have not attempted to power up? to use. Ed# In a message dated 4/10/2019 8:40:58 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 4/10/19 8:16 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote: > On 04/10/2019 03:38 AM, GerardCJAT via cctalk wrote: >> I would like to emulate a TTY, using a daisywheel typewriter. >> > Well, there are Qume and Diablo.? Diablo was bought by Xerox, so some of > them carry that label. > Most of the stand-alone versions had serial (RS-232) ASCII interface. I've given a couple of the Diablo KSRs (that's what the Hitypes with the keyboard were known as).? I didn't care for them much--no immediacy of sound and keypress--the two seem unrelated. Daisywheel printers are incredibly difficult to get rid of--nobody wants to pay shipping.? I got rid of the last one by throwing in a complete system with it.? Still have a NEC Spinwriter mouldering away. --Chuck

7 years

4
13
0 0

Control Console, but not PDP-10

by dr＠birkel.org

The PDP-10 Control Console sold for $3,650.00. Amazing! Now consider a DSKY. Currently at $27,500.00. Auction estimate: $60,000+ Great provenance! ?The DSKY that saved Apollo 14.? https://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=5222 -----

7 years

6
5
0 0

TeleVideo's MmmOST

by pat＠vax11.net

I've been adding a few more blog posts, and put up the first one on what (to me) makes TeleVideo actually interesting - their MmmOST client/server operating system. I hope to get more up soon, but I have a (somewhat lengthy) introduction based on what I've been able to learn about MmmOST: https://worldofvax.blogspot.com/2019/04/televideo-systems-part-v-mmmost.html I'm still looking for TS-800A's and TS-806/816's if anyone has some laying around. It'd be informative to get a real MmmOST service processor up and running. Pat

7 years

2
2
0 0

Daisywhell typewriter emulating a TTY

by mark＠markesystems.com

On 4/10/19 8:16 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote: > On 04/10/2019 03:38 AM, GerardCJAT via cctalk wrote: >> I would like to emulate a TTY, using a daisywheel typewriter. >> > Well, there are Qume and Diablo.? Diablo was bought by Xerox, so some of > them carry that label. > Most of the stand-alone versions had serial (RS-232) ASCII interface. The Diablo was the first one I thought of. I had one for some time, and it was very reliable and produced high quality output. Also much faster than the Teletype, and faster also than the TermiNet 300 I had at the same time. There's currently one on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263756218024 ~~ Mark Moulding

7 years

2
1
0 0

Daisywheel typewriter emulating a TTY

by james＠attfield.co.uk

>> Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2019 10:38:00 +0200 >> From: "GerardCJAT" <gerardcjat at free.fr> >> To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>, <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >> >> I would like to emulate a TTY, using a daisywheel typewriter. >> One immediately think : " Find an IBM Selectric, a Friden flexowriter or a like " >> But NO, I want something less complex, mechanical wise. >> That's why I want to investigate on daisywheel typewriters. >> I am aware of IBM Actionwriter and Triumph/Adler/Royal Gabriele 9009 that can be used >> as a printer with a dedicated interface BUT that is one way only : Printer only ! >> From my investigation, **** so far ***, KEYBOARD does not send ( upload ? ) any signals. >> ( or a special command code is required ?? ) >> Any suggestion for "others" daisywhell typewriters that could do >> OR someone already went this way ? >> OR any documentation ( even user's manual ) on the dedicated interface : >> ( IF 600 Computer Interface for Triumph/Adler/Royal Gabriele 9009 ) >> ( ???name??? for IBM Actionwriter ) I immediately thought - any reason a Diablo 1650 wouldn't do?

7 years

1
0
0 0

Daisywhell typewriter emulating a TTY

by gerardcjat＠free.fr

I would like to emulate a TTY, using a daisywheel typewriter. One immediately think : " Find an IBM Selectric, a Friden flexowriter or a like " But NO, I want something less complex, mechanical wise. That's why I want to investigate on daisywheel typewriters. I am aware of IBM Actionwriter and Triumph/Adler/Royal Gabriele 9009 that can be used as a printer with a dedicated interface BUT that is one way only : Printer only ! >From my investigation, **** so far ***, KEYBOARD does not send ( upload ? ) any signals. ( or a special command code is required ?? ) Any suggestion for "others" daisywhell typewriters that could do OR someone already went this way ? OR any documentation ( even user's manual ) on the dedicated interface : ( IF 600 Computer Interface for Triumph/Adler/Royal Gabriele 9009 ) ( ???name??? for IBM Actionwriter )

7 years

6
5
0 0

by cctalk＠ibm51xx.net

I rescued a LaserJet 4+ printer that I have been trying to restore. Initially everything seemed ok and it seemed as if there may be just a bit of an issue with paper pickup which I attributed to old paper in the tray. However, soon I started getting the accordion paper jam which led me to replacing all the rollers including the transfer roller. Now the paper flows freely! However, I am having a new problem with printing. When I print, the first 5-10 pages initially come out blank. The printer does not produce any errors or error codes. The blank pages are warm (not hot though) as expected out of a LJ. After closer inspection it seems that the pages are printed SUPER light and gradually get darker the more I use the printer continuously. Eventually the printer starts printing continuous crisp black pages like new. This is a whole page phenomenon (i.e. not gaps, missing areas, etc.). A picture of the effect can be seen on VFC at: www.vcfed.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=52120&d=1554074105 Sorry for the poor quality picture. Things I have checked/tried: 1. Using a brand new NOS toner (according to HP toner does not go bad as long as it was sealed - which this was) 2. Swapping the new transfer roller for the old one - same problem, I have to print out a bunch of pages until the printer starts acting normally. 3. I have checked the HV and an image is being transferred to the drum on the toner cartridge. 4. A visual inspection of the fuser shows it to be ok. Obviously this is happening printing demo pages so it has nothing to do with computer, OS, SW, drivers, etc. Anybody run into this before? Any ideas/suggestions. My Google fu turned up a bunch of discussions on the laser door not being aligned correctly but that would seem to be a more permanent issue i.e. unless you fixed the door no pages should print ever. Mine gets better on its own after a number of pages are printed. Plus the door and spring are fine - I checked them just in case. I tried posting on FixYourOwnPrinter.com but for whatever reason the site was not accepting the question. Any other forums you guys would recommend? TIA! -Ali

7 years

9
27
0 0

%20Storage%20for%201/2"%20open%20reel%20tape

by jlw＠jlw.com

> >>/I hit on the idea of using 16mm move film plastic "cans". Much to my />>/surprise, I found that there is still an active market for these things. / > On Mon, 8 Apr 2019, Kevin Monceaux via cctalk wrote: > >/My small 16mm collection is stored on an open reel tape cart. / > I wonder how tape rings would do on 16mm reels? You mean the write rings?? They're fixed at the hub size.... As for write rings, most sites had more than they actually need, many times over.? You really only need as many as you have tape drives... I've always wanted to make an Olympics logo out of write wrings, but never could find all the right colors. I have a couple black ones around the gearshift in my car (like horseshoes). -- Jeff Woolsey {{woolsey,jlw}@jlw,first.last@{gmail,jlw}}.com Nature abhors straight antennas, clean lenses, and empty storage. "Delete! Delete! OK!" -Dr. Bronner on disk space management Card-sorting, Joel. -Crow on solitaire

7 years

7
7
0 0

George Comstock

by aek＠bitsavers.org

https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2019/03/25/george-comstock-silicon-valley-…

7 years

11
13
0 0

Tape Storage Rack WAS: RE: 1/2" tape storage

by jlw＠jlw.com

> While on the subject of tape storage anyone know if it is still possible to get desktop/table top wire bins to hold tapes in canisters and/or reels? Not that I have that many tapes or anything like that. This would be more for display purposes than anything else. > > Something akin to this: ibm51xx.classiccmp.org/CCTalkPics/taperack.png > > Do they still make things like this or do I have to find it at university junk sale? > > Those are exactly the "dish rack" things I have two of.? Of course, I can't remember where I got them. FWIW, I also have a small rack that holds, uh, 2x4x25 8mm data tapes in their cases.? Said "dish rack" won't fit on top, though. -- Jeff Woolsey {{woolsey,jlw}@jlw,first.last@{gmail,jlw}}.com Nature abhors straight antennas, clean lenses, and empty storage. "Delete! Delete! OK!" -Dr. Bronner on disk space management Card-sorting, Joel. -Crow on solitaire

7 years

1
0
0 0

Pleas ID this IBM system....

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Adrian Stoness > someones bid on them eh hopefully not a scraper Well, a scrapper would want to pay as little as possible, so anyone who wanted to actually save the system should be able to get it. There are a couple of bids on it, but the amounts are derisory. I hope Christian's museum can get it! Noel

7 years

1
0
0 0

Tektronix Keyboard

by dj.taylor4＠comcast.net

This I didn't know. I bought a Tektronix 4207 color graphics terminal without a keyboard recently.? Finding the correct keyboard part number seemed to be a process with great uncertainty, the VintageTEK folks said the correct one was a 2468.? One of these was for sale on ebay for $300 - no way was I paying that much! So I tried one that looked like the keyboard in the TEK catalog of that period, but with a different part number. The connector looked like the right one though.? I got one off ebay, and I thought it was kind of expensive, but it did work with the 4207 terminal. What I didn't understand was a fascination with the black mechanical Cherry switches the keyboard used.? These turn out to be extremely popular with the 'gaming' community.? I don't know if the tektronix keyboard can be used with a modern PC, I haven't looked at the interface signals yet.? The modern PS/2 keyboard has a clock and data line, the DEC LK201 used rs232, so what Tektronix used is anybody's guess.

7 years

5
4
0 0

%20 nonsense

by jlw＠jlw.com

> whats with the weird tag on this thread? Oops, sorry. Clicking on an address in the mailing list viewed as a web page via http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2019-April tries to fire up MacOS X Mail, which I don't want because I use Thunderbird.? So I "Copy Email Address" and paste it into a Thunderbird compose window To: field, and it has cctech at classiccmp.org?Subject=Re:%20'd_subject_line_mess&otherjunk.? I copied that into the Subject: line, and thought something would do the right thing with them upon receipt.? Oh well, there I go overestimating the intelligence of software again. -- Jeff Woolsey {{woolsey,jlw}@jlw,first.last@{gmail,jlw}}.com Nature abhors straight antennas, clean lenses, and empty storage. "Delete! Delete! OK!" -Dr. Bronner on disk space management Card-sorting, Joel. -Crow on solitaire

7 years

4
3
0 0

Re: Storage for 1/2" open reel tape

by jlw＠jlw.com

> I've noted earlier that the vinyl "hanger strips" for 1/2" magnetic tape > have been degrading, becoming brittle and simply breaking away, > sometimes in small particles. I have about a hundred tapes from various contributors, and have noticed no age-related [1] deterioration of the seals, probably because mine don't get handled very much.? About 1/3 of mine have the vinyl hanger strips, another third the autoload seals, and the remainder are in the bulky canisters (with several different closures).? I also have a couple of tape racks (think "dish rack") that hold maybe thirty tapes, but the canisters are too thick to fit in. The tapes hang pretty well from the front lip of the wall-mounted wire shelves (that you can get at most big-box-home-stores) I installed not for that purpose. The thing is, I've read and photographed most of them, so I don't need [2] them anymore.? Their owners, like me, only wanted the data online, not the media back. Most museums have more than they want or can use, as well.? Some tapes have common-sense restrictions on redistribution (Personally Identifiable Information, I think they call it nowadays). I've even got some new, never-written ones.? But it pains me to trash them, so I'm open to suggestions. = [1] I have dropped and broken a couple of them, but that was due to insufficient age of the handler...? Some did not survive the reading process due to oxide-binder aging, but the seals are fine. [2] In many cases, usually by repurposing extra copies of software distribution tapes, the most recent data is shorter than the original, so the tails of older things past the EOF1 label and double tapemark can be read without much difficulty.? The thing is, I didn't figure this out until I'd been reading tapes a while, so the earlier ones may yield to re-examining. -- Jeff Woolsey {{woolsey,jlw}@jlw,first.last@{gmail,jlw}}.com Nature abhors straight antennas, clean lenses, and empty storage. "Delete! Delete! OK!" -Dr. Bronner on disk space management Card-sorting, Joel. -Crow on solitaire

7 years

2
1
0 0

Sticking RL02 positioner

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

One of my RL02 drives (that sat for a long time) has developed what appears to be a sticky head positioner. But it's only a problem going from the full-retracted position to loading track 0. Once it's loaded, the drive will pass all seek and read/write tests. It takes a surprising (to me) amount of force to pull the heads out into the disk area (power off, no pack). When they're out there, the arm slides back and forth easily. Sometimes it won't load at all - push the load button, light goes out, disk spins up to what sounds like normal speed, but the heads never move and the Ready light doesn't come on. There's supposed to be a Fault after 40 secs but that doesn't happen - it'll sit there forever spinning but not ready. If I turn off the power and remove the pack, and pull the positioner out just enough to avoid opening the Heads Home microswitch (which causes a Fault light), then it'll spin up, load track 0, and work fine the rest of the day. The manual (as usual) only recommends replacing the bad assembly for ease in field servicing, which is deliberate. But I don't have a DEC repairman and a warehouse full of parts handy... Is there some kind of adjustment or lubrication I can do? If I replace the positioner then I have to realign the heads (not too bad a job on this drive, though). Any ideas? thanks Charles

7 years

2
2
0 0

Storage for 1/2" open reel tape

by cclist＠sydex.com

I've noted earlier that the vinyl "hanger strips" for 1/2" magnetic tape have been degrading, becoming brittle and simply breaking away, sometimes in small particles. So I set off looking for a low-cost substitute--any hangers that I could rustle up would probably be on their last legs at this late date. I hit on the idea of using 16mm move film plastic "cans". Much to my surprise, I found that there is still an active market for these things. After getting a few samples, I've discovered that the 800' cans fit a 10.5" reel (virtually all of the tape that I get) quite well. I'm not yet finished evaluating samples, but here's a photo of a can from Tuscan Corporation holding a reel of tape: https://i.imgur.com/KPKg75s.jpg The cans are vented, so not hermetically sealed. In the case of film, this is apparently done intentionally, as the acetate base of older film outgasses acetic acid, which only hastens degradation. If anyone's interested, I'll continue to post updates. I've got some >from Larry Urbanski coming in Monday. Larry seems to have the lowest price on these--about $5.75 each. --Chuck

7 years

10
18
0 0

Game of Life for PDP-8

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

Back at VCF PNW, the subject of the Game of Life came up among some peers. I recall messing with the BASIC version that supported 32 by 32 cells, and there's also a FOCAL version that can do a whopping 11 by 11 cells. This was simply not enough. So, I wrote my own implementation and came to the realization of why more cells may not actually be better...it's freaking slow! https://github.com/drovak/pdp8life I've improved the performance a bit using some caching and other tricks to skip extraneous processing and twiddling of bits, but running in SimH for lots of cellular life still takes a while. I haven't been able yet to try it on the real hardware, and I can't say I'm looking forward to the speed of the real machine either! I'm working on a few new versions, which may get wrapped up into some conditional assembly soon. One version will support both storage and non-storage oscilloscopes with a VC8E. Another version may work to actually reduce the size of the bitmap to increase speed; it's all a tradeoff, I suppose. Would love to hear some comments if anyone plays with this. And, if someone significantly speeds things up while keeping the large playing field, I'll be very happy to hear how! Kyle

7 years

3
3
0 0

IBM 360? on eBay.de

by u.tagge＠gmx.de

I'm not affiliated with the seller. https://www.ebay.de/itm/seltene-Anlage-Puma-Computer-IBM-2020/202646831828?…

7 years

1
0
0 0

More stuff looking for a good home

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Here's a list of some more stuff if anyone is interested in making reasonable offers. Probably the last I will have before my demise when my wife will likely send everything that's left to the skip. MODULE Description QTY NUMBER M9202 UNIBUS connector 3 M9302 UNIBUS TERM 2 ADAC 1632TTL 3 ADAC 1616/32HCO 1 Plessey Peripherals 703185-100C & 701877-100 with Cable 1 Data Translation DT2769/EP057 REV F 1 Data Translation DT2769/EP057 REV J 1 Data Translation DT15150/EP075 Dual D/A Converter Module M3106 4 Line Async Mux 1 M3106 4 Line Async Mux (w/broken handle) 1 M9060 LOAD MODULE 1 M8017-AA Async Line Interface 1 M8017 Async Line Interface (w/broken handle and berg socket) 1 G7273 NPG AND BUS GRANT CONTINUITY 5 RL Disk Drive Terminators 4 MV-II Function Select / SLU Module 1 A few modules that I ecpect are rare but of limited interest. Terak 8510 Memory and Video module w/bulkhead connector 1 Terak 8510 Floppy Module w/bulkhead connector 2 Terak 8510 Floppy Module wo/bulkhead connector 2 Terak 8510 RS-232 Serial Module w/bulkhead connector 4 Terak 8510 RS-232 bulkhead connectors 3 Terak 8510 Video bulkhead connectors 2 Condition of the Terak Modules can not be verified. They were functional at the time they were removed but I no longer have any functional Teraks to test them. Shipping would be the smallest size USPS "If it fits it ships" box so you can plan accordingly. bill

7 years

2
3
0 0

VCF PNW 2019: Photos and Survey. Please?

by couryhouse＠aol.com

a pity there are not? name? captions? ? ?for? those of? us that? do? not? travel? well to be? these in person. Great photo? collection though!? Ed# In a message dated 3/31/2019 8:46:29 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: One last spam from VCF PNW 2019 ... Send us your Photos!? We want to put together a shared photo album so thatpeople can see the event from different perspectives.? It's a Google Photosalbum, so if you are a Google Photos user sharing is easy.? If you are nota Google Photos user or you have concerns/questions please let me know andI'll work out an alternative. The shared album can be found at:https://photos.app.goo.gl/e2rzk4iT4aHrQUoy6 Help us make VCF events better!? If you were at the event last weekend Ihave a quick survey that I'd like you to fill out.? The survey will help usshape future events.? The survey is anonymous; we are not collecting emailaddresses unless you want to get a chance at a free t-shirt.? (And eventhen, we are only using the email address for that single purpose.) The survey link is: https://goo.gl/forms/V3DiyxwkpbIOCKn73 Direct feedback by email also works well. Thanks,Mikemichael at vcfed.org or mbbrutman at brutman.com

7 years

1
0
0 0

Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Guy Dunphy > What I want to know is, how do front panels of historic computers so > often get separated from the rest of the computer? I suspect it probably happened a while back, before the start of the vintage computer movement; you need to look at the decisions from the perspective of back then. (As an example, back then, I was offered the complete PDP-11/45 of my old group. I was up to my neck in contemporary, important, alligators - I was on the IESG of the IETF at the time - and didn't have the time to deal with saving it and moving it to my house; so I let it go - a loss I regret terribly now.) Here's what probably happened: the machines were about to be scrapped, and saving the whole machine wasn't practical - often, in part, because those machines were _huge_. (The CPU _alone_ of a KA10 would fill an entire room of a normal house.) So, one has a limit to what one can do. So the choice is to save the front panel alone... or to save nothing. Noel

7 years

4
4
0 0

More old stuff incoming

by sales＠elecplus.com

I talked to a recycler today, who said he told his workers to throw out 2000 Model F keyboards last week, but he doubts they did it. I also asked him about 8088, 2086, and 386 computers. He said they go straight to the grinder. I told him I will buy them. Then an HP dealer contacted me, wants to know if I buy old HP stuff. I told him Apollo and earlier. Let me know if there is something specific HP you want. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

7 years

33
97
0 0

PDP-8: count number of set bits in a word

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

Just wondering if anyone has come up with a fast way to count the number of 1s in a word on a PDP-8. The obvious way is looping 12 times, rotating the word through the link or sign bit, incrementing a count based on the value of the link or sign. With a small lookup table, you can reduce the total number of loops by counting multiple groups of bits at a time, but this of course comes with the cost of using more memory. Any other suggestions? Much appreciated, Kyle

7 years

6
5
0 0

PDP-8: count number of set bits in a word

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

At 08:49 PM 5/04/2019 +0000, you wrote: >Hi Kyle, > >hat's a really interesting problem, and the government (NSA) wanted this badly and done FAST. > >they asked Seymour Cray to create a specific instruction for this and they called it 'population count' > >Anybody know the why and how it is useful? > >I am deep in matrix math books and 'classification algorithms' in statistics math, looking into electronics reliability WCCA, so this is an interesting topic. > >Randy If we're considering hardware solutions, then the best way is to build a simple I/O device, with a writeable latch for the data word, fed as address into some nonvolatile memory like a big EPROM or flash, the output of which can be read via a port. Fill the NV memory with the required lookup table (derived by some code written in anything. BASIC for lols.) So the required code is just one write and one read. See the size chart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPROM The biggest EPROM made was ST M27C322, 32 Mbit, 2Mx16. 21 Address bits, 16 data bits, 80nS access time. http://pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheet/stmicroelectronics/6184.pdf Wasteful though, since the result only needs 5 bits. For an 8 bit result, 27C4001, 512K x 8 bit, 19 Address bits. http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs150/fa02/docs/M27C4001.pdf If the argument is only a 16bit word, then use a 27512. 64K x 8 bit Guy

7 years

1
0
0 0

Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

Subject: Re: Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay > > From: Guy Dunphy > > > What I want to know is, how do front panels of historic computers so > > often get separated from the rest of the computer? > The other thing that happened on PDP-11/70s was that if your system was maintained by DEC, the field service group would want to install the KY11-RE Remote Serial Console Control which replaced the beautiful front panel with a more or less blank panel with only a key switch. It let DEC dial in and run diagnostics, and the Blinkin' Light panel was set aside often in the collection of someone. However the blank panel still needs the bezel for a good display of it. So unfortunately, there are more console panels than bezels which often did not get salvaged at the time the PDP-11/70 was taken out of service. Mark M.

7 years

2
1
0 0

Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > because it's $125 lower than the last one that sold. > https://www.ebay.com/itm/113190860596 Wow - somebody got a real deal! Looks like the seller listed it as a BiN with a low (for what it was) price; bet they're kicking themselves now, seeing what this one is going for, that they didn't go the auction route. Noel

7 years

3
2
0 0

FTGH - Compaq laptop LTE 5280

by Richard.Sheppard＠telus.com

Worked last time powered (no guarantees), with expansion dock. Free for pickup only in Toronto, Canada. Richard Sheppard

7 years

2
1
0 0

Retaining file-modified timestamps

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

The following, which I just sent to TUHS, might be of intererest to some here. Noel ---- So, a while back I mentioned that I'd done tweaked versions of 'cp', 'mv', 'chmod' etc for V6 which retained the original modified date of a file (when the actual contents were not changed). I had some requests for those versions, which I have finally got around to checking and uploading (along with 'mvall', which for some reason V6 didn't have). I've added them to a couple of my V6 pages: http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/V6Unix.html#mvall http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/ImprovingV6.html#FileWrite Note (per the page) that the latter group all require the smdate() system call, which was commented out in 'vanilla' V6 (because using it confused the backup system); the page gives instructions on how to turn it back on.

7 years

1
0
0 0

Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay and no, a "best offer" of $250 for the front panel will not be accepted. :-) Bill

7 years

8
8
0 0

H786 power supply help wanted

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I have a PDP-11/23+ and the power supply (H786) "last ran when parked" a year or so ago. But there's no DC output at all today, and the fans are running so there is AC power... I also have the original H7861 that came with it, which had a blown chopper transistor. I couldn't find anything else bad, so I replaced the transistor and within a few seconds of running, it blew again. :( So I need some help - I've never been good at fixing switching supplies, not to mention the high-side hazards. The simplest solution would be just to replace it with a working unit. Anyone got one to sell, hopefully cheap? :) If not, can anyone fix one or both of mine? thanks! Charles

7 years

5
5
0 0

Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and Kenbak on Ebay

by couryhouse＠aol.com

any? relation? to? marlys nelson? at? river falls? Ed#In a message dated 4/3/2019 12:40:06 PM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: I mean that semi-sarcastically as this list probably knows better already. =] -- Anders Nelson +1 (517) 775-6129 www.erogear.com On Wed, Apr 3, 2019 at 3:37 PM Anders Nelson <anders.k.nelson at gmail.com> wrote: > My god people, stop bidding! There are 6 days left. > -- > Anders Nelson > > +1 (517) 775-6129 > > www.erogear.com > > > On Wed, Apr 3, 2019 at 2:51 PM Bill Degnan via cctalk < > cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> Yes there is a PDP 10 front panel and? Kenbak on Ebay >> >> and no, a "best offer" of $250 for the front panel will not be accepted. >> :-) >> >> Bill >> >

7 years

2
1
0 0

2.11 BSD on an 11/93 with an CMD SCSI Module

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Bill Gunshannon > when I get it done I will be glad to provide you with a dump of the > root and usr partitions. I may be able to do SIMH disk images as well, > but I have been working mostly with E11. E11 disk images in files aren't anything odd, just a straight bit-bit copy of what would be in the parititon. (When I transfer RK05 partitions on E11 to SD cards for use in the QSIC, I just 'dd' the file holding the partition to the appropriate blocks on the SD card, and it comes out fine.) Dunno about SIMH disk imaages (I know the tapes images are tweaked). Noel

7 years

2
1
0 0

2.11 BSD on an 11/93 with an CMD SCSI Module

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Anybody had any luck with this configuration? I used VTServer to install it and everything works fine except for the very last step. It installs completely and boots from within VTServer with ra(0,0,0)unix. I issue the "dd if=/mdec/rauboot of=/def/rra0a count=1" and it completes successfully. But the disk still won't boot. I have tried it three times now with the same results. Suggestions? bill

7 years

10
36
0 0

Burroughs BU4400 tape drive. What is it?

by mike＠fenz.net

Hi all, I just bought this Burroughs BU4400 tape drive: https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1999913439 As the seller says, Google comes up empty. Seems strange, I would have expected some reference somewhere. Does anyone know anything about it? I'm going to pick it up this evening. It'd be superb as a display piece, but I'd be really keen to drive it with something and get it reading and writing. On that topic, are there any suggestions on how I could get my hands on a few tapes, preferably with a format this drive can read? The actual contents aren't important; even blanks would be OK, though not being able to get it reading before moving on to writing would make the project more difficult. Cheers, Mike

7 years

3
7
0 0

The Retro Search is back up

by trash80＠internode.on.net

This will mostly interest TRS-80 enthusiasts on this list. Being a TRS-80 enthusiast myself it has been a long-time dream of mine to create a specialised TRS-80 search engine but creating a web facing search engine to crawl numerous sites, index and categorise was quite difficult on a low budget. For some time I used Google's Custom Search, the ad free paid version, but Google withdrew that product so it took be back to my starting point. I could have continued with the ad version but somehow I didn't want a page full of ads for users of this site. In any case doing it in my own right gave me a lot more granularity and control. So after much experimenting and trialling I finally produced the site in its own right and have just relaunched it. It is, in fact will always be, work in progress and I'm always on the lookout for more TRS-80 resources to add to the site and for any advice on omissions, corrections, additions etc. If you know any sites that I haven't included please use the contact form on the site to let me know. Check it out at theretrosearch.com Thank you!! Kevin Parker

7 years

3
2
0 0

MV II help

by aek＠bitsavers.org

can anyone help this guy out? From: Benjamin Carlson <bcarlson at northpointdefense.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2019 9:12 AM Subject: Fwd: Re: MicroVAX Greta, my name is Ben Carlson and I am attempting to restore an old DEC MicroVAX II for the University of Oklahoma's collections department (see email below, Kerry is their curator). At this point, I believe I can get the hardware operating but I have no operating system for itas the Air Force insisted on destroying the hard drive. I have been able to replace the hard drive and the system has a tape drive and CD-ROM. Do you have any idea where I might find the OS? Also, any documentation would be great as well. Thanks for your help! Benjamin Carlson, PhD, CISSP Senior Research Engineer North Point Defense Rome, NY (315)571-0221 x 1010

7 years

5
6
0 0

The story of... PDP-1

by lproven＠gmail.com

DEC archival docs tell the story of the genesis of the PDP-1: https://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/timeline/pdp-1story.htm -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

7 years

3
2
0 0

IBM 360 Model 50 information?

by ken.shirriff＠gmail.com

I'm writing a S/360 Model 50 emulator that runs at the microcode level, in order to drive a Model 50 front panel accurately. I'm about 80% of the way there, but there are some microcode operations that I haven't figured out. So I figured I'd ask if anyone has obscure Model 50 manuals that aren't on bitsavers, or perhaps even the ALDs. I was surprised at how extremely different the microcode is from the 360 instruction set. I've figured out a bunch of the strange micro-instructions, such as S47?E, which ORs the emit field into flags 4 through 7. But there are many micro-instructions that still puzzle me, like F?FPSL4 which maybe a floating point shift left 4 and 1?BS*MB which does something with byte stats. So if anyone happens to have a Model 50 microcode programming manual sitting around, please let me know :-) Thanks, Ken

7 years

11
15
0 0

ISO: Docs for Dilog DQ100

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Trying to track down technical info for a Dilog DQ100 controller. This is a QBus controller compatible with the RK11 (or RKV11, in this case) that works with various RK05-compatible drives. (See the brochure here: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dilog/brochures/DQ100_Brochure_Aug1980.pdf) At minimum, I'd like to know the connector pinout so that I might wire up a Diablo 31 to it. Thanks as always, Josh

7 years

2
3
0 0

IBM 360 Model 50 information?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Donzelli > It is very likely IBM does not have the information anymore - at least > not in the archives. ... they simply did not keep much from that era. > It was probably disposed of back when IBM was in trouble 30 years ago. Which emphasizes that it's important to make the point to IBM that we wouldn't be asking for IBM to supply the information; rather, this is about being able to reproduce info that IBM itself may no longer have. Is anyone up for tackling IBM? If so, and we need support, I can ask my Master, Jerry Saltzer, if anyone he knew at IBM is still there - he used to have a lot of influence inside IBM (he's the person who got FS killed, I was informed). But that was a long time ago... > From: Jay Jaeger > I suspect, but do not know of course, that the reasons that the owners > would not part with their copies was ... concern over their value > becoming diminished by having scanned copies around. One easy way to test that is to have Al ask the person with the ALD's if they'd be OK with having that stuff scanned if we got an OK from IBM. Noel

7 years

2
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VCF PNW 2019: Photos and Survey. Please?

by mbbrutman＠brutman.com

One last spam from VCF PNW 2019 ... Send us your Photos! We want to put together a shared photo album so that people can see the event from different perspectives. It's a Google Photos album, so if you are a Google Photos user sharing is easy. If you are not a Google Photos user or you have concerns/questions please let me know and I'll work out an alternative. The shared album can be found at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/e2rzk4iT4aHrQUoy6 Help us make VCF events better! If you were at the event last weekend I have a quick survey that I'd like you to fill out. The survey will help us shape future events. The survey is anonymous; we are not collecting email addresses unless you want to get a chance at a free t-shirt. (And even then, we are only using the email address for that single purpose.) The survey link is: https://goo.gl/forms/V3DiyxwkpbIOCKn73 Direct feedback by email also works well. Thanks, Mike michael at vcfed.org or mbbrutman at brutman.com

7 years

1
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VCF/PNW Exhibit & Trip Report - The Old Calculator Museum

by rickb＠bensene.com

Hi, everyone, Myself and my friend Mike, representing the Old Calculator Museum, exhibited the line of Wang Laboratories electronic calculators at the Vintage Computer Federation's Vintage Computer Festival/Pacific Northwest edition, at the Living Computer Museum+Labs in Seattle, Washington this past weekend. This was the 2nd annual VCF/PNW, and it was clearly a success, as it was significantly larger than the first event last year (which I went to, but didn't exhibit at). There were 30 exhibits, all of which were really interesting, and a good-sized consignment area, as well as quite a group of guest speakers who had interesting topics to present. Of course, being held in the Living Computer Museum+Labs was a bonus, as the museum is an amazing place, with lots of vintage computers up and running and accessible for people to actually use and experience. The Old Calculator Museum exhibit consisted of a Wang LOCI-2 and punched card readers (1st and 2nd-generation card readers), a Wang 360E w/320K keyboard/display unit;362E with 370 Programmer and 371 Punched Card Reader; 360SE 4-terminal timeshared calculator package with two 360KT trig keyboards, 360K, and 320K keyboards, all running simultaneously off the 360SE electronics unit; a Wang 720C; Wang 600-14TP; Wang 500-14TP; Wang 462 and 452 Programmable calculators; and a Wang C-52. These are representatives of all of the lines of calculators that Wang Laboratories made during its years in the electronic calculator market (1965-1974). All of the machines were running and available for visitors to play with, with the exception of the LOCI-2 (which has a thermal issue that manifests after about 3 minutes of operation) and the 500-14TP, which has some kind of problem that renders it catatonic that I've not yet had a chance to try to diagnose/repair). Also shown was an original Wang Labs factory spare parts kit for the 300-series calculators & peripherals, another Wang 360SE electronics package opened up so people could see the insides, a number of circuit boards from Wang 300-series keyboard/display units, as well as core memory boards from 300-series electronics packages, core memory and circuit boards from Wang 700-series calculators, and original sales documentation for Wang's 700, 500, and 600-series calculators. The exhibit turned out pretty well, though I didn't have time to make up signs to identify the stuff until we actually got there and made hand-written signs, which turned out to be good enough -- it seems that people could actually read my chicken-scratch handwriting. The signs included the retail price at the time the machine was introduced, and people were stunned that in 1971, a Wang 720C outfitted as the exhibited machine retailed for $7,000. A lot of people asked how much that would be in today's dollars, and I was able to use my phone to find out...about $50,000. The exhibit was almost constantly busy both days for the whole time the museum was open, (10 AM - 5 PM), and the folks were all very careful with the old machines, and had really great questions about them. I was pretty surprised at how much interest there was in these old beasts. The crowd was pretty mixed in age, from folks who actually used examples of the machines in school, to youngsters who were totally shocked that this is what calculators were like 50 years ago. The machines ran the whole time the exhibit was open, and amazingly, despite the old Germanium-based transistors in the Wang 300-series calculators, as well as fussy magnetic rope ROMs and core memory in the 700 and 600-series machines, they ran trouble-free. A lot of folks had trouble getting the machines to give answers they expected because of Wang's unusual math entry method. Once they were given a simple explanation of the way the machines worked, they caught on quickly, and got answers they expected. It was a lot of fun to explain and demonstrate the machines to the visitors. The Wang 370 Programmer hooked up to the 362E electronics package was popular. I had a little program punched up on a card that would perform an iterative approximation of Pi. It'd run for 100 iterations, then stop and display the approximation it had come to thus far. People were fascinated by the "spinning" Nixie Tubes as the machine churned away on the iterations. People also liked the 360KT keyboards hooked up the 360SE simultaneous timeshared calculator electronics package. They enjoyed it when I demonstrated the two 360KT keyboard/display units running the Sine of 45 degrees at the same time. The timesharing between the two terminals was obvious as the calculator switched back and forth between each of the keyboards as the calculation, which takes about 25 seconds, was being performed. Nixie tubes were a big attraction. Many younger folks had never seen them in person before, but almost everyone knew about them. I think that the popularization of Nixie tubes in the form of clocks using Nixie tubes for display has brought Nixies to the attention of folks that didn't experience them in the day, but have seen stuff online about Nixie tubes. I did get a little time to wander around the event and look at the other exhibits (there were 30 this year!), and the stuff the folks had was amazing. I was really impressed by Josh Dersch's exhibit of PERC workstations...it was truly amazing to see these rare machines running! I really liked Vince Slyngstad's PDP 8/e with a custom Omnibus board that replicates the vintage (and rare) X/Y analog output board using a CPLD and a couple of DACs such that the PDP 8/e was running actual SPACEWAR code and displaying on a Tektronix display tube. There were a lot of other really great exhibits, including a very complete Atari 800 systems running office productivity tools that made what was considered a gaming computer into a true office machine that was ahead of its time. There was a great exhibit of some classic Silicon Graphics machines running, an exhibit of just about every type of floppy disc and optical media ever produced (some of which are very rare), and a couple of exhibits related to accurately emulating classic computers using contemporary microprocessors to either run vintage "lights & switches" front panels, or even miniaturized front panels built to look and run like the original computers. All of the exhibits were well presented and truly interesting. Just before the event closed, I took a few minutes so I could go upstairs to the computer room and take some photos of the KA-10(which I'd have to say is my favorite vintage computer), when my friend and exhibit helper Mike came through the doors of the computer room, pointed at me, and motioned for me to come with him. I had been talking to two very nice young gentlemen who had a lot of questions about the KA-10, and had to beg their forgiveness as I had to leave. I followed Mike down the stairs, and a big crowd of people was there. I didn't realize it, but the awards ceremony was going on while I was upstairs. Mike guided me to Mike Brutman, the event organizer, and he presented me with "The Most Interesting Presentation" award! I was completely stunned. I never would have thought that a couple of tables of old calculators with hand-written signs would merit such an award, but I was very honored and humbled to receive it. The event was very well-organized. The Living Computer Museum+Labs staff and volunteers did an amazing job getting the museum set up for the exhibits, with tables, tablecloths, and chairs all in place and ready to go when we arrived Friday. Mike Brutman was fantastic! He was so nice, accommodating, and supportive of my exhibit (which, by definition, was somewhat outside the "Vintage Computer" realm), as well as doing a completely amazing job of organizing such a complicated event. Everything went off smoothly, from the set up Friday night, through the two days of the event, awards Sunday after the doors closed to the public, and tear-down and haul out. Our exhibit was the last one out the door, as it's rather tedious packing these old machines up, making sure that they are cozily packed within the crates with a lot of padding in between them. It took my about 2 days to get everything packed to head up there, and we had a little over two hours to repack it all after the event closed...we were running like banshees to get everything packed safely and loaded into the van. The trip home went smoothly with no problems. I was totally exhausted Monday afternoon when we got home. Mike and I unloaded all the crates and stuff from the van into the museum building, and Mike headed home. I went to the house, sat down on the sofa and turned on the TV, and was dead to the world when my wife got home from work a few hours later. I don't remember anything from the time I sat down until she got home. I haven't unpacked anything yet...I needed a day yesterday to get a bunch of errands done, and reply to a backlog of Emails that stacked up while I was away and didn't have time to tend to them. Later this afternoon, I'll get everything unpacked and back on the display shelves, and test 'em out. Hopefully everything will work fine after the trip home. I want to take this opportunity to thank my long-time and cherished friend, Mike Weiler, for taking three days off work to come help with the exhibit. He was a real trooper, helping people understand how to use the machines, manning the exhibit when I wanted to wander around and look at the other exhibits and the new machines at the Living Computer Museum+Labs (including the awesome KA-10 PDP-10 running in the machine room upstairs...what a treat!), as well as fielding questions when I'd get engaged with a visitor discussing these old calculators. Not to mention all of his help packing the stuff up before we left, hauling all the stuff into the museum when we arrived Friday afternoon, helping get the exhibit set up and organized, tearing everything down and packing it up after the event closed and hauling it out to the van and getting it all packed in for the trip home, and helping to unload it all once we arrived home. Along with all of that, Mike was a godsend in terms of helping me keep my cool when I'd get stressed out about stuff. There's not a ghost of a chance I could have done all of this myself. I'd also like to thank Mike Brutman for all of the effort and determination it takes to successfully pull of an event like this. It was all stunningly well-done! My thanks also go out to the other exhibitors at the event, many of which who came over to visit the Old Calculator Museum exhibit and compliment us about having these old machines running and available for visitors to touch and operate. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to the Living Computer Museum+Labs staff and volunteers for all of the work and support that they provided for this event. The venue amazing, and makes a perfect place for a vintage computer festival. With the success of this year's event, only its second time in the Pacific Northwest, it is sure to grow even more next year. I am looking forward to next year's VCF/PNW, where I plan on doing a similar exhibit of old electronic calculators from the Friden Calculating Machine Co., with an example of every line of calculator that Friden/Singer made available for visitors to play with. I just hope my friend Mike will be up to doing again it next year. Just before we left, Erik Klein, the organizer of VCF/West, held in Mountain View, CA at the Computer History Museum during the first week in August, came to me and invited me to bring the Wang exhibit down to the event his summer. I was surprised that there'd be interest, but he was emphatic that it'd be wonderful to have the exhibit there. I was honored by this request, and told Erik I'd do all I could to try to make it to this event. Perhaps if I make it, I'll actually have printed signs to identify the stuff rather than hand-written signs that I made "on the fly" as we were setting things up, because I ran out of time to make decent signs. :-) It's a long trip down there from the Portland, Oregon vicinity, but I'm going to do all I can to make it if at all possible. The experience was amazing. I've never done anything like this before. I discovered that there's really something special about seeing people amazed by how much things have changed since the 1960's. The calculators really make it so clear just how amazing it is to have an HP calculator emulation running on a smartphone...and that the smartphone has far more compute power, storage, and capability than all of the Wang calculators on display together, with the emulated HP calculator running far faster than the original calculator it emulates. It's really crazy just how far we've come in 50 years...and I just can't even begin to envision what we'll have 50 years from now. I wonder if the tech we use today will be on display at vintage computer events in 2069? A funny note. The whole time I was there on Saturday and Sunday, I was wearing on my wrist a classic HP-01 wristwatch/calculator. A total of five people noticed it and commented, and of the five, three knew what it was, and two were just curious about it because it caught their eye, but they didn't know what it was. The two that were curious were completely blown away when I demonstrated it to them. I would have expected that more folks would have noticed this big gold hunk on my wrist. So, that's my "trip report". To all the ClassicCmp'ers that came to the event, thanks for coming. See you maybe down at VCF/West, and, fates willing, next year at VCF/PNW. Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com

7 years

6
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Byte Magazine

by wrcooke＠wrcooke.net

In a previous thread I asked for a couple of specific pages from Byte magazine, which I got (thanks to all, especially Peter, for helping out!) But that brings up a bigger issue (no pun intended.) About a year ago I found the Byte scans on americanradiohistory.org and started reading from the start. I found that those scans were less than great, with many missing pages, pages out of order, pages scanned at resolutions too low to read, and a few other problems. I went searching the web for other scans and, with a few exceptions for individual issues, found that ALL the collections of scans seemed to be the same ones, with the same bad pages. I certainly appreciate the considerable effort of whoever did those scans, but I think Byte is too important to not have good scans available. Perhaps a project to get those good scans created would be something worthwhile for the members of this list to take on. I realize what a huge project it is. Just going through the currently available scans to find which pages are bad or missing is a large and time-consuming effort. But my opinion is that it is important and worthwhile. Any thoughts? Thanks, Will "He may look dumb but that's just a disguise."? -- Charlie Daniels "The names of global variables should start with? ? // "? --?https://isocpp.org

7 years

6
8
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Using PC power supply in BA-11S

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Regarding my earlier request for help repairing an H786 and H7861, it occurred to me that I could instead use a desktop PC power supply, having several in the junkbox. It's even small enough to fit in there once the H786 is removed. So I patched the wiring harness from the PC supply to the screw terminals on the backplane... 5 and 12 volts at the terminals, Fault lights on the RL's went out, but no green light on the KDF-11B. After a look at the schematics, the simple solution was just to pull the power monitor daughter-card from the H786, so the power OK lines (8640 buffer inputs, DC OK and Power OK) are not being pulled down. Green light on, memory test ran, and boots RT-11 from RL02 :) A better fix will be to drive the DCOK and POK lines from the PC supply, which appears to have a "P.G." orange wire (I'm betting "Power Good" but will check it out first). TSX-Plus won't run though, because there's no real-time clock. Looks like a small transformer and a bit of buffer circuitry is needed to generate a 60 Hz TTL pulse. Or a dongle with a 555 or crystal oscillator. I may have a try at fixing the original supply before going to the trouble (including mounting the PC supply in the chassis and jumpering the two ribbon cables together). Speaking of trouble, today I learned that the "Restraining Cable Stud" mentioned in the 11/23 user manual is not just there for decoration. For the first time (ever), the BA-11S chassis overbalanced and fell out of the front of the cabinet. It hit the floor with a crash while yanking all the ribbon cables off (without breaking anything, incredibly, including a near miss to my feet in socks!) Perhaps installing that cable is a good idea ;) -Charles

7 years

1
0
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PDP-8 signed overflow detection - Apollo guidace computer

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Ben Bfranchuk > Now they seem to have have found a SCRAPPED Apollo guidance > computer and am rebuilding the missing pieces. Wow. What a great site (and that guy has mad skills, everything from repairing old Teletypes, through designing boards, to repairing analog stuff). Just 'wasted' a good chunk of the morning reading back through it; tons of really neat things (including recovery of the very first FORTH, along with a lot of Diablo drive - from the Alto - repairs). As a shortcut, here: http://rescue1130.blogspot.com/2018/11/ is the backstory on the AGC; about 1/3 of the way down, in "Restoring an Apollo Guidance Computer, part V". Noel

7 years

3
2
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IBM 360 Model 50 information?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > Decades later, people are still afraid to release them. I tried to get > 2065 ALDs from someone that had them and they wouldn't give them to me. Sounds like it's time to have someone high up at the CHM talk to someone at IBM to get an OK; if you only ask for permission, not for IBM to cough up the info themselves, that might be doable. I'd try and get a blanket OK for anything more than 20 years old, i) that should be long enough that they'd be OK with it, ii) a moving thing like that would mean you wouldn't have to go back again. Noel

7 years

3
3
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Apollo Ethernet EPROM mystery

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Does anyone have a working Apollo 3C505 ISA ethernet board handy to look at? The MAME guys are trying to figure out if the boot prom and the firmware eproms are populated. There is conflicting information on the net. https://jim.rees.org/apollo-archive/photo-gallery/ether-505.jpg shows no boot prom, but I dumped a boot prom from a board a while ago with 68000 code in it, but didn't dump any firmware eproms, which would have been an odd thing to forget to do.

7 years

6
6
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VCF/PNW Exhibit & Trip Report - The Old Calculator Museum

by bygg＠cafax.se

Noel Chiappa wrote: > > It has been in use at STACKEN at least since the beginning of the 80ies > > I was meaning before that; somewhere in Scandanavia, I expect? Eh, not that > important, I guess. >From Finland. Sold used by DEC Sweden to Stacken, for 1 SEK (aound 20 cents at that time). > Noel --Johnny /\_/\ ( *.* ) > ^ <

7 years

1
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VCF/PNW Exhibit & Trip Report - The Old Calculator Museum

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mattis Lind >> Ah. I wonder where it came from originally? > It has been in use at STACKEN at least since the beginning of the 80ies I was meaning before that; somewhere in Scandanavia, I expect? Eh, not that important, I guess. >> And it's odd (to me, at least) to see TU56's on a KA10. > It is TU55s as far as I can see. Ah, I was confused by an aspect of the pictures on that page which I hadn't noticed before! The fourth picture in that set: https://mobile.twitter.com/LivingComputers/status/1102063746019549184/photo… which is where I saw the TU56's (along with at least one TU55), shows a different machine! I just assumed all four were of the KA, but the last shows them in front of a KI. Although one has to look carefully to notice that, though, as the size, colours, etc are very similar; it thus looks _very_ similar to the KA in the first ones. I'd still love to find out if there are any other KA's left - does anyone know of any? Noel

7 years

1
0
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Looking for Byte Jan 78 missing page

by wrcooke＠wrcooke.net

In the Jan 78 issue of Byte magazine a series of articles titled "The Brains of Men and Machines" (also the issue title on the cover) started. EVERY single scan I can find on the web is missing pages 96 and 97, right in the middle of that article. They all (including archive.org) appear to be the same scan. Does anyone have an electronic copy of those pages or a paper copy they would be willing to scan for me? Thanks, Will "He may look dumb but that's just a disguise."? -- Charlie Daniels "The names of global variables should start with? ? // "? --?https://isocpp.org

7 years

7
10
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VCF/PNW Exhibit & Trip Report - The Old Calculator Museum

by mattislind＠gmail.com

torsdag 28 mars 2019 skrev Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu>: > > From: Mattis Lind > > > It is KATIA. Peter Lothbergs collection. > > Ah. I wonder where it came from originally? It has been in use at STACKEN at least since the beginning of the 80ies until maybe mid nineties. STACKEN is the computer club at KTH in Stockholm. https://techworld.idg.se/2.2524/1.454545/the-stacken-story I think that some pictures are from the big computer hall I visited when studying at KTH. But it might be Collosal Cave Computing Center. > That looks like a relatively 'new' one; the older KA10's had black panels. > And it's odd (to me, at least) to see TU56's on a KA10. It is TU55s as far as I can see. > > I wonder how many KA10's are left in the world? I have this vague memory > that > MIT-AI might have gone to Sweden, but I also have a memory that that was > the > plan, but some how it didn't happen? /Mattis > > Noel >

7 years

1
0
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VCF/PNW Exhibit & Trip Report - The Old Calculator Museum

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mattis Lind > It is KATIA. Peter Lothbergs collection. Ah. I wonder where it came from originally? That looks like a relatively 'new' one; the older KA10's had black panels. And it's odd (to me, at least) to see TU56's on a KA10. I wonder how many KA10's are left in the world? I have this vague memory that MIT-AI might have gone to Sweden, but I also have a memory that that was the plan, but some how it didn't happen? Noel

7 years

2
1
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VCF/PNW Exhibit & Trip Report - The Old Calculator Museum

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rick Bensene > upstairs to the computer room and take some photos of the KA-10 Wow! That's a rara avis indeed; I wasn't sure there were any left. Does anyone know where this one came from? Noel

7 years

2
1
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Need some Sun VME boards... (and if someone has a power supply...)

by earl＠baugh.org

Folks, I have been able to get the Sun 3/110 to boot using the SCSI2SD board as I had asked about earlier (if you want to see the details of what I did, I posted to the sun-rescue list...) However, I can't seem to get more that 4mb to work in the 3/110 chassis ( the 2nd chassis I have is 240v, and so far that doesn't look like it's switchable for use in 115v land...) I've tried the two 4mb boards I have ( both 501-1132 boards ) one has a gouge in the ground plane but the bulk of the ground plane is intact and one says Parity Error 3/17/16 ( not my writing, from the person I got it from ) so I'm assuming that would work but generate an error, similar to Clearpoint board I have that I can't figure out jumpers for. However I can't get the machine to even boot with the boards in. In both cases the lights on the CPU board all light up. Which indicates some form of reset. I've checked the boards dip switches. They are set according to the FEH as 3 on U3118 and 4 on U3119. Jumper J3102 is jumped as well. I've tried them with the VME Bus Px03 and Px04 both jumpered and unjumpered. Same results in all cases. I don't think it's a power issue, as the machine boots with 3 cards ( I.e. 8mb incompatible sun board or Clearpoint SNXRAM card, with SCSI card in both cases ). I've tried with and without SCSI card. All same results. Soooo, question is, do I just have two bad 4mb cards? Am I missing some setting? I don't see anything to set on CPU board. If so anybody got memory cards they're willing to trade that would work in a 3/110? I've got an 8mb 501-1102 or a 32mb 501-1254 32 mb card to trade, memory wise. I am trying to build up 2 3/110 machines, so would like 2 4mb boards at least. I've also got a 3/110 cpu board that has a blown cap to replace but otherwise works, and a couple SMD drive controller boards. I also just realized I have a a Sun 2 VME SCSI board - ( 501-1149 * combo: 501-1045 "Sun-2" SCSI in 270-1059 6U/9U VME ) And of course if anybody has a spare 3/1xx power supply that is configured for 115v also be interested in that. ( and another SCSI card with an external connection would be useful ) Earl

7 years

1
0
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AW: 50Hz Pulley for 8" Floppy Drive Mitshubishi M2894-63B

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

Ok. Those are quite small. So you have one? Or those are not yours? If you have one, and a way to accurately measure it, making more will be easy for anyone with a lathe. I could do it, but surely you can find a machinist closer to home? Guy At 01:03 PM 10/11/2018 +0000, Riesen Thomas wrote: >Guy, >I am looking for small motor pulley ... see pic ... >Regards >Thomas > >-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- >Von: Guy Dunphy [mailto:guykd at optusnet.com.au] >Gesendet: Samstag, 10. November 2018 13:25 >An: Riesen Thomas <thomas.riesen at predata.ch>; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >Betreff: Re: 50Hz Pulley for 8" Floppy Drive Mitshubishi M2894-63B > >At 12:03 PM 10/11/2018 +0000, you wrote: >>Hi all >> >>Any suggestions where to find two 50Hz-Pulleys for the 8" Floppy drive >>Mitsubishi M2894-63B? >> >>If there also the appropriate ribbon gummies available, I would be very >>happy. >> >>Regards >>Thomas > > >Do you know what they look like, and the dimensions? >Because I have these. http://everist.org/pics/misc/IMG_1655_pulley_800.jpg > >_Maybe_ they were off Mitsubishi drives, not sure. Had them in a box of floppy drive related bits for a loooong time, and have no recollection of where they came from. >These are 49.0 mm OD, hole 4.7 mm dia. And this is Australia, with 50Hz mains. > >Guy > > >Attachment Converted: "f:\email\attach\Pully_8Zoll_02.jpg" > >Attachment Converted: "f:\email\attach\Pully_8Zoll_01.jpg" >

7 years

6
13
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Computervision CADDS distribution carts are weird

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I ran into an interesting problem. Eric Smith's copytape program assumes two tape marks in a row is logical end of tape and stops reading. I've had problems with this before with MPE store tapes, because they put two file marks at the start of tape so I just keep reading until I get 10 errors in a row. That also lets me read anything after a logical EOT on 1/2" tape. Well.. CV is even weirder. One some CV software distribution carts EVERY file has two file marks between them. I don't expect anyone to have to archive any of these, but I wanted to get this written down somewhere.

7 years

1
0
0 0

What 6502 macro assembler was used for the AIM-65 Monitor ROM?

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

Anyone know what 6502 macro assembler was used for the AIM-65 Monitor ROM, as shown in the AIM-65 Monitor Program Listing manual, document number 29650N36L ? Some of it's identifying features are using .BYT and .WOR (or .WORD) directives for declaring data, and .MACRO and .ENDM directives for declaring macros. Use of the macro directives can be seen in the RM65-5101 Floppy Disk Controller (FDC) Module User's Manual, document number 29801N02 There are countless 6502 assemblers available now, the exercise here is to identify the macro assembler that was used at the time. If it is available to run now the goal would be to run it to assemble source code exactly in the format that it used and produce identical listing output. (Modifying the source code to be accepted by a different assembler to produce identical binary output is not the goal of the exercise).

7 years

8
21
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50Hz Pulley for 8" Floppy Drive Mitshubishi M2894-63B

by thomas.riesen＠predata.ch

Hi all Any suggestions where to find two 50Hz-Pulleys for the 8" Floppy drive Mitsubishi M2894-63B? If there also the appropriate ribbon gummies available, I would be very happy. Regards Thomas

7 years

4
3
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eBay: CDC 6600 modules

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So, if anyone wants a CDC 6600 module for their mantle/shelf/etc, here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/283426116822 is someone selling some for a non-ridiculous amount of money (the latter being common with this type of thing). No connection with the seller, other than buying one myself. Noel

7 years

2
1
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Craigslist: RP05 drive cable in Indiana

by silent700＠gmail.com

No affiliation with the seller, just a strange item to come across randomly. Digital BC06S cable, which is mentioned in the manual for the RP05 and possibly others: https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/ele/d/multi-pin-digital-cable/6835150645… The ad shows updated two days ago so they likely still have it. J

7 years

2
1
0 0

PDP-8 signed overflow detection

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

What is the shortest subroutine on a PDP-8 which will add two variables in RAM and return the saturated sum (that is, returning 2047 or -2048 upon overflow, otherwise the sum) in the accumulator? Kyle

7 years

5
6
0 0

Epson PX8 disk emulator

by wrcooke＠wrcooke.net

Hello all, I have built an emulator that uses an Arduino and SD card to provide four "floppy drives" for an Epson PX8.? It may also be usable with a PX4, but I have no way of trying it. If you would like to build one yourself, or just read about it, the details are here:?http://wrcooke.net/projects/pfbdk/pfbdk.html Any feedback is appreciated (I already know the page is crummy.)? Especially if you build it I would like to know good or bad experience. Thanks, Will "He may look dumb but that's just a disguise."? -- Charlie Daniels "The names of global variables should start with? ? // "? --?https://isocpp.org

7 years

13
22
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Matching paint on DEC monitors, cases and cabinets

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Has anyone ever found a source for aerosol spray cans that are a close matchto the colors that DEC used on their cases and such? I remember seeing touch up colors mentioned in the past. Specifically the ivory/almond colorof VT100's, DECservers, etc. Brian

7 years

8
8
0 0

atex system in Houston

by fritzm＠fritzm.org

Hmmm, are these the atex racks seen lurking in the background of that recent storage space trawl down near Houston? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-DEC-PDP-11-34-Minicomputer-With-Kennedy-Ta…

7 years

13
29
0 0

middle-aged APL terminal

by turing＠shaw.ca

Hi All: This is my periodic request for technical details on a Cybernex APL-100 terminal - the only documentation that I have for it is the sales brochure...

7 years

1
0
0 0

Opening old DEC files

by curt＠atarimuseum.com

I have many DEC files that I?ve recovered from old VMS backups to a PC. Many are Word-11, ALL-IN-1 WPS and VMS Mail MAI files. They don?t open well in programs like the Windows Text editors Is there a program on Windows that can open these files and recognize all of the formatting and control commands so they can be properly viewed?

7 years

7
8
0 0

Opening old DEC files

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 02:54 PM 3/22/2019, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: >Years ago, there was a program for the Mac that would convert a TON of different file formats. Trying to figure out what that was, MacLinkPlus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacLinkPlus_Deluxe http://www.sonic.net/mnitepub/pccafe/reviews/dataviz_maclinkplus/dataviz_ma… - John

7 years

1
0
0 0

Rk611 controller

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

I just acquired an RK07 drive and disk packs. I am looking for the 5 Unibus boards and back plane to add to my 11/84.? Brian. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

7 years

3
2
0 0

ISO: Sanders Associates 720 hardware docs / parts

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I picked up a Sanders 720 terminal -- well, the display/keyboard portion anyway -- and I'm looking for actual hardware documentation so I can maybe someday replicate the 701 control unit (or heck, maybe someone has a 701 sitting around somewhere...). Anyone out there have docs (apart from the brochures already on bitsavers) or any parts lying around? Thanks as always! Josh

7 years

1
0
0 0

HP 1000 Series board available.

by jesse＠cypress-tech.com

I have a bunch of these boards for the 1000 A class servers... I have plenty of each of the following. If anyone wants or needs and of the following, let me know. 12040x? Asynchronous Multiplexer - $50.00 each 12009A? HP-IB Interface - $75.00 each 12103D? 1MB Memory board - $65.00 each 12103C? 512kb Memory board - $65.00 each 12220A? 768kb Memory board - $65.00 each Thanks Jesse Cypress Technology Inc

7 years

1
0
0 0

Link MK1 and GP4

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Josh scanned some Link Mark I documentation, and I found a pdf describing some of the history of early Link digital flight simulators uploaded to: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/generalPrecision/Link_Mark_I

7 years

4
3
0 0

SCSI2SD: Is it worth a try?

by chd＠chdickman.com

What is the experience with the SCSI2SD with old computers? It looks to be SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 compatible and I see a lot of reports of usage on this list. I am curious about how well it works and which version to get. Versions up to 5 seem to be GPLed and reasonably available. V6 does not seem to have schematics or boards open sourced and I haven't seen a supplier for them. The web page lists some sources, but they don't have the V6 available. It looks like the V6 is not open because someone used the design without following the GPL. V6 claims synchronous transfers, but I don't think most of my hardware supports it. That consists of VAXstations and qbus scsi cards. If I was after speed I wouldn't be using old hardware, but the speed has to be consistent with the era. Chuck

7 years

16
16
0 0

VCF PNW 2019 is this weekend

by mbbrutman＠brutman.com

One last short reminder ... VCF PNW 2019 is this weekend! We have 30 exhibits, 6 presentations, and the consignment area. Admission is free with paid admission to the museum, so come check out both the event and the museum! Details can be found at http://vcfed.org/vcf-pnw . -Mike

7 years

1
0
0 0

POP-2 silver book

by dstalk＠execulink.com

Is there anyone out there who could scan page 261 of "Programming in POP-2" by Burstall, Collins, and Popplestone for me? Also, does anyone have a copy of POP-10? Thanks, Don

7 years

3
2
0 0

DECimage questions

by jzatar2＠illinois.edu

On Tue Mar 19 01:49:08 CDT 2019 >On 2019-03-17 20:36, Chris Hanson via cctalk wrote: >>/I recently acquired a DECimage X terminal, which is theoretically a VXT-2000 with an add-on 2D accelerator. Unfortunately while the terminal is badges as a DECimage it didn?t include the board, just a frame buffer. / >>// >>/Does anyone have a spare DECimage board they?d be interested in parting with, or know a reasonable place to obtain one? / >>You have the board number? >>Sometimes if we discuss something here, magically boards show up on ebay. >>Just an observation ;-) Does MA-0270-92A help? got that number out of the VXT 2000 Installing and Getting Started Guide (EK-VXT20-IN), but it might be a two-part kit (accelerator board + DECimage sticker). The VXT 2000 Windowing Terminal and DECimage 2000 Option Service Guide (EK-VXT20-SV) lists VX20A-OP for the DECimage 2000 module. For the twisted pair ethernet module, the same manual lists 54-20482-01.

7 years

1
0
0 0

HELP needed on a vocabulary problem ;-)

by gerardcjat＠free.fr

The TECHNICAL problem : I am repairing a not so old electric typewriter. I need to replace what I call : a flexible printed circuit ( strip / ribbon / what's the "correct" word ??? ) *** AND *** the associated connector I searched Mouse, Digikey, Arrow, etc ... catalogues and find absolutly nothing !! I think I DO NOT use the correct WORD(s) for my search. What are the "usual" words for the TWO items I describe ?? Many thanks for your help, Guys

7 years

4
3
0 0

POP-2 silver book

by dstalk＠execulink.com

Thanks, page 261 has been found! Now for POP-2 or POP-10. Don

7 years

1
0
0 0

DECimage questions

by cmhanson＠eschatologist.net

I recently acquired a DECimage X terminal, which is theoretically a VXT-2000 with an add-on 2D accelerator. Unfortunately while the terminal is badges as a DECimage it didn?t include the board, just a frame buffer. Does anyone have a spare DECimage board they?d be interested in parting with, or know a reasonable place to obtain one? How about other components for this machine? I have the AUI/thin Ethernet card and wouldn?t mind replacing it with the AUI/twisted-pair card, and I?d also like to max out the RAM: It has 2MB onboard and I have the riser card with SIMM slots and one SIMM for an additional 4MB. It uses what I?m told are DEC MS200-AA (2MB) and DEC MS200-BA (4MB) modules, which look like regular 72pin SIMMs. Are they special or are they compatible with anything common? ? Chris Sent from my iPad

7 years

3
2
0 0

Any intel UPP-103 personality boards for sale?

by andrewsofbg＠gmail.com

I am in the market for a UPP-816 and a UPP-878 personality boards if anyone is thinking of selling theirs. Please message me. Thanks Craig

7 years

1
0
0 0

DECimage questions

by jzatar2＠illinois.edu

>I recently acquired a DECimage X terminal, which is theoretically a VXT-2000 >with an add-on 2D accelerator. Unfortunately while the terminal is badges as a >DECimage it didn?t include the board, just a frame buffer. That's unfortunate. My VXT2000 doesn't have that board either, I've always wondered how much it helps. I'm not too sure if the bottleneck is usually the 10mbit networking or the graphics. Probably depends a bit on whether you're using modern X11 applications or not. Modern stuff all likes to assume true-color (24bit or thereabouts) and render stuff locally and send it again to redraw, rather than rendering on the (remote) xterm it seems... >Does anyone have a spare DECimage board they?d be interested in parting with, >or know a reasonable place to obtain one? Unfortunately, as I already stated I don't, and my only idea where to get one is ebay and similar sites, which I'm sure you already know. >How about other components for this machine? I have the AUI/thin Ethernet card >and wouldn?t mind replacing it with the AUI/twisted-pair card, and I?d also >like to max out the RAM: It has 2MB onboard and I have the riser card with >SIMM slots and one SIMM for an additional 4MB. No clue where to get a twisted pair module, but mine has one. I currently have it hooked up to our thinnet segment though, and I've had it on our thicknet segment previously (now we have a proper VAXen occupying that transceiver). >It uses what I?m told are DEC MS200-AA (2MB) and DEC MS200-BA (4MB) modules, >which look like regular 72pin SIMMs. Are they special or are they compatible >with anything common? > >? ? Chris > >Sent from my iPad Here's where I can help you. The SIMMs aren't really anything special, you can use 2MB and 4MB modules. The VAX SOC in the VXT is slow enough that you probably don't have to worry about access time, so 60 or 70ns modules are probably both fine. If you don't have a 4MB module laying around, you can use an 8MB or 16MB module, but you have to install a wire from a ground pin to A10 on the SIMM connector and fix the presence detect bits, IIRC. (A0-A9 gives 1024 rows and columns, 1M-word per bank, 4 bytes per word, so 4MB SIMM. DEC left the unused address lines floating, and that causes issues with bigger SIMMs). You can also install a single jumper IIRC to make 16MB SIMMs appear as 4MB, and 8MB SIMMs appear as 2MB (it's just grounding one of the PD lines, I don't remember which). The most you can fit into a VXT2000 is 18MB IIRC, that's 3 4MB SIMM, + 4MB on the riser itself + 2MB on the motherboard. Lastly, you'll need the VXT2000 SW, which I extracted from some VMS (infoserver?) CDs several years ago. Someone put them up on terminals-wiki.org, so you can grab them there: http://terminals-wiki.org/collections/DEC/vxt2000.zip VXT021KT10.SYS is the full blown VXT software including local side applications, like DECWindows etc. VXTLDR021.SYS is some intermediate loader you can use to get an NFS swap file or something like that if you have an infoserver or VMS running the infoserver software IIRC. VXTEX020A.SYS is *just* the X server IIRC, missing the local side applications but having a smaller memory footprint. This doesn't even have a window manager, so you'd have to use it with a remote one and set up XDMCP. The terminals boot from MOP or TFTP/BOOTP with late enough firmware. MOP has a daemon available for linux and BSDs, if you'd like to go that route, but otherwise TFTP/BOOTP is probably better supported by modern infrastructure Hopefully this was helpful. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm probably one of a few people who bothers to keep a VXT around running, so I can probably answer most questions you might have about setup and operation. Best Regards, Joe Zatarski

7 years

3
2
0 0

Clearpoint SNXRAM/12 VME

by earl＠baugh.org

Hey, Anybody happen to have any documentation for a Clearpoint SNXRAM card? I?ll take any version ( though I have the /12 card ). I?m trying to figure out the jumpers on this board. It generates a memory error in my Sun 3/110 but not sure if that?s because of overlapping addressing. I?ve tried searching for the doc for years ( this year I?m trying very hard to get my Sun 2/120 and Sun 3/110 running correctly. Got my Sun 1/100 and Sun 4/110 booting correctly, disk images are almost ready for them ) Earl Sent from my iPhone

7 years

1
0
0 0

Fwd: Sun 3/XXX 240v power supply — switch to 115v — is it possible?

by earl＠baugh.org

Howdy, I?ve recently gotten a second Sun 3/Xxx 3 slot VME chassis, however the power supply is a EU version, 240v. I know on a number of ?newer? power supplies there is a switch to go from 240 to 115. I?ve taken this one apart ( at least to the point where it comes off the bottom of the VME chassis ? but left the thick cables still connected. ) I haven?t found any switch or any indication that it can switch. Googling and looking at the FEH hasn?t yielded any info either. Anybody know if it?s possible to switch this type of PS? Thanks Earl Sent from my iPhone

7 years

2
1
0 0

Fwd: Sun 3 with SCSI2SD

by earl＠baugh.org

Howdy, Wondering if anyone has used a SCSI2SD card with a Sun 3 class machine. I know Walter B has had success with the Sun 2( that?s next on my list after I get the Sun 3/110 working with one. ) I have some Version 5 of the card. (I also have a version 3 card that I tried long ago, with little success). The new current firmware is much more understandable in terms of setting it up. However with a known good image ( obtained from Walter B) I can?t get it to go past the message ?Waiting for disk to spin up...? followed by ?Please start it, if necessary , ? OR ? press a key to quit.? I know the card doesn?t need to spin up ? so question is, what is the boot prom waiting for? I expect it?s just something off in my config but so far everything I?ve tried yields the same result. Anybody have a config.xml that works that they could share? ( and which firmware version it works with? ) Thanks Earl Sent from my iPhone

7 years

1
0
0 0

Sun 3/50

by fedorkow＠mit.edu

I have a Sun 3/50 diskless workstation in the Boston area, which I'd like to see go to a good home.? I no longer have the monochrome monitor that went with it, but I do have the original keyboard and mouse.? It hasn't been powered up in some time, but worked without problems until I took it out of service. ? Contact me at guy.fedorkow at gmail.com if you're interested? Thanks /guy

7 years

1
1
0 0

searching for TEAC MT-2R tape deck documentation

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

Hi guys, Today I found a TEAC MT-2R cassette tape drive on a radio amateur flee market. These tape drives use a tape cassette similar to the audio tape cassette. The MT-2R tape deck has servo control logic for tape motion and a CPU with firmware taat makes the tape unit a block-addressable device (AFAIK). However, I can only find doc of the MT-2ST, but that is another MTU. Does anybody have doc of the TEAC MT-2R ? Thanks, Henk, PA8PDP

7 years

1
0
0 0

SCSI2SD on VMS 5.4

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have been experimenting with a SCSI21SD V6 card trying to get it to work on a VAX 4000-200 running VMS 5.4 using a KZQSA. It seems to recognise that there is a SCSI device there, but any attempt to access the device from VMS 5.4 results in a Fatal Drive Error. I tried booting a VMS 7.3 image from the SCSI2SD card and that worked. Obviously I have played with some of the settings, like SCSI2 mode etc, but I have not found anything that works. Has anyone succeeded in getting this board to work on VMS 5.4? Thanks Rob

7 years

3
3
0 0

ISO: Docs for Andromeda VDC-11

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Anyone happen to have any documentation for the Andromeda VDC-11? This is a dual-height qbus board that provides 512x256 graphics and can act as the PDP-11's console device (it emulates various different terminals, depending on the model of the VDC-11). I'm interested in programming information as well as jumpers and connector pinouts. Thanks! Josh

7 years

1
0
0 0

Latest batch of items from Sellam's Collection

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Greetings! The Ides of March brings another list of stuff from Sellam's warehouse: Toshiba T3200SX documentation and software Microsoft Serial - PS/2 Compatible Mouse ADDS ViewPoint dumb terminal SGI CD-ROM Library Oki Data Microline 184 Turbo Dot Matrix Printer Xerox WP7700 Word Processor Reference Manual TRS-80 Disk & Other Mysteries PMMI Communications MM-103-9 Communications Adaptor General DataComm Industries GDC 1001A Data Coupler (RBS-3) Commodore Model 6400 Word Processor Printer User's Manual MITS DV1600 Digital Volt Meter Assembly Manual MicroMint SB-180 Rev 2.0 Monitor ROM Coactive Connector for DOS/Windows Macintosh SE/30 system MacTerminal MacDraw Teletype Corporation Model 33 Teletypewriter documentation set AMPRO Little Board/PC Technical Manual AMPRO Little Board/PC Model 4B documentation AMPRO Little Board/PLUS documentation Radio Shack TRS-80 8" Single/Double-Sided Diskettes (Box of 10) Citizen iDP-560-RSL Dot Matrix Printer VAX DEC/Test Manager DEC LA324 Multiprinter Installation and Operator's Guide VMS DECwindows Desktop Applications Guide VMS User's Manual HP Infiniium Oscilloscope Model HP 54835A/45A Service Guide IBM PC Network documentation Utilities Unlimited, Inc. EMPLANT Emulator Board North Star Computers external 5.25" floppy drive enclosure kit Opus SS/SD 5.25" floppy diskette 10-pack GoldStar GS520 Laptop Xerox 2-button Mouse Find the links to these and other fine vintage computing items here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hi… Please do contact me directly by e-mail via <sellam.ismail at gmail.com> to make an order or an offer. Thanks! Sellam

7 years

1
0
0 0

Old terminal photos with Frotz running

by dave＠661.org

I was wondering if I could get some photos of assorted old terminals displaying Frotz running Infocom games. I'm particularly interested in seeing the VT52, VT100, LA36 / LA120, ASR33, and TVI-910 like this. -- David Griffith dave at 661.org

7 years

1
0
0 0

PDP 11/60 Print Sets

by g-wright＠att.net

Message: 10 Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:56:51 -0500 From: David Williams <nospam212-cctalk at yahoo.com> To: CCTech <cctech at classiccmp.org> Subject: PDP 11/60 Print Sets Message-ID: <da0952f4e4e517d579246b0194465201 at yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Many years ago I gave away some PDP 11/60 hardware to someone on this list but don't recall who it was (Ethan maybe?). Anyway, I have recently discovered a stack of various print sets that I believe went with that system and would like to send them along. If you recall that long past transaction (10 years ago maybe? More? Less? Don't recall exactly, old age is killing my memory) please contact me so I can make arrangements for these. And if you aren't interested please let me know so I can see if anyone else is interested in them. Thanks. David Williams www.trailingedge.com David, If you need a home for these,? I have 2 complete 11/60's and would dearly like to have them. Thanks, Jerry

7 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Looking for 12016-60002 HP Single Ended Cable

by jesse＠cypress-tech.com

12016-60002 - SE Cable - card edge connector to 50-pin low density bail lock (M) - 2m (6.6ft) long If anyone has any of these, let me know, I can use about 4 of them. Thanks Jesse Cypress Technology Inc

7 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

Pioneers of computing

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

Thanks for the info on chip made by Texas Instruments. It was used in a pocket/plug-in calculator I had while working as a payroll clerk back in the early 70s. The link is: http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/ti_cal-tech1.html I?ve written in my book on the History of the Microcomputer a history of the processing chip as the timeline follows an approximation of: Late *1950*s ? patent on integrated circuit by Texas Instruments *1950*s to *1960*s ? move from vacuum tubes to TTL technology programs/functions in ROM *1970*s ? 4004 to 8008 to 8086 -> This begins the era of electronic computerization of society. -> programmable by user and/or firmware We are now in the early human era of the electronification-computerization of society. *Classic Computing* takes us back to the very early years. Happy computing!

7 years, 1 month

5
6
0 0

Pioneers of computing

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

Back in 1965 Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel at texas Instruments created an integrated circuit designed to replace the calulator. Historians, though not all, credit this development as the beginning of the electronic-computing revolution that was truly underway by the mid-70s. Vintage/classic computing our hobby goes back that far as us baby-boomers can attest to. Happy computing all!

7 years, 1 month

11
15
0 0

PDP 11/60 Print Sets

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

Many years ago I gave away some PDP 11/60 hardware to someone on this list but don't recall who it was (Ethan maybe?). Anyway, I have recently discovered a stack of various print sets that I believe went with that system and would like to send them along. If you recall that long past transaction (10 years ago maybe? More? Less? Don't recall exactly, old age is killing my memory) please contact me so I can make arrangements for these. And if you aren't interested please let me know so I can see if anyone else is interested in them. Thanks. David Williams www.trailingedge.com

7 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

DECnet License for older VAX VMS

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Hello,I have a current hobbyists license for OpenVMS 7.3 and a handful of simulated VAXen. I wanted to add my simulated 11/780 and 11/782 to my DECnet and wondered if there was a (legal of course) license workaround to install networking on an older version such as 4.4. The current PAKS will not work.Brian. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

7 years, 1 month

6
8
0 0

VAX 4000-100 Free to a good home

by ken.s.moser＠icloud.com

I have one, with some disks and other misc gear. Headed for the dump if I cannot find a home. Would prefer to find a home for my old friend... Ken Moser 703.587.3868

7 years, 1 month

7
7
0 0

VAX 4000-100 Free to a good home

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Zane Healy > Based on his area code, he's in Virginia, near Washington DC. So far > enough that I can't be tempted That's a small enough machine that it wouldn't cost much to ship (via Pak-Mail or similar, if the current owner's not up for dealing with shipping). I'm not too far from DC, but it's still 6 hours on the road for a round-trip, so not too resource-effective for me to go get it. Noel

7 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

DEC RC25 / CDC 9457 lark disc

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I always have been amazed by the complexity and peculiarity of fixed/removable hybrid discs like DEC RC25 and CDC 9457. Looking at some specifications found on the web, these drives look quite similar each other, even if these are completely different on an exterior / interface point of view... Maybe there's some compatibility between the two products? Thanks Andrea

7 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

Old Macs available

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

I am clearing out a storage space and will be offering up some of the old systems and miscellaneous peripherals currently stored there as I clear and sort things.? To start with I have the following available. If anyone is interested or knows where else to offer the various items contact me off list.? If I can't find anyone interested I'll probably just send things on to recycle as I need to clear and close the space. All of the following are base units, no keyboards or other external peripherals although I suspect there may be keyboards somewhere in the storage space but can't guarantee it. If I do find some I can pass them along with the units if interested. 1) Macintosh SE/30 - Appears to have some expansion card of some sort inside with with a 15 pin connector and what I think was a BNC connector? 2) Macintosh SE/30 - Has a ribbon cable coming out the expansion slot in the back but no idea what it connects to inside or anything else about it.3) Macintosh Plus 1Mb - This sounds like there might be something loose inside if you turn it over. All systems are in unknown state and unopened so I have no idea what is inside or what condition they may be in. Systems are located in Houston, TX. Contact me off list if you need any more info or interest in these systems. Thanks. David Williamswww.trailingedge.com

7 years, 1 month

4
5
0 0

Rainbow 100 PSU capacitor list

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

Hi, I think that I need to re-cap the power supply in a Rainbow 100. Does anyone here know if anyone has put together a list of capacitors used in the power supply that I can use to order parts? alan

7 years, 1 month

6
19
0 0

Tape reading question

by pat＠vax11.net

Since I'm going to be out in Seattle for a week to participate in VCF/PNW, I was wondering if anyone in the area could lend me a hand with help reading in an old QIC-24 25MB tape cartridge or two? One has the TurboDOS backup/install media for a Televideo TS-816 that I got >from Don Maslin back in the day. I think the other one is related too, but it was unmarked. I would like to at least try to get images off of them. At least one of them has a working belt.. the other ones fell apart when i tried removing the belt to reform it. Thank, Patrick Finnegan

7 years, 1 month

6
15
0 0

Parts source

by wrcooke＠wrcooke.net

This may or may not be new or useful to anyone here, but I came across this website by accident today. They have a considerable selection of rather hard to find parts for old home computers, game consoles, and even arcade machines. Figured I would send along the link. http://www.arcadecomponents.com/index.html "He may look dumb but that's just a disguise."? -- Charlie Daniels "The names of global variables should start with? ? // "? --?https://isocpp.org

7 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

Thinking about PDP11 PC05 Emulation

by cube1＠charter.net

I have several PDP-11's in my collection (among other things), and not enough PC05 tape readers (or enough room) to go around. But most if not all of my machines have M7810 PC11 interfaces, and I have one I could move from machine to machine as needed. Moving a PC05 around would be a lot more work, and not every rack has room. ;) So, I took a look at what it might take to interface with an M7810 (or, down the road, a PDP-8/L or PDP-12. It looks like the emulator would have to accept as input just 3 lines (Initialize L, IOP2(1)/Select, IOP4(1)/Read) [It would not need the redundant Initialize H, IOP1(1), Qualify or Skip], and would have to drive 11 lines into the pullups on the M7810 (8 Data lines, IO Bus INT L/Reader Done L, Outtape/Error and RDR RUN L/RDR Busy L). So, a total of 14 interface lines. (The 8 or 12 would take a few more lines). The pullups average about 470 ohms (1 is 1K, 1 is 220, the rest are 470), so at 5V the output has to sink a bit over 10ma, and all total 120ma. An Arduino Uno with an Ethernet shield would have 20 minus 5 lines available, in theory, but if one wants serial I/O as well for debugging, that sucks up 2 more lines - so only 13 available. And sinking 120ma would be a bit much though I could likely sprinkle inputs among the outputs to make it work so as to stay within the recommended sink limits, and at least initially have it never run out of tape, and tie Error down. http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/ArduinoPinCurrentLimitations So, I am thinking about an Arduino Mega, as it has more output groupings to sprinkle the sink current around, and 5V interface capability, and more pins to eventually support my PDP-8/L and PDP-12. (I could do it with a PIC - did that for a Documation card reader to PC interface, but I am really tired of fighting Microchip's IDE.) BUT - it also occurs to me someone may have already done something like this? Any leads / ideas? JRJ

7 years, 1 month

6
10
0 0

Pioneers of computing

by r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com

>Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2019 17:18:26 -0400 >From: Murray McCullough <c.murray.mccullough at gmail.com> >Back in 1965 Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel at texas >Instruments Merryman died on February 27. >From the New York Times (March 7, 2019): Jerry Merryman, Co-Inventor of the Pocket Calculator, Dies at 86 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/obituaries/jerry-merryman-dead.html Bob

7 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

Pioneers of computing

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brent Hilpert >>> Back in 1965 Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel at texas >>> Instruments created an integrated circuit designed to replace the >>> calulator. Historians, though not all, credit this development as the >>> beginning of the electronic-computing revolution that was truly underway >>> by the mid-70s. >> Scotty, more power to the Reality Distortion Field! > It's not an out-to-lunch suggestion. > The digital pocket calculator was the first mass-market digital electronic > device to be put in the hands of the consumer. It's not clear which element of the original post that Al was referring to; I saw several things I might disagree with: - Unless you look at the date carefully, the notion that TI's work developing chips was intended to replace the calculator. - The notion that it was calculators that drove the development of micros; Intel had actually started work on a micro for Datapoint, which was eventually released as the 8008, _before_ they started on the 4004 for Busicom. I'd have to think long and hard before I rendered a judgement on how important digital pocket calculators were to where we are today. My initial reaction is to say 'not very', though - early personal computers, centered on Silicon Valley, were mostly driven by having, well, a personal computer. It's not clear that widespread ownership of personal calculators did anything to drive that. Noel

7 years, 1 month

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Trio laboratories inc PSU schematic?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

Does anyone have schematic for a Trio Labs PSU made in 1975 https://i.imgur.com/MTwcpRA.jpg It is a primary side switcher made in 1975 outputting 100 Amps 5Volt. Quite early for being primary switcher I would guess.

7 years, 1 month

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Unix tools, Bill Webb, UBC, TRIUMF

by boris＠summitclinic.com

I used to work at UBC in Pharmacology in the 1980's and had a few talks with Bill Webb about Unix but, unfortunately, for the data acquisition we were doing Unix was far too slow and I did everything in optimized PDP-11 assembler. Of course, we didn't have a PDP-11/45 like Bill had and had to make do with a slower PDP-11/34. Bill had hacked Unix considerably and it was locally known as Webbix on campus. Played around with Unix and Webbix back then but don't think I have the tapes anymore. One of the RL01 or RLO2 disks I picked up at SERF in the 1990's (along with a MINC system) contained a copy of Webbix but I'm not sure I copied it. Gave away the MINC and 2 RLO1 or RLO2 drives to a guy in Seattle about 2006 and hopefully he's copied them. Boris Gimbarzevsky >I recovered several pieces of Unix media ? all >of whichh I think made it into TUHS/PUPS >collection - at UBC in the mid-1990???s while I was working at TRIUMF. > >Those Unix disks and tapes came from a SERF sale >(Surplus Equipment Recycling Facility) on UBC >main campus, not from TRIUMF. Bill Webb was a >common thread for Unix use in the biology department at UBC. > >TRIUMF extensively used Data General Nova, then >Eclipse (both 16 and 32 bit), computers from >opening through the 1990???s for both cyclotron >control systems and data acquisition for >experiments. They also had a fair number of >PDP-11???s and VAXen running RSX-11, RT-11, and >VMS. I myself had an Alpha workstation on my >desk for the two users I was at TRIUMF. > >One of my favorite connections between TRIUMF >and UBC, was the underground pneumatic tube used >to rapidly carry short lived isotopes produced >in the cyclotron to the main campus for biology >and medical uses. It should not come as a >surprise to anyone that I still work in moving >things and people through underground tunnels ???? > >Tim N3QE

7 years, 1 month

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