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

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

actually when it all shows up as cc talk as the sender it is of value as we can clear the group of mail faster after I have picked out the topics relative to what we are working on. Ed# In a message dated 3/1/2017 2:47:11 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 28 February 2017 at 21:23, Rich Alderson via cctalk < cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > OK, it's official. I rarely criticize mail interfaces, because they're > usually > mostly innocuous. However, today's change makes life a lot more difficult. > > In the past, it was simple to direct a reply to an individual instead of > to the > list because the originator's address was right there in the From: > header. As > of today, the list address is substituted for that, so that it is > impossible to > respond privately... Users. -- Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems: "The Future Begins Tomorrow" Visit us at: http://www.yoyodyne-propulsion.net -------- "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." -- Jonathan Swift

9 years, 1 month

1
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cctalk Digest, Vol 33, Issue 1

by fred＠MISER.MISERNET.NET

On Wed, 1 Mar 2017 cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Message: 17 > Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:10:33 +0100 > From: Lars Brinkhoff <lars at nocrew.org> > To: Mattias Engdeg?rd <mattiase at acm.org> > Subject: Re: DEC VT100/220 line wrapping semantics sought > Mattias Engdeg?rd wrote: > > Data for VT100, VT220 and VT510 have been collected, as well as > > several emulators > > (https://github.com/mattiase/wraptest/blob/master/results.txt). If > > anyone has access to other working terminals, VT3xx/VT4xx in > > particular, I'd be most grateful if you would take a few minutes to > > run the test program. > > I have a VT420 set up for my kid to play with. I'll borrow it and > submit a pull request with the results. > I have a VT525 in my home office that I use to read the mail (including this and other mailing lists) when I don't want to fire up a workstation. (It's quick, simple, and I get check/send a message without much fuss). Would results from that terminal help? Fred

9 years, 1 month

2
1
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Ersatz-11 V7.3

by wilson＠dbit.com

Ersatz-11 V7.3 is finished. CDs have been mailed to users with current update subscriptions, and the free Demo version may be downloaded from www.dbit.com/demo.html as usual. E11 V7.3 has the following new features: - My favorite one: a BREAKPOINT command which accepts arbitrary boolean test expressions, compiles them into native x86 code (to reduce the speed penalty), and incorporates them (until disabled with BREAK/CLEAR) into the main fetch/decode loop). Examples: break pc >= 2000 and pc < 3000 and @(r4+4) = 42776 (range of code with specified value in block pointed to by R4) break ci(pc)&177400 = 104000 (about to fetch an EMT instruction) break phys(14634520) <> 3044 (location at physical address gets changed from expected value) Errors at run-time are silent. If a specified test causes a bus timeout, odd address trap, or division by 0, the test fails. Well OK division by *constant* 0 gives an error but I just mean nothing damaging happens if the registers aren't pointing where you thought, etc. - A few rare antique emulated devices: DC11 SLU. Basically similar to the DL11 (ignoring the extra CSR bits and programming it like a DL11A works), but it also has a settable baud rate and modem control which is different from how it was done on DL11s. - Also the DM11 single-speed serial mux (not that E11 minds running each line at a different speed, but the original did). It uses DMA for transmission but also for reception into an in-core FIFO which the documentation adorably calls the "tumble table". And yes this is the origin of the DM11BB modem-control option more commonly used on the DH11. There's a new command to tell DM11BBs which to attach to (the default is still the DH11 with the same controller letter). - Finally, the justifiably forgotten TR79F 1600 BPI tape controller for TR79 drives (really HP7970Es), which includes the parity track in core with each byte of tape data taking up a word, so it's a pain to program. But it had 1600 BPI pretty early. The only driver I can find for the TR79F is in the "TRDP" version of XXDP, which is on Bitsavers as a scan of a microfiche of the listing. It can be used to load the ZTRAB0 diagnostic (the only other program I know of for the TR79F), but of course the test immediately trashes your boot tape. I felt dumb. - Driver for raw ATA/SATA/ATAPI disks (DOS and stand-alone versions). - Driver for National Instruments PCI-DIO-96 digital I/O card (DOS and stand-alone versions). It's a bad fit to emulating the DRV11/DR11C (ASSIGN OA: DIO96: does work but you'd have to wire up an adapter with buffering since the drivers are rated at only 2.5 mA) but it's probably the most common digital I/O board around. Even though it's PCI (not PCIe), it's still made new (at great expense), but cheap used examples are everywhere. - Ability to use a digital I/O card to drive real display and switch registers. Wiring up a blinky-lights board for your $25 eBay PCI-DIO-96 is a lot easier than making one for current PC busses, even if the 100-pin D-shell plug is a pain (but AMP makes an IDC connector that brings it out to two 50-pin Bergs).. - SET HISTOGRAM command enables/disables histogram of PDP-11 opcode usage (which again is temporarily compiled into the main loop when enabled). HISTOGRAM command displays the results or saves them to a file. - EXAMINE/DEPOSIT /BYTE /WORD /LONG /QUAD switches support various data types besides just words. Finally. - MOUNT <tape> FILE.TAP /LENGTH:n or /SIZELIMIT:nMB enables emulation of EOT early warning flag (giving the approximate maximum length of the tape in feet or megabytes). Not generally needed (who minds an unlimited tape?), but some diags want to fill a tape with test data all the way to EOT. - ASSIGN <TTY or digital I/O device> NULL: /LOOPBACK switch. Does what you think. - Experimental POWERFAIL command simulates power failures on command, or SET POWERFAIL command schedules one at shutdown (with a core dump to a file). Thank you Oleg Safiullin for the idea! Might need some changes -- I've never dealt with power failures on a real PDP-11. - Dramatically improved timer precision in DOS and stand-alone versions. SET THROTTLE in particular is silky smooth, but this improvement affects many many things. - All commands that take a time duration as a parameter will now accept a decimal point and/or unit suffix. The default units are the same as in previous versions. So instead of SET THROTTLE DELAY=1 (microseconds), you can use SET THROTTLE DELAY=1.2 or SET THROTTLE DELAY=1200NS (values will be rounded if needed). I hadn't realized so many places use time values -- I might have missed something. There are also many bug fixes and minor changes, but most importantly: - WMSG.LOG file that grows and grows (in Windows versions). Sorry about that! That was supposed to be disabled in the released version. Well it is now. John Wilson D Bit

9 years, 1 month

1
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Paper tape carriers and paper tape

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

I don't know if anyone here has the interest or capability to do it, but creating a replica of the blue tape trays with the clear overlay that one could sell for a few bucks with some random fanfold copies of DEC or other diagnostics would be nice. Perhaps if there were a ready source of replicas with a perpetual listing or 10 to overwhelm the auctions with 100 and 300 dollar auctions for the genuine originals the originals would be listed and sold for a reasonable amount. I'm sure there there are things going to people with no idea what they have which would have been nice to image and save. I would think someone with vacuum molding and some skill with plastics could do the trays. not sure about the source of tapes to sell with them, maybe that does justify some extra expense. People with working readers and libraries of tapes might like them as well. thanks Jim

9 years, 1 month

15
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DEC VT100/220 line wrapping semantics sought

by mattiase＠acm.org

Would someone with a real DEC VT terminal be so kind and help settle, once and for all, the question about how they behave with respect to line-wrapping, exactly? It is something that isn't covered by any standard, nor by any of DEC's manuals, and there is a scarcity of information online that is not vague repetition of folklore. There are emulators, of course, but these do not agree with one another to the point that they can be trusted, and are probably just copying each other in any case. It seems that some ground truth would be welcome, for the benefit of both application and emulator writers. First, the problem: A VT100, when in "auto-wrap" mode, will wrap text from one line to the next in a peculiar way, sometimes called "soft-wrap" or "the VT100 glitch". When the terminal receives a printable character with the cursor in the last column, the character is put at that location but the cursor remains in place. Instead, the terminal enters a pending wrap state, which causes the cursor to wrap before next printable character is displayed. This behaviour is widely known. What isn't widely known are the finer points: * What control codes will cancel the wrap state? * What cursor position is reported in the wrap state? * Do any operations behave differently in the wrap state? * Is the wrap state saved/restored by the save/restore cursor codes? and so on. Every emulator programmer seems to have a different answer to these questions. If you have a VT100, VT220 or later model (compatibles like Wyse are also of interest) and have a spare moment, I'd be most grateful if you would download and run https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattiase/wraptest/master/wraptest.c in that terminal, and send me the resulting output. (Redirect stdout to save the report.) The test program is not comprehensive but would give us a good idea of the rules. Current results, right now only from various emulators, are found in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattiase/wraptest/master/results.txt

9 years, 1 month

6
12
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I hate the new mail system

by RichA＠livingcomputers.org

OK, it's official. I rarely criticize mail interfaces, because they're usually mostly innocuous. However, today's change makes life a lot more difficult. In the past, it was simple to direct a reply to an individual instead of to the list because the originator's address was right there in the From: header. As of today, the list address is substituted for that, so that it is impossible to respond privately unless you happen to have a bunch of old messages archived and the person to whom you want to respond is someone who has written previously. Is this a conscious choice, or a configurable with a different default setting in a new mail system than was previously in place? However it came to be, it greatly diminishes communications quality (IMAO). Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computers: Museum + Labs 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:RichA at LivingComputers.org http://www.LivingComputers.org/

9 years, 1 month

13
15
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Sparcbook 3TX Hard Drive?

by ben＠bensinclair.com

This is probably a long shot, but does anyone have a Sparcbook 3TX hard drive? I know they're difficult to find. I have a 3TX in great condition, but no drive. (hopefully this isn't a repost, I tried this when the list was having issues and don't think it went through) -- Ben Sinclair ben at bensinclair.com

9 years, 1 month

3
4
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Cassette Interface Assistance

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > I fail to see how anyone can be a good digital designer and not > understand analogue electronics. It's easy! As long as your devices are being run in a domain where their behaviour is purely, well, digital, one can get away with it! :-) I'm a perfect case in point! I seem to have some bizarre brain dysfunction where I have a very hard time understanding even the simplest analog circuits. You, or someone like Brent Hilpert (whose explanation of core memory drivers I still remember :-) can explain something with sufficient clarity for me to 'get' it, but I can almost never work it out on my own. However, I've designed a number of digital devices, at least one of which became a product! Noel

9 years, 1 month

2
1
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I hate the new mail system

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rich Alderson > it is impossible to respond privately unless you happen to have a bunch > of old messages archived and the person to whom you want to respond is > someone who has written previously. If you go into the list archive: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/ the email address of the sender, for any given message, is still listed (in slightly mogrified form). Noel

9 years, 1 month

2
1
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list issue

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

So sorry for the temporary email outage on the list. We're moving datacenters and one of my folks moved several front end mail processors - not realizing that the classiccmp server which stayed behind was still using them. Through the magic of a vpn tunnel between front end mx hosts and the backend mailstores (classiccmp included), it seems to be back up. I'll talk to the guy tomorrow to discuss the actual movement of that vm. Yes, IP's will be changing for the list and all websites hosted therein. But DNS is "a thing", so should be mostly transparent. Depending on timing, I may go ahead and do some upgrades and recombine the lists - or may do that after the move. I'll try to do a better job of coordinating this.. Best, J

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

Displaywriters in Chicago

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Is there anyone out there that can save these? http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56313-IBM-Displaywriter-printer-(… I'm primarily interested in archiving the software.

9 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

Wildly hopeful eBay seller

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Now, this person: http://www.ebay.com/itm/182469963119 really is ... incredibly over-optimistic. Noel

9 years, 1 month

6
5
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after a long search, I found the Dr. Dobbs bound volumes

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Located here: http://6502.org/documents/publications/dr_dobbs_journal/ Apologies to the list if this is common knowledge. Randy 6502.org: Documents Archive<http://6502.org/documents/publications/dr_dobbs_journal/> 6502.org A collection of useful documents pertaining to the 6502 microprocessor.

9 years, 1 month

6
5
0 0

adb use on xenix 3.0?

by ray＠arachelian.com

I'm trying to help out Jason Perkins who wants to demo Multiplan on Xenix 3.0 for the Apple Lisa at the upcoming VCF. While the bits for it are on bitsavers, it requires a serial number and so far he's had zero no luck finding one. So I'm trying to use adb to step through the code and find where it checks for the serial number, etc. So I run adb ./brand and then set a breakpoint using :b on "." which is the start address for the binary, and then I do :r /usr/lib/mp/mp and it does stop before the 1st instruction is executed (or maybe right after), however, when I try :s to step to the next instruction it runs the rest of the program in its whole. I know there's also :e which should step but skip over any function calls. I've also tried :ss, and got the same results (whole program runs without stopping). ? and enter does disassemble the non-running binary. $r and $m show registers and the map. I'm actually not sure if I'm setting the breakpoint correctly as $b shows it, but there's also a "command" field next to the address, so if I do :bfoo, it shows address 0 and foo for the command. So what should "command" be? and how do I single step through the running code? Some more details of what I got so far for those with historical interest: The basic installation is untarring the multiplan disk, which writes to /usr/lib/mp and /once. In /once there's a script init.mp that runs brand -s {serial} /usr/lib/mp/inter, but if you enter the wrong serial number it removes all the files. brand seems to look for a string starting with SCOSN - there's 4 copies of the "SCOSN" string inside brand, not sure why. The /usr/lib/mp/inter binary has only one like this: SCOSNMFO9999990000. I suspect that brand replaces the stuff after SCOSN with whatever the properly encoded serial number is. There's some sort of simple ROT13-like encoding of the string stored in inter. Out of the box running "/usr/lib/mp/inter /usr/lib/mp/mp" produces output with a product number and a serial # of NUL-000000 - the "MFO" is decoded to NUL (basically substitutes A for Z, B for Y, 0 for 9, 1 for 8, etc.) and ofc it says invalid serial # and quits. The serial number is checked by both brand and inter, but maybe not the code in mp.cod (I touched a file called /usr/lib/mp/foo.cod and then it said /usr/lib/mp/foo.dat missing, so I touched that one too, and when I ran it, it said invalid serial number. Running inter by itself just prints a banner without saying invalid serial number.) I'm guessing the serial number is 3 letters a dash and 6 digits, but there's maybe 4 more digits that have to be entered, or those 4 extra digits are generated by brand, not sure. However, so far brand hasn't accepted any serial number tried. I suspect inter to be a Microsoft virtual machine that wants to load mp.cod and mp.dat which are the real code for multiplan. I read somewhere that early on MSFT was using VMs to do help them from having to port the same code to lots of targets. This way they could port the interpreter for the vm and run anywhere, though inter has string saying multiplan so perhaps there's some customizations to each copy of inter based on what it's supposed to run? brand seems to take two more options -m and -n (and -q which I suspect is "quiet" as the init.mp script uses it). Both -m and -n cause a core dump but first print "identifier string found at D in" This is an interesting bit of history that I'd like to reverse engineer if possible. brand hasn't been stripped so it's likely a bit easier to disassemble. inter however is stripped, so would be much harder to reverse engineer. But it would be very useful to be able to step through one instruction at a time to find where it's doing a checksum or whatever and try to figure out what the serial number looks like. Jason is trying to brute force it assuming it's SCO-###### by running brand in a loop, but so far no luck either. Thanks.

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Ohio Scientific 560Z Board: IT LIVES!

by systems.glitch＠gmail.com

IT LIVES! I spent most of today hacking on the 560Z board. I got the 12-bit porthole going first, took a bit as the manual doesn't tell you that you need IC CC installed if you want to be able to write to the 4K exposed in the porthole. After that, I plugged in a Z80 and tried to get it running the test code in the manual. Turns out I had a dud Z80 :) With a good one installed the test code ran no-problem, as did a little hand written code to push data to the lamp register on the new memory board. I plugged in an IM-6100 and pretty much determined that at least the first one I tried is dead. I'll recheck the soldering on it later -- it's stuffed into a machine pin socket and soldered in, since half of the legs were rotted off by that corrosive black foam everyone loves so much. Anyway, the second IM-6100 works! And the 560Z board works! And the 12-bit RAM board works! I made a (low-res, poorly focused) video with our old digital point-n-shoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYbGXHJST8U The IM-6100 is running a little loop that increments the accumulator and stores it to the lamp register. Storing of course clears the accumulator, but I have the lamp register mapped over RAM, so I just read the value back out of it. My first foray into PDP-8 code, it's certainly different, but it's still just machine code. Very happy that this seems to be coming fully together! Now if only I could find more IM-6100s...I'll test the remaining 3 tomorrow. Thanks, Jonathan

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

LGP-30 Video Update

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

GREAT TO SEE PROGRESS! Keep up the good work Cory! yes, heads have to be close to work.. at least that is the way it was with the VRC drums for storage on the GEPAC process control systyems Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/25/2017 7:24:30 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, coryheisterkamp at gmail.com writes: Some promising news on getting the LGP-30 up and running. With all systems stable, I tightened the head spacing on the three timing track heads (using brass 0.001" feeler gauges though I may have to go closer). This has resolved 'hanging' when hitting Start; it actually appears to execute for a cycle before toggling back to Stop for each press of the Start key. Of course without being able to see what's happening, it's likely just 'executing' garbage, but it's a solid first step. In Manual mode, keystrokes from the Flexowriter now trigger a Stop/Compute toggle for each key entered and status neons on the flip-flop cards are registering unique bit patterns as each comes in. I put the scope on the (rebuilt) clock generator card and we have good 'T' and 'T-bar' signals propagating, but still haven't licked the 'digital display' issue. After further probing, the display began to stabilize and the single line expanded into the proper 3 for Counter, Instruction and Accumulator, and eventually a bit pattern emerged for the Instruction. No signs of data yet for Counter nor Accumulator, and there is an extremely pronounced 'throbbing' and visible refreshing. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/Nhya46V-l70 System timing looks spot on (top trace), but I also see some 'throbbing' when putting my scope on any of the three timing heads which seems a little strange to me (example on lower trace). Here's a quick vid: https://youtu.be/JjRKDWVUyjA One thought is that the timing and short register heads are still too far off the drum surface for a solid signal, purely conjecture at this stage. -C

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

HP 2647F cable

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

I have a 2647 or a 2628.. ( has cassettes in it) I thought there was basic for it... neat.. how do we generate the tape to load it? Bet the rollers in the drive are toast? details? thanks ed# In a message dated 2/25/2017 4:46:10 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us writes: On Sat, 25 Feb 2017, Dave wrote: > Also, the online documentation indicates that there is supposed to be a > "BASIC/Autoplot/47" disk, but I only see an "Autoplot/47" disk among the > included floppies. Is this likely to contain the BASIC as well, or am I > missing a disk? I'd be interested in any software anyone may have for > this machine. The HP Museum site has a ZIP file available for download that has 3 disk images: http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?sw=306 Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

LGP-30 Video Update

by coryheisterkamp＠gmail.com

Some promising news on getting the LGP-30 up and running. With all systems stable, I tightened the head spacing on the three timing track heads (using brass 0.001" feeler gauges though I may have to go closer). This has resolved 'hanging' when hitting Start; it actually appears to execute for a cycle before toggling back to Stop for each press of the Start key. Of course without being able to see what's happening, it's likely just 'executing' garbage, but it's a solid first step. In Manual mode, keystrokes from the Flexowriter now trigger a Stop/Compute toggle for each key entered and status neons on the flip-flop cards are registering unique bit patterns as each comes in. I put the scope on the (rebuilt) clock generator card and we have good 'T' and 'T-bar' signals propagating, but still haven't licked the 'digital display' issue. After further probing, the display began to stabilize and the single line expanded into the proper 3 for Counter, Instruction and Accumulator, and eventually a bit pattern emerged for the Instruction. No signs of data yet for Counter nor Accumulator, and there is an extremely pronounced 'throbbing' and visible refreshing. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/Nhya46V-l70 System timing looks spot on (top trace), but I also see some 'throbbing' when putting my scope on any of the three timing heads which seems a little strange to me (example on lower trace). Here's a quick vid: https://youtu.be/JjRKDWVUyjA One thought is that the timing and short register heads are still too far off the drum surface for a solid signal, purely conjecture at this stage. -C

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

VIC 20 in film

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Anyone else notice it in _John Wick Chapter Two_? I don't recall having ever seen a VIC 20 in a mainstream film before.

9 years, 1 month

4
3
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VIA SMECC __ PART 1 RTTY Journal A Gift to all of us From Bill Henry

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

LINKS FOR DOWNLOADING THE RTTY JOURNAL AND FOLLOW ON PUBLICATIONS FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILES FROM THIS SECTION ONLY Thanks to Bill Henry of HAL for putting these into the public domain for all to enjoy. These are ZIP files which will break down to individual issues. They are presented in groups like this to enable easier and quicker downloading. Dates are in filename! These files below represent all of the RTTY Journal that were collected into a set CD-ROMs by Bill Henry K9GWT the owner and most recent publisher and Wayne Matlock, K7WM (SK). These journals represent 50 years or RTTY history in the Amateur Radio Field and along with the ARTS journals (an east coast publication) at SMECC represent a truly fantastic study of Amateur RTTY. The RTTY Journal was first published by the Southern California Radio Teletype Society as the RTTY Bulletin in January 1953. Over the years, the name has changed to RTTY Journal, RTTY Digital Journal and The New RTTY Journal. Past editors included Dusty Dunn (W8CQ), Don and Dee Krumpton, Dale Sinner W6IWO, Jim Mortensen N2HOS (SK) and Bill Henry. Thanks to Chen K7AY and Jay WS7I for distributing these. You will want to pull all of these down and expand them on your hard drive - then, you have the entire publication run as it evolved!. Enjoy! I am spending hours reading these! Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILES FROM THIS SECTION ONLY _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1953-1962.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1953-1962.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1963-1972.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1963-1972.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1973-1977.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1973-1977.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1978-1982.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1978-1982.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1983-1987.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1983-1987.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1988-1991.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1988-1991.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1992-1994.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1992-1994.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE _www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1998-2003.zip_ (http://www.smecc.org/media/rttyjournalzip/1998-2003.zip) -FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS RTTY JOURNAL ZIP FILE

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

SW tapes found today

by pete＠petelancashire.com

https://goo.gl/photos/edJN2M7AMsFFRL928 Tek 4050 some duplicates Apollo Model unknown Motorola MVME332XT Unused w/Tektronix Label Don't know the condition of the elastomer band. -pete

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

HP 2647F cable

by dfnr2＠yahoo.com

> I wonder if this kryoflux supports this format. . . ?I got a kryoflux from another hobbyist but never tried it out. Obviously, Teledisk supports it, if it's in the HPmuseum archive. ? I suppose Imagedisk does as well. Dave

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

story of Mel

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

> Without pulling the board out to double check how it is labeled it > must actually be a QG-640, not a QC-640. I was going from memory. > > This manual matches the board I have. > > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/matrox/265-MU-00_QG-640_User_Manual_Mar91.pdf Glen, The documentation link is exactly what I needed. Thanks!! It describes my QC-640 board exactly. It would be nice to have some drivers for it, but the documentation provides info on the pin outs for the connectors which I definitely needed. Thanks again, Mark

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

HP 2647F cable

by dfnr2＠yahoo.com

Hi! I just picked up an HP 2467F on Ebay (best offer accepted), and received it yesterday. ?It seems to be in great condition, with all the original materials in the original packing. ?Unfortunately, the disk and cable were not included. ?I did manage to find the disk drive in a separate auction by the same seller, but have not yet received it. Would anyone here be interested in the original box and packing materials? ?Perhaps someone with a 264x series terminal who values having a box? ?It's all in great condition, and came packed in a slightly bigger box, so I could ship it out undamaged, if there are any takers. This is a neat little 8085 computer disguised as a terminal. ?It was introduced in 1978, according to the hpmuseum, but this one has a warranty card suggesting a 1982 manufacture date. ?This appears to have been sold in Germany by a German distributor. I'm looking for a cable. ?The manuals seem to have the information required to make one, but would rather locate an original if possile. ?If anyone has a spare, I'd be interested. Also, the online documentation indicates that there is supposed to be a "BASIC/Autoplot/47" disk, but I only see an "Autoplot/47" disk among the included floppies. ?Is this likely to contain the BASIC as well, or am I missing a disk? ?I'd be interested in any software anyone may have for this machine. Thanks! Dave

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

story of Mel

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

> From: Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: story of Mel > > On Feb 23, 2017 12:23 AM, "Pontus Pihlgren" <pontus at update.uu.se> wrote: > > > (I'm just hoping I'l get lucky and find one.. I have an 11/73 with > graphics, it would be nice to add sound to it) > > > What do you have for graphics? I have a DEC VSV11 board set and a Matrox > QC-640 board. Glen, (or any one else) Would you happen to have any documentation for that Matrox QC-640 board? I have one also that came with some BA23 I purchased, but I have nothing on it. Thanks, Mark

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

Q Bus Music Board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jim Stephens > That A6006 produces a hit in this document > ... > AAV11-C ANALOG OUTPUT BOARD > ... > 4 DACs, and a DC-DC converter. Sounds like it might be a standard analog output board, for lab settings. I'll bet the music thing is some marketing ploy, like the card game in 'The Story of Mel'. (What, you haven't read 'The Story of Mel'?!? :-) Noel

9 years, 1 month

16
27
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Looking for a toggle switch

by chd＠chdickman.com

I need to replace the toggle switch on the M848 power fail and restart board for a pdp8/e. It is a singer controls corp T8001 as best I can read on it. A month or so ago I search and found an exact replacement, but Google is now failing me and I can't find it back. Anybody know who bought Singers switch product line?

9 years, 1 month

1
0
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story of Mel

by commodorejohn＠gmail.com

> From: Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com> > I always thought music in the old days was more about MIDI and letting > something designed for it do the work ala Usenix Nashville 1991. The MIDI control standard wasn't even finalized until 1983, and it took a couple years to really proliferate after that. Most computers at the time required a dedicated MIDI adapter because of its unusual baud rate (31.25Kbaud, not one supported by most standard UART setups) - the Mac, Amiga, and Atari ST could all handle MIDI with nothing more than a breakout box (or, in the ST's case, its onboard ports,) but those didn't roll out until 1984-1985. Prior to that, most "computer music" was either using a few proprietary computer-to-synthesizer interfaces such as Roland's DCB or the DK Synergy's dedicated Kaypro software, or using onboard DACs or simple PSG-style tone generators as being discussed here.

9 years, 1 month

1
0
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Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry

by shatle＠nfldinet.com

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry From: Jonathan KatzThere was a guy who I used to talk to who was on one of the Sun lists and was based in the top-tier hardware development/software development out of San Diego, and then later he moved east, but I forgot who that was. == I know who it is - we're still in contact once in a while. I plan to ping him and see if he's interested in participating. I also have another friend who drove a number of E10Ks for a large company here in the Twin Cities. Steve

9 years, 1 month

4
3
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WTB: IM-6100s / OSI 560Z Project

by systems.glitch＠gmail.com

All, Dave from osiweb.org and I have been working on reproducing some Ohio Scientific boards, including the OSI 560Z "processor lab." The 560Z is probably most well-known for allowing the user to run PDP-8/E code on an OSI using an Intersil IM-6100 PDP-8 compatible CPU. I'm getting parts kits together for these boards, but I've been unable to find IM-6100s through any of the usual supply channels. I have a handful from my personal stash, I'll probably be selling all but one. Does anyone have some they want to sell? I'll be reselling them to other hobbyists at whatever price I can get them for. Thanks, Jonathan

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Hello! Finally on cctalk!

by systems.glitch＠gmail.com

Hello all! I've tried to sign up for cctalk several times over the years, and never had a successful registration. Seems this time worked. I'm Jonathan, glitch on some other lists and forums, I'm the one responsible for glitchwrks.com. I hack on old computers, pre-PC stuff, mostly S-100, PDP-11 (largely QBus), and Ohio Scientific. I do industrial systems engineering/repair, legacy systems support, and server-side programming for $day_job. Also starting to get into *selling* some of my hobby designs as kits. Thanks, Jonathan

9 years, 1 month

3
2
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IBM Series/1 listed on UK Ebay

by harry.barman＠gmail.com

Just saw this when browsing on ebay... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBM-SERIES-1-1976-WHOLE-MACHINE-VERY-RARE-/272564…

9 years, 1 month

6
7
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IBM Series/1 listed on UK Ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jim Stephens > Compare to $5000 asking for the full running PDP 11/34 which was listed > (and I think is still wanting for a bid) recently. No, it sold on re-list, for the US$5K asking. Noel

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Q Bus Music Board

by pontus＠Update.UU.SE

Hi This has been discussed on this mailinglist before (back in -95 and -03). But with very little information came out of that. I'm curious about the "Q Bus Music Board" that DEC made. What system was it used in, what software was available that took advantage of it, how would you program it? All I know is from the cctalk threads and a few pictures from an ebay auction, with missleading description, that I missed out on. The number on the green handle is "93 08036" and on the PCB there is the number "EY-0105E-MS-0101" and it looks like it has two AY-3-8192 synthesiser chips. So, does anyone know anything more? And if anyone has one they could part with, I'd be interested. Kind Regards, Pontus.

9 years, 2 months

4
5
0 0

Reading PALs

by brain＠jbrain.com

Seems like someone on list was willing and able to read PAL16L8s and give a try to some PAL16R4s... Is that person still on list and still interested? If so, please contact me off-list. I am trying to restore some C64 carts, and the PAL on my working unit is protected, so I cannot replicate. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

9 years, 2 months

7
13
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FW: Y Combinator is restoring one of Alan Kay's Xerox Alto machines

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

Video of session 6 is up: https://youtu.be/b7yVhMT7tr4 Found our first bad IC. Probably not our last one. On 9/3/16 11:08 PM, curiousmarc3 at gmail.com wrote: Episode 5, still does not boot, but we are starting to follow long why: https://youtu.be/Wr7vDZpniNIr Marc On Jul 31, 2016, at 6:12 PM, CuriousMarc <mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> <curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> wrote: Next Episode: https://youtu.be/EDw8U1a6s78 http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day_31.html Marc From: Curious Marc [mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 2:01 AM To: Curious Marc; cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Y Combinator is restoring one of Alan Kay's Xerox Alto machines Ken's in-depth blog post to go with the previous video http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day_11.html On Jul 5, 2016, at 2:46 PM, Curious Marc <mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> <curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> wrote: Video from yesterday?s work on the Diablo cartridge disc: https://youtu.be/PR5LkQugBE0 Should be up in a few minutes. We were tickled pink to have official representation from PARC (former Xerox Parc) at the session. Marc Ken?s new post on the monitor repair to go with my previous video. http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day.html Al Kossow got us a new CRT tube, so we are probably going to try that this week-end. Marc Latest entry from Ken Shirriff, trying out BCPL (ancestor of C). On the emulator, not yet on the real machine: http://www.righto.com/2016/06/hello-world-in-bcpl-language-on-xerox.html Marc There are only two entries right now: http://www.righto.com/2016/06/y-combinators-xerox-alto-restoring.html http://www.righto.com/2016/06/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day.html Marc

9 years, 2 months

8
16
0 0

New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi folks, it has taken a while but I'm now actively planning to shift out another batch of OmniUSB boards. The last batch is sold out for a long time and I've been asked for more from time to time. As some of you might remember, it's a cool device to connect your pdp8/f/a/m/e to the modern world using lightning fast USB. The originial board has it's website here: http://pdp8.hachti.de/projects/omni_usb/ The new board will do the same, perhaps even more. - the USB connector will be replaced by a mini (NOT micro!!) USB connector. - The connector position and cable routing will be improved. - The board will be shorter. But it will come by default with a laser cut acrylic extension that makes it full size again. There will be at least those options to buy: - Kit (board + all parts) - Kit+ (board + all parts, SMT already assembled) Possible: - complete version - Everything soldered and tested. - discount for omitting acrylic extender I cannot guarantee that I can deliver fully assembled boards (regulations) and would be able to do that only if there's a reasonable number of interested buyers. If have set up a doodle poll to get a realistic picture of the interest in the board/kit/device: http://doodle.com/poll/d7y524mvyfezqp9w PLEASE take the minute and fill in your name (ideally that I can recognise you) and check the options which most precisely match your demands. PLEASE be as honest as possible as I will base my decisions IF and for which PRICE I can run the show. Thank you!!! Kind regards Philipp :-)

9 years, 2 months

22
55
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DISSPLA fortran source anyone?

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

The scientific graphics software package, written By Ian Hirscholn. Later sold to Coumputer Automation. He ported it to the PC later, with his company ISSCO. They also made a neat bitslice machine to run it, the Portable Graphics Mainframe, I had one for a bit, I was their rep. Anybody have anything on this beast, it was amazing. Randy

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

DATARAM DR-118 docs?

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Hi folks, Looking for documentation on the DATARAM DR-118 16Kx12 core memory for PDP-8/e. I have the documentation on the DR-118A which is for the PDP-8/a. It is probably similar, but would love to find the right version. Anyone have such thing? Thanks Eugene

9 years, 2 months

2
3
0 0

Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry

by jplist2008＠kiwigeek.com

Greetings to all; All this talk of favourite machines and getting into the hobby has gotten me amped up to work on my E10k. The E10k was always the "coolest" machine for me - largely due to the timing of my entry into the industry. I recently read Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine and was pondering the history of the E10k and its start in Cray Research Inc and its subsequent sale to Sun. The asset transfer that must've taken place and then how Sun turned it around to make it a Sun product and made its impact on the market has to be a fascinating story too. I would love to talk to anyone who was involved in the development, transfer, initial rollout and support of the E10k - from both CRI's and Sun's perspective. Heck, I'd be fascinated to talk to anyone who purchased the machines during their lifespan (1997-2001) and could tell me what you used them for. If you only know of someone that was involved that you might think would be interested in talking to me, please pass my eMail address on. Maybe if I get a big response I could put something together, if there was suitable interest of course. But at this point, I'm mostly just fascinated for myself. Thanks to all! - JP

9 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

Free to a good home: Honeywell/Bull DPS-6 workstation / server (Seattle, WA)

by kevinowens1＠gmail.com

do you still have this ? thanks Kevin

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

3D scans and sounds

by lars＠nocrew.org

Hello, I'm grateful that there are plenty of pictures of classic computer. However, I want more. 3D scans and sound recordings. Has anyone attempted to do that?

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

LGP-Resto Update

by coryheisterkamp＠gmail.com

For those curious about the status of the LGP-30 restoration, I?ve got a blog up with the latest. http://radar58.com/LGP30/ The power supplies are stable, the blower unit was overhauled and new bearings installed, all the modules have been recapped. I had a noisy bearing in the memory drum, thankfully it was one that could be accessed through the pulley end and I was able to inject fresh grease. There were burnt contacts in one of the open frame relays in the sequencer unit leading to intermittents. I found a NOS 3-pole version with fresh contacts and transferred those over yesterday and we now have correct startup. The ?digital display? chassis has been worked over with fresh resistors and this has made the controls much more responsive. The Flexowriter is behaving and the 6 associated FF's in the machine respond to keystrokes. All-told, I?m at the point of troubleshooting the scope display- I have a sad, unintelligible, wavy line, but I believe retrace is derived from the system clock track on the drum, so that?s my next investigation. Both vertical and horizontal boards have been rebuilt and tubes substituted with no change. -C

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jon Elson Dave Bridgham and I have been using KiCAD for our stuff, and we're pretty happy with it. Here are a few bits: this is just data, I'm not trying to convince anyone to use it - the points about 'complex tools one is already very used to' are very good ones. > I'm most concerned about the reliability of the design rules check > ... > If these checks miss errors, I REALLY don't want to use the package. I'm not quite sure what's covered here, but I have used the checker on my admittedly-tiny projects, and been happy with it. > and layout vs. schematic. Again, Dave has used it to lay out at least one moderately-sized card, and seems to have been happy with the results. > (KiCad seems to still require picking operations from a menu, Protel > has user-configurable keyboard shortcuts that are a big help. Maybe > KiCad has that and I just need to learn them.) KiCAD does have keyboard shortcuts. I don't know if they are configurable. > From: Guy Sotomayor Jr > In terms of community supplied libraries, Eagle has those too and I've > found that by and large they are junk (it's easier/quicker for me to > create a part on my own > ... While I haven't seen a lot of KiCAD contributed libraries (that's > part of the problem) KiCAD came with a fairly large set of user-contributed libraries. For various reasons (including working with archaic parts), I've wound up adding quite a few, but i've usally found it pretty easy to modify an exising part from the libraries, to get what I need. YMMV. Noel

9 years, 2 months

7
6
0 0

ISO IBM 3278 keyboards

by ggs＠shiresoft.com

Hi, I recently acquired a couple of IBM 3278 terminals (finally!). They are complete and working when shipped. I haven?t powered them up yet?I need to check them out but other than some slight screen burn they?re complete and very clean. However, they came with data entry keyboards. I?d really like to find one or more typewriter keyboards for 3278?s. If anyone knows where some might be pried loose, I?d appreciate it. I?m willing to trade or pay $$?s. Thanks. TTFN - Guy

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Error in PDP-12 Prints, and maybe all PDP-12s.

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

While debugging the PDP-12 at the RICM we found a mistake on sheet TC12-0-LTR in the PDP-12 schematics. The pins on the data cable between the TU56 and the TC12 labeled BT2 and FT2 should be BL2 and FL2. DEC wired the TC12 backplane per the incorrect schematic and grounded pin F06T2 instead of F06L2. The W032 on the end of the data cable has nothing connected to pin T, so this leaves the TC12 end of the Triax cable shield for data track 3 ungrounded. Data track 3 is the one on which we are having a noise problem, so this is a promising discovery. The 1969 and 1972 PDP-12 Engineering Drawings both have the same revision sheet TC12-0-LTR and the same error. Maybe all PDP-12s have this wiring error? -- Michael Thompson

9 years, 2 months

1
0
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PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

well I save the tiff because that's what archivists do generally I end up using the jpeg to make picture from. or post to net! In a message dated 2/19/2017 4:25:48 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, toby at telegraphics.com.au writes: On 2017-02-19 3:50 PM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote: > When we scan stuff at SMECC > it is saved in the following 3 formats for each item scanned. > > PDF with ocr background > TIFF > JPEG > and if containing a lot of text a TXT file as well. > > Kind of a shotgun approach... but should stand test of time? Only if you're publishing it somewhere and many people are mirroring it. --Toby > > Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) > > > > In a message dated 2/19/2017 1:44:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, > jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu writes: > >> From: Toby Thain > >> Often the source material is a multipage TIFF from the scanner or other >> processing step. > > Multiple single-page TIFFs, in my case. > >> So relevant tools are things like tiff2pdf (tiffutils) > > But also JPEG's, for pages where the B+W scanning I use (with fax > compression > to keep the file size down) results in pages that aren't readable - this > happens on faded pages. Does tiff2pdf handle a bunch of single-page > TIFF's, with a JPEG or two throw in? > > Noel > >

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Wanted: Amiga 1000 hard drive

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Anyone have an Amiga 1000 hard drive that they want to sell?

9 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

When we scan stuff at SMECC it is saved in the following 3 formats for each item scanned. PDF with ocr background TIFF JPEG and if containing a lot of text a TXT file as well. Kind of a shotgun approach... but should stand test of time? Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/19/2017 1:44:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu writes: > From: Toby Thain > Often the source material is a multipage TIFF from the scanner or other > processing step. Multiple single-page TIFFs, in my case. > So relevant tools are things like tiff2pdf (tiffutils) But also JPEG's, for pages where the B+W scanning I use (with fax compression to keep the file size down) results in pages that aren't readable - this happens on faded pages. Does tiff2pdf handle a bunch of single-page TIFF's, with a JPEG or two throw in? Noel

9 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Toby Thain > Often the source material is a multipage TIFF from the scanner or other > processing step. Multiple single-page TIFFs, in my case. > So relevant tools are things like tiff2pdf (tiffutils) But also JPEG's, for pages where the B+W scanning I use (with fax compression to keep the file size down) results in pages that aren't readable - this happens on faded pages. Does tiff2pdf handle a bunch of single-page TIFF's, with a JPEG or two throw in? Noel

9 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

Gimix 8K PROM board

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

Hey guys, I have a second SWTPC 6800 system I got recently and have it all running. It came with a Gimix 8K PROM board and, thankfully, the manual. It has two EPROMs installed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4pq0-BHd2x6R29LVy03d3c4dTA/view?usp=sharin g I'm assuming this board is used for things like storing BASIC in ROM, etc. Based on the manual with DIP switch 7 set it is set to use C000 - if I wanted to try and init whatever is on those chips, would it be as simple as J C000 at the SWTBUG prompt? Many thanks, Brad

9 years, 2 months

1
0
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PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

In a message dated 2/19/2017 8:06:50 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG writes: > - PDF/A is [...] > Those are all good archival properties! However, it's also R/O. Maybe if you stick to Adobe's tools. As demonstrated by this thread, it's entirely possible to modify such files, even if the currently-easy ways to do that involve a trip through a completely different representation. I find it astonishing that anyone would seriously call any documented file format read-only. (If PDF/A isn't documented, then IMO it's not suitable for archival under any circumstances. But this thread makes it sound as though it's documented.) /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B ====================== OK .. (correct me if I am gong in the wrong direction) so the important thing is that there is... - data in a format that is readable by others and a description of formats so if needed a reader can be constructed at a later date if needed. -non-commercial tools to access it or have the ability to modify the data in the future for all of time. -a reader/writer can be redone to work under a new operating system since source code is freely available for it? .... yea... makes sense... I do know what I do in any given week here is not necessary for the present but for years and sometimes lifetimes far removed from the present moment. #Ed _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)

9 years, 2 months

1
0
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PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Adobe claims " PDF/A ? the ISO standard for long-term archiving" -I am confused about all the versions etc.. -which are good which are bad? -are there good programs for opening hesitant to open pdf file? - what is a good freeware PDF generator? / modifier? - are older versions of the reader better than the newer ones? -my HP scanner software makes PDF files eiher as graphics or as graphics with OCR -is my HP scanner making "good" pdf files that can be read into the future? Sorry if I seem confused on this... but I am! thanks for any help Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/18/2017 11:24:14 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, bobalan at sbcglobal.net writes: On 2/18/2017 10:04 AM, Paul Birkel wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Al Kossow >> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2017 12:50 PM >> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org >> Subject: Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version >> >> PDF-A >> >> which is the reason it's not on bitsavers > Thank you Al. It's not just me then who has heartburn with that format ... > > ---- > > I removed the /A format and put the copy up here: http://dvq.com/docs/EK-11024-TM-003.pdf Bob -- Vintage computers and electronics www.dvq.com www.tekmuseum.com www.decmuseum.org

9 years, 2 months

6
6
0 0

OT: Immediate job opening in Atlanta

by sales＠elecplus.com

If you are near Atlanta, there is an immediate opening for someone who knows terminals and keyboards. Must be able to drive fork lift, climb ladders, carry 50 pounds, etc. Email me if interested. This is a long term, full time, good paying job. Cindy Croxton

9 years, 2 months

1
0
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Atlanta job opening

by orders＠elecplus.com

If you are near Atlanta, there is an immediate opening for someone who knows terminals and keyboards. Must be able to drive fork lift, climb ladders, carry 50 pounds, etc. Email me if interested. Cindy Croxton

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I was recently provided (thanks!) with a copy of the later rev of the PDP-11/24 Tech Manual (EK-11024-TM-003), which I have had scanned for a while now (waiting for a quite period on the list ;-), and is now available for upload here: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/EK-11024-TM-003.pdf (Bitsavers et al, please pick this up and distribute.) So it has an Appendix D, which described the -YA later rev of the CPU card (in which a bunch of gates were replaced with a couple of custom gate arrays. Does anyone have one of these? I'd love to get a photo of one, if so. Thanks! Noel

9 years, 2 months

6
9
0 0

Harris VOS question

by cclist＠sydex.com

I'm looking at what I suspect is a labeled Harris VOS (Vulcan) tape. Is it the case that the Harris minis are incapable of writing tape records that aren't a multiple of 3 bytes in length? The reason I ask is that the VOL HDR, etc. records all seem to be 81 bytes in length. All other records on the tape are also a multiple of 3 bytes long. Anyone remember anything like this? The Bitsavers documents are of no help as far as I can determine. --Chuck

9 years, 2 months

2
2
0 0

PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > PDF-A Sorry, what's the issue with PDF/A? Since it's supposedly the 'archival' version, that's what I asked for; I wanted to maximize the lifetime of these things. What version of PDF should I be asking for? (I'm not doing the PDF'ing. The person who is is using Acrobat.) > which is the reason it's not on bitsavers Are any other of the things I've scanned that aren't up for the same reason? List here (first two sections): http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/PDP-11_Stuff.html Please let me know, and I'll get them re-PDF'd into an acceptable form. Noel

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Box of old books

by db＠db.net

Wow from 2013 > I've put together a small box of old TTL books, computer references > of all sorts that I simply do not want anymore. If someone really > wants to collect old databooks instead of me sending this stuff out > to pulp let me know. It would be easiest if someone local to me here > in Ottawa could deal with it. I had a nibble from a local but somehow we never got the move arranged and it has grown to two smallish boxes now. I'll throw in DEC books and maybe a few other goodies. Toronto/Montreal is a possibility too if you can arrange a pickup. Diane -- - db at FreeBSD.org db at db.net http://www.db.net/~db

9 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

How I came to vintage computers

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hey folks, after my OmniUSB-thread has gone down the teleprinter way... I'll start a new thread. Did you now how I came to vintage computers? How I became some kind of computer engineer? Probably not. It's so easy. Listen. Long story ahead. In 1999 I started to study computer science. Java and algorithms and all that clean stuff. One day in autumn 2000 I had that idea: I need a Fernschreiber (=teleprinter)! I had nothing to do with that stuff. And I did no know how it worked. I even did not remember having seen one. It was just that word in my head. So I bought my first Siemens T100 (still here in the house, two floors below me). It was a machine with strange connectors which made awful noise when connected to power. So I went to the library and found a good book from 1934. That told me how the teleprinter works. I then somehow soldered a simple interface to connect that beast to the parallel (!!!) port of my Linux server (the first hachti.de server was a mainboard and a harddisk in the corner of my student home where we had 10mbit LAN acess and fixed IP. I even did a DNS reverse mapping philipp.vorstrasse.uni-bremen.de for my IP). At that time all about programming I knew was Turbo Pascal, some Z80 machine language (not assembly language, I programmed that beast in hex) and a bit Java. I didn't even know much about Linux. The server back then had been setup by someone else who was in need of a server. So he used it as well. I used the parallel port because I had an idea how to control the pins. I knew that there was something ugly called serial port but I had not yet made the connection that this was EXACTLY what I would have needed. To program that thing I needed some software. So I went to the bookstore at noon. Will never forget that. Bought the O'Reilly Linux Kernel drivers book (the one with the horse) and started to write my first C program ever. It was a kernel module. The Kernel must have been Linux 2.2. It was frustrating. But after a decent 30 hour nonstop session and hundreds of reboots (haha, of my web and mail server which was also running X from time to time) I really had some bitbang code which made the teleprinter say what I wanted it to say. I soon realised that with a multitasking OS like Linux I had the choice of outputting correct data using busy wait in Kernel or outputting a mess when the system gets under load. So I learned THAT lesson. I decided that I needed something else. Because I had heard of other people working with something called PIC Microcontroller, I bought one and a programmer. And a breadboard. That evil 16f84 was sitting there on my desk, naked, and did - nothing. Getting the PIC up and running was pure horror. The hardest architecture I've ever mastered. Since then I know: PIC is a load of complete shit! In the end I failed to create a RS232 (had learned that in the meantime) to teleprinter converter but had the idea to hook up two teleprinters using modems. TelexPhone was born. The project (telexphone.net) was eventually kind of stolen a few years later and continued to something still in existence called i-telex over internet. That was never what I wanted because the V21 modems (hard to find!!) are bit transparent. That means that the teleprinters on both sides of the wire run as synchronous as with a real wire between them. Very cool. The TelexPhone used a 16f876 with a approx 2k cooperative multitasking system written entirely in assembly. It was somehow modular. I managed to hook in modules with private main loop and init parts by writing an impressive linker script which automated that. Hey, I was 21 and did all that on my own! Please do NOT laugh! In the meantime someone somewhere invented something called eBay. And because It's always good to have several different devices of the same type and even better to have several examples of each those different devices, I had an eBay search for "Lochstreifen" which means punched paper tape. Paper tape for teleprinter, of course. One day I found an offer "Honeywell H316 minicomputer" which sounded interesting. With paper tape. And no pictures. In Switzerland. A quick search (probably already google? I used altavista.digital.com before) told me that this could be an interesting toy. So I bought it for the incredible amount of SFr 450. Borrowed a car and went there. What I found was some messy stuff somewhere on an uninsulated attic in Switzerland. Very dirty. I nearly turned down the deal because it all looked so crappy. The seller admitted that he had kept the stuff in that open attic since beginning of the 1980s. I took it home. Had to drive TWICE from Bremen to Switzerland to get it all. And it was a lucky buy. After fiddling and cleaning around some weeks (never seen a minicomputer before!) and reading the manuals, I found out that the PSU had a slight problem which lead to unjustified shutdown. After I had solved that by pulling out one of the security circuit card from the PSU, it powered up the computer. And it magically worked instantly exactly as the manual told me. That was in 2004. The H316 has never since then failed a single time. Only issue are some contact issues with some memory cabling which may happen after moving the machine. Since then I have never had to switch a chip or a lamp or whatever. No single failure. Not one failed CPU or memory test (except when I stress the cable's card edge connector). It's so amazing that it became boring. Programming in FORTRAN IV? Read the manual, punch tape, use the compiler, linking loader and libraries as described in the manual - works. No secret shit. And The machine came with all that software as nice source code listing and binary paper tapes. While still wandering around on my Olympus of quality, I got a call by a teleprinter friend who asked me if I would take a pdp8 computer. I thought that bit of that infamous DEC mess could be a good counter example for my H316's unlimited quality and went to pick up the pdp8. The day ended with my yellow car completely stuffed with rusty pdp8/l, and lots of other stuff. It were three machines. The tape drives and racks were fubar and went to scrap. http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/haul/dscn0750_full.jpg http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/haul/dscn0751_full.jpg http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/haul/dscn2109_full.jpg That was the beginning of the end. It just happened. Later 8/e, lab8/e etc. And I had to admit that playing with Omnibus pdp8 is absolutely amazing! It's a great toy! I think the pdp8/e (not straight-8, 8/i, /s or whatever) is one of the greatest toys ever made. There are many games, it breaks regularly while still giving you a chance to be satisfied after fixing it. And it's so versatile! And digging through those blurry schematics is a game in its own right! For the Honeywell everything comes in high quality print, completely correct, no derivations and workarounds. With DEC it can be an adventure to get an overview over a hardware, its features, ECOs and FCOs and what else could happen. Someday I also made a pdp8 in an FPGA. That was during the time I wanted to be a chip designer. But the only place where I could to ASIC design (I did my diploma thesis about a video generator FPGA design) was closed down instead of hiring me. Thank you, Silicon Image! Currently I'm working for a Bosch/Denso joint venture doing Linux security for car multimedia systems. In my free time I have just started to construct a M?rklin model railroad digital decoder which I will try to sell commercially (the competition use closed source PIC stuff. I use GPLv3 AVR code). And I run a letterpress print shop with the biggest machine being over 5 metric tons. In the printshop there's also an 8/e. And I have inherited a forklift. Don't know why I wrote this... Just wanted to write it. The teleprinter discussion... It was the teleprinter discussion.... I never learned to get that paper... I just had the right toys. That's it for now :-)

9 years, 2 months

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PDP 11/70 by PiDP8/i maker

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

Sorry I don't recall his name, but wondering what the progress is on the 11/70 version of this. Raspberry pi, functional front panel with blink'n lights which functions like the 11/70. My back archives are in a bit of a scramble, so can't search it either, again apologies. thanks Jim

9 years, 2 months

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VCF West is August 5-6

by cctalk＠snarc.net

What's that, you say? You want to start planning for Vintage Computer Festival West XII? Well mark your calendar!!! The show will be held August 5-6 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Web page is here: http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west-xi/ ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan at vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

9 years, 2 months

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38-52mm Adapter for B&L Stereozoom -- Cheap

by cclist＠sydex.com

My B&L Stereozoom microscope didn't have any protection for the objective lens assembly. It uses a rather oddball 38 mm threaded mount. I thought that those with the same scope might be interested in the adapter being sold as eBay 401250097157. It fits the 38mm thread on the B&L perfoectly and adapts it to a standard 52mm filter thread. Cheap--less that $3 shipped. Just got it today and it fits like a glove. FWIW --Chuck

9 years, 2 months

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confirm e3191f334ef584df40dccf9737f54f4dcd016a5d

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

________________________________________ From: cctalk [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] on behalf of cctalk-request at classiccmp.org [cctalk-request at classiccmp.org] Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 9:31 AM To: bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com Subject: confirm e3191f334ef584df40dccf9737f54f4dcd016a5d ______________________________________________ There was some talk a short time ago about accounts being shutdown because of excessive bounces. Well, a couple days ago I got one of these messages. I have not stopped receiving messages from the list. I think there is a problem with the mailing list software. :-) bill

9 years, 2 months

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DEC Documentation

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Lower that postage estimate. It fits in a padded envelope. bill

9 years, 2 months

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Old DEC Documentation

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Anybody interested in a copy of: Communications Options Minireference Manual (EK-CMINI-RM-001) USPS Flat Rate would be under $15.00 Throw in a couple more fo the trouble of taking to the PO and it's yours. bill

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Don't laugh http://w2hx.com/x/New%20Shack/0224151752b.jpg ________________________________ From: ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> Sent: Feb 14, 2017 1:54 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react! On 2/14/2017 6:27 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: > FWIW, Mini-B connectors are on their way out, nor USB OTG compliant. > Though agreed that they are flimsy... Why not just a type A or > something? Easy, big, and robust. > Why not mini and regular? Ben. PS: Add a 45.5 baud serail port. Control everything with a 5 level TTY. :)

9 years, 2 months

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Amateur Radio use of Teleprinters (was Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 11:29 PM, Tony Duell <ard.p850ug1 at gmail.com> wrote: > I think at one time radio amateurs (at least over here) had to use 5 bit > ITA2 > machines for RTTY. Same here. > It may even be to this day that RTTY implies that, and > that ASCII is classed as 'data'. The FCC order authorizing Amateur Radio use of ASCII went into effect in March of 1980, but at the moment I can't track down a copy of the actual order. The current FCC regs (?97.309) are more recent, and lump RTTY and "data emission" together, allowing ITA2, AMTOR, or ASCII, or, with additional limitations, "an unspecified digital code". I suppose I could use EBCDIC, FIELDATA, or the IBM Stretch character code, as long as I didn't use it for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of the communications, or to communicate with a station in a country with which the US doesn't have an agreement allowing those codes to be used. But the 5 level machines that were used over > here tend to be Creeds (Creed 7s, 75s and 444s mostly). > I'm told that Teletype models 15, 19, and 28 were very common here. I've mostly seen models 15 and 28. I've only once seen a mdoel 32 (ITA2 five-level version of model 33). I've seen some Kleinschmidt teleprinters, but I've never seen a Creed.

9 years, 2 months

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Fwd: Fwd: ibm 29 (keypunch?)

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

Hi, Phil emailed me out of the blue -- I'm not interested but anyone on the list want his 029 keypunch in Ohio? --Toby -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Fwd: ibm 29 Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:25:44 -0500 From: Phil Masturzo <pmasturzo at neo.rr.com> To: toby at telegraphics.com.au My name is PHiL and I live in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I got your email >from a computer museum who thought you may be interested in purchasing my IBM 29 computer. If so, email me back or call me on my cell phone at xxx-xxx-xxxx, if I can answer any questions you may have. Thanks, Phil

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

They are really neat looking! Phillipp! http://www.radista.info/tt_units/teleprinter_T-68d.jpg Yes I like the colors! what is the weight! Anyone heading to western US with large suitcase soon? (grin!) Another one our favorite sortta cute teletypes we like here at the SMECC museum is the model 31. we are looking to get all possible variants of this machine. We have some interesting stuff at this link here http://web.archive.org/web/20170103075925/http://www.smecc.org/teletype_mode l_31.htm And... we are interested in more of them, any photos of them or scans of them in various uses to continue to build this section out. Please drop us a line offlist at couryhouse at aol.com Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 11:22:51 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: Hi, On 02/15/2017 03:16 PM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote: > there are one of the Siemens teletypes that print tape and has a dial > on the front from Germany I have seen very compact nice unit used for > telex I would love to have. It's the t68d. Exists in very different versions. With paper tape, without, with dial, black, brown, etc. I have a few of those. I even have one sitting in Morocco. I brought it there by car...

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Always good to review what the terms of each is. Newcomers may not understand completely. Same with photo usage and video and music usage - there are various terms of usage for these media types. Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 9:13:36 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: One should also be aware of the difference between public domain, open source, free software and the different license models and have an understanding of the applicable rights and obligations. Kind regards Philipp

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

there are one of the Siemens teletypes that print tape and has a dial on the front from Germany I have seen very compact nice unit used for telex I would love to have. shipping on teletypes from overseas is expensive though. If one was local ad inn really nice shape we would be a candidate fro it for the telecom display at SMECC. Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 7:12:47 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: >> I could swap something for a nice creed machine. > > I suspect they're more common in the UK than elsewhere. They were used > by the Post Office > for the Telex service, for example. I know. Here everything is full with Siemens and Lorenz. Je aussi voudrais avoir une machine de Sagem...! > are wondering). Obviously these machines are normally 'collection > only' the sellers will not ship That's the main problem :-( But teletypes are easier to find here than in US :-P :-P :-P

9 years, 2 months

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FS: PDP-8 Music System paper tape set

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have a set of paper tapes for the PDP-8 comprising a Music System. There are 8 tapes in a DEC paper tape carrier, all in splendid condition. A couple photos: http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q427/Sellam_Abraham/20170124_144624_HDR_… http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q427/Sellam_Abraham/20170124_144616_HDR_… I'm asking $200 or best offer. Thanks! Sellam

9 years, 2 months

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Yale renames Calhoun College for Grace Hopper

by seefriek＠gmail.com

From: william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> > that's fine, but the reasoning was totally political and narrow minded. I'd be fascinated at a justification for this opinion that squared with "John C. Calhoun?s legacy as a white supremacist and a national leader who passionately promoted slavery as a ?positive good?".

9 years, 2 months

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Ted Kaczynski was RIGHT!

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Wed, 2/15/17, jim stephens <jwsmail at jwsss.com> wrote: > I saw her speak twice... I got to hear her speak once when I was a freshman in college before I really knew much about who she was. Yet there were still several things she said that have stuck with me ever since.? Years later I was talking with a retired Navy admiral that I worked with and if I remember correctly how he put it, Hopper was the only person Nimitz was ever scared of. >? But she had only brought a couple of "nanoseconds" and so I > missed a chance to snag one. Alas, I never got one of her nanoseconds either.? But I still love telling my students the story about them. > Very nice lady. >From everything I've heard she was indeed, in addition to being a force of nature. Always wished I had gotten a chance to meet her. BLS

9 years, 2 months

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How I came to vintage computers

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Indeed! It is fun to learn what got people interested in the history... and their replies are in some cases interesting history itself! Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 10:03:05 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, nf6x at nf6x.net writes: Thanks for sharing. That was a delightful origin story. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years, 2 months

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Ted Kaczynski was RIGHT!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Toby Thain > Even if your argument weren't absurd and offensive Absurd and offensive is in the eye of the beholder. Can we please drop this topic? Thanks. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Personally, i don't care about lead free solder. I am quite happy with lead. Is there a rohs requirement for small production, non profit, prototyping project? ________________________________ From: Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> Sent: Feb 14, 2017 11:54 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react! Hi, > I'm interested. How much did a board from the previous batch cost? Was different. I first made a poll and sold a batch of boards in my online shop for a certain price. It was somewhere about 105 EUR without VAT. After I received the payment, I made the boards and delivered them (I announced exactly that procedere!!). Later, as a few boards were left, I increased the price up to nearly EUR 200. I did it like with kickstarter - the people who trusted and funded got it cheaper. The whole thing barely covered the costs btw. > And > will that be any indication of what the new boards price? No, not really. But I already have some rough idea. The board will most probably be full size again. Reducing the size does seems not to offer enough benefit with respect to the hassle of adding enlargement afterwards. After my poll it looks as if there will be the following options: - Kit with full size board and SMT already soldered RoHS compliant. This will most probably go for short under EUR 100 (without VAT where it applies). I have to check with the assembly house. This time I try not to sit there and solder lead free SMD by hand for days. I like soldering SMT but that lead-free stuff and masses of boards can get quite annoying. The last boards were all hand soldered by me. One problem could be the gold fingers: My usual board house finally realized that their calculation tool was plain wrong when it charged me extra EUR 1,50 per board for the hard gold fingers. The board will be like the old ones but: * some unused (upper bit) IC positions removed * The diode stuff moved away from the edge (that was so stupid, sorry!) * The USB connector will be moved away from the edge, I will think about some holes to fix the cable using a strap. The USB will become mini USB. - Wonderful handle/set of handles to attach to the board. Probably made of milled wood, still thinking about it. This will be extremely expensive, I have no idea yet. Perhaps EUR 30 per "one piece" or set. And if someone really insists, I will manually complete and test a board. That would add another EUR 65 to the game. And perhaps an USB cable. If I continue to sell boards in that way, it will take not even 5 more years until it has paid for my Eagle 6 and 7 licenses.. Please continue to add to the doodle "calendar", if you are interested. Kind regards, Philipp

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

I have not heard of 40 mil loop here on ttys... generally 20 mil or 60 mil. - At least what I have encountered. Is the 40 mil. standard in Europe? Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/14/2017 2:24:15 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: On 14.02.2017 22:18, geneb wrote: > On Tue, 14 Feb 2017, ben wrote: > >> On 2/14/2017 6:27 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: >>> FWIW, Mini-B connectors are on their way out, nor USB OTG compliant. >>> Though agreed that they are flimsy... Why not just a type A or >>> something? Easy, big, and robust. >>> >> Why not mini and regular? >> Ben. >> PS: Add a 45.5 baud serail port. Control everything with a 5 level >> TTY. :) > > Dirty casual. 20mA current loop or nothing. The 45 baud machines do NOT run on 20mA. They usually run on 40mA :-) 20mA is the domain of model 28, 32, 33 etc.

9 years, 2 months

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Mystery QED board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > Sorry, typo. Ah, no wonder I couldn't find it... :-) The memory card (?) - the hex board leaning up against the wall in the middle - does look a lot like the MS95 memory card from the manual (three horizontal DuPont headers at the top, two vertical ones at the bottom, etc) but it also has differences - it doesn't have the two large square chips, etc. (And there's an MS95 in the board list, IIRC.) None of the other boards seem to correspond to anything in the QED 95 manual, though. So, rather a mystery. Quickware Engineering does still have a Web page (http://quickware.com/) which says that "Our core business is providing custom PDP-11 processor emulator upgrades", but it contains little content. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Mystery QED board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Does anyone know what the QED board (4th image) in this eBay lot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/322414100718 is? The large chip looks like a J11 chip. However, the only QED PDP-11 board I found mention of online is a high-performance hex board UNIBUS processor, the QED 95. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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need (physical) key for Sun SPARCserver 1000e

by barythrin＠gmail.com

Perhaps a silly question but have you poked around local social media for a local unix group? Or a local craigslist ad for someone to borrow a key? I wouldn't think they'd be thst uncommon although admittedly I also stopped/paused a project for similar lack of results a while back (much different system though).

9 years, 2 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > Having other hardware decode instructions that appear as NOPs to the > main processor is not uncommon in HP machines. Ah, so you actually had some prior knowledge that helped in working out that puzzle, that that's what's happening here! :-) Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Mystery QED board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > I think it is a QED 90 -- there are docs on Bitsavers ??? The only file in: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/quickwareEngineering/ is for the QED-95? Noel

9 years, 2 months

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need (physical) key for Sun SPARCserver 1000e

by other＠oryx.us

Its literally Christmas for me today. I came into physical position of a well optioned-out SPARCserver 1000e, accompanied by several SPARC Storage Arrays. I'm doing a physical review of the 1000e, i.e. re-seating boards, physical clean up, etc. And reviewing all the appropriate hardware documentation, still available, directly from Oracle. Anyway, on the front of the case is a (4) position power switch (i.e. standby, on, DIAG, lock), that is unfortunately not set to the on position. Hoping that someone out there either has a key that they will part with, or, knows of another (presumably Sun) key that will work in the 1000e key switch. Thanks for looking, Jerry @ 75077

9 years, 2 months

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trying to resurrect a DG Nova 3

by suea.pac＠gmail.com

Hi CC folks: Been trying for several years now to find the vital parts I need to get a Nova 3/12 from my old Univ. up & running. What I do have now is the chassis with PS, front panel, CPU and FPU boards, some of the documentation, and, hopefully pending, a disc drive (not sure if it has controller). Most of all, of course, we badly need Mag or MOS memory, plus I/O boards/peripherals. Have posted on "vintage computers" several times and also contacted a DG specialist but so far no success with parts. ANY help in getting this thing going before, at pushing 70, I get too old to ever see it run even a simple routine or ancient game, (or care !) would be very deeply appreciated!! Please eMail: firesweep "at" verizon "dot" net if you can help or have leads! regards, Roger A. in NY

9 years, 2 months

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Current Loops and TTYs (was Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 4:22 PM, Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> wrote: >>> PS: Add a 45.5 baud serail port. Control everything with a 5 level >>> TTY. :) >> >> Dirty casual. 20mA current loop or nothing. > > The 45 baud machines do NOT run on 20mA. They usually run on 40mA :-) The M19 is 60mA at 100VDC... takes a bit to pull that relay. > 20mA is the domain of model 28, 32, 33 etc. Yep. That's all I have in my own pile... (33 and 35). -ethan

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > Personally I _do_ care about lead free solder. I won't have it. The > fact that part of this board comes pre-assembled with that horrible > muck means I won't even consider buying one. Gee, Tony, why don't you tell us what you _really_ think! :-) Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Yale renames Calhoun College for Grace Hopper

by cclist＠sydex.com

Grace Hopper (if you've ever followed CODASYL or the COBOL language was a very sharp lady who's long had my admiration. Kudos to Yale! http://news.yale.edu/2017/02/11/yale-change-calhoun-college-s-name-honor-gr… --Chuck

9 years, 2 months

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Changing wire-wrap configurations on DEC circuit boards

by earl＠retrobits.com

Hi there, I've got a couple of DEC QBUS boards (including a quad SLU) for which configuration is set by wire-wrap jumpers. I don't have a wire-wrap tool, and have found that trying this by hand without one is not workable. Has anyone come up with a clever way to permit reconfiguration of these boards without semi-permanent changes? Or, alternatively, what wire-wrap tool would you recommend? Thanks! - Earl

9 years, 2 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

That is a very nice and robust part you linked to. Looks perfect ________________________________ From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> Sent: Feb 14, 2017 10:03 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react! On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 8:27 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt <ams at gnu.org> wrote: > FWIW, Mini-B connectors are on their way out, nor USB OTG compliant. > Though agreed that they are flimsy... Why not just a type A or > something? Easy, big, and robust. This is a peripheral. USB OTG doesn't apply, and USB-A would be "inappropriate". Pretend this is an inkjet printer. What plug would you expect to find on that? I don't _mind_ Mini (I have a number of devices and cables that are mini) and it _is_ more robust than Micro (I have seen plenty of phones and tablets with broken micro plugs). I have a suggestion... put 4 vias on 0.1" spacing next to the micro connector so we could, for example, add a chassis-friendly exit cable of our own purchase/manufacture if we choose, to have a nice fat USB-B on the outside of the case. https://newnex.com/images/UHR1-B-0005Blarge.jpg -ethan

9 years, 2 months

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Changing wire-wrap configurations on DEC circuit boards

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > I find wire wrap wire to be the best thing (soldered in place) to > repair or modify PCBs. That's what DEC used for ECO's. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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AT&T 3B2 UNIX System V User Reference Manual for sale

by jbader＠neteffects.com

AT&T 3B2 Computer UNIX System V User Reference Manual Original red hardcover, 3-ring binder, 9"x9"x2" Published July 1985 Excellent condition, never used Best offer plus $10 for shipping.

9 years, 2 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

Tony Duell wrote: > My first thought, and it's probably wrong, is that these instrucitons > (which differ by one bit, so might be > setting/reseting something) are NOPs to the CPU, but are interpretted > by the memory mapping hardware in those > 9825s that have more than 64K or RAM and ROM total. This seems likely. According to your schematics, gate U47 detects the pattern 0701xx. This signal feeds into the U43c flipflop, which appears to latch the state of the low 4 bits of the MAD bus into register U42, which sets the state of the /ForceRAM (bit 3), /ForceROM (bit 2), /DiagRd (bit 1) and ALLROM (bit 0) signals. Thus, these two instructions appear to toggle the state of the /ForceROM signal. If I?ve wrapped my brain around the details it appears that 070113 deasserts the /ForceROM signal, and 070117 asserts it?

9 years, 2 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by pete＠petelancashire.com

I agree quite a unique bit of code On Feb 13, 2017 4:07 PM, "Noel Chiappa" <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote: > From: Tony Duell > My first thought, and it's probably wrong Apparently not... :-) > these instrucitons (which differ by one bit, so might be > setting/reseting something) are NOPs to the CPU, but are interpretted > by the memory mapping hardware Ooh, very clever/cool. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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PDP 11 Line Time Clock (LW11L) M787 and EIS board, (KE11E) M7238

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > (while installing the MMU and Stack Limit Register in my own 11/40) BTW, I think I found out why the MMU requires the SLR. The SLR is not operative in User mode. I haven't checked out the circuitry to see exactly what the interaction is, but it has to be something associated with that. > you *will* need an LTC to run V6 UNIX Actually, it will work with a KW11-P, too; those are actually more commmon than the KW11-L's, I've found. But as Guy pointed out, the DL11-W will do too - and those are _very_ common (since they were used in the 11/34's, etc). Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > My first thought, and it's probably wrong Apparently not... :-) > these instrucitons (which differ by one bit, so might be > setting/reseting something) are NOPs to the CPU, but are interpretted > by the memory mapping hardware Ooh, very clever/cool. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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DATAC 1000

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Looking for a DATAC 1000 if anyone has one for sale or trade (or a site with pictures). This is a Philadelphia USA origin 6502 trainer. I am interested in it for the local history. Thanks Bill

9 years, 2 months

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PDP 11 Line Time Clock (LW11L) M787 and EIS board, (KE11E) M7238

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > PDP 11 KE11E M7238 EIS board (for PDP 11/40) which causes the CPU to > crash when installed; front panel not responsive > ... > I installed a removable jumper so I can flip jumper configs back and > forth between EIS installed/not installed. Without the EIS the system > works fine To understand this symptom, one needs to understand how the EIS interacts with the main CPU. Both include microcode, and what is supposed to happen is that when an EIS instruction happens, control is passed to the microcode on the EIS board (the actual microcode words being fed back to the main CPU through those three over-the-back jumper cables). The microcode on the EIS board can then control the data paths, etc in the main CPU, to feed the EIS data, and take back the results of the computation performed on the EIS card. I'm trying to understand what W1 does, but I'm not there yet. It's shown on the KD11-A print K3-8 (pg. 48), in the lower left corner, but its effects are somewhat obscure. To start with, the array of odd chips E6-E7 (74H60's) and E17 (74H53) are expandable AND-OR gates. I'd never seen these before, but the lines running to and from pins 11 and 12 on the 'H53 join the other three gates below it into it - i.e. that whole array of AND gates all feed into one NOR gate (output on pin 8 of the 'H53). So far, so good, but from there I'm still lost. When W1 is inserted (no EIS) it grounds the signal ECIN00, which comes in from off-board (as shown by the "A05S2", which is the pin it arrives on). The output of that giant NOR gate is CIN00, which is immediately sent off-board (pin 'A05P1'). I have yet to try and chase these signals down, and work out what they do; the KD11-A Tech Manual is fairly cryptic on the subject. Note also that, IIRC, the front console operates under control of microcode. So I'm _guessing_ that what is happening is that somehow the EIS is, when enabled, messing up the operation of the microcode in the main CPU, causing it to freeze. > Thought - I don't have a LW11L, M787 installed. ... Do you think that > maybe the EIS board requires this for some reason No. I've looked at the KW11-L prints in the past, and it's just a very simple UNIBUS device. I don't see any way it not being there could cause the symptoms under discussion. > I could swap out the current 11/40 backplane with a backplane that has > the jumpers for the M787 already removed I think it's only one jumper - for BG6, no? > I neglected to mention I had no M787 To run Unix V6 you'll need either a KW11-L or KW11-P (see previous discussion about how Unix needs a clock - both at a low level, because it will panic() if it doesn't find one, and at a high level, because even if we patch the panic, stuff won't 'work right' without one). Noel

9 years, 2 months

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PDP 11 Line Time Clock (LW11L) M787 and EIS board, (KE11E) M7238

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Question - I am working on a PDP 11 KE11E M7238 EIS board (for PDP 11/40) which causes the CPU to crash when installed; front panel not responsive, can't boot XXDP. I installed a removable jumper so I can flip jumper configs back and forth between EIS installed/not installed. Without the EIS the system works fine, can boot OS's that do not require it like RT11. As discussed before the EIS is required if I want to boot up UNIX 6 on the 11/40, which is a goal of mine. Thought - I don't have a LW11L, M787 installed. This is a the Line TIme Clock option card. Do you think that maybe the EIS board requires this for some reason, even though there are no references to this as a requirement in any docs I can find? Maybe the docs writers assume it's installed? I only wonder because any time I have seen the M7238 installed in an 11/40 I have also seen a M787. I could swap out the current 11/40 backplane with a backplane that has the jumpers for the M787 already removed, but I only want to do this if it's necessary. When we were talking before I neglected to mention I had no M787, you may have assumed I did. Bill

9 years, 2 months

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Trend HSR500 Paper Tape Reader manual

by ard.p850ug1＠gmail.com

I am not sure if anyone is interested, but I've scanned the manual for the Trend HSR500 and HSR500P optical paper tape readers. If I've got the permissions right, then you can get it from my google drive on : https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5uNCTLB4VsqRU9TWDIzWnZYaU0 It's a large file, I don't think the scanner software has heard of compression!. If anyone can make it a more reasonable size, feel free... This is a proper manual with schematics, parts lists, adjustment info, etc. I've also scanned the circuit diagrams for the Trend Paper Tape Station, here https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5uNCTLB4VsqemRFMnVNb0l5WU0 The Paper Tape Station is a rack unit containing an HSR500 reader, power supply, GNT34 punch and a driver card for the punch. Those diagrams are for the punch driver and power supply, you need the HSR500 manual as well. Let me know if it all works... -tony

9 years, 2 months

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8085 RAM testing program

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, I'm at the point of troubleshooting this 8085 board where I need to test all the RAM. The code loops at an IN looking for....something. Based on other assembly programs I've looked at the code is very similar to eg a disk controller looking for a READY signal from a drive. Trouble is I have no idea what's expected to be at I/O port 0xE3. If it was one of the peripheral chips I'd expect a chip select line to go low. The 74LS139 that does chip select is OK - I've tested it off-board and all traces going to it buzz out OK. The code uses upper RAM as a scratch pad so what I'd like to do is replace the $0000 ROM with an EPROM containing RAM test code. I've found incomplete examples that need to be tailored so before I go reinventing the wheel has anyone got a working example I can use? Warnings of things I should and shouldn't do? RAM is at $8000-$FFFF, and at least some of it is ok since the stack pointer is up at 0xF0B3 and I can trace the code by watching which addresses it's reading. Cheers! -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

9 years, 2 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

I am working on the disassembly and commenting of the 98228A disk ROM for the 9825T, and my disassembler flagged two instructions as invalid. They are used inside a routine that copies blocks of words from various banks of the ROM into low RAM. The first, bit pattern 070113, is used immediately after a dir (disable interrupt) instruction. The second, bit pattern 070117, is used immediately before an eir (enable interrupt) instruction. The ?invalid? instructions do not match any instructions described in the 9825A patent, nor are present in the 9835 or 9845 assemblers instruction descriptions. From the surrounding code, it doesn?t appear that these instructions reference any of the user visible CPU registers, but are used in some way that enhances the effect of dir/eir and ensures the block copy is not interfered with. Anyone have any ideas? Possibly a DMA request ignore/resume pair?

9 years, 2 months

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Disassembly of a DG One?

by isking＠uw.edu

Hey all, Is anyone out there familiar with disassembly of the Data General DG One portable? I have one of the EL models - it looks so cool! - and the hard drive is stuck. I want pull it out and repair it, but I've reached an impasse. I have the machine disassembled and the HD case is accessible, but there is no obvious way to remove it. I don't like to just force things, for obvious reasons. Thanks to anyone with some advice. -- Ian -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."

9 years, 2 months

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tu58fs - oversized TU58 tapes under XXDP and RT-11

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

Friends, tu58fs 1.1 now supports oversized TU58 tape images, with capacity up to 32MB instead of 256KB. This was easy to made for XXDP. Under RT-11 the DD.SYS driver must be patched and reinstalled, tu58fs now handles this automatically. The GITHUB release at https://github.com/j-hoppe/tu58fs/releases contains 2 new demos: "demo_xxdp_oversize" packs the whole XXDP25 RL02 disk content onto an emulated tu58 "demo_rt11_oversize" boots a full RT-11 installation from TU58, and mounts a 2nd tape full of games. Docs at http://retrocmp.com/tools/tu58fs were updated. And I feel pretty empty now ... hope you love it! Joerg

9 years, 2 months

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LMI Lambda?

by dseagrav＠lunar-tokyo.net

If there is anyone out there who has access to or knows someone who has access to an LMI Lambda in any condition or configuration, please contact me.

9 years, 2 months

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16MB memory module for a PC110

by brain＠jbrain.com

I know it's a "newer" PC compatible machine, but I was wondering if anyone had a 20MB PC110 Palmtop and could tell me (or send me pics) of the 16MB RAM upgrade. I have a non working unit here I can liberate the 4MB module from, and I believe I can replace the RAM ICs with larger ones. The DRAMs on the board are HM51W16160ATT7, which are 70nS FP DRAM 1Mbx16 I assume there are similar 4Mbx16 DRAMs I could solder in (A0-A11 Row/Col) Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

9 years, 2 months

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SunOS 3.5 and SMD disks

by dennis.grevenstein＠gmail.com

Hi, I recently acquired an old Sun3 with a Fujitsu Eagle disk. This disk has SunOS 3.5 on it. Parts of the installation were missing, though. I wanted to build a new kernel with SCSI support and extracted the sys stuff >from a 3.5EXPORT release tape. My machine however runs plain 3.5. I can build a new kernel, but some things won?t worked like allowing logins when a password is set. Is there anyone out there who could provide me with a tar of /usr/sys >from a complete working SunOS 3.5 running on sun3? As a second question: The SunOS boot disk is a Fujitsu Eagle that often reports errors. I have a second Eagle that I might use as a backup, but I would have to reformat the second disks. How can I do that with SunOS 3.5? There is no ?format? command apparently. thanks, Dennis -- Don't suffer from insanity... Enjoy every minute of it.

9 years, 2 months

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RSTS V7 magtape images on bitsavers

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning >> When did V7 come out, BTW? > The files on the SYSGEN tape have a timestamp of 26-Sep-79, so "Fall > 1979" sounds right. Ow. I was looking for something a lot earlier than that. I used RSTS-11 in the '72-'74 timeframe, so it's a version from that era I'd like to have. Any idea what version that would be - and if it's still extant? > I've used the V4A kit (DECtapes) to build that ... (There's a V4A > sysgen manual on Bitsavers too ...) When was that one? >> It would be really nice to have sources - are they gone forever? > Some still exist. I know someone who has a RSTS source kit, not sure > which version. I have pieces of source. OK, better than nothing. > A complication with all of this is the question of licensing. There's a > hobbyist license for RSTS to build and run it, but whether that carries > over to making sources available is an interesting question. I'm not > sure who to ask these days, either. Hmm. I guess technically HP owns it now? Noel

9 years, 2 months

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LMI Lambda?

by john.h.blake＠gmail.com

> > > Apple is slightly different -- the licence for Mac OS X stipulates > > > that you're only allowed to run it on Apple-branded hardware. This is > > > somewhere between rare and unique, though, and it has recently been > > > relaxed slightly to permit use of hypervisors. > > > > EULAs have the same value as toilet paper and should be used for the same > > purpose. > > > > Legally, they can and have been enforced. So their value is not nil > > when it comes to screwing up someone. I was always under the impression that EULAs existed, at this point, solely to scare corporate/commercial users into license compliance in order to avoid lengthy and draining court expenses, since they've been shown to be entirely unenforceable on individuals since the 90s. That's why Adobe stopped trying to prevent piracy of Photoshop on a single-user basis long ago, as an example. License compliance is irrelevant for individual users and particularly so for long obsolete software, i.e. anything that might reasonably be emulated. Even emulating a more recent video game system such as the Wii would be impossible to prevent given that the courts have decided that it is acceptable to create backups of software that you own and the original creator cannot prevent you from using that backup on a different platform than originally intended (recent example being ripping a CD you own and listening to it on an mp3 player, or more distant example, creating mixtapes for your personal use). Not that it would prevent you from having to deal with a court case, but in virtually every case I'm aware of over the last decade or so it's usually just been a cease and desist letter to show the company still intends to maintain copyright, but actually taking someone to court for emulation would be catastrophic for any corporation's public image and virtually guaranteed to be thrown out.

9 years, 2 months

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RSTS V7 magtape images on bitsavers

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > I wrote a simple program to strip off those two bytes everywhere, and > the result was a set of V7 kit tapes that work nicely. Any chance you could provide those 'ready to run' tape images back to BitSavers, so other people don't have to replicate what you did? > Trying to remember how to do a V7 installation with no docs was > interesting... Any chance you could write up some notes covering what your rememaber/did, for anyone else who'd like to try running RSTS-11? (I'd upload them to the Computer History wiki, if you like - I've, alas, not had any luck getting in touch with the Webmaster there about getting other people accounts...) When did V7 come out, BTW? And in looking around BitSavers a couple of days ago for RSTS-11 stuff, I didn't think I found much in the way of sources, just the binaries. Did I miss any? It would be really nice to have sources - are they gone forever? Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RSTS V7 magtape images on bitsavers

by paulkoning＠comcast.net

Gents, I'm looking at a set of RSTS V7 magtape images (a release kit) which have an odd format that gives SIMH fits. In the container formats I'm used to, each tape block image is preceded and followed by the data length as a 4-byte value. In SIMH that's rounded up to even, in E11 format it's not, but apart from that this is how things work. The V7 tape images don't match that format. It looks like each block contains not just the data but also 2 more bytes, and the data length value represents that extra 2 bytes. So the tape label is 16 bytes, not 14, and the data blocks are 514 bytes, not 512. Does this ring any bells? Where do those extra bytes come from? Can SIMH be told to deal with this or does it require a repair program to fix the format? paul

9 years, 2 months

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Wanted: AT&T 3B2 systems & software

by lists＠loomcom.com

(n.b.: Sorry for the "wanted" spam from me. I think this is the last one for a while!) I have access to a friend's AT&T 3B2 Model 400 for exploratory and reverse-engineering work, but I would really like to get a system of my own. To that end, if you have an AT&T 3B2 you'd like to part with, please drop me a line. Happy to pay fair market prices, or consider some trades if you prefer that (I have a lot of DEC Qbus stuff) I'm also still looking for more documentation. I especially wish I had schematics, and any docs related to writing drivers. Anything that would be useful in documenting the 3B2 internals would be lovely. Thanks! -Seth

9 years, 2 months

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More of the collection for sale: Franklin ACE 100, LNW-80, Commodore PET 8032

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I am presenting two more items from my collection to sell: Franklin ACE 100 (Apple ][ clone) http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56187-Franklin-ACE-100 LNW Research LNW-80 (TRS-80 clone) http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56189-LNW-Research-LNW-80-w-Syste… I also have this nice Commodore PET 8032 (like new in box): http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?55679-Commodore-PET-8032-Brand-Ne… Although you can contact me on the VCForums, I would much prefer you contact me directly through e-mail if you're interested in any of these fine systems. Thanks! Sellam

9 years, 2 months

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PDP8/e power controller connections

by ard.p850ug1＠gmail.com

I am currently rack-mounting my PDP8/e and its peripherals. And of course I want to have the peripherals power up when I turn on the CPU. I have an 861 power controller in the rack, but you can't just link that to the power control sockets on the CPU, DEC changed the wiring at some point... Let me explain. The 3 pin power control sockets on the 861 and just about every other power controller and all my PDP11s carry the following 3 signals : Ground, On/ (ground to turn the unit on) and Off/ (ground to force the unit off, e.g. for an overheat shutdown). The 3 pin sockets on the PDP8/e CPU are not wired quite in parallel. One pin is ground. Another pin is On/ (as above). But the middle pins are linked via the frontpanel switch and overheat thermostat. The normal thing to do is to put a jumper in each socket so that one side of the switch is grounded, the other goes to On/. If you have more overheat thermostats in peripheral boxes, they can be linked into the chain. There is a mains output on the PDP8/e PSU that was (according to the printset) used to operate a contactor directly to power up the peripherals. A moment's thought made me realise you could use a normal power controller with the PDP8/e. The only disadvantage is that the overheat switch in the power controller would not shut down the CPU. Since I don't run my machines unattended that is no great loss. What I did was to cut a normal DEC power control cable (with the 3 pin plug one each end) in half. Call the 2 halves 'CPU' and 'Pwr' Then wire as follows : CPU/Green (Gnd) - Pwr/Green (Gnd) CPU/Red (On/) --->|--- CPU/Black (Switch) Pwr/Red (On/) --->|--- CPU/Black (Switch) Pwr/Black (Off/) : Not connected Now plug the ends into the power controller and one of the CPU power control sockets (make sure you have them the right way round). In the other CPU power control socket fit the jumper plug that links the middle pin to ground. The idea is that when the CPU switch turns on, both the CPU On/ line and the power controller On/ line are pulled to ground via the diodes. The diodes prevent the voltage from one power switching circuit ending up in the other. The diodes can be just about anything that will carry the power relay coil current. I used 1N4007's as I happen to have them to hand. I built it in a spare telephone junction box with 6 pairs of terminals. One set of terminals carries the cables. The other set carries the diodes and a wire between the 2 ground wires. Needless to say construction is not critical. It's very low speed, it's about 24V (and isolated from the mains) at < 1A. -tony

9 years, 2 months

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FOR SALE: SWTPC 6800

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have a nice SWTPC 6800 with a color video board and custom sound board for sale. The ad is on the VCF forums: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56190-SouthWest-Technical-Product… Please inquire directly to me via e-mail if you have any questions. Thanks! Sellam

9 years, 2 months

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SWTPC 6800 for sale

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have a very nice SWTPC 6800 for sale. Please see the ad on the VCF forums for complete information. If you have inquiries, please do send them directly to me via e-mail. Thanks! Sellam

9 years, 2 months

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need (physical) key for Sun SPARCserver 1000e

by Richard.Sheppard＠telus.com

Apparently the part number is 330-1651 http://docs.smoe.org/sun/feh/docs/wcd00015/wcd015cd.htm Richard Sheppard

9 years, 2 months

2
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LMI Lambda?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Alfred M. Szmidt > System 46 for the MIT CADR is licensed under a 3-clause BSD license -- > start hacking. ;-) You even have an emulator for the MIT CADR. Everyone seems to have blown right past this, but it might be important. Does anyone know if the Lambda matches the CADR? Or did they make changes ('improvements')? I always had the impression that it was basically a CADR clone. A CADR emulator, running the MIT code, would certainly be OK. Noel

9 years, 2 months

2
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Odd-looking scope trace on an address line

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, Clear one problem and hit another is just what I expect to happen with this Executel :) After last weekend's little breakthrough my little machine is now hitting a loop that LOOKS like it's waiting for an RST6.5 interrupt*, but at the same time the A9 line is doing this: http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/STCExecutelOddTraceA9.jpg (scale doubled for ease of viewing) That doesn't look normal to me, but all 8 chips that touch A9 check out OK and there's nothing odd resistance wise. Before I start chasing my tail again I thought I'd ask first... (*for anyone interested RST6.5 is triggered by the TS1/TS2 status lines from the MR9735 teletext decoder and should be constantly active while video is being output. At one point Tony suggested this chip needs to be initialised and there is indeed a control word that can be passed to it to turn it on and off which makes me wonder if there's another memory bit stuck somewhere) Cheers! -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

9 years, 2 months

4
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Unidentified (CDC?) panel

by cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

Hello, amongst other panels and things (CDC 6600 dead start panel, PDP-15 frontpanel) I got this one: http://up.picr.de/28257957bg.jpg I *guess* it also comes from the CDC 6600 but I'm not sure. Can anyone identify it? Christian

9 years, 2 months

8
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11/44, parts, 11/24, DZ11

by useddec＠gmail.com

I have at least one 11/44 for sale, at least one 11/24 for sale. I can configure them as needed within reason. They can be packed and shipped as freight carrier of your choice or pickup in IL. or IN. Please contact me off list. Also the following parts: M7090 M7094 M7095 M7096 M7097 M7098 $300/SET (several available) 70-15672 backplane $70 M7093 FP11-A make offer M7819 DZ11 board only $50 Any quantity boards ship for $10 within US. Thanks, Paul

9 years, 2 months

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The Biggin Hill Omnibus

by ard.p850ug1＠gmail.com

No, not Transport For London routes 246, 320, 464, R2 or R8 :-) Some of you might like the photos here ... https://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_duell/albums/72157677925921112 -tony

9 years, 2 months

7
11
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tu58fs - PDP-11 file sharing with TU58 tape emulator, now RT-11

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

Next milestone reached: tu58fs 1.0 now supports the RT-11 file system, additional to DOS11/XXDP (phew!) And its easier to use: I also precompiled binaries f?r Linux x64, Win32 Cygwin, ARM Beaglebone Black and RPi. Also some batch files show typical usage, XXDP/RT-11 tape and disk images are included. Docs on http://retrocmp.com/tools/tu58fs Precompiled releases at https://github.com/j-hoppe/tu58fs/releases The RT-11 filesystem has the special features of "extended directory entries" and "file prefixes". These are fully supported by tu58fs, but I never heard of real-life usage. Anybody can talk about it, or has RT-11 images with dir extension and/or file prefixes? best, Joerg

9 years, 2 months

1
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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mark Matlock > I also tried an 11/40 but the SET CPU NOEIS in Simh gave me an error In Ersatz-11, an -11/40 without EIS works properly (i.e. it doesn't :-): that's how I recognized his booting error! ;-) > From: John Forecast > Depending on the state of your EIS board you may want to stay with the > original un-mapped system - I suspect that the baseline mapped system > will always try to use the "sob" instruction. No matter; SOB is part of the baseline instruction set in the -11/40. The EIS board adds only MUL, DIV, ASH and ASHC. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Updated Spacewar for the PDP-8/I, 8/E, etc....

by anders＠abc80.net

I used Lyle's updated version to show Spacewar on my PDP-8/a during this weekends retro event "RetroGathering" in Sweden. It works great! I did two modifications to the code: 1. Use digital IO instead of the switch register so I could use hand controls to let the audience play the game. 2. Fixed a bug so that timer interrupts is turned on if the DK8-EP programmable real time clock is used. /Anders > >I just updated D.E. Wrege's Spacewar as follows: > >1. Correctly supports slow monitors attached to a VC8/E interface by >correcting mistakes made in the VC8/E driver code. The code now follows >DEC's recommended method of waiting on the VC8/E. > >2. Starts up with spaceships (as opposed to UFO's) per the original >Spacewar! by Steve Russell. > >3. Now supports the DK8-EC Crystal Clock > >Items 1 & 2 were released by me previously - but support for the >DK8-EC is brand new. > >The new source and listing can be picked up via anonymous FTP to >bickleywest.com and the pdp8_spcwar directory. >

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

>> Bill, Paul, >> I have been tinkering with old versions of RSX11M (back to V2) on >> non-mapped CPUs, primarily PDP-11/05 as I hope to get mine running soon. On >> Simh >> with the CPU set as a PDP-11/05 which does not have EIS (I also tried an >> 11/40 but the SET CPU NOEIS in Simh gave me an error so I couldn't be sure >> if it was disabled) I was able to boot the baseline distribution for RSX11M >> V4.0 on a RL02 distribution. See details below on the config I tested. >> RSX11M is a pretty capable multitasking, multiuser system and would be good >> fit for the PDP-11/40. > > RL02 or RL01? I have only RL02 drives (2). Are you saying you can Bill, My first PDP-11 system was a PDP-11/24 (256KB) with 2 RL02s. It ran RSX11M V4.0 and collected RS232 data from lab instruments and provided a programming environment and handled 3 or 4 users ok. Later we added a KT24 and went to 512KB. With 2 RL02s one was a system disk and one was a user/data disk. The utility BRU allowed you to make a copy of the system disk, but to backup the data disk, one has to boot BRUSYS.SYS which is a memory resident only RSX11S system that RSX11M includes so you can remove the system disk and make a disk to disk copy of the non-bootable user disk. Actually, BRUSYS.SYS is small and you can have the user disk boot block point to it for convenience. > 1) Use simH to set up the environment RSX11M especially in small memory systems should be customized to your hardware. If you have extra DL or DZ terminal ports or other hardware you will need to do this. You can use the RL02 disk emulation, but have 4 of them for convenience so you don't to swap disk images during the process. Once you have SYSGENed an RSX11M system you are happy with then the RL02 disk image file needs to be transferred to an RL02 pack. > 2) Port to RL02 image disk This is the tricky part. RSX11M+ can run a TCP/IP stack and the disk image could be FTPed to it from the Linux or Windows system running Simh. M+ could mount the disk image file and BRU the image to a physical disk (if the M+ system had an RL02 Drive). I don't have RL02s and don't know anyone who does. Also, you might find a Baseline RSX11M disk someone has which can be copied and booted. > 3) Take image put on actual RL02? Since we are unlikely to find a SYSTEM to do that then, the other way would be with PDPGUI from Jorge Hoppe. His PDPGUI program can load via ODT a small driver to write to an RL02 and then transfer a disk image over the console port. It would take quite a while but it can be done. http://retrocmp.com/pdp-11/pdp11gui/disk-images-readwrite This assumes you have ODT and I don't know if an 11/40 does. The !1/05 doesn't either but Jorge found that a M9312 bootstrap card with ODT ROMs will enable ODT on an 11/05 so it should work on an 11/40? http://retrocmp.com/how-tos/interfacing-to-a-pdp-1105/194-interfacing-with-… > I agree that it would run on the PDP 11/40 without EIS, but so far I have > not been able to get it onto an image that will write to actual RL02 > disks. I was playing around with this yesterday. > > I was also working on getting Fortran onto a RT11 disk and in general > building a dual drive system that has a programming environment with enough > space to save program and a dataset. RT11 would work very well on two RL02s as well. In fact, one can get by with two RX02s. It is a much simpler operating system. > I have a lot of RSX11/M manuals and docs here, compared with RT11 I'd love > to use RSX. Are tools made for RSX compatible with RT-11, I am reading up > to see how these compare, what levels they're on...is RT11 like DOS and RSX > like "Windows" that sits on top of it, etc. I know RSX is not a GUI, just > making an analogy. I am researching all of this, up to this point I had > only dabbled in RT11. RT-11 and RSX11M are quite different internally. RT-11 is a single user monitor that was extended to multiuser with some later version and via the TSX operating system. TSX is more like your Windows analogy. The RSX11M executive was written from the ground up with conditional assembly code that can be customized for your hardware so any code for hardware not needed can be left out. When you do a SYSGEN you actually compile the assembly source for much of the operating system and then link (TasK Build, TKB) it. Utilities come in object libraries and can be modified a bit when linking. Also, many of the features of the OS can be left out if you don't need them. It was designed to have executive calls that were compatible with RSX11M and IAS which ran only on large systems. Much of the same languages can be run on RSX and RT11 (Fortran, Basic, Macro, APL) and RSX can read RT-11 tapes and disks with the utility FLX. Good Luck, Mark > > Thanks > > Bill

9 years, 2 months

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PDP-8/e M8310 Help

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Hello folks, I have a PDP-8/e where I've tested all the boards in a friend's PDP-8/e and they are all generally ok with the exception of the M8310 which did not work in his machine. I started to do some very rudimentary analysis of the what isn't working. I did the following. 7100 CLA clear AC 7040 CMA (complement the AC) 7040 CMA 7040 CMA 7040 CMA The complementing worked fine. I set the switch to AC and single stepped through the little program and watched the all 12 lights alternate on and then off. So far so good. I then did this: 7100 CLA 7001 IAC (increment AC) 7001 IAC 7001 IAC 7001 IAC And nothing happened, no incrementing of AC took place. So I may be onto something here. I then looked at the link bit which I believe is viewed by setting the switch to STATUS and looking at bit 0 "LINK" I did the following program: 7100 CLA (Clear Link) 7020 CML (complement Link) 7020 CML 7020 CML And I found that the link was not alternating. The lamp was lit at all time unlike the same test with the CMA. I then read in the Maintenance Manual Volume 1 on page 4-7, Item 11 which gives the following symptom "CPMA, MB, PC, or AC do not increment" And the likely cause of "CAR IN L is always high to the adder. It should be generated for ..." and presents a series of events that should cause the CAR IN L to assert. Now two questions. 1) It appears that CPMA, MB and PC all do increment but the AC does not. Does this help me to narrow down which of the events a. through f. listed might be my problem? 2) Is the link bits inability to complement help narrow down the issue? 3) Might anyone know what the fault is? 4) Are there any other steps you might suggest I take to further narrow down the fault? Thanks Eugene

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

>> On Feb 2, 2017, at 11:19 PM, william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote: >> ... >> I am curious to see what OS's run on an 11/40 without the EIS card other >> than RT-11. I am researching this. I have always wanted to learn more >> about batch-11. > > You mean DOS/BATCH? Yes, that would run on that machine, it's an 11/20 OS. So would the pre-Batch version of DOS-11 (V4). > > Another OS that would run on your machine (as well as an 11/20) would be RSTS-11 (V4, or I suppose V3 if you can find that), the predecessor of RSTS/E that didn't use the MMU. > > It may be that some flavors of RSX-11/M or /S can be built with no EIS, since it's supposed to be possible to build a non-MMU version at least of /S. But I don't know the specifics (no RSX experience). > > paul Bill, Paul, I have been tinkering with old versions of RSX11M (back to V2) on non-mapped CPUs, primarily PDP-11/05 as I hope to get mine running soon. On Simh with the CPU set as a PDP-11/05 which does not have EIS (I also tried an 11/40 but the SET CPU NOEIS in Simh gave me an error so I couldn't be sure if it was disabled) I was able to boot the baseline distribution for RSX11M V4.0 on a RL02 distribution. See details below on the config I tested. RSX11M is a pretty capable multitasking, multiuser system and would be good fit for the PDP-11/40. Best, Mark sim> sho cpu CPU 11/05, idle enabled, autoconfiguration enabled 64KB sim> sh rl RL RL11, address=17774400-17774411, vector=160, 4 units RL0 2621KW, attached to rsxm32.rl01, on line write enabled, RL01 RL1 2621KW, attached to excprv.rl01, on line write enabled, RL01 RL2 2621KW, attached to mcrsrc.rl01, on line write enabled, RL01 RL3 2621KW, attached to rlutil.rl01, on line write enabled, RL01 sim> b rl RSX-11M V4.0 BL32 28.K (BASELINE) >RED DL:=SY: >RED DL:=LB: >MOU DL:RSXM32 >@DL:[1,2]STARTUP >* PLEASE ENTER TIME AND DATE (HR:MN DD-MMM-YY) [S]: 17:52 04-FEB-80 >TIM 17:52 04-FEB-80 >* ENTER LINE WIDTH OF THIS TERMINAL [D D:132.]: 80. >SET /BUF=TI:80. >@ <EOF> >dev DL0: Mounted Loaded Type=RL01 DL1: Loaded Type=RL01 TT0: NL0: TI0: CO0: TT0: CL0: TT0: LB0: DL0: SY0: DL0: >ins $pip >pip /li Directory DL0:[200,200] 4-FEB-80 17:52 BLDLAINIT.CMD;1 14. 22-JAN-82 10:19 SGNBLDDRV.CMD;1 19. 22-JAN-82 10:19 SGNKLAB.CMD;1 70. 22-JAN-82 10:19 SGNSTAND.CMD;1 4. 22-JAN-82 10:19 SYSGEN.CMD;1 85. 22-JAN-82 10:19 SYSGEN2.CMD;1 79. 22-JAN-82 10:19 SYSGEN3.CMD;1 52. 22-JAN-82 10:19 Total of 323./323. blocks in 7. files

9 years, 2 months

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Cromemco disk question

by rich.cini＠verizon.net

All ? ??????????????? I?m trying to test a Cromemco 16FDC controller?long story but it?s part of a QDOS project. I?m looking for recommendations on a 5.25? disk image I could use for testing. The system is simple ? 16FDC, CompuPro RAM17 (with $C0 block disabled), and a Z80 card. The 16FDC RDOS ROM works, so I can issue commands but I need to test the disk interface part. ??????????????? Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

9 years, 2 months

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Need to borrow Amiga 2000/3000 keyboard near Oakland, CA...

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

where do you get a thing like that to convert IBM keyboard for the Amiga's use? we have a Amiga with toaster we need a keyboard for, Prefer the real Amiga one but.... In a message dated 2/4/2017 7:21:14 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, ian.finder at gmail.com writes: I ordered a PS/2 -> amiga adapter for the fine folks at the MADE in oakland: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-museum-of-art-and-digital-entertainment-oakland But I fear it may not arrive in time for their 2/27 show. Is there anyone local who could loan these good folks an Amiga 2K or 3K keyboard? I'm remote and cannot do so. -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 2 months

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Need to borrow Amiga 2000/3000 keyboard near Oakland, CA...

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I ordered a PS/2 -> amiga adapter for the fine folks at the MADE in oakland: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-museum-of-art-and-digital-entertainment-oakland But I fear it may not arrive in time for their 2/27 show. Is there anyone local who could loan these good folks an Amiga 2K or 3K keyboard? I'm remote and cannot do so. -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 2 months

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Macintosh Floppy

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Anybody interested in a Sony MP-F75W-21G? I have one to dispose of as I got rid of all my Mac stuff a long time ago. Make an offer. bill

9 years, 2 months

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Logic Analysers

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jon Elson > Any time you see really narrow glitches, especially when they are one > LA sample wide, you have no idea what they actually look like. The LA > detects that the pulse was there at the instant it sampled it, but you > don't know whether it was 5 ns wide, or 70 ns wide ... You also don't > know whether they were full-amplitude pulses or runts that just barely > crossed the logic threshold of the analyzer. Which is why I always prefer to work with an LA _and_ a 'scope: the 'scope lets me see what the signals look like, how much noise/etc there is, etc, etc, while the LA can do other things - better triggering, capture longer time periods, etc. (Now they have those fancy new digitial 'scope with capture capability, and you can get the best of both worlds with one box, but I guess they are still kind of pricy.) But you can probably pick up an old 'scope for not much money on eBait. I can't imagine working on anything without one. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Logic Analysers

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Evening folks, I have two so-called Logic Analysers, both cheap Chinese clones of other more expensive units that hook up to the host via USB2 and stream readings direct to software, in one case the open source Sigrok and in the other genuine Saleae Logic. I'm getting different and inconsistent readings out of both of them whilst sampling at 25MHz which should be more than enough for this 6MHz Executel I'm working on. Both of them are good for spotting dead or stuck outputs but I still can't get a good set of readings from eg all points on a single address line. Tonight I replaced all four ROM sockets and ROM chips, tested each individual line for resistance (0.5 ohms on all apart from an occasional 0.4 and 0.6) but still get ghost readings. Is it me or the cheap clones? Whilst looking for better quality units I came across a couple of 'proper' HP/Agilent analysers, a 1663A 34 channel and 1661A 102 channel which seem complete apart from the chip leg grabbers. Am I right to assume some of you might have experience of these beasts? Forums seem to mostly think the streaming USB units aren't worth anything for more than a few channels but I'm still a relative beginner to all of this. I really need to watch all 16 lines of an address bus and externally clock it as Tony has suggested. Any insights appreciated! -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

9 years, 2 months

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One more VCF East tech class/teacher needed

by cctalk＠snarc.net

We have one last 60-minute spot to fill for the Friday (March 31) tech classes at VCF East. Any topic is fair game if it has wide appeal and makes people into better vintage computing hobbyists. The topics thus far are here: http://vcfed.org/wp/classes/. Email me ** off-list ** if you'd like to volunteer. (Please avoid "someone should teach XYZ" messages -- we know what * should * be taught, we need people to DO it. :) ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan at vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > Another OS that would run on your machine (as well as an 11/20) would > be RSTS-11 (V4, or I suppose V3 if you can find that) I'd love to have an old RSTS-11, is there any variant around? > didn't use the MMU Huh? He's got an MMU (I think): it's the EIS he's currently struggling with. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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[cctalk-request@classiccmp.org: confirm 38290c8a992491eda604beff5a06ff20cd7e85f5]

by ams＠gnu.org

Can someone please fix the mailing list software? This has been reported every once in a while by a bunch of people for over ten years. These are a just the last bounces I got: 20-Jan cctalk-request at classiccmp [78] confirm fd5d1f938a6c920c61c094802694d0194e87f1a4 25-Jan cctalk-request at classiccmp [78] confirm e01809296377d0fd3033b4ab27394ca7dc0fae71 31-Jan cctalk-request at classiccmp [78] confirm 38290c8a992491eda604beff5a06ff20cd7e85f5

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > I was able to get the extended three cables Excellent! > I can put the M7238 EIS card on a riser so I can probe for faults I'm all agog to hear what you find out! > and maybe if I am lucky boot XXDP+. With the EIN installed I can't boot I thought the machine basically just totally froze if you tried inserting the KE11-E, and removing the jumper to enable it? Oh well, that severe a fault should be fairly easy (sic) to track down. > From: Paul Koning > DEC's PDP11 architecture handbook doesn't appear to confirm that. > Either that or the model differences table is sloppy. The next page (B-4) says "The KE11-E .. provides MUL <etc>" and has an "x" under "35/40". Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Allison > for laughs I wandered over to: > http://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/mirrors/minnie.tuhs.org/PDP-11/Boot_Images/ > To see if the copy of V6 on RL02 is still there.... yep it is. and it > runs on a 11/23 just fine Yes, that's another copy of the Shoppa disk. So, I looked at that system, to see how it dealt with the clock issue on an 11/23 (in /sys/ken/main.c, if anyone else is interested). While looking, I noticed something that made it extremely unlikely that it would boot on an 11/40. Sure enough, attempting to boot the /unix on it on a (simulated) -11/40 blows out. There are a couple of other unix loads on that pack image (oldunix, unix.tmp, etc), but all the ones I looked at had the same issue (only tried booting the 'unix' one, though); they're probably all for the same machine, so have the same configuration issue. V6 Unix was pretty persnickety about the hardware configuration it ran on; while it was possible to create builds that would run on almost any configuration, on 'vanilla' V6 that really only applies to the /40/45/70 era. And even then you still had to re-build the system to match your actual hardware configuration, almost all the time. The advent of the /23 (with no CSW, and no KW11-L/P), made things more complicated. (The clock is pretty key - Unix needs one - several things, e.g. parts of the teletype drivers, require real-time delays provided by the clock. I've never tried to run Unix without a working clock, I'm not sure if it would run without slowly grinding to a halt as stuff waited for clocks delays that never happened.( With a little work, a suite of 'universal boot' versions (one for each type of disk controller - RK05/RL02/RX02 etc) could have been created that would boot and run on any pretty much CPU/etc configuration - at least, well enough to build one that did exactly match the hardware configuration at hand. (The one on the Shoppa disk is close, from what I could see.) I don't think anyone ever bothered, though (in part because it was much more of a PITA to test them all, BITD, with only real hardware). Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > my focus has been on just getting an 11/40 hardware working Rightly and properly so... > I suppose I should be happy with RT-11 given my circumstances. Unix really is a significant improvement, we really need to make sure you can run it. Don't worry about the OS image issue, I can crank them out like sausages, and we already have all the bits we need (V6 RL driver, bootstrap, etc). > It's not possible with the 3 over the back cables to put the 7238 on a > riser card to probe signals as easily. Really? DEC specified BC08R-01 cables, which _should_ be long enough to allow it to be put on an extender. Does your machine have the -01's, or have they been replaced with little shorty ones? If the latter, if you can't find any -01's, it should be possible to locate some generic 40-pin cables, which should work (old IDE cables should work, but not the new ones, which have a key that will prevent the connectors from going in, in this application). Also, it should not to be too hard to whip up some: the connectors and the flat cable are pretty easy to find - although not the ground-plane backed kind - do anyone know of a source for that? Anyway, the regular kind of flat cable ought to work well enough for debugging. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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HP Integral PC Accessories?

by Martin.Hepperle＠dlr.de

Hi, I am looking to swap or buy the following HP-Integral IPC (portable HP-UX box) interface boards: - HP-IL interface - 1 MB memory board Does anybody have a manual for the HP-IL interface board? Could offer HP 9000 interface or memory boards. Martin

9 years, 2 months

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Please identify this circuit board

by ilcohn3＠gmail.com

Hi, Can someone identify this circuit board? It's some sort of magnetic core memory. I've had this for ages and I've always wondered what it is and where it comes from. http://lookpic.com/O/i2/366/iAFq4mLF.jpeg Best regards

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Allison > for laughs I wandered over to: > To see if the copy of V6 on RL02 is still there.... yep it is. There are actually plenty of builds out there that run on RL11s, e.g.: http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/PDP-11/Distributions/other/Tim_Shoppa_v6/ includes "A V6 RL02 bootable on a 11/23. Kernel is built for a 11/23, 2 RL02's, and 2 RX02's"; and my V6, running under Ersatz-11, is also an RL-based system. The real issue with mixing and matching kernels and disks is that since the RL was not a standard device (as far as 'mkconf' went), the RL's can have different major device numbers on different systems. This does not stop the system from _booting_, since internally there will be consistency, but consistency between the OS and file system is another matter: e.g. trying to mount another drive (or any other use of /dev/rl? or /dev/rrl?) may not work, since the device inodes for /dev/rl? might have the wrong major device numbers in them. > and it runs on a 11/23 just fine Must be a slightly modified V6 - totally stock V6 will panic when it can't find a clock (unless there's a BDV11), or NXM when it tries to touch the switch register. And for machines with no BDV11, I had to turn the clock off while booting; the first time I tried to boot on a simulated 11/23, my totaly stock vanilla V6 apparently took a timer interrupt during the boot process and went wayyyy South, totally smashing the file system in the process. Not sure how the one above dealt with this... Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Phil Blundell > I suspect it would probably not be all that hard to write some > sort of preprocessor to convert such code Really? Check out: http://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V6/usr/sys/ken/pipe.c (Needless to say, none of the 'int *' things are actually pointers to integers!) In particular, what will lines like this: sleep(ip+2, PPIPE); do, depending on what 'ip' is declared as? Noel

9 years, 2 months

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VCF East online ticketing is open

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Get your tickets now. Save time at the show. http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/tickets/ ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan at vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Jim Stephens > The listings I've read of early unix have ... mixed c + assembly Not V6 (the subject of the current discussion); the C compiler of that era couldn't inline assembler. _ALL_ of the assembler in V6 is in one of _two_ files: l.s - per system, hardware configuration dependent m40.s - Startup, and machine language support for all low-level OS or functions such as stack switching, etc; the latter option m45.s supported both the -11/45 and -11/70 Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > was there ever UNIX made for the PDP 11/40 and RL02, or was it only run > on RK05? Wouldn't all of the C and wake calls, etc issues have been > solved then? You're mixing up two _TOTALLY_ different things. Unix V6 will happily run on _ANY_ block device, all you need to do is write a driver for it. The rest of Unix V6 doesn't know ^%$^%$ about the device, all it know is that there's this thing that can store, and read back, blocks 0-N. The _only_ interface between the rest of Unix, and the driver, is through a file called c.c which just contains entries for functions to read and write blocks, etc. (You can even run Unix - painfully - on a DECTape drive.) Adding support for RL drives to Unix V6 involves i) writing an RL driver, and ii) editing that file c.c to add _one line in a table_ to hook the driver into the rest of the OS. (And there's a edit to something called l.s which holds interrupt vectors, to all the RL vector.) THAT'S IT. Editing c.c and l.s was No Big Deal. To customize Unix to one's particular hardware configuration, you _had_ to change those two files, and every V6 site in the known universe tweaked those files. _WITHOUT EXCEPTION_. Unix V6 doesn't give a *&^*&^* what disk drives its using. As long as there's a driver for the controller. The stuff about wake() calls is a totally different subject, it's all about how the code in V6 Unix cuts a lot of 'C' corners (e.g. using an 'int *' as a pointer to a struct - something that would horrify modern compilers) because it's in very early C. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > Yes, GCC should do that correctly. ... Dealing with the output might be > a nuisance ... You may need some post-processing to cast the output > into the syntax that V6 "as" expects. Actually, dealing with the _input_ is going to be a PITA (so my suggestion was, in retrospect, not really a plausible one). The problem is that V6 is written in an early dialect of C, one which I am sure would cause GCC would toss its cookies, if fed to it. Some things, like "a =+ b;" would be easy to fix; likewise "int a 1;" instead of "int a = 1;". But the Unix kernel is shot through with places where are int is used as a structure pointer, etc, without benefit of a cast (casts weren't invented until later). And a lot of stuff like that. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > if possible can you help me to link in m40.o instead of m45.o? Sure; tomorrow, though, not tonight. Just to check, you have 128KB of memory, and 2 RL02 drives, right? That will make it all really easy, if so. Like I said, I'll make you a mini-disk that will be quick to load with GUI11, with only the only files on it the few you need to be able to boot: the Unix system, /etc/init, /bin/sh, etc. Once it has booted, you can 'mount' your existing RL pack, and copy the Unix system over to that one, then you should be able to boot off that one. Noel PS: I was thinking of fixing 'mkconf' (it currently doesn't properly handle the /dev/tty device, etc), but whoever wrote it was really lazy! 'nswap' and 'swplo' aren't even parameterized, let alone being things you can override with inputs. So the dude who did the RL disk just changed the numbers for the RL - so his mkconf now doesn't work properly for RK drives! Might as well just edit c.c and l.s directly - that's what I always did! ;-) Anyway, I might fix it at some point, but... not for tomorrow.

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > Tried my M7838 EIS this morning. It is bad or there is a config/jumper > issue to investigate. When installing the KE11-E, you have to remove a jumper on the CPU's M7233 module. See pg. 2-1 on the KE11-E/KE11-F User's Manual (EK-KE11E-OP-001), available online. Did yours come with the three flat cable jumpers? If it's still not working, the KE11-E/KE11-F Technical Manual (EK-KE11E-TM-002), also available online, will undoubtly prove useful. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Free to a good home: Honeywell/Bull DPS-6 workstation / server (Seattle, WA)

by julian.metcalf＠liketechnologies.co.uk

Hi Josh, I saw your posting on the 23rd Jan 16 regarding Bull DPS 6. We are based in the UK and actually run 4 working DPS6 systems in the UK. Any system (in its entirety or parts) we may be interested in if compatible with our existing system. Do you still have it? Many thanks, Julian Julian Metcalf Finance Director Like Technologies Ltd 0845 519 2244 Ext 111 This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Like Technologies Ltd. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error.

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > I do not have an EIS installed. I have one however, I can try it. I am > unsure if it's good or not, but I guess I am going to find out. Oh yeah, without that, you're totally hosed, Unix-wise. The V6 C compiler puts out MUL etc all over the place (e.g. for structure pointer math), so there's absolutely no way to run vanilla V6 Unix without it. (The GCC compiler claims to be able to compile C to machines without the EIS; it might be an interesting hack to see if that could be used to get V6 running on a machine without the EIS. The machine language startups would still need work, though. And the bootstrap. :-) > Josh Dersch > As I mentioned above Right, but if his bootstrap isn't working, gotta debug that first.. :-) > you'll also need to recompile the kernel Actually, I don't think you need to re-compile anything, just link in m40.o instead of m45.o; I think all the C code checks for 'cputyp == 40' or whatever, as the case may be. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> William Degnan > It "boots" to the ! prompt at least there's that. Yeah, but not much has to be working for that to happen! :-) > I am unsure if one can put an M7891 into a slot that has no NPG jumper > installed Yes, you can - but having a slot with no NPG jumper, and either i) no board in in it at all, or ii) a non-DMA-speaking board in it, will prevent any DMA device _further down the bus_ from working. > I would have to check, or whether I can put this card into a DD11-B No. It needs a MUD slot (UNIBUS in connectors A-B, essentially; more here: http://gunkies.org/wiki/Modified_UNIBUS_Device although other places have info about this too). (I'm not exactly sure how the A/B connectors on DD11-B slots 2 and 3 are wired, it's something wierd, look at the DD11-B prints for more.) > or a slot without the NPG installed. The NPG jumper is IRRELEVANT to everything except DMA devices (in that slot, and downstream). > Typing *anything* kills the system. Well, technically speaking, that's not entirely accurate - clearly, from the below typing "r" doesn't crash the machine. I gather you meant 'typing "{anything}<CR>" crashes the machine'. Hmm. > When I type say rlunix or foobar or whatever and hit enter, the prompt > returns to the next line and the CPU stops. The system crashes, > unresponsive, requiring restart from the front panel. That sounds like the bootstrap isn't running properly. Oh, I remember an issue I had with the boostrap when first trying to bring up Unix in Ersatz-11 - does your -11/40 have the EIS board? Is the EIS working? If not, the bootstrap won't run - it uses the MUL instruction. (MUL is not in the base set on an -11/40, it's an option.) If that's not it, we'll have to debug the bootstrap... Should't be too hard, test versions can be loaded directly into memory with GUI-11, we don't have to write them to disk. You've got a (hopefully good) disk to have the bootstrap ponder over... Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > 64K. That's 64KB, right? DEC used to talk of PDP-11 memory in words, back in the day, so it's never quite clear unless the 'B' or 'W' is specified. Anyway, 64KB out to be enough to run most things. I have't looked to see how big a system with just RL and DL drivers, and a minimum number of disk buffers (that's probably the easiest way to get the size down almost as far as it will go) is, but it's probably in the region of 30-35KB (20KB text, and 10-15 KB data). That leaves plenty for user processes (not max sized, of course). > I'd like to get another M7891, mine is only 1/2 populated. Oh, so that must have been 64KW - 128KB. That will give you plenty of room for a decent-sized kernel, and user processes. Wonder why it won't boot, then? Anyway, those are pretty rare. I have a couple of spare M7847's; they're only 32KB, but they'd help. You've got a couple of spare hex MUD slots now in the DD11-C, right? Speaking of which, where is the M7891 plugged in? It couldn't go in the DD11-B, or in the CPU backplane? > typing anything kills the CPU and I have to restart the system.. Sorry, need exact details: after the '!' prompt, anything you type kills the system on the first character? Or only "rlunix<CR>" does? How about "foobar<CR>"? I'd have to look at the bootstrap source, but I think typing a non-existing file name should take you back to the top-level prompt. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > doesn't hurt to try I suppose Absolutely. > My fear is that it will not have enough RAM on top of whatever other > issues are present. Oooh, good point - I hadn't thought of that. I couldn't quickly find a 'minimum memory required' in the release notes for V6; the 'Unix Summary' says it needs "48K to 124K words". I think that might be a bit excessive; I seem to recall our -11/40 had, to start with, only 48KB. Anyway, try it, and let us know what happens. How much memory does the system have on it now? If it doesn't work, I can do some experiments and see what's the least amount of memory one needs. There are a whole bunch of parameters which will reduce the size of the resident OS; if necessary, I can turn them all down to the minimum, and see what we get - although just reducing the number of disk buffer may do it. As for the applications, it does swap, so there's no requirement for more than one process to be resident at a time, so whatever the largest is - probably the C compiler - there only needs to be enough memory left over after the OS is loaded, for that one. It looks like the shell is about 10KB, for example. If it won't boot, don't trash the disk: if we send you another bootable disk, we can make it tiny (only Unix, and enough files to get it running: /etc/init, /bin/sh, etc), and if/once it books, you can mount the disk you just wrote and move the bootable Unix system image over, and then reboot on the current disk, to get to the rest of the stuff. Do you have two working RL drives on the machine? Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > Can one be made using simH to dump and set up for RL02 that can then be > ported as a RL02 disk image to actual RL02 drive? I see someone has already provided a pointer to someone who ha done this; I'm not sure if that system will boot on a hardware 11/40, or if it was built with m45.s, or some simlar issue. It would be pretty easy for anyone with a working V6 UNIX (either on hardware, or emulated) to do this, _iff_ they have a V6 RL driver. ('Vanilla' V6 does not include one.) My 'Bringing up V6 under Ersatz-11' page describes one: http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/V6Unix.html#rl You might want to get familiar with building V6 kernels, _any_ hardware variations you wish to support (e.g. more than one DL11 seria line) will involve re-building the kernel. Not to worry, it's a pretty simple process, it only takes a few commands, and a few moments (more on a real machine, of course :-). That page include almost all the directions on how to do so, but note that one must also edit 'rootdev' in c.c if the root file system is to be on an RL (no, mkconf as distributed with 'vanilla' V6 won't do any of the legwork for you, it does not know about RL drives). Note that running 'vanilla' V6 Unix i) has some bugs/issue (e.g. you can't set the date to this century; the user interface is _strictly_ for printing terminals, etc, etc, etc), some of which are handled here: http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/V6Unix.html#Issues so I would advise checking it out. (You can skip all the Ersatz-11-specific stuff, like the 'DOS Device' to allow Unix to read files from the host file-system - a very useful capability in an emulated Unix!) > From: Angelo Papenhoff > http://www.tom-yam.or.jp/2238/rl/ Note that his page says "bootblock is rluboot from v6_rl02_unknown, which lacks the source code"; I disassembled and commented the code, see above links. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RL02 version of UNIX6?

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

I thought this question was answered recently but I can't find the answer. I have the RK disk version of UNIX6 for PDP 11/40 but I could not find an RL02 version. does this exist? Can one be made using simH to dump and set up for RL02 that can then be ported as a RL02 disk image to actual RL02 drive? I can get an image onto the drive, should the image exist. My PDP 11/40 is not compatible with Unix 7, but I would be happy with 5 or 7 if it'll run on a 64K system. Thanks Bill

9 years, 2 months

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RT-11 Basic source available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Here: > http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/macro.tar > is a tar file with the whole works, along with the MACRO-11 source. BASIC is not ready yet, and won't be for a few days. The problem is that I can't get it to assemble into a working version, which I would like to do, before sending it out. I _think_ that what happened is we made some change in the toolchain, to support other things we were doing, and one of them 'broke' re-building BASIC - except that since nobody was actually _doing_ anything with BASIC, we had no reason to re-build it - and so nobody noticed we had 'broken' it. If someone's desperate to get their hands on this, let me know, and I can go ahead and send out what I have, with the proviso that you can't build a working version from the MACRO-11 source at this point. > If the first person to try MACRO could send me feedback, to see if the > whole process works, I'd be grateful. Did anyone grab the MACRO-11 TAR and try it yet? Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Looking for Eyring PDOS for TMS-9900

by schubert＠microsys.de

Hi Camiel Vanderhoeven I nearly got all about PDOS and the TM990 system......however only on 8" floopy disks. I also have the complete documentation and a TM990/100M system with a DRAM and a Floppy-Controller board. best regards Walter Schubert -- MicroSys Electronics GmbH, M?hlweg 1, D-82054 Sauerlach Tel.: +49 8104 801-0, Fax: +49 8104 801-110 Sitz der Gesellschaft: Sauerlach, HRB M?nchen 48340, Ust.ID No: DE129296566 Gesch?ftsf?hrer: Dipl.-Ing. Richard Loeffl, Dipl.-Ing. Dieter Pfeiffer http://www.microsys.de

9 years, 2 months

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[cctalk-request@classiccmp.org: confirm 38290c8a992491eda604beff5a06ff20cd7e85f5]

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Tue, 1/31/17, geneb <geneb at deltasoft.com> wrote: > On Tue, 31 Jan 2017, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: >> Can someone please fix the mailing list software? This has been >> reported every once in a while by a bunch of people for over ten >> years. > > Bounces aren't caused by the mailing list, they're caused by the > destination mail server. What I've been wondering for a while is the span of time over which the bounces are counted. I can understand shutting a subscriber off for getting 10 bounces in as many minutes. On the other hand if those 10 bounces are spread over two months, it seems rather severe. BLS

9 years, 2 months

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Pac-Man (Alfred M. Szmidt)

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

As Alfred wrote: "How about some credit where credit is due, and not rewriting history willynilly. Toru Iwatani was the designer (not Nakamura) of Pac-Man, Shigeo Funaki did the code and Toshio Kai the music. Nakamura was simply the man behind the company, not the father of Pac-Man." I agree that his company created Pac-Man and in a corporatized world, then as is now, the owner(s) get the credit; i.e., Jobs of Apple, etc. And "rewriting history willynilly"; as an historian I definately try not doing that. Happy computing. Murray :)

9 years, 2 months

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For Sale: Computer & Electronics Magazines: Byte, Creative Computing, Pop. Electronics, More...

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have several pallets of many boxes containing oodles of computer and electronics magazines that need to go. I'm not sure what all is exactly there but I'm going to be digging through them over the course of the next several months, so I'll probably just continue to update this thread with new material. There may well be lots of complete runs of certain magazines, and probably some frustrating discontinuities from boxes that didn't make it over. In any event, there is a lot of good stuff. Here's what I have pulled so far: Popular Electronics, nearly a complete run from 1974 through 1984; also 1950s-1970s issues (uninventoried) Electronics Magazine, 3 bound volumes, April - December 1959 (see photo) - I plan to sell these in a complete set once I uncover all of them that I still have. It's possible I still have a complete run from the 1920s through the 1980s or so. PC World, Vol 1. #3 on upwards, incomplete (see photo). Dr. Dobbs, Volume 1, #2, photocopy of V1#1, many early issues from inception in mid-1970s thru... (again, this is just what I've pulled so far) Softalk, November 1982 onwards (incomplete, please see photos) Byte, January 1977 (Vol. 2, #1) through March 1983 (again, just what's been pulled so far, at one point I had maybe 5 complete runs of Byte) All photos can be seen here: http://s350.photobucket.com/user/Sel...ines/Batch%201 <http://s350.photobucket.com/user/Sellam_Abraham/library/Vintage%20Computer%…> I'll try to answer any questions as best I can. As a preliminary FAQ of sorts: 1. Yes, I will assemble bundles of magazines for different individuals upon request and ship them all at once. I will probably want some for of payment in advance though to secure the deal. 2. Yes, I will most likely ship via USPS media mail rate for the common stuff (this is how I received most of my magazines over the years) as this will be the cheapest method. For more valuable issues we can discuss more secure modes of shipping. 3. Yes, I have complete runs of a lot of magazines, but it will take time to dig them all out. I once had a complete run of nearly every (US) computer and electronics magazine ever published. What I now have is anywhere from a large to a substantial portion of that library. I don't know, this is the first time I'll be going through everything to see what's left. 4. These magazines have been stored in file boxes standing on their edges for years, packed very tightly. In not so tightly packed boxes some issues have curled up. In almost all cases, the magazines were kept in a cool, dry, dark environment so they will all be in about the condition I got them. In some cases I expect water damage. 5. I will charge more for the more sought after issues and peanuts for the long run schlock. My desire is to sell in bulk. The more you buy, the better your price. That should cover things for now. Happy shopping. Sellam FYI FWIW I cross-posted this from http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56035-Computer-amp-Electronics-Ma…

9 years, 2 months

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Visible LINCtape Tracks

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

We applied some Magnetic Developer to a piece of LINCtape and can see the tracks. You can clearly see the extra space between the Mark and Data tracks. When we can get access to a microscope with an attached camera we should be able to see the bits. -- Michael Thompson

9 years, 2 months

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LC8-P (M8365) PDP8 printer interface schematics

by chd＠chdickman.com

I am looking for schematics or any documentation for the LA180 interface for the PDP8/e. A scan would be great. I want to see if I can use it to interface to a Centronics interface printer. -chuck

9 years, 2 months

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RT-11 Basic source available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> I _do_ have working binaries (I think) for the MACRO-11, BCPL compiler, > and linker.. but they may or may not run under vanilla V6 ... > Let me try them and see if they run under vanilla V6 ... and if so, then > I can hand out the whole package. OK, I have verified that all the tools to run and re-build MACRO-11 do in fact run under vanilla V6. (Which is no big surprise - I'm very familiar with the changes to MIT-V6+, and most of them were in area like the terminal driver, etc; there was no reason to change any of the file-handling primitives. Here: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/macro.tar is a tar file with the whole works, along with the MACRO-11 source. Just download and explode, and read the 'README' file to start with. It does not yet include the source for the 'bind' linker (used with the .REL files that MACRO-11 puts out), because that's in BCPL, and there's no point in adding the source for that until I've put the BCPL compiler itself out, which I will do once I can confirm that it can correctly compile itself (it's written in BCPL) and re-create itself. If the first person to try MACRO could send me feedback, to see if the whole process works, I'd be grateful. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Pac-Man

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

A sad day: The father of Pac-Man, Masaya Nakamura, passed away. I remember playing this on very early microcomputers. Happy computing! Murray :)

9 years, 2 months

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nice looking Series/1

by aek＠bitsavers.org

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Mainframe-Series-1-/172507912099 hopefully someone out there can grab it

9 years, 2 months

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RT-11 Basic source available

by Flash688＠flying-disk.com

jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) wrote: > Hi, I don't know if this is of any use/interest at all, but I have retrieved > an old/early copy of RT-11 Basic (V01-05 18-JUL-73, DEC-11-LBACA-A-LA1) > modified to run under V6 Unix, if anyone has any use for such a thing. > > I also have a DEC MACRO-11 which runs under V6 Unix, which generates .rel > files; there is a 'bind' (written in BCPL) which is a linker which reads .rel > files. (There is a BCPL compiler, written in BCPL, to compile it.) Then there > are two command 'relld' and 'ldrel' to convert back and forth from .rel to > a.out. I would also be very interested in getting a copy of all your BASIC and MACRO-11 sources. I can handle most of the usual media, but pulling it off an FTP site might be best. Thank you very much for thinking of us. Alan Frisbie

9 years, 2 months

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Need manual for a floppy drive...

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

I've got a Panasonic JU-455-5 AAG (5.25, 360K) that I'd like to use in a Kaypro 4. I've worked out the configuration of the drive based on a snippet of info on the net that had some jumper settings, but I can't get the activity light to operate. I've set the configuration to use the light when either motor on is detected, or the drive select, but neither seem to work. I figure a "real" manual on the drive would help. Note that the drive seems to operate without issue other than the drive light. Boots, etc. g. Tnx! -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

9 years, 2 months

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RT-11 Basic source available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Phil Budne > I'd be interested in seeing it all preserved/available. That is the goal. > Maybe .. Apout would be a quicker way to run the binaries you have > (than to have to hack the vanilla v6 kernel) _Iff_ the existing binaries won't run under vanilla V6: For me, going the Apout route would require learning about Apout. Bringing up the MIT-V6+ under an emulator (so they could be run) would be a _lot_ less work, since I'm already intimately familiar with it, and I already have vanilla V6 running under an emulator (which I could use to produce a MIT-V6+ kernel that would boot under the emulator - the existing kernel images wouldn't, they use disk controllers that the emulators don't support). > I'm still looking for (NCP) ARPAnet code for v6! That's there too - that's being discussed on the TUHS list. See the archives. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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RT-11 Basic source available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Warner Losh >> I have retrieved an old/early copy of RT-11 Basic (V01-05 18-JUL-73, >> DEC-11-LBACA-A-LA1) modified to run under V6 Unix >> .. >> I also have a DEC MACRO-11 which runs under V6 Unix, which generates >> .rel files; there is a 'bind' (written in BCPL) which is a linker >> which reads .rel files. (There is a BCPL compiler, written in BCPL, to >> compile it.) Then there are two command 'relld' and 'ldrel' to convert >> back and forth from .rel to a.out. > I'd be interested... Interested in just the BASIC, or in the whole package? For those who are interested in running any of this stuff on a UNIX of some sort (as opposed to, say, taking the BASIC source and editing it to run under some DEC OS, using the pre-existing MACRO-11 on such a system), there are dependency issues one is going to have to deal with. That's because the MACRO-11 is written in MACRO-11, and the BCPL compiler (which one needs to compiler the linker) is in BCPL. So before either one can be assembled/compiled... one needs a working assembler/compiler (as the case may be), along with a linker. Can you say 'dependency loop'...? :-) I _do_ have working binaries (I think) for the MACRO-11, BCPL compiler, and linker.. but they may or may not run under vanilla V6 (they ran on the much-modified MIT-V6+, which is kind of an early PWB with a lot of MIT additions). Let me try them and see if they run under vanilla V6 (which I have running under Ersatz-11), and if so, then I can hand out the whole package. That all will take a couple of days to deal with. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Compaq 9000 Series Rack

by cctalk＠ibm51xx.net

Hello All, So maybe not quite classic but I believe in the vintage time frame - does anyone, ideally in the greater LA but even SoCal area, have a line on an Opal White 22U Compaq 9000 Series Rack? This is the half height rack not the full height 42U which seems to be everywhere (you can see pictures of a similar unit here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?55953-Compaq-22U-Rack-9122). I don't have enough space for a full height one and the half height fits the bill nicely. TIA and sorry for interrupting the DEC talk! -Ali

9 years, 2 months

1
0
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RT-11 Basic source available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Hi, I don't know if this is of any use/interest at all, but I have retrieved an old/early copy of RT-11 Basic (V01-05 18-JUL-73, DEC-11-LBACA-A-LA1) modified to run under V6 Unix, if anyone has any use for such a thing. I also have a DEC MACRO-11 which runs under V6 Unix, which generates .rel files; there is a 'bind' (written in BCPL) which is a linker which reads .rel files. (There is a BCPL compiler, written in BCPL, to compile it.) Then there are two command 'relld' and 'ldrel' to convert back and forth from .rel to a.out. Noel

9 years, 2 months

2
1
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SONY NWS-1250 PSU

by plamenspam＠afterpeople.com

I recently obtained Sony portable model - NWS-1250 from Japan. There is a bottom label "AC 100V", however the PSU has 100-120V and 220-240V label. The exact PSU model is Sony 1-413-548-11. Is it safe to plug it in 220V AC or to wait the arrival of step-down transformer ? The other problem is that the disk has been wiped. Does anyone have NEWS-OS CISC version media ? Best regards, Plamen

9 years, 2 months

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What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Doug! We would like a scan of your dad's certificate! We have an ongoing collection on this computer at SMECC 1955 Honeywell computer business was originated from the Datamatic Corporation, founded in Newton MA, as a joint-venture by Raytheon and Honeywell, to produce large-scale computer systems. Raytheon sells its 40% interest to Honeywell in 1957.. 1957 Installation of the first Datamatic D-1000 to Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan. Honeywell Datamatic 1000 uses 3 inch wide tape we have a 3 inch very very heavy reel and the 30 something track tape drive head.... could this someday be the start of the ultimate DIY tape drive build and tape recover? see more on this computer here... and we have modules for this tube computer we need to photo and more stuff to scan and add. http://www.smecc.org/honeywell_datamatic_1000.htm In a message dated 1/29/2017 1:27:26 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, billdegnan at gmail.com writes: On Jan 28, 2017 8:51 PM, "william degnan" <billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Jan 28, 2017 8:40 PM, "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: > > > > On 01/28/2017 05:12 PM, Douglas Taylor wrote: > > > I have a certificate that my father was given in 1957 for training on > > > a Honeywell Datamatic 1000 computer. > > > > > > Here is a summary of this 'advance' in computer technology from the > > > ACM: > > > > > > The DATAmatic 1000 (D-1000) is a high-capacity electronic > > > data-processing system designed specifically for application to the > > > increasingly complex problems and procedures of present-day > > > business. The system incorporates significant new systems techniques, > > > as well as several basically new component developments. One of the > > > outstanding features of the D-1000 is its ability to feed information > > > from magnetic tape into the central processor at a sustained rate of > > > 60,000 decimal-digits per second, and to deliver data after > > > processing back to magnetic tape at this same rate. The operational > > > speed of the central processor maintains full compatibility with the > > > high speed of information transfer. Consequently, the difficulties > > > caused by programs which are either tape limited or processing-time > > > limited do not arise in the majority of commercial applications of > > > this system. > > > > Doug, you can probably re-live part of your dad's experience. There are > > some Datamatic 1000 manuals on bitsavers: > > > > http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/honeywell/datamatic_1000/ > > > > Big, wide tape reels. > > > > --Chuck > > > > I am pretty sure I have the first print of that manual, but I thought Datamatic was a pre-Burroughs machine not Honeywell...I am not home to check, if you'd like me to I can Monday. That's the base 10 system, right? I also have some orig decimal counter tubes IIRC too. I suppose that all qualifies as pretty rare. Or I am confusing with a different, similarly - named system. > Bill Yup I must be mistaken. Nevermind I'll check when I get back to my office B

9 years, 2 months

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ps2 memory - with weird square silver IBM Circuit packaged memory on the ...

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Thanks Guy! Mystery solved! I will put this note in with the memory stick.. Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 1/28/2017 6:00:46 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, ggs at shiresoft.com writes: At one time IBM was the largest manufacturer of memory and consumed *all* of it internally (e.g. for IBM products). At the time all of IBM?s ICs were in the ?aluminum? cans unless they needed more exotic cooling. In the PS/2 days, we ended up using some IBM produced memory because we could get a better internal transfer price than buying out in the market because the various IBM fabs had a bit of excess capacity and wanted it used. TTFN - Guy > On Jan 28, 2017, at 11:44 AM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote: > > The talk of PS2 memory brought something back to me I have in a drawer > here... > > ps2 memory - with weird square silver IBM Circuit packaged memory on > the stick. > > What is the story on this? was IBM making it's own memory chips or just > repackaging them into > their silver square packaging? > > Now I will have to dig these things out. > > Thank Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) >

9 years, 2 months

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ps2 memory - with weird square silver IBM Circuit packaged memory on the sti

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

The talk of PS2 memory brought something back to me I have in a drawer here... ps2 memory - with weird square silver IBM Circuit packaged memory on the stick. What is the story on this? was IBM making it's own memory chips or just repackaging them into their silver square packaging? Now I will have to dig these things out. Thank Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)

9 years, 2 months

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Looking to read past EOT on DDS/DLT/LTO

by sieler＠allegro.com

Re: > From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> > I believe that ANSI refers to them as "partitions", IIRC, defined by a > special page in the MODE_SELECT command. Each partition has its own EOD. > > Using the MODE_SENSE code page 11h will turn up information as to a tape > bing multi-partitioned. As it happens, they (partitions vs. set marks) are different concepts. A DDS-1, -2, -3, -4 can be either a single unpartitioned tape *or* it can have precisely/exactly/only two partitions. (I didn't check newer DDS standards) Completely separately from any discussion of partitions: a tape basically consists of entries of type "Data" (user data) and "Separator Marks". The standards (e.g., ECMA-139 / ECMA-150 / ECMA-170 for DDS-1, ECMA-198 for DDS-2, ECMA-236 for DDS-3, and ECMA-288 for DDS-4) specify: "In this ECMA Standard, there are two types of Separator Marks which are referred to as Separator 1 and Separator 2. Some other standards, e.g. those which define an interface between a tape drive and a host computer, use the terms "file mark" and "set mark" to denote Separator Marks. It is recommended that Separator 1 be equated to file mark and Separator 2 be equated to set mark. ("file mark", of course, is also referred to as an EOF (End Of File)) I knew DDS-* drives were insanely complicated, but after reading parts of the standards, I now realize I was grossly underestimating just how insanely complicated they are! SDLT-1 supports "set mark" (and they're called that, not "Separator Mark 2" :), but not partitions. DLT-1 and Ultrium-1 support neither "set mark" (nor multiple kinds of separators) nor partitions. Stan (ECMA = European Computer Manufacturers Association) ISO/IEC 17462 = ECMA-288

9 years, 2 months

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Sorcerer Software

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

For anyone who has a newly acquired an Exidy Sorcerer, this page might be helpful. http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2017-01-23-software-for-real-sorce… Terry (Tez)

9 years, 2 months

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crimp connectors that fit over wire wrap posts

by fritzm＠fritzm.org

Hi all, I?m working on an RK11-C, and need to repair a couple of components that are flown between backplane pins via crimp terminals that slip directly onto the wire wrap pins. I?m having trouble sourcing these connectors, probably because I don?t know the correct terms to search under. Anybody have a suggest? cheers, ?FritzM.

9 years, 2 months

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old 5.25" floppies 1S/2D

by sales＠elecplus.com

I have a carton of old 1S/2D floppy diskettes here. I used them 28 years ago to make backups. I have no use for them, and I have no idea if they still work. They will need to be formatted. There are in boxes of 10. A few might be 2S/2D. FFS to a good home. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028

9 years, 2 months

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XTIDE - boot menu callback via int 18h

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Thanks all for getting me going. I cheated at first with a real Maxtor 20 GB hard drive, and Alexadre's suggestion to FDISK with just a few cylinders, and that worked. Now, going to a CF card, same plan, no errors with FDISK, FORMAT C:/s, and I can see command.com is there if I boot from a floppy. I am able to read/write to the CF just fine, copy to it with /V and all OK. It will not boot from XTIDE, and I get this error. I read that some CF will not work. Can you recommend ones that do, and I will go get one. They one giving me trouble is: Sandisk Ultra II, I have had it for years in the junkbox. SDCFH-2048 is what XTIDE reports. Will a new, current CF fix the problem? Enlighten me on what boot menu callback means. Thanks, Randy

9 years, 2 months

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I finall flashed my XTIDE rev 1, now what?

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Yippie! But what a long haul it was. Just getting the data on a disk that I could read was a nightmare. I bought a USB 3.5 floppy drive (Sabrent SBT-UFDB, $19 at Frys), and it does not write 720K reliably. Comments on the net say it does not work, under windows 7 lots of errors, but bringing up in Linux (Fedora) it sort of does work. Remember to unmount so that it flushes the data out to the floppy! After several back and forth tries with abort, retry, fail errors, I finally got xtidecfg to run on the target (Compaq model 1, the luggable XT). Next, I could not flash the EEPROM. Turns out I had one 74F573 in upside down. $100 Digikey overnight later, I got one (several, I spared all the parts and the EEPROM just in case). OK now XTIDE comes up on boot, and responds with the timeout screen and lets me select the floppy for the boot. I have a Compact Flash adapter and card, while I wait for the soldering iron to heat up and make the power cable for it, I wanted to ask, what are the next steps? FORMAT, or FDISK /MBR? What is the recommended way to initialize the CF flash and put a system on it? Anything special to do, so that I can use the whole 2GB of the flash? Thanks to anyone who has been there and done this... Randy

9 years, 2 months

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Looking to read past EOT on DDS/DLT/LTO

by sieler＠allegro.com

Hi, Maciej mentioned "winding a tape past a medium error and read...". I have several times successfully skipped past media errors on DDS-1 drives by doing a FSF (Forward Skip File ... tells drive to skip to the next EOF). (Although, IIRC, once I encountered a read error, I couldn't do that ... I recall having to 'sneak up' on the error by positioning the drive to the prior EOF and then skipping forward. But since I haven't done it for more than 10 year, maybe my memories are classic, er, rusty.) My recollection is that DDS-1 (and perhaps -2?) had 'set marks' that few people knew about, and even fewer ever used. The explanation I recall is that the drive could do a "forward to next setmark" *much* faster than "forward to next EOF". (BTW, when reading, a setmark was reported like an EOF (although if you requested extra status you could tell them apart).) I never tried using the skip-to-next-setmark to get past errors, partially because the tapes I was recovering years ago didn't have setmarks. (Set marks are one reason I prefer my tape archiving format, since I record them, as well as retry information :) Al: thanks for expanding my answer about cutting out a portion of the tape ... I'd forgotten about helical recording. (Note that on ordinary multi-track tapes, cutting a section does indeed lose data from n different places on the tape ... any tape that requires multiple passes over the tape to get from BOT to the full capacity of the tape.) Stan

9 years, 2 months

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Service Manual Direct 831, Direct 825 or Basic Four S/10

by ad＠ardiehl.de

finally got one of the Basic Four S10. Does someone have a service manual for these or the Direct Inc. models ? The one i got was a little bit damaged due to shipping within Europe. Found at least one transistor and one cap that broke off the video monitor board. Will try to fix that next week. The Basic Four S/10 was developed and build by Direct Inc, Santa Clara, California. They sold the machine as a serial terminal (Dec/HP) as well as a terminal in combination with a CP/M 2 board. Direct 825 with CP/M: http://basicfour.de/pics/s10/Direct_825.jpg Direct 831 as a terminal without the second cpu/floppy controller board: http://basicfour.de/pics/s10/s-l500.jpg and the basic four s/10: http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/mai/ Btw, I'm also looking for MAI Basic Four Software for the Models 2000, 210/510/730 Thx machine with floppy and terminal boards: http://basicfour.de/pics/s10/3.jpg --------------------- Armin Diehl ad at ardiehl.de

9 years, 2 months

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General Electric EF-140

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

I hope this is considered apporopriate for this list, if not, I am sure y'all will let me know. :-) And, yes, it is about a truly classic computer. I am trying to restore my 1961 General Electric EF-140 Analog Computer. The insulation on all of the wires has basicly turned to stick goo. I would really like to rebuild it. Does anyone have or know where I might find a wiring diagram for this box? I got it thru National Technical Schools when I was about 11 years old and sadly, while it survived, my mother threw out all of the courses and manuals that came with the correspondence course I took back then. If someone has it but it's buried away, no problem. I just loaned it for a static display at the University where I used to work in the CS Department. I expect they will want to keep it for at least the Semester. On another note, it's good to be back on the list after many years away. I still have and use a number of systems that people here would consider more in line with their notions of Classic Computers. Some of you may even remember me. I was and still am big on PDP-11's and VAX. But I also have a number of old Micros as well (and some of the newer ones that try to bring the old flavor back like the Maximite and The P112.) bill

9 years, 2 months

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ISO: Documentation for a Northern Scientific NS-600

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Went spelunking in a hoarder's basement this morning (long story) and came out with a few interesting items, including a Northern Scientific NS-600. >From what I can tell it's from the late 60s and is capable of storing and analyzing digital data (and can display it on a tiny scope display). There isn't any real documentation out there, just a few research papers here and there noting its use in various experiments. Anyone have anything on this? Thanks, Josh

9 years, 2 months

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Anyone have the service guide for a Sanyo VM4209 monitor?

by AppleCorey＠optonline.net

I need the schematics. I'm not sure I trust all those "manual" sites on the web that want to sell you a PDF for $15. My monitor seems to be acting up. Thanks in advance, Cheers, Corey corey cohen u??o? ???o?

9 years, 2 months

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Looking to read past EOT on DDS/DLT/LTO

by sieler＠allegro.com

Hi, We have a friend with a "tape" (DDS, DLT, or LTO ... don't know which yet) to which was written a system backup. Thousands of files, with an EOF between each file, and a double EOF + EOT at the end. The problem: They then accidentally overwrote the start of the tape yesterday with about 1 KB of data, plus EOT. (By EOT I mean the "logical end-of-tape" indicator placed there by the drive firmware when a tape is rewound / unloaded after it's been written to.) So, we want to try to recover the files after that 1 KB + EOT. On reel tape, no problem. I'd read until I hit the double EOF, and then skip the partial file (by looking for the next EOF), and then...gravy. But, DDS/DLT/LTO drives won't let me get past that darn logical end-of-tape. Are there solutions anyone can suggest? I've only heard of two approaches: 1. find a drive with modified firmware, one that treats an EOT like an EOF While I heard some existed for DDS-1 drives, that lead was 20 years old :) 2. insert tape, start writing (at the start), write until I'm sure I've written over the area where the EOT was, power cycle the drive read from the start, skipping over the data I just wrote, handle the possible corrupted record, and the I've got good data from past the EOT (note that this method loses a small amount of old data past the EOT that we overwrote). On DDS drives, I used this technique once or twice successfully, although I seem to recall I couldn't do the "read until I get to the good stuff" because of the probability of a bad record on the tape (where the power fail was) ... but the solution was to load the tape and then say "skip forward 3 EOFs", and the skip-to-EOF would quietly ignore (usually) any bad record before the EOF. BTW, if this is DDS, it's unlikely to be newer than DDS-4 (but possible), if it's DLT, it's likely one of the first two or three generations, and if it's LTO, it's extremely unlikely to be anything other than LTO-1. thanks, Stan

9 years, 2 months

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IBM 7074 and then some: "Systems we love" conference

by steve.maresca＠gmail.com

Just wanted to share an excerpted story just sent to me by a colleague, regarding an IBM 7074 supplying data to Java middleware, ultimately feeding a modern webapp stack: http://thenewstack.io/happens-use-java-1960-ibm-mainframe/ This comes from a conference which occurred last month titled "Systems we love" : http://thenewstack.io/systems-we-love/ http://systemswe.love/ Cheers, Steve

9 years, 2 months

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Fourth release of the HP 3000 Series III simulator

by jdbryan＠acm.org

The fourth release of the HP 3000 Series III simulator is now available >from the Computer History Simulation Project (SIMH) site: https://github.com/simh/simh This release adds the HP 32234A COBOL II Extended Instruction Set firmware, enabling execution of programs produced by the COBOL II ('74 and '85) compilers. The new SET CPU CIS option enables the firmware. In addition, two new debug tracing options were added. The SET CPU DEBUG=OPND command turns on memory byte operand tracing to show the values supplied, e.g., to the CMPS (Compare String) instruction. The SET CPU DEBUG=EXEC command turns on execution tracing for a specific instruction or instruction family. The full set of new features is listed in the release notes that accompany the simulator source files. In addition, an updated HP 3000 Simulator User's Guide that covers the new commands is provided in Microsoft Word format with the source download and also as a PDF file at: http://alum.mit.edu/www/jdbryan/hp3000_doc.pdf The preconfigured MPE-V/R disc image available here: http://simh.trailing-edge.com/kits/mpe-vr-software-kit.zip ...has been updated to add the COBOL II runtime routines to the system Segmented Library and COBOL example programs to the OPERATOR.SYS account. The startup command files also now enable the COBOL II instruction set. -- Dave Bryan

9 years, 2 months

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DECUS TECO for OS/8

by chd＠chdickman.com

I am trying to build the DECUS TECO with VT support for OS/8. TECO came from ibiblio and the assembler listing says it is OS/8 TECO VERSION 7. I am using MACREL-V1B. It all assembles without error, but the linker fails with a NO ROOM message. I can't find any information on what NO ROOM means from the MACREL documentation. This is using SIMH PDP8 with 32k words. I also found MACREL V2 source, but it in in MACREL, but I have not tried to bootstrap it using V1. I was hoping to make source editing just a little bit easier. -chuck

9 years, 2 months

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11/34 with drives on ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay West > A fully working 11/34, in a complete period rack (with all side panels > and filler panels), and 4 working RL02's, VT220, a Decwriter ... > $1000 isn't realistic at all. It should definitely be higher than that. I concur. My methodology for _accurately_ valuing something like this is to create as comprhensive a list of sub-items as possible, then value them, and then add it up; something like this: $A Bare H960 $B 2 x H960 side panels $C BA11-K (box and power supply) $D BA11-K slides $E DD11-PK backplane $F PDP-11/34 CPU boards $G MS11-L $H 4 x RL02 drives $I 15 x RL02 packs etc etc. Alas, the listing doesn't say exactly which boards are in the 11/34 (and not even any pictures of the insides). I don't know exactly how much $A, etc are - I have varying levels of experience with these things, but for instance, I know that MS11-L's are much desired, and command high prices. Note that the listing does have a reserve, so their actual asking price is above $5K. Getting that total out of one bidder may be a bit too far; they might have better luck getting it sold if it was a couple of smaller lots. Noel

9 years, 2 months

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Looking to read past EOT on DDS/DLT/LTO

by sieler＠allegro.com

Hi, Thanks for the notes/comments/suggestions. Recovery service: not that I've found. Most of the ones I know of have *us* as their HP 3000 experts (i.e., we help them :) ... when I've asked in recent years about handling damaged or overwritten DDS (or newer) tapes, I've always been told 'no'. The "cut out some tape" would definitely not work. At least LTO, probably DLT, have multiple tracks and the tape makes multiple passes from start of tape to end of tape as it writes the entire tape. That means on a 16 track tape, you'd lose part of 16 different sections if you cut out a piece of tape (ignoring the question of whether or not the drive could resynch after such an error :) Eric's reply is closest to home ... that's why I mentioned a 'hacked' drive, hoping someone might know specialists who have one. Chuck mentioned an approach I had mentioned: the power kill during writing approach. I'm hesitant to try that as it will (based on dim memory of doing it 15 years ago on a DDS) lose a small bit of data ... if it works at all. I'm giving up for now. thanks, Stan > From: Eric Smith <spacewar at gmail.com> > > I hope someone can prove me wrong, but I think that short of a major effort > to hack the drive firmware, the data is gone. Modern tape drives are "too > smart" to allow reading past logical EOT, and the tape format is too > complex to allow fooling the firmware by any simple means. > > ------------------------------ > From: "Nico de Jong" <nico at farumdata.dk> > > I've had the same problem some years back, with a DDS-3, IIRC > > I did some research, and the most reasonable outcome was that it was not > possible by normal means, because some algorithm reading synchronisation > data couldnt find out what was happening, so, the backup was ruined..... > > ---- > From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> > > With nothing left to lose, I suppose that one might overwrite the EOT > and then kill power during the write, then attempt to read backward from > the end of the tape. > > ------------------------------ > From: "js at cimmeri.com" <js at cimmeri.com> > > Would it be possible to just physically > cut the 1kb + EOT portion of tape out, > and then attempt to read from > beginning? I suppose this would depend > on how the backup data is formatted on > the tape (using some kind of container > format with error checking, for instance). > > ------------------------------ > From: Jerry Weiss <jsw at ieee.org> > > Have you approached a commercial recovery service for a quote? > A few do tape media. Whether they quote or not may provide a data point about how feasible it may be. ----

9 years, 2 months

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Looking to read past EOT on DDS/DLT/LTO

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

For the NCAR Mass Storage System, when we upgraded our tape drives to Sun STK T10000 models, we lost the ability to skip past the EOT mark with standard firmware. We asked Sun to provide a firmware modification that let us issue four or so reads after reaching the EOT mark, and the drive would then continue on until it found good data again. We didn?t need it very often, but it was handy to recover single copy data.

9 years, 2 months

1
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PS2 Model 30 memory

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

I have a friend who wants to add more memory to a PS2 model 30. They are off in the wilds of Oz and acquired this for a good price and would like to just upgrade it to run some programs they have which do not run on modern faster systems. I know this is a snake pit to deal with, and can get more info if someone can get me some information or point me at references for them to look at. What I'm really interested in doing is seeing if just the memory can be had, and it isn't easy to find Sim modules these days, though I suspect there are metric tons of them rotting in places forgotten and not recycled yet. anyway any info to get started would be useful. i see there are entire systems on epay, and may suggest just buying one of them and cannibalizing them for their memory should the asking price for the individual SIMM parts be ridiculous. i could buy the system, us the system to be sure the memory does something and send them the memories alone for reasonable shipping. It would also net them a backup hard drive which are very scarce in even good times as well. I'm hoping that the memories were common to other systems and not some oddball special IBM part. Old advertisements that show up on google show a number of people making them, but that doesn't mean they can be found now of course. thanks jim

9 years, 2 months

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Selling off my collection

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I'm starting the long process of selling off my entire collection. There's a lot to go through. Some more details are here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?55964-Selling-Off-the-Collection And some photos are here: http://s350.photobucket.com/user/Sellam_Abraham/library/ Keep in mind the machines represented here are the cream of the crop. I have much more stuff in the form of 40 pallets that needs to get sorted through and moved on. I'll be much more inclined to sell off that stuff quickly, but with these I am ready to take my time. That being said, I'll entertain any reasonable offer. I still have a bunch of photos of magazines to post (just scratching the surface). Pallets worth. Probably best to contact me directly if you're interested in something. I have much, much more. Thanks for looking! Sellam

9 years, 2 months

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Selling off my collection

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

How much is the - -Bell Labs MAC-8 Microprocessor Trainer Kit thanks Ed# In a message dated 1/25/2017 11:01:50 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, sellam.ismail at gmail.com writes: I'm starting the long process of selling off my entire collection. There's a lot to go through. Some more details are here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?55964-Selling-Off-the-Collection And some photos are here: http://s350.photobucket.com/user/Sellam_Abraham/library/ Keep in mind the machines represented here are the cream of the crop. I have much more stuff in the form of 40 pallets that needs to get sorted through and moved on. I'll be much more inclined to sell off that stuff quickly, but with these I am ready to take my time. That being said, I'll entertain any reasonable offer. I still have a bunch of photos of magazines to post (just scratching the surface). Pallets worth. Probably best to contact me directly if you're interested in something. I have much, much more. Thanks for looking! Sellam

9 years, 2 months

1
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8085 Address Decoding

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Evening folks, Could a stuck bit or floating pin cause this address sequence? 0.142261562500000,'3896' (0x0F38) 0000111100111001 0.142262937500000,'3897' (0x0F39) 0000111100111010 0.142264250000000,'3898' (0x0F3A) 0000111100111011 0.142265562500000,'3899' (0x0F3B) 0000111100111100 0.142266937500000,'3900' (0x0F3C) 0000111100111101 0.142268250000000,'3901' (0x0F3D) 0000111100111110 0.142269562500000,'3902' (0x0F3E) 0000111100111111 0.142270937500000,'61618' (0xF0B2) 1111000010110010 (should be 0x0FB2?) 0.142271937500000,'61619' (0xF0B3) 1111000010110011 (should be 0x0FB3?) 0.142261562500000,'3896' (0x0F38) 0000111100111001 0.142262937500000,'3897' (0x0F39) 0000111100111010 0.142264250000000,'3898' (0x0F3A) 0000111100111011 0.142265562500000,'3899' (0x0F3B) 0000111100111100 0.142266937500000,'3900' (0x0F3C) 0000111100111101 0.142268250000000,'3901' (0x0F3D) 0000111100111110 0.142269562500000,'3902' (0x0F3E) 0000111100111111 0.142270937500000,'61618' (0xF0B2) 1111000010110010 0.142271937500000,'61619' (0xF0B3) 1111000010110011 0.142261562500000,'3896' (0x0F38) 0000111100111001 0.142262937500000,'3897' (0x0F39) 0000111100111010 0.142264250000000,'3898' (0x0F3A) 0000111100111011 0.142265562500000,'3899' (0x0F3B) 0000111100111100 0.142266937500000,'3900' (0x0F3C) 0000111100111101 0.142268250000000,'3901' (0x0F3D) 0000111100111110 0.142269562500000,'3902' (0x0F3E) 0000111100111111 0.142270937500000,'61618' (0xF0B2) 1111000010110010 0.142271937500000,'61619' (0xF0B3) 1111000010110011 My Executel ROM disassembly puts this block of code between 0x0F38 and 0x0F3E: 0F38 L0F38: 0F38 : 7B "{" [4] mov a,e 0F39 : 95 " " [4] sub l 0F3A : 5F "_" [4] mov e,a 0F3B : 7A "z" [4] mov a,d 0F3C : 9C " " [4] sbb h 0F3D : 57 "W" [4] mov d,a 0F3E : C9 " " [10] ret Does that make sense? I might not have a full disassembly since L0F38 is only called from two places and neither of them jump back to 0x0FB2 but I know that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong. Cheers, -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

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