test-drb January 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

189 participants
897 discussions

Xpost: PDP-6 ASM language manual available

by rhblake＠bigfoot.com

Clipped this from the Obsolete Computer Helpline - if interested contact Pat at the email address below, not me. Pat Stakem <stakem(a)loyola.edu> Columbia, MD usa - Tuesday, January 05, 1999 at 19:04:31 Does any one need a PDP-6 Macro-6 Assembly language manual? 1965, DEC-6-0-tp-mac-lm-act02 ..pat

25 years, 11 months

FWD: Large computer in the UK...

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

At 10:42 AM 1/6/99 -0500, William Donzelli wrote: > >Dammit...why do all of the surplus supers turn up overseas and not on the >East Coast or Midwest? If this Hitachi was within 1000 miles or so from >Carmel, New York, I might just do something foolish. How the hell would you move 14 tons of computer??? > >Yes, I have the room for something this size. To do what? Move into it? :-)

25 years, 11 months

Looking for PolaPulse or equivalent

by mbg＠world.std.com

>>I've been busy making room for my newest haul... the pdp-8s. > >Tell us -8 owners more.... I don't actually have the machines yet... I have to make room for them first. I'll be getting pdp-8/a pdp-8/m pdp-8/e lab-8 (w/scope) pdp-11/34 (w/vt11, vr14 and light pen) manuals spares I'm going to be getting the manuals and spares and anything small I can fit in my car first. Then I'll get the 11/34 and one of the -8s, which are mounted in a DEC corporate short cab. Once this is in place at home, I'll go back for the two tall cabs which house the other three -8s and their devices. There are no connections between the tall cabs and the short cab, which is why that will be moderatly easy. I don't yet know if there are connections between the two tall cabs... I'll have to remove the systems to reduce the cab weight... so I'll be marking lots of cabling (i expect) to ensure it all goes back together successfully. I will admit that I am not going to keep it all... I do plan on keeping the 11/34, the lab-8 and the 8/e. One of the remaining -8s is destined for a friend, and the last one I will probably make available to someone from this list (please, NO mail at this time... operators are NOT standing by) once I figure out an equitable way to do so... First things first, however. I have to GET the stuff before I do anything else... :-) Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

25 years, 11 months

y2k stuff

by mbg＠world.std.com

>What boggles the mind is that this is a problem at all. It seems hard to >believe (in retrospect) that people really did deliberately build >software with only 2 digit years. I know it saved a few bytes, and yes, >I remember when a byte of memory was a significant amount, but still. >How did standard programming practice come to be so short sighted as to >assume that software infrastructure would be thrown out and replaced on >a regular basis? The problem is that it isn't just one problem... it is a series of problems, some of which have already been addressed over the years. It isn't just that software only handled two-digit years. That is, at best, simplistic, and at worst, just plain wrong. The fact is that there are numerous levels to the problem. Let me enumerate some of them... o Boot code - Does the hardware have a calender/clock? How does it store the date? How does one set the date? How does it report the date? An example of this is the 11/93 o Adapters/controllers - Do they have an internal calendar/clock? How do they store the date? How is the date set? How is the date reported? An example of this is are the RF series DSSI disks... they seem to have a built in clock and can report dates/times and even when the device was last powered on. Also, some devices will report date information, but only once it is set by the host operating system - an example is the DELQA, which reports date/time in a MOP System ID packet. o The operating system - how does it store the date? How does it accept the date? How does it report the date? RT-11, for example, stored years in 5-bit fields and the base year was 1972... which would work to 2003, but there were other problems. This was upgraded to 7-bits worth of info, which increased the range from 1972 to 2099, but there were still problems with other parts of the system -- Mentec's V5.7 addresses this. What about pdp-8s? They have been through the end of their epoch several times over... What about tops-10? What about Unix, which breaks in 2038... o The on-disk directory structure - How is the date encoded? o Applications - Are they concerned with the date? Do commands allow date specifications? In what form? How is date info reported? o *DATA* - what about all those data files which have been recorded over the years? What form was date stored? And I'm sure others can come up with more levels... these were just those which I could come up in 5 minutes of thinking... Keep in mind that when many institutions report they are working on Y2k issues... it is probably only billing. What about hospitals and the embedded controls in, for example, patient-controlled analgesia? There are going to be more and more failures as we get closer. Last year, there was a report that an insurance company which normally issued 3-year policies could only do two-year. If they haven't fixed the problem, they're probably down to one year now... Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer (Not speaking for Compaq) +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

25 years, 11 months

FWD: Large computer in the UK...

by kevan＠heydon.org

I found this on one of the uk news groups. It is out of my league but someone might be interested. -- Kevan Collector of old computers: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/ ------- Start of forwarded message ------- From: nmm1(a)cus.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) Newsgroups: uk.comp.misc Subject: Decommissioning large computers Date: 5 Jan 1999 19:09:37 GMT Organization: University of Cambridge, England Message-ID: <76to1h$oet$1(a)pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk> 25 years ago, this was a sufficiently common activity that there were companies specialising in it .... We are likely to want to decommission a large computer for scrap in the near future, and are trying to find a company that will do it most economically and with least damage to the machine room. It is about 14 tons (I think), and includes a lot of heavy copper cabling, and may have more salvageable materials in the main boxes. Any serious suggestions as to who to approach gratefully received; I won't ask if anyone has done this recently, for obvious reasons :-) Regards, Nick Maclaren, University of Cambridge Computing Service, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, England. Email: nmm1(a)cam.ac.uk Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679 ------- End of forwarded message -------

25 years, 11 months

Y2K

by gregorym＠cadvision.com

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25 years, 11 months

FWD: Large computer in the UK...

by Philip.Belben＠pgen.com

Kevan Heydon reported Nick Maclaren as haveing said: > We are likely to want to decommission a large computer for scrap in > the near future, and are trying to find a company that will do it > most economically and with least damage to the machine room. It is > about 14 tons (I think), and includes a lot of heavy copper cabling, > and may have more salvageable materials in the main boxes. I'm tempted to suggest the Cambridge University Computer Preservation Society, just to annoy them :-) I suspect that this is the old IBM 3084 that ran Phoenix. Any Cambridge people with more info? More to the point, what is to become of the software? Tapes? etc. I'd love it but I (a) have nowhere to put it and (b) have difficulty transporting anything over 1/2 ton. Philip.

25 years, 11 months

IBM PS/2 P70-386 SIMM needed...+ a couple other things...

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Hi! I need a 2MB SIMM for an IBM PS/2 P70-386. I know they go in in sets of two's, but for some reason, I have a spare SIMM that I found. Does anyone know where I could find one for a reasonable price (under $10)? I also need a display hinge (right side) for the P70. The one is broken. It still works, but sometimes gets annoying when I try to fold it up (that's also the side with the latch). ****this one's off-topic**** Does anyone know where to find a replacement head assembly for a Mitsubishi MF355H-394MW 1.44" floppy drive? It's from a Compaq 5000 series laptop, and some how the lower head seems to have disappeared. Everything's there (wire coils, head mount etc.). I think the glue that held the pick-up (is that the right name?) came loose. ThAnX, ///--->>> -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1>

25 years, 11 months

External CD-ROM Needed

by roblwill＠usaor.net

Hello everyone. My school has an old PS/2 Model 70 (386-16, 4mb RAM). They want to install some software on it which is on CD-ROM. Being a PS/2, there is no room for an internal CD-ROM, so I told them I'd look into get an old external for them. What I'm looking for is either a parallel interface drive, or a drive with an MCA controller card (there's one free slot). Being that the computer is a 386-16, speed is not of importance, and even a single-speed would be sufficient. A parallel interface one would probably be best, since they could use it on a few of their other non-PS/2 systems (286's, 386's) that they don't want to spend money to put an internal drive in. I'm not looking for anything very expensive, since I'll be paying for it, then donating it to the school. ThanX in AdvancE, -- -Jason Willgruber (roblwill(a)usaor.net) ICQ#: 1730318 <http://members.tripod.com/general_1> PS>> Not having to do with the school, but does anyone know where I would be able to find a hinge for the display of a PS/2 luggable without going directly through IBM? -thanx.

25 years, 11 months

Y2K

by geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au

-----Original Message----- From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Wednesday, 6 January 1999 18:45 Subject: Re: Y2K >On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, Computer Room Internet Cafe wrote: > >> about date useage outside America. I know there are 250+ million of >> you, but we're not the 53rd state. (Yet anyway) We "ain't gonna" > >That's interesting. I must've missed the news about the 51st and 52nd >states being added to the Union :) I was acting on the assumption that Puerto Rico and maybe American Samoa would get in before us. :^) Cheers Geoff Roberts Computer Systems Manager Saint Marks College Port Pirie South Australia. My ICQ# is 1970476 Ph. 61-411-623-978 (Mobile) 61-8-8633-0619 (Home) 61-8-8633-8834 (Work-Direct) 61-8-8633-0104 (Fax)

25 years, 11 months

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test-drb January 1999