Here is what I picked up: (lot of questions);
PDP-8I (came from a former Dec employee): This mini is loaded. (I am really
tired and have not had a chance to look at it all but..):
It came in two racks. The first rack contained the 8I with high speed paper
tape, and a DF32. The second rack had 4 core memory expanders (MM8I), an
AX08, an Oscilloscope interface, and a REALLY COOL NEGIBUS 8" floppy drive
that emulates 2-4 DF32s. The second rack is a "LAB-8" config. I got all the
manuals (for every part), maintenance docs, "D" size prints, heaps of OS/8
stuff, TSS/8, and disk monitor. The system came with 12 trays of paper tape.
I have no idea how much core is in the CPU as I have not pulled it out. In
the prints I saw it has "EAE" and some other options... Oh,oh, and I got at
least 30 negibus cables :-)
PDP-15
This unit came in 3 racks. The first rack is the CPU/control panel with:
high speed paper tape, mag tape, and a "blinky light panel on the top". The
second rack is the CPU and power supply. The third rack contains a large
drum memory unit and interface. The CPU has two large core planes. I don't
know if there are any more hidden anywhere. This unit is large and came with
6 large boxes of documentation, schematics, maintenance manuals... Software
wise it has a lot more than I expected... 45 trays of paper tape. I was told
MUMPS was on it/with it? I have not looked at the paper tapes yet.
Bought boxes of spare boards:
I also bought 10 large boxes of PDP 11, PDP 8, and other digital
peripheral/CPU cards. I will compile a list in case anyone needs anything I
am not keeping. I also picked up 15-20 boxes of brand new boards from
dec/third party still wrapped... no idea what they are yet.
Bought a large box of Nova core memory/FPU
I picked up around 10 core memory planes and tons of Nova 2/3 spares.
I got a lot more Flip Chips and another H901 blue flip chip patch panel.
I will take a picture when I can but these systems are taking up my families
hallway, living room and dining room at the moment so I have to clean out
more of my lab and roll the stuff in.
Basically, I bought everything but the PDP 11/34 that was left there.
I hope to have the 8I running early next week (looks like it is plug and
play).
Questions:
1. How much memory is inside the 8I and what was the stack size, how much
expansion is the MM8Ia s?
2. Does drum memory crash when you cycle the power?
3. I found a board made by digital that says "CMOS-8" (memory),, what model
PDP-8 does this work on?
4. Anything "bugs" I should watch out for before powering up the 8I or the
PDP-15?
Thanks
john...
Where is the color frame buffer normally placed relative to everything else
in a Vaxstation II/GPX ? (everything else being defined as ethernet, TQK70,
disk, and async muxes)
--Chuck
Hi
I'm passing this along in case someone on the list can help this fellow:
Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 10:04:50 +0100
From: Stephan Slabihoud
stephannews1(a)slabihoud.de
Hi,
I am looking for scans of homecomputer mainboards of the 70ths and
80ths. These scans I would like to add to my computing museum
(<A HREF="http://www.8bit-museum.de)">http://www.8bit-museum.de)</A>.
Unfortunately a lot of scans are not available yet:
No scan available: :-(
Acorn, Amstrad, Coleco, Dragon, EACA, Enterprise, Excidy, Jupiter,
Luxor, Mattel, NeXT, Osborne, Sharp, Spectravideo, Tandy, Tatung,
Camputers and Exelvision
A few scans available: :-)
Apple (Apple I), Atari (2600 black, 800XL), Commodore (8032, VC20, C64,
C64C, C116, C16, P/4), MITS (8800), Oric (1, Atmos, Telestrat), Sinclair
(MK14, ZX80/81, Spectrum Issue 1+2, QL), Texas (99/4A), VTech (Laser
500)
Some of the scans are not very good and I will be pleased to replace
them by better ones.
Who wants to help me but does not know how to make a scan or photo of
the mainboard can ask for my advice. :-) A picture should not exceed 800
KByte (JPG medium).
Thanx very much
Stephan Slabihoud
<At the risk of starting a flame fest, does anyone have any ideas on
<"tuning" tools such that one could know when they are getting the "best"
<performance out of a classic machine?
Why a flame fest? If anything this is why some of the old hardware is
still around as it could be run to 99.999% of its capacity. Tuning was the
way to get there.
The tuning tool would be OS specific.
Allison
>Does anyone know if the RL11 will swap with the TA11 to switch from
>cassette operation to RL02 operation?
What do you mean by 'swap with'? The RL11 and TA11 show up at
entirely different addresses in the IO page, and which the system
boots is dependent upon the bootstrap code available, and not the
position of boards in the bus.
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
I just got back from another hamfest. The only interesting computer
stuff that I scored was two dozen new HP tapes. In the box are some that
are marked "(for use with the HP9142)". This is the first time that I've
seen tapes for the 9142. They have part number 92242L for the long ones
(600 ft.) and part number 92242S for the long ones (150 ft.) These are not
usable in the 9144 or 9145 tape drives.
Joe
There were two types of SIMMs, initially. The ones with equal numbers of
devices on both sides were viewed in some systems as being two SIMMs, but
occupying a single site. I had one motherboard which required you jumper it
differently for the double-sided variety than for the single-sided. Now,
some of the single-sided SIMM had the parity chips on the reverse side, but
were still thought/spoken of as single-sided.
You might do well scrounging around an electronics graveyard (landfill).
I've left bunches of them lying there while diving for pearls.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: B'ichela <mdalene(a)home.ctol.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, November 06, 1999 5:59 PM
Subject: Needed, Memory chip info for a Compaq
> I am aware that this list covers Older systems than Compaq. From
>what I can see from reading this list.. someone might have an answer.
> I have a Compaq Despro 386n. Currently it has 4mb of ram. I am
>painfully running Slackware 3.1 on it. Does anyone know what kind of
>Memory this machine is using? From what I can see, it has two Simm modules
>that appear to be 72 pin. There is memory chips on both sides of these.
>Does standard Simms of the 72pin variety have memory chips on both sides
>of the simm?
> If these ARE standard, does anyone have two 8mb ones? I want to
>put 16mb of ram on the Deskpro as 4mb stinks! The Compaq only can hold two
>of them unless you have the special Compaq memory expander board. If these
>are specialized. again who has them inexpensivly?
> Please respond either via the list or priate email to my address
>above.
>
> A pearl of wisdom from the y2K newsgroups:
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>aY2K appears to be the Baby Boomers mid-life crisis, and it has the
>potential to be a dandy.
> -- Anonymnous --
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> B'ichela
>
>
>Backplane #1 (working from right to left as seen from the front)
>M8266 (6)
11/34A control
>M8265 (6)
11/34A data paths
>M8267 (6)
11/34A FP
>M7859 (4) M9312 (2)
Console interface and bootstrap/terminator
>M7896 (6)
My book says the M7896-YA is a quad board, and is a DSS11 with 48 24V
contact sense inputs. This doesn't match up with what I'd expect here,
nor your description of it as a hex-height board. Can you double-check
this one? I suspect that it's actually a memory board...
>M7856 (4)
DL11 async line interface
>M7228 (4) M920 (2) ** bus jumper **
KW11-P real-time programmable clock
>Backplane #2
>M7800 (4)
>M7800 (4)
KL11's
>M7860 (4)
>M7860 (4)
DR11-C's (general purpose parallel input/output)
>M7892 (4)
TU60 interface
>Dual D/A converters (third party) (6)
>Grant card
>M8716 (4) M9202 (2) ** bus jumper **
DR11-W, DMA parallel input/output
>Backplane #3
>M7219 (4)
RC11 bus interface
>M7821 (3?)
Interrupt control
>M796 (1)
Unibus master control
>(hidden) (2)
>M9760 (2)
60-wire cable, presumably running to a drive.
>M9302 (2)
Terminators
>In this last back plane there are several cards that are dual or one wide
>and are short with white extension things over them so that they can be
>pushed from the top (but they hide the M numbers)
>
>So it seems that this is actually an 11/34a on the inside, that's nice to
>know. Anyone have any clues on the third backplane?
It looks to be at least part of the Unibus interface (RC11) for the
RS64/RS03/RS04 drives. These are head-per-track disks with capacities
of 64K, 256K, and 512K words respectively.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
KIM-3 is a memory expansion board with 8KB of 2102's, twice what's on the
KIM-2.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: John Lewczyk <jlewczyk(a)his.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, November 06, 1999 1:33 PM
Subject: KIM-1, KIM-2, KIM-3, KIM-4
>I know what a KIM-1 is, the processor, tape and serial interface, etc.
>I know what a KIM-2 is, a memory expansion board
>I know what a KIM-4 is, its a "motherboard" for expanding a KIM-1
>
>What is a KIM-3?
>
Just thought I'd share my amusement. Right now I'm booting up a MicroVax II
using an Apple IIgs as a console.
It just amuses me that Retrocomputerists often combine systems in strange
ways totally unforeseen and unexpected by the original designers.
Anthony Clifton
