An update on the Wang system I rescued from Certain Death.. I
found a good portion of the manuals today while on an un-related
mission to the warehouse. I was walking past 2-story-high pallet
racks full of boxes of paper files, and a Wang binder caught my
eye.. sure enough, what appears to be the operations documentation,
including much custom work by the sysop(s) was in an open box. I
now have it with the machine itself.
Anyone on (or off) the List who is interested in acquiring this
taken-out-of-service 7110 system... contact me via e-mail. It
seriously wants a loving home and some 220-1 ph to eat.
FREE FREE FREE
Cheers
John
>Anyone know the procedure? Can it be done? Do I need some special
>diagnostic program (do vaxes run XXDP?)
I forget if they can be formatted, but I do know that they can
be erased and scanned... but you need to have something which
speaks DU Protocol (DUP)... if you have a uVaxII or uVaxIII,
you have what you need...
You have to use one of the maintenance commands from the uVax
console...
One of the commands of the form
SET HOST/MAINT/UQSSP/SERVER n
where n is the number of the UQSSP port.
Once the DUP starts up, it will prompt for a command or
filename... type DIRECT and it will give you a listing
of what is available. Some drives have different numbers
of programs available, so try what looks obvious.
BTW - the DUP protocol is essentially a protocol which
causes the VAX and the KFQSA to exchange packets of text.
You type something, it is packetized and sent to the KFQSA
where it is passed to code running in the disk. The output
of that code is passed back to the VAX in a packet.
I don't know of anything else which speaks it (unless there
is something on the user test TK50 under MDM).
And it is a proprietary protocol, so I can't explain the
specifics.
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 saw a hardcover book from 1957 at the used bookstore, that discussed
> > digital computer circuits, and had chapters on vacuum tube logic circuits,
> > corememory circuits, some transistor circuits, etc. If this is something
> > that someone here is dieing to have, perhaps because you're designing
> > a vacuum tube computer circuit, just let me know and i'll try to get it
> > before someone else does ;)
>
> In fact, my plan is to build a tube computer someday soon. What was the
> title of the book, and how much was it selling for?
>
Well, several people have asked about this book. Its "Digital Computer
components & circuits" by R. K. Richards, 1957, reprinted 1958. He says
its a companion book to his "arithmetic Operations in Digital Computers",
which the bookstore also has, but thats just a general boolean-logic type
of book.
Anyways, the used bookstore wants $15 for it. Perhaps I should see about
photocopying this.
chapters:
1 History & Introduction
2 Diode switching circuits
3 Vacuum tube systems of circuit logic
4 Transistor systems of circuit logic
5 magnetic core systems of circuit logic
6 Large capacity storage: non-magnetic devices
7 Storage on a magnetic surface
8 Magnetic core storage
9 Circuits and tubes for decimal counting
10 Miscellaneous components and circuits
11 Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters
-Lawrence LeMay
<The previous mentioned article in Byte is "Coincident Current Ferrite Core
<Memories" and is in the July, 1976 Issue. It is very helpful. It describes
That's the one. Lost my copy (a whole xerox paper box of 3+years) two major
moves ago. A copy of that would be of some help. Finding patterns for
stringing the core plane is tough.
Allison
At 07:35 PM 3/19/99 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Can anyone recommend a vendor for obsolete or discontinued chips? My
>specific current need is for an AMD chip: AM7992BCD (or equivalent).
>
www.alltronics.com in San Jose has a
AM7992ADC for $US 2.50. Don't know what the suffix means: package, speed, etc.
There is an expensive place that may even make some "obsolete" chips, I
think their name is Rochester Electronics.
-Dave
Here's an interesting announcement from the British Science Museum that
might interest some of the folks in the UK (Tony, now you can get a job!)
OPERATE THE BABY COMPUTER
Would you like to work on the rebuilt 'Baby' computer? This rebuild
of the original which ran for the first time on 21 June 1948 is on
display in the Futures gallery at the Museum of Science and Industry
in Manchester. The Museum needs help to keep the computer in
working order and to demonstrate it to visitors.
You should have some experience in and knowledge of electronics. An
interest in the history of computing would be desirable. You should
also be available once during the week for training and, if possible,
at the weekends for demonstrations.
You will join the Museum's volunteer programme and will receive
training on the computer's operation and maintenance, on its
background history and on talking about the computer to Museum
visitors.
The Museum is the only place where you can have this opportunity to
work with the first computer. You will be able to learn from the
people who rebuilt the computer and benefit from the experience of
explaining it to visitors.
If you are interested in helping, please contact Jenny Wetton at the
Museum, telephone 0161-832-2244, or email: j.wetton(a)msim.org.uk
---
What's funny is the state in the second to last paragraph:
"The Museum is the only place where you can have this opportunity to
work with the first computer."
Konrad Zuse might have a problem with this.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 04/22/99]
Does anyone know where I can find a working Commodore 64GS system? I've been
looking for the last two years with no luck. Please e-mail me if you know
where I can purchase one. Thanks,
Bob
I am a little frustrated and sure that I am missing something rather
obvious. However, what must I do to assure that VMS (5.5) recognizes
my RX33 floppy drive, DUA2, on bootup without having to run SYSGEN and
Autoconfigure All each time. The machine tries to boot from it if it has
a disk installed and then switches to the RD54 DUA0 to go on to boot.
- don
Just so you can't say I never tell you people anything... B^}
----------
Yes, Once Again.... It's time for the...
Grand Floral Swapmeet
Who: CP/Mug. (yeah, we're still here.)
What: Computers, Audio, Video, High-Tech, Low-Tech, etc.
When: Saturday, June 12, 1999, 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Where: Tigard Senior Center in Tigard.
8815 SW Omara
Tigard, OR
Admission: FREE!
Rules: There are no rules, except no leaving things.
(NO Garbage Service!)
Fees: There are no fees, except we'll beg.
Reservations: There are no reservations.
Setup: Starts at 8:00 AM. Be early for best position,
NO reservations!.
Bring a table, if you have one.
Bring a ground cloth if it's sunny, and display on the lawn.
Tailgating is encouraged and quite effective.
Sales: Starts at 8:00 AM. Be early for the best deals,
volunteer to help shlep the stuff. Whimper, Whine,
etc.. Feel free to denigrate vendors tawdry wares...
Shutdown: Doors get locked at 2:00 PM.
Contact: Gary at Oregon Electronics, 503-239-5293
--
Gary Grossoehme - GaryG4430 "at" aol "dot" com
Oregon Electronics - 503-239-5293
935 NE Couch St. - Computer Cable Specialists
Portland, Oregon - Member: AfterBurner Fan Club.
----------
-jim
---
jimw(a)computergarage.org
The Computer Garage - http://www.computergarage.org
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
>>> Coming soon to www.computergarage.org - the CBBS/NW on-line archives
>>> Coming to VCF III (2-3 October 1999) - CBBS/NW live!
