test-drb May 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

174 participants
659 discussions

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>>> one has a board pair M7164/M7165 connected by short cables >>>across the top. >> >>M7164/M7165 is the KDA50 SDI controller, not SCSI. >Ok, I give up, what the heck is this? QDA "Quad" processor. Ok, is it used >for clustering or something? It runs RA70's, RA80's, and RA90's. 4 at a time. >So here are some "skunk box" questions: > >What type of backplane is this? Looks almost like it is Q/CD all the way >across. Yep, you got it! >There is an ethernet interface in one called a DESQA any good? Seems like a >follow on to the DEQNA as it has both 10B2 and AUI ports on it. The other >two chassis both had DELQA's in them. The DESQA is skunk box version of the DELQA. >so that answers that question, and by careful disassembly I can see that >the connectors are correct in terms of how I plugged them, so the only >question is if the fault was a board short or if the power connector is >non-standard. Anyone? It's a perfectly standard connector. The components near the connector are, in this case, probably nothing fancier than some electrolytics for bypassing. Is this reasonable? My TK70's are currently in running systems, and my customers would get angry if I started pulling them apart this time of night :-) -- 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

25 years, 7 months

Nec PC-6001A

by dogas＠leading.net

I tripped over one of these for $2 at a thrifty. I like the external and overall design but the video out is responding dissappointingly to initial probes. The only thing on the net I've found at the Obsolete Musuem says it's an 8k ms basic machine with a cartridge slot that's kinda exidyish (joystick ports and a speaker too) and what's this wierd printer interface?. Seems like a cool little machine. Anyone know about it? :) Mike

25 years, 7 months

Whew!

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<So the zillion dollar question is, why the heck did the TK70 smoke like tha Likely a tantalum capacitor cooked. I've seen that on various drives. often if removed and the board cleaned up they still operate. They usually short just hard enough that a good power supply will smoke the offending cap. Generally if caught soon enough the no damage save for a bad cap cooked to a crisp. <Is the power connector not a 'standard' one? +5 +12 and GND little plastic <molex hood? Most of the TKs I know use the same power connector as a floppy/hard disk. <could try one without the metal plate but I'm not going to experiment on m <only two remaining drives! I'm guessing there is some "other" type of plat <for these drives. nope, standard plate. Maybe too long a screw? Allison

25 years, 7 months

FREE!!! PDP-11/34A Complete System

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Xref: world alt.sys.pdp11:6285 >Path: world!blanket.mitre.org!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!howland.erols.net!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp2.dejanews.com!nnrp1.dejanews.com!not-for-mail >From: moorem(a)bucks.edu >Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11 >Subject: FREE!!! PDP-11/34A Complete System >Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 19:41:05 GMT >Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion >Lines: 10 >Message-ID: <7gq6sh$49e$1(a)nnrp1.deja.com> >NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.112.54.10 >X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed May 05 19:41:05 1999 GMT >X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.5 [en] (WinNT; I) >X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x15.dejanews.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 192.112.54.10 Free for the taking: Complete PDP-11/34A system in 6 foot 22" rack. Includes processor, memory, 2 RL02 disk drives, 1 RK05F disk drive (a fixed disk seen as 2 RK05 removables). This unit has been sitting in my barn for 10 years or so and is kind of dirty but it ran when I parked it! Terms: All or nothing, you pick up. Location: Eastern PA (central Bucks county, north of Phila.). Email: moorem(a)bucks.edu Thanks!!! -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

25 years, 7 months

More info RE: KA650 & uVAX

by mbg＠world.std.com

>>M7164/M7165 is the KDA50 SDI controller, not SCSI. > >Ok, I give up, what the heck is this? QDA "Quad" processor. Ok, is it >used for clustering or something? It is a KDA50-Q, Qbus to MSCP disk controller... >KFSQA - Q22 DSSI Controller, the drives hiding in the cabinet are two >RF71's. So it looks like 1.6GB about of disk space. Of course I have no Nope, KFQSA is a single quad board... The machine may have had one in the past, but not now... do NOT use a SCSI cable/terminator with those DSSI drives... >What type of backplane is this? Looks almost like it is Q/CD all the way >across. Yes, Q22/CD all the way... >There is an ethernet interface in one called a DESQA any good? Seems like >a follow on to the DEQNA as it has both 10B2 and AUI ports on it. The >other two chassis both had DELQA's in them. DESQA = DELQA with s-box handle (essentially). 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, 7 months

PDP-8 M8652...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Quick question of the PDP-8. I have a M8652YA, I'd my bet that it's similar if not the same as M8655. Can anyone confirm? A schematic, chip locator and a pinout of the connector would help too. Allison

25 years, 7 months

Cosmac ELF article in Popular Electronics

by fauradon＠mn.mediaone.net

I sent another message about my scans that was rejected by the listproc (had a command keyword in the first line!) I scanned at 100 DPI in 16M colors then saved as JPEG and tada! I don't know what the deal is, what color resolution did you use? I believe JPEG is better at compressing full color images than lower color depth one. I used an Artec as6e scanner and Paint Shop. I was goin to do some color reduction on them but when I saw the size I didn't think it would be necessary. Francois >Man, how'd you get such nice scans!? And they even came out smaller than >my scans. What scanner are you using, and what DPI did you scan at? > >Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com

25 years, 7 months

mainframe for sale - not general purpose machine.

by kstumpf＠unusual.on.ca

>>Mohawk Data Systems Mainframe SUPER 21 > Just to help out prospective buyers. MDS made data entry systems, not general purpose computers. Having said that, the guts of the Super 21 is an ATRON (now there's a popular name eh) minicomputer, but it was twisted and shaped, especially the operating system to accept multiple data streams and organize them onto 9-track tape or buffer the files on disk for data transmission to a host. It would be an interesting acquisition. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems * www.unusual.on.ca +1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5 Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles. Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers & Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6 .

25 years, 7 months

Whew!

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

In classic fashion it appears the TK70 drive committed suicide in order to save the circuit breaker the trouble of tripping. Sigh. After letting the thermal overloads cool off and reset, I brought the system up one board at a time (first CPU+MEM) then CPU+MEM+Ethernet, then CPU+MEM+Ethernet+DISK, etc. Lastly I plugged power back to my disks and got a complete boot. The TK70 is toast, a component near the power connector is ash as far as I can tell (and boy does it smell!) The drive mechanism appears to be intact and is available to anyone for 1.2*cost of shipping. (nice formula that) So the zillion dollar question is, why the heck did the TK70 smoke like that? The interconnect between the controller and the board says "This Side DOWN" and that was connected with the label against the PCB (which makes it lower relative to the top of the drive) Is the power connector not a 'standard' one? +5 +12 and GND little plastic molex hood? The other change was I used a skid from the disk drive. The metal plate on the bottom touches the screws, but it did not appear to contact the PCB. I could try one without the metal plate but I'm not going to experiment on my only two remaining drives! I'm guessing there is some "other" type of plate for these drives. --Chuck

25 years, 7 months

HP 9845 and space schuttle program was Re: Any HP 9845 Desktops Still In Service?

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I got this from a guy that used to use the HP 9845 calculator and thought this group might be interested. > >On Thu, 29 Apr 1999, Joe wrote: >> What kind of work did you do with the 9845? Do you still have anything >> for them? > >Joe, > >There's no trace of anything to be found...not even for the HP 9000/520 >used to migrate some of my applications. Let's see if you'll regret >asking me what I did with it? :-) > >I actually used the 9845B (Model T) for Space Shuttle flight support >(STS-2 through STS-24). I worked at Rockwell International Space Systems >Division in Downey, California (now owned by Boeing). I started out in >1979 doing bean-counting work. I wrote BASIC programs that create bar >charts, plots, and tabulated data for the Flight Systems Design and >Performance department. My manager, Bill Schleich, was the one who >developed the shuttle's roll maneuver shortly after lift-off. > >Most (99.9%) of the engineers were IBM/TSO die-hards because they were >old Apollo guys. They considered the HP 9845 to be a toy, but they were >really afraid of it. Some of those guys preferred to use a printable >tele-type terminal over CRTs! > >On the first shuttle flight there was unexpected lofting of the vehicle >that we didn't account for in our trajectory predictions. Finally an >engineer named David Pearson was able to trace the problem down to us not >having up-to-date atmospheric data (our mainframe trajectory analysis >programs used montly weather tables). > >Bill Schleich was also Dave Pearson's manager and he appreciated the >power and versatility of the microcomputer...it helped that I impressed >him with fancy graphics on the internal thermal printer (mainframe >hardcopies of graphics had to be trucked from Seal Beach - about 20 miles >away). > >Previously, I crossed-over to doing some small engineering studies where >I'd plot data, etc., using the 9845. But the big project was for the >flight support task! There was a lady named Kathy O'Connor who did some >cool graphics with the robotic arm against a stunning line-drawing of the >shuttle in X-Y-Z drawings. > >Anyway, to shorten this story, we had the launch site send us FAXes of >their weather balloon data (no FTP in those days) for weeks, days, hours, >and up to 15 minutes before launch. We had an HP 9872A plotter that also >had a digitizer sight. I wrote an interactive program to have an >engineer align the FAX on the plotter's plate and digitize points along >the different data lines. > >The points were stored in arrays and fed to a cubic-spline interpolation >program to recreate the line with more (smoother) points. The output was >formatted into lines to be uploaded to the IBM mainframe where our big >number-crunching trajectory analysis (M-50) program ran...it was much too >large for the 9845 to even dream of running. > >The data went out over a GTE 300-baud modem that was about as large as >one of today's VCRs. HP provided the (BASIC) software to do the actual >file transfer and communications with the mainframe. Someone else wrote >the programs on the mainframe to capture the uploaded data for feeding >into the M50 program. > >When the M50 finished, it put the data back into tabulated form and >downloaded it, one line at a time, to the HP. I wrote a suite of >programs that read in the captured data and parsed it into data arrays >which were plotted on the CRT for quick "DUMP GRAPHICS" snap-shots. We >also used the 9872 4-color plotter for comparison plots but the thermal >printer plots were needed quickly. > >Believe it or not, the process was fast enough that we once actually had >plots for T-15minute winds in time to run downstairs in Rockwell's >mission control room (3rd or 4th backup to NASA's MC in Houston) and see >a live launch on live NASA video feeds, including infra reds. > >After about the 5th shuttle flight, I was no longer on-call and other >engineers (all older than me because I was only 21 in 1981...I started >programming professionally right out of high school) were following my >procedures. I continued to make modifications for new features, etc., >until the 10th flight...I wrote every single byte of code for that suite >of programs except for the package to communicate over the modem! > >I had transferred to Seal Beach a few flights before Challenger >exploded. When I heard about it, I called one of the engineers >responsible for the "Day of Launch Flight Support Effort" and he told me >that that was the first flight that they didn't run the program (except >for STS-1 of course because we didn't know we needed it). > >They wouldn't have seen anything strange even if they had run the >program...but I like to imagine that my code would've warned them! :-) > >It's been a long time since I had a chance to brag about that. Thanks >for asking. BTW, I was the system administrator for that particular >9845. There were at least 3 others managed by different groups. I had >access anytime I wanted or needed it. As a result, I ignored the Apple >II, IBM PC, etc., until I migrated to the HP 9000/520. > >But even with the 9000/520 being such a step up, I bought an Amiga in >1986 and have been in love with Amigas ever since! > >Visit http://www.amiga.com or http://www.amiga.de if the first one is >down. > >Later, >David > >_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ >_/_/ David C. Waters _/_/ Integrated Business Solutions _/_/ >_/_/ Multimedia Business Answers _/_/ Video Audio CD-ROM Publishing _/_/ >_/_/ E-Mail: mbanet(a)netcom.com _/_/ World Wide Web and TV Access! _/_/ >_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > >

25 years, 7 months

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test-drb May 1999