On June 29, Tony Duell wrote:
> It's essentially the same CPU, packed into a different case, and with an
> RC25 disk drive. I am told the latter is a nightmare which headcrashes if
> you look at it wrongly, but anyway.....
At a former place of employment, there was a legend of one of those
blasted RC25 drives crashing because someone farted.
Apparently, the guy was sitting on one of those notorious un-padded
wooden chairs which was on the raised floor right next to the machine
(an 11/725) containing the drive. He ate lunch at the Mexican
restaurant across the street. Apparently his output produced just
enough vibration at just the right frequency to cause the head to hit
the media during a spinup.
-Dave McGuire
Hi. I have a Xerox DayBreak workstation lying on a corner back
home and I'd really much liked to do something with it. I have already
posted emails to this list about this subject, but since so much time
passed since then I resolved to re-post to see I get something
new. The issues I'd like to solve are:
1. decent interface of the display output to some monitor -- I
worked on a small circuit to convert the ECL levels and separate syncs
into a composite video output, for a mono monitor, using discrete
components, but the image was sort of fuzzy. Are there any ideas on
doing these the right way (if any)?
2. interfacing the keyboard/mouse connector to a PC's serial
port -- I managed to build a decent interface for this (using a
MAX232), but now the problem is protocol: anyone knows the protocol
for sending key presses/releases signals? I believe they have
something from 1 to 3 bytes.
I have a set of PDF of scanned Xerox manuals (TechRef and IOP)
including some schematics (awesome work! congrats for the one who
scanned them and put them on the web!). But they don't specify the
keyboard protocol. On the other hand, I also got PDF's of the MESA
manuals, but they describe teh keyboard interface at the API level (no
luck there either).
Any help on these issues is very welcome!
Cheers,
--
*** Rodrigo Martins de Matos Ventura <yoda(a)isr.ist.utl.pt>
*** Web page: http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~yoda
*** Teaching Assistant and PhD Student at ISR:
*** Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Polo de Lisboa
*** Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, PORTUGAL
*** PGP fingerprint = 0119 AD13 9EEE 264A 3F10 31D3 89B3 C6C4 60C6 4585
For the original topic...
For those getting into VAX based machines a smaller VAX
like a VS2000, VS3100 or maybe a complete MicroVax-II,
MV-III, 11/730 or even 11/750 is a good starting point and
an easy admission. Once you're comfortable and DECified
with that then something more massive or complex to get
going is reasonable. Also from a perfomance standpoint
the smaller VAXen can be impressive.
I can hear the crowd... 11/730 or 750s are physically larger but
if complete they are otherwise ver manageable for power and
cooling. Also unlike the larger 78x and 85xx series the 730s
and 750s are fairly common, well known and can often be
had for the effort of moving it.
Allison
This came in to me but I can't really help him at the moment. I
know some of you HP collectors might be able to help. Contact
him at the address below.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 10:55:06 -0400
From: "Richard Rochester" <RRochester(a)getragusa.com>
My company has been using an HP9836 to do calculations for a
gear shaver sharpening machine. It can no longer be booted up
because the main 5.25 drive will no longer read the disk. Do you
know of any sources for these machines or parts? We were
thinking that we might even be able to rig an external drive that
would enable the machine to boot up. I'd appreciate any
information you have on the subject.
Thanks.
Rich Rochester
rrochester(a)getragusa.com
------- End of forwarded message -------
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)trailingedge.com
http://www.trailingedge.com
> 8088 CPU clocked at 5MHz
>
> 128k DRAM on the motherboard
>
> 4 expansion slots, 50 pins each
>
> 3 6522 VIAs on the motherboard, for system control functions, the
> Printer/GPIB port and the user port
>
> Sound I/O using a 6852 and a CODEC chip
>
> A strange video system. There's 2K*16 bits of video RAM, with a 6845 CRT
> controller to address it. The output of that partially provides the video
> attributes (intensified, etc). But 11 bits are fed to the address lines
> of the main DRAM array. This DRAM acts as the character generator and
> stores the bitmap patters for the characters. Note that as there are
> 2000 characters on an 80*24 screen and 11 bits gives 2048 different
> values, it's possible to have a different 'character' displayed at each
> screen location, thus allowing a bitmapped display. FWIW, the UK Apricot
> computer has a similar video system
IIRC, the Victor 9000 was designed by Chuck Peddle, the
architect of the 6502 (or maybe it was the 6500) processor.
This might account for the Motorola/Mostek chip usage.
> 2 full-height 5.25" floppy drives on the front. These are Tandon
> mechanims without their logic boards. They're linked to a controller
> board that uses essentially the same GCR encoder/decoder as the Commodore
> 8050, etc. The drives are variable speed units (!) with an 8048 on the
> floppy controller board to control the speed. Thes means the machine
> manages to get 500K on a single-sided 80 track floppy disk
Not only were they GCR recorded (and I'll probably get this backwards),
the drives were run in a Constant Linear Velocity mode, rather than
the Constant Angular Velocity mode used by most drives. IIRC, the
Mac 400k drives, were also CLV , but weren't GCR.
IIRC, later models used some more compatible scheme; speaking of
compatibilty, there were two variants of Microsoft BASIC available,
one which was either generic or Victor-specific, and another that
was IBM compatible.
> Software control of the brightness and contrast of the (monochrome)
> monitor using 3-bit resistor ladder DACs hung off the system VIA.
>
> Does that sound like a Victor 9000?
Oh, yeah, that's it. The thing I remember most is that the
Developer's kit the owner had came with PMATE:
Phoenix-Mike Aronson's Text Editor. I pirated it, then when
I went to my next fulltime job, they had the CP/M version,
which was configurable (using PMATE macros) for different
video systems or terminals, so I was able to combine the parts
to get a version working on a PC when I went to the _next_
job.
Which I used for about 6 months, then I bought a licensed
copy, which I still use as my preferred editor to this day.
For those that are unfamiliar with PMATE, it's more or less
TECO with an incremental redisplay grafted on to it. In other
words, EMACS without the LISP. Not quite, but a reasonable
comparison.
Anybody know anything abut Mike Aronson? Nobody at Phoenix
can tell me *anything* about PMATE, and it would be nice to
have the source code so I could fix some bugs.
-doug q
I don't often make great finds around Hartford, but a local HS had a tag
sale, and for $20 I came away with:
2 Mac Plus w/ 2 "long" and 3 "short" keyboards, 1 numeric keypad (less the
')' key), all working
3 matching 20 MB SCSI drives, also working
5 mice for same
1 Mac LC
3 Apple Keyboard II (1 cable, 2 kb's missing 1 key each, and only 1 ADB
cord)
1 "limited Edition Woz" IIGS, working
2 Mac 12" RGB Displays, working
1 Apple composite color monitor for the IIGS, working
1 Apple IIe
2 Echo IIb boards & speakers
3 3.5" Apple drives, condition unknown
3 5" Apple drives, condition unknown
2 Heath-Zenith 8088's, from which I scavenged the 2 ST-225 drives (working),
1 working HD controller, 2 5" floppies condition unknown, 2 floppy
controllers (ditto), I/O boards, AST combo board, the CPU's and memory
chips.
AND
1 IBM PC Portable - one of the floppies was not working, so I replaced it
with a HD and WD controller from one of the Zeniths - works great!
If I had half the space some of you describe, I could have had 20-30 IIe's,
monitors, printers, and some 286 PC's. Of course, if I did that I would
also have a second ex-wife!
Bob Stek
Saver of Lost SOLs
On Jun 28, 11:07, FBA wrote:
> How much time do you devote searching for old machines?
Very little, now. I used to, but I've run out of room (I hid a scanner and
an SGI monitor in my wife's wardrobe recently). Every so often, someone
says "I hear you collect..." and before you know it, there's another one.
They seem to come in little bursts, too -- nothing interesting for months,
then two or three in a week from different sources.
> How much time "Playing" (fixing, using etc...) these machines?
Not nearly enough :-)
A few months ago, I reached the state in the garage that there literally
was no room to get *to* almost anything, far less *into* it. Six weeks ago
was the point at which it all got moved out, and the conversion/extension
work began. By this weekend, I'll be putting in the new network cable and
starting painting in the new computer room. The walls have been lined and
plastered (makes the room smaller, but deals with the condensation issues),
new ceiling, it's all rewired (175 metres of cable in the power circuits
alone), purpose-built workbenches (still to be built, though), raised
computer floor, floor boxes for power and network, floor-to-ceiling shelves
in one corner to hold and run about 20 small machines and their
peripherals, space for two DEC racks and a couple of BA23's.
Of course, not everything that went out will fit back in, but most will,
and will be usable. Though it might be a while before I finish all the
benches and stuff, and then I better move the scanner and monitor before I
do much else, or The Boss might renege on her promise to pay for half of
it!
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Does anyone here know anything about the Setasi PEP70 memory system
for the PDP-11/70?
I posted the question below to the PDP-11 list, and got no reply. :-(
Eric
Can anyone describe the correct cabling between the PEP70, HC43, and HC45
cards (Setasi's memory and cache-replacement cards for the PDP-11/70)?
There are four connectors on the PEP70, and two each on the HC43 and HC45.
It appears that the topmost PEP70 connector should be cabled to the
second from the top on the HC45, and the second PEP70 to the topmost on
the HC45.
But I have no idea how the two cables between the PEP70 and HC43 should
be wired. There would seem to be only two possibilities, but I am loathe
to risk damaging anything by using trial and error.
Thanks!
Eric
Zane. You wimp. An 8350 is a fairly friendly BIbus system.
Nothing weird about it. It's perhaps not the best "first" VAX, but
it's certainly not as daunting as something like an 11/780 or an
8800. There's certainly more to VAX life than the desktop machines.
If this guy is motivated, and the machine is in reasonably good
shape, and maybe with a little help from us, I'll bet he can get this
machine up & running with only a little bit of sweat.
-Dave McGuire
On June 28, healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote:
> Um, I suppose I'm fairly 'into' VAXen, and I definitly like messing with
> VMS. I've one thing to say about this system. *I* wouldn't touch it!
> Getting the stuff to get it up and running would likely be a real pain
> (although I do have a system console for one).
>
> If you want to mess with VAXen then get a 3100 series MicroVAX or
> VAXstation, or a 4000 series VAXstation. If you're more interested in VMS,
> then you might also consider an Alpha. Then once you've got one system up
> you can consider getting other systems such as Q-Bus VAXen, or maybe a big
> VAXen.
>
>
> > So far, I've mostly stuck with micros (Apple, Commodore, Atari, etc.)
> >
> > But I noticed someone auctioning a VAX 8350 for about $50 over on Ebay,
> > and I wondered, would it be relatively straightforward for a VAX newbie
> > like me to:
> > a. ship
>
> Probably have to be crated.
>
> > b. get it running
>
> Nightmarish I suspect
>
> > c. find software (Unix, Vms, etc) and hardware (disk drives, tape drives,
> > etc.)
>
> VMS is the *ONE* True OS!!! Info on the truely great Hobbyist licenses can
> be found at the following page.
> http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/
>
> But if you insist on being sick and twisted
> http://minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au/PUPS/
> http://www.netbsd.com
>
> Hardware? Just about anywhere.
>
> > d. keep it running (does it require specialized maintenance)
>
> Probably pretty easy. While I've not messed with this particular model I've
> found the VAXen I've got to be very reliable. Except the ones using old MFM
> Hard drives (and that's a hard drive issue). I do suspect this model
> probably requires a climet controlled computer room, but really don't know.
>
> > My only experience with VAXen was at a terminal in college and at a couple
> > of jobs. The machine itself was always kept in its own, airconditioned,
> > halon-fire-extinguisher equipped, raised floor room.
> >
> > So, should I jump into the fray?
>
> YES!!! But, not with this system. Personally I think probably your best
> system to start with would be a VAXstation 4000 of some sort. A personal
> VAX with 24MB is quite nice, a personal Alpha with about 112MB is quite
> nice (the amount of RAM is probably the biggest thing to consider). 1-2GB
> of Disk space and a CD-ROM would also be recommended.
>
> Zane
>
