I just found out about a VAX-11/750 that is apparently in the Portland area
that is in desparate need of Rescue. From talking to the woman that's
trying to take care of this for her parents, it sounds like they'd like to
get money or at least a tax credit for this. It apparently includes
software and documentation, and it is supposed to be fully working.
Now for the bad side, it's in a garage that has to be cleared out in a week
because the house has been sold.
I'd love to rescue this machine, but I don't have anywhere near enough room
for it :^( Is there anyone in the area that can rescue it rather than
seeing it scrapped? (I'm pretty sure that will be its fate as it was a
scrapper that contacted me about it.) If possible I'll try to at least
rescue software and doc's.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Bill Bradford <mrbill(a)mrbill.net> asked about WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.
We actually use it every day to transcribe all of our Radiology reports.
The AIX based Radiology system we have only accepts transcription from
WordPerfect 5.1. Two of our users run serial links to the AIX box to send
in the WordPerfect files. We don't need anything but plain text and spell
checking. It has worked flawlessly for the last 3 years I have been here.
I probably actually have several copies of the software and manuals. Let me
check if you really want a copy. Please contact me direct and we can work
out mailing/shipping.
Mike
mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu
OK, this is decidedly off-topic, however, it's likely to be of interest to
some of the people here. I was looking for some info yesterday and
discovered that Compaq now has Tru64 V5.1 available via the Tru64 hobbyist
program for $100, or $40 for a upgrade from V5.0 or V5.0A (I didn't even
know hobbyists could get V5.0A).
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
>We have got some UNIVAC 9-tracks tapes we are trying to read.
>(The tapes were written in 1982, so it is a possibility the data is lost.
>Our UNIVAC 110xs are long gone.)
First of all, you might want to try asking this question on the
comp.sys.unisys newsgroup. If nothing else, you may find someone with the
current version of these machines (Unisys 2200 or Unisys ClearPath IX) who
can do the conversion for you.
>What is the UNIVAC tape format?
>(I have not found any info on the net yet)
It depends on what's on the tape.
The 1100 series are 36 bit machines. The usual tape format has two words
packed into nine tape frames. MSB of the first frame would be the MSB of
the first word, and LSB of the last frame would be the LSB of the second.
(I think.)
Text is usually encoded in ASCII, using nine bits per character. Text
files are in a variable length record format, with a file header that
starts with octal 50 in the high order six bits of the first word, and
a record header word on each record.
The actual text may be wrapped inside various levels of archive, but if
you see long stretches of readable ASCII, you've found the actual meat.
(There may also be some text encoded in an older six-bit character set.
That seems a bit old-fashioned for 1982, but you never know.)
Now for the good news. If the tape was _intended_ to be read by a non-
Univac machine, then it may well have straight ASCII (or even EBCDIC)
text recorded one character per frame with fixed length records.
A dump of the first few blocks on the tape, as well as an idea of what
sorts of block lengths there are on the rest of it, would be a great
help in trying to guess the format.
>We are trying to read it on a VMS system with 9-track TSZ07 streamer.
>(TSZ07 is SCSI, 1600/6250 bpi. Suppose it is ANSI too)
>Is the hardware compatible enough?
Should be, assuming the tape is actually in one of those densities.
Making sense of the contents may be harder.
>If it is, how do I read it? (Got a Unix utility called copytape, so the
>streamer may eventually be moved)
I don't know of a Unix utility that can cope with all the variations of
1100 series tapes. The easy way is definitely to get someone with a
compatible machine to read it. (Is your site still on speaking terms with
Unisys?) The other option is to find out exactly what format your tape is
in, and knock something together to read it.
Sean Case
Hi
We have got some UNIVAC 9-tracks tapes we are trying to read.
(The tapes were written in 1982, so it is a possibility the data is lost.
Our UNIVAC 110xs are long gone.)
What is the UNIVAC tape format?
(I have not found any info on the net yet)
We are trying to read it on a VMS system with 9-track TSZ07 streamer.
(TSZ07 is SCSI, 1600/6250 bpi. Suppose it is ANSI too)
Is the hardware compatible enough?
If it is, how do I read it? (Got a Unix utility called copytape, so the
streamer may eventually be moved)
(Another possibility is using a TU81+ streamer, ANSI, 1600/6500 bpi)
Regards,
Roar Thron?s
Wow! I hit gold! Wacky Willy's... I cleaned the Vaughn St. location
of every DEC bit I could find. Here's what I found:
M7606 AF, MicroVAX II w/1MB RAM and floating point
2x M7608 BC/BF, 4-Mbyte RAM for microVAX II (Q22-bus)
M7164, Q-bus SDI disk adaptor, Q-22 (1 of 2)(what does that mean?
Guess I need another board)
M7516 YM, Ethernet interface (replaces DEQNA) - what do I need to hook it up?
M3106, 4-line double-buffered async EIA MUX, with modem control;
replaces M7957 - What do I do with this? It has a cable attachaed,
p/n BC05L-03
3x M3104 DHV11, 8-line async DMA MUX
M7551 CA, 4-Mbyte 22-bit parity/CSR MOS RAM (what will this work with?)
M8053 MA, M8053 with DDCMP control ROM (point-to-point or multidrop) - huh?
Non-DEC DEC stuff:
Sigma Info Systems DZV11, some WDC chips on it and two 40-pin connectors
Emulex TU0210401
National Semiconductor NS638 - tons of chips, looks like memory
Now, what do I do with all this stuff? What will work with my 11/84
and how do I set it up? My 11/84 is bare right now - just CPU and
some memory. I don't even remember what exactly is in there right
now, I'll have to go check later. The MicroVAX II CPU was a surprise.
Is there anything I can do with that? Anyone in the Portland, OR area
(or other areas of OR/WA with a bit of planning) need any of this
stuff or have something that I could use with it?
Oh yeah - other finds at Wacky Willy's were still shrink-wrapped
copies of DOS 6.21 and Windows 3.11, and a couple of 12v SLA
batteries.
--
/-----------------------------------------------\
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\-----------------------------------------------/
If it's a q-bus board (four sets of fingers with a *metal* 'rail'
running along the front) could be a 4MB 22-bit parity/CSR MOS
RAM board for the 11/73 or 11/83 (if my source is correct).
On Wed, 3 Jan 2001 19:35:56 -0500 "Compusync" <hsappleton(a)sprintmail.com>
writes:
> I just bought an item among a batch of other things. This particular
> item I have no clue what it is, and it seems it may be a secret or
> something...because there is no name. It is just a series of
> numbers. The card measures around 10.5" x 9". Some of the numbers
> that may aid in identifying it are: M7751, 5017547-01-D1-P2 and it
> was made in Singapore. I am not sure I can send pictures on this
> list, but if someone wants to help, I could send them a picture.
> What is it and what is it used for.
>
> Headley
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I just bought an item among a batch of other things. This particular item I have no clue what it is, and it seems it may be a secret or something...because there is no name. It is just a series of numbers. The card measures around 10.5" x 9". Some of the numbers that may aid in identifying it are: M7751, 5017547-01-D1-P2 and it was made in Singapore. I am not sure I can send pictures on this list, but if someone wants to help, I could send them a picture. What is it and what is it used for.
Headley
From: Rob Kapteyn <kapteynr(a)cboe.com>
>Hey wait a minute ...
>A BIOS on an Altair ?
>
>Sure there were add-ons (years later) that did this, but if you really
want authenticity this is what we did --
>
>I always had to "boot" my Altair with a simple paper tape loader program
entered from the switches on
>front panel. I did this so many times, I had the 30 octal codes
memorized.
Often several times until it read the cassette correctly! Saving stuff
was easy though bets were
off if you could read it later.
First homebrew board 8223 (x2 for 64 bytes plus 2 7489s for 16bytes of
scratch ram) prom boot!
>Once I had Altair BASIC loaded, I generally kept the machine powered up
as long as possible.
Or until it crashed!
>I never knew anyone who actually had a actual floppy for their Altair.
>I seem to remember that they cost more than the computer itself, and the
computer was quite >expensive --($2,000 1974 dollars).
I built and debugged two of them for others.
Allison
From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com>
>Has anybody got an ALTAIR that actually runs CP/M?
I rans MITS DISK BASIC back when.
Also using NS* MDS-A both NSdos and CP/M-1.4.
>I have one OS for an Altair, namely a system with the MITS serial board
an a
>Morrow DJ2. Not being an Altair-owner myself, I don't know how, exactly
to
>prepare a BIOS for the two Altair add-ons I'm building up for eventual
>liquidation on eBay.
The altair was a regular conflagureation of hardware often a MITS 8080,
one
of the SIOs or 2SIOs and mostly everyone elses disk controller. the most
common at the time was the NS* MDS-A, ICOM FDOS and some of the
various 1771 based boards. Most people replaced the backplane at that
point
as the MITs bus assembly (save for the later -B version) wer really bad
for
noise.
Allison
