test-drb December 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

243 participants
1096 discussions

by CLeyson＠aol.com

1) 1890 Hollerith Tabulation System. Mechanical machine to sort US census data. Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company, TMC, was later to merge with Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co, later to become IBM (1914) 2) 1937-41 Z1 and Z3 built by Konrad Zuse and Helmut Schreyer Z1 first binary machine. Z3 first floating point machine (used 2600 relays). Speed was 5Hz ! 3) 1937 Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) or Harvard Mk I Part vacuum tube - part relay. Hard wired coding. Code written by Grace Hopper. According to Ms Hopper - moths would fly in through the open windows at night and get stuck in the relays. This would render the machine unless and it would have to be "de-bugged". 4) 1940 ? Enigma - Electromechanical state machine. Colossus wouldn't have been built without it. 5) 1943 Colossus - Vacuum tube code craker. Not a general purpose machine, built solely to solve Enigma ciphers. Hard wired coding and paper tape. 1500 valves. 6) 1944 ENIAC - First general purpose machine. Hard wired and paper tape program, worked in decimal. Program storage added after development of Manchester Mk I and EDSAC. 7) 1946 Manchester Mark I - First stored program computer. The Williams tube (CRT) was used for program storage. Commercial version was the Ferranti Mk I Followed by EDSAC in 1949. 8) 1951 UNIVAC - first successful commercial computer. One of the first machines to use compiled software, another of Grace Hopper's ideas. 9) 1951 LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office) J. Lyons & Company Ltd First British mainframe. Lyons bought by English Electric Company later to become ICL and the end of the British computer industry. 10) 1956 MIT Lincoln Labs TX-0 - First solid state computer 11) 1964 CDC's 6600 - Seymour Cray's first super computer, 3 MIPS 12) 1965 DEC PDP8 - The first true minicomputer 13) 1968/9 The Apollo guidance computer - Helped get man to the moon. 14) 1971 Intel 4004 - First commercially available microprocessor 15) 1972 HP 35 - Perhaps the first scientific pocket calculator ? (On the list 'cos I like HP stuff) 16) 1974 Xerox Alto - The mouse makes it's first appearence as well as windows, menus and icons. Ground breaking stuff. 17) 1975 MITS Altair 8800. First popular personal computer . 8080 based, 256 bytes of memory, no keyboard or display. Paul Allen and Bill Gates wrote a BASIC interpreter for it and the Altairs bus structure evolved into the S-100 bus. 18) 1976/7 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak produced the Apple I followed by Apple II. First popular 6502 personal computer. Atari and Commodore followed. 19) 1976 CRAY 1 - First real supercomputer ? 166 MIPS 20) 1978 DEC VAX11/780 - 4Gbyte virtual memory ! 21) 1981 The IBM PC - A veil of darkness falls Honourable mention Arcade games ought to get a mention, they created an entire industry. Atari for Asteroids, Midway for space invaders. Chris Leyson

24 years

Tall Tree Systems`JRAM-3'

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 2, Tony Duell wrote: > > Eventually, he found the application for it. He marketed a laser printer > > controller, that bypassed the 256K, text only, controller of the HP > > LaserJet, etc, and created complete bitmap images in RAM (on his board) in > > the PC, and dumped them straight into the printer engine. > > Sounds like it worked with a Canon CX-VDO printer. > > This is a Canon CX engine with no internal formatter (controller) board. > It still has the DC controller -- the little microcontroller board for the > mechanics, but the interface is very low level. Essentially you have : I thought that was called an LBP-CX. That was a long time ago, though, so I don't really trust my memory... -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

Altair, 8080 assembler

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

Anyone have a quick rundown on the front panel operations for an altair? I've been playing with altair32, but I never had the real thing, so I can only guess at what some of the switches do. And maybe recommentations on cross assemblers (x86/win32), or at least a LART in the right direction? My google searches aren't too helpful. Thanks! Bob

24 years

Tall Tree Systems`JRAM-3'

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

Anyone know what this is? It came from a 256K IBM XT, I thought at first it was a video card, (it was in the first slot), but it's got eight banks of nine 41256 ram DIPs on it. That sounds like a lot for a mono video card, doesn't it? Combo card? it's got a looong double-row of pin sockets along the bottom just above the ISA connector, and another single row up the whole edge between the external connectors (male 9 pin & female 25 pin) and the components. Maybe a daughter board? It's got one 6-position DIP switch at the top right (^vvvv^) and 3 three-pin jumpers along the top near the rams, (xx. xx. xx.) It's got a couple've big (1/8") holes on the board, lending credence to the daughterboard theory. All the chips are labeled in an intersting way-- u84 158 is --get this-- a 74LS158N. Don't ya wish everything was made like this? The computer it came out of looks pretty interesting, aside for a decade's worth of grime on it. A whopping 256K ram on the motherboard, 2x internal floppy, Adaptec HDD controller, external (!) ummm... 20? Meg drive in a case that _looks_ like an IBM part, but it doesn't actually _say_ IBM anywhere on it. Connects via IDC connectors on ribbon cable. Strange. Have to pop the case to plug it in. I hate to think just how much this setup must've cost new. ja ne Bob

24 years

MP/M and Yaze

by spedraja＠ono.com

Hello again. I have another matter that could be interesting for somebody (I hope). The Yaze CP/M emulator v.1.20 comex with support for switched memory banks (in appearence). I couldn't review the source code by now. Somebody did it ? I should like to reconstruct one simple MP/M system under it. I know some source code can be donwloaded from http://www.cpm.z80.de and I did it, bit my next problem is related with the modules needed to construct the OS nucleus, and the order of these modules. I could need a hand too with CP/M. I have some doubts about the paper of the CBIOS.ASM and BIOS.ASM modules. Finally, I'm interesting about one fascinating CP/M emulator, the ZRPM. It does one emulation of diverse models of computers that could run CP/M like the Osborne and the Kaypro. I can say that I've loadad two versions of Wordstar for every computer under the same emulator, and loaded one or another adjusting settings internally in the ZRPM telling it was worked in a Kaypro or Osborne portable. I thought all these matters was under control of the BDOS but here are more misterious. Right ? What exactly ? Thanks and Greetings Sergio

24 years

Tall Tree Systems`JRAM-3'

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On Sun, 2 Dec 2001, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > > Expanded memory (Al la AboveBoard, etc) plus serial port. Daughter > > board added realtime batter-backed clock IIRC. > > Many different daughter cards. Like the Maynard's, it was basically a > system bus of their own. > > > Used one in the Zenith > > Z150 I have now (but didn't get the JRAM-3 with the Zenith). > Want? Hmmm... > If and when I can dig them out, I think that I have more than enough to > satisfy everybody who is crazy enough to want 'em. Might be useful on another XT-class machine... while the Zenith still belonged to employer, I bought a kit which modified the Zenith memory board using a new PAL to provide 768K, or 750K plus some UMBs... ISTR is was incompatible with continued use of the JRAM-3, tho... Docs/drivers? versions with the clock board? -dq

24 years

Tall Tree Systems`JRAM-3'

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Anyone know what this is? It came from a 256K IBM XT, I thought at first it > was a video card, (it was in the first slot), but it's got eight banks of > nine 41256 ram DIPs on it. That sounds like a lot for a mono video card, > doesn't it? Combo card? it's got a looong double-row of pin sockets along > the bottom just above the ISA connector, and another single row up the whole > edge between the external connectors (male 9 pin & female 25 pin) and the > components. Maybe a daughter board? It's got one 6-position DIP switch at > the top right (^vvvv^) and 3 three-pin jumpers along the top near the rams, > (xx. xx. xx.) It's got a couple've big (1/8") holes on the board, lending > credence to the daughterboard theory. All the chips are labeled in an > intersting way-- u84 158 is --get this-- a 74LS158N. Don't ya wish > everything was made like this? Expanded memory (Al la AboveBoard, etc) plus serial port. Daughter board added realtime batter-backed clock IIRC. Used one in the Zenith Z150 I have now (but didn't get the JRAM-3 with the Zenith). -dq

24 years

Apollo Guidance Computer (was History of Computing exam question)

by CLeyson＠aol.com

Found a java applet that simulates the DSKY (display and keyboard) http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/1556/dsky.html As MIT designed the AGC's I bet they have all of the documentation filed away somewhere. Found some interesting documents at http://hrst.mit.edu/hrs/apollo/public/ 1689.pdf - "Block II keyboard and dsiplay program (RETRED44)" Gives a Block II verb/noun list 1692.pdf - "AGC4 Memo #9 Block II Instructions" Block II Memory map and instruction set Chris Leyson

24 years

Scrapping hardware to get it off the books (RE: Is it a Lisa or Mac XL?!)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Oops! Meant to be private... > -----Original Message----- > From: Douglas Quebbeman [mailto:dhquebbeman@theestopinalgroup.com] > Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 1:32 PM > To: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' > Subject: RE: Scrapping hardware to get it off the books (RE: Is it a > Lisa or Mac XL?!) > > > > ! I saw ... a SuperMac monitor, smaller than the 19inch > > ! Radius I've got, but the bug mentioned a "huge" one in back. > > > > Really? Any idea if they work, and what shipping to CT > > (06520-9040) might be? > > I'll make an effort to get you the info you're asking for on > this, but please be patient, I'm not sure when I can get back > there during business hours. > > > ! I have ... and/or the split keyboard. > > > > Cool. That is a neat piece of Mac history. How much? > > How about $25 plus S&H? The numeric keypad is in > great shape, but the main KB has yellowed. > > -dq >

24 years

PDP-9 lives

by bsupnik＠nauticusnet.com

Hans, First, congratulations on this terrific progress! Second, a stop at 22 is probably an unexpected CAL (opcode of 0), which would do an effective JMS 20, pick up the instruction at 21 (probably a HLT to catch the CAL), and then halt with an apparent PC = 22. Take a look at M[20], it should have the PC+1 of the CAL. /Bob -----Original Message----- From: Hans B Pufal To: classiccmp; aek(a)spies.com; Bob Supnik Sent: 12/1/01 12:59 PM Subject: PDP-9 lives I am very happy to be able to announce that the PDP-9 that we have been working on for quite some time finally began talking to the world again today. We had gotten memory and processor operational, then had to fix a memory fault which developed. TTY I/O posed some problems but finally today it spoke and we could reply. We ran the only two test routines we have on paper tape: the extended memory test and the TTY test. There appears to be some issue with the TTY since part 1 test halts after a while with PC=22, no mention of that in the test writeup! TTY test part 2 runs without error. Anyways, we plan on completeing checkout on this system, fix a couple of burnt our indicator bulbs and get the punch up before starting on the second system we have. That one has a dual dectapes, then we can read the 100 or so tapes trhat came with the system, and run some real software ;-) I'd be interested in knowing the status of other pdp-9's. Regards -- hbp for ACONIT, Grenoble France

24 years

Scrapping hardware to get it off the books (RE: Is it a Lisa or Mac XL?!)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> ! I saw ... a SuperMac monitor, smaller than the 19inch > ! Radius I've got, but the bug mentioned a "huge" one in back. > > Really? Any idea if they work, and what shipping to CT > (06520-9040) might be? I'll make an effort to get you the info you're asking for on this, but please be patient, I'm not sure when I can get back there during business hours. > ! I have ... and/or the split keyboard. > > Cool. That is a neat piece of Mac history. How much? How about $25 plus S&H? The numeric keypad is in great shape, but the main KB has yellowed. -dq

24 years

FLUKE?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 2, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > > I was at the other yard of the scrapper yesterday. He just had in a > > bunch of IBM 3174's and a few large Hitachi data storage units. > > Beside this was another large unit labelled FLUKE. It's too late for > > it but I did get the 8" floppy disks for it. It was raining so they > > got a bit wet. They are drying now. > > > > Does anyone know anything about FLUKE machines? > > They DVMs, specialized test gear, and ISTR a logic analyzer... And a large line of microprocessor emulators and related development systems. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

24 years

FLUKE?

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/2/01 9:35:32 AM Pacific Standard Time, KenzieM(a)sympatico.ca writes: > Does anyone know anything about FLUKE machines? > Fluke makes test equipment including some Board Test machinery in the State of Washington. Paxton Astoria, OR

24 years

FLUKE?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> I was at the other yard of the scrapper yesterday. He just had in a > bunch of IBM 3174's and a few large Hitachi data storage units. > Beside this was another large unit labelled FLUKE. It's too late for > it but I did get the 8" floppy disks for it. It was raining so they > got a bit wet. They are drying now. > > > Does anyone know anything about FLUKE machines? They DVMs, specialized test gear, and ISTR a logic analyzer... -dq

24 years

jumper pin settings for ALR (non-LVD) backplane

by ehenson＠erols.com

I acquired an ALR raid cage with a non-LVD backplane for which I cannot find the jumper pin settings. I have been able to identify it as a "quick hot swap cage 3 drive board" with the following markings: 12609700 Rev. G1/A. There is also a sticker that reads: ALR s.a. # 9705/A and KIT# 3134/KS. Any direction would be appreciated. Thanks.

24 years

PDP-9 lives

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 1, 18:59, Hans B Pufal wrote: > I am very happy to be able to announce that the PDP-9 that we have been > working on for quite some time finally began talking to the world again > today. Congratulations! That will be a very satisfying feeling after a lot of work. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years

AW: Atari 4160STE ?!

by walgen＠e-Spirit.de

>>I just got an Atari 4160STE (case only) - does anyone know >>details about the history of this machine? Some sources say >>that it was a developer version of the Atari 1040STE ... >>http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=272 > >I believe some makers of memory upgrades made replacement model stickers > to match the upgrade. The STE uses SIMMs, though, but it could have been > made by some dealer in any case. That might be true - the lower case has a 1040STE label - first I thought it would not be the matching part but it defintely is. >>Atari 520+ ST > > What's that? an early version of the Atari 520ST factory upgraded to 1MB. It has a second 512kB RAM-Chip solderd on top of the regular RAM - very strange. That was my first Atari ST - it has an original Atari ST label with a small blue "+" ... Stefan

24 years

IBM 3290 Plasma Display?

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Anybody know if these are usable in any way on a non-EBCDIC system, or where I could find specs? I see a couple really cheap on eBay, and would make a nice display for a serial console or something, if I could get them hooked in up the right manner. Bill -- Bill Bradford mrbill(a)mrbill.net Austin, TX

24 years

History of Computing exam question :

by netsurfer_x1＠hotmail.com

>From: Michael Maginnis <celt(a)chisp.net> >Reply-To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org >To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org >Subject: Re: History of Computing exam question : >Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 23:41:31 -0700 > > >> >>List the 20 to 30 systems you would display and briefly explain the >>reason for choosing each. Okay, I think I can do that, in (more or less) chronological order no less! 1: Xerox Alto Reason: Because, after all, where would the GUI have come from without this thing? 2: IBM 5100 Reason: To show that, just because it was IBM, & it was the frist intergrated computer (sans printer), the people will not always buy it. Also I think the $16,384 price tag may have had something to do with it, I don't know. 3 & 4: Altair 8800 & IMSAI 8080 (respectively) Reason: The first commercially available computers, & to illustrate that the clone wars did not start in the 80's, they started much earlier than that. 5. Apple I Reason: Pretty self explanitory. 6, 7, & 8. Apple ][, Commodore PET, TRS-80 Model I (respectively) Reason: After all, these were "The Big Three", weren't they? 9. Compucolor Reason: (Allegedly) The first computer to inexpensively offer color graphics. 10. CBM 4032 Reason: Commodore's most famous (infamous?) business computer. 11. Apple ][+ Reason: Finally, Apple's figuring out how to be a computer company! 12. TI-99/4 Reason: TI's first foray in the computer market, as if anyone cared. 13. Commodore VIC-20 Reason: "The friendly color computer that anyone can afford" --William Shatner. 14. TI-99/4A Reason: To show that it is not a good idea to hire a pitchman who sells Jell-o and (New) Coke. 15. Commodore 64 Reason: Requires no explanation. 16. GRiD Compass 1100 Reason: I would think that the first clamshell laptop should deserve a place in computer history! 17. Apple LISA Reason: Sometimes Apple can just way too ahead of themselves. 18. TRS-80 Model 100 Reason: When these things came out, who didn't own one? 19. Otrona Attache Reason: Wow! A small "luggable", how about that! 20. Apple Macintosh Reason: "On January 24th, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you will see why 1984 won't be like *1984*" 21. Commodore Amiga Reason: And you thought Macintosh pioneered multimedia! 22. NeXT Cube Reason: Who would have thought a black cube for a CPU would look so cool? 23. Apple Macintosh Portable Reason: Portable? Riiiiiiight! 24. Atari Portfolio Reason: Now you know where your PDA came from. ____________________________________________________________ David Vohs, Digital Archaeologist & Computer Historian. Home page: http://www.geocities.com/netsurfer_x1/ Computer Collection: "Triumph": Commodore 64C, 1802, 1541, FSD-1, GeoRAM 512, MPS-801. "Leela": Macintosh 128 (Plus upgrade), Nova SCSI HDD, Imagewriter II. "Delorean": TI-99/4A, TI Speech Synthesizer. "Monolith": Apple Macintosh Portable. "Spectrum": Tandy Color Computer 3, Disto 512K RAM board. "Boombox": Sharp PC-7000. "Butterfly": Tandy Model 200, PDD, CCR-82. "Shapeshifter": Epson QX-10, Titan graphics & MS-DOS board, Comrex HDD. "Scout": Otrona Attache. ____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

24 years

History of Computing exam question

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Geoff Roberts <geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au> >were electromechanical. Bletchley Park were well into much Enigma traffic, >(except for the Reichsmarine, who were much more careful in their useage >habits) long before 1943. The enigma used by the Reichsmarine was different and had an additional code wheel as well. >> 13) 1968/9 >> The Apollo guidance computer - Helped get man to the moon. > >Are we talking about the ones on the ground or the ones in the spacecraft? >If the spacecraft, was the one in the LEM the same machine? Anyone got any >info on it? Any examples survive? The ground, CM and LM all had computers none the same. LM and CM copies still exist as part of the ground simulators and ground test vehicles. I'd love to see more detail on the CM or LM systems. Allison

24 years

Off Topic - stereo to PC question

by gehrich＠tampabay.rr.com

Can anybody tell me how to attach my stereo to my PC so that I can transfer >from Cassette to CD-R or hard-drive.

24 years

History of Computing exam question

by CLeyson＠aol.com

----- Original Message ----- From: <geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au (Geoff Roberts)> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: History of Computing exam question >> 4) 1940 ? >> Enigma - Electromechanical state machine. Colossus wouldn't have >> been built without it. > Hmmm, possibly true, though not for the reason you state. The success > against Enigma using 'cracking' machines led to the idea of building > Colussus to crack the "Fish" machines. I'd forgotten about the "fish" cyphers "Tunny" and "Salmon". Thanks for the reminder. Your're right about the Bombes. The Poles were way ahead of anyone else and didn't get very much recognition for their work. >> 13) 1968/9 >> The Apollo guidance computer - Helped get man to the moon. > Are we talking about the ones on the ground or the ones in the spacecraft? > If the spacecraft, was the one in the LEM the same machine? Anyone got any > info on it? Any examples survive? I meant the ones in the spacecraft. They were major landmarks in terms of reliability both in terms of hardware and software. They were all digital whereas most guidance computers from that era were analogue. As for info on these machines, I just did a search, and google threw up 1800 matches ! Try the NASA website http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/computers/Part1.html I don't expect one will ever appear on ebay but there must be a few left in various museums. Chris Leyson

24 years

HD Controllers - S-100 & Corvus Omninet

by mhstein＠usa.net

As far as I can tell, IMI originally used a proprietary interface but when IBM came into the game they switched over to ST506 and IMI drives were in fact put into some AT's; same HDA but a different PCB. I have various versions of the 5014/5018/5021drives and have in fact switched boards back & forth. And yes, the drive clock signals were used for data transfer, at least by Cromemco; once the appropriate sector was located, data was clocked into/out of a shift register by the SysClk signal from the drive. m -----------------Original Message---------------- Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 10:28:45 -0700 From: "Richard Erlacher" <edick(a)idcomm.com> Subject: Re: HD Controllers - S-100 & Corvus Omninet I had a couple of IMI drives back in the '80's and find, from my doc's that they were, in fact, ST506 compatible. I wonder if the drives you're seeing in your brocheure are earlier than that. The 8" Quantum drives all provided a clock on the data cable, that could be used to recover data. I'm not exactly sure how this was intended to be used, but several controllers for 8" drives relied on it, not having a PLL on board. The Shugart drives apparently didn't provide this clock. Dick

24 years

HD Controllers - S-100 & Corvus Omninet

by mhstein＠usa.net

Thanks for the interesting info, Frank. I thought that Corvus had used these drives because I've got Corvus ads from old Bytes and they certainly do look like these 7710's; not much else looks like these babies. But although I've seen a reference to ANSI X3T9, I gather that the interface was proprietary to IMI. Don't need the docs for the interface, but thanks for mentioning that you've got some; I've got a manual for the controller from the good old days when manuals actually told you something, as well as calibration notes for the drives, and am about to check out the drives before I get rid of them. I was just curious if the controllers are of any use for any other drives since I have more controllers than drives. If you want the Corvus board, send me a note off list & let me know where you are. mike -------------------Original Message---------------- Date: 01 Dec 2001 00:08:00 -0800 From: Frank McConnell <fmc(a)reanimators.org> Subject: Re: HD Controllers - S-100 & Corvus Omninet M H Stein <mhstein(a)usa.net> wrote: > Does anybody know anything about the HD interface bus Cromemco used > with their early IMI drives <snip> Yes, Corvus used these drives. I'd expect Onyx did too; the story is that the VC who funded IMI also funded Onyx and Corvus so that IMI would have customers. It's interesting to know that Cromemco used them too. I'm sitting here looking at a photocopy of a data sheet of sorts for the IMI 7710, and it does provide some description of the interface. 25 signals on a 34-line bus. I suspect it's somewhere between "more than I want to type" and "less than you need to know to use the drive", because I can't quite figure out how you would transfer a block of data to the drive from what's printed here. > Finally, I also have a Corvus S-100 board; looks like it might be a > host adapter for a disk drive of some sort. Only markings are > Corvus S-100, 8008 REV K, copyright 1980; 11 TTL chips & a 34 pin > header. Anybody know what it is and/or want it? Yes, that's the Corvus hard disk interface for S-100, p/n 8010-08008-00. I could be interested in it. - -Frank McConnell

24 years

Traf-o-data

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 11/30/01 10:55:19 PM Pacific Standard Time, celt(a)chisp.net writes: > Traf-O-Data automatic traffic measuring device - Microsoft's first piece > of hardware > I would like to know more about this? What, When, Why, What happened to it? Paxton Astoria, OR

24 years

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test-drb December 2001