test-drb December 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

243 participants
1096 discussions

Flashing Light Indicators un Simple Front Panels

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Hello again, Many of you are into PDP-11, both the blinkenlights variety and the simpler dump front panels, as well as VAXen and such with console-based front panels. Do any of these machines, if they have a really bad problem that might preclude the use of the console, flash an LED to mean something? In particular, do any of you have familiarity with systems that flash the on or power light as an indicattor, sopecifiecally, of a power supply problem? Would anyone venture what a 2 Hz flash rate on the ON LED of a Prime might mean? Thanks again, -doug q

22 years, 9 months

Hardest to Find Classic Computers

by Innfogra＠aol.com

The Lilith & the Tektronix Magnolia. These I regret not hanging on to. I have never seen another. I still have a Lilith mouse. Paxton

22 years, 9 months

On Sequent Symmetry S81 and PC Jr.

by csmith＠amdocs.com

Since these two are probably the only not-yet-functional machines I haven't posted questions to this list about, I've decided to ask about them. Easy one first: Can anybody give me the pinout of the power-connector for the PC-Jr. I don't have a power cord. Failing that, has anyone got a spare? :) (If I understand properly, the power supply is inside, and the power running through the cord should be AC, right?) Next, the hard part: I have a Sequent Symmetry S81. It's in need of at least the following: CPU boards RAM boards Drives, but I can probably handle that... A version of DYNIX which will support it (likely on QIC-120) For those of you who don't know it, this is a 1987 model mini that used Intel CPUs in parallel. Up to 30 (IIRC) 386/16 cpus, on boards which contain sets of two could be used. Each CPU had a dedicated Weitek co-processor, too. I believe it was UMA/shared memory. I also believe that the peripheral bus was VME. I have quite a set of boards in that bus right now, whatever it is, and would be interested in any help I could get in cataloging them and figuring out what I've got. I believe that the system was board-for-board compatible with the S27, and the only difference was the enclosure. Speaking of which, I could also use help in determining whether I can hope to get this running on normal wall-power. The system is built-in to a rack, which has an inch-thick cord (no plug :/) coming out of it. It seems on the inside of the rack that the power is broken out into something more manageable, and, IIRC, 115 - 120 volts. (It's been a while since I've pulled it out and looked.) I would like to get this system working, so... Does anyone know where to find parts or system software? Is there anyone who could possibly help me ID some of the parts already in the system? I'll try to get all the serial numbers, etc, from the boards if there are any takers. What are my chances of getting this thing to run off of wall-power without blowing anything up? Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 9 months

Another odd-ball/almost classic computer...8 yr old...

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

Just found this in a box... Has anyone here ever heard of a Gateway 2000 Handbook computer? It's like a palmtop/laptop computer, 10"x6"x1.5"... using a Chips & Tech. 8680 "PC on a chip". It has the 2MB RAM upgrade, to bring it to a whopping 3MB! And would you look at that, 40MB HDD... With the null modem cable, it would make a great ultra-portable terminal... --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

22 years, 9 months

Cats around computers

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> I had a hard time finding beef tongue or brains in the U.S. These are > considered a delicacy in many other places. %-) In this part of the midwest, pork brains are a bit more common than beef brains... dad loved 'em, I thought they were cool to look at, but never tried 'em. I hope we don't drift into discussing that strangest beef organ meat of all... ;)

22 years, 9 months

Cats around computers

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 14, Chad Fernandez wrote: > Dave, did you have to close your eyes during the "Chilled monkey brain" > scene in Indiana Jones :-) YES. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

22 years, 9 months

MITS 2SIO serial chip?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com> > >The 8250 was a fine chip for the application, though I wonder why they used the >DIP version. There were better choices available, but they didn't want to lose In 1981 there was only the DIP version as surface mount was not a widespread technology yet. >the serial port board business by putting two of them on the same card, and by >that time serial I/O chips tended to have between 2 and 8 ports on them. In 1981 they did exist, those with more than two ports didn't have second source and they werent cheap. The 8274 ( the 8088 bus version of the Zilog SIO) was about 4 times the cost of the 8250(in the fall of 1981) though it was a far better part and intel would have loved the business. What's funny is my Leading Edge Model D PC clone used 8251 and put all the video, floppy, printer and COM1 on the mother board. In my book the clones often {but, not always} improved a dumb design. Allison

22 years, 9 months

if you hadn't already known this about the PDP-8

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! From: Boatman on the River of Suck [mailto:vance@ikickass.org] ! ! ! On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, David Woyciesjes wrote: ! ! > Sridhar --- ! > I might be able to use your help soon... I have a Cardinal ! > Technologies PC10. It's a 386, with a 10" color (?) screen, ! > and it's built ! > just like a Mac SE! It's mfg in May '92, so it's almost ! > on-topic. Has anyone ! > seen one of these, or know of any docs for it? ! > I'm wondering if I should put DOS6.22/Win3.11, or ! > NetBSD on it. Of ! > course, I still have a Win95 CD around. Maybe I could ! > shoe-horn that on! ! ! I would stay away from Windows95, as it runs *really* *really* slow on ! 386's. Do you know how fast of a 386 and how much RAM? It ! would help in ! my telling you whether or not NetBSD will work well. Yeah, the Win95 comment was more of a wise-ass joke :) As for the details on the PC10, I'm gonna fire it up next week, and connect the Handbook to it, to back up the Handbook. It (the Handbook) has MS Interlink on it! Heh heh heh... --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

22 years, 9 months

Is there no end

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 14, Cameron Kaiser wrote: > > Back in those days, many people were skeptical about using a non-Intel > > processor when running Windows. > > > > There was a big marketing effort by the likes of Cyrix, AMD, and whoever > > made the "WinChip" to convince people that those processors would run > > Windows okay. > > Well, I suppose every chip must aspire to mediocrity. :-P Wait...woudn't that make it a "LoseChip"? ;) -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

22 years, 9 months

Is there no end

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 14, Russ Blakeman wrote: > It was put on there to basically state that it works well with MS Windows, > not only with MS Windows. Perhaps so, but that's not what it *says*. "Made for Microsoft Windows" implies much more than "Works with Microsoft Windows". I wouldn't be surprised if AMD got a substantial amount of money >from Microsoft to paste that sticker on those chips. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL

22 years, 9 months

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test-drb December 2001