test-drb June 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

273 participants
682 discussions

HTML source code?? (was: Call for Resources for CDC

by lance＠costanzo.net

At 12:41 PM 6/2/01 +0100, you wrote: >On Fri, 01 Jun 2001, you wrote: > >> BTW, I also think that it is a really stupid idea to have the editor >> refuse to let you continue until you fix an error. "Let me finish >> typing! I'm on a roll! I PROMISE that I'll go back and fix those typos >> before I compile!" >> > >One of my pet hates is VBA, where you get halfway through a line ofcode, decide >to copy something from somewhere else, and as soon as you leave the line you >are editing it pops up a dialog box telling you that there is a syntax error... >I f*&^$%g well know that - because I haven't finished typing the line. This seems to work for Access97: Tools/Options/Module uncheck 'auto syntax check' Errors still in red, but the dialog box goes away. Lance.

22 years, 11 months

Amiga 1000 "disk change" stuck?

by engdahl＠cle.ab.com

I told David Betz I would send him a fast Lisp interpreter I wrote in Amiga assembler about 15 years ago. Now I have to get my Amiga working -- a worthwhile interruption to my PDP-11 restoration. This is an original rev 1.0 Amiga 1000 with one floppy drive, expanded chip RAM, 2 megs in a StarBoard on the side, and nothing else. It's the first computer I ever bought rather than built from scrap. It cost about $1000 in the days when an IBM AT with EGA, 1 meg RAM, and 30 meg hard drive cost several thousands, and 1.0 VAX-MIPs meant something. All the original pieces and manuals are still there and intact except for the monitor which died years ago. I'm using a small B&W NTSC monitor until I get a VGA adapter cable built. First, I tore it apart and cleaned out the dust. Pulling the cooling air in through the floppy drive was a brilliant concept. That way the cheap and replaceable floppy drive doubles as an air filter. There was very little dust elsewhere. After trying 5 Kickstart disks, I found one that would still read. I can boot the Lisp development disk, and, with plenty of patience and retries, it loads itself into the RAMdisk. So, in theory, the Lisp interpreter sources are recoverable (I also have it on 3 backup disks). The floppy drive, or something related, has a problem however. The computer cannot see when I remove a disk, therefore, it never refreshes the cache when I change disks. It never realizes that the disk has been changed. So I have the Lisp sources on one disk that will boot successfully, Kermit and CrossDOS on another good disk, but whichever one I boot, I cannot read the other. It will take a while to remember/relearn how to run an Amiga. The reed relay actuated by the floppy drive eject button is working, and there is continuity to a large chip on the drive. I'm guessing the computer is looking for "disk change" (pin 34 on the interface), which is probably triggered by the reed relay. I tried an IBM-PC floppy drive -- it boots from that drive, but still doesn't see the disk change. I tried a different ribbon cable. There is continuity from pin 34 on the mainboard floppy connector to a pin on what looks like it might be a PIO chip. There are two of these 40 pin DIPs in sockets next to the 68000. I exchanged the two chips -- that made no difference. I examined pin 34 with a voltmeter, with the ribbon cable disconnected but power applied to the drive. It doesn't wiggle when I insert and eject a floppy. But testing this with the cable disconnected might not be a valid test. It might be strobed by "drive select". With everything hooked up, I don't see a significant voltmeter wiggle on the PIO pin -- again, it might be "drive select" enabled, or polled with a very low duty cycle, so that test might not mean anything. Now that I think of it, I seem to recall that the pin was low. That sounds suspcious. I would expect if it was strobed, it would be a low-true open collector. I need to go back and look at that again. Questions: Is there some software way to force the computer to flush the disk cache and take a fresh look at a disk? Is an IBM-PC 1.44 meg floppy drive an adequate replacement for the original 800K internal drive, at least for reading? I downloaded a bunch of floppy related "hacks" from an archive (Aminet?), but I haven't had time to parse them all yet, plus I can't see the IFF formatted diagrams from a PC. Bear in mind that I have only one drive, so drive select logic might not be needed. What is the mechanism/algorithm used to detect drive change? What could have gone wrong? If I get desperate enough, I'll cut pin 34 on the ribbon cable and run it to a pushbutton dangling outside the case (assuming that pin 34 is the missing signal). -- Jonathan Engdahl Rockwell Automation Principal Research Engineer 24800 Tungsten Road Advanced Technology Euclid, OH 44117 USA Euclid Labs http://users.safeaccess.com/engdahl

22 years, 11 months

Call for Resources for CDC 6000/Cyber 70 Series Emulator

by dpeschel＠eskimo.com

> Hmmm.. Don't remember that, but I do remember Empire, > and some other Star Trek game... as well as the coolest > LISP and Pascal interpreter environments I ever used. Please elaborate! -- Derek (hoping for watchpoints or formatted display of the source code -- i.e., with italics or proportional spacing)

22 years, 11 months

Amiga 1000 "disk change" stuck?

by Lee.Davison＠merlincommunications.com

Hi Jonathan, The computer cannot see when I remove a disk, therefore, it never refreshes the cache when I change disks. It never realizes that the disk has been changed. So I have the Lisp sources on If your aim is to, for now, just recover the disks open a shell (cli) window and type diskchange df0: That forces a cache update from the media. If diskchange isn't resident on your A1000 copy it to RAM: first Cheers, Lee. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- This email is intended only for the above named addressee(s). The information contained in this email may contain information which is confidential. The views expressed in this email are personal to the sender and do not in any way reflect the views of the company. If you have received this email and you are not a named addressee please delete it from your system and contact Merlin Communications International IT Department on +44 20 7344 5888. _____________________________________________________________________ This message has been checked for all known viruses by Star Internet delivered through the MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service. For further information visit http://www.star.net.uk/stats.asp or alternatively call 01285 884400.

22 years, 11 months

IBM 6109 personal typer?

by KenzieM＠sympatico.ca

I saw a machine this evening that looked like a PS/2. It had 2 3.5# floppies on the front, but there were no ports on the back. The keyboard cable was coming out of an opening in the side and the monitor cable was attached internally. There appeared to be a lock on the side that may have given access to the inside. It seemed like the keyboard had been unplugged. Does anyone know anything about these machines? The keyboard was missing from the end of the cable, but it had one of the connectors found on the older original IBM keyboards.

22 years, 11 months

Altair 8800 front panel lamps

by John.Honniball＠uwe.ac.uk

I've just been reading "Computer: A History of the Information Machine", by Martin Campbell-Kelly and WIlliam Aspray. It mentions the Altair 8800 (on page 240) and describes the front panel: When loaded, the program would run; but the only evidence of its execution was the change in the shifting pattern of the neon bulbs on the front. Neon bulbs? Did the Altair really have neon bulbs on the front panel? I would have expected LEDs -- can anyone clarify this, please? -- John Honniball Email: John.Honniball(a)uwe.ac.uk University of the West of England

22 years, 11 months

OT Iridium (Was: Re: classiccmp-digest V1 #615)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

Jason McBrien said: >...went to were the American History Museum and the Air and Space >museum. Both had special exhibits on information processing, and among the >highlights are: > ... >- -Processor modules from the Iridium (defunct) system ... Not yet, at any rate. My dad just got a phone from Motorola. Size of an old (70's) handy-talky, more or less. After some trouble figuring out the registration, dialing sequence, etc., he managed to phone home with it (Yes, his initials are BT - no Steven Spielberg puns, please) and there was a ~ 0.5 second delay between his lips moving and the sound coming out of the home phone (he was standing on the balcony at the time). Apparently DOD paid for the system and, to offset part of their cost, is marketing the hand units (through Worldcom) to the few customers who need communications where cell phones don't yet go. (Dad's going sailing in the North Sea, then to a launch site in the Ukraine.) I'm rambling - anyway, Iridium was still up, as of Sunday night. - Mark

22 years, 11 months

Any Tektronix 4051, 5042, 4054, or 4662s or IBM 5100s outthere?

by Demon02554＠aol.com

Roanoake, eh? how big and how much private email please Robert Cobbins

22 years, 11 months

Anyone ever seen a TRAN M3000?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

The computer mentioned in the subject may in fact be familiar to some of you (Sellam, notably...). It was a rebadged Computer Automation Alpha-16, with special software that provided for its use as a digital network switch. TRAN was also known as Computer Transmission Corp. of El Segundo, CA. Does anyone know what became of the company? In a few weeks, I'll put a diagram of the Indiana University Computing Network cira 1974 up on my web site so you can see the role it played. You'll need a WHIP! viewer (from Autodesk's web site) to view it. Regards, -dq

22 years, 11 months

Seeking NeXT slab disk bracket

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

OK... so I have this NeXT slab (25 Mhz '040), I have some 30-pin SIMMs, and I have a 4Gb SCSI drive. I even have software. What I don't have is a bracket for the internal hard drive. Someone brought one to lunch today, and it appears to have a couple of feet that clip on to the edge of the case, and one screw hole on the other side. Is there a place I can get a proper drive bracket? I suppose I can make my own, but I'm not sure it will stay put on the non-screwed-in end. Thanks, -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

22 years, 11 months

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test-drb June 2001