January 2002 - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

by pat＠purdueriots.com

I just picked up a 3com 3station for a few $$ at university salvage today. It seems to be a rather neat little system. Inside it has a header (J9) that appears to be a floppy disk connector (34pin header). Does anyone know anymore about these things or have software for it (it'd be nice to use it as an Xterminal, but who knows if that'll ever work...) Thanks much! -- Pat

23 years, 6 months

2
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VAX 11/780s - Masscomp - Valid equipment available

by auringer＠tds.net

> From: "Merle K. Peirce" <at258(a)osfn.org> > Well we might very well be interested in a ZS-1. Do you have some idea of how and when? As I mentioned before, I would need to have a commitment fairly quick to keep the machines intact. Later, Jon Jon Auringer auringer(a)tds.net

23 years, 6 months

11
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Starship simulator (was: VAX 11/780s...)

by vze2mnvr＠verizon.net

Ben, I wish we had it all today too. I'm sure we would have been much further along if they hadn't cut the budget back so severely after the apollo program wrapped up. But the shuttle is a good working vehicle. Launches of the shuttle are so common now, you only hear a blurb on it on the news. In addition to flying Glenn back into space, I wish they would take Yeager up one time too, just to thank him for the contributions he also made. There are some small private outfits trying to develop their own programs too, either in CA or somewhere out west. But it still takes a lot of money, just not as much as NASA requires. On CNN this morn, I believe there was mention of a launch, but the vehicle was still a $500,000 vehicle. I bet if you searched google, you might find one of the private projects, that you might even be able to contribute help to. One concern I have though is that until there is actually a good destination to go to ( where there is air and water, even if it has to be extracted ) there may not be enough of a reason to make it commercially viable. Short hops to get halfway around the globe in record time would be good, but true deep space travel may need a destination that will support life. I liken it to sailing. Some people like to take their boat out just to go sailing, but I kind of always wanted a destination to sail to. Sailing halfway out into the Atlantic, just to see it, and coming back just never excited me. If Columbus hadn't found the "New World" how many would have continued to voyage out across the atlantic. Ian Ben Franchuk wrote: > > Ian Koller wrote: > > > > Hello Ben, > > > > > I say dump this simulation idea and build the real thing! > > > > I doubt you'd want to, or be able to, commit the real level > > of resources necessary for this. > > It is not a easy project, and definitely a team effort, but you > still need one man/woman with a vision. Right now space travel > in same field as computers in the early 1960's. They still would > be mainframes on punch cards today had not the PDP-1 and PDP-5 > and PDP-11 been designed by a small team of people. > > > That's not the sole motivation there. I do not doubt that > > large aerospace lobbying has some influence on project > > funding, but the real reason their projects cost what they > > do is the fact that they are held to very high standards. > > People's lives and the taxpayers' money are at stake, > > accountability to the US government and the american taxpayers, > > etc. won't allow them to work like hobbyists or shadetree mechanics. > > Ha-Ha -- accountable that is funny. Too much red tape and kickbacks > I bet to make it easy for a team of people to develop something. > A hobbyist is somebody who does something with out getting paid > for it. Talent is not == money. Since I don't have talent in that > field of rocket hardware I may not design a warp drive :) but still > could help out in other fields. The point is nobody wants to go into > space if they have to do a little work. > > > > > > > a simple-reusable space craft > > > > I doubt that such a thing would ever really be "simple" > > > > I really hope that you were actually joking. This analysis > > of the requirements is very innocent in it's point of view. > > Much like a child's view of the world. And note that I'm > > not calling you childish, just that simplistic statement > > of the requirements for projects of this scope. > > NO joke! > A space craft is hard to design because so many variables > change exponentially. A 5% factor could cross a threshold > wipe out this whole design. Simple is a relative term here. > I like a simple two stage space-plane rail launched with > only the 1st stage manned ( single pilot ). The second stage > would fly to dock with a low orbit space station. Re-entry > still needs more thought but one idea is dismantling the 2nd stage > and having a return shuttle take down the peaces. > > > > > > putting ORDANARY people in space! > > > > This will happen someday soon though. Maybe another 30 to > > 50 years? > > I am 42 come spring. I can't wait another 30 years. :) > One view I have is since space travel is 10x harder than > flying I expect payloads to be 1/10 of the what flying is. > This is in the scale of 500 to 2000 LBS payloads. > You have NASA's plan -- big projects done by a army of > people -- my plan ordinary people on average wages bootstrapping > themselves into space. Think small you can build big projects. > Think big and you get small projects like NASA seems to be doing. > > > > Seeing the work Henk has done, I'm sure that he has invested > > a lot of time, and a fair amount of money, just in creating > > such a well done simulator project of that scope. > > True. But then if he decides he wants to build a console > for space craft to say MARS could he do it with out political > problems. > -- > Ben Franchuk - Dawn * 12/24 bit cpu * > www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/index.html

23 years, 6 months

2
1
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"Locking Connector Kits" for LocalTalk

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>First, I've never found a female DIN-8 >port for sale (and not for lack of looking) Not that it will matter, as you don't plan to build it anyway... but for reference... MCM Electronics (www.mcm-electronics.com) sells Female Din-8 (although, isn't that size really a mini-din?). Mini-Din, Din, either way, I know they sell them, as I bought a few a while back to replace the broken off serial ports on a PowerBook 160. The ones I bought were solder type, and meant to be used with a cable (so now my Powerbook has two short cables sticking out the back for the serial ports... no matter, it sits on a shelf acting as a nat router and backup mail server these days) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

6
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Another reason why Dell sucks

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

Even though their Optiplex PCs seem to be standard ATX form factor, their power supply does not meet the standard. Putting in a generic ATX power supply will not work. Something about the wiring being changed slightly on the power plug. perhaps someone else has details about that. --

23 years, 6 months

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quest for pictures

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk [mailto:ard@p850ug1.demon.co.uk] ! ! ! > ! > At the bare minimum, I want real lens interchangeability. ! > I'd prefer a ! > Leica screw mount (just so I can use what I have), but ! > realistically, a C ! > mount (or even D) would be more practical. But ANY MOUNT! ! ! I wonder how many people on this list actually know what C ! and D mounts ! are, and what they were first associated with. Not me really, but it does have to do with cameras... ! I prefer screw-in lens mounts to bayonet. For one very good reason. I ! don't need speed of lens changing, but I do like to make my ! own add-ons. ! I can cut the screw threads in the lathe without problems (I ! made my own ! C mount lens and body caps when I discovered that the ! 'official' ones had ! to be ordered from Switzerland and were over \pounds 35.00 ! each). Making ! a bayonet mount is a lot harder. Don't they have adapters? Or can you cut something down and slap it on the lathe to make an adaptor? --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

23 years, 6 months

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More Deluxe Option Board software

by mark_k＠totalise.co.uk

Hi, Some of you might remember that I uploaded version 5.4 of the Central Point Deluxe Option Board software a while ago. I recently received another Option Board, which came with a slightly earlier version of the software, as well as Copy II PC 6.0. None of the disks seem to have been written to since new. Both Option Board software versions are 5.4 according to the disk labels and READ.ME files. The disks I uploaded a while ago contain version 5.5 of MCP.EXE, compared with 5.4 for the version I just uploaded (see URL below). So these earlier disks may not be of much interest. Copy II PC 6.0 is a program for backing up copy-protected PC disks. Dated 1990, it probably doesn't handle protected high density disks (neither does the Deluxe Option Board software). It might work better in conjunction with a Deluxe Option Board card; I have not tested that. Anyway, I have uploaded disk images of this too. http://www.btinternet.com/~mark_k/Deluxe_Option_Board/ Instructions: download files and decompress using gzip. Use your favourite disk-image-writing program to write the disk images to floppy disks. (For example IBM's LOADDSKF for MS-DOS, WinImage for Windows, dd under UNIX-like OSes.) -- Mark

23 years, 6 months

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OT: RE: quest for pictures

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

I have a couple of Olympus OM-1's that I use (vintage 1975, so they meet the 10-year rule). If the battery ever goes bad, the camera is still fully functional (except no built-in light meter). I can always use the f:16 rule in sunlight (exposure = f:16 at 1/[the ASA film speed]; e.g., f:16 @ 1/125 sec for ASA 100 film) or guess the exposure in other conditions. Bob -----Original Message----- From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk [mailto:ard@p850ug1.demon.co.uk] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 1:56 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: quest for pictures <snip> I personnaly prefer old, mechanical cameras. I can understand them, I can fix them (as you might have guessed by now, I like tinkering with _all_ types of machinery). Actually, I probably prefer fixing cameras to taking photographs. <snip> Electronically controlled film cammeras are just not eccentric enough to be interesting :-) -tony

23 years, 6 months

1
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ENIAC [Was: Re: Appropritate comic strip....]

by msell＠ontimesupport.com

Chris, I probably should have mentioned that, huh? : ) I'm in Texas. We've got plenty of valves here, but they all have oil in them...... Vacuum tubes. That's what I meant to say. No, really, I did!!! - Matt At 03:16 PM 1/10/2002 -0600, you wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Matthew Sell [mailto:msell@ontimesupport.com] > > > Over here, on this side of the Atlantic, they're called tubes. > >What side of the Atlantic is that? I'm in mid-Illinois. ;) > >Christopher Smith, Perl Developer >Amdocs - Champaign, IL > >/usr/bin/perl -e ' >print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); >' > Matthew Sell Programmer On Time Support, Inc. www.ontimesupport.com (281) 296-6066 Join the Metrology Software discussion group METLIST! http://www.ontimesupport.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitler Many thanks for this tagline to a fellow RGVAC'er...

23 years, 6 months

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ENIAC [Was: Re: Appropritate comic strip....]

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Sell [mailto:msell@ontimesupport.com] > Over here, on this side of the Atlantic, they're called tubes. What side of the Atlantic is that? I'm in mid-Illinois. ;) Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

23 years, 6 months

1
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Musicians (and computer music)

by mhstein＠usa.net

You do know that Hal Chamberlin (who came up with that mini-mini) was THE MAN as far as PET music was concerned in those days? Maybe he's got something to contribute to posterity when he gets back from Korea. mike -------------------------Original Message-------------------- From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Musicians (and computer music) (was RE: Trailing-edge compute farm seeks gainful employment) ObClassic: Does anyone have any software for making music on the PET with *other* than CB2 sound? I had a buddy with a clip-on user port music card - it was an 8-bit D-to-A like a Disney Sound Source. The PET shoved bytes out the user port and they appoximated music. I can't remember what it was called.

23 years, 6 months

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ENIAC [Was: Re: Appropritate comic strip....]

by msell＠ontimesupport.com

Chris, Ahem..... Over here, on this side of the Atlantic, they're called tubes. : ) Just ribbing you.... - Matt >Yes, I think there was an ENIAC on a chip project that was successful. I >don't know much about it though. > > -- or did you mean in original scale, with valves? :) > >Regards, > >Chris > > >Christopher Smith, Perl Developer >Amdocs - Champaign, IL > >/usr/bin/perl -e ' >print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); >' > Matthew Sell Programmer On Time Support, Inc. www.ontimesupport.com (281) 296-6066 Join the Metrology Software discussion group METLIST! http://www.ontimesupport.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitler Many thanks for this tagline to a fellow RGVAC'er...

23 years, 6 months

1
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Apple disk -> MSDOS

by mhstein＠usa.net

Do I gather from previous discussions that it's a problem reading an Apple II floppy disk on a PC? I'm about to get rid of my last Apple II clone (No, Ernest, I haven't forgotten you) but there are some Basic programs on Apple diskettes that I might want to port to GW-Basic some day. Trouble is, the Apple has no parallel or serial cards and I don't feel like copying them off the screen by hand. I think with a little software I could transfer it to one of my PETs via the cassette port, and from there it would be trivial to get to a PC, but I'm hoping there's an easier way. I have a CompatiCard I and Uniform, and I still have the T300 that no one wanted which can do 96TPI 640K MS-DOS diskettes as well as the usual MS-DOS 5.25 formats, if that's of any use. Any ideas? mike

23 years, 6 months

10
19
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Compukit UK101

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk [mailto:ard@p850ug1.demon.co.uk] > Sent: 09 January 2002 21:18 > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Compukit UK101 > > Sounds good so far. IIRC the UK101 will display 'garbage' at > switch-on. > Just the random contents of the video memory (the video > display circuitry > doesn't need to be configured by software, so it'll display > this even if > the CPU isn't doing anything). <excellent troubleshooting snippage> Thanks Tony! Star man once again :) I'll be annoyed if I've been defeated by a caps lock key! I know what I'm doing tonight now....... -- Adrian Graham, Corporate Microsystems Ltd e: adrian.graham(a)corporatemicrosystems.com w: www.corporatemicrosystems.com w2: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk (Online Computer Museum)

23 years, 6 months

2
1
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Apple disk -> MSDOS

by mhstein＠usa.net

CBM -> PC isn't the problem; I've got a couple of CmC ADA IEEE-> S/P converters as well. The Cassette to Serial adapter sounds neat though. Getting from the Apple to the CBM is the problem; I think I've got software somewhere that'll connect the two cassette ports, but it'd take till next Xmas/Kwanzaa/Chanukah to find it. Was just hoping there was a quick & easy direct way, but assuming Ernest is going to take the clone, I'm going to include it and ask him to transfer the file(s) & email them back to me since he does have serial capability. Thanks anyway, guys. Always interesting and often very informative & helpful. mike ------------------------Original Message---------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 12:58:42 -0800 (PST) From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Apple disk -> MSDOS - --- "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> wrote: > > I think with a little software I could transfer it > > to one of my PETs via the cassette port, and from there > > it would be trivial to get to a PC... > > Really? The PC can't do PET disks, either. But you MIGHT be able to > interface one of the aftermarket IEEE488 drives to the Pet with some > trivial hardware, and then interface it to the PC, and just write a file > system for it. An XE1541 cable is an easy enough item to build. If you have a 4040 or 2031 drive on your PET, you could hook a 1541 to the PC, the IEEE drive to the PET and sneaker-net stuff over. Marko Makela has a cool device that's about to hit the world - a cassette port dongle for all CBM machines that speaks to a "modern" machine over serial - you save to "cassette" from your PET, B500, C64, VIC-20, whatever, and run a virtual server on a serial line on a modern machine to scoop up the data. No funny software required on the CBM side. He has a prototype and pictures, but it's not quite available yet. I know there have been some projects to emulate an IEEE port from a PeeCee parallel port - enough to drive a 4040 floppy unit. If the software were there, it'd be easy enough to turn the PeeCee into a virtual disk drive. I think you could find the stuff already done. I don't think you'd have to roll your own code to do this. My X1541 cable also has a 6-pin C= cassette port on it. I have read many PET tapes directly from DOS with a real C2N tape recorder. It's not as reliable as floppies (especially if there's a head alignment problem), but it does work. Slow as molasses in January, though. Personally, the 170K floppy shuffle is the easiest way with the most common hardware. It does require that you have a couple of Commodore devices, but they aren't uncommon. Serial ports on PETs *are* (but I have a couple of IEEE<->RS-232 boxes from "TNW" and one ROM socket ACIA board. Still doesn't make them "common" though). - -ethan

23 years, 6 months

2
1
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PS/2 Model 70 Portable

by dittman＠dittman.net

Okay, I've decided that I'm not going to fool around with this PS/2 any more, as it really isn't the type of thing I collect. Is anyone interested in it for $20+shipping? -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

23 years, 6 months

1
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Tek scope service manuals

by CLeyson＠aol.com

In a message dated 09/01/02 edick(a)idcomm.com writes: > Well ... it must be asleep. I wasn't even able to find a reference to it, > though, so something's amiss. > > Dick > Type 2430 into the search engine under Model No. I know their search engine leaves a bit to be desired but I used them to buy an HP service manual. The best I could get in Europe was a photocopy AND it cost more than the originals from ManualsPlus. Try http://www.big-list.com/usedmanu.html. It's a comprehesive list of service manual dealers. Good Luck Chris

23 years, 6 months

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ENIAC [Was: Re: Appropritate comic strip....]

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Sell [mailto:msell@ontimesupport.com] > Has anyone ever attempted to recreate all or part of the > ENIAC? Maybe as > part of a CS project or museum? Yes, I think there was an ENIAC on a chip project that was successful. I don't know much about it though. -- or did you mean in original scale, with valves? :) Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

23 years, 6 months

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ENIAC [Was: Re: Appropritate comic strip....]

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On January 10, Matthew Sell wrote: > Has anyone ever attempted to recreate all or part of the ENIAC? Maybe as > part of a CS project or museum? > > Just curious..... I thought this was neat..These folks implemented the ENIAC architecture on a chip some time ago: http://www.ee.upenn.edu/~jan/eniacproj.html -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

23 years, 6 months

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Appropritate comic strip....

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

Have a look at this comic strip... (Wednesday's strip) http://www.rockwoodcomic.com/ --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

23 years, 6 months

1
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What to do with an empty BA23

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! Hi guys, ! I'm sat here wondering what I should do with this empty ! BA23 I've got.... ! ... If all else ! fails, anyone think of an alternative use for a BA23? :&) Didn't somebody turn one into a keg-erator? --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

23 years, 6 months

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Starship simulator (was: VAX 11/780s...)

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Ok, I read all comments, but I think this thread is not completely for CC... If you read the starship website, you know my name, Henk. I reply to give some more information on my project. The Starship project started in 1982, AFAIRemember. However, as a young boy, I went to the attick and play with some switches, batteries and lamps after seeing an episode of "The Thunderbirds". So, I wished I had more free time. I have many ideas to implement but *lack* the time to do it. Indeed, one of the ideas is mounting everything on a sort of X-Y table so that it can shake a little. When you have no visual contact with you surroundings, a little shake can fool you brain quite good. I have mounted a bass loudspeaker to the rear of the car seat, the "captain's chair", and feeding it sub-audible tones you feel vibration as an add-on effect/experience. I must admit that dreaming/thinking about it is fun. Realising some of it in the end gives me a 'good' feeling, as does all comment on this website. I enjoy reading other people's comment on my starship project. It 'fuels' me to put effort in expanding the website and adding more pictures to it. And of course expanding my starship! With last Xmas I got a Nikon Coolpix 885, so expect additions to the site the coming months. I will add a link to tell about new additions. For more questions/remarks, don't hesitate to write to me. That is henk.gooijen(a)12move.nl or gooi(a)oce.nl > Look for the book Star Ship Simulation by Roger Garrett That's what got me infected! > [snip] > but now it would be nearly a cake walk. I wouldn't agree on that. The longer you think about it, and work out more detail (hardware, switches, meters, etc.) the more elaborate/complex things become. Live long and prosper, - Henk.

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>> It would seem the majority of people I confer with have nothing but pain >> and anguish leading to murderous thoughts when dealing with Dell. >> >> F Dell and it's namesake! > >I wonder why the disparity exists? Maybe because once upon a time, Dell's were actually good. For some time, I had recommended them. Their PCs were tanks. You could beat the hell out of them, and they kept working. And they were good solid components that worked with default installs of windows 95 and NT 4. Support was even once great (knowledgeable, polite, fast). And then they grew... and cut costs to stay in business... and went into the crapper like just about every other consumer PC company. Now, when people tell me they are going to buy a PC, and ask who I recommend... I tell them with a straight honest face... I recommend NO ONE for home use. I can't honestly think of a single good company building consumer level windows boxes. Between them all putting in cheaper and cheaper parts, and MS making windows... well more windows like, I can't think of any company that can get it right, and get it right consistently. So now I ask people WHY they are buying a windows PC. Everyone seems to have one of two answers. 1: to play games (I tell them to buy a Playstation 2), or 2: to get online (I tell them to buy a cheap used low end PII and throw a ton of ram into it). Everyone that doesn't fit one of those two... I tell them to learn enough to build their own, or just go with a cheap LOCAL vendor (so you have someone you can throw the machine at when it craps out for the 100th time), or buy a Macintosh. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

4
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VAX 11/780s - Masscomp - Valid equipment available

by auringer＠tds.net

Hello all, Along with the Astronautics ZS-1 machines I posted about earlier, we have some other equipment available. I have someone interested in one of the 11/780 machines and possible others. As with the ZS-1 machines, the time frame isn't very long. Again, we are closing this facility and the equipment will be scrapped if not rescued. 1 DEC 11/780 (3 wide cabinet) currently up and running 4.2 BSD 3rd cabinet has a Ven-tel plugin modem rack w/~10 modems 1 rack containing 4 Fujitsu Eagle drives (one drive is off-line due to increasing errors) 1 Fujitsu 9-track tape drive in 2 wide cabinet (not quite as tall as the VAX cabinet)(This is a nice auto loading drive, there is a second one available with two drives from a non-VAX system) 1 DEC TE16 9-track tape drive (1 wide cabinet) 1 Fujitsu line printer 1 DECWRITER III printing terminal as console 1 DEC 11/780 (3 wide cabinet) currently down but was running fine when turned off (VMS) 3 DEC RP07 drives (each the size of a washing machine on steroids!) 1 DEC TU78 9-track tape drive 1 Scicards design station (This is a dedicated color graphics terminal used for printed circuit board (PCB) layout) I am told the tube was a little on the fuzzy side. 1 Benson photo plotter (we used this exclusively to print out PCB artwork for checking) 1 Dataproducts line printer 1 DECWRITER III printing terminal as console 3 Valid Systems m68k based Multibus systems. Each system has several dedicated mono graphics cards to drive multiple design stations. Each system is in a half-height rack which contains the Multibus rack, an 8" Fujitsu fixed disk drive and the slot loading 9-track tape drive. I am unsure of the status of these systems. I believe they were running when shut down, but I have doubts about the drives. 6 or more of the Valid Scaldstation design stations. Each includes a table with built-in digitizer and a 19" green monochrome graphics monitor. These systems were used primarily for schematic capture, but ran a full blown UNIX, so I always enjoyed reading news on the "big screen". :) 1 Masscomp m68k based system This system is also Multibus based and resides in a pair of 5' high racks. One rack contains the multibus chassis and a pair of Fujitsu drives. The second rack houses the 9-track tape drive and a third 8" Fujitsu drive. This machine was only lightly used when I signed on in 1989, and shut down shortly thereafter. I have gotten it up and running RTU on its ST-506 boot drive, but haven't managed to get the Fujitsus online. 7 Masscomp MC-500 deskside chassis These are also Multibus based m68k systems. These run the same OS as systems above. They have an internal 5-1/4" floppy and ST-506 fixed drive. There are a bunch of the monochrome graphics tubes that go along with these units. Actually, it appears like each chassis is designed to drive a pair of the graphics terminals. I have one of these boxes that I did a clean install of the RTU OS. The other 6 are in varying states of repair. I think there are enough bits to assemble at least 3 more complete systems. 2 DEC MicroVax II in a 19" There is also a rack mounted chassis with a pair of SMD drives. Each of the MVII has a SMD controller card. Both of the boot drives are dead and I don't have a way to format replacements. I would like to hang on to these if I can manage to get them home without doing myself harm. 1 Tek 4014-1 graphics terminal w/hard copy unit. The terminal works fine, but I haven't had a chance to test the hard copy unit. I would like to hang on to this unit, but moving it is definately a two person and a truck kind of thing. So I may have to let it go. :( ? StorageTek 9-Track drives. 110V operation. How many of these I have depends on the fate of the ZS-1 machines. I have a couple now, and will have several more if the ZS machines are scrapped. Large quantities of documentation. Over a dozen UNIX programmers manuals in metal desktop racks. Complete documentation sets for VMS, gray and orange binders. I have a box with complete unopened docs for a later version (don't remember off-hand which version) of VMS than we had ever installed. Documentation for several revisions of SunOS4. If I were to walk through the building, I could easily double this list. Basically we have just about everything! Thanks for listening, Jon Jon Auringer auringer(a)tds.net

23 years, 6 months

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Starship simulator (was: VAX 11/780s...)

by foxnhare＠bigvalley.net

Look for the book Star Ship Simulation by Roger Garrett - Dilithium press, it is a very well thought out full-fledged simulation idea (no real code, just a complete (I think) system structure for all the 'stations') Back then it would have been a monumental task to get all the computers and newtworking worked out but now it would be nearly a cake walk. > Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 15:37:12 -0600 (CST) > From: Jeffrey S. Sharp <jss(a)subatomix.com> > Reply-To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Starship simulator (was: VAX 11/780s...) > > On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Ben Franchuk wrote: > > > http://home.hetnet.nl/~tshaj/ > > Click in the 'star screen' for a real star-ship bridge. > > Yeah, that's what gave me the idea. I would add a few improvements: > > * It will require a group of people. This will encourage teamwork and > role-playing among the players. > > * It will be much bigger. Think NCC-1701-D bridge. > > * Things will move, shake, and explode. Yes, you'll have to sign > a waiver. No, it won't be handicapped-accessible. That said, risk of > injury should be minimal. > > * An entire colleciton of classicmp hardware running most of it. -- 01000011 01001111 01001101 01001101 01001111 01000100 01001111 01010010 01000101 Larry Anderson - Sysop of Silicon Realms BBS (209) 754-1363 300-14.4k bps Set your 8-bit C= rigs to sail for http://www.portcommodore.com/ 01000011 01001111 01001101 01010000 01010101 01010100 01000101 01010010 01010011

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Sellam- Thet was Eric Dittman, not me! But I *did* write the "DELL RULES" one... ;) > -----Original Message----- > From: Sellam Ismail [mailto:foo@siconic.com] > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 5:43 PM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic > games issue? > > > On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Eric Dittman wrote: > > > No, I've had the miniPCI MODEM replaced as my system was > shipped with > > the Actiontec and I had specified the 3Com, so Dell sent a tech to > > swap the card. I also had the SXGA+ screen replaced twice. > The first > > screen developed a flicker, so they sent a tech to replace > the screen. > > I didn't the the second screen looked even, so they had a second > > screen replacement installed. I didn't have to make up any > excuse, I > > just told tech support I was unhappy with the way the LCD looked. > > Finally, I had a problem with the mouse developing a mind > of its own. > > The keyboard (with built-in eraser-head pointer) was replaced, and > > when the problem reoccurred they sent a new palmrest (which has the > > touchpad built-in), which fixed the problem. > > So, in other words, your laptop basically sucked as far as > quality goes? > :) > > > Each time the techs arrived the next day, with the replacement part > > and tools, and the techs (I've had three different techs) all knew > > what they were doing. > > Dell on-site tech support is subbed out to local contractors who are > supposed to be "Dell certified" or whatever. So that > explains why some > people may have good service, and others lousy, when it comes > to on-site > support. It depends on the local contractor. > > > So yes, I've had problems, and yes, Dell did give me outstanding > > support and service. > > Again, you got lucky. > > Sellam Ismail Vintage > Computer Festival > -------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------- > International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 6 months

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imsai for sale

by doc＠medhealth.com

I have an IMSAI box with a S100 bus, front panel and power suppy that I would like to sell. Can you direct me to the right site or group to attempt a sale? Thanks Tom C

23 years, 6 months

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Bought an IBM 5362 -- so now what do I do with this thing?

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/9/2002 7:41:25 PM Eastern Standard Time, out2sea00(a)yahoo.com writes: << I'm trying to track down resources for IBM System/36 and the model 5362. I just Ebay'd one (momentary insanity) and I need to start putting together all the apocrypha to go with it. All I'm getting is the system unit. I need to try and track down software, manuals and a display station first. Any pointers or assistance would be just lovely, and greatly appreciated. Thanks, Colin Eby Senior Consultant CSC Consulting >> I've a 5364, probably the same. anybody else got one? Mine's a desktop form factor and was lucky to get the dual floppy 5150 pc that seems to control it. I use the 5150 to IPL the 5364 and takes about 5 minutes. eventually I get a passwoid prompt and I dont know what it is. I'm not sure how the menus work. also got with it a 3194 twinax terminal but no keyboard so I can't use that right now. both units came with disks in their drives but not sure what their content is. I really should make a writeup about this beast on my collection site. It's really quite impressive. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 6 months

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Tek scope service manuals

by CLeyson＠aol.com

>Does anyone know of a source for Tek scope service manuals? >Of specific interest are: 2246A and 2430A Try www.manualsplus.com. They have a good stock of HP and TEK manuals. Chris

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL RULES! (RE: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic ga mes issue?)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Eric Dittman wrote: > > > > > Huh?! That was the last piece of business I'll EVER do with Dell. > > > > > > Dell service sucks donkey cock. Computers: good. Service: very bad. > > > > > > F Dell! > > > > I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 that works very well. I've had > > excellent results when I've had to call in for service. > > It would seem the majority of people I confer with have nothing but pain > and anguish leading to murderous thoughts when dealing with Dell. > > F Dell and it's namesake! Dell Sales sucks... Dell technical support sucks... Dell customer service sucks... But Dell peecees are the most stable peecees I've ever seen. Their notebooks are the same Acers everyone else sells. Just had to toss in a contrary viewpoint... ;) -dq

23 years, 6 months

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Tek scope service manuals

by mhstein＠usa.net

Me three! For a 310A, definitely a classic spaceheater. BTW, I have a service manual for the 4006-1 Computer Display Terminal, if anybody needs any info on this fine piece. mike ------------------Original Message-------------------- From: "Charles E. Fox" <foxvideo(a)wincom.net> Subject: Re: Tek scope service manuals At 03:44 PM 09/01/2002 -0600, you wrote: >Does anyone know of a source for Tek scope service manuals? > >Of specific interest are: 2246A and 2430A > >--tnx >--tom Me too, if anyone turns up info on the 604.

23 years, 6 months

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I love that ole "blue box" stuff

by dmabry＠mich.com

Someone has an Intel UPP on e-bay. I'm not sure how it could "appear to be functional", but maybe. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1320319997 -- Dave Mabry dmabry(a)mich.com Dossin Museum Underwater Research Team NACD #2093

23 years, 6 months

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Apple disk -> MSDOS

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/9/2002 9:14:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, lgwalker(a)mts.net writes: << As an aside there was a surplus dealer on the net that seemed to have a ream of Diamond Trackstar cards going for $30 up to at least a year ago when last I checked him and debated buying one. Lawrence >> i've a trackstar in a PS/2 model 30 as well as a mac LC with the //e option (and the cable too!) so I guess I have it easy doing transfers back and forth but just havent gotten a round tuit. (tm) -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 6 months

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Apple disk -> MSDOS

by mhstein＠usa.net

From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> >No PROBLEM, just impossible. Ah well, problem solved then. >> I think with a little software I could transfer it to one of my PETs via the cassette port, and from there it would be trivial to get to a PC, but I'm hoping there's an easier way. >Really? The PC can't do PET disks, either. But you MIGHT be able to interface one of the aftermarket IEEE488 drives to the Pet with some trivial hardware, and then interface it to the PC, and just write a file system for it. Well, no, I wasn't thinking disk-to-disk: >But, if you have a serial port on the Pet, then it'll be easy. I do; as well as Centronics parallel & a P-S converter. As a matter of fact, I archive PC BIOS settings this way when setting up a new system: Plug a P-S converter into the printer port, connect the serial to a laptop, press PrintScreen on each BIOS page and suck it up on the laptop; format, print & save. And speaking of kludges, how's this: I have a client who periodically needs to get data off the network to a standalone separate computer; trouble is, the data is only available on an inquiry screen and corporate guidelines do not permit any foreign S/W on the NT client nor any attachments to the network. So what I did was connect serial-out of the standalone to a serial to PC keyboard converter, serial-in to the client serial-out, and direct client printer O/P to the serial port. The standalone goes through its list of accounts, sends out each account number and the code to bring up the inquiry screen on the serial port (which the client sees as keyboard input), waits a second for the screen to come up, sends a code to print the screen and sucks it back in on the serial port for de-formatting and storing. Slow and ugly, but kind of elegant in its kludginess... >Or maybe you could program the cassette port of a 5150? That did occur to me 'cause I just happen to have one, but I think Altzheimer's would have taken over by the time THAT project was finished... >> I have a CompatiCard I and Uniform, and I still have... >Those will be nice for doing MFM diskettes. No help at all for GCR (Apple and Commodore). That's kind of what I gathered from the previous thread; just thought I'd double check. >> the T300 that no one wanted which can do 96TPI 640K >If you DO figure out a use for it, let me know. Somewhere around here are a few of them. I patched PC-Write to run on it, but never came up with anything else to do with it. Eventually I gave one to Toshiba's MRI division, because they couldn't get one throught their main corporation. Well, it runs dBase II and 123 quite nicely, and I used something called SED for text editing, but even with those excellent expensive 640K 96TPI diskettes one does get used to hard disks. Mind you with all the CD-ROM swapping these days it sometimes seems that we've gone back to the dual-floppy days; thank goodness there is software to put those CD-ROMs on HD. Hate to toss it, seems like the 96TPI drives might be useful some day, it certainly is well built and I happen to have lots of docs, but alas... You haven't run across the CP/M86 for it by any chance? - -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com

23 years, 6 months

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Anyone got a spare DSSI terminator?

by classiccmp＠knm.yi.org

Hi, I post about this occasionally, get a response or two, then hear nothing again :&) So here goes again.. I've got a MV3300 here in my kitchen/dining room, and it's missing a DSSI terminator... so if there's anyone out there with a spare.... :&) (Sad state of afairs - the guy I bought this MV3300 from scrapped the second drive enclosure and obviously never took the terminator :&/ So not only do I have a VMS install that expects 3 drives when there are only two there, but I'm also short of a terminator) -- Matt --- Web Page: http://knm.org.uk/ http://pkl.net/~matt/

23 years, 6 months

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Apple disk -> MSDOS

by mhstein＠usa.net

Well, yes, that is kinda obvious, but I'm not really inclined to upgrade before disposal. -------------------Original Message------------------- From: Lawrence LeMay <lemay(a)cs.umn.edu> <snip> > I'm about to get rid of my last Apple II clone <snip> Buy a super serial card on ebay and use it to transfer the files. - -Lawrence LeMay

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>no, I mean when calling in for support. I did phone support for IBM and >whenever a user called in after the first time, we had user info and call >history along with the type of computer all up on the screen. Ahh... ok... humm, now that I think of it, when I called Apple for support a few times, they used Caller ID to pull up my record and knew who I was, and all occasions I interacted with phone support, all before answering the phone. Yeah... for phone support, it is inexcusable for them not to be able to at least look up your info after asking something simple like name and zip code -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/9/2002 7:06:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, mythtech(a)Mac.com writes: << > I hate always having to >give my name, company and email address every time. they should have that >info already. No... they shouldn't even ASK for it... why does it matter who you are if you are browsing their support pages. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> >> no, I mean when calling in for support. I did phone support for IBM and whenever a user called in after the first time, we had user info and call history along with the type of computer all up on the screen. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 6 months

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Bought an IBM 5362 -- so now what do I do with this thing?

by out2sea00＠yahoo.com

Folks -- Please pardon the newbie.... I'm trying to track down resources for IBM System/36 and the model 5362. I just Ebay'd one (momentary insanity) and I need to start putting together all the apocrypha to go with it. All I'm getting is the system unit. I need to try and track down software, manuals and a display station first. Any pointers or assistance would be just lovely, and greatly appreciated. Thanks, Colin Eby Senior Consultant CSC Consulting end __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/

23 years, 6 months

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Some pointers needed on a 11/70

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jan 9, 22:42, The Wanderer wrote: > Odd enough, when I changed the SSR, the memory starts now at 1400000 and > runs > through 1477777, very odd. That suggests some unwanted interaction between the SSR and the memory bus. Very odd. > Tomorrow I'll step through all the entries listed in your last mail, it > may very > well be the case that the address and/or data buffer of the memory box > are faulty, > in which case I have to get a new one. Well, I wish you good luck with it. Keep us posted on progress... -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>While I generally refrain from joining OT posts, this one I have to. I >bought an Inspiron from Dell a few >months ago. The invoice added $1000 to the price! > >I called them, and after being on hold for an hour, they agreed it was a >mistake, and said they would credit >my account. > >Two months later, no credit! I called again, and after an hour on hold, >was told I was not credited, because >I had not proved to them what their price was!!!! They said they could >not verify the price, unless I faxed >them the "Quote". The price was posted on their website!!!! There was no >written quote!!!! > >I said I would fax them a picture of their web page (which I had made). >The fax was a toll call!!! > >I am still waiting for the refund. > >I categorize them as crooks. I am assuming you called your credit card company as soon as you saw this charge and had it marked as under dispute? -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by mythtech＠Mac.com

> I hate always having to >give my name, company and email address every time. they should have that >info already. No... they shouldn't even ASK for it... why does it matter who you are if you are browsing their support pages. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 6 months

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Tek scope service manuals

by djg＠drs-esg.com

>Does anyone know of a source for Tek scope service manuals? > >Of specific interest are: 2246A and 2430A > I haven't found much of scanned manuals online. For older manuals at good price I have used Dean Kidd 27270 SW Ladd Hill Rd Sherwood, OR 97140 tel 503-625-7363 dektyr(a)teleport.com Also see list http://www.3rdtech.com/nick/boat/manuals.htm (Manual merchants/manuals plus I think have online manual search, or web search for model # and manual)

23 years, 6 months

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PLD help

by swtpc6800＠attbi.com

I use the Xilinx XC9500 family of CPLDs. They are 5 volt and come in PLCC packages. (You can socket these and even get wire wrap sockets.) The design software is free and the programming is simple. The official download cable is $95 but I have built several for under $15. (Xilinx publishes the schematic.) You can find links to the Xilinx web site plus a design example (floppy disk controller) on this web page. http://home.attbi.com/~swtpc6800/ ------------------------------- Michael Holley swtpc6800(a)attbi.com www.swtpc.com ------------------------------- > Hello, all: > > Well, I'm picking up the 6502 SBC project that I started last year. > To reduce chip count I'd like to use Atmel PLDs for address decoding. I > downloaded some app notes from Atmel's web site but are there any practical > tips for using/programming these devices for use in a hobbyist project? > > Rich > > ========================== > Richard A. Cini, Jr. > Congress Financial Corporation > 1133 Avenue of the Americas > 30th Floor > New York, NY 10036 > (212) 545-4402 > (212) 840-6259 (facsimile) >

23 years, 6 months

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OT: DELL SUCKS! Re: PC Gamer, best 50 classic games issue?

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 1/9/2002 3:23:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, dittman(a)dittman.net writes: << > > > > Huh?! That was the last piece of business I'll EVER do with Dell. > > > > > > Dell service sucks donkey cock. Computers: good. Service: very bad. > > > > > > F Dell! > > > > I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 that works very well. I've had > > excellent results when I've had to call in for service. > > It would seem the majority of people I confer with have nothing but pain > and anguish leading to murderous thoughts when dealing with Dell. > > F Dell and it's namesake! I wonder why the disparity exists? -- >> I've never a problem when I've had to call on a Poweredge series. Not sure how the consumer side of support is. One time I did call about a failed hard drive that was ticking like a clock. I had to convince the guy to just send me a replacement withouth having to go through his script. The premiersupport.dell.com site is pretty good although I hate always having to give my name, company and email address every time. they should have that info already. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

23 years, 6 months

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Tek scope service manuals

by tuban＠cisco.com

Does anyone know of a source for Tek scope service manuals? Of specific interest are: 2246A and 2430A --tnx --tom

23 years, 6 months

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Continuing PDP11 saga

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jan 9, 9:12, Tom Leffingwell wrote: > > I tried taking an M8027 and setting its address to 170400, to make it look > like the ADV11-C. However, when typing that address before and after I > installed the board, at the @ prompt, it returned 177777. Whatever the address you set, it wasn't 170400... > Also, the > DRV11, at 167770, does the same thing. The DRV11-B gives 000000 (at > 772410), although at the CSR (772414) it gives 006800. Well, if you're using 18-bit addressing -- which you must be if the DRV11-B responds to 772410 rather than 17772410 -- then all the I/O addresses begin 77.... rather than 17.... 17.... in ODT would address the memory. I/O addresses are often given as 17.... for older QBus devices, because the original LSI/11 used 16-bit addressing. You have to mentally add two or six more '1's on the front for an 11/23 or later processor. > My printer card that I tried to use as a fake ADV11 has jumpers on pin 12 > and pin 8, with the rest removed. Is this correct for setting it to > 170400? No, 'fraid not. This is an LPV11, M8027? The jumpers that go between the two pins in each of the pairs labelled A3 to A12 set the address, a jumper inserted makes it a '0' and "no jumper" sets a '1' in that bit position. You can't control address bits 13 or higher, nor can you control A0...A2. A0 doesn't matter, A1 distinguishs the CSR address from the buffer address (one word higher), and A2 is fixed at binary '1' -- so this card can never be set to anything that doesn't end in octal '4'. If all the jumpers are out except A8 and A12, that would set binary 1110111011111100 as the base address, which is octal 167374. Not quite what you wanted :-) The closest you can get is binary 1111000100000100 (the leftmost bits are already set, A12 should be out, A11...A9 in, A8 out, A7..A3 in, A2 is set to a '1' and can't be changed, and the other two are "don't care") or octal 170404. > I noticed on the DRV11 card that it says jumper in = logic 0. That one > has one jumper on pin 12, which I assume gives it the proper address of > 167770. This one appears unmodified from the factory. That's right. The jumper sets address bit 12 to 0, so you get binary 1110111111111000. > Are my jumpers on the printer card the opposite of what they should > be? Is 177777 what is returned for a missing board? If I have the > jumpers reversed on the printer card, that would explain that situation, > but it doesn't explain the DRV11, unless its bad. Yes, you have the jumper sense wrong on the printer card. What you get back from a non-existent address depends on the bus termination, but all-ones is plausible. Maybe you have a bad DRV11, or maybe you've overlooked a jumper. At least some of the CSR bits should read as zeros. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 6 months

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Let me try this again

by mranalog＠attbi.com

Hi All, Last week I was looking for someone to host some Data I/O manuals. Sorry about that, I had no idea that they were already on the web. I thought they were created by the person that gave them to me. So now I have some scanned pages that someone might want to host. I believe that these are pretty rare and kind of historic. And again I want to get them out there to be a part of the Great Record and not be misplaced here in the Great Pile. And as before, let me know if these are already available somewhere else. Now the story. Well about 8 years ago I was in my favorite Bay Area electronic surplus store - Mike Quinn Electronics. At the time, they were still in the Quonset hut at Oakland Airport. I bought a pile of books and manuals. And when I got home I discovered among the books 3 handwritten and xeroxed, double-sided sheets stapled together entitled "MINI-MINI COMPUTER". The six pages described the design of a computer built using four core planes from an IBM 1401. At the time it was written, these core planes were available from Mike Quinn's for less than $9 each. The pages had no date on them, just the author's name and address. In 1999 I decided to track down this Hal A. Chamberlin Jr. Hal (I learned) is the author of the well regarded book "Musical Applications of Microprocessors". And I DON'T KNOW, but maybe the same Hal that started "The Computer Hobbyist". I contacted Hal in 1999 (at the time he was in Korea) and this is some of what he said: ---------- Start Quote -------------------------- > I'm searching for a Hal Chamberlin that at one time > lived at 123 Ashe Ave. Raleigh, N.C. > I'm trying to track down information about the > "MINI-MINI COMPUTER". > Thank you for your time, Hi, you've reached me. Where in the world did you find that address? That's where I lived when going to North Carolina State University junior and senior years! Right now I'm living in Korea but will be back in the 'States in a bit less than a year. The "MINI-MINI COMPUTER" is a paper design I did shortly after graduating in response to requests from hobbyists around the country about how to make a core memory unit function. It was a slimmed down version of the computer I had successfully built and run year earlier called the HAL-4096. MINI-MINI was described rather completely on 2-4 (don't remember exactly) hand-printed letter-size pages which I reproduced via blueprint machine. I filled about a dozen requests for copies but never heard of anybody actually building one. I have at least one set of the original blueprints in my archives in America. I take it from your by-line that you have a museum of sorts that concentrates on analog computation. MINI-MINI was strictly digital with 4000 (not 4K) 4-bit words of core memory. Each word could hold one octal digit plus a "flag" bit which was used to indicate the boundaries between words and whether a word was negative or positive. Thus it was a variable word length machine like an IBM 1620. Instructions were 10 digits long and consisted of 2-digit opcode and two 4-digit addresses. There was no accumulator; everything was memory-to-memory so one instruction could do a lot. Although MINI-MINI was probbly never built (at least not by me), HAL-4096 WAS built and ran from around 1970 until around 1979 when I moved from New Hampshire back to Raleigh (it was retired then and didn't make the move because wires in the core memory were corroding and breaking). I have some photos, a newspaper clipping, some of the homemade boards it used, perhaps a memory plane sample, and some software listings. It was a pretty complete system with full console, Selectric typewriter (and later a line printer), card reader, card punch, paper tape reader and punch, and modem (300 baud). Software included a full-featured assembler and BASIC interpreter, a version of which was remotely accessible via auto-answer modem (Bill Gates, eat your heart out - I beat ya by more than 2 years). There were tons of utilities and some experimental music synthesis software (the real reason it was built). I've still got much of the software on paper tapes, card decks, and printed listings. --------- End Quote -------------------------------------- I just contacted Hal again to nail down the date that these pages were written. And he said: --------- Start Quote ---------------------------------- > I was wondering, in what year the handout was written? I graduated with a BS in the Spring of 1970 so that would have been the Summer of that year. I believe that Mike Quinn had suggested that I write some plans for using IBM 1401 core memory planes which he had in abundance at the time and that was the result. It was really based on the then running HAL 4096 which used a larger IBM 1620 memory unit. >Did you know that there is a page at: >http://www.mtu.com/basics/mtufounders.htm that states: >> In 1966 as a college freshman, Hal designed his >> own digital computer (the HAL 4096) using scrap >> IBM magnetic core memory planes and logic cards. >> .... The HAL4096 was demonstrated publicly at the >> 1968 NC State University Engineer's Fair. That web site is run by my former business partner at MTU. The HAL 4096 wasn't really begun until 1968 (beginning of Junior year) when I got the core memory unit from Mike Quinn and some logic boards from IBM where I had worked the immediately preceeding Summer. What was shown at the Engineer's Fair was the core memory and ALU doing "something useful" (don't remember what it was) but the CPU didn't execute the full instruction set and have any useful software until 1969-1970. > Thank you for your time. Many people today are > interested in this kind of history. And your > design is a good indication of the type of serious > projects that were being attempted at the time. Again, feel free to do what you want with the MINI-MINI plans. --------- End Quote ------------------------------------ If these pages are not already available and someone would like to host them, let me know. Like I said before I'm not sure what the effect of many people trying to download this file would be, so I will give the filename to one person. And that person can make them available to anyone interested. The scans are a little rough but then the originals are 30 years old and copies from a blueprint machine. The 6 pages are 8.5x11 scanned at 300 dpi stored as .JPGs and zipped together for a total file size of about 15.5 MB!! Oh! and I'm on digest. Regards, --Doug And if I still have anyone's attention, does anyone know where I can find program to do Group 4 fax compression under Windows 98? Or a program to put a .PDF wrapper around scanned pages (for the budget conscious) under Windows 98? Thanks, --Doug ========================================= Doug Coward @ home in Poulsbo, WA Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center http://dcoward.best.vwh.net/analog Analogrechner, calculateur analogique, calcolatore analogico, analoogrekenaar, komputer analogowy, analog bilgisayar, kampiutere ghiyasi, analoge computer. =========================================

23 years, 6 months

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Some pointers needed on a 11/70

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jan 8, 10:44, The Wanderer wrote: > Pete Turnbull wrote: > > > > OK. From what you've written there, and a few other places, I assume you > > have some manuals and/or printsets? > > Most of them, but from the MK11 memory box, only the MOS board and both > controller boards. That's a pity, bacause he manual for the MK11 system has a lot of troubleshooting flow charts -- too much for me to try to reproduce. And it has the setup instructions, of course. > > > > That's an unusual address, and it's only 32K bytes (16KW). You said > > you > > > > had two 64KW boards. What type are they? They probably have switches > > Are they M8728-AA or M8728-CA? The latter is only 16KW. The easy way to > > tell the difference, if there's no -A or -C beside the number, is that > > One is a '-AA' version, the other is a '-AC' one, and both are fully > populated. >From reading the manual, it looks like two arrays (M8728) is the minimum for the box. It might work with one, though. > There are no switches at the front of the box, unless you mean the > control panel > which contains the thumbwheel switches and a few other switches? Yes, that's what I meant. The three thumbwheel switches on the left set the start address of the box, in 32KW blocks. That's the smallest size you can have in a box, and since the arrays are either 16KW or 64KW I think you need to have at least two (but you can have an odd number, eg 3, after that -- it just won't do any interleaving). Anyway, set these three to zero. The other thumbwheel (?) switch sets the external interleave; it has to be set to zero unless you are interleaving between multiple boxes. Then the cards have to be in the correct slots. Looking from the front, slot 1 is on the right, and slot 26 is on the left, PSU regulators are at the back. The address buffer (M8158) must be in slot 13, the data buffer (M8159) in slot 15. The #0 Control A board (M8160) must be in slot 11 and the #1 Control A board in slot 16. The #0 Control B board (M8161) must be in slot 10 and the #1 Control A board in slot 17. The #0 controllers handle the even-numbered arrays, in slots 2...9; the #1 controllers handle the odd-numbered arrays, in slots 18...25. Slots 1,12,14,26 are not used. You must set the power-fail jumpers on the M8158. The manual says W1 out, W2 in; W3 out, W4 in. I'm not sure if that's always true. I don't know what you do if you don't want the battery backup! You must also put terminators on the outgoing connectors on the address and data buffers of the last box (the only box, in your case). These are H873 terminator packs, four altogether, one for each BC06R cable. The incoming cables go on J1 and J3 (nearest the long edge of the board), and the terminators go on J2 and J4. You MUST put the screws in the terminators, as that's how they get the power. The first array, #0, must go in slot 9, and the next, #1, in slot 18. Then work out from the centre if you ever add more. There must not be any gaps. If there are some 16K boards and some 64K boards, the 16K boards must all be before the 64K ones. > Do you have documentation on the data buffer board? This one does have 2 > switchbanks, and all are currently 'open'. Those 2 boards are the > only one for which I do not have any docs. I didn't see anything about switches on the data buffer. The address buffer is described as having three switches to set the CSR address of the box. For the first box, set address 17777100 by setting S1, S2, and S3 all closed. For the next box, open S1. For the third, open S2, close S1. And so on. Ech box uses two words for the CSR. > > It looks as though the box might be set to the wrong address -- 400000 > > is > > 131072 decimal, or 128K -- and is only showing 16KW (32KB) of memory. I > > don't know how you set the address of the box, though. > > I changed the size register on the 8143 to 32K, and it 'disappeared' > completely > from the system, i.e. no memory address was usable. The MK11 logic checks the address on the bus to make sure it's between the limits set by the size register in the CPU, and it's start address. If the address on the bus is less than the box's start address, or higher than the size register, it will not respond. > > Why do you think address 777644 is the diagnostics ROM start address? > > That was a mistake, I did mean 765744, which is spoken about in the > documentation. That's not an entry point! It's not even executable code, it's the ROM Identification word. It contains the ASCII characters "B0" to identify the ROM. The only entry points are: 773x04 to boot without diagnostics 773x06 to boot with diagnostics aaaaaa address dependant on the bootstrap ROM version, which jumps to 765564 in the diagnostic ROM 765564 JMP to start of diagnostics 765000 start of disgnostic code Obviously there are other points at which you could enter the diagnostics, but you'd need to set some things in memory and registers first. BTW, I discovered you can disable the cache by setting 000014 in the status register at 17777746. If the cache is faulty, but enabled, the memory box won't work properly, apparently. I don;t think that's your problem, though. More like a start address error. The first part of the troubleshooting flowchar starts by saying that you want to boot XXDP and run the MK112 diagnostic program :-) Well, obviously you can't do that, but it does say that if you can't boot, then first check ALL the power supplies (sound advice anyway). The next part of the flowchart goes like this: 1) Can you boot XXDP? If "no", is the memory box ON LINE? If "no", put it ON LINE and go back to (1) If "yes", is MEM PWR READY lit? If "no", "ZAP 200" [I have no idea what this means!] If "yes", suspect (in this order): BA11K regulator 7014251 battery backup regulator 11/70 Unibus problem If "no", reverse or replace the grey box control cable If "yes", is "UNCORR ERROR"? If "yes", go to next sheet [which is too complex to type] If "no", is there an "ADDR ERROR"? If "yes", suspect (in order): bad or loose BC06R cable address interface, M8158 11/70 cache fault If "no", halt CPU power memory box off power memory box on again Is there "CONFIG ERROR"? If "yes", install arrays properly suspect Control A (M8160) on right side If "no", is "SELECT PANEL" lit? If "yes", go to next sheet If "no", set "FORCE FRONT PANEL" Is it lit? If "no", suspect (in order): "Reset Box" control cable switch or light on box controller data buffer, M8159 If "yes", suspect (in order): data buffer, M8159 address buffer, M8158 Maybe this will be of some help. > > All the 11/70 tests halt on error [...] > > So having it loop until you stop it, and then halt at some address > > ending > > in 344 doesn't make much sense to me. I wonder if it was trying to store data in 000700...000706 (which it does at the very start of the diagnostics), getting a bus error (no memory), trying to access the trap vector at the bottom of memory, getting a bus error for that too, and just getting stuck until you halted it. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 6 months

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Compukit UK101

by Adrian.Graham＠corporatemicrosystems.com

Hi folks, After the cap questions I got the new ones put back on my bare-board machine last night, re-socketed all the chips, resoldered the power connections etc (they looked a bit iffy) and switched on..... ....and got a screenful of garbage. Hmm. Then I hit both RESET keys..... and got a boot prompt! Woo! At this point I know I can either go into the Monitor or Basic or whatever (ROMS are on the board) but none of the keys would do anything apart from RESET. This made me connect up my other UK101 (with the lovely injection-moulded bright orange case :) and that one gets as far as the screen of garbage and won't reset. I'm suspecting keyboard problems on both machines, but if anyone can remember how they booted that'd be smart. I'm off to check the official UK101 web page to see if there's any tips there too. cheers! a

23 years, 6 months

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test-drb January 2002