test-drb January 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

303 participants
1201 discussions

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

For what its worth, I have a full set of S/38 (5381) maintenance manuals, etc... Dumpster dived them one night. Will J _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

22 years, 10 months

New Buy & VMS help wanted

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On January 31, Pat Finnegan wrote: > > Wow, nice machine! :-) The ST506 MFM interface maxes out at > > 160MB...those are probably ESDI drives. And if they are, I'm > > jealous. :-) > > Could be ESDI... the 'boot monitor' (excuse my lack of knowledge of proper > terms) calls them RA81's (?!?!?). The connectors look like ST-506, which > is why I called them that. I didn't bother looking up that board when I > 'ripped' it apart (very carefully) for cleaning. Thanks to Gordon, I'm > gonna be getting a QT13 pertec controller, which will replace the TK50 > controller most likely. Ahhh, 9 track tapes. :) SWEET, an ESDI controller that does MSCP. Very nice. :-) > Any idea if I could put another QBUS KA650 card in here and make it > dual-cpu? I'm doubtful, but it'd be cool to try I think. Nope. These are uniprocessor machines. I believe there was a hack long ago that allowed the use of two KA630 boards in a system, but it didn't go very far, and I don't think it's possible with the KA650. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

22 years, 10 months

Computer Museum of America on Tuesday night's PBS NOVA (fwd)

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>Um? You don't have to. MacOS has AVI / DivX playback. So does Linux, and >presumably FreeBSD (avifile, xine, etc.). >Personally, I'd quite like a DivX version of the programme. AVI is a pretty loose term in the Windows world. I have TONS of AVIs I can't play on my Mac because of lack of the correct codec (and they don't exist on the mac at all). But then there are others that play just fine. Same goes with DivX, although at least there, the Mac isn't as left out (it tends to be a little behind the curve of DivX versions, but so far, I have been able to play most DivX movies). Personally, I am up in the air about DivX on the Mac. It makes VERY nice quality videos, in a very small size, but at least in my playing, lacks the ability to scrub thru the video. That means I can fast forward, but only blindly (I can move the playback marker forward, but the video will not update as I do, so it is random hunt and peck). For that reason, I much prefer MPEG, since you get decent quality and decent file size, and can scrub thru a video, so you can stop when you hit something interesting looking. I just don't like Muxed MPEGs, since I can't unMux them on the Mac, which means I can't burn then to VCD on the mac (Sparkle's MPEGSplitter doesn't seem to work on any of the muxed files I have tried, always errors out without even trying) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

22 years, 10 months

Video provisions on S-100 frames (was Re: 80 col Apple ][)

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

>Additionally, I've actually never seen a 3rd-party S-100 box that made >any >provision for video signal to an external monitor at all. I've tried to resist, but.... I had an Icom Attache, made by Pertec. It was basically an Altair 8800bt (Turnkey), with an integrated keyboard and video capabilities. It was in a nice case, kinda like a large Apple II case (which it was desinged to compete against). Composite video output used a BNC connector. Rich B. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

22 years, 10 months

New Buy & VMS help wanted

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On January 31, Pat Finnegan wrote: > I just got a VAXstation 3200 today for about $15... Amazingly enough, it > boots up to VMS 5.3-1 (can't log in though.) Can anyone recommend a good > guide for using VMS that's either avalible at a good book store or > (preferred) availble online? > > Specs: 8 line serial card (forgot to look at the model #), TK-50 > controller (didn't grab the drive, but might do that tomorrow..), 8-plane > framebuffer, 2x8M QBus memory cards, 2x760M ST-506 interface hard drives, > DELQA ethernet, KA650-B cpu card, (and that's about all I think...) > > pics at http://purdueriots.com/imgs/vs3200-back-lores.jpg > and http://purdueriots.com/imgs/vs3200-front-lores.jpg Wow, nice machine! :-) The ST506 MFM interface maxes out at 160MB...those are probably ESDI drives. And if they are, I'm jealous. :-) -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

22 years, 10 months

80 col Apple ][

by mhstein＠canada.com

Got my answer in the meantime (thanks, Frank); forgot about the digest delay, sorry. mike --- > Still no reply to my question about 80 cols on an Apple][ though; surely > there's somebody out there who has an answer?

22 years, 10 months

Looking for a WD 1001 55 Disk controller

by mhstein＠canada.com

In case it's useful, I have a controller card out of an external dual HD that sounds very similar, but made by Quality Computer Services in Metuchen, NJ. It has an N8X300I and a bunch of WD1100V series chips, all socketed, and a 40 pin interface connector (as well as the three HD connectors of course). mike ------Original Message------- Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 20:01:43 -0700 From: "Richard Erlacher" <edick(a)idcomm.com> Subject: Re: Looking for a WD 1001 55 Disk controller The WD1001 is a board using the WD 1100 chipset supported with an 8x300/305-type microcontroller. Dick

22 years, 10 months

11/03 v 11/23

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On January 31, John Allain wrote: > I am thinking of getting a hacked LSI-11 > machine that somebody has. It has the chip > in it and an 18 bit bus (he thinks). Is it > then an '03, because of the smaller bus, or > is there some other criteron? > I tried two related DEC books (Microcomputer > Processors, Micro/PDP Handbook), one book is > 16 bit, the other 22, nothing on 18 so perhaps > my source is wrong? Nono...The 11/23 does 22-bit addressing, except for the very early revs of the KDF11-A board on which only 18 address lines were used. The 11/03 has 16 bit addressing only. When you say "the chip"...what chip are you talking about? If it has a 40-pin DIP with two square chip carriers on it, that's an F11...making it a pdp11/23. If it has a row of "ordinary" 40-pin chips, then it's a pdp11/03. Let us know what you find... -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

22 years, 10 months

Video provisions on S-100 frames (was Re: 80 col Apple ][

by mhstein＠canada.com

UNCLE! (And my apologies to the list for reviving a thread that had thankfully petered out; I shoulda known I'd wake up Richard). My only excuse is that I'm on the digest version & not always current. Goshdarn it, Richard, I was sort of agreeing with you that BNCs were not very common; all my monitors from that era also use UHF connectors for the industrial/CCTV ones, and RCA jacks for the computer monitors (but I didn't have the guts to challenge Tony's assertion that there were no computer monitors in the Apple][ era). Although others on the list apparently do have systems that actually have BNC connectors, I must confess that I based my assertion on the fact that both my Vector Graphics and Cromemco chassis have the distinctive 'D' cutouts for BNC connectors on the back panel, so I assumed that cards like the Dazzler either came with a cable to connect to a BNC jack, or it was expected that you made your own. I could install a BNC jack, though, and send you a picture. I think there's a scientific principle that says it's easy to prove that there are three-legged ducks if you have one, but to state categorically that they don't exist anywhere is not so easy to justify. Let's just say that in the computers of that day, if it could be done, somebody probably did it, and let it go at that (after you have the last word, of course :-). Still no reply to my question about 80 cols on an Apple][ though; surely there's somebody out there who has an answer? mike ---------------Original Message-------------- Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 08:38:26 -0700 From: "Richard Erlacher" <edick(a)idcomm.com> Subject: Video provisions on S-100 frames (was Re: 80 col Apple ][) I'd be really interested in knowing specifics about this, if you have them. I've got several S-100 boxes, and not a one has any accomodation for video signal from an internal source. I did, in the rar distant past, own a couple of systems, at least one of which was from Vector Graphics, <snip>

22 years, 10 months

Packrat genome project questions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jan 29, 10:28, Mike Ford wrote: > How many people on this list still have their 1st computer? second? third? > every computer you ever used/owned? The very first computer I used was an Elliott 4100 which belonged to a large local bank. I was at secondary (high) school, and we wrote programs in Algol on coding forms, handed them in, and got printout back a week later. Usually it was an error listing, unfortunately. Well, it taught me the worh of desk testing and dry-running at an early age:-) I never got to see the computer, though. The school did have it's own Teletype (ASR33) and I got to admire that. If you ever come across a copy, the textbook we used was "Computer Programming for Schools: First steps in Algol", by Donald Michie, Andrew Ortony, and R.M.Burstall. The teacher thanked in the preface for class-testing the material was my maths teacher, and I still have my original copy of the book. It cost 10 shillings (50p, or about 70 cents) in 1969. The next machine I came across would have been one of the three PDP-8s at a high school where I worked as a technician about 1980. They had a PDP-8/E, and 8/F (I think), and one other which I can't remember, as well as a similar-sized HP. The 8/F was mounted on a frame with castors and often connected to a VDU; the 8/E was in a rack with two TU56s, and the other, called EDWARD (Electronic Device With Auxiliary Rotating Disks) was in a dual rack with a high speed papertape reader, a pair of RK05s, and some extra core. It also had a VDU and (wonder of wonders) a "fast" Anadex 8000 parallel printer. The 8/E ran one of the multiuser Edusystem OSs, though I can't remember which one; it had three ASR33s attached. I never got any of those machines, though I kept in touch with some of the enthusiasts amoung the staff. Some years ago, I was saddened to discover on a trip to help them with the 11/34 that replaced the -8s, that all the -8 stuff had been junked when it became too hard to look after. However, I now have a PDP-8/E of my own, though not as well endowed as the one at that school. The same school got an Apple ][ while I was there, and one of the early (pre-production) BBC Micros. I now have an Apple ][+ of my own, not from that school, but from one nearby. When I left that school to work as a microcomputer technician at a local college (run by the same Local Education Authority) I bought an Exidy Sorcerer. I sold that eventually, but kept in touch with its new owner for a while. I eventually got a replacement a few years ago. I used to use a converted TV with it, but eventually bought a little 9" mono monitor, which I still have (it's useful because it has a wide sync range and unusually large brightness and gain ranges). The college had several PETs, a few 2001's and several 3000 and 4000 series, some with a MuPET disk sharing "network". It was horribly unreliable, I remember, due to long ribbon cables, flaky connectors, and fairly awful software. I don't have any of those college machines, but I do have a 2001-8K and an 8050 dual drive, and used to have a 3032. My first printer was a Creed 7 teleprinter, with a Heath Robinson arrangement of mains transformers mounted on plywood, and a kludge board to convert current-loop to sort-of-RS232. I remember having great trouble finding 10_1/2" fanfold paper for it, as most paper by then was 11_1/2" wide. Luckily a friend who worked at the computer centre at oneof the banks got me some. The next problem was getting the right baud rate, so I made a little adapter to fit in the Sorcerer, so it generated 50 baud and 300 baud on the serial interface instead of 300 and 1200. The last problem was the character set -- 5-bit teleprinter code, not ASCII. I hand-assembled a driver to deal with that. I found the original tape the other day. Oh, and I remember removing some of the print hammers and modifying them so that by overstriking, I could do a reasonable impression of most of the characters in the uppper-case ASCII set. I inherited some money from a relative a year or two later, and replaced the TV with the monitor, and the Creed with a Centronics 737. I worked out how to make the 8039 MCU in the printer read an external ROM instead of the on-chip code, and turned my 737 into a 739 (the main difference is the ability to print graphics). I still have the printer. At the college, I got more interested in BBC Micros, and got two of my own. I sold the Sorcerer to pay for the first one, a Model A, and saved for a while to buy the parts to upgrade it to a Model B. Then I got another Model B, and much later another, and other models. Some time around 1984/85 I wired two rooms in the house with an Econet network for the Beebs. I don't have those original machines any more (I hope one day I'll catch up with the *** who borrowed Serial No. 629 and never returned it) but I have several of about the same age. In fact I've had (and still have) quite a lot of Acorn stuff, as evntually I went to work for them. I still have my first Archimedes, serial number 0000002. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

22 years, 10 months

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test-drb January 2002