In a message dated 9/1/2002 12:29:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
kenziem(a)sympatico.ca writes:
> On Sunday 01 September 2002 06:07, Tothwolf wrote:
> >
> >I am currently trying to figure out how to clean/salvage books that were
> >exposed to the water, and since the texts are irreplaceable, I'm hesitant
> >in what I try. Many books have a very fine powder-like mold on their
> >covers, while the pages are ok. Some books have small amounts of mold
> >growing on the edges of the pages.
> >
> Get the books into a freezer!
>
> They will freeze dry and the cold will slow/stop the mold growth.
>
I did that once, but I dont think just placing them in the freezer is enough
detail. I had ice crystals on my books. I guess they have to go in plastic
bags.
Stopped at a new thrift in the area Friday and picked up several books (19)
and one is titled The Hard Disk Technical Guide by Douglas T. Anderson PCS
Publications March 1991. In it all list of various hard drives and their
spec's but the best part is the listing of various controller cards and
their jumper setting's (93 pages). There is lots of other good information
in it and it's a total of 224 pages long and cost me a big 20 cents plus
tax. This will help a lot in working with older cards when trying to get the
right jumper settings. If anyone needs help with a card email me and I will
see if it's listed in the book.
I am looking for the EISA "CFG" file for the trident tvga8900c video card.
If you have it or know where I can get it, it would be appreciated.
Mac Mccurdy
mac_mcc3(a)juno.com
Some 20 odd years after it was decommisioned we finally got our PDP-9 to
boot software off an old DECTape. Advanced Software System version 5A
came up today for the first time on our restored -9.
This after a long and frustrating summer when we spent over 100 man
hours chasing a processor fault which resulted in the execution of the
saved PC value after an interrupt (instead of the word after the saved
PC value). Turned out to be a misaligned delay circuit which caused a
reset signal to arrive late and provoke all sorts of havoc in the
processor while nicely reseting all the tell-tales.
Seems like the memory and processor hardware is quite stable now. We
have two DECtape units attached with two more units availabe to be
attached. Further debug on the DECtapes and learning the software will
be followed by attachemnt of TU20 mag tape units.
If anyone knows of an available (and cheap) large X-Y plotting scope
preferably somewhere in europe we would be very interested in hearing
>from you. We have a graphics controller but no large screen. With the
screen, the DECtapes and the TU20's this is going to be one impressive
system.
We also used the -9 for the first time today to try and recover an image
>from an old Elliott 903 paper tape I was given in the UK recently. Due
to operator error that attempt failed but I fully expect to be able to
get a tape image this weekend.
-- hbp
This reply is a bit late, but I just received my digests this
morning....
Although I have contributed some items, the Sol site is Jim Battle's -
not mine. It is a wonderful resource for Processor Technology, the Sol,
and also has some NorthStar materials. Jim's SolACE emulator is one of
the best classic computer emulators I am familiar with. So if you
haven't been there, I suggest a visit:
http://www.thebattles.net/sol20/sol.html
Bob Stek
Saver of Lost Sols
Hello all. I am looking for MSDOS software from the early 1980's. I have
some leads, but not many. Specifically, what I want is the entire PC-BLUE,
PC-SIG, and any other similar collections. I would prefer to download them
>from someone and burn my own CDs but if you have them on CD-ROM and you are
willing to sell that is fine. Here are what leads I have.
I looked on google for PC-BLUE and found that oak.oakland.edu apparently
had everything but are long gone. I used to download from there in 1997
but apparently there are no full mirrors left. However, ftp.mirror.ac.uk
has several disks but nothing past 1989. I know that there were more than
this by a 1991 post I found from the old simtel20 indicating that volumes
were still being added. I would like the full set, even files into the 1990's.
Regarding PC-SIG, google showed almost nothing at all. I tried every set
of keywords I could think of, but there is very little to be found. Again,
ftp.mirror.ac.uk had quite a bit but cut off at 1989. I know they had at
least 1,000 disks, probably over 2,000. I used to download them from a
local BBS many years ago, so I know they sold a CD-ROM. If I could buy or
download that somehow I would be very happy. They are now out of
business. Amazon might have it but I doubt it since they cannot get them
>from the publisher and have been known to offer items which they did not
really have.
Finally, I found another directory called COMUG which I assume was another
user group. Does anyone know if there are any other disks from them
besides those posted? I am in the US. You can write either on or off-list
if you can help. I have no ftp upload space unfortunately. I can use .iso
CD images. Sorry if this is off topic, but the FAQ seems to not be working.
Thanks to the local college boyz, I now have a slightly misused P70 to play
on. The previous owner was kind enough to break off the retaining clips
when he pulled the memory, but other than that it seems to be usable.
Booting without any memory elicts a `211' error early in the POST, and
booting with one or more of 8MB (IIRC) SIMMS gives a 225 error. I did a
little research, and it seems that the max SIMM it'll take is a 2MB parity
part, I know don't have any of those. Anyone happen to have a spare 8MB
kit? Also, I'm looking for the S/370 card for it, if anyone has an extra
they'd like to get rid of. ^_^
Bob
On Aug 31, 18:59, Erik S. Klein wrote:
> I just received one of William's ASR33s and it appears to be in good
> working order. I am not at all familiar with these machines so I have a
> few questions about their operation and interfacing.
>
> First off, when I power on this unit the "main" motor doesn't run. It
> turns when moved manually, but it won't move by itself. Depending on
> the motor position at power-up (I think) I sometimes hear what sounds
> like a warning buzzer. Is there something I'm doing wrong? How would I
> run this machine in "local" mode?
Sounds vaguely similar to a problem I have (occasionally) with mine.
Sometimes the motor noise starts to rise and fall slightly, as if the
motor is struggling; eventually it blows the fuse. In my case, I suspect
the problem is something binding (needing adjustment) and/or needing
correct lubrication. There are lots of parts that need lubrication, and
it's definitely NOT a case of oiling or greasing everything in sight!
There should be a knob on the front right. Turn left for online, centre
off, right for local.
> Once I figure out that this machine is working (I assume the problems
> are mine and not the machines) I'd like to hook it up to my Altair
> (which is now running great thanks to Dwight!). How would I go about
> doing this? I'm guessing I'll need some sort of box to interface
> between the TTY and RS232, but I haven't yet found any information on
> that. Can anyone point me to an article, website or some other source
> of information on this?
You'll need a couple of RS232-to-20mA current loop converter circuits, one
for the Tx line and one for Rx. Usually a small power supply, a couple of
opto-isolators, and just a few other components.
> What am I missing? Is there anything else I should know?
Probably ;-) But I'd get the machine working in local mode before you
start worring about interfacing it. David Gesswein's excellent site at
www.pdp8.net has the ASR33 manuals in the document archive.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
