Another and perhaps the simplest way to archive
sys34 or 36 pgms to diskette or cd is to use the 5250
pc emulator card or a clone card and the pc support
pgms on the pc and sys/36.
the emulator turns a pc xt or at into a 5251 terminal
and does the ebcdic/ascii conversion for pc to 36
printer files.
there are many different versions of the emulator
cards still out there some will even run in windows.
i even saw a pcmcia version for a laptop.
you can save disk or diskette - library's,files and
members on the pc from the 36 then transfer the
diskette to a windows machine if needed and put it on
cd.
useing the same process one could even send a copy of
sys/36 pgms via email.
the labels and owner id must match the pgm
distrubition diskettes label if copying a 8 diskette.
then a person could do the reverse to get the files
back on the 36.
i have the emulator card but have not played with the
copy to pc feature yet i got all this info from the pc
support 36 manual.
i am not sure how much the ibm standards differ from
the shugart or other standards.
ibm had the 1d and 2d diskettes and both had a low and
hi density format (format 1 or 2).
do keep us posted about which process you end up
useing
as i want to archive all of my fresh 8 in copies also.
i hope the non ascii data of sys3x data (ebcdic)
dosn't go down to the binary level.
Bill
Message: 17
Subject: System/36 whining and begging...
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
From: "Colin Eby" <ceby2(a)csc.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 13:44:09 -0500
Reply-To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org
Folks --
Thought I'd continue my unreasonable begging from the
previous note
back to
Bill. I'd like to take on a little project of creating
archival images
of
S/36 media. I've made a duplicate of most of what I
own on fresher 8"
stock. But I don't think that's a long term strategy
for avoiding the
inevitable ravages of media corruption. What I had in
mind was
something
like a 'dd' dump of each disk that could be reloaded
to fresh 8" media
when
required. I haven't given this too much thought so
bear with me.... I'm
working on a list of questions and puzzles to
accomplish this goal.The
first obvious problem is media to hardware
integration. If memory
serves, I
read somewhere that IBM used an oddball disk format
(Sellam, you might
know
this). 8" Shuggart drives come on the market from time
to time but,
would
they, using low level drivers, be able to make a
physical block by
block
copy of IBM S/36 disk data? The second problem is
hardware to hardware
integration. Has anyone had luck integrating a 8"
drive with a more
recent
machine? And what are the alternatives? I presume this
could be done on
DEC
hardware and then sent to any open platform over a
network connection.
Has
anyone gotten an 8" floppy operating under an Intel
based Linux host.
That
would seem the obvious media transfer station because
of the wide range
of
hardware compatibility. Once these first two steps are
done, any basic
disk
utility ought to make short work of creating binary
dumps.
An alternative approach might be to copy the disks
directly on the
System/36 host using platform native tools then
sending the file across
some form of network connection. The problem is I
haven't a clue how
that
would need to be done. I've never read any low level
API for S/36 as a
platform. IBM seems to have kept anything harware
layer proprietary.
Any and all thoughts welcome. Thanks,
-Colin
ceby2(a)csc.com
Senior Consultant,
National Performance Engineeering Practice
CSC Consulting.
Ive always wondered about the 5363 the pc size'd 36.
the pc support manual does mention it.
the models are 5360 - large sys/36, 5362 - small
sys/36, 5551 small model available only in japan
and the 5363 pc sized sys/36.
the pc support calls the 5363 a "system console".
as far a spp is concerned, the 5363 uses 5 1/4
diskettes and the ssp on it is for the 5363 only.
i'm not sure about the 8 in versions of 36 ssp.
sorry i have no 5 1/4 in ssp diskettes.
i don't think the 8 in, 5360 languages or office
products pgms will even work with the 5363, they will
run on the 5362.
i have the same 5360 unit that you have - do you have
the service manuals for it?
you may want to hang on to the 5360 - you can do more
with it and the 8 in diskettes are more commom to
find.
btw - do a search for 5363 or sys/36 and you should
find a page that features a 5363 on it you may want to
email him about the diskettes.
are the tape drives on your 5360 the r2r or cart
drives?
Bill
Message: 14
Subject: Re: ibm sys/36 5360 basic needed
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
From: "Colin Eby" <ceby2(a)csc.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 13:25:51 -0500
Reply-To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org
Bill --
I have most of the System/36 stuff... except the
languages, sigh. You
wouldn't happen to have any of the SSP on 5.25" would
you. I have a
5363
I've never successfully IPL'd . And while I'm turning
your request for
assistance on its head... you wouldn't happen to want
a 5360 would you?
I
have one in need of a good home. I don't even have a
garage so I'm
paying
storage for the beast (2 tape drives, 2 printers,
expanded main cabinet
with additional disk platters and the magazine version
of the 8"
floppy).
Maybe I can be more helpful if you have other S/36
needs in future. I
have
a lot of the books and even a few already scanned to
PDF.
While I'm begging, I don't suppose anyone out there
has the Office
suite
for S/36, or any interesting applications? Or maybe
someone wants to be
free of a 5364 (a little easier on the electric bills
than the 63, 62
or
60). My systems only have SSP, and I have a perverse
desire to get some
use
out of them.
-Colin
So...
all this discussion about PDP-12's has got me curious.
How many of them are there in existence?
It would certainly be interesting to get a list of machines and at
least city locations -- I'll start the list:
Ottawa/ON/Canada (mine)
Roswell/GA/USA
If anyone wants to send me info, I'll volunteer to collect and put it
up on my website (I won't put email addresses or other incriminating
evidence unless you want me to :-)).
The other interesting thing that this discussion begs is the topic of
(borrowed term) "biomagnification". It's from the environmental field,
and basically relates to how bigger animals get more than their "fair"
share of poisons because they eat smaller animals which have already
concentrated the poisons in their systems. I've borrowed the term because
lately what I've been thinking about is the accumulated collections of
people who are no longer interested in collecting -- in this case,
instead of just getting one or two machines at a time, you tend to
get "clusters" of machines -- hence "biomagnification" :-)
So... any collectors out there getting rid of PDP stuff? :-)
Cheers,
-RK
--
Looking for Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-1 through PDP-15 minicomputers!
Robert Krten, PARSE Software Devices +1 613 599 8316.
Realtime Systems Architecture, Consulting and Training at www.parse.com
Saw this on the newsgroups; in case anyone missed it:
> Steve Cayford <steve_cayford(a)unioncab.com> at TDS.NET Internet Services www.tds.net
>
> Newsgroups: uwisc.forsale,wi.madison.forsale
>
> Hi. We've got a PDP-11/23 Plus to get rid of. It's free to whoever would
> like to come pick it up at Union Cab in Madison.
>
> Contact me by e-mail if you're interested.
Cheers,
-RK
--
Looking for Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-1 through PDP-15 minicomputers!
Robert Krten, PARSE Software Devices +1 613 599 8316.
Realtime Systems Architecture, Consulting and Training at www.parse.com
Hi all,
I am looking for one of those tamper proof tool for the sega nomad. It is
basically the same shape as the screws for the game cartridges on the
genesis but it is so far recessed (3/4 in) that the pliers trick will not
work.
Anyone know of a source for such tool?
Thank you
Francois
Hi:
I have a perfectly functional (and I am using all days) Casio CFX-200
Scientific Calculator Watch... But, I am having a problem with it: due to
the use of the clock, the lateral buttons was deteriorated and they have
sharp borders... And that sharp buttons damage the cuff of my shirts... The
local Casio Technical Support (Santiago, Chile) tolds me that it isn't exist
replacement for the buttons... Do you know where can I get replacement
buttons for my CFX-200 ?... or a replacement case ?... or how I can fix them
?...
Best regards, and thanks in advance...
Gonzalo Rojas
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*
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> From: ombra.nl(a)planet.nl [mailto:ombra.nl@planet.nl]
>
> Same problem here & I'm in the Hague using adsl with planet. The
> funny order I can understand with different time zones but why 85 all
> at once? Sometimes the original post comes long after all the
> replies. Mostly they all arrive in my evening but not always.
Same here, mostly between 10pm - 07am Amsterdam time...
--f
Has anyone had interfaced nonvolatile RAM to a PDP-8 to simulate an original
hard drive? The DF32 fully expanded with four disks was only 256k x 12...
Dallas Semi makes battery-backed NVRAM in a variety of sizes. Two DS1258
(each 128k x 16) would make for a very simple interface that would fit on a
single card (or at most a double card). Packing the 12-bit words would
complicate the interface a little but lower the cost of the NVRAMs.
Using an old 3.5 or 5.25 inch hard drive would be very cheap per meg but
would also require development of a controller (like the 8051 mentioned
recently as an interface to an HP computer). I don't think there were any
original drives greater than 1 Mword available, so larger ones would require
nonstandard code to support them anyway.
Any thoughts?
-Charles
Testing a feature. Please ignore.
--
Jeffrey Sharp
[demime 1.01a removed an attachment of type application/msword which had a name of MarketDataDeveloper.doc]
Hi
I've seen these come up about once every month
or so in eBay. I bought a duplexer for my 3si and
an envelope feeder, on eBay. You just need to keep a search
going, every few days. I'm sure you'll find one.
I'd originally bought a parallel/serial card when
I bought mine, surplus, because of the same problem.
At the time, I bought it from a printer repair store.
It cost almost $200. Later ( about 2 years ) the card
failed. I located one on eBay for about $25, I was
back on the air.
Dwight
>From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502(a)yahoo.com>
>
>
>I have asked in the past about a replacement card for my HP LJ-IIID
>with little success (they are apparently somewhat rare). Several
>people offered me ones that did not physically fit. Well now, I
>have a *newer* old HP printer, an HP LJ-IIISi that takes the square
>interface cards with the white/grey 3-row connector. Unfortunately,
>the printer I got from OSU surplus (which seems to print just fine)
>only has this truely ancient C2059A integral print server - no serial
>or parallel, Novell only. :-( Worse, the firmware is particularly
>obsolete and deprecated by HP.
>
>So... if anyone has a spare interface card, I'm interested. Two, in
>fact; one for me and one for a friend who needs to hook another IIISi
>to his OS X Mac. The printer is on-topic (mine was manufactured in 1991)
>at least.
>
>Let me know cost/part numbers/etc off-list.
>
>Thanks,
>
>-ethan
