test-drb May 2003

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

284 participants
500 discussions

by CCTech＠catcorner.org

> To reduce the time involved in making copies, would you be willing to make > disk images, and put them somewhere accessible? That way those of us with > an 8" hooked to a PC could make 8" disks. OK. I've got an ftp server lined up, can even put them on CD's and duplicate a batch on scrap discs (don't ask, I was trying to calibrate a termal CD printer). The big question: What is the best tool to create the disk images? Rawread/rawwrite? dd? cpio? something else? The easiest thing for me is either dd under linux or raw read under MSDOS (like the linux boot discs). I have lots of 5.25" disc drives laying around. All I have to do is hook one up. I'd rather not create the 8" discs myself. The media on them seems to peel off onto the head if you have cheap ones. Then I have to take the drive apart, clean the head... since I've already copied most down to 5.25 (I still have to do mbasic, multiplan, and Profile 16+), I will make images >from the 5.25" discs as time permits and put them up on a public ftp server for a while. Kelly

20 years, 11 months

8" drive hooked up to a PC

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 30, 9:08, Jerome H. Fine wrote: >Jochen Kunz wrote: > > > On 2003.05.29 20:27 Jerome H. Fine wrote: > > > John, if you are reading this, it would be best if you could > > > confirm - also even better if you could explain why they > > > hardware to read the DEC RX02 8" floppy media is > > > not available on a PC. > > > > I am not John, but this may be the explanation: > > The RX02 uses double density only for the data inside the sector. The > > sector header is (mostly) the same as a RX01 sector header and it is > > rcorded in single density. > NOTE that most 3rd party RX01/RX02 controller/drive pairs > for DEC PDP-11 hardware were able to do the complete > LLF for RX01/RX02 media. In fact, I seem to remember that > the controller was not required - the drive contained the ability > to do a LLF off-line. This was not the RT-11 FORMAT > command, but a complete LLF. No, that's backwards. In the case of DEC RX01 or RX02 with a DEC controller, the controller card (in the QBus or Unibus) is fairly dumb, it's just an interface. The "smart" stuff is in the drive enclosure. The controller passes a FORMAT command to the drive, the drive chunters away and executs it, and reports back to the controller when it's done. In the case of third-party controllers with "industry standard" drives, the controller is "smart" and the drive is dumb. The controller does the formatting, and sends control signals and a data/clock bitstream to the drive, so you can't do anything > The same situation occurred with the DEC RX50 floppy media. > The DEC RX50 drive could NOT perform an LLF. It works differently than an RX01/RX02. In fact it works exactly like the third-party RX01/RX02 case above, except that DEC saw fit not to include formatting routines in the RQDX1/RQDX2 controller. The RX50 drive is an oddly-engineered variant of an industry-standard 5.25" dual floppy, with almost exactly the same control/data signals. > However, by the time that DEC allowed the RX33 on the RQDX3, > DEC had switched to industry standard HD PC 1.2 MByte floppy > drives and media with 2400 blocks. Yes, the RQDX3 includes firmware that can do the formatting. However the layout it creates is fixed, and not useful for an RX50 (which has almost exactly the same hardware interface as an RX33). > The question that is still unanswered is IF the board that dbit > has available that supports the RX01 floppy media on a PC > with the appropriate 8" floppy drive CAN ALSO support > an RX02 media? I seem to remember that the answer is NO! Correct. The answer is "no", for exactly the reason Jochen describes, and indeed John's webpage says so. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

20 years, 11 months

IBM System/36 - Advice Needed

by mross666＠hotmail.com

This should tell you most of what you need to know... I did my password hacking on a 5362, but there should be analagous tools on the 5364 PC console. http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6m4rat85bf4hi45udaj05u5j6pm48e887g%404… Good luck! Mike http://www.corestore.org _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

20 years, 11 months

Collection policy was Re: No space for vinatge computers in

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 29, 17:12, Jerome H. Fine wrote: > With my grandchildren, I discovered a way to make binary > numbers interesting. We started with the concept that each > finger represented a ZERO or a power of two. > > All fingers down was ZERO. > > Baby Finger UP was ONE. > > Ruby Ring UP was TWO > > Both Baby Finger and Ruby Ring was THREE. Very good! I've seen a similar proposal written by Fred Pohl in a book called "Digits and Dastards". The last two items in this collection (of mostly SF short stories) are entitled "How To Count On Your Fingers" and "On Binary digits and Human Habits" (copyright 1856 and 1962 respectively!). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

20 years, 11 months

TRS80 mod 4 ver1 video/memory problems

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Jim There is a chance that the first crash also damaged the system info on your boot disk. Have you tried using another disk? You could also try putting the disk controller in but put tape over the select line( not sure what is involved here without a schematic ) and tie this line ( lines? ) so that the drive doesn't access. The idea is to see if something in the controller is loading the bus. If this is the case, BASIC won't boot. You could then isolate a pin at a time until you found the failure. Small pieces of tape work well for isolating edge connectors. That is about as far as I'm willing to make any guesses. Dwight >From: "Jim Davis" <jpdavis(a)gorge.net> > >Hi, >I recently picked up a model 4 ver 1 with a problem. The system originally >worked and booted, after moving the system it started to display random >characters >on power up and failed to boot.. I removed socketed ICs and cleaned >the connectors. >The system now displays a blank screen on power up ( although the drives >spin, and >it could be booting ). If I disconnect the FD controller from the main >board, the >system jumps into basic ( with video ) and seems to operate. Print >fre(0) returns >somthing over 48K with the fd disconnected. Any hints? >Jim Davis.

20 years, 11 months

Thinline Floppy Problem

by univac2＠earthlink.net

What does it mean when the light on a thinline floppy in a Tandy 6000 repeatedly blinks to the pattern: <long blink>...<blink><blink><blink> When I put a disk in, the drive makes healthy noises, but the light just keeps blinking like stated above, and the system seems unable to detect that there's a disk in the drive. -- Owen Robertson

20 years, 11 months

PDP11

by jhfinexgs2＠compsys.to

>Tony Manzo wrote: > Hello, If you have any PDP hardware/software that you wish to sell, > please email me. I have opened a "coffee house" - I hate the term > Cyber Cafe - that cateres to the technical and scientific, mainly > students and computer vets. We put the legacy systems online and > allow/encourage program development on the original equipment. I would > hate for such equipment to go unused, so if you can help, please let > me know. Thanks. Tony Manzo > Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). Jerome Fine replies: I am attempting to track down just how Tony obtained my e-mail address plus if anyone else received the above e-mail. Also if anyone has heard of Tony and if he is legitimate? And does anyone know where Tony is located - which city? Tony Manzo <vgo_tony_m(a)yahoo.com> As far as I know, the only possible way Tony could have obtained my e-mail address was through cctalk(a)classiccmp.org since I first started to use it only a week ago. OR someone who is aware of my PDP-11 addiction gave it to him? In either case, I don't have an objection. But if there has been any hacking, then I would like to know about that aspect! In any case, if I am receiving spam via cctalk(a)classiccmp.org, then others need to be warned! If not, then I want to reply. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

20 years, 11 months

8" drive hooked up to a PC

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: Innfogra(a)aol.com > >Thanks for the tip on the D Bit FDADAP. I will probably get one as I think it >meets my criteria. I am not particular interested in reading DEC RX01 & 02s. >Those I will pass onto the list as I find them. > >My main interest is in CPM systems and disks of which I have several. Hi As was mentioned, not all controllers do single density. MFM double density is no problem. There are a number of programs out there that handle differing sector counts and sector sizes. You could also write your own. You'd need to know how to setup the DMA and the floppy registers. It isn't real hard but it is easiest if you have some examples. > >Also I wonder if it will work with intel development system disks. If your disk are single density and you have a controller that handles single density then you are OK. Intel's double density was M2FM and not MFM, for the 8 inch disk. About the only way to read this was with an Intel M2FM controller. As far as I know, these only existed on multibus boards. Dwight > >Thanks again for the leads. I will look at the CPM FAQ too. > >Paxton >Astoria, OR

20 years, 11 months

More Stuff for Auction at SYI

by marvin＠rain.org

I have listed some more stuff for auction over at http://www.sellyouritem.com. I have found quite a few DEC flip-chip and other boards that are being listed there in addition to other stuff of interest to listserver members. The area of main interest for list members is in the Classic Computer section at: http://www.sellyouritem.com/ListAuctions.html?CategoryID=1497 The things I am listing there are for 3 day auctions, and that should give everyone here a chance at them before they head over to (explatives deleted) Ebay. If you think the pricing is wrong, let me know as this was my best guess at reasonable pricing for list members. Again, the main idea behind putting them on SYI is to allow listmembers an equal chance at anything they might be interested in. I'm trying to list about 10 items/day there. Stuff that I will also be listing include a PDP-3L, Microvax, some DEC Disk Drive cartridges R????, and some other DEC cards that I have not identified yet. I *think* there are also several 11/34 cards that I have not listed yet, hopefully later today. ------------------------------------------- ebaY's Security Breach and Coverup http://www.auctionguild.com/generic110.html

20 years, 11 months

Collection policy was Re: No space for vinatge computers in

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 25, 7:15, Hans B Pufal wrote: > No, but they can learn. I do EXACTLY that with a PDP-8/e cpu I drag > around to show at school exhibitions. The first question I get, of > course, is where is the screen and keyboard. I teach the kids binary, > than, with the aid of a small program left in the core we calculate the > mean of a sequence of numbers entered in binary. And not a screen or > keybaord in sight. This demo ALWAYS gets good reviews.... Exactly what I did with my 8-year-old niece at Christmas. She's really into "sums" and arithmetic at the moment, so when I wanted to play with my 8/E, I taught her a little about binary, showed her how to read octal off the switches and lights, and we added some numbers. She loved it. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

20 years, 11 months

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test-drb May 2003