test-drb July 2003

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

279 participants
450 discussions

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Hello, all: I was just looking at the schematics for the display/control board for the Altair 8800 and saw that there is a 1702 EPROM on the board. The lowest 4-bits of the EPROM's address bus are connected to a 7493 binary counter and the highest 4-bits are connected directly to the address bus. What's the purpose of the EPROM? Did the front panel have some intelligence? Rich

22 years, 1 month

More Acorn finds + Numonics graphics tablet

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

> To use with AutoCAD, set the tablet for binary data transmition at > 9600 baud, 8 bits, one stop bit. Switch settings are: ok, that's useful, thanks. I have a serial cable that came with the machine so I hooked it up to a DOS box and just used a terminal emulator to check I was getting data from it. It looks healthy as far as I can tell, although given the amount of raw data coming back the protocol looks quite complex. > Lastly, the AutoCAD notes say that the tablet can be configured to > emulate other brands by changing the PROM chips. Interesting. I'll have to take it apart now and see what (if anything) it says in the ROMs that are in there :-) I found some vague reference to Numonics tablets working under Linux with a Summagraphics driver if the ID string check is removed, but unfortunately it doesn't actually say *which* Numonics tablets that applies to. I'll have to give it a go sometime. I found a driver disk for Apple systems, but my Mac skills aren't sufficient to pull apart an Apple driver and engineer an equivalent one on a PC! (which is what I'd like to use this on) cheers Jules ===== Backward conditioning: putting saliva in a dog's mouth in an attempt to make a bell ring. ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/

22 years, 1 month

Simplest (practical) file system?

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Bob Shannon" <bshannon(a)tiac.net> > >ben franchuk wrote: > >> >> Use the whole disk ... block by block ... FIG FORTH worked this way. >> >Very tempting, as I'm adding a file system to a threaded interpreter >(not FORTH). > >But a basic block system is just too primative. Named files at a minimum. > Hi Bob As I've shown in my previous mail, you can use it as a starting place. I also have some code that I wrote to maintain files on a DOS disk. It is bassed on the original block system. Although, I didn't expand it to include sub-directories, this could be added with a small additional amount of code. The main thing is to get something working and keep things open enough that you can expand later. I wrote the DOS stuff so that I could more easily transfer things between my PC and my block system. Start simple and work towards a later complete system. Dwight

22 years, 1 month

Simplest (practical) file system?

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "ben franchuk" <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> > >Bob Shannon wrote: >> What is the simplest usable disk file system to implement? >> >> More specifically, if your going to write a disk file system from >> scratch, what would be the easiest way to implement >> some basic file system functionality? >> >> How did some of the very early DOS systems allocate disk space in the >> days before FAT tables, etc? >> >> Just how simply can this be done? >> >> > >Use the whole disk ... block by block ... FIG FORTH worked this way. > Hi On one of my Forth setups, I wrote a word that would take the first number on a line of text in some block and then use that number as the next block to bring up. This way I'll edit a number of blocks as an index of the rest of the text/code on the disk. I could then pass this number on to words like LOAD, INDEX or EDIT. This made a simple directory setup with a method for accessing portions of the disk as different types of data. I'd place this word as a single key stroke in my editor so that I could use this word or just maintain the directory. I made it a rule to put both the starting block and the last block in the directory entry. This directory would look something like: 10 25 EDIT comments 26 29 ASSEMBLER 2A 2B PROGRAMMER Although, it kept the block numbers in ASCII, the time to convert to machine numbers is a small portion of the overall access time. Keeping the numbers as HEX values means that the conversion routines can be optimized for simpler processor and still be in a human readable format. I'd intended to add words that would maintain disk space but so far, I've just maintained things by hand. Still, one can see that with just a few extra words added, one can do a reasonable OS without the need for a true FAT. Adding words like a DELETE and a GARBAGE collector would make a reasonable disk OS. I did add a search words to my directory setup. This way I could find the EDITor fast if it was on some other block of my simple directory. The advantage of just starting with simple blocks is that one can expand it over time to even deal with sequential files ( what most consider random length streamy file ). At first, one can keep even the editor simple by having fixed length text lines, as a Forth block system does. A block is 1024 bytes. When displayed as text, it is a fixed chunk of 16 lines of 64 characters. Dwight

22 years, 1 month

FF: Compaq SLT/286 and Acorn manuals (Cambridge, UK)

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, 1) I just found the Operations Guide and MSDOS 3 manual for a Compaq SLT/286 laptop up in the loft. The machine itself is No Longer With Us, so if anyone wants them they're welcome to them. The programs floppy is still there, and I believe I saw the diagnostics floppy floating around recently. 2) I have a few spare bits of Acorn documentation which could do with a home: Four copies of the Acornsoft View guide Two copies of the Econet level 2/3 fileserver user guide Acorn 3020 welcome guide Acorn 3020 welcome / user / apps guides (shrinkwrapped) Archimedes Smalltalk-80 manual Collect from just north of Cambridge (UK :) cheers Jules ===== Backward conditioning: putting saliva in a dog's mouth in an attempt to make a bell ring. ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/

22 years, 1 month

RL02 Assistance...

by rogersda＠cox.net

Curt, Perhaps you've already received the assistance you need (I've been gone all weekend), but - depending on the version of VMS you have (I don't remember which version dropped "compatibility mode") - VMS doesn't much like to mount non-RMS file systems, except as "foreign", which you said you tried. Is there data on that disk you need? If not, why not use the command $ init DLA3: RLDATA If it fails that, then I'd suspect a driver mis-match. Dale > > From: cvendel(a)att.net > Date: 2003/07/26 Sat PM 09:21:33 EDT > To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: RL02 Assistance... > > Hi, > > I've got an RL02 connected to my Vax 4000-200 through an RLV12 QBus > controller. > > The Drive is spinning up fine and the Ready light is Lit, the Fault light > goes off once power to the Vax is started and doing a SHO DEV at the Chevron > prompt and within OpenVMS both show: > > RLV12 Controller 0 (774400) > -DLA3 (RL02) > > Which looks great from my perspective, the drive ID plug is a 3, so DLA3 makes > total sense. In the SHO DEV within OpenVMS does display the drive as being > online. > > So my problem is with MOUNT, everytime I go to mount the drive the system > simply hangs and never seems to complete the mount, I end up having to CTRL- > BREAK to Halt the system back to Chevron and b up again from my DSSI DIA0: > > Anyone have any idea's what I'm doing wrong or what may be wrong??? > > I've tried with a /FOREIGN too since this platters are from an 11/730 and many > of the handwritten labels on the disk paks say RSTS on them, so I wasn't sure > if it was a format issue or something, I could really use some help/advice from > anyone with a lot of experience with the quirks of the RL's. > > Thanks much, > > PS: If anyone has an RK05 or RK07 DECPack for sale and possibly an RKV11D Qbus > controller I am in the market for one. > > Curt

22 years, 1 month

8-inch disk drives

by luv2craftca＠jaydemail.com

Hi, I'm new to the list and am currently trying to find a solution to transfering data/software from 8-inch disks to a pc. We have a working minc-II with two floppy drives. The console is gone but I currently have an old 386 hooked up to act as a terminal. What would be the best way to transfer the info from the old disks to the 'newer' pc? One suggestion was to get an old 8-inch floppy drive and hook it directly to the pc, but it seems to me that would involve possible building a hardware interface and writing driver software. Any suggestions or pointers to web pages would be very welcome, I've already spent a few hours searching the web without finding a solution. Thanks! Jo -- _______________________________________________ Another FREE service from Jayde Online http://www.jayde.com Private, Web-based email accounts at http://www.jaydemail.com Powered by Outblaze

22 years, 1 month

Storing floppy dirves

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

For long-term storage, I would worry that the coating on the cardboard might stick to the drive's head, especially if it was humid when the drive is bagged. (I know a number of museum conservators who do not use plastic bags for protecting artifacts because of problems with static and humidity. They only use closed plastic bags when there is a question of insect infestation.) It would probably be a good idea to put a _fresh_ packet of silica gel desicant in the plastic bag with the drive. And, yes, I still have some of the shipping cardboards for my old drives :) . -----Original Message----- From: Fred Cisin [mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com] Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:01 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Storing floppy dirves <snip> Does EVERYBODY discard the shipping cardboard that 5.25" drives came with? NOBODY ever expects to have to ship or store a drive ever again? Your choice is NOT between a open (heads unloaded) v a disk loaded. Your choice is between a open (heads unloaded) v a proper shipping cardboard (or disk rotated 90 degrees to use the JACKET of the disk as padding).

22 years, 1 month

Simplest (practical) file system?

by mbg＠TheWorld.com

>It's a LOT easier (and much more efficient) to just implement an >allocation map. But not at all needed if you use a flat, contiguous file system. And remember, the question was asking for the simplest file system... and a block/sector/whatever allocation map and the associated code to handle it is not as simple as one can get. Not to mention the fact that you need tables of pointers to the blocks so that a file can be reassembled, or read in order... and the risks to the whole file if the pointers are lost... I can't tell you how many RT disks I've been able to recover >from truly bad blocks in the directory by virtue of the fact that the RT directory structure is so simple... Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | email: mbg at world.std.com | | Member of Technical Staff | megan at savaje.com | | SavaJe Technologies, Inc. | (s/ at /@/) | | 100 Apollo Drive | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Chelmsford, MA 01824 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (978) 256 6521 (DEC '77-'98) | required." - mbg KB1FCA | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

22 years, 1 month

More Acorn finds + Numonics graphics tablet

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

My AutoCAD 2.18 Installation manual (March 1986) gives serial cabling for Numonics 2200 Series plotters to PC as: Tablet End Computer End 3 -------------------- 3 4 --| 5 --| 7 -------------------- 7 6 --| 20 --| To use with AutoCAD, set the tablet for binary data transmition at 9600 baud, 8 bits, one stop bit. Switch settings are: Switch Open(Down) Closed(Up) Doesn't matter A 2,5,7 1 3,4,6,8 B 5 3 1,2,4,6,7,8 C 1 2,3,4 Lastly, the AutoCAD notes say that the tablet can be configured to emulate other brands by changing the PROM chips. Bob -----Original Message----- From: Jules Richardson [mailto:julesrichardsonuk@yahoo.co.uk] Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 5:04 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: More Acorn finds + Numonics graphics tablet <snip> Numonics 2206 graphics tablet still in its box <snip> *Any* info on the Numonics tablet would be great. It appears to be complete (minus manuals - grr!) and supposedly works, but I don't even know what it plugs into and I don't have any driver software for it. (I'm not even sure how old it is :) <snip>

22 years, 1 month

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test-drb July 2003