test-drb August 2003

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

280 participants
469 discussions

by kenziem＠sympatico.ca

Is there a quick and easy way to tell them a part? In a previous thread on separating 5.25 drives there was mention of testing for the number of sectors. Does someone know where such a program may be located?

21 years, 5 months

ECMA 46 tape standard

by coredump＠gifford.co.uk

I've been asked about a quarter-inch tape standard from 1976, called ECMA-46. It's apparently 63 bits per mm, phase encoded. I work that out to 1600 bits per inch. Now, is this one of the early QIC (Quarter- Inch Committee) standards? Could it be QIC-11, the four-track system used on Sun-2 machines? Or is it something else entirely? And how could such a tape be read, nowadays? -- John Honniball coredump(a)gifford.co.uk

21 years, 5 months

New additions-- Lots of coco computer stuff

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

A guy that's seen my website contacted me and brought me a trunkload of color computer stuff up from SC. I got a color computer 1 and 3, a multipack interface for the model 1, dozens of programs on tape, zenith display, dual disk drives, tandy dmp102 printer, a mix of about 200 magazines for the coco, like rainbow, hot coco and some others. also got a tutorial on tape for the 6809 and some assembler program. Everything's dusty, but in all over good shape. The magazines really show quite a color computer following back in the day. Some magazines are over 300 pages each. -- Antique Computer Virtual Museum www.nothingtodo.org

21 years, 5 months

VAX items from MN Trip

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Also picked up a VAXserver 4000/200 and R215F DSSI expander for it.

21 years, 5 months

Twinhead Superset 310

by gesar＠tiscalinet.ch

Dear Listers, I'm completely new to this list as well as to vintage PCs and I hope to get some help from you knowledgeable folks in respect to a box I recently got from a friend of mine. It's a Twinhead Superset 310 with a 80286 processor, 1 MB of RAM, a ST-251 harddisk and 5,25" floppy-drive (IBM YD-380) for 1.2 MB disks. The battery was gone, so at every startup, I had to type in the configuration setup. I ONCE only managed to boot the machine which immediately started WordPerfect 5. I typed a few sentences but I could not save this text (the program all the time asking for a floppy I did not have) nor could I end the application or shut down the system (I REALLY do not know anything about DOS). So, I just powered down the machine. Afterwards, I never again managed to boot the PC, as it always asked for a floppy. Meanwhile, I managed to de-solder the 3.6 V battery and I'll look for a replacement. But there are a lot of questions, as I'd really like to learn to get this machine running and as I'd like to handle it: - The mouse-port on the back looks like a P/S2 but its larger in diameter. What standard is this? - There is one ISA-card I do not know what it is for. It has an external connector just looking like a VGA, but the monitor did not work with that. Furthermore, there are two black connectors ("wholes") about the size of an RCA audio in/out. A networking card (BNC)? - Generally: Does somebody know this machine? Somebody has manuals? Best thanks for caring! Steff

21 years, 5 months

UK:tape winder? Atlas Autocode charset (flexowriter) conversion?

by aek＠spies.com

here is something I wrote to decode some pdp-1 tapes note that not all characters have ASCII equivalents. #include <stdio.h> char cvt[] = { ' ', '"', 0x27, '~', '.', '.', '.', '<', /* 00 - 07 */ '>', '^', '.', '.', '.', '.', '.', '.', /* 10 - 17 */ '.', '?', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', /* 20 - 27 */ 'Y', 'Z', '.', '=', '.', '.', '\t', '.', /* 30 - 37 */ '.', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', /* 40 - 47 */ 'Q', 'R', '.', '.', '+', ']', '|', '[', /* 50 - 57 */ '.', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', /* 60 - 67 */ 'H', 'I', '.', 'x', '.', '.', '.', '\n' /* 70 - 77 */ }; char cvtl[] ={ ' ', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', /* 00 - 07 */ '8', '9', '.', '.', '.', '.', '.', '.', /* 10 - 17 */ '0', '/', 's', 't', 'u', 'v', 'w', 'x', /* 20 - 27 */ 'y', 'z', '.', ',', '.', '.', '\t', '.', /* 30 - 37 */ '.', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', /* 40 - 47 */ 'q', 'r', '.', '.', '-', ')', '.', '(', /* 50 - 57 */ '.', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', /* 60 - 67 */ 'h', 'i', '.', '.', '.', '.', '.', '\n' /* 70 - 77 */ }; main() { char c; int state = 0; while(!feof(stdin)){ c = getchar() & 0x3f; if (c == 072) {state = 0; continue;} /* lower case */ if (c == 074) {state = 1; continue;} /* upper case */ if(state){ if(cvt[c] == '.') { printf(">>%02o<<",c); continue;} putchar(cvt[c]); } else{ if(c != 073) {if(cvtl[c] == '.') {printf(">>%02o<<",c); continue;}} putchar(cvtl[c]); } } }

21 years, 5 months

Backing up ST506 disks

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi all, I'm just wondering how to back up the hard drive (a 20MB MFM) in my Research Machines fileserver. The system runs CP/M, has a couple of floppy drives, and the hard disk is hooked up to a Xebec controller with a SASI bus linking it to the host controller in the fileserver. There are actually two problems: 1) Getting the data off the hard drive somehow (possibly via floppy) and being able to read it on another system (ideally a PC I suppose) 2) Being able to rebuild the system if/when the hard drive fails. Thoughts on both are welcome! I don't have any kind of OS source media for the system, and it wouldn't surprise me if it isn't the only survivor :-( Maybe there are utilities on the system itself to recreate bootable OS media, but my knowledge of CP/M is a little lacking! For my old SCSI systems I tend to hold a raw block-by-block backup image of the drive by putting the hard disk in a PC with Linux and dragging data off that way. If the drive fails and I can't get an identical replacement, a slightly larger drive still works with a little bit of wastage. Due to the relationship between the controller and drive using ST506 I gather things are probably a little more complex though... 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/

21 years, 5 months

Another Intel! E320EB

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I seem to be on a roll lately so this weekend I dug out an Intel that I bought off of E-bay some time ago but never got around to checking out. Disassembled, cleaned and inspected it. Found out that it is an Intel E320EB and uses Multibus cards. Oh, and it's serial number E00001000! I couldn't find a description of it in any of my Intel books but it has a CPU DX-2 66MHz CPU with built-in SCSI port and a 32Mb daughterboard! Also has three 4-port Intel iSBC 544 Communications cards, a SCSI 3.5" floppy drive, SCSI tape drive and two SCSI had drives. The CPU card and daughterboard are made by Radisys. After some checking I found that Radisys bought Intels Multibus I line from Intel in 1996. The ROMs on this one are also dated 1996. Today I made a cable for it and connected it to terminal and tried it out. It booted up fine and passed all the self-test. It boots up and loads IRMX III.2.2. Boot like the Intel 310 I don't have the account name and passwords so I couldn't log in. Anyone know any more about the 320 systems or have any idea of how to get into the iRMX system? Joe

21 years, 5 months

Attn: Gene Ehrich

by acme＠ao.net

Sorry to post this here, but my reply to Gene bounced. From: Gene Ehrich <gehrich(a)tampabay.rr.com> To: Glen Goodwin <acme(a)ao.net> Subject: Re: 3.5 inch DSDD diskettes - NOS - any interest? Date: 08/04/2003 12:15 AM > > >"720K" 3.5" DSDD diskettes, 10 per box, new old stock > > > >$1 per box of ten, minimum 10-box order, shipped UPS through my commercial > >UPS account, buyer pays shipping > > I would like 40 boxes ($40) > > Do you have any idea what the shipping cost will be? A package of 40 should weigh no more than 4 pounds. I'm in Orlando. > Do you accept PayPal? No, but VISA, MasterCard, Amex and Discover work. I'll give you my toll-free 800 number if you don't want to send your charge card info via email. BTW the diskettes will land here in about 7-10 days. Again, apologies to the group but I had no other way to contact Gene. Later -- Glen 0/0

21 years, 5 months

IBM RT PC available

by spc＠conman.org

A friend of mine has an IBM RT PC Model 115 he's thinking of letting go: http://grumpy.conman.org/2003/08/01.2 If anyone is interested (I'm not sure how old the machine is, but it does run and has AIX 2.2.1 already installed) please contact him: journal(a)nolab.conman.org Thanks. -spc (Pictures are available at the link given above, location is Boca Raton, FL, ironically the location where IBM developed the IBM PC ... )

21 years, 5 months

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test-drb August 2003