test-drb November 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

207 participants
458 discussions

Morrow MT-70 available in Buckingham, PA USA

by jfoust＠threedee.com

Strangely, I receive notice of a computer rescue via fax. It includes a "works great" Morrow MT-70 (a CP/M era machine) and a Silver-Reed printer, all with manuals. Contact Earl Guertler at ejguertler(a)aol.com . - John

20 years, 1 month

Infoserver SCSI chips?

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, Had a mail from someone wanting to know which SCSI chip is used in the Infoserver 150. My own machine is 250 miles away so have any of you got said machine handy for a quick check? cheers :) -- Adrian/Witchy Owner/Curator of Binary Dinosaurs, quite probably the UK's biggest private home computer collection www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the online museum www.aaghverts.co.uk - *the* site for advert whinges! www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - former gothic shenanigans :(

20 years, 1 month

MK11 box controller, or M8159 board schematics

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Was fiddling with our Decsystem 570 this weekend. Seems like we may have a PSU fault as the left-hand M8728 MOS memory boards in the crate don't have a lit green LED on the top, whilst the right-hand boards do. Tried the obvious swapping memory boards around and the associated A/B control boards with no luck, and according to the bitsavers docs a problem with PSU B would knock out that portion of the memory crate's bus. Anyway, I'm looking for either the schematics for either the MK11 box controller, or for the M8159 data buffer board. In particular I need the pin connection diagram for the 40 pin ribbon cable that runs between the box controller and the M8159 board. Our Decsystem 570 never had a box controller; instead it had someone's homebrew attempt at half a box controller - a bunch of LEDs on a single- width board plugged into slot 26/F of the memory crate, and a couple of SPDT switches grafted onto the edge of the M8159 board (yuck!). Slot 26 in the MK11 appears to be a spare; someone's added wires beneath to connect three of the LEDs back to the power supplies, so I know those are doing the equivalent of the battery status LEDs in a real box controller. However, there's three more LEDs on the homebrew board that are soldered directly to various pins on the box controller connector of the M8159, and the two bodged switches are connected up to pins here too. The two switches are unlabelled, so knowing the pinouts of the box controller connector is the only way of working out what they do. Working out what the three unknown and unmarked LEDs are for would be handy too! The manual for the MK11 doesn't go into detail of connector wiring though - any have the relevant schematics? cheers! Jules

20 years, 1 month

Cleaning gungy Flexowriter

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I asked about cleaning up the Flexowriters and a friend of mine reminded me that the old typewriter shops had vats of solvent that they would dunk the entire assembly into (taking off electrical and rubber parts before-hand). These are pretty nasty so I thought that sounding like a good idea. I was thinking of using minerals spirits. Anybody have any experience with using that on electromechanical stuff? Any sugggestions? I thought I'd remove the platen and belt on the RH side and any other rubber parts that I could see. Does anyone know if there are any parts inside the Flexowriters that should be removed first? Joe

20 years, 1 month

Anything in the Ottawa - Toronto - Guelph area?

by kenziem＠sympatico.ca

I'll be making a trip this weekend to pick up a few ICON's. Passing throught Toronto from Ottawa on route to Guelph. Since I'm renting a van for the trip I may have some space for additional machines. -- Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600 Machines to trade http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600/trade.html Open Source Weekend http://www.osw.ca

20 years, 1 month

question about pdp8/e console switches behaviour

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Hi All, after some distraction on other projects I picked up my pdp8/e simulator that runs on the 6809 Core Board. When I stopped a few months ago, I got the simulator working (as far as I can know with my very limited pdp8/e knowledge), but the console (yes, blinkenlights!) crashed the software. That problem is fixed, but what I can not get clear from the books is the active position of the HALT and SING-STEP switches. When the Switch Register switches are "down" they produce a logic zero; the "up" position present logic ones. Likewise for the SW switch. The momentary switches CLEAR, CONT, and EXAM are "up" in their normal position, but in that 'block' are also two switches: HALT and SING-STEP. Are these two active in the "up" or the "down" position? TIA, - Henk, PA8PDP.

20 years, 1 month

complete Imagen 8/300 system available

by ddl-cctech＠danlan.com

I have a complete Imagen 8/300 system with Ethernet interface available. It includes a like-new CX engine (it was on only its second toner cartridge when I stored it away), spare parts, CX maintenance manuals, etc. Because of the weight this pretty much has to be a pick up in Gloucester, MA. Dan Lanciani ddl(a)danlan.*com

20 years, 1 month

Kickass "terminal" find:

by toresbe＠ifi.uio.no

Allright, my grandma called me telling me she saw something I might like at a fleemarket. Thinking it would probably a typewriter or an SVGA screen, I still wanted to stop by the fleemarket. I was wrong. It's a big, blue, keyboard-folds-down Atlantic Research Corporation Interview Comstate I. This is one of the coolest pieces of equipment I've ever seen. Anyways, it's got a program bank. Are there any other programs availible out there? It can function as a 1200bps terminal, and it does. Anyone know anything about it? TIA, -- Tore S Bekkedal <toresbe(a)ifi.uio.no>

20 years, 1 month

demodulating audio cassette wav files

by cswiger＠widomaker.com

Gang - Any tips/pointers appreciated. I have some cassette tape audio files using 300 baud 8/n/1 format simple fsk 1200/2400Hz I think. Same audio you would find on a cassette tape for program storage except in a wav file. Any easy way to demodulate it back into data? Something like a software (mo)dem that can read the audio file and create the contents? Otherwise I will have to type the program in again (yuck) or read it into the old machine and rig up a serial interface to transfer it to a new PC running a simulator (more fun but would rather just extract it directly). Thanks --Chuck

20 years, 1 month

Flexowriter: Round 2!

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Today I started working on the 2nd Flexowriter. First I should point out that this is a newer machine than the first one. This one has an ~13,500 serial number and the first one has an ~4,000 serial number. This is what it looked like to begin with; front <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2front.jpg> and back <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2back.jp.g> and right hand side <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2right.jpg>. At least the keyboard hasn't been smashed in this one but you can tell that it hasn't been used in a LONG time by the mildew on the keys. The keys are supposed to be black and not white! The power cords of both machines had been wrapped around the carriage for so long that they had taken a permanent set and they broke when I tried to unwrap them! The first thing that you notice about this machine is that all the removeable covers are dark blue instead of brown. I've been told that sometime in the 60s they changed the machine color from brown to blue. Perhaps this is a transistion model or maybe somebody just mixed up the parts during a repair or modification. This is the same model as the first one but it's very different. For one thing it has a transformer in it <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2motor.jpg>. It also has a 2nd circuit board lurking behind the transformer and the fuse holders are very different from the first machine. But in the back it's even more changed. There are a lot more relays in it and the relays have a lot more contacts. <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2relays.jpg>. The blue arrows show all the new relays and the red arrow shows a stepping relay that has also been added to this machine. This appears to be a factory modification since all the brackets, wiring, etc fit perfectly. However all the added parts use wire with grey plastic insulation instead of the various colored cloth covered wire used originaly so this appears to have been done long after the machine was originally built. This mod also uses a different type connector (white arrow). In addition to the added relays, the encoder <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2encoder.jpg> has three more switch levers added (red arrows) to the original seven levers (blue arrows. And of course there are three added sets of switch contacts (red arrows) on the back of the plate that hold the original seven sets (blue arrows) <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2switches.jpg>. All of the added electrical parts use the same grey plastic insulated wires. Another change that I spotted was the use of round rubber feet with studs sticking out of the top and bottom of it (the one in the picture is broken). The top stud screws into the machine to mount the foot but I don't know for sure what the bottom stud was supposed to screw into.* The first machine used square rubber feet that were obviously make to sit on a flat surface such as a table top. Both of these machines were built by Commercial Controls Corporation prior to it being taken over by Frieden in the early '60s. <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/CC.jpg>. FWIW Here is also a picture of the PT punch <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2punch.jpg>. It's a modular design and I had to take it off to remove the encoder. *When I was a kid my dad had several teletype machines. A year of two ago he told me about another machine that he used to have that printed form letters from a paper tape. He said that it stopped printing at certain points and you could manually type in people's names, addresses, etc. He got rid of the machine many years ago and didn't remember the name on it. Today I called him and asked him about it and asked if it was a Fleowriter and he said that it was. He said that he still has a few accessories for it including a bit bucket and a Frieden marked dust cover. He also said that his Flexowriter sat on it's own stand. I suppose that that is what the rubber feet with studs on this machine are intended for. As I mentioned. I worked on the second machine today. I found that there's something locking up the carriage and preventing it from going back to the left. The release buttons have no effect even though all the linkage is free and moves like it should. The problem seems to be in something UNDER the carriage. I finally found a escapement behind the carriage and I pryed over the lever that prevents it from turning backwards and I was able to move the carriage to the left. I need to find out more about the escapement and what how it's supposed to work. The shafts in the encoder <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/flexo2/2encoder.jpg> that rotate and move the switch levers were also rusted up. I had to take the encover out and take it apart and clean the pivots before it worked. Boy getting it all back together was fun! NOT! Joe

20 years, 1 month

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test-drb November 2004