Slightly off topic: I need to recover some data (about 500MB) from a
tape written 8 years ago on an 8mm ExaByte 8200. Ultimately I need it
transferred to a hard disk but DAT (DDS or DDS2) or DLT (anything that
can be read on a DLT7000) would be an excellent intermediate step.
Does anyone in the UK have the ability to do that for me? I can
provide the DDS or DLT tape.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On May 7, 19:57, SHAUN RIPLEY wrote:
> already gone?
Drat! Sorry about that, in my haste at the end of the day, I got the
file permissions for external access wrong (and a couple of the links).
The links should work now.
Several people mailed me privately to tell me; you're all welcome to
make copies/backups/mirrors/whatever.
I also didn't have time yesterday to find a copy of tiffcp and convert
the big g3-compressed TIFFs to g4-compressed. I've done that now;
sometime shortly after 1300 BST today (Saturday) I'll change the
index.html file to point to the g4-compressed TIFFs, which are *much*
smaller (a factor of 3).
> --- Pete Turnbull <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com> wrote:
> > We also mentioned DEC's UDA50 Programmer's Documentation Kit a
> > while ago. I had a chance to play with a new scanner at work
> > today, so I've provided scans of all three documents in the set,
> > as TIFFs and PDFs. Due to lack of space I can't keep them there
> > very long, but for the moment they're at
> >
> > http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~pnt1/MSCP/
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On May 8, 8:27, Nico de Jong wrote:
> From: "Pete Turnbull" <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
> > Slightly off topic: I need to recover some data (about 500MB) from
a
> > tape written 8 years ago on an 8mm ExaByte 8200.
> > Does anyone in the UK have the ability to do that for me? I can
> > provide the DDS or DLT tape.
>
> Denmark good enough ?
If no-one closer offers, yes :-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
On May 7, 21:33, Christian Fandt wrote:
> This is great Pete, thanks very much. I printed and filed the index
with my
> disks. In a month or two I may have time to fire up my Micro PDP-11
and see
> how they work. But first . . .
>
> Two more questions:
>
> 1.) Are the HELP.TXT files found on a couple of disks fairly
detailed or
> are they rather terse?
They won't help much with individual diagnostics, but they do tell you
how to do things in general.
> Is an XXDP manual online anywhere?
Some time ago (about 11 years) I created a document about how to use
XXDP; it's called "Notes for XXDP+ and XXDP V2 Operating Systems" and
it's at
http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/PDP-11/
In fact, IIRC, I put that doc on the web in response to a request from
you (Christian) several years ago :-)
There are PostScript and (thanks to the kind services of another
listmember, Bill King) PDF versions. It's also mirrored on at least
one other site which also has some XXDP info. XXDP is an enhanced
version of the original XXDP (there's also one we used to refer to as
XXDP++, but I'm not sure either name was offical), and V2 is what came
out with the later microPDP-11s. V2 is a bit friendlier.
The document consists of notes I made in the mid-80s when I was on a
DEC maintenance course, plus reformtted stuff from the V2 files. So
long as you remember that much of it uses the V2 commands, and replace
them with the V1 equivalent, it will be useful.
The one thing I never got round to doing -- because I have it on
paper,in various forms -- is a list of *exactly* what each diagnostic
is. There's a partial (very incomplete) list at
http://www.chd.dyndns.org/pdp11/xxdp25.notes.txt
See also
http://starfish.osfn.org/rcs/pdp-11/xxdp/
Will Kranz also had some stuff -- he was working on how to completely
decode an XXDP disk, but his site at earthlink has disapeared.
> I checked
> bitsavers.org already - just something on DEC/X11 extant. In one of
those
> X11 manuals mention is made of an XXDP+ manual with an Order Number
of
> AC-F348?-MC (Yes, there's a "?" printed in that number. See page
three of
> http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/XXDP/AC-F055D-MC_X11crossRef.pdf
.)
I've never seen that, though I'm sure it will exist somewhere. If
nowhere else, it should be at the front of any complete set of XXDP
microfiche.
> 2.) Pete indicates these are a basic set of XXDP (XXDP++) disks for
a
> microPDP-11/23. What functionality will they have on my 11/73 (or a
11/53
> if I build one up from a heap of parts on hand)??
Actually I think they are XXDP V2, now that I think about it (I don't
have a system with an RX50 on it at the moment, to check).
They'll test most of the basic hardware in the machine. Read the
document and the list I referred to; it'll let you work out what
hardware the tests are for. But to actually use certain of them
effectively, you really ought to have the listings of the individual
diagnostics. They don't all print nice messages; sometimes you need to
know what the "switch settings" are to make them do certain things,
sometimes they just halt on error and you can't tell what happened
unless you can look up the error address in the listing.
For example, for the ZKMA memory test:
bit 15 set = halt on error
bit 14 set = loop in selected subtest (see bits 0-3)
bit 13 set = don't print errors
bit 12 set = enable memory management
bit 11 set = enable parity testing (default is ignore parity bits)
bit 10 set = halt after each sub-test
bit 9 set = don't do program relocation (so it can't test all of
memory)
bit 8 set = test in blocks of 4K, and print the first failing bit
in each block
bit 7 set = enable "long galloping test" (takes a while :-))
bit 6 set = don't size the memory (normally the diagnostic tries to
work out how much memory there is to test)
bit 5 set = don't print "END PASS xx" (normally does this every time
round the loop)
bit 4 set = don't print anything
bits 0 to 3 are used to select a single subtest. See bit 14.
Machines used to come with paper listings (though I think that practice
stopped around the time of microPDP-11s) and some sites had the set on
microfiche (one and a half boxes about 15" deep, so it's a LOT of
microfiche for the whole set).
We've discussed this on the list several times before. Maybe I should
dig out the rest of my XXDP paper notes and scan them :-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
>From: "Jay West" <jwest(a)classiccmp.org>
>
>This has been discussed on this list a few times before... but I just came
>across a rather detailed article about the topic of longevity of CD, DVD,
>and CDRW media.
>
>I'm thinking the best long term storage solution is... paper printouts. How
>retro :)
>
---snip---
The only real chance is to make sure that the data has redundant
storage. Paper burns well. Why is it that many of the classic
systems we like have no docs. These docs were on paper. One type
of storage is no solution at all.
When I look at things like older floppies, the biggest failure
I've seen was the higher end floppies with the inner liners.
The self sticking adhesive eventually migrated through the liner
to the disk surface. Of course wear and tear is an issue for those
in constant use but I'm more concerned here with archiving.
As you can easily see there is no especially great storage media.
Each has its downfalls. Redundancy in media types as well as
redundancy in the actual data stored are the only chances we have.
As the article points out, there are unforeseen problems with most
every single method. Any valid system must allow for this and
respond to this in a preplanned procedure.
I store my valued information on as many storage types as I can.
There are practical limits for me. I try to get others to duplicate
what I have ( with limited success ). What if my house burned.
What if the roof fails and the rain comes in. What if I die.
What if, what if....
We are solidly into the "Lost Information Age".
Dwight
On May 7, 15:01, Al Kossow wrote:
>
> People who have been thinking about building an IDE MSCP
> Qbus controller may find these two manuals interesting:
>
> http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dilog/2120-0088_DQ226um_Dec85.pdf
> http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/webster/SRQD11um_1984.pdf
We also mentioned DEC's UDA50 Programmer's Documentation Kit a while
ago. I had a chance to play with a new scanner at work today, so I've
provided scans of all three documents in the set, as TIFFs and PDFs.
Due to lack of space I can't keep them there very long, but for the
moment they're at
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~pnt1/MSCP/
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Olivier De Smet <desmet(a)cnam.fr> wrote:
> I was wondering if it's possible to use rom dump as binary program
> (loaded with loadbin), perhaps with some "relocations" ?
Unfortunately this is not possible, unless you can disassemble the ROM
and then reassemble the code with the desired "relocation" address
(ORG). This is also the reason why HP-86/87 binary programs are
incompatible with HP-83/85 machines and vice versa.
A better bet is to try to find a programmable ROM drawer on eBay etc.
Check also www.series80.org for other info on HP 85-86.
Best Regards
**vp
>Nothing like walking across the parking lot with the system disk in one
>hand and the backup copy in the other. I was careful not to drop either
>pack.
I joined the RT-11 development team in 1978... and got my first office
in the mill. At that time we had a lab full of systems where we did
our development and testing. Occasionally there were fire alarms and
evacuation drills at the mill. It was not unusual to see a bunch of
us with our RK05 (or RL01,02) disks which contained the most recent
RT sources, out in the parking lot. The first thought many of us
had when the alarms went off was to power down the drive and get
the disk... then calmly exit the building...:-)
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL,ST| 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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
