test-drb June 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

281 participants
616 discussions

by wacarder＠usit.net

Ok, I'm going to surprise everyone and ask a question about a non-DEC item. Does anyone here have an HP 7200A plotter that they would like to get rid of? These were used in the 1970s. Ashley P.S. Even though it's a non-DEC thing, we used to have one connected to our PDP-11/40. I can't seem to find many references to these on Google or anywhere else.

20 years, 4 months

PDP11/73 power-up codes

by runtime＠wzrd.com

I found EK-KDJ1A-UG-001 "KDJ11-A CPU Module User's Guide," which might help, because unless my memory fails me, the KDJ = 11/73. I didn't immediately find power-up codes in it -- probably because something like MXV11-B2 or other ROM set issues the codes. If I can find an MXV11 doc, I'll post a message. I used to have one. Contact me if you want the KDJ11 manual. runtime(a)wzrd.com DM

20 years, 5 months

WARNING: RANTING COMPUTER NUT...

by vp＠cs.drexel.edu

"David V. Corbin" <dvcorbin(a)optonline.net> wrote: > As shown by the above quote, there is a strong anti "PeeCee" bias by many > here.[...] but this forum centers on variance, if everything is the same, what is the point of discussing/preserving it. The differences/peculiarities/innovations exhibited by many of the old machines make them so fascinating. If you give me a 20 year old PC, it will take me no time to setup it up with DOS and even networking. But what would be the point, I can do the same thing in a VMware window on my Linux workstation. The neat thing about the old machines is that it takes for ever to set them up and this is what's so intriguing about them. I remember a posting (not in this forum), about a guy who got an old IBM 360 mainframe working. He said that once it was working there wasn't much to do with it. > IF the computer industry had remained with a large number of completely > different hardware/software environments which required trained operators > for even the most basic operations, then computing would not have become a > household commodity. > [...] > Standardization of both hardware and software HAD TO HAPPEN, if computers > were to become the commodity they are today. I am afraid that computing standardised too early causing everybody to get locked into a technology that is too clunky. Microsoft's "innovation" essentially boils down to two things: a) adding useless junk to their already bloated platforms, and b) adding "essential" applications (e.g. Web, or audio) to their base platform so as to dictate the standards and eliminate competition. This strategy, although excellent for Microsoft, is to the detriment of everybody else. I have PCs running windows because I must, but I don't need the latest and greatest Microsoft offering, I am running Windows NT4.0 with Office 95 (which btw will soon be covered by the 10 year boundary :-). I will soon have to move to something more recent mainly because vendors do not support Windows NT, so I will not have the drivers to run Windows NT on my new hardware. PC hardware *is* a commodity, but never be fooled into thinking that Windows software is also a commodity. **vp

20 years, 5 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 74

by tradde＠excite.com

Crisis Computer in San Jose has the equipment to write CE packs. They aren't going to be cheap. I'm guessing $300 to $500. They are probably the only place in the world left that has the gear to do this. Realigning 2315 heads isn't something you want to do if you don't absolutlely HAVE to, since you run the risk of making the packs that you have unreadable, if they were written on drives that are off spec. ------------------- I believe I have to consider this. I have no packs with any data on them that I need. They were all just data packs with automotive parts in inventory and such. I cleaned a pack and loaded it into my RK05 drive zero and it would not pass the read/write test. I don't remember what happened when I tried to use drive 1. I believe it failed but in a different manner. I thought if at least one drive was working I'd be Ok for awhile. I am not sure if I want to spend $300-$500 on trying to get a CE pack that may not help me if my drive is failing for some other reason than alignment. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "der Mouse" <mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca> > >>> Again, I'm thinking in terms of vacuum tubes, and I can't see how >>> losing the knowledge of how they worked is going to affect the >>> future, or even the present for that matter. >> I'm guessing that there is at least one piece of equipment in your >> house that relies on a vacuum tube to opperate that is not some sort >> of display device. > >Aside from legacy electronics (I have some pre-transistor-era equipment >lying around), for which transistor versions exist, I can't think of >any. The only thing I'm not sure of is the microwave oven - does the >microwave-generation-thingy depend on vacuum? Hi You see, knowledge already lost. Yes, a magnetron has a vacuum in it. It has a filament and a plate ( with cavities in it ). While the principles of these things can be found in books, much of the mechanical and physical methods used to create these things is lost. Partly because of the fact that manufactures don't tell all and partly because no one is dealing with these kinds of things. While it is claimed that the information is in books, there are some feel things that rarely seem to make it into these books. Can anyone tell me what controls the gain of a vacuum tube ( other than someone that actually worked with these )? Can anyone tell me how the grids must be placed for an electrometer preamp tube and why? While we don't need these kinds of things today, the knowledge of what makes these things work is still quite valuable. This understanding can keep us from making mistakes with other related problems. I can't say that these specific things that I've mentioned will be the most important things to remember but these are the types of tidbits that make the difference when looking into new problem areas of the future. Those that understand these things will always be in demand. Those that think they can ignore these kinds of things will wonder why things are beyond understanding. This goes for the entire range of things. You can't understand how to think about things without actually thinking about things. Dwight

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Vintage Computer Festival <vcf(a)siconic.com> wrote: > It would be neat to know how the Egyptians built the pyramids, but we have > cranes and stuff for that today, so even if we knew their methods, is it > really practical to teach them in engineering school? No modern cranes or other machinery can come even close to building the 3 Orion pyramids on the Giza plateau or the Baalbek stone platform in the mountains of Lebanon. The only technology that can build such structures is antigravity, which is how they were actually built. Yes, get this, technology was more advanced many thousands of years ago than it is today. Devolution is all around us. The devolution of the past 20 y or so that Tony and others lament is merely a continuation of the devolution that has been going on for the past 4000 years, ever since the year 2024 BCE when our cosmic ancestors and teachers, the Anunnaki, were overthrown and forced off this planet by the dark extraterrestrial reptilian race I call Yahwists, who are the force behind Judeo-Xtianity (the "God" entity is actually them, those galactic criminals). This tragedy occurred because of a security hole in the ancient computer systems of Anunnaki (to bring this on topic). The Yahwists managed to introduce a virus into Anunnaki's central command mainframe at their NOC on Mt. Moriah (which became Jerusalem centuries later) and generated commands to launch their nuclear missiles against their major cities (including Sodom and Gomorrah), their spaceport in the Sinai peninsula, and their key technological base on Mt. Katherine. The destruction was complete when the Jewish horde (with Yahweh's UFO flying overhead) overran Jericho. Legendary records of this lost Golden Age remained in the Library of Alexandria, but the Christians took care of that. Oh, and the Giza pyramid complex is NOT ~4500 years old as commonly believed. It is actually about 12500 y old, if not more. The 3 pyramids are arranged exactly as the belt stars of Orion: Zeta Orionis, Epsilon Orionis and Delta Orionis. The Great Pyramid is not the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu, it's the pyramid of Zeta Orionis. The catch, however, that the astronomical alignments in the Giza complex (yes, complex, it was completely designed as a single unit before any one piece was built) do not match the stars as they appear in the sky today, but they match the stars as they appeared 12500 y ago. (The change is due to the precession of Earth's axis: the North Pole points at Polaris today, but 12500 y ago it pointed at Vega, as it will again in another 12500 y or so. The complete precessional cycle is 25920 y.) The extensive rain erosion on the Sphinx suggests a similar date. MS

20 years, 5 months

Classics near Winchester, Hampshire, UK ?

by kenziem＠sympatico.ca

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I've just heard that there will be an empty suitecase traveling my way from Worthycote, Milnthorpe Lane, Winchester, Hampshire, UK. This is my chance to get a British micro for my collection. Are there any surplus classic machines in the area? Unfortunately the suiteaces will be filled for the return trip - -- Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAzfX8LPrIaE/xBZARAlCZAJ0UrDRE4YCUvrmjGm/5CRlWazsw+QCeJeN/ 2IikOKRt4yE/7YFKwOXbals= =n1n1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ;

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "der Mouse" <mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca> > >> I've only ever possessed one [microwave oven], it currently still >> seems to cook as well (or badly) as it ever did so I've had no cause >> to examine it in any detail. > >Same here. > >> If it breaks, it will get looked at (although I suspect, without ever >> having checked, that a new megnetron will cost a significant fraction >> of the price of a microwave oven). Still, there's always the chance >> that the controller or its keypad will give up the ghost. > >That's what happened with my oven. It was bought at a garage sale some >years back, and worked fine for some time (years). Then after a >lightning storm, it started beeping intermittently at odd times when it >shouldn't. After a few days, it occurred to me that if it could beep >when it wasn't suppsoed to, it could turn on the microwaves when it >isn't supposed to. I opened it up and found that the keypad and >control board all culminated in two relays, one to control the fan and >the other the microwave-generator. I checked, and a new board would >cost almost as much as we paid for the oven. So I yanked the whole >thing, wired the fan and magnetron together (I almost always used it on >high anyway, and lower power settings worked by imposing a <100% duty >cycle on the magnetron), and controlled it with an ordinary wall light >switch, on the principle that it's too simple for much to go wrong. ---snip--- Hi Interesting. I know how, just about every part of, a microwave oven works and I wouldn't have done this. I'd have thrown the thing away and bought another at a garage sale. You also have to realize that I'm the kind of fellow that once did a field repair on broken points spring of a car with some cardboard, tape and several springs from some ballpoint pens. It got me home. Also, I doubt that a normal wall light switch is rated for that large of an inductive load. Dwight

20 years, 5 months

Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -))

by Lee.Davison＠merlincommunications.com

> A transistor can avalanche and not recover without removing the > power. A tube can recover with the power on, as long as the metal > don't ionize. Not true, a flashover in a valve is just as destructive as a similar condition in a transistor and cannot be snubbed without removing the supplies. We have big crowbar switches here. Lee. ________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________

20 years, 5 months

vcf east - riders? - trades?

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

by the way... I am not bringing an 11/45 to vcf east :) I was referring to how it looked when I got it recently from TN. I haven't started on that restoration project yet, and I doubt pretty seriously it'd get any awards the way it looks now *GRIN* Well, maybe... "system carrying the most dirt and grime". Now, if Sellam would ever have a VCF-Central, in St. Louis, I would bring the dual bay HP2000/Access system. If it'd be in St. Louis then I wouldn't mind so much having to tear a wall out of the basement to get it out. It does look like there is a pretty reasonable chance I will make it to VCF east. Can't wait to meet everyone! I will most likely be driving from St. Louis to VCF and back with either a small flatbed trailer, or a van (or both). Any riders along the way want to come with and share gas costs? It'd be nice to make the drive in one stretch, doable with multple drivers. If anyone going to VCF east wants any HP racks, 13037 controller systems, or 7906 disc drives, now is the time to speak up cause I'll bring it all with me. Could bring some 21MX's too. Regards, Jay West

20 years, 5 months

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test-drb June 2004