test-drb October 2005

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

264 participants
655 discussions

datasheets for 82S21 - Signetics 32x2 SRAM?

by brad＠heeltoe.com

Does anyone have a datasheet for an 82S21? I checked all the obvious places but can't find one. 82S21 - Signetics 32x2 SRAM thanks! -brad

18 years, 4 months

HP 150 Touchscreen

by mwelch＠redwoodalliance.org

Hello Friends: Just cleaning out storage and decided to sell my one-owner HP150B. But first I need to make it work. It was working when I put it back in its boxes 20 +/- years ago. But, I can't get past the pre-boot error message, "Power-on test failed 0004" or sometimes "0000c". Anybody know these error messages? Or better yet, where I can get a list of power-on error messages?

18 years, 5 months

Tape punch

by charlesmorris＠direcway.com

I'd posted here a while ago looking for info on a Tally 420PR tape punch and have built a driver board to interface it to a PDP-8A. But there is a problem with consistent punching/feeding (the result is often a longitudinal tear instead of holes) even with the pulse widths set to the recommended 4.5 ms +- 0.5 ms, -24 volts, and the feed mechanism intermittently binds up too. Currently I'm running it with only the sprocket and feed drivers hooked up, and simulated punch commands from a 555 timer, so the result should be continuously feeding tape with just sprocket holes punched in it. I suspect the problem is that the feed pulse starts immediately on the falling edge of the punch pulse, so the pin hasn't cleared the tape as the feed mechanism starts to move. It also tends to stick in that position with the tape not moving (you can hear the solenoids buzzing but the feed sprocket is not moving until tweaked backwards a few degrees by hand). According to the schematic, the escapement solenoid (which allows the tape to feed one row per pulse) is supposed to be actuated internally by contacts on the feed solenoid so there shouldn't be a timing issue there. Does anyone have more info on this punch model, or experience with these asynchronous mechanisms in general? Is there a requirement for a delay between punching the holes and pulsing the feed solenoid? How long does it take for the pins to move up or down after drive is applied/removed? thanks Charles

18 years, 5 months

Classic embedded development tools

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

The FPGA/Xilinx swearing around here reminds me... Many years ago (OK, decades, actually a good chunk of a century now) the tools for doing embedded software development from the manufacturers were: 1. Distributed as source code 2. Widely portable 3. Well-documented in terms of file formats Examples are the Intel 8008 PL/M compiler they released in Fortran and the original PALASM (Monolithic Memories?) in Fortran. (IIRC the PALASM source appeared in printed form in one of the manuals). Even for commercial tools, the three "good things" enumerated above were often true. The reason for this openness was because user's didn't all have identical development platforms, often they had access to a timesharing system or a departmental minicomputer that they used for cross-compilation etc. Since then of course the tools have become MSDOS/Windows-only, distributed only as binaries, and sometimes the file formats/ programming process are trade secrets (often reverse-engineered by those using them!) I can see why this happened: supposedly everybody had a PC-clone running Microsoft software, so you could just give away or sell binaries instead of source code. Of course, freeware embedded tools (e.g. GNU and others) today reflect a backlash against the Windows-ization of embedded development tools. A similar thing has happened to SPICE (most users are not using the open-source Berkeley code but instead proprietary versions which lock them in to a specific vendor and that vendor's component models). And there's the backlash to this in the open-source community (SPICE3 with ngspice/gEDA and some GUI's layered on top of it.) But in my experience, outside the hobbyist community the freeware embedded tools don't have much traction. I'd be glad to be proven wrong! Actually I do know of a couple of small commercial projects that used gcc for StrongARM and have heard of a couple that use gcc for MSP430. I myself use gputils (GNU PIC utilities) and gpsim occasionally and am occasionally forced to plunge into hell with commercial embedded development tools (which mostly suck) under Windows. OK, that's my pontification for this morning. Tim.

18 years, 5 months

HP 9845 C with 280 option startup failure

by tequilizer＠gmx.net

I recently acquired a HP 9845C option 280 (was looking for it for a really long time). The machine is in an overall good condition, however it hangs during memory test ("MEMORY TEST IN PROGRESS"), even after cleaning all board connectors, resocketing all ROMs & repeated control-stop's. Before entering nirvana the printer outputs a couple of memory addresses. Although lots of defects may be responsible, I assume there is a combination of both a bad RAM chip and a ROM failure, since a RAM defect alone should (?) not crash the system during the test. The printout looks like this: 000000 100112 052525 000000 110112 052525 000000 120112 052525 000000 130112 052525 I guess the first number is the block ID, the next is the memory address within the block, and the last number is the test pattern, each in octal representation. Does anyone have an idea - how to really interpret the memory test printouts and - how to check the ROMs for bad data? Maybe there is anyone out there who did the job to read out the contents of his 9845 ROMs (they are all in sockets) for a direct comparison. There is a 98407A memory option installed, and, of course, a bit slice LPU. So the ROMs work out as: PPU assembly: CE1 LB: 1818-1591B CE1 UB: 1818-1592B CE2 LB: 1818-0846D CE2 UB: 1818-0841D CE3 LB: 1818-0837D CE3 UB: 1818-0833D CE4 LB: 1818-1898A CE4 UB: 1818-1899A LPU assembly: CE1 LB: 1818-1506A CE1 UB: 1818-1502A CE2 LB: 1818-1507A CE2 UB: 1818-1503A CE3 LB: 1818-1508A CE3 UB: 1818-1504D CE4 LB: 1818-1509A CE4 UB: 1818-1505A Most of them schould be the same as in an 9845B model 200 system. Thanks for your help Ansgar

18 years, 5 months

local demolition of SAGE building

by john_boffemmyer_iv＠boff-net.dhs.org

I saw this in today's copy of my local newspaper on-line. The location of the building is in New Windsor, NY. Stewart International Airport -as some of you know- sits on the border of the Town of Newburgh and New Windsor. It used to be and still is to a degree, a major Marine, Army and Air Force base. More currently, it is a commercial international airport and a base for the Air Force, local Army and Air Force Reserves and touts a pair of the biggest runways in the USA. It is the 3rd location on the list for emergency landings for the Space Shuttles if something should go wrong. Unfortunately, as this piece suggests, the military has already removed the actual SAGE equipment from the building. I used to go on walks past this building as a kid as there is a path near it that my family would take through a wooded area (scenic stuff) and up until recently, was open to the public, sort of like a park. I figured I'd send this to cctech because it has a lot of historical relevance. -John Boffemmyer IV STORY AS FOLLOWS: July 16, 2005 Cold War building faces colder reality By Jeremiah Horrigan Times Herald-Record jhorrigan at th-record.com New Windsor ? You'll find it on the edge of Stewart International Airport, a windowless, four-story concrete cube that looks like it could withstand a nuclear blast. And that's exactly what it was built to do. If things had gone as many Americans feared during the Cold War, if the Russian bombers had finally come over the horizon, the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment building was the key to the country's military defense system. The building that once thrummed with the tensions of a time when nuclear Armageddon was a constant threat was abandonned by the military decades ago. The unnerving skeleton of its legacy remain, including the war room, where etched-glass maps of the Eastern U.S. display likely Russian targets. Above the maps looms a doomsday tote board, meant to track the "progress" of World War III. Even before the '50s faded and ICBMs became the weapon of choice among the world's super-powers, the SAGE building had become as antiquated as an Edsel. It's now slated for the wrecking ball under the airport's new 20-year master plan for development. And that plan is under siege by a group of people who for years have been laboring to transform the SAGE building into what they call a Cold War Peace Museum. Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet has spearheaded the effort, lobbying, fundraising and proselytizing on the building's behalf for the past five years. To her, the building isn't a dead relic but a living reminder of an era she believes we forget at our peril. "All the stuff we deal with daily ? terrorism, the possibility of nuclear terror or the situation in Korea ? it all began with the Cold War." Zimet's not much of a history buff herself, and, after years of exploring possibilities, she's doubtful the building is suitable for becoming a first-class museum. But that, she argues, doesn't mean the building should be demolished. Taking it down (at an estimated cost of nearly a million dollars) would be no different than destroying Washington's headquarters in Newburgh, she says. Tanya Vanasse toured the building's interior recently. She wasn't impressed. Vanasse is the airport's director of marketing. She sees no reason to keep the building around. The airport's master plan calls for the building to come down sometime between 2008 and 2012, to make way for a rail yard that would be part of a new train station, according to Zimet. "I can see no viability of making this into a public space. It's far too dangerous, it's got far too many accessibility problems," she said last week. "I could see removing the (etched glass) pieces and building a display around them." Vanasse said the plan is open ended, that no hard-and-fast timetable exists. Nevertheless, Zimet's group is urging people to sign petitions that would preserve the building. In the meantime, the SAGE building, silent and foreboding as a tomb, continues to do what it has always done: It waits. Anti-blast from the past was built to last If it goes, the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment building won't go easily. Its thick, lead-reinforced concrete walls were intended to withstand the ravages of a nuclear holocaust. Only a direct hit could have taken it out. The building was designed in the mid-1950s as part of a network of identical information-gathering centers built throughout the country that was supposed to protect the country's nuclear bomber fleet. Its designers intentionally made it so nondescript that only a handful of military personnel even knew of its existence or purpose. Its computer system was beyond compare, requiring thousands of square feet and at least as many delicate transistors to track potential intruders. Watching the skies at a SAGE building console, said one retired Air Force veteran, was like something out of "Buck Rogers." But, like so many other state-of-the-art defense systems, this one was obsolete almost before it became operational. It was designed to combat nuclear bombers. By the end of the decade, intercontinental ballistic missiles had become the bomb delivery system of choice. The structure was officially decommissioned in 1969. Since then, it has served as a free-trade zone. Its ground floor is now occupied by a chocolate- packaging factory. Jeremiah Horrigan E-mail this story Print this story Subscribe to the Record Today's top news headlines ? DPW blackmail unfolds ? Tragedy strikes family ? Locals doubt camp's zoning ? Cold War building faces colder reality ? County trash hauler plans recycling fee See all of today's news stories. Online special features News ? Remembering the fallen A tribute to the local soldiers we have lost. ? Middletown on Trial Continuing coverage of the Mayor Destefano trial. ? Report Card 2005 A report card on our schools. Includes statistics on our local districts. Have the top headlines from the Times Herald-Record e-mailed to you every morning. Sign up here. Have a tip about a news story? Contact THR Managing Editor Meg McGuire at mmcguire at th-record.com or call 346-3041. SPOTLIGHT ON ... Otterkill Golf & Country Club "Orange County's Premier Golf Course." 100 Otter Road Campbell Hall, NY 845-427-2020 ? Visit Website Record Online is brought to you by the Times Herald-Record, serving New York's Hudson Valley and the Catskills. 40 Mulberry Street * PO Box 2046 * Middletown, NY 10940 Telephone 845-341-1100 or 800-295-2181 outside the Middletown, N.Y., area. Copyright Orange County Publications. All rights reserved. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.15/49 - Release Date: 7/14/2005

18 years, 5 months

Orphaned OS thoughts

by James＠jdfogg.com

While reading an old resume, I came across something I forgot about. I used to admin some 3Com 3+ and 3+/Open systems. 3Com made the hardware (beefed up PC stuff) and wrote or owned the OS. Anybody know what became of 3+/Open? -James James Fogg JD Fogg Technology Consulting 18 Watershed Lane Wilmot, NH 03287 (603) 724-2243 www.jdfogg.com

18 years, 5 months

Short review of $550 power cord plus a new SWTPC 6800

by swtpc6800＠comcast.net

With all of this ragging on audio nut who spend obscene amounts of money on wire, I decided to at a look. I don't know why we call them crazy, they don't have 1975 computer running in the basement. The guy in the next office is in to high end audio. (Although he claims that he is in the lower end of the people in his audio club.) I asked if he had a power cord so I could take some pictures. He had a spare PS Audio xStream Statement Power Cable, the 2 meter version lists for $550. This is 6 gauge oxygen free copper with machined connectors. The cord has a ferrite impregnated jacket. Here is my short review of the power cord http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/MP_F/PS_Audio.htm I took it home and hooked it up to my new custom case computer which also cost me about $550. It is a modern 3 GHz Pentium that looks like a 1975 SWTPC 6800. http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/MP_F/MP_F.htm#NewCover

18 years, 5 months

Calling Fred van Kempen!

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Several other people have been trying to contact Fred and not having any luck.

18 years, 6 months

Japanese computers

by aw288＠osfn.org

I have developing somewhat of an interest in Japanese computers lately, and recently on a.f.c., someone pointed to the museum at: http://www.ipsj.or.jp/katsudou/museum/ Great pictures! I noticed that some of the pictures appear to be of survivors - old machines from the 60s and 70s that are still around. Does anyone, perhaps a Japanese list member (are there any?) know anything about the computer museum scene in Japan? William Donzelli aw288 at osfn.org

18 years, 6 months

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test-drb October 2005