>
>Subject: Re: Was Ultrix for DECstations -- now DEC advances
> From: Bill Pechter <pechter at gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:01:20 -0500
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>>>d|i|g|i|t|a|l had it THEN. Don't you wish you could still buy it now!
>>>pechter-at-gmail.com
>>
>Came up with that one night thinking about DEC's UDA-50, HSC50 and
>clustering.
With 8 uVAX of vatious types LAVC is really nice. Still cant do that
with a PC.
>DEC always had stuff that was easy for the end user. Not always for the
>programmer (TKB taskbuilder comes to mind...) TKB had more options than
>EMACS had special keystrokes.
TKB was strange and wonderful.
>I never did get along much with RSX as more than a user. Coding under
>RT11 was great and RSTS/E Basic Plus was slick.
RT-11 is my favorite PDP-11 OS and I have it for all my 11s. RSTS/E
is one I used and liked.
>Multiuser Basic on RT11 was slick.
Never used it. Would have liked to.
>I had 4 terminals off a PDT11/150
>supplying different functions... Program input on one, console on
>another, monitor of memory on a third, serial printer on another. In
>60kb of memory. There's a PDT11/150 selling on Ebay now.
>I thought about it but the storage was too limiting.
I have a PDT11/130 (tu58 in a vt100). sloooow. Fun!
>Rumor has it some hacker at DEC took the signals off the bus and was
>working on a hard disk that would look like an RK or something like an RL.
I can believe it. IDE is a simple interface and can be made to look
like most anything with a brain dead 8048.
My favorite small 11 is a BA11VA shoebox with 11/23, 256kb ram, DLV11J
and MRV11(boot proms) with a TU58 emulator (8051 and for 128kx8 rams)
that is faster than the real tu58 and run RT-11 XM with bas RT11 in VM:
>>Thankyou for that! Some of the things I was used to at DEC I still haven't
>>found a PC version that is close. If there ever was one that would be
>>VAXNotes, really great collaboritive tool.
>>
>>Anyone ever do a wintel editor (NOT WORD) that had a single key for advance
>>cursor one word?
>>
>Hell. I want a Decmate box just for WPS...
I have a DMIII for that reason runs OS278 and WPS.
>I've got WPS-80... but I'd love gold-key word processing on Windows...
ME TOO!
>One time I tried getting SmallEDT up on CP/M 80...to give me EDT on CP/M.
Yucky. For CP/M I have VEDIT and thats as clost to EDT ot VAXedt as
you can get. In command mode the same teco macros run. It's configurable
so a VT100 keypad does the expected EDT stuff.
Never got the PC version but it was supposed to be the same thing.
>The wife was amazed how easy WPS was to learn for an untrained novice at
>the keyboard. Wordstar was hell and WordPerfect required all the
>special keyboard overlays...
My partner also like WPS still and uses PCs all day. She was also a
former digit and learned the DM/wps first and found the PC was crude.
Allison
Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> writes:
: The only way I can think of is to take a large piece of paper, draw
: the components (ICs, etc.), then trace each etch on the PCB. You
: might use a felt tip pen to put a dab of color on each pin whose
: connection you have marked on your drawing.
If you've got a digital camera, take pictures of both sides of the PCB,
and you can then draw on the pictures using a graphics program.
--
John Elliott
Pictures from the Smithsonian
http://users.starpower.net/dj.taylor/Vax1.JPG
VAX MINICOMPUTER
Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX minicomputer, first introduced
in 1976, provided enough processing power for complex design problems,
but at a much lower cost than had previously been available. This
meant that individuals engineers could have the fill use of a
computer without having to share it with their colleagues. The VAX
became the workhorse or aerospace engineering. The model displayed
here, a MicroVAX II was introduced in 1985.
Museum people! Oh well! They can obviously read, but cannot understand.
Hello?? The label says its a *MICRO*VAX, and if its a uVAX, then
its not a mini. Also, calling the baby-sized uVAX a mini gives
visitors who may have never seen a mini-computer the wrong idea as to
what a mini-computer looks like. Sure I'll accept that its *compatible*
with a VAX (I'll even ignore the minor business of emulating a small
part of the instruction set :-), but is not a VAX.
At the University of Pennsylvania here in Philadelphia they have a VLSI
version of the ENIAC (some student project) but no-one in their right
mind would show that microprocessor next to a sign that says here is a
picture of ENIAC.
**vp
Hi all,
A colleague just picked up the board of an "INCAA PIT" and handed it over to
me. Looks like a programmable interface converter, it has two DB25
connectors and a 6800 CPU. The two ROMs are labelled "PIT 1985" and there
are two RAMs (SRM2064 & TMM2016) . What is the box doing? Are there any
manuals available? It's possible to program the CPU directly via the DB25
connector? Any hints?
TIA for your help,
--Thomas
>
>Subject: SAIC V2-LC computers, need hard drives
> From: Patrick Jankowiak <recycler at swbell.net>
> Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 23:22:14 -0600
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>I've started working on my small pile of SAIC V2-LC computers, but run into
>some snags with the disk drives.
>
>For those that do not know of them, these are OEM-for-military portable
>computers with a 386 or 486 processor. The hard disk is generally a Conner
>CP30204 IDE drive, enclosed in a special case. The drive is the same
>dimensions as the common IDE drive used in PCs today. The 3.5" form factor,
>and about 3/4" tall.
>
>The Conner CP30204 has the following specs:
>
>size = 212 MB
>CYL = 683
>Heads = 16
>Sectors = 38
>WP = 0
>LZ = 683
>
>One necessary feature of this kind of drive is a an additional small 3-pin
>connector for power, on the opposide end of the IDE connector from the
>usual PC-style 4-pin connector. I have seen this only on Conner drives.
>Might be on others, don't know.
>
I have two connors one21mb, one 43mb and the other 400. Also the seagate
ST3096 85mb has that same connector (I think thats when seagate absorbed
connor. Sorry they are not for sale.
There is nothing special about that connector that the regular 4pin can
be used with an adaptor. Laptops used the threepin for space reasons
only, smaller connector.
>In any case, I am looking for either cased or naked drives. I have 6
>machines and two 'good' hard drives. If anyone has an IDE drive with the
>aforementioned small 3-pin connector, please let me know. I'm willing to
>take a shot.
>
>-Also looking for 4 or 8 meg 30-pin simms for same.
I keep the 4megs or larger parts. I'm swiming in the 1meg 30pins.
>I have managed to cram windows 95 onto one of these little beasts, and it
>is quite nice, even if slow.
The 400mb Connor ran w95b with 8mb ram in a 386/25 the system with NE2000
NIC was used for a printserver! I for one am not surprized.
Allison
On 11/11/05, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
> At 11:59 PM +0800 11/10/05, Wai-Sun Chia wrote:
> >On 11/10/05, Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > The problem is that Ultrix doesn't *feel* all that different from NetBSD.
> >
> >I wouldn't know that until I've checked it out, wouldn't I?
> >Now you've gone and spoiled it..:-)
>
> Personally I bought the DECstation I have somewhere specifically to
> run NetBSD, not that I could tell you where that system is at the
> moment. Something to consider about Ultrix is that it is quite old
> at this point, and doesn't get any updates. NetBSD does.
There are people running Unix V6 on their 11/40...err..so what's your point? :-)
Or have you forgotten what which list you're in? :-)
I've got a Wangtek DC-300 tape drive (model 54590) and a controller with a
5.25" footprint. The controller has a 50-conductor edge connector keyed
the same way as the drive connector, so I'm assuming that the drive is
connected there. The controller also has a 50 pin male header. I believe
the controller is also a Wangtek model WT05ZK. It's got an 8085A-2 on it,
as well as the usual support chips (8257 DMAC AM9128 PIC). Chip dates are
1984.
What's the interface to the controller? SASI? Anyone know what the
command set might be?
Cheers,
Chuck
>
>Subject: Re: Ultrix for DECstations
> From: Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
> Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:45:08 +0000
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>Yup, and it's good to watch people's faces when they don't believe that such
>behaviour is possible. I also had some fun last week with someone who'd been
>'educated' in the ways of Windows 'clusters' - it took him several minutes
>to come to terms with a filesystem that was accessible by any machine in the
>cluster *at the same time* and one that was set up in minutes. He wanted to
>know why such a filesystem wasn't everywhere and I couldn't honestly answer
>him other than saying 'cost'.
>
>A
That and MOP load were wonderful. I've tried to do diskless client under
winders (95 through NT4/server) and no one can say how it's done but all
said it could be. Gah!
Who was it that had the signline of something like:
Don't you wish you could buy now what DEC had then.
Allison
I have an HP plotter that's been seriously picked over. I bought it after it
was parted out, just to get the pinch rollers. I've looked it over and can't
find a model number anywhere, as a lot of the outer casing is gone. There
is a little handwritten sticker in the bottom that says a few numbers, initials
and 7580. That sounds familiar, but it's been months since I bought it, and
can't remember. The servo(?) motors are still there, and a few small boards
near them, but the bigger ones are all gone.
If you could point me where to look, it might have the parts.
What is the best way to fix a wire wrapped backplane?
I have a pdp-11/40 with a short to ground in one of the backplane runs.
I probed the backplane with a wooden stick and with some wire tyes and
the short went away. I have a pretty good idea which segment of wire is
the problem. I have probed the area again and I can't get it to come
back. So, what should I do?
1. Be happy it is working. Note the problem in my log book. Wait for it
to happen again.
2. Replace that run in the backplane.
I figure I will have to replace most of the run because this segment is
on the lowest wrap level and in the middle of the run, so I have to
replace this one and the ones on either side.
I have done some wire wrapping, but this thing is very intimidating.
Replacing the wire is easy, but I am afraid that taking out the old ones
will create another problem. These backplanes have the wires pretty
taught and they are pulled over square edged pins. How fragile is the
backplane wiring?
If you have a PDP-11/40 then the KM11 is your friend. I have been
troubleshooting this problem for a while, but after I handbuild a KM11
(from Tony Duell's notes), the problem was obvious.
