test-drb December 2005

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

235 participants
580 discussions

by john_boffemmyer_iv＠boff-net.dhs.org

my company that i work for has just decommissioned an hp9000 system for scrap and 11 dec vt420's circa 1991, unopened, with keyboards. they did not give option on taking them or buying them =/ don't you hate it when the bean counters get involved because they think the scrappers will not be jerks and resell what they get instead of doing their jobs and just scrapping it and keeping it from the employees for personal use? -John Boffemmyer IV -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.12/192 - Release Date: 12/5/2005

18 years, 9 months

Legacy apps in Windows/OS X was Re: Old MS-DOS & Win Software

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > >It's a problem with instruction sets that implement result codes as a >simple condition code register. The same arithmetic that couints >interations affects the condition codes that one might also need for >searching or computation. That's probably the reason that the increment >and decrement instructions don't bother the carry flag and that the 16-bit >increments and decrements on the 8080 didn't bother any of the condition >codes. Inspection of the 808x instruction set can be very illuminiating, >particularly when it comes to arcana like which instructions modify (and >how) the half-carry flag, for example. > >Cheers, >Chuck Hi I still don't fully understand the decimal fuctions of the 4004. It has similar problems with addition and subtraction. It, of course, doesn't have to deal with a half carry, being only 4 bits. Dwight

18 years, 9 months

sad to report...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: sad to report... > From: Don North <ak6dn at mindspring.com> > Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:39:32 -0800 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Cc: Classic Comp <classiccmp at classiccmp.org> > >When I worked for DEC back in the late 70s / early 80s, they had a >wonderful scrap / salvage center in the Mill complex (basement of >building 5 IIRC) that sold off 'scrapped' DEC parts to employees that >would have otherwise gone to the smelter. Just about anything DEC made >could show up there (albeit in pieces, not whole systems). I took advantage of it as often as I could. I thingk I have every 871A I got from there still. >I seem to remember that DEC mgmt finally shut it down when they >discovered that some employees were internally buying new DEC equipment, >dismantling it and sending the pieces to 'scrap', where they would then >go buy them for 'personal' use at a deep discount (I think the person >running the salvage operation would put this good stuff aside when it >arrived, for a small fee, of course). It was that and also there were people decomissioning good scopes and the like and "picking them up later". I got po'd there when I'd seen a 575 scope in pristine condition and they wouldn't sell it to me. I think it was less than a month later that it all hit the fan. >I don't think it ever reopened after this fiasco. No it didn't. I worked a special deal with my manager to get the PDP-8E off of a permenent property pass and in my hands along with a PDP11/23 in the lab that I was the only user. However, I've been in several places and seen similar abuses cause problems. Allison

18 years, 9 months

Well, that's just typical! Amiga woes.....

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

While I was running disk salvage tools (DiskSalv) on my newly acquired Amiga 4000 it locked up and gave out head sticky type noises so I thought 'right, back up as much as possible on a more modern machine NOW' So, everything set with scratch disk to back up onto, knoppix booted to allow me to use dd and 4 of the 6 partitions on the Amiga disk put onto the other drive in ISO format......suddenly, the power goes off!!!!! Swear. More than once. Get the machine back online and BOTH disks have died on me. Backup drive won't power up and the Amiga drive no longer responds to the gentle 'power up please' tap I've been giving it. I'm not best pleased* Does anyone know someone with Kickstart 3.1 ROMs that they're willing to sell for less than the leeches on ebay? I've had a generous offer of OS3.9 but I still need the ROMs.... Cheers! *understatement. -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

18 years, 9 months

Legacy apps in Windows/OS X was Re: Old MS-DOS & Win Software

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Legacy apps in Windows/OS X was Re: Old MS-DOS & Win Software > From: Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> > Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:55:58 -0600 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Chuck Guzis wrote: >> codes. Inspection of the 808x instruction set can be very illuminiating, >> particularly when it comes to arcana like which instructions modify (and >> how) the half-carry flag, for example. > >The "half-carry flag"? Huh? You lived a shelterd life. 8080/8085 have a flag that is set when ther eis a carry from the low 4 bits to the upper as part of the DAA (Decimal Adjust Accumulator). Not only is it mostly undocumented therre are a bunch of instructions like Jumps that work with it also undocumented. While I've never deleved deeper than I had to with 8086/88 I'd bet it exits there and and with a few more permutations added. It's not unique to Intel! Allison

18 years, 9 months

Legacy apps in Windows/OS X was Re: Old MS-DOS & Win Software

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Legacy apps in Windows/OS X was Re: Old MS-DOS & Win Software > From: Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> > Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:39:31 -0600 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Chuck Guzis wrote: >> Consider on Windows XP that you can still run the following code: >> >> mov cl,9 >> mov dx,offset HWMes >> call 5 > >What is "call 5"? I'm having a brain fart right now and can't parse this. >-- Call 5 is the standard CP/M function call to BDOS parameters like what function is placed in C and DE pointed to string for string output. Goes all the way back to CP/M-80 V1.x Allison

18 years, 9 months

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, 9 months

SMPSU IC explosion... (UC3844)

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Random failure of the weekend was a UC3844 IC in a switchmode power supply - with a very loud bang, the entire top of the chip blew off, but there's no *obvious* sign of any other failure within the supply. This was one of two such supplies in a Sun RAID disk controller; the two do current-sharing under normal conditions - but the unit will run on one supply if the other fails, which is exactly what happened here. Leads me to *tentatively* say that the RAID unit itself is 100% and the failure was totally in the PSU. So, given that assumption for now, anyone know of a likely fault in a typical SMPSU that might cause such a catastrophic chip failure but no other obvious damage? Seems like a strange one to me, but I assume that something else in the supply has failed and the chip just couldn't handle it. Whilst knowing a bit of SMPSU theory (and practice), I'm not familiar with the UC3844... Of course maybe it was just time for that chip to die (it was at startup, and this in a server which had probably only been power cycled a handful of times in its life), but it sure was noisy about it. Shame Sun don't publish schematics! cheers Jules

18 years, 9 months

Bionic Desk

by ploopster＠gmail.com

I know it's a long shot, but would anyone happen to know someone who has an IBM S/32 "Bionic Desk" available? Peace... Sridhar

18 years, 9 months

Mac Mini

by Richard.Cini＠wachovia.com

Doesn't that essentially get you a VIA EPIA motherboard (except for the SCSI)? Only problem there is that it doesn't run OSX. On my PC at home, although I have "legacy" ports on my Shuttle XPC, I don't use them. I have a USB scanner and color printer. The laser printer is attached to the network though a Netgear print server. The DV_cam connects through FireWire and I use a card reader for the Memory Sticks from my Sony camera. I have a 56k modem, but it's internal. I don't really have any daily-use peripherals that use legacy ports. If I need, I have several other machines that I could use. I personally have not had a problem with USB but maybe I'm not looking hard enough :-) Rich -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Jules Richardson Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 4:30 AM To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Mac Mini Adrian Graham wrote: > On 2/12/05 02:34, "Scott Stevens" <chenmel at earthlink.net> wrote: > >>> My only issue with it is that it only has 2 USB ports and no mic input so by >>> the time you've got your kbd/mouse plugged in your remaining port is taken >>> up by the USB sound module though I guess I could plug that into the >>> keyboard too.....the hard drive is also slow.... >>> >> Can't you just plug a USB hub into one of the ports, and make it into a big >> maze of cables if that suits your desires? > > Yes, and belkin produce such a thing that's the same shape as the mini but I > feel that that's not the point of the machine. Yep, personally I'd only buy a Mac mini if it was 10-20% bigger and came with some real ports - say serial, parallel, and SCSI. Then it'd be a nice compact well-designed machine with some useful connectivity too. It seems that no matter what the USB-advocates say, bodging that sort of stuff on top of Universal Screwed-up Bus plain doesn't work... cheers J.

18 years, 9 months

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test-drb December 2005