test-drb October 2006

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

217 participants
352 discussions

VAX 8600 (was Re: the last MIT ITS dec-20 (AI.MIT.EDU) is up for sale)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 10/18/06, Witchy <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote: > On Tue, October 17, 2006 11:25 pm, Jules Richardson said: > > > > There's always the DECSystem 570 and the VAX 8600 to get your teeth into - > > *looks for picture of VAX8600, fails* Google Image search is your friend... http://hampage.hu/vax/e_1984.html I never ran one, but I used to walk past one in a semi-stripped condition at Lucent in Columbus, OH, c. 1997. -ethan

18 years, 2 months

ZRQC formatter issue

by drb＠msu.edu

Esteemed DEC Wizards, I'm trying to format a Seagate ST251-1 (40 MB MFM drive) connected to an RQDX3 using ZRQCH0 from XXDP25. The formatter runs for over two minutes, stepping the heads steadily, and announcing completion of over 50,000 LBNs written. It seems to write all of the low level format, then dies with this error: ZRQC SYS FTL ERR 00007 ON UNIT 00 TST 01 SUB 000 PC: 105472 Controller has reported a fatal error in the format program Status: FCT nonexistent The drive was originally used with WD controllers on 486 class MS-DOS machines. How do I get an FCT onto the drive? Do I need to somehow wipe some additional space on the drive to trick ZRQC into thinking this is a raw drive, or something? Thanks, De

18 years, 2 months

HP stuff on ebay

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I noticed this in a different category than usual... ebay item # 250040699675 It's an HP 13037C rackmount controller. Doesn't power up, but, there's one day left at 14 bucks. Since it has a complete set of cables it's worth $14 just for that. This item is required for 7905/06/20 disc drives. There's also a 7970E in case no one noticed in the usual category. Jay

18 years, 2 months

Wow; $192 for a 5.25" floppy disk drive

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Doing this with RS-232 is just dumb. It's clearly a USB application. I really believe that there is a relatively large market for such a device (USB to 5.25 (and possibly 8") interface). I'm thinking tens or hundreds of thousands of units (not a significant market penetration in a world with hundreds of millions of PCs in use and an additional 100 million sold annually, but enough to make design and manufacture easily justifiable). Because I think that this has much wider application than just "us classic computer collectors", I think that size, aesthetics and ease of use matter. Sure, the functionality can be achieved with a whole PC, and an old PC can be nearly "free". But that's not what the CPA firm that needs to access a client's old records on 5.25" diskettes wants. They want a nice, small, not too expensive box that plugs into a USB port and has a CD of drivers and file transfer software (including file transfer programs for non-Microsoft OS' ... even, in fact in particular, CP/M). I personally don't care about a cat-weasel type device that tries to capture every flux transition on the disc. I don't care about hard sector formats either (Heathkit, NorthStar) unless I can do them with no great extra effort. Being able to handle "any" soft-sector format with 128, 256, 512 or 1024 byte sectors, single or double sided, 5.25" (360k or 1.2MB) {and POSSBILY 8" (ok, for me, preferably)) is good enough and is relatively easy to do. A USB interface, a microprocessor and a floppy controller. And some software on the PC side for file transfer. Keep it relatively simple, relatively cheap, and still meet the needs of the vast majority of people who might have a use for such a device. While I might want to use this for CP/M (and the device should allow that, even if the extent of this is that it allows arbitrary read and write I/O to specific side/track/sector, and let software on the PC deal with the file system), the primary use of this is going to be for 5.25" PC diskettes (both 360k and 1.2MB) now that PCs no longer have 5.25" floppies. And, if it wasn't for the fact that there are USB 3.5" floppy drives, we'd soon need it for those as well, as floppy drives of all types and sizes are in their "end days".

18 years, 2 months

**for grabs** power supply H7868B fro R215F

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Not sure about the power supply, but I would encourage you to consider putting the RF72s for sale on E-bay or something similar. When I was looking to outfit my VAX about a year and a half ago, DSSI drives were quite expensive for their size (generally at least US$40 for a RF72 (I wound up using a HSD05-AA and SCSI drives built into the BA440).

18 years, 2 months

Wow; $192 for a 5.25" floppy disk drive

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Don't know if any of you saw this, but a 5.25" floppy disk drive just went for $192 on E-Bay tonight (Wed., 10/18). It was a "backpack" external parallel port drive, New Old Stock in Box, still shrink wrapped. I am strongly of the opinion that there is a far bigger market than is generally perceived for a USB floppy disk controller that will support 5.25" and even 8" drives, if only someone would develop the product.

18 years, 2 months

**for grabs** power supply H7868-B fro R215F

by henk.gooijen＠oce.com

Hi all, I am disposing some stuff I really don't want to keep. Most of it is of no interest, but parts may be ... So, if anybody want the PSU of the R215F pedestall it's available for shipping cost (from The Netherlands). Also the two RF72 drives, but they weigh a few kilos ... I will throw the pedestal in a collect bin, so the metal inside (heavy!) will get recycled. - Henk. This message and attachment(s) are intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or agent thereof responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone and with a "reply" message. Thank you for your cooperation.

18 years, 2 months

Specific DEC diagnostic questions (FKTG & ZDLD)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

The /34 passes FKAA, FKAB, FKAC, ZKMA, ZQMC, - and boots RT11. So it can't be totally hosed. Two diags give me odd results, and I'm not sure if they are saying something is failing or if I'm just not understanding what they're trying to say. ZDLDI0 - DL-11W diagnostic - It prints the following: CZDLDI0 DL11-W 11/44 MFM SLU 01 Devices Under Test --------this line is the complete ascii character set (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, !-+, etc.)----------- --------the above line (complete ascii character set) repeats here a 2nd time---------- ND PASS The odd part is the ND PASS. Where did my E go? It thinks it ended ok, but something seems amiss. I tried this on a VT100, and then on an ADDS VP to make sure it wasn't the terminal. Both gave identical results, both set to 8-1-N which is what the DL11 is set at. This MAY be related to the following... When I run FKTGC0 (11/34 memory management excerciser) it loops on a character set display similar to the ZDLD diag above. But it's not the exact same line every time. About once every 2 seconds it prints the character set line, then prints it again, and this goes on for long enough that I just halt the processor. The only docs I can find on FKTG show a switch option to inhibit TTY output. I select that and run the diag again, and it just prints an * on a new line about once every 12 seconds. I see no documentation telling me if you inhibit TTY output that it's supposed to print a * every so often, it doesn't seem to ever stop (maybe I'm not giving it long enough) so I'm a bit clueless as to if it is completing this diag and * means a pass, or does each * mean a test phase, or does a * mean "fail"? I'd appreciate any input on the two issues above! Thanks! Jay West

18 years, 2 months

General DEC diagnostic questions

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I assume these are probably silly questions, but hey, it's just not clear to me :) In the PDP11 diagnostic handbook (1988) on bitsavers, some of the diagnostics mention setting CSR at 174, and SWR at 176 for various options to a given diagnostic. I am assuming that SWR is the console switch register. I thought on a /34 this was off in location 777050 (or something like that). So do I put those options in the keypad and hit LSR (which I thought put them in 777050) or do I need to put them in 176 before starting the diag? Also, is there something special about 174 that I'm not getting? Some of the docs say a particular diagnostic prompts "SWR=000000 NEW="... I assume the diags are querying if I even HAVE a switch register, and if I do, they don't print that question. Correct? Thanks for any education :) J

18 years, 2 months

Specific DEC diagnostic questions (FKTG & ZDLD)

by dundas＠caltech.edu

> On Saturday 21 October 2006 20:39, Jay West wrote: > > Tim wrote... > > > > I'd feel better if someone having a similarly configured 34 could run > > the same diagnostic and see if they get the same odd result :) If so, > > then I wouldn't mistrust my machine quite so much. > > You could always try using simh as your "reference" machine... :) That works well for many things, but not all. Bob, and the rest of the contributors including myself, don't simulate the entirety of the machine or peripherals such that diagnostics will necessarily successfully run. As a concrete example, memory CSRs are not simulated. Some diagnostics need this to work correctly so that they can set the wrong parity, etc. Cache is another feature of some of the models that is not simulated at all. I actually have SIMH modules for memory controllers (including CSRs) and the J-11 cache (but not other models) that I will submit for inclusion in SIMH someday. Nonetheless, Pat is right. SIMH (and E11, I imagine) can be an excellent reference platform for much machine behavior. John

18 years, 2 months

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test-drb October 2006