Anybody interested in a Pro/Toolit V3.0 documentation set?
Without the binders, but with the spine inserts and side inserts.
Only postage to be paid and docs are in the Netherlands (about 15Kg)
Ed
Finally, some manuals for 5.25 and 8 inch MPI drives. These are useful
because these models were OEM'd to literally hundreds of companies. Some
had a different connector, used hard sectoring, etc. There were dozens of
different colours. And many used their own labels so you didn't know who
actually made the drive.
But for all the hundreds of configurations, the mechanics were the same
(except for pulley changes to 50 cycle, and capacitor change to 220V AC).
If you are playing around with old floppies, you might find these manuals
useful. There is an amazing amount of common mechanics and circuitry.
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cdc/discs/77715900_9428_HwMaint_Sep85.pdf and
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cdc/discs/75897465_9404B_floppyMaint.pdf
One of the things I did then was create and track all the different
configurations. I know that at one time, I had more than 60 colour schemes
on the 8 inch floppy. We tried to avoid doing a separate manual for each
config. Instead the basic manual was sent along with an Errata sheet for
unique features.
These multiple configurations are what eventually killed the maintenance
manuals. The documentation department was getting bigger than the
engineering group! It wasn't possible to OEM hundreds of configurations and
document each with a separate manual. A poll of the customers showed that
most only needed interface data for design. So schematics and parts lists
and wire lists all went the way of the dinosaurs. Designers were sent
engineering drawings on request.
Lest you think this is an exaggeration, my notes show that we had more than
2500 separate configurations of the Hawk, a 14 inch cartridge drive (10 MB).
I also see that there were more than 500 configurations of the CMD, another
14 inch cartridge drive (96 MB). There was even a room that had the
different configurations charted on the walls - all 4 walls.
I understand the feeling of those on this list about maintenance manuals.
But they didn't have to live with this nightmare. All the mini companies
and the early PC companies wanted to differentiate their products.
Compatibility was anathema. If customers could read their disk on another
system, they might buy it instead of yours. Using different formats,
sectoring, interface connectors were all part of protecting market share.
But companies trying to fulfill all these unique requirements were drowning
in the details. Support finally became impossible - so a generic approach
was taken. Then further simplification was done until only a fluff manual
was done.
Billy
I also gave Al several humorous articles from the early 1960's. Originally
they ran in Datamation. If you've never read about the Kludge Komputer
Kompany, you might enjoy a laugh.
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/datamation/
Jules Richardson wrote:
Tony Duell wrote:
> I can't help with dates, but I do have a few old ex-GPO modems in the
> collection.
>
> The Modem 2B is a large box (about 16" square and 7" high from memory.
> It's 300 baud, original and answer. The front panel opens by undoing 2
> captice screws at the bottom and then hinging it up (there's a little
> 'stay' to keep it open). Insider are 4 plug-in modules -- PSU,
> Demodulator, Control, Modulator, with testpoints, fuses, and adjustments
> on the front panels.
Hmm yes, we have one of those at the museum; it's a wonderful bit of
construction! I've been unable to work out if the 2B was the UK's first
foray
into modems or not though - was there ever an official 2A, or maybe a 1B or
1A
that were even earlier? (I'm off over to the museum tomorrow, but I don't
think any of the ex-GPO lot will be in to ask)
There are some really good UK telecomms websites out there, but
unfortunately
whilst they cover phones and exchanges and test equipment, none of them seem
to provide any details on the GPO modems...
cheers
Jules
-------------------------------
I asked a friend who is a historian on British telegraphy if he had any data
or dates. Here is his reply:
Billy Pettit wrote:
>
>
> Bill the question is: what are the first UK modems and when did they
> come out? Can you help establish a time line?
Billy: Nothing in any of my reference books. Might be worth an inquiry
to the BT Archives:
http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/BTsHistory/BTgrouparchives/index.htm
Bill
Billy
> Rick wrote....
> > Z999 was also an interesting account --- it was the "system
> >overhead" account.
> I'm not so sure about this (and I have the source). There are
> no "default"
> accounts present when a 2000/Access system is loaded. There
> isn't even an A000 account. All accounts must be manually
> created and none are supplied on initial distribution tapes.
> There were general conventions put forth like some accounts
> were not to be created because they were reserved for HP
> products, but that wasn't coded into the OS anywhere that I
> am aware of. I have never heard of a "system overhead"
> account. If there is, I've certainly learned something new. I
> will go back and dig for confirmation on this. Off the top of
> my head, I think the Z999 account was reserved for containing
> the text files of the source of the operating system (if you
> had purchased the source), or maybe for the BASIC system
> diagnostics (initial system confidence test). Of course, I'm
> much more familiar with 2000/Access than 2000F, so perhaps
> this is something that only existed on F and no others. I
> dunno. Wierd.
I believe that the NAM-, and Z999 thing were part of 2000C and 2000C'.
I may have accidentally implied that this existed in 2000F and beyond.
It didn't. We tried.
>
> > In TSB, data files had to be pre-allocated to a given size,
> and all of
> > the blocks were "claimed" as part of the creation process. For
> > example, doing a "CRE-FILE,10000" would create a 10,000 block file.
> Generally true, but that depends on the file type ;)
Again, this likely was under 2000C or C', which I believe only supported
text file types.
>
> > Normal user accounts were limited to perhaps 100 to 200
> blocks of storage.
> "Normal" user accounts were limited to whatever the system
> administrator typed in as the account block limit when
> creating the account in question.
> It could be anything. The limit you could specify for each
> account had a maximum of 65535 blocks. You could not issue a
> CRE command for a file larger than that as a result.
When the NAM-, trick was pulled, the 64K block size limit seemed to be
removed. The system would try to create a file of any size specified.
My recollection is that in normal cases, the space on disk had to be
contiguous, so if there wasn't enough contiguous space to create the
file, the create would fail. But, in the case of the "overhead"
account, it appears that this restriction was lifted, and it'd hunt all
over the disk for unused blocks and claim them, which really slowed the
system down, and, if too large a filesize was specified would cause the
system to crash, as it'd run out disk space. When we did the NAM-,
trick, then did a "CATalog" command, the account was listed as Z999, and
not the account we were logged into originally.
There seemed to be no way to "escape" back to the original login account
without logging off, and dialing back in. Interestingly enough, if we
did a big file CREation, we could just shut off the teletype, and the
CREate would continue to run (as evidenced by the other teletypes
stopping I/O activity) until complete, then the login would be
terminated. It appeared that the carrier loss interrupt on the IOP, or
the communications between the IOP and executive were "tied up" during
the CREate process. Whatever the case, it's clear that the "CREate"
operation was a blocking operation.
The installation we had at our high school (actually, the system was
owned by what was called the
Multnomah County (Oregon) Intermediate Education District, which served
a number of middle schools and high schools in East Multomah County.
Since the system served a lot of users, disk space was limited to 100 or
200 blocks. Usually Freshman and Sophomore students got 100 blocks, and
Junior and Senior students got 200, because the projects were larger. A
local community college (Mt. Hood Community College) had their own
2000/Access system, and user accounts were given significantly more disk
blocks than we were allowed.
As you said, it's all site-dependent in terms of the amount of disk
space allocated for each account.
I visited the data center at MCIED at one point in time. At the time, I
believe that they were running 2000C.
There were two CPU's, one that ran the TSB executive, and another that
did I/O. The machine had a multi-platter "washing machine" style disk
drive (top load), and an HP 9-track tape drive. I believe it had 32
phone lines attached to it. The modem bank was in a back room, and
consisted of a bunch of Bell 103 datasets (later upgraded to 1200-baud
datasets, I think once 2000F came around). The CPUs I believe were
2100's, and there was a paper tape reader/punch unit. There was also
the "fixed head" disk, and one could use the
SANctify (as A000) command to make a program resident on the fixed head
disk for much faster access. Swapping activities also occurred on the
fixed head disk. I know that it existed, because the fixed disk
"crashed" a few times, resulting in multi-day outages. Once 2000F came
around, the fixed head disk wasn't needed, and reliability increased
quite a bit. At first we had only ASR-33 teletypes, but once 2000F
rolled around we started getting some DECWriter II's that could do 1200
baud. What a difference that made. Downside was that the DECWriters
didn't have paper tape, so we had to resort to loading programs
pre-punched on tape (we had a bunch of offline ASR33's for tape
preparation) on one of the online ASR-33's to load new programs, then
migrate to the DECWriters for test/debugging.
> You can pretty much forget trying to get up 2000A or 2000B.
> They required fixed head disks which just aren't to be found.
Seems to me that it might be possible to build a pretty simple emulator
for the fixed head disk device using either Battery-Backed static RAM,
or perhaps fast flash memory. The tough part would be emulating the DMA
cycles.
> For 2000E, you need just one cpu, paper tape reader, and 7900
> disc drive.
> Neither firmware nor mag tape required. Need that 12920/21 mux though.
We never had 2000E, nor 2000A/B. On 2000/E, without a tape drive, how
were backups done?
The service bureau started with 2000C, and upgraded along the line to
C', F, then added a second system that was running 2000F', then both
systems were upgraded to 2000/Access over a period of time. Sometime in
the early '80's, with the advent of microcomputers, schools started
building up their own systems with BASIC (our high school built an IMSAI
kit, and a Sol-20 while I was there), and started using these with
8K-BASIC to supplement the timeshare systems. I believe sometime around
'84 or '85, the TSB systems were decommissioned, and offered for sale.
Some acquaintences I know tried to pool financial resources to acquire
them, but the IED wanted a LOT of money for them, even though they were
quite antiquated by that time. To my knowledge, they sat for quite some
time, and then were sold to a scrapper, who mercilessly destroyed the
systems to reclaim the gold. I kept in touch with my teacher for a
period of time after I graduated, and they had started using Apple II's
as the primary teaching machines. Last I saw him, they had a Corvus
shared disk drive connected to "networked" Apple II's. I then lost
touch with him after the school district re-organized, and I've tried
many times to try to find him, but to no avail.
> For 2000/Access, you need two cpus, 7900/7905/7906/7920
> drive, 7970 tape, firmware, and 12920/21 mux. If your cpus
> are 2100's, then you also must have a paper tape reader.
>
> The IOP firmware has been located for 2100, 21MX/M, and
> 21MX/E. These can be copied, so that isn't the huge deal it
> used to be. The 12920 muxes are still hard to find, the
> 7900's are somewhat hard to find. The rest is fairly easily
> obtainable these days.
I'd love to find the pieces to put a system together, but given the
scarcity of parts, and the costs involved, it's probably way beyond my
means. Worse yet, as time goes by, the stuff becomes more and more
scarce. Probably have to settle with memories of those fun times.
-Rick
Wasn't there something for DECwrite that would open these?
Can't recall if it shipped as standard or not, and I'm still in the process
of moving my VMS from my Multia to a 3000/300X so DECwrite isn't up
yet. Perhaps someone else could check.
DECwrite is included in the VMS Hobbyist layered product PAK
Jos Dreesen / Marian Capel wrote:
It is an emulation of a 8008 machine I might build, (Time
Permitting)
--------------------------
This reminds of something I wanted to post to the list. I found my original
Mark 8 PCBs. I've been preparing them to sell on Ebay, or someplace. These
are from the original run made for the magazine article. They are still in
the plastic bags, in the original box, have all the purchase order and
shipping papers. Hard to get much more provenance on an item this old.
Before I sell them, I scanned them into the computer. I don't think they
can be posted - copyright problems? So those interested in the scans, let
me know. If someone wants to take a chance and post them, let me know too.
In the same box, I found most of the documentation, parts and PCB for the
EBKA Familiarizer. I've been scanning that in, including the monitor
listing, schematics and assembly manual. I didn't know I had it but the
package includes some product mailers, a catalog of options, some
advertising flyers and so on. I'm haven't scanned them in yet. I've
written a small article on the EBKA and what I can remember of the designer.
Been trying to contact him - lost touch with him 25 years ago.
There are two other pieces I need to find before putting the EBKA on the
market - the 1702 programmer and the master I/O PCB. I know the box number
they are in and will try to reach them over the Christmas holiday.
Now if I can just find my PAIA 8700. I bought it from the writer of the RE
magazine article, so it is the one in the photographs. These three items
will, I hope, generate some interest. And bids.
Billy
James B. DiGriz wrote:
I believe the prolific Mr. Lancaster wrote an RTL Cookbook.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor-transistor-logic>
Unfortunately I don't have a copy.
jbdigriz
--------------------------
I think I have a copy of that book at home in Pleasanton. I'll be flying up
Saturday morning and will have a look in the book case. If so, I should be
able to get some scans of the pertinent sections for you. Do you live in
the Bay area? I know copies of it have shown up on eBay in last 18 months,
usually going for less than $10.
Billy
(Speaking of early ICs...)
Slim chance, but I'll ask:
I have a small plastic box of (what we now call) integrated circuits. Inside
are twenty-five (unused,NOS) 10-pin flat-pak ICs, but with pin 6 absent.
(Very cute, there is a cardboard holder with each IC nestled in it's own cutout
in the cardboard.) The ICs are stamped:
SSI <-- logo (Sperry Semiconductor Incorporated?)
1M4 <-- type
6546 <-- date code
On the box is a label with:
MICRONETS
from
SPERRY
SEMICONDUCTOR
(SPERRY RAND CORPORATION)
TYPE: 1M4
S.O.#: 20613 <-- Shipping Order # ?
CUST.P.O.#: 17762 <-- Purchase Order # ?
I like the term MicroNets, from a time when it was not universally agreed upon
to call them ICs.
Obviously I'm curious as to what they are - can't be too complex with 10 pins
and given the period - but before I sit down with an ohmmeter and power supply
figured I might as well ask if anybody might know. (Sperry made a lot of
stuff, so it's too much to presume they were used in UNIVACs, but when did
UNIVACs move to ICs?)
