test-drb March 2006

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

233 participants
501 discussions

Gould Biomation K-105D Logic Analyzer Available

by sloboyko＠yahoo.com

Certainly, there are a lot of logic analyzsers (or analysers, if you are English) floating around. I was told by a guy who specializes in "refurbished" (i.e. dusted off) test equipment that this is because a lot of it is gov't surplus where they just grab the unit. He also mentioned that a lot of university surplus has partially blown pods because of carelessness - due to the nature of what they do, not much protection on the inputs. I have a Tek 1230 which I was lucky enough to get some pods with. I had another one w/o pods and GOOD LUCK on getting schematics, etc on this stuff - it's a "black art" proprietary sort of thing. ===== -Steve Loboyko Incredible wisdom actually found in a commerical fortune cookie: "When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day." Website: http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/

18 years, 2 months

Awesome ARPAnet documentary

by toresbe＠ifi.uio.no

Was surfing the web when I came across this documentary on ARPAnet - features some of the founders, including Davies, Licklider, Heart, and Khan. http://xrl.us/kg7y is a redirect to the download - it's on Google Video - this is an AVI file. Cute sightings include a PDP-10, and several seconds of a PDP-10 doing what appears to be a host list dump, with machines like MIT-AI and MIT-MULTICS appearing. If it was alphabetical, and all-inclusive, this documentary was made before 1973, as the NORSAR TIP wasn't on the list. -toresbe :)

18 years, 9 months

ISA bus throughput

by mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com

I revived an old 6Mhz PC AT today by removing the original Western Digital based hard disk controller and replacing it with a newer, generic IDE controller. The large boat-anchor class 5.25" full height hard disk had died, and without a suitable replacement a small IDE drive was chosen. The rest of the machine is original, including the EGA card with the extra memory daughterboard and the full slot monochrome card. While discussing this beast, the topic of putting a CD-ROM on it came up. (I would never do such a thing except for giggles.) The topic of the CD-ROM led to a throughput question - could this old monster even do it? As in, is the ISA bus up to reading from the CD-ROM at a reasonable speed? Well, let's go throught some quick math. 6 million clock cycles per second is a lot, but when you consider that each transation on the bus takes 4 to 5 cycles, and instructions take 4 to 5 cycles (average) on a 80285, the throughput might not be so hot. Forget the CD-ROM and let's just pretend it's an I/O device on the bus, like a fast hard disk. Given a PC AT running at 6Mhz, what can reasonably be expected for bus throughput? (Obviously this depends on the loop and the instructions used.) I would have guess 500K or so per second, but now I'm second guessing myself and I'll actually have to write a small benchmark to try it. When writing to a hard disk, would this machine have used a tight processor loop, or would it have used DMA? Under what circumstances would it use DMA to transfer data to a hard disk? And one last question .. Unlike the PC and XT, the AT BIOS handles hard drives. It didn't blink when I removed the crusty WD based controller and replaced it with a no-name WinBond based controller. Does the new IDE controller really look that much like the old controller that the BIOS can't tell? -Mike

18 years, 9 months

downloading & installing using VMSINSTAL problems

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

I am trying to install some layered products on my AXP-VMS machine (VX42 Multia running v7.3-1) and I keep running into the same error. for $@sys$update:vmsinstal (product, tried with CXX065 and AXP_DECWRITE31A) dka0:[install_sets] options n it prints "error reading dka0:[install_sets] AXP_DECWRITE31A.A software block CRC error invalid block size in save set invalid record size in save set invalid record size in save set" several times and then errors out to DCL. I'm getting the sets from vmsone.com, but I do have to launder them through other machines, as Bet doesn't have internet access or a web browser. I've tried Windows at work (high-speed network access), thought it was the Windows bitrot that sometimes occurs, but the "A" saveset of DECWRITE31A doesn't even work when downloaded from a Macintosh (tried with VMSINSTAL and BACKUP). What am I doing wrong, or is it just my cheap equipment (other weirdness- when DECwindows starts it locks up the keyboard - bizarre, don't know if this is a Multia+VMS problem or an issue with the Multia+VMS+SGI keyboard. I'll have to do some testing), What's a good baseline for Alphas in terms of usability with VMS7.3+? the 233MHz LCA seems to be not much faster than a VAXstation 3100/76, and if I do find another Alpha, I don't want to spend a lot on something that creaks along (and I know what the SPEC scores say- but this VX42 is not up where other machines scoring ~100 SPECxx 92 are in basic useability)

18 years, 9 months

DEC Manuals available

by stanley.rogers＠spcorp.com

Do you know if there is a service manual for the DEC LA-210 ?? I need one badly Stanley Rogers Halifax Corporation @ Schering Plough Memphis Location Desktop Support 3030 Jackson Ave Memphis Tn 38151 Office 901-320-4238 Fax 901-320-2101 Cell 908-477-0914 ********************************************************************* This message and any attachments are solely for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, disclosure, copying, use or distribution of the information included in this message is prohibited -- Please immediately and permanently delete.

18 years, 9 months

Sorting large box of 72 pin SIMMs - looking for chip ID guide

by lee＠geekdot.com

> Unfortunately, two evenings of googlings has only found me > consumer-level guides to help clueless PC owners tell SIMMs > from DIMMs - nothing at the chip level. Strange, my first google hit gets this .. http://www.chipmunk.nl/DRAM/ChipManufacturers.htm Lee.

18 years, 9 months

Replacing 80C188 and 68HC11

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

Fellow Techies, I have a device (a GPS-referenced clock) that uses an Intel N80C188-16 microprocessor, in a 68-lead PLCC package. Odd as it may sound, I suspect this chip of being defective, and I've been attempting to locate a match for it so I can prove or disprove that theory. The original part is, of course, no longer manufactured as far as I can tell. Hunting around on the 'net turned up a couple of modern equivalents, one of which is an Intel TN80C188EA20. As near as I can tell, the only difference with this chip is that it can be clocked a bit faster (20MHz instead of 16), and that it has an extended operating temperature range. There are two other possible candidates available, though not in stock at the moment. Both are made by Intel. One is the N80C188XL20, and the other is the other is the TN80C188XL20. I know just enough about these chips to be wary of differences in prefix and suffix letters. With that in mind, I have two questions for the group. (1) Of the above replacements I've mentioned, which one is most likely to be a direct plug-in replacement for the suspect chip? (2) Failing that -- Does anyone happen to have a known-good N80C188-16 that they could be convinced to part with? In this same instrument is a Motorola MC68HC11A0FNC11W in a PLCC-52 package. I need to find a viable replacement for it as well. I've had a harder time tracking down possible replacements for it. The only ones I've come across so far, that are available without an enormous minimum purchase, are the MC68HC11E0CFN2, the MC68HC11E1CFN2, and the MC68HC11E1CFN3. Once again, I'm very leery of mixing/matching suffix codes due to lack of knowledge. I do know this much: The Motorola part is operating with an external EPROM, so the chip itself is ROMless. Assistance with this mess would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy, Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m "If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"

18 years, 9 months

OT: video signal question

by bert＠brothom.nl

Hi, Appearently something like video printers exist. They have "normal" video inputs and are somehow able to extract a command to make a hardcopy from the video signal. In my case the command is triggered by a button on an edoscope control panel. Can anyone tell me how the trigger signal is embedded in the video signal? Thanks! Bert

18 years, 9 months

Another Panasonic HHC

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I'd bought a Panasonic RL-H1400 handheld computer with printer/cassette interface. I've now got a second one. This one also came with a printer, but also with something labelled 'EPROM Extender' This is a tray that the computer fits into one side of, and the printer into the other side. Underneath there's a PCB with 8 EPROM sockets. The plastic housing was glued together, but I've got it apart without too much damage. The PCB also contains 10 or so TTL chips (all pin-through-hole), a voltage regulator, etc. I've not worked out the details yet. One odd thing is that these EPROM sockets, while the type that take EPROMs in plastic carriers (i.e. they're not normal DIL sockets), are 28 pin, not the 24 pins ones in the HHC itself. Is this the unit that would take the SNAP development ROMs? I also have the dual-voltage (110V/240V) mains adapter (my first machine came with the 110V-only version). This thing (for all it has 2 fuses inside. in nice little holders) is a royal pain to dismantle. It's assembled with 4 system-zero tamperproof screws (designed to be impossible to remove without the right tool), down holes too small to take the right tool. I ended up drilling out the holes slightly (8mm I think), then using the system-zero driver to get the screws out. It appears (but don't blame me too much if I'm wrong) that the HHC doesn't use the NiCd pack as a shunt regulator, there's a proper regulator circuit on the logic PCB. In which case it should be safe to connect the adapter with the NiCd removed or defective. -tony

18 years, 9 months

RA6800ML

by holger.veit＠ais.fraunhofer.de

>>>/Now, I remember these paperbooks were not too thick (I once />>>/had Emmerichs Tiny Assembler and MONDEB from that class - />>>/unfortunately got lost - TinyAsm at least can be copied from />>>/old 1977 Byte issues), so I'am not sure whether it will wear />>>/out more than by simply reading the book. Unless you have a />>>/multi-page scanner where you'd have to destroy the spine. /> > >Hey I want them for general reading. How many people still >have old Bytes in the local libraries? I liked the tiny assembler >because if I remember right you had structured code to save on >program lables. Hi, the library of our research institute has copies from at least 1/1977 completely in the shelves (they say 1/76 but looking there, the first ones were missing). At least the three articles of the TinyAsm are there, and I could make scans of them on demand. You can find an index of Byte at http://www.devili.iki.fi/library/publication/10.en.html so if you have specific articles (limited!) you're interested in I could pdf them. I won't scan everything due to lack of time, and I won't make them publicly due to copyright concerns, but we could talk about few articles. Yes, the tiny assmebler was rather structured, a nice example how to write good assembler code. Unfortunately, the Byte articles only has a hex dump - the paperbyte book had a commented disassembly, but I lost that eventually :-( Regards Holger

18 years, 9 months

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test-drb March 2006