test-drb October 2007

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

228 participants
467 discussions

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Patrick Finnegan wrote: > > On Sunday 30 September 2007 06:03, Arno Kletzander wrote: > > my very first DEC computer has arrived (...) > Congrats. Thanks. I'd already had my hands on a MicroVAX II and a MicroVAX 3100, but those weren't my own. I basically just dusted them off, tried to boot them up once, wrote a catalog page and placed them in storage at the University's computer collection, so there wasn't much reason to get more involved with them. The MVII wouldn't boot due to a broken power supply and Tony currently talks me through finding the fault there :) > As others will tell you, dead RD53s are a common occurrence. And sometimes quite possible to repair in a makeshift clean box because the problem in most cases is just the sticky rubber bumper inside, as I've been reading. > You can always pull out the VCB cardset... (...) > I think that you may need to pull the VCB to get it to use the serial > port as the console. The ribbon cable interconnects between the VCB boards look a little frail and the connectors are so difficult to get at that I think I was already pushing my luck when I changed the board order. I also would like to keep all the boards in the machine and just have to plug in the user interface components when I get some. As I've said, I can get into the console by causing a Break condition and I don't _need to_ see the identification and countdown stuff. It was just a minor rant on what I would see as a desirable feature of the PROM code. > Other than that, I'm off now looking for a MOP server and some > netbootable OS image, perhaps NetBSD, for a start... I have since finished downloading NetBSD/vax 3.1. In order to make 'er boot that, I still need a MOP daemon that will run without me jumping through flaming hoops, i.e. under Win9x. I have found some old messages >from Fred N. van Kempen about a creation of his called OpenMOP, which should meet these requirements, but his homepage www.pdp11.nl is down and, come to think of it, I don't remember seeing him on the list recently. Anybody know where the program can still be obtained? Search machines are coming up mostly blank. And more importantly, is Fred okay? -- Arno Kletzander Der GMX SmartSurfer hilft bis zu 70% Ihrer Onlinekosten zu sparen! Ideal f?r Modem und ISDN: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/smartsurfer

16 years, 7 months

two multibus systems in Pasadena need homes

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Sorry about the short notice on this... I will be down in the LA/Pasadena area on Monday October 1 to pick up another load of stuff to liquidate. Among the items are two Intel Multibus systems. I have not yet examined these systems, but the owner (the same one who had the Nova 4 mini) tells me that they're ready to boot if you have some boot media. Each is in a rackmount case about 20 inches cubed. No boot media or docs appear to be present. If you're in the LA area and are interested in one or both, please email me immediately. I will describe the machines to you on the phone when I see them and then if you decide to buy them, I'll deliver them for gas money (range within reason). The machines are in Glendora. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

16 years, 7 months

"Chuck" question

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 30/09/2007, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > Not knowing the show (and not caring to), my hand-wave of an > explanation would be the guy had the computer around when he was a > little kid and took it to college with him. He might have written > software for it just for fun. That's what I did, going up to the University of London in 1985, with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K in a full-travel keyboard and a small black-and-white TV. At first, outside of playing, it did some basic stats for me. Chi-squared and so on, written in BASIC. A year or so later, it had a 5.25" floppy drive, a printer port and I was writing essays on it. This made me painfully cutting-edge for the time; AFAIK I was the only person in my year to have their own computer. I also had an account on the college's cluster of twin VAX 11/870s, on which I learned Fortran (which I thought would be useful, but wasn't) and things like email and BBSs and comms (which I didn't think would be useful, but was). -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AOL/AIM/iChat: liamproven at aol.com ? MSN/Messenger: lproven at hotmail.com Yahoo: liamproven at yahoo.co.uk ? Skype: liamproven ? ICQ: 73187508

16 years, 7 months

Core duo SC/MP?

by holger.veit＠iais.fraunhofer.de

dogas at bellsouth.net said: > Hi there folks. I just got a sweet NS LCDS (low cost dev system) with a > SC/MP II processor card and nice set of docs on the chip itself, the > lcds,appnotes,and assembly programming It looks pretty easy to add more > than one scamp to the same bus and I was wondering if there are known > multiproc scamp systems or archetectures out there. So, in looking for a > few additional sc/mp II chips (national semi ISP8060 or ISP 8-A/600N) , > the only place I could find was the CPU Shack.com He said he could get > them, but 8 would have to be purchased at $14/chip. I only want two more > for my rig, any interest in filling out the rest of an order for the other > 6? Or does anyone have them cheaper? unicornelectronics, USD 5.99 -- Holger

16 years, 7 months

Displaywriter available

by LauraTurner＠bhsu.edu

Hello Is this still available?? Thanks Laura Laura Turner Computer Technology Instructor College of Education - BHSU 642-6235 lauraturner at bhsu.edu <mailto:lauraturner at bhsu.edu> Ed Portalhttp://www.bhsu.edu/education/edfaculty/lturner/index.html <http://www.bhsu.edu/education/edfaculty/lturner/index.html>

16 years, 7 months

Anyone collect Dec/Compaq Alphaservers or VAXen?

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

From: "Dan Snyder" <ddsnyder at zoominternet.net> > Heat issues are what the Alphaserver 1200 is about, for sure keep the case > closed. It has > dual 475W supplies and both are required for operation. It does serve very > well as a space > heater. I justify it for this purpose by looking at the watt rating of an > average oil filled electric > space heater, they are 1500W. I'll second that. I've got a 5300 (the "white box" version of the 1200). I ended up building a little cardboard duct to keep it from blowing on my legs. And I sometimes even keep the window cracked open during the winter. Speaking of cooling these things, does anyone know of a good source of CPU fans? My second CPU is currently out of the machine because the fan doesn't spin up right and the system shuts down because of it. As near as I can tell, they're not the same a the fans on commodity Intel boxes. BLS

16 years, 7 months

Anyone collect Dec/Compaq Alphaservers or VAXen?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: RE: Anyone collect Dec/Compaq Alphaservers or VAXen? > From: "Rod Smallwood" <RodSmallwood at mail.ediconsulting.co.uk> > Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:00:44 +0100 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org> > > >My list > pdp11/94 x 4 R > > DEC Rainbow 100+ * > > VAX 300 * > VAX 400 * > VAX 500 R > VAXStation 3100 * > > DEC 3000 * > > Multia * > >* = Working >R = Renovation (Mostly missing parts) > >Rod Smallwood A more detailed list of DEC systems here. :) Collection of operational hardware: PDP-8 based machines: ==================== PDP-8f, 20k core and 2 serial 8650 and 8652 2 Decmate-IIIs OS/278 Intersil sampler (6100 chipset) extended to 3k ram 6120 based board, homebrew 32kram 8k rom PDP-11 based machines: ===================== 1 LSI-11/03 rx02 2 PDP11/23 BA11S boxes, 1MB, RQDX2 and RD52 1MB, RQDX2 and RD31, RX50 1 pdp11/73 50" RACK SYSTEM (4MB, DLVJ11, DEQNA, RQDX3>> RX02, RD52, RX33, RL02). 1 BA11va with 11/23 +tu58 RT-11 1 BA11va with 11/23 +Viking RX02 equivilent RT-11 PDT11/130 11/03 with tu58 dectapeII OSs in use: RT-11, XXDP-11 and unix V6 VAX based machines: =================== Microvax-II (ba23 based) 12mb, RQDX3, RD53, RX33 This one lived as HIPSS:: during my days at DEC. Microvax-II/GPX (Ba123 based, TK50 and SCSI disks) This one was know as VIDSYS:: inside DEC. 3 Microvax2000 all with 2 RD53, 1 RD54 drive, one with ultrix 1 Microvax2000 as hard disk formatter and MOP bootable system. 2 Microvax3100/m76/gpx 32mb 2 each 1gb scsi internal 3 Microvax3100/server (not M10e) (filled with 400mb and 1gb disks) 4 BA42 SCSI disk farm for the 3100s populated with RZ56s OSs in use VMSv5.4-4,V5.54, V7.2, Ultrix 4.2 Terminal for the uVAX systems is usually VT1200 via thinnet and the PDP-11s the usual terminal is either VT340, VT320 or VT180 in terminal mode. DEC CP/M speaking machines: =========================== 1 Vt180 complete (dual RX180s) 2 Vt180 CP/M board built up as standalone one modded for 6mhz 1 Vt185 Thats a Vt125 + Vt180. In the non operational list: 11/23B uPDP-11 in a BA23 pedestal that while complete with 11/23B, M8057 memory, DHV11, RQDX2 and RD52, RX50 it requries cleaning and testing. H11 Backplane complete with LSI-11 CPU, 16k of ram, two serial cards and a parallel card of heath origin. Some day I'll find the case/power supply for it. All parts are tested as working. Small 11/23 system using a H9281-BC (12x2 slots) filled with: M8186 1/23 (Overclocked CPU mod) 4 M8059 MSV11 ram DLV11j, RQDX3 with M9058 distribution board. (for RX33 and RD31) MRV-11 Eprom card with MSCP boot. VK170 with matching LK02 keyboard and a monitor. The VK170 is a minimal VT52 on a dual width card for packaged systems that communicates via RS232 to system and the bus use is power only. This is waiting on being packed in a reasonable nonDEC box with a DEC PS and fans. The boards are known working and the backplane is already jumpered as Q22. Generally in my house operational means I can actually turn it on and play and it has a permanent spot that is easily accessable. One project that is in process is a H9800 desk/rack that will replace the existing standard steel office desk. the system to be installed there will be 11/23B in BA11s with a hand made Disk box for RX33 and RD52s. I have two boxes (Xerox Paper sized) of tested boards enough to build another few 11/23s and a few uVAXII as my spares. Failed boards get repaird when I feel like it so I have good boards around. Who was it that has the SIG of "DEC had then what you wish you could buy now." ? Allison

16 years, 7 months

"destructive read"

by melamy＠earthlink.net

the "destructive read" could have been a design issue where the ROM outputs are enabled while some other output drive is attempting to use the data bus. The ROM output drivers may well fail after repeatedly being abused like this. >On Monday 01 October 2007 14:31:15 Richard wrote: >> Over on comp.terminals someone wrote this about the VT100: >> >> "The power-on operation does a "destructive" read of the >> ROM-based firmware. After so many power-ups, the ROM becomes >> unreadable. This was a design issue at the time - the technology >> to fix it did not evolve until the VT200 series." >> >> Is this true? I've never heard of a ROM being damaged by reading it a >> lot.

16 years, 7 months

Burroughs B80 rescued

by ian_primus＠yahoo.com

Well, I drove up to Canada yesterday and picked up the Burroughs B80. That thing is HEAVY. It was down in the basement, and took several of us to get it out. Unfortunately, while the two sections of the main unit (CPU and console) will unbolt, they can't easily be separated because of the massively complex wiring harness inside. You'd think they would have put a few convenient connectors in there. But, that meant that we had to move the main unit up as one piece - it's the size of an office desk and weighs several hundred pounds. The power supply was an interesting beast, and I am unsure of it's purpose. The B80 has a hefty power supply inside it - with transformers and regulators, and seems perfectly capable of being connected to the wall directly. But along with the system unit is a power supply box - 23" wide, 30" tall and 29" deep. I didn't pull the panels off it, but the computer was direcly wired into it originally, with a heavy three conductor cable. (well, sorta directly. A three conductor cable came out the back of the unit, with no connector - and the computer had no power plug on it either. He had it spliced to the power supply's output with tape. ) I really think that this power supply box is only a UPS - but he claims that the computer won't work without it. Maybe it's a power conditioner of some sort? Step-up transformer? It takes 240v in, and I am unsure of the output/computer input. The power supply is a nondescript box with breakers and outlets on the back. I'll know more when I can pull the covers off it. The disk drive was simple to move, it was a slim little rack, 44" tall, with two drives in it - they appear to be Diablo style drives. Amazingly simplistic mechanisms. Looks more like a giant floppy drive than a removable platter hard drive. Exposed heads and very few boards on the drives. There's a controller interface board on the bottom of the rack that they plug into. I was more concerned with moving the computer than inspecting it, but I don't recall seeing any kind of standard looking interface ports. I believe that the B80 can support extra terminals, but I don't see it. Hopefully, when I get it going, I can connect something external to it and back up the disk packs. I have 11 packs, at least one of which is the operating system, MCP. And yes, this computer predates Tron. I do not have any manuals for the machine. There are some documents on Bitsavers, so hopefully some will be close enough for me to figure it out. -Ian

16 years, 7 months

Anyone collect Dec/Compaq Alphaservers or VAXen?

by pcoghlan+cctech＠vms.eurokom.ie

> >I have monitored the postings and know of a few collectors of VAXen, all types it seems. The >PDP family is popular too. What about Alphaservers? some are by classic definition at least >10 years old such as the 1000/1000A and 1200 series. Alphastations definitely qualify like the >200/250/255/500 series. I collect most of the Alpha family as I use them frequently. OpenVMS >and Digital Unix is the OS of choice. > I have: 3 x Vaxstation 2000 - 6MB 2 x Vaxstation 3100 Model 76 16MB/24MB 1 x Microvax 3100 - 16MB 1 x Microvax 3100 Model 40 - 24MB 1 x Microvax 3100 Model 80 - 16MB 1 x Microvax 4000-100A - 128MB 2 x Dec 3000 M600 1 x Alphaserver 1000A 1 x Alphaserver 2100 4/275 All run VMS - the Alphaserver 1000A also has NT but I've never worked up the enthusiasm to find out how to break into it. The Alphaserver 2100 also has Digital Unix - I keep threatening to delete this but I have kept it around in case I need to make use of it for porting something unixy to VMS. The Microvax 4000-100A runs fine when it's cold but croaks once it heats up with most of the useful console commands generating errors and providing no help in diagnosing the problem. Some random attempts to narrow down the problem with a can of freezer were not successful. One of the Microvax 3100s had an intermittent problem with its SCSI interface which has now turned permanent. The model 80 died in the middle of a self test and can't be persuaded to do anything now. I haven't had any success in locating a list of the diagnostic led codes, only for the earlier models which seem to have quite different firmware. The two Dec 3000 machines both failed in service before I got them. Nothing appears on the console and as far as I recall, the diagnostic leds count down as far as F0 and then stop. The Alphaserver 2100 worked fine when I first got it but some time ago began powering itself off intermittently due to a problem with the main fan which started varying its speed erratically. At one point the machine was all but unusable but now the problem appears to have gone into hiding! I would be interested in obtaining more memory, cpu and a spare fan for the 2100, possibly also a decent graphics card and a redundant power supply for it. I would also be interested in finding out about what I could do with the Qbus interface on the 4000-100A and what bits and pieces would be needed to get started with this. I presume at a minimum, I need one or two oddball cables, a backplane of some sort and a power supply. I would like to get hold of one or two small DSSI disks as the ones that came with this machine both died. I am located in Dublin, Ireland - unfortunately there don't seem to be many other classic computer nuts located nearby. Regards, Peter.

16 years, 7 months

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test-drb October 2007