I've got a Magnetic Peripherals 94211-91 SCSI drive here where the magnets for
the head stack seem to have been coated - at least around the edges - with
some form of paint. The paint's now begun to flake off, jamming up the head
assembly and preventing the drive from seeking properly (sometimes it wouldn't
spin up at all, other times it'd spin up, flop the heads around as much as it
could, and then power down again)
Anyone seen this particular mode of failure before? It's a new one on me...
With nothing to lose (after ruling out other possibilities, and I'd already
popped the lid on the drive expecting to see the aftermath of a head crash) I
removed the top magnet from the head assembly (without disturbing the heads
themselves or their pivot point) and cleaned everything out as best I could.
I was doing it more for giggles than anything - but I was amazed when, after
replacing the magnet, the drive actually powered up, stayed powered up, and
was detected by the OS.
It's not in particularly good health - I'm about 14MB into the archive process
and I've got about 500KB of dead blocks so far. Doubtful I'll be able to get
any meaningful data out of whatever filesystems were on it with that level of
corruption, but I suppose it'd be silly not to at least try!
cheers
Jules
Hi all,
I am about to throw out a complete VXT2000+
Shipping overseas is probably not worth it
(I am in The Neterlands), but if somebody
needs a specific part, I am willing to disassemble
the VXT before it becomes landfill. The VXT is
in good shape AFAIK, but can not test it ...
Henk, PA8PDP
We recently managed to (finally!) get our HP 2116 machines out of 'deep store'
and into the light of day, and some initial cleaning work was done on the
panels earlier.
I did a quick inventory:
2116B
2116C
2160A (PSU)
2161A (PSU)
2748A (tape reader)
HP1016C (two - 512 track drum)
One of our guys managed to flip the front door catches (the keys for the
machines are long-gone), so I was able to take a board listing too:
2116B:
slot board
1 pwr fail / AR
10 sense amplifier
11 sense amplifier
12 sense amplifier
13 sense amplifier
14 driver switch
15 driver switch
16 inhibit driver
18 inhibit driver
20 DML
22 sense amplifier
101 A101
102 A102-105
103 A102-105
104 A102-105
106 A106
107 A107
108 A108
110 EAU logic
111 EAU timing
116 DMA word count
117 DMA word count
118 DMA address enc.
119 DMA control
120 DMA packer
201 A201
202 central interr.
211 I/O multiplexor
214 tape reader
216 I/O multiplexor
218 buss loader
2116C:
slot board
101 A101
102 A102-105
103 A102-105
104 A102-105
105 A102-105
106 A106
107 A107
201 A201
205 A108
206 MDB / A13
207 power fail
208 power fail
209 power fail
210 power fail
211 power fail
212 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
213 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
214 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
215 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
216 MMD / A2
217 sense amplifier
218 MMD / A2
219 driver switch / A8,9,14,15
220 MDB / A13
things found kicking around in the 2116C case:
Core stack with connectors labeled A1, A2, A3, A6 (made by Ferroxcube
corporation)
Core stack with connectors labeled A1, A2, A3, A6 (made by Ampex)
Core stack with connectors labeled A1, A2, A3, A4, A6, A7 (international
scientific)
'short' board, HP assy. 02116-8015
'short' board, HP assy. 02160-60031
power fail board (identical to the ones in card slots)
unknown full-size board, HP 1150-1198.
Most of the boards sitting in the card slots are just loose, i.e. not plugged
into the backplane, so there's no guarantee they're in the right place (the
bottom row of the 2116C machine looks particularly disorganised).
Anyone familiar with the systems know if this is anything like two machines'
worth though? Or is it some sort of dual-cabinet system, and one crate was
likely just I/O with the other for CPU? Nice to finally see inside them
anyway, as for all we knew they could have been completely stripped out inside...
I *assume* the pair of drums go with them, but there's no guarantee there (I'm
just not sure what they *do* belong with if it isn't these machines :-)
cheers
Jules
Jay
Did you ever come up with a fix for the DC300 tension loop that breaks?
I have two Tektronix 4051 computers that works great. I just wish I could save some of the tapes.
Thanks for any help you might be able to extend,
Bruce
I have several Xyplex terminal servers -
One MaxServer 4500 with 5x16 port cards and one enet module
One MaxServer 5000 with 12x8 port cards, 2x LAN interface (ethernet)
and 1x NetManagement module (including the floppies)
one Xyplex 1500 1U 16-port terminal server
2x Network 9000 PS/130 power supply modules
Any interest? Renton, WA area.
We recently managed to (finally!) get our HP 2116 machines out of 'deep store'
and into the light of day, and some initial cleaning work was done on the
panels earlier.
I did a quick inventory:
2116B
2116C
2160A (PSU)
2161A (PSU)
2748A (tape reader)
HP1016C (two - 512 track drum)
One of our guys managed to flip the front door catches (the keys for the
machines are long-gone), so I was able to take a board listing too:
2116B:
slot board
1 pwr fail / AR
10 sense amplifier
11 sense amplifier
12 sense amplifier
13 sense amplifier
14 driver switch
15 driver switch
16 inhibit driver
18 inhibit driver
20 DML
22 sense amplifier
101 A101
102 A102-105
103 A102-105
104 A102-105
106 A106
107 A107
108 A108
110 EAU logic
111 EAU timing
116 DMA word count
117 DMA word count
118 DMA address enc.
119 DMA control
120 DMA packer
201 A201
202 central interr.
211 I/O multiplexor
214 tape reader
216 I/O multiplexor
218 buss loader
2116C:
slot board
101 A101
102 A102-105
103 A102-105
104 A102-105
105 A102-105
106 A106
107 A107
201 A201
205 A108
206 MDB / A13
207 power fail
208 power fail
209 power fail
210 power fail
211 power fail
212 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
213 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
214 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
215 inhibit driver / A4,6,16,18
216 MMD / A2
217 sense amplifier
218 MMD / A2
219 driver switch / A8,9,14,15
220 MDB / A13
things found kicking around in the 2116C case:
Core stack with connectors labeled A1, A2, A3, A6 (made by Ferroxcube
corporation)
Core stack with connectors labeled A1, A2, A3, A6 (made by Ampex)
Core stack with connectors labeled A1, A2, A3, A4, A6, A7 (international
scientific)
'short' board, HP assy. 02116-8015
'short' board, HP assy. 02160-60031
power fail board (identical to the ones in card slots)
unknown full-size board, HP 1150-1198.
Most of the boards sitting in the card slots are just loose, i.e. not plugged
into the backplane, so there's no guarantee they're in the right place (the
bottom row of the 2116C machine looks particularly disorganised).
Anyone familiar with the systems know if this is anything like two machines'
worth though? Or is it some sort of dual-cabinet system, and one crate was
likely just I/O with the other for CPU? Nice to finally see inside them
anyway, as for all we knew they could have been completely stripped out inside..
>
>Subject: Indicator tubes for transistor logic machines.
> From: "Bob Shannon" <bshannon at tiac.net>
> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:03:43 -0400
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>Is anyone familiar with vacuum tube indicators used on transistor logic
>machines?
>
>I recently found a small rack filled with small transistor logic modules.
>Each module holds a flip flop or two at most.
>The modules are small PC boards with a metal frame and handle. Test points
>give you the state of each transistor
>on the module.
>
>Several modules have some sort of visual indicator tube as well.
>
>These tubes are not much larger than a standard NE-2 bulb, but they more
>resemble subminiature vacuum tubes.
>
>The tubes are marked 01037 J3, each had four leads. Two of these leads
>shows a resistance of 9.8 Ohms, and
>appears to be a low voltage filament. One is grounded, the other is
>connected to a bus in the rack of logic.
>
>There is no 'getter flash' inside the glass tube, so they may be some sort
>of glow discharge tube.
>
>Looking at the insides of each tube thee appears to be a very fine V style
>filament and a grid-like structure, but
>I see no clear anode or plate structures. There are two thin 'wires'
>outside of the grid, one in front and one
>behind the central grid-like / filament structure.
>
>The logic itself is made from 2N414 transistors, mil-spec at one time,
>covered in conformal coating. Markings
>show this device came from the USAF Airborne Instrumentation Labs. I only
>have a small part of some
>larger system, but I would like to power this rack of logic up and see these
>indicators in action.
>
>There is something very familiar about these things. They remind me of
>something I may have seen once
>in a telephone switching application when I was in the USAF long ago.
>
>Any idea what these things may be? I'll try to get a digital photo, but the
>tubes are mounted under small
>metal clips with short leads.
>
They are vacuum florescent indicators. the anode (part that will glow)
is +V applied around 16-40V range and the cathode (most minus voltage)
is formed by the two wires that are a filliment (heater to some). Some
flavors of these also have a grid between the heater and the anode and
act like a triode vacuum tube in that if the grid is sufficiently
negative compared to the cathode/heater the tube will not glow if it
is zero or positive (a few volts) the tube will glow. The transistors
are then not required to handle much voltage or current as 2n414 was
a low power alloy junction germainium (Vce of -20V and Pd of 150mW) so
it could not switch much current or voltage. Any display used had to
be operatble with less than 20V (more like 15or less) and only a few
milliamps.
I've also seen several such racks and displays down in RI. Basically
the system is built of standard logic elements available in the late
50s early 60s and an element could be a gate or Flip flop and likely
not many gates and only one FF to a card. Voltages were typically low
in the less than 15V range. The cards rarely were a complete
computer but more like a sequencer or other fixed logic system that was
designed for a specific use.
Use care powering that as power supplies may have bad caps, and wires
may be cut/shorted.
Allison
Jay wrote:
>>
>> Ok, I'll trump your VCD with...
>>
>> Laserdisc
Is this thread somewhat vaguely related to classic computing?
Yup.
The first (and only) time I saw a laserdisc was around 1991. I was at school and among the Acorn Archemedes in the computer room (so called because it was full of computers!) was a newfangled piece of kit. It looked like a vinyl LP player, but had a shiny disc on it the size of an LP. We were told not to go near it , presumably because of the laser.
When the teacher left the room at lunchbreak some of us did take a closer look, but being about 12 at the time (and having never owned a CD player at that time) I was rather clueless as to what it was.
I know laserdiscs are largely used for films (hence why I can see why Jay thought they were off-topic), but I believe this one had some sort of software on it. Not sure now whether the laserdisc player was hooked up to one of the Archemedes, or some new computer. Almost all the computers at school were Acorn Archemedes, except for a handfull of BBC's.
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
> OK I'll bring it back around.....during VCF Midwest I saw a
> DEC-branded Laserdisc unit at Pat's computer wonderland.
Was it a top loader or a tray?
I pulled apart an old InfoTrac library system that used a
Pioneer LD-V1000 since CD-ROM drives were not yet available.
Top loader, CAV disks only. Real He-Ne laser on the sled.
The Centronix connector was a proprietory parallel port
controlling video playback, getting frame #
and it allowed reading digital data if it was recorded in that format
(video playback was still NTSC, no digital at all, not even a frame buffer).
citing
http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_ld-v100…
This is an NTSC laser disc player that was used in
Astron Belt (with proper hardware), Badlands (with different EPROM),
Casino Strip, Cobra Command (with proper hardware),
Dragon's Lair, Esh's Aurunmilla, Galaxy Ranger (with proper hardware),
Interstellar, Space Ace, Super Don Quixote, and Thayer's Quest
hello all,
i have an SGI indigo2 which ive installed a 2GB IBM hard drive in. however,
>from a cold boot, i receive a drive/cable error, and it asks me to press any
key to continue. when i do, i press start system and it all comes to life.
im assuming it takes longer for the drive to spin up than the indigo2 takes
to wait for the drive. is there a way to adjust this? thanks