test-drb November 2007

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

229 participants
508 discussions

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

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

16 years, 9 months

VXT2000+

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

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

16 years, 9 months

HP2116 inventory

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

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

16 years, 9 months

Who wants some press in south florida?

by brucebaur＠att.net

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

16 years, 9 months

Anyone interested in some Xyplex terminal servers?

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

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.

16 years, 9 months

HP2116 inventory

by jam＠magic.com

16 years, 9 months

Indicator tubes for transistor logic machines.

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >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

16 years, 9 months

Video clips (was Re: modern serial terminal)

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

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

16 years, 9 months

old Laserdisk players

by jeffj＠panix.com

> 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

16 years, 9 months

Silicon Graphics Indigo2 hard drive spinup time issues

by jlobocki＠gmail.com

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

16 years, 9 months

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test-drb November 2007