test-drb December 2008

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

209 participants
286 discussions

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 5:52 PM, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote: > Alexandre Souza wrote: > >> The SBC6120 is a **real nice** SBC... Yes it is, and it's back in "print"! > ... [I] wish I had saved a T-11 (was it?) >> processor from many of the arcade boards I saw going to trash...I do not >> even know how to operate a PDP, but it would be something fun to learn :o) T-11s aren't terribly rare. Perhaps not as common as other 40-pin CPUs from the 1980s but they can be found on DEC boards and in at least one DEC terminal. The issue of using one in a modern SBC6120-like board has been brought up from time to time, and one of the limitations I think I recall is that they don't have a MMU and, unlike the F-11, there wasn't one for it, severely limiting your OS choices. Between that and it not being simple to emulate DEC interfaces down to the CSR level, turning a T-11 into a bootable PDP-11 isn't easy at all. Making a 64KB board that runs PDP-11 instructions isn't hard - but then what do you do for software? It's a harder problem to solve than on the PDP-8 since there really is only one dominant OS there (plus a lot of OS-less paper-tape software). Writing _a_ disk driver for one OS for your new disk (such as with the SBC6120) isn't a terrible obstacle. For the PDP-11, you have to consider that folks would be interested in RT-11, RSX, RSTS, and several varieties of UNIX. The T-11 would make a fun little board if you happen to know or want to learn the PDP-11 instruction set and have a use in mind for some configuration smaller than a console line and a disk/disk emulator. > I think I asked the question a couple of years ago, about which "classic" > non-typical CPUs turned up in arcade machines. I seem to recall someone > saying that the T-11 was used in Paperboy. Yeah... I remember reading about the T-11 in Paperboy some time back and was quite surprised. Large quantities of video games spanned the progression over the years from 8080 to Z-80 and 6809 to 68000 as complexity and sound and color advanced, and there were a few games here and there with something odd like a 6502, but the rare appearance of a T-11 really stood out for me. I never played Paperboy much, and I haven't seen too many of the machines in the wild since I learned they hid a T-11 inside. -ethan

15 years, 4 months

T-11 (was Re: PDP-11/70 cache memory)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: T-11 (was Re: PDP-11/70 cache memory) > From: "bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca" <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:23:30 -0700 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Seth Morabito wrote: > >> (Where on EARTH did Bob find a new supply of 6120s?) > >Who said Bob is from the Earth? > >> -Seth > The 1802 and 6120 have had a long production life and there are many scattered around. Allison

15 years, 4 months

RS/6000 7012-320 7013-520, free, Seattle area, any interest?

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

Any interest in the following for free if you can pickup in the Seattle area? 1990-1992 IBM RS/6000 POWERserver / POWERstation (2x) 7012-320 20MHz desktop (1x) 7012-320H 25MHz desktop (3x) 7013-520 20MHz deskside (2x) 3151 serial terminal As far as I know these are on the slowest end of the POWER processor range (before POWER2 and PowerPC) and probably run best with AIX 3.2.5. I think some of these have 32MB RAM and some 16MB, and SCSI hard drives. I won't bother poking around for more details unless someone is interested. If anyone is interested reply privately. If there is no interest a new free computer recycling law goes into effect in 2009 in WA state and these will go to a recycler sometime next month.

15 years, 4 months

1950 Simon

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

I have posted a transcript from the Oct 1950 Radio-Electronics article "The World's Smallest Electric Brain" with pictures. http://vintagecomputer.net/simon.cfm Bill

15 years, 4 months

PDP-11/70 cache memory

by bqt＠softjar.se

And since some have mentioned it, there was a 3rd party upgrade to the 11/70 which replaced the whole memory system with a few cards in the CPU box, which turned all memory into cache. This was by a company called SETASI, and the product was the hypercache. They actually had two products. HC-70 was the hypercache, and then you had something called the PEP-70 as well. It appears they could be used together, but I don't know if one was required for the other, or if they were related in any way, and if so how. (SETASI also did other stuff, such as a SCSI adapted for massbus, which was pretty nice, and usable both on 16-bit and 36-bit machines.) Johnny

15 years, 4 months

Jupiter Ace - PCBs and such

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi folks, A few of you might remember the Jupiter Ace I had that took a 9V spike to the expansion slot -- and my futile attempts at repairing it. It's been well over four years since I sent it to a listmember who offered to repair it, and all attempts to get the board or the spares I sent with it have failed. At this point, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him in months, although he's apparently still updating his website... So basically I'm the proud (?) owner of the two sections of case, most of the snap-rivets (apparently Maplin sell these, so I might be able to complete the set), the rubber keyboard membrane, documentation, demo tape and a (supposedly working) 16K RAM pack. I've heard rumours of spare, unassembled Jupiter Ace PCBs kicking around; does anyone happen to have one up for grabs? It looks like the only way I'm going to get this thing up and running again would be to build a new mainboard >from scratch, thus that's what I'm planning to do. About the only parts I need are a Z80 CPU and a couple of 74LS logic chips. Only other alternative would be to get a few PCBs made up for it, then build one from scratch on that -- the catch being I haven't had any luck creating a decent track master from the scans of the PCB that I have.... Can anyone assist me in my Quest to Build a Working Jupiter Ace (tm)? Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

15 years, 4 months

SCSI <--> CF, was : Re: uIEC/SD == AWESOME!

by emu＠e-bbes.com

Gene Buckle wrote: > Zane, you could just use an IDE-CF bridge. That's what I use in my > Amiga 2000 (albeit with a SCSI-IDE bridge in the middle of that). Isn't there a SCSI <--> CF bridge available ? I thought I read once on the web about it ...

15 years, 4 months

CP/M on Sun 68k

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Has anyone here ever seriously considered trying to get CP/M-68k running on an older Sun machine, say, a Sun 2 or 3? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

15 years, 4 months

4.3BSD Quasijarus

by slawmaster＠gmail.com

I was poking around Google today and came across 4.3BSD Quasijarus as something that might be interesting to try in SIMH and maybe on my VAXstation, but the ftp site seems to be empty. Does anybody have a mirror of the Quasijarus 0c distro? Without seeing the files, I don't have any idea how it is distributed... I'm hoping it's a CD-ROM image so I can install easily on my vaxstation--anybody know? And yes, NetBSD is just too new for me :) Thanks John -- Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

15 years, 4 months

VT-180 docs/sw available in SW Ohio

by dave06a＠dunfield.com

Hi Guys, I've been contacted by a chap in SW Ohio with a load of DEC VT-180 documentation and software to find a home for. It's a heavy box (11kg), so a bit pricy to ship ... It would be ideal if someone closer to him could obtain this and scan/image any of the docs and software not already available. Here's the list he sent me: MANUALS: VT-180 User Guide VT-180 Series Technical Manual CP/M Operating System Manual CP/M Operating System Command Summary CP/M BIOS User Guide for VT-180 Read Me First for CP/M Users CP/M Applications Software Referral Catalogue VT-100 User Guide (covers the underlying VT-100 terminal) VT-102 Video Terminal User Guide (copy ? not original) VT-18X Upgrade and System Test Guide VT-180 Series Pocket Service Guide VT-18X Diagnostic 5.25 (original DEC disc) VT-180 CP/M 2.2 OS (original Dec disc) SOFTWARE: Select Word Processing for VT-180 (original DEC discs + manual) Multiplan Spreadsheet for VT-180 (original DEC discs + manual) MBasic for VT-180 (original DEC discs + manual) If interested, please contact me for his info. Regards, Dave -- dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html

15 years, 4 months

← Newer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
...
29
Older →

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb December 2008