test-drb January 2009

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

218 participants
340 discussions

A few newb/background questions about the XKL TOAD

by madcrow.maxwell＠gmail.com

There's recently been a lot of talk about the XKL TOAD, and I, as an interested lurker had been holding my tounge, despite having some questions. No more. 1. How does the XKL compare with the Jupiter? Given that they both had features like an extended address space, was the XKL basically a "if DEC won't build it, we will" type of thing? 2. What the difference between the XKL TOAD and the various SC systems? Was SC a reseller/packager/intergrator or did they have their own seperate "Super KL"? 3. Does KLH10 support any of the XKL extensions? 4. Do the freeware copies of TOPS-20 floating around the internet have any support for these extensions or were those proprietary to the copies of TOPS-20 that shipped with TOADs? Thanks for answering this barrage of silly questions, Mike

15 years, 9 months

FPGA PDP-10 (was Re: XKL TOAD)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 1:25 PM, John Floren <slawmaster at gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 6:46 PM, Guy Sotomayor <ggs at shiresoft.com> wrote: >> Actually, he's gotten pretty far on it. I just talked to him today about >> it. I'd have to go back and look at my e-mail archives but late Nov/Dec he >> had it passing all of the DEC CPU diagnostics on a verilog simulator. Today >> he told me how many FFs & LUTs it took (not as much as he thought) to >> implement a KA10 style CPU (so he's doing synthesis). Nice. Thanks for the update, Guy. > Promising! I've wanted to see a -10 in FPGA for a while now, never had > the ambition (or the hardware) to try writing one in VHDL or anything. > Good luck to Dave, I guess. As I mentioned the other night, I'm peripherally interested in an FPGA-implemented -10, but I have a definite budget - I'm willing to roll a lot of my own hardware (loose parts, soldering, etc), but I really can't justify more than a few hundred $$$ in total. I certainly can't assist with the VHDL-end of things. Once things get past the experimental stage and it's booting TOPS-20, I'm likely to be more interested. My requirements are pretty loose - if it runs one of the extant compiled versions of MDL Zork, I'm in. -ethan

15 years, 9 months

Old Software Rights

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 15 Jan 2009 at 12:40, Paul Koning wrote: Copyright these days is a LOT longer than 30 years. And even back in > the 1940s, it was 28 years initially plus another 28 years if renewed > (and if the copyright was still in effect in 1976 then the new long > terms would into play, if I understood right) -- so if you have a > copyrighted work from 1940, it's in the public domain today if it > wasn't renewed, but it's still copyrighted if it WAS renewed. Copyright is implicit in all works produced today, whether or not stated. Almost all software published during the 1970s has a copyright notice embedded. After the Uruguay Round of the GATT talks, copyright for works published after 1923 whose copyright was in effect as of the URAA is 75 years, later extended to 90 by the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act (yes, he, or rather his widow, of the other half of Cher. Reportedly, Mary wanted to make copyright perpetual, but was informed that such a move was distinctly unconstituional). Read about the law at http://www.copyright.gov. Rules outside of the US may be substantially different. In particular, after the fall of the Soviet Union, legislation was passed in the US to allow works of Soviet origin to be removed from the Public Domain (so-called "restored" copyright. Who says you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube?). However, they may still be freely copied in Canada. Bottom line is that there is no such legal entity as "abandonware" and you promulgate the idea at your own risk. While economic damage is part of civil actions brought by copyright holders, it is not the whole picture. Unlike patent infringement, copyright violation in the US is a criminal offense under the DMCA. Just because no one seems to be using IBM 5160s to run Harvard Presentation Graphics from 360K diskettes does not make it legal to copy and distribute it. It's not up to the infringer to declare whether or not a work has any value. So you may have to wait until, oh, 2075 or so before you can legally hand out those old copies of Lotus 1-2-3, assuming that our Congress isn't goaded into action by the Empire of the Mouse again. As a musician, I'm continually frustrated by publishers of old copyrighted material (some stuff going back to the 1930s) who declare a work to be "permanently out of print" and will not authorize a copy (for a fee) nor provide me with a copy that they created from their archives. Currently, the only resort left is to pick some other work. There's nothing in copyright law to force the owner to publish or support his works, nor give permission to copy. And the notion of "Fair Use" is a very slippery slope--if you guess wrong, you're fully exposed. Cheers, Chuck

15 years, 9 months

XKL TOAD

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Both Neil Franklin and > Doug Conroy have done work in this area. Dave Conroy. He's not had time to work on it for a while now.

15 years, 9 months

NCCC - Sunfire V100 / Solaris

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

Tom, Best way is to install Solrais 8, 9 or 10. Then install the SUNWlomu, SUNWlomr & SUNWlomm packages followed by patch 110208-22. Then use the lom tool to manipulate the lom config to your likings. BTW, the patch has the latest firmware for the lom, so you can also upgrade it if wanted. Regards, Ed > Sorry about the lack of true classic computing content to this > question, but it does relate to a little bit older machine, a > Sunfire V100... > > I purchased one of these from eBay in hopes of possibly upgrading > my home firewall and discovered that the machine has a Lights-Out- > Management (LOM) CPU controlling the main UltraSPARC IIi processor. > The LOM runs a monitor program (LOMlite) which on this particular > machine is currently configured to require a login/password when > communicating with the machine over the console serial port. > >>From seemingly endless google searching, it sounds like I should be > able to break out of the LOMlite login/password cycle by resetting > the machine with the JP13 jumper. When I do this, LOM is reset, a > few seemingly ok diagnostic messages are emitted, and then the login > password are again requested. > > I was unable to determine if there is some sort of default login > password. > > The only path seems to be to possibly load the PATA IDE hard drive > with Solaris, and then use the Solaris tools to reset the LOM setup. > > Does anyone on this list have any experience with this machine? > > --tnx > --tom >

15 years, 9 months

"Tyrotek" analog computer

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

I'm currently working on refurbishing a small analog computer from the mid-60's. It has the name "Tyrotek" on the front panel, in the middle of a sine wave curve. (My) web searches turn up zippo about this name (other than some guy using the word as a moniker). The only other clue to a manufacturer is "Non Linear Mfg." in the foil of the printed circuit boards. No model number, no identification plate. While it is smaller for an analog computer and appears to be intended as an educational or training unit, it is built to industrial standards, with a nice sizeable plugboard using standard IBM plugboard wires, fiberglass PCBs, discrete FET-input op-amps, etc., so it's not just some gimmicky thing. Eventually I'll have a web page for it, but right now I'm curious as to it's manufacturer origins. Just a guess, but one line of speculation I'm making is that "Non Linear Mfg." may have been the manufacturing arm of Non-Linear Systems of digital voltmeter fame, and Tyrotek was a subsidiary of, or otherwise associated, with NLS. Comments / clues / recollections?

15 years, 9 months

ibm sys/36 5360 basic needed

by rubendan＠coqui.net

Hello My name is Ruben Rivera Do you have the repair Manual and diskettes for IBM 5363 I have some sys 36 and software too you can call me at 787-598-1055 or rubendan at coqui.net

15 years, 9 months

TOAD-1 vs. Super Foonly F-1

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Foonly performance can be found here: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/foonly/Foonly_Product_Overview.pdf Rich should be able to provide the numbers relative to a KL for comparision. The big deal with the TOAD was expansion of the memory addressing space.

15 years, 9 months

TOAD-1 vs. Super Foonly F-1

by ploopster＠gmail.com

Can anyone compare their relative performance? Peace... Sridhar

15 years, 9 months

"Free" Zenith Z-158 and Supersport in Buffalo, NY

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

THESE ARE NOT MY SYSTEMS, RESPOND TO "TOM" BELOW IF INTERESTED! =============================================================== "Tom" <comptech25 at yahoo.com> writes: I have 2 systems in my possession that I'd be willing to donate if you're interested. The first is a Zenith Data Systems Z-158 Desktop. It is in great working condition. The previous owner was very meticulous, keeping everything. I have the original brochure and sales receipt along with several program disks including the demo disk that would have been used in the store to show off the computer's capabilities. The second is a Zenith Data Systems Supersport. I used this machine to learn Q-Basic. Has seen a lot of use, but still in good shape. Just recently stopped booting telling me, "DISK DRIVE RESET FAILED" I have 2 identical systems that I have been using as donor machines to keep my laptop in working order. If interested I can donate them as well. Tom Jefferys Buffalo, NY comptech25 at yahoo.com

15 years, 9 months

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test-drb January 2009