test-drb December 2009

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

184 participants
226 discussions

Burroughs B5500 and successors (Was: Happy DEC-20 Day!)

by jonas＠otter.se

Alan Perry <alanp at snowmoose.com> wrote: > > This also included the Burroughs/Unisys A-series systems that were > made into the early 90s. > > The A-series systems used a 52-bit, tagged word. 1 bit of parity, 3 > bits of tag and 48 bits of data. > > I don't recall how the addressing worked and Al has my papers on the > architecture, so I can't look it up ... The A-series were direct successors to the B5000/6000/7000 series and used the same architecture. Unisys still sells the ClearPath MCP systems, now using Intel processors and running the MCP operating system (under emulation I think). The architecture has so-called display registers, each of which pointed to a stack frame for a lexicographical level in the code, i.e. the procedure call level. Data is addressed as an address couple consisting of a display register number and an offset, stored in a so-called Indirect Reference Word (IRW). Data outside of the stack can be addressed by means of descriptors. Data in another program's stack is addressed by means of Stuffed Indirect Reference Words (SIRW), which include a stack number and an offset. The operating system keeps track of individual program stacks by means of a tree of pointers to job stacks. Also, to keep track of the procedure calling and return linkage, Mark Stack Control Words (MSCW) are created whenever a procedure is called. The Display Registers point to the MSCWs. All this is designed to support block-structured high level languages, in fact all the operating system software is (was) written in various ALGOL dialects. There is quite a lot of information about this on the net. A book which describes it is Computer Systems Organization by Elliott Organick (ACM Monograph Series, 1973. LCN: 72-88334). -Jonas

14 years, 4 months

Opening 20 year old software on it's anniversary

by RBORSUK＠COLOURFULL.COM

So about a month ago I purchased some Wang branded MSDOS software off of eBay. Much to my delight, when it arrived, it was still factory sealed. I showed my wife the date of manufacture on the label and she suggested I wait to open it. I reluctantly agreed to wait. So it's been about a month and today is the day. Please enjoy some pictures of the moment. http://gallery.me.com/irisworld/100109 Rob Rob Borsuk email: rborsuk at colourfull.com Colourfull Creations Web: http://www.colourfull.com

14 years, 4 months

DECmemory

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

What machine does the DEC 54-21139 SIMM go with? VAXstation or Alpha? I have quite a pile - available cheap! -- Will

14 years, 4 months

Speechless! (ebay madness alert)

by evan＠snarc.net

I sent a question to the seller, asking for clarification about the serial number. This is the (insane) reply that I got: ------------------ evan_k, thank you for asking about this fine microwaved masterpiece of fine art. This was a perfectly working complete unaltered Mac 512k before it was microwaved by the AMIR 9000 One Ton Microwaving Robot, now a first of it's kind. It is now an incredible work of art considered to be priceless and even better than before it was microwaved. The artist also known as your professional microwave operator waited 25 years to microwave this computer. Some things only just get better with age especially when it comes to the world of art. You can be assured that a fine connoisseur of art will acquire this work of art. The artists has sold artworks to collectors which include Dale Djerassi [son of the of Carl Djerassi who invented the birth control pill, Georgia Frontier just to name a couple. He has also been featured internationally in numerous prominent publications that have included HGTV, OPRAH, TLC, People magazine, Mal Sharp's Weird Rooms Book, CNN, Good morning show, 100 Hojdare Sweden, Urdu Magazine, Los Angeles Times and so on. He also was featured at the most prominent modern art museum in Baltimore called the AVAM. You can be sure this art is authentic, original & sign and dated by the artist & guaranteed microwaved.

14 years, 4 months

Happy DEC-20 Day!

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

>>> In hindsight, could the DEC-20 or RISC version of it >>> had marketing and other bad luck changed ,and >>> today replaced the PC in many applications? >> >> Six bit based architectures all died with the rise of the IBM S/360 >> family. DEC, CDC, Univac. >> >> It also did not help that many of these old line mainframe >> architectures were getting hard to extend. For the DEC 36 bitters - >> what does one do after the 18 bit address pointer, with two neatly >> stuffed into a 36 bit word? A kludge. What does one do after the 36 >> bit address pointer? A worse kludge. > > I kind of suspected that was the case. Did anyone make a large 48 bit > machine? > If you mean physically large, then yes. However on the 1301, addresses range only from 0 to 3999 (decimal). Probably not what you meant really.

14 years, 4 months

[Fwd: [Mandrakeot] Hey Gene - Amiga stuff]

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

FYI, for the Amiga developers around here.... -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Mandrakeot] Hey Gene - Amiga stuff Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:54:21 -0500 From: Ric Moore Reply-To: mandrakeot at mdw1982.com To: mandrakeot at mdw1982.com http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/open-source/~3/KX0p_xQ7x7g/know… Thought you'd get a kick outa this one. Ric -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ "From there to here, From here to there, Funny things are everywhere." --- Dr. Seuss

14 years, 4 months

HP 3000 micro GX with MPE/V OS. need tape

by ss＠allegro.com

Hi, Where are you located? Can you use DDS (DAT) media? I'm one of the "too busy" people, but perhaps I can get some time in between now and the New Year. On Dec 17, 2009, at 9:45 PM, g-wright at att.net wrote: > I'm back to try this again. I need a boot tape for a HP 3000 > Micro GX machine. Does anyone have a working machine > or a tape. I can use almost any media. I had 2 list members > say they would help but they seem to be too busy and its > been 6 months. I would really like to get this going. > > Thanks, Jerry > g-wright at att.net >

14 years, 4 months

MDS Series IV schematics on line

by aek＠bitsavers.org

under http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/MDS4 thanks to Bob R. for the loan of the originals still looking for a couple of other multibus hardware manuals isbc286/10, 386, 486S, 214, 215, 221 disk, 550,552 ethernet nj

14 years, 4 months

Hackable DVD players (was Re: Amiga Demo's)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 12/14/09, Alexandre Souza - Listas <pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com> wrote: > Tony Duell wrote: >> I suspect such players are too expenice _new_ for me even to consider >> buying, and contain suffieicently complex custom ICs that it's a bad idea >> to buy one for which manufacuters spares are no longer available. > > Want something hackable? Look for an AP660 from Apex. No service manual > but full listing of the ROM :oD I have one of those. Unlike most cheap-o consumer devices, there _is_ detailed internals data available - detailed enough to retool the firmware. It's not full circuit diagrams and datasheets, but from the software side of things, much, much better than most devices. It also has a bog-standard IDE DVD transport, unlike less expensive devices. That's the model I was contemplating mounting the IDE-CF rig on for the Click! experiment (since I already have some 3.5"-drive-bay-PCMCIA adapter frames on hand). My main AP660 is on the fritz right now, but it's probably PSU issues. Fortunately, I have a parts unit I can use to verify that everything else is good with. I've had one since it was new and been very happy with it. -ethan

14 years, 4 months

Burroughs B5500 and successors (Was: Happy DEC-20 Day!)

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

> > From: Ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > >> Because the Burroughs B5500 and B6700 computers used a word >> containing 48 bits of data, but also extra bits that described the >> type of the data which played an important role in programming the >> machine, I would consider that series sufficiently out-of-the- >> ordinary to attempt to discuss here; This also included the Burroughs/Unisys A-series systems that were made into the early 90s. The A-series systems used a 52-bit, tagged word. 1 bit of parity, 3 bits of tag and 48 bits of data. I don't recall how the addressing worked and Al has my papers on the architecture, so I can't look it up ... alan

14 years, 4 months

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test-drb December 2009