test-drb December 2009

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

184 participants
226 discussions

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

As mentioned earlier, the DECServer 200/MC won't work for your application, as it only speaks LAT. Additionally, it needs to boot from a host every time it starts. I've experimented with a few different terminal servers, and there are several out there that should be adequate to the task. The Lantronix ETS series is very compact, and easy to set up. It speaks LAT as well as TCP/IP. The drawback is that when you telnet IN to the Lantronix, it displays a rather annoying welcome message that I don't believe you can disable. (At least that was my experience.) The Xyplex 1600 series of terminal servers seemed to work the best, but configuration can be a PITA, if you're not used to them. I would recommend the 1620 with flash card, and 4MB of RAM, if you go that route. T

15 years

Ferguson Big Board question

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

I'm just considering divesting myself of a Ferguson Big Board system that I've never played with. Looking it over and reading about the FBB .. just out of curiousity, does anyone know offhand whether the on-board video display relied on the system Z80 CPU (such as in the Apple II or sinclair ZX80), or was it a 'pure peripheral' to the CPU?

15 years

tube digital interest / was Re: Running Computers Cold

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:57:04 -0300 From: "Alexandre Souza - Listas" <pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com> Subject: Re: tube digital interest / was Re: Running Computers Cold >>If I might be permitted one small cavil... the possessive "its" takes >>no apostrophe, any more than its close kin-words "his", "hers", "ours" >>or "theirs". Every one makes some of us flinch in discomfort. It's the >>only thing wrong with an otherwise-immaculate display, and as such, I >>thought I'd draw it to your attention... ------------- >This is something that would be waaaaayyyy more apropriate in private... >;o) ------------- I respectfully disagree. I think the above suggestion applies pretty widely these days; not only does it's instead of its make some of us flinch, but it can be distracting and make the relevant text seem to be less professional. m ***********************************************************************************

15 years

Manual scanning: TIFF-to-PDF software with greyscale support?

by thomas.gardner＠sbcglobal.net

> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:15:30 +0000 > From: Philip Pemberton <classiccmp at philpem.me.uk> > Subject: Manual scanning: TIFF-to-PDF software with greyscale support? > To: cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <4B264882.4010901 at philpem.me.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi guys, > I'm after a program that can convert TIFF files into PDFs. I've seen > Eric Smith's "Tumble" app, which works great... but only for B&W TIFFs. > While I can use Imagemagick to convert the images to B&W, that defeats > the point: there are photos on the scanned pages, and I'd rather like to > keep them as photos, not black splodges. > > Also, has anyone come up with a "best practice guide" for manual > scanning? At the moment I'm scanning like this: > > B&W text only: 600dpi, black and white, threshold=50%. > Text + photos: 600dpi, greyscale, then despeckle and scale down to > 300dpi. > > Obviously if there are better ways (in terms of quality and/or speed) > I'd like to know before I scan a ton of testgear manuals... > > Also, does anyone know of an app that can take the PDF file, OCR it and > then insert the text as a background layer while leaving the image > alone? I'm pretty sure Acrobat can do this, but like most Adobe > software, the price tag is somewhat... eye-watering. "If you have to ask > how much it costs, you can't afford it." > > Thanks, > -- > Phil. > classiccmp at philpem.me.uk > http://www.philpem.me.uk/ Try ABBYY FineReader, http://finereader.abbyy.com/ or http://www.abbyyusa.com/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=2314 I expect the US$50 Express version will do what u want, I have been a very happy user of the PRO version for many years. Tom

15 years

RK05 alignment - without alignment pack?

by thomas.gardner＠sbcglobal.net

> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:04:11 +0100 > From: Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> > Subject: Re: RK05 alignment - without alignment pack? > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <4B252C9B.1010100 at hachti.de> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed > > Hi Tony, > > thanks for the reply. > > > > >> The RK05 manual tells me how easy it is to realign the heads: Just load > the alignment pack and... > >> -- But I don't have an alignment pack :-( > >> > >> Does anybody (best would be in Europe) have an RK05 alignment pack I > could use? > > > > I have one, but there's no way I am trusting it to the postal 'service' > Hm. I can understand that... > > >> Is there a known trick to do it without alignment pack? I have working > drives and formatted disks handy. > > > 3) With a 'scope connected to the read amplifer testpoints (as if doing > > the alignment with the pack) and the positioner set to cylinder 0, screw > > in the appropriate algnment screw. You'll see the singal amplitude rise > > as the ehad gets over the data track, and then fall off as you go past > it. > > How does the positioner find track 0?!? > Does it use the end of range microswitch and then count? This is a bit > unclear to me. With a working servo, the servo will move the carriage to what the optical transducer calls Track 00, but where the heads are with respect to the tracks in the disk pack is a matter of alignment, which was lost when the scale fell off and was re-attached. The heads could be anyplace, plus or minus many tracks of Track 00. There is not likely to be any information recorded towards the outer diameter from TK00 (maybe some residual unerased junk). If you can prerecord your test pack on a good drive with alternating patterns of 1F and 2F starting at TK00, say 1F for all sectors on TK00, 2F for all sectors on TK01, etc. for a few tracks, then it should be obvious where the pattern stops repeating as you manually move the heads in and out. The last good track as you move out is TK00. BTW, I say this assuming DEC didn't put some reserved tracks towards the outer diameter from TK00. Today the logical TK00 (or block 0000) is not at the outer diameter, but I suspect this is not so for the RK05. Tom

15 years

MDS archive

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Looking at http://arkiv.netbsd.se/?ml=cctalk&a=2004-12&t=558361 There was some work done years ago at collecting docs and firmware. Looks like www.s100-manuals.com mentioned by Randy is gone. I'm working on adding more MDS material to bitsavers, and didn't want to dump firmware if it's already been done.

15 years

DEC Server 200/MC

by rodsmallwood＠btconnect.com

Hi Thanks to a list member with a good memory I have managed to trace and get running a copy of Fido BBS on my DEC Rainbow. It's just about as I had it back in 1983 as Fido_UK1. I can run it on a modem that would have been current in'83. I now want to make it available via telnet. I do have a windows based application that will convert a telnet connection to an emulated modem connection. However what would be really nice is to hook up a DECServer 200/mc to convert an incoming Telnet call to a port emulating a modem. That means the Rainbow would think it was connected to a modem. Connection should be indicated by asserting DCD. Is it possible? If so how? Regards Rod Smallwood

15 years

way off topic (sort of) Antarctic Dome disassembled

by jws＠jwsss.com

I know we have had a list member emailing from here, this is an article about the final disassembly of the dome. http://www.onorbit.com/node/1797 Jim

15 years

Univac tape drive

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

A few years ago, some guy on Ebay had a Univac Uniservo IV tape drive (a typical fridge sized monster) on Ebay. I do not know if it ever sold - he wanted a lot of money. Does anyone know whatever happened to it? -- Will

15 years

Lonesome Minicomputer Owner

by mike_coholich＠yahoo.com

I just found your email on the WEB. Do you still have the Honeywell 716? Thanks, Mike Mike Coholich 225 Cottonwood LN Wexford, PA 15090 Cell: (412) 596-2988 <mailto:mike_coholich at yahoo.com> mike_coholich at yahoo.com

15 years

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test-drb December 2009