test-drb January 2010

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

187 participants
240 discussions

by vax9000＠gmail.com

I saw the talk about PDP 8/L and found a 8A locally. It comes with a paper tape punch. What is the value of it? Does it worth it to bring to ebay, and offer the list member 10%-20% off?

14 years, 11 months

Free in Seattle - SGI Personal Iris 4D/35 & Iris File

by derschjo＠mail.msu.edu

Local pickup only, these things are huge. I have a 4D/35 in non-working condition. It doesn't power on but is complete (well, ok, it's lacking drives and sleds) with 64mb memory and if I recall, a full complement of video hardware (GR 1.2, bitplane, z-buffer, turbo.) I can take it apart again if you want to know for 100% sure. It's in decent cosmetic condition, but it could use some TLC. A fun machine when working, especially if you want to play around with older versions of IRIX. Comes with an Iris File (external SCSI enclosure the same size as the Iris itself). Again, no drives or sleds. I'm in the Seattle area. If you want it, come and get it in the next week or it's off to RE-PC in Tukwila... Thanks, Josh

14 years, 11 months

scandoubler/flicker fixer etc. recommendations

by emu＠e-bbes.com

Hi all, as we had the thread before about good LCD panels which would work on our old machines, I thought of a different approach : Why not use the semi-standard good quality lcd panels with 1600x1200 (4:3) format, and use some flicker/fixer scan doubler as converter ? Is there actually one, which would really work ? I mean, from the old 512x256 resolutions up to the 1024x768 would scale up nicely, accepts BNC, SOG, and whatever we else use on our lovely boxes ? Cheers

14 years, 11 months

Museums

by js＠cimmeri.com

William Donzelli wrote: Recall about a week or so ago I had an informal survey concerning wills, and taking care of collections after the collectors have passed. Results were better than last time - barely. Two. I guess this means there are going to be a lot of Straight-8s and Apple Is scrapped in the next 20-30 years. Will ------------------------------------------- One problem I see is that the general population views old computers as just a bunch of old office equipment. When my friends come over, they tease me about all the effort I put into this stuff, saying, "Why bother with all this old crap? You realize that when you die, it's just all going into a dumpster?" And that's precisely what's going to happen if those not knowledgeable are left with your collection in their hands and not knowing what to do with it. It's just too hard to sell for most people. So, seems like "old office equipment collectors" could use a safe, central place to register... a place that they or their heirs can contact when it's time for the collection to go.. an organization that either handles dispensing of the collection, or that merely alerts others in the collecting world that the collection is available. Another question is whether old computers will have the same popularity as they have now (whatever that level of popularity is now). Will interest go up over time, or will it go down as the people that grew up with those models are replaced by people who did not? I would hazard the guess that most people are most fond of the machines they grew up with.. and then second, those that at least existed during their lifetimes, and then lastly, a sharp drop off for those that existed prior to their lifetimes. That pattern could change some due to machines having gotten so much smaller starting in the 70's. The prior question has much bearing on how much goes to dumpsters. If you others are contacted about a collection, will they even come? What is the best thing, today, that I can tell my family about what to do with this collection if I were to check out? I really don't know the answer to that question. John Singleton

14 years, 11 months

Museum for sale

by RichA＠vulcan.com

> From:Rob Jarratt > Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 10:26 AM > My dictionary says a museum is "A building used for storing and exhibition > of objects...". Not much exhibiting going on in this "museum". I think a > museum is only a museum if the public can go there and see the physical > objects. I don't think a web site can be a museum, unless the "objects" are > software or other purely digital artefacts. Here's what the American Association of Museums, the accrediting organization for museums in the U. S., has to say about that: http://www.aam-us.org/pubs/mn/snapshot.cfm Anyone who studies museums in a serious way will quickly encounter a few hurdles. First, you can't really define museums; at least, there is no definition that can be used consistently to include or exclude organizations from the ranks. A number of such groups as the International Council of Museums have written definitions that they use to determine membership. Others, such as the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, use a definition to determine funding eligibility. The definitions agree on a few key points: museums are educational in nature and are open to the public at least part of the year. But consensus quickly breaks down. Most definitions prominently feature preservation and exhibition of collections, but our survey reveals that a fifth of museums report that they do not own, care for or use collections. Most definitions cite museums as being nonprofit entities working in service to the public, although there is a small but growing number of for-profit museums in the U.S. Increasingly, there are museums that exist only in such virtual locations as Second Life. What does it mean for these museums to be "open to the public"? It continues, but that's pretty definitive right there. Speaking as the holder of a certificate in museology from the University of Washington, I would consider Robert Krten's pdp12.org to be an on-line museum, and not at all unique even within this community. Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Server Engineer Vulcan, Inc. 505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900 Seattle, WA 98104 mailto:RichA at vulcan.com mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org http://www.PDPplanet.org/ http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/

14 years, 11 months

starting my relay computer project

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Hi Group, After years and years of interest in this, way back to the sci am 'Ameteur Scientist' articles, I am beginning this project. I have a unique and amazing resource, I work for a semiconductor company in test engineering, and we use tons of those little TO-5 Teledyne relays in our IC test boards. I have scavenged >1000 or so for the project, so its not going to be a giant machine like Harry Porters: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~harry/Relay/ I envision a small stack of cards, ALU, instruction decode, sequencer like Harrys machine. There are a few other relay CPUs on the web, and it looks like I will follow suit and use semiconductor RAM for program storage. To be a purist, I suppose I should go core, and I have bought an array or two off ebay, but the chances of me getting them up and running right away are nil, but would be the next thing. Code? Well I was thinking the whole thing will be small enough for a tabletop game, like 3d tic tac toe or such, with a nice stacked up plexiglass of the game board with red and green neon for the moves. Im anticipating a nice click click click for the search as it examines the board, shifts rotates, compares etc for the move checks. my CPU clock will probably be 25 Hz or more, these little relays are fast. I found some simple asm here: http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/AsmTools/MASM/TicTacToe/ttt1_1.html I welcome a conversation and dialog with any of similar interests in computing the hard way... Randy _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/196390708/direct/01/

14 years, 11 months

Stripping green soldermask? coating from pc-boards.

by geoffr＠zipcon.net

The exact term is slipping my mind, but I have a PC-board I want to scan the traces on and see about making a transparency of to make some single sided pc-boards of, but am kind of stuck at how to strip the green coating off of it.

14 years, 11 months

Another batch of manuals / brochures that must go

by ka6gsu＠arrl.net

Hi Joe, Am I correct in assuming that the Precision Standard Time Inc brochures for models 1020 & 1030 are gone? Rod Austin

14 years, 11 months

Part Number for a MicroVAX II Fan

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

> > > Is there something special about this fan? Or will any fan of the right > > dimensions and operating voltage work? DEC rarely used strange fans > > (the > > 11/44 being the obvious exception!), so you might get a generic > > replacement that will drop straight in. > > I had thought of this, it has a connector that I have not seen before, I > don't know what sort of fan I would need (voltage etc), I probably ought to > take > a look and see if I can replace it as you suggest. Is this connector fixed on he fan chassis, or on the end of a piece of cable? If the latter, you can probalby find a way to move the connector and/or cable to the new fan. Most built-in connectors on fans are just the solder tags that you could solder the power leads too. There ware sockets made for some fans that would push onto these (ot you could use small faston terminals -- DEC were fond of this trick). Are there any marking at all on the old Fan? -tony

14 years, 11 months

PROMAC 2A Eprom Programmer

by elazzerini＠interfree.it

Hello at all, i have the programmer from many years in a box. Its firmware make work it in automatic way so it is not possible (or almost this is aall i know) to drive it from its buttons. When i power on it, it trys to send somenting via its serial RS232 to the host computer. I checked the serial port for a null modem way to work and if i load hyperterminal i see some unknow characters on the screen, and if i push a key on the keyboard i see that something goes via serial to the programmer. If i try to change the serial speed or character lenghts or its parity the characters on the screen not become intellegible. At the end if i try to load its original DOS program (not in a window of windows XP, but making a DOS 3.3 boot!) after done the check i said, neither the DOS software can drive the eprom programmer. Here all information i found across internet: <http://elazzerini.interfree.it/Promac%20Model%202A.htm> http://elazzerini.interfree.it/Promac%20Model%202A.htm Here you can find the software i had for this programmer: <http://elazzerini.interfree.it/PROMAC2A.zip> http://elazzerini.interfree.it/PROMAC2A.zip Thanks for any suggestions. Enrico

14 years, 11 months

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test-drb January 2010