------------------Original Message:
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:38:50 -0800 (PST)
From: David Griffith <dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu>
Subject: Re: Computer speed over time [Was: Re: PDP-8/L value]
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010, Dave McGuire wrote:
> Consumers in our society are extremely well-trained.
>
> I am regularly offered 2+GHz Pentium-4 machines because it has gotten around
> that I'm into "vintage computing". Scary.
What kind of people offer such machines?
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
------------------Reply:
Well, those well-trained/brainwashed consumers 'upgrading' of course.
And large users who find it cheaper to just replace all the existing boxes
with preconfigured new ones instead of upgrading and cleaning up the
(often messy) existing installed systems.
How many would you like? I think I have a couple of dozen left after foisting
another dozen or so off on various friends, relatives & casual acquaintances.
m
***************************************************************************************
On 1/22/2010 10:25 AM, Rob Jarratt wrote:
> 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.
>
> Regards
>
> Rob
>
>
I know of a number of people who have collections such as this that
refer to them as a museum.
I don't think the fact that you have to know them, or arrange for
admission by appointment with them
to view the artifacts is a problem that makes the term incorrect here.
And as pointed out elsewhere in the thread, the artifact information is
actually available on a website,
which is more than I can say for a lot of museums. Many art collections
are this way as are collections
of antiquarian books, the latter which I guess could be called a library.
Each collector has their own perspective on what is unique about their
collection, and whether it is
rare, and what the significance is vs. just a random selection of parts.
As to the definition above, I do not know that that "exhibition" means
that the public can just walk in.
One is required to purchase a ticket to most museums now, and knowing
the person with the collection
is not a lot different of a restriction than having to buy a ticket.
On 1/22/2010 12:25 PM, Rob Jarratt wrote:
> I don't think a web site can be a museum, unless the "objects" are
> software or other purely digital artefacts.
I would disagree, being a software collector. Some of the historical
relevance of a piece is the packaging and other materials that come with
the software.
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
Sorry about the previous message.
I just unloaded from storage several boxes of drives that I don't need.
8 RF31T $50
4 RF35 50
1 RF71 50
2 RF72 75
10 RF73 100
The following are field service spares sealed in static bags I purchased
>from a maintence company. Feel free to make an offer.
Tandon TM-100-2a floppy (2)
TM-502 (1)
Magnetic Per. RR8B1A
Shugart SA-712
HP 35470-20150
Will sell or possibly trade. Located in Illinois. If you need anything else
or have interest in these, please contact me off list.
Thanks, Paul
>
> I have a fan in my MicroVAX II which sometimes does not start without a
> push, which means that I can't really put the machine back in its external
> enclosure. I have been unable to find an illustrated parts breakdown to give
> me a part number for the fan, so I was wondering if anyone here knows the
> part number, or has a suggestion for how to get the fan to work properly
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.
As regards repairing the fan, I've done this many times (time I have
plenty of, money to buy replacement fans I don't :-)). I can give you
some pointers..
Firstly, with the machine off (and the fan power wires disconnected if
possible), try rotating the fan by hand. Check there's no 'catch' at any
point of the revolution, which may point to bad bearings.
Most of the time a fan that will only start when flicked is a DC fan.
The ones I am used to have a 2-phase stator, a permanent magnet rotor,
and a simple circuit using a hall effect device (to sense the rotor
position) and a few transistors (to switch the windings). A fan that will
only start when flicked normally means that one widing isn't being
driven, this is either because the power transsitor driving it is dead or
the widing is open (most often the latter.
The bigest problem is getting to it. Oftne you have to peel back or cut
away the label on the fan housing to reveal either secrews or the end of
the spidnle. If the latter, theyre's a circlp to remove, then assorted
washers, and the rotor slides out the other side. If it's bad bearings
you can now get to them (either to replace the ball races, or make new
sleeve bearings as applicable). If it's an electronic fauly, yo may have
to remove the stator lamination stack from the bearing tube to get to the
control PCB -- it's often stuck in place. Gentle heating with a soldering
iron may get it free. Then you can test the windings and transistors. It's
not hard to rewind one of these stators if you have to, BTW.
-tony
I'm trying to repair a HP260/30 which fails self-test at step 9 (HP-IB
Programmed I/O test). It seems that the HP-IB interface card is the cause.
There's a 1TL1-0001 HP-IB controller IC and I'd like to know if it could
be replaced with a 1TL1-0006. The other ICs are all standard TTL (apart
>from the 74F403 FIFO memories and the HP-IB bus drivers).
I know I've seen a pinout of the 1TL1 IC somewhere, but can't remember
where...
Christian
Hi all,
Apparently, I was not clear :-) I'm hoping to sell the museum in *one lot*,
and that's what the end of February deadline applies to. If I haven't
received an acceptable offer by then, then I will certainly consider
selling individual pieces... Please ping me after the end of February
if you are interested in individual pieces.
Hope that clarifies things :-)
Cheers,
-RK
Forwarded message:
> From root Wed Jan 20 16:14:46 2010
> Subject: Museum for sale
> To: cctech at classiccmp.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:14:46 -0500 (EST)
> X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL6]
> Content-Length: 1108
>
>
> I am selling the pdp12.org museum. Major pieces include:
> PDP-12
> PDP-8/L
> PDP-8/I
> PDP-8/E (3)
> PDP-8/F
> PDP-8/M (2)
> 7 H960 cabinets
> 1100+ spare modules (1000+ single, rest dual and quad)
> Shelves for modules
> Dual TU56 drive
> 3 x 8" floppy drives
> 40+ square feet of parts drawers (TTL, discretes, other semis, connectors, etc)
> 8 linear feet+ of documentation
> 100+ DEC handbooks
> 100+ 8" floppies
> DECCassette unit
> Several expansion chassis (some empty, some with full card sets)
> Paper tapes
> Drawings
> plus a ton more stuff
>
> I'll be entertaining serious offers until the end of February.
>
> Shipping would be on a local pickup basis -- I will be available for
> up to 5 days get it packed up and loaded onto your truck.
>
> If you need a more detailed inventory, send me an email; I'm working
> on putting everything together. Due to the sheer volume of stuff, it
> will be almost impossible to be 100% accurate (except for the big
> things, of course :-))
>
> The pdp12.org website is back up for a few days to allow browsing.
> The 11/20, 11/R20, ML11, are sold. The pdp12.org address can be
> included if you like.
>
> --
> Robert Krten
>
--
Robert Krten
"Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Jan 2010, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:
>
>> I'm curious though, what software took advantage of the VSV11?
>
> I know support exists for RSX-11M+, but that is about all I know.
>
> I have one 3rd party PDP-11 video card, and while most likely have RSX-11M
> software for it, I lack the means to actually hook it up to anything (or
> anything to hook it up to).
I can fill in a few details. More later, if there is interest...
The VS11 and VSV11 are graphic subsystems for the Unibus and Qbus (the
VS11 is a VSV11 and a bus adapter, ISTR).
I have never played with one, but have some basic documentation that
mentions it. It is definitely supported under RSX.
The follow up product was/is called VSV21. This thing can do 640x480
with 16 colors (out of a palette of 4096). It has a very intelligent
graphic processor, which can do all kind of operations in hardware.
The VSV21 was atleast used by mass spectrometers, which is where I got
mine from. A few are probably still in use around the world.
I do have the RSX software for this thing (unfortunately not the latest
version, though), and the manuals (but only for the software, not much
hardware info, unfortunately). So I can't tell how the low level
interface works between the graphics system and the PDP-11. What I do
know is that the graphic system has it's own memory, and also use DMA.
So graphic objects can reside either on the PDP-11, or on the praphic
system, and be drawn by the graphic processor from either source. They
can also be copied back and forth.
The VSV21 can also act in a VSV11 compatible mode, by loading other
microcode (that's where all my VSV11 knowledge comes from).
As I remember the differences are that the VSV11 have lower resolution,
less colors, and a simpler hardware accelerator for graphics.
From a user application point of view, they are interchangeable. The
VSV21, loaded with VSV11-compatible microcode, can be used by programs
written for the VSV11, since all the operations goes through a device
driver and (normally) a library as well.
I've been meaning to write some fun software to play with the VSV21, but
haven't had time yet. If someone needs some information, or wants to
talk more, just ask ahead.
Johnny
Well, it says right here [in a book in my personal collection] that the propagation of light is accomplished through a medium called the "ether". :-)
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Rob Jarratt
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 10:26 AM
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Museum for sale
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.
Regards
Rob
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-
> bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Joe Giliberti
> Sent: 22 January 2010 17:04
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> Subject: Re: Museum for sale
>
> The website is the museum
>
> On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 11:59 AM, Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com> wrote:
>
> > And it's kind of rude to call his statement "dumb".
> > ________________________________________
> > From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
> On
> > Behalf Of Evan Koblentz [evan at snarc.net]
> > Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 7:22 AM
> > To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> > Subject: Re: Museum for sale
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Apparently, I was not clear :-) I'm hoping to sell the museum in
> *one
> > lot*
> >
> > Nice collection, but it's kind of dumb to call it a "museum".
> >
> >
