test-drb July 2010

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

162 participants
213 discussions

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

> > I have a bulky Unisys EVG-500-COL 17" monitor that is taking up space. It > has a 9-pin VGA connector and 5 BNC plugs on the back. It needs to warm up > to work properly. I am not sure whether to keep it or just take it to the > tip. What do people here think? Well, alas I agree that monitors can be a right pain to store, being large, heavy, and often not easy to stack things on top of. I think I would keep the monitor if it fitted into one of the following categories. 1) It is the origianl monitor for a particular classic computer (so I would keep the special monitors used on PERQs, and the HP-badged NEC mono monitros used with the HP86B, etc) 2) It does something that modern monitors don't (supports a particular scan rate, for example) 3) It has something interesting about the design. Any others? -tony

13 years, 10 months

Hand clocking CPUs

by jplist2008＠kiwigeek.com

Hey; I was reading something the other day about being able to hand-clock a Z80, that it was so stable (due to not using dynamic registers, apparently) that with the appropriate debounce circuit you could literally manually step it through instructions. Is this as rare as it sounds? Has anyone -tried- hand-clocking a Z80? - JP Hampton, Iowa

13 years, 10 months

ez80

by RJasper5＠cox.net

Hi Jeff, Interesting article. I am a big fan of the ez80f91. I find the data throughput rate so efficient that it's hard to over tax the CPU. I've built some pretty elaborate hardware/software systems using it! One thing I've been curious about and I want to try this myself some time. I wonder if anyone's ever built an LCD controller using the ez80? I believe it should be possible to get VGA quality out of it. Regards, Rick Jasper

13 years, 10 months

Micro-Systems magazines for free

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

For the cost of shipping: S-100 "Micro Systems" magazines Issues 1/1 (Jan 80) through 3/4 (Jul 82). Issue 1/3 is missing. I am in southern California 92656

13 years, 10 months

Data I/O 22C manual + service book available

by jdr_use＠bluewin.ch

Free for the cost of shipping from Switzerland : Data I/O 22C manual /service book Jos Dreesen

13 years, 10 months

Wang 1200

by legalize＠xmission.com

I may be able to get my hands on one, but I'm not sure if its complete. <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/tmp/wang/> Is this just the main CPU unit? Anyone out there have a complete one for comparison? -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/> Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

13 years, 10 months

Elenco MM-8000 (OT)

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I was looking for something totally different on the web (always the way...) and I came across the Elenco MM-8000 kit. It appears to be in current production (and is not _that_ expensive, $120 or so). It's a kit to build (as in solder up a PCB) a single-board 8085-based computer with a keypad and even front panel switches. OK, it's OT (in that it's not 10 years old), but it certainly seems to have the feel of a classic evaluation board. Has anyone here tried it? -tony -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com ? Enhanced email for the mobile individual based on Microsoft? Exchange - http://link.mail2web.com/Personal/EnhancedEmail

13 years, 10 months

recovering cartridge tapes (was: Tek fiches found!

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Al writes: > I have been using conventional drives for 1/2" tape recovery. > John Bordyuik's web site at one point described the system he uses, > which has a modified M4 data tranport fitted with an IBM 3480 16 track > magnetorestrictive head and modified read electronics. In either case > the tape transport is conventional. His current website is different than the old one but he's got some good techie tidbits mixed in with technical whiz-bang and very satisfyingly shows recovered data and graphical representations of analysis techniques and post-processing for application specific data, along with a heavy sales pitch at: http://www.johnbordynuik.com/sites/default/files/tech_briefing.pdf Tim.

13 years, 10 months

Thinning The Herd

by fsmith＠ladylinux.com

Hi Steve, Sorry .. Baltimore Maryland. >Can you be a bit more specific re location... for those of us who >might enjoy a drive,

13 years, 10 months

DEC PDP 11/23 - OK to use 22-bit memory boards in an 18-bit qbus?

by scott.m.18＠atsgate.com

Hello, I recently acquired my first DEC PDP. It is a VT103 (VT100 terminal with a PDP 11/23 inside). It came with a pair of cartridge disk drives (HEAVY!) that are RK05 compatible, a DEC RX02 (pair of 8" floppy disk drives), boxes of manuals, 3 DEC operating systems, software, and an extra VT100. While the DEC operating systems are OK, I am actually interested in using the machine to (finally) go through "Lions' Commentary on Unix" (Unix V6), using software downloaded from http://www.tuhs.org/. (Lions' book here): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1573980137/ After I do that, I want to move up to Unix v7, 2.9BSD, and try other Unix distros available for the PDP. My concern is that the 18-bit PDP 11/23 does not have enough memory. It currently has 128KB installed, with a maximum of 256K possible after a memory board upgrade (M8067, MSV11-PK = 256KB). How far do you estimate I can get with just 128KB memory? Can I get through Lions' book? I am looking at adding wires to the backplane to make it a 22-bit machine, and using a quad height qbus memory board, M7551 (available in 1MB, 2MB and 4MB sizes). However, I am not ready to dive in and start modifying the qbus backplane for 22-bit addressing just yet. So my question is: Rather than invest in a 256KB memory board designed for the 18-bit qbus, can I install a 22-bit 1MB, 2MB or 4MB memory board in the 18-bit system, and just use the first 256KB for now? Also, is the VT103 backplane compatible with a quad-height memory board? (It only has dual-height cards installed at the present time). Parts inventory: - VT103, with: - 4x4 qbus backplane, 18-bit. The manual says "two H803s (2x4 connector blocks, stacked vertically in a 4x4 configuration)". I know there are possible issues with "straight" vs. "serpentine" slots, but I have not got that figured out yet on the VT103. - M8186 KDF11-A CPU (Newer revisions of KDF11-A's are 22-bit capable). http://world.std.com/~mbg/pdp11-field-guide.txt says: "(Prior to etch rev. C, 18-bit addressing only. ...)" I could not find revision information on the M8186 board, but "146 CA" is stamped into one of the red plastic handles. I can email close-up photos to anyone who wants to take a look and determine if this is a rev C or later board capable of 22-bit addressing. - M8043 Quad Serial board. This doc says it is 22-bit compatible: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/hardwar… - M8029 (RXV21) floppy disk board (18-bit DMA only). -Will this be a problem with Unix v6 or 2.9BSD if running with 22-bit addressing? - M8208 "VT103 Maintenance Module" (Unknown if 22-bit compatible). - Xylogics C510 (formerly called "Wizard 1") cartridge disk controller board, with 18-bit addressing, connected to a pair CDC 9427H "Hawk" disk drives (one disk drive is DOA, but the other is OK). - 3rd party memory board (128KB), Christlin Industries, Inc. So, initially I want to run a 22-bit memory board (M7551) in an 18-bit VT103 qbus backplane, and access only the first 256KB of memory using 18-bit addressing. Is this possible? Thank you for your help. Scott M.

13 years, 10 months

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test-drb July 2010