test-drb January 2011

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

130 participants
209 discussions

by wbblair3＠yahoo.com

This is a fantastic, technically oriented book from MIT Press that I heartily recommend to anyone seriously interested in the history of computers: The First Computers--History and Architectures http://www.amazon.com/First-Computers--History-Architectures-History-Comput… An excerpt from it comparing the ENIAC with the ENIAC-on-a-chip is found, along with an image of the ENIAC chip, at the bottom of my web page here: http://diephotos.blogspot.com/

13 years, 11 months

Need blank 3U panel, PDP-11 corporate cabinet

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I've been looking at a blank space in the front of my PDP-11/23+ for quite a while. Since I have been wrestling with TSX-Plus, and changing unit 0 packs frequently, I have finally got around to rearranging it "correctly" as shown on the cover of Microcomputers and Memories (thanks Pete for the pic). That is, with one RL02 drive on top, a 1U blank panel, and the 11/23+ underneath that. Then a 3U space, the other RL02, and the bottom panel. Now the "hole" is even more obvious. http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/DrCharlesMorris/?action=view&curre… Does anyone (preferably in the US so postage won't be outrageous) have a 3U blank panel I can purchase (or trade something for)? I'm also wondering if there is supposed to be some kind of long narrow cover plates along the top between the RL02 and the side panels? http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/DrCharlesMorris/?action=view&curre… thanks Charles

13 years, 11 months

Old LCD info

by afra＠aurigae.demon.co.uk

Hi, I'm trying to repair an old Husky rugged handheld, circa 1981 so deffo on topic :) Anyway the machine mostly seems to work apart from the LCD is a little flakey. It can only be read from a cirtain angle and fades after a couple of minutes on. The LCD is an Epson MA-B965B does anyone have, or know where I can get the datasheet for this module ? Cheers, Phill. -- Phill Harvey-Smith, Programmer, Hardware hacker, and general eccentric ! "You can twist perceptions, but reality won't budge" -- Rush.

13 years, 11 months

Sun and DEC equipment in the in Duesseldorf, Germany

by alexandre.laguejacques＠gmail.com

Hello all, Just sounding the mailing list. Is there anyone in the area of K?ln (Cologne)/D?sseldorf, Germany that would be interested in the following: (1) a dual-processor SPARCstation 20 (maximum RAM, 8 MB VRAM, 2x75 MHz processors); (2) a DEC 3000-300 ("Pelican" Alpha station); (3) a Sun Netra T1 with 768 MB RAM; or (4) two Sun 601 enclosures containing 120 GB non-SE drives? Before I put them on eBay, I wanted to check here. I do need some money for these items (struggling student and all...). Thanks, Alex

13 years, 11 months

Sol-20 system in Seattle

by shumaker＠att.net

For those interested, there is a really nice looking Sol-20 "with extensive documentation and various software applications" as well as a dual floppy drive posted on CL for Seatle. Looks in very clean condition. Seattle Craigs List item: 2167746702

13 years, 11 months

Help with DHV11/16 card?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Being stuck indoors by bad weather, I started tinkering with my PDP-11/23+ system :) The 11/23+ chassis came with a sixteen-serial-line (Camintonn DHV11/16) card which is complete with a rack panel of 16 DE-9 serial ports, and fortunately the scrappers had not cut the ribbon cable going to it. Also, somewhere I acquired an RL02 pack with TSX-Plus 5.0, which boots to RT11SJ and even runs TSX+, although I don't have all the devices the original system had. So I would like to set up the system for timesharing using the 16-line card. After perusing the TSX+ manuals I believe I can accomplish a system generation, except for one problem - I don't know the interrupt vector and CSR addresses for the Camintonn DHV11/16. Nothing on Google I could find, and on Bitsavers there is a DEC DHV11 manual but that's an eight-line card... can anyone help with tech info on this 16-line card? thanks Charles (doesn't really need a multi-user system since I'm the only user) :)

13 years, 11 months

IBM Centennial Film: They Were There - People who changed the way the world works

by eric＠brouhaha.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrhDaAmn5Uw

13 years, 11 months

FS: Windows 3.0 and MS-DOS 5.0

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

More vintage software, gathering dust... Windows 3.0 on five 1.2MB 5.25" floppy disks. Used once (to load the hard drive on a Zenith 486-33). Appear to be in perfect shape but I no longer have any PC's with five-inch drives. Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 on five 5.25" floppies. Also only read once. $10 for each set (*includes postage* in USA). Will ship internationally for additional postage. thanks Charles

13 years, 11 months

FS: another Apple II prototyping board

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Found in the junkbox: another Apple II prototyping board made by "Suntronics", their p/n SUN722. This one has a number of wire wrap sockets tack-soldered (by one pin on each opposite corner only, so they can be easily removed if desired). Mix of gold and tin plated contacts. There is (1) 40-pin, (2) 28-pin, (3) 20-pin, (3) 16-pin, and (5) 14-pin DIP sockets. http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/DrCharlesMorris/?action=view&curre… http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/DrCharlesMorris/?action=view&curre… $10.00 (shipped free in USA). thanks Charles

13 years, 11 months

HP150 Touchscreen diagnostic

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I guess the HP150 counts as a 'classic computer'... I have an HP150 (origianl model, 9" CRT) on my bench, and amongst other things it's reporting touchscreen problems in the POST. This is quite common with such machines, and nearly always means that one or more of the IR beams was blocked during the test. This is often due to dirt build-up on the faces of the opto-devices. it can be due to failure of the devices themselves. The touchscreen electroncis is mounted on a frame-shaped PCB that fits just behind the front bezel. The interface to the rest of the machine is 1 10 pin header plug. From what I rmemeber (and I do have pinouts and shcematics), there are 3 +12V pins, 3 ground pins, a -12V pin and 3 signals : A clcok input (to touchscreen) that moves the IR beam on to the next position A synv output (from the touchscreen) which indicates that the last IR beam is being sampled (or maybe last + 1) I would ahve to check A data output which indicates if the currently selected beam is open or blocked. These signals are all at odd voltage levels (the touchscreen cirucitry is 4000 series CMOS running off a 10V supply obtained from the +12V rail). HP use transsitors on the CPU PCB to get them to/from TTL levels. they then end up on the pins of an 8042 microcontroller which also handles the keyboard and beeper. Connecting a logic analyser to these signals indeed shows that there are some beams that appear blocked. The obvious thing is to be able ot determine which ones so I know which optodevices to test/inspect. I can think of several ways of doing this : Count the clock pulses on the logic analyser screen :-) Make a circuit -- a handful of logic chips, shfit registers, etc that connects to the touchscreen, generates the clock signal, etc and displys the state of each beam on a separate LED. Probably possible with the contents of my junk box, and anywas as I've said, I like soldering. Ditto, but use a microcontroller. It keeps the chip count down, bnt it's probably more work for me. The command list for the 8042 on the HP150 CPU board (in one of the HP manuals) includes a command to test which IR beams are blocked (this is not the same as reporting the touchscreen corrdinates). Unfotunately, (a) you can't use this if the makhine is scannign the keyboard and (b) the description seems incomplete. It says that this command will return 2 bytes giving the numbers of any blocked berams. Well, with only 16 birs (and 36 beams), it can't be a bit vector. It also says that if both bytes are 0xff, then no beams are blocked, if one is 0xff then only one beam is blocked (specified by the other byte). What happens if more than 2 beams are blocked? More importantly, since to use this command you have to disable interrupts and stop the keyboard scanning, it's not going to be possible to do it from interpretted BASIC. And the programming lanaugages on this old version of MS-DOS are not that pleasant... iI can't find an HP diagnostic that gives detailed information on touchscreen problems, or any reference to one. Any suggestions/comments? -tony

13 years, 11 months

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test-drb January 2011