> Can anybody explain how the Mentec boards fit into all of this.
> My understanding was they were the next generation of PDP11.
The early Mentec boards had real DEC J-11's and onboard memory
And serial ports (not too conceptually different than
11/53's or 11/93's). This spans the M70 through M100. Toward the end
Of this era a big crimp was that J-11's were becoming unavailable (even via
Clever routes like removal from old HSC's).
Later Mentec boards (after J-11's dried up completely) went to high density
TI bitslices and then custom ASICs. This is the M11 and M1.
Mentec was all Q-bus. (AFAICT). As the Q-bus peripheral market dried up in
The late 90's I remember some talk amongst the Mentec guys of making a
M11 or M1 with onboard MSCP-compatible controller for ATA or SCSI drives but
I don't think this ever got off the ground.
Others made J11 CPU boards too for Q-bus,
Unibus, ISA bus, etc. And there were others who sold DEC-compatible
CPU's using bitslice and other higher integration techniques (e.g. QED/Quickware).
The Mentec and others' main selling points, were cheaper prices and higher
Levels of integration on the CPU board (thus reducing total system price).
Tim.
WHAT A GREAT IDEA!
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The Internet Heritage Site and Archive is seeking a Teletype model KSR-35
for their restoration project. They are re-creating the ARPA lab at 3420
Boelter Hall at UCLA from where the first internet message ("lo") was
sent.
Please see additional information below, and visit the website for more
information about this excellent project:
http://internethistory.ucla.edu/
Reply-to: Brad Fidler <fidler at internethistory.ucla.edu>
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 12:14:11 -0700
From: Brad Fidler <fidler at internethistory.ucla.edu>
To: Sellam Ismail <info at vintagetech.com>
Subject: Reaching out to the collector community
Hi Sellam,
Thank you again for all your help with this. Below is a blurb that you
could post.
All best,
Brad
---
There is a project underway to recreate the UCLA ARPANET lab as it stood
when it first connected with SRI in 1969. We are interested in borrowing or
purchasing a *Teletype KSR-35*, to display in the original space of the
ARPANET lab at 3420 Boelter Hall.
I invite you to read more about our project at
http://internethistory.ucla.edu/p/mission.html .
Please get in touch with me at fidler at internethistory.ucla.edu if you can
help us in any way.
Sincerely,
Brad Fidler
Hi,
Somebody told us, that this company didn't reponse to eMails, and so I try
out.
I get this answer within 24 h:
Hi Gerhard,
Yes, you can order DEC handles and cards through me. The handles only come
in white. They are .55 each.
Let me know the part numbers you are interested in, and I will give you
current pricing and availability.
Best Regards,
Claire Eichner
________________________________
Claire Eichner, Office Manager
Douglas Electronics, Inc.
Tel: +1 (510) 483-8770 x20
Fax: +1 (510) 483-6453
E-mail: claire.eichner at douglas.com
Problem solved?
With best regards
Gerhard
-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Im
Auftrag von cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Mai 2011 19:00
An: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Betreff: cctalk Digest, Vol 93, Issue 17
Send cctalk mailing list submissions to
cctalk at classiccmp.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Re: Unibus extender cards (Dave McGuire)
2. And then there were three.. (Michael Thompson)
3. Re: Unibus extender cards (Paul Popelka)
4. Re: And then there were three.. (Adrian Stoness)
5. RE: Unibus extender cards (Ian King)
6. RE: pdp11 CPU on S100 board? (Rod Smallwood)
7. Re: pdp11 CPU on S100 board? (Shoppa, Tim)
8. Re: Unibus extender cards (Dave McGuire)
9. Re: Unibus extender cards (Chris Elmquist)
10. Google Lisa List (Steven Hirsch)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 22:47:51 -0400
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
Subject: Re: Unibus extender cards
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <4DC9F8D7.5080307 at neurotica.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
On 5/10/11 9:59 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote:
>> Look at:
>> http://www.douglas.com/hardware/pcbs/breadboards/digital.html at
>> the bottom of the page (for hex).
>> They will still build them for you, at $100 a pop as long as you
>> order 10 or more.
>
> Are they still in business? If so, perhaps they do not do it by email?
> Numerous email to them from here have gone unanswered.
>
> I'm another guy needing Unibus extender board(s) so if a group buy or
> something similar comes together, add me to the list.
I'm in, but not for a couple of months. It'll probably take that
long to get one together.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 20:48:15 -0400
From: Michael Thompson <michael.99.thompson at gmail.com>
Subject: And then there were three..
To: cctech at classiccmp.org
Message-ID: <BANLkTimHoinw2xcuUHV-KMRcO9izB9V9Fw at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Through a generous donation the Rhode Island Computer Museum now has
three PDP-8/S systems.
The first PDP-8/S is a rack mount, S/N 517, and was donated earlier
this year. It is operational, but still needs some more testing to
insure that everything works OK. It does run FOCAL and Fortran, so I
suspect that everything is OK.
The second PDP-8/S is a desktop, S/N 857. The third PDP-8/S is a rack
mount, S/N 537. Both were donated today. Both of these systems will
need extensive cleaning and restoration. The rack mount system came
with an OMD8S memory/data-break expansion chassis, S/N 96. The OMD8/S
only has a single 4 KW core plane installed.
During the week I will post pictures and an inventory of the two
recent dontations on the RICM Warehouse WWW page.
--
Michael Thompson
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 19:18:59 -0700
From: "Paul Popelka" <trenchdweller at att.net>
Subject: Re: Unibus extender cards
To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <002f01cc0f81$ca28c890$6563a8c0 at geek>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Douglas Electronics lists these as available. Look here:
http://www.douglas.com/hardware/pcbs/breadboards/digital.html
near the bottom of the page.
But, ..... you need to buy 10.
Maybe you could by a double and a quad and use them together. You only need
to buy 1 of each of those.
Paul
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 00:46:33 -0500
From: Adrian Stoness <tdk.knight at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: And then there were three..
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <BANLkTik4XghO0zSJae_fTR7LwgGt6p3Psg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
nice
On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 7:48 PM, Michael Thompson <
michael.99.thompson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Through a generous donation the Rhode Island Computer Museum now has
> three PDP-8/S systems.
>
> The first PDP-8/S is a rack mount, S/N 517, and was donated earlier
> this year. It is operational, but still needs some more testing to
> insure that everything works OK. It does run FOCAL and Fortran, so I
> suspect that everything is OK.
>
> The second PDP-8/S is a desktop, S/N 857. The third PDP-8/S is a rack
> mount, S/N 537. Both were donated today. Both of these systems will
> need extensive cleaning and restoration. The rack mount system came
> with an OMD8S memory/data-break expansion chassis, S/N 96. The OMD8/S
> only has a single 4 KW core plane installed.
>
> During the week I will post pictures and an inventory of the two
> recent dontations on the RICM Warehouse WWW page.
>
> --
> Michael Thompson
>
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 23:04:15 -0700
From: Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com>
Subject: RE: Unibus extender cards
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>, "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts
Only"
<cctech at classiccmp.org>
Cc: Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com>
Message-ID: <FF6AB92D97A23A409701CDBF66F03FCD03E0F38DB9 at 505fuji>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I didn't get response to email either, so I called them, and they were very
nice folks. I think they have a weird email distribution protocol. -- Ian
________________________________________
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On
Behalf Of Chris Elmquist [chrise at pobox.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 6:59 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only
Cc: Rich Alderson
Subject: Re: Unibus extender cards
On Tuesday (05/10/2011 at 02:44PM -0700), Don North wrote:
>
> Look at:
> http://www.douglas.com/hardware/pcbs/breadboards/digital.html at
> the bottom of the page (for hex).
> They will still build them for you, at $100 a pop as long as you
> order 10 or more.
Are they still in business? If so, perhaps they do not do it by email?
Numerous email to them from here have gone unanswered.
I'm another guy needing Unibus extender board(s) so if a group buy or
something similar comes together, add me to the list.
Chris
>
> On 5/10/2011 11:23 AM, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> >One has to wonder what a production run of cards might cost, and
> >how many people would be interested in them. I don't have any.
> >:-( I'd be more interested in dual and quad height. Hex height
> >could be used in a PDP-8 as well, couldn't they?
> >
> >Zane
> >
> >
> >
> >At 10:58 AM -0700 5/10/11, Rich Alderson wrote:
> >>Does anyone have hex-height Unibus extender cards they would be willing
> >>to part with, or loan?
> >>
> >>We have created a printer interface card (based one the last rev of the
> >>M8571 plus all relevant ECOs) for an LP20 in the front end of
> >>our Tops-10
> >>system (a DECSYSTEM-2065). It turns out that the other cards in
> >>the LP20
> >>are not entirely defect free, so we need to hook up a logic analyzer to
> >>see where things are going wrong. We have no Unibus extenders,
> >>so we can't
> >>do things like cool suspect delay pots.
> >>
> >>We'd really prefer not to have to try building these. :-)
> >
> >
>
--
Chris Elmquist
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 07:20:35 +0100
From: "Rod Smallwood" <rodsmallwood at btconnect.com>
Subject: RE: pdp11 CPU on S100 board?
To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only'"
<cctech at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <36BDE41E23F84F71AF957429CEA72C93 at RODSDEVSYSTEM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Can anybody explain how the Mentec boards fit into all of this.
My understanding was they were the next generation of PDP11.
There still seems to be a mystery around what happened to the rights to
PDP11 they held. I have seen a recent reference to them having been sold to
an unnamed American company who would quote 'Make them available'.
Can anybody solve the mystery of what actually happened?
?
Rod Smallwood
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Bob Armstrong
Sent: 10 May 2011 14:49
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Cc: 'Allison'
Subject: RE: pdp11 CPU on S100 board?
>I have done that and it runs RT out of the box on a T11.
Did you build a T-11 system? Can you post more information ?
>Forget RT11FB, RSTS or RSX as they will not do well in 24KW.
FWIW, RSX-11S will run on an unmapped system. Of course RSX-11S was
intended for "embedded" applications and it's not very useful as a general
purpose OS. And in theory you can build RSX-11S systems on an RSX=11M or M+
system, but I'm not sure all the stuff you need is part of the standard M/M+
distribution so it might be hard to come up with the necessary files.
Didn't at least some DSSI drives, like the RX7x, have embedded T11s that
ran RSX-11S?
Bob
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 09:23:59 -0400
From: "Shoppa, Tim" <tshoppa at wmata.com>
Subject: Re: pdp11 CPU on S100 board?
To: "cctalk at classiccmp.org" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID:
<B136EDE3DF5EC441B6F08E0A7AB872450D71E3BA11 at EX2K7-CMS-1.wmata.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> Can anybody explain how the Mentec boards fit into all of this.
> My understanding was they were the next generation of PDP11.
The early Mentec boards had real DEC J-11's and onboard memory
And serial ports (not too conceptually different than
11/53's or 11/93's). This spans the M70 through M100. Toward the end
Of this era a big crimp was that J-11's were becoming unavailable (even via
Clever routes like removal from old HSC's).
Later Mentec boards (after J-11's dried up completely) went to high density
TI bitslices and then custom ASICs. This is the M11 and M1.
Mentec was all Q-bus. (AFAICT). As the Q-bus peripheral market dried up in
The late 90's I remember some talk amongst the Mentec guys of making a
M11 or M1 with onboard MSCP-compatible controller for ATA or SCSI drives but
I don't think this ever got off the ground.
Others made J11 CPU boards too for Q-bus,
Unibus, ISA bus, etc. And there were others who sold DEC-compatible
CPU's using bitslice and other higher integration techniques (e.g.
QED/Quickware).
The Mentec and others' main selling points, were cheaper prices and higher
Levels of integration on the CPU board (thus reducing total system price).
Tim.
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 10:04:23 -0400
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
Subject: Re: Unibus extender cards
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <4DCA9767.8070707 at neurotica.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
On 5/10/11 10:18 PM, Paul Popelka wrote:
> Douglas Electronics lists these as available. Look here:
>
> http://www.douglas.com/hardware/pcbs/breadboards/digital.html
>
> near the bottom of the page.
>
> But, ..... you need to buy 10.
>
> Maybe you could by a double and a quad and use them together. You only
need
> to buy 1 of each of those.
I see no reason why that wouldn't work. I've used two duals
side-by-side as a quad.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 09:06:49 -0500
From: Chris Elmquist <chrise at pobox.com>
Subject: Re: Unibus extender cards
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Cc: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>, Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com>
Message-ID: <20110511140649.GA21661 at n0jcf.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Tuesday (05/10/2011 at 11:04PM -0700), Ian King wrote:
> I didn't get response to email either, so I called them, and they were
very nice folks. I think they have a weird email distribution protocol. --
Ian
OK. Roger that.
I was hoping to get them to offer some pictures of their various prototype
boards too as I am interested in those as well but find it hard to
visualize what the hole patterns and other routing really are on them.
Chris
> From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On
Behalf Of Chris Elmquist [chrise at pobox.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 6:59 PM
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only
> Cc: Rich Alderson
> Subject: Re: Unibus extender cards
>
> On Tuesday (05/10/2011 at 02:44PM -0700), Don North wrote:
> >
> > Look at:
> > http://www.douglas.com/hardware/pcbs/breadboards/digital.html at
> > the bottom of the page (for hex).
> > They will still build them for you, at $100 a pop as long as you
> > order 10 or more.
>
> Are they still in business? If so, perhaps they do not do it by email?
> Numerous email to them from here have gone unanswered.
>
> I'm another guy needing Unibus extender board(s) so if a group buy or
> something similar comes together, add me to the list.
>
> Chris
>
> >
> > On 5/10/2011 11:23 AM, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> > >One has to wonder what a production run of cards might cost, and
> > >how many people would be interested in them. I don't have any.
> > >:-( I'd be more interested in dual and quad height. Hex height
> > >could be used in a PDP-8 as well, couldn't they?
> > >
> > >Zane
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >At 10:58 AM -0700 5/10/11, Rich Alderson wrote:
> > >>Does anyone have hex-height Unibus extender cards they would be
willing
> > >>to part with, or loan?
> > >>
> > >>We have created a printer interface card (based one the last rev of
the
> > >>M8571 plus all relevant ECOs) for an LP20 in the front end of
> > >>our Tops-10
> > >>system (a DECSYSTEM-2065). It turns out that the other cards in
> > >>the LP20
> > >>are not entirely defect free, so we need to hook up a logic analyzer
to
> > >>see where things are going wrong. We have no Unibus extenders,
> > >>so we can't
> > >>do things like cool suspect delay pots.
> > >>
> > >>We'd really prefer not to have to try building these. :-)
--
Chris Elmquist
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 11:16:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com>
Subject: Google Lisa List
To: Classic Computers Mailing List <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.2.00.1105111107160.6127 at duo>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII
Does anyone know who owns this list and how to get in touch with them? I
joined last month, made about three totally innocuous postings and found
myself banned at the next attempt to sign in. Google, in their infinite
wisdom, gives you no means to find out if it's a mistake, appeal to the
owner, or even get an explanation for why it's occurred!
I sent a message to the posting address with no response. I had been
given the name of "lowenddan at gmail.com" as list owner, but cannot get any
response from that address either.
Is there something I should know about becoming worthy of Lisa List
membership? Perhaps a secret handshake I've overlooked? I contacted a
couple of members privately, and both were utterly baffled as to what the
motivation may have been.
I'm still operating on the assumption that this is a software glitch or
mistake. If I've been thrown off as a deliberate action, then I think
it's common courtesy for the list owner to at least explain why this
occurred.
Steve
--
End of cctalk Digest, Vol 93, Issue 17
**************************************
Douglas Electronics lists these as available. Look here:
http://www.douglas.com/hardware/pcbs/breadboards/digital.html
near the bottom of the page.
But, ..... you need to buy 10.
Maybe you could by a double and a quad and use them together. You only need
to buy 1 of each of those.
Paul
Through a generous donation the Rhode Island Computer Museum now has
three PDP-8/S systems.
The first PDP-8/S is a rack mount, S/N 517, and was donated earlier
this year. It is operational, but still needs some more testing to
insure that everything works OK. It does run FOCAL and Fortran, so I
suspect that everything is OK.
The second PDP-8/S is a desktop, S/N 857. The third PDP-8/S is a rack
mount, S/N 537. Both were donated today. Both of these systems will
need extensive cleaning and restoration. The rack mount system came
with an OMD8S memory/data-break expansion chassis, S/N 96. The OMD8/S
only has a single 4 KW core plane installed.
During the week I will post pictures and an inventory of the two
recent dontations on the RICM Warehouse WWW page.
--
Michael Thompson
Among the items from the William Mayberry estate, I've scanned
four notebooks into a series of TIFF files. Bill kept
engineering notebooks to carefully document his thoughts
in designing the Terak, as well as meeting notes with other
principals. I'll make these available when I'm finished.
Each page filename is 000.TIF, 001.TIF, etc. What's the best tool
for converting these to a sensible PDF? LibTiff tiffcp to multipage,
then tiff2pdf? I have Windows, Mac and Linux.
- John
> Date: Mon, 09 May 2011 10:57:34 -0700
> From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
> On 9 May 2011 at 12:59, Shoppa, Tim wrote:
>
>> ChemWick (which is indeed better than the other brands but this
>> applies to the Other brands too) will "dry out" and become much less
>> useful If not stored properly.
>
> That's "Chem-Wik" (tm) and "Soder-Wick" (tm) by Chemtronics.
>
>> If it does get dried out, dipping it in one of the fancy-pants fluxes
>> will Pep it up considerably :-)
>
> I find that a brief dip of the braid in denatured alcohol helps
> considerably (at least with "Soder Wik".)
Thank you, Chuck and Tim. I did not know that. When I get home this
evening I will put the plastic cover back on my spools of braid and
perhaps store them in a ziplock bag as well.
Jeff Walther