test-drb May 2011

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

162 participants
224 discussions

by vintagecoder＠aol.com

> I'm attempting to figure out an error code on my IBM 3480-B22 drive, and > was wondering if anyone had access to a manual listing error codes for > the drives. I seem to have a "logic" manual, but that's not particularly > helpful yet. > > The code the drive displays, immediately after start-up is "CHK 38". > > Pat That's out of my area but a quick check of the 3490 manuals I could find (couldn't find any relevant 3480 doc) does not look good. It says this is a "call your service rep" type of error- the CHK XX codes are apparently undocumented, at least for 3490s. If you can't find a 3480 guide on bitsavers (I just checked and couldn't find one) then this may or may not be worthwhile: http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fcpa/tapes/m2488ce_prod-guide.pdf The only reason I suggest it is Fujitsu has some history of ripping off IBM (they did it with several OS versions and paid over 800 million USD in a settlement) and compatible-hardware manufacturers often try to keep the same error codes to make pubs easier (also by ripping off IBM), so maybe just maybe they are using the same codes as the 3480/90 tape subsystem. See appendix E. for the code listings. Nice piece of hardware btw. IBM's marketing materials say "The A22 control unit is priced at $65,430, and the B22 tape unit, which contains two tape drives, sells for $43,120." Good luck and post back if you find anything. If you don't get any answers >from the list or elsewhere (some good places to ask are on IBM-MAIN (you will need to subscribe or nobody will see your posts) and the yahoo hercules groups) email me offline and I'll see if I can find anything. -- +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Vintage Coder America Online Com ivagntrpbqre at nby.pbz <ROT13> | | | | Collecting: DOS assemblers, compilers, books, and related doc, | | software and doc for IBM S/360 through OS/390. | | | | Wanted: Ada 95 compilers for MVS/ESA and Solaris (Sparc). | | | |---------------------------------------+--------------------------------| | Powered by Slackware 64 & Solaris 10 | Powered by Hercules | |=======================================+================================| | PGP Key 4096R 0x1CB84BEFC73ACB32 Encrypted email preferred | | PGP Fingerprint 5C1C 3AEB A7B2 E6F7 34A0 2870 1CB8 4BEF C73A CB32 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+

13 years, 3 months

rack mounting vintage gear

by legalize＠xmission.com

OK, so someone gave me a nice 40U equipment rack. I was planning on using it for my Nuclear Data ND812, which has rackmount plates for everything. I first experimented with the empty dual 8" floppy rack unit and a couple things came up. For reference take a look at these photos to see the ND812 rack units: <http://picasaweb.google.com/legalize.slc/NuclearDataND812#> First, I'd like to minimize the potential for scratching the paint on the rack mount plates. Should I use a plastic or teflon washer between the plate and the mounting screw? Like most rackmount equipment, the only support is from that front panel, so it has to be mounted pretty tight to support the weight. The maintenance manual doesn't say anything specific about mounting the equipment in a rack. Is it typical for things to be supported only by that front mounting panel, or do people add some kind of additional support in the rear? -- "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, 3 months

rack mounting vintage gear

by jonas＠otter.se

> > What exaclty is an "anti-tip feature"? > Most racks have a pull out stabilizer of some kind, or even jutting out little "feet" to prevent them> from tipping over forwards while you pull heavy things out on the rails. So, in order to pull out a > device, first you pull out the anti-tip bar at the bottom, then pull out the device. The DEC H960 > racks don't have that pull-out bar, instead they have two feet that stick out the front of the > cabinet a foot or so, and serve to trip people walking too close to the computer... > > -Ian You can see an anti-tip bar here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/textfiles/3789164168/ If you look at the bottom of the rightmost TU80 you can see a silvery T-shaped thing with a foot on it. That is the anti-tip bar. /Jonas

13 years, 3 months

ebay: VAXstations (Salt Lake City; I can pick up for you)

by fsmith＠ladylinux.com

Hiya, > That could very well be a VAXstation-3. If it was sold as a > VAXstation-II and upgraded with a KA650 CPU and MS650 memory module(s), > that'd be an appropriate designation. I had one just like this back in the day with full graphics , mouse etc that I used as a workstation. I upgraded it from MV-11 to MV-III in box with the above kit. Nice versatile units and I hope they go somewhere they can be used. Fran

13 years, 3 months

UTZOO Usenet archive - need file 124f1

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

I can't help you specifically but I note that that tape would've held some posts from mid-1990 and want to wonder out loud: Wonder if the same posts were on the "Usenet CD-ROM's" that were sold (or maybe just discussed) in the early 90's. "Sterling Software" is one name associated with that but I also remember a Vancouver BC based company doing similarly. Likely I just replaced an unreadable tape with an unfindable CD. I have no idea if the "sell-usenet-on-CD's" ever actually sold any. Tim.

13 years, 3 months

Tektronix photos updated

by legalize＠xmission.com

With the addition of two more Tektronix 4015-1 terminals, I've rearranged my Tektronix storage tube terminals in the warehouse and uploaded some updated pictures of "Tektronix storage tube row". (The 4015-1 is essentially a 4014 with APL and printer interface options.) Neither of the 4015's are reported to be in working condition from the seller, but at least all the keycaps with APL glyphs are present. The 4010 and 4014 are relatively simple terminals, so I should be able to restore them to working order. They have no microprocessor, firmware code or custom ASICs, so repairing them should be a matter of replacing capacitors or replacing TTL or analog parts. <https://picasaweb.google.com/legalize.slc/Tektronix#> -- "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, 3 months

Thinning the herd.

by ittybittybytes＠gmail.com

Hunter S. Thompson once said; ".... but once you get into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can..." My drug, of course was classic computers. I shared this "hobby" with my father, whom was retired USAF and retired TWA aircraft mechanic. We would tinker with all sorts of stuff we collected and finally when we had no more room, built a small storage shed.Then a few more, until we had about 2-3. When I had to downsize because of the economy and moved, I stored my collection inside the various sheds we built on his large parcel of land in the Sonoran dessert, Putting them away when we finished or stored them to await further restoration. I don't know how many pdp's or HP we restored or fix to working condition, then gave away to students in the area. I was the bigger collector though. I was most interested in all the DEC stuff we got at auction for next to nothing; alphas, vax;s the occasional pdp's. But I also collected anything that was "pre-80's' Well, my father passed away last month. We had already stopped working on stuff when he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. I would always be back at the shed picking through stuff for my projects. Unfortunately, much of the stuff that was well-ordered and nicely on racks, etc was taken doen when my dad would be searching for stuff and couldn't remember what he was looking for.A lot of the stuff was "reordered" and some "lost" or stored in one of the sheds that lost it's roof in a fierce storm and was all waterlogged. But a lot is still OK. It took me only a few days recently, to realize, that I should be thinning this heard down. My mother may decide to move as she gets older and I cannot move all this stuff to storage. Much of it is commodity stuff. By that I mean it was part of the "lots" we would buy at the university auctions. For one item we wanted, we had to but the whole lot. Much was discarded, but some of it still remains. Sun and SGI stuff, older HP stuff. The stuff I valued, DEc stuff and my pre-80's stuff too need to be taken care of. I have decided to "sell" a bunch of the stuff. Those that will still fetch a decent price on Ebay. Most of the money will go to my mom as her income has been greatly diminished by my fathers death. And besides, she put up with us for all those years. Other stuff, I'll sell to anyone interested in throwing a few buck my way. A lot of stuff is just to be given away. So I"ll be doing triage at first. It is getting "warm" here in SE arizona, on it way to HOT and I'll be doing triage slowly, in the morning and it will take months. There is a lot of stuff I'll give away to anybody that wants it, some is in great condition, some terrible, I'll let you know which. I have lots of odd cabling and lots of odd stuff. If you are looking for something. let me know. I also have lots of documentation and some of it I know Al Kossow was interested in. I soon as I find a cheap/fee web space. I'll start posting what is available, rather than cluttering this mailing list. But here are a few things: A complete IBM RT system (romp processor) with most/all the software and documentation. A couple of AT&T systems, a "lot" of qbus pdp and vax stuff. An 11/04 unibus system with third part floppy's and an TV07 tape drive ( tape drive complete but not functioning) along with the "PDP" rack it's in. A Tektronix 4051 computer, a OSI superboard, a few HP 9000/300 systems. Lots of tabletop vaxes and alphas. a lot of vt 520 terminals, as well as some ADM-3A, VT100's, Vt 220. Vt 320''s and other odd terminals. A few of the Qbus Mac cards. If you are near Tucson Arizona or are coming to the area this summer, you may be able to pick it up in person, or maybe pick through all the stuff. This is not a fire sale! I have decided to let it go slowly as the day may come where I would have to get rid of it fast, but not now. But I'm ready to deal and while most of this stuff isn't really rare and expensive, it;s still worth a few sheckles to collectors. and the money's going to a good cause. Cheers Tom P.

13 years, 3 months

Latest DiscFerret beta software

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi guys, Here's a screenshot of the analysis side of the current DiscFerret software build: http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/philpem/Screenshot-1.png At the moment, I've got it reading IMG files (the format of some disc images Chuck Guzis sent me a while back). CWI files are next on the hit list (another one of Chuck's file formats) and then DFI files (the DiscFerret native raw image format). The GUI was built with wxWidgets, and in theory the code is completely cross-platform compatible. I'm aware of wxWidgets backends for GTK, Mac Cocoa/Carbon and Windows, so that covers all the major *nixes, OS X and Windows. As long as you have a half-way decent C++ compiler, that is (*cough* GCC). However: I will openly admit that the code has only been tested on Linux. It slows down to an absolute crawl (~60 seconds refresh time) if you turn anti-aliasing on... though I suppose that's to be expected when you ask it to plot 30-odd thousand data points on a scatter chart... The raw-reader app is working too -- I can specify the various parameters of a disc drive, and do a full track-by-track read of an entire disc, and dump the data into a file. Next on the 'add list' is DFI support (so the analyser can read it, of course!) then disc-format script support. Effectively, I want a tool which can be told what type of drive is in use, what disc format, and will automatically figure out whether double-stepping is needed, and what read parameters to use. Even to the point where it'll warn you if you specify a 100tpi format and a 96 or 48tpi drive... Built in sanity checking :) Which now brings us onto naming -- the reader app currently calls itself "discferret-read", and the analyser "Merlin". Can anyone think of better names for these, or should I be lazy leave them as-is? (Suggestions on an email to the usual address please!) At this point the reader app is close to releasable (involving maybe a few more weeks of work assuming I find a ready supply of Round Tuits), but the analyser needs a lot more work. Mainly because I seem to be spending a lot of time chasing mismatched-free bugs in the algorithms. Thank $DEITY for Valgrind (and a great big sarcastic "gee, *thanks guys*" to the GTK developers who have obviously never heard of it, much less used it on their own code...) Cheers, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

13 years, 3 months

new here

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> On 4/24/11 10:04 AM, Tony Duell wrote: >> >> There are quite a few PDP8 owners/enthiasts here. I've got an 8/e with >> 32K words of core, ?RX01, TU56 and PC04 on my desk. I've also got an 8/a >> upstairs somewhere, but it's got the 8/e CPU board set in it, not the >> hex-height 8/a CPU board. I am told that was a stnadard variant. We (RICM) have an 8/I with 5x TU55 drives, a pair of bare 8/L, and a very functional 8/S that now runs FOCAL. I can give plenty of advice on ferroresonant power supply capacitors. Advice is easy to supply. -- Michael Thompson

13 years, 3 months

Thinning the herd.

by vintagecoder＠aol.com

Tom, I'm very sorry to hear your dad passed away. That's a hard lesson for us all that the real classics are people, and they can't be replaced. I would love to see all the machines and parts you have collected over the years but I am a million miles away and had a recent personal "economic downturn" that leaves me happy to have a roof and a piece of bread. Good luck to you and your mom and I hope whatever else you have to part with won't hurt nearly as much. -- +---------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | Vintage Coder America Online Com | Collecting software and doc | | ivagntrpbqre at nby.pbz <ROT13> | for S/360 through OS/390 | |---------------------------------------+--------------------------------| | Powered by Slackware 64 & Solaris 10 | Powered by Hercules | |=======================================+================================| | PGP Key 4096R 0x1CB84BEFC73ACB32 Encrypted email preferred | | PGP Fingerprint 5C1C 3AEB A7B2 E6F7 34A0 2870 1CB8 4BEF C73A CB32 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+

13 years, 3 months

← Newer
1
...
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Older →

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb May 2011