On 2012-08-08 23:17, ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
>> >
>> >From: "Tony Duell"<ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
>> >Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 9:16 PM
>> >To:<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>> >Subject: Re: Odd PDP-11/84 Unibus behaviour
>> >
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >>I'm noticing something on my PDP-11/84 that I can't explain. I've
>>> > >
>>> > >I';ll try a one-word explamation : 'Grants'.
>>> > >
>>> > >[... snip excellent explanation from Tony ...]
>> >
>> >I remember working on grants in the 11/84.
>> >The 11/84 is very user-friendly, because there is a board next to
>> >the CPU that has several DIP switches. Each DIP switch opens
>> >or closes the NPR of one slot. So there is no need to count pins
>> >on the backplane to find CA1-CB1. Just open/close the switch
>> >for the appropriate slot.
> Right. That I did not know. TO be honest, the J11-based machiens are too
> mdoern for my taste:-)
It is rather convenient. But it should be pointed out that DIP switches
for the NPG signal only exists for the first eight Unibus slots, which
are in the first backplane. If you put in any more Unibus backplanes,
it's the same standard story of the jumpers on the pins as always.
(I *think* it is eight slots on the first backplane in the 11/84, but I
might remember that detail wrong, but I hope people understand the idea
even if I happened to get the actual number wrong.)
> However, I would adcvise against flipping said switches unless you know
> what you are doing (for example you'bve got a switch open correspodning
> to an empty slot). It is better, IMHO, to actuall trace the fault and be
> sure it is an NPG problem before changing anything. Otherwise you will
> get in a muddle very quickly.
Right. Random flipping of switches is no way to troubleshooting.
Johnny
Hi all --
Anyone know anything about the DEC SB-11 enclosure? It's a small
(13"x12"x3.5" or so) chassis containing a power supply and a 4-slot
dual-height q-bus backplane. Very cute, and I want to put together a
small 11/23 system in it. Anyone know the original intended usage for
these little things?
In particular, a power supply schematic would be helpful as the one in
mine is giving me trouble at the moment. (Just blows fuses when powered
up.) I can't find anything useful about it on the 'net. The full model
designation on this one is "OSB11-EA."
Thanks as always,
Josh
On 2012-08-10 00:17, p.gebhardt at ymail.com wrote:
>
> I'd like to ask the list, what kind of tools/porgrams do you use in order to dump especially older device types as we can find it in older computer equipment?
> A couple of years back, I was lucky to use an old system at University in order to dump PAL and EPROM contents of my Onyx C8000 and from a DEC DELUA board.
> But since then, I've never had accessibility to such tools and I'l like to obtain/purchase one in order to go on with programmable device content saving.
>
> Any suggestions? Hints? Experiences?
A while ago I started deveoping something around an Arduino like
platform to read PALs and EPROMs. See
http://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/divcomp/ppread/. So far I developed
sketches (programs in Arduino lingo) to read out devices. I still have
to make something to analyse the output. This is trival for (EP)ROMs and
PALs without registers and tristate pins, tricky for those with...
This assuming the security fuses are blown.
>
> Kind regards,
> Pierre
Greetings,
Fred Jan
Hi there,
I'm looking for contact information for the company that is the current
license holder for the DEC-developed PDP-11 operating systems (e.g., RT-11,
RSX, RSTS). If you have that info and could send it to me off-list, it
would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
- Earl
I have two 25 foot lockers of mostly DEC items I would like to sell
within the next few months. I can ship by the box, pallet, gaylord,or
truckload.
I do not have a complete inventory listing, but feel free to inquire
off list. The following is a limited sample:
LA36's, and parts
LA120's and parts
Vav3100's- a dozen or so
3000's
5000's
11/780, 785 boards
6000 boards
8000 unibus options and several thousand boards
8A, E, F, M boxes and about 1000 boards
Various table top LAxx printers and parts
VT's, monitors and parts
tons (literally) more
I am not selling any H960's (still need a few) , Unibus
systems,RK05's, RL's, RX's (except a few replacement drives) or any
media for the listed drives. I might be looking for a VT05, LA180, and
a TU10.
Please feel free to contact me off list with any questions.
Thanks, Paul
From: feldman.r at comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 1:38 PM
>>Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:12:38 -0400
>>From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>>
> <snip>
>> I heard about CDE the other day too. That could be interesting. Many
>>people hated CDE, but I thought it was ok. (not great, but ok) I will
>>probably try to build it soon.
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/09/cde_goes_opensource/
Like Dave, I came to like it (as VUE) on HP-UX, and will probably put it
on a Linux box at some point.
But I mostly wanted to point out that the Register article was written by
our own Liam Proven!
Thanks,
Rich
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.orghttp://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
At 3:36 -0500 8/10/12, Jim wrote:
>I think the dec
>software is far more healthy today for the work of simh and others to
>write simulators than if such didn't exist.
...RT-11? Thank you, Jerome! I don't use it but I certainly
recognize the contribution you are making and appreciate it!
More generally, SIMH, MESS, etc. which allow almost anyone to
fire up their own PDP, Color Computer, etc. and immerse in the 1980
computing environment are *wonderful* things. The sole complaint I
have with some of these is that it takes (longer than my attention
span) to get them to do "hello world". In many cases they are written
for a specific platform, by people who know what they are doing and
who make reasonable, but sometimes inaccurate, assumptions that their
users do as well.
I can easily see great merit to a museum display with (say) a
working, living, breathing Color Computer, and a box of paper chits
with a URL (or barcode?) pointing to a website on which appears (1)
executable binaries (MESS?) for most commodity OS's (iOS, Droid,
MacOSX, Windows 98, Windows 7, Linux ELF x86, Linux ELF AMD-64,
...?), and (2) a very explicit list of instructions to configure the
binary to do just what the user was doing at the display.
Mom and daughter walk in, Mom lights up and says "Oh, I
remember this! Check it out, I can make it print the squares of every
number from 1 to 100 just like *this* <clicky clicky>..."
Doughter grabs the chit, whips out her Droid, fumbles for a
few minutes, "Mom, it's not working!"
Mom looks, says, "Oh, you need to say FOR I= 1 TO 100, not 1 OT 100!"
Ignition...
We can't *all* have a Cray. But most of us can get the
programming experience. The display is needed (and access to it, and
maintenance of it!) but the simulator is also needed.
--
- Mark 210-379-4635
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Asteroids headed toward planets
inhabited by beings that don't have
technology adequate to stop them:
Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.
I'd like to ask the list, what kind of tools/porgrams do you use in order to dump especially older device types as we can find it in older computer equipment?
A couple of years back, I was lucky to use an old system at University in order to dump PAL and EPROM contents of my Onyx C8000 and from a DEC DELUA board.
But since then, I've never had accessibility to such tools and I'l like to obtain/purchase one in order to go on with programmable device content saving.
Any suggestions? Hints? Experiences?
Kind regards,
Pierre
?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pierre's collection of classic computers : http://classic-computing.dyndns.org/
Guys,
Obviously a lot of interest in these 7090 artifacts! And an intetresting "discussion" has followed on the relative merits of museums and simulators.
My friend Phil, who is local to the stash, is going to produce a list of what there is, or at least how much there is, as well as some photos. I will pass this info on when I get it.
KInd regards,
peter vp
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Peter Van Peborgh
62 St Mary's Rise
Writhlington Radstock
Somerset BA3 3PD
UK
01761 439 234
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