test-drb September 2012

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

186 participants
241 discussions

A Complete History Of Mainframe Computing

by lproven＠gmail.com

Tom's Hardware - a popular site for PC hardware tweakers and overclockers - has done an ambitious article on the development of the mainframe: http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/508-mainframe-computer-history.html It's a little American-centric but it's not at all bad. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AOL/AIM/iChat/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven ? LiveJournal/Twitter: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? ICQ: 73187508

10 years, 5 months

PCjr Telnet Server Test

by mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com

It's running! Telnet to 97.86.233.68 to take a look and help me test it. You can use the standard Windows telnet program, Putty, Linux, or whatever you have handy. Around 10 users can be on at the same time. When you sign on (no password required) there will be a little menu to help you waste some time. Some things you can do are see who else is on the server, view the machine type, ROM BIOS date and DOS version, check the TCP/IP statistics to see how much traffic it is handling, etc. There are some upgrades since the last time I ran this test (in Dec 2007): - The TCP/IP stack is much better - I'm doing 'telnet' negotiation to figure out the terminal type, turn echoing on, etc - Crude line editing has been added Right now it is running on my PCjr using a Xircom PE3 10BT. I plan to leave it up as long as it runs, or three days, whichever comes first. It is a PCjr so if there is a momentary delay, don't panic - it's probably just doing disk I/O. Backspace is a little dodgy .. it really wants ASCII 8 and a lot of terminals and emulators do ASCII 127 instead. Try variations with the shift and control keys if it doesn't work. Thanks, Mike

10 years, 5 months

VCF East pictures

by mloewen＠cpumagic.scol.pa.us

http://sturgeon.css.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/VCF-East2012/ Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://sturgeon.css.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/

10 years, 7 months

any interest in an IBM Displaywriter

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

I payed 100$, and had to pick it up in Queens/Nassau. I'll take 50$ plus shipping, from 08758. It works, but there is noticeable screen burn even when off. I have some disks, and the 8" drive cabinet.

10 years, 7 months

Wait! There's more including MS-DOS 1.25!!!! was Sanyo MBC-550 (Yuck!) software available

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I'm still digging. I found more 550 stuff. I think this is everything that came with the 550. Here's a chance for you 550 owner's to get the whole set at one shot! Original DS-DOS box and invoice. Original Sanyo Easywriter ver 1.3 disk Original Sanyo disk box with 550 dos ver 2.11 and BASIC 1.25, two original Sanyo disk for InfoStar (set B disk 2 and 3 of 4; disks 1 and 4 are below), original Sanyo disk for DOS 1.25 and BASIC ver 1.1 Original Sanyo disk box with all three original disk of set A, WordStar and CalcStar and a backup copy of DS-DOS. Two card board dummy disks used to protect the floppy drives duing shipment. Joe > >A few weeks ago we were talking about the Sanyo 550 series and someone mentioned one of the alternates operating systems that supported 80 track drives in the 550. I said that was DS-DOS by Michtron. > > Today I found an old Sanyo disk package with four disks for the 550. One of them is DS DOS 2.11, one is InfoStar, one is MailMerge/SpellStar and the other is a disk of misc utilities. The first three are original disks. In additon, the InfoStar, MailMerge/SpellStar are Sanyo labeled disks that came with the 550. If anyone wants them, trade me something I can use and they're all your's. > > Joe

10 years, 8 months

CP/M clones & compatible OSes

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 25 August 2012 15:29, Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote: > On 08/23/2012 04:02 PM, Tony Duell wrote: > >> Does a non-CP/M box count? The Tatung Einstein? It runs soemthing called >> XtalDOS which is very CP/M-like (I think most of the calls are the same). > > I think that was true of Torch CP/N too, wasn't it? Which makes me wonder > how common "almost CP/M" variants were... That's a really interesting question, actually, I would say. [Does a bit of Googling] There were, it seems, various Torch Z80 addons for the BBC Micro. The only one I saw or used was a Disk Pack: http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Torch/Torch_Z80DiscPack.pdf There was a time, when I was about 13 or 14, when I thought that this was about *the* most powerful and desirable computer setup I'd ever seen or heard of. ;?) What I had not appreciated until now was that Torch's version of CP/M was a special one, which ran from ROM. That is apparently why they called it CPN instead. There was also a standalone 2nd processor, no disk drives: http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/8bit_Upgrades/Torch_Z802ndproc.html There's a user manual for a CPN system here: http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Torch/Torch_ZDPUG.pdf It contains a little non-technical info: ? the TORCH CPN operating system, (a 16K ROM containing a CP/M compatible "look alike") ? ? INTRODUCTION The TORCH CPN operating system which is a CP/M "look alike" has much more flexibility than conventional CP/M. It has more "built in" commands and is easier to use. The most significant advantage of the TORCH CPN operating system, is that it is stored in ROM (Read Only Memory) rather than on disc. This means that on "power up" the TORCH disc pack and BBC micro are automatically ready to accept instructions typed in at the keyboard. ? Another CP/M compatible OS I was aware of was Pro-DOS for the MGT SAM Coup?: http://www.samcoupe-pro-dos.co.uk/whatisprodos.html ? What is Pro-DOS? Pro-DOS could be thought of as a Disk Operating System (DOS), However, it is more than this, it is a full Operating System that Provides compatibility with CP/M 2.2. In simple terms this means that a whole world of software that was designed to run under CP/M 2.2. will now run on the SAM Coup?. Pro-DOS uses the same Disk format as the Amstrad PCW 8256 and, as a result, it can read disks from this machine direct, this also Means that there is a vast range of software already available from sources such as Public Domain libraries. ? I hadn't realised it was by virus writer Chris "The Black Baron" Pile, who was imprisoned for writing Queeg, SMEG and Pathogen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Pile_(programmer) It is an admitted reverse-engineered effort as you can find from this interesting review, complete with an account of nostalgia-destroying 8-bit compatibility problems: http://www.samcoupe-pro-dos.co.uk/pdreview.html As for the Tatung, I've found very little info on XTal DOS, apart from something calling it " a compatible but beefed-up version of CP/M called Xtal DOS." http://www.tuicool.com/articles/myEBvq Anyone got more? Any more CP/M-compatible Z80 OSs? -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884

10 years, 9 months

strange remark about your collection?

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

What strange remark have you had about your collection? here is mine: I had my amiga A500 and amiga A1200 setup with disk/CDs, books, magazines around them a front cover of a box standing up behind the A1200 that the A1200 came in the remake from my relative was "you collect keyboards?" --- tom_a_sparks "It's a nerdy thing I like to do" Please use ISO approved file formats excluding Office Open XML - http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html Ubuntu wiki page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/tomsparks 3 x (x)Ubuntu 10.04, Amiga A1200 WB 3.1, UAE AF 2006 Premium Edition, AF 2012 Plus Edition, Sam440 AOS 4.1.2, Roland DXY-1300 pen plotter, Cutok DC330 cutter/pen plotter Wanted: RiscOS system, GEOS system (C64/C128), Atari ST, Apple Macintosh (6502/68k/PPC only)?

10 years, 9 months

Seeking information on some Qbus disk/tape controllers: Dilog DQ37, Emulex QT131 and UC07

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, All, I was going through a box of "interesting" cards last night and I came across three cards that I'm looking forward to using: o Dialog DQ37 - an S-box-handle Qbus SCSI controller o Emulex QT131 - a Qbus Pertec tape controller? o Emulex UC07 - a Qbus SCSI controller I found the UC07 manual on Bitsavers, so I'm good there for setup and configuration, but I was curious if anyone knows about different firmware revisions I should be aware of or seek to put on the card (I've owned plenty of Emulex communications controllers, and done plenty of firmware swaps on those, and since they put firmware (ROM chip) upgrade instructions in the manual, it makes me practically expect to have to do something to it). I could not find more than a couple of comments about the QT131, but I'm reasonably certain whatever jumper settings are on there are a) the defaults, and b) just fine. If anyone here has any experience with the QT131 or even better, a manual, that would be appreciated. As for the Dilog DQ37, I can find nothing except 3rd-party resellers offering to sell me one if I click the "give me a quote" button. The ones I have (2) appear to have the single-ended SCSI portion of the board populated and have a large bare patch that, from the component values on the silkscreen, seems to me to be for High Voltage Differential. No biggie. I don't have any HVD drives anyway. I don't own any S-box hardware, so "just plug it in an see what it looks like" is not the preferred method - I'd like to know more before I go further. I'm especially wondering if this is a TMSCP-only controller or if it will do MSCP and/or TMSCP, and if there are any firmware variations I should know about. So... anyone here know about these cards or where to find docs (besides the UC07 docs on Bitsavers)? Thanks, -ethan

10 years, 9 months

IBM 5151 green phosphor monitors for sale

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

I have a limited number of IBM 5151 monitors for sale. This is the classic green screen monitor that shipped with the basic IBM PC 5150. Condition is adequate. They are dirty but I will clean them up before shipping out. Will test for basic functionality. No burn-in or other problems, but no warranty either. The price is $30 each plus shipping. First come, first served. Please contact me directly via e-mail. Thanks! -- 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 ]

10 years, 9 months

Gooey TU58 rollers

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Gooey TU58 rollers > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:39:20 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 8/27/07, B M <iamvirtual at gmail.com> wrote: >> I am trying to get a Vax-11/750 machine up and running. It looks like the TU58 drive >> is suffering from the 'gooey roller syndrome'. > >Unsurprising. > >> I see that people have successfully used 1/2 inch (ID) Tygon tubing to replace the >> goo. Is there any specific type of Tygon tubing (eg. R3603, R2000, etc.) that is used? > >I don't know the particular variety I used in mine - I just went to >the Lowe's down the street and bought a foot of 1/2" ID tubing - >whatever they had on the shelf. I was unaware of a large amount of >varieties of tubing, so I just used what they had in stock, and it >worked perfectly. > >-ethan I started that many years ago like 1995ish. I spec'd Tygon (brnad name) as that was available to me. Most any generic Vinyl tubing works so long as it fits tight and has enough wall thickness. After about 10 years it tends to get hard, the fix is obvious. Allison

10 years, 10 months

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test-drb September 2012