test-drb February 2013

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

185 participants
407 discussions

by geoffb＠vigilan.com

Does anyone have the O/S, Applications, and Diagnostice disks for this ancient IEEE 488 bus controller (Fluke 1720A)? It used a TI 9900 processor if I remember correctly. The operating system was called FDOS- a custom effort too I think, distributed on three 5 1/4" floppies. This is no longer available from anywhere or anyone, including Fluke. Thanks for any help and/or leads. Geoff

11 years, 2 months

Anyone want some free EISA cards?

by lproven＠gmail.com

During the ongoing clearout, I've found some full-length EISA controller cards. By the look of it, there are some SCSI 2 host adaptors - they have high-density 50-pin connectors on their backplates - and what might be ESDI controllers. I don't own any EISA machines any more and am not expecting to, so if nobody wants these, I will send them to recycling. Free for the cost of postage. Surface post to the USA/Canada/south America would not be /too/ prohibitive. They're currently in London. I've never had any interest in anything on the Vintage Computer boards & I don't think these are worth eBaying, but if anyone wants to disseminate this offer, please feel free - including my email and other contact details in the .sig. -- 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

11 years, 2 months

KDJ11-B rev 8 boot roms

by aek＠bitsavers.org

put these up under http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1173/firmware/KDJ11-B_Rev_8/ Pete Turnbull had revs 6 and 7

11 years, 2 months

Kaypro System disks?

by brain＠jbrain.com

I have been fortunate to acquire a Kaypro system that appears to be in great condition and looks to work. It looks exactly like this: http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/Kaypro-I-Micro.htm Thus, it says Kaypro 1 on the artwork Still, the sticker on the rear says Kaypro 2, so I'm confused. In any event, I have no system disks for it (There is a slight possibility they are part of the stash with which the Kaypro was bundled, but it's 100 sq ft of stuff). Thus, I'm wondering if there is a kind soul who might be able to ship me a set of disks. (I'll pay shipping, of course). I also am the proud owner of 2 Obsorne machines (one works, the other seems to have drive issues. They are the redesigned units, but (as I suspected) the systems disks won't work on the Kaypro. Jim -- Jim Brain, Brain Innovations (X) brain at jbrain.com Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times! Home: http://www.jbrain.com

11 years, 3 months

CMD CQD-220 ROM fixes

by fraveydank＠gmail.com

A while back, I mentioned that I'd found and potentially fixed the "bricking" problem with the CQD-220. To recap, for those that werent following, the problem lies in the code for the on-board 8086 when you set the number of both disks and tapes to zero. The 8086, during its routine to load the values from the EEPROM, loads the total number of disks and tapes and executes a loop with a counter predecrement; if the counter is loaded as 0, it effectively runs through the loop 256 times instead of 7 (the max), which spins out of control and blows away some RAM somewhere before crashing. Fortunately, through a compiler bug or some such, there are 5 bytes available from a totally redundant instruction (loading a value into a register where the same value is already loaded) in just the right place to test the total number of devices and jump to the "uninitialized device table in EEPROM" section of the routine if it is zero. With one byte to spare! (good thing NOP is only a byte in 8086) This applies to the A7A revision of the ROM, anyway; I haven't gotten to the A8 version yet, though I know it exhibits the same bug. Hopefully it also has the same redundant instruction. In any case, I should be able to find and fix it quickly once I have the time, because I know where to look. So, here's the thing; I've finally gotten the time to test the fixed ROM image (was temporarily short of 27256 chips, but that's been resolved) and I'd like to get the fixed images somewhere they'll be easy to find if anyone else runs into the same problem (this took me over a year of sporadic attention to fix). Does anyone know where I should post this? There's my own website, which is really not a thing anymore, but there are probably lots of places Google is more likely to find. Also, are there copyright implications to consider? I know CMD is long gone, but I still worry about these things. Last thing: does anyone know the difference between the A7A ROM and the A8? I've not found anything different; I assume it's probably an obscure bugfix. The images are only 64K total, so I shouldn't imagine they'll be bandwidth intensive. - Dave

11 years, 3 months

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

11 years, 3 months

Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past?

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

Should we be surprised at how and why classic-computing, this site in particular, is so popular amongst the hobbyist/experimenter community today? There is a modicum of control that?s lacking in today?s computing, or computing-like, technology. Granted it?s ?easier? to use/employ, nearly by all; everything, or almost, done without consumer input but turning the infernal beast on. Or, maybe not with the ?intelligence agents? been employed today! And even our computers I dare say going this route. Automatic updates, etc., etc., happen?Making a computer or otherwise do what you want it to do, rather than say an Apple or something akin, is fast becoming a thing of the past. Freedom. Let?s hope it?s not pass? either! Murray--

11 years, 3 months

Plastic Repair

by cool1＠thecoolbears.org

Call me odd, but my absolute, top favorite computer is my MicroVAX in a BA123 chassis. If the house were burning, that would be the one computer I would try to retrieve. Sadly, last night, the daughter snapped the corner off the louvers on the top left of the chassis. Unless some kind sole has a replacement part, I plan on gluing the pieces back on. My question is, cyanoacrylate or epoxy?

11 years, 3 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

11 years, 3 months

Raspberry Pi

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

Message: 25 Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:45:17 -0700 From: ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Raspberry Pi Message-ID: <512F899D.2020803 at jetnet.ab.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed On 2/28/2013 9:19 AM, Liam Proven wrote: On 28 Feb 2013 15:07, "ben" <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: On 2/27/2013 5:34 PM, geneb wrote: On Wed, 27 Feb 2013, Tony Duell wrote: I don't know how that got sent half-done! Problaby becuase you are using some modern device.... Why don't you create a device with the equivalent (at least) abilities of the Raspberry Pi, but with your "enhancements" and sell it for $35. Until that happens, I suggest you sit down, shut up and quit being a cranky tonker. g. I disagree here. That is mass market prices. Yes, of course. That is the entire point of the exercise. How small & cheap can one make a reasonably modern computer that can surf the web and run modern graphical programming tools such as Scratch. The answer is, ?25 - and I think that is pretty impressive. I want a computer *Done* right. HP calculators ~ 1975 was the last computing device I have seen done right. What does that mean? Build quality doesn't really enter into it. It's a single, credit-card sized PCB. It has an under-specified processor & an over-specified graphics chip, but they are what was available cheaply from the day job of the designers. It's not as open as I'd like. But for the money, it is stunning. What would you have done differently? Bear in mind the price point. Equal or lower price only. What would you change? That "low price is best trend" I would change. For me a modern programing tool is "text editor" and 80x24 text screen on 15" display. Explain to me why a cheap PC in my home can't keep up to the net (windows 7) and a credit card computer can do better for surfing. Ben. "Anyone can build a fast CPU. The trick is to build a fast system." Seymoure Cray ****************************************************************************************************** Past and the future of computing is forever changing as what we believe to be true of the past isn?t always right. Something comes along and revision is necessary. One more thing; I apologize for bringing Computing the old way - Is it a thing of the past? but I have to add this: Is the Raspberry Pi something we want to experience? Can we teach kids how computers work today? Is there a need to do this! As far as I can determine they want them to work when they turn them on; not to know how they do something! Just do it! That?s their attitude and mass-marketers know this. Sorry about this rant. I?ll add this: No Internet; no multi-media may be what people want: A 1980?s computing technology where word processing, spreadsheet(ing) and database(ing) is just what many want! Here are three quotes that sum up my view: Pliny the Younger wrote: Historia quoquo modo scripta delectat. History, however it is written, always pleases(!). And paraphrasing Gotschke, the microcomputer was pre-determined, ?unfolded as by fate, as by a biological metamorphosis?. And finally, Ted Nelson, of Computer Lib fame, writes: ?The strange thing is that all of this took so long(development of the personal computer) and then happened so suddenly.? Murray--

11 years, 4 months

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test-drb February 2013