test-drb July 2013

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

178 participants
195 discussions

large qty of early Apple/Mac needs to leave my warehouse

by sales＠elecplus.com

I have a large qty (1 entire 20x20 foot room) of early Apple/Mac stuff that needs to leave the warehouse. We really don't deal in Apple products, and I have sat on these for the past 16 years, hoping someone would appreciate them. The are a few Apple II, LCII and LCIII, PowerPro, Mac Classic, Mac 128, Mac 256, lsome newer towers (still 16+ years old), lots of monitors (from the old tilt-screen to 17" multimedia and tall word processing screens) and all-in one machines, some lasers, some extra cards for the Apple IIs, floppy drives (single and double), a little bit of game software, some manuals, some boot disks, some utilities and word processing, Claris, over 70 keyboards, etc. Also lots of modems, adapters, cables, etc. We are bringing in laptops by the truckload, and I REALLY need the space. The first person to offer $2000 will receive nicely boxed and palletized merchandise. Some of the all-in-ones have cracked housings; if you don't want those, I will take them the recycle center. If nobody claims these this week, the whole lot is likely to get recycled. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 (830)792-3400 phone (830)792-3404 fax AOL IM elcpls _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3345 / Virus Database: 3204/6450 - Release Date: 06/29/13

11 years, 1 month

Rise of the machines, south of Milton Keynes • The Register

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/29/geeks_guide_tnmoc/ -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 "Computers have lots of memory but no imagination." "The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back." - from some guy on the internet.

11 years, 1 month

Setting the Scrolling Region on VT100's VT220's VT320's VT420's, VT510's etc.

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I sent the following to alt.sys.pdp11 just in case anyone could use the information. If there is anything that is incorrect, please advise. It is a summary of the information received from the classiccmp list and John Wilson. There were no replies from usenet, but someone might find the information useful and the post will be archived in a different location. Jerome Fine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just in case anyone is interested, the solution was provided on the classiccmp list. The major problem was with respect to how default parameters are handled in addition to a misunderstanding with regard to line numbers which are invalid or out of range in the Scrolling Region request. <TOP> and <BOT> are replaced by decimal digits from "0" to "9". <ESC> is replaced by the octal 33 character. (a) If any parameter is omitted, a default is always supplied. For the Scrolling Region request, the format is: <ESC>[<TOP>;<BOT>r where <TOP> is the higher (smaller) line number to be used and <BOT> is the lower (larger) line number to be used. If <TOP> is missing or is "0", then "1" is used instead. If <BOT> is missing or is "0", the the line number for the bottom of the screen is used instead. In addition, <BOT> must exceed <TOP> by at least one. If <BOT> is not greater than <TOP> by at least one OR <BOT> exceeds the number of lines for the screen, the request is ignored. (b) At least 3 characters, including leading zeros, "0", are allowed for any parameter, and probably any reasonable number of leading zeros are allowed in practice. I have not, myself, verified the above information, but it has been tested by a few other individuals and is probably reliable. If anyone has read this far, then the solution seems quite obvious: <ESC>[16r can be used and the line at the bottom of the screen will be used as the default. For a DEC VT100 with AVO, <BOT> will be defaulted to "24". For any other DEC VT100 compatible terminal, such as the VT420 and VT510 which support up to 48 lines, <BOT> may be defaulted to "48" or line number 48 at the bottom of the screen when the VT420 terminal is set to that many lines. For Ersatz-11, I normally run in FULL SCREEN mode using the DOS variant. My video card is then set for and used with a screen of either 80 columns by 50 lines OR 132 columns by 44 lines. <BOT> is then "50" for the former and "44" for the latter. The Win32 variant of Ersatz-11 also supports up to 255 columns by 255 lines. Since my video card and monitor combination usefully supports only up to 198 columns by 60 lines, my maximum initial setting is: E11 /CONSIZE:124x60 or 124 columns by 60 lines. When a WIDE screen is requested, the number of columns expands to 198 columns by 60 lines (where 198.4 is truncated from 1.6 * 124). In both cases, <BOT> is "60" or line number 60 at the bottom of the emulated VT100 screen. If anyone has any additional questions, please ask. Jerome Fine >Jerome H. Fine wrote: > I have a simple request for anyone who is has a real DEC VT100 > or compatible terminal (VT100, VT220, VT320, VT420, VT510) > and especially VT100 software emulations, either as standalone > software or as part of a PDP-11 emulator such as Ersatz-11. > > In respect of the latter, I have been using the Ersatz-11 PDP-11 > emulator to support VT100 emulation with more than 24 lines > for a few years. In particular, as part of the implementation, > when the Range Escape Sequence is used to begin the Scrolling > Region at a line less than 24 for the TOP and a line at the bottom > of the screen for the BOTTOM, I use: > > <ESC>[16;255r > > to scroll between line 16 and the bottom of the screen. For > real DEC VT100 terminals with the AVO option, there is > ONLY one size for the number of lines, namely 24 lines. > > Since I can't ATTACH files to be sent to a newsgroup, > below are two files which can be used to erase the screen, > set the scrolling region to line 16 at the top and line 99 or line 255, > respectively, at the bottom of the screen. If the any VT100 > (compatible) terminal or emulated VT100 terminal set for 24 lines > is able to handle setting the scrolling region in this manner, each > file with FIFTY lines should begin starting to display "Line 1 of File" > of the file on line 12 of the "terminal" and "Line 2 of File" on line 16 > of the "terminal" the and end up showing approximately six lines of > the file at the bottom of the screen as the previous lines of the file > scroll off the TOP of the scrolling region (at line 16 of the terminal) > with just "Line 1 of File" remaining on line 12 of the "terminal". > > I would very much appreciate learning the results of sending > both files to a DEC (or emulated) VT100 terminal. If they act > the same was as Ersatz-11, the results will be identical with using > 24 in place of 99 or 255. > > Jerome Fine > > P.S. When the file is transferred to the system, replace <ESC> > with octal 33!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KED can be used under RT-11. > The user eliminates each <ESC> and enters TWO <ESC> > characters instead. Alternatively, if you can remember the > first line correctly, you can enter the complete file in about > 2 minutes by duplicating (cut and paste) the other 49 lines. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > <ESC>2J<ESC>[12;1HLine 1 of File<ESC>[16;99r<ESC>[16;1H > Line 2 of File > [Snip] > Line 50 of File > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > <ESC>2J<ESC>[12;1HLine 1 of File<ESC>[16;255r<ESC>[16;1H > Line 2 of File > [Snip] > Line 50 of File > -------------------------------------------------------------------------

11 years, 1 month

Abandoned equipment in the UK?

by jon＠jonworld.com

My wife and I were goofing off, looking for abandoned homes in the UK that we could potentially squat in. [ please read that with some sarcasm intended ] Regardless, after lots of Google and such, we found the following on an urban exploration forum. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/mansions-manors-country-houses/81134-br… I don't want to get into the merits of tresspassing, especially because the poster says the property is "owned" and is being redeveloped. However, I thought it was interesting... The site was a telco exchange in the 1950s and has some teletypes and other interesting things in the basement. It's possible that the owner of the facility wants the stuff out of there. It has a true plug-board for telco ops and other stuff I can't identify. It may be worth investigating for someone in the UK. -- -Jon Jonathan Katz, Indianapolis, IN.

11 years, 1 month

Fwd: [rete] Working IBM punch card reader?

by dave.thearchivist＠gmail.com

On Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 7:53 PM, Richard L. Kremer <Richard.L.Kremer at dartmouth.edu> wrote: > Dear colleagues, > > An anthropologist friend of mine seeks to read a set of 1200+ IBM punch > cards (80 cols), prepared in the1960s to code survey results. But we cannot > find a working IBM punch card reader in New England. > > Would anyone know of an IBM data processing unit that could read these cards > and convert their data into comupter files of numbers? > > Many thanks. Rich Kremer A request on the rete mailing list Dave Caroline

11 years, 1 month

[OT] A new toy for Gene...

by alexandre.tabajara＠gmail.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sea-Harrier-FA2-Jump-Jet-/281126520805 Hey, F-15 are out, the Sea Harrier is way more interesting :oD (drooling...) --- Enviado do meu Motorola PT550 Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br

11 years, 1 month

cctalk Digest, Vol 118, Issue 88

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 11:05 -0500 6/29/13, bear wrote: >On Jun 28, 2013, at 2:10 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > >> Was the MO drive used on the NeXT cubes a standard 650MB unit, or >>was there something special about it? (e.g. sector size, encoding, >>format, etc.)? > >Not standard. The disks it uses are physically different from >"standard" ones. They are physically the same as early WORM disks >like the IBM 3363, though the media is different. > >The drive NeXT used was made by Canon, and is the same as the Canon >DiskFile. However, you cannot use a Canon DiskFile to read NeXT >cartridges because the low level format is unique to the NeXT. > >So if you want to read NeXT MOs, you need a NeXT. Agreed with bear >I have something like six units here, and none of them work. >Including the one in my old cube I bought in '95 which worked when I >bought it, continued working for many years, was possibly the last >functioning NeXT MO in existence, and then just stopped while it was >in storage. I have the idea it could be coaxed back into life >somehow, but they are just about perfectly impossible to work on. If >anybody has had any success repairing these, I am unaware of it. One >guy says he's had success, but won't share information, so I am >choosing to believe he's a liar. Almost agreed with bear. This might be me, and if so, I'm flaky, but was telling the truth as I knew it. However the MO drive failed again shortly thereafter, so I gave up in frustration and never reported what I'd done. Apologies if I left anyone hanging! I have only one MO drive, so my statistics aren't as good as his, but yeah, I don't know of any that are still working. Mine worked for years, then quit working (more retries, then infinite retries). I took it out, got it far enough open to get a q-tip full of isopropanol to the lens, and cleaned the dust off the lens and the slide rails for the carriage. This was a fiddly process, involving de-mating connectors, switching back and forth between top and bottom of the drive, and figuring out how to prop the drive up with some parts hinged open. However I would not call it "perfectly impossible" - I did it, which probably means Tony could do it with the drive running and one hand tucked safely into his hip pocket. The unit ran normally when I got it back together, but for not more than a few months. I have not taken a second pass at it. Dust was likely an issue with my machine, because it had been running with the fan in the normal orientation (air comes in the drive and out the back of the machine). Good for cooling, but if there's any dust at all in the environment, it ends up forming bunnies on the MO lens. The fan is mechanically symmetrical enough that it's easy to invert it to run "backward". Air comes in the fan, dust cakes on the rest of the machine, and nothing settles in the MO drive. Good for optics - but bad for cooling. On my 68040 cube, this led to very occasional crashes due to SCSI system faults. Since they happened with at least two different hard drives which were otherwise faultless, I deduce it was something to do with the motherboard, which was then getting the warmest air in the box blowing across it. (The crashes happened only during my morning "clean out old .nfs files" cron job, which did a "find / -name ....". I diagnosed them by distributed.net log file messages.) I put my fan back like it was, and the SCSI crashes stopped. Dust was clearly not the *only* issue with my machine. I surmise that it was exacerbating whatever slow degradation process affects all of them, and I bought myself a few extra months with the cleaning. More details available if anybody really needs them; I still have the drive and the rest of the system, and can repeat the disassembly I think, but not just immediately - I'm using the machine at the moment. FWIW, MO drive retry errors hang the machine - no monitor mode or good way to continue. The low-level drivers for the MO presumably operate at high priority, and block interrupts. SCSI problems are not so bad, which is yet another reason that if you have a NeXT running on a SCSI drive, switching to MO is a downgrade. They were a technology with an extremely high "cool" factor but a limited timespan of cost-effectiveness. >Good luck. You're going to need it. /@: Agreed with bear on that one, too. I have not looked into trying to find a replacement for the optical head. I suspect that would be pretty tough. At 18:23 -0500 6/30/13, <Dave R.> wrote: >I believe there are issues with dead electrolytic capacitors among >other things. I suggest not powering on a drive without disassembling >and checking it first, though; I've heard of many cases where smoke >comes out of the drive when powered on. Checking/replacing all the caps would take a while. The drives have a lot of parts. However this is as good an explanation as any I've heard. FWIW, there was no smoke from mine, then or yet (it's still powered, in my cube). Sorry for slow response, hope this is at least some useful. -- - 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.

11 years, 1 month

old Apple/Mac

by sales＠elecplus.com

Pics are here https://plus.google.com/photos/106111250846948401252/albums/5895759956977025 233?banner=pwa Will the gent who wants these please call me? My emails to u keep bouncing back, says email not requested by recipient. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 (830)792-3400 phone (830)792-3404 fax AOL IM elcpls _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3345 / Virus Database: 3204/6453 - Release Date: 07/01/13

11 years, 1 month

Speaking of NeXT - mono video to VGA?

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

I seem to recall having a conversation on the list not too long ago about the difficulty of converting NeXT mono video to VGA. At first I had thought this might need something as sophisticated as digital conversion, but somebody said it was only an electrical matter. What's the deal? What needs to be done - anyone know? I have a Cube with the fading type of NeXT monitor, you see... thanks, --Toby

11 years, 1 month

5363 ISA card

by supervinx＠libero.it

Hi ! I need an help about a card I found in the 5363. There's only a P/N, 92X7245. A quick search on ebay gave poor results: IOP card. It looked like a processor card: infact I found, under a heatsink, an 80286, 512MB of ram, ROM BIOS ... Under OS/400, an IOP card is related to an embedded server, but under SSP ? It has only a DB-9 female connector, like a CGA or MDA video adapter, but no provision for keyboard. Any hint?

11 years, 1 month

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test-drb July 2013