test-drb November 2014

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

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RX01 Floppies

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

Where can I get RX01 SSSD 8" floppies? Used are fine. -- Michael Thompson

9 years, 11 months

Free: NeXT Mono Slab & Matching Printer

by slandon110＠gmail.com

About 4 years ago a very generous list member had given me a NeXT Mono Slab, I havent used it very much since then and I think the right thing to do is pass it along to someone else who will appreciate it and use it. The only thing I ask is that it never hits ebay and if you decide to get rid of it give it to another person who will love and appreciate it. Its a complete system with laser printer and matching NeXT power cord. Im located in Farwell Michigan

9 years, 11 months

11/73 (ba23) bringup after 12 years in deplorable storage conditions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jacob Ritorto > I don't yet understand where to insert the resistors, but I guess > anywhere there's 12v and 5v would be sensible. Alas, I don't (yet) have a BA23, so I can't offer any personal-based guidance on how to attach a dummy load to the power system. (On the BA11-N/BA11-S, it's pretty simple, there's a nice barrier strip, but I don't know much about how a BA23 is, inside. I suppose I should go read a manual... :-) Maybe I should just lend you some of my QBUS load modules? That would avoid the whole issue, you just plug it in like a normal card. You're in PA, right? > So now, with no boards at all in the chassis, I do at least get a few > lights on the little front panel but unfortunately not the "DC OK" > light and still no fans. To get them to stay on, I have to kind of > 'trick' the PSU by turning it off, waiting a second, then turning it > back on. If it's a switching power supply (which it probably is, as late a machine as that is), it probably needs _some_ load to operate properly. > Would it be more sensible to just buy a commodity PC power supply that > has lots of 5v and some 12v, find a way to bolt it in and rework the > wiring to fit? Or do you think it's likely I'll be able to bring this > power supply back to safe, reliable condition without getting in over > my head? Hard for me to answer that.. you're the one who knows how much you can handle! Alas, I'm not an analog whiz, so it will have to be others who help you through it, if you go that way. > Got lots to re-learn here; thanks for bearing with.. Hey, you're not the only person in that particular boat... :-) Noel

9 years, 11 months

11/73 (ba23) bringup after 12 years in deplorable storage conditions

by jacob.ritorto＠gmail.com

Hey all, I've been getting the bug worse and worse to start working on a real pdp11. The Raspberry Pi / simh emulation is fantastic, but my hunger for authenticity is becoming rampant. I haven't run the youngest in my fleet of pdp11s, the 11/73, since circa 2002 and if I recall correctly, it was becoming flaky and popping out to ODT inexplicably from time to time back then (I think this is the one with the notoriously combustible power supply wires that probably haven't been ECO'd yet -- need to get to that too). It's been lying in a warehouse in western Pennsylvania with no heat and a lot of dust. So, worst case, we're talking temperature transients around 110 F and -20 F with no protection. It did stay quite dry. Think it'd be bad to simply blow the dust off and fire it up? thx jake

9 years, 11 months

National Semiconductor NS23C 1MB memory cards

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I have a couple of National Semiconductor 1MB QBUS memory cards, NS23C's. They have a _ton_ of configuration jumpers. I have located a technical manual for the NS23C, _but_, reading it, it seems it only applies to the 256KB version of this board. (It's definitely a 1MB version; the memory chips are KM41C256P, 256Kx1, and there are 36 - 4 bytes wide, with parity, so 1MB total. And there are tons of hits on Google for NS23C 1MB boards.) Does anyone happen to know how the 256K and 1M versions differ, if at all, jumper-wise? I can probably work it out (maybe there a couple of extra jumpers for the size, unless they simply multiplied the size settings by 4 - quite possible), but it would be not too useful to expend the effort if someone else already knows the answer. Noel

9 years, 11 months

Old x86 "PC" SBCs (Toronto Microelectronics)

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

I've got this ISA card sitting around which was made by Toronto Microelectronics (TME), but it gives the impression that it may be a complete SBC in its own right; it has a 386sx for CPU, takes 30 pin simms, and has various connectors (IDE, floppy, 2x RS232 and parallel are obvious, then there are another six unlabeled connectors). IC dates are all around 1993. Does anyone happen to know anything about these boards - in particular, the purpose/pinouts for the unknown connectors, and whether they require a backplane to work? (Or, maybe there's a standard amongst the x86 SBC world for this kind of thing, I have no idea.) I'm thinking it might make the basis a nice little serial terminal, at least if it has any on-board video capability - it would be quite easy to hide it (along with a suitable small PSU) inside a 14" CRT case. There's a picture of one here, but I've been unable to find any info anywhere: http://www.ascent-tecsemispares.com/index.php/other/t/toronto-microelectron… cheers Jules

9 years, 11 months

Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

by ak6dn＠mindspring.com

Just curious: What is your maximum load in kVA when system(s) are running? What is that in $$/hr? -----Original Message----- >From: William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> >Sent: Nov 21, 2014 5:14 PM >To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >Subject: Re: Who's rewired their house for this hobby? > >> So, who has run 3-phase to power their MG set and HVAC for their mainframe? >> Extra points for chilled water and even more for a cooling tower for said >> water. > >I have 600 Amps of three phase service. > >I also have motor generator and solid state converters to make about >135 kVA of 400 Hz power, providing everything gets fixed. > >Oh, and (I think about) a 25 kVA 100/200 Volt transformer, in case of >Japanese machines. > >So there. > >-- >Will

9 years, 11 months

digital LA210 Letterprinter, available in Ottawa

by ba600＠ncf.ca

I have a friend loking to clean out his basement. >Have digital LA210 Letterprinter, tractor feed, and ribbon headed for scrap. >Want it? Is there any interest in DEC printers? -- Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600

9 years, 11 months

An excellent cordless screwdriver recommendation

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Decided to share this little bit of Good Info with the list. If you're like me, you probably turn away from most of those small, in-line cordless screwdrivers. Well, here's one to keep an eye out for, when you're browsing the garage sales, flea markets or thrift stores.. it's the best of the best ever made. The Black & Decker 9038 (Image attached) This particular model was good enough for Snap-On to re-badge (and re-color it, red & black) as a Blue Point Cordless Screwdriver - which they sold for silly $$$. Do NOT confuse it with ANY of the similar appearing models, no matter how close they may seem. Only the 9038 will do! They were only sold during the 1989-1992 era; later discontinued. The battery packs are no longer available, but can easily be re-built with generic NiCd cells. I've done at least two of them, this way, and they run quite a bit longer & stronger with modern NiCd cells. With its dual-planetary gear sets, this unit makes enough torque to break small screws or damage your wrist.. and it locks-up solid any time you're not running the motor - no need to 'shift gears' to reverse or lock the shaft. Reversing is simply a matter of moving the switch one way or the other. Find one, rebuild the battery, and put it in your kit. You'll love it.. one of the only electric tools I've used for 20+ years. Hope you find this useful.

9 years, 11 months

Moving Sale (SF Bay Area, USA)

by lists＠loomcom.com

Well, it's finally happened. I've bought a house west of Seattle, and I'm going to be leaving the bay area. First things first: I am NOT getting out of classic computers! I'm taking a nice little core collection of microcomputers with me. That said, the move is going to be extremely expensive and I have a lot of stuff that I'm just not likely to ever get around to. Liquidating some stuff could save me thousands of dollars. So, it's time to try to pass it on. Everything here is located in Fremont, California, very close to I-880 and Decoto Road. It's in a garage for very easy access. Because of the craziness of moving, I'm very sorry to say that everything here is pick-up only. I cannot make the time to pack and ship. If you're remote and you'd like to get someone else who's local do some picking up for you, of course you're more than welcome. Anyway, I hate to do this, but it's time... First, the non-free stuff. I'd actually like some money for these. How much? I'll take reasonable offers. I'm not looking for eBay money. Seriously. Make an offer, the worst that could possibly happen is that I'll counter. - PDP-11/35. This is my semi-infamous restoration project that consumed much of my 2012. I very lovingly restored the power supply, backplanes, chassis, and front panel. The logic is almost certainly beyond repair. It needs a new set of cards. This system is housed in a full-height rack that has seen much better days. Includes a Diablo Series 30 drive, ECCO paper tape reader (not punch), and a DSD 440 8" floppy drive. I'll throw in a big huge pile of 8" floppies. - PDP-11/53. This is a nice half-height DEC rack with a PDP-11/53 card set in a PDP-11/23+ chassis, plus two working RL-02 drives. Will include 10 RL-02 packs. This is a nice setup. It pains me more to get rid of this than it does the 11/35, if I'm honest. (Drive heads are currently parked and secured!) Now, the cheap and/or free WORKING stuff. Just make a token offer to help defray some moving costs and I'll be thrilled. - MicroVAX 3800. Nice system. Used to belong to Lockheed Martin and once had Hubble Space Telescope pointing control software developer accounts on it! - Two AlphaServer DS20e systems and 4 SCSI storage arrays. Marginally classic, but come on, you know you want them. - TWO MicroVAX 3100 model 80s. Loud little beasts. Lots of small SCSI disks. Ideal doorstops. - AlphaStation 200 4/233. Cute little desktop. Works great! - Sun SPARCClassic. - Sun SPARC IPC. - Assorted Sun keyboards / mice. - SGI Octane. It's a perfectly nice system. No keyboard / mouse. It has texture RAM! - SGI R5000 Indy. Also no keyboard or mouse, sorry. At least these SGI systems are PS/2. - A C-One FPGA system. This is not technically classic, but it is neat. These were sold as a re-targetable FPGA system to emulate Commodore Amiga A500 among other systems. Had a minor following in the early 2000s before the project dried up. - Heathkit H-89. Had to do some minor power supply repair to get it working, but it works great now. Hard-sectored floppy drive. I'll throw in 6 hard sectored floppies. That's all I have! - Tandy TRS-80 Model 4. - Tandy Color Computer 3, still in the box! - No-name serial terminal. It's always good to have more of these, right? - Sharp PC5000 - TWO DEC Rainbows (one has a bad power switch), plus monitors and keyboards. - Panasonic Sr. Partner luggable computer. - Packard Bell 286 - 2 or 3 TI Silent 700 terminals. (I'm keeping a few, but I have an absurd number of these things) - Execuport 4000 printing terminal. - DEC LA100 printing terminal. - 90% working blue ADM-3a terminal. Needs some slight logic repair, should be an easy job. Finally, the stuff that DOES NOT WORK. I just want this gone. Please take it. Any of these could be a fun project. If you don't take it, it will go to WeirdStuff Warehouse where they'll do horrible things. I especially - KayPro 10. - Another MicroVAX 3800. The non-working version of the one above. - DEC Professional 350. Dead video. That's it. If you happen to come over and we're going through stuff and I find something else I should get rid of, you're welcome to it! -Seth

9 years, 11 months

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test-drb November 2014