test-drb November 2014

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

200 participants
279 discussions

by turing＠shaw.ca

Hi: I've been collecting Lisp items for several years now; I had acquired a Symbolics MacIvory through the 'usual channels' as well as a TI microExplorer that took years to assemble. When I moved a couple of years ago, I didn't realize that the microExplorer had suffered a fatal injury, until I attempted to power it up at the request of someone interested in it. As most of the 'old Lisp' mailing lists are more-or-less defunct, and the current generation of Lisp enthusiasts appear to be focussed on software-only systems, I'm hoping that someone on this list knows where it might be possible to get boards for the TI microExplorer or, hopefully, has one that they'd be interested in making available. I realize that this is quite a long shot, as the system was developed in the lat '80s and didn't see a lot of sales. [I'd even be happy with a second MacIvory, if someone was willing to part with it...]

9 years, 5 months

Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

by bpettitx＠comcast.net

I can't speak to other areas, but where I live, in California, 3 phase is already brought in to most houses. But it is split at the power box. One phase to common is used for 120 volt single phase service. The other two phases to each other give 220 volt for major appliances. This shifts from house to house to balance out the loading. You can apply to have 3 phase service at the distribution point for heavier machine use. It doesn't involve any extra wiring but is a bitch to get permission. Zoning is very tight to prevent residences from being used for businesses. And also because most of the applications came people looking to set up a grow house. Though lately, most grow houses just steal the power by bypassing the meter. Billy

9 years, 5 months

KL-10B in DEC-20 [was RE: Who's rewired their house for this hobby?]

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rich Alderson > Yes, MIT-AI. We purchased it from CZ, who rescued it from the AILab > skip, then from the Symbolics skip, then eventually sold it on eBay > when he had to. It still has the MIT de-acquisition sticker on the > front panel. Wow! That machine still exists? I'm pretty blown away! I was the person who got the donation of the 3 KS's for MIT, actually! IIRC correctly, I heard that DEC was giving tham away, or something like that (I think they had an over-supply when they decided to turn off PDP-10 support), and I thought it would be cool to have some - MIT was turning off the KA-10 ITS machines at that point (too much space, too costly to maintain, etc, etc), and the KL MC clearly wasn't long for the world either (ditto). So I talked to people at MIT about how to do it, and someone talked to people at DEC (our salesman, IIRC), and I wound up writing a letter, which Dave Clark signed, explaining how ITS was a really significant system historically (giving the details on why), and how it would be great it DEC could donate a couple of these machines so it could continue to run, etc, etc. So three machines duly arrived, and I thought they were so cute (small little boxes) I decided they should be named after the three little droids in "Silent Running" (Huey, Duey and Louie) - so if you look inside the front door you should be able to find "MIT-HY" or "MIT-DY" or "MIT-LY" written somewhere in permanent marker. Alas, nobody else liked the idea, so they were given recycled names. Pissed me off no end (since they machines wouldn't even have been there, if not for me)! >> ITS is an amazing system, and although there are a few running on >> simulators, I'm not sure anyone has it running on real hardware. >> That would be Very Cool. > I agree. As I noted in my response .. I'm working on it. :-) Excellent news! Thanks! Noel

9 years, 5 months

Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 27 November 2014 at 08:13, Geoff Oltmans <oltmansg at gmail.com> wrote: > > On Nov 26, 2014, at 3:04 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > >> Electrical resistive heating for household hea[t]ing in the US is being discouraged. There are government incentives to convert to much more efficient heat pump technology--with the side benefit of air conditioning in the summer. I do have "emergency" resistive heating elements in my air handler--they're connected to two 40A/240V circuits. > > Yeah, and heat pumps work great for heat until there is no heat in the outside air from which to extract. With my current (albeit aging) system, that temperature is around 28F, then it's on to the heat strips. Just get a newer heat pump :-) They're getting better year by year. The technology improves rapidly. The one I have installed in my living room starts out at more than 4-to-1 efficiency, 4kW heat for 1kW of electricity. It doesn't get down to 1-to-1 until -20C, that's about -4F I think. And it doesn't really get that cold in my town. The heat pump is barely ticking over to keep the larger part of the house warm most of the time. I don't need any additional heating to keep the whole second floor warm if I wish to (just open the doors. The heat pump, although not a big model, can take it. But house insulation is also very good in Norway, and that's probably the best first step one should look at, everywhere). The newest models though (three to four years newer than mine) are closer to 5-to-1, and they are able to extract heat from outside air until the temperature drops down to -30C (-22F). It's really impressive. If someone had told me ten years ago that you can extract useful heat from air all the way down to -30C, for less energy than you put in, I would have rejected the notion. Most of these heat pumps are Japanese.. Panasonic, Mitsubishi etc. (there's also at least one Korean, from Samsung. I have no knowledge about it). Those Japanese heat pumps are called 'Nordic' models.. the funny thing is that I can't find them in Japan! Only "old style" combination heater/AC systems. Now there's a place where some energy efficiency is loudly called for. Seems their best goods are only for export, at least for that category. Anyway, that heat pump did wonders for the electricity bill, even though I used to burn (free) wood in a wood stove nearly every day all winter in the past. Not anymore, and I still use much less electricity. (And I just noticed that the price of heat pumps seems to have dropped by half compared to some years ago.) -Tor

9 years, 5 months

Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Holm Tiffe > I think the US should have modernized the entire System long before > now.. Two words for you: 'installed base'. :-) Sort of like QWERTY keyboards... :-) Noel

9 years, 5 months

KL-10B in DEC-20 [was RE: Who's rewired their house for this hobby?]

by RichA＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

From: Jon Elson Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 10:36 AM > On 11/26/2014 01:47 AM, Eric Smith wrote: >> On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 7:42 PM, Jon Elson <elson at pico-systems.com> wrote: >>> On 11/25/2014 02:18 PM, Eric Smith wrote: >>>> Actually to 13 massive linear regulators on multiple large heat sinks. >>> There may have been several versions. The KL10B in a Decsystem 2020 >>> we had >> A DECSYSTEM-2020 uses a KS10, which has no ECL, and uses a big >> switching power supply made by third parties. The KL10B was used in >> the DECsystem-1090, but not in any DECSYSTEM-20 models. > Not true! The CPU was, absolutely, a KL10B. It was in a big orange > cabinet that was fairly similar in size and shape to a VAX 11/780. It > had a PDP 11/40 (I think) in the next bay over as the I/O processor. > I am not so clear about the exact "DECSystem" designation, but it VERY > much was a DECSystem 20<something>. [...] The label on the front of > the cabinet said "DECSystem-20" without specifically giving the model > number. Only the DECSYSTEM-2020 (with the KS10 processor) expanded on the "20" in the name. I believe that the KL10B processor was used in the so-called "Model A" DECSYSTEM-2040 and the DECsystem-1080. All the later systems, generically called "Model B" by the diagnostics and RSX-20F, were the various suffixes named by Eric, along with some he did not mention. We have a non-running 1090 here at the museum which is clearly and unambiguously labeled as a KL10D, as well as a KL10PV (blue 1095) and KL10PW (orange 2065) which run WAITS and Tops-10 7.04, respectively. Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/

9 years, 5 months

Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Guy Sotomayor > The terms long pre-dated modern digital computers. Actually, the document which, AFAIK, introduced the terms "big-endian" and "little-endian" to the world of computers was "On Holy Wars and a Plea For Peace", by Danny Cohen (April, 1980): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/ien/ien137.txt and it makes explicit reference to Swift. (There might have been a slightly earlier version of this note, but I'd have to go check my hardcopies - something called 'Oceanview Tales' may have included it.) Noel

9 years, 5 months

Mac G4s available

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

I have the follow Mac G4 systems available: 1) Power Mac G4 933 - SuperDrive, VGA/DVI display adaptor, NO RAM and NO HDD. Case has been modified with metal brackets for mounting. Link to specs: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_933_qs.h tml 2) Power Mac G4 1.25 DP (MDD) - SuperDrive, DVU/Apple Display adaptor, NO RAM and NO HDD. Case has been modified with metal brackets for mounting (looks like racks slides on this one). Link to specs: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_1.25_dp_ mdd.html 3) Power Mac G4 733 - SuperDrive, SCSI card, 1 gig RAM, NO Display adaptor and NO HDD. Standard case. Link to specs: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_733.html If anyone is interested in these, contact me off list and we can discuss them. I may have some more to offer up soon, have to finish reviewing them. If I don't hear from anyone in a few days I'll send them to recycle as I need to clear them out. Thanks. David Williams www.trailingedge.com

9 years, 5 months

SMD replacement options?

by earl＠baugh.org

Howdy, In my restoration work on the Sun 1's I'm working with, I'd like to find a "modern" drive replacement (to allow me to boot the box, so I can cut down on the wear and tear on the original drive...it does still work, but like to not use it all the time). I've seen other adapters for various other protocols (i.e. SCSI and IDE) that allow for either SD card or CF cards to be used as drives. I'm wondering if such a beast exists for an SMD drive that would work with the xy controllers I have. I do have one or two SCSI controllers (but not enough for all of my multibus machines) so I have that partial answer. But I have a bunch of xy controllers that are were what were there originally... so I'd like to stay with that if I can... Thanks Earl the Squirrel

9 years, 5 months

LogiTec MouseMan Mm ecg g

by abs＠absd.org

Mm On 26 Nov 2014 20:25, "Bill Machacek" <wmachacek at q.com> wrote: > I have a couple of them, both untested. Let me know where you are and I'll > send you one. No charge if you're in the US. > > > > Bill Machacek > > Colo. Springs, CO > > > >

9 years, 5 months

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test-drb November 2014