test-drb December 2014

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

179 participants
207 discussions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Kyle Owen > I've got a couple M1705 dual 12-bit output cards for the Omnibus. Does > anyone have schematics or programming information available? I checked > bitsavers, but I didn't see anything in the obvious places They're in the DEC Logic Handbook; in the 1976-77 edition, they are on pp. 227-231. If you can't find it online, Topline has one for sale cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321490489267 If you really need it right away, I suppose I could crunch the book into my scanner and scan those pages. Noel

9 years, 7 months

Cyber ECL Wiring

by bpettitx＠comcast.net

Chuck Guzis wrote: "It didn't start with the 170, did it Billy? I remember a nice thick mat of twisted-pair wires on the backplanes of 6000s, as well as in a lot of attached controllers. Taper pin technology." You're right - the 170 was the first use of main frame wire wrap at CDC. I've never seen any other machine that used twisted pair wire wrap. When I left the project, they were trying to defelop a machine to automate the wiring. It was not going well. The earlier 6000, 7000 machines used twited pair with taper pins. Their wire mats were huge, more than 10 inches thick in some places. That was one of the problems they were trying to solve. Billy

9 years, 7 months

Fwd: is there any word processing software for the pdp11?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jacob Ritorto > I just got my Diablo 630 running and would like to couple it to one of > my pdp11s and an appropriate terminal to do more "inspired" writing and > correspondence. .. I sometimes get bored typing on these relatively > snazzy computers we have these days and wish to go back to the way > things were. Ah, got it. I don't know if (on the Unix path) nroff is any good for you; with a good macro package (pretty much essential; raw roff/troff is kind of like raw TEX), it's pretty easy to use. The thing is that 'back in the day', the whole 'WYSIWYG' editing model didn't exist until Bravo on the Alto. (At least, not that I know of - if anyone does know of such, I would love to hear of it.) Except for plain ASCII files, of course... So I'm not sure that if you're looking for 'text mode WYSIWYG', you'll be able to find much. > From: Warner Losh > There was also a TECO version available for the PDP-11's running RSTS/E > (and likely others) There was a 'visual TECO' running on the V6 Unix at MIT; that's what we used before the EMACS came along. I don't know the background of it, if it shares any history with the one you mentioned. >From the (slim) manual I have for it, it seems to have had both TECO mode (the usual TECO command interface, the stuff that looks like line noise), and a visual mode, just like primitive EMACS. (Probably only supported VT52's, though.) The latter mode had some built-in command keys, and there were also macro packages to extend it (again, just like primitive EMACS, although those for the PDP-11 Unix TECO were not as sophisticated). That's all almost certainly on the tape too, if anyone cares! :-) Noel

9 years, 7 months

M1705 dual 12-bit output info

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

I've got a couple M1705 dual 12-bit output cards for the Omnibus. Does anyone have schematics or programming information available? I checked bitsavers, but I didn't see anything in the obvious places, and without an option number (like DR8-E for the dual 12-bit I/O card, M863), it makes searching a bit more difficult. I'm hoping to have this controlling my Christmas tree lights this year if I can get something working. It has quite a number of jumpers, and although I can deduce a few must be addressing, I don't know what the others might be for. Any help would be appreciated! Kyle W4GNU

9 years, 7 months

VAX/VMS Software Source Book, 6th Edition (Oct 1990) PDF, Programming in VAX Fortran PDF

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

I've just scanned the 1000-odd page software source book for VAX/VMS, 6th Edition from October 1990, available from my scans page: http://wickensonline.co.uk/app/index.html#/scans This is a mammoth book (beware the 643MB download size!) but is a fantastic example of just how pervasive VAX and VMS were. It contains a comprehensive listing of software available for the platform both from DEC and independent software houses. Interesting personally is the indication of programming language used. I've also uploaded Programming in VAX Fortran (Sept 84): I wasn't aware of an online copy of this manual. It's a very handy guide to programming in Fortran that covers everything you'd need to get up and running with the language under VAX/VMS, including the use of EDIT, compiling, linking and debugging, as well as reference material on the language and supporting libraries. Enjoy, Mark.

9 years, 7 months

IC storage / anti-static foam

by bob＠theadamsons.co.uk

> I know this was discussed before but.... > > What are recommended methods for storing a variety of ICs where they > are easily accessible as needed, keeps them safe and for the long term? > Tubes are good if you can find them in any quantity now though they aren't so handy if like most folk you have a largish mix with only small numbers of each. I have a cabinet with antistatic plastic drawers for my MOS ICs and some of the bipolar with the rest of the bipolar in an ordinary styrene drawer cabinet. In my earlier days in the MOS industry before more specialised antistatic stuff became available we used to push them into a sheet of polystyrene wrapped with foil.

9 years, 7 months

Problem with DEC LSI11 / KD11-F

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mattis Lind > I checked all three M7270 modules I have here. ... I have, Rev. E, Rev. > H and Rev. K > ... All has date codes in the range 77-80. I expect your boards to be > later revisions. No (I think); mine are both K, too. One says "130 K" (that's the one with the slightly earlier chips); the other says "140 K". Anyone know what the numbers mean? Noel

9 years, 7 months

Nat Semi ns32k, was Re: Whitechapel Computer Works MG-1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Eric Smith spacewar at gmail.com > Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I was pretty sure that the first UTek machine > was the 4404 "Artificial Intelligence Workstation", introduced in 1974. > The 4404 was MC68010 based There's also the TI Explorer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI_Explorer a LISP machine (custom CPU); not sure of the exact date, but it was around then. Noel

9 years, 7 months

EDSAC lives

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Donzelli > Building a complete ENIAC replica would indeed be hard. If only exact > proper NOS parts were used, I might just say impossible. One other component I didn't see listed: rotary switches. ENIAC used tons of them, originally for inputting static data (think ROM :-), and later to hold tables used when they converted it to a sorta-stored-program machine (think uROM :-). And what about the special plug wires (and the male and female connectors used thereon) which were used to 'program' the machine for a given problem - are those still available? Noel

9 years, 7 months

Fwd: is there any word processing software for the pdp11?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

>> Jacob Ritorto wrote: >> Yeah, but troff is too hard. I'm going to pass over the obvious question ('why would anybody be doing word processing on a PDP-11 in this day and age' :-), and ask if nroff is also too hard? Since it's only intended for character devices (line printers, etc) it's not quite as complex as troff.a I'm not sure if Bell had anything simpler; I'll have to look at my V6 Unix manual set. > From: Ian S. King > But ... Emacs (originally EMACS, "eight megabytes and continuously > swapping") .. is ever going to run on a PDP-11. If you restrict yourself to GNU Emacs, yes. But there are more implementations of EMACS in the world than that bloated monstrosity! We ran an EMACS on V6 Unix at MIT, I forget who wrote it, I think it was someone at BBN; it was quite a nice one. It was quite customizable (but that have only been key bindings and settings, not sure if it included code), and it had all the usual features: multiple buffers and windows, etc. (In fact, it was so painful to use on a VT52, with its small screen, that I migrated to a Ann Arbor Ambassador terminal, with its much large screen, as soon as it became available.) I have several sets of backup tapes from one of the V6 machines at MIT; I sent one off to Chuck Guzis, and he's gotten almost all the bits off of it (a few records had unrecoverable read errors, but the vast majority were OK - like roughly 15 read errors in around 1500 records). I hope to annouce a vast trove of stuff soon from my tapes (once I figure out how to interpret the bits - they are written by a sui generis application called 'saveRVD', and the _only_ documentation of how it did it is... on that tape! :-) That includes a lot of code written at MIT, as well as stuff from elsewhere. Coming soon, in addition to that EMACS, should be BCPL, Algol, LISP and some other languages; MACRO-11 and the DEC linker (which I guess are also available from UNSW tapes), but _also_ programs to convert back and forth >from .REL to a.out format, and to .LDA format; and a whole ton of other applications (I have no idea what all is there - if anyone is interested, I can make a pass through my manuals and try and make a list). Noel

9 years, 7 months

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test-drb December 2014