test-drb February 2014

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

191 participants
208 discussions

Contemporary XT Software: cctalk Digest, Vol 126, Issue 7

by FidoNetDan＠aol.com

I have "reverified" these before posting... Alas, I discovered several of my favorite sites have disappeared along the way. Couple sites to try... http://www.myabandonware.com/ Not much here, for DOS. but a lot for old systems http://www.retroarchive.org/ Dan FidoNetDan Sysop of FogLine - FidoNet node 1:14/627

10 years, 10 months

Turbodos Anyone?

by new_castle_j＠yahoo.com

I just finished bringing up a TurboDos system. You can read a little about it here www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?41297-TurboDos-Resurrected! Any TurboDos users or enthusiasts out there?

10 years, 10 months

contemporary XT software?

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:54:05 -0600 > From: Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: contemporary XT software? > > Now that I seem to finally have a working XT clone, does anyone have > suggestions for interesting (and available!) contemporary software to run > on it? It'd be nice to load it up with a few games and productivity apps > of the era. > > It's only got 512K of RAM (although I may have an expansion board > somewhere), but it does have a 10MHz 8088 (well, if I can work out how to > kick it into high-speed mode) and I've got a VGA card in there right now. > > I'm not sure if anyone is maintaining a software repository for early x86 > PCs (and maybe what is out there will target '286 and above anyway)? > > cheers > > Jules Old PC games seem to be available at http://www.myabandonware.com/ or you can search around on the http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXsource.html site. Bob

10 years, 10 months

Trouble Getting MFM Controller to Write

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

As you may be aware I am trying to build an emulator for MFM disks (mainly DEC RD5x disks) using an FPGA. Things have been going moderately well in that I have managed to get the MicroVAX 2000 formatter (TEST 70) to recognise the appropriate RD5x disk by counting cylinders. However, now I am at the stage when I want the controller in the 2000 to write something. I am trying to use the formatter to write data to the disk. However, the WRITE GATE signal never gets asserted. I cannot see what is stopping the 2000 from asserting WRITE GATE. I have implemented the Index signal which looks right on the oscilloscope, and of course all the signals for track selection. I am sending dummy data on READ DATA (all logical 0s as far as I can be sure). I am as sure as I can be that I have the right pin on the connector (32 according to the 2000's tech manual). This is the output from the 2000: >>> test 70 KA410-A RDRXfmt VSfmt_QUE_unitno (0-2) ? 0 VSfmt_STS_Siz .......... RD31 VSfmt_QUE_SerNbr (0-999999999) ? 0 VSfmt_QUE_RUsure (DUA0 1/0) ? 1 VSfmt_STS_RdMbb ..........? VSfmt_STS_FMTing .?? VSfmt_RES_ERR #3 84 FAIL >>> Any ideas? Thanks Rob

10 years, 10 months

For your Amusement

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181315914698 For that price I think they might have thrown in free carriage... Dave

10 years, 10 months

beware of "andananautions"

by marvin＠west.net

Well, this person has sold just about $175K over the past year, so (s)he is no beginner. > John Robertson wrote: > >> Curious - I find no ebay listings at all for "andananautions" either >> open or closed. Typo? > > Yes, he typo'd "andamanauctions". > > Bill S.

10 years, 10 months

DEC-Net person in CT?

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

These messages reminded me.... On my way home from Vermont (to Connecticut) I was passed by a black higher-end vehicle with CT license plate of DEC-NET. DEC fan, or just a coincidence? -- --- 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.

10 years, 10 months

Help with vtserver?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I am using vtserver to transfer an image of an RL02 disk (9.5 MB) to a physical pack on my PDP-11. There appear to be a few files that are corrupted in the middle of the disk. Vtserver echoes some kind of symbol to the PC console, then an "r" each time the data is actually sent to the PDP-11. In the middle of the transfer, I see on the PC display a section of 100K blocks, always from"6600K sent" to "6800K sent" that looks very strange and not like all the other sections from the beginning through 9500K with a fairly regular pattern. Vtserver starts echoing long strings of "heart" characters to the PC console, often terminated with "e" which appears to be their code for an error, and takes an extremely long time between writes to the RL02. Then the normal display and speed resumes. I usually run the serial port at 19200 but decided to try at 9600 since there is no flow control. Same result. The pack does not have bad blocks and the drive has never been a problem when running the PDP-11. I am not conversant enough in C (and definitely not with Windows file handling) to fully understand what's happening there after studying the source code... can anyone help? Thanks.

10 years, 10 months

ST11 BIOS - skipping drive initialization?

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

So, I've got a "Laser XT" clone which I hauled out of a dumpster a few days ago, and which has a Seagate ST-11R controller and ST225R drive inside. Upon booting, the controller (BIOS v1.7) detects that there's a drive present, then displays: "Drive 1 is not initialized. Run BIOS install routine for the drive (y/n)?" Pressing 'y' results in 'yes' appearing on the screen, but then nothing at all happening - no drive noises, no drive LED activity, no progress updates on screen. Although I might expect it to take quite a while to format, I'd expect some signs of life (and in fact I'm surprised it doesn't prompt for a defect table before doing anything else) Pressing 'n' does nothing at all, despite my expecting it to print 'no' on the screen and then immediately attempt a floppy boot. Does anyone know how to get around the initialization prompt, so that I can try booting from floppy and kicking the LL formatter off via debug? I suspect that the drive is fubar, but I'd like to try the debug approach if possible. The drive bears a 'PR' sticker, so I think as originally shipped it would have been matched to the controller and had a small partition containing the LL formatter - but I think the formatter is still present within the ST-11's BIOS too, and should be accessible via debug. cheers Jules

10 years, 10 months

beware of "andananautions"

by aek＠bitsavers.org

wow won some manuals cheap, then sent a message to see if they would combine shipping. the seller canceled all of the auctions, and apparently there is no recourse from the buyer. read his reply for yourself. this is the first time in 5000+ ebay deals that someone backed out after asking for combined shipping. beware.. his 'justification' Dear al_kossow, 1. You won several items yesterday. 2. I sent you an invoice for the total amount. 3. You emailed your disagreement over the terms of your purchase. 4. Therefore, we do not agree over the terms of the transaction. 4. So I filed the appropriate request to cancel the transaction with ebay. Now, you have suddenly changed your mind and claim that your purchase was a "Binding Contract"? Sounds like you want your cake and eat it, too. First, you engage in feedback extortion to try coerce me to lower the purchase price. Then, when you did not get your way, you attempt to compel me to go through with the transaction. Unfortunately, when you expressed your disagreement over the terms of the sale, it was obvious that there was no meeting of the minds in this transaction. As such, there is no contract. We both agreed to cancel the transaction and that is ok. I am sorry you were disappointed in the terms. I have refunded your paypal payment. You are whole. I am just curious as to where else you can buy something and then negotiate the terms of the transaction. After you have filled up your gas tank, do you then ask the gas station for a discount?

10 years, 10 months

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test-drb February 2014