test-drb June 2014

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

187 participants
157 discussions

Tools in the Computer Operator's Desk Drawer

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

I have this vague memory that back in the day, any well-equipped computer operator would have a tool in the desk drawer which trims the end of a mangled magtape to a nice, neat curve. Do I actually remember that, or did I make it up? As I get older, my imagination is getting better than my memory, and it's getting a lot easier to vividly remember things that never happened. If such a tool exists, I want one! I recall another little tool (and I think I still have one somewhere) that was a give-away from the Sun User's Group. It was a little pocket-clip screwdriver with a flat blade on one end, a hex key for VME card mounting screws on the other, and "SUGtool" or something like that marked on the side. One of our printers in the computer room that I worked in at UCI in the late 1980s had a tool sitting about for punching the carriage control tapes for one of our old line printers. We had separate printer queues for letter sized and wide format paper, both pointing at the same printer. One of the operator's jobs was to frequently stop one queue, change the control tape loop and the paper in the printer, then enable the other queue. Write rings were littered all over the place, naturally. And then there was the suction-cup tool for lifting the raised floor tiles. What else might be found in the operator's desk drawer or sitting around the computer room? -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

10 years, 1 month

DEC RC25 repair

by aswood＠t-online.de

Hello all, I got some RC25 drives and a big pile of cartridges. Beside of only some few drives most of them are showing the typical symptoms of these drives, the seal between the tubing on the back side of the drive has gone to goo. There is a now a gap and just powering on the drives would result in a head crash without doubt. Since the drives in question had been powered down in working conditions long ago, the gooeing occurred later on, so there could be a chance to bring back them into life if there would be a solution to fix this issue. Were there any successful attempts by members of this list to solve this issue? Andreas

10 years, 1 month

EOL Notification for Chicago Miniature CM7370

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

I just received an EOL notification for the Chicago Miniature CM7370 bulb. These bulbs are used in the DEC PDP-8/I front panel and others as a replacement for the Oshino OL-1. -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 1 month

Tools in the computer operators desk

by wmachacek＠q.com

I still have my Sort Verifier tool. A long slim piece of metal for verifying that all the cards in a card deck had a hole punched in the same place on all the cards. I also have several IBM connectors for the 407 Accounting Machines that allowed a signal from one connection to be sent to two different connections. I have both the grey and orange connectors. The IBM name is on the connectors, but there is no name or markings on the Sort Tool. I should have saved a couple of 407 connection wires (there were many different sizes and colors), but I didn't.. Bill

10 years, 1 month

60s Mainframe/Mini Disk File Systems

by t.gardner＠computer.org

IBM famously introduced its CKD disk file format in the 60s; did anyone else (other than IBMs clones including RCA) support such a disk format? Specifically a disk format with a block (record in IBM terms) having a variable length key field (including 0 length) and a variable length data field. To the best of my knowledge everyone else used a fixed block (sector to most) size on a disk volume but my knowledge of most of the BUNCH is limited. Tom

10 years, 1 month

MkLinux R2rc3 & R2rc4 for Power Mac

by uf0＠ukr.net

Hello! I'm looking for an old linux for Power Mac - MkLinux. Versions: 1) R2rc3 (Better Late than Never, March 2004) 2) R2rc4 (Clean Up on Aisle Four!, August 2004) Could somebody have an *.ISO Image of that?

10 years, 1 month

Giving away two 8" floppy drives

by tlindner＠macmess.org

I live is the SF East Bay, Calif. I'm looking for someone local to take these from me. http://macmess.org/images/FDD-Model-M2894.jpg Mfgd by: Mistubishi. Looks new, never been used. http://macmess.org/images/IBM-6360-Floppy-Drive-Pair.jpg I found this on a curb a few years ago. It looks clean, but I have no idea what kind of condition it is in. -- tim lindner

10 years, 1 month

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test-drb June 2014