OK, may be a bit late to chime in but I didn't have time to go through my
stuff and look it up earlier, so here goes:
A DECstation 5000/200 with PMAG-B Framebuffer is available in southern
Germany. I myself was given that machine several years ago and didn't get
to try it out yet.
Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge and resources available to put
the machine online so it would have to be physically relocated. I would
prefer putting it on an indefinite loan but might also be persuaded to
trade or outright donate to this worthwile cause.
Feel free to contact me if you think it might be of any help.
Yours sincerely,
Arno Kletzander
> On 29 December 2014 at 00:31, emanuel stiebler <emu at e-bbes.com> wrote:
> > > On 2014-12-28 14:56, David Brownlee wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Bj?rn Johannesson has been working on the VAX framebuffer and keyboard
> > >> code in NetBSD to get X running on the LCG equipped machines (like the
> > >> VAXstation 4000/VLC and 4000/60).
> > >>
> > >> He's expressed an interest in looking at some issues in the DECstation
> > >> X11 code, but doesn't have access to an appropriate machine.
> > >
> > > which DECstation, and which Graphic adapter?
> > > There where quite a few different ones on the TURBOChannel,
> > > from the very dumb frame buffer to the 3d ones ...
> >
> > My initial thoughts would be a nice little 3100 or possibly a 2100
> > with the simple framebuffer, but obviously the goal would be to
> > support whatever is available.
> >
>
> At least VS3100 M38 and M76 don't work with NetBSD, we realized this approx
> a year before. Martin got a machine from me to investigate further, but I
> think nothing has happened in this reagard since then.
>
> Regards,
>
> Holm
> --
> Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe,
> Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583
> www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:47:55 +0100
> From: Johnny Billquist <bqt at update.uu.se>
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Anyone have a spare DECstation in europe for a developer?
> Message-ID: <54A3D45B.4080307 at update.uu.se>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> On 2014-12-31 11:40, Holm Tiffe wrote:
> > David Brownlee wrote:
> >
> >> On 29 December 2014 at 00:31, emanuel stiebler <emu at e-bbes.com> wrote:
> >>> On 2014-12-28 14:56, David Brownlee wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Bj?rn Johannesson has been working on the VAX framebuffer and keyboard
> >>>> code in NetBSD to get X running on the LCG equipped machines (like the
> >>>> VAXstation 4000/VLC and 4000/60).
> >>>>
> >>>> He's expressed an interest in looking at some issues in the DECstation
> >>>> X11 code, but doesn't have access to an appropriate machine.
> >>>
> >>> which DECstation, and which Graphic adapter?
> >>> There where quite a few different ones on the TURBOChannel,
> >>> from the very dumb frame buffer to the 3d ones ...
> >>
> >> My initial thoughts would be a nice little 3100 or possibly a 2100
> >> with the simple framebuffer, but obviously the goal would be to
> >> support whatever is available.
> >>
> >
> > At least VS3100 M38 and M76 don't work with NetBSD, we realized this approx
> > a year before. Martin got a machine from me to investigate further, but I
> > think nothing has happened in this reagard since then.
>
> Uh... Holm... He was talking about a DECstation 2100 or 3100 here... Not
> a VAXstation. :-)
>
> Johnny
>
> --
> Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
> || on a psychedelic trip
> email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
> pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>
>
> End of cctalk Digest, Vol 2, Issue 31
> *************************************
>
> From: Lyle Bickley
> I got a letter a couple of weeks ago that "Manuals Plus" .. is going out
> of business. I verified that by phone yesterday.
> They are having a "make me an offer" sale ...
Interesting that nothing is on their Web site about it. Maybe they are
prioritizing their past customers?
Guess I'll have to call and see if I can make an offer on a few things...
Noel
On Fri, 9 Jan 2015 06:06:02 +0000, Tony Duell wrote:
> I mentioned using a good continuity tracer that is not fooled by diodes. This
> will handle any parasitic junctions in ICs, etc. If you get to know the instrument
> you will not have problems from false positives.
>
> -tony
Tony,
What continuity tracer do you use? Can you recommend a "good
continuity tracer that is not fooled by diodes" that can be
built/purchased for not a lot of money?
Thanks,
Bob
>
> From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org>
> To: cctech at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Broken H724 power supply from PDP-8/e
>
> On 1/7/15 6:24 PM, Michael Thompson wrote:
> > The H724 power supply in my PDP-8/e works OK for about 5 seconds and then
> > the +5V output goes to about 3.0V. If I leave it on for a few more
> seconds
> > it will blow the 20A fuse for the +5V output.
> >
>
> sounds like something is firing the crowbar (Q207)
>
Thanks Al and Marco.
I saw Q207 when I inspected the power supply and wondered what that giant
diode was for. I also saw it in the schematic and was surprised to see that
the diode installed backwards. Now I see that it is an SCR, not a diode.
R29 is easy to get to, so I will try raising the crowbar voltage a just
little. It is also possible that the regulation of the +5V is not working
correctly and the crowbar should be firing.
--
Michael Thompson
I got this off of the auction site, listed as untested. It came in today, looks in beautiful condition, and powers up just fine, with the 86 1.1 message on the display. I have the 'Microcomputer Experiments With the SDK-86, Leventhal' book headed my way.
I have not been able to find much else - any suggestions for fun projects with this?
Randy
Just in case someone is curious, there is another brazilian computer
dissected, the CP200 (ZX81 clone) from Prologica
www.tabalabs.com.br
Greetings from Brazil!
Alexandre
I got a letter a couple of weeks ago that "Manuals Plus"
http://www.manualsplus.com/ is going out of business. I verified that
by phone yesterday.
They are having a "make me an offer" sale - and I understand they are
being swamped with orders. If you need/want original service/op manuals
for test equipment, etc., now is the time to buy.
I've bought a lot of manuals from Manuals Plus - and I'm really sorry to
see them go. Unfortunately, the owner of their building is raising
their rent next month - and they can't afford to stay - or move...
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:25:26 -0800
jwsmobile <jws at jwsss.com> wrote:
>
> On 1/9/2015 10:43 AM, Bob Rosenbloom wrote:
> > I believe these are the same ones advertised a year or so ago.
> > Lyle and I went to see them and found a storage building piled
> > to the ceiling with stuff. It was impossible to see what was
> > actually there, though what could be seen had heavy water damage and
> > looked to be in bad shape. At the time he was asking $5000 for
> > it all so we just walked away. Might be a lot cheaper now.
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> > On Friday, January 9, 2015 10:27 AM, Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Not mine, not near me, not known to me:
> >>
> >> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sys/4837367667.html
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> I talked to the owner for quite a while tonight and got some
> information. He is very interested in moving it and is sending
> photos. He said someone is coming to take a look at it tomorrow in
> Freemont. I will post the photos he sends me tonight.
>
> I hope someone buys it for other than gold. I am not set up to
> address this sort of a deal myself, and am passing the info along to
> who may be able to.
>
> I told him about cctalk and ibm vintage lists, so if you are on that,
> that is the secret handshake as far as what I told him, vs. a scrap
> dealer.
When Bob and I initially talked to the owner, he told us that what he
had was a major find for a collector. He spoke in glowing terms as to
the condition of the 4341 and the HP mini (de-installed from a
running environment and then stored for many years). So as you would
expect, Bob and I were very anxious to see both systems.
What we found was a serious disappointment. As Bob said, the 4341 and
the HP mini were crammed into a storage unit with lots of other junk.
It was impossible to see/determine what system components were
actually there. There was no way to know how complete or what features
either system had.
Repeating what Bob said, everything was water damaged, rusty and in poor
condition - and I do mean everything.
We told him that his asking price was too high - and that the condition
of the systems was so bad we wouldn't even make him an offer.
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
> From: Alan Hightower <alan at alanlee.org>
>
> I appreciate all the input from folks. With 3600 though holes and at
> least 4 layers, I'm afraid I will make mistakes using any manual method
> like ohm tracing without a check or balance. With so many permutations
If it is indeed a four-layer board, there's a pretty good chance that the
inner two layers are power and ground; if so, your project just got a lot
easier. You can just hold it up to a strong light source - if it's
completely opaque, then the inner layers probably are power/ground planes.
If not, then at least you can see the traces (although without knowing which
layers they're on...).
~~
Mark Moulding
Does anyone have any past experience reverse engineering an existing
de-populated PCB into a scan, netlist, or similar? Any lessons learned
positive or negative?
I have a AT&T 3B2 310/400 main board that is beyond salvaging into a
working system. A previous owner has also removed the socketed parts
including the Western Electric chip set. I'm unable to find working
schematics of most of the 3B2 cards and main boards. So I'm considering
bulk de-populating the remainder of the board in an oven and trying to
derive a schematic from it. It's a fairly large board but appears to be
100% through hole. I roughly estimate it contains ~3500 through holes.
And guessing it is 6-10 layers. Thus running it through a single vector
x-ray machine would not be very useful.
I've brain-stormed several ways it can be done from de-laminating the
board, building a 2D bed of nails armature, mirroring the board holes on
a new mated PCB with 3 dozen FPGAs, etc, etc. But I'm seeking advice
>from those who've done it already.
Thanks,
-Alan
