test-drb January 2015

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

175 participants
253 discussions

Stromberg/Carlson, Okuma, Benning, and Computer Autumation Docs

by useddec＠gmail.com

I'm going through boxes of documentation and have a pile 3 or 4 feet high that I don't need. My plan is to try to list some several times a week until it's gone. It varies, but most print sets have manuals and repair notes with them. They came from a repair depot. The pile of Stromberg is 6 to 8 inches high. I keep finding more. i can go through specifics over the phone, but don't really want to type everything. Feel free to contact me off list if you have any interest. There will be a few foot pile of DEC items, but i want to finish this first. Thanks, Paul

9 years, 9 months

Identifying a 16k by 16 core memory board

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

Does anyone know what this board would go to? It's a California Data Processors board, ca. 1978. http://imgur.com/a/AEfWX It was found packaged in a Data 100 Corporation cardboard box, but I am not convinced it really belongs in there. Thanks, Kyle

9 years, 9 months

Another PDP-8 on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Another one (an 8/L) starting at a reasonable price: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181630674348 Non-functional, but sounds like it might be close to running. Noel

9 years, 10 months

Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150105)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rich Alderson > Kanji are *LOGOgrams*, expressing *words*, not *ideas*. Since this is a list about antique computers, not about the technical minutiae of written languages, I elected to use the word that would be familiar to non-specialists, i.e. 'ideogram' (with the common meaning, not the specialist one). >> There is something called the 'iroha' ... It was used to teach writing > this poem was no longer used in schools Which would be why I said it "was used to teach writing", not 'is used to teach writing'. Noel

9 years, 10 months

Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150105)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Chuck Guzis > I suspect that other languages have similar exercises, though > I don't know what the Japanese do in Kanji. Err, think you mean kana, right? (Kanji are the ideograms, there are over a thousand in common use.) There is something called the 'iroha': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha which is a poem which uses every element of the Japanese syllabary - and exactly once! It was used to teach writing, no idea if it's used for the keyboard thingy. Noel

9 years, 10 months

Catweasel support for N*

by snhirsch＠gmail.com

Does anyone have a version of 'cwns' more recent than 0.01? It looks like Andrew Lynch wrote this, but Google did not turn up any work since 2007. It would be great to have a way to generate N* floppies on the CW card. Alternately, has Dave Dunfield's NST ever been ported to work on the Advantage? Google turns up nothing other then references to Kermit (not helpful for disk image transfer) or the Central Point Matchpoint card (unobtanium). I did find a disk image for Advantage N*DOS on Dunfield's site, which may have the ability to run the NST stub, but it presents a recursive problem in that I have no means to write it to a DS N* floppy. I do have a Horizon, but it's fitted with SSDD drives. Any suggestions or workarounds I'm overlooking? Steve --

9 years, 10 months

Understanding DECsystem 5100 Self Test Failure

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:24:17 -0700 (MST), you wrote: [snip] > On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Robert Jarratt wrote: > >> Have you tried buying a DS12887 as a replacement? They are supposed to be >> drop-in replacements, and if yours is already socketed then it should be >> pretty simple to try. > > Yes, I have two of them here. That will be the first attempt and fortunate > then I will be able to stop there if I am lucky. > > -- > Richard Loken VE6BSV, Unix System Administrator : "Anybody can be a father > Athabasca University : but you have to earn > Athabasca, Alberta Canada : the title of 'daddy'" > ** richardlo at admin.athabascau.ca ** : - Lynn Johnston > Richard, Those chips have "battery-backed static RAM" according to their data sheet. Does your system store anything critical in them? If so, you may want to read & save that data so that you can put it back before you install the replacement chip (and add an external battery in a location where leakage won't cause serious damage in the future). I know that some Tektronix 'scopes store their calibration values in the (DS1297 or equal) chip's battery-backed RAM and it is critical to read the info and transfer it to the new chip *before* the original battery dies. Otherwise, you have to either pay ($$$) for or perform the entire re-calibration procedure yourself, if you have the necessary calibration equipment. However, since you said your battery was already dead and you have to reinstall VMS every time the system is powered down, I guess that your system doesn't store anything *critical* in that RAM. Bob

9 years, 10 months

SC008s

by useddec＠gmail.com

I found a few while cleaning. If interested in making an offer please contact me off list. I think they all had mounting brackets and some terminators and jumpers. No nuts and bolts. Shipping from 61853 Thanks, Paul

9 years, 10 months

Dataram, EEM (Electronics Memories & Magnetics) cross reference lists

by useddec＠gmail.com

Does anyone have easy access to lists that cross reference 3ed party memories to DEC, DG, ETC? Thanks, Paul

9 years, 10 months

Understanding DECsystem 5100 Self Test Failure

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

When I power up my DECsystem 5100 I get the output shown at the end of this email. I thought this was to do with the DS1287 chip as it seems be an NVRAM battery error (perhaps). Since I know these devices fail I took out the DS1287, put in a socket and then bought a replacement DS12887A. But I still get the same problem. It could be that I bought a bad replacement, or that I have done some damage in my desoldering of the original, or it could be that the error is something completely different. In fact the Maintenance Manual suggests test 9 is to do with the DZ, and I can't find what test 4 relates to. Does anyone know what this failure is if it isnt' the DS1287? Is there an easy way to test a DS1287? Regards Rob 26..25..24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..14..14.. 13..12..11..10..09..?45a nv ba?45a nv bat ?45a nv ba?45a nv bat ?45a nv ba?45a nv bat 08..07..06..05..04..?45a nv bat 03.. ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat KN230 V1.4 08-00-2b-27-04-50 0x800000 >> conf -f hardware: revision 1 firmware: revision 5 cpu: revision 2.32 fpu: revision 3.32 security switch: secure mode password: clear eeprom: valid ethernet hardware address: 08-00-2b-27-04-50 option board: not present memory: total size 8MBs bank0 4MB SIMMs size: 8MBs 0 bad pages scsi peripherals unit type product removable/fixed capacity 7 host adapter >> prcache

9 years, 10 months

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test-drb January 2015