test-drb October 2015

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

195 participants
329 discussions

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Fw: new message

by katelists＠trouts.org

Hey! New message, please read <http://singdanceplaylearn.com/notice.php?d> katelists at trouts.org

9 years, 1 month

Speaking of switches... Altair?

by tmfdmike＠gmail.com

I started playing with something I haven't touched in ages; my Altair 8800. So far so good... https://www.facebook.com/tmfdmike/videos/10207777256179225/?l=8958556876818… One thing: I really need three or four new switches to replace bent or broken ones: the lower ones with the large metal toggles for run/stop examine/deposit etc. Anyone got any or can suggest a source? Original preferred obviously, precise replica OK. I almost never play with S-100 era equipment so I'm pretty sketchy on Altairs! Thanks Mike http://www.corestore.org 'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame. For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.'

9 years, 1 month

tool for installing pin in PCB extractors?

by spacewar＠gmail.com

What tool does one use to install the metal pin into a plastic PCB extractor, e.g., the Bivar CP-36 or Keystone 8642? I don't yet have any uninstalled extractors on hand, but I'm going to need some for a project. Looking at PCBs with extractors already installed has not made it obvious to me how to install them.

9 years, 1 month

Oddball question: really small terminals

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

We used to used a TRS-80 model 100 as a terminal too. sometimes I would put a 50 ft cable on it and hook it to the hp2000 or the hp3000! Ed#

9 years, 1 month

Ping!

by oscar.vermeulen＠hotmail.com

Jorg, >> I forgot to ask for your private email on VCFB, so I use this public channel. Ah -- beg your pardon! >>Can you sell me a PiDP8, so I can port my Blinkenlight Api Server to the >> platform of the upcoming 11/70? Absolutely not. That would be ethically impossible. I can, however, offer you a free PiDP if you can take care of the shipping cost :) >> I'd like to have it as preassembled as possible, 'cause my schedule is very tight. I'll send you the comfy kit, meaning no fussing with the switch bar! Shipping cost is CHF 24/EUR21, just paypal to oscar.vermeulen at hotmail.com and I'll send it to you. But - before you do, consider that I'm currently working on a new version of the PiDP with (hopefully) nice replica 8/I switches. So if you're not too much in a hurry, you may want to wait two months and get the cosmetic upgrade! >> BTW, my photos of VCFB are here: ... you remember me shooting into your face while the street car rumbled behind your back? Cool! Thanks for the pictures link :) Kind regards, Oscar.

9 years, 1 month

The Internet & our hobby

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > Well, it is not correct when we then include that it is 43 years old... > Internets using TCP/IP is a bit over 30 years old, but not over 40. Good point! {Does a little math in his head...} 43 years, that gives us 1972. The OP was clearly thinking of the ARPANET. Which as I have mentioned, was _very_ different from TCP/IP, inside. Don't get me wrong, we learned a _tremendous_ amount from the ARPANET, and it was a key step, but it's about as similar to TCP/IP as the Wright brothers airplanes (with their 'wing-warping' roll control system, etc) are to modern airplanes. (And actually, that's slightly unfair to the Wright brothers; their airplanes are, IMO, actually closer to modern airplanes than the ARPANET is to TCP/IP!) Noel

9 years, 1 month

Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Eric Smith > One possible lesson to be learned: always pay cash when buying > materials for inventory fraud. Not to mention 'don't fire people who've been helping you commit fraud' (the whole thing unravelled when they 'down-sized' some people in the shipping department who'd been helping with the fraud - they promptly reported it). A couple of other URL's someone sent me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniScribe https://blog.gillware.com/data-recovery-case/the-first-hard-drive-to-brick Thanks! Noel

9 years, 1 month

Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Pierre Gebhardt > Haha, I guess you're alluding to the massive scam with the bricks, > Miniscribe did back them to pretend stocks full of disk drives... Never heard the story. Can someone oblige? > BTW, are there any other similar stories from the disk drive buisiness > back in these days? I don't know about disk drives, but there are lot of scam stories. One minicomputer manufacturer (sorry, don't remember who, but I think it was on the 128 belt) was shipping empty cabinets, in order to meet projections (I dunno if they couldn't afford the parts to build the guts, or if their manufacturing division couldn't build the stuff, or what). Noel

9 years, 1 month

Oddball question: really small terminals

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

yes we have one line LED letter terminals used for Deaf and hard of Hearing. we will buy more of them too. do you have any of them? ASCII or BAUDOT either for our Deaf Telecom diaplay. Drop me a line offlist thanks Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC In a message dated 10/24/2015 8:44:59 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, charles.unix.pro at gmail.com writes: On Sat, Oct 24, 2015 at 8:39 PM, Alexandre Souza < alexandre.tabajara at gmail.com> wrote: > 16 char x 1 line is small enough? :) > Em 25/10/2015 01:34, "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> escreveu: > > > On 10/24/2015 08:10 PM, Cindy Croxton wrote: > > > >> How small is "really small"? IBM made a terminal with a 5" screen for > >> the 4704 banking systems. http://frente-cajas.blogspot.com/ > >> > > > > I've got one with a 64 character 1-line LED display. Is that small > enough? > > > > --Chuck > > > > > Set the baud rate really low and tie an LED to the xmit line. -- Charles

9 years, 1 month

Retro Reproduction.

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood > perhaps we can pool our knowledge and and allocate getting different > parts sourced/made to different people. Makes sense to me. > 2. Lever keys (pdp8 type and PDP11 type ) For the PDP-11, there are three kinds of plastic toggle/actuator: one like the ones used on the mid-age PDP-8's, used on the 11/20; one sui generis one used on the 11/05; one for the 11/40/45/70. The latter two use the toggle switch (the one we've just been discussing); the 11/20 one uses a slide switch. ISTR that there's a CAD drawing for the first kind, and maybe the third too. > I shall now go and hide behind my six foot / nineteen inch main rack in > case of heavy flack No, makes sense (to me, at least). Noel PS: I can see where this is going: first we're already making parts like front panels; we're about to start making/selling new cards (I'm thinking MEM-11, etc, here); soon someone will start reproducing some of the older boards that are now rare, and command high prices (my suggestion for the first - the M792 diode ROM board); and then it will be cabinets like the H960 (ditto); and then finally, somewhere down the line, you'll be able to buy a complete, brand-spanking-new PDP-8 or PDP-11. Just like the vintage steam engine scene in the UK; first they started making new parts to repair the old ones, and now there are several groups building entire new engines entirely out of new parts.

9 years, 1 month

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test-drb October 2015