test-drb October 2015

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

195 participants
329 discussions

by lproven＠gmail.com

I don't know if this memoir is well-known or not, but I thought it might interest. ? The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode A bridge to 21st Century Computing By Jack Allweiss Copyright 2010 My name is Jack A. Allweiss, also known as ?The Father of the B5900 System?. I did not give myself that title, my friends and co-workers at Burroughs Corporation did, and I consider it a great honor. This true story is about the B5900, and why it was an important milestone for Burroughs and later Unisys, as well as the computer industry in general. ? http://jack.hoa.org/hoajaa/BurrMain.html -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

8 years, 10 months

nut bars? ;)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Perhaps my google skills are challenged (probably so), but I can't find this. Is there a modern source of nut bars that one could order with specific thread size and # of holes (NEMA pattern)? Yeah, I know I'm being OCD and can just use individual nuts. But after you keep losing a handful of standard nuts in the bottom of the rack, I see why they used nut bars. In some cases, nut bars are very preferable to cage/clipon nuts. J

8 years, 10 months

8-sector decpacks?

by JoshD＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

Does anyone have any idea what drive/system an 8-sector decpack would have been used with? We have a few of them on our shelves at the LCM and I can't find any reference that mentions 8-sector packs. (Just the usual 12 and 16-sector ones.) They're clearly labeled "decpack 1100 BPI - 8" and the sector ring marks out eight sectors. These are RK05 (IBM 2315) style packs. Thanks, Josh Sr. Vintage Software Engineer Living Computer Museum www.livingcomputermuseum.org<http://www.livingcomputermuseum.org>

8 years, 10 months

FOUND RE: nut bars? ;)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Cindy wrote... ----- Are the one you want made by Accuride perhaps? http://www.accuride.com/media/1975/rackmountaccessories_pdf_3.pdf They call them "bar nuts" :-) ----- BINGO! That's the ones :) Thanks Cindy!!

8 years, 10 months

Fair price and ways to find a teletype

by radiotest＠juno.com

At 07:59 PM 10/15/2015, drlegendre . wrote: >Sounds like another nice freebie M15 just popped up on the greenkeys list.. >though it's stateside, and once again in St. Louis! There ought to be plenty of the 15-RO units kicking around in the States. Time was when every almost radio station in the country had one (or sometimes two in larger markets) for AP or UPI. I have an ex-UPI 15-RO that I would like to get rid of. I once thought of restoring it, but I have too many other more useful things awaiting restoration. Dale H. Cook, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA Osborne 1 / Kaypro 4-84 / Kaypro 1 / Amstrad PPC-640 http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/radios/index.html

8 years, 10 months

The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Liam Proven > I don't know if this memoir is well-known or not, but I thought it > might interest. > ... > http://jack.hoa.org/hoajaa/BurrMain.html Wow! What a fabulous story/writeup! Highly recommend to everyone. Noel

8 years, 10 months

ULTRIX-11 3.1 manuals / help?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Anyone have a copy of the ULTRIX-11 3.0 or 3.1 manuals lying around? I've got the 11/44 up and running with an SMD disk and a SCSI 9-track tape drive and I have ULTRIX-11 3.1 installed. (Yay!) But there are issues (Boo.) Unfortunately, the "setup" tool (and *what* a tool it is!) doesn't seem to be able to access the tape drive to install optional software. (I know it's working -- the files are there in /dev, mt talks to it fine and I can dd files off of it no problem). Of course, in a very un-UNIXy move on DEC's part, "setup" is an executable, not a shell script so I can't see what the heck it's trying to do. And in a *very* UNIXy move, "setup" provides no actionable diagnostics whatsoever. It immediately fails (having made no attempt to access the drive as far as I can tell) and prints "Open of distribution device FAILED: Try again <y or n>?" I'd like to be able to restore the rest of the optional software and whatnot; the files on the tape appear to be tar archives so I can just do it manually (and tediously) and I imagine that that's what the setup tool does *anyway*, but I'd like to at least *try* to do it the official way. Anyone have any experience here? Also, having an actual manual would be useful, ULTRIX-11 3.X seems to be considerably different than 2.0 (at least in that it has this wonderful new "setup" program I'm having so much fun with), which is all I've been able to find. Thanks as always, Josh

8 years, 10 months

VT52s, VT61s lots of DEC and DG keyboards- return trip through Maine, MA, NY, PA, OH, IN to IL

by useddec＠gmail.com

I'll be picking up a huge lot of DEC and some DG keyboards( no part numbers yet) over the next few days. I know what some of the DEC gear is and the condition of it, but not of the VTs. I would expect some power supply problems, but have no idea of tube rot/burn or cosmetics, except that all are complete. I don't really want to have to ship any, but I have reached out to one list member and will ship to him any possibly others. Boxing them, putting them in a gaylord and putting them on a pallet is the best I can come up with. This will be costly and labor intense, and if I have to ship, with one exception, I would prefer 4 to 6 units at a time. When I get home in a week or so I'll be putting out a list of unibus options which include the backplane and boards- like DB11-A bus repeater, DR11B, DH11s, a lot of com options, RH11, etc. Any questions, please contact me off list. Thanks, Paul

8 years, 10 months

IBM 029

by jws＠jwsss.com

Someone on FB pointed out that the 029 was announced this day in 1964. I've got one as well as a 129. I didn't realize they were that old of a product. The 029 was the first keypunch I used in school. http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV4002.html Thanks Jim

8 years, 10 months

Fair price and ways to find a teletype

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Be patient. 75 dollar 33s still exist Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: "drlegendre ." <drlegendre at gmail.com> Date: 10/14/2015 16:34 (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Fair price and ways to find a teletype Brad, A few montns ago, with a fair bit of help of the folks on this list, I did up an Altair 8800 rebuild. And apparently you & I both saw the same videos, as I got all hot and bothered about getting an ASR33 and using it to load software - BASIC, for starters - into? the Altair. And again, on members' suggestion, I joined the Greenkeys list. Too bad, but I was totally +shocked+ at the 'value' placed on ASR33 these days!! Thousand dollars and more, not all all unusual.. and my resources just can't justify that level of expenditure for what is generally a 'cheap' DIY hobby of sorts. Meanwhile, a Greenkeys member in St. Louis, MO popped up with a very nice M15 (ex-Bell) that was Free to Good Home. I have (or at least had, ha!) a good friend in St. Louis, and he was able to take care of the pickup for me - and several months later, i arranged to have it delivered to my house by a relative. Now the M15 isn't a 33ASR, and lacks the paper tape punch & reader (though devices do exist). But what it is, is a truly fantastic piece of electro-mechanical engineering that borders on the "tight metal" genre of some earlier business machines, such as the Felt & Tarrant Comptometer. If you have general mechanical experience, I'd say the M15 is roughly on a par with a 2-spd or even 3-spd automatic transmission, in terms of mechanical complexity (the the tranny will have a higher parts count.. I think!). So while they can be worked with, and documentation is plentiful, they are a bit intimidating the first time you see one in action - or inaction, as it may be - and they do NOT respond kindly to false moves or other ham-fistery. But they are well worth learning, and don't yet seem to have joined their later progeny in the financial stratosphere. -Bill On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 2:39 PM, william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote: > You can ship these in a box if you detach the pedestal and put it on its > side, making sure the main unit is well padded and there is a weight > balance to the box, as you never know from what angle the box will > sit/fall/land/be carried.? I shrink wrap the main TTY to ensure it stays > secure, then wrap in layers of bubble wrap and foam.? I have shipped five > or six that way.? You can also use two boxes.? It's very easy to re-attach > the main unit from the pedestal, many have a reader motor in the pedestal, > but you just unscrew it. > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 3:28 PM, ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: > > > On 10/14/2015 12:48 PM, Brad wrote: > > > >> How heavy are these things?? They look like solid steel in pictures. > >> That's one of the things that presents a big problem for me up here in > >> Canada... shipping from the US has gotten outrageously expensive. > >> > > > > Well for big things shipping I think it is about the same for the last > few > > years. > > It is the US mail that is strange ... $3.00* for 3 weeks or $60 for > > overnight. I expect still cheaper shipping than when new. Note you still > > need a truck to get from the shippers warehouse. > > Ben. > > * I think books still send that way. > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Bill >

8 years, 10 months

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test-drb October 2015