test-drb March 2015

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

167 participants
224 discussions

by mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG

[Teal deer: I'm looking for generic any-VAX MMU-hardware test code.] Some of you may recall that I've mentioned, a few times, that I've got a MicroVAX-II emulator I've been working on. I think it's most of the way there - seems to me I'm into the last 10% of the work which takes the second 90% of the time. :-) But when I netboot NetBSD and start to run it diskless, I get peculiar crashes which make me think I'm mis-emulating the MMU somehow. Basic operation seems to work fine - cd, ls, and the like - but under conditions the details of which I haven't pinned down yet, I get crashes like pid 65 (install), uid 0: exited on signal 11 (core not dumped, err = 14) panic: pmap_protect: outside P0LR Stopped in install at _pmap_protect+0xdf: movl $15, r8 db> I can reproduce it relatively reliably, but it takes about five minutes to do so. I'm trying to reduce the test case to something a bit more manageable, but, in the meantime, I also thought it might be worth asking after possible thorough test code. I have some test code, but it seems to be for bigger machines - 780, 8600, and the like. I searched for KA630 and I searched for MicroVAX (case-insensitive); the former gave no hits and the latter only two. One MicroVAX hit was a message in one test saying H-Floating instructions are not part of the MicroVAX instruction set, therefore tests 71 - 98 are not executed. The other was in a .hlp file, describing the use of the ATTACH command: 2 MicroVax DS> ATTACH Device type? LESI Device link? HUB Device name? DAA UDAIP? 772150 [...] Collectively, these make me think the tests I have probably predate the MicroVAX-II. I'll be trying to get the diagnostic supservisor netbooted, but it doesn't look designed for netbooting, and it's not clear to me that any of the tests are sufficiently generic to be of any use here. So, while I will be pursuing this on my own, I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any test code I might be able to get my hands on that's generic (or uV2-specific) and might indicate what's wrong in a useful way. (Useful to a simulator author, that is; "PCRB L from U248 not getting to U144, or U248/U144 bad" is not useful, whereas "translation not valid fault is pushing a partially incremented PC" is useful. :-) /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

9 years, 6 months

M4data model 9914 tape drive

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I managed to repair the SCSI board of my tape unit. In the end it was fairy simple, just one bus buffer not working as expected. On SCSI board I have ROM 193996 rev 10, while on control board ROM 123248 rev 30 and ROMs 123615/123616 rev 06. Could worth to update it for better tape reading support or compatibility? Anybody has some more recent ROM? If anybody is interested, I can share the ROM images. Andrea

9 years, 6 months

Recommendation for a PROM burner

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

>Jay wrote... >Data I/O 29B with Unipak2 Nice and very vintage! But not cheap (>$400?). http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/330940089317?lpid=82&chn=ps What about the modern TL866? Anybody has experience with these? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLG03f_ua5g - Marc

9 years, 6 months

VCF Midwest 10

by computerdoc＠sc.rr.com

Hi Lawrence, I am going to have to go to this year's VCFM10! It sounds Awesome! Kip Koon computerdoc at sc.rr.com http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon > -----Original Message----- > From: cctech [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Lawrence Wilkinson > Sent: Friday, March 13, 2015 5:20 PM > To: cctech at classiccmp.org > Subject: Fwd: VCF Midwest 10 > > Sorry, but Jason's original message was dropped by cctech, so here it is: > > -------- Forwarded Message -------- > Subject: VCF Midwest 10 > Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:07:16 -0500 > From: Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com> > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > > > The silence may have led you to believe that it was all over. Oh no... > > The 10th Vintage Computer Festival is a GO! > > Bigger, bolder, nerdier than ever, a wonderful way to tack on our > second digit, VCFMW10 will be held August 29-30 at the Holiday Inn > Chicago-Elk Grove Village. A remarkable convergence of amenities and > price have come together in this spot. Among the features: > > - A single 4550 sqft banquet hall - at long last, VCFMW and ECCC shall > truly be one! > > - First-floor facilities - no more elevator rides or Level of Discharge! > > - 11'x12' loading doors that open direct to the parking lot - you > could drive a truck right into the ballroom, but don't! > > - A separate room for talks, videos, quiet time, etc - like we're a > real conference or something! > > - No (known) conflicts with holidays, wives' birthdays or other local events! > > - The quaint, vaguely Blade Runner-esque surroundings of industrial > parks, truck depots and factories - just the way we like it! > > - An on-site restaurant, pool, exercise room, outdoor firepit/smoking > area, shuttle buses to/from the airport and Woodfield mall, close > proximity to fast-food and the two greatest Chicago eateries, > Portillo's and Lou Malnati's! (Seriously, those two alone are reason > enough to attend.) > > I have updated the http://vcfmw.org web page and FAQ with most of the > information we have so far. Please give them a read before posting > questions. Hotel room rates will be slightly higher than last year's > $79 at the Fairfield Inn; I am still negotiating the block rate. Due > to the restaurant being on-site, there will be no continental > breakfast. Sorry :( > > Now the hard sell: all of this geek-luxury does not come without a > price. Some of you know that the deal we had at the Heron Point was > extraordinary and unheard-of in the event hosting business. Since the > HP no longer rents to the public, we were faced with the choice of > resting on our successful nine-year record or figuring out a way for > the show to go on. And go on it shall...with your help. Without > getting into specifics, the cost of putting on VCFMW has more than > doubled - and we are getting a bargain if our comparison shopping is > to be trusted. > > Donation links have been set up on the main VCFMW page for PayPal and > GoFundMe sites. Please use the GFM only if you do not have a PayPal > account, as GFM charges us a fee. If you'd prefer to donate in > person, contact me directly. I will get you a receipt (sorry, we're > not a 501.3c yet, so it won't be tax-free.) The main site features > our non-patented Donate-o-Meter which will (more-or-less) track our > progress. We have a lot of time to reach our goal as payment is not > due until the day of the show. > > Extra money raised will be either spent on bonus features for the show > (more space, pizza bar, etc.) or put into a fund for next year. We > will engange with the community as much as possible before making any > decsion regarding extra funds. > > There will be much to do between now and August - a new floor plan to > design, tables to allocate, speakers to recruit. But our first big > task is one where everyone can help: let's get the word out! Many of > you are on forums that I am not, so spread the news: the show will go > on! > > -j >

9 years, 6 months

Another New Zealand Bits&Bytes scan

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

Through the efforts of a volunteer, I've re-started uploading scans of New Zealand Bits & Bytes, Browsing through the pages might be of interest to some. This one is from February 1987. Among other things there are reviews on the Commodore PC/AT and the Apple IIGS. It also includes an article I co-wrote on a simulation I developed for my students. http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/bits-and-bytes/issue5.5.htm Other issues will be uploaded when Richard (the volunteer) gets time to scan them. Terry (Tez)

9 years, 6 months

Another question about core sense amplifiers

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brent Hilpert > Similarly, the address-line drivers use a center-tapped primary > configuration as a cheap way of providing the bi-directional drive > current for the address wires (like push-pull audio). On re-reading this, to ensure that I had fully extracted the content into my brain, I realized I didn't fully grok this. Could you expand a tiny bit on this (and especially the push-pull reference)? On thinking about it, I guess that what's happening is that there are two driver transistors, each attached to the center tap and one end, but with the polarity reversed. A positive pulse through one produces a positive pulse on the output secondary, whereas a positive pulse through the other produces a negative pulse on the output secondary. Or am I mis-understanding? What I don't get is why that's better than simply attaching two opposed transistors directly to the address lines, as one sees in the output stages of audio amplifiers, to handle the two halves of a sine wave. Noel

9 years, 6 months

New scans.

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

I've uploaded the issues of International Journal of Computer Forensics and the Z-Letters I got from Chuck a while back. They're on http://www.retroarchive.org All scans were done at 600dpi. I'll be getting them uploaded to the IA as well. g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

9 years, 6 months

Terak 8512 external 8 inch floppy drives

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I'm tinkering to connect the CBMStuff.com SuperCard Pro to eight-inch floppy drives. The SuperCard has a contemporary 34-pin floppy connector. The Terak 8510 main unit held a drive and its system cards, and its external 8512 drives just held a power supply and a floppy drive. The ribbon cables between 8510 and 8512 are 40 pin. The 8512 doesn't have its own power switch. The back of the 8512 has a small circuit board. (And by "back", I mean the board is actually exposed, which seems odd for a computer that's otherwise built as robust as aircraft or mil-spec.) It accepts the 50-pin cable from the internal floppy drive and has two 40-pin male for daisy-chain ribbons to the 8510 and additional 8512. The board has a socket for a drive terminator and a DIP for setting the drive ID. The 8512 power supply has a relay that must be sensing a signal on the 40-pin cable, as that's what turns on the 8512. Similarly, the Terak main unit's single power switch controls the Terak mono monitor. I haven't traced the signals on the board yet, and I have not yet found a doc that explains the cable pin-out. Because I have a bunch of 8512, it would be convenient for me to be able to use them as self-standing eight-inch drives. I purchased one of John Wilson's 50-pin Shugart to 34-pin adapters for its generation of the TG43 signal and the LED blinkenlightz. I'm tempted to tease out the Terak's 40-pin pinout and perhaps make some sort of adapter to go to 50-pin. - John

9 years, 6 months

MicroVax II in original DEC Rack on Ann Arbor MI Craigslist

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Thought id share this with you guys. http://annarbor.craigslist.org/sys/4913726464.html He says his bottom dollar is $250. I could possibly coordinate pick up if someone out of the area wanted it. Just cover my gas is all I ask. Steve

9 years, 6 months

MicroVax II in original DEC Rack on Ann Arbor MI Craigslist

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

The BA23 isn't as stripped as mentioned earlier. The front-panel bezel can be seen laying in the bottom of the rack, and the back door to the chassis is present, with no empty filler plates. I've seen photos of the inside of the chassis, so I have some information on the contents - The backplane is fully populated with boards -- there are no empty slots. 1.) Some sort of MicroVAX CPU, with unknown amount of memory. 2.) 2 x Emulex CS02's (32 serial lines total) with the possibility of the rack-mount bulkheads. 3.) RQDX3 controller 4.) TQK50 controller 5.) DZV11 controller There is another quad Emulex board (model unknown) as well as an unidentified dual-wide board. One of these is a pertec controller -- I just don't know which. T

9 years, 6 months

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test-drb March 2015