test-drb May 2015

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

199 participants
259 discussions

by silent700＠gmail.com

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

10 years, 8 months

EPROM image for Xylogics 472 (multibus Pertec controller)?

by earl＠baugh.org

> > On Dec 17, 2014, at 7:35 AM, Al Kossow wrote: > > > I should have one, somewhere.. Bear or Earl probably have one as well. > > Apparently I don't have an XY472, or at least one doesn't show in > inventory. I was totally ready to jump in and save the day, too! > > ok > bear. I'll try to check tonight when I get home... spreadsheet says I have 8 Xylogics SMD controllers... have to see if any is an XY472. Earl the Squirrel

10 years, 8 months

Memory options for an HP 1000 (HP 21MX / 2112A)

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

My soon to arrive HP 2112 has a 2102A memory controller and 3x 2102A cards of 8k memory each. I suppose I could add more 2102As to fill it up the 5 remaining slots and bring it up to 64k. But the recently posted IO manual says it can support way more - up to 1.28M. I'm not sure yet how the HP 1000 memory works. Can I put larger (>8k) capacity HP 1000 memory boards in there to expand memory beyond 64k? Do I need to replace the memory controller with one that matches the larger capacity cards then? Marc

10 years, 9 months

Ebay GT-40 in the Netherlands

by jws＠jwsss.com

DEC-Digital-1972-GT40-vector-graphics-system-PDP11-PDP-11 http://www.ebay.com/itm/231477915161 If I could afford it I wouldn't sweat the shipping cost. I think someone had posted what board did the graphics. Has that ever been given consideration for being added to SIMH for the 11? I'd love to run Lander, which I think is running on the system as shown. To Al: There was also a system like this at USL, which I wish had been conveyed to you. I suspect it was not. There was a new in the box replacement CRT because someone had had the system halt and burned the phosphor. You had to watch the system and never let the dot stop. If it stopped at a spot on the phosphor in the on position, you'd etch the phosphor. Ours (USL) never ran anything but Lander, so until someone with a project came along, we were saving the tube. The burn didn't affect lander much at all. thanks Jim

10 years, 9 months

Wanted: stand for NeXT monitor

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Just acquired a NeXT 68040 cube computer. It's way cool, but the responsiveness is unimpressive - I'd call it pokey. All 16 RAM slots are full for 16MB, but sixteen 4MB RAM sticks may help the speed. It has an internal HD, as well as the magneto-optical drive. One things it's missing is the monitor stand - does anyone have a spare stand for a NeXT N4000A monochrome monitor? Thanks- Steve.

10 years, 9 months

DEC cartridge ID & ARTIFACS 440

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

Does anyone recognise these DEC cartridges?: http://www3.telus.net/~bhilpert/tmp/deccartridge.jpg Any details or knowledge of what systems they may have been used with? They're definitely digital, note the logo on the nearer one on the right. I can't recall ever having seen them. They're associated in this instance with 80s-era biomed analysis. Also, anyone know what processor may have been used in a Becton Dickinson ARTIFACS 440 cell-sorting (FACS) rack? We're speculating there may be an embedded LSI-11. Rob and I are assessing some surplus/scrap equipment for rescue but haven't been on site yet.

10 years, 9 months

8-bit Computer TV Channel Use

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

> On May 21, 2015, at 12:11 , John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> wrote: > > At 03:03 PM 5/19/2015, Mark J. Blair wrote: >> I've been brainstorming about hypothetical hardware for converting video from vintage 8-bit computers to drive modern monitors well, with support for all of the dirty tricks like color aliasing that many of them used. > > Hasn't this list discussed existing devices that work for this task? > They're aimed at the game console market. I don't recall a previous discussion of that, but my lack of recollection certainly doesn't mean that it never happened. It's been mentioned recently on various retrocomputing podcasts that many (most? all?) of the existing solutions out there work poorly with some vintage computers, particularly the Apple II. It was mentioned in passing on Open Apple #43 in the discussion of LCD panels suitable for an Apple II GS laptop conversion, and specifically discussed on RCR #100 in the Host's Topic segment as something lacking in the market (links below). Maybe there are good solutions that just aren't well-known in those circles? If so, I'd like to hear about them. I'm also very interested in learning about specific instances of "computer X worked poorly with adapter/display Y, and it failed in this particular way". While I recall hearing multiple mentions of this sort of trouble in general, I'd like to hear of specific examples of how specific combinations failed, i.e. "monitor Y couldn't sync to video from computer X", "adapter Y generates monochrome output instead of deliberately aliased colors from computer X", etc. http://www.open-apple.net/2015/01/22/open-apple-43-january-2015-happy-new-y… http://rcrpodcast.com/episodes/2015/5/10/rcr-episode-100.html -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

10 years, 10 months

Panaplex display history

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

JOOI, does anyone know when Panaplex 7-segment displays started going the way of the dodo, to be replaced with LED displays (and, on the back of that, what were the advantages of a Panaplex-type display over an LED one?) I just saved a few boards from a dumpster with such displays on (they're actually Beckman ones, not Burroughs), but I was a little surprised to see IC dates into 1981; I thought by then things had moved over to LED. I'm almost certain that they're from old gas pumps - maybe the displays are just more readable in bright sunlight than LED? (there's a sticker on one of the PSU boards with a 'shipping date' in 1999) cheers Jules

10 years, 10 months

PDP-12 Restoration at the RICM

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

We spent Friday and Saturday debugging the PDP-12. We replaced a bad SN7400 driver chip and three bad bulbs in the front panel. We can now trust what we see on the front panel for debugging information. We tried some of the PDP-8 and LINC instructions and noticed that some of the bits in the Instruction Register were stuck on. We swapped the two M216 (six flip-flops in three SN7474 ICs) flip-chips that make up the IR and the stuck bits moved. We replaced the broken M216 with a spare, and now all of the IR bits work correctly. With a working IR, we found that lots of the PDP-8 instructions, and many of the LINC instructions now work. We can turn the relays on and off and make noises through the speaker. During other DEC restorations we have replaced LOTs of SN7474 ICs. We pulled all of the M216 flip-chips and ran them in Warren's tester. We found and replaced another bad M216, the one in slot E8 that controls the core memory states. Now core memory works! We went through the troubleshooting guide in Maintenance Volume-II. It has a procedure for doing a quick test of core memory that revealed a problem in the upper addresses. From looking at the prints it had to be one of two G221 flip-chips. We swapped in a spare and found that the one in slot C09 was bad. Now all of the first 4k of memory works. There is a problem with any PDP-8 instruction that has an address in the lower 9 bits. All 12 bits of the instruction are used, so it makes a mess. Debugging that issue will be the next project. -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 10 months

PDP 11/44 for sale

by rdooley＠shaw.ca

I have been on this list for a long time as a reader and wanted to give the list a heads up on this system before doing anything else in case somebody wants it and can pick it up. -- Cabinet 1: Quickware Engineering QED-95 CPU replacement 2- TU-58 tape drives Cabinet 2: BA11-KW RX02 floppies Cabinet 3: 2- RL02 disk drives 1-MDI 76-contains 1 Maxtor XT8760EM 760 Meg HD Cabinet 4: 2-RL02 disk drives 1-MDI 276-contains two Maxtor XT8760EM 760 Meg HDs I am asking US$3000.00 for the four cabinets. I can't guarantee anything but it was turned off working fine. The buyer would have the option of buying up to 18 RL02K-DC data carts for US$25 each Shipping is probably not an option they are about 300lbs + each I am located in Kelowna BC Canada about 3hrs north of Spokane Washington.. Preference would have to go to someone that could come and get it. Pictures are here http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/32499942349-1432868285-94725/0 Rod Rdooley at shaw dot ca

10 years, 10 months

Franklin Ace 1000

by sales＠elecplus.com

Looks kind of like Apple II, but bigger. Hasd 1 external 5.25" diskette drive. Missing one keycap (the letter F). Make an offer, I can ship it. Totally untested J Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

10 years, 10 months

Apple-1 doh!

by chrise＠pobox.com

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/31/usa-california-computer-idINL1N0YM… May 31 (Reuters) - A $100,000 check is waiting for a mystery woman who donated a rare Apple 1 computer to a Silicon Valley recycling firm. CleanBayArea in Milpitas, California, is trying to track down a woman in her 60s who dropped off some electronic goods in April, when she was cleaning out the garage after her husband died. In one of the boxes, buried under worthless keyboards, personal computer pieces and wires, was a 1976 Apple 1, a groundbreaking home computer. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak designed and hand-built the computers and sold them for $666.66 each. Only a few dozen are known still to exist. [...] -- Chris Elmquist

10 years, 10 months

Looking for a Northstar S-100 Double Density Controller

by spereira1952＠comcast.net

I'm looking for a Northstar double density floppy disk controller. The double density controller will be marked as MDS-ADx. I have seen pictures of this board marked as MDS-AD and MDS-AD3, but I'm not certain how many different versions there may be out there. Obviously, I would greatly prefer to know that the board is operational prior to shipping. Please let me know if you might have a spare or unused board that you would part with for a reasonable price plus shipping. Thanks! -- Stephen M. Pereira Bedford, NH 03110 KB1SXE

10 years, 10 months

UA11 "Unibus Analyzer" Wanted

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

I didn't discover this wonderful project from Guy until *after* he had moved. And while he _may_ have a few boards left, they're still buried somewhere in his amazing collection of "materiel" :->. As I need to learn/work my way through various Unibus systems/scenarios ... starting with self-education ... I'd very much like to acquire one of these beasties. Does anyone have a UA11 PCB, kit, or completed board, with which they'd be willing to part? A good home with a friendly family is guaranteed! Many Thanks, paul

10 years, 10 months

Intel absolute object file format specification

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Various Intel manual reference an "MCS 80/85 absolute object file formats" manual, order number 9800183B. Does anyone have this? Note that this is a pure binary format, not the well-known "Intel Hex" format.

10 years, 10 months

IBM System/34 available in sweden

by pontus＠Update.UU.SE

Hi I was just offered an IBM System/34. It's not my thing and I thought there might be some international interest even. Documentation and software included. Contact me for details. /P

10 years, 10 months

Intel DEBUG-86 listing?

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Did Intel ever publish a listing of DEBUG-86, as they did of their Series II monitor for the 8080/8085?

10 years, 10 months

Bitcoining on a 1401

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

We do have two 1401s, and on a good day, they both work. No working 360s. But even if we could have the two 1401's talk to each other, it would still take about the age of the universe to mine a block. This is about the worst machine for scientific calculation, as it does BCD, character by character arithmetic, in a serial fashion, one BCD digit at a time. Hardware multiplication is an optional add-on feature on these machines (which we have)! So no, you can never mine a real block in time with a 1401, or even a million of them. But that you could implement and run the algorithm is just a testament that the fundamentals of computing haven't changed, doubled with a vivid demonstration of the mind-boggling effects of Moore's Law over one generation. And having old hardware tackle modern tasks is just plain fun. And, lest I forget, a credit to the skill, talent and humor of our vintage programmer extraordinaire Ken, who joined us recently. Marc Message: 13 Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 12:31:57 -0700 From: Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Bitcoining on a 1401 Message-ID: <4B9B7085-C29F-4987-893F-FB397DFFC903 at cs.ubc.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On 2015-May-28, at 11:12 AM, Fred Cisin wrote: >>> Is the bitcoin output anywhere close to enough to pay for the costs of >>> running a 1401? >> On Thu, 28 May 2015, emanuel stiebler wrote: >> Probably not. Quoting the web page: >> " ... but so slowly it would take more than the lifetime of the universe to successfully mine a block " >> ;-) > > Excellent! > Does anybody have enough 1401s to run them in parallel to speed up the process?

10 years, 10 months

OT: Looking for the Tek 465 of Logic Analysers

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

I'd suggest to go for the king of the hill at the time, and get an HP 16xx (163x, 165x, 166x, 167x) for all-in-ones or the 16500 if you like to modularize yourself, although tis latter one is much harder to put together since you have to get the frame, the plug ins, the software, etc... On the 16yx, the higher the y number, the better the machine (i.e faster, better screens, more memory). They are widely available, starting at below $100 for the earlier machines, and up to $300-$400 for the later ones. I'd recommend to have at least one that has a hard disk, so you don't have to find or make an old LIF floppy to boot from. As always the rub is the pods/probes. I had to complete my set separately, but they are also widely available. This is a relatively small amount to pay for what these machines actually are. The later ones have the inverse assembler for the 68000. I got the luxury one, a 1670G with the pattern generator (which I haven't found an excuse to use yet). Here it is at work: http://youtu.be/X_6limxLZ_k Sent from my iPad > On May 29, 2015, at 12:00 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Message: 20 > Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 22:53:07 -0400 > From: Ken Seefried <seefriek at gmail.com> > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: OT: Looking for the Tek 465 of Logic Analysers > Message-ID: > <CAOrcWjx8hKjDDgcLyvzSbrotk8QmgBSf2KVnzbmSjpQrzzFKwg at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Maybe only semi-OT. I'm working on a couple of classiccmp-ish projects > (6303, 6309 and 68030) and I find the trusty old Tek 465 o-scope is no > longer compensating for my lack of design skill (or I'm getting better at > hiding bugs in my designs, depending how you look at it). I'm looking for > a recommendation for a logic analyzer. Considering my very modest design > constraints, I'm thinking: > > - Suitable for 50MHz designs (really more like <16MHz, but you never know) > - 32 channels would be nice, ~128 probably perfect, less...you know...do > what you gotta do... > - No weird technologies in the design (all TTL/CMOS logic) > - I'm willing to spend a few $$ to get decent kit, but need to spend closer > to 465 money than TLA7012 money > - Decent analytics, hopefully more than "here's your traces...good luck" > - Ease of finding complete kit; nothing worse than dropping a dime on what > looks like a good deal only to find you're missing the unobtanium cable, or > the software disk that the vendor will be more than happy to provide you > only under a cripplingly expensive support contract.

10 years, 10 months

Bitcoining on a 1401

by commodorejohn＠gmail.com

> The article mentions the CHM has two 1401s functioning, but I guess halving the time won't help much. Au contraire! Running two of them means it would take only more than *half* the lifetime of the universe, which means you still have *less* than half the lifetime of the universe left to enjoy it!

10 years, 10 months

Possible large stash of equipment in California estate

by r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com

The following message was posted on the Large Format Photography Forum, to which I subscribe: <quote> A good friend's widow has computer junk. He was a computer tech. A huge room stacked floor to ceiling with racks loaded with obsolete computers & stuff. Any idea what sort of reclycers she could contact which might be interested in offering her some $$ (which she could really use) for it? </quote> The poster of the note lives in the San Joaquin Valley, California, so I am guessing the widow lives nearby. I have urged the poster to get a list together and post it here, but is there anyone who could help them out? If so, send me an email directly to r(underscore)a(underscore)feldman(at)Hotmail.com and I will try to connect you with the poster (I do not have his email yet). Bob Feldman

10 years, 10 months

Bitcoining on a 1401

by jws＠jwsss.com

I saw this article over on the Hercules group, and was amused. http://www.righto.com/2015/05/bitcoin-mining-on-55-year-old-ibm-1401.html Thanks Jim

10 years, 10 months

The old Monroe 10 calculator

by sales＠elecplus.com

Not sure if this is old enough to count? Warranty expiration date on the back is 5-20-1975 J Comes with cassette tape. No AC adapter to test it. If interested, make offer. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

10 years, 10 months

Looking for the Tek 465 of Logic Analysers

by seefriek＠gmail.com

From: tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >> - No weird technologies in the design (all TTL/CMOS logic) > >That is going to be a problem. AFAIK no 'serious' logic analyser was all >TTL or (high speed) CMOS. If you are looking for one that is mostly/all >standard logic, I think you have to consider ECL here. I meant I'm not using any weird technology in *my* designs. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm not particularly concerned about what the LA is built from. KJ

10 years, 10 months

Dec pdp 11/44 for sale

by rdooley＠shaw.ca

10 years, 10 months

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test-drb May 2015