So in the past few weeks I've been playing with my latest aquisition, an HP
9845A that's been upgraded at some point to a 9845B. The filter caps for the
PSU are in the mail still and I have yet to actually see the system turn on
so I've been working on other projects in the meantime like cleaning the
machine, troubleshooting faults in the floppy drives it came with and
sourcing a food dehydrator to bake the tapes it unexpectedly came with.
It's a fairly basic machine without the internal printer or second tape
drive. Only the I/O, graphics and Mass Storage ROMs are installed and
there's at least one other option ROM module not accounted for according to
one of the manuals that came with. In fact it seems the option ROMs aren't
common to begin with or at least they are not cheap on ebay. I seem to
remember a few years ago someone out further West than I am who also had a
45 discussed some sort of ROM board that acted like the PRM-85 ROM board for
the HP 85 and let you load whatever ROMs you wanted onto a modern EPROM and
do away with HP's silly modules completely however my memory is fuzzy and I
can't seem to find any mention of such a device on the internet. What I did
find was the System ROM replacement board on hp9845.net but it doesn't
mention the ability to add in images of the option ROMs he has available on
his site. Anyone else heard of this mysterious adapter?
-John
I've borrowed an HP 9000/380 from a friend, along with a 9122D floppy
drive, but no software. It has an A1416A Color VRX DIO-II "Kathmandu"
video interface, but I'm hoping that I can just use the serial port as
a console. Does the DE9 serial console use the IBM pinout? Do I have
to pull the A1416A to get it to use the serial port as the console?
Is there any software that can be booted on it from the floppy, such
as perhaps non-HP-UX BASIC?
I just received the first of the BC11A paddle boards (so that I can now create my own BC11A cables). I made two variants of the boards. One where the cables come out the ?top? and another where the cables come out the ?side? (so you don?t have to ?fold? the cable in a number of different applications such as RK05s).
The ones that arrived today are the S or ?side? variation (as opposed to the T or ?top? variation). I immediately noticed (why I didn?t see this when I was reviewing the board layout previously I?ll never know) is that one of the cable connectors is too close to the edge. It wouldn?t be a problem except that I chose to use connectors that have cable retention latches. The latches protrude from the board edge by ~0.02?. So once I verify that these work, I?ll move the one connector inward ~0.5?. I have plenty of space, I just don?t know why I put the connector that close to the edge. *sigh*. For these boards, I?ll probably just file the latch down a bit to get the appropriate clearance.
BTW, trying to get the connectors onto the board (I haven?t soldered them in yet) was tight. That?s the problem with trying to get 60 pins to all line up correctly. But they fit and are *snug*. I probably won?t go and do any testing until I get the other boards in so it may be a couple more weeks (the boards weren?t supposed to *ship* before 2/8).
For those who?d like to know, I probably will not be making a production run of these boards unless I get a *lot* of interest (100 boards or so). If you want some, let me know and if I get enough interest, I?ll do a production run.
TTFN - Guy
> From: Guy Sotomayor
> I was originally thinking twisted pair ribbon cable until I saw what
> 100' spool of that would run and decided to try just the straight
> "grey" ribbon cable for now.
That should be fine; the DEC M9042 board (basically equivalent) used three
H854 flat cables, see:
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/XD149.80
The DEC board makes every other conductor in the flat cable a ground; not
quite as good as twisted pair, but close.
> I probably will not be making a production run of these boards unless I
> get a *lot* of interest (100 boards or so). If you want some, let me
> know
I would definitely be interested in some (how many exactly would depend on
the price).
Noel
Hi
If you have sent me an off list email in the last couple of days and
have not got a response. - Apologies
It seems I am loosing some but not all inbound email - ISP trying to
fix it
Rod Smallwood
Hi all,
Dose anybody know about Mitsubishi Apricots (1990ish)? They are of interest
to me as they were the first PC I used and I now have a few. I'm having
issues with getting them to boot from a floppy. Iv done some reading around
the subject and from what I understand I need a secure boot floppy.
Can anybody help?
Thanks
Peter
> I'm using extensivly C-Kermit on my FreeBSD host to connect to
> various serial-line-only Systems. They also have a kermit executable
> so I'm using kermit -s to send data from those systems to my FreeBSD
> system and also getting files from my FreeBSD host to the other
> systems is working fine.
>
> I'm now looking for a way to get this "kermit file transfer"
> functionality from Windows but had no luck so far.
>
> Is there free-for-use Kermit alternative arround to be used for
> Windows or an other Terminal Emulation which supportes Kermit
> File Transfers "out of the box"?
>
> Yes - I know Kermit 95, but this is not free.
>
It appears that (most of) the source code for Kermit 95 has been released now
but there is more work to done on it to make this useful.
http://www.kermitproject.org/k95sourcecode.html
Regards,
Peter Coghlan
As I mentioned some time back, I am currently restoring a VAX 11/730 system. It is the version
with the TS05 on the top, I currently have the TS05 in many bits while I sort out at least 4 faults
with it (No, I've not sorted out the TU58 console tape drive yet, I needed something else to get
on with while I was thinking about that).
One problem with the TS05 (Rebadged Cipher F880E, of course) is the mains switch. Only
one pole (double pole switch) opens, and it gave quite a nasty spark when I put mans on
the unit. So I want to replace it.
The problem is that I have never seen one like it before. It has _5_ terminals. Four of them
are what you'd expect for a double pole on/off switch, The other is for the built-in neon
indicator. Rather than just wiring it across the output side of the switch (as most do), this
unit has a neon with the correct series resistor for 115V operation wired between one
of the output side terminals and the fifth terminal. The TS05 puts the neon in parallel with
the supply for the 115V blower unit. Thus the power on indicator gets 115V no matter how
the voltage selector is set.
The switch is the stadard size for double pole rocker switches (30mm * 22mm panel
cutout, isn't it?). If I can't get the right replacement I have several options :
1) Fit a normal 230V illuminated rocker swtich, and asssume I will never change the
voltage selector setting (but I am trying to keep this machine electrically original).
2) Fit a normal non-illuminated rocker switch. It will then be OK on any mains voltage, but
no power-on indicator, and it's not electrically original
3) Fit a non-illuminated rocker switch and find a place to fit a separate neon indicator.
It is then electrically original, but won't look right
4) Try to mend the original switch
5) Try to make an equivalent using bits of switches I can get.
Does anyone have any ideas where to get the original switch from?
-tony
V05.06 RT-11 DOC Set - Pickup Required in Los Angeles to Help Jay West
An old RT-11 fellow tried to sell his V05..06 RT-11 DOC set on eBay, but
no one bid. Jay West has expressed a desire to have the hard copy set of
manuals. Is there anyone in the Los Angeles area who would be willing to
pickup the manuals (there are 14 in all) and either keep them until there is
a pickup of else ship them?
I hope we can help out Jay for all the effort over the many years!!!!!!!!!!
Jerome Fine