test-drb November 2016

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

165 participants
224 discussions

Pine (was: Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20)

by fred＠MISER.MISERNET.NET

> Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:41:53 -0500 (EST) > From: ethan at 757.org > Subject: Re: Could someone make this topic go away? > Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.1511192141030.32673 at users.757.org> > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > Am I the only one left using Pine!? > > I get odd looks when I'm checking email from my cell phone. No you are not. I use (al)pine on my OpenVMS system here as well as my main Linux host. I have mail going back to 2004 here and since 1996 at another public access Unix host I use. It's great when I'm out of town and can ssh in from my phone and check the mail. :) Pine does most everything I need without having to worry about malware, phishing, etc ... the beauty of text. Fred

6 years, 5 months

Windows 1.0 For DEC Rainbow (mirror of Latrobe ftp anybody ?)

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, since the messages in May about the MS Windows 1.0 version for DEC Rainbow, I did some research to see if a version is effectively available. It seems that copies of this software are really difficult to find, but a complete copy was available on the latrobe ftp DEC Rainbow archive... which disappeared with all valuable data... Anybody has a copy of the content before the deletion? Anyway, I found a file-by-file copy of it, on this site: https://winworldpc.com/download/62DF4D23-B974-11E4-AC5A-5404A6F17893 For preservation reasons, it would be really better to have an original disk image. Any news about dumping the disks or an ftp archive where they are present? Thanks Andrea

6 years, 11 months

Supercomputers, fishing for information

by iamcamiel＠gmail.com

I'm making arrangements to have four (mini-)supercomputers from the 1980's shipped to me. In the mean time, I'm trying to find out what I can about these systems, so this is a fishing expedition. The systems are: * Convex C1-XP * Convex C1-XL * Intel iPSC/860 * Ardent Titan Pictures of these can be found on my website, at http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/collection/27-odd/76-four-supercomputers (click on the thumbnails to see a larger version) I'd like to get in touch with anyone who knows anything about these machines, as well as anyone who may have documentation, but I also have two specific questions: - Can anyone identify the tape drives shown in the pictures? I believe the one in the Intel iPSC/860 is an Exabyte 8mm one, but the ones used on the Convex and the Ardent are a mystery to me. - Does anyone know what the SRM (System Resource Manager) for the iPSC/860 physically looks like? Does it look like a PC, and does it say Intel on the front? Reason I'm asking is that I'm getting these out of an estate, and I need to tell them what to look for. Thanks, Camiel.

7 years

HP 9000/382 Questions

by pete＠petelancashire.com

Hello from a newbie to the list I've just acquired 2 HP 382's with expanders. Have not had the time to look inside them yet. End goal is to set one up as an instrument controller i.e. using the built in GPIB and potentially a 2nd GPIB card. One thing I do not have is a display, keyboard and mouse. A few question Is there a PS/2 or USB (yea long shot) adapter for the HPIL interface ? Does someone have a keyboard/mouse they a not beholding to, or know where there maybe one ? Once I get the opened up and take an inventory, anything I should look out for be trying to power one of them up ? Can one boot to a terminal on the RS-232 port. Until I find a kbd/mouse ? What would be optimum version of HP-UX to run on them ? -pete

7 years, 1 month

Logic Analyser Advice

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I finally managed to pick up a logic analyser for a price I could justify. It is a HP1630G and it comes with a number of pods. However the pods do not seem to have the actual wires/probes. Is there a separate part number for these that I should look for. There seem to be quite a few items like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291753390848, are these likely to be suitable alternatives? Thanks Rob

7 years, 1 month

Paper tape carriers and paper tape

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

I don't know if anyone here has the interest or capability to do it, but creating a replica of the blue tape trays with the clear overlay that one could sell for a few bucks with some random fanfold copies of DEC or other diagnostics would be nice. Perhaps if there were a ready source of replicas with a perpetual listing or 10 to overwhelm the auctions with 100 and 300 dollar auctions for the genuine originals the originals would be listed and sold for a reasonable amount. I'm sure there there are things going to people with no idea what they have which would have been nice to image and save. I would think someone with vacuum molding and some skill with plastics could do the trays. not sure about the source of tapes to sell with them, maybe that does justify some extra expense. People with working readers and libraries of tapes might like them as well. thanks Jim

7 years, 1 month

FW: Y Combinator is restoring one of Alan Kay's Xerox Alto machines

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

Video of session 6 is up: https://youtu.be/b7yVhMT7tr4 Found our first bad IC. Probably not our last one. On 9/3/16 11:08 PM, curiousmarc3 at gmail.com wrote: Episode 5, still does not boot, but we are starting to follow long why: https://youtu.be/Wr7vDZpniNIr Marc On Jul 31, 2016, at 6:12 PM, CuriousMarc <mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> <curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> wrote: Next Episode: https://youtu.be/EDw8U1a6s78 http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day_31.html Marc From: Curious Marc [mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 2:01 AM To: Curious Marc; cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Y Combinator is restoring one of Alan Kay's Xerox Alto machines Ken's in-depth blog post to go with the previous video http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day_11.html On Jul 5, 2016, at 2:46 PM, Curious Marc <mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> <curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> wrote: Video from yesterday?s work on the Diablo cartridge disc: https://youtu.be/PR5LkQugBE0 Should be up in a few minutes. We were tickled pink to have official representation from PARC (former Xerox Parc) at the session. Marc Ken?s new post on the monitor repair to go with my previous video. http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day.html Al Kossow got us a new CRT tube, so we are probably going to try that this week-end. Marc Latest entry from Ken Shirriff, trying out BCPL (ancestor of C). On the emulator, not yet on the real machine: http://www.righto.com/2016/06/hello-world-in-bcpl-language-on-xerox.html Marc There are only two entries right now: http://www.righto.com/2016/06/y-combinators-xerox-alto-restoring.html http://www.righto.com/2016/06/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day.html Marc

7 years, 1 month

Wanted: AT&T 3B2 systems & software

by lists＠loomcom.com

(n.b.: Sorry for the "wanted" spam from me. I think this is the last one for a while!) I have access to a friend's AT&T 3B2 Model 400 for exploratory and reverse-engineering work, but I would really like to get a system of my own. To that end, if you have an AT&T 3B2 you'd like to part with, please drop me a line. Happy to pay fair market prices, or consider some trades if you prefer that (I have a lot of DEC Qbus stuff) I'm also still looking for more documentation. I especially wish I had schematics, and any docs related to writing drivers. Anything that would be useful in documenting the 3B2 internals would be lovely. Thanks! -Seth

7 years, 2 months

Does anyone have docs for a Ventel brand MD212-plus modem?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, All, A friend of mine just returned a modem he got from me decades ago, a Ventel MD212-plus. It's an early-1980s non-AT-command-set autodialling modem. The settings are adjusted via a pair of 10-pin DIP switches accessible from the back. I've checked the web and bitsavers. So far, all I've found is some old Usenet articles and a couple of pictures, but no manual or jumper guide. One "feature" is that it lacks a modular jack to plug into the phone system. Fortunately, my friend kept the proprietary DA15 cable. I've never seen that choice of connectors on any other modem. Does anyone have any Ventel docs? Thanks, -ethan

7 years, 2 months

TI 990/189 debugging

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Got myself a TI-990/189 single-board computer based around the TMS9980 microprocessor (actually, a variant of it, the MP9529, which apparently differs only in that it has a lower maximum clock and only requires Vdd of 9.3V or so...) It was advertised as "it looks like it's working, but who knows" and so of course it arrived and it's dead. It powers up and nothing appears on the display, and the CR1-CR4 and SHIFT LEDs are illuminated. No response whatsoever. I've spent some time yesterday and today probing the thing and I think the CPU is dead, but I wanted to run it past the braintrust here in case anyone has any experience with the 9980... Here's what I see: Voltages are all nominal on the +12, +5 and -5 supply; +5 and -5 are present at the CPU, as is 9.3V for the VDD. At the CPU: - CKIN is clocking at the right rate, the phi3 clock generated by the CPU is also correct. - IAQ is not pulsing, so the CPU is not fetching instructions - The Address and Data lines are all zeros with no activity whatsoever - HOLDA is low, -HOLD is high (so the CPU is not being held) - READY is high - MEMEN is low (so no memory accesses are taking place) - INT0 through INT2 is 010 (which indicates that a LOAD interrupt is active, more on this later) I have verified that the POWERGOOD signal is going high after about a second after power-on, as expected (this causes things on the board to RESET appropriately). This in turn causes the -LOAD signal from the Power Up/Reset circuit to go low, which causes INT 1 to go high. (This is later supposed to be reset, once the CPU's IAQ line clocks after the first instruction is executed, but since that's dead, well, nothing happens.) Based on this, I believe the CPU to be faulty. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Given the VDD difference (12V vs 9.3V), I don't think a standard TMS9980 will work; the MP9529 seems to be difficult to source, but it shouldn't be hard to get 12V to the CPU... Thanks, Josh

7 years, 3 months

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test-drb November 2016