test-drb March 2016

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

189 participants
229 discussions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tedd Martin Vazquez > After reading I believe using TOPS-20 I will have more to explore Actually, as an operating system, ITS is far more interesting (virtual devices, etc) - but it is indeed a pretty steep learning curve to start using it. So I agree that TOPS-20 is the place to start. Noel

8 years, 9 months

Looking for a 2W 1 ohm fusible resistor

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Morning folks (other timezones are available) One of the casualties in my expiring VT100 PSU last weekend was a 2W resistor named R22, or at least it seems more dead than its twin at R47 which gives a steady reading on my DMM. Seems that they're surprisingly difficult to find these days with none of the main parts stockists having any. Anyone got one or two lurking in a bits box somewhere? Cheers! -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

8 years, 9 months

Vince Briel?

by dave＠661.org

Has anyone heard from Vince Briel lately? I've bene trying to get in touch with him for some Micro-Altair artwork. The forum at brielcomputers.com is stangnant. -- David Griffith dave at 661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

8 years, 9 months

New Scans: IIT RUSH Time-Sharing

by silent700＠gmail.com

That would be the Illinois Institute of Technology and their "Remote User Shared Hardware" time-sharing scheme on the IBM 360, circa July 1967. Check out the prices - even per-minute pricing on core! http://chiclassiccomp.org/docs/index.php?dir=%2Fcomputing/IIT Enjoy -j

8 years, 9 months

Paging Toby Thain [was RE: PDP-10 programming [was RE: Dumb Terminal games (was Re: Looking for a small fast VAX development machine)]]

by RichA＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

Hi, Toby, I answered your private note, but Outlook/Exchange informed me this morning that it would not send the message for 48 hours and so was giving up. I just don't want you to think I'm ignoring you. My answer was that it's not for me to say, but the author is a friend. Rich Rich Alderson Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum 2245 1st Ave S Seattle, WA 98134 http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/

8 years, 9 months

Unidentified DEC gear available, NSW-AU

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

DEC Gear available. Unlike most dec gear, I must admit that I can't identify exactly what this is. Several racks, I was guessing AFT or Instrumentation Testing. Looks like one or more cpu or expansion cabinets in some of the racks, and some DEC AD/DA interface stuff. I was left with the impression that there may be one or more racks that are not shown in the pictures provided. I was told that racks are in "several different buildings on the estate" (residential). The first rack looks to be in very bad shape (perhaps a power supply), but the other racks don't look so bad. I am not sure that I can get more pictures from the owner, but will try. I think that in order to get pictures of the fronts (what we all probably want to see), the owner would have to move stuff (and them) and would rather not. The equipment is located in NSW, Australia. It sound like they just want it to go to a good home. If someone is local to NSW Australia and wants to spearhead going onsite to take a closer look for others and/or pick up the gear themselves, let me know offlist and I'll give you the contact info. To those on the list that aren't down under - any ideas what this is? Pics are temporarily at http://www.ezwind.net/nsw-au Best, J

8 years, 9 months

Building up the 8E system, questions - advice - partsRequest

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay West > All the original slides I've ever seen for BA11-K boxes are the > "cantilever" slides, what allow you to tilt the unit up 90 degrees once > it is extended. Right; there are actually two different types I've seen of those rotating slides, and in both, the rotating mechanism is part of the 'inner' slide (i.e. the part that bolts to the BA11 box). The older one (seen on BA11-D's, too) uses a T-shaped pull to release the rotate lock; the newer has an L-shaped release pull. All three (the non-rotating, and both rotating 'inners') use _basically_ the same 'outer' slide (i.e. the part that bolts to the rack); the outer-most slide (the 'outer' actually contains two parts, an outer and a middle) is about 3-1/2" wide. (There's an even wider 'outer' slide, but I forget what it goes to.) I said 'basically' since the three different versions do include various interlocks to prevent pulling the unit out of the slides, and some of the 'outers', although they are the same size, are not actually compatible with all the different 'inners', because their interlocks differ (although you could probably mod one to fit another without too much work). > So were the slides typically sold with the RK05 also "cantilever/tilt"? Not that I've ever seen. > Is that helpful for servicing an RK05 (never worked on one yet)? Not that I can think of - there are a few components on the bottom (e.g. the absolute filter), but most stuff is on the top. And the drive is so heavy, with all the weight at one end, that I wouldn't want to rotate one anyway! Although the BA11-K weighs a ton, too, and its weight is similarly concentrated at one end. Which may be why they changed the rotating fixture; the early one might not have been good at holding that much weight. Noel

8 years, 9 months

Building up the 8E system, questions - advice - partsRequest

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay West > I need to rack the RK05 and the TU56. On the RK05 - does anyone have a > spare set of slides or can I definitely just use RL02 slides (which I > have lots of)? All the RK05's I've ever seen used the wide slides that DEC used on their older -11's. So if you have a spare set of e.g. BA11-K slides, you can use them to 'hang' the RK05. The company that made those slides for DEC is still in business, and still sells similar slides; I toyed with the idea of buying a set, and seeing if they were compatible (maybe only on the bolt-hole level, not on the slide insertion level, from the pictures), but the cost (~$200, IIRC) dissuaded me so far. All the RL02's I've seen use the later, narrower slides. Maybe there's some way to attach an RL02-type inner to RK05, but without trying it, I couldn't say. > I have the wide grey inner slides on the RK05 but no outers and I > noticed just one of the inner slides has a gold L-catch release on it > so I'm wondering if there's anything special about RK05 slides. That gold L-catch doesn't ring a bell for me. Maybe your RK05 has different slides on it from most of them? Picture(s)? AFAIK the wide grey inner slides on most RK05's are stock; I just checked, and a BA11-K outer slide fit it just fine. (I can check some other types, e.g. -11/10N, if there is any use to that.) Noel

8 years, 9 months

How to route Phase II

by paulkoning＠comcast.net

Thanks to help from Timothe Litt, I have Phase II support, including just enough "intercept" support to be useable, working in my Python router (svn://akdesign.dyndns.org/pydecnet/trunk/pydecnet). Tested it with a KS-10 TOPS-20 setup. I had it do NFT from a DECnet/E system two hops away. Worked correctly including the handling of the text (ASCII) data. It doesn't do all that is required for intercept nodes -- tracking NSP connections so it can disconnect them if the path goes away. Also, Phase II NSP does not do packet timeout and retransmit, so if a packet is lost on the path to the destination, the connection is wedged. I may end up doing a bit more than standard intercept operation and do timeout/retransmit on behalf of the end system. That's cheating, of course, but why not? Anyway, this may help those who have Phase II systems. Comments and feedback and bug reports appreciated. paul

8 years, 9 months

Cables

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jim S > Anyone have a source for IDC cables / supplies? I'm in need of some 40, > 50 and various other cables and connectors. If you're talking about the standard .1" double-row connectors on flat cables, the _parts_ for them (connectors and cables) are quite easy to find (most suppliers such a Mouser, Jameco, etc have them, and you can also find them on eBait); buy some, and make up your own cables. They're dirt cheap that way. (Just use a vice to press the connectors onto the cable; you don't need to buy the special crimping tool.) Noel

8 years, 9 months

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test-drb March 2016