test-drb March 2016

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

189 participants
229 discussions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Guy Sotomayor > The reality is that an SPC board will be more expensive because of the > gold edge fingers. Oh, right, forgot about that. Yeah, six of one... > I was originally thinking that if I do have to split the board up, that > I'd make them completely independent. But that has the issue of > requiring 2x the number of UNIBUS transceiver parts (which are all but > unobtainium as of now). Actually, 8641's (at least) are still around for not much. See below. > some of the signals I'm running are pretty fast between the FPGA and > some of the other components ... I wouldn't want to run those signals > very far and certainly not across any sort of cabling. For sure. We've been having issues (although we think we have it licked now) with signals running across a flat cable between the prototype QSIC's mother-card (a QBUS wire-wrap card) and its daughter-card (an bought-in FPGA devel card), and that's for much slower signals (the only thing on the mother-card are QBUS transceivers and level converters). Of course, the fact that the interface doesn't put a ground wire between each pair signals wires doesn't help! :-) > From: Ethan Dicks > I'm starting to get sorry I sold off my surplus NS8641s from Software > Results 20 years ago. To be fair, I did get over $4 each for them, so at the > time, it was a good deal for me (ISTR retail was $7.50 even then, so I > got a good spread on the price). > I do have some left, but handfuls, not armloads. NS8641's are still available. I got a bunch from a guy in Hong Kong for US$1.50 each - considering the source, I built a test card to make sure they met specs, and they do, so I'm pretty sure they aren't counterfeits. :-) When I was worried he couldn't find enough, I checked with a supplier (4 Star Electronics, I think) and they had like 50K available, and quoted me a price in about the same region, so I don't think UNIBUS transceivers actually are a problem, at least, not at the moment. Noel

8 years, 7 months

Reviving a VAX-11/750

by mattislind＠gmail.com

The revival process of the 11/750 continues. The power supplies is working good and then I started testing the actual machine. But that was not a very smooth journey to success. I have in total at least three complete CPU board sets and just after quite a lot of board swapping it got running (I think). I had error like: * Bright red error light * No response at all on the console * %C microverify error * %O microverify error * An hexdump prompt which non like above bot still not correct. * etc Finally I had the %% which meant that it passed microverify. Then I used the (second) RDM module (the first one had RAM error) to run the DPM and MIC test which passed. The I ran the "Hardcore VAX instruction test" / TU58#7 which also passed fine. BUT the Cache / TB diag, TU58#5, give me this: %% 00000000 16 >>>B %% @?ECKAL -- VAX 11/750 Cache/TB Diagnostic 00003488 06 >>> I am running a BE-S198Q-DE tape image. Anyone has a listing or description for the ECKAL diagnostic? Is there any know incompatibilities with certain revisions of boards? Or known bugs? The machine manage to boot the console tape so I get the BOOT58> prompt. But I am not sure if that indicate that it is indeed working or not. So, some help with the Cache/TB diagnostic would be very much appreciated. /Mattis

8 years, 7 months

AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I tried starting up my AlphaStation 200 today. All I get is some beeps and an LED diagnostic code that suggests the NVRAM test failed. I swapped the battery, as the old one was dead, but it still refused to work. I have tried connecting to the serial port and got nothing (although I could have a problem with using the correct cable etc). I even tried flipping the jumper that takes you to the mini console, to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions for reviving this machine? Thanks Rob

8 years, 7 months

websites on the classiccmp server

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

8 years, 8 months

PCP11-E board

by jws＠jwsss.com

I have a PCP-11E board, which I'd like people to comment on, perhaps point me at some documentation if you know of any. Google is saturated with references for the three letter acronym for a controlled substance, nothing much has showed up, and the manufacturer was not very proud of the board, so that won't reduce ambiguity in searching for info. It has a z80, and a couple of Parallel I/O chips as well as a Zilog CTC on it, so it is smelling like some sort of equipment interface or perhaps a Laser printer or high speed printer board. Probably has a 2716 chip on it for code, would like to get it imaged and disassembled. http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2016/02/pcp11e-qbus-board.html I did a quick look at the thing and there are pictures of the overall board as well as closeups. I guess one could hope to play with CPM on it if nothing else. thanks Jim

8 years, 8 months

Olivetti M24 Mounting Bushes for Bus Converter

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

The M24 I got the other day has the bus converter, whereas the other M24 that I already had does not. I bought a bus converter for the "old" one, but then realised I didn't have any mounting bushes or spacers in order to install it. I thought of removing some of the bushes from the new one to share with the old one, it wouldn't be as good but at least I would be able to install the converter. It looks like I might need some kind of special tool to remove the bushes >from the new machine. Is there a way to do this with ordinary tools? Does anyone know if the mounting bushes are any kind of standard part that could still be bought somewhere? Thanks Rob

8 years, 8 months

Sun keyboards, yellowed

by sales＠elecplus.com

I collected some Sun keyboards for a customer, but some are too yellowed for him to use. They are all complete, including the cable, if it is supposed to be attached. I am asking $10 each plus shipping. They are not tested or cleaned. I don't have any Sun terminals left to test them on. Type 4, qty 2 (deeply yellowed) Type 6 USB, Unix, qty 10 (moderate yellowing) 320-1273 Type 6 USB Unix, qty 12 (no or very slight yellowing) 320-1273 asking $20 each plus shipping Cindy Croxton --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

8 years, 8 months

MiST - Amiga ST FPGA + intro

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=96 I recently picked up one of these devices. I'll apologize in advance if you folks have already had a discussion about the MiST. Basically, it's an FPGA that's capable of emulation (for lack of a better term) of many platforms on a hardware level. I only got mine about two weeks ago, and I'm still sifting through a ton of material and focused mainly on the Amiga and ST platforms (stuff I played with as a pre-teen and teen). I have to say, so far it's pretty awesome. The coolest feature in my opinion is the standard joystick ports on the side that "just work" with all the emulation targets. I always favored using Sega Genesis controllers in those (rather than the rinky-dink little "red joystick" of the time). They work oh-so-great with this rig. The only issue is finding a monitor that doesn't have a fit over 15Khz refresh rates. I use an NEC MultiSync with sync-on-green and all that fun stuff. I'm still busy getting AROS running on "my Amiga" (which is represented by an SD card with my ROM image from my A3000 and a metric crapton of floppy images). You basically hit a keystroke or joystick combo and you can swap floppies, reboot, etc.. If you are into any of these, I can recommend the MiST: * ST/STE (also on SCART 15KHz) * Amiga 500/600/1200 ( AGA CORE BETA core) * C64 (partially - still developed) * Atari 8bit ( 96%) * Collecovision * ZX81 * Atari 2600 * ZX Spectrum with AY, aslo with DIVMMC and ESXDOS * SEGA GENESIS * Apple II(x) * MSX * AMSTRAD CPC (BETA) * A few others, you'll want to check. BTW, I'm new to the list (1st post). So, I'll introduce myself. I'm just another IT worker with a background in Unix systems. I'm 41 and I started with HP-UX 10.x (high school) and branched out to every kind of Unix box I could get my hands on (Yes. I'm one of those Unix zealots, but that might be too gentle a description). I spent the 90's with SGIs (which I still collect, I have an O2+, two Indys, and a bruzin' Tezro fully built out). I spent the early 2k's coding for supper as a "security engineer" (read: writing exploits which I don't much care for now) and some stints as a Tru64 admin. On the in between gigs and contracts I've touched just about everything (and in the last 10 years a lot of new Unix hardware). I've professionally admin'd or coded for IRIX, Solaris, Linux, Tru64 (OSF/1 or Digital Unix for some), FreeBSD, HP-UX, UNICOS, and AIX. As a hobbyist, I've also tinkered greatly with NetBSD (maybe my favorite), OpenBSD, and Minix. Then of course there is the spacey or rare stuff I've put hands on. I'm talking about things like UnixWare, Xenix, SCO, SunOS, BSDi, DG/UX, NeXTStep/OpenStep, A/UX, and even non-Unix stuff like Sprite, L4, QNX, HURD, BeOS, Haiku, AROS, Genode, and others. I code fairly well in C, shell script, and TCL. I code not-as-well in AREXX, Python, Ruby, PHP, Lua, and a few other scripting languages. I'm pleased to be on this list, and to make your myriad acquaintances. -Swift PS: My spell checker needs and ex-lax after going insane over this email full of Unix variants and ancient platforms.

8 years, 8 months

R: Re: Subject: RSX-11 trouble

by supervinx＠libero.it

The SYSVMR.CMD shows that the Indirect Command Processor is named ICP.TSK. Sadly, ICP.TSK is one of the four tasks that have read issues... I need another info: BAD is destructive or not destructive? Thsnks!

8 years, 8 months

Old IBM and Apple computers, NIB

by sales＠elecplus.com

CCNY in NYC has old IBM computers, NIB. He usually sells for high prices on ebay, but I told him I have collectors who want them, but not at ebay prices. He usually sells 8025 with one floppy and 640K and monochrome monitor on ebay for $145, but he will do $125 off ebay, plus shipping. 8525 with two 8bit isa slots, 8086 proc model 25s, 30s, 56, 57, 76 and 77 8530's with hard disk and without <http://imgur.com/a/gLPa2> http://imgur.com/a/gLPa2 http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/fss/4e01ff8247d359c02237a965ea8f72af New in box IIc Too much other Apple stuff to list. send email to <mailto:lorenzo at nyce> lorenzo at nyceonline.net <http://online.net/> tell him Cindy sent you, and to be nice about the price! Yes, he will ship internationally. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

8 years, 8 months

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test-drb March 2016