June 2016 - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

by dave＠661.org

I have a 9-slot VME backplane for sale or trade. It weighs about 3 pounds when packed. Pictures at https://www.flickr.com/photos/32548582 at N02/albums/72157670027920776 -- 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?

9 years

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HP Series-80 computers - PRM-85 board case? ... maybe!

by Martin.Hepperle＠dlr.de

Hi, I own PRM-85 boards for my HP-85 and 86 machines. While they are very useful extension modules for these computers, they lack a proper case. I hate to destroy a working interface or memory module just for the case. I read in this list that there are more people interested in such a case. So I designed a replica case for 3D printing, but did not yet try it out. I do not own a 3D printer and the commercial services calculate between $20 to $100 for one shell (upper/lower). This is a bit expensive for some trials, as I expect that the 3D design would need some iterative refinement to obtain a "perfect" case. So: if someone owning a 3D printer and a PRM-85 board is interested in helping me to refine the design by making a test print I could supply the STL files for upper and lower shells. As a "thank-you" I would expect feedback to improve the design. Regards, Martin Martin {.} Hepperle {at} mh-aerotools {dot} de

9 years

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CDC 6600 emulation - was Re: How do they make Verilog code for unknown ICs?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Dwight Kelvey > The RIS[C]/CISC is really not even relevant in todays processors since > the main limiting factor is memory access bandwidth and effective use > of caches. Memory bandwidth has often been the limiting factor over the complete timeline of CPU's/systems. (It would be interesting to draw up a timeline, showing the periods when it was, and was not.) Yes, caches can help a lot, but inevitably they will miss (depending on the application, more or less often). The RISC/CISC thing actually is kind of relevant to this, because RISC focuses on getting the CPU cycles to be as fast as possible, and that kind of implies simpler instructions --> more instructions to get a particular task done. That was part of the motivation for microcoding, back when it was invented; at that point in time, logic was fast, memories were slow, so more complex instructions made better use of memory bandwidth - especially since this was pre-caches. (It also made binary code 'denser', which was important back then, with much smaller memories.) However, more complex instruction sets made the CPU more complicated; microcoding helped deal with that. The 801's breakthrough, at a very high level, was to see the whole system, and try and optimize across the compiler as well as the instruction set, etc, etc. They also realized that people had been going CISCy for so long that people had to some degree forgotten why, and that that assumption needed to be re-examined - especially in light of the then-current logic/memory speed balance, which had shifted towards memory at that particular point in time. Noel

9 years

3
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Leaking DEC VR201 monochrome monitor?

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

I picked up a DEC VR201 display today, it was leaking a highly corrosive brown liquid. So corrosive it burned my skin painfully / immediately and I had to wash hands thoroughly. Anyone come across a display that leaked a corrosive liquid like that? The display was stored in its original box, so I don't think the brown liquid was from something stored on top of it, but I don't know for sure. Bill -- @ BillDeg: Web: vintagecomputer.net Twitter: @billdeg <https://twitter.com/billdeg> Youtube: @billdeg <https://www.youtube.com/user/billdeg> Unauthorized Bio <http://www.vintagecomputer.net/readme.cfm>

9 years

10
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WTD: S100 Static RAM card

by philip＠neoncluster.com

Hi all, I?ve been struggling getting a 64k Dynamic RAM card back up and working in my IMSAI 8080. In fact I?m giving up on the DRAM card in this system and have decided to start looking for a SRAM card that can get the IMSAI up to 56k. In terms if SRAM cards, I presently have: 2 x Problem solver RAM16 cards - both seem to be working. 2 x 8K RAM cards - both seem to be working. Less cards generating heat, and putting stress on the old power supply is obviously best, so I?d be looking for either: - 1 x 16k SRAM card (for a total of 4 RAM cards (3 x 16k + 1 x 8k) in my system). A PSS RAM16 would be preferred for sake of consistency, but obviously not crucial. - 1 x 32k SRAM card (for a total of 3 RAM cards (1 x 32k, 1 x 16k + 1 x 8k) in my system) - 1 x 64k SRAM card that can have the last 8k bank turned off I would love to hear from anyone with one of the above cards who would be willing to pass it on. Much thanks for your time. Best regards Philip

9 years

6
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CDC 6600 - Why so awesome?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brian Walenz >> Werner Buchholz (editor), "Planning a Computer System: Project >> Stretch", McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962 > http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/IBM-7030-Planning-McJones.pdf Yeah, I found that _after_ I sent the email, sigh... >> Speaking of books, there's also a CDC 6600 book: >> Jim E. Thornton, "Design of A Computer: The Control Data 6600", >> Scott, Foresman, Glenview, 1970 > http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/cdc/6x00/books/DesignOfAComputer_CDC… Didn't know that one was online too - excellent. >> Really gotta do that Bibliography! > Where is this 'computer history wiki', anyway? http://gunkies.org/wiki/Main_Page Note; automatic account creation is disabled to prevent spamming issues. You have to email Tore directly - and he is often busy, so it may take a bit. Noel

9 years

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Data General 8000-series logic in my Nova 3?!

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello Mark, when you are ready with your machine up and running, you could try to use on a real Nova 3 the tool I wrote to raw read/write disks and tapes through the serial port. You just need a PC (linux preferred) and Python installed (plus serial port module). Then you should be able to dump the disk to image for SIMH, and eventually to write back an image to the disk. Thanks Andrea

9 years

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Data General 8000-series logic in my Nova 3?!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mark J. Blair > An interface card schematic has appeared in my inbox as if by magic. If that allows you to create a list of what various 8000-series chips do (or if you've since located one), that would be a good thing to have available online. If you have (or create) one, we can stick it on the Computer History wiki... Noel

9 years

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where to find DEC ECO's for KB11-A?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow aek at bitsavers.org > which one? > 1974_Field_Service_Technical_Manual_Dec74.pdf > is already on line under handbooks Dat be de one. Alas for the OP, it doesn't seem to contain any PDP-11 stuff (well, a bit on the RK11-C, etc, but nothing on any processor, at least that I could see). FWIW, it's available online on an indexed, page-by-page basis at: http://www.pdp8online.com/bklatt/TechTips.html Worth looking through. Some of them are amusing, like "Disk Destruction Made Simple" and "DECtape Reels Falling Off Drive". Noel

9 years

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library/book carts available

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Maybe a year ago I got two metal 3 shelf library carts on wheels, to hold the manuals that were related to whatever machine I was working on at the time. Its extremely useful to have all the manuals at hand on a rolling stand when you're moving around working on the beast. I have not seen any for sale since then at a reasonable price (which I'd say is $100 or less). I just stopped at a place here in St. Louis, and I see they have 8 of these "library/book carts" available. They are basically in mint condition, and most of them come with old red binders on 2 of the 3 shelves. The binders are interesting - these are those old ones with sort of cloth surfaces and heavy metal latches inside. All the binders are about 3 or 3.5 inch wide. A typical place I see these type of binders is in machine shops and the like, holding press setup instructions and such. The binders are old, but the carts are basically new looking. The carts are 42.5" tall, 31" wide, and 13" deep. The carts hold books on one side only, and the height of each shelf between the next is 11 & 5/8. If your binders are taller than that they won't fit ;) $75 each. Here is a link to an almost-but-not-quite-identical cart: http://tinyurl.com/huamv7e I'm buying 2 of these for myself, leaving six. I'd be happy to purchase and hold for a while if someone non-local wants some, but it's probably not economical to ship them. I could deliver one or two to VCFMW this year perhaps. J

9 years

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where to find DEC ECO's for KB11-A?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Fritz Mueller fritzm at fritzm.org > Are DEC ECO's available online anywhere? ... I am particularly > interested in ECO's related to the KB11-A (11/45). I have a DEC Field Circus handbook arriving today that allegedly contains some ECO information; if there's anything on the KB11-A, I'll see if I can get it scanned. Noel

9 years

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cctalk Digest, Vol 24, Issue 22

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2016 18:08:49 -0700 > From: Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: PDP-11/40 modified to be a PDP-11/23 > > What boards exactly? Are you sure it's not an M7133 11/24 board instead? > > From front to back in the AB slots: - M8186, KDF11-A, 11/23 CPU, 18-bit addressing only - M8044-DM, MSV11-DD, 32-Kword 16-bit MOS RAM - M8043, DLVJ1-M, 4-Line Asynchronous Interface - M7940, DLV11, Serial Line Unit (SLU, Async) A custom interface to the front panel is in the CD connectors of the first slot. I will post pictures of the boards on the RICM WWW site. -- Michael Thompson

9 years

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Data General 8000-series logic in my Nova 3?!

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

The testing that I've been doing so far to get the 6045 hard drive working on my Nova 3 suggests that the interface card receives commands over the IO channel (i.e., I can command seeks and get the expected clunking sounds from the drive). But the interface card does not appear to be responding back to the CPU so far, since attempts to read the three IO registers or the busy/done flags always return zeros. So, I'll need to move on to component-level debugging of the interface card now. I'll need to have access to the interface card, of course. The first step was to swap the positions of my Nova rack and my VAX-11/730 to get the right side of the Nova away from the wall. This wasn't easy in the tiny, cluttered room that they live in. Next, I lowered the Nova 2 rack units, because it was in the top rack position and I couldn't get access to all of the top cover screws to get the top cover off. Damn, that thing is heavy! I pressed my hydraulic lift hand truck into service. There was a 2U filler panel under the Nova that can now live at the top of the rack, so there will be no need to raise the Nova back up later. With the top of the Nova accessible, I removed the quad serial mux in slot 12 to expose the component side of the disk interface card in slot 11. There are 6 empty slots under the interface card, so I have good access to both sides of the interface card, as well as the backplane. Now I should be able to do things such as running a tight loop reading or writing a controller card register while I probe the logic. Should be simple, right? Well, it would be if I had a schematic diagram of the interface card. So, I'm doing this in hard mode. I decided to do a little preliminary trace identification on the card before going to bed tonight, and that's when I discovered that this game is in very hard mode: Most of the ICs on the controller card are marked with a DG logo and an 8000-series number, and I have no documentation about those chips yet. The busy/done flags come out of a DG 8109, but what the heck is that? I hope that they'll end up being rebadged 7400 series chips or something like that so I'll have some chance of finding replacements, but I'll need to figure out how to identify these DG chips before I can make much progress debugging the card. I've been looking through the documentation that I have, as well as looking in documents on Bitsavers for DG gear other than the Nova 3 in hopes of finding anything identifying these 8000-series chips. I haven't found the decoder key so far. If anybody out there in cctalk land knows about DG-marked 8000-series logic chips, I would appreciate any help very much! -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years

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PDP-11/40 modified to be a PDP-11/23

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

The RICM just picked up a PDP-11/40 chassis that was modified to accept a PDP-11/23 board set. It also contains a custom board to interface the PDP-11/23 to the original PDP-11/40 front panel. It is quite an accomplishment to get the Q-Bus board set working in the Unibus chassis. -- Michael Thompson

9 years

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CDC 6600 - Why so awesome?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Swift Griggs > I see a lot of traffic about them on the list and I went out to > discover "why so cool?" One word - 'crunch'. The 6600 especially, but also its successors (7600, etc) were _the_ number-crunching monsters of their day. For everyone who had a scientific/engineering application that needed lots of cycles - especially floating-point - that was _the_ machine to have. IBM tried to outdo them, but spent a fortune, and didn't really get there - the 360/9x was essentially a failure - only 15 /91's and 2 /95's were ever built. (And IBM was later sued for predatory sales practices for announcing them before they knew they could make them.) IBM just couldn't match Seymour Cray. Speaking of whom, the 6600 was the source of the famous Watson memory (and Cray's sarcastic response) - Google it! Noel

9 years

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Still ISO: Infotek MX-30 Memory boards for Infotek FP-30 (HP 9830 upgrade)

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Several years ago (well, three years ago, anyway) I stumbled upon a beat-up, incomplete HP 9830 desktop computer/calculator that had been upgraded with an Infotek FP-30 CPU upgrade. Unfortunately, it's missing the special memory boards (the MX-30) the system requires. I asked around back then and had no luck, I figured I'd try again. If anyone has any parts for this rare beast, drop me a line. Alternately, if someone else has a need for the parts I do have, let me know and maybe we can work something out. It would be nice to get a working system (even if it's not mine) out of this stuff. Thanks! Josh

9 years

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CDC 6600 - Why so awesome?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> the 6600 was the source of the famous Watson memory Oops, typo; 'memo'. Noel

9 years

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Found cleaning out stuff from before gray hairs and needing glasses

by pete＠petelancashire.com

http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7139

9 years

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old friend is slimming down the warehouse

by sales＠elecplus.com

An old friend of mine in GA is slimming down his warehouse. I know a long time ago people sent me some pics and lists of things wanted, but that was a long time ago. If you are looking for old servers, big blue IBM things, DEC stuff, etc., please take a few minutes to send the following info to oldthingswantednow at gmail.com The name of the item A short description A link to a pic, or attach a pic What you want to pay for it The expected condition (tested, old and dirty is fine, etc.) His health is not the best, but he wants this stuff to go to people who will appreciate it, rather than by the pound. He will do his best to answer everyone. Inventory ranges from old typewriters to mainframes, and everything in between. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus

9 years

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HP Series-80 computers - PRM-85 board case? ... maybe!

by ball.of.john＠gmail.com

>Anyone with a 3d printer want to make one for us? > >J Not only do I also own a PRM-85 but I do have part-time access to a 3D printer. If I can get the prototyped models (and the model itself fits within the limits of the printer bed)I can verify that they fit together in an HP 80 series machine (85 in my case)and that the board itself fits inside the enclosure however due to membership restrictions at our local makerspace I cannot use the printer to fulfill any orders, plus they will eat up a lot of filament. -John

9 years

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Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Chuck Guzis > It's not the refresh rate that will kill things, but the horizontal > frequency. The high voltage in most CRT monitors (and TVs) is developed > from the scanning signal via a high-voltage "flyboack" transformer > ... > Ultimately, if taken too far, the voltage in the FBT secondary exceeds > the ratings of the winding insulation; an arc develops between windings > and the FBT self-destructs So, with Chuck's explanation (above) in hand, eventually my brain turned on, and I was able to work out what the deal is, and whether my monitor is safe; it also explains the somewhat contradictory CRT monitor manual: HP M50 manual says "Setting the screen resolution/refresh rate combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display." Even though the same document lists the vertical frequency range as "50-100 Hz"! They mention both the resolution and "refresh rate" since those two together control the horizontal flyback frequency, which Chuck pointed out as the key. (Well, the line count - 768 - is involved there, not the line length in pixels - although the latter will influence the maximum video bandwith or "dot rate" that needs to be supported - 65 MHz for this particular monitor.) The horizontal retrace frequency is simply the vertical retrace frequency, times the number of scan lines per vertical retrace plus a small slop factor for the actual retrace duration. So my monitor was running 1024x768 - but interlaced, so only 364 lines per screen scan (alternating odd and even lines in successive scans). I was seeing a refresh frequency of 44 Hz - but for full scan of all lines; the actual vertical retrace is being produced at 87 Hz. So the horizontal retrace frequency is about 87 * 364 = ~32 KHz - well within what the monitor can handle (30-49 Khz for the horizontal retrace, per the spec). So the monitor is safe! Probably by the time this monitor came out, the interlaced XGA format had fallen into disuse, and so they didn't need to clarify that "resolution/refresh rate combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display" refers to 'progressive' displays, not interlaced. And of course, as previously pointed out, the interlace explains why no LCD displays will work. So I'll have to carefully hoard my remaining video monitors! ;-) Thanks to everyone who helped me work this out... Noel

9 years

1
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Programming for the Alto's Mesa

by lproven＠gmail.com

>From the discussions around Y Combinator's Alto restoration... (Some may not know that the founder of Y Combinator is Paul Graham, using some of the money Yahoo! paid him for Viaweb, which became Yahoo Stores. PG is a Lisp champion and evangelist.) The Alto restoration is being discussed on Hacker News, Y Combinator's very successful forums: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11929396 This comment struck me: ? Animats 2 days ago I just looked in some boxes I haven't opened in decades. I have "Mesa Language Manual, Version 5.0, April 1979". If the people with the Alto need this, let me know. If the world had used Mesa instead of C, computing would have been far less buggy. Mesa was a hard-compiled language, but it had concurrency, monitors, co-routines ("ports", similar to Go channels), strong type safety, and a sane way to pass arrays around. In the 1970s. (I should donate this stuff to the Computer Museum. I just found the original DEC Small Computer Manual, many 1960s UNIVAC mainframe manuals, and a reel of UNIVAC I steel magnetic tape.) ? I knew that the original Smalltalk boxes weren't Smalltalk all the way down to the metal, and that there was an OS and language, Mesa, underneath... but I didn't know it was used for anything much *else* or that some considered it important. Anyone here know or remember Mesa? I'd like to hear more about it. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

9 years

6
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Sun4 370 PSU Maintenance/Schematics

by aswood＠t-online.de

Hello all, I do have an Symbolics UX1200 plugged into a Sun4 370 host. Before powering the host, just to be secure, I'd like to check the psu - or if the psu will be broken, I'd like to try to fix it. Yesterday I'd a look into the psu - very complicated layout! Is there any known documentation, servicing and maintenance documentation or schematics for psus used in Sun server/workstation available, of course esp. for psus used in Sun4 370 systems? -- Andreas ?

9 years

1
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Programming for the Alto's Mesa

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch >> ISTR that BravoX was written in Mesa. -- Ian > Yes it was, as was MazeWar ?? There was a MazeWar on the Alto, early on, and I'm not sure that version was in Mesa. Maybe someone re-implemned it in Mesa for some of the later machines? (Of course, all the Xerox ones were inspired by the much earlier Imlac one.) Noel

9 years

2
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FPGA I/O and external memory (was Re: CDC 6600 emulation - was Re: How do they make Verilog code for unknown ICs?)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 10:07 PM, ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: > Do you use Static or Dynamic ram with the FPGA's? I've done both. You indicated that you wanted 5V I/O. AFAIK, there haven't been any new FPGAs made in many years that have even 5V-tolerant I/O, let alone actual 5V I/O. Some really old FPGAs may still be in production, but are not very cost-effective. The latest midrange to high-end FPGAs aren't even 3.3V-tolerant. However, the economy FPGAs such as Spartan 6 and Artix 7 still support 3.3V I/O, and are quite inexpensive for the amount of resources provided. For 5V-tolerance, it is usually adequate to use 3.3V I/O with series resistors to limit the current. Xilinx specifies a maximum rated current for the clamp diodes. This works fine when interfacing actual TTL (or TTL-compatible MOS) parts. It is NOT adequate for driving 5V CMOS, such as CD4000 series, because the FPGA won't drive above 3.3V, and the 5V CMOS inputs typically are specified for Vih min of 90% of Vdd, which is 4.5V. The series resistor does slow down the signal, which usually isn't a problem with TTL since TTL is quite slow by FPGA standards. Where it is a problem, an nFET voltage clamp can be used instead.

9 years

1
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How do they make Verilog code for unknown ICs?

by wkt＠tuhs.org

All, I messed around with VHDL last year. I found this a great book to learn VHDL best practices: http://www.gstitt.ece.ufl.edu/courses/eel4712/labs/free_range_vhdl.pdf The book is free but you can also buy a printed copy at http://freerangefactory.org/ I started with GHDL: https://www.fpgarelated.com/showarticle/20.php and then progressed to a Nexys4 FPGA board. Lots of fun. Just a few more resources to add to the mix. Cheers, Warren P.S The CPU I built with it: http://minnie.tuhs.org/Programs/UcodeCPU/index.html

9 years

1
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NetBooting old MacOS 8.x or 7x.

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

Due to the news about the MacOS name change, it's becoming quite hard to Google for older MacOS stuff. Was it ever possible to netboot MacOS 8.1 or earlier? I have A/UX 3 running nicely on a Quadra 700, now, but now I want to dual boot it with MacOS, but I don't have a CDROM. Taking out the drive and putting it on my other 68k Mac (a Centris 660AV) and installing MacOS still gives me some weird issues that I suspect are related to having installed it on different hardware. If I can't do a network based install, I'll probably just steal a longer SCSI cable, use a molex power splitter to add another 5V power cable, and then install from CDROM while the system is half-open. Then I'll just button it up afterwards. The factor SCSI cable in my Quadra 700 has only one connector for a drive. -Swift

9 years

2
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General *NIX ramble thread - was Re: Quadra 660AV what's with the "PowerPC" label?

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

Changing thread title and invoking filter. Thanks, - Ian On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 10:50 AM, Swift Griggs <swiftgriggs at gmail.com> wrote: > > And yet, now that significant chunks of the Linux underpinnings are > > being combined into one purpose-written close-knit chunk, designed by a > > single team, the same sort of people that praise *BSD for its conceptual > > unity are harshly damning the thing bringing comparable unity to Linux. > > Odd, that. > > It's not the same thing, IMO. People aren't slamming Linux+systemd for > unifying their team (I've not even seen the harshest systemd critics > mention this even in passing). They aren't upset because of the greater > "conceptual unity", either. They are upset because it's breaking faith > with "the unix way" (creating a giant all-consuming mega-daemon with > equally heinous binary opaque supporting-crap ala journald) and going > their own way (a hard right toward Bloatville with a couple of stops near > Lake Clueless if you ask me), and they are, in the opinion of many, being > jerks with the implementation of their planned schism. > > -Swift > > -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years

2
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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Birkel >> I will upload the content to the CHW (and add the DB9 pinouts, too). > Yes, please. OK, done; see: http://gunkies.org/wiki/DEC_asynchronous_serial_line_pinout and it references the new: http://gunkies.org/wiki/EIA_RS-232_serial_line_interface I'd be grateful for any feedback on how I can improve the page(s) - more data to add, thinks to explain better, etc. Note: I added the DB9 pinouts, _but_ I have never made an actual DEC->DB9 cable, and am unlikely to (see below), so these have not been experimentally tested. I'm pretty sure they're right (I checked them against some online tables), but 'the difference between theory and practise', etc, etc. So if someone does make any DB9 cables from this page, and can confirm that they works, I'd be very grateful! :-) I personally don't recommend making DEC->DB9 cables. DB25P<->DB9S adaptors are cheap and easy to find on eBay, and if you make everything DB25, all you'll need are a few DB25P<->DB9S adaptors to connect to PCs, and all your other cabling activity (e.g. connecting one PDP-11 to another) will be simple, since everything will be standardized on DB25s; no having to keep two kinds of every cable. Noel

9 years

1
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Eckert - Faster, Faster; books in general

by thebri＠gmail.com

Is there an electronic copy of this floating around? My (ex-library) copy is missing all of chapter 11, "What is there to calculate?. (And the last page of the previous chapter). The pages weren't ripped out, they were missing when it was bound. Very annoying, I enjoyed the book right up until it crashed, so to speak. Two, also ex-library, copies are listed on Amazon, and I hesitate to get another copy with the same problem. There are others, of course, at outrageous prices. Or maybe I don't realize the significance of '1st edition, not ex-library'. Just to make any discussion a bit more interesting, what would you suggest along similar lines? The two giant books on IBM (detailing "pre-360", and "360") were quite fun too. bri

9 years

4
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Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> I'm puzzled as to how one could drive both interlaced and > non-interlaced monitors off the same video signal - wouldn't the > interlaced one need a video signal which has 'odd lines, then a > vertical retrace, then even lines, then a vertical retrace'? So to sort of answer my own question, interlaced and non-interlaced video signals are indeed different. It turn out that 1024x768 was defined by IBM as XGA, and it was originally an interlaced format - although a non- interlaced version was done later. So my laptop quite possibly really is producing interlaced video... Although how a monitor is supposed to tell whether a signal is interlaced, or non-interlaced, is not clear - there's certainly no pin on the VGA connector which says so! :-) > Anyway, so which one is the one which is the number to look at when > considering if the refresh rate is so high it might be dangerous to an > old CRT monitor? > E.g. my HP M50 manual says "Setting the screen resolution/refresh rate > combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display." Since the monitor I'm using is called an "Ultra VGA 1024", I'm going to assume it can handle 1042x768, and just stop worrying about it... If it melts down the monitor, it melts down the monitor! :-) > From: Jochen Kunz > Sounds like an interlaced video mode. No surprise that the LCD can't do > this. Yes, as soon as I realized it probably really was interlaced video, it became obvious why none of my LCD monitors would display it. Noel

9 years

2
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Any extra DEC monitors in Europe?

by useddec＠gmail.com

I have a friend looking for 2 DEC VRC21-KA monitors in Europe. I have one here, but will pack it only as a last resort. If you have one of two you want to sell or trade, please let me know off list. Also where you are located. Thanks, Paul

9 years

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Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I'm using an old (very old! :-) laptop for a console for some of my computers. The built-in screen on it is this miserable 800x600 thing (I said it was _old_ :-), so I'm trying to hook up an old 15" display (of which I have tons) and run it at 1024x768 at least (the highest resolution the old display hardware in the laptop will support). However... The first couple of LCD's I plugged in, they worked fine, but when I went to change from 800x600 to 1024x768, I got error messages about 'can't handle that display format' (or words to that effect). Nothing about what parameter was out of bounds, alas. Finally I found one that _did_ give me the numbers, and it said the retrace was 35.6 Khz / 44 Hz. OK, looking at some specs, it makes sense those LCD monitors didn't work - 44 Hz vertical retrace (which I gather is the same as the refresh rate, in things like 1024x768/60Hz - sorry about the newbiesh questions, but I want to make sure I'm not making a bad assumption) is _below_ the input specs on them. (Although why the refresh rate on an _LCD_ would have a lower bound that high doesn't make sense to me - so the screen updates less often, what's the problem? It's not like a CRT, where it could cause flicker.) So I finally found an old CRT monitor that worked - but now I have another problem! It reports the video as being 35.6 Khz / 87 Hz! Which makes me worry, because I'm not sure that particular monitor can handle an 87 Hz refresh. (Parenthetically, what exactly is the mechanism that causes damage if you run an old CRT monitor at too high a refresh rate? I assume the excessive speed generates too much heat somewhere, and causes transistors to fail, or something like that?) Anyway, back to the monitor - I'm wondering if that monitor is reporting a bad number on the vertical retrace, and in fact it actually is 44 Hz? Because I found this equation to calulate the vertical retrace frequency from i) the horizontal retrace frequency, and ii) the number of lines. So I plug 35.6 Khz (which agrees with the other monitor, note) and 768 into that formula, and get... 44 Hz! So is there some bizarre interlace mode, or something, that could legitimately cause confusion over the vertical retrace? Or is the second monitor just confused? I tried to look up the video controller chip (a Cirrus CL-GD 7543 'Viking'), to see if it could even _do_ 88 Hz, but I was unable to find any documentation about it online. Also, if it really is 44 Hz, can anyone point me at an old LCD display that will handle that? (The CRT I'm currently using - another one that supposedly handles up to 100 Hz vertical retrace - takes up too much room! And there's no point getting something new - and larger - since the machine won't do anything past 1024x768 anyway.) Noel

9 years

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The Great TK revival

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi The great TK revival continues apace. There's a TK50 in my VAX 4000 running really well. Purrs like a cat I have TK70 in the RT-11 (11/83 QED) Machine that also runs. TK70 should read the TK50 tapes. It tries but complains about cant read the directory. So whats a common format I can write on a TK50 tape in a TK50 Drive (VMS) then take it over to the RT-11 box and have it read it.? Where is all this going? Well I need to end up with RSTS on an 11/83. So a bootable TK50 with RSTS install files on it is the goal. Meanwhile transfer by tape is useful. Rod

9 years

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ISO: Terak 8510/a Keyboard and Monitor

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- At long last my Terak 8510/a is working again! I'd repaired the power supply a couple of years back but the system simply would not behave properly. I traced it down to some very unreliable IC sockets (they were not high-quality when they were new, and the damp environment this particular machine spent several years in before I got it did nothing to help). I finally replaced about 40 sockets with some nice turned-pin ones last week, and now the system is up and running and passing the System Acceptance Tests with flying colors. I do not have a keyboard or monitor for this system, and while it's pretty easy to fabricate replacements (the video's just standard composite, and the keyboard is an 8-bit parallel ASCII keyboard with a few extra special keys) I'd love to find a set of originals. If anyone has any spares in any condition, please drop me a line. (I'm also interested in tracking down an original single-density floppy controller just on the off chance...) Thanks! - Josh

9 years

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DEC's first use of PROMs

by chd＠chdickman.com

Well maybe not, but the first in the 23-001A1 sequence of part numbers was used in the PDP-8/e EAE. I was troubleshooting a problem with an EAE in which the step counter wouldn't load. There are 2 fusible PROMs in the circuit and I noticed they are 23-001A1 and 23-002A1. Maybe there is a 23-000A1.

9 years

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VCFed auction update

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Apple II (Rev. 4) sold for $4,056. Sol-20 sold for $2,878. Both were clean, autographed, and working. It is likely that bidders reached a little deeper because we are a non-profit.

9 years

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Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello list, I recently got a bunch of boards from somebody who was either not able to tell me where they were from. The boards seem to be unibus-based with numbers starting with X. I neither came across these before, nor could find any information in the web about it: Type, P/N , Description X029, 5013132B, AUC interconnect X022, 5012197C, unibuswindow X021, 5012181C, CD ROM control (did that ever exist for unibus?) X020, 5012180B, data path Two 16K mos memory modules M7847 came with the set. No backplane, unfortunately. Any hints about the type of system and application these boards were for? Many thanks for any pointers. Wish a nice weekend to all of you, Pierre ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

9 years

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thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

Here's what I'm currently looking at (all 486's, but I'd consider 386s and original Pentiums, too): * Compaq Prolinea systems * Canon ObjectStation * NEC Powermate * HP Vectra * IBM Aptiva or PS/1 Not considering: * Beige Packard Bell with Microsoft Sound System and a 1M graphics card. :-) I'm doing my Spring cleaning. I have way too much crap, and the particular type of crap that's lowest on my list of "things to keep" is PeeCee crap. I simply have too much and a lot of it are the parts I used to make PCs bearable at the time (like combo serial/LPT cards). I'm not all that happy that PeeCees even exist, yet I have over 20 of them last I checked. I think I'm going to rid myself of the vast majority of gear that Greg Douglas of Reputable system used to haze me for keeping, calling it "PeeCee crap", and that was 16 years ago. I was asking myself, why do I have all these junky plastic laptops from the early 2k era? They are mostly soulless trash (except maybe my Sony Picturebook - yes the cute one with the Transmeta Crusoe). Wouldn't I rather purge a gaggle of laptops and a few old crappy PCs and instead have a single "special" (but much slower) 486-era box ? Yes, I would. I'm actually pulling stuff out and playing with it more. Warehousing crap is becoming less and less an attractive pastime. So, I'm thinking I'll consolidate as much of the fun hardware from the 1990's as I can in one box. That will make me feel better about ditching the considerable horde of junk I'm looking at. To that end, I have a few bits I believe are considerably more desirable compared to others and I want to get as many as I can in one box. Chime in if you have suggestions. So, here we go, in no real order: * I want to stick with desktop or tower units only, no laptops, I'll probably have to add some PCI cards to get to "ultimate" status :-) * I'd use it with one of these OSs: *BSD, Linux, Solaris x86, OpenStep, BSDi, Unixware, Minix, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS, or OS/2. Thus the more compatible stuff is worth considering. Windows compatibility isn't something I care about ('cept maybe for comic relief, which I can get much more easily from politics these days). * Anyone know of a box with a built-in (integrated) Gravis Ultrasound? That'd save me a slot. However, there isn't much to compete with that card from the 90's. The SB16 was ubiquitous and worked well enough, but I didn't feel it could compete with a GUS. The SB16 wasn't the "ultimate" for sure. * Hmm, Symbios, LSI, or Adaptec on the SCSI controller.... OR! Maybe someone knows of a cool PC that had a built-in SCSI controller. I don't think I could abide PATA/IDE disks and for-sure no MFM/RLL drives (the horror). The nice stuff in the 90's was always SCSI, IIRC. I remember some NEC PCs that were pretty attractive and came with integrated SCSI. * I hate machines that used custom RAM. I guess it wouldn't be a deal breaker if it was already maxxed. * I'd certainly prefer PS/2 keyboard ports. * Slimline or other nice case designs are very much something I'll look for, but I need at least one PCI slot, methinks. Unless I could get a GUS and SCSI controller both integrated (man, wouldn't that be something!). Anything different or spacey is preferable to a beige box, even if it's just white or black. * Hmm, what was the ultimate PC framebuffer from the 1990s? I guess it depends on if you care about 3D or think it was too crappy in the 1990s to consider. I'm mostly in the latter camp. So, I'm more inclined to go for maximum 2D performance and maximum OS compatibility. Number Nine? Orchid? I guess I need to find some 2D performance benchmarks from 1999 or something similar. Matrox might work out. The MGA Millennium II comes to mind. I liked 3DFX, too, but I'm worried they were too 3D centric, plus they were ignored by the commercial Unix players. More video memory is great so it can run higher res where possible. * I'll use a 3Com 3c905, but I remember there being even better stuff. I'm just not sure which one is going to work best for all my OSs. Maybe the 3C509 is a better choice, but it's 10mbit and ISA, IIRC. I just remember that card works in more OSs than anything I've ever seen. Realtek is out. I won't use those PoSs ("fool me once" and all that). I'm also not a fan of Broadcom (again they burned me too often). * NTSC Video capability would be nice, but I'll probably just add it in the form of an old Happauge PCI WinTV. I need to find out what OpenSTEP and others supported. This is just a "nice to have" for me. I really liked things like the MacTV (all-in-one with NTSC tuner) back in the day. * Since I'm mostly looking at 486's, I'm mainly targeting the 486/66. I have nothing against Cyrix or exotic x86 processors from the era. -Swift

9 years

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media and software

by sales＠elecplus.com

I am going back to Dallas next week to sort 2 pallets of media and software. The age runs from reels of tape (9 track? Dated 1989 and earlier) to LTO4. Software, there are a LOT of MS Developer CDs from 2011 and much earlier, Xilinx CDs, AIX CDs, Solaris CDs (the earliest I noticed off the bat was version 6) and a lot of Dell server implementation disks. Also some things on cassette tapes. I need to know what is wanted. After next week it goes in the dumpster. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 500 Pershing Ave. Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

9 years

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Mystery HP 1000 board

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

Can anyone identify this HP board (see link to pictures)? https://goo.gl/photos/BBuAV1oozWNSqeUTA It was at under the main board of a newly acquired HP 1000-E, next to the firmware board. It says HP 54427-60050 Booster Microcode. It has 5 bitslice SN 74S181 chips at the back. So I surmise maybe it's a late ALU booster upgrade? Marc

9 years

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Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Peter Corlett Hi, thanks for helping me out here! > Both are correct. There are 44 (rounded) frames per second, and 87 > (rounded) fields per second. "fields per second" refers to interlaced displays, right? So the vertical retrace frequence there is the 87 Hz number (since you get a vertical retrace after only 768/2 lines are displayed). Or am I confused? Although if I'm right so far, I'm puzzled as to how one could drive both interlaced and non-interlaced monitors off the same video signal - wouldn't the interlaced one need a video signal which has 'odd lines, then a vertical retrace, then even lines, then a vertical retrace'? Anyway, so which one is the one which is the number to look at when considering if the refresh rate is so high it might be dangerous to an old CRT monitor? I would assume it's the 'fields per second', since that's the frequency of the vertical retrace? E.g. my HP M50 manual says "Setting the screen resolution/refresh rate combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display." Even though the same document lists the vertical frequency range as "50-100 Hz"! Noel

9 years

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Searching an IBM Model B typewriter for IBM 1620

by johannesthelen＠hotmail.com

I got just another jewel to my collection, IBM 1620 Model I (G level). Machine has all internals intact, but table top and the typewriter are missing (probably doorway was too narrow back then, parts removed and forgotten somewhere on the journey... ) That table top can be made again, but I would need that right model typewriter. Anyone have a spare..? Also I have another problem with it, memory is suffering wire corrosion (like these all does). So this can be a looooong shot, but if someone have a functional memory or just core array, I'm interested to buy or swap it to something. Photos can be found my blog, link below. Thaaaaanks! - Johannes ThelenFinland Before microcomputers blog (Finnish) http://ennenmikrotietokoneita.blogspot.fi/

9 years

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Quadra 660AV what's with the "PowerPC" label?

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Thu, 6/16/16, Sean Conner <spc at conman.org> wrote: > It was thus said that the Great Liam Proven once stated: > > And Plan 9 went one better, and (mostly) eliminated that nasty old > > unsafe mess, C, and it eliminated native binaries and brought > > platform-neutral binaries to the game. > >? Um ... what?? Plan 9 is written in C.? And they still use binaries, just > fat binaries (that is, the binary contains multiple code and data segments > for each supported architecture0). I suspect he was referring to Inferno when talking about the byte code executables. But Plan 9 doesn't use fat binaries. It keeps each architecture's binaries in a directory named for the architecture. Then one uses the union mounts to build a /bin that has the appropriate mix of binaries and shell scripts for the machine hosting that process. BLS

9 years

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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> William Degnan > Update: I now have .. a working .. DL11 (M7800) What did the problem turn out to be (or is this a different one)? If the latter, do you have any use for a 5-instruction 'scope loop program which sends characters continuously, which you can toggle in, to help debug the broken one? If so, let me know, and I'll verify that it works (I hand- assembled it in my head :-), and send it along. And Ethan, thanks for the tip about that old message! (I'd forgotten about that one!) I will upload the content to the CHW (and add the DB9 pinouts, too). Noel

9 years

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Eckert - Faster, Faster; books in general

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brian Walenz > My (ex-library) copy is missing all of chapter 11, "What is there to > calculate?. (And the last page of the previous chapter). The pages > weren't ripped out, they were missing when it was bound. Very odd. My copy is complete, so if you can't otherwise locate the missing content, I could scan those page for you. They cover: i) multiple simultanous linear equations with unknowns (the problem the ABC was created for), ii) ordinary differential equations such as ballistics calculations (ditto, the ENIAC), iii) partial differential equations, such as fluid dynamics, although the example he uses is from quantum mechanics. > Two, also ex-library, copies are listed on Amazon, and I hesitate to > get another copy with the same problem. You could contact the seller and ask them to check, specifically. > There are others, of course, at outrageous prices. Or maybe I don't > realize the significance of '1st edition, not ex-library'. Well, it say what it means: it's a first edition - some collectors prefer them; and it doesn't have all the stickers, glued-in paperwork, internal markings etc that one finds in a library copy. Collectors often find that annoying - I tend to stay away from ex-library copies unless there's a huge price difference. > Just to make any discussion a bit more interesting, what would you > suggest along similar lines? Oh, goodness, there's a long list. I'll put up an annotated bibliography on the Computer History wiki. > From: Pontus Pihlgren > What are the titles of the IBM books that of which you speak? They are: Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, "IBM's Early Computers", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986 Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, "IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1991 Both are excellent, as are: Emerson W. Pugh, "Memories That Shaped an Industry: Decisions Leading to IBM System/360", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984 Maurice V. Wilkes, "Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1985 >from the same series (the former covers the development of core memory from the perspectiv of IBM). Noel

9 years

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DL11 M7800

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

OK. I must be missing something here Does anyone have a M7800 (DL11) set for 9600 b N71 or N81 jumper'd with the default address for use as a serial terminal interface? I understand the other jumpers on the card, but the address and vector jumpers confuse me. I can't seem to find a table or a "here is the default for console" or I don't get it. I have the manual, I want I believe 777560, but I cannot find "table 5-2" referred to in my copy of the manual. Can someone give me a couple of examples "if you have Ax Ay Az connected then that represents address ------- . I am looking at the manual and web sites on the subject and I think for use as a simple serial terminal interface I need to jumper "in" *A9, A7, A5, A4, A3* ... correct? Vector jumpers *V6, V7 "*in" . Just curious if anyone can help me specifically not indirectly what I need, super thanks in advance. Thanks Bill -- @ BillDeg: Web: vintagecomputer.net Twitter: @billdeg <https://twitter.com/billdeg> Youtube: @billdeg <https://www.youtube.com/user/billdeg> Unauthorized Bio <http://www.vintagecomputer.net/readme.cfm>

9 years

4
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Want to trade: Complete MacIvory 2 system for standalone Symbolics XL machine

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

If anyone has standalone Symbolics hardware, and wants to trade for something more managable that can do an LCD display and uses more standard parts, I have the following system for trade for any Merlin / XL machine. I'm going all-in on wacky hardware, because I have multiple machines and already require lots of unweildly consoles. In particular, with one running XL, I want to double down for spare parts. Going by the last few eBay auctions, the value is identical, or even slightly skewed in favor of the MacIvory. Here's what it's kitted out with: > Mac IIfx host > Original Symbolics Keyboard / Mouse adapter > MacIvory II CPU with Floating Point Accellerator > NS 8/16 NuBus Memory > CF card for booting the Mac side > 36gb internal SCA drive for the FEP filesystems > NuVista color card (this can be used directly by S-PAINT, and S-GRAPHICS as a color render head) > Radius ThunderGX accellerated NuBus main graphics > Asante 10 megabit ethernet > Compatible CD-ROM drive > Genera 8.3 & Animation systems loaded Anyone interested in a smaller, friendlier Symbolics experience? Will also consider funding any cross-shipping myself. Cheers, - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years

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Hazeltine 2000 Manuals

by dfnr2＠yahoo.com

Hi all, These Hazeltine 2000 were just on Ebay and were quickly snatched up.=C2=A0 = Did anybody here happen to snag them? http://www.ebay.com/itm/272275536298 http://www.ebay.com/itm/282069468875 I've been looking for these manuals for some time.=C2=A0 If someone won the= m (or has a set), I wonder if you'd be willing to create some nice high-qua= lity scans.=C2=A0 I'd be willing to pitch in to cover the costs of scanning= large pages, etc. with high resolution.=C2=A0 Alternatively, if anyone has= similar manuals and would be willing to sell them, I'd be interested. Thanks for any info! Dave

9 years

2
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DLI/Dolch C-100D Manuals?

by holm＠freibergnet.de

Hi, I've shoot an DLI / Dolch Logic Instrumnets Logic Analyzer Type C-100D on ebay today. It seems that I get some pos too, unfortunately no Z80 personality ..but a lot standard Pods. Since there are no Manuals for it included in the auction I'm asking nicely here if someone has the paperwork for this LA preferable in machine readable form ..? Has someone a z80 Personality to sell? TIA, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583 www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741

9 years

1
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Keyboards and the Model M (was Re: NEC ProSpeed 386)

by earl＠baugh.org

From: Swift Griggs <swiftgriggs at gmail.com> On Wed, 15 Jun 2016, geneb wrote: > I just wish the Unicomp keys were two-part keys like the Model M uses. I wish ALL keyboards did that... it's a superior design, IMHO. I'm puzzled, what do you mean two part? Cap and key? That's all I've gotten from Unicomp... That's how I got all of the "blank" caps from... EarltheSquirrel

9 years

4
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NEC ProSpeed 386

by cmhanson＠eschatologist.net

I just acquired an NEC ProSpeed 386 portable from WeirdStuff. http://imgur.com/a/vUTvd <http://imgur.com/a/vUTvd> The system boots fine off floppy, and after running the setup program?that can still be downloaded from NEC America?s FTP site!?I was able to boot DOS and Windows 3.11 from the internal HD that WeirdStuff didn?t think it had. The machine is actually quite zippy once booted too, it?s obviously a desktop replacement, it even has a goddamn mechanical keyboard! Unfortunately, there doesn?t seem to be all that much useful information about this system online. Does anyone have any pointers? What I?d like to do most is get into it and down to the motherboard, since the CMOS battery obviously needs replacing, and I could see whether there?s any damage that needs to be cleaned up. I tried to disassemble it this morning but unfortunately I couldn?t find any release latches and the plastic is old enough to be a little brittle so I didn?t want to work it too hard. As for what else I?ll do with it, I might consider replacing the drive with a larger one (or a larger CF card via an IDE/CF adaptor), adding the 8MB memory upgrade if I could ever find it, and adding an 80387 if I could ever find one and if there?s actually a socket for it. And if there?s any sort of network card for its weird-ass expansion slots of course I?d be all over that. I also expect the battery is quite sketchy at this point, being a discharged-for-decades NiCd. The system won?t boot without the battery pack attached though, so I?ll have to figure out how to bypass that. (I expect I can just install some sort of jumper at the battery port, or wire in a bypass.) And the system ports are obscured by the battery pack too. Nonetheless, not bad for well under the $60 sticker price when you consider that they also threw in the Griffin iMate I was also getting for that price! -- Chris

9 years

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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > If I understand correctly, the first DL might be for example a TU58 or > other serial device. Well, DL11's long predate TU58's, and the 'first' DL11 would almost certainly have been connected to a terminal, but yes, basically. > The console = 0, the "first" is actually "1" (second) serial card. > right? Right. I'll add a sentence or two the the article about how DL11's #1-#16 are to be found at 776500-676. Noel

9 years, 1 month

2
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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan >>> Is there a table with the jumpers and values somewhere? >> No, but I'll whip one up and stick it on the Computer History wiki. > Many would appreciate this I bet. I'm sure I would have - I, like a lot of others, struggled with the address/vector jumpers (which are poorly covered in the DEC documentation). Anyway, try this on for size: http://gunkies.org/wiki/DL11_asynchronous_serial_line If there's anything else I could usefully add there, please let me know. I have provided jumper configs for the console, and the first serial line after that - are there any more that would be useful to list? Noel

9 years, 1 month

2
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Who recognizes this (UK) architecture (from 1970-1985)?

by erik＠baigar.de

Hi There, I am working on restoration, documentation of a some vintage navigation systems from the late 1970ties, which have been designed in the UK. They contain an archaic bit-serial computer and I'd be interested if someone on this list recognizes the architecture and/or can confirm my assumptions: The bitserial computer consists of around 300 TTL chips (54xx); it has 8 bits instructions and operates on 16 bit memory. The 3 LOWER bits of the opcode define the instruction and the HIGHER bits the location (0-31, i.e. address) - most other architectures I know have the instruction coded in the MSBs! Here is a list of the basic instructions: 1 : Load Ac from memory 2 : Store Ac to memory 3 : Add to Ac 4 : Sub from Ac 5 : IO-Instructions (32 Channels, there are some special channels as 0 loads AC with "0" whereas channel 31 loads -1 into Ac). 6 : Shift instructions - depending on the address field, Ac is shifted arithmetically (preserving MSB, the sign) or cyclic. 7 : Bit test instructions - 0-15 test bits of the Ac register, 16-31 test external digital inputs and are used for communication with the hardware. And finally, put last for didactic reasons: 0 : Here we have a bunch of special instructions depending on the address field, like selection of memory page, conditional jump, loading of data from ROM into the Accumulator (Ac), multiply, divide, conditional JUMP,... What makes the architecture very unique to me is, that it has 32 bit capability, i.e. there is a "double length" flag and if this is set, most commands operate on 32 bit (1-6, MUL, DIV). Additionally there is a "logic flag" which causes e.g. the instuctions ADD and SUB to switch to change their operation from ADD/SUB to logic AND/NXOR. Apart from this, ROM and RAM are separated (the CPU cann not exe- cute code in RAM) and the RAM is segmented in 4 pages of 31 words. The machine does not have got a stack, there is no subroutine call and only just one flag used for conditional JUMPs. Via the test in- structions (e.g. test Accu bit 3, test Ac<0) this flag is modified and a following "Jump if Flag Set" acutally causes the conditional JUMP. As the navigation system is made by Ferranti I, already had a look at the varouos computers made by them (Mark1, Pegasus, Atlas, and Argus). I think given the timeline, and the word widths the Argus 600 or 700 architectures may be closely related, but the 600's command set is quite different... http://www.wylie.org.uk/technology/computer/Argus/PeteFarr.htm Can anyone out there confirm this? Is a instruction set listing of the Argus 700 available somewhere? A video on the system can be found fon YouTube although this is not focused on the digital computer it may be of interest as it gives a overview on the application, the projected map cockpit display (one of the devices controlled by the system) and it shows my homebrew logger developed durig analysis of the box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EQqfxiGgd8 Interesting in this system is also the delicate mechanics and the mix of digital computing, analog computing (platform stabilization, compensation of cross talk errors and anisoelasticity, platform erection, first integration from acceleration to speed) and mechanical computing (the ingetration of turn rate happens me- chanically within the gyrsocopes).For this reasons, these systems are the most extraordinary masterpiece of engineering I know... Best regards, Erik, Germany, Munich...

9 years, 1 month

2
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VCF Midwest is Live!

by silent700＠gmail.com

Hello vintage computing fans - we are finally ready to officially re-announce the 11th annual Vintage Computer Festival Midwest! Here are the essentials: What: A weekend of friends, fellowship and frivolity centered around the hobby of vintage computing. Buy, browse, show or sell or any combination thereof. When: September 10-11, 2016 Where: The Holiday Inn of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, minutes from O'Hare International Airport (with a free shuttle) How Much: Zero, 0, null, %0, nil, @0, aught, ought, naught, 0x00, nada, zip, or goose-egg. It's free, too. (BIG ASTERISK BELOW) Last year's move to our new, larger event hall was a resounding and popular success. This year, processes have been streamlined, layouts optimized, synergies leveraged and core competencies enhanced so that 2016 will see us there again with a little bit more space (all that we can get this time) and the same great food, hours and convenience that worked so well last time. Some OK T-Shirts, too, if I finish them on time. Reservations for tables and potential speaking slots will be taken via web form here: http://vcfmw.org/signup.html. We'll contact you soon to follow-up on space requirements or presentations. There is no need to register to attend the show. Table spots may fill up quickly - late registrants may end up with sub-optimal locations. Special convention rate hotel reservations for the Holiday Inn are now open. Follow the link on our site to the reservation page with pre-filled code. If you are making your reservation with your own discount code or without one, please still mention our show (code "VCF") as that is one way we track attendance figures (and more reservations = friendlier hotel.) Please visit our website and FAQ at http://vcfmw.org for all the latest relevant information and don't hesitate to contact me with questions not covered there. (BIG ASTERISK) VCFMW is a community-supported event and does not charge admission - therefore we depend on your donations to cover the costs of the facility rental and other necessaries. Please visit our web page to find two methods of donation (PayPal and GoFundMe) and give what you can. If you'd like to donate directly at the show or by some other method, please let me know privately. Thank you to all that helped make our show great last year and we hope to see you again in September! -j

9 years, 1 month

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VCFed auction updates

by Wayne.Smith＠warnerbros.com

Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 15:20:11 -0400 From: "Bill Sudbrink" <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net> To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: > I think that VCFed (was MARCH) had that one > signed at the same workshop that mine was > signed at. A couple of others were signed > at the same time. Picture of Herb getting > his signed (right after mine) here: > > http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/sol_1.html Woz was at VCF 8.0 (2005) and I quickly bought a Macintosh Portable for $50 from one of the vendors just so I could have him sign something - got a picture of him doing so as well: http://tinyurl.com/jkxcv89

9 years, 1 month

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Possible to Re-flash a Yamaha SCSI CDROM to fake an Apple CDROM ?

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

On older Apple 68k machines, having an Apple-branded CDROM means you can be assured it'll boot (though it's rumored that many generic SCSI CDROMs work for booting) and also that it'll "just work" on most of the OSs. I'm guessing it's a simple check to see if the vendor in the firmware is "APPLE". Has anyone ever managed to hack the firmware of something like a Yamaha, Pioneer, or Plextor drive so that it lies and says it's "APPLE" thus being fully enabled by the OS & hardware ? Does anyone know anything about flashing CDROM firmware and the dynamics of such things? I wonder if it'd just be a matter of a simple hexedit/byte-patch on the firmware image then load it up... Is this a bogus idea? The reason for this is that if it's possible, I could buy a Pioneer slot loading SCSI CDROM drive, stuff it into my Quadra 660AV, and then hack it to "just work" instead of needing drivers et al. The slot cover isn't big enough for a normal tray-drive CDROM to work. Thus I can only use a CD300i caddy-based drive (or theoretically - a slot drive). My 300i is a bit of PoS and even after I cleaned it, the thing still has a lot of read problems. -Swift

9 years, 1 month

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Cross post - Help repairing badly dented / warped sheet metal casing (Seattle)

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I recently received something very special to me, a Symbolics XL1200 LISP machine, with framethrower and the works. Despite being shipped in the original SMBX designed carton, UPS dealt a great deal of damage to the system. It looks like it was hit by a truck. This, predictably, makes me very sad. Is there anyone, preferably local, with the skill and tools to make this thing look a little better who can lend a hand? How do I get started undoing the dents and extremely bent base? thanks, - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 1 month

4
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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan >> For 777560/60 (standard for the console), you want A7/A3 and V4/V5 >> 'in'. > I intend to use a serial terminal to access the console via M912 > CONSOLE ROM. Got it; that would mean you're wanting the standard console. > I believe you're saying to connect A7/A3 and V4/V5 Right, insert jumpers A7 and A3, and also V5 and V4. > I still don't understand the pattern. They specify the device address and vector in binary. A7 is the 7th bit of the address, i.e. the 0200 bit. And since the DL11 is 'address jumper in for 0', that bit in the device's address is going to be _0_ when the jumper is in. That would turn 777770 (remember, the device is a block of 8 bytes, from xxxxx0 to xxxxx7, so you can't set the low 3 bits in the base address, they must be 0) into 777570. Similarly, A3 is 010, and turns 777770 to 777760. Put them together, you get 777560. V5 = 040, V4 = 020, so they become a vector of 060. > What would A4, A5, A6 and V7, V6, V3 represent A4 = 020, A5 = 040, A6 = 0100. V7 = 0200, V6 = 100, V3 = 010. > Is there a table with the jumpers and values somewhere? No, but I'll whip one up and stick it on the Computer History wiki. > Specifically something that lists all jumper combos and their > corresponding addresses? Well, _all_ the combinations would be 2^8 combinations (there are 8 address jumpers), which is pretty sizeable, and I don't feel like listing them all, but I can list a couple of the most common ones (e.g. console, second line, etc). Noel

9 years, 1 month

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SunOS 4

by bryan＠bceassociates.com

Hi, I have really fond memories of this operating system (from before the SVR4 Solaris days). It was the first UNIX I used (and I'm still a big BSD fan). (Not sure what the protocol is here for asking something like this so if I run afoul of a copyright policy or something, just tell me to stop asking and I will.) Is there any way someone can get their hands on an install disc for this? I have some old SPARC hardware that it would be fun to run on if I could find the installer. Thanks, Bryan

9 years, 1 month

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[OT] Beta Max and other OLD still and motion cameras

by sales＠elecplus.com

9 years, 1 month

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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > OMG Yeah, but look at it this way: their being inverted can be a memory jogger - 'Oh, the DL11, that effed-up interface where the jumper sense is inverted between address and vector!' Then you only have to look up one of the two.. :-) > Yes, so I can use a terminal with the machine, I need a working > terminal. "Terminal" != "console". (Or, rather, the latter is a unitary subset of the former.) The 'system console' is, by definition, on all PDP-11's, a DL11-type serial interface at 777560. However, it may have many 'terminals'! :-) >> For 777560/60 (standard for the console), you want A7/A3 and V4/V5 'in'. > I think you mean 60/64, right? Sort of (unless you mean 'instead of 777560/60, you meant 60/64, right?'). 777560 is the base address, 60 is the base vector. The receiver registers are 777560-2, and the transmitter are 777564-6, but on the DL11, one can only set the base of the entire group of 4 registers, one can't move the transmit and receive around independently. Similarly for the vector, one can only set the base; the receive (B) and transmit (B+4) are paired in the hardware. Hence, "777560/60". Noel

9 years, 1 month

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PDP-11/23 system available

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

I have a PDP-11/23 with two RL02 drives, in a third party rack, that I need to rehome. The PDP does not have any cards installed! Nothing has been tested. Available! Cheap! Always open to trades. The rack is a shorty, and I could deliver it within reason. I still have those MINC-11 cards, too. -- Will, in IBM land NY

9 years, 1 month

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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > Does anyone have a M7800 (DL11) set for 9600 b N71 or N81 jumper'd with > the default address for use as a serial terminal interface? Yup. (And BTW the baud's not jumpers, it's the dials.) > I understand the other jumpers on the card, but the address and vector > jumpers confuse me. Join the crew... :-) The simple rule on the DL11 is that vector jumpers are the inverse of address jumpers: for the vector, jumpers are 'in' for '1', and for the address, they are 'in' for '0'. > I think for use as a simple serial terminal interface I need to jumper > "in" *A9, A7, A5, A4, A3* ... correct? Vector jumpers *V6, V7 "*in" . You mean for the console, right? (All DL11's are 'simple serial terminal interfaces' ;-). The jumpers you give are for DL11 #1, address 776500, vector 300. For 777560/60 (standard for the console), you want A7/A3 and V4/V5 'in'. Noel

9 years, 1 month

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Adapting digital RGBI monitor to accept analog RGB

by echristopherson＠gmail.com

I am in possession of two Magnavox (North American Philips) CM8562 monitors. Out of the box they handle composite and digital RGBI (CGA) input. What I'd like to do is get one to handle analog RGB (like arcade boards, Amiga, Atari ST, and Apple IIGS put out). I wouldn't think this was possible, but I seem to have a certain memory that I saw mention of doing just that *somewhere* on the web a few years ago, even though I can't find that mention now. According to the rather unwieldy chart at http://gona.mactar.hu/Commodore/monitor/Commodore_monitors_by_model_number.… , the service manual and schematic for the Commodore-branded 1084 and 1084S-P is "also good for Magnavox ... CM8562". I assume this means the monitors are basically the same underneath. Both of those Commodore monitors support analog RGB. However, when I look at the service manuals provided for those, they specifically state in several places that parts of the manual referring to analog RGB do not apply to the CM8562. Also, according to http://www.retrocomputing.net/parts/commodore/1084S-P1/docs/1084p/readme.txt , there are two chassis designations, which both confusingly include the string "CM8562": CM8505/CM8562/CM8705/CM8762, 8CM505/8CM515/8CM542/8CM643 on the one hand; and 8CM542/CM8562/CM8762 on the other. The latter is noted as only accepting digital RGBI. Physically, both monitors I have have an 8-pin DIN input for the digital RGBI, and a circular area with the legend "lin RGB" underneath. One one monitor, that circular area is perforated; on the other one, it's just a circle but with no indication that it can be easily knocked out. I have not yet opened either one. So... does anyone know if these monitors can in fact be made to accept analog RGB? Or have a way I could tell after opening them up? And, of course, I'd like instructions on just how to do it, if it is possible. -- Eric Christopherson

9 years, 1 month

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2 X 13" green screen monitors available

by elson＠pico-systems.com

I have two brand-new 13" green screen monitors available. We got them at work from a surplus source a LONG time ago, I think to replace failing monitors in Graph-on 140 terminals. These are Motorola DS4003-500 units, with AC power supply for either 120 or 240 V operation. They take a card-edge connector for video and sync. (I think they are RS-170 for composite sync, but I'm not completely sure.) I used a scope to pick up the horizontal frequency, it was 53.6 us or ~ 16.5 KHz. I did power one of them up, and it gave a green raster when the brightness was turned up. Anybody interested? Jon

9 years, 1 month

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Computer History Museum seeks Lotus/Prentice-Hall software

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Everyone, CHM contacted me. They're seeking copies (or better yet, original disks) of Lotus Development?s Executive Briefing System for the Apple II and Prentice-Hall?s VCN ExecuVision for the IBM PC. The software is not on Bitsavers, Archive.org, etc. Contact: dbrock at computerhistory.org -Evan

9 years, 1 month

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Informer 213 terminal - 3274 / 3178 compatible ?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

2016-06-11 22:00 GMT+02:00 Pete Turnbull <pete at dunnington.plus.com>: > On 11/06/2016 18:17, Mattis Lind wrote: > >> I just dig out this little thing form my father stash of various stuff. >> >> When bringing up the setup screen it does not look like the one in the >> > > manual. > > I love the way they felt they had to explain the keyboard at such length. > And explain that the unmarked key is the space bar - I remember when I was > about 6 or 7, having to ask my dad how to get a space on his office > typewriter. > > I was also amused to see they have a section on connecting it to the UK's > BT lines (in the days when things needed BT Approval) so it's obviously > intended for UK use, yet it's pictured with an American power lead. Unfortunately for me my unit does not seem to be the same as the one in the manual. The section on connecting to BT lines is probably still valid since it does have a Rockwell modem board in it. I did find an old Computerworld ad from 1989 which matched. Informer 213 - emulating a 3274 control unit with an attached 3178 mod 2 terminal. Someone with IBM knowledge might share what that means and how the terminal can be used. Anyway. I put together a webpage on the thing: http://www.datormuseum.se/peripherals/terminals/informer-213 /Mattis > > > -- > Pete >

9 years, 1 month

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MULTOS/8 progress, and a question...

by JoshD＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

Hi all -- Having overcome my earlier issues with SIMH, I now have MULTOS/8 happily running on the real hardware, with two terminals. (Yay!). I'd like to get the system up to four terminals and here's where I'm running into trouble. I've modified PARAM.PG appropriately (set JOBS to 4, TERMS to 4, and filled in the device codes for the extra terminals). I've rebuilt JOBS.BN and MULTOS, ran BUILD and inserted J1 through J4 and everything runs and the system comes up with 4 terminals (yay!). What isn't working properly are the job devices J1 through J4 -- each of these provides each terminal/user his/her own "virtual" drive on the system's RK05 pack -- effectively it partitions the RK05 into four smaller drives, J1: through J4:. With the two user setup, J1: and J2: are approximately 3000 blocks in size (so each basically gets one side of the RK05 pack). With the four-user setup, I'd expect J1:, J2:, J3: and J4: to each be about 1500 blocks, but they're still reporting as 3000 blocks each. What's more, the actual starting offsets of J1: through J4: appear to be what I'd expect (that is, J1 starts at 0, J2 starts at ~1500, J3 starts at ~3000, etc.). So if I start filling these drives, eventually they clobber each other. The only manual I've found (http://www.pdp8.net/os/multos8/) suggests that these should be appropriately sized (see section 2.1.1) automagically, but this does not seem to be the case; doing a ZERO on them creates a filesystem 3000 blocks in length. I'm digging through the source code to look for clues, but I haven't found anything yet. Anyone fooled with this before? Thanks, Josh

9 years, 1 month

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VCFed auction updates

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

yes there was a vast difference between him and Jobs Ed# In a message dated 6/14/2016 9:32:18 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at snarc.net writes: > Woz sounds like a nice guy. He's incredibly nice. It always impresses me.

9 years, 1 month

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VCFed auction updates

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

should have kept the good signed stuff and sold the lesser stuff perhaps? unless you had them sign a stack of them. Ed# In a message dated 6/13/2016 12:00:32 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at snarc.net writes: > One thing I did want to ask was, there was some debate about an original > signed Apple. I couldn't make out if there was or was an announcement or if it did or > did not get sold. The auction has four days remaining: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191890608380. We're also auctioning a signed Sol-20: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191890605553 Both machines are super-clean, fully working, and autographed by their respective inventors (Woz/Felsenstein). All proceeds go to VCFed which is a non-profit. > Also what had northern California go to do with it? Nothing. :) Someone asked, in a wishful thinking moment, if the announcement is about a new VCFestival in southern California. I replied it's not and that northern Calif. is a good place to visit for VCF West this summer.

9 years, 1 month

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Accessing a TK50 or TK70 from RT

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi I have had some success in fixing a couple of TK tape drives. They now load and unload every time you press the button. SFSG now to talk to them from RT. Using the diagnostics on the format (RX50) disk the Identify function shows the drive and by inference its controller. However its calls it MUX. I seem to remember under RT you needed to do a SET or ASSIGN to link it to the driver. Anybody know the correct syntax so I can init the tape and start to read and write files to and from it. Rod

9 years, 1 month

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DEC Legacy 2016 15/16 Oct 2016 - Registration now open

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

Hi folks The website is now back up at http://declegacy.org.uk and will slowly fill with content in the next couple of months about the upcoming event. Registration is now possible. Kind regards, Mark.

9 years, 1 month

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DEC Legacy UK show

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

The tentative plan is to run the next one in October. The date should be firmed up in the next month or so. Typically I run the event once every 18 months or so. Regards, Mark. On 14 April 2016 at 15:50, Rob Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote: > It is a very informal event, organised by Mark in his own time. He has > family and work commitments like all of us, so I expect he has not been > able to find the time. > > Regards > > Rob > > Sent from my Windows 10 phone > > From: Rod Smallwood > Sent: 14 April 2016 15:09 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Re: DEC Legacy UK show > > So why did it say See you in 2016? > > > On 14/04/2016 15:03, Dave Wade wrote: > > I thought Mark was only aiming for every two years. > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Rod > >> Smallwood > >> Sent: 14 April 2016 14:14 > >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts <cctech at classiccmp.org> > >> Subject: DEC Legacy UK show > >> > >> DEC Legacy UK show > >> > >> Where did it go ? > >> 2015 then nothing > >> > >> Rod Smallwood > >> > > > > >

9 years, 1 month

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VCFed auction updates

by cctalk＠snarc.net

>> should have kept the good signed stuff >> and sold the lesser stuff perhaps? >> unless you had them sign a stack of them. > > I think that VCFed (was MARCH) had that one > signed at the same workshop that mine was > signed at. No. These are different ones. These were donated to us very recently specifically for auctioning as a fundraiser.

9 years, 1 month

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VCF - can't get in again.

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Would you believe it. VCF forum is up to its old tricks again. Same old thing. Can't log in Last time I got told I had registered when I had not. Just like the banks your PIN number was used so it must have been you. Our software can never be at fault. The user is always wrong. Rod

9 years, 1 month

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WTB: Data General 6030 floppy drive

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

What are the chances? Slim, but I'll ask anyway. Now that I'm giving my Nova 3/12 some more attention and beginning to debug its 6045 hard drive, I'm interested in dolling up the system some more, and replacing filler panels with things that emit noise and heat. My manuals say that I can mix 6030 floppy drives on the same bus with the 6045 hard drives, so I'd like to add one to my rack. So, does anybody have a 6030 floppy drive for swap or sale? I'm in southern California, which can be a relevant detail when talking about transporting vintage gear. While I'm at it, additional removable packs for my 6045 drive would be helpful, too. Especially if there's anything interesting on them. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years, 1 month

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Data General Nova object formats

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

I have been able to use my Data General Nova 3's Program Load function to load in the 091-000036-01 self-loading bootstrap program, and then use that bootstrap to load in absolute binary tape images from *.ab files, all over the TTI channel from a terminal emulator. Now, I'm trying to hack Toby Thain's Nova assembler to emit auto-loading images by prepending the self-loading bootstrap to the assembled program, with a binary patch to make the bootstrap jump straight into the absolute binary loader rather than halting at address 000121. It seems to me that I should be able to use this scheme to assemble programs which I can then Program Load through the TTI channel, and simply send the image over the serial port from a terminal emulator. I have the assembler hacked up to prepend the patched loader, and the patch I made seems to cause the bootstrap to jump right into the absolute binary loader; I simply replaced the HALT that ended up in 000120 with a JMP 000121. However, the binary loader continues running after presumably digesting the data that followed the bootstrap. Toby's assembler outputs "relocatable binary" code in .rb files, and I don't understand if/how that differs from the "absolute binary" format in the .ab tape images that I can successfully load. I'll continue researching, but I'd appreciate it if anybody might be able to provide any clues to dispel my confusion. Regarding my hacked up assembler, I don't know whether it's advisable to post it publicly after getting it working, since it'll have original DGC binary code embedded in it. Opinions? -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years, 1 month

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Data General Nova 3 and 6045 Drive Questions

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

My Nova 3/12 system has a 6045 cartridge hard drive, with one fixed platter, one removable platter, and a capacity of 10M. I haven't managed to boot my computer from it yet, and after a long pause, my Nova 3 is requesting another time slice of my attention. I can see in the drive's technical manual where I can specify surface 0-3 in the commands. I assume that the built-in bootstrap loader in the Nova 3 reads drive 0, cylinder 0, surface 0, sector 0, and places it at memory location 0, simply by virtue of all of the registers having been reset after an initial power-up and spin-up. The bootstrap loader code I've seen looks like it just issues a read command without initializing the memory address register and disc address/sector count register. I don't fully grok that code yet, so maybe I'm mistaken. I have not found mention yet of which surface numbers correspond to the fixed platter and which correspond to the removable one. Is the removable platter selected as surfaces 0 and 1, such that the system would normally boot from the removable platter? Or would it normally boot from the fixed platter, with the removable platter being used to get data on and off the system? Incidentally, I wonder if anybody has any original printed technical documentation relevant to my Nova 3 system which they might like to sell. I'm working off PDFs right now, and I'd like clean original paper copies for easier perusal and reference. I'm also interested in replacing the filler panels in my Nova's rack with other interesting peripherals. Maybe a floppy drive? My 6045 is supposed to be able to be mixable with 6030 drives on the same bus, according to the 6045 manual. If anybody has some excess Nova hardware that might fit into my system, please let me know. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years, 1 month

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Strange ICs on eBay

by afahimi＠fahimienterprises.com

Just wondering if anyone knows what these chips are for/from/etc. http://www.ebay.com/itm/152124208945 Interesting look to them. I would say EPROM but the magnifying window is weird... -Ali

9 years, 1 month

6
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LASM compatible cross assembler?

by fozztexx＠fozztexx.com

After getting my TRS-80 Model II keyboard repaired and up & running last week (http://www.insentricity.com/a.cl/257), I've been messing around with the Kermit source code to see if I can add hardware flow control support. I'm able to build Kermit using LASM on CP/M or on an emulator, but it would be nice to be able to setup a Makefile so I can do the build directly on Linux. Is there a LASM compatible assembler out there with source available that I can run on Linux? I've tried a whole lot of different ones that are capable of doing 8080 & Z80 assembly, but not one understands the syntax of LASM (or I'm just not running them with the right flags). I've tried so far: z80asm - http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/z80asm as - http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/as/index.html kio's zasm - http://k1.spdns.de/Develop/Projects/zasm/Distributions/ zasm - http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_zasm/ z80-asm - http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/z80-asm.html z80pack - http://www.autometer.de/unix4fun/z80pack/ Alternately, is the source code for Ward Christensen's LASM available anywhere? The best I could find was a note from a Kermit developer from 27 years ago asking for the source. I suppose I could use a disassembler, but then I don't have proper labels or comments. -- Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com

9 years, 1 month

2
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UNIBUS extension card/cable sets

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I previously: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2015-June/006953.html wrote: >> I see 'three' different kinds of 'UNIBUS to cables' cards listed: >> M9014 UNIBUS to 3 H854s >> M9015 3 H854s to UNIBUS >> M9031 UNIBUS to 3 3M cables for 11/74 >> M9042 UNIBUS to 3 H854, Dual > So I have compared an M9014 and an M9042; the former is a 'normal' > height dual module, the latter is a 'short' dual module. I suspect that > they have the same pinout on the Berg headers; I tried a couple of > UNIBUS signals, and they led to the same pin on the Bergs on the two > different units. > If and when I get energetic I will make a complete pinout list for the > two units (I haven't been able to find any documentation on any of them > online). I have completed this pinout list, and it is now documented here: http://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIBUS_H854_header_pinout I have also verified that both the M9014 and M9042 use the exact same pinout. If _anyone_ has either an M9015, or an M9031, can they please let me know? I'd like to document exactly what they are. (I have this sneaky suspicion that the numbers were allocated, but the cards never built: for the UNIBUS, unlike the QBUS, you can use the same card on each end of a set of flat cables - that's because the UNIBUS dual connector does not have separate 'grant in' and 'grant out' pins, unlike the QBUS.) Since BC11A cables are now very hard to find, and the white flexible printed circuit flat cables (I think that's the correct jargon, can someone please correct me if I got that wrong) used in them is probably not obtainable now (outside a special order), I suspect we may soon be using pairs of these cards (they are very simple), along with a 3-set of 40-conductor (2x20 pin headers) in place of them. But that's for another day! Noel

9 years, 1 month

1
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EVOX RIFA X2 capacitors

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, Got a couple of Apple ][s that were rescued from a steelworks outbuilding and as usual they have ASTEC power supplies with .1uF and .01uf RIFA look-at-me-and-I'll-explode caps in and I'm running out of spares. What's the current considered replacement for these? There seems to be a wide range available with even wider ranging prices from EVOX, VISHAY, MATSUSHITA, PANASONIC (ok, matsushita again), Iskra, KEMET etc. Drowning in options, not just heavy rain :) -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

9 years, 1 month

5
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am8052

by emu＠e-bbes.com

Hi all, anybody know, which system used it? It is a 1986 CRT controller, which was pretty fancy back then. But never saw actual hardware with it ... Thanks

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

UNIBUS M9312 ROMS (Don North)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > From: Don North <ak6dn at mindspring.com> > Subject: Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS (Don North) > Message-ID: <498c12dd-437a-31ce-0a04-4602e50f6f55 at mindspring.com> > > There is a three PROM set 23-86[234]A9 for device code XM which is DDCMP > boot > over a DMC11/DMR11. Those PROMs are available and on my web page. > > I am not aware of the four PROM set you mention, but it could certainly be > a > custom one for that application. > > -- > Don North > AK6DN > > I looked in my notes. The 11/34s and KL10 talked through DMR11-ACs using the megabit COAX interface. Maybe the three PROM version that you have is the right one for this configuration, and there was another PROM on the M9312. -- Michael Thompson

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Using 1MB M8750 cards in a PDP-11/70

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So there was some prior discussion on the list about using the later 1MB M8750 cards (used in the VAX-11/750, /730, etc) in the MK11 memory of a PDP-11/70: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2015-March/003598.html However, that seems to require some kludgery in the MK11 (sending 4 separate 'board select' signals to a single memory card, etc). I'm interested in using the 1MB M8750 cards because the smaller 256KB M8728 cards (which the MK11 _will_ take, although there's very little about that in extant DEC documentation) are now seemingly unobtainium. (Almost all the MK11 documentation that I have only talks about the 64K M7984. The only one that does mention the M8728 is the -11/70 Maintenance Service Guide, KA-K1170-MG-003, and it doesn't say much, just indicates that one just plugs them in, and the controller recognizes them. So I've been studying the prints to see how that all works - there are per-slot/board 'personality' lines the MK11 can read.) The thing is that M8728 cards use the exact same PCB as the M7850 - in fact, there are lots of 'M8728' cards listed online, because it says 'M8728' in the etch, but they are in fact M8750's (as shown on the handles)! So I had a brainwave: why not use M8750's, but jumper them to look like M8728's? I'd only be using 256KB of a 1M card, but I can live with that (I just bought a giant stack of M8750's for a fairly nominal amount). It would let me use the M8750's without having to do hardware mods to my MK11. So, has anyone here ever worked out how to use M8750 cards in the MK11 in this manner? It looks like all one has to do is i) figure out how to jumper the M8750 to look like an M8728 (there is no documentation on the M8728 extant, AFAICT), and ii) make sure that the A7 pin to the 64K RAM chips of the M8750 is driven consistently to either '1' or '0' (it looks like there's a jumper in the A7 drive line, and one could connect the appropriate post of that jumper to ground to do that). So, if someone has done this before, or, failing that, if anyone has M8728 documentation (although I can get the M8728 jumper etc info off an M8728 I have coming, if not), I would be extremely grateful! Thanks in advance (I hope :-)! Noel

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Anyone have MULTOS/8 running on SimH?

by JoshD＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

I'm investigating getting MULTOS/8 running on the 8/e here at the museum and I thought I'd start by getting acquainted with it on SIMH. I've picked up the disk pack from Dave Gesswein's site here: https://www.pdp8online.com/pdp8cgi/os8_html?act=dir;fn=images/os8/multos8.r… and the manual here: http://www.pdp8.net/os/multos8/ MULTOS as currently configured on the RK05 image appears to be set up for two terminals and everything listed in BUILD looks to agree with respect to the SimH hardware configuration. I set up a password file per the instructions, and after I set the DATE, I do an: .R MULTOS And am greeted with: HELLO ! THIS IS THE MULTOS/8 MULTI-USER OS/8 TIMESHARING SYSTEM CREATED BY COMPUTER METHODS 7822 OAKLEDGE ROAD SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84121, USA PHONE 801-942-8000 PLEASE INPUT TIME IN 24-HOUR FORMAT (E.G. 0925 FOR 9:25 AM AND 1935 FOR 7:35 PM): 1601 THANK YOU ! THE SYSTEM IS NOW TIMESHARING TYPE CONTROL/H TO LOG ON. At this point, the system becomes unresponsive; CTRL-H appears to have no effect. AC and MQ seem to be incrementing over time as the docs describe. I've poked around and in PARAM.PG, the address of TTY #2 is set to 32 (VT78?), rather than the 40 I'd expect. I changed this and reassembled the JOBS device handler, and then used BUILD to rebuild the system using it. I'm still getting the same behavior, however... I have a bit of experience with OS/8 (but I'm not an expert) and nearly zero experience with MULTOS, so before I start debugging in SimH I thought I'd check to see that I'm not doing anything intensely stupid here... Thanks! Josh

9 years, 1 month

3
3
0 0

Informer 213 terminal

by mattislind＠gmail.com

I just dig out this little thing form my father stash of various stuff. Had to replace the input filter module since there were a small cloud when powering it up. It also left fair amount of thick smelly tar in the machine. But the exact replacement were still to be found some 30 years later. The little thing is driven by a 68B09 processor, some ROM and RAM and a big NEC ship marked "Informer". Maybe a custom ASIC. The screen is a Lohja / Finlux 512x256 EL display. When bringing up the setup screen it does not look like the one in the m <https://www.jefftk.com/informer-213-ae-manual.pdf>anual. It looks more IBMish. http://i.imgur.com/7EX5uTz.jpg It says 374/SNA - Rev 2.1 Does anyone have a more non-IBMish firmware set (or is there some other way to make it more VT100)? A 27256 and a 2764 goes into the terminal. There is a Youtube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvPR8UypXNw , on a Informer 213 but the firmware seems to be different (at around 1:31). /Mattis

9 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

TI Professional Computer (TIPC) Service Manual?

by martin＠shackspace.de

I wanted to reactivate a TI Professional Computer (TIPC) and all I get some seconds after powering it on is the message "** system error ** 0004" and a beep, lasting for about 2 seconds. The TIPC is an early, not really compatible clone of the IBM PC 5150. I wonder if I need to do some reengineering and/or disassembling or if there is a service manual out there. greetings, Martin -- Martin Peters martin at shackspace.de

9 years, 1 month

3
10
0 0

Strange ICS on eBay

by cctalk＠ibm51xx.net

Just wondering if anyone knows what these chips are for/from/etc. http://www.ebay.com/itm/152124208945 Interesting look to them. I would say EPROM but the magnifying window is weird... -Ali

9 years, 1 month

8
13
0 0

Looking for D#CM@TE II Mainboard

by pdaguytom＠gmail.com

Okay so I'm trying again, as the Classiccmp software is not letting my post through with the correct name of the subject computer included in the post (I've tried thrice). My D#CM at TE II has begun behaving very strangely. The computers began to develop keyboard issues a few weeks ago, which resolved to be some or all of a set of small filtering caps (which on my board, looked just like picofuses) that sit on the lines for the keyboard/video port failing. Replaced those with 470pf caps (after I incorrectly identified and installed picofuses the 1st time), the computer now recognizes the keyboard, but now fails 9 out of 10 times to go through a proper boot sequence, generating a randomly garbled version of the test screen patterns and then sometimes attempting to boot the floppy (but fails). Anyway, if anyone has a mainboard left over from a Spare Time Gizmos project and would like to get sell it, I'd be interested. Thanks, Tom

9 years, 1 month

2
2
0 0

VCF now sorted.

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi VCF is now OK. I logged me normally and I got my panel bulletin up. R

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

IO Selectric

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

Folks I have today collect a recent E-Bay purchase. It appears to be an IO Selectric that has been left in a garage for a long period of time and is very gummed up. It will turn over with the manual handle, and it appears to try and type, but the carriage does not advance. All the tapes and chords appear to be in place. I have put some pictures here:- https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!119461&authkey=!AGfgR GXKAjqDm7E&ithint=folder%2cJPG sorry for the long link. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which manuals are appropriate, and which documentation was followed to allow it to be used as a printer? Dave Wade G4UGM

9 years, 1 month

3
7
0 0

http://hackaday.com/2016/05/29/dragging-teletypes-into-the-21st-century/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackaday%2FLgoM+%28Hack+a+Day%29&utm_content=FeedBurner+user+view

by wulfman＠wulfman.com

http://hackaday.com/2016/05/29/dragging-teletypes-into-the-21st-century/?ut… -- The contents of this e-mail and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the named addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized use, copying, disclosure, or distribution of the contents of this e-mail is strictly prohibited by the sender and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete this e-mail.

9 years, 1 month

14
22
0 0

Unknown oldie w/8" floppy drives in Cheyenne Wyoming auction

by pete＠petelancashire.com

http://nicodemusauctions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/IMG_0238.jpg http://nicodemusauctions.com/event/houge-electric-estate-auction/ Other then getting the notice I have no connection

9 years, 1 month

5
4
0 0

Unknown oldie w/8" floppy drives in Cheyenne Wyoming auction

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

remember c3 p meant 3 different selectable processors... In a message dated 6/10/2016 2:04:07 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, spacewar at gmail.com writes: That looks like an Ohio Scientific C3-B with two 74MB hard drives. I'd really like to get that, and I'm within reasonable distance, but I don't think I'll be able to do it.

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Unknown oldie w/8" floppy drives in Cheyenne Wyoming auction

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

c 3b or c 3p? I remember a model c3p..... In a message dated 6/10/2016 2:04:07 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, spacewar at gmail.com writes: That looks like an Ohio Scientific C3-B with two 74MB hard drives. I'd really like to get that, and I'm within reasonable distance, but I don't think I'll be able to do it.

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Attend and Participate Information Security and Cyber Forensics (INFOSEC2017)

by joan.sdiwc＠gmail.com

In cooperation with Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, SDIWC is inviting everyone to attend and participate in The Third International Conference on Information Security and Cyber Forensics (INFOSEC2017) <http://sdiwc.net/conferences/3rd-international-conference-information-secur…> that will be held on June 29-July 1, 2017. The event will be held over three days, with presentations delivered by researchers from the international community, including presentations from keynote speakers and state-of-the-art lectures. All registered papers will be published in SDIWC Digital Library, and in the proceedings of the conference. The conference welcomes papers on (but not limited to) the research topics posted below. Thank you so much and See you in the conference. Best regards, Joan Sali Conference Manager INFOSEC2017 <http://sdiwc.net/conferences/3rd-international-conference-information-secur…> ---------IMPORTANT INFORMATION--------- http://sdiwc.net/conferences/3rd-international-conference-information-secur… Venue: Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia Date: June 29-July 1, 2017 Contact email: infosec17 at sdiwc.net Submission Deadline Open from now until May 01, 2017 Notification of Acceptance May 20, 2017 or 4-7 weeks from the submission date Camera Ready Submission Open from now until May 28, 2017 Registration Deadline Open from now until May 28, 2017 Conference Dates June 29-July 1, 2017

9 years, 1 month

6
10
0 0

Decmate II motherbord

by pdaguytom＠gmail.com

Looking for a Decmate II motherboard. Doesn't need to have the CPU. Thanks, Tom

9 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

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test-drb June 2016