test-drb June 2016

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

196 participants
290 discussions

Mim.Update.UU.SE

by bqt＠softjar.se

Some people might have noticed that Mim.Update.UU.SE have not been reachable the last week. This is because the University have decided to put all systems behind firewalls, which hurt the Update computer club pretty bad. For people who would still like to get access to Mim, I have now setup telnet to listen to a second port in addition to port 23. Mim is now accessible by telnet on port 10023 as well, which is not blocked by an firewall. In addition, I also added ftp on port 10021 in addition to port 21, so people who would like to get to files on Mim by ftp can do so again. This also prompted me to make a couple of improvements to BQTCP/IP for RSX. The changes are that the telnet daemon can now be set to listen to an alternative port, and can also listen to several ports. I also added the capability to the ftp client to specify which port to connect to. The TCP/IP package can be found at ftp://mim.update.uu.se:10021/ However, if you have the previous version of TCP/IP for RSX, you cannot access this address, as the previous version ftp client did not accept a port argument. So it's a bit of a chicken and egg thing. But using some intermediate system, you can get the disk image to the machine, and install the new version, after which things will be possible to use more or less as before. One more thing: NEMA, my very tiny EMACS clone for RSX, have gotten a lot of work done lately, and if anyone is interested in this tool, I really recommend that you fetch the latest version. A port to VMS is also included with the files now, courtesy of Erik Olufsen. NEMA is available at ftp://nema at mim.update.uu.se:10021/ Johnny -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

7 years, 10 months

Dual Head Rainbow Video

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

Just in case anyone is interested, I have just posted a video on YouTube of my Rainbow 100+ (not the one I am selling) running in a dual head configuration. The quality of the video isn't great, but it might interest a few people. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/y4p9plwjRio Regards Rob

7 years, 10 months

DL11 configuration for pdp11gui

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Fritz Mueller > So far I haven't seen any place in PDP11GUI to set anything other than > port and baud rate You might have to use native OS tools to do that. On Unix, that will be 'stty'; on Windows, you'd have to use native Windows tools to do that; if you go to the Device Manager, select your serial port, and click on 'Properties', it has a tab ('Port Settings') for that (or, should I say, it used to - not sure about the most recent versions, they're making it all smart-phone like for brain-dead lusers). > From: Don North > Mostly PDP11GUI does not care, either 7b or 8b. I'm kind of surprised to hear that; I assumed that PDP11GUI can download binaries, and for that, 8-bit is kind of necessary? Side-story: when I started bringing up my -11's, the first one I did was an -11/23. So I needed a way for my Windoze box to talk to the -11's console line, for ODT. I was too lazy to figure out how to use some existing software, so I decided to write some. I wanted to be able to use it (later) to talk to one -11 from another, and I didn't know how to do complex terminal hacking under Windoze anyway, so I decided to write it under Unix. V6, to be exact (I consider all later versions to be unholy perversions - well, V7 isn't too bad, I guess), running on Ersatz11 on the Windoze box. Later, I wanted to be able to load .LDA files, which are 8-bit binary. One problem. Native Unix V6 doesn't have the ability to output 8-bit binary over a serial line (or input it, for that matter). When I first started using V6 at MIT, the DSSR people had already totally re-written the TTY driver, and added that capability, so I never ran into this problem before. Also, the native V6 stty() call isn't very flexible, and there are no spare mode bits. So they'd added a new system call, ttymod() (sort of like ioctl(), but done before it), to control all their wonderful extensions. I decided not to replicate that, but rolled my own upwardly compatible extension to stty(), which adds all that extended semantics. From there, it wasn't too much work to get sending the absolute loader down the serial line in its original binary form (which means all the old console bootstraps work, too), and using that to load .LDA files. Noel

7 years, 10 months

Some questions about the MC6839

by spc＠conman.org

(My original message to cctech has yet to appear. I thought I might try the cctalk list). While Motorola never shipped the MC6839 [1] the binary is available [2] and I've been playing around with it [3]. While it's not producing the exact same results as I get on a more modern machine, it appears to be "close enough" for me to be happy with it. But I am having one issue that I can't figure out. The documentation for the FMOV operation says: FMOV Move (or convert) arg1 -> arg2. This function is useful for changing precisions (e.g. single to double) with full exception processing for possible overflow and underflow. Okay. And to call it [4]: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Function|Opcode| Register entry conditions | Stack entry conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | FMOV | $1A | U = precision parameter word| push arg | | | Y -> argument | push precision param word | | | D -> fpcb | push ptr to fpcb | | | X -> result | call FPO9 | | | | pull result ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For moves, U contains a parameter word describing the size of the source and destination arguments. The bits are as follows, where the size is as defined in the fpcb control byte Bits 0-2 : Destination size Bits 3-7 : unused Bits 8-10 : Source size Bits 11-15: unused And the size bits are defined as: 111 = reserved 110 = reserved 101 = reserved 100 = extended - round result to double 011 = extended - round result to single 010 = extended - no forced rounding 001 = double 000 = single It appears that to convert from single to double, I would set U to $0001, but the results are *so* far out of whack it's not even funny. I've tried setting U to point to the value $0001 and that doesn't work. I've tried shifting the bits (because in the FPCB they're the upper three bits) and that doesn't work. I've tried reversing the registers and that doesn't work. Does anyone have the actual source code [4]? Or know what I might be doing wrong? -spc [1] A ROM with position independent 6809 object code that conforms (to what I can find) with IEEE 754 Draft 8. [2] Available in the file fpo9.lzh here https://ftplike.com/browser/os9archive.rtsi.com/OS9/OS9_6X09/PROG/ [3] Using a 6809 emulator library I wrote: https://github.com/spc476/mc6809 Not much documentation I'm afraid. [4] Register entry: ROM base address + $003D Stack entry: ROM base address + $003F [5] I'm lead to believe that Motorola release the code into the public domain.

7 years, 10 months

Power cable identification

by derschjo＠gmail.com

So I know for certain that this topic has come up before, but I cannot for the life of me find the thread(s) it appeared in, so I'm asking again (apologies in advance). What is the name of the rounded, 3-pin power connector often seen on early test equipment (I've seen it on older HP and Fluke stuff)? I have an S-100 chassis that inexplicably uses one, despite dating from 1982 or so. I need to track one of these cables down but I have no idea what it is exactly I'm looking for... Thanks as always, Josh

7 years, 10 months

Some questions about the MC6839

by spc＠conman.org

So Motorola apparently never produced the MC6839, a ROM containing position independent 6809 code for implementing (as far as I can see) IEEE 754 Draft 8. Motorola *did* however, release the resulting binary into (from what I understand) the Public Domain [1] but I've yet to find the actual source code, which would solve my current problem. I'm playing around with the code in an MC6809 emulator [2] and trying to use it (getting my retro-software fix in as it were). It works---not as accurate as today's stuff, but close enough and it supports single and double precision. The current issue I have is with the FMOV opcode (register entry) described as: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Function|Opcode| Register entry conditions | Stack entry conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | FMOV | $1A | U = precision parameter word| push arg | | | Y -> argument | push precision param word | | | D -> fpcb | push ptr to fpcb | | | X -> result | call FPO9 | | | | pull result ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For moves, U contains a parameter word describing the size of the source and destination arguments. The bits are as follows, where the size is as defined in the fpcb control byte Bits 0-2 : Destination size Bits 3-7 : unused Bits 8-10 : Source size Bits 11-15: unused It's not clear if U should contain the actual parameter value, or a pointer to the parameter value. It just doesn't seem to work no matter how I code it. Anyone have any clue? -spc (I'm at a loss here ... ) [1] Available in the file fpo9.lzh here https://ftplike.com/browser/os9archive.rtsi.com/OS9/OS9_6X09/PROG/ [2] I wrote one: https://github.com/spc476/mc6809 Not much documentation I'm afraid.

7 years, 10 months

PDP11GUI under Wine on Linux -- extra backslash?

by fritzm＠fritzm.org

So, I am trying to run PDP11GUI under Wine on Linux, and I am having problems loading a machine description file. It seems when PDP11GUI tries to kick off M4, it is expanding an extra backslash into the command. So you get this sort of error message (note extra backslash before m4.bat): Can't recognize 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Joerg Hoppe\PDP11GUI\\m4.bat" "C:\users\Public\Application Data\PDP11GUI\machines\pdp11.ini" "C:\users\fritzm\Temp\tmp_pdp11gui_m4_out.ini' as an internal or external command, or batch script. I've verified that I can run m4.bat sucessfully manually if I set the appropriate env vars first. But this doesn't help because it seems like PDP11GUI deletes the file and then (fails to) regenerate it on each run :-( Anybody else run in to this or have a suggestion for a workaround? thanks much! --FritzM.

7 years, 10 months

More things that we are considering offloading.

by mattislind＠gmail.com

DECprinter I, GE TermiNET30, C Itoh CIT-101e, PDP-11 manuals, PDP-8 diagnostic duplicates, TI SilentWriters etc etc. http://www.datormuseum.se/available /Mattis

7 years, 10 months

More things that we are considering offloading.

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

if it was close I would jump on that terminet 30! Ed# In a message dated 6/27/2016 1:38:34 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, mattislind at gmail.com writes: 2016-06-27 21:41 GMT+02:00 Ian S. King <isking at uw.edu>: > So far away.... <sigh> (Pacific Northwest, United States) > That is right. Forgot to mention that everything is outside Str?ngn?s in Sweden. /Mattis > > On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 12:20 PM, Mattis Lind <mattislind at gmail.com> > wrote: > > > DECprinter I, GE TermiNET30, C Itoh CIT-101e, PDP-11 manuals, PDP-8 > > diagnostic duplicates, TI SilentWriters etc etc. > > > > http://www.datormuseum.se/available > > > > /Mattis > > > > > > -- > Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate > The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> > Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical > Narrative Through a Design Lens > > Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> > Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> > > University of Washington > > There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China." >

7 years, 10 months

wanted: TI Silent 700 Model 763 & 765 Maintenance Manual

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Does anyone have that? The manual for Model 743 & 745 is on Bitsavers, but I'm specifically looking for model 763 & 765.

7 years, 10 months

← Newer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
...
29
Older →

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb June 2016