test-drb July 2016

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

190 participants
243 discussions

by fred＠MISER.MISERNET.NET

On Sat, 9 Jul 2016 cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: [talk about word processors, specifically WordPerfect] I would LOVE to find a (hobbyist) copy of WordPerfect for OpenVMS some day. Back in the day I could fly through those key combos on WP 5.1 ... Fred

8 years, 6 months

DEC PDT-150 software

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

On 2016-07-10 07:00 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Greetings > > I have a restored and (I think) functional PDT-150 with dual 8? floppy drives but no software. I do have some blank 8? diskettes but no real means of transferring an operating system or (say) a word processing program onto them. > > Any assistance would be appreciated. Happy to pay for OS/Application diskettes and freight etc The PDT-150 was also sold with a VT-105 as the MiniMINC and can run some versions of RT-11 (at least V3b). On my site there are images of disks, but it requires a PC capable of writing single density format to an 8" disk. IMD is not the most common format in DEC circles, but it is in PC land. http://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/miniminc/floppyImages/ > > Many thanks > Brendan Greetings & success, Fred Jan Kraan

8 years, 6 months

IBM 360/30 in verilog

by iamcamiel＠gmail.com

Hi Al, I have a 7201-2 set that I scanned. They're ~64 MB TIF files per sheet, about ~150GB in total. I can upload those where ever you want. Op 11 jul. 2016 6:58 p.m. schreef "Al Kossow" <aek at bitsavers.org>: On 7/11/16 9:14 AM, Jon Elson wrote: > The microcode was in the ALD drawings, and might even be in bitsavers archive, if they have the right manual. > 360 CPU ALDs are extremely difficult to find. If the 65 set could be scanned, I'd be happy to upload them to bitsavers.

8 years, 6 months

DEC PDT-150 software

by brendan＠mcneill.co.nz

Greetings I have a restored and (I think) functional PDT-150 with dual 8? floppy drives but no software. I do have some blank 8? diskettes but no real means of transferring an operating system or (say) a word processing program onto them. Any assistance would be appreciated. Happy to pay for OS/Application diskettes and freight etc Many thanks Brendan --------------//---------------- brendan at mcneill.co.nz +64 21 881 883

8 years, 6 months

Successor models that never were

by lproven＠gmail.com

Unfinished or never launched follow-ons to classic 1980s home micros... http://uk.pcmag.com/desktop-reviews/82794/gallery/7-classic-home-pc-follow-… -- Sent from my phone - please pardon brevity & typos.

8 years, 6 months

Connectors: Both contact surfaces must also be the same material?

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

Stated Tothwolf tothwolf at concentric.net: "Both contact surfaces must also be the same material or tin oxide will form on the surface of the gold plating and cause a major headache. This was a serious problem with 486 and earlier Pentium PCs with 30 and 72 pin SIMMs and it led to a number of lawsuits." Almost every DEC System Unit ("backplane") that I've ever seen uses tinned-contacts, yet the Modules all use gold-plated fingers. How does that situation jibe with the SIMM issue/experience? ----- paul

8 years, 6 months

TI Silent 700 print mechanism mechanical issues, and Model 763/765 bubble memory notes

by spacewar＠gmail.com

I've now got a TI Silent 700 Model 763, and it is partially working. The previous owner said that the line advance wasn't working reliably, but that otherwise it was working. As I received it, the thermal print head is only darkening the top scan line of characters, and only partially. The intensity pot is already at maximum. The line advance is working, but carriage return is unreliable, which results in the carriage banging against the right side of the mechanism and getting stuck there. The horizontal carriage positioning is done by stepper motor with an encoder for feedback, so I'm surprised that it isn't smart enough to recognize that it can't home the carriage, and avoid ramming it into the right end of the mechanism. I was worried that the thermal print head might be damaged. I opened it up and found that it uses the solenoid line advance mechansim, probably the same as is documented for the early production of Model 743/745. (Later 743/745 use a stepper motor for line advance.) With power off, the carriage can be manually returned to the left side. There were two loose parts inside, a spring and a small knob. These apparently belong to the solenoid line advance mechanism, belonging on the shaft at the opposite end of the solenoid from the link to the pivot. There are screws on the left and right end of the mechanism, which when loosened, allow the printhead to be moved up and down relative to the mechanism. The Model 743/745 maintenance manual suggests adjusting that if characters aren't fully visible. I tried that, and could see a little bit more of the characters, but couldn't adjust it to get the characters entirely visible. I accidentally discovered that with a small amount of additional pressure against the carriage assembly, toward the paper path, the characters are printed fully formed, and (quite suprisingly to me) the carriage return works properly as well. If I can't get this working reliably, I may start searching for a 743 or 745 with the solenoid line advance mechanism, to try a mechanism transplant. (The mechanism with stepper motor line advance is not interchangeable, and requires a different circuit board. I'm not sure whether that mechanism was used in any model 763/765 units.) The Operating Instructions manual for the Model 763 and 765 gives information on 13 different commands which are accepted in command mode. They mention the TEST command, which performs a self-test, and the TEST INIT subcommand which resets everything to factory defaults. There's a TEST MASK subcommand not documented in the manual which allows examining or altering the bubble memory minor loop masks. When installing or replacing a bubble memory module, it may be necessary to enter this information for the new module, from the mask data printed on the label of the bubble device. Unlike the later Intel bubble memory, the TI parts (at least of the 92Kbit devices) don't have a specified dedicated "boot loop" to store the mask, nor do they have a defined synchronization pattern to provide a detectable home position, so the TMS5502/TMS9916 bubble controller chip has to ensure that the device is rotated to the home position on power down or power fail. The terminal firmware may be using a specific normal minor loop, probably the first or last loop, to store the mask and a sync pattern, but the TMS5502/TMS9916 don't provide any automation for that. The TMS5502/TMS9916 also require that the mask bits be provided in a bit-serial fashion at the precise times needed during data transfers; TI app notes show the mask stored in PROM with a counter for addressing, but the 763/765 terminal doesn't do that. I'm not sure whether they have dedicated logic for the mask, or whether it's being done by firmware. The TEST MASK subcommand is probably documented in the Maintenance Manual, which I don't have; the only reason I know about it is that a technician left a printout showing the TEST MASK output for this terminal between two pages of the Operating Instructions manual. The terminal uses a TMS9980 microprocessor, which is an 8-bit-bus version of the TMS9900, which can only address 16KB of memory. The terminal has five TMS4732 4KB ROMS, as well as some RAM, so there must be some bank-switching going on. The bubble memory modules for the terminal came in two types: 1) A large "discrete" bubble module with one 92Kbit bubble device and a whole lot of non-bubble-specific chips (presumably because the SN753xx bubble memory support chips were not yet available for production). Two large modules are fitted, to provide the terminal's basic rated storage capacity of 20K characters (actually up to 22,860 characters if 18, 36, or 72 character record lengths are used). This leaves no room for additional bubble modules. The modules show up to the TEST MASK command as modules 2 and 6. 2) A small bubble module with two 92Kbit bubble devices and the SN753xx bubble memory support chips. A single module provides the 20K (22860 character) basic rated storage. Up to four of these modules can be fitted, for up to 80K (91,440) characters. My terminal had two large bubble modules installed. A friend gave me three more large modules, which have been treated roughly, so they have bent pins and possibly damaged components. I have one small module that came from eBay some years ago. I haven't tried any of them yet.

8 years, 6 months

Connectors: Both contact surfaces must also be the same material?

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

right on! In a message dated 7/10/2016 6:46:28 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, elson at pico-systems.com writes: On 07/10/2016 01:58 PM, Al Kossow wrote: > > On 7/10/16 1:14 AM, Paul Birkel wrote: > >> Almost every DEC System Unit ("backplane") that I've ever seen uses >> tinned-contacts, yet the Modules all use gold-plated fingers. >> > I'm not near one right now, but there should be gold plating on the finger in the DEC > connector block at the point of contact with the pcb edge connector. It's easier to > see on the VAX era blocks. > > Absolutely. The WW pins were tinned, but there was selective gold plating on the card edge contact fingers. It would take a strong light and magnifier to see it down inside the connector, but you can rest assured the contact was gold-gold. Jon

8 years, 6 months

'Bounces'

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

Just re-subscribed to cc-talk. I'm wondering if anyone has an answer on this - every now and again I get these warning emails about 'excessive bounces'. I have to click a link and then they go away for a while. But sometimes I get busy and forget.. and then the list unsubscribes me. No idea what 'excessive bounces' means or what I can do to prevent it from unsubscribing. Any thoughts? Brad

8 years, 6 months

TV Typewriter reproduction

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

Hey guys, Getting closer to the 'construction' phase of my TVT replica. I already built a mockup the case and reconfigured and painted the MDS keyboard I found to match the prototypes. I also got some 'natural' colored PCB stock and etched some boards. Pretty happy with the results. Hard to tell if I got the right color or not.. I notice in photos my boards look closer to the color of the original than they appear to me 'in person'. Anyway, I remember Nick Allen was kind enough to post that photo of his TVT unit - I meant to ask at the time, are there any more pictures of it, especially from underneath? Or is there anyone else out there with photos of original TVTs (not to be confused with the later CT1024)? I'm finding the few pictures I can find of assembled TVTs very valuable in answering assembly and part questions. The blog of my progress on my TVT is here for those interested: http://bradhodge.ca/blog/?cat=11 Thanks again! Brad

8 years, 6 months

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test-drb July 2016