test-drb July 2016

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

190 participants
243 discussions

Y Combinator is restoring one of Alan Kay's Xerox Alto machines

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

Ken's in-depth blog post to go with the previous video http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day_11.html > On Jul 5, 2016, at 2:46 PM, Curious Marc <curiousmarc3 at gmail.com> wrote: > > Video from yesterday?s work on the Diablo cartridge disc: > https://youtu.be/PR5LkQugBE0 > Should be up in a few minutes. > We were tickled pink to have official representation from PARC (former Xerox Parc) at the session. > Marc > > Ken?s new post on the monitor repair to go with my previous video. > http://www.righto.com/2016/07/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day.html > Al Kossow got us a new CRT tube, so we are probably going to try that this week-end. > Marc > > > Latest entry from Ken Shirriff, trying out BCPL (ancestor of C). On the emulator, not yet on the real machine: > http://www.righto.com/2016/06/hello-world-in-bcpl-language-on-xerox.html > > Marc > > There are only two entries right now: > http://www.righto.com/2016/06/y-combinators-xerox-alto-restoring.html > http://www.righto.com/2016/06/restoring-y-combinators-xerox-alto-day.html > Marc > >

8 years, 4 months

more vintage computer stuff

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mouse > they require that I subject myself to the Web. > I recognize that few people share this attitude. Well, I sorta understand; the modern 'active content' mania causes me to grind my teeth, too. But the non-active Web has major benefits. E.g. I read this list via the (entirely non-active :-) archive page, so my mailbox doesn't get cluttered up with the dross. Noel

8 years, 4 months

Is there an authoritative copy of the PDP 11 Field Guide?

by trenchdweller＠att.net

blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } I've been using Megan Gentry's copy at http://world.std.com/~mbg/ but that seems to have disappeared recently.There seem to be several other copies available with different update dates. Which copy of this do other people use?Thanks,Paul

8 years, 4 months

the value of old test and repair equipment

by sales＠elecplus.com

I had to pass up a large qty of old test equip at the recycler last time because they wanted too much for it. For instance, an old HP signal generator would have cost me $25, with no way to test it, and no guarantees that it was complete or working. So my question is, does as-is old test and repair equip that won't be particularly cheap have interest to you guys? Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 500 Pershing Ave. Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

8 years, 5 months

Mall directory computers

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

Been wondering about this for a while. Just one of those odd childhood memories. When I was a kid growing up in Oakville, Ontario, I remember Oakville Mall getting one of those very early mall directory computers. This would have been like, 1982-84, somewhere thereabouts. From what I remember, they had kind of CGA-sh graphics and a chiclet 'keyboard' you used to browse the directory. I'm wondering, were they just PCs, most likely? Or some kind of custom job?

8 years, 5 months

TU56 Tape Heads

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

During our PDP-12 debugging today we found that the left tape head has an open coil for data track 0. The left head was OK a little more than a year ago when we found the open coil in the right head. One TU56 head on my personal PDP-8/e also had an open coil when I got it. Our guess is the chemicals from the epoxy potting, possible flux residue, and poor soldering are causing the failures. Getting the epoxy potting out to repair the solder connection has proved impossible so far. Any source for three TU56 tape heads would be appreciated. We are also interested in ideas on how to get the epoxy potting out without destroying the head. -- Michael Thompson

8 years, 5 months

Is MS-DOS, PC DOS and DR-DOS vintage enough to count?

by lproven＠gmail.com

I'm experimenting with some old DOS versions, notably PC DOS, in VirtualBox. I have a PC-DOS 2000 system with DesqView and DesqView/X working fairly well -- no networking yet but I'm working on it. I am also trying to get a DR-DOS 8 VM up and running. DR-DOS 7.03 is no problem, but I've had no joy getting DR-DOS 8.1 to install to hard disk. It's reluctant to SYS a hard disk, and when it did, it mis-diagnosed it as FAT-12 and wouldn't boot. Using Norton DiskTools, I've managed to transfer the system files, but they display the message DR-DOS 8.1 ... and then it freezes. Can this late version, mainly used for utility floppies, actually boot >from HD & be used like a normal DOS? And although I've not tried it yet, the same question applies to PC DOS 7.1, the early-noughties version that can understand FAT32 and long filenames. -- 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)

8 years, 5 months

more vintage computer stuff

by sales＠elecplus.com

Sorry guys, but it seems there was a take all buyer from CA who took the entire lot. It is no longer available. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 500 Pershing Ave. Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

8 years, 5 months

VCF West tickets

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Pre-order ticket sales for VCF West end tomorrow at midnight ET. More available at the gate. https://t.co/kHKFAAn0TB

8 years, 5 months

MicroVax II

by dj.taylor4＠comcast.net

I just got a MicroVax II in the BA123 world box chassis. I has a TK50, RX50, RXDQ2, but no DEQNA. I'd like to get it running an OS. The DU disks don't work, but I have a couple of Qbus SCSI controllers that might come in handy. Can you use those SD to SCSI convertors in this type of configuration? Anyone have experience with this? What OS's can I use with this hardware? NetBSD? Are versions of VMS available? How do you get an OS onto this system?

8 years, 5 months

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test-drb July 2016