test-drb November 2018

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

150 participants
133 discussions

ROLM 1601 (RuggedNova) 1970 Brochure

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

I may have more 1601 stuff, if I find I will scan and post. I know there is the upcoming Nova event so I thought this would be good timing. I have a lot of Nova docstoo, but I believe they're already posted on the WWW. Bill On Sun, Nov 4, 2018 at 2:28 PM erik--- via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > > Hi Bill, > > many thanks for the efforts spent on scanning those fantastic > brochures. I have some of the 1602s and a MSE14, but has any one > out there seen a 1601 in real life? Was this really sold or was > it still a paper-machine as it was replaced by the 1602? > > Any comment from contemporary witnesses is highly appreciated ;-) > > Thanks again to Bill, > > Erik. > > e--- Bill Degnan via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > > For those interested in Rolm / Data General Nova Minicomputers I have > > scanned the hard-to-find Rolm Corp Rugged Nova 1601 brochure from 1970. > I > > also scanned what price and module docs I have and uploaded them all > here: > > > > https://www.vintagecomputer.net/ROLM/1601/ > > > > I don't believe this has been uploaded by anyone yet. > > > > Bill > >

6 years, 1 month

ROLM 1601 (RuggedNova) 1970 Brochure

by erik＠baigar.de

Hi Bill, many thanks for the efforts spent on scanning those fantastic brochures. I have some of the 1602s and a MSE14, but has any one out there seen a 1601 in real life? Was this really sold or was it still a paper-machine as it was replaced by the 1602? Any comment from contemporary witnesses is highly appreciated ;-) Thanks again to Bill, Erik. e--- Bill Degnan via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > For those interested in Rolm / Data General Nova Minicomputers I have > scanned the hard-to-find Rolm Corp Rugged Nova 1601 brochure from 1970. I > also scanned what price and module docs I have and uploaded them all here: > > https://www.vintagecomputer.net/ROLM/1601/ > > I don't believe this has been uploaded by anyone yet. > > Bill

6 years, 1 month

UNIVAC 422 User Grouop Forming Please drop us a note offlist With SN of your unit and stats of operability and completeness and go withs.

by couryhouse＠aol.com

NOW FORMING - -UNIVAC 422 User Group and? including? The? 422 and? the prior UNIVAC DIGITAL TRAINER? - (Is there a? code compatibility?) ? Please drop us a note off list? With SN of your unit and stats of if able to? operate and completeness and go withs. Include a? pic? of? you and? your? unit if? you? ?want to appear in 1st? newsletter. ? Thanks? Ed Sharpe? Newsletter editor

6 years, 1 month

i860: Re: modern stuff

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

AIX was ported in very cut down manner and used on the f960 and h960 routing cards used on the early T3 based NSFnet. F960 was FDDI and H960 was HSSI. Come think of it, I think the v.25 and ether net cards also used i960, just a smaller version. -- Will On Oct 29, 2018 12:13 PM, "alan--- via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: I know i960 is a very different beast, but was there ever any high level OSs that ran on it? Or was it pidgin-holed as a high speed embedded processor for storage controllers and NICs? I picked up a cache of i960 CPUs a couple years ago and they speak to me in tongues every time I pass by the shelf. -Alan On 2018-10-29 12:56, Ken Seefried via cctalk wrote: > the i860 found at least a little niche on graphics boards, so somehow >> not a complete failure ;-) >> > > I'd be mildly surprised if Intel ever made enough from selling i860s > as GPUs to cover the cost of developing and marketing them. At the > time, Intel was pushing them as their RISC processor, and put a lot > into the program. Going to take over the world and all that. Maybe > not a 'complete' failure...just mostly. > > From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> > >> On 10/26/18 6:10 AM, Gordon Henderson via cctalk wrote: >> >> However it was a royal PITA to code for although a 32-bit CPU, it would >>> read memory 64 bits at a time (actually 128 IIRC to satisfy the cache), >>> with half that 64-bit word being an instruction for the integer unit and >>> half for the floating point unit, so you effectively had to build a >>> floating point pipeline by hand coded instructions, so 8 (I think) >>> instructions to load the pipeline, then each subsequent instruction >>> would feed another value into the pipe, then another 8 at the end to >>> empty it. Great for big matrix operations, rubbish for a single add of 2 >>> FP numbers. >>> >> >> My impression of the i860 was that it might have been fun for about 2 >> weeks for which to code assembly, but after that, you'd really start >> looking hard for an HLL to do the dirty work for you. While there's a >> sense of accomplishment over looking at a page of painfully >> hand-optimized code that manages to keep everything busy with no >> "bubbles", you begin to wonder if there isn't a better way to spend your >> life. >> > > It wasn't fun for the whole 2 weeks. And the i860 is Yet Another > example of Intel claiming their compilers were going to be so smart > that all the architectural complexity/warts will never be noticed. > Wrong, and they didn't learn and said the same thing about Itanium. > The interrupt stall issue that Gordon pointed out was so bad they were > basically relegated to single-task software in the end. > > KJ >

6 years, 1 month

Modcomp VME bus 68000 computer

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

Hello, been a while since ive written to the list. I met someone the other day that used to work for modcomp. He gave me a tour, he still has working modcomp computers in his home. He was clearing out a bunch of stuff, he gave me a bunch of terminals and dos era computers. Among the computers is a modcomp branded motorolla 68k based machine. I can not find any information on the system. From what i understand, the system was to be tied in to the modcomp minicomputer bus and used as a modern alternative for large antiquated disks and tapes. There is a large pair of interface connectors on the back, never seen anything like them before. I do not have a modomp computer yet, but this 68k machine looks quite interesting. It is essentially a vme bus backpane in a desktop computer case. A hard disk and tape drive are installed. Looks to have floating point and network card as well. I managed to make the proper serial cable, and was able to get to a debugger and monitor at power on. I was under the understanding that this machine could run a port of unix to 68k, called unix/68. I am uncertain of any details on the machine, i was hoping someone here could me in the right direction of getting the machine to boot. The drive still spins up, it may even have an install of unix on it, i might have to type in some kind of boot parameter or jump to some address from the monitor to kick off the boot process. Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated. Within the following month i am supposed to get a mountain of modcomp documentation, ill have to check back here and see if its duplicate or original information and scan it all. He was also going to give me a copy of a modcomp emulator he wrote, I have found no such thing elsewhere on line, so perhaps it would be of use to someone else here too once i get it. --Devin D.

6 years, 1 month

A very sad PDP-8/S

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

At 10:18 AM 4/11/2018 +1000, Steve wrote: >The "PDP dash eight oblique S" back in 1968 in 'What the future sounded like': https://youtu.be/8KkW8Ul7Q1I?t=638 Cool, thanks for that. Ah, Hawkwind... Damn, that 'left all the synths in the basement, and it got flooded' story is painful. In my opinion the ONLY way to preserve tech relics, is for individual(s) who understand the gear, to take personal responsibility for it. Companies, beancounters, economics... all are deadly enemies of historic artefacts and documents. Small world. All the way through that I was waiting for a mention of Fairlight Instruments (Synthesizer company in Sydney.) But none. Oh well. I worked at Fairlight from the mid 80s for several years (till they shut down.) There's even a clip online from Fairlight, with me in it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21S1Okh2nlc Fairlight Instruments Factory Tour 1986 part 2 Starting at 2:18, the young fellow with the dumb haircut and too shy to say anything to the camera, is me. Ha ha... and I can date that event as very shortly after I got married, since for the wedding was the only time in my entire life I ever shaved my beard off. I hate how I look without it. Since I married in June 1987, I think the year listed on the video is wrong. Oh, and then the camera pans to a proto-board circuit I was working on. It's a bit of a tangle. I think that was part of a video timebase corrector system I was working on. My proto board, I still have it. >If there are any special 8/S lightbulb housings that were plastic, I'm happy to CAD them up and 3D print for your (er, museum's) machine at no cost, if I had some measurements or good photos. >I'm only 'up the road' in Brisbane. Thanks for the offer, but it won't be necessary. I'm spending today cleaning the machine and working out exactly how to make the 'clear protective base.' Bought most of the materials today. The front panel is in pieces atm. And clean now. Incidentally, several people called the material used for the lamps shroud plate 'MDF.' It's not, it's that high density cloth+bakelite (or something) material used for electrical switchboard panels. Very tough stuff. I'll try to get a blog page started for this machine tonight, or at least by tomorrow. If you're ever down in Sydney and have spare time, you're welcome to visit. Address via email. Guy

6 years, 1 month

decals... we have a couple extra unused Electrodata company Pasadena decals...(yes the Real stuff late 50's?) to trade for? Burroughs bought Electrodata in 1956 as I remember and these would have been acquired around the late

by couryhouse＠aol.com

decals... we have a couple extra unused? Electrodata company Pasadena? decals...(yes the? Real stuff? late 50's?) to trade for? Burroughs? bought? Electrodata in 1956? as I? remember and? these? would? have? been acquired? around the late? 50's ? ? ?drop us? a note off list. ? Thanks? Ed Sharpe archivist? for SMECC? -? to? see? what? we? hoard at the project? ?www.smecc.org

6 years, 1 month

Updates at retroarchive.org...

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

First up is the addition of Crescent Software's entire product line. The company produced a number of good library suites in the late 80s and early 90's. Note these are all DOS products - the Windows product line was sold in the early 90's. http://annex.retroarchive.org/crescent/index.html When the documentation arrives, I'll be paying the IA to get it all scanned. It's a lot cheaper than me buying a Scribe scanner or building a DIY version. :) Next up is a HUGE CD-ROM and FTP site archive I've been working on. http://www.retroarchive.org/cdrom/index.html What I've done here is pull CD-ROMs from the Internet Archive and make them easily browseable. I've also extracted the contents of each of the zip, etc. files and created index files for those as well. The goal was to make the material more easily accessible for both us meat bags and search spider bots. This is going to be a long term project that will end when I've either exhausted the available CD-ROMs on the IA, or I die, whichever comes first. ;) There's a number of holes in the sets that are on the IA - if you've got a disc that would fill a hole, please consider making an ISO of the disc and upload that along with a photo of the disc to the IA and then let me know so I can get it processed. I'm also looking to acquire a manual set for QuickBASIC 4.5 and the Microsoft Professional Development System 7.1. If you have either one, please contact me! Thanks! g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

6 years, 1 month

A very sad PDP-8/S

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

At 09:14 AM 3/11/2018 -0500, Adrian Stoness wrote: >get some thick plexi glass to cover it and sit it up for display to look in but not touch ;) Good idea! And easy to add to the simple base frame I had in mind. Zero changes to the machine. I was too stuck in modern fast digital thinking - 'RF-tight metal case' etc. Ha ha, on reflection I don't think so. Guy

6 years, 1 month

A very sad PDP-8/S

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

At 11:40 PM 2/11/2018 -0500, you wrote: >still supper clean id love to have that even I know how you feel. I've never had _any_ possibility of finding an old PDP machine before. Very happy to have this one. Re dirt - actually it's pretty grimy. I did a preliminary dust off for the pics, but later it will get a complete cleaning. After I have docs on where all the flip chips should be, and I figure out a non-marking way to record which ones were in which slots, as I remove them to clean each one and the backplane. With precious museum pieces like this, you DON'T write numbers on them in marker pen. Just doing a quick eval now, since I'm already ridiculously stack-pushed with multiple other projects. Highest priority: Make a mechanical guard for the wired backplane pins. As it is now, just putting the machine down on a desk wrong could do major damage. Have to do this before I even pack it away in the box again. It's just been *really* lucky so far, with only minor pin bending despite inadequate packing. Guy

6 years, 1 month

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test-drb November 2018