test-drb March 2018

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

158 participants
173 discussions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Liam Proven > And yet, 3 generations later Can we please keep _all_ politics off the list? It didn't go so well last time. Noel

6 years, 1 month

Many thanks to Glen's Vintage Computer Info

by Flash688＠flying-disk.com

I don't know if Glen Slick is on this list, but I owe him one! I am working on an elderly PDP-11/23 system running RSX-11M v3.2 -- too old to know about MSCP disk controllers like the RQDX1/2/3 and compatibles. It is only sysgened for RK05, RL01/2, and an incompatible 3rd-party disk, but neither the RK05 or RL01/2 controllers are present. To do my work, I thus need an RL02 and controller... OR something that emulates an RL02. I had planned to post a note here today, asking for recommendations for RL01/2 (RLV11) emulators, but got distracted. Instead, I set about making an inventory of several boxes of Q-Bus cards I had accumulated over the years. Most were DEC, but a bunch were weird 3rd-party controllers, one of which was a TD Systems TDL-12. What the hell is a TDL-12? My Google searching led me eventually to Glen's Vintage Computer Info https://sites.google.com/site/glensvintagecomputerinfo/home and his page on the TD Systems TDL-12: https://sites.google.com/site/glensvintagecomputerinfo/td-systems/tdl-12 The TDL-12 turns out to be a Q-Bus SCSI controller, emulating up to four RL01/2 drives -- exactly what I needed! Glen's web page even includes a PDF of the original TD Systems manual for the board. So, Glen, whoever and wherever you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating and maintaining a web page about this orphan controller. You have saved me a lot of time, effort, and probably a bit of money as well. As an added bonus, Glen also has a page for an obscure HP Q-Bus logic analyzer card, which I also have. But that's a project for another day. Thanks, Alan Frisbie

6 years, 1 month

IBM 6094-010 "Dials" protocol?

by mbbrutman＠brutman.com

Picture here: https://i.imgur.com/ClCw070.jpg Does anybody know how to talk to this thing? I've got one of these devices but I don't have a reference for the protocol. It's a serial device so it's probably not terribly complicated, but trying to figure it out by throwing random bytes at it might take a few years. SA23-2780-01 - "Option Instructions IBM 6094 010 Dials for AIX" should have the description of the protocol, but I can't find this document anywhere. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_aix_71/com.ibm.aix.files… gives some hints on how it is programmed - in particular it alludes to "setting granularity" (sensitivity) which would be in addition to reading the dials. Somebody with access to an AIX box and that "special file" might be able to dig up the commands. I know IBM has professional archivists so I can try them for the document referenced above if I can't find it other ways. And I could probably find the micro-controller inside, hope the ROM is readable, and try to disassemble that, but that would be a last ditch effort. Regards, Mike

6 years, 1 month

PATA hard disks, anyone?

by cctalk＠ibm51xx.net

-------- Original message -------- From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 3/27/18 4:43 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "Tapley, Mark via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: PATA hard disks, anyone? Digging around on the pointer from Al to backblaze, I found this, which, to me is far more meaningful in terms of presentation of data: Interesting but consistent with my informal observations. My Hitachi enterprise class 4gb hdd are still going strong after multiple power outages and almost 5 years of 24x7 on time. Granted not much reading and writing occurs but the fact that they are spinning is probably the biggest wear and tear on them. Helium drives? Only if you have the money to replace them yearly and have a RAID 1 set of a RAID 6 volume.... -Ali

6 years, 1 month

WTD: Dell ML6000 (or similar) LTO library, Mid-Atlantic East Coast

by ethan＠757.org

While this slightly deviates from classic computers, I've been on the hunt for a surplus LTO library around the mid-atlantic East Coast for a bit. The Dell ML6000 which is made by someone else is what has my eye. We have one at work, lame robot that is very slow at changing tapes and looks sad compared to the STK machines I used to work around. But the density of the tape carts stored in the cabinet just can't be beat. I love some of the larger IBM fridge sized LTO units but the tape density given cabinet size just isn't there, but the scale out by adding cabinets side by side is cool -- if I only had a basement. Say 280 carts for huge IBM box versus 133 carts in the Dell unit at 15 rack units high. No brainer. The Dell ML6000 is also known as Quantum i500, and there is a super sexy IBM version and also a HP badged version. A few have popped up down in Florida and AZ for ~$100 or so with LTO3 drives which is ideal. But not proper timing. I have a LTO5 drive or two for these that came from a trash bin, so in my case I can upgrade the drives. Tapes don't generate heat or use electricity when sitting idle, so it seems ideal to backup my home NAS boxes and hoards of software for classic computers, arcade / video games and laser show 8 and 16 channel digital audio tape dumps. -- : Ethan O'Toole

6 years, 1 month

Photorealistic frontpanels for DEC PDP simulations under SimH

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

Guys, there are updates to the photorealistic PDP-8/10/11/15 panel simulations for SimH, code name "BlinkenBone". * Added bigger images for 3000 pixel width screens. * made PDP-11/70 panel behaviour compatible with the real machine ? (after tests performed at the PDP-11/70 "Miss Piggy" at LCM in Seattle, ? thanks to Rich Alderson & Josh Dersch). ? Oscar Vermeulen's upcoming PiDP1170 replica will also benefit. * Added Mike Hill's BLINKY animation as PDP-11/70 application. * Optically enhanced the PDP-10KI10 panel: ? Added rack background of the real KI10 at LCM. * Merged with SimH code base from march 2018 * Some people want to reanimate a physical panel with "BlinkenBone" too, or did already. http://retrocmp.com/projects/blinkenbone/setting-up-a-blinkenbone-project ? Finally I can supply the hardware, a tested set of BeagleBone Black, BlinkenCape and BlinkenBoard. ? I can't get the price below 200?, there's this penalty for manual small batch production (including some self-exploit). Doc root page: http://www.retrocmp.com/projects/blinkenbone Download: https://github.com/j-hoppe/BlinkenBone/releases As usual, there are precompiled distributions for Win32, Ubuntu x86 & x64, Raspberry Pi and Beaglebone. Just unzip and start some of the shell scripts. Enjoy, Joerg

6 years, 1 month

WTB Sun keyboard

by stephane.tsacas＠gmail.com

Hi, My keyboard is dying. I'm looking for a type 7 "UNIX Keyboard" model : 320-1367-02 Picture : https://imgur.com/JUumgkz I'm in Paris, France. Thanks -- ??phane

6 years, 1 month

Issues of Communication of the ACM for sale

by stephane.tsacas＠gmail.com

Hi, I'm selling issues of the famous ACM magazine. I don't have a list, but at least from 2010 and up. If you're not in a hurry, shipping cost is quite low, < 6 euros for 2 Kg, < 8 for 3 Kg. Shipping from Paris, France. Note that if you're in France, shipping is more expensive ! If you're interested, make me an offer. Thank you, -- ??phane

6 years, 1 month

RL02 Question

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I'm not an absolute expert, but I successfully fixed a couple of RL02 in the past. Adjustment to the head is only useful for azimuth, I think. The radial position will be adjusted continuously using the servo tracks, so there's no absolute position adjustment at all. If the drive fails during spinup, I would check at least the following: - the presence of spindle sector signal after digital conversion of pulses >from analog signal coming from the pickup. - having disabled the servo linear motor (there's some jumper to setup, check the maintenance manual), perform the motor spinup, then load slowly the heads on the disk by hand, until you find the servo tracks. - with an oscilloscope check the presence of analog signal of the servo tracks on both heads, and it's digital counterpart after amplification and threshold detection (expected level values in the manual). If you see something strange, e.g missing or too short pulses, try to adjust the gain with the trimmer on the head board - enable again the servo, then load again My 2 cents. Andrea

6 years, 1 month

DTC 3250

by cisin＠xenosoft.com

I just stumbled on a DTC3250, & "Installation Guide" 8 bit ISA SCSI + 4 floppy Firmware: "GSH53A" The floppy interface MIGHT work for HD on a 5150/5160? (with appropriate software) Condition unknown Anybody need one? -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com

6 years, 1 month

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test-drb March 2018