test-drb September 2018

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

141 participants
154 discussions

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

One terminal system I haven?t seen mentioned is the VT LAN40. I bought one new in the box about a year ago from Keyways ($400) and have found it to be very useful although it is not contemporary with most of the DEC systems we discuss. It needs a flat screen monitor, but can have multiple windows that allow cut and paste between between serial ports and it can talk LAT, CTERM, Telnet on its ethernet port. It has a mouse and does a great VT340 emulation. The unit can Mounted vertically and take very little bench space, but as has been mentioned before the keyboard is a typical VT420 sized keyboard. It has a history buffer so has many of the advantages of a good software emulator but is very accurate in the emulation. It gives me a single screen and keyboard that I can use to simultaneously work with my RSX11M+ (via LAT), the RT-11 MINC via serial and the two VAXes and any RPi?s running linux. The CPU is a little slow but response is acceptable. The ROMs in it might have bit a good starting point for reverse engineering. I think Keyways has a number of them and believe he will sell to hobbyists at the lower price above. I found this description at https://vt100.net/dec/vt_history VT LAN40 In February 1995, Digital announced the VT LAN40, a colour windowing network terminal. This device was a diskless PC, containing Windows 3.1 in ROM, and supporting up to eight terminal sessions over LAT, DECnet, TCP/IP or serial line, using TD/SMP. The system box and mouse had a suggested list price of $890. It connected to standard PC keyboards and monitors. Mark

5 years, 8 months

Oddball Terminals (Was: Re: VT100's)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > I just put up some pictures of the vt02, 05 Those useable for the CHWiki (with credit, of course)? Oddly enough, I just did the article on the VT05 about a week ago! Noel

5 years, 8 months

LSSM - Large IBM haul

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Anders Nelson > Their latest comments on Facebook mention they're about halfway there. Yeah, but I was wanting to know how things had gone since that posting (although I haven't looked to see if there's any update). As of last night, they'd made significant progress past what was in the posting, but still had a ways to go. I've just sent in a chunk, so I think I have the standing to appeal for others to help, too! :-) It's a really worthwhile cause - there aren't that many System/370's left in the world! (I know, I know, not as cool at the /360, but still important.) Here's the URL again: https://www.facebook.com/503408869821526/posts/1084448565050884/ with the details of the appeal. (You don't need to be a FaceAche member to read it; I'm not, and it came up OK for me.) Noel

5 years, 8 months

VT100's

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > inside are a whole pile of boards, all single-sided etch with many > hundreds of jumpers to compensate for not being two-sided. Not cheap, > presumably If memory serves, didn't the VT52 also have single-sided boards with a whole bunch of jumper wires? Something relatively common, anyway, if not the VT52 - I clearly remember the masses of jumpers on something, and Tech Sq had scads of VT52's (to the point where VT100's were not that common when they did show up, we were already full up). Presumably, with automated placing machines, the jumpers were cheaper than a large double-sided board (the VT52's boards were huge)? I'm assuming _someone_ did the math (including the amortization of the placing machine, which would take longer to complete such a board). > From: Al Kossow > The biggest hardware innovation was smooth vertical scrolling > ... > I've never liked the feature IIRC, we generally turned it off because it couldn't keep up at 9600 baud. Noel

5 years, 8 months

VCFMW DEC VTs, LAs

by useddec＠gmail.com

Is anyone interested in any DEC VT50, VT52(ONE WITH PRINTER), VT78, any of the VT100 family, or any other video terminals or monitors or parts? LA35, LA36, LA120, any other printer or parts? Anything else? If asked, I will try to bring. Thanks, Paul

5 years, 8 months

VT100's

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Zane, are you talking about the VT100 specifically, or the whole VT1xx line? My gut feeling is that the VT100 was at most 20% of the production in the whole VT1xx line. The internal expandability of the VT100 was a cool idea, but overall sales of VT101, VT102, VT131, and VT132 have to dwarf the original VT100. Then there's the VT103 and VT180 which are more than just terminals but still in the family. I should go through my old pictures from the 1990's. At one point I had an entire garage filled with hundreds of VT1xx's. Tim N3QE

5 years, 8 months

VCFMW - looking for a BC80D-5K (DECMATE) disk cable/OS8 disks (RX02)

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

I have asked Paul Anderson to see if he has a BC80D-5K cable for a DECMATE VT278 (same as VT78) to RX02 pedestal twin drive. I am also looking for the OS/8 disks. I am pretty sure my VT278 works, I have some spare parts too, just need the cable and the disks hopefully to have a working OS/8 system. SO - If Paul has no cable/disks and if anyone going to VCF MW looking to make a deal for these items, please contact me through my site, https://www.vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm Thanks Billl

5 years, 8 months

Weird and ancient IBM offline memory devices

by peter＠vanpeborgh.eu

Vintage techie guys and girls, Second attempt - hope springs eternal. Do any of you know where I could get hold of IBM 3850 Mass storage and IBM 2321 Data cell media? 1960s-1970s. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3850 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_2321_Data_Cell If you do, I would like to get hold of one of each. Many thanks, Peter

5 years, 8 months

Newcastle Connection Sources?

by holger.veit＠iais.fraunhofer.de

Hi, for some research on ancient Unix, I am interesting in finding the source code (tape, etc.) of the so-called "Newcastle connection", aka "UNIXes of the World Unite!" . See, for instance, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/13f8/6c18fa780031d76b80f359d6670f9f3debdc.… or ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/cm/pcs/NewcastleConnectionR1.0_1983.pdf for details. There are a few more papers which I know as well. Does someone have the source tape or pointers to it? THX in advance -- Holger

5 years, 8 months

HP 9885M Flexible Disk Drive available

by k7kt＠yahoo.com

Hi Mark ! Ran across your 2016 note at ( http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2016-July/025530.html ) while looking for info on the HP9885M Disk Drive. I have one of these old drives in what appears to be near mint condition. I can't fully test it, don't have any disks, but it powers up without any magic smoke leaking out. LEDs lit up, capstan drive is working, belt is in pristine condition, ventilation fan is working, boards are powered. Certainly looks like it's ready to go. I've carried the thing all over the country as I've moved between jobs, intending to use the chassis in construction of a different electronic device. It has spent a lot of time in closets. I don't have an HP9825A or HP9845 computer and I'm getting too old to acquire such toys. If you have interest, I would like for someone who understands and appreciates such things to have it. I can share pictures. It would be a shame to disassemble such a well-built old beast. Please let me know. Have a great week! Ernie K7KT at yahoo.com

5 years, 8 months

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test-drb September 2018