test-drb October 2019

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

137 participants
118 discussions

TurboDOS for S-100, IMS or L/F Technologies

by new_castle_j＠yahoo.com

I'm restoring an IMS - L/F Technologies S-100 Bus computer.? I've got all the pieces except for the Operating System.? I'm hoping that someone here may have a disk stashed away.? From the literature I have read, I would need TurboDOS version 1.40a or 1.41c from IMS or L/F Technologies.? I've seen TurboDOS 1.3 versions out in the wild from IMS, but the 1.4 version was greatly enhanced and offered better compatibility with my specific hardware.? I'd be much obliged if anyone can help. Thanks, Jonathan new_castle_j at yahoo

4 years, 4 months

Connecting LK250 to VAXmate

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I recently acquired a VAXmate with an LK250 keyboard. The problem is the keyboard came without the cable. It uses an 8-pin SDL connector and the usual tiny MMJ-like connector at the keyboard end. I don't know the pinout and I don't have the necessary crimping tools, is there any source for such a cable? Thanks Rob

4 years, 5 months

Looking for DEC RA80 (or RM80, R80) service manual (EK-ORA80-SV or similar)

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I have an R80 drive in my VAX-11/730 cabinet that I'm trying to get running. Symptoms are: most of the time when the Run/Load switch is depressed, the drive will begin spinning up for 1-2 seconds (sometimes as long as 3-4 seconds) and then stop, faulting with error code 01 ("Spindle Timeout Error"). Every now and again it will spin up and go ready -- the other night it ran for several hours, long enough for me to get a dump of the disk with no read errors (*). I've checked the usual -- the motor and the spindle spin freely and the belt is good and tight. Connectors have been cleaned and reseated, as have socketed ICs. Power supply voltages are OK. The motor start cap tests fine. I'm getting pulses from the optical spindle sensor. I suspected that the brake might have been slowing things down during spin-up as it was a bit noisy (due to some light corrosion), but the spin-up error persists even with it entirely removed. I haven't been able to find the actual service manual for the R80 (or the very closely related RA80 and RM80 drives). Anyone have a copy stashed somewhere? Anyone have any debugging advice? Thanks as always, Josh (*) The drive contained a 4.3BSD system used to run a bbs and uucp relay, "Darkstar 730" out of Beaverton, OR. Looks like it was last run in the early 1990s. Now I just need to track down the owner :).

4 years, 5 months

Original DEC logo in PostScript

by binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com

Hi folks, An interesting article on adafruit about the digitalisation (hem) of the original hand drawn DEC logo, including the PS file itself - https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/10/28/the-digital-equipment-corporation-dec-… <https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/10/28/the-digital-equipment-corporation-dec-…> This news must have done the rounds back in 2007 though, because I have the file in question (declogo17.ps) on my Mac already?hmm... Cheers, -- Adrian Graham Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest private home computer collection? t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

4 years, 5 months

OT(?): Emulation XKCD

by mark.tapley＠swri.org

All, my daughter is well aware of my affinity for old computers and software, and, as usual, she pointed out that there?s an XKCD for that: https://xkcd.com/2221/ I found this remarkably accurate. - Mark

4 years, 5 months

50 yrs. ago today

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

The first inter-computer communication happened 50 years ago today. L. Kleinrock part of that historic moment, said, and I paraphrase here, ARPANET was the instrument that was to enable computers to talk to each other remotely. He sent ?LO? because the system crashed(how surprising was that!) This was the precursor to the inter-net, moving from the intra-net. Happy computing all! Murray ? <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…> Virus-free. www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

4 years, 5 months

Estate sale

by technoid6502＠gmail.com

This link was posted on an Atari forum. I noticed a PDP 8 faceplate, a UNIVAC keyboard, and some other seriously retro parts. Might want to Hit this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-n9AUXZAiVw0nvht-JhD4IN8DMZWrAW7YCsS7gv… Jeff

4 years, 5 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 61, Issue 27

by oltmansg＠gmail.com

> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Ethan O'Toole" <ethan at 757.org> > To: Murray McCullough <c.murray.mccullough at gmail.com>, "General > Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 11:11:49 -0400 (EDT) > Subject: Re: Coleco & Atari > > old? 1983. Coleco ADAM, my favourite, and Atari 600XL, not so much. I > still > > have my ADAM. No not why. But isn?t this why we all belong to > classiccomp. And > > $600. How quaint! BTW(sorry), it had an update on CP/M called CP/M Plus. > > Gosh, I miss those old days. > > Oh man, the Atari 8bit is second to the Adam? IIRC the 800XL and Floppy > Drive cost less than the Coleco Adam kit. You didn't get a daisy wheel > printer, but you got better sound and a much larger library. > > I grew up on the ColecoVision, neighbor had the Atari 5200. I used to say > the ColecoVision was better when younger but now I have to say I think the > Atari 5200 is better. > > Have yet to own an Adam, but I always thought of the Adam as something of > a failure? There was a large number of them that shipped DOA or close to > DOA as well due to power supply issue (in the printer) ? > > > The ADAM was a well-designed system with a great set of launch software hobbled by a rollout/gamble for the Christmas buying season that didn't pay off. If they had a proper release to work out the manufacturing issues they would have been a lot more successful I think. Nevertheless, any system in the wild you come across should work just as well as any other vintage machine by this time. It's my favorite machine pre-Amiga/ST/IIgs/Mac.

4 years, 5 months

And yet another batch of IBM big iron one Ebay Germany..

by jos.dreesen＠greenmail.ch

an IBM 4331 for 1000 Euro b.i.n. seems OK to me, if I was in that sort of thing ! See? https://www.ebay.de/itm/IBM-grosrechner/184010116585 and his other offerings... Jos

4 years, 5 months

[cctalk] First transistors

by w9gb＠icloud.com

Jack Ward would be happy to include in the museum collection. http://semiconductormuseum.com/Museum_Index.htm Helped Jack over a decade ago, to document the usage of transistors in Explorer I. He did oral history interview with Dr. George Ludwig before he passed in 2013. http://semiconductormuseum.com/Museum_Index.htm#ORAL_HISTORIES gb

4 years, 5 months

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test-drb October 2019