test-drb October 2020

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

136 participants
117 discussions

by seanellis9＠gmail.com

Hey all, the past couple of weeks I've been working on compiling a list of all known Lisa software, and trying to determine if it was for the 1 or 2, if it ran on Office System, XENIX, UniPlus, etc. and the dumped status of each title. If anyone's got any tips or pointers, let me know and I'll get the list updated. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1STG0Le_8dMHRLf026x6YfXzRQm2hD0igeZV…

4 years, 2 months

Vintage 1976 Digital Computer Controls, Inc. D-116 Computer Maintenance Manual

by microtechdart＠gmail.com

Just wondering if anyone here might have been the winning bidder on this one... https://entrex480.blogspot.com/2020/10/vintage-1976-digital-computer-contro… https://www.ebay.com/itm/284026555447 -- Best always, AJ Palmgren http://Entrex480.com

4 years, 2 months

VT525 power switch

by dittman＠dittman.net

I have a VT525 that I couldn't turn off. I took it apart and there's an adapter that connects the metal rod off the button on the front to the power switch inside. The adapter has crumbled and it feels like it was wax but it may have just been some plastic that has severely deteriorated. Before I try to work up some kind of replacement, has anyone already designed a 3D-printed replacement? I don't have a 3D printer but do have a friend that could print one for me. Otherwise, I'll see if I can come up with something. -- Eric Dittman

4 years, 2 months

9 track tapes and block sizes

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I have a question about 9 track tapes and block sizes. What I know is that tape is subdivided in files by means of marks, and each file is subdivided in blocks of equal size. Programs like tar use a specific block size to create files on tape. However files can have different block sizes like bootloader file, installation dumps and root file system copy on 2.11BSD. Now suppose you find and unknown tape you want to preserve: using dd you could easily 1:1 copy tape files to hard disk files using a SCSI drive and Linux. But: how you know which block size is on the tape? Thanks Andrea

4 years, 2 months

IBM PC-DOS 2.10 explorations

by will.senn＠gmail.com

All, I've been delving into ancient IBM PC-DOS... 1.0, 2.0 and have landed on 2.10 as the experience I'm going to hang out with for a while. It's stable in QEMU and 86Box and I am able to run MASM 1.0, 2.0 and Pascal 1.0 and 2.0. 86Box is more true to old-school boxes, but qemu runs on my Mac, so I like using Qemu. But, Pascal seems to prefer 86Box, it prints weird characters in qemu w/writeln(), which is annoying, but I'm doing more assembly and BASIC at this point, so Qemu's emulation is sufficient. What I've got working: IBM PC-DOS 2.10 - seems to be working fine in both (installed to fixed disk) IBM Macro Assembler 1.0 and 2.0 - seems to be working fine in both (installed to fixed disk) IBM Pascal 1.0 and 2.0 - hokey in both, tricky about the floppy being present, regardless of debug fix, and doesn't like QEMU. QEdit 2.1 - works great in both (installed to fixed disk) I found some good books on BASIC, Pascal, and Assembly: Albrecht, 1990. Teach Yourself GWBASIC. (covers later BASICA sufficiently) Pardee, 1984. The Waite Group Pascal Primer for the IBM PC. (Great book) Metcalf and Sugiyama, 1985. Compute!'s Beginner's Guide to Machine Language on the IBM PC & PCjr. (Excellent book) Lafore, 1984. The Waite Group Assembly Language Primer for the IBM PC & XT. (Wordy, but good) Pretty much everything I've programmed works fine. Graphics stuff is better in 86Box where I can control the monitor that's attached, but no complaints. Some questions I have related to the exploration: 1. I'm curious if there are other folks out there doing similar stuff? 2. Most of the Assembly examples use DOS interrupt 21 for output. Is this typical of assembly programs of the time, or did folks use other methods? 3. I was able to find a lot of 5150/5160 and other manuals, but I couldn't find an IBM Macro Assembler 2.0 manual (there are plenty of IBM Macro Assembler/2 manuals, but those are for OS/2, not DOS). Does anyone know where I can find one online? 4. In y'all's view, what are the significant differences between IBM PC-DOS 2.10 and it's brother MS-DOS 2.x? 5. I'm thinking of moving on to 3.3 at some point, in your view, what are the advantages? 6. I'm happy to post here, but if y'all know of a more appropriate venue, please suggest it? Thanks, Will -- GPG Fingerprint: 68F4 B3BD 1730 555A 4462 7D45 3EAA 5B6D A982 BAAF

4 years, 2 months

Anyone want to part with a DEC MXV11-B (M7195) and/or M8012 (BDV11)?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Chris Hanson > There's an MXV11-B (M7195) on its way to me. :) Wow, you've got a really good fairy god-mother! I've been trying to buy one on eBait for some time now (in part to have one to take a photo of for the CHWiki), and no luck - they always get bid up into the sky. And here someone has one for you! Life is unfair! Noel

4 years, 2 months

Thompson's Space Travel running

by lars＠nocrew.org

Hello, Ken Thompson's space exploration simulation Space Travel will now run on the SIMH PDP-7 simulator: http://sebras.se/space-travel-2.mp4

4 years, 2 months

Identifying mystery TI ICs (Motorola MDP-1000 investigation continues...)

by couryhouse＠aol.com

The making of this computer? perhaps explain why I never had someone wander in and talk about designing or building a MOTOROLA MINICOMPUTER ....Ed# On Monday, October 5, 2020 Bill Degnan via cctalk <billdegnan at gmail.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: On Mon, Oct 5, 2020 at 1:10 PM Al Kossow via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 10/4/20 11:13 PM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote: > > > Just made a minor breakthrough; a random usenet post suggested that the > > MDP-1000 was just a rebadged General Automation SPC-12, and so it is.? I > > suspect the internals of the unit I have (which is badged as an > "MDP-6650" > > on the rear) are a bit different than either the MDP-1000 or the SPC-12 > > (and I'm no closer to finding answers to my IC identification questions), > > but it at least gives me another avenue to explore... > > > > (Bitsavers has a few items: > > http://bitsavers.org/pdf/generalAutomation/spc12/) > > https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/?s=spc-12 Is this a case of not being able to find the correct TI or Motorola IC guide or is there something unique / OEM about this one?? I do have some late 60's early 70's IC guides of these manufacturers that I can check, original bound paper copies.? Please advise. Bill

4 years, 2 months

Identifying mystery TI ICs (Motorola MDP-1000 investigation continues...)

by derschjo＠gmail.com

More mysteries while poking at the MDP-1000. Spent some time this evening working out the rest of the signals on the power harness (I suspect inputs for an LTC circuit and a "power good" signal, as well as something connected to a relay on the backplane, probably related to power control). There are a lot of unidentifiable ICs on the main CPU logic board and on the backplane, mixed in with bog-standard 7400-series TTL. Curious if anyone has any ideas, as my searches and perusal of datasheets/databooks on Bitsavers have turned up nothing. These are all TI-manufactured ICs, 1969 manufacturing dates, with "SN48xx" and "SN63xx" part numbers (a few omit the "SN" prefix.) I'm wondering if these are just standard 7400 ICs with special codes; for example there are several SN4816's near the edge connector for the I/O bus, where a 7416 might (?) make sense, and from some basic probing and following traces I think the pinouts make sense. (Everything's conformal coated so it's a real bear to beep things out...) Any ideas? Thanks again, Josh

4 years, 2 months

ancient 5" SMD message

by aek＠bitsavers.org

5.25" SMD drives From: David C. Jenner <djenner_at_earthlink.net> Date: Tue Jun 24 19:28:00 2003 I have complete docs (User's Manual and Reference Manual, both very long) for both of the Seagate drives (the manuals cover both). And a stock of the 1.2GB drives, including power supply and cables. And QD33 Qbus adapters. I'll be glad to entertain offers for these offline, especially trades for PDP-11 equipment. Dave --- wonder if - he is still on the list - still has the manuals

4 years, 2 months

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test-drb October 2020