test-drb March 2021

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

138 participants
84 discussions

DEC CTI Bus Technical Manual, or looking for Ken Wellsch or Megan Gentry

by bdweb＠mindspring.com

Hello All, Does anyone have a copy of the DEC CTI Bus Technical Manual (EK-00CTI-TM-002) I can scan? If not, does anyone have an email address for Ken Wellsch or Megan Gentry as they both appear to be authorities on the CTI bus (see https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/DEC_Professional_(computer)/Archive question 10)? Thanks in advance! --Bjoren Davis

3 years, 9 months

VCF Swap Meet in Wall, NJ

by jeffrey＠vcfed.org

Announcing our second Annual Vintage Computer Federation Swap Meet! Last year's Swap Meet was very successful so ... we are doing it again! *DATE*: April 24, 2021 (RAIN DATE: April 25, 2021) *TIME*: 8AM to 2PM *ADDRESS*: Parking Lot on Monmouth Boulevard, Wall, NJ Across from Infoage Museum and Brookdale College *GPS location*: https://goo.gl/maps/m1AAS4UUziGXnoPeA (40.1848793,-74.0630848) *WEBSITE*: http://vcfed.org/wp/vcf-swap-meet *EMAIL*: swapmeet at vcfed.org *PHONE*: 732-722-5015 Free to buyers. Vendor cost is per space. First space is $20, each additional space is $10. You can park in your space and sell out of your vehicle. *SEND PAYMENT TO*: paypal at vcfed.org (FRIENDS AND FAMILY OPTION) Write in the note section: [your name] VCF Swap Meet 4/24/2021 Number of spaces: *SWAP MEET SIGNUP*: https://forms.gle/kNCL8WVxTQcnw5nA6 * Reservation doesn't guarantee sales. * The Vintage Computer Federation is only providing a space, vendors must bring their own tables, tents, cars. * In case of inclement weather, money paid will be refunded. * All items that you bring must be taken with you. No items are to be left behind. * Port-o-potty on site. Jeff Brace ========================================= Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/

3 years, 9 months

BS was Re: VCF Swap Meet in Wall, NJ (Liam Proven)

by marvin＠west.net

What a bunch of ^%#%#@$^. FYI, this is a listserver designed for classic computer discussions. Please save your diatribes for a more appropriate venue!!! Marvin > Look, TBH, sorry to be That Guy, but what it sounds like is made-up > mumbo-jumbo with as much basis in science as saying his choler is too > low and phlegm and bile out of equilibrium. > > It's an anti-masker trying to justify killing other people. It's no > more valid than a gun nut shouting about the constitution when they've > never been near a "well-organized militia" in their life. > > Keep well away from any people like this in real life. Do not come > into physical contact with them, ever, anywhere. > > -- > Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven

3 years, 9 months

Any info on a Western Peripherals DC-230 disk controller?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Any ideas what this disc controller is? https://www.ebay.com/itm/PDP-11-Backplane-Western-Peripherals-DC-230-Disk-C… Can't find much about this on the 'net, other than that it was a controller for Diablo/Pertec style drives -- no idea if it's an RK11 clone or something else entirely. Looks to be suitable for a PDP-11/20 given the little notch missing from the side there, and the lack of a separate power harness for the backplane. - Josh

3 years, 9 months

ODE 2.1.1 documentation

by ben＠huntsmans.net

Hello! Does anyone have any old documentation for ODE 2.1.1, or relatively close versions? I know "newer" versions have been released and have documentation available, but there are some changes in some of the config files that are very different from older versions. For example when creating a sandbox, in the sandbox directory there is a subdirectory called rc_files, that is supposed to have two files, "local" and "shared", but they don't work the same way that rc_files/Buildconf and Buildconf.exp work in newer versions... Anyone on here know anything about ODE, or any other sources of information? Many thanks!

3 years, 9 months

VAX rom patches - VAXstation 2000 SCSI boot, KA420 > 1GB boot

by abs＠absd.org

I had some extra A4 pages with a VAXstation 2000 manual which covered a preview PK2K kit for VMS, bootloader and ROM to allow use of the VAXstation 2000 SCSI controller for more than just tapes. Rough scan at http://sync.absd.org/vax/VAX-PK2K-preview-kit.pdf (the originals will be sent to someone who can do a better job) The pages led me to http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/ which includes some goodies: - http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/pk2k - uVAX-2k SCSI patches with source for boot roms, VMB & VMS - http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/ka420 - ROM patches for KA420/KA430 boot >from >1GB disks - http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/dk-552/ - VMS 5.2 patch to allow to accept more SCSI disk devices (Starting a new thread in case there is (slightly) more general interest for anyone interested in using the onboard uVAX-2K SCSI controller more more than tapes (OK, OK, for anyone not running NetBSD on their uVAX-2K interested in etc etc) - have cross posted to cctalk & port-vax - hopefully not violating any conventions there) David

3 years, 9 months

VAXstation 2000 network & hardware guides (English & German)

by abs＠absd.org

I have acquired a tiny slice of Orange Wall, and wondered if anyone would be interested - preference for anyone who is setup to scan and upload the missing bits to bitsavers or similar :) These seem to already be generally available online EK-NETAB-UG-002 Workstations and MicroVAX 2000 Network Guide EK-VAXAB-OM-002 VAXstation 2000 Owner's Manual (Covers how to replace your mouse balls, and details exciting options such as LN03, LN03 PLUS, LPS40, LA210, LA100, LA75, LA50. LGC01, LVP16, DF224, DF124, DF112, VSXXX-AB :-p) These I cannot immediately find EK-NETAA-UG-001 VAXstation 2000, MicroVAX 2000 and VAXmate Network Guide EK-VAXAB-IN-002 VAXstation 2000 Hardware Installation Guide Likewise these German versions EK-NETGA-UG-001 VAXstation 2000, MicroVAX 2000 und VAXmate Netzwerk-Anleitung EK-A0305-IN 001 VR160 Installations-und Bedienungsanleitung EK-A0355-OG-001 Grafikkoprozessor (8 Bildebenen) fur die VAXstation 2000 Installations- und Bedienungsanleitung Thanks David

3 years, 9 months

TC08 DECtape bootloader question

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

My understanding of the OS/8 TC08 bootloader (MI8-EC) is as follows: 0. Rewind tape 1. Set current address (07755) to 07600 2. Set word count (07754) to -0200 3. Read block 0 and wait for flag 4. Continue executing at 07600 However, it appears as though word count will be hit by the loading of the first block. In fact, my instrumented version of SimH says it's overwritten with a zero. If that's the case, it would seem as though the word count overflow flag will never get set. Not to mention, the current address will be updated next, causing data to be redirected to yet another position. But according to SimH, a write to the current address, 07755, never happens. How can this be? Any help would be appreciated! Kyle

3 years, 9 months

DECtape ancestry (Kyle Owen)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2021 16:21:44 -0400 > From: Kyle Owen <kylevowen at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: DECtape ancestry > > What systems took advantage of the bidirectional nature? > > Kyle > ADSS on the PDP-9 does an interleave of 6 when reading/writing to the DECtape. If it runs off the end it reverses direction and keeps going. I have seen some library files take three passes of the DECtape to fully search. -- Michael Thompson

3 years, 9 months

DECtape ancestry

by paulkoning＠comcast.net

I just read part of the Grant Saviers interview from CHM, where near the end he gives a bit of history of DECtape. In particular, the fact that it was derived from LINCtape though the format details are quite different. A question popped into my mind, prompted by having read Guy Fedorkow's paper about Whirlwind just a few days earlier: the Whirlwind tape format has 6 physical tracks but 3 logical tracks (each logical track is recorded redundantly on two physical tracks) and one of those tracks is a clock track. LINCtape and DECtape have the same redundant recording scheme, and also have a clock track; the difference is that they add a mark track to enable the recording of block numbers and in-place block writing. That made me wonder if LINCtape was, in part, inspired by the Whirlwind tape system, or if those analogies are just a concidence. Incidentally, it's probably not widely known that LINCtape/DECtape is not the only tape system with random block write capability. Another one that does this is the Electrologica X1 tape system, which uses 1/2 inch 10 track tapes, which include a clock and a mark track. An interesting wrinkle is that the X1 tape system lets you chose the block size when formatting the tape, and then data block writes allow for the writing of any block size up to the formatted block size. I'm not sure when that device was introduced; the documentation I have is from 1964. There's no sign the designers knew of DECtape (or vice versa). paul

3 years, 9 months

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test-drb March 2021