test-drb June 2021

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

100 participants
47 discussions

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

I know of two early computer (in the stored program sense) programming books. 1951: Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer (Wilkes, Wheeler, & Gill) 1957: Digital Computer Programming (McCracken) What others were published prior to the McCracken text? Excluded are lecture compendia and symposia proceedings, such as: 1946: Moore School Lectures 1947: Proceedings of a Symposium on Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery 1951: Proceedings of a Second Symposium on Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery 1953: Faster Than Thought, A Symposium On Digital Computing Machines These were principally about designs for, and experience with, new hardware. I'm curious about texts specifically focused on the act of programming. Were there others prior to McCracken? paul

3 years, 7 months

VT340 Emulation

by cctalk＠gtaylor.tnetconsulting.net

On 6/18/21 5:50 PM, Wayne S via cctech wrote: > We didn't really need Regis graphics so we never tested that out. I'm not sure what the OP's use case is, but if they / you are wanting ReGIS (or Sixel) graphics, XTerm supports (both of) them. Incidentally, I have my XTerm configured to set it's decTerminalID to vt340. -- Grant. . . . unix || die

3 years, 7 months

VT100 colors

by lars＠nocrew.org

Hello, Does anyone know what colors a VT100 is? Most photos online has it looking yellowish, but I expect that's from aging. Some people I have asked claim it was a light cream color. This bitsavers picture has it looking neutral grey: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/vt100_wps-8.jpg And the black parts are claimed to be dark brown. I haven't found any color codes in the manuals.

3 years, 7 months

Water Cooling and Hot Climates was RE: IBM 1620; was: Early Programming Books

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Van Snyder via > cctalk > Sent: 22 June 2021 00:00 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: IBM 1620; was: Early Programming Books > > On Mon, 2021-06-21 at 17:26 -0400, William Donzelli via cctalk wrote: > > > Of course, nowadays, the old R22 systems are being refilled with > > > purified propane, called R290. Cheap, with better thermal > > > properties than R22, but probably not legal when LCM picked up the > 6500. > > > > When cleaning out a 3rd party CDC dealer quite a few years back, he > > remarked that the CDC machines going way back all the way to the 800s > > were fantastically unpicky about how they were cooled. He just used a > > garden hose connected to the building potable water, and if the > > machine under test needed more coolant because it was running warm, it > > just pumped more supply. Heated waste water went down the drain. > > > > This unlike the IBM water machines. > > I was once told that the most valuable guy in a Honeywell 6080 Multics shop > was the plumber. > I don't ever remember the 6080 being water cooled? I Thought Honeywell/GEC was all air cooled. All the L66s (which were from what the Multics machine was developed) were air cooled. I was told the following tale by one of my Honeywell contacts.... ... Apparently the last Shah of Iran owned a Level 66 for the use of his secret police. Apart from the fact that the OS had been modified by Honeywell Italy, and the documentation for this was in Italian which no one on the job understood, and when the OS crashed it was usually in a section of the code with Italian comments, there was also a problem with the power. As the temperature rose the power invariable failed. This was because it was run from a diesel generator that was out in the sun, it over heated and cut out..... ... any way after many complaints the military man in charge came to the Honeywell staff and told them the problem was solved. They of course asked how and were taken to the generator and shown the latest modification. They had fitted a new cap to the radiator with a thermometer in it, as often found on vintage cars. They had painted a read line on the gauge and assigned a soldier to watch it. When the needle got to the line, he blew his whistle and several other soldiers appeared and threw buckets of water over the engine until it cooled down.... I just wonder what they did while waiting for it to overheat...... > > > > -- > > Will Dave G4UGM

3 years, 7 months

VT100 colors

by lars＠nocrew.org

Many replies. Thank you all! I have 3D printed Michael Gardi's VT100 model, and I'll try to find some pleasing colors for painting it. https://hackaday.io/project/177596-23-scale-vt100-terminal-reproduction

3 years, 7 months

Early Programming Books

by paul＠mcjones.org

1955: An Introduction to Automatic Computers (Ned Chapin <https://www.csueastbay.edu/oaa/files/docs/memorial/memorialchapin.pdf>) I have the second edition ? copyright 1963. Chapter 8 is ?Elements of Programming? with a fully-worked out assembly language example for a hypothetical machine. > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2021 04:43:58 -0400 > From: "Paul Birkel" <pbirkel at gmail.com <mailto:pbirkel at gmail.com>> > > I know of two early computer (in the stored program sense) programming > books. > > 1951: Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer > (Wilkes, Wheeler, & Gill) > > 1957: Digital Computer Programming (McCracken) > > What others were published prior to the McCracken text?

3 years, 7 months

Who has a working Terak?

by jfoust＠threedee.com

One of the original UCSD Pascal team contacted me, asking if any of my Teraks are still working. Sadly, they don't. I seem to remember hearing on the list that someone had re-capped and re-socketed their Terak, and that it's working. He wants to get video of an original, working Terak to demonstrate the UCSD Pascal menu system. He wants to show how the UCSD Pascal menu system could've influenced Apple's menus on the Lisa. Yes, I pointed out that you can run it under emulation. - John

3 years, 7 months

Wanted: IBM 2671 docs and IBM stuff

by alsilisk＠icloud.com

Dear All, Recently I received an IBM 2671 paper tape reader and have been slowly restoring it. However I've hit a bit of a brick wall because no service docs are known. If you are sitting on some please do let me know. I am also looking for other bits of IBM mainframe/midrange stuff to restore so if anybody is looking to sell some, please PM me as well. I am in south England. Thanks, Al

3 years, 7 months

Wanted: Hp Display Tube 5083-1551

by holm＠freibergnet.de

hi all, a friend of mine (Hartmut) is restoring desktop- and pocketcaluculators as a hobby. Lately he got an HP9100B on his desk with a bad display tube (the getters are white) but is otherwise in a good shape. Is here possibly someone that has such an display Tube to sell? Kind Regards from Germany, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Goethestrasse 15, 09569 Oederan, USt-Id: DE253710583 info at tsht.de Fax +49 37292 709779 Tel +49 37292 709778 Mobil: 0172 8790 741

3 years, 7 months

MITS 300/55 Business System

by jfoust＠threedee.com

Fellow wants to unload it, located in Lansing, MI USA. 80 meg HD. https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/o2qggk/altair_8800a_with… - John

3 years, 7 months

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test-drb June 2021