So I have a couple of busted KDJ11-A cards (M8192), and it would be nice to
have a FMPS to look at, if I try and get them running. (I know it's not the
DCJ11 chips - I have tried them in a known good board, and they all work
fine.)
Does anyone know the whereabouts of one? Does one even exist? I have not
found any reference to one. The KDJ11-A User's Guide (EK-KDJ1A-UG-001) does
not mention one. (BTW, that UG is more like a Tech Manual - it contains a
lengthy chapter with detailed description of internal circuits.)
Thanks in advance (hopefully :-)!
Noel
Last month I debuted the electronic version of my book, "Abacus to
smartphone: The evolution of mobile and portable computers". Now it's
available on old-fashioned dead trees.
The best place to get it is https://www.createspace.com/5596053. The
second-best place is Amazon.com. Price is the same at both sites
($19.99) but CreateSpace sends me twice the royalty that Amazon does
(even though CS is owned by Amazon... weird.)
The book's web site is http://www.abacustosmartphone.com.
Two transistors on the front panel that turn on PC and MA lights failed.
They were painful to replace. Hopefully this won't be a weekly ritual.
We ran more of the LINC mode processor diagnostics. All that we could
figure out with no documentation worked OK. Hopefully someone has the
missing documentation that we need.
We worked on the TC12 LINCtape controller problem where it had a "LGP
GP=GPC PRESET" fault during diagnostics. We are not exactly sure what this
part of the TC12 does, something to do with tape groups, a LINC thing. It
looks like the diagnostic turns the GP=GPC flip-flop on, then presets
(clears) it, then tests to see that it was preset. Most of the time it
works OK, and always works OK when run in single step. We replaced the M216
module that contains the GP=GPC flip-flop, but that didn't change the
behavior. One of the M222 modules in the TC12 controller routes the GP=GPC
signal to the status register. The IC on the M222 that accepts this signal
is a SN7453. We have seen lots of failures of this unusual IC on other
restoration projects. We swapped the M222 that routes the GP=GPC signal and
the diag behavior changed. Next week we will replace the SN7453 and see if
that fixes this issue.
It will take quite a bit of work to fix the VR14, so we will try to use an
oscilloscope in X-Y mode as a display. It might even work!
--
Michael Thompson
Hi Guys
Well I'm back from holiday. I'm now sorting out what I'm
calling the PDP 8/e B model panel.
This has the markings for the latest type of selector switch, vertical
lines between lamp groups and
the line round the selector switch area.
If anybody has not got an order in and wants one please let me know.
I'm going through the wish lists to see whats next. Probably 8/f or 8/m
One off's for old systems where there are very few examples in existance
and need custom one off's
please email me to discuss.
Rod
> From: Guy Sotomayor
> my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe.
> ...
> I moved the MP3000 into a more convenient location in my office
Dude! If it doesn't take the whole room, it's not a _real_ mainframe! :-)
Noel
It?s been a while, so I thought I?d update folks on what?s been going on with my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe. I?ve updated the webpage for it at: http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid <http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid> to indicate it?s current status.
I?ve managed to boot it up into the version of z/OS (V1R5) that was installed. I discovered that some of the standard users were still present with their default passwords so I was able to log in and do stuff under TSO. I also figured out that one of the standard users had administrative capabilities, so I?m able to fully manage z/OS and make the changes necessary to have it work in my environment and to be able to perform any administrative tasks that I might need to perform.
I?ve configured the OS/2 side of things to be on my home network, so I can at lead use one of the various tn3270 programs to log in rather than having to sit as the OS/2 screen and do things. I also reconfigured my 3174 controller so that it could ?talk? to the MP3000 so I can also use my 3179 terminals to log in (which IMHO are much better than the tn3270 programs).
During all of this I acquired 8 more 18GB SSA drives so I have enough for a second 72GB array with some spares. I felt really fortunate to have found these drives as they are in no way standard (524 byte sectors) and you need the special carriers to work properly in the MP3000. Not to mention that they are SSA drives!
I have put the drives into the MP3000 but have yet to configure them for use. During the checkout of the drives, I discovered that the drive that had been assigned for the ?hot spare? was dead. One of my next tasks will be to assign one of the new drives as the ?hot spare?.
Since I have most things working now, I moved the MP3000 into a more convenient location in my office (see picture on the above link) rather than being in the middle of the traffic area of my shop.
I?m still going to be doing some ?tinkering? with z/OS before I really knuckle down to (re)learn the various aspects of MVS and TSO. Then off to write some mainframe programs!
TTFN - Guy
Happy Independence Day to USA readers, and good day to all others,
I found out what the problem was with the tape reader on the 33ASR Teletype.
This morning I had some time to do some diagnostics. It appeared that reader trip contacts that are triggered by the cycle clutch were making contact just fine (thanks for the recommendation to check this first).
However, there was no sign that there was any current flowing through the contacts, and there was no sign that the reader solenoid was activating.
So, I started backtracking, and found the tape reader power supply circuit board. There's a 1/2 Amp Fast-Blow fuse on the board that I tested right away. It was open.
I inspected the fuse under a microscope, and there was no sign that the fuse was blown...the filament looked intact. I then found by jiggling the fuse around, it would intermittently show continuity. There was absolutely no sign that the fuse had blown due to an overcurrent condition -- it was more like the fuse had some kind of mechanical fault.
So, I grabbed a 1/2 A SB fuse out of my parts bin and installed it, and powered up the Teletype. Put a tape in it (STARTREK listing from OS/8 BASIC), and started the reader. It immediately started reading the tape and printing out the program listing.
Good stuff!
I have subscribed to the GreenKeys list, and am waiting for approval, which probably may take a little extra time due to the holiday.
I need some ribbons, paper, and a new pad for the printhead hammer, but figure I should easily be able to find pointers to sources for these on the GreenKeys list.
Now to see if I can find out how to make a facsimile of the tape reader control gizmo that DEC used to allow the PDP 8 to control the paper tape reader, so I can get this terminal properly interfaced to the 8/e. In the meantime, I'm going to hook it up to the Altair 8800 for a little immediate nostalgia.
Thanks to all.
-Rick
For the UNIX/68k box possibly labelled Unisys, and in the absence, so far, of anything more definitive:
Have a look at Convergent Technologies Miniframe. A reasonable amount of info around. The pictures at
http://niki.hammler.net/wiki/Convergent_Systems_MiniFrame
may be helpful - one is of a back panel with multiple serial ports and a couple of others. That website is in German but others are available in other languages, and anyway a picture speaks approximately 1K words.
No guarantees, but worth a look by the sound of it.
I had the mixed fortune to use one of these briefly in the mid 1980s, primarily to use troff/nroff etc for documentation generation and software testing. Real development work was done in a platform-independent manner on a VMS box before being tested on the UNIX box. The System-V-based (?) Minframe software at the time was so unproductive that most of the document production was also done on the VMS box (a VAX11/725, for goodness sake, more productive than a hip/trendy UNIX box). Write in troff/nroff using EDT on VMS, put through a simplistic translation from troff/nroff to RUNOFF, check the output, repeat till it was about right, with only the final version being generated from troff/nroff on the CT box.
My recollection is that the 68K OS we had didn't do demand paging, just swapping, even though if it really did have a 68010, demand paging would have been possible (and preferable).
I believe these boxes were rebadged by various other vendors; the one I had was reportedly a prototype prior to being rebadged by Gould. Maybe Unisys were doing the same. It may have been Gould's (not CT's) software.
Have a lot of fun
john wallace
====================================================================
Re: out-of-mainstream minis
Saturday, 4 July, 2015 0:54
From:
? ? "mark at markesystems.com" <mark at markesystems.com>
To:
? ? cctalk at classiccmp.org
In the late 80?s, I bought from a surplus/junk shop a (by then somewhat obsolete) Unix computer, branded UniSys, I think.? It had 10 serial ports; one was the primary console, one was intended for a printer, and the other 8 were regular user TTYs.? The processor was a 68000 (not 010, 020, or anything else), I don?t remember how much memory, and it had an integral full-height hard drive as well (60 mB, maybe?).
When I say Unix, I mean real System-7 Unix ? not Linux or any other *nix.? I thought it was really a pretty neat system ? 8 (or 9) users and a printer, just perfect for a small office ? or my apartment at the time, which had a terminal or two in every room.? I learned how to program in Unix on that machine, since it matched exactly the System 7 manuals I had. Sadly, time moved on, I got married, and got rid of a bunch of ?useless junk?, like that computer.
Recently, I?ve been reminiscing and poking around some on the Web to try to find information about it, but it seems to have vanished completely with nary a ripple.? Has anyone else stumbled across this unit, or at least have any knowledge of it?? It was a black case, about the size of a standard IBM-PC, with ten serial ports on the back and not much else.? I?d sure be interested to know where I might locate data about that unit, or (gasp!) possibly even an existing one...
~~
Mark Moulding
