test-drb

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101090 discussions

by bpettitx＠comcast.net

Chuck Guzis wrote: Really great (7 track) drives; substantially over-engineered as compared to, say, a 65x drive. The 604 wasn't quite as fast as the look=alike 607, but nothing to sneeze at. If you've got 160A, 3000-series or 6000-series machine (and associated controller), it'd be a really great drive to have. --Chuck ____________________________________________________________ These were great tape drives. The 604 was 75ips versus 150ips for the 607. Both drives were 200/556/800 bpi 7 track units. The weight was a killer. But they were extremely reliable, easy to work on and easy to interface. Al has manuals on them (I know because I loaned them to him) and I have a lot spare parts if someone wanted to try to get them working. These would be a good choice for recovering old 7 track tapes. They used vacuum tensioning columns and vacuum capstans. So very little contact with the magnetic slurry side of the tape. Billy Pettit

11 years, 3 months

360/50 microcode listing

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Donzelli > We, the big iron collectors, do not share this information on any sort > of registry. We are a secretive bunch. Why is that, can I ask? I mean, it's not like a thief's going to come in and steal the thing (which is indeed the reason why collectors in other areas are often secretive) - it would take a truck and a crane, for most models! > From: Liam Proven > Have you read Lawrence Wilkison's account of rescuing an S360/20 in NZ > when he was a student? Cool story; thanks for the link - but the page says it was a 360/30. (The smallest 'real' 360 - the 360/20 was a lobotomized 'sorta' 360/.) Noel

11 years, 3 months

360/50 microcode listing

by aek＠bitsavers.org

CHM was able to obtain volumes 18-20 of the IBM 2050 drawings, which are the microcode charts and ROS dump. I got them scanned and uploaded yesterday to http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/fe/2050 This was one of the things that I had been trying to locate for a while now.

11 years, 3 months

PDP-12 at the RICM

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

The RICM rescued a very nice PDP-12 today. Pictures and details to follow. -- Michael Thompson

11 years, 3 months

PDP11GUI v1.46

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

PDP11GUI is at v1.46 now. Among others I fixed an annoying bug, which prevented proper terminal output when running certain diagnostic paper tapes: Filling <NUL> chars were sometimes interpreted as backspace! Load from http://retrocmp.com/tools/pdp11gui As ever, any feedback is welcome, Joerg

11 years, 3 months

Plessey PM-D11/SPC-1 backplane documentation needed

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: tony duell >> I have a Plessey PM-D11/SPC-1 backplane here > How many slots? I assume it's hex height. What (if anything) are the > power input connectors? 9; yes; it has the standard 9-pin connector as used on the 11/05-10, and the early /40s and /45s. (FWLIW, the documentation for the PM-F11 says that _it_ comes with either the same 9-pin connector power harness, or the harness with the newer 15-/6-pin connector pair, and gives part numbers for each.) The harness of this one is subtly different, though - instead of all fast-on tabs at the backplane end, there is a DuPont header on the backplane (looks like 10 pin), and a bunch of the pins on the large 9-pin connector are connected to that (not just ACLO and DCLO, but e.g. there are a pair which are connected to +5V, and another pair to ground (the latter two also go to fast-on tabs). > Is there any reason to assume it's not a clone of a standard DEC > backplane ... the 'SPC' part of the name suggests a Unibus peripheral > backplane Oh, I'm sure it's _some_ form of SPC backplane - it has the NPG jumpers from CA1 to CB1 on all 9 slots, for instance. And it has a bunch of wires running >from 1A/B down to the CDEF part, and then back from CDEF to 9A/B. And the NPG is routed from 1A down to CA1/CA2, and then back up to 9A. But I'm trying to figure out exactly what sort of SPC backplane it is. E.g. it looks like slots 2-8 _might_ be MUD (the signals from 1A/B are bussed across all those slots on A/B, over to 9A/B). But without documentation, or a lot of ohm-meter work... Noel

11 years, 3 months

Plessey PM-D11/SPC-1 backplane documentation needed

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Hi, all, I have a Plessey PM-D11/SPC-1 backplane here, and I'm interested in finding some documentation for it. I looked online, but couldn't find anything? This site: http://www.compsy.de/gebr-vax/repman_verl.htm seems to list one, and does apparently 'rent' documentation, but I'm not sure they're ready to rent something to someone on another continent. (If someone in Europe can assist in dealing with them, I'd be extremely grateful.) I do have a manual for the vaguely similar PM-F11/SPC backplane (which I would be happy to scan promptly if anyone has a need for it; otherwise, it will get scanned when I obtain a round tuit), and that, plus an ohmmeter, would probably allow me to eventually figure out the PM-D11, but I figured I'd look and see if I could save all that work, and put it into something else... :-) Noel

11 years, 3 months

Z-machines for PDP-11 (was Re: RT11 / RSTS-E games)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 5:43 AM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at update.uu.se> wrote: >> The Z-machine for RT-11 that Infocom released only handled v3 images. > > I only knew of the V1 version, for the original Zork I. I never knew that > Infocom released anything past Zork I for RT-11. I can't seem to find the definitive catalog, but I know there were folio packaging of several of the titles available for sale. I saw Starcross hanging on the wall at the Digital Store in Columbus, OH (back when there _was_ a brick-and-mortar store), and I am reasonable certain there were others, definitely more than just the V1 Zork. >> You can run a v3 game comfortably in 48K bytes... >> As for the PDP-11, one _could_ write a split-I&D interpreter for >> larger games... > > Um? Where have you been? ZEMU have been around for about 15 years now. It > runs all V1 to V8 games, and runs under both RT-11 and RSX. I think I forgot ZEMU has support past V5. My apologies. > On MIM:: (once more) > .zem/li/sy > -- System games -- > Game Release Serial Inform Z-Machine > ADVENT 5 961209 6.05 5 > ZDUNGEON 13 040826 6.14 5 :-) > ZTREK 1 000229 6.21 5 Ooh... that's right... there's an implentation of Star Trek on the Z-machine. I'll have to go grab that to see which version it's based on. Personally, I'm used to the one that was in Dave Ahl's "101 Computer Games", the one that has the short range scan that represents each item with up to three chars and empty locations with all spaces (as opposed to a simple grid with 1 char per filled spot and, ISTR, a '.' for empty locations). When I get the opportunity (later this weekend I think) I will check my backups for the RSTS/E mod I was mentioning. If the RT-11 ZEMU doesn't compile on RSTS/E as is, it should be a 1-line mod. -ethan

11 years, 3 months

RT11 / RSTS-E games

by john＠yoyodyne-propulsion.net

Anyone got any RT11/RSTS-E games? I'm back on with my project to recreate the PDP-11 that I goofed around with when I was a kid. (Its accessible via the bbs... bbs.cortex-media.info 4223) I have 2.52 version of Dungeon, and a version of Star Trek. Anyone got anything else? I'm still looking for Oregon Software Pascal as well... Thanks! Mark

11 years, 3 months

360/50 microcode listing

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jon Elson > Well, first, rotary converters draw a LOT of imaginary power (in other > words, they have an awful power factor) and so the line current can > become MUCH higher than you would expect. > ... > We tried to rig up a phase converter scheme to run the motor-generator > set on a 370/145 in a guy's house, and it did NOT go well. he only had > a 60 A 240 V service, and the imaginary current was over 60 A! Had to Google 'imaginary power'... Not a lot of experience with high-power AC stuff! :-) ('Imaginary power' is probably not the best term to use, because there are actual currents involved; I like the 'reactive power' name better.) The article I read said that in reactive load which is high in inductance (which is, I assume, the source of the high reactive load in rotary convertors - or am I confused - a common happening, I concede :-), judicious application of capacitance can reduce the reactive load. Why isn't this used with rotary convertors to reduce their reactive load? Any idea what the active and reactive powers/currents were in that attempted installation? Noel

11 years, 3 months

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