test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Pete Turnbull > you are aware that although there's 2KW of code in there, it's accessed > through a 256-byte (128 word) window in Bank 8 which has to be > programmed via the PCR? Yes, thanks. > There are 18 error halts, listed in the BDV11 manual, which I expect is > on bitsavers The Technical Manual is, but not the User Manual (which may not exist, the TM doesn't mention one); the TM doesn't cover the software (in the PROMs), just the hardware. > and on pp107-108 of the PDP-11 Microcomputer Interfaces Handbook 1980. Ah, didn't know that - thanks, that's useful. It's been a while since I looked at the BDV11 entry there; I was using the BDV11 entry in the Microcomputer Products Handbook. > The 25 error halts for the 11/23+ are listed on pp 611-613 of the > Microcomputers and Memories Handbook 1982, and also on pp 47-49 of the > PDP-11/23-PLUS System Manual (EK-1T23B-OP-001). Ditto (useful). > You've already discovered, I imagine, that there are gazillions of ways > to set up and use the sockets on a BDV11 Yup. Noel

11 years, 8 months

BDV11 ROM programs?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Does anyone know of anything that documents the contents of the various BDV11 ROMs? In particular, I'm interested in learning what the various halt locations imply. Yes, I know, I could dump them, and disassemble them, but I'm hoping to avoid all that hard work... :-) There seem to be two different ROM sets; 23-046E2/23-045E2, which seem to be an earlier set, as they only understand 56KB of memory; and a later set, SG8326-339E2 and SG8330-340E2 (which might not be DEC standard, the numbers on them are 'odd' - although they might be 23-339E2/23-340E2, the boot ROMs from the 11/23+), which understand up to 4MB of memory. (Interestingly, the latter set are on Intel D2716s, EPROMs, unlike the earlier ones, which are plain PROMs.) Thanks in advance for any help! Noel

11 years, 8 months

Seeking disruptive tech

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Donzelli >> From: Brent Hilpert >> All of which kind of emphasizes Roy's point of disruptive >> technologies. So what are some candidates for the most-disruptive? > Fiber optics completely shook up the "long lines" telecom industry. > Continous casting completely shook up the steel industry. The diesel > electric locomotive completely shook up the rail industry. And on and > on... Interesting topic, albeit somewhat off-topic for the list. (My apologies for continuing it... :-) Some disruptive technologies are subsets of others; e.g. transistors are in some sense a subset of electrical (altough, as Chuck points out, they also draw on materials science). And how far back do you want to go? The discovery of metals certainly had a huge impact, albeit that it was many thousands of years ago now! But among the big ones for me are electricity, which almost has too many subsets to count (e.g. long distance communication, starting with the telegraph - read "The Victorian Internet" for a good look at how that changed the world), the printing press (information technologies in general have outside weight, since they affect so many other fields), the internal combustion engine (which has physically re-shaped entire civilizations, especially the US), with all its subset (e.g. the airplane)... too many to think of, almost! And it all started with sharp stones... :-) > From: Chuck Guzis cclist at sydex.com > And yet nobody seems to know about Lilienfeld. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that before today, I had not (that I can recall) heard of him. And I see there is no full-length book on him. A hole waiting to be filled, as it were... Noel

11 years, 8 months

Paging Andreas Holz

by pontus＠Update.UU.SE

Hi Andreas: I need to talk to you regarding the VAX. If there are mailproblems on this end try pontus.pihlgren at gmail.com If anyone else knows that Andreas can't be reached, Please let me know. /Pontus

11 years, 8 months

Strange i-con Unibus (?) board

by scaron＠umich.edu

On the back of Roe's question; didn't want to hijack his thread. I was browsing eBay and came across this very unusual looking Unibus card (?) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computer-Memory-Digital-DEC-logo-1216988-bo… I'm really curious what all those SIP hybrids are running down the one side of the board. I see it's got no less than 8 74181 ALUs so I figure this has got to be some kind of processor? Perhaps a prototype or simply an obscure hop-up processor for Unibus machines similar to some of which were marketed for Q-bus with i.e. MC68k, NS 32k, MIPS CPUs (KN210), etc. I tried to do a little research about i-con on the Web but I'm coming up blank. Anyone know what the heck this thing is? Just curious. Thanks, Sean

11 years, 8 months

MTI storage array

by lenox.joseph＠gmail.com

My advisor was given an old HP83000 IC tester a few years ago and I got stuck with trying to figure out how to evaluate if it is worth trying to set up. To that end, I am investigating the HP C360 visualize workstation that came with it. It is booting, but there are entries in the fstab that imply that there were more hard drives. It came with this hard drive array: http://imgur.com/a/0JSZW I am having trouble even identifying the make and model, let alone finding some sort of manual. Anyone got an idea of what is going on here and possibly where I can source the correct cabling for it? The workstation has 2 scsi busses, an ultrawide single ended and a narrow single ended.

11 years, 8 months

Seeking disruptive tech

by radiotest＠juno.com

At 07:00 PM 12/10/2014, Kyle Owen wrote: >Just picked up a 1960s TV-7D/U tube tester to check some of my tubes while I catalog them, but other days are spent tinkering with PDP-8/Es. I own a Hickok 533 and a few other testers, as well as a GR vacuum tube bridge, to ride herd on many vacuum tubes stocked for many vacuum tube instruments and antique radios. I don't get as sophisticated as working with 8s (though I did care for a couple of pdp-8/m systems 30 years ago), I just wrangle some electronics with dedicated microprocessors from the 8080/8085/Z80 family. Dale H. Cook, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA Osborne 1 / Kaypro 4-84 / Kaypro 1 / Amstrad PPC-640 http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/radios/index.html

11 years, 8 months

List Still working?

by innfoclassics＠gmail.com

I just realized I haven't gotten a message from the list in over a month. wondering if I got dropped or the list is down? Paxton -- Paxton Hoag Astoria, OR USA

11 years, 8 months

Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20141205)

by dpi＠dustyoldcomputers.com

I have had my PDP-8 (no letter) since around 1985. As part of the deal I got a little over 200 DECtapes. Most of these are SCOTCH 3M branded in cardboard boxes and not DEC branded DECtapes in the clear blue plastic containers. I have been thinking about moving this data to a permanent storage location so I wondered how much space this would require. Turns out to be about 57 million bytes and that would be without bothering to do any compression. The trivia question is: Approximately how many DECtapes will fit on a single one terabyte drive? As there are several possible answers to this feel free to reply on the list. I will give my answer in a few days. Doug Ingraham

11 years, 8 months

Wanted 22-way connectors was RE: No such thing as "the PDP

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

Looking at the Wikipedia pages here, I find it amazing that computer design had moved so quickly between 1953/4 when the Ferranti Pegasus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferranti_Pegasus And IBM 704 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_704 were produced to the PDP-1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-1 looking at the PDP-1 card here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-1#mediaviewer/File:Dec_SYSTEM_BUILDING_BLOC KS_1103.jpg I notice it uses the same PCB connector as my EAI-TR10 Analogue computer. Now whilst I can find the sockets, I can't find any of the PCB mounting plugs, and I "need" one to make an extender card. I can make one up from PCB but it would be nice to have a real plug if any one has one they would be willing to part with. Dave G4UGM

11 years, 8 months

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test-drb