test-drb

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101090 discussions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Donzelli > Building a complete ENIAC replica would indeed be hard. If only exact > proper NOS parts were used, I might just say impossible. One other component I didn't see listed: rotary switches. ENIAC used tons of them, originally for inputting static data (think ROM :-), and later to hold tables used when they converted it to a sorta-stored-program machine (think uROM :-). And what about the special plug wires (and the male and female connectors used thereon) which were used to 'program' the machine for a given problem - are those still available? Noel

11 years, 8 months

Fwd: is there any word processing software for the pdp11?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

>> Jacob Ritorto wrote: >> Yeah, but troff is too hard. I'm going to pass over the obvious question ('why would anybody be doing word processing on a PDP-11 in this day and age' :-), and ask if nroff is also too hard? Since it's only intended for character devices (line printers, etc) it's not quite as complex as troff.a I'm not sure if Bell had anything simpler; I'll have to look at my V6 Unix manual set. > From: Ian S. King > But ... Emacs (originally EMACS, "eight megabytes and continuously > swapping") .. is ever going to run on a PDP-11. If you restrict yourself to GNU Emacs, yes. But there are more implementations of EMACS in the world than that bloated monstrosity! We ran an EMACS on V6 Unix at MIT, I forget who wrote it, I think it was someone at BBN; it was quite a nice one. It was quite customizable (but that have only been key bindings and settings, not sure if it included code), and it had all the usual features: multiple buffers and windows, etc. (In fact, it was so painful to use on a VT52, with its small screen, that I migrated to a Ann Arbor Ambassador terminal, with its much large screen, as soon as it became available.) I have several sets of backup tapes from one of the V6 machines at MIT; I sent one off to Chuck Guzis, and he's gotten almost all the bits off of it (a few records had unrecoverable read errors, but the vast majority were OK - like roughly 15 read errors in around 1500 records). I hope to annouce a vast trove of stuff soon from my tapes (once I figure out how to interpret the bits - they are written by a sui generis application called 'saveRVD', and the _only_ documentation of how it did it is... on that tape! :-) That includes a lot of code written at MIT, as well as stuff from elsewhere. Coming soon, in addition to that EMACS, should be BCPL, Algol, LISP and some other languages; MACRO-11 and the DEC linker (which I guess are also available from UNSW tapes), but _also_ programs to convert back and forth >from .REL to a.out format, and to .LDA format; and a whole ton of other applications (I have no idea what all is there - if anyone is interested, I can make a pass through my manuals and try and make a list). Noel

11 years, 8 months

HP owners - BOUNTY

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Reposting, I'm a little worried these do not exist anymore. I've already tried every reseller on the planet. Generous Bounty for any of the following: HP 12920B Asynchronous Multiplexer : 12920-60001 Upper Select Code Data Board 12920-60002 Lower Select Code Data Board 12922-60001 Control Board Or HP 12920A Asynchronous Multiplexer: 12921-60001 Upper Select Code Data Board 12921-60002 Lower Select Code Data Board 12922-60001 Control Board Even single boards of any of the above would be a big help. Best, J

11 years, 8 months

EDSAC lives

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

So, we have the ABC, Colossus, Manchester Baby, and now the EDSAC. Anyone for the ENIAC? Univac I? IAS machine? Whirlwind? How come 3 of the 4 are in Britain? On 2014-Nov-29, at 9:12 PM, John Foust wrote: > The National Museum of Computing unveils EDSAC re-creation: > > http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30131447

11 years, 8 months

Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 24 November 2014 at 22:40, Holm Tiffe <holm at freibergnet.de> wrote: > I understand that it will be very expensive to change such a "naturally > grown" infrastructure and this is that cause that I wrote that the US > should have changed this long before nowi, where it is really to late to do > that. [upgrading (the US) infrastructure] But I'm wondering about Japan. As was mentioned by someone else earlier, their's an example of how it shouldn't be done. However, as part of that they already have a mix (so they're kind of used to that) of 50Hz and 60Hz depending on where you live.. and they use US (or as close as doesn't matter) plugs. At 100V. The whole system is quite frustrating, and scary to look at as well. Rickety-rackety. Reminds me of underdimensioned old 6V car wiring, with much of the same problems (dimming, heat..). So what I was thinking is that it should, in principle, be possible for Japan to introduce 230V in new areas (and new areas are built constantly), with European plugs not only to make it safer but also to clearly make the distinction. That's something that I believe could work in Japan, people tend to pay attention. I'm not so sure it would work anywhere else. That's something I would like to see. Not only because of my old linear transformer computer gear.. or the impossibility to use my favourite bread machine (doesn't come with an 100V AC motor). 100V isn't particularly energy efficient when it comes to distribution, and Japan needs to become much, much more energy efficient. > Here in germany 1 phase power lines simply don't exist. The entire > infrastructure is build with 3 phases and the phase balancing is made on > every distribution paneel in every house. This is why it isn't a big > problem to get a 3 phase outlet installed somewhere you need it. > Most cables are in the ground, but on the other end of my village here > (1km distance to the next city) there are some overhead lines with at least > two transformers on masts that distribute 3x400V to groups of houses. [3phase] Same in Norway (I'm traveling between Norway and Japan so experience both). Or at least in my town. The whole electricity infrastructure was reworked completely for all of the town some years ago. Everything moved from poles to sub-ground cabling, and 400V 3phase to every house, and taken from there. New houses and old ones are done a bit differently internally though.

11 years, 8 months

foam in DEC SBB drives, ok to remove?

by nw＠retroComputingTasmania.com

I have some of these DEC SBB module drives, but the foam has gone crumbly, wondering if it is ok to remove the foam and operate without it? http://images.esellerpro.com/2131/I/842/7/100_2665.JPG

11 years, 8 months

Dataproducts B600 help needed

by b4＠gewt.net

Hey, Does anyone have an operator's guide? I found this as a manual http://www.wang2200.org/docs/fiche/742-0432.MNL.2273LinePrinterMaintenance.… which will likely help me fix the board that has the "Bad timing clock" note (covering ICs, not an xtal). It does not however at a quick glance explain what it means that mine just displays "22" as the status. Any ideas? -- Cory Smelosky http://gewt.net Personal stuff http://gimme-sympathy.org Projects

11 years, 8 months

is there any work processing software for the pdp11?

by jacob.ritorto＠gmail.com

or, if not, anyone feel like helping me port a contemporary line printer daemon to 2.11bsd? --jake

11 years, 8 months

Backplane Wiring - Was: Cyber ECL Wiring

by rickb＠bensene.com

Brent H. wrote: > Would that be these?: > > http://www3.telus.net/~bhilpert/tmp/HP2116C/crimps.jpg > http://www3.telus.net/~bhilpert/tmp/HP2116C/backplane.jpg > An almost identical system was used for the backplane wiring on many Wang Laboratories electronic calculators, from the earliest machines (LOCI) through the last of the "large form factor" machines (Wang 500/600/700) calculators. Later machines (100, 400 and C-Series) had much higher levels of integration, which required a lot fewer backplane interconnects, and thus printed circuit backplanes could be used. Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com

11 years, 8 months

FS: HP 9000 and DEC Alpha machines

by linimon＠lonesome.com

[fwiw, is there a better place for FS/Wanted listings? If there's not some kind of 'commerce' site, should we set one up?] As most of you know, I work for a company that decommisions data centers and resells the equipment (usually eBay but sometimes directly). There are a few things in the triage queue that might be of interest to the list members. If there is interest, I'll approach my boss, otherwise they'll be processed as usual. By default we check eBay for the value before listing anything. At the very least we value it at scrap value. And no, I can't take anything out the back door for cheap :-) They're in business to make money. These will all sell without the hard drives per our contracts with our customers. As for the HP and IBM, I have not yet climbed back all the way into the triage area to get more details. The desktops are accessible to me. Of course all of these are listed subject to prior sale. Reply-To set to me personally, but if you have comments e.g. about appropriateness, please feel free to redirect to the list. I'm a big boy, I can take it :-) mcl 3 * Vaxstation 4000 60 (desktop) 1 * Dec 3000 (desktop) 1 * IBM 3490 EC22 (19" rack full) 1 * HP 9000 Model K360 K-Class 9000 (19" rack full) 5 * Digital Personal Workstation 500au (desktop) 2 * Digital Personal Workstation 600a (desktop) 2 * Compaq XP1000 (desktop, appear similar to above)

11 years, 8 months

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