test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

A tool many of you may make find useful!

by dave.dunfield＠gmail.com

Continuing to let you all know about developments, I do expect that many of you are facing a similar problem - trying to condense and preserve a lifetime of "collecting digital stuff". The DFF utility has been very helpful, however once I started organizing my files, I realized that although there are a lot of duplication, much of it is was downloaded at different times and/or from different sites making much of it different, many vendors don't go out of their way to make file content/purpose obvious in the names, and many files are dependent on other files - so manually reorganizing the data is NOT always easy. The best solution I have come up with so far is to invent a new archive format designed to eliminate duplicate data but capable of recreating the entire original directory trees (or parts thereof). To that end I created the two utilities described below (now included in the web archive). -- yeah, I do seem to have a fair bit of spare time on my hands these days... ;=BDA - Build Dave's Archive ;=EDA - Extract Dave's Archive Dave's Archives contain the smallest possible representation of a complete directory tree: - Only one copy of the data for duplicate files is stored. - Duplicate filenames are stored only once. - Path information is stored only once per directory, and only additions to a path are stored (adding/removing from last path). eg: Starting with a large DIR of support files for one of my systems. This has duplicates and a lot of pre-compressed install files: 314 dirs, 930 files using 3,762,691,033 bytes. Just "ZIP"ing it I get: SysSupt.zip 3,352,081,951 bytes 7zip does a bit better: SysSupt.7z 3,245,871,362 bytes Running BDA, I get: SysSupt.DA1 9,404 bytes and SysSupt.DA2 1,912,855,711 bytes Big improvement, but no compression yet, using ZIP and 7zip I get: SysSupt.zip 1,636,965,417 bytes and SysSupt.7z 1,609,663,862 bytes And YES, using ZIP/7zip to extract the .DA's, then EDA gives me a directory with exactly the same content that I started with. Like my other tools, these can deal with BIG directory trees, and the output file format is well documented should you ever want to recover the files by other means. Sorry if I've not responded to messages here, tend not to follow the list directly much these days due to the high content, but you can always reach me through the link on my site - might take me a few days to respond, but I do get to it from time to time... Dave -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal site: http://dunfield.maknonsolutions.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 years

TM848 repair?

by brain＠jbrain.com

Anyone on list repair or rehab Tandon TM848 drives?? I have a 4 or so of the slimline drives from some Tandy Model 12/16b units that don't seem to spin at all, and I've hooked them up to the same PSU that a TM848E successfully runs on, so I am guessing it's not a PSU issue. (Though, my understanding of 8" drives is extremely minimal, so...) If I could get just 2 of them working, that'd put a few 12/16b units back in operation. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

6 years

Sun E250, NVRAM edit? (Serial Speeds, no console, etc)

by ethan＠757.org

Hello, I have an E250 Sun that belonged to a friend that passed away around 2008. It was colocated at a colocation office I had running in Virginia Beach. I pulled it out of storage, and would like to check if his public website is archived on it. Archive.org only has bits of it. Odds are low since it wasn't the main server, but worth a shot. I tried the usual Serial port A, but all I get is garbage. Tried all the common baud rates I could think of. If it's switched to diag mode, the diag stuff comes across in 9600bps. I tried the RSC port, it wants a password. Don't know it, didn't see anywhere online on how to reset it. I tried hooking up a console. Finally get the power brick in for the Samsung 770TFT LCD monitor I've held onto (it has 13w3.) At first it wasn't working. Tried both Type 5 and type 6 keyboards attached. No console. I found by removing the NVRAM, it will finally throw console. But no keyboard input. Stop-A, nothing. If I shove the NVRAM back in while it's running it immediatley goes black. Anyone know if the NVRAM strings are stored in plaintext in the NVRAM IC? If I were to dig out all the hardware that should be able to dump that chip is it something that is human readable / editable? I've done the coin cell hack on them before, but from memory the keyboard worked and it wasn't a big deal to do program in replacement MAC. But this is different, I need options removed. I'm thinking this thing has values in the NVRAM that are turning off the console and doing something funky to the serial baud rate. Or perhaps the baud rate in Solaris is set to something funky. - Ethan

6 years

Lear Siegler ADM-2?

by jacksonharrington22＠gmail.com

Hi everyone, I?m currently looking for a Lear Siegler ADM-2 terminal to purchase from someone for use in a future short film I?m creating. Afterwards I?d house it in my personal museum. If anyone has one or you know someone who owns one and could be interested in selling, let me know. I?d pay very well. I could also do a trade, I have quite a few rare terminals in my own collection. I?m familiar with old computers and know how to work around them, it could be in any condition. It would be in good hands. You can also Email me at jacksonharrington22 at gmail.com Thanks.

6 years

HP 16C Badge (logo)

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

This is not exactly vintage computer, but it is very close. A friend just gave me an HP 16C calculator in excellent, working condition, EXCEPT the 16C badge (or logo if you prefer) is missing. I seem to recall that, some years ago, someone on this list knew of a source for replacements but I can't find it in the archive. So, I'll ask, does anyone know where to get a replacement 16C badge? Thanks, Bill S. -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years

mid-80's DECUS newsletters and proceedings

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I've started to scan a box of them that I've had sitting around since the 00's http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/decus/confProceedings/ I just uploaded the first one (Spring 1985)

6 years

cray unicos cds sold on ebay in 2016

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2020 15:17:06 -0400 (EDT) > From: Ethan O'Toole <ethan at 757.org> > Subject: Re: cray unicos cds sold on ebay in 2016 > > I have Unicos 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 but when I boot it I get a kernel > panic. Seems to be around drivers for ATM. My system has a lot of HIPPI > interfaces, no ATM. > > Am also interested in finding other copies of J90 Unicos. > > - Ethan > The RICM has 8.0.2.2A and 8.0.3.3 on DAT. -- Michael Thompson

6 years

In search of 4B3A Microswitch Keyswitches (for a restoration, not a keyboard collector!)

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I know what you guys are thinking- no, this isn't for a keyboard collection or some modern build or some other nonsense like that. I have a friend who is restoring a fairly interesting and historically significant vintage computer- a and subject to what appears to be a batch-related encapsulation failure on the proprietry hall effect sensors, but could have been some other trauma, around a little over half of them are bad. The correct SD-series replacement switch would be the 4B3A- *** These can allegedly be found on some of the Diablo printing terminals.** It is possible other switches ending in ***A could be made to work with a bit of labor and disassembly (swapping the fairly brittle sensors). I am not a keyboard expert but I have learned that you can remove a key on some of these microswitch keyboards and read the model fairly easily. Please let me know if you have a lead on a donor for these switches. They will be put to good use, and you can reply to me off list for more details. Thanks, - I

6 years

VCF Midwest Cancellation

by silent700＠gmail.com

We regret to announce... There will be no VCF Midwest this year. The conditions imposed upon us by the CoViD-19 pandemic and related government regulations, as well as a depressed expected turn-out figure, will make it impossible for us to host an event of the size and quality our dedicated fans have come to expect. Thus today we have terminated our 2020 contract with Waterford Banquets and the Clarion Inn hotel. We recommend cancelling your hotel and travel reservations, if you have made them, and we hope that you have not been too greatly inconvenienced by our change of plans. We also wish to express our thanks for the many responses we received to our survey sent back in May. Your feedback was informative, interesting, humorous and most of all, essential in helping us make the right decision about this year's show. The good news is that we have an excellent relationship with our host venue and have already locked in our contract for 2021. Although a long way off, plans will take shape early next year for that show, so please keep an eye out for further announcements of VCFMW 16 (or will it be 15b? We don't know yet!) Also, following the lead of other cancelled festivals, we are considering a Virtual VCFMW to be held on one or more of the dates allocated for this year's show (Sept 12 or 13, 2020). If we think we can pull off something half as entertaining as the real thing, maybe we'll do it. Watch your email for announcements sometime in August. Your humble(d) organizer - - jason If you would like to repost this message in your own forums, feel free to do so by using this link: https://us18.campaign-archive.com/?u=6d177060bd4511e27d05266a5&id=02ddfacc10

6 years

About to dump a bunch of Compaq SCSI disk caddies (and disks)

by julf＠julf.com

Hi! I have a box full of Compaq SCSI server disk caddies (with 9.1G disks in them). Feels silly to dump them into e-waste recycling, but there probably isn't much point in shipping them very far either (I am in Amsterdam). Julf

6 years

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