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101090 discussions

Updating the VAX GCC backend from cc0 to MODE_CC

by abs＠absd.org

The gcc VAX backend is in danger of being dropped if it doesn't get converted from the older cc0 to the newer MODE_CC implementation. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz at physik.fu-berlin.de> has started a bountysource entry https://www.bountysource.com/issues/91495157-vax-convert-the-backend-to-mod… and asked for people to post it anywhere it might be found interesting, in case anyone would like to add to the bounty, or collect it :) (I find it quite amusing to it mixed in between entries like "Optimize NumPy SIMD algorithms for Power VSX") You could easily argue that modern gcc is too big to be practical to run on a VAX anyway, but making practical a requirement for classiccmp.org would rule out _so_ much fun stuff :) Thanks David

6 years, 2 months

3 stylewriter printers available for pickup only, Fairfield, IA

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Came in through vintagecomputer.net that I am passing along. Anyone out there near Fairfield, IA and looking for three Apple Stylewriter printers let me know and I will put you in contact with the woman who has them. I was told that there was a few other things, but no computers. They're pick up only. The woman asked that she be told 1) phone number 2) your location Please contact me ONLY through https://www.vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm because this is the most reliable means of contacting me. I find Gmail sends a lot of group posts and replies straight to the spam folder. I do not know the donor nor do I know about the hardware. I don't know the deadline for retrieving them. I do not know nuthin. I will bundle together the persons who inquire and forward to her to decide whom to contact. Bill

6 years, 2 months

Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

by cisin＠xenosoft.com

On Sat, 23 May 2020, Boris Gimbarzevsky wrote: > Thanks for that really detailed review of microprocessor history! A post to > save. But, read carefully the corrections that others made! Such as Noel pointing out that I was mistaken in assuming that there was a direct progression in 4004 -> 8008 -> 8080, and Liam's discussion of the Commodore BASIC. I never had a Commodore 64. But, I had an MSD drive for a C64 connected to an IEEE-488 board in a PC. > After your detailed discussion of the bizarre variety of early Intel > microprocessors I now recall why I refused to have anything to do with PC's > in late 1980's. Well, there were advantages and disadvantages. The Motorola approach produced a better product. BUT, it meant that software was delayed for new products. It took a while before the good third party software showed up for the Mac. OTOH, the Intel processors were a series of little steps, so it was usually almost trivial to upgrade code to a new series of processors. It took Micropro less than a week to port their 8080 CP/M Wordstar to the 8088 PC. It then took them much longer than that to prepare new manuals. Some internal structures had patches on top of patches. Such as Segment:Offset memory addressing, and figuring out that the PC FDC could not do a DMA that straddled a physical (not Segment:Offset) 64K boundary, although Int13h didn't realize it and have a suitable error message - some later versions of DOS had occasional mysterious problems with FORMAT that were easily solved by adding or removing TSRs to move the location of its TPA. > I've never liked M$ software as it seems whenever they produce a good > product, they dump it and come up with something far worse and stop > supporting the old one. "Oh, but it is DANGEROUS to use a product past its [arbitrary, marketing chosen] SELL-BY date." >> All of my knowledge of the following is third hand, and probably mostly >> WRONG. If you are lucky, maybe some of the folk here who actually KNOW >> this stuff will step in and give the right information. >> Sequence is only approximate. And, the REAL history is much more interesting AND WEIRDER than the fictional variants. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com

6 years, 2 months

Standard Cocktail Napkin Size [WAS: RE: history is hard (was: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC)}

by t.gardner＠computer.org

On Sunday, May 24, 2020 11:23 AM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote in part: <snip> >> On Sun, 24 May 2020, Tom Gardner via cctalk wrote: >>The final media size was determined by Shugart Engineering led by Al >> Chou from the size of the 8-track tape drive that the 5?-inch FDD was >> to replace in Wang and other systems. As near as I can tell it was >> not the same size as a ?standard? cocktail napkin. >"standard"??!? >"I believe in standards. Everyone should have [a unique] one [of their own]." - George Morrow I have seen napkins that are about 5.25". I did attempt to see if there is a "standard" cocktail napkin size and as best I can tell it is today 5-inches square not 5?-inches square. A friend who is a veteran of the paper products industry provided me an actual cocktail napkin circa 1980 (a promotional give away for his business) that he recalls was procured to the then standard size which I measured as 5-inches square. Apparently cocktail napkins have not deflated over the intervening 40 years :-) This supports Adkisson's recollection that the customer wanted something about the size of a cocktail napkin and Chou's description of the development process that tried to maximize the size of the disk that could be received in a drive which in turn was designed to fit into the then existing 8-track tape drive slot. Tom

6 years, 2 months

cctalk Digest, Vol 68, Issue 25

by athornton＠gmail.com

> On May 25, 2020, at 10:00 AM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > > The topic for my talk next week. Unix had virtualization in 74. The second > Unix port ran under OS/360's VM in 78. _Ahem_. It ran under VM/370. Most (all?) models of the IBM 370 had virtual memory, as had the (not widely-available) 360/67. OS/360 is one of several operating systems for the IBM 360 and successors. I grabbed the Princeton v7-to-370 port sources, and I have a VM/370 r6 machine set up on Hercules, but I have not yet made the attempt to combine the two. Many years after that, also at Princeton, I sysadminned PenguinVM, which as far as I know was the first publicly-available Linux/390 machine. Adam

6 years, 2 months

DECstation 220 Diagnostic "Test for Shutdown return"

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

According to a manual a friend has, the DECstation 220 outputs a diagnostic code on the parallel port. If I have interpreted it correctly the code being output by my machine is "Test for shutdown return". Does anyone know what that might mean? Regards Rob

6 years, 2 months

GWBASIC Source Code

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

GWBASIC- (Gee-Whiz BASIC) is a Microsoft product, designed much along the line of IBM?s BASICA, that did not need a ROM BASIC and was interpreted. Not necessarily basic in design or purpose as defined by Oxford English Dictionary & Wikipedia and Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, some(purists) say the latter two shouldn?t be used with the former, GWBASIC nevertheless was an important development in the early years of our hobby. Little has been mentioned about the source code: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/microsoft-open-sources-gw-basic/ It?s available on GitHub for download and use in WIN 7 to 10 as far as I know! At that time(1983) in micro-computing history it did what was intended, help microcomputer owners/users with limited processor and memory capabilities. Serving this purpose, was there a better BASIC? No doubt. I used ADAM-BASIC, much like APPLE BASIC, to write silly-little programs or more-sophisticated ones. Hobbyists, experimenters and early microcomputer lovers had another tool to master. It?s success may be attributed more to marketing than anything else but early microcomputer users were happy to get their hands on something new. And, Microsoft knew marketing, not as well as APPLE, but the game was capitalism and getting software out the door! Being first or second was not necessarily the primary reason for rising to the top. And today: Is LOGO or Python any better teaching tools than GWBASIC for beginners? I hardly doubt that. Happy computing. Murray ?

6 years, 2 months

13W3 to HDMI/DisplayPort

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

Anyone here know of a SVGA-to-HDMI (or DisplayPort) adapter that a 13W3-to-SVGA adapter so I can connect my Sun frame buffers to a HDMI display? I am hoping someone here has already figured this one out. alan

6 years, 2 months

looking for VME board manuals

by rp＠servium.ch

Hi all I acquired a "few" VME boards over the years, and I finally have time to deal with some of the less cooperative ones. I'm looking for the following VME board manuals (any information is welcome, especially pinouts for the front panel or P2 connectors, jumpers, how to re-create the nvram contents etc. ). * Themis Sparc 10MP (not 20MP which is an entirely different board with a different front panel) * Force SPARC CPU 10 * MVME3600 (user's or installation manual, I can only find the programmer's manual) also looking for manuals for some HP VXI boards (more for completeness than because they're necessary, the boards are pretty self-explanatory unless you need to recreate the cables): * HP E1499A (V/382) * HP E1498A (V/743) * HP E1480A (V/362) Also anything about the Mercury RACE MCH6 or MCV6 system that's more than a marketing brochure (actually, I'd even take a marketing brochure). I have some i860 and PowerPC boards but absolutely no idea where to start. And of course I'm also looking for software, but I'm not holding my breath... thanks! Rico

6 years, 2 months

The massive effort to rebuild an LK201

by sales＠elecplus.com

Yes, I know this will never again be used on a terminal, but the lengths to which he went are extraordinary to me! https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f=7 <https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23965> &t=23965 He could have bought several new in box LK201, with terminals, for what he spent on this project! Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 2 months

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