test-drb

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101090 discussions

by barythrin＠gmail.com

It could also be from the popular article about George RR Martin using a vintage dos computer with wordstar 4.0 for his writing rig. Similar to some other authors I've heard look for a machine that doesn't offer distractions. My own mis-remembrance though for some reason I thought it was a trs-80 model 4p but I'm not finding specifics in the quick google search. -------- Original message --------From: Evan Koblentz via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 10/30/17 2:47 PM (GMT-06:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: looking at buying a pocket PC / PDA > Radio Shack M100 ... still used by some writers for the very reason you mention. That is not true. It was an urban legend in the 1990s that a handful of old farts in the entirely sportswriting industry (thousands of writers overall) may "still" be using their Model 100s. I'm sure if you looked hard enough some of them still used typewriters too. In 2017? It's ridiculous to even speculate.

8 years, 3 months

HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Jim I thought all TI computers had one? But I am new to TI's never owned one when were new... just dealing with one in a museum environment now. In a message dated 10/30/2017 8:25:17 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 10/30/2017 9:32 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote: > ok .. does this mean I can put lots of ti 99/4 software on the sd > card for people to play with in the museum? > Ed# Do you have a HexBus interface for the 99/4a? I thought all of them had it?

8 years, 3 months

Image de-warping tool, and Multics/GCOS panels

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Hey all, I've been doing research on Multics front panels, which it turns out are slightly different from those on the Honeywell 6000 series machines which ran GCOS, and are often confused with them. So, I've put together a Web page about them: Multics and Related 6000 Series Front Panels http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/multics/MulticsPanels.html and I've taken some new images, so make sure the captions are all readable. I'm having an issue with the images, though: taking a picture of a flat, rectangular panel with a camera usually produces distortion (even with the lens set to the narrowest angle possible). Does anyone know of any freeware which will fix this? The image tool I normally use (ImagePals, sort of a poor man's Photoshop) does have a 'warp' function, but it requires setting up a grid of points, and is a pain to use: optimal would be something where you mark the 4 corners, and few intermediate edge points, and the image is automagically fixed. I did find this: http://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=347882&p=2345440 but it's even hairier than the warp function in my image tool; it's very powerful (and thus complex, sigh) and can straigten out badly warped old book pages. I'm hoping there's a simpler tool, for the simple case of distortion of rectangles by a lens - does anyone know of anything? Thanks! Noel

8 years, 3 months

HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

ok .. does this mean I can put lots of ti 99/4 software on the sd card for people to play with in the museum? Ed# In a message dated 10/30/2017 7:06:33 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:14:41 -0500 Jim Brain via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > In case anyone has a fondness for niche tech... > > At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a great exhibit, and perusing > it I saw an unfamiliar machine, the TI CC-40 (Compact Computer-40). > While I was investigating, the exhibitor (MillipedeMan aka Mark), > told me the machines were frustrating to use, as TI only supported > one communications method on the unit, a proprietary protocol called > HexBus, and produced very low quantities of very few peripherals that > work on the bus. Most frustratingly, they never producing a mass > storage device in any appreciable quantity, and there was no other > way to save programs written on the unit. > > Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I bought > a 2 unit combo from eBay before I left the show. > > Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the unit, > and started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the unit. > It was an interesting journey to learn a new protocol. > > The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD drive: > > GitHub source code is here: https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr > > Video of unit operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM > > I don't have a project page up yet, but will work on that. > > Jim > Nice work, Jim. Thanks for the effort you've put into this. jbdigriz

8 years, 3 months

HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

by brain＠jbrain.com

In case anyone has a fondness for niche tech... At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a great exhibit, and perusing it I saw an unfamiliar machine, the TI CC-40 (Compact Computer-40).? While I was investigating, the exhibitor (MillipedeMan aka Mark), told me the machines were frustrating to use, as TI only supported one communications method on the unit, a proprietary protocol called HexBus, and produced very low quantities of very few peripherals that work on the bus. Most frustratingly, they never producing a mass storage device in any appreciable quantity, and there was no other way to save programs written on the unit. Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I bought a 2 unit combo from eBay before I left the show. Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the unit, and started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the unit.? It was an interesting journey to learn a new protocol. The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD drive: GitHub source code is here: https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr Video of unit operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM I don't have a project page up yet, but will work on that. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

8 years, 3 months

CDC 6000 series transistors [was RE: Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?]

by RichA＠livingcomputers.org

From: Paul Koning Sent: Friday, October 27, 2017 12:07 PM > True if you have a TTL machine. 6600 is discrete transistor, and the actual > transistor specs are nowhere to be found as far as I have been able to tell. > But that doesn't directly relate to gate level emulation. If you have gate > level documentation you can of course build a copy of the machine out of > actual gate-type parts, like 7400 chips. Or you can write a gate level model > in VHDL, which is not the most popular form but certainly perfectly > straightforward. Either way, though, you have to start with a document that > shows what the gates are in the original and how they connect. And to get it > to work, you need to deal with timing issues and logic abuse, if present. In > the 6600, both are very present and very critical. For example, I've been > debugging a section (the central processor branch logic) where the behavior > changes quite substantially depending on whether you favor S or R in an R/S > flop, i.e., if both are asserted at the same time, who wins? And the circuit > and wire delays matter, down to the few-nanosecond level. Paul, I asked the Principal Engineer here, who has spent the last 3 years making our 6500 run, about transistors in the 6000 series. He replied: Near as I can tell, the 6500 uses 2n2369 transistors in a slightly shorter version of the to-18 package. I have had good success with both the 2n2369 for replacements, and mmbt2369 for the modules I have re-manufactured. Since the flip-flops are merely cross coupled transistors, if they are both set at once, both outputs will be true. In my experience, the set and reset run on different phases of the clock, so that doesn't happen. What you see on the logic diagrams can be interpreted this way: Each arrow is a transistor, with the emitter tied to ground. The base usually has about a 150 ohm resistor. The circle or square is the collector pull-up resistor, so in the example of the PC module in 1n15 of the 6500, there are two gates that can set flip-flop 0, and they come in on transistor 15, and 17, and the other side of the flip-flop comes in on transistor 19. All three transistor collectors are connected together to 1 pull-up. If the output pin does not go anywhere internal to the card, there will be a 120 ohm resistor in series with a diode to ground on it. If it does go somewhere internal to the card, they will leave off the resistor/diode, as the load will provide it. Hope that helps. Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computers: Museum + Labs 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:RichA at LivingComputers.org http://www.LivingComputers.org/

8 years, 3 months

Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Oct 29, 2017 09:54, "Dave Wade via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: I am not sure they invented computer emulation. I think that the concept Emulation/Simulation is as old as, or perhaps even older than computing. Whilst it was a pure concept Alan Turing's "Universal Turing Machine" was a Turing machine that could emulate or simulate the behaviour of any arbitrary Turing machine... 1. Did Turing use the word "emulate"? I honestly have no idea. My (possibly wrong) impression was that no published literature used the word emulate with that meaning (one computer emulating another) before the IBM papers. 2. What a UTM does is simulate another machine using only a general-purpose machine. In fact, the UTM is arguably the most general-purpose machine ever described. What IBM defined as emulation was use of extremely specialized hardware and/or microcode (specifically, not the machine's general-purpose microcode used for natively programming the host machine). If anyone else did _that_ in a product before IBM, I'm very interested.

8 years, 3 months

Look to get a copy of a Multi-Tech FM300 Modem manual

by pete＠petelancashire.com

I've acquired a Multi-Tech FM300 acoustic modem and even though I could figure out the pin-outs and switch settings, it would be great if I could get a copy of the original manual. Goal is to add it to a Teletype 33 or 35 and a Bell System 500 desk set. -pete

8 years, 3 months

Cleaning and Restoring a Badly Corroded PSU

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I am now looking at the H7826 PSU that came with a TURBOchannel Extender. It looks like there may have been capacitor leakage and some heatsinks will need to be replaced. I have posted pictures here: https://robs-old-computers.com/2017/10/23/corroded-h7826-power-supply/ So two questions: 1. Any suggestion on how to clean the board? Some of the corners are a bit inaccessible to reach with just a cotton bud and isopropyl. 2. Do those heat sinks have a particular name/spec that I can search for? Thanks Rob

8 years, 3 months

Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by bygg＠cafax.se

Lars Brinkhoff wrote: > Jon Elson wrote: > > I'm not sure the original DEC PDP-10 (KA-10) used microcode, but the > > KI-10 did. > > As far as I understand, the PDP-6 (type 166), KA10, and KI10 were > hardwired. KL10 and KS10 were microcoded. The Foonly F1 preceeded and > influenced the KL10 design. This is exactly correct. BTW: they still are... --Johnny

8 years, 3 months

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