Al struck a memory cell I haven't used in at least a quarter century. No, I do not know who
The Mysterious Zoso actually was but he was legendary. His flaming just barely crosses the
line into early trench industry journalism I guess. Certainly not the shine of Charlie Matco
or Ted Dziuba, but maybe the first step in that direction?
>From CPMUG 21:
BITCH, BITCH, BITCH !!! SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST INCAPABLE OF BEING CONTENT. NO
SOONER THAN I HAD FINISHED MY REPLY TO ALL OF THE TTY PEOPLE (VOLUME 13.21),
TONY INFORMED ME THAT SOME VDM OWNERS HAD TROUBLE READING MY 80 CHARACTER
LINES ON THEIR QUAINT I/O DEVICES. I WILL NOT ACCOMODATE YOU, AND HERE'S WHY:
I PAID GOOD BUCKS FOR THE TOOLS I USE, AND I CHOOSE TO USE THEM. FRANKLY, I
CAN'T FATHOM WHY ANYONE WOULD ADMIT TO OWNING ONE OF THOSE THINGS AT ALL. I'VE
SEEN WHAT YOU GUYS ARE UP TO: THOSE HORRID, NARROW LITTLE PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN
PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY'S 5K BASIC (YOU KNOW THE ONES WITH A LINE FOR EVERY SINGLE
LITTLE THING - 15 DECWRITER PAGES JUST TO PRINT YOUR VERSION OF WUMPUS [ABOUT
WHICH I SHALL BE HEARD FROM LATER]). YOU GUYS HAVE EXPOSED YOURSELVES TO CAT-
ARACTS AND MYOPIA BY LOOKING AT YOUR VDM'ED TVS. LEAVE ME OUT OF IT !!! THE
COMPANY WHO SUPPLIED THOSE B & W CRAYON BOXES TO YOU IS A PLACE TO SUSPECT...
SEMI-KITS, 8K BASIC THAT WILL BE READY IN 1976 AND ENOUGH ADVERTISING TO EN-
SURE YOU WILL HAVE PAID TOO MUCH FOR YOUR 'SOL'; ANOTHER MITS I THINK...
ZOSO
The following would like to find new homes: Not ESPECIALLY interested
in boxing/shipping (the docs would be easy, and would love to see them
preserved for posterity).
BOXED SunOS 4.0 doc set with 4.0.1 update
2 lg , 1 medium, 2 small boxes
Also have SunOS 4.1.2 install manual
Sun Hardware (specs from stickers, not validated)
2 SPARCstation IPC
2 SPARCstation IPX (1 w/ PowerUp 80Mhz CPU, which stopped working?)
any all of the above may have bad power supplies
2 SPARCstation LX (one marked 32MB, no floppy)
1 SPARCstation Classic (no floppy)
3 SPARCstation 10 (10/30 w/ 16MB, 10/41 w/ 80MB, 10/41 w/ 64MB)
1 SPARCstation 4 (bad P/S)
1 SPARCstation 5
SUN QIC (150?) drive in box
SCSI CD-ROM in enclosure
Many 50 pin SCSI cables
AT&T "UNIX PC" (7300?) w/ mobo, monitor, keyboard & mouse
No hard drive. The owner got bored when the grounding on the
HD started making noise. I think he yanked the 68000 chip,
and perhaps others.
Another eBait wonder:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182597510806
The listing says "Local pick-up only", and it's in Denver, Colorado. Someone
should really save this (although the chances of finding all the boards to go
with it is pretty slim).
Noel
> From: Warner Losh
> Will it fit in a pickup truck?
Should fit into most 4-wheeled transport devices (except a new Ford GT, those
supposedly only have 2 cubic feet or so of storage :-).
Noel
> From: Paul Koning
> For some definition of "standard". ... other machines of that time or earlier
> numbered bits according to the power of 2 they represent, i.e., the "current
> standard".
Well, the vast majority of computers 'back then' numbered bits (and byes)
>from left to right - which is why in numbers in TCP and IP, the bytes go from
left to right (necessitating byte swaps on most current architectures before
sending a packet out into the network).
The majority of computers being attached to the network when TCP/IP was being
defined used that byte order (I think PDP-11's were the only exception, but
I'm too lazy to check a copy of HOSTS.TXT to make sure), and so that's what
we're stuck with now.
So, I can see, centuries in the future, the bytes in a word on the Internet
(and it _is_ capitalized) still being in an order set by long-dead computers.
Kind of like how rail gauge today still mimics the width of Roman carts (yes,
I know the story is only half-true, but it's not wholly wrong).
Noel
Against my better judgement, I obtained a DEC SRC Firefly dual processor
card. If i read this* correctly, then this card is interfaced to the
shared memory bus (MBUS) as opposed to the QBUS (the card uses a Q bus
format).
I realize it's probably hopeless, but I'll ask anyway: Are there any
schematics or specifications on the connectors anywhere?
*IEEE Computer, also available on Bitsavers as a technical report.
We need to find a source of the pin feed paper for the 43! Also a
great thing to round out the display would be to have the aux. tape reader
punch that was marketed for it- non working is ok visually - working
would be a wonderful thing!
Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)
In a message dated 5/24/2017 8:26:28 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
cctalk at classiccmp.org writes:
On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 7:20 PM, Jim Brain via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org
> wrote:
> On 5/23/2017 1:07 AM, dave.g4ugm at gmail.com wrote:
>
>> You probably need a null modem cable.
>>
> I had one (and used it), but not all null modem cables are evidently the
> same :-) I soldered up a loopback as you suggested, and the unit dropped
> into DATA MODE on startup. I then played with the signals. The unit
> really does want DCD to be active, as just doing CTS/RTS, DTR/DSR, and
> RX/TX did not do the trick. Evidently, my null modem cable I had tested
> with previously does not connect DCD. Swapped out for a null modem
adapter
> (from our old now deceased friend Radio Shack) and the unit works with a
> new Dell M4800 laptop (so "newer" style +-10V RS232 levels must be OK.
>
The minimum legit voltage swing for RS-232 is supposed to be plus and minus
5 volts and the
maximum allowed voltage swing is plus and minus 25 volts. The problems
occur when gear didn't
bother to do the negative swing to minus 5 volts. Plus and Minus 10 volts
is more than adequate.
The printer ribbon has less life left in it than I anticipated, but a list
> member is helping me, so it should be good to go after a deep cleaning
and
> a light oiling. I did notice the printhead starts to stutter at times on
> long lines, but I *think* it's a function of the damage to the ribbon, so
> we'll troubleshoot that only if it continues after ribbon fixes.
>
The ribbon on my 43 is a reinking type. The ribbon loop is maybe 18
inches? I have a new in bag
ribbon which I am sure is also dried out. I used a drop of thin oil on the
reinking roller the last time
I messed with it and that seemed to work. You probably want to use
something that will lubricate
because the pins on the dot matrix print heads do need that to keep them
>from rusting and wearing
out.
The "stutter" you mention is normal. The printer electronics buffers a few
characters during the slow
carriage return and prints slightly faster than 30cps so when a new line is
started it goes at full speed
until the buffer is empty at which point it goes into the stutter mode.
This eliminated the need to send
nulls after a carriage return that was necessary on the earlier purely
mechanical printers.
--
Doug Ingraham
PDP-8 SN 1175
If there's anyone out there with a rack-mount DEC AlphaServer 2100A - the
one with the underslung pair of power supplies -- I'd appreciate your help
in determining the 15-pin control-cable configuration for J3. It may
require examining the other end of the "power supply control cable assembly"
P#17-04014-01, which is 24-pin (to handle the dual/redundant power supply
configuration).
Available hardware documentation is pretty sparse. Physical examination of
an AlphaServer 2100A system backplane (54-24129-01) would certainly help!
While I'm pretty sure that I've figured out the +5V +- sense lines (pins
3-4), and the +3.3V +- sense lines (pins 15-14), I've failed to determine
the purpose of other control lines - most particularly which one(s) turn it
on. Pins 10 is suspect, but there's no obvious reference point for voltage
measurement or evidence whether it should be shorted to another pin, or .
something else.
There's no control relay or other obvious mechanism. The PCB is
dense-packed with surface-mount components on one side and power components
on the other; tracing circuits is a bear.
Applying AC starts up the 24VDC fans, but none of the four switchers kick in
:-<.
Thanks for any clues!
paul
I have long had an interest in server tech and "technology with character" I finally took the plunge and got a DEC and I am looking for something of a similar vintage to connect it to.
I have read about VAXstations, z80 based mainframes. This seems like the kind of devices I would like to acquire and learn the workings of.
I also require a keyboard for my DEC terminal.
As this is my first post to the list, I am mostly looking for resources (UK would be preferable)
-- H
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.