test-drb

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101090 discussions

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

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

8 years, 8 months

(Mostly Sun) Hardware and Docs in Arlington MA

by phil＠ultimate.com

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.

8 years, 8 months

KL10 backplane on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

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

8 years, 8 months

KL10 backplane on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> 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

8 years, 8 months

FTGH clear-out at Mesa Electronics, Richmond, CA, USA

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> 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

8 years, 8 months

Firefly dual processor card

by mark.kahrs＠gmail.com

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.

8 years, 8 months

Teletype 43

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

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

8 years, 8 months

DEC rack-mount AlphaServer 2100A

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

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

8 years, 8 months

NCR 6081

by aek＠bitsavers.org

would be nice if someone could save this, since it is so complete. he's only off my about 20 years in the age of it www.ebay.com/itm/292132955235

8 years, 8 months

DEC terminals and classic server computing

by henry.bnd＠gmail.com

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.

8 years, 8 months

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