-------- Original message --------
From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>
Date: 2017-01-10 11:24 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: What's the rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you
own?
On 01/10/2017 09:58 PM, Brad H wrote:
> Am envying the Altair guys though.? I want one but they always come
> up at just the wrong time.
I've still got the 8800 I built (with all those crappy white stranded
wires) back in the day.? It's not that great, trust me.
I moved to an IMSAI box and finally to an Integrand box.? Don't have the
IMSAI any longer, but still have the Integrand.
Haven't powered any of them up in 30 years.?? One tends to forget about
>such stuff.
>--Chuck
For me it'd be purely about the history. ? ?Gates and Allen writing the interpreter without an actual Altair to work on. Allen writing the bootstrap on the plane he took to pitch to MITS. ?Gates' first written tirade about piracy. ?
An Altair isn't out of my reach.. just.. other stuff (like the Mark-8 boards) keeps coming up just as I've stored enough money to buy one.
> I've never heard of that '&o' bizzaro-stuff - where did you find that?
This one:
http://mdfs.net/Software/PDP11/Assembler/AsmPDP.txt
Reading more closely, the encoding has some relation back to BBC BASIC.
I was beginning to wonder if it was some html character-encoding screwup.
On 2017-Jan-10, at 5:03 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>> From: Brent Hilpert
>>>>> One assembler doc uses a prefix of "&o"
>>
>> So the answer is, by modern expectations the old standard would be
>> ambiguous or misleading.
>
> Well, the ideas of 'assembler' and 'standard' don't really go together in my
> mind... :-)
>
> But seriously, I don't know how many different PDP-11 assemblers there were,
> but the two _main_ ones (DEC's, and Unix's) both use the same numeric
> convention (although they differed in other ways, probably because of the
> CTSS/Multics erase character convention): a sequence of digits is an octal
> number, unless there's a trailing '.', in which case it's decimal.
>
> (Well, technically, DEC had PAL-11 and MACRO-11, but PAL-11 was basically a
> subset of MACRO-11, and used the same number syntax.)
>
> I've never heard of that '&o' bizzaro-stuff - where did you find that?
>
> Noel
This one:
http://mdfs.net/Software/PDP11/Assembler/AsmPDP.txt
Reading more closely, the encoding has some relation back to BBC BASIC.
I was beginning to wonder if it was some html character-encoding screwup.
On 2017-Jan-10, at 5:03 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>> From: Brent Hilpert
>>>>> One assembler doc uses a prefix of "&o"
>>
>> So the answer is, by modern expectations the old standard would be
>> ambiguous or misleading.
>
> Well, the ideas of 'assembler' and 'standard' don't really go together in my
> mind... :-)
>
> But seriously, I don't know how many different PDP-11 assemblers there were,
> but the two _main_ ones (DEC's, and Unix's) both use the same numeric
> convention (although they differed in other ways, probably because of the
> CTSS/Multics erase character convention): a sequence of digits is an octal
> number, unless there's a trailing '.', in which case it's decimal.
>
> (Well, technically, DEC had PAL-11 and MACRO-11, but PAL-11 was basically a
> subset of MACRO-11, and used the same number syntax.)
>
> I've never heard of that '&o' bizzaro-stuff - where did you find that?
>
> Noel
This one:
http://mdfs.net/Software/PDP11/Assembler/AsmPDP.txt
Reading more closely, the encoding has some relation back to BBC BASIC.
I was beginning to wonder if it was some html character-encoding screwup.
On 2017-Jan-10, at 5:03 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>> From: Brent Hilpert
>>>>> One assembler doc uses a prefix of "&o"
>>
>> So the answer is, by modern expectations the old standard would be
>> ambiguous or misleading.
>
> Well, the ideas of 'assembler' and 'standard' don't really go together in my
> mind... :-)
>
> But seriously, I don't know how many different PDP-11 assemblers there were,
> but the two _main_ ones (DEC's, and Unix's) both use the same numeric
> convention (although they differed in other ways, probably because of the
> CTSS/Multics erase character convention): a sequence of digits is an octal
> number, unless there's a trailing '.', in which case it's decimal.
>
> (Well, technically, DEC had PAL-11 and MACRO-11, but PAL-11 was basically a
> subset of MACRO-11, and used the same number syntax.)
>
> I've never heard of that '&o' bizzaro-stuff - where did you find that?
>
> Noel
This one:
http://mdfs.net/Software/PDP11/Assembler/AsmPDP.txt
Reading more closely, the encoding has some relation back to BBC BASIC.
I was beginning to wonder if it was some html character-encoding screwup.
That is amazing Ian ! - Photo?
Wonder what the ticket was for that back in its new day...
Ed#
In a message dated 1/10/2017 4:27:44 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
isking at uw.edu writes:
I'd have to say my VAX 6000-600. It has six processors, and therefore is
alternatively known as the VAX 6660 - the Devil's VAX. :-) I've not been
able to boot it because I don't have three-phase power to my house.
However, I've been informed that the H405 can be rewired to run correctly
off dryer power, which I do have. That's one of the (many) projects on my
post-dissertation list.
With six processors and a half-gigabyte of RAM, I've been told this is
probably the most built-out VAX 6600 remaining. -- Ian
--
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens
Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>
University of Washington
There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
DIGITAL TRAINERS
TUBE TYPE - IBM Digital trainer - uses the earliest of IBM plug in tube
things that were in their commercial systytems
http://www.smecc.org/video/logic_5.gif
IF ANYONE CAN SHED LIGHT ON THIS IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!
SOLID STATE - DEC COMPUTER LAB with the pdp-8 I toggles... not RARE
but is cool!
RELAY - - MINIVAC 601
COMPUTERS
for tube computer - - our sage stuff also.
for solid state - some of our GE Erma material.
for mechanical analog computer -- some kid of weird thing with gears
shafts , bellows and I think
this weird thing runs off compressed air. details pending
for electronic analog computer - Syston Donner with Tubes in it not that
RARE but we are proud of it!
for calculators - W.W. Salisbury's HP 35 that he used for Spiral
Fusion Calculations
ACTIVE DEVICES
Tubes- - single Plate early Deforest Spherical Audion
Transistors - - experimental and Pre-production prototypes ALL Bell
Transistors
DIGITAL TRAINERS
IBM Digital trainer - uses the earliest of IBM plug in tube things that
were in their commercial systems
http://www.smecc.org/video/logic_5.gif
IF ANYONE CAN SHED LIGHT ON THIS IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!
Comes in a fitted wood case with lots of plugable modules with tubes and
other parts.
But we love all the stuff! Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)
In a message dated 1/10/2017 4:42:21 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us writes:
On Tue, 10 Jan 2017, Andy Cloud wrote:
> I thought this would be an interesting question to ask around - What's
the
> rarest or most unusual computer-related item do you own?
64Kbit core plane from an AN/FSQ-7 (SAGE) computer:
http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/Coreplane-1L.jpg
...along with other Q7 parts:
http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/
Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
Took a little digging but I found the thread where you were talking
about port 20/21. I was able to configure the 3P+S card and run the
test from the solivant site successfully, but I'm not able to upload
basic. I have a couple more things to try, including setting a small
upload delay as Bill suggests on his page.
http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=318
However, I'm thinking that I may still have a configuration issue on
the 3P+S card. But I think I'm getting close.
Win
--
>The manual pretty much has the exact config for that port 20 is all you
>have to remember
>Bill Degnan
>twitter: billdeg
>vintagecomputer.net
>On Jan 6, 2017 7:41 PM, "Win Heagy" <wheagy at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have an IMSAI that I am restoring. The basics appear to be working
> (front panel, CPU and RAM cards). I have a Processor Tech, 3P+S card
> that is next on the list for testing. I have the manual, but the card
> was not configured for RS-232...not sure what it was configured for
> but it doesn't match anything in the manual. I plan to reconfigure it
> for RS-232. I'm trying to locate boot loader code for that board to
> allow serial uploading of files from a PC to the IMSAI? I have boot
> loader code for a 2SIO board on an Altair that I restored awhile back,
> and would like to find something similar for the 3P+S. I want to be
> able to toggle in a boot loader routine and then initiate an upload
> from the PC to IMSAI -- something similar to this
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwC1T9oLK1U&t=212s
> (at 1:10s in) but with a 3P+S board on an IMSAI.
>
> Also, a picture of your RS-232 configured card and wiring of the edge
> connectors would be helpful to make sure I get things right. Any help
> is appreciated.
Ben Wrote:
>
> Where are the Female Computers?
> Hal
>To which Dave W. replied:
>Here they were ...
>http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3214242023_ca5f2425a2_o.jpg
And, to this I say - BRILLIANT! These ladies were indeed called
computers back in those days!
-Rick
Compaq C series 2010c - aka series 2930a posters & Point of sale stuff
needed
We were given one - apparently not used in box the tab for the what
I assume is the config battery next to the main battery compartment never
even had its white paper pull tab pulled out to stat the battery up.
So anyway want to get other marketing stuff etc to help embellish a
display at SMECC project.
thanks ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)