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101090 discussions

Sovier/Russian 132-pin PGA Ceramic IC Packaging

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

In item https://www.ebay.com/itm/265045229011 I am curious as to whether the gold islands on the top-side are functional test-points giving electrical access to the underside pins? Was there a clip designed to attach to the top-side of these chips for use in circuit analysis? Was this design unique to Russian manufacture (I don't recall ever seeing this design previously)? paul

5 years, 1 month

VT340 Emulation

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

One VT340 emulator that works quite well is the VT Lan 40. This was one of the last terminals made by DEC. It ran Windows 3.1 from ROM and used the LK411-AA keyboard (with the round PC keyboard connector) displaying on a Super VGA LCD display (1024 x 768 x 16 colors) It could connect to several (unto 8) systems simultaneously using a DB25 serial, a MMJ serial, then over its ethernet connector: multiple LAT, CTERM (DECnet) and Telnet (TCP/IP) sessions. The session windows allow cut and paste between Windows. The VT340 emulation seems to be perfect displaying Regis and pixels correctly and handling mouse movements correctly in the VT340 mode. Output from Saturn Graph for VMS works great! It also displays APL overstrike characters correctly with VAX APL using the ^D prefix described in the APL documentation. It also handles some escape sequence quirks that RSX KED does that mess up other VT100 emulators. Being able to use a Super VGA display allows a small footprint compared to a real VT340 (for VCF events) and the fact that it uses a real LK411 keyboard is great. The only minor issue is that they are not cheap, but you can buy new-in-thebox old inventory at: http://keyways.com/vtlan40.html You?ll also need a VT411-AA keyboard sold separately and find a Super VGA LCD display. Fortunately the last item can be cheap. I got a good NEC one at a second hand store for $20. One final comment, the two VT Lan 40s I got eventually had a connector between the front power switch and the actual switch break due to a bad choice of plastic by DEC. However, this can easily be repaired with a 1? piece of 1/8? I.D. PVC tubing from the hardware store. Mark Matlock

5 years, 1 month

On compiling. (Was a way off topic subject)

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 6/23/21 1:14 PM, Paul Koning wrote: > I don't remember the details at this point, but I assume the "execute TECO macro" operation in the Stevens PDP-10 TECO compiler is done in that way. And of course these could keep the compiled code around to reuse if the source string hasn't changed. A modern example of this technique is the regex library in Python, which lets you compile a regex string into a compiled regex object for later use, or lets you perform operations using the regex string directly. The latter form caches a string -> compiled regex cache so doing this in a loop still performs reasonably well. Could be the case of "what does "compile" mean?" If the meaning is "reduce to machine language" maybe not. Otherwise, if the meaning is "interpret", then maybe so. Consider this paragraph of the tutorial at http://www.snobol4.org/docs/burks/tutorial/ch7.htm" -------------------------------------------------------- 7.7 RUN-TIME COMPILATION The two functions described below are among the most esoteric features, not just of SNOBOL4, but of all programming languages in existence. While your program is executing, the entire SNOBOL4 compiler is just a function call away. ----------------------------------------------------------- So maybe not rendering into machine code, but something else. --Chuck

5 years, 1 month

Rockwell 65001EAB3

by brain＠jbrain.com

I know it's a long shot, but wondering if anyone might have a Rockwell 65001 EAB3 type IC lying around in a discard pile or otherwise willing to go to a new home.? Here's a pic of one in the Commodore C900 keyboard: https://i.ibb.co/tZ2m68x/IMG-1538.jpg I see one online for sale, but the both the pricing is untenable for a device I don't need to use but just wanted to research and I also don't want to prohibit a known good device from being available if needed. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

5 years, 1 month

ISO: Docs for Mostek MK8009-CA omnibus memory

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Picked up a memory board for my PDP-8/A, it's a Mostek MK8009-CA, currently outfitted with 32KW of memory but with empty pads for another 32KW. Not a ton of documentation on this -- anyone have anything? At minimum, configuration information would be nice, I'd also like to know what it takes to upgrade it to 64KW (apart from 24 more 4116's), so schematics would be excellent. I have this weird idea about extending TSS/8 to use more memory and the advanced features of the KT8-A... - Josh

5 years, 1 month

Early Programming Books

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

I know of two early computer (in the stored program sense) programming books. 1951: Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer (Wilkes, Wheeler, & Gill) 1957: Digital Computer Programming (McCracken) What others were published prior to the McCracken text? Excluded are lecture compendia and symposia proceedings, such as: 1946: Moore School Lectures 1947: Proceedings of a Symposium on Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery 1951: Proceedings of a Second Symposium on Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery 1953: Faster Than Thought, A Symposium On Digital Computing Machines These were principally about designs for, and experience with, new hardware. I'm curious about texts specifically focused on the act of programming. Were there others prior to McCracken? paul

5 years, 1 month

VT340 Emulation

by cctalk＠gtaylor.tnetconsulting.net

On 6/18/21 5:50 PM, Wayne S via cctech wrote: > We didn't really need Regis graphics so we never tested that out. I'm not sure what the OP's use case is, but if they / you are wanting ReGIS (or Sixel) graphics, XTerm supports (both of) them. Incidentally, I have my XTerm configured to set it's decTerminalID to vt340. -- Grant. . . . unix || die

5 years, 1 month

VT100 colors

by lars＠nocrew.org

Hello, Does anyone know what colors a VT100 is? Most photos online has it looking yellowish, but I expect that's from aging. Some people I have asked claim it was a light cream color. This bitsavers picture has it looking neutral grey: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/vt100_wps-8.jpg And the black parts are claimed to be dark brown. I haven't found any color codes in the manuals.

5 years, 1 month

Water Cooling and Hot Climates was RE: IBM 1620; was: Early Programming Books

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Van Snyder via > cctalk > Sent: 22 June 2021 00:00 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: IBM 1620; was: Early Programming Books > > On Mon, 2021-06-21 at 17:26 -0400, William Donzelli via cctalk wrote: > > > Of course, nowadays, the old R22 systems are being refilled with > > > purified propane, called R290. Cheap, with better thermal > > > properties than R22, but probably not legal when LCM picked up the > 6500. > > > > When cleaning out a 3rd party CDC dealer quite a few years back, he > > remarked that the CDC machines going way back all the way to the 800s > > were fantastically unpicky about how they were cooled. He just used a > > garden hose connected to the building potable water, and if the > > machine under test needed more coolant because it was running warm, it > > just pumped more supply. Heated waste water went down the drain. > > > > This unlike the IBM water machines. > > I was once told that the most valuable guy in a Honeywell 6080 Multics shop > was the plumber. > I don't ever remember the 6080 being water cooled? I Thought Honeywell/GEC was all air cooled. All the L66s (which were from what the Multics machine was developed) were air cooled. I was told the following tale by one of my Honeywell contacts.... ... Apparently the last Shah of Iran owned a Level 66 for the use of his secret police. Apart from the fact that the OS had been modified by Honeywell Italy, and the documentation for this was in Italian which no one on the job understood, and when the OS crashed it was usually in a section of the code with Italian comments, there was also a problem with the power. As the temperature rose the power invariable failed. This was because it was run from a diesel generator that was out in the sun, it over heated and cut out..... ... any way after many complaints the military man in charge came to the Honeywell staff and told them the problem was solved. They of course asked how and were taken to the generator and shown the latest modification. They had fitted a new cap to the radiator with a thermometer in it, as often found on vintage cars. They had painted a read line on the gauge and assigned a soldier to watch it. When the needle got to the line, he blew his whistle and several other soldiers appeared and threw buckets of water over the engine until it cooled down.... I just wonder what they did while waiting for it to overheat...... > > > > -- > > Will Dave G4UGM

5 years, 1 month

VT100 colors

by lars＠nocrew.org

Many replies. Thank you all! I have 3D printed Michael Gardi's VT100 model, and I'll try to find some pleasing colors for painting it. https://hackaday.io/project/177596-23-scale-vt100-terminal-reproduction

5 years, 1 month

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