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101090 discussions

Unibus disk controller with modern storage

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > 1976 Peripherals Handbook, page 6-4. It specifies the driver output > low voltage at 70 mA sink, not 50... Differing editions give slightly different numbers. I was looking at the 1972 edition (which was the one that was closest to hand, no other reason); the number I gave is on pg. 204. I haven't checked later ones to see if there were further revisions. The later 70mA sink spec is probably a slightly more robust number to work with. Noel

9 years, 3 months

Burroughs B5000 emulator

by lproven＠gmail.com

A friend of mine is working on an emulator for this Burroughs Large Systems beast. There is an existing one -- https://github.com/pkimpel/retro-b5500 But it's web-based and in Javascript. Mark wants one that can be run as a proper local binary, under Linux. I believe he's using part of this emulator but trying to port it to either C, FreePascal or a mixture of both. I have suggested to him that it might be easier to work under an existing mini/mainframe emulator, such as SimH or maybe even MESS/MAME, but he is highly resistant to this idea, for reasons I do not really understand. I'm interested in opinions: do folk think that it would help, or not? Also, anyone who might have any info that would aid him and are interested, I can put you in touch. He claims the system was influential in the design of the original Intel 8088/8086, which is news to me. Comments? -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven Skype/MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

9 years, 3 months

Fwd: Unibus disk controller with modern storage

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: David Bridgham > the right threshold voltage to meet the receiver spec The UNIBUS spec says the 4 crucial receiver parameters are input thresholds (high and low), and the input currents (high and low); the crucial transmitter parameters are the output low voltage (at 50 mA sink), and the output high leakage current. Noel

9 years, 3 months

Old versions of Emacs

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Lars Brinkhoff > Emacs in 1983 would have been Gosling Emacs, I guess. Prior to that one, someone else at BBN (whose name I have forgotten, alas) did an Emacs intended for PDP-11's running Unix. It wasn't programmable (the way 'real' Emacs is), perhaps because there was not enough room for that on a PDP-11. I should have that on my MIT-CSR backup tapes, but if you're interested in a copy, it will be a while before I can excavate it; the tapes had some dropouts, which may have made the dump (a straight 'dd' of a 4.3 filesystem) unreadable. Noel

9 years, 3 months

More DEC Alpha kit available, Newmarket UK

by binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com

Folks, We have another pedestal ES40 and rackmount ES45 to give away, as well as a half-height Compaq rack (20U?). Has to be collected from CB8 7NY before the end of next week otherwise they get recycled. Anyone fancy an early xmas present? :) -- adrian/witchy Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection? www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

9 years, 3 months

Old versions of Emacs

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Lars Brinkhoff >> someone else at BBN (whose name I have forgotten, alas) > Sounds vaguely like MicroEMACS by Dave Conroy, but I suppose this is > something else? Unix V6 you say? Was it BBN PEN by David Barach, David > Taenzer, and Robert Wells? None of those names rang a bell. I just read the entire backup tape (in file form) into an editor, and searched for "Emacs", and I found some things which indicate the version I'm thinking of was written by Warren Montgomery, of Bell Laboratories (that's what I get for relying on memory, sigh). It was apparently written in the 1980 to early-1981 timeframe. Googling 'Emacs Warren Montgomery' turns up some interesting early things, including this: http://org.ntnu.no/emacs/implementations.html https://www.finseth.com/emacs.html Perhaps you already have this content, though? > Yes, I am! I don't think I can take on every single variation of Emacs, > but a version this early is interesting. OK, I will keep this in mind if/when I ever manage to read the dump. Noel

9 years, 3 months

Photos from the NWA Auction

by coryheisterkamp＠gmail.com

For those curious about the equipment that sold last week, I put together an album from my brief stop on Saturday. Let me know if you have trouble viewing it. https://goo.gl/photos/yb83SJSj67gS96n39 On closer inspection it appears the documentation for that GP-4, as well as some of the other computers, sold to different parties (the value being in the shelving and cabinets). I'm still losing sleep over that GP-4. From all appearances it was a turn-key setup (in theory). Unfortunately, the auction site immediately removes closed lots from their webpage so no idea what it sold for, or if it went to a scrapper. I suspect it was billed as 'cabinets of aviation equipment'. Being 3 hours away I can't exactly run over there and pin a note on it. Some further digging on the net revealed a photo in the Motorola Annual Report 1965 featuring the machine touting Moto's new ECL logic. Apparently it was designed for aviation simulation but included facilities for being a general purpose machine. -C

9 years, 3 months

Museum thoughts?

by mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG

There's someone local who's seen my assortment of computer hardware twice and has, each time, told me I should set up a museum. This is tempting, but I don't know the first thing about doing it. About all I'm sure of is that it would involve a lot of stuff I currently have no idea of. I know that there are at least a few people here who've been involved in such things. While all the examples that come to mind are in the USA, and mine would be in Canada, I'm sure there are many respects in which the issues are jurisdiction-independent - and, who knows, there may be such a person in Canada that I just can't recall offhand. So, I'm wondering if there's anyone who'd be willing to share experiences, thoughts, issues, whatever, on the possibility. I'm not looking to make a lot of money off this. If I can turn my computers from money-sink to money-neutral, I'll be content. (They are currently soaking up money in the form of causing me to be renting significantly more storage than I would be if they were to vanish.) /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

9 years, 3 months

Museum thoughts?

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Nice display Bill! Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> Date: 10/20/16 13:01 (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Museum thoughts? > > > > > There's someone local who's seen my assortment of computer hardware > > twice and has, each time, told me I should set up a museum. > <snip> > > > > So, I'm wondering if there's anyone who'd be willing to share > > experiences, thoughts, issues, whatever, on the possibility. > > > > Maybe you could find a local museum and volunteer there, see what's involved behind the scenes.? If there is nothing close enough to your interests offer to contribute an exhibit to a local college, or business, or someone who has a stale display case that could use a refresh. Come up with a plan and present it to the powers that be.? This way you can get some experience before you go full museum. Here is an example of what I am talking about, at the U of Delaware in the computer sci hall.? I got some students to help set up. http://vintagecomputer.net/UofDelaware/UofDelaware_CM_TRS80-2.JPG Bill

9 years, 3 months

WD1793 FDC versions

by mhs.stein＠gmail.com

Anybody know what the differences are among the WD1793, WD1793A, WD1793B-02 etc., or where I could find this info? Thanks, mike

9 years, 3 months

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