The tentative plan is to run the next one in October. The date should be
firmed up in the next month or so.
Typically I run the event once every 18 months or so.
Regards, Mark.
On 14 April 2016 at 15:50, Rob Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> It is a very informal event, organised by Mark in his own time. He has
> family and work commitments like all of us, so I expect he has not been
> able to find the time.
>
> Regards
>
> Rob
>
> Sent from my Windows 10 phone
>
> From: Rod Smallwood
> Sent: 14 April 2016 15:09
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> Subject: Re: DEC Legacy UK show
>
> So why did it say See you in 2016?
>
>
> On 14/04/2016 15:03, Dave Wade wrote:
> > I thought Mark was only aiming for every two years.
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Rod
> >> Smallwood
> >> Sent: 14 April 2016 14:14
> >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> >> Subject: DEC Legacy UK show
> >>
> >> DEC Legacy UK show
> >>
> >> Where did it go ?
> >> 2015 then nothing
> >>
> >> Rod Smallwood
> >>
> >
>
>
>
>> should have kept the good signed stuff
>> and sold the lesser stuff perhaps?
>> unless you had them sign a stack of them.
>
> I think that VCFed (was MARCH) had that one
> signed at the same workshop that mine was
> signed at.
No. These are different ones. These were donated to us very recently
specifically for auctioning as a fundraiser.
Would you believe it.
VCF forum is up to its old tricks again.
Same old thing. Can't log in
Last time I got told I had registered when I had not.
Just like the banks your PIN number was used so it must have been you.
Our software can never be at fault. The user is always wrong.
Rod
What are the chances? Slim, but I'll ask anyway.
Now that I'm giving my Nova 3/12 some more attention and beginning to debug its 6045 hard drive, I'm interested in dolling up the system some more, and replacing filler panels with things that emit noise and heat. My manuals say that I can mix 6030 floppy drives on the same bus with the 6045 hard drives, so I'd like to add one to my rack.
So, does anybody have a 6030 floppy drive for swap or sale?
I'm in southern California, which can be a relevant detail when talking about transporting vintage gear.
While I'm at it, additional removable packs for my 6045 drive would be helpful, too. Especially if there's anything interesting on them.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
I have been able to use my Data General Nova 3's Program Load function to load in the 091-000036-01 self-loading bootstrap program, and then use that bootstrap to load in absolute binary tape images from *.ab files, all over the TTI channel from a terminal emulator.
Now, I'm trying to hack Toby Thain's Nova assembler to emit auto-loading images by prepending the self-loading bootstrap to the assembled program, with a binary patch to make the bootstrap jump straight into the absolute binary loader rather than halting at address 000121. It seems to me that I should be able to use this scheme to assemble programs which I can then Program Load through the TTI channel, and simply send the image over the serial port from a terminal emulator.
I have the assembler hacked up to prepend the patched loader, and the patch I made seems to cause the bootstrap to jump right into the absolute binary loader; I simply replaced the HALT that ended up in 000120 with a JMP 000121. However, the binary loader continues running after presumably digesting the data that followed the bootstrap.
Toby's assembler outputs "relocatable binary" code in .rb files, and I don't understand if/how that differs from the "absolute binary" format in the .ab tape images that I can successfully load. I'll continue researching, but I'd appreciate it if anybody might be able to provide any clues to dispel my confusion.
Regarding my hacked up assembler, I don't know whether it's advisable to post it publicly after getting it working, since it'll have original DGC binary code embedded in it. Opinions?
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
My Nova 3/12 system has a 6045 cartridge hard drive, with one fixed platter, one removable platter, and a capacity of 10M. I haven't managed to boot my computer from it yet, and after a long pause, my Nova 3 is requesting another time slice of my attention.
I can see in the drive's technical manual where I can specify surface 0-3 in the commands. I assume that the built-in bootstrap loader in the Nova 3 reads drive 0, cylinder 0, surface 0, sector 0, and places it at memory location 0, simply by virtue of all of the registers having been reset after an initial power-up and spin-up. The bootstrap loader code I've seen looks like it just issues a read command without initializing the memory address register and disc address/sector count register. I don't fully grok that code yet, so maybe I'm mistaken.
I have not found mention yet of which surface numbers correspond to the fixed platter and which correspond to the removable one. Is the removable platter selected as surfaces 0 and 1, such that the system would normally boot from the removable platter? Or would it normally boot from the fixed platter, with the removable platter being used to get data on and off the system?
Incidentally, I wonder if anybody has any original printed technical documentation relevant to my Nova 3 system which they might like to sell. I'm working off PDFs right now, and I'd like clean original paper copies for easier perusal and reference.
I'm also interested in replacing the filler panels in my Nova's rack with other interesting peripherals. Maybe a floppy drive? My 6045 is supposed to be able to be mixable with 6030 drives on the same bus, according to the 6045 manual. If anybody has some excess Nova hardware that might fit into my system, please let me know.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
Just wondering if anyone knows what these chips are for/from/etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/152124208945
Interesting look to them. I would say EPROM but the magnifying window is weird...
-Ali
After getting my TRS-80 Model II keyboard repaired and up & running last week (http://www.insentricity.com/a.cl/257), I've been messing around with the Kermit source code to see if I can add hardware flow control support. I'm able to build Kermit using LASM on CP/M or on an emulator, but it would be nice to be able to setup a Makefile so I can do the build directly on Linux.
Is there a LASM compatible assembler out there with source available that I can run on Linux? I've tried a whole lot of different ones that are capable of doing 8080 & Z80 assembly, but not one understands the syntax of LASM (or I'm just not running them with the right flags).
I've tried so far:
z80asm - http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/z80asm
as - http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/as/index.html
kio's zasm - http://k1.spdns.de/Develop/Projects/zasm/Distributions/
zasm - http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_zasm/
z80-asm - http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/z80-asm.html
z80pack - http://www.autometer.de/unix4fun/z80pack/
Alternately, is the source code for Ward Christensen's LASM available anywhere? The best I could find was a note from a Kermit developer from 27 years ago asking for the source. I suppose I could use a disassembler, but then I don't have proper labels or comments.
--
Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx
Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com
So I previously:
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2015-June/006953.html
wrote:
>> I see 'three' different kinds of 'UNIBUS to cables' cards listed:
>> M9014 UNIBUS to 3 H854s
>> M9015 3 H854s to UNIBUS
>> M9031 UNIBUS to 3 3M cables for 11/74
>> M9042 UNIBUS to 3 H854, Dual
> So I have compared an M9014 and an M9042; the former is a 'normal'
> height dual module, the latter is a 'short' dual module. I suspect that
> they have the same pinout on the Berg headers; I tried a couple of
> UNIBUS signals, and they led to the same pin on the Bergs on the two
> different units.
> If and when I get energetic I will make a complete pinout list for the
> two units (I haven't been able to find any documentation on any of them
> online).
I have completed this pinout list, and it is now documented here:
http://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIBUS_H854_header_pinout
I have also verified that both the M9014 and M9042 use the exact same pinout.
If _anyone_ has either an M9015, or an M9031, can they please let me know?
I'd like to document exactly what they are.
(I have this sneaky suspicion that the numbers were allocated, but the cards
never built: for the UNIBUS, unlike the QBUS, you can use the same card on
each end of a set of flat cables - that's because the UNIBUS dual connector
does not have separate 'grant in' and 'grant out' pins, unlike the QBUS.)
Since BC11A cables are now very hard to find, and the white flexible printed
circuit flat cables (I think that's the correct jargon, can someone please
correct me if I got that wrong) used in them is probably not obtainable now
(outside a special order), I suspect we may soon be using pairs of these
cards (they are very simple), along with a 3-set of 40-conductor (2x20 pin
headers) in place of them.
But that's for another day!
Noel
Hi folks,
Got a couple of Apple ][s that were rescued from a steelworks outbuilding
and as usual they have ASTEC power supplies with .1uF and .01uf RIFA
look-at-me-and-I'll-explode caps in and I'm running out of spares.
What's the current considered replacement for these? There seems to be a
wide range available with even wider ranging prices from EVOX, VISHAY,
MATSUSHITA, PANASONIC (ok, matsushita again), Iskra, KEMET etc.
Drowning in options, not just heavy rain :)
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
