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Old VCF East/West videos are going online

by barythrin＠gmail.com

Woohoo! Thanks to everyone involved in the efforts!

10 years, 1 month

Reinstalling SunOS 4.1.4 without CD drive

by echristopherson＠gmail.com

A very generous list member just gave me a SPARCStation 20 with SunOS 4.1.4 on it. I thought the first thing I would do would be to image its hard drive in my Linux PC, in case I ever wanted to start fresh. I assume that if I make a bitwise copy of it, I can later write those same bits out. But now I'm wondering what would happen if the disk developed marked bad sectors; would that make an exact image impossible to write onto it? I have a disc image of that release, but unfortunately no SCSI CD-ROM. It occurs to me that I could perhaps make a SunOS filesystem on Linux and untar things from either the install CD or the image of the original HD into it, but I don't know if that would produce something actually bootable. I'm hoping there would be some way within Linux to capture the actual format of the filesystem to use as a skeleton. Does anyone know if this is possible (viz. creating a valid, bootable filesystem and untarring files into it)? Or should I just invest in a CD-ROM drive? -- Eric Christopherson

10 years, 1 month

The KGB, the Computer, and Me

by dugo＠xs4all.nl

On December 29 08:35 Brent Hilpert wrote: > In 1985 I was setting up our new email system at CERN, and the email > system had a security flaw that allowed the users' mail access > passwords to be seen. > This in of itself wasn't too big deal as there was little a hacker > could do with it (only get access to mail pickup, and you'd need a > system that talked X.400, which weren't prevalent). > What made it a big security problem, of course, was that users tended > to use their login password for their mail password, so once the > hackers uncovered the mail password they ipso-facto often got a login > password. > The hacking was noticed and I was told they were networking in from > Germany. > > Given the commonalities: time proximity (85-86), hacker source > (Germany) and hacking targets (HEP/nuclear/research community), I > wonder now if it was the same group of hackers. Check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR9HVZ8qHHo Fast forward to 5:26 for a '87 sitelist mentioning CERN.

10 years, 1 month

New Commodore 64 is Finally Here--For Real! PC MAG Snip

by barythrin＠gmail.com

They sold some units of the c64x. I think there are still some on our local austin craigslist but like most folks said hardware isn't really interesting enough to me to justify the cost. ? I cant remember where or who also produced a small (eepc? Or mini asus laptop running linux but badges with the commodore logo.? The latest relicense grab I'm aware of is only available in Europe but is a phone calling itself the commodore pet?http://commodoresmart.com/ i imagine they're probably trying to work out the legal purchase from commodore usa to use the logo if they care for a US release.?

10 years, 1 month

disassembling Western Digital microcode (PDP-11, WD16, Pascal Microengine)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

The first cut at a microcode disassembler for the CP16xx/WD21xx chipsets, written in Python 3, is now on github: https://github.com/brouhaha/cp16dis The disassembler uses hexadecimal, in C notation, rather than octal as used by DEC. Branch targets are labeled as L with the three-digit hex address. The disassembler doesn't know about branch targets only reached from the control chip translation PLA. The disassembler probably needs a lot of work to be truly usable. It does not even attempt to produce code that could be assembled by DEC's "MICRO" microassembler that is in the KUV11 writable control store support software, or any other assembler or microassembler. (I don't have the KUV11 support software, but would *really* like to obtain a copy!) The register names decoded are specific to the LSI-11 microcode. I don't yet know what the Pascal Microengine registers are used for, so I don't have suitable names for them. Here's an excerpt from the LSI-11 microcode at address 0x018 where you can see one of the techniques for a computed jump, with entry occuring at 0x20: L018: jmp L101 ;018: 000101 jmp L161 ;019: 000161 jmp L192 ;01a: 000192 jmp L0f5 ;01b: 0000f5 jmp L0a5 ;01c: 0000a5 jmp L19e ;01d: 00019e jmp L192 ;01e: 000192 jmp L192 ;01f: 000192 mi RIRL,RIRH ;020: 00ec89 jmp L018 ;021: 000018 This is used by an implicit jump caused by the translation array in the control chip to location 0x20. The mi instruction causes the instruction register (RIRH) to be OR'd into both bytes of the next microinstruction, which is a jump to L018. Presumably before jumping to the mi, all of the bits of the instruction register have been masked off, except for the least significant three. It's also possible that it's been shifted before masking. Also possible, not all of the bits might be masked off, and there might be more of the jump table elsewhere, depending on those bits. Note that if the most significant five bits are not masked off, this could even change the jump instruction at 0x21 to a different kind of instruction. Eric

10 years, 1 month

Software for DEC MINC systems

by mark＠matlockfamily.com

I have a MINC-23 that I am in the process of restoring. On the hardware side, I modified the BDV11 ROMs with some help from Malcolm Macleod on the boot eprom images so that I could boot a DU device directly from a 11/23 (not plus). It boots an Emulex UC07 and a SCSI2SD so I can load various images on to the microSD card. I found a microSD to normal SD adapter which I plan to mount through one of the MINC blank front panels (with a blinking drive activity LED of course), so that changing disks is convenient. Currently, the SCSI2SD is formatted as four RD54 drives which are a convenient size to load individual images with the dd command on Linux or Mac OSX. Currently, I can boot both RT-11 or RSX11M with either 11/23 or 11/73 CPUs (limited to 256KB by the MINC Q18 bus). The software I am looking for are the MINC software packages FEP (Fortran Enhancement Package) V2.1 and FRP (Fortran Real_time Package) V1.0. Also SSP V1.3 (Scientific Subroutines Package) and LSP V1.2 (Laboratory Subroutines Package) would be great to find as well. These all run under RT-11 and I understand that there was also a version (V1.1) of FEP and V1.0 of FRP that ran under RSX11M which would be fantastic to find as I am more interested in RSX11M. This is based on documents in the MINC folder in the bitsavers online archives. Please contact me if you have any of these packages or would just like to compare notes on the MINC hardware. I am still gathering diagnostics and documentation to check out the analog to digital, programable clock, digital to analog, and digital I/O cards. Someone mentioned earlier the "Minicomputer in the Laboratory" book by James Cooper and I have found it to be very helpful as well. Thanks and Happy New Year! Mark

10 years, 1 month

Mysterious "Alcatel 7100" machine

by me＠xenu.pl

Hello, So I was browsing allegro (something like polish ebay) and I've found this: http://allegro.pl/alcatel-7100-rarytas-unikat-zabytek-i5889329416.html What kind of computer/device is this? Judging from the listing description, seller seems to know nothing about the machine. The only remotely relevant thing I've found while googling "alcatel 7100" was [1], but I think it's a red herring. This device definitely does *not* look like an ordinary 386/486 PC clone. [1] - http://www.museo8bits.es/wiki/index.php/Lista_de_ordenadores_compatibles_co… Cheers, Tomasz

10 years, 1 month

Pulling Capacitors From Above

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have resolved that to get my H7874 PSU working better I am going to have to bite the bullet and replace some electrolytic capacitors which cannot be desoldered from below, at least not without some significant surgery on the board (there are components soldered to the underside of the board and attached to a large heatsink, all those components would have to be desoldered so that the heatsink can be removed to get access to the underside of the board). I have had the suggestion to pull the old ones out from above, and then solder in the new ones from above. These are relatively small radial types (330uF, 25V). I am sure the pins will just pull out of the bodies of the capacitors, leaving me to desolder the pins from above, which should be OK. But, I am worried about doing damage to the board by just pulling them "cold". Are they really just going to pull out of the capacitor body, or does anyone have any tips for doing this in the least damaging way possible? Thanks Rob

10 years, 1 month

Canvas Print of part of a PDP-1

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

looks good Todd! wall art is good to have! Ed# In a message dated 12/28/2015 10:54:47 A.M. US Mountain Standard Tim, tsg at bonedaddy.net writes: For what it's worth, I bought myself a Christmas present of: http://www.ebay.com/itm/151918395795 Which is a print of a PDP-1 system (well, part of one anyway) on canvas. It's not inexpensive but the ePay auction has a %-off "sale" going on and the web site has coupons available to reduce the list price. If you don't want to deal with ePay then you can check out their web site at http://www.greatbigcanvas.com. No connection and I can certainly understand that people might want to spend the not inconsiderable amount on real hardware but I was pleased with the result when it arrived today. Todd

10 years, 1 month

Old VCF East/West videos are going online

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

is this Evan? if In a message dated 12/28/2015 11:33:10 A.M. US Mountain Standard Tim, cctalk at snarc.net writes: > or who ever was supposed to get it done! > Ed# I don't know what "plaque dedication" you're talking about. Email me privately / off-list.

10 years, 1 month

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