test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by silent700＠gmail.com

Unfortunately I wasn't there but I still bring you photos, taken by Jack Rubin, from this weekend's Vintage Computer Festival Berlin: https://picasaweb.google.com/102190732096693814506/VCFBerlin2015?noredirect… I don't have any additional info to go with them, so we'll have to wait for Jack to return to the console and fill us in. In the meantime, enjoy the pics! -j

10 years, 7 months

Phishing spam? Fwd: Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade

by cclist＠sydex.com

Admin: I take it that this is phishing spam. Just not used to seeing it on cctalk. --Chuck -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2015 01:56:57 +0800 From: Help Desk <weedboard at cassne.org> Reply-To: help.desk.team015 at tech-center.com Help Desk Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade Your account is in the process of being upgraded to a newest Windows-based servers and an enhanced online email interface inline with internet infrastructure Maintenance. The new servers will provide better anti-spam and anti-virus functions, along with IMAP Support for mobile devices to enhance your usage. To ensure that your account is not disrupted but active during and after this upgrade, you are required to kindly confirm your account by stating the details below: * Domain\user name: * Password: This will prompt the upgrade of your account. Failure to acknowledge the receipt of this notification, might result to a temporary deactivation of your account from our database. Your account shall remain active upon your confirmation of your login details. During this maintenance window, there may be periods of interruption to email services. This will include sending and receiving email in Outlook, on webmail, and on mobile devices. Also, if you leave your Mailbox open during the maintenance period, you may be prompted to close and reopen. We appreciate your patience as this maintenance is performed and we do apologize for any inconveniences caused. Sincerely, Customer Care Team (c) Copyright 2015, All Rights Reserved.

10 years, 7 months

Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive?

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Anyone has the operation and service manual for the 9-track mag tape drive Overland Data OD3201? Similar to a Qualstar, but seems larger-faster-quieter-better. Just succeeded putting it online. This one is unusual in its simplicity - it has both a Pertec and a Parallel Port interface. Once I found the DOS software in a dark corner of the Internet, I connected it to the parallel port of a my vintage DOS machine and it worked straight out of the box. Look Ma, no interface cards needed! Reads and writes fine apparently. But it has the common ailment of servo motor tape drives, it creeps a little bit at rest. So I probably need to adjust a pot somewhere. Would be nice if I could find the service manual, but no luck on Googling it up. Marc

10 years, 7 months

Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

Hi, This recent Quora answer contained a little gap - the name of the person who designed the original logo on the case. Quick Googling didn't help. Anyone have the trivia answer? http://qr.ae/RP2GQy Any other PIC/Pixar/Renderman anecdotes welcome. Sounds like a pretty fancy bit of hardware for the time. --Toby

10 years, 7 months

PDP 11/03

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jim S > I suspect I also need an additional card at minimum for my escapade, > and I'm not sure if one card will do it. > I've got pretty much one of every 2 size processor and the 11/03 4 up > processor card. I also have several serial cards, and some memory. Then you should have all you need to run a minimal system; CPU, memory and a serial interface for the console. (In fact, it's possible to run _very_ short programs with only an 11/23 or /73 CPU card, a serial interface card, and no memory - put the program in the PAR's! :-) > if someone has something laying around that would let me just run up to > a working serial port Do you mean, a cable? If so, I can hook you up there (not the most robust, mind, as my supply of pins/shells are cheapo knock-offs, but functional). What kind of serial card(s) do you have (some take the LSI-11 serial 'standard' 10-pin Berg connector shell, the early ones use the DL11 compatible 40-pin shell), and what's going to be on the non-PDP-11 end - a PC of some sort? Noel

10 years, 7 months

PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

>> From: Tony Duell >> I am working from 2 Printsets, both from Bitsavers. One is the GT40 one >> (yet another backplane of course, but the same CPU, core memory, etc). > Ah, thanks for that pointer; I'll see if it shows the same board > versions as my 'early' hardcopy set. It does seem to show _basically_ the same as my set; the print revs are slightly different (slightly later), but it does have what I've called the 'early' boards. The differences with mine are minor - e.g. on the M7261, there are two extra capacitors in the prints in the GT40 set. > isn't the switchable divider only present on later boards (the early > ones being pretty much 110 baud only)? Ooh, right you are - another way to tell the early M7260 from later ones. If your memory of a version with a crystal is correct, that does indeed make three versions of that board. Can all -11/05 and -11/10 owners look at their M7260, and see if they have one with a crystal? If so, we can institute a search for the prints of that version. > This printset _does_ show the jumpers I mentioned. Look at page 75 of > the .pdf bottom, left-ish. Jumper W1 is described as disabling the > internal serial port when fitted. Ah, right you are; maybe I am mis-remembering a long search through the 'early' printset for jumper W1? >> You have to tweak the trim pot to change from the 110/220/440/880/1760 >> speed set to the 150/300/600/1200/2400! Ugly!!) > May be easier than finding the right crystal to change a DL11A-E to the > 'other' set of baud rates :-) Well, today that's not so easy (although I did stumble on a pair of the 9600 baud crystals on eBay a while back), but back then, it was a lot easier! > The M9302 includes logic to assert SACK if a grant (any BG or NPG) gets > to it ... This causes problems with an open grant chain in that the CPU > sees the SACK, tries to deassert the grant (which it hasn't asserted in > the first place) and the bus is locked with SACK asserted and no grants. So, how did the M9302 see a 'grant' to start the whole process? Noise on an open input? Or maybe it powers up in that state? >> From: Johnny Billquist >> You most likely want to terminate the other end as well. > It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the > CPU backplane .. I am certain a terminator at the CPU end only will get > the machine doing something Yes, I think that in electrical terms it would be very similar to the typical LSI-11, which works fine with termination at one end only. Yes, there will be more noise on the bus due to the un-terminated end, but it will probably still work OK. Noel

10 years, 7 months

Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Chuck, Thanks for your STP2T02.exe SCSI tape to SIMH program. Ran like a champ under Win98 DOS, first time. It's the only utility that did work out of the box to read a tape from my SCSI-1 HP 88780 9-track into a SIMH file, out of the 5 or so I tried. Before I jump to Linux, which seems to be the more straightforward option, does anyone have the reverse tool to write a SIMH image file on a 9 Track tape under Windows/DOS? None of the utilities I found using Windows Tape APIs could deal with my tape SCSI-1 early interface, they all expect some basic (SCSI-2?) functions that are not implemented. Marc

10 years, 7 months

PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > I am working from 2 Printsets, both from Bitsavers. One is the GT40 one > (yet another backplane of course, but the same CPU, core memory, etc). Ah, thanks for that pointer; I'll see if it shows the same board versions as my 'early' hardcopy set. > The other is the 11/05S schematic, which shows the later boards with > the crystal UART clock Say what? The "11/05S schematic" from Bitsavers shows the RC clock; look on page 61, bottom left corner, there's an RC circuit (and a couple of flops) producing an output "DPH TTY CLK (I) H", which is fed into the baud rate divider in the upper left corner. (Ooooh, what an ugly circuit! You have to tweak the trim pot to change from the 110/220/440/880/1760 speed set to the 150/300/600/1200/2400! Ugly!!) Noel

10 years, 7 months

PDP 11/03

by jws＠jwsss.com

I've been gathering bits and pieces from recent Ebay purchases and would like to see if anyone has a spare 11/03 or 11/23 qbus type box. I've got quite a few cards, and even a backplane block, but the prices on ebay are crazy, and I'd like to check here before doing anything rash. I suspect I also need an additional card at minimum for my escapade, and I'm not sure if one card will do it. I've got pretty much one of every 2 size processor and the 11/03 4 up processor card. I also have several serial cards, and some memory. that's as far as I have it, and if someone has something laying around that would let me just run up to a working serial port I would think that would be a good start. I do have a few fully working larger 11's but they are of no use for this exercise, all are unibus, or not compatible with these cards. If the price isn't too shocking I'd like to buy if possible. thanks Jim

10 years, 7 months

PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > There are at least 2 versions of the 11/10 CPU boards. The later one, > which I thought was the 11/10S, has soldered wire links to disable the > arbiter ... I think another link disables the built-in console port. > And didn't it use a crystal rather than RC clock for the built-in > serial console port? It would be good to know exactly how many there are! I think there are at least three, because: There are two sets of 11/05 (let's not bother with the 05-10 distinction, I think that's just the artwork on the front panel) prints on-line, "1105_RevAH_Engineering_Drawings_Jul76": http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1105/1105_RevAH_Engineering_Drawings_Jul… and "1105S_Schem": http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1105/1105S_Schem.pdf Both of them show the exact same board revs: M7260 Rev C (drawing: date 1-22-73, rev N) M7261 Rec F (drawing: date 9-5-73, rev U) However, I don't think they show the W1 jumper to disable the onboard serial line, etc (I spent quite a while looking for it in these prints, after hearing of its existence :-); and they definitely show an RC circuit, and not a crystal, as the baud rate generator. So, the board set with those features (jumper + crystal) must be a later set than the ones shown in those two on-line sets of prints. (One of which is marked "11/05S", just to be confusing - I didn't check to see if that rev of the cards has a jumper to allow another machine to be bus master.) However, I have a set of hardcopy 11/05 prints, and they show an even earlier state: M7260 Rev B (drawing: date 4-07-72 rev H) M7261 Rev C (drawing: date 3-19-72 rev J) On this rev of the M7260, the UART chip is down near the contact fingers, and 'horizontal', not up near the Berg connector to the console, and 'vertical'. The M7261 is also quite distinct; there's a big gap on the center left of the card (full of traces). Just to thicken the plot a bit more, I have an M7261 that looks like that, and it is marked "M7261E" in the etch! So that's '3 versions' at least of the 11/05: - The latest (jumpers and crystal) - The middle (in the on-line prints) - The early (in the hardcopy prints I have) I say '3' because it's possible there are only early and late versions of each card, and the '3 versions' I listed are actually 3 different mixes of old/new cards. > The original and later boards seem to have the same numbers. Indeed; there's nothing on the handles, etc to indicate that they are totally different boards (except for that "M7261E" in the etch. Any chance you can find a print set that shows the later cards, with the jumpers, crystal, etc? Noel

10 years, 7 months

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