- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

by wlewisiii＠gmail.com

I turned to set up a new to me toy my friend gave me yesterday, a DEC Alphastation 300 4/266. 1 ST12400N, 1 ST31230N, floppy, CD, 1 gb ram. Unknown video. I've plugged in both a VGA & my DEC VRC16 monitors, PS/2 keyboard & mouse and I get no video out on either monitor, only a "keyboard error" on the LEDs on the back of the computer. I've also tried a USB keyboard that is known good via a usb/ps2 adaptor with no joy as well. Any other troubleshooting ideas? Thanks! -- Live like you will never die, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no-one is watching. Alex White

11 years, 11 months

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TU56 Motor Run Capacitors.

by bob＠theadamsons.co.uk

I'm refurbishing a TU56 and of course the tape drive motor capacitors are completely shot. They're 100uF and only need to be about 60-80V to be quite safe (originals 100uF/55V) but I can only find capacitors rated for 450V which is no big issue except for their size. I'm thinking of using motor start capacitors. They're only rated intermittent but I feel that the derating to around 60V should probably give them a good lifetime. Views? Bob

11 years, 11 months

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Copying protected floppies?

by fozztexx＠fozztexx.com

I got a copy of The Newsroom by Springboard new in the box a few weeks ago. It's for the IBM PC and came on two 360k 5.25" floppies. The first thing I tried to do was make copies of the disks. Unfortunately it's protected and so I'm not exactly sure how to back them up. I tried teledisk but the copy it made doesn't work and Newsroom keeps insisting that I insert the original disk when I try using it on my PC. I read that teledisk was supposed to be able to deal with copy protection, but it clearly doesn't. I don't have a kryoflux. What other options are there for making backups of protected disks? -- Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com

11 years, 11 months

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XTIDE Universal BIOS on IBM PC?

by fozztexx＠fozztexx.com

I saw that the newest versions of the XTIDE Universal BIOS have a way to use the serial port as a disk drive by connecting to another computer running XP. Since my IBM PC doesn't currently have any kind of mass storage, this seemed like it could be handy, even if it might be terribly slow. I don't have an XTIDE card, but I do have a 3com Etherlink II 3c503 that has an empty socket. I burned the 12k xtl ROM to a 27c128 and filled the extra space with zeroes. I put it in the socket and now when the computer boots up I get "DC00 ROM" on the screen just before it tries to boot from a floppy. However that's it. I tried holding down the Alt key to get it to give me a menu or scan the serial ports, but nothing happens. Is there some trick to making the XTIDE ROM work in the 3c503 socket? -- Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com

11 years, 11 months

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Looking for XXDP EQKCE1 (11/70 instruction exerciser) source listing

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I'm assisting in bringing an 11/70 back to life and it's passing most diagnostics at this point, but the EQKCE1 (cpu exerciser) diagnostic is failing without any diagnostic message -- it's simply halting. I'd like to figure out what the test is doing before it dies, and before I resort to disassembling the code manually I was wondering if anyone happens to have a source listing for this. I haven't been able to dig one up online thus far... Thanks, Josh

11 years, 11 months

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IBM archive

by sales＠elecplus.com

I just came across this old archive, maybe it is new to some of you. http://ps-2.kev009.com/ Cindy Croxton

11 years, 11 months

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FS: PDP Systems in UK

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

Hi, I'm clearing some space in the attic so have various PDP systems available in the UK. In the main these are the desk side style case (can be rackmounted) with 11/83, or similar. All feature a 5.25" hard-disk and floppy (dual DEC style) and one or more serial connections. These are nice systems to use, a bit quieter than UNIBUS :). I also have lots of QBUS cards, memory, etc and CPU boards including some more recent (faster) Mentec boards (M100, etc) with on board RAM, FPU and serial ports. Email if interested. These systems are available in either Bucks (near London) or Yorkshire. Thanks

11 years, 11 months

2
1
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Xylogics

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I have a Xylogics manual: WIZARD I Installation Manual Documentation Number: 900-008-300 Revision: A Date: October 25, 1978 Estimate about 500 pages (250 double sided pages) I do not have the hardware and will be discarding the manual unless it has not been scanned and is needed. Jerome Fine

11 years, 11 months

2
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DECmate II H7842A and H7842B PSU Pinouts?

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2014 21:06:27 +0100 (BST) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: DECmate II H7842A and H7842B PSU Pinouts? > >> >> Rainbow Printset? http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/rainbow/ >> >> * MP01722_PC100*-*B_Rainbow_Schematic_Jul84*.*pdf*, 2013-11-20 14:54, >> 3.3M >> >> Also: >> https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_decrainbowwSchematicJul84_3508632 >> >> Up to the usual DEC standards; no PSU schematic, however. > > And no RMA board, grpahis board, keybaord, monitors, drives. > > For all my diarams are my typcially hand-drawn scribble, I'll stick to > them.... > > My whole set of diagrams is over 100 sheets. I could be convinced to get > the PSU sheets scanend if somebody needs them or something like that... > > -tony Tony, Could you start scanning your diagrams of the PSU & boards that DEC didn't release drawings/schematics for? Especially the Rainbow's H7842B PSU -- I'd really appreciate a copy of that diagram. Thanks, Bob

11 years, 11 months

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Ann Arbor Terminals docs posted

by silent700＠gmail.com

(Special attn to AEK and Richard) I have scanned and posted some spec sheets and other promotional literature from Ann Arbor Terminals, Inc., circa 1979: http://chiclassiccomp.org/docs/index.php?dir=%2Fcomputing/AnnArborTerminals I found them buried under mounds of decaying paper in an estate sale basement, so there is some damage, but it's all legible. Feel free to add to your own archives, sites, etc. Richard - I somehow ended up with three entries on Manx for the VT52-Compat model. Please delete the last two. - jht

11 years, 11 months

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old S-100 equipment for the taking

by jbryanlewis＠gmail.com

My wife and I were cleaning out the attic this summer and came across my old S-100 computer, with manuals. I'm finally getting around to posting to this list in the hope that someone can use the parts. I'm not really looking to make any money off them... it just feels like a shame to take them to the dump. Unfortunately in the couple of months it took me to get around to this, the manuals seem to have disappeared. There's a chance that my wife tossed them in the trash. (*whimper*) One Morrow 8" floppy drive One Discus HD. Dunno if it's a 10 or 20 MB, doesn't say on the outside. Two Godbout RAM20 boards = 2 x 32K. Morrow Winchester Controller, HDCA-3 One multi-I/O card. One S-100 bus chassis with big honkin' power supply. Doesn't show a brand name, probably Morrow Designs. Bryan Lewis

11 years, 11 months

2
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Further PDP-11/05 debugging -- core memory faults

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

> My own little treatise on the organization and electronics of core memory for more depth: > http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hilpert/e/coremem/index.html +1 , Like, Thumbs up! What a superb write-up. Thank you for this fantastic contribution. Could be published as part of a reference book. Marc

11 years, 11 months

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Getting started with Data General Nova hardware -- looking for a few pointers.

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I've just acquired a new project (which I have promised myself I won't get too involved in until I have the 11/05 running satisfactorily). Well, a pair of projects. Or a pile of projects, depending on how you look at it. What I've ended up with are two Data General Nova chassis: an 800 and a 1200, and a box of boards to go with them. Only the 800 chassis has a power supply. I don't know much about the history of this hardware other than that it originally came from the University of Washington, and I don't know that any of this actually went together originally, but in addition to the chassis, I have: - 2 DGC Nova 800/820 CPU sets (two boards each) - 4 DGC Nova 8KW core planes - 2 Keronics P-4 8KW core planes - 1 Basic I/O Control board - 2 DGC Nova 2 CPU boards - 1 DGC Nova 2 16KW core plane I've been looking to get into DG stuff for awhile, but I don't have a lot of experience with the hardware. I've gotten pretty good with DEC stuff over the years and there are a lot of good informational sites out there on the 'net for DEC hardware to help the beginner. The DG hardware seems to be less well covered in this regard. I'm going to need to spend some time to get up to speed -- aside from reading through the manuals on Bitsavers and whatnot, does anyone have any general recommendations for getting started? Will the Nova 2 stuff work in an 800/1200 backplane? (Is the Nova 2 memory compatible with the Nova 800 CPU?) Anyone have any docs for the Keronics core boards? Anything I should be aware of when working on this hardware (gotchas, etc...)? I've heard rumor that the power supplies are not the most robust things in the world... Thanks as always, Josh

11 years, 11 months

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Is plastic National Semiconductor (NS) TTL chips worse

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

The only way to know would be to look inside. If you want and are willing to ship the dead chips to me in the US/Silicon Valley, I could put them in the X-Ray machine and see if there are any obvious bond wire faults. But the wires might still look OK in the X-Ray micrograph if the defect is due to development of an oxide film between the pad of the circuit and the bond, or a chemical diffusion or reaction in the bond pad itself. There are (very expensive) tools that can ferret out such material problems (after you crack the chip open), but I am not sure I can get easy access to them. Maybe I can ask someone at National Semi (now TI) down the road from us and see if they'd be interested to research the cause of failure. Would be cool to do an electron micrograph section and find out...

11 years, 11 months

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3B2 cards

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

OK, I just uncovered three cards for a small 3B2 - two are quad serial ports, and the third is something else. It seems to me a long long time ago, I was supposed to give these to someone here (or the forum), but clearly things did not connect. To whoever it was - sorry! So, who was it? Shake a few nuts and bolts free in my head and let me know, and I will get them shipped out. If I do not figure out who it was to receive them, I suppose I will throw them up on Ebay. -- Will

11 years, 11 months

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DECmate II H7842A and H7842B PSU Pinouts?

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

Does anyone have the pinouts for the DECmate II power supplies? The two PSU model numbers that I have are H7842A and H7842B, but I'd like to know their pinouts in order to properly connect a load (or loads) to them for "smoke testing" away from the computers themselves. They are both 220W supplies according to their labels. (These PSUs may have also been used in the DEC Rainbow.) Does anyone, by chance, have the schematic(s) for these power supplies? Other than close inspection for bulging/leaking capacitors or obviously burnt/damaged components or areas on the PCB, what should I look for to increase my chances of not allowing the smoke to escape? (Also, I recently found a "vintage computer" discussion site where they were trying to collect, preserve, & make *usable* images of any DEC microfiche sets they could get. One guy said that he had a fiche set that included the DECmate II. None of these fiche sets are on-line yet as far as I can tell.) Thanks, Bob

11 years, 11 months

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my VCFMW Wishlist- Wanted Items

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Looking for the following stuff Amiga 1200, 3000 or 4000- Have a really souped up Mac SE/30 to trade Atari Computer, preferable an ST STE, stuff like that A minicomputer of some sort, preferably a small PDP or something like that. Ill have lots to trade, bringing a truckload of goodies Steve

11 years, 11 months

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DEC VAX SDI interface via BDA?

by nw＠retrocomputingtasmania.com

I was poking about for alternatives to the hefty KDB50-Q SDI controller set for MicroVAX to connect up my Emulex SD590 SDI hard drives and found on ebay this item: http://www.ebay.com/itm/190665553055 DEC T1003 VAXstation BDA SDI 5015772-01 Disk Adapter to Single Drive Interface It is labelled as a VAXstation BDA (VAX BI Disk Adapter) and interestingly the T1003 is one component of the KDB50-Q board-set, so I am guessing this could be a VAXstation specific KDB50 all-in-one? anyone know anything about these? I could not find any manuals for them nor could I find a VAXstation that has some type of extensible bus that would support a board like this. I notice this seller has several other "VAXstation" boards too. I have a couple of M38 VAXstations but I don't think they take any type of expansion option other than graphics cards, so I guess the VAXstation BDA options go in the 4000 series? Looking at the few pages on the 4000 series does not reveal much in the way of expansion options either. thanks, nigel.

11 years, 11 months

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M4 Data 9914 tach roller fix

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I was working on 1/2" tape recovery this week, and wanted to see if the M4 that I got from Guy worked any better that the Qualstar I was using, so I dug the 9914 back out after a rather frustrating experience earlier this year trying to get the tach roller resurfaced (it's the only rubber part in the whole tape path). It turns out 1/2" ID surgical tubing works just fine stretched over the tach roller. It's a bit of a challenge getting it over the lip of the roller but once it's in place it fills in the gap where the original rubber was just fine. I was able to recover the one bad block on the 1990 MSDP tape I had, so that's been updated on bitsavers, along with a bunch of other random tapes that were in the to do pile.

11 years, 11 months

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warehouse closing

by sales＠elecplus.com

I am closing my warehouse by the end of this month. My husband's health is rapidly failing, and I want to spend what time he has left with him, not with a bunch of old computers and parts! Please review the pics here: https://plus.google.com/photos/106111250846948401252/albums?banner=pwa But know that the Apple room and the Lisa are gone. Lots of old keyboards, terminals (like the ones on Halt and Catch Fire), mono monitors new in the box, IBM 5150 and 5160 with kbds and monitors, tested working, u name it. Please also see www.elecshopper.com, make offer for anything you want. Still have 2 gaylords of IBM compat laptops, 8088 thru 80486 and P1, and 1 gaylord of Apple laptops, from the first ones thru abt 1996 or so. I would rather this stuff go to someone who will cherish it, then go by the pound to be ground up. Also more than 100 computer books from Apple and DOS thru Windows XP and Server 2003. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-792-3400 phone 830-792-3404 fax sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

11 years, 11 months

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For the TRS-80 enthusiasts

by trash80＠internode.on.net

Latest issue of TRS8BIT has been made available for the TRS-80 enthusiasts among us. Some very good articles including one on breathing life back into a seemingly dead Model 2, reinking printer ribbons, the Model 4 gate-array motherboard, plus many others. http://www.fabsitesuk.com/tandy/trs8bit0803.pdf ++++++++++ Kevin Parker ++++++++++

11 years, 11 months

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DEC VAX SDI interface via BDA?

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> From: Camiel Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com> > Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2014 11:18:14 +0200 > That's for a VAXBI bus based system. The only VAXstation it would work > in is a VAXstation 8000, which is very hard to find. > I have one, minus the E&S graphics subsystem. -- Michael Thompson

11 years, 11 months

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Bringing alot of SGI, sun & some dec stuff to VCFMW

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Is there any interest in a bunch of SGI gear, Sun systems and some DEC stuff, Im bringing a bunch of it to VCF. Theres Indigo's, Octanes, Octane 2s, Couple of Ultra 5's Some sun blade servers. Lots of SCSI drives & Cables. Stuff like that let me know

11 years, 11 months

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Original Apple II and SE/30 for sale or trade at VCFMW 9.0

by slandon110＠gmail.com

Ive had this original Apple II for a very long while and I haven't given it the love it deserves. I will be bringing it to VCF for sale. It has a Disk II Drive, 9inch B&W Monitor, SuprMod RF Modulator and 2 Boxes of Disks. It does need a bit of work, the original keyboard has non operational keys, however a II plus keyboard is installed in the machine and it does work fine. It also occasionally drops to the monitor. This has Applesoft in ROM, a 16K Language Card, 64k RAM and a Parallel interface card. The next machine that needs a home is a pretty tricked out SE/30 It has 68MB RAM, Ethernet Card, 4GB SCSI HDD and has OS 7.5.5 installed. It can run A/UX on this configuration. Included will be a copy of the A/UX CD-ROM and the associated files to install it on a CD as well. Everything is make a reasonable offer on it, Or im willing to trade the souped up SE/30 system for a really nice Amiga system, A 1200 with Accelerator, or a 4000 with an Ethernet card. Maybe even a 3000 if its wicked enough.

11 years, 11 months

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Further PDP-11/05 debugging -- core memory faults

by js＠cimmeri.com

> Subject: > Further PDP-11/05 debugging -- core > memory faults > From: > Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> > Date: > 9/5/2014 11:11 PM > > To: > General Discussion: On-Topic and > Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > > Hi all -- > > The CPU in the 11/05 seems to be > behaving nicely as far as I can tell, > now that the Microcode ROMs are no > longer filled with bogus data. It > will run small programs I've toggled > in without issue, and so I've moved > on to testing the memory. Josh, what do you end up doing to recreate the ROMs? Thanks, John S.

11 years, 11 months

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Reproduction front panels and switch levers for PDP-8/E and M

by j＠ckrubin.us

I'm in the process of reproducing front panels for PDP-8/E and/or M machines, as well as switch levers for these machines and others that use the same shape but different colors (e.g. 8/L, 11/20). For the front panels, I'm working with a local (Chicago) silk-screen house to create the reproductions. At this point (still exploring final pricing), it looks like unit cost will be about $200 for a run of 5. This will most likely be a CNC cut acrylic panel (laser probably won't work because of the angled relief for the key switch) with silk-screen printing front and back. The panel shape is the same for E and M but the screens are quite different. I've also got a couple different M variations. Note that each panel requires five or six screens, including black masking on the back and transparent red or "frosted" masks for the indicator lights in addition to the three colors on the front. I'm not sure about possibly adding a transparent overlay (non-original) over the front silk screening to protect the final product. Please let me know your interest and thoughts about a protective overlay. For the switch levers, "phooky" from the NYC Resistors has done a 3D rendering - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:360853 - and printed prototype levers and mounting frames. Note that there are three renderings at the thingverse site - original lever, lever with improved pivot (metal pin) and bracket for attaching lever to available slide switch. Phooky has also printed up samples of these objects. The next step is to work on injection molding the parts. The Resistors have an injection molding setup and phooky is planning to create a mold using CNC equipment and his 3D renderings. There are several reasons for moving from 3D printing to injection molding for these parts. The first two, finish and mechanical strength, are slowly being addressed by improved printers but the third reason, color matching, is the critical difference. The front panel project is in progress and hopefully panels will be available in a few months. The switch project is very much exploratory with no promises or dates at this time. Comments please! Jack

11 years, 11 months

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Pdp11/34 bus sack timeout card

by roeapeterson＠gmail.com

I'm helping a friend resurrect an 11/34. Unlike my 34a, it requires an M8264 no-sack timeout board. Two questions. Does the board need to be at the end of the bus? And, does it need a slot with the NPR jumper removed? Thanks. This machine is an old friend, and it is nearly running again after many years.

11 years, 11 months

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ID this terminal (found in 1969 issue of Rolling Stone)?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all ? Spent a bit of time this weekend reading through some bound editions of Rolling Stone magazine (July-November 1969) and found the below (in an article about the Chicago PD's ?Vice Control? division): https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117997069161125071032/albums/58803294238… This was in the September 6, 1969 issue. It reminds me a lot of an Imlac, but this is a bit too early ? as far as I know the Imlac was early 1970. Anyone have any ideas what that thing is? - Josh

11 years, 11 months

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Craigslist ad for Sr. Vintage Software Developer (Seattle)

by isking＠uw.edu

On Sep 6, 2014 10:04 AM, <cctalk-request at classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 19:33:20 -0700 (PDT) > From: geneb <geneb at deltasoft.com> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: RE: Craigslist ad for Sr. Vintage Software Developer > (Seattle) > Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.2.03.1409051932070.22083 at deltasoft.com> > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > On Fri, 5 Sep 2014, Rich Alderson wrote: > > >> Yeah I like to think I have it pretty good in academia but this is > >> definitely a #hotjob. You actually pay people to do that stuff?? :) > > > > > > Yes, we certainly do. > > I think it's pretty cool, but the bachelor degree requirement shouldn't be > there. It's got f*ck all to do with someone's ability to write software & > maintain hardware for vintage machines...or modern ones for that matter. > "Brave, brave Sir Robin...."

11 years, 11 months

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DECmate II H7842A and H7842B PSU Pinouts?

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2014 10:13:00 -0400 > From: Todd Goodman <tsg at bonedaddy.net> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: DECmate II H7842A and H7842B PSU Pinouts? > > * Bob Vines <bobvines00 at gmail.com> [140904 10:02]: > [SNIP] >> (Also, I recently found a "vintage computer" discussion site where >> they were trying to collect, preserve, & make *usable* images of any >> DEC microfiche sets they could get. One guy said that he had a fiche >> set that included the DECmate II. None of these fiche sets are >> on-line yet as far as I can tell.) >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> Bob > > Would you possibly pass along that site? > > Thanks! > > Todd Todd, It was http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-24206.html?s=8d… Sorry for the late response -- I get the digest version of the cctech list and often fall behind in my reading. Bob

11 years, 11 months

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Craigslist ad for Sr. Vintage Software Developer (Seattle)

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

What a cool job! If I lived there I would apply...

11 years, 11 months

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Wanted: G4 Cube power adapter, dead or alive; ADC/DVI converter

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

Hi, If anyone has one of these, dead is OK, I'll take it off your hands for $X + shipping (depending, somewhat, on X). It needs to include the complete 4-pin cable from adapter to Mac. Also looking for ADC/DVI adapter, e.g. Belkin. Quote your $Y. Thanks, --Toby

11 years, 11 months

2
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KDJ11 cpu IO panel

by roeapeterson＠gmail.com

Does anyone have a cpu IO panel for the KDJ11 pdp11/83-93? This is the panel that mounts on the back of a ba23 or ba123 enclosure and has baud rate switch, console rs232 port, and LED status display. I be interested in buy or trade... Thanks.

11 years, 11 months

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Craigslist ad for Sr. Vintage Software Developer (Seattle)

by christian_liendo＠yahoo.com

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/sof/4652352746.html Sr. Vintage Software Developer (Seattle) ? craigslist - Map data ? OpenStreetMap 505 5th Ave S. (google map) (yahoo map) compensation: Competitive salary & benefits The Living Computer Museum (LCM) (www.livingcomputermuseum.org) is hiring a Sr. Vintage Software Developer. This position will have responsibility for operating system restoration and development for a variety of vintage computer systems. The LCM maintains some 60 different types of vintage systems from mainframes to personal computers in operational state and available for museum visitors to use. The LCM engineering team is responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the machines. The team has just finished a major restoration of a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP10 KI system and is embarking on a significant restoration of a Control Data Corporation 6500 supercomputer. These restorations include repair/restoration of hardware, development of emulators where needed and the development of "programming elements" that enhance the visitor experience. The ideal candidate will have: ? A Bachelor's degree and 7-plus years' experience in developing and maintaining software for complex systems. (e.g.: multi-user operating systems) ? Ability to put together and maintain operating systems. ? Experience in development of support software for hardware interface cards in both Windows and Linux. ? Flexible and adaptive to switch between different systems and environments. ? Experience programming with multiple assembly language architectures. ? Experience working in a team environment of both hardware and software engineers. Link to appply https://hire.jobvite.com/j?cj=oSavZfwg&s=Craigslist

11 years, 11 months

2
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Sun Servers in DC area

by technobug＠prelim.org

A friend forwarded a Craigs listing from the DC Area for two Sun servers. <http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/sys/4648090405.html> Price is reasonable, but the weight probably requires local pickup. Great house warmers for the coming winter season? ->CRC

11 years, 11 months

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Free for pickup: DEC Documentation in Peoria, AZ

by radioengr＠gmail.com

...located Peoria Arizona. Rescued from a storage shed: - Lots of RSX-11M PLUS orange books. Various releases. - Decnet RSX documentation and media. - Lots of VMS orange books. A few gray books. Many of the notebooks have the pages still in shrink wrap. I also have boxes of TK-50s, 8 inch floppies, and magtapes. It is too hot to do an inventory right now. I think I'll keep the two Scientific Data Systems MDX systems, spare parts, and documents. Rob.

11 years, 11 months

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QED993 (was Re: KDJ11 cpu IO panel)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 2:45 PM, Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote: > ... QED993 CPU boards... > > http://www.ebay.com/itm/200600166676 > > I bought one of those and was disappointed to discover that they do > not implement any floating point emulation at all and I had no luck > getting either 2.11BSD or RSTS/E 10.1 to run on it. So what's the QED993 good for? RSX-11 or a really fast RT-11 box? TSX-11? Who were they aiming at? -ethan

11 years, 11 months

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Anyone heard from Todd Fischer?

by dfnr2＠yahoo.com

Hello all, Has anybody been in contact with Todd Fischer of Fischer-Freitas / IMSAI? I had been in contact with him regarding a manual which I paid for, and apparently got lost in shipping, and I finally just ordered another manual in April, but have not heard from him since. I am not getting any response using his t*f at i***i.net address. Is he OK? If so, has anybody been in contact with him since April? If someone is able to contact him, I'd be grateful if you could help facilitate my getting in touch with him. I'd really like to get that manual! Thanks, Dave

11 years, 11 months

2
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IBM AS 400 for sale in Ontario, California

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

I received this from Matt. Contact him for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I have a complete 1970's vintage IBM AS 400 with spare hard drive. Original owner, was working when put into storage 30 years ago. Will sell to best offer. Matt Gardner matt.mgci at dslextreme.com (951) 830-5316 Ontario,California ------------------------------------------------------------------

11 years, 11 months

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Looking for 11/05 control ROM listings A11A2 and A20A2

by derschjo＠gmail.com

I spent some time tonight debugging my problematic 11/05. The current issue is that Exam and Dep do not increment the address when depressed, and the PC does not increment when executing a series of NOPs. I started with the 74181 ALU for bits 0:3, checking the inputs, outputs, and the function control lines during an "Exam" operation. The inputs are correct but the outputs are always just the contents of A. The control inputs (mode and function) are all high, meaning that the ALU operation is set to just pass A through unchanged, which explains the behavior. The control inputs to the ALU are generated by two bipolar ROMs, (named A11A2 and A20A2) on the M7261 board. The addresses and Enable lines going into the ROMs look to be correct but the data coming out is all 1s, leading to the incorrect ALU control. I'm unsure whether these might be faulty ROMs or something else (incidentally, anyone know what kind of ROMs these are so I might hunt down a datasheet? The markings on the chips are all different and have lead me nowhere and the engineering drawings just refer to them as A11A2, etc. in the parts lists). Additionally, I cannot find a listing of the contents of these anywhere; the print sets on Bitsavers and elsewhere have listings for most of the other ROMs but of course not these two (unless they're tucked away somewhere apart from the schematics where I've somehow missed them...) Anyone spent any time debugging the microcode logic on one of these? Any tips? Thanks, Josh

11 years, 11 months

5
12
0 0

Cosmac Development System CDP18S004

by Wayne.Smith＠warnerbros.com

> Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2014 09:35:26 +0200 > From: Camiel Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: Cosmac Development System CDP18S004 > > It tells me I'm not authorized to view the album... Ugh - thanks - just changed the privacy settings to public - here's the link again: https://plus.google.com/photos/113825148583667464381/albums/605503163855891…

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Cosmac Development System CDP18S004

by Wayne.Smith＠warnerbros.com

I am looking for one replacement pushbutton cover for the front panel of a Cosmac Development System. There's a link to some photos of the system below - the missing button cover is the one that goes on the "LOAD" button at the upper right of the first picture. Any help locating one of these is appreciated. Thanks. https://plus.google.com/photos/113825148583667464381/albums/605503163855891… Wayne Smith

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

What was the purpose of XCT on the PDP-10/EX on the S/360?

by krfkeith＠gmail.com

As I understand it, what these instructions do is basically jump to a word in memory, execute that word as an instruction, and them jump right back. What were the usages of these in standard code? What was the rationale behind them? -- Thanks, Kevin

11 years, 11 months

5
7
0 0

Reproduction front panels and switch levers for PDP-8/E and M

by anders＠abc80.net

> Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 15:27:32 +0000 > From: Jack Rubin <j at ckrubin.us> > To: "Classic Computer List (cctalk at classiccmp.org)" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Reproduction front panels and switch levers for PDP-8/E and M > Message-ID: <1409758047115.63856 at ckrubin.us> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > I'm in the process of reproducing front panels for PDP-8/E and/or M > machines, as well as switch levers for these machines and others that use > the same shape but different colors (e.g. 8/L, 11/20). > > For the front panels, I'm working with a local (Chicago) silk-screen house > to create the reproductions. At this point (still exploring final > pricing), it looks like unit cost will be about $200 for a run of 5. This > will most likely be a CNC cut acrylic panel (laser probably won't work > because of the angled relief for the key switch) with silk-screen printing > front and back. The panel shape is the same for E and M but the screens > are quite different. I've also got a couple different M variations. Note > that each panel requires five or six screens, including black masking on > the back and transparent red or "frosted" masks for the indicator lights > in addition to the three colors on the front. > > I'm not sure about possibly adding a transparent overlay (non-original) > over the front silk screening to protect the final product. Please let me > know your interest and thoughts about a protective overlay. > > For the switch levers, "phooky" from the NYC Resistors has done a 3D > rendering - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:360853 - and printed > prototype levers and mounting frames. Note that there are three renderings > at the thingverse site - original lever, lever with improved pivot (metal > pin) and bracket for attaching lever to available slide switch. Phooky has > also printed up samples of these objects. The next step is to work on > injection molding the parts. The Resistors have an injection molding setup > and phooky is planning to create a mold using CNC equipment and his 3D > renderings. There are several reasons for moving from 3D printing to > injection molding for these parts. The first two, finish and mechanical > strength, are slowly being addressed by improved printers but the third > reason, color matching, is the critical difference. > > The front panel project is in progress and hopefully panels will be > available in a few months. > > The switch project is very much exploratory with no promises or dates at > this time. > > Comments please! > > Jack I have heard that the reason for making the the pivot in plastic was that this should brake instead of the switch itself or the PCB in case of an accident. I have however restored a couple in my 8/L that was broken by drilling a hole through and inserted a metal pin. Works fine! Although I find this very interesting, at least in the levers since they fit on my 8/L. /Anders

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

picking up a collection of old computers

by seefriek＠gmail.com

From: "drlegendre ." <drlegendre at gmail.com> > You don't see dirt floors in mid-20th century constructions, at least not in my USA. Apparently Atlanta, GA isn't part of "your" USA. My mid-20th century construction certainly has a dirt floor in the basement, as do a number of the neighbors.

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

multitasking on PDP-11/03

by js＠cimmeri.com

On 8/27/2014 10:59 AM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Subject: > Re: multitasking on PDP-11/03 > From: > Nigel Williams > <nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> > Date: > Wed, 27 Aug 2014 21:09:47 +1000 > > > > On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 3:38 AM, > Andriy Romanenko <bigral at hotmail.com> > wrote: >> > What OS and/or running environment support time sharing on LSI11? Is there multi-user/multi-terminal support? > If you have a fast hard-drive you can run MINI-UNIX [1]: > > http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/ATT/mini-unix_120679.zip > > We had this running circa 1980 with two (or maybe three) terminals and > 10MB Pertec fixed+cartridge disk system, LSI-11/03 with 56KB memory. > Before that we ran RT-11 [2] with foreground/background tasks and at > various times MU-BASIC (multi-user BASIC) [3]. Nigel, how (generally) did you adapt Mini Unix to that configuration? Did you have to write your own drivers for the hard drives? - John S.

11 years, 11 months

2
3
0 0

ISO SCSI QIC serial service port info

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I'm working on recovering some 1/4" cartridge tapes, and started looking at SCSI drives. Located the reference manuals for the Tandberg 3600 Series and I had the Archive 2060S/2150S manual. What I'm trying to find is the service manuals. Detailed stuff (schems) would be great, but both drives have serial service ports and even a description of those would be helpful. I dumped the firmware for the Archive drives this afternoon, shot some pcb pics, up on bitsavers, and have some 3620's coming to dump that. Figures the Tandberg web site would disappear today (I grabbed the later drive manuals on Fri) So much for trying to email them to see if the 3600 service manual was still available.

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

FS: DEC PDP11 gear and other stuff

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>aswood at t-online.de wrote: >Dear listeners of this list and too whom it may concern or might be interested, > >due to support my Thatched Roof Restauration Project at Indiegogo http://igg.me/at/reetdach I'm going to sell at lot of stuff from my collection: > >There are PDP11 Systems: 11/23Plus, 11/24, 11/34, 11/44, 11/73, 11/84 and 11/93. Either only the cpu or as complete systems with disk drives or RL drives, e.g. there is a DecSystem with a 11/23Plus and two RL02, nice 11/84 Systems in a dual rack layout, which can be placed underneath an office desk. > >There are H960 Racks with RK05 drives. > >Additionally VT100 Terminals, RA drives, RC 25 drives and media, Tape drives, spare boards, RL drives and media, RX01 and 02 Spares. > >Manuals and documentation. > >There are some SMD drives (Fujitsu), a RP06 drive. > >Furthermore I'm offering NEXT Stations (mono and color) and MicroVaxen, mostly SCSI System (dual BA23 Systems). Additionally "bigger" Vaxen. > >More: Tektronix Storage Tube Display, Tektronix Computer, Wang Computer. > >And HP1000 System like A700 and A900, HP 1000 E/F CPUs and spare boards > >There are some HP9845 Computer. > >Feel free to contact me off-list. > >If you are willing to spend some $/? to my campaign, I possible will be able to order the roofer at the beginnig of October. > >Andreas > > I am using an old IE browser under Windows XP, so I can't see the stuff unless I update - which I can't do since it is not my computer. Any possibility of making the stuff compatible? Jerome Fine

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

[SPAM key] - FS: DEC PDP11 gear and other stuff

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>aswood at t-online.de wrote: >Dear listeners of this list and too whom it may concern or might be interested, > >due to support my Thatched Roof Restauration Project at Indiegogo http://igg.me/at/reetdach I'm going to sell at lot of stuff from my collection: > >There are PDP11 Systems: 11/23Plus, 11/24, 11/34, 11/44, 11/73, 11/84 and 11/93. Either only the cpu or as complete systems with disk drives or RL drives, e.g. there is a DecSystem with a 11/23Plus and two RL02, nice 11/84 Systems in a dual rack layout, which can be placed underneath an office desk. > >There are H960 Racks with RK05 drives. > >Additionally VT100 Terminals, RA drives, RC 25 drives and media, Tape drives, spare boards, RL drives and media, RX01 and 02 Spares. > >Manuals and documentation. > >There are some SMD drives (Fujitsu), a RP06 drive. > >Furthermore I'm offering NEXT Stations (mono and color) and MicroVaxen, mostly SCSI System (dual BA23 Systems). Additionally "bigger" Vaxen. > >More: Tektronix Storage Tube Display, Tektronix Computer, Wang Computer. > >And HP1000 System like A700 and A900, HP 1000 E/F CPUs and spare boards > >There are some HP9845 Computer. > >Feel free to contact me off-list. > >If you are willing to spend some $/? to my campaign, I possible will be able to order the roofer at the beginnig of October. > >Andreas > I am using an old IE browser under Windows XP, so I can't see the stuff unless I update - which I can't do since it is not my computer. Any possibility of making the stuff compatible? Jerome Fine

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Making images of old CDs

by abuse＠cabal.org.uk

Hi, The recent thread on AB20 reminded me I have a large pile of CDs from the 1990s that could do with being imaged and uploaded to archive.org. What's the best free Unix tool[0] for doing this? Sure, I know about dd and cdparanoia, but those only extract data and CDDA respectively, and I'd prefer produce an actual image complete with TOC, subchannels, etc. To *use* the data, I can always transcode from that into something lossier such as FLAC :) but the reverse transformation is not possible. Failing that, I can go off and *write* one, but I'd rather not spend the effort if something suitable already exists and has already been well-tested and confirmed to not make subtle errors in rips. (Bonus points for tips on how to do the same with Blu-Ray discs, since I may as well archive them now rather than leave it until the 2030s.) [0] I say this otherwise some berk will pipe up with "you can do that with SuperMegaRipper Pro from Malware Inc. for Windows 9, and it costs just $299 for a 60 day licence". I'd rather toss the discs in the bin.

11 years, 11 months

17
20
0 0

ID Text Processor (e.g. nroff/troff

by cclist＠sydex.com

Can anyone identify the text formatting program that the following is meant for? Looks kind of like nroff, but it's not (particularly those @-leadin sequences): CHAP5 \format,16,60,66,8,60 \define,ref $&1 \title,c=- #p - \block,i8 \nojust \setu1 \seth at A \setss[] \seto! \double \page211 \blank \skip10 \center,b,u,=Chapter 5 at D Biomass, Production and the Fishery \skip6 15.1 Introduction1 \setu1,notblanks A general review of the central and upper Amazon fishery has been attempted based on comparative yield data (Bayley 1981). Thanks for any pointers, Chuck

11 years, 11 months

9
17
0 0

Ultra5 FFS

by chris＠mainecoon.com

A member of my staff has an Ultra5 that's destined for e-waste unless someone from the list wants it. FFS or pick it up in Santa Rosa, California. -- Christian Kennedy Ph.D. chris at mainecoon.com AF6AP | DB00000692 | PG00029419 http://www.mainecoon.com PGP KeyID 108DAB97 PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97 "Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration..."

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

FS: DEC PDP11 gear and other stuff

by aswood＠t-online.de

Dear listeners of this list and too whom it may concern or might be interested, due to support my Thatched Roof Restauration Project at Indiegogo http://igg.me/at/reetdach I'm going to sell at lot of stuff from my collection: There are PDP11 Systems: 11/23Plus, 11/24, 11/34, 11/44, 11/73, 11/84 and 11/93. Either only the cpu or as complete systems with disk drives or RL drives, e.g. there is a DecSystem with a 11/23Plus and two RL02, nice 11/84 Systems in a dual rack layout, which can be placed underneath an office desk. There are H960 Racks with RK05 drives. Additionally VT100 Terminals, RA drives, RC 25 drives and media, Tape drives, spare boards, RL drives and media, RX01 and 02 Spares. Manuals and documentation. There are some SMD drives (Fujitsu), a RP06 drive. Furthermore I'm offering NEXT Stations (mono and color) and MicroVaxen, mostly SCSI System (dual BA23 Systems). Additionally "bigger" Vaxen. More: Tektronix Storage Tube Display, Tektronix Computer, Wang Computer. And HP1000 System like A700 and A900, HP 1000 E/F CPUs and spare boards There are some HP9845 Computer. Feel free to contact me off-list. If you are willing to spend some $/? to my campaign, I possible will be able to order the roofer at the beginnig of October. Andreas

11 years, 11 months

6
8
0 0

VT100 Power Supply

by matt＠9track.net

I'm currently restoring a couple of VT100 terminals. After checking the power supplies over and replacing the odd capacitor on the output side I've had both of them running on a dummy load. They seem to work OK but I've noticed that R27, which is a large 13W power resistor, gets quite hot after only a few minutes of being powered on. This resistor is part of a snubber circuit on the primary side of the main transformer. After about 5 minutes I measure a temperature of around 95C (200F) on both power supplies. Another component that appears to have been quite hot over time (burnt PCB) is R55, but perhaps this is just an underrated part? Does anyone have a VT100 and can confirm whether this is 'normal' operation? Many Thanks, Matt

11 years, 11 months

6
12
0 0

PDP-8/A hardware weirdness

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

-----Original Message----- On 01/09/2014 19:45, Charles wrote: > I'm having really bizarre hardware problems with my 8/A (M8315/6/7, 32K, > programmer?s panel, limited function panel, two RL02?s, OS/8). Most of the > time it works perfectly, including last night, but today it began refusing > to boot OS/8 again. > > If I toggle in a short program (say, to read the keyboard and echo to the > printer) it works. So far so good. > > BUT if I hit the boot key (which doesn't boot correctly, although it does > access both RL02's briefly), then halt the system, then run the test > program, I can see while single-stepping that after two instructions it > jumps to location 0 instead and thereafter into space!! > > Even more oddly, halting the system again, then running the test program > again, works normally without the unwanted jump to location 0... every > time. Until I hit BOOT, halt, and try and run it, then it jumps away > again... > > The only thing that occurs to me right away is that power-fail & restart > has an option to jump to address zero. But I've got that option turned > off. Time to get out the logic analyer and scope... unless this weirdness > is something you've heard of before? Any hints appreciated! > > thanks > Charles > I have a PDP-8/A which I've been slowly repairing for some time now. I got to the stage where I could run simple programs from the console or >from virtual paper tape but trying to boot from floppy or running OS/8 would result in symptoms like you describe. The last time I powered it on however, the console was totally unresponsive. After doing various checks I found that there was excessive ripple from the power supply and the -5V in particular was a mess. I haven't got round to investigating this problem yet. I would check the power supply first with the scope and go from there. It's probably best to check it under load too, like when you press the boot key. Matt ------------------------------------- Thanks, but that's the first thing I always check... PS voltages are fine. I learned some more today... interrupts make a JMS 0 and somewhere in the boot process, apparently OS/8 is enabling interrupts. Both the RL8A controller card and the SLU (console TTY port) can interrupt (and in fact the SLU was creating the interrupt) . Explicitly disabling interrupts with an IOF before running the echo program eliminates the jump to 0. Does anyone know if OS/8 uses the interrupt facility of the RL8A controller? Not sure if this is a problem or not with the interrupts also coming from the console and holding the int request asserted... However. More possible clues: at one point I was applying finger-tip pressure to the RL8A card, hit the boot switch and OS/8 came up! I started listing a directory, which worked fine until I let go the pressure on the board - the system crashed immediately. Can't get it to boot again except it will print "V" on the tty instead of the "." prompt and it won't do anything else (endless loop in zero page but ultimately waiting for drive at a skip-on-done instruction). Ran some diagnostics. DJKKBA (CPU exerciser) ran 8 passes without a failure. DHKMAD (memory checkerboard) also ran until I got tired of waiting. AJRLHA (RL seek/fctn) works on both drives. But - AJRLIA (read/write) on a scratch pack fails immediately. Then I unloaded the drives and tried AJRLAC (RL8A diskless diagnostic) a.k.a. controller card test - MANY failures all involving the middle 4 bits of the 12 bit data starting with DAR - silo. If this were an interrupt problem it'd be all bits, not the middle nibble! So I believe that a 4-bit TTL device (buffer, RAM, ?) on the card has failed. Hoping for a bad solder joint which would explain how flexing the card temporarily fixed but then made it worse. More likely a defective IC (pin or bond wire inside the plastic DIP). E13, an 8234, is the first suspect the next time I feel like wrestling with this. Anyone got an RL8A (M8433) card I can buy or borrow? thanks Charles

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Free: 9-Track Pertec tape drive

by silent700＠gmail.com

I have one AT&T 1600/6250 in a rackable case (no rails.) There is no obvious model # but it's an HP rebadge, likely of the 88780. It has the Pertec (non-SCSI) interface so it's of limited use to me but may be a good fit for a minicomputer. Other than powering up, I haven't tested it, having no suitable interface, but it looks clean. If I have time I may be able to run a blank tape through its self-test routines. Pickup is in the NW Chicago suburbs (60070.) If you're coming in for VCFMW, that would be a perfect time. It's a bit heavy to bring down to the show but home is not too far from the venue. -j

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

PDP-8/A hardware weirdness

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I'm having really bizarre hardware problems with my 8/A (M8315/6/7, 32K, programmer?s panel, limited function panel, two RL02?s, OS/8). Most of the time it works perfectly, including last night, but today it began refusing to boot OS/8 again. If I toggle in a short program (say, to read the keyboard and echo to the printer) it works. So far so good. BUT if I hit the boot key (which doesn't boot correctly, although it does access both RL02's briefly), then halt the system, then run the test program, I can see while single-stepping that after two instructions it jumps to location 0 instead and thereafter into space!! Even more oddly, halting the system again, then running the test program again, works normally without the unwanted jump to location 0... every time. Until I hit BOOT, halt, and try and run it, then it jumps away again... The only thing that occurs to me right away is that power-fail & restart has an option to jump to address zero. But I've got that option turned off. Time to get out the logic analyer and scope... unless this weirdness is something you've heard of before? Any hints appreciated! thanks Charles

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Whatever happened to VAXELN?

by krfkeith＠gmail.com

And furthermore, does anyone have any documentation on it? I'm curious as to what it looked like inside. The only thing I could find was a PDF about a very early Ada compiler for it. -- Thanks, Kevin

11 years, 11 months

5
8
0 0

HP 150 power supply

by simski＠dds.nl

Hello all Since we got 4 of them, allw ith a broken power supply, I was wondering if someone has already stumbled upon a solution. i have not open them yet, but i think the problems are the same on all of them. googling on hp150 is not the way to go unless you want info for modern devices having 150 in their names... -- Met vriendelijke Groet, Simon Claessen drukknop.nl

11 years, 11 months

4
7
0 0

FS: DEC PDP11 gear and other stuff

by nw＠retrocomputingtasmania.com

Just to hastily follow-up and divert everyone's attention from my miss-fired reply (meant for Andreas and not the list), I found a recent bitsavers document which suggests the drives I have (Emulex SD590s) are not SMD drives as I originally thought, but DEC SDI (the host side is DSA a forerunner of MSCP?) - something I've never heard of before. Is anyone familiar with these drives that might know if the KDA50-Q controller is suitable? (EK-KDA5Q-UG-001_KDA50-Q_Users_Guide_Nov84.pdf) http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/emulex/SM9050501-A_SD59X_S… I get the impression these drives were really intended to be used with VAX-BI based systems and I will be out of luck trying to get them to run on a simpler QBUS MicroVAX system.

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Whatever happened to VAXELN?

by johnwallace4＠yahoo.co.uk

Q: What was VAXELN written in? A: The software for the target (OS, drivers, tools, etc) was largely written in VAXELN's own PASCAL-like language, EPASCAL. The intention was that complete VAXELN systems (including drivers) could be developed with no need for knowledge of VAX assembler. There was at one time a VAXELN Source Kit available, which had very little assembler in it. There intentionally wasn't enough in the Source Kit to rebuild a complete VAXELN OS. In later VAXELNs, other languages besides EPASCAL were added: VAX C, VAX Pascal, VAX Ada. Maybe FORTRAN. And VAXELN's own debugger was supplemented by a host/target variant of the standard VAX/VMS debugger. VAXELN V4.5 or later (mid 1990s?) is a good place to aim for if you want a fully functional version, rather than a historically interesting version. Q: What's VAXELN's current status? A: Retired, since a long time ago. Not ported to Alpha. VAXELN customers were "encouraged" to move to VxWorks for Alpha, which would have been a major effort. I wasn't aware of anyone in UK (or Europe) that bothered making the move. Q: Who owns VAXELN now? A: Unclear. It became part of DEC's Embedded + Realtime group, which was eventually sold off (by Compaq) to SMART Modular Technologies and has since had various owners in the world of high end embedded/RT systems. When I last looked, last year, Emerson Network Power owned at least E+RT's PICMG hardware, but that again now seems to have moved elsewhere... It has been claimed in comp.os.vms that VAXELN wasn't included when CPQ sold the E+RT stuff, which is entirely plausible. Definitive info welcome. Q: What documentation is there for VAXELN? A: The documentation that exists is to DEC's usual standards. Hardcopy and bookreader versions of most VAXELN docs exist; the bookreader stuff is available online. I am not aware of PS or PDF versions (there were internal-only PS versions). There was/is a PC version of Bookreader, for those that don't yet have a VMS system. The VAXELN Technical Summary is an excellent mini-book, if you happen across one. It'd be nice if there was a copy online; I'm not aware of one. The excellent VAX Realtime User's Guide, EK-VAXRT-UG001 (1986!) covers using VAX for realtime applications on both VMS and VAXELN, in some considerable depth. Also not immediately locatable online, sadly. DEC EduServices used to have some nice training materials for VAXELN, going back a very long time. Unlikely to be online. There have been occasional VAXELN-related discussions in comp.os,vms, e.g. on 1 March 2007 I replied re VAXELN to a query on "History of VMS and related operating systems", see e.g. http://unix.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.os.vms/2007-03/msg00014.html (Google Groups links are not helpful as they are very likely to rot over time). hth john wallace

11 years, 11 months

3
2
0 0

FS: large lot of DEC gear in MD, US

by linimon＠lonesome.com

I got these links off a Facebook friend. I am (fortunately) halfway across the country. Apologies if someone already posted this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/161405828782 http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/sys/4596145205.html mcl

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Mysterious rtVAX 1000 Failure

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have started playing with the rtVAX 1000 I collected last year. It was running OK when then was a sudden bang and the machine stopped. Not even the fans will run. There was no smell and no smoke, so I knew immediately that it can't be the mains filter capacitors, which always fail on these power supplies. I have opened it up and cannot see any damage in the PSU, the CPU, the memory, or any of the other boards. I am sure it must be the power supply, but I really can't see any damage. The power supply is one of the ASTEC ones common in the MicroVAX II. My first step is going to be to test the PSU with a dummy load using light bulbs (still haven't built a board for a dummy load) and with the fans connected, but nothing else. Will also check for ripple at the same time. There are two outputs from the PSU that I don't fully understand, one is P OK, I am guessing that means *something* is OK, but not sure what, power perhaps, but what power?. The other is called LTC, I have no idea what that one means. Can anyone enlighten me? Any other ideas? Regards Rob

11 years, 11 months

5
14
0 0

PDP-8/S Incompatibilities......

by lbickley＠bickleywest.com

This is a followup to my previous email (attached)... I just finished reading the PDP-5 Users Manual - and discovered the following statement regarding the "operate instruction" (note: words in parentheses are mine): "Any logical combination of bits within this group (Group 1) can be combined into one microinstruction. For example, it is possible to assign ones to bite 5,6 and 11; but it is not logical to assign ones to bits 8 and 9 simultaneously since they specify conflicting operations (bits 8&9 are rotate right and rotate left). If RAL or RAR is specified, neither CMA or CML may be specified, and conversely. If RTL or RTR is specified, neither CMA, CML or IAC may be specified, and conversely." So the PDP-5 was even more restrictive with regard to microinstructions than the PDP-8/S! Matter of fact, I'm now even more impressed how Saul Dinman was able to design almost all of the functional capabilities of the PDP-8 into the PDP-8/S's compact package. In addition, while the PDP-8/S was only about half the performance of a PDP-5, the price of the PDP-5 was $27,000 while the price of the PDP-8/S was about $10,000 (4KW core, including TTY). In that context, it was a pretty good deal... Cheers, Lyle ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:31:45 -0700 From: Lyle Bickley <lbickley at bickleywest.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: PDP-8/S Incompatibilities...... I've had my PDP-8/S up and running for some time - but have recently experienced failures using some PDP-8 software. My 8/S passes all the DEC diagnostics - and it runs FOCAL-69 and 71 perfectly. So I decided to track down what was causing some programs to fail - and I discovered that the problem is PDP-8/S incompatibilities. PDP-8/S "Reality" ----------------- The PDP-8/S User Manual lies! It makes the following claim regarding Group 1 Operate Instructions: "The only restriction on combining OPR 1 (Group 1) operations within one instruction, other than logical conflicts, is that a rotate operation (bits 8, 9 or 10) may not be combined with the increment AC operation (bit 11) since they are executed during the same bit times." I decided to test that claim on my PDP-8/S and got the following results (via single stepping through the test program below.) The "8/S" column is Link AC contents (L AAAA): *200 Page 1 1 0200 *200 2 /AC 8/S NOTES 3 00200 7200 CLA /0 0 0000 4 00201 7201 CLA IAC /1 0 0001 5 00202 7326 CLA CLL CML RTL /2 0 0002 6 00203 7325 CLA CLL CML IAC RAL /3 1 0003 8/I AND UP 7 00204 7307 CLA CLL IAC RTL /4 1 0001 8/I AND UP 8 00205 7327 CLA CLL CML IAC RTL /6 1 0003 8/I AND UP 9 00206 7215 CLA IAC RAL RAR /10 1 0003 6120 10 00207 7203 CLA IAC BSW /100 1 0001 8/E AND UP 11 00210 7332 CLA CLL CML RTR /2000 0 2000 12 00211 7354 CLA CLL CMA RAR RAL /3776 1 7777 8/I OR 8/L 13 00212 7350 CLA CLL CMA RAR /3777 1 7777 14 00213 7330 CLA CLL CML RAR /4000 0 4000 15 00214 7352 CLA CLL CMA RTR /5777 1 7777 16 00215 7333 CLA CLL CML IAC RTR /6000 1 0003 8/I AND UP 17 00216 7346 CLA CLL CMA RTL /7775 1 7777 18 00217 7344 CLA CLL CMA RAL /7776 1 7777 19 00220 7240 CLA CMA /7777 ? 7777 20 00221 7402 HLT 21 $ No detected errors No links generated Note that all of the CMA shift instructions failed - even though the test (from Programming Languages) thought they should work in pre-8/I machines. At first I thought my PDP-8/S was failing - until I found the following from the PDP-8/S FAQ (What is a PDP-8/S?): "Compatibility: The core of the PDP-8 instruction set is present, but there are a sufficient number of incompatibilities that, as with the PDP-5, many otherwise portable "Family of 8" programs will not run on the PDP-8/S. Perhaps the worst incompatibility is that the Group 1 OPR instruction CMA cannot be combined with any of the rotate instructions; as with the PDP-8, IAC also cannot be combined with rotate." I decided to understand WHY this happens - and the answer is in the PDP-8/S Maintenance Manual and the PDP-8/S schematics. I've abreviated the sequence of execution below. (The "Ax" references are bit timimg): Group 1 Instruction Sequencing ------------------------------ Fetch ----- A12 Set or Clear Link, Clear AC per instruction Execute ------- A00 For right rotation (A00-01), shift AC+L together once or twice per instruction A(00-11) IAC: Adds one to AC CMA: Complements the AC IAC*CMA: Complement and add one to AC Left Rotate: AC+L shifted right 11 or 12 times per instruction A12 IAC: Complements L on overflow (CMA appears in gating, but has no effect) As can be seen, while the system clears the AC and clears or sets the Link during Fetch - it rotates right BEFORE complementing the AC! It also attempts to execute a complement of the AC at the SAME TIME as a left rotate - which simply does not work! Finally, just to verify the correctness of the test program, I single stepped it on my PDP-8/E and got the same results as the SIMH trace below: SIMH PDP8 Trace of the above: ----------------------------- sim> sh cpu history PC L AC MQ ea IR 00200 1 7777 0000 CLA 00201 1 0000 0000 CLA IAC 00202 1 0001 0000 CLA CLL CML RTL 00203 0 0002 0000 CLA CLL CML IAC RAL 00204 0 0003 0000 CLA CLL IAC RTL 00205 0 0004 0000 CLA CLL CML IAC RTL 00206 0 0006 0000 CLA IAC RAL RAR 00207 0 0001 0000 CLA IAC BSW 00210 0 0100 0000 CLA CLL CML RTR 00211 0 2000 0000 CLA CLL CMA RAL RAR 00212 0 7354 0000 CLA CLL CMA RAR 00213 1 3777 0000 CLA CLL CML RAR 00214 0 4000 0000 CLA CLL CMA RTR 00215 1 5777 0000 CLA CLL CML IAC RTR 00216 0 6000 0000 CLA CLL CMA RTL 00217 1 7775 0000 CLA CLL CMA RAL 00220 1 7776 0000 STA 00221 1 7777 0000 HLT sim> Cheers, Lyle -- Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero" -- Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

ISO 1/4" SCSI tape maintenance manuals

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Anyone have copies of the service manuals for Tandberg, Archive, or Wangtek SCSI QIC tape drives TDC 3600/3800, Archive 2160S/2150S, etc? I picked up a copy of the product manual for the TDC3600 series, and I realized that I don't have any maintenance manuals for the SCSI QIC products.

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

4116 -> 4164 mod... Pin 1 question

by brain＠jbrain.com

On a 4116, pin 1 is -5V, while the 4164 is N/C. Every guide online says to snip off pin 1 if migrating to 4164s in a 4116 footprint, but I don't understand why. If pin 1 on a 4164 is truly N/C, then why does it matter if the pin is inserted? Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

11 years, 11 months

4
3
0 0

Tapes

by aswood＠t-online.de

Hello all, I got a batch of orginal Convex tapes with ConvexOS for C1xx, C2xx, C34xx an C38xx. This tape seems to be stored in a quite moisty environemnt and are partial molded. Since these tapes, their content is of high value for me, beside of this I don't know if ConvvexOS is somewhere archived, how to process these tapes to be readed successfully. @Al: shall I send this tape to you before starting my own experiments? Andreas

11 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

Some Altair questions, if I may..

by dm561＠torfree.net

----- Original Message ----- > Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:49:32 -0500 > From: "drlegendre ." <drlegendre at gmail.com> > ..,.For swaps, I have ... a couple of MM5314N > display drivers, as used in Nixie tube clocks - the latter sell for > $20-25/ea, IIRC. ----- Reply: My MM5314Ns are digital clock chips, not display drivers, and they have 7 segment outputs not really suited for Nixie tubes at all... m

11 years, 11 months

4
9
0 0

Jeff Russ at the University of Indiana?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Coming across some old PDP-8 files from him today reminded me, has ANYONE heard anything from Jeff Russ? He may have retired by now. I think the last time I saw him was when I went out there to visit in the early 2000's.

11 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

picking up a collection of old computers

by info＠drukknop.nl

Well, we finally managed to pick up the huge collection of computers >from a basement in enschede, The Netherlands. Is was quite a project. after visiting the place to get an idea about what there was and how to get it out of there, we made a plan. the key problem was that almost 90 percent had to come through a small hatch 80x80cm. :-) and the collection included pdp11's, Control Data diskpack drives, microvaxes, SGI's, IBM RT machines, an IBM system/36 and a lot more heavy stuff. We rounded up around 15 people and a lot of transporting hardware an we managed to get everything out in one day. :-) To have a souvenir of the occasion we set up some camera's taking a picture every 5 seconds and made a nice film: Edited video: http://vimeo.com/ramdyne/dndexodus Raw footage interior: https://vimeo.com/103064036 Raw footage exterior: http://hack42.sa007.nl/exodus/timelapse.avi and https://vimeo.com/103081276 Info page: https://hack42.nl/wiki/DND_Kelder_leeghalen We are still repackaging things and havent even started to look in boxed. :-( -- Met vriendelijke Groet, Simon Claessen hack42.nl

11 years, 11 months

13
16
0 0

How to quickly install a DC300 tension band

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Since I've never seen this described anywhere Older carts are easy, the reels and roller are held in place, the later ones are not since the cover holds them down. Assuming you're right-handed: Put the cart on a table so the capstan roller is to your left Take the band and place it on the capstan roller, pull it taught with your right index finger and snake it between the two reels. Put your thumb on the bottom reel (the one that normally has little tape on it) your pinky or next-over finger on the capstan roller and index finder on the other reel. Rotate one of the reels so the tape is tight, and apply pressure with all three fingers to keep the tape tight. Place the band across the bottom of the reel which has the most tape on it (depending on if the tape was at the load point), by moving your index finger towards the appropriate bottom white band roller. Make sure the band across the bottom of the tape is near the center of the tape roll (you don't want it popping over or under the reel in the next step). Now, you tighten the belt. This is the tricky part. The band really wants to go under one of the reels as you do this. Place the band around the white roller closest to the supply reel, making sure that the roller doesn't move upwards on the pin. Bring it over to the other roller apply tension and pop it on. Hopefully, the band hasn't popped under something as you do this. The most often thing that happens is the band goes under the capstan roller or the supply reel. Now, the belt is on, but there is some slack in the tape. Take the band across the reel having the least amount of tape and move it away from the reel, releasing the tension on it. Spin the reel to take up the tape slack, and release the band. The things I had the hardest time with were the rollers moving up and down, and thinking of a simple way to tension the tape; move the band away.. duh..

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

OpenVMS documentation

by pontus＠Update.UU.SE

Hi I quite a lot OpenVMS manuals that needs to go to make room for other documentation. It is paperback for version 6.0, 6.2, 7.0 and 7.2. Unfortunately no complete set and some dupes. If there is any interest I'll make a complete inventory. There is also older gray and orange wall type manuals. Price is free for the cost of shipping from Uppsala, Sweden. Unless a bidding war ensues of course :D Beer money is always welcome. Regards, Pontus.

11 years, 11 months

4
8
0 0

Zilog System 8000

by cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

Hi, we got a Zilog S8000 this weekend. The system is really nice and in good shape. Thanks to Oliver Lehmann, there's a bit of documentation for this system (seems to be very rare nowadays). Our system had several errors during bring up diagnostics that were caused by bad contacts in several IC sockets (could be cured by pulling out all socketed ICs and reinserting them). But there's one error left, and alas, our system is a Model 32 that is a bit newer than the Model 31/31plus, the CPU board is different and the error number is not in the hardware reference manual. The system also doesn't boot successfully from the SMD disk, it is able to load the primary bootstrap, but trying to load the secondary bootstrap immediatly returns an error. Here's what comes out on the terminal: System 8000 HPCPU Monitor 10.1 - Press START to Load System MONITOR POWER UP DIAGNOS *** ERROR #0402 <03> 3600 3600 5555 TICS ACTIVE PERIPHERALS: SMC TCC SSB0 COMPLETE MAXSEG=<3F> > stand/boot *** SMC ERROR [ Question: What is error 0402 ? Did in the meantime more documents or even tapes (ZEUS, SADIE) show up? Some first pictures can be found here: http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pics/s8000/ Christian

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

picking up a collection of old computers

by mtapley＠swri.edu

On Aug 29, 2014, at 12:00 PM, Simon Claessen wrote: > Edited video: http://vimeo.com/ramdyne/dndexodus Just ?. BRAVO! Not a great idea to stand up and cheer at my desk, but I might watch this video many times this afternoon. This makes my whole week! *How* did all that get *in* there? - Mark

11 years, 11 months

3
2
0 0

PDP-11/10 handles and switches

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

I found several spare switches and handles for what I believe would be a PDP-11/10 or similar. The handles are white and are marked 1210785. The switches are C&K 7121 (on-on) and 7128(on-momentary on). Can anyone confirm? Thanks, Kyle

11 years, 11 months

2
3
0 0

IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege

by cctalk＠fahimi.net

They came standard on the industrial series of monitors from IBM. <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> </div><div>Date:08/29/2014 6:30 PM (GMT-08:00) </div><div>To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> </div><div>Subject: Re: IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege </div><div> </div>On 08/29/2014 04:39 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote: > > On Aug 29, 2014, at 16:12 , Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: >> At one time in my dark past, I had a polarized anti-reflection >> screen to stick on to my CRT. Far superior than the black mesh >> gizmos. It was tinted green also and so could be used on green- or >> white-phosphor CRTs very effectively. > > That screen might have worked on color CRTs, too. The mesh ones: Not > so much. Apparently, the stuff is still made: http://www.apioptics.com/circular-polarizers.html --Chuck

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege

by Wayne.Smith＠warnerbros.com

> Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 23:14:05 -0700 > From: "Mark J. Blair" <nf6x at nf6x.net> > Subject: IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege > > I do have one misgiving about getting this machine, though: I don't like orange CRTs. I mean, > I REALLY don't like them. So, at the risk of being virtually tarred and feathered, I shall don my > asbestos long johns and ask a sacrilegious question: Is there any prior art regarding swapping > out the CRT in a 5155 for one with a less offensive phosphor, such as green, white, etc.? Perhaps you could swap in a Toshiba 9-inch green monitor from a Kaypro 2 or 4. Seems to have the same 4-pin connector, and used Kaypros are cheap. There's a standalone CRT on Ebay right now, including yoke, for $19.99 + exorbitant shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CRT-Out-of-Kaypro-II-Computer-Toshiba-9-Monochrome-… E64257-/331275168676?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d2189eba4

11 years, 11 months

6
11
0 0

HP 150 Ethernet software

by fozztexx＠fozztexx.com

Seeing the discussions about the HP150 and the HP-IL stuff reminded me that I have an HP 150 with the 3COM Ethernet card, but I've never found any software for it. I checked hpmuseum.net and they don't have software, and didn't even have a picture of the card until I provided them some pictures of mine. Does anyone happen to have the software?

11 years, 11 months

2
4
0 0

DECwriter, VT-62, PDT-11 on eBay

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Not my auction -- just noticed this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computer-PDT-11-Console-and-Digital-Equipme… Apparently includes software and documentation as well, who knows how much or what it is. Local pick-up only (in MA), but a nice haul for someone, for a decent price. I think this was listed last week and didn't sell... - Josh

11 years, 11 months

10
9
0 0

cctalk Digest, Vol 132, Issue 56

by afahimi＠alumni.usc.edu

I am not sure about finding a CRT that will find that housing. It is VERY tight in there and the cables are routed every which way. However, you could always use the component out with another monitor if you wish. The 5155 uses a std. CGA video card. I've hooked up a IBM 5144 to it in the past and it does make for a sharper image. -Ali -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of cctalk-request at classiccmp.org Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 9:00 AM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: cctalk Digest, Vol 132, Issue 56 Send cctalk mailing list submissions to cctalk at classiccmp.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to cctalk-request at classiccmp.org You can reach the person managing the list at cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."

11 years, 11 months

15
24
0 0

DECwriter, VT-62, PDT-11 on eBay

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

>Ethan Dicks wrote: >>On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 8:16 PM, Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> wrote: > > >>http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computer-PDT-11-Console-and-Digital-Equipme… >> >>Apparently includes software and documentation as well, who knows how much >>or what it is. >> >Has anyone here ever used an application that required a VT62? I've >read the docs but never encountered any software that used the >features unique to the model. > Under RT-11 and RSTS/E, the KED editor supports the VT100, the VT52 and the VT62 terminals. DEC produced 9 variants of KED: Ked.SAV, K52.SAV and K62.SAV for normal RT-11 jobs under both UnMapped and Mapped RT-11 Monitors although with a V05.06 Mapped RT-11 Monitor, the cut / paste buffer is much larger. Kex.SAV, K5x,SAV and K6x.SAV for RT-11 jobs under a Mapped Monitor probably expected to be executed as system jobs. Ker.SAV, K5r.SAV and K6r.SAV for RSTS/E jobs. So there is software which is specific for the VT62. Since I have never had a VT62, I have never used K62. Because I usually execute under Ersatz-11 which supports more than 24 line displays (and more than either 80 columns OR 132 columns), I added code to the VT100 variants to support the VT420 which supports 48 lines. The executable files are K42.SAV, K4x.SAV and K4r.SAV, respectively. In fact, since Ersatz-11 supports up to 255 lines by 255 columns, K42.SAV also does so, BUT not at the same time (since the screen buffer would then overflow the available memory). In practice, even using the Win32 variant of Ersatz-11, the maximum screen size my video card and monitor are able to support is 79 lines by 120 columns in narrow mode and 79 lines by 198 columns in wide mode. So there is never a problem if I stick to those values. The code and data in K42.SAV have been optimized for use as a background job under a Mapped RT-11 Monitor when VBGEXE is also used so that the cut / paste buffer is MUCH larger. In addition, K42.SAV interrogates the screen size (JUST ONCE) immediately after the first file name is provided, so the user can also use a VT100 screen size in addition to any of the possible sizes which Ersatz-11 can support. Consequently, no unnecessary characters are wasted on the screen buffer. Jerome Fine

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

RP03 disk pack imaging

by roeapeterson＠gmail.com

Does anyone out there have the ability to read and image an RP03 disk pack? I have a rare opportunity to recover a rare unix version known as UNIMAX, a hybrid V7/SysV that runs on a 256k 11/34 or /45 system. Thanks for any help!

11 years, 11 months

8
15
0 0

VAX 4000-100A Firmware Update Utility

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I have a VAX 4000-100A with possibly faulty firmware, version KA52 V1.3 VMB 2.15. I would try to upgrade the firmware, I found on Maintenance Documents a paragraph describing how to upgrade it, having a ROM image file or a bootable tape. Anybody has some of it? Thanks Andrea

11 years, 11 months

5
5
0 0

What DVD Drive for an Itanium RX2620

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I picked up an RX2620 recently. It came without an internal slimline DVD drive. I believe it is IDE, but I don't know if the connector is standard (it doesn't match a connector on a laptop DVD drive I found). I have not been able to find any parts info for this machine. What should I be looking for to get a slimline DVD drive for my RX2620? Regards Rob

11 years, 11 months

7
10
0 0

Seeking a couple 47ohm 8-pin resistor networks

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

For some last minute twiddling with the P112 project, I ordered some parts and managed to buy SIP resistor packs with isolated resistors instead of bussed. Would someone here happen to have two 47-ohm 8-pin bussed SIP resistors they can send me? I'm trying to avoid paying $5-$10 for shipping on 20 cents worth of parts. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

11 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

So, I decided to buy an IBM 5155 Portable PC on the eBay, in part due to it being a lot cheaper than other 51xx machines I've seen listed recently since I started paying attention. Maybe it'll satisfy my desire for an early IBM PC, and I won't need to spend money on another? Yeah, dream on. :) I'll try putting an XT CF Lite into it; I ordered one in kit form, since soldering on the surface-mount CF socket doesn't intimidate me. I do have one misgiving about getting this machine, though: I don't like orange CRTs. I mean, I REALLY don't like them. So, at the risk of being virtually tarred and feathered, I shall don my asbestos long johns and ask a sacrilegious question: Is there any prior art regarding swapping out the CRT in a 5155 for one with a less offensive phosphor, such as green, white, etc.? I'm diving into my flame-proof bunker now... ;) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

11 years, 11 months

5
14
0 0

Mysterious rtVAX 1000 Failure

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

Just done the light bulb test and get no output at all from the PSU on 5V, 12V, P OK and DC OK, all zero, the fans don't move. And yet, there is no physical sign of any damage in the PSU. Regards Rob From: Robert Jarratt [mailto:robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com] Sent: 28 August 2014 18:53 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts (cctalk at classiccmp.org) Subject: Mysterious rtVAX 1000 Failure I have started playing with the rtVAX 1000 I collected last year. It was running OK when then was a sudden bang and the machine stopped. Not even the fans will run. There was no smell and no smoke, so I knew immediately that it can't be the mains filter capacitors, which always fail on these power supplies. I have opened it up and cannot see any damage in the PSU, the CPU, the memory, or any of the other boards. I am sure it must be the power supply, but I really can't see any damage. The power supply is one of the ASTEC ones common in the MicroVAX II. My first step is going to be to test the PSU with a dummy load using light bulbs (still haven't built a board for a dummy load) and with the fans connected, but nothing else. Will also check for ripple at the same time. There are two outputs from the PSU that I don't fully understand, one is P OK, I am guessing that means *something* is OK, but not sure what, power perhaps, but what power?. The other is called LTC, I have no idea what that one means. Can anyone enlighten me? Any other ideas? Regards Rob

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Burroughs small system (Drum memory?) on eBay

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

The seller says it's a TC-500.? Googling brings up some interesting info. http://www.ebay.com/itm/s/271583550375

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Some Altair questions, if I may..

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Working away on the Altair 8800 restoration.. So the display/control board ("d/c") is now installed, and I'm running into my first roadblock. I ask your understanding in advance, as my familiarity with digital logic is pretty weak. This machine has a Processor Tech. MB-1 mainboard in it. Full-width, 16 slots, and some mods I don't understand. First, there's an LM309 (TO-3 case) mounted to the board, apparently providing reg'd 5VCD to the normally 8V (un-reg'd) line. Why would that be there? Every plug-in board I've seen - which isn't all that many, admittedly - has its own regulator for 5V on-board. Secondly, on the far left side of the board, there are several columns of resistors that seem to be doing a couple different things - some are pulling-up various groups of lines to what seems like 1/2 of VCC, others are either there for termination or some other unknown function. All together, close to 100 resistors installed there.. and it's clearly a mod (at least partly) as a line of 50 new holes was drilled to accommodate them. Anyone know what's up with this stuff? Why it's there? At this point, my sense is that I need to remove all of it, as they don't exist in the original build - and I may even cut the main board in two - totally lop-off the leftmost 12 sockets along with the resitors & reg.

11 years, 11 months

13
55
0 0

IBM-branded Microsoft Assembler (MASM); DOS 3.3 Stuff.

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

As I understand it, there were IBM-branded versions of the Microsoft Macro Assembler(MASM) prior to version 4. I seem to recall seeing one way back when, in the usual small IBM binder in a slip cover box. What version(s), if any, would have been roughly contemporary with IBM DOS 3.3? Did the MASM version numbers track with DOS releases, or were they independent? I think that I would like to get my hands on one of these. An original copy would be preferable; scans and images would be helpful if I can't find an original. I have an original IBM DOS 3.3 distribution, still in shrink wrap. I understand that some developer-oriented tools were removed from the 3.3 distribution, and instead came on a utilities diskette with the DOS 3.30 Technical Reference. I see a listing for the book on eBay which I may buy, but it doesn't include the diskettes. If originals or images of the diskettes are available, I'd like to acquire them. Were there any other IBM-branded development tools for the PC around the time of DOS 3.3? -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

11 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

cctalk Digest, Vol 132, Issue 56

by afahimi＠alumni.usc.edu

Mark, There were a number of IBM branded development tools at that time. There were at least two versions of MASM, C, and FORTRAN not to mention the BASIC compiler. As for contemporary to DOS 3.3 I am not a 100% but they would have been current if not just the last release. Ali -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of cctalk-request at classiccmp.org Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 9:00 AM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: cctalk Digest, Vol 132, Issue 56 Send cctalk mailing list submissions to cctalk at classiccmp.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to cctalk-request at classiccmp.org You can reach the person managing the list at cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."

11 years, 11 months

3
2
0 0

Facit N4000 User Manual

by dave＠willomail.co.uk

Hi Folks! Recently picked up a nice Facit N4000 paper tape reader / punch and was wondering if anybody had a user manual for this unit? Cheers, Dave

11 years, 11 months

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PDF of "Introduction to VAXELN"

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have found a site that contains the pages of this book here: http://odl.sysworks.biz/disk$vaxdocsep953/decw$book/d33vaa48.decw$book I would rather have my own local copy. Does anyone have this in PDF form by any chance? Regards Rob

11 years, 11 months

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Making images of old CDs

by commodorejohn＠gmail.com

> From: Peter Corlett <abuse at cabal.org.uk> > > Hi, > > The recent thread on AB20 reminded me I have a large pile of CDs from the > 1990s > that could do with being imaged and uploaded to archive.org. Ooh. Please share the link when you do get 'em up :)

11 years, 11 months

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Some Altair questions, if I may..

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

I haven't had a chance to catch up on the new posts, way busy. But I +did+ fix the permissions issues with my info archive at http://nerp.net/~legendre/altair. Need to pay more attention to permissions when using scp.. Steve's new 4K DRAM schematics will be there in a moment, thank you, Steve. On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 11:03 AM, Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk- > > bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of William Donzelli > > Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 11:20 AM > > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > > Subject: Re: Some Altair questions, if I may.. > > > > > At a previous employer where we were doing *bringup* of new > > processors on > > > new hardware (Intel Core2 stuff...before the memory controller was > > integrated > > > in with the CPU) we had a "front side bus analyzer". It was "double > > pumped" > > > and running at 800MHz (so logically it's running at 1.6GHz). As I > > recall that > > > analyzer was in the high $100,000s (ie pushing $1,000,000). > > > > And in 20 years, that same item will be a $100 hamfest special. > > With the pods and data cables missing. Where the h*** do they go? > > >

11 years, 11 months

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TTL source/sink currents and LEDs (was Re: Some Altair questions, if I may..)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > This is quite a nroaml way to do it. A TTL output can sink a larger > current tahn it can source, By which Tony means "can sink a **MUCH** larger current than it can source". If you look at the spec for the TI SN7404, the difference is a factor of 40: max -0.4 mA source (high), vs. max 16 mA sink (low). Generally speaking, 0.4mA is nowhere near enough to be usable for an LED, so driving the low side of the LED was the only practical approach with normal TTL. Even the max sink spec of 16mA wasn't enough to drive a typical mid-1970s red LED very brightly. For example, a Monsanto (later GI) MV5020 red LED at 20 mA would only give you 2.0 mcd typical (and 0.6 mcd minimum!). That very low source current spec (-0.4 mA) is about the same for all true TTL families, excepting some buffer parts that are spec'd able to source more current. Modern CMOS parts tend to have closer or even identical source and sink limits, so it has become somewhat more common to see high-side drive for LEDs, though many designers have stuck with low-side drive out of tradition. Many modern LEDs are also much more efficient than those from the 1970s, which is partially because different chemistries producing lower wavelengths are commonly used for red, e.g., 620-340 nm vs. 660 nm, and the human eye is significantly more sensitive to the lower wavelength. However, the modern chemistries are also more efficient in terms of absolute light output per current. A representative modern T1 3/4 LED with comparable spatial distribution to the MV5020 is the Cree C503B-RCS-CW0Z0AA1, which has a typical wavelength of 624 nm, and typical luminous intensity of 5100 mcd (minimum 3000 mcd) at 20 mA. When comparing LED specs, it is important to look at the spatial distribution. A narrow viewing angle LED will give higher luminous intensity but only on-axis. Eric

11 years, 11 months

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Test Loads for Power Supplies

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have some machines which I have had a while and which I have yet to power on. I am a little wary of just switching them on and hoping they will work, being concerned that if they are not right they may damage something in the machine. Since a switched mode PSU needs a load to work properly, what do people use as a dummy test load for power supplies? I was thinking of building a small board with a bunch of resistors on it and suitable connectors (particularly the molex one common in most PCs). Maybe switchable in some way to vary the amount of power consumed. Good idea? Would it make sense to test the outputs of the PSU (for voltage and ripple) just at the minimum power, or would it make sense to test the maximum rated power consumption, or perhaps both? I believe there are test instruments for this kind of thing, but that they are very, very expensive. Regards Rob

11 years, 11 months

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OT: Inexpensive & available plug-n-play WiFi for Linux

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Working on the assumption that there is a fair amount of Linux / OSS users on the list.. Support for WiFi hardware has long been a thorn in the side of Linux users - what product to buy, which chipset will it have, will it actually arrive with the correct rev of the correct chipset, will the latest kernel support it, etc etc. But I've come across a line of product which works so well I have to put it out there.. It's the stuff based on the RALINK RT-5370 chipset. So far all I have are USB-based adapters, but they are 100% plug-n-play under recent Ubuntu OSes and seem utterly bulletproof. Fast, too! I have tried both the tiny white 'chicklet' adapter as well as the more conventional type with an external antenna, and both types perform beautifully. They can be had for as little as $3.65 +shipped+ from China, or around $8.95 from US sellers. I now own three. Literally stunned at how well they work - plug it in, type in your network pw and go. As I understand it, the chipset mfr. opened the specs for the Arduino developers, and the adapters are targeted at Arduino users - at least that's how they're advertised on eBay. But they sure work fine in my commodity PC hardware.. What a pleasure!

11 years, 11 months

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Test Loads for Power Supplies

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

I use 10 Ohm 10 or 25W resistors, 2 or more of them in parallel, depending how much current you want to draw. They look like white rectangular bars. They have them on the shelf at my Fry's electronics store. For what it's worth, on the latest power supply I tried, just one resistor was not enough to start the supply, I needed 2 to draw at least 1A from the 5V and then it was OK.

11 years, 11 months

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Portable Facepalm II

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

I'm working on a Kaypro II that I recently bought. The poor thing has suffered at the hands of a previous owner. Among other indignities, the brightness control and reset button were relocated from the back panel to the front for easy access. It appears that the brightness control was just a potentiometer in series with the unshielded video cable between the main board and monitor (assuming that the previous owner just moved it, and didn't change the overall design). The original wires weren't long enough, so he soldered a few feet of small-gauge speaker cord onto the potentiometer, and then spliced it to the video cable with wire nuts. Wire nuts. In the video signal path. WIRE. NUTS. Big orange ones. In the video signal path. I'll make a blog post soon with pictures, but I just couldn't wait to share this. There are several poorly-soldered patches on the mainboard that I'll need to look into to determine if they should stay. One of the lifted pins has broken off, so I'll be doing some repairs for sure. The front panel also grew a toggle switch which is connected to a small board plugged into the CPU socket, with a Z80B and a few other chips on it. The board is marked "(C) 1983 ADVENT PRODUCTS, INC.", and I'll want to figure out what it does so I can determine whether it's something that I want to keep in there. Another mod (?) is a ROM chip marked "Kaypro 8 PRO MONITOR (c)1984 Micro Cornucopia". It has a lifted pin and a badly-soldered wire attached. The machine arrived with some of the internal cables disconnected, and I'm not ready to try applying power to it yet. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

11 years, 11 months

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