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

PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by julianskidmore＠yahoo.com

Hi folks, I guess people have looked at the pdp-8/m-2 Chassis: http://hisdeedsaredust.com/pdp/pdp8m-2/04112008359.jpg There are some interesting goodies as it's completely max'd out! It appears to have 3x8K memory (a stunning 24K!). M8320 = OmniBus Bus terminator loads. G111 = 8K Memory. M849 = Memory Shield. M8357 = RX8E (8" Dual Floppy controller). M8650 = Teletype control. M847YA = Hardware Bootstrap Loader. M8350 = Posibus interface (surprising). M837 = Memory Extension / Timeshare. M8300 = CPU Regs. M8310 = CPU Regs Ctrl. M8330 = CPU Timing. It was last tested (amazingly) as late as July 1990, a mere 18 years ago. Again, I'm wondering who took the pdp-8/m: Was it the Surrey Museum or Peter? Also Peter, you said it was a simple circuit, do you have the circuit diagrams and procedure for converting a normal PC-based 5.25" Floppy drive to work as an RX-50? I did use PUTR recently on a PC to transfer RT-11 to 5.25" disk so I could install it on my pdp-11/73 (before the PSU failed!); so I know they *can* be used in some sense. Also Johnny, are you actually offering a pdp-8/m or /f!!!!? -cheers from julz @P

17 years, 9 months

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Saving 1962(year) mainframe data

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> he has not enough web space for > anywhere near the amount of data which needs to be published. I'd be happy to include the data on bitsavers. ICT/ICL documents and software are quite rare in the US.

17 years, 9 months

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Source for 27C256's

by steerex＠ccvn.com

Yo, I need about 50 UV erasable 27c256 for a project. Anyone have a stash they'd be willing to part with reasonably priced? -- Steve Robertson steerex [at] ccvn [dot] com

17 years, 9 months

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Saving 1962(year) mainframe data

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

I have at long last sold one of my two ICT 1301 computers, built in 1962. I will soon want to supply the purchaser with original manuals, technical drawings, software listings, tapes, punched cards etc, some of which are now unique. Before doing this I would like to put these into modern machine readable form so they can be published on the web. I am interested in how I can go about this for each of the different types of information, which varies from hand written coding sheets (which include the comments which were never punched onto the cards) through 80 column cards in BCD code extended in a non IBM way (not EBDIC), to drawings about A1 size (US 'D' size or 22" by 34" approx) which are too big to scan and stitch together and too frail for a drum scanner. The punched cards include columns representing all the number 0 to 15 plus 1/4, 1/2, 3/4. I even have some 160 column cards, same as 80 column cards but with two round hole positions in each normal rectangular hole position. I can read the 80 column cards but not the 160 column ones. Though I have been aware of, and used Bitsavers for some time, I thought their aim was mainly archiving the microprocessor era until I deleted the tail of URL of a page and looked at the home page with a description of the project. It seems that the information I have is part of exactly what they are seeking to archive. I estimate I have 300-400 drawings, 90,000 punched cards, 50 manuals, 3000 coding sheets and 1000 sheets specifying source, destination and route of every signal in the computer. There are also 300 off 1/2 inch magnetic tapes but these are 10 track (Ampex TM4) tapes and I think only my 1301 will be able to read them. I am in the south eastern corner of England if that makes a difference. Your thoughts on how to do this in an efficient manner, what formats to use, sources of help and equipment to do the job and anything else you would like to throw in.

17 years, 9 months

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IBM 1620; was: 1602

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Strangely, bitsavers doesn't have the Monitor II-D reference. I've not had time to scan any of the 1620 material in CHM's collection. The 1620 cards at CHM were read and indexed a while ago, and I read some more from Doug Martin recently. I hadn't looked at Dave Babcock's 1620 web site in a long time, looks like nothing much was ever filled in for it. That's sad, since we have quite a bit of information on the machine. http://www.computerhistory.org/projects/ibm_1620/ and http://jowsey.com/java/sim1620/

17 years, 9 months

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Old tape drive proves its worth

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Why don't they just send the tapes to CHM? They have a wall of 729 tape drives There is no good reason for them to be considering a 729, other than apparently they couldn't find another 7-track drive in Oz. Off-line conversations from several people have strongly suggested to them not to attempt recovery using a 40+ year old tape drive.

17 years, 9 months

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OT Plugging : Integral PC on ebay

by rikbos＠xs4all.nl

I did put one of my HP integrals on ebay item 370112051894 -Rik

17 years, 9 months

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NeXTstation advice sought

by lproven＠gmail.com

I *may* soon be acquiring a NeXT slab. Snag is, while it has mouse, keyboard etc., it has no monitor. Does anyone know about what kind of connector I'd need to connect a plain ol' VGA type monitor to it? I don't yet know if it's a colour or a mono slab. If it's a mono one, I have an old Sun 19" mono monitor I could use (13W3, I think?), and indeed an old Viking II Mac 19" mono (DB9, IIRC) and a colour 21" that always swaps green and red over, on both Macs and PCs, for no reason I can determine (It has a Mac lead, and I've tried on both Macs and PCs thru' a Mac-PC convertor). Any chance of connecting any of them to it? I've only been in this hobby for a quarter of a century or so and the first 5-10y it was either a TV set or CGA. I know nothing about all these older monitor connections... :?( -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AOL/AIM/iChat: liamproven at aol.com ? MSN/Messenger: lproven at hotmail.com Yahoo: liamproven at yahoo.co.uk ? Skype: liamproven ? ICQ: 73187508

17 years, 9 months

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40k Ferrite Memory Core

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I don't know if it's enough to keep us from now seeing > 20 planes filtering out onto ebay... Unlikely. "posthuman" buys a lot. Sadly, it will not be part of the CHM collection.

17 years, 9 months

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Computer Shopper scans?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Look at what Al Kossow has managed to do with bitsavers. Yup, a lot of > "collectible" documents have undergone spine-ectomies, but had he simply > rented a warehouse and shelved everything, I'd guess that none of us > would have heard, much less benefited from, bitsavers. > In the real world "good enough" trumps "ideally." Exactly. You can collect paper of marginal historical value faster and with greater volume than you can afford to store it. There is absolutely no way that I can afford to keep the paper that I currently have, and have been working on triage and recycling for several years now. Bitsavers is just under 100gb right now. That is a LOT of linear feet of paper! I've been scanning hundreds of magazine dups at CHM for the past two months just to OCR and index the text for research on the exhibit we are building. I'm not concerned about the images of the ads (including the WPS ones). We approached other institutions, and they were not interested in the paper. The spines were cut, and have been scanned using a high speed sheet feeder. They are worth more to researchers as indexed bits than as pallets of dead trees. Newsprint is an even worse problem.

17 years, 9 months

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1985 Computer Chronicles TV computer show

by wbblair3＠yahoo.com

> I remember Cheifet being there the whole time, mostly with > Kildall untill Kildall decided to quit or died. Kildall died in 1994: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kildall only four years after he left the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Chronicles

17 years, 9 months

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seeking SS20

by james＠jdfogg.com

> For some reason I'm thinking about getting a Sparc 20. > Does anyone have any lying around to trade? I have one that is maxed out. It has everything you could want in a SS20, incl. VSIMM. I have never booted it, but I got it directly from when it was retired. I'd mostly be interested in trades.

17 years, 9 months

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1985 Computer Chronicles TV computer show

by wbblair3＠yahoo.com

Here's a video of a 1985 US TV computer show that I believe was broadcast on PBS stations. Products reviewed are Atari 800, Commodore 64, Amiga IBM PC Emulator, Commodore Amiga, Atari 520, STNEO Paint: http://www.archive.org/details/Amigaand1985 Found this accidentally and I'll bet there are many more computer related videos on this site that would be interesting to watch. If you find some more, please post the links here.

17 years, 9 months

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Kaypro in modern TV commercial

by evan＠snarc.net

Tonight, in a TV commercial for 800okcable.com, I noticed a Kaypro .... the cable folks were making fun of the phone companies supposedly being behind the times, as text in the scene said "1996".

17 years, 9 months

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Old tape drive proves its worth

by ken＠seefried.com

> Tapes are history. News to those of us doing US$ 8-figures a year in tape tech as part of HSM solutions. Thanks for setting me straight. KJ

17 years, 9 months

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1985 Computer Chronicles TV computer show

by wbblair3＠yahoo.com

> Also, I wish they'd do something more than show off paint programs... > Still, interesting bits of history--thanks! One of the things that annoyed me greatly at the time was the brand name bigotry of the pundits. You'd hear it all the time on Computer Chronicles. The Atari ST offered a price performance ratio way beyond anything else available at the time and yet these "experts" just couldn't get over the name "Atari." They didn't even realize that the Atari ST had been designed by Commodore engineers while the Commodore Amiga had been designed by Atari engineers, including the great Jay Miner and that it shouldn't matter anyway what the brand label is on superior, low cost hardware.

17 years, 9 months

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Old tape drive proves its worth

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> But it's just a plain old 1/2 inch tape drive. 7 track A 729 would be my least favorite choice for data recovery. They must not have looked very hard at recovery services. As much as I hate him, John Bordynuik has working high-quality 7 track equipment already working with high success rates.

17 years, 9 months

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1985 Computer Chronicles TV computer show

by wbblair3＠yahoo.com

> William Blair wrote: > > Found this accidentally and I'll bet there are many more computer > > related videos on this site that would be interesting to watch. If > > you find some more, please post the links here. > That would be a lot of links, since the entire Computer Chronicles > series was donated to the Internet Archive. Yep, I noticed that right after I sent the message. 560 shows.

17 years, 9 months

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Computer Shopper scans?

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

The museum's been offered a reasonable archive set of Computer Shopper magazines, but doesn't however really have the space to justify taking/keeping them given the historical 'worth' and anticipated demand for them as reference material. Consideration's being given to just scanning them as an electronic-only reference - question is, has this already been done by anyone? There seems little sense in duplicating effort! cheers Jules

17 years, 9 months

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seeking SS20

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

For some reason I'm thinking about getting a Sparc 20. Does anyone have any lying around to trade? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

17 years, 9 months

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Semi-OT - Sources of magneto-optical disks?

by ian_primus＠yahoo.com

I posted this over on the rescue list, but I figured it's probably close enough for here too, since I use these for classic machines. I'm looking for magneto-optical disk cartridges. Primarily the 3 1/2" versions, I use the 128mb disks for shuffleing data around between old machines, but I actually have a mix of drives - 128mb mostly, but also a 230mb and a 640mb drive. I also checked last might, and found the 600mb 5 1/4" drive I had forgotten about. Just no media for it. I've been checking on eBay, and they turn up from time to time, and I actually just bought a few 128mb disks there. But mostly, the MO disks available tend to be the expensive, higher capacity disks that I can't use. These old, small ones rarely get listed, and I almost never see used ones. Or, when they do get listed, the shipping is wildly inflated. For example, I found an auction for 20 used 128mb disks. Flat rate $20 shipping. How it can possibly cost $20 to ship a small box of disks is beyond me. Likewise the BIN of $2 for five disks, with flat rate $12 shipping. So, anyone have a good source of these critters? I remember buying a few boxes many years ago (back when the Zip drive was the great new thing) from an online media store, and paying about five bucks apiece for brand new 128mb cartridges. Surely the prices should have come down, but the the cheapest I can find them is $7 each. I'd really like to just buy some used cartridges, but I guess the used media market isn't what it was, I don't really even see used tapes much anymore. So, anyone know of a source of 128mb, 230mb, 540mb or 640mb 3 1/2" disks, or the 600mb 5 1/4" disks? -Ian

17 years, 9 months

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Free: Cipher Model 920 9-track tape drive

by mardy＠voysys.com

I have a brand new Cipher Model 920 9-track tape drive that needs a new home. It can do either 800 or 1600 BPI and uses what I believe is a Pertec like interface, i.e. Pertec compatible signals, but non- standard connector pinouts. It also comes with a complete set of documentation and schematics. From the picture below, you can see that it is still in the original shipping frame with all of the protective paper still on the plexiglass. http://web.mac.com/mardy/iWeb/Cipher920/front.jpg It was given to me for free by someone else on the list, so I'm going to continue the tradition and offer it for free as well. For local pickup, I am located in Southern New Hamphire, but I am also willing to ship it if someone is willing to cover the shipping costs. I have already crated it. I am guessing that it will be somewhere around $150.00 to ship it within the continental US. -Mardy

17 years, 9 months

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PCMCIA Prototyping board on Ebay...

by rmeenaks＠olf.com

This is a very nice prototyping board for the PCMICA: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260303159467> &item=260303159467

17 years, 9 months

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Datec?

by evan＠snarc.net

No ------Original Message------ From: Greg Manuel $V$ Sender: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only ReplyTo: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: RE: Datec? Sent: Nov 9, 2008 4:15 AM Evan, do you mean Datek? They were electronics liquidators. Well, they did electronics and lots of other stuff to. It was a catalog(ue) company IIRC. Greg > -----Original Message----- > From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org > [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Evan Koblentz > Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 11:31 PM > To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' > Subject: Datec? > > > Is anyone familiar with a company called Datec Inc., based in Colorado > Springs in the mid-1980s? >

17 years, 9 months

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Quimax PX 22

by trebor72＠execpc.com

I have a Quimax PX 22. I had it hooked up to my PC XT to a CGA card. It was working but began to heat up so I shut it off. Tried to bring it up using a A/C VARIAC. But nothing. It has the ability to display in Red or Green or White. Is it worth fixing. Is anyone interested in IT. It might be an easy fix Couple of CAPS.

17 years, 9 months

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Datec?

by evan＠snarc.net

Is anyone familiar with a company called Datec Inc., based in Colorado Springs in the mid-1980s?

17 years, 9 months

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Wanted: SCO Xenix rel 2.2 Ver 286AT

by g-wright＠att.net

Not too sure what I did with mine, but is cannot find the activation Key info. I'm trying to get a old Wyse LoadStar 286 Xenix box going and this version seems to be able to handle the serial port as console. I can't get any of the other versions I have to take the serial port as console they all switch as they boot or error when the run hardware tests. Mine disks have a part number on it of 12866, not sure if this means anything. (Xenix Sys V release 2.2 version 286AT) The Wyse LoadStar is just a 286 PC with special ROMs. and no Video card or Key board. - Jerry

17 years, 9 months

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40k Ferrite Memory Core

by mloewen＠cpumagic.scol.pa.us

I received this request for information on a core memory stack - does anyone recognize it? I passed on some general info to him about core memory and how they work. Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://sturgeon.css.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:36:53 EDT From: BALLSHOP at aol.com To: mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us Subject: 40k Ferrite Memory Core Hello, I was hoping you could help me figure out what I have here. I bought it an estate and it had a note attached that said "40k Ferrite Memory Core". It's pretty amazing to look at, there are thousands of tiny wires and it has little black "doughnuts" at the intersection of each wire. Any help in identifying this would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Scott http://www.thegolfballshop.com/oct28/1.jpg http://www.thegolfballshop.com/oct28/2.jpg http://www.thegolfballshop.com/oct28/3.jpg http://www.thegolfballshop.com/oct28/4.jpg http://www.thegolfballshop.com/oct28/5.jpg

17 years, 9 months

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PDP-1 Spacewar! program internals

by aek＠spies.com

Here is part of an oral history I recorded with Steve Russel last August which discusses how the Spacewar! program works internally. Exerpt of an oral history of Steve Russell August 2008 CHM Reference Number X4970.2008 (C) 2008 Computer History Museum Russell: Anyway, the PDP-1 arrived, and Marvin Minsky wrote the tripos demonstration, generally called the Minskytron, and there was the famous weekend where the mob of undergraduates transcribed the macro assembler from TX-0 to the PDP-1, because they didn't like FRAP. And then fairly quickly thereafter, they wrote DDT and connected up the macro symbols to DDT. So that was all sort of in place by the middle of the fall of 1961. And the combination of the Minskytron and having DDT with interactive debugging with symbols was very tempting. I don't remember the exact order of things, but I'm pretty sure I started talking up a better demonstration program than the Minskytron, and eventually, Alan Kotok went up to Maynard and collected the sine and cosine routines from DECUS, presented them to me, and said, "Okay, here are the sine and cosine routines; now what's your excuse?" And I discovered I had run out of excuses; I had to actually think. And so I started work and figured out the basic trick of Spacewar! display which is that you only need to calculate a unit vector pointing in the direction of the spaceship. And you can express everything else the spaceship does, and the outline of the spaceship in terms of that unit vector, suitably scaled. So it's basically a lot of addition in the usual program upkeep. Kossow: Do you want to just give an overview, then, of how Spacewar! actually works? Russell: It's one big loop, and the loop is on the displayable objects. And I called them displayable objects, although I didn't know about object orientation or object- oriented programming at the time. Kossow: So you have the sun-- Russell: Colliding objects, not displayable objects. The colliding object is a space ship, there are two of those. And that has a lot of extra data with it. It shares the position and velocity tables with all of the torpedoes and explosions that are running around. So there's just one big loop through the colliding objects, and it looks at all the higher-numbered colliding objects to see if there's a collision, using an octagon because you don't need to calculate the square root of anything, you can do that by work on X difference, Y difference, and X+Y difference-- Kossow: So the bounding box for the collision detection is an octagon? Russell: Yes. So it goes through, it sees if this object is colliding with any higher- numbered object. If it is, it replaces the calculation routines. That's another thing that every colliding object has, is a calculation routine. It replaces the calculation routine with the explosion calculation routine. And then things take care of themselves. Then, after it's decided whether it's an explosion or not, it goes off to the calculation routine. And the calculation routine updates the position, since all colliding objects have velocity; and if it's a spaceship, it worries about reading the controls and updating the other things about the spaceship in deciding whether to launch a torpedo or not. And if a torpedo needs to be launched, it searches up the colliding object table for an empty slot, indicated by having no calculation routine. It searches up the table for an empty slot, puts a torpedo calculation routine there, and the spaceship position plus the suitable increments, so it won't run into its torpedo, and of the velocity of the spaceship plus an increment for the torpedo, and it goes on. When that the main loop gets done, you go off and do some star display and display the sun, and calculate -- and part of the spaceship calculation is to calculate the effect of gravity on the spaceship. Originally, there wasn't any gravity, and I had an interpreter, which interpreted the outline description, and Dan Edwards, sometime in late 1961 or early 1962, looked at that code and decided if he could write a special purpose compiler which would compile precisely the right code, and proceeded to. And there's one compiled outline for each spaceship; each spaceship actually does half of the spaceship outline and then you twiddle the vectors and do the other half. That keeps the display running just as fast as it can. That gives time to calculate the effect of gravity on the two spaceships, but not on the torpedoes. So we decided that they were photon torpedoes not affected by gravity. Kossow: So when the explosion routine starts, it continues calculating motion, so the explosion moves? Russell: Yes. If you see two spaceships collide, if you watch closely, you will see that there are two explosions that continue off in the direction that the two spaceships were going. There is another number in the table for all colliding objects, which is the size. And this is, roughly speaking, proportional to the amount of computing it takes to compute that object. And at the end of the loop, as you go through the main loop, you accumulate the sizes also; and so at the end of the loop, there's fritter away time loop that attempts to keep the frame rate approximately constant. It doesn't do a wonderful job; it's visually adequate, but God help you when you try to take a movie of it. Kossow: One of the complaints with all modern kids trying to play it now is that it's TOO SLOW. Russell: Kids who are used to something like Asteroids seem to think that. But when we do the demos, we get a number of people who seem to be still quite addicted to it with the old, slow version. Now, that was always a complaint; the reason that all the parameters got accumulated in the first page of the listing, which says you can put that first page of the listing of the console, and anyone who wanted to try a different set of parameters could. But the ones that were compiled in or assembled in were the ones that I thought were good. Now it turns out I'm not a representative arcade game player, and so my version of the parameters is slower and gives more opportunity for marksmanship than the arcade version. Kossow: Right, that's the whole thing with gravity and doing the, what's that called, where you whip around the sun? Does it have a name, where you whip around the sun and you shoot? Russell: The closest name is the "CBS maneuver" is what happens when two lazy experts fight each other, which is they both turn at right angles to the sun, and fire for 3.5 or 4 seconds, so they're now in stable orbits, and they know it. And then they turn at each other and start trying to place torpedoes where they think the other one is going to be. And so the trails turn into an eye around the sun, and CBS used that as a logo, so it got called the "CBS maneuver". You can-- one of the spaceships can go the other way around the sun, so that both ships meet on the same side of the sun. But that seems usually to have less chance of winning. Not much less, but somewhat less. Kossow: It's better that you stay on opposite sides, then? Russell: Yes. Kossow: And then at some point, you added hyperspace? Russell: Yes, and we realized that that was going-- I don't remember whether we actually had it. I may have had it for a little while with no limit, but it became very clear that someone who didn't understand could use hyperspace to escape their proper justice forever, and so we added the unreliability of hyperfield generators very quickly. One thing that Asteroids and the arcade versions, the later arcade versions of Spacewar! added, which actually was a big help, especially with their high acceleration rates, was "training mode" where space was actually viscous. So if you got your ship accelerated so that it was going across the screen so fast you couldn't understand what was going on, if you took your hands off, the situation would gradually become understandable. I don't think I would have been persuaded to do that in the original Spacewar! because it was unrealistic. But it definitely made it easier to learn. Kossow: So are there any other favorite anecdotes about Spacewar!, or just the spread of Spacewar!? Russell: Well, the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"-- many people saw Spacewar! as, some people ask for copies of the source, and of course we gave them out because we very briefly considered trying to sell Spacewar!. We realized the only possible customer was Digital Equipment, and we also, on a little reflection, that they were too cheap to do it. So we gave it out to anyone who wanted it, and some people got the listing and thought about it, and by reading it-- a lot of people simply saw the game and had a computer that wasn't the PDP-1 but did have a display, and implemented Spacewar! their own way. I suspect most of them figured out the "basic trick", but I'm not sure. Kossow: What "basic trick" were you thinking of? Russell: That you could do everything based on the spaceship unit vector. How are you fixed for the source code for different implementations of Spacewar!? Kossow: We have a few. I don't know if we have the PDP-10 version. We have the 12 version, and I think we have a PDP-7 version. Russell: I think Bob Saunders wrote the PDP-7 version. I think one 6 version simply ran on the PDP-1 simulator. I think there must have been others, but I don't know. Something for some history grad student to pursue. When we were running a demo for the Yelp event, there was one woman who had done Spacewar! in turtle graphics as a high school programming project, which she wasn't too happy with. She seemed to like the demo of the original Spacewar!. Kossow: So turtle graphics running on a micro or something like that? Russell: I didn't quiz her. I didn't have the opportunity to quiz her further. Kossow: So she thought this version was better? Russell: No, she just thought it was nice to see the original. Kossow: So she was in her mid-20s? Russell: 20s or early 30s; probably 20s. The DEC field service story where the DEC production people got into the practice of loading Spacewar! the last thing before PDP-1 shipped, and field service would then unpack it, make sure that nothing horrible had happened, tryed turning on power, and starting Spacewar!. And if it worked, they would call the customer over and say, "See, it works." If it didn't work, then they'd worry about it. In the restoration project, we had a little reflection and we decided that probably if Spacewar! works, just about everything works, as far as machine instructions go. It doesn't guarantee all the I/O gear works, but it does multiply and divides, and just about every instruction. So a lot of people implemented Spacewar! just from knowing that it existed and having seen it maybe once.

17 years, 9 months

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Edmund Scientific NIM

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Hi all, I bet somebody has some documents from this toy. I am starting to think about christmas, and all sorts of mechanical computers and toys. One of the other fun computer tricks I recall, is using 3x5 cards. You can punch a row of holes in the top edge, and selectivley cut slots thru to the top. So, a deck of cards with numbers on them, and appropriately cut slots, you can sort the deck with a pen, a binary sort by lifting the cards (its a bubble sort) What other kid ideas do you guys have? I'm going to bring a stepper controlled etch a sketch. Randy _________________________________________________________________ Color coding for safety: Windows Live Hotmail alerts you to suspicious email. http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_safety…

17 years, 9 months

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Computer Shopper scans: definitely worthy

by jeffj＠panix.com

> From: "William Donzelli" <wdonzelli at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: Computer Shopper scans? > No, not that newsprint crap. It will start disintegrating within 50 > years, and the costs associated with acid paper stabilization are very > high. I see how the hobby publications of the 1940s are falling apart > now, and Computer Shopper is in the same danger. And thus all my friends' paperback collections literally turning to dust. > Like it, or (mostly) not, Computer Shopper > is a very important slice of computing history. I'm not so sure of that. It's not a scholarly journal such as the Journal of the ACM, but it shows the state of the art for hobbyist & business machines, such as price & capacity of hard drives, CPU, RAM, when certain peripherals were ubiquitious, etc. Some of the ads were memorable, particularly for things that didn't happen as anticipated. It also listed BBSs, which was the only way for online/virtual communities before the Internet and well-connected services such as GEnie, Prodigy, Delphi, BIX, ...

17 years, 9 months

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Kontron EPP-80 EPROM Burner

by msalay＠one.net

Hello, Sometime back you posted looking for info on the Kontron EPP-80 EPROM programmer. I have such a unit, but need to find a manual and fellow users. I'd appreciate if you can drop me a quick note with anything you know. thanks, Mike

17 years, 9 months

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DECmateIII (was Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK)

by jason＠havnet.com

Hi Paul, Sorry for the direct email, but I have missed the beginning of your thread regarding the PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex. Is any of the equipment available? I ask on behalf of the Centre for Computing History in Suffolk. See : www.computinghistory.org.uk Sorry if this email is out of place. Kind Regards Jason Fitzpatrick -----Original Message----- From: paul at frixxon.co.uk Sent: Sat, 8 Nov 2008 11:00:35 -0000 (UTC) To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: DECmateIII (was Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK) > Ethan Dicks wrote: >> On Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 05:53:03AM -0800, Julian Skidmore wrote: >>> >>> You also have what looks very much like a DecMate in the bottom, left >>> of: >>> http://hisdeedsaredust.com/pdp/04112008377.jpg > > The grey box there ? It looks like a tk50, or just scsi drive enclosure. > There is an SCSI terminator on it ... You're right, it is a TK50. I accidentally responded off-list to Julian.

17 years, 9 months

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PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by julianskidmore＠yahoo.com

Hi Paul, You also have what looks very much like a DecMate in the bottom, left of: http://hisdeedsaredust.com/pdp/04112008377.jpg Of course, that's another pdp-8! I have a DecMate III which I picked up at a Radio Rally, but it doesn't have an RX50, so I can't get it to do anything, apart from display its bios screen. -cheers from julz @P

17 years, 9 months

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VT terminal emulator suggestions

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

Thanks for the replies. I have a VT520 that I use as much as possible! However, sitting in front of the TV of an evening I was looking for an emulator capable of accessing some of the forms related software on my DEC Alpha 3000/600 such as DECforms and All-in-1. Both use double wide/high fonts which don't work well with most terminal emulators. I did have a serial connection to the attic at one time and used a VT terminal for a while, but having a VT terminal in the lounge is maybe taking the 'hobby' a little too far in my wife's eyes! Anyway, I have answered my own question: IVT. Available free at http://www.softwarevoordelig.nl/en/ I was amazed at (a) how well it worked and (b) what a quality piece of software it is. I recommend it. Regards, Mark.

17 years, 9 months

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PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by bqt＠softjar.se

Julian Skidmore <julianskidmore at yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi folks, > > So who's taking the populated pdp8/m? > > Since Peter Turnbull is taking the pdp8/e and a pdp8/m is only an > OEM pdp8/e with less slots; I'm wondering if the pdp8/m should go > to another University. Actually, the 8/m is the OEM of the 8/f. There are more differences between the 8/e and 8/m and 8/f than just less slots, but the differences aren't normally that relevant. I think I still have both an 8/m and an 8/f around in my basement. Johnny

17 years, 9 months

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PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by paul＠frixxon.co.uk

It appears that I'm the only person on this list who doesn't want a PDP-8/E! Thanks for all the responses -- too many to respond to individually. I managed to get the PDP-8/E in my car yesterday, with a bit of huffing and puffing. A new home has now been found for it, where I am told it will be put on display at least annually. I was surprised that I didn't know that we had one on site before it was disposed of because I'm always hunting around the labs for interesting kit. It appears to have been part of some automated test equipment made by GenRad. There were GenRad boxes in the skip and the 8/E has some "General Radio" stickers on it. This morning, I've found two PDP-8/M boxes. One of them is populated, and the other one appears to be almost empty (so it's now just a pretty front panel, or a source of switches for repairing the other one). I've put some photos of the 8/E and the two 8/Ms on a web site. I was going to do the flickr thing but I'm trying to do real work as well, so I apologise for the pics being uncropped and rather large. http://hisdeedsaredust.com/pdp/ You'll see two pictures of my storage unit as it was at lunchtime. This needs to be clear by the end of the month. Eek! If you'd like either or both of the 8/Ms (bearing in mind, as I said, that only one of them has any boards in), make me an offer. You will have to come and collect them from Crawley, so please don't ask me to ship them.

17 years, 9 months

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Aesthedes graphic design workstation on eBay

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

> At 06:24 AM 10/8/2008, William Maddox wrote: >>This isn't my auction, and I don't know the seller. This thing >>is totally over the top, however, for lots of screens and buttons. >>Looks like the helmsman's station for a starship. It's in >>Mineapolis, and, as of this writing, its $9.99 with no bids. > > Dutch! > > http://www.science.uva.nl/museum/aesthedes.html > > - John > > > Haha, that's interesting, the middle & right monitor shows (at least for us here in NL) a very familiar logo, the one from Heineken Beer. Ed

17 years, 9 months

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[personal] Poll (was Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK)

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> From: "Mike Hatch" <mike at brickfieldspark.org> > Subject: Re: [personal] Poll (was Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West > Sussex, UK) > > >> 1962 ICT 1301 (includes CR,CP and LP) + 5 off TM4 Ampex tape >> transport + >> paper tape used once a fortnight for a day except in winter >> (Germanium >> hates cold) > Ampex TM4's seems to be used by a lot of systems, we had them on the > SDS9300, ICL gave me a job purely to repair TM4's on their > contracted LEO > III's. > >> c1963 ICT 1301 (includes CR,CP and LP) + 5 off TM4 Ampex tape >> transport. >> Dismantled 30 years ago. Sold and will be picked up for a new >> computer >> museum's centrepiece on Tuesday. > Which museum ? Its not open yet but it is in the far north west of England, I don't think I can say much more than that, I don't want to steal their thunder. Roger.

17 years, 9 months

2
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Systems based on Fairchild 9440 / 9445

by rborsuk＠colourfull.com

Does anyone know of any computers based on the Fairchild 9440 / 9445 cpu? Rob ps. Google wasn't being my friend. Rob Borsuk email: rborsuk at colourfull.com Colourfull Creations Web: http://www.colourfull.com

17 years, 9 months

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anyone utilizing early Macs to access the internet?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

I've been told using the compact Macs are an exercise in futility. But what about the Mac II's? (original II, IIx, IIfx, IIcx). I was just curious.

17 years, 9 months

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VAXstations

by rescue＠hawkmountain.net

I have some VAXstations available for those that are interested... 1 x VAXstation 3100 (M30) 1 x VAXstation 4100 (M40) missing 'door' for front bays 2 x VAXstation 3100 M38 2 x VAXstation 3100 M76 all have 8 plane graphics except for the M30 (or was it the M40?). all have 8M of RAM. Other than the 4100 and one M38, these systems are in excellent cosmetic condition (may require some cleaning). The M40 has plastic 'issues' (missing front bay door, some hidden cracks), and an M76 has a 2" scratch in the top. One of the M38's top doesn't look like it fits as good as on the other M38 and is a bit more dinged up. Other than that and that most require some cleaning, they are in excellent condition. Systems do not have hard drives. I do have 1G and 2G 50 pin SCSI drives available though (non DEC). Add 1G drives at $10 each, Add 2G drives at $15 each. If you are interested in a specific one, please make an offer. I'll likely be listing these on eBay depending on interest here. Buyer will be actual shipping plus $5 to cover packing materials. -- Curt

17 years, 9 months

3
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Systems based on Fairchild 9440 / 9445

by ken＠seefried.com

> I can't think of any CPUs that are "68000 style" but > not actually members of the M68K family. Signetics 68070 KJ

17 years, 9 months

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BBC reports "New lifeline for Bletchley Park"

by steve＠cosam.org

English Heritage pledges ?330,000 grant: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7710966.stm -- Steve Maddison http://www.cosam.org/

17 years, 9 months

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Poll (was Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK)

by dm561＠torfree.net

A while back there was talk about maybe having a database of who had what and where, in the way of hardware, software, documentation and expertise; any further thoughts on that? mike

17 years, 9 months

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Poll (was Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK)

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

On 6 Nov, 2008, at 04:34, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Message: 18 > Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:14:51 -0600 > From: Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <491228EB.1080000 at gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed > > Chuck Guzis wrote: >> Tony Duell wrote: >> >>> What do people consider to be the 'holy grails' of classic computer >>> collecting? >> >> Do people collect CPUs that no longer have peripherals or are bereft >> of any sort of software? >> >> If so, what is done with them, other than to use them as doorstops? > > Collect enough and they do help save on heating bills - there's less > free open > space in your house to need heating :-) > > (It'd be interesting to do a poll on how many systems each of us > here has, and > how many hours a year each of those systems actually gets run for - > I suspect > the results would be quite disturbing!) My computers: 1962 ICT 1301 (includes CR,CP and LP) + 5 off TM4 Ampex tape transport + paper tape used once a fortnight for a day except in winter (Germanium hates cold) c1963 ICT 1301 (includes CR,CP and LP) + 5 off TM4 Ampex tape transport. Dismantled 30 years ago. Sold and will be picked up for a new computer museum's centrepiece on Tuesday. c1977 UK 101 Bought new but not turned on for 20 years c1980 Apple 2 last used about 15 years ago c1983 Apple 2e last used about 10 years ago Apple 3 and profile, not used since it broke in service and not deemed to be worth fixing Lisa 2 and various old Macintoshes. Powered up now and again, mainly to access data stored in old formats/on old media. Average probably once in 5 years each. Titanium PowerBook, used to play Civilisation 2 and a few other games about twice a year for a few days, usually Christmas or when I am sick. MacBook Pro everyday machine. It is perhaps interesting to compare with my old non computer items: ASR33 used 3 months ago Flexowriter with wide carriage and reader and punches for either regular paper tape or thin fanfold card. Last used about 10 years ago but hopefully soon to be restored. IBM 836 keypunch with I/O and programmable patch panel, originally connected to above Flexowriter as a tape to card and card to tape transfer but I stupidly did not buy the cables or even the plugs. - I need patch cables and control drum for this too if anyone has any. Feeds cards but will not punch or print, need to fix the punching very soon. Sumlock comptometer, used by my late Aunt for doing people's accounts about 10 years ago. Mechanical calculator. Works but not used for 10 years. 1974 Sharp calculator. 21st birthday present, still used every couple of days. 1890s Cash register, left here by previous owner of the farm, never used but good to look at. Edison dictating machine and player machines. Looks to be 19th century. Not used since my father bought them in the 1950s as he did not have a skimming machine for the cylinders. 1964 Rover car. Last week turned engine over and operated clutch to stop it seizing but would not start. 1966 Rover, 1969 Daimler, 1987 BMW, 1993 Jaguar. Used daily in rotation. 1972 Land Rover One Ton, used about 4 times a year, like when the snow is a foot thick or as a truck when setting up my classic car show. 1998 Daimler Supercharged 4 litre. Was used in rotation with the above but now produces copious steam - presumably a cylinder head gasket failure which I don't have time to fix. Victorian oak table which extends to about 20 feet long by 7 feet wide. Was not used for 40+ years but I got it restored and now used regularly as my company's board room table, but still belongs to me and my parents.

17 years, 9 months

5
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Video capturing from different video sources (Sun, SGI, etc)

by jplist2008＠kiwigeek.com

Hey all; I've been wanting to do some video capturing from an SGI and have been trying to work out the 'best way' (or, perhaps, the EASIEST way) of doing it. The video I'm capturing is prior to the OS coming up (waffling around the Command Monitor, etc), so I can't have the system itself help me out. If I had some LCD panels which spoke SGI I would simply sit a DV cam in front of the LCD and record it - the quality should be acceptable - but I don't (LCD since CRTs would have flicker, of course, when recorded). Plus, I'd quite like to source video from Suns and other machinery. I imagine there really -isn't- a catch-all solution, but I'd love to have the thoughts of the Geek Masses. I've never done video capture before in any form, and have little experience with working with video at all to be honest, so anything would help. Many thanks; - JP

17 years, 9 months

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VT terminal emulator suggestions

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

Collective wisdom, I need a terminal emulator for the DEC VT series of terminals, from VT200 upwards. This is to connect to an OpenVMS box running All-In-1, so it needs to support double width/height characters and be a fairly good emulation. Most 'vt compatible' terminals appear to not be up to the job. Does any one have any suggestions please? Even better if it supports soft font downloads so I can use APL aswell. I've got access to Windows and Linux boxes. Many thanks, Mark

17 years, 9 months

5
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PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by julianskidmore＠yahoo.com

Hi folks, So who's taking the populated pdp8/m? Since Peter Turnbull is taking the pdp8/e and a pdp8/m is only an OEM pdp8/e with less slots; I'm wondering if the pdp8/m should go to another University. I'd be willing to drag it to Manchester - would it fit in my fourtwo ;-) ? In my case I'd try and see if Manchester University or MOSI would be interested. Man Uni would be a good target - since they created the first stored- program computer in 1948 and still has luminaries such as Steve Furber (who headed the team who developed the ARM). Moreover, I remember when I was there, there was an ORIGINAL pdp-8 standing in a corner on the first floor of the Kilburn building. MOSI would be a good target - since they house the reproduction of the the 1948 Baby. The second question of course is what to do with all these machines. I know Peter wants to put a demo OS on it and some demo software (CHKMOV ? / pdp8- music?). But is this the best way forward? I've seen some of the Bletchley Park videos, but frankly most of them look quite boring; certainly not as good as the YouTube series on programming the pdp11 where the student travels back in time to see how hard it was to develop and debug in the early 70s. How do you get students interested for more than 5 minutes in machines that 'can't' do anything ;-) ? How do you pass on and formalise the knowledge needed to maintain and preserve these relics? It seems to me that using the machines themselves (or replicas) would be a way forward. Museum or University courses where a team of students is assembled to recreate or restore an ancient mini and program their own demos. A 3 hour evening class once a week with a team of 10 would provide 3*10*40 = 1200 man-hours of experience.... -cheers from julz @P

17 years, 9 months

1
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VT terminal emulator suggestions

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

Reflection?? from WRQ software is a nice suite for Windows. You can occasionally find it on e-bay for a decent price. Depending on the version you find, it will emulate: VT52, VT102, VT400, etc. Newer versions include SCO-ANSI, ADDS VP2, Wyse 50+, Wyse 60, DG215, Unisys T27, and AT386 I'm using "Version 10 for Unix and Digital" . . .? It has a built-in visual basic scriping language, which is really cool. I use that functionality daily. . . . T

17 years, 9 months

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URGENT: Computers & parts needing home - New Haven CT

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

It's moving time, and for various reasons I need to get rid of a few items: DEC Multia 166 MHz Alpha workstation, not sure what CPU. Apple PowerBook150c Cardinal 386 computer. All in one case, like a Mac SE/30 2 external CD drives, SCSI, with carts various 72 pin SIMMS, some parity, some other 30 pin SIMMS 2 PS/2 keyboards various cables. First come, first served; take it all in one shot, it's free. If you feel this pile is worth something, I won't turn down cash or good beer. If you want to disperse the items to others, that is your choice. If you do make a profit, great! Enjoy it. I just need this stuff to disappear by Thursday, Nov. 13. I tried to give some of these things away before, but the recipient never got back to me about something. Let me know ASAP. Thanks very much -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes "From there to here, From here to there, Funny things are everywhere." --- Dr. Seuss

17 years, 9 months

1
1
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Systems based on Fairchild 9440 / 9445

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Chuck asks: > Anyone remember the > Fairchild F8? Around the same time as the 9440, the F8 was hugely > popular in embedded type applications. Mostek's 3870, a derivative of the F8, was popular throughout all sorts of mass-produced products in the late 70's and through the 80's. STMicro had a chip that was very similar (clone? derivative?) of the 3870 that appeared in consumer products in the 90's. General Instruments certainly took a very similar microcontroller (now known as the PIC) and built it up and out in several directions. Tim.

17 years, 9 months

2
1
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Systems based on Fairchild 9440 / 9445

by kahrs＠caip.rutgers.edu

As I recall, the 944x series did away with the high order indirect bit just as the Xerox Alto did, thereby permitting full 16 bit addresses. I wonder what became of my data sheet...

17 years, 9 months

1
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Fairchild 944x

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 4 Nov 2008 at 5:51, Robert Borsuk wrote: > Don't know if you guys found this but I did find one computer reference. > > http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=196 > > and the data sheet on bit savers for the chips(thank you Al). 1983? I was trying to get the attention of the Fairchild sales department around 1978. You'd have thought with DG not selling the MicroNova CPU to outside customers and the 9440 being a Nova-like chip that Fairchild could have cleaned up. There weren't many other 16-bit chips at the time (e.g. NS PACE, GI CP1600, TI TMS9900). But Fairchild seemed not to be interested in selling the stuff. My understanding is that the 9440 is an "almost" Nova in that it lacks certain features needed to run Nova software. Can anyone verify this? Cheers, Chuck

17 years, 9 months

4
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Systems based on Fairchild 9440 / 9445

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> A very puzzling company, Fairchild. And the Clipper.. They waited too long to get into CMOS, since they were making tons of money on ECL and bipolar. AMD also blew it in waiting too long to convert the 2900 product line to CMOS.

17 years, 9 months

1
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Amiga 1000, Atari 520 ST, TRS-80 & Timex 1000 in NY

by christian_liendo＠yahoo.com

I am not selling, I found and am posting. I figured someone would be interested http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/905721821.html For sale: Vintage computers.. (Ditmars/Astoria) Reply to: sale-905721821 at craigslist.org [?] Date: 2008-11-04, 2:57PM EST For sale I have the following computers.. -Amiga 1000 with mouse, monitor and kickstart/workbench disks (A1000 is refurbished to a nice white, but monitor is aged/yellowed) 100$ -Amiga software packages (Comic Setter, Professional Draw, TV Text) 30$ -Atari 520 STFM (Desert Camouflage custom painted, 360kb internal drive, 1/2 mb ram, no mouse) 45$ -TRS-80 Color Computer 2 (16kb ram) 35$ -TRS-80 Color Computer 2 (64kb ram) 35$ -Timex 1000 with manual in its original box (has a problem at display - probably a bad capacitor or a loose connection) 30$. Pickup only in Ditmars/Astoria.

17 years, 9 months

1
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Wanted: Epox EP-9NPA+SLI MB manual

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

If anyone has the user manual for the Epox EP-9NPA+SLI motherboard, could you do me a small favor and email it to me? Searching around with Google is of no help, and the Epox websites don't seem to have it. Trying to resusitate my Ubuntu 8.04 box with this MB. The caps on the old board leaked.... The zip archive of it in archive.org appears to be corrupted... Thanks in advance... -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes "From there to here, From here to there, Funny things are everywhere." --- Dr. Seuss

17 years, 9 months

1
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Space Invaders

by pete＠dunnington.plus.com

Does anybody in the UK have a classic Space Invaders console? I'm looking for one to borrow for a short while for a TV program. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

17 years, 9 months

2
1
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Vaxstation 3100 M76 Parts request

by dsnyder＠corefurnace.com

I recently acquired a Vaxstation 3100 M76, it's missing a few parts. Does anyone have a couple of drive brackets, 4M simms (x4) and maybe a GPX or SPX card? I am willing to pay. TIA, Dan Snyder

17 years, 9 months

1
0
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PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by paul＠frixxon.co.uk

Thanks to Martin for grabbing 14 DEC terminals from me last week -- very pleasant to meet someone who is still working with PDPs and real terminals in the wild! I've just passed our waste electrical skip at work and noticed that someone has dumped a PDP-8/e box in there. I'm being imprecise about this because I've never seen one before. This isn't a big rack, just a single heavy box fronted by an orange and brown PDP-8/e front panel. I assume it's the processor itself. If I can chuck this in my car this evening, would anyone here be able to pick it up from me by the end of this month? And here's a reminder that I still have a bunch of terminals left; see my previous email for details. The later DEC ones have gone but there are at least 20 Wyse WY-420 terminals available, which have (I believe) a competent VT320 emulation. These are for pickup only from here in Crawley, West Sussex.

17 years, 10 months

7
8
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Looking for a front panel fastener for a DEC SA482 rack

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

As the subject says ... I am looking for one of the fasteners that holds on the front panel of a DEC SA482 rack. It is a Dzus-like head stud, except that it is turned with a 4mm hex key. Anyone have one or know where I can get one? alan

17 years, 10 months

1
0
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PDP-8/e and terminals in West Sussex, UK

by ball.of.john＠gmail.com

>Thanks to Martin for grabbing 14 DEC terminals from me last week -- very >pleasant to meet someone who is still working with PDPs and real terminals >in the wild! > >I've just passed our waste electrical skip at work and noticed that >someone has dumped a PDP-8/e box in there. I'm being imprecise about this >because I've never seen one before. This isn't a big rack, just a single >heavy box fronted by an orange and brown PDP-8/e front panel. I assume >it's the processor itself. If I can chuck this in my car this evening, >would anyone here be able to pick it up from me by the end of this month? Oh man, I am really interested but I really wish I didn't live in Western Canada ;_; If I knew someone close to you I would ask them to pick it up for me and then ship it in chunks but even then it would still be expensive.

17 years, 10 months

1
0
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Lear Siegler ADM-5 schematics?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

Hey folks. I'm looking for schematics for the Lear Siegler ADM-5 terminal. I don't see anything related on Bitsavers, which surprises me. Would anyone have this handy? Thanks, -Dave -- Dave McGuire Port Charlotte, FL

17 years, 10 months

2
2
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OmniProm programmer

by jeffj＠panix.com

I'm trying to revive an EPROM programmer: the bottom label says Omni-Prom Programmer model OMNI-01 SherTek, Inc. Memphis, TN USA but the inner label says P/N OMNI05, V7.0, R0.0 (C) 1986, SherTek Inc. It has 28, 40 pin ZIF sockets on top, internal power supply. But the only interface is for the PC's parallel port so I'm unsure what protocol it uses to read back the results. I'm missing the floppy with OMNI.EXE the DOS program that ran it. The manual only documents the program menu, not the parallel port protocol. Any clues? -- jeffj at panix.com

17 years, 10 months

2
1
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FS: PDP-8/L users handbook

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

DEC PDP-8/L Users Handbook (1968). My father was the original owner and he wrote his name on the front cover in Magic Marker, and a couple of other scribbles here and there.Overall good shape. Pages are turning brownish like all old DEC publications do. $10 shipped within the US. Overseas pay actual shipping cost. Please contact me offlist if interested. thanks Charles

17 years, 10 months

1
0
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UK source of small UNC nuts and bolts?

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

This is classiccmp-related in that I am repairing an old HP 'Multiprogrammer' (a modular input/output system for HP2100s, HPIB machines, etc). While dismantling it I had one screw shear off and had to drill out pop-rivets holding a heatsink to the side casting. So waht I am looking for is a source of small UNC nuts and bolts in reasonable quantites. 'Small' means 4-40, 6-32 and 8-32. I would be looking for countersunk and pan head scewws, nuts, lockwashers, etc. 'Reasonable quantities' would be a bag of 100. These are not at all common in the UK, we tend to use BA (older machines) or metric (M3/M4 sizes). Does anyone know a company who can sypply these to the UK? Preferably one based in the UK (to save on postage charges), but there's no real problem with shipping a ag of nuts and bolts from anywhere. -tony

17 years, 10 months

3
4
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Monroe OC 8820 - OS8MT

by leaknoil＠comcast.net

I just picked up one of these old CP/M boxes but, I've been unable to locate any software for it or documentation. They ran a custom version of CP/M called OS8MT and came with a few different software packages. They were made around 1984 I think. Old-computers.com has a little bit about it if it helps ring any bells. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1078 If anyone knows of a source for any of these disks or docs I would love to know about it. The system is in excellent shape and the monitor clear and sharp. Really a shame for it to not be able to do anything but, hold my doors open. Thanks

17 years, 10 months

2
1
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Memory test util for classic macs?

by trag＠io.com

>Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 07:11:58 -0700 (PDT) >From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> >> Anyone know of a decent memory test utility that runs on classic macs (68k >> based)? >> >> I have an old Mac Portable that I'm struggling to get an OS on -- I >> consistently get "bad F-line instruction" traps when booting from System 7 >> disks (floppies and CD-ROMs), which from what I can tell probably means bad >> memory. I'd like to find out if it IS memory, and if so, whether it's the >> onboard 1mb (I hope not) or on the 4mb expansion... >> >> My internet searches have come up dry (I've found stuff for OS X, and early >> PowerMacs, but nothing for the 68k line). > >If you can find Snooper, I think it has a RAM test tool in it that will work >and does not require the Snooper NuBus board to be installed. RAMometer from (OOB) NewerTech works on older Macs. I know it will work on 68030 Macs. I'm not sure if it will work on 68000 based Macs. It might need the PMMU. I think there's a copy in my webspace: http://www.io.com/~trag Jeff Walther

17 years, 10 months

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Memory test util for classic macs?

by mc＠media.mit.edu

Josh, If you can't boot the OS, you'd be hard-pressed to run a memory test. As you already suspect, that error strongly suggests a hardware error. Assuming the memory is not soldered to the motherboard, the first thing I would do is to re-seat the memory. If that doesn't work, I'd try removing some of it, and try different combinations of memory cards to see if some subset works. Usually memory from that era needs to be added and removed in pairs, and needs to positioned in the right slots. --Tim On Nov 1, 2008, at 5:09 AM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Message: 26 > Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:24:54 -0400 > From: "Joshua Alexander Dersch" <derschjo at msu.edu> > Subject: Memory test util for classic macs? > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <E1Kw1UE-0002Q9-LD at sys27.mail.msu.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="utf-8" > > Anyone know of a decent memory test utility that runs on classic > macs (68k > based)? > > I have an old Mac Portable that I'm struggling to get an OS on -- I > consistently get "bad F-line instruction" traps when booting from > System 7 > disks (floppies and CD-ROMs), which from what I can tell probably > means bad > memory. I'd like to find out if it IS memory, and if so, whether > it's the > onboard 1mb (I hope not) or on the 4mb expansion... > > My internet searches have come up dry (I've found stuff for OS X, > and early > PowerMacs, but nothing for the 68k line). > > Thanks, > Josh

17 years, 10 months

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Looking for a ST419

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

Geez, the 419 was uncommon, even in it's own time. And then, most of the ones I saw didn't work. If you don't mind 'wasting' part of the drive, I would think just about any 6-headed mfm drive would work. There's some difference (which I have been unable to quantify) between different models of MFM drives (of equal or similar geometry) that allows some drives to work in some applications, but not others. If there's anyone out there intimately familiar with the ST-506/412 interface, now would be a good time to offer some suggestions as to why this is so. -- Jos Dreesen / Marian Capel <jos.mar at bluewin.ch> wrote: I am in the market for a known working ST419 MFM disk System software forces me to the 306 Cyl / 6 Heads format (@ 32 256-byte sectors ) Location : Switzerland . Jos Dreesen _____________________________________________________________ Get the party started with a huge selection of quality party supplies. Click now! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3lzvGedBaI1hnMJrqILfEueSS…

17 years, 10 months

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Looking for a ST419

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:30:49 -0500 From: Chris Elmquist <chrise at pobox.com> Subject: Re: Looking for a ST419 I'm new here so I apologize for opening this old can of worms :-) <snip> That's the path I've been on. I envision over-sampling and then just playing and recording what was sent to the drive. I'd make no attempt to go inside that datastream and try to interpret what was read or written. If entire tracks were always written, then it seems rather straightforward to just store track images and play and record them as they are seeked to. <snip> Ya... so, again I'm new here :-) But I'll go away quitely and think about this some more-- knowing now that I can't cheat and do tracks at a time. Chris -------------Reply: Oh, I don't know; that's all it'd take to make a few of us Cromemco folks with failing MFM drives happy... mike

17 years, 10 months

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Zilog System 8000

by jeffj＠panix.com

> From: Oliver Lehmann <lehmann at ans-netz.de> > Subject: Re: Zilog System 8000 > So - none has a S8000... at home? ;) The MARCH computer museum at New Jersey's Infoage has a Zilog Z8000 model 21. http://www.infoage.org http://midatlanticretro.org/ Sadly, I scrapped my model 21 and 31 when Linux overtook Unix as the preferred software developer's platform. I still have some pieces (SMD hard drive) but I gave away some of the main boards to someone claiming to want them for the CPUs. I'm unsure how to get it running from bare boards because I suspect the backplane was not just parallel connectors. All the slots were specific to the CPU, RAM, disk controller, serial ports, tape drive, etc. How I wish I had photos of the Exxon Office Systems office in New York's Rockefeller center in 1982 when they were selling the Zilog System 8000 running the Zeus OS as servers to Z80 systems running Z-net (their proprietory coax network). Only a few years later at the NJ Trenton Computer Fest, a fellow was selling a pair from the back of a red pickup truck. What a fall from grace! > I'm missing a backplane so I tried at first hooking up power on my CPU > module and connecting a serial interface to the tty1 (console) pins of > the bus-connector.... powering on the system makes the cpu getting a bit > warm but my console is quiet :( I'm not sure if I've to connect some > other pins as well with +5V or GND. NMI... RESET whatever... so I > wonder if someone has a S8000 at hand and can measure some things? I suspect you'll need the front panel with the reset and interrupt buttons (and a few LEDs) to invoke the ROM monitor. Or at least know where they connect. Yes, I miss having a real ROM monitor but it was no fun working on an abandoned system by myself. > From: "Paxton Hoag" <innfoclassics at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: Zilog System 8000 > I have a card set and backplane saved from a machine that went to > scrap, nothing else. It is lost in my container. I saved the hard drive since I was hoping to use it on another system, failing to predict the amazing velocity of new technology becoming available to everyone.

17 years, 10 months

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Memory test util for classic macs?

by derschjo＠msu.edu

Anyone know of a decent memory test utility that runs on classic macs (68k based)? I have an old Mac Portable that I'm struggling to get an OS on -- I consistently get "bad F-line instruction" traps when booting from System 7 disks (floppies and CD-ROMs), which from what I can tell probably means bad memory. I'd like to find out if it IS memory, and if so, whether it's the onboard 1mb (I hope not) or on the 4mb expansion... My internet searches have come up dry (I've found stuff for OS X, and early PowerMacs, but nothing for the 68k line). Thanks, Josh

17 years, 10 months

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HP9133D disk replacement.

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

Yah, I done that. The key is to find an MFM drive that has the same or greater Cylnder/Head geometry: It has to have at least the same number of cylnders, and at least the same number of heads. Keep in mind, though, that geometry alone does *NOT* guarantee that this will work!! The 9133 seems to be allergic to some MFM drives-- I could get most Seagate drives to work, for example, but not NEC's. My fave at the time was the Quantum Q540. I 'wasted' over half the drive, but I had alot of them at the time! When you format such a drive, you will not have a capacity greater than the original.[1] [1] Not quite true for the older 9133 V/X/XV drives. If you have a 'V' for example, you can replace it with a bigger drive, adjust the jumpers inside, and format for 10 or 15MB. -- Jos Dreesen / Marian Capel <jos.mar at bluewin.ch> wrote: Closely related to the previous post : I actually have an ST419, but is in use inside a HP9133D. Looking back to old classiccmp articles indicate that it is not easy to replace the ST419 by other MFM drives of different geometries. Has this changed ? i.e can somebody report a success in replacing the internal drive of an HP9133 ? Jos _____________________________________________________________ Find the apartment of your dreams by clicking here now! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3miig3oq0XVBmhWGbEvHZPivS…

17 years, 10 months

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Catweasel Mailing List

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi, The original 1998 Catweasel mailing list has been reclaimed and is operational again. If you are interested in Catweasel please join the mailing list. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/catweasel Thank you and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

17 years, 10 months

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Somewhat OT: Google Indexing OCR'd PDFs

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Could this indeed be useful, especially when sites like Bitsavers are indexed? I've been watching this fairly closely, since I started to see the content being OCRed on the mirrors.

17 years, 10 months

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Somewhat OT: Google Indexing OCR'd PDFs

by josefcub＠gmail.com

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/picture-of-thousand-words.html Could this indeed be useful, especially when sites like Bitsavers are indexed? Josef -- "I laugh because I dare not cry. This is a crazy world and the only way to enjoy it is to treat it as a joke." -- Hilda "Sharpie" Burroughs, "The Number of the Beast" by Robert A. Heinlein

17 years, 10 months

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Old Heath Software - New In Box - Query

by n6ki＠sbcglobal.net

I have come acquired a Heathkit Box of an RTTY Software program, unopened and I do not want to open the box and ruin it's value to collectors The only number on the box are there SF-9006 00108 In the estate sale there was a unbuilt kit with an 8 inch disk drive that a ham friend of mine bought The box size is about 12" X 12" X 3" thick I expect it is full of Floppy disks and a manual or instruction sheet I expect there may be 8 inch floppies in it as if they were 5 inch, why would teh box be so big ??? Any info on contents and value appreciated Thanks 73, Dennis N6KI

17 years, 10 months

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any Apollo fans out yonder?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

I know I posted this before. But there's been so little feedback...

17 years, 10 months

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anyone utilizing early Macs to access the internet?

by jvdg＠sparcpark.net

2008/10/31 Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com>: > Can any pre-Mac OS X system run a browser that supports modern websites? Not really. > This was the problem that caused my Mom to upgrade a couple years ago. > Besides now that they've been selling Intel-based Mac's for a few years, > doesn't the G5 2x2 I'm using count as an "early" Mac? :-) Considering "the Mac" as a family of computer systems celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary next year, and the PowerMac G5, which was cancelled merely three years ago, certainly doesn't qualify as an "early Mac". IMHO, of course. :-P .tsooJ

17 years, 10 months

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Looking for a ST419

by dm561＠torfree.net

-----------Original Message: Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:48:21 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: Looking for a ST419 On 30 Oct 2008 at 10:45, Chris Elmquist wrote: > I realize that the operating system had individual sector write-ability > but was that accomplished by read-modify-write of that individual sector > in a controller buffer and then the entire track rewritten? or did the > controller sync to the beginning of the specific sector and write it > in place? Just that way--like a floppy--there are address marks and sector headers that mark the beginning of each sector. At least that's the way most controllers work. Of course, since the data stream from an ST412 interface is just a raw bunch of pulses, one could record anything on a track that one wanted, within the electrical limits of the drive. Cheers, Chuck ----------------Reply: The Cromemco STDC ST506-type controllers are an example of a controller that *did* format/read/write entire 10K tracks (no physical sectors), with a four-track cache. m

17 years, 10 months

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Drivetec Floppy Drives

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

-- "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: On 30 Oct 2008 at 7:44, Jules Richardson wrote: >Reminds me of the old Drivetec floppies--formatted with an embedded >servo, so you didn't dare pick up used ones--they could be erased or >have errors that would render them useless. I've still got some of >the old Drivetec/Kodak drives and some media, but I'm not aware of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Whoa, hold the phone here. Okay, I'm trying to solve a twenty-year- old mystery. So, you say the media for these drives were made by Kodak? Did they, per chance, have *triangular* notches in place of the traditional rectangular ones? I'm asking, because in 1985 or '86 I was at an electronics scrap yard in L.A., and saw a *very* large heap of these kinda strange looking floppy drives. I don't remember too much about them, but I just remember they looked *weird*. The media was made by Kodak (something I had never seen before), and the notch on the edge of the floppy disk was *triangular*. I figured it was some special media for bio-medical equipment, or for some bizarre photographic process, or something. Anyways, I never saw drives (or floppies) like that ever again, and always wondered about it. They looked brand-new, and the whole incident sticks out in my mind because I remember the owner was mad as hell-- apparently he spent a small fortune on these things, but nobody wanted them because they weren't 'standard'. _____________________________________________________________ Live the good life! Click now for great retirement planning assistance! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3mK7BUhrxexcthLC9q3BBc6Go…

17 years, 10 months

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FrameMaker for SunOS

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

I have ten (yes ten) boxes of FrameMaker v5 for SunOS. Includes manuals, CDROM, I think even license keys. I only opened one box, but I assume they're all the same. If anyone wants all of them, they are free for the cost of shipping, probably $40 or so. Let me know soon or they hit the trash. I'm not really interested in breaking them up. Contact me off-list if interested. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Port Charlotte, FL

17 years, 10 months

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Help with Sun video

by snhirsch＠gmail.com

I'm hoping someone can shed light on this. For the past week, I've been battling to get my Sun Ultra-60 video switchable through a Belkin 8-port KVM switch. The monitor is a Samsung 214T 20" LCD. - Connect monitor directly to workstation with a 13W3 Sync-On-Green adapter (no passthrough of sync signals): Works fine. - Connect monitor directly to workstation with a 13W3 adapter that brings out H+V sync: Works fine. - Connect either of the above to a port on the KVM switch: Switch does not recognize that anything is connected and refuses to pull in the relay (I can hear an audible click from any channel with recognized video). The status LED on the KVM keeps flashing to say "no one there!". Obviously no video. - Purchase Belkin Sun adapter box from eBay and connect it between the U60 and the KVM: KVM recognizes that video is there and pulls in the relay. The monitor _seems_ to believe that something is there, as the blinking green "nothing attached to me" LED goes solid on. However, nothing ever appears on the screen. I tried all DIP switch settings on the adapter (connected to Sun monitor sense lines). - In desperation, connect monitor directly to HD15 port on the Belkin adapter: Same thing. Solid green LED, no display. The same machine worked perfectly through an older 4-port Belkin unit (that I've outgrown, thus the 8-port). What on earth am I missing here? I don't even see a common denominator, but am hoping that someone more familiar with the details of Sun video can give me a nudge in the right direction. On the subject of the Belkin KVM: Is it possible that their "detection" is simply looking for a grounded pin or a pair of pins looped back by virtue of the computer being connected? Maybe expecting a voltage? If I could trick it into activating the port, I could just feed through from the 13W3 adapter and be done with it. Naturally Belkin's site has no information at this low level of detail... Steve --

17 years, 10 months

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Osborne and unusual TI Terminal in Weirdstuff Bid Sale...

by lbickley＠bickleywest.com

I dropped by Weirdstuff today and found a clean Osborne and a dusty (but unusual) TI Terminal in their Bid Sale. You can see pictures of them via: ftp://bickleywest.com/ws/ or ftp bickleywest.com User: anonymous Password: your email address cd ws Here's the info on the WS bid sale: http://www.weirdstuff.com/sunnyvale/html/bid_sale.htm Note that you can FAX you bids to WS. The webpage doesn't say it - but they will ship items won in the bid sale. I have no monetary interest in the auction or sale of these items. I am a "regular" bidder at WS - but will not be bidding on either of these items (otherwise I wouldn't be posting them to the list, would I ;-) Cheers, Lyle -- Lyle Bickley Bickley Consulting West Inc. Mountain View, CA 94040 http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"

17 years, 10 months

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Seeking manual for Farallon Ether10-T Starlet/16 hub ($$$)

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

I'm seeking the manual for a Farallon Ether10-T Starlet/16 hub (circa 1994-1995). I'm willing to pay $50 for it. If you have one, please contact me directly (and immediately). Thanks! -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

17 years, 10 months

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DG Tapes: Nova Fortran IV

by julianskidmore＠yahoo.com

Hi folks, It seems to me that self-hosting 16-bit compilers for old minicomputers are very thin on the ground. Yet from my viewpoint they are interesting and worth preserving, because they are a good demonstration of what could be achieved using fairly limited hardware. Recently, I've been looking at the Data General RDOS Fortran IV compiler manual. It seems a very comprehensive version of the language, and it's actually Fortran '66 with some extensions, and looks very practical. However, the standard RDOS images for SIMH don't come with the Fortran compiler, only assembler. Here are the only two references I've found on the net for the Fortran IV tapes: http://www.chookfest.net/nova3/paper-tapes.html http://www.ludd.luth.se/~ragge/nova/swdocs.html How easy would it be to get these tapes transcribed; dumped onto an RDOS disk and made available for SIMH? -cheers from julz @P __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

17 years, 10 months

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Looking for a ST419

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

I am in the market for a known working ST419 MFM disk System software forces me to the 306 Cyl / 6 Heads format (@ 32 256-byte sectors ) Location : Switzerland . Jos Dreesen

17 years, 10 months

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DEC AlphaServer 8400 for Trade

by hoelscher-kirchbrak＠freenet.de

I will trade off my AlphaServer 8400 for a VAX-11/750. This is the AlphaServer 8400 current configuration: 8 CPUs = 4*Dual-CPU 300 MHz E2056-DA 4GB Memory = 2*2GB MS7CC-FA 2 KFTIA I/O Modules (4*SCSI / 2*Network) E2054-AA 1 Bus-Terminator E2034-AA 3 48V DC Power Supplies 303379602 3 BA356 StorageWorks SCSI-Boxes 12 DEC SCSI-Drives (RZs) 1 AlphaServer 8400 PCI Box There are some AlphaServer 8400 spares that will go together with the computer: 1 48V DC Power Supply 303379602 2 CPUs = 1*Dual-CPU 300 MHz E2056-DA 2GB Memory = 1*2GB MS7CC-FA 1 Bus-Terminator E2034-AA 1 Box BA655-AA The AlphaServer 8400 is in working condition, but without software and licenses. The only known deficiency is that the console CDROM drive (RRD45) does not open properly, but is nevertheless usable. The condition of the spares is unknown. The AlphaServer 8400 system is located in Northern Germany. What do I expect in return: - A VAX-11/750 in working order - 1MB VAX-11/750 memory - A working VAX-11/750 disk subsystem (controller & drive, any model) - A DEUNA or DELUA UNIBUS ethernet adapter All items are negotiable. The VAX-11/750 will become part of my private collection of VAX computers and will be used to run VMS version 2, 3 & 4, ULTRIX-32 and some old UNIX versions. Regards, Ulli (The VAXorcist)

17 years, 10 months

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QUME DT/8 - current progress

by jzg22＠drexel.edu

**On /Wed Oct 29 20:33:08 CST 2008/ Glen Slick wrote: //> >On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Jonathan Gevaryahu <jzg22 at drexel.edu <http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk>> wrote: >>/ Secondly, I cannot source one of those ?locking? Shugart DC power plugs to />>/ fit into the connector, the connector which looks like (paste in notepad): />>/ _________ />>/ | | />>/ | 0 0 0 | />>/ |__ ____| />>/ __| |____ />>/ | | />>/ | 0 0 0 | />>/ |_________| />>/ /> >http://www.mouser.com/ > >Housing: 1-480270-0 >Contact: 60619-1 Thanks! I was looking in the completely wrong place for this part, and I had NO idea what it was called. "Mate-N-Lok" -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(@t)hotmail(d0t)com jzg22(@t)drexel(d0t)edu

17 years, 10 months

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HP9133D disk replacement.

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

Closely related to the previous post : I actually have an ST419, but is in use inside a HP9133D. Looking back to old classiccmp articles indicate that it is not easy to replace the ST419 by other MFM drives of different geometries. Has this changed ? i.e can somebody report a success in replacing the internal drive of an HP9133 ? Jos

17 years, 10 months

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QUME DT/8 - current progress

by jzg22＠drexel.edu

Ok, thanks to many people calling my foul on terms of how the drive works, I have figured out what I need to get it up and running for the most part. I wired up a power connector for the spindle motor and verified (first with a meter, then by applying power) that indeed the spindle motor works properly. Now: I could use verification that the diagram for wiring the 50 pin 8" shugart connector to the 36 pin 5.25" shugart connector which is in the cp/m faq (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/CPM-faq/) is correct. Secondly, I cannot source one of those ?locking? Shugart DC power plugs to fit into the connector, the connector which looks like (paste in notepad): _________ | | | 0 0 0 | |__ ____| __| |____ | | | 0 0 0 | |_________| I'm wondering if I should just solder wires to the pcb to supply gnd, 5v and 24v, or does someone know where I can get one of those plugs which mates with that connector, or perhaps has one spare? Thirdly, what should I set the jumpers and fuse-block to, to allow this to work properly with a catweasel or anadisk? Thanks for all the help so far! -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(@t)hotmail(d0t)com jzg22(@t)drexel(d0t)edu

17 years, 10 months

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Looking for a ST419

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

-- ethan.dicks at usap.gov wrote: >On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 10:56:13PM +0000, jeff.kaneko at juno.com wrote: >> Geez, the 419 was uncommon, even in it's own time. > >Indeed. I don't ever recall running across one. > >> There's some difference (which I have been unable to quantify) >> between different models of MFM drives (of equal or similar >> geometry) that allows some drives to work in some applications, >> but not others. >> >> If there's anyone out there intimately familiar with the >> ST-506/412 interface, now would be a good time to offer >> some suggestions as to why this is so. > >If you had to play with MFM and RLL drives back in the day, >there were *four* drive geometry parameters you had to match >up with what your controller/firmware was expecting: > >Cylinders >Heads >Write Precomp >Reduced Write Current > >RWC was important with the ST-506 standard, but, IIRC, it fell >away with the ST-412 standard, and the pin that the controller >used to tell the drive to reduce the write current was recycled >as another head-select line, allowing an ST-412-compatible drive >to have 9-16 heads. More modern drives kept track of which track >they were on and handled RWC internally, sometimes based on the >Write Precomp value, I think. A-HA! I think you nailed it! That explains why you could use an older drive that could be used with an XT controller, on an AT comntroller, but *NOT* vice-versa! I was totally unaware that the fourth head-select line on the bigger drives had been previously used for RWC. > >I don't know anything about the HP9133D, but I did fiddle with >plenty of MFM and RLL drives on ISA controllers and non-PC >controllers (DEC RQDXn, Commodore D9060/D9090, Dialog DQ614, etc., >etc.) There was no hard and fast rule that X drive could always >be replaced by Y drive of a larger size, but there were many >specific cases where it worked - one I've done is replacing a >Tandon TM602S with a Seagate ST225 in a Commodore D9060. They >have the same number of heads (4), and although the ST225 is 20MB >and the TM602S is 5MB, what you end up with is a 75%-unused >ST225, and there's no conflict between the Write Precomp and the >RWC parameters. OKay, looks like the 9133 wants a drive that supports RWC (or, at least, does not have a fourth head select bit!). Looks like the write precomp has to match also. Wow, I must have led a sheltered life: This is the first instance I've seen where the RWC and precomp actually have a discernable effect. I'll have to consult my drive guide to confirm this . . . . Thanks Ethan! _____________________________________________________________ Find the apartment of your dreams by clicking here now! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3miigqNmkWe4aQzJukOnbX02v…

17 years, 10 months

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last call for free-for-shipping stuff

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I offered some stuff here as free for shipping. They were claimed, but the claiments seem to have disappeared. This is your last call. All of this stuff is packed and ready to go. I'm starting a "Free For Shipping" page at http://frotz.homeunix.org/freestuff/ beginning with the below-listed items. Does anyone have a cleaner idea for doing this? Is the classic computer marketplace back up? * Morrow MicroDecision 3 with two extra motherboards. When turned on, the power supply hums but nothing else happens. Maybe with the two spares boards you can fix it. Two floppy drives are present. I never got a reply from the one who wanted this. Weight 25 pounds. * UniPlus UNIX manual set. It seems complete. This one was offered in March. Claiment was contacted a couple weeks ago who still expressed interest (you know who you are). Weight 11 pounds. * Empty 8-inch floppy drive cabinet with power supply. I forgot who wanted this one, so I'm tossing it to you. First email gets it. Weight 13 pounds. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

17 years, 10 months

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VAXstation keyboard on a Wyse terminal?

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

On Ebay auction number 110304716214 is what is claimed to be a keyboard for assorted Wyse terminals with an RJ-9 jack. However the keyboard shown looks more like a VAXstation / vt220 keyboard. I'm not talking just about the layout, but the case too. I have some VAXstation keyboards already. Dare I try them with my Wyse 99GT? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

17 years, 10 months

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DIGITAL 5 1/4 Floppies

by trebor72＠execpc.com

I have a package containing five DIGITAL 5 1/4 Floppies as follows BJ-P598-RV SELECT/V2.30 MASTER BIN RX18 LIC. TO DIGITAL EQUIP. CORP. DIGITAL TESTED 1981 SELECT INFO. SYS. INC. RJ-P599B-RV SELECT/V2.30 SUPERSPL BINRX18 LIC. TO DIGITAL EQUIP. CORP. DIGITAL TESTED 1981 SELECT INFO. SYS. INC. BJ-P600B-RV SELECT/V2.30 INST/TCH BINRX18 LIC. TO DIGITAL EQUIP. CORP. DIGITAL TESTED 1981 SELECT INFO. SYS. INC. Copy Working Installed Select Master Copy Working Select Install/Teach If any one is interested E-Mail me and we can discuss them Bob in Wisconsin

17 years, 10 months

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ADDS VP90 terminal info

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Does anyone here know anything about the ADDS VP90 serial terminal? I'd like to somehow find a keyboard for it and get rid of it. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

17 years, 10 months

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QUME DT/8 - anyone have a manual/schematic for this?

by jzg22＠drexel.edu

I have a Qume DT-8 8" DS drive here which I'm trying to restore/repair to dump a number of 8" floppies, but I lack the manual and schematic for it, and I have no idea what the pinout for the data/power/spindle drive/etc connectors is. It doesn't use a standard shugart connector for data at least, its a 50-pin thing, so I'll need to make some sort of pinout converter once I know the proper pinout. The 2 terminators are both installed. I do know the drive needs 5v and 24v to run, and I'm not about to power it up without checking EVERYTHING first. I'm also missing the funny 3-pin and 6-pin molex-like connectors used to supply power to the pcb and the spindle motor, if anyone has any spares. -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu(@t)hotmail(d0t)com jzg22(@t)drexel(d0t)edu

17 years, 10 months

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STR LINK IIa

by robert.galipeau＠ge.com

It's old post but if you are still looking for a STR-LINK II let me know. STR LINK IIa Jack Gershon jgershon at steelindustriesinc.com <mailto:cctech%40classiccmp.org?Subject=STR%20LINK%20IIa&In-Reply-To=> Fri Aug 8 09:40:42 CDT 2003 * Previous message: Retro printer ribbons still up for grabs <017922.html> * Next message: Interesting Burroughs Photo Site <017905.html> * Messages sorted by: [ date ] <date.html> [ thread ] <thread.html> [ subject ] <subject.html> [ author ] <author.html> I saw a post of yours from last year. I have a manual for this item if you still require it. I am actually looking for a replacement for our STR LINK IIa, or at the very least, the belt for the tape drive on it. Jack * Previous message: Retro printer ribbons still up for grabs <017922.html> * Next message: Interesting Burroughs Photo Site <017905.html> * Messages sorted by: [ date ] <date.html> [ thread ] <thread.html> [ subject ] <subject.html> [ author ] <author.html> More information about the cctech mailing list <http://dewey.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctech> GE Aviation ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ b Bob Galipeau Cell Support Leader Plant IV Maintenance General Electric Company 1000 Western Ave MD 164M1 Lynn, MA 01910 * Phone: (781) 594-6426 dial comm 263-6426 * Mobile: (781) 858-5998 * Fax: (781) 594-7815 dial comm 263-7815 * E-mail: robert.galipeau at ge.com

17 years, 10 months

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Manual for MS780-E/F?

by IanK＠vulcan.com

Does anyone have documentation for the later MS780-E, based on the M8375/76 modules? I have the engineering drawings (thanks, Bitsavers!), but I'd like to find documentation similar to what exists online for the earlier subsystems (the 1978 docs). I'm troubleshooting a MS780-E in a VAX-11/785, and I'd like to understand just what I'm supposed to do about that glaring red LED (it's a misconfiguration indicator of some sort). I'm getting SBI errors while trying to run the diagnostics, and the memory subsystem seems the likely culprit. Thanks! -- Ian

17 years, 10 months

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test-drb