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

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

My requirement is much less demanding. I only need to show test cards,static pictures and the like. Whats most important is that the output is as close to the full PAL standard as possible. So to widen the scope the question becomes: 'Where can I get an old system that will do broadcast standard PAL TV out.' PAL will be gone as soon as the analog systems TV systems are switched off and digital takes over. -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of John Foust Sent: 27 November 2007 14:44 To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Amiga TV Out At 11:46 PM 11/26/2007, Rod Smallwood wrote: > I'm sure that I heard that some Commodore systems could do TV out >and were in fact used to produce CGI stuff for 'Babylon Five" >Does anybody know which ones and could they do PAL or just NTSC? Special effects makers strove for higher quality as the job demanded. Part of the appeal of the Amiga for special effects was the price of the 32-bit hardware and software. SGI hardware and software was an order of magnitude more expensive. NewTek's Lightwave was used by the Babylon 5 special effects group. I know they also used an early 3D Studio on a PC for some of the modeling. (And they used some of my software to convert between 3D file formats; as I recall, the spun shape of the original station was made that way.) Yes, the Amiga had the horsepower to play back animations of useful color depths in real-time. Depending on the image and the requirements, some special effects might even look OK with the straight TV-out. For example, the typical synthetic "computer display" in a cheesy sci-fi show. When you're filming an actor in front of an animation playing on a monitor, low-res is OK. More often for serious output, as in Babylon 5's case, they laid their bitmaps to an 8mm Exabyte tape as data files, then imported into an Abekas framebuffer that could play them back in real time. High quality, no generational loss every time you made an edit or copy. Straight TV-out wasn't a high-quality method of exporting video, though. In the early days, some people used single-frame video recorders to lay down a sequence of animation. This worked reasonably well, within NTSC generational limits. Later, some NewTek Video Toaster-based animators used its higher-quality framebuffer as the output to single-frame recordings. - John

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Amiga TV Out

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:53:03 -0000 From: "Rod Smallwood" <RodSmallwood at mail.ediconsulting.co.uk> Subject: RE: Amiga TV Out My requirement is much less demanding. I only need to show test cards,static pictures and the like. Whats most important is that the output is as close to the full PAL standard as possible. So to widen the scope the question becomes: 'Where can I get an old system that will do broadcast standard PAL TV out.' PAL will be gone as soon as the analog systems TV systems are switched off and digital takes over. -------------Reply: FWIW, if it doesn't have to be an Amiga I think some PC Video cards also could output PAL as well as NTSC. m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Moving house and clearing out...

by gordonjcp＠gjcp.net

I've got some stuff I need to find a new home for: MicroVAX 3300, working, spec unknown LA36, big box of paper and ribbons Altos 386 RL02, believed to be working but I haven't tried it. They're in Glasgow. I'd prefer it if you collect, but can deliver at least part of the way. Gordon

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Free Alpha System 2000 4/233? : Dorset UK

by mjd.bishop＠emeritus-solutions.com

Yours for the holidays. Free Alpha System 2000 4/233? Collection only >from Dorset UK. PartNo 455YD-A9, condition / parts as seen in the jpegs. Pdfs are "information only". Obtained as part of a job lot. Condition is understood to be "Powers up and self tests OK but that's all I know about DEC systems. Has a video card, 5 x scsi i/o, fibre channel/RJ-45 network card". Has not been powered on since acquisition. Must be gone for Xmas -- you know what that means ... I hope someone wants it, if only for parts. Sincerely Martin Note These files are each 0M5 to 1M0 in size http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_Isometric.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_Front.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_Left.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_Rear.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_Right.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_BackplaneL.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/A2k_BackplaneR.jpg http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/Alpha2000_technical_summary.pdf http://www.emeritus-solutions.com/alpha/EK-400MP-OP-A01.pdf

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Amiga TV Out

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Now that's interesting. So Amiga 2000 Models were availalable in PAL composite out for this side of the water. (I'm in the UK) Rod Smallwood -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Jim Leonard Sent: 28 November 2007 06:42 To: General at icky.berkhirt.com; On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Amiga TV Out Rod Smallwood wrote: > I'm sure that I heard that some Commodore systems could do TV out Composite only, but yes. You could get better results with a "genlock" device; a few of them supported Y/C ("s-video"). I produced a DVD last year with footage of running Amiga programs and I had to resort to scan-converting the RGB port itself to get acceptable quality. My signal path was RGB port->vga adapter->R/G/B/H/V breakout cable->scan converter->Y/Cr/Cb output->Y/Cr/Cb video capture card. That sounds heinous, but the scan converter and the video capture card were very high-end broadcast-quality units (scan converter was RGB Spectrum Videolink 1650x; capture card was Black Magic Designs Decklink SP) and there were really only two generational losses (RGB->scan converter and scan converter->capture card). The quality from this process was an order of magnitude better than the A500 and A4000's composite video output port. > and were in fact used to produce CGI stuff for 'Babylon Five" That was a NewTek Video Toaster, not a stock Amiga :-) The Video Toaster hardware had it's own set of video output ports, IIRC, although I could be wrong as I've never used one. > Does anybody know which ones and could they do PAL or just NTSC? All models except the A4000 (and maybe the A3000, but I'm not sure) were made in NTSC or PAL specific versions, with a different color generator and crystal to match. The A4000 had a jumper on the motherboard that selected either NTSC or PAL timings. You could get any model to "emulate" the other by using free utilities like Degrader, but these only affected the RGB video output timing. I used Degrader extensively on my NTSC A1200 to get European PAL games to run, since they required a 50Hz display, but that didn't affect the composite video output port, which was still NTSC (although it output some quasi-NTSC-50-gibberish when running in "pal" mode). -- Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/ Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Teaching kids about computers...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Teaching kids about computers... > From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:47:21 -0700 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Chuck Guzis wrote: > >> So, I propose that programming be taught first in machine language, >> then assembly. That's how I learned to do it. > >Real or fictional machine? Real, use PDP-8 it's simple enough and not too many instructions. > >> Cheers, >> Chuck >> >PS. I bet with the right fictional machine, it could be a >easy step to building hardware. PISC Pitiful instruction set computer. A varient of TOY idea. There are others inlcusing a 4bitter. Allison

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

IBM mechnical devices

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:49:10 -0700 From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> Subject: Re: IBM mechnical devices >M H Stein wrote: >> But I didn't have anything as modern as a 407; In My Day we only had 402s!!! >> BTW, my claim to fame was making it multiply; they said it couldn't be done, so... >Has look up " 402 IBM " on the web. That is old stuff, a little more on topic than >what I have seen lately. >> Haven't seen any with peripherals on eBay lately though... >So how many of the those old beasts are still around? >Ben alias woodelf. >PS. How did you get it to multiply? ---------- Actually, I think there are a few still around, but by the time you add all the necessary "peripherals" you've filled a large room... Don't ask me to do it today, but it was the "add and shift" method used by most mechanical calculators. Doubt if I still have the "coding form" though (lots of little circles connected with lines drawn to represent wires; a *real* machine language, none of that wussy octal & hex nonsense of Kids Today...) m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

IBM mechnical devices

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:15:29 -0800 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: IBM mechnical devices On 27 Nov 2007 at 16:49, woodelf wrote: >> PS. How did you get it to multiply? >Added a 602-A? >Cheers, >Chuck ---------- Actually, it was a Big Day when we replaced the 602-A with a 604; lots o' blinkenlights and warm glowing tubes instead of all those clicking relays and turning cams. Only electronic gear in the place until we replaced most of it with Canada's first Burroughs B-260, grandson of the famous Lost in Space B-205. Picture of B-260 (and some other interesting pix & facts) at: http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-b.html#B260/B270/B280 Ah, the good old days... m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

the Commie 64 lives?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

We all know decent emulators are a click away. But what do you do once you're downloaded and installed the emulator? Much C64 s/w was copy protected to begin with, so does having an emulator give you the ability to do much more then code from scratch? Is there s/w out there? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

18 years, 9 months

4
4
0 0

IBM mechnical devices

by dm561＠torfree.net

-----------Original Messages: Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:54:54 -0800 From: davis <davis at saw.net> Subject: Re: IBM mechnical devices woodelf wrote: > M H Stein wrote: > >> But I didn't have anything as modern as a 407; In My Day we only had >> 402s!!! >> BTW, my claim to fame was making it multiply; they said it couldn't >> be done, so... > > Has look up " 402 IBM " on the web. That is old stuff, a little more > on topic than > what I have seen lately. > >> Haven't seen any with peripherals on eBay lately though... > > So how many of the those old beasts are still around? > Ben alias woodelf. > PS. How did you get it to multiply? > > > How can you do any business work on hardware that can't multiply? The mind boggles! Jim Davis -------------Reply: Ah, no, for that there was the 604 Calculating punch, equivalent to a numeric co-processor (but in two somewhat larger cabinets !); since it was in big demand it made sense to do simple multiplication on the 402s instead of waiting for your turn. m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

IBM 5271 (PC3270) host interface options

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > I believe some Microsoft Bus Mouse cards had this facility too.... Indeed, all of the ones I've seen have a "slot 8" jumper on them. I've still got a couple knocking around somewhere along with their associated meeces. TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

SASI and XT/IDE info

by kelly＠catcorner.org

> --- Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> > wrote: > > > Chris - you probably have something quite unique > > there. Whilst things calling > > themselves SASI interfaces are common in old > > 8-bitters, this is the first I've > > heard of one for the PC... > > They're not specific to anything AFAIK. They're not > ISA cards if that's what you were led to believe. > They're the same size as a floppy, or old klunker of a > hard drive (similar to an Ampro Little Board). > The guy who gave them to me supposedly had a drawing > for an interface that would allow *any* computer with > a *parallel* connection to utilize these boards. Kelly > Leavitt (who sailed off the end of the earth > apparently, haven't seen him around) should know a bit > more about these things. I could e-mail Roy Soltoff > about the schematics, but I doubt he held onto them. The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I've just spent the last 8 months working on a personal project that I'm not quite finished with yet. Nothing to do with classic computers though. I have a bunch of these boards. They are WD SASI to MF boards. See the WD1002-SHD docs on bitsavers. Kelly No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.8/1154 - Release Date: 11/27/2007 11:40 AM

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

SASI and XT/IDE info

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

so what's a SASI board good for? I found and took pictures of my Acculogic sIDE-1/16 board (XT/IDE) if anyone would like to take a look. Besides 1 PAL chip, all standard TTL. Would be nice to get these things cloned. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how. http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/

18 years, 9 months

8
19
0 0

Teaching kids about computers...

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:52:00 -0800 (PST) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: Teaching kids about computers... >> So, I propose that programming be taught first in machine language, >> then assembly. That's how I learned to do it. >EAM first! There's nothing like "cardboard technology" to demystify the >whole thing. "How can you use an 08x sorter (one column at a time) to >efficiently arrange a large deck of cards with a sequence number in 73 >through 80?" "Wire a plug board for an interpreter to print last name, >then first name, that have fields in the middle of the card, flush left." >"Use a 407? accounting machine to print results directly onto a form >1040." "Use a Gerber Data Digitizer ("Etch-a-sketch") to make a deck of >cards with a risque picture." >OK, NOW write machine language. (1401 emulator on a 1620)? ------ RIGHT ON! That's how I got started, and it's definitely the only way! The noise alone will be special, not to mention the excitement when little brother trips him/her on the way from the sorter to the collator and 4000 cards go flying across the room; what better way to grasp the concept of a glitch on a data bus... But I didn't have anything as modern as a 407; In My Day we only had 402s!!! BTW, my claim to fame was making it multiply; they said it couldn't be done, so... Haven't seen any with peripherals on eBay lately though... m

18 years, 9 months

4
3
0 0

Adventure games

by James＠jdfogg.com

> You are at a dead end of a dirt road. The road goes to the east. > In the distance you can see that it will eventually fork off. > The trees here are very tall royal palms, and they are > spaced equidistant from each other. > There is a shovel here. > > Forget the shovel ... I want to see the babes under the palm > trees. :) BTW I wonder why I never can win at these games. Wrong game dude, you want Leisure Suit Larry! James - "All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest"

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Teaching kids about computers...

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > And that's exactly why I think it's a poor choice. You can't >_really_ understnad what goes on inside those blocks.... But you don't need to when you're starting out. Why get bogged down with the intricasies of a board full of TTL when all you need to know is how to drive it? I suppose what I'm saying is you need to keep things fairly simple to start with (but not *TOO* simple). Getting the balance right is tricky.... TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Teaching kids about computers...

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, >>....the Beeb is a fairly formidable system to understand.... > Is it? Why? Are you talking abotu understanding how to program it, or >understanding the hardware? The hardware. It's a very clever design, but looking at it from the point of view of someone who's just learning about computer electronics, I think it would look pretty daunting. The 64 is a much simpler system. I think the Beeb would make an ideal SECOND system once they've got "the bug". >....has 64K*4 RAM, which is fiddled by the ULA to look like 32K*8 >to the processor. I am not joking. I'd forgotten about that....did anyone ever figure out how much of a performance hit the machine took because of that? TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > Oh I don't know. If you hate PCs so much.... Quite honestly, the *ONLY* reason I use PC's is because of the availability of software (and the speed obviously). If it wasn't for that I'd probably still be running my old MegaST. >....you should have designed your own motherboard, so you >could haevve done things properly... ....but if I'd done that I'd have used a 68K instead of that Intel garbage IBM chose.... ;-) TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 9 months

10
21
0 0

SASI and XT/IDE info

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> How much of a difference is there between the two, really? The big difference is the addition of bus disconnect/reconnect in SCSI. SASI devices hogged the bus until a transaction completed, which didn't work well for high latency operations like tape seeks/rewinds. An NCR 5380 SCSI controller will work fine with SASI devices. At one point it was easy to find them on ISA cards, haven't looked lately. Mixing SASI/SCSI on the same bus is problematic if the SCSI devices try to disconnect.

18 years, 9 months

2
2
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

Message: 10 Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:17:31 -0800 (PST) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: FD400 drive troubleshooting >Many/most drives have 50Hz/60Hz zebra discs on the flywheel, for using a >flickering fluorescent light. Which just happens to be the ratio of 300RPM vs 360RPM, so that on a 300RPM strobe disk w/a 60Hz light the 60Hz bars = 300RPM and the 50Hz bars = 360RPM. FWIW, m

18 years, 9 months

9
20
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: rtellason at verizon.net > > > I notice that even those guys that are building relay computers "cheat" and > use a single small solid-state chip for RAM. :-) > Hi I've been thinking about how one could make a reasonable memory, using small reed relays. If one puts a magnet close to one end, it will cause the reed to close. Move it back some and it will hold until the field is too weak. If one set the magnet someplace in the middle of this band, one could use the direction of current through the coil to set and reset the contacts. One could create an array of these for the memory. Placing small magnets in opposite directions for adjacent bits would keep from building too high a field buildup, in the array. I was thinking that one could use small round magnets glued to the end of a threaded rod. This could then be adjusted to optimize the memory. Now all I need is a pile of reed relays. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Put your friends on the big screen with Windows Vista? + Windows Live?. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/shop/specialoffers.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC…

18 years, 9 months

8
9
0 0

Using a DB13W3 monitor on a PC

by lproven＠gmail.com

(Since no-one seemed to notice this as a comment to an older thread...) I recently got given a decent 21" colour monitor with a DB13W3 connector on it. Never used one of these before. In the same pile of stuff was a Mac video connector to DB13 cable. I've tried this on an old Beige G3, and also via an SVGA-Mac convertor on a PC. It gives a good sharp picture, but on both systems, red and green were reversed. Does this mean my cable's incorrectly wired up or doesn't belong to this monitor, or is that something to do with using a DB13 monitor on a modern PC? -- 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

18 years, 9 months

3
2
0 0

Amiga TV Out

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 11:46 PM 11/26/2007, Rod Smallwood wrote: > I'm sure that I heard that some Commodore systems could do TV out >and were in fact used to produce CGI stuff for 'Babylon Five" >Does anybody know which ones and could they do PAL or just NTSC? Special effects makers strove for higher quality as the job demanded. Part of the appeal of the Amiga for special effects was the price of the 32-bit hardware and software. SGI hardware and software was an order of magnitude more expensive. NewTek's Lightwave was used by the Babylon 5 special effects group. I know they also used an early 3D Studio on a PC for some of the modeling. (And they used some of my software to convert between 3D file formats; as I recall, the spun shape of the original station was made that way.) Yes, the Amiga had the horsepower to play back animations of useful color depths in real-time. Depending on the image and the requirements, some special effects might even look OK with the straight TV-out. For example, the typical synthetic "computer display" in a cheesy sci-fi show. When you're filming an actor in front of an animation playing on a monitor, low-res is OK. More often for serious output, as in Babylon 5's case, they laid their bitmaps to an 8mm Exabyte tape as data files, then imported into an Abekas framebuffer that could play them back in real time. High quality, no generational loss every time you made an edit or copy. Straight TV-out wasn't a high-quality method of exporting video, though. In the early days, some people used single-frame video recorders to lay down a sequence of animation. This worked reasonably well, within NTSC generational limits. Later, some NewTek Video Toaster-based animators used its higher-quality framebuffer as the output to single-frame recordings. - John

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

OT : CRT replacement

by yahoo＠dW.co.za

Hi all >From: M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> > >If your friend is sure it's the CRT he/she must have had it apart; what's >the number, size, etc.? I havn't seen this animal myself, but questions yielded the following answers : CRT is marked with the following numbers : P/N95-P09122T001 P/N96/80396A98 AEG396512 D/14/390GH it could also be D/14/390GHB (None of these pop up on google). The size of the CRT is as follows; L: 360mm W: 100mm H: 125mm (I would regard these as approximate). Ideas, anyone? Thanks Wouter

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

govliq: 2 empty equipment racks (Richmond, VA)

by legalize＠xmission.com

<http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=1454466&convertTo=USD> Looks like these might be good for rack mounting PDP-11, etc., type equipment. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Cold booting an Apple III ?

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

Is there a way to coldboot an apple III, if you do not have the SOS disks ? On the apple II you can do it via the serial interface and the Basic ROM, but the apple iii lacks these ROM's Jos DReesen

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

New York Weekly Messenger 2-13-1833 Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833 On the back page of this newspaper is an article that describes in some detail the eye-witness account of a *working* machine: "...the greater part of the calculating machine is already constructed....I have had the advantage of seeing it actually calculate, and of studying its construction with Mr. Babbage himself..." Does this account describe a working computer? To help make this determination I would want to learn more about the error checking capability of this machine, which I assume was used for calculation of significant digits. A described, Babbage's calculating machine could be described as "computer-like" at least. I believe that this article reports the closest Babbage got to a actual working computer. Or just an elaborate calculator. There are no references in the article to what we today would identify as punch cards or programming. Download the PDF http://www.vintagecomputer.net/babbage/charles_babbage_2-13-1833.pdf ...and read for yourself. The article describes error checking and how results are viewed and how log tables could be calculated accurately, for use in astronomy. The article noted that regarding the printer "..less progress was made...". In the 1830's news from Europe would take a few weeks to reach New York, as boat was the only cross-Atlantic communications. Most articles in the paper refer to end of December 1832 events, including the account of the Calculating Machine. Overall there was a lack of contemporary articles about Babbage's calculating machine in 1832-35. I was able to find just the one often quoted article by D Lardner: "Babbage's Calculating Engines" from the Edinburgh Review 59 (1834) pg 263-327. The New York Weekly Messenger article above was printed a year prior, making it among the first known articles about Babbage's calculating machine. The apparent lack favorable press and the loss of funding in 1834 obscured the fact that the machine had a working visual "display" and was probably more complete than people realize. Was the calculating machine programmable? Maybe. Most writings about the Babbage projects were published a generation after the project was cancelled and I don't think that it's possible to discount the notion entirely.

18 years, 9 months

2
2
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: rdawson16 at hotmail.com > > >> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:15:02 -0500> From: ray at arachelian.com> To:> Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's>> Roy J. Tellason wrote:>> On Friday 23 November 2007 19:05, dwight elvey wrote:>>>>>> From: rtellason at verizon.net>>>>>>>> I notice that even those guys that are building relay computers "cheat">>>> and use a single small solid-state chip for RAM. :-)>>>>>>> Hi>>> I've been thinking about how one could make a reasonable>>> memory, using small reed relays. If one puts a magnet close>>> to one end, it will cause the reed to close. Move it back>>> some and it will hold until the field is too weak.>>>> ..>>>> Dunno if they still sell them or not, but Radio Shack used to sell a pack of>> 20 reed switches for only a couple of bucks...>>>>>> Hmm... Wonder if it's possible to build a relay without a spring on the> switch. That is, you have to send current with one polarity to set the> switch to a 1 and reverse polarity to set a zero - sort of what core> memory does with rings... I suppose this could instead be done by> attaching a magnet to the switch, or using magnet as the thing inside> the switch body, or better yet maybe a relay with a ball with a set of> contacts as the switch and two magnets, one on each opposite side...> you'd energize one coil for a "1" and the other for a "0">> Hmm, could even be done with a solenoid and use the mechanical part of> it to touch a wire for output. :-) Wouldn't really be a relay, but> pretty close.>> > > > Teledyne makes a 'non volitale' relay. its tradename is Maglatch. Hi Randy I used to use these or similar in equipment while I was in the service. They were not real reliable and expensive. They were in a state machine control for a reel to real multi track tape. Every now and then we'd take the control board out and smack it several times onto the work bench. It would work fine for a few weeks and then need another smack. I assumed that it was related to the armatures needing to be demagnetize every now and then. They used a bias magnet similar to what I've been suggesting to work with reed relays. One thing I learned about reed relays is to not use a weller iron with the magnetic heater switch. The reed relay would not open. I'd use that method if it was more controllable. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Put your friends on the big screen with Windows Vista? + Windows Live?. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/shop/specialoffers.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC…

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> > Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:43:02 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org> > >On Nov 19, 2007, at 11:03 PM, Allison wrote: >> I build with 6 and 10mhz z80s and 12mhz 8085s I have and theres >> little problem with finding static rams and Eprom (and EEprom) >> that can keep up. > > Did you say 12MHz 8085? Holy cow! Tell me more? I meant 6MHz, 12mhz crystal. However, even at 6 its fast. FYI I tried overclocking a 80C856mhz part and it was still doing well at 8mhz but I was seeing memory timing issues. You don't see the 6mhz parts too often. The usual is the 3 and 5mhz and usually the -5 (5mhz) will overclock to 6 with no real issues. At those speeds it's intereating as old 8080 software is now at 3X! Though a 10mhz Z80 is also a nice thing but the 85nS memory need is something to aware of. That short M1 read cycle preally beats up ram. Z180 is better and Z84S180s can be found as fast as 33mhz. Allison > > -Dave > >-- >Dave McGuire >Port Charlotte, FL >Farewell Ophelia, 9/22/1991 - 7/25/2007 > >

18 years, 9 months

4
4
0 0

Northstar Dimension

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

Not exactly my Holy Grail, but a unit I hold in high regard. Anyone have one (or more) surplus to their needs (working or not). I actually have a line on one already, but the guy is taking his time. Don't want to bug him that much. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

2708 EPROM progreammer - old magazines designs

by dm561＠torfree.net

-----------------Original Message: Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:48:55 +1000 From: Doug Jackson <doug at stillhq.com> Subject: Re: 2708 EPROM progreammer - old magazines designs John S wrote: > > As 2708s are obsolete few moern programmers support them, apart from a few > > that cost many $100s. So I thought why not try and build one? I've found > > references to the following classic magazines, and I would be willing to pay > > a small fee for photocopies or scans of the articles: > > > > Program your next EROM in BASIC. Schematic for a 2708 erasable read only > > memory reader and programmer which uses parallel IO ports to set data and > > address. The software to drive the programmer is written in BASIC. > > Byte - March 1978 page 84 on (main article) > > Byte - April 1978 page 62 (Byte Bugs) > I have a programmer designed by Steve Ciarcia from BYTE - It uses an 8051AH-Basic (The 8051 with basic embedded) as the controller - and still works a treat - to this day. - Standalone board, interface via serial. It was fun to see peoples faces when you shipped a ^C down the serial line, and dropped through to a READY prompt. I can find the doco for yo, but it is a high end solution to a simple problem. Alternately, I'm more than happy to read an eprom for you, and email contents - I'm in Oz though. Perhaps there is somebody in the US who could do the same. Doug -----------------Reply: I have one of those as well; alas, it does NOT do 2708's. To the OP: I can scan the KB article for you, but the 2708 programmer is intended to work with a Motorola MEK6800-D2, and consists of nothing more than 3 transistors to switch the 27V (and a couple of switches and a socket for the EPROM). It's all done in software. mike

18 years, 9 months

4
3
0 0

Sega YENO

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

Anyone got one? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

strange request (Sharp PC-7000)

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

Does anyone have a NOS screen for one of these things? I turned mine on today and I like it, but it's a bit worn out. Strange request it may seem, but I actually have a brand new screen and k/b for IBM's first laptop (I can't believe the name escapes me). ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how. http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: Ray Arachelian <ray at arachelian.com> > Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:15:02 -0500 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Roy J. Tellason wrote: >> On Friday 23 November 2007 19:05, dwight elvey wrote: >> >>>> From: rtellason at verizon.net >>>> >>>> I notice that even those guys that are building relay computers "cheat" >>>> and use a single small solid-state chip for RAM. :-) >>>> >>> Hi >>> I've been thinking about how one could make a reasonable >>> memory, using small reed relays. If one puts a magnet close >>> to one end, it will cause the reed to close. Move it back >>> some and it will hold until the field is too weak. >>> >... >> >> Dunno if they still sell them or not, but Radio Shack used to sell a pack of >> 20 reed switches for only a couple of bucks... >> >> > >Hmm... Wonder if it's possible to build a relay without a spring on the >switch. That is, you have to send current with one polarity to set the >switch to a 1 and reverse polarity to set a zero - sort of what core >memory does with rings... I suppose this could instead be done by >attaching a magnet to the switch, or using magnet as the thing inside >the switch body, or better yet maybe a relay with a ball with a set of >contacts as the switch and two magnets, one on each opposite side... >you'd energize one coil for a "1" and the other for a "0" > >Hmm, could even be done with a solenoid and use the mechanical part of >it to touch a wire for output. :-) Wouldn't really be a relay, but >pretty close. Telco stepping switches. I have a few. Also you can get small relays that are dual coil, one to set and one to reset. Widely used in automatic antenna tuners to select L and C as needed to resonate an antenna for most any frequency. The idea of a latching relay is once set no more power is needed. Allison Allison

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

OT : CRT replacement

by cctech＠retro.co.za

Hi all Apologies for the off-topic, but I'm pretty sure someone here knows the answer to this one. A friend has a Motorola Communications Analyser model number R 2001 B. The CRT is blown. I don't even know if it's vector or raster, I'd suspect vector? Picture at http://www.econ2way.com/cgi-bin/service_monitor_display.cgi?site-images/Mot… Any idea where I can scrounge a replacement CRT, anyone? Thanks W

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Cold booting an Apple III ?

by jos.dreesen＠bluewin.ch

Is there a way to coldboot an apple III, if you do not have the SOS disks ? On the apple II you can do it via the serial interface and the Basic ROM, but the apple iii lacks these ROM's Jos DReesen

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Classic Computer Stuff Auction - More Items & Pictures Added

by ggama＠coakleytech.com

Do you still have the Trace 5 5 1/4" duplicator? Thanks, George

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

PCKeybaord keytops

by cclist＠sydex.com

Last week, someone pointed me to Ergonomics Resources a source for decent PC keyboards, such as their version of the old Northgate unit. I voiced a concern about a pet peeve of mine--that the keytops would be the everyday surface-marked ones, rather than the old double-shot ones (which have legends that are almost impossible to wear away). Here's the response I received: "Thanks you for visiting our web site. The Stellar is in most ways like the Northgate keyboard you used many years ago. But they too have gone the way of Laser engraved key tops." "We do still have some (new in the box) Northgate Evolution Keyboards (split keyboards) that have the double injected keycaps if you're interested. " http://www.ergonomicsmadeeasy.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID =12 I guess I'll stick with my Model M. Cheers, Chuck

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

IBM 4019 Laser Printer

by rtellason＠verizon.net

I have one of these, and it seems to be a real workhorse, as is evidenced by the status page it kicks out on powerup, which lists somewhere close to a quarter million pages having been printed out... That status page is a part of the problem. When I got it I was told that "a postscript board" was in it, and it indeed does seem to speak postscript just fine, but as long as I have that emulation enabled (as opposed to LJ or whatever, I think there were three or four choices altogether) it kicks out that page every single time you power it up. Is there any way to defeat this? Also, since I switched to using this LJ5 I acquired fairly recently, on pulling the paper out of the IBM it seems that a roller that sits on the top of the stack of paper is in the process of turning to goo, like those capstan rollers I see mentioned in here from time to time. Is there a rebuild kit or are replacement parts for this thing available out there anywhere? -- Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" - Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

PDP-11 comm stuff (and more) from a haul available

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

Hi all,Last week I hired a truck to pick up a "few" things ...- H960 rack with PDP-11/45 and a Cypher 100 tape drive ("not working" sticker attached to the Cypher)- H960 rack with PDP-11/55 with 28k fast memory (according to the post-it attached to it)- H960 rack with TU45 ("seems complete" says the post-it)- H960 rack with TU16 (capstan rooler is goo)- H960 rack with communications stuff (see below)- two RK07 disk drives- RM03 disk drive- RM03P disk pack with diagnostics- two DECprinter I- DECwriter II- cabinet with SYSTIME SYSTAPE II unit (capstan also goo)- a few boxes, one contains a complete RH11-AB- RT-11 V5.4 SRC micro fiche (#1 - #86) in two envelopes complete with the Bill of Material!- complete RT-11 V4 manual set in blue binders- complete RT-11 V5 manual set in orange bindersNeedless to say that my wife was not so glad when I got home :-)I took pictures while unloading, and they will be on my website,probably a good moment to do that are the Xmas holidays ...I plan to get rid of most of this, and use parts to get otherunits in my collection restored into working order. The 11/45will go to Edward, the 11/55 is a great addition to my UNIBUSmachines collection.Most of the stuff will probably be too heavy to ship ...I disassembled the BA-11F with the comm stuff. The completepower harnass is for whom it wants/needs. I can take pictures.The BA11 contained two DR11-B 4-slot backplanes, populated withM7219, M208 (2x) M7821, M796, M205, M^11 (2x) M112, M113, M239and an M9680 DR11-B test connector board, power 'paddle' board,and connector board M9760 with two cables attached to it withon the other end one connector board (single height) M908?That single height connector board went into a small rack-mountunit with a 2-row backplane containing the folowing boards:M5950 (8x), M3020 (3x), M205 (5x), M111, M112, M306, M611 andone onit has M113 (3x) and the other unit has M113 (1x) andM1131 (2x). One unit was marked "RX", the other was marked "TX".On the side of the backplane is a label with this text:DIGITAL CSS P/N 2M-C121A S/N NU00001 DX40AB.The other unit has the same lable, but S/N is NU00002!Each unit has its own power supply, H716A.I elaborated a bit more about the comm stuff, because I reallydon't have a use for it, unless dismantling it. So, if somebodywants this (DR11-B or DX40 or everything), let me know.I have no idea what the things weigh, so neither do I know whatthe shipping costs would be. Free pick up in The Netherlands :-) allthough recovering some money from hiring the truck would be nice.I am also looking for two buttons of the TU45. They are damaged.It's the lower two on the control panel, "FILE PROT" and "1600BPI".thanks,Henk

18 years, 9 months

6
9
0 0

OT : CRT replacement

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:43:08 +0200 From: Wouter <cctech at retro.co.za> Subject: OT : CRT replacement >A friend has a Motorola Communications Analyser model number R 2001 B. The >CRT is blown. >I don't even know if it's vector or raster, I'd suspect vector? >Picture at >http://www.econ2way.com/cgi-bin/service_monitor_display.cgi?site-images/Mot… >Any idea where I can scrounge a replacement CRT, anyone? >Thanks >W -------------------- If your friend is sure it's the CRT he/she must have had it apart; what's the number, size, etc.? m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal

by dm561＠torfree.net

-----------------Original Messages: Message: 29 Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:15:37 -0800 (PST) From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> Subject: Re: Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal > But see, it HAS to be bad if Microsoft does it. One little key, and > the keyboard universe falls apart. I believe the objection was its placement, not the presence of a Windows-specific key. I've certainly had trouble adjusting to a Windows keyboard after being used to not having anything between Ctrl and Alt. Even Macs don't disturb that. Command is to the side of that group, not splitting it up. ------------------------------Reply: Well, yes, obviously the location is the issue, but it is still just another tedious MS-bash; I've got an APL keyboard here, and I think every "classic" terminal or computer keyboard I have here is different in some "improved" way but I don't hear complaints about that, or all the different PC layouts, especially the enter, backspace and \ keys. I find the WIN keys quite handy, and since they're control-type keys the location actually makes sense to me; just part of the DOS>WIN adjustment. Don't you also have trouble switching from a C64 to a Mac? m

18 years, 9 months

13
25
0 0

Teaching kids about computers...

by dm561＠torfree.net

--------------Original Messages: Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:58:17 -0500 From: "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason at verizon.net> Subject: Re: Teaching kids about computers... On Thursday 22 November 2007 18:48, Chuck Guzis wrote: > Good point. There is the concept of "depth" of understanding. Many > people who regard themselves as programming professionals would be > lost without an operating system. Some would be lost without an > assembler. And, sad to say, some would be lost without some sort of > Java facility. This reminds me of folks I used to run into back in the day that considered themselves "programmers" -- in dbase! > For some, that's not sufficient. Understanding how a disk drive > works or what goes on over a TCP/IP connection is essential to them. Some of us actually enjoy that sort of thing and some just want to be able to use the end result, or maybe tweak it a bit. ------------Reply: Well, you've just insulted several thousand professional dBase programmers, myself included, with your elitist snobbery. I would guess that a competent dBase programmer would probably have the average small database program completed and delivered in the time it would take just to lay out, code and debug the necessary file- and screen-handling routines in most of the other comparable languages of the day, at least until you'd built up a decent and relevant library. Tools are developed to make a job easier and do it better; in my opinion taking advantage of those tools and doing things "the easy way" makes you more professional, not less. A programming professional's job is to deliver a product that meets the client's needs, is well documented and easily maintained, and is delivered on time and within budget. Knowing or caring about the arcane details of a disk drive or being able to program an OS-less computer in binary may matter if you're working on an embedded controller but it's pretty irrelevant if the project is a client accounting system for a large financial institution. What is important is good communication and organizational skills, the ability to conceptualize, proficiency in the use of whatever tools are appropriate to the job at hand, and enough humility to give the client what he/she really wants instead of what he/she *should have*, qualities often lacking in the "hacker" mentality. The same applies to the original topic: among the many replies suggesting how a child *should* learn about computers, I didn't see many suggestions that the child him/herself might be the best judge and perhaps the best approach might be to explore what his/her interests are (instead of what yours were), and provide whatever resources are appropriate and relevant to those interests. m

18 years, 9 months

4
3
0 0

Ebay item: Apple III

by oldcpu2＠rogerwilco.org

While I may have cut my teeth on an original Apple II (still in working condition!), but I think I'll pass on this. Looks like just the hardware...no doc or software. But for those that are interested... 150187810446 150187813983 - Jared (I have no connection with the seller).

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

available Fw: vax equipment... (vax, teletype, tektronix, TI980 mini)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Here is a deal that I may want a part of, interested parties contact me off-list please.... Jay West > VAX 11/730 (with Bravo 3 CAD software) > The VAX also has a separate magnetic tape drive in another cabinet > A spare parts VAX > 2 spare hard drives > a couple teletype style terminals > 3 or 4 Tektronix terminals (with stylii for cad work) > a plotter > a couple paper tape punches > a large number of the large disc catridges > TI-980 w/ an ST-1 terminal

18 years, 9 months

1
1
0 0

Access to IOPAGE Registers using PDP-11 Opearting Systems

by bqt＠softjar.se

"Jerome H. Fine" <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> skrev: > > >Johnny Billquist wrote: > >>> ons 2007-11-21 klockan 12:00 -0600 skrev "John A. Dundas III" >> dundas at caltech.edu>: >> >>> Jerome, >>> >>> I can speak for RSTS with some authority, RSX with somewhat less authority. >>> >>> At 9:17 PM -0500 11/20/07, Jerome H. Fine wrote: >>> >>> >>>> I doubt that RSX-11 or RSTS/E allow a user access to the IOPAGE >>>> even via PREVIOUS DATA space. Can anyone confirm this assumption? >>>> >>>> >>> Address space in the I/O page for RSTS jobs (processes) was not >>> directly available. The APRs are always controlled by the OS. It >>> MIGHT be possible for a privileged job to use PEEK/POKE SYS calls to >>> access the I/O page in the way you suggest but it would be >>> particularly difficult. >>> >>> >> I thought RSTS/E had some way of remapping the address space as well. >> Can't you remap parts of your memory to some shared region, for example? >> >> > Jerome Fine replies: > > I am replying to Johnny's response, but I had also read the other > replies as well. > Thank you all for your help. > > The first point is that using a PEEK/POKE SYSTEM (EMT? - RT-11 has such > a call) > is so high in overhead that it becomes almost useless. In fact, the key > point about the > use of the EMEM.DLL under RT-11 is the efficiency. While it is possible > to access > normal "emulated PDP-11" memory (using E11 on a 750 MHz Pentium III) in > about > 0.3 micro-seconds, it takes about 1.2 micro-seconds to reference an > IOPAGE address > in some sort of way - including the PSW or the EMEM.DLL values or about > 4 times > as long. Since this is a huge improvement over using a PEEK/POKE, it is > even worth > giving up 8192 bytes of address space to a dedicated APR (of the IOPAGE) > for that > purpose. True. From an efficiency point of view, using system calls to read/write memory is very inefficient. > On the other hand, with RT-11, it is possible and easy to set the > PREVIOUS DATA > space in the PSW to KERNEL even when VBGEXE is used - more to the point, > it is actually unnecessary since that is the default for a so-called > privileged job (which > all programs are by default). This allows the instruction: > Mov @#BaseReg,R0 ;Get the current value from PC memory > to be replaced by: > MTPD @#BaseReg ;Get the current value > Mov (SP)+,R0 ; from PC memory > with almost the same time for execution. It also avoids losing that > 8192 bytes for APR7 > being available just for the IOPAGE registers. That's not possible with OSes that maintain any kind of protection between processes, along with virtual memory. The PSW as such, is not possible to manipulate. If you could, you can also change your mode to kernel even though it's currently something else. Actually, you must be in kernel mode in order to modify the PSW with any other instructions than SEx and CLx. > Obviously, a SYSTEM request avoids all of the problems at a heavy cost > in overhead > estimated at between 50 and 500 times the above two examples. > > That was sort of what I was thinking about when I asked if there was an > "fast method > (only a few instructions)" to access an IOPAGE register. Well, in RSX, you have a rather high overhead to set up the mappping to the I/O page, unless it's already mapped in when the task starts. But from there on, there is no overhead at all. It's located somewhere in your 16-bit address space. (Note that you really don't have to map the I/O page at APR7 in RSX. You can get it mapped anywhere if you use the CRAW$/MAP$ or TKB options.) However, with normal privileged programs, the I/O page is always present at APR7 even if you don't do anything. >>> RSX had a bit more flexibility (opportunity) in this regard. I >>> believe you can set up a CRAW$ (create address window) directive in >>> either Macro or Fortran to achieve the desired result. >>> >> Yes with reservation. CRAW$ (create address window) is as a part of >> doing dynamic remapping of your address space. >> However, CRAW$ always required a named memory partition. You cannot >> create an address window to an arbitrary memory address. >> Also, the memory partitions have protections and ownership associated >> with them. >> >> On most systems, CRAW$ cannot get you access to the I/O page, simply >> because normally you don't have an address space and a partition >> associated with the I/O page. >> >> But if such a partition is created, then CRAW$, in combination with MAP$ >> would allow you to access the I/O page. >> >> The same thing can also be achieved even without CRAW$/MAP$, since you >> can specify mapping that your task should have already at task build >> time, with the COMMON and RESCOM options to TKB. >> >> > This seems to be the answer if it is allowed. Obviously it does require > giving up > that 8192 bytes the have APR7 mapped to user space. Correct. > There is also another option with E11 that I will make use of when I > have finished > with the HD(X).SYS device driver for RT-11. It turns out that if the > memory is > being accessed sequentially, the average time to reference a single 16 > bit value > in the file under: > MOUNT HD: FOOBAR.DSK > is actually less than the time to get/store a single value under > EMEM.DLL when as > few as 8 blocks (2048 words at a time) are being referenced. > Consequently, setting > up a small 4096 byte buffer and the associated code to handle to calls > to the HD: > device driver (all standard calls to .ReadF and .WritF in RT-11) is > actually more > efficient since after the values are in the buffer inside the program, > the values can > be referenced and modified at "emulated PDP-11" memory speeds. You mean that using a device driver, and a device that can access the "normal" memory instead is better. Well, I'm not surprised. What this essentially turns into, is that you're emulating DMA. > Of course, the above solution for sequential references does not work > when the > references are random or when references are at regular but very large > intervals > (thousands and even millions of successive values). For this latter > situation, it > may be possible to modify EMEM.DLL so that a single reference to the IOPAGE > register modifies all of the specified values (over a range of up to > many billions of > values). Can't comment much, since I don't know exactly what you're trying to do. But speedwise, if you really want something to act like fast disk, writing something that behaves like proper DMA is the best. You give the device a memory address, a length, and a destination address on the device, and let it process the data as fast as it can, without involving the PDP-11 after that point. > Of course, the result would no longer really be a PDP-11 except for the > controlling > code which would still be 99% of the required code since the EMEM.DLL > changes > are really quite trivial, yet consume 99% of the time to execute. In > case anyone > does not appreciate what I refer to, it is back to my other addiction - > sieving for > prime numbers. I realize that I should probably switch to native > Pentium code, > but is seems more of a challenge and much more fun to run as if a PDP-11 > is being > used with a few GB of memory somewhere out there that can be easily > fiddled with > as if there is a very fast additional CPU similar to those that used to > be available for > special math applications - anyone remember SKYMNK for FFTs? Hmm, are you just creating a sieve for primes? Ok, then you need large memory somehow. Several ways of doing that. For your specific needs, a simple device in the I/O-page with a command register, an address register and a data register would probably be just about the best. Johnny -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

possibly OT: Styli

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

did I spell styli correctly? Anyway does anyone know what's inside these things? That is the "radio frequency" type. I ordered a *bare* Stylistic 1000 and if I want to play etch_a_sketch on the screen I'm going to have to build one. No way I'm pay $40-75 for one seeing the unit cost $30! The Hacker Ethic says "how hard could it be to build my own stylus?". God made the whole Universe in 6 days, so... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Programming skills (was: Teaching kids about

by dm561＠torfree.net

--------Original Message: Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:09:36 -0500 (EST) From: der Mouse <mouse at Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA> Subject: Re: Programming skills (was: Teaching kids about computers...) >> Although some people apparently disagree, dBase is not an application >> program; it's very similar to BASIC (and grew and matured just like >> BASIC did) but with fairly extensive file-handling and >> screen-handling capabilities. >How does that make it "not an application program"? >I suppose this really amounts to "just what do you understand an >`application program' to be?". Certainly my own understanding of the >term leaves room for something like dBase (or a Lisp engine, possibly >even with a text editor attached...or for a C compiler...or for that >matter for a BASIC engine). ---------Reply: You're absolutely correct of course; *any* piece of software written to make a computer do a certain task, including compilers, assemblers etc. is an "application program" and I thank you for pointing out that there is no distinction to be made between an accounting package or an MP3 player or the software controlling a car's engine and a computer "language" with defined words and symbols, rules of grammar and syntax etc. designed and used specifically to "program" some of those very applications (and which I mis-understood to be something distinct from an "application program")... And of course there's no categorical difference either between a hammer and saw and the chest of drawers one might build with them; both items intended for a specific "application." I've learned an important lesson (mainly: to as of right now try *very hard* to stop wasting time with these picayune "discussions") and I thank you again. m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Commodore Watches (was Commodore PET first shipemnt in mid October 1977.

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:12:44 -0500 (EST) From: bpope at wordstock.com (Bryan Pope) Subject: Re: Commodore PET first shipemnt in mid October 1977. >> Does anyone collect Commodore wristwatches? Do any working ones >> survive? >> >I know TPUG (http://www.tpug.ca) was selling a bunch of NOS C= >wristwatches a few years back... >Cheers, >Bryan --------- They're still (again?) available, although you'd have to be quick with your order; contact: Ben Kayfitz - downtownben at hotmail.com m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

classiccmp / cctalk / cctech (fwd)

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I have been asked to forward this to the list, since for some reaon the original poster is having problems doing so. -tony > The classiccmp moderation system is out of action. This mainly affects > the cctech list, but there are a few subscribers who post from an > address different to the one they are subscribed with and their postings > must be manually moderated through to cctalk. Sorry! > > Thanks, > -- > Lawrence Wilkinson lawrence at ljw.me.uk > Ph +44(0)1869-811059 http://www.ljw.me.uk > >

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

IBM 5251 keyboard

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi, I still have this IBM 5251 keyboard. Does anyone want it? It is just taking up space in my basement now. I have not made any modifications to it but I do not know whether it works or not. Since I have fixed a different parallel ASCII keyboard to work with my Vector Graphic restoration I no longer need this IBM 5251 keyboard. I would like to trade the IBM keyboard for a case to put my parallel ASCII keyboard in but other items gladly considered. Thanks! Andrew Lynch Vector Graphic Mail List: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=VECTOR-GRAPHIC NorthStar Mail List: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthStar_Computers

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Programming skills (was: Teaching kids about computers...)

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:54:44 +0000 (GMT) From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) Subject: Re: Teaching kids about computers... >> Tools are developed to make a job easier and do it better; in my opinion taking >> advantage of those tools and doing things "the easy way" makes you more >> professional, not less. >I would agree, but... >1) Being able ot use the tools, however proficiently, does not >necessarily equate with being able to design/make those tools. -------- Why do my recent posts seem to generate such odd responses... Or is it just me? Why the "but"? Did I imply anything of the sort? Did I say that a carpenter should know how to make an electric saw or even repair it when it would be a more efficient use of his time and skills to just take it to a shop or buy a new one? ------ >I haev never used dBase (or any other database for that matter), so I can't >comment on that, but I will claim that being able to use _some_ >application programs does not make you a programmer. -------- A claim that seems pretty obvious; why make it? Although some people apparently disagree, dBase is not an application program; it's very similar to BASIC (and grew and matured just like BASIC did) but with fairly extensive file-handling and screen-handling capabilities. -------- >2) The initial question was about education. Education is not production. -------- Of course not! That may have been the initial question but by the time of my reply it had moved to opinions about what defines a "programming professional," specifically whether someone who codes in dBase or doesn't know or care about how disk drives work can call him/herself one. -------- >When you're prodcuing something, of course you use all the applicable >tools. When you're leaning about things, you have to do things 'by hand' >to understand them (and example of this, from another context, is that >photography couses used to insist that the students used cameras with >manaul focuessing and exposure cotnrol, so they could learn what said >adjustments meant, even though if you were being paid to take photographs >you would _probably_ welcome some automation). >In fact I will go further and say that the true professionals not only use the right >tools, but also fully understnad how those tools work and behave, because that >way they can use them more effectvely. ----------- I kind of thought that being "proficient," i.e. "having an advanced degree of competence" in their use of tools expressed the same sentiment. Of course as a professional you should know what those camera adjustments mean and do, but you don't necessarily have to know *how* they work unless you're interested or plan to go into camera design or repair, or expect to have to repair it in the middle of nowhere; "how they behave" is not at all the same as "how they work." And although you may know all the arcane details of your camera and probably look down on someone who only points-and-shoots, he or she may well take better pictures than you, which is after all the whole point of having a camera (for most people anyway ;-) ----- >> A programming professional's job is to deliver a product that meets the client's >> needs, is well documented and easily maintained, and is delivered on time and >> within budget. Knowing or caring about the arcane details of a disk drive or being >> able to program an OS-less computer in binary may matter if you're working on >> an embedded controller but it's pretty irrelevant if the project is a client accounting >> system for a large financial institution. ---------- >Tuew, but a 'client system for a large finanicail instution' is hardly >the only type ofr computer application. --------- Again, I thought that was obvious and that my mentioning embedded controllers would suggest that even I knew that and don't need you to point it out... My point was that there's more to being a programming professional than being able to code in binary; furthermore, different tasks require different tools and skills and different people have different interests and abilities, and I find the tendency for some people here to denigrate others with different goals, interests, abilities and tastes annoying enough on occasion to comment. m

18 years, 9 months

4
3
0 0

Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833

by ed＠ed-thelen.org

> From: "B. Degnan" <billdeg at degnanco.com> > Subject: Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20071125093356.03328d50 at mail.degnanco.net> > > New York Weekly Messenger 2-13-1833 > Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833 > On the back page of this newspaper is an article that describes in some > detail the eye-witness account of a *working* machine: "...the greater part > of the calculating machine is already constructed....I have had the > advantage of seeing it actually calculate, and of studying its construction > with Mr. Babbage himself..." The machine was never completed - long story > Does this account describe a working computer? No - to see more than you ever wanted to know about Babbage Difference Engine #2 see http://www.ed-thelen.org/bab/bab-intro.html > To help make this > determination I would want to learn more about the error checking > capability of this machine, which I assume was used for calculation of > significant digits. Error prevention was the name of the game. Bars and detents prevented motion at wrong times. The machine would jam rather than make a mistake. > A[s] described, Babbage's calculating machine could be > described as "computer-like" at least. I believe that this article reports > the closest Babbage got to a actual working computer. Or just an elaborate > calculator. There are no references in the article to what we today would > identify as punch cards or programming. Fixed program "Calculator" seems a good word. It was basically a seventh order polynomial evaluator. > Download the PDF > http://www.vintagecomputer.net/babbage/charles_babbage_2-13-1833.pdf > ...and read for yourself. The article describes error checking and how > results are viewed and how log tables could be calculated accurately, for > use in astronomy. The article noted that regarding the printer "..less > progress was made...". The second incarnation of the Babbage Difference Engine #2 (the 1st is in the London Science Museum) is now due in spring 2008 on loan to Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA courtesy of Nathan Myhrvold. Doron Swade is currently Guest Curator :-)) http://www.computerhistory.org/about/staff/swade/

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

available Fw: old DEC mini computer

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Contact original emailer if interested.... Whoever gets this deal owes me... what with the two RK05's and all! Jay West ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Lundberg" <jlundberg at netins.net> To: <jwest at classiccmp.org> Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 12:43 PM Subject: old DEC mini computer Hi I have a DEC 310 system that needs a new home. This is a desk system with four 8 inch floppy drives. I also have 2 RK05 rack mounted drives and a wide carriage DEC printer. The system has not been powered up in many years but everything worked the last time it was on. Would you know of anyone who would be interested in acquiring this equipment? Thanks for your time, John Lundberg

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

available Fw: micro pdp

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Contact original emailer below if interested.... Jay West ----- Original Message ----- From: "Young, Steve W" <steve.w.young at lmco.com> To: <jwest at classiccmp.org> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 1:50 PM Subject: micro pdp >I have a micro PDP 11C23-RE with 1.5 Meg memory, tape drive and floppy, > RD52A, Ethernet card, 4 line card. Anyone want to buy it? Also vt240 > terminal. I am in San Jose. thanks > >

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Available DEC

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I have not researched this further than what you see below. Contact original emailer directly... Jay West ----- Original Message ----- From: "cindy stewart" <patience1554 at yahoo.com> To: <jwest at classiccmp.org> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 10:01 PM Subject: We have what you want > Dear Sir: > We have a complete DEC PDP 11 system. If you are interested in > purchasing it, please write back to this address. > > Best Regards, > > Cindy Stewart > St. Augustine, FL

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

DEC gear available in the UK

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Here's one for our UK friends... Contact original emailer directly... Jay ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Moorhead" <mmxseawaves at enterprise.net> To: <jwest at classiccmp.org> Cc: <mmxseawaves at enterprise.net> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 7:09 PM >I have documentation and tapes for RT11 and TSX11 plus sundry other > docs. I need the space, how can I dispose of them free to a good home. > > I can also give you a contact for 2x pdp11/24 and 1x pdp11/34 but they > may have been disposed of already. > > ----------------- > Mike Moorhead Gloucester, United Kingdom

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Available Fw: LSI 11-83 and more stuff

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Contact original poster directly... gear is in Tracy, Ca. Jay West ----- Original Message ----- From: "Taylor, Joe (US SSA)" <Joe.Taylor at baesystems.com> To: "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:26 AM Subject: RE: LSI 11-83 and more stuff > Hello Jay, > I got one machine with several cpu's, Memory cards, Hard disk and > controller, and serial cards. It is not a Dec chassis but some other > builder but most of the boards are Dec. I think I even have a extra > power supply and some software (RT-11 and RTS) but I will have to look > for that. Not much documentation I have one PDP-11 cpu book. > I think I even have one of the last versions of the cpu card something > like a 11-87 or something like that. > > I even have a real vt100 some place. > > I live in Tracy Ca. > > No date that I have to get rid of the stuff, I just want it to go to a > good home. I like the old machine I just don't have time to fool with it > like I would like to.

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Fw: pdp-11 in salt lake

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Contact original poster directly... Jay West ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad Midgley" <bmidgley at xmission.com> To: <jwest at classiccmp.org> > I rescued a pdp-11 (approx 6u rackmount size) on its way to the > landfill. The faceplate is missing and the operating condition is > unknown. I can see a full-height hard drive and some kind of tape drive > in the front. Do you know anyone who's interested in having it? > > thanks > Brad

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

MMD-2 and E&L Instruments

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I was contacted off-list by a guy who said.... "I wrote the software in the EPROM on the MMD-2 and did some PC design work for E&L Instruments way back in the 70's, so found your site really interesting. Would love to find out if anyone actually remembers those." Apparently he didn't join the list, but if someone here is keen on talking to the guy about the MMD-2 and related stuff, contact me off-list and I'll pass on his email address. Jay West

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Windoze reqs

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Windoze reqs > From: Josh Dersch <derschjo at msu.edu> > Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:11:43 -0800 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only <cctech at classiccmp.org> > >If I may ask, what was glitchy about video modes in Windows 3.1? I ran >it at 640x480 for years without any obvious video issues... Same here, I still have a copy running on a laptop at that resolution. >As an aside, I had Win95 running on EGA for awhile just as an >experiment. On a 386sx-20 with 4mb ram on a 65MB Miniscribe MFM drive. >It ran, but that's about the only good thing I can attribute to the >experience ;). Not enough ram, at 8mb it become moderately useful. I used to make headless print network servers that way. Install 95B, strip out OE/IE and cruft install laser printer driver put on net. It usually fits well in 100MB. Prefered CPU for that was any of the miniboard 386 or 486s but one time I had a 386sx/16 brick and used it with good results (it was a slow printer to start with). The boards with 86sx were best cooling was never an issue so the fans could fail and CPU coolers were not needed. Allison >Josh > >Fred Cisin wrote: >>>> 3.00 would (and did) run on 8088. One of the font editors that I used >>>> >> >> On Wed, 21 Nov 2007, Sridhar Ayengar wrote: >> >>> Not only that, it worked properly with a CGA. >>> >> >> 3.10 would also work with CGA, but like all video modes, it was somewhat >> glitchy. It appears to me that 3.10 was written by people using >> 800 x 600. With a little playing around, it's probably not too hard to >> determine which video board they used. >> >> >> >>

18 years, 9 months

6
11
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: Chris M <chrism3667 at yahoo.com> > Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:49:01 -0800 (PST) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >--- Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> wrote: > >> The one I have has an 8088, model 8530-002. Well >> actually I pulled >> the board out to use the case for an SB180 with >> Adaptec SCSI/MFM >> adpator, a Miniscribe 20mb disk plus reusing the >> 3,5" disk and >> power. Made a nice case for that. Been stripping >> the PCs board >> since. > > For one those are not vanilla floppy drives, unless >I'm seriously mistaken. If that thing has an 8088, I >want a picture. We all make mistakes, I'm not trying >to harangue, but I've never heard of any PC/2 sporting >an 8088. > Are you sure it's a PC/2 (you know what I mean - PS/2)? Yes it is. If you want a picture send a camera, no digital picturs possible, USB camera not an option OS is NT4. Allison > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ >Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you >with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Vintage computer bounty: go east, young man?

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

I was reading this article: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2007-11-18_D8T08P0O0&show_article=1 ...and was wondering how many vintage machines one could find if they traipsed around China for a summer and visited all the various e-waste processing gulags that (litterally) litter the country. There is literally billions of pounds of e-waste entering China every year. If even a fraction of a fraction of that is old systems that are worth collecting and a fraction of that is still in some sort of complete and unwrecked condition, there is a vintage computer bounty waiting to be plundered by a brave privateer. The trick is getting it back to your place of origin ;) -- 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 ]

18 years, 9 months

7
9
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------Original Messages: > From: dm561 at torfree.net > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 06:44:14 -0500 > Subject: RE: FD400 drive troubleshooting <snip> >>>> Which just happens to be the ratio of 300RPM vs 360RPM, so that on a 300RPM >>>> strobe disk w/a 60Hz light the 60Hz bars = 300RPM and the 50Hz bars = 360RPM. >> Hi >> I think you have the ratio backward. The 60 Hz disk for 360 RPM >> can be used for the 50 Hz 300 RPM. >> Dwight <snip> Hi I guess my problem was reading your sentence. It just isn't clear to me where you are saying they are equal and where they are not. The part "60Hz bars = 300RPM and the 50Hz bars = 360RPM" seems to be saying that "300RPM @ 60Hz = 360RPM @ 50Hz". I'm sure I'm reading it wrong but it is still confusing. At least we both agree on the basics and that is all that counts. Dwight --------Reply: Well, I did say "the 60 and 50Hz *BARS*" (as in "stripe" or "band") at the same frequency of illumination (60Hz), but perhaps I should have inserted "the speed at which the bars seem to stop" instead of trying to keep it short and simple (with exactly the opposite effect). OK, how about this: It just so happens that the ratio of 360RPM to 300RPM is the same as 60Hz to 50Hz. Therefore, if you have a strobe disk for a 300RPM drive with both 50Hz and 60Hz bars on it and a 60Hz source of illumination, then you can use the same disk to check the speed of a 360RPM drive, since at 360RPM the 50Hz bars will appear to be stationary. I'm talking about using a 300RPM disk at 60Hz (for the OP and others trying to check the speed of a 360RPM FD400 or equivalent with 60Hz); you seem to be talking about using a 360RPM strobe disk (if you found one) at 50Hz, a somewhat different situation albeit one taking advantage of the same "coincidence". But I think by now both our points have been made abundantly and painfully clear, and I'm glad that we can finally put it to rest and not clutter up the archives further. m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

------------Original Message: Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:59:52 -0800 From: dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> Subject: RE: FD400 drive troubleshooting > BTW, you're wrong; it's 45.1127819548872180451127819548872 > ;-) > m > Hi My calculator didn't show any more digits but your results show that the sequence repeats at 112781954887218045. If I could type underline, one could underline that part and type ... This would indicate a repeating sequence and be even more exactly correct ;) Dwight -----------Reply: You're absolutely right! Uncle! m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Programming skills (was: Teaching kids about computers...)

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:44:13 -0700 From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> Subject: Re: Programming skills (was: Teaching kids about computers...) M H Stein wrote: >> Why the "but"? Did I imply anything of the sort? Did I say that a >> carpenter should know how to make an electric saw or even repair >> it when it would be a more efficient use of his time and skills to just >> take it to a shop or buy a new one? >> ------ >But it does help if knows how to change the blade. :) >Same with hardware/software -- know your tools. I thought "being proficient in the use of the appropriate tools" kind of implied that... But thanks for making it clear! m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

trs80 items wanted

by g-wright＠att.net

-------------- Original message from "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org>: -------------- > At VCFX I was able to get the last major component for my TRS80 setup > (already have the monitor, drives, and expansion interface). I got the > keyboard unit for $20. > > Looks like all I'm missing is a real tandy power supply for the Model 1 > (yes, I know I can rig something up, but I'm looking for the real mccoy), > and the buffered cable between keyboard and expansion interface. > > Anyone have one of those two items and is willing to trade? > > Jay West > > Jay, I offered you these last month ??? keyboard, PS . you would just have to take the whole expansion unit. not just the cable. never heard back ??? - jerry

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Teaching kids about computers...

by evan＠snarc.net

One of our prize sponsors at VCF East was a company called Minds-On Toys (as a play of the phrase "hands-on") ... The owner, Tim Walker -- if I recall correctly -- went to MIT and studied all sorts of educational topics. He now sells the Digi-Comp replica. It is VERY easy to build and teaches kids about binary math.

18 years, 9 months

4
3
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: cclist at sydex.com > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:11:29 -0800 > Subject: RE: FD400 drive troubleshooting > > On 25 Nov 2007 at 9:50, dwight elvey wrote: > >> I was thinking about Tony's idea of the multiple and it occurred >> to me that there was an issue. We've been thinking of the >> flashes as instantaneous strobes while they have duration. > > Dwight, I think it's worse than that. There's also the idea of > "persistance of vision" that gets in the way and also makes the > strobe disc work--our eyes do not have instantaneous response and the > only reason a strobe disc really works is because a fixed pattern is > drilled into our optic nerves many times per second. Were this not > the case, one could have a 45 RPM strobe disc, not with 400 bars, but > with, say 4 or 50--but our eyes would likely not register these as a > single continuous event. > > Of course I haven't tried this yet and I really should. > Hi That is why I think the spiral with bars would work the best. Persistance from adjacent bars would only be a small issue at the tops and bottoms of the bars. The eye would tend to follow the spiral. Such spirals could be made for any RPM. In the case of disk drives, one could make three different spirals. Each for a percentage below and a percentage above the exact one. This way, one could quickly see if the speed were within a specific tolerance. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Put your friends on the big screen with Windows Vista? + Windows Live?. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/shop/specialoffers.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC…

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: cclist at sydex.com > > On 24 Nov 2007 at 22:27, dwight elvey wrote: > >> I got my math wrong. The fellow is also wrong. >> 45/60 = .75. >> 100/.75 = 133.333.... >> If rounded to 133, you get 45.11278195---- >> Still, using Tony's multiple method, 400 dots >> would work fine. It would be a large disk but >> it would work. > > 45 rpm is 0.75 r/sec. The strobe lamp flashes 100 times per second > (50Hz * 2). So, the disc completes 3 complete revolutions in 4 > seconds. During those same 4 seconds, the lamp flashes 400 times. > > So there needs to be 400/3 bars on the disc if there is to be a bar > exactly underneath the lamp for every flash, or 133.3333 bars, which > causes the problem. If we increase the number of bars to 133 > exactly, the disk will be turning at 100/133 = 0.75188 r/sc or about > 45.1128 rpm. > > If we put 400 bars on the disk, the lamp will flash once for every > third bar passing under it. Not the crisp display we were hoping > for, however--and I don't know what the visual error would be without > trying it. > > At least that's how I compute it. So maybe the guy is right. > Hi Chuck I was thinking about Tony's idea of the multiple and it occurred to me that there was an issue. We've been thinking of the flashes as instantaneous strobes while they have duration. This would, as you state, cause a loss of contrast. This would tend to overlap the dots and white space of adjacent dots. This would indicate that a continuous 400 dots would most likely work poorly. Still, the spiral method should work fine, with just as much contrast as the single row method. One could use the original size dots and spacing. So, I feel that the fellow was incorrect that such a strobe disk could not be made for exact 45 RPM. Now, looking at the 78 RPM problem, the task seems more difficult, for both 60Hz and worst for the 50Hz. Still, three or four spirals with the correct spacing would be enough, even if it didn't come out to a nice integer. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live.Download today it's FREE! http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_sharelife_112007

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------Original Message: Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:27:04 -0800 From: dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> Subject: RE: FD400 drive troubleshooting > http://www.extremephono.com/free_turntable_strobe_disk.htm > > Note that the 50Hz disc is 45.11 RPM > > Cheers, > Chuck > Hi I got my math wrong. The fellow is also wrong. 45/60 = .75. 100/.75 = 133.333.... If rounded to 133, you get 45.11278195---- Still, using Tony's multiple method, 400 dots would work fine. It would be a large disk but it would work. Dwight -----------Reply: If you're saying that he's wrong, that it's not 45.11 but should be 45.11278195 then I can see why you & I are arguing over whether 300/50 = 360/60 or 360/60 = 300/50... BTW, you're wrong; it's 45.1127819548872180451127819548872 ;-) m

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------------Original Message: Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 10:02:54 -0800 From: dwight elvey <dkelvey at hotmail.com> Subject: RE: FD400 drive troubleshooting >> From: dm561 at torfree.net > ------------Original Messages: >>> Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:17:31 -0800 (PST) >>> From: Fred Cisin >>> Subject: Re: FD400 drive troubleshooting >>> >>>>Many/most drives have 50Hz/60Hz zebra discs on the flywheel, for using a >>>>flickering fluorescent light. >>> >>> Which just happens to be the ratio of 300RPM vs 360RPM, so that on a 300RPM >>> strobe disk w/a 60Hz light the 60Hz bars = 300RPM and the 50Hz bars = 360RPM. >>> >>> FWIW, >> >> Hi >> I think you have the ratio backward. The 60 Hz disk for 360 RPM >> can be used for the 50 Hz 300 RPM. >> Dwight >> >> ----------Reply: >> Well, unless you're just saying that a 60Hz 360RPM strobe disk (if you had one) >> would also sync at 300RPM under a 50Hz light, I don't see what's backward. >Hi > That is what I said. The disk with 20 bands would work for both >a 360 RPM and 60Hz light or a 300 RPM and 50 Hz light. -------- Gee, I thought that was what *I* said (and you claimed was backward). Let's see; I said that 300RPM @ 50Hz = 360RPM @ 60Hz, and you said that's backward - 360RPM @ 60Hz = 300RPM @ 50Hz. Sounds like the same thing to me (and Tony) except that a 360RPM strobe disk is a lot harder to find than a 300RPM. Sheesh... --------- > Tony mentioned that one could increase the number of bands for the >problem of the 50Hz with a 360 RPM drive. It makes sense. -------- Indeed; glad to hear it. ------- > Tony mentioned that most 8 inch drives were speed controlled by >the mains and as long as the belt was in good shape, using a strobe >wasn't much needed. ----- You really should read more carefully; he didn't say "most," he said "all of mine," referring to his particular collection. In fact, many 8" drives were 24VDC powered, including the Pertec FD400 which prompted me to send (and regret) the original post that started this bizarre exchange... m

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833

by evan＠snarc.net

I'll send you a private message with contact info for Doron Swade. He will know the answers to your questions. -----Original Message----- From: "B. Degnan" <billdeg at degnanco.com> Subj: Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833 Date: Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:44 am Size: 2K To: cctalk at classiccmp.org New York Weekly Messenger 2-13-1833 Babbage Calculating Machine Article 1833 On the back page of this newspaper is an article that describes in some detail the eye-witness account of a *working* machine: "...the greater part of the calculating machine is already constructed....I have had the advantage of seeing it actually calculate, and of studying its construction with Mr. Babbage himself..." Does this account describe a working computer? To help make this determination I would want to learn more about the error checking capability of this machine, which I assume was used for calculation of significant digits. A described, Babbage's calculating machine could be described as "computer-like" at least. I believe that this article reports the closest Babbage got to a actual working computer. Or just an elaborate calculator. There are no references in the article to what we today would identify as punch cards or programming. Download the PDF http://www.vintagecomputer.net/babbage/charles_babbage_2-13-1833.pdf ...and read for yourself. The article describes error checking and how results are viewed and how log tables could be calculated accurately, for use in astronomy. The article noted that regarding the printer "..less progress was made...". In the 1830's news from Europe would take a few weeks to reach New York, as boat was the only cross-Atlantic communications. Most articles in the paper refer to end of December 1832 events, including the account of the Calculating Machine. Overall there was a lack of contemporary articles about Babbage's calculating machine in 1832-35. I was able to find just the one often quoted article by D Lardner: "Babbage's Calculating Engines" from the Edinburgh Review 59 (1834) pg 263-327. The New York Weekly Messenger article above was printed a year prior, making it among the first known articles about Babbage's calculating machine. The apparent lack favorable press and the loss of funding in 1834 obscured the fact that the machine had a working visual "display" and was probably more complete than people realize. Was the calculating machine programmable? Maybe. Most writings about the Babbage projects were published a generation after the project was cancelled and I don't think that it's possible to discount the notion entirely.

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Booting XXDP+ from a secondary controller

by bqt＠softjar.se

"Bob Armstrong" <bob at jfcl.com> skrev: > Is there a way to boot XXDP+ from a secondary MSCP controller (e.g. CSR at > 760334) ? > > > > This isn't a PDP-11 boot ROM issue - the -11 (a 11/53+ in this instance) > ROM has no problem booting from a secondary controller. > > > > The issue is that, once started, XXDP doesn't know that it should talk to > this alternate CSR address and promptly dies. I don't think so. As far as I know, XXDP don't take any hints from the boot rom code. You need to build a specific XXDP distribution with a monitor using a device driver talking to the controller at that alternate address. Not sure how you would do that. I've never tried getting system device drivers in XXDP to talk to devices at other than standard addresses. Johnny -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Booting XXDP+ from a secondary controller

by bob＠jfcl.com

> Glen Slick (glen.slick at gmail.com) wrote: >On simh it appears that attaching the disk to rqb0 >resulted in a unit 0 drive on the secondary MSCP controller and I >couldn't find any options to configure the unit number. Does XXDP require all MSCP unit numbers be unique? I thought that was just RSTS... You can do this in simh by attaching the xxdp25.rd52 image to the device rqb2, since the primary rq controller just uses drives 0/1. When I did this, I got the same result (i.e. a halt) as before. >Have you tried this on the real hardware yet? On the real hardware >what unit is the drive you are trying to boot on the SQ703? Yes, on the real hardware it doesn't halt; it just seems to hang forever. The dialog goes something like this (I'm retyping this from my VT320, so excuse any typos) - Commands are Help, Boot, List, Map, Test and Wrap. Type a command then press the RETURN key: B/A DU2 Address = 17760334 DU2 ... hangs here .... BTW, I was wrong before; my SCSI controller is actually a SQ739 rather than a 703, but I doubt that changes anything. There are two SCSI devices on the SQ739, an Exabyte 8505 tape drive and a RRD43 (a Toshiba something or other) CDROM. The SQ739 is configured for 17760334 for MSCP and the RRD43 is configured as MSCP unit 2 (i.e. DU2). Maybe there's something wrong with the way I'm making the CD image? Did you do anything special when you made yours? Thanks, Bob

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk ---snip--->> > Alternatively make a stroboscope disk (either copy the one off a TM100 > pulley, or work out howm many segments you need and write a trivial bit > of postscript to draw it), stick that on the spindle pulley or > direct-drive motor rotor and view it under amins-powered lamp. > Hi For 60 Hz it is easy. If one uses a light like a neon, it will flash 120 times. An LED is just one direction unless one uses a full wave bridge to get a forward pulse on each cycle. As a single phase it is only 60 Hz. One thing to remember is that the LED can't take too high of a back voltage. Most red ones are rated for about 10V someplace. If feeding it with an AC source greater than the LEDs rate back voltage, one should do something to protect it. A series rectifier diode will work and reduce the power in the dropping resistor. A shunt diode will also work but the resistor will conduct on both half cycles. Lets assume we have 120 flashes per second as from a neon since the same disk would work with the 60 flash LED. A disk spinning at 300 RPM does 5 rotations per second. if we divide 120 by 5, we get 24 flashes per rotation. We just need to create a disk with 24 dark and 24 white segments. For a 360, we get 6 rotations a second. That works out to 20 flashes per rotation. That is 20 black and 20 white spaces. This could be printed with a spread sheet and a pie chart print, as I stated before. For 50 Hz, the 300 RPM is easy but the 360 doesn't work out. One gets 16.66 flashes per rotation. The only way I can think to make this work is to make a spiral that would have 50 dark and light strips over 3 revolutions. Ones eye would tend to follow the spiral. I'm not sure how to do this with a spread sheet. Maybe it could be done with some postscript code but I'm not sure how. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Your smile counts. The more smiles you share, the more we donate.? Join in. www.windowslive.com/smile?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_oprsmilewlhmtagline

18 years, 9 months

5
6
0 0

Fwd: ZX-81 Euro Meet

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

Just found out about this (see below). I apologise if someone has already sent an email to the list about it (still behind in my emails). Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk > Amazing that 27 years after its launch there is > planned the 12th annual meet of the ZX Team > in Mahlerts Germany. > > > 11th -13th April 2008 > > www.zx81.de >

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

------------Original Messages: > Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:17:31 -0800 (PST) > From: Fred Cisin > Subject: Re: FD400 drive troubleshooting > >>Many/most drives have 50Hz/60Hz zebra discs on the flywheel, for using a >>flickering fluorescent light. > > Which just happens to be the ratio of 300RPM vs 360RPM, so that on a 300RPM > strobe disk w/a 60Hz light the 60Hz bars = 300RPM and the 50Hz bars = 360RPM. > > FWIW, Hi I think you have the ratio backward. The 60 Hz disk for 360 RPM can be used for the 50 Hz 300 RPM. Dwight ----------Reply: Well, unless you're just saying that a 60Hz 360RPM strobe disk (if you had one) would also sync at 300RPM under a 50Hz light, I don't see what's backward. The point was that 50/60Hz 300RPM strobe disks are common, and if you're in a 60Hz zone you can use the same disk for 8" and dual-speed drives as well. m

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Comark 1905

by peter＠aumod.co.uk

Hi Alan, You made a posting 5 years ago looking for cct for Comark 1905 Insulation Meter. Did you get any joy? - I also am looking, and as with you, current Comark gave me the brush-off. Best regards, Peter.

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

--------------Original Message: Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:14:35 +0000 (GMT) From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) Subject: Re: FD400 drive troubleshooting > >>Many/most drives have 50Hz/60Hz zebra discs on the flywheel, for using a > >>flickering fluorescent light. > > > > Which just happens to be the ratio of 300RPM vs 360RPM, so that on a 300RPM > > strobe disk w/a 60Hz light the 60Hz bars = 300RPM and the 50Hz bars = 360RPM. > > > > FWIW, > > Hi > I think you have the ratio backward. The 60 Hz disk for 360 RPM > can be used for the 50 Hz 300 RPM. I think you're both saying the same thing. Assuming you're in the States and have a 60Hz light source available, then take the standard '300 rpm 50/60Hz' strobe disk found on, say, the TM100. The '60Hz bars' will let you check a 300rpm spindle (obviosuly), the '50Hz bars' _used with a 60-Hz lamp_ will check a 360rpm spindle. -tony -------------Reply: Yes, I think that's exactly what I said, although I included Canada and any other place that uses 60Hz, and I don't see what's backward about it. I only mentioned this happy coincidence (and almost regret having done so) because I thought perhaps not everyone in 60Hz country was aware that they could use a common 50/60Hz strobe disk off a 300RPM drive to also check the speed of a 360RPM 8" or dual-speed drive. m

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Booting XXDP+ from a secondary controller

by bob＠jfcl.com

> Glen Slick (glen.slick at gmail.com) wrote: >What are you using for the primary and secondary MSCP controllers and >what disk units do you have configured on each controller? What I'm trying to do is very much like you configuration - my real 11/53 has a KDA50 with 2xRF70 drives and the secondary MSCP controller is a SQ703. You can demonstrate my problem with simh, though - build a bootable XXDP+ v2.5 on a RD52 image, and then do this... sim> show cpu CPU, 11/53, NOCIS, idle disabled, autoconfiguration on, 3072KB sim> show rq RQ, address=17772150-17772153*, no vector, 2 units RQ0, 159MB, attached to one.rd54, write enabled, RD54 RQ1, 159MB, attached to two.rd54, write enabled, RD54 sim> show rqb RQB, address=17760334-17760337*, no vector, 30MB, attached to xxdp25.rd52, write enabled, RD52 sim> b rqb0 HALT instruction, PC: 016146 (CLR (R1)) If you attach xxdp25.rd52 to rq0, it'll boot fine - sim> att rq0 xxdp25.rd52 sim> b rq0 BOOTING UP XXDP-XM EXTENDED MONITOR ... etc, etc .... I suspect you have to patch something in the XXDP+ image with UPDAT to get it to talk to the secondary CSR, but I don't know the details. Thanks, Bob

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Commodore PET first shipemnt in mid October 1977.

by swtpc6800＠comcast.net

I found an item based on a Commodore press release in Byte Magazine, February 1978, Page 190. This establishes the first shipment as mid October 1977. Commodore Ships First PET Computers (Photo of Chuck Peddle) The PET computer made its debut recently as the first 100 units were shipped to waiting customers in mid October 1977. Here Commodore Systems Division Director Chuck Peddle is pictured with the PETs undergoing final checkout. Shipments were made about six weeks later than expected, according to Peddle. The delay was due in part to time consuming quality control measures and the material flow problem in starting up the production lines. "In this business," Peddle argued, "six weeks is actually pretty good." Many of the first units were delivered to customers who intend to develop software for the PET. Commodore plans to create a publishing house for programs developed by users as well as employees. The company plans to increase production of the PET computers to several thousand per month by early 1978. The basic PET with 4 K memory is priced at $595, while the 8 K memory version is $795, >from Commodore Business Machines Inc, 901 California Av, Palo Alto CA 94304, (415) 326-4000. You can find a scan of the item here: http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/BYTE/Feb1978/Byte_Feb_1978_pg190.jpg Michael Holley

18 years, 9 months

8
10
0 0

Booting XXDP+ from a secondary controller

by bob＠jfcl.com

Is there a way to boot XXDP+ from a secondary MSCP controller (e.g. CSR at 760334) ? This isn't a PDP-11 boot ROM issue - the -11 (a 11/53+ in this instance) ROM has no problem booting from a secondary controller. The issue is that, once started, XXDP doesn't know that it should talk to this alternate CSR address and promptly dies. Thanks, Bob Armstrong

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

MIT provides MULTICS source and documentation (DPS-8 simulation)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> The I/O > on a full blown system is where a modern system might have emulation > problems This is exactly where simulation has been hung up for years. The mass storage and terminal system is complex, with microcoded controllers for tape and disk and dedicated front end processors for terminal/network I/O. KL10 simulation is a cakewalk compared to this (and the KL10 was no small feat of programming). I've dug up some additional information Olin Siebert didn't have, but there is still a lot of internal Honeywell HW/SW documentation on the I/O that hasn't been found. This whole issue has been bounced around on the Multics mailing list and alt.os.multics for years.

18 years, 9 months

35
96
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> > Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:28:30 -0500 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Allison wrote: >>> Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's >>> From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> >>> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:38:01 -0800 >>> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >>> >>> On 20 Nov 2007 at 16:27, Fred Cisin wrote: >>> >>>> Wasn't the PS/2 30 an 8086? (can't remember for sure) >>> Initially. A later version used the 286. The model 25 was, as far >>> as I'm aware, always an 8086. >> >> The model25 was 8088 powered and I think a few others of that series. > >Definitely not. 8086 or better. None ran an 8088. The one I have has an 8088, model 8530-002. Well actually I pulled the board out to use the case for an SB180 with Adaptec SCSI/MFM adpator, a Miniscribe 20mb disk plus reusing the 3,5" disk and power. Made a nice case for that. Been stripping the PCs board since. Must of had a strange one. ;) > >Peace... Sridhar

18 years, 9 months

3
2
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> > Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 04:02:14 -0500 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Allison wrote: >>>>>> Wasn't the PS/2 30 an 8086? (can't remember for sure) >>>>> Initially. A later version used the 286. The model 25 was, as far >>>>> as I'm aware, always an 8086. >>>> The model25 was 8088 powered and I think a few others of that series. >>> Definitely not. 8086 or better. None ran an 8088. >> >> The one I have has an 8088, model 8530-002. Well actually I pulled >> the board out to use the case for an SB180 with Adaptec SCSI/MFM >> adpator, a Miniscribe 20mb disk plus reusing the 3,5" disk and >> power. Made a nice case for that. Been stripping the PCs board >> since. > >I've never owned a -002, but I have a -021 in the pile somewhere that >definitely has an 8086. The IBM Internal sales spec sheet I have here >shows the -002 having an 8MHz 8086. > >> Must of had a strange one. ;) > >If it was an 8088, you did indeed. 8-) No question on that. One of the few parts not stripped, have way to many of them and they are mostly useless to me. The 8087 however I did save. Allison >Peace... Sridhar

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, >....remap "Caps Lock" to be "CTRL" on my Model M's (along >with swapping ~ and ESC). Those are two of the things I detest the most about "modern" AT-style keyboards. "ESC" should be top left and "Ctrl" should be immediately below the "TAB" key. Oh, and most importantly, "Return" *SHOULD* be "J" shaped (or at least horizontal) rather than these annoying vertical ones we're subjected to nowadays....I'm forever hitting "#" by mistake, even to this day. Other than that they're OK; though I'd rather have the function keys down the left hand side of the keyboard where they belong! :-) >....If you use a keyboard long enough, you'll actually get used to >its key placement just fine, no matter how annoying it is at first, >I guess. With the sole exception of the "Return" key, I agree with you 100%. TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: As you all know from previous posts, I?m having trouble with the drive system on my IMSAI. While I wait to receive a memory board and some other stuff from a friend of mine, Herb Johnson gave me some new energy in looking at the existing iCOM Frugal Floppy system. This system uses Pertec FD400 drives. One works perfectly, the other one has consistent CRC errors as evidenced by the CRC light on the drive cabinet, and BDOS errors reported by CP/M. I ensured that the spindle is engaging the diskette hub, and I also cleaned the heads using a wet cleaning diskette. Is there any common failure mode on this model of drive that I should start tracking down? I looked over the maintenance procedures for the drive and many if the tests allude to a diagnostics program that can manually control the spindle and head stepping. None of the iCOM manuals I have provide diagnostics code for manually controlling the drives in this manner. Before I start coding, does anyone have diagnostics code I can use? I found some code in the SIGM archive (for the iCOM 3712 controller) but it doesn?t seem to work properly with this controller. Thanks. Rich -- Rich Cini Collector of Classic Computers Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator http://www.altair32.com http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp

18 years, 9 months

7
9
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: FD400 drive troubleshooting > From: "Richard A. Cini" <rcini at optonline.net> > Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:54:46 -0500 > To: "Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >All: > > As you all know from previous posts, I?m having trouble with the drive >system on my IMSAI. While I wait to receive a memory board and some other >stuff from a friend of mine, Herb Johnson gave me some new energy in looking >at the existing iCOM Frugal Floppy system. > > This system uses Pertec FD400 drives. One works perfectly, the other one >has consistent CRC errors as evidenced by the CRC light on the drive >cabinet, and BDOS errors reported by CP/M. I ensured that the spindle is >engaging the diskette hub, and I also cleaned the heads using a wet cleaning >diskette. Get in there and scrub the head with a swab. I found the wet disks didn't cut it long ago. Make sure the spindle speed is good and not irregular. Try swapping drives A and B and se if the problem moves with the drive or not. Just to make sure you not having a issues with something else. > > Is there any common failure mode on this model of drive that I should >start tracking down? Everyone I'd seen either had fallen apart mechanically (broken hubs, doors or other plastic) or the drive motor had gone noisy or mechanically flakey. NOTE: those motors often had bronze (oilite) bearings that dried out and then became oval or other wise out of useful shape. It was a side effect of lot of hours and the belts side tension. Result is the motor speed is uneven. I've seen bad boards too, usually tossed the board and salvaged from another mechanical pig. > I looked over the maintenance procedures for the drive >and many if the tests allude to a diagnostics program that can manually >control the spindle and head stepping. None of the iCOM manuals I have >provide diagnostics code for manually controlling the drives in this manner.. There maybe diags but your on you own to find them. > Before I start coding, does anyone have diagnostics code I can use? I >found some code in the SIGM archive (for the iCOM 3712 controller) but it >doesn?t seem to work properly with this controller. What controller (CHIP on the FDC board)? Allison > Thanks. > >Rich > >-- >Rich Cini >Collector of Classic Computers >Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator >http://www.altair32.com >http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > So, uhm, am I the only person here that actually quite *liked* >the ZX81 keyboard? I never actually *liked* it, though I didn't especially dislike it either. And it was certainly streets ahead of the Spectrum's keyboard; *THAT* is one of my all time most hated keyboards....makes my flesh creep just thinking about it....uuuurghhh....<shudder>. TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:01:14 -0800 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 21 Nov 2007 at 0:52, Ensor wrote: > >> I spent many happy hours running CP/M programs "under" MS-DOS on my V30 >> machine. >> >> Anyone remember the name of the program which facilitated this? > >Nope. Haven't a clue. 22nice and there were a few others. Allison > >Cheers, >Chuck

18 years, 9 months

3
2
0 0

Access to IOPAGE Registers using PDP-11 Opearting Systems

by bqt＠softjar.se

ons 2007-11-21 klockan 12:00 -0600 skrev "John A. Dundas III" <dundas at caltech.edu>: > Jerome, > > I can speak for RSTS with some authority, RSX with somewhat less authority. > > At 9:17 PM -0500 11/20/07, Jerome H. Fine wrote: > >I doubt that RSX-11 or RSTS/E allow a user access to the IOPAGE > >even via PREVIOUS DATA space. Can anyone confirm this assumption? > > Address space in the I/O page for RSTS jobs (processes) was not > directly available. The APRs are always controlled by the OS. It > MIGHT be possible for a privileged job to use PEEK/POKE SYS calls to > access the I/O page in the way you suggest but it would be > particularly difficult. I thought RSTS/E had some way of remapping the address space as well. Can't you remap parts of your memory to some shared region, for example? > RSX had a bit more flexibility (opportunity) in this regard. I > believe you can set up a CRAW$ (create address window) directive in > either Macro or Fortran to achieve the desired result. Yes with reservation. CRAW$ (create address window) is as a part of doing dynamic remapping of your address space. However, CRAW$ always required a named memory partition. You cannot create an address window to an arbitrary memory address. Also, the memory partitions have protections and ownership associated with them. On most systems, CRAW$ cannot get you access to the I/O page, simply because normally you don't have an address space and a partition associated with the I/O page. But if such a partition is created, then CRAW$, in combination with MAP$ would allow you to access the I/O page. The same thing can also be achieved even without CRAW$/MAP$, since you can specify mapping that your task should have already at task build time, with the COMMON and RESCOM options to TKB. Johnny

18 years, 9 months

3
2
0 0

Fwd: [alt.sys.pdp11] further collection reduction - TU80 availabl

by legalize＠xmission.com

This message has been forwarded from Usenet. To reply to the original author, use the email address from the forwarded message. Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:16:11 -0600 Groups: alt.sys.pdp11,comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms,comp.sys.dec.micro From: "Lee K. Gleason" <lee.gleason at comcast.net> Subject: further collection reduction - TU80 available for free Id: <cL6dnat5DsemkNvanZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d at comcast.com> ======== Free for pickup in Houston, Texas, near TC Jester and the North loop. This is a 9 track, reel to reel tape drive, it comes in a half height rack. It accepts tapes up to full size 2400 foot. Speed 25 IPS start/stop mode, 100 IPS streaming mode. Density is 1600 BPI. This TU80 was lightly used, and then stored in the back bedroom for the last 12 years or so. It was working when I stored it, don't have anything to test it with now. Here's your chance to own a piece of computing history! -- Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR Control-G Consutlants lee.gleason at comcast.net

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

VAXmate for Windows

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: VAXmate for Windows > From: Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> > Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:49:48 +0000 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 22/11/07 14:03, "Allison" <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> wrote: > >>> This is why I've kept some ST225s behind. I'm pretty sure both VAXmates are >>> hard driveless, though I can't really speak for the boxed one as I've never >>> really delved in further than below the top foam :) >> >> Generally thy are. Theres a seperate underbox that adds the hard drive >> and controller. > >Ah yes! I remember those now from somewhere like the DECdirect catalogues, >though I never saw them in the field....must've been too expensive for our >customers. > >>> Yep, the one I remember using was a PCSA terminal. This was shortly before >>> we went through the sheer pain of a PCSA to LANMAN migration with Pathworks >>> V5, that's a few weekends of my life I'm not going to get back, heh. >> >> It was during my time at DEC and they wer like flies there. I still >> have kits for PCSAV4 and V5. > >Mostly the same here, I'm a CDDS hoarder, but lost the PCSA floppies I had >many moons ago. I have the complete slipcase kits with PAKs, TK50s and floppies (5.25"). However with more modern PC OS (95 on) having DECnet as a networking option along with LANman I haven't used it much. I have the uVAXes! Allison > >-- >Adrian/Witchy >Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator >Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer >collection? >

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

*updating* 8088's

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: *updating* 8088's > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:41:07 -0800 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 21 Nov 2007 at 7:32, Allison wrote: > >> >> Anyone remember the name of the program which facilitated this? >> > >> >Nope. Haven't a clue. >> >> 22nice and there were a few others. > >That was intended as a bit of mock humility... :) > >Cheers, >Chuck ;) Yep, and I've found people that used it have forgotten it existed along with many other still useful tools. Allison

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

FD400 drive troubleshooting

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 07:58:17 -0500 From: "Richard A. Cini" <rcini at optonline.net> Subject: Re: FD400 drive troubleshooting >The way that the service manual tells you to check the speed is the pulse >width on a specific test point on the PCB. I was just going to use a laser >tach on the spindle...but I have to get a tach first :-) ----- Strobe disk?

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:31:10 -0800 From: "C. Sullivan" <feedle at feedle.net> Subject: Re: Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal On Nov 20, 2007, at 1:36 PM, Mark Meiss wrote: > It consists of a base unit that's somewhere around 13" x 11" x 4", > connected to a (fairly wretched) chicklet keyboard with a standard > 4-conductor telephone handset cord. The keyboard is powered by a > 9-volt battery. On the back of the main unit are connectors for > power, the keyboard, RS-232C (DB-25 female), composite video out, and > audio out. I had an AT&T SCEPTER terminal that was used with the Gateway service offered in Southern California from Times-Mirror/Pacific Telephone. It had a 1200 baud Bell 212-style modem built in. Also, the keyboard was infrared on the model I had. <snip> Gateway was a killer service back in 1983. It was expensive, but it was a lot of fun. And I remember dialing up BBSes with the SCEPTER terminal when my C-64's power supply crapped out... --------------Reply: Yeah, I have one of those (keyboards) somewhere in the pile and mine's IR as well, with the Gateway sticker still on the back. No worse than a PET to type on (if I had something to type to ;-) No Windows key either and not supported by Microsoft, so Woodelf would probably like it... m

18 years, 9 months

6
6
0 0

VAXmate for Windows

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: VAXmate for Windows > From: Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> > Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:03:30 +0000 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 19/11/07 14:23, "Allison" <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> wrote: > >> If the VAXmates have the optional hard disk box mind the cooling if RD32 >> (ST250? 40mb) as it ran very hot and tended to fail. The RD31 (st225 20mb) >> was lower power, cooler and far more reliable. > >This is why I've kept some ST225s behind. I'm pretty sure both VAXmates are >hard driveless, though I can't really speak for the boxed one as I've never >really delved in further than below the top foam :) Generally thy are. Theres a seperate underbox that adds the hard drive and controller. >> If you make it operational the VAXmate was a PCSA(Pathworks) terminal >> with Ethernet access to shared and private files on VAX/OpenVMS. The >> result made it a very useful system. Typical VAXmate had 2MB of ram >> some had 4, back then that was a large amount. > >Yep, the one I remember using was a PCSA terminal. This was shortly before >we went through the sheer pain of a PCSA to LANMAN migration with Pathworks >V5, that's a few weekends of my life I'm not going to get back, heh. It was during my time at DEC and they wer like flies there. I still have kits for PCSAV4 and V5. Allison > >-- >Adrian/Witchy >Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator >Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer >collection? >

18 years, 9 months

2
1
0 0

Emulex QD33 and Seagate Sabre drive...

by ian_primus＠yahoo.com

I've been attempting to get a MicroVax II set up with a working, large hard drive. I have an Emulex QD33 Qbus SMD controller, and I'm trying to get it to work with a Seagate Sabre 9720-1230 hard drive. It's listed as being compatible with this controller in the manual. So far, I've gotten everything hooked up, and I can get into the controller's firmware by depositing various values at the >>> prompt. After entering the relevant settings (from the manual) for the hard drive, the controller will sort-of talk to the drive. It shows it as being available, but when I try to format it, the drive makes a buzzing noise for about 30 seconds, then I get the message that "This operation timed out". When I answer the error message with the enter key, the buzzing from the drive stops. This buzzing sounds like fast seeking, but it's not what I would expect a format to do, I am expecting more of a slow clunk... clunk... clunk... tapping noise as it seeks, and formats the drive. The CYL: display on the LCD of the drive never increments. I've tried various dip switch settings on the drive itself. The drives I have were originally used with a Wang computer system, but other than the faceplates being painted "Wang light brown" I don't know what other differences there might be. Their sector switches are set for 22 sector, so I entered that into the firmware. My next attempt, I'm going to try and change it to the default listed in the Emulex manual - but as long as the firmware and the drive agree, I don't think it much matters. I've tried different cylinder addressing modes, and both SMD modes (dip switches on the back of the drive) and no change. I've tried two identical hard drives, and get the same result, so I don't think I've just got a bad HDA. Both drives spin up and don't fault. Any ideas? -Ian

18 years, 9 months

3
3
0 0

cleaning house (actually shed)

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

I have a few AT & T monitors (mono) I'm either giving away or throwing out. These were used w/the 6300 (640 x 400). One I found in someone's trash, the other in someone's yard (it was sitting out there for quite some time) in the snow. I turned both on 6 months to a year ago, and both worked, exhibited no noticeable screen burn, but one rolls, the other jitters. Free for shipping. If you think I'm nuts for even bothering to offer them, you're likely correct, but I hate throwing (most) anything away w/o seeing if someone can make use of them. Also 2 Atari (520ST etc) monitors, one mono, one color. Condition unknown. Found them in the trash too. Cables were snipped. There's a growing contingent of yuck-yucks 'round these parts who must think copper=gold. These were also exposed to some moisture, but not submerged. Both sets operate at about the same frequencies as a Tandy 2000, NEC APC III, and other TTL 400 line units. I also have ~2 dozen NOS SASI boards by Adaptec. I can e-mail a jpeg to any interested parties. About 1/3 are in anti-static bags, the rest wrapped in some other kind of clear plastic. 2$/plus shipping. They're driven by an 8085. I may have 2 or 3 Tandy 1000's for phree or close. Eventually I'll be unloading a few 2000's also, but those might have an issue (changing the video mode in BASIC cause the screen to lock up - ???). They belonged to a developer dude, so I'm wondering if he tinkered with them. Or maybe, just maybe the trace wasn't cut as required to upgrade the mono graphics cards to color, along with the addition of necessary ic's. Will have to check... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

18 years, 9 months

1
0
0 0

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb