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

by austinpass＠gmail.com

On 2/11/07 22:50, "Gordon JC Pearce" <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote: > Hey folks, > I've bought a sampler off eBay - Casio FZ-10m, contains an 8086, is > user-programmable (Casio released the SDK, apparently) and is way more > than 10 years old, so fairly on-topic I'd say. I need to get it shipped > from Huddersfield up to Glasgow. Is there anyone within striking > distance that could be persuaded to pick it up from the seller, package > it and send it up? I'll pay for all the costs and throw in a few beer > vouchers too. > > Gordon More than happy to assist. I'm around 10 miles from Huddersfield (Saddleworth). I'll be back in the UK and available to collect / package / post from Monday onwards. Regards, Austin.

18 years, 10 months

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Classiccmpers around Yorkshire?

by gordonjcp＠gjcp.net

Hey folks, I've bought a sampler off eBay - Casio FZ-10m, contains an 8086, is user-programmable (Casio released the SDK, apparently) and is way more than 10 years old, so fairly on-topic I'd say. I need to get it shipped >from Huddersfield up to Glasgow. Is there anyone within striking distance that could be persuaded to pick it up from the seller, package it and send it up? I'll pay for all the costs and throw in a few beer vouchers too. Gordon

18 years, 10 months

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HP/CHM 21xx/1000 software agreement signed!

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> That is extremely cool. What are the plans for where / when / how > this will all be made available? It will probably go out on CD/DVD in stages as things are sorted out. There has been a volunteer going through the tape images as I've been reading them checking the contents and making inventories. I need to check with the people working on 2000 TSB to see what they might have as well. We wrote the license so that a sublicensee can redistribute with the same rights that CHM has, so a CD tree may be possible. I don't think CHM will be able to handle a click-through distribution on the web any time soon. I suspect some subset of the software will be available with SIMH as well.

18 years, 10 months

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HP/CHM 21xx/1000 software agreement signed!

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Woah. That is a huge deal! I can't imagine the amount of time & > patience that went into making this agreement. The exciting thing is this is the most comprehensive agreenment we've ever been able to get from a computer manufacturer, and we're hoping we can use it as an example for other systems.

18 years, 10 months

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HP/CHM 21xx/1000 software agreement signed!

by evan＠snarc.net

Anna Mancini, the HP corporate archivist, along with the corporate PR department has always been very aware of and friendly to historians and hobbyists. For example they're allowing me to republish the 1979 Gordon Dickson story, "Thank you, Beep" which they commissioned for an issue of the HP Calculator Journal -- the article was never published elsewhere or online. So I am happy, but definitely not surprised, to hear this news about the manuals.

18 years, 10 months

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2.8" Floppies [Was: 3.25-inch floppies]

by austin＠ozpass.co.uk

On 2/11/07 09:35, "Gordon JC Pearce" <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote: > That's it exactly. It was the Akai S612 - or more specifically, the Akai > MD280 external disk drive. IIRC the sampler could be bought without the > drive, and either send and receive samples over sysex or from tape. I > *think* it had 48k of memory. > > I passed up the chance to buy one, with the drive and a large library of > disks, for 50 quid in a music shop in Inverness a few years ago. Oh well. > > Gordon Great little piece of kit. The samples were 12-bit (from memory) and there was *the best* interface for trimming samples I've ever encountered - basically two sliders representing 0 - 100% of the sample length. The top represented "start" and the bottom "end". If the "start" slider was further along than the "end" slider it would play the sample in reverse, still obeying the trim length - genius! MIDI compatible too.... I'm ashamed to say I threw mine out a few years ago after the disk unit got crushed (still functional, mind you). The right hand side of the disk unit was just red metal diagonal slots for storing the diskettes - pure 80's chic! -Austin.

18 years, 10 months

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New Topic -- Xerox Memorywriter Keyboard Membranes

by dmc_67301＠yahoo.com

I have an old Xerox Memorywriter 630 typewriter. It works great except for the fact that it needs a new set of membranes in the keyboard. I can get a set of the membranes but I have no idea how to install them. Any help out there? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 10 months

1
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modern serial terminal

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 15:43:36 -0700 (PDT) From: David Griffith <dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu> Subject: modern serial terminal I'm thinking of a device about the size of a couple CD jewel cases that has two serial ports, a ps/2 or usb port, VGA port, power jack, and perhaps a JTAG header concealed within. This device is a regular RS232 serial terminal. Plug in a monitor, keyboard, and something talking rs232 and you're ready to go. Inside there would be a microprocessor, some ram, some flash, and an FPGA to take care of glue logic and talking to the VGA port. The FPGA would be loaded with the digital schematics of a particular terminal and its firmware, for instance, a Wyse 85 or 99GT (my favorites). That would get you most of the usual emulations. How hard would it be to create something like this? How much would it cost? --------------------------- Take an old Laptop, remove the screen and you're in business. Probably wouldn't cost anything, especially if the screen's broken; boot & run >from floppy or USB if the HD's bad. You've even got a built-in keyboard for those times you can't find the main one. (and, if it's still got a parallel port, a parallel ASCII keyboard if you need one), And you could probably listen to your favourite CD while you're working... A little bigger than two jewel cases but a cinch to upgrade... Not to mention one less land-fill item... m

18 years, 10 months

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From the Sun haul - SIMMs

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

I got a file box full of 30-pin 9-bit 4 megabyte SIMMs if anyone has need of them. Most are 80nS, going down to 60nS, and even a few 3-chip "why bothers" (curiously with Sun numbering). Many 9-chip Sun 501-1739 parts if you want original Unsorted or semi-sorted chips (same-manufacturer, I went through many bags to come up with enough Toshibas to max out my Personal IRIS 4D/25) are free for shipping. If you want a matched set or guaranteed 70nS (or 60nS) kick in a little more to make it worth my while to sort through the bin. Probably not a high-interest item, but thought I'd pass them on if needed. In Renton, WA.

18 years, 10 months

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3.25-inch floppies

by jvdg＠sparcpark.net

Alexandre Souza wrote: >> They were used on some MSX home computers, although I have only ever read >> about them (and seen pictures). I don't think they were commonplace >> outside of Japan and Korea. They were sort of a cross between tape and >> disk media; data was written sequentially in a spiral pattern on the disk. > > MSX with 3.25 disks? Is that the QD drive? No. QD disks are 2.8". Several drives are mentioned here: <http://www.faq.msxnet.org/hardware.html> ,xtG tsooJ

18 years, 10 months

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3.25-inch floppies

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Please bear with me one more time... What was that URL to the stuff about the mythic 3.25" floppy disk? (the one that looked like a shrunken 5.25" and loaded onto a tray). -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 10 months

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IMI drives (was WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only))

by dm561＠torfree.net

Re: Looking for IMI drives for a Cromemco: Another solution would be to find an STDC HD controller; then you could use most ST406/512 drives, and they'd also be quite a bit faster (and it would be a lot cheaper to ship ;-). I'm running two 150MB Maxtors and two 20MB IMIs on the same system BTW. I don't believe there are any CDOS drivers for it though, so you'd have to run any CDOS or CP/M programs in Cromix. As an aside, there's also an ESDI/SCSI controller; they're pretty scarce and your card set wouldn't support one AFAIK, but there is at least one person out there putting a 1.2GB disk into his Cromemco (you know who you are); not sure if it's working yet though, looks like the drive may be bad. mike -------------Original Messages: Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:41:24 -0000 From: "Jim Attfield" <james at attfield.co.uk> Subject: RE: WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:57:19 -0400 From: M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> Subject: WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only) ------------Reply: I have several IMI 20MB (and 5MB) drives, but they're also on the wrong side of the Atlantic (Toronto). Also, I'm not sure at this point how many are still working reliably or how many I can spare (if any). I have scrapped a few though, so if you happen to find an ST-412/506 version (they were used in some PCs) I could probably send you the PCBs to convert it. Why not just build a nice custom case & PS? mike ------------------------------ Hi Mike, glad to see they are still around to be had. Shipping a 20Mb IMI wouldn't be as bad as shipping a Z2D lol Nice tip on the PC drives although I believe I have only ever seen Seagate, Rodime, Micropolis, IBM etc. but I'll look more carefully from now on. Please keep me in mind, though, as soon as I have a chassis of some sort organised I'll want to run up the WDI-II (was a working pull from my old CS1-H, no longer with me, along with the DPU , 16-FDC and 256KZ) and get Cromix back on the go. Jim

18 years, 10 months

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VCF Stuff for Sale

by marvin＠west.net

I'll be heading up to VCF tomorrow and will be bringing quite a bit of stuff. A partial list can be found at: http://www.west.net/~marvin/2007vcf.txt Also, for those of you who either live in the area or will be attending VCF, the Livermore swapmeet is Sunday starting at about 6:30AM or so. My intention right now is to go there with a selling spot ... it makes a great place to meet people AND store stuff bought there :) ... and head back to VCF about 10:30AM or so. Livermore is approximately 30 minutes or so from the CHM. If anyone is interested and needs a ride, see me at VCF.

18 years, 10 months

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dsdd floppies

by dan＠ekoan.com

David, I picked up about three dozen sealed boxes this weekend, Verbatim Datalife 5.25" DSDD. How many do you need? Regards, Dan www.decodesystems.com At 11:37 PM 10/27/07, you wrote: >Someone here posted about a friend in Canada who has boxes upon boxes of >unopened blank DSDD 5.25" floppies. Who was that? I think I deleted the >relevant emails (or at least grep is failing me). > >-- >David Griffith >dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu > >A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. >Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? >A: Top-posting. >Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

18 years, 10 months

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Anyone around early for VCF?

by evan＠snarc.net

Hi all ... I arrived here in Mountain View today, up for hanging out tonight who whoever's around and I haven't previously flamed. :) - Evan K. (6465469999)

18 years, 10 months

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modern serial terminal

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: modern serial terminal > From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> > Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:23:48 -0700 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >At 3:43 PM -0700 11/1/07, David Griffith wrote: >>I'm thinking of a device about the size of a couple CD jewel cases that >>has two serial ports, a ps/2 or usb port, VGA port, power jack, and >>perhaps a JTAG header concealed within. This device is a regular RS232 >>serial terminal. Plug in a monitor, keyboard, and something talking rs232 >>and you're ready to go. Inside there would be a microprocessor, some ram, >>some flash, and an FPGA to take care of glue logic and talking to the VGA >>port. The FPGA would be loaded with the digital schematics of a >>particular terminal and its firmware, for instance, a Wyse 85 or 99GT (my >>favorites). That would get you most of the usual emulations. >> >>How hard would it be to create something like this? How much would it >>cost? > >Just buy an HP Think Client. Older models show up on eBay for ~$100. >Out of curiousity, does anyone have experience with the HP Thin >Clients? I've been thinking about getting either a VT525 or one of >the HP Thin Clients. Get any dumb laptop with a 386 or higher plug in an external keyboard and load dos, under dos load your favorite terminal emulator. I have a Modular Systems 486/50 with 32Mb ram brick running W98 to do that. It has NIC, Parallel, serial, PS/2 Mouse, PS2 keyboard and S7 VGA in a 3"x5"x12" package and runs off a 12V at 1A wart. It was designed as a thin (diskless) client but a 2.5" 1gb disk mounts nicely. SIIG also made bricks that would do well for that also. Bottom line is there are plenty of small systems with more than enough power to do a VTxxx. If not you can get PC104 with dualcore. But really DEC did VT52 with random logic, Vt100 was 8080, Vt220 was 8051 and VT320 used two 8051s. It doesn't need a lot of CPU to do terminal other than PC display interface and keyboard is high software overhead. So there exists enough hardware out there that is smaller than the keyboard and a 15" LCD already. >BTW, from where I'm sitting the most important thing is how such a >device handles the keyboard, I need the keypad to act right when I'm >in VMS. I have yet to find a PC terminal emulation that gets the keypad near right. Some fail badly on VT52/100 emulation as well. So when the OS want a VTxxx I have a VT100/125/320/340/1200 as needed. Another area where they fail often is the DEC request "what are you" and often most terminal emulators put squiggles on the screen rather than handle the ESC correctly. Allison >Zane >-- >| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | >| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | >| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector | >+----------------------------------+----------------------------+ >| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | >| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | >| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

18 years, 10 months

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Smalltalk for OS/2

by ploopster＠gmail.com

I'm looking for Digitalk Visual Smalltalk Enterprise for OS/2 including PARTS Workbench. Let me know if any of you have a copy available. Thanks. Peace... Sridhar

18 years, 10 months

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airport x-ray machines: can they damage 8" floppies?

by legalize＠xmission.com

I'm going to VCF/nanotech thing by plane and I thought this would be a good way to bring Al some 8" floppies (PLATO system!) to archive/image, but I wondered if the airport x-ray scanner would do anything bad to them? I'd hate to damage them on my way to having them archived... -- "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, 10 months

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Tandy! Pocket! Mania!

by spectre＠floodgap.com

Just in time for my VCF exhibit this weekend, I've finished putting up some pictures and commentary on the Tandy Radio Shack Pocket Computer line. The site is split up into PC-1/3/8, PC-2 and PC-4/5/6/7 pages, with catalogue number listings, specifications and links. See them in person this weekend! http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/tpm/ -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- Proponents of other opinions will be merrily beaten to a bloody pulp. ------

18 years, 10 months

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Info about a Mullard Core

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

Hi, > From: "Gavin Melville" <gavin.melville at acclipse.co.nz> > Subject: Info about a Mullard Core > Hi, > > I have had for many years a large core, and while I don't really > want to > part with it, I also see what little pieces of core sell for on > ebay.... > > I was told when given this about 15 years ago that it was from a > Burroughs mainframe which was installed at the Cadburys head office in > New Zealand and that they had paid GBP 20,000 for it in 1960. 20,000 for the core or for the mainframe? How sure are you about it being Burroughs? Wouldn't they be using U.S. components rather than British? I know Cadburys bought an ICT 1300 series machine around 1963/4, and its now in a museum in NZ. It was a 48 bit machine, but I think it had a much smaller store of 1200 or 2000 words and would have cost around 100,000 GBP. I have read there was an option to replace all the 'barn door' core stores with a single store of 4,000 words of 48 bits, though I've never seen one, nor the logic diagrams. I have always wondered whether it used a full binary decode (using 16384 words to provide 4000 words of usable memory) of the 14 bits rather than a BCD decode. The 1300s use lots of Mullard components. Just a small piece of a jigsaw puzzle, maybe not even the right puzzle! Roger Holmes. Owner of the last working ICT 1301. > I have > been unable to find out if this was correct however. Does anyone on > the list know anything about it ? > > pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/8788341 at N05/?saved=1 > > There are 921600 cores in the array, which is made up of 48x48 > cores, 4 > to a layer and 100 layers. > > _________________________________ > > Regards, > Gavin Melville > Senior Engineer > Acclipse Electronic Ltd >

18 years, 10 months

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SHARC stuff

by steve＠radiorobots.com

Hi, Looking for product lit for "Virtuoso Classico" by Eonic Systems. It was a dev environment for SHARC circa 1995. Thanks, Steve

18 years, 10 months

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Better ESDI Controller? DTC 6280 or DTC 6282

by cclist＠sydex.com

I'm setting up an old system with a 380MB Maxtor (Miniscribe) ESDI drive and I have two ESDI controllers. One is a DTC 6280, the other, a DTC 6282. Which one is the preferable one? The 6280 is about a 2/3 length ISA card and the 6282 is about 1/2 length. Date codes are about a year apart (90 vs. 91) with the 6280 being the older one. For the life of me, I just can't remember which one I liked better. I do recall that it's possible to hang 4 floppies on the same cable off of either and that the FDC part handles FM very nicely. Thanks, Chuck

18 years, 10 months

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Laser 512XT

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

I have a Laser 512XT I picked up at TCF a couple of years ago... The guy didn't have a power supply for it, and had jury rigged something with an XT Supply. Does anyone have or know where I can get a power supply for this venerable beast? I used one when I worked for Program STEPPE porting the Apple II version of FACTS+ over to the PC, and it would be fun to boot one up again and play. Thanks!!! Al Phila, PA

18 years, 10 months

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An old dream come true: Iris Indigo!

by aijones2＠bsu.edu

From: Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> Subject: Re: An old dream come true: Iris Indigo! > Irix 5.4 is IIRC the last version running on the Indigo. ... If memory > serves me correctly, there was also a Plan9 port at some time, but I > won't bet on it to still work The Plan9 open source release omits the SGI IP22 stuff, sadly. From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> Subject: Re: An old dream come true: Iris Indigo! > The Crimson and Octane are much later in the product line than the > Indigo. The Indigo is after the Personal Iris but before the Indigo^2 > or Indy. The Crimson, technologically speaking, is contemporary to the R3k Indigo. The Crimson used the same (slow) bus as 80s SGIs, but had their top-end CPU in it. It was an upgrade path for existing SGI customers. If I recall correctly, the only way to get an R4k CPU with the old IRIS GL graphics boardsets. (VGX and friends.) While the first-generation (R3k) Indigo was similar to the old PI systems, the second-generation (R4k) Indigo guts were extraordinarily similar to the Indy. Nothing in them is common to the R3k Indigo. I expect they only used the old non-PS/2 keyboards to avoid confusion.

18 years, 10 months

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More stuff from the Sun rescue

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Turns out to be mostly Sun, but a bunch of other stuff as well. Much test equipment (list to follow when I decide what I want to keep), and assorted VME Sun boards (Sun-3 and Sun-4). There's also many boards for a (can't remember the name, it starts with "T" and is the ultra-high-reliability system that runs 2 or 4 processors in parallel. Think it's PA-RISC, but can't recall for sure). I don't have them, but can pick them up tomorrow if anyones interested.

18 years, 10 months

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An old dream come true: Iris Indigo!

by aijones2＠bsu.edu

> > It also uses the same GIO bus as the R3K, different from the Indy's one. > My point is that the CPU is only one part, of several. To say that > makes the R4K Indigo like an Indy is like saying an R5K Indy is like an > O2 :-) It's a question of emphasis, I suppose. > Yes, there's lots more than the CPU. The Indy and Indigo R4k share a lot more than just a CPU. To build on your example, the Indigo R4k, Indy R4k, and Indy R5k all have gio32bis slots. The Indigo R3k supports only gio32. The O2 supports neither. :)

18 years, 10 months

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WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only)

by james＠attfield.co.uk

Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:57:19 -0400 From: M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> Subject: WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only) ------------Reply: I have several IMI 20MB (and 5MB) drives, but they're also on the wrong side of the Atlantic (Toronto). Also, I'm not sure at this point how many are still working reliably or how many I can spare (if any). I have scrapped a few though, so if you happen to find an ST-412/506 version (they were used in some PCs) I could probably send you the PCBs to convert it. Why not just build a nice custom case & PS? mike ------------------------------ Hi Mike, glad to see they are still around to be had. Shipping a 20Mb IMI wouldn't be as bad as shipping a Z2D lol Nice tip on the PC drives although I believe I have only ever seen Seagate, Rodime, Micropolis, IBM etc. but I'll look more carefully from now on. Please keep me in mind, though, as soon as I have a chassis of some sort organised I'll want to run up the WDI-II (was a working pull from my old CS1-H, no longer with me, along with the DPU , 16-FDC and 256KZ) and get Cromix back on the go. Jim

18 years, 10 months

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10 Sector Hard sectored disks.

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

> From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> > > Has anyone made any kind of jig to physically punch holes? I am> > thinking about destroying a somewhat damaged disk drive to get enough> > parts to build a jig but wasn't sure what kind of mechanical accuracy I> > need to get the hole position jitter within spec. I saw, somewhere out> > on the web, a persons description of hand punching the holes so I can't> > imagine the tolerance is too tight.> > I'd thought of doing much the same thing. Probably raid an ex-PC 1/2 > height drive. Remove just about everything. put a punch and die in place > of the index sensor, and a disk with 11 notches suitably-spaced in place > of the pulley/rotor on the bottom of the spindle. THen provide some kind > of detent for that.> ---snip--- Hi I've made just such a jig. I started with the frame of a SA400 that I picked up scrap. I then made two blocks of aluminum that would mount where the index hole was. I remove them both and mounted a disk in the flame. I then positioned it on the table of a drill press. I aligned the drill through the index hole where the two blocks would mount. I then clamped the frame to the drill press table. I then removed the disk and mounted the two blocks. I drilled the blocks at the aligned hole. I used a #93 drill. This seems to be close enough. I made a punch with the shank of the drill bit by grinding a groove across the end, leaving two sharp blades, like most punches have. I used drilled detents on the flywheel, using a 10 hard sectored disk to index with. I've not made the mechanical detent yet but will do that eventually. Right now I just have a visual pointer that I visually align with the hole. Another way would be to find a gear with teeth divisible by 20 ( 20, 40 or 60 would work ). One could the mount it to the flywheel and use it as a better detent. It is a slow way to make disk but works well enough. If one is concerned about how well the spacing is, a few minutes with an oscilloscope and a drive should be able to determine the quality of the hole positions. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us

18 years, 10 months

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IBM PC AT BIOS image?

by g-wright＠att.net

Chuck, not sure what these are, but they are from an AT mother board. has only 2 roms at u27 and u47. u17 and u37 are empty. The rest of the AT's would have to be dug out. - Jerry Jerry Wright JLC inc g-wright at att.net -------------- Original message from "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>: -------------- > Does anyone happen to have the BIOS image from an IBM PC AT (with > BASIC) rattling around that they could email to me? It'd save me a > considerable amount of time digging through my own very dusty > archives to locate a copy. > > Just the image read from memory is fine--I can odd-even it here for > burning. > > Thanks, > Chuck >

18 years, 10 months

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anyone in Fall River, MA?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

...that can do me for a favor? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 10 months

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any info on the ABS Orb (UK)?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

why wasn't I told of this existence of this! I want one. Or more - __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 10 months

1
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Friday Night Gathering?

by bpettitx＠comcast.net

Is anything set up for the VCF on Friday night? I know several out of towners are around on Friday. Any plans for a meal or mini-meeting? I can't make VCF on Saturday - my 10 month grandson is visiting and there are priorities. But Sunday looks good. I'll see you all there then. Billy

18 years, 10 months

1
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1702 multiple burning

by grant＠stockly.com

I'm designing a 1702 programmer. Other than reading, does anyone know why I couldn't just parallel 4-8 chips at the same time? Grant

18 years, 10 months

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Tandem memo (why do computers stop)

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

These were spares from a guy who does service for the FAA. Too bad there wasn't a small chassis as well - sounds like an interesting system, but probably very hard to find SSW for. Sounds like no one wants the modules.

18 years, 10 months

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Tandem memo (why do computers stop)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/tandem/TR-85.7.pdf and yes, it was THAT Jim Gray, may he rest in peace.

18 years, 10 months

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More stuff from the Sun rescue

by jvdg＠sparcpark.net

Chuck Guzis wrote: > On 30 Oct 2007 at 10:19, Sridhar Ayengar wrote: > >> Refresh my memory how those worked? Two processors in lock-step? Three >> processors in a voting quorum? > > Nothing that simple. Special software and hardware. As was driven > home to me by a Tandem engineer who was also a good friend, the term > of art used by Tandem is "Nonstop" not "Fault tolerant". A world of > difference between them. For a very good analysis, check out the > paper "Why Do Computers Stop and What Can Be Done About It?" by > Tandem's Jim Gray. It should be somewhere on the web, given its > importance. It describes in very eloquent terms, the Tandem > philosophy. I always found Tandem machines a joy to work on. NSK/Guardian/TACL is a nice OS, the user is nicely close to the hardware (unlike IBM mainframes, for instance). Almost UNIX-like. The hardware's not too shabby, either. We once had a Tandem engineer over because one CPU on our (16-CPU) machine was constantly giving errors. When he finally decided the best course of action was to replace the CPU, he simply yanked it out. The machine kept running like nothing happened. A new CPU was inserted and in the process monitor you could literally see processes moving from their back-up CPU's back to the newly installed one, which was their primary. All of this without any of the programs running skipping a beat. They had cute promotional items, too. One of my favourites was a coffee mug with two handles on it. ,xtG tsooJ

18 years, 10 months

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the ultimate in vintage crap

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

170161400500 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 10 months

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WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only)

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:38:54 -0000 From: "Jim Attfield" <james at attfield.co.uk> Subject: WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only) I'm looking for an S-100 chassis and PSU to house my Cromemco Z80/68000 system as I have given up any hope of sourcing one from the US due to weight and cost of shipping. Preferably Cromemco Z2/Z2D, I will consider chassis/PSU only as I already have a Blitz Bus backplane. Willing to trade if anyone would like, I have e.g. 4-FDC, TU-ART, 32K Bytesaver, some RAM, 8-PIO, ZPU etc. I would also like to snag an IMI 20Mb drive to go with my WDI-II if anyone knows of any. I'm located in the West Midlands (UK) and can be reached at james AT attfield DOT co DOT UK. Sorry, no fancy sig just yet :) If the shipping cost is right I am happy to consider European sources. Jim ------------Reply: I have several IMI 20MB (and 5MB) drives, but they're also on the wrong side of the Atlantic (Toronto). Also, I'm not sure at this point how many are still working reliably or how many I can spare (if any). I have scrapped a few though, so if you happen to find an ST-412/506 version (they were used in some PCs) I could probably send you the PCBs to convert it. Why not just build a nice custom case & PS? mike

18 years, 10 months

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WTB/WTT S-100 Chassis (UK/Europe only)

by james＠attfield.co.uk

I'm looking for an S-100 chassis and PSU to house my Cromemco Z80/68000 system as I have given up any hope of sourcing one from the US due to weight and cost of shipping. Preferably Cromemco Z2/Z2D, I will consider chassis/PSU only as I already have a Blitz Bus backplane. Willing to trade if anyone would like, I have e.g. 4-FDC, TU-ART, 32K Bytesaver, some RAM, 8-PIO, ZPU etc. I would also like to snag an IMI 20Mb drive to go with my WDI-II if anyone knows of any. I'm located in the West Midlands (UK) and can be reached at james AT attfield DOT co DOT UK. Sorry, no fancy sig just yet :) If the shipping cost is right I am happy to consider European sources. Jim This outbound email was scanned by Norton AntiVirus 2007 when transmitted and all reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure that this email was free of current known viruses and other malware when sent. Please be aware that between here and you are an indeterminate number of email relays so you should not rely wholly on this and ensure that you have adequate up-to-date protection against viruses, worms, spyware and trojans etc. The sender can not be held responsible for any undesirable elements or malware in a received email sent by him. Please note that if your reply originates from GOOGLE, HOTMAIL, MSN or YAHOO it may never reach me as these domains are blocked.

18 years, 10 months

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IBM PC AT BIOS image?

by cclist＠sydex.com

Does anyone happen to have the BIOS image from an IBM PC AT (with BASIC) rattling around that they could email to me? It'd save me a considerable amount of time digging through my own very dusty archives to locate a copy. Just the image read from memory is fine--I can odd-even it here for burning. Thanks, Chuck

18 years, 10 months

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the ultimate in vintage crap

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 10/29/2007 6:00:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, chrism3667 at yahoo.com writes: >> PS/2 running an Actionmedia >> capture card through an XGA2 card. Full motion video >> in 640x480x64k colors. >I did find a page >(http://seds.org/~spider/ps2/ibm40212.html) which >presumably describes what you're talking about. That's >an attractive box. I didn't scour it, but I would >imagine yours sports a '486, no? >Anyway, I for one would be interested in seeing a >sample of the setup you described. Sounds impressive. Here's my hopelessly outdated web page for my Ultimedia PS/2-- _http://www.nothingtodo.org/classiccmp/ps2ultim.htm_ (http://www.nothingtodo.org/classiccmp/ps2ultim.htm) I need to get that machine out and play with it sometime. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

18 years, 10 months

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Did someone here need a Sun SPARCstation LX (lunchbox) drive holder?

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

I seem to recall somewhere someone saying they needed the metal drive holder part from a Sun lunchbox system. I got a LX case and drive holder on Sunday so - paging the person who needed one...

18 years, 10 months

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Friday Night Gathering?

by bpettitx＠comcast.net

Is anything set up for the VCF on Friday night? I know several out of towners are around on Friday. Any plans for a meal or mini-meeting? I can't make VCF on Saturday - my 10 month grandson is visiting and there are priorities. But Sunday looks good. I'll see you all there then. Billy

18 years, 10 months

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[Fwd: FREE KSR-33 TTY in San Francisco:]

by robinson＠shlrc.mq.edu.au

Hi gang, >from the armyradios group Regards ray ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [armyradios] FREE KSR-33 TTY in San Francisco: From: "Patricia $Elaine$ Gibbons" <wa6ube at arrl.net> Date: Mon, October 29, 2007 11:59 am To: armyradios at yahoogroups.com Cc: "'Bill Ruck'" <billruck at earthlink.net> "'9AmTalkNet Mailing List'" <talk at 9amtalk.net> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Likely, this is pick-up only ... If anyone is interested please contact Bill Ruck directly Elaine: -----Original Message----- From: Bill Ruck [mailto:billruck at earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 5:33 PM To: Richard Dillman; Trish Gibbons Subject: KSR-33 I know youse guys are more 5-level but there is a KSR-33 at KUSF that needs a home before it goes into a dumpster. I'd save it myself but I like staying married. It was from USF's Center For Business Education and Research when they had an h/p time share system in the 70's. Has a RS-232 to current converter inside. Was in excellent shape and stored since then until they kinda dinged it a little and lost the paper feed knob. Price is "Free but pick it up in San Francisco". This can be posted on lists referring back to me. Maybe leave out the part about USF's gorillas. They tend to get offended. Thanks Bill For current radio net info, see the bi-weekly net announcement which is sent to you via e-mail. The net schedule can also viewed at any time, by going to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armyradios/files/armynets.txt The URL for the armyradios group at Yahoo is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armyradios Community email addresses: Post message: armyradios at yahoogroups.com Subscribe: armyradios-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: armyradios-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com List owner: armyradios-owner at yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armyradios/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armyradios/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:armyradios-digest at yahoogroups.com mailto:armyradios-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: armyradios-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

18 years, 10 months

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the ultimate in vintage crap

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 10/27/2007 7:47:55 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, tothwolf at concentric.net writes: On Sat, 27 Oct 2007, Chris M wrote: >> 170161400500 > >I have one of these XGA cards, but I never managed to find an IBM XGA >monitor to go with it. My PS/2 systems are in storage right now anyway >though. The 9517-001 was the model number for the IBM XGA monitor IIRC. Of course, you can use a standard old VGA/SVGA display. I've put XGA2 cards in all my PS/2 computers that can use one. I have an Ultimedia PS/2 running an Actionmedia capture card through an XGA2 card. Full motion video in 640x480x64k colors. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

18 years, 10 months

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Info about a Mullard Core

by gavin.melville＠acclipse.co.nz

Hi, I have had for many years a large core, and while I don't really want to part with it, I also see what little pieces of core sell for on ebay.... I was told when given this about 15 years ago that it was from a Burroughs mainframe which was installed at the Cadburys head office in New Zealand and that they had paid GBP 20,000 for it in 1960. I have been unable to find out if this was correct however. Does anyone on the list know anything about it ? pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/8788341 at N05/?saved=1 There are 921600 cores in the array, which is made up of 48x48 cores, 4 to a layer and 100 layers. _________________________________ Regards, Gavin Melville Senior Engineer Acclipse Electronic Ltd

18 years, 10 months

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Warning ATT-Yahoo now blocking cctalk as spam

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Re: " I just got off the phone with SBCglobal and discovered that they have begun filtering this list as SPAM/Bulk mail. I use a pop3 mail reader and have never accessesd their webmail before, so I am sure I never turned any filtering on. I was supprised to find that AT&T is no longer able to manage their own mail servers and are relying on the Yahhos at yahoo to do it for them. After about 30 minutes on the phone with India, I was able to get cctalk whitelisted for my account, but not whitelisted in general so others using AT&T Yahoo mail servers will likely still have problems." Of course, the people who are not receiving this are also not going to receive this explanation of WHY they are not receiving it. But it fails EVERY test for SPAM. First, it's not selling ANYTHING. Second, the recipients REQUESTED to receive it.

18 years, 10 months

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PCI floppy interface

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Is anyone here qualified to design PCI cards? This morning I got the bright idea that since PCI floppy interfaces don't seem to exist, one of us ought to make one. I'm aware of the Catweasel, but it doesn't appear to behave as a bog-standard floppy interface. This wouldn't be a replacement for the Catweasel, more of a compliment, especially for machines that lack a floppy interface entirely or can't handle double-density 5.25" media. I can source the chips. Who here knows PCI? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 10 months

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An old dream come true: Iris Indigo!

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

> Perhaps you're referring to the Indigo^2, but the R4K Indigo has most > things in common with the R3K Indigo. Same backplane, same skins, same > graphics boards and options. IIRC the little serial PROM is different. > The PSU is uprated slightly (though some R3Ks used the same PSU) but > otherwise the same. Obviously the CPU board is different, and the > memory on it is standard 72-pin FPM SIMMs instead of the proprietary > stuff used on the R3K. In that sense only is it like an Indy. > I think he's referring to the design of the IP20 vs the design of the IP12, rather than the design of the rest of the Indigo. The core design of IP20 is quite similar to IP22 (but not as close as Indigo2 and Indy are to each other), using a MC1 and DMUX chips coupled with the PM1/PM2 modules, but the peripherals and their interfaces are slightly different- graphics interconnections, audio, etc. (SCSI is the same, and enet).

18 years, 10 months

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Short notice: Sun rescue (Seattle area)

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

I have an opportunity to grab a bunch of Sun stuff tomorrow. I know that there will be some SPARCstation, Ultra-1 and Ultra-2 workstations, and a bunch of undefined-but-Sun parts. Not sure about SW and docs. Does anyone have something that they want me to keep a lookout for and pass on? It's in Kent.

18 years, 10 months

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DEC Gamma-11 units in private collector hands?

by philippe＠cowpig.ca

Hi everyone, Being personally quite interested in DEC's laboratory systems, I stumbled a few days ago upon some scant details on DEC's nuclear medical imaging system, the Gamma-11. Apparently this PDP-11 was designed to be connected to a Gamma Camera, and had a VT11 or VSV11 display system connected to it. As well, along with it came a modified version of RT-11. I was wondering if anyone on the list had one of these machines and knew what parts made the hardware a Gamma-11, as well if anyone had manuals online that they might share, as well as potentially the software for the unit. There's not really much that I can see on Bitsavers, but I might not have looked hard enough; I found the VSV11 and VT11 option manuals, but that seemed to be about it. Cheers, Phil

18 years, 10 months

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Indigo 2 and registered/buffered SIMMs.

by trasz＠FreeBSD.org

Memory for Indigo 2 (IP22) needs to be FPM with ECC. But I couldn't find anywhere if these SIMMs may be "registered", aka "buffered". I see quite a few cheap FPM ECC SIMMs for sale, but most of them have some strange additional chips on them, I guess that means there are of the buffered kind. Will these modules work in I2? -- If you cut off my head, what would I say? Me and my head, or me and my body?

18 years, 10 months

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dsdd floppies

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:37:35 -0700 (PDT) From: David Griffith <dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu> Subject: dsdd floppies To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.55.0710272034030.10982 at helios.cs.csubak.edu> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >Someone here posted about a friend in Canada who has boxes upon boxes of >unopened blank DSDD 5.25" floppies. Who was that? I think I deleted the >relevant emails (or at least grep is failing me). >-- >David Griffith >dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu ------------------ That might have been me, but he's also on this list; Golan, are you listening? m

18 years, 10 months

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Cromemco System Three PerSci 8" Drive Problem ?

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Disk detection on the Persci 270 series drives (and I think on the 299 series drives as well) is simply a microswitch triggered by the leading edge of the diskette. There are NO electronics in the insert detection / clamp / eject mechanism. It is a trivial circuit consisting ONLY of a DC electric motor (24 volts, I think) and 4 microswitches (two of these are operated by cams on the motor shaft, one is the front panel eject switch and one is triggered by the diskette itself when it's pushed in). All you need to troubleshoot it is a multimeter. It has no connection to the actual "electronics" of the drive. It's just straight DC electricity. Schematics are available on the Harte site and in other places if you don't have the manuals. The only thing different about the CS3 implementation is that they removed the front bezel of the drives, and then replaced the eject switches that had been part of the drive's own front bezel (now removed) with a switch on the CS3 chassis. I don't remember if they connected this through the switch wires left over from the (removed) Persci front bezel or if they did eject through the 50-pin data interface connector (Persci did allow an eject function through the 50-pin data cable).

18 years, 10 months

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Wanted: VAX Ultrix 3.0C

by sethm＠loomcom.com

Folks, I'm looking for VAX Ultrix 3.0C. TUHS doesn't seem to have it, nor does Bitsavers, but I'm hopeful someone on this list might have tape images they'd be willing to share. It used to be an extremely common VAX UNIX in the wild, so I'm hoping it still exists somewhere. -Seth

18 years, 10 months

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Technical info on Amiga video port expansion devices wanted

by markk＠clara.co.uk

Hi, Over the Amiga's life, several devices were produced that connected to the 23-pin video port, and allowed more colours to be shown. I'm aware of at least five. Were any other video port devices produced? - HAM-E from Black Belt Systems - DCTV from Digital Creations (this also plugged into the parallel port and the hardware included a video digitiser) - ColorBurst from M.A.S.T. - Fun Color from Adept Development (saw this on amiga-hardware.com) - Graffiti from Individual Computers Technical info on the Graffiti is available from the Individual Computers web site, but I couldn't find detailed docs on any of the others. I would like to get hold of: - Technical details about how the hardware works for DCTV, Fun Color, ColorBurst and HAM-E. (I got a little info on the HAM-E from an old Usenet posting.) -Details of any chips inside any of the devices. or just high-res pictures of the circuit boards. - Any software that came with ColorBurst & Fun Color (DCTV & HAM-E software is available on the web, but other versions of those would be good to have too.) So if you have that or know where I might get it, please let me know. (The eventual aim is to allow Amiga emulators to support at least some of these devices.) -- M

18 years, 10 months

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GAMMA-11

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I was wondering if anyone on the list had one of these machines and knew > what parts made the hardware a Gamma-11, as well if anyone had manuals > online that they might share I have the manuals scanned, but they aren't on line yet, since it hasn't been a high-demand item.

18 years, 10 months

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dsdd floppies

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Someone here posted about a friend in Canada who has boxes upon boxes of unopened blank DSDD 5.25" floppies. Who was that? I think I deleted the relevant emails (or at least grep is failing me). -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

18 years, 10 months

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Unix PC mouse

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Someone some time ago said that he has some AT&T Unix PC mice. Who was that? I'd like one. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 10 months

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IBM 9331 011 8" floppy pinouts?

by derschjo＠msu.edu

I have a nice, apparently functional external IBM 8" floppy drive, model 9331 011 that I'd like to hook up to a PC FDC. It has a 37-pin D-sub connector on the back. Searches for pinout info have returned nothing useful. Information about the 37-pin connector, or the pinouts of the drive inside the enclosure (a YE-Data YD-180 type 1601, which I've also not found any reliable info on) would be most appreciated. Thanks, Josh

18 years, 10 months

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Unix PC mouse, wanted

by g-wright＠att.net

-------------- Original message from David Griffith <dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu>: -------------- > > Someone some time ago said that he has some AT&T Unix PC mice. Who was > that? I'd like one. > > -- > David Griffith > dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu I second that. Ihave need one for a while - Jerry Jerry wright g-wright at att.net

18 years, 10 months

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Did I get an RL01 pack instead of RL02?

by charlesmorris＠hughes.net

>But given what you said, it could be that all the packs, including the >DEC ones have been bluk-erased :-( I wish you hadn't said that :P Only way to find out is to try it when the replacement arrives. Meanwhile I also looked at the platter hub. The DEC cartridge has 40 slots evenly spaced around its circumference, whereas this Memorex pack has only 8, one of which is a "double", presumably for indexing. As the RL drive uses a reluctor pickup on this area to sense disk rotational speed (among other things), there is no way the Memorex would have ever worked in an RL... >There is no way to rewrite the servo information using a normal RL drive. Is there anyone out there who has hardware capable of reformatting these packs i.e. rewriting servo tracks? -Charles

18 years, 10 months

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Cromemco System Three PerSci 8" Drive Problem ?

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

Question I have a CS3 with a PerSci dual 8" internal drive that does not recognize/respond when a disk is inserted in drive A, but drive B does respond when a disk is inserted. Drives C and D are empty. The PerSci dual 8" drive is the model with the one belt/on-board controller shared by the two drives. When working correctly, the drive has a mechanical lock that detects the insertion of the disk, engages the read head, and holds the diskette in place. No latch arm needed. There are 4 buttons on the front, one for each drive (A,B,C,D) - If you push the corresponding button and there's a disk in the drive a motor ejects the diskette automatically. Pretty cool for a 1979 micro. Do the diskette detect sensors go bad on these? Next I tried and failed to get a RDOS monitor prompt, although I followed the dip switch settings as instructed in the manual. The drive controller has the RDOS ROM. I did all of the standard things, re-press the IC's, re-seat the cards, etc. The system is in very nice shape, no corrosion or scratches. I feel that I have nailed down the problem to being either the drive, the drive controller, or the terminal. Through a process of elimination I will attempt to replace each component in question (except the dual drive, I will probably put in Tandons instead if I can. I have a head start, the entire system came together in one donation so I was able to record how it was all cabled together, and I can assume it worked once as-was. Also included in the lot was Fortran IV and CDOS software. The printer is a Texas Instruments Omni 800 / 810 RO Terminal. I was told the system cost $15,000 new in 1979. A pretty sweet personal computer. PICS: http://www.vintagecomputer.net/cromemco/system_three/

18 years, 10 months

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PDP-4 documents (was Very cool DEC documents)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> manuals from a PDP-4. Yes I said "4". How rare are these ... Al K.? Paper copies aren't common. Most of the material has been scanned. The 4 is the first of the 18 bit series that ended with the 15. It was the first DEC computer to ship after the 1.

18 years, 10 months

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CMD CQD-200 manual

by derschjo＠msu.edu

Anyone know where to find a copy of the manual for a CMD CQD-200 QBus SCSI controller? Bitsavers has a manual for the CQD-220, which looks fairly similar, but I'd like to find the exact manual if possible... Thanks! Josh

18 years, 10 months

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Illustrated parts breakdown document for the DEC HSC50 needed

by cheri-post＠web.de

Hi all, can anybody point me to a "working" pdf-version of the IPB-document for a HSC50 called EK-HSC50-IP-00x ? There are pdf-copies from the DEC MDS online on the Manx-website, but unfortunately, most of the diagrams are missing there. Same for the mirrored copies... The reason for asking this that I saved such a unit before the scrappers could get it, and I need to figure out how to take apart the locked front door of the chassis. The key is missing... Any help is apprechiated! Kind regards, Pierre ______________________________________________________________________________ Jetzt neu! Im riesigen WEB.DE Club SmartDrive Dateien freigeben und mit Freunden teilen! http://www.freemail.web.de/club/smartdrive_ttc.htm/?mc=021134

18 years, 10 months

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5-1/4 diskette drive on current computers

by ygehrich＠yahoo.com

I remember a discussion a long time ago but not much of it. Would there be anyway to hook up a 5-1/4" diskette drive to a modern day computer running any version of Windows? Have a number of things that I would love to convert to 3-1/2" or put on CD. The two machines that I have up and running are Windows 98 and Vista Ultimate. I also have an older Thinkpad 500 running Windows 3.1

18 years, 10 months

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Things to do in SF before VCF

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

So, I'm going to be spending a few days out in the San Francisco area before VCF (I'll be there Weds afternoon through early Monday). Can anyone suggest other (non-computer) related things to do while I'm out there? Or if anyone wants to show off their collection of big iron, that might be interesting too. :) Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

18 years, 10 months

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Very cool DEC documents

by evan＠snarc.net

No details yet, but our local user group (MARCH) is getting some manuals from a PDP-4. Yes I said "4". How rare are these ... Al K.?

18 years, 10 months

1
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WTB - IMSAI or similar chassis

by jack.rubin＠ameritech.net

I'm looking for an S100 chassis in which to mount my WAMECO system. I have power supply, mother board and component cards but I'm looking for a chassis with a front bulkhead for attaching the WAMECO front panel. The WAMECO components are drop-in replacements for the IMSAI bits. The distinguishing characteristic of the chassis is that the motherboard actually extends thorough the front bulkhead to receive the front panel. Slot one is offset by an extra 1/4" to accommodate the front panel. In addition to IMSAI, boxes of this type were manufactured by TEI and Integrand and maybe a few others. I don't need the top or any electronics - just a bare chassis with card guides. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jack No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.11/1093 - Release Date: 10/25/2007 5:38 PM

18 years, 10 months

2
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atc-510 simulator

by jetfreight＠hotmail.com

hello i just bought a very low time atc 510 in canada the sim does not have any manuals with it i wonder if i can buy some copies of the manuals from you or any kind of training programs i got your email from the internet thanks j singh

18 years, 10 months

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cctech Digest, Vol 50, Issue 62

by mross666＠hotmail.com

Message: 1 Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:25:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: Things to do in SF before VCF > > Will, the only guy here NOT attending VCF. > > Nope. I ain't going either, dang it! >My work schedule sucks, also. Not just you guys, I won't be near the place. Wrong coast, plus my wife is VERY preg and could just possibly go 'pop' at an inconvenient time! Not too sad tho - just had a major coup, see: http://www.corestore.org/3.htm :-) Cheers Mike http://www.corestore.org _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Office Outlook ? together at last. ?Get it now. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx?pid=CL1006269…

18 years, 10 months

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rs232 interface for Radio Shack PT210 printing terminal

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I've decided to make a couple serial boards for my Radio Shack PT210 terminals so I can have them talk serial. How many people here have PT210s who'd like a serial board? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

18 years, 10 months

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Did I get an RL01 pack instead of RL02?

by charlesmorris＠hughes.net

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:00:39 -0500 (CDT), you wrote: >Defective, or bulk-erased, which amounts to the same thing. >RL01 were long behind it by 1983, which would make me initially expect >that it probably was some other cause than RL01 vs RL02 issues, >leaving "blank media" or "non-DEC media" as likely issues. > >-ethan I saw Al Kossow's response too - thanks, Al... I had no idea that there were different (low-level) formatting on the same physical media! So I emailed the seller and got the following (excerpted) response: >It was in a rack with other discs that had been used on a pdp11/23 PLUS system, >having two RL02 drives, and was presumably used to archive obsolete >paper-plant simulation programs, written in FORTRAN 77. The disc >cartridges in this set were of multiple manufacturers, and seemed to >have been bought from the lowest bidder. I have CDC's, Memorex's, and >even some DEC's. No idea as to whether it was bulk-erased, but that is starting to sound more likely, given the above history. He has volunteered to mail me a "real" (DEC) pack, at no additional cost - that's superb fleabay service and definitely exceeded my expectations. Meanwhile, anyone got one or two more packs I can purchase? -Charles

18 years, 10 months

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Did I get an RL01 pack instead of RL02?

by charlesmorris＠hughes.net

I bought an RL disk pack on Ebay, supposedly for an RL02 drive. It is a Memorex "Mark III T" with a small label "Made in USA CI 04050" and various previous-owner stickers/scribbles showing first use in 1983 up through 1985. The shock indicator is not red. But it won't load in any of my four RL02 drives (the Ready light never comes on, so track 0 is not being found)! Since the drive has embedded servo info, so head alignment between drives is not an issue, there are only two remaining possibilities that I can think of: 1) the pack is defective (factory servo tracks are trashed), or 2) it is an RL01 (5 Mb) pack, which looks physically identical but will not work in an RL02 drive. Any thoughts... Would this be the likely result (no Ready light) of putting an RL01 pack in an RL02 drive? If so, anyone want to buy it (or preferably trade for the proper pack)? thanks Charles

18 years, 10 months

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New Topic - Keyboard on Xerox Memorywriter 630

by dmc_67301＠yahoo.com

I have an old Xerox Memorywriter 630 typewriter that is in good condition except that one key on the keyboard doesn't work and one key that works about half the time. I'm looking for a working keyboard for this machine or someone who knows how to fix the problem. Thanks. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

18 years, 10 months

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Color Dot Matrix; Was Re: IBM junk

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> > I always get really poor text quality with MacPalette II though, so if > anyone else is using it and knows what I'm doing wrong, let me know. > IIRC, MacPalette II only prints in Tall Adjusted, so many the poor > text is > just an artifact of that, or maybe one is meant to use different > fonts. Er, no. It was designed primarily for C.A.D. and simple pictures, so text quality was not a high priority. Its too long ago, but when I wrote MacPalette 1, it was based on the ImageWriter 1 driver. MacPalette 2 was in turn based on MacPalette 1. The text is just imaged into the off screen pixmap by QuickDraw so MacPalette does not have much control on what it looks like. I think there were some Apple magic font adjustment tables in there, maybe they were in a resource where you could edit them. They controlled things like how many pixels to offset the images of the characters by when making bold text and maybe things I never got into, which might be useful to you. I just had a look on my hard drive and I have a floppy disk image of MacPalette II, but on my Intel Mac, double clicking it says the application to open it is not supported on this system. I found the paragraph below on the web when I Googled "Apple font characterisation table", unfortunately at the time, Apple had not documented it, and it seems like they never got around to it. "For certain types of devices, such as a screen or the ImageWriter printer, the Font Manager uses the font characterization table from the device driver to determine any additional information that QuickDraw may need. The font characterization table contains information about the dots per vertical inch and dots per horizontal inch for that device, along with information about the different styles that the device can produce. Non-QuickDraw devices, such as the LaserWriter printer, return an error when the Font Manager requests their font characterization table." Roger Holmes, Technical Director, Microspot Ltd.

18 years, 10 months

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VCF 10.0 Press Release

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COMPUTER HISTORY PIONEERS CONGREGATE ON NOVEMBER 3-4 AT VINTAGE EVENT Vintage Computer Festival Celebrates History of Computing with live antique computers and living legends from the computer industry LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) October 26, 2007 -- The Vintage Computer Festival, a yearly event that celebrates computers and their history, is being held on November 3-4 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Anticipation is building for what is expected to be the biggest and most well-attended event since the Festival's founding ten years ago. Celebrated once a year in Silicon Valley, as well as three other locations worldwide, the Vintage Computer Festival is the largest and most prestigious event of its kind, featuring a lecture series, an exhibition of working vintage and antique computers, and a marketplace for traders to buy and sell vintage computers. Collectors from around the world attend this event, which was founded in 1997. The Festival also recognizes its own history this year as it marks its tenth anniversary. This year, attendees will be treated to several historical figures in the computer industry, including Lee Felsenstein (designer of the classic Osborne 1, one of the first portable computers, and the SOL-20, one of the first personal computers), Al Hoagland (designer of the first commercial disk drive), legendary MIT proto-hackers Bill Gosper Steve Russell (author of the first videogame, Spacewar!), Wesley Clark (not the general, but the inventor of the first transistorized computer in the US) and prolific computer book author Lance Leventhal, who wrote dozens of computer self-help books throughout the 1970s and 1980s. One of the keynote sessions at the Festival this year is a panel featuring the engineers who in the early 1960s designed the LINC (Laboratory INstrumentation Computer), which was a revolutionar computer design that some consider to be the first "personal computer". The Festival also features a marketplace for collectors to buy, sell and trade vintage computers. There is also a screening of documentaries and films on both days of the event that have vintage computing or vintage technology themes. Some of the filmmakers will be present to talk about their work and give introductions to their films. There will also be an abstract artist (Christine Finn) on site throughout the event constructing a collaborative artwork based on discarded technology, culminating at a talk she will give on the piece at 3:00pm on Sunday. The Computer History Museum is an ideal location for the Festival as it allows attendees the opportunity to tour the Museum's collection while also attending the lectures and exhibits organized by the VCF. Tours of the Museum's collection will be given throughout the afternoon on each day of the Festival. Special theme tours during the weekend will include "A Brief History of the Internet" and "The History of Video Games", which are both guided by Museum docents. There will also be live demonstrations of ancient mainframe computers that have been painstakingly restored to working condition, including an IBM 1401 mainframe circa 1960 and a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-1 minicomputer circa 1961 running Spacewar!, the first ever videogame, written in 1962. The game's author, Steve Russell, will also be speaking at the Festival. The Computer History Museum is located at 1401 North Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View, California, just off highway 101. The Vintage Computer Festival opens at 9:30am each day, with first sessions beginning at 10:00am and the exhibition and marketplace opening at 2:00pm each day. The film festival runs from 11:00am to 6:00pm each day. The Festival officially ends at 6:00pm on Sunday. Complete event information including admission, directions to the venue and the event schedule can be found on the VCF website: http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/ # # # -- 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, 10 months

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table of contents for all issues of BYTE?

by legalize＠xmission.com

Does anyone know of a web site that lists the TOC (article titles and authors) for all the issues of BYTE? I know there's lots of computer graphics goodness hiding in the run of BYTE magazine, but I don't know which issues to look for... -- "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, 10 months

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freight shipping = ~$1/lb.?

by legalize＠xmission.com

OK, for a pile of stuff I got from dovebid, I used a new freight shipper -- adcom worldwide. This time, the bill turned out to be about $1/lb. I just wondered if that seemed reasonable, overpriced, etc., or if anyone had any stories about adcom. The packaging of the items was a little sloppy, but otherwise they seemed OK. Better than CTS, but still not up to the level of excellent service I've gotten with Craters & Freighters. (I would have used C&F, but they don't have a location near Reading, PA.) -- "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, 10 months

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Xilinx XCR5128C

by marvin＠west.net

In searching through my pile of "stuff", I came across 38 of these unused chips still in the chip carrier. I am not at all familiar with these things (or most semicurrent chips for that matter), so are these (or could they be) useful for Classic Computer related projects?

18 years, 10 months

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IBM junk

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

Lots of new IBM things today, but all basically PC related. Does anyone here have a 5182 Color Printer? This was one of the goodies today, from an ex-IBM salesman that was finally clearing out the closet. He said it was a very unsuccessful product from the XT/AT era, and may have never been for sale to the public. He said they were probably internal use only. The 5182 is a dot matrix printer with a four color ribbon. Kludge on a stick. Still, it is built like the mainframe people were in charge of the project. -- Will

18 years, 10 months

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Solder

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

It seems, from a past thread, that leaded solder is starting to become a concern around here. I have a chance to buy some new 1 pound rolls, as well as some bar stock. In the pile is everything from Kester 44 to Ersin SN62 to noname company wire solder. Diameters are all over the place, from very small to quite thick. Prices have not been set, but it will probably fall in the 8-10 dollar per 1 pound roll area, maybe a hair more for the better stuff. What sort of _serious_ interest is there on this list? -- Will

18 years, 10 months

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Fuse for Apple /// power supply

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

Quick question - is the fuse for Apple /// power supply supposed to be a "125V 5mf 2 1/2 A" or a "125V 5mf 2 3/4 A" ? - I don't want to use the wrong one. The schematic appears to indicate 2 1/2 A, but the unit I have has a blown 2 3/4A fuse, possibly a replacement from the original owner. Don't know for sure. Why the fuse blew in the first place, that's a different question. Thanks. Bill

18 years, 10 months

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Toner as PCB resist (perilously close to OT)

by db3＠centurytel.net

Looks like I am a year late, but if you are still at this address I have some options for you. Have developed a system which works quite well and cheaper than most others. Jim

18 years, 10 months

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HP1000 'F' back on eBay (UK)

by javickers＠solutionengineers.com

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160171142933 This is a completely complete system, one of a pair that I helped rescue >from Shell some years ago: I never got her to do anything past the self test (and, it would seem, nor did the buyer), so she's up for sale again... looking for a good home. Machine is in Preston, and requires a Luton-type van to transport (you could maybe manage with a high-top transit, but IIRC the cabs are 6ft high, which is taller than a high-top's cargo area). Cheers! Ade. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.3 - Release Date: 19/10/2007 00:00

18 years, 10 months

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TRS-80 Reference Site (was rs232 interface for Radio Shack PT210 printing terminal)

by gary.katz＠csun.edu

Bob - Ira Goldklang runs a very comprehensive TRS80 site with a number of resources for the Mod1/3/4 on it. You can find his website at: http://www.trs-80.com/ Best, -gk ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary S. Katz, Ph.D. 326 Sierra Tower Assistant Professor (818) 677-2964 office Dept. of Psychology (818) 677-2827 dept California State University - Northridge (818) 677-2829 fax 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330 http://www.csun.edu/~gk45683 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Message: 3 >Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:46:12 -0700 >From: Bob Rosenbloom <bobalan at sbcglobal.net> >Subject: Re: rs232 interface for Radio Shack PT210 printing terminal >To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >Message-ID: <471ECE14.80101 at sbcglobal.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > >David Griffith wrote: >> I've decided to make a couple serial boards for my Radio Shack PT210 >> terminals so I can have them talk serial. How many people here have >> PT210s who'd like a serial board? >> > >I would like one. Also, this weekend I found on Craigslist, an IBM 5100. >When I picked it up, >I was offered a Radio Shack TRS-80 model one and a model 4. The model 4 >powers up and >asks for a diskette. The model one has the expansion box and disk but I >don't know which connectors >to hook the stuff up to. Do you know where I can get a boot disk for the >model 4 and manual for the >model one? Or a web site that shows the connections? > >Thanks, > >Bob > > >------------------------------ >

18 years, 10 months

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Did I get an RL01 pack instead of RL02?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I bought an RL disk pack on Ebay, supposedly for an RL02 drive. It is a Memorex "Mark III T" the pack is defective (factory servo tracks are trashed) -- You bought a generic 5440 style pack. I saw that listing and the seller didn't know what he was selling. DEC packs have custom servo tracks. If it don't say 'DEC' on it it is highly unlikely to work in an RL0x

18 years, 10 months

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Things to do in SF before VCF

by evan＠snarc.net

Visit Sellam's warehouse nearby in Livermore. Seriously. And visit the Digibarn (although Bruce is always very busy preparing for VCF). Visiting Stanford is also fun, plus the HP garage down the street. Visit the Intel museum. Visit any number of differently theme Fry's stores. And of course, WeirdStuff Warehouse. None of that is in San Francisco, so just venture south a couple of days early. Speaking of which: I always rented Hertz cars for my past VCF excursions, because only they had the GPS option, but now Avis has it too. Got a really good deal when making my reservation yesterday -- four days with Avis, plus GPS, in a Pontiac G6 for aroun $150. Hertz wanted $200 for a subcompact.

18 years, 10 months

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Vector Graphic mailing list

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi, If anyone is interested in joining the Vector Graphic mailing list, here are the instructions on how to do it. All are welcome. To subscribe, send the command "sub vector-graphic", without the quotes, in the BODY of the message, to listserv at h-net.msu.edu. To post (send a message to all subscribers), address your e-mail to vector-graphic at h-net.msu.edu. For other help, e-mail Dennis Boone <drb at msu.edu>. You can also use the web interface at: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=VECTOR-GRAPHIC Thanks! Andrew Lynch

18 years, 10 months

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Heath H17

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

Anyone need a power transformer assembly from a Heath H17 floppy disk system, for a spare or otherwise? Contact me off list. -- Will

18 years, 10 months

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ancestry oif Color Dot Matrix; Was Re: IBM junk

by innfoclassics＠gmail.com

ancestry > I think the IWII has the engine for another printer in it but I can't > remember whose. I keep dredging up Okidata and Canon, but I think those > are wrong. Citizen? I think the Imagewriter 1 was just a rebadged C. Itoh 8510. One of the C.Itoh models supported a 4 color ribbon. and this carried over to the IW2. The ancestry of the IBM Color printer goes back to the IDS 480 which was such a nice printer that Dataproducts bought the company in the very early 80s. I believe its design became the basis for the long running Dataproducts 8050/8070 series of dot matrix printers offering color ribbons. I think the IBM Color Printer was made by Dataproducts with different plastic and branding. Paxton Hoag Astoria, OR USA

18 years, 10 months

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Color Dot Matrix; Was Re: IBM junk

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:26:06 +0100 (BST) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) >> The 5182 is a dot matrix printer with a four color ribbon. Kludge on a >> stick. > > Thet idea was not uncommn at the time. DEC made one called the 'LA324' > which could take a colour ribbon and mechanically shifted it up and down > to change colour. I also rememebr using an Epson printer in the mid 1980s > that could take a 'colour kit' which was a motor + mechanical bits to > tilt the ribbon. > > How well it worked I don't know. I've never been able to find a colour > ribbon for my LA324. The Apple Imagewriter II can use a color ribbon and the color ribbons are still fairly available. I have a few boxes sealed up in plastic bags... However, Apple never wrote a viable color driver for the Mac OS. One could print the 8 basic Quickdraw (not Color Quickdraw) colors, for example, by coloring cells in Excel and printing the spreadsheet, but anything complex was out. A company called Microspot wrote MacPalette II for the Mac which dithered the colors on the ribbon to provide 24 bit color printing. Keep in mind that the IWII is a 72 or 144 dpi dot matrix printer. The images produced by MacPalette are pretty amazing given the underlying printer. It really does get the colors nicely mixed. The image quality is poor because of the poor resolution, but it's a bit like the dancing bear. The wonder isn't that she dances so well, it's that she dances at all. I always get really poor text quality with MacPalette II though, so if anyone else is using it and knows what I'm doing wrong, let me know. IIRC, MacPalette II only prints in Tall Adjusted, so many the poor text is just an artifact of that, or maybe one is meant to use different fonts. I think the IWII has the engine for another printer in it but I can't remember whose. I keep dredging up Okidata and Canon, but I think those are wrong. Citizen? Jeff Walther

18 years, 10 months

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Alternative Hardware Design for Floppy Interface

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:20:22 +1300 > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > On 10/23/07, Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >> Hmm, I thought all modern machines emulate a parallel port connected via >> an ISA bus > > Macs have never had parallel printer ports, not even the new Intel Mac > Pros. Au contraire. Okay, actually, it's a nitpick. During the cloning heyday, there was a family of clones which had a parallel port. I think it was the model from Motorola (Starmax?), but my memory is hazy. Of course, that was back in the 90s. Jeff Walther

18 years, 10 months

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kernel compile times

by jvdg＠sparcpark.net

Richard wrote: > Sridhar Ayengar writes: > >> My compile on the VAXstation 2000 was at least a few days. Maybe a week. > > Are we talking *just* the kernel here, or are we talking compiling a > full distribution (all the utility programs, shell programs, X server, > X clients, etc.). > > I have a really hard time believing it takes a few days *just* to > compile the kernel. Toss in the huge pile of additional programs > accessible from the shell or the X Window System and now we're talking > believable. Well, in the (my) case of the SE/30 taking two days to compile a NetBSD 1.5 kernel, it definitely was just the kernel. Other stuff would have come later. Granted, it may have been less than 48 hours, like starting early one evening and ending late the next morning, but in my memory it was two days until it upped and died when nearly done. I also suspect it might have been (a lot) faster had the machine been equipped with the full 128 MB RAM at the time, instead of just a paltry 20 MB. Might have saved the (500 MB) drive, too. :-) In any case, it was done just for shits and giggles, and if anything it did inspire a whole new level of appreciation for the art of cross-compilation. ,xtG tsooJ

18 years, 10 months

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Group buy of 1541-III PCB's?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 10/24/07, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > I know there was some interest in 1541-III PCB's recently. Vincent > Slyngstad and I have been discussing this since that time, and he has > done up schematic in Eagle CAD and has the initial board layout done > (actually three different versions using different SD Sockets). Nice. > The big difference between this and the original design is that it uses > through the hole parts wherever possible rather than surface mount > parts. I would build one or two, regardless. > I'm trying to find out if anyone here will be interested in boards. Yes. One or two bare boards, depending on price (or if they are really cheap, perhaps 3). > I have a design question or two for anyone that is interested. > Additionally, I'm looking for anyone familiar with SD Sockets, as > neither Vince nor I are, and a couple questions have come up on the > socket placement. Sorry... I have minimal experience with SD sockets. -ethan

18 years, 10 months

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SGI workstation sequence

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Joost writes > Unlike Indigo2, however, a different class CPU on an O2 means a > different motherboard. Other way around - Indigo2 had different mainboards for the different processors (IP22 for R4k, IP26 for R8k, IP28 for R10k), whereas O2 had a single mainboard (IP32) for all processors. The R10k/12k processors did have different mounting hardware, though (the R10k/12k module takes up one of the drive bays). The Indy's main limitation today is memory. It does not support SIMMS over 32MB, so it can have only 256MB RAM installed. A smaller limitation is the internal FAST-10/narrow SCSI interface (O2/Octane have Ultra/Wide). Still useable, though, and has the most gonzo startup tune I've heard anywhere (I have never heard of degrees of gonzo before this, though...) Definitely get 256MB RAM, 24-bit graphics, and IRIX 6.5.22 with the unused bits (especially ESP) chkconfig'd off (or 6.2 works well, too, but fewer software packages available). I wouldn't advise Indigo for a first system, they're a bit more tempermental and require the proprietary keyboard (try a few different PS/2 kbds in your Indy or above, though, as some don't work quite right). Octane came slightly after O200/O2000/Onyx2, the first release of IRIX 6.4 doesn't support Octane. The difference was only a couple of months, though. If anyone offers you an Octane, take it. O2s have the advantage of being small and quiet, but they don't seem to be as durable or as fast. It's getting to the point where Octanes with Vpro graphics are hitting the freebie bins (I'd like to find one...), and Octane supports faster CPUs, more memory, and faster graphics. The downside is (most likely) no PCI (the add-in PCI boxes are about $300 even now), but there are few drivers for O2 PCI (O2 doesn't support GbE cards, and I think there might be an issue with FC/SAS but I'm not sure there). That said I have a PI 4D/25, Indigo R3k/R4k Indy R5k, Indigo2 R4k, Indigo2 IMPACT R10k and an Octane 2x250/SSE (mostly running different versions of IRIX, the only double I have is 6.5 with the I2/R10k running 6.5.22 and the Octane running 6.5.30- the other beasts run 3.3.2, 4.0.5F, 5.3 and 6.2 (with one unused, I'm considering 5.1.1 there). They're all useable, but do bog down a bit with things like Firefox and OpenOffice. I do work on most of them, though (although the 4D/25 with 3.3.2 is mostly a "novelty" system - I haven't been able to find much of anything that runs under NeWS/4Sight).

18 years, 10 months

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Archival preservation of software

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Yep, went through that at the museum because some people were advocating > putting media on the archive shelves - but it's not an idea I'm a fan off; the > stuff's just too prone to damage and decay. Unless you recover the data, what you have is a physical artifact of a magnetic storage medium. There is absolutely no way to say what, in fact, is even on it until you read it. Bits aren't preserved if they exist on only one physical medium, which you may not be able to recover in the future.

18 years, 10 months

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kernel compile times

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: kernel compile times > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:19:15 +1300 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 10/24/07, Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote: >> >> My compile on the VAXstation 2000 was at least a few days. Maybe a week. >> >> ...it was swapping like crazy during the compile, and >> swapping to the same disk where the sources were stored. That machine >> is S*L*O*W. It would have probably gone a whole lot faster if it had >> enough RAM. > >Oh, yeah. The CPU is nominally as fast as a MicroVAX II (and over 50% >faster than an 11/750), but if you were swapping, that'd be a *huge* >difference in compile times. I was doing this on an 8MB 11/750 with >nothing else going on (or on a 5MB 11/730 in a similar state), which >is, BTW, fully loaded, thus the difference. Actually since there is no Qbus the basic VS2000 CPU is generally faster. However.. It lacks the external hardware support for fast IO for mass storage and any bulk transfers. It also has a few implmentation items that actually slow it for IO. > >I haven't had the pleasure to use a fully-loaded VS2000 - mine are >around 6MB - enough to boot and run, but not a lot of empty RAM >sitting around. I have three one each 6, 8mb and 12mb. I use the 6mb as hot spare and for formatting disks as the differnce from 6 to 8mb is fairly noticeable even with V5.44. >I think a VS2000 disk vastly underperforms compared to an RA81 on a >UDA50, so the swapping makes it much, much worse. No question. MFM disks have less than half the serial data rate and the RA/UDA has a lot more smarts to make it happen (Buffers, LRU cache, silos). The 9224 HDC is fairly dumb it's basicically a 765 +similar HDC with DMA chip built in. On the VS2000 the DMA only goes to a 16k segment (hardware implementation limitation) so to get data elsewhere the CPU or another DMA chip moves data again from the buffer area to wherever. So in the end The VS2000 disk system is slower than most PCs running the WD1003 with the same RD54. A small insight as to why a MVII with the same chip is generally faster. Allison

18 years, 10 months

1
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OT: VCF X lodging -- a recommendation

by evan＠snarc.net

Got a good price tonight for the Days Inn / Stanford U., just a couple of miles up the road from Mountain View and the CHM. $81 per night, in-room Ethernet and snacks, all included with the price. Can't beat that.

18 years, 10 months

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