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

VCF Suggestions (film vs. digital cameras)

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

Re: "I reckon that a good 35mm camera (good meaning a top-end lens and fine grain film) is equivalent to 12-20 megapixels." My understanding from the camera companies, which I've heard more than once (and going back to 2000, before any such digital cameras existed) is that they consider 35mm film about the equivalent of 6 megapixels. It's not exact, as it depends on what image sensor (not all image sensors of the same megapixels are the same) and what film (not all 35mm films are the same, either). The lens obviously enters into overall image quality in a big way, but that is equally true for both film and digital cameras. But bottom line, as a rule-of-thumb, and other things (in particular the lens) being equal or at least comparable, I consider (and a lot of experts consider) that about a 6 megapixel camera is the equivalent of 35mm film.

21 years

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Advent Systems?

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Can anyone shed any light on this? Box of 8" soft-sectored floppies, box labelled "Advent Systems LTD.". Floppies inside: Paint (2 disks) POS G601 Advent users Rectify Utilities Doclayout Docdraw Designer Skan Image compression Manual fonts Roman fonts Rockwell fonts Megaron fonts Map rectify I suspect they might be PERQ disks due to the mention of POS and the fact that there are PERQs on the site where I got them. It'd be nice to confirm that though - googling for anything related to Advent turns up all sorts, and as there are a million and one other flavours of machine on the same site there's no guarantee they're anything to do with PERQs at all. cheers Jules

21 years

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collection of TTL/CMOS chips, can anyone help identify?

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

Hi all, A local second-hand store got a bunch of TTL and CMOS chips, maybe 500 pieces in all. It's kind of odd -- some are in original retail bags, some are in old glass medicine bottles with corks. Someone's basement workshop collection, I guess. I looked through them, wrote down some numbers. They're selling them for about $3 per dozen for the ones in larger quantities. Anyone interested in MM5262 2K dynamic RAMs? Loads of these, in original retail plastic bags (antistatic? I think not). These are interesting, I'm going to pick these up for projects: 8642 quad bus tranceiver? 8836 single-ended bus receiver (Unibus?) 8838 quad bus tranceiver (Unibus?) MM5311 digital clock 5371 digital clock, 4 digits, 50 Hz 5781 programmable controller or calculator? MM5780 (2 digit toy calculator?) MM5799 4-bit microcontroller 5841 serial shift input, 8 bit NPN drivers (50V, 500 MA) (if this is really what they are, they're really fun) Anyone have any info on the M5799? These look like TTL. Anything of special interest in this list? 8092 dual 5-input NAND w/2 inv. inputs 8094 non-inv function buffer gate (if National, DM) 8136 6-bit identity comparator 8601 single RC timer? 8664 7 segment decoder/driver 8796 General purpose Mask Prog ROM (no idea what version) 8806 4-input AND function gate? (if SE/SL/NE) 8828 Dual D flipflop? 8856 programmable counter 8880 Hi volt 7 seg decod/driv 74174 Hex D FF 74181 TTL ALU function generator Others, can not determine what they are. Any ideas? I can go back and try to get manufacturer letters: 5737 ??? 5782 ??? 7504 ??? 7506 ??? 7515 ??? 7517 ??? 8096 ??? 8098 ??? 8670 ??? 8681 ??? 8817 ??? 16254 ??? 60769 ??? 141097 national semi, no idea These seem pretty common, not worth bothering with: 4016 CMOS quad bilateral switch 4019 CMOS quad 2-input mux 4021 CMOS 8-bit shift reg 4049 CMOS hex inv buffer 4066 CMOS quad bilateral switch MM5221 mask prog. ROM (no idea what's on them) Brian

21 years

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VCF suggestions... (film vs digital)

by vp＠cs.drexel.edu

Scott Stevens <chenmel at earthlink.net> wrote: > ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > > You do realise I paid less than that for my monorail camera. The > > [...] > You can buy a 4x5 'digital back' for that camera. > [...] > You'd also be dealing with 450MB images for each shot. EXACTLY! That is what Tony has been saying all along. You can't get good quality pictures with digital cameras UNLESS you want to spend a fortune for the equipment AND deal with the huge data files. By contrast film combines very high resolution, compact physical dimensions, low cost, AND long life. If you add that you do not require any additional complex supporting equipment to VIEW the images [1] then you must agree that film is the best medium for images you want to enjoy for a long time. Having said that, I do not use film because I prefer the convenience of digital photographs. But I understand the tradeoffs and do not go about telling people that my equipment is better than film or that I produce images that can compete with film. **vp [1] compare this with the CDROM or DVD drive that you will need to read the data, plus an understanding of the encoding/format of the directory structure on the disk and finally the encoding used for the images. Before you say smth about jpg, note that for high quality pictures you would want to keep them in their native (proprietary) raw format. Given the hell that people are having to go through to recover data from old media, there is no doubt in my mind that people will NOT be able to view the digital images they take today, unless they are willing to devote a lot of effort to preserve them by migrating them to new storage and encoding technologies as these are introduced. BTW what are you doing to preserve your VHS tapes? Remember VHS equipment are disappearing fast from the retail market and, in any case, the ones made today will not last for more than a couple of years anyway.

21 years

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Diablo 30 power

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

Joe, (I think) was asking about power for the Diablo Model 30 disk drive (DEC RK02/RK03). I had a chance to look in the manuals on bitsavers today. The Model 30 Maintenance Manual (not the parts list), gives the pinout of the power connector. I'd forgotten one detail, there are 2 connections for each of the +15V and =15V lines, one for the high-current, noisy, stuff (like motors), one for the low currnet, sensitive, stuff like the read amplifier. You should use separate wires for each connection and only join them at the PSU output terminals. There's also a maximum length of power cable, something like 5'. I don't see why this would be a major problem in any sane system layout. Oh yes, these drives take up to 8A (!) on the +/-15V lines. The PSU manual _is_ on bitsavers, I think. It's the Model 29 manual in the samre directory. No, this is not obvious, I was just looking at various manuals. The DEC PSU is, I think, electrcially different, though. -tony

21 years

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DECDLD usage -good enough for minimal graphics?

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

Hello everyone! I was just investigating the usage of DECDLD for defining a small graphic screen on my PDP11 during a program. When using a VT220 at 19200 baud, how fast can a screen be refreshed using DECDLD graphics? I was thinking of doing a multiplayer (4 player) game using this system.

21 years

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VCF Suggestions (film vs. digital cameras)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi The only issue here is that it also depends on the camera lens. I have a small lens Olympus C50 with 5 MegPix and a 10D Canon. There is no question about which has the sharper pictures. The 10D can be blown up 2 to 2.5 times bigger. So pixel count is not 5.0 vers 6.3. Dwight >From: "Barry Watzman" <Watzman at neo.rr.com> > >Re: "I reckon that a good 35mm camera (good meaning a top-end lens and >fine grain film) is equivalent to 12-20 megapixels." > >My understanding from the camera companies, which I've heard more than once >(and going back to 2000, before any such digital cameras existed) is that >they consider 35mm film about the equivalent of 6 megapixels. It's not >exact, as it depends on what image sensor (not all image sensors of the same >megapixels are the same) and what film (not all 35mm films are the same, >either). The lens obviously enters into overall image quality in a big way, >but that is equally true for both film and digital cameras. But bottom >line, as a rule-of-thumb, and other things (in particular the lens) being >equal or at least comparable, I consider (and a lot of experts consider) >that about a 6 megapixel camera is the equivalent of 35mm film. > > > >

21 years

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Driver for an old ISA board

by teoz＠neo.rr.com

Anybody have drivers for an old Mr. Ramgrab/AT ISA video capture device? Think its 1994 vintage.

21 years

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HP 1727A Scope

by EulaandB＠aol.com

I'm hoping that you printed this: hp 1727A Storage Oscilloscope (275 MHz) with manual, does not power up but for $10 no complaints. If so email me back if you would like to sell it. I will pay shipping.

21 years

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computer drawer slides

by chd_1＠nktelco.net

The "drawer slides" on the rack of the PDP-11/40 I am working with are very stiff. Were these originally lubricated? My instincts are to use a little bit of wheel bearing grease, but I was curious, because there was not much residue. -chuck

21 years

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YAIDU

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

(Yet Another ImageDisk Update) Hi Guys, I've posted version 1.02 of ImageDisk to the site. This was a major code cleanup (it was due), plus a number of enhancements and minor fixes, as well as one MAJOR fix - if enough errors occured to trigger a reanalysis, the sector numbering map for that track could get corrupted. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years

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WTD: CBM Pet 8032 64K memory expansion installation/users guide

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

I am looking for a CBM Pet 8032 64K memory expansion installation/users guide. Anyone have a copy or a URL to a copy? I wish to test an expansion card to verify that indeed the 64K is available, and how to address the memory/test the card. Should there be a different "bytes available" message upon boot with the card properly installed vs. no card? Thanks. Bill

21 years

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Kennedy 1610

by aek＠bitsavers.org

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kennedy-Tape-Drive-1610-Univac- PEC_W0QQitemZ5228141340QQcategoryZ1247QQss This was one of Kennedy's first drives. Probably won't go for much, since it has to be picked up in MA It's probably 9-track based on the serial number (009-258)

21 years

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computer drawer slides

by technobug＠comcast.net

On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 at 20:12:00 -0400, "Charles H. Dickman" <chd_1 at nktelco.net> wrote: > The "drawer slides" on the rack of the PDP-11/40 I am working with are > very stiff. Were these originally lubricated? > > My instincts are to use a little bit of wheel bearing grease, but I > was > curious, because there was not much residue. > > -chuck If the slides are detached from the equipment and are stiff, lubricant, as mentioned previously, should free things up. However, if the slides are on the equipment in the racks, ensure that they are properly aligned. A small misalignment on one rail will bind both. CRC

21 years

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HP 1610A question

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I did notice that on the bottom there are several DB25 ports Those are the connectors for the probe pods.

21 years

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biomation software and lead sets: free

by frustum＠pacbell.net

I forgot to add this to my other posting. I have two floppies in perfect condition in their original holder labelled: GOULD K105 68000/68010 DIASSEMBLER P/N 0117-0397-01 REVISION 50 1989 GOULD K105 68000/68010 DIASSEMBLER P/N 0117-0397-02 REVISION 50 1989 Also I have 14 lead sets for a gould/biomation logic analyzer. Each one has about a dozen wires coming out. No grabbers though. These were bought separately from the floppy above. I bought them a long time ago after seeing a lot of biomation logic analyzers at foothill and livermore without the leads (or pods) so when I saw the lead sets at weirdstuff, I grabbed them. Then as things turned out, I ended up getting an HP logic analyzer instead of a biomation. Free.

21 years

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Dec HSC's available in Kent WA

by g-wright＠worldnet.att.net

Hi, I Need to find a home for the following. 4) complete DEC HSC systems in cabinets 1) internal cage, boards and Power supply Also 1) 9 track tape evaluation system made by Graham Magnetics Very large and heavy. Works Local Pick up only ....... Thanks, Jerry Jerry Wright JLC inc g-wright at att.net

21 years

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HP 1631A/D logic analyzer manual -- free

by frustum＠pacbell.net

Is there anybody out in classiccmp land with an hp1631 analyzer that doesn't have the manual? If so, I have an extra I can send to you. Chapters: 1 -- general information 2 -- installation 3 -- front panel controls and menu map 4 -- analog measurements 5 -- timing measurements 6 -- state measurements 7 -- performance analyssis measurements 8 -- interactive measurements 9 -- peripherals 10 -- using hpib or hpil interface appendices

21 years

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H734-A power supply

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Joe, that is the correct number. Pat had one that I bought a few months ago. It takes up roughly 5" of rack space, and is the usual black rack mounted looking ps. It will be marked with the +/- 15v rating and there should be one or two small Winchester power supply connectors on it. I also misposted in my last msg. RK03's were the 2 meg version like RK05's RK02's were 1/2 the track density. As Tony pointed out, the big difference was individual drive select lines on the diablo, as opposed to 3:8 decoding on rk05's. You can mix rk's and diablos as long as you're careful about the drive selects. Come to think of it, though, you may have trouble making a diablo drive 0 on an RK8E... I have lots of diablo interconnect cables and terminators in my Alto parts stash..

21 years

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cctalk Digest, Vol 24, Issue 11

by wayne.smith＠charter.net

> Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 00:23:46 +0100 (BST) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Subject: Re: VCF Midwest update? > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <m1E0SaU-000IxvC at p850ug1> > Content-Type: text/plain > > > I've been to sevearl HPCC 2-day conferences (these are the UK HP > calculator conferences). There is an attendance fee, but this > is reduced > if you give a talk (or contribute to the conference in some > other way). > It's not free for anyone, but certainly the people who do > something for > the conference are not penalised. > > > People are attracted to the VCF presumably to see the > machines on show. > To charge the exhibitiors (who are the ones to attract the > public) and > then not cheage the public for coming in sounds to be totally > ridiculous > to me. > > -tony > You, and a lot of others on this list, don't get it. This isn't a for-profit enterprise like most conferences. This is a hobbyist show, put on and financed by a hobbyist on a shoestring budget at considerable risk. I would put up serious money that Sellam in the best years does little more than break even on the shows he does, and has probably lost money on some of them. Moreover, if you factored in all of the time that he and other expend putting on the show, and value it at any reasonable level (or even at minimum wage), these shows would show a substantial deficit. All this talk about exhibitors attracting dollars is absolute nonsense in this context - no one is trying to or even expecting to make money on these shows (though it would certainly be nice if that were the case, and I'm sure that Sellam was originally hoping it would grow into something big and profitable). Rather, those that participate merely hope that there is enough continued interest so that the show will continue for another year. I have exhibited at VCF for the last five years. Since the first year I have felt that I am part of the show and have a personal stake in how it turns out. That's because it isn't a show run by some corporate monolith trying to turn a profit and wring every possible penny from the participants; rather it is a show run by a hobbyist, for other hobbyists. So, when Sellam started asking the exhibitors to pay a small exhibition fee a few years ago, it made perfect sense to me, even though I'm a cheapskate (as I take it many others are on this list). Like most other exhibitors, I am invested in the show and want it to succeed and continue, and by contributing something financially (albeit a very small amount) I am doing a little bit more to support something that I really enjoy and look forward to. The reality is that most exhibitors would much rather attend the show as exhibitors than as non-exhibitors (why else would we do it?) so the notion that they should free ride on attending the show because the show derives a benefit from their presence really doesn't fly in the least bit. Sellam is the producer and the exhibitors and speakers are the "co-producers." It's our show; only the vendors make money.

21 years

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NEC APC disk images posted

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Someone was looking for APC software a few days ago.. I've gone through my APC material, and found a total of 9 boxes of disks for the APC and N5200, many of the NEC original masters... I've just added three image archives to my site: MSDOS system/application disks for APC CP/M-86 system/application for APC UCSD p-System disks for APC Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years

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Another disk imaging project

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> The idea is to make a small single-board computer with a microcontroller, >> a WD2793 or similar floppy disk controller, enough memory to buffer a >> few tracks, and a high-speed serial port for communication with the PC. >> The board would have connectors for 5.25"/3" drives and 8" drives, and >> would properly interface to all drive types. >Dave, why not just write software for a catweasel card? I realize that the >catweasel's FPGA has been programmed with a bitmap made from closed-source RTL, >but is that a serious impedement? Yes. - What happens when the catweasel becomes unavailable? >When the day comes that the catweasel is no longer supported/sold, it would be >possible to at that point design another one. Will it? Or will nobody bother as it's a tough job. Will it be 100% compatible, or will we find that disks that were created with this at-least partially proprietary system will be "lost" if the system cannot be made to work? > People here have daydreamed reinventing the catweasel with only TTL parts so >prevent lock-in; that is fine, but nobody has done anything about it (the >daydreaming is the easy part, by a factor of 1000). This would be my point. >The catweasel is here and real, and at $100, it is price reasonably. The $100 cost, and the fact that you have to order and wait for it, means that a significant number of people won't bother (I haven't) - something you can build in a few hours in your workshop at near-$0 cost will get done by more people. Everyone who has a vintage computer and doesn't use it, means one more set of disks that are not preserved. >At that last statement I know one or more people are going to say: rubbish, I >have the parts here in my junk bin that I could put together what I want for >free. Well, what you'd have would be a pile parts that took at least ten hours >of design time, and you'd still need to spend much more than that writing >software before coming up to speed with the catweasel. The design time is a non-issue, what I am proposing is essentially the publishing of a tested design. It would also include basic software, and be fully documented to encourage other to add to the software base. Is the cat software open-source, are the internal and storage formats fully documented - one big thing about the work that I have been doing is to make sure that people in the future can access the data from the images so that they can find "other means" of regenerating the disk if necessary - even if that regenerated disk is just a different format image for a simulator. >Sure, not everybody will >be able/willing to spend $100 for something like this, but that is far less than >the number of people who would be put off by having to build their own hardware. On this point I disagree - the board I am thinking of would be very simple, perhaps a dozen DIP chips - easy to build. I think a lot of the people on this list would gladly take an evening or two to build one - also if it were to be done, printed circuit boards, and even finished/tested boards could be made available at low cost (like the cat), but unlike the cat, fully documented and you can build it yourself if you like. It would not be "owned" or controlled by anyone. >The one thing that I feel is missing from the catweasel is a 50-pin header for >connecting to standard 8" floppies. A grave omission for something thats supposed to archive non-PC-standard disks. >Another minor gripe is that each of the versions of the catweasel (now four) >tries to be register compatible with previous versions while adding new >functionality. It has lead to some arcane programming requirements, which is >sad: a very thin API to hide version changes would have made things much simpler. But would have tied the thing to one particular development environment (Here's you VisualC++ library - have a nice day). The best solution is a fully open and documented description of the hardware and lots of sample code. >Finally, is the WD2793 able to read northstar horizon floppy disks? If not, >then a WD2793-based solution is not general enough. As noted in the original message, it would be soft-sector only - the idea is to make a simple/cheap alternative to the limitations of the PC controller... Still deciding if it's worth it - I'll record your "NO" vote. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years

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CF cards on classic machines (was Re: Another disk imaging pr oject)

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Ethan, the access that you describe is exactly what I do in my homebrew pdp8/e with the Core & I/O Board! I started out with a real IDE disk but bought an IDE-CF adapter, and it worked right away. BTW, in the source code is a description of the way I connected the IDE/CF card to the I/O Board. I started with an 8-bit datapath, that is fine for sending the commands, but reading the data is of course also 8 bits. In the beginning I did not consider that to be a real loss, but it annoyed me that I could not read properly the IDENT data result (manufacturer, type, size, etc.). So I "upgraded" the data path to 16 bit. But 8 bits works for sure! See www.pdp-11.nl/homebrew/pdp8/pdp8startpage.html (a page that is almost weekly updated!) - Henk, PA8PDP. On 8/5/05, Jim Brain <brain at jbrain.com> wrote: > The IDE command registers are all 8-bits wide, but the Data register > is 16 bits wide. You have to support a 16 bit transfer in order to get > the data from the sector buffer (256 16 bit transfers nets you 512 > bytes of data, the IDE std sector). IN the newer 48 bit addressing > mode, the LBA registers grow from 8 bits to 16 bits as well. > > All the IDE code I've looked at does it this way. I believe I have > the ATA r4 spec here that states that as well. > > But, if you've noted a way to switch IDE into 8-bit mode, let me know. This is not an ATA feature I'm talking about, it's a CF feature... >From http://www.compuphase.com/mbr_fat.htm ... you can switch the Compact Flash card to use only 8-bit transfers, in case you need to connect the Compact Flash card to an 8-bit bus. Accessing a drive takes the following steps: 1. The address is asserted on lines A0-A2 and /CS0 + /CS1. In True IDE mode, only three of the address lines of the Compact Flash card are used, in combination with the /CS0 and /CS1 lines which select the "register set". Only either of the /CS0 and /CS1 lines is active (not both at the same time). 2. After a delay of 70 ns (or more), either the /IORD or /IOWR is activated, depending on whether you want to initiate a read or write instruction. The /IORD or /IOWR are the strobes. 3. Another delay, of 165 ns, is needed before inactivating the /IORD or /IOWR lines. At the same time of inactivating the strobe, or immediately before or after inactivating the strobe, you can read or write the data to the D0-D15 lines. 4. Although this is optional, it is recommended that both /CS0 and /CS1 are inactivated at the end of the read or write cycle. You may need another delay here, because a full cycle has also a minimal duration. Instead of a simple idle loop, you may however choose to perform other operations in that time --such as interpreting the data after a read operation, or fetching new data after a write operation. So... again, the problems I'm having are with certain cards and not others. My records of success are 4MB HP - fail, 16MB Kodak - strange behavior/fail, 512MB Simple Technology - fail, SanDisk 1GB - works. I'm just trying to solicit input from anyone who might know a tidbit like "don't try that with cards under 32MB" or some other such nugget of wisdom. I brought up the 8-bit mode thing because it's an unusual use of the CF card and might be relevant. Thanks, -ethan

21 years

2
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Flash Attack! (was Re: Analog modem emulator?)

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> Next time I see the tape (it's around here somewhere :) I'll > try to make a digital image of it. You may like to look here first .. http://www.portcommodore.com/flashindex.php?path=main-cbmidx- Lee. . ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

21 years

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a quick question

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi When did the SX386 come out?? Dwight

21 years

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OT: Tektronix 3052

by technobug＠comcast.net

Sort of on topic: 68000/Unix/Old Rummaging around one of the local scrappers I came across an old Tektronix Spectrum Analyzer that looks like it was implemented in part with VME 68000 modules. The beast ( 50 kg ++) was demil'ed and consequently the disk is now in very small pieces. From what I can find out, it ran a version of UNIX. Anyone have knowledge, software, manuals for such a beast? CRC

21 years

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Totally OT: email directories?

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

Many moons ago, there used to be directories of email address. While not the most complete, they could be useful for tracking people down. I'm searching for a couple of people that I used to work with, and am wondering if anything like this exists in a modern sense. Ideally I want something that can search on user names, as I know the ones they're most likely using. Zane -- -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | 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/ |

21 years

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AW: AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by hans.franke＠siemens.com

Whats wrong with that ? Gruss H. -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- Von: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Im Auftrag von Vintage Computer Festival Gesendet: Freitag, 5. August 2005 09:07 An: Classic Computers Mailing List Betreff: AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5227183199 Read the description, then weep. -- 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 ]

21 years

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Lost Projects

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Lost Projects > From: Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> > Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 15:44:58 +0000 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >On Fri, 2005-08-05 at 11:11 -0400, John Allain wrote: >> This thought crossed my mind many moons ago offline, >> here it is on-list. >> >> If the amount of lost time spent reading offtopic and other >> time wasting threads is were counted up >> >> assume >> 800 readers, 100 full-time, 700 part time >> 80+ posts a day, 30,000 a year >> 1 second to read a header, 10 seconds to skim a post >> 1/3 of posts off-topic and other >> >> then time wasted is >> 100 x 1/3 x 30,000 x 10 / 3,600 ~= 2,800 >> +700 x 1/3 x 30,000 x 1 / 3,600 ~= 1,900 >> = 4,700 = 2 1/3 man-Years wasted > >Don't we all just look at the subject line and ditch messages that >aren't of interest to us (OT or just not something that suits our >individual tastes)? > >Plus, didn't you miss out days in the above calculation? Even assuming >the ten second part is correct, isn't it: > > 100 x 1/3 x 30,000 x 10 / 3,600 ~= 2,800 hours > +700 x 1/3 x 30,000 x 1 / 3,600 ~= 1,900 hours > > = 4,700 hours = 196 man-days (approx 1/2 man-year) > >I think that's an order of magnitude less than time spent in the >bathroom... :-) > >cheers It's enough that I used a lightweight fast mailer that only gets headers so I can mark them for deletion. There is a fair amount of junk traffic. At some point I plan to move to CCtech as I understand on topic is a rule and the traffic lower. Allison

21 years

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FS, maybe: 8/e, DF/DS32

by aw288＠osfn.org

I am on the fence with this one - I recently obtained a PDP-8/e with a DF/DS32 fixed disk pair and an ASR-33, with two H960 racks, and I am thinking of selling it. I am not sure about it - I sold most of my PDP-8s a few years back, and somewhat regretted it, but times have changed, I need space and soforth. Interested parties can contact me offlist and convince me that I do not need this stuff. I am pretty darn certain one of the racks (sorry, no sides) HAS to go, so if someone local (10512) needs a rack REALLY cheap... Will "shutting up about cameras" Donzelli aw288 at osfn.org

21 years

1
0
0 0

Drives and UC07

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

I'm trying to set up a drive to work on my recently-acquired UC07 SCSI controller. It's in a PDP 11/23 PLUS. So far I have tried 3 drives: Seagate ST32105N, 2.15GB DEC RH31K-AW (Quantum, unknown model), 1.07GB Quantum LP105S, 105MB Here are the results: Seagate disk: Recognized, fails firmware format DEC disk: Recognized, seems to format successfully in firmware, fails RSTS/E DSKINT Quantum disk: Works fine, no problems. So I know my controller is working. All I really want to do is have about 500MB available to manipulate. I tested with the 100MB disk so I could make sure it worked. I have a second related question - What are the MEDIA IDs for? i.e. 0-RA81, 1 - RA82, 3 - RA90, 4 - RA91, 5 - RA92, 6 - RD54. The only place I see this doing anything is in HARDWR LIST, and it will show whatever media ID you pick. If I could get the space/functionality of an RA81 or 82 on this machine, that would be great. Can someone help me out? Thanks Julian .

21 years

1
0
0 0

Need cheap QBus pertec tape control.

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

Hi Everyone, I'm in need of a QBUS tape controller for a Pertec drive that does at least 1600BPI. Looking to pay ~$15 for it, as that's about all I can afford. Email me if you think you can help me out ;) Julian

21 years

1
0
0 0

Drives and UC07

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

I'm trying to set up a drive to work on my recently-acquired UC07 SCSI controller. It's in a PDP 11/23 PLUS. So far I have tried 3 drives: Seagate ST32105N, 2.15GB DEC RH31K-AW (Quantum, unknown model), 1.07GB Quantum LP105S, 105MB Here are the results: Seagate disk: Recognized, fails firmware format DEC disk: Recognized, seems to format successfully in firmware, fails RSTS/E DSKINT Quantum disk: Works fine, no problems. So I know my controller is working. All I really want to do is have about 500MB available to manipulate. I tested with the 100MB disk so I could make sure it worked. I have a second related question - What are the MEDIA IDs for? i.e. 0-RA81, 1 - RA82, 3 - RA90, 4 - RA91, 5 - RA92, 6 - RD54. The only place I see this doing anything is in HARDWR LIST, and it will show whatever media ID you pick. If I could get the space/functionality of an RA81 or 82 on this machine, that would be great. Can someone help me out? Thanks Julian .

21 years

1
0
0 0

HP1000 A700 - what can I do with it?

by javickers＠solutionengineers.com

Whoohoo! Finally, I will get to play with my HP A700 again! After it mouldering in my "oop north" shed for a couple of years, the A700 is to be reunited with me "dahn saahf". Question is, what - if anything - can I do with it? I don't mind if it's just messing around with some assembler/interpreted basic/etc., but I haven't the first clue about what's installed on it or anything. All I can tell you is it has 1024KB of memory... I no longer have any HP terminals, and none of the 3 I did have worked in any particularly meaningful way - the closest I got was a bootup screen, which can be seen here: http://www.classic-micros.co.uk/hp1000/r1024x768/A700BootScreen.JPG Or even bigger, here: http://www.classic-micros.co.uk/hp1000/r1600x1200/A700BootScreen.JPG However, nothing worked on the keyboard, so I couldn't get any further testing. So, does anyone have any clues as to what I need to do to get the beast talking? Inside the top cabinet, we have this view: http://www.classic-micros.co.uk/hp1000/r1024x768/A700TopOpen.JPG Bigger version (1600x1200) here: http://www.classic-micros.co.uk/hp1000/r1600x1200/A700TopOpen.JPG At the very bottom, you can see the serial comms cable coming out of the floor (the machine is in the lower portion of the cab), which comes round to the front of the serial panel next to the "0" connector. Connected to the "0" connector was the HP terminal pictured in the boot screen. I don't recall getting any life at all out of the other connectors. I will be able to post exact part numbers next week, but if anyone has any idea how a DB25 connector should be wired to allow a dumb terminal (probably AbsoluteTelnet on my PC) to talk to it? Should I optoisolate my PC from the HP - I wouldn't want to fry either of them, but my PC in particular, as I need it every day, sadly). Other pix (all of which have been seen here before) can be viewed here: http://www.classic-micros.co.uk/hp1000 This includes 2 HP1000F series machines, one of which I hope will join the A700 in the fairly near future. Cheers, Ade. -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: 28/07/2005

21 years

1
0
0 0

Another disk imaging project

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Roger Merchberger wrote: >> there are a few contraptions out there by which you >> can connect a CF or SD card to a Commodore 64,... > > Not to mention the Tandy Color Computer: Okay, now I've got to ask: Anything like this for a 1981 8088 PeeCee? -- Jim Leonard For newer PCs, try this: http://www.pcengines.ch/cflash.htm Good board. We use a lot of them for testing our 1" drive. Billy

21 years

2
1
0 0

Need cheap QBus pertec tape control.

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

Hi Everyone, I'm in need of a QBUS tape controller for a Pertec drive that does at least 1600BPI. Looking to pay ~$15 for it, as that's about all I can afford. Email me if you think you can help me out ;) Julian

21 years

1
0
0 0

VCF suggestions...

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> > >On Fri, 2005-08-05 at 11:32 +0200, Jochen Kunz wrote: >> The question is not analog vs. digital photography. The question is when >> to use what of those two mediums. They are entirely different mediums, >> each with its special strengths and weakneses. > >One thing I found when travelling is that it's much nicer to have a >conventional analogue film camera vs. digital. It's easy to get hold of >film (and batteries if needed) pretty much anywhere, but with digital >you have to worry about being able to recharge the camera batteries, >finding somewhere to download data off the camera every so often (or >take enough CF cards with you to cover the amount of photos you're >likely to take) etc. > >cheers > >Jules > Hi I have a Canon D10. I like being able to snap 10 or 20 pictures of a child in action and not worry about wasting film. I don't recall the exact count but it does 2 or 3 a second. Each is sharp enough for a 8x10. The D20 is even better but wasn't out when I bought the D10. Unlike most digitals, it can be run on full manual, semi-auto or full auto. Dwight

21 years

1
0
0 0

film vs. digital (OT)

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

just look at a platinotype or gold-toned printing-out paper print- the richness of the print will just bowl you over. Wanted to try them for years but don't have the equipment.

21 years

1
0
0 0

HP 7580A questions

by birs23＠zeelandnet.nl

I dug up a HP 7580A and hooked it up, it seems to work fine. But the question is now, how do I make it do anything, WITHOUT a system ? Pressin pen down doesn't do much, and although I can move left and right I cant make it move the paper forward and backward. Anyone ? Stefan. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.oldcomputercollection.com

21 years

3
7
0 0

The Dijkstra-Zonneveld ALGOL 60 compiler for the Electrologica X1

by birs23＠zeelandnet.nl

Thought this might be a nice read for some of you : http://repos.project.cwi.nl:8080/nl/repository_db/all_publications/4155/ ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.oldcomputercollection.com

21 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

Emulex DM01 information

by gordon＠gjcp.net

Hi there, I need to find out about the ST506 cables for an Emulex DM01 QBUS card. I've just got one with no cables. I understand that it's similar to other Emulex MSCP cards (makes sense really) but it has a 50-pin cable to connect the drives up. Anyone know how to make up a cable for this? Or even, got a spare cable? Gordon.

21 years, 1 month

6
15
0 0

WCCF (Was: VCF Midwest update?

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin at xenosoft.com> ---snip--- > >The show went under. > > >A number of times, we told Jim Warren that it was time to put the skates >back on. > > Hi I recall driving up to Jim's place off of Sky Line Blvd to buy tickets. He had the most enjoyable place to work that I've ever seen. Dwight

21 years, 1 month

3
2
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VCF Midwest update?

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Roger Merchberger" <zmerch at 30below.com> >> >>I see no reason VCF events should not also evolve. > >Well, if you're talking VCF explicitly, I think that would be up to Sellam, >Pat, Hans and other that actually put them on. Others are certainly >entitled to start their own venues and set their own rules. > >I can say one thing: If the VCF's evolve in the direction you're hinting >at, I'll bow out now, because I don't know if I'd have the same "intestinal >fortitude" Sellam has to get the ball rolling on a similar project, and the >"New and Improved" VCF would be no fun for me whatsoever. > Hi There was once a show in California called The West Coast Computer Fair. When it first started it was one of the most interesting shows I've ever been to. They had a really nice mix of large vendors and small companies. Some even just had exhibits without any specific sales ( they did advertise ). Over the years, it did evolve and then died. First I think it was that the fellow that originally ran it sold it out. This meant that it was intended to be a solid profit operation. No more loss leaders ( ask a successful retailer what a loss leader is ). Another thing happened at about the same time. Strong union forces in San Francisco force the shows to only use union riggers to move material from docks to displays. There was no way the little interesting exhibits could afford this. What the owners of the show didn't realize then was that they should have subsidized the smaller exhibits. It quickly because another trade show that one couldn't get their company to pay one to go to. No one would want to go there just for hobby sake any more. Let the Vintage Computer Fair evolve but remember that it is intended to be a hobby related show. It should be enjoyable for all that go there. From my past experience, there are several changes I'd make. First, I'd restrict the size of exhibits to not much more than equipment size. I'm not much into museum exhibits for these kinds of shows. If people are interested in something, they should stop and talk to the exhibitor. The display should not distract from the machines and information ( despite trends I've seen at the recent festivals ). If I was expecting such empty presentations, I'd go to the Tech Museum in San Jose or the Intel Museum ( I've only been to each once and see no reason to return ). Exhibitors should have a place to sit that is not in the aisles that the public use. There should be a place for the public to stop, sit and chat with the exhibitors. This was really clumsy at the last VCF. I realize that it is a space issue. I also realize that some like the "crowd pleaser exhibits" that use several tables to display a few items. I have no problem with large exhibits like the analytical engine or the Dec machine. I just feel that space should be used more to create interaction between exhibitors and visitors and not so much to create the one pass Tech Museum type exhibits. As for collecting from exhibitors, I have no issue other than making it clearer to the exhibitors that they'll have to pay such fees. The first time it was a surprise to me as well. The fee amount wasn't an issue. Just my thoughts Dwight

21 years, 1 month

11
21
0 0

Interex closing down.

by MGemeny＠pgcps.org

I was just looking at Interex and found some stuff left at the following: ftp://ftp.interex.org <ftp://ftp.interex.org/> I am not sure what it is, but it looks like RTE stuff. I just thought someone might want to archive it. Mike Gemeny

21 years, 1 month

4
3
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clueless eBay seller for today is:

by aek＠spies.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5150357271 "A shroud of mystery hangs over the history and specification of this classic computer system." -- Good thing he wasn't trying to sell something was really WAS obscure.

21 years, 1 month

13
20
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computing nostalgia

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Just got back from another out of town jaunt, and am trying to catch up on email. This one was sent to another list I am on, and I thought people here would appreciate it. See below. Jay --- >From http://www.ypsidixit.com/blog/archives/2005/08/remember_punch.html August 01, 2005 "Remember 80-column punch cards? "Just think of the concept--the data is made up out of thin air! The card is just there to organize the holes" How many cards would it take to encode a 3-minute mp3? Answer: "Assuming a non-Hollerith encoding with eight bits per column, and an MP3 file encoded at 128kbps CBR, there would be 36,864 cards in that deck, and the card reader would need a throughput of 205 cards per second. It might be wise to include an 8-column sequence number, however, so that a misordered deck can be repaired by a card sorter; with 72 data columns per card, the total is precisely 40,960 cards (40K cards), requiring a 228 card/second throughput." The 21 boxes of cards needed would by 5 feet 9 inches tall. That such a huge leap in technology is well within living memory is astonishing.

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

PC<>PC File transfer (was classiccmp knowledgebase)

by dm561＠torfree.net

--------------Original Message(s): Message: 13 Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:53:39 -0500 From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> Subject: Re: classiccmp knowledgebase To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050801105059.050c6d98 at mail> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 01:54 AM 8/1/2005, you wrote: >Wouldn't it be easier to just issue two MODE commands to redirect COM1: to CON, then feed debug a script to write out binary files? Hey, that's why I think it would be a useful and interesting FAQ. I thought the other guy's CTRL/Z preservation method was quite cute, too. I'm intrigued by solutions that would require a minimum of prep or magic tools on the sending PC. - John ----------------Reply: Assuming the server is also running DOS, it seems to me the least prep or magic would be to use Interlnk/Intersvr, included in MS-DOS since around version 5. It can use serial or parallel ports, redirect remote drives and printers, and can do a remote install if the receiving computer doesn't have a copy of Interlnk. Needs a null modem serial cable of course, or a LapLink type of Parallel cable or adapter. Same as LapLink; not as fancy, but free. Check out the help files for Interlnk & Intersvr. Didn't we just have a lengthy discussion about this a while ago? mike

21 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

H734-A source

by aek＠bitsavers.org

If you can't find one anywhere else, US computer supply has one listed for $50 http://www.usce.org/digital.htm

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Disk drive parts

by tradde＠excite.com

--- On Thu 08/04, Joe R. < rigdonj at cfl.rr.com > wrote: From: Joe R. [mailto: rigdonj at cfl.rr.com] To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 21:39:32 Subject: Re: Disk drive parts At 12:27 AM 8/5/05 +0100, you wrote: >> The RK05 uses a DEC backplane >> >block internally, with genuine Unibus cables (RK11D) or a DEC-style >> >paddle connector and 40-pin ribbon cables (RKV11D, RK8E). >> >_Electrically_ the Diablo 30 should be the same as a real RK05, but >> >mechanically, the cables are entirely different. >> >> Yeah that was an unplesant surprise! > >Althoguh if you get a real Diablo cable, it has the connector mounted on >a little PCB, with a trasnistion connector and then a length of ribbon >cable on that. If you take off one end, the wires are in almost the right >ordser to solder to a DEC 'unibus' cable board to link to the RK11-C or >whatever. I wonder why :-) > >> >> BTW I found out that the d30 uses an external power supply. Does anyone >> have the specs or pinout for it or even an extra PSU? > >I thought the manuals were on bitsavers. The PSU pinout should be in >there. Yes, the manuals are on Bit-savers but IIRC they don't recall them giving any details about the PSU. There were 2 PSUs from Diablo, one using a transsitorised >regulator, the other using a ferroresonant trasnformer. DEC also made >their own PSU (H734 or something) for these drives. Can you check and make sure that that's the correct PN? If it is, I'll go hunt for one. There are piles of DEC PSUs in Melbourne. >> >> > >> >The drive chain also needs to be terminated. In the case of an RK05, >> >it's an M930 Unibus terminator in the last drive. Not sure about a >> >Diablo 30, unless you hang a real M930 off of one of those cable > >The Diablo terminator is a PCB stuffed with resistors soldered to the >connector. There's a +5V pin on the connector to power the terminator, of >course. I have _one_ of them, I also have 2 drives and the >interconnecting cables, so it's not up for grabs. Do you have schematics for any of those? Joe > >-tony > > I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but offer it anyway. I have a pdp-8i with two RK8 drive (really RK03s). The power supply is a Pertec unit (at least the manual I have for it says Pertec). It's labelled Model 9000. If desires I could try to get copies of specific pages for you. Tim Radde _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

RSTS/E software

by Patrick.McMichael＠Avnet.com

Paul Hi long time ago in DEC I had a friend who was the RSTE product manager left sometime in 80's and works for Bally's Gaming Systems can't recall his name but he authored RSTE and I am sure his first name was Dave but he was on of the original RSTE engineers in DEC Have any history on or source code for RSTE laying around a we used to add our names to the code we wrote Thanks Ex DECie 1979-1999 Pat McMichael Account Manager Avnet Enterprise Solutions 5114 Brandywine Drive Eagleville PA 19403 email: patrick.mcmichael at avnet.com phone: (610) 203-9829 fax: (480) 794-9765 www.es.avnet.com Cisco IP Communications Partner of the Year - 2004 <<Pat McMichael (patrick.mcmichael at avnet.com).vcf>>

21 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro! > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 22:58:25 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >>>> ???! The value for R must be a valid sector number. For floppies >>>> that is never zero. >>>There are a lot of floppies with sector numbers starting with 0. >>>765 can read them and write them. >> >>Maybe... there are caveats on that. Technically a sector number of 0 >>should not be used. >> >>Did a lot of work at "NEC" (US arm then was NEC Micromputers USA, then later >>NEC Electronics USA.) in the early years when they were developing and >>marketing that and a HDC. I was on the hardware/technical side. > >When I designed the 765 based disk system in my D6809/CUBIX system, I "didn't >know better" and numbered the sectors within a track from zero - this would >have been early to mid 80's. > >Never changed it, as it has never caused a problem - versions of this system >were built with both NEC and Intel (8272) controllers, and used for many years. > >ImageDisk reads and recreates CUBIX disks with no problems. > >I cannot find any information in the NEC data sheet which describes any >restriction on the sector number (other than that it is one byte) - can you >provide a reference to these caveats? this is the first I've heard of them. Yes, NEC never guarenteed that it would work or continue to work. There were a few chips used in PCs (Not fully 765 compatable) that were questionable around this. I also tried it and found it worked. However IBM 3740 and later Floppy specs had reasons for not using 0th sector. As they say by spec it's wrong otherwise it works. Allison

21 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

NRI 832

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

Does anyone have a copy of the NRI 832 documentation? It was sold as part of a correspondence course, and was presumably quite well documented by the course materials. --Bill

21 years, 1 month

4
3
0 0

ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

At 21:13 02/08/2005 -0500, you wrote: >On 8/2/05, Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> wrote: >> I've posted the latest version of ImageDisk and some 8" images that >> I have archived with it on my classic collection page: >> >> http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html >> >> Look under "Disks/Software images" near the bottom of the page. > >Nice. Any chance you have some RX01 disks to try? They are SSSD, >unlike the hybrid-density RX02 format. I have a Tandon TM848 in a >Dataram Qbus chassis that would look great attached to a PC. I only >have a couple of S100 boxes, and CP/M isn't really my thing, but I >have lots of RX01-based machines (and disks I could archive). Sorry, I don't have any DEC 8" material to try. The only DEC disks I have are VT-180 and Rainbow (RX50) - both of which backup and restore with no problems - but they are 5.25" format - almost but not quite completely unlike what you are asking about. I've done most of the 8" system masters that I have here, and so far I have not encountered an 8" disk that I can't read or recreate - this includes a number of mixed FM/MFM disks. I'm using a QUME QUMETRAK 242 attached with the adapter cable described in my help screens. As long as the format can be read and written by the PC controller (which does have some limitations), it should (may) work - please let me know. One weakness - the program currently cannot handle disks which have different sector sizes within the same track ... so far I have encountered only one disk type which *MAY* do this, BMC if800 - TeleDisk reports that the sector size changes within the track ... however I have never been able to get TeleDisk to restore a workable disk, so I am not convinced that it handles it either - it also reports sectors missing and "no data" in sectors, as well as really odd sector numbers - I have a feeling that it is an incompatible format and it is getting "garbage". Still, it's an option I could provide if there proves to be a need. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

5
6
0 0

Disk drive parts

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I have a Diablo 30 and I need cables for it. I've been told that it can be used with the PDP-8 but I need to find out which interface it requires. -- 2.5 mb Diablos are RK02's. You'll find the adapter schematic in the RK11-C engineering drawings. It has a Winchester brand connector on one side and a Unibus paddle on the other. Either a Diablo or DEC Unibus terminator in one of the adapters can be used for termination. The difficult cable to find will be the one from the RK8E to the drive DEC PN in the RK8E drawing set.

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Another disk imaging project

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>The IDE interface is very simple (the IDE card in this computer is about >10 TTL chips and a PAL). It should be possible to link an IDE drive to >just about any old computer, as the drive (AFAIK) includes a data buffer >RAM, it shouldn't matter if the host can't keep up with the data rate. > >I will admit I've not tried it, though. A couple of years back I implemented an MP3 player using an AVR and IDE interface - I controlled the IDE through simple parallel ports. The design didn't even have enough memory to buffer a sector, so it took advantage of the drive buffer, reading the data directly from the drive's buffer as it needed it. Writing (which it could do in download mode) was a bit more interesting... IIRC the drive was quite easy to talk to. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

ImageDisk/Site update posted.

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>Read diagnostic command will read sectors with bad CRC or other problems. >That may help with unreadable sectors. > >Keep cranking, you have a very useful tool there. > >Allison Hi Allison, Humm... the NEC databook that I have makes no mention of a "READ DIAGNSTIC" command is this an undocumented feature or later version enhancement? If I can read "bad sectors", even with errors, I can add another Sector Data Block flag byte value which means "data but with errors". Can you give me details or point me at a reference which documents this and any other features not in the NEC data sheet? Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Kenbak-1 on Ebay

by GFisher＠tristonecapital.com

Gee, I looked at the picture and there isn't anything to indicate it's an Apple I, it looks like several homebuilt keyboards I've got sitting around the graveyard. (Keytronics perhaps?) Unless the seller sent out pictures of the guts to select people, how would they know what was in the box (it was described as boards, I thought the Apple I just had one PCB and no expansion cards). Or was there some mass hysteria going on here? Gary Fisher This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not endorsed by the author's employer. ORIGINAL MESSAGE BELOW: >-----Original Message----- >From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] >On Behalf Of William Maddox >Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 1:15 AM >To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts >Subject: RE: Kenbak-1 on Ebay > >--- 'Computer Collector Newsletter' ><news at computercollector.com> wrote: > >> Instead, BM meant our friend Dennis Komisky again. >> Dennis, please, check in >> with us here on cctalk!! > >No, no, no! Not Dennis. This was "collectrhc". >Here's the ersataz "Apple-1" auction I was referring to: > >http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80286&item=5213140640 > >--Bill

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

JetDirect EX print server

by Allan_Rasmussen＠mail.dk

Hi chris. Did you get any manual for the printer server j2382. ? I have 2 unit and can't get them to recive a ip in the bootp procedure at start up. Mybe I have to bye some new one. :-( Allan -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.1/64 - Release Date: 2005-08-04

21 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

ImageDisk/Site update posted.

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Guys, I have posted the update to ImageDisk which allows it to work with Head/Cylinder values on a per-sector basis if needed. I have also posted a number of additional ImageDisk format system disk archives. I have also added a new page which describes how I constructed the adapter for the 8" drive, and the cabling system I use to allow the external drive to be easily removable and to co-exist with an A: internal drive. I have provided photos of the various constructions as well as descriptive text. There is link to my "Connecting 8" and external drives" page near the bottom of my "disks/software images" page, which is accessable via a link near the bottom of my main page. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

4
3
0 0

ImageDisk/Site update posted.

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: ImageDisk/Site update posted. > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 12:01:10 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >At 10:38 AM 8/4/05 -0500, you wrote: >>Dave Dunfield wrote: >> >>> Hi Guys, >>> >>> I have posted the update to ImageDisk which allows it to work >>> with Head/Cylinder values on a per-sector basis if needed. >>> I have also posted a number of additional ImageDisk format >>> system disk archives. >> >>Dave, from my quick read of your description of the IMD format, there is meta >>information that I think would be valuable to store. When a disk is imaged, the >>captured file should indicate which tracks/sectors had problems being read. >>That would allow automated merging of two different attempts to capture a given >>disk (I haven't used your merge program, but my understanding was that one had >>to manually specify which tracks to take from each image. Futher, when >>archiving one often is processing a large batch of disks. Keeping track of the >>problematic sectors manually and making sure that information is associated with >>the disk is challenging. Some months later when going back to a pile of disk >>images, it would be nice to know which sectors are suspect. > >Jim, > >I *DO* keep track of which sectors could not be read. If you look at the SECTOR >DATA RECORD, you will see that it consists basically of a flag byte followed by >the sector data. The flag bytes are: > > 00 = Sector unavailable (no data follows) > This means that the sector could not be read from the original master. > > 01 = Normal sector data (sector-size data bytes follow) > Self explainatory. > > 02 = Compressed sector data (1 byte follows) > This means that the entire sector was read and found to have all bytes > containing the same data value - IMD will automatically expand this sector-size > occuranges of the data value - it's primary purpose is to reduce the storage > required by unused areas of the disk. > >My analyze/merge utility will automatically extract 01 or 02 sectors from one image to >fill in 00 "holes" in another. It will also warn you if 01 or 02 sectors occuring on >both disks don't logically match (in which case you probably shouldn't be merging them). > >At this time I DO NOT keep track of the occurance of soft/recoverable read errors. In >my experience these have more to do with the particular PC/FDC/DRIVE combinarion and/or >individual disk condition, and I do not believe the added complexity/size of collecting >and recording such details will be worth it... > >ImageDisk will display sector read errors, and unavailable sectors as it records the >disk, and analyze/merge will display a summary of the Unavilable, NormalData and Compressed >sectors occuring within an image, as well as a detailed track by track summary if requested. >For me this gives me pretty much everything I can actually make use of. Dave, Read diagnostic command will read sectors with bad CRC or other problems. That may help with unreadable sectors. Keep cranking, you have a very useful tool there. Allison

21 years, 1 month

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HP 9825 computer/calculator manuals & Re: HPL manual request

by Steven_R_Hutchins＠raytheon.com

I did finally get it figured out. keyboard codes changed from the 9825 to the 9826. The keycode table has a small footnote at the bottom that states "Lower 8 bits of 9826 keycode only". They gave an example on page 4-10 of the HPL Operating Manual 09826-90040. Keycode for "5" on 9825 is 83. On the 9836, the same key has keycode 2885. On both computers, the ASCII code is 53. The Keycode table lists 45 Hex for the 9826. 2885 = b45 Hex. Strip off MSD b to convert then look up in the table. The code snip below calls a lookup table to do the keycode conversion of 9826 keycodes for the 9825 HPL code running on my 9826. S.R. "Hutch" Hutchins |---------+-----------------------------> | | "Joe R." | | | <rigdonj at cfl.rr.co| | | m> | | | Sent by: | | | cctech-bounces at cla| | | ssiccmp.org | | | | | | | | | 08/02/2005 05:36 | | | AM | | | Please respond to | | | "General | | | Discussion: | | | On-Topic Posts | | | Only" | | | | |---------+-----------------------------> >---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> | | cc: | | Subject: Re: HP 9825 computer/calculator manuals & Re: HPL manual request | >---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| At 08:37 AM 8/1/05 -0400, you wrote: > > > > >when he gets them scanned, where will they end up? Bitsavers of course! > > Question on HPL, for anyone willing to help, >The following line of code gets a value from the keyboard buffer. I looked >in HPL Operating Manual 98614-90010 manual for keycode conversion table ( >page B-3) and it only goes to 255. Where do I find out what these >2874,2873...ect values are , with respect to the keyboard buffer? I have no idea. I've never used those functions. Just as a guess I check and see if it performs a MOD function to any out of range values. Joe > >65: "kbd":pbeep 2460,.05;key}K;if K=2874 or K=2873;1}Z;kret >66: if K=2867;1}Z}W;kret >67: if K>=2896 and K<=2906;gto "char" >68: if K>=2916 and K<=2941;gto "char" >69: if K>=2788 and K<=2813;gto "char" >70: if K=2782;gto "char" >71: if K=2862;if T>0;" "}V$[T,T];T-1}T;gto "kret" >72: if K=2845;aclr ;gclr;tabxy 61,17;prt "(RAM) HPL 2.1 Ready";stp ;end >73: gto "kret" >74: >75: "kret":V$[1,16]}T$[1];kret >76: >77: "char":if D=0;1}S;if T<16;T+1}T;char(asc K)}V$[T,T];gto "kret" >78: if D>0 and D<5;if T<6;T+1}T;char(asc K)}V$[T,T];gto "kret" >79: gto "kret" > > > > > >|---------+-----------------------------> >| | "Joe R." | >| | <rigdonj at cfl.rr.co| >| | m> | >| | Sent by: | >| | cctech-bounces at cla| >| | ssiccmp.org | >| | | >| | | >| | 07/30/2005 10:19 | >| | AM | >| | Please respond to | >| | "General | >| | Discussion: | >| | On-Topic Posts | >| | Only" | >| | | >|---------+-----------------------------> > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------| > | | > | To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> | > | cc: | > | Subject: HP 9825 computer/calculator manuals & Re: HPL manual request | > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------| > > > > > Oops! I forgot to add that HP refers the HPL users to the HP 9825 >Calculator manual for more details on HPL. There's an auction of E-bay >right now for a set of HP 9825 manuals. That's what reminded me about the >referral. > ><ttp://cgi.ebay.com/HP-9825-computer-calculator-manuals_W0QQitemZ6788289667Q > >QcategoryZ16210QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem> > > > Joe > > > >At 09:58 AM 7/27/05 -0400, you wrote: >> >> >> >> >>I was able to find HPL Operating Manual and Programming Update >>(09826-90040) on bitsavers website. I have HPL Operating Manual >>(98614-90010). Does anyone know if HPL Condensed Reference (98614-90020) >>is archived anywhere? Is there any other references available for HPL 2.1? >> >>Hutch > > I just finished packing a BUNCH of HP manuals and shipping them to Al to >be scanned and archived. In the pile are several HPL manuals, a manual for >BTL (Board Test Language, a variation of HPL that was used on the 3060 >circuit card test station) and a photocopy of the HPL Condensed Reference >Manual. > > Joe > > > > >

21 years, 1 month

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New arrivals - NEC APC & Xerox 16/8

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

it might be a misnomer to designate the NEC APC as the only DOS computer to have built in 8" disk drives - although probably true - since others had external disks as standard options. I've just obtained one, along with external 5 1/4" drives to boot (no pun intended). As a matter of fact, I want to figure out just how to get it to boot off the 5.25's. Were there cards for an IBM PC or 100% compatible that interfaced to an external 8" floppy drive? The Xerox had 8" drives as options I've learned, but mine only has a built in 5 1/4. Actually, the expansion unit, which looks like the "cpu" has the drive, and a seemingly flakey hard drive. The O/S and development disks imaged fine, but other junk, Wordstar etc., didn't :(. I have a job on my hands figuring out how I'm going to hopefully archive the APC disks - 10 boxes of them - which is why I'd like to boot the thing off the 5 1/4's. Any suggestions? Anyone with software for these 2 beasts? __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour: http://tour.mail.yahoo.com/mailtour.html

21 years, 1 month

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S100 serial card problems redux

by Richard.Cini＠wachovia.com

All: As posted previously, I've been having problems getting a Solid State Music card to work with my Altair. The background is that I want to get Microsoft BASIC running on it but the working serial card (a VG Bit Streamer card) cannot be configured to work with BASIC without patching BASIC. So, I've spent the last two weeks performing various tests. Here are the results: Working: 8800b with Vector Graphics Bit Streamer single serial I/O card. 8251 based. Using modified Turnkey Monitor program with actual I/O routines >from the sample c5ode from VG manual. Non-working: same system but using a Solid State Music serial card which is based on the AY-3-1015 (or equivalent) UAR/T. No working sample code provided in the manual but configuration instructions for status bit location and polarity is easily followed (a few jumpers and swapping an LS368 for an LS367). So I created three test cases, two that are considered "Altair Revision 1" compatible by the manual and one that makes the AY3-1015 look like an 8251. I also wrote a serial loopback program to echo characters back. None of these cases work. Now here's what I noticed last night. When running the Bit Streamer card (the working configuration), the INP light is illuminated on the front panel. OK, makes sense. In the non-working configurations, the INP light is dark. So, I single-stepped the code and the right 8080 opcode is being executed. Based on this one would have to say that something's wrong with the SSM card on the input side, except for the fact that I thought that the INP status was generated by the CPU. To further complicate things, sending random characters to the serial port from the computer works -- I get characters on the screen. Any thoughts? Rich

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk/Site update posted.

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

At 10:38 AM 8/4/05 -0500, you wrote: >Dave Dunfield wrote: > >> Hi Guys, >> >> I have posted the update to ImageDisk which allows it to work >> with Head/Cylinder values on a per-sector basis if needed. >> I have also posted a number of additional ImageDisk format >> system disk archives. > >Dave, from my quick read of your description of the IMD format, there is meta >information that I think would be valuable to store. When a disk is imaged, the >captured file should indicate which tracks/sectors had problems being read. >That would allow automated merging of two different attempts to capture a given >disk (I haven't used your merge program, but my understanding was that one had >to manually specify which tracks to take from each image. Futher, when >archiving one often is processing a large batch of disks. Keeping track of the >problematic sectors manually and making sure that information is associated with >the disk is challenging. Some months later when going back to a pile of disk >images, it would be nice to know which sectors are suspect. Jim, I *DO* keep track of which sectors could not be read. If you look at the SECTOR DATA RECORD, you will see that it consists basically of a flag byte followed by the sector data. The flag bytes are: 00 = Sector unavailable (no data follows) This means that the sector could not be read from the original master. 01 = Normal sector data (sector-size data bytes follow) Self explainatory. 02 = Compressed sector data (1 byte follows) This means that the entire sector was read and found to have all bytes containing the same data value - IMD will automatically expand this sector-size occuranges of the data value - it's primary purpose is to reduce the storage required by unused areas of the disk. My analyze/merge utility will automatically extract 01 or 02 sectors from one image to fill in 00 "holes" in another. It will also warn you if 01 or 02 sectors occuring on both disks don't logically match (in which case you probably shouldn't be merging them). At this time I DO NOT keep track of the occurance of soft/recoverable read errors. In my experience these have more to do with the particular PC/FDC/DRIVE combinarion and/or individual disk condition, and I do not believe the added complexity/size of collecting and recording such details will be worth it... ImageDisk will display sector read errors, and unavailable sectors as it records the disk, and analyze/merge will display a summary of the Unavilable, NormalData and Compressed sectors occuring within an image, as well as a detailed track by track summary if requested. For me this gives me pretty much everything I can actually make use of. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk/Site update posted.

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>>I have also added a new page which describes how I constructed >>the adapter for the 8" drive, and the cabling system I use to >>allow the external drive to be easily removable and to co-exist >>with an A: internal drive. I have provided photos of the various >>constructions as well as descriptive text. > >-- > >Will you be releasing a description of the "IMD" container file >format? This is "already released" - ImageDisks online help contains a description of the Image File Format. At some point in the process I will produce formal documentation for the program and related material (including the image file format), however everything you need is in the help. Dave PS: I just updated the "connecting 8" and external drives" page to include some notes on Termination which I had omitted from the original posting. -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk/Site update posted.

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I have also added a new page which describes how I constructed the adapter for the 8" drive, and the cabling system I use to allow the external drive to be easily removable and to co-exist with an A: internal drive. I have provided photos of the various constructions as well as descriptive text. -- Will you be releasing a description of the "IMD" container file format?

21 years, 1 month

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Free HP tapes

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I found these the other day and rescued them. I haven't checked the part numbers but I think they're for a Protocall Analyzer. Both appear to be in great shape. (1) HP 4955A Data Code Cartridge 04955-16003 (2) HP 18143A Training Tape 18143-16001. Anybody want them? Prefereable someone that can duplicate them and make them available to others. Joe PS these are the later style DC-100 tapes with the metal backplate and drive wheel. The drive band appears to be ok.

21 years, 1 month

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Development Systems (Was: Kenbak-1 on Ebay)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Al Kossow" <aek at bitsavers.org> ---snip--- > >As companies stop using uP's, they toss the development equipment. >The iron shows up, but not the sw or manuals. > Hi As is the case with my Z80 ICE and the stand alone 6502 ICE machine. At least I do have the software for the Z80 ICE if I ever get around to getting my ISIS machine running( projects.....projects ). Dwight

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>>> ???! The value for R must be a valid sector number. For floppies >>> that is never zero. >>There are a lot of floppies with sector numbers starting with 0. >>765 can read them and write them. > >Maybe... there are caveats on that. Technically a sector number of 0 >should not be used. > >Did a lot of work at "NEC" (US arm then was NEC Micromputers USA, then later >NEC Electronics USA.) in the early years when they were developing and >marketing that and a HDC. I was on the hardware/technical side. When I designed the 765 based disk system in my D6809/CUBIX system, I "didn't know better" and numbered the sectors within a track from zero - this would have been early to mid 80's. Never changed it, as it has never caused a problem - versions of this system were built with both NEC and Intel (8272) controllers, and used for many years. ImageDisk reads and recreates CUBIX disks with no problems. I cannot find any information in the NEC data sheet which describes any restriction on the sector number (other than that it is one byte) - can you provide a reference to these caveats? this is the first I've heard of them. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro! > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 19:12:06 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, Allison wrote: >> >> Dave, your on track. The CHRN vlaues do not have to corrospond >> >> to actual head or cylinder. They do not even have to be in order >> >> on the media! The only limits on them are R must be 1 or greater >> >> (less than 255). >> > >> >Which creates some complications with handling 128 byte sectors (R==0). > >Sorry, TYPO. I got sloppy and thought that you were saying the sector >size value could not be 0 > >> ???! The value for R must be a valid sector number. For floppies >> that is never zero. >There are a lot of floppies with sector numbers starting with 0. >765 can read them and write them. Maybe... there are caveats on that. Technically a sector number of 0 should not be used. Did a lot of work at "NEC" (US arm then was NEC Micromputers USA, then later NEC Electronics USA.) in the early years when they were developing and marketing that and a HDC. I was on the hardware/technical side. Allison

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro! > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:08:22 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, Allison wrote: >> Dave, your on track. The CHRN vlaues do not have to corrospond >> to actual head or cylinder. They do not even have to be in order >> on the media! The only limits on them are R must be 1 or greater >> (less than 255). > >Which creates some complications with handling 128 byte sectors (R==0). ???! The value for R must be a valid sector number. For floppies that is never zero. > >> My favorite format was sectors 1- 9 (512 DD) on side one and >> side two was 10-19 with H always set to 0. > >Easily handled by 765, but not by Int13h. ;-) Plays havoc with many systems not expecting it. >I have to be careful to differentiate which complications are >due to the FDC chip, which to the FDC board/implementation, >and which are BIOS linitations. Yep, The bios for the most part is a not a limiting factor if you program around it. Its the board implmentations or the chips that replace board implmentations that really are poor. >Nitpick: don't you mean 0 - 9 on first side? Or did it actually have 9 >sectors on one side and 10 sectors on the other? ;) That was why it was pretty wild. it was done for a joke in the lab but no one could sort it out. >I've seen disks with 10h and 20h in the H field. Yep, CHRN are supposed to carry Cylinder, Head, Record(sector) and N=data length. But the allowable values are usually 0 or 1 to 255. One engineer at Bell Labs used a 765 to make a nice block replaceable DC300 tape system. He used R and H to form a 16 bit block number. This was back in 1981 so it predates the PC based tape on floppy backup. >And, of course, there are some formats, such as Superbrain, >where the data (sector content) is inverted, >but the headers (CHRN) are not. that really bothered people for some reason. Allison

21 years, 1 month

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CF & IDE adapter card for Apple IIs

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

If one or two of you with a working board want to try one, I have some 6 GB CF dives I need tested. I'll send you one if you promise to send me back a report on how it worked, performance, problems, etc. Use this email: billy.pettit at wdc.com Billy On Sun, 2005-07-31 at 08:56 -0400, Steven N. Hirsch wrote: > On Sat, 30 Jul 2005, Zane H. Healy wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > > > Check this out: > > > > > > <http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/mai> > > > n.php > > > > > > Great way to do instead of relying on aging floppies. > > > > > > Cheers, Wizard > > > > Interesting, anyone have any experience with this? > > Yes, works great. One of the coolest gadgets ever for the A2. Worked pretty good for me too. I've got one in a IIgs. If you read the forums however, he does warn that some CF cards are not compatible w/ the thing. I had good luck w/ some little 128Mb SanDisk CF cards. David

21 years, 1 month

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VCF Midwest update?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> There was once a show in California called The West > Coast Computer Fair. When it first started it was one > of the most interesting shows I've ever been to. They > had a really nice mix of large vendors and small > companies. Some even just had exhibits without any > specific sales ( they did advertise ). Interesting, I've never heard of this show before now. Can you tell me more about how it was similar to and different >from VCF East 1 or 2? -- I have the first WCCF proceedings on bitsavers under computerFaire This was run by Jim Warren (of Dr. Dobb's fame) Contemporary with the earliest Trenton shows.

21 years, 1 month

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IMSAI 8080 on VCM

by vcf＠siconic.com

Someone listed an IMSAI 8080 on the VCM for the relatively reasonable price of $1,300: http://marketplace.vintage.org/view.cfm?ad=1973 -- 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 ]

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwight.elvey at amd.com> > >>From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin at xenosoft.com> >> >>On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, Dave Dunfield wrote: >>> Tried ImageDisk on some Kaypro disks this morning... >>> Buggers recorded side1 as additional sectors of side0. >>> The different set of sector numbers didn't bother >>> ImageDisk, but it had a bit of a tantrum with the Head >>> ids which didn't match the physical head selection. >> >>Quite common :-( >>765 insists on accurate sector headers; >>WD 179x can ignore the head # field in the sector headers. >>The Kaypro won't even mind reading/writing a disk, >>if you FORMAT it with a 765 using valid sector headers! >> >> >>> I can imagine that someone somewhere does weird things >>> with the Cylinder ids on a track as well ... >> >>Rare. I've only seen it a few times. >> > >Hi > At least for Dave's setup, he could get by with >a bypass switch on the head selector. It is always >funny what different setups have done. At least there >is a potential bypass for this one. > I'd guess the fellow that wrote the driver for the >Kaypro didn't have a problem so he didn't notice the >missing head information in the sector header. He >may have thought the controller took care of this >somehow. I know when I've fiddled with the disk controller >directly, it isn't always clear when and where >each register takes effect. There are a few places >that it seem that there is redundant information. >Dwight > Hi I see from Dave's post that this was one of those redundant information I was talking about. I wonder if all the later PC controllers deal with these fields the same? Dwight

21 years, 1 month

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Another disk imaging project

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> Yes. - What happens when the catweasel becomes unavailable? > >What happens when (disk controller of choice) become unavailable? :) So ... just to make sure I understand you - you are suggesting that a catweasle (how many have been made?) will be more obtainable than a WD disk controller chip (LOTS made) ...? >> A grave omission for something thats supposed to archive >> non-PC-standard disks. > >If you're supposing the user can wire up a disk controller, why can't >they wire up a simple 34(SA400) to 50(SA800) pin adapter cable? Also, >you can buy an SA400/SA800 adaptor board that someone has made, which >properly controls the TG43 line. Unfortunately, I can't remember the >name of the board or who made it right now. Missed point - if the device is intended to support non-PC disk formats, then why not support 8" drives - it's not hard. Why should you have to buy another board to performs the devices primary function. Also note, that what I proposed would have the 8" interface on it, so the case you mention does not occur - it's the guy who bought the cat (and didn't build a controller) who has to wire up the adapter cable - you have your argument backwards. >> But would have tied the thing to one particular development >> environment (Here's you VisualC++ library - have a nice day). The >> best solution is a fully open and documented description of the >> hardware and lots of sample code. > >There's no reason a bit of C wrapper code has to be tied to any >particular 'development environment'. Not the way it works in my experience (25+ years in embedded development systems/tools) - invariably there will be unreleased source, or library functions which make it tough to use elsewhere. I much prefer good docs on the hardware to wading through reams of un/poorly docuemnted source code. >I'd say that by ignoring (specifically) Apple ][ and C64, you're missing >a large percentage of possible software/users. another missed point ... anyone who's been following my work knows that I have implemented a number of systems to cheaply archive, distribute and restore disk images for various systems. This would have been just another piece in the puzzle. Such systems already exist (and I use them) to archive AppleII and C64 images. >> Still deciding if it's worth it - I'll record your "NO" vote. > >Not to discourage you, but, I'd echo the sentiment above. I'd suggest >that if you do want to produce something, make something that can read >the disk on a flux-transition level, and store that sort of data. >Something nice and generic. That way, you can do all the processing in >software, and handle any format of disk that comes your way. lots of other arguments snipped. Ok - I don't need to get dumped on anymore. Consider the idea dropped... Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

I've posted the latest version of ImageDisk and some 8" images that I have archived with it on my classic collection page: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html Look under "Disks/Software images" near the bottom of the page. Here's the images I've posted today: IMD 130k Compupro CP/M 2.2 for Disk1A IMD 330k Compupro CP/M 86 for Disk1A IMD 305k Cromemco Cromix 11.26 (8") IMD 300k Cromemco CDOS 2.58 (8" amd 5.25") IMD 190k Cromemco CP/M for 16FDC (8") IMD 995k Dy4 Orion-V System Disks IMD 425k IMS TurboDOS 1.31 IMD 48k Nabu 1100 CP/M (8") IMD 425k NEC APC System Disks (Demo & CP/M-86) IMD 265k NEC NS5200 MS-DOS 2.11 IMD 210k TRS-80 Model II TRSDOS & CP/M IMD 68k Xerox 820-II CP/M I'll have a number of the existing TeleDisk 5.25" images redone under ImageDisk posted within the next few days. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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Info needed on a Inex

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Someone contacted me about donating a Inex 4000 6800 microcomputer, vintage 1978 with lots of cool development software for it. Anyone here know anything about it and also a value for it? thanks John

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin at xenosoft.com> > >On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, Allison wrote: >> Dave, your on track. The CHRN vlaues do not have to corrospond >> to actual head or cylinder. They do not even have to be in order >> on the media! The only limits on them are R must be 1 or greater >> (less than 255). > >Which creates some complications with handling 128 byte sectors (R==0). > >> My favorite format was sectors 1- 9 (512 DD) on side one and >> side two was 10-19 with H always set to 0. > >Easily handled by 765, but not by Int13h. > >I have to be careful to differentiate which complications are >due to the FDC chip, which to the FDC board/implementation, >and which are BIOS linitations. > > >Nitpick: don't you mean 0 - 9 on first side? Or did it actually have 9 >sectors on one side and 10 sectors on the other? > >I've seen disks with 10h and 20h in the H field. > >My favorite was 1 in the H field for the first side and 0 in the H >field on the second side. > >And, of course, there are some formats, such as Superbrain, >where the data (sector content) is inverted, >but the headers (CHRN) are not. Hi How about the sector number being bit reversed but the data not ( my Nicolet 1080 ). Actually it is a record numbers, not sector but used in place of sector headers. When I was trying to figure out how to format the disk, this cause me a lot of grief. The only record I could get to work was 0. Dwight Dwight

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro! > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:04:39 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > >>> Tried ImageDisk on some Kaypro disks this morning... >>> Buggers recorded side1 as additional sectors of side0. >>> The different set of sector numbers didn't bother >>> ImageDisk, but it had a bit of a tantrum with the Head >>> ids which didn't match the physical head selection. >> >>Quite common :-( >>765 insists on accurate sector headers; >>WD 179x can ignore the head # field in the sector headers. >>The Kaypro won't even mind reading/writing a disk, >>if you FORMAT it with a 765 using valid sector headers! > >Actually, the 765 handles it fine ... my original software >stored only the physical head indicator per track - now I >can store a map of indicators for each sector, and it >reads/formats/writes Kaypro (and Zorba which does the same >thing) disks without issue. > >You do have to tell the 765 what "head" you are reading in >the ID field, but fortunately you can do this imdependantly >of the physical head select - I determine all the sector >headers in the analysis phase, so I "know" which heads to >request now... Dave, your on track. The CHRN vlaues do not have to corrospond to actual head or cylinder. They do not even have to be in order on the media! The only limits on them are R must be 1 or greater (less than 255). My favorite format was sectors 1- 9 (512 DD) on side one and side two was 10-19 with H always set to 0. Allison

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin at xenosoft.com> > >On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, Dave Dunfield wrote: >> Tried ImageDisk on some Kaypro disks this morning... >> Buggers recorded side1 as additional sectors of side0. >> The different set of sector numbers didn't bother >> ImageDisk, but it had a bit of a tantrum with the Head >> ids which didn't match the physical head selection. > >Quite common :-( >765 insists on accurate sector headers; >WD 179x can ignore the head # field in the sector headers. >The Kaypro won't even mind reading/writing a disk, >if you FORMAT it with a 765 using valid sector headers! > > >> I can imagine that someone somewhere does weird things >> with the Cylinder ids on a track as well ... > >Rare. I've only seen it a few times. > Hi At least for Dave's setup, he could get by with a bypass switch on the head selector. It is always funny what different setups have done. At least there is a potential bypass for this one. I'd guess the fellow that wrote the driver for the Kaypro didn't have a problem so he didn't notice the missing head information in the sector header. He may have thought the controller took care of this somehow. I know when I've fiddled with the disk controller directly, it isn't always clear when and where each register takes effect. There are a few places that it seem that there is redundant information. Dwight

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> Tried ImageDisk on some Kaypro disks this morning... >> Buggers recorded side1 as additional sectors of side0. >> The different set of sector numbers didn't bother >> ImageDisk, but it had a bit of a tantrum with the Head >> ids which didn't match the physical head selection. > >Quite common :-( >765 insists on accurate sector headers; >WD 179x can ignore the head # field in the sector headers. >The Kaypro won't even mind reading/writing a disk, >if you FORMAT it with a 765 using valid sector headers! Actually, the 765 handles it fine ... my original software stored only the physical head indicator per track - now I can store a map of indicators for each sector, and it reads/formats/writes Kaypro (and Zorba which does the same thing) disks without issue. You do have to tell the 765 what "head" you are reading in the ID field, but fortunately you can do this imdependantly of the physical head select - I determine all the sector headers in the analysis phase, so I "know" which heads to request now... Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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Grrr - !%#*^@# Kaypro!

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Tried ImageDisk on some Kaypro disks this morning... Buggers recorded side1 as additional sectors of side0. The different set of sector numbers didn't bother ImageDisk, but it had a bit of a tantrum with the Head ids which didn't match the physical head selection. I can imagine that someone somewhere does weird things with the Cylinder ids on a track as well ... So .. as of a few minutes ago, ImageDisk can handle non- standard Cylinder and Head ids on individual sectors. I added this in a way which is backward compatible with the existing image file format - basically, I used two unused bits at the top of the track Head indicator to indicate the presence of a "sector Cylinder map", and/or a "sector Head map" - these maps will be present when the track contains cylinder/head values which do not match the physical location of the track. I'll post the updated version later today after I have done some further testing. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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VT220 with VT240?

by fireflyst＠earthlink.net

I was wondering: I read on vaxennet.com that you can somehow combine a VT220 and VT240 (see their description of the VT240). This doesn't make any sense to me as I figured you can only use one or the other, and that you plug a monitor/keyboard into the VT240, and a VT220 is not a monitor but a terminal. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks Julian

21 years, 1 month

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RSTS/E and PDP 11/23

by Patrick.McMichael＠Avnet.com

Ashley I want to find the RSTE product Manager from DEC do you know who I can contact? Pat

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: ImageDisk and some 8" images posted > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 23:06:48 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >At 21:13 02/08/2005 -0500, you wrote: >>On 8/2/05, Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> wrote: >>> I've posted the latest version of ImageDisk and some 8" images that >>> I have archived with it on my classic collection page: >>> >>> http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html >>> Dave, Just do it as they say. Even if it's not a 100% solution it's often much more than many have. In engineering there is Good, Fast and Cheap, Pick any two. Now for some opinion: There are a few groups doing archive(s). Those that have working systems and a way to transfer off the system to "something" thereby preserving stuff in case of some failure. Often to enable other user of same to work with it. The other has nothing but media and want access to content. That's more than imaging. Other than that there are those that have ZXY and need a "disk" and want it in ZXY format. Often it's a oneshot(or limited use) deal and BTW it must be cheap. Did I miss any? Likely only a few and they are so unique that a oneoff is the likely solution. Maybe I'm jaded but there are formats that while seemingly worth preserving they have libilities. For example, NS*, works well lots around but media is near extinct and when gone it will be gone for ever. Preseriving NS* media in NS* format has problems, at some point even if you can spit it out to a drive the media to go in it is a whole nother matter. Sort of leaves you with climate controlled space so the media literally doesn't fail solution. In the end I've worked to save software that can be used off media. For example I have NS*dos and like it but when the media dies what use is it as it's unusable with other controllers. Granted I could create a NSdos look alike that runs using soft sector or even sandisk. But what the point? Years ago I standardized on a limited subset of formats and media so I could preserve binaries and sources for use. Why? because back in the late 70s through early 80s the problem was none of the system could exchange anything even if the Cpu, OS and all were identical. I needed that like a hole in the head then and preserving it now strikes as useful but only to a point. In the end there was only one standard I had and still have, a serial line to another system. That was archive that worked for the last 25+ years. I'm sure I'll get flamed to the max but.. I'm not "facility" or "institution" I use the stuff and enjoy it as it's possible. Some of that is doing what I'd have liked to back then when time or money said I could not. Allison

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Development Systems (Was: Kenbak-1 on Ebay)

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> > Speaking of which: are there other people out there who collect >> > development hardware? I don't exactly collect them, but being in the business of creating tools for 8/16-bit devices, I have a BIG pile of assorted evaluation boards, emulation boards, a few ICE's and also a bunch of in-house built development boards. Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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Another disk imaging project

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Out of interest, what's actually changed between the catweasel revisions? I mean, I thought they always buffered stuff at the track level and did all the decoding / encoding work in software? So I'm surprised the hardware isn't pretty simple and able to support pretty much anything without several revisions... -- switch from ISA to PCI, then changing from programmed to downloaded fpga they also got rid of some problems dealing with hard-sectored discs the problem with it is both the skanky hardware distribution and software. the useful stuff was all written by Tim Mann. its target market really is not for data recovery.

21 years, 1 month

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Another disk imaging project

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Patrick Finnegan" <pat at computer-refuge.org> > > >Not to discourage you, but, I'd echo the sentiment above. I'd suggest >that if you do want to produce something, make something that can read >the disk on a flux-transition level, and store that sort of data. >Something nice and generic. That way, you can do all the processing in >software, and handle any format of disk that comes your way. > Hi I've always had in the back of my mind, the thought of building something to capture the raw flux-transitions. I still think the easiest way is to use the SPI port of a DSP, like the 2181 or similar. These processors are quite fast and can post process the raw data into something that can be transferred to the host processor in a more condensed and slower rate. To keep Ethan happy, he could even used one of the old modem cards made by Digicom and Cardinal that have 2115 and 2111 processors on them. A few hardware hacks and it could be a disk data processor. These two modems, called soft modems can have the entire software loaded >from a PC. For those that don't have one of these older boards, a 2181 development board might be the way to go. It makes sense to keep the back disk controls from something simple like the parallel port and just use the DSP for the read/write of data. The advantage of such a system is that the part count is minimal. The 2181 has all of its RAM inside. It can bootstrap >from a 8 bit EPROM or FLASH. One can connect up a simple parallel or serial to a host PC. It can sample really fast. For those that really need it, it can be programmed in "C" ( although the assembly is very clean ). The entire unit can be done in less than 10 IC's. There are distinct advantages to keeping the data processor separate from the host. One doesn't need to be concerned with how to handle other system level interrupts. One can buffer the data for safer transfer rates to the host system's mass storage. One thought, although the CatWeasel used sample rates on the order of 40MHz, adding a simple flopflop to the input significantly reduces the sampling rate needed( as I've stated before ). Dwight

21 years, 1 month

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Another disk imaging project

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Why hasn't somebody done an open catweasel? It's a pretty teeny market (other than the forensics possibilites). I keep wondering why COPY II Plus cards go for so much on eBay. Brad's suggestion of using an ARM with FPGA (or something >from Mesa Engineering) could certainly be done. If you define a protocol, doesn't really matter what it's implemented with (my personal preference would be something with enough horsepower that it could just sit on an ethernet)

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Development Systems (Was: Kenbak-1 on Ebay)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Speaking of which: are there other people out there who collect > development hardware? I do. Development systems: Tek 8002A, 85x0's Some for the HP 64000 (would like to get a simulator for this running some day). Some docs on bitsavers, no software. Millennium 9520 In-circuit emulators: various Applied Microsystems various Huntsville Microsystems various Microtek MICE and various Gould and HP logic analyzers (fav is HP 16500B) And, as usual, the hardware is fairly easy to find and documentation and software nearly impossible. As companies stop using uP's, they toss the development equipment. The iron shows up, but not the sw or manuals.

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Kenbak-1 on Ebay

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Scott Stevens" <chenmel at earthlink.net> > >On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 01:19:52 -0400 >"'Computer Collector Newsletter'" <news at computercollector.com> wrote: > >> Regarding the "first" PC specifically, Doug Salot explains it quite >> well: http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org >> [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of steve >> Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 1:11 AM >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts >> Subject: Re: Kenbak-1 on Ebay >> >> I don't think you can ever claim any computer as the first one without >> some qualifications(computer using relays, tubes, TTL, microprocessor >> etc), I think in the 1950's a relay computer kit called Simon was >> available from Radio Electronics. >> >> For microprocessor based computers the original manufacturer always >> made the first computers based on their processor (so if you assume >> the 4004 was the first microprocessor then Intel Intellec or its >> single board cousin Sim-4 could be considered the first microprocessor >> based computers). >> > >Well, Intel didn't originally really intend the 4004 to be the basis of >a general purpose programmable computer. I suppose their early >development hardware can be considered a 'personal computer' kinda >sorta. > >Speaking of which: are there other people out there who collect >development hardware? I have an assortment of 'development systems' all >the way from the little cheap 'evaluation kit' boards to my MDS system >with 8051 hardware ICE. (I also have the Intel 'bubble memory >development kit' which includes bubble memory on an ISA card, docs and >'sample' drivers to make it a small DOS non-volatile memory, which is >probably one of the more rare Intel 'Development Kits') I grab up >emulators and what-not where I can get them, like I got another 68HC11 >emulator and a 68HC16 at the last IUPUI auction for five bucks each >(complete in-the-box with everything). > Hi I do have a few items but don't specifically go out to find such things. I have a working SIM4-01, a i2920 development board ( analog processor, not bit slice ). MDS800, SDK85, SDK86, Z80 ICE for multibus and a ICE for 6502 ( standalone ). I have several small developement boards such as SYM-1, EZDSP2181 and a 80188 board. I also have several Intel SBC boards for 8080's of different versions. So, yes, there are a number of us that have such things. Dwight

21 years, 1 month

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Another disk imaging project

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> Is there anything the WD chip won't handle versus a raw track approach? Any format not derived from the IBM SD and DD standards. - HP 300 - DEC RX02 - TI FD1000 - INTEL M2FM DD - AED 2500 and 6200 - AED WINC05 5" Eric and I built a sampling reader as you suggested a while back. I would suggest storing deltas between transitions, measured at a much higher rate (from memory, Catweasel can delta at up to 40MHz resolution)

21 years, 1 month

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Another disk imaging project

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Another disk imaging project > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:53:11 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >>Finally, is the WD2793 able to read northstar horizon floppy disks? If not, >>then a WD2793-based solution is not general enough. No, the NS* hard sector format done not use or encode all the marks used by most FDC chips. The upside of NS* is that a simple data seperator and a shift register are all thats needed to read it (look at the board schematics). Most fo the board is centered on getting the data rate down to something an 8080 can handle. Data bit rates for NS* are 125 and 250kb/s so it's very slow relative to what most newer machines can do. Allison

21 years, 1 month

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Analog modem question Help - thanks!

by pbmain＠wideopenwest.com

Thanks everyone for their help with the Analog phone line/modem/pbx/term server/etc question I had! Really helpful!! I've got a few different ways to go about it now. I think I'll keep an eye out for a small analog PBX...again, I'm locked to the analog modems on my target system - it's an older machine and the software isn't adjustable for other modems, nor does it have the capability to add multiple serial ports to go with external modems. Even if I could get multiple serial ports, I'm working with software that lets me chose 1 of two brands of internal modem... Without reworking the code, which i'm in no way a programmer, would quite an undertaking right now.. My first step is tracking down a Term server that would translate the internet telnet requests to trigger a DTR drop, which will in turn trigger the external modem to dial out....OR....incorporating the analog modem into the term server to dial out without needing external modems and cables. This is all through "reverse telnet" from what I gathered? Does anyone have any suggestions of models? The Portmaster 2 or 2e sounded like a possibility... not sure if there were others, or perhaps instead of the external modems there was a cheap modem bank system out there, so I could tie the term server to the modem bank, and the modem bank would have analog lines coming out of it that would go to my PBX? Pete

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Allison, >>Unfortunately it's looking like mixed sector sizes within one track are >>not within the capabilities of the 765 to write - although I could probably >>READ them OK (and with a documented image file format, you would at least >>have access to the data so you could try to find some other way to recreate >>the disks if you had to). > >Dave there is a trick. > >Looks at FCOPY at Gaby's (unoffical CPM archive). Tim and I developed it >for a project and it's not a generic imager. However we found a few things >out and one is that most 765 implmentations will lock up if in the worng >mode (SD or DD) initially. So to do mixed sector you can't write. However >reading is possible if you first try the mode that doesnt lock first then >switch. Thanks for the info - I'll check it out when I make the changes to support mixed density reading ... (which may be a while). >In the end you will be recreating the catsweasel. If you really want to >go to the next level starty with a PC fast enough and skip the whole FDC >chip thing. The next level is a data speperator logic and a shift >register that can be read at the bit rate by the PC and do the needed >pattern regognition (look for sync, address marks and the like), and then >build a literally imaged disk and that can be anaylysed. I've thought about this - I can do 500khz samples on a PC parallel port, and with some simple hardware I could get 8x this - but it seems dodgey, and unless I disable all interrupts (which has it's own set of problems including losing HD access) there would be excessive real-time jitter. I've also thought about dropping in something line a 90Mhz (or faster) ARM - which would give me a much higher sampling speed and better real- time control than a PC ... but this gets tough to build... The 2793 would be easy to build, and should handle most soft-sector disks. The "read track" and "write track" functions of the WD chip allow near raw- access to the track data. But these questions are part of the reason I've not done anything toward a hardware solution so far. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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Dealing with Ensoniq disks

by aek＠bitsavers.org

a quick google search and: http://sustenance.va.com.au/d/mirage/msg.html http://yceran.org/eps/ though it looks like there are lots of stale links for the interesting stuff.

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Reason I ask is that I just had a look under Linux and it's possible (at least with 2.6 kernels - no idea about earlier) to setup the FDC from user-land via the fd floppy device. -- And there is code to do make floppy images with this http://dmklib.brouhaha.com Probably needs to be some code to go between dmk and teledisk, since dmklib is currently read-only.

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: ImageDisk and some 8" images posted > From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 05:14:44 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 8/3/05, Tim Shoppa <shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com> wrote: >> > Any chance you have some RX01 disks to try? They are SSSD [...] >> >> They're just perfectly standard IBM 3740-format SSSD floppies. If >> the PC-clone used has a FDC that does single density, what could >> possibly be a problem? > >Untested software is prone to odd breakage? > >I'm not saying "it will never work"... I was just curious if he had >any RX01s to verify proper functionality. Unfortunately, he does not. > I can't say when I'd have the chance to do my own tests, but 2007 is >looking pretty good. > >-ethan RX01s are so generic they are a standard for 3740. Seriously if it can't read RX01 its more than broke. Now if it reads more unusual formats that are not clearly 3740 then thats different. FYI: I use 765A(base chip on S100), 9266(765A from SMC with internal data sep), and 37C65 (WDpart) and 37c665(in a PC) to read and write RX01 and SSSD CP/M interchange media no problem. In fact I get RX01 floppies by formatting them using that hardware as RX01 can't format blank media. Allison

21 years, 1 month

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ImageDisk and some 8" images posted

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> IIRC, the Ensoniq Mirage had mixed sector sizes. > >Hey... I have one of those - it used to belong to my mother (she was a >professional musician). > >I'd love to have a way to image disks for it. I think I remembered >the disks were wierd, but not how they were wierd. Unfortunately it's looking like mixed sector sizes within one track are not within the capabilities of the 765 to write - although I could probably READ them OK (and with a documented image file format, you would at least have access to the data so you could try to find some other way to recreate the disks if you had to). See my next message. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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