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

by marvin＠rain.org

This makes sense since he also has quite a bit of Lobo Drives stuff including two Lobo HD/8" Floppy units and a dual Lobo 8" floppy unit. One of the floppies had "CP/M" in the description, so it sounds like I need to take care to keep stuff together. And I will certainly keep my open for SVA and other Apple II controllers ... now that I know they exist :). Thanks for the responses! > > Did Apple ever [...] support 8" drives? > (Typically they were used for interchange with CP/M systems, although > I know of a few used to exchange RT-11 and UCSD stuff.) > > The brands I remember are Vista and Lobo. I think Lobo had patches > for 8" drive access via Microsoft Softcard and CP/M. > > Tim.

21 years, 2 months

1
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LF: Epson HX-20 service info

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Tony, >Now, I would start by checking that LCD supply voltage signal. It starts >on the main board where IC 2C (4049) acts as an oscillator and driver to >operate a voltage doubler, You should see about 7V (I think) on the +ve >end of C1 or C6. This then goes up to the keyboard, to a 2 transistor >voltage controller circuit there. Check for an adjustable voltage (set >with the thumbwheel on the side of the machine) at the emitter of Q2 on >the keyboard. This voltage, BTW, is fed back to the mainboard to power >some of the ICs that connect to the LCD driver chips. Thanks for the useful information. I am seeing only about 3.5v on C1/C6 ... and it has about a 1v DC square(ish) wave superimposed on it. I see the same voltage/waveform at the transistors, and on the voltage input to the LCD. The thumbwheel does not affect it a whole lot - it mostly clips the tops of the square wave. Unplugging the LCD module makes little difference, so it's not a loading issue (at least not from the module). I see lots of very healty looking 5v square waves coming out of IC2C, however I am having a great deal of difficulty trying to trace the circuit on the board. Can you give me a bit more of the circuit? Which pins coming out of IC2C are driving the power supply, and what is the circuit between these and C1? 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, 2 months

2
1
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Reading 9-track tapes in Linux

by drb＠msu.edu

> However, if I try to READ a file, and I've tried this with dd and > Eric Smith's tapedump utility and whatnot, it always returns with > 0 files read. It apparently sees the file marks as it will say its > reading file 1, file 2, etc., but it never actually dumps anything. > > I've tried the multiple tapes at multiple densities and they are > tapes I've read before on another system. Any idea what block size was used to write the tapes? Any relevant messages in the kernel log (i.e. output of "dmesg")? Which /dev/device are you using to access the drive? What's the dd command you're using? > WTF??? Sounds like _my_ life. :-) De

21 years, 2 months

4
3
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PI/old IRIX questions

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Got my 4D/25 TG running (Thanks, Robert) with a new 3010 FPU. I have IRIX 5.3, but even in 32MB it's somewhat slow and a bit unstable. Has anyone on the list used 4.0.5 or 3.3? I have talked with someone in the area who has a set of 3.3 tapes, but I don't want to bother him if there are usability issues, and I haven't talked with anyone about 4.0.5. Is there anyone who has used these? All i've seen are screenshots and the fact that 3.3 is SysVr3+NeWS(?) and 4 is SysVr3(+some r4)+X11, and that the IDO is needed for any practical work. I have v5.3 & v6.5 Indigo2s, so I don't need it for 'serious' work, just looking for recommendations & pointers. -Scott Quinn

21 years, 2 months

3
2
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Free: Commodore 8024 printer

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

Available (in the Netherlands), a Commodore 8024 printer with 3 unused ink ribbons. Shipping is possible, but due to weight (+/- 15Kg) local pickup is preferred. Ed

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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TI Modulators & cassette cables available

by gehrich＠tampabay.rr.com

I have a number of these and will make them available to members of this list for for the price shown TI-99/4A Modulator UM1381-1 NEW $6 TI Home Computer 99/4A Cassette Cable NEW $4 Model # PHA 2622 TI Home Computer 99/4A Dual Cassette Cable NEW one w/2 leads other with 3 PHA 2000 $6 plus shipping of course ================================= Gene Ehrich gehrich at tampabay.rr.com

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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Psion 1 manual online

by news＠computercollector.com

A few people asked me for copies of the original Psion Organiser manual. I finally got around to scanning it and posted a copy at http://www.snarc.net/psion1.pdf for open perusal. - Evan ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net Also see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/midatlanticretro/ *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 750 readers and no spam / Publishes every Monday / Write for us! - Mainframes to videogames, hardware and software, we cover it all - W: http://news.computercollector.com E: news at computercollector.com

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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CCS 2422 Floppy Disk Controller

by RCamarda＠aol.com

Hi, I know this was an old posting I saw on the web. I just wondered if you still have the CCS 2422 controller. I have one and am in need of the U22 and U23 IC's or what is programmed into them I am also looking to buy another card in any condition. If you can be of help, I would really appreciate it! Thanks! Rich

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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SASI vs. SCSI

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I've never seen a proper spec or anything (unlike for SCSI) -- Because the standardization process is what created SCSI. Look in the Xebec, Shugart, and DTC manuals on bitsavers. There will be another batch of Shugart 14xx manuals up soon. The big difference is SASI has no notion of deconnect/reconnect. Once a transaction starts on SASI, no other device has bus access.

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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LF: Epson HX-20 service info

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Anyone have service information on the Epson HX-20? Specifically looking for information on the LCD driver. I have an HX-20 in which the LCD has grown very dim ... appears blank from normal viewing angle, but is barely readable at very low angle... Also, anyone on the list with a working HX-20 who would be willing to open it up and take some voltage/waveform readings for me (you will need an oscilloscope)? 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, 2 months

3
2
0 0

Testing PC controller for FM disk capability

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

I'm setting up a YE-data 8" drive (YD-180) to use with a PC. I have a couple of candidates, as far as which computer I use, but I need to make sure that the onboard FDC will read and write FM disks. I'm assuming that if I can write an RX01 image to floppy on the PC and boot it on the PDP-11 (RX02 drive), I'm good to go? Is there a list of FDC chips known to support FM? Doc

21 years, 2 months

4
3
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VT-131 prints?

by drb＠msu.edu

I have a VT-131 suffering from video circuit problems. The logic seems to be ok -- does a self test, led dance, emits a normal beep, and ends with the on-line led lit. The crt filament is glowing. Key click happens when keys are pressed. No screen display. I've turned up brightness in set-up, flying blind. Haven't twiddled the pot yet. So far, I've just taken the lid off, and am looking into the still-assembled chassis. The video board has some very charred-looking spots around the solder pads of one component (cap? spherical white ceramic-like device with two stout leads) down and to the right of the brightness adjustment. The tech manuals from bitsavers and vt100.net don't give me enough info to identify the component in question. Anyone have prints they'd be willing to scan bits of for me? Or read off to me by e-mail? Or have "replace this, kid" or "you're screwed" specific knowledge of this scenario? TIA, De

21 years, 2 months

3
3
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VT-131 prints?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: VT-131 prints? > From: shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com (Tim Shoppa) > Date: Sat, 02 Jul 2005 16:31:04 -0400 > To: cctech at classiccmp.org, cctalk at classiccmp.org > >> buy a bag of 100V caps > >That white-ball with wires is supposed to be a fast-recovery diode. >It gets hot, as you can tell by the charred PC board around it. Replacing >it with something beefier (but it has to be fast-recovery!) never >hurts. Actually it gets hot due to the cap shorting or going leaky. Then the diode and an associated resistor start heating excessively till the cap shorts completely or the heat causes the diode to short. It's a single point failure that was due to a underrated part (cap). I was with TSG (Terminal Systems Group) when they discovered they were getting killed by field failures of 1.7 years in service (average age) VT1xx video modules. All because someone wrote 50V not 100V for the electrolytic used. Allison

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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VT-131 prints?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: VT-131 prints? > From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Sat, 02 Jul 2005 15:25:41 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 7/2/05, Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> wrote: >> Common VT1xx part failure. Seemed they made the video board with a >> 50V cap where a 100V cap should be. Huge numbers of them were made >> and failed but amazingly there are still many in use that havent.. Yet. >> It is repairable as it cooks a cap, diode and resistor. > >That sounds like once someone traces down the problem, it belongs in a >FAQ somewhere. > >I haven't had any failures like that, so I guess I'd like to know >more, especially to buy a bag of 100V caps and preemptively fix some >of my terminals (I have stuff ranging from gen-u-ine VT100s, to >VT102s, a VT103, a VT105, a DECmate I, etc., and I don't recall if I >have a VT125 or VT131 or not. > >-ethan All qualify. It's the board in the monitor (display) that is in question. There is a (memory test) 100mf 50V cap and it's subject to more than that (about 70V). It was fixed in production and who knows how many field repairs by board replacement, I once saw a crate of dead boards 4x4x6ft full, and that was a sample. If the cap is replaced with suitable the failure is unlikely. I have several VT1xx and all have been fixed over 10 years ago. Failing boards display height and linearity problems before they fry. Allison

21 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

VT-131 prints?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: VT-131 prints? > From: Dennis Boone <drb at msu.edu> > Date: Sat, 02 Jul 2005 00:57:43 -0400 > To: cctech at classiccmp.org > >I have a VT-131 suffering from video circuit problems. The logic >seems to be ok -- does a self test, led dance, emits a normal beep, >and ends with the on-line led lit. The crt filament is glowing. >Key click happens when keys are pressed. No screen display. >I've turned up brightness in set-up, flying blind. Haven't twiddled >the pot yet. So far, I've just taken the lid off, and am looking >into the still-assembled chassis. > >The video board has some very charred-looking spots around the solder >pads of one component (cap? spherical white ceramic-like device with >two stout leads) down and to the right of the brightness adjustment. > >The tech manuals from bitsavers and vt100.net don't give me enough >info to identify the component in question. > >Anyone have prints they'd be willing to scan bits of for me? Or read >off to me by e-mail? Or have "replace this, kid" or "you're screwed" >specific knowledge of this scenario? > >TIA, > >De Common VT1xx part failure. Seemed they made the video board with a 50V cap where a 100V cap should be. Huge numbers of them were made and failed but amazingly there are still many in use that havent.. Yet. It is repairable as it cooks a cap, diode and resistor. The Video board is common to most VT1xx. Mine are deeply burried. Allison

21 years, 2 months

3
2
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Netcom HV1148 chassis for DEC?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I found one of these today. Nice chassis, it's obvioulsly made for DEC cards and has 12 Quad width card slots. However I don't know if it's Omnibus or what. Anybody know? Joe

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, I picked up an ELL (RS 28-280) at the outlet store. It was cheap because all of the loose parts were missing. I have the base and the books. The PDF file on the RS web site doesn't list things in enough detail to be able to build a list of missing parts. I'm going through the books and trying to tally the required parts, but it's taking hours and I'm likely to make mistakes. Does anyone have one of these and might they have enough time to make a physical inventory? Even a digital picture of the parts spread out on a tabletop would be really helpful. Thanks, -ethan

21 years, 2 months

3
2
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SASI device <-> PC ?

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Has anyone here successfully interfaced a SASI device to a PC at the hardware level? I've got a few classic systems which use SASI (or not-quite-SCSI) controllers to talk to SASI-ST506 bridge boards and from there to ST506 type drives. As has been documented many times in the past here, an ST506 drive has a pretty tight relationship with its controller, and so hooking up the drive to a different controller (say MFM controller in a PC) causes all sorts of problems when it comes to backup. Hence driving the SASI side of things (and preserving the drive/bridge board relationship) would seem like a sensible move when it came to backing up data. In theory data could then be restored to a replacement drive if/when the original dies via the same method. Presumably inventing a simple SASI board to hang off a PC parallel port (say) is a lot easier than mucking around with the equivalent for floppy drives - or is the data rate still likely too low to cause timeout problems within the bridge board's firmware? I've got several Acorn, Torch and RML machines which use bridge boards and in most cases the tools needed to back up and restore data have long since vanished off the face of the earth (my RML fileserver's a particularly important one as it seems to be the only one left in the world) cheers Jules

21 years, 2 months

12
28
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SSM V1B Manual request

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

At 07:13 02/07/2005 -0400, you wrote: >All: > > Does anyone have a copy of the Solid State Music V1B video board >manual that they'd be willing to make a scan of (or make a copy of so I can >scan it)? Hi Rich, If by chance you are referring to the SSM VB1B video board... I have the manual available on my site. Go to "S100 cards" near the bottom of my main page, then scroll down to the SSM section, and click the "1.4M PDF" link beside the listing for the VB1B. 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, 2 months

1
0
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SSM V1B Manual request

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: Does anyone have a copy of the Solid State Music V1B video board manual that they'd be willing to make a scan of (or make a copy of so I can scan it)? Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Problems using VG PROM/RAM in 8800b

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: I want to get the Turnkey Monitor running on my 8800b. I have a VG PROM/RAM board (which has 1k of RAM and an EPROM programmer) and some 2716 EPROMS. I made an adapter so I can use 2716 chips in the 2708 sockets. So far, so good. I configured the board for $C000, no RAM and all other jumpers per the default for the board with the following exceptions: (1) "Use PRESET or POC for power-on/reset jump" The defaultis for the POC signal to be connected to the reset circuitry on the VG PROM board. The other jumper option is to connect PRESET to the reset circuit on the VG PROM board. This is now set for the PRESET line to be connected to the board's POR circuit. I don't have a schematic so I don't know what this is doing exactly. (2) "Phantom generated if power-on/reset" This disables other memory boards on reset so it can respond to the CPU reset jump to location 0 (making the board an auto-start board). I cut this jumper. (3) "Jump to PROM/RAM board if power-on/reset" This causes the board to respond to the CPU jump to location 0 on RESET. I set this jumper to the equivalent of disable. With this configuration, I can't EXAMINE or DEPOSIT to/from any location. When I remove the board, the Altair responds normally, so it definitely is this board. Does anyone have any experience using this board in an Altair (or other non-Vector) system? What's a working configuration for this? Does anyone have a spare generic ROM board I can buy/trade for? Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

CS/80 disc gceometry

by aek＠bitsavers.org

David Bryan pointed me to page 6-5 of www.hp.com/products1/rte/tech_support/documentation/documentation4/ 92084-90025.pdf which has the following table: model mbytes xfrRat(kbytes) #surf #cyl #secs(256by) # blocks acc time(ms) 7907A 41 600 2/unit 627 64 80,256/unit 44 7908A 16 561 5 370 35 64,750 58 7911A 27 835 3 572 64 109,824 43 7912A 64 835 7 572 64 256,256 43 7914A 132 1000 7 1152 64 516,096 41 7933/35 404 1000 13 1321 92 1,579,916 35 7936 307 1000 7 1396 123 1,202,956 31 7937 571 1000 13 1396 123 2,232,204 31 7941/42 24 625 3 968 32 92,928 48 7945/46 55 625 7 968 32 216,832 48 7957A 81 853 5 1013 63 319,095 42 7957B 81 875 4 1269 63 319,788 28 7958A 130 853 8 1013 63 510,552 42 7958B 152 875 6 1572 63 594,216 28 C2200 335 1840 8 1449 113 1,309,840 27 C2203 670 1840 16 1449 113 2,619,792 27

21 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Old PS/2 Hard Drives

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 6/30/2005 12:22:29 AM Eastern Standard Time, chenmel at earthlink.net writes: This past weekend I picked up an old PS/2 machine. It's a Microchannel system, a Model 65sx (I think). The only thing missing in it is the hard drive. It has one of those 3-1/2" drives with the full-length card-edge connectors on it, I think 50 pins wide or so, that provides all connections including power. I would like to get it up and running just to have around as another working system (also got a Compaq Portable III at the same auction for $10 in a leather case!). Any suggestions where I could find such a drive easily? Is this machine's HD interface an ST-506 variant, EISA, or what? --------- 8565 is a 386DX-25 I think with a SCSI controller instead of ESDI that the model 60 used. Take note of what adaptor cards are installed. This machine is a floppy based reference disk instead of using an IML partition so you will need to build a reference disk with all the adf files on it. If parts are needed, I can help with whatever is needed.

21 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Any IBM POWER/AIX fans out there

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Even if you don't note down the order, it's fairly easy to determine by trial and erorr if yoyu have the right key -- try each pin in the first hole until you find one that's level with the top of the plug (inner cylinder), repeat for all the other holes. -tony Not so easy with the Medeco locks used on RS/6000- they need both the height of the cut and the angle of the cut to match the key. Not sure how many keys IBM used, but there are definitely more than 1. standard key ^-^^__^>, from the top | || | | Medico from the top / | \ \ / Scott Quinn

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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Any IBM Power / AIX fans out there?

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Jeff Davis" <jdaviscl2 at soupwizard.com> > >To pre-answer one question: no, I didn't get any operator keys for the boxes. > Are they difficult / expensive to find? If so, I'll go back on thursday and >dig thru the storage bins I found the machines in and look for a key... > >Jeff > Hi Take the lock to a locksmith. You might be surprised. I've not seen the one used on your unit but the local fellow here does them for $15 first key. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

14
29
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14" harddrive and it's controller

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi folks, I have made some photos of my Ampex drive and the Emulex SC02/c. They can be found here: http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/pdp11/ I urgently need help. Nothing works well at the moment. And I don't get the hardware format routine of the controller to work. Who has experience? Who has documentation? Original Emulex software? If I don't find anything I will have to scrap disk and controller - because I am very tight in space and won't store big and heavy things if they are not working... Best regards, Philipp :-)

21 years, 2 months

4
4
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Picked up some core memory today!

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I found a couple of MJ11-BY chassis. Can someone tell me what I have here? -- 11/70 core memory boxes

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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Picked up some core memory today!

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I went back to Melbourne today and looked through two pallets that have been packed up for a LONG time. On one of them I found a couple of MJ11-BY chassis. Both chassis were crammed full of core memory!! The core is a set of three cards cabled together; a G236, a G116 and a H224C. I've searched the net for information about these and one site says that it's for the PDP-8!! (I WISH!) But I don't think so. None of the cards are listed in Megans DEC Field Guide. Can someone tell me what I have here? Joe

21 years, 2 months

2
1
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Anyone want any LaserJet II/III parts?

by philpem＠dsl.pipex.com

Hi folks, I've got a pair of Laserjet IIIs here I'm parting out - anyone want any bits? Not sure what works and what doesn't yet - I'm fairly sure that the laser assembly, fiber cable and most of the mechanics are in working order, but I need to power up and test them. Basically, tell me what part you want - bonus points if you can tell me whereabouts in the machine it fits (or which page of the Service Manual it's covered in). Yours for cost of postage, plus a few quid to cover my time. Whatever doesn't sell gets put on ebay, and whatever doesn't sell gets thrown in a skip with the next batch of electrical crap I dispose of. It's probably worth pointing out that the formatter board (and most of the other bits) will IIRC also work in a Laserjet II and most other Canon SX-engine printers. The advantage being that the LJ3 formatter will enable RET (resolution enhancement) on an LJ2. There's a big list of SX-engine machines on fixyourownprinter.com - can't remember the exact URL off hand though. Later. -- Phil. | Acorn Risc PC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB, 6GB, philpem at philpem.me.uk | ViewFinder, 10BaseT Ethernet, 2-slice, http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | 48xCD, ARCINv6c IDE, SCSI

21 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Apple _1_ on ebay???

by cb＠mythtech.net

>My take is that the seller knows full well what it is, and is hoping >people will think it is an Apple 1 (and judging by the questions at >the bottom, they do). People will then drive up the price to some >outrageous level. When they get it and realize it's just a //e that >someone threw in a wooden case (or maybe not even anything in the >Apple line), they'll get mad, but there's nothing they can do because >he described it accurately ..... I was just writing up the exact same comment. You just type faster then me. If the guy is selling computers on ebay, he knows enough to do some googling on the items. An Apple 1 would be pretty obvious if he spent just a few minutes looking for info about the stuff in the box. Also, he mentions he looked in the box, but then didn't post pictures. He plays it up as "I just don't know what this is", and still doesn't post internal pictures. About the only reason I see for that is he knows it isn't an Apple 1, and like you said, is hoping people will bid it way up thinking they are getting a steal. Which depending on what is in that box, has already happened. $300 for an Apple IIe, even with drives and monitor is pretty high. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 2 months

1
0
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Apple _1_ on ebay???

by nerdware＠ctgonline.org

If you read his answers, he's being very evasive as well. All it would take is to open the thing up and see if the mobo says "Apple Computer" on it. Unless the case is completely glued together, this is a 4-minute task. He's deliberately sidestepping the issue, probably because, as you suspect, he knows it's really nothing special. If he would verify that it's an Apple I, then there's no way he'd sell it as cheap as it's going. However, if it's just a ][e, monitor, and some homebrew breadboard thing, then his evasiveness is driving the price right up to "stupid". paul ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS: >I have not have to time to look at ebay recently. I just did and >saw this: > >http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80286&item=5213140640 >&rd=1 > >Somebody has put an Apple 1 up, it has been there for five days and >nobody has mentioned it here??? There's no guarantee it's an Apple 1. The seller says only he can see "wires and cards" inside. Perhaps it is an Apple ][ in a wooden case? Nobody knows, and without pictures, nobody will know. My take is that the seller knows full well what it is, and is hoping people will think it is an Apple 1 (and judging by the questions at the bottom, they do). People will then drive up the price to some outrageous level. When they get it and realize it's just a //e that someone threw in a wooden case (or maybe not even anything in the Apple line), they'll get mad, but there's nothing they can do because he described it accurately ..... Cynical, yes, but most likely true :-) Rich B.

21 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Is this a PDP-8 card?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I found a quad width card marked CESI VM816. It appears to be a memory card and has four rows of twelve IC sockets. The first row has 7 TMS4044-20NL ICs (4k x 1 SRAMs) in it and the second row is fully populated with the same ICs. The other rows are empty. There is an 8 position DIP switch as the end of each row of sockets. Does anyone any docs for this card or know anything about it? Joe

21 years, 2 months

2
2
0 0

SASI device <-> PC ?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: SASI device <-> PC ? > From: Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> > Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:45:19 +0000 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >On Thu, 2005-06-30 at 12:14 -0700, Lyle Bickley wrote: >> It's been a while since I used the controller, but IIRC it was an old ISA >> controller card like a WD7000 or Seagate ST-01/ST-02. Any early SCSI-1 >> controller should do - that was before SCSI became "smart" - and the >> messaging between the controller and the device (HDD) was minimal. A SASI >> device on such a controller will respond "well enough" to "look like" SCSI-1. >> >> As I said before - DO NOT mix a SASI device with a SCSI device on the same >> controller - or strange things can happen (don't ask). > >Yep - far as I remember, SASI's single target only, so I expect if you >have a SASI target on the same bus as a SCSI target all sorts of things >would happen! :-) > >Most classic SASI controllers seem to be little more than a handful of >buffer and latch ICs though (only about 6 chips total) - hence I was >wondering if someone had chucked together something to hang off a PC >parallel port (and just drive it all in software). Not especially >complex - my worry would be that the SASI target would timeout on >certain ops if the PC parallel port isn't quick enough though. > >cheers > >Jules The deal is that SASI is almost SCSI.. the differences are very small at the hardware level (interface). However the protocal and instruction set of the SASI bridge controllers is different from SCSI. That difference in instructions and protocal does not allow for mixing the two nor simple substitution of one for the other. SCSI was not standardized till the late 80s so there are a number of SASI/SCSI devices that predate the widespread acceptance of SCSI. There are a few systems that have a SCSI interface that were SASI or SCSI subset (DEC uVAX2000 for one). I've also done the reverse, used SCSI on older SASI machine but, it required a new bios to even talk to the SCSI disk. The later was due to the SCSI vs SASI bridge board (Xybec) instruction/protocal differences. Allison

21 years, 2 months

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DEC M971??

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Anybody know what this is? It's a single width card with four resistors and a cable mounted on it. Joe

21 years, 2 months

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DEC M912?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Anybody know what this card is for? It's marked I/O Bus Conn Card. It's a double width card and has four rows of solder points and no handles> It's NIB. Joe

21 years, 2 months

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Someone with an RML380Z....

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

If you have the original 40 column board, can you take a look inside and see if the 5th IC in from the right on the top row of chips (first one in after the DRAM) is a 74LS158? All the schematics show this as being a 74LS157 but it's got an LS158 on my board (which IIRC inverts the outputs). If the schematics are wrong I'll scribble a note on the copies that I have! (I'm trying to trace a fault on my board which is resulting in corrupted screen memory, and having the schematics disagree with the actual board is annoying! :-) cheers Jules

21 years, 2 months

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differential analyzer in EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

by tomj＠wps.com

About 1 hr in, a "computer" is used to analyze flying saucer messages. It's a Bush-style (no not our dimwit president, the MIT guy) diff analyzer! Operating! With plotter! TiVo'd it. 1956 Harryhausen movie. Haven't seen it since I was 12!

21 years, 2 months

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Dilog boards...

by cheri-post＠web.de

Lyle, I tried to reach someone at dilog.ch (the european branch office) to obtain a manual for the Dilog DQ3256 controller ( a very good SMD-E Controller), but unfortunately, nobody answered. I just gave it e try, as I heard, that they still sell and even produce some qbus and unibus boards. Maybe, I should write to dilog.com instead of dilog.ch? Regards, Pierre > I was recently scanning the web for a Dilog SCSI board and stumbled across a > "DLI Dilog" web site: http://www.dilog.com/unibus.html > > I called and chatted with Jon Klotz - who turned out to be a founder and > partner of the original Dilog back in 1978. Amazingly, DLI Dilog still > manufactures DILOG boards (mostly SCSI - but some serial) primarily for > government accounts. > > As one might expect, the price of new boards is prohibitive for most of us as > collectors ($2,500 or so for a SCSI Unibus or QBus board). They don't stock > boards - they manufacture them from scratch when they get an order!!! They > are capable of manufacturing a brand new board for every product that Dilog > ever produced! > > Jon was great to chat with and knows a lot of interesting DEC history! > > I was just sorry he didn't have a stack of used boards he wanted to part > with ;-) > > Cheers, > Lyle > -- > Lyle Bickley > Bickley Consulting West Inc. > Mountain View, CA > http://bickleywest.com > > "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero" _________________________________________________________________________ Mit der Gruppen-SMS von WEB.DE FreeMail k?nnen Sie eine SMS an alle Freunde gleichzeitig schicken: http://freemail.web.de/features/?mc=021179

21 years, 2 months

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DEC CAB kits

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I'm starting to sort all the DEC stuff that I've been picking up the last few weeks and I've got a big pile of the CAB kits sorted out. I know that several list members wanted some of them so I've decided to to offer them to list members for $8 each plus shipping. Shipping should be $3.85 in the US. Buy as many as you want for one shipping price. If you're interested contact me directly for details. I'll pick out the best ones to send out. They should all have both cables, all the knobs, etc and appear to be in good condition. The batteries are old and probably dead but don't show any signs of leakage. If you don't need cables, let me know and I'll save the ones that do for those that need them. <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/PDP-8%20cards/cab-kit.jpg> I picked up some of the decorative plastic panels for the DEC computers yesterday and I plan on listing them on E-bay later today. <http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsofocusZbsQQsacatZ-1QQcatrefZC5QQfbdZ1QQampQ3Bs spagenameZhQ3AhQ3AadvsearchQ3AUSQQcatrefZC5QQfromZR6QQfsclZ1QQpfidZ0QQfswcZ1 QQsaslopZ1QQsaslZrigdonj>. I'll also be listing some of the other non PDP-8 DEC items on E-bay as I have time. Joe

21 years, 2 months

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Old PS/2 Hard Drives

by chenmel＠earthlink.net

This past weekend I picked up an old PS/2 machine. It's a Microchannel system, a Model 65sx (I think). The only thing missing in it is the hard drive. It has one of those 3-1/2" drives with the full-length card-edge connectors on it, I think 50 pins wide or so, that provides all connections including power. I would like to get it up and running just to have around as another working system (also got a Compaq Portable III at the same auction for $10 in a leather case!). Any suggestions where I could find such a drive easily? Is this machine's HD interface an ST-506 variant, EISA, or what? Thanks. (also got six complete, loaded Ultra 5 boxes at the sale. Exciting times...)

21 years, 2 months

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Computers In Movies

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Our very own Chris Garcia has an interesting article on movie computers at: http://efanzines.com/DrinkTank/DrinkTank29.pdf For those who don't know what fanzines are, I will leave that up to Chris to explain in some future issue. Billy

21 years, 2 months

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RML380Z ROM images

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk > >> The mirrors most likely don't do much more than any other >> surface. At the wave length used to erase EPROMS, about >> the only thing that will transmit the light is quartz. >> ordinary glass used for mirrors only allows a tiny >> fraction to pass through. > >What about front-slivered mirrors? > >-tony > > Hi Tony I don't know specifically about silver ( one of the better reflectors ) but the more common reflector, aluminum, is down in the few percentiles at these wavelengths. Silver doesn't hold up well in the current atmosphere because of sulfur in the atmosphere, both man activities and natural sources. There are what are called dielectric reflectors that can get into the high 90%'s but these are for relatively narrow band widths. For all practical purposes, the higher frequency UV just doesn't reflect worth beans. I put aluminum in my EPROM eraser, more to protect the plastic from UV damage than to reflect much light. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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RML380Z ROM images

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Scott Stevens" <chenmel at earthlink.net> ---snip--- > >I have a germicidal cabinet for erasing EPROMs. In it's original life, >it was a goggle cabinet for a high school metal shop. Big racks in it >for a whole classroom full of goggles, and lined inside with mirrors. >And an interlock, of course. > >I never really need to erase the quantity of EPROMs it is capable of. Hi The mirrors most likely don't do much more than any other surface. At the wave length used to erase EPROMS, about the only thing that will transmit the light is quartz. ordinary glass used for mirrors only allows a tiny fraction to pass through. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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Dilog boards...

by lbickley＠bickleywest.com

I was recently scanning the web for a Dilog SCSI board and stumbled across a "DLI Dilog" web site: http://www.dilog.com/unibus.html I called and chatted with Jon Klotz - who turned out to be a founder and partner of the original Dilog back in 1978. Amazingly, DLI Dilog still manufactures DILOG boards (mostly SCSI - but some serial) primarily for government accounts. As one might expect, the price of new boards is prohibitive for most of us as collectors ($2,500 or so for a SCSI Unibus or QBus board). They don't stock boards - they manufacture them from scratch when they get an order!!! They are capable of manufacturing a brand new board for every product that Dilog ever produced! Jon was great to chat with and knows a lot of interesting DEC history! I was just sorry he didn't have a stack of used boards he wanted to part with ;-) Cheers, Lyle -- Lyle Bickley Bickley Consulting West Inc. Mountain View, CA http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA

All this talk of 2708s and how to program them makes me wonder.... I've got some PROMs of various sorts (mostly UV-erase, but a few 28xxx EEPROMS). I'd like to throw together a burner. But to this end, I find I care about things such as differences between one maker's 27512 and another's. Is the sort of trouble described for the 2708 something that was worked out of PROMs early in their existence, and for later devices I can use pretty much any manufacturer's data sheet, or do I have to make sure I use a reference that corresponds to the exact maker and chip I'm trying to write? If the former, what counts as "later"? /~\ The ASCII der Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

21 years, 2 months

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Odd Sun thing

by aw288＠osfn.org

In the whatinthehellisthat department: I have a small daughterboard, pulled from an very early Sun SPARC machine (perhaps the first generation Sun-4 architecture). The floating point chip was replaced by this daughterboard. On the daughterboard is the PACT8847 chip (the normal floating point unit), plus a larger chip called 100-1845-1 SUN-GNUFPC. The daughterboard seems to be called GNUFPC COBRA, and seems like real Sun hardware. Ideas? William Donzelli aw288 at osfn.org

21 years, 2 months

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Fwd: Old CPM computers FREE to good home (fwd)

by vcf＠siconic.com

I'm just the messenger. See below. Reply-to: buyer2 at comcast.net I have a Molecular. It's large on the scale of a Microvax or VAX 11/725. >Reply-To: "Buyer2" <buyer2 at comcast.net> >From: "Buyer2" <buyer2 at comcast.net> >To: <clascomp at sinasohn.com> >Subject: Old CPM computers FREE to good home >Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:10:36 -0400 > > >I have two computers that need a home > >An ALTOS 8000-12A rack mount, ( 6 Rack Units high), small business computer > >and a MOLECULAR Multi-User, small file cabinet size, medium business computer >(Molecular has a huge 20 meg harddrive)(S-100 bus) > >Both run modified versions of CPM (multi-user with common Z-80 processor >for harddrive, floppies, and printer and a dedicated Z-80 for each user >terminal) User terminals connect with RS-232 > >Lots of software on 8" floppies and data tapes > >A wide carriage DATASOUTH tractor feed 9 pin printer > >Two Televideo RS-232 CRT Terminals for above > >Many books and manuals - Multiplan, DBII, compilers, WordStar etc > >All were working when shut down ten years ago - now in garage > >Whole shebang with books etc probably weights 300 lbs. > >I used these machines until forced to start doing my work in WordPerfect >(and now Word) - how many word processors does the world need anyway - I >hat4e Word > >Do you want them? > >Any idea how to get them to you? > >I live in Edgewater near Annapolis MD > >Thanks >Turq > >410 798-1936 -- 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, 2 months

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PDP 11 floppy disk question.

by jim＠g1jbg.co.uk

A simple question, I hope! Can I use a normal 51/4" dsdd floppy drive with an RQDX3, in place of the twin drive RX50 unit? If so, do I need a special cable? Thanks Jim. Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK

21 years, 2 months

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Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab?

by KParker＠workcover.com

Its where I found the link to the parts list (for want of a better word) - thought it might be useful Ethan. ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks Sent: Wednesday, 29 June 2005 3:37 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab? On 6/29/05, Parker, Kevin <KParker at workcover.com> wrote: > More info here too Ethan > > http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1&catalog_name=CTL > G& category_name=CTLG_006_006_004_000&product_id=28-280 How is this more info? Thanks, -ethan ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 2 months

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Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab?

by KParker＠workcover.com

More info here too Ethan http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1&catalog_name=CTLG& category_name=CTLG_006_006_004_000&product_id=28-280 ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks Sent: Wednesday, 29 June 2005 2:31 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab? Hi, I picked up an ELL (RS 28-280) at the outlet store. It was cheap because all of the loose parts were missing. I have the base and the books. The PDF file on the RS web site doesn't list things in enough detail to be able to build a list of missing parts. I'm going through the books and trying to tally the required parts, but it's taking hours and I'm likely to make mistakes. Does anyone have one of these and might they have enough time to make a physical inventory? Even a digital picture of the parts spread out on a tabletop would be really helpful. Thanks, -ethan ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 2 months

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Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab?

by KParker＠workcover.com

Is this what you are looking for http://support.radioshack.com/support_games/doc60/60351.htm ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks Sent: Wednesday, 29 June 2005 2:31 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Does anyone have a Radio Shack Electronics Learning Lab? Hi, I picked up an ELL (RS 28-280) at the outlet store. It was cheap because all of the loose parts were missing. I have the base and the books. The PDF file on the RS web site doesn't list things in enough detail to be able to build a list of missing parts. I'm going through the books and trying to tally the required parts, but it's taking hours and I'm likely to make mistakes. Does anyone have one of these and might they have enough time to make a physical inventory? Even a digital picture of the parts spread out on a tabletop would be really helpful. Thanks, -ethan ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 2 months

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Xilinx Fans

by aw288＠osfn.org

I know there are a few on the list. I have a card set (mystery custom job) that contains a bunch of FPGAs. Rather than pluck out the Xilinxs and offer them, I am just going to offer the whole shootin match and let YOU pluck the Xilinxs out. (1) 2018-70PC84C (2) 2018-100PC84C (2) 3030-100PC68C (1) 3030-100PC84C (7) 3042-100PC84C All socketted! Unknown condition. The boards also have lots of other oddball parts (soldered in mostly). I will pluck out the three i960 microprocessors, unless someone needs them, as well. Offers plus shipping? Contact me off list. William Donzelli aw288 at osfn.org

21 years, 2 months

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RML380Z ROM images

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> ps. are 2716's known for failure in this way? Yes, especially if they've been flash photographed. (Ididot photographer killed three of eight EPROMs on a control system card after being told not to use the flash in the equipment room.) Some EPROMS that fail can be reprogrammed, some fail permanently often in blocks. If it was a school machine, or anywhere where it was mostly on, then problems will begin to show after 10 years or so. 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, 2 months

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PDP 11 floppy disk question.

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: PDP 11 floppy disk question. > From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 17:00:20 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 6/28/05, Jim Beacon <jim at g1jbg.co.uk> wrote: >> A simple question, I hope! >> >> Can I use a normal 51/4" dsdd floppy drive with an RQDX3, in place of the >> twin drive RX50 unit? If so, do I need a special cable? > >The Teac FD55-GFR was commonly used on PCs and, when the jumpers are >strapped the way DEC did, _is_ an RX33. There are some variations on >how some of the signals are presented (pins 2 and 34, IIRC) and how >motor start and select interact, so you _do_ have to check jumpers. >Once you have a prepared FD55-GFR, it will go on the end of an RQDX3 >just fine. I know VMS has no problem with it, but I can't comment on >Unix or PDP-11 use. > >If I had a pointer to the configuration, I'd post it, but I know such >things are hanging around on the 'net and in list-members directories. > >-ethan The TEAC FD55GFR is the official RX33 (IE: dec bought and used the teac) and works fine with RQDX3 with the distribution pannel (ba23 or from BA123). I have a vax and a 11/73 using that combo. Allison

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: OK, I'm ready to burn a modified copy of the Altair Turnkey Monitor into a 2708 to use in my 8800b as a test program. Lo and behold, my programmer won't do a 2708 -- it'll only go down to 2716. Naturally I don't have any 2716s around and the VG ROM board accepts only the 2704 or 2708 (without modification). So I browsed around eBay and elsewhere to see if any other programmers support the 2708 and it seems that none do. They all start at the 2716. What programmer can I look for that has the ability to program a 2708? Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 2 months

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My classiccmp non-retirement :-)

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Jerome Fine wrote: Almost everyone seems to expect that neither a CD-R nor a DVD-R (i.e. the backup media we make for ourselves in single digit numbers) will last less than 20 years and probably less than 10 years. I can't think of any media that might be more reliable. Count me as one does expect CD media, R or stamped, to last longer than 20 years. There will be outlying quality problems from many vendors and for a variety of reasons. But the basic technology yields media that should be good for multiples of 20 years. I've been in the labs in Eindhoven where they can still read some of the original CD prototypes from the mid-70's. As to your second point, about more reliable media: My CDC 160-A still reads some paper tapes that I made in 1963. And I have no trouble playing some of my grandfather's old 78's from the early '30's. A friend in Atlanta has been copying over old wire recordings from the 30-40s time frame. And of course, movies go back into the teens. The point is it is not the media that is always the problem. Sometimes the application sucks. Sometimes the industry use sucks. Everyone has horror stories. Let me add another. Most of the weather data collected from the early satellites has been lost by simple carelessness in storing. Data that would help immensely in building weather models was slowly and very expensively gathered for decades. Then stored in such lousy environments that many of the tapes exist only in a powder form. Decades of data useless because of mickey mouse budget cuts. Millions to gather the data, but pennies to store it. Sellam had the only answer I know: Constantly update your data to the latest media. You normally gain performance, smaller physical size, and greater reliability. And it is faster each iteration. Of course it is expensive and time consuming. But think about the path that many on this list have already taken: paper tape to cards to magnetic tape to hard disks (several generations) to CDs to DVDs to Blu Ray? All of my 160-A software would easily fit on a digital camera memory stick. Billy

21 years, 2 months

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My classiccmp non-retirement :-)

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

> Has anyone built a floppy drive from scratch? Without salvaging > any mechanical parts or heads from an existing floppy? I'm > assuming that electronic processing is not a problem (in > principle) for either floppy disks or CDROMs/DVDROMs. Yes, in the early days at of floppies, CDC reversed engineered by using "brassboards" and hand made heads on a lead screw. Primitive but very stable and we were able to read and write. Whole assembly weighed about 100 pounds so it wasn't anything you could sell. But it did the job. And was pretty easy to build using off the shelf components. Floppy media being contact recording saves most of the grief you get when trying to recover hard drive data. Tony Duell wrote: Another possibiliy is to assume that some (non-working) drives are still around, how hard would it be to get them working again. For both the CD-ROM and the floppy, I think all parts other than the head/laser pickup could be made in a good home workshop (Note, I am not claiming _I_ could do it, at least not yet). Now the winding on a floppy drive head could corrode and go open-circuit (this is a problem on some types of recording head, I am told it was due to acid from the fingers of the people who handled the wire when they were being wound). But I would think the semiconductor laser and photodiodes in a CD pickup was much more likely to fail with time. GIven the head, I think the electronics would be doable. The floppy drive would probably be easier, if only because all floppy heads used much the same read chain, so if you could find data on any floppy drive you could probably make something that would work. And if you get it wrong, you are not likely to damage the head. Whereas the CD pickup is a more complicated device to drive, if you get the laser current wrong it'll either not work (current too low) or not work ever again (current too high). And every manufacturer did his own thing, so you are not likely to be able to find a published circuit that will work. -tony Another possibility to consider is that technology might offer new tools. Some of the magnetic field imaging tools we use in the hard drive industry could easily give a visual image of every bit on a floppy. (Those old bits are so big that we could write several sectors into them now.) It would be extremely tedious to go from an image to data, but it is possible. One of the big problems would be understanding and translating all the different formats. The early 8 inch single sided drives used a variety of recording formats: FM, MFM, missing clock, etc. On this new technology to recover old - has anyone on this list been following the work being done on recovering sound from very old wax recordings using a laser? I saw a fascinating description of it in one of the IEEE pubs. They used the laser to track the path a needle would have to travel. Then converted the laser position to an analog signal to audio. Then a little DSP work to eliminate the clicks, hiss, etc. The original wax recordings were too delicate or damaged to use conventional means. The results were outstanding - one of the recordings was put up on the net for a while. I understand they are also using this laser technique to recover some of the sound tracks on the early talkies. I've also read recently about recovering very faded movie film by using short wave length laser scans, then digitise the results, and restore the original grey scale by converting the relative amplitudes. I haven't seen any of the results of this yet. Has anyone on the list seen these restorations? Billy

21 years, 2 months

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Wnag paper tape format?

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Any of the CDC machines that were multiples of 6 bits also used tapes like this. The 8th bit was start of a file or page of memory. The 7th bit indicated the start of the word - 12, 18, 24, 36 or 60 bits. Billy

21 years, 2 months

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Computers In Movies

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Our very own Chris Garcia has an interesting article on movie computers at: http://efanzines.com/DrinkTank/DrinkTank29.pdf For those who don't know what fanzines are, I will leave that up to Chris to explain in some future issue. Billy

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Randy McLaughlin" <cctalk at randy482.com> > ---snip--- >Intel changed the specifications of the 2708 a couple of times, later docs >state it does not require programming from address 0. > >I have changed individual bits (only from a high to low, to go from low to >high the entire chip must be erased). > >The later docs still state sequential writing but no longer require starting >at 0 but I have written non sequentially and can swear by that. I wrote a >program that verified before writing to speed up programming, this skipped >many bytes and I used it to modify previously written EPROM's. The buffer >in RAM was sequentially read but the writing was NOT sequential it would >skip bytes when a write was not needed. > >Any byte can have high bits changed to low even if they were previously >programmed. > Hi Randy I recall the primary reason they wanted one to go through the entire cycle was that it gave the particular spot that was programmed a chance to cool down. I'm not sure if this was actually a real problem or just a suspected problem. I may have been an electrical issue with space charge as well. Technically, you could skip locations that didn't need programming but you should insert a delay equal to the normal total time before programming the same location again. Anyway, that is what I remember. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by Richard.Cini＠wachovia.com

Dwight: Actually what I'm going to do is build a few adapters for different 24-pin densities such as the 2716, 2732 and the 2532. I have a few tubes of 2532s so I'm going to try those by mounting a socket on a DIP header and making the wiring changes between the two layers. Rich -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Dwight K. Elvey Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 2:25 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Programming 2708's Hi Richard I have both a Byte Saver and a data I/O. If you'll send me the EPROMs and the data, I can program them for you. As was mentioned, It wouldn't take much to make an adapter out of two machine pin sockets that could take 2716's to use in place of a 2708. Most of the pins are the same. Just make sure to pull the pins that provide the extra nasty voltages. Dwight >From: "Richard A. Cini" <rcini at optonline.net> > >All: > > OK, I'm ready to burn a modified copy of the Altair Turnkey Monitor >into a 2708 to use in my 8800b as a test program. Lo and behold, my >programmer won't do a 2708 -- it'll only go down to 2716. Naturally I don't >have any 2716s around and the VG ROM board accepts only the 2704 or 2708 >(without modification). > > So I browsed around eBay and elsewhere to see if any other >programmers support the 2708 and it seems that none do. They all start at >the 2716. > > What programmer can I look for that has the ability to program a >2708? > > Thanks. > >Rich > >Rich Cini >Collector of classic computers >Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project >Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ >/************************************************************/ > >

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

>> What programmer can I look for that has the ability to program a >> 2708? I have a Softy 2 that can do it if you're really stuck. > Not just that, the programming algorithm is different to most > other EPROMs. IIRC you have to program all locations in sequence, > giving each one a 1ms (IIRC) programming pulse, and repeat that > 50 times. Any bit in any byte can be individually programmed from 1 to 0. There are no sequence requirements, the programming pulse is one pulse of 50ms per location programmed. > You can't program odd locations like you can in later EPROMs. You can, it's EPROM microcontrollers like the 68705 that need to be programmed in sequence. 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, 2 months

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National Semiconductor MM5740AAE/N

by vcf＠siconic.com

I could still use a couple more NS MM5740AAE/N keyboard encoders. These are in a 40-pin dip package. They can probably be found in old 1970s keyboards. I'd be interested in buying either just the chip or the whole keyboard if you happen to find one surplus in your parts bin. If you've got one, please contact me for sale/trade info. Thanks! -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

21 years, 2 months

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Classiccmp cartoon sighting

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

'Computer Collector Newsletter' wrote: > I wouldn't expect that New Yorker readers know what Fortran is. > Surprised they didn't just make it Windows. Well, clearly John Allain was reading the New Yorker -- after all, he saw the cartoon. I'm also a reader. I'm pretty sure both John and I know what Fortran is. Any particular reason for your comment, or do you simply insult large groups of people without thinking about it? Glen 0/0

21 years, 2 months

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DSD controller card

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Hello, I need a DSD interface card to fit the PDP-8. AFIK it should look like this <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5177260665>. I have several other DSD cards including quad width and double width cards for the PDP-11 and LSI-11 and I will swap any of them for the PDP-8 card and I will toss in an original DSD 440 manual and DSD binder. Joe

21 years, 2 months

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SVD Update

by eric＠rothfus.com

I've been promising it forever, and I've finally posted the SVD source code up at www.theSVD.com. If I'm not mistaken, you could now (theoretically) create your own SVD from scratch based upon the web site. And for you SVD users out there that I missed with my bulk e-mail, the latest version of the software v2.2 is posted, too. BTW, contact me if you want to get ahold of the latest firmware v2.3. Regarding the source code, there are three different pieces: - GUI - the gui is programmed in TCL/TK so the tcl source is up there. The SVD CP distribution is actually a windows/linux executable that is wrapped up with a licensed distribution package, so that isn't included. But the code should run as is. - Firmware - the v2.3 firmware is posted, and includes a complete MicroChip PIC implementation of the SVD. Let me know if you have problems compiling. I'm the only one who has compiled it to date. The firmware implements the "virtual drive" functionality including generating the floppy data signals. - PC Apps - the GUI makes use of 2 PC-based applications to get the tough work done. The source for these tools are posted too. There are some neat things there, including implementations of file systems for the TRS-80, Heathkit, and Apple. Again, I'm the only one who has compiled this code, so let me know if you have problems. DISCLAIMER - You use the software posted at www.theSVD.com at your own risk. Do with it as you will. Change it. Distribute it. Create derivative works of it. Make money off of it (yeah right). Whatever. Please, however, don't b*tch about bugs. By all means report them, though, and I'll fix them. And PLEASE, don't b*tch about my programming. I'm just happy/shocked that it all works. Fortunately, I don't rely on my programming skills these days. :-) Eric

21 years, 2 months

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RML380Z ROM images

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Does anyone happen to have ROM dumps of from the RML 380Z CPU board? All three 2716's on the board in front of me seem to have gone blank. (I've verified that the 2716 chargen ROM from the video board reads OK, so it's not my programmer failing to read properly!) The three ROMs in question are labelled "4.0B" (M0, M1 and M2). My 380Z fileserver won't have the same ROMs in it, and my own 380Z 'desktop' only has a pair of ROMs in it labelled "3.4E". ps. are 2716's known for failure in this way? cheers Jules

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> the Intel data book makes it very clear you do have to program > all locations. > The unchanged ones have to be reprogrammed with their existing > contents, you can't skip over them. Not true on both counts, you only need to go through the program cycle for bytes that need to be programmed and if you want to leave a byte unchanged but still go through the program cycle then you set the data to $FF as bits can't be programmed high. What the data sheets say often did differ from the practice, even on official programmers. I used to use 2708s in CB to 11m conversions and got away without the -5v supply by using a lamp to illuminate the chip and generate the -ve bias photoelectrically, this only worked with one brand of EPROM though. Lee. . ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote: > >>>>> "Guy" == Guy Sotomayor <ggs at shiresoft.com> writes: > > >> So tell me, what are the really cool methods to transfer data > >> between a PC and a real PDP11 at a reasonable speed? SCSI > >> controller and SCSI disk? Something else? Ethernet? > >> > >> Or is a backup over serial line a normal thing...? > > Guy> I found that the best way to backup/restore is to use tape. I > Guy> have a TU80 on the PDP and a SCSI 9-track on the PC. Works > Guy> great and is much faster than the serial line. > > Ethernet is another good way; DECnet is available on Linux. Unfortunately, the DECnet for Linux sucks so bad it isn't usable. Well, it is kindof usable if you want to talk with a VMS machine, but it don't work against RSX. I've tried it... :-( Appearantly the DECnet/Linux guys only have had VMS machines to test against, and I didn't manage to stir much interest when I reported how badly it failed with RSX. I only got responses like "well, that don't surprise us, since we've only tested against VMS". (I haven't tried DECnet/Linux against VMS, so I don't know if it works, but that's what they say anyway.) Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28 2005, 1:48, lee davison wrote: > > Sure you're not looking at the specs for a 2716? Tony's > > information is correct for a 3-rail 2708 according to my > > Intel, Motorola, Texas data books. > > Yup, I'm reading from the Softy notes. I do have a datasheet > for a 2708 but that only says "it is customary to begin with > the '0' address" and that there are two programming voltages, > +12v on the PE pin and +25v pulse on the program pin. With > that part, identified only as N2708 on the sheet, the pulse > is 1.0ms minimum and the total time per location is a minimum > of 100ms. The standard programming voltage is 26V for 2708s and 3-rail 2716s (like the Texas ones). It's 25V for single-rail 2716s. N2708 is a Signetics part. Somewhat later than the Intel and others. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> Sure you're not looking at the specs for a 2716? Tony's > information is correct for a 3-rail 2708 according to my > Intel, Motorola, Texas data books. Yup, I'm reading from the Softy notes. I do have a datasheet for a 2708 but that only says "it is customary to begin with the '0' address" and that there are two programming voltages, +12v on the PE pin and +25v pulse on the program pin. With that part, identified only as N2708 on the sheet, the pulse is 1.0ms minimum and the total time per location is a minimum of 100ms. Also of note is that the address setup in program mode is 1us minimum and the time between exiting program mode and the first valid read is 10us minimum. Lee. . ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> wrote: > Johnny Billquist wrote: > > > Huh? You had problems getting a CD to work? I just plugged one in, and in > > RSX I suddenly had a DU device of the type RRD40. > > I think it depends on the SCSI adapter. > > I have 2 RQDX1 adapters, and they are incredibly temperamental. I > haven't gotten either one to work with a CD-ROM. They want DEC drives, > although I've gotten non-DEC 4GB Seagates to work, and a TZ30. A TLZ06 > or a TLZ07 will load RT-11 or BSD, but not RSX or the RSTS/E images that > are available on the 'net. Since when is a RQDX1 a SCSI adapter? :-) I guess you actually mean the RQZX1. I haven't tried that one. I have CMD adapters myself, and they really are excellent. Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 2 months

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Straight-8 on eBay

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

On Sun, 2005-06-26 at 21:17 -0700, vrs wrote: > Anyone want to ship this thing across the USA for me :-)? Looks like a > beauty! :-) Out of interest, what drives are those? Our 8 has a pair of Dectape 55's, which have bronze-coloured faceplates rather than the black of the Ebay system. Is Dectape 55 a different animal to TU55? cheers Jules

21 years, 2 months

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Need help with 16500A floppys

by jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu

I have an HP 16500A analyzer with original 720k disks. Problem is that only the rear drive seems to read the disks. I am suspicious that the front drive is bad. I am using stock 720k (single hole for write protect only) and trying to format them in both front and rear. I also am not able to read the stock originals with any program under either linux or dos. I realize that these seem to be formatted in a proprietary HP format. I luckily downloaded all the kits from the Agilent site before they were thoughtfully erased by Agilent. However these programs have not produced anything but floppy images which I cannot get onto a disk either. I should also explain that I am trying to use the 1.44 disks on my PC to do the format of the 720k disks. All I can seem to do is get formatted dos disks, but the HP write program fails. Also all attempts as mentioned to get data off HP disks onto a linux box or windows box have failed. I know that under dos there is a format byte in the first sector that confuzes the bios and windows systems if it is not properly set. I tried the read mode of "rawrite" that i had anyway just as a desperation move. I also tryed a forced format "dd" input from the 720k device on linux. This last should bypass any media format bytes, and set the floppy path to just that format. Still no joy. My current thought is to dredge my stock of junk for a 720 K drive and try it on a dos or linux box. the main problem that I can think of between making new disks on the pc and reading them on the analyzer is the possiblity of formatting problems due to the head width. I pretty much am convinced the front floppy on the thing is bad, so I need one of those. I don't know if it is common, or a weird one specialized to HP yet or not. I also have not been able to clean it, as I need to buy a fresh supply of alcohol (isopropyl) to clean with. thanks jim

21 years, 2 months

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HP/Compaq/DEC technical papers

by drb＠msu.edu

Has anyone archived this? http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/Compaq-DEC/ De

21 years, 2 months

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CS/80 disc geometry

by aek＠bitsavers.org

But I probably will need CS/80 docs of some sort. There apparently is some MI driver code for HP-IB disks in NetBSD, which is likely to help. Unless there's some kind of CS/80 spec among the doc we have online... -- the CS/80 programming spec is at http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/hp/disc/5955-3442_cs80-is-pm.pd the AMIGO protocol is described in http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/hp/disc/09134-9032-Aug-1983.pdf a piece that is still missing is what commands are supported in the SS/80 subset protocol used in drives like the 9153C and 9354A/B The HPIB code for the 9000 code in NetBSD is the 'rd' driver along with hpib.c

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > > So tell me, what are the really cool methods to transfer data between a > > PC and a real PDP11 at a reasonable speed? SCSI controller and SCSI > > disk? Something else? Ethernet? > > > > Or is a backup over serial line a normal thing...? > > It helps that I have SCSI Controllers on my operational PDP-11's. SCSI makes life easy, yes... :-) > Ethernet using either TCP/IP or DECnet is another option that I use to > transfer data, but I try to only use that for small amounts of data. One of > these days I plan to go wireless with my PDP-11. I'd also like to see if I > can't get a SCSI DVD-ROM drive running, but considering the difficulty with > getting a CD-ROM drive to work, I have some doubts on getting that to work. Huh? You had problems getting a CD to work? I just plugged one in, and in RSX I suddenly had a DU device of the type RRD40. >dev du: DU0: Public Mounted Loaded Label=RSX11MPBL87 Type=RA90 Shadow_set=(DU0:,DU1:) Cached DU1: Public Mounted Loaded Foreign Type=RA90 Shadow_set=(DU0:,DU1:) DU2: Public Mounted Loaded Label=RSXFREEV2 Nowrite Type=RRD40 Cached DU3: Loaded Type=RA90 DU4: Loaded Type=RA90 DU5: Public Mounted Loaded Label=MALIN0 Nowrite Type=RA81 Cached DU6: Offline Loaded Type=unknown DU7: Offline Loaded Type=unknown DU10: Offline Loaded Type=unknown DU11: Offline Loaded Type=unknown > I haven't tried a DVD, and I'm not sure I ever will. Can't really see the point. :-) I plan on getting a ZIP in there some day, though. Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote: > >>>>> "Johnny" == Johnny Billquist <bqt at Update.UU.SE> writes: > > Johnny> True, and definitely a point for you. I offered them access > Johnny> to systems to check it out, but no interest. > > I suppose that too makes sense -- if you don't know the OS, it's hard > to get started on debugging communication to it. No, I don't think that makes sense. If they knew enough VMS to test against that, then RSX shouldn't be a problem. The syntax for fooling around in DCL is the same. > Johnny> On a separate issue, the public domain LAT is equally > Johnny> problematic, and should not be used to connect to RSX > Johnny> hosts. You'll crash the RSX host eventually. That LAT > Johnny> implementation seem to produce some packets that RSX just > Johnny> don't deal with, which results in buffer pool getting lost on > Johnny> the RSX end. It's definitely not a good behaviour in RSX as > Johnny> well, but never the less, it appears as if the PD LAT breaks > Johnny> the protocol in some way, and LAT is even worse, since no > Johnny> documentation exists outside of DEC (or whereever), so it's > Johnny> all reverse engineering (once more of VMS). > > That's clearly a P1 RSX bug. There's a simple rule: if your system > crashes because of a packet it received, that is ALWAYS the fault of > the receiving system. Perhaps the sender should not have sent it, but > "you shouldn't have sent that" is NEVER an acceptable excuse for > crashing. I totally agree. But that don't help much right now, since the LAT code in RSX isn't available to us. So for now, the only options is not to use the public domain LAT implementation against RSX. Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Bruce Lane" <kyrrin at bluefeathertech.com> > > Out of curiousity, I checked the support list for my UniSite system. Sure enough, it supports the 2708's. However, it won't do 2704's. > Hi I'm not sure why this is an issue, you just need to shorten the programming loop. The signal levels are the same for the 2704's as the 2708's during programming. 2704's are hard to find anyway. Dwight

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Richard I have both a Byte Saver and a data I/O. If you'll send me the EPROMs and the data, I can program them for you. As was mentioned, It wouldn't take much to make an adapter out of two machine pin sockets that could take 2716's to use in place of a 2708. Most of the pins are the same. Just make sure to pull the pins that provide the extra nasty voltages. Dwight >From: "Richard A. Cini" <rcini at optonline.net> > >All: > > OK, I'm ready to burn a modified copy of the Altair Turnkey Monitor >into a 2708 to use in my 8800b as a test program. Lo and behold, my >programmer won't do a 2708 -- it'll only go down to 2716. Naturally I don't >have any 2716s around and the VG ROM board accepts only the 2704 or 2708 >(without modification). > > So I browsed around eBay and elsewhere to see if any other >programmers support the 2708 and it seems that none do. They all start at >the 2716. > > What programmer can I look for that has the ability to program a >2708? > > Thanks. > >Rich > >Rich Cini >Collector of classic computers >Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project >Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ >/************************************************************/ > >

21 years, 2 months

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Straight-8 on eBay

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

Oh-ho-ho, that thing is schweet. A very beautiful machine, and complete it seems! Though I much prefer the 1970s style -8s myself. -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Fred N. van Kempen Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 5:27 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Straight-8 on eBay On Sun, 26 Jun 2005, vrs wrote: > Anyone want to ship this thing across the USA for me :-)? Looks like a > beauty! > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5213265 141&rd=1 OMG, that thing is beautiful...... --f

21 years, 2 months

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Goodies... offered here before E-Bay

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

What PSU bits for the 11/34 do you have? -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of R. D. Davis Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:55 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Goodies... offered here before E-Bay Before I e-bay the following items, I'm posting a list here in case anyone's interested in making a reasonable offer or trade. Items are located in western Baltimore County, Maryland. *** Local pick-up only, unless someone makes it very worth my while *** *** to ship these items. *** - Tektronix 4014 terminal. I may have some additional Tektronix-terminal goodies, such as manuals and tapes, but for a different terminal. Shipping this isn't trivial or inexpensive... it cost me well over $100 to have this shipped here years ago. - Over 100 Sun VME-bus boards - Dual expansion chasis with power supply for a Q-bus PDP-11 or VAX - *Possibly* a spare RL02 drive - CRT from an old DuMont oscilloscope - Large drawer for a 19" rack mount chasis... may need some additional hardware, but I may have it all, will look. - Parts of a PDP-11/34A (front panel, boards, power-supply bits) - Umax flat-bed SCSI scanner... doesn't work, but should be good for parts - 17" older HP monitor... very heavy. Notes: Tektronix 4014 terminal: Appears to need an HV PSU repair. Caveat: I began disassembling this several years ago for cleaning and lost some screws that attach the power supply to the chassis. Also, I misplaced my notes about what wires connect where. Although that enormous power supply heat sink is looking very tempting for an audio amplifier project, I'll try to avoid the temptation in the interest of preservation. Sun VME-bus boards: these include several possibly rare boards such as fiber-optic network boards, cable modems, color printer board, etc. Finally, all of these boards are accessible and I've cleaned them up, so AFAIK, there are no spiders, etc. hiding on them. It's my preference to have someone collect them all at once so that I don't have to ship one here and there, etc. Of course, make it very worth my while and I'll consider doing that. :-) -- Copyright (C) 2005 R.D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: an All Rights Reserved unnatural belief that we're above Nature & her www.rddavis.org 410-744-4900 other creatures, using dogma to justify such Help to save the wild horses! beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote: > >>>>> "Johnny" == Johnny Billquist <bqt at Update.UU.SE> writes: > > Johnny> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> > Johnny> wrote: > > >> Ethernet is another good way; DECnet is available on Linux. > > Johnny> Unfortunately, the DECnet for Linux sucks so bad it isn't > Johnny> usable. Well, it is kindof usable if you want to talk with a > Johnny> VMS machine, but it don't work against RSX. I've tried > Johnny> it... :-( > > So try it with RSTS... Don't have RSTS. :-) > Johnny> Appearantly the DECnet/Linux guys only have had VMS machines > Johnny> to test against, and I didn't manage to stir much interest > Johnny> when I reported how badly it failed with RSX. I only got > Johnny> responses like "well, that don't surprise us, since we've > Johnny> only tested against VMS". > > Hard to blame someone for having it not work on a system they can't > test. It's open source -- you can fix it, and contribute your fixes. > That's what I did. True, and definitely a point for you. I offered them access to systems to check it out, but no interest. Myself, I'm not interested in Linux enough for this. I'm doing the TCP/IP for RSX instead. > Part of the problem is at the DEC end -- undocumented hacks in DAP > (VMS is particularly bad there) and the totally undocumented pre-CTERM > "set host" protocols. I know... :-/ RSX actually have a different program for each DEC OS that exist, to use instead of the "normal" CTERM program. Unsupported, of course, but working much better... DAP basically failed in three of the four tests I did between Linux and RSX. File transfers in both directions, and directory listings in both directions. The one that did work was directory listings of the RSX system >from Linux. I think I might have been able to transfer some trivial text files from RSX to Linux as well, but that was it. Everything else failed, or rather, just hung. On a separate issue, the public domain LAT is equally problematic, and should not be used to connect to RSX hosts. You'll crash the RSX host eventually. That LAT implementation seem to produce some packets that RSX just don't deal with, which results in buffer pool getting lost on the RSX end. It's definitely not a good behaviour in RSX as well, but never the less, it appears as if the PD LAT breaks the protocol in some way, and LAT is even worse, since no documentation exists outside of DEC (or whereever), so it's all reverse engineering (once more of VMS). Maybe one day... Or if I get my hands on the sources to RSX DECnet and LAT, I could do some cleanups in there... But that will not likely happen anytime soon I'm afraid... Ah, and there is also a bug in the DAP code in RSX. I have a patch for both RMSDAP.OLB and DAPRES. The problem is that the file protection word gets messed up when read. Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 2 months

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Straight-8 on eBay

by vrs＠msn.com

Anyone want to ship this thing across the USA for me :-)? Looks like a beauty! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5213265141… Vince

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by bqt＠Update.UU.SE

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote: > >>>>> "Zane" == Zane H Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> writes: > > Zane> At 9:19 AM -0400 6/23/05, Paul Koning wrote: > >> >>>>> "Zane" == Zane H Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> writes: > >> > Zane> As I understand it, the issue was with variable byte blocks. I > Zane> had zero issues installing RSTS/E, and I think a couple layered > Zane> products off of 4mm DAT. However, DECnet/E would not install > Zane> off of DAT. > >> You mean variable length blocks? If it doesn't support that, it > >> isn't a proper tape. Proper tapes handle any block size, odd or > >> even, from 14 up to at least 8k or so. > > Zane> Yes, that's what I mean. It is my understanding from when I > Zane> got some help figuring this out (I think by this list), that > Zane> was the problem. It wouldn't install from DAT, but had zero > Zane> issues with TK50. > > Ok. RSTS does assume/require that tapes are designed by competent > designers. I'm surprised you didn't run into similar issues with > other operating systems. He should have. RSX expects tape drive to be able to deliver variable size blocks as well. The distribution tapes hold 512 byte, 80 byte and 4144 byte size records. (As well as 0 byte file mark records.) Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

21 years, 2 months

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Torch Computers Ltd PSU available - anyone need a spare?

by listmailgoeshere＠gmail.com

I have here a Farnell N110P411 open-chassis SMPSU. On a relay on one end of the board there is a white sticker with the text "TORCH COMPUTERS LTD (C) 1983" and a QC stamp. If anyone would like this (free, you pay shipping) as a spare part or for a repair/restoration, please speak up by private email. I'm clearing out some old stuff and I won't be able to keep this for too much longer before it gets recycled. Ed.

21 years, 2 months

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Nascom 2 keyboard connector

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Does anyone have the pinouts of the Nascom 2 keyboard connector handy? I'm wondering if there are any duplicated ground lines such that I can get away with running a cable via DA15 connectors (the connectors on the '2 and keyboard PCBs are 16 pin headers) I'm pretty sure there are duplicates but I don't have a huge amount of Nascom docs here at present (certainly not schematics) I'm at the point where I've got a nice keyboard shell made up for my Nascom's keyboard from a mixture of wood and aluminium, and need to fit a socket to the back of it... cheers Jules

21 years, 2 months

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PDP11 near Manchester on eBay

by gordonjcp＠gjcp.net

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96944&item=5209467… If no-one else is interested, I might bid myself... Gordon.

21 years, 2 months

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How to transfer data FAST?

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi, after several cleaning orgies, my SMD disk (AMPEX DFR-996, see other posting) seems to start working. Now I want to backup the data contained on the disks. These are RSX-11 volumes. I cannot read them under RT11. And I don't know if I can make a diskette RSX-11 to inspect the data. Or is there a preogram which runs on rt11 and is able to understand rsx11 filesystem? That would be great! My first idea for the backup was "copy/device dm0: tt:" which works. But there is no error correction and still only 19200 baud. So tell me, what are the really cool methods to transfer data between a PC and a real PDP11 at a reasonable speed? SCSI controller and SCSI disk? Something else? Ethernet? Or is a backup over serial line a normal thing...? Regards, Philipp :-)

21 years, 2 months

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Timex/Sinclair 1000 Tape Loading

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

Jim wrote: > Along these lines, I have a nice Timex Sinclair 1000 package if anyone > is interested. Main machine, memory expansion IIRC, commerical > program diskettes, and lots of technical documentation. If > interested, email me and I can dig it out and get a full list of > materials. Umm, I take it you mean *cassettes* ?? Later -- Glen 0/0

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

The best way to program 2708's is with a Cromemco Bytesaver in an S-100 system (I think someone already said that). There were 3 versions of the Bytesaver: -Bytesaver I (2708) -Bytesaver II (2708) -32K Bytesaver (2716's) The primary difference between version I and version II was that version II had "bank select" and could much better coexist in a system without removing RAM memory to make a "hole" in the memory map. In fact, with version II of the 2708 bytesaver and the 32k Bytesaver, you could have a full 64k memory map of RAM and both Bytesavers (2708 and 2716) in the machine at the same time, and the programming software could do the necessary bank switching to manipulate the memory map. Definitely try to get the Bytesaver II for 2708 burning. I have software to do the programming as well, and there were some Bytesaver burning programs in the CP/M user's group. There was a listing and paper tape that came with the program (the listing is in the manual), but it was crude and rudimentary, however the "burn nucleus" can be used with a more sophisticated front end.

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 26 2005, 0:49, lee davison wrote: > > >> What programmer can I look for that has the ability to program a > >> 2708? > > I have a Softy 2 that can do it if you're really stuck. > > > Not just that, the programming algorithm is different to most > > other EPROMs. IIRC you have to program all locations in sequence, > > giving each one a 1ms (IIRC) programming pulse, and repeat that > > 50 times. > > Any bit in any byte can be individually programmed from 1 to 0. > There are no sequence requirements, the programming pulse is one > pulse of 50ms per location programmed. Not on any of mine. Some later EPROM types can be programed either way, but not original 2708s. > > You can't program odd locations like you can in later EPROMs. > > You can, it's EPROM microcontrollers like the 68705 that need to > be programmed in sequence. Sure you're not looking at the specs for a 2716? Tony's information is correct for a 3-rail 2708 according to my Intel, Motorola, Texas data books. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 2 months

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Timex/Sinclair 1000 Tape Loading

by mokuba＠gmail.com

I'm having a hell of a time getting any program to load, so far I've been Totally unsuccessful. Anyone have any tips or advice they can throw at me? Would love to hear anything at all :)

21 years, 2 months

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yellowed murky plastic

by Watzman＠neo.rr.com

When I worked at Genicom, they had a printer refurbish department for "all brands" and I saw various Epson, etc. printers going out that looked just like new, and I saw them coming in with the yellow discoloration. I asked one of the guys how they did that, and he said that they painted the covers. The discoloration is caused by UV light exposure, which in turn comes from fluorescent lighting. It won't happen under incandescent light, but all offices have fluorescent lighting.

21 years, 2 months

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Programming 2708's

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

> OK, I'm ready to burn a modified copy of the Altair Turnkey > Monitor into a 2708 to use in my 8800b as a test program. Lo > and behold, my programmer won't do a 2708 -- it'll only go down > to 2716. Naturally I don't have any 2716s around and the VG > ROM board accepts only the 2704 or 2708 (without modification). How about making an adapter from sockets to use a bigger EPROM such as a 2764/128/256 ? You can do this without madifying the VG ROM board and you'll have it next time you need to fill a 2708 socket. Lee. . ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

21 years, 2 months

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Free AC power cords, Washington DC

by shoppa_classiccmp＠trailing-edge.com

If anyone needs approx 40 IEC line cords - mostly 6 feet, but some shorter and some longer - to provide AC power to their older but not antique computers, I've got a bunch available for free. I'm just outside Washington DC. E-mail me at my non-list address, shoppa at trailing-edge.com, with IEC in the subject if you're interested. Will not ship, but will gladly let you pick up as many as you need. None of these are the "ribbed" 20A variety, sorry. Tim.

21 years, 2 months

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Timex/Sinclair 1000 Tape Loading

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> And on another note, is ZXTAPE sensitive to cpu speed? Absolutely. I went through 4 PCs before I found one (a '286) which worked with ZXTAPE. I set the '286 up in a corner as a file server for the ZX81 several years ago and fire it up as needed. Another author (with the permission of Wilf Rigter) has made available a version of ZXTAPE which claims to run well on Pentium-based machines, but I've no experience with it. Regarding software -- all you could ever want can be found at these links: University of Trondheim: ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/sinclair/zx81/ Official ZXTEAM site: http://www.zx81.de/ The World of Spectrum: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ The last is primarily a Spectrum site but has quite a number of ZX81 programs available as well. Later -- Glen 0/0

21 years, 2 months

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RQDX3 manual

by jim＠g1jbg.co.uk

Hi, does anyone know of an on-line manual for the RQDX3 disk controller? Thanks Jim. Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK

21 years, 2 months

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Commodore 1084 video monitor

by bv＠norbionics.com

My wife is trying to free up some space, and wants to sell her Commodore 1084 monitor. She is not into computer collecting, and has used it as a display for her video camera. It is manufactured in october, 1989. Serial number is XT 1070699. It is a nice little monitor for composite or s-video. The digital rgb is not all that great, but I suppose that is a natural consequence of the standard. My wife only used it with her previous video camera, so I do not think it has logged all that many hours. In any case, she bet it was easier for her to sell it on eBay, but I was allowed to tell the list and solicit offers. We are in Pennsylvania right now. -- -bv

21 years, 2 months

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Still Available for free

by cb＠mythtech.net

I still have a Tandy 1000 with monitor and printer, several IBM XTs and IBM ATs, some Corona luggables, and some Compaq luggables. All available free for anyone that wants to pick them up in Northern NJ (Ridgewood). I'm also willing to deliver to anywhere along my normal travel routes (um, well, that is still Northern NJ, but I go to Wayne on a fairly regular basis). They are taking up space that I need to recover. I've lost interest in them, but I can't bear to throw them out. I'd really rather not ship due to the time/effort involved, but if you can't pick up, and are too far out of my range for me to deliver, and you really want one, let me know, maybe we can work something out. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 2 months

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