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

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: OT: EMP and Equipment > From: Al Hartman <alhartman at yahoo.com> >Let's say that tomorrow, and EMP weapon is employed >over a major city in this country. > >Is there anything an average citizen can do to protect >their Computers (Classic or otherwise)? Yes. >Would having them unplugged help? Yes. >Or must they be shielded in some way? It would help. The reason for the terse questions is your asking a broad question. Basically EMP is a sudden expansion then contraction of a magnetic field. From basic electronics there are two ways to generate power using magnets (or their fields) one is to move the wire and the other is to move the magnet. The amount of energy induced into a wire is dependent on how many lines of force you traverse and thats related to how strong the magnets field is (also how close). We get EMP from two sources, one common. The nuke version can be very strong but if your close enough for EMP then you may be too close to worry. The other common source is lightinging, every bolt we see represents a momentary huge current that collapses very quckly with the attendent magnetic fields. There are two protection methods applied for lightining. One being electrostatic and the other recognizes the electromagnetic. Protection for the latter is simple most of the time. Disconnect the power cord, antennas, and any control lines. In short remove any "wires" that can have an induced field and transfer that voltage inside to the sensitive parts. Ideally for complete protection a iron or steel case with no breaks is best protection against near misses. In both cases distance fromthe event is a really good thing as magnetic fields are squarelaw IE: at twice the distance it's one quarter strength. So yes you can protect your hardware, assuming your far enough away to survive. You still ahve to worry about high energy particles (neutrons, beta and gamma particles) and other radiations ( Xrays and infared). Allison

21 years, 4 months

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All things ESDI

by KParker＠workcover.com

I'd be most grateful for a little advice from this list please. I'm finally getting my shed into order with my X'teen dozen computers etc. During the clean and tidy up process I came across a couple of old drives I grabbed a while go. These are both ESDI drives. For your info they re: * a Maxtor XT-8380E * a MiniScribe 9380E At the size of house brick I have to admire the engineering, particularly the Maxtor. You pick it up and you can feel the quality metaphorically speaking. I did some Googling on these drives last night and I found plenty about geometry but little else. It seems ESDI fitted somewhere between MFM/RLL and IDE all be it a very brief appearance but certainly the rationale for introducing the ESDI drives at the time was impressive for those times. The connectors on the ESDI drive appear to be the same as MFM so I am assuming that I can use MFM cables. I want to see if these drives are still operational but at this stage I don't have an ESDI controler. I do have a PS/2 Model 80 which I believe uses an ESDI controller but I'm not too sure about that or if this might even work. I could just power the drives up to see if they spin (which doesn't necessarily mean they work but it is a start). My only concern is that I could not ascertain if these types of drives require the heads to be parked before spinning down so I'm reluctant to do this at this stage. What little info I could find apart from geometry suggested that the only comtroller for these was an Adaptec ESDI Controller Card (possibly the ACB-2322D or ACB-2322 http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/suppdetail.jsp?sess=no&language =English+US&prodkey=ACB-2322B )but again its not abundantly clear. I am also assuming that if I slot an ESDI controller into a motherboard that the motherboard will recognise it as a hard disk controller without doing much else. Any clues greatly appreciated!!!! ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ ************************************************************************ 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, 4 months

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All things ESDI

by marvin＠rain.org

> The connectors on the ESDI drive appear to be the same as MFM so I am > assuming that I can use MFM cables. I have always used the same cables used for MFM on ESDI drives with no problems. > What little info I could find apart from geometry suggested that the > only comtroller for these was an Adaptec ESDI Controller Card (possibly > the ACB-2322D or ACB-2322 I don't believe that is true; any ESDI controller should work. A Core ESDI controller was what I used on some of the Maxtor ESDI drives with no problems. I do not know if changing the controller brand would require another low-level format for the drive to work properly. The controller cards (at least for the ones I used) have the formatting routines built into the BIOS and I *think* they are accessed in the same way as XT HD controller cards, i.e. debug g=C006 (?). > I am also assuming that if I slot an ESDI controller into a motherboard > that the motherboard will recognise it as a hard disk controller without > doing much else. I don't think that will work. ISTR that the instructions for the controller just said to set the HD Type to 1. While cleaning up here, I am looking for an ESDI HD that contains the BBS run by Harvey Wheeler (co-author of the book FailSafe.) Harvey ran a multiuser BBS called the Virtual Academy running PC Board that I would like to find again. (He died last September and a friend of mine has been getting stuff together that Harvey was involved with.) When I find it, I may be able to comment more about how it is set up.

21 years, 4 months

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Modern floppy disk question...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Modern floppy disk question... > From: Richard Schauer <rws at ripco.com> > Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 09:07:26 -0500 (CDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >To add to the problem- why are modern floppy drives such junk? I was >recently doing a 20-disk transfer between two computers, and after the >second pass I had one disk that developed some outrageous errors in a >particular band of tracks. So I looked at it- the drive had scratched the >oxide off the media in a nice circle on one side around track 50. Didn't >do it to any other disks in the stack. This had happened to me before, on >other drives (all modern) with very little usage, and had never happened >to me using pre-1995-or-so hardware with tons more usage. > >(All the drives I'm referring to are 3-1/2" of course) > >Richard I've seen this before. It's related to PCs having fans that suck dust INTO the box usually via any opening even the floppy door. If you had cleaned all the dust bunnies out of the drive it's less likely. Now you will have to clean the heads of oxide and binder. My cure, noisier fan (more volume) turn it around to blow in and put an external easily cleaned filter. Many of the S100 systems and other boxed and fan cooled machina also had this problem. I've also seens plain bad media that had bad shed. Once the crud hit the head it stays there till you clean it. Until you do it scratches other floppies ruining them. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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DEC PC05 Paper Taper reader/punch

by wacarder＠usit.net

Anybody out there got a DEC PC05 paper tape reader / punch they'd be willing to part with? Ashley

21 years, 4 months

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Vintage Computer Web Site -www.1000bit.net

by cmurray＠eagle.ca

I heartly concur. What a wonderful site indeed! And a great find you discovered. Kudos! Murray Message: 33 Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 20:57:01 -0700 From: Marvin Johnston <marvin at rain.org> Subject: Vintage Computer Web Site To: ClassicCmp <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <4274538D.2A549180 at rain.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I just ran across this site: http://www.1000bit.net/ It has some good information *and* photos of quite a few machines. The concept seems to be that people register and make public information about their machines. I had listed a bubble memory module (FBM43CA) on VCM with no knowledge of what it went to. The information on Norm's website at http://gallery.owt.com/~anheier/index.src told me that it goes to Fujitsu's first micro, an M-8. I *think* we have a nice find there! ------------------------------

21 years, 4 months

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Paper Tape Emulator

by jim＠g1jbg.co.uk

Hi, has anyone tried to write a paper tape emulator in BASIC? I've had a go in GW-BASIC, but I suspect that the implementation of the language is too slow to reliably drive the serial port - it doesn't always pick up the paper advance signal (I've tried using both CTS and DCD as inputs). Will I have to go to a machine code routine to get the fast port access? I look forward to replies. Jim. Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK

21 years, 4 months

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Prime PDT-100 terminal

by tponsford＠theriver.com

Hi All, I picked up a Prime computer PDT-100 terminal, sans keyboard, today at the auction. I have not (yet) started to collect Prime computer stuff, so I anybody who want this, It's Free, just pay the shipping. I'm not sure if it works OK, but it does power on! Give me a shout off-list! Cheers Tom

21 years, 4 months

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CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Guys (well OK - Tony mostly :-), Started looking at the Compupro 8086 S-100 system this evening. As usual during initial power tests - pulled all cards, and began to power-up through variac and series light bulb - Bulb glows brightly as power comes up, suggesting system is drawing far more power than it should, and chassis voltages (+8, +16, -16) fail to come up hardly at all. After investigating, I discovered that there is a large capacitor attached to a separate winding off the transformer. This is a oval metal can capaciter (looks like a cylinder, except that end- on view would be oval). It reads: 4 MF 660 AC 60 HZ RONKEN P81A23405H01 Protected 900 AFC NO PCB'S CONTAINS FLAMMABLE FLUID 2483 Disconnecting this capacitor "cures" the excess current draw and the chassis voltages come up fine (still running through variac at reduced AC voltage with series light bulb as I expect this cap is part of a "line voltage regulator". The transformer is labled "C.V." (Constant Voltage?) I am reluctant to conduct a "full power" test as the light bulb glows and full intensity if I bring the Variac up to 120v with the cap connected - ie: the system is appearing as a very low impedance load - when it should be drawing virtually nothing. Ohm-meter tests of the CAP show that it is NOT shorted, and is functioning as a capacitor (brief current flow when leads reversed). It looks to me as if this Cap is acting as a low impedance load at 60hz and effectively "shorting" the winding that it is connected to, which causes the transformer to draw excessive power. Can anyone explain to me what is going on, and why the unloaded power supply is drawing so much on it's input? A brief tutorial on how this type of supply is supposed to work would be very helpful... 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, 4 months

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Stuff I want - all I want is a "0"

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 28 2005, 16:58, Brad Parker wrote: > > "Rick Bensene" wrote: > ... > >- A full set of drive select (0-3) plugs for RL01/RL02 drives > > Heh. I could use a "0" myself. > > What does one do when one only has a "1"? > > it works, but i'd like a 0. can I make one out of something else? Look at the fingers on the "1" plug. The protruding finger on each side has two edges which can be long or short, but one of those is just used to tell the drive there's a valid plug inserted. A matchstick makes an effective substitute :-) A zero has short edges on upper and lower left, short on upper right, intermediate on lower right (that last one is the "valid plug" finger). A one has short edges on upper and lower left, long on upper right, intermediate on lower right. A two has short on upper left, long on lower left, short on upper right, intermediate on lower right. A three has short on upper left, long on lower left, long on upper right, intermediate on lower right. ISTR that when I made my own perspex plugs, before I had real ones (other than a "zero"), I found there was no real difference between "short" and "intermediate" -- "short" doesn't move a contact, "long" or "intermediate" does. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

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Picked up VGB10 manual

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

I picked a new copy of the Digital VGB10 Video Terminal Installation and Operating Information manual at the local Goodwill. It has all the pin outs and is written in several languages.

21 years, 4 months

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S-100 (Altair) SRAM board needed badly

by william.layer＠comcast.net

Hi all, I read the recent threads about S-100 hauls, so I'm putting out the request for a SRAM board for the Altair 8800 that I'm putting back together. Just about anything is fine; 1K, 4K, 8K etc. As long as it's static ram, and will work with the original i8080 CPU. Can pay cash. Thanks, Bill -- --------------------------------------------- -. William W. Layer .- -. St. Paul, MN USA .- --------------------------------------------------- -. Cheif bottlewasher, Atma-Sphere Music Systems .- -. http://www.atma-sphere.com .- --------------------------------

21 years, 4 months

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Free: broken but possibly fixable sync-on-green monitor

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Hello fellow ClassicCmp'ers, I have a Viewsonic PT813 21" CRT monitor, a very high-end professional model that I was told used to cost $1800 new (1997), has both DE15 and BNC inputs and supports both PeeCee video and sync on green. Unfortunately it is malfunctioning - the picture is smudged to the point of being totally unreadable. It seems like some component in its circuitry went bad - I don't think it's the CRT - so it's probably fixable. The person who sold it to me has agreed to refund me what I paid for it and let me keep the broken monitor, and OKed me offering it for free to the list. Since I believe it to be fixable, but lack the time, tools and skills necessary to do so, I offer it for free to anyone who thinks he can fix it. If fixed it would make a great monitor for classic computers, and has the added bonus that the VS3100 GPX board firmware is perfectly happy with this monitor connected (as I wrote in my other posts, it often throws up a tantrum with other perfectly good SoG monitors). So if you fix it, it should work beautifully with VS3100 GPX, VS3100 SPX, other DEC and other classic workstations. The monitor is near San Diego, California. If you want it, you must come and pick it up. I lack the materials and skills to properly pack it for shipping (if I shipped it, you would get a pile of broken plastic and glass instead of a bad-but-fixable monitor), and I don't even have a car to take it to a shipping store that could pack it for me. MS

21 years, 4 months

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AIM 65 lives

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: AIM 65 lives > From: Andy Dannelley <andyda at earthlink.net> > Date: Sun, 01 May 2005 10:15:59 -0700 > To: cctech at classiccmp.org > >Just a note of thanks for help and encouragement. I finally got my AIM >back running again with the help of a local who had some test >equipment. > >First, before getting the help I found several stuck address lines and >cleared them by blowing an brushing and vacuuming. > >We then found that 5 out of 8 2114 RAMs were bad, and the CPU just >didn't have enough oomph. > >After cleaning the board and replacing parts, it works like a charm. >Seems weird that the CPU and RAM went bad just sitting, and the board >got something stuck in the address lines just sitting in the box for 20 >years, It was the original shipping box for the AIM, but I guess more >crud got in the box than I realized. People forget that plastic cased parts are not hermetic and therefore subject to internal corrosion and failure. The other is even assembled boards are susceptable to ESD damage. The last is I have brough many boards with odd problem back to life by running them through the dishwasher. I've seen odd failures due to conductive grunge on the board that could not bee seen with the naked eye. Last some brands and styles of scokets really didn't stand the test of time. I have a few NS* boards I've desocketed and soldered the chips directly in becuase of that. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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Free: broken but possibly fixable sync-on-green monitor

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Free: broken but possibly fixable sync-on-green monitor > From: Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> > Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 15:25:48 -0500 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Tony Duell wrote: >> A word of warning to anyone who gets this... I had an Apple Mac+ that had >> a smeared display -- shaddows to the right of objects on the screen. Now, >> the Mac+ video circuit is pretty simple, but none-the-less I spent quite >> a time going through it, unable to find the fault. >> >> The reason I couldn't find a fault in the video amplifier was that there >> wasn't one. It was the CRT. Low emission, I think. >> >> Most of the time, a smeared picture _is_ a fault in the video amplifier, >> though. But it may not be. > >I had a trintron tube connected to the same computer for 8 years slowly go >"smeary" on me and I never found out why (monitor was on for only 3-4 hours >each day, not 24/7). The "smears" were always after a high-to-low or >low-to-high contrast (ie biggest voltage change) on the screen and were always >in the direction of the scan (ie left to right, eventually fading out at the >far right). Video card never failed once, and produced a perfect picture on a >new monitor. > >So what caused that? What went "bad" over time to cause such a thing, and is >it fixable? Actually the most common thing I've seen short of a complete horizonal output failure is the CRT focus pot and associated resistor string fails. It's a gradual failure and for most color monitors that's part of the HV transformer assembly. A few I'e stretched the life by adjusting the focus but sooner or later it fails and the images are just plain fuzzy. I think currently I have 4 in the garage that have either focus or horizonal output problems. Anyone wants to pick them up and a few working tubes give me a email. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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RA7x OCP pinout

by ml＠hejoe.de

The are 20 pins at the RA7x OCP interface. I found RA81 OCP pins, but this is different. Can anybody help with a pinout or link? Michael

21 years, 4 months

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CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ? > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 21:34:21 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >Disconnecting this capacitor "cures" the excess current draw and >the chassis voltages come up fine (still running through variac at >reduced AC voltage with series light bulb as I expect this cap is >part of a "line voltage regulator". > >The transformer is labled "C.V." (Constant Voltage?) The cap needs to be there. An unloaded CVT runs hot and draws more current due to the highly reactive load. A side effect of storing power in a resonant circuit (floating coil and cap). As the transformer is loaded the current remains the same but more stored energy is transfered to the active load. I have a Compupro Chassis, TEI and even a spare supply of that style. I also have 120V/120V CVT for systems that do not have one internally. They tend to run warm under normal cases. It should with a modest load (auto headlamps are handy for this) behave and also not blow primary side fuse(s). By current switchmode tech they are scary but represent old magamp thinking and are reliable devices. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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Software company for sale on eBay

by vcf＠siconic.com

Nothing special, but interesting/amusing (somewhat): 20 YEAR OLD INCORPORATED COMPUTER SOFTWARE COMPANY http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46685&item=751152187… It's in Santa Barbara, California. Perhaps Marvin knows who this is? -- 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, 4 months

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OT: tube question

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

Hi all, Does anyone know what the commercial/civilian equivalent of the JAN CG504A tube is? Thanks, Ed

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: msokolov at ivan.harhan.org > >So if halon is really so benign, why did they ban it? > >MS > Hi Like many things that were produced that were too stable, it doesn't break down until it gets someplace that it can cause problems. In its case, it would cause problems of ozone lay decay. For the purposes of putting out fires it worked well. It does produce some nasty hydrofluoric acid when heated enough. Early on, they tended to think that it was good to make things that didn't break down easily. Things like DDT and fluorocarbons were considered as the greatest thing. Now days, people talk about recycling and degradable. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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Bounty ($$$) Looking for Desktop Express for Macintosh

by vcf＠siconic.com

I've got a new bounty out. I'm looking for Desktop Express for the Macintosh circa late 1980s. This was a package put out by Dow Jones to enable you to retrieve stock quotes and graph trends on the display. If you have a copy of this, it's worth some bucks to me. E-mail me privately, please. 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, 4 months

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OT: Good ham column in today's Merc News

by news＠computercollector.com

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/11551968.htm ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 700 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, 4 months

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Obituary - Andrew St Johnston

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

One of the UK pioneers - obituary as reported in The Times yesterday: Andrew St Johnston, computer pioneer, was born on August 28, 1922. He died on April 3 2005, aged 82. Andrew St Johnston was one of Britain's computer pioneers. He led the team which developed Elliott Brothers' 400 series computer, a machine which introduced many features now taken for granted, such as modular architectures and removable magnetic storage. Andrew St Johnston took a degree in electrical engineering at the City and Guilds College in London, then part of Imperial College. After graduating in 1943 he joined the Navy and served as a radar officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant-commander. In 1949 he joined Elliott Brothers. A long-established British company which had diversified from scientific instruments into control systems, it was unusual among the early computer companies in that it made its own machines, instead of developing models of computers produced in universities. The 401, for which St Johnston was project leader, was run for the first time in public at the Physical Society on April 22, 1953. At the time Elliott computers were more popular than the early IBM models. St Johnston then worked on the more advanced, transistor-based, 803. His first marriage was dissolved and in 1958 he married Aldrina (Dina) Vaughan, a programmer at Elliott's who had worked on the Cambridge EDSAC. In 1959 she set up Vaughan Programming Services - it was Britain's first software house, offering programs and support for other companies' computers. St Johnston joined Vaughan in 1966 when it had established a reputation in control systems, warehouse automation and information display; it provided passenger information services for airports and railways. In 1996 it was sold to Harmon, a US company in the same field. St Johnston and Dina retired in 1999, after three years' running the renamed Vaughan-Harmon Systems on behalf of its new owner. In 1994 he and Dina donated an Elliott 803 to the Computer Museum at Bletchley Park. Having spent ten years in a barn, it was restored to working condition and remains on display.

21 years, 4 months

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CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ? > From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> > Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 06:49:28 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >But I think you have provided the information I needed - normally >I bring up a chassis with no load, initially at very low line voltage >to allow the big electrolitic filter capacitors to take it easy as >they reform.... But I've not encountered a resonant transformer >design before - if I understand you correctly, not having any load >at all is putting the transformer/cap into a state where it is drawing >excessive power - I will try supplying a load. Do I need to load all >of the windings, or will drawing from just the 8V supply be adaquate >(I would expect the latter). > >Thanks, >Dave >-- Load the 5V one at least 10%. In actuality it makes little difference if one or all of the winding are loaded as it's the load applied to the core that counts. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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CV Transformer - Capacitor on separate winding ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>>Disconnecting this capacitor "cures" the excess current draw and >>the chassis voltages come up fine (still running through variac at >>reduced AC voltage with series light bulb as I expect this cap is >>part of a "line voltage regulator". >> >>The transformer is labled "C.V." (Constant Voltage?) > >The cap needs to be there. An unloaded CVT runs hot and draws >more current due to the highly reactive load. A side effect >of storing power in a resonant circuit (floating coil and cap). >As the transformer is loaded the current remains the same but >more stored energy is transfered to the active load. I have >a Compupro Chassis, TEI and even a spare supply of that style. >I also have 120V/120V CVT for systems that do not have one >internally. They tend to run warm under normal cases. It >should with a modest load (auto headlamps are handy for this) >behave and also not blow primary side fuse(s). > >By current switchmode tech they are scary but represent old >magamp thinking and are reliable devices. Thanks - yes, I figured the cap needs to be there, but removing it during low power tests identified it as the cause of the high current draw - I guess I was not clear on this as several people have emailed me to warn me not to run it without the cap. But I think you have provided the information I needed - normally I bring up a chassis with no load, initially at very low line voltage to allow the big electrolitic filter capacitors to take it easy as they reform.... But I've not encountered a resonant transformer design before - if I understand you correctly, not having any load at all is putting the transformer/cap into a state where it is drawing excessive power - I will try supplying a load. Do I need to load all of the windings, or will drawing from just the 8V supply be adaquate (I would expect the latter). Thanks, 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, 4 months

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AIM 65 lives

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original message: From: Andy Dannelley <andyda at earthlink.net> Subject: AIM 65 lives >Just a note of thanks for help and encouragement. I finally got my AIM >back running again with the help of a local who had some test >equipment. Congratulations! Sounds like ya had fun. >Now the first thing I need to do is to get the 20 mil current loop to >RS-252 working so I can use my Mac as a terminal and program >development and storage. Depending on your Mac's input sensitivity, it may work as is. The AIM serial input (J1-Y) is RS-232 compatible (R24 should be 3K3; older versions were only 1K). The output (J1-U) is of course TTL level which is often adequate; if not and you've got +/- 12V available, an optoisolator does the trick, otherwise a Maxim MAX233 is a convenient single-chip solution. I'll send you the relevant app note off-list. mike

21 years, 4 months

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Free: broken but possibly fixable sync-on-green monitor

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Eric Smith <eric at brouhaha.com> wrote: > It can also be caused by use of a cheap video cable or a cheap KVM switch. Not the case here - genuine DEC video cable and no KVM switches. MS

21 years, 4 months

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Report on VCF Europa 6.0

by news＠computercollector.com

By Christine Finn: http://news.computercollector.com (click the link under the "About us" heading) ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net *** Tell your friends about the (free!) Computer Collector Newsletter - 700 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, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by cb＠mythtech.net

>> <http://www.gcn.com/17_17/news/33727-1.html> > >Another myth. > >What happened was the _application_, not Windows, had a flaw (a divide by >zero bug). Read the bottom of the article, where they state that numerous other software failures on the Yorktown are associated with using Win NT. I think the real lesson here is, don't let any computer be your sole method of controlling a warship... didn't these people watch Terminator?!? :-) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 4 months

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Looking for ../DEC questions

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Got it...thanks. I had a line on a 11/94. The guy works at a wind tunnel in a defense plant and they had oodles of DEC stuff. I know he has the engineering drawings for it. All he wanted was beer and pizza of all things. I haven't had good luck getting back in touch with him but if (when) I do, I'll get the drawings out to you for bitsavers. Thanks, Brian. --- Al Kossow <aek at robot.net> wrote: > > Also looking for a > manual, DEUNA, RL11 for it as well. > > -- > > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1184 > > Something that would be nice to find are docs on the > 94, and engineering > drawings for either the 84 or 94. They appear to be > very difficult to find. >

21 years, 4 months

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Help: simulated OS/8 gen

by drb＠msu.edu

Thanks to several folks who offered suggestions and/or were willing to try to duplicate my setup to see if they could find a solution. I did manage to get this to work. I used the RK8ESY driver. This is the configuration I ended up with: .R BUILD $PRINT RK05: *RKA0 *RKB0 *RKA1 *RKB1 RKA2 RKB2 RKA3 RKB3 RX01: *RXA0 *RXA1 KL8E: *TTY LPSV: *LPT TC : *DTA0 *DTA1 DTA2 DTA3 DTA4 DTA5 DTA6 DTA7 RK8E: *SYS RKA0 RKB0 which means I had to delete the TC08 driver. I tripped a bit over zeroing the device, but finally got that right. Also, I can't find anything in the manual about how files are supposed to get from the distribution media to the system disk, so I just used COPY and hoped it would work. (So far so good.) Obviously my notes weren't good enough. Shoot me now. My next problem is that FORTRAN IV programs hang when executed. De

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source) > From: shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com > Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 13:12:33 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >> Apparently the whole area gets flooded with halon (sp?) to quickly absorb >> any oxygen from the air, so if you hang about ...... > >"Absorb any oxygen" is a bit harsh. Halon is pretty good at stopping >things from burning but it doesn't make it impossible to breathe. It's >not the most healthy thing to breathe but in the 80's and earlier a >very common demo of halon extinguishers had the salesman in a halon filled >booth, demonstrating how all fires go out, while happily breathing the >stuff. > >Now, CO2 oxygen-displacement extinguishers, that's a different story. > >Tim. Halon does not absob Oxygen. It is an Oxygen displacement that is also heavier than air. In a closed room if enough is introduced under pressure (typically) it will push out all air (Oxygen too) leaving an unbreathable and incombustable mix. Because computer rooms are largely closed any major air displacement is dangerous for the users inside. A bunch of years back I was working at a pharmaceutical plant doing controls. While I was in a HEPA closed filling room some dolt fired up a Freon (R12) system used to pressurize the containers without checking to see if the lines were properly capped. Those 75GPM pumps were pushing liquid Freon that initially I thought was Glycol for cooling. It took only a few seconds for the Freon to vaporize and reduce the breathable air to nil by displacement. In the few seconds it took to evaluate what's going on and get out I was quite hypoxic. My boss was extremely upset with the dolt. I spent many months after that doing lockout/tagout training and used that case as the what can happen. Halon and Freon are similar in that they are "non toxic", incombustable and generally electronics friendly in the gas form. But life is only supported by Oxygen, anything else while not toxic is not breathable without causing hypoxia. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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got a TTL computer ---- interface technology RS-432

by vax9000＠gmail.com

It is a signal generator with a small TTL computer built in. The front panel is like that of an old PDP-11, with switches and LEDs to input programs. Does anybody have the manual/spec of this TTL computer? it has several memory boards with 93L420(256bitx1) or 93L425(1kx1) chips.

21 years, 4 months

1
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PC/Apple/etc. Cards Worth Keeping/Storing

by marvin＠rain.org

I am trying to decide what to do with a bunch of 16-bit ISA IDE/Floppy controller, etc. cards. Is there still a use for them, or should I just add (most of) them to the (rapidly growing) scrap reclaim box? What about 8-bit and/or 16-bit ethernet cards, no-name 8-bit serial/parallel cards, older style floppy disk cables that still support the 5 1/4" floppy drives? Maybe a better question; are they any cards worth saving? I am keeping all the disk controller cards, memory expansion cards, and any specialized cards. Are they any Apple IIx cards worth saving? My general rule there has been that if I have the docs, they are worth saving. I have boxes of this stuff spread around and am looking for some guidelines on what might be worth keeping! I am getting to the point that anything past about 1984 or so goes.

21 years, 4 months

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Looking for../DEC questions

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Whew... I just spun it up and its definitely not the fan. I am going to pull it apart this weekend and see what I can find. I do have access to a press if the bearing can be pressed off. I did grab the drawings, thanks. Brian. --- Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > Haven't tested the RA80 that came with it but the > RA60 > > sounds like it needs bearings BAD. Any suggestions > on > > restoring this RA60 would be appreciated. > > I've got an RA60 that I really must get round to > playing with... IIRC the > printset is on bitsavers... > > As for the bad bearings, if it's the spindle itself, > you've got problems. > There's no way you're going to take one apart and > replace the bearings. > IIRC it's all pressed together (and sufficiently > tight that no normal > gear puller will shift things), you may well find a > ferrofluid seal in > there, etc. > > If it's the spindle motor, you can almost certainly > do something. The > motor will come apart, the bearings are most likely > standard. > > Of course if you're very lucky, it's just the fan > ;-) > > -tony > >

21 years, 4 months

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new scrap dealer found :>

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

At one of my usual electronics surplus stores the other day, they told me "If I'm into old computers.... go see this scrap dealer" and gave me the address. My interest was piqued, as it was not one I was already familiar with. So, I headed out there today. Interesting place... 8 acres... most of the stuff was inside crumbling warehouses, some was outside in the elements. I believe I saw a deuce and a half ;) But anyways... on to the computer stuff I noticed... One of the lowboy HP cabinets (about 2.5 feet tall) with a 13037 subsystem and 7906D drive mounted. The formica top was missing, but the insides looked pristine. I already have one of these (with formica top), but may pick this one up just to have a spare. They are perfect for a mobile drive (as mobile as a 190 pound drive gets) and you can set a terminal on top (but don't bother trying to read the screen when the drives voice coil is moving). I may use the 7906 as a donor to get another 7906 working... anyways... I noticed a large floorstanding Silicon Graphics machine, didn't get too close to it but I think it said "IRIS" on it. Summagraphics graphics tablet. A large seven foot Digital rack with a processor, tape drive (TZ07), scsi drive tray w/drives, RD42? (cd, no caddy). Dusty, but very good condition. I may buy the TZ07. I couldn't see anything saying what kind of cpu it was. The cpu tray had the cpu on the left, and 3 or 4 what looked to be hard drive modules in front too. No clue what that is, I'm not familiar with that era of DEC gear. Saw another TZ07 too just sitting loose - it was a desktop enclosure - I may snag that too. Oh, there was a neat dual bay olive green rack - I'm guessing it was some time of automated fire control for a military gun. Appeared to have front panel buttons like "turret position, reload time, etc.". I think most of the guts were westinghouse perhaps. Didn't appear to be (to me) an obvious OEM cpu or anything. Quite old. There were selectric typewriters by the palletfull. Some huge floorstanding HP plotter... the front panel said something to the effect of "HP Plotter model I". No interest to me. Much to my joy - the guy who owned the place was just what us collectors would hope for. Soon as I walked in the door he wanted to know what kind of stuff I was looking for, my cell & home number, etc. He took copious notes, and told me matter of factly he'd keep an eye out for the kind of stuff I'm interested in and definitely call me immediately. Seemed most helpful. And better yet, he said they have another location about 10 minutes away, but I didn't have time to go look there. The guy did say "you do know stuff from that period had decent amounts of gold in it", and I told him sure, and I'd be happy to give him more than scrap value for stuff I'm interested in. So, next weekend probably I'll go check out the other place. Note to self - next time, take a flashlight, wear boots, and plan for more time - not every area was searched. Regards, Jay West

21 years, 4 months

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Paper Tape Emulator

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi Jim There are several things that can couse problems. It might be that you are being too fast, not too slow. Most of the newer serial chips hold a larger buffer. Several characters may be buffered up in the chip. You need to make sure that the character has been sent and that you've waited for enough delay time for your other machine to respond before sending another character to the serial chip. You can't just handshake on the status lines from the serial chip. You may have to look at the time chip for timing information. Also, I assume you are using the system calls. If not, you may have issues if your running under windows or in a DOS box under windows because windows thinks it owns the serial and will periodically steal characters >from the input. There is a way to remove a serial port >from windows but I've never tried it for this particular problem. Dwight >From: "Jim Beacon" <jim at g1jbg.co.uk> >Hi, > >has anyone tried to write a paper tape emulator in BASIC? I've had a go in >GW-BASIC, but I suspect that the implementation of the language is too slow >to reliably drive the serial port - it doesn't always pick up the paper >advance signal (I've tried using both CTS and DCD as inputs). > >Will I have to go to a machine code routine to get the fast port access? > >I look forward to replies. > >Jim. > >Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK > >

21 years, 4 months

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OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk > >> Certainly, multifunction tubes were around - the first ones were the dual >> diodes and rectifiers of the 1920s, then later twin triodes, extra diodes, >> and yes, to the ultimate Compactrons. > >The most complex common multi-section valve in the UK (i.e. with the most >sections), is the triple diode triode. It came with a variety of heater >ratings -- the EABC80 (6.3V heater), UABC80 (100mA series string heater, >by far the most common version) and the oddball PABC80 (300mA series >string heater). It turned up in numerous AM/FM radios in the 1960s, where >it was used for the AM detector (1 diode), FM detector (the other 2 >diodes) and audio ampifier (triode). Hi Higher quality AM receivers used the two diode tubes. One diode was for the detector while the other was used for the AGC. That way the loading could be optimized for each function. Dwight It has a B9A (9 pin miniature) base, >so there must be some commoning of electrodes going on, probably the >cathodes. > >-tony > >

21 years, 4 months

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Weirdity with my 8" drive

by vcf＠siconic.com

I've noticed something odd with my 8" disk drive. It seems to produce a lot of errors on the last tracks on side 1 when using Anadisk. Anadisk will report "Gap in sector" and "Data error" errors, usually on tracks higher than 70, and always on side 1. The errors are also inconsistent. I use Anadisk to do a disk dump and note down the errors on one pass, then do it again and compare the errors on the second pass to the first and they are invariably different. I used the sector editor to read one track over and over several times. On most tries it gets errors. The errors are inconsistent from read to read. Sometimes some sectors will have "Gaps", other times data errors, and occasionally the entire track reads just fine. I have dumped some disks that are otherwise error free and the dumps have been consistent. What does "Gap in sectors" under Anadisk mean anyway? Is this just a case of disks that are just old and wearing out or something weird with my drive? Yes, I've cleaned the drive head, thoroughly. But that wouldn't explain why this is only happening on the higher tracks now, would it? 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, 4 months

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Looking for../DEC questions

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

First.. I am looking for SDI drive cables for a PDP 11/84 that I just picked up at the salvage yard. Its in great condition but unfortunately, it was deinstalled with wire snips. Also looking for a manual, DEUNA, RL11 for it as well. Haven't tested the RA80 that came with it but the RA60 sounds like it needs bearings BAD. Any suggestions on restoring this RA60 would be appreciated. Is it true that that the NPG jumpers are missing on all of the slots requiring the G727A grant cards? Also looking for anything on the VAX 6000 series. I have a 6000-510 that I would like to load up. Looking for extra CPU cards and any XMI options. Also would like to find a VAXBI backplane for it as well as VAXBI modules. I have some original IBM PC's, a Kaypro, HP laserjet printers, maybe some SUN stuff and I have a SUN V100 to trade for something really good. I have access to a lot of surplus older SUN's and Apples too for decent trades. Thanks, Brian.

21 years, 4 months

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Looking for ../DEC questions

by aek＠robot.net

Also looking for a manual, DEUNA, RL11 for it as well. -- http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1184 Something that would be nice to find are docs on the 94, and engineering drawings for either the 84 or 94. They appear to be very difficult to find.

21 years, 4 months

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Looking for../DEC questions

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Brad, Looks like tgis is a good one so I will be hanging onto it for now. I'll let you know if I come across another one. Brian. --- Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com> wrote: > > Brian Roth wrote: > > > >Haven't tested the RA80 that came with it > > I could use an RA80 HDA if you (or anyone else) has > one they don't need. > I have a full RA80 box, but no HDA for it. > > You probably want the ra80 for your '84, however. > > No idea about ra60's, sorry. > > -brad >

21 years, 4 months

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Weirdity with my 8" drive

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Sellam, >What does "Gap in sectors" under Anadisk mean anyway? It means that ANADISK saw gaps in the sector numbering. For example, it might have seen sectors: 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 In this case there is a "gap" which is sector #5 missing. Note, it is entirely possible to format a diskette with missing sectors - but most people didn't do it - it most likely indicates that ANADISK failed to read one sector, which is why it reports this as a warning. >Is this just a case of disks that are just old and wearing out or >something weird with my drive? The higher the track, the smaller the "circle" on the disk with the data, hence the more densly packed the bits are - which can lead to more errors - this is also the area where head alignment etc. can be most critical, and worn drives do tend to give more errors on the inner tracks. But it's may also be a incompatibility between the diskette format and the PC disk controller (I am assuming this is the 8" drive that you have hooked up to a PC). The PC disk controller cannot handle gaps sizes as small as some other systems did - For example, I find that Cromemco disks do not read reliably on my PC. The interesting thing is that certain sectors consistantly do not read on one PC, while DIFFERENT sector(s) may not read reliable on a different PC. When I was working on my replacement for TELEDISK (which I still have not gotten back to), I found that I could sometimes read all the sectors by re-reading the same track multiple times (however at that point you lose the ability to detect the exact interleave), but sometimes even reading the track 50 times would not yield all the sectors. On a different PC, I could read a different set of sectors with about the same reliability. One thing I wanted to add to the program was the ability to merge multiple images read from different PCs into one to "collect" all the sectors. I also found that slowing the drive slightly can make a big improvement on reading some types of disks... (and of course - none of this may actually relate to the problem you are having ... just some of my experiences to help you figure it out) If you format a disk from the PC can you read it back reliably? 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, 4 months

4
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PR1ME 750

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Please no flames.... but back in my younger days when I used to (hack?) the Telenet X25 PADs, it seemed like every other machine I ran into was a Prime with its familiar "Primos" banner. I also had a grad student that worked for me that HATED the one he used in school so much that he bought it years later at the Universities surplus auction, held a party and handed out sledge hammers to everyone. You can guess the rest. Of all the years purusing the salvage yards, I have never seem one. Interesting. Brian. --- Jay West <jwest at classiccmp.org> wrote: > It was written.... > > To say that they must have been quite common > machines at one point, > > there are very few left unfortunately - I'm > surprised there aren't more > > survivors. > They were definitely common machines at one point... > I worked on hundreds of > them literally. > > > Actually, I don't know of anyone else on this list > who has any kind of > > PR1ME, but doubtless someone does... > I know of a couple listmembers who have one or > two... > > I don't, and would very much like one :) > > Jay West > > >

21 years, 4 months

3
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I made a zero (was Re: Stuff I want - all I want is a "0")

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Ok, Ethan. I had the impression you were searching for a 2 or 3, and was thinking of doing a "job" on a 'READY' 6 or 7. I do not need the 6 or 7 as I will never have that many RK07 drives for several reasons - limited space for one, power, cables, etc. It is all in my museum, so hardly "heavy use" here :~) The 6 and 7 were a nice addition to my collection (hint - hint). Actually, I have never seen a 'READY' higher than 3! I hope to install the 230VAC power cabling within a few weeks. 6 groups, secured with 16A. fuses, but those 6 groups are derived >from a single 3-phase 25 A. source. So I can "only" load the six 16A groups to a max of say 70A provided the load is distributed evenly. But running a 11/70 with TU77 and two RM03's ... yeah. I have an option to "upgrade" the 3-phase connection to 3x 35 A but I guess I will be needing an airco too when drawing that much! cheers, - Henk. > On 5/2/05, Gooijen H <GOOI at oce.nl> wrote: > > Hello Ethan, > > > > I have 3 RK07 drives (two connected) and I have no READY "buttons" > > with numbers higher than 3. So before you start a job on your 6 > > or 7, would you consider a trade? You get a 2 and a 3 (or whatever > > you want), and I get the 6 and the 7. Instead of working with a > > rasp to remove some plastic, you have to walk to the Post Office :~) > > I had no plans to modify my higher numbers. I was trying to suggest > to people that if they had access to higher numbers they could use > them intact in an RL01/RL02 and the drive itself would treat them as > lower numbers (there are 2 microswitches in the RL drives, 3 in the > RK drives). > > I would be willing to loan my numbers to Vince to copy (if he wants > to try), but since they are the only ones I have over 3 as well, I'd > prefer not to trade them away. I used to have a pair of RK07 drives > and a score of packs, but they didn't survive the closing of Software > Results 12 years ago (I had to leave them behind because they were > too large to transport/store). > Someday, I hope to replace them, but it's not a huge priority (they > are easier to repair than more modern drives, but on a MB/volume/kWH > curve, they are hard to justify for heavy usage). > > -ethan

21 years, 4 months

2
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I made a zero (was Re: Stuff I want - all I want is a "0")

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Hello Ethan, I have 3 RK07 drives (two connected) and I have no READY "buttons" with numbers higher than 3. So before you start a job on your 6 or 7, would you consider a trade? You get a 2 and a 3 (or whatever you want), and I get the 6 and the 7. Instead of working with a rasp to remove some plastic, you have to walk to the Post Office :~) kind regards, - Henk. > -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org > [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks > Sent: maandag 2 mei 2005 5:54 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Re: I made a zero (was Re: Stuff I want - all I want > is a "0") > > > On 5/1/05, vrs <vrs at msn.com> wrote: > > OK, here's the followup on my attempt to make an RL02 "0": > > > > http://so-much-stuff.com/pdp8/zero.html > > > > I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt. > > Nice job. I was recently going through a box of plastic bits (to put > away the handles I got from you, coincidentally), and found a 6 and a > 7, from an RK07, no doubt (since the RL01/RL02 switches top out at > 3)... IIRC, one can use them modulo 3 in an RL01/RL02 (i.e., these > would work as 2 and 3) if one doesn't happen to have a full load of > RK07s to populate with numbers. > > My recollection of the old days was that 1s and 2s were harder to find > that 0s, but probably because we never misplaced our 0s... they were > right there on the system drives. Somewhere in some old DEC > reseller's warehouse there has to be an enormous box of numbers... > much like teeth in the fabled elephant's graveyard.

21 years, 4 months

3
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Teletype Troubleshooting

by CPUMECH＠aol.com

Check to see if the armature for the selector magnet is vibrating or "buzzing". If it is, there are 2 computer grade caps in the call control unit that have to be changed. Very common problem on 33's.

21 years, 4 months

1
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End of Surplus?

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Randy McLaughlin" <cctech at randy482.com> > > >A friend of mine was a weapons office on a USN sub, one day we were talking >about terrorists making a bomb. He started by saying the technology is >above their heads. My response was get a bucket and put enough fissionable >material in it and boom. Hi It is a little more complicated than that. You method would just make a big pile of hot radioactive mess. No boom. If you put it in something that would also evaporate, you could make a mess like Chernobel (sp?). To make a bomb, you have to quickly cause a large number of neutrons with the right energy level. You also have to contain it long eneough for things to multiply before it pushes it self apart. Making a small bomb is beyond most anyones capabilities. Making a really large one is not as hard. Dwight > >He said it wouldn't be efficient and you wouldn't no when it would blow, I >said who cares if you have a nuclear explosion in a major city that's >terrorism. > > >Randy >www.s100-manuals.com > > >

21 years, 4 months

2
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Stuff I want

by gordon＠gjcp.net

Haven't got a lot of money to drop on classic computer goodness, but I do brew a varied and drinkable selection of beers. OK - here are some things I'm trying to get hold of. Cable to go between two RL02 drives Serial printer, ideally a DECWriter of some sort ('cos it's to go on my PDP11) VAXStation SCSI cable (with the funny half-pitch pins) Some kind of CP/M box, with a reasonably well-documented disk controller and console (can be internal, or an external serial terminal - I'm not bothered). Will swap for beer or toys, can collect. Gordon.

21 years, 4 months

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PR1ME 750

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

grabbed a quick pic of the PR1ME 750 after we'd cleaned it all up: http://www.patooie.com/temp/prime750.jpg ... nothing quite like orange / brown / cream for a colour scheme! We've got a few spare PSUs (visible in the bottom-left of the image), plus a couple of spare CPU crates (to the right of the machine) with assorted boards intact. I'm waiting on the key for the rear doors to arrive in the mail before we can actually get inside (the cardcage is mounted backwards, so the boards are accessible from the rear). Some docs and a console terminal should be following on at a later date. Unfortunately the OS drive has long gone. These things use SMD drvies (and we have a few spare SMD disks kicking around) so that's not too much of a problem, but OS install media is possibly going to be tricky. Still, having a "VAX killer" to go alongside some of our other big machines is a Good Thing, even if booting it isn't possible right now... cheers Jules

21 years, 4 months

2
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S100 haul - board inventory

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

As promised - here's the list of all *loose* S100 boards we got. There are more inside the Northstars and the Minstrel S100 machines of course, so more yet to come :-) (We've looked inside the Northstars though and there's nothing *that* fancy inside - some are empty, others have just typical CPU / RAM / Floppy boards inside. One has a floating-point board from memory) CPU ----- 4 x Cromenco ZPU Ithaca IA1010 Z80 CPU Board NorthStar ZPB Z80 CPU Board HiTech SPAM Z80 CPU Board Morrow MPZ80 Z80 CPU Board JC Systems MCM80 Z80 CPU Board Polymorphic CPU 8080 CPU Video ------- Microdiversions Inc. Microangelo (5 board set) 7 x Microdiversions Inc. ScreenSplitter 3 sets - Vector Graphics 8K High-Res Graphics (2 board set) Memory (RAM / ROM) --------------------------- 3 x Measurement Systems & Control Inc. DMB6400 RAM Board 2 x Integrated Micro Products T256 256K RAM Board 3 x NorthStar 32K DRAM 32K Dynamic RAM Boards 4 x Industrial Micro Systems 8K Static RAM 2 x Godbout RAM20 64K Static RAM Boards Ithaca 2708/2716 Board 7 x CDC 64K RAM boards (variously populated) Godbout Econoram 2A 8K? RAM Board 9 x NorthStar RAM32A 32K RAM Board Transam ME3 EPROM Interface Board 3 x Comart CRAM64 64K RAM Board 2 x Cromenco 64KZ 64K RAM Board 2 x Heathkit H8 8K RAM Board Compupro Econoram X3A 32K RAM Board 3 x NorthStar RAM16 16K RAM Board 3 x ThinkerToys SuperRAM 16 16K RAM Board 2 x Godbout Econoram 2 RAM Board H-TE SAM64K 64K DRAM Board Godbout RAMXX 64K RAM Board NorthStar HRAM6 64K RAM Board SSM CyberRAM EPROM Interface Board Cromenco 16KPR EEPROM Interface Board Cromenco 8K BiteSaver 2 8K ROM Board Disk controllers -------------------- 12 sets - Xcomp SA1000/ST506 (ST506 Interface, 2 board set) Data Technology Corp. DTC10-1 SASI Controller 4 x NorthStar MDSAD3 Micro Disk Controller 3 x H-TE HTE-DC Disk Controller Morrow Winchester Controller (SMD) 2 x Microcomplex PhaseLock 2 Disk Controller 3 x Cromenco 4FDC Disk Controller Compupro Disk 1 Disk Controller 5 x Xcomp 1785-02 Single board of SA1000/ST506 Interface 2 x Xcomp 1790-03 Single board of SA1000/ST506 Interface 4 x Interam Disk Controller JC Systems SASI / Floppy SASI / Floppy Controller Tarbell Electronics MD2022 Floppy Disk Controller Serial controllers --------------------- Morrow MULT/IO Multiple I/O Interface NorthStar HSIO-4 4 Port Serial Card 6 x HiTech PAM (Serial Interface?) CityUni 4SRLIO Serial Interface 3 x Cromenco TUART Serial Interface 2 x Compupro Interfacer 2 Channel Serial Board Misc ----- DRC/BEC S100 SFX Generator 4 x Morrow Wunderbuss BackPlane IO Reseach Limited Pluto/S100 Interface Bob Mullen TV4 S100 Extender with On-Board Logic Analyser SSM 2708/2716 Programmer Godbout CP1 Active Terminator 2 x Cromenco D+7A IO (A/D Conversion?)

21 years, 4 months

1
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Microangelo S100 board(s)

by leeedavison＠yahoo.co.uk

Some info here .. http://www.infinetivity.com/~delscott/frames/ua.htm Lee. . Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

21 years, 4 months

1
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PR1ME 750

by James＠jdfogg.com

> grabbed a quick pic of the PR1ME 750 after we'd cleaned it all up: > > http://www.patooie.com/temp/prime750.jpg > > ... nothing quite like orange / brown / cream for a colour scheme! I think this is the generation of PR1ME I worked on. It was a long time ago, in Framingham, MA. I was a Quality Engineer checking ECO work, reflow and component swaps for solder quality, revision levels and correctness.

21 years, 4 months

3
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Microangelo S100 board(s)

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Anyone able to tell me anything about this critter? Googles doesn't turn up much. It's something of a monster; a palette board plus three other S100 boards on a common bit of IDC cable, plus yet another S100 card with a Z80 on board (google suggests that this is just for controlling the graphics system, independant of the actual host system's CPU) I hate to think how expensive that all was when new. Anyone have docs / software / specs for the setup though? (we've now got a list of all the stray S100 boards we picked up the other week, plus an inventory of what's in all of those 19 Horizons that we got - soon as it lands in my inbox I'll post it to the list...) cheers Jules

21 years, 4 months

1
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Vintage Computer Web Site -www.1000bit.net

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>From: Marvin Johnston <marvin at rain.org> >Subject: Vintage Computer Web Site > > >It has some good information *and* photos of quite a few machines. The >concept seems to be that people register and make public information >about their machines. I had listed a bubble memory module (FBM43CA) on >VCM with no knowledge of what it went to. The information on Norm's >website at http://gallery.owt.com/~anheier/index.src told me that it >goes to Fujitsu's first micro, an M-8. I *think* we have a nice find >there! > > >------------------------------ Speaking of bubble memory I have and use two BPK72 (intel 1MB BM evaluation module) for a few of my homebrew systems. 128kb is enough to be useful. Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
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New Find: Apollo Workstation

by chenmel＠earthlink.net

Today at a local municipal auction I got an exciting new find: An H-P Apollo Series 735 Workstation. I blew it, in part, because all I got was the main system, an external SCSI drive array (six differential SCSI drives in an HP box, with wide-diff cable) and the external CDROM. Somebody else got the big monitor (the main system has three BNC out video) and I never saw the keyboard, but it was probably there. I only spied the system in the mess of PC clones being sold as it came up for bid so I had to buy it in a group with six other Intel boxes for $5. Shortly thereafter, and before I noticed it, the monitor for it (marked HP, row of BNC connectors on back, etc.) went for $1 to somebody else. SERIOUS headslapping incident. The part that really bugs me is it likely went to someone seeing 'big screen' and expecting a VGA connector on back. The system has a single narrow SCSI drive inside, about half the memory slots are populated. It looks like it was connected to the external CDROM drive (a matching HP case drive that I *happened* to get in an additional box lot) on the narrow SCSI connector, and the wide differential SCSI cable was still attached to the big box that has six additional drives in it. I have a few questions for anybody on the list who has more experience with Apollo workstations: Will I be able to use this system over a serial console? I'm hoping it will 'just come up' with whatever system is on the hard drive, though I probably won't get past a login prompt. This is the main way I use my Sun boxes (serial console). Will it just sense the lack of a keyboard and bring up serial port A? What OS did a system of this vintage run? By looking at chip markings, etc, it appears to be about a 1990 vintage system. I'm really upset with myself that I wasn't more 'on the ball' with this system. I know I saw the video cable (triple BNC) go away to somebody else in another box they got really cheap, I saw the monitor there and know it went for a dollar, and judging by the completeness of parts of the system that I saw in boxes and the parts that I (thankfully) got, I am fairly certain there was probably an HP keyboard in the mess, too. I could have gotten a complete system here, and now I'm going to have to settle for serial console for the time being, if that's even possible. Anyhow, it's a cool 'tall narrow' tower system to add to my collection and it's beautifully high quality construction. I just wish I had it all. -Scott

21 years, 4 months

5
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PC/Apple/etc. Cards Worth Keeping/Storing (Tony Duell)

by mbbrutman＠magnaspeed.net

I'm a little late on this thread .. it's hard to keep up. Besides the Tech Ref manuals and the Hardware maintenance manuals, the Sams ComputerFacts have also been helpful. I'm a big PCjr fanatic, but I find the hardware literature from the PC, XT and AT to be helpful because it is all very closely related. Besides keeping the old classic cards, I look for (and hold) good general purpose cards. Future Domain 85x series SCSI cards are a good example; they work in eight bit systems like the PC and the software is functional enough to drive hard disks, CD-ROMs, etc. While we're on the topic, I've been trying to find an XT tech ref. I want it for the BIOS listing of the hard drive adapter. This kind of thing is useful when grafting one of the old MFM controllers onto a PCjr. Does anybody have a source for these? (I have the Jr tech ref and an AT tech ref, but finding an XT tech ref has been difficult.) Mike mbbrutman at brutman.com

21 years, 4 months

2
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AIM 65 lives

by andyda＠earthlink.net

Just a note of thanks for help and encouragement. I finally got my AIM back running again with the help of a local who had some test equipment. First, before getting the help I found several stuck address lines and cleared them by blowing an brushing and vacuuming. We then found that 5 out of 8 2114 RAMs were bad, and the CPU just didn't have enough oomph. After cleaning the board and replacing parts, it works like a charm. Seems weird that the CPU and RAM went bad just sitting, and the board got something stuck in the address lines just sitting in the box for 20 years, It was the original shipping box for the AIM, but I guess more crud got in the box than I realized. Lessons learned anyway. Now the first thing I need to do is to get the 20 mil current loop to RS-252 working so I can use my Mac as a terminal and program development and storage. AndyD

21 years, 4 months

1
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Nova?

by pcw＠mesanet.com

I wonder if these are the Rolm Nova clone. They look old enough to be... http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=579804&convertTo=USD <http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=579804&convertTo=USD> Peter Wallace

21 years, 4 months

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Some rack mount paper tape readers and some drums...

by pcw＠mesanet.com

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=584873&convertTo=USD <http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=584873&convertTo=USD> Peter Wallace

21 years, 4 months

1
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Paper Tape Emulator in Basic

by jim.beacon＠ntlworld.com

Hi, has anyone tried to write a paper tape emulator in BASIC? I've had a go in GW-BASIC, but I suspect that the implementation of the language is too slow to reliable drive the serial port - it doesn't always pick up the paper advance signal (I've tried using both CTS and DCD as inputs). Will I have to go to a machine code routine to get the fast port access? I look forward to replies. Jim. Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK

21 years, 4 months

2
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DEC Tx07 tape drive question (was Re: new scrap dealer found :>)

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

I had an 880 with the SCSi interface. It was a big Pertec to SCSI adapter that bolted right to the back of the drive. Wish I still had that adapter. I haven't seen one since. Brian. --- Tim Riker <Tim at rikers.org> wrote: > Jay West wrote: > > I'm quite positive they were SCSI 1/2 mag tape > drives. However, some > > googling on the web seems to indicate that a TZ07 > is a 4mm dat? No, what > > I saw was clearly 1/2 mag tape, front loader, > horizontal drive. Reminded > > me of an M4 9914 or Cipher F880 or was it F990... > > F880 is shorter. M990 (not F) is the tallest. Then > came the M995S. > Simple googled page: > > http://www.electrovalueinc.com/9_track_drives.htm > > The M990 had a scsi option, but was pertec by > default. The F880 likely > had a scsi option as well. > > My M990 does not have the scsi interface, but I sure > wish it did. =( > >

21 years, 4 months

1
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Help: simulated OS/8 gen

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Hi Dennis, this looks familiar to me :~) strugled with that too. With the help of Vince I got it OK (so far). Check www.pdp-11.nl and click the link "Homebrew PDP-8" at the left side, maybe it can be of help to you. - Henk, PA8PDP. -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org To: cctech at classiccmp.org Sent: 1-5-2005 2:57 Subject: Help: simulated OS/8 gen Dear all, I'm trying to construct an OS/8 environment under SIMH. I'm trying to use an RK05 device for the SYS volume, but can't seem to get the BUILD procedure right. The OS/8 distribution I grabbed is dectape images of V3D from http://www.pdp8.net/images/images/misc_dectapes.shtml. Here's what I've done so far: sim> at dt0 Dectapes/AL-4711C-BA.tu56 DT0: 12b format, buffering file in memory sim> at dt1 Dectapes/AL-4712C-BA.tu56 DT1: 12b format, buffering file in memory sim> at rk0 sys.dsk sim> at rk1 user.dsk sim> b dt0 .R BUILD $ At this point, I can't seem to INSERT or SYS anything resembling an RK05 system disk. If I: $LOAD DTA1:RK08SY then I can: $SYS RK8:RKA0 but when I try to do BOOTSTRAP I get: $BO ?SYS $ I also fiddled with PIP and the /Y and /S flags, trying to just build a copy of the tape on the disk, to no avail. I'm sure I'm just a dunderhead. Can anyone provide some hints? Thanks, De

21 years, 4 months

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Original IBM 64K Memory Kit in original box on ebay....

by RMeenaks＠OLF.COM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=74946&item=5190497915 &rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW Ram (c) 2005 OpenLink Financial Copyright in this message and any attachments remains with us. It is confidential and may be legally privileged. If this message is not intended for you it must not be read, copied or used by you or disclosed to anyone else. Please advise the sender immediately if you have received this message in error. Although this message and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defect that might affect any computer system into which it is received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that it is virus free and no responsibility is accepted by Open Link Financial, Inc. for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

21 years, 4 months

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Vintage Computer Web Site

by marvin＠rain.org

I just ran across this site: http://www.1000bit.net/ It has some good information *and* photos of quite a few machines. The concept seems to be that people register and make public information about their machines. I had listed a bubble memory module (FBM43CA) on VCM with no knowledge of what it went to. The information on Norm's website at http://gallery.owt.com/~anheier/index.src told me that it goes to Fujitsu's first micro, an M-8. I *think* we have a nice find there!

21 years, 4 months

1
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DEC Tx07 tape drive question (was Re: new scrap dealer found :>)

by abacos_98＠yahoo.com

Jay, I have a TSZ07 right next to my desk and it surely is a 1/2" front loader. It will due either 6250 or 1600 BPI. Brian. --- Jay West <jwest at classiccmp.org> wrote: > I'm curious about the "TZ07" tape drives I located. > > I'm quite positive they were SCSI 1/2 mag tape > drives. However, some > googling on the web seems to indicate that a TZ07 is > a 4mm dat? No, what I > saw was clearly 1/2 mag tape, front loader, > horizontal drive. Reminded me of > an M4 9914 or Cipher F880 or was it F990... > > Anyways... I could be wrong about the TZ07 > designation, but I was pretty > sure I remembered it right. Can anyone tell me if a > TZ07 is in fact a 1/2 > front loading mag tape drive, and was it typically a > given set of densities > or was it frequently only one or two densities? > > Jay > > >

21 years, 4 months

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new scrap dealer found :>

by James＠jdfogg.com

> At one of my usual electronics surplus stores the other day, > they told me "If I'm into old computers.... go see this scrap > dealer" and gave me the address. My interest was piqued, as > it was not one I was already familiar with. So, I headed out > there today. And this is where? Or are you silent to protect the stash :-)

21 years, 4 months

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End of Surplus?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

A couple of days ago several people were discussing their problems with a couple of DG Novas. I mentioned that I had just seen one in a scrap yard and a couple of people asked me to check on getting it for parts. I went back there today and the Nova was still there and it looks complete. HOWEVER the owner of the yard informed me that he is no longer selling ANY surplus to anybody for any reason. I talked to him and found out that the US Government is now requiring all surplus and scrap dealers to keep DETAILED records of EVERY piece of equipment that they sell! Furthermore they must ensure that NONE of it goes overseas. As you can imagine there's no way that a scrap yard owner can handle the massive amounts of paperwork that would be involved and there is absolutely no way to ensure that none of it goes overseas. Supposedly this is coming from the Department of Homeland Security and has something to do with 9/11. (Have you noticed that every new, rediculous requirement is in response to 9/11?) This is a requirement of the US Government but the owner says that a number of independent companies are also giving him the same requirement. However he says that it's not worth the trouble to try and keep the government/non-government stuff separate, he's just going to destroy everything! If this is as drastic as it sounds then I think we've seen the end of surplus forever! Any thoughts on this? Joe

21 years, 4 months

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Help: simulated OS/8 gen

by drb＠msu.edu

Dear all, I'm trying to construct an OS/8 environment under SIMH. I'm trying to use an RK05 device for the SYS volume, but can't seem to get the BUILD procedure right. The OS/8 distribution I grabbed is dectape images of V3D from http://www.pdp8.net/images/images/misc_dectapes.shtml. Here's what I've done so far: sim> at dt0 Dectapes/AL-4711C-BA.tu56 DT0: 12b format, buffering file in memory sim> at dt1 Dectapes/AL-4712C-BA.tu56 DT1: 12b format, buffering file in memory sim> at rk0 sys.dsk sim> at rk1 user.dsk sim> b dt0 .R BUILD $ At this point, I can't seem to INSERT or SYS anything resembling an RK05 system disk. If I: $LOAD DTA1:RK08SY then I can: $SYS RK8:RKA0 but when I try to do BOOTSTRAP I get: $BO ?SYS $ I also fiddled with PIP and the /Y and /S flags, trying to just build a copy of the tape on the disk, to no avail. I'm sure I'm just a dunderhead. Can anyone provide some hints? Thanks, De

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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Der Mouse

by mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA

[Normally I wouldn't've seen this at all, since my mailer rejects anything sent through gmail's webmail interface, because they don't include the client IP in the headers. Someone who knows that mailed me a copy, so this particular message I saw anyway.] > I'm assuming that you are the same one as this : > http://bsd.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/29/149249&tid=185&tid=7 Yes, that's me. > I also assume that it is your web server that is no longer up ;) I don't have a webserver, actually. My FTP server did get rather slashdotted, not surprisingly (note that the data for 04-30 is for only the day so far): % cat OLD/xferlog/000 xferlog | colrm 7 | uniq -c 29 Apr 18 18 Apr 22 26 Apr 24 586 Apr 25 584 Apr 27 34096 Apr 28 216302 Apr 29 42379 Apr 30 % Day boundaries in those logs are based on UTC, not my local time. xferlog is up to some 20.3MB, and I'm hoping I've weathered the worst of the storm. /~\ 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, 4 months

3
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6802 disassembler

by mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA

Back on Wednesday, I (quoted and) wrote >> Can someone recommend a freeware 6802 disassembler. > Well, I have a multi-machine disassembler that supports a half-dozen > CPUs now. The 6800 is not one of them, but it would be fairly easy > to add. If anyone can send me a sufficiently precise description of > the 6800 instruction set, I'll be happy to write the necessary code. Someone was kind enough to send me a description of the 6303, which is supposedly a Hitachi part that runs 6800 code and has some additional instructions. The description I got did not distinguish which instructions are 6800-compatible and which are 6303 extensions, but it was sufficient for me to add the 6303 to my disassembler. Given a description of the differences between the 6800 and the 6303, I could easily make it do the 6800 as well (the infrastructure is all there, but lacking such a description I can't do much with it). To the nice person who sent me that - speak up if you want people to know who you are. *You* know who you are, and thank you in any case. > ftp.rodents.montreal.qc.ca:/mouse/disas/src for those interested. The FTPable copy has been udpated. /~\ 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, 4 months

1
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Teletype Troubleshooting

by bkotaska＠charter.net

I am looking for troubleshooting tips for a 33 teletype. I'm testing in local mode and am getting incorrect characters on (almost) every keypress. The characters will change even with repeated pressings of the same key. I am pretty sure the keyboard is outputting the correct codes. I wiped down the distributor surface (it was pretty grimy) and no change. I tried adjusting the range finder but could never find a point where the characters were consistent. Is it possible to disconnect the motor drive belt and rotate the shaft manually to get a closer look at what is happening mechanically? It's very hard to see what is going on in the selector area with the shaft spinning so fast. By the way, my drive belt is somewhat loose. Is there still a source for these? Or maybe an adjustment for tightening? Thanks, Bill

21 years, 4 months

5
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VAX9000 (was: RE: kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: VAX9000 (was: RE: kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions) > From: Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> > Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:50:15 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >It's a nice powerful machine. One of its problems was that it was >originally planned as a water-cooled machine (code name "aquarius"). >That ended up being impractical, so plan B was to do an air cooled >somewhat slowed down version (code name "aridus" :-) ). > >So a bunch of the technology was done on the assumption that power >density could be very high and speed would be the maximum possible at >that time. Also, I think it was the only VAX ever shipped out of the >"large systems group" which used to be the PDP-10 group before the >last PDP-10 project got nuked halfway through its development. > > paul One of the interesting aspects is the collision of technology at that point in time. People that thought they needed a bigger meaner VAX got it with the 9000. However in the same timeframe there was increased demand for smaller ligher VAXen and use more of them. What was happening in the background was the speed/power product of CMOS was getting better and ECL (ECL100k) was was poor in the density/power product. So while the 9000 was the fastest vax.. for a while the later CMOS versions was very close and a smaller plus cheaper was it. Add to that that a Multiprocessor VAX using chip technology was not only practical and well supported it offered a better bang for the buck. If that weren't enough the same ugly dragon that helped kill Jupiter (PDP-10) was back to haunt VAX. At some point in the near future it was clear that 32bits no matter how fast was going to be inefficient and 64bits was a very viable answer, that begat Alpha. Who'd have though in 1987 that a gigabyte was not enough and terabytes were only a few years away. Maybe I have a different view but, every processor technology did reach a point where speed was not the exclusive issue. At that point addressing (main memory addressability) would force a jump in the word size. If that weren't true we'd be running 3ghz Z80s. Allison

21 years, 4 months

2
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VAX9000 (was: RE: kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: VAX9000 (was: RE: kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions) > From: Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> > Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 17:13:18 -0400 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >BTW, on the topic of disk drives, I heard about a prototype created by >the disk engineering group for a disk drive (3.5 inch, or maybe >smaller) that was made mostly of plastic. Apparently it was very >cheap, and might have been a big hit but people didn't want to invest >in the new manufacturing line required for it... > > paul Ever look at a RZ23 (and later drives)? The HDA uses less metal than most 3.2" disks even now. Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
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EK-SCB02-UG-001 SBC-11/21 PLUS Single-Board Computer User's Guide.

by cfmd＠bredband.net

Hi! I have been looking for material on my SBC-11/21 PLUS card for quite some time, and just found an 2 year old post of yours stating that you have the User's Guide in scanned format. Would you mind sharing it with me, as you offered it to the poster in this post: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/2003-May/022047.html Actually, anything about the SBC-11/21 FALCON PLUS is of interest. Schematics would be nice. Cheers, Magnus

21 years, 4 months

1
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new scrap dealer found :>

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: new scrap dealer found :> > From: "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> > Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 13:57:23 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >At one of my usual electronics surplus stores the other day, they told me >"If I'm into old computers.... go see this scrap dealer" and gave me the >address. My interest was piqued, as it was not one I was already familiar >with. So, I headed out there today. > >Interesting place... 8 acres... most of the stuff was inside crumbling >warehouses, some was outside in the elements. I believe I saw a deuce and a >half ;) But anyways... on to the computer stuff I noticed... Jay, For curiosity where is that place? If not specifically, then generally. Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
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Found a NEC UltraLite

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Yesterday at a local thrift I found a NEC UltraLite hidden in bundle of toys. It had a price of $9.59 on it but is missing the power supply for it. Not able to test it until I find a power source for it. Looked on the web for some information it and found a couple of nice sites.

21 years, 4 months

1
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New Books for for Sellam's Database

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Yesterday DHL dropped off three more cases of books and in one of the boxes were these two books which I found to be great reads and great pictures of classic systems. An Introduction To Microcomputers Volume 0 The Beginner's Book by Adam Osborne ISBN 0-931988-26-8 COMPUTERS by William R. Corliss catalog card number 73-600074 written in 1973

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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Hacking the DECmate serial port

by waisun.chia＠gmail.com

I'm trying to use the DECmate/VT278 in terminal emulation mode (VT100) via the serial board/DP278, but at this mode all the docs says that it's only restricted 4800. Has anybody done it or is it possible to up the speed to at least 9600? Is this a hardware or firmware limitation? /wai-sun

21 years, 4 months

4
5
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kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Antonio Carlini <a.carlini at ntlworld.com> wrote: > The RA7x series all accept some kind of OCP, but they all > (or at least all the ones I have seen) have some way of > configuring them without the need for the OCP. I'm pretty > sure all the manuals I have scanned are available via Manx and > that should cover the RA70,RA72 and RA73. I use RA72 and RA73 drives in all my Q22-bus MicroVAXen. I house them in BA123 cabinets, mount them on the appropriate sleds, and connect them to the KDA50 with the 17-00951-03 cable. It's a black ribbon coax cable consisting of 4 little strips, one per drive. On one end they are all joined together to plug into the controller, on the other end each strip has the connector that plugs into an RA7x series drive. I believe the same cable was used in BA213s except that the ends plugged into a bulkhead instead of RA7x drives. I do not have the OCP. Each RA7x drive has a block of 3 DIP switches on the side which is normally unused but selects the unit number in the absence of the OCP. > The biggest SDI drive I recall (in capacity) was the RA74 which > was a whopping 3.5GB - not a whole lot to shout about! Are you sure there was an RA74? I thought it only existed in the RF version and the biggest SDI drive was RA73. MS

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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phase converters for big iron

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Mike Gemeny" <MGemeny at pgcps.org> > ---snip--- > >Dwight mentioned RMS voltage when referring to a square wave. I was a bit confused by that. My understanding of RMS is that it is a way of expressing the energy under the curve of a sign wave such that the total energy was expressed as that of the peek of a square wave with equivalent energy. If that is the case then RMS and peek for a square wave would be the same but to convert between RMS and peek for a sign wave you multiple or divide by the square root of 2 or 1.414. I???m not trying to criticize Dwight at all here, I suspect he makes a good point, I???m just not sure I fully understood his post. > >Clarification and other opinions always welcome. > >Mike. Hi Mike I'll try to clarify. RMS means that if you feed it into a resistor, it will get as hot. Since a sine wave spends part of its time at lower voltages, it has to have a higher peak voltage to get the resistor as warm as an equivalent DC voltage. Now when we get to a square wave, we see that it has exactly the same voltage as DC for the same RMS level. It is just that it switches polarity, but that doesn't effect the power in the resistor. Now, when looking at what we call 115VAC, we are referring to its RMS level ( equivalent heating of a resistor ). A 115V square wave has a peak voltage of 115V as well as an RMS of 115V. This makes a difference when we use a load such as a rectifier. It only looks at peak. On the sine wave, that was about 160V while the square wave, it is still 115v. So, something like a light bulb will but as bright on the 115V square wave as 115VAC but a power supply with a rectifier will only see about the equivalent of 80VAC RMS sinewave source. This is outside of most switchers operating range. In other words, the square wave source would need to have an output of 160V to be used correctly with power supplies that have input rectifiers. I hope that makes more sense. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

phase converters for big iron

by MGemeny＠pgcps.org

A few things I forgot to mention and then a couple of questions. Even though the caps were balanced for the lathe motor, when I start the grinder, the lathe motor gets even quieter. Does this mean that perhaps I should be dropping out the caps once I have a motor running? I don?t think so, because when I balanced the cap bank I was looking for the sweet spot in motor happiness. Perhaps its an indication that the more motors I have running the happier they all are, which has been my assumption. If the latter were the case then a rotary approach would not have much in the way of limits for motors. Also, the impression I have always had from machine shop circles was that commercial rotary phase converters were the same as motors as far as the stator and rotor were concerned. The only differences being that it has no output shaft and would have some other stuff (like my bank of caps) on the outside. But again, I don?t have experience with commercial rotary phase converters ether. If there were differences between the stator and rotor of a commercial rotary phase converter and a three-phase motor, I would love find out what they are. Yes, Kevin is quite correct that solid-state phase converters are available. In fact some will even allow you to control the speed of the motors, although one that elaborate is most likely not what Brian would want. I also agree with Paul that for a conventional power supply ?I would expect power supplies to be every bit as tolerant of distorted waveforms as motors are, even assuming that these converters produce major distortion.? And for switching computer power supplies I would bet that an old 3 phase motor idling in the corner would go a long way toward cleaning up any artifacts in the solid state converter output. I would expect a solid-state approach to handle a wide range of loads, but I don?t have any experience with them. I would also expect a solid-state approach to have a strict upper limit on capacity. Is that the case? Perhaps Kevin could get his brother to share more information with us on his experiences. On phase order I just want to point out what I hope is obvious to everyone but no one has said, if you swap any two phases you have reversed the phase order. Jim brings up 208v, which brings up an issue not yet discussed, that is delta vs. Y. My guess is that motors and generators are generally delta, and that most distribution systems are Y. I can accept being mistaken about this, and a rich discussion is sure to help us all. Most of you must by now be familiar with the distribution systems used in the states as far as one leg being 110v and both legs giving you 220v on single phase service. With that in mind how can we best approximate that in a 3 phase building? We use a Y configuration of second windings on the last set of 3 transformers. If each secondary winding is set for 120v, and we combine 2 windings we don?t get 240v, we get 208v. Given thusly: (120+120)*sin(360/3)=207.85 (or 208) If you wanted 220 or 230 or 240 you use a set of 3 transformers and most likely wire the primaries as Y and the secondaries as delta. Dwight mentioned RMS voltage when referring to a square wave. I was a bit confused by that. My understanding of RMS is that it is a way of expressing the energy under the curve of a sign wave such that the total energy was expressed as that of the peek of a square wave with equivalent energy. If that is the case then RMS and peek for a square wave would be the same but to convert between RMS and peek for a sign wave you multiple or divide by the square root of 2 or 1.414. I?m not trying to criticize Dwight at all here, I suspect he makes a good point, I?m just not sure I fully understood his post. Clarification and other opinions always welcome. Mike.

21 years, 4 months

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kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: RE: kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions > Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 18:35:49 +0100 > To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >John Allain wrote: > >> As discovered with the RA90 fitting in a SF200 rack. >> DEC must have thought this out pretty well, but Wikipedia >> actually credits the RA9 series for wrecking the company. > >> ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Equipment_Corporation That wikicrap again. Actually one of the things that did hurt was the RA8x debacle. Good drive but some dunderhead subbed a adhesive and usually within a 100hrs they would headcrash. I believe the FA forcast on that was 101million to return and preplace all the damaged HDA and it was more due to efforts resulting from crahses. That and keeping PNO and ABQ open with staff no work. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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Stuff I want

by jim＠g1jbg.co.uk

If we're all going to do a "wish list", is there anyone in the UK with an un-loved and un-wanted ASR33? Jim. Please see our website the " Vintage Communication Pages" at WWW.G1JBG.CO.UK

21 years, 4 months

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S-100 proto boards and wire wrap connectors...

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

I just got some from this guy. He has a few left: http://www.sbszoo.com/ve6sbs/sale/cct-brds.htm Bill

21 years, 4 months

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Teletype Troubleshooting

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi You can disconnect the motor and run it by hand, turning the shaft. First after powering up, you need to turn the shaft until the clutches release. You need to squeeze the two tabs together that come from each clutch to keep them from dragging when running slow. It is a little hard to do while also holding the shaft. Once you've done it, you'll understand. Anyway, you should be able to walk it through a letter >from the keyboard and you can watch to see what isn't working right. Erratic operation is a little tougher to find when running by hand because it tends to work right at the slower speeds. I hope you have a manual. If not download the stuff >from the web page. You'll need the manual for adjustments and disassembly. Dwight >From: "Bill Kotaska" <bkotaska at charter.net> > >I am looking for troubleshooting tips for a 33 teletype. > >I'm testing in local mode and am getting incorrect characters >on (almost) every keypress. The characters will change even >with repeated pressings of the same key. I am pretty sure the >keyboard is outputting the correct codes. > >I wiped down the distributor surface (it was pretty grimy) and no change. >I tried adjusting the range finder but could never find a point where the >characters were consistent. > >Is it possible to disconnect the motor drive belt and rotate the shaft >manually to get a closer look at what is happening mechanically? >It's very hard to see what is going on in the selector area with the >shaft spinning so fast. > >By the way, my drive belt is somewhat loose. Is there still a source >for these? Or maybe an adjustment for tightening? > >Thanks, >Bill >

21 years, 4 months

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Teletype Troubleshooting

by CPUMECH＠aol.com

They used to be big in terminals and printers. They still have a lot of spare parts for everything they serviced. Think they have a lot of pc's,xt's,at's,& Teletypes still.You can e-mail them @dataterm.com

21 years, 4 months

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Der Mouse

by williams.dan＠gmail.com

I'm assuming that you are the same one as this : http://bsd.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/29/149249&tid=185&tid=7 I also assume that it is your web server that is no longer up ;) Dan

21 years, 4 months

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TK50 / TK70 Media Differences

by jhfinexgs2＠compsys.to

There is currently a discussion (argument?) on vmsnet.pdp-11 in respect of the media required for the TK70 tape drive. Indeed, there is even a question of using the TK70 tape drive on a PDP-11. Has anyone any explicit knowledge and / or experience of a TK70 tape drive on a PDP-11? In respect of the media, does anyone know of any explicit differences between a CompacTape and a CompacTape II? Memorex used to have a page listing all DLT physical and magnetic characteristics. At the time, I was unable to see any differences. Can anyone at classiccmp help answer these questions? My personal experience over the last 15 years using a TK70 on a PDP-11 under RT-11 is that regular TK50 media (CompacTape) have always been successfully used (over 100 TK50 media) with the TK70 tape drive (after the TK50 media are bulk erased if they were ever placed into a TK50 tape drive - if they were completely unused, they worked immediately). Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

21 years, 4 months

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Hacking the DECmate serial port

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Hacking the DECmate serial port > From: Wai-Sun Chia <waisun.chia at gmail.com> > Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 11:38:17 +0800 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 4/29/05, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: >> Not necesarily. The 6402 takes external transmit and receive clocks, at >> 16 times the desirted baud rate. If the clock generator hardware can't go >> faster than 16*4800 for some reason, then you won't get more than 4800 >> baud. This is probalby very easy to modify, though. > >Sorry to sound simplistic, but does that mean if I just whack in an >appropriate crystal, then I'd magically get 9600? (haven't downloaded >the prints yet) > >Recommendations for an appropriate crystal would be very much appreciated! :-) >How much do you think I could up it to? 19k2? The crystal would be 4x whats used for4800! There are a few yabuts. One the crystal me DIP osc, two the end freq may exceed the divider logics count speed and three the same rock may also supply other logic that may not like being sped up like the cpu itself. Look at the prints first befor you speculate. The UART itself can easily go faster but it's never that easy. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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Teletype Troubleshooting

by James＠jdfogg.com

> Try Dataterm in Woeburn, Massachusetts. I have a nice ASR-33 > teletype that I bought from them last year. They also used > to service them and they might have spare parts. Woburn, MA. I grew up in the next town and didn't know of them. Do they sell much retro gear?

21 years, 4 months

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TK50 / TK70 Media Differences

by jhfinexgs2＠compsys.to

Has anyone any explicit knowledge and / or experience of a TK70 tape drive on a PDP-11? In respect of the media, does anyone know of any explicit differences between a TK50 (CompacTape) and a TK70 (CompacTape II)? Memorex used to have a page listing all DLT physical and magnetic characteristics. At the time, I was unable to see any differences. I did find some data starting with DLT III media, but not for TK50 / TK70: http://www.data-storage.co.uk/tape/quantum/media.htm Can anyone at classiccmp help answer these questions? My personal experience over the last 15 years using a TK70 on a PDP-11 under RT-11 is that regular TK50 media (CompacTape) have always been successfully used (over 100 TK50 media) with the TK70 tape drive (after the TK50 media are bulk erased if they were ever placed into a TK50 tape drive - if they were completely unused, they worked immediately). Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

21 years, 4 months

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Teletype Troubleshooting

by CPUMECH＠aol.com

Check to see if the armature for the selector magnet is vibrating or "buzzing". If it is, there are 2 computer grade caps in the call control unit that have to be changed. Very common problem on 33's.

21 years, 4 months

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Apple // - Finally Success!!

by cctech＠retro.co.za

Hi all David Holland said : >Hardcore Computerist(?) once published an article on how to deprotect >Wizardry I. (If anyone happens to have/know of that article, I'd kinda >like to arrange get a copy of it (Xerox/Scans are fine) for nostalgia >sake.. - yes, I did spend many many hours as a teenager putzing w/ >Wizardry I's protection scheme) Me too! (translation: I'd love to see the article, and yes, spent many hours pussling over that tickety-tick-tick thing the head did...) Remember Zardax? W

21 years, 4 months

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my Data General ( MP/200, not 4/X) and 6095 Disk drive

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

Tom Jenning's account of getting his Nova up again made me go back to my Nova MP/200, a 2901 bitslice based machine. With the machine came a DG6095 diskdrive, on which i did not find any info. It looks identical, inside and outside, to Tom's 6070 drive. Questions : - anybody know for sure that the 6095 is just the Euro version (220V/50HZ) of the US 6070 drive ? - Anybody has a spare pack ( fat chance, I know ) - and failing that would RL02 packs fit ( if so, how many sectors ) - and do I really need to dismantle heads and fixed platter to clean them ? ( I believe I know the answer to that...) Jos Dreesen.

21 years, 4 months

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No More HP Manuals on BAMA

by marvin＠rain.org

I saw the following notice on the Heath listserver :(. Unless there is more than meets the eye, Agilent does not come out of this looking like a very worthwhile company. ************ Please visit the following site for the letter from Agilent. http://bama.sbc.edu/images/Letter%204-18-05.pdf

21 years, 4 months

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phase converters for big iron

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Paul Koning" <pkoning at equallogic.com> > > jim> If they are switcher power supplies, they tend not to react very > jim> nicely to having a solid state inverter feed them. > >I don't believe that. > >Without PFC, a switcher begins with a full wave rectifier. If you >feed a square wave into that, it will be happier than it was with a >sine wave, not less happy. > >With PFC, the analysis requires more knowledge than I have. > > paul > Hi For the square wave inverters, they have a flat line square wave of 115V RMS and peak. AC rectification as seen on most switchers use a simple voltage doubler that doubles the peak voltage that is around 160v on a sinewave. This means that if the inverter was intended t run lights, it will have too low a voltage for a switcher input. If it was intended for a switcher input, it would burn the lights at too high of a voltage. Swithcers don't like to run at low voltage. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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asimov site?

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

It was written... >>> Hello. >>> >>> Can be possible to obtain in some place image disks of the Apple II >>> Pascal >>> or UCSD Pascal por the Apple II ? I'm searching a copy to play a little >>> in >>> the Apple II Oasis Emulator. >>> >>> Thanks in advance >>> Sergio >> >> ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/utility/programming/apple_pa… >> >> >> Just a little while back I also posted asimov's mirrors. Does anyone know who runs that ftp site of apple stuff? Jay West

21 years, 4 months

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phase converters for big iron

by MGemeny＠pgcps.org

You can build your own rotary phase converter from an old 3 phase motor. And 3 phase motors can be some of the cheapest to get second hand. It seems that a three phase motor will not start if a phase is missing, but if it is running it will continue to run if a phase is removed. The combination of the energized windings and the spinning rotor will have the effect of creating the third phase, although this is not an efficient state of affairs. In my home machine shop I first used a bank of capacitors to help synthesize the third phase. The bank of WWII tin caps was adjusted until the lathe motor was running with the least buzz. Then I added a three phase chipper. The first time I slammed the lathe from forward to reverse with the chipper I was surprised that the lathe reversed and the strain of reversing it could be heard in the chipper motor. Then I added a three phase grinder to the setup. But when the grinder was used alone the cap bank was the wrong size and the motor had a terrible buzz in it. So I released the drive belt on the lathe and turned on the lathe motor. Bingo! The buzz in the grinder was gone! So in this configuration I am in essence using the caps to start the lathe motor as a rotary phase converter for the grinder. Hope this helps, Mike Gemeny

21 years, 4 months

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small valves and RE: OT

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: small valves and RE: OT > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 00:49:28 +0100 (BST) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >However, there are plenty of other people reading this list, who might >come across similar sets. I would hope they might now realise that the >chassis could be live. Ah, threin lies the reason. However good point. People here play with power in the form of higher voltages, also in the form of high energy. Some of those computer supplies designed to pump out dozens to sometimes hundres of amps of power posess the capability to melt off a ring (and the encircled finger), watch or cause a splatter of melted metal in the eye. Trust me, I have been been to 1500volts and back due to fools around me and their pointing fingers. I've also seen what an 80amp regulated power supply can do to a 1/4" shank screw driver. That little ditty vaporized in a nice UV rich arc. Had me seeing spots for a week(welders burn). Oh and the guy fixing it was quick state he had unplugged it. So yes, a reminder for those listening is far >from out of order. >[1] The presence of a mains transformer in a valve radio does not imply an >isolated chassis!. It was not unhead-of for the transformer to be to >supply the heaters only, with the HT coming by half-wave rectifying the >mains, thus giving a live chassis. Some UK sets even had the heaters in >series, runn from the mains via an autotransformer... Yep, that too! I might add that something "grounded" can be more unsafe until your sure there is NO POTENTIAL differences. I got dinged in NYC one fine day due to a mere 65vac differential in grounds between the 12th and 14th floor. And they couldn't understand why the RS232 drivers were being fried all over the place. Seems equipment ground wasn't. Electrons are our friends, they have a dark side too. Always play nice and use proper technique. Failure to do so really can take the fun out of it. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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