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

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

Well, I had one bit of luck this morning. I was wondering if I had my System 6 install floppies for the //gs at home, and it turns out that I not only had them, BUT I had DOS and ProDOS 5.25" floppies as well. The DOS 3.3 floppy is the one with ADT on it that I used years ago. I also found a bunch of C-64 floppies as well. Things kind of went down hill from there. I managed to dig out my //gs with the SCSI adapter, and I even found the Syquest 44MB cartridge for the drive (by accident, as it was seriously separated). I need to go dig for a SCSI cable and terminator though. I've also got at least one good 5.25" and 3.5" floppy (hopefully a second of each). On the downside, while I found 1 //c, and two //c monitors, I couldn't find a single powersupply. Plus I should have at least one or two //c's more that would be in better shape. I've a feeling that I gave the //c's and PS's away (I know I gave one away). I'm really bummed on this one, as I'd prefer to have a nice small //c running. Also, I couldn't get back to the //e's (or //+ & other //gs for that matter), nor could I get to the box with all the //gs, and most of my // programing books. Now I just have to find a place to set the system up, which means cleaning up :^( On a positive note, that totally blew me away, I found my X1541 cable, though I never got close to reaching any C-64's, or their floppy drives. Still I managed to get the Amiga 500 where I can reach it easier should I want to. I came really close to bringing it home. I'm really shocked, it's been years since I've wanted to mess with any of this stuff. Zane -- -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

21 years, 4 months

1
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Televideo 950 question (and a laugh at my expense)

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Jay West <jwest at classiccmp.org> wrote: > The VT220 does generate CR/LF from the enter key (and I believe that's > settable, have to check). But that means it always does, not just at the > autobaud step. And.... I've used that terminal for quite some time with TSB, > and after logging in it worked just fine. It's controlled by an ANSI control sequence. (I.e., it's in the ANSI standard and not a DEC thing, which is why so many terminals support it like you've observed.) Maybe the host system in question switches the terminal into the right mode when necessary? MS

21 years, 4 months

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Televideo 950 question (and a laugh at my expense)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

So after I got my HP 2100 access system working, I noticed that the user ports (on the 12920 mux) wouldn't work on my Televideo 950. No big deal, I had a VT100 in the "computer room" and it worked fine. I made a mental note to investigate the pinouts someday, assuming the VT100 provided a signal the 12920 mux ports were expecting.... something along those lines. Never got around to it. Reorganized my "computer room" one day... and hooked everything up to the Televideo 950 via an ABCD switchbox. Then I brought up the 21MXE access system, and it suddenly because rather irritating that the TV950 wouldn't work on the 12920 mux ports, as during the re-org the VT100 was migrated to a shelf because of the switchbox. Well, now it was a pain so I spent a good while with a breakout box trying to figure out why an "ENTER" key on the TV950 would never get a "PLEASE LOG IN" prompt, but on the VT100 it always did. I spent hours screwing around with custom pinouts, looking at the control signals and figuring out what when hi/lo and when, etc. I was confused. Then I noticed that big fat "LINE FEED" button on the TV950 keyboard. I hit enter, then linefeed, and voila! PLEASE LOG IN. This immediately struck home, as I know the Access 12920 mux uses an initial CR/LF to do an autobaud. This clearly told me that the TV950 was sending a CR, rather than CRLF when the enter key was pressed. Talk about egg on your face ;) I spent hours looking in the wrong place - vaguely analogous to forgetting to check that a device was plugged in. Ha. Ha. So anyways... many terminals I've worked with support setting the ENTER/RETURN key to generate a CR, or a CR/LF. I can't find any such setting on the Televideo 950. Is it there and I'm just missing it? Jay West

21 years, 4 months

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Televideo 950 question (and a laugh at my expense)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Eric had written.... >> And once you're logged into TSB, I don't think you *want* linefeeds after >> each CR. Just thought of something else that makes for some confusion. The VT220 does generate CR/LF from the enter key (and I believe that's settable, have to check). But that means it always does, not just at the autobaud step. And.... I've used that terminal for quite some time with TSB, and after logging in it worked just fine. Truly odd. Jay

21 years, 4 months

1
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small valves

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: small valves > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2005 00:32:48 +0100 (BST) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >I have a UK battery/mains radio that uses valves throughout (even the PSU >rectifier) and directly heated valves in the signal stages. The filaments >are in series (carefulyl ordered to get suitable cathode bias voltages), >for a total of 7.5V. The batteries were a 7.5V LT and 90V Ht pair. On >mains, there is a mains transformer, the output of which is full-wave >rectified (EZ40 IIRC). That provides the HT (B+) directly, and the >filament supply (A+?) via dropping resistor. > I have an RCA AM broadcast Battery/mains radio that I still use. Works well. The multivoltage battery though bad supplied the authentic looking cover for a box I'd made using uses NiCds to run a switchmode supply to provide the A,B and C voltages required. Runs for hours on that too. Allison Kb1gmx

21 years, 4 months

4
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small valves and RE: OT

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>Subject: Re: small valves > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2005 01:49:12 +0100 (BST) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >> I have an RCA AM broadcast Battery/mains radio that I still use. >> Works well. The multivoltage battery though bad supplied the >> authentic looking cover for a box I'd made using uses NiCds >> to run a switchmode supply to provide the A,B and C voltages >> required. Runs for hours on that too. > >I'm suprised it needs a separate C supply. UK sets all used self-bias by >this time, I think. C (grid bias) batteries were not used for radios much >after the 1930 in the UK. Myself as well. The design of this radio is early 50s. I have a similar circuits from the 1960 RCA tube manual that require only A and B(HT) voltages. However this radio had a battery based on destructive examination and markings that provided 7.5V, 1.5V and 90V. So the likely case is "C" voltage or as yet unexamined posibility, a seperate heater supply for the audio output tube. Either way I implmented the power supply to provide the voltages as the battery did only from a switchmode controller and a few NiCds as they are rechargeable. I then package it and wrapped the old printed cardboard around it for realism. I might add the radio is 10" wide, 7" high and about 4" deep and as AM(MW) goes sounds decent. >The batteriers are long-since unobtainable (at least not easily). I run it >from the mains. The LT is triival to get from my bench aupply. For HT, >I've made a little PSU from common components that gives about 85V (high >enough for the set to work well). It's just a 30V transformer feeding a >voltage doubler circuit. Much easier to get a 30V transformer than >something of a higher voltage now. Sound way to go. One of the homebrew designs uses a 45V transformer out of an old printer with a doubler to 110V HT and a seperate one for the 12.6V heaters. >I must try the circuit that was in Elektor a couple of months back to get >90V from low-voltage batteries. Unfamiliar, Elektor is not seen here in USA. Back OT: Anywho valves(tubes) left the computing realm early due to size, cooling and power. The side effects were that physically small circuits for computing were hard to achieve. It also limited speed due to the amount of interconnect wiring required to get signals routed. As to rad hard, there are really two different but related problems for the engineer. One is EMF the other is ionization from high energy particles. EMP as commonly seen is lightning, a high energy pulse that causes a very fast rise and fall time magnetic field and any wires in that field recieve an induced voltages and currents. If the devices are rugged enough they survive. Tubes often qualify there, solidstate devices are often less rugged and are more likely to fail. EMP is also associated with a atomic detonation, the same magnetic effects. The other problem of high energy particles such as Beta and Gamma rays can be from relatively low energy sources and are found in the Van Allen Belt (orbital space), Space itself due to solar activity and around unshielded nuclear materials. The problems associated with radiation is ionization. In semicunductors unwanted ionization will effectively short the device by creating leakage paths in the device (ICs are more susceptable than raw transistors) and also creating small control voltages at active nodes such as the base or gate of a transistor or by depleting or creating a charge where capacitive node are used (DRAMS and microprocessors that use dynamic logic). Device that have high thresholds such as CMOS and tubes are more resistant than TTL and Nmos. It also follows that static logic built with high threshold devices tends to be more resistant. Examples of devices used in EMP risk and environments with high radiation are Tubes, core memory, CMOS micros like 1802, 80C85, 80C188, ARM in CMOS. Core is actually EMP hard and RAD hard due to the closed magnetic nature of each of those thousands of little rings though the surrounding logic has to be handled as a seperate system issue as it's often built with ICs that need protection. The common need for proven RAD (radiation) hard and EMP hard is satelites as they are exposed to radiation and EMP from a variety of sources noteably including the sun. Many Sats have been killed by EMP and/or RAD >from solar storms. Allison Kb1gmx

21 years, 4 months

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Ebay: HP 82045A Thermal Paper

by marvin＠rain.org

Just in case someone needs it: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=25349&item=751032250…

21 years, 4 months

1
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Better have a strong stomach for this...

by news＠computercollector.com

Check out all four pages in the link under this photo (from CNET): http://tinyurl.com/9e6le ----------------------------------------- Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: 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

13
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Altair MBL source

by rcini＠optonline.net

All: I was able to get binary copies of some Altair paper tapes but none of them came with manuals. I believe that they can be loaded with the Altair Multi-Boot Loader, which I do not have. Does anyone have a copy of the MBL manual that they can scan for me? From what I've heard, it's only about 15-20 pages. Thanks in advance. Rich

21 years, 4 months

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IBM 3390s on ebay...

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

Wow, for the first time that I've ever seen, actual IBM 3390s... Items #5189150755, and 5189150713 Of course $5000 seems to me to be a bit of a high starting price... probably off the mark by about 2 orders of magnitude. Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCS --- http://www.itap.purdue.edu/rcs/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

21 years, 4 months

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"Futuredomain" 8bit SCSI (??)

by mbbrutman＠brutman.com

I like the Future Domain cards, especially for older machines. Future Domain had a chipset called 950 that was used on their 84x and 85x series cards. There is great software support in DOS, but it is not ASPI compatible. In their defense they do provide a device driver that converts their CAM drivers (Common Access Method) to ASPI, but that slows things down. I've been able to hack a TMC 845 onto a PCjr using an ISA bus adapter for the Jr. PC Enterprises also sold a SCSI sidecar for the Jr based on the Future Domain chipset. And as other people mentioned, Future Domain did a lot of OEM work for IBM, including MCA cards. Mike

21 years, 4 months

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"Futuredomain" 8bit SCSI (??)

by mbbrutman＠magnaspeed.net

I like the Future Domain cards, especially for older machines. Future Domain had a chipset called 950 that was used on their 84x and 85x series cards. There is great software support in DOS, but it is not ASPI compatible. In their defense they do provide a device driver that converts their CAM drivers (Common Access Method) to ASPI, but that slows things down. I've been able to hack a TMC 845 onto a PCjr using an ISA bus adapter for the Jr. PC Enterprises also sold a SCSI sidecar for the Jr based on the Future Domain chipset. And as other people mentioned, Future Domain did a lot of OEM work for IBM, including MCA cards. Mike

21 years, 4 months

1
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I'm going to design and build an X terminal

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

jpero at sympatico.ca wrote: > keep in mind they forked so there is two kind of X. Are you referring to X Consortium vs. XFree86, or some other fork I'm not aware of? MS

21 years, 4 months

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I'm going to design and build an X terminal

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 22 2005, 20:55, Scott Stevens wrote: > On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 01:25:44 -0500 > Patrick Finnegan <pat at computer-refuge.org> wrote: > > > Michael Sokolov declared on Thursday 21 April 2005 06:39 pm: > > > (Are there any 3-button sans-wheel USB mice?) > > > > I'd skip USB all-together, and just use a serial or PS/2 interface > > mouse. > > > > Further, if he wants to stay away from 'PC Clone-ness' in his design, > there are some pretty decent 3-button PS/2-interface mice from SGI. > The O2 workstation uses these. Also for Indys and Indigo^2s. They're actually rebadged Logitech Pilot PS/2 mice, made in "granite" grey. The same mouse was also used by DEC/Compac for Alphas, in off-white. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

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Crazy Monitor idea for old Home Computers

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 22 2005, 17:34, Zane H. Healy wrote: > > People might think that your next step is to replace your vintage > > computers with simulators. > > Trust me, I gave that some serious thought. I'm not about to give up the > space that my PDP-11's take at home with 8-bit micro's, and I'm seriously > short on space for more HW. > > The odds are I'll use real monitors, I'm just exploring my options. > Realistically this is most practical if I decide to setup one of my //gs's, > except I think they prefer a different type monitor. I use a simple 2-way KVM (but only the V part, obviously) switch for my BBC Micro (PAL composite) and my Exidy Sorcerer (NTSC composite). And a second 4-way KVM (again, V part only) for another BBC Micro (using the RGB output at 50Hz/15kHz), a PC (VGA), another Acorn machine, and whatever random 4th device want to be viewed. This one's connected to a multisync. So it can be done. I didn't really expect the KVM switch to work properly like that, but it did. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

1
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surplus store in Seattle area

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

BOEING!!! if you're in Kent, you should definitely check it out. Feast or famine, prices sometimes great, ok, or outrageous, but they have everything from VAXen to ONYX/HP V-class machines, unfortunatly mostly PCs (but I got my $5 Apollo, and my $25 Indigo2 IMPACT 10000 (this was 3 years ago) - Scott Quinn

21 years, 4 months

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"Futuredomain" 8bit SCSI (??)

by aijones2＠bsu.edu

http://www.weirdstuff.com/cgi-bin/item/14178 I've never heard of the store selling it, I've never heard of the company manufacturing it, but there you have it. A new-old-stock eight-bit ISA SCSI card. Does anyone think this is on the level?

21 years, 4 months

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small valves

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

>> Some mil gear (eg PRC-41) has very small ceramic tubes -not sure if >> they are quite as small as the Nuvistor but they must be close- >> likewise some hearing aid amp tubes were pertty damn small as well. And don't forget the first generation of R/C receivers intended for use in model airplanes. They needed something small, lightweight, battery-powered and inexpensive, so voila - miniaturized valves. I can't claim to have seen one "in the flesh" yet, but I have a hobbyist book on what they used to call "micro-electronics" in the mid-50s (ooh, printed circuit boards instead of solder lug strips!) which shows a device about the size of a packet of cigarettes with several such valves directly soldered onto a board with the wires coming out of them. Anybody here been R/C-ing back then? cheers -- Arno Kletzander Stud. Hilfskraft Informatik Sammlung Erlangen www.iser.uni-erlangen.de +++ NEU: GMX DSL_Flatrate! Schon ab 14,99 EUR/Monat! +++ GMX Garantie: Surfen ohne Tempo-Limit! http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl

21 years, 4 months

6
5
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Better have a strong stomach for this...

by cb＠mythtech.net

>Check out all four pages in the link under this photo (from CNET): >http://tinyurl.com/9e6le Ugh... geek snuff pics! -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 4 months

3
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VAX-11/730

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 4/21/05, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: > On 4/20/05, Christian R. Fandt <cfandt at netsync.net> wrote: > > Upon the date 22:44 19-04-05, Ethan Dicks said something like: > > >Hmm... I had no idea. I have a several-inch-thick stack of prints for > > >the 11/730-Z... > > > > Ohhhh, I would like a copy of any 11/730 docs you may find! > > OK... I'll do some digging this month. Boy, that was a short month... I happened to be next to one of my caches of DEC prints and lo and behold, the very 11/730-ZA print stack I was after. It is about 2 cm thick, and contains mechanical drawings of the cable tray, prints for the PSU, TU58, CPU, and memory, schematics and PAL equations included. It being B-sized drawings, I have no easy way to scan these... my hardware tops out at 8.5"x14". Suggestions? -ethan

21 years, 4 months

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small valves

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: small valves > From: "Bob Shannon" <bshannon at tiac.net> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:00:24 -0400 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >I've not been into R/C stuff, but I am into 'submini' tubes. > >I recently built a 5-tube regenerative receiver for the 49 meter band using >5678's for the 2 stage tuned RF amp, detector, and first audio amp. A 5676 >serves as the final audio driver. Can you send me a schematic you used? I must have 20 of those, as well as 1AD4 and 5672s. I was forturnate that someone gave me a bunch of them and I've found them fun to play with. I've done a single tube regen (160m) with it and stuffed in a small tin. I run it on an AA cell and three 9v batteries. >This is my fourth tube based radio. A friend was joking that these >recreations sould be known as 'bunker buddies' 1 thru 4, as they >use no semiconductors at all. > ;) I have several tube sets I've built as a result of parts being avaiable. They are interesting to me. I started my career with tube, hybrid and full solid state commercial two way (VHF/UHF) equipment so this is retro for me. A different challenge than solid state, fun none the less. Allison KB1GMX

21 years, 4 months

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Apple // Questions

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

It's been a *LONG* time since I had any of my Apple //'s running. I've got the following: Apple //+ 2 or 3 Apple //e's some Apple //c's, including 2 of the little greenscreen monitors 2 Apple //gs's (one has a SCSI adapter) I've also got various floppy drives. What I'm not sure of is the state of my software. Currently all of my 5.25" Apple // software is on loan to a friend (I don't have much, it's only one small box). I've got a bunch if //gs software, but I'm not sure where. I also have a Powerbook 520c that I can use to read and write 3.5" ProDOS floppies. I think I can also use it to make new System 6 floppies if I can't find the ones I have. I'm trying to figure out what on earth I should setup. My real goal is to run the following game, on real hardware: http://www.iosphere.net/%7eeric/wizardry/weeping_snows.htm I'm guessing my best bet, from a space related point of view is to use one of the //c's and the small monitor that goes with it. The question then becomes, how on earth does one write emulator images back to real 5.25" floppies these days? I'm guessing my best bet might be to setup a //gs long enough to write the floppies. ISTR, there is a program to transfer them over a serial line, but you need a boot floppy for the Apple // to start the process (as well as a Super Serial card, which I believe is built into a //c). Zane

21 years, 4 months

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Crazy Monitor idea for old Home Computers

by cb＠mythtech.net

>I've done this briefly with my PowerMac 8500 back around 1997, which was >where I came up with the idea. The 8500 has the advantage of being able to >handle both NTSC and PAL signals (not sure what other Mac's succh as yours >can handle). The 6500 also did NTSC and PAL. Apple really only made one video input setup, they just packaged it onto different cards for the different machines. Actually, I used to use my 6500 to convert PAL videos to NTSC. I used a PAL VCR to feed the signal into the PowerMac, then played the video in full screen mode, and connected its NTSC output to another VCR. It worked quite well actually, and had the nice side effect of bypassing macrovision as well (the 6500 acted as a TBC since its NTSC output wasn't really outputting the source video, but rather an image of the computer desktop that just happened to have the source video playing in full screen). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 4 months

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I'm going to design and build an X terminal

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Hello fellow ClassicCmp'ers, In my search for a good X terminal I have played some more with the available options. I have looked at my hardware options (VS3100 or VXT 2000 hardware), examined already-existing software options (EWS, VXT and VXT EX), and considered constructing my own X terminal software >from the 4.3BSD-Quasijarus kernel and MIT X11R4 or X11R5 X server. Ultimately I was not satisfied with any of these options as a true solution that would make me happy, any of those would be a temporary kludge at best, so I have decided to take the radical approach: I'm going to design and build my own X terminal, and I mean hardware. I'll use PowerPC for the CPU and Linux for the OS. The CPU and OS choices are driven by experience: I have worked for a company that made PowerPC single-board computers and I know how to make one of those critters. There I developed a ROM monitor for PowerPC with the look and feel of a VAX console (>>> prompt, etc), and that's the ROM monitor I'm going to use. I also maintained Linux/PPC for those boards at that company, thus the experience deciding my OS choice. Also one of my friends has worked at the same company together with me as a hardware engineer, and I'll enlist his help on this package for the real "hard" hardware aspects. The X display consists of a screen, keyboard and mouse, and my choices for these three are as follows: an off-the-shelf PCI video chip with good XFree86 support for the screen, DEC LK201 for the keyboard, and many options for the mouse, including DEC mice, PC serial mice and USB mice. The server will be XFree86 modified to use the LK201 keyboard instead of a PC one. The use of LK201 keyboard is one design aspect I'm absolutely firm on. I'm very partial to this keyboard, and an X terminal that uses an LK201 is precisely what I want and what I cannot get from any modern offerings. The mouse is less critical to me: a mouse is a mouse. I do want a classic workstation mouse with 3 buttons and no wheel, but I don't really care if it's a DEC hockey puck or an old PC 3-button serial mouse. That's why I want to support many options for the mouse. (Are there any 3-button sans-wheel USB mice?) My tentative PowerPC CPU choice is MPC8250. It has a traditional 603e core with integrated memory controller, PCI interface (on which I'll hang the video and USB chips) and communication module (which I'll use for Ethernet and serial). I want to implement two independent Ethernet interfaces: one an RJ45 capable of 10 and 100 Mbps, the other a classic coaxial Ethernet interface with AUI and BNC ports. This way I can satisfy everyone as far as Ethernet goes. There will be 3 serial ports: one for LK201, one for DEC mice, and the remaining one a general-purpose EIA-232 port (DB25) that will be available for serial mice and for debug functions. The hardware will basically be a generic PowerPC diskless workstation with my StarMON ROM monitor (the one with the VAX console look and feel). StarMON will boot over Ethernet (a non-volatile setting will indicate which one) by broadcasting a BOOTP request and then TFTP'ing the boot image indicated in the BOOTP reply. The X terminal software that will be netbooted in this manner will be completely open source, but will be packaged up to function like an OSless X terminal, i.e., no writable file system, no user accounts, and no administration of or user exposure to the local OS on the terminal. The Linux kernel will be booted with a RAM disk read-only root filesystem which will also be fetched via TFTP at boot, and that filesystem will contain a special init that will run the X server and run the box like an OSless X terminal (XDMCP to a host specified in configuration on the BOOTP/TFTP host). Now there is only one thing remaining for which I seek advice from the great collective wisdom here: what should I use for the video chip? Being the recluse that I am, I know virtually nothing about modern video technology. Out of modern, readily-available PCI video chips, what do you think would be the most appropriate for a reasonable XFree86 server? As a ballpark I'm looking for 24 bits per pixel colour (I don't want to be limited by the colour map) and a resolution comparable to DEC's best offerings at tne height of the VAXstation era. It would have to be PCI; whether I go with the MPC8250 CPU or something else, it'll definitely have PCI but not AGP. I would appreciate any advice. MS

21 years, 4 months

8
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Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 16:50, Jim Leonard wrote: > Pete Turnbull wrote: > > Um, your maths is off. Assuming 150 dpi is the minimum acceptable for > > well-printed text (and some DEC fiche is anything but), and a page is > > 8" wide, you need 1200 dots per page width. A page width on the fiche > > you describe is 6/16 inches, so you need 16/6 * 1200 dots per inch, > > which is 3192 dpi. > > My apologies. Still, 4800 optical scanners are $600 or less, so I still > consider it possible. I won't argue with that. Another thing that occurs to me is that one could presumably build something like a fiche viewer over the scanner glass; somthing to hold the fiche against a lens and project a magnified image onto the scanner glass. I assume that, in essence, is how Al's big fiche scanner works. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

16
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Crazy Monitor idea for old Home Computers

by cb＠mythtech.net

>Has anyone tried to plug an old Home computer into an Analog to Digital TV >converter such as the Canopus ADVC-100, and then use a mondern computer >with a Firewire port and video capture software as a monitor? I don't know about that, but for a short while, I was running a C-128 into my PowerMac 6500's composite input and viewing the screen inside the PowerMac. I can't speak for how well this would work long term, as I only did it long enough to test the C-128 (only a few hours over the course of about a week). I got the idea, I thought from this list a number of years ago. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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small valves

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk > >One think to be wary about. There is a capacitor across the filament >string, after the capacitor. If the filament string is open-circuit for >any reason, then that capacitor will charge to about 90V. It normally >withstands that (although it's not rated to do so), but if you then >replair the filament strign, there's enough energy in that capacitor to >burn out one of the filaments. I always make sure that capacitor is >discharged before fiddling with the valves. Hi Also a problem in the Zenith TO's. > >-tony >

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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small valves

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Bob Shannon" <bshannon at tiac.net> > >I've not been into R/C stuff, but I am into 'submini' tubes. > >I recently built a 5-tube regenerative receiver for the 49 meter band using >5678's for the 2 stage tuned RF amp, detector, and first audio amp. A 5676 >serves as the final audio driver. > >Performance is awesome, and it runs on batteries. Warm-up time is at most >3 seconds, nearly instant-on operation. ---snip--- Hi The direct heated cathodes turned on fast enough that one didn't have a noticeable delay. It wasn't until the indirect heated cathodes that things changed. That was because it was too hard to build an AC radio with the directed heated tubes. There was both a hum problem and it was more difficult to get each tube biased correctly. Once they had selenium rectifiers, direct heated became practical for low power applications ( like the Zenith TO's ). They still had to do some tricks to get the biasing working right for each tube. Some clever engineering. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

2
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LCD monitors (was Re: tube technology and EMP)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>Subject: LCD monitors (was Re: tube technology and EMP) > From: "Eric Smith" <eric at brouhaha.com> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 14:20:30 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >> A lot of users have noted that getting an LCD with 100% good pixels >> is either tough or expensive. > >If you buy a name brand LCD, it's likely to cost a bit more and have >fewer (or no) bad pixels. > Funny, went into the local ****usa and looked at several LCD monitors and with care I spotted every one had at least one noticeable pixel bad. The real problem was where I was they'd bring in some cheapo LCD and I'd have to "deal with it" being the IT person as it was "broken". Inshort I'd ahve to contact the vendor and try and get a good one and usually the vendor would refuse as it met the 99.9995 good. Small companies are that way. >The normal failure mode for an LCD monitor is for one of the fluorescent >tubes of the backlight to fail. These can be very expensive to replace >as they are usually not common tubes. That's my main worry. Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
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tube technology and EMP

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: tube technology and EMP > From: William Donzelli <aw288 at osfn.org> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 12:27:36 -0400 (EDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >> Do LCD screens still blow pixels after a couple of years? That'd be my >> only reservation compared to a traditional CRT. > >I'd rather blow a pixel than a whole gun... > >I actually still like a tube in front of me, but damn, these >new(ish) flatscreens are nice. > >William Donzelli >aw288 at osfn.org My .02 is sure LCDs are nice, small and expensive but, they even come with a guarentee that 99.99% of the pixels are good. The rest are well, bad. A lot of users have noted that getting an LCD with 100% good pixels is either tough or expensive. Then again I have Monitors with the still common tube and when they die it's 15$ here in MA to get rid of one with a bad gun or a impossible to replace HV transformer. As a result I try to NOT collect anything with a CRT onless it's fairly unique. Allison

21 years, 4 months

4
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More Auction goodies--More questions

by tponsford＠theriver.com

Hi all, Picked up some more auction goodies this week! LSI ADM-5. I have the pdf manual for my 3a, but so far no information on the 5, anybody have a link to some online documentation! Works fine, very clean, bright cursor, no burn-in, no stuck keys and no "mold" lol 2 Sony OA-D31V-14 "Doubleheight " 3-1/4 SS 360K floppy drives. The doubleheight as these are roughly double the height of a regular 3-/14 floppies(but not "full height") I believe these may have been used in older HP's. Does naybody know if these are the ones that require a "special" floppy disks that have to be manually opened, as the drives do not have a mechanism for opening them??? An unopened Caldera Desktop version 1.0 (circa 1995!) LOL Cheers Tom

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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VAXstation 3100/76 SCSI disk over 1GB

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: RE: VAXstation 3100/76 SCSI disk over 1GB > From: "Antonio Carlini" <a.carlini at ntlworld.com> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 21:34:24 +0100 > To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Allison wrote: >> I affirm that having tried it. I also have two M76s and both >> will boot larger but only one has the factory console rom fix. > >I don't believe there was ever an official fix for the VS3100-76 >(or any of the VS3100 series). If there was, I'd like to know >about it so I can upgrade the one on my desk right now! It was the first one I'd tried the 2.7g in and crash tested it trying to get IP networking going. Since that one worked I tried same on an older one and it didn't pass the crash test. A crash with the wrong driver is really bad. I assume it was factory as it works fine with a larger disk. However, I got it that way and it's a later SN. If it werent under three other 3100s plus a VS2000 and a TK50 I'd read off the VS3100-76/GPXs SN for you. All my other VS and uVAX 3100s are older and therefor completly complient with the 1GB limit for the boot disk. They also work well with larger secondary disks and I have them configured that way. IE: 500mb or 1GB system disk and larger than 1gb for user disks. Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
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VAXstation 3100/76 SCSI disk over 1GB

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: RE: VAXstation 3100/76 SCSI disk over 1GB > From: "Antonio Carlini" <a.carlini at ntlworld.com> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:20:00 +0100 > To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >The console disk driver is used early on in the boot process >(until enough of OpenVMS has been loaded that it can switch >to its own full-featured driver) and also during crash dumping >(since the console driver is in eprom, it can be relied on not >have become corrupt). > >If any of the files needed during boot end up past the 1.073GB >mark, the system will not boot. Event if the files happen to lie >in accessible places initially, they might be moved by a >subsequent upgrade or disk defragmentation. > >Much, much worse is the behaviour during a crash. If the >crashdump file happens to be beyond the 1.073GB mark, then >anything actually at the wrapped around address is at risk! > >There are ways around this problem, but the only easy one >is to use an RZ26 (1GB disk) as the system disk. That's >not a problem at least for releases up until OpenVMS V7.1. >I stopped getting updates at that point so I don't know >how much bigger VAX releases have become. > >The problem is not such an issue with *BSD since you can >effectively control what lives where. > >The issue affects all VAXstation 3100s, the >MicroVAX 3100 Models 10 and 20 and the early releases >of the MicroVAX 3100 Models 10e and 20e. I believe that >a fix was produced for the 10e and 20e and ROMs dated >after April 1992 are fine. The OpenVMS FAQ has more details. > >So just because it seems to work, does not make it a good idea :-) > I affirm that having tried it. I also have two M76s and both will boot larger but only one has the factory console rom fix. My solution was simple, use a 1gb disk for the system disk, second drive is a nice 2.7gb and that works fine even with 5.4-4h. It's a cheap solution as 1g SCSI drives were easy to find for a while for free. I've found for a system disk 1gb is plenty even for 7.2 and likely later as I can put the page/swap files on the second drive along with user data/files. Allison

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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$10K claimed for Electronics issue

by jfoust＠threedee.com

With every mania comes justifications... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4472549.stm Mr Clark, who admits he is "a bit of a hoarder", collected the Electronics magazine issues, as well as others, after the Philips Central Library in the UK - now closed - started to clean them out. "I could feel the hairs standing up on my arms. I think I've got that, I thought - although I wasn't sure." - David Clark "In the 70s, they started throwing out large quantities of these magazines," he said. "I was in my 20s at the time and thought you shouldn't throw them out because they are recording the golden age of electronics." He gave several hundreds of them a home first in his loft, then under the floorboards and had not looked at them since. - John

21 years, 4 months

3
2
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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: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 13:29:19 -0600 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Dwight K. Elvey wrote: > >>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 >> >> >I wonder if the quality of AM radio ( not counting the decline in music >taste) >has gone down since every thing uses soild state diodes as compared to tube >diodes. > Sounds like the common AA5 with the 12AV6 (duodiode/triode). Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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small valves

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: small valves > From: Stan Barr <stanb at dial.pipex.com> > Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 18:48:03 +0100 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Hi, > >Arno Kletzander said: > >> And don't forget the first generation of R/C receivers intended for use in >> model airplanes. They needed something small, lightweight, battery-powered >> and inexpensive, so voila - miniaturized valves. I can't claim to have seen >> one "in the flesh" yet, but I have a hobbyist book on what they used to call >> "micro-electronics" in the mid-50s (ooh, printed circuit boards instead of >> solder lug strips!) which shows a device about the size of a packet of >> cigarettes with several such valves directly soldered onto a board with the >> wires coming out of them. >> >> Anybody here been R/C-ing back then? >> > >I saw them, but by the time I could afford r/c myself it was solid state. >I remember guys using valves and miniature hi-sensitivity relays to run >things like "Galloping Ghost" - a pwm proportional setup. >There were tuned reeds as well for multi-channel. > I still have a complete GG setup, for 27mc using a 3a5 for the TX and 1s4 for the regen rx. Still works when I power it. The only reason I'd not fly it is finding batteries. As to wweight it was remarkably light considering. Allison

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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TI 990/10 DX-10 disc images

by aek＠spies.com

Dave Pitts reminded me today about mirroring the DX-10 disc images he has along with a simulator capable of running them. The stuff is now up on www.bitsavers.org/bits/ti/www.cozx.com/dpitts

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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Apple II/Older Mac stuff..

by dholland＠woh.rr.com

FWIW, One of the Dayton, Ohio schools around here is emptying some spare classrooms, and old storage area's of their older Apple computers. If anyone is interested in picking up a carload of stuff or so, send me an email, and I'll put you in touch w/ the appropriate person. (I believe he'd prefer me NOT to post his email address) The guy says its cheaper on the school district to give it away, and let someone pick it up, than to put it in the dumpster, and he'd rather see someone have them than dumping them. I don't know exactly everything he's got, nor am I certain he exactly knows, but I picked up a small Corolla's backseat/trunk's worth of Apple II stuff, and assorted Localtalk networking yesterday.. Said I'd see if anyone else wanted anything, and was in the area, so I am.. David

21 years, 4 months

1
1
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SCSI CD drive capable of reading CD-R

by mokuba＠gmail.com

I'm desperate for a scsi drive capable of reading CD-Rs! If anyone has one, anyone at all, I'd love to hear from you! (External especailly, but I can swap drives in an external housing if needed, I guess) -- Gary G. Sparkes Jr. KB3HAG - FM19t

21 years, 4 months

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Ever wondered what happened to all those missing keys from old keyboards...

by dholland＠woh.rr.com

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/keyboard_car/ Well, now I know.. :) David

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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tube technology and EMP

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> ---snip--- > >Mind you, a CRT usually gets a little tired after a few years. I'm not >sure how long its "good" lifetime compares to that of an LCD panel >though, but my impression is that the CRT will likely outlive the LCD >before replacement's necessary. Hi At the last company that I was at the same CRT was turned on and of for each workday for 7 years. I'd call that reliable. Current day monitors CRT's seem to be much more reliable than the color screens used in the 60's. Maybe they use better getter or something. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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Various HP / Motif books

by birs23＠zeelandnet.nl

I am not sure if this is 100% on topic since this stuff is from 1991 so well, its a bit on the edge I suppose. Anyway, I have several books I would like to get rid of with subjects like Starbase, HP Visual User Environment, HP X Windows, HP 9000, OSF Motif. If anyone is interested let me know and I will make a list. All these books are almost unused and from +/- 1991. Cheers, Stefan. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.oldcomputercollection.com

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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Microfiche scanning

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Paul Koning" <pkoning at equallogic.com> > >>>>>> "John" == John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> writes: > > John> At 07:21 PM 4/21/2005, you wrote: > >> You could just remove the fiche viewer screen. You don't need the > >> screen to form the image, you only need the (virtual) image from > >> the viewer's lens system to be focussed in the same plane as the > >> scanner's optics. Actually, since the image is usually focussed > >> on the back surface of the viewer screen, you'd want to remove it > >> anyway. > > John> Pointing the scanner at the plane in space that happens to be > John> the viewing plane of the fiche viewer isn't going to result in > John> an image. The scanner wants to see reflected light. Focusing > John> the fiche projection at the scanner's sensor is a different > John> sort of problem that would involve changing the scanner's > John> optics, no? > >No. An image is an image. There's nothing magical about "reflected >light", it's the same as any other light. > >The one issue you might run into is light loss due to mismatched >apertures. Hi Paul That is what he is talking about. The scanner would most likely have severe vignetting. As in a telescope, you want two things to happen where the eye is. One is that you want the image to focus at the back of the eye. The other is that you want the image of the aperture to focus at the iris of the eye. In this case you'd want the image of the source to focus near the scanners sensor to gather the most light. This most likely doesn't even come to a focus as is typical in projection systems. Dwight > > paul > >

21 years, 4 months

1
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Microfiche scanning

by aek＠spies.com

It's a shame that many of the fiche-only docs once existed in magtape form and are now lost. It would've been easier and less error-prone to emulate a viewer for old page layout RUNOFF-style markup. Has there ever been an anecdote found about why all that data was tossed? -- Why is any old media tossed? The company considers it of no value. Storage space (as many of us know) is not free. If there is no chance that the information is needed for future projects or support of existing projects it is discarded. -- WRT the scanners that I have, the Mekel is a high resolution transport that can do step and repeat on all of the frames of the fiche. There is no direct display of the images on the unit, since the steping is done under computer control. I have some older 3M film/fiche scanners that are manually positioned for fiche and do automatic scanning of microfilm. The 3M units are of the type that project onto a screen and have a camera on the rear of the unit. That is the most common design for scanners under $10k. If folks in the Bay Area are interested in the 3M units, I have five available. They would probably be around $500 ea.

21 years, 4 months

1
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I'm going to design and build an X terminal

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Patrick Finnegan <pat at computer-refuge.org> wrote: > Well, X generally talks to the keyboard and mouse drivers of the kernel > to do its stuff, and I don't see any reason to try and avoid that. That behavior makes perfect sense when the keyboard hardware interface is very special requiring a special kernel driver anyway (like those awful PeeCee keyboards) or when the keyboard port is integrated with other hardware that makes up the X display that needs a kernel driver (the case with DEC QVSS and QDSS). However, in the present case where the keyboard port is bog-standard serial and is not in any way integrated with other display hardware (VGA chip), but rather lives alongside with other serial ports on the machine doing other things, it makes much more sense for the Linux kernel to treat it as a regular serial port without any LK201 knowledge and concentrate the latter in the X server. Of course I may change my mind once I get down into the code, but this is my current tentative plan. > Sure, why not. Actually, I don't see anything that wrong with it, I > just am not a huge fan of USB. :) Me neither. But if I'm going to invest time and money into building my own hardware, I may as well do my absolute best job while I'm at it: it'll cost the same to make this thing with or without the additional port, and having more options supported for the same cost means a greater return on the same initial investment. MS

21 years, 4 months

1
0
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Microfiche scanning

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Am I right in thinking that a home flatbed scanner has absolutely no hope of providing the resolution needed to scan microfiche? We've got a *lot* of DEC documentation arrived on fiche (208 pages per fiche, estimated 25000 sheets) and scanning some of the more useful bits would be nice. So far the cost from commercial companies has either been too high or the quality has been far too low to actually be useful :-( cheers Jules

21 years, 4 months

9
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I'm going to design and build an X terminal

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Patrick Finnegan <pat at computer-refuge.org> wrote: > I'm suprised that you dont want to do this using a VS3100 (or 4000) and > BSD of some sort. :) As I already wrote, I obviously considered that, in fact that was the very first thing I thought. The problem is that the best video I can hope to get this way is VS3100 GPX (1024x864, 60 Hz refresh, 8 planes). I have an SPX board (which is what VT1300 and VXT 2000 used), but it's completely undocumented, so there is no way for me to write an X server for it. (Even though SPX was specifically designed to run X!) The SPX board is not only specifically designed for X and therefore faster, but it has better video too: 1280x1024 at 66 Hz refresh. I feel extremely mad and outraged at DEC for withholding the documentation for the SPX board, I feel cheated that the board specifically optimised for X is out of reach of Free X server developers, leaving them to run on the earlier GPX board which is NOT optimised for X, and it feels counter-productive to me to invest a lot of effort into writing a Quasijarus-based X server for the GPX board which would do nothing but feed that anguish. And while we are on this subject, the GPX board is not actually documented either! But the IFCTF possesses a pirate copy of the Ultrix source which contains a kernel driver for it which provides an ioctl interface that emulates that of the QDSS driver to run the unchanged Xqdss server. The VS3100 GPX board is NOT compatible with QDSS at the register level, the emulation is in the Ultrix kernel sg driver. And to add insult to injury the GPX board has another misfeature. Apparently its video outputs are not just outputs, but also have some kind of reflection detectors, and its ROM self-test that executes on power-up can detect whether there is a monitor cable attached. However, the test is overzealous and chokes with a fatal error when my monitor is connected. Apparently it doesn't like something about it (Viewsonic P810), even though if I unplug the monitor during the self-test and plug it in later, the picture on the tube is beautiful. This problem does not happen with the SPX board. That one also apparently has reflection detectors and also reports an error, but it's nonfatal and does not stop autoboot. And even if by some miracle I got programming documentation for the SPX board and wrote a Quasijarus-based replacement for the EWS/VXT software, I would still never be able to go past 256 color map entries. I suppose the problem would be solved if I got full system programming documentation for the SPXgt 24-place 3D graphics board and for the VS4000 it goes into, but I won't hold my breath for that. That's why I decided to design and build my own hardware. Reverse-engineering undocumented hardware and closed source software feels like peeing against the wind. I would feel better creating a beautiful new Open Source Hardware design than digging in DEC's closed proprietary anti-freedom shit. > Be aware that this shouldn't be all that difficult; Linux supports > running an LK201/401 on a serial port via a device driver in late 2.4 > and 2.6 kerneles. It doesn't matter. The only code that will know about and talk to the LK201 will be the X server and StarMON ROM monitor. For the Linux kernel (and for the hardware) the LK201 port will be just a bog-standard serial port, Linux will have no idea what is connected to it. (Keyboard support is not needed in the Linux kernel because it'll be completely hidden from the user.) > I'd skip USB all-together, and just use a serial or PS/2 interface mouse. Why not offer it as an option if the extra design cost is negligible? It's just a USB chip on the PCI bus. There is no extra software development effort since USB mice are already supported by the Linux kernel and XFree86 server. > There's no reason you can't run all that off a single ethernet > controller; for example, on IBM RS/6000 SP's, they have a 10/100MBps > RJ45 connector, as well as either a 10Base2 BNC or 10Base5 AUI connector > run off the same interface. Yeah, I realise it's possible, but separate Ethernets feel a little cleaner to me and if I use the MPC8250 there is no extra cost for it since there are enough resources in the chip for two Ethernet instances. Thanks to everyone for the video chip suggestions! MS

21 years, 4 months

3
2
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Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 10:49, Jules Richardson wrote: > > Am I right in thinking that a home flatbed scanner has absolutely no > hope of providing the resolution needed to scan microfiche? > > We've got a *lot* of DEC documentation arrived on fiche (208 pages per > fiche, estimated 25000 sheets) and scanning some of the more useful bits > would be nice. So far the cost from commercial companies has either been > too high or the quality has been far too low to actually be useful :-( Sadly, you'll find normal scanners all have the "too low resolution" problem to handle fiche. You'll also find a lot of variation in DEC fiche quality. Have you got much XXDP fiche? -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

7
9
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Microfiche scanning

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf at siconic.com> > >On Thu, 21 Apr 2005, woodelf wrote: > >> PS. They plan someday to have human DNA recorded ... just how the heck >> will you archive > >Make more humans? > Hi It will most likely be recorded as the difference between that person and a reference person. Most likely the one used for the genome project. The differences are a lot smaller than the parts that are the same. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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VAXstation 3100/76 SCSI disk over 1GB

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

Dont know if this is common knowledge, but I have a VS3100/76 that I threw a 2gig IBM drive in, tried to put VMS on and - it worked. All the stuff I saw seemed to indicate that 3100s didn't like sysdisks over 1 gig, but my /76 doesn't seem to mind. There it is if it's useful Scott Quinn

21 years, 4 months

5
4
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Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 22 2005, 8:01, der Mouse wrote: > >>> You don't need the ['fiche viewer] screen to form the image, you > >>> only need the (virtual) image from the viewer's lens system to be > >>> focussed in the same plane as the scanner's optics. > >> Pointing the scanner at the plane in space that happens to be the > >> viewing plane of the fiche viewer isn't going to result in an image. > > It doesn't make any difference to the focussing of the scanner optics > > whether it's seeing an image produced by light reflected from a > > plane, or light from some other source producing an image in that > > same plane. > > Ah, but it does. Well, yes and no. I was actually thinking of the image produced in a microscope, which *is* different. Still, if you could put the scanner sensor in the same plane as the viewing screen was supposed to be, you'd form the right sort of image on the sensor. The sensor width would of course need to be the same as the screen width, and would need to not have any optics. I haven't looked at a scanner sensor for a long time so I don't know if that's possible. It probably isn't. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 21:55, John Foust wrote: > At 07:21 PM 4/21/2005, you wrote: > >You could just remove the fiche viewer screen. You don't need the > >screen to form the image, you only need the (virtual) image from the > >viewer's lens system to be focussed in the same plane as the scanner's > >optics. Actually, since the image is usually focussed on the back > >surface of the viewer screen, you'd want to remove it anyway. > > Pointing the scanner at the plane in space that happens to be the > viewing plane of the fiche viewer isn't going to result in an image. > The scanner wants to see reflected light. Focusing the fiche > projection at the scanner's sensor is a different sort of problem > that would involve changing the scanner's optics, no? It doesn't make any difference to the focussing of the scanner optics whether it's seeing an image produced by light reflected from a plane, or light from some other source producing an image in that same plane. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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Microfiche scanning

by James＠jdfogg.com

> > Sheesh, why is everyone treating fiche as a horrible thing? > Like it's > > some terrible, embarrassing obsolete medium that needs to > be converted > > out of as quickly as possible? > <snip> > > Yeah, but there's at least two problems with it. > > One, it's really hard to make fiche available to other people > without scanning or giving out the original, and loaning out > fiche is potentially risky and a pain in the ass to track. Duplicating a fiche is cheap and simple. There are many Diazo based fiche duplicators that use autofeed hoppers and make about a 2 dupes/minute. Any service bureau can do this really cheaply.

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 22:35, Eric Smith wrote: > Tom wrote: > > Sheesh, why is everyone treating fiche as a horrible thing? Like > > it's some terrible, embarrassing obsolete medium that needs to be > > converted out of as quickly as possible? > > > > Fiche is great. Keep in clean and dry in a dark place and it will > > last for hundreds of years. > [...] > > Not everything need exist inside a computer. > > Because if Alice has fiche in a clean dry dark place, that doesn't > necessarily help Bob. But if Alice's fiche is scanned and put on a web > site, it may help everyone. Exactly. I'd add that when you're actually using the documents, paper is almost always easier to handle. I've used DEC fiche to look up XXDP listings, technical manuals, and maintenance docs, and it's a pain going backwards and forwards between the machine (or board on the bench, or whatever) to the fiche reader. The fiche just happens to be a compact and effective way to store the data. > When was the last time you saw the IPB (Illustrated Parts Breakdown) > for a PDP-11T55? Probably yesterday, when I was looking through some of my microfiche :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

tube technology and EMP

by kapteynr＠cboe.com

> Randy McLaughlin <cctalk at randy482.com> wrote: > > I don't remember all the details but I read that while NASA always tried to > solve problems with $ and technology. > > The Russians used something better: thought. The biggest problems were > heat and pressure. Solid state devices shut down when heated. The > spacecraft was open on the flight to Venus and sealed up before landing. > This kept the insides under vacuum which slowed down heat transference. > > Smart, very smart. Reminds me of joke I was told when I visited my relatives in Canada: "One of the first big problems of manned space flight was that ball-point pens would not work reliably in zero gravity. NASA started a huge research project and after more than a year the 'space pen' was developed. This was a ball point pen that could write upside down and in zero gravity. (BTW: These pens were sold to the public and widely advertised when I was a kid) The russian cosmonauts, on the other hand, simply used a pencil :-)

21 years, 4 months

7
6
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Microfiche scanning

by James＠jdfogg.com

> "James Fogg" wrote: > > > >If anyone here has contacts at MIT, or wanted to contact them about > >scanning services, you might find that they still have the > ability to > >scan fiche and *may* be affordable. > > If no one else wants to, I'll sign up for this. I'd love the > excuse to see the scanner :-) > > I've spoken to the nice ladies in the CSAIL reading room. > I'll bet they can point me in the right direction. They seem > to be very sympathetic to those of us into archiving. > > -brad Let me know if they still have it. I'd love to know. BTW - TDC was bought by Banctec, so it may be called a Banctec fiche scanner now.

21 years, 4 months

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Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 17:33, Eric Smith wrote: > Pete wrote: > > Similarly, you don't need to remove the scanner's lamp, except perhaps > > to eliminate stray reflections that would cause glare and reduce > > contrast. You would just disconnect its power if that were the > > requirement. > > Many scanners do a calibration on the lamp. Some will refuse to scan if > they think the lamp isn't working correctly. You're right; I'd forgotten about that. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

1
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I'm going to design and build an X terminal

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

9000 VAX <vax9000 at gmail.com> wrote: > It is going to be a hard work. If it is me, I'd rather look at any > readily available SBC (PC104 or whatever that does not need a fan, or > even an severely downclocked PC), and add the keyboard support > hardware and software for LK201, to meet your expectation. The problem with this is that I absolutely positively cannot stand the PeeCee architecture. My design will have a non-8086-compatible CPU, a non-PeeCee design of system registers, and a ROM monitor that bears no relation to the PeeCee BIOS, instead it'll have the look and feel of a VAX console (chevron prompt)! MS

21 years, 4 months

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

by technobug＠comcast.net

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:39:09 -0700 (PDT) Tom Jennings <tomj at wps.com> commented: >> Each "tube" >> consisted of an Americium cathode, the necessary grids (perforated >> plates), >> and a plate evaporated on the wall of the cavity. > .... But this is fairly amazing, and I've never heard of it before. > > Why Am for cathodes?! Alpha particles instead of electrons? (I'm > kidding there.)Or did they somehow come up with a nasty, toxic an > short-lived way to produce clouds of electrons? Or another way to > lob our toxic waste at our 'enemies' ala 'depleted' (sic) > uranium?! Because of a head-fart. I've been disecting smoke detectors in the recent past and I'm afraid the alpha radiation has left an imprint. What was used was a soft beta emitter in place of a heated filament. If interested, look up the HIBEX missile. CRC

21 years, 4 months

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Free 9-track tapes

by cfnelson_87111＠yahoo.com

I have a box of 9-track tapes (total weight is 65 lbs) >from that I no longer need. - 27 x 2400' 3M Black Watch No.700 6250 CPI - 1 x 1200' Scotch 700 6250 CPI - 3 x 1200' Graham Magnetics Epoch 480 - 2 x write-enable rings The whole lot is available for free if you pay for the shipping (or pick them up in Albuquerque). I would prefer to send all the tapes at once rather than sending single tapes to people. If you are interested, please contact me at cfnelson_87111 at yahoo.com. If no one is interested, they are going in the media disposal box at work. By the way, I read the entire set twice using different tape drives (both were Sun-labelled HP 88780 drives). A byte-for-byte comparison showed not a single changed bit for the sets (>1 Gbyte of data)that were read 5 years apart. I found that somewhat amazing for tapes that are at least 15 years old and have not been in special storage. Maybe writing the data at only 1600 bpi made them more reliable (originally written by a Masscomp UNIX system using a Cipher F880 tape drive). __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/

21 years, 4 months

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Stuff in [Seattle] area

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

I have a few things- any interest in the e-module housing for a Personal IRIS with GR1.5 graphics? also- an unracked HP (9000 series 800) G-50 server? pretty well loaded with RAM (over 500 MB), fits nicely under the desk- combination foot rest and warmer. Silicon Graphics Indigo2 IMPACT r4k/250 Solid SGI Indy R5k/150SC (Cache!!) (L@@k RARE only a few million made. . .) Computone ISA terminal board Wangtek ISA QIC-02 controller IBM P200 13w3 monitor with cable-works with Sun, SGI, RS/6k, PC, et al. If I could get a trade or some small offer to offset the $20 I invested in a failed attempt to get my PI running again (totally dead IP board, SMT FPU (mine wants a PGA :( sob, sob, etc.) the following is available, and working. IP28 board (R10k) for Indigo2 RE2 chip for GR1.x graphics (Personal IRIS) Indigo2 IMPACT 10k power supply (Dual Head) with Mardigras (Impact) backplane Personal IRIS skins and power supply Still looking for a Indigo R3k board or Personal IRIS IPx (X<=10)- or any board with a r3010 FPU at or above 20 MHz, board does not need to work., also a MC88k AViiON. With all of the talk about computer fairs in Calif, E.coast, does anyone know of any in WA? -Scott Quinn

21 years, 4 months

2
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Russian comps, Toshiba drives

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

No one mentioned the BESM computer, not VAX or PDP. Someone's even trying to clone it- http://www.mailcom.com/besm6/ Any toshiba people out there? A number of my drives have a solid light on power up and don't respond to the open/close button. Toshiba's website has NOTHING about CD-ROMs doc-wise. Are Toshibas junk, did I get a bad batch, or is there something that can be done? (they have prop. ROMS, some SGI, some HP, and I'm becoming a bit worried about my IBM doing the same thing). -Scott Quinn

21 years, 4 months

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IIcx/ci power supplies (missed a day so if this is answered, sorry)

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

Great resource on this at http://www.shobaffum.com/iici/ the PS provides a 5v trickle to do what was done by the batteries on the II/IIx/IIfx (provide the power to the ADB keyboard power-on switch)

21 years, 4 months

1
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Asimov images

by Saquinn624＠aol.com

I have a CD with (I think) about everything from Asimov, plus Jagubox and a few other bits. If there aren't too many people and they asked nicely I might be persuaded to do copies, especially if they were willing to swap something, but that's not required - Scott Quinn

21 years, 4 months

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Very much On Topic: Integrated Vacuum Tubes

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Very much On Topic: Integrated Vacuum Tubes > From: "Peter C. Wallace" <pcw at mesanet.com> > Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 06:57:54 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >>> RCA's Nuvistor - a family often found in late 1960s TV tuners and some >>> test equipments. They are almost always triodes, and are really small - >>> 3/4 inch long, maybe 3/8 inch diameter, all metal. RCA made a few half >>> sized Nuvistors, but never sold them. I have and still use these. Common numbers are 6CW4 and 6DS4, fine devices. >> >> Some mil gear (eg PRC-41) has very small ceramic tubes -not sure if they are >> quite as small as the Nuvistor but they must be close- likewise some hearing >> aid amp tubes were pertty damn small as well. I also have an assortment of T1A sized tubes (1.125" tall by .360 dia glass) most of them are 5899 and 5636 RF pentodes. I have 1AD4 and 5862 which are miniture tubes for battery operation and they are 1.25 tall by .375 wide and about .220 thick also made of glass. I've used all of the mentined tubes in various radio projects. Allison

21 years, 4 months

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HP 2100 stuff again

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Forgot to mention, the 2100A he has there also has a WCS card & connector. WCS is about the funnest toy to have on an HP box :) Congrats again on an awesome find :) Jay West

21 years, 4 months

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NS chips sought

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I had good luck asking here for the 82S129's, I have a good supply of them now at a reasonable price. Now I need the 82S141, and likewise can't find it at the places I had found the 82S129 :\ Anyone have an idea where to poke for this bipolar prom? Jay

21 years, 4 months

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Very much On Topic: Integrated Vacuum Tubes

by James＠jdfogg.com

> > I think acorn tubes are smaller. Those are UHF tubes -- I > think they > > were used in 1940s or 1950s vintage equipment for oscillators or > > Ummmm - no. A nuvistor could very nearly fit into the > acorn's envelope. > Nuvistors look like a largish metal pencil eraser - they're > substatially smaller internally than an acorn tube, as well. > And of course, as you mention, 30 years later in design. Not smaller, but more along the lines of classic (glass, pin sockets) tubes. Motorola WWII walkie-talkies used "pencil tubes". I've only seen them once, about the size of a small woman's pinkie finger.

21 years, 4 months

2
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tube technology and EMP

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Randy McLaughlin <cctalk at randy482.com> wrote: > The Russians were right in keeping tubes well beyond what we did. That's > how they got to venus! FYI, those tubes that went to Venus were designed by my dad. MS

21 years, 4 months

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Microfiche scanning

by James＠jdfogg.com

> > Am I right in thinking that a home flatbed scanner has > absolutely no > > hope of providing the resolution needed to scan microfiche? I used to work for the Terminal Data Corp. We manufactured fiche cameras, including the one that made the original DEC fiche. We also manufactured a fiche scanner that output via SCSI to a workstation or Dataproducts high speed laserprinter. There aren't many dedicated fiche scanning products made, but the TDC was one of the few. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Library Services had a TDC fiche scanner in the 1990's (and a couple of TDC cameras). It was mostly used for reproducing all the microfiched research and thesis papers, but they did offer scanning services to the public. If anyone here has contacts at MIT, or wanted to contact them about scanning services, you might find that they still have the ability to scan fiche and *may* be affordable.

21 years, 4 months

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tube technology and EMP

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 23:42, Michael Sokolov wrote: > Kapteyn, Rob <kapteynr at cboe.com> wrote: > > > The russian cosmonauts, on the other hand, simply used a pencil :-) > > We had those space pens too. You can still buy them, they're called Fisher Space Pens. I carry one all the time and can attest that they do indeed write upside-down or under water, but I've never had the oportunity to try one in zero gravity. They don't work nearly as well as ordinary pens, though. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

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Questions - Universe/68, HP-9134A,VT420 composite video

by david_comley＠yahoo.com

--- "Joe R." <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com> wrote: > >- HP 9134A: The unit is appears on the HPIB bus but > >doesn't identify itself correctly. From the HP64000 > >side I get a 'NO DISC' error when I try to format > it. > > I don't know about the 64000 but the HP9000 200s > and 300s display a list > of drives during bootup. Does the 64000 do that and > does it show the drive? When you boot the 64000 off the first two diskettes in the operating system set, it checks the HP-IB for any devices attached. If there are no devices attached, you get instructions displayed that state that AMIGO devices - and it names the 9134A - need to be set as address 0. With the drive attached at 0 , it reports the 64000 itself, and an unrecognized device at address 0. > On a 200 or 300 if you press any key druing boot it > will stop the system > from booting an OS but it will go through the search > for drives and display > a list of drives and OSs. I have a untried 9000/300 unit that I picked up last year. Perhaps I could try using that to test with. Will a 9000/300 try to boot without a keyboard attached ? Of course it would hard to press a key to stop the boot sequence without having a keyboard attached <g>. > Is this one of the old wide biege units or one of > the newer square white > ones? > It's the big beige unit. There's no fault light on it, just the power light and the disk activity light. Just to see what would happen, I hooked it up to an HP-1631 and went through the Storage menu to see what it detected on the bus. I can see the activity light coming on when the 1631 tries to access the unit. > I have a couple of those cards and I'm pretty > sure that I have the > manual and software SOMEWHERE but I have no idea if > I can find it. If you > ind them from another source, let me know. The Zia Tech unit is less of a card and more of a programmer's panel sort of device. It has a couple of rows of switches and lights that correspond to the data lines and some of the HP-IB commands. It doesn't seem to have any address setting capability on the outside of the box. Maybe there's a DIP switch inside or something. Looks fun though. Regards, Dave __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

21 years, 4 months

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tube technology and EMP

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Philip Pemberton <philpem at dsl.pipex.com> wrote: > Speaking of which... > <http://microscopy.fsu.edu/creatures/pages/russians.html> > > "VAX: When you care enough to steal the very best" :) I have finally looked at that page with a graphical browser (no, not my own of course, at a puter lab in school) and it's invalid Russian, obviously written by someone who did not know the language and was merely "translating" >from English by looking up English words in a dictionary, without any clue as to choosing the correct meaning out of the many possible, and then stringing those word "translations" together as they go in English without regard for Russian grammar rules. And one of the Russian words used there is not a valid Russian word at all. MS

21 years, 4 months

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tube technology and EMP

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Kapteyn, Rob <kapteynr at cboe.com> wrote: > The russian cosmonauts, on the other hand, simply used a pencil :-) We had those space pens too. MS

21 years, 4 months

1
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tube technology and EMP

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: msokolov at ivan.harhan.org > >Philip Pemberton <philpem at dsl.pipex.com> wrote: > >> Speaking of which... >> <http://microscopy.fsu.edu/creatures/pages/russians.html> >> >> "VAX: When you care enough to steal the very best" :) > >I have finally looked at that page with a graphical browser (no, not my >own of course, at a puter lab in school) and it's invalid Russian, obviously >written by someone who did not know the language and was merely "translating" >from English by looking up English words in a dictionary, without any clue >as to choosing the correct meaning out of the many possible, and then >stringing those word "translations" together as they go in English without >regard for Russian grammar rules. And one of the Russian words used there >is not a valid Russian word at all. > >MS > Hi It should be fun running it back through a translator to English. I often look at Italian post on Olivetti M20's. The Italian word for "files" ( used many times in most post ) gets translated to "rows". It took me a long time to figure out how this resulted. Then I realized, it is confused with how solders are positioned on a parade field ( rank and file ) with what we refer to as a file. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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Microfiche scanning

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

On Thu, 2005-04-21 at 14:37 -0700, vrs wrote: > I suppose a list of what fiche are there would be an interesting starting > point for eliminating duplicated effort and possibly for prioritizing the > work. Good plan. I'll try and remember to bring all of ours home with me at the weekend, then I can at least make some sort of list.

21 years, 4 months

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Microfiche scanning

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 10:43, Jim Leonard wrote: So what *is* enough? The last microfiche I read at my local library was 12 > pages by 16 pages on a 4"x6" film, so we have roughly (12/4)*(16/6)=8 pages per > inch of film. 150 DPI is the absolute bare minimum for a readable page, so a > scanner would need a minimum resolution of (150*8)=1200 DPI just to get > something discernable. Um, your maths is off. Assuming 150 dpi is the minimum acceptable for well-printed text (and some DEC fiche is anything but), and a page is 8" wide, you need 1200 dots per page width. A page width on the fiche you describe is 6/16 inches, so you need 16/6 * 1200 dots per inch, which is 3192 dpi. Another way to look at it is if an 8"-wide page is 6/16" or 3/8" on the fiche, it's .04687 of original size, or about 21 times reduced. So 150 dpi becomes 3200 dpi. The equivalent resolution to get 600 dpi on the original page would be 12800 dpi. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

2
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Honeywell Series 16 software

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi folks, I have recently won an auction for a Honeywell Series 16 (DDP516, H316 etc.) BASIC interpreter manual. Does anyone have this Honeywell BASIC paper tape or a copy of it? BASIC would be a great interactive toy for the Honeywell. And of course I am always looking for Series 16 software - everything. All the original software I have for the machine can be downloaded at my H316 website http://h316.hachti.de. Best regards, Philipp :-)

21 years, 4 months

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tube technology and EMP

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Randy McLaughlin" <cctalk at randy482.com> > >From: "Heinz Wolter" <h.wolter at sympatico.ca> >Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 12:09 PM >> wasn't there some urban-tech legend about the Americans getting >> hold of a Cuban MIG fighter and laughing at the low-tech electronics they >> found? >> Purportedly - the Russians were using tubes! ..that are claimed to be EMP >> proof. >> EMP as in nuke-you-lar bomb (some important guy pronounces it like that! >> bizzare..) >> >> Now, perhaps tubes could be EMP tolerant, but they wouldn't be radiation >> tolerant, >> would they? After all, isn't that how Geiger-Muller rad counter tubes >> work? >> Any mil-space-design spooks out there worked with rad-hard technology? >> I've read 4000 cmos is the wrong thing use for your home-made nuke >> countdown unit, >> but that RCA1802s fared better in early OSCAR and other satellites... >> >> h ><snip> > >The Russians were right in keeping tubes well beyond what we did. That's >how they got to venus! > >There are many areas tubes go well beyond what can be done in solid state. > >Randy >www.s100-manuals.com Hi There is a process for CMOS call RAD hardening. It is a process of exposing the CMOS to radiation for a period of time. It reduces the efficiency of the transistors but they don't degrade as fast ( comparatively ) once this is done. As far as solid state goes, silicon is a limiter. Other semiconducting materials can work at higher temperatures. Toyota has worked out a way to produce large quantities of defect free silicon-carbide. This can be used to make transistors that can be run at several hundred degrees C. This is of course interesting to them because they like to have high power transistors for electric cars. Another material that hasn't been used to much is diamond. This is one of the best material to make transistors from since it has such good thermal properties. There are still a lot of processing problem to work out for this to be of much use. They already have the ability to create diamond films. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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Microfiche Scanning

by aek＠spies.com

here we go again... Late last year, I bought a used Mekel 560 (around a $50,000 unit new) I have several thousand sheets of DEC fiche to do as well. Unfortunately, it only handles one sheet at a time, came with no documentation and with everything else going on with my life, I've not spent much time with it since I bought it. It is something I need to get set up soon, though, since there is some material that I need to get done soon.

21 years, 4 months

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Microfiche scanning

by James＠jdfogg.com

> We do have what looks to be a reader with integral printer, > which is an interesting beastie - but it all looks rather > battered and rusty (maybe it sat outside at some point in its > life). I don't hold out much hope of it working again... These are incredibly common, most libraries will have them. The printing process is either mimeo (alcohol) or the diazo process used for blueprints (ammonia). I have only seen one that used a toner type photostat process.

21 years, 4 months

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Very much On Topic: Integrated Vacuum Tubes

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 21 2005, 9:06, Stan Barr wrote: > There were some very small wire ended ones made for proximity fuzes in > anti-aircraft shells. They are about the size of one of those small > neons. Someone in the USA has a stock of new ones and I wouldn't mind > getting a few to play with, but I've lost his address. > > Back in the '60s I had a little portable radio that used wire-ended > valves/tubes about half an inch diameter and an inch long. I had some of those. They were wire-wrapped onto printed circuit boards which were mounted in lightweight alloy chassis, all made at Ferranti, supposedly for or from the TSR2. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

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More Vintage Computers in the news!

by classiccmp＠vintage-computer.com

You know you've hit the big-time when: http://www.theonion.com/history/index.php?issue=4116 Enjoy! -- Erik Klein www.vintage-computer.com www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum The Vintage Computer Forum

21 years, 4 months

1
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HP find, plus some good DEC stuff too... and CDC.. and...

by cheri-post＠web.de

Jay, it would be of great help, if somebody could scan the documents of the CDC drives. I own four of these beasts and neither don't know to configure them nor to repair them due to the lack of printsets. And I'm surely not the only one out there. Regards, Pierre "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org> schrieb am 21.04.05 00:50:57: > > Got a call from my High School, they had found more "old computer junk" in a > little used closet under a stairwell. They said "come get it out", so I did, > and I was pleasantly suprised. Here's what I found... > > Four, yep... FOUR of the rare HP 12920 MUX panels.. at least two of which > have full cable sets!! These aren't the mux controller cards, this is the > large metal bracket (which has it's own circuit board) that the 12920 mux > set connects to. And the cables for these are a bi***, double hooded affairs > on one end, centronics style connectors on the other, a three cable bundle. > Anyways, this totally makes my day :) I will keep one or two, the rest are > available for trade. > > A CDC 9715 "front panel filler kit". The CDC drive (a single one anyway) > took 1/2 a 19" rack space horizontally. So this kit includes the extra > filler panel to bring it across the 19" span. Also included are a full set > of unit select plugs (look like they'd work on an RL02?). > > An Emulex SC02/SC11 disc controller. This looks to be Qbus. Dang. I have > qbus systems I'd use it on, but I'd rather have a unibus controller ;) The > board comes with some interesting things in the box. Full technical manual > on the board, plus a handfull of color brochures and specification sheets > (marketing glossy's) for all the different products that Emulex made in the > way of disk controllers and such. Then there is an envelope with a large > amount of the full line of emulex products glossy brochures/datasheets as > well. > > An odd HP "power controller". I've never seen anything quite like this. The > power controller is HP part 30311-60001. It has a lot of the standard HP > power connectors (yeeehar! Battery eliminator plugs!!), and test points on > the front for "battery test". Then there's a large bundle of power cables > that goes to a rackmount panel with separate switches for "lower memory" and > upper memory" standby and run with lights for DC status, battery status, > etc. This sure seems like it would be some kind of power management for the > 21MX M-series, but I've seen the battery backup option for the M series and > this wasn't it. Odd. > > A partially canibalized HP 2112A power supply > > A CDC PA5A1 & PA5A2 hardware maintenance manual. The pictures look very much > like the CDC 9715. > > Misc. parts from an 11/03 or maybe 11/23 front panel (the 3 white toggle > switches assembly) - bezel & circuit board > > This appears to be a 3rd party manual for DEC memory - "CMV-1000 MOS Memory > Manual" > > Then there's some manuals for various 9" monitors frequently used with old > systems - sanyo, ball (a TD12/15 service manual), ikegami or something like > that... > > I left a bunch of cannibalized 21MX power supply stuff behind, as well as > some power supply parts for a 7970 tape drive. I will be going back to get > those... as well as a pristine, apparently never installed brand new > old-style HP 19" rack. Now I have a place to mount my other 7970E and 7906 > and 7900A :) > > Lastly, some really odd stuff I left behind but will go back to get. I have > no clue what this stuff is... honestly, it looks like stuff from an old > Frankenstien laboratory in the movies. Desktop metal boxes in this mottled > black paint, with HUGE brownish/redish dials on them that appear to be some > type ceramic. Large analog meters on most of it. No brand name that I could > see but it really didn't look "home brew". I could tell is was FAR older > than the HP stuff I was looking for. Maybe when I get that stuff I can post > a few pics and people could try to guess what it is. It's very clearly not > computer related though - believe I saw a few tubes in some of them. > > Oh, I also got a voice coil with 5 heads attached to it. It's quite odd > looking - the heads don't line up. There's maybe two heads on the bottom of > the coil that are aligned "over under". Then there's a third one off to the > side. Then a glass reticule, then two heads above that that didn't line up. > Wierd. It looks like something that came off a borg arm ;) > > Regards, > > Jay West > > ______________________________________________________________ Verschicken Sie romantische, coole und witzige Bilder per SMS! Jetzt bei WEB.DE FreeMail: http://f.web.de/?mc=021193

21 years, 4 months

2
1
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SMS FWD 0101 disk/floppy info?

by brad＠heeltoe.com

Hi Anyone have any info on an 8" hard drive + 8" floppy combo which appears to be an "SMS FWD 0101"? I believe this was used with a qbus system. I don't have the controller card however, just the box and a 50 pin cable :-) The floppy looks like 8" double sided. The HD is 8" (been a while since I've seen one of those). I'd love to find the mating QBUS controller card. The large card on top of the hd & floppy appears to have an 2901 and an 8085 as well as other fun chips. (I just gotta stop clicking on those blue underlined words ;-) -brad

21 years, 4 months

4
5
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Need sample of CRT "mold"

by vcf＠siconic.com

If someone can mail me a sample of the "mold" I've found a place that will test it. You can mail it to: VintageTech 2442 Research Drive Livermore, California 94550 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

2
1
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PDP8 power supply G8018

by Steven_R_Hutchins＠Raytheon.com

I am considering using two modern +5v at 25A switching power supplies to replace the +5V source ( leaving the original -5V at 2A,+15 at 2A,-15 at 2A,and +20 at 4A as original) in a PDP-8A. My intent is to increase the reliability of the system. I have had trouble with keeping the G8018's operating. I occasionally trip the breakers on startup. I am thinking bad filter Caps. Perhaps someone could give some opinions on this (Crazy) idea. Hutch

21 years, 4 months

7
7
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HP 2000/Access 21MX-EEEEEEE version :>

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Just booted it up and it runs wonderfully :) So, the IOP firmware for the E series has not only been found, but confirmed to work! It was so neat to type "HEL-A000..." on a terminal this morning. The dual E's are noticeably faster than my dual 2100 Access system, but not as much faster as I would have expected. Odd, since the processors are significantly faster, and using the high performance memory option. The basement doesn't heat up quite as much running on two E's as opposed to two 2100A/S. Also, I seem to be able to run it indefinitely without tripping a circuit breaker. Nifty! I ran in to lots of cpu problems this morning, and had to go through every one of my 21MX-E spare cpu's to get a working combination. Yikes - makes me wish I hadn't given away all my E's. At some point in the future I should probably try the M series firmware board, just to be sure that works as well. I also wound up having to scavenge some parts from my 2100 Access system to get the MXE Access system up. Bummer! Hopefully some trades will produce the necessary stuff to have both operational. Yup, I'm pondering some RJE setup between the two :) Oh, except I apparently only have one set of processor interconnect cables, thought I had two :\ Making up THOSE cables will suck. Anyways... just wanted to let folks know that the E series IOP firmware is definitely a go. The biggest problem I had was trying to figure out how to set up the FAB board. I'd really have preferred to go the FEM route, but Access is so hard-coded in the system processor side of things. Regards, Jay West

21 years, 4 months

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Jupiter J12

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 18 2005, 19:57, Ethan Dicks wrote: > On 4/18/05, Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com> wrote: > > Hi Guys, > > > > I was just contacted by a guy asking if I have any info on this > > computer called "Jupiter J12": > > > > http://www.geocities.com/australianvintcomp/Jupiter/Jupiter.html > That sure looks like Qbus fingers on those boards... it would be odd > to copy DEC's proportions and not their bus logic, but that's entirely > possible. > > With a 68010 CPU, that screams "UNIX" to me (the differences between > the 68000 and 68010 make virtual memory implementation practical. That's what Cadmus (German CAD systems producer) did with their 680x0 boards; they fit in a normal QBus chassis, use standard QBus peripherals, and run UNIX. I've never owed one, but I've (briefly) used them. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 4 months

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HP find, plus some good DEC stuff too... and CDC.. and...

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Got a call from my High School, they had found more "old computer junk" in a little used closet under a stairwell. They said "come get it out", so I did, and I was pleasantly suprised. Here's what I found... Four, yep... FOUR of the rare HP 12920 MUX panels.. at least two of which have full cable sets!! These aren't the mux controller cards, this is the large metal bracket (which has it's own circuit board) that the 12920 mux set connects to. And the cables for these are a bi***, double hooded affairs on one end, centronics style connectors on the other, a three cable bundle. Anyways, this totally makes my day :) I will keep one or two, the rest are available for trade. A CDC 9715 "front panel filler kit". The CDC drive (a single one anyway) took 1/2 a 19" rack space horizontally. So this kit includes the extra filler panel to bring it across the 19" span. Also included are a full set of unit select plugs (look like they'd work on an RL02?). An Emulex SC02/SC11 disc controller. This looks to be Qbus. Dang. I have qbus systems I'd use it on, but I'd rather have a unibus controller ;) The board comes with some interesting things in the box. Full technical manual on the board, plus a handfull of color brochures and specification sheets (marketing glossy's) for all the different products that Emulex made in the way of disk controllers and such. Then there is an envelope with a large amount of the full line of emulex products glossy brochures/datasheets as well. An odd HP "power controller". I've never seen anything quite like this. The power controller is HP part 30311-60001. It has a lot of the standard HP power connectors (yeeehar! Battery eliminator plugs!!), and test points on the front for "battery test". Then there's a large bundle of power cables that goes to a rackmount panel with separate switches for "lower memory" and upper memory" standby and run with lights for DC status, battery status, etc. This sure seems like it would be some kind of power management for the 21MX M-series, but I've seen the battery backup option for the M series and this wasn't it. Odd. A partially canibalized HP 2112A power supply A CDC PA5A1 & PA5A2 hardware maintenance manual. The pictures look very much like the CDC 9715. Misc. parts from an 11/03 or maybe 11/23 front panel (the 3 white toggle switches assembly) - bezel & circuit board This appears to be a 3rd party manual for DEC memory - "CMV-1000 MOS Memory Manual" Then there's some manuals for various 9" monitors frequently used with old systems - sanyo, ball (a TD12/15 service manual), ikegami or something like that... I left a bunch of cannibalized 21MX power supply stuff behind, as well as some power supply parts for a 7970 tape drive. I will be going back to get those... as well as a pristine, apparently never installed brand new old-style HP 19" rack. Now I have a place to mount my other 7970E and 7906 and 7900A :) Lastly, some really odd stuff I left behind but will go back to get. I have no clue what this stuff is... honestly, it looks like stuff from an old Frankenstien laboratory in the movies. Desktop metal boxes in this mottled black paint, with HUGE brownish/redish dials on them that appear to be some type ceramic. Large analog meters on most of it. No brand name that I could see but it really didn't look "home brew". I could tell is was FAR older than the HP stuff I was looking for. Maybe when I get that stuff I can post a few pics and people could try to guess what it is. It's very clearly not computer related though - believe I saw a few tubes in some of them. Oh, I also got a voice coil with 5 heads attached to it. It's quite odd looking - the heads don't line up. There's maybe two heads on the bottom of the coil that are aligned "over under". Then there's a third one off to the side. Then a glass reticule, then two heads above that that didn't line up. Wierd. It looks like something that came off a borg arm ;) Regards, Jay West

21 years, 4 months

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WAS: SCSI CD drive capable ... IS: drivers for Phillips Changers

by bpettit＠ix.netcom.com

> Jim Stephens wrote: > > Any possibility of getting drivers for the Phillips changer type CD drives > for Linux? > > such as the 6 and 18 disc versions (or the 500 disc library?) > > Jim > Sorry but I don't remember seeing anything for Linux. The drivers my division sold were all for Microsoft Windows. And they were contracted out to Roxio or Nero. In fact, I don't remember seeing any drivers for the "jukebox" chasses except for the inhouse test systems. Billy

21 years, 4 months

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HPIB fundamentals and questions

by david_comley＠yahoo.com

--- Steve Robertson <steerex at mindspring.com> wrote: > About two years ago, I downloaded the GPIB source > for LINUX from a > website. I don't recall the URL but you should be > able to find it on > google. I never could get it to compile on my LINUX > box but, you might > have better luck. I was involved in some other > projects so, didn't spend > too much time tinkering with it. If you are > proficient in "C" you might > be able to get it to work. I have the compiled code installed on my machine. There were a couple of syntax errors somewhere in it. If you're interested I will send you the fixes. > > So... If you want to learn the basics of HPIB, hook > up one of the > printers to the analyzer and try sending the control > sequences. All you > have to do is address the printer to listen to the > bus and send an ASCII > string. The printer should print the string as you > send it. Works like a charm. Good instructions. Thanks ! I'll program your example using the gpib library for Linux and then experiment from there. Regards, Dave __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

21 years, 4 months

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new HP-2100 collector

by Tim＠rikers.org

Seems I just took the plunge. I found a stash of hardware here and saved it from the great bit bucket in the sky. Inventory: * HP-2116A - broken chassis, missing glass panel * HP-2100A - missing cover * HP 21MX 2112A * HP 21MX 2108A * HP 12979A I/O extender * HP 2761A optical mark reader (melted rubber wheel) * HP 2748B tape reader * hp unknown mag tape drive * 7901A disc drive that's been dropped * 2 * HP-7900A disc drives * 2 * 13215A disc power supply * Commercial Controls Corporation tape punch * unknown data logger and other misc cruft. I've not tried turning any of it on yet. Many thanx to Jay West who identified much of this stuff over the net and walked me trough tieing the heads on the drives for the move. The HP-2116A was literally on the curb on it's way to the scrap heap. Parts had been scavenged, etc. I think I got all the pieces that there were to get. No power cord, etc. what kind of power does a 2116 need? If you've read this far and can stop drooling on your keyboard, I put pictures up. Some of the pictures are other stuff that was there, that the would not let me grab. http://rikers.org/gallery/hardware Does anyone know what the "Sandia Laboratories" desk + racks is for? There is only one thing left in the rack and it's in real bad shape. http://rikers.org/gallery/hardware/20050415_092748 http://rikers.org/gallery/hardware/20050415_092802 http://rikers.org/gallery/hardware/20050415_104726 -- Tim Riker - http://rikers.org/ - TimR at Debian.org Embedded Linux Technologist BZFlag maintainer - http://BZFlag.org/ - for fun!

21 years, 4 months

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IN MEMORIAN: Alf Jacob Munthe of Minnesund, Norway

by waltje＠pdp11.nl

Hi, It is with great sadness that I report the death of fellow collector of old computer systems Alf Jacob Munthe, of the little town of Minnesund in Norway. Although it was expected, it still came too soon. The fatal desease he was fighting would win eventually, and it did. I hope he now enjoys endless being without the pain that kept torturing him. Alf Jacob contacted me last year, after a posting from Dave Dunfield on this list, regarding taking care of his babies, that being a set of mint-condition IMSAI systems. This did require several months of co-ordinating, but they are finally on their way to my place, where they will kept in the same way he cared for them. I wish his wife all the strength in dealing with his passing. Let this not start another discussion on wills and such.. just make sure you got that covered BEFORE it's needed. With kindest regards, Fred -- Fred N. van Kempen, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) Collector/Archivist Visit the VAXlab Project at http://VAXlab.pdp11.nl/ Visit the Archives at http://www.pdp11.nl/ Email: waltje at pdp11.nl BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Mountain View, CA, USA

21 years, 4 months

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NEC "Advanced Personal Computer"? & Secure data removal

by marvin＠rain.org

My understanding is that one of the specifications for removing secure information from a hard disk requires writing zeros to the disk six or seven times. Norton Utilities (old version) had diskwipe and filewipe where you could specify how many times to write to the disk. Some time ago, there was a discussion of how to recover data that had been overwritten. The only thought I have is that it would take some specialized equipment to read the disk and would take the hysterisis of writing to the disk into account. My guess is that the magnetic field would be such that after six or seven writes, the prior data would no longer be recoverable. > Which brings up another thought. how would one go about making sure > that data is securely wiped from a drive of a classic machine, without > physically destroying it? So it could be donated & reused? > > -- > --- Dave Woyciesjes

21 years, 4 months

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HP "Field Guide" ?

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

At 10:33 PM 3/23/05 -0500, you wrote: > >Also, in my 9000/375 there is a board which fits into a smaller card guide >assy (i.e., it is not the same physical size as the CPU and video modules, >but smaller) which has a paper sticker with several numbers including the >part number: A3057674-11. > >It has an 80286 CPU chip on it which leads me to think its some sort of I/O >processor (?). No connector headers on the board; all connections go >through the edge connector. Can't find anything while searching on the >A3057 portion of the p/n (Axxxx is a type of part numbering scheme HP used >for some boards and stuff) nor on many combinations of parts of the p/n. Darn! I've seen those cards but I can't remember what they are. <snip> OK I finally got the grey matter working and I remember what those cards are. They're DOS coprocessor cards. Yes, your HP can run MS-DOS. Somewhere I have some of the cards but I never found software for them. If you got a drive with your system, look at it carefully and see if it has the necessary SW. If you find the SW, I'd love to get a copy. Joe

21 years, 4 months

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Looking for VT1300 load image

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote: > It would be nice if you'd make your VXT2000 images available to me. I have put them on my FTP site ifctfvax.Harhan.ORG in the directory /pub/DEC/VXT2000. Beware, though, that one of the files is 10 MB and my FTP server does not currently support restart in the middle. (I want to implement it in my ftpd, but never get the time to do it...) MS

21 years, 4 months

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[Bulk] Re: HP CRT mould update

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf at siconic.com> > >On Tue, 19 Apr 2005, Joe R. wrote: > >> Mine doesn't. I bought seven HP 64000s a couple of years ago and none of >> them had the problem. Their (the 64000s) CRTs were all made by Clinton but >> they were still perfect. However they were stored on the second floor of a >> large barn like building and it was bone dry. However it was un-air >> conditioned and within site of the Atlantic coast. I don't know the history >> of any of the other systems that I got except for the first HP9845. It had >> been stored in a cheap leaky aluminium shed for a number of years and it's >> CRT was full of spots. My Soroc came from a surplus store and it's CRT is >> perfect but the store had just gotten it and I have no idea where it came >> from before that. > >My stuff has always been stored in dry areas with fairly stable >temperatures year round so who knows. > >Another computer that gets affected that I just remembered is the Imlac. >My Imlac has it bad, and Tom Uban's has it as well. > Hi I think most times, it is that the plastic pulls away from the glass as the plasticizer evaporates. There are issues of mold attacking but I don't think this is the common failure that looks like fern leaves. I would suspect that one can protect a CRT that one expected might have troubles by carefully sealing the edges of the front shield with RTV. One might consider a repair by placing the CRT in a vacuum chamber such that their was some of that windshield repair fluid in a small dam around the edge. One would pump it out for at least one day and then while under the vacuum pour the repair stuff around it. Then release the vacuum and allow the repair stuff to be pulled into the glass. Not an easy process but it might work. Dwight

21 years, 4 months

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Questions - Universe/68, HP-9134A,VT420 composite video

by david_comley＠yahoo.com

--- "J. David Bryan" <jdbryan at acm.org> wrote: > 9135A. The proper > number for the 9134A is 2203A03086. And, for > completeness, the starting > number for the 9133A is 2239A01446. Before those, > the controller is > specific to the one-volume or four-volume > configuration. After those, a > single strappable controller is used. Thanks for looking anyway. I appreciate the assistance. > So I'm afraid that your drive is permanently set for > the four-volume > configuration and so won't be usable on a 64000. > Sorry. But on the plus side I now have a good reason to look out for other HP systems that *will* work with this unit. That's what I like about this hobby. It's so self-perpetuating. Regards, Dave __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

21 years, 4 months

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OT??? I dont know

by jim.isbell＠gmail.com

I dont know if this is off topic or not. Seems like every time I post to this list I am chastised for OT. To me any computer over 5 years old is an antique. But I would accept the definiton that any computer that used dual triodes was an antique, like the IBM 7070 that I cut my teeth on. BUT....be that as it may, I have several old computers that I am considering disposing of, but before I do I am wondering if they are "classics" Case in point: Nixdorf LK 3000 Electronic Notebook -- Jim Isbell "If you are not living on the edge, well then, you are just taking up too much space." W5JAI UltraVan #257 CAL - 27 #221 1970 E-Type 1985 XJS 1982 XJ6

21 years, 4 months

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