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

by aek＠spies.com

I think it acts like a TM11 with a Pertec tape interface. -- correct. DU132's simulated TS11s both are for pertec formatted interfaces. I thought I had manuals for the 130 and 132, but they haven't surfaced. Would be nice to get them scanned and archived on bitsavers.

21 years, 8 months

1
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Dilog DU130 manual or docs request

by chd_1＠nktelco.net

I have a DU130 without any documentation. I think it acts like a TM11 with a Pertec tape interface. Anybody have any docs for this?

21 years, 8 months

1
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More data on dead wall wart

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> > >> > One year, at the West Coast Computer Faire, we repaired >> > 5 TRS80 ones for other exhibitors ('spose the flaky power >> > at Brooks Hall might be responsible?). >> > We opened them by flinging them down onto a carpeted concrete floor. > >On Thu, 9 Dec 2004, Tom Jennings wrote: >> Shag, berber, or ...? > >It looked like cheap commercial grade indoor/outdoor. But you could >probably get full specs from Greyhoud Exposition Services - just >don't trust anything that they say - at the time, they also claimed >that it was anti-static. > >Fortunately, all 5 were just blown fuse, the common failure of those >warts. > Hi I've seen two types of failure for non-fuse warts. One is that the primary wire blows on the top of the primary winding but there is other visual damage. This is almost always fixed by simply jumpering a new piece of magnet wire ( should be the same guage to provide proper protection ). The other is that there has been some obvious over heating of the primary wire. These are always fatal. Dwight

21 years, 8 months

1
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Possible to speed up I/O subsystem of 5150?

by aek＠spies.com

I thought they were somehow "ATA compliant". I assume you're talking about the interface between the drive and the controller, right? -- The issue is what data bus width is assumed during DMA transfers. 16 bits is 'normal'. Apparently, it was possible to do 8 bit DMA transfers on early drives. I've not looked at the interface for CF. Guess it's possible 8 bits is supported there as well.

21 years, 8 months

2
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Possible to speed up I/O subsystem of 5150?

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Hans Franke" <Hans.Franke(a)siemens.com> > >Am 9 Dec 2004 11:46 meinte Eric Smith: >> Steve Thatcher wrote: >> > considering that the ATA-1 spec included 8 bit transfers from the >> > harddrive, I don't understand why no IDE drives that supported ATA-1 would >> > not work on a PC/XT (unless the DMA speed was the problem). > >> I wasn't aware that 8-bit was included in ATA-1; I don't have a copy of >> ATA-1 or ATA-2. Was the 8-bit support mandatory or optional? In any >> case, it was certainly gone by ATA-3. I very much doubt that any ATA >> drive manufactured in the last 15 years has 8-bit support. > >Well, original ATA was nothing more than a straight forward >adaption of the MFM controler - and that one was still good >for 8 Bit access. Also, there was never (at least in the beginning) >a formal Standard, so as usual everything was possible ... >just remember all the problems of Master/Slave combinations >from different vendors. > >Gruss >H. Hi As I recall, the commands were 8 bit compatable but the data wasn't since this was not to the controller but to the storage buffer. I believe that the newer drives are not even 8 bit compatable for the commands. Dwight

21 years, 8 months

1
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Possible to speed up I/O subsystem of 5150?

by brad＠heeltoe.com

"Eric Smith" wrote: >Steve Thatcher wrote: >> considering that the ATA-1 spec included 8 bit transfers from the >> harddrive, I don't understand why no IDE drives that supported ATA-1 would >> not work on a PC/XT (unless the DMA speed was the problem). > >I wasn't aware that 8-bit was included in ATA-1; I don't have a copy of >ATA-1 or ATA-2. Was the 8-bit support mandatory or optional? In any >case, it was certainly gone by ATA-3. I very much doubt that any ATA >drive manufactured in the last 15 years has 8-bit support. I'm out of my depth here, but I am curious - all of the CF drives I use support 8 bit access. I thought they were somehow "ATA compliant". I assume you're talking about the interface between the drive and the controller, right? sorry if I'm lost - it happens :-) -brad

21 years, 8 months

1
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DEC TZ885 mini-library (nearly OT :)

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Folks, We've got 3 of these things in for repair and we're a bit stuffed without troubleshooting docs. The userguide is on the web but it's as useless as this - *holds up useless thing* - and we need the means of interpreting some of the hex codes they're chucking at us. Anyone got any other docs? TIA -- adrian/witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?

21 years, 8 months

3
5
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Can anyone identify these drives

by williams.dan＠gmail.com

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1484&item=57358362… Any idea of the capacity of these and wether they are worth having ?. They came from a big vax site although they may not have been used with them. Thanks Dan

21 years, 8 months

3
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Misc stuff (Canon TX50, Zenith, XEN-i) - South Croydon, UK

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Chap has the following going spare for pickup in south Croydon if anyone wants: ________________________________________________________________________ * Canon TX 50 computer. 8088 or 8086 processor. Single 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. No hard disk. 15 cm screen. Designed as a point of sale terminal. Built in tally roll printer. LED on each key which can be switched under program control. Comes with MsDos 1.25 and a set of Bureau de Change software - even the currencies are now nostalgic. * Zenith 'Portable' computer - we called it a 'luggable'. ROM BIOS dated 07/14/1987. 8088 or 8086 processor. 20 M byte hard disk. In working order. Battery dead but mains adaptor OK. No modem or network adaptor. Floppy disk drive missing but Laplink installed and working. * 3 x Apricot XEN-i 386/45 computers - at least one of them would work if the hard disk drive was replaced. * Apricot-specific monitor for the above - with a female connector on its cable. * Communicate C-FAX-SRI Fax-only modem card for IBM PC He's got some other bits we're insterested in having for the museum, but these ones above are surplus to requirements! Shout if interested. cheers Jules

21 years, 8 months

1
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Build an Enigma machine out of paper

by jcwren＠jcwren.com

I think Enigma machines meet the 10 year rule... <URL: http://mckoss.com/Crypto/Enigma.htm >

21 years, 8 months

2
1
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Seeking pre-1996 Macvector and Omiga user manuals ($$$)

by vcf＠siconic.com

A new bounty. I'm looking for user manuals for pre-1996 versions of Macvector and Omiga. Has anyone ever heard of these products? -- 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, 8 months

2
1
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IBM Executive electric typewriter (Cambridge UK)

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Spotted for free on a local group; forerunner of the golf ball machines apparently, sounds to be around 30-40 years old. Thought I'd mention it here on the offchance anyone wanted to come and grab it before it gets skipped (it's not really the sort of thing Bletchley want, but maybe someone on this list has a thing for such items) Give me a yell if you want me to put you in touch with the chap. cheers Jules -- "We've had a lot of loonies around this place, but you're the first one who thought the sunrise was made out of stale beer. Now are you going to pick up your flute and leave, or shall I part your hair with this crowbar?"

21 years, 8 months

1
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Retro blinkenlights panel available - UK

by shirker＠mooli.org.uk

Hi cctech'ers, I came across the following item which I have no need for, but it looks absolutely ideal for anyone who's building a recreated old computer or a new design from scratch, to use as status lights. See http://shirker.mooli.org.uk/pics/blinkenlights.jpg I think it's a panel from some experiment or other, way back when. The lampholders are all wired together, and yes, those are filament lamps. All of the lampholders are actually there - the couple which look like they aren't have just been pushed through the panel by something, but are there on the back. There is some type of concrete-like substance on the panel (I've cleaned most of it off the front, but it's still there on the back - cleans off OK with a mild solvent and a brush) which would need to be cleaned off it. Anyone who wants this, please contact me via private mail within 21 days or I'll have to scrap it. Please feel free to offer cash as I could really use it - however, if the best/only offer I get is "I'll pay postage/collect" then that's fine :) If not, then, best offer takes it. I also have a large number of books which came from the same place - I'll list these on here within a few days so stay tuned! Ed.

21 years, 8 months

4
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Retro blinkenlights panel available - UK

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "John Lawson" <jpl15(a)panix.com> > > > >On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Vintage Computer Festival wrote: > >> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Shirker wrote: >> >>> I came across the following item which I have no need for, but it looks >>> absolutely ideal for anyone who's building a recreated old computer or a >>> new design from scratch, to use as status lights. >>> >>> See http://shirker.mooli.org.uk/pics/blinkenlights.jpg >> >> It looks like part of a photographic developer of some sort. I reckon >> young Johnny Lawson could probably fill us in some more. > > > Well, it's a curved metal panel with an assembly of pretty much >bog-standard bayonet base miniature lamps on it.. one would have to go >to a bit of trouble to make a 'status display' out of it - after dealing >with the drivers, and (I am assuming) rewiring it for individual >addressing of each lamp. > > But as to what it's intended function was/is - I've certainly No Clue. > > Cheerz > >John Hi It looks like it might be used as part of a light curing system. You know, place the item on a rotating shaft and have 4 quadrants of these light. I once had a photo copies that had a bank of lamps like this but it was flat. An automatic machine might have a curved bank like this. Dwight

21 years, 8 months

1
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VAX 11/725

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Fred N. van Kempen <waltje(a)pdp11.nl> wrote: > I actually wrote a driver that did IP-over-DDMCP on the VAX end, Such a driver has existed in standard BSD since 4.2, except that it's for the DMC-11/DMR-11/DMV-11 (which do all DDCMP processing on board and can't be made to talk any other protocol to my knowledge) rather than for the DMF32 that this thread is presumably about. The DMF32 sync port supports DDCMP too, but it leaves more work to the host and supports HDLC as well. > with a modified IOS running at the other end, on a Cisco 2501. If you needed to connect the DMF32 sync port to a Cisco router, why didn't you implement Cisco HDLC on the VAX side instead? (As I've done in 2000 in 4.3BSD-Quasijarus0b on a DSV11.) I'm sure you know the frame format: <flag> <addr> 00 <Ethertype> packet <FCS-16> <flag> addr is 0F for unicast or 8F for multicast/broadcast*. It's the simplest and IMO the best framing format for IP over a sync line, I've used it on T1s (well, fractional T1 since DSV11 is limited to 256 kbps), and it comes from Cisco. *The only thing that I never understood is what the hell did Cisco mean by multicast or broadcast on a point-to-point link. I guess it dates from the days before people realised that a point-to-point link is not a network (no ARP, etc.) and does not need to burn up a net/subnet number, and people would map a net number (hopefully a /30 subnet) to each point-to-point link. Then .1 and .2 addrs would be assigned to the ends and I guess the 8F addr byte was generated on packets addressed to .3... My driver always puts 0F in the address field of transmitted packets and treats 0F and 8F as equivalent on reception; and I always configure the net interface as unnumbered (for my end use the same address as assigned to one of my real Ethernets, for the other end put in whatever addr the ISP gave me for their router; my driver does not require them to be numerically related as they would be with a /30 subnet). The approach of using a /30 subnet for a point-to-point link now has to be used only when you are forced to use an Ethernet as a point-to-point link without PPPoE, which is stupid but unfortunately used by some DSL providers. > This is why I usually grab all the sync modems I can lay my hands on; USR Courier V.Everything (external of course) supports sync mode on its DB25 port. The problem is with the other end of the call... I'm using such modem for my PPP connection, and while I would love to run sync PPP, I doubt that the ISP's POP will support it. MS

21 years, 8 months

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Any former Philips/Magnavox VideoWriter users/owners/hackers?

by netsurfer_x1＠fastmailbox.net

Hi all! I was just wondering if we happen to have any former Philips/Magnavox VideoWriter users/owners/hackers in the house? David M. Vohs Digital Archaeologist & Computer Historian Computer Collection: "Triumph": Commodore 64, 1802, 1541, Indus GT, FDD-1, GeoRAM 512, MPS-801. "Leela": Original Apple Macintosh, Imagewriter II. "Delorean": TI-99/4A, TI Speech Synthesizer. "Spectrum": Tandy Color Computer III. "Monolith": Apple Macintosh Portable. "Boombox": Sharp PC-7000. "Butterfly": Tandy 200, PDD-2. "Shapeshifter": Epson QX-10, Comrex HDD, Titan graphics/MS-DOS board. "Scout": Otrona Attache. (prospective) "Pioneer": Apple LISA II (prospective) "Mercury": HP-85. (prospective) "Evolver": Commodore Amiga 2000 "TMA-1": Atari Portfolio, Memory Expander +

21 years, 8 months

4
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pdp-11 boot rom id's? & vtserver on an 11/44

by brad＠heeltoe.com

Two pdp-11/44 questions: Does anyone have a 'big list' of pdp-11 boot rom id's? (should probably be in the same place as a repository - is that being set up?) Also, has anyone tried to use vtserver on an 11/44? I don't think it can be done because the console 8085 catches "^P" and pops back into the console monitor. I suppose the right thing is to plug in a serial cable use the tu-58 emulator. But I don't think I have tu-58 proms. My one and only boot prom id's as 054021. And I have no idea what that is. I suppose I could hack server to use a second serial port. Blech. I guess I should just use the 9-track tape drive the way Ken Olsen intended and stop fooling around :-) -brad

21 years, 8 months

3
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IBM 5363 on eBay

by stanb＠dial.pipex.com

Hi, As above on UK eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=57369629… Is this interesting enough to put a bid in? I know absolutely *nothing* about 'em... -- Cheers, Stan Barr stanb(a)dial.pipex.com The future was never like this!

21 years, 8 months

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pdp-11 boot rom id's? & vtserver on an 11/44

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 7 2004, 23:02, quapla(a)xs4all.nl wrote: > This is a list from the M9312 manual, it is afaik the complete list. The flat text file on my website is about twice that size :-) And you've got some that aren't on that list, Ed, in your 11/70. > I have all except the 753A9. I have at least one of those. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

2
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Any former Philips/Magnavox VideoWriter users/owners/hackers?

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Still, I have got one. At least if you are referring to the Philips "VideoWriter", the Philips 'wordprocessor' with the smallish rectangular CRT and a 3.5" floppy drive next to it. I bought such a unit (with keyboard) for 50 Euro (approx. $65) to use the CRT in my StarShip, so my intentions were not so good for it :-) However, the vertical size of the CRT is a bit too high; its width is perfect. So in the end I can not use the CRT in my StarShip and have a VodeoWriter in the attick. Never considered selling it because the weight would increase the costs with a factor 2 ... If I ever intend to do something with it, I now know where to get the electrical diagrams, Jos :-) - Henk, PA8PDP. > Am dinsdag, 07.12.04, um 11:37 Uhr (Europe/Zurich) schrieb David Vohs: > > > Hi all! I was just wondering if we happen to have any former > > Philips/Magnavox VideoWriter users/owners/hackers in the house? > > David M. Vohs > > Digital Archaeologist & Computer Historian > > probably not, but I have schematics ( somewhere...) > > > Jos

21 years, 8 months

1
0
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Norsk Data

by lists＠microvax.org

Hi, I was wondering if anybody knew of any Norsk Data emulators - specifically i'm interested in an ND-10 emulator. cheers! alex/melt

21 years, 8 months

3
3
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Power supply dead?

by vcf＠siconic.com

I've got one of them TI Silent 700 Model 703 portable data terminals. The external power supply that comes with it is 20VAC. It's got three conductors on the connector. I can't get any voltage out of it. Is it dead? Or is it that it needs to sense a loop or something across all pins before it starts emitting juice? Not likely, I'm sure, but I thought I'd ask before I start tearing this apart to see if it has an internal fuse. Any ideas? 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, 8 months

2
2
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Shipping heavy equipment

by sethm＠loomcom.com

Well here's a fine mess I've gotten myself into... I need to ship a MicroVAX 3800 (BA213 case, about 110 pounds, give or take) to Pennsylvania. Granted, it's no 11/780, but it's certainly bigger than I've ever shipped before. Does anyone have any suggestions about the cheapest way to do this? (Hopefully one that will also ensure that the beast gets there in one piece, of course!) For reference, dimensions on a BA213 are approx. 14" by 20" by 26". -Seth

21 years, 8 months

7
6
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Shipping heavy equipment

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/7/2004 9:49:02 PM Eastern Standard Time, sethm(a)loomcom.com writes: Well here's a fine mess I've gotten myself into... I need to ship a MicroVAX 3800 (BA213 case, about 110 pounds, give or take) to Pennsylvania. Granted, it's no 11/780, but it's certainly bigger than I've ever shipped before. Does anyone have any suggestions about the cheapest way to do this? (Hopefully one that will also ensure that the beast gets there in one piece, of course!) For reference, dimensions on a BA213 are approx. 14" by 20" by 26". -Seth ----------++ If you have access to the shipping department of where you work, that's a big help. I do, and there's all kinds of pallets and packing options to choose from. One idea is to find a smaller size pallet than the standard 40x48 and use plastic or metal bands to secure it to the pallet and then plastic wrap and send it. Old server boxes and crates are great for reuse here. All you'd have to do then is carry to a DHL station or similar and do the paperwork. It's easier that what most people think.

21 years, 8 months

1
0
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PDP-11/45

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

At long last I've decided I've gotten enough HP systems restored, so I'm turning my attention to one of my other systems that's been rescued but not restored - a PDP-11/45. Yes, I'm going over to the dark side ;) I've scrounged the web looking for sites where a /45 has been restored for tidbits, advice, etc. and found Guy's site to be a good intro on the refurbish process and what to expect. It would appear my /45 is extremely minimally configured, no I/O cards, and only 4k or 8k of core. It's in pretty sorry shape I must say, but definitely restorable at least from a cosmetic standpoint - we'll see about the functioning side of things. I wanted to ask if anyone would care to share any gotcha's that may not be obvious, specifically with regards to initial cleanup, inspection, and testing. I'd really like to convert the thing from core to semiconductor memory, and hopefully get an RL02 up on it. One thing specifically I wanted to ask applies to many systems not just my /45. What have most of you found to be good for working with scratches or gouges in painted metal? I'm thinking like the side panels of the H960 cabinet, etc. I'm not into painting really but was considering using an airbrush to touch up lots of scratches and perhaps blending the new paint in with the old areas. Perhaps this would come out worse? Exactly what kind of paint should I get, can I have a paint dealer reliably scan existing surfaces with their color cameras to generate the correct hue? Suggestions? Jay West --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

21 years, 8 months

3
2
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pdp-11 boot rom id's? & vtserver on an 11/44

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 7 2004, 14:59, Brad Parker wrote: > > Does anyone have a 'big list' of pdp-11 boot rom id's? (should probably > be in the same place as a repository - is that being set up?) I'm happy to keep PROM images beside the ROM images (mostly QBus) that I already have; unfortunately my PROM programmer is being uncooperative at the moment (or rather, I think the PC to which it's attached is misbehaving). If anyone wishes to contribute, feel free to email me :-) The only two relevant files I have online at the moment are a list of the PROMs I know about, and the pinouts of the common types: http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/DECPROMs/ -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

1
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Removing adhesives, was Re: Reel-to-reel tape decks (was: Re: ZX81 denigrated!)

by technobug＠comcast.net

On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> commented: > At 12:25 PM 12/6/2004, Roger Merchberger wrote: >>> Goo Gone comes in a plastic bottle, Goof Off is more harsh >>> and comes in a can. As did "lighter fluid", it's naptha cousin. >> >> Huh? AFAIK, lighter fluid *is* naptha -- > > Yes, but Goof Off may be naptha plus something else. > > - John For contents see <http://www.valspar.com/val/resident/msds.jsp> (for the Valspar products you need a UPC code to get the corresponding data sheet). In the US, all chemical product require a published Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) which have all the active ingredients... CRC

21 years, 8 months

1
0
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Suggested power for TU-56...

by eric＠brouhaha.com

David Corbin wrote: > Looking for suggestions on supplying the DC power to a TU-56..... You need +5V at 0.8A and -15V at 0.8A, both regulated to +/- 10%. (You can optionally use +10V at 0.8A instead of +5V, with suitable wiring.) It should be easy to find a surplus triple-output power supply with +5 and +/-15V, and simply not use the -15V output. New, these cost around $70-80. It may be easier and/or less expensive to use separate 5V and 10V power supplies. For instance, Digikey has wall-wart style switchers that are suitable: T920-P5P 5.0V 2.4A $14.03 each T924-P5P 15.0V 1.0A $14.03 each Since they are isolated (as all common AC-to-DC power supplies are), you can use them as positive or negative supplies. Eric

21 years, 8 months

2
2
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ZX81 denigrated! (was Re: Approaches to projects)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Nov 29 2004, 0:18, Tony Duell wrote: > Pete Turnbull wrote: > > Sounds like mine. The one I have is a replacement, but almost > > identical to the one my Dad bought in the mid-60s. It's about 115mm > > wide x 55mm thick x 200mm long; it has three DIN sockets on the > > > panel. It takes five C-size cells. It originally came with a slightly > > Yes. You could also feed in 7.5V through one of the sockets -- it was a > '240 degree' DIN socket used for external power, remote control, and > monitoring earphone. One thing I must do is make a little adapter with a > power connector and a remote control socket wired to a suitable plug. That's the one. I use that for power and remote from the Beeb. > Ah, I was wondering if it would work with a Beeb... Mine alsoe needs new > drive belts, but otherwise is still operational. I have the schematic > from the appropriate year of 'Radio and Television Servicing', although > sometimes oen was folded up inside the machine anyway. I had to replace the drive belt in mine a few years back. I got a belt >from CPC for a few pence. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

19
35
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Reseating QFP-socketed chips

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Anyone else find that QFP-socketed chips in late 80's / early 90's equipment are *really* prone to corroding and needing re-seating? I've just had to re-seat several on this NCR Tower which were the cause of all sorts of problems - yet I don't normally find that DIL chips need any re-seating on equipment of this sort of age. (I *think* QFP's the proper name - commonly used for 80186 / 80188 / 80286 chips, which have flat leads underneath the device) Anyway, I now have a working NCR machine that chucks out more heat than a small furnace and makes the lights go dim :-) (well, almost!) cheers Jules

21 years, 8 months

2
4
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Reseating QFP-socketed chips

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk(a)yahoo.co.uk> > > >Anyone else find that QFP-socketed chips in late 80's / early 90's >equipment are *really* prone to corroding and needing re-seating? > >I've just had to re-seat several on this NCR Tower which were the cause >of all sorts of problems - yet I don't normally find that DIL chips need >any re-seating on equipment of this sort of age. > >(I *think* QFP's the proper name - commonly used for 80186 / 80188 / >80286 chips, which have flat leads underneath the device) > >Anyway, I now have a working NCR machine that chucks out more heat than >a small furnace and makes the lights go dim :-) (well, almost!) > >cheers > >Jules > > Hi As usual, I will note here the virtues of using DC#4 silicon grease on the contacts to improve conductivity and hold off corrosion. Dwight

21 years, 8 months

1
0
0 0

Mecos device

by awatt＠grandriver.ca

Hi Lawrence, I know your post about the little electronic MECOS device you found in a box of junk is 2 years old, but do you still have it? A friend's father-in-law has such a thing that he's been wearing around his neck and swears it keeps him healthy. (We're not sure how.) It's wearing out and he wants a new one. If yours is still working, would you be willing to part with it? Alison

21 years, 8 months

1
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ARS33 ? motor on eBay

by jpl15＠panix.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=71400&item=385749145… Teletype model 402402 dual speed - 1 day left, no bids - starts at .99 Cheers John

21 years, 8 months

1
0
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class X supression caps

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

A lot of class X1 supression caps seem to be self-destructing in vintage equipment these days. I've got one in my NCR needing replacement, plus we have an HP 3000, two Apple Lisas and an Apple /// all needing them too... (they don't half smoke when they let go too :) Looking around, it seems that everywhere these days sells class X2 caps, and Y2(X1) caps. What's the modern-day replacement for a dead X1 cap? X2, Y2(X1), or something else entirely? I'm sure I've seen Y2 caps in old equipment as being a different thing to X1, which is why I'm getting confused if they're now classed as the same! (Anyone have a source for 0.68uF X1 caps in the UK? Seems to be a very uncommon value for supression caps - everyone does 0.47uF and then 1uF) ta Jules

21 years, 8 months

1
0
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Intel ISPC/2 on eBay, ship or local pickup in Springfield, MO

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

This looks like a cool toy. And in my own (former) hometown, even... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5144666359&ssPageNa… eBay item 5144666359 (Ends Dec-08-04 17:27:12 PST) - Vintage Intel IPSC/2 Concurrent Computer System UMR --Bill

21 years, 8 months

1
0
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Auction: Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.

by tothwolf＠concentric.net

I guess this confirms the rumor of Acclaim going belly up... I just received an auction notification for Acclaim Entertainment in Austin, Texas. I don't know if there will be any classiccmp related bits for sale, but I thought at the very least folks here would want to know about it. Inspection/Preview is Dec 13th, and the auction is on the 14th and 15th. This looks like a huge auction compared to some of the large foreclosure auctions I've been to in Texas. See http://www.flsauction.com/ and http://www.shattuck.com/ for more info. -Toth

21 years, 8 months

1
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Making CP/M disk images

by GFisher＠tristonecapital.com

I'm trying to do the same thing with some (downloaded) Teledisk images for an Altos 580 server which has a similar 96tpi floppy with no luck (a plea for help here). My limited understanding is that these drives use double density media and that a standard 1.2 mb drives don't work too well with that (the manuals all say that writing out 360k AKA 40 track disks on a 1.2mb is a bad thing). Did you take the drive in the SB180 and put it in the Compaq, still calling it a 1.2, 360k or even a 720k 3.5? I tried that with a different (SA-465) 96tpi drive jumpered as drive 1 and it seemed to write disks with no reported problems on the Teledisk write. The Altos still didn't like the disk though but that might be a function of the original files (or something else I forgot to do). Gary F. ------Oiginal below edited for brevity.----- Message: 6 Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 19:48:18 -0500 From: "Richard A. Cini" <rcini(a)optonline.net> Subject: RE: Making CP/M disk images To: "'Dwight K. Elvey'" <dwight.elvey(a)amd.com>, "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <000801c4d288$74daad50$6501a8c0@bbrk0oksry5qza> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Dwight: Interestingly, Teledisk did skip every other track. These are DSDD disks formatted on the SB180 machine using the "40 track" option. The drive in the SB180 is a 96TPI drive (HD) and the disk on the PC side is a standard 1.2mb. I'll have to see if Teledisk has any options that may address this. As I recall, the number of configurable options was sparse, though. This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not endorsed by the author's employer.

21 years, 8 months

2
1
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RT-11 installation

by dbetz＠xlisper.mv.com

I'm finally getting around to trying to do something with my PDP-11/23 system and am having trouble creating bootable RT-11 V5 disks. I have an RX02 drive and a set of RX01 distribution disks. I've tried booting disk 1 of the RX01 distribution and that fails. Should I be able to boot an RX01 on an RX02 drive? Also, I've tried copying disks using: COPY/WAIT/OUTPUT:DY1: DY0: and then COPY/BOOT DY1:RT11FB.SYS DY1: Unfortunately, that doesn't result in a bootable disk. In fact, when I did it, it trashed the system disk in DY0 even though I removed it before and replaced it with the source disk of the copy. Does this sound like I've got a broken drive? I seem to be able to read either RX01 disks or RX02 disks in DY1 without any problem. Also, the copy I made in the first step above seems to be okay. It's just that I can't boot the disk after the second COPY/BOOT step. What dumb thing am I doing wrong? Thanks, David Betz

21 years, 8 months

6
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test

by waltje＠pdp11.nl

test, pse ignore -- 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(a)pdp11.nl BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Mountain View, CA, USA

21 years, 8 months

4
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VAX 11/725

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Heinz Wolter <h.wolter(a)sympatico.ca> wrote: > I wonder if it is possible to load BSD (quasisaurus) on TU58, as I have > no 9 track take or ethernet on the system. One TU58 cassette holds 256 KB of data. The root filesystem is about 5 MB, /usr about 21 MB. You do the math. That's just the binaries, more for source. MS

21 years, 8 months

7
6
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Altair switch part numbers

by rcini＠optonline.net

You know, I should learn to spell check first... I'm looking for replacement switches for the Altair front panel switches. Does anyone have these readily handy?? Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 8 months

1
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Suggested power for TU-56...

by dvcorbin＠optonline.net

Looking for suggestions on supplying the DC power to a TU-56.....

21 years, 8 months

1
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Altait switch numbers

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hello, all: Does anyone have an equivalient replacement part number for the Altair front panel switches? I was goung to grab my Digi-Key catalog but I thought I'd ask here first in case someone has this data handy. Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 8 months

1
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VAX 11/725

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > Presumably, therefore, running it from a single R80 disk is not really > practical either (at least not if you want to have the sources, or at > least enough to rebuilt the kernel, on the disk). Actually it'll fit, and you will have room for the kernel source. In fact you could even load the full userland source, but then you won't have any room left for actual work, err play. MS

21 years, 8 months

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VAX 11/725

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Heinz Wolter <h.wolter(a)sympatico.ca> wrote: > 20 tapes? > not so bad if loading from a pc emulated tu56 ;) Well, the problem is that there exists no installation procedure for loading the main system (not even the miniroot, let alone full root or /usr) from TU58s. The console TU58 is only used for the standalone boot and copy programs. To put it another way, 4.3BSD, including Quasijarus, is, has always been and will always be totally open source, and as with all open source software, you are free to do all kinds of things with it that are not officially supported. BUT, you are entirely on your own in doing so. > what are other options if there is no ethernet? > slip/ppp? - once a basic system is loaded? The sl module for SLIP is not compiled into the distributed GENERIC kernel, so you can only use SLIP after you have successfully installed enough of the system to compile your own custom kernel. The same will be the case for PPP in the next release (no PPP support exists in the current QJ0c release). Also just as a clarification, Ethernet is not a supported option either for bootstrapping your first VAX. The next release will allow you to bootstrap your smaller MicroVAXen over Ethernet *from a larger VAX that has itself been bootstrapped from magtape*. In any case the first VAX at your site must always be bootstrapped from magtape. Also Ethernet bootstrap can only work on MicroVAXen, you can't bootstrap a 730 over Ethernet even if you had a larger 780 to boot from since 11/7xx and other machines in the "large VAX" category have no Ethernet boot capabilities. You really need to invest in a magtape drive. I'm sure you can buy a magtape drive + UNIBUS controller from a professional DEC dealer like Continental Computers or Keyways. If you want something smaller than a reel-to-reel drive, there is TUK50, UNIBUS TK50 controller. MS

21 years, 8 months

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Vintige mice posted - Xerox Alto & Star, Hawley & Lilith

by Innfogra＠aol.com

I posted some vintage mice on ebay that I think might be of interest here. Xerox Alto Ebay sale number 5145159299 Xerox star Ebay sale number 5145167668 Hawley X063X Ebay sale number 5145309516 Lilith Ebay sale number 5145162664 also Amstrad CP/M Plus OS 3" disks Ebay sale number 7119143389 You can search under seller: Innfosale If you have questions please contact me off list at innfosale(a)aol.com Three plus days to go. Will ship worldwide. Thanks Paxton Astoria, OR

21 years, 8 months

1
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VAX 11/725

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Brad Parker <brad(a)heeltoe.com> wrote: > I hacked the netbsd boot program so it will copy via nfs to tape or > disk. With 4.3BSD-Quasijarus1 you won't have to resort to using pieces from NetBSD to do what you've done. It will have a standalone netcopy program that will be like current copy (which copies the miniroot from magtape to disk as the first step in full bootstrap) except that it will copy from a TFTP server instead of magtape. As I wrote in my previous post, it will only be officially supported for bootstrapping your little MicroVAXen from your main big VAX which was itself bootstrapped from magtape, but if you want to step into not-officially-supported land, you'll be able to put netcopy on a TU58 and thus use it on your 730, and even use a lesser machine (even a pee sea) instead of a larger VAX for the TFTP server. But to make this work on a UNIBUS machine with DEUNA/DELUA, you'll have to write the standalone de driver yourself, I won't write it because UNIBUS VAXen are not officially netbootable. And you'll have to have access to some other VAX running UNIX (at least a guest account) to recompile netcopy with your de driver. > I ended up booting the miniroot and then using "rcp" to copy the tar files > which would normally be on the install tape into my disk (I have ra90, > which are big). You could have used rsh | tar. MS

21 years, 8 months

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Logitech mouse entrails

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 6 2004, 10:31, Dwight K. Elvey wrote: > >From: "Pete Turnbull" <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com> > ---snip--- > > > >No, I have a spare, but I would like to fix the bust one. It turns out > >that the 2-button version, M-S34, widely used on Compaq PCs and things, > >has the same PCB (but missing one microswitch, of course), and I think > >I can acquire one of those. > > > Hi Pete > I hope you carefully checked that there wasn't a broken > wire in the cord. This is the most common cause of > failure in these units. Yes, almost the first thing I thought of. I swapped the cords with another mouse, and the fault stayed with the mouse. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

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Logitech mouse entrails

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Pete Turnbull" <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com> ---snip--- > >No, I have a spare, but I would like to fix the bust one. It turns out >that the 2-button version, M-S34, widely used on Compaq PCs and things, >has the same PCB (but missing one microswitch, of course), and I think >I can acquire one of those. > Hi Pete I hope you carefully checked that there wasn't a broken wire in the cord. This is the most common cause of failure in these units. Dwight

21 years, 8 months

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Logitech mouse entrails

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 6 2004, 9:00, Stan Barr wrote: > Pete Turnbull said; > > Barely within the 10-year rule... Does anybody have a Logitech mouse > > model M-S35, possibly damaged mechanically but with working electronics > > (specifically the IC that does the work)? This model is a 3-button > > PS/2 Pilot mouse, OEMed by SGI, DEC, IBM, and probably others, and mine > > stopped working yesterday :-( > > Sorry, I'm using mine :-) Aren't 3-button meece getting hard to find > now...Maplin still have some cheap ones similar in design to the Logitech > but not as good - part no RY72P, about a couple of quid, if you need one > desperately. No, I have a spare, but I would like to fix the bust one. It turns out that the 2-button version, M-S34, widely used on Compaq PCs and things, has the same PCB (but missing one microswitch, of course), and I think I can acquire one of those. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "John Lawson" <jpl15(a)panix.com> > ---snip--- >PPS: Everyone on classiccmp who actually *has* any kind of milling machine >available, let alone on your premises - raise yer hands.... > Hi I have a tinky lathe with mill attachment. It can't do really wide stuff but I used it to mill the blocks I connected to an old SA400 frame to make my hole punch for hard sectored disk ( as seen at VCF ). Dwight

21 years, 8 months

1
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IBM Thinkpad 390 disks?

by ron.hudson＠sbcglobal.net

Any one have an IBM Thinkpad 390? I am building a DOS machine, and I need some of the drivers, I went to DRIVERGUIDE.COM and did not find them there. I went to IBM and found the names of the files, but they refused to upload. The files are supposedly at ftp.software.ibm.com but the directory they are supposed to be in appears to be empty. Files I need.... pctpbdos.exe and .txt PCMCIA drivers for DOS uttpdos.exe and .txt Utility Disk for DOS mdltbdos.exe and .txt Lucent winmodem drivers for DOS I have googled the filenames, but they lead back to either IBM or Driverguide. My DOS is stuck in 640x480 mode on an 800x600 screen. This makes an inch wide black border around the text-space. :^\ Anyone have an IBM 390 (mainframe style), I am trying to build menus and screens that look mainframish, I have already written a login program in turbo C that looks sort of mainframe-ish. are there any examples of mainframe screens on the internet? ??

21 years, 8 months

2
2
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DSSI DAT Unit on eBay.

by ken＠seefried.com

I noticed the following on eBay. Looks like a fairly swanky dual DAT tape unit with a DSSI interface. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=167&item=5144248734&r d=1

21 years, 8 months

1
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MicroVAX 3100 Questions.

by trash3＠splab.cas.neu.edu

I have the crimp tool and a few connectors left. I am in the US, so it might be less expensive for some people to have me make them. I am on vacation now, but I'll be back before Christmas. Joe Heck

21 years, 8 months

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Logitech mouse entrails

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

Barely within the 10-year rule... Does anybody have a Logitech mouse model M-S35, possibly damaged mechanically but with working electronics (specifically the IC that does the work)? This model is a 3-button PS/2 Pilot mouse, OEMed by SGI, DEC, IBM, and probably others, and mine stopped working yesterday :-( -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

2
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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 17:06, John Lawson wrote: > PPS: Everyone on classiccmp who actually *has* any kind of milling machine > available, let alone on your premises - raise yer hands.... If a Unimat counts, or a Myford lathe with the extra slides, I do :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 8 months

3
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VAX 11/725

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Brad Parker <brad(a)heeltoe.com> wrote: > You can boot bsd43 in 2mb of ram on a 730. Thanks for checking this, it's good to hear that this is still the case with current 4.3BSD-Quasijarus. MS

21 years, 8 months

5
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Interesting book

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

I recently picked up an interesting book, entitled "The Logic Desgign of Computers: An Introduction", by M. Paul Chinitz. Mr. Chinitz was Director of Training at Univac from 1953 to 1956, and it shows -- even though this book was published in 1981. Seriously, the design style in the book is straight out of the 50's and 60's. Although the book makes numerous references to standard TTL logic components, he does just about everything with simple gates and RS flip-flops, and devotes space to such dated topics (for a book of its scope) as 1's complement arithmetic, serial arithmetic, and delay lines. Proponents of a straightforward fully-synchronous design style based on MSI, like Winkel, Prosser, and Mano, would be horrified to see students taught to gate clocks in 1981. The book uses a simple 8-bit 1-address architecture as an example, using a multiphase clocking scheme and RS flip-flops with preclear. All a wonderful throwback to the days when every gate and transistor counted. I picked up a copy at a swap meet, misplaced it, ordered another from an internet used bookseller, and then found my original copy. I thus now have an extra copy of this book. It is available for $5 plus shipping if anyone is interested. --Bill

21 years, 8 months

3
3
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Project finishing

by lists＠microvax.org

On Mon, 6 Dec 2004, Philip Pemberton wrote: > The only problem I found is that it's totally useless for dark-coloured > panels (or really anything that isn't metallic or white), because the > inks aren't particularly opaque. That and you can't print white lettering > onto the transparency :-/ In this case, print your graphics in an outlined, bubble manner - so lines become long, thin empty boxes. Paint in the gap in the center with Tipp-Ex (whiteout). Turn it over: nice, neat white lines! :D alex/melt

21 years, 8 months

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Intersil Microprocessor PDP Electronic IC Chip Databook

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5144412622 &rd=1> Joe

21 years, 8 months

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Hitachi 64180 Users Databook

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

Nice item for those intersted in the SB-180 <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=5144410189 &rd=1> Joe

21 years, 8 months

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Old Dos Programs

by r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com

Ron, Try: http://www.dosonly.net/ http://garbo.uwasa.fi/ http://www.filelibrary.com:8080/Contents/DOS/ http://www.opus.co.tt/dave/index.htm http://www.comatose.freeserve.co.uk/welcome.htm http://f.webring.com/hub?ring=dosnet Bob Message: 21 Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 19:19:26 -0800 From: Ron Hudson <ron.hudson(a)sbcglobal.net> Subject: Old Dos Programs To: Classic Computers <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <CDEC4A72-4347-11D9-B578-000393C5A0B6(a)sbcglobal.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed <snip> Any websites that provide old DOS programs for download? Thanks!

21 years, 8 months

2
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Project finishing, was Re: Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 6 2004, 0:59, Philip Pemberton wrote: > In message <10412051910.ZM6157(a)mindy.dunnington.u-net.com> > Pete Turnbull <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com> wrote: > > Spraymount. And the really strong stuff is called Hobbymount. > > Hm. I'll have to see if I can find that anywhere - all I managed to find was > the blue-can Spraymount and the red-can Photomount. I think I got it either in Office World or from CPC. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Project finishing, was Re: Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 18:50, Philip Pemberton wrote: > In message <41B34E1E.4B26208C(a)rain.org> > Marvin Johnston <marvin(a)rain.org> wrote: > > > Something that I have started using to help give projects a more > > "professional" look is clear adhesive label stock for the case/cover. > > [ snippety snip ] > > I personally use inkjet transparencies. Print a mirrored version of the > layout onto the back (matted) side of the transparency. Spray the > transparency (or the case if there's a square display cutout) with 3M > PhotoMount adhesive, wait 15 seconds (IIRC), then stick the transparency to > the panel. Cut off any excess plastic and you're done. Exactly what I did when I made spare unit plugs for an RL02, several years ago (except I used laser transparencies). > As far as drilling is concerned, use the non-permanent version of Photomount > (can't remember what it's called, though) Spraymount. And the really strong stuff is called Hobbymount. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

2
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MicroVAX 3100 Questions.

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 17:48, Scott Stevens wrote: > On Sun, 5 Dec 2004 13:01:29 -0500, Pat wrote: > > >On Sunday 05 December 2004 06:43, Pete Turnbull wrote: > >> Better than hacking RJ45s would be to hack RJ11 (6P/6C) plugs. > >> They're very common, about a quarter of the price of MMJs, and there > >> are low-cost crimp tools available. > > > >Agreed, the only difference between an RJ12/RJ11 and MMJ is the tab > >location, which can be easily sliced off (though that usually makes for > >a loose fitting connector). > > > >> For anyone in the UK who needs *a few*, I believe I still have a box > >> of adapter cables for Emulex terminal servers. These are short > >> (about 8-10 inches) flat cables with an MMJ on one end and an RJ45 on > >> the other. You can have a few for the cost of postage. > > > >And if anyone in the US wants one, I can do up to, say, 25ft MMJ->MMJ or > >MMJ->RJ(12/45) cables for $5 + shipping. I had a few takers last time > >I did this, and they seemed to be happy with my handiwork. : ) > > > > If you made something like this, would the RJ-45 end plug into one of > the serial adaptors that I got from the back of a rackmount US > Robotics modem box? It's one of those plugs that adapts from RJ-45 > jack to a DB-25 male plug. Pat can tell you how his cables are wired, but the easiest way, especially with flat cable, is pin-to-opposite-pin (ie, bearing in mind that an MMJ has 6 pins and an RJ45 has 8, it goes MMJ-1 to RJ45-7, ...., MMJ-6 to RJ45-2). This happens to be the way DEC made most of their MMJ cables. DEC also used a standard signal arrangement, with the two centre pins being ground, the two next to those being Rx and Tx, and the outermost two being the handshakes. That meant a null-modem was just a question of plugging in the cable between console port and terminal. The reason I mention this is that *some* RJ45-DE9/DB25 adapters and *some* serial-on-RJ45 ports use a similar convention; Suns and Cisco kit tend to do so, and some terminal servers, but not all. Take a look at the YOST page: http://yost.com/Computers/RJ45-serial/ and also at Celeste Stokely's serial port pages: http://www.stokely.com/unix.serial.port.resources/A-B-Ycablepinout.html There is one other quite common method, though; we use it at York, and I've seen it in several other places. Based on the assumption that we only need Rx and Tx, no handshaking, we wire Tx to RJ45-1, Rx to RJ45-3, and ground to RJ45-2 and RJ45-6. Why? Because 1+2 and 3+6 are twisted pairs in Cat5 and they are the pins used by Ethernet cables, so it means we can use standard Ethernet Cat5 cables for straight-through connections, and standard Ethernet crossover cables as, well, crossovers (I couldn't really call them null-modem as they don't carry handshake signals). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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MicroVAX 3100 Questions.

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 11:16, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: > Scott Stevens wrote: > > 4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the three serial > > ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a TTY-only > > machine, no framebuffer, etc. > > I made a connector for my DECStation 3100 by grinding bits off an RJ45 > connector until it fitted. Brutal but effective. Prepare to lose a few > RJ45s in the process - you'd be better with your own crimping tool and a > bag of plugs. > > Better still would be the proper DEC connector, but I couldn't find any > of those. You can still get them from Farnell in the UK (and presumably in the States etc) and CPC in the UK. Since I'm sitting here with the Farnell cat open for Ethan, I looked them up. Stewart P/No 937-SP-3066R-OST for stranded round cable is Farnell 429-788 Stewart P/No 937-SP-3066-OST for stranded flat/oval cable is Farnell 429-790 Stewart P/No 940-SP-3066R-OST for solid round cable is Farnell 429-843 Stewart P/No 940-SP-3066-OST for solid flat/oval cable is Farnell 429-855 The catalogue numbers are for packs of ten, and they cost UKP4 or so per pack (quite expensive nowadays). Of course, the real problem is getting the crimp tool. MMJ tools tend to be expensive, although if you have one of those multipurpose crimping pliers with interchangeable dies for blue/red/yellow insulated connectors, BNCs, RJ45, RJ11, etc you can get MMJ dies for about UKP12. Better than hacking RJ45s would be to hack RJ11 (6P/6C) plugs. They're very common, about a quarter of the price of MMJs, and there are low-cost crimp tools available. For anyone in the UK who needs *a few*, I believe I still have a box of adapter cables for Emulex terminal servers. These are short (about 8-10 inches) flat cables with an MMJ on one end and an RJ45 on the other. You can have a few for the cost of postage. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by technobug＠comcast.net

On Sun, 5 Dec 2004 Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks(a)gmail.com> noted: > On Sun, 5 Dec 2004 11:26:47 GMT, Pete Turnbull > <pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com> wrote: >> So does the genuine Veroboard cutter. It's just a stub drill mounted >> in a blue plastic handle, and its only advantage is that it's easier >> to >> hold. There's quite a good picture at >> http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Prac/vero_circ/vero.htm > > Ah... I was under the impression that the cutting edge had a > substantially different angle fro a drill (like describing a 180 > degree arc between the cutting surfaces rather than, say, 150 > degrees). > > I guess this picture... > > http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Prac/vero_circ/8.jpg > > .... really shows the divot one gets from the real tool. > > I might just have to just use the drill press for this task (taking > advantage of the stop to keep from drilling _though_ the resin board > ;-) > > The tool looks handy for more than a few cuts, though. I wouldn't > want to try just holding a bit bare-handed - lots of hand cramps and > slips probably. > > [...] > Thanks for the website tip... nice pix. > > -ethan In the past I used a vector pad cutter (a great tool for doing breadballs) to cut the traces on Vero/Vector boards. The cutter has a guide pin to guide an annular cutter. Generally used to isolate a pad on a blank PC board, but works great for cutting the traces on protoboard. Since it is a mill-like cutter, it does not generate a divit like a drill bit. A while back after being deprived of access to this tool (read downsized...), I decided to pick one up for myself. The part is listed in Digi-key under the Vector Board section. However, the sticker shock was extreme. As an alternate, I found that they make mills of similar design for cutting various sizes of o-ring grooves and are priced within reach. As a cheap alternate, a simple end mill of the right diameter in a drill press should do the job admirably. CRC

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Does anyone know where I can locate a genuine tool for severing the traces on veroboard? I know I can make do with a drill bit, but that puts a tapered hole in the resin board underneath. One thing that's cheaper in NZ is, strangely enough, veroboard. The few pieces I found in the States were priced much higher than protoboards used to be at Rat Shack (when you could find them). I occasionally run into a project from a UK experimenter, and have wanted to do their designs without doing 100% point-to-point. I'll probably bring home a couple of panels so I have a chance to do that (for my own stuff, I'll probably always do point-to-point). -ethan

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 16:11, Joe R. wrote: > > The thing about the Veroboard tools is that they have a central locating > >pin that fits into the hole, Ones I've seen don't, but... > Good for Veroboard. If that's what you want THEN GO BUY IT! But Ethan > asked for a substitute and they do not make counterbores with guide pins > small enough to fit into a wire hole on a circuit board. ...Yes, they do, I've got some. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Looking for a place to get small(-ish) SCSI drives

by cb＠mythtech.net

>Anyone know where those stacks went? Probably the same place my stack went... the dumpster after I was unsuccessful for months in giving them away. I probably tossed 50+ drives in the range of 40-500 MB. All mine would have been pulled from old Macs. I would suggest you look for those to get the drives. You should be able to find 68k macs for free or darn near it. Another place to look is the LowEndMac Swap list. You can probably put out a request for small drives and get more than you would want for little money (lowendmac.com check the email lists) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 9 months

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Masscomp boards

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

I grabbed a few pics of some of the multibus boards in our masscomp earlier: http://www.moosenet.demon.co.uk/temp/comps/masscomp CPU, FPP, disk controller, and one of the two memory boards (along with Witchy's arm :) Interesting that the CPU board has both 68000 and 68010 chips on it. Having done some head-scratching, each memory board *I think* is 1MB plus parity (so 2MB in total in the system) Disk interface is ST506; turns out there's a pair of Micropolis drives in it (and I've forgotten the model numbers, but Witchy might remember). Also floppy and tape interface on the same board. FPP board main IC is an AM29L516, plus there are 11 AM2901CPC 40-pin chips... Still no sign of keyboard and mouse for it though... cheers Jules

21 years, 9 months

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Computer equipment in Queens, New York (USA)

by dan＠ekoan.com

I received the following list of equipment looking for a new home. It's located in Queens, New York. If you have an interest in any of this and can pick it up in person (no shipping), send me an e-mail off list and I'll put you in contact with the owner. > * A Packard Bell Force 50-CD computer with 50 MHz Intel Microprocessor, > 340 MB hard drive, 4 MB RAM, and Windows 3.1 operating system. Works great. > >* A Tandy 1000 PC with dual 5 1/4 floppy disk drive, and all the >peripherals, including keyboard, Tandy RGB Color Monitor CM-4, manuals, >software, cables, and Radio Shack TRS-80 dot matrix printer (also with >manual). All work great, despite their age. > >* Hayes Smartmodem 2400. > >* An Okidata Microline 192 dot matrix printer. > >* A Canon BJC-250 printer. > >* Software on 5 1/4 floppy disks: >-- Wordstar (and manual) >-- DOS 5.0 (and manual) >-- WordPerfect 5.1 >-- PerfectWriter >-- PrintShop >-- Tetris >-- Wheel of Fortune >-- Zork >-- Jeopardy. Cheers, Dan

21 years, 9 months

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: "misc pc boards" found

by swtpc6800＠comcast.net

der Mouse, Here is the information on the The Micro Works B-08 2708 EPROM Programmer. http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/MicroWorks/B09_Index.htm Michael Holley www.swtpc.com/mholley

21 years, 9 months

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Project finishing, was Re: Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by marvin＠rain.org

Something that I have started using to help give projects a more "professional" look is clear adhesive label stock for the case/cover. It is trivial these days to do a layout on a computer, so just take that layout and print it on the adhesive label stock. It is a lot less expensive that silkscreening! If the layout needs protection, just add another layer of clear adhesive label stock over it. I've had some trouble finding the label stock locally, but the local Kinko's (a copying service store in the US) does carry it. I use a sharp X-Acto knife to cut out the holes after the label has been put into place. http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/ provides the software to do somewhat inexpensive front panels including holes, slots, and engraving. The front panels can be ordered online from their software. I've also used their software to do the layouts for the label stock printing out using "wiremode". > Ethan Dicks wrote: > > > Ah... I was under the impression that the cutting edge had a > > substantially different angle fro a drill (like describing a 180 > > degree arc between the cutting surfaces rather than, say, 150 > > degrees). > > My tip: > > - using a sharp knife, cut two cuts in the trace > - use the soldering iron to heat and remove the small fraction of copper > between the two cuts > > Advantage #1: you don't need to buy anything > Advantage #2: it hardly damages the ressin > Advantage #3: you can even remove the connection between two pads > Advantage #4: You can make arbitrarly large areas blank; could be > usefull for isolation areas > > Believe me, this works. Even on epoxy, but just as well on pertinax. > > Bert

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 6:55, Ethan Dicks wrote: > I guess this picture... > > http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Prac/vero_circ/8.jpg > > ... really shows the divot one gets from the real tool. Yup, that's typical. > The tool looks handy for more than a few cuts, though. I wouldn't > want to try just holding a bit bare-handed - lots of hand cramps and > slips probably. Exactly. Given the cost of the genuine tool, I use a pin vice (of which I have several) to hold the drill bit. However, if I want it to look neater (I meant to mention this in my previous message) -- though goodness knows who would care -- I have been known to use a scalpel or craft knife to cut the copper either side of a hole and then lift off the small redundant piece. I've also done that between holes, when I wanted to use two adjacent holes but isolated from each other. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Looking for a place to get small(-ish) SCSI drives

by marvin＠rain.org

How small is "small"? I have a dozen or so 100 MB IBM SCSI HDs that were pulled for an upgrade ... many years ago :). > I fool around with a lot of systems that want small (by today's > standards) 50-pin SCSI drives. A few years ago you couldn't walk > around the streets of Palo Alto without tripping over big stacks of > 500MB drives. These days, though, the stacks are made out of 9GB SCA > drives -- far too large for my needs, and often far too large to be > recognized by the computers I fool around with. But drives smaller > than that are suddenly "rare" and "expensive", $30 or $40 for any > SCSI drive under 9GB at a lot of resellers I've visited lately. > > Anyone know where those stacks went? Are small drives just impossible > to come by for less than $30 now? > > -Seth

21 years, 9 months

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Dragon32 Power-Supply

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Can anyone give me the pinout and details of the power supply used on the Dragon32 (have a machine with no supply) - It has a 9-pin 'D' connector on the back of the machine for the power input! Searched and found some hardware info, but not the power information... Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 9 months

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KM11 maintenance module

by aek＠spies.com

Why not just make a paddle card with one of the USB parallel bit wigglers, and have the thing totally virtual on a laptop? You could even line a bunch of them up on the screen if you want to probe more than one device at a time, or rearrage the bits so they make more sense logically?

21 years, 9 months

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FYI: identity theft

by jfoust＠threedee.com

Bound to happen! A few odd charges showed up on my business credit card. I caught it quickly, then went into gumshoe mode. The largest charge was to Staples.com. Someone knew all my info: name, address, credit card number, three-digit code from the back, so Staples processed the order. They had the new iPod sent to a fellow in Los Angeles. Said fellow was surprised to hear my card had been used: Why, he'd recently bought an iPod on eBay at a great price. The seller wanted to be paid via eGold.com, and had sent detailed instructions as how to send money to an exchange company that would convert dollars to eGold, which could be used to pay him. I tracked down several other eBay buyers who had the same experience with the seller. In three of four cases, the buyers somehow screwed up the payment process, yet had received their goods (directly from Staples or BestBuy) in the same fashion. Meanwhile the seller has disappeared: Yahoo email unanswered, fake phones and addresses. This may never happen with classic goods, of course, but you can see how the scam will work with new goods. It also makes me wonder if some of the "how to get stuff for free" packages on eBay aren't promoting this sort of scam. You can see how thieves could make a lot of money, converting credit card info to cash. - John

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 13:31, Bert Thomas wrote: > > However, if I want it to look neater (I meant to mention this in my > > previous message) -- though goodness knows who would care -- I have > > been known to use a scalpel or craft knife to cut the copper either > > side of a hole and then lift off the small redundant piece. I've also > > done that between holes, when I wanted to use two adjacent holes but > > isolated from each other. > > Aaarggghhh, <undo><undo><undo><undo><undo>... ;-) Why "undo"? Great minds obviously think alike, and two posts just reinforce the value of the advice :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 7:19, Ethan Dicks wrote: > On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 01:00:30 +1300, Dave Brown <tractorb(a)ihug.co.nz> wrote: > > Ethan > > RS (RadioSpares) Stock No. 543-535- $NZ19.50. I've been meaning to get > > another one myself although I've tended to use 'blob' board more often > > these days. > > RS? I've heard it referenced on the list... is that the name of a > particular brand of shop? Used to stand for Radio Spares, later Radiospares, RS Components. A phone/mail-order trade supplier, originally specialising in parts for radios and TVs, but now selling everything from resistors to car park furniture. They had a separate sell-to-the-public offshoot called Electromail for a while, but now RS will take almost anyone's money (I think you might need to open an account, though). Lots of electronics shops will order RS parts for you. Their paper catalogue is 1cm wider than Farnell's (16cm as opposed to 15cm). http://rswww.com -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Significant finds

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hi: A gentleman in Arizona contacted me about divesting himself of his S100 stuff, including most of my missing BYTE magazines (and 2 copies of Issue #1), the entire run of Micro Cornucopia (which I haven't received yet), a few Kilobauds and Interface Ages. He has also sent me a SSM VB1B video board, a Computer Systems Inc. Clock/Calendar board, an IMS PIC-8 Rev 3 interface board and a Cromemco Dazzler board set. Supposedly there's lots more, including tons of software on 8" disks and two complete S100 systems. Back to the Micro Cornucopia. I've heard of the name, but what was the focus of it? Regarding my BYTE collection, with these additional issues, I have nearly a complete set from 9/75 through 1/88. So far, my "interesting article" database has about 700 entries. At some point, I will make this available on my Web site and if someone needs an article reprint, I can do that. I thought I'd mention the issues of BYTE I'm still missing in case anyone has dupes: most of 1976 (except 1, 3, 4), 7/77, 6/80, 2/82, 1/86, and 3/86. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 9 months

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Veroboard trace cutting tool?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 5 2004, 5:57, Ethan Dicks wrote: > Does anyone know where I can locate a genuine tool for severing the > traces on veroboard? I know I can make do with a drill bit, but that > puts a tapered hole in the resin board underneath. So does the genuine Veroboard cutter. It's just a stub drill mounted in a blue plastic handle, and its only advantage is that it's easier to hold. There's quite a good picture at http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Prac/vero_circ/vero.htm You can probably get one from Farnell in NZ. The part number from the (UK, Farnell-In-One) catalogue is 329-538. It looks similar but not identical in my catalogue to the one in the CPC catalogue, which is interesting because Farnell and CPC are part of the same group and share stock. Same price, though, UKP 6.60 (and the NZ price is NZ$25.94). http://nz.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/searchPage2.jsp?Ntt=spot+face+cutter… Vero Electronics is now a subsidiary of APW: http://www.apw.com/aboutAPW/familiarBrands/vero.jsp -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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IBM 3270 interfacing?

by toresbe＠ifi.uio.no

Does anyone know anything about the protocol that the IBM 3270 terminals uses on the BNC ports labelled I/O? Is there any possibility of hooking this up to anything modern? -- Tore S Bekkedal <toresbe(a)ifi.uio.no>

21 years, 9 months

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"misc pc boards" found

by mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA

I was going through various miscellaney and found a box labeled "MISC PC BOARDS". On opening it up, I found a number of boards which may of interest to the list. With one possible exception, they are all up for grabs, on the same conditions as my last pile of stuff: cover shipping and it's yours (including free if you pick it up in Montreal). Except where noted, this is all "no obvious physical damage, but completely untested and has been sitting idle for some unknown number of years, probably at least ten". First, the board I suspect I want to keep - I have some questions about it, if anyone can answer them. It's apparently from an outfit called MICRO WORKS, and is a "2708 EPROM BURNER". It has onboard a 6821, two 7474s, a 7406, a 555, a 7805, a 7904, a 7812, a 3904 transistor, various two-terminal devices (caps, resistors, diodes, a LED), and a switch (apparently SPDT used as SPST) marked "HV OFF" and "HV ON". Oh, and a rather nice 24-pin ZIF DIP socket. It has a card-edge connector that makes it look as though it goes with the SwTPc stuff listed below - its only 30-pin, but has the same pin pitch and blocked pin. Basically, what I want to know is, how much hackery would it take to turn this into something I could attach to, say, a parallel port, and use to burn EPROMs? Next, the stuff that's definitely up for grabs. Of these, to start, four Wang boards: A board in the shape of a rectangle about 20"x13" with a rectangle of about 12"x5" cut out of one corner - or, equivalently, a rectangle of 20"x8" overlapped with a rectangle of 8"x13" (where in all four cases the dimensions are in the same order). On the 12" edge there is a connector that looks physically like a 3U VME connector to my (not very used to VME) eye. On the 8" edge there is a DB25F, what I might call (quite possibly improperly) a DIN-4, and a 36-pin Centronics. At the end of the 20" edge farthest from the 8" edge, there are two 34-pin (17x2) 0.1"-pitch connectors of the sort I learned to call Bergs. According to the solder side, this is an "8221-R2" and bears the Wang name; on the component side, I also see the Wang logo and the markings "8221- -R2M2", where the number 14, or perhaps the letter A, has been hand-written into the gap, and the last 2 is in a different font from the rest. Following that is a box into which has been handwritten J05796. Silkscreened - not part of the foil pattern - I see "CPU/SYSTEM BOARD" and "8221-R1 SILK SCREEN". There is one empty socket, a 40-pin DIP; the other seven sockets are filled. Based on the datecodes I see on the soldered-in chips, this dates from mid-'82. A board which I speculate is a backplane to go with the previous board. It bears no active components, only connectors and resistors. It has a connector physically compatible with the VME-like connector on the above board, five 86-conductor card-edge connectors (43 pins on each side, with approximately S-100 pin spacing), and three connectors that look like power connectors: one each of five, three, and two pins. In the foil patterns on the compoent side, this is marked COMP. SIDE 8241- -R?M and the Wang logo (where ? may actually be intended to be a 0). In the foil on the solder side I see the Wang logo and 8241-R? MADE IN USA CIRCUIT SIDE This baord is about 6"x7". Another Wang board. This one is about 8"x12" and has two card-edge connectors, one physically compatible with the 86-pin connectors on the previous board and one 20-pin one with much narrower spacing on the other edge. It has what appears to be a back-panel connector with a metal shield on the 8" edge (which is not included in the 12" dimension - it adds maybe 5/8") bearing a DA15F connector. This baord is marked "8223- -R?M" on the component side and "8223-R?" on the foil side, and has numerous patches applied in the form of etch run cuts and soldered-on wires. Almost everything is soldered in, but there is one socket, bearing a crystal oscillator marked "19.200 MHZ". Another board which looks very much like 8241 board above which I speculated was a backplane, except that instead of the VMEish connector it has a sixth 86-pin card-edge connector. It is marked as 8229 instead of 8241, but otherwise looks basically identical to the 8241 described above. Three boards which I expect are from an SwTPc. Each bears the SwTPc logo somewhere in the component-side etch. One I feel sure is a CPU board. It bears many DIPs, all socketed (and all sockets populated), a 7805 and four discrete transistors or similar devices soldered in, and miscellanous two-terminal devices (resistors, caps, a crystal, maybe some others I don't recognize). The "big chip" is an MC6800P; I also see an HM46810P, an MC14411P, and a chip labeled with the motorola logo and the text "SWTBUG 1.0" and a "7748" which I imagine is a datecode. Everything else is in the 8- to 20-pin range. On the card edge is a 50-pin single-row connector with slightly over 2.5 pins to the centimetre, with one pin space filled with plastic. A board with 39 empty DIP sockets (mostly 16-pin, at least one 14-pin), no filled sockets, and two 7805s apparently connected in parallel. Next to the SwTPc logo is the text "MP-M". I suspect the 7805s are intended to have heatsinks which the board has been robbed of, probably at the same time as the socketed chips were removed. This has a card-edge connector apparently identical to that on the CPU board (just above). A board which I feel sure is memory. It's marked "MP-8M2" and has a SPDT switch with the positions marked "WRT. PROTECT" and "NORMAL"; next to one row of 8 DIPs is "UPPER 4K" and next to another is "LOWER 4K". It also has two 7805s, each driving power to some of the chips - their outputs aren't wired together. There is also a DIP bank of four switches. Finally, two miscellaneous boards. One I suspect of being an S-100 prototyping board. It has a 7805 and numerous power decoupling caps, a lot of uncomitted solder pads, and a 100-pin card-edge connector that looks like S-100 to my inexperienced eye. It is silk-screen labeled "CROMEMCO WRAP BOARD" on the component side and "CROMEMCO WWB-2" on the solder side. The other is a mystery to me. It looks like a module from a very early modular computer of some sort. It dates from the very early IC days, I would say - the days when an IC package would contain maybe five to ten transistors and not much else. It bears a logo that consists of the letters A and M, stacked with the A over the M, inside an octagon whose vertices are at (cos(k*pi/4),sin(k*pi/4)) - ie, turned 22.5? relative to stop-sign orientation. It has been robbed of one component, a transistor to go by the labeling ("Q5" on the component side), but I think everything else is present. /~\ The ASCII der Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

21 years, 9 months

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MicroVAX 3100 Questions.

by chenmel＠earthlink.net

Today at auction I acquired a MicroVAX 3100 system. It's my first VAX hardware. I don't know a lot about it and thought I would ask here for help. I put up a picture of the system on some personal webspace. The page is: http://sasteven.multics.org/MicroVAX/MicroVAX3100.html The system is a low-profile box, with one opening in the front face with a 5-1/4" form factor tape drive presently installed. There are free connectors and space inside for a single narrow SCSI drive. The system has two mezzazine-mounted memory cards inside and appears to have 16 megs of RAM on the cards. The model plate on back (one of the pictures on the page I put up) reads: Model- DV031DTA-A - A01 S/N- KA324TJ182 Some questions: 1. I notice on the Web that there is quite a bit of info about MicroVAX 3100 systems. I also see that there are a variety of models. Is there an easy way to figure out which one I have? 2. Would it be possible and/or work to replace the tape drive with a SCSI CD-ROM reader? I don't have a source for tapes. 3. Is it worth putting VMS on this box? It looks like it could run NetBSD as well. I also have McKusik's BSD archive CD set that he sells. Is there a flavor of vintage UNIX that I could put on the system? 4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the three serial ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a TTY-only machine, no framebuffer, etc. 5. Is there a thorough hardware reference for this machine out there on the net that I should get? I looked on the HP/Compaq site, and it appears that they pay a small amount of homage to the system, but without much substancial info. A hardware reference manual in PDF would be great. Any and all info would be appreciated. If there's a good site that I should be pointed to (there seems to be tons and tons of info out there, which results in Google pulling up a huge mass of stuff to weed through) instead of answering these specific questions, a pointer to it would be appreciated. Thanks, Scott.

21 years, 9 months

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Book score in NZ

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Found a classic book at a used book shop - "Logic & Memory Experiments using TTL ICs, Book 2", Howard W. Sams & Co, 1979. The style is familiar - I'm sure I have other books in the series at home. I'm curious if anyone has "Book 1" and what's in it - book 2 is LED decoders, flip-flops, one-shots, and 1/4K - 16K SRAMs and EPROMs (2101s, 2708s, larger devices in similar families, etc.) Fun stuff to reminisce about - I remember reading books like these as a kid to take my fun beyond built computers like the PET. -ethan

21 years, 9 months

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VAX 11/725

by jeroen.van.hengstum＠hccnet.nl

Hello all, Recently I got a VAX 11/725, a small model VAX that was produced around 1983. I intend to try to boot this machine again after many years. - Does anyone have a 11/725? - Does anyone have 11/725 related documentation? - How do you check in a few steps with this computer whether it is still functioning properly? Thanks, Jeroen --

21 years, 9 months

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Wired running SGI Article

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

Wired is running an article that might be of interest to SGI enthusiasts. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65834,00.html They even had a couple links in there that I'm pretty I've never seen before. Zane -- -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh(a)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, 9 months

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PDP-1 spacewar

by brad＠heeltoe.com

Perhaps even cooler than a CADR emulator, a PDP-1 emulator which runs the original PDP-1 spacewar code: http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/spacewar/ Very cool. Apparently the java code is an PDP-1 emulator. They wrote a PDP-1 assembler in perl. You have to smile. I think the screen should be round, however :-) -brad

21 years, 9 months

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"How to build a working digital computer" Book scans

by obsiprog＠gmail.com

Dear Sir, Hello, i recently saw an online post of an email list you signed up for, and was wondering if you could send me scans of the book, "How to build a working digital computer", images are fine, but a pdf file would be awesome! i really would like to reconstruct my very own paperclip computer, so i hope you will help, Thank you, Daniel Collotte

21 years, 9 months

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free giveaway: Televideo keyboard

by chenmel＠earthlink.net

In a box of keyboards I bought today there was a Televideo terminal keyboard. There are no model markings on it, it has a phone-cord sized RJ-style connector. I don't know what model of terminal it came from. First person to reply who will pay shipping can have it. I can 'crack it open' to see if there are model # markings on the circuit board if need be. Shipping will be from central Indiana. Scott

21 years, 9 months

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Who needs a Profile or Widget harddisk ?

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

Not that I have any spare ones, but look at this site for a description of a IDE to Profile/widget translator. http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/patrick/idefile.htm The website does not (yet) give full details. Please note that the project is not mine, we are just looking how much interest there is, therefore raise hands if interested in a PCB. Jos Dreesen

21 years, 9 months

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Upcoming Trip...

by vp＠cs.drexel.edu

Brad Parker <brad(a)heeltoe.com> wrote: > Wow. Did I just go through some sort of time warp? > > In my mail box are about 15 messages which are old. They start out on > 12/3 but then there are about 15 'repeats' and then 12/3 again. I had this happen to me (as the sender) when I restored a system from backup. The machine had a single disk drive which failed, so when the new disk drive arrived, I restored everything from a two month old backup. It was a piece of cake and the system was back to normal. Or so I thought! ... After a couple of days I started receiving messages like Brad's asking whether I had gone senile and started emailing people about deadlines that had already past etc. What happened was that when the backup was made, there were a bunch of emails in the mail queue and they were backed up along with everything else. Two months later when the backup was restored, sendmail found them in the mail queue and sent them along (again). **vp

21 years, 9 months

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CS/80 Information

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

See here: http://www.classiccmp.org/bitsavers/pdf/hp/disc/5955-3442_cs80-is-pm.pdf On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 11:10:58 -0600, Stephen Fisher <sfisher10(a)cox.net> wrote: > I ran across a message at > http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2003-February/010332.html where > you mention that you had a CS/80 specification. Do you by chance still have > that or know where I could find it? > > Thanks > Stephen > >

21 years, 9 months

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hp 9121 (cctalk Vol 16, Issue 6)

by vp＠cs.drexel.edu

Natalia <nataliac(a)uvigo.es> wrote: > I have a Dual Disk Drive HP 9121 that is cabled to an HP 9816 whith > operative system HP Basic 2.0. When I copy or save file or program put > the message "error 88: read data error". Can you help me? What is the > Problem? You can get the manual for the 9121 at http://www.series80.org/Manuals/index.html#HP9121 But I suspect that the problem is a dirty R/W head on the drive. You do not mention whether you have the 2 drive model (9121D) and whether you have the same error message when you try accessing the second drive. If you only have the prob with the first drive, then its almost certainly a dirty R/W head inside the drive. Have you tried cleaning the heads? The easiest way is to try to find a cleaning diskette (usu available for PCs). Such diskettes usually have an extra hole across from the WRITE-PROTECT tab. You have to cover this (extra) hole with some tape (black electrician's tape will do) and then the cleaning diskette will be usable with the 9121. Best Regards **vp

21 years, 9 months

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trailing-edge.com down?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 4 2004, 13:57, Seth Morabito wrote: > I've just re-joined the lists after a... uh, something like a four > year absense, I guess! It's good to be back, even if it is a little > more verbose than I remember. Welcome back :-) > I looked through the recent archives and didn't see this covered > already, forgive me if I missed it -- I've been unable to contact > www.trailing-edge.com or simh.trailing-edge.com for the last week > or so. Tim posted a note on alt.folklore.computers about a week ago, to say: The web-accessible archives at trailing-edge.com, namely simh.trailing-edge.com pdp-10.trailing-edge.com pdp-11.trailing-edge.com etc. are down due to windstorm activity yesterday. With a little luck things may be back up early next week (week of Nov 29 - Dec 3). Realistically there are a lot of trees and wires down and hooking back up to the interweb may take a while. The SIMH and pdp-11 stuff as of July 2004 is mirrored at http://bitsavers.org/simh.trailing-edge.com/ http://bitsavers.org/pdp-11.trailing-edge.com/ Unfortunately bitsavers is also down, but Jay has a mirror at classiccmp: http://www.classiccmp.org/bitsavers/simh.trailing-edge.com/ http://www.classiccmp.org/bitsavers/pdp-11.trailing-edge.com/ I'm not surprised you couldn't find anything, it's just taken me 15 minutes, and I knew what I was looking for! -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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HP diagnostic configurator help

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Are there any cards which should never be used as the target for the basic I/O pretest (P=2) of the Diagnostic Configurator? I seem to recall there was one... but I'm finding several different cards which give trap cell halts but otherwise seem to work fine (passing diagnostics). Would this indicate a problem with the priority chain? Thanks in advance! Jay

21 years, 9 months

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MicroVAX 3100 Questions.

by msokolov＠ivan.Harhan.ORG

Scott Stevens <chenmel(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > 1. I notice on the Web that there is quite a bit of info about > MicroVAX 3100 systems. I also see that there are a variety of models. > Is there an easy way to figure out which one I have? Power it up with a terminal connected to the console port, write down what it scribbles on the console on power-up, and post it to the list. One of the lines (the one starting with KA) identifies the system board. > 2. Would it be possible and/or work to replace the tape drive with a > SCSI CD-ROM reader? I don't have a source for tapes. Look for one that can be set to 512 byte block mode. > 3. Is it worth putting VMS on this box? That's only for you to decide for yourself. What OS do you want to run? Do you want VMS or UNIX? > Is there a flavor of vintage UNIX that I could put on the system? I'm pretty close to getting 4.3BSD-Quasijarus to run on it. Just need to write the SCSI code. > 4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the three serial > ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a TTY-only > machine, no framebuffer, etc. You are correct, except that the connectors are not RJ but DEC423 MMJ. In normal operation port 1 is the console. There is also an "alternative diagnostic console" mode enabled by a switch on the back that moves the console to port 3 and makes the CPU halt on line break. > 5. Is there a thorough hardware reference for this machine out there > on the net that I should get? I looked on the HP/Compaq site, and it > appears that they pay a small amount of homage to the system, but > without much substancial info. A hardware reference manual in PDF > would be great. Unfortunately it's a completely undocumented machine. DEC never published a real technical manual for it, only screwing/unscrewing guides for failed servoids. MS

21 years, 9 months

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Signetics 8x300 instruction set

by tomj＠wps.com

I've been trying to recall, with no success, how subroutine calls were implemented in the 8x300. I used to write code for this weird thing (realtime video processing) and the assembler I used (some horror that ran under TSO) hid it from me so I don't have a clear recollection of the method. It's a really weird CPU, "subroutines" were essentially jumps, as in a lot of machines, but the "return" was through some strange jump table or something. Once upon a time there was a website with CPU instruction cards (man I had a huge pile of these things, pitched loooong ago...) but I can't find it. Nothing on bitsavers I can find. (There's also some really bad info out there on the origins of "Harvard" architecture, attributed to some stupid hardvard vs. princeton microprocessor design thing. Please -- about 40 years earlier: that asshole Aiken. No one liked him anyways.)

21 years, 9 months

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