Does anyone know of a good internet search engine? I've been using
Google but they have gotten LOUSY in the last couple of months since
they've decided to sell the "right" to companies to be first in their
search results. It's gotten so bad that I can no longer find anything with
their searchs except ads for totally unrelated items.
Joe
Does anyone here have any info or pictures of the >>>>>Block 1<<<<<<
SSMEC? I think I have parts of it but I need to verify that that's what
they are.
Joe
As above, boxed with the manual and, I think, both sets of
disks (3.5" and 5.25").
Available for postage but hurry 'cos the binman comes in the
morning.
Cheers,
Lee.
________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.star.net.uk
________________________________________________________________________
Rats, I just found out the museum's dead Sperry drum store uses a 3
phase motor - is there any way I can run this from a single phase supply
(UK mains, ~240V, 50Hz) without things blowing up? Or am I resigned to
replacing the motor with a single phase equivalent?
I just want to get the thing spinning so that people can hear it running
- it's way beyond actually being able to restore it to working condition
again :-(
cheers
Jules
On Mar 30, 5:15, Tony Duell wrote:
> >
> Well, I guess if your machines are modern enough to have RJ45
connectors
> for ethernet, etc....
Many do, but a lot have AUI connectors. However, 10baseT transceivers
and microtransceivers are cheap and easy to come by. Well, for me
anyway :-) Structured wiring is also useful for serial connections, a
phone line, ISDN, and all sorts of other things.
> If possible, have a good isolating transformer. Almost essential if
you
> work on SMPSUs. Also think about having both 110 and 220V outlets --
the
> ability to plug in just anything from either side of the Pond, at
least
> for testing is very useful.
I have an isolating transformer, which lives under the bench. I've
almost never needed 110V, but one day I'll find a cheap transformer.
> My iron is normally on my bench, but I do move it around for work on
> minicomputers, etc As an aside here, if you're in the UK and work on
DEC
> machines, make up adapter cables for 13A mains plug to US 234V socket
and
> US 234V plug to 13A mains socket so you can (a) plug a DEC unit in on
> your bench for testing and (b) can run your soldering iron, 'scope,
etc
> off the power distribution unit at the back of your DEC rack.
I've got an adaptor but since there's a DEC rack right behind me as I
sit at the bench, and the room is small, I rarely need to plug anything
in at the back of a DEC rack. Anyway, the adjacent rack has a 13A
rackmount power on it, and there are several 13A sockets on the wall
behind the other racks (three racks in total).
> Although I don't do much heavy metalwork on my electronics bench, I
agree
> a small vice is very useful. For pressing on iDC connectors, holding
> things when soldering, etc. Chasing a DIN plug around the benchtop
with a
> hot soldering iron is not my idea of fun!
The vice in question is too small and light for crimping connectors. I
just use it for holding D-connectors, or holding multicore cables when
I tin the ends. But the adjacent bench has a proper engineer's vice (a
Record No.3), and there's a 3" vice on a Workmate at the other end of
the room (all of 4 metres away).
--
Peter Turnbull
<postmaster(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
Not entirely certain its on topic.. if it is, its just barely..
Anyone know much about'm? In particularly, sources of electronic
hardware documentation? (Service Guide?)
I just got handed one, along w/ a AIX 5.1 media set.. Now I get to go
have fun.. Course, it would be nice to know exactly what bits I'm
pulling out of it, as I poke at its innards. .
Speaking of Google, googling for the above subject turns up a few
billion memory dealers, and a few SpecInt pages. :-(
David
Hey guys
Did DEC ever produce SNMP management software for Windows? I'm drawing a
blank on 'managing' my DEChub90 as [the GPL software i've got for Linux
doesn't have the right MIBs loaded/I don't understand SNMP very much at
all] - and I was thinking that DEC's own software would make it easier.
Any links, or recommendations for a Windows/Linux/Java SNMP browser?
alex/melt
here we go again..
> > > And please don't forget our LGP-30 here.
> > Never heard of this thing. What and where is it?
> Hmmm... then you haven't heard of Mel either?
Mel? As "Mel The Programmer"? Yes I remember Mel, but I didn't remember
the name of the machine.
--
http://www.wps.com/projects/LGP-21/mel-the-programmer.html
Got any pictures ?
> They're 3U type cards with 68000-10 CPUs and are marked
> MATRIX MS-CPU-02C.
Cheers,
Lee.
________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.star.net.uk
________________________________________________________________________
I have just got an apollo 735 (couldn't resist it for 9 pound on ebay).
It has 96mb ram, 2 1gb hard drives, a framebuffer with a stereo +rgb
ports and what I think is a 99mhz processor. All is looking good except
it has no power supply. Anyone know where I can get such a beast. It
looks quite big if it fills up the mising hole, the machine already
weighs a ton it must be pretty heavy with it in.
Thanks
Dan
Dear Mr. Feldman,
I ran across the classic computer dialog searching for what became of Otrona
Advanced Systems. Tony, who wrote the message, appears sure that Otrona had
gone out of business. Can we ask him when Otrona went out of business? I
study private companies and their histories and this is an important early
one. I would be most grateful for even an approximate shut down date.
Susan Woodward
Sand Hill Econometrics
www.sandhillecon.com <http://www.sandhillecon.com/>
Hey all,
Has anybody out there written drivers for the WD1793 floppy
disk controller chip? I've been doing that for fun, and have
hit on a very strange problem with the 'read track' command.
It seems to work just fine, returning a stream of bytes that
includes the data for each sector, until it finds a byte with
a value of $29 (or 29H, if you prefer). From that point up
to the next address mark, it gets garbled data. No other data
value seems to have any odd effect. 'Read sector' returns
the right data with no weirdness.
It is extremely consistent; using read-sector and write-sector,
I can add/move/remove bytes with that value, and get the same
result every time: read-track returns garbled from the $29 up
to the next address mark.
At first I thought it was just losing synchronization, because
the address mark (at which it synchronizes) puts it back on
track. But the garbling seems weirder than just out-of-sync.
After the $29 byte, it seems to be OR-ing the byte with itself
shifted right one bit, and then inverting that. More precisely,
it seems to be doing something like this (in 'C' notation):
found_29 = 0;
while ( /* whatever */ ) {
input = get_input(); // input from disk
if ( got_address_mark() ) found_29 = 0;
if (found_29) {
carry = (prev_input & 1) << 7;
output( ~ ( input | carry | (input>>1) ) );
} else if (input == 0x29) {
found_29 = 1;
output( 0x14 );
continue;
} else {
output( input );
}
prev_input = input;
}
In case it's relevant, it is a Radio Shack Color Computer 2,
with a standard controller cartridge. (The label has wandered
off, so I'm not sure whether it is the older or newer model of
controller.)
I don't suppose anyone would care to venture an explanation?
Anyone? Anyone? ....
Cheers,
Bill.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
I found a board with several of these yesterday. Can anyone id them? I've
searched the net and all I can find are sellers with no names or
descriptions of what the ICs are. Chip directory comes up empty. They're
24 pin ICs with white ceramic bodies and gold lids and legs. They're marked
"93448-DC" and "F 7633".
Joe
I was out driving today and noticed a pile of stuff sitting under a
"Free" sign. One of the items caught my eye because of the dials, knobs
and round screen on the front.
It turned out to be a Heathkit OM-3 Oscilloscope (1958 vintage according
to my limited Googling - which DID turn up relevant results.)
It's missing a couple of the plastic caps to the banana jacks on the
front, but is otherwise complete. I powered it up and it seems to work
(An adjustable horizontal line appears on the CRT, anyway.)
Not bad for a street corner find.
So, does anyone have any info; docs or otherwise?
Erik Klein
www.vintage-computer.comwww.vintage-computer.com/vcforum
The Vintage Computer Forum
On 26 Mar 2004 at 23:50, Bill McDermith wrote:
> Keys wrote:
> > Went to a school auction and picked up the following:
> > HP 3000 model 922LX
>
> Never heard of a 3000 with this model number -- sure it
> wasn't a hp 300?
That was one of the low-end PA-RISC 3000s (as opposed to the "classic"
TTL/ECL 3000s). I have an HP datasheet for it (5952-0976, Dec-1989).
> That would be about the size of a breadbox (or a terminal) -- the 3000
> is _much_ larger (several racks)...
29.5 x 14.8 x 27.9 inches and 244 pounds, according to the 922LX sheet.
-- Dave
I'm in need of an Alpha Microsystems Videotrax tape backup unit (made
backups to VHS tape). I can use any hardware including controllers, etc.
but the Videotrax unit itself (a modified VCR) would be ideal.
Cash or trade. Need soon. Please contact me directly.
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 ]
>From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk(a)yahoo.co.uk>
>
>
>Rats, I just found out the museum's dead Sperry drum store uses a 3
>phase motor - is there any way I can run this from a single phase supply
>(UK mains, ~240V, 50Hz) without things blowing up? Or am I resigned to
>replacing the motor with a single phase equivalent?
>
>I just want to get the thing spinning so that people can hear it running
>- it's way beyond actually being able to restore it to working condition
>again :-(
>
>cheers
>
>Jules
>
Hi
A common shop trick is to get another 3 phase motor and
start that one spinning with a rope. Then connect the single
phase wires as one of the phases and cross connect the other
phases. This uses the free spinning motor as a generator
for the motor with the load. The motor would need to be an
induction type.
Of course, one could have another motor to spin up the
generator and a simple control to switch over the power
once it is spun up.
Dwight
I got one also, and the LED displays are interesting. Did you ever get a
response to your inquiry last year? I found this old Monsanto document that
doesn't give much info and would appreciate if you had anything else.
> Looking for data on the MAN2815 display and Nat'l Semi DS8867
> Ethan Dicks cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
> Wed Mar 5 09:32:00 2003
>
> ? Previous message: Help Locating H8 Parts
> ? Next message: fair price for apple articles
> ? Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
> Over in the Yahoo Group for the Cosmac Elf, a few of us have picked up
> these MSI/88 barcode "terminals" for a couple of bucks surplus. Mine
> arrived yesterday. They are interesting because they are hand-held
> 1802 devices with a serial port and either an LED or LCD text display
> (all of mine are the LED model). I'm trying to assist in the reverse
> engineering and can *not* find any data on the LED display itself, a
> MAN2815, nor one of the chips that seems to be driving it, a National
> DS8867.
>
> I have googled for an hour looking for them. No results.
>
> Anybody heard of these parts?
>
> -ethan
>
there are more than a couple of ways to do the conversion.
1) use a solid state 3 phase "inverter". Not my best choice, as they
are usually expensive and a little fragile.
2) get a 3 phase alternator, connect to single phase motor, making an
MG set (motor-generator). straight forward, but 3 phase alternators are
a little expensive also.
3) Use a 3 phase motor with a special starting circuit to create the
third phase. This is what I normally use. the third phase is a little
weak, but it works well. What happens is that you take a 3 phase motor
bigger than what you want to power (for instance, if you have a 1 hp
disk drive, then a 2+ hp motor is required for the "convertor"), and use
a starting capacitor and relay to feed the third leg until the motor
comes up to speed. ( the "mains" go across two of the three input leads,
and the capacitor/relay third wire goes to the last input lead). Then,
once the motor is spinning, you can connect your "load" up to the three
leads of the "convertor" and you get a reasonable 3 phase supply.
joe heck
lou,
use the following
http://www.classiccmp.org/cctalk.html
>From: lou medina <lou_medina_57(a)yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
>Posts"<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>Subject: removal from mailing list
>Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 10:45:13 -0800 (PST)
>
>I lost the information on how I can be removed from the mailing list. Can
>you send it to me please?
>Lou
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now!
http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
meltie wrote:
>On Tuesday 30 March 2004 13:11, Dan Williams wrote:
>
>
>>quite a bit of dechub gear repeaters, fddi, decservers etc.
>>
>>
>What dechub gear *have* you got?
>
>alex/melt
>
>
>
>
a couple of people have asked me this.
here goes:
decswitch 900ef
dec bridge 900mx x2
dec repeater 900tm
vnswitch 900ef
decserver 900gm
dec switch 900ef
decserver 90l+
decrepeater 900gm x 2
decrepeater 900tm x2
dec concentrator 900mx
portswitch 900pt12
some more dead psu's
one working hub and one non working
Dan
Dear Classic Computing Community,
I goofed when I was transferring data from a Compaq Deskpro 286 to my modern
machine via 1.2MB 5.25" floppy. Machine was difficult to boot due to
problems with config.sys and autoexec.bat. This time instead of booting from
DOS 4.0.1 floppy, I boot from startup program floppy which helpfully offered
to fix problems accessing hard drive.
I was tired enough that I did not realize that this meant it was offering to
repartition and format hard drive.
OK. Data is all still there because I have not done anything else to it. I
tried to run some of my utilities on the Compaq, but they did not like the
fact that the machine has only 8MB of memory. I would like to take card and
drive and install them in a more modern 75MHz Pentium system which has an
ISA slot.
When I put card and drive in Pentium it will not boot. It counts memory and
freezes. I have tried a number of ways to configure the dip switches and
play with the setup program on this machine. Machine is a Packard Bell 401CD
Here are the specs:
Core CNT-HCR controller, I have the manual. Here is a web page with most
of the information : http://www.embeddedlogic.com/TH99/c/C-D/20256.htm
Core HC150HD, here are specs I found for this drive:
http://members.tripod.com/~oldboard/assembly/hard_disks_drives.htmlhttp://www.powernet.co.za/info/tables/disk/hdd/Other.Htm
I also have Core Tape drive which has backups of all files if I could
get drive to work - I do not have software/drivers for any of this hardware,
but somehow I have the manuals, so I know the names of all the commands.
I found some settings in the Setup in the Packard Bell for shared memory for
the ISA card, and address and interrupt settings. I set them appropriately.
I suspect that it might be something like the ROM on the card interfering
with the ROM on the machine. This drive did something like overwriting BIOS
in memory while machine is booting. Or maybe I completely misunderstand what
is happening.
Anyhow I would like to at least figure out how to get card in newer machine
even if I cannot figure out how to get data off. I might eventually end up
sending it to DriveSavers. Very good people, and I don't mind paying them,
but I would like to see if I can get the partition table right and unformat
to run. That should be all this drive needs.
Bradley Slavik
Dear Classic Computing Community,
I'm on this list for quite a while an enjoy reading very much. As long I
have room for I'm collecting a bit myself. Some time ago I came in touch
with our local museum. They collected some stuff an put it in their storage
years ago. They eventually put the machines on display in future. The
storage had moved to another building and most of the information about the
systems in storage has been lost. In the last weeks i tried to identify most
of the bigger stuff, but now I'm stuck. It seems that there are a couple
IBM-Systems, but I'm not familiar with IBM. As long I found out:
There is an 1131 CPU and a 1403 Printer - I think this machine (CPU and
Printer) is rather complete. I contacted the guys at ibm1130.org last week,
they are very nice and helpful! Does anybody know what power connection
would be needed to fire this one up? With _lots_ of cleaning and some repair
work it should be in working order...
Then we have a Pile of various IBM-Stuff, which I cannot determine which
belongs together. I hope you can help out a bit - I'll list the stuff below:
2319-Disk Storage
2821-Control Unit
3047-Power Unit - I couln't find anything on this box...
3145-Processing Unit - This should be a Sys/370 Model 145, as far I found
out...
3215-Console - Maybe for the 3145?
3330-Disk, 3 Cabinets.
3741-Data Station. Like the one seen on http://fwtunesco.org/musi/wolz/ but
with only one drive.
3830-Storage Control - Disk? I have no details on this. Suggestions?
5415-Processing Unit - System 3 Model 15 is all I know...
5445-??? It should be some sort of Mass Storage Controller...
One Dual Drive for - I think - Disk Stacks/Packs, It is a top loading
device, like 2 washing machines side by side... - I couldn't read the number
as it's near the wall and I could not move it.
There is another Diskdrive too, wich seems to be like the 3330, but some
different...
All I could do is to list the devices. As I have 2 CPU's I think there are 2
Systems. Any suggestions?
There is some Siemens Stuff too...
One System 300/320 Processor Cabinet with 2 additional Racks. A System
300-R10 Processor Rack. The machines look like 16-Bit, with nice
blinkenlights and flipswitches. A papertape-reader/punch and a dual
9(?)-track drive (on this drive there are still 2 tapes loaded - One is
labeled System) are the only peripherals i have. I really want to get the
tape off the drive to a) read it or b) store it in adequate environment. Is
there some information present about siemens stuff? I googled for a while,
but there was nothing really statisfying info out there...
In Addition to all above we have a "Data 100 Batch Terminal" wich seems to
be a card reader/punch. Does somebody know them? Some Documentation should
be here, but as with all the docs I couldn't dig through all the binders and
boxes ...
Please excuse my horrible english, but I hope you could imagine what has
been meant :)
My best Regards,
Wolfgang Eichberger
PS.: For my private Interests I am looking for a PDP 11/23 maybe with one or
two RL02 drives, if somebody knows some sources. It could be a different
processor or a nice microvax as well :)
=======================================================================
Wolfgang Eichberger?????????????????? phone: +43-732-7720-12655
????????????????????????????????????? cell.: +43-664-240-65-92
Qualit?tsmanager, EDV - Koordinator?? fax? : +43-732-7720-12918
????????????????????????????????????? email: wolfgang.eichberger(a)bps.at
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
O?. Boden- und Baustoffpr?fstelle GmbH
K?rntnerstra?e 12, 4020 Linz - AUSTRIA
=======================================================================
?
On Mar 29, 20:43, ben franchuk wrote:
> Pete Turnbull wrote:
> < stuff for bench >
>
> Lets not forget a fire extinguisher!
In fact there is one, a CO2 extiguisher about 2 feet from the bench.
--
Peter Turnbull
<postmaster(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
At the TRW swap meet yesterday, I ran across this box:
http://www.rain.org/~marvin/box.jpg. The reason I bought it was that the
overlays had some words that rang of old mainframe computers. There are
three double sided overlays to define what the LEDs mean with
designations such as "Print Scan Counter", "Print Character Generator",
etc. Another overlay has the heading "2314/2841 TROS SAL BITS". There
are two rectangular connectors with cables to connect to whatever this
thing is doing something with:). The only label on the box says
"Infinite Computer". Anyone have any idea what this thing is and is used
for?
On Mar 29, 23:45, Tony Duell wrote:
> The next thing is that you need to consider how much your test gear
is
> used at the workbench rather than elsewhere. If you work on
minicomputers
> and your main item of test gear is a LogicDart, then you take the
> instrument to the machine. If you work on ZX81s using a Tektronix 555
> 'scope, then you bring the machien to the instrument. This will
determine
> if you need to make a permanent home for it at the bench or not.
>
> Think what instruments you need. One that many people forget, but
which
> I'd include if I was setting up a workbench for microcomputer repairs
is
> a video monitor (to cover all the standards you're likely to need).
> Possibly on one of those pivoting arms. A serial terminal on the
bench
> can be very useful too (or you can use an HP95LX or something if
you're
> pressed for space).
>
>
> You can never have too many power points.
Interesting. That sounds not unlike my bench. It's a sensible height
for sitting (decide whether you want a chair, a stool, or whatever).
It has steel support legs angled in such a way as to support the front
of the bench (I can stand on it without qualms) yet not to get in the
way of my knees, and still be mostly vertical. Apart from that, it's
wooden, and has a mat in the centre so that things don't get scratched.
There's a row of 13A power sockets along the back wall in an almost
unbroken line (and half a dozen network/structured wiring RJ45
sockets). A couple of them are European Schuko sockets. Some of the
sockets are on one breaker, some on another (one set has an RCD, one
doesn't). There are a few more mounted under the front edge of the
bench. There's a scope on a wall-mount swivel base, a monitor, DVM,
and Avo 8 on the bench at one side and an SGI Indy on the other side.
The other things like PSUs, signal generator, etc are at the back or
on a shelf. There's a striplight-type desklamp to one side, in front
of a wall of components drawers, and next to that are a load of hooks
for test leads, video cables, etc. Amongst the things that live
permanently on the bench top are my soldering iron, and a small vice.
Some of the things used for testing live on a trolley nearby, along
with a BBC Micro, and the scope can be moved to the trolley if
necesary. There's another trolley with a toolbox also nearby.
It isn't actually very big (as Jules and one or two other listmembers
can testify), in fact it's quite small. Crowded, even.
I'll reiterate the last line I preserved from Tony's post. You can
never have too many power points. Or RJ45s.
--
Peter Turnbull
<postmaster(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
On Mar 29, 16:06, John Allain wrote:
> I recently found a DEC LPS11 Laboratory Peripheral System,
> A peripheral for Unibus-11's. If anybody else has one, could
> they get in touch? I'm wlling to settle for compromises, that
> is, something less than a full manual.
I used to have one, and I think I may still have the manual, if you
don't find something downloadable or over your own side of the pond.
If I gave the manual away with the LPS11, I can easily borrow it back,
as it went to a colleague at work and it's in his office along with the
11/34 it's attached to :-)
(an hour later) I still have the Maintenance Manual. It's about
120-130 pages. What do you need to know?
> As a smaller problem, I haven't been able to find out
> what these modules are:
>
> from the LPS-11 (Laboratory Peripheral System)
> the M996 and M7023 modules
M996 is the hex-height Connector And Shield Board which lives in slot 6
of the LPS11. It has the connectors for the display, ADCs, etc on it.
M7023 doesn't appear in my manual, but I have the DEC-O-LOG fiche.
It's an LPSDR-A, which is a 16-bit digital latch.
> from a PDP11: the G110 module
That's part of a core memory subsystem -- "Control And Data Loops" for
an MM11-K, MM11-L, or MF11. Pretty old -- about 1971 or 1972.
--
Peter Turnbull
<postmaster(a)dunnington.u-net.com>
Keys --
Sorry I didn't pick this up over the weekend.... Here's what you have:
_S/36 Midrange Server_
o Arch: 16bit
o CPUs: 1 IO proc x 1 CP prc
o Mem: 128k - 2MB
o Disk: 20MB - 120MB ( 1 or 2 14" HDD), 1.2MB 8" FDD
This was IBM's main midrange offering through the 80s and into the 90s. It
was replaced by the AS/400 (which usually has an S/36 compatibility mode
available). If you've ever worked with AS/400s, you'll find the system a
less feature rich version of much the same thing. What I must emphasize is
this is not a PC. Nor is there a BSD / Linux variant for it. This machine
has much more in common with s/360 hardware architecture than i386. The
data storage is a flat address space. It's organized into libraries,
members and files. A typical application relies on a fixed field length
data file format, separate sort and query facilities. IBM has invented
relational databases, but the were only available on the more exotic S/38.
Here were looking at flat datastructures. Generally speaking one programmed
this in RPG II language, although there were editions of COBOL , FORTRAN
and BASIC available.
It's target audience was the same as Novell's. IBM saw the S/36 as the hub
of many PCs with 5250 adapter cards. The nodes could share data through the
server, use shared printing and data storage, even use an e-mail like
messaging system -- and yet they would still have their standalone
facilities if required. Once on your System/36, you could explore centrally
managed access to mainframes, peer, or hub and spoke arranged hosts of
varying kinds. You could could even call in via modem pool from home. Most
people don't view IBM offerings as sexy, but this was very straightforward
server platform that provided reliability, shared resources and
connectivity. A lot of small to medium sized companies powered them up and
kept them in service for a decade before moving to a more PC oriented
client server platform in the 90s. These critters are still humming away in
dusty corners of 3rd world in suprising numbers.
So what are you gonna do with it now? The dual processors and their
dispatching system haven't peaked the interest of the hobbyist. And the
system architecture isn't well documented, at least not in the public
domain.That rules out a Linux or BSD variant. You will have to run S/36 on
it unless your an assembler god with top notch contacts in an IBM
retirement home. That's where this whole thing becomes sticky. Your post
indicated you didn't have media or manuals. The first part of the manual
conundrum may be easy. Your model -- the middle tier in the range -- had
it's hardware manual strapped to the inside of the cover panel. You may
already have worked that out in the midst of cleaning the dust out. There
are no manuals available in the public realm that I know of. That's where I
come in. I have most of the available media and manuals. I have a few
things scanned -- although the scans are huge. Media's tricky. There's no
IBM hobbyist policy. In theory you still have to buy licenses. So I would
suggest you do what I did. Call around the AS/400 houses and watch eBay for
any listings of used 8" diskettes with IBM labels. But before you do any of
that, see if you can get it running as is. You may not need media. These
beasts are tough. The drives don't generally go bad. The first thing you
need is a cleaning, some kind of 5250 compatible device plugged into the
first workstation port... and lots of luck. I recommend a real green
screen. PC emulators have so many possible settings, it's more predictable
to plug up a real terminal. If you get to an IPL settings screen we can
talk about how to get past security, and what kinds of snags you're likely
to find.
Regards,
Colin Eby
Please contact James directly.
Reply-to: <jhl007(a)comcast.net>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 14:33:54 -0800
From: James Ludos <jhl007(a)comcast.net>
To: donate(a)vintage.org
Subject: IBM 5140
Hi,
I don't know if you need it or not but I have an IBM 5140
I want to get rid of. As far as I know it works fine. I am
in Los Gatos just off of Hwy17 near Lark Ave.
Thanks
James Ludos
--
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 ]
Hi Erik
Does your wife know you were out wondering the streets?
Dwight
>From: "Erik S. Klein" <classiccmp(a)vintage-computer.com>
>
>I was out driving today and noticed a pile of stuff sitting under a
>"Free" sign. One of the items caught my eye because of the dials, knobs
>and round screen on the front.
>
>It turned out to be a Heathkit OM-3 Oscilloscope (1958 vintage according
>to my limited Googling - which DID turn up relevant results.)
>
>It's missing a couple of the plastic caps to the banana jacks on the
>front, but is otherwise complete. I powered it up and it seems to work
>(An adjustable horizontal line appears on the CRT, anyway.)
>
>Not bad for a street corner find.
>
>So, does anyone have any info; docs or otherwise?
>
> Erik Klein
> www.vintage-computer.com
> www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum
> The Vintage Computer Forum
>
>
>
My amount of test equipment has outgrown my workbench setup, so I need to
look at setting up or building a bench. I've got the current bench so
crowded with gear it's hard to work already, plus I've got a lot of test
gear that isn't on the bench and should be. i'd love to get the laptop a
spot on the bench too (lots of room it would take up) So....
I went googling in search of pictures of good bench setups. I'm looking for
ideas on the best way to stuff as much gear as possible onto it, while
keeping it usable and neat. Does anyone have any links to different ideas
for workbench setup? I have a sneaky suspicion that if I just build one
myself I'll find that later "oh WHY did I put the outlet strip THERE?". I
didn't find much of anything googling, but was hoping to draw on experience
of others for some ideas in building a bench from scratch. So far I've used
those "set on top of a desk premade lettershelfs". They let you put rows of
test equipment close with the faces all well accessible. But haven't found
the best place to put the power strips.
If anyone has links to pictures of bench setups, or advice of things to
watch out for when putting one together, I'd like to hear them!
Jay West
Free to good home:
* a full-height Nixdorf rack, labeled 600/45, containing a 9-track
capstan-type tape drive and another device that might be a terminal
concentrator, or maybe something more interesting -- it does appear to
have a floppy disk drive in it, but the cabinet's front door is locked and
we didn't try very hard to get inside and look.
* an IBM 5362 System/36 CPU, cosmetically OK (well, mostly), but with no
software, cabling, terminals, or documentation. Would be a good source of
spares for someone who has a 5362.
We need this stuff out of our Oakland, CA warehouse space by Wednesday.
Interested? E-mail me or call Brian Knittel at 510-559-7930.
Thanks!
Norm Aleks
On behalf of other digest readers, and for those whom get the live feed,
not understanding occasional confusion on our parts, I wish to whine at the
moderator.
I understand backlogs, but could something be done with time-based message
ordering?
It makes threads really hard to follow!
e.g.:
>Message: 8
>Date: Thu, 25 Mar 04 17:55:49 PST
>From: msokolov(a)ivan.Harhan.ORG (Michael Sokolov)
>Subject: UFO over DEC
>To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
>Message-ID: <0403260155.AA22846(a)ivan.Harhan.ORG>
appeared in
>Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 07:23:18 -0600 (CST)
>Message-Id: <200403281323.i2SDMDJ7076710(a)huey.classiccmp.org>
>From: cctech-request(a)classiccmp.org
>Subject: cctech Digest, Vol 7, Issue 34
Whereas replies to that message
>Message: 6
>Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 11:46:15 -0500
>From: "John Allain" <allain(a)panix.com>
>Subject: Re: UFO over DEC
appeared three digests earlier and continued on through several others:
>Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 01:53:09 -0600 (CST)
>Message-Id: <200403280753.i2S7pHJ7072610(a)huey.classiccmp.org>
>From: cctech-request(a)classiccmp.org
>Subject: cctech Digest, Vol 7, Issue 31
Thank you.
Dave.
> I hear you but I don't believe it! I get used-line.com ads in the top
>three positions about 75% of the time that I use Google. IF they're not
>placing certain companies first intentionly then they have a serious
>probelm with their search engine!
Are you per chance using a browser that may not display the paid links on
the right or top as different from the rest of the links?
Ordinarily, I would think that would be a stretch, but on this list, I
know its common to find people using Lynx or some other browser that may
not display things they way google planned.
its also possible that they company is seeding certain terms in an effort
to get pushed higher on google. IIRC, google prioritizes based on who is
linked the most... so if the company spams public archived mail lists, or
has a banner ad that is being picked up by google, they may be
artifically getting moved to the top.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
>
>> > Desoldering ram chips is more effort then its worth.
>
>That depends on the RAM chips, how rare they are, and how much you need
>them.
>
Sounds like a process for an electric frying pan and peanut oil.
Wear gloves and a face shield ( unless your really stupid ).
Use a chip puller tool or make something up with stiff wire
( like coat hanger, a little bending and filing ).
After they cool, wash then with dish soap.
Dwight
Anyone have a QIC-100 SCSI tape drive drive? Or know where to get one?
Seems like there was a brief window when such a thing existed, but I
can't seem to find any evidence on the web. I must be searching for the
wrong thing. I probably need a specific product.
I've got a qic-150 drive (the large 4x6x.5" carts). I need a qic-100 drive.
(I suspect it's the same size cart as a TU-58. I don't plan to use it to
read TU-58's, but who knows, maybe it will read them)
-brad
Hi all,
Anybody out here has a spare VMEbus system to give away or sell ?
Did a lot of work on the VMEbus many years ago, and somehow
would like to have at least one VME system in my collection.
Nothing fancy, a 68000 is OK, with floppy if possible.
cheers & thanks
Hi all,
Really weird question. I just ungreased the Beckmann 9020 scope
I recently got, and it looks like it still works fine. And now
that it's all clean again, one can even see stuff on the crt :)
However, I did'n't get any probes with it. Does anyone have a
set of 20MHz-capable probes lying around?
Cheers,
Fred
--
Fred N. van Kempen, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) Collector/Archivist
Visit the VAXlab Project at http://VAXlab.pdp11.nl/
Visit the Archives at http://www.pdp11.nl/
Email: waltje(a)pdp11.nl BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Mountain View, CA, USA
Hi Gang - Is there an email support list for mechanical calculators?
I just picked up a MonroeMatic, looks like a model CSA-10, for a cheap
price in un-molested condition. Tag shows an M.G. date of 982663.
Just needs de-gunking cleaning and lube (hopefully).
I can get it to do simple add / subtract but things like the 'set up' button
aren't obvious. It's one of those jobs with the shifting accumulator along
the top, multiplication and division ;)
--Chuck
I was going through the junk yesterday and found two boards with the
following:
HM4816AP-15/TMS4416-15NL -> 192 chips
HM50256P-12 -> 144 chips (256kx1)
The early bird gets the ... for the price of postage.
Claude
Just thought I'd make everyone aware that I have listed several old (50s and 60s) pieces of test equipment (vacuum tube) on the Vintage Computer Marketplace. They are a Tektronix scope, EICO TV-FM Sweep Signal Generator, EICO TV-FM Sweep Generator & Marker, HP Vacuum Tube Voltmeter, and a HP Audio Oscillator. I am listing them here first to give our members a chance to get them first. I will be putting those items that do not sell up on ebay at a later date and a higher price. Thanks for looking. Bill
A program that I contributed to, "Video Game Invasion: The History of a
Global Obsession", is airing tomorrow night on the Game Show Network
(cable/satellite TV) at 9pm.
http://www.gsn.com/specific_page_elements.php?link_id=S26
Check local listings.
--
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 ]
That's the S/36 PC right? Ive got the 5364 model complete with a 5150 that it
presumably IPLs from and a twinax terminal. If you've got just the 5362,
you'll need more parts to use it I think.
In a message dated 3/27/2004 7:47:35 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jrkeys(a)concentric.net writes:
Went back to the auction site and got a IBM 5362 for $5. Looked this up on
google and found out it's in the SYS/36 family? Could not find a manual for
it, anyone got one they have scanned or will sale? Thanks
Went back to the auction site and got a IBM 5362 for $5. Looked this up on
google and found out it's in the SYS/36 family? Could not find a manual for
it, anyone got one they have scanned or will sale? Thanks
I have two DEC boards that I hate to sell but need the cash. They both
appear to be in fine work shape, but I haven't tested them. They are:
H217C, PDP-11/10 16K Word core memory board
M7270, PDP-11/03, KD11-HA processor board
I would be interested in your best offers.
Thanks Norm
anheier @ owt.com (remove spaces!)
Does anyone have an extra working/possibly repairable 200LX laying around, that they would be willing to part with for $50 or less? They seem to be selling for far too much on e-bay. I don't really need any of the extra things that are included in all these auctions, memory cards, adapters for this and that, modems, or manuals. I would just like the unit. Thanks in advance for any leads anyone can provide.
Andrew Strouse
( kittstr(a)access-4-free.com )
Brad Parker <brad(a)heeltoe.com> wrote:
> Someone's selling tu58 carts (a.k.a. "dectape II") for a 730 on ebay.
I have bought them. These are the very same diagnostics I wrote about on this
list just a short while ago when discussing poor man's alternatives to AXE for
validating new VAX implementations until we can raise enough manpower and
firepower to storm into HP headquarters and seize AXE at gunpoint. These diags
are not specific to 730, I read about them first in an 8200 manual and they test
for correct operation of standard VAX instructions. I understand from the
discussion on this list that their coverage is nowhere near as complete as AXE,
but it's still a more complete test than just seeing my new VAX boot
4.3BSD-Quasijarus. (For example, UNIX makes absolutely no use of executive or
supervisor modes, just kernel and user.)
The next challenge will be reading the TU58s. I have the TU58 mechanical units,
but not the controller board (the board that talks serial on one side and drives
the head coils on the other). So I'll need to find a controller board first
before I can read them. When I do read them, I'll post the block images on my
FTP site.
MS
Went to a school auction and picked up the following:
HP 3000 model 922LX
HP tape drive 7980
2-IBM 5291 Display stations with a maintenance library manual
Dictaphone system model 6110 with KB model 6301, printer 6710, and ext. FD
(51/4) model 6430
All for $10
I think I may have heard someone mention, perhaps in private email, that the
HP3000 was a popular replacement for HP2000 TimeShared BASIC systems. Is
this true? Did it have multiuser BASIC? Any other languages? Did you have a
choice of different OS's on the same hardware? And more importantly, did any
of the 3000's have blinkenlights? :) I know nothing about the 3000 stuff.
Curiousity biting me :)
Jay
G'Mornin' Dan;
I saw an ancient post of yours "I recently bought a model 1220 analyzer on eBay which is very similar to the..."
and I find myself in a similar situation: proud owner of a $25 1230 with no pods or probes; wondering if you made any progress in your quest and fantasizing that you may happen to have for sale just what I need.
Any suggestions appreciated :)
Jeff
Principal Factotum here
Did you have a
choice of different OS's on the same hardware? And more importantly, did any
of the 3000's have blinkenlights? :)
--
Frank will probably give a much better description when he sees this, but
the 3000s built in the 70's had pretty impressive maintenance panels (I
know Frank has one of them..)
MPE was (is) the only operating system. Languages included BASIC, APL, FORTRAN
PASCAL and SPL. There was no assembler. It is a stack machine ala B5xxx series.
I have been scanning a LOT of 3000 material (mostly through the Series III) and
I'm trying to locate distribution tapes from these machines up through MPE IV
(early 80's)
>From what I have found so far, there was a lot of documenation from these early
3000s saved, but none of the old software distributions.
I'll see about getting some docs/pictures up on bitsavers, which is pretty light
on 3000 material right now.
--
also, bitsavers moved yesterday to a new machine/ip adr which should be transparent
to everybody.
Through the generosity of Patrick Rigney, I've set up the SEBHC (Society
of Eight Bit Heathkit Computerists) mailing list for the exchange of
information, hardware and software related to early Heath/Zenith
computers.
You can subscribe to the list by doing one of the following:
1) send the word "subscribe" in the BODY of a message to
sebhc-request(a)staunch89er.com
2) or, send "subscribe sebhc" in the BODY of a message to
majordomo(a)staunch89er.com
Come join us if you are interested in sharing more about the H8, H/Z
88-89-90 or ET-3400 computers. Z100 users also welcome, as long as
you're running on the right processor!
Jack Rubin
Wilmette, Illinois
USA
Anybody want a few HP workstations?
I have a few 9000/735's (two of which should be working)
and a bunch of 9000/c110 machines (stripped, no memory,
no drives).
I also have an IBM monitor that will work with the 735's.
Free to a good home, the only catch is that you'll have to pick
them up from Wichita, KS. I'd like to dispose of the entire lot
in one go if I can.
Otherwise, they'll be melted.
If you have any questions, e-mail me off-list and I'll try to
answer them . . ..
Jeff
________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!
Hi All,
I have to arrange for some stuff to be picked up, but cant make
it the next few weeks (on my way to the U.S. again..) .. could
someone close to, or in London (Camden area) help me out by
grabbing it so I can come pick it up later?
Pse reply off-list,
Fred
--
Fred N. van Kempen, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) Collector/Archivist
Visit the VAXlab Project at http://VAXlab.pdp11.nl/
Visit the Archives at http://www.pdp11.nl/
Email: waltje(a)pdp11.nl BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Mountain View, CA, USA
Andrew:
Michel Bel in France often has broken/part LX's for sale. You can contact
him through the HPLX mailing list
(http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mchem1/HPLX.shtml).
You will probably have trouble finding a 200LX for $50, though, since for
$125 you can get a broken one (even a broken LCD) fixed at Thadeus and
working ones are going for $150+ on eBay now. The average prices are down a
bit now from a year ago. If you are patient, you can get one for <$150. I
paid about $115 for mine a few years ago, when the average price was more
like $300.
Bob
Message: 10
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:49:05 -0500
From: "Andrew Strouse" <kittstr(a)access-4-free.com>
Subject: HP 200LX
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <067801c412b6$224b6210$ce4d4a43@amscomputer>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Does anyone have an extra working/possibly repairable 200LX laying around,
that
they would be willing to part with for $50 or less? They seem to be selling
for
far too much on e-bay. I don't really need any of the extra things that are
included in all these auctions, memory cards, adapters for this and that,
modems, or manuals. I would just like the unit. Thanks in advance for any
leads
anyone can provide.
Andrew Strouse
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page – FREE
download! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/
Howdy.
That pretty much sums it up. I have a need for a keyboard and mouse for
an Apollo DN300. It seems to have some sort of RJ11-type connector for
the keyboard. The mouse probably plugs into the keyboard.
Note that this does NOT seem to be the newer Apollo DOMAIN keyboard
with the DIN-type connector.
Hopefully somebody out there can help.
ok
bear
Anyone have experience with the +15v regulator buried deep inside the
back of a BA11? (this an 11/34a actually)
It appears one let go on me this morning. The symptom initial symptom
was no +15/-15v, so I went to my garage and pulled the two supplies from
a "spare" BA11. I replaced them and got the -5 and +20 back but no +15.
I should have known it would be the supply deepest inside the back of
the thing, requiring I completely disconnect the back module. blah.
Is it hard to get to and replace? I'm tempted just to swap the back
ends of the two BA11's...
-brad
I'm in need of a PC interface board for a Corvus hard drive.
Cash or trade. Need soon.
Please contact me directly to negotiate.
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 ]
I'm hoping someone can chime in on the
parts having to do with the history of DEC and whatever Classic computing
technology they were working on that was so marvelous that even the aliens got
interested in it.
--
They came back to retreive Richie Lary
I have just met an ex-DECer in the #ufo channel on the Undernet IRC network who
claims to have seen UFOs over DEC. Needless to say, I was extremely intrigued,
being both a ufologist and a great DEC fan, and I asked him for more. He told
me it was in Colorado Springs around 1993-94. He said he couldn't remember the
3-character DEC facility code, but he said they were working on CD-ROMs there in
a clean room when CD-ROMs were state of the art. He said the facility still
exists today and has high security. I asked him if it went to HP and he said
Quantum. So I immediately thought DLT and asked him if it was the facility
where they made DLTs. He said yes. He said he worked on the tape drives
himself, as well as on CD-ROMs.
Now here are my questions for this list, to verify the story and to fill in
missing details.
* Were DLTs indeed made in Colorado Springs? DEC's tape business went to
Quantum, didn't it? Did it go through Compaq or straight to Quantum from DEC?
Does Quantum still own it? Or did HP snarf it from Quantum? I once visited
Quantum in 2002 for a job interview (they were looking for someone to write
firmware for a RAID array to emulate a tape library) and that was in Irvine, CA
on the UCI campus. Is it just the headquarters, with actual DLT tape drive
manufacturing in Colorado Springs?
* If it is indeed in Colorado Springs, does anyone have any more information on
that ex-DEC facility? Does anyone know of any government/CSS work done there?
* This guy also mentioned CD-ROMs. He said they made the first DEC CD-ROMs
there, in 1993-94 timeframe. I thought the first CD-ROM sold by DEC was RRD40
and was actually a Philips drive, wasn't it? The next was RRD42, which was
actually made by Sony, right? Did DEC ever build CD-ROM drives themselves or
did they all outsourced to Sony and such? If RRD40 and RRD42 were Philips/Sony,
why did they need a clean room in Colorado Springs? Or was it the next one,
RRD43? Was RRD43 also Sony or was it made by DEC itself? What was DEC's
cutting edge CD-ROM drive in 1993-94? Did they make any CD-ROM drives at the
same place where they made DLTs? It kinda makes sense that it would be the same
group, "Tape and Optical Products" if I'm not mistaken, but just checking.
Here are the relevant parts of my conversation with this guy from my IRC log:
<VortexQ:#ufo> there were about 50 people that saw this on a clear blue day...during lunch
<VortexQ:#ufo> <VortexQ> to everyone's surprise...we all looked up and a huge cigar-shaped UFO was hovering over the building at about 200 feet overhead
<VortexQ:#ufo> <VortexQ> right over Digital
<VortexQ:#ufo> it was very apparent that there seems to be a vested interesting from a higher source, in DEC
<VortexQ:#ufo> interest, that is
#ufo> VortexQ you still didn't say which DEC facility/group and when did it happen
<RB2:#ufo> Msokolov> Colorado Springs
#ufo> RB2 what do you mean? You mean DEC facility in Colorado Springs?
#ufo> what time period? how long ago was it?
<RB2:#ufo> That's what I understood from Vortex
<RB2:#ufo> I have no idea, he didn't get to that yet :)
#ufo> did he tell you what was his job at DEC?
<RB2:#ufo> No, I didn't get anymore information than that.
#ufo> I still wonder when did it happen
#ufo> RB2 said it was in Colorado Springs, wasn't it? Can you tell me the DEC facility code? I know each DEC facility has a 3-letter code
<VortexQ:#ufo> F***...what is the code?
<VortexQ:#ufo> hmmm
<VortexQ:#ufo> it has been a while
#ufo> did you actually work at DEC?
<VortexQ:#ufo> yes
<VortexQ:#ufo> doi
<VortexQ:#ufo> like people remember the stupid facility code for the rest of their lives...sheesh!
<VortexQ:#ufo> I do not work there anymore
<VortexQ:#ufo> duh
#ufo> how long ago was it?
<VortexQ:#ufo> well, hell
<VortexQ:#ufo> they were working on cd roms in the clean rooms at the time
#ufo> their computer technology was so marvelous that even aliens got interested!
<VortexQ:#ufo> cd roms were fairly cutting edge back then
<VortexQ:#ufo> I think the aliens were more interested in the research they had going on in the basement...Msokolov
<VortexQ:#ufo> 1993-1994...somewhere around that time
#ufo> thanks VortexQ, that's a much better date
#ufo> more precise than "when making CD-ROMs"
<VortexQ:#ufo> well, I have the flu...Msokolov...my thinking is a bit slow between tissues
#ufo> VortexQ, I know the feeling, I hate flu too
<VortexQ:#ufo> in fact...strange that you meantion them being shut down
#ufo> why strange?
<VortexQ:#ufo> I do not really believe they are...Mskovolov
#ufo> well DEC was torn to bits and sold off to various nuts like Comfuq/HP
#ufo> VAX was killed and buried
<VortexQ:#ufo> after the craft started showing up...the whole facility seems to be very off limits secure now
<VortexQ:#ufo> yeah...true
#ufo> does it belong to HP now? that facility you worked in
<VortexQ:#ufo> yes, I believe so...Quantum had it
#ufo> so it didn't go with the rest of Digital to Compaq? It went to Quantum instead?
#ufo> VortexQ, was it the facility where they made DLT tapes?
#ufo> I know that part went to Quantum
<VortexQ:#ufo> yes, Msokolov...why?
<Shambuku:#ufo> Vortex do you have a degree ?
<VortexQ:#ufo> no, I do not have a degree
<VortexQ:#ufo> why?
#ufo> I'm tracking it down, this may be of extreme importance to humanity
<VortexQ:#ufo> is it necessary in order to be intelligent?
<Shambuku:#ufo> Then how did you get a job at DEC
<Shambuku:#ufo> Yes
#ufo> you don't need a degree to be intelligent
<Shambuku:#ufo> Yes you do
#ufo> only to satisfy the assholes in HR department
<VortexQ:#ufo> I have a year in electronics in college
<VortexQ:#ufo> you could say I learn very quickly
<nwb:#ufo> did einstein have a degree
<VortexQ:#ufo> lol
<Shambuku:#ufo> Yes
<VortexQ:#ufo> about that too Msokolov
<VortexQ:#ufo> I worked on the tape drives...I also worked in the clean room on cd rom drives...the very first ones going out
#ufo> what CD-ROM drive was that? I thought both RRD40 and RRD42 were built outside and only badged by DEC
<VortexQ:#ufo> the tape drives are used to backup data on the system...used as a backup for the server data
#ufo> I know of course what tape drives are for
#ufo> I'm a real geek of BIG computers, still run VAXen
<VortexQ:#ufo> I have also worked as a computer operator in a computer room at a hospital...doing backups and monitoring of the servers and also micro fiche
#ufo> cool
#ufo> but still, what CD-ROM was it that they were building themselves in a clean room?
#ufo> I thought RRD40 was Philips and RRD42 was Sony
<VortexQ:#ufo> guess what, they left me all by myself and I had no problem at all handling the entire list of tasks
<VortexQ:#ufo> the manager just hands me the list...shows me around and says...can you handle it? I said yes.
#ufo> so what was the first CD-ROM drive built inside DEC itself? Was it RRD43? Or am I missing something?
<VortexQ:#ufo> and I did it
<VortexQ:#ufo> hell, I would have to dig out boxes for that information at this point
<VortexQ:#ufo> I am more interested in holographic computer systems and crystalline data crystals at this point in time
<VortexQ:#ufo> you'd be surprised what things are going on now
That's all I have gleaned from this guy. I don't expect much help from this
list with the UFO part, but at least I'm hoping someone can chime in on the
parts having to do with the history of DEC and whatever Classic computing
technology they were working on that was so marvelous that even the aliens got
interested in it.
MS
P.S. A more complete IRC log is available on request.
I found a Pinnacle Apex optical drive but don't have any disks for it.
Does anyone have one they'll loan or sell me so that I can try this thing out?
Joe
I went by a surplus store today and found two interesting disk drives
made by IEM of Ft. Collins, Co. The first drive is a Series 5300 (model
5365) and appears to be an MO drive. It has a HP-IB interface.
The second drive is a series 6000 (model 6050). It has four drive
indicator lights on the front so it may have four fixed drives in it.
There's also an LCD display on the front and three buttons labeled "Prev",
"Select", "Next". It appears to have both a HP-IB interface and a SCSI
interface!
Does anyone know anything about these drives or what media the first one
uses or what the dip switchs on them do? I searched the net for IEM and
found plenty of references to them but the link to their site is dead. The
links referred to them as a thrid party supplier of HP drives but didn't
give any details.
Joe
Hey all,
The guy who just replaced my water heater noticed the stacks of
equipment in my basement and mentioned he has some C64 stuff (machines,
drives, monitor, carts, ...) he is looking to part with. I think he
would like to get some amount of compensation for them, but I have no
idea what. I said I would pass his information to the list. Please
contact him directly. Physical location is Portage, Wisconsin.
Jon
Contact:
Roger Lueder
rcool(a)charter.net
Hi:
Do you still have the data cartridges?
I would be interested in purchasing them from you.
Let me know.
Thnx,
Tannya Garnica
tgarnica(a)bellsouth.net
It's sort of on-topic because it relates to HPEMU :)
I've run into a few snags when trying to GNU-ize HPEMU. Specifically my lack
of knowledge revolves around dynamic (dlopen-able) libraries. I've googled
and read info pages and I'm still missing something. I know how to do what I
want by directly calling ld and it works fine, but I don't see exactly how
to make that fit into the GNU way of doing things. If anyone is up on
autoconf & friends and can offer some advice, please contact me off-list!
Thanks in advance,
Jay West
---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
All,
Round Tuits are in short supply around here. However my wife
(after *two years* of patiently waiting) finally started shopping for
printers, motivating me (it's not the money, it's the pride) to
finish the repair I'd started on the Apple Stylewriter I was whining
about on the list in January 2002.
Success! I dug out the packet of 2SB1243 transistors (thanks
Pete Turnbull for specs and identification) that arrived in the mail
a few days after motivation disappeared in 2002, tested them to make
sure the Base was the same place on the new package style (not the
same beveled edge square package as the originals) as it was on the
old package style (thanks Tony D. for telling how to test with analog
VOM), and soldered them in. Put everything back together (thanks
JPero, Toth, and Matt for help there and suggestions on other things
to check) and plugged in the new (replaces the one I fried while
testing - thanks Saint Don Maslin) power supply. No response. Changed
to the other Stylewriter (won't print, but powers up) that I got from
Electronics Plus (thanks Cindy Croxton). Powered up, didn't print.
Changed back. The original one powered up and printed! The power
supply connector is grungy, need to clean it, but otherwise the unit
appears functional! That implies that the power transistor was indeed
the problem all along.
Main point of this message is to offer sincere gratitude to
all the folks that helped me along the way!
Secondarily, if anyone has the same fault (missing line of
dots in the printed output from a Stylewriter), I'll be happy to pass
along my experience, FWIW.
Tertiarily, I'm angling for the honor of the longest
(chronologically) continued thread on the list ;-).
--
- Mark
210-522-6025, page 888-733-0967
>Do you think people misconstrued the model number as the serial number? The
>seller didn't mention that some of these early ones were signed by Jobs and
>Woz. Or is that myth?
I don't know about Jobs and Woz signing early ones. In fact, I tend to
doubt it is true, as to the best of my knowledge, Woz had nothing to do
with the 128k. (There are IIgs machines with Woz's signature)
ALL early macs have the development team's signatures inside the case.
Jobs is among those, but I do not believe Woz's is there (I'm not 100%
sure).
I regularly see people trying to play up the signatures inside the case
as some rare thing that is worth money. In fact, what might be worth
money, is a case that truely had NO signatures inside it, because those
don't appear to exist (not counting those that the mold did a poor job of
reproducing the sigs, I have one like that, the sigs are very hard to
see, but they are still there).
And going back to the ebay auction, it strikes me as REALLY REALLY high
to pay $411 pounds for a 128k with no documentation or softare, cracks in
the floppy case, a broken/sticky keyboard, and not fully tested.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
>and the %1
>key what pops out the floppy. Quite an accomplishment, eh? :-)
So you are responsible for what had been one of my most often used key
combos.
Way cool!
This is just turning out to be a great Apple trivia day for me :-)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
I'm looking for two items to get a couple of machines back in operation.
First, I have a Heathkit H-17 drive with a broken fuse holder (the black
plastic tube with the red button on the end) that I'd like to replace.
I can obviously bypass, solder the fuse in-line or use any old holder,
but I'd like a "correct" replacement. Does anyone have a source for
these? A part number would also help.
The other item I have is a DEC Rainbow with a busted power switch. The
switch a fairly typical wide rocker style in gray plastic with a 1 and a
0 printed on it. Again, I can replace it but I'd like a "correct" part
if anyone has a source, part number or spare.
Thanks in advance!
Erik Klein
www.vintage-computer.com <http://www.vintage-computer.com/>
www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum
The Vintage Computer Forum
Hello all,
I have a Data I/O 280 programmer, and I had an old copy of Promlink 2.7 that
I used to control it (someone emailed me a copy). I lost the files, and a
search of my old email archives came up short. Can anyone .ZIP and email me
that specific version? Data I/O no longer supports the 280, and the later
versions of Promlink dropped support for the 280....
Thanks!
Rich B.
CPUs could have emulated guts, either software or one off hardware
designs, with replica enclosures and front panels. That feels like it
would result in a reasonable result for the effort required, but
mechanical I/O will be the tough bit. I have recently mulled over the
idea of constructing a PDP-11/04 replica; I imaged a bent metal case, a
replica programmer's front panel, and an internal PC mother board
running SIMH would be feasible, but I have shuddered at the thought of
trying to interface it to 8" floppy drives (if I could find any), or
building a card reader and line printer.
BTW: What is the origin of this message? I cannot find it in my mail
archive.
David
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of ben franchuk
Sent: Thursday, 25 March 2004 12:45 PM
To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Computer Replica's
<SNIP>
So lets have your vote for what replica's of old computers
that need to reconstructed at a functional level -- blinking
lights, mechanical I/O but it need not be the same hardware
level.
<SNIP>
So lets have your vote for what replica's of old computers
that need to reconstructed at a functional level -- blinking
lights, mechanical I/O but it need not be the same hardware
level.
--
I'm biased towards machines that no longer exist, but have
surviving software:
SDS 940
BCC 500
A Xerox Alto using modern components would be interesting
as well. It would easily fit into a medium sized FPGA now.
David Brownlee <abs(a)absd.org>, do you have any other address I might
try writing to? Mail to you at that address fails after five days "451
Could not complete sender verify callout", apparently because the
verify code was too impatient and tried to send something before
getting the greeting banner.
/~\ 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
actually, the usual switches these days on PC computers are only
logic switches back to the power supply. The power supply does
"tap into" the ac line to get a little power it needs.
My P4 that I built last year uses an ANTEC case and there is
no AC going out to a front panel switch - it is only a push button.
A good rule of thumb is that if a switch clicks then it probably
has AC on it. If it doesn't then it MIGHT be only low voltage.
As an electrical engineer, I would not take the chance and assume
it is low voltage without checking.
Any computer that is pre-ATX will have AC voltage on the power
switch. Some early ATX and maybe even now (I don't know for sure)
may still have a real switch out front.
The older mini-tower systems that have a power switch out front
usually had a AC connector on the back of the power supply and
a four conductor cable that ran out to the power switch. The
power could tap into the AC line without affecting the switch
out front.
The older NEC, etc systems sometimes had a seperate power suply
with an AC connector and cables, etc that were not integrated
into the power supply like the PC, AT, ATX supplies that came
along.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
>--- Original Message ---
>From: meltie <lists(a)microvax.org>
>To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
>Date: 3/24/04 7:23:31 PM
>
On Wednesday 24 March 2004 23:45, William Donzelli wrote:
>> > Assuming the switch functions correctly (and is wired correctly),
>> > the behaviour of a device with such a switch in the off
position
>> > is pretty certain: it's identical to a device that has the
>> > mains lead pulled out.
>>
>> Not completely. The cord, all the way to the switch, is still
energized.
>> And remember, many of today's devices are not always completely
off -
>> they might tap into the line just a little bit (clock, for
instance).
>
>How is this different from a circuit that doesn't chop both
conductors?
>
>alex/melt
>
Hi,
I've got a generic PC/XT 8088 clone (contains NEC processor) with no HDD
and two 5.25" FDD. Needless to say that the media as well as the O/S (M$
DOS) is not available in my local market. I was wondering if it's
possible to:
(1) Install a 3.5" 1.44MB FDD in it.
(2) Acquire FREEDOS and boot the machine
(3) Use some sort of DOS terminal program to connect to a Linux machine
Appreciate any help and guidance.
Thanks.
Hassan
A while back someone asked about getting blank 1/2 tapes. Here's a great
contact....
Magnetic Products & Services, Inc.
Kristine Hunter
khunter(a)mpsinc.org
www.mpsinc.org
I was quite happy with my purchase from them of blank 1/2 tape media.
Jay
Hi folks,
I think I posted this on here first but I'm not sure :)
Anyway, (slight OT drift here) my '97 vintage 21" PCXAV monitor (the one
with the paper-white case & trinitron screen) has decided to start
flickering and dimming itself. Lee's already given me a couple of pointers
but I thought I'd ask here too in case he's not about.
I've got the PSU here and there's a couple of things on there that make me
worried:
http://www.wowrarelook.co.uk/resistors.jpghttp://www.wowrarelook.co.uk/burnt.jpghttp://www.wowrarelook.co.uk/solder.jpghttp://www.wowrarelook.co.uk/solderside.jpg
The middle 2 are the front and back of the same components on the board.
Should I be worried that so much solder is escaping/has escaped from the
joints? Also the soldering in 'solder.jpg' looks decidedly iffy. I haven't
checked the resistors yet to see if they've failed.....is it normal for them
to get so hot they burn the board?
Probably more pix to come when I get the logic board out :oD
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
Owner & Webmaster, Binary Dinosaurs
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
If anyone can help him, please contact the original poster.
Jay
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rice Billy" <Brice(a)ambac.net>
To: <jwest(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 11:06 AM
Subject: pdp 11
> My company uses an Adcole cam inspection system that uses a PDP 11
operating system.
> We need our master disks which are 8", copied. We have a new box of disks.
Do you know of anyone who has the capability and would do this for us.
>
> Billy Rice
> Maintenance & Facilities Manager
> Ambac International
> (803)-462-9601
>
>
---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
>probably at the expense of the multiples of
>classics I've got!
Before you junk the Classics, open them and pull the RAM card if it is
present. They are getting harder to find and you should be able to sell
them.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
ben franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
> I favor a simple techological base for MARS
> since I could not be independant with having to rely on some EARTH
> patent or custom chip
Patent?!?! We won't honor no fucking patents! I'm the reincarnated Karl Marx!
My new VAX will be completely open source hardware: I'll open-source the Verilog
code. There will be no problem with fabbing it right there on Mars.
> BTW Travel to MARS is keeping me from claming my 3.125 square miles
> of land.
I'm sorry to inform you, but your title to that land is invalid. The same goes
for everyone selling and buying land on Moon and Mars. That land belongs to the
Galactic Federation. The Federation will give that land for free to any
refugees from Earth fleeing from capitalism and seeking to live a completely
egalitarian society without money or property, but if you start claiming
property, we won't respect your claims any more than we respected the feudal
landlords of czarist Russia we overthrew in 1917.
MS
Hi I've been searching on the web for a power cord for my ATC-510. I ran
across something saying you found one or found a place where you could find one.
I know it was a couple of years ago that you posted the message. Any help I
could get would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff
ben franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
> No I mean a total bootstrap of the system. Can you rebuild the software
> from source paper tape on small system?
Yes, you can, except that for UNIX systems like 4.3BSD-Quasijarus it's magtape
rather than perfotape.
> Can you rebuld the hardware with
> chips and a soldering iron?
With the initial FPGA implementation this will be problematic since all FPGAs
that I know of (sufficiently large ones anyway) come only in those damn BGA
packages. But if/when we can fab a real chip, I would definitely use a more
hacker-friendly package if the package choice were up to me.
> The hard drive in a machine shop?
That's a tough one too, though I have heard that making the required Class 100
clean room is not that hard.
> Too bad you can't use a PDP-11 [for the new VAX FEP].
Well, as Ethan pointed out, the 730 used an 8085, so I don't really see a
problem with using a Z80 or even an 8086 (hey, before everyone attacks me, it
ain't a Pentium, and it *is* of the right age).
MS
der Mouse <mouse(a)rodents.montreal.qc.ca> wrote:
> > Emulators are not the answer: what are you going to run your emulator
> > on if non-Classic computers are banned?
>
> I am most certainly not going to be anywhere that's evil enough to lay
> down bans on what kinds of computers may see private use.
Look, that was meant to be tongue in cheek! I can't imagine how could someone
take it seriously...
MS
>Hi Dave
> When you guys get this code on CD, let me know as well.
>I've been planning on getting my H8 up and running. I've
>already written code to transfer disk image data from the
>H89 to a PC and back. It shouldn't take much to adapt it
>to work for cassette or even just a memory block.
> I have a H27 that I've not tested yet, being that I've not
>powered up the H8 yet. On the H89, I just used the line
>printer port, since it used a straight cable to a PC
>serial port. The code is bootstrapped from about 50
>bytes that are entered from the monitor.
>Dwight
Hi Dwight,
I'll keep you and everyone else who has responded informed on whatever
material I am able to collect.
Btw, I've got scads of 8080 software that I wrote for my Altair which
could be easily ported to the H8 if anyone is interested - Including my
own disk operating system, BASIC interpreter and even a C compiler -
The OS was originally run on a NorthStar 10 sector hard sectored disk
system which is probably not that different from the Heathkit one.
I don't have a disk system for my H8 :-( .. if anyone knows of one or
comes across one, I'd like to hear about it.
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
>On Tue, 2004-03-23 at 10:42, Dave Dunfield wrote:
>> >My Apple II clones website is live now, if anyone wants to take a look.
>> >
>> >http://www.apple2clones.com
>>
>> I did a package on my Franklin Ace 100 earlier this year, which consists of
>> lots of detailed photos (inside and out) including Franklin labled Monitor and
>> Disk drive, scan of the manual (if you haven't seen the FA100 manual - it's
>> an interesting read), as well as other reference documentation. I also included
>> a Franklin Simulator (which is really just an Apple2 simulator with the Ace100
>> ROM image) - You are welcome to this material if you want it for your site.
>
>Yeah, that would be great! That's exactly the kind of stuff that I would
>like to add to the site. You can email the stuff to me, or I could
>download it... or, you could log onto the site and upload it. What ever
>is easiest for you. Thanks for the offer.
I'm located out in the country with only dial-up access, and the Franklin "package"
is over 100 megs - I'll try to arrange to have it placed somewhere where you can
grab it, otherwise, I can just send you a CD. I could trim the package a fair bit
if necessary - I've got a fair number of reference books and other material scanned
that you couldn't legitimately post on a web site anyway.
>> Btw, are you aware of any Unitron models in a single-piece case (not separate
>> keyboard) with the numeric pad? I've got one which I'm trying to identify,
>> however my searches have turned up either machines without the numeric pad,
>> or machines with separate keyboard. - Ever seen one like this?
>
>No, I haven't seen or heard of one like that. I've only seen the ones
>that are on the site, which don't have the numeric pad.
>
>Pictures of your Unitron would be great for the site too, if you
>wouldn't mind.
Sure, I can include some - I have them on file already.
I'll contact you via email when I have something in place that you can
access.
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
ben franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
> Like who would invest in a NEW LS-TTL computer?
Someone who is truly dedicated to the cause of computing, who understands that
computing technology took the wrong turn about 20 years ago, and who is
dedicated to fixing it and setting it back on track.
That's why I'm building a new VAX, a real bona fide VAX product just like DEC,
NOT an emulator.
When the Republic of Mars declares independence and holds its first presidential
election, I'll definitely run with a platform of immigration and customs laws
that would require migrants from Earth to leave their pee seas behind and allow
only Classic Computers to be used in the Republic of Mars. Supplying the entire
Republic of Mars with enough VAX processors will be no small task, and the
limited stockpiled of old DEC gear will certainly be insufficient. We need new
production.
We need new real Classic Computers in full production. Emulators are not the
answer: what are you going to run your emulator on if non-Classic computers are
banned?
MS
ben franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
> Umm stupid question. Can you run the development and bootstrap software
> on a vax?
By development software I assume you mean the tools for working with Verilog
(simulation and synthesis), right? I'm using the open source Icarus Verilog and
it can run on anything, though since it's written in Anshit C I'm forced to use
gcc rather than native cc. I guess if necessary it can be run through
unprotoize and thus made truly portable.
Not sure what you mean by bootstrap software, if you mean things like VMB,
that's written in VAX macrocode and runs on the VAX, so I don't see where the
problem is.
I'll also have a real console FEP to implement the functions of Chapter 10 of
the VAX spec (lacking the real STD 032 I use the chapter and section numbering
>from VARM 2nd ed.), for which I will use some 8 or 16-bit microprocessor of the
appropriate time period. Fortunately there are 8/16-bit microprocessors that
existed at the time of VAX-11/7xx and are still made (Z80 and 8086 come to
mind).
MS
>From: "ben franchuk" <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca>
>
>Michael Sokolov wrote:
>
>> My new VAX will be completely open source hardware: I'll open-source the
Verilog
>> code. There will be no problem with fabbing it right there on Mars.
>>
>Umm stupid question. Can you run the development and bootstrap software
>on a vax?
>
>
The biggest problem you'll have is that hard disks will
fail on Mars. The atmosphere is not thick enough to float
the heads. You'll have to go back to paper tape and punch
cards.
Dwight
>From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk
---snip---
>>
>No, the techincal term is 'electricians', at least over here ;-).
>Seriously, I've seen some terrible wiring done by so-called professional
>electricians, including a distribution panel on a workbench where
>alternate socket outlets had live/neutral swapped (!).
>
>-tony
>
Hi
Actually the worst I've seen is painters. They remove covers
>from switches and sockets. Often damaging wires. In two cases
that I've seen, they shorted a hot wire to ground so their fix
was to go to the circuit box and swap neutral and ground.
Nice surprise when I had to fix the water heater.
I don't think UL has anything to say about both lines being
switched by a common switch. I think they only talk about
an independent switch on neutral as being a problem.
UL is only interested in safety of the operator and not
the repairman. As long as it doesn't make the chassis hot
or start a fire, you can get UL on something that blows
up the electronics of a unit every time you turn it on.
Dwight
ben franchuk <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
> I tend to favor the idea that humanity made a wrong turn somewhere about
> the breakup of the last ice Age.
No, you've got the timing slightly off. The end of the last ice age was around
13000 y BP (before present) and the big wrong turn in the history of this planet
was in the year 2024 BCE (i.e., about 4027 y BP) as explained in my very
important work on the subject:
http://ivan.Harhan.ORG/documents/2003-05-briefing-doc.txt
Now this is really OT for this list, for please follow up off-list.
MS
Does anyone know the magic numbers to enter into Test 70 on a
uVax-2000 to properly format an RD-54 and an RD-52 that are not
recognized as being such due to being formatted by some other (PC)
system?
--
Christopher L McNabb Tel: 540 231 7554
Operating Systems Analyst Email: cmcnabb(a)vt.edu
Virginia Tech ICBM: 37.205622N 80.414595W
GMRS: WPSR255 ARS: N2UX Grid Sq: EM97SD
>From: "Witchy" <witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
>Subject: Bloody newbies
>
>http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2794565538&category=124
>7&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3ABIN&rd=1
>
>Gaah!
Gaah is about right... I have one in better nick, like the day it was made,
with software including system/finder 1.0 etc. Bought it 5 years ago in a
secondhand/pawn shop in Colchester.
Price? UKP 10.00
Mike
http://www.corestore.org
_________________________________________________________________
Free up your inbox with MSN Hotmail Extra Storage. Multiple plans available.
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200362ave/direct/01/
Hi Folks,
I'm looking for information on the E&L Instruments Fox Trainer (MT-80Z) which is a Z80 based teaching tool.
I'd like to know what the power supply specifications are for the unit, is there documentation on the trainer and the embedded firmware (Eprom) on board ?
In looking through your archives I came across a post from John R. Keys Jr. (December 1, 2002) stating that he had a MultiTech Microprofessor MPF-1B which was part of the E&L Instrument Fox trainer. I don't know if John is still on this list and if he still has that information.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Robo