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

by barythrin＠gmail.com

It could also be from the popular article about George RR Martin using a vintage dos computer with wordstar 4.0 for his writing rig. Similar to some other authors I've heard look for a machine that doesn't offer distractions. My own mis-remembrance though for some reason I thought it was a trs-80 model 4p but I'm not finding specifics in the quick google search. -------- Original message --------From: Evan Koblentz via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 10/30/17 2:47 PM (GMT-06:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: looking at buying a pocket PC / PDA > Radio Shack M100 ... still used by some writers for the very reason you mention. That is not true. It was an urban legend in the 1990s that a handful of old farts in the entirely sportswriting industry (thousands of writers overall) may "still" be using their Model 100s. I'm sure if you looked hard enough some of them still used typewriters too. In 2017? It's ridiculous to even speculate.

8 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Jim I thought all TI computers had one? But I am new to TI's never owned one when were new... just dealing with one in a museum environment now. In a message dated 10/30/2017 8:25:17 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On 10/30/2017 9:32 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote: > ok .. does this mean I can put lots of ti 99/4 software on the sd > card for people to play with in the museum? > Ed# Do you have a HexBus interface for the 99/4a? I thought all of them had it?

8 years, 4 months

2
2
0 0

Image de-warping tool, and Multics/GCOS panels

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Hey all, I've been doing research on Multics front panels, which it turns out are slightly different from those on the Honeywell 6000 series machines which ran GCOS, and are often confused with them. So, I've put together a Web page about them: Multics and Related 6000 Series Front Panels http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/multics/MulticsPanels.html and I've taken some new images, so make sure the captions are all readable. I'm having an issue with the images, though: taking a picture of a flat, rectangular panel with a camera usually produces distortion (even with the lens set to the narrowest angle possible). Does anyone know of any freeware which will fix this? The image tool I normally use (ImagePals, sort of a poor man's Photoshop) does have a 'warp' function, but it requires setting up a grid of points, and is a pain to use: optimal would be something where you mark the 4 corners, and few intermediate edge points, and the image is automagically fixed. I did find this: http://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=347882&p=2345440 but it's even hairier than the warp function in my image tool; it's very powerful (and thus complex, sigh) and can straigten out badly warped old book pages. I'm hoping there's a simpler tool, for the simple case of distortion of rectangles by a lens - does anyone know of anything? Thanks! Noel

8 years, 4 months

6
5
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HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

ok .. does this mean I can put lots of ti 99/4 software on the sd card for people to play with in the museum? Ed# In a message dated 10/30/2017 7:06:33 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:14:41 -0500 Jim Brain via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > In case anyone has a fondness for niche tech... > > At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a great exhibit, and perusing > it I saw an unfamiliar machine, the TI CC-40 (Compact Computer-40). > While I was investigating, the exhibitor (MillipedeMan aka Mark), > told me the machines were frustrating to use, as TI only supported > one communications method on the unit, a proprietary protocol called > HexBus, and produced very low quantities of very few peripherals that > work on the bus. Most frustratingly, they never producing a mass > storage device in any appreciable quantity, and there was no other > way to save programs written on the unit. > > Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I bought > a 2 unit combo from eBay before I left the show. > > Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the unit, > and started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the unit. > It was an interesting journey to learn a new protocol. > > The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD drive: > > GitHub source code is here: https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr > > Video of unit operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM > > I don't have a project page up yet, but will work on that. > > Jim > Nice work, Jim. Thanks for the effort you've put into this. jbdigriz

8 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

HEXTIr - TI HexBus SD Drive

by brain＠jbrain.com

In case anyone has a fondness for niche tech... At VCF-SE this year, the TI folks had a great exhibit, and perusing it I saw an unfamiliar machine, the TI CC-40 (Compact Computer-40).? While I was investigating, the exhibitor (MillipedeMan aka Mark), told me the machines were frustrating to use, as TI only supported one communications method on the unit, a proprietary protocol called HexBus, and produced very low quantities of very few peripherals that work on the bus. Most frustratingly, they never producing a mass storage device in any appreciable quantity, and there was no other way to save programs written on the unit. Mark did note there was an eBay seller liquidating units, so I bought a 2 unit combo from eBay before I left the show. Sadly, Summer happened, but I was finally able to get to the unit, and started working on an SD-based mass storage device for the unit.? It was an interesting journey to learn a new protocol. The (development in progress) result is HEX-TI-r, the HexBus SD drive: GitHub source code is here: https://github.com/go4retro/HEXTIr Video of unit operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5ahVCRdvM I don't have a project page up yet, but will work on that. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

8 years, 4 months

3
2
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CDC 6000 series transistors [was RE: Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?]

by RichA＠livingcomputers.org

From: Paul Koning Sent: Friday, October 27, 2017 12:07 PM > True if you have a TTL machine. 6600 is discrete transistor, and the actual > transistor specs are nowhere to be found as far as I have been able to tell. > But that doesn't directly relate to gate level emulation. If you have gate > level documentation you can of course build a copy of the machine out of > actual gate-type parts, like 7400 chips. Or you can write a gate level model > in VHDL, which is not the most popular form but certainly perfectly > straightforward. Either way, though, you have to start with a document that > shows what the gates are in the original and how they connect. And to get it > to work, you need to deal with timing issues and logic abuse, if present. In > the 6600, both are very present and very critical. For example, I've been > debugging a section (the central processor branch logic) where the behavior > changes quite substantially depending on whether you favor S or R in an R/S > flop, i.e., if both are asserted at the same time, who wins? And the circuit > and wire delays matter, down to the few-nanosecond level. Paul, I asked the Principal Engineer here, who has spent the last 3 years making our 6500 run, about transistors in the 6000 series. He replied: Near as I can tell, the 6500 uses 2n2369 transistors in a slightly shorter version of the to-18 package. I have had good success with both the 2n2369 for replacements, and mmbt2369 for the modules I have re-manufactured. Since the flip-flops are merely cross coupled transistors, if they are both set at once, both outputs will be true. In my experience, the set and reset run on different phases of the clock, so that doesn't happen. What you see on the logic diagrams can be interpreted this way: Each arrow is a transistor, with the emitter tied to ground. The base usually has about a 150 ohm resistor. The circle or square is the collector pull-up resistor, so in the example of the PC module in 1n15 of the 6500, there are two gates that can set flip-flop 0, and they come in on transistor 15, and 17, and the other side of the flip-flop comes in on transistor 19. All three transistor collectors are connected together to 1 pull-up. If the output pin does not go anywhere internal to the card, there will be a 120 ohm resistor in series with a diode to ground on it. If it does go somewhere internal to the card, they will leave off the resistor/diode, as the load will provide it. Hope that helps. Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computers: Museum + Labs 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:RichA at LivingComputers.org http://www.LivingComputers.org/

8 years, 4 months

1
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Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Oct 29, 2017 09:54, "Dave Wade via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: I am not sure they invented computer emulation. I think that the concept Emulation/Simulation is as old as, or perhaps even older than computing. Whilst it was a pure concept Alan Turing's "Universal Turing Machine" was a Turing machine that could emulate or simulate the behaviour of any arbitrary Turing machine... 1. Did Turing use the word "emulate"? I honestly have no idea. My (possibly wrong) impression was that no published literature used the word emulate with that meaning (one computer emulating another) before the IBM papers. 2. What a UTM does is simulate another machine using only a general-purpose machine. In fact, the UTM is arguably the most general-purpose machine ever described. What IBM defined as emulation was use of extremely specialized hardware and/or microcode (specifically, not the machine's general-purpose microcode used for natively programming the host machine). If anyone else did _that_ in a product before IBM, I'm very interested.

8 years, 4 months

5
4
0 0

Look to get a copy of a Multi-Tech FM300 Modem manual

by pete＠petelancashire.com

I've acquired a Multi-Tech FM300 acoustic modem and even though I could figure out the pin-outs and switch settings, it would be great if I could get a copy of the original manual. Goal is to add it to a Teletype 33 or 35 and a Bell System 500 desk set. -pete

8 years, 4 months

3
3
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Cleaning and Restoring a Badly Corroded PSU

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I am now looking at the H7826 PSU that came with a TURBOchannel Extender. It looks like there may have been capacitor leakage and some heatsinks will need to be replaced. I have posted pictures here: https://robs-old-computers.com/2017/10/23/corroded-h7826-power-supply/ So two questions: 1. Any suggestion on how to clean the board? Some of the corners are a bit inaccessible to reach with just a cotton bud and isopropyl. 2. Do those heat sinks have a particular name/spec that I can search for? Thanks Rob

8 years, 4 months

5
13
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Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by bygg＠cafax.se

Lars Brinkhoff wrote: > Jon Elson wrote: > > I'm not sure the original DEC PDP-10 (KA-10) used microcode, but the > > KI-10 did. > > As far as I understand, the PDP-6 (type 166), KA10, and KI10 were > hardwired. KL10 and KS10 were microcoded. The Foonly F1 preceeded and > influenced the KL10 design. This is exactly correct. BTW: they still are... --Johnny

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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Picked up job at electronic recycling center

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

I recently picked up a job at an electronic recycling center. Harris is right around the corner from us, as well as a bunch of technical schools and aerospace related businesses. All of thier old stuff ends up at the shop to be resold as surplus or broken down and scrapped. There tends to be to much to process, and inside space is limited. Excess equipment is stored outside in tents, and it goes to crap quite quickly unfortunately. The humidity and rain destroys stuff outside quickly. I am uncertain of how many requests I will get, but if anyone is looking for something in particular, please send me an email and I will keep an eye out for you. The place is a goldmine, and a lot of nice older gear is going to waste because the store owners do not know what it is. Examples of stuff that comes in are old microcomputers like the c64, nice 486 like machines with good isa cards in them, TONS of HP and tectronics test equipment, ham radio gear, you name it. There is a ton of good stuff here, i am trying to find some a good home before it gets stripped out. Some of this stuff works fine, the tandy 1000 computer I picked up this weekend works flawlessly for example. Other things are in a broken or parts state, but within reach of repair. There is a lot of new gear there as well, not many machines come in with nice graphics cards in them, but tons of workstations with lots of ram and hard drives are common. We get so many servers they are broken down almost immediately unless they are particularly new or unique in some way. Lets see how busy my inbox gets, if you are in need of something, please send me an email, i can keep an eye out for it and hopefully be of service.I work on Saturdays, that is the day i will be on site to look for things. Stuff will be priced as surplus/used. Hopefully i can be of use and keep some of this stuff out of the scrap pile. --Devin

8 years, 4 months

2
1
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HPGL plotter art files

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

And I found the Columbia.plt HPGL I believe I generated using the method below. Sending directly to Mike. Marc -----Original Message----- From: CuriousMarc [mailto:curiousmarc3 at gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2017 6:16 PM To: 'Mike Stein'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' Subject: RE: HPGL plotter art files The space shuttle comes from a .dwg that was included in an version of AutoCAD, the file is named Columbia.dwg if you want to search it on Google. I can send you the original .dwg file if you want. Then you need to use AutoCAD to print out an HPGL file. I used Autodesk DWG TrueView which is free. You'll need to spin it around in 3D until you get a top view, then zoom to it. Then I printed it from TrueView using Roland DXY 880 output with the following options: A4 paper, landscape orientation, print to file, center, print extent. Out will come an HPGL file that you might want to further massage depending how early or late your plotter is, as was said by Brent. Marc -----Original Message----- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of tom sparks via cctalk Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2017 11:36 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: HPGL plotter art files On 16/10/17 15:07, David Collins via cctalk wrote: > Brent could you send it to curator at hpmuseum.net as well? > > Thanks! > > David Collins > >> On 16 Oct 2017, at 2:32 pm, Brent Hilpert via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >>> On 2017-Oct-15, at 4:20 PM, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote: >>> Can anybody direct me to some interesting HPGL plotter files for a display at the upcoming World of Commodore show? >> >> I'm sending (in a separate, direct message with attachment) the semi-famous / once ubiquitous Space Shuttle plot from the 1980s. >> >> I received it from someone after making a similar request to the list 10 years ago. >> >> Some things to note though: this plot uses multiple colored pens and was scaled to some (largish, IIRC) size of paper. >> I was targetting a HP 9872 plotter which was too early to understand some of the more complex HPGL directives present in the SS plot, such as drawing arcs. >> I wrote a language filter/converter that will optionally scale the image, offset it relative to the plotter bed, converts certain directives e.g. arcs to a series of line-segment directives, reduces the number of pens, etc. >> >> I'll send the original SS plot, if you figure you could use the filter program, I can send it along, or a modified plot, upon request. >> inkscape has hpgl export support [Chiplotle](http://cmc.music.columbia.edu/chiplotle/) gives you a python API these is also [tsp art](http://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/TSP_art) witch can drawn on plotter tom

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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looking at buying a pocket PC / PDA

by barythrin＠gmail.com

I'll add a few more problem specs than answers but the down side of a lot of devices is lack of backlit screen so working in a dark space can be a problem, and I'd be quite interested to see real battery life reviews.? ?So many devices that can work only last a few hours on battery. Could be age issues but that's what I've accepted as a reason not to collect too many handheld devices. Proprietary batteries and most are dead. Do you want keyboard or is palm like writing acceptable? On the bright side, despite battery age palms are easy to find and relatively cheap. Most are at goodwill because of obsolescence not because theyre broken.? I find them all the time for $10. null

8 years, 4 months

3
2
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PowerPrint 2.5.2 for the classic Mac

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

Anyone in the list has a copy of PowerPrint 2.5.2 from GDT Software? It's a collection of printer drivers for the Mac for non-Apple printers that works under System 6.0.7. I am particularly looking at a driver for an HP 2225D (the serial version of the ThinkJet). It is said that GDT had a one. Marc

8 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Picked up tandy 1000 TX

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

I picked up a tandy 1000 TX with a color CM 11 monitor. Both are in the original boxes with keyboard,monitor and the printer cable. It powers on but i can not seem to get it to boot from the floppy drive. Ive tried writing 720K boot disks from my windows computer but it is still not booting. Some better pictures to follow soon. I do not particularly need such a machine, and am open to trade or offers. If no one wants it perhaps it can be put to use as a BBS or something packet radio related over here. Also, the boxes both had us goverment stickers on them, kinda intersting. https://s20.postimg.org/fr7iox7kt/image3.jpg --Devin

8 years, 4 months

2
2
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Looking for Dr. Dobb's Developer Library DVD 6

by jseiwert07＠berkeley.columbia.edu

Hello Steve, Found ur post re: a copy DDJ DVD 6. Wondering if u ever got a response. Also, I'm looking for an archive of Computer Language. If u know where one is at be greatful if u can pass along the info. -- Joe Seiwert III jseiwert07 at berkeley.columbia.edu http://www.linkedin.com/in/jseiwert

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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VR150

by emu＠e-bbes.com

Anybody looking for one? Free for pickup, 80433 colorado

8 years, 4 months

5
4
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looking at buying a pocket PC / PDA

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

I'd second the Z88. A lot of people get put off by the keyboard but it actually works really well, and I'm a proper mechanical keyboard snob. You get can a proper turn of speed up on it. Mark On 29 Oct 2017 4:04 p.m., "Lawrence Woodman via cctalk" < cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: On 29/10/17 15:22, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote: > Radio Shack M100 (if you've got a large pocket); still used by some > writers for the very reason you mention. > > m > > On 29/10/17 06:01, Evan Koblentz wrote: > >> I am looking at buying a pocket PC / PDA, so I can write idea/notes >>>>> when I >>>>> am away from my computer >>>>> >>>> >>> I was also thinking of something a little bit bigger, such as the M100. The Cambridge Z88 is an excellent machine and they are still being sold new in box. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Z88 Lorry

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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NEC 4164-12

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, Emanuel, I have a quantity of 4164 DRAM from the Comboard days, new in tube. It is likely to mostly be 150ns and I don't know the brands until I dig it out, but I will check when I get home. If it matches what you need, I'm happy to send some to you. -ethan On Oct 28, 2017 12:32, "emanuel stiebler via cctalk" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: Hi all, anybody has some spare in the bin, he doesn't need? Looking for 18 pieces, preferably NEC, -12. Thanks!

8 years, 4 months

4
4
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TVTropes mention of a certain computer magazine

by echristopherson＠gmail.com

I was just wasting time with TVTropes and, on the page http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FandomBerserkButton, came across this quote: The editor of one early (late 1970s) British computer magazine persistently claimed that the difference between compilers and interpreters was "academic", even in the face of corrections from knowledgeable readers, until one month he learned the hard way just how wrong he was, by wasting three pages of the mag on a worthless hex-dump of the workspace of a BASIC interpreter. The mag didn't last very much longer after that issue. Does anyone know what magazine this was? I'm not sure I understand what the hex dump thing is all about. -- Eric Christopherson

8 years, 4 months

1
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PDP8.org

by barythrin＠gmail.com

The wayback machine sorta of details the end of the site. Not sure how much data is archived in archive.org. null

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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Anyone know who does 'decmuseum.org', PDP-5 pictures

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Hi Noel - http://www.dvq.com/ is the master site it seems.. I goggled dvg and dec as it said it was copyrighted dvg I figured that would show up elsewhere and it did. Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 10/28/2017 5:43:37 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: Does anyone know who does this site: http://decmuseum.org/index.html I looked, and didn't see anything in the site itself, and doing a 'whois' didn't turn up anything useful. The site has some really nice PDP-5 photos which I was wondering if that person could/would put in the public domain, so I can use them for a PDP-5 article I'm working on for Wikipedia and the CHWiki. So I'd like to get in contact with them. Noel

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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PDP8.org

by cramcram＠gmail.com

Is anyone re-hosting pdp8.org yet? Marc

8 years, 4 months

7
7
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Anyone know who does 'decmuseum.org', PDP-5 pictures

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Does anyone know who does this site: http://decmuseum.org/index.html I looked, and didn't see anything in the site itself, and doing a 'whois' didn't turn up anything useful. The site has some really nice PDP-5 photos which I was wondering if that person could/would put in the public domain, so I can use them for a PDP-5 article I'm working on for Wikipedia and the CHWiki. So I'd like to get in contact with them. Noel

8 years, 4 months

6
6
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NEC 4164-12

by emu＠e-bbes.com

Hi all, anybody has some spare in the bin, he doesn't need? Looking for 18 pieces, preferably NEC, -12. Thanks!

8 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Anyone know who does 'decmuseum.org', PDP-5 pictures

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Thanks, everyone! Got it. Noel

8 years, 4 months

2
1
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PDP8.org

by tingox＠gmail.com

On Sat, Oct 28, 2017 at 1:42 PM, Paul Birkel <pbirkel at gmail.com> wrote: > Are you sure that you're not looking at a local cache? It doesn't look like a local cache to me: tingo at kg-core1$ curl http://pdp8.org/ | head % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <meta name="POSTINFO" content="http://www.pdp-8.org/postinfo.txt"> <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> <meta name="keywords" content="pdp8, pdp12, pdp-8, pdp-12, linc"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0"> <title>PDP-8.org: a PDP-8 and PDP-12 resource</title> 100 8656 100 8656 0 0 8656 0 0:00:01 --:--:-- 0:00:01 30265 curl: (23) Failed writing body (0 != 1603) and tingo at kg-core1$ host pdp8.org pdp8.org has address 216.99.193.149 pdp8.org mail is handled by 10 mx.spiritone.com. tingo at kg-core1$ ping pdp8.org PING pdp8.org (216.99.193.149): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 216.99.193.149: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=139.792 ms 64 bytes from 216.99.193.149: icmp_seq=1 ttl=55 time=140.435 ms ^C --- pdp8.org ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0.0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 139.792/140.113/140.435/0.322 ms HTH -- Regards, Torfinn Ingolfsen

8 years, 4 months

3
2
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"documentary"

by cctalk＠snarc.net

The video is produced by an openly libertarian organization: https://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonTV/about. It's an interesting story but that is propaganda not a documentary. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan at vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

8 years, 4 months

1
1
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Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 10/27/2017 01:01 PM, Paul Koning wrote: > Oh yes, and if you look at the wire lists (on Bitsavers) you will get the length of every wire in the machine. The trouble is that, even if you use the documented delay per foot, things don't necessarily match. The stated logic stage delay is 5 ns, no special numbers given for twisted pair drivers. In my model, I do everything in 5 ns multiples (to keep the simulation time under control). That works pretty closely, but not 100 percent, not for some of the CPU pieces. The other thing that's nuts is that the CPU effectively has a 20-phase clock: the documentation shows clock signals with offsets from the reference time given in multiples of 5 nanoseconds (for the 100 ns clock period). And yes, it matters. And yes, many (I'm not sure about all) of the 20 phases are actually used in the CPU. I can't recall, but didn't the 6600 have something like 10 clock sources, all kept synchronized? In any case, it's a gross oversimplification to say that the 6600 had a 10 MHz clock. --Chuck

8 years, 4 months

1
0
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Apple II no video display

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

Folks, I have an Apple II that produces one beep at power on, but my monitor says "no video present". A scope on the output shows frame sync but at low levels. The odd thing is that ic A9 appears to be a 74S151 not a 74LS151. I wouldn't expect this to work, but I assume it was working at some point in time! I have done some googling and can't see any reference to this substitution. Is it something any one else has seen? Dave Wade

8 years, 4 months

3
6
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RK05/BA11 slides

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: "Rob Jarratt" > I misread your email as suggesting that the 124 was more suitable than > the 122 No, it's just cheaper (at the moment), and can be made to work. > My H960 is not very accessible but I attempted to measure it front back > and it may be 25". Do you know where should the length be measured? You don't need to measure anything. The C-230-S-122 is the _exact_ part DEC used originally for mounting RK05's in H960's. Noel

8 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Contacting the list admin?

by mikew＠thecomputervalet.com

Hello, I've been trying to unsubscribe from the list. I did it once before and hadn't seen anything for months. However, I suddenly started receiving mails last weekend. I went to the webpage to unsubscribe but I can't login and neither the password reset or unsubscribe confirmation make it to me. So I'm hoping someone can tell me how to contact the list admin. I emailed an address I found on the website but I hadn't received a response yet. I may not have waited long enough but I don't know. Cheers, Mike

8 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Kip Koon > I tend to get emulation and simulation a bit confused. You and me both! I think part of the problem is that there is no generally-agreed-upon definition of the two terms. I like this one a lot, though: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1584617/simulator-or-emulator-what-is-t… Emulation is the process of mimicking the outwardly observable behavior to match an existing target. The internal state of the emulation mechanism does not have to accurately reflect the internal state of the target which it is emulating. Simulation, on the other hand, involves modeling the underlying state of the target. The end result of a good simulation is that the simulation model will emulate the target which it is simulating. Ideally, you should be able to look into the simulation and observe properties that you would also see if you looked into the original target. In practice, there may some shortcuts to the simulation for performance reasons -- that is, some internal aspects of the simulation may actually be an emulation. ... EDIT: Other responses have pointed out that the goal of an emulation is to able to substitute for the object it is emulating. That's an important point. A simulation's focus is more on the modelling of the internal state of the target - and the simulation does not necessarily lead to emulation. ... SPICE, for example, cannot substitue for an actual electronics circuit There's also the question of what's being emulated. Ersatz-11, for example, does a good job of looking like a PDP-11 - for the software. However, it does not like a PDP-11 for the hardware (although John used to sell boards you could plug into a PC, which provided a QBUS, IIRC). So is it a simulator or an emulator? Good question. About the only _generally-agreed_ example of the terminology I can think of are 'in-circuit emulators', which _exactly_ match the behaviour of a given chip. Noel

8 years, 4 months

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RK05/BA11 slides

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: "Rob Jarratt" > Thanks for this info Noel. Sure; I figured it would be useful to someone, glad to know it was. > So it sounds like I would need the C-230-S-124. ... My metalworking > abilities are limited. If you don't want to have to do any mods, the C-230-S-122 is a straight bolt-in, albeit $30 or so more than the -124, which requires.. > I am not clear from the picture you linked to, what the modification is? Drilling the two holes. Noel

8 years, 4 months

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RK05/BA11 slides

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So, you have an RK05 drive, but you're missing the slides to mount it? Your troubles are over (sort of :-). It turns out the slide DEC used was the General Devices 'Chassis Trak' C-230-S-122 (22") - and those are still available (e.g. from Newark). They're somewhat pricey - the -124 (24") is slightly cheaper, and can easily be modified to fit an H960, viz: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/jpg/24InchSlide.jpg The one in the image actually came off an -11/05 in a 10-1/2" box; the 3-3/8" outer slide pair from the RK05 slides does in fact fit the inner slides (i.e. the part permanently fixed to the box) used on a lot of BA11 boxes. One hitch: the location of the safety latches (the 'buttons' on the inner slides that pop out through holes in the intermediate slides) is different on most of the BA11-K inners (on the three BA11-F's I've looked at, they do match), and so the latches don't work. (Unless of course you make the correct hole in the intermediates, or drill new holes in the inners that come with the slide set, to match the mounting holes on the BA11-K, and use them instead.) So, better than nothing, if you have BA11's (or similar) and don't have the outer slides, to mount them. Noel

8 years, 4 months

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QEMM

by lproven＠gmail.com

The old extended/expanded memory manager for DOS. Anyone remember? I'm playing with bootable USB keys with PC DOS 7 (and DR-DOS 7 to follow). I have it working and booting now, but I'd like to disable QEMM's memory check on startup. I'm sure there was a switch, but I can't remember it. Even with just -- "just" -- 4GB of RAM it takes quite a while. If anyone knows of a place where there's a summary of QEMM's command-line switches, that'd be great. I have found some manuals but nothing helpful. I'm using QEMM 9, the last version, for Win9x. Any suggestions? -- Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven ? Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053

8 years, 4 months

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Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Kip Koon > I was initially thinking of a strictly software only solution Whatever you eventually do in the way of hardware, it might be a good idea to start with this. You can get familiar with whatever OS you decide to go with, and get used to its tools, get to know the instruction set of that machine, etc, etc. So then, if you do do a hardware project, it won't be such a big gulp, and you'll have the knowledge base covering all the above already there to draw on. > which still presents a problem for me and that is which PDP do I teach > myself and set up. Probably the way to answer that is, if you're going to build hardware at some point, a combination of 'what's out there that I can get to talk to', and 'how complicated a beast are we talking about'. For the first, there's a lot of QBUS stuff around, some UNIBUS, and basically zilch on the PDP-10 or PDP-15 front. For the second, most -11's (both QBUS and UNIBUS) are relatively simple and straightforward. Any kind of PDP-10 is pretty complex (depending on if you emulate the original busses, or not). > 3rd, and this is a big factor in the choice of DEC PDP computer to pick > for simulation or emulation and that is the small cash flow and itty > bitty storage space I have available to me. Noted. > The choice so far it seems is the PDP-11/70. If all you're doing is simulation (software), the -11/70 would be fine. It's no more work to set up than one of the other timesharing-capable models; it's only slightly more complicated than say, an -11/45, _from the programmer's point of view_ (there's a UNIBUS map as well as the usual memory mapping hardware), but if you're running an existing OS, that should not affect you. > Remember I still have no idea ... what boards and peripherals > a PDP-11/70 consists of. Hardware-wise, the -11/70 could be a complex project - it depends on exactly how much you try and emulate, a full emulation could be a very complex undertaking indeed. The thing is that while the /70 looks to the programmer a lot like one of the simpler models, the hardware is quite a lot more complicated: there is a cache, a separate memory bus, high-speed I/I controllers with their own special bus to the devices (MASSBUS), etc. It's basically an -11/45 with a bunch of extra stuff glued onto the sides of it to boost the performance; the board count went from 10 (w/o floating point, which adds an extra 4) to a minimum of of 16 (w/o FP), plus 4 for each high-speed I/O controller (up to 4). Now, if all you're doing is emulating the system, _without_ providing any of the busses, no problem; all that complexity is hidden inside the simulator. But once you start emulating real busses (i.e. to be able to plug in real hardware) - whole different kettle of fish. Noel

8 years, 4 months

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Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Kip Koon > f I were to have to decide on just one model DEC PDP system to run in a > DEC Emulator, which one would be the most useful, versatile and has the > most software available for it? To echo what others have said, when you say 'emulator', do you mean hardware (the usual meaning of emulator), or software (which would be a simulator)? And if you mean hardware, are you going to emulate the bus as well? Having said that, I think you should ask yourself 'what do you want to do with it'? The thing is there are a lot of DEC machines which are 'interesting', and have a lot of software available for them: the -8, -10, 11, -15 and VAX (dunno if you consider that a 'PDP') are all in that category. > I hear a lot about the PDP-11. I found out that there were 16 major PDP > models at one time so I'm not too sure which one to pick. They aren't really that different; many of them are more 'the optimal technology to implement in' changed over the (fairly) long life of the architecture, so many of models are where an earlier one was replaced by a more cost-effective equivalent. E.g. for one 'class', the /20 (TTL SSI) was followed by the /05 (microcoded TTL SSI), and then the /04 (TTL MSI), and then the /03 (LSI); in another the /40 was followed by the /34 and then the /23. Etc. There are really only 3 kinds of -11: - Those without memory management (the /20, etc) - Those with 'simple' memory management (the /40, etc) - Those with 'complex' memory management (all the others) Simple software will run on all three; more complex (e.g. Unix) only on the latter two. > Back in the day when Bill Gates and company 1st started out > ... a B/W photo of a young Bill Gates bending over the operator at what > looked like a very small computer. Maybe it was just a terminal. I > don't remember. I understand they did software development on a DEC PDP > of some sort. The very earliest version of their BASIC was done on PDP-10's running TOPS-10 - first the one at Harvard, and then some commercial time-sharing system in the Boston area. > I have many projects in the works already so I decided to setup a > software emulation of just one of the DEC PDP models. OK, so it's going to be just running a simulator? > I have heard a lot about the PDP-11 which if the information I read is > correct was 16-bits. in the world... The PDP-11 is the model I hear the > most about. Well, for good reason, I think. It was at one point (1980), the best-selling computer, and really made the minicomputer (yes, I know the -8 was the first successful mini, but their size/computing power range was a lot smaller than the -11, and so it didn't have as widespread a utilization as with the -11). It's also the machine that Unix was developed on, so if you want to play around with the 'classic' early Unixes (e.g. Version 6), you'll be wanting to go with the -11. Finally, it is to me the finest architecture ever, in terms of elegance, and bang/buck - the power they squeezed into a 16-bit instruction is pretty mind-blowing. If you want to see a really elegant design, look at the -11. A lot of later architectures stole a lot of ideas from the -11. If you want to go the -11/V6 route, there are instructions for doing so here: http://gunkies.org/wiki/Running_Unix_v6_in_SIMH http://gunkies.org/wiki/Installing_UNIX_Sixth_Edition_on_Ersatz-11 and I have a very detailed page for doing so with the Ersatz-11 simulator (which is _very_ fast, and easy to work with), with a lot of useful pre-built disks, and tools, here: http://www.chiappa.net/~jnc/tech/V6Unix.html The other one I would point to as 'interesting' is the PDP-10, _especially_ if you run ITS on it. There's a very complete and detailed page here: https://www.cosmic.com/u/mirian/its/itsbuild.html for bringing it up under SIMH. There's also KLH10 as a simulator, which I know a lot of people like for running ITS; instructions here: http://its.victor.se/wiki/setup which has a lot of detail about how to get things running _on_ your ITS once you have it up. Please let us know what you decide... :-) Noel

8 years, 4 months

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Acorn, Apple, IBM old computers up for auction (via Proxibid)

by linimon＠lonesome.com

There are a few lots that may be of interest to people on this list. Disclaimer: I have no connection to any of this. I just browse proxibid.com once in a while. The overall link: https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/Michael-F-Dilliard-Auction-amp-Realty-Company… The particular lots: ACORN computer programs https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/ACORN-computer-programs/38893071/LotDetail.as… Vintage computer lot (Apple) https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/Vintage-computer-lot-APPLE-external-disk-driv… APPLE Graphics Tablet + Acorn https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/Vintage-APPLE-Graphics-Tablet-British-BBC-Mic… Vintage APPLE IIe https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/Vintage-APPLE-IIe-computer-keyboard-monitor-e… IBM PC Jr computer lot https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/IBM-PC-Jr-computer-lot/38893111/LotDetail.asp… (editor's note for the last item: "ew.") mcl

8 years, 4 months

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New Items Up for Sale from Sellam's Collection

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Here is the latest batch of items up for sale. Full running list with updates are here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?58709-New-Items-For-Sale-Check-th… New items for October 26, 2017: Boards: 3Com Corp IE Controller (1982) ASST 0345-03 REV J - very early(?) IBM PC ethernet controller; BNC and AUI connectors; good condition, maybe probably still works [ http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/3Com/3C500_Mar83.pdf] 3Com Etherlink II ASSY 2227-00 REV 08 - 8-bit PC ethernet controller; BNC and AUI connectors; excellent condition HP 82335 8-bit HP-IB ISA board - excellent condition - $35 Future Domain TMC-850MER "Apple Signal Port" 8-bit ISA SCSI board - has socket for BIOS EPROM; comes with 50-pin ribbon and Y-splitter power cables; like new; [http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-9546.html] - $30 Unpopulated (New Old Stock) Motorola MC68000 Educational Computer board - like new condition - $20 shipped anywhere in USA Sirius Systems Tech peripheral mainboard - for Victor 9000/ACT Sirius 1 computers; excellent physical condition, unknown functional condition - $13 shipped anywhere in USA Peripherals Panasonic Interface Adaptor RP-K100 - parallel port interface for Panasonic word processor(?) - $5 Kroy Digital Cassette Drive Cat. No. 1674400 "290 Keyboard" - digital microcassette data drive; 34-pin dual row connector; includes digital microcassette tape - $15 APCON ACI-2016 SCSI Booster - 68-pin SCSI booster, w/power supply - $10 Advanced Electronic Applications PK-64 PAKRATT-64 - packet radio modem for Commodore 64; excellent condition - $60 Remex 5.25" drive - inside external enclosure with power supply and 34-pin connector; excellent condition inside and out - $15 HP 82950A Modem - includes severely water damaged but mostly readable users manual - $45 HP 00085-15001 Mass Storage ROM - HP-85 mass storage ROM, allows HP 85A to connect to disc drives - $25 shipped anywhere in USA Avatex 1200HC 300/1200 external modem - $5 Atari SC1224 (Version 2) color monitor - powers up, has raster, do not have cable to test - $70 Atari SH305 MegaFile 30 - contains Seagate ST-238R hard drive; powers up, drive spins up, sounds healthy; case was slightly hacked by a less than skilled hand to add status LEDs to the front as well as a slot for a 3.5" removable drive (not present; includes custom internal 34-pin slot connector to external DIN connector cable) - $50 Atari 1064 - 48K parallel port memory module for Atari XL series - $20 Atari SX212 Modem - for IBM PC and compatibles; in original box with manual, power supply, and data cable BMUGNET adaptors for Macintosh - made by Bay Area Mac User Group; pre-Farallon PhoneNet adaptors; works similar to Apple LocalTalk - 2/$10 Sun Type 4 optical mouse - $5 Commodore 1531 Datasette - $15 Plus Development Corp. Impulse dual external hard drive unit - same maker as Plus Hardcard; includes (2) Conner CP-340 40MB RLL drives, powers up and drives spin up with healthy sound; unable to test further; requires DB-19 cable and PC interface board to be fully useful - $20 DSP 225 Tempest InkJet Printer - HP ThinkJet Model 2225A (HP-IB interface) fitted inside an all black TEMPEST resistant enclosure, fine working condition - $75 Computers and Such Tektronix 4050 - complete working system in excellent condition with manuals and software on QIC Apricot F1 - CPU only; powers up, blurts out some strange "beep" and seeks a boot disk; (2) internal 3" drivesl unable to test further Motorola Envoy - (3) units with (1) charge station and extra battery Commodore 16 - untested - $30 Osborne 1 - original tan case; fairly low serial number (A01284); powers up, screen is good, tries to boot from disk drive; very good cosmetic condition with some scuffs, leather handle is broken - $160 HP 7475A Plotter - full complement of pens are mostly dried out but it performs the demo function admirably; excellent condition - $85 Lynx 460 floppy disk drive exerciser w/User's Manual and Xerox Supplement - $25 Atari Mega ST4 - powers up, seems to boot from the floppy drive, no monitor cable so unable to test further; includes Practical Solutions Tweety Board (adds true stereo) - $250 Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 - works great; very good condition with minor yellowing and a couple scratches; includes form fitting faux leather case in excellent condition - $40 Miscellaneous Dolch Logic Instruments 9604 uP Trace Unit - logic analyzer module for National Semiconductor NSC-800 microprocessor - $15 Tandy data cable - 34-pin slotted connector to Centronics male connector, approx. 10' - $5 As always, please send inquiries to me directly via e-mail at for best results. Thanks! Sellam

8 years, 4 months

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Digression - Ah Yes!! The PDP-10

by bob＠theadamsons.co.uk

Beginning of the 70's I was using a pdp-10 at TSL (Time Sharing Limited, UK) over a phone line writing logic simulation software in Fortran. Remember it fondly, especially the number of times I needed to redial in and try to reconnect to my session. Still smell the teletype. Cost about ?10 for the 20 seconds cpu-time or so just to compile the program!!! Roll on a few years and I was actually at the console of a 10 at Smiths doing IC layout graphics interactively on their Lady Jane suite. What a great single-user machine! (and I still remember my username and password from TSL, typed it so often it burned in). Bob > -----Original Message----- > Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2017 18:42:42 +0100 > From: "Rob Jarratt" <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> > To: "'Dave Wade'" <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com>, "'General Discussion: > On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>, "'Kip > Koon'" > <computerdoc at sc.rr.com> > Subject: Re: Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?. > Message-ID: <003101d34cef$7eca53c0$7c5efb40$(a)ntlworld.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > > > Ah the PDP10! Although the very first computer I used was a PDP11, it > was so briefly that I really consider the PDP10 (in DECSYSTEM-20 form) > to be my first computer. It is easy to emulate in SIMH, although the > SIMH emulation is of a less capable processor (KS10) and I think KLH10 > is the best emulator for that (but I have never used it). > ... > > Rob

8 years, 4 months

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FOR SALE: Macintosh Performa 450

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have a nice, working Macintosh Performa 450 for sale, details here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?60274-Apple-Macintosh-Performa-45… Thanks! Sellam

8 years, 4 months

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Interesting mini-doc on Gilbert Hyatt

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Here is an interesting mini-documentary on the fight Gilbert Hyatt (patent holder for the concept of the microcomputer) had with the Franchise Tax Board of State of California: https://youtu.be/rfyPZdSBwBQ Sellam

8 years, 4 months

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Is it really that quiet out there?

by barythrin＠gmail.com

Yes, but the irony if us replying on-list isn't lost. -------- Original message --------From: Robert via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 10/24/17 11:40 AM (GMT-06:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Is it really that quiet out there? The last one that I received was October 20th. Robert

8 years, 4 months

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Digression - Ah Yes!! The PDP-10

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

oddly there were times you could dial into a broken dec 10 connect and end up connected to someone elses session.... Ed# In a message dated 10/25/2017 2:18:30 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: > -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Robert > Adamson via cctalk > Sent: 25 October 2017 20:56 > To: cctech at classiccmp.org > Subject: Digression - Ah Yes!! The PDP-10 > > Beginning of the 70's I was using a pdp-10 at TSL (Time Sharing Limited, UK) > over a phone line writing logic simulation software in Fortran. Remember it > fondly, especially the number of times I needed to redial in and try to > reconnect to my session. Still smell the teletype. Cost about ?10 for the 20 > seconds cpu-time or so just to compile the program!!! > I used to use the DECSYSTEM-20 from a Teletype (until they got replaced by VDUs). That is why I really wanted a nice Model 33 ASR, which I now have. I sometimes connect it up to SIMH running TOPS-20 to relive the happiest part of my school days. > Roll on a few years and I was actually at the console of a 10 at Smiths doing IC > layout graphics interactively on their Lady Jane suite. What a great single-user > machine! > > (and I still remember my username and password from TSL, typed it so often it > burned in). >

8 years, 4 months

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Cyclops page (Popular Electronics and Cromemco)

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

Hi, In case anyone is interested, I have finally cobbled together a web page that documents the construction of the Popular Electronics Cyclops camera that I exhibited at the 2016 VCF East. It also documents my work to produce a Cromemco S-100 Cyclops that I hope to exhibit at the 2018 VCF East. The page is here: http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/cyclops/index.html The Cromemco S-100 Cyclops starts down the page a bit. Bill S. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

8 years, 4 months

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Cleaning and Restoring a Badly Corroded PSU

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, the vertical heat sinks for the TO220 with this design are fairly common, I saw them many times on various boards. However, as they are simply aluminum parts, you can clean them for sure. After removing the screw, you could try simply with an hard brush. If badly corroded, remove the bubbles of oxide with a thin sanding paper, then you could restore the opaque aspect submerging for few seconds in caustic sodium solution. Be aware to protect eyes and skin! Replace the RIFA X2 capacitor!!!! Andrea

8 years, 4 months

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Fujitsu M2235S

by pb＠pbcl.net

Anybody familiar with the internals of these disks? I have one here which seems to have the positioner stuck at track zero. I'm not sure whether it's likely to be just a bit sticky and in need of some assistance or whether there is some sort of latch involved, and I am a bit reluctant to just pull the lid off the chamber to find out. Thanks Phil

8 years, 4 months

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HP 2640S terminal for sale in closed Facebook group in Sweden.

by mattislind＠gmail.com

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/s720x720/22713265_1015612717… I am not the seller. It looks like it is working. The seller confirms that there are some screen mold. If there is anyone that is interested I can get you in contact with the seller. /Mattis

8 years, 4 months

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HP 21mx/whatever processor works with doublesided key... i forgot model#

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

IT RUNS MEMORY RESIDENT LOADED FROM PAPER TAPE? ED# In a message dated 10/20/2017 7:37:48 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, jwest at classiccmp.org writes: "Forth-like" system that is well developed/flushedout. So in addition to BASIC, you get oh-so-many-wonderful-things. I very highly recommend that anyone messing with 21mx/1000 systems take a good look at HP-IPL/OS.

8 years, 4 months

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Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile?

by computerdoc＠sc.rr.com

Hi DEC Enthusiast's, If I were to have to decide on just one model DEC PDP system to run in a DEC Emulator, which one would be the most useful, versatile and has the most software available for it? I have only ever used a real PDP-8/e system way back in high school so I'm not up to par on any other model of DEC PDP system and I only know BASIC on the PDP-8/e so not much there either. I hear a lot about the PDP-11. I found out that there were 16 major PDP models at one time so I'm not too sure which one to pick. I built Oscar Vermeulen's PiDP-8/I which I'm waiting on 1 part for. Other than that project which is in a holding pattern at the moment, I have no other PDP anything running in any form. Back in the day when Bill Gates and company 1st started out, I had always wondered how they developed their very 1st software program - Altair Basic. I was pleasantly surprised one day when I saw a B/W photo of a young Bill Gates bending over the operator at what looked like a very small computer. Maybe it was just a terminal. I don't remember. I understand they did software development on a DEC PDP of some sort. Finding this out regenerated my interest in the DEC PDP line of computers. I have many projects in the works already so I decided to setup a software emulation of just one of the DEC PDP models. I have heard a lot about the PDP-11 which if the information I read is correct was 16-bits. My PiDP-8/I is 12 bits. I understand the PDP 10 was 36-bits and the PDP-15 was 18-bit. The PDP-11 is the model I hear the most about. I also have some experience on some version of a VAX when I was in the Air Force so I'm thinking of getting a VAX emulation going at some point too. So if I'm going to do this, what suggestions, pointers, experiences, etcetera do you guys have for me. I am very interested in the DEC PDP equipment though next to no experience so I have no basis to make a decision. This is a serious request so I would definitely like to hear what you all have to say. If you have read this far, thank you. Take care my friends. Kip Koon computerdoc at sc.rr.com http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/User:Computerdoc

8 years, 4 months

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VCF PNW (Seattle) exhibitor registration is open

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Hello cctalkers! Join us as an exhibitor for the inaugural Vintage Computer Festival Pacific-Northwest, Feb. 10-11, at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle. http://www.vcfed.org/registration/exhibitor_register-online.php?event_id=5 ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan at vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

8 years, 4 months

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Convex Computer Corporation manuals

by unibus＠gmail.com

Anybody want some Convex Computer Corporation manuals on microfiche. The titles are: - CONVEX C Guide - CONVEX C Optimization Guide - CONVEX FORTRAN User's Guide - CONVEX FORTRAN Reference Manual - CONVEX FORTRAN Optimization Guide - CONVEX VECLIB User's Guide - CONVEX LSQPACK User's Guide Free to a good home or it will be plastic recycling

8 years, 4 months

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Is it really that quiet out there?

by robert626001＠gmail.com

The last one that I received was October 20th. Robert On Fri, Oct 20, 2017 at 2:27 PM, jim stephens via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > Last one of those was a couple weeks ago. Then there were a bunch of backed > up ones. > > List has been steady and in real time (from what I've seen). > thanks > Jim > > > On 10/20/2017 11:30 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: >> >> Lately, I've received >> message "belches" > >

8 years, 4 months

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HP 7907 read preamp question

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 10/19/2017 05:00 PM, Jon Elson wrote: > On 10/19/2017 06:44 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: >> My question for those knowledgeable with this drive is what's the >> downside of adjusting the gain to create an output of, say, 7V P-P? >> >> > Well, you might have to turn it back down for newly recorded tapes. But, > if you are using it only for recovery of old data, maybe no downside at > all. > > But, there are so many defects in old tapes.? There's print-through, > wrinkles from the tape pack scrunching, weave, oxide flaking, dirt > buildup, and maybe some others. No, it turns out the answer is to set the preamp gain at spec. It appears to do nothing but create more problems if turned up higher than that. It was worth a try. --Chuck

8 years, 4 months

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Cloning A Hard Disk Over The Network Using Ultrix

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have a couple of hard disks I want to make dd copies of. I have Ultrix running on my DECstation 5000/240 with the disk I want to clone attached to it. The trouble is that I don't have enough disk space on the machine to clone the disk and then grab the image using FTP. I have been trying to find a way to pipe the dd output over the network to a SIMH Ultrix machine that has plenty of disk space. I tried piping dd into rcp, but rcp doesn't seem to take input from standard input. I have looked at cpio, but that too appears not to accept input from standard input. Unix is not my strong point. Are there any other ways I could pipe the dd output across the network to a machine that has enough disk space? Thanks Rob

8 years, 4 months

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Pine (was: Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20)

by rlloken＠telus.net

On Sun, 22 Oct 2017, Sean Conner via cctalk wrote: By gum! Alpine does indeed translate the 'A' into a '?' and I never noticed. It seems that my tiny mind simply translated the character and moved on. > I have: > > LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > LC_COLLATE=C > > as part of my environment, and I'm using a font that supports UTF-8... And how does one know that a font supports UTF-8? And yes UTF-8 has been around for decades but as an English speaker I didn't have to think about unicode and locale and stuff like that. -- Richard Loken VE6BSV : "...underneath those tuques we wear, Athabasca, Alberta Canada : our heads are naked!" ** rlloken at telus.net ** : - Arthur Black

8 years, 4 months

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Pine (was: Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 20)

by fred＠MISER.MISERNET.NET

> Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:41:53 -0500 (EST) > From: ethan at 757.org > Subject: Re: Could someone make this topic go away? > Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.1511192141030.32673 at users.757.org> > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed > > Am I the only one left using Pine!? > > I get odd looks when I'm checking email from my cell phone. No you are not. I use (al)pine on my OpenVMS system here as well as my main Linux host. I have mail going back to 2004 here and since 1996 at another public access Unix host I use. It's great when I'm out of town and can ssh in from my phone and check the mail. :) Pine does most everything I need without having to worry about malware, phishing, etc ... the beauty of text. Fred

8 years, 4 months

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CDP1801

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

I'm going to put it on my list of projects to create a CPU card for my Microtutor that uses the 1802 instead I think.? I can get some blue PCB stock.? As far as I understand the 1802 is fully backward compatible. Maybe the 1801s will show up on day.? I've found all kinds of chips I was told were impossible to locate. Sent from my Samsung device -------- Original message -------- From: Steven Feinsmith <steven.feinsmith at gmail.com> Date: 2017-10-20 7:32 PM (GMT-08:00) To: Brad H <vintagecomputer at bettercomputing.net>, "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: CDP1801 RCA 1801 disappeared from face of Earth forever... You would be better off to purchase at: http://www.sunrise-ev.com/membershipcard.htm to use 1802. The 1802 was very successful microprocessor that replaced 1801 because it required to have a pair of chips to work together. I believe I saw 1801 was more than 30 years ago. Good luck! Steven On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 9:45 PM, Brad H via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: Hi there, I just purchased an RCA Microtutor minus the rather important CPU card.? I can recreate the card but I expect locating the 1801 chips will be difficult.? I am just posting this in various forums in case anyone has any leads on where I might find either the complete card or the required chips to make a replacement.? I'm wondering what, if any devices were built with the 1801 that I might be able to scrounge from. Thanks again, B

8 years, 4 months

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Giving away my collection to someone just starting out in the hobby

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Steve, I don't think I qualify to receive the whole shebang, nor would I have room, but I will gladly take any box(es) un-tested / for parts / etc. C-64 hardware that you would care to offer. I endeavor to repair CBM machines, primarily C-64s and peripherals, and I am basically out of parts. I have almost a dozen machines stacked up that can't run for want of various parts... I'm in St. Paul, MN, and unable to work due to total disability (stage 5 kidney disease. among other things). Best, Bill Layer On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 1:25 AM, Digital Aeon via cctalk < cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > After many years of collecting, Im tired of moving it all > > So ive picked out 4 or 5 systems that mean alot to me. And i want to > pass the rest of the collection onto someone starting out in the hobby that > wouldnt otherwise have the funds to get some of the stuff I have. > > So if there is anyone out there starting out and wants what I have I will > gladly hand it over to them free of charge. I would like to see this go > to someone who doesn't have anything. > > > I have apple, commodore, sun, x86 you name it I got it. about 4 > truckloads full if not more. > > Im located in Mid Michigan > > Steve >

8 years, 4 months

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PC-MOS/386 v5.01 now open sourced

by a.carlini＠ntlworld.com

The list has been quite for 24 hours for me, so sorry if this is a duplicate! The sources for the the latest version of PC-MOS/386 are up on github. Antonio -- Antonio Carlini arcarlini at iee.org

8 years, 4 months

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RT11 Disk Partitioning and RQZX1 SCSI controller

by dj.taylor4＠comcast.net

On 10/20/2017 6:46 AM, Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctalk wrote: > On 10/19/17, 6:22 PM, "cctalk on behalf of Douglas Taylor via cctalk" > <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org on behalf of cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> Is there a potential problem here? >> >> I have an 11/53 microPDP11 with a RQZX1 controller connected to a single >> DEC DSP3043 drive (535MB) and a single RX33 floppy. >> >> The autoconfigure setup in the RQZX1 puts the hard disk at DU0 and the >> Floppy as DU1. OK. I boot RT11 from the disk, V5.7. Works fine. >> >> I would like to use some of the extra space on the disk by setting up >> RT11 disk partitions. >> >> However, one of the partitions is DU1, but that is what the Floppy is >> called. How do I stay away from what seems like a conflict? >> >> Doug > SET DU2: UNIT=0,PART=1 > SET DU3: UNIT=0,PART=2 > ... > > ** reboot ** > > INIT DU2: > INIT DU3: > ... > > Thanks, it did work. I'll just stay away from DU1:.? I forgot about the reboot required for these changes to take effect.

8 years, 4 months

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Giving away my collection to someone just starting out in the hobby

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Steve, I don't think I qualify to receive the whole shebang, nor would I have room, but I will gladly take any box(es) un-tested / for parts / etc. C-64 hardware that you would care to offer. I endeavor to repair CBM machines, primarily C-64s and I am basically out of parts. I have 8-10 machin On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 1:25 AM, Digital Aeon via cctalk < cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > After many years of collecting, Im tired of moving it all > > So ive picked out 4 or 5 systems that mean alot to me. And i want to > pass the rest of the collection onto someone starting out in the hobby that > wouldnt otherwise have the funds to get some of the stuff I have. > > So if there is anyone out there starting out and wants what I have I will > gladly hand it over to them free of charge. I would like to see this go > to someone who doesn't have anything. > > > I have apple, commodore, sun, x86 you name it I got it. about 4 > truckloads full if not more. > > Im located in Mid Michigan > > Steve >

8 years, 4 months

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DEC Emulation Website

by rtomek＠ceti.pl

On Sun, Oct 08, 2017 at 03:36:00PM -0700, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: > While it?s still in need of a major update, the DEC Emulation > website now has a new home. It?s now on my server, and > realistically I should have moved it years ago. > > http://www.avanthar.com/healyzh/decemulation/decemu.html Cool, thank you. > Believe it or not, I am planning to update the pages in the near > future, who knows, I might even modernize them a little. When I > started them, one of the design goals was that they be readable with > Lynx. I?m not sure how important that is anymore. :-) I have browsed it just few moments ago with lynx, emacs-w3 and my new textual favourite, elinks (it multitabs!! and shows tables!! and I could play with configuration a lot, so on 256-colors-enabled term it looks a bit nicer to my eyes). In all them, and in some old graphical one, the site looks decently. As of "modernisation"... You know, just MHO and stuff but sometimes when I see modern pages it seems like their creators have had been abducted to some sect and brainwashed clean. I have 1600x1200 and I like to have some other window besides browser (say, an editor, like emacs). So I open such page, and the browser has about 3/5 of estate and I am not going fullscreen, no way. And there is huge menu on the left side, so I can choose. And there is some (expletive0) "top bar", all white and empty, or maybe with page title (I already have one (expletive0) title on a title bar of browser window), then there is (expletive0) bottom bar, all empty. And for a text, there is area left which is about five to ten (expletive0) lines high. There is no (expletive0) way to make those (expletive0) elements go the (subseq (expletive0) 0 4) away. The last resort is to turn styles off, which quite often gives me almost the view that I would like to have, plus (quite often) a parade of (expletive0) leftovers from the leftside menu, which after switch takes more than 90% of (expletive0) web page. I swear I do not make this up. The usable part of the modern webpage is on average the (expletive0) ten percent, as measured by scrollbar - and sometimes even less. The only reason I keep using very old Opera 1x.x is because it: A) does not multithread (so when I load heavily crapped page, it only (subseq (expletive0) 0 4)s with one core of my cpu max, rather then (expletive0) with me fulltime B) is able to show very decently a page with styles turned off; this also sometimes means lowering core usage by half (the usage which is there even when (expletive0) browser is expected to sit on its (expletive1) and do nothing). C) I turned a lot of CSS off by default, but I am not quite sure if this really works (software, trust, does not compute) - and I put fixed/monotype fonts wherever I can see them, because I love the idea that space is same width as "i" and "W". So all the job done to max my pleasure with downloadable fonts is lost, and (expletive0) good for me. I have tried switching to Firefox, but somehow having eighty tabs does not work very nicely there, for me at least. But I launch it when there is something that poor Op cannot render properly. Overally, I have few browsers opened as day goes by, one for Common Lisp docs, another for casual reading, one for sci articles heavy with equations and gfx (mostly up-to date rendering 'gine), few text browsers for interesting stuff, books or longer reads etc. I have recently started to experiment with Dillo - this is very nice piece of (expletive2), recommended to everybody even if it not always shows things, kind of like text browser with graphics (sometimes) and multitabs. Perhaps will also try "old new" Mosaic - the old one got lost during innumerable system upgrades. As I could have observed, plenty of people out there think that "modern" means "optimised for mobile", but what does it mean in practise? The text, i.e. useful part of the page might take 10 kilobytes (optimist, me, always), there might be even useful pictures on it, and then there goes a (expletive2)load of javascript. Megabyte is a, kind of, norm. So, this (expletive2) eats my download/upload quota, for which I pay (in theory, because I never was in such position). And then it starts running and eats from my battery, which can be loaded for peanuts, but who wants to recharge every few hours - this is supposed to give me mobility, but not to/from wallsocket. Which is how I came to brainwashing - the words being used are redefined. Optimised no longer means what it used to mean. Now it just means conformance to some group's standard. Optimised for pats in a back, just not from enduser (some endusers dream of packing boot deep into webdevel's (expletive1) and leaving it there, and the second boot would go to their halfbrained tasteless boss'es (expletive1), only deeper). For me, "optimised for mobile" is something like HTML1.0, or maybe even 3.0 (if this is when tables were defined). And "modern" is unimportant, if a goal is information retrieval. If you (or anybody) plan to upgrade your webpage, please consider doing it like XIX century guy, just barely after computer lessons. Text is everything. Because this is how information is being transmitted. Pictures are few, and if they are there, there must be a purpose (like, they too convey some information somehow related to text). So this is my opinion on modern web design, and mind you, I am not using it on a cell phone, but on something as big as two A4 pages, and the (expletive0) web cannot do very well on such (expletive0) huge area, or significant part of it. What are "they" using for making their creations - a monitor wall? I cannot imagine my state of mind if I started to depend on a cellphone for web reading, but I guess a dictionary of expletives could get few new words. There is no day without cursing the web here, despite all the heavy measures I took to protect myself from poor (i.e. modern) design. Well, maybe I curse the web only every other day, plus every time the page almost loads except one small element (perhaps some JS dependence, and server is down/restarting so I wait minutes because reloading only makes things worse in this case - but perhaps this is my ISP's fault, but then ISP is part of it, too). As of Javascript - sure there is a place for it. I dream of writing a compiler in Javascript. A few have been written. Ok, maybe I do not dream so much to learn Javascript. But the whole "page is an app" is just misunderstanding in best case, or more probably, some kind of crime - crime against reason, for example. This was meant to be short(er), but got long(er). Blame the web. -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home ** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com **

8 years, 4 months

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C64 to a good home

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Hey Kevin. This is all good advice, but there is also another way to go - and it's a bit more future-proof. For about the same cost as the Zoom floppy, you can get a device called an SD2IEC or similar. It's very simple - it connects to the IEC (disk drive) port on the C-64 and accepts a micro or mini SD card. This way you only need copy your C-64 titles to SD card (any way you like) and they will be accessible to the C-64. The device behaves like a 1541 / 1571 drive. I say the SD2IEC is future proof, as it doesn't rely on original 15X1 disk drives or 5-1/2" media, all of which could go away someday. Now _personally_ I use a home-built XM1541 cable with opencbm (free/OSS) to transfer my images to genuine 5-1.4" disk. I only do this as I'm too cheap / broke to buy something else like the SD2IEC. It is exceptionally stable and reliable - once set up, it "just works". Though if you a) run Linux and b) accept a kernel update you will need to c) recompile & re-install opencbm as the module is built specific to the running kernel. This takes only seconds, literally. -Bill On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 7:48 AM, Robert via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > I recently bought a ZoomFloppy from here: http://store.go4retro.com/ > zoomfloppy/ > > I got the version with an IEEE488 conector, for use with a PET, but it > also supports the serial interface used on the C64. > > On Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 9:11 PM, Cameron Kaiser via cctalk > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> There are some online repositories of C64 software. Having only a little > >> knowledge when it comes to C64_s how do I get a C64 disk > >> image onto a 5 1/4_ floppy? > > > > I use a ZoomFloppy and a real 1541 (actually a 1571). These devices are > > available from many places; Jim Brain built mine, or you can look for any > > xu1541 or xum1541-type device and use OpenCBM to copy that floppy. > > > > -- > > ------------------------------------ personal: > http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- > > Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * > ckaiser at floodgap.com > > -- BOND THEME NOW PLAYING: "Moonraker" ------------------------------ > ---------- >

8 years, 4 months

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HP 21mx/whatever processor works with doublesided key... i forgot model#

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

NOPE NOT A BIG RTE PERSON - BUT YES THERE WOULD BE MULTI SERIAL BOARDS IN SOME INCOMING PROCESSORS RAN IT ONCE AND PLAYED WITH IT... BROKE 1000 SYSTEMS DOWN AND SOLD THE PIECES. THE ONLY SYSTEMS THAT WE SUPPORTED SOFTWARE WISE WERE F AND THEN ACCESS THIS 21 WHATEVER IS THE SKINNY ONE! DOUBLE SIDED KEY - AND IF I REMEMBER WILL YANK IT UP OFF THE FLOOR IN MY OFFICE TOMORROW AND SEE THE # BUT SUSPECT 2108 AS ABOUT ALL I REMEMBER LIKING ABOUT IT WAS IT HAD THE BOOT BUILT IN ,GRIN!. WHAT I DID NOT LIKE WAS IT WAS NOT CORE MEMORY. SURE WERE FUN TIMES... ALTHOUGH THERE WAS ALWAYS A FOND SPOT FOR THE 21XX STUFF... I GOT REALLY OCCUPIED WITH THE 3000 AS A COMPUTER THAT I WOULD REALLY USE. IN THE EARLY DAYS OF RUNNING THE ACCESS THOUGH WHAT GREAT FUN AND THE 100 BOARD BBS/MULTI USER CHAT/VOTE AND POL/EMAIL AND MOST GAMES WE DID GOT MOVED TO THE 3000. ED - WHOSE KEYBOARD THINKS IT IS AN ASR 35 TELETYPE SO THAT IS HOW THE REST OF THE MESSAGE GOT FININSHED In a message dated 10/20/2017 7:37:48 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, jwest at classiccmp.org writes: Ed wrote... ------ HP 21mx/whatever processor works with double sided key... (I forgot model#) ------ Given the way you phrased it, the correct replacement for 'whatever' is M series. E and F never used the double sided key. However, even that is not entirely correct. Older M's used the double sided key. Later M's used the single sided key that is the same as the E and F. And.... ------- It has ... of all things 3 tty boards in it? what is with that? Multi user without a mux? ------- Didn't you sell and support these things in a prior life? It was always far more common to see the 21MX machines with 'discrete' tty boards rather than muxes. There were only two mux boards, the one in 2000/Access which was very uncommon as far as 21mx's go... and the one that RTE commonly used which was also not super common to find in the wild. If you had a mux board, then I would have been a bit surprised. Multiple tty boards? Not surprised, that was the far more common thing.... more often than not, the 21mx's weren't really used/targeted for multiuser (except 2000 TSB of course). RTE did multiuser well, but... still was probably most often used in situations that really didn't require it. Mux's weren't super common. And.... -------- Has 2 memory boards think I remember 64k total. -------- 64kb or 64kw? Remember, the M.E.M. option is required to support more than 32kw. On the M, MEM was optional. I believe it was standard on E & F. And... ------- need to find a paper tape basic to play with. ------- There are plenty of those floating around. Google is your friend... I think MU-BASIC may have been the one I heard people using? See below for a better option.... And... ------ Any other advice? ------ You should probably start by reading an introduction to the 21MX to get some basic background on the machines... Go to: http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?hwdoc=108 You should start with 02108-90004 followed by 02108-90002 Finally - for you (and anyone else) that has just a cpu or a cpu and minimal peripherals, the best thing you can use to play with the machine is Terry Newtons HP-IPL/OS. See http://www.infionline.net/~wtnewton/oldcomp/hp2100/ and http://newton.freehostia.com/net/hpiplos.html Yes, you can run BASIC like you mention above. But it is a very well done "Forth-like" system that is well developed/flushedout. So in addition to BASIC, you get oh-so-many-wonderful-things. I very highly recommend that anyone messing with 21mx/1000 systems take a good look at HP-IPL/OS. Best, J

8 years, 4 months

1
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CDP1801

by steven.feinsmith＠gmail.com

RCA 1801 disappeared from face of Earth forever... You would be better off to purchase at: http://www.sunrise-ev.com/membershipcard.htm to use 1802. The 1802 was very successful microprocessor that replaced 1801 because it required to have a pair of chips to work together. I believe I saw 1801 was more than 30 years ago. Good luck! Steven On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 9:45 PM, Brad H via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > Hi there, > > > > I just purchased an RCA Microtutor minus the rather important CPU card. I > can recreate the card but I expect locating the 1801 chips will be > difficult. I am just posting this in various forums in case anyone has any > leads on where I might find either the complete card or the required chips > to make a replacement. I'm wondering what, if any devices were built with > the 1801 that I might be able to scrounge from. > > > > Thanks again, > > > > B > >

8 years, 4 months

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For Sale: (2) Boxed Macintosh 512K Enhanced and (2) Boxed Macintosh Plus

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have these 4 boxed Macs, all being sold separately. Full details and link to video are here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?58094-Boxed-Early-Macintosh-Sale-… Thanks! Sellam

8 years, 9 months

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For Sale: Osborne 1 (original tan/black case)

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have an Osborne 1 (the original tan/black case model) for sale. Full details are here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?58093-Osborne-1-(Original-Tan-Bla… Thanks! Sellam

8 years, 9 months

1
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What is this bus?

by mhs.stein＠gmail.com

I have a bus backplane here, very similar to an S100 backplane but the 2x50 connectors use .1 in spacing instead of .125 and the supply voltages are regulated +5 and +/- 12V. I also have the power supply; what are they from? TIA, m

8 years, 9 months

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I hadn't made the connection before

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

I was looking at an old GI catalog and casually noting the CP1610 that was most of a PDP11 processor. I did some more web surfing and noticed that the Intellivision game machine used this chip. It just never dawned on me that they used this processor. I see that one could even get a keyboard for these. Dwight

8 years, 9 months

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RL02 to image file

by jcwelch＠hal-pc.org

Hello, Does anyone have a setup to image RL02 packs to a pc file that can be mounted with simh? I have a couple of dozen I would like transferred because I am downsizing. I have a bunch of gear I can trade, also rum and/or dollars. Hopefully you are close to Houston. Sincerely, John Welch

8 years, 9 months

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HP 9836 systems and Fuji Pictrography 4000 printer available

by bobalan＠sbcglobal.net

Spring cleaning time! I have three vintage HP 9836 computers, two monochrome monitors, one color monitor and three printers. I'm sure they are going to need work to get running. No testing has been done. Could probably get two out of the three working. Somewhere I have a few various I/O cards also that will be included. Photos can be seen here: http://anifur.com/clist/ Pickup in Santa Cruz, CA, I just don't have time to (or the back) to pack and ship, though I can help load. -Bob -- Vintage computers and electronics www.dvq.com www.tekmuseum.com www.decmuseum.org

8 years, 9 months

6
11
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Micral N (1974) for sale

by barythrin＠gmail.com

That's a starting bid at 20,000 euros? -------- Original message --------From: St?phane Tsacas via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 5/30/17 5:56 PM (GMT-06:00)Subject: Micral N (1974) for sale If it happens you're in Tours (in France, https://goo.gl/maps/BXNZ4YJixYq) June 11 2017, a Micral N from 1974 will be auctioned. More info -- in French -- on the auction house website https://www.rouillac.com/fr/news-1252-le_micral_n_premier_micro_ordinateur Starting price : 20 K?. Good luck ;-) -- ??phane tsacas

8 years, 9 months

4
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Corona Data Systems PC available

by marvin＠west.net

I have a couple of the Corona and Cordata desktops. Apparently Corona Data Systems was forced to change their name when the manufacturer of Corona typewriters objected. So yes, Corona did predate the Cordata computer. My first PC clone was the PPC-400, and I still have the service manual (copy.) Marvin > From: Sam O'nella <barythrin at gmail.com> > > I have a similar but think mine says cordata which i guess yours is an early model? Is there no model number or serial or was that edited out? Just curious. ?If you post on vcfed.org some younger collectors will find the historical significance interesting of a potential unauthorized IBM compatible. I find those companies that were sued out of existence or folded easily an interesting time in an aggressive young home computer market.? > -------- Original message --------From: Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 5/27/17 10:38 PM (GMT-06:00) To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Corona Data Systems PC available > More spring cleaning. This time it's a Corona Data Systems PC. > Kinda like an old Compaq unit. Has floppy and hard disk, but does not > boot up. > > Pickup in Santa Cruz, CA > > http://anifur.com/clist/corona1.JPG > > http://anifur.com/clist/corona2.JPG > > http://anifur.com/clist/corona3.JPG

8 years, 9 months

1
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Corona Data Systems PC available

by barythrin＠gmail.com

I have a similar but think mine says cordata which i guess yours is an early model? Is there no model number or serial or was that edited out? Just curious. ?If you post on vcfed.org some younger collectors will find the historical significance interesting of a potential unauthorized IBM compatible. I find those companies that were sued out of existence or folded easily an interesting time in an aggressive young home computer market.? -------- Original message --------From: Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Date: 5/27/17 10:38 PM (GMT-06:00) To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Corona Data Systems PC available More spring cleaning. This time it's a Corona Data Systems PC. Kinda like an old Compaq unit. Has floppy and hard disk, but does not boot up. Pickup in Santa Cruz, CA http://anifur.com/clist/corona1.JPG http://anifur.com/clist/corona2.JPG http://anifur.com/clist/corona3.JPG

8 years, 9 months

1
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Micral N (1974) for sale

by stephane.tsacas＠gmail.com

Hi, If it happens you're in Tours (in France, https://goo.gl/maps/BXNZ4YJixYq) June 11 2017, a Micral N from 1974 will be auctioned. More info -- in French -- on the auction house website https://www.rouillac.com/fr/news-1252-le_micral_n_premier_micro_ordinateur Starting price : 20 K?. Good luck ;-) -- ??phane tsacas

8 years, 9 months

4
3
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Firefly dual processor card

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Did you get an actual Firefly (research) board, or a prduction VAXstation 3520/3540 board? I don't think you're likely to find schematics or pinouts for either, but it's not impossible to find 3520/3540 stuff, while I've never before heard of anyone encountering any actual Firefly boards in the wild.

8 years, 9 months

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Anyone remember ZOSO disks?

by asc135＠gmail.com

Back in the 80's I had some archive disks (maybe SIG/M or CPM/UG or maybe something else?) which had files on the disk named like ZOSO.022 (for disk #22) which was the Star Trek basic game disk. I'm attaching below the text >from that file (best viewed with a monospace font). I seem to recall this person who went by the moniker of Zoso had written others as well, but I can't find them right now. Just curious if any of you had seen those and if anyone knows who this mysterious Zoso person was? If I find others I'll post them. Regards, Amardeep AC9MF * * * * * THIS DISK CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING FILES: STARTREK.TXT THIS IS THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FILE FROM WHICH THIS PACKAGE WAS DEVELOPED. IT IS PURPORTED TO RUN AS IS WITH MITS 8K BASIC. IT CONTAINS ALL THE REMARKS, AUTHOR CREDITS ETC. IF YOU HAVE THIS BASIC WITH ASCII-LOAD CAPABILITY, TRY IT !! BIGTREK.ASC THIS IS THE RESULT OF HAVING TRIED TO TRIM THE ABOVE SOURCE SO AS TO GET IT TO RUN (IN A 64K SYSTEM) WITH MICROSOFT'S MBASIC. IT PRESENTLY IS ALMOST SHORT ENOUGH, BUT NOT QUITE. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE OBJECTIVE BECAME TO MAKE IT SUITABLE FOR TDL'S DISK BASIC RUNNING IN 64K. IT RUNS QUITE NICELY THAT WAY. ALL OF THE FEATURES OF THE ABOVE PROGRAM ARE RETAINED, AND A COUPLE OF NEW ONES HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED. BIGTREK.BAS THIS IS THE COMPACTED MACHINE CODE OF THE ABOVE FILE WHICH LOADS ABOUT 50 TIMES FASTER THAN THE ASCII VERSION (TDL DISK BASIC ONLY). THE PROPER STEPS TO LOAD THIS ARE AS FOLLOWS : (ASSUME YOU HAVE LOADED TDL BASIC INTO A 64K SYSTEM)... 1 - OPEN#1,"I","BIGTREK.BAS" <CR> 2 - LOAD "B" <CR> 3 - CLOSE#1,"I" <CR> 4 - RUN <CR> TREKINFO.DOC A BRIEF TUTORIAL ON THE RULES FOR PLAYING THIS, CROSS-REFER- ENCED WHERE POSSIBLE WITH THE FAMILIAR COMMANDS OF THE MORE COMMONLY AVAILABLE 'STARTREKS'. TREKMOD.ASC SEE EXPLANATION (IN POST-SCRIPT). STRTRK/2.ASC THIS IS INCLUDED BECAUSE I LIKE THE 'COMMUNICATIONS' AND 'MIS- SION-PROGRESS-REPORTS' THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED IN THIS MUCH SMALLER (STILL > 20K) VERSION. NO MATTER HOW YOU GO WITH THIS, IT IS LIKELY THAT YOU WILL NEED 64K (PERHAPS 60K IF YOU USE 8K BASIC) TO RUN IT AT ALL. ONLY GUARANTEE IS THAT IT WILL RUN WITH TDL DISK BASIC/64K AS IS. SINCE I CAN RUN THIS, I LEAVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE TO GET IT WORKING WITH EITHER MICROSOFT DISK BASIC (OR BASIC-E). ONE SUGGESTION FOR THE FORMER PROJECT MIGHT BE TO PARTITION THIS PROGRAM INTO TWO MODULES. THE FIRST WOULD CONTAIN ALL OF THE LINES RELATING TO GALAXY INITIALIZATION, DIMENSIONING STATEMENTS, DATA- TABLES AND ALL BEGINNING OF GAME DIALOGUE - IN OTHER WORDS, LINES NOT REFER- ENCED AFTER GAME IS IN PROGRESS. THIS FILE MIGHT BE CALLED 'STARMOD1.ASC'. THE OTHER MODULE, 'STARMOD2.ASC' WOULD CONTAIN EVERYTHING ELSE. THE LAST COMMAND (TO BASIC) IN 'STARMOD1.ASC' WOULD BE: MERGE"STARMOD2.ASC". BOTH MODULES WOULD HAVE TO BE RENUMBERED IN SUCH A WAY THAT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 'MERGE', EACH NEW LINE OF 'STARMOD2' WOULD WIPE OUT A LINE OF 'STARMOD1' WHICH HAD THE SAME LINE NUMBER (UNTIL EVERY LINE OF FIRST MODULE WAS OVERWRITTEN BY A NEW LINE >FROM SECOND MODULE). ONE CHANGE WOULD BE NECESSITATED IN THE SECOND MODULE: IF A PLAYER REPLIED 'Y' TO THE QUESTION, 'ANOTHER GAME ?' A BRANCH WOULD NEED TO BE MADE TO A LINE WITH THE FOLLOWING COMMAND, - RUN "STARMOD1.ASC". THIS SOL- UTION IS A BIT 'KLUGEY', BUT PERHAPS PREFERABLE TO FURTHER TRIMMING. SEE THE 'P.S.' BELOW; THE MICROSOFT MANUAL IMPLYS (BY NO PROHIBITION) THE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCH (ABOVE-MENTIONED) ARTIFICES BEING EFFECTIVE. THE DISAPPOINTMENT THAT MR. DOGGE ENCOUNTERED SHOULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO HONEST EXPERIMENTATION COMBINED WITH (THE TYPICALLY) INADEQUATE DOCUMENTATION. HAVE FUN !!! - ZOSO LATE NOTE: THE EXPERIMENT WITH MERGING TWO OR MORE MODULES HAS BEEN TRIED. I AM SAD TO REPORT THAT THIS APPROACH APPARENTLY DOES NOT WORK. IT SEEMS THAT THE EFFECT OF THE 'MERGE' FUNCTION IS TO DESTROY DATA (IN ADDITION TO CERTAIN LINE NUMBERS). MY THANKS TO MR. E. DOGGE FOR THIS INFO. E.D. ALSO SENT A 'TRIM- JOB' OF 'BIGTREK' CALLED 'TREKMOD'; IT PLAYS THE SAME GAME, BUT LACKS THE 'SCO- RING' AND 'VISUAL' FUNCTIONS. NOT TO DEMEAN MR. DOGGE'S EFFORT, I CAN'T PER- SONALLY SEE HOW THIS PARTICULAR 'STARTREK' CAN BE MEANINGFUL WITHOUT THE SCO- RING ROUTINE. IF THIS WERE MY 'BABY', I WOULD (IF NECESSARY) REDUCE EVERY BIT OF (TEXTUAL) CONSOLE OUTPUT TO A 2 DIGIT CODE SO AS TO RETAIN 'SCORING'; THE 'VISUALS' ARE CUTE BUT NON-ESSENTIAL. SEE WHAT YOU THINK. ALSO !!! THERE ARE (IN THE 'BIGTREK' FILES ONLY) SOME CRUCIAL ERROR TRAPS WHICH I INSERTED. LOOK FOR THESE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 'NAVIGATE' AND 'IMPULSE' SUBROUTINES. THE COMMON STARTREK PRACTISE OF INPUTTING A '0' WARP-FACTOR (DISTANCE) TO ABORT AN IMPROPERLY ENTERED NAVIGATION ROUTINE WILL, WITHOUT THESE TRAPS, GIVE YOU A 'SUBSCRIPT OUT OF BOUNDS' ERROR, AND THE GAME WILL HAVE BEEN (LITERALLY) LOST. I SUGGEST COPYING THESE EXACTLY IF YOU WILL BE TRYING THE 'TREKMOD' IM- PLEMENTATION.

8 years, 9 months

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Any PDP11s for sale in the UK?

by aaron＠aaronsplace.co.uk

Hi everyone, I am very interested in DEC stuff and I would love a PDP11 to play with and have in my (small) collection. If anyone has one in the UK that they would be interested in selling, please contact me off list. I'm interested in both Q-bus and Unibus models. Pretty unlikely but I thought I'd ask. Thanks! -- Aaron Jackson PhD Student, Computer Vision Laboratory, Uni of Nottingham http://aaronsplace.co.uk/

8 years, 9 months

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The Mysterious Zoso

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Al struck a memory cell I haven't used in at least a quarter century. No, I do not know who The Mysterious Zoso actually was but he was legendary. His flaming just barely crosses the line into early trench industry journalism I guess. Certainly not the shine of Charlie Matco or Ted Dziuba, but maybe the first step in that direction? >From CPMUG 21: BITCH, BITCH, BITCH !!! SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST INCAPABLE OF BEING CONTENT. NO SOONER THAN I HAD FINISHED MY REPLY TO ALL OF THE TTY PEOPLE (VOLUME 13.21), TONY INFORMED ME THAT SOME VDM OWNERS HAD TROUBLE READING MY 80 CHARACTER LINES ON THEIR QUAINT I/O DEVICES. I WILL NOT ACCOMODATE YOU, AND HERE'S WHY: I PAID GOOD BUCKS FOR THE TOOLS I USE, AND I CHOOSE TO USE THEM. FRANKLY, I CAN'T FATHOM WHY ANYONE WOULD ADMIT TO OWNING ONE OF THOSE THINGS AT ALL. I'VE SEEN WHAT YOU GUYS ARE UP TO: THOSE HORRID, NARROW LITTLE PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY'S 5K BASIC (YOU KNOW THE ONES WITH A LINE FOR EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING - 15 DECWRITER PAGES JUST TO PRINT YOUR VERSION OF WUMPUS [ABOUT WHICH I SHALL BE HEARD FROM LATER]). YOU GUYS HAVE EXPOSED YOURSELVES TO CAT- ARACTS AND MYOPIA BY LOOKING AT YOUR VDM'ED TVS. LEAVE ME OUT OF IT !!! THE COMPANY WHO SUPPLIED THOSE B & W CRAYON BOXES TO YOU IS A PLACE TO SUSPECT... SEMI-KITS, 8K BASIC THAT WILL BE READY IN 1976 AND ENOUGH ADVERTISING TO EN- SURE YOU WILL HAVE PAID TOO MUCH FOR YOUR 'SOL'; ANOTHER MITS I THINK... ZOSO

8 years, 9 months

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(Mostly Sun) Hardware and Docs in Arlington MA

by phil＠ultimate.com

The following would like to find new homes: Not ESPECIALLY interested in boxing/shipping (the docs would be easy, and would love to see them preserved for posterity). BOXED SunOS 4.0 doc set with 4.0.1 update 2 lg , 1 medium, 2 small boxes Also have SunOS 4.1.2 install manual Sun Hardware (specs from stickers, not validated) 2 SPARCstation IPC 2 SPARCstation IPX (1 w/ PowerUp 80Mhz CPU, which stopped working?) any all of the above may have bad power supplies 2 SPARCstation LX (one marked 32MB, no floppy) 1 SPARCstation Classic (no floppy) 3 SPARCstation 10 (10/30 w/ 16MB, 10/41 w/ 80MB, 10/41 w/ 64MB) 1 SPARCstation 4 (bad P/S) 1 SPARCstation 5 SUN QIC (150?) drive in box SCSI CD-ROM in enclosure Many 50 pin SCSI cables AT&T "UNIX PC" (7300?) w/ mobo, monitor, keyboard & mouse No hard drive. The owner got bored when the grounding on the HD started making noise. I think he yanked the 68000 chip, and perhaps others.

8 years, 9 months

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KL10 backplane on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Another eBait wonder: http://www.ebay.com/itm/182597510806 The listing says "Local pick-up only", and it's in Denver, Colorado. Someone should really save this (although the chances of finding all the boards to go with it is pretty slim). Noel

8 years, 9 months

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KL10 backplane on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Warner Losh > Will it fit in a pickup truck? Should fit into most 4-wheeled transport devices (except a new Ford GT, those supposedly only have 2 cubic feet or so of storage :-). Noel

8 years, 9 months

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FTGH clear-out at Mesa Electronics, Richmond, CA, USA

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > For some definition of "standard". ... other machines of that time or earlier > numbered bits according to the power of 2 they represent, i.e., the "current > standard". Well, the vast majority of computers 'back then' numbered bits (and byes) >from left to right - which is why in numbers in TCP and IP, the bytes go from left to right (necessitating byte swaps on most current architectures before sending a packet out into the network). The majority of computers being attached to the network when TCP/IP was being defined used that byte order (I think PDP-11's were the only exception, but I'm too lazy to check a copy of HOSTS.TXT to make sure), and so that's what we're stuck with now. So, I can see, centuries in the future, the bytes in a word on the Internet (and it _is_ capitalized) still being in an order set by long-dead computers. Kind of like how rail gauge today still mimics the width of Roman carts (yes, I know the story is only half-true, but it's not wholly wrong). Noel

8 years, 9 months

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Firefly dual processor card

by mark.kahrs＠gmail.com

Against my better judgement, I obtained a DEC SRC Firefly dual processor card. If i read this* correctly, then this card is interfaced to the shared memory bus (MBUS) as opposed to the QBUS (the card uses a Q bus format). I realize it's probably hopeless, but I'll ask anyway: Are there any schematics or specifications on the connectors anywhere? *IEEE Computer, also available on Bitsavers as a technical report.

8 years, 9 months

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Teletype 43

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

We need to find a source of the pin feed paper for the 43! Also a great thing to round out the display would be to have the aux. tape reader punch that was marketed for it- non working is ok visually - working would be a wonderful thing! Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 5/24/2017 8:26:28 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes: On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 7:20 PM, Jim Brain via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org > wrote: > On 5/23/2017 1:07 AM, dave.g4ugm at gmail.com wrote: > >> You probably need a null modem cable. >> > I had one (and used it), but not all null modem cables are evidently the > same :-) I soldered up a loopback as you suggested, and the unit dropped > into DATA MODE on startup. I then played with the signals. The unit > really does want DCD to be active, as just doing CTS/RTS, DTR/DSR, and > RX/TX did not do the trick. Evidently, my null modem cable I had tested > with previously does not connect DCD. Swapped out for a null modem adapter > (from our old now deceased friend Radio Shack) and the unit works with a > new Dell M4800 laptop (so "newer" style +-10V RS232 levels must be OK. > The minimum legit voltage swing for RS-232 is supposed to be plus and minus 5 volts and the maximum allowed voltage swing is plus and minus 25 volts. The problems occur when gear didn't bother to do the negative swing to minus 5 volts. Plus and Minus 10 volts is more than adequate. The printer ribbon has less life left in it than I anticipated, but a list > member is helping me, so it should be good to go after a deep cleaning and > a light oiling. I did notice the printhead starts to stutter at times on > long lines, but I *think* it's a function of the damage to the ribbon, so > we'll troubleshoot that only if it continues after ribbon fixes. > The ribbon on my 43 is a reinking type. The ribbon loop is maybe 18 inches? I have a new in bag ribbon which I am sure is also dried out. I used a drop of thin oil on the reinking roller the last time I messed with it and that seemed to work. You probably want to use something that will lubricate because the pins on the dot matrix print heads do need that to keep them >from rusting and wearing out. The "stutter" you mention is normal. The printer electronics buffers a few characters during the slow carriage return and prints slightly faster than 30cps so when a new line is started it goes at full speed until the buffer is empty at which point it goes into the stutter mode. This eliminated the need to send nulls after a carriage return that was necessary on the earlier purely mechanical printers. -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175

8 years, 9 months

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DEC rack-mount AlphaServer 2100A

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

If there's anyone out there with a rack-mount DEC AlphaServer 2100A - the one with the underslung pair of power supplies -- I'd appreciate your help in determining the 15-pin control-cable configuration for J3. It may require examining the other end of the "power supply control cable assembly" P#17-04014-01, which is 24-pin (to handle the dual/redundant power supply configuration). Available hardware documentation is pretty sparse. Physical examination of an AlphaServer 2100A system backplane (54-24129-01) would certainly help! While I'm pretty sure that I've figured out the +5V +- sense lines (pins 3-4), and the +3.3V +- sense lines (pins 15-14), I've failed to determine the purpose of other control lines - most particularly which one(s) turn it on. Pins 10 is suspect, but there's no obvious reference point for voltage measurement or evidence whether it should be shorted to another pin, or . something else. There's no control relay or other obvious mechanism. The PCB is dense-packed with surface-mount components on one side and power components on the other; tracing circuits is a bear. Applying AC starts up the 24VDC fans, but none of the four switchers kick in :-<. Thanks for any clues! paul

8 years, 9 months

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NCR 6081

by aek＠bitsavers.org

would be nice if someone could save this, since it is so complete. he's only off my about 20 years in the age of it www.ebay.com/itm/292132955235

8 years, 9 months

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DEC terminals and classic server computing

by henry.bnd＠gmail.com

I have long had an interest in server tech and "technology with character" I finally took the plunge and got a DEC and I am looking for something of a similar vintage to connect it to. I have read about VAXstations, z80 based mainframes. This seems like the kind of devices I would like to acquire and learn the workings of. I also require a keyboard for my DEC terminal. As this is my first post to the list, I am mostly looking for resources (UK would be preferable) -- H Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

8 years, 9 months

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DIR of old computer collectors #3

by steve＠oldcomputers.net

Here's the page for now for your perusal - the temporary URL is subject to change. http://oldcomputers.net/some-collectors.html There's a submit button in the upper right, but it just emails me. The entry field in the upper left is kind of fun - enter a valid address or location, select it from the drop-down box, and it takes you there. It also gives GPS coordinates.

8 years, 9 months

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For Sale: RCA COSMAC VIP with SC/MP II co-processor

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

This is a very cool COSMAC VIP that has been slightly modded to act as a front-end processor for an SC/MP II processor board with a custom-built front panel for the SC/MP as well as some interesting add-ons for the VIP (PROM programmer, Tiny BASIC ROM card, CDP1855 math co-processor) and more. Full description and links to photos here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?58035-RCA-COSMAC-VIP-with-SC-MP-I… I also produced a video to show off the setup for historical purposes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BozGSTumwXc Thanks! Sellam

8 years, 9 months

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Help cloning an SGI boot drive

by mazzinia＠tin.it

Hello, I tried to clone a boot drive ( on a bigger one ), using one of the scripts on nekochan. The disk was initialized , labelled Then formatted by the script, and cloned. The data is present if I mount it The issue starts when I change the id and try to boot from it... this is what I get esf read error, bad count esf read error, bad count no file system found for "unix". unable to execute dksc(0,1,0)unix: media not loaded autoboot failed dksc(0,1,0)unix: media not loaded >From Prom, ls gives : dksc(0,1,8)/: sgilabel sash symmon esf read error, bad count no file system found for "/". Any suggestion is accepted. Alessandro

8 years, 9 months

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HP9816 keyboard plunger wanted.

by mattislind＠gmail.com

Hello! I recently received a HP9816 machine. The previous owner originally got the machine without a keyboard but subsequently sourced a keyboard off ebay. Unfortunately this keyboard was not in the best shape. One key was stuck and when taking it apart it was evident that it has taken a bath for quite some time. At least the electronics around the space bar were quite affected with corrosion. Luckily this keyboard is quite simple design with only CMOS 4XXX IC, and better yet, Tony Duell has already reverse engineered it (together with the rest of this little machine). Thanks a lot Tony! But the stuck key appeared to be cause by the "plunger" (is that the correct english word?) is slightly cracked in the corner. When the keytop is inserted it is not sliding very well. I have not found a method of repairing it so I am asking the community if there are anyone that has spare "plungers" for the HP9816 keyboard. http://i.imgur.com/q5aRQnC.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/67xWZ8q.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/cGWCKFw.jpg?1 This is the keyboard at the hpmuseum.net page: http://www.hpmuseum.net/images/200serieskeyboardsmall-35.jpg /Mattis

8 years, 9 months

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Random musing: VCB02 on VAX-11/750

by derschjo＠gmail.com

So I had a random thought in the wee hours this morning and I leave it to you, the cctalk braintrust, to tell me exactly how stupid this idea is: I have a VAX-11/750, an Able QNiverter (UNIBUS->Qbus adapter), a 22-bit Qbus backplane, and a VCB02 (QDSS) 4-bit graphics boardset. Theory: With an appropriately modified NetBSD driver for the VCB02, such that it provides only 18-bit addresses to the VCB02's DMA engine, I can get X running on the VCB02 on the 11/750. That is, the configuration is: 11/750->Unibus->QNiverter->Qbus->VCB02. Obviously the console functionality of the VCB02 won't work since that requires support on the VAX side of things that won't be present, but I think everything else should work. I've browsed the technical manual and I don't see anything that should get in the way, I'll just need to hack up the driver appropriately. But this is something that randomly popped into my head (I was inspired by a research paper, "A VAX Based Data Acquisition Computer System at the Nuclear Structure Research Laboratory" wherein a Matrox QRGB Qbus graphics board was lashed to an 11/750 in a similar manner... What say you all? - Josh

8 years, 9 months

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What connector is this?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

Can someone tell me what kind of connector this is: http://i.imgur.com/ZvLLQSO.jpg?1 A source for a mating male connector is appreciated! /Mattis

8 years, 9 months

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Run/Stop switch from a Soviet S/370 clone

by lproven＠gmail.com

My flatmate has one of these. Just the small subassembly with the 2 push-buttons and a red light between them. Is this something that would be of interest to anyone? I'm trying to persuade him to eBay it instead of throwing it away. We've also got the plastic covers from a few disk packs, an empty metal chassis and a few other odds and sods. Sadly most of the machine was binned long long ago. :-( -- Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven ? Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053

8 years, 9 months

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In Hong Kong any old computing places to go?

by cliendo＠gmail.com

Im working in Hong Kong the next few weeks and I was wondering if there is a place of interest I should check out

8 years, 9 months

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AW: Re: Rack-mounting a TU56

by gerhard.kreuzer＠liftoff.at

Hi, will join a group buy, need caps for 2 drives .. With best regards Gerhard -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- Von: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Im Auftrag von cctalk-request at classiccmp.org Gesendet: Montag, 06. M?rz 2017 19:00 An: cctalk at classiccmp.org Betreff: cctalk Digest, Vol 33, Issue 6 Send cctalk mailing list submissions to cctalk at classiccmp.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to cctalk-request at classiccmp.org You can reach the person managing the list at cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."

8 years, 9 months

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Ebay - PDP-8/M

by anders.k.nelson＠gmail.com

Oh boyee: http://www.ebay.com/itm/112414315290 I thought the M variants all had blank front panels and bootstraps, but this has all the pretty stuff! How difficult are those switchers to fix for one trained in EE, but better at debugging logic? =] -- Anders Nelson +1 (517) 775-6129 www.erogear.com

8 years, 9 months

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