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

building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > > > > Two examples of the results of that... AmigaDOS, BeOS. There are others. > > > > AmigaDOS is different, but I don't know if it has all the features > > I'd like. As far as I know, BeOS tries to be somewhat Unix compatible. > > Well, AmigaDOS has processes, threads, semaphores, message ports, > messages, preemptive multitasking, multiple file systems and long file names > (on such filesystems that support that). It's not multi-user so it lacks > file permissions but it's a single user OS anyway. What else do you need? Well, for one thing I'd want multiuser capability, clustering, and the GUI would have to be improved. I never liked the looks of the Amiga GUI; it looked primitive to me. I haven't seen an Amiga lately, so I don't now if the looks of the GUI ever improved. I use a GUI primarily to manage several text windows, so I could ignore most of the GUI anyway, but the text displays would have to be fixed. And the OS should not require a GUI for system operation. I like my systems to be connected to a terminal server with one main system acting as the terminal (along with my VT525). -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Next N4000 Megapixel -- whats c57 and C201B?

by claudew＠videotron.ca

Hi all... I have been trying to bring my Next station to complete working shape... I have "restored" and tested the CRT on the N4000 (part no 135.00) MegaPixel monitor and seems to be ok on a Sencore CRT tester...dont think it would last for years now but should be giving a picture.... But I am still without a picture. When power is turned on, I can hear the HV "crackle" for a fraction of a second but then no HV. I dont know if someone played around in this monitor but on the verticaly mounted board ("analog board"?) C57 and C201B (top near flyback) are missing...anybody got one open or schematics to tell me if they should be there and the values? There seems to have been some soldering work there -- but hard to tell... Kinda weird cause these are the two only empty parts locations in the whole board... Thanks Claude http://www.members.tripod.com/computer_collector or http://computer_collector.tripod.com

24 years, 4 months

2
2
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DEC B400X expansion chassis

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

OK, my neighbor just dumped a B400X expansion chassis on me (unfortunatly he's keeping the VAX 4000-100). Is the backplane straight Q-Bus? I'm wanting to see about stuffing a VAX 3400 boardset in there (that he also gave me). I'm assuming I can't stick something like a 4000-300 boardset in it (really don't know as I've not had access to something like that), or do they plug directly into the Q-Bus? Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

24 years, 4 months

5
5
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New toy: VAX with DECVoice

by rdd＠smart.net

This morning a truck arrived with a box for me weighing about 140lbs. :-) Please note: quite some time ago, I mentioned ordering something from a company called Techs R Us, in Texas, via E-Bay that, hadn't arrived yet. There was a reason for the (very) long delay in the shipping of this computer system; the lady who owns the computer business selling it had a health problem and was unable to ship it at the time. That apparently explains negative feedback on E-bay for her company. She's a very pleasant person to speak with, and does return telephone calls, although not always right away... so, if you order anything from her, please be patient. It may take a long time to arrive, but you should receive it. What I received today arrived in excellent physical condition; not even a dent in the packing box. Has anyone on this list been to her store in Dallas Texas? The aforementioned system was sent via Craters and Freighters, and USF Worldwide delivered it after they called ahead a couple of days ago. The two men on the truck asked where I wanted it, and they carefully placed the box in that location. Much better service than UPS! After pulling all of the heavy wire staples out, opening up the box, removing big pieces of styrofoam and lots of foam packing chips, a VAX 4000-200 in heavy bubble wrap became visible. After extracting the VAX from the box and unwrapping it, I discovered the following: a rather ordinary VAX with what appears to be 16MB of RAM, a KA660 CPU and two 300MB DSSI disks... and other interesting bits described below. Seeing what appeared to be terminated miniature SCSI connetor and a centronics connector, I was hoping to find a SCSI board in the system, but no such luck. ...what I did find, however: a dual height board labeled "Talon Technology Corporation" connected to a DB15 connector. This board has various numbers on it; not sure which one the model number is. Some of the numbers are: 100501-2, 01B14 and 1242344. Does anyone know what sort of critter this board is? The other somewhat interesting find: a set of boards labeled M3135-01, M3135-02 and M3136. The M3135 boards appear to be something called DECVoice and the M3136 connects the M3135 to T1 telephone service. Is anyone familiar with these? It is correct to guess that this won't work with a regular home telephone line? Once I finish disassembling it, extract any spiders and move it inside the house, I'll check it out, and see if it boots up. ...that is, if I can find any place to put it, which I should have thought of before buying it many months ago. Alas, it has neither a tape drive nor a CD-ROM drive. There's one cable that looks like the type that attaches to to a TK50 or TK70 drive, but no power connector in sight. Am I going to need a tray for the tape drive that plugs into the sockets on the backplane? -- Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.net 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.net beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

24 years, 4 months

11
15
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Apple II mini-assembler

by paul＠orchard.wccnet.org

The Enhanced Apple IIe has the mini-assembler built-in. From the monitor, type an exclamation point and press RETURN. I am not sure about the IIc's or IIgs's, but I would guess they support it the same way. If you boot a DOS 3.3 System Master, it loads the language card with Integer BASIC and the rest, including the mini-assembler. I have some information about the Apple II ROMS, including the mini-assembler source code, at http://people.delphi.com/paulrsm/6502/6502.htm Paul R. Santa-Maria Monroe, Michigan USA

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Hackers: Computer Outlaws revisited

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated 7/27/01 1:00:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mikeford(a)socal.rr.com writes: > OH... I see... The victim has primary responsiblity for the crime. I must > >admit, I do agree with your statement "LOCK THEM UP". But it's not the > house > >or the server that shuold be locked up, it's the CRIMINALS! > > I think a server on a high bandwidth connection with the default root and > password could easily be considered an attractive nuisance. Just like a > backyard swimming pool with no fence or lock on the gate. > Excellent analogy!! Somebody falls in your insecure pool and YOU are at fault. This scenario happens all too often in America. It should not be this way agreed, but it is. -Linc Fessenden In The Beginning there was nothing, which exploded - Yeah right... Calculating in binary code is as easy as 01,10,11.

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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HP 88780 scsi command ref?

by aek＠spies.com

I've been having trouble locating a copy of the manual which fully describes the command set supported by the 88780. I have the maint manual, but it doesn't talk about how to program the drive. If you have a copy of a manual which describes this, please email me at aek(a)spies.com

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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DEC B400X expansion chassis

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > So you can plug a 3400 card set into it, or a KA660 (VAX 4000/200) > > card set into it. Both work just fine. But you _cannot_ plug a 4000/300 > > board set into it. > > Is this a Q-CD issue, a bandwidth issue or what? The 4000/300 and up CPUs use a different bus for CPU and memory interconnect. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

1
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NCD HMX stuff available

by Mzthompson＠aol.com

During a recent pickup of some DEC, I was also given a couple NCD HMX Xterminal bases. These are the pizza box ones. I was told one had a bad power supply and the other had no video output. Given that, I pulled the good power supply and the two network cards. One card has BNC/AUI and the other has RJ45/AUI. They're available for S&H. Mike

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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New find: DECUS RSX SIG Tapes

by mbg＠world.std.com

>My understanding of the Mentec hobby license only covered use fo rthe >emmulators, not real hardware. Firstly, Mentec doesn't have a hobbyist license. Secondly, the license which they have granted does indeed limit the rights to use the software to certain emulators only. It does not grant rights to use the software on real hardware... You are correct. Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg KB1FCA | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Lexidata (was Re: Sun 1)

by cmr＠sitaranetworks.com

> Yep that monitor looks a lot like one I have... but mine has a logo > that says "LexiData", I think. It has 10 BNC connectors (separate > sync, and a set of pass-through connectors I guess). I worked at Lexidata from 82-84. They should have been up there with Sun and Apollo, but they made some bad business decisions. Lexidata had the patent for the h/w implementation of Z-buffering and should have 'owned' the solids modeling market. The monitor (from memory) should have 2 sets of R G B Vs Hs, which accounts for the 10 bnc connectors. Internally it could probably take sync from the green bnc. It is almost certainly 1280x1024 and might be non-interlaced as Lexidat was either the first or one of the very first to have 1280x1024x60 controllers. Thanks for the memories and I hope this is useful Charles Richmond Manager of Kernel Development -- *********************************************************************** * Charles Richmond @ Sitara Networks * * cmr(a)sitaranetworks.com cmr(a)iisc.com cmr(a)acm.org * * 52 Second Avenue Suite 200, Waltham, MA 02451 * * (781) 487 5919 FAX (781) 684 8291 Cellular (617) 504 3379 * ***********************************************************************

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Collecting microprocessors?

by forslund＠tbaytel.net

Hi, I have been collecting microprocessors (among other things) for a couple of years. I collect mostly those from the 1970's period - 4,8, and 16 bit models, but have a few newer ones - all 486 and before. I collect any flavours i can obtain - Intel, AMD, Signetics, ... Most have either been given to me, or I've salvaged from old computers - don't worry, i won't dissassemble an older (working) computers, and I usually keep processor boards intact with memory ... Anyway, is there anyone else out there collecting these? Sure could use a catalogue/ list of available processors. Maybe it could be called The Chip and DIP Catalog ;-) Bob

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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argh was Re: FDDI

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

Folks, I apologize if my last remark (regarding FDDI, Ford Festivas, and using the right tool for the job) sounded snotty. I'm just trying to stand up for my principles, that combined with the fact that I'm in a bad mood probably didn't sound very nice. Sorry folks. -Dave McGuire

24 years, 4 months

3
2
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In a bind - need someone to host transputer website

by rmeenaks＠olf.com

Hi, Well, NBCi finally decided to get out of the webhosting business, so I need someone to host my website. NBCi was nice as it gave unlimited diskspace for free. I remember someone posted a message to the list indicating that he (was it Jay?) was willing to host any "classiccmp" related websites for free. Can anyone help me out? Thanks.... Ram -- ,,,, /'^'\ ( o o ) -oOOO--(_)--OOOo------------------------------------- | Ram Meenakshisundaram | | Senior Software Engineer | | OpenLink Financial Inc | | .oooO Phone: (516) 227-6600 x267 | | ( ) Oooo. Email: rmeenaks(a)olf.com | ---\ (----( )-------------------------------------- \_) ) / (_/

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Megagraphics

by optimus＠canit.se

I've been a whole lot to the junkyard this week. Together with a friend, I salvaged to 1990 vintage monitors. One is an Idek Iiyama 21" one, which works fine. I appreciate the fact that it's got both a D9 TTL input, a D15 analogue input, five BNC analogue inputs and five BNC outputs. The only minor flaw is the analogue connector, which is a plain D15, not a D15HD. I found that it used the same "standard" D15 VGA cable as IMP monitors, though. Anyone heard of some kind of common D15 VGA pinout? The other monitor, though, is an anonymous beast. It's around 19", and the label at the front says Megagraphics. On the back, apart from all the warnings and certifications, it says that it's been manufactured by Zenith, and the model number is 19MGM2. It's rather short in the back, which implies (to me, at least) that it's a monochrome monitor. It's got a D9 female input. The case style reminds me somewhat of a Xerox monitor (a lot of straight lines, very much late 80s). The size makes me think that it probably isn't TTL. Possibly ECL, which really wouldn't do me any good. OTOH, there's a chance that it could be analogue, and if I'm really lucky, that it uses the "standard" D9 VGA pinout. Does anyone know anything about this monitor, or have any advice on how to find anything out through probing? -- En ligne avec Thor 2.6a. "Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music." David McMinn

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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hayes chronograph

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Anybody know where I can find a Hayes Chronograph? I ran across my Smartmodem 300 (in original box!) in the garage the other day, and it showed the "companion" clock in a "stack" on the back of the box.. I"ve always wanted to find one.. Bill -- Bill Bradford mrbill(a)mrbill.net Austin, TX

24 years, 4 months

14
29
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ThinNet Hub

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jul 26, 17:29, Shawn T. Rutledge wrote: > On Thu, Jul 26, 2001 at 10:03:02PM +0100, Tony Duell wrote: > > It's better to think of the 'hub' as being distributed in the 10base2 > > transceivers (the modules that connect between the AUI port and the > > Well I have seen hubs to which coax is connected. Some were probably > arcnet, but weren't coax hubs ever used for thinnet? Maybe to boost > the signal and get past the length limitation, or maybe to isolate > "problem" branches so they don't interfere with other branches? They're often called "repeaters" which is actually a more accurate description. Yes, they are used to get over the length limitation (you can have up to 5 segments, connected by 4 repeaters, between any two hosts, though not all segents can be populated and there are rules about lengths, propagation delays, etc). They're also used to get over the number-of-hosts-on-a-segment limitation. However, they don't isolate collision domains; a collision on one segment will be faithfully copied to the others. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Hackers: Computer Outlaws revisited

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated 7/26/01 10:25:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, vaxman(a)qwest.net writes: > Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap! > > How would YOU feel if someone broke into your computer system and took > YOUR files to do whatever he felt like with? Or hacked your voicemail > system and listened to your messages? > > I know your knee-jerk reaction... I don't have anything I care about > on my computer... First off, there is a HUGE difference between Hackers and Crackers. Hackers generally DO NOT make it a point to cause dammage - they are just "browsing" for the most part. > If your name, DOB, and SSN are ANYWHERE on your computer, a hacker can > steal your identity. A credit card number (perhaps from an letter you > typed in and FAXed to purchase something because you didn't want to > send your CC# across the internet)? Bank account numbers? ETrade > account numbers? You would FAX a credit card or account number? Why not just buy a billboard for it somewhere. Computer systems for online purchases use encryption for this information and I know we all know that on this list. Now before you go getting bent about my reply, let me quantify a little bit: I am not promoting hacking into someone's computer nor am I saying I want anyone roaming around in any of mine for any reason. What I am saying is I would much rather have a "hacker" in there than some damn "script kiddie" (which wasn't covered really in the show).. They are the bad ones - the crackers.. Now as far as the show, I though it was pretty good and tastfully done. On a personal note, while people like Kevin Mittman might "legally" be considered criminals my opinion is since they caused little or no dammage, and made no money off their "efforts" the FBI would have been better off spending my taxpayer money catching murderers or drug dealers, etc.. But, like I said, that's only my opinion. If you want to throw someone in jail for computer crimes, catch some of those 13 year old script kiddies that keep crashing computers and running DDOS attacks and hang them - AND their parents. At least with Mittman in your system, your system is still running. -Linc Fessenden In The Beginning there was nothing, which exploded - Yeah right... Calculating in binary code is as easy as 01,10,11.

24 years, 4 months

3
2
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WTB: Epson HX-40 in working order

by nerdware＠laidbak.com

Hey, group. A friend of mine just acquired one of those big programmable highway emergency signs (the one with the little flourescent flip segments). It works, except the computer that runs it is flaky on a good day. It's an Epson HX-40 with a cassette interface that connects to the sign-control circuitry, running a proprietary control app. Anybody here have one in good working order that they wouldn't mind parting with? Let me know. Thanks! Paul Braun WD9GCO Cygnus Productions nerdware_nospam(a)laidbak.com "A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without a bunch of bricks tied to its head."

24 years, 4 months

3
5
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Strange PSU mains connector

by rdd＠smart.net

It appears that the engineers at DEC who designed the VAX4000-200 power supply may have been short on functional brain cells. Although due to a lack of MMJ or RJ-14 (I'd just cut the tabs off) connectors, I can't properly test this VAX, I thought I'd at least power it up, check the PSU and look at the LEDs. This was foiled by the need for a special power cord, or at least a, literally, hacked power cord. For those who haven't seen this PSU mains connector, it looks sort of like illustration A below, where the 'o' represents a piece of plastic sticking out to block a standard cable from being plugged in. - - o- - - - A B Did DEC have a reason for doing this, other than to be able to extort money from people who need replacement power cords, or to sell them new systems when they make replacement power corde obsolete? -- Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.net 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.net beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

24 years, 4 months

6
10
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The new VAX is alive!

by dittman＠dittman.net

> Nothing wrong with newer versions, personally I prefer running 7.2 on my > VAXen, though I do keep one at 5.5 for compiles. Still for systems without > a lot of RAM V5.5-2 choice. I picked up a TZ867 yesterday and the cartridge library had what might be a TK50 distribution of V5.5-2H4. I'm going to check this week and if it is, I'm going to install it on a secondary drive. I seem to recall -2H4 is the earliest release that runs on the 4000/300. > > This far, I haven't noticed anything truly remarkable with regards to > > software, although at first glance, it looks like nothing is missing. > > Fortunately, someone installed kermit, so that will make things, > > such as installing TCP/IP, easier. :-) > > You've a couple choices with VMS 5.5, the easiest is the freeware stack > CMUIP, I used it before the V2 Hobbyist program. I'd recommend a TCPIP > stack from Process software, one or both supports V5.5-2. I prefer Multinet. > > DECnet is installed and apparently configured, so I guess this means > > that I can use my DEC terminal server with this machine... do I need > > to do anything other than connect the terminal server to the VAX and > > then use it? I know nothing about DECnet. > > Try saying 'connect {hostname}' on the terminal server, and see what > happens. If that doesn't work, you might need to turn on the software that > is needed for LAT. The configuration needs to be checked before connecting to the network if you've got any other systems running DECnet to make sure there are no conflicts. As for the termina server, are you wanting to connect a serial port on the terminal server to the console port on the VAX or do you want to connect the terminal to a serial port on the terminal server and connect to the VAX over the network? -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Cipher C880 tape drive

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

I read this list in digest form so I get stuff a little late. No need to worry Chad, the controller is an Emulex Pertec-type controller - two 50-pin cables. I think the model is TC02 (big chip label reads TC0210201-FSJ), assembly # on pcb is TU0210401 rev G. Re the Cipher C880 tape drive, I found some references in Google but nothing panned out. There was supposed to be a PDF version of the F880 manual on www.retrobytes.org according to http://www.classiccmp.org/mail-archive/classiccmp/2000-03/0050.html but danged if I can find it there. Looks like the site only lists used PC stuff for sale. The back of the drive says it runs at 1600 or 3200 bpi. That's a new one on me. Hope those old tapes I made long ago are at 1600 and not 800. Photos I saw of the F880 look just like my drive. That's promising but superficial. Does anyone know the difference between the Cipher C880 and the F880 series? Anybody have any detailed info on either drive? Brian =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _| _| _| Brian Knittel / Quarterbyte Systems, Inc. _| _| _| Tel: 1-510-559-7930 Fax: 1-510-525-6889 _| _| _| Email: brian(a)quarterbyte.com _| _| _| http://www.quarterbyte.com

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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I'm *ALSO* new to this list!

by Mzthompson＠aol.com

On Thu, 26 Jul 2001; Mike Ford <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> wrote: > You aren't REALLY a true packrat until you realize you can't bring home > more than a small bag of groceries because of the computer stuff in your > car that you don't have room to put in your house. ROFL... The truth don't hurt as much when it is funny... Seriously, thanks Mike. I knew that router was around here somewhere, and it turns out it was right where I left it, in the back of my wife's car. I just needed a little reminder. Mike

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Wanted: info on Limrose MicroTutor (8080 trainer)

by sieler＠allegro.com

Hi, I just got a nice looking Limrose Microtutor (MPT 8080/K-1) ... without any documentation :( Does anyone have any? thanks! Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html www.allegro.com/sieler

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Hackers: Computer Outlaws revisited

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated Thu, 26 Jul 2001 10:12:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Clint Wolff (VAX collector)" <vaxman(a)qwest.net> writes: > A point to ponder... Would it be okay for someone to enter your house > and poke around in your closets? Watch your home movies on your VCR? A point for you to ponder.. There is no such thing as complete security on your computer. You can't do it unless you never turn it on. Since that is true, realisticly I would much rather have someone browse than break/crack/destroy. Thats my only point. Stopping everyone from hacking would be like stopping everyone from speeding - just can't be done. > > PS Why do you think a FAX is equivalent to a billboard? It is a > lot easier to break into an etailer's computer and steal the > whole database of customer information. Couple real logical reasons for this.. What if you send the fax to the wrong place? Who says how many people have access to walk by the fax machine with your credit card number on it before it's delivered to who it needs to go to? I work in a company office with only 50 other people and can't manage to get my faxes every time they're sent - somehow they "get lost" between the machine and me - this would horrify me if I were getting credit card numbers or account numbers, etc.. Who says the person delivering your faxed numbers is an honest person? etc.. It's easier to break into a secure encrypted computer and get information than to walk by a fax machine somewhere and grab some papers? NOT.

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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ThinNet Hub

by dittman＠dittman.net

> There were thinnet repeaters which provided segment isolation and regenerated > the signal onto other segments... > > The DEC Delni comes to mind. I've got a DECrepeater 90C. It has six coax connectors for linking segments. I don't use it for anything, but I can't see throwing it away. Someone may need one sometime. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote: > > just how much has been lost to time in the onslaught of Microsoft and Unix > > (the two worst things to happen to the industry but some might argue about > > the Unix bit 8-) > > At the risk of pandering to a troll, what were/are the alternatives? > > I am not interesting in hearing about MS as having had to deal with it > for 17 years, I've lived why it was a bad thing. > > Unix - well fragmentation is the only thing I can think of, which is > being mirrored in Linux these days. > > what alternative(s) was there? Why do you speak in the past tense? While at work, I do UNIX, at home I use two *very* good alternatives, OpenVMS and MacOS (ok, so it's turning into another OS, but I'm not using OS X). There is also Amiga OS, version 3.9 was released a couple months ago. TOS systems are still available new. Then there are the various non-UNIX OS's that IBM has. Let's not forget the PDP-11 OS's that are still in active use, and still seeing some development (nor forget the fact you can still buy new PDP-11's). Shoot, TOPS-20 is still around on XKL's hardware. Of all of the above, as many here know, my personal favorite is OpenVMS, and it's a very real, very good, and very actively developed alternative. Zane

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> And as to the "much faster" part, for purist reasons, I put a config flag in > my HP 2100/21MX/7900/7948/7970 emulator that attempts to present a similar > instruction execution speed profile as the original hardware. Of course I > turn it off for development, but.... *G* Interesting point. IIRC, the Macintosh PDP-8/e emulator has an option to run at native speeds, however, I don't think any of the PDP-11 emulators do. Of course other than clock skew that I've seen, the faster the PDP-11 the better :^) Same thing goes for the PDP-10, the faster the better (and on at least the simh PDP-10 emulator the clock skew problem has been solved). Zane

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

what the hell.

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001 16:22:15 -0700 "Stan Sieler" <sieler(a)allegro.com> writes: > The HP 300 (codename "Amigo") is an exceedingly rare computer from > 1978 or so, and didn't run Unix of any kind. > > Pictures at: http://www.sieler.com/hp300/ (someone else's) > and http://www.sieler.com/hp300_2 (mine) Whoa, that's one beat-up badboy you got there. Does it run? ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

24 years, 4 months

7
6
0 0

HP7978A tape drive

by ojw＠dircon.co.uk

Hi - new to this list and wondered if anyone could point me in the direction of likely sources for user and/or (preferably) technical docs/manuals for HP7978A reel-to-reel tape drive? I have tried Monterey Bay but unfortunately no success). Many thanks in advance. Oliver

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Looking for AS/400 help

by red＠bears.org

Hi there. This is not on-topic for the list, since it's a newer RISC model, but if there is anybody listening who knows aught about AS/400 who wouldn't mind giving me a hand with this 9406 I just bought from a dot-gone auction, I could use some help getting it set up and checked out. Help local to the Seattle area would be a bonus. Contact me off list if I can pick your brain. Thanks! ok r.

24 years, 4 months

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Apple varients?

by marino13＠btinternet.com

Quick, probably quite stupid, question... but can anyone tell me what exactly teh differences are between teh various "flavours" of Apple II? I.e. the IIe, IIc, IIee, IIcp etc? Cheers! Shaun

24 years, 4 months

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building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> Hmm... I think I'd rather have a go at making a real PDP10.... That could > be an 'interesting' project.... > > -tony > There is currently a project underway to do an FPGA implemenation of a PDP-10 (I forget which CPU). The person working on this seems to be making fairly good progress. Zane

24 years, 4 months

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I'm *ALSO* new to this list!

by Mzthompson＠aol.com

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001; Shaun Stephenson <marino13(a)btinternet.com> wrote: > I'm also new to the list... how did I miss it all this time?! Welcome > Nice to be in a new community - you guys certainly seem to collect way different > stuff to the UK guys! Well Shaun, it is this way. Since we crossed the pond to the colonies, we have undergone a genetic mutation with regards to out 'packrat' genes. We will haul home just about anything and everything, then the genes kick in and we just can't seem to part with it. So it becomes part of the collection. :^)) Wife's point of view :(( Mike

24 years, 4 months

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Fun "events" for VCF

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Vintage geek clothing contest. > heh. the winner should be someone who manages to find a way to wear both a t-sheet and a pocket protector... -dq

24 years, 4 months

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OT Jurassic Park

by jrice＠texoma.net

Does anyone know what Silicon Graphics systems were featured in Jurassic Park (the first one)? I can't find my copy of the movie, I think my 8 year old has hidden it.

24 years, 4 months

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Apple varients?

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> Quick, probably quite stupid, question... but can anyone tell me what > exactly teh differences are between teh various "flavours" of Apple II? > I.e. the IIe, IIc, IIee, IIcp etc? Not off the top of my head, the info is in the Apple ][ FAQ, but I've no idea where you can find it these days. Zane

24 years, 4 months

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building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > As far as you can build a mainframe from the things you find at home... > > > > It's pretty true if you start with Simh26... PDP11, PDP8, PDP10. > > No, not an emulation, a real machine.... > > Actually, round here, you probably couldn't run the emulator (and > certainly not at any reasonable speed) on any of the machines I own. But > if you dug about a bit, you might find enough parts to make at least a > minicomputer from scratch... Tony- I'm running SIMH on a 233MHz Pentium-1 with rather good response. At least, TOPS-10 seems as fast as it was at university loaded with students... Regards, -doug q

24 years, 4 months

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hayes chronograph

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jul 25, 14:54, Iggy Drougge wrote: > I don't know what it's like in your part of the hemisphere, but there's an > atomic clock down in Germany which broadcasts its time. IUt's quite easy to > obtain clocks which rely on its signal, and I've seen designs for a similar > cartridge for the Atari ST. Can't remember whether it plugged into the > parallel or cartridge port. > Hmm, sounds very much like something that would be printed in Elektor or C't. Elektor did indeed publish a design -- in fact, more than one -- some years ago, and other magazines have, too. The transmissions are pretty low frequency (low end of long wave: 60kHz) so a receiver has to be accurately controlled if it's going to work - most use crystal control. > Anyway, that should be the optimal timekeeping device, assuming you can come > up with the hardware and that you're within reach of the transmitter. The German one is DCF at Mainflingen (IIRC) and there's a similar transmitter (MSF) at Rugby in the UK. There's at least one in the US (Colorado) as well. See http://www.npl.co.uk/npl/ctm/electronic_projects.html for some ideas. One of my erstwhile colleagues built a very nice receiver with an active aerial (the signal is easily interfered with by other LF sources, eg computers) and a Z80-based decoder driving a cuckoo clock (yes, with a wooden cuckoo behind door, that comes out on the hour, and by courtesy of a speech synthesis routine, says "At the third stroke, the time will be .... KOO-koo .. KOO-koo .. KOO-koo". He had an eccentric sense of humour :-)) The clock is still used to provide time service accurate to a few miliseconds across campus. His web pages are no longer around, I think, but similar designs are to be found at http://www.nukem.freeserve.co.uk/contents/electronics/clock/ and several other places. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 4 months

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building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> --- Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> wrote: > > > Anybody have MDL compiler? I'll get back into PDP-10 hacking if I can > > > find one. > > > > There's been discussion about it over on alt.sys.pdp10; not being a > > Zorkaphile, I haven't been following the discussion very closely... > > Thanks. I have access to an XKL-10 for regression testing of my zDungeon > port of Zork to the Inform language, but the binary I have is several > puzzles out of date (no Royal Puzzle, no Canary, no Bank, and, a few more). > It's about 18 months older than the final version that was cut before > the crew left to found Infocom. > > Of course, if anyone has a newer binary of Zork for the PDP-10, I'd welcome > that, too. > > I'll go check out Deja.com and see what I can see on it. > Thanks for the tip. Better purge those deja.com links before they go stale... point yourself instead at: http://groups.google.com Regards, -dq

24 years, 4 months

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HP 300 (was: "what the hell")

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On Thu, 26 Jul 2001, Stan Sieler wrote: > > > The CPU was CISC, silicon-on-saphire, and > > What a very interesting little machine. I am most intrigued. > What do you mean by "silicon on saphire" though? I wasn't following the earlier part of this, but chips that are bound for use in satellites often use sapphire as the substrate... something to do with resiliancy in a high cosmic-ray environment... -dq

24 years, 4 months

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machine appraisals

by tdilliga＠ilm.com

Is there any sort of group that does machine appraisals? I have a Tektronix 4054 which I picked up a couple of years ago by accident and am interested in getting a general idea of what it is worth. The machine is in good shape with some scratches and damage to the enamel, is clean on the inside, and works. I do not have documentation or any peripherals. >>>Tom

24 years, 4 months

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SGI Indigo keyboard?

by marino13＠btinternet.com

Hi all... Anyone got a spare keyboard and mouse for an SGI Indigo Iris XS24? Its a fairly specific one, different to the later machines in that it supported a pass thru for the mouse actually ON the keynoard, kinda like a Mac does. Any leads would be appreciated Shaun

24 years, 4 months

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building a PDP11 from the things you find at home

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> --- Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> wrote: > > I'm running SIMH on a 233MHz Pentium-1 with rather good response. At > > least, TOPS-10 seems as fast as it was at university loaded with > > students... > > > > Regards, > > -doug q > > Anybody have MDL compiler? I'll get back into PDP-10 hacking if I can > find one. There's been discussion about it over on alt.sys.pdp10; not being a Zorkaphile, I haven't been following the discussion very closely... -dq

24 years, 4 months

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Hackers: Computer Outlaws revisited

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Kevin Mitnick is a CONVICTED criminal, and has ADMITTED criminal > > behaviour. I don't get teary-eyed thinking about the time he spent in > > prison before the trial. He was a proven flight risk (he ran away > > once, and hid out in Denver). > > Me either. But then you forget just how badly the US Gubment violated his > civil rights. I don't know who's the bigger criminal in this case: > Mitnick or the Government. And believe me, I fear the Government WAY > more than I fear Mitnick. The Government is everywhere, and much more > powerful. Righto. I can think of some terrible things that might justify violating a citizen's civil rights; electronics sabotage is not, hwoever, amongst them... > > PS I daily have probe attacks on my DSL system from script kiddies > > looking to add another machine to their DDOS attack farm. > > Yeah, me too, but I don't obsess over it. I just make sure my security is > tight and worry about more important things. Yup. -dq

24 years, 4 months

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Fun "events" for VCF

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> --- Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > Vintage geek clothing contest. > > > > > > > wear... a t-sheet... > > > > -dq > > Is that what Roman Geeks wore? only when in posse mode, and only when roman' [sic] the food court... ;-) -dq

24 years, 4 months

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OT: Hackers: Computer Outlaws revisited

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> You would FAX a credit card or account number? Why not just buy a billboard > for it somewhere. I haven't had a chance to ask him yet, but my former sociology professor has *every* piece of confidential information you'd normally expect people to protect openly listed on his web page. I'm sure he's trying to make a point; eventually, I'll ask... -dq

24 years, 4 months

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VCFE Shopping List

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

ROLF... -----Original Message----- From: Mzthompson(a)aol.com [mailto:Mzthompson@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 1:21 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: VCFE Shopping List On Wed, 25 Jul 2001; "Cini, Richard" <RCini(a)congressfinancial.com> wrote: > ...whatever I get I have to sneak into the house :-) <snip> > "No, honey, really. I didn't buy anything more than this t-shirt." Rich, don't you think she will get suspicious when the t-shirt shows up in the laundry and she notices a size of XXXXXXXXL. She's gonna think to herself: "I thought he looked a little hefty when he came home, I wonder why????" :-) Mike

24 years, 4 months

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heck, are 11/785s extinct?

by phil＠ultimate.com

> Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 07:02:22 -0700 (PDT) > From: Ethan Dicks <ethan_dicks(a)yahoo.com> > > > The 11/782 was dual cpu 11/780's with shared memory bus run > > master-slave for compute bound tasks with the i/o run off of one > > cpu. > > Right. Developed by George Goble (of the LOX-on-the-BBQ fame), et. al, at > Purdue, IIRC. The 782 was the DEC solution, using a multiported memory (MA780). Each CPU had it's own SBI, with private UBA's and MBA's (UNIBUS and MASSBUSS adapters); <a href="http://www.montagar.com/dfwcug/VMS_HTML/timeline/1982-5.HTM">VAX/VMS V3</a> VMS V3 supported three new processors: the VAX-11/750, VAX-11/725, VAX-11/782. V3 features included asymmetric multiprocessing (ASMP) for VAX-11/782, support for new architectures, protocols and busses, system communication architecture (SCS), mass storage control protocol (MSCP), lock management system services, and MONITOR utility for performance monitoring. <a href="http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/vax700.html">VAX hardware reference - VAX 700 series</a>; VAX 11/782 Nickname: Atlas Cpu: Dual KA780 Vup: 1.8 Bus: 2 SBIs with 15 nexus slots each. Each slot can take a UBA (UNIBUS adapter), MBA (MASSBUS Adapter), or CI. (?) Introduced: 1982 NetBSD: (?) Probably The Purdue work connected the two CPU's by replacing the SBI bus terminator with the second CPU. There aparently were also a few 11/784s, with 4 CPU's, also using the MA780. http://www.cam.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/History/Vaxes.Txt, discusses it all, an includes a 1993 message from George. > My understanding was that the 11/785 was DEC's official implementation > of what George and crew cobbled together as the 11/782. It only saw > the light of day because, as you say, there was a gap in DEC's product > line with the delays in the 8600 and customers wanted more than what was > presently out there. The 785 was a late life kicker to the 780; It was not (by itself) a multiprocessor system. <a href="http://www.montagar.com/dfwcug/VMS_HTML/timeline/1984-2.htm">VAX-11/785</a> CPU cycle time in the VAX-11/785 was 133ns, 50% faster than the 200ns cycle time of the VAX-11/780. The accelerated cycle time allowed all CPU operations to run up to 50% faster, resulting in higher throughput, faster response time and the ability to support more users The NetBSD VAX hardware reference says that a 782 built from two 785's would have been called a "787" Disclaimer; I worked at DEC in the 80's, but on 36-bit products. (and briefly on the 64-bit RISC machine, codenamed "SAFE", which, after Cutler grabbed the project, was renamed PRISM).

24 years, 4 months

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Apple ][ boards -- what have I found?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

> Both of the Torch Coprocessors that I've seen use the 1MHz bus. The Z80 > one needs a ROM installed in one of the BBC's sideways ROM sockets. All the Torch Z80s I've seen DO use the Tube, though they don't quite follow Acorn's Tube protocols and don't always play well with other Acorn sideways ROMs. They don't use the Tube code in the Acorn DNFS ROM, instead they have their own sideways ROM (which unfortunately grabs some vectors at times it shouldn't, so having a DNFS ROM in the same machine can be problematic). Nor do they use an Acorn Tube ULA, instead they have an 8255 on the Z80 card. The Graduate does indeed use the 1MHz bus, though, and I think the Unicorn does too. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 4 months

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VCFE Shopping List

by Mzthompson＠aol.com

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001; "Cini, Richard" <RCini(a)congressfinancial.com> wrote: > ...whatever I get I have to sneak into the house :-) <snip> > "No, honey, really. I didn't buy anything more than this t-shirt." Rich, don't you think she will get suspicious when the t-shirt shows up in the laundry and she notices a size of XXXXXXXXL. She's gonna think to herself: "I thought he looked a little hefty when he came home, I wonder why????" :-) Mike

24 years, 4 months

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heck, are 11/785s extinct?

by dittman＠dittman.net

> How many VAX-11/78x machines were produced? > These days you expect that thousands of any machine would > be sold (except maybe the specialised supercomputers). > I believe that for the VAX 9000 series, only 400-500 made > it out of the door. The same order of magnitude may well > be true for the VAX-11/78x systems. You can't base the VAX-11/78x system sales projections on the VAX 9000 sales. The VAX-11/78x systems were very reliable and worked well. The VAX 9000 systems weren't and didn't. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

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Hackers: Computer Outlaws

by mjsnodgr＠rockwellcollins.com

I just so happen to have that song... Came across it on a Computer-Humor songs tape. (And promptly backed the tape up to my hard drive) - M.S. ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)(a)classiccmp.org on 07/25/2001 04:36:22 PM Please respond to classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Sent by: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org cc: Subject: Re: Hackers: Computer Outlaws > Is it just me, or could you imagine Tony Duell's team on a > high-tech version of Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars, > building a PDP-11 out of whatever they can find lying > around? Then toggling in the bootstrap... Years ago there was a filksong entitled 'You can build a mainframe from the things you find at home'... One of my friends came across it, turned to me and said 'In your workshop you probably could' :-) -tony

24 years, 4 months

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hackers - whoops

by LFessen106＠aol.com

Sorry about the attachment on my last post guys and gals.. Writing 2 emails at the same time and attached to the wrong one.. At least it wasn't a really big attachment :-) -Linc Fessenden In The Beginning there was nothing, which exploded - Yeah right... Calculating in binary code is as easy as 01,10,11.

24 years, 4 months

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need help with an old ST-251 MFM drive...

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

There are drivers available for systems with an 8088 and MS-DOS 2.11 (and up): http://www.palmzip.de/. This drivers works with the 100MB ZIP models, but might not with the 250MB. Bob Feldman -----Original Message----- From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk [mailto:ard@p850ug1.demon.co.uk] Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 5:49 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: need help with an old ST-251 MFM drive... <snip> Do the ZIP drivers run on an 8088? I thought that at least some versions didn't. -tony

24 years, 4 months

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need help with an old ST-251 MFM drive...

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Any tips? Any other ideas about how to get the data off of > this drive? Should I try another MFM controller? I'd use Kermit or some other serial-port file transfer... CrossTalk was a favorite of mine in those days; it could transfer multiple files at once, rather than one at a time (there may be a way to do that in Kermit that I never got around to doscovering)... ^^^ Humourous typo! -dq

24 years, 4 months

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test

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Mighty quiet...

24 years, 4 months

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Apple ][ boards -- what have I found?

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jul 25, 17:29, Derek Peschel wrote: > Oops, sorry. I knew there were two FIFOs but I didn't realize they were on > one chip. > > What exactly are the MOS routines designed to offer the second processor? > I know they can copy software over the Tube and do some relocation (and > that the relocation was enhanced in the Master). But what are the > functions/memory locations/etc. avaialble to each side? To understand that, you need to have a little information about how the MOS (Machine OS) works normally (without the Tube). The whole thing is based on a very structured and comprehensive set of system calls which handle everything a user, applications programmer, or sytems programmer would want to do. The two best known are OSByte and OSWord. OSByte is used to make system calls which take few parameters, which are therefore passed in the registers: A holds the call number (determines which OSByte function you want), and X and sometimes Y pass data. The low-numbered calls mostly read or write a value in the OS variable space (eg to set serial port parameters) and the high-numbered ones are read/modify ones. Typically A holds the call number, X holds a value, and Y holds a mask. The variable is ANDed with Y and EOR'd with X (so you can set, clear, toggle, or leave unchanged any bit) and the old value is returned in X. OSWord is used for calls that need larger parameter sets. Here X and Y contain the 32-bit address of a parameter block, which may be updated by the call. There are several other sets of calls, such as OSWrCh (write a character to an output stream, eg screen or printer), OSFile (assorted filehandling functions such as open or close a file, or read a file, a byte, a directory, or whatever), OSCli (pass text to the comand line interpreter), OSEven (generate an event - a software interrupt), etc. Everythng is written to use these calls, and they work over the Tube. If the call is initiated in the 2nd Processor, its ROM knows to pass it over to the I/O processor (the 6502 in the Beeb). If it's something that involves transferring a memory block, such as the OSWORD that reads a raw disk sector into a buffer, the top part of the 32-bit address determines whether the address refers to I/O processor address space or the 2P address space. The 2nd Processor ROM only needs to know how to pass parameters to the I/O processor, how to use the FIFOs to transfer data, and be able to jump to an address in its own memory space. > And how does the > whole thing get booted (and then stay running)? At reset, the MOS offers a series of service calls to each sideways ROM in turn (ie, it calls each ROM in turn, with a certain "reason code" in the A register). These calls give each ROM the opportunity to register itself as a language, a filing system, or a service provider. The ROM containing the Tube code accepts some of these calls and initialies the Tube interface. Meanwhile, if there's a second processor on the other side of the Tube, its ROM initialises its side, and when asked by the 6502 side, tells the 6502 what processor it is. Once the rest of the 6502 initialisation is complete, it will go into a loop waiting for system calls from the other side. If the other side is another 6502 (there's a 3MHz 65C02 2nd Processor), it will usually ask for a copy of the current language, which may be relocated to the top of memory, or if it's a Z80, it will ask the I/O processor to give it the contents of the first sector of a disk (and boot CP/M). > Also, ULA = Uncommitted Logic Array, a semi-custom PLA-like thing. Was > it made by Ferranti? Acorn used a few different ULAs and so did some other > vendors. I think Sinclair was one. Yes, it was Ferranti. A ULA was an array of gates with no final metallisation layer pre-defined; the designer would specify the interconnections between the gates (rather like drawing a PCB layout) and that was turned into a mask which was used to lay down the metallisation in the final stages of wafer manufacture. > And MOS = Machine OS = the ROM routines in the BBC, including the abstract > filesystem interface but not any filesystems (which could be added or > removed as desired) and an astonishing number of places for the user to > extend the code. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 4 months

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heck, are 11/785s extinct?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>more to the point :-). I had very little feedback. One from one There may not be many 11/78x machines in hobbyist hands. There may not be too many corporations subscribed to this list :-) It took me many years (admittedly in the UK) before I came across a uPDP-11. I've never seen a Robin (hint,hint...). You need to be patient. In my experience, the docs and hardware will come along at different times - never turn down an incomplete package (I'm preaching to the converted here since you have the innards already !). How many VAX-11/78x machines were produced? These days you expect that thousands of any machine would be sold (except maybe the specialised supercomputers). I believe that for the VAX 9000 series, only 400-500 made it out of the door. The same order of magnitude may well be true for the VAX-11/78x systems. How long have people been collecting such large machines? I don't have the room - I could not realistically find room for a VAX 4000 right now, never mind anything bigger! >9 months ago :-). However, I have indication that my 11/785 boards >won't work on the 11/780 backplane. So, I'm still desperately >looking for a 11/785. I would be a lot more patient if I saw those I don't know anything about the 11/780 => 11/785 upgrade but I would be surprised if the backplane had to be replaced. >in the first place. Where are they? They may all be in dealers wharehouses and defence sites and nuclear power stations. I did hear of three being decommissioned in the UK a few years ago but that's about it. >get some leads to follow. The underlying assumption being that >there is one 11/785 recycled as scrapmetal every month that I don't >find it. I suspect the underlying assumption is just that there are not that many of the beasts still around. I guess by the time I have the room for one of these, there won't be any left! Antonio

24 years, 4 months

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FDDI cables

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On July 26, gwynp(a)artware.qc.ca wrote: > > Wacky? Umm, no. Spewing a packet onto a shared medium and then > > detecting the presence of noise on the line to indicate a collision, > > then retransmitting at a random interval until the packet gets through > > is wacky. Deploying 100baseT everywhere and then putting everything > > on a MAC-layer-bridged port (thus defeating one of the primary design > > principles of the networking technology in use) to get anywhere near a > > usable level of performance is wacky. > > But less expensive. So are Ford Festivas...you get what you pay for. I realize that I'm a dying breed, but I prefer using the right tool for the job. -Dave McGuire

24 years, 4 months

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FDDI cables

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On July 25, Dan Wright wrote: > OK, so I've managed to scrounge up some free FDDI hardware from various places > around the U of Illinois (several boards and a concentrator), but I've been Free cards and concentrator, eh? Nice deal! > stuck at one problem point for several months: I have no cables, and new cables > are expensive, and I can't find used cables anywhere (except ebay where I'm not > sure I trust them). So, does anyone have FDDI cables, for sale or trade? > I need both FDDI MIC-MIC cables and MIC-ST cables (I got a DEC DEFPA PCI card > for my PC that uses ST connectors, I think because the MIC connectors are too My entire network of about thirty machines is FDDI, except for a few stragglers on ethernet. ALL of my cables, except for one or two, came >from eBay. Speaking as both a relatively heavy buyer and seller on eBay, the eBay trust issue is effectively addressed, in my opinion, by the feedback mechanism. If you go to buy some FDDI cables from some seller who has a dozen negative feedback comments complaining about bad cables, well, don't buy from that seller. :) > big to fit on the back of a PCI card...) I really want to get my very own > wacky dual-counter-rotating-ring topology network going in my apartment :) Wacky? Umm, no. Spewing a packet onto a shared medium and then detecting the presence of noise on the line to indicate a collision, then retransmitting at a random interval until the packet gets through is wacky. Deploying 100baseT everywhere and then putting everything on a MAC-layer-bridged port (thus defeating one of the primary design principles of the networking technology in use) to get anywhere near a usable level of performance is wacky. -Dave McGuire

24 years, 4 months

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cipher docs

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

Hi Douglas, I was the one asking about the Cipher docs. It would be great if you could put them up -- just let me know where to look and I'll vacuum them up. Thanks! Brian

24 years, 4 months

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Sparc at home

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jul 13, 13:50, Zane H. Healy wrote: > > I do not know much about any other 13W3 monitors, except that SGI also has > > their own 13W3 pinout, but you can make a swabber. > > I thought SGI and Sun used the same pinout. Only for the R,G,B coax connections. The rest of the pins are used for various monitor-type-sense and sync signals, and the SGI and Sun pinouts are quite different. To make matters worse, many SGI-badged monitors don't have the sync pins connected on the 13W3 (though you'll find articles on the web that explain how to get at the internal connections). And then to add insult to injury, SGI only put as many pins in their cables as they actually need (Sun mostly use fully-wired cables). Beige Indigo cables have one less pin than grey Indy cables! Lawrence is broadly correct about SGI/Sun and sync-on-green/composite sync. Indys and Indigos can generate separate sync, but the contemporary monitors mostly don't use it. The later ones do; the lack of sync is used to put the monitor into power-save, and Indys and O2s running IRIX 6.5 have *two* screensaver delays: the first for the saver to kick in, the second for the sync to be shut off to cause the monitor to power-save. In my experience, like Lawrence's, most badged monitors can handle all types of sync if you can get at it. The GDM-17E11 (SGI-badged Sony) for example has the sync connections inside, just not on the 13W3, and works fine with PCs and Suns if you add two wires. My HP-badged and DEC-badged GDM-1961HA, with 5 BNC and 3 BNC respectively, both support sync-on-green, and the DEC one has places to fit the extra 2 BNCs inside (IIRC you need to add resistors as well, and obviously you need to knock out two holes in the case). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 4 months

2
2
0 0

WTB: Epson HX-40 in working order

by Lee.Davison＠merlincommunications.com

Hi Ethan, --- Paul Braun <nerdware(a)laidbak.com> wrote: > Hey, group. > > A friend of mine just acquired one of those big programmable > highway emergency signs (the one with the little flourescent flip > segments). Does the Highway Department know? ;-) I've always wanted to play with that sort of thing. The flippy segments are cool, but several square feet of LEDs is cool, too. I wouldn't do it with a mechanical display, but an electronic one would make a cool binary clock. If you want lots of lights get an old electronic fruit machine (bandit). I was given one as scrap and it has over 400 12v bulbs (standard car instrument lights) in a matrix with the driver cards. Very pretty Xmas lights. Cheers, Lee. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- This email is intended only for the above named addressee(s). The information contained in this email may contain information which is confidential. The views expressed in this email are personal to the sender and do not in any way reflect the views of the company. If you have received this email and you are not a named addressee please delete it from your system and contact Merlin Communications International IT Department on +44 20 7344 5888. _____________________________________________________________________ This message has been checked for all known viruses by Star Internet delivered through the MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service. For further information visit http://www.star.net.uk/stats.asp or alternatively call Star Internet for details on the Virus Scanning Service.

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Apple ][ boards -- what have I found?

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text Size: 2129 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/20010722/c0af83a8/at…

24 years, 4 months

11
35
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heck, are 11/785s extinct?

by gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org

Hi, over the last weeks or so I dropped inquiries about 11/785s at various places. Some of them not asking if I could have one, others more to the point :-). I had very little feedback. One from one of our friends, who had the leftovers of a 11/780 to share (irony of that story is he got the 11/780 from Indiana to Denver 9 months ago :-). However, I have indication that my 11/785 boards won't work on the 11/780 backplane. So, I'm still desperately looking for a 11/785. I would be a lot more patient if I saw those popping up as abundantly as the 6000s pop up recently. What makes me really concerned is that few of you fellow VAX nerds have 11/78x in the first place. Where are they? BTW: does anyone know where Brian Chase is? Vacation? I need an information from him related to this matter. Sorry for being pushy with this, I'm just not as well connected as Chuck McManis, where people seem to be dropping off truckloads of VAX stuff at his house every other week :-). So I have to ask to get some leads to follow. The underlying assumption being that there is one 11/785 recycled as scrapmetal every month that I don't find it. So I appreciate any hints, even the slightest ones, like if you know of a place that might still be using an 11/785 or where I would be most likely able to detect one ... On the other hand, it might be that you guys are all looking for the same thing and so we may be competitors of sorts (albeit competing friends I'd hope :-). Like you wouldn't tell me if you saw an abandoned PDP-8 somewhere in a corner, would you? ;-) thanks, -Gunther -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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FDDI cables

by dtwright＠uiuc.edu

OK, so I've managed to scrounge up some free FDDI hardware from various places around the U of Illinois (several boards and a concentrator), but I've been stuck at one problem point for several months: I have no cables, and new cables are expensive, and I can't find used cables anywhere (except ebay where I'm not sure I trust them). So, does anyone have FDDI cables, for sale or trade? I need both FDDI MIC-MIC cables and MIC-ST cables (I got a DEC DEFPA PCI card for my PC that uses ST connectors, I think because the MIC connectors are too big to fit on the back of a PCI card...) I really want to get my very own wacky dual-counter-rotating-ring topology network going in my apartment :) Thanks, - Dan Wright (dtwright(a)uiuc.edu) (http://www.uiuc.edu/~dtwright) -] ------------------------------ [-] -------------------------------- [- ``Weave a circle round him thrice, / And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honeydew hath fed, / and drunk the milk of Paradise.'' Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

Sellam Ismail said: > On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Carlini, Antonio wrote: > > > Personally, I have only had one read-failure in several hundred burns. > > That's not counting a few coasters along the way - this was a partial > > read-failure some six months to a year later when I came to use the > > CD. > > Wait ten or twenty years, and then make your assessment. That's what Tim > is concerned with. And a test I use - a carbon-arc-lamp nicknamed "buttercup". (If there are any ex-Dabney-House readers here, they'll get the reference.) I can only run it intermittently, but all cyanine-based CD-R's become unreadable after a few hours of 10% exposure to it. (I think a few hours is somewhere around a decade of solar UV exposure.) The CompUSA-super-duper cheapies (CMC Magnetics by the ATIP code) become unreadable after just a few minutes. I think these use the cyanine dye without any stabilizers at all. I've melted pthalocyanine-based CD-R's (Kodak Ultima and Mitsui Gold) by putting them too close to the arc, but never damaged the data otherwise :-) Of course, two seconds in the microwave on "high" completely destroys them *all*! Tim.

24 years, 4 months

9
9
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Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Jerome Fine wrote: > >long I can expect any files to still be readable? Also, how long is it likely >that the magneto optical drive will last. I suspect that the drives are likely This is (I hope) the key. 5.25" floppies don't appear on mainstream PCs anymore. 8" floppies are still available (but there were IIRC more varieties than there were with 5.25"). 3.5" floppies are too small to last too much longer (although so far many of the attempted replacements - like the LS120 - are backwards compatible). I'll try not to mention 3" floppies (plus all the others I've never come across). I expect that CD drives will go the same way over the next five to ten years. Finding one twenty years from now will be somewht tricky. >"What sort of strategy is recommended to always be sure that old files (stored >on old media which can only be read with old drives) be rescued/copied to newer >media before that is no longer possible?" Firstly you have to get them into a portable digital form. For many things that just means copying them off the old media and archiving onto current media (i.e. CD or MO or whatever you happen to like). For some stuff (boot disks, copy-protected disks etc.) you have to archive in some kind of image format that preserves the original characteristics. (ISTRC reading a paper about some US uni doing exactly this and inventing an archival format ... but I've lost the reference). Once you have made the initial digital backup your task is much simpler. It would take me a lot of time to archive all of my floppy disks (especially if I try to verify that I can accurately recreate the original media from the archive copy). But once I've done that, I can probably fit all of them onto a handful of CDs (I'm guessing that I can get 500 floppies at least onto a CD and I doubt that I have even a few thousand ... so call it five CDs to be safe). That might take months, perhaps years of copying and verifying (cataloguing might be nice too !). Once it is done I could run off a second set in a few hours. And a third, and a fourth ... We'll skip DVD ... not enough of a leap forward and too hamstrung by Hollywood fo rthe prices to drop quickly enough for my liking. Five to ten years from now, when recordable C3D is commonly available, I can repeat the process for all my CDs (which by then may number a few thousand). At 125GB per C3D I should be able to get at least 175 CDs per C3D, so that's maybe 10 C3Ds to archive absolutely every piece of digital data I will have then. Again, a second backup for safety will (hopefully) be quite quick. At each stage, I can verify digital backup copies against each other fairly easily (I'm assuming that data rates will go up as capacity goes up ... otherwise I see a bottleneck looming!) It all depends on how careful I am making the initial archival copy. >Obviously, every user would like to skip as many in-between steps as possible. >But since safety is perhaps more important, where should the compromise be made? Anything I care about now, I burn twice for myself. I always check the CD-Rs individually against the original source. >"What standard needs to be used to determine what files may be of interest in >50 years, 500 years or even 5000 years?" That's easy. You keep everything. Even the most expensive CD-R media is incredibly cheap compared to the prices three years ago. Obviously if you have terabytes of data this may not be so easy. But if you have terabytes of data it may still be easier to archive everything (which is likely to be a fairly mechanical process) rather than spend time sifting through deciding what to keep. >It is fine to be discussing the technical details of how to save files, but if everything >needs to be saved, that creates many difficulties. For example, if some software >is being developed, it's rare that non-distribution files ever see the light of day, much >less that they get saved beyond the next distribution. In most cases, only the final >source and executable files get saved and it is probably rare for OBJ and MAP files >to be saved. What is the best way to develop criteria that can determine which >files will be of interest to someone looking to understand how "programs" were >written 5000 years ago? Better still would be to attempt to determine the questions >that will be asked 5000 years from now. Looking back, I would suggest that the >first footstep on the Moon back in 1969 may not have been as important as the >technology that was needed to make it all possible. I'm actually at the beginning of archiving some stuff at work right now. Copying the source directories (and the version control stuff) to CD in a PC-readable format is fairly straightforward. Same for the final listings, obj, exe etc. (although much of that could be recreated). The bit I think will be difficult for a historian to understand in a hundred years is how to build the product once you have re-created the environment. Archiving people's knowledge is not currently on the agenda ... it takes too much time. Antonio

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

need help with an old ST-251 MFM drive...

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

You can get an MCT 4-Drive Floppy Controller (MCT-FDC-HD4 $29.99) from JDR Microdevices (http://www.jdr.com/interact/item.asp?itemno=MCT-FDC-HD4). Only problem is that it must be the primary floppy controller, so you will need to pull the existing floppy controller card. -----Original Message----- From: Ethan Dicks [mailto:ethan_dicks@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 3:10 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: need help with an old ST-251 MFM drive... <snip> 2) Locate a high-density 8-bit floppy controller and use 1.44Mb disks. I have one - it has its own BIOS to handle the differences. They would be difficult to locate now, so unless you already have one, it's probably not a good solution. -ethan

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Big newspaper interview for me! (lets see whats gonna happen now...)

by claudew＠videotron.ca

Hi all I am not a very "public" person but I could not turn this one down... An offer for an interview with a big Montreal newspaper... Photos and hour long interview about vintage computer collecting...show off a bit of the collection etc... Lets see if this will bring in some rare finds/offers or just emails from people with 286s and XTs that will be asking $50 for them... By the way, I still have the tape of CBCs Undercurrents and their report on vintage computer collecting and hope to find a card to capture this and transfer it to .avi or similar and let you all have a chance at seeing this report...If anyone has a ATI capture card or similar I am open to offers.....I have an old Spigot card here for NUbus MAcs but doubt that will produce anything pleasant... Claude http://www.members.tripod.com/computer_collector or http://computer_collector.tripod.com

24 years, 4 months

8
11
0 0

FS: Toshiba T1000XE

by bola＠piraeii.demon.co.uk

Hey: I don't think I'm going to persuade this to run X, so ... It includes what I assume is the original carrying case, UK mains power supply and a battery. Everything seems to be working. Any profit will be going to the Oxfam whence it came, if that helps to loosen any wallets. -[z].

24 years, 4 months

1
1
0 0

Source for anti-static bags?

by jss＠ou.edu

So... where do I get anti-static bags that for hex-height Unibus and other big boards? -- Jeffrey S. Sharp jss(a)ou.edu

24 years, 4 months

13
13
0 0

Warning OT.. Humor Thermodynamic Question........

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

> >THERMODYNAMICS OF HELL --A little "levity" for today. > > The following is an actual exam question given on a University of >Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so "profound" >that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, >of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well. > > Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic >(absorbs heat)? > > Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, >(gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some >variant. One student, however, wrote the following "First, we need to >know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate >that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think >that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. >Therefore; no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, >lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. > >Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their >religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these >religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can >project that most souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they >are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. > >Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's >Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay >the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are >added. > >This gives two possibilities > 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls >enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until >all Hell breaks loose. > > 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls >in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. > > So which is it? > > If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman >year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.", >and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having >that event take place, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that >Hell is exothermic and will not freeze." > >**The student received the only "A" given.**

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

VCFE Shopping List

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

I posted my shopping list on http://www.vintage.org I have to be careful...whatever I get I have to sneak into the house :-) Two things I left off of my list were a DecWriter III (too big to sneak in) and a 22U rack cabinet with a glass front door (also too big to sneak in). "No, honey, really. I didn't buy anything more than this t-shirt." Rich ========================== Richard A. Cini, Jr. Congress Financial Corporation 1133 Avenue of the Americas 30th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 545-4402 (212) 840-6259 (facsimile)

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

hope to find paper tape reader at VCF East

by uban＠ubanproductions.com

One of the things that I would like to find at VCF East is a paper tape reader. Preferably something small that I can either connect to a serial port, or interface to a parallel port. I will also be looking for interesting peripherals for my PDP 11/45... --tom

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

More for the Hayes Chronograph

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

OK... now I'm starting to dig... found this: http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/cpm/genasm/spttim10.aqm Which is described by the readme as... NOTE: This list was created on Sun Oct 26 12:14:58 EST 1997 Some files may have been added or deleted since that date. See file pub/cpm/filedocs/aaaread.me for additional information. NOTE: Type B is Binary; Type A is ASCII Directory pub/cpm/genasm/ Filename Type Length Date Description ============================================== . . . spttim10.aqm B 5120 850209 Time support package for DC Hayes Chronograph Anyone have a handy Z80 disassembler with a CP/M symbol table? I'm just curious what's in there. -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Cipher F880 Docs

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Was someone here looking for the Cipher F880 docs? I finally found the CD I'd burned of them, so if anyone needs them, I'll dump 'em out on the FTP site for temporary residence... -dq

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Boot disk for Apple IIc+

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Hello all, Does anyone have, or know where I can get a 3.5" boot disk for an Apple IIc+? I have an old ProDOS 5.25" disk, but it does not recognize the 3.5" disk. (As if you couldn't guess, I'm keeping the IIc+ :-) ) Thanks! Rich B.

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

scanner repairs

by terryc＠woa.com.au

Does anyone have an online resources for scanner repairs? -- Terry Collins {:-)}}} Ph(02) 4627 2186 Fax(02) 4628 7861 email: terryc(a)woa.com.au www: http://www.woa.com.au WOA Computer Services <lan/wan, linux/unix, novell> "People without trees are like fish without clean water"

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

EOM Clearance (aka free stuff in Indiana)

by Mzthompson＠aol.com

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001; "Jim Oaks" <jimoaks(a)one.net> wrote: > Mike do you have any commodore,TI, related items? I was going to say no on both counts but then got to thinking, I may have 1 or more cassette cables for the TI/99. If there is any interest I will go digging sometime. As to Commodore, the answer is no. I could tell you the story of what would have amounted to truck loads of stuff that got away a couple years ago. But that would lead to depression for many list members, so I will refrain. Mike

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

More for the Hayes Chronographu

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > > > spttim10.aqm B 5120 850209 Time support package for DC Hayes Chronograph > > > > > > That looks like a compressed .ASM source file. All you > > > should need to do is to uncompress the file. > > > > With what tool? > > It's been a while. UNSQUEEZE? I just dumped a copy (circa 1985) in ftp://204.250.0.238/pub/usq.exe -dq

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

"Allow myself to introduce... myself."

by kolasser＠ilap.com

In reference to Super Snapshot. V5.22 is now available and can be bought through J.P.P.B.M. who btw own the rights Their new mailing address is J.P. PBM Products By Mail Box # 60515, Jane/Wilson P/O Downsview, ON. M3L 1B0 CANADA

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> about today. Meanwhile, I'll cross my fingers and assume I'll have > other media choices in the next 5-10 years that'll encourage me > to re-copy my CD-Rs, which have patiently waited in their > fire-proof case. Something better than keeping them in a fire-proof case is to keep copies off-site. After all, what else are relatives for, other than to keep a locked box containing backups of your important data. Zane

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

More for the Hayes Chronographu

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > > NOTE: Type B is Binary; Type A is ASCII > > > spttim10.aqm B 5120 850209 Time support package for DC Hayes > > Chronograph > > > > That looks like a compressed .ASM source file. All you > > should need to do is to uncompress the file. > > With what tool? It's been a while. UNSQUEEZE? -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Info/docs on tube tester?

by rlmdlm01＠juno.com

I have the EICO Model 635 Tube Tester and the Operating Instructions and Tube Data Information. This book contains the; General Description Warranty General Information Tube Testing Procedure Testing Picture Tubes All Vacuum Tube Switch Settings Parts List Schematic Diagram Would be willing to make a copy and send. Requester to pay for repo costs and shipping. I am having trouble with socket "A" in mine. It's a 10-pin socket, looks like a standard 9-pin with a 10th in the center of the socket. Would appreciate info on where I can get another socket. Cheers, Bob McKee rlmdlm01(a)juno.com

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Someone please give a ride to Max Eskin to VCF East

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

It's unlikely that I can pick up Max. FYI: Max, the old email address is changed due to far to much spam. Allison -----Original Message----- From: Bryan Pope <bpope(a)wordstock.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 7:59 AM Subject: Re: Someone please give a ride to Max Eskin to VCF East >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Max Eskin <max82(a)altavista.com> >> >> I realized that I have no way of getting to the VCF. There's no way in hell >> that my parents will let me drive there, and I don't want to ask my dad to >> drive me either. It's about an hour away from my house. So could you >> perhaps forward me some kind of list of people living in the boston area >> whom I could contact and ask for rides? I e-mailed Allison Parent, but >> she hasn't responded. I don't remember who else from classiccmp lives >> around here. >> Thanks, >> Max Eskin >> > >Max, > > Where abouts are you located? I am in Waltham. I am planning to leave >around 9:00 am and stay for the entire day. > >Cheers, > >Bryan Pope

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

More for the Hayes Chronograph

by dittman＠dittman.net

> NOTE: Type B is Binary; Type A is ASCII > > Directory pub/cpm/genasm/ > Filename Type Length Date Description > ============================================== > . > . > . > spttim10.aqm B 5120 850209 Time support package for DC Hayes Chronograph > > Anyone have a handy Z80 disassembler with a CP/M symbol table? I'm just > curious what's in there. That looks like a compressed .ASM source file. All you should need to do is to uncompress the file. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net

24 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Kodak Gold CD-R

by mbbrutman＠yahoo.com

I don't know if this has been answered or not, but at the sake of being redundant I'll throw in my two cents. Kodak had a line of CDs called "InfoGuard", which have a gold colored reflective surface. The ones I have are for data (computers). They are reputed to be indestructible compared to cheapie media. The protective layer on them is so strong/thick/opaque (choose the correct one) that my Yamaha 4416S can't write them reliably over 2x speed. The Yamaha wasn't a cheapie, so I contacted both Yamaha and Kodak tech support. They knew of the problem, and advised be to write at 2x even though the drive and media are rated for 4x. The discs I've written at 2x are readable. I treat my discs well, so I can't tell you if they really are indestructible. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

24 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

hayes chronograph

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Ethan: >>I take it the day of the week display is part of the flourescent, >>not LEDs behind the "Sun...Sat" labels, right? Yes, this is the case. I would guess that the LSI multiplexes the digits without any other drivers. The DOW labels are probably treated as segments of a 7th digit by the LSI Rich ========================== Richard A. Cini, Jr. Congress Financial Corporation 1133 Avenue of the Americas 30th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 545-4402 (212) 840-6259 (facsimile) -----Original Message----- From: Ethan Dicks [mailto:ethan_dicks@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 2:24 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: RE: hayes chronograph --- "Cini, Richard" <RCini(a)congressfinancial.com> wrote: > Hi: > > I have one of these clocks, but haven't opened it in a while. I > believe that it's an extruded Al case that would prevent you from expanding > the case vertically. If it weren't for the display, the PCB could fit in the > Hayes 300 case. That makes sense, given how that style of case goes. > As far as the display, it looks to be a Futaba clock display. > Problem is is that no one carries them. Jameco has one, but it's only > 4-digits. I've never tried to hack right to a VFD. I've only ever played with ones that have controllers. I take it the day of the week display is part of the flourescent, not LEDs behind the "Sun...Sat" labels, right? > If I were retrofitting/rebuilding the clock, and $$$ wasn't an > issue, I'd use a Noritake serial VFD display with a custom font and a PIC > for the clock. That's more or less what I'm leaning towards. I have a Matrix Orbital 20x4 VFD from Linux Central that is currently mounted behind a disk drive bay bracket. It is easily movable. -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

24 years, 4 months

3
2
0 0

Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Sometimes I do buy a spindle of the cheap junk just to see who made > it that week. The Imation stuff (yes, Imation, the company that used > to be the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing company that > made top-name > media for years) was crappy CMC Magnetics junk according to > the ATIP code Can we define "junk" for the purposes of this discussion? Is it junk because: (a) you make more coasters than you would believe is reasonable (b) you find a higher failure rate when trying to read them two years later than you think is reasonable (c) you don't believe that it will last the twenty years (or whatever they claim) ? Given a CD-R (blank or already written), what tool(s) do you use to determine the characteristics on which you are judging it and what are "good" and "bad" things to look out for? Personally, I have only had one read-failure in several hundred burns. That's not counting a few coasters along the way - this was a partial read-failure some six months to a year later when I came to use the CD. I have no idea whether the data was ever written correctly (since EasyCD Creator - which came with the drive - does not seem to have a read-after-write check). Since then I have performed a comparison-against-source step after burning any CD. Fingers crossed, no further failures so far. Antonio

24 years, 4 months

4
4
0 0

hayes chronograph

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Hi: I have one of these clocks, but haven't opened it in a while. I believe that it's an extruded Al case that would prevent you from expanding the case vertically. If it weren't for the display, the PCB could fit in the Hayes 300 case. As I recall, there's a single 40-pin LSI chip with some support chips and various passives. IIRC, the LSI is a General Instruments chip. There's also a 2xAA battery backup. As far as the display, it looks to be a Futaba clock display. Problem is is that no one carries them. Jameco has one, but it's only 4-digits. If I were retrofitting/rebuilding the clock, and $$$ wasn't an issue, I'd use a Noritake serial VFD display with a custom font and a PIC for the clock. Rich ========================== Richard A. Cini, Jr. Congress Financial Corporation 1133 Avenue of the Americas 30th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 545-4402 (212) 840-6259 (facsimile) -----Original Message----- From: Ethan Dicks [mailto:ethan_dicks@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 1:37 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: hayes chronograph --- Sellam Ismail <foo(a)siconic.com> wrote: > On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Ethan Dicks wrote: > I bet with as much work as you described in setting up an infrared > communications network to beam the time signal to machines around the > room (cool idea BTW :) Thanks. > one could take an old Hayes 300/1200/2400 modem, > dump the EPROM, hack the code to replace various AT commands with the > Chronograph AT command set, add a clock/calendar chip to the board > somewhere, and roll your own Chronograph. You'd still have to add the > digital readout on the front I noticed from the picture from the cover of the manual that it is the same style as a 1200-baud modem, but taller (to accomodate the display). It looks about the same size as my Tecmar T-Disk case. I'd have to go look, but it depends on which style of extruded aluminum case they used if it could be expanded vertically. The width would be fixed by the size of the top and bottom plates, but it might be possible to fit side risers. In any case, I'm not sure where I'd get a compatible display. I also play with LCD (and VFD) displays with the LCDproc project (lcdproc.omnipotent.net) I have one 20x4 VFD and a couple 20x2 displays (so-called "Pole Displays" for cash registers - RS-232 and 6VAC to drive them). It wouldn't look like a Chronograph, but I could fit an IR emitter to the top of the Pole Display (under a red lens) and set up receivers to pick up the time that way. I presume if I used a carrier other than the one used by IrDA, I could still use the link between my laptop and desktop. I suppose I would have to write a PalmOS app to read the time. This would be easy to prototype with a Pole display and a Linux box with a few serial ports. I could at least do a proof-of-concept prototype. I've also thought about turning an iOpener into a wall clock. Then there is this wall-mount 486 I have with a 10" screen, two PCMCIA slots, an ISA slot, internal HD, etc. I was just contemplating getting a set of Diamond HomeFree cards (cheap) but didn't know if there were Linux drivers for it or not. > ...or maybe you can turn the status lights into a binary clock output? I'm an old hand with Binary Clocks (I've built several and even have an interrupt driven software one for the PET that fits in the cassette buffer and "draws" the clock face in the upper-left corner of the screen that I wrote when I was 13 ;-) I'm even looking at one now on top of my monitor at work (you should hear some of the comments I get). So... while it's a nice idea in theory, unless you rotated the time through a modem faceplate digit by digit, I don't see how you could fit it into the case for a 1200-baud modem. > In the very least, it would make one killer exhibit for the VCF to show > what someone can do in their copious free time to reconstruct computing's > past :) It would be all of that. Now if only I could get some time off when one of the VCFs is running. :-( Lots of ideas, plenty of ways to roll it. No time. -ethan ===== Visit "The Seventh Continent" http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

24 years, 4 months

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Hackers: Computer Outlaws

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

FWIW it aired on Sunday (IIRC) in the UK on Channel 4 (IIRC). I missed the beginning but I did get to see the Altair, the Apple, the IBM PC, Cap'n Crunch, Woz and Mitnik. I assumed that I'd missed the point because I missed the start but now I realise that I was not supposed to actually learn anything. ("Space" on BBC1 was a bit of a disappointment too) Antonio

24 years, 4 months

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Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>Wait ten or twenty years, and then make your >assessment. That's what Tim is concerned with. That's what I am trying to clarify. I'd rather not wait the ten or twenty years. I've already learnt my lesson ... all my floppies will eventually make it onto CD in some image format or other. Within ten years I expect all my CDs (and DVDs) to have made it onto C3D. I don't yet know where I'll be headed twenty years after that :-) Antonio

24 years, 4 months

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hayes chronograph

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Ethan Dicks <ethan_dicks(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > I've never seen one, but I'd rather not re-invent the wheel. Just knowing > the command set is a starting point for even a PIC-based modern replica. Not sure, but I think the real thing has an early PIC inside. If Eric Smith's reading maybe he can tell us, I think I got this bit by being present when he opened one up to see what made it tick (ha ha). -Frank McConnell

24 years, 4 months

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%20Need%20Sun%20Electric%20Corp%20product%20tech%20info.

by Ixpacman＠aol.com

The Sun Tachometer transmitters that I have in My 1971 37'Egg harbor boat have a sticker on the transmitter claimin that they require a 1.35 volt mercury battery which appears to be the approximate size of a AA battery.The sun part no. is 1766-7.My transmitter model no is EB-9A.Maybe this is helpful to you .ixpacman(a)aol.com

24 years, 4 months

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Latest Haul: TRS-80/Apple/Commodore

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

>The Network III controllers allow diskless model III/IV's to interface to >a master model III or IV with a HardDisk or floppy disk to load and save >files to... That makes sense, as a few of the IIIs that I took had no floppies. Also, I found a couple of disks last night (not original) that were labeled "Network Scripsit". There were also directions on how to start the host computer, then start up the slaves... Rich B.

24 years, 4 months

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Someone please give a ride to Max Eskin to VCF East

by vcf＠siconic.com

I'm forwarding this along for Max Eskin. I hope someone can give this poor kid a ride. I would really like him to make VCF East. I guess he's around Boston. E-mail him at <max82(a)altavista.com> to figure something out. Thanks! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Max Eskin <max82(a)altavista.com> I realized that I have no way of getting to the VCF. There's no way in hell that my parents will let me drive there, and I don't want to ask my dad to drive me either. It's about an hour away from my house. So could you perhaps forward me some kind of list of people living in the boston area whom I could contact and ask for rides? I e-mailed Allison Parent, but she hasn't responded. I don't remember who else from classiccmp lives around here. Thanks, Max Eskin -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

24 years, 4 months

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Computer recycling info.

by rdd＠smart.net

Sorry to mention such an unpleasant subject as computer recycling, but here's some more information about what some politicians and businesses, etc. are up to: http://www.ec-central.org/skinny/022201.htm Denver Post: "Bill Encourages Computer Recycling;" By Andy Vuong It may also provide some leads for collecting and preserving equipment. I hope this helps some with some good finds. -- Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.net 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.net beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

24 years, 4 months

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Kodak Gold CD-R's going bye-bye?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

> One of the major heartburns I have with CD-R media is that >it's quite difficult to tell the good from the bad. That was my point #1: Buy a product that you know with a known distribution path from the manufacturer. That's why I like Kodak over Mitsui. (Not that it'd be impossible to find a list of official Mitsui dealers, but Kodak has a bunch of old-school distributors who work just fine for me. And there have been rumors - with little to nothing to back them up - that many of the Mitsui-branded disks being sold in the US now were actually made in one of the lower-tier plants in Taiwan.) > disks don't all measure up the same. I tend to buy them in very > small amounts so that I don't get burned too badly if they turn out > to be lemons. OTOH I buy in quantities of 500-1000 every few months, and I don't want to take the risk with that amount of money that I'm buying junk. Sometimes I do buy a spindle of the cheap junk just to see who made it that week. The Imation stuff (yes, Imation, the company that used to be the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing company that made top-name media for years) was crappy CMC Magnetics junk according to the ATIP code the week I bought it, and I've not touched their branded CD-R's since. The IBM no-names (hey, you ought to tell that I've got high standards when I call IBM a risky also-ran!) turned out to be Ricoh phthalocyanine disks, so sometimes the cheap junk might not be all that bad. > CompUSA used to sell some nice dark blue dye disks >under their name but then I made the mistake of buying one of their >bulk packs which turned out to use the light green dye and were >really crappy. I'd gladly pay the additional money if I had a >concise guide as to just which were the high quality media. Lose the CompUSA junk. They do light up nicely in the Microwave, though :-). Tim.

24 years, 4 months

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