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

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: David Williams <dlw(a)trailingedge.com> Ok, I'll have to start searching and see what I can come up with. BTW, didn't someone say that I couldn't format the RD54s on here? Or maybe my mind is slipping. What other issue such as this might I encounter with the different setups? mostly correct. if you need to format a RD54 or a RD54 like drive you need either software that is hard to find or a far cheaper solution another small( 0.5cuFt) Microvax2000. Those can be found for near nothing to free if there is no disks installed and the firmware can format disks. FYI if it has 8mb or more of ram it will run VMS very nicely using a smaller disk for swaping and the eithernet for remote boot and system. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Reviving a MicroVAX II

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: David Williams <dlw(a)trailingedge.com> On 2 Jul 2000, at 16:09, Chuck McManis wrote: > tapes and disks used different protocols (TMSCP vs MSCP). A Viking QTD > from a DEC Reseller will set you back anywhere from $250 - $800. A > nicer CMD controller like the one Allison recommended I've seen listed > for $2000! Contrast that to an ESDI controller that you can usually > find for $30 - $50. Wow! Ok, I really want to run VMS but not $2000 enough. Well I sometimes have some pretty good luck, maybe I'll find one If you don't your not looking. I got mine for free. The 2000 number is obviously a price for a new part. don't forget there is also EDSI and the DEC RQDX3. Of those two the RQDX3 is generally very cheap and usually free. Drives can be a problem as the RD54s are the hot item, but they are found. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Reviving a MicroVAX II

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: David Williams <dlw(a)trailingedge.com> It looks to me like the controller is going to be the more difficult to locate. I have a box of old unknown boards, some are DEC, I'll have to sort through and see if I have anything of use (either in my system or for trading) in there. Does anyone have any good sources for controllers and/or the drives online? Any suggestions on average costs? Ok, SCSI controllers are easy to find just not cheap. RXDX3 controllers for MFM disks (RD54 and friends) are fairly common and cheap. EDSI contrllers are less common but the drives are fairly cheap. It's the easiest thing to solve in VAXland. Allison On 2 Jul 2000, at 7:57, allisonp wrote: > From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> > >I'd recommend a nice ESDI controller (Dilog 696-20 or RQ11D/E > >(Webster/Sigma/etc) If you can find a RRD-40 interface (CD-ROM) that > would > >be good to since VMS from CD is easier to load than VMS from TK50 > (having > >done both recently I really recommend CD). If you can find (good > >luck!) > a > >SCSI controller for it then your options are pretty much wide open. > >BTW > VMS > >lives very nicely on a 500 - 600MB disk with lots of layered > >products. > > > > Chuck, a SCSI board with one good drive and a CDrom would be likely a > better choice depeding on what can be found. I used this combo > CMD200, RZ56 and toshiba Cdrom. > > Allison > > ----- David Williams - Computer Packrat dlw(a)trailingedge.com http://www.trailingedge.com

26 years, 3 months

2
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Reviving a MicroVAX II

by dburrows＠netpath.net

Contact me off list. I have several ESDI controllers that I have been saving for the hobby users. WQESD, Dilog DQ696, etc. I even have some drives to go with them. The cheapest you will find for decent SCSI controllers are the CMD CQD220/TM (Disk and Tape). I find them on the wholesale side but the min. I have paid is $500. I typically pay $550 to $650 each even in quantity's of 10+. Normal end user prices I have seen are $735 to $1200. Keep your eyes open for Emulex UC07 and UC08. With late versions of the firmware they work nicely with CD's. The Vikings are solid but rather slow but will talk to CD's also with late firmware. Dan -----Original Message----- From: David Williams <dlw(a)trailingedge.com> To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Sunday, July 02, 2000 6:40 PM Subject: Re: Reviving a MicroVAX II It looks to me like the controller is going to be the more difficult to locate. I have a box of old unknown boards, some are DEC, I'll have to sort through and see if I have anything of use (either in my system or for trading) in there. Does anyone have any good sources for controllers and/or the drives online? Any suggestions on average costs? Thanks. On 2 Jul 2000, at 7:57, allisonp wrote: > From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> > >I'd recommend a nice ESDI controller (Dilog 696-20 or RQ11D/E > >(Webster/Sigma/etc) If you can find a RRD-40 interface (CD-ROM) that > would > >be good to since VMS from CD is easier to load than VMS from TK50 > (having > >done both recently I really recommend CD). If you can find (good > >luck!) > a > >SCSI controller for it then your options are pretty much wide open. > >BTW > VMS > >lives very nicely on a 500 - 600MB disk with lots of layered > >products. > > > > Chuck, a SCSI board with one good drive and a CDrom would be likely a > better choice depeding on what can be found. I used this combo > CMD200, RZ56 and toshiba Cdrom. > > Allison > > ----- David Williams - Computer Packrat dlw(a)trailingedge.com http://www.trailingedge.com

26 years, 3 months

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Reviving a MicroVAX II

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> >I'd recommend a nice ESDI controller (Dilog 696-20 or RQ11D/E >(Webster/Sigma/etc) If you can find a RRD-40 interface (CD-ROM) that would >be good to since VMS from CD is easier to load than VMS from TK50 (having >done both recently I really recommend CD). If you can find (good luck!) a >SCSI controller for it then your options are pretty much wide open. BTW VMS >lives very nicely on a 500 - 600MB disk with lots of layered products. Chuck, a SCSI board with one good drive and a CDrom would be likely a better choice depeding on what can be found. I used this combo CMD200, RZ56 and toshiba Cdrom. Allison

26 years, 3 months

4
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Duplicating an RSX-11M+ system disk.

by hofmanwb＠worldonline.nl

Ed, Did you use the /VE option with DSC? If you can, use BRU to copy a disk. I never had any problems with disks copied with BRU. A possiblility that you could not boot, could be that DU2: is not generated into your RSX11M+. Wim ---------- > From: wanderer <wanderer(a)bos.nl> > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Duplicating an RSX-11M+ system disk. > Date: Sunday, July 02, 2000 8:06 AM > > Hello All, > > I have a bit of a weird problem, I'm trying to make a 2nd bootable > system disk containig RSX-11M+. > > I have an 11/83 with 2 RD53's and 1 RD54, and the system is on one > of the RD53's. I booted [6,54]brusys.sys and then used DSC to copy > the contents to the 2nd RD53. DSC did not report any error. > Then when trying to boot du2 (the 2nd RD53), nothing happens besides > a number of retries to access the boot information. > > DSC is supposed to copy the boot information as well as the data, > so I'm wondering what I do wrong. > > Thanks, > > Ed > > -- > The Wanderer | Geloof nooit een politicus! > wanderer(a)bos.nl | Europarlementariers: zakken- > http://www.bos.nl/homes/wanderer | vullers en dumpplaats voor > Unix Lives! windows95/98 is rommel! | mislukte politici. > '96 GSXR 1100R / '97 TL1000S | > See http://www.bos.nl/homes/wanderer/gates.html for a funny pic. of > Gates!

26 years, 3 months

1
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Odd PAL

by aw288＠osfn.org

I finally unburied a whole shipload of PALs I bought many years ago, and started to sort them. I have a few National Semiconductor types called 20C1s. What is the organization of these? Apparently not a popular item, as I found little information on the web. William Donzelli aw288(a)osfn.org

26 years, 3 months

3
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New Find and Am2900 Bipolar Microprocessor Databook

by mark_k＠iname.com

Hi, [Apologies if this has already been mentioned, I'm a bit behind with my email.] On Wed, 21 Jun 2000 Tony Duell wrote: > > I have a copy of the AMD 2900 databook, which I might try to scan in > > somewhere (I can photocopy sections out for John if he needs them right > > away); someone also recently provided me with a scanned version of the > > Am2901 datasheet, which I can share. > > > > You're on your own for a copy of Mick and Brick - it's copyrighted, so I > > Well, the 2900 databook is copyrighted as well... Most companies don't seem > to mind people copying their data sheets (after all, it sells their > chips!), but it doesn't mean you can scan an post a copy of the databook > without checking first. None of the companies concerned is likely to care at all. Though actually getting many to say so officially might not be easy. On Fri, 23 Jun 2000 Pat Barron wrote: > Well, I corresponded with some folks at AMD, and didn't quite get > everything I wanted, but this might help somebody. > > They have approved me making up to 10 copies of the Am2900 databook. My > plan is to scan it in and turn it into a PDF file. Therefore, I can only > make copies available to 10 people. > > ... > > If substantially more than 10 people are interested, I'll go back to them > and request further permission, but this was all they felt they could let > me do without running my request through legal review. There is no need to do this, because 2900 data books/sheets by various companies including AMD are already available in scanned format (PDF files) online. Go to http://www.freetradezone.com/ After registering you can use the Design Center section to browse and download data sheets and data books for many kinds of current and discontinued devices (including 2900 series from several manufacturers). They even have some data books from the 1970s online. Just enter 2900 or 2901 or whatever in the part number box and click the search button. That site is probably a good first place to look if you are after the data sheet for any discontinued device. -- Mark

26 years, 3 months

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Getting a good job

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: Richard Erlacher <richard(a)idcomm.com> >Look around your lab or work area at home . . . how many of your homebuilt >bits of apparatus have "real" legends or printed labels for all the knobs >and switches? How many of your projects end up in a box that's screwed >shut? That's where the truth of the matter lies. Everybody has built a >thingie or two that never gets past the wirewrap board even though it's been >used occasionally for 10-20 years. It often starts out as an immediate >need, but ends up as a tool. It's one habit I try to avoid and as a result I do have some boxes that are in one case 35 years old, labled, docs and all. At that age I'd have to have been a child prodigy to be a PHD. I build tools for myself, a few are hand wired some wirewrap but neither are a bad thing only an idication of cost to do a decent 2 or 4 layer board was out of reach. Then again sloppy work doesn't last. Call it a do it once and do it right mindset. Now cabinetry, that eluded me for years how to get truly good looking boxen not made of wood with some metal. >I like my tools "finished", i.e. in a sealed box with external knobs that >don't require a screwdriver to operate them. I like to be able to use them Drills sharp, wrenches clean and all that are part of completing a project as well. >but that's just what they are: unfinished. If I build a tool to completion, >you can bet there's documentation. . . particularly for revisions, and the It was documentation, in depth that got me a lot of advanced credit. I was designing from the ground up by HS. The information and techniques are not secret, or hard to learn. The idea that a PHD is required to do something useful is bogus. It reeks of classism and ignores those that out there doing it on far less save for one skill not discussed, ability to learn for ones self and apply it to other technologies. >I'm sure there are both types, but my experience has been that the PhD types >are often working far outside their own discipline but are able to handle >the job because of their experience and training. They understand how I"ve found that there are many hacks out there too, fond of building Rube Golbergian crap. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Reviving a MicroVAX II

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>in getting it up and running. I want to run VMS on this, not interested in the version of BSD out there, already have enough Unix boxen. The main thing I'm missing, besides getting VMS itself are drives. This system is in the BA123 enclosure and has a TK50 tape drive. It contains the following boards: M7606-AC CPU M7608-BP Memory M7608-BP Memory M7546 Tape controller (TK50) M7516 DELQA (eithernet) M7516 DELQA (eithernet)... machine was likely used as a router. M3104 16port serial M9058 Disk breakout board (used for going from RQDX3 controller to MFMdisks and floppies) >What all drive options are there and what would people recommend? What are my options for getting VMS for this? Any other help or comments appreciated. Ok, what you need is either a RQDX3 (M7555 hard disk controller board and a few RD54s or a SCSI card like the CMD200 and RZ56(680mb). The problem is SCSI controllers generally don't go cheap. Ideally to run VMS7.2 you need 300mb of disk(s) however smaller is possible. The SCSI board is convenient as it will allow for a CDrom needed to install from hobbiest CD. Other wise RRD40 and controller will be needed or someone that can cut TK50s from the CD. There is a hobbiest VMS license and even media available (www.decus.org). I happen to run one of these and they are fine systems for 1987 technology. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Exhibit at VCF 4.0!

by vcf＠siconic.com

It's time to start thinking about what you're going to exhibit at VCF 4.0. The deadline for registration is September 20, 2000. You can register at: http://www.vintage.org/exhibit.html Rules for the exhibit competition can be found at: http://www.vintage.org/cgi-bin/content.pl?id=r00 Strut your classic computer stuff!!! Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California See http://www.vintage.org for details!

26 years, 3 months

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Reviving a MicroVAX II

by dlw＠trailingedge.com

I picked up a MicroVAX II today, thanks Nick, and need some help in getting it up and running. I want to run VMS on this, not interested in the version of BSD out there, already have enough Unix boxen. The main thing I'm missing, besides getting VMS itself are drives. This system is in the BA123 enclosure and has a TK50 tape drive. It contains the following boards: M7606-AC M7608-BP M7608-BP M7546 M7516 M7516 M3104 M9058 What all drive options are there and what would people recommend? What are my options for getting VMS for this? Any other help or comments appreciated. Thanks. ----- David Williams - Computer Packrat dlw(a)trailingedge.com http://www.trailingedge.com

26 years, 3 months

2
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > Was this the film that established that: > > > > 1) electrons are blue > > 2) protons are red > > 3) neutrons are green > > > > Surely a glance at just about any 'scope screen, or indeed the IBM 5151 > monitor I'm using a the moment, would convince you that electrons are, in > fact, green. After all, they leave a green image on the screen. > > QED Hmm... then what subatomic particle does my amber-tubed Wyse 50 use? I do happen to know it's *not* a plasma display... ;-) Speaking of which: anybody know where I could find an old Plato terminal? -dq

26 years, 3 months

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1
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Time spent Looking VS time spent "Playing"

by foxnhare＠jps.net

> From: "FBA" <fauradon(a)mn.mediaone.net> > To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 9:07 AM > Subject: Time spent Looking VS time spent "Playing" > > > > How much time do you devote searching for old machines? > Quite a bit, bot "old machines" per se, but classic computng related materials. > > How much time "Playing" (fixing, using etc...) these machines? > > I've been trying to fit in more time playing with the C128. How many hours > a week, I can't precisely say. But I probably spend as much time playing > per week as I do looking, if not more.... This last year has been pretty miserable for me, my BBS (runs on a Commodore 64, which is my most active "classic activity") was literally down for months and ignored for a year. Tax return time did bring it back to life with a high speed modem and 20mghz accellerator, but it is still in need of programmatic overhaul to use the accellerator and my network feeds aree still stranded in Washington... :P Also my (classic computing) web pages needs updating (usually reserved for holidays but I will have to wait on that too). But I have collected lots of stuff to play with later (how many of us say that and know we have too much "stuff" and not enough "later"...) I hope in august to have available time to put more life into my classics... I must protest on the concentration of the aquiring of computers, I have had time to divide up my hobby into several categories (where the "collecting computers" bit is actually kinda small): Collecting Computers Hardware (peripherals, etc) Software Computer Books and Magazines Computing Ephemera (ads, reciepts, pins, t-shirts, games, toys, etc.) Researching (see books, magazines, above...) Reading Technical Information via Internet Contacting People related to classic computing Documenting Web Pages Articles Presentations Promoting Posting/responding in newsgroups, Maillists (like this one) Also web Ppge Running a Classic BBS or Classic Display Rambling on about how bad off the world is without good computer education in schools... (as in usage, programming, electonics, not just CAI)

26 years, 3 months

1
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Your dream computer room.

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com> >Tony wrote: >> Surely a glance at just about any 'scope screen, or indeed the IBM 5151 >> monitor I'm using a the moment, would convince you that electrons are, in >> fact, green. After all, they leave a green image on the screen. >> >> QED > >Sorry to burst your bubble, but that proves that electrons are purple! Only if they are very bright and you stare at them. ;) Besides all this electrons and holes stuff is bull. Anyone who has worked with electrical or electronics knows smoke is the powering force. The proof is when the smoke escapes, equipment stops working. ;) Allison

26 years, 3 months

2
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Getting a good job

by mbg＠world.std.com

>From what I recall, it actually got pretty close until someone stood up to >point out the stupidity of it all, whence it quickly died. I'm sorry, I guess I've been living in an alternate reality... since when did anyone getting up in congress/senate/whatever beauracratic organization you want to name and stating the stupidity of something ever *reliably* prevent it from passing? 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 3 months

3
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DEC CPU bulkhead issues

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On Sat, 1 Jul 2000, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > [someone srote about carbon tetrachloride:] > > > Secret stash. Radio Shack dumped their cleaner/degreaser > stock and I > > bought > > > it (at least from one store) I've been metering it out ever since. > > > > <Doug, his face green with envy> > > Not sure if this is still the case, but, while the sale of it was > prohibited to individuals, companies could still buy it from > mail-order electronics supply places. To get it all one need(ed)(s) > is/was to manufacture a company name (e.g., like one does to get into > an electronics trade show and get those free pit-beef sandwitches, > etc. along with lots of freebies like samples and databooks), or, if > they want a federal ID number, just start a corporation and do nothing > with it but use it to make it easier to buy things from the bizdroids > that don't like to sell to individuals. :-) :-) :-) > > There's more than one way to skin a bureaucrat! Well, until they recently came up with a replacement for Halon, you could still go to a local small airport/air park and buy Halon extinguishers "for your plane". :-)

26 years, 3 months

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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Have they released new vesrions of the Eddy Electron film, so that it > now covers ethernet networking and proper network cabling? If not, > I'd be inclined to suspect that this and other newer information > hasn't been well enough proven to warrant the creation of a new movie. > After all, we know that the Eddy Electron film is the one true source > of authoritative introductory information about what electrons do, > right? Everyone here did see this classic in their 10th grade > high-school (or whatever the equivalent of the first year of high > school is in other countries) electronics class, right? ;-) Was this the film that established that: 1) electrons are blue 2) protons are red 3) neutrons are green ???

26 years, 3 months

4
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Getting a good job

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> That's funny; I got my PhD out of showing other engineers > and economists that the "simplifying assumptions" that they > make when designing deregulated electric power markets _in the > real world_ are, well, too simplistic. Electrons cannot be > bribed to obey economics rather than Kirchhoff, period. > Yet, that seems to be a hard point to sell to politicians > and economists. Hoosier politicians have particular trouble understanding that some things are simply beyond their control; at some time (during the 1840s IIRC), a Hoosier legislator proposed a bill to change the value of Pi to 3.0 since that would make all calcultations involving Pi more easy to perform. I'm really surprised it that it failed to pass... -dq

26 years, 3 months

3
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DEC CPU bulkhead issues

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> At 09:53 AM 7/1/00 -0400, you wrote: > >Chuck- > > > >WHERE are you able to find carbon tetrachloride? I thought it had > >been banned, and I haven't been able to find it for years. > > > Secret stash. Radio Shack dumped their cleaner/degreaser stock and I bought > it (at least from one store) I've been metering it out ever since. <Doug, his face green with envy>

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Your dream computer room.

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 30, 11:11, John Honniball wrote: > > On Thu, 29 Jun 2000 12:54:54 -0700 Mike Ford > <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> wrote: > > Generally a couple good outlets (AC and 10bt) > > Do you mean 10-base-T? Telephone wire? > > Surely not! Any proper machine room needs lots of thick > yellow EtherHose and vampire taps! :-) The new cables and fittings in mine are a mixture of Cat 5e and Cat 6, but I'm keeping the proper yellow stuff and the blue drops. I suspect the microVax would be offended otherwise :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 3 months

5
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DEC CPU bulkhead issues

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Exact-a-mundo! I took it apart and cleaned out the switch (combination of > carbon-tet and compressed air) and voila! It works again. Thanks Bill! Chuck- WHERE are you able to find carbon tetrachloride? I thought it had been banned, and I haven't been able to find it for years. Really need some, too, to deglaze some rubber... -dq

26 years, 3 months

2
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Your dream computer room

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I'd like a detached small building with the following. 1. a raised tile floor, 2. anachoic tile on the walls and ceiling, kind of like egg shell foam which absorbs noise. 3. 4 plex power boxes under every other tile 4. Non fluorescent lighting 5. air-conditioning through the floor 6. 1 window overlooking the lake 7. Separate shop area 8. Separate storage area with steel shelves accessible from front and back 9. Loading dock area 10. workbench with power strip along entire front edge 11. Small van to haul/pickup stuff When I was growing up on the farm we had outbuildings for everything. Chicken coop, granery, tool shed, pump house, shop, garage, dog house, and a barn. Seemed to keep stuff located somewhat together. Mike Dreaming not working mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years, 3 months

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WTB: Tektronix 4041

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I've gotten interested in the Tektronix 4041 system controllers. Does anyone have one that they might be willing to sell or will trade for other vintage computer stuff? I'm especially looking for the detachable keyboard for the 4041. I'm also intersted in swapping information with anyone about the 4041. Contact me directly. Joe

26 years, 3 months

1
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IBM 6091 monitors

by jott＠saturn.ee.nd.edu

Hello - I pulled 2 IBM 6091 19" monitors out of the trash. I think they were used on their power pc computers. I need info on this monitor, such as resolution, refresh rate and what are the white and black bnc connectors for. Any help is appreciated. john -- ************************************************************************ * * * * John Ott * Email: jott(a)saturn.ee.nd.edu * * Dept. Electrical Engineering * * * 275 Fitzpatrick Hall * * * University of Notre Dame * Phone: (219) 631-7752 * * Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA * * * * * ************************************************************************

26 years, 3 months

4
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > The new cables and fittings in mine are a mixture of Cat 5e and Cat 6, but > > I'm keeping the proper yellow stuff and the blue drops. I suspect the > > microVax would be offended otherwise :-) > > It is a well-known fact to all network hardware types that ethernet > electrons get very confused if forced to go down cable that's > not yellow ;-) No, No, No! They fall down the cable quite well, but once they fall down, they can't get back up! 8D

26 years, 3 months

1
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CQD-440 manual?

by dburrows＠netpath.net

>Help! The manual (switch settings and the like) for the CMD CQD-440 used to >be on-line but I can't find it anywhere (Google has let me down, alas) > >If someone has the pointer please send it or post it! Thanks, >--Chuck IIRC the 420 is a 440 without the differential side populated, Here is the 440 manual save in text from their site, If you the original HTML version I have it also. Dan CMD Technical Support CQD440/443 Qbus Controller Installation Guide The QBUS CONTROLLER is an intelligent high performance Q-Bus single-ended or differential (sync/async) SCSI Host Adapter with dual SCSI ports. The QBUS CONTROLLER is fully compatible with the DEC Mass Storage Control Protocol (MSCP) and Tape Mass Storage Control protocol (TMSCP). The QBUS CONTROLLER can be used with the LSI-11/23, PDP-11/23+, Micro-PDP-11/53, 11/73, 11/83, 11/93, MicroVAX II, and MicroVAX III, VAX 4000 and DECsystem 5400 systems. It supports RT-11, TSX, DSM-11, ISM-11, RSX, RSTS, VMS, UNIX, ULTRIX, and other operating systems which use DU/TU drivers. Models: CQD-440/TM Disk and Tape (P44010A in U79 and P44009A in U93) CQD-440/TMP Disk/Tape with Passthru (P44010A in U79 and P44009A in U93) CQD-440/TMS Disk/Tape with Hardware Shadowing (P44010A in U79 and P44009A in U93) CQD-443 has the MicroVAX-3 metal mounting bracket, otherwise is the same board. Board Size Quad Wide Q-bus Emulation MSCP (DU driver) / TMSCP (TU driver) Bus Interface Standard MicroVAX or LSI-11 Q-bus Addressing 18- or 22-bit Addressing Interrupt Priority Level 4 or 5 Interrupt Vector Software programmable Transfer Mode Normal or block mode DMA Command Queuing Commands with optimized seek Data Buffer Capacity Virtual data buffer (infinite size) Bootstrap Auto bootstrap or utility bootstrap Defect Management Dynamic defect management Software Supported All standard DEC operating systems Multiple-Hosting Support multiple-hosting for disks, optical drives and tapes. Formatting On board format and bad block replacement (ISO standard for optical erasable disk format) Partitioning 2 or 4 equally divided partitions for disk drives Shadowing Any two disk drives of equal size on the bus can form a shadow set (for /TMS version only) Optional Software Tape Monitor Utility (TMU) SCSIformat ON-LINE (FMT) SCSI Library Manager (SLM for /TMJ only) LED Indicators Self test, error conditions Peripheral Interface Single Ended SCSI SCSI Transfer Rate: 10.0-MB/sec in Sync 7.0-MB/sec in Async SCSI Bus Parity Odd parity Devices Supported 7 SCSI devices disk or tape System Performance disconnect/reconnect, multiple-host SCSI Cable Length Single ended, up to 20-feet (6-meters), Single-ended fast up to 9 Feet and Differential narrow up to 82 feet Operating Temperature 5 to 50 degrees C Relative Humidity 10% to 90% , Non-condensing Power 5V DC 2.0 A Selecting CSR Address Before you install the QBUS SCSI host adapter under the VMS, Ultrix or Unix operating system you must select the Control and Status Register (CSR) address. If /T(tape only), then the appropiate tape csr is required. If /M(disk only), then the appropiate disk csr must be selected. If the dual function /TM controller is enabled so that both disk and tape are supported, two CSR addresses are required, one for disk and the other for tape. If /TM is being used as a tape only or disk only, then select the single appropiate CSR. Click here for help in CSR Address selection. RS232 CABLE CONNECTION HARDWARE SHADOW OPTION ON-LINE FORMAT OR TAPE MONITOR UTILITY DUALHOSTING FOR SCSI CLUSTERING QUICK SWITCH SETTINGS Host Adapter Switch and Jumper Selections Host Adapter ID Selections SW2-1 SW2-2 SW2-3 Initiator ID ON ON ON Host adapter ID=7, highest priority (F) ON ON OFF Host adapter ID=6 ON OFF ON Host adapter ID=5 ON OFF OFF Host adapter ID=4 OFF ON ON Host adapter ID=3 OFF ON OFF Host adapter ID=2 OFF OFF ON Host adapter ID=1 OFF OFF OFF Host adapter ID=0, lowest priority Note (F) means factory setting. Switch Settings SW2-4 ON Enable tape fast search option SW2-4 OFF Normal operation (F) SW2-5 ON Tape Monitor Utility enabled (/T, /TM) Disk SCSIformat ON-LINE enabled (/M, /TM) SW2-5 OFF Tape Monitor Utility disabled (F) Disk SCSIformat ON-LINE disabled (F) SW2-6 ON Tape sync mode disabled SW2-6 OFF Tape sync mode enabled (F) SW2-7 ON Disk sync mode disabled SW2-7 OFF Disk sync mode enabled (F) SW2-8 OFF Reserved (F) SW2-9 OFF Reserved (F) SW2-10 OFF Reserved (F) CQD-440 Pin Assignments W1 IN Differential SCSI terminator power enabled (F) W1 OUT Differential SCSI terminator power disabled W2 1-2 IN Single-ended Active Termination (F) W2 2-3 IN Single-ended Passive Termination W3 1-2 IN Reset W3 2-3 IN NMI (F) W6 IN Single-ended SCSI terminator power enabled (F) W6 OUT Single-ended SCSI terminator power disabled W7 OUT Reserved (F) W8, W9 IN Single-ended channel enabled (F) W10 OUT W11, W12 IN W13 OUT W4 & W5 IN W9, W10 IN Differential channel enabled W8 OUT W12, W13 IN W11 OUT W4 & W5 OUT W14 IN Reserved (F) W15 1-2 IN Reserved (F) W16-1 OUT 0.8-us DMA dwell time W16-2 OUT 1.6-us DMA dwell time W16-3 IN 3.2-us DMA dwell time (F) W16-4 OUT 6.4-us DMA dwell time W17 1-2 IN Eprom Size 512-Kbit or 1-Mbit W17 2-3 IN Eprom Size 256-Kbit W18 OUT 0 Wait State for Eprom Cycles (F) W18 IN 1 Wait State for Eprom Cycle W19-1 OUT Reserved (F) W19-2 OUT Reserved (F) W19-3 OUT Reserved (F) W20 1-2 IN Adaptive DMA enabled (F) W20 2-3 IN Adaptive DMA disabled W21 1-2 IN Adaptive DMA Dwell enabled (F) W21 2-3 IN Adaptive DMA Dwell disabled W22 1-2 IN Block mode DMA enabled (F) W22 2-3 IN Block mode DMA disabled W23 IN Auto-Bootstrap address=773000 (F) W23 OUT Auto-Bootstrap address=771000 W24 1-2 IN Auto-Bootstrap disabled (F) W24 2-3 IN Auto-Bootstrap enabled W25 OUT Reserved (F) W26 OUT Reserved (F) W27 OUT Reserved (F) W28 OUT Reserved (F) W29 OUT Reserved (F) W30 OUT Reserved (F) W31 1-2 Interrupt level 4 (F) W31 Cut Interrupt level 5--cut connection between 1-2 W32 1-2 22-Bit addressing (F) W32 Cut 18-Bit addressing--cut the connection 1-2 Note (F) means factory setting. CQD-440/TM CSR Addresses (Disk Only)P44009A Addr LSI-11 Micro VAX SW1-1 SW1-2 SW1-3 SW1-4 SW1-5 1 17772150 200001468 ON ON ON ON ON 2 17760334 200000DC ON ON ON ON OFF 3 17760354 200000EC ON ON ON OFF ON 4 17760374 200000FC ON ON ON OFF OFF 5 17760340 200000E0 ON ON OFF ON ON 6 17760344 200000E4 ON ON OFF ON OFF 7 17760350 200000E8 ON ON OFF OFF ON 8 17760360 200000F0 ON ON OFF OFF OFF 9 17760364 200000F4 ON OFF ON ON ON 10 17760370 200000F8 ON OFF ON ON OFF 11 17760400 20000100 ON OFF ON OFF ON 12 17760404 20000104 ON OFF ON OFF OFF 13 17760410 20000108 ON OFF OFF ON ON 14 17760414 2000010C ON OFF OFF ON OFF 15 17760420 20000110 ON OFF OFF OFF ON 16 17760424 20000114 ON OFF OFF OFF OFF 17 17760430 20000118 OFF ON ON ON ON 18 17760434 2000011C OFF ON ON ON OFF 19 17760440 20000120 OFF ON ON OFF ON 20 17760444 20000124 OFF ON ON OFF OFF 21 17760450 20000128 OFF ON OFF ON ON 22 17760454 2000012C OFF ON OFF ON OFF 23 17760460 20000130 OFF ON OFF OFF ON 24 17760464 20000134 OFF ON OFF OFF OFF 25 17760470 20000138 OFF OFF ON ON ON 26 17760474 2000013C OFF OFF ON ON OFF 27 17760500 20000140 OFF OFF ON OFF ON 28 17760504 20000144 OFF OFF ON OFF OFF 29 17760510 20000148 OFF OFF OFF ON ON 30 17760514 2000014C OFF OFF OFF ON OFF 31 disable disk OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF CQD-440/TM CSR Address Selections (Tape Only)P44010A Addr LSI-11 MicroVAX SW1-6 SW1-7 SW1-8 SW1-9 SW1-10 1 17774500 20001940 ON ON ON ON ON 2 17760404 20000104 ON ON ON ON OFF 3 17760444 20000124 ON ON ON OFF ON 4 17760504 20000144 ON ON ON OFF OFF 5 17760544 20000164 ON ON OFF ON ON 6 17760410 20000108 ON ON OFF ON OFF 7 17760450 20000128 ON ON OFF OFF ON 8 17760454 2000012C ON ON OFF OFF OFF 9 17760414 2000010C ON OFF ON ON ON 10 17760420 20000110 ON OFF ON ON OFF 11 17760460 20000130 ON OFF ON OFF ON 12 17760510 20000148 ON OFF ON OFF OFF 13 17760514 2000014C ON OFF OFF ON ON 14 17760520 20000150 ON OFF OFF ON OFF 15 17760550 20000168 ON OFF OFF OFF ON 16 17760554 2000016C ON OFF OFF OFF OFF 17 17760560 20000170 OFF ON ON ON ON 18 17760604 20000184 OFF ON ON ON OFF 19 17760610 20000188 OFF ON ON OFF ON 20 17760614 2000018C OFF ON ON OFF OFF 21 17760620 20000190 OFF ON OFF ON ON 22 17760644 200001A4 OFF ON OFF ON OFF 23 17760650 200001A8 OFF ON OFF OFF ON 24 17760654 200001AC OFF ON OFF OFF OFF 25 17760660 200001B0 OFF OFF ON ON ON 26 17760704 200001C4 OFF OFF ON ON OFF 27 17760710 200001C8 OFF OFF ON OFF ON 28 17760714 200001CC OFF OFF ON OFF OFF 29 17760744 200001E4 OFF OFF OFF ON ON 30 17760750 200001E8 OFF OFF OFF ON OFF 31 17760754 200001EC OFF OFF OFF OFF ON 32 disable tape OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF On-Board Utility The Utility can be accessed through the system console or the RS-232 Port on the CQD-440 or CQD-443. The CQD-440 uses a 10-pin RS-232 cable. The CQD-443 uses the same RS-232 MMJ cable used on the MicroVAX-3. To access the On-Board Utility through the RS-232 port, plug in the cable and power-on or Restart the computer. The On-Board Utility will display on the screen. Be sure to set the terminal to 9600 baud, 8 bit data, and no parity. Accessing the Utility Through the LSI or VAX System The On-Board Utility Program can be accessed by means of an ODT command for LSI and VAX systems. The above information can be changed without notice. Rev. Date: A = 04-15-96 Goto top of this page.

26 years, 3 months

1
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CQD-440 manual?

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

Help! The manual (switch settings and the like) for the CMD CQD-440 used to be on-line but I can't find it anywhere (Google has let me down, alas) If someone has the pointer please send it or post it! Thanks, --Chuck

26 years, 3 months

1
1
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Fw: X-32 boards

by dburrows＠netpath.net

The following is from a PDP11/Mass Spec customer of mine. If anyone has any ideas for him feel free to contact either of us. I will just forward anything to him if it gets posted to me or the list. With a little direction he can run diagnostics and has available an electronics shop and decent test equipment like scopes. I don't know if they have things like logic analyzers however. ( I did not need one the one time I was on site) It even meets the 10 year rule.:) Dan ---------------- We have an X-32 computer (CPU/3), a German unix machine from 1989. This computer operates a Bruker AMX-500 NMR spectrometer. The computer is functional except that Fourier transform calculations frequently give a massive "transmitter" spike that is NOT hardware related. Although we normally do all repairs through Bruker, the director of our facility does not want to repair this problem because the computer will be replaced within a year and the instrument is functional. However, for a frequent user (me), this problem is extremely frustrating and time-consuming. The problem is almost certainly one of the three following X-32 boards: CPU board H2297 ECL 12 Memory 16MB H2271 ECL 02 Array Processor H2231 ECL 06 If anyone can help with this problem, please contact me by email. Thank you. Bill Wilson Research Scientist Bill Wilson billw(a)rice.edu Rice University, Dept. of Biochemistry MS140 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005-1892 http://www.bioc.rice.edu/~billw/ Tel: 713-348-4914 Fax: 713-348-5154

26 years, 3 months

1
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Minivac 601 documentation?

by Anthony.Eros＠compaq.com

Accidently forwarded to the entire list again. Sigh... > ---------- > From: Eros, Anthony > Reply To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 6:12 PM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: RE: Minivac 601 documentation? > > Sellam - > > I'm going to be out of town on a family vacation for the next 10 days or > so. > I'll drop you a note when I return to see if we can hook up on the Minivac > doc. > > Thanks again! > > -- Tony > > > ---------- > > From: Sellam Ismail[SMTP:foo@siconic.com] > > Reply To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > > Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 4:31 PM > > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > > Subject: Re: Minivac 601 documentation? > > > > On Wed, 28 Jun 2000, Eros, Anthony wrote: > > > > > Does anyone have any documentation for the Minivac 601? Is there > > anything > > > on-line? I bought one via eBay (I thought $41 was a pretty reasonable > > > price,) but it didn't come with any of the jumpers or books. > > > > Yes, you scored. I have all the docs for it but a couple volumes are > out > > on loan. Contact me privately so we can work out arrangements for > > copying. > > > > Sellam International Man of Intrigue and > > Danger > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ----- > > Looking for a six in a pile of nines... > > > > VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 > > San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California > > See http://www.vintage.org for details! > > > > >

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Minivac 601 documentation?

by Anthony.Eros＠compaq.com

Sellam - I'm going to be out of town on a family vacation for the next 10 days or so. I'll drop you a note when I return to see if we can hook up on the Minivac doc. Thanks again! -- Tony > ---------- > From: Sellam Ismail[SMTP:foo@siconic.com] > Reply To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 4:31 PM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Minivac 601 documentation? > > On Wed, 28 Jun 2000, Eros, Anthony wrote: > > > Does anyone have any documentation for the Minivac 601? Is there > anything > > on-line? I bought one via eBay (I thought $41 was a pretty reasonable > > price,) but it didn't come with any of the jumpers or books. > > Yes, you scored. I have all the docs for it but a couple volumes are out > on loan. Contact me privately so we can work out arrangements for > copying. > > Sellam International Man of Intrigue and > Danger > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----- > Looking for a six in a pile of nines... > > VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 > San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California > See http://www.vintage.org for details! > >

26 years, 3 months

1
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DEC CPU bulkhead issues

by Wm.King＠eng.sun.com

Chuck, Does this have a switch to select between AUI and 10-Base-2? I've recently repaired two systems where the switch was dirty and didn't make a good electrical connection. The symptoms were that the AUI port received, but wouldn't transmit. Maybe that's the problem. Bill

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Getting a good job

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >about going back to pick up a PhD, but each time, I could not answer the > >question "why". With what *I* enjoy doing, having the advanced degree would > >merely end up as an expensive hobby/pursuit. Anyone with imagination and > >motivation will do well regardless of their *formal* education; likewise > >having a degree without those qualities will probably provide a higher > >paying job but not much more. > > I love pointing out to employers that the primary skill of a Phd is the > ability to stretch a simple project out to two years, and make it "seem" > reasonable to the boss. My first embedded systems project (the Olicon MVP-035 Radiographic Viewer) had a PhD in C.S. working for six months on the project- all he had to show at the end of it was flowcharts. In six weeks the engineer and I had an operational prototype (needless to say we ditched his flowcharts). -dq

26 years, 3 months

1
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Your dream computer room

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> One nice way of doing things is to have the boxes tethered to armored > flexible conduit (not BX, but sort of a plastic coated Greenfield), so > the box can move to the machine, and not the other way around. It is > quite legal. > > RCS/RI is installing dual voltage locking receptacles (L14-30Rs), so that > most machines can be plugged in anywhere. Damn expensive, though. Bill, make sure you include tidbits like these in the museum how-to. -doug q, who's running the Prime from a custom 30-amp 5-20R quad terminated extension cord

26 years, 3 months

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Paint JObs (was Re: Restoration of Discolored Plastic)

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

In my IBM experience, I can personally confirm the existence of the following colors: Black (The modern standard) Blue (I have a 3262 line printer this color) Gray/grey <- this is what I think is the standard color, though the standard color depends on what line of machines we're talking about.. (My S/36 (5360), both 8100's (8140 and 8150), both 8809 MTD's, and all of my 8101 and 8102 disk drives are this color. Red (I've seen a 3380 this color) Yellow (I have a 3262 line printer in this color, yuck-o) I'm not saying that there might not be other colors, I'm just confirming that these colors do exist. Will J ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Restoration of Discolored Plastic

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Without getting the entire "Preserve vs. Restore" argument started again, has anyone ever found a way to restore the original beige color to plastic skins that have discolored due to long exposure to UV? I'm assuming what's happening is more than just the lighter elements of the plastic evaporating, but rather that some kind of chemical change is taking place that likely can't be reversed. I would think paint to not be a solution; at least not for me, as it always takes better hand/eye coordination than I can manage. How about dyes? Has anyone tried some kind of analine dye to restore beige plastic? Dyes spread more evenly and I think can even penetrate perhaps a few microns. thanks, -doug quebbeman

26 years, 3 months

11
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Paint JObs (was Re: Restoration of Discolored Plastic)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Gray/grey <- this is what I think is the standard color, My Model 711 Card Reader and Model 716 Line Printer (my first foolish acquisitions, gotten in the 70's and mostly disposed of in the 80's) were gray as you say. -dq

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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The cost of collecting debate

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > IIRC, the Victor 9000 was designed by Chuck Peddle, the > > architect of the 6502 (or maybe it was the 6500) processor. > > This might account for the Motorola/Mostek chip usage. > > Mostek? Where does Mostek come into it? > > Perhaps you're thinking of MOS Technology, which is *entirely* > different. Yup, that's a brain fart that's plagued me since the 80s. -dq

26 years, 3 months

4
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Where can I find 5.25 DS/DD disks?

by retro＠retrobits.com

Hello all, I have a couple of questions regarding 5.25 inch, DS/DD disks... First, where is the best place to buy some new ones? Second, does any manufacturer still produce this media, and what is the shelf life? Basically, what I'm asking here is, will our 5.25 drives become useless before too much longer? I remember a discussion on the group a while back regarding the use of HD media in DD drives. After reading about two thousand messages more complicated than quantum mechanics, I gave up trying to figure it out :-) So now I've resigned myself to seek the newest 5.25 DS/DD disks that I can find. Any help appreciated! Long live my Commodore 128! Thanks in advance, Earl Evans retro(a)retrobits.com Enjoy Retrocomputing! Join us at http://www.retrobits.com

26 years, 3 months

12
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The Original MS-DOS 4.0

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

This might be a topic better posted in the alt.folklore.computers USENET group, but let me try here first. This is from memory, and it's not as reliable as I'd like it to be. IIRC, OS/2 was not Microsoft's first attempt to create a multitasking operating system. They were working on, and I believe mostly finished, a DOS 4.0 that was multitasking. This was not the PC-DOS 4.0 for IBM, nor was it the MS-DOS 4.0 that we finally saw here in the states. This multitasking DOS 4.0 (from Microsoft, not a third party) was supplied with a computer that was old only in either the UK or more widely in Europe. It seems that the first letter of the computer manufacturer was an 'A', so the machine could have been an Apricot, an Amstrad, an Acorn, or lord knows. I read about this machine either in Byte during the late 80s or in a BIX conference (I MISS BIX!). I've searched the web for references to this multitasking MS-DOS 4, and have found nothing. Does anyone else remember this? Was the Byte article reviewing a sample of a product that never shipped? Did anyone get their hands on one? Does anyone have it? -doug q

26 years, 3 months

5
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Paint JObs (was Re: Restoration of Discolored Plastic)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Keeping in mind, that (at least in the past) if you paid IBM enough, you > could get a mainframe done in just about any color scheme that you wanted. > > I have to think that the wildest one that I personally experienced, was at > a Ralston Purina (feed) plant. And yes, as you might guess (or fear) the > entire system was painted in red and white checkerboard. Most 370s I'd seen had been either the standard blue or the (older?) burnt sienna, but at IU Kokomo (or was it Fort Wayne?) they had a 370/25 that was canary yellow. Talk about putting your eyes out! -dq

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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vax (fwd)

by vcf＠siconic.com

I think this guy may have fool's gold syndrome but if someone would like to help him out then please do. Reply-to: m.mcneely(a)prodigy.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 10:21:56 -0400 From: m.mcneely <m.mcneely(a)prodigy.net> Subject: vax i have a vax 4000/300 and codex 6745 i just unplugged from the wall in a major retail store im demolishing it was installed new in 90 i dont know anything about servers but i know it must be worth something it looks new it has 3 dec300servers in it, and plenty of other things [hubs routers monitors and key boards] that i dont know anything about what im looking for is {whats it worth} it was working when i unplugged it it still has the two floppies in the drive and i have all the cables that were hooked to it if you would like i can send pics i'd be willing to pay someone a commition for selling it for me thanks in advance Rick M.McNeely(a)prodigy.net Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... Coming soon: VCF 4.0! VCF East: Planning in Progress See http://www.vintage.org for details!

26 years, 3 months

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Subject: the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

Maybe I am lucky or my SO is special but we have come to an equilibrium. She has a few pieces of sailing and tennis equipment scattered around the property and I have lots of computer stuff. Last week she was looking for the lawn swings and looked in the attic of the garage. Her first question was "Where did all of that stuff come from?" Luckily I could "honestly" answer that many of the boxes were empty waiting to ship stuff. I seem to collect really good quality computer/medical equipment shipping boxes. It's much easier to send somebody a computer if it's packed right. She has never looked in the little travel trailer which we haven't used in years. Currently full of cables and old tape stuff. I can always point to her tennis racquet stringing machine in the rec room and sails hanging in the garage. I firmly believe and we have discussed this that a computer hobby is a lot cheaper than all of the people around here who go to the gambling boats, football/baseball games, golf, or out at the bars every night. Besides I'm usually not drinking, loosing money, or chasing women just out in the garage fiddling with the computers. The skills from this hobby also means that I can usually fix a dead phone, rewire broken mixer cord, replace furnace fan motor, fix plumbing, fiddle with electrical/electronic devices, take a VCR apart and sometimes even get it back together and working. I have an old house which means all these skills are survival skills. I also get called by neighbors to look at their computers and this nets me a few old machines/components. Mike My thoughts right now, nobody else's. mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years, 3 months

1
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Your dream computer room.

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Well... It would be an entire building, I like Marvin's 10,000 sq ft. minimum, as for the fire protection, I'd for sure want halon or something similar, i.e. NO water! A raised floor of course, but with twice the normal height under the floor. Also, a basement area containing some massive transformers (so I could get 440 volt power), and diesel generators in the event of power failure. There would also be room for a water cooling system, in the event I ever get lucky enough to own an IBM 3033 or other water-cooled machine. Central air is a must, I'd require it to be a positive air flow environent, meeting mil specs. Definetly climate-controlled, I like the fireproof room for docs and software idea, also a seperate room for spare boards and misc stuff. It would have to have an area for disk pack storage too. Another seperate workshop-type room, with logic analyzer, scope, etc. Also, multiple humongous 3-phase UPS's, just in case. Hell, why not my own substation? Also, a loading dock at semi height would be good, and there would be a nice long sloped ramp too. Will J ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 3 months

9
10
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The cost of collecting debate

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

[..snip..] > Anyway, the IBM Incompatibles that I've got include : > Sirius (Victor 9000) ??? I remember Victor going through lots of trouble before it disappeared; did it in fact get revived for a while as Sirius? Or was Sirius another company, buying V9000s and rebadging them? A Victor 9000 is one of the few PC-alikes I intend on adding to my collection; a Tandy 2000 would be another. -dq

26 years, 3 months

3
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Also, multiple humongous 3-phase UPS's, just in case. > Hell, why not my own substation? Will, don't stop there... why not go all the way and install a fast breeder reactor, so you'll be able to have all the electricity you need plus generate your own fuel for future use! Hey, the original post did say "Dream", didn't it? 8D

26 years, 3 months

11
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TU58-K DECTAPE IIs available

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

I've got a box of five TU58-K DECTAPE IIs available, if someone has a need for them and has something to swap in return (I'm not lookin for much) let me know. Bill -- +-------------------\ /-----------------+ | Bill Bradford | www.sunhelp.org | | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | www.decvax.org | | Austin, Texas USA | www.pdp11.org | +-------------------/ \-----------------+

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Lexmark Lexbook MB10

by ss＠allegro.com

Hi, I got my Lexmark Lexbook MB10 going finally (had to determine the polarity of the A/C input). A couple of pictures are at: http://www.allegro.com/people/sieler/lexbook/ I mention this only because there seems to be no other information on the web about this machine. Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html www.allegro.com/sieler

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Getting into VAXing

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 29, Tony Duell wrote: > It's essentially the same CPU, packed into a different case, and with an > RC25 disk drive. I am told the latter is a nightmare which headcrashes if > you look at it wrongly, but anyway..... At a former place of employment, there was a legend of one of those blasted RC25 drives crashing because someone farted. Apparently, the guy was sitting on one of those notorious un-padded wooden chairs which was on the raised floor right next to the machine (an 11/725) containing the drive. He ate lunch at the Mexican restaurant across the street. Apparently his output produced just enough vibration at just the right frequency to cause the head to hit the media during a spinup. -Dave McGuire

26 years, 3 months

3
2
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Xerox DayBreak

by yoda＠isr.ist.utl.pt

Hi. I have a Xerox DayBreak workstation lying on a corner back home and I'd really much liked to do something with it. I have already posted emails to this list about this subject, but since so much time passed since then I resolved to re-post to see I get something new. The issues I'd like to solve are: 1. decent interface of the display output to some monitor -- I worked on a small circuit to convert the ECL levels and separate syncs into a composite video output, for a mono monitor, using discrete components, but the image was sort of fuzzy. Are there any ideas on doing these the right way (if any)? 2. interfacing the keyboard/mouse connector to a PC's serial port -- I managed to build a decent interface for this (using a MAX232), but now the problem is protocol: anyone knows the protocol for sending key presses/releases signals? I believe they have something from 1 to 3 bytes. I have a set of PDF of scanned Xerox manuals (TechRef and IOP) including some schematics (awesome work! congrats for the one who scanned them and put them on the web!). But they don't specify the keyboard protocol. On the other hand, I also got PDF's of the MESA manuals, but they describe teh keyboard interface at the API level (no luck there either). Any help on these issues is very welcome! Cheers, -- *** Rodrigo Martins de Matos Ventura <yoda(a)isr.ist.utl.pt> *** Web page: http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~yoda *** Teaching Assistant and PhD Student at ISR: *** Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Polo de Lisboa *** Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, PORTUGAL *** PGP fingerprint = 0119 AD13 9EEE 264A 3F10 31D3 89B3 C6C4 60C6 4585

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Getting into VAXing

by allisonp＠world.std.com

For the original topic... For those getting into VAX based machines a smaller VAX like a VS2000, VS3100 or maybe a complete MicroVax-II, MV-III, 11/730 or even 11/750 is a good starting point and an easy admission. Once you're comfortable and DECified with that then something more massive or complex to get going is reasonable. Also from a perfomance standpoint the smaller VAXen can be impressive. I can hear the crowd... 11/730 or 750s are physically larger but if complete they are otherwise ver manageable for power and cooling. Also unlike the larger 78x and 85xx series the 730s and 750s are fairly common, well known and can often be had for the effort of moving it. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Can some HP people help this guy?

by dlw＠trailingedge.com

This came in to me but I can't really help him at the moment. I know some of you HP collectors might be able to help. Contact him at the address below. ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 10:55:06 -0400 From: "Richard Rochester" <RRochester(a)getragusa.com> My company has been using an HP9836 to do calculations for a gear shaver sharpening machine. It can no longer be booted up because the main 5.25 drive will no longer read the disk. Do you know of any sources for these machines or parts? We were thinking that we might even be able to rig an external drive that would enable the machine to boot up. I'd appreciate any information you have on the subject. Thanks. Rich Rochester rrochester(a)getragusa.com ------- End of forwarded message ------- ----- David Williams - Computer Packrat dlw(a)trailingedge.com http://www.trailingedge.com

26 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

The cost of collecting debate

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> 8088 CPU clocked at 5MHz > > 128k DRAM on the motherboard > > 4 expansion slots, 50 pins each > > 3 6522 VIAs on the motherboard, for system control functions, the > Printer/GPIB port and the user port > > Sound I/O using a 6852 and a CODEC chip > > A strange video system. There's 2K*16 bits of video RAM, with a 6845 CRT > controller to address it. The output of that partially provides the video > attributes (intensified, etc). But 11 bits are fed to the address lines > of the main DRAM array. This DRAM acts as the character generator and > stores the bitmap patters for the characters. Note that as there are > 2000 characters on an 80*24 screen and 11 bits gives 2048 different > values, it's possible to have a different 'character' displayed at each > screen location, thus allowing a bitmapped display. FWIW, the UK Apricot > computer has a similar video system IIRC, the Victor 9000 was designed by Chuck Peddle, the architect of the 6502 (or maybe it was the 6500) processor. This might account for the Motorola/Mostek chip usage. > 2 full-height 5.25" floppy drives on the front. These are Tandon > mechanims without their logic boards. They're linked to a controller > board that uses essentially the same GCR encoder/decoder as the Commodore > 8050, etc. The drives are variable speed units (!) with an 8048 on the > floppy controller board to control the speed. Thes means the machine > manages to get 500K on a single-sided 80 track floppy disk Not only were they GCR recorded (and I'll probably get this backwards), the drives were run in a Constant Linear Velocity mode, rather than the Constant Angular Velocity mode used by most drives. IIRC, the Mac 400k drives, were also CLV , but weren't GCR. IIRC, later models used some more compatible scheme; speaking of compatibilty, there were two variants of Microsoft BASIC available, one which was either generic or Victor-specific, and another that was IBM compatible. > Software control of the brightness and contrast of the (monochrome) > monitor using 3-bit resistor ladder DACs hung off the system VIA. > > Does that sound like a Victor 9000? Oh, yeah, that's it. The thing I remember most is that the Developer's kit the owner had came with PMATE: Phoenix-Mike Aronson's Text Editor. I pirated it, then when I went to my next fulltime job, they had the CP/M version, which was configurable (using PMATE macros) for different video systems or terminals, so I was able to combine the parts to get a version working on a PC when I went to the _next_ job. Which I used for about 6 months, then I bought a licensed copy, which I still use as my preferred editor to this day. For those that are unfamiliar with PMATE, it's more or less TECO with an incremental redisplay grafted on to it. In other words, EMACS without the LISP. Not quite, but a reasonable comparison. Anybody know anything abut Mike Aronson? Nobody at Phoenix can tell me *anything* about PMATE, and it would be nice to have the source code so I could fix some bugs. -doug q

26 years, 3 months

3
2
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New Finds

by r.stek＠snet.net

I don't often make great finds around Hartford, but a local HS had a tag sale, and for $20 I came away with: 2 Mac Plus w/ 2 "long" and 3 "short" keyboards, 1 numeric keypad (less the ')' key), all working 3 matching 20 MB SCSI drives, also working 5 mice for same 1 Mac LC 3 Apple Keyboard II (1 cable, 2 kb's missing 1 key each, and only 1 ADB cord) 1 "limited Edition Woz" IIGS, working 2 Mac 12" RGB Displays, working 1 Apple composite color monitor for the IIGS, working 1 Apple IIe 2 Echo IIb boards & speakers 3 3.5" Apple drives, condition unknown 3 5" Apple drives, condition unknown 2 Heath-Zenith 8088's, from which I scavenged the 2 ST-225 drives (working), 1 working HD controller, 2 5" floppies condition unknown, 2 floppy controllers (ditto), I/O boards, AST combo board, the CPU's and memory chips. AND 1 IBM PC Portable - one of the floppies was not working, so I replaced it with a HD and WD controller from one of the Zeniths - works great! If I had half the space some of you describe, I could have had 20-30 IIe's, monitors, printers, and some 286 PC's. Of course, if I did that I would also have a second ex-wife! Bob Stek Saver of Lost SOLs

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Time spent Looking VS time spent "Playing"

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 11:07, FBA wrote: > How much time do you devote searching for old machines? Very little, now. I used to, but I've run out of room (I hid a scanner and an SGI monitor in my wife's wardrobe recently). Every so often, someone says "I hear you collect..." and before you know it, there's another one. They seem to come in little bursts, too -- nothing interesting for months, then two or three in a week from different sources. > How much time "Playing" (fixing, using etc...) these machines? Not nearly enough :-) A few months ago, I reached the state in the garage that there literally was no room to get *to* almost anything, far less *into* it. Six weeks ago was the point at which it all got moved out, and the conversion/extension work began. By this weekend, I'll be putting in the new network cable and starting painting in the new computer room. The walls have been lined and plastered (makes the room smaller, but deals with the condensation issues), new ceiling, it's all rewired (175 metres of cable in the power circuits alone), purpose-built workbenches (still to be built, though), raised computer floor, floor boxes for power and network, floor-to-ceiling shelves in one corner to hold and run about 20 small machines and their peripherals, space for two DEC racks and a couple of BA23's. Of course, not everything that went out will fit back in, but most will, and will be usable. Though it might be a while before I finish all the benches and stuff, and then I better move the scanner and monitor before I do much else, or The Boss might renege on her promise to pay for half of it! -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 3 months

13
18
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Setasi PEP70/HC43/HC45 cabling

by eric＠brouhaha.com

Does anyone here know anything about the Setasi PEP70 memory system for the PDP-11/70? I posted the question below to the PDP-11 list, and got no reply. :-( Eric Can anyone describe the correct cabling between the PEP70, HC43, and HC45 cards (Setasi's memory and cache-replacement cards for the PDP-11/70)? There are four connectors on the PEP70, and two each on the HC43 and HC45. It appears that the topmost PEP70 connector should be cabled to the second from the top on the HC45, and the second PEP70 to the topmost on the HC45. But I have no idea how the two cables between the PEP70 and HC43 should be wired. There would seem to be only two possibilities, but I am loathe to risk damaging anything by using trial and error. Thanks! Eric

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Getting into VAXing

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

Zane. You wimp. An 8350 is a fairly friendly BIbus system. Nothing weird about it. It's perhaps not the best "first" VAX, but it's certainly not as daunting as something like an 11/780 or an 8800. There's certainly more to VAX life than the desktop machines. If this guy is motivated, and the machine is in reasonably good shape, and maybe with a little help from us, I'll bet he can get this machine up & running with only a little bit of sweat. -Dave McGuire On June 28, healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote: > Um, I suppose I'm fairly 'into' VAXen, and I definitly like messing with > VMS. I've one thing to say about this system. *I* wouldn't touch it! > Getting the stuff to get it up and running would likely be a real pain > (although I do have a system console for one). > > If you want to mess with VAXen then get a 3100 series MicroVAX or > VAXstation, or a 4000 series VAXstation. If you're more interested in VMS, > then you might also consider an Alpha. Then once you've got one system up > you can consider getting other systems such as Q-Bus VAXen, or maybe a big > VAXen. > > > > So far, I've mostly stuck with micros (Apple, Commodore, Atari, etc.) > > > > But I noticed someone auctioning a VAX 8350 for about $50 over on Ebay, > > and I wondered, would it be relatively straightforward for a VAX newbie > > like me to: > > a. ship > > Probably have to be crated. > > > b. get it running > > Nightmarish I suspect > > > c. find software (Unix, Vms, etc) and hardware (disk drives, tape drives, > > etc.) > > VMS is the *ONE* True OS!!! Info on the truely great Hobbyist licenses can > be found at the following page. > http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/ > > But if you insist on being sick and twisted > http://minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au/PUPS/ > http://www.netbsd.com > > Hardware? Just about anywhere. > > > d. keep it running (does it require specialized maintenance) > > Probably pretty easy. While I've not messed with this particular model I've > found the VAXen I've got to be very reliable. Except the ones using old MFM > Hard drives (and that's a hard drive issue). I do suspect this model > probably requires a climet controlled computer room, but really don't know. > > > My only experience with VAXen was at a terminal in college and at a couple > > of jobs. The machine itself was always kept in its own, airconditioned, > > halon-fire-extinguisher equipped, raised floor room. > > > > So, should I jump into the fray? > > YES!!! But, not with this system. Personally I think probably your best > system to start with would be a VAXstation 4000 of some sort. A personal > VAX with 24MB is quite nice, a personal Alpha with about 112MB is quite > nice (the amount of RAM is probably the biggest thing to consider). 1-2GB > of Disk space and a CD-ROM would also be recommended. > > Zane >

26 years, 3 months

3
3
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Getting into VAXing

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Pat Barron <pat(a)transarc.ibm.com> wrote: > On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, Tony Duell wrote: > > > > The other is the 11/730. Small, slow, but there are only 2 ASICs (Memory > > ECC gate arrays IIRC). The rest is AMD bit-slice, PALs, and simple chips. > > > > Would the 11/725 also be a good/equivalent choice? My (possibly flawed) > understanding is that the 725 is basically a 730 squeezed into a > BA123-style "end-table" box (about the size of a Perq T2 or so). Right... identical CPU, no provisions for external expansion (but you _can_ squeeze a Unibus cable out it if you're careful), RC25 disks - fun but a pain - one motor with two disks; one removable, one fixed, 25Mb each. I used to have an RC25 cart with VMS 5.0 on it, so I know it fits, but I lost it and the machine when the business it was resting at closed with so little warning that I couldn't get it out. :-P The 11/725 case is a bit larger than a BA-123, but the aspect ratio is similar. -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> A vertical storage system with 3 foot deep by > 4 foot wide "shelves" mounted on a kind of chain > driven circular elevator. I got the idea from > some pictures of a car parking facility. The > shelf at the I/O position could slide onto a cart > which could then take it to a workstation where > it would lock in. I figure about 2 feet of > clearance between shelves and the whole system > being about 50 feet tall (or down into the floor) > so you could have 50 systems easily ready to use, > demo or work on. Sounds just like a White Data Systems Vertical Carousel... never got to work with one of those, but I wrote lots of code to move the WDS Horizontal Carousels back in the 80s... -doug q

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > > You never worked with overhead raceways, did you? > > > > Oh, they're great if you like your cables getting sliced > > up as you pull them through; pulling the raceway tops off > > (the alternative) is no fun either. > > I work with them every day and don't have such problems. I rather > like 'em. The ones I use are made by Newton...might wanna check 'em > out. Ho Ho Ho! Last time I pulled cable (raceways amongst others) was in college... somebody else gets all the fun now. Not that I mind work, Hell, I love it, I can watch it all day! -dq

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Your dream computer room.

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 29, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > > > A couple of big APC Silicon UPSes, room air conditioner > > > (http://www.coolestspot.com/ is REALLY neat) Darkened glass > > > room dividers. A big control room like in wargames. And > > > I think overhead wiring raceways are cooler than a raised floor :) > > > > You never worked with overhead raceways, did you? > > Oh, they're great if you like your cables getting sliced > up as you pull them through; pulling the raceway tops off > (the alternative) is no fun either. I work with them every day and don't have such problems. I rather like 'em. The ones I use are made by Newton...might wanna check 'em out. -Dave McGuire

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > A couple of big APC Silicon UPSes, room air conditioner > > (http://www.coolestspot.com/ is REALLY neat) Darkened glass > > room dividers. A big control room like in wargames. And > > I think overhead wiring raceways are cooler than a raised floor :) > > You never worked with overhead raceways, did you? Oh, they're great if you like your cables getting sliced up as you pull them through; pulling the raceway tops off (the alternative) is no fun either. -dq

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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The cost of collecting debate

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >Anyway, the IBM Incompatibles that I've got include : >Sanyo MBC555 >DEC Rainbow >HP150 >HP110+ >Sirius (Victor 9000) >IBM PCjr (sort-of. It'll boot standard PC-DOS, but quite a lot of standard >software won't run). >FTS-88 (I've never seen MS-DOS for it, only CP/M 86, but it's an 8088 box). You forgot the Vaxmate a 286 box that was mildly PC. >> Honestly, I have no desire for an altair/imsai/apple 1, so as long as those >> are "fashionable" and little else, I won't shed a tear over it. If, > >I, too, have little desire to own any of those. I have the altair, what junk. I do have a buch of other first machines of the SBC fame. Allison

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

ROFL!!! -----Original Message----- From: Steve Robertson [mailto:steverob@hotoffice.com] Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 12:41 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: RE: the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse > We had an agreement that if anything new came in, > something had to go out. This has limited my collecting for a little > while. I had the same agreement... Some new "stuff" came in so, I tossed the old "stuff" out. Now I live alone :-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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A-1 Rating for Meyers Computer Services

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Meyers Computer Services is an A-1 operation, so I can heartily recommend them if you ever want to do business with them. You may recall my post about a drive I bought on haggle. The drive in question arrived sans three SMD chips from the interface PCB, and would not spin up. The replacement arrived very quickly even though I told them to save money and go slow-boat-to-China with it. The replacement has the chips that were missing from the first one. I haven't tried it yet, but I already told them no big deal if it doesn't work. There are apparently a ton of these flooding the surplus market right now, and I've got another coming from another source (for less than this one cost), so I'm as happy as a pig in shiwhroishafowehfofhaew;fhawef -doug q

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> We had an agreement that if anything new came in, > something had to go out. This has limited my collecting for a little > while. I had the same agreement... Some new "stuff" came in so, I tossed the old "stuff" out. Now I live alone :-) Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Since we're on the topic of collections, I have this question: How does your significant other/spouse deal with your hobby, if you have one (a SO, not a hobby), and what "concessions" do you make to stay in their good graces? Myself, I have the aforementioned 2-car garage, plus we have an "agreement" that for any "big" item, I have to get rid of an equivalent amount of stuff, whether it be modern or old. My SO just about throttled me when I mentioned "yeah, I picked up a couple more machines over the weekend" when I picked her up at the airport after a weekend trip a couple of years ago. She didnt quite think that the 35+ Sun SS1s, 3/80s, 3/50s, 3/60s, keyboards, and monitors, in piles in the living room, were a "couple" like I did. 8-) Of course, I lived in a 1/1 apartment at the time, so she was placated when I sold off most of the systems and bought her a leather jacket instead. Bill ("No, honey, please ignore the semi trailer and the forklift backing up to the garage...") -- +-------------------\ /-----------------+ | Bill Bradford | www.sunhelp.org | | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | www.decvax.org | | Austin, Texas USA | www.pdp11.org | +-------------------/ \-----------------+

26 years, 3 months

5
4
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Archives of OS/360-ish public domain software?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> There must've been an (or several) IBM "Big Iron" users groups at >> one point. Didn't they have a library of public-domain software they >> shared? >Yes... IIRC, wasn't it called S.H.A.R.E.? Yes, SHARE still exists, but its online archives only extend back to 1997 and you have to fork over $250.00 and have an IBM mainframe and be approved by their membership committee just to view the archives. See http://www.share.org/ for more information... It's also unfortunate that SHARE's bylaws prohibit anyone other than SHARE >from distributing their collected software. I was looking for public-domain OS/360 stuff, but maybe William's right: It just doesn't exist, and if it does exist, they don't want you to find it! Tim.

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse

by mbg＠world.std.com

My SO and I have two condos... we live at one and my computers lived at the other. We had an agreement that if anything new came in, something had to go out. This has limited my collecting for a little while. Well, we now have a storage area (10x20) and much of my collection has moved to storage (we're hoping to sell both condos and get a house -- *with a garage and/or basement* for my collection). Now that I have the storage place, I can get a little more stuff without having to let something go... 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Archives of OS/360-ish public domain software?

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> There must've been an (or several) IBM "Big Iron" users groups at > one point. Didn't they have a library of public-domain software they > shared? Yes... IIRC, wasn't it called S.H.A.R.E.? -dq

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> <extreme jealousy> > > Ok. Let's start a fun thread for a change. Who among us didn't > spend some time with paper and crayon as a child designing the ideal > "fort"? What kind of computer shop would you build given sufficient > time/money/space? My erstwhile "partner" in embedded systems projects during the early 90s had rented space from an electrical repair firm; the building was a former post office. He had about a room of about 500 sq. ft., with 3-phase power and a raised floor. This would be my ideal; most ideal about it is that it would be somewhere other than inside my home. -dq

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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the other side of the equation - your SO/spouse

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 21:52, Bill Bradford wrote: > How does your significant other/spouse deal with your hobby, if > you have one (a SO, not a hobby), and what "concessions" do you > make to stay in their good graces? Concessions? She took the rest of the garage and all of the extension :-) We have a deal: I don't ask her to mend my computers, and she doesn't ask me to help in the garden or the allotment she recently took on :-) Well that was the original deal, but occasionally I do help -- if there are paving slabs to move, or wood to be sawn. Liz is into gardening and computers rather like I'm into computers and gardening, so the utility room is also a garden store. I like to sit in the garden and she likes the convenience of email. So apart from the SGI Indigo on her desk, computers are restricted to the computer room (garage) and my office, and the network (especially Internet access for the web and email), printers and tech support will be available whenever required. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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Paul Allen's TOAD (was: Re: MicroPDP-11/73 Goes to Evil Lurke r)

by phil＠ultimate.com

> Commands Manual (this is the heavier paper version, not the "phone > book" styled pub) Let me know when you put it up for auction. I've always wanted one!

26 years, 3 months

1
0
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MORE dec stuff available!

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

I'm lucky enough to be the recipient of a large collection of PDP-11 and VAX stuff from an awesome guy in Houston, and I just finished unloading Haul #1 (with at least four more to go) from my truck, where its been for a week due to being busy with other things. Some of this is available to good homes (on a trade-for-other-stuff basis), but first, I have to brag, and everyone loves pictures: VMS 4.x "Orange Wall": ---------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/orange-wall.jpg PDP 11/02 in BA11-VA chassis: ----------------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/pdp-front.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/pdp-front-logo-closeup.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/pdp-back.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/pdp-back-closeup-1.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/pdp-back-closeup-2.jpg Dual Zenith RX-01 compatible 8" floppy drives (attached to PDP-11): ------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/eight-inch-floppys-front.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/eight-inch-floppys-switches.jpg Now, the stuff that I need to ID and is available for trade for other PDP/DEC/VAX stuff: A power supply and card cage/backplane: --------------------------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/backplane-and-powersupply.jpg (labels on the power supply:) http://www.pdp11.org/pics/ps-label-1.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/ps-label-2.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/ps-label-3.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/ps-plate.jpg A really big-ass ventilation fan, and DEC box it came in: --------------------------------------------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/spareparts-fan.jpg A front panel/bulkhead/key switch of some kind; I dunno if this goes with the 11/02 above: --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/frontpanel-switches.jpg http://www.pdp11.org/pics/frontpanel-switches-pcb.jpg Finally, a box of five TU-58 DECtape IIs: ----------------------------------------- http://www.pdp11.org/pics/spareparts-dectapes.jpg Two of the DECtapes are labeled: BE-t493F-DE 000MUB2580 HSC50 OFFLINE TAPE V390 copr(C) 1983,89 DIGITAL EQUIP. CORP. The other three are still new in shrinkwrap. If anybody has a use for the card cage, power supply, backplane, fan, front switchpanel, or DECtapes, please let me know. Since I was given this stuff, I dont want to sell it - but I would like to trade it for other DEC stuff. Bill -- +-------------------\ /-----------------+ | Bill Bradford | www.sunhelp.org | | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | www.decvax.org | | Austin, Texas USA | www.pdp11.org | +-------------------/ \-----------------+

26 years, 3 months

2
1
0 0

Archives of OS/360-ish public domain software?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

William Doznelli wrote: >Tim Shoppa wrote: >> Are there any on-line archives of OS/360 software in the >> public domain? I'm thinking not only of operating system >> software distributions (which are rumored to be in the public >> domain), but also of user-group collections of software for >> these beasts. I'm also interested in software for previous >> generations of old iron, like IBM 1401's, etc. >I might think could be out of luck. It seems that most IBM software >(except for S/34, 36, and 38 stuff) goes away very quickly. I have a >feeling IBM itself has something to do with this. There must've been an (or several) IBM "Big Iron" users groups at one point. Didn't they have a library of public-domain software they shared? I *do* realize that the entire IBM "Big Iron" philosophy is very different than, say, the DEC minicomputer or CP/M microcomputer philosophies, but still it's hard for me to imagine that there were *Zero* user group software libraries. >If RCS/RI ever come across any, we will let you know. Wasn't there supposed to be a RCS/RI trip to rescue a lot of old "big iron" stuff from a former IBM field service type? Did he have any OS distributions or field-service diagnostics among that stuff? Tim.

26 years, 3 months

2
1
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Is it time for an International Vintage Computer Association? Was: Yo

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 00:31:48 -0400 "Bill Dawson" <whdawson(a)mlynk.com> writes: > Perhaps I should have used the word "pattern"? Yes, similar things > occur with most collectibles and their followers. Clubs, newsletters, > meets, conventions, suppliers, etc. I think though that as far as > logistics go, we have much more in common with the antique radio > collectors than with collectors of Beanie Babies. Yeah, Beanie Baby prices are actually starting to go *down*. :^/ > The point I am trying to make is that all we have to do is observe > where the Antique Radio Collector field is today and how it got there. > We are following the same path. God forbid. I'm glad I have little or no interest in 'Vintage' radio-- I'd never be able to afford it. > We can take shortcuts and avoid pitfalls. Vintage computer collecting is > not a fad, No quite, but damn near > Sellam and many others on this list have put forth great effort to put > on the VCF's, which I hope to be able to attend someday soon. I don't know about you, but I'll bet alot of guys here can't even afford the air fare. I know I can't. > However, an IVCA, with elected officers, bylaws, dues, and > non-profit status would be a great boost to this collecting field. Yeah, it's gonna give prices a real boost, alright. Tell me how you think any kind of 'boost' is going to help, huh? I can see it now: I'm at a local surplus place, and I pick out Widget (or a part for one, more likely), and ask for a price. The guys says "Uhhh, well, those are *collectable* now, you know. $50.". Never mind the fact that I got one like it the year before for $10. > I know there are those that dread this hobby or whatever you want to > call it heading in an organized direction, with the attendant increase of > publicity and collectors. Why do I think this way? I see two types of > vintage computer collectors, the true historical preservationists and > the collectors. Isn't it odd, how "True historical preservationists" always seem to have the *deepest* pockets? > Collectors see organization and all that comes with it as a threat to > their ability to find those rare pieces (find it first) and increased > competition (pay as little as possible for it). Oh, okay, so I'm a 'collector' because I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at this. I see. I don't know about you, but I got into this because, at long last, I found a truly interesting hobby I could actually *afford*. You're damned f'ing right I want to pay 'as little as possible'. That's the only way I'm going to be able to stay in this . . . . I was priced out of stamp collecting in the 70's. I was priced out of numismatics in the early 80's. I'll be goddamned if I'm going to stand idly by, to watch this happen again. > Why else all the complaining about eBay and the prices? Because alot of us won't be able to participate if the prices get too high, or are you so wealthy that this is too difficult for you to comprehend?!?! > Our goal, if I understand it correctly, is the preservation of our > computer technology for posterity. Yes. Preservation. Restoring and owning a truly historic computer is a worthwhile and uplifting endeavour. Unfortunately, the way things are going, it will soon be an endeavour for the privledged few. > If an organized association greatly furthers this cause than I > believe we should be focusing in that direction. And I'm not > limiting "we" to mean just those on this list, but also those on > the many other vintage/classic hardware and software lists as well. > This can only help but further our cause of historical preservation. And I'm saying, all you will be doing is raising the cost of admission. There's nothing anyone can do to stop you, of course. If Classic Computing becomes a 'legitimate' hobby with a 'legitimate' organization, then I guess there won't be room for amateurs like myself. You professional 'true historical preservationists' can have it. This hobby is about people, as much as it is about technology (old and new). If you're going to squeeze out a group of its people, you may as well forget the group of technology that will get squeezed out with them, for the ones who are in charge won't care. Jeff ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

26 years, 3 months

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Available: RL02K-DC disk pack

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Bill Bradford <mrbill(a)mrbill.net> wrote: > Anybody have a use for an RL02K-DC disk pack? In original box, even. > > I had intended to make it into a clock, but the shock meter isnt red > yet, and it would be a sin to destory a still-usable piece of > no-longer-made media... What's on it? I have enough blanks, but sometimes you can find interesting things on used packs, especially if it was a former distribution pack (I have at least one RSX-11 pack set) -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/

26 years, 3 months

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Getting into VAXing

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote: > > Zane. You wimp. An 8350 is a fairly friendly BIbus system. > > Yep, in this case feel free to call me a wimp. I've seen pieces of a 8350, > I really don't want to mess with something that big, and slow unless it's > a 11/780. The 8350 CPU is 10.5" tall, 3' deep and fits in a standard 19" rack. You typically see them in a 42" rack because the bottom is filled with room for cables and I/O bulkheads. I have an 8300 - same thing but with slower CPUs. Yes... CPUs... the 8200/8250 is a single CPU box (slow/fast), the 8300/8350s are slow and fast dual boxes. You can expand an 82x0 to an 83x0 as long as the firmware/microcode is the same on both CPU boards. This can be done in the field (which is how my 8200 was bumped up to an 8300) Fun little box. My employer paid $12,000 for mine in 1989. I got to haul it away for free five years later (w/RA-81, etc.) At the moment it has an MBA ESDI<->SDI box on it with 2.4Gb of 5.25" disks in a tray that's half the size and 1/8th the weight of the RA-81. -ethan ===== Even though my old e-mail address is no longer going to vanish, please note my new public address: erd(a)iname.com The original webpage address is still going away. The permanent home is: http://penguincentral.com/ See http://ohio.voyager.net/ for details. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/

26 years, 3 months

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Your dream computer exhibit [Was: Re: Your dream computer room]

by mgregory＠vantageresearch.com

I've always envisioned at least four rooms for my museum: 1) a static display hall, with a variety of shelves extending out from the walls, holding a variety of micros with monitors/TVs. The computers would be running random demos (e.g. the Juggler or the Boing ball, for Amigaphiles) or programs. The aim is to provoke a "Wow!" reaction at the sheer variety of shapes, sizes, and colours of cases, monitors, and graphics. 2) A "period" gallery, where examples of important computers are shown in their natural habitat. e.g. a TI-99/4A with cassette recorder and wired remote controllers would be connected to a TV in a recreation of an early 80s rec. room, complete with red carpet, photoprinted wood panelling, Farrah Fawcett poster, and battered 60's Formica and steel furniture. 3) A "hands-on" arcade or exhibit, where relatively "expendable" common computers (e.g. C-64, TI-99/4A, Atari 800XL) are set up with a variety of games carts and business software (complete with tape drives, disk drives, dot matrix printers, etc) so people can experience what it was like to actually use these machines. 4) A restoration gallery, where people can see old computers on the workbench, and restoration/repair techniques. Displays on the walls could show exploded or cutaway views of disk drives, joysticks, printers, etc. and explain the technology thay was used in these machines. Then, there would be the vault, with retina and handprint scanner, that only lets me in to play with my favourite machines. If there's anyone in Western Canada who would like to collaborate on building such a museum (or just dream about it) please contact me off-list. I'd like to get a ClassicComp club for Western Canada off the ground, and maybe even plan for VCF North in ? 2002 ?. Cheers, Mark

26 years, 3 months

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Getting into VAXing

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On June 28, healyzh(a)aracnet.com wrote: > Yep, in this case feel free to call me a wimp. I've seen pieces of a 8350, > I really don't want to mess with something that big, and slow unless it's > a 11/780. 11/780s definitely have personality. > Um... I saw this on eBay yesterday, and as I read it, it's basically just > the CPU. I'm sorry, I do not consider this a good first system. I > maintain that the best first system is either a 3100 or 4000 series system. Call me adventurous... ;) > BTW, what's the power and cooling requirements for one of these puppies? Not too bad, actually, as long as you don't try to run RA-series disks on it. > You really need to consider that, and the fact it's apparently in a 40" > Rack! Remember shipping was one of his concerns <shudder>. True...But the 8350 is a 10.5" chassis that can be re-racked to coexist with other hardware. I really like the BA32 chassis. :-) -Dave McGuire

26 years, 3 months

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Your dream computer room.

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 15:26, Shawn T. Rutledge wrote: > I'm already doing it to an extent. I have a 10x20 room in the middle > of my house. Sounds pretty cool... > This room is not quite ideal; it could be bigger. I've had some sort of workshop or hobby room in every house I've lived in, and I've noticed there seem to be only two sizes: too small, and not big enough. > away with that. Also if I was building from scratch, I think I would > do the raised-floor thing. Maybe use aluminum diamondplate squares. > (or not... I do walk around barefoot in there a lot) Don't, it's cold and noisy, and actually less strong than most computer flooring. I had the choice of carpet-tiled floor panels or vinyl. If you could get linoleum instead of vinyl, that's even better (more expensive, though). I went for vinyl because it's easier to sweep than a carpet (in a workshop, where there's sawdust and metal swarf) and much easier to lift vinyl-covered panels (the panel lifter is a suction device like the ones glass workers use for large sheets of glass) than carpet (velcro-backed lifters work on some types, but most use metal teeth to bite into the carpet tile). I was also put off by experience at work: the hardware techs tell me that the failure rate on PSUs and fans has risen three-fold since we moved from a building with a vinyl-surfaced flooring to one with carpet (more dust). However, carpet is much better acoustically. > In this house the floors are concrete and all at the same height, so > I'd rather keep it that way rather than having to step up into the > computer room. It doesn't cost much to have a layer of concrete screeding added. The utility room which occupies the part of the garage I didn't get, plus the extension, is 4" concrete screed on top of 2" expanded polystyrene insulation/damp-proofing, to make the two floors the same level. If it's not practical to raise the floor elsewhere, you might consider excavating the middle room a few inches. Damp isn't a big issue unless the level would be below the water table; in my room, there was an extra damp-proof layer added (basically thick polythene sheet) bonded into the existing damp-proof course in the original brick walls (and the interior layer, which is 4"x2" timber framing with glass fibre fill, set 2" back from the brickwork, sits on top of that, one layer of the sheeting continuing up the inside of the brickwork for a couple of feet). There's a 5" step up to our new utility room; that's very little really, but I'm going to build a small ramp so I can trundle a rack or the trolley in and out (I sometimes take stuff to University Open Days and suchlike). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 3 months

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College

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: Passer, Michael <PasserM(a)umkc.edu> To: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 2:48 PM Subject: OT: College >degree. Doing so right after high school is the path of >least resistance--it _is_ harder when you're older (from >experience). However when older it can be a more directed activity. >have filled that time--such as having served in the Peace >Corps, the military, or a real-world job--that might just >have made a person who waited to go to college appreciate >the opportunity laid before them. A person who did such a >thing may well be a better candidate for it. Big time. >While there is no shortage of the kind of people >who will not take a second look at those whose resumes >don't fit the mold, there are also plenty of others less >closed minded who would likely be more satisfying to >work for. so very true. Those are the people willing to offer challenges that both benefit the business and the people. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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PDP-11/44 on eBay

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Well, it says "do not assme item includes anything other than what is shown in the pictures" and the pictures clearly show the cardcage full of cards, so I wouldn't worry too much. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 3 months

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Time spent Looking VS time spent "Playing"

by fauradon＠mn.mediaone.net

Howdy all, Another free for all question: How much time do you devote searching for old machines? How much time "Playing" (fixing, using etc...) these machines? I've found lately that when I'm done with the rounds (that is when I can do the rounds) I usually don't have time to do the play and the machine often end up on a shelf (or floor or table or....) until I finaly free myself up. Also as the collection grows I have less time to spend with each machine and some don't get out anymore (C64, C128, ADAM etc...). It seems that the longer the setup time the less likely the machine is going to be used. I used to try to get one representative of each group easilly accessible but it is now impossible. What do you do? How do you manage your "quality" time with your machines? Do you feel guilty for neglecting that old (insert machine name here)? Francois

26 years, 3 months

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Available: RL02K-DC disk pack

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Anybody have a use for an RL02K-DC disk pack? In original box, even. I had intended to make it into a clock, but the shock meter isnt red yet, and it would be a sin to destory a still-usable piece of no-longer-made media... Bill -- +-------------------\ /-----------------+ | Bill Bradford | www.sunhelp.org | | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | www.decvax.org | | Austin, Texas USA | www.pdp11.org | +-------------------/ \-----------------+

26 years, 3 months

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Your dream computer room.

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 17:22, Bill Sudbrink wrote: > Peter Turnbull wrote: > > Six weeks ago was the point at which it all got moved out, > > and the conversion/extension work began. By this weekend, > <extreme jealousy> Well, I can temper that a little, maybe :-) Firstly, it's smaller than it sounds, and secondly, this is the culmination of 10 years saving to do it: when we moved here 10 years ago, it was obvious that the garage was designed to be extended to the house, joining the car port and leaving the latter as the garage (it would then be fully enclosed). However, the week we got the keys, I was made redundant, and all plans/dreams were put on hold. After a while I went back to uni to finish my degree[1], and it wasn't at all clear that we'd stay in York when I graduated. I got a job on a 2-year contract as a sysadmin at the uni, still no security, and meanwhile my wife was doing a weekly commute to work in Edinburgh (200 miles away) because she had too good a job to give up. So we continued to save any spare money, and last year my job was made permanent (with a raise) at about the same time my wife landed a good job in Yorkshire. We spent quite a while chewing over plans before we decided to call the builder, organise a loan, and the garage plus small extension is now (nearly) a computer room-cum-workshop and a utility room (for the washing machine, freezer, etc). A lot was done "on the cheap". I got the flooring from someone who reclaims such things from old buildings; a friend was buying a large quantity and I got mine extra cheap -- but I had to spend a weekend with a blowtorch removing the old glue from the supports, wire brushing them, and a day getting them cut down to size and so on. Another day sorting out good panels from bad (on top of 7' stacks) and moving them 25 miles (and they're heavy!). I got the modular shelf supports as surplus, from another building project, along with locks and door fittings I wanted. I got a lot of network cable and fittings cheaply, over a period of time. I got a patch panel free, a while ago, for example. A local kitchen unit supplier has a 50%-or-more-off sale -- guess where I got the cupboard units. My 5" metalworking vice was a "found object" several years ago. [1] Actually, to start again from scratch. First time around, I went to University straight from school, realised partway through 1st year I'd made a bad course choice, and gave up. Anyway, it was so many decades ago that it counted for zero credit. > Ok. Let's start a fun thread for a change. Who among us didn't > spend some time with paper and crayon as a child designing the ideal > "fort"? What kind of computer shop would you build given sufficient > time/money/space? Much what I'm doing now, but bigger, of course :-) The new room is 2.7 metres (9') by 4.6m (15'). One side is computer space, the other side will have my drill, miniature lathe, electronics bench, workbench and vise, etc. Only about 1/2 - 2/3 of my collection of micros will fit and be usable, and there's no room for the PCB developing tanks I acquired, nor for my photographic tanks and enlarger. Nearly all the DEC equipment will fit in the two racks. Honest. OK, maybe something will have to go on top. What did that brochure say the maximum floor loading was? I'd make it two rooms, each about 10' x 15', one for computers, the other for electronics/photo/mechanics. Or maybe the PCB and photo stuff should be separate again, away from the dust. Lots of power sockets in both; let's say one twin socket per linear foot of wall. Surge and RFI suppressors, of course, and separate circuits for computers/electronics/tools. RCD on the tools but maybe not the minis. Network connections (or rather, structured wiring, since some will be used for serial or control lines) everywhere, even beside the lathe (maybe I'll use those stepper motors one day). One bench with a built-in light box. Floor-to-ceiling shelves, fully adjustable, in units 600mm wide (2') and 700mm deep for all the micros. And their monitors! I'd want about 4 of those units (I will have 2). Make them strong (the brackets in mine are rated for a 67kg load). Space to walk all round the 19" racks (I'll have about 20" behind mine, accessible from one side only). A place to put the microfiche reader where I can use it with moderate comfort (it used to be on top of a 5' high shelf unit!). Desk space for a few favourite machines, and a trolley with 'scope, BBC Micro, terminal and printer, and of course make sure there's space to wheel it around to where it's needed. Plenty of bookshelves - I have a full set of RSX manuals, two sets of RT11, one Solaris, lots of other Unix, Acorn, programming, and networking stuff, and shelfloads of data books. I just had to turn down a couple of shelfloads of SGI manuals because I have no room left :-( Leave some wall space for a noticeboard and/or whiteboard. Air conditioning would be nice, but I've settled for a large(ish) extractor fan. No budget left! Heating is, of course, largely by minicomputer :-) though now there is a small central heating radiator and we have a portable dehumidifier which I used to use to keep the workshop air dry (cheaper than heating, and saves a lot of tools from condensation/damp damage). Good lighting -- I'd go for those fluorescent fittings with the aluminium diffuser grids built in if I could afford it (they're about 70 UKP a throw). Ah well, next time around ;-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

26 years, 3 months

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PDP-11/44 on eBay

by pat＠transarc.ibm.com

Someone just listed an 11/44 on eBay today; the URL is http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=369721415 System seems to include no disk or tape other than "dual tape drives" (e.g., dual TU58's ...). It has no bids right now, so I couldn't even make a guess at what the reserve is. I'd bid on it myself, if I had a reasonable way to get it to the East Coast .... --Pat.

26 years, 3 months

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Archives of OS/360-ish public domain software?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> I've asked around at a couple of prominent computer museums, but >> they all just shrug their shoulders when I ask them how they >> archive and index the original software, like they've never considered >> it to be important. I really feel like I'm talking to all the >> wrong curators, because they seem to have no interest in the subject >> at all. >Assumptions like these don't take into account lack of staff or lack of >funding for such projects. I'm sure that's a good part of it. Another part of it is that I get the sense that most of the curators don't trust anyone else with what software they do have (whether it be punched cards or paper tape) and they'd rather just let it sit and rot away rather than do something to archive it. I'm not exactly a newbie to the field of archiving software and data - for example, the DECUS PDP-10 and PDP-11 software collections I maintain represent several thousand input tapes and floppies covering the last five decades, and Mentec will shortly be issuing CD's containing DEC PDP-11 OS archives I've archived over the years - but I get the feeling that I'm not "a member of the club" when it comes to dealing with museums and other archives. Maybe my technical background (physics, math, and computers) puts me at a severe disadvantage compared to folks who are trained to be museum curators or librarians. Whatever the reason, so far most of my offers to volunteer my equipment and time to archive the old software is simply ignored. Sometimes I get a polite letter back, but never do I get the impression that there's some coherent plan to usefully archive the old software. In some cases I'm told that archiving is flat out impossible for technical reasons (I once had a heated debate with a SI curator who insisted that 8" floppies couldn't be read or written anymore.) Or maybe I feel too strongly that all the stuff should be archived, and my strong feelings immediately put me in the "crackpot" category as far as museum curators are concerned. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years, 3 months

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Choose Dumpster #1, Dumpster #2, Dumpster #3

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

For me something about dumpsters seems to have a siren call like mermaids luring ships on the rocks. My son laughs every time I'm driving down the street and all of a sudden announce, "is that a full dumpster over there?" My feeling is that when somebody puts stuff in the dumpster they are "saying it has no value", I just want to prove them wrong. Having the "eye" to find the value in the trash, to recognize "good stuff". I'm like an archeologist walking through an area looking at rocks hoping to find the fossil missing link. The auction location scenario is a contest to see who can discern the "true" value of stuff and convince everyone else to drop out. The vintage machine and software that may be for sale seem to be more of a "known" commodity. Maybe it's the adventure, the thrill of discovery, the agony of lifting trash to find the pearl. I haven't had a breakdown yet but it could be caused if I had to choose between 3 dumpsters being approached by a single trash truck. Wait a minute it could be worse, 3 dumpsters each being approached by a trash truck. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years, 3 months

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Your dream computer room.

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: Bill Sudbrink <bill(a)chipware.com> >spend some time with paper and crayon as a child designing the ideal >"fort"? What kind of computer shop would you build given sufficient >time/money/space? Wooha, now there a blue sky idea. Simple though, 1000sqft with net power drops from the ceiling, floor would not be raised but work benches for smaller systems plus a rolling work bench for doing repair work. One wall would be manuals and spares. Oh yes, Air conditioning for the bigger boxen and me too. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Price of our hobby

by allisonp＠world.std.com

From: r. 'bear' stricklin <red(a)bears.org> >I have to add my two cents to this. Yes, some companies will demand >degrees and expect to see a candidate with 100% conventional >background. In the tech sector, at least, these companies don't seem to be >in the norm and where they do exist, are the LEAST interesting companies >to work for. Over an extended period I encounterd a lot of old guard companies that fit that mold or worse have sterotypes on the brain. >Today I am 23 years old and have hit the top of my profession (UNIX >systems administration). In terms of technical knowledge, I outrank nearly It will make difference when your 47 and looking. >Not once has my lack of a degree affected my ability to find a job. In >fact, I am very up-front about my short-lived and extremely unglamourous >engagement at uni. With 30 years behind me and 6 major companies I can say at one time It didn't either for me. Then as athey say, I got old. >Yes, I am tooting my own horn here (quite loudly) but if I don't toot it, >I'm afraid the fact that a successful career can be built on things other >than advanced degrees may slip by unnoticed. Much truth to that, but some day it will come to you or someone with same expereince and he'll have the degree... >Will I go back to school? Yes. Will it be to get a technical degree? >Probably not. Divinity or theology are looking like likely candidates. Same here. I've visited from time to time for various courses but if I go for the degree electronics or computer will not be the focus either. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Minivac 601 documentation?

by Anthony.Eros＠compaq.com

Does anyone have any documentation for the Minivac 601? Is there anything on-line? I bought one via eBay (I thought $41 was a pretty reasonable price,) but it didn't come with any of the jumpers or books. When I was in high school, we had one, but it didn't work. It didn't have any documentation either.

26 years, 3 months

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Time spent Looking VS time spent "Playing"

by allisonp＠world.std.com

>What do you do? How do you manage your "quality" time with your machines? >Do you feel guilty for neglecting that old (insert machine name here)? > >Francois Good point! I've generally stopped adding as I've reached space saturation and run out of possible time to operate the machines I dearly wanted. Yes, My old NS* is not getting enough time these days. Allison

26 years, 3 months

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Is it time for an International Vintage Computer Association? Was: Yo

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:48:53 -0700 Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org> writes: > Isn't it also odd how the people with these "deep pockets" also seem > to get > a lot accomplished? You might want to look at that correlation and > see what > it means. Okay, if you want to take that tack on the subject, let's go: So you're saying that only the rich and powerful are *worthy* of a such as noble endeavor such as ours? So your saying: "Sorry, if you can't pay, you don't deserve to play". What a crock of shit. Accomplish what!?! All it means to me is, is that some guys can delude themselves into thinking that if they pour money into something, they can call it a hobby. They haven't go it. The only way to really appreciate what we do here (well, what *I* do anyway) is to get your "hands dirty" with this stuff. Maybe you can pay someone to do the work for you, but you're kidding yourself. > See comment #1. Those "priviledged few" are generally the people > that get > things done and manage their resources wisely. Personally, I would > not want > someone without the ability to manage having any control over my > collection. Oh, okay, so you're saying that if we can't pay the increasing cost of admission, we're deadbeats, is that it?!?! Try to tell that to the retired folks who have fixed incomes. Try to tell that to schoolkids who now equate computer=Wintel, and don't know that something existed before. Yeah, we're going to pass this all on, right? Yeah, when we're all dead, and there no one around to tell the story . . . Now as a matter of fact, I don't give a rat's ass about your collection. What you do with it is *your* business. What I *do* care about though, are the poor stiffs who would like to pursue computing as a hobby, but will instead have to find something else to do, because the prices are out of sight. Jeff ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

26 years, 3 months

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OT: College

by PasserM＠umkc.edu

I'll be first in line to say college is a good thing, and worth the time, money, and effort expended to obtain a degree. Doing so right after high school is the path of least resistance--it _is_ harder when you're older (from experience). That said, any employer who ignores you because the time between your high school and college graduations is not the "standard interval" without so much as asking about it is doing him or herself (and his or her company) a disservice. There are pursuits other than rehab or prison that could have filled that time--such as having served in the Peace Corps, the military, or a real-world job--that might just have made a person who waited to go to college appreciate the opportunity laid before them. A person who did such a thing may well be a better candidate for it. While there is no shortage of the kind of people who will not take a second look at those whose resumes don't fit the mold, there are also plenty of others less closed minded who would likely be more satisfying to work for. --Mike

26 years, 3 months

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Evil Lurker Won, Gets His Parts

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> It's true the DEC racks don't grow on trees, but their scrap value doesn't > pay for shipping and storage. Ask anybody who's got them. Likewise, the > PSU's cost a lot to move and store, but seldom bring benefit proportional to > the effort. > > What's wrong with letting this guy have what he wants? See, I'm not a DEC guy, so I really don't know how rare a MicroPDP-11/73 is (and how different they are or aren't >from a regular PDP-11). On the assumption that they don't make them anymore and thus are kinda rare, I thought it worthwhile to preserve/restore a nearly complete and almost operational system. And let me tell you how clean this thing was. Since the guy didn't want anything heavy, I picked up the TS05 tape drive out of the rack last night. The plexiglass tape door had not a scratch on it, nor did the rest of the unit. And no discoloration anywhere either. It had been used at the University of Louisville Medical School, and they took awesome care of it. I just thought it an ideal machine to save. After I looked at it even more carefully at home, I almost couldn't bring myself to remove the plexiglass door to replace the broken one on my Cipher F880. My Cipher isn't in nearly as good a shape. The two units aren't identical; while the TS05 is a Cipher F880, it doesn't support the 3200bpi density mine does. But I'll bet dollars to donuts that the mechanical assemblies are the same, so now I've got an excellent source of spares to keep my drive working. Now if i can just find a Prime 2301 Tape Controller... -doug q

26 years, 3 months

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Evil Lurker Won, Gets His Parts

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> You do realize that PDP-11's are more than just cool toys don't you? There > are people/companies whose livelyhood depends on these systems and their > continueing to run. Nah, running a CAT scanner is just child's play. And AFAIC, I don't really want to play with a PDP-11; I just didn't want to see an otherwise complete system that was two components away from total restoration ripped to shreds! > The only thing I can see that the buyer did wrong was leaving the > powersupply! At least from what you've said I assume he left > it. If he went so far as to get the backplane he really should have > taken that. He's taking about a third, and leaving two thirds. The rack is staying behind too. But I guess DEC racks grow on trees. -dq

26 years, 3 months

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Time spent Looking VS time spent "Playing"

by PasserM＠umkc.edu

I find that I don't spend enough time playing with the machines, but, then, I don't spend enough time searching, either :>. Seriously, I am in a similar situation, with every shelf available to me covered with computers and peripherals. I think from time to time about "thinning the herd" and choosing machines to specialize in--right about then, I come across something I know nothing about and get it! And thinning would require me to choose machines with which to part, which isn't easy. I _should_ start offering some items to the list soon! I do feel guilty for not firing up a variety of machines more often! --Mike

26 years, 3 months

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Wang Professional-boot disk or docs?

by fauradon＠mn.mediaone.net

How can you find your computer without having had coffee? Francois >I apologize--that reply was meant to go off list. I >will remember not to reply to messages before having >had coffee in the future! >

26 years, 3 months

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TRS-80

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

Just wondering, how rare is a model 12? I don't care about monetary value, this is a curiosity thing. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 3 months

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