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

Attend and Participate Information Security and Cyber Forensics (INFOSEC2017)

by radiotest＠juno.com

At 08:42 AM 6/10/2016, Joan Sali wrote: >I'm thinking this is a general discussion. This is a general discussion about classic computers. Will your conference address security needs of , say, CP/M computers of the 1980s, minicomputers of the 1970s, or mainframe computers of the 1960s? I suspect not, and if not the topic does not belong here and is therefore regarded by many of us as spam. Dale H. Cook, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA Osborne 1 / Kaypro 4-84 / Kaypro 1 / Amstrad PPC-640 http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/radios/index.html

9 years, 8 months

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The life of Plastics

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

I just took my copy of RT11 mini reference (1985) off the shelf and the front cover fell off. Not through wear and tear but brittleness. I wonder what else is going to fall apart in the plastics line. Oh well at least I have the finest book cover repair material known to man to hand. What is it? Green packing tape! Rod

9 years, 8 months

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Interlan DEC Ethernet boards

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Other threads about DEC and Ethernet got me thinking....I have a couple of QBUS LSI Internal BD-NI2010A Ethernet boards. Anyone using these to connect to an Ethernet network on their system? It appears the ethernet address # is burned/hard wired into the card. Mine come from the University of Delaware. Bill -- @ BillDeg: Web: vintagecomputer.net Twitter: @billdeg <https://twitter.com/billdeg> Youtube: @billdeg <https://www.youtube.com/user/billdeg> Unauthorized Bio <http://www.vintagecomputer.net/readme.cfm>

9 years, 8 months

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vintage computers in active use

by hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca

A friend notice this in the news, I heard it mentioned on the radio this morning too: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36385839 extract: The report said that the Department of Defence systems that co-ordinated intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft "runs on an IBM Series-1 Computer - a 1970s computing system - and uses eight-inch floppy disks".

9 years, 8 months

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TK50 and xxdp+

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi I'm renovating a TK50 . Its on my 11/83 and if use the PDP-11 format disk the Identify function finds and lists it. There should be a TK50 exerciser among the xxdp functions somewhere anybody know which one? Rod

9 years, 8 months

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Big announcement tomorrow night

by cctalk＠snarc.net

There's a big announcement happening from the Vintage Computer Federation tomorrow night. :) Stay tuned...

9 years, 8 months

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IBM 3511

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

So today I picked up something I had never seen before - an IBM 3511. This is a large tower expansion chassis for the PS/2 line. It looks very straightforward - but can any of you PS/2 fans comment on this? Was it an unsuccessful product? Low demand item? -- Will

9 years, 8 months

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VAX-11/780 Board Set on eBait

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Devin Davison > well there goes my plan of trying to keep it under the radar. Sorry, I didn't mean to upset your plan (and you); I just didn't know if anyone was watching for VAX-11/780 parts, they come by so rarely. We have discussed this topic before, but let me recapitulate one point about pricing and valuations: if we want to stop this stuff being scrapped, we need to make sure the prices realized are well above scrap. This will have several consequences: i) If people only get low (scrap-region) prices, why go to all the bother/hassle of listing things on auction sites; just proceeed directly to 'Go'. ii) Hopefully, if values are non-trivial, the word will get around, and people who have this stuff will go to the effort to list it, instead of leaving it to moulder, etc. Yes, I understand that will make this a more expensive hobby, but TANSTAAFL. YMMV. Noel

9 years, 8 months

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Trying to repair a Smith-Corona letter quality "printer"

by fozztexx＠fozztexx.com

I picked up a Smith-Corona Memory Correct 400 Messenger typewriter at Goodwill last week. It has the daisy wheel but no ribbon. I debated getting it since I already have enough retro stuff around the house, but every single time I?m at a Goodwill I look at all the typewriters to see if they have some kind of serial or parallel port. This one has a DE9 connector on the back which can be connected to a computer using an external box called a Messenger Module, which I also have. I plugged it in at the store and the typewriter didn't power up. They gave me 10 bucks off so I couldn?t resist and bought it. I?m hoping it?s an easy fix, but I can?t figure out how to get the thing apart at all! The four screws in the bottom just hold the plastic case to the metal frame, and removing them didn?t allow the case to come apart. I can?t figure out how to get the two plastic halves separated. There's no screws in the top and no other screws in the bottom. The plastic halves aren't welded together around the outside, I can wedge a screwdriver between them all the way around. There seems to be something holding the halves together near the four corners. Does anyone have any idea of how to get this thing open (without breaking the plastic)? I?ve searched all over the internet but I can?t find any scanned service manuals. The typewriter is from 1984 and was sold for $600 new so it doesn't seem to me like it would be a "disposable" item so there has to be a way to open it and service it. From what I can tell the 200/300/400 all use the same case, and the Memory Correct II/III use a very similar case, so info for any of those may help. I posted an album here: http://imgur.com/a/SxfTE and a YouTube video here: http://youtu.be/ryDl0Qvl7Gk Any assistance in opening the case without breaking it will be greatly appreciated! :-) -- Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx Check out my blog: http://insentricity.com

9 years, 8 months

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UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay West > some (me) are sticklers for original code. Is there possibly a listing of the code in a fiche, somewhere? Noel

9 years, 8 months

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Updates to the Alpha Micro Phun Machine

by spectre＠floodgap.com

For those of you not on vcfed, yes, this is a real, live Alpha Micro Eagle 300 with AlphaTCP serving you information on the unusual Alpha Micro 68K systems and their peculiar DEC-like operating system, AMOS. New in this iteration is a lot of link cleanup, some custodial edits and a number of new downloads, including a tool for browsing ISO 9660 CDs and even a Rogue/Nethack port! http://ampm.floodgap.com/ (And if you don't believe it's an Alpha Micro:) http://ampm.floodgap.com/cgi-bin/systat -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- Bowl angry. ----------------------------------------------------------------

9 years, 8 months

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IO Selectric

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

Folks I have today collect a recent E-Bay purchase. It appears to be an IO Selectric that has been left in a garage for a long period of time and is very gummed up. It will turn over with the manual handle, and it appears to try and type, but the carriage does not advance. All the tapes and chords appear to be in place. I have put some pictures here:- https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!119461 <https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!119461&authkey=!AGfg RGXKAjqDm7E&ithint=folder%2cJPG> &authkey=!AGfgRGXKAjqDm7E&ithint=folder%2cJPG sorry for the long link. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which manuals are appropriate, and which documentation was followed to allow it to be used as a printer? Dave Wade G4UGM

9 years, 8 months

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PS/2 luggables I noticed for sale in Denver

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

I saw some retro gear on CL today. 20Mhz 386 PS/2 lookin' thing http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/5589047344.html which is this: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30497/IBM-Model-8573-121/ And this one: http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/5589142407.html which is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_Convertible I'm not an IBM nut (sorry, I worked there too long). However, they are cool machines. Someone might be interested. -Swift

9 years, 8 months

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Anyone with a Data General Eclipse S/230 out there?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

I just acquired a DG Eclipse S/230 in semi-decent condition. It's mostly complete with some fun peripherals in a gigantic rack. It'll be fun to get it going, but it's going to be a challenge -- the machine has been scavenged from here and there, I'm missing basic TTY I/O and controllers for the 8" floppy drive (and probably other things, too). Going over the boards, there's an IC on the "CPU 1" board that was somehow forcibly ripped from the PCB -- it looks like someone started clipping it off, then said "screw it" and yanked the thing off with pliers, leaving much of the leads leading up to the IC die. The PCB is undamaged, but I don't know what the IC is supposed to be. I suspect, based on what's surrounding it, that it's an SN74172J. The IC is located at position X3 (approximately, it covers more real estate than that). Anyone have a CPU 1 board from an S/230 they can check for me? There isn't much in the way of schematics for this that I can find... Thanks! Josh

9 years, 8 months

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Restoring an RXV21 and/or an RX02

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

In my quest for a working RX02 I'm trying to find out the best way of checking out an RXV21 and get it talking to the RX02. I have most of the standard diagnostics including XXDP. The setup is an 11/83 with an RX50 and RD53. (I can boot from either) In the box is MSV11-J PMI KDF11-B RXV21 RQDX3 They are in the order as above. The two dual height modules are in the right hand side of the back plane when viewed from the front. I am unsure as if there is a utility for RXV21 among all the diags I have or should I go in with ODT on a halted system and look at registers. With the setup above I need to get the RXV21 going in order to check out the RX02. The precise syntax of any commands is important because presuming I may have prior knowledge is not a good idea. I may have known this stuff in the past but I cant remember if I did or not!! Rod

9 years, 8 months

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Heathkit ETA-3400 vs. ETW-3400 confusion?

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

In following this thread, and taking in my "vast" Heathkit knowledge, I can only assume that the addition of a 'W' in the model number is to indicate a WIRED (at the factory) Heathkit. This may mean that the ETW-3400(a) is a wired version of the ET-3400(a). The difference that shows between the 'a' and non 'a' version is the space for four ram chips in the upper left visible corner of the PC board. The non-a version can have up to 4 ram chips (for a total of 512 bytes), but the a version has two 1024x4 chips, but only 512 bytes are available. Hope this answers some questions. (I have an ET3400-a version).

9 years, 8 months

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11/[9]4 latest

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood > I discovered the RX211 needed to be in CDEF and not ABCD. Is _that_ what it was? I'd have never figured that out in a million years! I'm utterly amazed you didn't fry it - I forget whether the slot you plugged it into was a MUD (hex) slot, or one of the SPC slots (I know the 11/84 backplane has some MUD and some SPC, but I don't know about the /94, and I'm too lazy to look) - but there are some odd voltages on various pins. > If you try to boot the RX02 in 11/84 mode you get > ... > Unexpected trap to location 114 Well, 0114 is the 'memory system error' vector - i.e. parity, or un-recoverable ECC error. I'm a bit surprised you're getting that, as I'd have assumed the boot ROMs test all the memory. I'm too lazy to read the 11/94 and J-11 manuals to see what the 11/94 has in the way of registers that record memory issues (the 11/73 has, for instance, a Memory System Error Register at 17777744), but that's the next step. > R6 = 172276 That seems a bit odd - the stack pointer is pointing into I/0 space? 772276 is the last Supervisor mode Data space PAR - maybe it's using those registers as a temporary stack? Noel

9 years, 8 months

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RXV21 and 11/94

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Having decided that the best way to get the 11/94 going was to sort out the RX02 and make sure I could boot from it. So back to the 11/83 make sure it boots of the RD53 - Yup RT11 Try the RX50 - Yup boots xxdp. Now then 11/83 - QBUS so an RXV21 to drive the RX02. But where to put it. Next to the RQDX3? After it? In front? Better ask: Knights of the most excellent order of Digital Techno Mages. Where does put ones RXV21 Next to the RQDX3? After it? In front? Rod Smallwood

9 years, 8 months

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Fully working Woz-signed straight Apple 2 + Lee F.-signed Sol-20 for auction

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Vintage Computer Federation is doing some fundraising. We're auctioning a fully working and Woz-autographed straight Apple II * and * a fully working and Felsenstein-autographed Processor Tech Sol-20. Both computers are SUPER-CLEAN. Apple II: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191890608380 Sol-20: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191890605553 We're using eBay to maximize the value since we're a non-profit. Have fun!

9 years, 8 months

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VAX-11/780 Board Set on eBait

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/282059544477 Low starting price. Noel

9 years, 8 months

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Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Pierre Gebhardt > I uploaded some Well, I don't know what they are, but a couple of things about that first board (the one that has the 3 blue Berg headers on it): It has jumpers for UNIBUS grants (both interrupt, and DMA). Which doesn't necessarily mean much, the various MK11/etc memory cards (M7984, M8728, M8750) have them too, and they _definitely_ don't plug into a UNIBUS. But this card has nothing connected to the CDEF connector pins, but it does to the AB, suggesting that whatever it is, it might go in a MUD slot? Someplace I have the pinout for the M9014/etc UNIBUS extenders (cards that plug into a UNIBUS in/out slot, and convert it to 3 40-pin flat cables), but I can't find it at the moment (I remember discussing it here, so maybe it's in the list archives). It would be interesting to see if this card has the same pinout. Noel

9 years, 8 months

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Model M Key Cap Replacement

by earl＠baugh.org

> my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb > adapters and they could be flaky,... > you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert > keyboard connection etc... > > anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed# Yes, if you look on ebay, there is at least one person who makes cables that snap into the IBM Model M plug with USB, I believe it has some sort of in-line electronics near the plug. It's worked flawlessly with the various Model M's I've used it with (and bought some more, all work great). I used it on '86, '89, '91 ones. BTW, I can confirm that Unicomp did buy the molds, etc. from IBM/Lexmark. (spoke to the owner during a call a while ago...) The "innerds" they make are form identical to ones that came from IBM. I can confirm this in that here at work I bought the "guts" and some Mac keycaps (guts with the USB cable hard-wired... that's the only difference) And found an old Model F (which was a UK version of a model M, not sure what else was difference) and the guts dropped in. I did cut off the tabs to allow for the additional keys next to the space bar. This works out because the mold had a cross-beam where the tabs connected to the bottom edge, so you can get a smooth even edge without much cutting, etc. That's the only shortcoming I've found from Unicomp, the "enclosures" are light weight, and definitely not the same plastic as IBM (in composition or weight). So a case from a donator model M fixes that problem. (usually run the case thru the dish washer before to get it squeaky clean... yes, my wife lets me do that, as long as I'm not running dishes too... she's a keeper :-) ) Earl p.s. If you do ever order the "guts" (not sure if they still do that or not, make sure you indicate what you want on the keycaps... I didn't mention and got completely BLANK keycaps... works for me since I'm a touch typist, but had me laughing.... and I did have plenty of spare caps, so put normal ones on and have the blanks in the parts bin)

9 years, 8 months

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KY11-LB drawing error

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> it turns out there's an error in the KY11-LB drawings. > ... > I have 'fixed' a copy of that page from the print set, and will (soon) > issue an updated PDF. OK, I finally got a round tuit; new version here: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/MP00015_KY11-LB_Jan78.pdf (same place as the old version, now deprecated). Noel

9 years, 8 months

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11/[9]4 latest

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

>> Unexpected trap to location 114 > Well, 0114 is the 'memory system error' vector - i.e. parity, or > un-recoverable ECC error. > ... > I'm too lazy to read the 11/94 and J-11 manuals to see what the 11/94 > has in the way of registers that record memory issues Finally found a moment to take a gander at that: The KDJ11-E memory seems to be parity only, not ECC. There's a Parity CSR at 17772100, which will tell us if a parity error was detected in the main (on-board) memory. There's also a Memory System Error Register at 17777744, but that's only there for backward compatability, and I'm not sure it will tell us much. It might also be good to look at the system CSR at 17777526, which will tell us if the firmware has set the memory size to how much memory is actually on the machine. There does not appear, alas, to be a register that indicates _where_ the parity error happened. However, if it's happening regularly (and still, as in 'problem disappeared in the process of diagnosis') we should be able to work out where it is. Although I'm still somewhat astonished that a persistent parity error wasn't picked up by the self-test on power-on. > From: Rod Smallwood > If we look at what an 11/94 is then its a single board CPU ... in a > three slot back plane. There after its UNIBUS So is there any thing we > can put in the spare QBUS slot without doing any damage? In theory, you should be able to plug most QBUS boards into those slots (although if there are QBUS cards that barf in a Q/CD slot, one couldn't use them - I can't recall if any such exist, though), but... no device board is going to work properly since the two QBUS bus grant lines (BDMG and BIAK) will be wired past those slots, directly from the CPU to the KTJ11. On the 11/84 backplane, there are a couple of jumpers that _can_ send the bus grants through the 'QBUS' slots on the 11/84 backplane (so _in theory_ one should be able to plus QBUS devices into those slots, and have them function correctly, when those jumpers are set appropriately, but we have yet to confirm that), but I don't know if the /94 backplane has anything similar. Alas, there are no 11/94 prints online (that I know of) to confirm that. > I found not one but two RXV21 RX02 controllers. So I'll give them a try > in the 11/83 and see what happens. I'll soon know if the RX02 is good > or not. Excellent! The more known good, working components we have to play with, the better! Noel

9 years, 8 months

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CAPLIN CYBERNETICS HXIQ and HXIDL

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Whilst sorting through my board collection I found a pair of dual height DEC style modules. CAPLIN CYBERNETICS HXIQ It looks like a ST interface (data and control connectors). But here's the kicker. Its got a transputer chip on it. The two connectors are wired to the second board (CAPLIN CYBERNETICS HXIDL) that has what looks like a flat cable SCSI connector as output. It looks like it was made in the UK (some RS Components parts) about 1992 by the date codes. Any ideas on this one guys. Rod

9 years, 8 months

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USB Keyboard Adapter (Was: Model M Key Cap Replacement)

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

will check it out! Thanks ed# In a message dated 6/6/2016 10:30:03 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, halarewich at gmail.com writes: this one also works really well https://sewelldirect.com/active-usb-to-ps2-adapter $6.95 us<div id="DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"> href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_c ampaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank"><img src="https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/2016/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-ora nge_184x116-v1.png" height="29px" /> Virus-free. href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…" target="_blank" style="color: #4453ea;">www.avast.com _height="1">_ (mip://0c080b80/default.html#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2) </div> On 6/6/16, Todd George <todd.george at gmail.com> wrote: > Ed: > > I've used Soarer's Mod which is built around the excellent Teensy 2.0 or > Teensy++ 2.0. I've had great success on quite a few Model M keyboards with > this mod. You can do a very clean internal mount as well on certain Model > M keyboards. > > https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=17458.0 > > Hope this helps! > -Todd > > -----Original Message----- > Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2016 12:51:17 -0400 > From: COURYHOUSE at aol.com > Subject: Re: Model M Key Cap Replacement > >> my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb >> adapters and they could be flaky,... >> you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert >> keyboard connection etc... >> >> anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed# > -- Chris Halarewich

9 years, 8 months

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USB Keyboard Adapter (Was: Model M Key Cap Replacement)

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

thanks I will look at this thanks!' Ed# In a message dated 6/6/2016 9:57:48 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, todd.george at gmail.com writes: Ed: I've used Soarer's Mod which is built around the excellent Teensy 2.0 or Teensy++ 2.0. I've had great success on quite a few Model M keyboards with this mod. You can do a very clean internal mount as well on certain Model M keyboards. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=17458.0 Hope this helps! -Todd -----Original Message----- Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2016 12:51:17 -0400 From: COURYHOUSE at aol.com Subject: Re: Model M Key Cap Replacement > my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb > adapters and they could be flaky,... > you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert > keyboard connection etc... > > anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed#

9 years, 8 months

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USB Keyboard Adapter (Was: Model M Key Cap Replacement)

by todd.george＠gmail.com

Ed: I've used Soarer's Mod which is built around the excellent Teensy 2.0 or Teensy++ 2.0. I've had great success on quite a few Model M keyboards with this mod. You can do a very clean internal mount as well on certain Model M keyboards. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=17458.0 Hope this helps! -Todd -----Original Message----- Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2016 12:51:17 -0400 From: COURYHOUSE at aol.com Subject: Re: Model M Key Cap Replacement > my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb > adapters and they could be flaky,... > you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert > keyboard connection etc... > > anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed#

9 years, 9 months

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AT&T

by sales＠elecplus.com

Who was it has the AT&T, wanted the books and disks? I just found the 5.25" floppies for AT&T for the C compiler, Pascal, etc. Maybe it was Seth? Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 500 Pershing Ave. Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

9 years, 9 months

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Not able to post to the list

by pdaguytom＠gmail.com

Checking to see if I am now able to post to the list. Tom

9 years, 9 months

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Xerox Star Software Images Available

by g-wright＠att.net

I have put up my Xerox Star Disk Images here. Now,? does anyone have the service manualsthat? are complete. seems what I have in missing most of the latter part.? Will be up for a few days. Jerry https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/104392233/XEROX_Star_SW.zip

9 years, 9 months

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Need Rec: Book to teach about computers and BASIC at an eight year old level

by cctalk＠ibm51xx.net

So somewhat OT - I've setup an 8 year old w/ an IBM PC XT w/ CGA. To say he is less than impressed is understating things :). However, I am determined that he will learn basic computer terminology, architecture, history (i.e. how we got here) and at least get his feet wet with programming by learning BASIC this summer. Apparently teaching is not my strong suite - while I can talk about a larger number of the above topics, especially at his level, organizing them in a way to make sense is the problem. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good book that gets the basic stuff out of the way (what is the CPU, memory, storage, etc. what are different the parts called, etc.) and maybe another one that teaches an intro to BASIC written for a very young reader? It would be nice if the book is in the PD or at least available as a PDF that way he can read it on his Kindle. However, I am not averse to buying a physical new (or used book) either. Thanks. -Ali

9 years, 9 months

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Deth Specula and SCO

by dave＠661.org

Once upon a time there was a band made up mostly of SCO employees called "Deth Specula". Their heyday was in the early to mid 1990s. Does anyone remember them? -- David Griffith dave at 661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

9 years, 9 months

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Resurrecting the DB-19

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

funny.... we used to end up with cables with these things on them and .... hope they got saved in one of the aux buildings...ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 6/5/2016 9:33:45 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, nf6x at nf6x.net writes: > On Jun 5, 2016, at 14:02, Alexandre Souza <alexandre.tabajara at gmail.com> wrote: > > http://tabajara-labs.blogspot.com.br/2015/05/fazendo-o-expletiva-cabo-da-du… > > Better than nothing :) Nice hack! Too bad that Noy guy defaced his computer. :D -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years, 9 months

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Heathkit ETA-3400 vs. ETW-3400 confusion?

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Which is the correct model number for the I/O & memory accessory for the Heath ET-3400(A) trainers? I see ETA-3400 and ETW-3400 used interchangeably. For instance, the d/l manuals refer to the unit as ETA-3400 but many (most?) units, mine included, are screened ETW-3400 on the case. Anyone know what gives with this? Are there actually two different models or revisions, as with the ET-3400 and ET-3400A? Also, is there a way to tell if a Heath piece is factory-built? My recently-acquired ETW/A-3400 has a board which almost +must+ have been wave soldered and washed. It has no traces of home-assembly. Likewise, the rest of the build is top-notch and looks like factory work.. Thoughts? PS Still need a 2x20 header (like 40pin IDE) to complete this project. Anybody got a spare?

9 years, 9 months

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Resurrecting the DB-19

by cctalk＠ibm51xx.net

Sweet. No where can I order 10 or so at a reasonable price? There is a guy one ebay selling one with hood at $22 a piece.... -------- Original message -------- From: Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> Date: 6/5/2016 1:55 AM (GMT-08:00) To: "Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Resurrecting the DB-19 June 4, 2016 ? 10 comments *DB-19: Resurrecting an Obsolete Connector* Oh man, this is good! You?re looking at the first DB-19 connector to be made in the 21st century... http://www.bigmessowires.com/2016/06/04/db-19-resurrecting-an-obsolete-conn… -- Sent from my phone - please pardon brevity & typos.

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-12 Restoration at the RICM

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

We fixed the RK05 disk this week. We replaced E3 (LM301A) and E1 (SN7404) on the G938 Servo Preamp module. The COUNT PULSE FWD H and the COUNT PULSE REV H signals from the G938 module are both working now. The drive will now seek correctly using the jumpers described in the Maintenance Manual or using seek-only instructions from the RK8-F controller. We tried the OS/8 and LAPS-DIAL bootstraps, but the processor just halted. The first page of core that was read from the pack contained a repeating sequence of 2525-5252. Either the pack was used as a data-only pack, or diagnostics were run on the pack. During the week I will use SIMH to make a PDP-12 bootable OS/8 RK05 image. Next week we will use dumprest to make an image of the disk pack, and then write OS/8 to the pack. -- Michael Thompson

9 years, 9 months

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Model M Key Cap Replacement

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb adapters and they could be flaky,... you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert keyboard connection etc... anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed# In a message dated 6/5/2016 9:51:17 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, COURYHOUSE at aol.com writes: my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb adapters and they could be flaky,... you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert keyboard connection etc... anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed#

9 years, 9 months

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Model M Key Cap Replacement

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Chuck! That would be great! Perhaps yours had newer brains in it than my couple as mine have some years on them. if you still have link to vendor that would be good too. My clicky keyboard is off the tower so it has a long cable on it! I love this keyboard! In a message dated 6/5/2016 11:57:36 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cclist at sydex.com writes: On 06/05/2016 10:09 AM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote: > > my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various > usb adapters and they could be flaky,... you would have to start > computer then have to unplug and reinsert keyboard connection > etc... > > anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed# I use a no-name cheapie keyboar+mouse adapter that looks like a "y" cable more than anything. Works fine on USB for both. I think I paid about $2 shipped from China. I can get the chip ID if you'd like, but that assumes that you can find another like it. --Chuck

9 years, 9 months

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U320 Drives Show up on Wrong Target ID?

by alexmcwhirter＠triadic.us

So in short i have six identical drives. Same manufacture, model, and firmware. Three of them work fine, the other three also work fine but they always show up as the wrong target. For example i have a Sun D1000 storage array with 12 slots (targets 0-11). It doesn't matter what slot you put them in, these three drives always have the same target number. One is target 8, on target 4, one target 2. I doesn't matter one of the drives is by itself or together with other drives. Take the disk that always shows up as target two for example. If you place this drive in slot zero, then place a normal working drive in slot 2, and finally attempt to write data to target 2 both drives will get the write. The same effect also applies to reads. If you boot an OS with the drives in this configuration you will usually get a panic. I can verify the same behavior on my Sum V210 and Dell PE 2850. This is such a bizarre way for a disk to act / fail. Has anyone ever seen this before?

9 years, 9 months

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Interesting Material - BOTH on topic and off topic

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I expect that everyone on this list knows about most of the tools to communicate. Many also use these tools and understand how much easier communication has become as a result. https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/here_comes_everybody_p… What is probably not clear is the extent to which these tools have revolutionized how easy it is for groups to be effective. This is the first time I have felt it is useful to draw attention to a book, especially since the PDF can be downloaded so easily for those of you who have the hardware. For myself, I prefer a dead tree version and have been reading the copy I borrowed from the library. Comments on if this book is useful would be appreciated. Jerome Fine

9 years, 9 months

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Model M Key Cap Replacement

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

my real IBM clicky keyboard does not have usb so I tried various usb adapters and they could be flaky,... you would have to start computer then have to unplug and reinsert keyboard connection etc... anyone have a solve for this? thanks Ed# In a message dated 6/5/2016 5:28:10 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, chris at micromuseum.co.uk writes: I've been using a Unicomp model M alongside an IBM model M for about a year now and I find there is no noticeable difference between them at all. -----Original Message----- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Liam Proven Sent: 05 June 2016 12:33 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Model M Key Cap Replacement On 2 June 2016 at 23:45, Ali <cctalk at ibm51xx.net> wrote: > > Does anyone know if IBM produced any Model M KBs w/ post windows 95 keys (I know I know an abomination!)? You know windows key, right click key, maybe power/sleep buttons that would have interchangeable caps? The "Windows" key is the same as "Super" on Sun keyboards, and there's an equivalent for the right-click or "application" key as well. So they weren't MS innovations; actually they were MS /replacing/ keys that IBM's design omitted. As such, my "anti" stance on them has softened considerably. :?) Yes, I believe there are Model-M clones with them. However, one friend bought a Unicomp type clone "Model M" clicky keyboard and both he and I were very disappointed with its build quality. Me, I stick to genuine retro parts. I have a small stock of them -- half a dozen -- which is probably enough for the rest of my life! :-/ The power/sleep key you mention is /not/ a standard key, AFAIK, and no I don't think most clicky keyboards have one. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R) --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

9 years, 9 months

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11/04 latest

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Well lots fun with the 11/94 project. In fact its become an 11/84 and 11/94 project. After following Sherlock Holmes advice "when you have eliminated everything else.Whats left however unlikely is the answer" I discovered the RX211 needed to be in CDEF and not ABCD. Why did I not know that? Well I can only put it down to the fact all of the UNIBUS options I ever worked with were hex modules. Next fascinating fact. You can switch between being an 11/84 and an 11/94. Although one box has three Qbus slots and the other (11/84) has four. If you put an 11/84 CPU in slot 1 and a MSV11-J (PMI) in 2 or 3 it does its startup tests and goes into the monitor screen. If you try to boot the RX02 in 11/84 mode you get (the drive does get accessed - there's a nice healthy clonk) Trying DY0 Error 101 Unexpected trap to location 114 See troubleshooting documentation Updated PC 173260 PCR Page = 62 Program listing address = 062260 R0 = 000000 R1 = 177170 R2 = 042131 R3 = 000000 R4 = 024000 R5 = 000000 R6 = 172276 R7 = 001600 In 11/94 mode it stops at the same point but does not give the error message. Comments gentlemen please Rod Smallwood

9 years, 9 months

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VR241 Service Manual?

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

Does anyone have a VR241 Service Manual? I have looked on Manx and BitSavers, but there doesn't seem to be one available in those places, and a more general search has failed to turn up anything either. Thanks Rob

9 years, 9 months

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Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

by barythrin＠gmail.com

I'm a bit surprised at the recommendation of Dell but maybe they weren't playing all their proprietary games yet. I've seen where they rewired a nonstandard power connector so you'd fry it replacing it with a standard power supply or fry your other system using one of their power supplies but can't remember if that was at or atx. Seen where they did something stupid and notched their ram so it had to be registered memory. So long ago i don't remember the details though. Not to mention weird custom firmware on parts they didn't build which caused driver and functionality nightmares for 3 sound blaster cards i bought (at a bargain) but had to return all 3 for various odd reasons.? Either way. They quickly became a vendor i lost trust in but maybe lots of vendors also did that and i just ended up working on their problems the most.? Mca and vlb cards are harder to come by and fetch a higher price range vs isa/Eisa or pci.? Definitely stay away from Cyrix processors. Most computer stores i knew in the 486 era wouldn't even sell them or take them as trade ins. Comparability issues and overheating seemed to be common features.? Interesting comments on parallel drives. They're nice for compatability on multiple systems but much slower than their scsi sisters. I did both but didn't realize the huge transfer speed difference until i had traded away my scsi version for a box o' gear then later traded some of that to get a parallel zip drive again. But on the bright side most of my systems could use it or share it over null modem.?

9 years, 9 months

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Resurrecting the DB-19

by lproven＠gmail.com

June 4, 2016 ? 10 comments *DB-19: Resurrecting an Obsolete Connector* Oh man, this is good! You?re looking at the first DB-19 connector to be made in the 21st century... http://www.bigmessowires.com/2016/06/04/db-19-resurrecting-an-obsolete-conn… -- Sent from my phone - please pardon brevity & typos.

9 years, 9 months

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Macintosh Quadra 840AV

by lists＠sysop.ca

I managed to pick up a Mac Quadra 840AV yesterday with an apple VGA monitor and Laser Writer II printer for $60 CAD (approximately $5 USD :-) off the local classifieds site. The pram battery had leaked pretty badly but seemed to only drip onto the internal RF shielding. After I cleaned everything up with isopropanol it booted fine off a startup floppy although the hard disk appears to be bad. Like most macs of this vintage it does seem to have leaking surface mount caps so I am going to order the standard tantalum replacements from digikey and recap the mainboard. What is everyone doing for replacement 50 pin SCSI drives in their 90's hardware? Is there a reasonably priced flash based replacement yet? I remember looking into it a few years ago for my Sun IPX and the only solutions I could find seemed to be priced for industrial applications. Also, has anyone had experience with the apple power supplies of this vintage? I'm wondering if it's something I should recap as well? Also, any comments as to which classic mac OS version is best for this era of hardware? I haven't played around with classic macs much, I went right from the Apple IIe to PC's in the early 90's.

9 years, 9 months

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Correction

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Previous email for 11/04 read 11/94 Rod

9 years, 9 months

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Seeking Deth Specula's stuff

by dave＠661.org

Does anyone know where and how one can obtain copies of Deth Specula's work? It seems that all that's available is what I find at bandcamp.com and some weird hiphop website, about six songs in all. -- David Griffith dave at 661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

9 years, 9 months

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AT&T 3b2 vs SCSI2SD drive replacement

by other＠oryx.us

We have recently had activity on the list discussing AT&T 3b2 related stuff, then earlier today we have had discussions concerning the SCSI2SD drive replacement hardware. I was reviewing the online documentation for SCSI2SD, specifically here: <http://www.codesrc.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=SCSI2SD> and I specifically see that the AT&T 3B2/600 is supported. Many years ago, when I was administering 3b2's, I had always remembered those 327 Mb drives were a PITA getting those replaced thru my supply system. ...... Wondering if anyone here is using SCSI2SD on their 3b2's, and if so, what are your experiences? Hopefully working well? Jerry

9 years, 9 months

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Looking for rack rails for a pdp11

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

I am in need of a set of rack mount rails for my pdp 11/34. I have a second Cpu chassis that has been tying up my desk since i picked it up. If anyone has these for sale or knows of modern rails that will work i am interested. I do not expect modern rails to do the flippy bit to work on the bottom of the machine, but it would be a short term solution that will free up my desk.

9 years, 9 months

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E10K?

by alexmcwhirter＠triadic.us

I understand that, but isn't there something type of licensing built into the ssp software which is paired to a specific ssp? Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device -------- Original message -------- From: Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> Date: 6/4/2016 2:15 PM (GMT-05:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts" <cctech at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: E10K? On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 4:31 AM,? <alexmcwhirter at triadic.us> wrote: > but all the units i ever come across are missing SSP's. Pretty much my only > requirement is a working SSP, the rest i can sort through. Unlike the CS6400, the SSP can be any Sparc system with the packages installed. The control boards for the E10Ks went over ethernet (JTAG over ethernet in some cases.) Sun sold systems with everything from Sparc 5s to Ultra 5s and Ultra10s as SSPs.

9 years, 9 months

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11/94 Some progress at last.

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi First thanks to all for considerable assistance. I can now talk to the RX 211 on the Unibus. First it did need the NPR jumper removing. Secondly I made the system into an 11/84 (Processor in slot 1 nothing in 2 MSV11-J in 3 ) Finally I'm so used to hex modules in Unibus and the RX 211 is a quad. Of course it needs to go in CDEF. Switch on finds PMI memory ok counts up to 9 as normal. Asks for choice. Type in B DY0 and we get a nice error message with lots of parameters. Time to become a 94 again. Bonus: The other 94 chassis can become a 84 I have enough parts. Rod

9 years, 9 months

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E10K?

by alexmcwhirter＠triadic.us

Just checking around if anyone has an E10K (or knows someone) that they aren't all that fond of. I've been looking for one for the past year or so but all the units i ever come across are missing SSP's. Pretty much my only requirement is a working SSP, the rest i can sort through. Thanks, Alex McWhirter

9 years, 9 months

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MIPS systems at Weird Stuff

by aek＠bitsavers.org

For people in the Bay Area Ian Finder had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Weird Stuff had gotten in some MIPS systems. They put them out on the floor for $75 ea, so I got a RC3020, Magnum 3000 and Magnum 3000/33. Some had a full compliment of memory, some had some scsi disks in them. Hopefully they'll haven't been wiped, since one machine had a MIPS asset tag. There are still about 10 of them, mostly RS and RC 2030s Curious thing is all of the machines, even the RC2030 have PS/2 connectors for the kb.

9 years, 9 months

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AJRLADO diskless controller test

by anders＠abc80.net

Hi, I tried to run the diskless controller test on my PDP8/A. It fails before any tests has been executed. I suspect that my RL8A controller is broken. The CPU tests and the memory tests works fine. The test stopped @ address 5713 (display shows 5714), MD buff = 7402, AC = 0 Does anybody have the source code to this test? Earlier someone got the test instructions photographed from microfishie. The complete story is that the machine worked just fine, booted OS/8. Then I changed the CPU from KK8A -> KK8E. The KK8E had some problems, but works fine now. But now the machine doesn't boot OS/8 with any of the CPU's. The diskless controller test stops at the same location with any CPU. /Anders

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood > You could if you were able to get into ODT. I have yet to discover how > you get there. What happens when you move the "Halt/Run/Restart" switch on the front console to "Halt"? (Note that the "Off/Enable/Secure/Standby" switch must be in the "Enable" position for the H/R/R switch to be active.) That should put the CPU in ODT. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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Floppy Music? Anyone seen this?

by alexmcwhirter＠triadic.us

Yea more or less... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQYRquhcXU I find it really cool, probably ruins the drives but cool nonetheless.

9 years, 9 months

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MINC-11 boards

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

I have some rather rough set of MINC boards - A/D, D/A, digital, and clock. These were outside for some time in California. Not super rusty, but weather worn. I think you could clean them up. Trade for? I could use some R, S, and B modules. Other interesting stuff? -- Will

9 years, 9 months

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Need 2x20 DIP header (40 pin, as for IDE)

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Anyone have a spare 2x20 (40 pin) DIP header they can stick in an envelope? I'm checking eBay and all I see are 10-packs and/or silly shipping. I believe this is the standard board-mount IDE connector? Either gold or bright tin plating are fine. Happy to reimburse you for the cost of the part & 1st Class stamp! ;-)

9 years, 9 months

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The RSTS riddle.

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Further to my posts this morning I have one last hurdle to jump. 1. I have a VAX with a TK70 attached and a TQK70 controller. 2. The tape drive works just fine. 3. Also on the VAX I have the correct tape (.TAP) image file for a RSTS/E V10 install tape. 4. I would like to copy the .tap file to the tape so as to end up with a bootable install tape. 5. I then power down the VAX and move the controller to an 11/83. (The drive is external with its own PSU) 6. Boot the install tape and go from there. So suggestions please as to how to do 4. Rod Smallwood

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood Ah, sorry about the previous message - hadn't gotten to this one yet! :-) > 2. This is then followed by a request to type a letter B for boot , L > for list and so on. > 3. You can type any letter you like and it always goes to the same > screen. I wonder if there's a case issue - have you tried upper and lower? > 7. The Unibus adapter appears to pass all of its tests. > I have two and they both perform the same. > 8. The next slot to the UBA is an RX211 .. It is set to the standard > addresses. Again I have two and the result is the same in both cases. Now that's _very_ interesting indeed. That cuts out a lot of the simple explanations (broken RX211 or KTJ11 - unless both of one of them are busted). One thing to check (sorry if you've already checked this) - did the address switches somehow get inverted (i.e. 'off' where it should be 'on', etc)? I'm too lazy to work my way through all the inversions in the address recognition logic (the print set is available online, Google "MP00626") to see whether 'off' means '1' or '0'; I couldn't find a manual for the RX211, which would say explicitly (the RK02 manual doesn't seem to cover configuration of the RX211). If that's not it, it may be time to break out the 'scope / logic analyzer. Luckily we do have the RX211 prints. I can whip you up a short program to try and read the CSR which you can 'toggle' in through ODT, if you've got a 'scope, not a LA. First thing to check would be to see if there are even cycles getting to the UNIBUS. > 9. The next three slots have bus grant cards In the right connector, and in the right way around? (I know, I know, but at this point, we're grasping at the proverbial...) > 13. I have tried a couple of other controllers - same result. As in, other kinds of boards on the UNIBUS? That's also interesting. > 13. ... I'd like to get both monitor and boot proms back to standard. I suppose it's _possible_ there's an error in the non-standard PROMs that somehow buggers up the KTJ11. According to the "PDP-11/94 System User and Maintainence Guide" (EK-PDP94-MG-001, available online), pg. 5.49, the KTJ11 has some maintainence registers which can be set to cause it to do strange things (I'm just trying to absorb them all now). One thing to note: 'Diagnostic Mode' is set at power-on, and when set, it "the UNIBUS is disabled". So powering the machine on with it set to 'Halt' (so the boot isn't run), and using ODT to poke UNIBUS registers won't work. You'd have to let the startup run (which presumably leaves the UNIBUS turned on - or maybe not, something worth checking) and then halt it to use ODT. Anway, it would be interesting to see what the KTJ11's DCSR (at 17777730) contains. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood > On switch on the console display comes up. Whilst it performs the same > functions as the one in the manual it looks different. Hmm. Does it seem like a DEC EPROM, or someone else's? The 11/84 (very similar CPU) has a 'list' command which lists all the various EPROM's; does you console emulator provide that? > What ever I do by way of setting up devices I can't get it to talk to > the RX211. Try stopping the console emulator and falling into ODT, and seeing if you can see the RK211's registers from ODT. If not, does the 11/94 have that 'map' command in the console emulator that the 11/84 does? Another thing to try is, if you have some other UNIBUS device, plugging that in, and seeing if the CPU can 'see' it. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood >> The RX02 controller (RX211) should be at 17777170-6. > OK Here's what I did > ... > Turn machine on drop into ODT key location in and press / get ? > same for all of the others. This is for attempting to read 17777170-6? (One needs the exact details, always! ;-) If so, either i) the RX211 card is set for some other address (check its address switch at E74; switch 1 {pins 1-20] is the 010 bit in the address, on up to 010000 at switch 10), ii) the RX211 card is defective, or the KTJ11 is defective. Since you don't have any known good devices plugged into the UNIBUS, it's hard to select among these possibilities. Do you have any other UNIBUS devices (other than the Tk controller) you can plug in? Also, just for grins, you could try reading addresses 17777730-34, which are registers on the KTJ11 itself, and see what you get. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood > Needless to say all of the locations I examined came up filled with > zeros. Device registers will be in the range 17760000-17777776 (although toward the top you'd mostly see CPU registers). The RX02 controller (RX211) should be at 17777170-6. > Although the monitor display says Unibus system. I suspect what I have > is a CPU used in a Qbus system with a hacked monitor and boot eprom. Hmm. Well, the same physical board should work in either system (/93 or /94) - and I suspect the ROMs check to see if there's a UNIBUS adapter (KTJ11) there, and declaim the CPU board as a UNIBUS or QBUS, depending. (I.e. I would wonder if there are separate QBUS and UNIBUS ROMs.) That's because I have this bit set that there aren't separate /83 and /84 versions of the KDJ11-B for the two busses, and I would think that the /93 and /94 would likely be the same. (I should read the -B and -E manuals to confirm that.) And I don't think there are separate part numbers for KDJ11-E's for QBUS (/93) and UNIBUS (/94) systems. But I'm not familiar with the ROM contents, so I can't say for sure. When debugging broken hardware, I tend to ignore boot/diagnostic ROMs anyway, and stick to simply what the hardware does (as seen via ODT), as that's a) much less complex, and b) fully documented. (I don't know of any ROM listings, and I'm not about to disassemble them!) So if you can't see the RX211 registers from ODT, let me know, and we'll figure out what to try to see if the KTJ11 is working properly. > For whatever reason they managed to disable the unibus I/O I'm not sure you can (in hardware terms, that is - and clearly if there's no way to do it in the hardware, the software cannot do so)... although it could be broken. > I have what I believed is a working 11/83 in my computer room > I'm going to try my processor in there There's a section in the /94 maintainence manual (EK-PDP94-MG-001, available online) about upgrading an -11/84 to an -11/94; you might want to read that to see if there are any gothca's in terms of the cabling, etc. (The console cabling will be an issue, of course, since the KDJ11-B and KDJ11-E use different console connectors on the board - I'm talking about the other cables.) But AFAIK the KDJ11-E (/93 and /94) is a compatible upgrade to the KDJ11-B (/83 and /84), so your plan should work. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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2 x Sparcstation LX and Ultra Enterprise 2 available in Sweden.

by stark＠mit.edu

On 3 Jun 2016 10:55 am, "Mattis Lind" <mattislind at gmail.com> wrote: > > The location is Sweden. Isn't Sweden kind of a big place?

9 years, 9 months

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2 x Sparcstation LX and Ultra Enterprise 2 available in Sweden.

by mattislind＠gmail.com

Hello. Someone left us a couple of Sparctstation LX and a Ultra Enterprise 2 that we are not being able to take care of. The Ultra Enterprise 2 has 2 CPUs 200 MHz and 256 Mbyte RAM according to a sticker on it. The Sparctstation LX configuration is unknown. I haven't tested any of these items so the condition is unknown. There are also a number of SCSI hard disk boxes. If some one has a pair of slides that fit the DEC BA11-A box (PDP-11/44 or VAX 8200?), or a floor stand for a DEC BA23 or DEC VR290 and want some Sparcstations I would be very interested in a trade. Otherwise it is free to a good home. Preference for local pickup. Shipping can be quite expensive. The location is Sweden. /Mattis

9 years, 9 months

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11/94

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi I now have screen shots showing the screwed up monitor program. Good pics but 11Mb can anybody take attachments that big. Rod

9 years, 9 months

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Decmate II

by pdaguytom＠gmail.com

Hello all, I've got a Decmate II that has a keyboard issue. I've tested with a LK401 that I use with my Rainbow 100 system, keyboard works fine with the Rainbow but gives a error 48 with the Decmate. I've had a look at the motherboard, tracing pins 14 & 15 from the db15 connector to a series of what looks to me to be picofuses. Testing these in circuit with a multimeter, 4 of these "picofuses" show a resistance of approx. 530 ohms and the remaining 2 appear to be open. Anyone have any experience with these? Are these really picofuses? Any insights would be appreciated. Tom

9 years, 9 months

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Mechanalog systems

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi All I saw a video about the systems used in 1950's and 1960's bombers for navigation and bomb aiming. I think they could be classed as a computer even lacking a stored program. I just wondered if anybody had collected or restored such equipment. I once heard an old retired SAC US Air force guy describe them as a "box of cogs". Boy was he right Rod Smallwood

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rod Smallwood > if you try to get it to boot it says no controller to every device > except DD and that says no drive Hmm, I wonder if that's a clue. Ah, probably not: 'DD' means 'TU58', which is interfaced through a standard serial line (DL11 clone), and the standard device location for the TU58's serial line is 776500, which is the standard address for the first serial line, and since the 11/94 has a bunch of serial lines, the code probably thinks there's a TU58 there. But there isn't... > I cant get it to go into ODT to look at the registers. If you look in the "PDP-11/84 System Technical and Reference Manual" (EK-1184E-TM-001), available here: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1184/EK-1184E-TM-001_Dec87.pdf Section 3.7 lists several ways to get into ODT. In addition to those, if you look at Section 3.2.2, it allows you to configure the machine to fall into ODT on power-on (section B gives details). > From: Henk Gooijen > The first 4 (5?) slots are QBUS Technically, PMI, which is more-or-less QBUS on the left (A/B) side (modulo not having grants, unless the appropriate backplane jumpers are set to send grants to those slots), and it uses the standard CD interconnect (as in Q/CD backplanes) on the right (C/D) side to carry PMI. > The RX211 must have the NPR/NPG open. Check the documention which DIP > switch must be set in the correct position. However, not sure if that > would cause the RX211 to be "invisible". Right; DMA would not work, but normal master/slave UNIBUS read/write cycles to the device registers should still work. > Can you check the RX211 in another UNIBUS system? See whether its CSR > responds. Another good test would be to plug a known working UNIBUS card into the 11/94, and check if the CPU can 'see' it. > Also, check the configuration of the RX211. It might be set to a > different CSR ... Yup. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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Ohio company with opening in Portland OR

by pete＠petelancashire.com

https://sherwin.taleo.net/careersection/10/jobdetail.ftl

9 years, 9 months

3
3
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Scraping DEC Equipment

by dm561＠torfree.net

----- Original Message ----- > Date: Sun, 22 May 2011 22:56:32 -0500 > From: Daniel Seagraves <dseagrav at lunar-tokyo.net> > Subject: Re: Scraping DEC Equipment > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <C7A98127-DFF4-41B1-A6AF-5DFCA234D286 at lunar-tokyo.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > I need a tractor feed assembly for a LA100, are the ones on the 120 > compatible? ----- Reply: Apparently not, but I might have one for an LA100. mike

9 years, 9 months

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Beehive B601 terminal

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

need to see a photo always looking for the beige upper case only hives~ I force people that whine about SHOUTING to use them for an hour.... Ed In a message dated 6/1/2016 9:12:18 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cclist at sydex.com writes: On 06/01/2016 08:24 AM, tony duell wrote: > Does anyone know anything about this? Does anyone > have a service manual for it? Internally, it sounds about the same as the veneered and generated Super Bee from the early-mid 1970s. I don't see any manuals for it on bitsavers, however. --Chuck

9 years, 9 months

1
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Decmate II

by pdaguytom＠gmail.com

I've got a Decmate II that has a keyboard issue. I've tested with a LK401 that I use with my Rainbow 100 system, keyboard works fine with the Rainbow but gives a error 48 with the Decmate. I've had a look at the motherboard, tracing pins 14 & 15 from the db15 connector to a series of what looks to me to be picofuses. Testing these in circuit with a multimeter, 4 of these "picofuses" show a resistance of approx. 530 ohms and the remaining 2 appear to be open. Anyone have any experience with these? Are these really picofuses? Any insights would be appreciated. Tom

9 years, 9 months

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TU58 yet one more time

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I would need some clarification about the Plastibands, as I will have to find a suitable replacement for the belt, as ALL my cartridges need a replacement, after removing the old one without causing the infamous blank-spot. Al, please could you clarify which size / brand of (Baumgarten) plastibands did you use for the TU58 cassette? Mark, I'm not sure that a wider belt would work better, maybe worse. In fact pulley / belt mechanisms usually work with pulleys that have a bigger diameter near the center than on the sides, resulting slightly convex. Because of physical friction forces, an "unbiased" flat belt will always remain exactly in the center of the pulleys. If a cylindrical pulley will be used, this effect will not be present, so the belt will slide off the pulleys. On TU58 as in DC100 tapes AFAIK the belt is narrow, maybe abound the half the width of the pulleys. Thanks Andrea > I tried using plastibands in a TU58 cartridge, with zero success. Once stretched, the width of the plastiband was too narrow, and > it kept on slipping off the edge of the tape spool and jamming things up thoroughly. These are the ones I tried using: > http://www.amazon.com/Baumgartens-8-inch-Plastibands-BAUSF5000-Assorted/dp/… > I think they might have worked if they were at least twice as wide, at around the same circumference. Is there a different type > available that might work better?

9 years, 9 months

2
1
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PDP-11/94-E

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Wed, 6/1/16, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: > On 01/06/2016 19:34, Brian L. Stuart wrote: >> On Wed, 6/1/16, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: >>> On 01/06/2016 18:57, Charles Anthony wrote: >>>> On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 10:49 AM, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: >>>>> Apart from a personal 1202 alarm >>>> I have a habit of coding "can't happen" error checks with 1201 or 1202 >>>> error numbers. >>> You may be close .. Do you know why you do that? >>> >>> Here's a clue "Garmin" >>??? >> You had me really confused there for a moment.? I thought you were talking >> about the company that makes navigational devices at first and couldn't >> for the life of me figure out what they had to do with it.? Obviously, I had the >> wrong Garmin... >> >> But "personal 1202 alarm" is the funniest thing I've seen all day.? I'm going >> to have to start using that expression.? My students won't have a clue what >> I'm talking about.? Hopefully it'll be a good way to educate them a bit. >> > OK so answer this how many seconds were left? and who wore a different > waistcoat every time? The different waistcoat (or vest on this side of the pond) was Gene Kranz's habit. I'd have to cheat and look up the number of seconds. My vague recollection is about 15, but that memory seems to have suffered from bit rot. My impression though is that Armstrong was determined to put that thing down no matter what and the main role of the fuel level was when to stop looking and take the best spot he could find. BLS

9 years, 9 months

4
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Tek 4317 and/or Tek 4132

by rickb＠bensene.com

Hello, kind ClassicCMP denizens, I have two old Tektronix workstation machines. One is a Tektronix 4132. It is a pc-sized (a little less tall, a little deeper) unit that uses a National Semiconductor 32016 chip as the CPU. It's got a bunch of cards for RAM expansion, parallel and RS-232 ports. It comes with two built-in RS-232 ports, one of which is for the console terminal. These machines have a slot in them a SCSI (single-ended) drive. Typically they were equipped with Maxtor XT1105 and XT1140 drives. In the front, they have a tape cartridge drive that uses 3m DC300A data cartridges. This drive is equipped with a piggy-backed Adaptec converter that takes the native QIC tape drive format and converts it to a SCSI accessible tape drive. On the bank panel is a 7- segment display that indicates the self-test and diagnostics, and when the OS (UTek) is loaded indicates system activity. These is also a row of DIP-switches that set things like the console baud rate, boot device, and stuff like that. There are two DB-25 serial ports, a GPIB port, an AUI port for 10 Megabit Ethernet, and a port that extended the internal SCSI bus externally. Below the back panel are slots for plugging in options such as RAM and I/O, which included things like full-width RAM cards (2 MB I think was the largest), half-width dual-port async RS-232 serial cards, a half-width parallel interface card, a half-width SCSI interface card (added another SCSI interface to the machine). The machine ran a 4.2-Berkeley variant known as UTek. UTek was installed on the machine by putting a special cartridge in the drive that contained essentially a miniroot filesystem and basic boot code. The configuration switches on the back would be set to force the tape drive as the boot device. The machine would be powered up (the power button was a soft-power switch on the front panel of the machine), and the tape would be read, and options provided via the console terminal to format the drive, set its partition table, and things like that. Then, the mini-root Unix system would be loaded into, and run out of memory. From there, if I remember correctly, there was another cartridge (or perhaps two) that had the full UTek installation on them. The first tape was loaded, and a script run from the mini-root OS that would begin the process of loading UTek onto the hard disk from the tape image, and creating the boot block and all that would be needed to boot up the full UTek environment from the hard disk. When complete, the scripting would ask for things like setting the time and date (the machine had an built-in battery-backed real-time clock/calendar), setting the root password, creating user accounts and groups, and stuff like that. The machine was (for the day) a pretty capable little Unix workstation at a time (the 4132 was announced in August of '85) when Suns were still at Berkeley, and anything else that ran a halfway decent version of BSD was a supermini like a DEC VAX, some of the more powerful PDP 11's, or a Gould PowerNode. The other machine, the Tektronix 4317, was again a Unix workstation-class machine, but this time, was based on the Motorola 68020 CPU, likely because software availability for Motorola 68K-family machine was much higher than that of the National 32016/32032 architecture, and porting things proved to be quite a difficult thing to do. The 4317 was also in a PC-like cabinet, with a QIC-type tape drive on the front. Internally, a SCSI hard disk provided storage, typically a larger one, like a 300Mb drive, from various different manufacturers. The back panel was similar to that on the 6130, though the SCSI connector was more standardized, and there was an option for a framebuffer card that could add on to the CPU that provided graphics capability. BNC connectors for RGB and sync (IIRC...or maybe it was sync-on-green, can't remember) were there, along with a jacks for plugging in a keyboard and mouse. With a color display and keyboard/mouse the machine could run X-windows. The back panel also had RS-232 ports, GPIB, and, if I remember correctly, it had both an AUI and BNC (for thin-net coax) for 10 Megabit Ethernet. It had some slots for expansion options, but I don't remember how they were organized. The CPU board had quite a bit of room for RAM, and I believe a RAM expansion board could pop onto the main board to bring the RAM (without expansion slots) to something like 4 or 5 megabytes. Anyway, the situation is this: I've got a 4132 and a 4317 stashed away in storage. Both machines have had hard disk failures, so OS is gone. I used to have installation media, but alas, the cartridges all suffered failed drive tapes, and they failed in a way where they turned into goo, and without noticing it, I put them in the drives, and the goo turned to tapes into sticky, goopy spaghetti, not to mention making a mess out of the tape drive head, and getting gooey junk all over the capstan and metal tape guides. They weren't salvageable in any way. So...what I'm looking for, after all that (hopefully informative) verbiage, I am wondering if anyone out there may have original UTek distribution media for both the 4132 and 4317 (may also work with the 4319 media), on DC300 or DC600 cartridges that are still viable, or at least if someone out there may have imaged said media somewhere along the way. I figure that with a good drive, I could reconstitute the images such that I could potentially get these two machines running again. I have appropriate SCSI disks that will work with the machines, and both machines seem to pass the in-built diagnostics and get to the point where they want to boot....but, alas, there's nothing to boot. Any help is greatly appreciated. I have had these machines for a long time, and the 4132, I actually built from parts purchased from Tektronix stock when I worked there. I ran it for a long time, until I could get a PC that was a lot faster, and run (sigh) Windows, for very little money. I even still have 8mm backup tapes from the things...but only user data, not full backups of the OS and all. Thanks in advance, -Rick --- Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Wed, 6/1/16, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: > On 01/06/2016 18:57, Charles Anthony wrote: > > On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 10:49 AM, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: > > > Apart from a personal 1202 alarm > > > > I have a habit of coding "can't happen" error checks with 1201 or 1202 > > error numbers. > > You may be close .. Do you know why you do that? > > Here's a clue "Garmin" You had me really confused there for a moment. I thought you were talking about the company that makes navigational devices at first and couldn't for the life of me figure out what they had to do with it. Obviously, I had the wrong Garmin... But "personal 1202 alarm" is the funniest thing I've seen all day. I'm going to have to start using that expression. My students won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Hopefully it'll be a good way to educate them a bit. BLS

9 years, 9 months

2
1
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PDP-11/94-E

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> If you look in the "PDP-11/84 System Technical and Reference Manual" Ooops, getting my 84's and 94's (it's the same chassis) mixed up. You of course want the "PDP-11/94-E System User and Maintenance Guide" (EK-PDP94-MG-001) http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1194/EK-PDP94-MG-001_Sep90.pdf > Section 3.7 lists several ways to get into ODT. In addition to those, > if you look at Section 3.2.2, it allows you to configure the machine to > fall into ODT on power-on (section B gives details). Basically the same manual, but you want Section 3.5.6.2 in this one for the startup config. Noel

9 years, 9 months

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PDP-11/94-E

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi I'm trying to get my 11/94 running. Its a hybrid having both Q and Unibus. The CPU card has a KDJ11-E 18Mhz processor with 4Mb ram and six serial ports plus the console on board. Apart from a voltage monitor card that's all there is in the Qbus section. Between the Q and Unibus sections is a special convertor card (KTJ-11B UNIBUS adapter.) After the KTJ-11B I have one slot with an RX211 8in floppy controller in it. All of the other slots have bus grant cards except the last one that has a terminator card and a MLM card. On switch on the console display comes up. Whilst it performs the same functions as the one in the manual it looks different. What ever I do by way of setting up devices I can't get it to talk to the RX211. it just says No Controller. Ideas anybody? Rod Smallwood

9 years, 9 months

2
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MOnSter 6502 (was Re: Monster 6502)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Nitpick: It's not the "Monster 6502", it's the "MOnSter 6502". Eric has added discrete capacitors to the internal buses which has it working better than before. I haven't heard whether that's improved the maximum clock rate.

9 years, 9 months

1
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Beehive B601 terminal

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I am trying to empty my storage unit back to my house (to save money and becuase I have these old computers to play around with, not to store). One thing I brought home recently is an old (even on this list) CRT terminal. It claims to be a Beehive B601. I have no manuals for it at all. Inside is the CRT (which looks to have a shallower deflection angle than normal, but maybe it's a normal 90 degree one), a PSU (big mains transformer and some kind of hybrid module for the regulator), and 4 boards of logic plugged into a backplane. These are : Comms (all TTL, there is no UART chip that I can spot) Processor (8008 + lots of 1702As. I can only find 16 bytes of RAM (a pair of 7489s) but maybe I am missing something Cursor (yes, an entire PCB with that title -- all TTL again) Display (lots of TTL + a couple of ROMs (presumably character generators) + a couple of rows of 8 pin ICs (MOS shift registers for the display RAM?) and 2 metal cans at the end of them (clock drivers?) One odd feature is that one of the LEDs on the front (there is a column of same next to the screen) is labelled 'Hebrew' and there seem to be hebrew (as well as English) characters on the keycaps. Does anyone know anything about this? Does anyone have a service manual for it? -tony

9 years, 9 months

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Star install disks

by g-wright＠att.net

Date: Mon, 30 May 2016 12:18:37 -0700 From: "r.stricklin" <bear at typewritten.org> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts" <cctech at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Xerox Star install floppies Message-ID: <7507C1FC-A36D-4130-B729-3F0FD6F2CDB5 at typewritten.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On May 29, 2016, at 9:15 PM, David Griffith wrote: > This person then stated that Al Kossow might or might not have a full set.? In any case, it's not on Bitsavers.? Al expressed interest in a set that I offered a couple months ago, but he never followed up on that.? So, would someone please confirm the existance of a full set of install floppy images for the Xerox 8010 Star somewhere? I've been buying those lots on eBay as I've seen them come by. I sent Al copies of them last week, or possibly the week before (the days run together). I'm not sure whether they constitute a full set of anything, either, but I assume Al will let me know. > ViewPoint 1.1 (file check) Of the four you listed, this one I don't have. ok bear.======================================================================== Don Maslin had most of them.? I sent copies of mine to him and he sent copies of his to me. of coarse that a few years ago. Jerry

9 years, 9 months

2
2
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DEC modules in a 4-slot backplane

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, Been rummaging in the garage for stuff I'll be exhibiting in the UK in July and found this: http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/LSI1123.JPG It's a 4-slot cage containing: M7270 11/03 CPU M7944 4K RAM (x2) M8027 LP11 There's a fault label on the M8027 saying it occasionally drops characters. Question is, anyone know what it was out of? Cheers! -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

9 years, 9 months

6
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Monster 6502

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Here is a video of it running at Maker Faire http://makezine.com/2016/05/27/this-functioning-monster-6502-is-a-larger-th…

9 years, 9 months

10
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HP Vectra CS Portable

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=219 Speaking of the HP Vectra keyboard. This portable Vectra here has a *very* similar keyboard to the one that I was mentioned earlier in the keyboard thread. I'd imagine it's of the same ilk. Something about the design of these old "slab" portables has always been interesting to me. I know Dell has made a few "portables" post 2000 that are much larger and more of a "portable desktop replacement". I've seen them include somewhat-nicer keyboard with laptops to distinguish them (I'm thinkin' of the Thinkpad and some HP elite laptops). However, I haven't seen any modern machines ('cept luggables) that include "real" keyboards like this Vectra, Compaq, and others managed to do in the 80's. Also I love this photo. I could write 10 different short stories about what is *REALLY* going on this promotional photo: http://hpmuseum.net/images/VectraPortableCS_1987-PromoPhoto-60.jpg Manager = Blaine Jones Scientist = Janice Thornwinkle [Scene A] Blaine: Once I copy your research to this disk it'll prove that your research has no merit. We are probably going to shut the project down. Janice: Really sir?! We just about cured cancer here! [Scene B] Blaine: I just know you are going to spill some of that blue crap in those beakers on this new machine. I bet I can back up all your data on this floppy alone. Then I'm taking this laptop back to my office to watch porn. It's got CGA, after all. Janice: What? No. I never.. I mean... [Scene C] Blaine: Well, since this is your last day. I'll need a copy of that graph. Janice: Hmm? (I think I could kill him with this mechanical arm thing.) .... and so forth.... -Swift

9 years, 9 months

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Windows use in medical spaces (Re: vintage computers in

by r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com

>Message: 111 > Date: Sat, 28 May 2016 09:18:11 -0700 (PDT) > From: geneb <geneb at deltasoft.com> > What I don't understand is why Windows is being used on these devices at > all. It specifically states in the license that it's not to be used with > life-critical systems or infrastructure (like nuclear plants). I wish I > could find a reference - I can't recall where I read that... That disclaimer was for Sun Java, not Windows itself. Bob

9 years, 9 months

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TU58 yet one more time

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I'm very interested on TU58, as I have a lot of tapes that I need to dump, plus I would create some new (console at start) for my vax 730. What I'm trying to do: use a drive mechanism connected with to modern mixed signal microcontroller with USB port. The device will be able to control the tape speed and to sample with ADC and DAC the analog signals on the read / write heads, transferring the bare samples with almost no filtering to a PC. Then all the processing can be done via software. In this way, a weak data track can be maybe recovered, and an empty tape can be formatted. It's impossible to use the tape drive with a DEC machine or via serial port, but I'm not trying to emulate the standard TU58. If somebody is interested, I can share my ideas, I already begun with the hardware. But I have to fix the capstan too... Andrea

9 years, 9 months

5
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WTB: Spare Digital R*80 HDA

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

let me know if you have one. I'm in Seattle, for reference. -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 9 months

1
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Using a DEC RM80 as a Massbus -> SMD interface

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

Hi folks, I recently picked up a DIGITAL RM80 drive. >From what I've read, this is a SMD drive based around the R80 HDA, with a massbus to SMD bridge. I have identified this component and the outputs indeed look like SMD. Is there a way to use this as a SMD controller with 3rd party drives? How would you format or set geometries? Does anyone have more information about the RM80? Thanks, - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 9 months

1
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Tek 4405/4406

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Things went well reading the floppies. Everything should be uploaded by noon PDT. There were bits of the system and smalltalk for the 4405/6, so it would be nice if someone might have one of these to dump the firmware, though there probably isn't enought to boot one. checked with http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~pmaydell/hardware/ramoth/ about the 4406 he had, but it's long gone. maybe someone on the list here got it. few interesting links FTR http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/cctalk/1998-January/0399.html archived from here mentions a 441x line that ran uTek, that I never heard of and http://www.wirfs-brock.com/allen/things/smalltalk-things/tektronix-smalltal… the history of the machines

9 years, 9 months

2
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Commodore C2N datasette belts (was Re: Classics long overdue a Boot.)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 7:11 PM, Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote: > Last ones?! EVAR?!1one. Horrors. Don't tell Modern-Radio-Bolton otherwise > the belts I bought recently for my Commodore C2N/1530s etc might evaporate > in a puff of logic Do you have the dimensions on that belt handy? All of my Commodore tape drives are erratic due to aged belts. I can't get good reads and I have some PET Rabbit-format tapes to read (long ago, I digitized my standard CBM tapes). I'll likely order from this side of the pond, but I just need to know what size(s) work(s). -ethan

9 years, 9 months

8
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Finally! Opened my TeleVideo TPC-1

by isking＠uw.edu

Hi all, A while back I asked if anyone knew how to open the case of this early luggable, and there were crickets. Well, I pulled it out today with the intention of poking and prodding, and I magically got it to open! There's a top piece that is fastened to the front bezel with two apparent screws. But it is also snapped in to the rear cover in a manner that is not readily apparent or discernable. If one removes two screws at either end of the rear cover, the rear piece will cantilever back ever so slightly, and the latching of the plastic pieces will separate without damage. The power supply assembly is fastened to the bottom of the case with a couple of screws that come up from below/outside, so I'd already removed those. It should be relatively simple to rotate the assembly so that I can remove the screws holding the PCB to a backpiece, providing access to the PCB so I can replace the 30+ year old electrolytics. Given the symptoms, this seems like the most likely root casuse.... -- Ian -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."

9 years, 9 months

1
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Fwd: [GreenKeys] Digital Decwriter III (DEC LA120) - Complete - FTAGH

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Someone needs to grab this ?.... heads are hard to get...? Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: "Mark J. Blair" <nf6x at nf6x.net> Date: 5/30/2016 1:42 PM (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Fwd: [GreenKeys] Digital Decwriter III (DEC LA120) - Complete - FTAGH Forwarded with permission of the author: > Begin forwarded message: > > From: David Tumey via GreenKeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> > Subject: [GreenKeys] Digital Decwriter III (DEC LA120) - Complete - FTAGH > Date: May 30, 2016 at 13:18:30 PDT > To: GREENKEYS BULLETIN BOARD <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> > Reply-To: David Tumey <davetumey at yahoo.com> > > Free to a good home: > > Digital Decwriter III - LA120 - Complete.? The machine is located in a storage unit in Beavercreek, OH (Near Dayton/Fairborn/Huber Heights). > > The machine is 100% complete and I saw it actually working in 1994 when it was taken out of service - it has been in storage since. > > Excellent source of hard-to-find parts:? Power supplies, print head, keyboard, PCBs, cover parts, motors, pulleys, bearings, etc.? Possibly even restoration. > > Let me know if you are interested off-list and I will put you in touch with my son to make the arrangements for pickup. > > thanks. > --dave > W5DT -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net <mailto:nf6x at nf6x.net>> http://www.nf6x.net/ <http://www.nf6x.net/>

9 years, 9 months

2
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Fwd: [GreenKeys] Digital Decwriter III (DEC LA120) - Complete - FTAGH

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

Forwarded with permission of the author: > Begin forwarded message: > > From: David Tumey via GreenKeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> > Subject: [GreenKeys] Digital Decwriter III (DEC LA120) - Complete - FTAGH > Date: May 30, 2016 at 13:18:30 PDT > To: GREENKEYS BULLETIN BOARD <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> > Reply-To: David Tumey <davetumey at yahoo.com> > > Free to a good home: > > Digital Decwriter III - LA120 - Complete. The machine is located in a storage unit in Beavercreek, OH (Near Dayton/Fairborn/Huber Heights). > > The machine is 100% complete and I saw it actually working in 1994 when it was taken out of service - it has been in storage since. > > Excellent source of hard-to-find parts: Power supplies, print head, keyboard, PCBs, cover parts, motors, pulleys, bearings, etc. Possibly even restoration. > > Let me know if you are interested off-list and I will put you in touch with my son to make the arrangements for pickup. > > thanks. > --dave > W5DT -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net <mailto:nf6x at nf6x.net>> http://www.nf6x.net/ <http://www.nf6x.net/>

9 years, 9 months

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Xerox Star install floppies

by dave＠661.org

Over the past six months or so, I've been selling install floppies for the Xerox 8010 Star. I had no idea if I had a full set or not. I'd just put together a set of as many unique floppies that I could find from my stash. Then last week I was asked if I had a full set. This person then stated that Al Kossow might or might not have a full set. In any case, it's not on Bitsavers. Al expressed interest in a set that I offered a couple months ago, but he never followed up on that. So, would someone please confirm the existance of a full set of install floppy images for the Xerox 8010 Star somewhere? The floppies I have left are these: ViewPoint 1.1 (file check) ViewPoint 1.1 (essential applications) ViewPoint 1.1.6 Common Software ViewPoint 1.1.2 Local RS232C Communications Access -- David Griffith dave at 661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

9 years, 9 months

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Monster 6502

by tmfdmike＠gmail.com

On May 29, 2016 2:44 PM, "Noel Chiappa" <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote: > > > From: drlegendre > > > Gawd, what a lovely piece of work that man hath wrought! > > I love the term he invented for it: "dis-integrated circuit"! :-) > > > Good FAQ page here: > > http://www.monster6502.com/ > > My favourite entry: > > "Q: Are you nuts? > A: Probably." > > Clearly a person after our own hearts! :-) > > Noel I'm sure I read of someone who was implementing an entire CPU as discrete components on an even larger size... there were racks of the thing; it took up most of a room. But I can't find the link.... Mike

9 years, 9 months

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Tektronix 4404 servcie manuals needed

by g-wright＠att.net

I would like to get a Tek 4404 computer going but lack any service manuals. The system turns on but has no curser on the screen. Has good power from the Power supply and heater is on in the CRT. Has a row of LEDs on the mother board. Does anyone know how to read these. - Thanks, Jerry

9 years, 9 months

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http://hackaday.com/2016/05/29/dragging-teletypes-into-the-21st-century

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

it converts codes send and recv... 5 to 8 8 to 5? can preprogram messages in stand alone mode and more... when I see things like this and giant 6502 my faith in things is renewed.... ed In a message dated 5/29/2016 6:52:04 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, jws at jwsss.com writes: This is from what I see attempting to run a TTY from a system. As to the second, the tangent the author puts in is wrong, I don't know if an ASR33 can run 5 level easily, but all I've ever used are ascii 8 bit machines. thanks Jim

9 years, 9 months

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