Now that I have a working PDP-11/23+ system, I find (as I should have known from many similar projects) that the "fun" was really in accumulating the pieces and getting it working. I don't really have anything I want to DO with it (although I suppose that is the whole point of classic computing :) but I have run ADVENT.
anyway I was wondering if someone else would be interested. In brief, it's an 11/23+ KDF-11BA CPU (the chassis front panel is embossed "11/03" though) with max 4 Mb RAM, two RL02's, VT220 and a 16-line serial card. Has a pack with RT-11 v5.mumble up and running. I have what appears to be a TSX-Plus pack but don't know how to generate a working system. "Corporate cabinet" in decent shape. Paint on the RL02 fronts has seen better days. Can send pics this weekend.
It's in West Plains, MO (65775), about 200 mi southwest of St. Louis, 100 miles southeast of Springfield, MO. If I could find someone to help me get it down the stairs I could deliver it to St. Louis (or I could disassemble it if necessary and carry the pieces down) since I work there every week.
Let me know if there's any interest - contact me offlist and make me a reasonable offer. I hate to see it just gathering dust and my PDP-8/A system (two RL02's and ASR33 Teletype, running OS/8) is enough vintage computing hardware for now :)
-Charles
On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ
<gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 2009-01-16 at 15:04 -0200, Alexandre Souza wrote:
>
>> Pu1BZZ Alexandre :)
>
> Wait, wait, you're another radio amateur? Not surprised there's a
> crossover with classic computing. Wonder who else?
N8TVD
Technician _with_ code (not that it matters anymore)
-ethan
I found this home page while looking at qemu for windows. Looks like
he's done a lot of work on Japanese pc emulators. Perhaps this is old
news.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/takeda-toshiya
-brad
N3QE, formerly KA0BTD. Got my novice ticket at age 10.
I was basically inactive for 20+ years from entering college until
2007 when I started dragging out the old Heathkits from my childhood
and hanging wires in the trees. Ironically, it was computers and
girlfriends in college that distracted me from radio; looking back I can see
that compared to ham radio they were a waste of time :-).
Especially in winter I hang out on 80M CW many evenings and manage to
do something for many of the big CW contests/events. Even though I've
got a lot of old rigs, my preferred rig is a lowly HW-16 and my antenna
is a 130 foot doublet hanging between two trees, 90 feet up, and fed
by ladder line.
Tim
Got this book here, maybe somebody would care to take it off my hands and
offer a little something for it?
Title is "Infor World PC Secrets", by Caroline M. Halliday. Copyright date
is 1992. There seems to be a couple of 5.25" floppies in a sealed pouch
inside the back cover.
Front cover says a whole lot that I won't detail here but includes "Covers DOS
2-5 & Windows (I'm assuming they mean 3.1 here), MCA, EISA, 286, 386, & 486
PCs".
Anyone interested please feel free to contact me offlist.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
On 17 Jan, 2009, at 17:25, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
>
> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:33:05 -0800
> From: Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com>
> Subject: Printer ribbons
> To: " (cctalk at classiccmp.org)" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Message-ID: <FF6AB92D97A23A409701CDBF66F03FCD2A56EE05 at 505fuji>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> When I acquired my PDP-11/34, I also received a Centronics 503
> printer, along with an entire case of ribbons for said printer.
> They have a part number of 63002293-5001. It's a black nylon ribbon
> on two spools. These are NOS. I haven't been able to identify
> anything that uses them - and I mean anything, because I can't find
> anything on the Web about the Centronics 503, either.
>
> Does anyone have any leads on this? I'd like to find that these
> ribbons are worth something to someone, because I'll never use more
> than a few in my lifetime but I don't want to just trash them.
> Thanks -- Ian
Googling the part number says they are 1 inch wide by 36 yards and fit
Centronics 101,101A,101R,102,102A and103. Stangely no mention of a 503.
I was checking in case they fitted my ASR33 but it uses narrower ones.
I see lots of Teletype paper and paper tape on eBay but never ASR/KSR/
RO 33 ribbons. Probably easy to get if you know what to ask the
suppliers for.
Roger Holmes (In England)
> Wonder who else?
I'm VERY active with ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding.) Check out the
www.homingin.com So. Cal results and the US ARDF team to give you an idea. I got
my extra only so I didn't have to worry about the frequency when putting on 80M
hunts.
Marvin, KE6HTS
>
> I had an interesting episode recently. I was interested in an item that a
> surplus trader had, in fact he had 3 of them. The items were being offered
> as Buy It Now with free shipping in the US. I asked what he would charge to
> ship to the UK, the response was $30 *each* on top of the Buy It Now price
> which obviously must have already included an allowance for shipping, with
> no apparent option even to combine the shipping.
Without knowing what the items are, there's no way I could know how much
it would actually cost to ship them to the UK. It may be that $30 is a
reasonable _difference_ betweeen the UK and US shipping costs.
The things that annoy me are sellers who have _ridiculously_ high
shipping costs. There's a guy who's got some manuals for sale -- fairly
thin manuals, no binders or anything like that. His shipping charge to
the UK is something over \pounds 60.00. Now, I relaise that filling in
tyhe customs form for overseas shipping takes time, and that it's
reasonable to have to pay for that. But, darn it, that charge is
excessive compared to the shipping charged by other sellers for much
larger/heavier/more delicate items.
As with others here, I get annoyed when things are not packed adeguately
and arrive damaged. I would be happy to pay more for proper packing on a
rare device.
And I wish sellers would (a) get in touch if there's a delay in sending
out the package, and (b) would actually let me know when they send it. If
I am not in to receive the parcel, it gets taken back to the post office
or sorting office then (a) I have to go and collect it and (b) it appears
such packages are much more likely to be damaged. So I want to be in when
it's delivered. On the other hand, I don't want to have to wait around
for a parcel that's not even been sent yet. A short e-mail from the
seller 'I sent it on $date' would be much appreciated.
-tony
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:44:19 -0600 (CST), you wrote:
>>>> Pu1BZZ Alexandre :)
>>>
>>> Wait, wait, you're another radio amateur? Not surprised there's a
>>> crossover with classic computing. Wonder who else?
WB3JOK since 1976... now /0 in Missouri.
Yes, 75m is a belchfartfest sometimes worse than CB, but there are
plenty of other HF bands as the cycle starts to recover... also
still some interesting nets on 40m. Check out the 72 Chew
(www.ragchewers.net) on 7272 KHz :)
73
-Charles
(guess no one wants the 11/23, maybe I'll try fleabay :)
Al Kossow wrote:
> Wonder who else?
>
> probably lots..
>
I'm K0VJ and have lurked on classiccmp for many years. My ham interests run
mostly to QRP CW, building compact homebrew CW rigs, and restoring classic
tube gear. Got my first license (N2EBX) back in early 1983 when the exams
were still being given by the FCC. I've seen a lot of changes, had a lot of
fun, and am currently not-so-patiently waiting for the sunspots to come back!
When I acquired my PDP-11/34, I also received a Centronics 503 printer, along with an entire case of ribbons for said printer. They have a part number of 63002293-5001. It's a black nylon ribbon on two spools. These are NOS. I haven't been able to identify anything that uses them - and I mean anything, because I can't find anything on the Web about the Centronics 503, either.
Does anyone have any leads on this? I'd like to find that these ribbons are worth something to someone, because I'll never use more than a few in my lifetime but I don't want to just trash them. Thanks -- Ian
>At 10:24 PM 1/16/2009 -0500, you wrote:
>>On Friday 16 January 2009, Al Kossow wrote:
>> > > Wonder who else?
>> >
>> > probably lots..
>> >
Nico in Denmark, licensed since 1972 or so.
OZ 1 BMC
-- steve stutman <steve at radiorobots.com> wrote:
Paxton Hoag wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 6:44 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
>
>>> Wonder who else?
>>>
>
> KE7ZFG - New ham, January 6, 2009. I should have done this 40 years
> ago when I had much more time for radio.
>
> Paxton
>
>
>KL7JT
>
>Did it 42 years ago, when I did have time for radio. hihi
KH6JJN since 1977.
And I *proudly* retain the only callsign I've ever held,
issued in my home state of Hawaii.
There are so many things in our world that change, there
should be at least a *few* things that stay the same.
73's--
Jeff
____________________________________________________________
Chart your path to success with a smart new business plan. Click here!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/PnY6rw3BIs8K3lpfqKylvZg5CTRR9uv…
>
>Subject: Hams (was Re: thinking of selling my PDP-11/23+)
> From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:15:05 -0500
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ
><gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:
>> On Fri, 2009-01-16 at 15:04 -0200, Alexandre Souza wrote:
>>
>>> Pu1BZZ Alexandre :)
>>
>> Wait, wait, you're another radio amateur? Not surprised there's a
>> crossover with classic computing. Wonder who else?
>
>N8TVD
>
>Technician _with_ code (not that it matters anymore)
>
>-ethan
We are everywhere...
KB1GMX Extra I like my old tech call.
Allison
> > Wonder who else?
>
> probably lots..
>
> Eric Smith just got his licence.
> I know Don North is, as am I (wb9ggj)
I'm former N1QCO, Presently KB1Qff (that needs to change,
I'll be using the vanity call program).
I spent a lot of time and money to get on HF this time
around and was sorely disappointed to find it a lot like CB
radio. And it's not the nubies making it a chore to listen.
> Here are some pics of a Novell file server circa 1987.
> http://bitsavers.org/pdf/novell/68k_file_server
>
> Was wondering if anyone had documentation or software for
> this. I had some of the external dual drive scsi boxes for
> these at one point.
This reminds me of a similar oddity I used to support years
ago. 3Com made a server, and an OS called 3+ Open. As I
recall, it was an OS/2 - LAN Manager derivative.
> There seems to be a recent trend on ebay for places that collect
> electronics for recycling to have someone who picks out the "old" items
> for sale on ebay.
They have been cherry picking the incoming stuff for years. The big one around
here is Computer Recycling Center, next to Weird Stuff (who is in the same biz).
Most modern PC stuff they get goes to schools, they eBay the stuff they can get
money from, and put the dregs up for sale on Saturday mornings. Feeding frenzy
at 9:00 AM when they open. I wander by every once and a while to pick up cheap
PCI cards, or the odd bit of old software no one else wants.
Most of the store front junk stores around here disappeared as manufacturing left
the valley, and the bottom feeders from bankruptcies go directly to eBay now with
no retail presence.
>
>Subject: DC319 DLARTs and T11s (was T-11 ....)
> From: "Bob Armstrong" <bob at jfcl.com>
> Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:25:17 -0800
> To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>>A while ago, Choctaw Bob ]bob099 at centurytel.net] wrote:
>>
>> [Schematic of Peter McCollum's hand built T11 SBC]
>> Schematic here http://www.geocities.com/saipan59/dec/t11.jpg
>
> I just got around to looking at this (sorry - been busy :-) and while it's
>nice and simple, it uses a 6850 UART for the console. It's easy enough to
>interface the 6850 (or any other modern UART for that matter) to the T11
>bus, but it's not going to be even remotely PDP-11 compatible. If you want
>to have any hope of ever running any real PDP-11 software, you're going to
>need a DL11/KL11 compatible console interface.
DLARTs are hard o find. I have a dozen t11s and one DLART.
> For the T11 that means you also want a DC319AA DLART (a "DL-11 compatible
>UART chip") chip, and after looking around those seem to be far more
>difficult to come by than the DCT11 CPU chips. Does anybody have a pile of
>DC319 chips handy, or know where they can be found? Unlike the T11 chips,
>which can be harvested from a lot of fairly common and not very valuable DEC
>boards (e.g. RQDX3s), I don't know of any good donor for DLARTs. There are
>a couple on my FALCON SBC-11/21 board, but I'm hardly willing to take it
>apart for this project :-)
Actually a 6402 (two or three are better) and the logic to do a ful DL isn't bad.
With at least two then you can do a Tu58/TU58sim as a disk and have a real
bootable 11.
You also want at least 28KW of ram (2 32kx8 rams will do it) and TUboot in a
small eprom mapped at boot.
> If you can't find a DC319, then the alternative is to build a DL11
>compatible interface using a standard UART like the 6402 and a handful of
>discrete logic. I think the minimum you could get away with would be to
>implement the DONE and INTERRUPT ENABLE bits (bits 6 and 7) for both the
>receiver and transmitter CSR, and then to implement the standard vectors at
>60/64. Oh, and of course the data registers for the transmitter and
>receiver.
>
> The KL11 also implements a MAINTENANCE bit, a BUSY bit, and a READER
>ENABLE bit, but a) we have no reader, b) I doubt (I'm hoping) much software
>ever looks at the BUSY bit, and c) probably nothing uses the MAINTENANCE bit
>except the diagnostics.
Try to find the logic for DLV11J as that has basic serial. You do not need
all the bits but most are handy and you also need to generate a valid vector
for console (60Q) and also for any other port.
> ISTR that DEC had an "official" standard written down for exactly what was
>required of a DL-11 compatible serial interface, but I can't find it
>anywhere.
Microcomputer handbook. I'll try to find something more.
Allison
>Bob
>
Yes, you read that correctly.
I have in my possession a TK-50 tape for the PDP-11 system which contains none other than
OS/2 operating system.
Many people have claimed this never existed. But I have the tape!
I had done a directory dump of it and can supply it.
One other person who's checked the directory listing has said it is authentic.
I'm not sure what to do with it, and I believe IBM made OS/2 open source, so technically it should be "free"
of it's chains
maybe someone can turn it into something useful, or just run it and have the most unique PDP on the planet, I don't know... whatever :)
anyhow, it's a really weird bit of computing history, and I'd hate for it to be lost. it should be in a museum :)
Dan.
_________________________________________________________________
Use fowl language with Chicktionary. Click here to start playing!
http://puzzles.sympatico.msn.ca/chicktionary/index.html?icid=htmlsig
Take a look at item # 130281137792 -- an HP2647A terminal with no
keyboard, some rust and a fairly bad case of screen rot.
The seller listed it yesterday for $900 initial bid or $1500
buy-it-now.
I politely sent them a note explaining that their prices were an
order of magnitude too high, particularly considering the condition of
the unit.
So what did they do? Dropped it to $400 opening bid.
Yeah, right.
Terminals are getting scarce, but not *that* scarce -- its more likely
that people's interest in serial terminals would dry up before they'd
pay through the nose for a 2647A.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
> 4. Do the freeware copies of TOPS-20 floating around
TOPS-20 is not "freeware". There is nothing in the software
distributions that claims it is so.
XKL bought the rights when DEC got out of the 36-bit business.
Not asserting your rights to something is quite different from
an assertion that it is "freeware".
This is also one of those rocks you really don't want to turn
over..
Here are some pics of a Novell file server circa 1987.
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/novell/68k_file_server
Was wondering if anyone had documentation or software for this.
I had some of the external dual drive scsi boxes for these at
one point.
> Actually, he's gotten pretty far on it.
Good to hear he's had time to work on it again. He hadn't for
quite a while with everything that's been going on. I had forgotten
to ask him about it when I talked to him in Dec.
>A while ago, Choctaw Bob ]bob099 at centurytel.net] wrote:
>
> [Schematic of Peter McCollum's hand built T11 SBC]
> Schematic here http://www.geocities.com/saipan59/dec/t11.jpg
I just got around to looking at this (sorry - been busy :-) and while it's
nice and simple, it uses a 6850 UART for the console. It's easy enough to
interface the 6850 (or any other modern UART for that matter) to the T11
bus, but it's not going to be even remotely PDP-11 compatible. If you want
to have any hope of ever running any real PDP-11 software, you're going to
need a DL11/KL11 compatible console interface.
For the T11 that means you also want a DC319AA DLART (a "DL-11 compatible
UART chip") chip, and after looking around those seem to be far more
difficult to come by than the DCT11 CPU chips. Does anybody have a pile of
DC319 chips handy, or know where they can be found? Unlike the T11 chips,
which can be harvested from a lot of fairly common and not very valuable DEC
boards (e.g. RQDX3s), I don't know of any good donor for DLARTs. There are
a couple on my FALCON SBC-11/21 board, but I'm hardly willing to take it
apart for this project :-)
If you can't find a DC319, then the alternative is to build a DL11
compatible interface using a standard UART like the 6402 and a handful of
discrete logic. I think the minimum you could get away with would be to
implement the DONE and INTERRUPT ENABLE bits (bits 6 and 7) for both the
receiver and transmitter CSR, and then to implement the standard vectors at
60/64. Oh, and of course the data registers for the transmitter and
receiver.
The KL11 also implements a MAINTENANCE bit, a BUSY bit, and a READER
ENABLE bit, but a) we have no reader, b) I doubt (I'm hoping) much software
ever looks at the BUSY bit, and c) probably nothing uses the MAINTENANCE bit
except the diagnostics.
ISTR that DEC had an "official" standard written down for exactly what was
required of a DL-11 compatible serial interface, but I can't find it
anywhere.
Bob