test-drb

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101090 discussions

by ggs＠shiresoft.com

Hi, It has come to my attention that a CDC Cyber 180-960 is available. Apparently this is from a supplier that was supporting Vandenburg AFB (California) with spares. Since Vendenburg is decommissioning it?s Cyber systems, the supplier wants to get rid of the spare machine that they have. I think the supplier just want the machine ?to go away? so the price is likely to be negligible. Please contact me off-list if interested and I?ll get you in touch with the relevant folks. TTFN - Guy

6 years, 11 months

Datapoint 8600 system in Little Rock

by aek＠bitsavers.org

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Datapoint-8600-and-Peripherals/192961883648 anyone nearby? I'd like to get it, but I have no way to pick it up

6 years, 11 months

Emulex SC11 Documentation Wanted

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

I'm looking for documentation covering a board set which came with my new PDP-11/34A. It looks like an Emulex SC11 disk controller, but it appears to be a newer version than what is covered in the 1979 manual scan which I found on Bitsavers. I have pictures of the board set on my blog: http://www.nf6x.net/2019/06/emulex-sc11-disk-controller-documentation-wante… -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

6 years, 11 months

Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR (among other things)

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 04:15 AM 6/28/2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: > I don't even know if a half a dollar is a note or a coin, and >that's without getting extra-pedantic and pointing out that about a >dozen countries call their currencies the "dollar". If you were a real pedant, you would've provided a list of dimensions of their half-dollar coins (or bills) in several common systems of measurement. - John

6 years, 11 months

Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR (among other things)

by lproven＠gmail.com

This is *epic*. https://github.com/stepleton/5100NonExecutableROSDecode/blob/master/WRITEUP… -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

6 years, 11 months

Big news, re: mobile computing history

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Hello! I have a major announcement. :) It's time for version 2.0 of my book, "Abacus to smartphone: The evolution of mobile and portable computers," which I published on dead trees four years ago. This time, it's going to be a (free!) interactive website: the era of printed books is behind us. Please help me raise funds to make this happen. Funders will get exclusive access for the first month that the website is live (approximately the whole of August 2019). All of the details (such what's new/different) are here: https://fundrazr.com/b1WZ91?ref=ab_74VRia ... please check it out. Thanks!! -Evan

6 years, 11 months

RSTS collection in the UK

by aek＠bitsavers.org

We received this offer, it probably makes more sense for someone in the UK to get the lot. Is there someone at a collecting institution that would like to take this on? Email me and I can forward your contact information to them. "I have a few disk packs available if you need them. (Please note I am in the UK). I also have a range of PDP-11 interface boards, a mix of dual, quad and Unibus. Is there anything in particular that you need? Finally I have a mass of RSTS related documentation, such as one copy of every edition of the US publication RSTS Porfessional magazine. Plus copies of RSTS and RT-11 operating system manuals, from RSTS Version 4a (1974) through to Version 10.1 (mid 1990s)."

6 years, 11 months

One of the deeper dives into RISC vs CISC I've seen

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

At 12:56 PM 25/06/2019 +0200, Liam Proven wrote: >On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 at 12:31, Tony Aiuto via cctalk ><cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> On a related note, a fun talk about ARM >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2045&v=_6sh097Dk5k > >Remarkable. Thanks for the link. Astounding. Very thought-provoking. Yes, it is. Fascinating! And right now jdownloader is fetching me a local copy, as opposed to previously not working with that one video for some inexplicable reason. So thanks for reminding me to try again. Guy

6 years, 11 months

Origins of nameless semaphores and Apple's non-support thereof

by dave＠661.org

I recently tripped over the fact that MacOS does not support nameless POSIX semaphores. When attempting to use them, I get a complaint that they're deprecated. I can't fathom why Apple would do that. I found this post explaining it, albeit not very well: https://lists.apple.com/archives/darwin-kernel/2009/Apr/msg00010.html. It seems that Apple yanked out support, but elsewhere (https://intfiction.org/t/macos-frotz-users/41553/5) I'm told that Apple did it because BSD 4.4 didn't implement them. I was fairly sure that it did. Does anyone have a more satisfying answer? -- 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?

6 years, 11 months

PIC programmer

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

Hi all, I have, surprisingly, a non IBM 1130 related issue to ask about. I have a PIC16C55A-04/P 28 pin plastic MPU that I would like to reproduce --- but don't have a PIC debugger on hand and in fact don't know whether or not the existing device is code protected. (If it's code protected, then the path forward is going to be very different). Does anyone have the ability to check one of the chips that I have here is code protected so I can see if I should pursue this any further? Located in the San Francisco Bay Area but can mail a sample chip. Thanks! Brian

6 years, 11 months

One of the deeper dives into RISC vs CISC I've seen

by lproven＠gmail.com

Goes a bit over my head but may be of interest: https://userpages.umbc.edu/~vijay/mashey.on.risc.html -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

6 years, 11 months

Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > Does anyone know where Steve Rothman is? And also Bill Weiske, who's listed as the go-to for the KS11. Noel

6 years, 11 months

Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > It is in the Dick Best Options and Modules List 197503 Ah, thanks for the pointer; I see it's listed as a "Memory Extension Control" - not sure that tells me much, alas! Interestingly, it's not in the earlier Options and Modules lists, e.g. June '74, but the KS11 is in that earlier list, so the MX11's a later addition. Noel

6 years, 11 months

Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

While I asking on the TUHS list about the KS11, someone mentioned the MX11 Memory Extension Option, described as "enabl[ing] the usage of 128 KW memory (18-bit addressing range) ... developed by the Digital CSS (Computer Special Systems)". I'm not familiar with this, and I couldn't find anything about it. (It's not even in the Spare Modules Handbook, but then again, neither is the KS11 - although the KT11-B is). Some early UNIBUS device address lists (e.g. the '72 "peripherals and interfacing handbook") list up to six, from #1 at 777600-06 to #6 at 777650-56. I can _guess_ what it did, from the description above (e.g. maps an 8KB block, since there can be up to 6), but I was wondering if anyone had any hard data; e.g. memories based on using one BITD, etc, etc. Even a high level description (e.g. 'sat on the UNIBUS between the CPU and extra memory, and mapped a fixed block of low UNIBUS address space to a block controlled by a register') would be an improvement on what we have now, which is basically nothing. Noel

6 years, 11 months

Help with a qic data tape

by danr234＠gmail.com

Someone gave me your info. I have a very important tape I need help with. The tape spooled off the end and I need the belt put back on. Maybe getting the data off the tape too. It?s a 3m dc2120 120Megabyte tape. I?ve tried to do some practice tapes with junk tapes but I?m not confident enough to do it.

6 years, 11 months

unix developed on 11/20 with 20 on panel or machine that just said pdp/11?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Steve Malikoff >> According to this page that Dennis Ritchie wrote ... >> https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html > It states that their 11/20 had a KS-11 memory management unit, was > that mandatory for running v1 Unix on an 11/20? Well, the page does say they had two -11/20's, apparently one with and one without the KS11. Also, ISTR that the source for the -11/20 system has been recovered from a listing and run, and IIRC that didn't have the KS11 stuff in it (but it might be worth checking). Next to nothing is known of the KS11. Dennis' page "Odd Comments and Strange Doings in Unix": https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/odd.html has a story involving it (at the end), and that is all I've ever been able to find out about it (if anyone has anything more, please let me know). My original guess as to its functionality, from that, was that it's not part of the CPU, but a UNIBUS device, which perhaps maps addresses around (and definitely limits user access to I/O page addresses). It might also have mapped part of the UNIBUS space which the -11/20 CPU _can_ see (i.e. in the 0-56KB range) up to higher addresses, where 'extra' memory is configured. However, on re-reading that page, I see it apparently supported some sort of user/kernel mode distinction, which might have require a tie-in to the CPU. (But not necessarily; if there was a flop in the KS11 which stored the 'CPU mode' bit, it might be automatically cleared on all interrupts. Not sure how it would have handled traps, though. I'll have to enquire on the TUHS list. Noel

6 years, 11 months

RK05 indicator lenses?

by mosst＠SDF.ORG

Hi All, I've recently acquired an RK05 that's missing the lenses for its indicator lights. Does anyone know a part number or where I could find replacements? I was hoping there would be a clue in the engineering drawings, but unfortuanetly not. Regards, -Tom mosst at sdf.lonestar.org SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org

6 years, 11 months

RSS Feeds

by trash80＠internode.on.net

I'm looking for some reliable RSS feeds (I appreciate they seem to be coming rare these days) to do with classic computers, preferably with a TRS-80 flavour but I'm not going to be precious about it. Google didn't seem to produce too many and those it did were either not there anymore or broken or monumentally out of date. If anyone can point me any where I'd be most grateful. Thank you Kevin Parker 0418 815 527

6 years, 11 months

June 22

by sales＠elecplus.com

My warehouse will be open on Sat, Jun 22, from 10-3 for anyone that wants to come scrounge. I am 1 hour from San Antonio, or 2.5 hours from Austin, or 4-5 hours from Houston or Dallas (in decent traffic and weather). Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 11 months

unix developed on 11/20 with 20 on panel or machine that just said pdp/11?

by wkt＠tuhs.org

Paul Koning wrote: >> The 1971 Unix Programmer's Manual mentions their 11/20 had 24 KB >> (surely KW?) memory rather than 28KW. > I would assume kW. In the PDP11 world we didn't normally speak of > bytes or kbytes, certainly not for memory and often not elsewhere either. The PDP-11 Unix source: https://github.com/DoctorWkt/unix-jun72/blob/master/pages/e00-01 says: orig = 0 core = orig+40000 / specifies beginning of user's core ecore = core+20000 / specifies end of user's core (4096 words) So: 40000= 16KB for the kernel, 20000= 8KB for the user program. Cheers, Warren

6 years, 11 months

unix developed on 11/20 with 20 on panel or machine that just said pdp/11?

by wkt＠tuhs.org

According to this page that Dennis Ritchie wrote, the original PDP-11 they used was indeed an 11/20 but it was before there were PDP-11 model numbers: https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html And, of course, the PDP-7 Unix development came before the PDP-11 version :) Cheers, Warren

6 years, 11 months

unix developed on 11/20 with 20 on panel or machine that just said pdp/11?

by wkt＠tuhs.org

Steve Malikoff wrote: > It states that their 11/20 had a KS-11 memory management unit, was that > mandatory for running v1 Unix on an 11/20? I case-insensitively grepped for 'ks.*11' in the Github repository here: https://github.com/DoctorWkt/unix-jun72 and I didn't see a mention. > The 1971 Unix Programmer's Manual mentions their > 11/20 had 24 KB (surely KW?) memory rather than 28KW. 28KB is right. The simh.cfg from the repo says: set cpu 11/20 set cpu 32K Cheers, Warren

6 years, 11 months

Teac FD55-GF drives wanted for experiments in reading Twiggy floppies

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Is anyone willing to sell me a few Teac FD55-GF or -GFR floppy drives (PC 5.25-in high density) for less than eBay prices? I want to experiment with modifying them to read Apple Twiggy diskettes, primarily by adding a microstepping driver for the head positioning. I specifically want Teac drives because there are reasonably good service manuals on them, and I don't want to deal with multiple brands of drives. The handwritten labels on the Twiggy diskettes I recently acquired make it appear that they were used for prerelease Lisa development. I will be getting more of them in a few weeks, from the same source.

6 years, 11 months

Wanting to get my first classic computer

by raywjewhurst＠gmail.com

Hello all, I have been a student of computer history for years but have only learned how to use classic machines vicariously through emulation. I would really like to get my own classic computer but I don't know where to begin. For one, I am on a very limited income and two I don't have a lot of space and finally I don't have much knowledge on the finer points of the older hardware i.e. terminals networking, etc. I would really like a Vaxstation but I have also considered a '90s workstation such as an SGI Indy or a SparcStation. I am pretty fluent in both VMS and Unix so any of those would work. So where do I look besides e-Bay? I see some available here but none near me. I'm in the Detroit area. Any advice would be appreciated. I do know that I do now want a Mac or old PC. I would like something more exotic. (Although it might me neat to own a Rainbow.) Thanks Ray

6 years, 11 months

unix developed on 11/20 with 20 on panel or machine that just said pdp/11?

by couryhouse＠aol.com

unix developed on 11/20 with 20 on panel or machine that just said pdp/11? Help - have a? nice? looking? 11/20? plus? a? weird analog? computer and? a? Nike guidance? gyro platform? for? AJAX (? 2? gyros loose? need? prints? to? rewire? correctly)? ? ? in? trade? for? and? extra? ribbon Mike? we? had. so anyway today's? questions -? bell labs? UNIX? machine? ?says? 11? or? 11/20 -anyone have schematics or wiring chart? for NIKE AJAX? Gyro Plantform? Drop offlist? as? not? to? clutter? things thanks? Ed#

6 years, 11 months

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