Back in the early 80s, i worked as an assembler programmer for Reuters
in London. I was involved with maintenance and development of software
on two platforms - one was the PDP11, but the other was a much more
obscure machine and i can't remember the name of the manufacturer.
The machines in question worked together as a pair - we referred to them
as "SGS", which stood for "Second Generation Slave". I believe they were
designed as a front end for the IBM 360, but Reuters used them as, i
guess, minicomputers.
These machines were the heart of Reuters' oldest live stock and share
price reporting system - and subscribers were able to check prices via a
PDP8 in their office which was connected to the SGS pair. One of the
pair was what you'd call a database server nowadays and the other did
the comms stuff.
As far as i remember, each machine was the size of three racks next to
each other (which is probably what they were). The data was stored on a
drum in one machine, and the other machine had a card reader and a
teletype terminal. They both had paper tape readers. They were 16-bit
machines and had a row of lights and toggle switches at the top of one
rack, with a switch to change between memory location and data, plus an
"enter/run" button.
The data machine was booted by toggling in a paper tape reader bootstrap
and then loading the drum reader bootstrap from paper tape, then booting
the OS, which was stored on the drum. The comms machine also had a three
stage boot process - toggle in paper tape bootstrap, read card reader
bootstrap off paper tape, then read the OS from a stack of cards. I
can't remember how we got the OS onto the drum now - but i do remember
we did a lot of "patching" in memory, through the front panel, for
debugging etc.
These machines ran IBM 360 machine code and we did the development in
360 assembly language on an IBM 370, which was later upgraded to a 4340.
Recently i've been trying to remember the name of the manufacturer of
these machines, but i just haven't got a clue - although i'm sure i'd
recognise it if i saw it. I've looked through computer history sites on
the web, hoping i'd come across the manufacturer's name and recognise
it, but i never have. So if anyone knows, or can give me any clues, i'd
be grateful.
I'm not subscribed to this list, so i'd be very grateful if anyone
replying could Cc me.
Thanks
Will Kemp
Just passing this one along for whoever's interested.
>>> Xerox 820 II with 8" floppy disks, CP/M operating system, Select Word
processing, and a 630 Daisy wheel printer. It was bought in 1982 and we have
all the manuals. It has not been turned on since we "retired" it in 1989 or
so, but it was working at that point.
JoAnne Yates jyates at MIT.EDU
Hi,
I am restoring a Vector Graphic computer and would like to add a hard
disk drive. The controller only supports two kinds of hard disk
drives, the ST506 and ST412. The HD controller is hard coded to
support these DRIVES not just a compatible interface and relies on a
special signal present only in these actual drives.
If anyone has one or more of these hard disk drives they would like to
sell me, please contact me or reply here.
Thanks!
Andrew Lynch
I just got a Sun 3/60, 8MB RAM, no disk. I have several questions:
1. Were these used with an external disk? There is some room inside the
machine, but there are also several strange looking capacitors there.
2. With diag switch set to "norm", there is nothing (no output) on the
serial console; the machine just blinks one of the LEDs. With diag
switch set to "diag", the following appears:
Boot PROM Selftest
PROM Checksum Test
Context Reg Test
Segment Map Wr/Rd Test
Segment Map Address Test
Page Map Test
Memory Path Data Test
NXM Bus Error Test
Interrupt Test
TOD Clock Interrupt Test
MMU Access Bit Test
MMU Access/Modify Bit Test
MMU Invalid Page Test
MMU Protected Page Test
Parity Test
Memory Size = 0x00000008 Megabytes
Selftest passed.
Type a character within 10 seconds to enter Menu Tests...
(e for echo
mode)
Is that a sign of EEPROM problem? Failed battery?
--
If you cut off my head, what would I say? Me and my head, or me and my body?
Henk,
I was researching my Corcom F2280 on the internet and came across
your 2004 message:
---------------------------------------
Who can help me with an EMI filter from an IBM 5110 ?
Mine has an internal non-repairable short circuit.
This EMI filter is a CORCOM type F2280 and is located in the mains
entry box underneath the screen tube.
Any one ?
Thanks Henk
---------------------------------------
I have one, if you're still interested.
Bob
> I rarely see ASCII art these days. There was a retro ASCII Art
> newsletter that was published every few months which had some ASCII art
> in it, but sadly the people behind it have decided to stop making it.
> Only 5 issues exist, and at present I only have issue 5
I feel there are 2 subtly-different forms of ASCII-Art. The first is
essantally 2-colour, and uses characters of the right shape to form the
image. The second uses characters of different average densitys to form a
sort-of greyscale image.
The former is used (and I still regularly use it) for things like
schematic diagrams. I think I've worked out ASCII-Art versions of the
symbols for all common components, and I've drawn up quite complex
scheamtics that way.
The second, which seems to be a lot rarer, is the sort of thing used for
that picture of the cat, I guess.
-tony
Stroller <classiccmp.org at stellar.eclipse.co.uk> wrote:
> > The board has a PCI edge connector, a BT848 video decoder ...
>
> I do not believe these are uncommon.
>
> Note especially the first link:
> http://www.google.com/search?q=BT848
Err, yes...I actually had noticed before, and meanwhile got it to work using the generic Bt8x8 driver from btwincap.sourceforge.net. I had just hoped that somebody might point me to the original driver for that card. The btwincap thingie implements lots of stuff (like program lists, tuner and audio crossbar control by I2C or I/O lines...) that this simple device doesn't need.
--
Arno Kletzander
Der GMX SmartSurfer hilft bis zu 70% Ihrer Onlinekosten zu sparen!
Ideal f?r Modem und ISDN: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/smartsurfer
The seasonal holidays give me time to play around a bit ...
I wanted to connect my DECprinter I (that's an LA180) but
I could not find any documentation here at home, neither
on the web! Can somebody who knows or has an LA180
connected tell me how it is hooked to a serial line?
Or point me to an LA180 user's manual on the web?
>From my guess, the BERG header is "standard" as on M7800
DL11's or M7856 DL11-W, SLU's (with the appropriate lugs
either RS-232 or 20 mA current loop), but I would rather be
assured than destroying a very nice printer!
thanks,
Henk
I was dismantling some old stuff that I got as a lot and came across
this beastie.
It's a National Semiconductor Microcomputer Systems BLC 80/10.
Clone of an Intel iSBC 80/10.
Single board 8080A computer with sockets for PROMs and 1K of RAM
onboard, several parallel ports, one serial port, and Multibus
interface for expansion. As used in this case, it was standalone with
only the power pins on the Multibus connected (and the I/O at the top).
As the only Multibus backplane I have is an IRIS 3000 series
(double-deep), it's available.
> From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>
> > Worse, on many systems the answer differs depending what point you
> > measure at. On most Unix variants, for example, it's 0x0a when
> > measured in files or in C strings, but 0x0d 0x0a when measured on
> > hardware serial lines.
>
> in which case, what characters would
> fprintf(PRN, "%s" , "X\n" );
> actually send to the printer?
Unix was the first ASCII-using OS that I saw that used a print
control character "\n" as a logical separator. Prior to that, I'd
seen decimal 31 (US) used. The benefit of using the ASCII separator
characters (US RS GS FS) is that one can stucture a file or files
hierarchically (i.e. units in records in groups in files). A shame
that our current modern systems don't take advantage of this.
Even CDC SCOPE or NOS allowed for file/record-level hierarchies. Up
to 15 levels of records were allowed, IIRC. So you could skip to the
next level 4 record within a file, bypassing all intervening level 0,
1, 2 and 3 records in the process. A shame that was never carried
into our "modern" systems.
Does anyone know why SUB (0x1A, 26) was used to denote an EOF in CP/M
and, to some extent, DOS text files?
IIRC, there is at least one programming language that treats newline
as a quotable character.
Cheers,
Chuck
This from Billy Petit:
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Unless I have badly confused names, the GRID system was a very
unusual Control Data experiement. It was a 160-A made from CDC's
Interbrid logic chips. It used a 12 bit X and Y axis vector
display. The instruction set was the standard 160-A but with some
extra commands supporting the display. It was initialized with
Function Ready commands, then did vector transfers directly from the
processor memory. The memory was 12K core of 12 bits.
This was a very small run system, somewhere around 20 to 30 systems
total built. They were made at the Roseville plant.
The GRIDsystemwas droppeda little afterCDC bought out the imaging
group from Itek and formed the Digigraphics Division. (The market
wasn't big enough to support two competing product lines.) The 274
console was the second generation system from this new group. The
first was a huge console used on 3000 systems. It was used on large
CAD systems. They were made at the Burlington, Mass. plant. I
installed four of them at Lockheed in Marietta when they won the C-5
contract, circa 1966-67. Maybe another 10 systems total, were made.
The second generation Digigraphics system used a new controller built
>from 6000 logic modules. It was a 16 bit controller and used on the
1700 systems. There was a limited version that shipped with the
System 18.
I'd love to see the GRID manual posted to bitsavers. If you will
loan it to Al or me, we will scan it and return to you. I may still
have some schemantics for it in the garage, but I haven't seen them
since 1976 so I maybe imagining their existence.
I have recently talked to one of the designers of the GRID, but my
contact addresses for him don't work.
I still can't post emails directly to the cclist, so can I get one of
you to put up this follow up message?
Thanks,
Billy
I am throwing stuff out and found these two dongles. The first is a
little 2" X 2" dongle which says "Plug into serial port" on one end
and has a female DB25 port, with a pass through on the other end.
It says PSpice MicroSIM Corporation, Electrical Circuit Simulator, ID
#66097".
The other is a long module labeled "P-CAD Software Security Device,
104-0019-01, Serial No. 15871, 047-0124-00. This module is about
12" long and has a lid which hinges upwards and contains ten slots
for small modules. One module is installed and it is labeled
"PC-CAPS, Serial No. 7125, 104-0120-01". This long module also has
a pass-through and appears to require a 9VDC power supply.
I have no use for these and only a vague idea of how I would make use
of them. So if anyone wants them for the cost of shipping let me
know by email. I am in Austin, TX near Spicewood Springs and Mopac.
If I don't make arrangements with anyone by Sunday, they're going in
the trash.
Jeff Walther
I wrote the machine code for the MMD1 and MMD2 and was wondering if anyone
would find it valuable? I also created an experimental model for E&L that
never shipped where I converted the CPU over to a 6502. Any takers?
It's all on printed paper, so I don't know what the best way to get it on
line is.
--David
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:52:14 +0000 (GMT)
From: Andrew Burton <aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: ASCII Art (was Re: how to connect a DECprinter I (LA180) ?)
>Last time I searched for "ASCII Art" on the net I found a couple of pictures of naked women amongst those of Spock and Kirk. I >didn't see any of Snoopy though :(
>I rarely see ASCII art these days. There was a retro ASCII Art newsletter that was published every few months which had some >ASCII art in it, but sadly the people behind it have decided to stop making it. Only 5 issues exist, and at present I only have issue 5.
>Happy Holidays,
>Andrew B
>aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
---------
Lots of ASCII art here (a couple dozen Snoopys in the DECUS section):
http://textfiles.group.lt/art/
Anybody know of a simple program to print these on a laser or inkjet?
mike
Hi All,
I'm looking to get my hands on a California Computer Systems Model
2810 Z-80 CPU card. This is an S-100 bus card. Anybody out there
have one they want to sell?
I'm also looking for a readable schematic for this card.
Thanks,
-Mardy
If you look for the PBM tools, there is a PBM to ASCII output format. Using the tools, any picture could be converted to the ASCII art.
Enjoy!
--barrym
Hi a quick follow up to my question to the list earlier. I found that on
the TEAC FD-55GFR more closely emulates the TM100-4M signals if the "E2"
jumper is ON. It changes the logic of the /INDEX and /READ DATA signals to
be compatible with older PC and XT floppy drive controllers which do not
give the drive adequate time to fully settle. Apparently the older TM100-4M
drives don't seem to care much about it but the Vector Graphic FDC is
expecting to get those signals whether regardless of seek status.
If anyone has any additional thoughts on the matter, please post. I am
still trying to figure this out for the Panasonic JU-475-1 drive. Is anyone
familiar with it so that it's /INDEX and /READ DATA are compatible with PC
and XT FDCs?
Thanks!
Andrew Lynch
Hi, Sorry for the long post. I have done a lot of things to make this
work but am still stuck on this problem. As some of you know, I and
some others have been busily working on restoring some Vector Graphic
machines.
One goal is to replace the Tandon TM100-4M 100tpi drives with more
commonly available High Density 96tpi floppy drives. I realize the
disks between the two types of drives are incompatible and I plan to
retain both types of drives for compatibility with other Vector Graphic
machines. However, the 100tpi drives are difficult to obtain and I
would like to limit their use to preserve their remaining lifespans. I
would like to transition my regular usage disks to the HD 96tpi drives
to utilitize commonly available and inexpensive HD floppy drive
mechanisms.
I believe it is possible to make an HD drive emulate a legacy DSQD drive
-- at least I am sure it can be done on the PC. The late Don Maslin was
apparently able to use 720K (DSQD) 5.25" floppy drives on his Vector
Graphic system (see link below). I would like to do a similar thing but
using the HD drives in DSQD emulation mode.
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/1998-January/093114.html
I have a couple of HD floppy disk drives such as the Panasonic JU-475
and TEAC FD-55GFR. I have jumpered and modified both drives so that the
spindle motor turns at 300 RPM which I have verified using a fluorescent
lamp and tach wheel. I have set the jumpers or directly wired to ground
Pin 2 to force Double Density mode. I have covered Pin 2 on the
interface with tape so that it does not interfere with the FDC on my
Vector Graphic machine and vice versa. According to the schematic of my
Vector Graphic integrated FD/HD controller (FDC) neither pin 2 (density
select) nor pin 34 (/ready) are used.
After many tests and inspections, I have verified both HD drives do work
in 720K DSQD emulation mode on my floppy test bench PC. They are
configured as 3.5" 80 track drives. The motor spins at 300 RPM and they
are both able to format and verify with scandisk under MS-DOS using good
quality 5.25" disks.
The problem comes in when I attach either HD drive to the Vector Graphic
FDC. Whenever it tries to format under CP/M, the VG is able to write
out all 154 tracks (I have verified it is writing the tracks by
inspecting the disks using my Catweasel) but the VG cannot verify the
tracks correctly and fails the format. Everytime it tries to format a
disk, it ends with "PERMANENT DISK ERROR" messages. Using different
CP/M utilities to write to the HD drives results in similar errors such
as VG BACKUP, a disk copy utility, and CPYFSTU, another CP/M disk copy
utility.
I do not know for certain whether the disks are have errors when written
or the drive is having problems reading the track. I know the disks are
good as I can format them on the VG using the TM100-4M drive without
issue. When I verified the tracks are written using the Catweasel and
the same disk and drive I noticed several read errors and bad sectors
which implies the tracks were written with errors.
Does anyone know why these HD floppy drives are incompatible with the
Vector Graphic FDC? Is there something I am missing or some setting
which would make them compatible? The HD drives work just fine at DSQD
drives on the floppy test bench PC so I am fairly sure the drives
themselves are OK. The VG FDC works fine with the TM100-4M drives so I
think they work OK. The problem is only when I attach the HD drives to
the VG FDC.
Would anyone please give me some insight on this problem?
Thank you in advance for any help.
Andrew Lynch
Sellam,
According to the manual I have, the keys are as following:
[Ctrl] 8 = 8mhz Turbo
[Ctrl] 5 = 4.77 XT Speed
If you run across an extra P.S., let me know. I have one here I can't
power up without one.
Al
Phila, PA
The LA180 cable (at least for use with an LPV11) is a BC11S-25.
That is a round cable with a 40-pin BERG on each end.
I couldn't tell you if all the pins are used or not,
or if the connections are pin-for-pin.
The LA180 engineering print set is available at?? http://vt100.net/manx
although it is in two parts, in multi-page TIFF format, takes up 20 MB,
and takes FOREVER to load in Windows.?? Would be nice if someone
converted it to PDF format.?? ;-)
Tim
________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever. Check out the new AIM(R) Mail ! - http://webmail.aim.com
> The LA-120 (DECwriter/printer III) is serial, as is the LA-36, and
> a bunch of other LA-xxx printers. I think the LA-180 might be
> unique in its naming series to be parallel.
The LA100 is also serial (that's a strange printer with a solenoid to
move the printhead up and down by half the dot pitch, giving NLQ output).
The LA324 (much later) is paralell and serial, the serial port being an
MMJ connector (and the parallel port is a 36 pin Microribbon, wired as a
Centronics connector).
-tony
>
> =20
> The seasonal holidays give me time to play around a bit ...
> I wanted to connect my DECprinter I (that's an LA180) but
> I could not find any documentation here at home, neither
> on the web! Can somebody who knows or has an LA180
> connected tell me how it is hooked to a serial line?
It's not!. The interface is a TTL-level parallel one, somewhat similar to
Centronics, but IIRC some of the control lines are inverted, etc.
IIRC, it connects to an LP11 or LPV11 card. The cable is straight-through
wired, I think, but you probalby flip one of the connectors over, as is
usual with DEC cabling.
> Or point me to an LA180 user's manual on the web?
> =20
> >From my guess, the BERG header is "standard" as on M7800
> DL11's or M7856 DL11-W, SLU's (with the appropriate lugs
> either RS-232 or 20 mA current loop), but I would rather be
> assured than destroying a very nice printer!
I suspect applying RS232 levesl to the connector will cook a few ICs. I
do have the printset somewhere, so it would be repairable...
-tony
Hi
If my memory is not totally shot. The basic model was the LA180-PA.
It had a Centronics interface and I think all that was required was a
cable to go from the Berg to a 36way Plug. The various boards in LSI's
PDP's may well have been parallel (Centronics type) interfaces and could
have been pin-to-pin matches requiring only a flat ribbon cable to the
LA-180.
RS232 and EIA (20mA) interfaces were on their own boards and plugged
into the Berg.
Rod Smallwood
DEC Terminals Product Line 1975 - 1979
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Henk Gooijen
Sent: 28 December 2007 22:00
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: RE: how to connect a DECprinter I (LA180) ?
[Sent again, to get it readable. What can I do to correct this?]
Sorry, I just don't understand why the quoted text is so messed up.
It all looks fine before I click the "Send" button. This time, I changed
the encoding from UTF-8 to Western Europe (Windows) ... I better not put
my answers interspersed.
If somebody knows how to get this stupid quoting corrected: help!
The manual is called "LP11/LS11/LA11 line printer user's manual", but
the etch on the M7258 only says "LS11 interface".
The round cable is not a flat cable, but has separate wires. At least,
that is how it looks to me. The diameter is approx 0.5". I will shoot a
picture of that cable too. I will "announce" the LA180 page when it is
finished ... and hunt down that cat :-) If somebody has that text
file,I would love to print it!
You got me up the attick for the third time Ethan :-) If you hold the
M7258 with the fingers at the right side and look at the component side
of the module, the BERG header is at the top left side.
The single height module is directly above the M7258, like this ASCII
art:
-----------------------------------------------------
| ############### ----
\\ | |
\ \| M5973 |
| component side view |
/ /| |
// | BERG (to M7258) |
| ############### ----
-----------------------------------------------------
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <--- flat cable
----------------------------------------------------- |
############### ---- |
M7258 |
=== ===
The module is original DIGITAL, it is in the etch, M5973. It's in the
Field Guide: "M5973 LLD11 U TTL to differential transceiver".
There are only 3 fingers connected at the end, for power supply.
The way it is, this M5973 must have been installed in position B of the
slot, where the M7258 goes into an SPC (position C-F).
The manual indeed is for the major part concerning the LP01/02/04/05.
Wished I could have played with DEC stuff in those days! Cool havingyour
own pdp8 at 16!!
Henk (wondering how this will appear on the list!)
I have a Laser Turbo XT that I'm trying to resuscitate to 100%. I have it
almost all working, but I'd be durned if I can't figure out how to get it
into turbo mode. Right now it's blazing along at 1.4Mhz if the Landmark
speed test is to be believed. There are no hardware switches so I can
only assume there is some sort of utility program that needs to be run?
If so, I don't have it :(
Any hints?
Thanks!
Happy New Year!
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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