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101090 discussions

SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:13:39 -0600 From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> Subject: Re: SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion <snip> Given all the conflicting information and personal anecdotes that people swear by ("turning on a VT100 will destructively read the ROM") that others have not experienced, the conflicting warnings and advice have lead me to the conclusion of just generally ignoring all such warnings and advice from this list. ------------Reply: It's getting harder and harder to find any wheat in the chaff on this list; no doubt in part due to the fact that some of the people who used to contribute good hard info got tired of wasting time scrolling through the irrelevant stuff and left. Even Tony who has so often contributed valuable information seems to be spending more of his time preaching and arguing his various gospels lately... m

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

------------Original Message: Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:43:03 -0400 From: "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason at verizon.net> Subject: Re: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files On Friday 12 October 2007 03:23, M H Stein wrote: <snip> > > Want to copy your SDSS 8" disk to a DDDS 5" one? No problem. > Friend or business partner has some data on SDSS 5" disks that you > want on DDDS 8"? Just pop in the disks and copy away; add some > software and you can even copy to/from MS-DOS disks if you must. > Run Z80 CDOS/CP/M Wordstar on your 68000 Cromix+ CS-400? > No sweat (although a different issue). Process your old CDOS data > files with your UNIX software? Not much harder. > > It all just looks different from today's PC-centric perspective. So what sort of hardware does it take to be able to do stuff like that? I know my Bigboard II has both sizes of floppy drive connectors, though I think there's a jumper change involved to deal with different data rates IIRC. And there might be some potential for that board that's in my Cromemco, as well. I'm sure that a lot of my CP/M boxes have controller chips that are much more capable than the pc-centric stuff is, too. And how would the OS have to handle this? Some serious BIOS hacking? ---------Reply: The simple answer for a Cromemco box is a minimum configuration of a DPU, 16/64FDC, 128KB of memory and optionally a hard disk & controller. (You'd need somewhat more to run UNIX). AFAIK, as far as Cromemco systems go (assuming a 16FDC controller or later, and soft-sector disks): CDOS can read/write any one of the 8 (10?)possible CDOS formats and 8"SSSD CP/M (which, essentially being the first floppy "standard", was a more-or-less universal distribution medium for software such as WordStar, SuperCalc etc). Third-party software was available to handle other formats, and there were also custom versions of CP/M configured for a Z80 Cromemco. CDOS itself is a clone of an early 1.x version of CP/M, which Cromemco licenced >from DRI and enhanced somewhat with some additional calls, and it can run most CP/M software (at least early pre-2.x versions). Any version of Cromix (Cromemco's early Z80 and 68000 pseudo-UNIX) can read/write any version of CDOS or Cromix disk (floppies, that is; hard disks are a different story). Third-party software (e.g. CsCopy) can read/write MSDOS disks but requires Cromix+ (and a 680x0 CPU) which was the current Cromix version when the PC became commonplace. Cromix+ and UNIX both read/write UNIX format disks; anything else that Cromix+ could handle was transferred to UNIX via a shared HD partition. Anything else would indeed require some custom programming; the FDC controller cards were reasonably well documented. If the main CPU was a 680x0 instead of a Z80 then Z80 & CP/M software was run either on a dual (Z80/68000) DPU card or, if there was only a 680x0 CPU then it was run on the Z80 on an I/O card such as the IOP I/O processor or the Octart 8-port RS-232 card, if available. Their first hard disks were 11MB 8" IMI drives using a WDI controller; they were superseded by 5 & 20 MB 5" IMI drives requiring a WDI-II. Then came MFM disks using an STDC controller and SMD drives & controller, and finally ESDI and SCSI drives using the ESDC controller. The floppy controller also supported the small tape drives while the larger tapes required the ESDC controller, and there was also a controller and OS support for 9-track mag tape. mike

18 years, 6 months

2816s

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

On 10/12/07, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net> wrote: > > Speaking of which, I have a tube or so of 2816s around, and would appreciate > it if you guys could point me toward any materials on the 'net that'd give me > some ideas as to how you use those things... > > -- Here's a datasheet on how the Atmel AT28C16 works: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc0540.pdf

18 years, 6 months

SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Check the dates on your OLS PSUs - some of the early ones were defective and could catch fire. I would think that Boeing would have had them swapped out, but if it's an older Onyx (R4400 at 200MHz or below probably) it might have been pulled from service before the recall.

18 years, 6 months

Looking for an H3600-SA CPU bulkhead panel for a KA650/KA655 in a BA213

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

Anyone got a spare H3600-SA CPU bulkhead panel for a KA650/KA655 in a BA213? I recently picked up a VAXServer 3600 which has the KA650 board but is missing the H3600-SA CPU bulkhead panel and I would like to acquire one.

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------Original Message: Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:09:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: RE: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files > >Now that 22Disk and the rest of the tools have been exonerated, we can > >concentrate on ways to read the hard to read sectors - a ubiquitous > >problem with Cromemco disks. On Fri, 12 Oct 2007, M H Stein wrote: > Admittedly a problem when trying to read their disks with today's crippled > controllers, but their use of a common SD Track 0 meant that without any > . . . > It all just looks different from today's PC-centric perspective. No complaint about the idea of minimal first sector. The specific problem that I was referring to is the incompatability with trying to read Cromemco diskettes using an NEC 765 type controller, which needs a larger index gap, resulting problems reading the first sector of each track. ------------Reply: Tell me about it; went through 7 mobo/fdcs while trying to help Dave D; although some could write OK (which was all I really needed to recreate his images), I never did find one that could *read* using IMD or Uniform. Slowed down the drive, which sometimes helps, but still no good reads. That's why I keep at least one Cromemco system up & running; much easier to go the other way and copy to MSDOS disks on the Cromemco (or transfer files the old-fashioned RS-232 way). Nevertheless, just wanted to point out that their format wasn't quite such a dumb/bad thing as it seems from a PC POV; just too bad IBM picked the 765 instead of the 1793. BTW, that disk ID in track 0 is not *required*; if it's not found, the controller defaults to (stays in) SD/SS mode (although that doesn't mean that CDOS will be able to read your particular flavour of CP/M disk unless it's the IBM 8" "standard"). mike

18 years, 6 months

OS-9 sector sizes

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Anyone know if OS-9 is guaranteed to use a certain sector size when resident on a hard disk? Or is it implementation-specific? ta J.

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:11:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files >>> The blame was always hung on the disk compression, since that was what >>> people NOTICED being different; but the compression was NOT the problem. >On Thu, 11 Oct 2007, Jules Richardson wrote: >> Smartdrv was purely a disk cache, wasn't it? >Yes. But MICROS~1 was completely clueless what the risks were and how to >deal with them for WRITE caching (what happens if the power goes off, or a >disk error occurs before the cached stuff gets written?) Well, in all fairness if the power goes off just before or during a disk write I don't see how you could avoid problems without a battery backup or similar. >> The compression was something >> else... umm... doublespace? >Therein hangs a bizarre tale of conflict and betrayal between MICROS~1 and >Stac Electronics (billg said, "I'm having a bad day", when the court >awarded damages), and the differences between DOS 6.20, 6.21, 6.22. Not one of his finest moments fer sure... >>> Ah, the good old days. >> And then Windows came along... >Has anybody explained to Al Gore about how Windoze is the primary cause of >global warming? I KNEW IT! MICROSOFT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GLOBAL WARMING! Now, how many ways are they going to make money out of it.... m

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

>Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:05:52 -0700 (PDT) >From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> >Subject: RE: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files <snip> >Now that 22Disk and the rest of the tools have been exonerated, we can >concentrate on ways to read the hard to read sectors - a ubiquitous >problem with Cromemco disks. ----------- Admittedly a problem when trying to read their disks with today's crippled controllers, but their use of a common SD Track 0 meant that without any configuration changes the OS could concurrently and transparently read a mix of at least 8 different types of disks; not many systems of that day could do that. Want to copy your SDSS 8" disk to a DDDS 5" one? No problem. Friend or business partner has some data on SDSS 5" disks that you want on DDDS 8"? Just pop in the disks and copy away; add some software and you can even copy to/from MS-DOS disks if you must. Run Z80 CDOS/CP/M Wordstar on your 68000 Cromix+ CS-400? No sweat (although a different issue). Process your old CDOS data files with your UNIX software? Not much harder. It all just looks different from today's PC-centric perspective. mike

18 years, 6 months

data tape audio file archive

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

It seems that an audio file of the Sinclair tape will load fine. Now then, is there an archive of data tape audio files somewhere? Will I have to start one myself? -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu

18 years, 6 months

Vintage computer photogallery - Time Magazine

by wbblair3＠yahoo.com

> http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1670168_1461055,00.html Nice. I'm going to have to buy that book. Here are some "Dinosaur Sightings: 1970s Computers": http://www.news.com/2300-1042_3-6213000-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg ____________________________________________________________________________________ Catch up on fall's hot new shows on Yahoo! TV. Watch previews, get listings, and more! http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/3658

18 years, 6 months

Tony - was: SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:06:36 -0600 From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> Subject: Re: Tony - was: SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion >In article <01C80C7E.C6F95220 at mandr71>, > M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> writes: >> [...] why waste any of it on preaching to the choir or the unenlightened >> foolish ones, as the case may be... >LOL, as if those are the only two choices. -- It sometimes sounds like they are, at least in Tony's view... m

18 years, 6 months

Compaticard 1 manual needed

by dm561＠torfree.net

Does anyone have (or can point me to) a scanned copy of the manual for a MicroSolutions Compaticard I by any chance? Also the drivers, in case the ones I have are for another version? Can't find mine and only found the IV on the 'Web. Would be much appreciated; TIA mike

18 years, 6 months

Purchase: DEC PDP11/93(whole system)

by spoon_813＠hotmail.com

Hello Paul Anderson, I want to purchase DEC PDP11/93 (1). Can I get a quote from you? If it is in stock, please reply me. What does it include? I mean how is the configuration? If it is 2MB how much? If it is 4MB how much? Thank you very much Regard Beijing KSD Electron Technical Service Center _________________________________________________________________ ????? MSN ?????????? http://mobile.msn.com.cn/

18 years, 6 months

Tony - was: SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:16:58 +0100 (BST) From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) Subject: Re: SGI Onyx - Three Phase to Two Phase conversion > Even Tony who has so often contributed valuable information seems > to be spending more of his time preaching and arguing his various > gospels lately... Although I read every message that appears here, I've found few threads recently that I can really contribute to. Of the current threads, I have no real knoweldge of RSX, I've never used CDOS (and I know little of disk imaging programs), and so on. Now, get a good hardware/repair thread going, nand it'll be difficult to stop me ;-) -tony -----------------Reply: True enough; most threads don't interest me either, and your comprehensive contributions on the hardware side (and occasionally even software) are greatly appreciated; thank you for giving us as much time on those as you do. However, by now we're all pretty well acquainted with your philosophy of hardware ownership, maintenance and repair, not only of computers but automobiles, cameras, watches & clocks, machine tools etc. as well. Life is short and there are so many things that need your restoring & repair skills; why waste any of it on preaching to the choir or the unenlightened foolish ones, as the case may be... mike

18 years, 6 months

VCF Lodging

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

I wanted to get this out ASAP for those travelling in from out of the area... VCF LODGING OPTIONS!! http://www.vintage.org/2007/main/lodging.php The Residence Inn ($119) is minor luxury, the Holiday Inn ($99) is recently renovated (I am told). For those on a budget, use the internet to find a budget hotel or motel in the area. Rates are definitely higher than they've ever been for VCF, mostly due to normal inflation trends (it ain't cheap out here). If you can find something clean and nearby for under $80 then let me know and I'll add it to the lodging page. More on VCFX in the newsletter coming out by this weekend. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org [ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ] [ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

-----------Original Message: Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:39:00 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files Looking at the first diskette image, it ppears that it's been corrupted somehow (the second one is fine). Take a look at cylinder 1, side 0, sector 1. Near the beginning of the directory we see the entries for two files, FRAME1.MAP, FRAME1.PIX (2 extents) <snip> -----------Reply: That's what I see: the first and third image have cross-linked files but the second one looks OK; the question is whether the disks themselves have a problem or whether Dave's IMD program got confused. The first image seems to start on sector 2 and wrap around; however, the third does start on sector1 but has errors nevertheless. mike

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

------------Original Message: Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:40:11 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files On 11 Oct 2007 at 13:51, M H Stein wrote: > That's what I see: the first and third image have cross-linked files > but the second one looks OK; the question is whether the disks > themselves have a problem or whether Dave's IMD program got > confused. The first image seems to start on sector 2 and wrap > around; however, the third does start on sector1 but has errors > nevertheless. (Disclaimer: I haven't looked at the third image yet) But it's not TeleDisk or ImageDisk that's messed up. Note that in the first disk, the cross-linking/double-allocation entries are contained in the same physical sector. I'll grab a gander at the third disk later today when I have a chance. Cheers, Chuck ----------------Reply: Yes, as usual I pressed Send before completely reading your message; obviously the problem is on the disks themselves. I'm kicking myself because I had looked at the directory entries before I started but didn't notice the duplicate pointers (see, your eyes aren't nearly as bad as mine). And it didn't occur to me that neither CDOS nor Cromix would complain until I finally ran STAT; I just assumed the the disks must be good and the problem lay in the transfer. Live & learn - never assume anything. mike

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

---------------Original Message: Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:58:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <20071011105050.V71651 at shell.lmi.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > > CDOS had one or more bytes in the first physical sector of the disk to > > identify which format. There ARE multiple (user modifications?) variant > > formats that may have the same ID byte(s)! On Thu, 11 Oct 2007, Dave Dunfield wrote: > Anyone have more info on this? - One of my main problems is determining > exactly what format these disks are in. It might be stored in the first sector, or it might be known only to the OS. On a functioning CP/M 2.x? machine, STAT DSK: gives some of the parameters. > Does each entry represent a cluster? Yes, each of the numbers in the block list represents a "cluster" (which is the MICROS~1 word for a block) Each OS company seems to have had their own unique word (like "standards") for an allocation unit. Remember that CP/M calls a 128 byte record a "sector" disunirregardless of how many there are in each physical sector. -----------------Reply: On a Cromemco disk (including HDs) at offset 0070H there are 6 bytes that indicate CDOS or Cromix format, Single or Double density and S/D sided, and these are all options in the format (init) program. This is why track 0 is formatted as the lowest common denominator (SD) for all floppies, so that the controller can start with a known format and then decide how to handle the rest of the disk. Hard disks indicate type (IMI/MFM) instead of SD/DD & SS/DS. The first (dummy) directory entry of a CDOS floppy contains the 8 character disk ID, the date it was formatted and the number of directory entries. The remaining parameters (disk size, interleave vector table, etc. are stored in the BIOS the same as CP/M AFAIK; hard disks keep size &c on the disk (along with partition & alternate track tables) so that you can swap disks without reconfiguring anything. mike

18 years, 6 months

Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files

by dm561＠torfree.net

------------Original Message: Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:22:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Roger Ivie <rivie at ridgenet.net> Subject: Re: Extracting CDOS and CP/M) files To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.63.0710111021560.5479 at stench.no.domain> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed On Thu, 11 Oct 2007, Dave Dunfield wrote: > > Does each entry represent a cluster? The CDOS manual does have tables > relating physical sectors to clusters, which can be represented with an > 8-bit value. These are listed for "large disks" and "small disks", although > it's not clear where a DSDD 5.25" disk fits (it's large for a 5.25, > small compared to 8") - I'm guessing the "small disks" means any 5.25, > but I'd love to be corrected if anyone knows differently. In CP/M, each entry represents a cluster and "small disk" means "has fewer than 256 clusters". -- roger ivie rivie at ridgenet.net ------------Reply: In Cromemco-speak, (S)mall usually means 5 1/4 and (L)arge=8" m

18 years, 6 months

FS: MMJ plugs & cables

by tothwolf＠concentric.net

I've just purchased 2000pcs of Tyco Electronics/AMP 5-555237-1 MMJ plugs as a last-time buy since these are being discontinued by Tyco. If anyone needs some plugs or a cord made, now is the time to get in touch with me. Those plugs should get here in a couple of weeks (possibly sooner), but I still have 2-3 dozen or so on hand that I can use for making cables in the meantime. Even with the discount I got when buying that many connectors at once, it was still a very significant investment of money, so anything I can sell now to help offset that cost would be a good thing. I've also gotten my hands on another spool of DEC H8240 DECconnect cord, so those who wanted some cables made with genuine DEC wire should also get in touch with me now. I still have a small amount of ivory colored cord on hand (probably 30-40ft) as well if anyone wants a few cables made from that. I've mainly been offering the 10ft cables on eBay for $10.00 + postage, but I can make them any length required for $1.00/ft plus $1.00 for two connectors. I still have a limited number of other misc DEC MMJ serial adapters in addition to the stock of new H8571-J adapters that I mentioned previously. If you need something specific, drop me a note and I'll see if I have it. I also found that I currently have 10 used (but good condition) H8571-J adapters that I'll let go for $20.00 each since a few folks expressed an interest in those. I never imagined I'd get this involved with making cables as a "hobby", but I don't turn a profit on these (I've gone in the hole on this stuff in a huge way over the last couple of months), so I certainly can't call it a business :)

18 years, 6 months

TI 990 architecture

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

> > I can't state so categorically but my understanding is that they were very > much the same. > Going back to a conversation of a few weeks ago, when we were > developing/running Verex/Thoth at UBC ca 1980 it was on a 990/10. The next > major step in the project was to develop a distributed kernel for multiple > processors. To this end, 3 bare single board computers based on the 9900 > chip > were ordered and received from TI. Something makes me think they were > called > "990/5"s. I remember making up a front panel for the 3 of them with reset > buttons and a few status LEDs to go in the rack with the /10. The idea, of > course, was to use the 9900s because we already had the compilers,etc. > generating code for the 990/10. > Here are some pics of possibly a related system that I posted a while ago. http://vintagecomputer.net/ti/TI-990-101/ Bill D

18 years, 6 months

Setting up a VAXstation

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

If you are in the UK then Black Box stock MMJ cables. Rod -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Tony Duell Sent: 02 October 2007 21:12 To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Setting up a VAXstation > > Making an MMJ cable is a piece of cake. Just take the retention clip > off of the RJ11 at the end of a phone cord. Crimp an RJ45 on the > other Rememeber the OP (and I) are in the UK. The standard telephone connector over here is not an RJ11 or snythig like that. > end with the proper wires heading to the proper pins, and use a Cisco > RJ45->DE9 adapter. Having had to try to get wires into the right holes on an RJ45 connector, I would _much_ rather solder up a D connector. -tony

18 years, 6 months

HD46505 CRT controller chips

by paul.haley1＠ntlworld.com

Hi its a long shot now the post was in 2001 , but I need a Hd46505 chip !! best regards paul Haley

18 years, 6 months

Advice on moving Arcade Cabinet

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

We live in a 2nd floor apartment, and are getting ready to put our Neo Geo 4-Slot into storage. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on this. We are thinking a refrigerator dolly, along with a U-Haul truck that will allow it to stand up during transport. Does this sound about right? How many people does something like this take to get down the stairs? It took 3 people to get it up the stairs when we bought it a few years ago. Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

18 years, 6 months

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