test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 18:38 01-Aug, Jerry wrote: >Hi, > >I'm trying to get a MONO Cube I have here back to >a complete box. Good going! >Missing is the >- Floppy Drive 2.88 Sony and Bezel Drive is not so critical, many of them didn't have that. But having one is pretty nice when it comes time to boot the install CD. A Bezel is a *big* deal because of cooling airflow, I found out. My floppy drive looks out through a non-bezel aperture, which I keep covered with tape most of the time so cooling air doesn't escape that way. >- mounting Bracket for the Drives ??? The large piece > above the Power Supply is there. I would guess it had > something to hold the 3 1/2 drives. The what? ;-) NeXT supplied 5.25" hard drives, which just fit between the walls and mount with bolts through the bolt-holes in the side walls. You are more or less on your own for mounting a 3.5" drive in a cube. Mine >- no Optical drive or cover. Not Sure it had one ?? Many of them didn't have an optical drive, and almost *none* of them now have a functioning optical. Dust is one culprit, but there seems to be something (I have not really investigated) that kills them all over time. The optical is a great novelty and I really wish it had caught on, but it's not too useful today. >- no expansion slot covers. Rear cover is there. I think these would be less critical for cooling, but still good to have. >- mouse is missing Depending on the model, you may be able to use an ADB mouse (though will miss the other button). Do you have an ADB keyboard (distinguished by the "control" bar below the space bar)? >This is a 68040 25 built is 1991 > >Looking into the 2.88 floppy it looks like there was >no standard for the connection on the different makes. >So either I have to use a sony or make a adapter Sony, I think. I'm not aware of any substitutes. I can endorse Randy Rencsok, reachable through: http://www.channelu.com/Turbo/index.html as a parts supplier. There are also a fair number of downloads on his site which may be of use to you, as well as pictures of some of the missing parts. I also note the existence of http://www.blackholeinc.com/ but have not done business with Rob Blessin, though he's been pretty supportive in general of the NeXT community. >Thanks, Jerry > >Jerry Wright >JLC inc Good Luck! -- - Mark, 210-379-4635 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Large Asteroids headed toward planets inhabited by beings that don't have technology adequate to stop them: Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.

18 years, 10 months

UK VCF?

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

I'd be delighted to attend a UK VCF if there was one or something similar. At a push I would be happy to demo a few interesting machines :) Ian ____________________________________________________________________________________ Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow

18 years, 10 months

UK VCF?

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

I'd be interested too. For venues, what kind of size place would be needed? I've vistited several fairly active shows, some of which could be called somewhat vintage - eg the RiscOS shows. These are often held in sports halls or similar. There is also the retro show North, which is more classic gaming consoles. (www.retronorth.co.uk) Some others in the past included the 'all formats computer fairs', which often combined commercial sellers/items for sale with stands from clubs. A bit like the VCF in Mountain View. Ian ____________________________________________________________________________________ Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/

18 years, 10 months

Imagedisk 1.17

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Imagedisk 1.17 > From: "Dave Dunfield" <dave06a at dunfield.com> > Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:11:40 -0500 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >> Lately I've found a very nasty bugs in IMD 1.16 (at least with a secondary >> FDC, tested on two different machines of different speed with different >> FDC). Reading disks is mostly fine, but writing to a drive connected to a >> secondary FDC doesn't work reliably. The problem is that the drive won't >> step properly, i.e. sometimes it misses a step pulse which makes the >> written disk unusable. The same problem occurs e.g. with the clean head >> routine. I had a look on your source code and I think it's a timing >> issue. I've inserted a small delay ('delay(55);') into the seek routine >> (between line 998 and line 999 in version 1.16) and this solved all the >> problem. I think that the seek routine is called too early after having >> sent the previous command to the FDC although it shouldn't matter because >> wrfdc officially waits for the FDC to be ready before sending a byte. But >> apparently some (many? all?) FDCs appear to be in a ready state although >> they are not yet ready to do a seek... really weird. > >It's impossible to test every FDC (at least in a free project). This >explaination doesn't make sense because the seek routine has a 55ms settleing >delay at the end (which you can increase with the SD= option), and the clean- >head routine has a 100ms delay between seeks, which makes a total of 150ms >delay. There are no other intervening commands during "clean heads" - since >seek() waits for seek complete, 150ms should be plenty of time for the >controller to be ready for another command. This also does not explain why >reading a disk would work, so I suspect there is some other factor involved >here.. > >This is the first I've heard of this problem - if you have problems with >ImageDisk, the best way to get it fixed correctly might be to work with >me on it instead of posting "fixes" to public forums. But... thats what >happens when you release source code. Ah, the step gremlin. It's an old 765(all!!!) problem. The problem is when the step pulse is set to minimum acceptable for the drive it's possible that due to internal timing of the 765 it can shorten the step timing of the first pulse by 1 count. If that occurs many drives seek badly and you get read or write errors because your not where you thought you were. Note: some old drives due to the lubricants turning to goo will also exhibit this type of error. There is one solution, step slower (SRT+1). Another problem is the 765 was designed for 77track drives (8" floppy) and there were no 80track minifloppies. So the Recal only issued 77 step pulses and would flag an see error if the drive was 80track. One fix is to issue a new Recal and see if the drive properly homed this time. The problem is there are some cores that fixed this and will issue up to 256 step pulses. The problem can also arise when using SA400/400L style drives ans some (not all) will jump track (loose the groove on the positioner disk) if stepped too far past tracks 000 or 39. Last gremlin is the 765(and cores) were designed to Seek/Recal up to 4 drives but PC hardware does not always decode this and may have drive 0 also appearing as drive 2 or 3 which makes it susceptable to being repositioned by commands not intended for it. Allison

18 years, 10 months

newbie building a scratch-built computer

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > No matter what language, toggling in your code teaches (or >scares) you to write efficient code. : ) LOL, I used to seriously mess with my boss' head when dubugging code. I used to patch my code, in hex, in an EPROM emulator (a "Softy S3") as it was quicker than editing the source on my PC, assembling it and then downloading it the the emulator.... He just couldn't get his head around how I could "assemble" code in my head, even when I explained to him how easy it was when you understood how the opcodes were formed (doesn't work for all processors mind). TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 10 months

UK VCF?

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

Hello all! Just to add some clarity here: 1) No, "Vintage Computer Festival" is not trademarked internationally, nor do I have any inclination to invest the enormous amounts of money to do so. Besides, if anyone did want to try to put on a vintage computer festival and call it the "Vintage Computer Festival", there's a simple solution to that: I would hold a real Vintage Computer Festival down the street from theirs on the same dates and advertise the hell out of it and ensure that the wannabe "VCF" only got two attendees (who would be stragglers from the real VCF up the way ;) 2) There have been several discussions over the years about hosting a VCF UK. I can say it WILL happen--at some point. I just need someone in the UK eager and ready to make it happen. Talk to Evan or Pat about their experiences to see how it is done. Of course, talk to me if you're seriously interested and I'll get you started. It would be nice to finally have a VCF UK starting in 2008. 3) I am always interested in expanding the VCF to any area on Earth where there is a viable chance of it succeeding (i.e. attracting more than a few dozen attendees). I would really like to expand into Japan and South America, but I will consider any location (that doesn't conflict with existing events). This year is the 10th anniversary of the VCF (it's now on topic!) If you've never been to the main VCF in the Sillycon Valley, this is the year to come. The dates are November 3-4 (and don't be surprised if they are extended). Now that it's August, planning will begin in earnest. Speakers will start getting posted soon. Now is a great time to start thinking about an exhibit and getting it registered. A bunch of exciting announcements are in the works so stay tuned ;) -- 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, 10 months

UK VCF?

by evan＠snarc.net

That isn't the point, Pete. The point is: everyone knows the VCF is Sellam's thing and it would be really lame for someone else to make an event and call it a VCF. It would also just be dumb even if it weren't unethical: Sellam (and me and Hans and Pat) have done around 20 VCFs so far and we learned a LOT from the experience, so whoever is serious about making a new VCF would be wise to work with Sellam's organization, not around or against it.

18 years, 10 months

Victor Sirius/9000 Monitor

by silent700＠gmail.com

I just collected a Victor machine which I believe to be the 9000 aka Sirius 1, although it does not have a model # anywhere I can find. The fans and drive powers up, but the display does not. It appears to get its power via the 9-pin signal cable. Can anyone confirm that this is the case and if this is a common issue, perhaps with an equally common fix? -j -- Retrocomputing and collecting in the Chicago area: http://chiclassiccomp.org

18 years, 10 months

looking for DEC 875-A

by iamvirtual＠gmail.com

I am attempting to revive a Vax-11/750 that I recently acquired. During the several moves of the machine, damage was done to the 875-A power controller. The fuse holder, power control switch, and circuit breaker were all damaged. In particular, the circuit breaker (CB1) had the handles snapped clean off. The individual poles can be moved to the ON position, but always return to the OFF position. I am looking for a replacement of either the entire power controller, or, just the circuit breaker assembly. I have located a for-profit source of an 875-A, but it will be a few hundred dollars to purchase it. If anyone has a spare 875-A or breaker, I would be extremely grateful. Thanks! --barry

18 years, 10 months

Reading NorthStar Horizon hard sector disks on PC

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Reading NorthStar Horizon hard sector disks on PC > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:18:41 -0700 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 31 Jul 2007 at 9:53, Dave Dunfield wrote: > >> Also, the N* disks are hard-sectored. This means that the controller >> needs to see the individual holes to know where each sector data >> starts. The PC disk controller has no means to aligning individual >> sector data to index holes, even if it could see the sector data. > >Not all Northstar diskettes are HS. One of the models (Advantage?) >isn't--and it's that format that the Microsolutions MatchPoint will >read, not the others. It's been too long since I've seen the darned >things... Error! Advanatge is the same format as the MDS [Aka Horizon) and does both SD and DD formats. Least mine does. I believe there was an aftermarket board that would fit the Advantage bus (non S100) to provide things like a soft sector FDC. There was also a hard disk controller. Allison > >Cheers, >Chuck

18 years, 10 months

Macintosh LCII for sale

by marcbeck1982＠yahoo.com

I have two Macintosh LCII, including monitors, but no keyboard and no mouse. I live in Owensboro, KY. I would sell them for $20 a piece, buyer pays shipping costs and they are sent COD. Marc Beck --------------------------------- Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

18 years, 10 months

newbie building a scratch-built computer

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > If you want to work in a world where assembly language >programming and optimizing for every single byte of code >or memory utilization still counts, get into the embedded >systems world. Errm, that's the world I got OUT of in 1991 when the company I was then working for was taken over and shut down. Sadly, since then, the only embedded systems jobs I've seen advertised in the UK have been from companies like Motorola and require C/C++ experience (and as you mention, Java!). Not to mention they'd require me to move halfway across the country to areas I wouldn't want to live in (due to the cost of living down there). > A lot of (clueless) companies want their embedded code written >in Java or C++ or such foolishness, but really, if they're really >that stupid, you don't want to work for them anyway. Amen to that. Talking of stupidity, the company that took us over did so, at least in part, because our products were far more technically advanced than theirs (we designed our new products from scratch, they just regurgitated the same (by then) 10 year old design ad nauseum with minor tweaks). They wanted our design team....what they actually got was our technical director. Those of us who'd actually done the design work were sacked shortly after the production department (needless to say, the sales department were the first up against the wall). <A little later> Spurred on by writing this message I went and had a look at said company's website, alas it appears *NOTHING* has changed! They're still selling their original, now 27(!) year old, design in a more contemporary housing with updated software. Not to mention that at least 2 of their other products (including their "most popular" terminal) are the ones I worked on 16 years ago (although again with upgraded housings and software)....well, at least I did something right, once.... ;-) TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 10 months

UK VCF?

by classiccmp＠memory-alpha.org.uk

Hi, > That isn't the point, Pete. The point is: everyone knows the >VCF is Sellam's thing and it would be really lame for someone >else to make an event and call it a VCF.... I wasn't suggesting otherwise....I was simply pointing out that trademarks do not apply worldwide unless specifically registered as such (and even then there are difficulties). Why so defensive? TTFN - Pete.

18 years, 10 months

UK VCF?

by evan＠snarc.net

Rubbish! Hans and Pat and I all do just fine. For every person who dislikes Sellam's style, you will find many more who love that crazy SOB.

18 years, 10 months

Fast MBus modules

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

> > I picked up a pair of SM91-2's on eBay years ago. They do indeed > work in > > an SS20 -- for a while. Then I think the heat catches up with them... > > Every time I installed them (I must've tried singles and pairs) it > would > > be fine, I'd go do something else, and I'd come back to a locked up > machine. > > > > I have had the same experience with 80MHz CPUs in my SS20. I finally > had > to settle for 2x50MHz and some stability instead. > > Steve Hmm- anyone managed to get the SM81s to work reliably in a SPARCstation 20 SMP? I have a SS20/2xSM81 as my SMP Sun- haven't used it much yet but if in general they have stability issues I should probably do something else.

18 years, 10 months

IBM 6094-020 Lighted Program Function Keys

by mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com

I'm getting a little closer .. I have the power adapter now and the correct cabling. This device communicates over the serial port, but I have no idea how to talk to it, and I haven't even been able to get it to transmit noise on the serial port to the host PC. (I've tried a variety of bps rates.) Does anybody have IBM book SA23-2646-01 "Hardware Technical Reference: Options and Devices" ? The protocol for speaking to this thing might be in there ... If anybody else has one connected to a PC RT or an old AIX box, it would be possible to reverse engineer the protocol by tapping the serial cable and watching what comes across. It's a neat looking piece of hardware - 32 buttons, each having a controllable indicator light. But I'm getting grumpy because I have no idea how to feed it. :-( Thanks in advance, Mike

18 years, 10 months

Micropolis 1303

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

Anyone with a Micropolis 1303 for sale/trade? I have one which is just not working correctly. The heads will not track so I'm guessing its a head crash. I tried some other MFM disks, but they dont seem to be the right type. Looked on ebay and saw some ridiculous pricing, so hopefully someone has a spare somewhere? In terms of trade, I have a large collection of PDP 11 spares (PSU's, bus cards, front panels, wiring, switches, etc). Also more recent stuff (Atari/Acorn) if interested. All the best Ian. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/

18 years, 10 months

PERQ T2

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

I've got a PERQ T2 which was working until fairly recently. It seems the boot track on the hard disk (Micropolis 1303) is damaged in some way so the PERQ wont boot. I have a floppy boot disk which is known to be good, but unfortunately the PERQ T2 doesnt want to boot >from floppy. SHIFT-A doesnt work on the T2. Is there any way I can force the T2 to boot from floppy? Just a few other points, when switched on the HD LED remains on all the time. I'm assuming the drive is attempting to seek the boot track. Ultimately the PERQ times out with code 013 which means HD time out. Thanks Ian. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7

18 years, 10 months

PS/2 Model 25 repair info?

by trixter＠oldskool.org

I've got an IBM PS/2 Model 25 that I want to put into use as an infrequently-used terminal using its serial port. I have a few questions and was wondering if someone could give me a hand: - Is there IBM PS/2 Model 25 tech and/or repair specs online somewhere? I figured out how to open the back up, but that just gets at the ISA slots. I need to get at the floppy drive; I want to know what some of the 40-pin male connectors are; etc. Which leads me to my next question: - The floppy drive is toast. Can I replace it with any regular 3.5" HD drive, or is it unconventional in some way? - The embedded monitor is ailing (it's dim, and white has a bluish tint leading me to believe that the red and green guns are giving out). Is there any way to fix that without jumping through hoops, or is it (no pun intended) terminal? -- Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/ Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/

18 years, 10 months

Next Cube Parts needed

by g-wright＠att.net

Hi, I'm trying to get a MONO Cube I have here back to a complete box. Missing is the - Floppy Drive 2.88 Sony and Bezel - mounting Bracket for the Drives ??? The large piece above the Power Supply is there. I would guess it had something to hold the 3 1/2 drives. - no Optical drive or cover. Not Sure it had one ?? - no expansion slot covers. Rear cover is there. - mouse is missing This is a 68040 25 built is 1991 Looking into the 2.88 floppy it looks like there was no standard for the connection on the different makes. So either I have to use a sony or make a adapter Thanks, Jerry Jerry Wright JLC inc

18 years, 10 months

working scale models (was Re: (no subject))

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 7/31/07, Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net> wrote: > My wife does doll houses now and then. I have wondered whether a > fully functional (front panel, that is) 1/12 scale IMSAI would be possible. > Z80 processor, 64K RAM, maybe a few interesting front panel programs > in ROM... flip the bit, cylon eyes, simple count up/down. Run on a > watch battery. Hmm... A real IMSAI is what, 10.5" tall, 19" wide, and about 24"-36" deep? That sounds difficult to reproduce at 1/12th scale, but it might be possible to replicate an IMSAI front panel with fiber optics, run them under the floor of the doll house to a hidden Z-80 board (that could still be done with a lot of SMT to make it small). It comes to mind that a microSD card is on the close order of the dimensions of a 1/12-scale 8" floppy ;-) (2/3" x 2/3") -ethan

18 years, 10 months

Needed: XMI DSSI interface

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

[Cross-posted from the rescue list] In the quest to get my new VAX 7640 up and doing something useful, I'm looking for an XMI DSSI card and cab kit for the system, so that I can have *some* physical media on the machine. I've got a bunch of random DEC stuff available for trade, including some XMI CI interfaces which I doubt I'll ever use (famous last words), QBUS stuff, Alpha stuff, etc. etc. Or, cash. I mostly want to avoid spending the $big_num that ebay sellers want for the stuff. Pat -- Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

18 years, 10 months

UK VCF?

by RodSmallwood＠mail.ediconsulting.co.uk

Perhaps our friends at Bletchley Park might be interested ? Rod Smallwood -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Rob Sent: 31 July 2007 14:46 To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: UK VCF? On 31/07/07, Simon Fryer <fryers at gmail.com> wrote: > > I think there would be a lot of interest. The initial stumbling block > so far appears to be finding someone to organise it. Agreed - I am sure this has cropped up on the list before, too, with the same conclusion. Venus shouldn't be a problem; there are plenty of possibilities about, ranging from sports halls to places the size of the NEC; although you'd need big pockets for the latter.. Just pick a size and go from there..

18 years, 10 months

Fast MBus modules

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Oops- sent to the wrong list.

18 years, 10 months

Roland CM-500

by ploopster＠gmail.com

Anyone know where I can get a Roland CM-500? Also, does anyone know if there was ever a fully MT-32 compatible card for the Wave Blaster interface? I'm upgrading my DOS gaming box. Peace... Sridhar

18 years, 10 months

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