test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by segin2005＠gmail.com

Hello all. I am new to this list, and while I've posted comments before, that was without formal introduction, so here goes. I am a 16 year old high school student who works with computer daily. I perfer to work with older systems (386s are fun!) because they are just so damned reliable. Mainly, I do software development, but when I have time, I uhh... can't remember. Ahh, what the hell... You can just call me segin. -- The real problem with C++ for kernel modules is: the language just sucks. -- Linus Torvalds

19 years, 8 months

Looking for a BA-356 jumper

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

I got a BA-356 with 6 drives ad it came with a dual channel personality module. I want to use it as a single channel tray, and according to the user guide it needs a jumper connector. Anybody have one left over by any chance?? Thanks, Ed

19 years, 8 months

Free OS CD-ROMs

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

A friend of mine (in the UK) has some OS/utility CD-ROMs that he has no use for, and I don't either. AFAIK he'll give them away for the cost of postage, etc. Here's a list : > >> IRIX 5.3 for indy > >> IRIX C++ 4.0 > >> IRIX F77 4.0.2 > >> IRIX 5.3 for R4400 > >> IRIS development 5.3 > >> IRIS exec env 4.0 > >> SunOS 4.1.1 > >> Solaris 2.3 Please contact : alanb at chiark.greenend.org.uk if you're interested. -tony

19 years, 8 months

HP50960A HP server

by jimgeneva＠earthlink.net

Hello: I saw a post you made on the HP SRM server did you ever do anything with it? Jim

19 years, 8 months

KIM-1 7-segment font?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

I'm prototyping an LED display thingie and was trying to find a representation of how folks used to do letters on a 7-segment display. The two historical examples I came up with were the KIM-1 and a Byte magazine article between about 1977 and 1981. I know there are several modern Windows fonts out there, but as they differ somewhat, I was hoping to be compatible with what was commonly done in the late 1970s. To that end, does anyone have some representation of the KIM's 7-segment renderings or does anyone have a pointer to that old Byte article about displaying ASCII on 7-segment displays? Thanks, -ethan

19 years, 8 months

Datasheets wanted

by jbdigriz990＠yahoo.com

Looking for datasheets, user guides, dev tools, etc. for the SMJ68689 and TMS9996 processors. All the 68689's were supposedly bought up by Uncle Sam some years ago when they went out of production, as a critical spare for missiles or whatever, but some do turn up on the remarket from time to time, and there seems to be a (very relative) glut of them right now. The 9996 seems to have been a part TI used strictly internally and never marketed, to my knowledge. It would appear to be basically a 9995 with an non-multiplexed data bus, ie. full 16 bit data path, but I haven't been able to confirm this yet. It's not where I can get at it easily at the moment, but I have an XDS emulator system (non-working at the moment) for the TMS320C30 DSP that uses a 9996 for the host processor. IIRC, it's a 64-pin DIP like the 9900. Any help greatly appreciated. jbdigriz __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

19 years, 8 months

Anyone have the LCD for an Apple //c?

by evan＠snarc.net

I'm looking to borrow the rare LCD for an Apple //c as part of my VCF 9.0 exhibition. If anybody has one, please contact me off-list. - Evan

19 years, 8 months

FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: RE: FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results) > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:23:34 -0700 (PDT) > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> There were some really terrible 5.25" DSDD (360K) disks marketed. One type >> was sold by Control Data (StorageMaster). If I see one of those in a >> . . . >> "Elephant" brand 360Ks can be problematical in the same way, as can the >> "Precision" brand. > >Just about every brand produced some bad batches. >The Verbatims right before "Datalife" were pretty bad. Was the trademark >"Datalife" created just to try to reassure us that they were no longer >going to jopardize the life of our data? > >The worst 360Ks that I encountered was Roytype (Royal Typewriter). >Within a few minutes after writing and verifying, they would be blank >again. Hmmmm. could also get something like that from the wrong >coercivity, ... > It all started back when with the 3M Blackwatch audotape.. Great stuff until it was around afew years then it shed binder like mad. It takes a bit of majik to get the oxide coating to stick to the mylar base. the other factor was that of all the brands I think the base material only came from three or five makers like 3M, BASF, Nashua, Dupont maybe others. The key is if a maker lost the receipe that could show up as their brand and five others or maybe only the others! Allison

19 years, 8 months

FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 23:39:28 +0100 (BST) > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > >[...] > > >> The Diskette Experiments, Phase III >> ---------------------------------- >> >> The Test Disks >> -------------- > >[...] > >> Drunk Disk >> ---------- > >[...] > > >> Conclusion: The disk is unreadable due to a >> physical (non-bit) failure of the disk jacket >> and internal disk mylar heavily sticking to the >> jacket itself. > >My first reaction would the to open up one side of the jacket, slide out >the disk (and keep it the right way up!), clean the surface of said disk >and then either 'mount a naked floppy' or use a spare jacket. > >It would be interesting to know if the data could be recovered if you did >that (in all 3 cases). I've had media both soaked and dried after soaking with various sticky beverages. I've found they cleaned up fine and read with out dificulty. I've mounted them with out the jacket and using an old one with cleaned and dried media. Generally floppies do not like any abrasive damage, holes, some solvents and of course magnetic fields. Other than that it's amazing what will survive. Allison

19 years, 8 months

Ambra 486 BIOS

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

AMBRA was made by IBM if my memory isn't faulty. It's very likely that much of the firmware is similar to IBM BIOSes. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with IBM PC systems of the 1991 era.

19 years, 8 months

Addendum to Diskette Experiments, Phase III

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, Paul posted this a day or so after the other post and it seems the Hot & Cold Affair disk did work again after leaving it overnight (see below). Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk --- Paul Panks <lumberjacks76 at lycos.com> wrote: There is an addendum added to yesterday's posting of Phase III of the Diskette Experiments. Here is the addendum: A new conclusion has been reached regarding the second disk experiment. Additionally, the final Phase III conclusion has been modified somewhat to showcase this change: "The Hot and Cold Affair ----------------------- This test called for putting ice cubes on the front side of the disk, while simultaneously holding the back side of the disk over a stovetop range at Medium heat (held approximately 3/4th of a foot from the surface of the stovetop due to overwhelming heat and potential hand burn considerations). The disk was held over the surface for a period of ten (10) minutes, while carefully juggling the ice cubes on the 1st surface simultaneously. The disk was allowed to cool for a period of 20 minutes, then read. The result was a disk that did not read, as the internal mylar floppy could barely be moved by force from side to side by this person. Conclusion: The disk was unreadable due to a physical (non-bit) failure of the disk jacket and internal disk mylar semi-sticking to the jacket itself. However, after waiting overnight and trying the disk again, it read without error. Performing a simple read/write on the disk -- writing (then reading back) a 2 block sequential file -- worked flawlessly. Although heating the disk and placing icecubes atop it is not recommended, the disk nonetheless did recover once it was allowed to cool overnight." The conclusion has also been modified somewhat. Here is the change: "Experiment Phase III Conclusions -------------------------------- Two of the disks were a total loss, as the experiment never progressed beyond the first question asked ("Could a disk still be read by the disk drive?"). The disk in the "Hot/Cold Affair" experiment failed at first, but then worked upon waiting 24 hours for the internal disk mylar to cool overnight. Disks are not impervious to permanent and irreversible physical damage from oatmeal, milk, water, heat ( >= 250 degrees F ), ice cubes, shoes and golf spikes. Heating a disk and placing ice cubes atop it will cause it to temporarily become unreadable, although the disk should return to working order within 24 hours. It is nonetheless strongly recommended by this person that end users strictly avoid such implements (as described above) when at, near or around a floppy disk or drive." The entirety of the Diskette Experiments can be viewed online here: http://www.geocities.com/dunric/diskfun.txt Paul

19 years, 8 months

FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results)

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results) > From: Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> > Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:54:51 +0000 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >Allison wrote: >> Generally floppies do not like any abrasive damage, holes, some solvents >> and of course magnetic fields. Other than that it's amazing what >> will survive. > >.... unless it's a 3.5" floppy made in the last 6 or so years, then you just >need to *look* at them funny and they fail :) Actually I was talkkking about 8 and 5,25 media I was trying to recover data from. >Actually, typically I find the failure rate to be about 2/3 - I don't think I >can think of a single other product that reaches the consumer with such a high >rating. Jules, The last time I'd seens that failure rate I started checking the drives. It seeems the drives had so much dust (at work) they were scraping the media to failure. Cleaned the drives and the problem would go away for a few months. The media was a the cheapest 3.5 available. What would happen is once the heads built up a mixute of media and dust it would routinely destroy disks after one use after that. Outside of that and outright bad drives I found 3.5" to be very reliable and somewhat more immune to some of the things that kill soft jacket disks. In fact when AOL was sending their virus out on 3.5" floppies (pre bloat) I'd use them and still have a few that see regular use. I figure they are as cheap as they come! Allison

19 years, 8 months

Anyone speak fluent Greek?

by evan＠snarc.net

I'm looking for someone to translate this page into English: http://www.itia.ntua.gr/twiki/bin/view/Main/MuseumItem00042 Thanks! - Evan K.

19 years, 8 months

Data General Nova 2 users, where are you?

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi folks, I recently got a Data General Nova 2 CPU. It is a very late built OEM machine (Boards say ?1973 Data General but IC timestamps tell a different story from the time around 1977/1978). The machine came with 80kw (!!!!!) of core memory which is two an a half time of 32kw wich is the Nova's address space. The memory is banked by very simple MMU which bank-switches the lower 16k. If I power the unit up I can simply use 32kw of core. That seems to work. Have not yet worked out how the mmu is switched. Will worry about that later... After replacing the front panel lights I can manually read and write memory locations. And I *think* that the CPU works. At least basically. The machine is full of made in Germany boards made by some strange unknown OEM company. There is a Diablo disk drive with a diablo controller. The only function I can see at the moment is a red led on the controller which says "ready" in sync with the ready light on the disk drive. Drive looks good. If I try to boot the system via the built-in dma loading routine it simply hangs in an endless loop and nothing happens. At the moment I would be glad to hook up some kind of "standard tty" to the machine. Does the Nova 2 have a standard tty port built directly into the one-PCB cpu? That would be wonderful! If anybody can help me with tips, tricks, software, hardware, experience or any other interesting stuff and information - please let me know! I don't know what to do with the machine at the moment. I think I also could need some "standard peripherals" for the machine. Thanks a lot! Best wishes from Bavaria (!), Philipp :-)

19 years, 8 months

External MFM/ESDI?

by ISC277＠CLCILLINOIS.EDU

Well, I have a bunch of open expansion space in my RK07 cabinet, and I was thinking of somehow mounting the ESDI disks inside it. What sort of products exist for mounting these disks externally, probably in a seperate cabinet from the controller?

19 years, 8 months

NEC Bungo advertisement on YouTube

by cclist＠sydex.com

Kind of cool: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0qG6uWO5HUc&search=mini-t Anyone have one of these? Cheers, Chuck

19 years, 8 months

SCSI taxonomy

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

I think that F/W SCSI-II (FAST-10) predated Ultra (FAST-20) by a few years, anyway: F/W SCSI was available on the SGI Onyx (in either diff or SE) which was introduced in 1993. I'm a big fan of SCA drives + adaptors for old systems since the 50-pin drives are noticeably ancient now (most at around 1998 or before). A SCA drive + 50-pin adaptor is much newer (and 50-pin drives of any capacity (9GB+) have a substantial premium over SCA and 68-pin models. Some machines (Sun lunchboxes in particular) don't have space for a SCA drive + adaptor board, though. The latest SCSI standard (SCSI-IV I think) no longer requires drives to support 8-bit transfers and asynchronous mode. Some of the drives I've seen still do, but be warned...

19 years, 8 months

NEC PC 98 site

by cclist＠sydex.com

I ran across a Japanese site that seems to specialize in selling NEC PC 9801-family items. I don't know how many 9801's ever made it to the USA, but the architecture's fairly common in the CNC machine tools world. http://www.pc98factory.com/ Cheers, Chuck

19 years, 8 months

TI59 files

by jbdigriz990＠yahoo.com

Tony Duell wrote: >>The other major loss is the diagrams on his TI59 calculator page >>(http://xgistor-echo.ath.cx/ti59.htm), again this appears to be unique >>material not available anywhere else. The files there were called >>TI59-Diag+psu-in-eps.zip, TI59-PSU.zip, TI59annotation-8.zip, >>Ti59Diagram0401.zip, ti59-Emu-v11.exe, ti59blokdiagram.jpg, >>ti59corechips.jpg, ti59diagram.jpg, ti59scandiagram.jpg, >>ti59clocktiming.jpg, ti59psu.jpg, ti59cmplx.jpg > > >It's not the same thing, but, being graphically-challenged on this PC, I >made notes of the pinouts of the ICs, etc, from said files by hand in a >notebook. I still have that, and could type in said pinouts (which would >be a great help to anyone trying to recreate the files by >reverse-engineering a TI59 or whatever). > >If the originals don't turn up anywhere, let me know and I'll get typing. > >-tony > I have the following files (the jpg's in the html page): ti59blokdiagram.jpg ti59corechips.jpg ti59diagram.jpg ti59scandiagram.jpg ti59clocktiming.jpg ti59psu.jpg ti59cmplx.jpg I sent Tony a private msg, waiting to hear back from him where to upload them. So I can save you that much typing, anyway :-) jbdigriz ps. Tony Wills, I do not have the files in the ftp download area, including the emulater, however. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

19 years, 8 months

FW: Third round of Diskette Experiments completed (results)

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, I thought some of you might be interested in Pauls experiments. Has anyone here conducted similar experiments? Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk --- Paul Panks <lumberjacks76 at lycos.com> wrote: The third phase of the now infamous '5.25" Diskette Experiments' have been completed. These experiments began back in 2003 and are in their third (and thankfully final) installment. I did the tests this evening and came to some (not surprising) conclusions. Here were the three tests: The Diskette Experiments, Phase III ---------------------------------- The Test Disks -------------- I used three separate test disks, one for each of the three tests. On Track 17-0 through 15-5 was placed a 61 block file (15,419 bytes), Cleve Blakemore's Dark Fortress (typed in from the January 1987 issue of Ahoy! magazine). On Track 19-0 through 22-1 was placed a 61 block file, the same aforementioned Cleve Blakemore game. The desire was to have two reasonably sized programs as the first two programs on disk, occupying an aggregate total of 122 disk blocks. The tests would determine three things about each disk: 1) Could a disk still be read by the disk drive? 2) If so, could the original data (both programs) be read and verified without a single bit error? 3) Thirdly, could the disk then be formatted and a simple read/write performed to it? The results of the tests are as follows, with some surprises: Drunk Disk ---------- The original test was going to be beer (1/2 cup) and water (1/2 cup) for thirty minutes. This test was later modified from using beer to oatmeal (1 package), non-fat dry milk (1/2 cup) and water (three 8 oz. cups), mixed in a bowl, which I then let stand for thirty minutes. The disk was then removed and allowed to quickly dry via a paper towel, wiped gently against both sides. The result was a disk that did not read, as the internal mylar floppy could very barely be moved by force from side to side by this person (more than any of the experiments, the oatmeal, water and dry milk mixture really stuck the disk to the jacket quite solidly). Conclusion: The disk is unreadable due to a physical (non-bit) failure of the disk jacket and internal disk mylar heavily sticking to the jacket itself. The Hot and Cold Affair ----------------------- This test called for putting ice cubes on the front side of the disk, while simultaneously holding the back side of the disk over a stovetop range at Medium heat (held approximately 3/4th of a foot from the surface of the stovetop due to overwhelming heat and potential hand burn considerations). The disk was held over the surface for a period of ten (10) minutes, while carefully juggling the ice cubes on the 1st surface simultaneously. The disk was allowed to cool for a period of 20 minutes, then read. The result was a disk that did not read, as the internal mylar floppy could barely be moved by force from side to side by this person. Conclusion: The disk is unreadable due to a physical (non-bit) failure of the disk jacket and internal disk mylar semi-sticking to the jacket itself. The Walk About -------------- This round of testing required walking on a disk using three separate shoes, using moderate pressure, for a period of 1 minute each. The shoes were: two business dress-style shoes, with small platform-like heels, and golf shoes (non-metal spikes used). The disk was walked on using moderate pressure and substituting each shoe for 20 seconds each, for a total of 1 minute aggregate time. The disk was then immediately read by the disk drive. The result was a disk that did not read, as the internal mylar floppy could barely be moved (though easier than the first experiment) by force from side to side by this person. Conclusion: The disk is unreadable due to a physical (non-bit) failure of the disk jacket and internal disk mylar semi-sticking to the jacket itself. Experiment Phase III Conclusions -------------------------------- The disks were a total loss, as the experiment never progressed beyond the first question asked ("Could a disk still be read by the disk drive ?"). Disks are not impervious to permanent and irreversible physical damage from oatmeal, milk, water, heat ( >= 250 degrees F ), ice cubes, shoes and golf spikes. It is strongly recommended by this person that end users strictly avoid such implements (as described above) when at, near or around a floppy disk or drive. Paul

19 years, 8 months

Commodore 128s and SX-64

by alvindebord＠mac.com

I have two complete Systems with Manuals, Printers, and quite a bit of software. Don't use them anymore and need to give them a new home. Mike in Ottawa, Ontario suggested I contact you. If you can help me sell these, I would highly appreciate it. I can be contacted at; alandmaedeb at yahoo,com Not sure how long I'll have access to the Mac Mail. Al DeBord, Chillicothe, OH, 45601, USA

19 years, 8 months

Sipke de Wal, xgistor, SC/MP, TI59

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

> >Subject: Re: Sipke de Wal, xgistor, SC/MP, TI59 > From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:44:44 +1200 > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > >On 9/28/06, Tony Wills <ajwills at paradise.net.nz> wrote: >> >> Re Sipke's xgistor.ath.cx website and his National Semiconductor SC/MP >> (Scamp) CPU emulator, thanks for the replies I've had so far. I've >> collected up many of the files formerly from his site and created an "echo" >> of his site... >> The SC/MP page is now complete (http://xgistor-echo.ath.cx/scmp.htm), but >> I've seen no sign of his SC/MP emulator and would dearly love to see a >> copy. The emulator was in a file called Scmp09.zip 1.3MB > >Thanks for doing this. I did have a look and did not happen to snag a copy >of the emulator in years past, but I probably should have, given that I have >multiple INS8073 systems. The 8073 is extended over the Sc/mpII. The flavor I have is the the isp500 (pmos) and The 8073 which has Nibble BASIC. >Since folks are digging around for SC/MP stuff, does anyone have a >disassembler? I'm trying to dig into some INS8073 firmware and would >rather not a) do it by hand with an instruction set listing, or b) write a >disassembler from scratch. I'd prefer a UNIX-compatible disassembler, >but could use a DOS one if that's all there is out there. Never seen one. The only assembler I'd ran under ISIS. I'd love to get an assembler and a few tools for the 8073 to play with it more outside of basic. Allison

19 years, 8 months

VAX4000 available in UK

by coredump＠gifford.co.uk

I've just been sent this e-mail about a VAX4000 in Luton: > From Jez Higgins <jez at jezuk.co.uk> via accu-general list. > > Just received this from a friend of mine. If anyone's interest, > please contact me offlist. > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: 'ere, fancy this? > Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:32:47 +0100 (BST) > > Need an answer asap - any interest in a gratis VAX4000 with three > external optical drives? Deadline - I need to know by Sunday night as > disposal is Monday morning. > > ----------------------------------- > > I don't have any further information at the moment. The machine > itself is probably in the Luton area. I'm trying to find out if > it works :) > > Jez I have no more info about this thing than the above. Probably best to reply directly to Jez Higgins, at the e-mail shown. -- John Honniball coredump at gifford.co.uk

19 years, 8 months

OT: You know you've been reading classiccmp too much when...

by mtapley＠swri.edu

All, night before last, I dreamed someone was showing me a piece of circa 1950 or so radio gear, which was so constructed as to *accept* power via a standard 120V wall socket built into its back. The problem with that arrangement is that it implied the existence of a "power adapter cord" with a normal 120V wall plug (with two exposed blades) on either end. As soon as this piece of gear was shown to my dream incarnation, I started yelling "No! NO! That shouldn't exist!" and trying to take a big pair of shears to it to eliminate the safety hazard. I remember the museum curator, or whoever was showing me this, looking displeased just before I woke up, and my wife, looking displeased just after I (and she) woke up. -- Mark Tapley, Dwarf Engineer (I haven't cleared my neighborhood) 210-379-4635

19 years, 8 months

Data I/O Model 29 info?

by dave06a＠dunfield.com

Anyone on the list intimately familier with the Data I/O 29A and/or 29B device programmers? Went for a "last hurrah" today at a surplus shop which is closing it's doors - what started as a simple inquiry about a logicpak module I saw on the shelf ended in me taking home a boatload of modules, adapters and other 29x "bits". Which has spawned a few Q's... Dave -- dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Collector of vintage computing equipment: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html

19 years, 8 months

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