I was helping a fellow with a writeup on the CDC STAR-100 (circa 1974) and
stumbled across some of the old manuals on bitsavers.
You know, back in 1975, the machine was arguably the fastest in the world
(I won't get into benchmark results, but it was definitely in competition
with Cray). I'd forgotten that the maximum memory available was a megaword
(64-bit words) and that standard was half a meg.
Back around then, being able to run linpack really fast mattered a lot--and
gave rise to oddball ventures like Saxpy (the company, not the subroutine,
although the two are not unrelated).
Consider that that's 8MB by today's standards, barely enough to host
Windows 98. On the other hand, the CPU is still pretty complex by today's
standards--and we had 256 64-bit registers to work with.
I guess it's like one's childhood home. When you return decades later to
visit, you can't get over how SMALL everything seems.
Cheers,
Chuck
On 8/31/06, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net> wrote:
> On Tuesday 29 August 2006 09:02 pm, Josef Chessor wrote:
> > mercury cells. Today, since they're illegal in the US from what I
> > understand,
>
> Are they? Anybody know for sure? I know they were hard to find last time I
> looked (over a decade ago) but there were some out there...
In 1995, I was unable to buy mercury cells for my Konica 35mm SLR. I _was_
able to find a set at a store in Christchurch, NZ. Dunno if they are
still legal
there or not.
-ethan
seen a real old post about chip programming
noticed you had a data i/o 29b
I have been looking for information abtou this programmer as I am looking into buy a porgrammer and everyone keeps telling me I shoudl ge thtis type with a unipak 2b
but seems noone will tell me what I will need to use this system as in drivers ....front end since data i/o no longer give help for this item I must rely on someone that has one to help me out ...there are a few on ebay and im thinking of getting one but none of the sellers are the users so can not tell me anythign about them other than they passed self tests...
either way if there is anyway you can help me out least maybe tell mewhere drivers and or front end can be downloaded or somthign would be great..
thanks
chris
Roy J. Tellason wrote:
Got one 8-bit card here that also has an internal edge connector and I'm
guessing it's a floppy interface -- there's a crystal, one big chip labeled
Zilog Z765APS and what I'm guessing is a data separator chip socketed, looks
like UM8326, and a bunch of LSTTL glue logic.
------------------------------------
Billy: Very likely - the Z765 was a cross license chip from NEC. I think
they got the best of the deal, being able to use Zilog cores. The 765 never
impressed me.
---------------------------------------
Got one which is an 8-bit card only there's a little sticker near the card
edge connector that says "pls plug into the 16 bits slot only" -- why would
they do that? This one has a DB25M on the metal bracket, which is also
labeled "Scanner Interface", is this supposed to be some kind of crude
SCSI?
There are a couple of chips labeled "SPOT" (a logo actually), and
silkscreened on the board it says "SPOT Fototak 2E-Card". The note on the
bag says "Parallel port" but I'm not sure that means anything. About four
chips on the board (2 of which look like RAM) and a jumper block, 2x3 with
2
on there.
-----------------------------------------
Billy: This sounds like the primitive SCSI that a lot of scanner folks
would send out with the early scanners. PCs had moved over to IDE, so a lot
of low cost systems didn't have native SCSI boards. Adaptec made a slew of
these. Even new and at that time, you could find them at Fry's for $12-15.
I remember seeing a few of them with the early external CD burners. Many
were SCSI, at least up to the 8X level. Then ATA won, again demonstrating
that cheap beats capability every time.
-----------------------------------------------
The next one is labeled (in the foil) "ICS2110 Demo Board Rev. A" and sure
enough there seems to be a square socketed chip labeled ICS2110 in there.
An
array of eight of what I'm guessing are RAM, some LSTTL, two 8-pole DIP
switches, and four jumper blocks with one jumper on each. A TDA1545
("Stereo Continuous Calibration DAC"), a couple of NE5532 op amp chips, a
whole mess of capacitors, two trimpots (?) and two of what appear to be
audio jacks at the metal bracket. This one's a 16-bit card.
The last one is also a 16-bit card. On the metal brack is a 50-pin
connector
(same thing you'd see on an Adaptec 1520, 1540, etc.) and on the opposite
end
is a 4-pin "drive power" (like in any PC) connector for power to apparently
be supplied_to_ the card, a small button ("tac" switch), and a 2x5 pin
shrouded connector. And across the top of the card is a big 2.4 ohm 10W (!)
power resistor, not the sort of thing I'm used to seeing on "PC" hardware.
This one's all surface mount, and the one square chip in there is marked
"Altera", not a name I'm at all familiar with. No other markings on the
board except a sticker hiding under that big resistor with a barcode and a
rather long number on it.
------------------------------------------------
Billy: I'm guessing on this one. The big resistor sounds like a current
source for some sort of burner. Altera is a programmable logic company. I
wonder if you have one of their early programmers? The programmers had two
parts, the PCB and another box with ZIF sockets external to the PCB. The
cables were about 24 inches long, but I remember them as plugged into Molex
connectors.
Can you get us some photos? Might bring back more accurate memories.
--------------------------------------------------
Anybody know what these are, any of them?
I have a beautiful 5160 XT with 512KB, 10MB hard disk, monochrome card
and a 5151 display. To make the machine slightly more useful I'd like
to find a VGA card that will run in an 8 bit slot.
CGA would be more original, but I can't fit another monitor in the
office. I can connect the XT to my 20" flat panels through their VGA
connectors, which is perverse in a way but it will work ... That way I
have room for the 5151 as well.
If you have such a beast or can at least tell me what to look for I'd
appreciate it. I read the list religiously, but replies that are not
interesting to everybody else should go to me off-list.
Mike
http://www.brutman.com/PCjr
PS: I've got a 3COM Etherlink II (3C503) and software ready to go ..
this baby is going on IBM's internal network! :-)
--- Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Aug 2006, Don wrote:
> > I think 8.00 is the *last* that will fit on a 5"
> floppy.
> > 8.04 requires 3" floppies -- though I haven't
> checked to see if
>
> 3.5" I used 3" drives with a Compaq, but eventual
ly
> switched to 3.5"
>
>
Huh? 3" floppies too!
That means there are 5 different floppy disk
sizes that I now know of:
3"
3.5"
5"
8"
12" (used on a special Sony Laservision machine)
Are there any more??
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 18:06:30
>From: "Joe R." <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com>
>Subject: Re: Question about Z80 ISA bus board
>To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>Message-ID: <3.0.6.16.20060831180630.0f97b98c at pop-server.cfl.rr.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I don't know about this particular board but several companies did build
>Z-80 boards to fit into a PC an allow you to run CPM. I used to have one
>made by Baby Blue or some such.
>
> Joe
>
>
>At 08:16 PM 8/30/06 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>>Hope to generate less heat this time.
>>
>>Full length ISA card, XT card edge connection, DB 37 male connector,
>>Z80B, 8 4164's, 2 2764's, 2 Mostek MK4801AN-4's, MC1420B, 10 MHZ
>>crystal, and a handful of 74LSxxx glue chips. Only identification
>>lettering is "BETRONIX = SWEDEN=PC84"
>>
>>
>>Anyone have an ideal what it could be? Betronix made circuit board
>>layout software.
>>
>>
>>
Looks like my choice is to dig up an ISA bus machine and plug it in and
see what happens.
--- M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote:
>
> Well, of course you'd use whatever you like and ru
ns
> in the OS of your
> choice, but it's interesting to note how many peop
le
> still use a "real"
> calculator when there's probably one on the screen
> in front of them,
> not to mention a spreadsheet program; every office
> user I visit still
> has a calculator on his/her desk...
>
Yeah, but it's often hidden.
Until a few months ago I had no idea there
was a Calculator available on Windows 2K
(the company I work for generally uses
Windows from 5 years ago as we have loads
of computers to pay licenses for?). A work
colleague who's into computers (mainly
modern stuff, but I did get a twinkle in his
eye when I mentioned about the Dragon 32
once and he went on about how he used them
at college/university in the 80's) showed me
how to find it.
It's hidden (along with other applications) in
the "sys32/" (?) directory somewhere in the
OS files (I'm no windows expert, though I
know W95 beta version inside out from when
I went on work experience).
Now whenever I need it and it's not listed
under applications (we move about alot in the
lab and use diff computers each week), I just
do a quick filesearch, dump it on the desktop
and on the main drop-up (?) menu that appears
when you click on the Start button, incase
I have a screen full of windows.
Now almost everyone uses it (largely because
calc's are so hard to find in the lab).
The "scientific" mode includes binary, octal,
hex and decimal, aswell as proper maths
functions.
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
On Mon, August 28, 2006 3:27 pm, William Donzelli wrote:
...
> As for Ebay - I tried selling some packet stuff over the past few
> months, and buyers were not much around.
>
> --
> Will
What a coincidence - this morning I started looking into what I'd need to get
into packet radio. There's a couple of hams here who'll help me out, I have
no license, equipment, or anything (except computers). What packet stuff do
you have available ? (reply via email, as I suspect this is OT)
On-topic, though, is that I wanted to use some of my vintage computing gear to
do packet radio (too bad I missed those c64 carts - that'd be a hoot!). I was
trying to think of what to do with an old machine that would be productive,
and packet radio popped in my head. I have an old Sun 3/80 or a Sparcstation
10 I could set up. Is there any packet software for old 68k macs (I have a
clean mac II that's begging to be used for something).
jdavis
> Actually, one reason I've never got into packet radio is a lack of
> information one the internals of the TNC. I've not found an
> 'open' one --
> as in published schematics and ROM source listings.
try www.tapr.org TNC1 comes with rom listings and schematics. Maybe it is missing something...
> > > > mercury cells. Today, since they're illegal in the US from what I
> > > > understand,
> > > Are they? Anybody know for sure? I know they were hard to find last
> > > time I looked (over a decade ago) but there were some out there...
> > In 1995, I was unable to buy mercury cells for my Konica 35mm SLR. I
> > _was_ able to find a set at a store in Christchurch, NZ. Dunno if they are
> > still legal there or not.
>
> Yes, according to Camera & Camera (big local camera store in Auckland)
> they're still legal and available here (NZ).
They can no longer be sold in the US because of their mercury content. However, when I was
investigating some time ago if there were any compatible substitutes for the mercury cell used in
the metering system of an old Yashicamat 124 medium format camera I owned, the use of type AC675E
zinc-air cells was recommended. Someone made an adapter/holder for these modern cells which was
the same form factor as the old mercury cells and intended for camera owners in this situation.
This might give you a lead on where to look.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
Hi,
I've a Sharp PC-1211 with CE-122 "Printer & Cassette Interface".
But, I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make the printer
*work*! It advances paper when manually commanded to do so.
But, I can't figure out how to get the 1211 to print *to* it!
Thanks!
--don
An IBM 5630 has been listed on VCM free for pickup. It includes:
Expansion cabin, 8" Diskette Changer, 2 X Reel to Reel tape drives, 2 X Line
printers
http://www.vintagecomputermarketplace.com/
--------Original message:
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:27:47 +0200
From: "Hans Franke" <Hans.Franke at siemens.com>
Subject: A tree to grow (Was: Statement & apology (was Re: 10 Year
Rule))
<snip>
what I found was a small group of rather unique and mature people.
People that did have a real life, quite a difference to some tight bean
counters often found. This rich vault of knowledge not only includes
profound computer knowledge, but was eualy visible when the topics
discussed went astray.
...
And even the most firce discusion about weapons or cars came in a
natural way all back sooner or later to our core topic.
<snip>
--------Reply:
Well, as is usually the case, some of the people who later join a list are
not always as serious or mature as the founders...
So, if I understand you, you're saying that discussions about weapons,
cars, etc. are OK on this list and will eventually die on their own, but we
definitely need a "RULE" to make sure that none of this "vault of knowledge"
is made available to someone with a computer manufactured after August
1996? You're not worried that allowing discussions of the relative merits
of a Luger vs. a Glock will turn this list into a weapons forum, as some
people are about new-ish computers?
Hans, I respect you enormously, but this is just silly. And as far as
Jay being some kind of autocratic czar, _obviously_ from time to time
this list needs someone with some authority and control to step in and
get things back on track (unfortunately).
If we need a rule (for what they're worth) I think the only relevant one is that
discussions here have something to do with *COMPUTERS*!
Considering the disdain prevailing here for users of PCs and anything from
Seattle, I'd think that anyone asking how to install XP Home on his Athlon
will either be ignored or quickly taken off-list; what are you guys getting so
exercised and anal about?
mike
--------------
"Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule." (Unknown)
Paul Thompson wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Aug 2006, J Blaser wrote:
>
>>
>> At this point the system just hangs right there. I never get any
>> kind of login prompt or any other messages. Looks like it's really
>> wanting some NFS volumes that no longer are available.
>>
>
> I suggest booting single user mode. You look to be 99% booted and
> perhaps someone doesn't have a getty turned on the console.
>
> I have a mips ultrix machine so my console doesn't work the same, but
> google around some. It would be BOOT/R5:00000001 DKAxxx or something
> similar. I have a boot manual around somewhere if google isn't
> forthcoming.
>
I'll give that a try. I don't have any information on the various boot
options/parameters, and am just winging this as I go. I'll try your
command for kicks, as well as google around some before I pester you for
the boot manual info. Thanks.
Also, your reference to a MIPS ULTRIX machine is of interest, since
another system I have that is in sequence for investigation is a
DECsystem 5400 with an RF215(IIRC right now) expansion box. I sadly see
that NetBSD is not available for this machine, but if I can recover
Ultrix from it safely, then I might have some joy.
Jared
I am engaged in a Personal IRIS troubleshooting attempt with a gentleman from B.C. (via the Internet)
and he happened to drop that he had a A/UX tape that he could not read as his tape drive had "gone goo"
It turns out to be A/UX 1.1 (!) Does anyone here nearish to BC have a working QIC-80 so we can get this thing
backed up? Barring that, how about dimensions on roller tyres?
>
>Subject: Octal
> From: M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net>
> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:13:38 -0400
> To: "'cctalk at classiccmp.org'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>----------Original message(s):
>
>Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:14:14 +1200
>From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: Octal
>
>>> M H Stein wrote:
>>>
>>> I've found the Windows Calculator to be the most convenient
>>> (nicer keyboard & display and doesn't take any desk space).
>>> mike
>
>>I prefer 'dc', the calculator program that comes with UNIX - it does
>>different radix inputs and outputs, and uses RPN, plus, I _always_
>>have a UNIX shell handy (and almost never have a real calculator or a
>>Windows box in front of me).
>
>Well, of course you'd use whatever you like and runs in the OS of your
>choice, but it's interesting to note how many people still use a "real"
>calculator when there's probably one on the screen in front of them,
>not to mention a spreadsheet program; every office user I visit still
>has a calculator on his/her desk...
Lesse, While the calc on my NT4 box has most of the right stuff it
doesn't do logic (AND, OR, XOR, NOT) and if I ask for a "tape" the
printer is at the other side of the room. Feh!
Often I need the result when NOT at a PC.
><snip>
>>I miss my old Sharp 4-banger with the flourescent digits. I have the
>>parts in a bag, but it needs some serious plastic reconstruction - I
>>think the plasticizer was all baked out - the case is seriously
>>brittle.
>
>>-ethan
>
>That raises an interesting question: does anyone know of any substance
>that actually "revitalizes" brittle plastic?
None. In a few cases I used the old parts to cast new.
Allison
-----------Original message(s):
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:17:22 -0700
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
Subject: Re: Octal
>>On 8/30/2006 at 9:45 PM woodelf wrote:
>>I find computer calculator programs a pain.
>Depends on the calculator. I use this one all of the time and would love
>to have it in a nice little handheld:
>http://www.bias.at/Download/english/calcdle.htm
>But it does the job right now.
>Cheers,
>Chuck
--------Reply:
Looks quite interesting, but does it do hexadecimal?
Talk to Don, maybe he can whip one up for ya for a price :-)
mike
-----------Original message:
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:45:23 -0600
From: woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca>
Subject: Re: Octal
>I find computer calculator programs a pain.
That's a pretty sweeping statement; their keyboard and display
are as good as the one you use every day, cut and paste is
often handy for avoiding entry errors and you don't have another
item on your (non-virtual) desktop; best of all, if you don't like anything
out there you could presumably create your own.
I am curious: what exactly is it that you don't like about them?
>In fact it is hard to find a good calculator - read
>nice display -- good keyboard. You don't find that
>with the $5 calculator market.
I'm obviously less demanding; I'm quite happy with my $1.00
calculator: nice large LCD display, full size keys and solar-powered.
Cheaply made, true, but that's why it cost $1.00, and it's served me
well for 3 or 4 years; if it dies I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and
spend another $1.00.
I for one am amazed and delighted that calculators, computers etc.
can be manufactured as cheaply as they are while in general being
much more efficient/useful/powerful and just as reliable (or more so)
than the products of yore, which would presumably cost several orders
of magnitude more if manufactured the same way today and be
completely out of my reach pricewise.
mike
An obscure unibus & pdp-11 question:
Does "clr" always do a DATIP (i.e. read-modify-write) on all 11's?
It does on my 11/44. Something tells me I've seen threads (long ago) on
this and the perils of using clr as opposed to "mov #0," when talking to
hardware.
The rl01 bootstrap does it talking to rl11 registers, which tripped me
up for a bit.
-brad
----------Original message(s):
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:14:14 +1200
From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Octal
>> M H Stein wrote:
>>
>> I've found the Windows Calculator to be the most convenient
>> (nicer keyboard & display and doesn't take any desk space).
>> mike
>I prefer 'dc', the calculator program that comes with UNIX - it does
>different radix inputs and outputs, and uses RPN, plus, I _always_
>have a UNIX shell handy (and almost never have a real calculator or a
>Windows box in front of me).
Well, of course you'd use whatever you like and runs in the OS of your
choice, but it's interesting to note how many people still use a "real"
calculator when there's probably one on the screen in front of them,
not to mention a spreadsheet program; every office user I visit still
has a calculator on his/her desk...
<snip>
>I miss my old Sharp 4-banger with the flourescent digits. I have the
>parts in a bag, but it needs some serious plastic reconstruction - I
>think the plasticizer was all baked out - the case is seriously
>brittle.
>-ethan
That raises an interesting question: does anyone know of any substance
that actually "revitalizes" brittle plastic?
m
>
>Subject: Re: Vacuuum tube digital circuits (50 year rule)
> From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:55:47 +1200
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>On 8/31/06, woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
>> The ads list a 12au7 for about 65 cents in 1955. In 2006 a generic 12au7
>> is about $8.00. I suspect a better deal now than 50 years ago.
>
>Hmm... if I leave off seconds and just go with minutes/hours, I think
>I have enough. Even with modern wages, a bag full of tubes costs
>enough to make me want to simplify the design.
Hunt a bit I've found Vacuum tubes NOS (New Old Stock) to be widely available.
The prices vary widely.
To do time.. 12:59 should give you a hint. You need 3 counters only one
is decade. the tens of minutes is 0..5 (/6) and hours is either /12 or /24.
>The real trick, now, I guess, is how to take 60Hz mains and clock it
>down to 1/60Hz with 1955 technology.
You need a decade counter and a /6 counter for that, same general circuit
just no disply. For simpler you can use several retriggerable monostable
with time out being just longer than say 10 cycles and a second with
time out of >6 cycles. At most three tubes to do that (12au7/12ax7/12at7).
Back when Grumman plant-33 closed (LM project) I picked up a Beckman EPUT
(events per unit time) and it was basically 5 digits of that style counter
(counted to 5mhz, 8 on a good day) a time base and input circuits (Schmidt
trigger). All tubes!
Allison
Don North <ak6dn at mindspring.com> skrev:
>
>Brad Parker wrote:
>> > Don North wrote:
>>> >> On all the discrete logic 11s and LSI11 the CLR instr does a
>> > ...
>> >
>> > thanks!
>>> >> So if your hardware can't tolerate a read access to a register,
then you
>>> >> can do a MOV #0,ADR instead of CLR ADR (and make a note in your
code why
>>> >> so some poor soul 30 years from now understands why you are doing a
>>> >> non-optimal MOV #0,xxx!)
>> >
>> > I fixed the hardware :-) I was just curious about which machines did
>> > what.
>> >
>> > The problem was that the two transactions are back to back and the bus
>> > master keeps overnership. I was waiting for BBSY to go away...
>> >
>> > -brad
>
>The 'original' use for DATIP-DATO (vs a sequence of DATI, DATO) was to
>let core memory know it did not have to do the read-restore cycle, since
>a DATO was coming right away to the exact same location and would
>overwrite with new data. The memory could then be a little bit faster.
>With MOS memory this is not necessary.
>
>Some later CPUs (11/74) iirc altered all the 'normal' memory accesses to
>be just DATI and DATO(B) cycles, and implemented the special sequence
>DATIP-DATOB for the ASRB instruction to act as the atomic memory
>interlock. But I digress...
>
>Don
I don't remember for sure here, but can't you have other times where
several transactions come back to back without the bus being released?
I really should look into the documentation, unfortunately it's not
where I am right now.
As for the 11/74, it didn't modify the interpretation of the Unibus
transactions, since the memory isn't on the Unibus. :)
The 11/7x memory bus do have a transaction that keeps the location
locked until a write have occurred however. Not used in the 11/70, but
the 11/74 uses that. (Obviously.) It's documented in the memory
subsystem manual for the 11/70. The only instruction using that bus
transaction is the ASRB howewer.
Not sure if the 11/84 might have redefined the Unibus somewhat. I
remember that there is some note about possible problems with some
Unibus devices in an 11/84, but I think it has to do with timing during
a bus reset.
Wish my memory was more accurate. :)
Johnny