test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by chpap＠ics.forth.gr

I would like to do a bad sector scan on a RD52 connected to a RQDX1 (The machine is a pdp11/73 without OS) prior to installing BSD2.11.Is there a standalone program like zrqch0(only for RQDX3) that can be downloaded directly to the pdp via vtserver and recognizes the RQDX1 , i.e. a version of zrqb or something similar?

23 years, 2 months

Recent Find: Votrax PSS & VaxClusters

by pat＠purdueriots.com

I've managed to come across a 'Votrax Personal Speech System'. I've found some information from google, but haven't found out some important things like what the pinout is on the power connector (it's a DIN-5). While I can just trace the traces back to chips on the circuit board, it's proven hard to disassemble, so I'd rather not if I don't have to. Does anyone have enough information about this thing to tell me how it wants to be powered? Oh, and another thing. I've recently picked up a few 2-4VUPS VAXstations that I'm working on trying to turn into a VMS cluster. I'm hoping to create a public-access system - I remember seeing an article about another one on SlashDot a few months ago. Because of the terms of the hobbyist license, I'll need to make it a non-commercial-use-only cluster, but I'd like to make it available to list members or other people to mess around with. Pat -- Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS Information Technology at Purdue Research Computing and Storage http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu

23 years, 2 months

Tranfer of Files From RSX-11------II

by badoni_nk＠yahoo.com

Hello John Thankyou very much for your kind reply. Yes it is a complete system. I have checked Kermit in this system but I could not find this S/W there. Might be my process was wrong. And if it is there how can I access Kermit(how to find wheather Kermit is there or not). Is there any command for Kermit. Please suggest me how to find wheather Kermit is there or not. /******** Incase if kermit will not be installed then how can I transfer the data. ********/ Basically it is the text data which I want to transfer to the winnt PC. This system is having 8" floopy drive & I also wants to transfer files from 8" floopies to PC. These files are important for me & I want to make backup for these files into the another PC having WIN NT. Please advice me I will be very thankful to you. I am in India. Best regards Kishore --- John Lawson <jpl15(a)panix.com> wrote: > > > Hello Kishore. You do not give enough information > to allow us to be of > much help. > > > Is this a complete system, or do you just have the > diskdrive itself? > > If you have the whole machine, then most likely a > program called 'Kermit' > is installed - you need to also have the Windows > version of Kermit on your > PC, and then connect the serial ports together with > a cable. OR, if you > are lucky enough to have a newer DEC machine with > Ethernet, you can just > hook them up that way. > > If you have only the Drive - is it MFM? EDSI? > SCSI? > > Is it just data you need? ASCII? HEX? Are there > existing programs that > you would need to execute after transferring? Are > they MACRO11? FORTRAN? > BASIC? Pascal? etc... would you need to run one > of the PDP emulators on > your PC? IS this for commercial use? Are you going > to need to license the > OS (from Mentec)? > > Also, where are you? If in the US or Canada, and > you only have the drive > (and the data is important or critical) I would > suggest that you assemble > a DEC system and install the Drive in it, then use > Kermit. If you can't > do that, perhaps you can send the drive to someone > who would install it, > extract the info, and return it to you. Just for > example, I have a > PDP-11/44 system with EDSI drives, 8" floppies, and > a 14" removable-pack > drive. It runs RSX 11M+ V5.03. If possible, you > should know these details > about your Drive, as all of this makes a large > difference in just how to > take the data off. > > You should write your message again to the > classiccmp list, and give all > the details you can think of. That way, we can > steer you in the right > direction. > > > Cheers > > John > > > REF: > > >Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 08:38:58 -0800 (PST) > >From: nk badoni <badoni_nk(a)yahoo.com> > >Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org > >To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > >Subject: Tranfer of Files From RSX-11 > > > >Hello > > > >I am Kishore. > > > >Could you please tell me that how can I tranfer the > >files from Winchester Disk having RSX-11/PDP format > >into a PC having Win NT operating system. > > > >Kishore

23 years, 2 months

HP 9000 "Nova" I-class systems

by jwillis＠arielusa.com

Stan: My CDs were created from ISO images. The files were something like hpux_11_0_disk1.iso.gz and hpux_11_0_disk2.iso.gz I labeled the disks accordingly, and have tried both. Haven't gotten a chance to examine the sectors yet. Will do that now since I'm up with a horrendous case of the flu anyway. :P Thanks! --- John Willis Field Service Engineer Ariel Technologies 505.524.6860 voice 505.524.6863 fax jwillis(a)arielusa.com -----Original Message----- From: Stan Sieler Sent: Tue 2/18/2003 12:26 PM To: John Willis; cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Cc: Subject: RE: HP 9000 "Nova" I-class systems Re: > and I finally got a copy of HP-UX 11.0, but when I try > to boot off the CD (boot 52.2.0.0), it says "Bad LIF magic." I'm told > this means the media is not > bootable. I can boot from CD ... if I use the right CD (I've had similar problems when putting the wrong CD in). What's your CD say on it? Also, if you can read the first few sectors of the CD on another system, what do they look like? Byte 0 should be $80, and bytes 1..3 should be readable ASCII. -- Stan Sieler sieler(a)allegro.com www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html [demime 1.01a removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat]

23 years, 2 months

HP-IB Mass Storage Emulation (Help)

by vp＠mcs.drexel.edu

I have been working for some time on a pet project to make a mass storage emulator for HP-IB systems. Given the massive improvement in capacity that has taken place the past 10 years, most mass storage devices from the 80s look pathetic. For example, take the HP 9133H which is a massive unit that can store about 5Mb. Even the compact flash cards that are bundled with popular digital cameras can do better than that. I started my project by trying to utilize the HP-IB drivers that are part of the NetBSD Open Source Unix clone (which runs on the HP 300 series), but I have come to realize that the HP-IB cards are the creating a new legacy issue. Open Source drivers for HP-IB cards are very hard to find and thus any solution that depends on them becomes de facto legacy (once the card itself is no longer sold, finding the card becomes almost as difficult as finding HP 9133H drives). So I looked hard at the HP-IB bus itself (using the schematics from the Series 80 adaptor) and it looks like a simple parallel bus. So why use a custom card, if the PC parallel port can be adapted to drive an HP-IB bus. If the PC parallel port can be used, then I can port the NetBSD drivers to use the parallel port, rather than the HP 300 HP-IB interface. The NetBSD drivers also support SS-80 compatible mass storage devices, which means that the implementation can be verified against a real HP-IB mass storage device. If this works than the drivers will have to be modified so that they become a mass storage "server" rather than a "client" (i.e. a device that responds to mass storage requests, instead of a computer that issues such requests). Small i386 compatible single board computers are easily procurable and embedded versions of *BSD and Linux systems run on these SBCs (they even accept compact flash cards or more traditional hard disks). This means that we can make a mass storage device that can physically fit inside the cabinet of the main unit (e.g. Integral PC, or HP-87). Anybody willing to provide assistance to this effort, is welcome to contact me. However, I think that going through this list may be more beneficial so that other people can contribute in the technical discussion. **vp

23 years, 2 months

HP 9000 "Nova" I-class systems

by jwillis＠arielusa.com

The system came with no hard drives, no media, and the 4mm tape and CD-ROM were disconnected from the SCSI chain. I was able to get the thing put back together, and I finally got a copy of HP-UX 11.0, but when I try to boot off the CD (boot 52.2.0.0), it says "Bad LIF magic." I'm told this means the media is not bootable. So my question is... how does one install HP-UX if the CD is not bootable? -----Original Message----- From: Bob Brown Sent: Fri 2/14/2003 9:56 AM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Cc: Subject: Re: HP 9000 "Nova" I-class systems What's your question (I support several of these boxes..an 827, a G40 and an H70). -Bob >Anyone out there have experience with HP 9000 "Nova" class systems? >Specifically the 9000/800 I40 especially, but any in the class. > >John bbrown(a)harper.cc.il.us #### #### Bob Brown - KB9LFR Harper Community College ## ## ## Systems Administrator Palatine IL USA #### #### Saved by grace [demime 1.01a removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat]

23 years, 2 months

Going OT Re: (no subject)

by Fred.van.Kempen＠microwalt.nl

Sellam writes: > As I mentioned to you privately, I am not responsible for > flame wars being started over comments I make. Try avoiding off-topic reactionist banter to begin with. You KNOW people are going to bite the bait and start a flame war. I have my opinions on all those events, too, and will share them with whoever wants to hear them, but ON THE APPROPRIATE CHANNELS, which means, not here. --fred

23 years, 2 months

cctalk digest, Vol 1 #461 - 43 msgs

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

> Yes, those damned dirty A-rabs. We all know for a > fact that they use the profits to finance terrorism > because Colin Powell showed us a pretty graphic > that proved it. All those people who have doubts > are just stupid. I don't want to start a to-do on this list, but I couldn't let this pass.. Colin Powell showed real evidence that some people who happen to be from the Middle East (Not sure if Hussein and his people are Arabs) are doing some bad stuff. The discussion is about bad people who happen to be Arab. Not that all Arabs are bad people. And it so happens, that a lot of terrorists in the world today are from the Middle East. Used to be, terrorists were Northern Irish... The fact that some of the worst incidents have been perpetrated by people from the Middle East does not make Americans, British or others wrong for noticing it. If anything, it means that it calls for others in the Middle East to speak up and use the social pressures or peers to put a stop to their fellow citizens (all these bad people must be SOMEONE'S brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, cousins, neighbors...) doing all this bad stuff. The displeasure that is aimed towards Middle Eastern people from people in the West is because this isn't happening. People are being killed daily, and instead of having Millions of people stand up and protest that.... We have millions of people stand up and protest somebody trying to put a stop to it. Yes, I think that's stupid. And I think the people who condemn the police instead of the criminals, are stupid... > We all know a good A-rab is a dead A-rab. Fuck > them. Let's go in there and take their precious > oil from them so they can never use the profits > to finance terrorism anymore. That'll end all > terrorism forever and ever and we can live happily > ever after guzzling all the free oil we want. Not all American's or Westerners believe this. While I would like that Terrorists get no money at all, from any source. And I'm pretty sure lots of Saudi money does indeed go to support terrorism. Drug money from Poppy sales also goes there, and other money goes there also. I would like to see the oil money stay in the Middle East, but used to feed and care for the people there. To provide water, sanitation, schooling, and good lives for the people in Middle Eastern countries. Rather than being spent on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction or persecution of Non Muslim peoples. That is VERY frustrating for Americans. I contribute money to charities all the time, and just get sick when I think of all the Billions of Dollars spent on weapons and death that instead should have been spent on life and making the lives of people better. People who are Anti-American, and Anti-Bush just don't know the truth about Americans or George Bush. They buy all sorts of stories that aren't true. Make up motivations that aren't real. We liberated Kuwait, but if you notice did not take the country over. We returned it to the rightful rulers. We've done the same throughout history. History shows that Americans aren't interested in ruling the world, only liberating other people to be free and happy. So, let's get back to discussing Classic Computers... Regards, Al

23 years, 2 months

Designing around a 6502 (was Re: Assembly on a Apple IIc+)

by dwightk.elvey＠amd.com

Hi There was some software multitasking done on 6502's, as well as other machines. This was done in Forth ( both preemptive and various round robin taskers ). Forth has the advantage that a task state can be saved with just two pointers. You do need to swap task at word boundaries. This can cause a little latency if it is a interrupt driven tasker. ( "word" here refers to the minimum executable unit of the Forth engine and not the address size ). Dwight >From: "Patrick Finnegan" <pat(a)purdueriots.com> > >On Sat, 8 Feb 2003, Jim Keohane wrote: > >> =====excerpt=2====================== >> >> A 6502 task context >> would therefore require moving about 1KB, which would take about 4,500 >> instructions (at one instruction per cycle.) On a circa-1980's machine, >> with a 1MHz clock, that would take about 4.5 msec. > >This gives me awfully devious ideas... First, were there any 'multitasking >machines' designed around the 6502? If you wanted to do multitasking, it >seems like you could design a fairly simple MMU that would swap out the >zero-page and stack (or all of the memory pages) for different ones, >depending on the running task. Leaving only a few registers that need to >be saved, it would leave a very small overhead for task swapping. You >could even implement kernel and user mode into the MMU, making it swap >pages automatically on an interrupt or 'memory write' to signal a syscall >(and a swapping of pages, interrupt to the CPU and transition to 'kernel >mode'). > >I think I'm going to need to start playing with designing a 6502-based >machine now... Or maybe I should just get back to working on putting >machines into racks so I have some floorspace around here to work in. > >Pat >-- >Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS >Information Technology at Purdue >Research Computing and Storage >http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu

23 years, 2 months

Help with my PDP 11/73

by jss＠subatomix.com

On Tuesday, February 18, 2003, chu(a)verizon.net wrote: > Big success and then a new problem. I took out the top three levels of my > cards and reseated them. There's a lot of corrosion on the contacts so it > inserts only with difficulty. Maybe you should clean the contacts! -- Jeffrey Sharp

23 years, 2 months

Fw: FREE VAXstation 4000-60

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Sykes" <anonymous(a)pacbell.net> Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 6:24 PM Subject: FREE VAXstation 4000-60 > > If anyone has an interest in the following old system, let me know ASAP. > I have to be out of my office by EOM and have nowhere to put this. > > Hardware........: VAXstation 4000-60 > Operating System: VMS Ver.V6.1 > *Full License set* > Main Memory (32.00Mb) > 2-RZ56 (1299174 blocks each) > 1-RZ55 (649040 blocks) > 1-RZ24 (409792 blocks) > 2-TK50Z > 1-RD40 > 1-TLZ04 > 1-VRT19DA (VT200 style RGB sync) > > Includes All cables > > > -- > > Have VMS, Will Travel > Wire paladin, San Francisco > > (paladinATalphaseDOTcom)

23 years, 2 months

Slide Rules

by cmcnabb＠4mcnabb.net

In honor of the recent slide rule discussion, I decided to throw a few picks of mine up on the web for all to see. This is just a quick and dirty page. Maybe I'll improve it at some later date. The URL is: http://cmcnabb.cc.vt.edu/sliderulez.html -- Christopher L McNabb Operating Systems Analyst Email: cmcnabb(a)4mcnabb.net Virginia Tech ICBM: 37.1356N 80.4272N GMRS: WPSR255 ARS: N2UX Grid Sq: EM97SD

23 years, 2 months

Looking board DEC boards

by pds3＠ix.netcom.com

I am looking for the following, working or not: KXT11 DRV11-J KE11-B MCV11 MRV11-D VSV21 H780 RWZ01 RC25 RD53 RD54 KDJ11-A, FPJ11 A6006 A1008 and others. We have a lot of equipment to trade. Please let us know what you have. Thank you, Shannon Hoskins pds3(a)ix.netcom.com

23 years, 2 months

Tranfer of Files From RSX-11

by badoni_nk＠yahoo.com

Hello I am Kishore. Could you please tell me that how can I tranfer the files from Winchester Disk having RSX-11/PDP format into a PC having Win NT operating system. Kishore

23 years, 2 months

Wanted: L5-30 Receptacle or Adapter in US

by pzachary＠sasquatch.com

Message: 9 Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 07:21:25 -0600 From: Jeffrey Sharp <jss(a)subatomix.com> To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Wanted: L5-30 Receptacle or Adapter in US Reply-To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org I'm looking for someone in the US with a L5-30 receptacle or an adapter so that I can plug my L5-30-plugged DEC 861PC Power Controller into a standard wall outlet. Thanks! -- Jeffrey Sharp it is really simple to replace the l5-30 with a standard 5-15 or 5-20 for home use anf just keep the plug around "in case" if you really must have a dongle, you should be able to get one from MSC.com Pavl_

23 years, 2 months

Atari 8Bit Fileserver

by livewire＠netadel.com

For any of the atari 8bit folks, I found this on a website this morning: http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/

23 years, 2 months

Cheap to a good home...

by pat＠purdueriots.com

Trying to clear out some more space, and I figure some people might want some of this stuff. * Macintosh Plus 1Mb. It starts up to a flashing disk "?" icon... I don't have any floppies laying around to try booting it off of. No keyboard/mouse. $10 * IBM RS/6000 Model 370 - 32MB or 64MB of ram, depending on what I can scrounge together. Also has Gt3 or Gt4 (option 1-5) audio, network riser card, floppy drive, 1G or so hard drive, AIX 3.1.5 (I think) installed. $20 Pat -- Purdue Universtiy ITAP/RCS Information Technology at Purdue Research Computing and Storage http://www-rcd.cc.purdue.edu

23 years, 2 months

WANTED: IBM PS/2 Model 65 SX or Model 80 386

by jwillis＠arielusa.com

southern New Mexico, USA -----Original Message----- From: SUPRDAVE(a)aol.com Sent: Tue 2/18/2003 1:37 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Cc: Subject: Re: WANTED: IBM PS/2 Model 65 SX or Model 80 386 In a message dated 2/18/2003 2:53:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, jwillis(a)arielusa.com writes: << IBM PS/2 Model 65 SX or IBM PS/2 Model 80 386 these are the full-tower PS/2 systems >> so were are you located? [demime 1.01a removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat]

23 years, 2 months

Fwd: Paging Andreas Freiherr (V-Tel)

by jss＠subatomix.com

Andreas, someone wants to talk to you about V-Tel. If you wish to respond, reply to the original author. ---------- Begin forwarded message ---------- From: Chris Kantarjiev <cak(a)dimebank.com> Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2003, 11:48:44 PM Subject: Rejected post I'm trying to reach Andreas Freiherr. The list archives don't give *his* email address, just the list email address. Can you help me reach him? ---------- End forwarded message ---------- -- Jeffrey Sharp

23 years, 2 months

11/44 basic newbie help request

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I wasn't going to dig into my 11/44 system until I finished the 2000/Access system, but due to circumstances beyond my control I had to dig into it already. I have some really simple basic questions perhaps others can point me in the right direction. First: It would appear the first 8 or so cards are required to be in certain slots. Cpu set basically. If I don't have FPP or CIS stuff, those slots get left blank? Do any grant or jumper type cards need to be there if FPP and CIS cards aren't present? Do you need to change jumpers/switches on the other cards that make up the cpu if there is no FPP or CIS? After the cpu set comes memory. I know these need to be set for what area of memory the card is for. But according to the cover on the lid, there is about 4 slots for memory. Then there is a jumper card that joins the two backplans, 9300 or 9200 I think. I have an 8 port mux card. I assume it can't go in the memory slots. So do the empty memory slots (don't have enough memory cards to fill all 4 slots) neet any kind of grant card? If I recall correctly, after the memory is the jumper card that joins the two backplanes... the 8 port mux could go next? And then next I'll put in a RL01/02 controller. Then there is a buss termination card...I assume that goes right after the RL01/02, are there any other jumper/termination/grant cards that need to be in place? Also, from what I recall of the Qbus stuff I have, the various peripheral cards need to be set for where they appear in memory, the address of the card, correct? So.. need to find docs on the 8 port mux and the RL01/02 controller. Second: Looking at the TU-58 drive, the rubber rollers in each drive appear to be highly questionable - pretty gummy. What's the best way to fix those rubber rollers? I was thinking of cleaning off the rubber, and maybe getting a vacuum cleaner belt and building a new surface by cutting it to size and wrapping it around the metal cylinder. Just how touchy is the parameter for the diameter of that wheel if I'm off, making it slightly thinner or thicker? Is there a better way? Third: I'm looking for just the top cover of the lowboy rack the 11/44 is in, and another rack of the same exact style to put my two RL02's in. Don't know what the rack is called, but it's the standard cream colored lowboy rack that the 11/44 is typically seen in that has an opening in the front door for the dual TU-58 drive. Thanks in advance for any guidance! Jay West

23 years, 2 months

Slide rule article in today's Wall Street Journal

by evan947＠yahoo.com

Hi listmates, some might be interested in this: - Evan K. ========================= Calculating Collector Scours Globe Hunting for Slide Rules By PUI-WING TAM Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL KELOWNA, British Columbia -- Walter Shawlee opened a wooden case and lovingly pulled out a 12-inch piece of Lucite etched with numbers and symbols. "There are only so many of these remaining," he said. To virtually anyone old enough to remember the slide rule, it's an ancient relic that was deservedly consigned to the trash bin. Not so to Mr. Shawlee, 53, who has launched an international hunt for these mathematical instruments that use logarithmic scales to multiply, divide and make more complex calculations. Mr. Shawlee taps his network of contacts from Singapore to Venezuela to check out the back rooms of musty stationery stores and bookshops. He has recruited his wife, Susan, to track down old slide-rule inventories. And he spends up to eight hours a day restoring battered slide rules, and combing the Internet, estate sales and flea markets. He says he makes $125,000 a year reselling slide rules he acquires. "When we used slide rules every day back in the 1960s, we were able to send people to the moon," says Mr. Shawlee, who came of age when the device was still the rule in trigonometry class. Slide rules, which resemble either rulers or discs, were a boon to the mathematically minded and a bane to everyone else. To multiply two times two, for example, the user moves the "zero" of one scale to the number two on another scale. Then the user looks at the number two on the first scale, and above that is the number four. Confused? So were many other people, which is why the slide-rule industry took a big hit in 1972, when Hewlett-Packard Co. launched its first scientific hand-held calculator. Almost overnight, demand for slide rules dried up, wiping out venerable manufacturers such as Pickett Inc. and Keuffel & Esser Co. and leaving boxes of unopened slide rules in stores, warehouses and schools. In the ensuing decades, a flicker of interest in the instruments was kept alive by a small community of collectors. In Emeryville, Calif., enthusiasts formed a society to show off their collections. In Dallas, some collectors still hold an annual competition to see who can make the speediest calculations. But slide rules are more than quirky bric-a-brac to the true believers. Many engineers still swear by them. Some teachers today are reintroducing the devices into classrooms, arguing that they foster more-complex thought processes than electronic calculators do. At the University of California in San Diego, Prof. Joe Pasquale launched a freshman seminar on slide rules in January. "I always felt we lost something when we stopped using slide rules," says Mr. Pasquale. "They're so much more an extension of your mind than a replacement to it." A slide rule made by A.W. Faber Castell Vertrieb GmbH, now discontinued, is one of the most popular models among collectors. The problem is slide rules are getting harder to find. Of the few manufacturers that survived the calculator tsunami, most produce only a few types of slide rules and often in limited numbers. Concise Co. in Japan still makes circular slide rules, for example, but the quantity "has become much smaller," says spokeswoman Chiho Takayama. American Slide Chart Corp. in Carol Stream, Ill., annually makes 25 million cardboard slide-charts, which are similar to slide rules, but they are "largely promotional," says Julie Johnson, the company's president. Thus, many would-be buyers turn to Mr. Shawlee. "He's Mr. Slide Rule," says Ted Hume, a 64-year-old engineer in San Angelo, Texas, who sold off part of his slide-rule collection to Mr. Shawlee several years ago. "Walter knows everybody in the slide-rule racket. He does everyone lots of favors and he'll buy slide rules from you or barter them." Mr. Shawlee's impressive slide-rule stash was on display one recent morning at his crammed office in this Canadian resort and winery town, a 40-minute flight inland from Vancouver. Several hundred slide rules, most in mint condition and in their original boxes, were stacked floor- to-ceiling in a room where Mr. Shawlee also runs a business that repairs and designs engineering equipment. At home, he has another 1,000 or so slide rules scattered across the dining table, in his home office and in his sauna. At any one time, Mr. Shawlee, a transplanted Californian who emigrated to Canada three decades ago, has 1,500 to 3,000 slide rules in stock. He says he acquires about 10% of his inventory through eBay, while the rest comes from private sales and through his extensive network of slide-rule hunters. He resells many of the slide rules for as little as $10. Some models go for $600, depending on the rarity of the rule, and he can sell a truly uncommon one for as much as $3,000. Mr. Shawlee fell into the slide-rule trade shortly after he accidentally rediscovered his old high-school slide rule in a desk drawer in 1992. "My eyeballs snapped open," he says, recalling how he carried his slide rule on his belt as a kid. "There's just something magic about them." He started a collection, setting up an informational Web site on the devices in 1997. He received dozens of inquiries from people asking where they could buy the instruments. TELL ME A STORY Read selected excerpts from the anthology "Floating Off the Page: The Best of The Wall Street Journal's 'Middle Column.' " That was when Mr. Shawlee started amassing stockpiles of slide rules from other collectors. Over a few months, he bought more than 300. "Are you trying to corner the slide-rule market?" his wife nervously asked him as the hoard continued to grow. Mr. Shawlee always puts aside about $5,000 in cash to be ready to wire for a purchase. One of his largest hauls came several years ago from a contact in Singapore, attorney Foo Cheow Ming, whom he met via an e-mail correspondence. After one e-mail discussion with Mr. Shawlee, Mr. Foo went to an old bookstore in downtown Singapore and asked the owner whether he had any slide rules. "How many crates do you want?" the owner replied. In the back room, Mr. Foo discovered 40 unopened crates, containing more than 12,000 slide rules of all types. "I found the mother lode," says Mr. Foo, who had no interest in setting up his own slide-rule dealership and shipped most of the crates off to Mr. Shawlee, who paid a bit more than $8,000 for the lot. "Since then, I've never stopped hunting for Walter. I've gone to Kuala Lumpur to look and still plan to go to Penang, Bangkok and Shanghai to find some," Mr. Foo says. "It's all in the thrill of the hunt."

23 years, 2 months

WANTED: IBM PS/2 Model 65 SX or Model 80 386

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 2/18/2003 2:53:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, jwillis(a)arielusa.com writes: << IBM PS/2 Model 65 SX or IBM PS/2 Model 80 386 these are the full-tower PS/2 systems >> so were are you located?

23 years, 2 months

Transfer of Files From RSX-11 (fwd)

by jpl15＠panix.com

I wrote this gentleman off-list (as the S/N ratio is rather out of hand just now) and asked some basic questions... mainly trying to find if he had just a disk, or the who thing. Follows is my reply to his response; if anyone can jump in with more or better info for him, please respond directly and cc: the list. The meta question is: what's he gonna do with the system once the data is mined?? Cheers John ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:47:25 -0500 (EST) From: John Lawson <jpl15(a)panix.com> To: nk badoni <badoni_nk(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Transfer of Files From RSX-11 On Tue, 18 Feb 2003, nk badoni wrote: > Hello John > > Thank you very much for your kind reply. > > Yes it is a complete system. Ah... this makes the process *much* easier! A bit of info now would be: what is the model of your DEC system? (ie PDP 11/23, VAX 11/750, PRO350... etc) > > I have checked Kermit but I could not find this S/W > there. Might be my process was wrong. Hmmm... a lot of RSX systems had Kermit as part of the Distribution Kit.. you can try: MCR> DIR kerm*.*,* but if your disk is big and you CPU slow, this can take upto an hour to complete. OR, you can use a Terminal Emulating program on your Wintel machine (I use VanDyke's CRT on my IBM Thinkpad running Win2K). Then, find the file(s) you want, and use the RSK 'type' command to list them to the port you are attached (logically and physically) to. Use your terminal program's "logging" or "screen capture" function, and... there you are! The files are safe on your PC. (This assumes you have a multi-port set of serial terminal connectors attached to the computer. This procedure can also be done using the PC terminal emulator attached to the DEC system console port. The object is to list the files as an ASCII stream and capture that listing on the PC's HD. This will work with any storage media on your DEC computer, HDs or Floppies, by the way. Please write to the classiccmp list during this process, and we will all try to help out as much as possible. I will also forward this correspondence to the List. Cheers John

23 years, 2 months

TLC Ideas for LA120 Keyboard?

by jss＠subatomix.com

Well, my DEC LA120 is almost perfectly operational. Its only problem is a set of keys that do not work when pressed. I'd like to fix that. What I see when I remove the keycap is a square plastic housing that slides vertically within a larger square plastic housing. The smaller housing slides down when one presses a key. A spring below the smaller square housing pushes the housing back up when the key is no longer pressed. Up through the smaller housing shoot two electrical contacts. The contacts are fixed and do not slide with the housing. When the key is up, a plastic bar across the middle of the smaller housing holds the two contacts apart. When the key moves down, the bar moves down and no longer holds the contacts apart. The contacts touch and complete a circuit, and the LA120 senses a keystroke. Top view (key not pressed): +-A------------------+ | +-B-----+-+------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | D |C| E | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------+-+------+ | +--------------------+ Side view (key pressed): | | /\ | | A B / \ | | | | D E | | | | / +--+ \ | | | | / |C | \ | | | | / +--+ \ | | | +----------------+ | | /\/\/\/\F/\/\/\/\/ | +--------------------+ A = Outer (fixed) housing B = Inner (sliding) housing C = Bar that holds contacts apart when not pressed D = Electrical contact E = Electrical contact F = Spring The problem is that the circuit isn't being closed when the key is pressed. If I stick a screwdriver in there, bridge the gap between the contact, and thus close it manually, a keypress is sensed. Actually, it senses several keypresses very quickly, probably because of the noise caused by the conductive screwdriver scraping across the contacts. When I press the housing down, the contacts *appear* to touch, but no keystroke is sensed. So I figure there are either or both of two possible things going on: (1) Tiny space between the contacts (2) Nonconductive material (corrosion? oxidation?) on the contacts Two keys were fixed by using the screwdriver to bend the contacts toward each other in the hopes of creating more force pushing them towards each other. The ENTER key does not seem to be responding well to that treatment. One thing is for sure. All this stuff is so tiny and hard to get to that it is difficult to work on. Any suggestions? -- Jeffrey Sharp

23 years, 2 months

looking to get a VAX 11/750

by jwillis＠arielusa.com

Who was your contact on the east coast? I'm in New Mexico and have a VAX 11/750 that I've been struggling to complete. If it was $250 for shipping + $150 for the VAX, I'd be quite inclined to let mine go for $250 and then spend the extra $150 to get a complete one from the east coast person. -----Original Message----- From: pzachary Sent: Tue 2/18/2003 11:13 AM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Cc: Subject: looking to get a VAX 11/750 It seemed to me before I called up someone out on the east coast and bought a VAX-11/750 for $150=/- then spent $250 or so shipping it that I should try the list. I want a VAX 11/750 for old times sake and as a peripheral for my pdp-11s... anyone have one for sale/trade/...? Thought I'd rather a local had the money to buy inflated pdp-8 spares or something than giving it all to a shipping company. I'm located in santa Cruz CA and am willing to pick up within a couple hundred miles. I would really like to get out of this for less than $400 (really $250 seems like a fair price(that's what they sold the one I ran out from under me when the funding ran out and I was on vacation for (rant ends)) but I'll take what I can get) further, I have much of a card set and a power supply or two, so if I get a incomplete one that's O.K. thanks, Pavl_ sorry about the joining in of the rant/flame thing RE:politics, I can usually restrain myself but sometimes when it goes on... and to respond to the digest-delayed list makes it worse I know(I've at least changed the last bit) [demime 1.01a removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat]

23 years, 2 months

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