test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 28, 19:53, Sellam Ismail wrote: > The next step is to wire in the data signals and start to read data. The > VIA gives me two 16-bit ports and an additional 4-bit port. That's an odd VIA. You mean a single 6522, right? It has two bidirectional 8-bit ports, each of which has 2 associated handshake lines. Each of the bidirection lines can be set to be an input or an output, so it might seem like you have 16 possible inputs and 16 possible outputs -- but you only have 16 connections (plus 4 handshake). > Anyway, I'm in the process of figuring it out. Everything on the card is > accessed through it's I/O addresses, being C080 + (slot * 16). So I have > it in slot 4 which makes all it's I/O available at C0C0-C0CF. I've found > the timer locations and some 16-bit registers. The only 16-bit parts of a 6522 are the timers. Timer 1 is a 16-bit counter accessed as two adjacent 8-bit bytes, and two 8-bit latches (used to reload it when it counts down to zero). Timer 2 is a 16-bit counter accessed as two adjacent 8-bit bytes, without latches (so useful only for counting pulses, or as a one-shot interval timer). > I also found by accident a > timer that generates a RESET interrupt when it elapses--at least that's > the theory I'm going under since the Apple reset itself after I was > playing with the registers. I also believe I remember there being this > feature on the 6522, but I haven't had a chance to read that part of the > docs yet. A 6522 doesn't have any pin that would normally go to the RESET line, but it does have an interrupt output. If you set something in register 14 (the Interrupt Enable Register) and a timer timed out, or you created a transition on one of the handshake lines, the 6522 would generate an interrupt. The interrupts on a standard Apple ][, ][+ or //e aren't used -- it does all normal operations by polling, which is why it's so slow for some things -- and an interrupt causes the processor to jump to a location in the ROM. Just where depends on the ROM, but in an original Monitor ROM or an Autostart ROM, it ends up either going directly to the same routine as BRK does (which will perform the equivalent of a soft reset) or jumps through a vector which you're supposed to set up first. If you've not preset that, I think it ends up in the BRK routine (it certainly does in an Autostart ROM). > One thing I'd like to investigate after I'm done with this is to see if > there are enough inputs on the Apple itself to forgo the necessity of the > 6522. The Game I/O port has 7 inputs, if you count the 4 joystick inputs > that can be used as simple TTL inputs, plus the 3 push-button inputs. The > other inputs would be the keyboard. It has 10 Y-inputs and 6 X-inputs, > plus SHIFT and CONTROL. Er, not exactly. As Tony pointed out, the keyboard includes a decoder (called a ROM in the manual), and the key matrix is decoded by scanning. Either the X or Y lines are outputs (the manual doesn't say which, but IIRC it's the Y lines). Only SHIFT, CTRL, and SHIFT LOCK are plain inputs, and they only serve to modify the 7-bit code sent to the motherboard. > If so, then there should be enough combinations of inputs on the keyboard > port to allow the data signals to go through that, and then the GAME I/O > has just enough inputs to cover all the status signals (HOPPER CHECK, > MOTION CHECK, ERROR, BUSY, INDEX MARK, and READY). I would just use the 6522. You need 12 data, plus 6 status listed above. Is there also a strobe of some sort (or is that READY?)? 8 lines on port A, plus 4 on port B for the data, CA1 for the READY or strobe, and some mixture of the remaining 4 data lines and the other three handshake lines should do it. Don't bother with interrupts to start with. Leave the IER all zeros, and just poll the IFR to look for the flag for CA1. Or just poll it looking for a negative number (which means bit 7 is set, which means one of the other flags is also set). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 3 months

Can't figure out CA and CB ports on 6522

by foo＠siconic.com

I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to use the CA and CB ports on the 6522 as inputs. From the documentation I have, it seems the CA port can be used for one TTL input, and CB can be used as two. But how do you set them up as such? The documentation is confusing. I'll sleep on it and see if either a) I wake up refreshed and figure it out or b) wake up and find a nice helpful message waiting here ;) Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

23 years, 3 months

DIY Equipment Racks

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 29, 22:06, R. D. Davis wrote: > While thinking about racks to use for mounting my PDP-11/44 > components, as well as other equipment from test equipment to audio > and synth equipment, something just occured to me: why bother with > hunting down steel racks when some 2x4s and lag bolts may suffice just > as well? I was thinking that one can just run 2x4s from the basement > floor up to the heavy wooden rafters, attach them to the rafters, and > then add horizontal supports at the bottom to space the vertical 2x4s > apart properly. Any thoughts on this? I guess the museum-type > equipment purists won't like the idea, but it would be a cheap and > functional solution for many of us. :-) Has anyone else here tried > this? Not exactly this, but in addition to (and adjacent to) my racks, I have some adjustable shelving which uses cantilever brackets, fitted to upright rails that are screwed to the 2"x4" vertical "studs" in the wall. The brackets are 610mm (about 24") long and so the shelves are 750mm (~30") deep. The brackets and rails are Spur "Steel-Lok" type and each pair of brackets is rated to hold 75kg (175lb). I tested their security by climbing up them before I entrusted my precious computers and VR14 to them, so I'm sure a 2x4 frame will hold any reasonable amount of rackmount equipment *providing* you have appropriate fixings. http://www.spurshelving.com/html/tech/steel.htm will show you the stuff I used, I'm sure there's something similar in the States. I used a baby version of the same stuff for shelves on a couple of steel-framed trolleys. HOWEVER, the real utility of a rack is that you can mount things on rails and slide them out whilst they're still connected; and that you can adjust the position of things as more interesting equipment comes along (thanks, James! [1]). In fact, it's very hard to work on some things unless you can slide them out part-way, like my PDP-8/E (which is slightly poorly ATM, but that's another story) or most of my PDP-11s. More than that, it's practically impossible to *use* certain things unless you can slide them out -- you need to slide an RL01/RL02 halfway out of the rack to change the disk pack, for example. Those b***s are heavy, and you really do want to use the proper rails. With the ball-bearing rails, changing an RL02 pack is an operation you can do without thinking about it; without, it becomes a "put it off until next week" job. The first catch is that rails and other (static) rackmount equipment are intended to fit precisely-spaced holes. Despite what some people think, they're neither random nor equally spaced (forgive me if you know this). They're in groups of three with one hole in the centre and one each 5/8" above and below, leaving 1/4" between the centre of the upper (or lower) hole and the start of the next U. In other words, the spacing goes 5/8", 5/8", 1/2", 5/8", 5/8", 1/2", ... and 1 rack unit (1U) is 1_3/4". American-style racks (RETMA?) use round holes, sized to be a good clearance for No.10 machine screws (or M5 m/screws) and are used with Tinnerman nuts. European racks use square holes, to which you fit cage nuts (usually M6 but sometimes M5), and the centre hole of each 1U group has, by convention, a little notch at the side, so it's easy to see where the centre of each 1U space is. For that reason alone, it would be much easier to buy the upright flanges which have the holes pre-punched in the right places. They look like overgrown Dexion angle, or steel angle with a lot of holes (front face) and slots (side, for mounting to the uprights). You can get them here in sizes >from 3U to 48U (common sizes are 3U, 6U, 12U, 18U, 32U, 42U, 48U). Price depends on quality (ie, strength) but they're not expensive. I bought a 24U strip and cut it up for my "hub of the universe" wiring rack. That's a 14" deep 6U high frame with sides of 1" square steel tube and flat-strip cross members at the back, mounted over the workshop door. It holds my main Ethernet switch, and several patch panels for UTP, coax, and fibre. Another reason to buy the proper uprights is that some rails, notably those for an RX02, PDP-8/E, and various other devices, fit to the back surface of the flange, not the front (as most "static" equipment does). If your wooden uprights are the right distance apart to directly fit the sort of equipment that has mounting "ears", ie screwing the ears straight into the front of the wood, you'll never be able to fit most types of slide rails, unless you do a bit of woodwork to provide a rebate. Ditto for most shelves, both static and sliding, except cantilever shelves (which fit from the front surface only, but cost more than ordinary ones). > Lastly, has anyone on this list tried retrofitting non-rack-mount > equipment into racks? E.g., welding (or "JB Weld"ing) rack-mount tabs > onto systems like PCs and Kaypros, as well as making rack-mountable > shelves to hold the Macintoshes, etc.? Rackmount shelves are good for that -- just make sure you have enough, or you end up with systems on top of each other again. Cantilever shelves are particularly good because you can always get at the mounting screws, which are only on the front. Conventional shelves are much cheaper but you need to be able to get your hand and screwdriver into the gap between the shelves to reach the screws on the underside of the shelf you're moving -- oh, and BTW they screw into the sides, which will be a little awkward with big woodscrews. We use lots of rackmount shelves at work, for PCs (mostly running Linux) and Sparcs that weren't designed to rackmount. Otherwise, just screw a bracket onto each side of the case. The screws needn't be very large, as most of the forces are in shear. Self-tapping screws will do for most metal cases, machine screws with washers and nuts on the inside for plastic. I wouldn't weld things. Cases are thin, usually zinc plated (nasty fumes), and hard to weld. I certainly wouldn't use epoxy or anything like that. If you ever want to remove the brackets, two or three small holes in each side is much better than the mess a broken weld or epoxy will leave. A few other thoughts: As someone else pointed out, having the side panels makes a big difference to the sound level. It might also make a big difference to the airflow, though, which is why proper racks have fans of their own, normally in the top :-) It's obvious that the width between the uprights is important, but just in case you're wondering, the depth is not (much). A lot of things are front-fixing-only, and most rails are adjustable. Anyway, most flanges have slots rather than holes for mounting, so some adjustment is possible. I can only think of two items where the exact depth matters: my SGI Origin 2000 (which has two slightly superfluous brackets at the back), and an RL01/2 drive, where the shipping bracket is supposed to be fitted to the rear flange (which therefore has to be a particular distance from the front flange). Nevertheless, there are standard depths, like 600mm, 800mm, and 950mm (in Europe) but they're more a matter of convenience. FYI, a standard DEC rack measures exactly 25" from front surface of front flange to back surface of back flange. To be honest, I think you'd be better off finding a secondhand rack. It will already have all the right holes, possibly the side panels, and if it has casters, it might be more versatile than a fixed frame. Providing the casters are strong enough to take the total weight (ie not intended to be supplemented or replaced by jacking-screw feet) it's useful to be able to move a rack a small amount from time to time. Don't forget you need access to the back as well as the front! [1] James is a list member who has occasionally helped me shuffle a PDP-11/40 up and down a rack. No need to remove the power supply if he's around :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 3 months

WWII fire control 'computers'

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, >> Does anyone know anything about the mechanical fire control computers >> as used in second world war for UK coastal defence batteries? > > You might try posting this question to the guys that know, on the > coastal-defense mail list (yes, there is a list for geeks of all kinds). > I can post the question to the list, if you wish. hey, that'd be much appreciated if you can forward my posting on my behalf. It's probably worth me joining at some point anyway - I've visited most of the coastal defence sites in the UK, but those have all been stripped of nearly all metal. The site in New Zealand seems quite unique just because it is largely intact - power generation and hydraulics are all still present and we hope to have engine room systems running again one day. The 9.2" guns went for scrap years ago, but there are still a few examples left around the world. Having a gun moving around on the hillside under its own power would be pretty cool! > Getting any information or artifacts will be very difficult - about as > close to impossible as you can get. The reason for this is post-war, the > fire control computers were of little use (they do exactly one function) and > have large scrap values (for example, a Mk IV TDC has about a _pound_ of > gold inside). When the mechanisms were scrapped, the manuals were simply > thrown away. that is a lot of gold! A lot of other documentation relating to the site has survived in city archives, including manuals, site plans, the fortress record book etc. but for some reason information relating to the fire control systems vanished - almost as though someone had a paranoia attack and purposely destroyed it. There's a rumour that there is one photo of the computer somewhere - I'm trying to trace its wherabouts at the moment. >> It's possible that the unit shared a lot of commonality with ship-based >> systems, in some cut-down form or other, but I haven't yet located anyone >> who can confirm this. > > Possibly. They probably would be cut down, as there are less variables to > deal with - not being on a ship means that you can eliminate the stable > element and gyrocompass inputs. yes, that's what I figured. Logically there are common elements between the systems, and probably enough to justify sharing of parts. Of course, whether this sort of foresight happened or whether the Army took the Navy's equipment and simply trimmed redundant functionality out is debatable! They may well have been completely different systems... (the 9.2" guns were ex-navy and I believe the hydraulic systems were shared too, but of course that doesn't mean to say that fire control systems were at all related) > I am very interested in these things (I think the fire control collection > now outweighs the computer collection). literally, I imagine - those mechanical systems must be pretty heavy :-) cheers Jules __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page >from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

23 years, 3 months

(no subject)

by fm.arnold＠gmx.net

>Message: 3 >Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 20:46:01 -0600 >Subject: DEC 3000 300X/300 >From: Bradley Slavik <fire(a)dls.net> >To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> >Reply-To: cctech(a)classiccmp.org > >I finally am almost within reach of getting my DEC 3000 300 working. A few >years ago I foolishly purchased it without memory, thinking it would be a >simple matter to inexpensively pick up some memory later. How wrong I was. >Now I have purchased a DEC 3000 300X with 160MB memory with the intention of >lending 32MB to the 300. > My 300LX uses 8 or 32 mb 72 pin FPM-DIMM's (with Parity, that's important!). Did not try 16 or 64 mb modules, anyone else? >Now I look at the back of the machine and my main >question is what cable do I need to hook up my VT220, or my VT420, or what >model monitor with keyboard and mouse is this thing supposed to work with? > >In a typical DEC fashion, in the manual they do not mention model numbers of >monitor to go with it, but there are rough instructions that I may be able >to follow to get dumb terminal console working. I would ideally like to have >real monitor on 300X, Read the manual at page 1-3 for supported monitors. I think you are aware of Keyboard-mouse Cable 17-02640-01 and the DEC-protocol of the mouse. Otherwise see: http://www.netclique.net/oldmouse/Hawley/DEC-VAX.html or http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal/dec_mouse_news.txt http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:mzthompson%40aol.com&hl=de&lr =lang_en&ie=UTF-8&selm=20021016091543.01470.00001267%40mb-mb.aol.com&rnum=4 (on one line). > >VT420 on 300, leaving my VT220 free for my MicroVax II. > Any ascii-terminal will work, use 9600 baud setting. I just tried to connect a VT220 to my 300LX to the 25 pole D-connector (plug 4 on page 3-6) and was successful with a BC22A-25 cable. (Dont forget to detach the keyboard from 300LX!) It takes about 1-2 minutes before the first text appears to the serial terminal. Output comes just after the 3-tone melody. Build-in CRT-output comes much faster. I have a VR297-DA, and tried to connect it to the 300LX to no success. (There is some picture and synchronisation, but the information appears 5 times adjacent, and is not readable.) Either this monitor does not match the 300LX or the video-setup of the internal adapter has the wrong parameters. Anyone some clues about this? To what workstation will the VR297-DA fit? I hope this helps you. Frank Arnold

23 years, 3 months

Sun workstation and HP 98789A monitor?

by rdd＠rddavis.org

Tonight while looking for a wall wart for an old Hayes modem, I discovered something that I didn't know I had: some sort of monitor cable adapter. At one end is a Sun workstation style monitor connector from which four cables are connected to BNC connectors with reg, green, blue and white labels. Does anyone on this group knows if it will work with an HP (Sony) 98789A fixed frequency monitor which has R, G, B and HD and VD sync connectors (can I use just one of these syncs?). I'd hook it up to see if it works without asking, but I'd prefer not to have to carry the monitor down to the basement if it isn't going to work. :-) -- Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

23 years, 3 months

WWII fire control 'computers'

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi, A bit (er, lot!) of a long shot this, but it's probably vaguely on-topic... Does anyone know anything about the mechanical fire control computers as used in second world war for UK coastal defence batteries? I did some restoration work out in New Zealand earlier in the year on a wartime coastal battery which was built to a British design, and used British systems. Unfortunately all information on 'out' plotting-room computer mysteriously vanished in the 1950's, and the unit itself sadly was cut up for scrap value many years ago. It'd be nice to get some information on possible units though just for something to show on site open days. It's possible that the unit shared a lot of commonality with ship-based systems, in some cut-down form or other, but I haven't yet located anyone who can confirm this. I seem to recall a few posts about US equivalent systems a few years back, so there's probably a few current list members who are interested in this sort of system despite the units being non-electronic in nature! cheers, Jules __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page >from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

23 years, 3 months

TMS9900 Lives! (fwd)

by spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu

Spotted on the ti99 list on YahooGroups. ----- Forwarded message ----- X-Apparently-To: ti99-4a{{{at}}}yahoogroups.com To: ti99-4a{{{at}}}yahoogroups.com Message-id: <200212292023.NAA07743(a)aztec2.asu.edu> X-eGroups-From: dlormand{{{at}}}aztec.asu.edu (DAVID L. ORMAND) Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 13:23:55 -0700 (MST) Subject: [ti-99/4a] TMS9900 Lives! Just thought you guys would get a charge out of this: Regardless of what anyone else thinks, the Army thinks we will be at war with Iraq imminently. So the old TOW team has been busy through the Christmas break. And I got to play with 9989 assembly again! Joy! Furthermore, since the old development tools don't seem to be working anymore (VAX and HP9000), I had to drag in one of my TI-99/4A systems to do module testing! Much to the amusement of the rest of the team! The old dog still lives! For users/owners of TI-99/4A and compatibles everywhere! To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: ti99-4a-unsubscribe{{{at}}}eGroups.com ----- End of forwarded message ----- -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu -- Less talk, more synthohol. -- Lt. Worf, Star Trek: TNG ---------------------

23 years, 3 months

Qs about big tape drives

by jss＠subatomix.com

All right. College is over, and I'm starting to map out plans for my Machine Room of Ultimate Power (Consumption). Trouble is, my 850 sq ft house is not much bigger than an apartment. I've found that vertical storage is my friend here, and I want to use as much of that as I can. I've got this Kennedy 9300 tape transport. It's big like a DEC TE16 and has vacuum columns and such. It will live at the top of a rack. Unfortunately...um...I've never actually *used* one of these big tape drives, or any tape drive for that matter, and I can find zilch docs on it. Are there going to be problems with sticking anything else (storage or processor) under it? Specifically, would vibrations from the 9300 cause problems (e.g. alignment) with a disk drive (e.g. RK05) mounted below it? Could vibrations cause problems (e.g. cards working themselves out of the backplane) with a processor (e.g. 11/34)? -- Jeffrey Sharp

23 years, 3 months

Manual(s) for Fluke 9010 Troubleshooter 8080 and 8085 pods?

by alandevlin＠bigpond.com

Gidday Tony, you may wish to check my WEBSITE ! I have the (almost) complete SET of Service Manuals for this hardware. Cheers. Alan. Alan Devlin. RF RESALE... where Honesty & Integrity are paramount ! Melbourne, Australia. WEB PAGE URL http://www.users.bigpond.com/alandevlin/index.html manual(s) for Fluke 9010 Troubleshooter 8080 and 8085 pods? Tony Eros cctech(a)classiccmp.org Sun Oct 13 18:59:32 2002 Previous message: manual(s) for Fluke 9010 Troubleshooter 8080 and 8085 pods? Next message: 10 years Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

23 years, 3 months

VAX 11/780 anyone with some working experience out there?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>As for a second RX01, I cannot help you. On the 86x0 you have a command to say that you really want >to play with a second RL02 instead of the standard one, but it's not very easy to use, and not >really ment for customers to play with. Then again, there isn't even a DIR command on the 86x0 >console (nor a command file to do the same). I should read those 8600 manuals but, not having an actual 8600, I lack the incentive :-) On the 11/780 that I used briefly many years ago, you could get to the console devices by doing CONNECT CONSOLE within SYSGEN and then the CSA0: and CSA1: devices were available (this is under VMS). The EXCHANGE utility could then get to the RT-11 formatted data. Similar deal for the VAX 82x0/83x0 and its RX50. I'd expect that something similar would apply to the VAX 8600. >As for copying the RX01. Install VMS on a drive, and play with that. >You have a command file for making copies of the console media there. I seem to remember Gunther and VMS not being such good friends last time around on a VAX 6000 - maybe he should try a smaller system first :-) I'm pretty sure that something like: $ SYSGEN SYSGEN> CONNECT CONSOLE SYSGEN> EXIT $ MOUNT/FOREIGN CSA1: $ HELP EXCHANGE should help (OK - I forget how to drive exchange!). I don't remember whether the console devices will be CSA1: and CSA2: or CSA0: and CSA1: ... SHOW DEVICE CS will sort that out. Merry Christmas, Antonio arcarlini(a)iee.org

23 years, 3 months

M200 interfacing

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Sellam Ismail <foo(a)siconic.com> wrote: > Whether this will work depends on how punch card encoding works. From > what I can tell so far, there will only ever be one of the 1-9 numbered > rows punched per column, but there can be any combination of the 0, 11, > and 12 rows. Is this correct? No. Symbol characters do not follow this rule, for example the period character '.' is encoded as punches in rows 12, 3, and 8. You should assume that any combination of rows may be punched. As a general rule, I think you'll find that for cards containing printable characters, no more than 3 punches are made in any column, but I don't think you can assume this for cards containing binary data. Doug Jones has a page that you should look at: <http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/codes.html> ...but I can't get there right now, so you might need to look in Google's cache (long URL w/wrap): <http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:AeJS4EmmG4gC:www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/c…> -Frank McConnell

23 years, 3 months

Incredible Find

by marvin＠rain.org

Well, occassionally we stumble across something that is kind of unusual at a great price! Yesterday at TRW, Dave (senior moment, can't remember his last name but former member of this list) told me about a Heath 3400 microprocessor for sale. Turned out that the guy had the Heath Microprocessor trainer AND and a mostly unbuilt (resistors only soldered in the board) Heath I/O interface; both were in the original box and included the original manual! I have seen very few of the Heath interface units, and finding one that was essentially unbuilt was ... inspiring :)!!!

23 years, 3 months

Dinosaur Computer Company?

by netsurfer_x1＠fastmailbox.net

I had a friend who was telling me once about a computer company he had heard of called, oddly enough, Dinosaur Computers. If memory serves me right, they were based out of the state he was living in at the time (either Michigan or Wisconsin, I don't remember which). Anyone know anything about these guys? -- David Vohs netsurfer_x1(a)fastmailbox.net -- http://fastmail.fm - A fast, anti-spam email service.

23 years, 3 months

Sound Computer Trades

by rdd＠rddavis.org

An explanation of the title: I'm looking to trade some of my surplus classic computer, and other, equipment for used pro-sound equipment (what I'm looking for is listed at the end) Some of what's available for trade: * A large, double-height, non-DEC, Qbus expansion chasis, complete with it's own power supply, lighted power switch, etc. on the front panel. This is rather large and heavy. * A set of DECVoice cards for a q-bus VAX * Kaypro IV computer * Many Sun-3 VME-bus boards (sorry, still no complete list of these) that have taken over too large a part of the garage and the top of my workbench. What I do know is that there are many CG3 boards that I'd like to get rid of, along with graphics accellerators, etc. If you've discussed these before with me, please don't hesitate to pester me to check to see if I have a board that you're looking for... sometimes I forget, and sometimes there are other things in the way of my getting to these boards. * PDP-11/03 chasis (may or may not have any boards, such as a CPU, in it) * 25" Zenith picture tube from the 1970's or earlier (I've no idea what to do with this, but it would be a shame to toss it in the trash... it's been taking up space for a couple of decades, and I'd like to find a good home for it). Somewhere, I may even have the solid metal front panel that goes with it. Buy this tube (for a ridiculously low price!), and I'll toss in the front panel for *free* if I can find it ...don't delay, as this special bonus offer may expire within the next decade or so! :-) * 17" HP color monitor * 19" Apollo color monitor * Apollo DN3500 with color board. * Parts for a PDP-11/34A, including power supply in bits, front panel, assorted hardware such as cables and screws, boards, etc. Just add a chasis and you may find that you have nearly a working system... maybe you can even convince me to part with the real core memory for it! * A Falco 5000 (F5000?) terminal that needs a few adjustments * A Macintosh 512K * A 19" wide rack-mountable slide-out drawer. You need one of these in your PDP-11's rack, don't you? Yes, you do! :-) * A QMS printer controller (?) board for Macintosh computers Other things that may be of interest to some... * CRT from an ancient Dumont oscilloscope * A modular GE mobile transceiver with valves in the transmitter and receiver. The third module is a vibrator type power supply. This was originally used as a police radio or somesuch. The case that surrounds this is missing, but you get the frame that holds the modules together. Somewhere, I may have the service manual for it. * A vintage Kenwood (KR-7070, IIRC) top-of-the line receiver, from the 1970s, in need of a little restoration work, complete with real-wood, not veneer, cabinetry. = = = = = = = = = Items on my audio and synthesis "want list" include: * compressor/limiter (preferably one using tubes) * spectral enhancer or similar equipment (e.g. DBX model 726) * instrument condenser microphone (at least 30Hz to 20KHz bandwidth, +/- 3 db); * Tascam DX-4D, 4-channel DBX-1 unit * 8-channel 1/2" reel to reel with good heads & motors ...and other mechanical bits in good or repairable condition. Test tape for calibration must still be available from some source. * old 12-plus channel mixer board (must have analog VU meters); ok to be in need of electronic/electrical repairs; prefer Yamaha boards, but that's not a definite requirement * 19" mobile console rack that will hold rack-mounted multitrack recorder at a 20 to 45 degree, or so, angle (e.g., something resembling a Tascam CS-607B rack) * phase shifter * factory patch tapes for Juno-60 synth * audio patch bay (16 to 32 channels) -- Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

23 years, 3 months

Mac Plus and Signatures

by cb＠mythtech.net

>If you really want to open it, take a >BIC disposable pen, and remove the ink and the black end piece, leaving >an empty tube. Shove a hex shaped pencil in one end, and a T-15 driver >bit in the other. This creates a crude, but very functional Mac opener. >If you use a long enough pencil, it is pretty easy to use. Now if that ain't the coolest Mac Hack! >Getting the >case apart after the screws are out can be tricky too, and they sold a >special tool to do it, but I have always just to be able to pull the >halves apart. A small spring wood clamp with the rubber end caps removed works well. Stick the clamp end into the slot between the front and rear halves, and then squeeze the handle. As the clamp goes to open, it will pry the halves apart. Do this gently in a few places around the case, and the whole unit will easily pop apart. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 3 months

Looking for Definicon DSI-32 board ...

by bernd＠kopriva.de

Hi, i've put this request on the list some times ago, but i was unsuccessful :-( ... ... maybe i've more luck now ?? Thanks Bernd Bernd Kopriva Tel: 07195 / 179452 Weilerstr. 24 E-Mail : bernd(a)kopriva.de 71397 Leutenbach

23 years, 3 months

Intermittent power supply (OT)

by foxvideo＠wincom.net

Hi, has anyone experienced a condition in a pc power supply that would intermittently put out a high enough voltage to zap the hard drive? Regards Charlie Fox Charles E. Fox Video Production 793 Argyle Rd. Windsor Ontario Canada N8Y 3J8 519-254-4991 foxvideo(a)wincom.net Check out the "Camcorder Kindergarten" at http://chasfoxvideo.com

23 years, 3 months

Mac Plus and Signatures

by cb＠mythtech.net

>Were there some that were individually, personally signed? >Were all Mac plus delivered with these mass produced signatures? >Or were only some delivered with these mass produced signatures? >If these mass produced signatures were only on some Macs, >approximately how many were supposed to have these signatures? All Mac Pluses have those signatures. In fact all Mac's starting from the first (128, but before it was called that), thru the SE have signatures. And, I believe all the IIs, and some of the IIx's, and maybe others. I'm not as positive at what point in the II line it stopped, and I know it stopped somewhere midline with a model, so there is at least one model that has sigs, but not in all of them. So people that sell their 128, 512, Plus, or SE with "signatures" are either ignorant, or trying to jack up the price hoping to catch other ignorant people. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

23 years, 3 months

the 'Garage, Garage Sale'...

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

Having (almost) survived the traditional end-of-the-year cleaning and general re-shuffling... I'm preparing some more things to place in the 'Garage, Garage Sale' and wanted to check something. Knowing that I'm hopeless in keeping track of such things... Has everyone who had purchased something from the Garage Sale so far received their item(s)? If not, please drop me a note and I'll try to get it out ASAP. (I'm such a space case) Thanks; -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw

23 years, 3 months

cctalk digest, Vol 1 #319 - 51 msgs

by bqt＠update.uu.se

On Thu, 12 Dec 2002 ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote: > > Huh? No. Actually, the data track itself is used as the servo signal. The > > head centers in on the track by centering on where the amplitude is > > strongest. > > Do you have any evidence for that? Yup. I quote: "1.3.3.2 Sector Format - As shown in Figure 1-3, each sector contains: * Servo information for head positioning * Head (address) information * Data - 128 words of 16 bits each, or 256 bytes of 8 bits each, or 170 words of 12 bits each Only the data portion can be written by the user. The servo and header information is protected by the drive logic and controller to ensure disk integrity and cannot be written in the field. Each sector starts with a sector pulse that is produced by a sector transducer mounted on the drive unit. It senses the sector notches that are machined into the hub of the disk cartridge. During the time that sector notch passes by the sector transducer, the heads detect two servo pulse bursts (S1 and S2) that are prerecorded on the platter. These servo bursts are used by the drive logic for head positioning." Seems like there shouldn't be any argument about this. The RL drives have the servo information embedded in the normal track. > > seek to a track, you check the current track, calculate the track delta, > > and request that of the drive. When the drive report ready you once again > > check the track to see which one you actually are on. Hopefully it is the > > right, but if not, do another seek. > > Incidentally, every drive I've ever worked on records the current track > number in the header. Even drives (like the RK's) where you can command > the drive to move to a given track. It is possible for the drive to get > confused and think the heads are on a different track to the one that > they actually are on. It's better to do a restore (seek to track 0 -- > something that is detected by a separate sensor) and re-seek to the > desired track than to overwrite the wrong sector. Eh. This is on most controller not something you check or take care about in software, but hardware. When you specify to the controller (for instance en RK11) that you want track 10, it both figures out how many tracks the heads need to move, and in which direction. It then checks that you really are at the right track, otherwise you get an error back. The RL11 have no such sophistication. You request a head move, and the drive hopefully does it, and then you can carry on with the next command. There is no checking at all in hardware, except for moving outside the data area, which just stops the heads at the end. > > Correctly position the heads when you don't have a servo track, and the > > heads are actuated by voice coils, means you cannot position the heads at > > all. > > You _can_, but you need a specially-modified drive. You can't use the > off-disk signals for position feedback. Instead you have to couple up > some other kind of transducer to the positioner and use that. An optical > interfereometertype thingy is the normal thing to use I believe. Sounds like a probable setup, yes. > Incidentally, RL's don't use a voice coil. It's a little DC motor and > pulley mechanism. Hmmm. I'm pretty sure it's voice coil. You want me to dig out that manual too? :-) I could also open up one of the many drives I have around me. The only pulley I've ever seen is for the spindle. And one have even trashed on me. > > Which no RL01/RL02 controller can do. There is no function to write sector > > headers. So, in addition to finding another drive to be able to position > > the heads, you need another controller, to be able to write the data. > > Getting round this is the easy part once you've got the drive to keep the > heads in the right place. The RL controller is conceptually simple (and > as you're only _writing_, you'd not need to bother with the PLL (used to > produce a read clock) on the homebrew header-writter. Well, now that I've pointed out that the servo information is also expected to show up, and that the drive checks that, and the rest of the information is constantly checked by the controller, it should be appearant that it's not that easy. While the RL controller might be conceptually easy, it's a rather complex thing as stuff normally done by the drive on other subsystems are actually done by the controller here. Basically, if you don't have the servo information correct on the platter, the drive will signal errors to the controller, and the controller which just miserably fail unless header infomration keep coming in when the drive is running. Johnny Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt(a)update.uu.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

23 years, 3 months

DEC 11/03 on eBay

by jwillis＠arielusa.com

I found paw prints, likely that of a ferile feline, outside my door, in the snow. -----Original Message----- From: Jerome H. Fine Sent: Sat 12/28/2002 3:36 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Cc: Subject: Re: DEC 11/03 on eBay >John Lawson wrote: > > On Sat, 28 Dec 2002, Jerome H. Fine wrote: > > Seller also seems to has used an out-of-focus set of shots to blur > > any damage. > Gee, Jerry, I dunno... the cat seemed pretty sharp to me.... ;) > John Jerome Fine replies: I don't normally reply to the banter, but in regard to the cat? A cat that looks almost identical "ADOPTED" my wife about 3 years ago. She is a stray and stays out almost all summer in Toronto when it is warm. In the winter, right now there is about 2" of snow on the ground (Toronto does NOT get the snow storms that Buffalo gets), so she only goes out for an hour or two each day - 15 minutes at a time. She hates being cold. Every time the door bell rings, she runs upstairs and hides under the bed - when she is already inside - obviously. As for her claws - they are VERY, VERY SHARP!! She needs them to climb the trees and the fence. And her teeth are just as sharp. YES!! I admit that I also love her very much. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine -- If you attempted to send a reply and the original e-mail address has been discontinued due a high volume of junk e-mail, then the semi-permanent e-mail address can be obtained by replacing the four characters preceding the 'at' with the four digits of the current year.

23 years, 3 months

AVAIL: Xerox 630 Memorywriter system disks

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

Found a disk case at the thrift store that claims to contain the system software for a Xerox Memorywriter 630. Contains four 5.25" floppys marked as follows: white XEROX 630 Memorywriter label, blank, non-write-protected green XEROX 630 Memorywriter label, `Base System', `REORDER NO. 9R23303 VERSION 6.0 3Q85-B', write-protected blue XEROX 630 Memorywriter label, `Options', `REORDER NO. 9R23302 VERSION 4.0 1Q85-B', write-protected pink XEROX 630 Memorywriter label, `Forms', `REORDER NO. 9R23301 VERSION 3.0 1Q85-B', write-protected also 2 each spare pink & blue labels w/o the version, etc. info. No apparent physical damage, and the oxide showing in the window isn't funny-looking, but YMMV. Avaliable for shipping, but I'm currently in need of a set of four 2MB SIMMs (w/ IBM's SPD) to fit in a P70... hint hint... :) Bob

23 years, 3 months

Other (non-HP) DOS clamshells?

by fmc＠reanimators.org

evan <evan947(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi all... besides than the HP-95/100/200, what are > other DOS clamshells of the era? I'm aware of the > Atari Portfolio and the Poqet device, but there are > several more, methinks... Olivetti Quaderno? I haven't thought of those in years, but my recollection is that it's a small XT clone with a voice recorder feature. More popular in Europe than in the US, too. -Frank McConnell

23 years, 3 months

HP Integral?

by mattis＠mattisborgen.org

Hi! I just acquired an HP Integral on Ebay. Unfortunately there was no "Software Engineering ROM" in this one so it is quite limited in terms of what one can do with it. ( I guess it is quite limited anyway since is is almost 20 years old ) Is there any one out there that has a "Software Engineering ROM" to sell? Does any one have a binary image of the contents of the ROM chips? In that case it wouldn't be to hard to do a simple board one self. Other stuff for the HP Integral is intersting as well! Thanks, /Mattis

23 years, 3 months

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