test-drb

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101090 discussions

by fernande＠internet1.net

-Solid State Fisher Model 440-T receiver, not working correctly, but probably fixable, has all parts, not in the best of shape, but could be made functional. -DEC M7639 -DEC M7622-BT 8 megs, not 16 -DEC M7621-AP Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

23 years, 11 months

Unix versions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Bill Pechter <pechter(a)pechter.dyndns.org> >As far as I know that's as far as it got inside DEC as well. >I once wondered where was the base DOS/Batch box left inside DEC >to build the XXDP stuff and DECX/11... I figure they just hacked it on >a DEC10 or RSTS/E box... maybe later on a VAX under PDP11 emulators. Used to be in building 21 fieldservice diagnostic engineering. I always wondered what the internal structure of it was. Allison

23 years, 11 months

Questions about a donation

by vcf＠siconic.com

Anyone want an IBM PC? Reply-to: joan-keith(a)attbi.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 12:57:08 -0400 From: Joan Keith <joan-keith(a)attbi.com> Subject: Questions about a donation Hi, I have one of the earliest IBM PCs. I don't know if this is something you would be interested or not. As I recall, it was upgraded from 64k of memory to 192 and it has a single-sided 5 1/4 disk drive. It is in my mother's attic in Baltimore. -- 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, 11 months

scans of M8164 (MK11) engineering drawings

by uban＠ubanproductions.com

I have an MK11 printset, but it has an M8159 schematic which has been superceeded by the M8164 board (which I have). I don't have a schematic for the M8164 board, which I presume is different than the M8159. So, I am looking for scans of the M8164 board schematics... Also, if someone has schematics for the M8728-AC/AF board that would be nice to have as well. --tnx --tom

23 years, 11 months

Sun help needed... [was: RE: open "dumpster" event in New Hav en, CT]

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

"Zane H. Healy" wrote: > > > > > try to describe the scsi bus and termination. > > > > do a probe-scsi and a probe-scsi-all... > > > > > > > > let me know what that does. > > > > I'm pretty sure that there is a Sun screwup in the Ultra1 boot ROM such > > that "probe-scsi" doesn't work right when "auto-boot" is enabled. > > > > auto-boot?=false > > After turning off auto-boot you need to type 'reset' and hit return, this is > true on both Ultra 1's and 2's. If the auto-boot is already off, you still > need to do a 'reset' before doing teh probe-scsi/probe-scsi-all. > > Zane Well the RRD42, external CD worked. And I found out exactly why no CD drive worked internally... the plastic ribbon cable was tearing away! Oh well. Guess it's time to stick my CD-ROM in a SCSI case... -- --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818 Mac OS X 10.1.2 - Darwin Kernel Ver. 5.2: Fri Dec 7 21:39:35 PST 2001 Running since 01/22/2002 without a crash

23 years, 11 months

Period pricing references (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

by fmc＠reanimators.org

"Erik S. Klein" <eklein(a)impac.com> wrote: > My first IBM PC (December 1981) cost nearly $2,800 for a 64K machine, 1 SSDD > floppy (120K with DOS 1.0) and a color card with an RF Modulator. Back in the early-to-mid 1990s some friends of mine and I were comparing microcomputers we had over a roughly 15-year time span. Our conclusion was that from 1976 'til then, it cost about US$3000 to buy "the computer system you wanted", meaning what your computer system eventually grew into. That usually included some sort of peripherals, often bought after the initial purchase, and we were looking at an IMSAI 8080, a couple TRS-80s (Model Is), an Apple ][+, an IBM PC/XT, an Amiga 1000, and I'm not sure what else. I think at the time I was thinking my 486/33 desktop PC was below the curve (at about $2000), but I bought it from someone who was closing his computer store so got a pretty good deal. (BTW, I think it's on-topic now, it's still in use as a dial-on-demand NAT router, and it's been on 24x7 most of the last 10 years. Yes, you can blame me for last year's power woes in California.) I'm not sure where things are today but I think prices have come down. My last couple systems bought new for a purpose are notebook PCs, and of course there's a premium associated with that. I'm thinking they are something like $2500 and $2000, and the latter is an iBook that hasn't cost me that much yet but probably will by the time I'm done with it (I want to get it some more RAM, an Airport card, maybe a USB stiffy drive). -Frank McConnell

23 years, 11 months

Recycling donated PCs

by bpope＠wordstock.com

Check out this place in Oakland, CA: http://www.linuxjournal.com//article.php?sid=6021 They are taking donated PCs, installs Linux on them a provides them to schools, scientists, governments, non-profits, the underprivileged and the handicapped. They also are creating cluster farms which are being used in *very* cool ways! Cheers, Bryan

23 years, 11 months

DECStation Ultrix

by meltie＠myrealbox.com

Whilst i'm in a "fixing problems with my classiccmps" mood, does anyone have a copy of the Decstation Ultrix Installation CD at home that they could make an ISO file of for me, so I can resurrect my DS3100? Thanks Alex -- My computer's heavier than yours.

23 years, 11 months

Toshiba T3100/20

by Alexanderfam＠aol.com

Hi, I have a secondhand T3100/20 and on the left hand side, the side where the hard drive is, next to the A,B,PRT switch there is a small DIN socket. Does anyone know what this does? If it's the internal modem, how do I communicate with it please? Many thanks, Lawrence

23 years, 11 months

R.I.P. for D.I.Y.

by uban＠ubanproductions.com

>What I do for BGA protos is this: > >1. Solder the BGA(s) first! >This is for a couple of reasons, its easier to inspect the soldering, and if >you mess up the BGA soldering you can start with a fresh board and not have to >remove the BGA part. (Though I have removed and resoldered BGAs with pretty >good luck) > >2. Build a "frame" around the BGA by soldering pieces of scrap circuit board >material on all 4 sides of the BGA, leaving a little (5 mill) clearance on >each side. I do this with pieces of paper as a shim that I later remove. This >is the most critical part, the BGA part must be located in the right position >on the PC by the frame. The 5 mill clearanec on the side is so the BGA can >"float and settle" when the balls melt -surface tension will bring it into >perfect alignment with the PCB pads. I do the frame alignment by setting the >BGA on edge (vertical) against each of my frame pieces and checking the >ball/PCB pad alignment. So do you lay out the PCB with areas on the four sides to which you can solder your "frame"? >3. Put _A LOT_ of rosin core flux on the PC BGA pads. You dont need any solder >with the common solder ball type BGAs they have plenty in the balls. > >4. Heat from behind with a heat gun. I use a standard $59 Granger heat gun. >This requires some pratice to avoid overheating the board. You can pratice by >soldering small SMT parts to scrap or used PCBs. Moving the heat gun around in >a small circular pattern will help avoid PCB damage. When the Rosin flux >really begins to smoke, the temperature is just about right. You can see when >the BGA solder balls melt, because the BGA chip will sink about 1/2 mm. When >you see it sink, Your done! When you say "behind", I assume you mean the underside of the PCB, not the top of the BGA? Does the board want to be laying flat so that gravity helps or does the solder surface tension take care of it? I assume that you don't press the BGA part down? I've heard that moisture from humidity can cause problems, sometimes refered to as the "popcorn effect". What can you tell us about this? I've heard it has to do with component storage... >5. Checking: When the PCB is cool you need to remove the flux and inspect the >soldering. If the BGA is soldered properly the solder balls will have a >squashed appearance on all 4 sides of the BGA and you should be able see >through all the interball rows in both directions by along the underside of >the BGA. If the balls are not melted enough, you can re-apply flux and re-heat >The worst thing that can happen is that your frame is mis-aligned so far that >the balls ended up stikinf to 2 pads and have have merged underneath the BGA. >In that case you need to remove the BGA and try again (with a new part) > > >I have not been 100% successful but am close to 85% good solders first time... Thanks for the advice. It doesn't sound too bad... --tom

23 years, 11 months

CP/M-86

by pat＠purdueriots.com

I've been playing around with cp/m-86, and was wondering if anyone knew if a multiuser (like MP/M) version was available somewhere? My next step is to try making it work under Dosemu on Linux if I cant... -- Pat

23 years, 11 months

Sun help needed... [was: RE: open "dumpster" event in New Hav en, CT]

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> > > try to describe the scsi bus and termination. > > > do a probe-scsi and a probe-scsi-all... > > > > > > let me know what that does. > > I'm pretty sure that there is a Sun screwup in the Ultra1 boot ROM such > that "probe-scsi" doesn't work right when "auto-boot" is enabled. > > auto-boot?=false After turning off auto-boot you need to type 'reset' and hit return, this is true on both Ultra 1's and 2's. If the auto-boot is already off, you still need to do a 'reset' before doing teh probe-scsi/probe-scsi-all. Zane

23 years, 11 months

Unix versions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Apr 26, 10:19, Bill Pechter wrote: > > I'm slightly puzzled by what you say about DEC X-11, though. My exposure > > to it and XXDP is only in the form of the diagnostics available to end > > users and third-party service organisations, and I suspect there's more to > > it than that. The reason I think of XXDP as the OS and X-11 as the, well, > > application in a way, is that all I see are the X-11 modules to run build > > and series of tests, whereas XXDP includes the monitor, system handlers etc > > (as well as the diagnostic programs and utilites, of course). To me, > > that's the OS. > > > > -- > > Pete Peter Turnbull > > Network Manager > > University of York > > You're exactly correct, except the XXDP doesn't have drivers for > the comm gear and other stuff, whereas DECX/11 can have modules > running simulating disk and tape i/o, comm i/o and can do task > scheduling and timeouts. Also DECX/11 is interrupt driven where most of > XXDP polls status registers. Yes, I knew about the polled operation. > I stretched my view a bit. DEC training called XXDP a diagnostic > monitor... which was ok until the DS> diagnostic supervisor got loose... > and the names collided. > > The XXDP monitor is single tasking, non-interrupt driven, polling and > can hang forever waiting for an event that never comes. DECX/11 won't. > DECX/11 seemed much more os-like. Batch streams do exist in XXDP > (the .ccc chain files) -- but that's just minimal scripting. Yes, .ccc is of rather limited use. Enough for sets of diagnostics and not much more, really. Thanks for the information -- I'm enlightened. Did DECX/11 ever make it outside of DEC's walls, other than in the form of strings of modules for field confidence tests? -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

23 years, 11 months

Some new finds and Some Wanted Items

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Picked new in the box Apple II SCSI Card for II Plus, IIe, and IIGS, has cool little wrench with the apple logo stamped in the metal. New in the box System 6 IIGS. New in the box HyperStudio for the IIGS, Version 3.1 with System 6.01. Books - Introduction to Analog Computation by Joseph J. Blum, Mac Internet Tour Guide with software, TEX for the BeginnerMicro-Computer Handbook by Charles J. Sippl (from 1977), the Z-80 microcomputer handbook by William Barden, Jr., Programming the Z80 3rd Ed. by Rodnay Zaks and last VAX software Source Book Volume 2 Systems software, second edition January 1985 by digital. A Sega PowerBack for the Gamegear ($2.99) at a local thrift and from the same place a Logitech joystick (digital 3D) for $3.99, and a cool controller for the PS1 for $2.99. Now for the wanted items - looking to complete my Mac collection that I started years ago trying to collect one of each model from 1984 to 1995 for a total of 103 machines. PB160 - working or not Mac 512Ke Quadra 800 WGS60 Performa 466, 467, 550, 275,, 560, 577,578, 658 Duo250, Duo270, Duo280, Color classic II 610DOS PM8100 WS6150, WS8150, WS9150 PB520c, PB540, PB540c, PB150 LC630 PF6110, PF6112, PF6115, PF6117, PF6118 6100/110 8100/100 If anyone has one or more of these that they would like to unload email me off list at jrkeys(a)concentric.net. Thanks for reading.

23 years, 12 months

New 'Toy'

by pat＠purdueriots.com

Yesterday I was lucky enough to pick up an IBM 5150 at Purdue Salvage for $0 (just before it hit the trash). After a bit of playing with it, and trying a SVGA card with it (it had no video card in it when I got it, I'm suprised the 16bit card works OK in an 8bit slot), I've gotten it to boot into MS-DOS 5 (ick) and CP/M-86. I now seem to have a problem with its second floppy drive... When I try reading from any disk, I get a "Data error" in CP/M and DOS. I think that the problem is the head not moving... I can 'format' a disk in CP/M in the drive, but I don't hear the disk head seeking. These are IBM branded DSDD (full height 5-1/4") floppy drives. Does anyone have any info I can use to try and debug (and hopefully fix) this problem? -- Pat

23 years, 12 months

"Toy" computers (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> > > If it's a mainframe, then the campus is the enclosure, > > > while if it's a desktop, it's pretty obvious what that is. > > > > Today that campus worth of hardware is emulated in the hercules > > s360/370/390/ zSeries emulator http://www.conmicro.cx/hercules > > running on a PC running linux or winbloZ > > > > OS, DOS, MVS, VM ... running on your pc, serves x3270 > > terms over the network etc etc. > > Ow! You're killing me! What's the emoticon for the world's smallest violin? You're breakin' our hearts! ;)

23 years, 12 months

Free DEC R400X DSSI expansion chassis

by fernande＠internet1.net

Free DEC R400X DSSI expansion chassis, plus a few other spare parts from the one I scrapped out. It has no drive sleds, unfortunetly. It is in Southwest Michigan, and you must come pick it up. I will not ship this thing. Please respond off list. Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

23 years, 12 months

.I.P. for D.I.Y.

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

>> I got this URL for an article in Scientific American that seems > appropriate for this group :). The last paragraph reads: > > "Evidently, the something-for-everyone model epitomized by Heathkit and > the Amateur Scientist column can't compete anymore. Specialized sources > and Internet newsgroups cater to each skill level. But much of the > mentoring and serendipity that the diverse community of amateurs offered > has been lost. It is hard not to regret its passing." Well, I didn't know this about Edmund Scientific. Crap. I've been looking for the older catalogs, now even the more recent ones I've got will become collectable unobtainium. Where will I buy water wetter? Where will I buy Nitonol wire? Where will I buy flock paper? Where will I buy cheap assortment of lab glassware? Where will I buy an ultrasonic cleaner? Where will I buy a good Chinese microscope? and so on... <sob!>

23 years, 12 months

FW: Adopted -- PC Convertible 5140

by rcini＠msn.com

I was contacted by the below person regarding a PC Convertible. I already have one so I'm passing this on to the list. Please contact Leigh directly. Rich -----Original Message----- From: Bluewolf Creative Arts [mailto:bluewolf.creative@verizon.net] Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 11:40 AM To: rcini(a)optonline.net Subject: RE: Adopted -- PC Convertible 5140 Hi Rich, Yes you may put the word out that I have a very nice one of these for sale - I'm thinking of putting it up on ebay to seewho nibbles, but I will wait until you contact your collector group first. Unfortunately I do not have a manual or any supporting software disks, etc - just the machine itself - which boots just fine and shows a window with commands at the bottom which I do not really understand - in addition to load/save/ - which is easy enough- there are commands for tron/troff/ and others. Here's my site: http://bluewolfcreative.com (still under construction) Best regards, Leigh >-----Original Message----- >From: Bluewolf Creative Arts [mailto:bluewolf.creative@verizon.net] >Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 8:47 PM >To: rcini(a)optonline.net >Subject: Re: Adopted -- PC Convertible 5140 > > >Rich, I recently acquired one of these machines also - >it's an IBM PC Convertible 5140 in perfect condition... >however, I am a mac person, so I am looking to sell >this machine. Are you interested? It came without >the printer but the external power supply works just >fine... no manual... it boots up just fine - tried some >dos commands but no luck - how does one work >this thing? It's pretty cute - looks like new... > >Leigh in Palm Springs CA SA

23 years, 12 months

Mark-8 parts for sale

by MTPro＠aol.com

Thank you to everyone who responded to my ad to sell my Mark-8 kit. For anyone interested in the boards or additional parts, here is the man to contact: Steve Gabaly Apalachin, NY old_computers(a)yahoo.com Steve's a good guy and has painstakingly created his Mark-8s and parts, etc. His CD contains a wealth of great info including a copy of the original Radio Electronics article, a supplemental 47 page construction article, a 50 page manual detailing his experience and hints debugging this computer (with many photos and full scans of completed boards), and about 200 pages of the Mark-8 newsletter (the first real computer hobbyist newsletter that kept all the early pioneers informed before Byte came out, its a treasure chest of historical information about the Mark-8 and other early computers, the January 1975 issue is especially interesting, this is when the Altair was introduced). Best, David Greelish Classic Computing www.classiccomputing.com "classiccomputing" on eBay

23 years, 12 months

Mathiputer

by hybridhybrid＠msn.com

Are you interested in another mathiputer - let me know Smith

23 years, 12 months

Hp2100 software available. Where ?

by CAA007216＠mail.ono.es

Hello everybody. I should like to probe the HP2100 simulator available under Bob Supnik's SIMH. Is there any software repository available for this machine ? I know the Jeff Moffat's website programs only, but somebody spoke here some time ago about some other place where to get software for this machine. Greetings Sergio

23 years, 12 months

Amstrad PPC640

by GColinwg＠aol.com

Hello my name is Colin from (UK) i also have just got an Amstrad ppc640 just for messing around on.... but it doesn't have any operating system on it and won't recognise any disks as when i boot it up it always says invalid system disk... i am using both 720k diskettes and have tried 1.44meg and tried putting all dos versions and windows 95 onto it.... any advice would be most grateful.... Yours... Colin E-mail ---- GColinwg(a)aol.com

23 years, 12 months

expansion differences (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> SCOPE and Kronos were based on Chippewa. COS was largely > written by Seymour Cray; in particular, MTR is known by > programmers who worked on it later to have been written > completely by Cray. He and one or perhaps two others did > it between June and December 1964. I should point out here that Cray's MTR continued through NOS/BE 1.4 or later, but the Kronos version was rewritten >from scratch by Greg Mansfield. -dq

23 years, 12 months

expansion differences (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> Chippewa??? I don't remember that one. I remember SCOPE > and, later, KRONOS. SCOPE and Kronos were based on Chippewa. COS was largely written by Seymour Cray; in particular, MTR is known by programmers who worked on it later to have been written completely by Cray. He and one or perhaps two others did it between June and December 1964. It was not meant to be a product. The *product* operating system to be bundled with the machine was SIPROS. SIPROS used an assembler named ASCENT that used different mnemonics thsn COMPASS, which was the assembler under SCOPE and Kronos. COS was written in octal. The source consists of two octal numbers, a load address, two spaces, and the value at that address. Further to the left in the traditional "comment field" area is indeed a comment field, so the COS octal source at least has some comments. There is a CP program named APRAB that assembles these octal sources to binary. COS also included Garner McCrossen's RUN compiler, which handled both FORTRAN II and FORTRAN IV, as well as embedded assembly language. The first versions of the display console programs DSD and DIS come from Chippewa, as well as the control cards COPY COPYCR COPYCF COPYBR COPYBF COPYSBF REWIND VERIFY LBC LOC PBC DMP plus concepts like the dayfile, control points, combined input & output (CIO), and the RUN compiler continued to be available in the later SCOPE and Kronos. You can read all about it at http://www.spies.com/~aek/pdf/cdc/60124500_ChippewaOSref.pdf -dq

23 years, 12 months

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