test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by pat＠purdueriots.com

With all this talk about making a LK201 work on a PC or vice versa - and this moderately-broken Amiga keyboard I have laying around - I was wondering if anyone could give me some info so I design/build an adaptor to make a PC (perhaps mac or some other KB) work with an Amiga? With the lack of a surplus of Amiga kb's on the eBay market, I was thinking it might be a worthwhile hack. Mostly I guess I just want a source of info about the Amiga keyboard (this is for an A2000 btw) so I could think about how I might design it. Thanks -- Pat

24 years, 1 month

HP LJ 2 mobo -> Apple LW 2 NT

by mythtech＠mac.com

>Let me check... I have half a dozen of these in various states of repair and >probably, IIRC, have one extra legal tray. I can probably part with that if >it will do someone some good. Yes... I am still on the hunt for a legal tray for that printer engine (I don't care specifically which model it comes from, as long as it fits the SX engine that is used in the HP LJ 2, and Apple LW IINT among other printers that use it) I do have enough letter trays, so I am only in need of a legal size tray (and if anyone has it, an envelope tray might come in handy as well) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

DSQD Drives (Was: RE: Diags/Boot image for Altos 580)

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> > It's not a kludge to use a HD drive to write DSQD disks. It's _designed_ > to do it. If a drive is *designed* to use a certain type of media, then of course it's not a kludge. As I originally said, match the media and the drive and live a happy life ;>) Glen 0/0

24 years, 1 month

HP LJ 2 mobo -> Apple LW 2 NT

by mythtech＠mac.com

>Chris I have 2 letter trays - looked all over for legals - nogo. Does $10 >for a letter tray (includes USPS to the C-U area) sound OK to you? I'd have >to get $12 total if you use Paypal to cover the fees or you can stay at $10 >and send me a money order. Let me know when you can. I would say the price sounds great... but I have spare letter trays already, so I don't need more. Sorry :-( -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

HP LJ 2 mobo -> Apple LW 2 NT

by mythtech＠mac.com

>I'll look and see if I have a legal - I have a box of LJ 2 and III trays, >not sure if I have legals left though. Shipping to the C-U area from here is >cheap and then a couple bucks for the tray would work. I need more space >around here anyway. Yeah if you have one that would be great. The HP had no trays when I got it. I had a spare letter try for my Apple which fits nicely (although is grey rather than brown, but who cares). Let me know if you find a legal try (or any good parts/trays) and how much you would want. Thanks! -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

playing with the VAX 6460

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> Gunther Schadow wrote: > >PPS: Have your guys ever tried to build Ultrix from sources? I found >some critical pieces missing, like /usr/sys/sys/kern_lmf.c and possibly >more. Having used Ultrix maybe for a few days total (and that was perhaps five years ago) I'm probably not in the class of user that builds it from sources :-) but I'll try not to let that inhibit me from replying ... The lmf bit of the filename suggests Licence Management Facility to me. DEC never intended this as anything other than a tripwire (at least on OpenVMS) meaning that although you could fairly easily get around it, you'd have a hard time arguing in court that you just typed in something by accident! Giving away the sources would have lowered the "energy barrier" too much, so it was always dropped from the OpenVMS Source Listings distribution. AFAIK, all LMF implementations were based on the same core ideas, so it would have been hard to release the innards on any platform. Antonio

24 years, 1 month

Odd Honeywell Mouse

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> --- DAVID YOUNG <DAVIDINTEL(a)attbi.com> wrote: > > yes it's a regular mouse, 2 feet no ball > > This has to be the punchline to a really baaad joke. > > ... or the set-up to "that reminds me of girl I used to know..." :-) I'd assumed the extremely slow feed today was due to some new OFF-TOPIC filter that Jay had put in place, and thus avoided posting, as I'd hate my friends here to be depraved^H^H^H^Hived... But if so, it sill needs work... -dq

24 years, 1 month

KIM-1 & SWTPc 6800

by jhellige＠earthlink.net

Over the last week I've had two different individuals contact me and offer me systems. One was a KIM-1, including all three manuals, "KIM Hints" and the classic book "First Book of KIM"...all for $25. The KIM is a Rev. G board and looks to be in really nice shape. He had rescued it from the curbside trash outside of a college dorm! The second system is a SWTPc 6800. It includes lots of documentation and the SWTPc minidisk system, as well as various FLEX disks and a few additional boards. He's also informed me that he's going to include a terminal kit that he had gotten for it. I believe he said that the kit was made by Netronics...I'd have to doublecheck that. It's costing me $50 plus shipping. I don't actually have it yet but am certainly looking forward to receiving it! Jeff -- Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File http://www.cchaven.com http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757

24 years, 1 month

Disassembling a Vaxstation 2000

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> I've managed to get the case open, but... well, this > is rather embarassing... I can't quite seem to figure > out how to get the drive itself out. That's OK, you wouldn't beleive the trouble my PDP-11/44 CPU gave me with regards to getting the chassis out of the rack! Finally had to transport it in the rack because no one could figure out how to unrack it. I've run into some IBM gear that's like that also, it takes half of forever to figure out how to get into it. In this case isn't the HD on a sled like the BA23's and BA123's use? I think there is a tab under the drive, that you push down on then pull the HD forward. Of course my memory is fuzzy, I've not touched my VS2000 in several years. Zane

24 years, 1 month

Odd Honeywell Mouse

by DAVIDINTEL＠attbi.com

yes it's a regular mouse, 2 feet no ball

24 years, 1 month

MV-II Diags Chapter 3

by doc＠mdrconsult.com

WooHoo! Working copies of both the Maintenance & Customer diagnostic tapes! I'm almost ashamed of the way I got it done -- classic Unix "go with what you know" low-tech. I'm also not convinced the originals are reliable, but I am convinced I got true copies of them. The TKZ50-GA doesn't read the old tapes well at all, so I ended up doing the rips on the MV-II itself. The TUHS "cptape" utility, which copies each file from tape to disk and records blocksize for each file, extracted both tapes without error on the MV. So I've got the contents of the tape on disk, with 2/3 of the files having a blocksize of 80. The TUHS maketape doesn't know anything but N*512 blocksizes, so that's out, and the tape has to have a TapeMark at each file, so I can't just cat 'em all into a single file. I tried setting blocksize to 0 (variable) and running a dd loop, but the drive pukes with an "Undefined error" fairly quickly. So I just made a script that uses mt to set the blocksize every time it changes, and dd each file to tape. All 172 files. I couldn't remember how to compare file sizes in a test statement, so no loops. Bah!. It's the Kludge from Hell, but it works. Anybody with a Unix system & a TK<whatever> oughta be able to use it. The 2 tarballs are about 1.5MB each. Assuming you have a license to use it, I see no reason not to help replace your media. :^) Doc

24 years, 1 month

Paging Gary Oliver

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Paging Gary J. Oliver... I think I tried this before, and didn't get a reply. He used to work for Alpha Omega Computer Systems, Inc. There is a gary Oliver living now near Coventry, who may be the same guy, but a bit far from his former residence. He'd posted here in '98 about a CDC 3300 simulator he was working on. If anyone knows him and/or knows how to reach him, I'd appreciate it if you caould help facilitate my contacting him. Thanks, -doug quebbeman

24 years, 1 month

DSQD Drives (Was: RE: Diags/Boot image for Altos 580)

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> IIRC the Floppy on an Altos 580 is DSQD. Am I correct that while different from standard DSDD, they are *not* GCR drives? What other machines might carry these drives, can I hook one up to a standard PC controller in a box running DOS, and then duplicate the disks? > I had one that had the CMI hard drive replaced with a Seagate ST225. So I > know they will take similar configured Hard Drives. I think they will take > 10, 15 and 20 Meg HDs. This is good to know, ST225s still pop up from time to time... -dq

24 years, 1 month

Value of a small VAX farm

by lluu＠ib-group.com

hi I will be interested by the vax 7000 - And also I have a lot of vax 3100 4100 as 800 4100 2100 etc and ds20e es40 etc ... give me a call if you can sale them to me Laurent LUU Account Manager & Trader Compaq Sun Cisco IB Remarketing is a Remarketing Products Compaq Distributor Company. Red Systems IB Limited, London. IB Remarketing SA, Paris. 0044 (0) 207 336 7333 Office London UK 0044 (0) 207 336 6546 fax London UK 0044 (0) 7796 992 664 cell phone UK IB Remarketing 00 33 1 48 19 23 71 Office Paris 00 33 6 60 17 47 49 Cell phone Paris 00 33 6 62 08 15 02 Cell phone Paris www.redsystems.co.uk (under construction) www.ib-group.com

24 years, 1 month

TRS80 Model 1 question

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hello, all: I plan on playing with my old Model 1this weekend so that I can get the floppy drive working. Since I suffer from random bit-rot, can someone tell me which disk operating system shipped with the drive option? My system is a 48k Level II with the Percom controller and drive. I don't have any disks for it any more, but I was going to use the TRS81 emulator to create new disks for it. Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

24 years, 1 month

Disassembling a Vaxstation 2000

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Andy Berg [mailto:groovelists@yahoo.com] > The poor ST251 looks like it might be done in for... > Originally, it just clicked once when power was > applied + didn't spin up. Was able to get it to spin > up by lubing the bearings, but I think it has many I wonder how long it would last if you actually had to open the thing to lube the bearings anyway.. :) > other issues. Fails a TEST 71 (disk verification > test). Attempting to BOOT using DUA0 as default has it You could try formatting it, then verifying. I'm not sure if that will make a difference. The format command is some other test (72?) which I don't really remember the number for... > making a quiet buzzing noise for a few seconds... > then, tries to boot from ESA0, gives a ?54 RETRY, > tries ESA0 again, etc... Haven't quite gotten around Well, that part is normal. :) If the first device doesn't work, it will switch through the devices in a certain order until it gets to ESA0 at the end. > to setting up a network for it. (Could also be doing > something wrong, too - never had a chance to work with > any VAXen prior to this.) Sounds ok. Incidentally, it really will take just about any "MFM" drive you can stuff in there. You'll just need to re-format it. > Thanks again for everything - you both made things > really easy. :) No problem. 2000s are really nice little machines. I'm glad to seep people (besides me) still using them. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 1 month

LK201 specification

by flo＠uk.thalesgroup.com

LK201 specification: ftp://ftp.dbit.com/pub/pdp8/doc/lk200fs.doc This is a plain text file, not an MS Word document! The specs are also in the VT220 Technical Manual. I've not checked to see whether they are identical. - Paul

24 years, 1 month

offline drives: Re: MVII Diags Chapter 2

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Doc <doc(a)mdrconsult.com> >just show a dead drive as "offline"? > I put the original RD54 back in as drive 0 and no longer get the RQDXA >errors from the diags, but both drives 1&2, RD53s, are showing as >offline RD51s. What's up with that? > NOTE: DEC jumpers all RDxxs the same regardless of how many are on the controller {they are cable selected}. If memory is accurate All RDxx should be jumpered for #3. REPEAT ALL DRIVES ARE JUMPERED THE SAME even drive address. I assume the controller is RQDX2 or 3 and the box is BA123 with the 4 drive interface card (M9xxx). FYI: if there is a RX50 on that controller then ONLY TWO RDxx drives can be used as an RX50 uses two drive numbers. If you want three RDxx drives and a floppy then use a RX33 (TEAC FD55GFV, with correct jumpers) OR use two RQDX controllers and associated breakout cards. Watch for upside down cables and or bad cables. Allison

24 years, 1 month

test--ignore

by menadeau＠attbi.com

Michael Nadeau Editor/Publisher Classic Tech, the Vintage Computing Resource www.classictechpub.com 603-893-2379

24 years, 1 month

ZX-TEAM meeting and Webcam

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de> [Tony Duell wrote] > > And the ZX81 BASIC is so unpleasant (single-key entry -- YUK!) > > Hey, I liked it! Thank you, Hans. I knew I couldn't be the only one ;>) > > Therefore it's probably as easy to start with a bare CPU chip... > > Maybe, but then you have to make a board, and at least a ZX > compatible edge connector for all the great perhipherals ... > So after all, using a ZX81 is just a cheap way to get exactly > this. Exactly. For five or ten US dollars (or free, mostly) you get an easily hacked micro with all the lines available on the expansion connector and a decent built-in BASIC if you need it. Plus 8KB of available address space in the 8-16KB region which is perfectly suited to add-ins such as NVRAM or, my favorite, a disk operating system in ROM. Glen 0/0

24 years, 1 month

Apple II/IIgs bits

by jwbirdsa＠picarefy.com

Available for postage ($3.50 in the US). Condition unknown. Hayes Micromodem II, which Google indicates is for an Apple II. Looks good. No cable, just the card. Applied Engineering Ramkeeper, which Google indicates is for a IIgs. Many of the chips are a bit scratched -- it's obviously been in a pile of boards for a while. This is supposed to be a battery-backed RAM board, but there's no RAM or battery. There's a couple places where it looks like things used to be glued to the board, and other possible damage. Probably not useful except as a source of chips (has ROM revision RK 1.7, and other chips labelled RK1A.N, RK2A.N, and RK3A.N). --James B.

24 years, 1 month

Disassembling a Vaxstation 2000

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Andy Berg [mailto:groovelists@yahoo.com] > I've had a Vaxstation 2000 sitting around here for a > bit, but I've just gotten around to tinkering with it. > Alas, the poor fellow seems to have an ill hard drive. Common problem, I think. > I've managed to get the case open, but... well, this > is rather embarassing... I can't quite seem to figure > out how to get the drive itself out. It's not easy. You'll need to remove the screws in the top of the mainboard, I think. The mainboard should then "lift out" -- probably front first, but it's been a while. Make sure that you don't bend the board. The connectors that stick out under the lip in the back of the system tend to catch on things. It will be connected to at least a power connector and a cable for the disks. Disconnect those. Remember to note their orientation. The Ethernet board, and any ram expanders will be snapped onto the main board with little plastic parts. They'll lift right out with it. All of this is from distant (a year or so) memory, so make sure I'm telling you the right thing before you try it ;) Now, the floppy and hard disk will be attached to the same set of metal plates, and those plates, IIRC, are attached to the rails that hold the drives in place. I think you need to detach the metal drive-plates from the rails, and then take the hard disk off once you have the pair of disks dislodged from the inside of the machine. IIRC, the power supply is "short" -- maybe half the height of the system cabinet -- so you should be able to get access to any screws you need to take out to loosen the above-mentioned metal plates. > I don't believe it is open at the moment, but I think > the layout inside is something like this : > ____________________ > ----Motherboard----- > -------------------- > PS | Floppy > | RD32 HD > ____________________ Kind of like that... :) > The drive is held in by at least a screw or two on the > right-hand side - I can remove those, but it is still > held in by another seeming inaccessible screw and / or > the cabling hooked up to the back of it. Again, take the mainboard out, and you'll have to remove both drives at once. :) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 1 month

Disk controlers

by bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca

BG micro ( www.bgmicro.com ) still has 765,1771,1791,1793,1795,1797,2793 and 2797 floppy disc controllers if your old machine need a new floppy disk chip. Looking at the same page they also have some old memory chips like 16kx1 drams and 1kx1 static ram. -- Ben Franchuk - Dawn * 12/24 bit cpu * www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/index.html

24 years, 1 month

VT-320 Hack+Tip for Smokers

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>Maybe it's related to the age of the keyboards. All the ones I've worked >on originally came with VT220s or Bows/Pros/DECmates. I would guess the >6805 version came out later. I'm going to get this wrong here :-) but isn't the LK201 used on the VT220 (and later terminals) but the LK201 used on the Rainbow? (I guess that the Pro 380 et al. use the same keyboard as the Rainbow, but I don't have any of those). The LK201 specs are in one of the appandices that come with the VAXstation 3200 manuals (possibly in the separate VCB02 tech manual). The Rainbow tech manual almost certainly includes the LK250 spec (I have that scanned too, but it's not available anywhere yet, I think). If someone is looking to develop a PIC LK2xx implementation, it would be nice to handle both variants. Antonio

24 years, 1 month

ZX81 BASIC (was Re: ZX-TEAM meeting and Webcam)

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502(a)yahoo.com> > I never liked single-key-entry BASIC because you have to "know" > what mysterious character they chose for keywords with the same > initial letter. I mean is "S" STEP? STOP? How about "O"? ON? > OPEN? Sure -- that's why the Sinclair-based systems had the keywords printed on the keys. Those of us who use alternate keyboards either have screen-printed keys, a chart glued to the keyboard, or, after 20 years of squeezing the last living cpu stroke out of these things, have simply learned them. To me, it's still easier than typing the whole keyword. An additional benefit is that it made the built-in syntax-checker possible. You simply *can't* enter a syntactically incorrect line of BASIC into a program using a ZX81. Of course, serious ZX81 programmers use very little BASIC, same as with any other machine. I'm NOT a proponent of BASIC on *any* platform, but ZX81 BASIC sure did get a lot of kids interested in computers. Ever wonder why the UK leads the world in game programming? Answer: ZX81 and the Spectrum. These machines taught kids to make the most of the hardware. The kids I know today think they're hot tuna because they can "build web pages." They've never heard of machine code and haven't a clue what an assembler or compiler is. 20 years ago, the inquisitive kids said "BASIC sucks, what's the next level?" Know what I mean? Glen 0/0

24 years, 1 month

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