Hi folks,
I'm looking to build an X.25 packet data network for semi-active use
at the Connections Museum in Seattle. Please contact me off-list
(<astrid at xrtc.net>) if you have any X.25-capable networking gear
(routers, PADs, cable, etc) that wants a new home.
Why? Some of our newer equipment has serial management consoles.
Plumbing those into a proper-vintage data network would be a lot
spiffier than running around with usb-serial devices. I'm not looking
for serial-to-telnet IP converters.
I'm also interested in setting up a public federated X.25-over-TCP
network, much like https://ckts.info/ but for circuit switched data.
Cisco IOS 12 has support for DNS-based routing of XOT connections,
which I've been learning how to configure.
Thanks,
--
?strid smith (she/her)
=<[ c y b e r ]>=
antique telephone collectors association member #4870
> From: Barry M
> H960 120 lbs (not sure if this includes the side panels)
The H960 has a whole constellation of appurtenances which can add to the
weight: sides, back door, back mounting frame, top fan(s), floor screen,
stabilizer feet, etc, etc.
I happen to have an empty H960 (well, it does have the two top fans, which I
was too lazy to take out - they are only a couple of pounds each) out in my
garage, so I stuck it on a bathroom floor scale, and it seems to be about
100 pounds.
If you want the weight on any of the other bits (above), let me know, it
would be easy to weigh them.
Noel
> On May 23, 2021, at 9:14 PM, Marc Howard via cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> In my case I'm looking for the weight of an RK05 and full height 19" DEC
> rack.
I have not see these published, but can attest that it is somewhere between 1 25-yr-old-can-load-in-station-wagon and 1 53-yr-old-can-load-in-station-wagon...
Marc,
I am not aware of a single document that lists the weights of various
sub-systems. I did find the weights or the RK05 and H960 rack:
RK05 110 lbs
See: DEC-00-RK05-DA RK05 DISK DRIVE MAINTENANCE MANUAL Page 1-2
H960 120 lbs (not sure if this includes the side panels)
See: DEC-11H45SM-E-D PDP-11/45 System Maintenance Manual Page C-5
--barrym
On Sun, May 23, 2021 at 10:15 PM Marc Howard via cctech <
cctech at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Is there a doc anywhere that breaks out the individual weights of various
> PDP gear?
>
> In my case I'm looking for the weight of an RK05 and full height 19" DEC
> rack.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marc
>
> On May 23, 2021, at 5:18 PM, Wayne S <wayne.sudol at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> ISTR That the 2 main issues hindering wide spread adoption of TR was cost and and not knowing where TR development was headed.
> The Type 1 cabling needed to each port on the hub was expensive vs thick/thin Ethernet with taps (as were the hubs). Also, there was no second source for TR chips so everyone who wanted to make TR hardware was at the mercy of the IBM chip pricing so there weren?t too many TR cards being manufactured by anyone other than IBM. I recall the Madge TR cards for IBM ps/2 machines being about $400 ea circa 1992.
> So you had a lot of cost standing in the way if you were thinking about going/staying with TR and had hundreds of workstations.
There was also the bogus addressing and strange bridging.
> As for development, there was an ethernet roadmap ( don?t remember the group that put it together) stating that 100 mbit was next running over shielded twisted pair then unshielded tp. And 1000 mbit was possible.
> For TR, No one knew if IBM would up the speed past 16 mb and allow TR chips to be made cheaply.
>
> Also the fact that token passing is inherently slower than CSMA/CD did not help to sell TR.
> The analogy was that if you had a long street with many stop lights, using TR would be like having every light be red and having to stop at each light, where using Ethernet some of the lights would be green and no stop required.
>
> IBM tried to use that to their advantage and use to say since the amount of time it takes to token pass could be measured precisely that the network response as a whole could be determined and capacity planning was more deterministic using TR than Ethernet.
While at DEC in the network architecture group I contributed to a DEC marketing document that was a detailed point by point reply to an IBM document. IBM tried to claim TR was superior, we demolished that in detail. The deterministic argument was in there; unfortunately for IBM it is true that the network is deterministic -- has an upper bound on transmit latency -- but that upper bound is so crazy large that the property has no practical value whatsoever. BTW, this is where FDDI is vastly better, since it uses 802.4 timed token protocol rather than 802.5 token passing.
paul
> Is there a controller to attach an RS64 disk to a PDP-8? The only
> controller for the RS64 I can find is the UNIBUS RC11. Thanks.
I never saw any reply, so I gather the answer is 'no'. I looked through the
stuff on BitSavers for a bunch of other machines (IIRC, PDP-9 and PDP-12
and maybe one more), didn't see anything.
The odd thing is that based on the RS64 manual cover/format, it dates to the
same time period as the early -11's; and that manual is very careful to
separate the drive info from the controller. Very strange that it wasn't
interfaced to something else (like an -8 or -9). Maybe there was at one point
a plan to do so, but plans changed?
I note that there is an RS32 - I onder if they are any relation?
Noel
Is anyone familiar with the 4000/90 diagnostics? It looks like it will fail the test of the LCSPX graphics board, if it?s not plugged into a monitor, or is missing a loopback device. Is that correct?
T 2 fails, but the manual makes it sound like I need a loopback
T 100 succeeds when testing the LCSPX graphics board.
The system had been a boat anchor until a short time ago, as the battery in the Dallas DS1287A RTC was dead. Amazon just delivered two DS12887?s. Once I replaced it, it came right up. I was surprised to see I had a 4GB and a 2GB drive in it.
Now to dig out the mouse, and wait for the parts to hook it up to a monitor. :-)
Zane
Does anyone have experience using a SCSI2SD board to replace a Hard Drive on a VAXstation or an AlphaStation? I?m thinking about using them on some of my systems to reduce the amount of noise. I?ve gotten used to a quiet office. :-)
Zane
On 5/23/21 10:35 AM, Warner Losh wrote:
> I'm out in Brighton:)
Has it been wet there for you too for the last ~36 hours?
Are you suggesting splitzies on Rich's collection? Or is that a veiled
threat / invitation to share a beverage and chat? ;-)
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
> <healyzh at avanthar.com> wrote:
In this the weakest link would appear to be the SD Card. As such it seems to me that the best solution would be to have 2 or more SCSI2SD?s in the device. I?m not sure what benefit would be achieved by using a single board to present multiple devices. Unless of course you had a drive size limitation, or you?re trying to emulate something like 2GB or 4GB drives. As an example, that would be handy for VAXen with a 1GB Boot Drive limitation.
-Zane
Zane,
I am using SCSI2SD cards in a VAXstation 4000/90a, and in a MV3100-80 as well as
an Alpha DS10.
In the two VAXes, I use two SCSI2SD cards, configured identically with a system drive and a
user drive on class 10 16GB microSD cards. So each microSD card has both the system drive
and the user drive.
Thus I can use VMS backup from one microSD card to another so that if one microSD card fails I can
easily recover from it. So far I have not had hardware failures, but being able to recover from a
bad software installation which has been VERY helpful.
Mark
Hello,
Is there anyone with a VT100 (or any VT1xx, if so please specify which)
that can make a photo displaying text in reverse video? I'm making a
detailed simulation of the VT100 hardware, and I'd like to see what, if
any, effect dot streching has. I searched the "VT100 Technical Manual",
but as far as I can see it doesn't say.
A good sample text would be:
ESC [ 7 m b d h x CR LF
ESC [ 0 m b d h x CR LF
I am looking for the manual for the following Omnibus board:
M8652 KL8F Double-buffered asynch terminal control
Is there a scanned copy of the manual and/or schematic or any other
information for this board somewhere?
Thanks and best regards
Tom Hunter
I've just finished processing a bunch of RX01 and RX02 RT11A disks.
The files on the RX01 floppies are of type .DPA and those on the RX02
ones, DPY. No files of any other type in the whole collection.
I have no other information, but I suspect that these are plotter files.
Both types seem to start with the same prefix bytes, for example:
06 00 f0 00 40 00 00 01 00 1e ff ff 00 00 00 00
Does anyone have a guide to how these files are structured?
Thanks,
Chuck
Is there any recommended method for cleaning up melted ?rubber? feet on a plastic case?
I?m trying to determine if I can revive the VAXstation 4000/90 I received from a list member, back around 1998 (it?s never worked). When I pulled it out, I discovered that its feet have melted, and I?m assuming probably made a mess on the disk enclosure for my VAXstation 3100 that it was on top of.
Zane
Hi All,
I lent my Sun 3/80 out to someone and it came back pretty damaged. Does
anyone by chance have an old 3/80 carcass laying around that has a good
rear plastic bezel P/N 600-2209-02? If not, does anyone have any plastic
repair suggestions? Also one of the rear feet (narrower rear one) opposite
the PSU was missing...
-Kurt
THanks Lee!! Much appreciated - confirmed my decaying memory, and
pointed out the the almost mythical DECNA!!
bb
On Wed, May 19, 2021 at 1:38 PM <cctalk-request at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> Send cctalk mailing list submissions to
> cctalk at classiccmp.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. DECNet for Pro 300 series boxes (Lee Gleason)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 12:20:34 -0500
> From: Lee Gleason <lee.gleason at comcast.net>
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: DECNet for Pro 300 series boxes
> Message-ID: <db66b12f-e0a4-94b4-d9e9-efa88a84851e at comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
>
> ? DECnet for Pro350/380 was donated to DECUS, available as? DECUS
> package PRO175. A quick Goog found the floppy disk images for it at
> http://www.os2site.com/sw/DEC/pro/pro175/index.html. If that site
> doesn't work out, or you don't like them in LHARC format, let me know -
> I have them as normal dsk files. DECnet on the PRO's was end node only,
> you could run it DDCMP on an asynch line, or on the rare, elusive, DECNA
> ethernet card - but not both at once.
>
> --
> Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
> Control-G Consultants
> lee.gleason at comcast.net
>
>
> End of cctalk Digest, Vol 80, Issue 17
> **************************************
? DECnet for Pro350/380 was donated to DECUS, available as? DECUS
package PRO175. A quick Goog found the floppy disk images for it at
http://www.os2site.com/sw/DEC/pro/pro175/index.html. If that site
doesn't work out, or you don't like them in LHARC format, let me know -
I have them as normal dsk files. DECnet on the PRO's was end node only,
you could run it DDCMP on an asynch line, or on the rare, elusive, DECNA
ethernet card - but not both at once.
--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
lee.gleason at comcast.net
(I had accidentally sent my reply below only to Antonio. I'm resending
it to the list.)
> On 10/05/2021 10:05, Malte Dehling wrote:
> > Thanks a lot, Antonio, these are very valuable to have!
> I've only checked a couple of them under SIMH, so it would be helpful to
> know if I need to check my workflow or not.
> > I think uploading them to archive.org would be a good long-term
> > solution. I can take care of it if you don't have an account.
>
> Please do. Thanks.
Will do. I'll let you know.
> In other news, I polished the MAR-1989 CONOLD, which looked very bad, to
> start with. Amazingly it buffed up quite nicely and then read surprisingly
> well:
>
> [
>
> $ ddrescue -r5 -v /dev/sr1 CDROM-AG-NC67A-RE-1989-03-VMS-CONOLD.iso
> CDROM-AG-NC67A-RE-1989-03-VMS-CONOLD.map
> GNU ddrescue 1.23
> About to copy 205199 kBytes from '/dev/sr1' to
> 'CDROM-AG-NC67A-RE-1989-03-VMS-CONOLD.iso'
> ??? Starting positions: infile = 0 B,? outfile = 0 B
> ??? Copy block size: 128 sectors?????? Initial skip size: 128 sectors
> Sector size: 512 Bytes
>
> Press Ctrl-C to interrupt
> ???? ipos:? 205198 kB, non-trimmed:??????? 0 B,? current rate:?????? 0 B/s
> ???? opos:? 205198 kB, non-scraped:??????? 0 B,? average rate: 637 kB/s
> non-tried:??????? 0 B,? bad-sector:???? 2048 B,??? error rate: 170 B/s
> ? rescued:? 205197 kB,?? bad areas:??????? 1,??????? run time:????? 5m 22s
> pct rescued:?? 99.99%, read errors:?????? 25,? remaining time:???????? n/a
> ????????????????????????????? time since last successful read:????? 2m? 1s
> Finished
> ]
>
>
> So I went ahead and tried the CONDIST from MAY-1989. That too now can be
> read, although it is proving a somewhat tougher nut to crack:
>
> [
>
> $ ddrescue -r5 -v /dev/sr1 CDROM-AG-MN36D-RE-1989-05-VMS-CONDIST.iso
> CDROM-AG-MN36D-RE-1989-05-VMS-CONDIST.map
> GNU ddrescue 1.23
> About to copy 623247 kBytes from '/dev/sr1' to
> 'CDROM-AG-MN36D-RE-1989-05-VMS-CONDIST.iso'
> ??? Starting positions: infile = 0 B,? outfile = 0 B
> ??? Copy block size: 128 sectors?????? Initial skip size: 128 sectors
> Sector size: 512 Bytes
>
> Press Ctrl-C to interrupt
> ???? ipos:??? 5919 kB, non-trimmed:??????? 0 B,? current rate:?????? 0 B/s
> ???? opos:??? 5919 kB, non-scraped:?? 11127 kB,? average rate: 14694 B/s
> non-tried:??????? 0 B,? bad-sector:??? 2843 kB,??? error rate:????? 85 B/s
> ? rescued:? 609276 kB,?? bad areas:????? 445,??????? run time: 11h 31m? 2s
> pct rescued:?? 97.75%, read errors:???? 5884,? remaining time:? 5d 23h 43m
> ????????????????????????????? time since last successful read:????? 2m 45s
> Scraping failed blocks... (forwards)??? ]
>
>
> On the plus side, that's 97.75% more data than I had before :-) but the
> "remaining time" looks like it could be the rest of the week (it varies
> quite a bit).
>
>
> I think, from reading the manual, that I can use CTRL-C and restart this
> again later and it will pick up where it left off using the map file. Is
> this right?
Very nice, this worked much better than I had expected! And you're
right, you can simply CTRL-C and restart ddrescue with the same command
(i.e., with the iso and map file; different options should work.) I would
make a copy of the files before restarting, just in case.
> Are there any other options I should consider trying?
Can you try with "-b 2048 -d" for direct disc access and maybe once more
with "-R" for reverse?
> Another thought is that perhaps a shade more polishing might help. If I
> polish the CDROM a little more and then resume the ddrescue, I think I won't
> be any worse off than I am now, i.e. all existing data will still be there
> and all I'll be risking is data that maybe would have eventually read before
> but now may not read at all. Is that right? Successful reads are now ~20m
> apart, so I suspect that the remaining data will be quite difficult to
> recover.
After trying the various options on the disk in its current state, I see
no harm in trying this approach. With the map file, ddrescue should
never overwrite already-read data. Again, I would make a copy to be
safe.
Cheers,
Malte
--
Malte Dehling
<mdehling at gmail.com>
Dear list,
through Antonio's efforts, we have now archived ISOs for a number of
early CONDIST CDs. Unfortunately, this did not help me find a version
of the VAXSET Software Engineering Tools for VMS 4.x that I was looking
for:
- CONDIST 1989-07 contains VAXSET v8.0, which requires VMS 5.0/5.1.
- CONDIST 1989-05 does not contain any VAXSET components.
So my hope now is that someone may still have old TK50 or 9-Track
distribution tapes stored away for VAXSET v7.0 or earlier, or for some
of its components:
- LSE Language Sensitive Editor v2.2 or earlier
- SCA Source Code Analyzer v1.2 or earlier
- PCA Performance Coverage Analyzer v2.0 or earlier
- DTM DEC/Test Manager v2.3 or earlier
(I already have CMS and MMS.)
Cheers,
Malte
--
Malte Dehling
<mdehling at gmail.com>
My recollection of Decnet for Pro boxes is that the available SW was
for an end node and not a routing or other capability for the
380/350/325 boxes.
While that memory might be incorrect, are there any DecNet packages
for the Pro family available anywhere?
a few hours of searching did not turn up any thing but PDFs about the software.
thanks in advance for any replies.
bob
Classic Computer Collectors,
My name is Eric and I live in Baton Rouge, LA. A customer of mine recently
asked me to find a good home for his early 1980's Intertec Superbrain. He
told me that it worked the last time he used it in 198? after which time it
sat in his attic with the dust cover on it. He provided me with a number of
5.25" floppy disks, which he said contained the complete operating system.
The chassis appears to be 100% intact, and includes the dust cover. I can
provide a few photos if you'd like.
I have not yet been able to make contact with any other classic PC
collectors, or museums that have expressed interest. Before I send it out
to my local recycler, I thought I'd reach out and see if anyone might be
interested.
Thank you for your time & God bless,
Eric Evans
225homebuyers.com
225.242.9858 gVoice
316.461.8587 cell
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dave Dunfield <dds.dunfield at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, May 11, 2021 at 11:09 PM
Subject: Re: DDS Intertec SuperBrain attic find w/ OS and dust cover
To: Eric Evans <4eric.evans at gmail.com>
Hi Eric,
Sorry but no - I'm moving to smaller digs and have had to let much of my
collection go and simply can't take on more right now. You might try the
Classic computer collectors mailing list:
http://www.classiccmp.org
Dave
Btw: In asking stuff like this it might be a good idea to state your (or
friends) location.
On Mon, May 10, 2021 at 5:22 PM Eric Evans <4eric.evans at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dave,
>
> A customer of mine recently asked me to find a good home for his early
> 1980's Intertec Superbrain. He told me that it worked the last time he used
> it in 198? after which time it sat in his attic with the dust cover on it.
> He provided me with a number of 5.25" floppy disks, which he said contained
> the complete operating system.
>
> The chassis appears to be 100% intact, and includes the dust cover. I can
> provide a few photos if you'd like.
>
> I have not yet been able to make contact with any other classic PC
> collectors, or museums that have expressed interest. Before I send it out
> to my local recycler, I thought I'd reach out and see if you had any
> interest, or knew of anyone who might.
>
> Thank you for your time & God bless,
>
> Eric Evans
> 225homebuyers.com
> 225.242.9858 gVoice
> 316.461.8587 cell
>
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search "Dave's Old Computers" see "my personal" at bottom!
I have gone back to trying to fix my DEC Professional 350. I have a printset
for the machine now. I think the CPU is being constantly reset.
Is there any documentation anywhere on the F11 chipset? Bitsavers only seems
to have the later J11.
Thanks
Rob
What is the best type of lubricant for Omnibus backplanes?
It can be a struggle to insert and remove PDP-8/e boards into the Omnibus.
There is a risk of damage to the brittle bakelite connector housings on the
Omnibus PCB.
Traditional contact sprays should work but have two problems:
1) they remain wet and over time will attract and retain dust
2) the solvent and lubricant *may* weaken or attack the bakelite
There are some PTFE (Teflon) based lubricant sprays which create a dry
film. Would this type of spray work?
Any suggestions on what I could use that reduces the strain on the Omnibus
and the PCBs during insertion/removal without creating new problems?
Thanks and best regards
Tom Hunter