test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by dave.dunfield＠gmail.com

>Very interesting. By the way I've been reading your comments about your >incident in 2019. I am impressed. All the best for you and your near people. >Kind Regards >Sergio Thanks! It's been an "interesting" year! Btw, for anyone who was interested enough to download my DVM demo... I've made a lot of updates, additions, improvements, and fixed a few bugs. Might be worth grabbing it again. Dave ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal site: http://dunfield.maknonsolutions.com Check out "DVM" - run custom apps. anywhere!

5 years, 7 months

9 track tapes and block sizes

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

dear all, thanks for the useful informations! So now a question comes to mind... what is the best utility for Linux to be used to read and archive tapes? Thanks Andrea

5 years, 7 months

Computer History

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

I've recently reread *Fire In The Valley, Ed. 1,2 &3.* They are the seminal, authoritative & comprehensive sources for the history of the microcomputer. We in the classic computer community need to know the history of our hobby to keep it vital and relevant to today's society. More than ever we need to know how microcomputers came about that may be helpful in understanding the role microcomputers play in our lives now. Happy computing all. Murray ? <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…> Virus-free. www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

5 years, 7 months

Notes on HP3000 WCS Microcode, Series 37 on ebay in Germany

by rdbrown0au＠gmail.com

HP 3000 Series 37 on ebay in Germany (7954A, 9144AR, 30457A, 700/92 (German keyboard)) https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HP-3000-Series-37-Computer-System-RETRO-SELTEN-… Thanks to David Collins at the HP Computer Museum, I now have 11 different versions of the HP 3000 Series 64 [,68,70] microcode SYSWCS64.PUB.SYS and 3 different versions respectively of each of SYSWCS37 and WCSLE1 and WCSLE2. I've put notes up at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:RDBrown/HP3000-WCS-Microcode It's possible that one of the SYSWCS64 files may match the assembly listing on bitsavers, but that listing could allow guessing the architecture, assuming horizontal microcode and matching against the HP 3000 stack machine instruction set it implements. Only the Series 37 rates a mention in the HP Journal, though the common data between the SYSWCS37, WCSLE1 and WCSLE2 suggests they may share a common microcode. Guessing the architecture would be more of a puzzle, unless more documentation is found. J. David Bryan's SIMH work gives a running MPE V for anyone to try. I don't know what other minis of the era also have microcode available as files - I read that the Vax 780 had 1k of microcode patch/extension area for fixes or customer use.

5 years, 7 months

Tektronix 4953 Graphics Tablet

by cctalk＠v6y.net

Hello everyone! I present to you a rare bird; the Tek 4953 graphics tablet, with (I think!?) everything. https://www.ebay.com/itm/203108439922 I am look forward to posting a series of _nice_ Tek terminals and complete DG rack systems. Please contact me directly if you have any questions. -Justin Keogh (520) 265-0034

5 years, 7 months

Care and feeding of some Lisp machines (TI Explorer and Xerox Star)

by lars＠nocrew.org

Josh Dersch wrote: > Not a ton to see, lisp-wise, it's just a port of Franz Lisp to > Uniflex. I can try to benchmark fibonacci later this week if you want. Thanks! I wasn't expecting a benchmark, just a little defun. For the record, I have a Maclisp over here that will do (fib 40) in less than 9 seconds.

5 years, 7 months

APL\3000 microcode. Was: Re: Notes on HP3000 WCS Microcode, Series 37 on ebay in Germany

by sieler＠allegro.com

Warner asks: "Why was microcode support required to make APL work? What did it enable that couldn't be done in other ways?" [On an HP 3000 Series III, for example] Back in the mid-1970s, on the HP 3000 Series III, the team implementing APL\3000 apparently decided they would need to implement some form of virtual memory (beyond the multiple 64KB spaces the HP 3000 Classic architecture provided). They chose to add 11 new instructions: LDV, STV, MWFV, MWTV, MBFV, MBTV, LDVB, STVB, MVW, and EGOTO (unnamed by HP), LDWX (unnamed by HP) The first 9 are "virtual memory" related instructions. The last two are not. These instructions were added shortly after the original Series III instruction set had previously been expanded by the addition of the new extended COBOL instructions. (So, the Series III had two sets of firmware expansions.) Subsequent HP 3000 models had the COBOL instructions from day 1. I presume that the APL instructions weren't ready when the Series 30/33 design was locked down. I *think* they might have been available later as an add-on. I know that a few years later, the instructions were ported to the Series 40/44 microcode by Leon Leong, but they were never released for it (APL\3000 was in limbo, about to be cancelled at the time.) But, to answer your question, yes...there are other ways. Gavin Scott managed to patch the unimplemented instruction handler in MPE V/R (the release the SIMH HP3000 simulator is running), and got APL\3000 running. In the meantime, I'm slowing trying to add the instructions to the SIMH code. The nice thing about Gavin's approach is that if I get an instruction implemented, his code *for that instruction* simply never gets called ... so we can coexist peacefully. In theory, implementing the APL instructions in SIMH will lead to better performance (because calling one won't cause a missing instruction interrupt, followed by hundreds or thousands of simulated HP 3000 instructions to emulate the instruction). I believe Gavin is preparing a talk about APL\3000 for an APL Users Group. Another alternative would have been for the APL\3000 people to implement references to their virtual memory via "cover functions". However, I suspect that the grasp of SPL programming, the lack of "macros" with parameters in SPL, and concerns about the performance penalty of a procedure call per memory access all would have conspired to argue against this approach. (Having been reading thousands of lines of SPL written in the 1970s, I conclude that perhaps a handful of people at HP understood how to write readable, maintainable SPL code ... and that's probably the same percentage as SPL programmers outside HP :) Stan

5 years, 7 months

B.E.I uSounder S-100 board...

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

I just picked up one of these on a lark. It has an SN76477 sound effects chip on it. Not much other info besides the copyright, 1978. Anyone have schematics or a user manual? Thanks, Bill S. -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

5 years, 7 months

Fwd: [GreenKeys] Teletype Model 28 Free, La Crosse, WI area

by jfoust＠threedee.com

> >Subject: [GreenKeys] Model 28 Free >From: GARY WEBB via GreenKeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> > >Model 28 with modem installed. Tape reader/reperf. Variable speed. Manuals. Last used 20+ years ago. If no one wants it, soon will be in the local land fill. Located in Onalaska, WI Phone 608-769-5633 NI9V

5 years, 7 months

ISO Advantech Labtool-148C prgrammer wall wart specs

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I just bought one of these thinking it ran off 110, but it uses a 3 pin wall wart. Does anyone have one of these and could tell me the voltages it supplies.

5 years, 7 months

Care and feeding of some Lisp machines (TI Explorer and Xerox Star)

by engel＠multicores.org

Hi, for a planned exhibition, I am thinking of restoring two of the machines to working state again that are in storage here for decades: - A TI Explorer ("Sperry" labeled) and - A Xerox Star (no idea if ours actually ran Interlisp or one of the other OSes for the Star/Dandelion) There is "sen?s dandelion restoration blog" at http://dandelion.sen.cx/ (which seems to be very helpful to test the power supply) and, of course, lots of documents and software on bitsavers. I have quite a bit of experience with TI1500 machines, so the Explorer feels rather familiar, but I have never worked with Xerox machines before. Before I start to disassemble and test the machines, I would be interested to hear about specific problems you might have experienced bringing up one of these two machines, preferably those on the unexpected side. Some things I could not find so far are the mouse and the console cable for the Explorer. It seems that the mouse is related to MouseSystems optical mice used on older Sun/SGI systems (but the interface might be different?). The fiber optics cable for the display (TI part number 2233200 according to the field service manual) might be another problem - if you know any details about this, I would be very interested... Another thing that is also missing is the mouse pad for the three button optical Xerox mouse. Is it possible that an optical mouse pad for Sun/SGI machines is compatible? Best wishes, ??? Michael

5 years, 7 months

SPARCstation ELC Installation and repair guide

by rp＠servium.ch

Does anyone have the Sun SPARCstation ELC Installation and repair guide? I have a few naked ELC boards and I'd like to know what that edge connector does (presumably power and video) and if feasible build something from it (1U rackmount Sun4c server? Slim client built into the back of an LCD? SPARC Laptop? Endless possibilities....)

5 years, 7 months

Sun SPARCstation LX boot from CDROM?

by ccth6600＠gmail.com

About 20 years ago I rescued a fully working Sun SPARCstation LX with CDROM and QIC-150 tape drive - all 3 in lunchbox format - plus monitor when we moved office and management decided they no longer wanted/needed it. Shortly after I have installed an early version of NetBSD (1.3.3) from the CDROM drive. I played with it for a few days and then stored the entire system in a museum grade glass display cabinet. This is indoors with minimal dust and benign temperatures between 18 degrees C to about 28 degrees C (typical room temperatures here in Perth in Western Australia unless you run the air conditioner). Now retired I took the stack of "lunch-boxes" and the CRT monitor out of the display cabinet and powered it up. After 20 years no smoke came out but the system didn't boot but reported trouble with the NVRAM setting. I still could start NetBSD using a "boot disk" command. I googled the problem and bought and installed a replacement TIMEKEEPER chip (M48T08-100). After defaulting the settings and setting the MAC address and machine ID it was happy and booted from disk without intervention. In NetBSD I then set the date and time and all was good. Then I decided to upgrade to the latest version of the SPARC version of NetBSD 9.0. I downloaded and burned the ISO image to CD. Dropped it into a CD caddy and inserted it into the CDROM drive (SUN Model 411 - really a Sony CDU-8012 3.1e). I did a "probe-scsi-all" and it found both the hard drive and the CDROM (target 6 unit 0). Now comes the problem - if it try to run from it via "boot cdrom" it doesn't even access the CDROM drive - the LED doesn't turn on unlike when you do the "probe-scsi-all". The "cdrom" alias is really: "/iommu/sbus/espdma at 4,8400000/esp at 4 ,8800000/sd at 6,0:d". The "disk" alias is really: "/iommu/sbus/espdma at 4,8400000/esp at 4,8800000/sd at 3,0" The "@3" versus the "@6" are the SCSI IDs of the disk drive versus the CDROM. I don't know what the trailing bits mean. I tried cdrom aliases from "sd at 6,0:0" to "sd at 6,0:f" and all report: Can't read disk label Can't open disk label package Can't open boot device The LED doesn't blink even once unless I remove and re-insert the caddy with the CDROM media or if I do a "probe-scsi" or "probe-scsi-all". I tried original Sun Solaris 2.4 installation media with the exact same result/symptoms. I also tried to access the CDROM from NetBSD using "cat /dev/cd0a" but the drive's LED didn't blink and I got an obscure error message. The Boot ROM revision is reported as 2.9. The system was bought about 1985 or 1986 and has seen very little use. I searched google without success. Maybe I used the wrong search terms or the equipment is just getting too old and FAQs have disappeared. What would cause the CDROM boot problem? There is a chance that the actual Sony drive died. I partially disassembled it hoping to find dust stuck on the LASER optics but it was nice and clean. The positioning and ejection mechanisms work just fine. The whole system was working before I put it into my relatively dust proof glass display cabinet. Thanks and best regards Tom Hunter

5 years, 7 months

Sgi gear

by antoniob＠bell.net

Do you have any challenge L deskisde or onyx available?

5 years, 7 months

Old tape files needing review

by cclist＠sydex.com

Folks, I've got a fair amount of what would be classified as public domain tape data from old customer jobs wandering around. I don't have the time to peruse it in detail and was wondering if someone would like to take a stab at a sample and perhaps volunteer for the rest. Much of this is from university archivists whose job it was to archive all of the unlabeled or private tapes that they found. I doubt that said folks know what to make of the data. At any rate, here's a sample from a Unix (probably V7) tar-ed up: https://app.box.com/s/htvxd534gvbccoajugfp01ndmfeevxt4 The original appears to be cpio-ed. I'll leave it up for a week. --Chuck

5 years, 7 months

RSTS/E patches

by paulkoning＠comcast.net

I previously created a Github repository for various DEC things, including updated DECnet/E utilities. I thought that the RSTS patches I had posted in the past were there also, but that wasn't the case. I've added a "patches" subdirectory, which contains the patches I have collected. I just added a new one, which fixes a bug encountered when running SIMH set to be an 11/94. In that case (and possibly some other similar variations) RSTS tries to figure out the line frequency and gets it wrong because SIMH executes much faster. https://github.com/pkoning2/decstuff is the repository. paul

5 years, 7 months

Looking for a TI technical report on Explorer virtual memory

by engel＠multicores.org

Hi, first, a big "thank you" to all of you who support me with my attempt to get our Explorers and Xerox Stars to run again. I?ll head down to the basement in the afternoon to see if I can build a system that is able to image the Explorer not-quite-SCSI disks (according to the documentation, these have in fact 256 byte sectors). Btw., this Raspberry Pi SCSI device emulator supposedly also supports emulating SASI drives: https://hackaday.com/2017/05/01/the-raspberry-pi-becomes-a-scsi-device/ The original Japanese web page linked in the article is no longer online, but there are several versions of the code (and a translated webpage in English) mirrored on github. This might be useful to build a working SCSI device emulation for the Explorer. So I have another favor related to TI Explorers to ask... One of the reasons (apart from the planned exhibition) I am interested in Lisp and Smalltalk machines is that I?m collecting information on systems using persistent memory, which could also help my students who work on persistent memory research topics to obtain a better insight into the topic and its history. There was a research prototype of a persistent virtual memory system for the TI Explorer by Satish M. Tatte (TI Artificial Intelligence Labs) metioned in these papers: Satish M. Thatte. 1986. Persistent memory: a storage architecture for object-oriented database systems. In Proceedings on the 1986 international workshop on Object-oriented database systems (OODS '86). IEEE Computer Society Press, Washington, DC, USA, 148?159. (https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/318826.318848) and Thatte S.M. (1991) Persistent Memory: A Storage System for Object-Oriented Databases. In: Dittrich K.R., Dayal U., Buchmann A.P. (eds) On Object-Oriented Database Systems. Topics in Information Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84374-7_16 The second paper cites a more detailed TI Tech Report which I have been unable to find: Thatte, S.M.: "Persistent Memory for Symbolic Computers", Technical Report TR-08-85-21, Central Research Laboratories, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX, July 1985. Does one of you maybe have a copy of this? Best wishes, ??? Michael

5 years, 7 months

VAX 4000/300 start up / KA670 issues

by Aaron.Jackson＠nottingham.ac.uk

Hi I've had a VAX 4000/300 sitting around for the past couple of years. The second time I tried to switch it on there was a bit pop from the power supply. The 12v module of the H7874 PSU is completely dead and despite my best efforts I have not been able to fix it. Tonight I decided to remove that module and just use the PSU to provide the 5v, with -12 and 12v supplied from external supplies. Surprisingly this worked, as long as the 12v rails are up before you turn on the H7874 (so if you have a dead H7874 you might want to try this...). After some messing around with MMJ cables and various serial adapters, I finally got some stuff printing to a terminal (I have abbreviated this slightly because I don't want to type it out. ]] KA670-A V3.4, VMB 2.12 ]] Performing normal system tests. ]] 66..65.. ... 51.. ]] 50..49.. ... 35.. ]] 34..33.. ... 19.. ]] 18..17.. ... 11.. ]] ]] ?5F 2 0F 44 0000 0000 07 ; SUBTEST_5F_0D, DE_SGEC.LIS ]] P1=00000000 P2=00000000 P3=00000000 P4=00000000 P5=00000000 ]] P6=00000000 P7=00000000 P8=00000000 P9=0000080A P10=00000003 ]] r0=00000054 r1=20084001 r2=00000000 r3=00000000 r4=00000000 ]] r5=1FFFFFFC r6=C0000001 r7=00000000 r8=00004000 EPC=00000000 ]] 10.. ]] ]] ?5C 2 06 FF 0000 0001 00 ; SUBTEST_5C_06, DE_SHAC.LIS ]] P1=00000001 P2=00000000 P3=00000000 P4=00000000 P5=00000000 ]] P6=00000000 P7=00000000 P8=00000000 P9=0000080A P10=00000003 ]] r0=00000054 r1=0000002E r2=0000005C r3=20140784 r4=2005FFF8 ]] r5=20060028 r6=20065224 r7=20004000 r8=00000000 EPC=00000000 ]] 09..08..07..05..04..03.. ]] Normal operation not possible. ]] ]] >>> It allows me to type at this point but does not appear to do anything with the input. I've looked through the KA670 manual and found a listing of the error codes. 5F = SGEC (Second Generation Ethernet Controller) "loopback_type no_ram_tests" 5C = SHAC (Single Host Adapter Chip) "shac_number" I'm not sure if it is relevant but I removed the TOY battery when I got it to prevent it eating everything. I've not taken apart the console door thing but perhaps it was too late. The SGEC might refer to the ethernet controller installed on that door? If anyone is better at understanding these error messages I'd greatly appreciate any info you could give. Cheers, Aaron P.S. Apologies for the absurd footer appended by my university. You can probably ignore it... The list does not accept mail from my personal mail server for some reason. This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored where permitted by law.

5 years, 7 months

Kennett Classic Anniversary Event and Outdoor Swap 9/26/2020

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

If you're in the Philadelphia / Baltimore area September 26th, please consider visiting us for our 1 year anniversary / outdoor swap day. We are debuting two new exhibit rooms that day. Because we can admit a limited number of persons inside at a time, we will also run an outdoor swap meet spanning from the outside front door, down the side of the building and into the back parking lot so people can congregate outside. There are a number of outdoor restaurants nearby and we're going to attempt a covid-friendly group dinner afterwards. Swap spaces remain, let me know privately to reserve your place. Kennett Classic is located in Kennett Square, PA. We're fostering a growing local interest in vintage computing. There might be "new stuff" for sale just because there are new-to-the-hobby persons in attendance and we have been publicizing the event locally. For more directions/details see https://www.kennettclassic.com/kennett-classic-in-two-weeks-sept-26-2020/ Thanks Bill 484 732 7041 (shop number) kennettclasic.com

5 years, 7 months

Flyback transformer for Televideo TVI-9xx terminal

by ccth6600＠gmail.com

I am looking for replacement flyback transformers for Televideo TVI-912B terminals. The flyback transformer is labelled "KFS-00093" on the actual part and also in the schematic. This same flyback was used in a range of Televideo terminals (TVI-912B, TVI-920, etc). Does anyone know of a source for these? Google found the link below, but the photo looks very different from the actual flyback in the terminal: https://www.tedss.com/2023000453 I confirmed with the supplier that the photo on their website is from the actual part they sell. Unfortunately they don't have a datasheet for the flyback or even a specification sheet. The part is cheap, but they have a US$25 minimum order and then the shipping to Australia is just silly expensive at US$59.10. I could spend US$84.10 just to find out it is the wrong part. Any ideas? Thanks and regards Tom Hunter

5 years, 7 months

Seeking "MEGATEK" Sun 3/4 era (?) VME Graphics accelerator information and driver

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I picked up a pair (1 set) of these very neat old graphics boards. Alas I have no idea what they are or if there is hope of using them. One is a dual slot 9U VME board that has gobs of video ram all over it, including a board labeled Z buffer. The only output are (3) BNC connectors (R,G, and B) and a 50 pin connector marked P4. The other is a single slot 9UVME board with (8) 30 pin SIMM slots with 1mb SIMM in them, a couple of Weitek chips, another 50 pin connector labeled P4, jumpered with a baby backplane to the other board, and 6 led on the front. Anyone know what these are and where to get drivers? They appear to be Sun 3 era, and the boards are labeled ?Sun OHC? with a megatek sticker. They do not appear to work out-of-box in my 3/260 as console devices- the Kernel does not identify them correctly. Thanks.

5 years, 7 months

What's the secret to LK201 leaf springs?

by athornton＠gmail.com

I got an LK201 recently that was a little damaged in transit. A couple of the keycap assemblies and their corresponding leaf springs have come off. I can see how the leaf springs fit on the little posts on the keycap assemblies, and I can see where those snap into the board, but what I don?t see is how to get that put together and then keep it together while I turn it over and then get it in place. Clearly there is some simple trick I am missing. What is it? Adam

5 years, 7 months

What's the secret to LK201 leaf springs?

by marvin＠west.net

One thing I've tried and seems to work quite well (on another application) is UV curable plastic. The last thing I fixed was when the post holding one side of the exit paper tray broke off, and I used the UV curable plastic to fix it (still working just fine.) The trade name is Bondic, and I ran across it on a YouTube ad (first time EVER I bought something from an unknown YouTube ad!) This apparently is the same type of UV curable "glue" used by Dentists. It cures in about 4 seconds! > My guess is that the formed over part has broken off (you might find > some little white disks of plastic, about 1/8" diameter, rattling > about inside the case). Alas I have never found a way to re-fix them. > There's not enough plastic in the housing to drill it out and fit > screws/nuts. There is no way of gluing something to the ends of the > posts that would be strong enough, > > -tony

5 years, 7 months

Fwd: [GreenKeys] Teletype 33 near Phoenix AZ

by jfoust＠threedee.com

> >From: Joe Clanin <macbax1 at gmail.com> >Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2020 04:56:27 -0500 >To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net >Subject: [GreenKeys] 28KSR, 26, 33 For Sale Near Phoenix, AZ > >I have no affiliation with the seller, just passing it along. > >28:? <https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/ele/d/mesa-teletype-model-28/7194476271.…>https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/ele/d/mesa-teletype-model-28/7194476271.… > >26:? https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/ele/d/mesa-teletype-model-26/7194473134.… > >33:? <https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/sys/d/mesa-teletype-model-33-ksr/7184200…>https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/sys/d/mesa-teletype-model-33-ksr/7184200… > >-Joe >__________

5 years, 7 months

What I've been doing lately

by dave.dunfield＠gmail.com

Hi everyone, Might not be exactly classic computer related, but I know many of you have been following my progress through my recovery (thanks for the many kind words), and I do think many of you might find this a tad interesting. What I've been doing for the past little while - check out my latest project "Dunfield Virtual Machine" on my personal web site: http://dunfield.maknonsolutions.com Regards, Dave -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal site: http://dunfield.maknonsolutions.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 years, 7 months

Jump to page:

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb