So we're all stuck inside with no fabulous midwestern computer
festivals to go to, so let's try to do this thing online. You produce
the videos, we'll show them on the VCFMW Youtube channel using their
"Premiere" feature to create a full day of classic computing
presentations, along with a live chat with the creators (that's you)
on YouTube as well as an all-day open chat on Discord/IRC.
If you've got an idea for a video (criteria: on-topic, low noise),
email us before September 1 (the sooner the better!) at
virtual at vcfmw.org with:
- How you?d like to be credited (real name or alias ok)
- A one-line title/topic for your video
- A short paragraph as an Abstract (plaintext, but can include URLs)
- What time of day (morning, afternoon, or evening) you?d prefer your
video shown
If accepted, completed videos are due to us by Noon on Monday,
September 7th. You can get your video to us in one of three ways:
- Provide a download link for us to pick it up (FTP, dropbox, mega.nz,
uucp, fidonet, etc.)
- Upload via anonymous FTP to ftp.oldskool.org in the /incoming directory
- If you have no edit capability and would like to stream directly to
Youtube from your phone or tablet, go ahead and do so, making your
video ?Unlisted?, then email us the link and we?ll pick it up.
Be sure to include some or all of the filename in your email so that
we match videos up with the right people.
The full linkable announcements are here:
https://mailchi.mp/1f03fef220b3/vcf-midwest-15-virtual-event?http://vcfmw.org/virtual.html
-j
Hi,
I want to use my daisy wheel printer to create letters and memos and
similar (rather simple) texts.
What can I use to write the text?
I think "special effects" with daisy wheel printers are "bold" and
"underline" parts. And "double stroke" (if that's the correct word, I
mean a space char between each char).
groff (or any *roff) comes to my mind. Are there other options?
regards,
chris
I'm interested in getting one of these, but browsing the manuals it
appears there is software that is installed on the VAX to use them with VMS.
Is the software required to attach terminals and login to various
Vax's?? Or is it for management of the Dec Server 300?
If the software is required, where do I find it?? Is it in the hobbyist
distribution?? Is there a VAX and ALPHA version?
Doug
Hi all --
Picked up a non-functional but otherwise nice looking DEC VR260 (19" b&w
monitor) on the cheap, hoping to use it with my VAXstation 2000. From what
I've read, these were never the most reliable displays. Curious if anyone
has any information on common failure modes, or has service docs squirreled
away somewhere. I've at least found schematics, so I have something to go
on, but it's not exactly the most straightforward design I've poked at.
Right now when powered up I hear a repeated low hum from the transformer
followed by a soft ticking noise so I'm guessing I've got power supply
issues at the very least. Unsure what I should expect the monitor to do if
it's not being fed a valid video signal (I haven't yet tried to hook the
VS2000 up to it) -- whether it'll go into free-running mode or do mostly
nothing until it has something to sync to...
Thanks as always,
Josh
Hi List
I have here a Acer-Altos System 4500. It is a 486/33 EISA System with an
Altos Basic SCSI Bsc(e) Controller.
It has an Altos Multidrop/2 EISA Controller (to controll TCU Boxes that
handle RS232 Ports) and a VGA1024i EISA Graphics controller.
My mision is to bring that System back to life respectively get access
to the Discs. The built in SCSI Disk are running and i have created
Images of this Disks in a Linux PC.
But i can not boot the System by one of this Disks. I remember that on
this disk is some sort of Altos SCO Unix System V installed.
Did sombody here on the list have documentation or the original
Installationmedia (QIC-525) for that system?
Marco
>
> Mike Stein writes:
> > I remember there was another L9000 rescued in California years ago,
> but maybe that's the one you have now.
>
My consulting company was in Redwood City, CA. Our nextdoor neighbor had a
company leasing new cars. They ran the company on a Burroughs L9000.
About August of 2000, they were at the point where they could no longer
obtain ledger cards (roughly 8x11 with a magnetic stripe down the side for
computer data), for the L9000, so they were going to move to a PC-based
system.
The owner knew I was a computer collector, so he offered to give me the
L9000.
I was tempted...but it was a large machine, so I arranged for it to be
given to the Computer History Museum (where I was, or became (timeline
hazy) a senior docent).
I remember the owner saying that only the cleverness of their independent
maintenance guy had kept the machine running ... to the point where he'd
machined some replacement parts himself.
I talked to the elderly lady who ran the machine (i.e., did the data
entry). She compared it to the PC, and lamented the loss of the L9000.
The L9000 was so much faster and easier to use! She could probably enter
data four or five times faster on the L9000. It wasn't just a matter of
familiarity ... much of the slowdown was due to the GUI nature of the PC
program they switched to, and they no longer had the luxury of having
relatively purpose-related hardware on the L9000.
Stan
almost finished with this
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/magazines/RSTS_Professional
I'd like to gap-fill the rare RSTS Professional issues if anyone still has them. They are staple-bound so they can be scanned without
removing a binding.
There is a B800 at the RICM, but nothing larger.
> On Aug 5, 2020, at 1:00 PM, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
>
> Burroughs L-series paper tapes
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
> On 8/3/20 7:25 PM, Mike Stein via cctalk wrote:
>
>> And what about your L9000 (or was it an 8000?) ? Did it also go to the LCM?
>>
>> Not many left, alas...
>
> we have an L-9000
> https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X1742.2001
Here is another one:
In 2006, Nelson Nameplate Company (now Nelson-Miller) gave their
L9000 to Sellam Ismail at Vintagetech.com. He already had an
L7000 and was anxious to add the L9000 to his collection. Nelson
had wanted to donate it to a 501(c)(3) institution, but nobody
was interested.
They bought it in 1975, and it was in daily use in their billing
department until November 2005. They certainly got their money's
worth out of it!
Amusing side note: The repair guy who kept it running for many
years had the unfortunate name of Slobodan Milosevic. He preferred
to go by simply "Dan". :-)
Alan Frisbie
I've bought a small number of L-series tapes over the years that I finally read yesterday,
mostly pass 1 and 2 of the assembler.
Part numbers look like this. Oddly, they all seem to be wound backwards. The person-readable
label is at the end, which will make it annoying to scan.
1-2101-049-01
1-2101-052-07
1-1001-008-07
1-1001-009-07
Anyone have any others?
Are there any companies or entities left out there that are still doing
hardware support on the older HP A900 / A990 systems? Looking for
Worldwide people or companies. I get requests form time to time and
don't know where to send them.
Thanks
Jesse
Cypress Technology Inc
jesse(at)cypress-tech.com
I encountered my second missing Automated Logic Diagram (ALD) page for
the IBM 1410: 13.64.03.1, which, based on the signals fed to it and
which it produces, would, fortunately, necessarily have the same logic
as page 15.41.10.1 - "E CH FULL CONTROL-ACC". Page 13.64.03.1 is for
the second, or F Channel.
The E Channel version uses 9 NAND gates and 4 drivers. However, based
on the card location chart, the F Channel version, even though it would
have corresponding logic, has TWENTY-ONE gates (some of those could be
just load resistors) on card type DGR. These are ALL just INVERTERS.
The card location chart also calls out 2 gates on card type DFS - also
inverters, and one gate on card type AEK which uses equation (NOT IN1)
OR IN2 to produce its output.
The F channel logic used up two cards slots plus parts of six others.
The E Channel logic version used three card slots (probably in their
entirety) and the drivers used parts of four other cards slots
What to do? As readers will likely know, you can't do any real logic
with just inverters. However, SMS card outputs can be hooked together
with all but one of the gates so connected (or "DOT-ed") having open
collector outputs. Electrically, given the circuits on the DGR and DFS
cards (as well as most others the IBM 1410 uses), if you follow that
with an inverter you get OR => NOT, aka "NOR" logic. Now that we can do
something with.
So, I wrote a VHDL test bench, based on the Intermediate Logic Diagram
(ILD) that shows the necessary logic for the E Channel (and indicates
the F Channel is the same), and tested that against the E Channel page
to make sure my understanding of the logic was correct.
Then, as an exercise, with liberal application of DeMorgan's theorems, I
proceeded to lay out the logic for the F channel version in that
fashion. It took 21 inverters (using the AEK as an inverter) and 1 load
resistor (which I probably didn't need to use) and eight DOT functions
(ORs) to produce the necessary logic. So, pretty close, but not a
perfect reproduction. One thing is an issue for sure: I "DOT-ed" two
inputs together that come from other sheets whose outputs are used on
still other sheets - which is generally a no-no. It would not have been
that way on the original machine - they would need to be isolated by
being fed into gates of some sort - even if only back to back inverters.
I could probably spend a bit more time, find a way to leverage the
second input on the gate AEK, and get it more exact, but frankly, it
isn't worth the effort right now.
JRJ
?
After over a decade of keeping eyes peeled, I found a Commodore PET 4016 at
a yard sale yesterday (it actually wasn't in the sale, but there was some
old phone stuff there, and when I see anything like that I always ask the
owner if they happen to have any vintage computer stuff hiding away).
The case is pretty battered, and it was disgusting and reeked of rodent
urine, but after cleaning it and going over things it (incredibly) actually
works.
I am, however, missing a right shift keycap. Does anyone happen to have a
junker (perhaps one that's already missing keys) and so would be willing to
sell me one? It's identical to the left-side, and I think is shared with
the 4032 models. Cosmetically the machine's never going to be perfect (at
least not without some careful gluing on a couple of cracks and a full
repaint), but a complete keyboard would improve things considerably!
thanks
Jules
Have been going through my shop and storage room trying to see what
can get rid of and wasn't aware of how much old electronics and
computers have accumulated over last 50 years. Should note that this
process has been at insistance of my wife as a lot of these boxes
just got moved whenever I moved and much of this stuff haven't looked
at for decades.
Was about to toss a 1987 box containing DOS 3.3 but then figured
someone might want it. Have a couple of XT systems kicking around
somewhere but in 1987 I'd discovered the Mac and considered 68000
processor a far superior architecture as it was an easy transition
>from someone who'd spent most of their time programming on a
PDP-11. Also have early Mac software, hundreds of 3.5" disks which
are primarily taking up space and all of them have been copied to
HDD's and now run my Mac code under Basilisk2 was faster than it used
to run on my MacIIvx (of which I have a couple).
Also managed to find, in no particular order, a couple of C64's, a
TI99, ZX81, VIC20 and an 8" floppy drive with full documentation that
I faintly recall buying at a surplus electronics place in
Seattle. Also found a box of old Univac cards which appear to be DTL
with individual transistors and then go on to having DTL IC's as well
as some old IBM cards. Used to pull transistors and diodes off these
to build my own circuits 50 years ago. Now, with storage being so
ridiculously cheap haven't even come close to making a dent in the
capacity of a 256 Gb SD card in my Samsung S8 handheld supercomputer
of which I'm using the camera function to create high res images of
what I'm going through.
Also have lots of PC motherboards starting with XT's and progressing
upwards. Never liked 80286 and so only collected from 80386 and
higher. Seem to have lots of various parallel port adapters, disk
interfaces as well as parallel and serial port boards. Was planning
on using these as dedicated processors for data acquisition but found
that technology progressed faster than my getting around to use them
and it's a lot simpler to either use Phidget's SBC with various
sensors for environmental monitoring or a much less power hungry
Parallax Propellar chip for more demanding data acquisition
applications. (Haven't let my wife know how many of newer systems I
have stashed away but they take up way less room than old hardware).
Do also have a couple of PDP 11/23 systems which I'll probably have
to part with as I haven't used then in last 15 years. Also have a
number of unibus boards which haven't run into yet but won't be using
them. Lots of old computer books as well which would be nice to keep
but likely have most of documentation in digital form and usually
back up all important pdf files to separate drives.
The PC stuff is most voluminous and, if there's any interest, can
post images of what I have on my web site. Only components I've
tested are disk drives of which most work but SCSI drives are all old
and a number of them didn't take kindly to be powered off after
running for years and being moved from Vancouver to Kamloops.
Boris Gimbarzevsky
A company has a few VME SUN 3/xxx CPU Cards and a SMD card for sale in case
anyone is interested:
https://ggsp.se/69-oevriga
Approximately 100 USD each.
They have also been listed on Swedish auction site Tradera for some time
without selling so perhaps it is possible to negotiate?
/Mattis
I?m interested!!! Would you be able to take them to a UPS store ( or the like ) and I?ll call them to pay for shipping.
Possible??
Earl
Sent from my iPhone
> On Aug 1, 2020, at 1:00 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. Re: OpenVMS Community License (Rico Pajarola)
> 2. Tallgrass PC hardfile driver/utility software (r.stricklin)
> 3. SUN VME - seller in Sweden. (Mattis Lind)
> 4. Re: SUN VME - Have em in US.... (Chris Zach)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2020 16:04:29 -0700
> From: Rico Pajarola <rp at servium.ch>
> To: Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com>, "General
> Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: OpenVMS Community License
> Message-ID:
> <CACwAiQnFqofBCeHtMGTTmFv28Syu+Wa2-X5f5D8yFFL7VG3qGg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2020 at 8:06 AM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>>> One could make a case that the
>>> wording of the license is imprecise enough
>>
>> The wording is only imprecise to those who do not wish to follow it.
>> It is, by far, the cleanest and plainest written Hobbyist License I
>> have ever seen.
>
> IANAL, but I'm married to one... just pointing out that "clear language"
> does not mean the same thing to lawyers as it does to us engineers.
> "software owned by Digital Equipment Corporation" is pretty vague as far as
> lawyer-speak goes. The license does not seem to specifically include or
> exclude alternative scenarios. Anyone, especially a non-lawyer who was not
> involved with the drafting of the license, and says "obviously that must
> mean X" is just making stuff up (it doesn't matter what X is. Notice that
> I'm not saying it means you can use it under this license. I don't know,
> and IANAL). It's like undefined behaviour in C. You can make an educated
> guess (given additional information you have, such as history,
> correspondence with Mentec about the topic etc.), and you might be right,
> but the only way to find out for sure is to run the compiler and look at
> the disassembly, i.e. force a clarification from Mentec.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2020 00:03:19 -0700
> From: "r.stricklin" <bear at typewritten.org>
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts" <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Tallgrass PC hardfile driver/utility software
> Message-ID: <11E069C4-5A01-4E1B-875E-D36D13C5E738 at typewritten.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Folks;
>
> I see (and am grateful for) the disk images for the Tallgrass PC Hardfile/Tape unit (TG 3000/3100 series, such as my TG-3020) that have been archived on minuszerodegrees.com. This represents version 4.xx of the utilties, for use with PC-DOS 2.x.
>
> I was hoping to use this device on a 5150 PC with PC-DOS 1.1 and CP/M-86. This requires an older version (3.xx) of the DOS software, and one for CP/M-86 1.00 (also Tallgrass software version 3.xx? but a separate disk, I should imagine).
>
> If anybody happens to have a copy of either of these and don't mind sharing it, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!
>
>
> ok
> bear.
>
> --
> until further notice
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2020 14:55:50 +0200
> From: Mattis Lind <mattislind at gmail.com>
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: SUN VME - seller in Sweden.
> Message-ID:
> <CABr82SJF-i8VNp1e_+CejOWt2H5qYkOpp8z=y41vZMv1cW7m0w at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> A company has a few VME SUN 3/xxx CPU Cards and a SMD card for sale in case
> anyone is interested:
>
> https://ggsp.se/69-oevriga
>
> Approximately 100 USD each.
>
> They have also been listed on Swedish auction site Tradera for some time
> without selling so perhaps it is possible to negotiate?
>
> /Mattis
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2020 11:47:50 -0400
> From: Chris Zach <cz at alembic.crystel.com>
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: SUN VME - Have em in US....
> Message-ID: <3b876af1-7662-93c1-ad8e-bf8837fc682d at alembic.crystel.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> I have about 15 boards that look like they came from Sun 3/xxx series
> systems. Mostly SCSI controller boards things that might be clocks, and
> memory boards. About 3 Sun 3/xxx CPUs as well (later ones, 68020)
>
> Anyone need them? Let me know, pickup from MD preferred.
>
> CZ
>
> On 8/1/2020 8:55 AM, Mattis Lind via cctalk wrote:
>> A company has a few VME SUN 3/xxx CPU Cards and a SMD card for sale in case
>> anyone is interested:
>>
>> https://ggsp.se/69-oevriga
>>
>> Approximately 100 USD each.
>>
>> They have also been listed on Swedish auction site Tradera for some time
>> without selling so perhaps it is possible to negotiate?
>>
>> /Mattis
>>
>
>
> End of cctalk Digest, Vol 71, Issue 1
> *************************************
Folks;
I see (and am grateful for) the disk images for the Tallgrass PC Hardfile/Tape unit (TG 3000/3100 series, such as my TG-3020) that have been archived on minuszerodegrees.com. This represents version 4.xx of the utilties, for use with PC-DOS 2.x.
I was hoping to use this device on a 5150 PC with PC-DOS 1.1 and CP/M-86. This requires an older version (3.xx) of the DOS software, and one for CP/M-86 1.00 (also Tallgrass software version 3.xx? but a separate disk, I should imagine).
If anybody happens to have a copy of either of these and don't mind sharing it, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!
ok
bear.
--
until further notice
I'd like to know what to call this portable teletype 33.
I have not yet found any ID tag. I'd love to see some original literature.
Have not yet found another on the internets.
The hard-shell lid is removable and has a nice compartment to hold
the DA-15 to DB-25 serial cable and the AC power cable.
I uploaded pics at https://imgur.com/a/zAHchbb .
It has some issues. Typing JOHN FOUST gives HMHL DMEAD and line feed doesn't.
- John
The following four monitors are available free for pickup in the UK
(OX17 postcode).
All appear clean but are untested. All are believed to have been
functional when stored but that was ~2002/2003-ish.
Microvitec Cub. Seems to be in its original box.
DEC VRT19-D3.
Vision Master Pro 17.
DEC VRC21-W3.
Obviously with the current restrictions on movement these cannot be
picked up, but they need to be gone soon after the restrictions are over.
Expressions of interest offlist please.
Antonio
--
Antonio Carlini
antonio at acarlini.com
On 7/30/20 10:59 AM, Craig Ruff via cctech wrote:
> FYI: XX2247, LLC is now listed with a "delinquent" status by the Colorado Secretary of State's office due to a failure to file required reports back in 2018.
>
That is not good. I hope Dave is OK.
He lost his house in the big Colorado fires years ago
and I haven't talked to him in years.
I wonder if Johnny has heard anything from him.
>Message: 32
>Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2020 09:35:05 -0400
>From: Bill Degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com>
>
>Robert,
>
>It might very well be that the ROMs are fixed to their drive assignment on
>the Attache. That's why assign.com is not present. You can check this
>version:
>https://vetusware.com/download/MS-DOS%202.11%20for%20Otrona%20Attache%202.1…
>
>...to see if you're copy is missing assign.com for some reason.
>
>Bill
>
>On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 10:15 PM Robert Feldman via cctalk <
>cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to copy files off my Otrona Attache 8:16 using FastLynx 3.3,
> >but I keep getting an error 708 when trying to push SL.EXE to the Otrona
> >over the serial port. I am wondering if the reason for the error is that
> >the Otrona does not have a C: drive. Therefore, I would like to try to use
> >Assign.com to assign C: to A:, but the Attache version of MS-DOS 2.11 does
> >not include Assign.com. Does anyone have a copy of the MS-DOS 2.11 version
> >of Assign.com they can send me?
>>
> >Thanks,
> >Robert Feldman
>
I already have the Otrona MS-DOS 2.11 disks from Don Maslin's archive, but (as I forgot to mention), I do not have a modern computer with a 360KB floppy drive. I have an old Dell Precision T3400, but its BIOS will only allow 1.2MB 5.25 floppies.
The version from the Maslin Archive and both my original Otrona MS-DOS 2.11d disks (from 1983) and the MS-DOS-2.11 2.11e disks that I downloaded from FAUG after Otrona went out of business do not include Assign or Subst. However, the 2.11e disk includes support for a hard drive, so I believe that it can handle a C: drive.
I received a copy of Assign from MS-DOS 2.1 from another list member, so I have asked him if he can copy it to a floppy that I can send him.
Bob