A volunteer has come up for the hosting space and software (all open source,
Linux)
I have the data, and will put it into uploadable formats, and provide
templates for others who want to contribute also.
I am NOT a php programmer, so a volunteer is needed who will design the site
and create a script to do the searches and display the results.
Any volunteers?
_____
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2639/6114 - Release Date: 02/18/13
Morning all,
I thought I'd try and get the ol' Epson QX-10 running as a dumb terminal.
AFAIK, there's nothing on the 'standard' set of disks to do this (e.g.
valdocs has the 'mail' program which is aware of the serial port and which
I think can talk via a direct link rather than a modem - but I think its
functionality is all quite high-level and there's no 'terminal' mode).
So... MEX looks like a possibility, and an overlay for the QX-10 seems to
be available (although I'm not sure how much work is involved in merging
them yet). Does anyone know of any other options[1] which will work with
the QX-10's serial hardware? Or, does anyone happen to have a QX-10 enabled
version of MEX archived already?
[1] does CP/M abstract serial hardware into a set of common calls, or is
that outside its scope?
cheers
Jules
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Mike Ross <tmfdmike at gmail.com>
> To: cctech at classiccmp.org
> Cc:
> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:22:04 +1300
> Subject: Re: cctech Digest, Vol 114, Issue 23
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:21:07 -0500
>> From: Michael Thompson <michael.99.thompson at gmail.com>
>> To: cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org>
>> Subject: PDP-9 Restoration at the RICM
>
>> We need to fix the paper tape reader so we can load some of the diags.
>> We are a long way from connecting the TC-59 and the TU20.
>> I suspect that getting the TU20 working will be a challenge.
>
> How are you fixed for doc & spares?
>
> I have a TC59 on one of my pdp-15s - I have doc and I think I have
> some spare boards...
>
> Mike
Bitsavers has the TC59 Instruction Manual and Schematics.
I have an HP 7975A (TU20) tape deck manual on the way. I will scan it
and send it to Al.
I have not been able to find any documentation on the rack of
electronics in the bottom of the TU20 cabinet.
We don't have the I/O cables to connect the TC59 to the PDP-9.
We have some spare generic B, R, and S modules.
We probably don't have any spares for the special modules for the
PDP-9 and TC59.
Any offers of help are gratefully accepted.
--
Michael Thompson
(Think I may have goofed on my earlier post (excess formatting))
Hiya,
Just wondering if anyone has a Xerox 820-II with CP/M 2.2C that already
has Kermit installed, that could make a Image Disk of it and upload it
someplace? I have Dave Dunfield's Image Disk program, and I've
successfully transferred several programs to the machine this way, but
I'd like to have a comm program to transfer stuff, as I'm using a
modified cable from the existing 8" floppy drive to an old win98/DOS PC
for transfers, and I don't like to disconnect and connect those 50 pin
edge connectors on and off the boards too many times.
I actually have the .HEX files for the machine, but I tried to get them
transferred with 22disk, and it doesn't seem to like 8" drives too much
(ver. 1.42 or 1.44). I also tried the host terminal transfer, but hex
files seem to wreak havoc and don't transfer properly. So I'm kind of
stuck between a rock and a hard place. If anyone can help out, it would
be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Dave Land
Land Computer Service
Is anyone interested in hosting an online cross reference for components
both small and major?
I have a fairly large (3000+ line items) of cross reference for hard drives,
CDROM, CDRW, NIC cards, video cards, etc for computers and servers that I
would be willing to contribute in spreadsheet format.
Also MANY hard copy sheets of old printouts for parts that go into HP and
IBM servers.
Cindy Croxton
_____
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2639/6114 - Release Date: 02/18/13
Hi all,
Tony, thanks for your input, we will check the PSU on Thursday when we
get to the machine again.
as Christian pointed out, the problem is not so much the pure amount of
components but the puzzle
game of identifying them since they have been relabled.
Whats definitely worse when comparing to out old VT100 is that the DEC
manual has one complete definitive
service manual that covers all schemes and logic. For our NOVA i failed
to find a comparable thing. I have constantly to go
back an forward through all kinds of docs. Again I may be unable to find
a "real" service manual, if you know any let me know ;)
Bruce, I am looking forward hearing from you. It would be great if you
come up with anything helpful before Thursday
so we can check everything out.
Dwight, we are currently missing the exact schematics for our machine. I
hope thats where Bruce comes into play. The only
real schematics i found were for the NOVA 2, and a quick glimpse showed
that the machine is different (at least the
layout of parts). None the less we will keep our eye on the clock(s), i
guess it will do no harm and make our scopes and logic analyzers
happy ;)
>Jeff Jonas [jeffj at panix.com] wrote:
>> Long ago when SCSI was young
>> and just an 8 bit parallel bus,
>> Ampro littleboards advocated using the SCSI bus
>> for peer to peer communications, not just master/slave.
>>
>> Did anyone else do that?
>
>I don't remember the details but I'm fairly sure you could run
>OpenVMS clusters over SCSI at some point. I don't recall
>whether this was "just experimental" or whether it was
>actually supported in some configurations.
>
>Antonio
OpenVMS AXP and I64 support partial clustering over some SCSI adapters, but I wouldn't call it full
"networking". The machines are configured as multiple initiators and can send storage requests over
the SCSI bus to shared disks or arrays. You still have to have another connection (usually Ethernet)
for machine->machine cluster communication.
While I haven't looked into it much beyond pinouts, DEC produced the proprietary DSSI which, in some
cases, used SCSI ASICs - indicating that at some level it was similar (HSD-05 used, I think, an Emulex at
either side. Can't check now, but can later). The protocol was different, and cluster communications could
go over the DSSI bus between machines.
I'm not sure whether the lack of a similar setup for SCSI is more because of impossibility or because Fast/Gig
Ethernet came about and there was no longer much of a reason to not use the Ethernet for cluster comms.
Michael B. Brutman <mbbrutman-cctalk at brutman.com> wrote ..
> Hi,
>
> I made some changes in my TCP/IP code to make it behave better when
> packets are lost and it has to retransmit. The old code used to wait a
> fixed amount of time before retrying, which was painfully slow on a
> local connection. The new code is adaptive and should work much better
> on a wide range of connections.
>
> If you'd like to help me test it I have my PCjr running the mTCP FTP
> server with some old computer pictures, some software, and some text
> files. (I'll add more during the day to keep it interesting.) You can
> connect by going to the following address:
>
> ftp://96.42.84.69:2021/
Ok, I did a SITE STATS after I disconnected and it showed the server was lightly loaded (only me), so I went ahead and restarted wget. Will let it run and note any more hangs.
later,
jbdigriz
Up for auction at a local site : an IBM 10SR harddisk.
Might be rare enough to mention here. What was it used in anyway ?
no affiliation, too expensive in my opinion, etc etc, but there might be people looking for exactly this.
Jos
>> DG used in-house part numbers, very much like IBM and HP did. But I
>> haven't come across an equivalence list, so if you don't have the
>> schematics, you're lost.
> I vaguely seem to recall I had a DG equivalence list in the 90's.
Aha! Found a binder labeled "Components Guide" which has an equivalence list for some discretes in the back, and enough plagiarism from the standard IC manuals in the chip descriptions to help find the SSI/MSI original chips.
Same thing on the web at http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dg/015-000028-03_DG_Components_Guide…
I have an old G70 that's currently running HP-UX 11 (I had 11i v1 on it for a while - bit slow for that, and the patches would break it if you weren't careful). Anyway, I have a workstation for all my HP-UX 11 needs and was kicking around the idea of putting 10.20 or 9.04 on the beast to give it a bit more vintage flair, but all of the CDs I have and have seen have been 10.20 for the 700s. Anyone seen a 10.20 for 800 around?
I actually had an Aviion 66 and a ?33? available
at work. No one wanted it. It's probably gone
now. Not Motorolla based though. It was a box full of Pentium Pros, IIRC.
At 05:18 PM 2/17/2013, you wrote:
>I saw what I believe was a Motorola based Aviion
>tower in a junk pile in a scrap pile a few years
>ago. I remember asking the list if anyone wanted
>me to retrieved it. There were no replies.
71 . [Computing] Hit the philistines three times
over the head with the Elisp reference manual.
--petonic at hal.com (Michael A. Petonic)
a50mhzham at gmail.com ? N9QQB (amateur radio)
"HEY YOU" (loud shouting) ? Second Tops (Set Dancing) ? FIND ME ON FACEBOOK
43? 7' 17.2" N by 88? 6' 28.9" W ? Elevation 815' ? Grid Square EN53wc
LAN/Telecom Analyst ? Open-source Dude ? Musician
? Registered Linux User 385531
Hi Bruce,
thanks for taking your time to answer my mail! Sorry to leave out details,
i know how frustrating it is if people forget the important bits of
their problems ;)
I have (at least sighted) all documentation from bitsavers:
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dg/
and read a good amount of code and documentation of the simh project
(because i would like to build a media emulator for this machine
later....maybe)
My main problem is that most of the stuff from bitsavers seems to be for
newer machines
that have a builtin ROM? My machine does not have the program load
option (at least theres no switch for it)
and i was under the impression that all documentation i found somehow
just loaded a stored
program for the check procedures. Am i wrong with this?
So, in short i did not find any checkout procedure that looked adequate
for my machine so i just
hacked in some small asm programs that at least ran on the simulator.
Actually, the machine runs simple nop jumps at least
1: jmp 2
2: jmp 3
3: jmp 1
If i remember right when running this program it did not even hang
itself up (aka you could "stop" the machine). But i prepared the popular
"Hello World"
asm example to run without RDOS, and it obviously failed at least
because of the stuck ACs. I mean, how can you write
anything meaningful without using an AC? ;)
By "Reset" i mean pushing the reset switch up when pressing down for
"stop" does nothing. Again i may be subject to
interpret the meaning of STOP and RESET wrong. Clearly this machine is
confusing me ;)
We will examine the power supply for sure! It bugs me that we did not
think of that, since for now we only get
to the machine once per week. We may also have the option to take it
home though....
Also a friend of mine (which should be registering here soon, too - and
is more experienced than me when it comes to electronics)
said that the machine was acting strange when he first powered it up
after it sat for a week (aka cold). Maybe that points
to another aging/heat related/power supply problem.
Thanks for clarifying the internal structure of the machine. I was not
aware of that although i looked at alot bus pinouts,
transfer timings, signal descriptions etc. See above, confusing!
The third party board is unidentified for now. We tried to run without
it but saw the same error. We also already noticed that the
machine runs only with 2 CPU boards and nothing else, at least the PC
counts and the ACs still deposit and load.
I promise to take quality photos of anything you like once we get back
to the machine. I apologize for the bad photos my phone makes.
best regards
Alex
On 02/15/13 18:03, Bruce Ray wrote:
> G'day Alex -
>
> Your e.mail begs many question.
> What documentation do you have?
> Are you following the checkout procedures in the DG hardware manual?
> What "simple programs" can be run?
> What does "reset the machine" mean? Does it mean use the Reset
> switch, power off the machine, or...?
>
> The original Nova is an interesting whose big weakness was its power
> supply (mainly the higher-voltage memory Vinh and Vmem supply).
> Note that console accumulator functions exam and deposit may be
> functionally tested without having a memory board in the computer(!).
>
> As Al said, the Nova uses data paths of 4-bit "nibbles" for most
> internal transfers - even to and from main core memory(!). Your
> symptom appears a common single-bit failure mode.
>
> What is the 3rd party board?
>
>
> Bruce Ray
> Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
> bkr at WildHareComputers.com
>
> www.WildHareComputers.com
>
>
> www.NovasAreForever.org
>
Pulled it out, reseated the cables, checked the connections, plugged it into a big enough power supply,
and gave it another go.
Spun up, head load or lock solenoid clicked, waited about 4 seconds (no sound of seeking), spin down.
Sounds like the problem might be somewhere in the head positioning or voice coil/drive.
> DG used in-house part numbers, very much like IBM and HP did. But I
> haven't come across an equivalence list, so if you don't have the
> schematics, you're lost.
I vaguely seem to recall I had a DG equivalence list in the 90's. Or maybe confusing it with something else and my memory is just a red herring. Maybe Carl Friend has it?
Poly Paks always had lots of house-numbered TTL, I'm guessing floor sweepings from DG :-)
When I had to read DG schematics, if the part didn't have a standard number on it, it was usually pretty obvious from pinout or other parameters, what the standard part was.
By the time the Eclipse came along, those were just chock full with bipolar PROM's.
Tim
Ebay help, please.
How comes that things like that CANNOT BE FOUND thru EBAY Search(es ) ???
i.e. Take a part of the item description : "Wang VS7150"
Do an Ebay search ..... and ( at least for me, from France ) You won't get any hit !!!
Why ????
Is that an Ebay Bug ?? Is it known ??
( Of course, it is NOT the first time that I come across that kind of Ebay bug, that is why I am calling for help ;-) )
Will the gent who emailed me that he wanted these please email me again with
your address, etc.
Very sorry, but your previous email got lost in the shuffle.
Cindy Croxton
Electronics Plus
1613 Water Street
Kerrville, TX 78028
(830)792-3400 phone (830)792-3404 fax
AOL IM elcpls
_____
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2639/6110 - Release Date: 02/17/13
I have an old DG Aviion server here, has qty 4 Pentium Pro 200 chips. No
idea what the model number is, sorry. Local pickup only. Plenty of 4.3GB
SCSI hard drives to go in it. Probably still have some old memory to go in
it.
Cindy Croxton
Kerrville, TX
_____
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2639/6110 - Release Date: 02/17/13
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:21:07 -0500
> From: Michael Thompson <michael.99.thompson at gmail.com>
> To: cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: PDP-9 Restoration at the RICM
> We need to fix the paper tape reader so we can load some of the diags.
> We are a long way from connecting the TC-59 and the TU20.
> I suspect that getting the TU20 working will be a challenge.
How are you fixed for doc & spares?
I have a TC59 on one of my pdp-15s - I have doc and I think I have
some spare boards...
Mike
http://www.corestore.org
'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother.
Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame.
For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.'
Could be interesting .... As I am not too far ....
BUT ** IF ** system has Disk Pack Units ( Drives ). And, from the pics, I do not see any ???
Someone does ??
------------------------------
On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 4:05 PM PST Toby Thain wrote:
>On 17/02/13 6:18 PM, ChrMinhis Tofu wrote:
>>
>> I saw what I believe was a Motorola based Aviion tower in a junk pile in a scrap pile a few years ago. I remember asking the list if anyone wanted me to retrieved it. There were no replies.
>>
>
>Damn, been looking for one forever.
>
>--T
unless I'm mistaken you're in Australia. and that being the case don't feel too bad this was hardly a museum quality piece. It's obvious rareness made me think someone could have used parts. But I'll keep you in mind if I should come across another.
Warren Stearns and I have been working on the PDP-9 at the RICM.
Yesterday we got the core memory working and started debugging the
processor. Quite a milestone for a 44 year old system.
All of the operate instructions seem to work. The JMP and ISZ
instructions are flakey, even when single stepping. This could be a
microcode problem, or a problem with the data multiplexers.
It is an interesting machine because it is microcoded with read-only
core memory. I am not sure why they used core for the microcode. Maybe
just a board with a bunch of diodes would have done the same thing and
would have been a lot simpler?
I am finding the schematics a challenge because they were created
before ANSI or IEC standard logic symbols were invented. Eventually I
will understand the symbology.
Some of the design is a little strange because you can abuse DTL logic
in ways that TTL will not tolerate. Lots of delay lines where you can
adjust the delay by changing wire-wrap on the backplane. Lots of pulse
amplifiers to improve fan-out and reshape signals.
You can read about our debugging progress here.
http://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home/equipment/dec-pdp-9/pdp-9-restoration
We need to fix the paper tape reader so we can load some of the diags.
We are a long way from connecting the TC-59 and the TU20.
I suspect that getting the TU20 working will be a challenge.
--
Michael Thompson
>I wish I could get that NCR tower running. If anyone has any technical
>information on Series 3400 boxes I'd love to know. I need wiring
>diagrams and schematics for the power supply. It is a model 2113 that
>seems fine but, just doesn't turn on.
Perhaps it's just a solder crack. If you dismantle it enough to get at the pcb's bottom you could touch each blob with a soldering gun. I have fixed at least 1 unit that way (it worked after I did anyway).