test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by wheagy＠gmail.com

Mike, Good info, thanks. I actually have a copy of the ON THREE manual...I forget where I found it or why I have it, because I wasn't aware that I had that board until a couple of days ago. Thanks for the offer of the loaner board. I may take you up on that, but let me try using the ON THREE manual and making sure the board is installed correctly and and everything is seated properly. And, if I can pinpoint the bad chips, I might try ordering some replacements to see if it can be fixed. If I eventually do swap in one of your loaner boards, I'm wondering if I can roll the other changes back? It looks like there were a number of mods made to the motherboard to accomodate the 512K board....including new ROMs. I certainly don't have the original ROMs to put back. At any rate, my holiday vacation time and the disproportionate amount of time I've been able to spend on this hobby, is about to end, so it may take me a bit of time to get to all of it. But thanks very much for all the info, I feel like I have a much clearer picture of how the III works and what I need to do. Win Hi Win, Yes, bad RAM could definitely cause that. The board you have was manufactured by ON THREE, which got its start as an Apple III users group. Once Apple turned its back on the III, ON THREE stepped up and began producing its own hardware and software for the computer. Apple had advertised the III as being expandable up to 512K, but never released a board larger than 256K. As the ON THREE engineers discovered, it required some new ROMs and additional addressing lines, but they got it working. That 512K board is fairly rare and sought after by III collectors, as SOS and big programs like Pascal can really benefit from the extra room. I'm not sure how easy it is to locate replacement chips for that board these days. Last time I checked (a few years ago), they were still available if you knew where to look. I have a few extra RAM boards for the III (256K and 128K, though - not 512K). I could loan you one for troubleshooting purposes, if you're interested. I wrote a quick blog entry a while back about ON THREE's card: http://www.6502lane.net/2011/01/17/a-look-at-on-threes-512k-memory-board-fo… Also, I have a PDF version of the user manual that came with it. The links in that blog entry are dead, but I can upload it, if you want. - Mike

13 years, 3 months

An interesting article on text-book vrs real-world programming

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On 12/31/2012 11:24 AM, Bill Sudbrink wrote: >>> Ironically, the garbage collected languages lead people to write even >>> sloppier code than they write in C++. >> >> ...and that's saying something! >> >>> They think that garbage >>> collection is a silver bullet that frees them from having to consider >>> the resource consequences of their implementation. >> >> Yes. "I'm a MODERN programmer! We don't have to worry about stuff >> like managing our own memory anymore!" >> >> Morons. > > Exactly. The "key phrase" that I encounter is "I don't want to have to > think about...". If someone I'm interviewing says that, the interview > tends to end fairly quickly. Hear hear! -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 3 months

NASA computers circa 1969

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

>> See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrwpXEiTDVk > I noticed but could not identify: > 07:13 calligraphic graphics system with hidden line removal. Could be > an Evans & Sutherland LDS-1, but might be something earlier. > I've seen this system in several NASA films, but I've never been > able to get any information on the hardware used. I scratched my head at that myself. There's a slant to the frame not too different than the perspective you'd get if you had a movie camera pointed at some graphics terminal. Several technologies I know of at that time, would not result in any such slant: State of the art for several scientific application in that area, involved pen plotters (black ink on white paper) transferred to photographic negative movie film. (White image on black). A slightly cheaper approach (used extensively in my area of academia) was line printer paper plots transferred to movie film (again often in negative). Sub-character resolution was possible through choice of characters (not dissimilar to "ASCII graphics" although I know the movies were made using IBM and EBCDIC!) There was talk of direct-laser-to-film but I never saw it. Tim.

13 years, 3 months

CFFA3000 and Apple III?

by wheagy＠gmail.com

Mike, Another follow up that probably sheds a bit more light on my Apple III issue. I tried copying some additional disk images today. I tried the CFFA SOS image, but it exhibited the same behavior as the other SOS image...the floppy drive spins for about 3 sec and then nothing. On a whim, I tried the RAM test image. It worked and brought up the RAM test screen and began the test. It stops and indicates bad RAM where shown in the pic in the imgur link below. There appears to be third party RAM in this III. Is that common? Is there a way to test without that RAM that would be recommended? I did reset all of the RAM chips on the board, but it still fails at the same location. http://imgur.com/a/c40m0 On the bright side, I'm thinking this is a good sign for the floppy drive...the down side is obviously RAM issues. Thanks, Win

13 years, 3 months

CFFA300 and Apple III?

by wheagy＠gmail.com

A couple other related questions and a comments. I made a Apple III+ system diagnostics disk and that ran fine too. So it seems like the floppy drive is Ok, and all of the tests passed except the RAM test, so that's the big issue. The RAM test disk seems to help narrow down where the bad chip may be, so I might have a chance to find it without trial and error. It looks like there are two different RAM chips on the ON THREE board (as Alexandre mentioned) TMS4164-15NL and D41256C-15. It turns out I have an extra AST SprintDisk for my Apple IIe with a few D41256C-15 chips. If I'm lucky enough that one or more of those is the culprit, I may be covered, otherwise I'll need to source a few chips. If you look at the end of the ON THREE board in the second pic http://imgur.com/a/c40m0 there is a white header connector on the ON THREE board that connects to the male header on the Apple III motherboard. The ON THREE manual indicates that a gentle rocking should loosen the connector. It is a strange looking connector. The pins appear to come through from below and bend at 90 degrees. I've applied quite a bit of force and they are not breaking free. I'm afraid to pull too hard. Any pointers on how these connectors work so I can avoid damage? Thanks, Win

13 years, 3 months

Getting an ST-225 disk to work

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > I made the same experience when I performed a "DEC-format-marathon" with ten > ST-225 drives which were neither DEC-labeled nor where DEC-formatted before. > Most of my disk drives where successfully formatted after having entered the > drive parameters for the "TEST 70" procedure, but in case of some drives, > the procedure was aborted. These drives where not successfully recognised > as RD31 and no format was performed by my microVAX-2000 in these cases. > What I found out is that the drives which were not recognised as RD31's were > drives with some bad blocks detected when formatted with a PC. > Can anybody else comment on or has made that experience? > I successfully formatted several oddball non-DEC-branded drives rescued from a skip (dumpster) using a VS2000. It was a long time ago and I don't remember the details but I suspect some at least had a list of bad blocks on the label. I seem to recall that I did not have any way of knowing what the correct parameters were and I found some by extrapolating from the example in the manual and by trial and error. I agree with the general view that they should be jumpered as DS3 for the internal drive. I eventually made a new drive cable so that I could have a "hot swappable" disk outside the case. This worked great until I came upon one particular drive which, when I pushed the connectors onto it, the VS2000 PSU promptly switched itself off. I was somewhat puzzled as I was using an external PSU for the disk and could not have been overloading the VS2000 PSU or so I thought. I pulled off the connectors, power cycled the machine and tried connecting the drive again and the same thing happened. Not to be defeated, I tried connecting all the cables up and then powering up the VS2000. This time the PSU tried harder, the machine powered up and one of the wires in the data cable turned itself into a heating element, melted and nearly set fire to its insulation. It seems that one of the wires in the data lead to the external drive has a not very well protected +5V on it and at least one drive variant shorts this to ground... Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 3 months

buying an Atari ST

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 31 December 2012 04:27, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > Now that is seriously interesting! I knew there was a reason I was keeping > up with this thread! Thanks! [*Chuffed*] I ought to have given due credit to another of the Giant Brains behind FreeGEM, John Elliott, who is also on the list now, too. John is a hero and a major force in PC-GEM, CP/M and Amstrad-related development, emulation and various other areas, too. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884

13 years, 3 months

Installing RSX (was: What PDP11 OS in 20MB Disk Space)

by bqt＠update.uu.se

On 2013-01-01 19:00, "Rob Jarratt"<robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote: >> >-----Original Message----- >> >From:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk- >> >bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of allison >> >Sent: 01 January 2013 03:06 >> >To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only >> >Subject: Re: What PDP11 OS in 20MB Disk Space >> > >> >On 12/31/2012 04:25 PM, Dave McGuire wrote: >>> > > Straight 11M (non-plus) does. (fits in 10 actually) Early RSTS/E, > like v8, >> >should, but not 10 and likely not 9. RT11 does. >>> > > >>> > > -Dave >>> > > >> >I have RSTS on RL02 so it must fit on 10mb! >> > >> >RT11 fits on anything, the whole build kit is two RL02s (boot and kits) >> > >> >I know of none that do not fit. RSTS and RSX are big and might have to be >> >trimmed >> >a little or some optional part left off. > > I am not sure how you would do that. I am following these instructions: > http://9track.net/pdp11/rsx4_sysgen. > > The trouble is that after restoring the RSX-11M+ 4.2 tape, when I reboot > from the disk it gives repeated disk allocation errors, presumably through > lack of space. Is there a step that needs to be added when first restoring > the tape to the hard disk? Not sure what errors you are seeing, but it sounds weird. Anyway, the normal way to run M+ from an RL02 was/is to use the pregenned system for an RL02, which has all the necessary bits stuffed in, and everything set up. Ready to go. Generating your own system for running on an RL02 takes some careful consideration... Johnny

13 years, 3 months

What PDP11 OS in 20MB Disk Space

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

What PDP11 OS would fit on a 20MB ST-225? I had hoped RSX-11M+ 4.2 would fit, but it doesn't. The OS would need to run on an 11/73. Regards Rob

13 years, 3 months

2GB Iomega Ditto Drive

by kurt.m.nowak＠gmail.com

Free... Going into my e-waste pile if no one wants it. Just thought Id ask... -Kurt

13 years, 3 months

Marsplot Ballwriter pens for Calcomp 104X, 1023

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

I have a packet of five BallWriter pens, part number 40C1 06-9 (is 06-9 the date code?) if any one has a use for them they are theirs for the postage, but as I am in the UK it might be a few dollars. -- Dave Wade G4UGM Illegitimi Non Carborundum

13 years, 3 months

SBC V2 PCBs have arrived!

by LYNCHAJ＠YAHOO.COM

Hi! Good news! A new batch of N8VEM SBC V2 PCBs have arrived! In addition I just received an email from the PCB manufacturer that the N8VEM ECB backplane PCBs have been shipped. They should be here in a couple of days. I am guessing later this week. Here are some instructions on how to build the N8VEM SBC V2 for the total beginner but are useful for most any builder http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewFolder <http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewFolder&param=Building%20the %20N8VEM%20for%20the%20Total%20Beginner> &param=Building%20the%20N8VEM%20for%20the%20Total%20Beginner The N8VEM SBC V2 and ECB backplane are $20 each plus $2 shipping in the US and $5 elsewhere. Thanks and have a happy new year! Andrew Lynch

13 years, 3 months

Wintersale in the Netherlands

by reiche＠ls-al.eu

Hi all, I'm cleaning up the overflowing attic. Most of it will probably be rather painfully expensive to ship, so I guess it might be more for the Dutch people on this list. Some items could be shipped abroad, though. Contact me off-list for details. All prices listed below are exclusive of shipping costs. Book: UNIX Programming Environment soft cover, 15 EURO USB KVM: Sweex USB and Audio KVM switch for two machines, 10 EURO PCs: AMD XP 1900+ with Radeon x850x, 50 EURO Compaq/HP D51s EVO, 25 EURO Fujitsu/Siemens p300 with AHA2940 and 20GB DAT, 25 EURO Apple: PowerMac G4 AGP with white Apple keyboard, 25 EURO SGI: Indy with Indycam, original keyboard/mouse and SGI 20" CRT, 25 EURO Sun: GDM5410 21" Flat Trinitron CRT, 10 EURO Ultra 5 333MHz/400MB, 15 EURO Ultra 10 440MHz/768MB, 25 EURO regards, reiche

13 years, 3 months

My Sinclair ZX81 on YouTube

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

A New Year's look at another one of my classic rest home residents - that triumph of British minimalism, the Sinclair ZX81. http://youtu.be/YcE_HqCOTf4 Terry (Tez)

13 years, 3 months

bitsavers RSS feeds corrected

by legalize＠xmission.com

I introduced an error in a recent change to the scripts that generate bitsavers RSS feeds for PDF and bits. The symptoms were that the URLs for intermediate directories were incorrect and the category for files was incorrect. I believe I have corrected those errors and the scripts should be working properly again. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book <http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline> The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org> The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org> Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

13 years, 3 months

Getting an ST-225 disk to work

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have a Seagate ST-225 that I want to put into my Micro PDP-11/73. At the moment I am just trying to see if the disk works at all and if I can format it in a MicroVAX 2000. It spins up but the TEST 70 and TEST 71 commands fail on it, unable to determine the type of disk. There are some jumpers for which I have found some documentation here: http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/seagate/ST225-21MB-5-25-HH-MFM-S T412.html, but I am not sure which is pin 1, and I am not sure what settings the MicroVAX 2000 wants, or if it needs the resistor termination pack. Can anyone tell me which jumper settings I need for the disk to work in a 2000? And whether I need the resistor pack installed? Thanks Rob

13 years, 3 months

Question about DEC PMI Processors & Gear Acquisition

by bqt＠update.uu.se

On 2012-12-30 23:00, Glen Slick<glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote: > On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 3:44 PM, Jerome H. Fine<jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> wrote: >> > >> >So the quick answer is probably that all M8190 boards are PMI capable, but >> >the PMI is not activated if PMI memory is not present in the correct >> >slot(s). >> >In addition, probably all M8190 boards are happy being placed into a VT103 >> >backplane which will not support PMI activation. >> > >> >Of course, I can't guarantee there won't be magic smoke released if the >> >M8190-AE >> >is placed into a VT103 backplane. >> > > I remain skeptical that everything will just be fine if you place an > M8190 KDJ11-B into a non-Q22/CD backplane. > > If you look at Table 2-9 (page 2-19) and Table 2-10 (page 2-20) in > EK-KDJ1B-UG_KDJ11-B_Nov86.pdf, won't placing an M8190 into a > non-C22/CD backplane essentially connect the CA1-CV1 signals in Table > 2-10 straight through to the AA1-AV1 signals in Table 2-9, and same > with the DA1-DV1 signals and the BA1-BV1 signals? That doesn't seem > like something that would allow normal functioning. I think you are right, Glen. The M8190 is intended to sit in a Q-CD slot, not a Q-Q. I'd surprised if it works. However, if you ever want to put an M8190 in a VT103 you need to rewire the backplane anyway, as the VT103 backplane don't even do Q22 if I remember right. > Also, it is clear from Table 2-10 that the PMI signals on the M8190 > only exist on the top (component) side of the board and can only > communicate over the PMI with memory boards physically located above > the M8190. Correct. The PMI memory for PDP-11s work in both Q-CD slots and PMI slots, but they only perform as PMI memory if they sit above the CPU in a Qbus backplane. I'm not sure the PMI memory boards would work in Q-Q slots either... Johnny

13 years, 3 months

USB and PCI (was Re: DP8473A (was IBM Displaywriter

by gerardcjat＠free.fr

About John's design If I understand correctly, your are using one of the newest Xcore product, I guess, mainly for USB "full access", and this new chip is not yet available, is it ? Question, because your project seems very interesting to me : Why did you chose that Xcore product, versus already available chips like PIC 32 ?. I am NOT a specialist about chips, but I do not see much difference between the two, USB speaking. Do you take advantage of the multi-core chip ?? To me ( again, I am not a specialist, so pardon the question ) Is complexity of multi cores chips "justified" for that kind of interface ? I mean architecture and compiler learning complexity balanced versus advantages ?? Or is it just for the learning fun ;-)

13 years, 3 months

IMSAI FDC-2

by m.schoeller＠gmx.ch

Dear Mr. Watzman I am an IMSAI 8080 owner from Switzerland. Currently i look for an IMSAI FDC floppy system with CalComp 140 drives. I startet my search for this floppy system several years ago, but i could never found it. Now, i'm googling on IMSAI FDC and your name is the first result what i see. I contact some peoples (Todd Fischer, Herb Johnson, John Monahan and Howard Harte (who never answered)) and some others. Well, did you now who has one of these and they are willing to sell? Thanks in Advance Matt Schoeller Switzerland

13 years, 3 months

IBM Displaywriter software?

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

------------------------------ On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 8:29 AM PST Al Kossow wrote: >On 12/26/12 6:48 AM, Colin Eby wrote: >> Al, >> >> I'm away for the holidays, but could have a rummage at TNMoC when I return. > >will do. > >I'm trying to work down the backlog of IBM media I have to image over the holiday break. >One thing I noticed is getting track 0 to read correctly is picky about the controller >used with Imagedisk. An Adaptec AHA-1522 works correctly with a National DM8473A. >The Displaywriter supported either single or double-sided drives. > > > > who made the drives in the DW? Are they useful for imaging with a modern pc?

13 years, 3 months

Getting an ST-225 disk to work

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

In the past I successfully low-level formatted PC-formatted ST225 using XXDP2.5 directly on PDP11/53 with RQDX3. If I remember correctly, I used ZRQCH. As I had a machine with RX33 (5"1/4), I prepared a booting image of XXDP on SIMH, transferred the image to floppy disk with vtserver, then executed the diagnostic program, inserted the right parameters, and voil?. It worked like a charm on all the ST225 I have, also on one that have a lot of defective sectors. Andrea

13 years, 3 months

USB and PCI (was Re: DP8473A (was IBM Displaywriter

by gerardcjat＠free.fr

Hello ALL ! I have got an strange idea for the last day of the year ( It was time ;-) ) I am wondering about a PCI to EXTERNAL ISA interface board. Here is what in think of : PCI interface board INSIDE a present days PC, LINKED TO external ISA passive backplane. ( outside of the PC ) With , ideally, as discussed before on this thread, DMA possibilities Does it ( still ? ) exist some ***afordable*** commercial product ? Does that has been already discussed somewhere on this forum ? Does someone built that kind of interface , DIY way, in the past ? Will there be restrictions on this connectivity, if the PC "reverse" ( is run ) under plain DOS versus running DOS under Windows ?? PLS, remember that I am a new comer on this file, so I may be sligthly out of topic in this thread. If so , my apology. Thanks and Happy New Year Everybody !!

13 years, 3 months

buying an Atari ST

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

> At 4:19 AM +0000 12/31/12, Liam Proven wrote: >> On 27 December 2012 15:00, William Barnett-Lewis <wlewisiii at gmail.com> > wrote: >>> ? I wonder what the state of the art in Atari emulation is? >> >> Very good, I believe. There are various emulators for gamers which can >> emulate different early/original models with great fidelity so that >> you can run demos and so on - this is the main focus. >> >> There are also some emulators for those who wish to run desktop TOS apps. that's more wait I want :) >> >> Also, x86 PC GEM itself is now GPL open-source: >> http://www.deltasoft.com/Default.htm >> >> (The FreeGEM community is where I first "met" CCmper Gene Buckle.) >> >> There have been efforts to bring across some of the Atari >> improvements, but development largely stalled quite a few years ago. >> >> On the Atari side, various people wrote replacements of various bits >> of TOS - the VDI, the AES, the desktop and so on - and some of these >> parts were FOSS. >> >> Eventually, the result was a complete FOSS Atari OS, containing almost >> no original Atari code but highly compatible. It's called AFROS and it >> runs best on an emulator called ARANYM, which is designed for running >> TOS and TOS apps on PCs, rather than games. >> http://aranym.org/ > > Now that is seriously interesting!? I knew there was a reason I was > keeping up with this thread! more websites to bookmark > > Zane

13 years, 3 months

Fans for a PDP-9?

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

Does anyone know of a source of fans for a PDP-9? You can see one of the fans at the right of this image: https://sites.google.com/a/ricomputermuseum.org/home/Home/equipment/dec-pdp… -- Michael Thompson

13 years, 3 months

Question about DEC PMI Processors & Gear Acquisition

by captainkirk359＠gmail.com

Hello everyone! I have a question which to some might seem rather obvious to some, but I cannot find the answer. And guessing by my recent streak of luck I'll probably find the answer to this question after posting the question to the list... Nevermind, back on topic. The question at hand: Can a PMI processor -- in this case a KDJ11-BF -- be put into a non-PMI serpentine QBUS backplane? Or will the magic smoke be released. If the answer is a resounding "no". Any one here have a KDJ11-AC (M8192-YC) they'd be willing to trade for a KDJ11-BF (M8190-AE)? I'm also interested in some other QBUS '11 boards, a -- short -- list follows, in order of precedence: > DLV11-J/DLVJ1-M (M8043) -- or compatible > QBUS (non-PMI) memory -- I'd *LOVE* to get an MSV11-QC (M7551-CA, 4MB), -QB (-BA, 2MB) or -QA (-AA, 1MB) memory board; I'd also be fine with a 256KB MSV11-LK (M8059-K*) board > 22-bit compatible boot ROM board -- e.g. The BDV11 (M8012) revision E. > QBUS SCSI controller -- I'm really gunning for the CMD CQD-220A/TM, though I'm for any form of QBUS SCSI controller that can be both TMSCP tape and MSCP disk controller at the same time > DRV11-J (M8049) -- or compatible > DHV11 (M3104) -- or compatible > LPV11 (M8027 > DELQA (M7516) -- or compatible I would love to get all DEC original boards -- save the SCSI controller, as I would the system to have mostly DEC innards. If any one can tell from that list, I'm setting up a complete PDP-11 system. In this case replacing one. Don't ask what happened to the machine that is being replaced be cause I will go on a twenty minute long rant consisting of nothing but swearing. Many thanks for any help offered! Cheers, Christian G.

13 years, 3 months

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test-drb