On 6/21/20 10:41 AM, Jon Elson wrote:
> On 06/20/2020 09:41 PM, Charles wrote:
>> On 6/20/20 8:31 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
>>>
>>>> I confirmed the bad one by removing the piggyback and the failure
>>>> returned. Now I need to desolder the bad one without ruining the
>>>> board. I may just cut the leads off close to the bad chip, and
>>>> solder the replacement to the stumps. (Normally I remove the legs
>>>> and install a machine-pin DIP socket). Or just solder the piggyback
>>>> and leave it there... thoughts?
>>>>
>>> Cut the leads close to the body.? Apply a soldering iron to each
>>> lead, and pull the lead out with tweezers,
>>> simultaneously heating and pulling.? This is very gentle to the
>>> board, just doing one at a time.? Then, you can vacuum out the holes
>>> and install a new chip or socket.
>>>
>>> I've done this many times, and never wrecked a board.
>>>
>>> Jon
>>>
>> That's how I do it... the vacuuming is the problem. Someday I need to
>> get a good vacuum desoldering station. Right now I just have a
>> spring-loaded solder sucker (which I can do a pretty decent job with
>> on most boards). But this high-density layout (2 traces between DIP
>> pads) I'm a bit wary of.
>>
> Just be gentle, and you should be able to do it.? Also, in some cases,
> you might heat from the opposite side from the solder sucker.? That
> way, you can keep the soldering iron on the pad until you have
> triggered the sucker.? But, yes, the hollow soldering iron with
> powered vacuum is amazing the first time you try it.? I got one at an
> auction years ago, it is much better than the regular iron and
> plunger-sucker.
>
> Jon
The small company I first worked for had a Pace unit. I remember not
being impressed with it - frequent clogs, pads lifting, and not getting
all the solder out, no matter how we set things. Still beat solder-wick
though!
I got it done, but pin 16 (which connects directly to the internal-layer
ground plane) was a bear. From the feel of it and the heat required, the
draftsman didn't bother to make pad reliefs. Anyway it's now socketed,
so of course it will never fail again!
I also made a small jumper on a 15-pin D-sub to connect Monitor Present
L to ground, so that annoying "Monitor Error 9" message stops ;) On to
the next project!
Gentlepeople,
I've been having problems with broken LK201s, so as a workaround I created an adapter that connects to a standard PC USB keyboard and makes it look like an LK201. It's based on an Arduino (specifically, Adafruit Trinket M0, an amazingly tiny yet powerful small microprocessor).
It's working at this point, though it needs a few small software tweaks to make it complete. I'm going to turn my breadboard into something slightly more polished.
Question to the list: is this something that would be of interest to others? If yes, I can make the design available. Perhaps the PCB layout and parts list. I don't think I want to get into building units for others, though.
paul
Are new subscribers to cctalk still accepted?
My subscription request was left unanswered.
With all the talk about the future of this list I wonder if I came too late.
Thanks
Tom Hunter
> On 06/11/2020 02:29 AM, Mattis Lind via cctalk wrote:
> >/If that would be the case I think the system would fail />/quite soon rather than on test 5. A guess is that this is />/a memory problem. /
That was a good guess, everyone ;) I got some new 4116's and piggybacked
(dry, no solder) two of them atop my suspects at E3 & E4.
Didn't fix it. Of course :/
In the meantime I've acquired a nice HP 1630G logic analyzer complete
with pods and cables. Setting it up was going to take quite a while
since I'm not familiar with this model. So I decided to try a simple
brute-force approach before the analyzer. I piggybacked another 4116
onto each soldered-in 4116, one at a time. Actually easy to do since
with the leads properly formed, I didn't even have to solder it in
place, just turn off the power and move it to the next chip.
On the 16th, the last one of course, the terminal booted normally and
works again. :)
I confirmed the bad one by removing the piggyback and the failure
returned. Now I need to desolder the bad one without ruining the board.
I may just cut the leads off close to the bad chip, and solder the
replacement to the stumps. (Normally I remove the legs and install a
machine-pin DIP socket). Or just solder the piggyback and leave it
there... thoughts?
Guys,
I now know it is an early CDC board. IT had C*NT*OLDATA on the reverse - how
I missed that must be attributed to old age. (Thanks Doug)
Here are shots of the back: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UPozyBB3zp7XYcP79
Any idea what the row of hole opposite the contacts were? Testing points?
But then why holes and not short pillars? Some are labelled on both sides.
Continuing in hope,
peter
Agree that current mailing list format is best as simple, low
bandwidth and can always post links to images or other large
files. I still use Eudora as my email client and have text only
emails. Seems to perplex a lot of people I deal with when I can't
read their emails, but it seems somewhat wastefull to use 1-2 Mb to
send a message that only needs 200 bytes at most (once one strips off
all zero-information fluff from the email). Run my own mailserver as
well so can email myself massive attachments when email is only way
of getting data off a remote machine.
Images take up a lot of space and are best dealt with via
links. I've run my own webserver/ftpserver since 1999 and find
that's the easiest way of sharing large files with people. While
it's nice having high resolution photos like those that Samsung
phones creat, they're in the 3-5 Mb size range. If I need to put a
lot of photos on a web page, I'll use the free Photo Studio program
(written by John Hawkins) which creates a web page with a series of
thumbnails with full image available by clicking on thumbnail and can
set size of thumbnail image. Rather old, but works fine for simple
web pages where all one wants to do is serve up a set of images.
Remember 15 years ago that online documentation was sparse but have
found most DEC manuals are online and C64 stuff a lot easier to find
than it used to be. Being rather paranoid, I've downloaded manuals
for all machines I have and keep a duplicate copy of everything.
Not sure how many people are on cctalk/cctech, but keeping everything
text only would be best way of minimizing bandwidth for whoever hosts it,
Boris Gimbarzevsky
>On Fri, Jun 19, 2020 at 3:31 PM Maciej W. Rozycki via cctalk <
>cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> > Sure, there's always `uuencode' when you do need to post that non-text
> > piece (which I guess will keep the eyes of Luddites away from it too).
> >
>
>Or an http, https, ftp, or gopher url to somewhere else hosting the image.
>
>Pat
Love the title on this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184317705963
eBait auction: "16K Sense Inhibit Board .. VAX 6000, VAX-11/730".
Yeah, core on a VAX! And such a deal, a mere US$400!
Noel
It appears that my RK8E has a problem - it fails the diskless control test
with
.R DHRKAE.DG
SR= 0000
COMMAND REGISTER ERROR
PC:1160 GD:0000 CM:0001
DHRKAE FAILED PC:6726 AC:0000 MQ:7777 FL:0000
WAITING
Ok, maybe a bad bit in the command register so I'll check it out. But then
it dawns on me - how do you work on this thing? It's three boards connected
with "over the top" connectors - you can't use a module extender on it.
Worse, the M7105 Major Registers board is the middle one of the stack! Is
there some secret to working on this thing? Has anybody fixed one? Any
suggestions?
I hadn't thought about it before, but the KK8E CPU would have the same
problem. Fingers crossed that one never dies...
Bob
Hello!
I have been working on interfacing the Hercules emulator with various real
terminals for some time. First project was an Alfaskop terminal cluster
which I connected using a small STM32 controller handling BSC.
Next is an Informer 213, portable 3178/3174 compatible terminal. It it
using SDLC.
A friend has a 3178 and 3279 which would interesting to work with. A
3174-51R/-61R/-81R/-91R would be very suitable for this.
It would be very nice to test my BSC and SDLC code with the real IBM stuff.
I have put my project here:
https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu/tree/master/Utils
<https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu/tree/master/Utils>
Still very much Work In Progress.
If anyone has a type 1 3174 that does BSC and SDLC so I could test my stuff
I would be very interested. No need for fancy features like TCP/IP and/or
token ring.
I of course pay shipping. But can throw in various DEC QBUS stuff as a
trade.
/Mattis
I've just come into a couple of CSPI VME cards, an SC-3XL and an SC-4XL (both with attached memory), and I was wondering if anyone has documentation.
They're based on the Intel i860 and intended for VME-based array processors.
-- Chris
Picked up a CDC 94166 ESDI disk on Ebay last week, arrived and sure
enough it works. No errors either, so I can now give my 30+ year old
Fujitsu 2322 a rest and load up rsx11m+ instead of 11/m 4.2
After formatting it on the MTI controller (MQD13) I set the first
partition to 30mb and loaded up my RT11 5.7 backup from the TK50 onto it
with no issues.
Productive. If I can find my DEQNA and an AUI to wireless adapter I
could get this thing up on the net.....
Use modern email program that sees expanded char. Sets and graphics.... it is a brand new world !??? I love old hardware to look at but if communicating? I like? the ability to see graphical? things...? and I think tell majority of people like? images of things......?? Ed#
On Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Fred Cisin via cctalk <cisin at xenosoft.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Wed, 17 Jun 2020, ED SHARPE @ AOHell.com via cctalk wrote:
> These 2 have my vote as well....
> I do not know, anyone using a text only mail reader anymore!
>
>> The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments.
>> Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well.
I read this list on PINE, on a shell account at my ISP.
In this group, I doubt that I am the only one.
Can we restrict to TEXT emails?
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred? ? ??? ??? cisin at xenosoft.com
> From: Paul Koning
> airfight and any number of other multi-user games -- a thing made
> popular by PLATO and possibly originated there.
What was the date on that? Multi-player MazeWar on the Imlacs/ITS at MIT was
running before 1976 (I played it about then), but I don't recall exactly when
it first ran (before my time).
Noel
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Peter Coghlan
> via cctalk
> Sent: 18 June 2020 08:22
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: RE: Future of cctalk/cctech
>
> ED SHARPE wrote:
> > Use modern email program that sees expanded char. Sets and
> > graphics.... it is a brand new world ! I love old hardware to look
> > at but if communicating I like the ability to see graphical
> > things... and I think tell majority of people like images of
> > things...... Ed#
> >
>
Just beware. Some environments, especially old EBCDIC ones put different currency symbols on the same code points
So:-
I wrote this as one dollar => $1.00
This as one pound => $1
And this as one euro => ?1
Lastly one cent => ?1
I expect you all get that as sent except for perhaps the Euro which didn't exist when Peters VAX was built....
... but on an old UK EBCDIC mainframe Dollar becomes Pound and Cent becomes dollar. This was a real pain as a UK user of Bitnet.
Dave
> Let me get this straight. If I stop using VMS MAIL for this list and use one of
> these new fangled things instead, I too will be able to make high quality
> postings to the list, just like this one???
>
> Regards,
> Peter Coghlan
>
> >
> > On Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Fred Cisin via cctalk <cisin at xenosoft.com;
> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 17 Jun 2020, ED SHARPE @ AOHell.com via cctalk wrote:
> > > These 2 have my vote as well....
> > > I do not know, anyone using a text only mail reader anymore!
> > >
> > >> The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on
> attachments.
> > >> Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well.
> >
> > I read this list on PINE, on a shell account at my ISP.
> >
> > In this group, I doubt that I am the only one.
> >
> >
> > Can we restrict to TEXT emails?
> >
> > --
> > Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
> >
https://archive.org/details/FarewellEtaoinShrdlu
28min documentary on the last ever edition of the NY Times to be
printed using hot metal -- before they switched to what are now a
quite choice assortment of late-'70s minicomputers. I think I spotted
a PDP, a Data General and some IBM device, but I am no expert in this
era.
As a veteran reader of Fredric Brown, especially "the Enchanted
Linotype", I have been using ETAOIN SHRDLU to win at Hangman for many
years... but I'd never seen one working before. It all still seems
like magic to me. I've worked in the magazine industry so I should
know more about this stuff, but I never worked at the repro end of
things...
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lproven at gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven ? Skype: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
> From: Camiel Vanderhoeven
> I know Intel made the in-4011 for the PDP-11, but I never saw a picture
> of it.
Was it UNIBUS memory, or what? It doesn't seem to be in that table of early
Intel products.
BTW, speaking of Intel PDP-11 memory, I have this:
http://gunkies.org/wiki/File:IN-1611.jpg
QBUS Intel memory board; hven't tried to get it running, though.
Noel
Al wrote:
>With Jay retiring, what are the hosting plans for these mailing lists?
Well at least for me, there's more to it than that ?
I retired from general work on 4/30/20. My consulting firm is going to be kept open on paper for a few years at least but I doubt I will be transacting much business through it. I guess if someone comes by with a short project that I find interesting, I may do it through that company but mostly it's staying open to handle a few germane expenses. All staff and offices are gone and regular payrolls ended 4/30.
That leaves the hosting company for me to determine scope/future. Since that company (as long as you are proactive with admin tasks) takes virtually zero work and allows me to have a grossly oversized but paid for full-on high availability virtualization architecture, I was going to keep it going during retirement with just a few very low maintenance customers that cover the costs. I basically can then host any personal/hobby related sites for myself and friends at literally zero cost. In this company I do have one business partner, and that relationship has become quite difficult lately. So much so, that I'm ready to just turn it off and walk away. I'm sorry, but I have reached the point in my life where that stress outweighs the benefits. This infrastructure is of course where I've hosted not only the classiccmp mailing list, but a fair chunk of other classic computing related websites and services at zero cost to their respective owners.
Throw in to the mix that for whatever reason - while I have dutifully taken care of this list and a lot of other related websites for probably 15+ years or more - I honestly don't feel that I am doing a good job of it's care & feeding lately. I think it's time for fresh eyes and attitudes to carry it forward. I hope no one begrudges me for after decades finally saying "it's time". I have enjoyed being of service.
First and foremost, there is no worry about future hosting plans for above content. I'm not going to just turn it off one day - the grizzled veterans here that know me well know that I would not let that happen. There is no sense of immediate urgency nor any possibility of data just disappearing. That being said, I do wish to move steadily forward with those plans.
Second, I do not wish to pass this off to someone who "has a server in their basement" or has spare space on a vps. While I appreciate these offers and the desire to help, I'm not sure you have full knowledge of what all is here. Putting it on a "PC in your basement" is not the environment this stuff requires. At the very least, asymmetric bandwidth (what most people have in their homes) is a non-starter. Sneaking it on to your company infrastructure isn't good either, as there is almost always a builtin "need to move this stuff soon" disruption in store.
I've already been working with folks in this community to figure out what to offload, where, how, etc. That work will continue, and I suspect that each separate migration will go off transparently with little or no outward signs of change. Also, I am definitely not leaving the hobby; I just look forward to participating as an end-user instead of host. Just as a heads up at the same time I am looking to thin my herd; not because I've lost interest but because I want to gain focus. That means most likely that I will be moving out a lot of choice DEC, Data General, Heathkit, and related items. I will post separately on that topic, but at the least I am going to keep/focus on HP and a couple others.
Will post more info once I have it ?
Best,
J
Hi,
Back in 2017, I posted something about seeing a possible first-ever
reference to the idea of 3-D printing in a 1951 issue of Galaxy Science
Fiction magazine.
I stumbled over an even earlier one tonight...
The September, 1941, issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine has a
story called "Elsewhere" by Caleb Saunders (a pseudonym of Robert A.
Heinlein). On page 118 we see:
[They used] a single general type of machine to manufacture almost
anything. They fed into it a plan which Igor called, for want of a better
term, the blueprints. It was, in fact, a careful scale model of the device
to be manufactured; the machine retooled itself and produced the artifact.
A three-dimensional pantograph, Igor called the machine, vaguely and
inaccurately. One of them was, at that moment, molding the bodies of
fighting planes out. of plastic, all in one piece and in one operation.
Stan
I have been "hunting" for a PLATO V terminal for some time. It was made by
Regency - Carroll.
If there is such a terminal gathering dust in a shed or garage and the
owner would like to find a good home for it then please let me know.
I have successfully restored a Control Data Corp IST-3 terminal and 721
Viking terminal and have the skills, equipment and passion to restore the
terminal to its former beauty and functionality.
Tom Hunter
These 2 have my vote as well....
I do not know, anyone using a text only mail reader anymore!
> The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments.
>
> Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well.
On Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Rob Jarratt via cctalk <rob at jarratt.me.uk; robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Al Kossow via
> cctalk
> Sent: 17 June 2020 13:55
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Future of cctalk/cctech
>
>
>
> > I wonder what you don't like about "groups.io" Its pretty much a pure mailing
> list?
>
> Like all of the webby time-wasters, they don't have easy to mirror zipped
> archives, because they want to to spend time hovering around clicking on their
> sites.
>
>
> http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/
>
>
> The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments.
>
> Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well.
I would agree with both of those too.
Rob
I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in the US, I assume they?re gone.
Zane
Sorry guys about the unusable tera-URLs.
To reiterate, I have acquired this board and have trouble assigning it to a
particular computer manufacturer and type:
Try this for the photos:
https://tinyurl.com/ydxnzh9g
and
https://tinyurl.com/yb6z3utv
Smells of (early) 1960s transistorized.
No helpful marking apart from
* "GATE JJ01" on SIDE A. (components).
* "C NT OL DATA" on side B (solder traces).
Big transistors are Motorola "180376008". Also, any ideas what the "246 636
B" boxes are, they have four legs?
Can any of you of mature years suggest anything?
Many thanks, ( praise be to TinyURL),
peter
These 2 have my vote as well....
I do not know, anyone using a text only mail reader anymore!
> The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments.
>
> Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well.
On Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Rob Jarratt via cctalk <rob at jarratt.me.uk; robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Al Kossow via
> cctalk
> Sent: 17 June 2020 13:55
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Future of cctalk/cctech
>
>
>
> > I wonder what you don't like about "groups.io" Its pretty much a pure mailing
> list?
>
> Like all of the webby time-wasters, they don't have easy to mirror zipped
> archives, because they want to to spend time hovering around clicking on their
> sites.
>
>
> http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/
>
>
> The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments.
>
> Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well.
I would agree with both of those too.
Rob
>
>
>
> On 6/9/2020 11:51 AM, Glen Slick via cctalk wrote:
>> On Tue, Jun 9, 2020 at 9:04 AM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk
>> <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>
>> For the VXT-2000 with an H7109-B the rated voltage and current values
>> are printed right on the power supply label:
>>
>> +5.1V, 7.81A
>> +12.1V, 0.62A
>> -12.1V, 0.46A
>> -9V, 0.2A
>>
>> Fixed width character pinout diagram:
>>
>> +=================+
>> -9V | Yellow | Orange | +12.1V
>> +--------+--------+
>> ??? | White | Black | Gnd
>> +--------+--------+
>> +5.1V | Red | Blue | -12.1V
>> +--------+--------+
>> +5.1V | Red | Black | Gnd
>> +--------+--------+
>> Gnd | Black | Black | Gnd
>> +=================+
>>
>> The mystery is the White wire. The power supply label only lists 4
>> output voltages. The White wire appears to be routed to the Ethernet
>> daughter board. The measured voltage appears that it might be floating
>> slightly negative, somewhere around -1.5V when the Ethernet daughter
>> board is installed and around -5V when it is removed. Maybe it is a
>> high impedance earth ground connection? It appears to be connected to
>> the shield of the Ethernet BNC, which measures around 1M-Ohm to the
>> chassis ground when the power supply is disconnected from the main
>> board, and around 0.75M-Ohm when the power supply is connected.
>>
> As long as we are talking VXT-2000, I have this on file, figure it would
> be useful for future googling of the list if
> this were here as well.? May be a repeat of info from an earlier post,
> or maybe elsewhere.
>
> I didn't save the source of the info, but looks like someone named Matt
> Millman did it.
>
> The setup is as follows: HP Envy laptop running MOP boot daemon,
> connected to Lantronix LTX-C twisted pair
> ethernet to AUI converter (not the same as a twisted pair MAU). This is
> then connected to a cabletron coax
> MAU with a 10BASE5 vampire tap. The coax runs over to another MAU, which
> is connected via an AUI cable to
> my VXT2000. I didn't think of it, but it would have been nice to have a
> real DEC MAU on the VXT2000, I've
> got several DEC h4000's I could have used.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5T2GlAN2N4
>
> http://tech.mattmillman.com/projects/10base5/
The first link is mine actually. (Hi, I'm Joe from Joe's Vax Repair and
More). I have a VXT-2000 and have had it setup and booting on a few
occasions. I also happened into some 10BASE5 equipment a few years back
and the VXT2000 was one of the only AUI devices I had at the time. I'm
not Matt Millman, but I did reference that site to find the existence of
the Lantronix LTX-C and similar devices.
Now that I have more AUI gear, I plan to put different gear on the
3-node AUI segment (cisco 2511 router, media converter to 10BASE2,
VAXStation 3200) and move the other 10Mb equipment to a 10BASE2 segment.
The whole mess will be joined to the main network via T1 on a Kentrox
CSU/DSU on the 2511.
You can boot the VXT2000 using MOP or BOOTP and TFTP actually. MOP was
the first thing I managed to get working, but BOOTP and TFTP worked
equally well once I had it set up correctly. Unfortunately my bootptab
file is on a roommate's MicroVAX II...
Anyway, see the links section here for the software:
https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/DEC_VXT2000
There's also theoretically OpenBSD and NetBSD support for the VXT2000,
but in my experience the netboot stuff is pretty broken on VAX for
whatever reason. There's at least one bug for the SGEC ethernet chip
driver, and I could only get older versions of the network boot mop file
to load. Of course, the older versions wouldn't support the newer kernel
format, which apparently changed at some point. Or maybe I'm just doing
something wrong.
If the machine in question gets repaired, feel free to contact me with
any questions. If you're familiar with netbooting VAX systems, it's not
too hard to figure out though.
I'll add that the note about the 9V supply being isolated sounds
reasonable. It could be used as the supply for the built-in 10BASE2 MAU
on some units. I can't confirm as my unit has 10BASET instead which has
no requirement for an isolated supply.