test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> Joachim writes: >> The R? has gotten a mixed reception 'round here Al writes: > The problem I see with the Cambridge examples is students don't LEARN anything > about what they're programming on. They're given a bunch of magic recipes and > don't learn what they're for. What you end up with is what you > could have done with 10 lines of Z80 assembly talking to a terminal through a > UART, but in the example you have to make your own terminal, talking to a big > blob of USB stack and graphics coprocessor glue. It's ironic that it seems increasingly hard to do anything "bare metal" without a graphical UI IDE on a desktop and a USB stack on the "bare metal". I ran across this (probably inadvertent, possibly sly, but still funny and relevant) quote on Wikipedia: "By the late 1960s change was coming: as operating systems and programming language compilers evolved, software production costs were dramatically increasing."

13 years, 7 months

Atlantic Research Comstate manual wanted

by greg_sz＠videotron.ca

Are you still lookin for thaat manual ? I have copy of manual of Interview Comstate 2 and Interview 4600. I can copy it and sent to you if you pay the cost. But they are much more sophisticated than Comstate 1 You should be capable to use it without manual is rather simple. If it works correctly. The manuals I mentioned are almost 1" thick each so cost may be significant. Let me know Regards Greg Szymsiak -- Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

13 years, 7 months

VCF Midwest 7

by silent700＠gmail.com

Three weeks to go until the seventh annual Vintage Computer Festival Midwest! I am told there are still a few rooms left at the hotel for those coming in from out of town. Mention "Commodore Expo" for the $69/night convention rate. And of course, the show is free of charge whether you're there to shop, show or sell. September 22-23, 2012 in Lombard, IL (Western suburbs of Chicago, right off a major highway I-355) More information and updates at http://vcfmw.org

13 years, 7 months

GNU and the BSD kernel

by lproven＠gmail.com

I am sure I've found reference to this in the past, but my Google-fu is failing me. IIRC in the fairly early stages of the GNU OS project, they looked at and considered using the kernel from BSD - 4.3 Net/1 or thereabouts, I think. I'm looking for more detail or a web reference. I've even found mention of them considering and discarding the UZI kernel, which is what Allison was mentioning in the thread about CP/M-compatible OSs the other day. Could anyone give me a pointer, at all? -- 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, 7 months

sortof-OT: bare metal Rπ

by joachim.thiemann＠gmail.com

The R? has gotten a mixed reception 'round here, but here is something interesting: a tutorial of programming the thing (which makes this sort-of kinda on-topic) in bare-metal Assembly; including talking to the graphics chip as a plain bitmapped framebuffer and input from the USB port (the latter using a library, I think). I haven't received mine yet, but I really want to try that out... http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/freshers/raspberrypi/tutorials/os/ -- Joachim Thiemann :: http://jthiem.bitbucket.org :: http://signalsprocessed.blogspot.com

13 years, 7 months

CP/M clones & compatible OSes

by jce＠seasip.demon.co.uk

> Any more CP/M-compatible Z80 OSs? ZCN on the Amstrad NC100 portable. Notable because the NC100 used the Z80 NMI, which you can't normally use on a CP/M system what with it being in the middle of the default File Control Block at 5Ch. So ZCN has to go through some elaborate gymnastics involving saving that byte of the FCB and sticking a RST instruction there instead. -- John Elliott

13 years, 7 months

Mystery Motorola Chip SC80951S

by asc135＠gmail.com

Every so often, since the beginning of the "interweb," I've wasted a few hours scouring the vast stores of information for a glimmer of data on the Motorola SC80951S chip. All I find are the part pimps peddling them for sums which they'll only disclose if you file a formal RFQ. No datasheets or even a simple description of the part's function can be found anywhere. I amuse myself by wondering if I had somehow acquired some super secret component that played a crucial part in the downfall of the Eastern Bloc. Eventually reality kicks in and I realize it wouldn't have a Motorola logo on it if that was the case. So here I am, before what probably amounts to the most comprehensive brain trust in vintage compute technology, to ask if any of you folks know what this thing is. Here is a link to a photograph: http://www.aximel.com/files/SC80951S.jpg Though I could not focus close enough to get a picture of the wafer, it appears to have some regions that suggest an EPROM memory array, some smaller regions that might be SRAM, and various other complicated looking shapes that may just be a CPU of some sort. I'm mostly interested in learning what it is. But if you can find me a data sheet I'll gladly share half a dozen of them with you. :-)

13 years, 7 months

6809 vs 6809E

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

Does anyone know if Motorola ever made 6809s that could function either as 6809 or 6809E depending on some external signal, or perhaps depending on how they were bonded out? The reason I ask is that I've been playing with an SBC designed around a 6809E. While working on writing the monitor on the first prototype, it died with what looked like a bad CPU. So I ordered a replacement, and while I was at it, ordered the parts to populate another board. Both the board with the replacement CPU and the other freshly populated board behaved the same way. After a little digging it appeared that the E and Q clock signals that should be externally driven for a 6809E were being driven by the CPU like for a 6809. I took a chance and rewired it like a 6809 and sure enough it's working now. But after numerous double checks, the chips definitely say MC68B09E/00TA6/HEQB0014. Has anyone seen anything like this? Did I end up getting a couple of chips that were mismarked? Is there a way to make them behave as 6809Es? Thanks in advance, BLS

13 years, 7 months

Teletype

by dareckgorecki＠gmail.com

Hello. I'm looking for a teletype in ontario and was wondering if you could recommend someone here in Canada to speak with. Its a very peculiar interest and came across your thread. Any direction is of interest. Thanks.

13 years, 7 months

Power supply capacitor tolerances

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Working on recapping an old (failed) 5V supply in that Microkit machine I picked up last week; the main filter capacitor is rated at 16,000uF 15V, axial. So far in my searches an exact (or even close) match in an Axial form-factor seems to be unobtainium. I can find snap-in or screw-in types but those are going to be clumsy to retro-fit given the space it has to occupy. (plus they're pretty expensive.) How far off the original capacitance value can I stray before it compromises the original design? Thanks, Josh

13 years, 7 months

Ideal storage conditions

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> So I finally have one of them fancy dehumidifiers that has a finely > adjustable humidi-stat in the basement to keep the collection dry. Required listening, the Traveling Wilburys "Cool Dry Place". > What's the ideal setting? I know too dry isn't a good thing, for neither > the collection nor my house. Right now I've got it set to 40% and it's > running pretty aggressively. My basement hovers between 55 and 60 degrees > Fahrenheit throughout the year, and the dehumidifier figures out relative > humidity for you. I think 40% is a little too aggressively low and my dehumidifier would run pretty much continuously May-September if I had it set that low. 60% is a better ballpark and only during the most humid parts of summer does my basement dehumidifier run more than a few hours a day. I will sometimes go as low as 30% setting during the summer but only when I want to demonstrate my Wimshurst machine :-) Tim.

13 years, 7 months

Microkit 8/16 info?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Anyone know anything about the Microkit 8/16 computer? I just snagged one off eBay (item 390461957738) -- it looked too cool to resist. Looks to be from the mid-70s, 8080-based, and all I can find on the 'net is very basic information. Anyone have manuals or software? There were two others on eBay, but they appear to have been snatched up in the three minutes I spent composing this mail... - Josh

13 years, 7 months

Teletype

by cfox1＠cogeco.ca

At 11:05 AM 02/09/2012, you wrote: >Hello. I'm looking for a teletype in ontario and was wondering if you could >recommend someone here in Canada to speak with. Its a very peculiar >interest and came across your thread. Any direction is of interest. Thanks. If you find two, please let me know. I am also looking for one. Charlie Fox Charles E. Fox 793 Argyle Rd. Windsor Ont. 519-254-4991 N8Y3j8 www.chasfoxvideo.com

13 years, 7 months

COSMAC ROM file

by nick.allen＠comcast.net

Hi everyone, Does anyone have the ROM file for the COSMAC (boots into basic OS with ability to load/write to tape, etc). Which model PROM was used with the original COSMAC?

13 years, 7 months

Intel multibus disk and ethernet manuals

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I finally turned up copies of the rare iSBC 215 disk controller and 522 ethernet controller manuals. http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/iSBC/144780-002_iSBC_215_Generic_Winchester_… http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/iSBC/122141-002_iSBC522_Ethernet_Hardware_Re… The 215 was the basis for the DSD/Qualogy board used in the SGI Iris. From memory, the guys that did the Intel board left and went to work for DSD (it is software compatible with the iSBC 215) http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dsd/040040-01_5215_UG_Apr84.pdf http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dsd/040069-01_5217_UsersAdden.pdf http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dsd/040074-01_6214-6217_UG.pdf

13 years, 7 months

Wanted: DEC PDP-8/A power transformer and backplane

by john.ralb＠gmail.com

Recently I found an incomplete PDP-8/a and need the transformer and backplane to start working on it. If anyone has one or both then please let me know.

13 years, 7 months

XT-IDE V2 PCBs are here!

by LYNCHAJ＠yahoo.com

Hi! The XT-IDE V2 PCBs have arrived! They are identical to the previous boards. http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showwiki.php?title=XTIDE+Rev2 They are $12 each plus $2 shipping in the US and $5 elsewhere. Please send a PayPal to LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM and I will send your board(s) right away. Thanks in advance and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch PS, please make sure to mention XT-IDE and your *current shipping address* in your PayPal. Relying on my frazzled memory is hazardous!

13 years, 7 months

ISO Viewlogic Workview

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Someone is trying to look at some old schematics from around 1992 and asked me if I had a copy.

13 years, 7 months

Micropolis 1203 Re: Reviving a PERQ 1a

by rickb＠bensene.com

The Micropolis 1203 has an epoxy encapsulated 16 pin (IIRC) plug that had jumpers in it that controlled low-level things like sector size and header information and some aspects of the transfers to the host. I believe that Tek used some non-standard settings in this plug for the 85xx MDP systems. Years ago I had a couple of these drives and wanted to make them work with a homebrew system that I had built. I had no success in making them work until I stumbled across some data on the drives on microfiche aperture cards at Tek that documented the nature of what was inside this encapsulated jumper block. Once I had this information, I was able to build a DIP header with jumpers in it that allowed me to make the drives work the way that the generic drive docs said they should work. It appears that Tek had ordered the drives in a non-standard configuration to lock folks into using Tek service and replacement drives. This could be why ex-8560 drives do not want to play nice with other computers like the PERQ. Sadly all of was many years ago and the specifics are long gone from my memory and the prints that I.got out of the aperture card readers that had the data about the plug were long ago thrown out. But, I figured that I would mention it here in that it may trigger more detailed information in someone's memory. Rick Bensene -----Original Message----- From: Al Kossow [aek at bitsavers.org] Received: Friday, 31 Aug 2012, 2:42pm To: cctalk at classiccmp.org [cctalk at classiccmp.org] Subject: Micropolis 1203 Re: Reviving a PERQ 1a On 8/31/12 11:42 AM, Tony Duell wrote: > What sort of drive is it? THe Microposls 1203 (8") was used in the 2T1, > the 1300 series (5.25") were used in soem 2T2s. > It is a 1203. I guess we need to keep an eye out for the 1203 manual, since it sounds like you don't have a copy either. I will probably need this at some point to try to figure out why the 12xx series drives out of the Tek 8550 aren't working. I'll have to look in my email to see if I can find the PAL equations you sent. Sometimes things get forgotten if I get busy dealing with other things.

13 years, 7 months

Panasonic HHC technical information

by rrr_lopes＠yahoo.com.br

Hello, I'm trying to understand the intriguing Panasonic HHC. Does somebody have additional technical information beside the contents of the User's Manual? I'm particularlly searching for the SnapFORTH ROM image and manual, any hardware schematics, and the expansion connector pinout. I'm also trying to understand the Cassette Tape audio file format. Any information on that will be nice too. Ricardo P.S. Sorry about my limited English vocabulary and eventual (unnoticed) lack of politeness. I'm from Brazil and not English native.

13 years, 7 months

Immutable standards (was Re: CP/M clones & compatible OSes)

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

>> I believe both units were made long befroe there _were_ CF or SD cards, >> so I don't see how they could have used them :-) > They were, yes, but then again, there are SD and CF interfaces for > earlier devices such as the ZX Spectrum now, so it is doable. >> Both have RS232 ports, don't they? Surely you can get text off them that >> way? > As I said - an /easy/ way to move data. As I have said before, to your > bemusement or incredulity, I really detest RS232 and have done for > about 25 years now. [...] I really like USB for this. I would propose, as an immutable standard medium for cctalk-relevant micros and some minis, neither SD, nor CF, nor USB. I would propose 110 Baud ASCII via 20mA current loop. Of course that starts off the religious wars as to whether that key in the left corner of the Model 33 ASR is properly labeled "ESC" or "Alt Mode". Tim.

13 years, 7 months

Autofax Corp Imager, backup PC to VCR tape

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> I've got this old 8-bit ISA card on my "interesting to try out" list. > Corvus had a videotape backup and then later a device called the Bank, > but the processing for what hardware I saw was "dumb" just support > logic. The cpu of the PC did the heavy lifting. > The Bank used a corvus network node, I think to communicate, so there > was only a corvus net card in the backup server and software to support > the bank hardware. > I think Alpha Micro had a product too. Their surplus showed up here in > Orange County for a while when they crashed and burned but no software, > sorry, also they had no coprocessor either. And a little higher up on the mini scale, Digidata had a product called the "Gigastore" that was a VHS tape unit interfaced by a Q-bus card and a variant of the Pertec Formatted (two 50 pin cable) tape interface popular for 9-track and some other drives. I used and recovered data from these way back in the 90's. Tim.

13 years, 7 months

Autofax Corp Imager, backup PC to VCR tape

by stephen.hunt＠iname.com

I've got this old 8-bit ISA card on my "interesting to try out" list. It's a z80 based "backup to VCR" card by Autofax Corp Imager. The only problem is I've got no software for it. Can anyone help? Interestingly, a dump of the eprom show the text "'MaBr[2.4] (C) 1983-Corvus Systems". Most of the references on the web for this are just adverts http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0...page&q&f=false http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0DsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=%22auto…

13 years, 7 months

monitor arcing?

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

nicotine stained fingers? ------------------------------ On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 2:47 PM PDT Fred Cisin wrote: >> > dark powdery residue around power switch. 1986. Simple arcing or an >> > indication of something worse? >> It might also be dried up contact grease.Dwight > >grimy users? > > >

13 years, 7 months

monitor arcing?

by rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com

dark powdery residue around power switch. 1986. Simple arcing or an indication of something worse?

13 years, 7 months

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