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101090 discussions

Bletchley Park Code Breaker Olive Bailey Interviewed

by bryan.pope＠comcast.net

WWII Code Breaking Secrets Revealed at Berwick, Victoria, Canada http://www.winstonchurchill.org/support/the-churchill-centre/publications/c… Interview is here: http://www.cbc.ca/ontheisland/2012/04/18/victorias-wwii-code-breaker-1/ Cheers, Bryan

13 years, 11 months

fwd from NetBSD VAX list: VAX 6320 w/ TU81+

by mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG

No affiliation with this person, but I'd much prefer to see a VAX given a new and caring home. I know nothing about this beyond what you can see below. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B > From: "Robert Schaefer" <rschaefe at gcfn.org> > To: <port-vax at NetBSD.org> > Subject: VAX 6320 w/ TU81+ > Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 19:25:31 -0400 > Message-ID: <2C54A3A6C8C84748AAEF5BDB3FF18BF6 at ratioHP> > Anybody near to Columbus, Ohio interested? I can't bring myself to scrap > her, but she's been sitting idle for nearly a decade now. Converted to 240V > single phase, booted several times into VMS 5.? before I had to park her. > > If anyone wants to forward this to classiccmp, I'd be obliged. > > -- > Bob

13 years, 11 months

IBM P/390

by BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu

Anyone here interested in a PCI-based IBM P/390 board (Not E)? I've actually got two that I'm not using, and a PARCA bus-and-tag board, and think that some other hobbyists should have a chance to acquire this stuff... I'd also consider trades... Thanks!

13 years, 11 months

Calling all bored VAX hackers :)

by abs＠absd.org

I was wondering if there are any VAX coders on the list who are willing (and brave/strange enough) to poke into gcc internals? I have a (relatively speedy) little VAXstation 4000/90 happily running NetBSD-6, which is built using gcc-4.1. All of the other NetBSD ports have switched across to gcc-4.5, but some changes in 4.5 have caused codegen issues in the VAX backend. Essentially you can cross compile a vax system with gcc-4.5, but the resultant system exhibits certain, shall we say, glitches (most annoyingly in the boot program), and the generated compiler is unable to reliably compile anything. Additionally the gcc DWARF2 stack unwinding for VAX appears to be incomplete, causing issues for C++ exceptions, and potentially making libffi unbuildable on VAX. ( http://gnats.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=44155 ) The latter point is quite annoying as it blocks building glib2, and any app that depends upon it. I know the VAX is pretty much the poster child for legacy platform nowdays, but from a certain perspective a VAX has similar characteristics to an unusual embedded system, (just built using steam pipes & valves), so should be able to run the same basic apps, tools, and even graphical apps. Besides, to quote Dylan Thomas I feel the VAX should not go gentle into that good night, but rage, rage against the dying of the light :)

13 years, 11 months

Bogus eBay auction

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

On 24/05/2012 06:49, William Maddox wrote: > Our favorite eBay fraudster is at it again: > > http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Equipment-Corp-DEC-TU56-w-TC11-RK05-LA36-/2… > > This exact same photo first appeared on eBay when Ashley Carder legitimately sold the gear that is shown. Fraudulent relistings, stating that the bidder must contact the "seller" directly at a specific email address, have reappeared about half a dozen times over the last year or two. > > --Bill The ironic thing is that the fraudsters go after key "high value high popularity" items, done solely by a text search. Thus they wanted to put up fraudulent listings for Plasma Display Panels (PDP's) but end up using PDP-11's. I would bet they have absolutely ZERO idea what their fraudulent auction is actually for. Time for cow-tipping? Tim.

13 years, 11 months

Bogus eBay auction

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

Our favorite eBay fraudster is at it again: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Equipment-Corp-DEC-TU56-w-TC11-RK05-LA36-/2… This exact same photo first appeared on eBay when Ashley Carder legitimately sold the gear that is shown. Fraudulent relistings, stating that the bidder must contact the "seller" directly at a specific email address, have reappeared about half a dozen times over the last year or two. --Bill

13 years, 11 months

PDP-11 items wanted

by lists＠loomcom.com

Hey folks, Apart from the PDP-11/35 I'm restoring, I haven't got any other PDP stuff right now. Over the years I've had a lot, but I gave it all away to other collectors during the "Moving Houses Every Three Years" phase of my life. Now that things are a lot more settled, I'd love to play with some again. So, I figured I'd throw together a little wish list of PDP stuff I'm looking for. You never know, maybe someone has some of this they'd be willing to sell. I'm perfectly willing to pay fair market price, of course. Most Wanted ----------- - PDP-11/23+ (BA23 rackmount) or MicroPDP-11/23+ (BA23 pedistal). Maybe a strange thing to be "most wanted", but it's a college nostalgia thing. I'm sure you understand. - Any QBus PDP-11 capable of running 2.11BSD - so an 11/73 or 11/83 with 1MB or more. - PDP-11/40 Processor Options (KE11-E & KE11-F, KJ11, KT11, KW11), to extend my 11/35's minimal configuration. - G727A or G7273 grant continuity cards. My 11/35 is severely lacking in these :( I'm located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I'm willing to travel anywhere in the western US to pick these guys up. There's nothing like a computer rescue road trip! Thanks, -Seth

13 years, 11 months

Photos of the RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

Some people were curious what the drive spindle and disk enclosure looked like, but weren't members of the vintage computer forum, so could not view the images that I put there. Sorry about that. Didn't know one had to be a member to view the photos. Here are links to the photos that anyone should be able to use - Drive spindle: http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0342.JPG http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0343.JPG Disk enclosure: http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0344.JPG http://www.wildwestrally.net/alanp/IMG_0345.JPG If anyone is curious about what the rest of this stuff looks like, let me know and I'll shoot and post photos for you. Respond directly to me since I am subscribed to the digest and won't see your note until much later if you send it to the list. alan

13 years, 11 months

KIM-1 and Commodore [was RE: You're too late now, but

by dm561＠torfree.net

Original Messages: Date: Sat, 19 May 2012 11:43:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com> >>> I liked the AIM-65, personally, but I don't have one. >> Time you got one then ;-) >If you have a spare one, bug me off-list :)) (seriously) Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems ---- And: ---- From: Philip Pemberton <classiccmp at philpem.me.uk> > And me too, please! (Also serious!) Phil. ------------------------------------------------- I do indeed have several spare ones but most of them are untested, in pieces, and not necessarily complete; if/when I get one of those round tuits and check them out I'll keep you in mind. Meanwhile, three just sold on eBay, two with enclosures and one probably a relatively rare 40kB version, for $150 to $339, so they're out there.. m

13 years, 11 months

Software for OCR'ing paper tape? (was: Question about Military terminal)

by dm561＠torfree.net

Original Message: Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 23:12:47 +0200 From: Torfinn Ingolfsen <tingox at gmail.com> Hello, >Also, his reader has one slight "defect" in my humble opinion; no automated >feeder. > So, if one was going to build a reader, were would one find the essential > parts? > - the photo diode array > - the sprocket wheel with the correct dimensions for reading eight-channel > tape. ---------------- If you're serious about building a motorized one I've probably still got some odd parts from readers and perfs I've scrapped over the years, including sprocket wheels; the electronics shouldn't be hard to find. m

13 years, 11 months

Software for OCR'ing paper tape? (was: Question about Military terminal)

by dm561＠torfree.net

Original Message: Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 08:11:11 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> On 23 May 2012 at 23:12, Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote: >> So, if one was going to build a reader, were would one find the >> essential parts? - the photo diode array - the sprocket wheel with the >> correct dimensions for reading eight-channel tape. >When I posted, the seller still had an active item on eBay, so if > he's gone, it's not been but for a couple of days. > Also, see the commentary here: http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/21/forget-usb-3-0-add-a-tape-reader-to-your-p… -------------- I've seen that unit a few times in the past; nice, but for $180 I'd sell one of my motorized ones... m

13 years, 11 months

FS: RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

On 5/23/12 11:08 PM, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > A bad design, apparently, with a bearing that is just too wimpy. > > Does anyone here have an RA81 that works? In somewhat regular use? I was given the impression that the two that I have were in more-or-less daily use (aside from maintenance and other normal outages) from when they were acquired new (I think '82) until the system was retired in the late 90s (I got it in '98). I spent the weekend moving drives (1 RA81, 1 RA81 chassis & 3 RA82s) around. What I was going to do next was power them up and try to run diagnostics. Any helpful hints on prepping drives that have been sitting for years for powering up would be appreciated. alan

13 years, 11 months

FS: RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by alanp＠snowmoose.com

On 5/23/12 11:08 PM, Ian wrote: > Heh. The RA81 HDA was an often-failed component. I had a deal to buy two racks of RA81's several years ago from a surplus computer dealer - and when I went to go take a look at them, it was painfully obvious that every one of them was missing the HDA. Just the motor and the boards/PSU were in the boxes, the entire HDA was missing. Apparently they must have sold off the HDA's a long time ago. Wait! I could get money for a RA81 HDA? Hmmm. Maybe have to rethink my offer to give Dave my complete RA81. Just kidding, Dave. The drive is yours as soon as you figure out how to get it from here to there. alan BTW, in case people haven't figured out, I am subscribed to the digest version of the list, so I don't see messages as they are posted to the list and can't reply in real time.

13 years, 11 months

FS: RA-81 drive spindle and disk enclosure

by jgessling＠yahoo.com

The RA81's were notoriously failure prone.? Rumors abounded for the reasons, things like the glue flaking off (from something) and coating the platters to (my favorite) that the fire control system in the Colorado plant somehow went nuts and pumped the contents of the pond into the basement of the factory and got everything contaminated.? This was especially delicious since the pond was prominently featured in their brochure as a decorative item and backup water supply.?? This would be around 1984 or so.? The Fugitsu Eagles were just appearing with great performance and reliability.? Since I was working for DEC's biggest customer at the time (BP) we got a special visit at our monthly meeting from a reliability specialist explaining whey the Eagles with their higher part count and less integration would have worse reliability.? This despite a graph presented by our Dallas manager showing the incredible failure rates of the RA81's.? They were replacing a few every week.? (they had dozens of them to hold all that seismic data).? Those Eagles made a lot of money for Systems Industries who were integrating them into VAX systems.? After a visit to their offices in Millpitas, California we bought a bunch of them for our San Francisco data center.? Good times, that.

13 years, 11 months

HP 9855A on ithistory.org

by hp-fix＠xs4all.nl

http://www.ithistory.org/hardware/hardware-type.php?pageNum_hardware=126 <http://www.ithistory.org/hardware/hardware-type.php?pageNum_hardware=126&to talRows_hardware=3715> &totalRows_hardware=3715 The HP 9855A is a hoax made up by the HP Computer Museum, but there seem to be people who take them self very serious including the hoax. So they placed it in the ultimate 'IT database', completely build from copied items from the various collector sites. Fun, -Rik

13 years, 11 months

VT220 focus

by BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu

So I finally got my VT220 put back together! I have one I saved from the dumpster from a plant floor, but it was incredibly filthy. I disassembled it, cleaned it thoroughly, and put it back together (over a duration of 6+ months), and amazingly it still works! So, I had to hook it up to my MacBook Air, just for fun. Works like a charm, but characters on the left seem slightly fuzzier then others. Maybe that's just because I've been staring at the razor-sharp screens on my MacBook and iPhone too long, and the fact that this thing's 26 years old, but is there a way to sharpen them up a bit? Even if not, it's still darn funny to have a physical terminal on my MacBook! Thanks! -Ben

13 years, 11 months

PDP-11/35 power supply woes

by lists＠loomcom.com

Ugh. It was a fairly disappointing day on the PDP-11/35 restoration front. I've updated my restoration journal ( http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/index.html ), but in summary, my H750 power supply is one big gross mess. Take a look at the condition it was in: http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/bc05t_rust.jpg http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/h750_out.jpg http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/h744_messy.jpg http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/h744_corrosion.jpg http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/xformer_mice.jpg http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/rusted_parts.jpg All that pink stuff is fiberglass insulation. Mice got into the power supply, and made it a nest and toilet. Everything is soiled, and lots of exposed metal is corroded. I'm feeling kind of low about this. I do believe this is restorable, but the amount of time it's going to take is bumming me out. I'll have to disassemble everything, right down to the last screw, and clean anything that's cleanable, strip rust off of anything strippable, and test all the parts individually. The fan will probably need to be replaced. Plus, it's just yucky, y'know? At least I've cleaned out the mouse nests. That's a start, I guess. -Seth

13 years, 11 months

How to contribute to bitsavers?

by snhirsch＠gmail.com

I used the only address I'm aware of, but the mail and attachment bounced: ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- <contrib at bitsavers.org> 553 5.3.0 <contrib at bitsavers.org>... You are blacklisted by the receiving mailserver. Is there a secret handshake required? Steve --

13 years, 11 months

Commodore Pet 2001-8 w/flaky brightness adjustment

by jim_mccusker＠hotmail.com

I have a working Pet 2001-8 that has one annoying issue. When I power up the unit I typically don't see any characters displayed unless I apply a slight amount of pressure on the back of the brightness control in the back of the monitor. I suspected bad solder joints but couldn't see anything wrong. Turning the control brightens the screen but somehow this control is causing the character display to turn on/off. Any ideas what might be going on here? Thanks, --Jim

13 years, 11 months

OT; International shipping into the US - preferably from NZ - questions

by jplist2008＠kiwigeek.com

Greetings; I've got a bunch of stuff - not even computers - in New Zealand (my original home) that I'd like to ship back to the US and every time I try and get it straightened out I get lost between local freighting and international customs brokers and all sorts of nonsense like that. I was hoping there might be someone out there who has done this and has a pretty good idea of what I should be expecting. Replies off-list, I would think. Thank you! - JP

13 years, 11 months

BA23 PDP11/23 Power Supply that couldn't; Trying to locate a replacement cap

by jplist2008＠kiwigeek.com

Greetings; I received a new (to me) MicroPDP11/23 that I was fiddling about with over the weekend. After testing out the supply voltages, and then putting the system together enough to get serial out of it, there was a pop, a whoosh and a rather exciting ejected plume of smoke from one of the upper fans. http://www.kiwigeek.com/misc/PDP1123_Cap1.jpg http://www.kiwigeek.com/misc/PDP1123_Cap2.jpg The capacitor is mounted on the sub-board in the PSU that the IEC receptacle is on. The markings on the back show this is a PME271M622, but I'm having trouble sourcing a replacement. Most of the places I usually look about are showing no stock or ridiculous minimum orders. On eBay (shudder) there's a similar model, but it's marked as an "X2", and I'm not sure if that's an acceptable replacement. Could someone who is more famaliar with these things give me a suggestion as to where I should be looking? (Full markings: 0,22uF at X 250V ~ MP fo=3,0MHz RIFA GPC 40/085/56 PME271M622) Thanks to all; - JP

13 years, 11 months

HPIB cables

by donm＠cts.com

I have a couple of HPIB cables available at $15 the pair, shipped. They are: 1 HP10833A ~42" 1 HP92220R ~12" The 92220R has a right-angle connector at one end and the usual straight connector at the other. (I wonder if the 'R' indicates a right hand connector?) First come, first served. - don

13 years, 11 months

AVL ROAD RUNNER...My father built it

by bucketnbrush＠gmail.com

My father built these things in the 70's in NJ..I this is for slide projectors and big presentation's..I think his e-mail is Merrittavs at comcast.net. Haha blast from the past for me I remember running through the huge building when they closed.. Take care Jay from Jersey

13 years, 11 months

MicroVAX I (One) disk controller problem

by hoelscher-kirchbrak＠freenet.de

Some weeks ago my MicroVAX I disk controller died together with the disk. I guess they got used to each other so much that they passed away collectively ... I used a Webster SRQD11-B/02 MFM controller and an ST-251 formatted as an RD52 (the SRQD-11 allows to mimic almost arbitrary disk types). I have no replacement SRQD11, but an RDQX2 and an RQDX3. The RQDX2 works well with my RX50 floppy drive, but I have no compatible RD51/RD52 disk. The RQDX3 refuses to cooperate with the MicroVAX I (don't know who's fault it is). Trying to boot the MicroVAX I diagnostics or VMS Standalone Backup from RX50s fails / hangs. DEC said in Micronote #43: "There are no diagnostics that are available for the RQDX3 on a MicroVAX I that is the only reason that the RQDX3 is not supportted on a MicroVAX I." Maybe that is not true for a MicroVAX I with an older Microcode revision? My MicroVAX I has Microcode Rev. 5 / Hardware Rev. 1 Anyone out there still running a MicroVAX I for fun or remembering troubles of that kind? Any hints / help welcome! (Especially donations of RD51 or RD52 disks ;-)) I'd really like to have my MicroVAX I running (rather: slow pacing) again! Regards Ulli

13 years, 11 months

VT220 focus

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

>Back in the old days when I still used an actual email client >application, IIRC, many had options for hard-wrapping outgoing text. >Gmail doesn't, AFAIK, but sticks 'em in on its own at somewhere under >80col, AFAICS. The convenience of Gmail is worth putting up with its >lack of customisability, but then, this is not something that I >personally particularly care about. If it were an option, I'd turn it >off, but AFAIK, it isn't, and I don't hugely care. > >But Richard was asking people to do it /by hand/ which indicates to me >that he is using some very badly broken reader, which is a problem for >him but not for anyone else and it is, I would say, unacceptable for >him to ask others to take special measures to accommodate his broken >software. Secondly, I feel that this is not something that people >should be doing in text files, unless it is needed for some special >purpose, such as ASCII art or the like. > Is the web interface for reading postings to this list a very badly broken reader? It seems to me to be something which copes very nicely with mails which are formated according to email standards, like the vast majority of mails sent to the list, including I think, all of those in this thread. It copes with the few format=flowed mails by presenting each paragraph all on one line, which makes them difficult to read unless you have a left and right scrolling wheel on your mouse and like using it a lot. Anyway, why wouldn't many people who enjoy discussing classic computers prefer to be able to read mails from the list using classic equipment and software without having it described as badly broken? Perhaps many of us come here because we don't want to be on the bleeding edge of constantly evolving standards? To get back to the subject in hand, does anyone have a spare flyback transformer for a VT220 so that I can get mine working again to check it's focus and read my mail? The one I want is pcb mounted (16-26299-01) but there is a another type connected to the pcb by flying leads (16-21181-01) and I suspect (hope) they are electrically the same so with any luck, either would do. Even format=flowed replies would be welcome and only slightly frowned on. Good luck to the original poster getting his focus problem sorted and I apologise for my part in hijacking his thread even if I did attempt to drag it back in the direction of the VT220 and components responsible for focus. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 11 months

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