test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

[REWARD] Request for documentation - update

by l4b.bogdan.barbu＠gmail.com

Hi, I'm offering a reward of $500 to anyone who is able to find any of several IBM documents. I'm not including the list in this message because the table I have prepared might not be displayed correctly with anything except a fixed-width font and I have no idea what each of you are using. Anyway, the details can be found here: http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25164&p=207984#p207984 Cheers, Bogdan

14 years

VAX on Reddit

by lproven＠gmail.com

Shocking headline: "23 year old computer still in daily use at a silver mine. MicroVAX 3100 running openVMS on 12mb memory." Pictures: http://www.reddit.com/tb/sl3ll Comments: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/sl3ll/23_year_old_computer_stil… -- 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

14 years

Wanted: Tektronix 1992 catalog

by legalize＠xmission.com

Anyone got one? -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 version available for download <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/> Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

14 years

USR

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

> Those Total Control Net servers were awesome. It is a good think you included "Total Control" in your post, because USR had an unrelated product called NetServer that was the complete opposite of "awesome". They, along with friends FaxServer and CommServer, were absolute disasters, with field failures hanging around 50 percent. -- Will

14 years

one good ripoff deserves another :-(

by jeffj＠panix.com

replying to Grumpy Ol' Fred (Fred Cisin) > I wonder what happened to the class action suit and the regulatory actions? Google found http://www.iomega.com/rinaldi/ Rinaldi Class Action Settlement Wikipedia clarifies that the settlement was a rebate towards the future purchase of an Iomega product. What a ripoff! They made a faulty product and instead of paying a penalty with real money, they issued "funny money" coupons useful only for BUYING more of their crap! The Sharper Image pulled a similar ripoff during their bankruptcy. All gift cards were invalidated, but were then honored ONLY if you paid an equal amount towards a purchase. What a steal: turning perhaps $100 million of debt >from pre-purchased gift cards into a matching-grant program to get another $100 million for their overpriced stuff :-/ Long ago, a fellow was so pissed off with his Vydek word processor that he sponsored a floppy-flinging contest for his stock of 8" floppies. We ought to have a similar contest for Iomega products!

14 years

Last Chance on Apple/TRS-80 Stuff before it gets recycled

by slandon＠centurylink.net

I really need to get space back in my house and shed. Got 4 Apple IIGS Monitors tested and working at $20 each TRS80 Magazines, Owners Manuals, Documentation, enough to fill the back of the car for free. Box of 50 Pin SCSI Hard Drives 40-80MB Drives $20 Apple //e Platinum tested and working $20 Lots more from PC Stuff to external 3.5 drives all of it. Monday morning it will be recycled. Im located in Flushing MI

14 years

one good ripoff deserves another / Iomega Zip's

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

>> > Why not the SD card? Cheaper, smaller and easy to interface! :) >> >> My gut feeling is that compact flash will live a little longer in >> terms of being able to get interface hardware a decade into the future. >> But I could be wrong and SD might have more legs (certainly fewer >> contacts). And as you point out the serial interface to a SD card is >> very straightforward so I think you have a good point! > As far as I know, both CF and SD cards are docuemtned. The only custom > interfce hardware is the connectors ;-). Although it might be slow, there's > nothign to stop you talkign to an SD card by bit-banging the signals on > the I/O pins of any microcotroller, computer, or whatever. > So I see no reason why you won't be able to read/write SD cards in 10 > years time. My analogy is that Compact Flash are like U--matic videotapes and that SD is like VHS tapes. SD gets most of the consumer uses, but the consumer product lifespan is very short. The CF applications today are mostly industrial uses with lifespans measured in a decade or more. That's why my gut feeling is to favor CF for long legs. Tim.

14 years

PCMCIA by any other name

by jonas＠otter.se

On Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:31:50 -0700 (PDT), Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote: > One of my colleagues was "caught" soldering a repair in a college computer > lab (that was closed at the time)! That was one of four offenses for > which they tried to fire him. The others included telling an "instructor" > that he was NOT available to come help her and to learn how to do her own > "reset" when the computer was "locked", refusing to change the grade > to passing for a student whose program crashed instead of a clean exit to > the OS, and removing discarded computers from the dumpster. > > While he was banned from campus, they removed and destroyed everything in > his office, which included a SOL, some Northstars, 6? bookcases of PC > Tech Journal, Dr Dobbs, IBM Technical References for all models, etc. > (Yes, he DID have the 8514 and EGA trch refs) > His office was densely packed, with mostly classic microcomputers. I thought the Nazis had been defeated 67 years ago? Did they just escape to your college? Or are your administrators ex-Stasi people? That is just plain evil and vindictive. They should be taken out and shot in front of all the students. /Jonas

14 years

[REWARD] Request for documentation - update

by PETER＠beyondthepale.ie

> >> I've got a SCSI scanner plugged in to a MicroVAX 4000. Using the open source >> "sane" portable scanning package, suitably tweaked for VMS, I can scan quite > >That 'suitably tweaked for VMS' worries me a little. I am not a >programmer, I am not sure I could do things like that. > I'm not a programmer either but I never let that stop me. I added about 270 lines to sanei_scsi.c (including blank lines, (few) comments, debugging, error checking and assorted fluff) to implement a VMS version of the routine sanei_scsi_cmd2(), some of which I copied from the existing routine and to add routines vms_open_device() and vms_close_device(). The added code doesn't do anything more complicated than call system routines such as sys$assign(), sys$qiow() and sys$dassgn() and was practically lifted from "Generic SCSI Class Driver Programming Example" in the VMS I/O Users Reference Manual: Part I. I also added another 76 lines to do a quick hack translate of calls to syslog() into calls to sys$sndopr() as VMS doesn't have syslog(). Finally, I created a suitable config.h containing mainly #defines and gruesome hacks. The rest pretty much compiled as-is. (I didn't compile all of sane - just the bits I needed to for my scanner). It won't win any awards, but it seems to work. Besides, you don't have to do it - I've already done it! (If you want software for a PERQ, maybe someone else can help) > >In any case there are really only 2 clases of VAXen I would want to try >running. One is the 11/780 and its brothers (11/782, 11/785), the other >is the 11/730 (and I guess 11/725). The former is too large for me to >accomodate at the moment, so it would have to be the latter. And I >suspect Unibus SCSI cards are not easy to find anyway... > You could always build one :-) > >In any case, thos diesn;t get round the problem (for me) of fidnign a >scanner I could repair. > I think we've addressed all the other difficulties. We can't be expected to cover everything :-) Regards, Peter Coghlan.

14 years

another one bites the dust...

by aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk

--- On Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:46 PM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > > > I assume that NICAM stereo > sound is also dead ;-(. Pity, I > enjoyed > building and aligning the Maplin > decoder kit many years ago. i haven't heard the phrase NICAM stereo since the 90's. It's all Dolby Surround sound now - though i personally don't care for it. Regards, Andrew B aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk

14 years

help requested: ISA to PCMCIA slots

by jeffj＠panix.com

Dear cctech folks; I have 2: ISA card controllers for PCMCIA cards that I want to get running again. I need the software & just the essentials of the manual (switch & jumper settings). 1) DATABOOK ThinCard DRIVE model TMD-100-03 rev C 2) 16 bit ISA card: MMCD-D2 Rev 2.0 ?? 1994 SCM Microsystem GMBH Photos are here: http://ferretronix.com/march/thincard/ thanks in advance Jeff Jonas jeffj at panix.com

14 years

[REWARD] Request for documentation - update

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> >> >In any case there are really only 2 clases of VAXen I would want to try >> >running. One is the 11/780 and its brothers (11/782, 11/785), the other >> >is the 11/730 (and I guess 11/725). The former is too large for me to >> >accomodate at the moment, so it would have to be the latter. And I >> >suspect Unibus SCSI cards are not easy to find anyway... >> > >> >> You could always build one :-) > >Err, yes.... Building a n 11/780 wouldn't solve the space problem (it >would be about the same size). I guess I could try to re-implelent the >11/730 with statci RAM i nthe control store, but it's not somehting I >have time for at the momnent. > I was suggesting that you might build a Unibus SCSI card if it proved too difficult or expensive to get one by other means. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

14 years

one good ripoff deserves another / Iomega Zip's

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Wow, what a funny subject line to ask for help with a generation leap in storage. !!! I did use Zip's in the 90's as an interchange medium and they weren't the worst thing in the world for that... but at most they had to hold their data for a week or two in the shipping lanes and that's not asking much. > Funny, > as the OP I asked for the ZIP drive spec in order to be able to use them as a replacement for the old, slow & unreliable 10 MB cartridge drive for my ETH Lilith. > Those zips are, despite their faults, the closests thing to it, still available in plentiful supply. CF cards just doesn't seem right. Most reliable 10MB removable drive ever was the RL02. But generation wise that's probably a step backwards in time not forward. CDC made a number of SMD-descended mini-cartridge drives with capacities in that range but they all sucked rocks. Jumping forward a couple generations in the mid-90's there were very good MO drives. The 5.25" drives (650 MB/1.3GB/2.6GB were industry standard sizes and some bigger as well too) were most often seen with SCSI interfaces and in fact Sony still makes and sells new media because there are several niche markets that rely on this format for interchange and archiving. 3.25" MO drives (128 MB but most often 230 MB) existed as well, with either SCSI and ATA interfaces, but these were never as reliable as their bigger brother (still several orders of magnitude more reliable than ZIPs). If this were the 90's I'd have no problem recommending 5.25" MO as an update. But this isn't the 90's anymore. Today in 2012? I have a hard time seeing how to use anything except CF as an interface standard that will exist going ahead for at least a decade maybe two in wide usage. The other format to choose is a USB keychain drive. If like me you think the CF format is just too physically tiny, epoxy a CF device to an old Lilith D120 style cart and have it slide into a reader that you've milled into the original D120 or D140 slot :-) Tim.

14 years

cctalk Digest, Vol 104, Issue 53

by elson＠pico-systems.com

From: allison <ajp166 at verizon.net> To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only <cctech at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: VAX on Reddit Message-ID: <4F933A05.3030205 at verizon.net> Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; format=flowed On 04/21/2012 08:59 AM, Liam Proven wrote: > > Shocking headline: "23 year old computer still in daily use at a > > silver mine. MicroVAX 3100 running openVMS on 12mb memory." > > A number of years ago I went out to a plastic molding company to look at a Microvax installation that had been hit by lightning and advise how to rewire the place to avoid similar damage in the future. They took me into their compute room and I was stunned at the contraption they had running there. I stood there gasping and asking "What the HECK is THAT?" Turns out they had this thing that was an off-brand clone of an IBM 1800 running all their presses. I gathered it was a TTL re-implementation of the 1800, but a very old machine at least. (The microvax ran their accounting system.) Jon Jon

14 years

Obsolete Computers in 1983

by david＠classiccomputing.com

On Apr 21, 2012, at 10:09 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > This 1983 InfoWorld has a few articles about Obsolete Computers. It covers > the Altair and other S-100 machines. There is a story about someone making > an upgrade ROM board for the Processor Technology SOL-20. The Computer > Museum was still in Boston. It asks "Will today's Lisas and Radio Shack > Model 100s be as priceless to the computer industry as are the Crown Jewels > are to England?" > > InfoWorld June 6, 1983. Pages 27 - 37 > > http://books.google.com/books?id=zy8EAAAAMBAJ Very cool, and an interesting article, especially from a 1983 perspective. Did you notice also that the article was co-written by John C. Dvorak? Best, David Greelish, Computer Historian President, Atlanta Historical Computing Society - Author, "The Complete Historically Brewed" - "Classic Computing Show" podcast - "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" audiobook podcast - "Retro Computing Roundtable" podcast - "Not Another Apple Podcast" ClassicComputing.com | atlhcs.org

14 years

The sweet smell of old computers

by jws＠jwsss.com

I just had a multics front panel come in from Nick Allen, and have to say there is something that makes the house smell nice from the old equipment. Sort of like Cosmoline, only not old machinery or guns. Jim

14 years

Obsolete Computers in 1983

by swtpc6800＠comcast.net

This 1983 InfoWorld has a few articles about Obsolete Computers. It covers the Altair and other S-100 machines. There is a story about someone making an upgrade ROM board for the Processor Technology SOL-20. The Computer Museum was still in Boston. It asks "Will today's Lisas and Radio Shack Model 100s be as priceless to the computer industry as are the Crown Jewels are to England?" InfoWorld June 6, 1983. Pages 27 - 37 http://books.google.com/books?id=zy8EAAAAMBAJ <http://books.google.com/books?id=zy8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27> &pg=PA27 Michael Holley

14 years

Equivalent of an A55 Transistor

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I need to replace a transistor in my H7140 PSU for my PDP11/24. The transistor is marked GPSA55J3 and the printset identifies it as "XA 55 PNP 500MW SI 60 50 P", it is in a TO-92 package. I have tried to find specs for an A55 and can only find partial matches, so I am not sure what today's equivalent would be. Can anyone help me work out what the equivalent today would be? Thanks Rob

14 years

Arduino vs 555 reliability

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> There is no Application jou can just build out of a 555 Actually I recall a 70's hobbyist homebrew optical paper tape reader (in BYTE?) where the Schmitt Trigger for each photodiode was nothing but a 555, NOT BEING USED AS A TIMER, just as a Schmitt Trigger. Unlike using real "schmitt trigger" parts the 555 had a built in resistor network that set trip points to 1/3 and 2/3 Vcc with no external parts. I was really thrown for a loop when I saw the schematic. Nine 555's, no R's or C's. I was sure it was a typo or an April Fool's joke, but no, it was for real. Similarly folks cleverly use PIC's (not sure Arduino can do the same but probably) choosing Schmitt trigger inputs and/or internal pull-ups. I'm sure someone could make a 1/3 and 2/3 Schmitt trigger using PIC's and some clever cross-wiring of analog and digital ports. Tim.

14 years

NOVA 1200 on ebay Germany

by lehmann＠ans-netz.de

Hi, maybe someone from europe has interes in this and is willing to drive to Frankfurt to collect it. A fairly complete lokking NOVA1200 system. http://www.ebay.de/itm/160781530347 He wrote, that on request he is also able to provide another NOVA 1200 processor and two additional disk drives series 30. I wonder where the price will go... Greetings.

14 years

$10 dollar Macs

by slandon110＠gmail.com

I know most of you dont believe that I have anything, But the truth is I do, I work in ewaste and im trying to move the excess apple stuff so I can make more room for the incoming apple II stuff. $10 dollar LC 575 machines, Some 550s, 1 or 2 580s and a 520- These are Local Pickup in Person 8 G3 All in one Macs- AKA Molar Macs $20 dollars each- These are Local Pickup in Person Performa/Power Mac 5400/5500s $25 each.. All have AV System with still boxed TV Tuner and remote- Local Pickup in person- too heavy and too akward to ship Apple //e's $20 dollars each Monitor //s $20 dollars each Apple IIGS Monitors $25 each 80mb 50 pin SCSI Drives $15 each shipped Apple Extended Keyboard IIs $15 each For those of you who dont believe me, heres some pics to prove it http://www.flickr.com/photos/67970316 at N08/sets/72157629866466539/ All for pickup near flint michigan.

14 years

Arduino, was: Re: OT: uP solutions

by joachim.thiemann＠gmail.com

I find the dislike of the Arduino by some people in this forum a bit silly, yet funny in a history-repeating way. The Arduino, in my opinion, occupies roughly the same space that the Vic-20 (or ZX-81) did back in its day. It's a great intro to the field. Sure, the cool kids are building their own computers using S-100 cards, the rich kids are buying far more capable Apples and Tandys; the pros use minis. And while most Vic-20 users never get beyond playing copied versions of Lunar Lander, some of them get sufficiently interested to go on to better things and delve deeper, hitting the limitations and working around them. Remember - neither the VIC-20 or ZX-81 came with any info on how to program them in anything other than the (very limited) BASIC. More importantly, the Arduino disrupted the microcontroller dev board market in such a way that to get any mindshare these days you need to have a sub-$100 board to get hobbyists interested, AND have a (reasonable, and open or at least free) click-and-compile IDE with it. Joe. PS. I apologize for mixing technologies of different time frames in the example above. That whole period was a bit of a blur to me. Pedants, be pedantic, please :-) -- Joachim Thiemann :: http://jthiem.bitbucket.org

14 years

Iomega ZIP programming manual ?

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

Try contacting Steve Gibson (http://www.grc.com/intro.htm). He wrote some Zip/Jazz drive diagnostic software that addressed the "click of death" problem. Maybe he can help you? Al

14 years

[REWARD] Request for documentation - update

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> >I haev no moral objections to SCSI at all (it's fully docuemtned, it's >not over-complicated, there are standard ICs to talk to it, or you cna do >it all in simple logic chips, etc). The problem is that very few of my >machines have SCSI interfaces. > >Also, for a machien to be useful with a scanner, I would have thought it >should have a high resolution graphics display. Of the machines I use, >the PERQ probabl;y has the heighest pixel count (1280*1024),. but that;'s >only 1 bit per pixel. The I2S units have a better colour resolution, but >only 512*512 pixels. They conenct to a PDP11 (or will do when I get round >to restorign them). > >Of course the problem is that there are not likely to be any drivers for >a scanner on any of these machines. I realsie the scanenr commands are >documented (at least for some scanners), but writign the drivers is not >something I want to undertake.... > I've got a SCSI scanner plugged in to a MicroVAX 4000. Using the open source "sane" portable scanning package, suitably tweaked for VMS, I can scan quite happily. It's not fast - I've never gotten around to looking into speeding it up. My MV4000 doesn't happen to have graphics capability but the TIFF files >from the scanner can be displayed using a clustered VAXstation 3100 which does have graphics or displayed on a remote X-Windows server or transferred to another machine for viewing. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

14 years

S: Schematics from the PSU TSZ07(Cipher M995S)

by holm＠freibergnet.de

Hi guys, Yesterday eavening I've checked my new TSZ07 9 Track Tape on my VS4000/90 the first time, it worked flawlessly. Later I've switched it of with the power button on the fron paneel. This morning the Drived stinked. A smell like an burned transformer. I've pulled the powerchord and leaved to go to work. Now I have dismounted the PSU and looked inside: Shit! There are 2 board in there, the one with the big Heatsink in the middle has on one edge an uncooled TO220 Transistor (or something looking like one) and a wirewound resistor near by. The entire area around them is burned black. Noch chance to read Parts values or so. The PCB is bad also, burned to carbon. Interestingly this PSU (and the entire Drive) is still working... no fuse blown or something. :-| Guys I need urgently an schematic of that PSU to replace this part of the PCB. It isn't the first time that I'm repairing switchmode PSUs even w/o any schematic, but this one really looks bad. The drive is a TSZ07 DEC Drive, I think it is the same as the Cipher M995S, or the otherway around it is a relabeled cipher drive. Regards, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583 www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741

14 years

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