actually when it all shows up as cc talk as the sender it is of value
as we can clear the group of mail faster after I have picked out the
topics relative to what we are working on.
Ed#
In a message dated 3/1/2017 2:47:11 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
cctalk at classiccmp.org writes:
On 28 February 2017 at 21:23, Rich Alderson via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> OK, it's official. I rarely criticize mail interfaces, because they're
> usually
> mostly innocuous. However, today's change makes life a lot more
difficult.
>
> In the past, it was simple to direct a reply to an individual instead of
> to the
> list because the originator's address was right there in the From:
> header. As
> of today, the list address is substituted for that, so that it is
> impossible to
> respond privately...
Users.
--
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems: "The Future Begins Tomorrow"
Visit us at: http://www.yoyodyne-propulsion.net
--------
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign,
that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." -- Jonathan Swift
On Wed, 1 Mar 2017 cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
> Message: 17
> Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:10:33 +0100
> From: Lars Brinkhoff <lars at nocrew.org>
> To: Mattias Engdeg?rd <mattiase at acm.org>
> Subject: Re: DEC VT100/220 line wrapping semantics sought
> Mattias Engdeg?rd wrote:
> > Data for VT100, VT220 and VT510 have been collected, as well as
> > several emulators
> > (https://github.com/mattiase/wraptest/blob/master/results.txt). If
> > anyone has access to other working terminals, VT3xx/VT4xx in
> > particular, I'd be most grateful if you would take a few minutes to
> > run the test program.
>
> I have a VT420 set up for my kid to play with. I'll borrow it and
> submit a pull request with the results.
>
I have a VT525 in my home office that I use to read the mail (including
this and other mailing lists) when I don't want to fire up a workstation.
(It's quick, simple, and I get check/send a message without much fuss).
Would results from that terminal help?
Fred
Ersatz-11 V7.3 is finished. CDs have been mailed to users with current
update subscriptions, and the free Demo version may be downloaded from
www.dbit.com/demo.html as usual.
E11 V7.3 has the following new features:
- My favorite one: a BREAKPOINT command which accepts arbitrary boolean
test expressions, compiles them into native x86 code (to reduce the speed
penalty), and incorporates them (until disabled with BREAK/CLEAR) into
the main fetch/decode loop). Examples:
break pc >= 2000 and pc < 3000 and @(r4+4) = 42776
(range of code with specified value in block pointed to by R4)
break ci(pc)&177400 = 104000
(about to fetch an EMT instruction)
break phys(14634520) <> 3044
(location at physical address gets changed from expected value)
Errors at run-time are silent. If a specified test causes a bus timeout,
odd address trap, or division by 0, the test fails. Well OK division by
*constant* 0 gives an error but I just mean nothing damaging happens if
the registers aren't pointing where you thought, etc.
- A few rare antique emulated devices: DC11 SLU. Basically similar to
the DL11 (ignoring the extra CSR bits and programming it like a DL11A
works), but it also has a settable baud rate and modem control which
is different from how it was done on DL11s.
- Also the DM11 single-speed serial mux (not that E11 minds running each
line at a different speed, but the original did). It uses DMA for
transmission but also for reception into an in-core FIFO which the
documentation adorably calls the "tumble table". And yes this is the
origin of the DM11BB modem-control option more commonly used on the DH11.
There's a new command to tell DM11BBs which to attach to (the default is
still the DH11 with the same controller letter).
- Finally, the justifiably forgotten TR79F 1600 BPI tape controller for
TR79 drives (really HP7970Es), which includes the parity track in core
with each byte of tape data taking up a word, so it's a pain to program.
But it had 1600 BPI pretty early. The only driver I can find for the
TR79F is in the "TRDP" version of XXDP, which is on Bitsavers as a scan
of a microfiche of the listing. It can be used to load the ZTRAB0
diagnostic (the only other program I know of for the TR79F), but of
course the test immediately trashes your boot tape. I felt dumb.
- Driver for raw ATA/SATA/ATAPI disks (DOS and stand-alone versions).
- Driver for National Instruments PCI-DIO-96 digital I/O card (DOS and
stand-alone versions). It's a bad fit to emulating the DRV11/DR11C
(ASSIGN OA: DIO96: does work but you'd have to wire up an adapter with
buffering since the drivers are rated at only 2.5 mA) but it's probably
the most common digital I/O board around. Even though it's PCI (not PCIe),
it's still made new (at great expense), but cheap used examples are
everywhere.
- Ability to use a digital I/O card to drive real display and switch
registers. Wiring up a blinky-lights board for your $25 eBay PCI-DIO-96
is a lot easier than making one for current PC busses, even if the
100-pin D-shell plug is a pain (but AMP makes an IDC connector that
brings it out to two 50-pin Bergs)..
- SET HISTOGRAM command enables/disables histogram of PDP-11 opcode usage
(which again is temporarily compiled into the main loop when enabled).
HISTOGRAM command displays the results or saves them to a file.
- EXAMINE/DEPOSIT /BYTE /WORD /LONG /QUAD switches support various data
types besides just words. Finally.
- MOUNT <tape> FILE.TAP /LENGTH:n or /SIZELIMIT:nMB enables emulation of
EOT early warning flag (giving the approximate maximum length of the
tape in feet or megabytes). Not generally needed (who minds an unlimited
tape?), but some diags want to fill a tape with test data all the way
to EOT.
- ASSIGN <TTY or digital I/O device> NULL: /LOOPBACK switch. Does what
you think.
- Experimental POWERFAIL command simulates power failures on command,
or SET POWERFAIL command schedules one at shutdown (with a core dump
to a file). Thank you Oleg Safiullin for the idea! Might need some
changes -- I've never dealt with power failures on a real PDP-11.
- Dramatically improved timer precision in DOS and stand-alone versions.
SET THROTTLE in particular is silky smooth, but this improvement affects
many many things.
- All commands that take a time duration as a parameter will now accept a
decimal point and/or unit suffix. The default units are the same as in
previous versions. So instead of SET THROTTLE DELAY=1 (microseconds),
you can use SET THROTTLE DELAY=1.2 or SET THROTTLE DELAY=1200NS (values
will be rounded if needed). I hadn't realized so many places use time
values -- I might have missed something.
There are also many bug fixes and minor changes, but most importantly:
- WMSG.LOG file that grows and grows (in Windows versions). Sorry about
that! That was supposed to be disabled in the released version. Well
it is now.
John Wilson
D Bit
I don't know if anyone here has the interest or capability to do it, but
creating a replica of the blue tape trays with the clear overlay that
one could sell for a few bucks with some random fanfold copies of DEC or
other diagnostics would be nice.
Perhaps if there were a ready source of replicas with a perpetual
listing or 10 to overwhelm the auctions with 100 and 300 dollar auctions
for the genuine originals the originals would be listed and sold for a
reasonable amount.
I'm sure there there are things going to people with no idea what they
have which would have been nice to image and save. I would think
someone with vacuum molding and some skill with plastics could do the
trays. not sure about the source of tapes to sell with them, maybe that
does justify some extra expense.
People with working readers and libraries of tapes might like them as well.
thanks
Jim
Would someone with a real DEC VT terminal be so kind and help settle, once and for all, the question about how they behave with respect to line-wrapping, exactly? It is something that isn't covered by any standard, nor by any of DEC's manuals, and there is a scarcity of information online that is not vague repetition of folklore.
There are emulators, of course, but these do not agree with one another to the point that they can be trusted, and are probably just copying each other in any case. It seems that some ground truth would be welcome, for the benefit of both application and emulator writers.
First, the problem: A VT100, when in "auto-wrap" mode, will wrap text from one line to the next in a peculiar way, sometimes called "soft-wrap" or "the VT100 glitch". When the terminal receives a printable character with the cursor in the last column, the character is put at that location but the cursor remains in place. Instead, the terminal enters a pending wrap state, which causes the cursor to wrap before next printable character is displayed. This behaviour is widely known.
What isn't widely known are the finer points:
* What control codes will cancel the wrap state?
* What cursor position is reported in the wrap state?
* Do any operations behave differently in the wrap state?
* Is the wrap state saved/restored by the save/restore cursor codes?
and so on. Every emulator programmer seems to have a different answer to these questions.
If you have a VT100, VT220 or later model (compatibles like Wyse are also of interest) and have a spare moment, I'd be most grateful if you would download and run
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattiase/wraptest/master/wraptest.c
in that terminal, and send me the resulting output. (Redirect stdout to save the report.)
The test program is not comprehensive but would give us a good idea of the rules.
Current results, right now only from various emulators, are found in
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattiase/wraptest/master/results.txt
OK, it's official. I rarely criticize mail interfaces, because they're usually
mostly innocuous. However, today's change makes life a lot more difficult.
In the past, it was simple to direct a reply to an individual instead of to the
list because the originator's address was right there in the From: header. As
of today, the list address is substituted for that, so that it is impossible to
respond privately unless you happen to have a bunch of old messages archived and
the person to whom you want to respond is someone who has written previously.
Is this a conscious choice, or a configurable with a different default setting
in a new mail system than was previously in place? However it came to be, it
greatly diminishes communications quality (IMAO).
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computers: Museum + Labs
2245 1st Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98134
mailto:RichA at LivingComputers.orghttp://www.LivingComputers.org/
This is probably a long shot, but does anyone have a Sparcbook 3TX hard
drive? I know they're difficult to find.
I have a 3TX in great condition, but no drive.
(hopefully this isn't a repost, I tried this when the list was having
issues and don't think it went through)
--
Ben Sinclair
ben at bensinclair.com
> From: Tony Duell
> I fail to see how anyone can be a good digital designer and not
> understand analogue electronics.
It's easy! As long as your devices are being run in a domain where their
behaviour is purely, well, digital, one can get away with it! :-)
I'm a perfect case in point!
I seem to have some bizarre brain dysfunction where I have a very hard time
understanding even the simplest analog circuits. You, or someone like Brent
Hilpert (whose explanation of core memory drivers I still remember :-) can
explain something with sufficient clarity for me to 'get' it, but I can
almost never work it out on my own.
However, I've designed a number of digital devices, at least one of which
became a product!
Noel
> From: Rich Alderson
> it is impossible to respond privately unless you happen to have a bunch
> of old messages archived and the person to whom you want to respond is
> someone who has written previously.
If you go into the list archive:
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/
the email address of the sender, for any given message, is still listed (in
slightly mogrified form).
Noel
So sorry for the temporary email outage on the list. We're moving
datacenters and one of my folks moved several front end mail processors -
not realizing that the classiccmp server which stayed behind was still using
them.
Through the magic of a vpn tunnel between front end mx hosts and the backend
mailstores (classiccmp included), it seems to be back up. I'll talk to the
guy tomorrow to discuss the actual movement of that vm. Yes, IP's will be
changing for the list and all websites hosted therein. But DNS is "a thing",
so should be mostly transparent. Depending on timing, I may go ahead and do
some upgrades and recombine the lists - or may do that after the move.
I'll try to do a better job of coordinating this..
Best,
J
I'm trying to help out Jason Perkins who wants to demo Multiplan on
Xenix 3.0 for the Apple Lisa at the upcoming VCF. While the bits for it
are on bitsavers, it requires a serial number and so far he's had zero
no luck finding one.
So I'm trying to use adb to step through the code and find where it
checks for the serial number, etc.
So I run adb ./brand and then set a breakpoint using :b on "." which is
the start address for the binary, and then I do :r /usr/lib/mp/mp and it
does stop before the 1st instruction is executed (or maybe right after),
however, when I try :s to step to the next instruction it runs the rest
of the program in its whole. I know there's also :e which should step
but skip over any function calls. I've also tried :ss, and got the same
results (whole program runs without stopping).
? and enter does disassemble the non-running binary. $r and $m show
registers and the map.
I'm actually not sure if I'm setting the breakpoint correctly as $b
shows it, but there's also a "command" field next to the address, so if
I do :bfoo, it shows address 0 and foo for the command. So what should
"command" be? and how do I single step through the running code?
Some more details of what I got so far for those with historical interest:
The basic installation is untarring the multiplan disk, which writes to
/usr/lib/mp and /once. In /once there's a script init.mp that runs
brand -s {serial} /usr/lib/mp/inter, but if you enter the wrong serial
number it removes all the files.
brand seems to look for a string starting with SCOSN - there's 4 copies
of the "SCOSN" string inside brand, not sure why. The /usr/lib/mp/inter
binary has only one like this: SCOSNMFO9999990000.
I suspect that brand replaces the stuff after SCOSN with whatever the
properly encoded serial number is. There's some sort of simple
ROT13-like encoding of the string stored in inter. Out of the box
running "/usr/lib/mp/inter /usr/lib/mp/mp" produces output with a
product number and a serial # of NUL-000000 - the "MFO" is decoded to
NUL (basically substitutes A for Z, B for Y, 0 for 9, 1 for 8, etc.) and
ofc it says invalid serial # and quits.
The serial number is checked by both brand and inter, but maybe not the
code in mp.cod (I touched a file called /usr/lib/mp/foo.cod and then it
said /usr/lib/mp/foo.dat missing, so I touched that one too, and when I
ran it, it said invalid serial number. Running inter by itself just
prints a banner without saying invalid serial number.)
I'm guessing the serial number is 3 letters a dash and 6 digits, but
there's maybe 4 more digits that have to be entered, or those 4 extra
digits are generated by brand, not sure. However, so far brand hasn't
accepted any serial number tried.
I suspect inter to be a Microsoft virtual machine that wants to load
mp.cod and mp.dat which are the real code for multiplan. I read
somewhere that early on MSFT was using VMs to do help them from having
to port the same code to lots of targets. This way they could port the
interpreter for the vm and run anywhere, though inter has string saying
multiplan so perhaps there's some customizations to each copy of inter
based on what it's supposed to run?
brand seems to take two more options -m and -n (and -q which I suspect
is "quiet" as the init.mp script uses it). Both -m and -n cause a core
dump but first print "identifier string found at D in"
This is an interesting bit of history that I'd like to reverse engineer
if possible.
brand hasn't been stripped so it's likely a bit easier to disassemble.
inter however is stripped, so would be much harder to reverse engineer.
But it would be very useful to be able to step through one instruction
at a time to find where it's doing a checksum or whatever and try to
figure out what the serial number looks like.
Jason is trying to brute force it assuming it's SCO-###### by running
brand in a loop, but so far no luck either.
Thanks.
IT LIVES!
I spent most of today hacking on the 560Z board. I got the 12-bit porthole going first, took a bit as the manual doesn't tell you that you need IC CC installed if you want to be able to write to the 4K exposed in the porthole. After that, I plugged in a Z80 and tried to get it running the test code in the manual. Turns out I had a dud Z80 :) With a good one installed the test code ran no-problem, as did a little hand written code to push data to the lamp register on the new memory board. I plugged in an IM-6100 and pretty much determined that at least the first one I tried is dead. I'll recheck the soldering on it later -- it's stuffed into a machine pin socket and soldered in, since half of the legs were rotted off by that corrosive black foam everyone loves so much.
Anyway, the second IM-6100 works! And the 560Z board works! And the 12-bit RAM board works! I made a (low-res, poorly focused) video with our old digital point-n-shoot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYbGXHJST8U
The IM-6100 is running a little loop that increments the accumulator and stores it to the lamp register. Storing of course clears the accumulator, but I have the lamp register mapped over RAM, so I just read the value back out of it. My first foray into PDP-8 code, it's certainly different, but it's still just machine code. Very happy that this seems to be coming fully together! Now if only I could find more IM-6100s...I'll test the remaining 3 tomorrow.
Thanks,
Jonathan
GREAT TO SEE PROGRESS!
Keep up the good work Cory!
yes, heads have to be close to work..
at least that is the way it was with the VRC drums for storage on the
GEPAC process control systyems
Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)
In a message dated 2/25/2017 7:24:30 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
coryheisterkamp at gmail.com writes:
Some promising news on getting the LGP-30 up and running. With all systems
stable, I tightened the head spacing on the three timing track heads
(using brass 0.001" feeler gauges though I may have to go closer). This has
resolved 'hanging' when hitting Start; it actually appears to execute for a
cycle before toggling back to Stop for each press of the Start key. Of course
without being able to see what's happening, it's likely just 'executing'
garbage, but it's a solid first step.
In Manual mode, keystrokes from the Flexowriter now trigger a Stop/Compute
toggle for each key entered and status neons on the flip-flop cards are
registering unique bit patterns as each comes in.
I put the scope on the (rebuilt) clock generator card and we have good 'T'
and 'T-bar' signals propagating, but still haven't licked the 'digital
display' issue. After further probing, the display began to stabilize and the
single line expanded into the proper 3 for Counter, Instruction and
Accumulator, and eventually a bit pattern emerged for the Instruction. No signs of
data yet for Counter nor Accumulator, and there is an extremely pronounced
'throbbing' and visible refreshing. Here's a video:
https://youtu.be/Nhya46V-l70
System timing looks spot on (top trace), but I also see some 'throbbing'
when putting my scope on any of the three timing heads which seems a little
strange to me (example on lower trace). Here's a quick vid:
https://youtu.be/JjRKDWVUyjA
One thought is that the timing and short register heads are still too far
off the drum surface for a solid signal, purely conjecture at this stage.
-C
I have a 2647 or a 2628.. ( has cassettes in it) I thought there was
basic for it... neat.. how do we generate the tape to load it?
Bet the rollers in the drive are toast?
details?
thanks ed#
In a message dated 2/25/2017 4:46:10 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us writes:
On Sat, 25 Feb 2017, Dave wrote:
> Also, the online documentation indicates that there is supposed to be a
> "BASIC/Autoplot/47" disk, but I only see an "Autoplot/47" disk among the
> included floppies. Is this likely to contain the BASIC as well, or am I
> missing a disk? I'd be interested in any software anyone may have for
> this machine.
The HP Museum site has a ZIP file available for download that has 3
disk images:
http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?sw=306
Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
Some promising news on getting the LGP-30 up and running. With all systems stable, I tightened the head spacing on the three timing track heads (using brass 0.001" feeler gauges though I may have to go closer). This has resolved 'hanging' when hitting Start; it actually appears to execute for a cycle before toggling back to Stop for each press of the Start key. Of course without being able to see what's happening, it's likely just 'executing' garbage, but it's a solid first step.
In Manual mode, keystrokes from the Flexowriter now trigger a Stop/Compute toggle for each key entered and status neons on the flip-flop cards are registering unique bit patterns as each comes in.
I put the scope on the (rebuilt) clock generator card and we have good 'T' and 'T-bar' signals propagating, but still haven't licked the 'digital display' issue. After further probing, the display began to stabilize and the single line expanded into the proper 3 for Counter, Instruction and Accumulator, and eventually a bit pattern emerged for the Instruction. No signs of data yet for Counter nor Accumulator, and there is an extremely pronounced 'throbbing' and visible refreshing. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/Nhya46V-l70
System timing looks spot on (top trace), but I also see some 'throbbing' when putting my scope on any of the three timing heads which seems a little strange to me (example on lower trace). Here's a quick vid: https://youtu.be/JjRKDWVUyjA
One thought is that the timing and short register heads are still too far off the drum surface for a solid signal, purely conjecture at this stage. -C
https://goo.gl/photos/edJN2M7AMsFFRL928
Tek 4050 some duplicates
Apollo Model unknown
Motorola MVME332XT
Unused w/Tektronix Label
Don't know the condition of the elastomer band.
-pete
> I wonder if this kryoflux supports this format. . . ?I got a kryoflux from another hobbyist but never tried it out.
Obviously, Teledisk supports it, if it's in the HPmuseum archive. ? I suppose Imagedisk does as well.
Dave
> Without pulling the board out to double check how it is labeled it
> must actually be a QG-640, not a QC-640. I was going from memory.
>
> This manual matches the board I have.
>
> http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/matrox/265-MU-00_QG-640_User_Manual_Mar91.pdf
Glen,
The documentation link is exactly what I needed. Thanks!! It describes my QC-640 board
exactly. It would be nice to have some drivers for it, but the documentation provides
info on the pin outs for the connectors which I definitely needed.
Thanks again,
Mark
Hi!
I just picked up an HP 2467F on Ebay (best offer accepted), and received it yesterday. ?It seems to be in great condition, with all the original materials in the original packing. ?Unfortunately, the disk and cable were not included. ?I did manage to find the disk drive in a separate auction by the same seller, but have not yet received it.
Would anyone here be interested in the original box and packing materials? ?Perhaps someone with a 264x series terminal who values having a box? ?It's all in great condition, and came packed in a slightly bigger box, so I could ship it out undamaged, if there are any takers.
This is a neat little 8085 computer disguised as a terminal. ?It was introduced in 1978, according to the hpmuseum, but this one has a warranty card suggesting a 1982 manufacture date. ?This appears to have been sold in Germany by a German distributor.
I'm looking for a cable. ?The manuals seem to have the information required to make one, but would rather locate an original if possile. ?If anyone has a spare, I'd be interested.
Also, the online documentation indicates that there is supposed to be a "BASIC/Autoplot/47" disk, but I only see an "Autoplot/47" disk among the included floppies. ?Is this likely to contain the BASIC as well, or am I missing a disk? ?I'd be interested in any software anyone may have for this machine.
Thanks!
Dave
> From: Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com>
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: story of Mel
>
> On Feb 23, 2017 12:23 AM, "Pontus Pihlgren" <pontus at update.uu.se> wrote:
>
>
> (I'm just hoping I'l get lucky and find one.. I have an 11/73 with
> graphics, it would be nice to add sound to it)
>
>
> What do you have for graphics? I have a DEC VSV11 board set and a Matrox
> QC-640 board.
Glen, (or any one else)
Would you happen to have any documentation for that Matrox QC-640 board?
I have one also that came with some BA23 I purchased, but I have nothing on it.
Thanks,
Mark
> From: Jim Stephens
> That A6006 produces a hit in this document
> ...
> AAV11-C ANALOG OUTPUT BOARD
> ...
> 4 DACs, and a DC-DC converter.
Sounds like it might be a standard analog output board, for lab settings.
I'll bet the music thing is some marketing ploy, like the card game in 'The
Story of Mel'. (What, you haven't read 'The Story of Mel'?!? :-)
Noel
I need to replace the toggle switch on the M848 power fail and restart
board for a pdp8/e.
It is a singer controls corp T8001 as best I can read on it. A month
or so ago I search and found an exact replacement, but Google is now
failing me and I can't find it back.
Anybody know who bought Singers switch product line?
> From: Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com>
> I always thought music in the old days was more about MIDI and letting
> something designed for it do the work ala Usenix Nashville 1991.
The MIDI control standard wasn't even finalized until 1983, and it
took a couple years to really proliferate after that. Most computers
at the time required a dedicated MIDI adapter because of its unusual
baud rate (31.25Kbaud, not one supported by most standard UART setups)
- the Mac, Amiga, and Atari ST could all handle MIDI with nothing more
than a breakout box (or, in the ST's case, its onboard ports,) but
those didn't roll out until 1984-1985.
Prior to that, most "computer music" was either using a few
proprietary computer-to-synthesizer interfaces such as Roland's DCB or
the DK Synergy's dedicated Kaypro software, or using onboard DACs or
simple PSG-style tone generators as being discussed here.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry
From: Jonathan KatzThere was a guy who I used to talk to who was on one
of the
Sun lists and was based in the top-tier hardware development/software
development out of San Diego, and then later he moved east, but I
forgot who that was.
==
I know who it is - we're still in contact once in a while. I plan to
ping him and see if he's interested in participating. I also have
another friend who drove a number of E10Ks for a large company here in
the Twin Cities.
Steve
All,
Dave from osiweb.org and I have been working on reproducing some Ohio Scientific boards, including the OSI 560Z "processor lab." The 560Z is probably most well-known for allowing the user to run PDP-8/E code on an OSI using an Intersil IM-6100 PDP-8 compatible CPU.
I'm getting parts kits together for these boards, but I've been unable to find IM-6100s through any of the usual supply channels. I have a handful from my personal stash, I'll probably be selling all but one. Does anyone have some they want to sell? I'll be reselling them to other hobbyists at whatever price I can get them for.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Hello all! I've tried to sign up for cctalk several times over the years, and never had a successful registration. Seems this time worked.
I'm Jonathan, glitch on some other lists and forums, I'm the one responsible for glitchwrks.com. I hack on old computers, pre-PC stuff, mostly S-100, PDP-11 (largely QBus), and Ohio Scientific. I do industrial systems engineering/repair, legacy systems support, and server-side programming for $day_job. Also starting to get into *selling* some of my hobby designs as kits.
Thanks,
Jonathan
> From: Jim Stephens
> Compare to $5000 asking for the full running PDP 11/34 which was listed
> (and I think is still wanting for a bid) recently.
No, it sold on re-list, for the US$5K asking.
Noel
Hi
This has been discussed on this mailinglist before (back in -95 and
-03). But with very little information came out of that.
I'm curious about the "Q Bus Music Board" that DEC made. What system was
it used in, what software was available that took advantage of it, how
would you program it?
All I know is from the cctalk threads and a few pictures from an ebay
auction, with missleading description, that I missed out on. The number
on the green handle is "93 08036" and on the PCB there is the number
"EY-0105E-MS-0101" and it looks like it has two AY-3-8192 synthesiser
chips.
So, does anyone know anything more?
And if anyone has one they could part with, I'd be interested.
Kind Regards,
Pontus.
Seems like someone on list was willing and able to read PAL16L8s and
give a try to some PAL16R4s... Is that person still on list and still
interested? If so, please contact me off-list.
I am trying to restore some C64 carts, and the PAL on my working unit is
protected, so I cannot replicate.
Jim
--
Jim Brain
brain at jbrain.comwww.jbrain.com
Hi folks,
it has taken a while but I'm now actively planning to shift out another
batch of OmniUSB boards. The last batch is sold out for a long time and
I've been asked for more from time to time.
As some of you might remember, it's a cool device to connect your
pdp8/f/a/m/e to the modern world using lightning fast USB.
The originial board has it's website here:
http://pdp8.hachti.de/projects/omni_usb/
The new board will do the same, perhaps even more.
- the USB connector will be replaced by a mini (NOT micro!!) USB connector.
- The connector position and cable routing will be improved.
- The board will be shorter. But it will come by default with a laser
cut acrylic extension that makes it full size again.
There will be at least those options to buy:
- Kit (board + all parts)
- Kit+ (board + all parts, SMT already assembled)
Possible:
- complete version - Everything soldered and tested.
- discount for omitting acrylic extender
I cannot guarantee that I can deliver fully assembled boards
(regulations) and would be able to do that only if there's a reasonable
number of interested buyers.
If have set up a doodle poll to get a realistic picture of the interest
in the board/kit/device:
http://doodle.com/poll/d7y524mvyfezqp9w
PLEASE take the minute and fill in your name (ideally that I can
recognise you) and check the options which most precisely match your
demands.
PLEASE be as honest as possible as I will base my decisions IF and for
which PRICE I can run the show.
Thank you!!!
Kind regards
Philipp :-)
The scientific graphics software package, written By Ian Hirscholn. Later sold to Coumputer Automation.
He ported it to the PC later, with his company ISSCO.
They also made a neat bitslice machine to run it, the Portable Graphics Mainframe, I had one for a bit, I was their rep.
Anybody have anything on this beast, it was amazing.
Randy
Hi folks,
Looking for documentation on the DATARAM DR-118 16Kx12 core memory for PDP-8/e. I have the documentation on the DR-118A which is for the PDP-8/a. It is probably similar, but would love to find the right version.
Anyone have such thing?
Thanks
Eugene
Greetings to all;
All this talk of favourite machines and getting into the hobby has gotten
me amped up to work on my E10k. The E10k was always the "coolest" machine
for me - largely due to the timing of my entry into the industry.
I recently read Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine and was pondering the
history of the E10k and its start in Cray Research Inc and its subsequent
sale to Sun. The asset transfer that must've taken place and then how Sun
turned it around to make it a Sun product and made its impact on the
market has to be a fascinating story too.
I would love to talk to anyone who was involved in the development,
transfer, initial rollout and support of the E10k - from both CRI's and
Sun's perspective. Heck, I'd be fascinated to talk to anyone who purchased
the machines during their lifespan (1997-2001) and could tell me what you
used them for.
If you only know of someone that was involved that you might think would
be interested in talking to me, please pass my eMail address on.
Maybe if I get a big response I could put something together, if there was
suitable interest of course. But at this point, I'm mostly just
fascinated for myself.
Thanks to all!
- JP
Hello,
I'm grateful that there are plenty of pictures of classic computer.
However, I want more. 3D scans and sound recordings. Has anyone
attempted to do that?
For those curious about the status of the LGP-30 restoration, I?ve got a
blog up with the latest. http://radar58.com/LGP30/
The power supplies are stable, the blower unit was overhauled and new
bearings installed, all the modules have been recapped. I had a noisy
bearing in the memory drum, thankfully it was one that could be accessed
through the pulley end and I was able to inject fresh grease. There were
burnt contacts in one of the open frame relays in the sequencer unit
leading to intermittents. I found a NOS 3-pole version with fresh contacts
and transferred those over yesterday and we now have correct startup. The
?digital display? chassis has been worked over with fresh resistors and
this has made the controls much more responsive. The Flexowriter is
behaving and the 6 associated FF's in the machine respond to keystrokes.
All-told, I?m at the point of troubleshooting the scope display- I have a
sad, unintelligible, wavy line, but I believe retrace is derived from the
system clock track on the drum, so that?s my next investigation. Both
vertical and horizontal boards have been rebuilt and tubes substituted with
no change. -C
> From: Jon Elson
Dave Bridgham and I have been using KiCAD for our stuff, and we're pretty
happy with it.
Here are a few bits: this is just data, I'm not trying to convince anyone to
use it - the points about 'complex tools one is already very used to' are
very good ones.
> I'm most concerned about the reliability of the design rules check
> ...
> If these checks miss errors, I REALLY don't want to use the package.
I'm not quite sure what's covered here, but I have used the checker on my
admittedly-tiny projects, and been happy with it.
> and layout vs. schematic.
Again, Dave has used it to lay out at least one moderately-sized card, and
seems to have been happy with the results.
> (KiCad seems to still require picking operations from a menu, Protel
> has user-configurable keyboard shortcuts that are a big help. Maybe
> KiCad has that and I just need to learn them.)
KiCAD does have keyboard shortcuts. I don't know if they are configurable.
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr
> In terms of community supplied libraries, Eagle has those too and I've
> found that by and large they are junk (it's easier/quicker for me to
> create a part on my own
> ... While I haven't seen a lot of KiCAD contributed libraries (that's
> part of the problem)
KiCAD came with a fairly large set of user-contributed libraries. For various
reasons (including working with archaic parts), I've wound up adding quite a
few, but i've usally found it pretty easy to modify an exising part from the
libraries, to get what I need. YMMV.
Noel
Hi,
I recently acquired a couple of IBM 3278 terminals (finally!). They are complete and working
when shipped. I haven?t powered them up yet?I need to check them out but other than some
slight screen burn they?re complete and very clean. However, they came with data entry
keyboards. I?d really like to find one or more typewriter keyboards for 3278?s.
If anyone knows where some might be pried loose, I?d appreciate it. I?m willing to trade or
pay $$?s.
Thanks.
TTFN - Guy
While debugging the PDP-12 at the RICM we found a mistake on sheet
TC12-0-LTR in the PDP-12 schematics. The pins on the data cable between the
TU56 and the TC12 labeled BT2 and FT2 should be BL2 and FL2. DEC wired the
TC12 backplane per the incorrect schematic and grounded pin F06T2 instead
of F06L2. The W032 on the end of the data cable has nothing connected to
pin T, so this leaves the TC12 end of the Triax cable shield for data track
3 ungrounded.
Data track 3 is the one on which we are having a noise problem, so this is
a promising discovery.
The 1969 and 1972 PDP-12 Engineering Drawings both have the same revision sheet
TC12-0-LTR and the same error. Maybe all PDP-12s have this wiring error?
--
Michael Thompson
well I save the tiff because that's what archivists do
generally I end up using the jpeg to make picture from. or post to
net!
In a message dated 2/19/2017 4:25:48 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
toby at telegraphics.com.au writes:
On 2017-02-19 3:50 PM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote:
> When we scan stuff at SMECC
> it is saved in the following 3 formats for each item scanned.
>
> PDF with ocr background
> TIFF
> JPEG
> and if containing a lot of text a TXT file as well.
>
> Kind of a shotgun approach... but should stand test of time?
Only if you're publishing it somewhere and many people are mirroring it.
--Toby
>
> Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)
>
>
>
> In a message dated 2/19/2017 1:44:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
> jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu writes:
>
>> From: Toby Thain
>
>> Often the source material is a multipage TIFF from the scanner or other
>> processing step.
>
> Multiple single-page TIFFs, in my case.
>
>> So relevant tools are things like tiff2pdf (tiffutils)
>
> But also JPEG's, for pages where the B+W scanning I use (with fax
> compression
> to keep the file size down) results in pages that aren't readable -
this
> happens on faded pages. Does tiff2pdf handle a bunch of single-page
> TIFF's, with a JPEG or two throw in?
>
> Noel
>
>
When we scan stuff at SMECC
it is saved in the following 3 formats for each item scanned.
PDF with ocr background
TIFF
JPEG
and if containing a lot of text a TXT file as well.
Kind of a shotgun approach... but should stand test of time?
Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)
In a message dated 2/19/2017 1:44:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu writes:
> From: Toby Thain
> Often the source material is a multipage TIFF from the scanner or other
> processing step.
Multiple single-page TIFFs, in my case.
> So relevant tools are things like tiff2pdf (tiffutils)
But also JPEG's, for pages where the B+W scanning I use (with fax
compression
to keep the file size down) results in pages that aren't readable - this
happens on faded pages. Does tiff2pdf handle a bunch of single-page
TIFF's, with a JPEG or two throw in?
Noel
> From: Toby Thain
> Often the source material is a multipage TIFF from the scanner or other
> processing step.
Multiple single-page TIFFs, in my case.
> So relevant tools are things like tiff2pdf (tiffutils)
But also JPEG's, for pages where the B+W scanning I use (with fax compression
to keep the file size down) results in pages that aren't readable - this
happens on faded pages. Does tiff2pdf handle a bunch of single-page
TIFF's, with a JPEG or two throw in?
Noel