- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

by vintagecomputer＠bettercomputing.net

Hey guys, I have a second SWTPC 6800 system I got recently and have it all running. It came with a Gimix 8K PROM board and, thankfully, the manual. It has two EPROMs installed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4pq0-BHd2x6R29LVy03d3c4dTA/view?usp=sharin g I'm assuming this board is used for things like storing BASIC in ROM, etc. Based on the manual with DIP switch 7 set it is set to use C000 - if I wanted to try and init whatever is on those chips, would it be as simple as J C000 at the SWTBUG prompt? Many thanks, Brad

9 years, 4 months

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PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

In a message dated 2/19/2017 8:06:50 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG writes: > - PDF/A is [...] > Those are all good archival properties! However, it's also R/O. Maybe if you stick to Adobe's tools. As demonstrated by this thread, it's entirely possible to modify such files, even if the currently-easy ways to do that involve a trip through a completely different representation. I find it astonishing that anyone would seriously call any documented file format read-only. (If PDF/A isn't documented, then IMO it's not suitable for archival under any circumstances. But this thread makes it sound as though it's documented.) /~\ 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 ====================== OK .. (correct me if I am gong in the wrong direction) so the important thing is that there is... - data in a format that is readable by others and a description of formats so if needed a reader can be constructed at a later date if needed. -non-commercial tools to access it or have the ability to modify the data in the future for all of time. -a reader/writer can be redone to work under a new operating system since source code is freely available for it? .... yea... makes sense... I do know what I do in any given week here is not necessary for the present but for years and sometimes lifetimes far removed from the present moment. #Ed _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)

9 years, 4 months

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PDF PDF Which is right and which is ... Was Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Adobe claims " PDF/A ? the ISO standard for long-term archiving" -I am confused about all the versions etc.. -which are good which are bad? -are there good programs for opening hesitant to open pdf file? - what is a good freeware PDF generator? / modifier? - are older versions of the reader better than the newer ones? -my HP scanner software makes PDF files eiher as graphics or as graphics with OCR -is my HP scanner making "good" pdf files that can be read into the future? Sorry if I seem confused on this... but I am! thanks for any help Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/18/2017 11:24:14 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, bobalan at sbcglobal.net writes: On 2/18/2017 10:04 AM, Paul Birkel wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Al Kossow >> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2017 12:50 PM >> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org >> Subject: Re: PDP-11/24 CPU later version >> >> PDF-A >> >> which is the reason it's not on bitsavers > Thank you Al. It's not just me then who has heartburn with that format ... > > ---- > > I removed the /A format and put the copy up here: http://dvq.com/docs/EK-11024-TM-003.pdf Bob -- Vintage computers and electronics www.dvq.com www.tekmuseum.com www.decmuseum.org

9 years, 4 months

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OT: Immediate job opening in Atlanta

by sales＠elecplus.com

If you are near Atlanta, there is an immediate opening for someone who knows terminals and keyboards. Must be able to drive fork lift, climb ladders, carry 50 pounds, etc. Email me if interested. This is a long term, full time, good paying job. Cindy Croxton

9 years, 4 months

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Atlanta job opening

by orders＠elecplus.com

If you are near Atlanta, there is an immediate opening for someone who knows terminals and keyboards. Must be able to drive fork lift, climb ladders, carry 50 pounds, etc. Email me if interested. Cindy Croxton

9 years, 4 months

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PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I was recently provided (thanks!) with a copy of the later rev of the PDP-11/24 Tech Manual (EK-11024-TM-003), which I have had scanned for a while now (waiting for a quite period on the list ;-), and is now available for upload here: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/EK-11024-TM-003.pdf (Bitsavers et al, please pick this up and distribute.) So it has an Appendix D, which described the -YA later rev of the CPU card (in which a bunch of gates were replaced with a couple of custom gate arrays. Does anyone have one of these? I'd love to get a photo of one, if so. Thanks! Noel

9 years, 4 months

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Harris VOS question

by cclist＠sydex.com

I'm looking at what I suspect is a labeled Harris VOS (Vulcan) tape. Is it the case that the Harris minis are incapable of writing tape records that aren't a multiple of 3 bytes in length? The reason I ask is that the VOL HDR, etc. records all seem to be 81 bytes in length. All other records on the tape are also a multiple of 3 bytes long. Anyone remember anything like this? The Bitsavers documents are of no help as far as I can determine. --Chuck

9 years, 4 months

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PDP-11/24 CPU later version

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > PDF-A Sorry, what's the issue with PDF/A? Since it's supposedly the 'archival' version, that's what I asked for; I wanted to maximize the lifetime of these things. What version of PDF should I be asking for? (I'm not doing the PDF'ing. The person who is is using Acrobat.) > which is the reason it's not on bitsavers Are any other of the things I've scanned that aren't up for the same reason? List here (first two sections): http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/PDP-11_Stuff.html Please let me know, and I'll get them re-PDF'd into an acceptable form. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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Box of old books

by db＠db.net

Wow from 2013 > I've put together a small box of old TTL books, computer references > of all sorts that I simply do not want anymore. If someone really > wants to collect old databooks instead of me sending this stuff out > to pulp let me know. It would be easiest if someone local to me here > in Ottawa could deal with it. I had a nibble from a local but somehow we never got the move arranged and it has grown to two smallish boxes now. I'll throw in DEC books and maybe a few other goodies. Toronto/Montreal is a possibility too if you can arrange a pickup. Diane -- - db at FreeBSD.org db at db.net http://www.db.net/~db

9 years, 4 months

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How I came to vintage computers

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hey folks, after my OmniUSB-thread has gone down the teleprinter way... I'll start a new thread. Did you now how I came to vintage computers? How I became some kind of computer engineer? Probably not. It's so easy. Listen. Long story ahead. In 1999 I started to study computer science. Java and algorithms and all that clean stuff. One day in autumn 2000 I had that idea: I need a Fernschreiber (=teleprinter)! I had nothing to do with that stuff. And I did no know how it worked. I even did not remember having seen one. It was just that word in my head. So I bought my first Siemens T100 (still here in the house, two floors below me). It was a machine with strange connectors which made awful noise when connected to power. So I went to the library and found a good book from 1934. That told me how the teleprinter works. I then somehow soldered a simple interface to connect that beast to the parallel (!!!) port of my Linux server (the first hachti.de server was a mainboard and a harddisk in the corner of my student home where we had 10mbit LAN acess and fixed IP. I even did a DNS reverse mapping philipp.vorstrasse.uni-bremen.de for my IP). At that time all about programming I knew was Turbo Pascal, some Z80 machine language (not assembly language, I programmed that beast in hex) and a bit Java. I didn't even know much about Linux. The server back then had been setup by someone else who was in need of a server. So he used it as well. I used the parallel port because I had an idea how to control the pins. I knew that there was something ugly called serial port but I had not yet made the connection that this was EXACTLY what I would have needed. To program that thing I needed some software. So I went to the bookstore at noon. Will never forget that. Bought the O'Reilly Linux Kernel drivers book (the one with the horse) and started to write my first C program ever. It was a kernel module. The Kernel must have been Linux 2.2. It was frustrating. But after a decent 30 hour nonstop session and hundreds of reboots (haha, of my web and mail server which was also running X from time to time) I really had some bitbang code which made the teleprinter say what I wanted it to say. I soon realised that with a multitasking OS like Linux I had the choice of outputting correct data using busy wait in Kernel or outputting a mess when the system gets under load. So I learned THAT lesson. I decided that I needed something else. Because I had heard of other people working with something called PIC Microcontroller, I bought one and a programmer. And a breadboard. That evil 16f84 was sitting there on my desk, naked, and did - nothing. Getting the PIC up and running was pure horror. The hardest architecture I've ever mastered. Since then I know: PIC is a load of complete shit! In the end I failed to create a RS232 (had learned that in the meantime) to teleprinter converter but had the idea to hook up two teleprinters using modems. TelexPhone was born. The project (telexphone.net) was eventually kind of stolen a few years later and continued to something still in existence called i-telex over internet. That was never what I wanted because the V21 modems (hard to find!!) are bit transparent. That means that the teleprinters on both sides of the wire run as synchronous as with a real wire between them. Very cool. The TelexPhone used a 16f876 with a approx 2k cooperative multitasking system written entirely in assembly. It was somehow modular. I managed to hook in modules with private main loop and init parts by writing an impressive linker script which automated that. Hey, I was 21 and did all that on my own! Please do NOT laugh! In the meantime someone somewhere invented something called eBay. And because It's always good to have several different devices of the same type and even better to have several examples of each those different devices, I had an eBay search for "Lochstreifen" which means punched paper tape. Paper tape for teleprinter, of course. One day I found an offer "Honeywell H316 minicomputer" which sounded interesting. With paper tape. And no pictures. In Switzerland. A quick search (probably already google? I used altavista.digital.com before) told me that this could be an interesting toy. So I bought it for the incredible amount of SFr 450. Borrowed a car and went there. What I found was some messy stuff somewhere on an uninsulated attic in Switzerland. Very dirty. I nearly turned down the deal because it all looked so crappy. The seller admitted that he had kept the stuff in that open attic since beginning of the 1980s. I took it home. Had to drive TWICE from Bremen to Switzerland to get it all. And it was a lucky buy. After fiddling and cleaning around some weeks (never seen a minicomputer before!) and reading the manuals, I found out that the PSU had a slight problem which lead to unjustified shutdown. After I had solved that by pulling out one of the security circuit card from the PSU, it powered up the computer. And it magically worked instantly exactly as the manual told me. That was in 2004. The H316 has never since then failed a single time. Only issue are some contact issues with some memory cabling which may happen after moving the machine. Since then I have never had to switch a chip or a lamp or whatever. No single failure. Not one failed CPU or memory test (except when I stress the cable's card edge connector). It's so amazing that it became boring. Programming in FORTRAN IV? Read the manual, punch tape, use the compiler, linking loader and libraries as described in the manual - works. No secret shit. And The machine came with all that software as nice source code listing and binary paper tapes. While still wandering around on my Olympus of quality, I got a call by a teleprinter friend who asked me if I would take a pdp8 computer. I thought that bit of that infamous DEC mess could be a good counter example for my H316's unlimited quality and went to pick up the pdp8. The day ended with my yellow car completely stuffed with rusty pdp8/l, and lots of other stuff. It were three machines. The tape drives and racks were fubar and went to scrap. http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/haul/dscn0750_full.jpg http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/haul/dscn0751_full.jpg http://pdp8.hachti.de/gallery/haul/dscn2109_full.jpg That was the beginning of the end. It just happened. Later 8/e, lab8/e etc. And I had to admit that playing with Omnibus pdp8 is absolutely amazing! It's a great toy! I think the pdp8/e (not straight-8, 8/i, /s or whatever) is one of the greatest toys ever made. There are many games, it breaks regularly while still giving you a chance to be satisfied after fixing it. And it's so versatile! And digging through those blurry schematics is a game in its own right! For the Honeywell everything comes in high quality print, completely correct, no derivations and workarounds. With DEC it can be an adventure to get an overview over a hardware, its features, ECOs and FCOs and what else could happen. Someday I also made a pdp8 in an FPGA. That was during the time I wanted to be a chip designer. But the only place where I could to ASIC design (I did my diploma thesis about a video generator FPGA design) was closed down instead of hiring me. Thank you, Silicon Image! Currently I'm working for a Bosch/Denso joint venture doing Linux security for car multimedia systems. In my free time I have just started to construct a M?rklin model railroad digital decoder which I will try to sell commercially (the competition use closed source PIC stuff. I use GPLv3 AVR code). And I run a letterpress print shop with the biggest machine being over 5 metric tons. In the printshop there's also an 8/e. And I have inherited a forklift. Don't know why I wrote this... Just wanted to write it. The teleprinter discussion... It was the teleprinter discussion.... I never learned to get that paper... I just had the right toys. That's it for now :-)

9 years, 4 months

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PDP 11/70 by PiDP8/i maker

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

Sorry I don't recall his name, but wondering what the progress is on the 11/70 version of this. Raspberry pi, functional front panel with blink'n lights which functions like the 11/70. My back archives are in a bit of a scramble, so can't search it either, again apologies. thanks Jim

9 years, 4 months

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VCF West is August 5-6

by cctalk＠snarc.net

What's that, you say? You want to start planning for Vintage Computer Festival West XII? Well mark your calendar!!! The show will be held August 5-6 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Web page is here: http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west-xi/ ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan at vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

9 years, 4 months

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38-52mm Adapter for B&L Stereozoom -- Cheap

by cclist＠sydex.com

My B&L Stereozoom microscope didn't have any protection for the objective lens assembly. It uses a rather oddball 38 mm threaded mount. I thought that those with the same scope might be interested in the adapter being sold as eBay 401250097157. It fits the 38mm thread on the B&L perfoectly and adapts it to a standard 52mm filter thread. Cheap--less that $3 shipped. Just got it today and it fits like a glove. FWIW --Chuck

9 years, 4 months

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confirm e3191f334ef584df40dccf9737f54f4dcd016a5d

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

________________________________________ From: cctalk [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] on behalf of cctalk-request at classiccmp.org [cctalk-request at classiccmp.org] Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 9:31 AM To: bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com Subject: confirm e3191f334ef584df40dccf9737f54f4dcd016a5d ______________________________________________ There was some talk a short time ago about accounts being shutdown because of excessive bounces. Well, a couple days ago I got one of these messages. I have not stopped receiving messages from the list. I think there is a problem with the mailing list software. :-) bill

9 years, 4 months

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DEC Documentation

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Lower that postage estimate. It fits in a padded envelope. bill

9 years, 4 months

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Old DEC Documentation

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Anybody interested in a copy of: Communications Options Minireference Manual (EK-CMINI-RM-001) USPS Flat Rate would be under $15.00 Throw in a couple more fo the trouble of taking to the PO and it's yours. bill

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Don't laugh http://w2hx.com/x/New%20Shack/0224151752b.jpg ________________________________ From: ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> Sent: Feb 14, 2017 1:54 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react! On 2/14/2017 6:27 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: > FWIW, Mini-B connectors are on their way out, nor USB OTG compliant. > Though agreed that they are flimsy... Why not just a type A or > something? Easy, big, and robust. > Why not mini and regular? Ben. PS: Add a 45.5 baud serail port. Control everything with a 5 level TTY. :)

9 years, 4 months

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Amateur Radio use of Teleprinters (was Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 11:29 PM, Tony Duell <ard.p850ug1 at gmail.com> wrote: > I think at one time radio amateurs (at least over here) had to use 5 bit > ITA2 > machines for RTTY. Same here. > It may even be to this day that RTTY implies that, and > that ASCII is classed as 'data'. The FCC order authorizing Amateur Radio use of ASCII went into effect in March of 1980, but at the moment I can't track down a copy of the actual order. The current FCC regs (?97.309) are more recent, and lump RTTY and "data emission" together, allowing ITA2, AMTOR, or ASCII, or, with additional limitations, "an unspecified digital code". I suppose I could use EBCDIC, FIELDATA, or the IBM Stretch character code, as long as I didn't use it for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of the communications, or to communicate with a station in a country with which the US doesn't have an agreement allowing those codes to be used. But the 5 level machines that were used over > here tend to be Creeds (Creed 7s, 75s and 444s mostly). > I'm told that Teletype models 15, 19, and 28 were very common here. I've mostly seen models 15 and 28. I've only once seen a mdoel 32 (ITA2 five-level version of model 33). I've seen some Kleinschmidt teleprinters, but I've never seen a Creed.

9 years, 4 months

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Fwd: Fwd: ibm 29 (keypunch?)

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

Hi, Phil emailed me out of the blue -- I'm not interested but anyone on the list want his 029 keypunch in Ohio? --Toby -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Fwd: ibm 29 Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:25:44 -0500 From: Phil Masturzo <pmasturzo at neo.rr.com> To: toby at telegraphics.com.au My name is PHiL and I live in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I got your email >from a computer museum who thought you may be interested in purchasing my IBM 29 computer. If so, email me back or call me on my cell phone at xxx-xxx-xxxx, if I can answer any questions you may have. Thanks, Phil

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

They are really neat looking! Phillipp! http://www.radista.info/tt_units/teleprinter_T-68d.jpg Yes I like the colors! what is the weight! Anyone heading to western US with large suitcase soon? (grin!) Another one our favorite sortta cute teletypes we like here at the SMECC museum is the model 31. we are looking to get all possible variants of this machine. We have some interesting stuff at this link here http://web.archive.org/web/20170103075925/http://www.smecc.org/teletype_mode l_31.htm And... we are interested in more of them, any photos of them or scans of them in various uses to continue to build this section out. Please drop us a line offlist at couryhouse at aol.com Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 11:22:51 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: Hi, On 02/15/2017 03:16 PM, COURYHOUSE at aol.com wrote: > there are one of the Siemens teletypes that print tape and has a dial > on the front from Germany I have seen very compact nice unit used for > telex I would love to have. It's the t68d. Exists in very different versions. With paper tape, without, with dial, black, brown, etc. I have a few of those. I even have one sitting in Morocco. I brought it there by car...

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Always good to review what the terms of each is. Newcomers may not understand completely. Same with photo usage and video and music usage - there are various terms of usage for these media types. Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 9:13:36 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: One should also be aware of the difference between public domain, open source, free software and the different license models and have an understanding of the applicable rights and obligations. Kind regards Philipp

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

there are one of the Siemens teletypes that print tape and has a dial on the front from Germany I have seen very compact nice unit used for telex I would love to have. shipping on teletypes from overseas is expensive though. If one was local ad inn really nice shape we would be a candidate fro it for the telecom display at SMECC. Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 7:12:47 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: >> I could swap something for a nice creed machine. > > I suspect they're more common in the UK than elsewhere. They were used > by the Post Office > for the Telex service, for example. I know. Here everything is full with Siemens and Lorenz. Je aussi voudrais avoir une machine de Sagem...! > are wondering). Obviously these machines are normally 'collection > only' the sellers will not ship That's the main problem :-( But teletypes are easier to find here than in US :-P :-P :-P

9 years, 4 months

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FS: PDP-8 Music System paper tape set

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

I have a set of paper tapes for the PDP-8 comprising a Music System. There are 8 tapes in a DEC paper tape carrier, all in splendid condition. A couple photos: http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q427/Sellam_Abraham/20170124_144624_HDR_… http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q427/Sellam_Abraham/20170124_144616_HDR_… I'm asking $200 or best offer. Thanks! Sellam

9 years, 4 months

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Yale renames Calhoun College for Grace Hopper

by seefriek＠gmail.com

From: william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> > that's fine, but the reasoning was totally political and narrow minded. I'd be fascinated at a justification for this opinion that squared with "John C. Calhoun?s legacy as a white supremacist and a national leader who passionately promoted slavery as a ?positive good?".

9 years, 4 months

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Ted Kaczynski was RIGHT!

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Wed, 2/15/17, jim stephens <jwsmail at jwsss.com> wrote: > I saw her speak twice... I got to hear her speak once when I was a freshman in college before I really knew much about who she was. Yet there were still several things she said that have stuck with me ever since.? Years later I was talking with a retired Navy admiral that I worked with and if I remember correctly how he put it, Hopper was the only person Nimitz was ever scared of. >? But she had only brought a couple of "nanoseconds" and so I > missed a chance to snag one. Alas, I never got one of her nanoseconds either.? But I still love telling my students the story about them. > Very nice lady. >From everything I've heard she was indeed, in addition to being a force of nature. Always wished I had gotten a chance to meet her. BLS

9 years, 4 months

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How I came to vintage computers

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Indeed! It is fun to learn what got people interested in the history... and their replies are in some cases interesting history itself! Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/15/2017 10:03:05 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, nf6x at nf6x.net writes: Thanks for sharing. That was a delightful origin story. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

9 years, 4 months

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Ted Kaczynski was RIGHT!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Toby Thain > Even if your argument weren't absurd and offensive Absurd and offensive is in the eye of the beholder. Can we please drop this topic? Thanks. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

Personally, i don't care about lead free solder. I am quite happy with lead. Is there a rohs requirement for small production, non profit, prototyping project? ________________________________ From: Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> Sent: Feb 14, 2017 11:54 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react! Hi, > I'm interested. How much did a board from the previous batch cost? Was different. I first made a poll and sold a batch of boards in my online shop for a certain price. It was somewhere about 105 EUR without VAT. After I received the payment, I made the boards and delivered them (I announced exactly that procedere!!). Later, as a few boards were left, I increased the price up to nearly EUR 200. I did it like with kickstarter - the people who trusted and funded got it cheaper. The whole thing barely covered the costs btw. > And > will that be any indication of what the new boards price? No, not really. But I already have some rough idea. The board will most probably be full size again. Reducing the size does seems not to offer enough benefit with respect to the hassle of adding enlargement afterwards. After my poll it looks as if there will be the following options: - Kit with full size board and SMT already soldered RoHS compliant. This will most probably go for short under EUR 100 (without VAT where it applies). I have to check with the assembly house. This time I try not to sit there and solder lead free SMD by hand for days. I like soldering SMT but that lead-free stuff and masses of boards can get quite annoying. The last boards were all hand soldered by me. One problem could be the gold fingers: My usual board house finally realized that their calculation tool was plain wrong when it charged me extra EUR 1,50 per board for the hard gold fingers. The board will be like the old ones but: * some unused (upper bit) IC positions removed * The diode stuff moved away from the edge (that was so stupid, sorry!) * The USB connector will be moved away from the edge, I will think about some holes to fix the cable using a strap. The USB will become mini USB. - Wonderful handle/set of handles to attach to the board. Probably made of milled wood, still thinking about it. This will be extremely expensive, I have no idea yet. Perhaps EUR 30 per "one piece" or set. And if someone really insists, I will manually complete and test a board. That would add another EUR 65 to the game. And perhaps an USB cable. If I continue to sell boards in that way, it will take not even 5 more years until it has paid for my Eagle 6 and 7 licenses.. Please continue to add to the doodle "calendar", if you are interested. Kind regards, Philipp

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

I have not heard of 40 mil loop here on ttys... generally 20 mil or 60 mil. - At least what I have encountered. Is the 40 mil. standard in Europe? Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 2/14/2017 2:24:15 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, hachti at hachti.de writes: On 14.02.2017 22:18, geneb wrote: > On Tue, 14 Feb 2017, ben wrote: > >> On 2/14/2017 6:27 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: >>> FWIW, Mini-B connectors are on their way out, nor USB OTG compliant. >>> Though agreed that they are flimsy... Why not just a type A or >>> something? Easy, big, and robust. >>> >> Why not mini and regular? >> Ben. >> PS: Add a 45.5 baud serail port. Control everything with a 5 level >> TTY. :) > > Dirty casual. 20mA current loop or nothing. The 45 baud machines do NOT run on 20mA. They usually run on 40mA :-) 20mA is the domain of model 28, 32, 33 etc.

9 years, 4 months

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Mystery QED board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > Sorry, typo. Ah, no wonder I couldn't find it... :-) The memory card (?) - the hex board leaning up against the wall in the middle - does look a lot like the MS95 memory card from the manual (three horizontal DuPont headers at the top, two vertical ones at the bottom, etc) but it also has differences - it doesn't have the two large square chips, etc. (And there's an MS95 in the board list, IIRC.) None of the other boards seem to correspond to anything in the QED 95 manual, though. So, rather a mystery. Quickware Engineering does still have a Web page (http://quickware.com/) which says that "Our core business is providing custom PDP-11 processor emulator upgrades", but it contains little content. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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Mystery QED board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Does anyone know what the QED board (4th image) in this eBay lot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/322414100718 is? The large chip looks like a J11 chip. However, the only QED PDP-11 board I found mention of online is a high-performance hex board UNIBUS processor, the QED 95. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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need (physical) key for Sun SPARCserver 1000e

by barythrin＠gmail.com

Perhaps a silly question but have you poked around local social media for a local unix group? Or a local craigslist ad for someone to borrow a key? I wouldn't think they'd be thst uncommon although admittedly I also stopped/paused a project for similar lack of results a while back (much different system though).

9 years, 4 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > Having other hardware decode instructions that appear as NOPs to the > main processor is not uncommon in HP machines. Ah, so you actually had some prior knowledge that helped in working out that puzzle, that that's what's happening here! :-) Noel

9 years, 4 months

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Mystery QED board

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > I think it is a QED 90 -- there are docs on Bitsavers ??? The only file in: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/quickwareEngineering/ is for the QED-95? Noel

9 years, 4 months

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need (physical) key for Sun SPARCserver 1000e

by other＠oryx.us

Its literally Christmas for me today. I came into physical position of a well optioned-out SPARCserver 1000e, accompanied by several SPARC Storage Arrays. I'm doing a physical review of the 1000e, i.e. re-seating boards, physical clean up, etc. And reviewing all the appropriate hardware documentation, still available, directly from Oracle. Anyway, on the front of the case is a (4) position power switch (i.e. standby, on, DIAG, lock), that is unfortunately not set to the on position. Hoping that someone out there either has a key that they will part with, or, knows of another (presumably Sun) key that will work in the 1000e key switch. Thanks for looking, Jerry @ 75077

9 years, 4 months

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trying to resurrect a DG Nova 3

by suea.pac＠gmail.com

Hi CC folks: Been trying for several years now to find the vital parts I need to get a Nova 3/12 from my old Univ. up & running. What I do have now is the chassis with PS, front panel, CPU and FPU boards, some of the documentation, and, hopefully pending, a disc drive (not sure if it has controller). Most of all, of course, we badly need Mag or MOS memory, plus I/O boards/peripherals. Have posted on "vintage computers" several times and also contacted a DG specialist but so far no success with parts. ANY help in getting this thing going before, at pushing 70, I get too old to ever see it run even a simple routine or ancient game, (or care !) would be very deeply appreciated!! Please eMail: firesweep "at" verizon "dot" net if you can help or have leads! regards, Roger A. in NY

9 years, 4 months

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Current Loops and TTYs (was Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 4:22 PM, Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> wrote: >>> PS: Add a 45.5 baud serail port. Control everything with a 5 level >>> TTY. :) >> >> Dirty casual. 20mA current loop or nothing. > > The 45 baud machines do NOT run on 20mA. They usually run on 40mA :-) The M19 is 60mA at 100VDC... takes a bit to pull that relay. > 20mA is the domain of model 28, 32, 33 etc. Yep. That's all I have in my own pile... (33 and 35). -ethan

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > Personally I _do_ care about lead free solder. I won't have it. The > fact that part of this board comes pre-assembled with that horrible > muck means I won't even consider buying one. Gee, Tony, why don't you tell us what you _really_ think! :-) Noel

9 years, 4 months

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Yale renames Calhoun College for Grace Hopper

by cclist＠sydex.com

Grace Hopper (if you've ever followed CODASYL or the COBOL language was a very sharp lady who's long had my admiration. Kudos to Yale! http://news.yale.edu/2017/02/11/yale-change-calhoun-college-s-name-honor-gr… --Chuck

9 years, 4 months

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Changing wire-wrap configurations on DEC circuit boards

by earl＠retrobits.com

Hi there, I've got a couple of DEC QBUS boards (including a quad SLU) for which configuration is set by wire-wrap jumpers. I don't have a wire-wrap tool, and have found that trying this by hand without one is not workable. Has anyone come up with a clever way to permit reconfiguration of these boards without semi-permanent changes? Or, alternatively, what wire-wrap tool would you recommend? Thanks! - Earl

9 years, 4 months

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New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!

by w2hx＠w2hx.com

That is a very nice and robust part you linked to. Looks perfect ________________________________ From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> Sent: Feb 14, 2017 10:03 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react! On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 8:27 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt <ams at gnu.org> wrote: > FWIW, Mini-B connectors are on their way out, nor USB OTG compliant. > Though agreed that they are flimsy... Why not just a type A or > something? Easy, big, and robust. This is a peripheral. USB OTG doesn't apply, and USB-A would be "inappropriate". Pretend this is an inkjet printer. What plug would you expect to find on that? I don't _mind_ Mini (I have a number of devices and cables that are mini) and it _is_ more robust than Micro (I have seen plenty of phones and tablets with broken micro plugs). I have a suggestion... put 4 vias on 0.1" spacing next to the micro connector so we could, for example, add a chassis-friendly exit cable of our own purchase/manufacture if we choose, to have a nice fat USB-B on the outside of the case. https://newnex.com/images/UHR1-B-0005Blarge.jpg -ethan

9 years, 4 months

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Changing wire-wrap configurations on DEC circuit boards

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > I find wire wrap wire to be the best thing (soldered in place) to > repair or modify PCBs. That's what DEC used for ECO's. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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AT&T 3B2 UNIX System V User Reference Manual for sale

by jbader＠neteffects.com

AT&T 3B2 Computer UNIX System V User Reference Manual Original red hardcover, 3-ring binder, 9"x9"x2" Published July 1985 Excellent condition, never used Best offer plus $10 for shipping.

9 years, 4 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

Tony Duell wrote: > My first thought, and it's probably wrong, is that these instrucitons > (which differ by one bit, so might be > setting/reseting something) are NOPs to the CPU, but are interpretted > by the memory mapping hardware in those > 9825s that have more than 64K or RAM and ROM total. This seems likely. According to your schematics, gate U47 detects the pattern 0701xx. This signal feeds into the U43c flipflop, which appears to latch the state of the low 4 bits of the MAD bus into register U42, which sets the state of the /ForceRAM (bit 3), /ForceROM (bit 2), /DiagRd (bit 1) and ALLROM (bit 0) signals. Thus, these two instructions appear to toggle the state of the /ForceROM signal. If I?ve wrapped my brain around the details it appears that 070113 deasserts the /ForceROM signal, and 070117 asserts it?

9 years, 4 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by pete＠petelancashire.com

I agree quite a unique bit of code On Feb 13, 2017 4:07 PM, "Noel Chiappa" <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote: > From: Tony Duell > My first thought, and it's probably wrong Apparently not... :-) > these instrucitons (which differ by one bit, so might be > setting/reseting something) are NOPs to the CPU, but are interpretted > by the memory mapping hardware Ooh, very clever/cool. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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PDP 11 Line Time Clock (LW11L) M787 and EIS board, (KE11E) M7238

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > (while installing the MMU and Stack Limit Register in my own 11/40) BTW, I think I found out why the MMU requires the SLR. The SLR is not operative in User mode. I haven't checked out the circuitry to see exactly what the interaction is, but it has to be something associated with that. > you *will* need an LTC to run V6 UNIX Actually, it will work with a KW11-P, too; those are actually more commmon than the KW11-L's, I've found. But as Guy pointed out, the DL11-W will do too - and those are _very_ common (since they were used in the 11/34's, etc). Noel

9 years, 4 months

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Information Request: unidentified HP 9825T instructions

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > My first thought, and it's probably wrong Apparently not... :-) > these instrucitons (which differ by one bit, so might be > setting/reseting something) are NOPs to the CPU, but are interpretted > by the memory mapping hardware Ooh, very clever/cool. Noel

9 years, 4 months

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DATAC 1000

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Looking for a DATAC 1000 if anyone has one for sale or trade (or a site with pictures). This is a Philadelphia USA origin 6502 trainer. I am interested in it for the local history. Thanks Bill

9 years, 4 months

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PDP 11 Line Time Clock (LW11L) M787 and EIS board, (KE11E) M7238

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > PDP 11 KE11E M7238 EIS board (for PDP 11/40) which causes the CPU to > crash when installed; front panel not responsive > ... > I installed a removable jumper so I can flip jumper configs back and > forth between EIS installed/not installed. Without the EIS the system > works fine To understand this symptom, one needs to understand how the EIS interacts with the main CPU. Both include microcode, and what is supposed to happen is that when an EIS instruction happens, control is passed to the microcode on the EIS board (the actual microcode words being fed back to the main CPU through those three over-the-back jumper cables). The microcode on the EIS board can then control the data paths, etc in the main CPU, to feed the EIS data, and take back the results of the computation performed on the EIS card. I'm trying to understand what W1 does, but I'm not there yet. It's shown on the KD11-A print K3-8 (pg. 48), in the lower left corner, but its effects are somewhat obscure. To start with, the array of odd chips E6-E7 (74H60's) and E17 (74H53) are expandable AND-OR gates. I'd never seen these before, but the lines running to and from pins 11 and 12 on the 'H53 join the other three gates below it into it - i.e. that whole array of AND gates all feed into one NOR gate (output on pin 8 of the 'H53). So far, so good, but from there I'm still lost. When W1 is inserted (no EIS) it grounds the signal ECIN00, which comes in from off-board (as shown by the "A05S2", which is the pin it arrives on). The output of that giant NOR gate is CIN00, which is immediately sent off-board (pin 'A05P1'). I have yet to try and chase these signals down, and work out what they do; the KD11-A Tech Manual is fairly cryptic on the subject. Note also that, IIRC, the front console operates under control of microcode. So I'm _guessing_ that what is happening is that somehow the EIS is, when enabled, messing up the operation of the microcode in the main CPU, causing it to freeze. > Thought - I don't have a LW11L, M787 installed. ... Do you think that > maybe the EIS board requires this for some reason No. I've looked at the KW11-L prints in the past, and it's just a very simple UNIBUS device. I don't see any way it not being there could cause the symptoms under discussion. > I could swap out the current 11/40 backplane with a backplane that has > the jumpers for the M787 already removed I think it's only one jumper - for BG6, no? > I neglected to mention I had no M787 To run Unix V6 you'll need either a KW11-L or KW11-P (see previous discussion about how Unix needs a clock - both at a low level, because it will panic() if it doesn't find one, and at a high level, because even if we patch the panic, stuff won't 'work right' without one). Noel

9 years, 4 months

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PDP 11 Line Time Clock (LW11L) M787 and EIS board, (KE11E) M7238

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Question - I am working on a PDP 11 KE11E M7238 EIS board (for PDP 11/40) which causes the CPU to crash when installed; front panel not responsive, can't boot XXDP. I installed a removable jumper so I can flip jumper configs back and forth between EIS installed/not installed. Without the EIS the system works fine, can boot OS's that do not require it like RT11. As discussed before the EIS is required if I want to boot up UNIX 6 on the 11/40, which is a goal of mine. Thought - I don't have a LW11L, M787 installed. This is a the Line TIme Clock option card. Do you think that maybe the EIS board requires this for some reason, even though there are no references to this as a requirement in any docs I can find? Maybe the docs writers assume it's installed? I only wonder because any time I have seen the M7238 installed in an 11/40 I have also seen a M787. I could swap out the current 11/40 backplane with a backplane that has the jumpers for the M787 already removed, but I only want to do this if it's necessary. When we were talking before I neglected to mention I had no M787, you may have assumed I did. Bill

9 years, 4 months

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