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

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

Hi! I'm looking for info on the SUN-3 floating point accelerators like the FPA, and FPA+. Programming info, header files, maybe even the libraries if they're avaliable. Also, before I pop in to motorols.com, does anyone have a quick little snippet of code to excersize a 68882? I just upgraded my SUN-3/280 to a '882, and I want to verify that everything's working right before I solder in some sockets and start playing with the clock. Thanks! Bob

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by vcf＠vintage.org

Ok, I scored quite a few drives for my data conversion machine project yesterday: Iomega Ditto Easy3200 (floppy interface) Colorado T4000 (SCSI) Exabyte EXB-8200 (SCSI) Bernoulli Box 20+20 (DC-37 proprietary?) WORM Drive of some type (SCSI) QIC-150 tape drive (SCSI) Iomega 150 MultiDisk (SCSI) Iomega 90 Pro (SCSI) DAT of some type (SCSI) Iomega Jaz (SCSI) Iomega ZIP (IDE) Conner 420 (floppy interface) Colorado 250 (floppy interface) Archive 4320NT DAT (SCSI) Conner 700 (floppy interface) Colorado T1000 (floppy) SyQuest EZ135 (SCSI) The trick now is to figure out what is downward compatible with what and eliminate those drives. The Conner 700 is obviously compatible with the 420, the Colorado T4000 is probably downward compatible with the T1000, the Iomega 150 is downward compatible with the 90, I think the Ditto drive is basically the same as the Colorado Jumbo drives and the Conners, so I would want to choose the one that is most downward compatible in terms of maximum storage. I have no idea what various DAT formats there are so I'll have to research that. Ditto for the WORM drives (I have one more somewhere in my collection). Did the Bernoulli Box have a proprietary interface? If so, does anyone have one they want to get rid of? I would imagine I can hook as many of the floppy interface drives as I need to a single cable, providing I can crimp on the proper connectors. Will there be any issues with conflicts or power? I imagine as long as I'm not using two drives on the same cable at a time then I should be fine. I think I have QIC-40/80 covered. My Tecmar QT-125e does QIC-2 up to 125MB, but from what I can tell from research that standard goes up to at least 500MB. I'm still trying to figure out what QIC-1000 is. Tecmar is still around (www.tecmar.com) but they only do Travan and DAT. Their older products (QIC and 8MM) are obsolete and they don't have drivers available. I guess what I really want to know is if the various tape drives from different manufacturers for a certain specification, say QIC-40/80, read and write the same low- or high-level format. So for instance, if I create a tape on a Colorado drive and stick it into a Conner drive, will the Conner be able to read it? -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

24 years, 4 months

11
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Drive inventory

by PasserM＠umkc.edu

That, and they _never_ significantly lower the price of their media. A Zip disk still costs $15.00 in quantity 1 in this era of 19 cent CDRs; Jaz 1GB are still $100.00 per, and may heaven help you if you need a Bernoulli 90MB cartridge! In 1991, they were about $90.00-- today, they're about $90.00. >It's just another IOMEGA boondoggle, though. I avoid any contact with IOMEGA anymore, as >not one of their products, and I have dozens, has ever lived up to their widely publicized >claims. They clearly lie about their device characteristics, and freely admit it if >pressed.

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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nice find - now I have a PDP-11/93 question

by GOOI＠oce.nl

The 11/93 is hardly "classic", but to my DIGITAL collection it is still a nice addition and I would like to get it running. I agree with Jerome that the M9047 grant continuity card could be removed and move all other boards one position 'up', but the system had the M8047 when I got it, so I left it there. Perhaps the cooling of the cpu board is better ... > What do the DL interface connections consist of? I have a set > from an 11/94 system, but they really don't seem to fit from a > hardware point of view into a Qbus system, in particular, in a > BA23 box. That is exactly what I have. It is an 11/93 in a BA23 box. I read somewhere that the 11/94 uses a KTJ11 (?) board to bridge to UNIBUS, and that the 11/94 system comsumes more power. The rear panel that connects to the M8981 in my BA23 box has the following parts on it: + 8 9-pin D-shape (DE-9) connectors for 8 extra terminals + 1 25-pin D-shape (DB25) connector with "CONSOLE" text next to it + 2 7-segment displays + 1 DIP switch block with 8 switches The M8981 board has on the front side a 40-pin male header, next to it are the 8 LEDs followed by a 50-pin male header. Behind the LEDs is an other DIP switch module. The 40- and 50-pin headers are connected to the rear panel with 2 flatcables. I am still looking for the DIP switch positions. I will gather all info on the 11/93 and put it on my website. Of course with several pictures of the system. Several Google searches did not produce much technical detail info. TIA, - Henk.

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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festivals, flea markets, and surplus dealers

by jon＠slurpee.org

I'm rather new to the mailing list, and I poked through some of the previous messages on the site, but didnt see this one directly answered. I live in texas, and know of a few here haaug meet, first saturday, san antonio's 2nd sat, but is there a place where I can find out more of them located in this area (texas, oklahoma, arkansas, lousiana)? I figure here would be the best place to ask, because I'm really not interested in buying pc stuff, but love old unix equipment, and misc electronics. Any huge festivals that I should be going too every year that I'm not? (I go to trenton nj)... what about surplus places (I love to find junk at places that take computers to scrap them for metal... I get some awesome deals there)? Any help would be nice :) Thanks, jon

24 years, 4 months

6
5
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card punch

by lemay＠cs.umn.edu

Well, my latest acquisition finally arrived from England (why are all the good things in Europe...). Anyways, I finally have a Hollerith Manual Card Punch. You can see a picture of one at the Computer Museum of America web site: http://www.computer-museum.org/collections/hollerith.html Mine was made in england, by International Computers and Tabulators Limited. Does anyone know if that company was a part of what became IBM, or did they just make an unauthorized copy of the machine? My punch is slightly different that the one at that web site, in that it never had a nameplate below the keys, and the uppermost button on the picture isnt a part of my card punch. Basically, you have the 12 keys that punch the 12 hole positions and advance the card one row, with a button to inhibit the advance so you can multi-punch the same row (or allows skipping a row), and a second button that releases the remainer of the card. The button that is missing in the design of the punch I have must not have been very useful, as I cant imagine what else a person would need to do. There is an adjustable card stop, so that you can set the punch to allow you to skip any number of initial columns on each card automatically. The chad just drops to the ground underneath the punch. If I can find some information about this punch, i'll make a nice web page about it. -Lawrence LeMay

24 years, 4 months

4
3
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FA: Intel MDS-800

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

<http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2002926621>. He has no docs, drives or software with it. Damm! and I just threw out a drive chassis that went with this one! FWIW it uses CDC drives like these <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/mds-800/cdc-dr-f.jpg>. I don't know if Shugart drives can be made to work with his controller cards or not But Intel uses a different connecting cable and a different set of controller cards for the Shugart drives. One the MDS-800s, the Shugart drives uses M2MFM encoding that's not capable with any other system that I know of but the CDC drives use MFM encoding and the "standard" CPM disk format aka IBM 3470 format. Joe

24 years, 4 months

2
2
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RS/6000 E30

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On February 14, Richard.Sandwell(a)roebry.co.uk wrote: > Hey, Doc - off list to save everyone's bandwidth... What do you think to an > RS/6000 E30? I'm going to have a look at one tomorrow for not_much_money. I > have 2 questions - is it MCA or PCI? > And is the memory proprietary - or just standardish stuff? > > Thanks in anticipation of your wise word :) Dontcha just hate Reply-To: headers? I have my mailer filter them out. ;) -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Drive inventory

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Clint Wolff (VAX collector) [mailto:vaxman@earthlink.net] > Actually, there are FIVE formats: DAT, DDS, DDS-2, DDS-3, and DDS-4. > I don't know the exact differences between DAT and DDS, but most > drives won't accept a DAT tape... I thought DAT was the audio format (48Khz, 16[?}bit, up to 4 channels), and the tapes are pretty identical to DDS? I do have a DDS (DDS2, I think) drive that will read/write audio DAT in my Indigo2. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Drive inventory

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Tothwolf [mailto:tothwolf@concentric.net] > That would work well if all the tape drives that use the > floppy interface > followed the rules, but not all do. I guess it would be > possible to build > a board with some logic chips that could isolate individual > drives from > the bus, but I think it would be much easier for now to only > connect one > drive at a time. Do you mean to say there are floppy-tape systems that ignore DS? How do they work? Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

4
4
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Drive inventory

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Sellam Ismail [mailto:foo@siconic.com] > On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote: > > A write-only device. > What's the purpose of a write-only backup device??? Um... he means that it's not very reliable. A polite way of saying that you'd be better off backing up to a _real_ write-only device, like a terminal, or your system's "null device." :) Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Old manuals

by dtwright＠uiuc.edu

A couple weeks ago, I was given the following manuals and thought I'd see if anyone wanted them, otherwise they're getting dumped. - 3 Teletype corporation binders labeled "Technical Manual" -- there's more on the labels, but I don't want to type it all out. If you're intested I'll write it all down and post it. These are from ~1974. - IBM Customer Engineering Manual of Instruction for "24 card punch" and "26 printing card punch" (appears to be from ~1962) - IBM Personal Computer Professional Graphics Display Technical Reference (includes specs, logic diagrams, etc) (1984) I don't own, nor do I plan to own, any of this equipment, so I thought I'd pass these on to anyone interested... you'd need to pay shipping but that's it. Though, if you have anything interesting in the old-UNIX-computer-parts realm, I wouldn't mind trading either :) - Dan Wright (dtwright(a)uiuc.edu) (http://www.uiuc.edu/~dtwright) -] ------------------------------ [-] -------------------------------- [- ``Weave a circle round him thrice, / And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honeydew hath fed, / and drunk the milk of Paradise.'' Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Feb 14, 6:53, Doc wrote: > On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Zane H. Healy wrote: > > > >There are currently 5 DAT formats (DDS, DDS-1, DDS-2, DDS-3, and DDS-4) > > >and all are backward compatible. > > > > But, can a drive from manufacturer "A" read a DDS-1 tape written on > > manufacturer "B's" drive? It's been my understanding that sometimes even > > different model drives from the same manufacturer can't read the same tape. > > I've never seen that with either 4mm DDS-x or with 8mm DAT formats. > We do classroom loads of RS/6000s from tape quite often, making > tapes on, and installing from, a very wide assortment of drives. I've > never seen a load fail if the drive was rated for the tape format. Nitpick alert: DDS = DDS-1 (ie, it's the same thing -- originally called DDS but now sometimes called DDS-1 so that it's clearly not one of the later versions). So there are only 4 formats, not 5. Nitpick 2: 8mm is not DDS or DAT. It's Exabyte videotape. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 4 months

3
2
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YAAA

by cstonecipher＠bluewin.ch

Hi -- I have no idea if this link is still active, but if it is, I am interested in knowing if you still have any USS Altair stuff -- such as the data plate mentioned. My email address is: stonecipherca(a)state.gov Any info would be appreciated. Thanks -- Charlie

24 years, 4 months

1
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RS/6000 E30

by Richard.Sandwell＠roebry.co.uk

On February 14, Richard.Sandwell(a)roebry.co.uk wrote: >> Hey, Doc - off list to save everyone's bandwidth... >> Thanks in anticipation of your wise word :) > Dontcha just hate Reply-To: headers? I have my mailer filter them >out. ;) <Giggles like a kid ....> Ooops...don't take offence anyone - and thanks for *all* your wise words and links.. Fingers crossed, this time tomorrow.....and its got the key, and its got the installation media. I think the word was "chuffed" - that'd describe it... //Rich

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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SGI Indigo

by Richard.Sandwell＠roebry.co.uk

Has anyone got a keyboard/mouse combo for the R3000 Indigo they want to sell or trade? In fact I'd be happy to talk about any R3000/R4000 bits? Its for a good cause, I want to help out with the linux port.... Mail me off-list if you can help, TIA //Rich

24 years, 4 months

3
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FW: FW: Hubbell twist-lock connectors

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

Okay guys, this is from my wife, who works for Hubbell Wiring Devices... :-) --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 90581 Mac OS X 10.1.2 - Darwin Kernel Version 5.2: Fri Dec 7 21:39:35 PST 2001 Running since 01/22/2002 without a crash > ---------- > From: Theresa Woyciesjes > The green dot is the marking that UL allows manufacturers to use on Hospital Grade devices only after the product has been tested and performs to the UL specs for Hospital grade. > The Isolated Ground triangle is a designation that is required by UL and > C.S.A. (Canadian Standards Ass.) to mark Isolated Ground outlets. Orange > may be the most popular color for the receptacle, but it is not considered > to be a clear enough marking for UL & C.S.A. The outline of the triangle > does not have to be any specific color, only easily recognizable. The > interior of the Triangle must be orange. > Hospital Grade IG receptacles will have both the green dot and the > triangle. > BTW - The reason someone may want IG receptacles in their home is to protect the ground - you know that computers use the zero ground as the reference for binary code - well, if you are running your computer and your wife turns on the vacuum or the blender, the motor load can throw noise onto the ground - causing your computer to read a 0 as a 1. If you have your computer plugged into a IG receptacle that is properly installed with it's own ground wire, the interference caused by the motor load will go out on the house grounding system with out effecting your PC. > > > > Theresa - Ann Woyciesjes > Hubbell Wiring Device - Kellems > National & Strategic Accounts > > > >>> David Woyciesjes <DAW(a)yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu> 02/14/02 10:56AM > >>> > > Do you have a minute? > > > ---------- > > From: Robert Schaefer > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Tothwolf" > > > > > On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Robert Schaefer wrote: > > > > > > > s/almost// The green dot is part of what makes it `Hospital Grade' > > > > (The Code now specifies a Hospital Grade MC cable too-- can you > guess > > > > the difference between it and `regular' MC?) Red means a circuit on > > > > the Legally Required Stand-by System (read `on the generator'). > > > > > > I would hope that they would be on some sort of system that keeps the > > > voltage constant during the transfer from utility to generator power > > too. > > > > I don't know. I do know that the IV pumps are battery units, and only > the > > charger plugs in. I've spent too much time in Hospitals lately, I > guess! > > > > > > > > > Isolated ground recpts will have a green triangle on them, but are > not > > > > necessarily orange in color, all the ones in the upstairs of my > house > > > > are white. If I tried to install orange recpts anywhere but the > > > > basement/garage, my wife would have killed me! > > > > > > I thought they had an orange triangle on them? Many of the ones I've > > seen > > > are that way. Maybe hospital grade isolated ground receptacles have a > > > green triangle on them instead of an orange one? > > > > I'm 99% sure it has to have a green dot to be hospital grade, and I'm > 90% > > sure it has to be a green triangle on it to meet Code requirements. > That > > said, I've seen and installed more than one with an orange triangle on > it. > > Kinda like calling it a Centronics port, I guess. ;) > > > > > > > > Why did you install isolated ground receptacles in your home? The only > > > real application for them is when you have a metallic raceway > (conduit) > > > and want the ground return wire independent of that raceway. I haven't > > > seen conduit in too many homes yet ;) > > > > You haven't seen my house yet. FWIW, I'm in the middle of negotiations > > with > > my boss about a 15KW nat. gas fired 480V 3P generator. I'm also > thinking > > about pricing a Technical Power transformer, to run some of my machines > > on. > > > > What can I say? At least I'm not a burden on Society! ^_- > > > > > > > > -Toth > > > > Bob

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Aviable: Wyse-60 terminals (Netherlands The Hague)

by sipke＠wxs.nl

For pick-up: I've got 10 surplus Wyse60 terminals (kinda complete and in working order but the screens are a bit burned-in) I'll propably keep two of them so 8 are aviable Also got one surplus Computone rs232 concentrator plus some cabling. I have to check for the ISA-PC card that comes with it ............. Pickup in The Netherlands, The Hague I will not be shipping the stuff. Don't have the experience nor the time.......... Contact me off-list Sipke de Wal ------------------------------------------------- http://xgistor.ath.cx -------------------------------------------------

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On February 13, Jim Arnott wrote: > the Bernoullis that I have are both straight SCSI 1. (90 & 230) The early Bernoulli Boxes use a dc37 connector that, if memory serves, is a stripped-down SCSI interface..but I could be wrong about that. The later ones are standard SCSI on standard connectors. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

24 years, 4 months

1
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Drive inventory

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On February 13, Vintage Computer Festival wrote: > Did the Bernoulli Box have a proprietary interface? If so, does anyone > have one they want to get rid of? I believe I have a bernoulli interface or two...send me your shipping address. -Dave -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by cdl＠proxima.ucsd.edu

> From: Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> > To: "'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org'" <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Subject: RE: Drive inventory > Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 12:02:42 -0500 > Sender: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Reply-To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > > > > > In other words, if your tape has hardware compression, you may be out > > of luck without the exact drive that wrote it. > > > > So far, we're able to read DDS3 tapes from a Sony drive where > we used hardware compression in a Sony DDS4 drive, so at least > Sony is designing some continuity in *their* product line... It has been my experience over several years that the only problems with incompatible hardware compression on DDS drives was with the original generation of DDS and DDS-DC drives, before DDS2. The type of drive that was retro-named DDS1. carl -- carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego clowenstein(a)ucsd.edu

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by cdl＠proxima.ucsd.edu

> From: David Woyciesjes <DAW(a)yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu> > To: "'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org'" <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> > Subject: RE: Drive inventory > Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:53:21 -0500 > Sender: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Reply-To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org David Woyciesjes wrote: > > ---------- > > From: Doc > > > > On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Sellam Ismail wrote: > > > > > DDS-2 and DDS-3 use physically different media. I don't know how this > > > figures if the standards are all supposed to be backward compatible. . . . > > A DDS2 drive will read DDS1 archives, and write a DDS1 tape in DDS1 > > format. I dunno about DDS3. Every shop I've worked with who used DDS3 > > drives used DDS3 tapes exclusively. > > > > Doc > > > --- > DDS3 is 125m. Have one right here :) DDS3 drives work fine with DDS2 > tapes, under NT4 and VMS. That's the size combination we're using here at > work. Note that DDS3 drives write DDS2 format when loaded with DDS2 media. Likewise, DDS2 drives write DDS1 format when loaded with DDS1 media. carl -- carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego clowenstein(a)ucsd.edu

24 years, 4 months

1
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STAPLES STORES WILL TAKE OLD COMPUTERS

by avickers＠solutionengineers.com

At 15:21 14/02/2002, Christopher Smith wrote: > > Computers that are unable to be rebuilt "will be recycled > > responsibly to generate reusable materials," according to the > > press release. > >... and translated, this probably means: "Anything that we don't know >what to do with will be turned into bicycle spokes and sent to China." "Anything that we don't know what to do with will be sent to China to be turned into bicycle spokes", shurely? :) -- Cheers, Ade. Be where it's at, B-Racing! http://b-racing.co.uk

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:edick@idcomm.com] > Careful, now ... EXABYTE drives are 8mm helical-scan drives, > while the DDS > types are not. I have a number of Exabyte drives and I've > found that, after > the EXB8200, few of them will use tapes that aren't of the > "DATA" type. I've > tried standard handycam tapes, and the %$#@! things > immediately spit them out! Yep, that's my experience with the Eliant 820. All things considered, OTOH, it makes a great backup device anyway, holds 7G native on a 160M cartridge, and came for free in a haul of on topic VAX accessories. :) > Likewise, the cleaning tapes, which puzzles me a great deal. > I've had no such > trouble with SONY cleaning tapes, however, probably because > EXABYTE buys SONY > transports. That's good to know. I should find a cleaner for it. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

1
0
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Drive inventory

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> > In other words, if your tape has hardware compression, you may be out > of luck without the exact drive that wrote it. > So far, we're able to read DDS3 tapes from a Sony drive where we used hardware compression in a Sony DDS4 drive, so at least Sony is designing some continuity in *their* product line... -dq

24 years, 4 months

1
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THE best find of the weekend!

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I just got back from spending 2 1/2 days at the Orlando hamfest. I made quite a haul but here is my best find by far! <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/RCA/rca.jpg> As you can see it does work! In case you don't recognize it, look here <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/RCA/rca2.jpg>. Right now it's in the hands of a certain nameless CC Lister in Southern Georgia. I'm just hoping I'll get to see it again! Besides that nice trinket I also got two Gould logic analyzers, a MicroMint Std-bus computer, some Multibus card cages, some good data books, a Data I/O 19 EPROM programmer with a GangPak plug in and the PAL programmig plug-ins, an Intel iUP 201 EPROM programmer, a 5 Mb Bernoulli box for the MacIntosh (in it's original box with three new sealed cartridges), an Alphapro 101 daisy wheel printer that's also in it's original box, and finally a 16 Mb Matrox G4+ AGP video card for $20. joe

24 years, 4 months

6
9
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Drive inventory

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Vintage Computer Festival [mailto:vcf@vintage.org] > I have no idea what various DAT formats there are so I'll > have to research > that. Ditto for the WORM drives (I have one more somewhere in my > collection). Basically, there are DDS-1 through DDS-4. A DDS-4 drive should read and write any of the previous if I'm not mistaken. The problem is that compression is brand-specific, generally, and possibly model- specific (though I haven't heard of it being done...) In other words, if your tape has hardware compression, you may be out of luck without the exact drive that wrote it. I have no idea about D-8, on the other hand. :) What I do know is that my Eliant 820 will use 160 meter tapes, but only (I think) if they're data tapes (meaning they have the MRS stuff in them...) Some other Exabyte drives will supposedly use 160 meter tapes without MRS, but will write only so much data to them, and won't read or write data on any 160 meter cart at quite the density of the Eliant 820. Anyway, you may need more than 1 8mm drive. > Did the Bernoulli Box have a proprietary interface? If so, > does anyone > have one they want to get rid of? I think they were SCSI, but don't take my word for it... > least 500MB. I'm still trying to figure out what QIC-1000 is. 1.2G variant of the same technology used in QIC-120, I believe. They're pretty large, klunky cartridges. Around the size of VHS, but thinner, and not quite as wide (I think). :) I also think the drives are downward compatible with QIC-120. > I guess what I really want to know is if the various tape drives from > different manufacturers for a certain specification, say > QIC-40/80, read > and write the same low- or high-level format. So for instance, if I > create a tape on a Colorado drive and stick it into a Conner > drive, will > the Conner be able to read it? I think so, ignoring the above issue with hardware compression, which may have also been a problem on these drives if they had it. :) Again, don't take my word for it. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

2
1
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Drive inventory

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

> ---------- > From: Doc > > On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Sellam Ismail wrote: > > > DDS-2 and DDS-3 use physically different media. I don't know how this > > figures if the standards are all supposed to be backward compatible. > > Actually, DDS and DDS2 different media, but not as in > different form factors. IIRC, DDS1 is 90m, DDS2 is 120m, and DDS3 is > also 120m. They have and identifier embedded in the media that tells > the drive which DDS the tape is. I know for sure that a DDS1 drive will > simply spit out a DDS2 or DDS3 tape, and I think that holds true up the > line. > A DDS2 drive will read DDS1 archives, and write a DDS1 tape in DDS1 > format. I dunno about DDS3. Every shop I've worked with who used DDS3 > drives used DDS3 tapes exclusively. > > Doc > --- DDS3 is 125m. Have one right here :) DDS3 drives work fine with DDS2 tapes, under NT4 and VMS. That's the size combination we're using here at work. --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 90581 Mac OS X 10.1.2 - Darwin Kernel Version 5.2: Fri Dec 7 21:39:35 PST 2001 Running since 01/22/2002 without a crash

24 years, 4 months

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Drive inventory

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >There are currently 5 DAT formats (DDS, DDS-1, DDS-2, DDS-3, > and DDS-4) > >and all are backward compatible. > > But, can a drive from manufacturer "A" read a DDS-1 tape written on > manufacturer "B's" drive? It's been my understanding that sometimes even > different model drives from the same manufacturer can't read the same tape. You're supposed to be OK if you didn't used compression, or also OK if you used software compression (assuming you can find a program on the target platform that understands the compression). It's when you use hardware compression that you may be screwed. -dq

24 years, 4 months

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SGI build quality (was RE: great site)

by timwa＠snowgoons.fsnet.co.uk

Christopher Smith wrote: [re. broken SGI Indy] > He was able to find the faulty part. Honestly, I wish I'd been > able to do that, myself, but I don't have the stack of SGI pieces > to do it :) On an only slightly related note, IMHO the build quality and general longevity of Silicon Graphics hardware really isn't what you'd hope of kit that cost so much new... I've seen Sun boxes that have been through the mill several times by the look of things, but flick the switch and you're up and running (possibility of needing to solder a battery onto the PROM notwithstanding.) Personal (limited, I grant you ;-) experience of Indys on the other hand suggest you need at least 3 candidates handy if you want to put together a working combination of power supply, processor and mobo/PROM. And the chassis is horribly weak - the way the power supply clips into place is very neat, but also makes it structurally very poor at the join (L-shaped computer, anyone?) I also don't think I've yet forgiven SGI for making the power supply (simple slide-in/slide-out with two thumbscrews) on the O2000 a non user replaceable part - i.e. they won't sell you one without a service contract and an engineer round to plug it in. And trying to get an SGI Challenge to actually see all the devices on its SCSI bus without trying them in 100 different permutations can keep you occupied for at least an afternoon... Which isn't to say I don't love 'em, an Indy is my main workstation at home & the sight of SGI rapidly going down the tubes is deeply sad... Cheers, Tim. -- Tim Walls at home in Croydon - Reply to tim(a)snowgoons.fsnet.co.uk

24 years, 4 months

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Drive inventory

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) [mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com] > > Iomega ZIP (IDE) > available internal and external, also in parallel, SCSI, and the "Zip > PLUS" is BOTH parallel and SCSI. I took his use of IDE there to mean that he got the internal ATA type drive. I suppose given the proper definition of IDE, both the parallel and USB versions could be called IDE. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

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Taking control of your collection (small-shop management)

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>If you use Mac OS 7-9 on a used Mac and go with a used copy of Filemaker >instead of Paradox, they are *far* more likely to be able to maintain the >program themselves, ... >Disclaimer: I don't run a business, so I may not know what I'm talking >about. Anybody knowledgable here, please chime in. I think this is a >*vital* topic for classic-computers, BTW, as keeping the machines >productive is far and away the best way to keep them alive and known. The >upgrade path availability is admittedly slightly off-topic, but relevant to >the discussion. FileMaker Pro was designed with the office Secretary in mind. It was meant for the average boss to hand the program to the average word processor literate secretary and tell them to create a database. It is VERY user friendly, and VERY quick and easy to create solutions. It has also grown significantly over the years into a rather powerful database system. It is NOT as powerful as some other applications out there (I know Access is more powerful due to its VB abilities)... but for a good chunk of database needs you can use FMP to do your complete solution. I have been making some rather complex solutions in FMP for years, and once in a while hit roadblocks with it, but usually can get to a work around (sometimes kludgy, but usually doable). But I will take the development speed vs loss of the super high end abilities any day. FMP is also ODBC complient (I don't know to what extent, I keep all my work right in FMP, so I have never used the ODBC interface). And FMP can publish to the web instantly, or you can develop full web abilities with FMP as the backend. It is fully cross platform (Mac and Win32)... I mean fully... there are really only two minor issues with moving back and forth. You need to make sure you use standard fonts that are available on both platforms (stick to Ariel, Times New Roman, and Courier New and you should be fine)... and when laying out items on the screen, it is best to use the T-Bars or Windows will sometimes shift where something is slightly. But the database works on both platforms unchanged. I generally do all my FMP development on the Mac, and the move it to a WinNT hosted FMP server where winNT clients log into it to do their work... and I still log in using my Mac for admin stuff... same database, transparent access. All in all... if your users aren't likely to know how to work with a database system... and you want them to be able to manage it in the future... I highely recommend FMP... or if you just want to get the job done in half the time of other systems. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 4 months

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VMS help file

by alan.pearson＠cramer.com

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Doc wrote: > Congratulations. What does "chuffed" mean? "Happy"... well, in this case "really happy", as I've been after a VAX for yonks (a long time) :-) Thanks to those who answered, and those who didn't but silently cursed "RTFM" :-) I came across the OpenVMS online docs yesterday... Cheers Al. [late reply because I get the daily digest]

24 years, 4 months

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@@Rare@@Look@@ you can't pass this up!!!! :-)

by CAA007216＠mail.ono.es

?????????? :-))) Greetings ----- Mensaje Original ----- Remitente: Chad Fernandez <fernande(a)internet1.net> Fecha: Jueves, Febrero 14, 2002 9:38 am Asunto: @@Rare@@Look@@ you can't pass this up!!!! :-) > Silly isn't it :-) >

24 years, 4 months

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SOL-20 keyboard (fwd)

by donm＠cts.com

As you will note, Barry authorized this posting. - don ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 17:24:45 -0500 From: Barry A. Watzman <Watzman(a)neo.rr.com> To: 'Don Maslin' <donm(a)cts.com> Subject: RE: SOL-20 keyboard I won't but you may if you want to. Barry -----Original Message----- From: Don Maslin [mailto:donm@cts.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 1:05 AM To: Barry A. Watzman Subject: Re: SOL-20 keyboard On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, Barry A. Watzman wrote: > By the way, in 1977 I made and sold a SOL-20 keyboard modification kit > that included a new ROM for the keyboard and new keytops. The new ROM > made the high order bit of the numeric keypad keys a "1" instead of a > "0". This made it possible to distinguish between the keys in the > numeric keypad and the numeric keys in the top row of the normal > keyboard (in the stock keyboard, these different keys produced exactly > the same output). This was transparent to normal applications because > they normally did an "ANI 7FH" anyway, stripping this bit, but it > could be used by an application if the application wanted to do so. > The new keytops had word processing legends instead of numbers, and > really was made for the "Electric Pencil" and "Wordstar" word > processors. The keytops were actually made by Keytronic (I had to pay > tooling charges, about $1,000 (those were 1977 dollars, it was about > one-fourth the price of a new car)) and and matched the SOL keyboard > exactly. > > I have a few of these kits left in a box in the basement. If anyone > wants them, they are $25. What I'm not sure of is if I have the > installation instructions anywhere. > > [If anyone takes me up on this, I'm actually going to have to FIND that > box, which may be easier said than done.]

24 years, 4 months

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nice find - now I have a PDP-11/93 question

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Hi all. Many times I read with envy those phantastic finds in the US. Now it is my time to get lucky: - several 8- and 16-line serial MUXen with distr. panels - Q-Bus Centronics printer interface with connector - SC-08 Q-Bus (dual) SCSI controller (MSCP/TMSCP compatible) with the Emulex doc and the rear connector panel - KDJ11-A manual (0.5 inch thick) - LA120 (with flaky electronics and both pin-feeds bands broken) - PDP-11/73 with TK50, RD54 (Maxtor) disk and 2 M7551 memory boards (but when powered up produced the smell of burning paper ...) - PDP-11/93 (M8981-BA) but without documentation. AFAIK, the 11/93 was the fastest DIGITAL PDP-11, so I consider this a nice addition to my collection. Since the chassis only contained in slot 1 A-B: M8981 PDP-11/93 in slot 2 A-B: M8047 grant continuity in slot 3 A-B: M7546 TK50 controller and the PSU of course, I moved the TK50 and the RD54 from the 11/73 into the 11/93 and added in slot 4, position A-B, the RQDX3 (M7555). On the M8981 are 8 diagnostic LEDs, from top to bottom a yellow, 3 red LEDs, a green and 3 red ones again. I call them yellow, red 1-2-3, green, red 4-5-6. When the system is turned on (with HALT button in) the display on the backpanel reads "7.7." and all LEDs on the CPU module are on. When I push the HALT button out and press the RESTART button, the display reads "0.4." and the LEDs are as follows: yellow - on red 1 - off red 2 - off red 3 - off green - on red 4 - on red 5 - off red 6 - off. What does this mean? BTW I connected a VT set at 9600 Bd to the console DB-25 connector. Nothing appears on the screen. The DIP switches on the backpanel are set as follows: (left) (right) +-----------------+ | # # | | # # # # # # | +-----------------+ Last piece of information I can think of is the backplane. It is an H9278-A. Reading what I have written, I come to think that I forgot to check jumpers/DIP switches on the M8981 board itself .... If necessary I can tell that tomorrow. TIA - Henk. http://home.hetnet.nl/~tshaj

24 years, 4 months

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Working with useful computers (was: What's your specialty?)

by mtapley＠swri.edu

Sellam touched off a firestorm of responses: >Ok, now's your chance to discuss your specialty and get the attention of >other folks who have stuff that you may want. Sellam, you *are* keeping a list of these answers, right? If anyone is brave enough to declare themselves a specialist, they ought to get questions about their "specialty" directed to them. Mine (am I really that brave? Sigh): --------- Dec Rainbow (see also Jeff Armstrong, or Tony Duell) Own a 100A with 8087 board, VR201 and VR240 monitors, tech doc set, some software NeXT (I'm *definitely* not the only or best one of these on the list) Own an 040 cube, OD often works, floppy, Laserprinter, NS3.0 and 3.3 and a 1.0 OD, Mathematica 2.2 and 3.0, WriteNow, various other SW R. D. Davis asked: >How many here still work, for an >income, with the types of vintage systems they collect? > > ..Out > of curiosity, how many others here absolutely refuse to work for an > employer requiring one to work with those confounded annoyances called > Micro$oft products? The NeXT does most of my analysis and coding, a Mac PB3400 does most of the rest, various Unix Boxen and Macs do what's left. A hand-me-down Power Mac 8500 with Oriffice 2000 translates to sylk or .pdf when I recieve tainted files from co-workers. I work pretty hard at not using Micro$oft (and advocating abstinence) but I admit to bending at times. - Mark

24 years, 4 months

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SyQuest drive compatibility

by vcf＠vintage.org

Here's a good FAQ on SyQuest drives that answered my question regarding whether or not a 44MB drive was compatible with an 88MB drive was compatible with a 200MB drive. The bottom line is that the original 88MB drive could only read a 44, not write to it. People got pissed, so SyQuest came out with an 88c ('c' for "combination") that could both read and write 44MB disks. The 200MB drive can read/write/initialize 44/88/200MB disks. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

24 years, 4 months

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Compaq portable to good home

by vcf＠vintage.org

Contact Peter directly if you are interested. Reply-to: <banjoman9(a)hotmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:15:38 From: Peter Finucane <banjoman9(a)hotmail.com> Subject: computers I have several bits and pieces including a working Compaq portable from about late sixties early seventies. Although "portable" it is heavy and about the weight(and looks like) a portable sewing machine. It has a built in 5 inch screen,integral keyboard and operates on two 5 1/4 floppy discs. I live in Southern England and would be prepared to donate this if someone was willing to collect it. I also have a working IBM 286 with monitor from about 1988, again I will donate. Please advise if you are interested or can put me in touch with someone who is. Pete Finucane (banjoman) -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

24 years, 4 months

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Need docs & drivers for old tape drives

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Sellam Ismail [mailto:foo@siconic.com] > to be able to read just about anything, but writing isn't as critical. > Usually when someone wants data converted these days, they > want it on CD > or 3.5" floppy. Do you plan to read tk50, QIC-1000, 9-track? What about the SyQuest removables that were so common on Macintosh systems? Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 4 months

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Need docs & drivers for old tape drives

by mythtech＠Mac.com

>I'm looking for PC docs & drivers for old tape drives. I already have >everything I need for Colorado tape drives, so I'm looking for older, more >obscure stuff from the 80s. If anyone's got ANYTHING like this, for any >type of tape drive (QIC, digital cassette, whatever) please let me know. I have a Conner Tape-Store 800 with docs and drivers (drivers disks appear to be BackUp Exec for windows) I also have an Iomege Tape250 Insider with docs and drivers. What exactly are you looking for? (ie: did you want them, or just copies, or just wanted to know something about them). They are both in use right now, so I don't know if I am apt to just give them away. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 4 months

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Is this a IBM RT mouse?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On January 28, Doc wrote: > > Yup, that's it! Anyone claimed it yet? I'd like it for my RT. > > I think, therefore I am dangerous > > Well, I fired off an email asking for it Saturday, and haven't heard > back. So, I hope *I* got first dibs.... Me too. We could all meet somewhere and fight for it. :) -Dave, grunt grunt -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf

24 years, 4 months

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4.4BSD-Lite binaries for SPARC and PMAX

by jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de

Hi. I plan to do a BSD exhibition at the VCFE. Main focus is 4.3BSD{,-Tahoe,-Reno} on VAXen. But I want to show 4.4BSD-Lite on HP300, SPARC and PMAX too. I have the 4.4BSD-Lite HP300 binaries, but nothing for SPARC and PMAX. Are there any binaries still around? I don't want to struggle with a SPARC and PMAX bootstrap... Ahh, and 4.2BSD-Reno for HP300 is missing too... -- tsch??, Jochen Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/

24 years, 4 months

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VMS help file

by alan.pearson＠cramer.com

Last night I finally got a cable sorted (thanks Pete!) to connect the VS3100 to a "VT52" (Atari ST running the emulator!), and was chuffed to find it's a healthy 16Mb Model 30 with two hard disks and VMS 5.5-2 installed. Unfortunately my old mate "HELP" doesn't want to play with me any more: $ HELP %HELP-F-OPENIN, error opening SYS$COMMON:[SYSHLP]HELPLIB.HLB as input Rats. I was pretty much counting on HELP working to help dust off the cobwebs :-) I'm guessing it's not installed because the machine was configured to boot >from the network (ESA0). A SHOW DEV revealed a couple of disks ("DKA200" and "DKA300") and luckily it boots VMS from DKA300 no trouble. I reset the SYSTEM password OK, so now I've got a system to play with but no HELP to make life easier :-) So, a few questions to help me on my way: - are there VMS equivalents of 'find' and 'grep' to set loose on the disks to look for this file? - if the help file isn't on either disk, would somebody be able to send me a copy? - I'd like to find out more about how VMS boots, can someone point me at a good website? Finally, at the moment I don't have a suitable CD drive to be able to install the Hobbyist OpenVMS. When VMS boots it displays: %LICENSE-I-EXCEEDED, attempted usage exceeds active license limits Is there a limit to the number of logins allowed after expiry? Am I going to get locked out? :-} Cheers, Al.

24 years, 4 months

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Oh, Happy Day!

by zmerch＠30below.com

Rumor has it that Tothwolf may have mentioned these words: >On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, Roger Merchberger wrote: > >> So, to make sure this stays on-topic (as 90+% of what I'm using this >> for is programming stuff for classic computers) if anyone has (or >> knows where to find) the datafile to program a fresh GAL to fix a gray >> Tandy Multi-Pak adapter (26-3024, IIRC) for CoCo3 usage, I'd be happy >> to burn new GALs for anyone needing them for cost of GAL & shipping. I >> have a Multi-Pak that needs updating, and I dunno if anyone else has >> this ability (or cares) anymore... > >I've got a white 4 cart multipack adapter. What is the difference between >the gray and white ones? The color??? ;-) Just kidding. IIRC, the white paks are 26-3124, and have a soldered-on ASIC which can't be upgraded without external circuitry - someone somewhere on the 'net had a howto on adding a dead-bug 74LS10 to the newer packs to make them CoCo3 compatible. The older packs used a (socketted?) PAL for address decoding, and with the datafile to program a new PAL/GAL it's a drop-in replacement. >> Just one thing left to find... an SMD rework station for around the >> same ($200) mark... (again, so I can make boards for my CoCos...) > >I just found a flux/epoxy dispensing system this last weekend (no >handpiece yet), so I'm just about ready to find a SMT rework station >myself. Maybe I'll find one of those for $0.50 too...well, I can dream >can't I? ;P Like I always say... if you're gonna dream, dream *big*!!! :-) HTH, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.

24 years, 4 months

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Motorola Mainframe????

by xds_sigma7＠hotmail.com

There's multiple varieties of what you describe, it uses stackable modules. Was also a rackmount version too. It ran a motorola version of Sys/V, at least the ones I know about did... Also was VME, at least the CPU etc was... for sure existed as both 88k and 68k, I can borrow my friend's motorola product catalog for more info if desired... Will J _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

24 years, 4 months

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Londinium

by brian＠quarterbyte.com

> Is there anything noteworthy to see in the London (England) area on > the 23rd ? Ohhhhhhh nooooo. I was writing to say that you have to go see the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre -- Museum of Automata (http://www.cabaret.co.uk) but the "About" page says it's now closed for restoration for a year. Never mind. brian =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _| _| _| Brian Knittel / Quarterbyte Systems, Inc. _| _| _| Tel: 1-510-559-7930 Fax: 1-510-525-6889 _| _| _| Email: brian(a)quarterbyte.com _| _| _| http://www.quarterbyte.com

24 years, 4 months

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HP 9000/710 docs

by rumi_ml＠rtfm.hu

does anyone have the Owner's Manual or some other docs for the HP 9000 Model 710 Workstation in some electronic form? Thanks, Rumi

24 years, 4 months

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Motorola Mainframe????

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

Does it look like the one on this web page? http://www.openbsd.org/mvme88k.html On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:25:02 -0500 "Curt Vendel" <curt(a)atari-history.com> writes: > I saw one of these last year, I was I had bought it, kinda look like > a stack > of Micopolis HD cases in dark grey. > > Anyone know anything about those units??? History, OS, h/w and > such. > > > > Curt > > ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

24 years, 4 months

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DCA controller

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

Hey, I've got a DCA controller here in front of me. It's a full-length 8-bit ISA/MCA flippy card, with 1 BNC & 1 RJ-11 (4P4C) ports on it. One sticker says `*LA 0006E1*' and one says `003581 REV.A' A little googling indicates this might be some sort of 3270 controller, but I couldn't find anything to confirm this. Anyone know what it is/want it? Bob

24 years, 4 months

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