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test-drb

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101090 discussions

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CPU design at the gate level

by alan.pearson＠cramer.com

Tony Duell wrote: > I've not come across it, but if it stops with registers and > the ALU, I don't think I'd call it a 'good book'. > > A CPU can be divided into 2 parts. The Data Path (registers, ALU, the > multiplexers between them, etc) and the Control (instruction decoder, > microcode + sequencer, condition logic, etc) True, I don't recall covering much in the way of control logic - only very basic stuff like telling the ALU whether to add or subtract, plus implementing a few flags like zero and carry. Once we got to that stage they threw us at the 29xx series to look at microcoding, which was all the rage at the time. Unfortunately I've lost most of my college notes now, I guess I've moved too many times :-/ I've been looking for a replacement for the Thewlis book - can you recommend any which cover CPU logic from the basics of how to build registers out of gates up to instruction fetching & decoding? I'm also very keen to get hold of a book covering the bitslice processors (29xx), any ideas? I can't imagine there's anything left in print now, but with an author/title or ISBN I might be able to track down a second-hand copy. -al

24 years, 9 months

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Practical Electronics and D. Bollen

by mranalog＠home.com

Hi, I'm looking for information about an author (and a series of magazine articles he wrote in the early 70's concerning analog computers) by the name of D. Bollen. The articles might have been published in "a popular English `do it yourself' electronics magazine called something like Practical Electronics". Does anyone have a near complete collection of Everyday Practical Electronics (EPE) Magazine? Maybe the magazine has an author's index. Can anyone think of the name another similar magaazine that fits this description? I've been told that these articles contain the "Full details" of my C180 english analog computer. Regards, --Doug P.S. If you CC me then I don't have to wait until tomorrow for your reply. :) ========================================= Doug Coward @ home in Poulsbo, WA Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog =========================================

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > Okay, you've got a 35 VUP system (VAX 7610), a 32 VUP system (VAX 6610), > > and a 6 VUP system (VAX 8700). > Don't forget that VAX 4000 in the 19" rack (P2100253.JPG) and that nice > BA215 (P2100244.JPG behind the plotter), what ever it contains. I missed the 4000 due to the shadow and the BA215 as I didn't scroll all the way down. More nice toys. > > However, it looks like you are missing the power controllers. > And the disk, tape, ... subsytems of the 8700? > > Sridhar, Brian you both are crazy. Absolutely nuts. And I have to say > that I like people like you very much. ;-) As someone that cares for an 8820 at work, I really think the 8700 is nuts, but fun. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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Amiga archiving

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I've had great luck in the past few weeks using a new tool called 'tsgui' that can be found on Aminet and the usual Amiga-related sites. It writes an Amiga volume as an HDF file, the format now supported under emulators such as WinUAE. My remaining Amigas (an A2000/040 and an A4000/030) always had Ethernet cards with TCP/IP and NFS. Using the freeware SOSS NFS server on my PC, I can see the PC's hard disk on the Amigas. 'tsgui' wrote each volume across the network. WinUAE wants sectors and surfaces as if from an Amiga 'mountlist' in order to understand the geometry of the HDF hard file. A tool called 'MakeMountlist' made that easy when the systems (such as the A4000) didn't use old-fashioned mountlists. Once loaded into WinUAE, it easily mounted my old volumes. One tweak to the startup-sequence to map my old volume WinUAE's default volume names, and suddenly I was booting into my exact A2000/040 environment in WinUAE. WinUAE can also mount points on the PC's file system as Amiga volumes, making future archived file retrieval quite easy. - John

24 years, 9 months

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Mac Plus as a webserver...

by DAW＠yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu

! >Isn't the SE an 030 Mac? The Plus is only a 68000. ! ! No, the SE was an 8mhz 68000 just like the plus. The SE was ! basically a ! newer plus (it had a built in HD or 2 800k floppies, ADB, an ! expansion ! slot, and a newer ROM). Later the SE was upgraded to having the ! SuperDrive (not the NEW superdrive that apple has recycled ! the name for, ! but rather the original 1.4mb drive that could read MFS, HFS, ! DOS, and ! ProDOS) Properly known as the 'Macintosh SE FDHD'. Yep, I got one of these, running OS 6.0.7, 50MB HDD, and 4MB RAM... ! There WAS an SE/30 that was a 16mhz (33mhz?) 68030... it was ! basically an ! SE, but with the faster processor and 8 simm slots rather than 4... I ! think THAT is the Mac you are thinking of. Yeah, the SE/30 is a 68030, 16MHz; with 68882 FPU and 0.5K of L1 cache! Have two of these, OS 7.1 and 7.0.1... --- David A Woyciesjes --- C & IS Support Specialist --- Yale University Press --- mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu --- (203) 432-0953 --- ICQ # - 905818

24 years, 9 months

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by sspence＠avimages.com

Don't know if you found the problem with your lcd yet but I am a tech on such and if you carefully fub the glued ribbon cables feeding into the lcd panel sometimes this corrects those lines otherwise you might get it repaired by one of the online lcd repair shops. Steven Spence

24 years, 9 months

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by vance＠ikickass.org

I've been looking at info on the Internet, and I have gotten confused. A lot of places say that the DEC VT525 can do color graphics, whereas some places say it can only do text. Is there a DEC color graphics (ReGIS and Sixels) terminal that can accept a PS/2 keyboard? Peace... Sridhar

24 years, 9 months

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CPU design at the gate level

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Sep 21, 9:18, Alan Pearson wrote: > Unfortunately I've lost most of my college notes now, I guess I've moved > too many times :-/ I've been looking for a replacement for the Thewlis > book - can you recommend any which cover CPU logic from the basics of > how to build registers out of gates up to instruction fetching & decoding? > I'm also very keen to get hold of a book covering the bitslice processors > (29xx), any ideas? I can't imagine there's anything left in print now, but > with an author/title or ISBN I might be able to track down a second-hand > copy. Amongst my collection I have "Microprogrammed Systems Design" by J S Florentin. After some preliminaries, it explains the design of two (fictional) machines, a simple one (not unlike a PDP-8) and then a more complex one (not unlike a PDP-11) using Am2900 series and TI 74AS888/890 chips. It has a large section on the sequencers in the middle, then microprogramming, and ends up with RISC and other VLSI devices (including later AMD and TI bit slice families). It may still be in print; I'm sure I've seen copies recently. It's published by Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-54250-9 if you want to look for it. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 9 months

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This week's scores.

by vance＠ikickass.org

This has been a good week. If all continues to go well, I will have procured the following hardware for the use of my buttocks: VAX 7000-610 VAX 6000-610 VAX 8700 (hopefully to eventually become n 8800) 2 VAX 4000/700A's 4 Partial VAX 4000/500's (Need chassis/backplanes) DECserver 700 VT340 (yay! finally! thanks, dave!) IBM S/390 G1 IBM 3990 ESCON-attached DASD controller IBM Shark RAMAC 2TB DASD Server IBM 5155 Portable Personal Computer Apple //e w/1 Drive SGI Onyx RealityEngine2 SGI IrisVision Microchannel (!) DPT EISA Caching SCSI EISA 10/100 Ethernet 2 Kingston MCA RAM Expansion Boards Plus I got to hang out with Dave McGuire, Brian Hechinger, Brian's daughter Avalon, Jeff Hellige, and a bunch of other random cool people. Pretty good week, I think. Peace... Sridhar

24 years, 9 months

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Intriguing proposal

by vance＠ikickass.org

Is it possible to put a Laserbus PCI Hose from an AlphaServer 8400 in my VAX 7000? The concept boggles the mind. Also, does anyone know where I can find TXXX XMI/BI, EXXX Laserbus, and other reference numbers for boards? Peace... Sridhar

24 years, 9 months

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TRS-80 Model IV needs good home

by vcf＠vintage.org

I am in contact with a fellow near Buena Vista, Colorado, who has a TRS-80 Model IV with some system disks and manuals. He wants it to go to a good home. You pay shipping and packaging costs. He has no e-mail address and would not like to publish his phone number, so please e-mail me and I'll pass the info along to you. In the inevitable event of multiple responses, preference will go to those local to him (local being inside Colorado). Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

24 years, 9 months

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Anybody have a rom image of a modern TI graphing calculator?

by strzecha＠kis.p.lodz.pl

"Blair J. Miller" wrote: > I have an 86 if you want me to create a ROM image of it... but you'll have > to instruct me on how to do it... I have the serial link cable. > > Blair > Hi I am author of TI-81, TI-85 and TI-86 drivers for MESS (http://mess.emuverse.com) multiemulator. What version of rom do you have in your TI-86 ? I was able to found only version: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.6. If it is diffrent I am also interested in image of this rom. Krzysztof Strzecha

24 years, 9 months

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Cromemco 16FDC and IMSAI front panel

by mranalog＠home.com

"Bill Sudbrink" <bills(a)adrenaline.com> said: > I brought this up some time ago, but never > got a satisfactory answer... > > When I use the above combination (regardless > of CPU board), while the system in general > works fine, the deposit/examine functionality > of the front panel stops working. Somebody > said they knew of a fix, but then never posted > anything else. I've looked at the schematics > (I have them for both items) and can't for the > life of me see anything that would conflict. > > Any help greatly appreciated. Here is some of the IMSAI front panel gottas: MWRITE pin 68 - This signal needs to be generated by one source and one source only. It is generated by the IMSAI front panel (by a deposit) so make sure this signal is disabled on the CPU board when used with the IMSAI front panel. PROT & UNPROT pins 20 & 70 - The IEEE 696 standard says that these pins will be at ground. Some motherboards ground these lines. But grounding these pins on the IMSAI front panel will disable the front panel. To fix this, cut the traces, on the front panel, right at edge connector pin 20 and 70. Data Out Bus - When the IMSAI front panel does a deposit operation, it expects the the data on the Data In Bus to be reflected on the Data Out Bus. Some later CPU boards disabled the Data Out Bus to cut down on bus noise especially above 2MHz. Regards, --Doug ========================================= Doug Coward @ home in Poulsbo, WA Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog =========================================

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> Here is a link to a Compaq web site that lists VUP ratings: Those aren't VUP ratings. It isn't even accurate, since the heading is "VAX system performance comparison--performance listing" and there are Alpha systems mixed in. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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FA: RARE: Heathkit ETA-3400 Memory I/O Accy

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 20, Geoff Reed wrote: > You know.... every time I see For Auction and rare in the same sentence, I > want to flog the author with a coho salmon.... Kinky. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 9 months

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FA: RARE: Heathkit ETA-3400 Memory I/O Accy

by hans＠east.sun.com

On Ebay: Heathkit ETA-3400 Memory I/O Accessory for the ET-3400 microprocessor trainer. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1277111977

24 years, 9 months

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OT: Modernish PC and USB questions with a Mac twist

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

This is semi-ontopic since I'm building the system to emulate a PDP-10. Anyway I just got a pair of Intel D810EMO motherboards for free. I plan to add a DIMM, CPU, small HD, and a PS. Probably won't even bother with a case as I'd like to save space. Anyway, it's been a long time since I had much to do with PC's I've got the following questions. Is a Pentium III 800EB and a 800B processor the same thing? Can a Mac USB keyboard (from my G4/450) be used on a PC? Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

24 years, 9 months

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CP/M TEX wanted

by steve＠kostecke.net

Does anyone have a copy of CP/M TEX (preferably for CP/M-86)? The manual is available form the usual places, unfortunately the binary is not. Thanks, -- Steve Kostecke <steve(a)kostecke.net>

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > There are some inaccuracies, though. For instance, the /90 and /90A > > are shown to have the same TPS, but the /90A is faster. The numbers > > for the /90 and /90A are also wrong as far as I can tell (the numbers > > more closely match what I first posted rather than what I determined > > experimentally). > > One remark here. The TPS numbers not always seem to be "logical". Please > notice, > that a lot of the benchmark is influenced by the I/o & disk system. So a > faster CPU not always > has a better TPS number. You can see it many times if you really look > into it. That's true, but the /90A has quite a bit more cache, which should influence the TPS rating. > And, the 4000/90 & /90a are workstations. So TPS is not of so much value > to this ... > > > There's also a lot of holes in the list. > > So fill them ;-) I was planning on doing that in the next few days. Standardizing will take a bit of work, though. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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who's got an M88k Aviion?

by dec.parts＠verizon.net

Hello Salo, > is there any 3 BNC -> 5 BNC cable out there? maybe that would > solve my problem. I have never seen anything like this. While it is easy enough to join two or three signals ( Software Integrators and Mirage, the makers of Fixed Frequency Video Cards for PC's used to do it by soldering a couple of resistors on the back of their video cards, one from H to green, and the other from V to green, taking care of sync type, while frequency timings were still taken care of in their customized video bios's ), it would be way beyond my ( practical only, and limited at that ) level of knowledge to know how to strip the sync signals off the green line, and individually separating them at that, to properly make that signal into a separate sync video signal. Sincerely, Bennett salo wrote: > > On Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 02:41:17PM -0400, Info from LSI wrote: > > If you don't mind experimenting, under the hood, and can do so > > without electrocuting yourself, I believe on the left side of > > the monitor you will find some adjustments, some of which might > > be labeled, horizontal frequency, horizontal phase, horizontal > > size, horizontal center, etc. You might try tweaking some of > > those and seeing if that stabilizes the image. > > i tried these already. some little changes occur but nothing big and nothing > which could indicate better state - just change. i do not think this is the > way it will work. > > i am not familiar with so old monitors (i was 10 and knew nothing about any > other hardware than PC and 8bits at the time it was constructed ;)) is there > any 3 BNC -> 5 BNC cable out there? maybe that would solve my problem. > > > Or you might try a 5 BNC variety Sony multisync, just hooking > > up R, G, and B. > > > > or if you have a multisync with a HD15M pigtail, I have hooked > > these up by coming out of computers with BNC video out by > > connecting to a BNC to HD15 cable hooked up so that the BNC's > > are to the computer, then used a HD15F-HD15F gender changer to > > join the BNC to HD15 cable to the monitor's HD15M pigtail. > > yes, i could use another monitor, but i want to use this one.. it is looking > fine and i do not want to throw it out :( > > > Just some experimental options to possibly try. > > thanks anyway > > regards, > > -- > -- salo <salo(a)Xtrmntr.org> ASCII Ribbon campaign against /"\ -- > -- <salo(a)silcnet.org> e-mail in gratuitous HTML and \ / -- > -- Microsoft proprietary formats X -- > -- http://Xtrmntr.org/salo.pgp / \ --

24 years, 9 months

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HP Oscilloscope 3563A

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hi: I came across on of these and don't know exactly what it is. It doesn't look like any OScope that I've ever seen. Any HP gurus out there that recognize it? Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> At 12:08 PM 9/20/01, Emmanuel replied to my question with : > >http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/sections.html > >;-) > > (the VAX hardware reference), however this reference is unreliable when it > comes to VUPs ratings. > Eric has confirmed that it was correct on the ones I asked about, we > already had the 4000/100 vs 4000/90 vs 4000/700 discussions :-) There are some inaccuracies, though. For instance, the /90 and /90A are shown to have the same TPS, but the /90A is faster. The numbers for the /90 and /90A are also wrong as far as I can tell (the numbers more closely match what I first posted rather than what I determined experimentally). There's also a lot of holes in the list. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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HP Cassette Tapes

by marvin＠rain.org

I just received about 80 HP Cassette tapes today, and have no idea what these things might be used on or for. They appear to be about DC-100 size and have names such as "64850-10005 Z8 asm/lnk", "64815-10002 68000 Pascal Compiler", "64816-10005 Z8001/2 Pascal Compiler", "Z80 Emul/Asm", etc. Anyone have any idea of what machine these things might be used on?

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > > > The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a > > > > 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the > > > > VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. > > > > > > The VAX CPU Summary lists these numbers: > > > > > > VS4000/90 32.8 VUPS > > > 4000/700a 40 VUPS > > > 4000/705a 45 VUPS > > > > The numbers I have are from DSN, and the 42 VUP rating for the 4000/90 feels > > right to me. > > The "VAX CPU Summary" numbers above are their SPECint92 numbers, NOT their > VUP rating. I'm glad to finally see VUP ratings for these systems. Eric, I > don't suppose you've also got any kind of full list from DSN? If not do you > happen to have info on the VS4000/90A and /96? I have the full list available from DSN, but it isn't complete. I can't post it here, though, due to it being copyrighted, but I can post VUPs for requested systems from the list, if you ask. The numbers above are the VUPs. The DSN listing for the /90 and /90A are off by 10. I got ambitious and ran some more tests. The /90 is 32-33 and the /90A is 38-39. The VAX 7730 systems at work are 150 VUPs. What's interesting when reviewing the list is to see how the bus architecture impacts the VUPs on identical CPUs. For instance the 7610 is 35 VUPs but the 6610 is only 32 VUPs. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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VAX to play with

by dec.parts＠verizon.net

Hello Bill, The URL is ... http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1277142640 Sincerely, Bennett Bill Bradford wrote: > > Please ! Let me know the auction number as soon as it goes up. > > Bill > > On Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 06:19:14PM -0400, Info from LSI wrote: > > Hi Bill, > > > > I don't mind putting my VAXstation 4000/60's, "box > > only", up on eBay, starting at $1.00, under their > > "Auction for America" program where eBay donates the > > selling price to the NYC WTC Disaster Fund. 8 Mb on the > > board. Both checked to power up and generate video output. > > You scrub the magic marker markings off the front which > > is easy to do with isopropol alcohol and comet. However, > > regardless of how eBay wants to run that program, packaging > > materials ( low cost because I get them wholesale ) and > > shipping costs ( low cost because I ship FEDEX Ground at > > the FEDEX Center ) would have to be covered, else buyer > > picks up. But with "buyer picks up" terms, it should sell > > dirt cheap. > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Bennett > > > > > > > Speaking of which, anybody know where I can get a decent desktop > > > VAX to play with again? VLC or better... > > > > > Bill > > -- > Bill Bradford > mrbill(a)mrbill.net > Austin, TX

24 years, 9 months

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someone grab that TU81+ in St Louis please?

by gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org

Hi, a TU81+ (9-track tape drive, the latest and best that DEC came up with) is up on ebay with only 17 hours to go. It is in St. Louis. So, Buckaroo may want to get it. I think someone should drop in a bid on it just so it is not lost in the dumpster. I have already two of those outstanding (still need to actually go and get them.) The TU81+ works nice with a VAX 6000 or a UNIBUS vax. Not sure the smaller 4000s have an interface, they probably do. The interface is the KLESI on the BI bus (it's actually a UNIBUS adapter with the TU device driver right on the same card and no way to connect more UNIBUS.) http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1275105774 -Gunther -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org

24 years, 9 months

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VAX to play with

by dec.parts＠verizon.net

Hi Bill, I don't mind putting my VAXstation 4000/60's, "box only", up on eBay, starting at $1.00, under their "Auction for America" program where eBay donates the selling price to the NYC WTC Disaster Fund. 8 Mb on the board. Both checked to power up and generate video output. You scrub the magic marker markings off the front which is easy to do with isopropol alcohol and comet. However, regardless of how eBay wants to run that program, packaging materials ( low cost because I get them wholesale ) and shipping costs ( low cost because I ship FEDEX Ground at the FEDEX Center ) would have to be covered, else buyer picks up. But with "buyer picks up" terms, it should sell dirt cheap. Sincerely, Bennett > Speaking of which, anybody know where I can get a decent desktop > VAX to play with again? VLC or better... > Bill

24 years, 9 months

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who's got an M88k Aviion?

by dan＠ekoan.com

On Wed, 19 Sep 2001 at 13:40:10 "r. 'bear' stricklin" <red(a)bears.org> wrote: > I do, in fact, have several releases of DG/UX on both QIC tape and CD-ROM. > I'd be interested in trading a copy of one for a dump of the NVRAMs. I can > tell you how to get the dump, too. I'm just catching up on my Classic Computer reading... I've got four DG AV 4300's sitting in the next room. Each of them has a QIC tape drive. I got them without documentation and I haven't had time yet to even boot them up. If someone has instructions on how to break into root I'd be happy to try it out, and/or if there's a way to read the NVRAM without booting the OS I'll be happy to try that, too. BTW, I'd love to trade the 4300's for classic HP gear... Cheers, Dan www.decodesystems.com/wanted.html

24 years, 9 months

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who's got an M88k Aviion?

by dec.parts＠verizon.net

Hello Salo, > btw. i have another problem. i have Sony GDM-1601/8 monitor > (shipped by Data General with own logo) connected to my AV 530 > with graphics card by 3 BNC RGB cable made from standard 50ohm > coaxial cables (i know there should be 75ohm ones, but i just > wanted to try it). i am not sure if 3 cables are enough because > that monitor has 5 BNC connectors (2 additional ones for horizontal > and vertical sync). i tried to find any docs but without success > (no info about 1601/8, just 1601 and 1601/6). problem is that > picture on monitor looks like with higher frequency than monitor > can handle or without some sync, lines are shifted to each other > and it is shaking a bit. i hoped that sync on green was enogh but > now i am not sure. graphics card i have is some data general 8 > B/P GRAPHICS CARD shipped with that AV 530 (monitor was probably > used with another machine). > any help will be appreciated.. thanks If you don't mind experimenting, under the hood, and can do so without electrocuting yourself, I believe on the left side of the monitor you will find some adjustments, some of which might be labeled, horizontal frequency, horizontal phase, horizontal size, horizontal center, etc. You might try tweaking some of those and seeing if that stabilizes the image. Or you might try a 5 BNC variety Sony multisync, just hooking up R, G, and B. or if you have a multisync with a HD15M pigtail, I have hooked these up by coming out of computers with BNC video out by connecting to a BNC to HD15 cable hooked up so that the BNC's are to the computer, then used a HD15F-HD15F gender changer to join the BNC to HD15 cable to the monitor's HD15M pigtail. Just some experimental options to possibly try. Sincerely, Bennett

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > > > > Actually that rack contains two VAX 4000/700As. > > > > Ahhhh! I get jealous reading that. The 4k VAXen are quite nice and the > > > > 700A has around 33VUPs. My best VAXen are a 4k400 and a VS4k90. > > > > > > The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a > > > 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the > > > VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. > > > > The VAX CPU Summary lists these numbers: > > > > VS4000/90 32.8 VUPS > > 4000/700a 40 VUPS > > 4000/705a 45 VUPS > > The numbers I have are from DSN, and the 42 VUP rating for the 4000/90 feels > right to me. Maybe the /90 is 32 VUPs and the /90A is 38.8, which would make sense if the list on DSN is off for both system. What leads me to believe the DSN listing is in error now is I just ran a test program on a /90, 90A, /400, and /500, and the numbers for the /90 and /90A are way off from what I'd expect if the ratings from DSN are correct. I'm going to run some tests this weekend to try to get better numbers. I wish the original DEC test program was available. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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paging Brian Chase

by gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org

Hi, does anyone know where Brian Chase is? He dropped from my radar screen about two months (or more?) ago. He used to live in Bloomington, IN, not far from me, and we had hauled the VAX 6420s from my workplace in spring this year. He wanted to check out some job opportunity in California, and then he was never seen again. Does anyone have more recent information? His Web site still exists, without any news however. thanks, -Gunther -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org

24 years, 9 months

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Cromemco 16FDC and IMSAI front panel

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Doug Coward <mranalog(a)home.com> wrote: > PROT & UNPROT pins 20 & 70 - The IEEE 696 standard > says that these pins will be at ground. Some > motherboards ground these lines. But grounding > these pins on the IMSAI front panel will disable > the front panel. To fix this, cut the traces, > on the front panel, right at edge connector > pin 20 and 70. I'm thinking that some CPU boards expect the front panel to ground one of these signals when the panel is putting something on the data bus via the panel connector (and the CPU board should therefore use the data bus on the panel connector instead of the one on the motherboard). Maybe I am confusing this with some other signal? I ran into this in 1989 with a CCS Z80 board and no-name chassis with apparent 696 motherboard. Took me a while to figure out why it wasn't coming up. -Frank McConnell

24 years, 9 months

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Altair floppy controller

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Hello, all: Work on the Altair32 emulator is progressing and I'm up to getting the floppy controller code working, but I've run into a snag. Has anyone ever used this controller? Does anyone know if it has a BIOS or something *other* than the 256-byte bootrom? I disassembled the bootrom that I borrowed from the Elena Altair simulator and it seems to reference addresses outside its execution range. Thanks. Rich ========================== Richard A. Cini, Jr. Congress Financial Corporation 1133 Avenue of the Americas 30th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 545-4402 (212) 840-6259 (facsimile)

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

Huw Davies [mailto:Huw.Davies@kerberos.davies.net.au] > systems. All of these systems used either a PRO-350 or PRO-380 as the > VAXconsole. Later (when all the PROs were used up?) the console was > replaced with a uVAX-II and the systems renamed 88x0 (for > x=1,2,3 or 4 CPUs). Actually, the Nautilus family underwent a slight redesign (or possibly a major redesign) and became the Polarstar family. This was the VAX 8810 (1 cpu) through to the VAX 8840 (4 cpu). Up to 2 CPUs per cab, max 2 cabs for a full system. The system bus was renamed from NMI to PMI (and presumably underwent some changes). The PRO console was replaced with a MicroVAX II. There was some confusion about the 8700 and 8800 machines and so they were (IIRC) renamed VAX 8810-N and VAX 8800-N. I never saw one of these so I don't know whether they were real VAX 8700 and VAX 8800 or whether they were a VAX 8810/VAX 8820 but with a PRO console ( or even a MicroVAX II console!). The maintenance manual for the Nautilus series was online at http://208.190.133.201/decimages/moremanuals.htm but that seems to have slipped two months backwards in a time warp and all that has vanished! I've never seen a similar manual for the Polarstar series, but I have seen the corresponding lists of modules and they did look quite different to Nautilus IIRC. Antonio

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

jkunz(a)unixag-kl.fh-kl.de wrote: >There is the 8600 (aka 11/790) listed as a SBI machine. That's correct. It was going to be known as the VAX-11/790 until someone changed their mind (it was very late, so they had plenty of time to play with the name!). >There is no reference to the 8700. The VAX 8700 is a single processor VAX 8800. >The 8800 is listed as: > Basically an 8550 processor in a bigger box with space for additional > processors to make it into an 8820 or 8840 No. The Nautilus family started out as the single processor VAX 8700 which could have a few more (or many more, I forget) cards added to become the dual processor VAX 8800. The VAX 8550 was a VAX 8700 in a (big) cab that could *not* be upgraded to a VAX 8800. The VAX 8500 was a VAX 8550 with microcode deliberately slugged to slow it down. This was soon followed by a microcode update that removed the NOPs ... *all* 8500s were supposed to be upgraded and the machine was renamed the VAX 8530. The processor(s) live(d) on the NMI bus (Nautilus Memory Interconnect, I assume). The I/O bus was the VAXBI. This is in contrast to the VAX 8200/8300 which came out at the same time and used the VAXBI as their system bus as well as teh I/O bus. >The 8550 is listed: > XMI processor/memory backplane with VAXBI I/O XMI is wrong ... it's NMI. The VAX 6000 series was the first family (IIRC) to use the XMI. >So I assume the "base" machine is the 8550. In a biger chasiss it is >named 8700 and with a second CPU the 8700 is called 8800? Yes, that's a good summary but don't forget the runt of the litter, the VAX 8500 (which rapidly became the VAX 8530). Antonio

24 years, 9 months

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microcoding a PC into a PDP-11 (was: RE: Classic Computers v s. Classic Computing)

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

Bill Pechter wrote: > Actually much of the 11/780 microcode is in rom. > The stuff loaded from RX01 is mostly bug fixes to the rom code. > The patches went into the Writeable Control Store board. The VAX-11/750 did the same thing (IIRC the first microcode patch required a large number of roms to be changed by field service ... the control store was redesigned to allow patchable code a-la 780). > The 11/785 went to completely RAM loaded microcode. > The 11/780 did have an optional second User Writeable Control Store > board. In one or other of the DTJ articles, the development of the MicroVAX II is described. They used the VAX-11/730 with new microcode to simulate a MicroVAX II: the 11/730 was *completely* soft. Antonio

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> At 10:53 PM 9/19/01 -0500, Eric wrote: > > but I can post VUPs for requested systems from the list, if you ask. > > Ok, what are the VUPs rating of the > MicroVAX 3400, 3500, 3800, and 4000/200 (KA640, KA650, KA655, and > KA660) Here there are, plus a couple of extras: System VUPS 3200 2.7 3300/3400 2.4 3500/3600 2.7 3800/3900 3.8 4000/200 5.0 4000/300 8.0 4000/400 16.0 4000/500 24.0 4000/600 32.0 -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> >So I assume the "base" machine is the 8550. In a biger chasiss it is > >named 8700 and with a second CPU the 8700 is called 8800? > > As far as I recall, the first two products were the 8700 and the 8800, the > only difference was the number of CPUs (one and two respectively). There > were two slower implementations (8550, 8530) that were both single CPU > systems. All of these systems used either a PRO-350 or PRO-380 as the > VAXconsole. Later (when all the PROs were used up?) the console was > replaced with a uVAX-II and the systems renamed 88x0 (for x=1,2,3 or 4 CPUs). The 8700/8800 used a Pro-350 or Pro-380 as the console. Later, DEC renamed them the 8810 and 8820. Later on DEC introduced a new 8810 and 8820 that were different and could be upgraded to an 8830 or 8840. Unfortunately they aren't compatible and this leads to problems when you need to get repair parts. You need to be specific on whether your 8810 or 8820 is a -N or not. I can't remember whether the -N is the newer model or not. The easiest way to tell is whether your system has a Pro or a MicroVAX II as the console. When DEC introduced the newer models they really should have used a new model number or renamed the older models the 8710 and 8720. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > Actually that rack contains two VAX 4000/700As. > Ahhhh! I get jealous reading that. The 4k VAXen are quite nice and the > 700A has around 33VUPs. My best VAXen are a 4k400 and a VS4k90. The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. > > That thing that looks > > like a BA215 is actually an external DSSI cabinet full of disks. > Ahh, I know that. I got such a thing with my MV4k200... > > > I now have craploads of 2 GB DSSI disks. > I know people that would kill for 2GB DSSI disks (and a KFQSA). ;-) I would rather go with a QBUS SCSI or HSDxx controller. Once I find one I"ll get rid of my DSSI disks. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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MC68881 vs MC68882 (was Re: Mac Plus as a webserver...)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Ethan Dicks wrote: > My memory is that the parts were interchangable in hardware (presuming > the speed was OK) but the performance was better at a given speed > for the 68882 over the 68881. I never did any rendering on my Amigas, Yup. I've replaced many 68881s with 68882s in Sun3/50 and /60 machines when I was doing lots of raytracing with them back in '90 or so. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Eric Dittman wrote: > Maybe the /90 is 32 VUPs and the /90A is 38.8, which would make sense if the > list on DSN is off for both system. What leads me to believe the DSN listing > is in error now is I just ran a test program on a /90, 90A, /400, and /500, > and the numbers for the /90 and /90A are way off from what I'd expect if the > ratings from DSN are correct. I'm going to run some tests this weekend to > try to get better numbers. The CPU Summary lists the /90A at 38.5. > I wish the original DEC test program was available. Me too. :-/ -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Absurdly Obtuse wrote: > > Very nice toys. I have a MV4k200 in a BA215. A very handy QBus VAX and > > it is nice to work on the BA215. No finger breaking and flor crawling > > like on the flor stand BA23. > > This one is an even nicer toy. This one is two 4K/700As in a rack. That > thing on the floor is an external DSSI box. There is one more like it in > the rack. You're welcome, fanboy. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a > > 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. > The VS4k9 is around 24 VUPs. It compiles quite exact twice as fast as my > 4000/60 that is rated at 12 VUPs. I have seen many confusing ratings for > the VS4k90. It is a nice desktop machine. Especially as mine has 128MB > RAM. But it is a joke to that VAX7650. Damn. I would sell my grandma > for that machine. ;-) I have a couple of VAX 7730 systems at work. They're pretty nice, and they each have 2GB of RAM. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

> > > The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a > > > 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the > > > VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. > > > > The VAX CPU Summary lists these numbers: > > > > VS4000/90 32.8 VUPS > > 4000/700a 40 VUPS > > 4000/705a 45 VUPS > > The numbers I have are from DSN, and the 42 VUP rating for the 4000/90 feels > right to me. The "VAX CPU Summary" numbers above are their SPECint92 numbers, NOT their VUP rating. I'm glad to finally see VUP ratings for these systems. Eric, I don't suppose you've also got any kind of full list from DSN? If not do you happen to have info on the VS4000/90A and /96? Zane

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > > > Actually that rack contains two VAX 4000/700As. > > > Ahhhh! I get jealous reading that. The 4k VAXen are quite nice and the > > > 700A has around 33VUPs. My best VAXen are a 4k400 and a VS4k90. > > > > The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a > > 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the > > VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. > > The VAX CPU Summary lists these numbers: > > VS4000/90 32.8 VUPS > 4000/700a 40 VUPS > 4000/705a 45 VUPS The numbers I have are from DSN, and the 42 VUP rating for the 4000/90 feels right to me. > > I would rather go with a QBUS SCSI or HSDxx controller. Once I find > > one I"ll get rid of my DSSI disks. > > Get rid of 'em in my direction, please. 8-) Okay, when I do you've got first shot. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Eric Dittman wrote: > > > Actually that rack contains two VAX 4000/700As. > > Ahhhh! I get jealous reading that. The 4k VAXen are quite nice and the > > 700A has around 33VUPs. My best VAXen are a 4k400 and a VS4k90. > > The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a > 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the > VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. The VAX CPU Summary lists these numbers: VS4000/90 32.8 VUPS 4000/700a 40 VUPS 4000/705a 45 VUPS > I would rather go with a QBUS SCSI or HSDxx controller. Once I find > one I"ll get rid of my DSSI disks. Get rid of 'em in my direction, please. 8-) -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 9 months

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Embedded PDP-11 Processors

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

Another place where T-11 (PDP-11 cpu) was employed were the VT-240/241 Allison

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, jkunz(a)unixag-kl.fh-kl.de wrote: > > The 8700 and the 8600 are very different machines. The 8700 uses > > VAXBI, and is mounted in a chasiss similar in size to that of the > > 8600. I don't think there's any XMI in there. > > > > Incidentally, the 8700 can be turned into an 8800 by plugging a > > second CPU card set into the machine. > Hmmm. I got confused by: > http://www.de.netbsd.org/Documentation/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/sections.h… > > There is the 8600 (aka 11/790) listed as a SBI machine. > There is no reference to the 8700. > The 8800 is listed as: > Basically an 8550 processor in a bigger box with space for additional > processors to make it into an 8820 or 8840 > The 8550 is listed: > XMI processor/memory backplane with VAXBI I/O > > According to http://anacin.nsc.vcu.edu/~jim/mvax/vax-perf.html the 8k > VAXen, except the 8600, are pure VAXBI, no XMI. XMI came with the 6k > VAXen. The only 8K machines that I have personal experience with are the 8200, 8250, and 8350. They're definitely all pure BI machines...the CPU and memory are BI cards. The 8700 has BI busses for I/O but the CPU (made up of multiple large boards) is definitely *not* BI. > So I assume the "base" machine is the 8550. In a biger chasiss it is > named 8700 I've never seen the innards of an 8550, but I can tell you that the 8700 processor is several very large non-XMI boards...maybe six boards in all, about twice the size of XMI boards, that use ZIF connectors similar to those used in XMI and BI. The VAX CPU Summary lists both the 8550 and 8700 as 6 VUP machines. > and with a second CPU the 8700 is called 8800? Yes, I can confirm this. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by vance＠ikickass.org

To all those that wanted to see the pictures of Brian Hechinger and I unloading a truckload of IBM S/390 and DEC VAX equipment (you know who you are), the pictures are up on http://www.users.cloud9.net/~sridhar/mainframe/ Peace... Sridhar

24 years, 9 months

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Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> On September 19, jkunz(a)unixag-kl.fh-kl.de wrote: > > BTW a stupid question: What is a 8700? Is it SBI based like the > > 11/78[05] and 86[05]0, or is it XMI / VAXBI like the 85x0 or 6k VAXen? > > I asume that a 8700 is a 8600 in a biger enclosure? > > The 8700 and the 8600 are very different machines. The 8700 uses > VAXBI, and is mounted in a chasiss similar in size to that of the > 8600. I don't think there's any XMI in there. > > Incidentally, the 8700 can be turned into an 8800 by plugging a > second CPU card set into the machine. The 8700/8800 systems were changed in designation about half-way through their production. The 8700 became the 8810 and the 8800 became the 8820. There was also another set of 88x0 systems that were different internally in that they could be upgraded to more CPUs. All to confuse the customer, I guess. Does the 8700 have the VAX Console? -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

24 years, 9 months

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