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

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >Over here, virtually all large-ish screen TVs have what's called a SCART >socket. This is a 21 pin connector carrying 2 channels of audio in and >out (4 connections), composite video in and out (the input is also used >for composite sync in in RGB mode), RGB input, blanking, etc, and lots of >grounds. Never seen one here. This set does take composite video in and audio in via jack on front (Sharp). >I've never seen a monitor with a hot chassis. I know the original 110V >version of the TRS80 model 1 monitor was (I have the service manual), and >had an opto-isolated video input, but surely all more recent monitors >have isolating PSUs? Many do, but I was thinking more of TVsets. >About the worst you'll find over here is some varient of the IPSALO >circuit (IPSALO == Integrated Power Supply And Line Output, Line Output >being what we call the horizontal output stage). Comon config here in smaller or lowend sets. >With these, the flyback is on the hot side of the PSU, as is the >horizontal deflection yoke. The horizontal drive signal is opto-isolated, >the horizontal osciallator, vertical deflection, video circuitry, >tuner/IF strip, etc are all isolated from the power line, The EHT to the >CRT is isolated as well, by the flyback transformer. > >Of course these means that one yoke winding is isolated from the power >line, the other isn't. Adds the 'fun' when servicing these. Isolation transformer is the only way to live. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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Another unknown system available in St. Louis

by west＠tseinc.com

I almost forgot to tell the list about this one.... if anyone wants it, it's theirs. I'll pick it up and facillitate shipping, or you can come to st. louis and go to the store and grab it yourself. At another electronics surplus store in st. louis....this appears to be a cpu only, could be a cpu and disk drive. 19" rackmount, brushed aluminum type front panel. The brand says "Bruker" on it. There's a row of lights for IRQ (6-0), a row of lights for pending IRQ (6-0), lights for diskr, diskw, ION, RUN, POWER. There's two LED displays in the upper right corner, one for the PC and one for the Accumulator. Bottom right is a keyswitch. In the center are pad switches with embedded led's for things like single step, examine, store, etc. Then above that and in the center is a set of thumbwheels... they all were set at zeros, and I don't recall how many of them there was, maybe 12 or so... just on appearances and a walkaround without touching it I wouldn't be suprised if it was a core machine. It's high on a shelf in the storage area, they won't want to get it down unless I'm serious about buying it - it looks heavy. There's no price on it, but from past experience at this place I'm figuring the owner would ask about $35 bucks for it. The general outward construction and appearance looks very similar to the nicolet model 80 that I got there a while back and was (ISTR) shown at the last VCF. I've never heard of a "bruker" computer... I'm not interested in this system for myself, but for intellectual reasons I'm a bit curious if anyone has heard of this system and could tell a little bit about it. If anyone wants it, contact me off list. Jay West

25 years, 6 months

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OT: help...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >> Doesn't even have an IEC cord set, strictly domestic. mains come in > >Odd.... Not really, domestic low cost version. saves a bit of money. >> Don't have to tell me. I've been kicked mor than once by Oscope supplies > >Yes, I know _you_ know, but this is a public list, and not everyone here >is used to working on high voltage stuff... True. I take it quite seriously. I was almost Blue Crossed 25 years ago when someone tried to help me while working on a 500W (output!) VHF commercial set. The turkey was thouching me when he reached into the plate compartment. We both flew about 12-15ft and he left via ambulence and if the combined shock and flight didn't hurt him I was going to. I was in some pain for days afterwards. >> No, most monitors these days can stand up without the cover and > ^^^ > can't ? Cant! confounded editor on this MS box like to go from insert to overstrike, very annoying. >True. It's often best to put them screen-down to work on them (and >certainly when removing or refitting the case). Trying to run them 'right >way up' with the case removed is a bad idea most of the time. that's the problem. though I do have a small carpet square to keep >from scratching the screen. >In the UK, almost all the circuity in a monitor (and most TVs for that >matter) is isolated from the power line. There's a 'hot' SMPSU, of >course, but the flyback, video circuitry, etc are all isolated by the >chopper transformer. True in this case but many TVs are not. I have a color set I have to look at (color skewed to red) that is very unsafe... isolation Xfmer time. >I've heard that a lot more of the electronics in US TVs is 'hot' >(compared to what I am used to) -- surely that's not true of monitors as >well.. Yes! >That doesn't necessarily mean the capacitors are still good. Particularly >not with the cheap components used in consumer electronics. I'd be more >inclined to trust a 20-year-old capacitor from an HP or Tektronix >instrument than a 5-year-old one from a PC monitor. No arguement. We retired a leader LBO505 Oscope as unstable calibration due to bad caps yet the Tek 316 is still going strong and in calibration! Allison

25 years, 6 months

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Amsat-Golem article - redux

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hello, all: Happy New Year to everyone. I'm trying to do some rearranging on my file archive, and I can't seem to locate the scan of part 2 to an article in BYTE magazine about the Amsat-Golem S100 computer. Whoever scanned this for me and e-mailed it to me, if you could re-send it. I'd appreciate it very much. Thanks again. Rich ClubWin! Group 1 Collector of Classic Computers Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /*****************************************/

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - pinouts

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 30, 23:06, David Gesswein wrote: > From: pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com (Pete Turnbull) > >That wasn't what I meant. Berg label the connector pins starting from the > >opposite end of the connector from the rest of the world, so what I meant > >was that on actual connectors, the pins are: > > > ... > > Thanks, I have updated the document. I had less trouble building it in the > first place than figuring out what I built. LOL! I often find that :-) > The adapter has a normal > 3M in it and I had though I got the pin 1 backward on it. Apparently > when I built it I knew they were opposite but since forgot. The first couple of times I came across Berg connectors (rather than, say, 3M, which I was used to on micros) I was *thoroughly* confused by what I saw as the "wrong" way of doing it. A healthy dose of DEC machines with 3rd party parts fixed that. Now I use them less, I have to think about it again, though. I wonder how this confusion came about? Everyone else uses "stripe on the right" (but not, IIRC, for D-connectors and some others) but I think Berg predates 3M et al headers? If so, how come 3M and the rest chose to be different? -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 6 months

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IBM-PC and SCSI

by lgwalker＠look.ca

I recently picked up a Fujitsu M2266SA HDD. This is a 1M SCSI 5 1/2 " drive with a black bezel like the IBM-PC MFM drives and will fit in the same space. The vendor said it was SCSI-1 but TheRef says it is SCSI-2 and Fujitsu doesn't say. I have a heavily modified PC(5150) with an Intel 386 Onboard card as Allison has on her Leading Edge 8086 (BTW, I have a lead >ajp < to someone that has the mem-expander daughter card) However I have no info on whether it would be possible to add a SCSI card to an IBM-PC. I have an Adaptec 1522A ISA SCSI card and likely others in my card box. Was there a SCSI card for the PC ? If so, would this possibly, with this configuration, allow you to transcend the 5-slot limits of the PC. And of course to have 1 meg storage for programs. WHEEEEE!!! Am I in fantasy-land or could I have a system to confound the leading-edgers, altho it already does that. "NO IT ISN'T POSSIBLE ON SUCH AN EARLY COMPUTER" . He he he he, chortle. ciao larry Reply to: lgwalker(a)look.ca

25 years, 6 months

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Tektronix 4052 and 4054 with 4662 plotter and 4631 hard copy unit

by montym＠swbell.net

Well, my waiting paid off. I picked up a Tektronix 4052 along with a Tek 4631 hard copy unit and custom metal cabinet late last year from a guy selling surplus medical school equipment. The 4052 had three missing keycaps and that was very difficult to remedy, but found an ex-Tek employee who had the keycaps I needed! Also a bunch of program tapes and several ROM cartridges. I now have the Character Set ROM and Signal Processing #2. The 4631 had paper too old to use but I found some on the internet for $10! Also, after about a dozen printouts, the main drive belt fell apart. Even with the service manual, finding a replacement was very difficult. Fortunately the service manual listed the number of teeth and length of the belt, so I was able to get one from Stock Drive Products. I also located the service manuals and found a 4662 multipen plotter on EBAY. I revived many of my old 4051 programs from the '70s, except for the ones that use the CALL "EXEC" command :( including my music playing program in 6800 assembly language. I even modified a Kraft PC joystick to plug into the 4052 joystick connector - works great, played one of the startrek games for the 4051 that supported the joystick. I also found and won a 4054 on EBAY early this year! This machine had been auctioned from Caltech. This machine was listed as not working. After some cleaning, I decided to try unplugging and reseating all the chips in sockets. I found one of the 16K bit DRAMs was bad, bought a 64Kbyte set to upgrade the memory to the 128KByte maximum and got the machine running again! Then I tracked down a malfunctioning opamp in the tape drive board and loaded some of my revived programs. Wow - the 19" direct view screen is incredible compared to the 12" flat CRT screen in the 4051/52. Although it is not flat, it has much more detail - I can see why it was preferred for CAD. Amazing how Tektronix had the higher resolution completely compatible with the old software. The 4631 hard copy made an incredible printout. Spurred on by the article at computergarage.org on using 4051s in Battlestar Galactica, I decided to try to write a short program to display a squadron of Battlestar Galactica Vipers on patrol. Using the image in the computergarage article, I printed the image on my inkjet, wrote a short digitizer program for the plotter and used the 4052 to digitize the outline of the viper in the picture. This is saved in a single array, then using Tek graphics WINDOW and VIEWPORT commands I draw the array with a single DRAW command, move the origin, resize the window and draw again. The same display on the 4054 is noticeably sharper than the 4052. By changing the DRAW command to a PLOT command, I'm able to plot the program to the 4662 - that's what I loved about the Tek PLOT 50 language. I'm still looking for someone with information on the CALL "EXEC" command and the 'newer' 4052/54 bitslice machines. Philip Belben was correct about the increased speed - some of my 4051 benchmarks run 10X faster on the 4052 and 4054. The "A" rev 4052A and 4054A added a TI GPIB chip to increase the GPIB speed further, and added a couple of other commands. The 4054 added a "refresh cursor" that could be controlled with the built-in thumbwheels in the keyboard. There was an Option for REFRESHED GRAPHICS that expanded on that concept and added an 8X300 coprocessor board with refresh graphics memory to have a whole graphics image be drawn without "storing" the image on the screen. Apparently my machine left the factory with that option - but the board is no longer there. Love to hear from someone that had that option board. Monty McGraw

25 years, 6 months

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Heath H-101-20, more info

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Jay West <west(a)tseinc.com> >It does appear to be an S-100 system. I'm not qualified to say that since I >am not into S100 stuff, but the cards inside it have 50 pins per side, and >it looks like the pics I've seen of S100 stuff. It is. Sounds like a Z100 (Z110 and friends). >The keyboard is missing the F12 key, and there is indeed a composite video >out rca jack. Right beneath it is a DB9F, from a quick look at the cable >internal I'm guessing it is mono out. There's also about 20 punchouts on the It's mono. There was a matching tube but any B&W monitor will work. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Jeff Hellige <jhellige(a)earthlink.net> > > Don't the VT220 and VR201 share some parts as well? My VR201 >got dropped a while back and that's the reason my DECmate isn't up Not really.. The tube is the same and maybe peice parts but ones a basic monitor and the other a complete CRT system. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >> I'm not sure about the DECmate III, but I know the II shares >> a few parts with the VT220 terminals. It also shares it's case with > >Apart from the LK201 keyboard, and obviously standard electronic parts, >what other items are common between the DECmate II and the VT220? CRT {assuming VR201}, and not much else. Though DecmateII/III does VT100/VT220 emulation. >I know the 'bow rather better than the DECmate, and I'd consider that >that machine has rather more in common with the VT100 than the VT220. For >example, the only 2 custom chips in a 'bow are the video timing chip and >video path chip on the motherboard, and those are identical to the chips >in a VT100. Sorta. sorta like saying all Z80 machines run CPM, not much commonality in a real sense. The chips are low level video timing and interface and do not really define VT100 or VT220 directly. The point being is VT100 uses 8080 or 8085 for smarts, VT220 uses 8051 and DECmate uses the COMS PDP-8 chip for the smarts. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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OT (sortof) wanted items (cart & logic analyzer stuff)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On December 29, Jay West wrote: > I love my HP 1631D logic analyzer, but it takes up way too much real estate > on my bench. I'd like to get a mobil cart for it, but virtually all the > scopecarts I've seen (like the tek 200) are for small scopes & such... the > 1631D analyzer is 16.5 inches across the middle, and 17 inches across the > front (the bezel sticks out a bit on each side). Would anyone have a scope > cart (like a tek 212 or similar) that is for wider instruments that is > excess and would consider selling/trading? > > Second, I'm looking for various disassemblers for the 1631D... these came on > 3.5 floppy, but I'm not sure what all disassemblers were available for it. > Anyone got this software laying around? I didn't think the 1631D had a floppy drive...? I had an HP 54201 oscilloscope for a while; it was my understanding that the 1631D was basically a 54201 scope with an additional logic analysis module. I've been shopping around off & on for a new logic analyzer...would you recommend the 1631D? -Dave McGuire

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Jeff Hellige <jhellige(a)earthlink.net> > I believe it was DEC's first microprocessor based PDP-8 >family machine, followed not long after by the DECmate series. Correct, effectively decmate-I the VT52based version was the first and second was VT100 based then decmate-II/III. >Reason for introduction: Using TTL MSI and LSI components, DEC could > pack a system into the vacant space in a standard terminal case, > allowing PDP-8 systems to compete with personal computers in the > small business and office automation market. This was a natural > follow-on to the desk-mounted workstation configurations in which > the PDP-8/A was already being sold. Actually before 1980 there were very few "personal" computers so the VT78 was ahead of the pack somewhat. >Compatability: The Group I OPR combinations RAL RAR and RTL RTR are > no-ops. Unlike all earlier PDP-8 models, autoindex locations > 10 to 17 (octal) only work in page zero mode; these operate like > all other memory locations when addressed in current page mode > from code running on page zero. Other than this, it is fully > PDP-8/E compatable, even at the level of I/O instructions for > the standard periperals; this was the last PDP-8 to offer this > level of compatability. The 6120 chip also had this and improve it a little but they were actually the end of the PDP-8 family line! > the terminal. The console (device 03/04) and the serial ports > (devices 30/31 and 32/33) are compatible with the M8650 KL8E, > with the latter extended to allow software controlled baud rate > selection. There are two parallel ports; device 66 (compatible > with the M8365 printer controller) and device 47, compatible with > the nonstandard port on the M8316 DKC8AA. There is also a 100Hz > clock compatible with the clock on the M8316 DKC8AA. This is critical to most programs that would run on discrete PDP-8 systems would run on the VT78 where the later decmates had a sorta/nearly but not quite terminal emulation leading to OS/278 varient of OS-8. The emulation or existance of KL8e TTY interface at 3/4 was a defining standard for all PDP-8 software that used a terminal interface. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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stuff available in STL, Heath & TRS-80

by west＠tseinc.com

While browsing through my usual electronics surplus haunts today in St. Louis, I came across the following items for sale in a local shop. I have no interest in them, but thought someone here might? If so, email me off-list. Heath Computer Systems model H-101-20. This system looks vaguely like an HP85 case, but no internal monitor. Might be pre-PC, but could be an x86 dos system too - I have no idea. Radio Shack DWP-210 printer. Has a manual with it. Neither of these items had a price tag on them yet, but from past experience I'd say this store would likely be tagging it around $40 for the puter and $15 for the printer - I'm just guessing here. Don't know if either item works, but I wouldn't mind going back and testing if someone can tell me what to test on them. If anyone is interested, let me know off list what your target and max price is and I'll go haggle for ya, or if you'd prefer, put you in contact with the store directly. I wouldn't tack on any additional cost except whatever shipping costs to you. Regards, Jay West

25 years, 6 months

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Software for Northstar Advantage 8/16?

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net> >take a soft-sectored disks and add more holes to it and see if it would >work? I don't know how critical the spacing would be. You would have to make an indexing punch, accurate to about 1-2% would be adaquate. The media is otherwise standard 360k DD. An alternate approach is to create a logic element that is synched to the index hole and provides 10 false index marks that corospond to the sector holes. A better drive like teac fd55A or B would work fine as their speed is likely more stable than the old SA400s. Years ago I did something similar to the NS* MDS-A controller to fake it so the indexhole (present in both hard and soft media) was the start and the Index sync logic would free run on finding the index hole. Mostly worked though I didn't try to hard to go further. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Jeff Hellige <jhellige(a)earthlink.net> > The DECmate II is an interesting beast, but unfortunately it >shares the hardware incompatabilities of the original DECmate, though >it 'improves' on them. I have a II that is pretty loaded, with the One that it makes worse is the terminal emulation. Terminal interrupts are not supported in the same way as is TTY at 03/04 so the KL8e emulation is poor except for the most simple programs that poll the IO. The improvements is 32KW of ram (32kw for pannel mode as well) the possibility and support for a hard disk is nice. It's also faster though the DMIII is fasest of the lot. >working again. It sounds like from a software compatability point >that the VT78 might be the better choice for a micro able to run >standard PDP-8 stuff. It's closer but the RX01/2 IO is somewhat different than the omnibus companions. Also the chip versions while very close to PDP-8 are not exact for timing and OPR/ IOT instruction microprogramming is slightly different. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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Zenith laptop

by johnmalc＠conxion.gr

I have just acquired a Zenith Data Systems laptop, model number ZFL-184-01. It appears to be working ok but I have no software for it. It has two low density floppy drives, A and B, but will not boot to a Dos disk so I presume it requires some machine-specific software. If anyone out there can put me in touch with a website where I can download such software I would be very grateful. I specialise in keeping old machines running but this one has me beat. Thanks John Malcolm (in Greece)

25 years, 6 months

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NCR Decision Mate V

by lgwalker＠look.ca

A friend of mine who's just beginning to collect found an NCR Decision Mate V but no K-B. She tried an XT one and got a "keyboard error" so it is working. The info I found on it says it's a CP/M-DOS hybrid needing a special DOS version or CPM 2.2 Anyone out there with a spare keyboard or know a possible substitute ? I understand it had 22 function keys (???) and a QWERTZ layout. If so she'd also likely need a manual. Any further details would also be appreciated. Thanks larry Reply to: lgwalker(a)look.ca

25 years, 6 months

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OT: wtd (uk) old chess computers

by stuart＠zen.co.uk

looking for old chess computer games, esp Vulcan electronics MKV. Please mail if you have anything. Thanks. stu

25 years, 6 months

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OT: help...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >> This one uses only direct mains (160V). That bothers me less as it >> can't reach out abnd get me. > >That's fairly unusual (most manufacturers these days make PSUs that can >be adapted for use on both 115V and 230V). Doen't even have an IEC cord set, strictly domestic. mains come in through EMI line filters and gow through a bridge and cap hence the ~160V. >I'd still be careful of 160V DC at considerable current. It could be >fatal if you connect yourself across it. Personnally, I treat any voltage >over 50V with great respect. Don't have to tell me. I've been kicked mor than once by Oscope supplies and once by RCA VHF low (35mhz) 500W. >But insulation breakdown is relatively rare. There are a lot of >unpleasant voltages on the PCB tracks of most monitors just waiting for >you to touch them though. Which is why I maintain that in general the EHT >is the least of your worries. Some of them really spikey and feel bad too. >I would regard most monitors as being a lot safer to work on than valve >transmitters... No, most monitors these days can stand up without the cover and are mains powered. At least Valve Tx are transformer isolated and commercial gear well caged abd often interlocked. >Right. A total breakdown of the flyback can cause this as well There's >one winding connected from the main output of the PSU (around 100-150V) >and the collector of the HOT. There's normally at least one winding with >a tap connected to chassis. A short between them cna shut down the PSU. > >If it's not a short there, then a shorted vertical output IC will trip >the PSU in some monitors. I suspect the driving transistor to the HOT. >Some monitors, particurlarly multiple-frequency types have _separate_ >output transistors for the horizontal scan and the EHT generation, the >latter driving the flyback. Sometimes there are other transistors (or >MOSFETs) switching capacitors in the various output stages when you >change scan rates so as to retune the flyback. Shorts in any of the >semiconductors will shut down the PSU. sounds like this one. >> the test was to bridge the likely candidates.. no joy. > >I'd suspect _all_ aluminium electrolytics. I once had an Xterminal PSU It's not that old, maybe 6 years max. I'll poke some more but, at 130$ for a new{and better} one I'm not sure it's worth a lot of effort. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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1 Question (CRT), 1 Suggestion (the list)

by webmaster＠ipom.com

Hey all, I have one question... one of the suggestions I received about my CRT was to resolder all the connections at the back of the CRT... and I was wondering... do I need to reheat the solder that's there, or do I need to take that solder off and put a new drop on? Also, to whomever run/owns the list... is it possible to get a digest version up and running. I'm relatively certain there is none currently, I searched the site a month or so back when I joined the list. Thanks. Phil -- Insanity Palace of Metallica www.ipom.com webmaster(a)ipom.com --

25 years, 6 months

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Too much stuff in my basement series : DEC RX50-AA Rev.B Drives free/trade

by claudew＠sprint.ca

Hi Must get back some space in basement Too many of these here. I think I have 3. Maybe 4 Not tested. Good cosmetic shape. I dont wanna collect this type of DEC stuff. Going into garbage soon. Will give them away free or will accept anything that might interest me in return. I collect mostly 197x-198x micros. See my crappy website for more stuff to trade/give away (I dont want money) http://computer_collector.tripod.com Shipping from Montreal, Canada Expect shipping to be around $10CAN/$6US per drive approx. Claude Canuk Computer Collector

25 years, 6 months

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Too much stuff in my basement series : 4 Apple Nubus 4/16 Token Rings cards free/trade

by claudew＠sprint.ca

Hi Once again way too much stuff here in my basement... 4 of these Apple Nubus Token Ring cards. Not tested. They look fine. Assy 670-4418 Will be going into garbage soon (next days) or will give away or trade for anything that can interest me. I collect mostly 197x-198x micros... See my crappy web site for more stuff to give away/trade... http://computer_collector.tripod.com Shipping from Montreal, Canada. Expect shipping to cost about $8 can or $5 US. Claude Canuk Computer Collector

25 years, 6 months

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Software for Northstar Advantage 8/16?

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

Hello all, I recently acquired a nice Northstar Advantage 8/16, and manuals, but no software. Would anyone happen to have either Graphics/DOS or Graphics/BASIC for this machine? I have complete manuals for them, but no disks :-( Also, I heard that the Northstars use hard-sectored 5.25" disks. Is this true? Thanks in advance, Rich B. (I subscribe to the digest, so I can't reply immediately ....)

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 30, 10:18, Jerome Fine wrote: > I have followed this thread, but I am still not sure what a VT78 does. > > Is it similar to a VT103 for a PDP-11? Well, "yes" and "no". It's basically a VT52 with extras which make it a sort of PDP-8, in the same sense that a VT103 is a VT100 with extras that make it a sort of PDP-11. However, there's no backplane, so you can't change the mix of boards (to use a different CPU, SLU, disk controller, etc); the layout is fixed and based around a Harris 6100 chip (roughly a PDP-8E on a chip, with some restrictions -- but I'm not a PDP-8 expert). It uses RX01 or RX02 floppies in a separate cabinet and runs OS/278 which is a modified version of OS/8 version 3 (I think?). I believe it's capable of running some other PDP-8 OS's too -- but I'm getting beyond my knowledge about there. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 6 months

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IBM-PC and SCSI

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com> >Well, Allison, you're memory's getting to be like mine. I've got three of >the 2266's and they all seem to agree they're about 1GB in capacity. Well, I knew it wasnt a 1mb drive as the smallest thing I'd ever seen as scsi was 10mb. >BTW, the drives don't seem to have a problem with the SCSI-1/SCSI-2 thing, >but the software, often written the way it is because the authors weren't >born before SCSI-2, don't realize that they get the same effect using the >SCSI-1 command set. As stupidly as SCSI is used on PC's, no overlapped >seeks, no command queuing, no disconnect, little use of synchronous mode, >they're not even getting SCSI-1 performance. No question about that. PC software and OSs generally dont use scsi well. My standard of comparison is PDP-11/RSTS or RSX and VAX/VMS where they work a disk hard! Allison

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by djg＠drs-esg.com

>From: pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com (Pete Turnbull) > >Um, by your numbering scheme, 7 and 8 are H and J, not E and F. > Yup >> 40 pin connector is numbered >> >> 1 (A) 39 (UU) >> 2 (B) 40 (VV) > >ObNitpick: That's the reverse of the conventional numbering; Berg >connectors with letters have the red stripe at the A end, which is on the >left of the pin header (looking into the pins) while all other headers >which are numbered have pin 1 on the right. Yup, how about Looking into pins of 40 pin male connector numbering is 2 (A) 40 (UU) 1 (B) 39 (VU) I think both the numbers are letters were otherwise correct, just the summary diagram was wrong. I have put this information on my search page, http://www.pdp8.net/pdp8cgi/query_docs/view.pl?table=pdp8docs&id=146 I also added the VT78 to RX01/RX02 cable pinout This is the VT78 to RX01/RX02 BC80D-5K cable pinout (from buzzing out mine) Pins 1-9 of the DB25 go to pins 1-9 of the DB37 Pins 14-23 of the DB25 go to pins 20-28 of the DB37 Pin 25 of the DB25 is attached to the cable shield which is grounded at the other end with a wire to one of the mounting screw on the DB37. David Gesswein http://www.pdp8.net/ -- Old computers with blinkenlights

25 years, 6 months

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PDP-11 SMD drive cabling

by rdd＠smart.net

Season's Greetings, Well, today, I finally removed my CDC 9" SMD disk drive from the living room; getting it down the basement steps was fun. Anyway, now it's only a few feet away from my 11/73 and 11/44. The 11/73, running RT-11 and RSX-11, already has two, much smaller, 8" Fujitsu SMD drives in it. Now then, I've got an RL02 pack labeled RSX-11M, which I'm hoping contains a complete RSX-11M distribution. If I can get an RL02 controller board for the 11/73, will there be any problem with just connecting one of the SMD cables to the CDC drive and copying RSX-11M onto it? Should I be able to boot this from any PDP-11? One note: this CDC drive appears to be configured for drive select 1, not 0... does anyone know where I can get one of those little square buttons used to select drive 0? When I get the intermittent CPU problem on the 11/44 fixed, and find a UNIBUS SMD controller, can I just attach the CDC drive to the 11/44 and have it boot and go, or will I need to reconfigure something? Thanks for any info. that anyone can provide about this! -- Copyright (C) 2000 R. D. Davis "The best way to gain a true understanding of All Rights Reserved Wile E. Coyote on the Roadrunner cartoons is to rdd(a)perqlogic.com 410-744-4900 fly, head-first, off a horse into something like http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd a fence or a tree; trust me, this works." --RDD

25 years, 6 months

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Cloning IDE drives

by wrm＠ccii.co.za

Hi all >From: John Lawson <jpl15(a)panix.com> > > I have a Pentium I wintel box which I've had for nearly five years. >It's 1.9 GB HD has been slowly developing bearing whine for the last >several months. It is getting noticibly louder now and I'm sure this >faithful old HD is nearing the end of it's earthly sojourn. >to move the data. I just did this to a Windoze 95 box. Firstly, I put in the new hard drive and installed Windoze on it. Meanwhile, I stuck the old drive in a Linux box and made a big tarball. Then, I restored the tarball on to the new hard drive. Reasoning: the tarball gets all the files, except the bootfiles, and those get sorted out by the new install. Won't work (yet) for NTFS, tho. W

25 years, 6 months

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More VAX info ...

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

I've updated my "House of VAX" pages at <http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/computers/vaxen> Check it out, especially the 'panels' section that talks about console bulkheads. --Chuck

25 years, 6 months

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IBM-PC and SCSI

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>I recently picked up a Fujitsu M2266SA HDD. This is a 1M SCSI 5 1/2 " drive with a black bezel like the IBM-PC MFM drives and Ah thats 10mb if memory serves. >will fit in the same space. The vendor said it was SCSI-1 but TheRef says it is SCSI-2 and Fujitsu doesn't say. Difference is max data rate and some higher level commands added. SCSI-II is backward compatable. >I have a heavily modified PC(5150) with an Intel 386 Onboard card as Allison has on her Leading Edge 8086 (BTW, I have a lead >ajp < to someone that has the mem-expander daughter card) It's an Inboard386... a meg or memory for that would be great if possible. >However I have no info on whether it would be possible to add a SCSI card to an IBM-PC. I have an Adaptec 1522A ISA SCSI card and likely others in my card box. Was there a SCSI card for the PC ? If so, would this possibly, with this configuration, allow you to It's doable, the only reason SCSI was not commonplace in PCs the was the significantly greater cost at the time. Also back then PCs could barely enjoy the potential performance advantage. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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Memtest86, then HD won't boot.

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

In a message dated 12/29/2000 9:13:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, mikeford(a)socal.rr.com writes: > Like I said, not really a call for help, just a this is what I did and > where it got me, so be carefull with memtest86. I downloaded and ran Memtest86 on my Cel 500 w/144 MB SDRAM. The memory passed and the machine suffered no harm. As Sellam and Wizard suggested, it was probably just a coincidence that your hdd croaked after running this program. Also, your mention that it took you 3 attempts to create the bootable disk suggests that your download may have been faulty. If the code was damaged during transmission then it's possible that running the program could have caused trash to be written to the hdd. Or maybe your fdd is flaky and the boot disk wasn't right. A bummer, at any rate :>( Glen 0/0

25 years, 6 months

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VT78 - lots of questions

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Dec 29, 15:46, David Gesswein wrote: > >From: pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com (Pete Turnbull) > >> 40 pin connector is numbered > >> > >> 1 (A) 39 (UU) > >> 2 (B) 40 (VV) > > > >ObNitpick: That's the reverse of the conventional numbering; Berg > >connectors with letters have the red stripe at the A end, which is on the > >left of the pin header (looking into the pins) while all other headers > >which are numbered have pin 1 on the right. > > Yup, how about > Looking into pins of 40 pin male connector numbering is > > 2 (A) 40 (UU) > 1 (B) 39 (VU) > > I think both the numbers are letters were otherwise correct, just the > summary diagram was wrong. That wasn't what I meant. Berg label the connector pins starting from the opposite end of the connector from the rest of the world, so what I meant was that on actual connectors, the pins are: 39 (B) ... 1 (VV) 40 (A) ... 2 (UU) or more completely: 39B 37D 35F 33J 31L 29N 27R 25T 23V 21X 19Z 17BB 15DD 13FF 11JJ 9LL 7NN 5RR 3TT 1VV 40A 38C 36E 34H 32K 30M 28P 26S 24U 22W 20Y 18AA 16CC 14EE 12HH 10KK 8MM 6PP 4SS 2UU Thus on a cable with a Berg connector, the stripe corresponds to pin A and goes on the left (as you look into the male connector), and on any other similar connector (3M, T&B Ansley, ITT, Amphenol, Fujitsu, Molex, etc pin headers but not D-connectors, for example) the stripe corresponds to pin 1 but goes on the right. That's one of the reasons so many DEC cables have a "THIS WAY UP" sticker. Of course, if you use the conventional numbering above, you need to change your table as well (I've put the numbers in brackets, since it IS a Berg connector, after all): DB25 40 pin header 1 C (38) 14 D (37) 2 H (34) 15 J (33) 3 M (30) 16 N (29) 4 S (26) 17 T (25) 5 W (22) 18 X (21) 6 AA (18) 19 BB (17) 7 EE (14) 20 FF (13) 8 KK (10) 21 LL (9) 9 PP (6) 22 RR (5) 10 SS (4) 23 TT (3) 11 UU (2) 24 VV (1) I've put AA where you had CC -- both are ground on the M7744, but it seems more logical to pair AA and BB, rather than BB and CC. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager Dept. of Computer Science University of York

25 years, 6 months

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VR13-DA specs?

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

I've got a DEC monitor labelled VRT13-DA, it has a 9 pin color input. Does anyone have the specs for this monitor? Can it do 1280 x 1024 or is it 1024 x 768? Does anyone know the pinout for it? --Chuck

25 years, 6 months

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OT (sortof) wanted items (cart & logic analyzer stuff)

by west＠tseinc.com

I'm looking for some accessory items related indirectly to my computer collecting/repairing - can't seem to find them, so thought I'd ask here: I love my HP 1631D logic analyzer, but it takes up way too much real estate on my bench. I'd like to get a mobil cart for it, but virtually all the scopecarts I've seen (like the tek 200) are for small scopes & such... the 1631D analyzer is 16.5 inches across the middle, and 17 inches across the front (the bezel sticks out a bit on each side). Would anyone have a scope cart (like a tek 212 or similar) that is for wider instruments that is excess and would consider selling/trading? Second, I'm looking for various disassemblers for the 1631D... these came on 3.5 floppy, but I'm not sure what all disassemblers were available for it. Anyone got this software laying around? If anyone can help, contact me off-list at west(a)tseinc.com Thanks! Jay West

25 years, 6 months

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OT: help...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >Oh, they're no worse (for HV) than any other mains-powered SMPSU. We've >had this discussion before, but I still maintain that the most dangerous >voltage in a monitor is the rectified (and maybe doubled) mains -- 400V This one uses only direct mains (160V). That bothers me less as it can't reach out abnd get me. >at essentially unlimited current. And it's on bare PCB tracks. A lot more >likely to do you harm than the low-current 25kV EHT supply that's >impossible to touch by accident. There is insulation breakdown, I've been nailed once. I have experience with HV and High Power as well as big RF so I know how to avoid getting wacked. I just generally dislike working on TV/monitors. >As you doubtless realise, you've got a SMPSU that's shutting down because >it thinks it's overloaded. >From testing that woudl be the case. >The most likely cause of a real overload is a shorted HOT (Horizontal >Output Transistor), possibly damaged because of shorted turns in the >flyback transformer. So testing that transistor (on a heatsink near the >flyback) is a good first move. Testing is that it's ok. >The other thing that monitors suffer from is dried-up electrolytics, >which therefore have a high ESR. These can cause all sorts of faults, the test was to bridge the likely candidates.. no joy. >including a PSU that keeps on shutting down. I'd test all such capacitors >in the PSU area. This might even be the cause of the long warm-up time. Would seem that way but that was before, not it does not power up. Since it's SVGA and prints for it are unlikely and some of the parts are oddball enough to not warrent digging too deep. Allison

25 years, 6 months

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Cloning IDE drives

by jpl15＠panix.com

The subject (I think) is on topic, the hardware to which I'm refering is a little too new for us, but I'm gonna ask anyway. I have a Pentium I wintel box which I've had for nearly five years. It's 1.9 GB HD has been slowly developing bearing whine for the last several months. It is getting noticibly louder now and I'm sure this faithful old HD is nearing the end of it's earthly sojourn. My fantasy is that I can buy another IDE drive (of somewhat larger capacity) and just somehow copy the whole thing on the original down to the new one, without having to go thru the backup/restore/re-auth all the programs I've got on it. I have 8mm streaming tape backups of the system, but that's a pain. I'm living in southern India so 'just pop in to Fry's and get a package like DriveCopy III' is not an option. :) Any advice/how-to/magic formulae? Cheers and Happy NuYeer John

25 years, 6 months

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VAX KA680 compatible memory?

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

I picked up a KA680 CPU today (yipee!) replaced my KA670 and tried firing it up. It did not like my memory (I've got 96MB (1 x 32MB and 1 x 64MB) I didn't think there was such as thing as MS680 memory but did find one obscure reference on another web page to a 32MB module. Does anyone know if the MS670 memory can be used with the KA680 and if not do I have to get MS690 memory? --Chuck

25 years, 6 months

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Nice article on computer music pioneer Barry Vercoe

by vcf＠siconic.com

Check it out here: http://www.media.mit.edu/EMS/bv-interview.html Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

25 years, 6 months

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M2266SA Scsi Drive

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

>The Fujitsu M2266SA is 1079.10 MB 15 hds 1658 cylinders 14.5 msec seek 5.25 >in Full Height SCSI RLL 1,7 aoto landing zone. This is one of the Sun "standard" drives so all the formatting programs know about it. It is also a nice drive, but a hot drive. Do _not_ put this drive in your standard wimpy external SCSI enclosure, make sure it gets some air. I've burned myself on these drives they got so warm (worked great though!) --Chuck

25 years, 6 months

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VAX 6000-510 for sale/trade in Central CA

by Scott.Miller＠vandenberg.af.mil

I acquired this beast from a multinational mining corporation that had used it up until four or five years ago, at which point it was shut down and left in the climate-controlled computer room. I believe some of the RAM was leased and was returned, but other than that the machine was apparently in operating condition. Unfortunately, it was on the second floor of the building, and without renting a crane the only way to get it out was to disassemble the entire thing and haul it by hand down three flights of stairs. Since then, it's been mostly reassembled (all of the parts are in place but not connected) and has been sitting in my garage. It's been there for a few months, and I'm still not sure when if ever I'll have a chance to really work on it (and I've also got this dream of someday being able to park a car in my garage!) so I'm putting this message out to see if there's someone out there who could give the machine a better home. I got it for free (not counting the doctor's bill for spraining my wrist carrying RA-92's) but I put a considerable amount of effort into moving it (and moving it again when I moved), and in getting the company to give it to me in the first place. Also, I've had offers from parts resellers for enough money that I'd rather not just give it away, but I'd rather see it put to good use than broken up for parts. So if you're interested, make me an offer - I'll consider cash, Alpha or PC equipment, SCUBA gear, or anything interesting that takes up less garage space than a minicomputer. =] Pictures: http://home1.gte.net/web1006g/vax1.jpg http://home1.gte.net/web1006g/vax2.jpg Parts: T2018 T2020-00 T2023-00 T2020 T2053-CL (qty 2) T2052-00 T1035-00 T1043-00 DCMSSB-01533 (Clearpoint) SA-850 storage system with 4 RA92's and another drive of a type I forget at the moment. I've also got lots of misc. parts including TK50's, an InfoServer 100, and a couple of MicroVAX II's with the following parts: SCD-RQD11/EC DELQA (qty 2) DQ153 DHV11 (qty 2) M7555 Grant Continuity Card (qty 2) M7546 (qty 2) M7609 (qty 2) M7606 (qty 2) CMX-831 (Camintonn 8MB card) (qty 2) RQDX3 M7513 M3106 I've got a couple of VAXstation 3100's that I'd rather not part with but might consider as part of a trade. This is a pretty quick inventory of the system - if anyone's interested I can provide more pictures and details of parts. As for transportation, I'd imagine it would cost a lot to get this thing shipped anywhere, but when I moved across town I was able to move it pretty easily with only two people (one to offload) using a fairly cheap rental truck with a hydraulic lift. If you're anywhere within driving distance of California's central coast, that'd probably be the easiest way to go. Scott Miller

25 years, 6 months

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OT: help...

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

>If you are not scared of HV, you might wanna open it up, look around Respoectful yes, scared no. I've done my bit with HV in high power Vacuum tube transmitters. >carefully for swollen. leaky or discolored capacitors or exploded >components.... You might see something obvious. If not, well...unless >you have experience in fixing monitors...it will be tough... None seen. I have extensive troubleshooting background and tools. >Most monitors have slow HV discharge. If not use proper HV discharge >procedure... I have my tool for that. (murphy stick) >Search the net for that model no...some sites have repair briefs that >talk about common problems for certain models... Nothing found Allison

25 years, 6 months

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IDE Cloning thanks and a 'second that thought'

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> John Lawson wrote: > > > snip... > > > I ain't got nothing to hide, it's just the *idea* > > of how easily such schemes lead down the slippery slope > > into a subtle kind of 'fascism' for want of a better word. > > > > Taken along with the rapidly-forgotten little bit of > > intelligence that Our US Supreme Court has apparently > > sanctioned selective 'convenient' disenfranchisment, > > and nobody seems to much care... > > > > Sigh. I'm getting Old and Cranky and Way, Way off topic. > > I think there is a proto-fascist gene, or two. It has to be resisted > constantly, or we slip into it. I think you're right... I drive a lot, and the condition of roads is a big issue with me... to heck with the trains running on time, if a Paver runs for President, I'm there! ;-) -dq

25 years, 6 months

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IDE Cloning thanks and a 'second that thought'

by jpl15＠panix.com

Many thanks to all who took the time to help me out with the IDE clone question. I will attempt to perform the operation on the Computerworld site, and if that don't work ( and I see no reason why it shouldn't) I'll get down a copy of Ghost from the Net and use that. Thanks again y'all. On the Proposal to Individually Brand (R/O) all mass storage units for Personal Computers: FEH!!!! FEH!!!! FEHFEHFEHFEHFEH!!! I would think it might be something to consider, to salt away a reasonable quantity of large-ish drives, against the day when Large Male Sibling requires that the contents of your filesystem be scrutinized once each day, for "...material which evidences a substantial deviation from accepted societal norms and mores, or any data appearing to fail the Anti Terrorism, Child Protection, Dissident, Criminal, Unauthorized Encryption, Sensitive and Classified Data, and Alien Infiltration Sieve Monitor, as provided for in the Comprehensive Homogenous Data Interchange, Content, and Format Act of 2005 et.seq." And I neither wiegh 300 pounds, have a full unkempt beard, or collect guns, or even own one. I ain't got nothing to hide, it's just the *idea* of how easily such schemes lead down the slippery slope into a subtle kind of 'fascism' for want of a better word. Taken along with the rapidly-forgotten little bit of intelligence that Our US Supreme Court has apparently sanctioned selective 'convenient' disenfranchisment, and nobody seems to much care... Sigh. I'm getting Old and Cranky and Way, Way off topic. Happy NuYeer to All John

25 years, 6 months

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OT: help...

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I have found that if I do a google search on the model of the monitor and the specific problem I usually find some links. The best one for monitors I have found is the following site. http://www.anatekcorp.com/faq/faqpro.htm My IBM P70 was clicking off and on. I also found the same pointer via google on which capacitors on my Toshiba TV were dried out. I got the TV out of a dumpster and it worked for 2-3 years and now it has problems, dry capacitors. Try google, altavista, and then yahoo. I use the advanced text search method on altavista. You must be persistent. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

25 years, 6 months

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M2266SA Scsi Drive

by truthanl＠oclc.org

According to the Micro House "The Hard Disk Technical Guide" by Douglas T Anderson ISBN 1- 880252-27-9 The Fujitsu M2266SA is 1079.10 MB 15 hds 1658 cylinders 14.5 msec seek 5.25 in Full Height SCSI RLL 1,7 aoto landing zone. So He Has A gigabyte drive Sincerely Larry Truthan, a digest subscriber. truthanl(a)oclc.org

25 years, 6 months

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Cloning IDE drives

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

This garbage will never fly. I'd buy *LOTS* of non-CPRM drives right *now*, as they will be in very high demand around this time next year, if these clowns get away with this. On Thu, 28 Dec 2000 20:48:37 -0600 (CST) Paul Thompson <thompson(a)mail.athenet.net> writes: > > Here are some (OT) disturbing developments in the (OT) field of IDE > cloning. > > http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/15620.html ________________________________________________________________ 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/tagj.

25 years, 6 months

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PDP-11/23 Cpu

by ajp166＠bellatlantic.net

From: SP <SPEDRAJA(a)mail.ono.es> >Hello to all. I'd like to know what kind of expansion or options >could be attached to this machines: > >PDP-11/23 >---------- > >* KDF11-B 5014313C M8189/DIGITAL >* Q-BusMosMemory 5014500C M8067/DIGITAL >* DQ614S153040 Rev F/DILOG >* System Interface 11/03/ESI >* 808836-05 Rev K/Datasystems Design >By the moment I have no disk for it (maybe in a future). I'd like >to know if could be possible to put some class of disk or >diskette unit, even tape, eventually different of DEC stuff. DEC RX50 using RQDX2 or RQDX3 card will get yo floppy and mfm hard disk, That DIlog or the DSD card may support disks as well. PDP-11/23B is basic machine you have and that is Q-bus so finding cards for it should be easy as the Microvax-II and later also used the same bus. It was quite popular. Check PUPS PDP-11 unix preservation socity for software. Allison >I suppose than this could be possible by some SCSI card, >but my experience with this is limited to the use of >emulators like Bob Supnik's or E-11. > >Thanks for all. Best Regards. > >Sergio > >

25 years, 6 months

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How to clone an IDE drive (OT)

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

Go to: http://www.maxtor.com/Maxtorhome.htm and download MaxBlast Plus. This is a 1.4 MB file, and it is FREE. Be sure to read the directions on the download page. This utility will create a bootable MaxBlast disk which will work under any version of DOS or Windows. Install your drive. Boot from your newly-created MaxBlast disk. Follow the simple directions. You may choose to simply partition and format your new disk, or you may clone an existing disk. We use this every day in our shop when we set up a new drive or upgrade a customer's existing drive. It's simple, easy, and fast. If there is a gross hardware problem with the motherboard or drives, it will fail. Also, if the data to be cloned is garbage, the program may bomb. Otherwise, MaxBlast has a lot of advantages: * Will clone or partition/format any brand of drive. The utilities shipped with Seagate or WD drives sometimes only work with Seagate or WD drives. * FAST partition/format. Where the DOS utilities can take 10+ minutes, MaxBlast works in seconds. * Removes junk. If the drive you are trying to set up has previously had a bootlock installed, or EZ-BIOS, or if any other program is embedded in the master boot record, MaxBlast will delete it without hassle. I use this all the time when I want to wipe a drive and it's data is so scrambled that even the volume name is trash. Under DOS, you are required to enter the vol name in order to delete a partition, which may not be possible if the vol name has been corrupted and now consists of unprintable characters. MaxBlast has no such requirement. If this isn't clear contact me off list. Good luck! Glen Goodwin 0/0

25 years, 6 months

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DSL Rate

by kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com

I just figured out that someone asked me how much I was paying for my DSL >from Qwest. Forgive me, but I can't find who the original poster was. Anyway: Base rate for the line is $29.95/mo. Round to $30. Add to that $35/mo for Qwest.net (the ISP) to be the host. Includes web space (which I no longer use) and mailboxes (which I won't be using much longer). Finally, tack on $15/mo for a private block of eight static IP's. Three are reserved to be the network, gateway, and broadcast addresses for my subnet (I'm subnetted off a class A block), and five are user-definable, function-wise. Subtract one more for the router interface, and that leaves me four usable. Total: A little under $80/month for everything, and that includes a guaranteed data rate of 256K down (I get 384 during rainy weather, and 512K during dry), and 272K up. If anyone knows of another ISP that can give me my own subnet for $50/month or less, and equivalent bandwidth, please say so. ;-) Hope that helps. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K) "I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).

25 years, 6 months

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OT: Firewall running OpenBSD, why?

by yoda＠isr.ist.utl.pt

I became very curious after I read a couple of posts assuming OpenBSD as the best OS for a firewall box. Could anyone explain (or at least point out links) why OpenBSD would be more appropriate for a firewall? I am planning the instalation of a firewall, and I was thinking about a linux box, possibly running the LRP package. I do not intend to raise any OS-war, but rather to understand the arguments for each side. Cheers, -- *** Rodrigo Martins de Matos Ventura <yoda(a)isr.ist.utl.pt> *** Web page: http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~yoda *** Teaching Assistant and PhD Student at ISR: *** Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Polo de Lisboa *** Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, PORTUGAL *** PGP fingerprint = 0119 AD13 9EEE 264A 3F10 31D3 89B3 C6C4 60C6 4585

25 years, 6 months

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