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

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

On Jul 19, 2016 12:24 PM, "Pontus Pihlgren" <pontus at update.uu.se> wrote: > > I can't find it, does anyone have a URL? > Straight PDP-8 http://www.ebay.com/itm/152171436497 PDP-11/20 http://www.ebay.com/itm/201624309371

9 years, 11 months

4
4
0 0

Straight 8 up on Ebay just now

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Glen Slick > For the curious about the eBay market value of the PDP-11/20 today That one was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, though: not only a KA11 in absolutely pristine condition, but also an additional BA11 stuffed to the gills with memory; the most complete set of original documentation I have _ever_ seen with a computer that old; a complete H960 in perfect condition, with all the blank panels, the rear door, etc; trays and trays of original paper tape software, etc, etc. When you consider that that PDP-11/70 that went a while back for $10K - and -11/70's are a lot more common that -11/20's - I think this one was easily worth what it went for. I'm quite serious - I doubt we'll ever see another -11/20 in this good a shape, and this complete, for sale, at least, not in my remaining lifetime. Noel

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Straight 8 up on Ebay just now

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Think it was add on box that went for the $$$$$! ---Ed# Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> Date: 7/24/16 20:08 (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just now > > Straight PDP-8 > http://www.ebay.com/itm/152171436497 > > PDP-11/20 > http://www.ebay.com/itm/201624309371 For the curious about the eBay market value of the PDP-11/20 today, it just sold for $5,655.55

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Signetics N8251 source?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

After successfully repairing the G231 module of the MM11-L set I continued with the next one. This one was not able to access addresses ending 0100 (binary). Luckily it was not the transistors arrays that were bad but the selector chip. A Signetics N8251 chip. I found a source on ebay at $4.95 each plus $13 shipping. A little bit to much for my taste (although I could make an offer) Anyone know of a cheaper source? I could use five or ten maybe. /Mattis

9 years, 11 months

3
3
0 0

FTGH: DEC 54-17507 backplane; Sun type-4 keyboards

by mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG

I've finally started digging through all my stuff in storage, at least in a small way. Two (or three) things I've found so far might be of interest here. (There will likely be more eventually, but it's anybody's guess when I'll find the round tuits to do more digging.) - One DEC 54-17507. Google makes me think this is the Qbus backplane from a BA123. It appears to be in good shape; while I am not set up to test it, it looks pretty much "too simple to break". It consists of the PCB, the Qbus connectors on one side, two 18-pin power connectors and one ten-pin connector with blue plastic shroud on the other side, and a piece of heavy sheet steel all this is bolted to. (And the bolts, of course. :-) Oh, all four resistor packs are installed. - Two Sun type-4 keyboards. (Whether the list is two or three things depends on whether you count these as one thing or two.) They are somewhat age-yellowed, and one of them has some stain spots. All the keys appear to work mechanically. I have a machine I can test these with, but I will have to first dig out a suitable cable; whether they are available now or later depends on whether you want to wait for me to find a cable to test them. These are in Ottawa (Canada's national capital, for those who don't know the name or who want disambiguation) and are anyone's for the claiming. In theory I can ship, but in practice I find I totally suck at getting stuff shipped (I have two things pending shipping right now, pending for long times), so you are much more likely to get something soon if you can pick it up or give me a local(ish) place I can drop it off, and if someone wants something shipped and someone else is prepared to pick it up, I'm taking the easy-for-me option. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

9 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

ISO Televideo 965 eprom images

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I was digging around in storage and found a 965 board that is missing its eproms. Does anyone have one handy that they could dump the proms from? It's kind of unusual in that it uses a 65816 cpu. Seems to be a midway design between the earlier 6502's and the later 68000's.

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

KT-24 and/or -11/24 backplane info

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Guess I should document all this in the Computer History Wiki OK, done: http://gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11/24 > those prints (KT-24, and -11/24 backplane) would still be useful. Big thanks for Al for putting the KT24 prints up - very good to have them. > I guess it will require getting ahold of a backplane, and seeing what I > can find out with an ohm-meter. It looks like I'll still have to do this at some point, to confirm my theories about how the two busses are wired on the backplane (separation of UB and EUB address lines, and cross-connection of the data lines, for the EUB/SPC slots), since we still don't have any backplane info. Another mystery: The "PDP-11 UNIBUS Processor Handbook" (1985) says (pg. 4-10) that in the 5.25" box, "only one MS11-P memory module can be configured". Anyone know the cause/source of that restriction? I don't think it can be the backplane; i) AFAIK, the 5.25" and 10.5" (for which no limitation is stated) boxes use the same backplane, and ii) the 5.25" box can take more of the smaller MS11-L cards (albeit, again, limited - to three). So I don't think it can be 'the backplane doesn't carry all 22 address lines to all EUB slots' (although I will check); and the CPU does drive all 22. My next thought was that it's some power supply current issue, but on checking, that board only uses +5V, and there's nothing about limiting the number of ordinary boards when an MS11-P is in use. (I have to check the power supply specs, and compare with the board power consumption specs, to make completely positive there's no issue there.) So I can't come up with any technical rationale for that limit? Am I missing something? Or is it just DEC marketing, trying to limit how powerful the machine can be? Noel

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

seeking DEC VAXmate software

by nw＠retrocomputingtasmania.com

I'm on the hunt for diskette images of DEC VAXmate software. From a post to comp.sys.dec there appears to be at least the following diskettes, but possibly more: VAXmate MS-DOS version 3.10 for VAXmate Oper Environ V1.1 VAXMATE S/A INSTALL V1.1 VT240 EMULATOR UPDATE For VAXmate Oper Environ V1.1 VAXMATE INFO. SYSTEM V1.1 FOR VAXMATE OPER ENVIRON V1.1 VAXMATE MS-WINDOWS V1.03 (three disks) If anyone has the diskettes or can point me somewhere to look, it would be appreciated. thanks. Other notes: If anyone is desperate to own a VAXmate I can provide contact details of someone who has a few. Here is my VAXmate running a generic MS-DOS 4.0, the screen is very dim, and a few other pictures (as it arrived, so before any cleaning - quote dusty inside): https://goo.gl/photos/cQkbekoLiWBCZoad9

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

HP 9845B Model 100 PSU - looking for transformer

by Martin.Hepperle＠dlr.de

Hi, I have got a 9845B which has a defective power supply unit - obviously a very common problem. After replacing the cracking epoxy capacitors I found that the mains transformer seems to have a broken input winding. Maybe someone tried to run it at 220V using the 110V input selector switch. What I am now looking for is a defective PSU with a good transformer, resp. just the transformer which may also have been used in other HP devices.. The transformer is located on the PSU mother board between the two large capacitors. It has the part number "9100-4037" and the date code "8-81" printed on it. It has two input windings and three output windings. Thus the output is a bit different (one additional winding compared to Tony Duells schematics). Maybe someone can help? Martin

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Nova 3 front panel

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

Van: jim stephens

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

MM11-L / G231 repair advice?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

So after replacing a microcode PROM on the PDP-11/05 control board and then concluding that the remaining problem relating to indexed addressing was caused by one single micro code line that got missing when typed in, desoldering the PROM, program two more bits (0xf to 0x5), the CPU is now working. Passing the D0OA diagnostics and the D0NB (except for the mov r0, (r0)+ tests) But during the journey the core memory died. I am used to things failing in my face. The M9301 board started of working. Then it developed some kind of amnesia, permanently forgetting what was once stored. When this was cured with yet another PROM, one, then a second DEC8881 driver on the M9301-YF gave up. But now it seems to work. So finally I am back to the core memory. Luckily I had a spare set so I could find at least what board that was failing. Card swapping gave that the G231 module was at fault. The failure mode is that it does read out the contents once. The second time it reads out all zeros. Write never works. Apparently it is the write / write back mechanism that is failing completely in the G231 module. Since it is in fact reading, the X / Y selection seems to work and most of the writing takes place on the G110 as far as I understand since it contains the Inhibit drivers. So what part of the G231 is specific for the write? I have a few other G110 / G231 modules with different types of failure modes so it would be really nice if someone with MM11-L know-how would step forward and share all the details on this board set. I will continue to browse the schematic and the user manual to try to find the failing component, but help is highly appreciated! /Mattis

9 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

Nova 3 front panel

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

Van: jim stephens

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

heap of floppy disks

by lyokoboy0＠gmail.com

I picked up two crates jam packed full of floppys today. Bunch of random old utilities in there, borland turbo asm, turbo pascal, windows for workgroups etc. I found a set of disks with the DEC digital logo on them. 4-5 disks, says dos for the dec pc. Some utilitys too. Are these of any use to anyone, or is it just a stock dos install with a dec sticker on the disk? There are little heaps of disks on just about every surface around here, i will post back with a complete list of what is here to see if anyone is interested in what is here. I just want some of the software off of the disks, i don't necessarily want to keep the two full crates of disks around . There is also an original copy of doom on floppy that looks to be complete. --Devin

9 years, 11 months

8
9
0 0

Multiflow Trace 14/300 close to being scrapped in Texas

by evan.linwood＠eastek.com.au

Hi Mark, it wasn't myself either. Apologies (and to Brian, James and Jon) I was watching & wanting to respond but got hit by a wall of things, then noticed that someone had bid on it. Very glad to see it was acquired, and that Chris could confirm.

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Nova 3 front panel

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

Van: jim stephens

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Compucorop 122E - Manual

by draeger5＠hotmail.com

Hello, just came across this site. I recently got a Compucorp 122E, but without any manual. I would like to use this calculator for tests in programming - does anyone have a manual/pdf? Thanks, Matthias ps.: this mail is for the "list" - how can I have access to the list? How do I see a reply, in case there is one? Tel.0049-6741-1720 http://m-draeger.com/ Matthias Draeger Auf dem Haehnchen 32 56329 St. Goar/ Germany

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Possibly rarest Apple 1 ever for auction

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Corey Cohen > It was not someone at the PCB manufacturer. They would not have had > access to the prom software. So, do you have a theory about where this came from? (There is absolutely zero snark here, this is a serious question. It's quite a puzzle, and an interesting one.) Maybe a collaboration between two people, one at Apple, one at the PCB house? 'Make two extra boards, and I'll trade you the PROMs for one of them.' Can't do it with just a person at the PCB house - as you point out, need the ROMs. But you'd think that if someone at Apple just pulled a board, that would be noticed (board count wrong). Noel

9 years, 11 months

3
3
0 0

VT420 schematics

by lars＠nocrew.org

Hello, Does anyone have schematics for the DEC VT420 terminal? Thank you, Lars Brinkhoff

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

HP Computer Museum in the (local) News

by rdbrown0au＠gmail.com

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-22/vintage-computer-museum-revives-hp211… A keen mountaineer who died trekking in Tibet has left a rare computer collection behind as his legacy. Surrounded by bushland in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne is a wooden shed with barn doors. It closely resembles a shed in California where, in 1939, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard launched the company that would become HP. The much larger Australian shed is home to the HP Computer Museum, filled with ageing computers, printers and calculators, most of which are a dull light grey. ...

9 years, 11 months

3
2
0 0

Possibly rarest Apple 1 ever for auction

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Possibly the rarest Apple 1 ever is up for auction. The seller is working through CharityBuzz, which will display the computer at VCF West next month. CB's auction site: http://apple1.charitybuzz.com/ MacRumors covered it: http://www.macrumors.com/2016/07/21/charitybuzz-auctioning-unique-celebrati…

9 years, 11 months

6
9
0 0

8i front

by tdk.knight＠gmail.com

finaly got some pregress on this 8i from a feild restoration of mine.. now to sit down and do an order for the transistors and go talk to the local ewaste recycler on monday see if they can help me source some slider switches like one i found in the junk pile at the local hacker space last night looks very promising will need to get new rocker peics made to atach the 8i switches to but its looking promising if this works out there may be a suden suply of replacement switch assemblys avail... https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8752/27863539914_a92d0264c7_b.jpg baby steps baby steps

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Nova 3 front panel

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

Is there anyone with documents on the Nova 3 front panel, and what drives it? It has some number of custom DG chips, which hopefully are good if I want to try to fire it up to play, but am interested in that on good authority there are 28v incandescent lamps. A friend has an Eclipse front panel with nearly identical bezel, which has LED's and a number of differences in the logic (different connector to the system, for instance). So it is probably all run on 5v. I have not had time to figure out the driver circuit for any of the lamps to see what that may turn up, and wanted to know whether it was 28v lamps before I buy 40 of them. (the thing has only 2 out of a lot of lamps). Thanks Jim

9 years, 11 months

6
11
0 0

Possibly rarest Apple 1 ever for auction

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Corey Cohen > This board is from the 1st PCB house that made the "byte shop" boards > but has the more expensive and reliable RN sockets. Maybe someone at the 1st PCB house made an extra board for themselves, and used better sockets (since it was for themselves)? Noel

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Looking for HP 9810A keyboard springs

by iamcamiel＠gmail.com

Hi Guys, I've got an HP 9810A that has been stored in sub-optimal conditions by a previous owner; a lot of the keyboard springs have rusted away, so I'm looking for a replacement. These are about 15.5mm outer diameter, 0.35mm thick wire, about 10mm high when uncompressed, and have only about 1.5 turns of wire. Any pointers would be appreciated! Camiel.

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

How to open a SUN CDROM drive box?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

I am probably too stupid to not understand how to get into this box: http://i.imgur.com/7KXKP2l.jpg Before I break some parts of the old plastic I better ask... What is the procedure to open this up? The drive doesn't seem to work properly. Either I need to get it working somehow or replace it with a new (512 byte block capable) drive. /Mattis

9 years, 11 months

3
4
0 0

WANTED: PDP-8 KE8E Extended arithmetic element

by anders＠abc80.net

>You used to be able to find a set with connector blocks for $200 to $300 >range on EBay. But I haven't seen any pop up for a couple of years now. > There are actually two individual board on eBay now, but the they are a bit expensive, ~$250 each. The freight change is about $200 to Sweden for each board (don't now if they combine chipping). I'll guess I have to pay for customs as well... >Keep an eye on machines. These options were found in the variants of E's >(F and M) and some A's. You might have to buy another machine in order to >get this option. > If I only could find one... >Remember that you are looking for what I would classify as a fairly rare >option on machines that are becoming rare now. There are not a lot of >these machines in service anymore. > >Good Luck! Thanks, I know that those things starts to get really rare. I could live with a broken set. /Anders

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Reproduction micros

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning >> I always felt that RISC meant 'making the basic cycle time as fast as >> possible by finding the longest path through the logic - i.e. the >> limiting factor on the cycle time - and removing it (thereby making the >> instruction set less rich); then repeat'. > "Making the cycle time as fast as possible" certainly applies, in > spades, to the 6600. The deeper you dig into its details, the more > impressed you will be by the many different ways in which it does things > faster than you would expect to be possible. My formulation for RISC had two parts, though: not just minizing the cycle time, but doing so by doing things that (as a side-effect) make the instruction set less capable. I'm not very familiar with the 6600 - does this part apply too? >> RISC only makes (system-wide) sense in an environment in which memory >> bandwidth is plentiful (so that having programs contain more, simpler >> instructions make sense) I should have pointed out that programs of that sort take not just more memory bandwidth, but more memory to hold them. In this day of massive memories, no biggie, but back in the core memory days, it was more of an issue. >> One of the books about Turing argues that the ACE can be seen as a RISC >> machine (it's not just that it's load-store; its overall architectural >> philosophy is all about maximizing instruction rates). I looked, and it's "Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine"; in Chapter 8, "Computer architecture and the ACE computers", by Robert Doran (which is not, for some reason, listed in the ToC). > I think a lot of machine designers, though not all, were seriously > interested in making them go fast. Again, RISC has two legs, not just making the machine fast, but making them fast by using techniques that, as a side-effect, make them inscrutable, and difficult to program. The concept was that they would not, in general, be programmed in assembler - precisely because they were so finicky. Remember, the 801 was a combined hardware/compiler project, in which complexity was moved from the hardware to the compiler; and early RISC machines has things like no interlocks between pipeline stages. So they really were not intended to be programmed in assembler - the compiler was critical. The ACE, on the surface, didn't follow this, as it had no compiler. However, at a higher level, Turing definitely followed the RISC philosophy of making the machine as fast as possible, by using techniques that made it very hard to program; instead of moving the complexity to the compiler, he moved it to the programmer - the latter not being a problem, if you're Alan Turing! :-) Noel

9 years, 11 months

10
17
0 0

Multiflow Trace 14/300 close to being scrapped in Texas

by evan.linwood＠eastek.com.au

Hi All, I noticed that the Multiflow race 14/300 system listed on eBay didn't sell recently. I don't have any personal background with these machines but it seems they could be both significant and rare? It's been sitting on eBay but I wasn't sure if it had slipped between the cracks somehow? I've been in contact with the seller and he's said that he's still hoping to sell it, but that it has to be cleared soon (and would be scrapped). I don't live in the US, so it's not an easy one for me to work with. Is this of interest to anyone? Cheers Evan http://www.ebay.com/itm/112050410557

9 years, 11 months

6
6
0 0

OT: Scanner discussion board(s)

by hollandia＠ccountry.net

I need to find a place to ask questions about scanners (scanner in the sense of an Epson Perfection 1260 flatbed scanner, not in the sense of radios). Several searches have yielded only radio-type scanner sites (or dead links). Does anyone here know of newsgroups or discussion boards for scanners? Thanks, Kurt

9 years, 11 months

3
2
0 0

KT-24 and/or -11/24 backplane info

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I'm trying to work out how the PDP-11/24 memory works - in particular, how the memory slots in the backplane can also support SPC devices. Chapter 5 of the -11/24 Technical Manual does not help - irritatingly! It spends a lot of time talking about the CPU's memory mapping (well documented elsewhere), and little on these blasted busses! Alas, there seems to be no KT-24 prints online (although the tech manual makes reference to various pages in it); prints of the backplane would also be really useful, but again, don't seem to be in what is online. Does anyone have either one? Failing that, I guess it will require getting ahold of a backplane, and seeing what I can find out with an ohm-meter. In general, I am not absolutely positive about how the UNIBUS and the Extended UNIBUS manage to co-exist on the backplane (although I think I have worked it out - see below). The tech manual acts as if the KT-24 acts as an intermediary between the two... which is fine, except that how are the both carried on the backplane, separately, but at the same time? When there _is_ a KT-24 (the system can work without one - more below on this), how is the EUB (which is just the UNIBUS plus a couple of extra address lines) separated from the UB? The way the UNIBUS mapping registers work, the EUB address for any given cycle can vary from the UB address by an arbitrary amount, so lower address bits can't be shared between the two busses. (Because address bit X might have to simultaneously be '0' for one bus, and '1' for the other.) I.e. the two busses can't somehow mostly share the same pins, through some kludge... It appears likely that somehow the UNIBUS is on connectors C-F (i.e. where it normally is on SPC slots), and the EUB is on the A-B connectors (as in MUD slots) - and the two are not connected together. (Note that on the 11/24 backplane, 4 slots are marked "SPC/Mem", and two "SPC/MUD", which supports this theory; the 4 slots would have the EUB and the UB not connected together - as they would be in a normal MUD/SPC slot.) Looking at the CPU prints (which _are_ available), it appears to confirm this theory; the 22-bit EUB address bus is carried on the MUD/EUB address lines (connectors A/B), and the 18-bit UNIBUS addresses are carried on the SPC address pins (connector E). Dollars to donuts those pins are carried across slots 1-6, and not intereconnected vertically (I have yet to verify that, either with the backplane prints, or with an ohm-meter, but I would put a very large bet on it.) Oddly enough, the CPU uses the UNIBUS SPC data pins (connector C), instead of the MUD ones (connector A). The thing is that EUB memory boards (e.g. MM11-M - the relevant page of the MS11-P prints are missing from the online set, alas) pick up the MUD pins for data. So the backplane must connect together the SPC data pins and the MUD data pins. The system can apparently also work _without_ a KT-24! Which raises the question 'how do DMA devices get to the memory when there's no KT-24'? >From looking at the CPU prints, (pg. K11) it _looks_ like the UNIBUS is automagically mapped through to the EUB when there's no KT24 (there's a pin which is apparently pulled low by the KT-24); the low (256-8=248) KB of UNIBUS address space is mapped straight across to low address space on the EUB memory bus. With no KT24 in, a standard EUB memory can go in 2. Slot 2 is special, though; the KT24 needs not just the UNIBUS lines, and EUB address lines (to map from one to the other); it also has some special interconnects with the CPU, e.g. that 'UNIBUS adapter present' line. Guess I should document all this in the Computer History Wiki, but those prints (KT-24, and -11/24 backplane) would still be useful. Noel

9 years, 11 months

4
3
0 0

KT-24 and/or -11/24 backplane info

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > If it's anything like the 11/44 ... the memory bus is carried on the A > and B connectors, the peripheral bus on the C,D,E,F connectors. I have yet to totally grok the -11/44, but the documentation indicates the slots for memory are memory only (i.e. EUB on the A/B connectors). Are you saying they are also SPC on the C/F connectors? (If so, ever tried plugging an SPC device into a 'memory' slot? :-) If so, that would make it very similar to the -11/24, then - although does it also have the thing where the data lines are connected from the EUB (connector A) to the SPC UNIBUS (connector C)? The CPU prints show data from the CPU going to connector A, unlike the -11/24, which sends data to C - although if the backplane has the EUB and SPC data busses connected, it would all be the same in the end. Noel

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

MS11-P FMPS missing page

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > It's there, I'll upload it now Great; thanks! Noel

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

MS11-P FMPS missing page

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So the online set of MS11-P Field Maintainence prints is missing page 3 of the prints (data drivers page). Does anyone have an original hard-copy, and can supply a scan of the missing page? Thanks (in advance, and hopefully :-). Noel

9 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

LASERS!

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

While fascinating... it's not on topic. Lets wrap up this thread :) J

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

The emulator that needs 3GHz

by lproven＠gmail.com

*Accuracy takes power: one man?s 3GHz quest to build a perfect SNES emulator* *Emulators for playing older games are immensely popular online, with regular arguments breaking out over which emulator is best for which game. Today we present another point of view from a gentleman who has created the Super Nintendo emulator **bsnes**. He wants to share his thoughts on the most important part of the emulation experience: accuracy.* http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/08/accuracy-takes-power-one-mans-3ghz-qu… -- Sent from my phone - please pardon brevity & typos.

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Flat panel display rot - "tunnel vision" in electroluminescent and other displays- bad seals.

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

I have a few GRiD compass systems and some are suffering from massively decreased contrast on the edges of the displays: [See the system on the left] https://www.instagram.com/p/BIGGzUzgat-/?taken-by=tr1nitr0n [Or this one:] http://www.ripstick.com/USCM/images/Grid_Compass_1101_Laptop_in_Box_002.jpg Meanwhile, other EL systems I have- like my HP integral PC- haven't succumbed to this. I have seen similar issues on amLCD displays in my Tadpole, Toshiba and other machines, so this is something we all may have to confront. ------- I was wondering if the folks here had theories? I'm thinking moisture (or air) might be leaking in from the edges of the glass panes, perhaps from a compromised seal- sorry for the silly picture but you can see the composition of the display here: https://www.instagram.com/p/6BXaLBtSzd/?taken-by=tr1nitr0n Does anyone know how one might prevent this from progressing- storage tips? Could it be reversed? Better yet, does anyone have ideas on how to rapidly dehydrate the display? Perhaps there is even a way to re-seal them. I think all two-glass-pane displays that don't have a vacuum may eventually succumb to this. Perhaps it is just oxidation and not moisture, but I'd love to hear any theories. Thanks, - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

9 years, 11 months

4
9
0 0

Getting rid of books and documentation

by spedraja＠ono.com

Hello everyone. My employer plans to close the data center where I have been working for several years usually. This involves the destruction or elimination of all kinds of manuals, books, documents and diverse equipment considering that this is deprecated. In general the hardware belongs to IBM for contractual reasons, but not so with the documentation I have mentioned. In my case I saved from destruction several old manuals and training courses that I will begin to scan in the coming months. But I can not take care of all available material. As an example there are enough red books related IBM OS / 2 and its environment. There are also several CICS 2.1 ... it is difficult to make an accurate count. I will try to make some more detailed photos as possible and post them somewhere so that anyone interested can review. Given my residence in the European Union, I think it would be easier to send these documents to interested persons who also reside in the EU, if necessary. On the other hand I must say that we store yet one IBM 3705 operative until few years ago. I don't know what plans have IBM for it. But that's another story. With kind regards Sergio

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

Who Loves IBM Tape?

by silent700＠gmail.com

A very nice IBM 3480 brochure ended up in my hands yesterday and I had to bump it to the top of the scan queue: https://archive.org/details/IBM3480MagneticTapeSubsystemBrochure Lots of nice shots of IBM data center tape equipment as well as a cool "history of tape at IBM" set of pages. I've never heard of 7340 Hypertape. -j

9 years, 11 months

4
4
0 0

LASERS! && Freemont Street LED array (was Re: Cray J932SE (was Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just now))

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mouse > I'm wondering how practical it might be to take a laser and turn it > into a vector display on a handy blank wall Those have been around for decades - I recall seeing them used to draw things on the sides of building, _many_ moons ago. I'm assuming they bounce the beam off a mirror, and actuate the mirror, but I don't actually know how they worked. Noel

9 years, 11 months

6
8
0 0

More PDP-11 front console scans

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

I recently got access to an orginal PDP-11/70 front console (the one in magenta and rose), and also an 'Industrial' -11/70 (blue and red). Scans of both of these front panels have been added to my PDP-11 stuff page: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/PDP-11_Stuff.html My A3 scanner won't _quite_ eat the whole thing in one gulp, but it did manage to 'see' all the printed stuff. The actual panel is very slightly larger, so there are some thin sections on either side missing from the scan, _but_ on that page there is a mechanical drawing that gives the dimensions of the whole thing. So the two together should enable a complete reproduction. Noel

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

DEC H-500 Computer Lab pins and docs (was Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just ...

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

I wonder if any of the other digi labs leads are comparable? We have fabratek and a few other brands. We got a bit obsessed with trainer type gear for electronics and physics 'this what that got young people interested back when' display. if there are any list member with a small turret lathe that would be nice to make pins with. pretty labor intensive. Better would be small Brown and Sharpe screw machine would make buckets of them once you got the machine all set up to make the run. Or cnc machine ( I never ran one of those) --- or as mentioned casting some. I will look and see is we need any pins. Ed#. In a message dated 7/19/2016 11:30:10 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, v.slyngstad at frontier.com writes: From: Karl-Wilhelm Wacker: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 5:21 PM > This company does custom tapered pins in brass - > There are others out there I'm sure. > > I would find out what their minimum is and get a bulk order together. > > http://www.stanlok.com/Taper_Pin_Pages/an386.html > > A place I worked for in the past had www.mill-max.com do a custon part for > them, > in the 100's - I would talk to them about a part also. >From what I can gather from the websites you referred me to, the tapered part of the pin's dimensions are very close to the woner if fabratecnarrow end of a standard taper #4/0 in the 3/4" length? Have I done the math right on that? >From there it would seem to be a matter of getting a way to mount the wire, and optionally to shorten the overall length of the pin and wire attachment to .65" from .75". (Or maybe just slot the pin's fat end, solder in the wire, and call it good.) I also thought about using a taper reamer to create molds and perhaps casting with solder around the fluxed wire. (Casting brass or bronze seemed to require more heat than I could generate easily.) (For some reason that I've forgotten over the years, my eBay search for suitable pins looks for "42107" and "42279". Never gotten any results for it, though.) Vince

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

DEC H-500 Computer Lab pins and docs (was Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just now)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 5:01 AM, <COURYHOUSE at aol.com> wrote: > also a Rare Digital DEC H-500 Computer Lab, 1960s, Same Switches as > PDP-8/I, Vintage for 700+ > > ( we have an extra one of these Computer Lab, if anyone here is > interested) Does anyone have a modern source of pins that fit the socket holes in the Computer Lab? ISTR there are a few of us here who have an H-500, but very few, or no, patch cables. I think Molex pins have been tried and rejected. Also, the 1969 Computer Lab Handbook is on bitsavers (in 'dec/handbooks'). I recall a 8.5"x11" book on the Computer Lab, newer layout, probably a 1970s publication date, possibly a teacher's guide. I was given one as a kid, but it vanished decades ago. Anyone remember this? Anyone have one for scanning? -ethan

9 years, 11 months

4
9
0 0

Another pdp-8 auction at 25k

by barythrin＠gmail.com

http://m.ebay.com/itm/DEC-PDP8-I-MINICOMPUTER-PDP8-PDP-8-PDP-8-/201627112300 Did someone already post this other pdp-8 auction? Same semi-ridiculous starting price as other straight 8 but i honestly don't know enough about PDP to know what this is or if its not a straight version. ?Seems like a museum piece though although perhaps all of you PDP collectors have a similar setup :-)?

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

LASERS! && Freemont Street LED array (was Re: Cray J932SE (was Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just now))

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mouse > my impression is that they're only for pre-prepared displays, and only > some displays (notably those that don't involve the beam turning any > sharp corners My vague recollection is that they could do pretty sharp corners, but it's been decades. IIRC, they were multi-coloured. > Turning sharp corners is the hard part with mechanical deflectors like > mirrors, as it means very high acceleration of the mechanical parts. Probably the trick is to do what old voice-coil actuator drives did for multi-track seeks, which was to evenly accelerate up to maximum velocity, coast at that until you got close to the target track, and then evenly ramp down, so that the head assembly's radial velocity goes to 0 as you get to the target track. (If you're not moving enough tracks to do the whole thing, you only ramp up part-way, then ramp back down.) The RK05 drive did this with fancy analog circuits, but these days one would do it in software. I would assume one would do something similar with the mirror; evenly accelerate up to maximum slew rate, then back down at the end of the move, so that when one gets to the corner, the mirror is mostly stationary, and so not so much force is needed to sharply change directions. Of course, this might make the parts of the line where the mirror is moving slower brighter, but perhaps one could tweak the brightness to compensate. Noel

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Seagate 50-pin SCSI drives

by sales＠elecplus.com

A reseller in GA is dumping some online inventory that they used to sell on ebay. Included are 23 SEAGATE ST32500N HARD DRIVE If interested, email to Mike Roetzer [mike at tbfcomputing.com] Not affiliated with the seller at all. Cindy Croxton

9 years, 11 months

2
2
0 0

Straight 8 up on Ebay just now

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

I just put in pdp-8 in ebay search and saw it last nite -Ed# In a message dated 7/19/2016 12:24:15 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, pontus at Update.UU.SE writes: I can't find it, does anyone have a URL? /P On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 01:58:12PM -0700, jim stephens wrote: > 25,000, Alexandria, Va. > > Josh Dersch can have one for his home and for work. > > BTW, about the other nice system noted here, I was hoping the 11/20 would > stay off the radar and not go for a zillion bucks, so much for that idea. > At least I have the means to go to Tucson and get it if I'm nuts and go for > it. > > Thanks > Jim

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Straight 8 up on Ebay just now

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

25,000, Alexandria, Va. Josh Dersch can have one for his home and for work. BTW, about the other nice system noted here, I was hoping the 11/20 would stay off the radar and not go for a zillion bucks, so much for that idea. At least I have the means to go to Tucson and get it if I'm nuts and go for it. Thanks Jim

9 years, 11 months

6
5
0 0

Rescue Fwd: Atari 1040ST (w/Hybrid Arts, Apple 7100AV (w/Digidesign) Utah

by jfoust＠threedee.com

A rescue available... contact Ric directly below. - John >From: Ric Chitwood <dancetech at comcast.net> >Subject: Atari 1040ST >Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2016 10:56:05 -0600 > >I have a fully functioning Atari 1040ST with monitor in the original boxes that I would like to donate. >It also has the Hybrid Arts Smpte Track hardware and software included. > >I also have a fully functioning Apple 7100AV computer with monitor and Digidesign sound card and software floppy discs. Are you interested in these computers or do you know of someone who is? > >Ric Chitwood >Pleasant Grove, Utah

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Wiring Regulations. RE: Cray J932SE (was Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just now)

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

In the UK we have, for DOMESTIC premises something call "Part P" > -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Mouse > Sent: 19 July 2016 17:47 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Cray J932SE (was Re: Straight 8 up on Ebay just now) > > >> [...electrical wiring...] > > This very definitely is an area where, if you're not 100% comfortable > > with t$ > > Also, know your own limits. A depressing number of people think they're > more competent than they are. > > For example, I once had a neighbour who replaced an outlet in his kitchen. > Turned off the breaker, removed the old one, put in the new one, all very > nice. Turned the breaker for that circuit back on and popped the service > main breaker. > In the UK we used to have an inspection regime. You did the work, they would inspect. These days, for DOMESTIC premises we have something call "Part P" which limits what a householder can and cannot do. So you can generally do "like for like" replacements, add additional outlets where permitted and one or two other things. Originally all work in Kitchens was defined as "Special" and was notifiable, but this was modified so that is no longer the case. So as the above is a "like for like" replacement, I believe it is currently permitted in the UK. Of course in a Museum, or even a Scout Hut, provided it does not share a supply with residential premises then any one can do the Work so long as it is later inspected..... ... the problem with Part P is that it encourages a "tick box" approach and the Electrician who replaced my "Consumer Unit" (distribution panel) With a new one with multiple RCD's which tripped suggested it would be simpler to re-wire rather than fix the existing wiring. This sort of approach seems common. The actual fault was that I have a pair of linked smoke detectors, and one was connected via one RCD, the other via a different RCD. The connection between the two was sufficient to cause an imbalance. I replaced them with wireless linked smoke detectors and all works well.... > When I investigated, it turned out the new outlet still had the bridging piece > that shorts together the hots for the two outlets, and this was a kitchen > outlet and thus had separate circuits for each half (and, as is often the case, > they were on adjacent fingers in the breaker box and thus on different > phases). So, of course, the new outlet shorted the two hot phases together. > > He didn't have the experience to recognize that those shorting pieces exist, > to realize that having four conductors instead of three coming to the outlet - > or its being a kitchen outlet - likely means the two halves are on different > circuits and thus likely different phases, or the electrical understanding to put > those facts together. Which wouldn't've been a problem, except that he > thought he was fine - he didn't bring me in until the main service breaker > blew. (He did, fortunately, have enough sense for that to tickle his > "something I don't understand happened, call for help" reaction.) > > I've been doing electrical work since I was maybe ten or twelve, when I > helped my parents wire the house they were building. (My father inspected > my work first; then, this being de rigeur there-and-then, it was inspected by > a suitable authority. Only then was it energized.) I don't hesitate to do > routine house electrical work, maybe even installing 30A outlets (though I'd > make sure I looked up the appropriate gauge of wire, and probably then > used the next larger gauge). But I'd call in someone more experienced for > something well outside my own experience, like (say) dealing with 600/600 > service. > > I would say that, if you don't have a good deal of experience, find someone > who does to look over your work before you energize it. > Indeed, some jurisdictions require that for work done by unlicensed persons > - or at least used to, and I would assume some still do. Even if yours doesn't, > it strikes me as the smart thing to do. > > /~\ The ASCII Mouse > \ / Ribbon Campaign > X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org > / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B Dave G4UGM

9 years, 11 months

1
0
0 0

Reproduction micros

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Koning > The article, as usual, talks about a whole bunch of things that are > much older than the author seems to know. "The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." OK, so technically it's ignorance, not stupidity, but in my book it's stupid to not know when one's ignorant. > RISC, as a term, may come from IBM, but the concept goes back at least > as far as the CDC 6000 series. Hmm; perhaps. I always felt that RISC meant 'making the basic cycle time as fast as possible by finding the longest path through the logic - i.e. the limiting factor on the cycle time - and removing it (thereby making the instruction set less rich); then repeat'. (And there's also an aspect of moving complexity from the hardware to the compiler - i.e. optimizing system performance across the _entire_ system, not just across a limited subset like the hardware only). As I've previously discussed, RISC only makes (system-wide) sense in an environment in which memory bandwidth is plentiful (so that having programs contain more, simpler instructions make sense) - does that apply to the CDC machines? > Pipelining, to the CDC 7600. Didn't STRETCH have pipelining? Too busy/lazy to check... > And if you equate RISC to load/store with simple regular instruction > patterns, you can probably go all the way back to the earliest > computers Well, I'm not at all sure that load-store is a good indicator for RISC - note that that the PDP-10 is load-store... But anyway, moving on. One of the books about Turing argues that the ACE can be seen as a RISC machine (it's not just that it's load-store; its overall architectural philosophy is all about maximizing instruction rates). Noel

9 years, 11 months

2
1
0 0

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb