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

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I suggest it be named "TIMBER - Data Logger" both for the creator and function. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu May be intoxicated from too much screen cleaner

26 years

1
0
0 0

Looking for....

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

Get a couple more guys/gals and we could have our own mini-VCF. Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com> > -----Original Message----- > From: LFessen106(a)aol.com [mailto:LFessen106@aol.com] > Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 3:39 PM > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Looking for.... > > > Well let me know if you want to come down here for a shopping > trip/vacation. I can take you to a lot better places than > Dismal World. > > Joe > > >> > > You're on :-) I occasionally get down to Orlando..! > -Linc. > >

26 years

1
0
0 0

Great Finds

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> That's probably a DDS (aka "DAT") drive ... at least, that's > the only drive > I've ever seen built-in to any HP 9000/8x2 or HP 3000/9x2. > (It'll be a DDS-1, most likely) That's what I suspected but, wasn't sure. I'll get some so that I'll have a system backup. Any idea how much data fits on one? > How much memory do you have? (The 8x2 and 9x2 could have > memory plugged into > just about any slots (front or back!). One of the systems is configured with 4 X 8MB of memory. The other has 1 X 32 MB. I also have 8 additional 8MB modules that were pulled from the system with the bad CPU. Haven't had a chance to check them out yet. Between the two system (and spares), I have 6 HPIB interface cards, 10 I/O MUX cards, 9 hard drives, 2 LAN cards, and 2 optical interface cards. We also found a short rack of hard drives at the junk dealers place but, I didn't get them. I noticed that they had the fibre connectors but, at the time didn't realize the computers had fibre interfaces :-( I might go back later and get the rack. If it's still there (Joe?) > > work. Whenever I try to cpio or fbackup to the tape, the > drive will try to > > What version of HP-UX? Jeesh... I'm not even sure what versions are installed. One system hadn't been booted since 1996 the other hadn't been booted since 1994 so, the OS isn't exactly current. I've got the install CDs for HP-UX 10.20 Series 800 but am having trouble with the CD-ROM. Once I get the OS reinstalled, it should be a lot easier to diagnose the tape drive problem. > How did you configure the tape drive (ls -l /dev/...whatever...) I tried using some of the existing devices (ioscan -fn) but that didn't work. It looks like the system is using the driver "tape1". Not sure if that's correct or not? I also tried creating special files (mksf -H 52.0 /dev/...whatever...) with a variety of parameters but, just haven't hit the right combo yet. When I try to write to the tape, the drive displays "Write, Read, Write, Read, blah, blah...). Then the console says something like "Write error in tape header...). I don't believe it wrote any data but, I do think the setup is pretty close. At this point, I'm suspicious of the driver. Thanks, Steve Roberson

26 years

1
0
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> Dealing with the >> different modulations, as you've named, is a software post-processing task. >You prefer software solutions. I prefer hardware. It doesn't make either >of us wrong. When you close your eyes, you see pseudocode. I see schematics. I've been using variants on "raw data capture" for years, and I find it *most* flexible when the data is captured in its rawest forms. In some cases this means running the signal from the head through an A/D converter and logging. This gives the most opportunities to apply funky data recovery techniques in software in case the media is old and rotting away. Taking the data from multiple reads passes - in some cases with the head stepped a fraction of track in and out - is a very powerful technique. Not everyone has floppy drives that are capable of stepping in 1/16th track increments, I realize :-). (I use a heavily hacked up pair of Persci's for this.) Tim.

26 years

2
1
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>>some controllers, many of which use a less-than-ideal timebase to define >>the precompensation offsets imposed on the data stream. >This is true, or worse used oneshots. generally the time base for the >bit encoding was always a crystal with not worse than 200ppm error >and less than 50ppm drift. The typical system was usually within >50ppm of exact and drifted less than 25ppm over temperature extremes. >Often the actual data rate was far lower than that reference(usually 1/4 >or 1/8th). IMHO it's very misleading - or even worse, foolish - to worry about errors in the ppm range when the instantaneous rotation speed of the floppy can vary a few percent. Most data recovery circuits - even the most simplistic one-shot FM decoder - can take a 25% change in data rate in stride. Sure, they don't have as much error margin if you stray that far, but my point is that we're not dealing with National Bureau of Standards platinum-iridium references here. >I'd suggest some factor less than .5, flux shift errors on floppies >rarely move a great amount unless the spindle bearings are rattling >loose. Actually based on media and expected recording rate it's >possible to plug in a set of expected timing windows and add/subtract >a "precompenstation" window amount based on adjacent bits. For >example adjacent ones or zeros (especially more than two bits) >tend to spread or compress over patterns like alternating ones >and zeros. Look up "PRML" or "Partial Response Maximum Likelihood". It's a branch of signal decoding for use in situations where adjacent pulses most definitely have measureable effects on each other. >Further with all the "timing image" in a memory it should be possible >to look at longer strings of transistions and do simple predictive >forcasting (software PLL). Add to that the encoding form (FM, >MFM, M2FM, RLL or GCR), and previous bits history it should be >straightforward enough to predict the likely next transistion(s) >be they one or zero. Most uses of PRML look both forward *and* backwards. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

2
1
0 0

ODT tutorial / online docs?

by mrbill＠mrbill.net

Anybody know where I can find an ODT tutorial/documentation (for a PDP 11/02) online? I'm having trouble booting a system... (http://www.pdp11.org/pics/pdp1102.jpg) Bill -- +-------------------\ /-----------------+ | Bill Bradford | www.sunhelp.org | | mrbill(a)mrbill.net | www.decvax.org | | Austin, Texas USA | www.pdp11.org | +-------------------/ \-----------------+

26 years

1
0
0 0

Reading disks with Catweasel

by mann＠pa.dec.com

I noticed that someone forwarded one of my early messages about the Catweasel software I was working on to the list. I've made a lot more progress since then, so in case anyone is interested, below are a few more messages giving the latest news. Basically, it's working well, even on 8" disks. My program (cw2dmk) reads disks into a file format that represents decoded FM or MFM data, with the location of ID address marks noted, but no other indication of missing clocks or other odd stuff. This might be useful beyond the two TRS-80 emulators that currently support it, but it isn't the universal format that folks on this list were trying to design a month or two ago. Designing a format like that is an interesting problem. After my experience reading disks with the Catweasel, I'm not sure that simply recording the raw sample data is a good archival format. After my program decodes the FM or MFM data and checks for things like CRC errors and missing/unexpected data address marks, there are a fair number of errors that go away if I do a few retries at resampling the track. (Most disks have none, but they happen often enough to be noticeable when I'm reading a lot of disks.) So an archiver that just blindly sampled each track once without trying to decode it might end up recording data that could not be decoded later. Also, writing a good decoder is a bit of a pain, and some (what appears to me) black magic to reconstruct the data after bit-shifting has occurred. It would be nice to do the decoding once, up front, and archive decoded data. On the other hand, really strangely copy-protected disks from systems with disk controllers that are partly implemented in software might not be decodable using a general-purpose algorithm. Maybe it would be best to *try* to decode the data, do some retries if it can't be decoded, and archive both the result of decoding and the raw samples just for maximum safety.... --Tim ========Message 1======== From: mann(a)pa.dec.com (Tim Mann) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 19:47:28 -0700 (PDT) To: trs80(a)cs.ubc.ca Subject: Announcing cw2dmk: read any TRS-80 floppy with a Catweasel ----- Background: The Catweasel ISA floppy disk controller is an add-in card for the PC ISA bus. It uses specialized hardware, not a standard floppy disk controller chip, and it can be programmed to read and write just about any disk format. Catweasel cards were in short supply for a while, but as of July 2000 they should be available for purchase again. See http://www.jschoenfeld.com/ and http://apd2.tripod.com/catweasl.htm. I've written a free program for the Catweasel called cw2dmk that can read any disk written by a TRS-80, including single-density and copy-protected disks. The disk is saved as a DMK image file, suitable for use in either the xtrs TRS-80 emulator for Unix, or David Keil's TRS-80 emulator for MS-DOS. cw2dmk runs on Linux, MS-DOS, or Windows 95/98. You can download it from http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80resources.html. Source code is included. My program uses some code from Michael Krause's Linux drivers for the Catweasel (which work with Amiga and MS-DOS diskettes). Besides TRS-80 disks, cw2dmk should be able to read any disk written by a WD177x/179x or by a standard PC (NEC765-compatible) disk controller. Currently it's not too useful to have non-TRS-80 disks in DMK format, but perhaps additional tools that work with this format will become available in the future. For example, I'd like to write a program that uses a Catweasel to write a DMK image back to a real floppy disk. This would provide a nice way of archiving disks from many old machines and making physical copies when needed. Another likely future direction for cw2dmk is to be able to write JV1 and JV3 disk images, when the disk being read can be represented in one of those formats. Those are the formats that Jeff Vavasour's and Matthew Reed's TRS-80 emulators need. By the way, I don't get a cut of Catweasel sales. :-) ========Message 2======== From: mann(a)pa.dec.com (Tim Mann) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 21:33:59 -0700 (PDT) Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy, comp.os.cpm Subject: Re: Announcing cw2dmk: read any TRS-80 floppy with a Catweasel ----- Oops. In that announcement, I forgot to say "TRS-80 Model I, III, 4, or 4P". These are the models that are currently supported by the emulators that use DMK format. Disks written by other computers that used the TRS-80 brand name will probably be readable too, but the images aren't currently too useful since there is not yet any software that uses DMK format other than these emulators. I do plan to read some Model II/12 disks for archival purposes when I get my 8" drive plugged in, and I'm also going to take a shot at reading some 3.5" Model 100 disks that someone is mailing me, but I don't have any results to report on that yet. ========Message 3======== From: Gary Shanafelt <...> Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 22:02:21 -0500 To: trs80(a)cs.ubc.ca Subject: Re: Announcing cw2dmk: read any TRS-80 floppy with a Catweasel ----- Tim, In your last message about the Catweasel board, you mentioned David Keil's emulator using DMK image files while Jeff Vavasour's and Matt Reed's used JV1 and JV3 format files. What's the difference? All the emulators call their files .DSK files; I recently downloaded David's program, set it up with some of the .DSK files from the Vavasour/Reed emulators, and it worked with them without further ado. I thought all these .DSK files were a single standard TRS-80 emulator format, but I guess not? ========Message 4======== From: mann(a)pa.dec.com (Tim Mann) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 21:27:01 -0700 (PDT) To: Gary Shanafelt <...> Cc: trs80(a)cs.ubc.ca Subject: Re: Announcing cw2dmk: read any TRS-80 floppy with a Catweasel ----- The emulators all give the .DSK extension to their files, but they are using several different formats, which I've given the names DMK, JV1, and JV3. Full details are on http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80/dskspec.html, but here is a summary. JV1 can only handle single density disks with directory on track 17. Jeff Vavasour's Model I emulator works only with JV1 images. Jeff's Model III/4 emulator doesn't support JV1 images at all, but all the other major emulators will work with a JV1 image if you give one to them. JV3 can handle normal single and double density disks, but most forms of copy-protected disk are not representable. Almost all of the images on Ira Goldklang's site (www.trs-80.com) are in JV3. All the major emulators except Jeff's Model I emulator will work with JV3 images. Jeff originated this format in his Model III/4 emulator. DMK can handle anything that a TRS-80 disk controller can write to the disk, including all the copy-protected formats. Even protected game disks where the program does a Read Track and looks for specific data in the gaps between sectors can be recorded in DMK format and will run in emulators that support it. Currently only David Keil's emulator and xtrs support this format. David originated the format. Ira now has a small collection of images in DMK format that can't be represented in JV3 format. ========Message 5======== From: mann(a)pa.dec.com (Tim Mann) Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 16:17:10 -0700 (PDT) To: ... Subject: Early 8" results with Catweasel on LS-DOS disks ----- Thought you might be interested to hear that I tried reading a few 8" disks with a Catweasel last night, using my custom program (cw2dmk). They were mostly TRS-80 Model II LS-DOS disks with an FM track 0 and MFM on the rest of the disk. The FM was easy to read; the MFM required tweaking the thresholds in my program because the bit-shifting effect (that write precompensation is meant to adjust for) varies so much from the outer to inner tracks, and makes a sudden jump backward at track 44 where write precomp was turned on when the disks were written. I found a setting that worked, but it's touchy; a few retries were needed on tracks near 43 and 76. I might try to devise an algorithm that sets the thresholds automatically for each track by doing a histogram and looking for the exact location of the peaks and valleys, or I might try doing something that emulates a phase locked loop in software instead of using fixed thresholds.... The main disks I tried reading were copies of Model II/12 LS-DOS that Lamar Owen and Fred Dolan sent. The disk Fred sent had CRC errors on about half the tracks (usually one error per track), no matter what I did. I'm going to poke a bit more to see if it's a problem with my software or if the disk is really bad. The disks Lamar sent read OK once I got the thresholds right. ========Message 6======== From: mann(a)pa.dec.com (Tim Mann) Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 20:30:21 -0700 (PDT) To: ... Subject: Re: Early 8" results with Catweasel on LS-DOS disks ----- An update for those who may be interested: I found a heuristic to make up for insufficient write-precompensation (or for flux transitions that were close together moving farther apart over time). With this added to cw2dmk, I was able to read most of the 8" disks that I have without getting errors, including the one from Fred Dolan that previously showed CRC errors on about half the tracks. Here's the idea. When decoding MFM, the interval between each two successive flux transitions should be either short (2 cycles), medium (3), or long (4). Because of a physical effect, short transitions that come next to medium or long ones tend to spread out into their space. So after I classify a transition, I compute how long it ideally should have been and save the difference between the real and ideal lengths. I then add k times the difference to the next transition before classifying it, where k is a tuning parameter. With k=0, we have the old algorithm. A value of k around 0.5 to 0.8 made the difficult disks readable. Usually the exact value wasn't too critical, but on the really bad disks I had to experiment a bit to find the best setting. I imagine this technique (or something better) is well known in the disk drive industry, but it was a kick to me when I thought of it and it worked so well. I might go back to some 5.25" disks I have that showed CRC errors when read on a normal PC controller, and see if this trick will let me read some of them. Tim Mann tim.mann(a)compaq.com http://www.tim-mann.org Compaq Computer Corporation, Systems Research Center, Palo Alto, CA

26 years

6
6
0 0

VAX/VLC memory?

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

Does the VAX 4000/VLC take "standard" 4MB 72 pin simms? What are the requirements on it. --Chuck

26 years

2
1
0 0

Looking for....

by LFessen106＠aol.com

Well let me know if you want to come down here for a shopping trip/vacation. I can take you to a lot better places than Dismal World. Joe >> You're on :-) I occasionally get down to Orlando..! -Linc.

26 years

1
0
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by mann＠pa.dec.com

I can't keep track of all the directions this discussion is going in, but here are a few bits of information that might be useful. My software for reading FM and MFM with the Catweasel is available from my Web pages, so you can look at the source code for details of what it does, adapt it to work with different hardware if you prefer to build your own, dissect it and note all its shortcomings, ignore it, or whatever. See www.tim-mann.org/trs80resources.html. There's also a link there to the Linux drivers for the card, which include some writing support and have a different implementation of reading (but which uses the same idea), so you can look at that source code too. The basic idea for reading is very simple. I have two thresholds, t1 and t2. Given a sample s, if s <= t1, I classify it as short (10); if t1 < s <= t2, as medium (100); if t2 < s, as long (1000). This lets me reconstruct the MFM clock/data bit stream. I set the thresholds statically, by looking at histograms of samples from various tracks of different disks, and placing the thresholds rougly in the middle of the valleys between the three observed peaks. This technique is crude (maybe it would be better to emulate a phase locked loop in software, for instance), but it works well for 3.5" and 5.25" disks, and some 8" disks too. I'll come back to the other 8" disks in a bit. When I said something about "bit-shifting" with the Catweasel, I was *not* talking about reading the same track repeatedly and getting different results. On what I was *not* talking about: I haven't done any systematic tests to see how much the sample data read from a track varies from one attempt to another. I do know that when I fail to decode some data (getting a CRC error), rereading the track sometimes helps. I would expect some variation from one read to the next because the magnetic signal on the disk doesn't really have sharp edges; the electronics inside the drive that decide where the flux transitions are going to produce somewhat different results from one try to the next. I would expect this is worse on old disks that are fading or where tiny bits of oxide are starting to flake off. On what I *was* talking about: There is a physical effect where two flux transitions that are recorded close together tend to move apart. An Intel FDC data sheet that I have calls this effect "bit-shifting", but I don't know whether that's a standard term or not. Write precompensation approximately corrects for this effect, but not exactly. On some 8" disks that I've read, I've seen severe cases of this effect, enough that I had to put a heuristic into my program to compensate for it. On at least a few disks, the effect increased up to track 43, backed way off at track 44, and then slowly increased again; this is consistent with the disk having been written in a system that turns on write precomp using the TG43 (track greater than 43) signal, but that doesn't have enough precomp. The size of the errors I've seen is much more than one Catweasel clock, so it doesn't have anything to do with the Catweasel sample rate beating against the data rate. So, what's the heuristic? It's quite crude and oversimplified too, but seems to work pretty well. The general idea is that if an interval is a bit off from what you were expecting it to be, multiply the error by some factor around 0.5 to 0.8 (you sometimes have to tune it for each disk if they are particularly bad), and add that to the next interval before classifying it as short, medium, or long. This helped immensely, making some disks that previously had a CRC error on about half the tracks even after many retries read perfectly, with no retries. Here is some code that should make it clearer: void mfm_decode(int sample) { static float adj = 0.0; int len; if (sample + adj <= mfmthresh1) { /* Short */ len = 2; } else if (sample + adj <= mfmthresh2) { /* Medium */ len = 3; } else { /* Long */ len = 4; } adj = (sample - (len/2.0 * mfmshort)) * postcomp; if (out_fmt == OUT_SAMPLES) printf("%d%c ", sample, "--sml"[len]); mfm_bit(1); while (--len) mfm_bit(0); } Tim Mann tim.mann(a)compaq.com http://www.tim-mann.org Compaq Computer Corporation, Systems Research Center, Palo Alto, CA

26 years

2
2
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>Since soldering is so much more reliable, and just as fast once you get >used to using the soldering iron, I don't see the point of said >breadboards. But anyway... I've been using these breadboards for about 20 years now and I still like them for a lot of things. They certainly aren't good for all possibilities, but I regularly do digital logic into the 50 MHz range with them and have few problems. Modern CMOS logic families seem to be a lot more forgiving for poor bypassing and high-impedance power sources than good old-fashioned "straight" TTL. In fact, just for fun, I've pulled out *all* the bypass capacitors around a 40 MHz HC TTL circuit and found that it operated identically to before the bypass capacitors were pulled. Compare this to old-fashioned straight 7400-series logic where if I don't put bypass capacitors everywhere all the flip flops randomly choose a new state every time the clock ticks! On the subject of breadboarding with solder and wires: are there PC-boards designed specifically for "place-and-tack" surface-mount prototyping? I'm envisioning a power grid, a bunch of SOIC pads with small fanout, a place for some surface-mount discrete parts, and maybe some way of putting a header connector on the board. That'd be really useful. Sort of like those through-hole prototyping PC boards that used to be popular. Tim.

26 years

2
1
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by mann＠pa.dec.com

Let me interject a few notes about the Catweasel here. Quoting from Tim Shoppa's original message: > 1. The Catweasel uses some custom LSI parts, as far as I can figure out. It uses a PLD. The 1996 version, which I have, uses a MACH 211. I'm not sure what the new 2000 version uses; probably something similar. The PLD equations aren't released, though, so knowing this doesn't tell you much. > My circuit is much more "hackable", anyone with a TTL databook can figure > out what it does and improve on it. Or you can build one yourself from > scratch. (Other than the 128K*8 SRAM, all the other parts were literally > purchased from the local electronics shop. Heck, most of the chips can > be bought at Radio Shack!) Total cost for the chips in my buffer is > about $30.00, about half of that in the SRAM chip. I sympathize with that, but for those of us who are much better at software than hardware, something off-the-shelf is a big plus. You can get a Catweasel for $85 to $95 completely assembled. > 2. The Catweasel uses a proprietary, largely undocumented programming > interface. My circuitry is entirely open, and I think it's pretty easy > to program. (My first hack at acquiring data with the new buffer was > dashed off in about half an hour under QBASIC.) You can now get the documentation for the programming interface just by asking the designer (Jens Schoenfeld). He told me that it isn't secret anymore. The document is in German, but I could provide a translation if anyone needs it. (My German isn't that great, but the document is so simple you can almost read it without knowing any German.) There is also an open-source Linux driver, and the program I wrote for reading FM and MFM disks to one of the TRS-80 emulator formats (cw2dmk) is also open source. > 3. The Catweasel requires a bus slot inside a PC-clone. My new buffer uses > a much more general purpose parallel interface. So you can hook it up > to a laptop, or even to something that isn't a PC-clone at all. That's a real plus; on the other hand, if you do have a PC clone with an ISA slot, it's more convenient having the board inside the computer than hanging off the parallel port (especially if you're already using the parallel port for something else). > Those are what I see as advantages over the Catweasel. There are also > some disadvantages: > > 4. You can't just go out and buy my buffer, but you can buy Catweasels > off the shelf. > > 5. My buffer is strictly "read-only" as I use it. I think the Catweasel > (and Compaticard) both allow writing. Yes, the Catweasel allows writing. I haven't tried this yet, though. Another point to note is that the Catweasel samples at 7 or 14 MHz (software selectable). In reading some old 8" MFM disks, I found that there had been a lot of bit-shifting over the years (or maybe there was not enough write precomp applied to begin with), and I had to use an extra heuristic to make them readable at all. I'm not sure that 4 MHz would have been a high enough sample rate for these. Tim Mann tim.mann(a)compaq.com http://www.tim-mann.org Compaq Computer Corporation, Systems Research Center, Palo Alto, CA

26 years

3
8
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>One final point that perhaps Tim could answer. If he does provide a >schematic, would he have any objections if somebody else created a CPLD >(or FPGA, or..) version? Giving him full credit for the original idea, of >course. Because if he doesn't mind, then the whole issue goes away. You >can build whichever version suits you... The entire idea of discussing my circuit here was to get some ideas for improvements, *and* to make it clear that this was entirely an "open" hardware design and a "non-secret" programming interface. The circuit is hardly original enough for me to claim it to be my idea, especially as other manufacturers have been making proprietary interfaces that do the same thing for at least a decade. I wanted to make the design public so that it will last for longer than your typical PC-clone piece of hardware. Tim.

26 years

1
0
0 0

Cipher Streamer / DEC TS05 Tape Drive

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >It seems strange for the drive to look so otherwise perfect and > >these items to be mush. Any thoughts? > > Storage conditions, especially atmospheric ozone. I spent 6 years > living in LA, and the lifetime of my natural-rubber bike tires there > was measured in months. Foam would either dry up and turn brittle > or go the other way and turn gooey, typically within a couple of > years of manufacture. > > Obviously temperature and exposure to UV light/direct sunlight are > factors too. Well, heat I'd buy, but other areas of the drive would have shown the effects of sun, and the hub is inside, away from light. I was wondering what storing the unit in the presence of unsealed containers of petrochemicals might do... or even worse, whatever a medical school (formaldehyde?) might have in storage... -dq

26 years

3
2
0 0

old Mac parts

by Marion.Bates＠dartmouth.edu

Hey, I have a friend who's interested in selling the following items, and he asked me to post this to the list. Reply to me if you're interested and I will put you in touch with him. -- MB ---------------------------------------- I looked at some of my junque and the only thing that is all together is one 400K external drive. I found 1 128K board, 1 128K board upgraded to 512 and one later 128/512K board set up as 512K. I haven't looked at all of the cases yet to see if I can make some 128's or not. I found some old HD20 parts that may be for the original, runs off the external drive port on a 512K (fat Mac), using a floppy to start up and recognize the hard drive. The only profile part is a controller board (I think - if I am remembering right). It's all in my basement. The three IBM PC Jr's are still in the garage and haven't been run in years.

26 years

1
0
0 0

paging Will Jennings

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

Will, I tried to reply to your message but the message was rejected. Check your return address. Joe

26 years

1
0
0 0

Looking for....

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated 7/5/00 2:00:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rigdonj(a)intellistar.net writes: > Where are you? > > I know where there's a few located in central Florida. > > Joe > Eastern Pennsylvania. -Linc.

26 years

2
1
0 0

FSOT: Perkin Elmer stuff

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

Hi, I picked up a couple of blue three ring binders with Perkin Elmer logos on them. Both have manuals in them. One is for PECESS Software Packet for a UV/VIS/NIR Spectroscopy and has some printouts with BASIC listings. The other has a manual for Command Descriptions Reference Manual for CDS-3 Application program. Does anyone want them? I'll trade for something I can use like HP manuals, Tektronix 4041 manuals or ???? Joe.

26 years

1
0
0 0

Cipher Streamer / DEC TS05 Tape Drive

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>On my much-older and much-more-clearly-used Cipher on the Prime, >the rubber pads are fine; on this nearly-new-looking TS05, they >have lost all firmness and have turned almost to the consistency >of tree sap. They didn't drip, they weren't that bad; but one >attempt to load a tape left most of the pads on the inside of the >tape reel. > >It seems strange for the drive to look so otherwise perfect and >these items to be mush. Any thoughts? Storage conditions, especially atmospheric ozone. I spent 6 years living in LA, and the lifetime of my natural-rubber bike tires there was measured in months. Foam would either dry up and turn brittle or go the other way and turn gooey, typically within a couple of years of manufacture. Obviously temperature and exposure to UV light/direct sunlight are factors too. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

1
0
0 0

Cipher Streamer / DEC TS05 Tape Drive

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

Hello, The TS05 I picked up last week looked to be in perfect condition. There was very little dust on or in it. However, I did notice a slight amount of rust on the shaft coming out of the take-up motor (the top of the shaft is visible through the hub). On further inspection, there is a slight amount of oxidation on the surface of the takeup hub; this can be easily removed with Scotch-Brite, I think. But what disturbs me is this... I found one particular sign that this drive may not have been used for some years. The supply hub has three short arms which emerge from their normal position tucked inside the supply hub and which press against the inside metal rim of the tape reel in order to hold it in place. Each little arm has a small rubber or latex pad which helps to provide grip against the tape reel. On my much-older and much-more-clearly-used Cipher on the Prime, the rubber pads are fine; on this nearly-new-looking TS05, they have lost all firmness and have turned almost to the consistency of tree sap. They didn't drip, they weren't that bad; but one attempt to load a tape left most of the pads on the inside of the tape reel. It seems strange for the drive to look so otherwise perfect and these items to be mush. Any thoughts? Plus, anyone been there/done that? I need to replace these pads, and they weren't listed in the Cipher manual as a replaceable part (you have to replace the entire supply hub, it would seem). tia, -doug quebbeman

26 years

1
0
0 0

Great Finds

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> Unless I'm mistaken, the 7980XC is a current production drive. At least it > was about a year ago. You should be able to still get complete docs direct > from HP. Apparantly, they don't want to admit it being an HP product on their web site, as I can't find it through the usual means. -dq

26 years

1
0
0 0

Looking for....

by LFessen106＠aol.com

In a message dated 7/5/00 1:03:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, elmo(a)mminternet.com writes: > > IIRC ADM-5's have gone unsold on Ebay at $19-24 for some time, from > more than one seller. The latest seller has quantity and includes a > transport > case. Exhorbitant? > > I just re-checked Ebay's past and present sales and found 1 (one) sale of ADM terminals....Currently going for $24.00. Seller has 4, HOWEVER, they are going AS IS. I would like to find a <working!> ADM 3 or 5 preferably from someone qualified enough to make that judgement. You see, $24 would be a lot of money with a $60 shipping charge for a broken dumb terminal. -Linc.

26 years

1
0
0 0

HP Tape drive

by steverob＠hotoffice.com

> > Great drive (If it's the same as the one they OEM'd to Pyramid). > 1600/6250 bpi. > > It's fast and reliable. Is it the SCSI, Pertec or other version. > HPIB... I've been looking for documentation on the web but, haven't found any :-( Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>

26 years

1
0
0 0

TRS items taken - Re: newbie intro

by aclark＠envirolink.org

A person in my state has expressed willingness to come to my home and pick up the TRS items. Since such an arrangement would relieve me of the time demands of packing and shipping the items, I have given that person first chance to get all of it. Once he has looked at it, I will repost to the ClassicCmp mailing list regarding what is still available. Thanks for your interest. Arthur Clark

26 years

1
0
0 0

New find: HP 1000 E series

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Carlos Murillo <cem14(a)cornell.edu> wrote: > Well, I made the cable and plugged it into a terminal. The > right voltages appear on the correct lines. However, > the card never asserts DTR or RTS when I turn the computer on. I think that makes sense -- it looks like DTR and RTS are under program control (i.e. it's up to software to set the appropriate control register bits). > I also discovered that the HD in the 7946 is busted > (haven't opened it yet)-the "online" light doesn't come on, > but the "fault" light does. It seems to have trouble > spinning up. So, loading an OS is out of the question > for a while. Is it possible to at least run some tests > and have it output diagnostics to one of the BACI cards? I suspect it depends on what loader ROMs are installed in the computer. There is a loader ROM that supports booting from cartridge tape drives in an attached 264X terminal. In the meantime, I've keyed in the sample program from the manual (at the end of this message). Turning it into executable code and loading that into the 1000E is left as an exercise for the reader, at least 'til I find time to figure out how to do that sort of thing. Others who know are welcome to chime in! > There is a sheet of paper glued to the front panel with instructions > on how to reboot the system; it says to load the S/s register > with ones in bits 15,14,9, and 6, then hit the store, preset, > some other button, then preset again and finally the run button. Unfortunately, most of the 21xx documentation I have here at home right now is for 2100s, not 21MXs (which are a whole lot closer to 1000s), so I'm just guessing as to what that tells the machine to do, but I expect it's instructions for selecting a given loader ROM (and maybe device) and starting the boot. So...I'll try to keep this in mind for the next foray into storage. What I probably need to look for is the 21MX or 1000 E-Series operating and reference manual, instead of the installation and service manual that I have in front of me. --- cut here --- ASMB,A,B,L,T ORG 100B * ****12966 SAMPLE PROGRAM************************* *THE PROGRAM BEGINS BY CLEARING ALL ADDRESSES OF THE *SPECIAL CHARACTER RAM TO ZEROS.THE 12966 THEN IS *ENABLED TO RECEIVE MODE,1200 BAUD.THE USER ENTERS A *MINIMUM OF 64 CHARACTERS FROM THE TERMINAL KEYBOARD *(HP2640 OR SIMILAR TERMINAL). WHEN BUFFER HALF FULL *(64 CHARS.) IS DETECTED,THE CHARS. ARE TRANSFER FROM *THE FIFO BUFFER OF THE 12966 TO THE CPU. WHEN THIS *TRANSFER IS COMPLETE THE CPU HALTS (HLT 01).THE USER *PRESSES 'PRESET' & 'RUN', THE 12966 GOES INTO THE *TRANSMIT MODE. THE CPU BUFFER (64 CHARS.) IS SENT TO *THE 12966 FIFO BUFFER. WHEN THIS TRANSFER IS COMPLETED *THE 12966 TRANSMITS TO THE TERMINAL UNTIL BUFFER EMPTY *STATUS FLAG SETS. THE CPU NOW HALTS (HLT 02),PRESSING *'RUN' RESETARTS THE PROGRAM. * * A EQU 0 B EQU 1 SCT EQU 12B 12966 IS IN SELECT CODE 12B SAVA BSS 1 SAVB BSS 1 COUNT BSS 1 SIZE DEC 64 64 CHARACTERS BHF OCT 1000 CW3 OCT 030023 CW4R OCT 040011 CW4T OCT 140411 CW5 OCT 050077 CW6 OCT 060000 PAT OCT 777 DAB. DEF DAB CLEAR OCT 060400 ORG 1000B DAB BSS 400 * * ORG 200B START LDA CW4T MASTER RESET,INITIALIZE TRANSMIT OTA SCT LDA CW6 CLEAR OUT SPECIAL CHAR RAM R1 OTA SCT INA CPA CLEAR CHECK IF SPECIAL CHAR RAM IS CLEAR RSS YES IT IS,CONTINUE WITH PROGRAM JMP R1 NO IT ISN'T,CONTINUE CLEARING OVER LDA SIZE SETUP AND INITIALIZE CHAR COUNTER CMA,INA 2'S COMP. STA COUNT LDA CW5 LOAD WORD 5,CLEAR FLAGS OTA SCT LDA CW3 LOAD WORD 3,1 STOP BIT,8 DATA BITS OTA SCT ECHO ON,NO PARITY LDA CW4R LOAD WORD 4,RECEIVE MODE,1200 BAUD OTA SCT CHECK STC SCT,C SET CONTROL 12966 SFS SCT CHECK IF STATUS FLAG SET JMP *-1 NO,NONE IS SET,CONTINUE CLC SCT YES,FLAG HAS SET LIA SCT GET STATUS WORD AND BHF CHECK FOR BUFFER HALF FULL SZA,RSS JMP CHECK BHF NOT SET AS YET LDA CW5 BHF SET,CLEAR STATUS FLAGS OTA SCT LDB DAB. SETUP CPU BUFFER ADDRESS STC SCT,C SET CONTROL 12966 T1 LIA SCT GET A CHARACTER FROM FIFO AND PAT MASK OUT UNWANTED BITS STA B,I STORE CHAR INTO CPU BUFFER INB ISZ COUNT INCREMENT COUNT,COUNT=64? JMP T1 NO,GET NEXT CHARACTER HLT 01 YES,CPU BUFFER IS FULL ***PRESS 'PRESET' AND 'RUN' TO PUT 12966 INTO TRANSMIT *MODE. * NOP LDA CW4T SETUP 12966 TO TRANSMIT @1200 BAUD OTA SCT LDA CW5 CLEAR BUFFERS OTA SCT LDA SIZE SETUP CHAR COUNTER CMA,INA 2'S COMP. STA COUNT LDB DAB. SETUP BUFFER ADDRESS STC SCT,C T2 LDA B,I GET A CHARACTER OTA SCT PUT IT IN THE FIFO BUFFER INB ISZ COUNT INCREMENT COUNT,COUNT=64? JMP T2 NO GET NEXT CHAR!!! LDA CW5 YES,LOAD W TO CLEAR BUFF OTA SCT HALF FULL STC SCT,C SET CONTROL,START TRANSMIT SFS SCT IS BUFFER EMPTY? JMP *-1 NO,CONTINUE SENDING HLT 02 YES, IT IS EMPTY,HALT CPU!! JMP START RESTART 12966 END --- cut here --- -Frank McConnell

26 years

2
1
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>>2. The Catweasel uses a proprietary, largely undocumented programming >>interface. My circuitry is entirely open, and I think it's pretty easy >>to program. (My first hack at acquiring data with the new buffer was >>dashed off in about half an hour under QBASIC.) >Thier doc's pretty much stink, or at least did when I got mine! It sounds like John Wilson has reverse-engineered at least *some* of their programming interface, though last I heard there were parts of the interface that were a mystery even to him :-). >>Would it be worth writing up my new floppy disk data buffer so that >>others could improve on it? Would anyone be interested in unstuffed and/or >>stuffed PCB's? Should I give it a name? (The "Timweasel", anyone? I >>gotta think of a better name!) >Maybe/probably. It looks like my circuit can be put on roughly a 3" x 4" PCB, meaning that after paying for ExpressPCB overhead it'll be maybe $20 or so per PCB in small quantities. The PCB would have a 24-pin header for interfacing to a PC-clone parallel port (or whatever cabling you want to any other sort of parallel type port on another hardware platform), and 34-pin and 50-pin headers to hook to 3.5", 5.25", and 8" disk drives. I haven't priced the chip costs, but they'll probably total around $25 or so from a hobby place like Jameco or from a real distributor like Digi-Key. Chip lineup in my current design: 1 62C1024 128K*8 SRAM. 1 74HCT373 for latching control signals from parallel port, 3 of the outputs are used to drive the head load and step/direction lines to the floppy drive. 8 MHz crystal clock. 1 74HCT74 for bi-phase clock generation and pulse synchronization from the floppy read line 2 74HCT175's to make a seven-stage ring counter. Only 3 phase outputs are used, one to latch and increment the counters, one to latch the outputs of the shift register, and one to do the write enable. 1 74HCT164 for taking serial data from the 74HCT74 pulse synchronizer and turning it into 7-bit wide parallel out. (The 8th bit comes from the index line). 1 74HCT374 for latching the shift register data and tri-stating it onto the memory buffer bus. 1 74HCT04 and 1 74HCT00 for gating and inverting as necessary 2 74HCT590's and 1 74HCT93 for making a 20-bit buffer address counter. (17 bits are used in the current implementation, though we obviously could just drop in a bigger SRAM and use the extra address bits.) I took some pains in my design to allow things to be sped up for more oversampling at a later date. (I'd probably want to replace the 74HCT93 with a third 74HCT590 just to make all the address counters fully synchronous, but I only had 2 HCT590's in my junk box when I built this implementation). The timing from the ring counter and the rest of the HCT logic ought to make sampling up to 40 MHz very straightforward (I'd have to lengthen the write-enable from the ring counter at higher clock speeds to cover a couple of clock phases). > It would be nice to stuff one in a Linux box, or will it >work in an Alpha under VMS :^) Anything with a bidirectional parallel port oughta work fine. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

4
7
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>The only problem I'd point out is the the 9500 series CPLD's drive only 8 mA >per output and, unless you were planning to pair them up, i.e. use multiple >pins tied together to drive the FD cable, you might have problems. The biggest problem is with the outputs that'll drive the floppy disk bus. Typically it's an open-collector output terminated to +5V with 150 ohms, so you have to be able to sink 30 mA or so. So yes, this may be a concern. (Or you can cheat and tie the lines high with "only" 220 or 300 or 470 ohms - shouldn't be a big problem as long as there's only one drive on the bus.) Do any CPLD's have "real" open-collector outputs, or can you fake it by sending the output into tristate mode? (I'm asking this as a guy who's never designed with CPLD's but does know 74XX00 series logic pretty well.) I don't think it's an issue either way with exactly one controller and one floppy drive on the bus. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

2
1
0 0

OT?: failure modes of a RAMDAC

by cem14＠cornell.edu

This is OT in that the piece of hardware that I'm looking at (matrox millenium pci card) is newer than 10 years. On the other hand, any comments on this might be useful for older equipment as well. Here's the scoop: the video card in my home computer suddenly started acting flaky. The image flickers and has diminished brightness; at first I thought that it was the monitor, until I noticed that the area inside the dialog window that pops up when operating the setup menus in the monitor does not flicker and has normal brightness. Aha, cable or connector, I thought. So I tested another monitor. Exact same symptoms on the second monitor. Ok, then a cold solder joint in the card. I extracted the card and had a good look at it. Nothing looks wrong. I put the thing back in and it still had the flickering. Then, all of a sudden, brightness jumps back to normal and everything works fine for the rest of the session. Next day, I power up, and several hours later the symptoms reappear suddenly. I am thinking that the output of the RAMDAC is being severely affected by something that diminishes its swing. As far as I can tell, all colors are affected uniformly. The flicker is random, does not appear to be tied to a given frequency, and seems to affect the whole screen (refresh is currently 85 Hz; changing it does not alleviate the problem). So I wonder if there is some oscillation in the output of the RAMDAC or an internal short that limits the swing or what. Has anyone seen this sort of failure before? carlos.

26 years

3
4
0 0

Friden help

by aw288＠osfn.org

Does anyone on the list have any experience with Friden Automatic Calculators? I have been fooling around with one, and it mostly works, but every few minutes locks up. I am not sure what is causing a problem, as the machine is quite complex. It only locks up when calculating. I am sure it needs a lube job, but at this point all I have done is bathe the whole thing in WD40. When things are going well, I will give it a real lube job. William Donzelli aw288(a)osfn.org

26 years

6
12
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

Hi folks - The topic of reading or writing older "odd" disk formats (hard-sectored, GCR, whatever) comes up here pretty often. And often the discussion leads towards the Catweasel floppy interface (currently available commercially, as I understand) or the Compaticard interfaces (not currently being manufactured, as I understand). I've recently "modernized" my foreign format disk reading hardware. The idea of both the "old" version and the "new" versions are very similar to each other, and to what other tools like the Catweasel and the Compaticard do: Data from a floppy disk drive comes as a series of pulses on the read data line. All these circuits (using different means) buffer up to an entire track of data in RAM, and then allow a user program to look at the buffer and analyze the data on its own terms. They also allow control over rudimentary floppy functions such as step in/out, load head/start motor, etc. *I* buffer the pulses on the read data line by simply recording a "1" bit if there was a pulse in a window, and a "0" if there wasn't. I sample at 4MHz, meaning that a complete revolution of a floppy requires most a megabit of RAM. I also buffer information such as index pulse data (essential for decoding many hard-sectored floppy formats.) The bit rate from most standard floppy formats is roughly 500 kHz, meaning my 4 MHz sample rate oversamples by a factor of 8 or so. Yes, it's overkill for many applications, but I want to be sure that all information on the floppy is faithfully represented in the buffer. Besides, many GCR and some MFM variants use half- or even third-fundamental-frequency components (sliding the pulse in the window to encode more data without increasing the clock rate) and oversampling is necessary for these formats. Other buffers (I believe the Catweasel falls in this category) record the times between successive pulses in RAM, instead of the "raw bits". My "previous generation" buffer had a megabit of SRAM and interfaced via a 16-bit-in and 16-bit-out parallel interface (usually to a DR11-style interface on a PDP-11). The megabit of SRAM was made up of a whole bunch of 2k*8 SRAMS, meaning that just the buffer memory required a couple of sizable PC boards. (If you're familiar with the technology, you'll get the idea that "previous generation" buffer was based on chips readily available around 15 years ago.) My "new generation" buffer has the same megabit of SRAM - but now in a single SRAM chip - and interfaces via a PC-clone bidirectional parallel port. Other than the big SRAM chip, the rest of the buffer is just eleven SSI and MSI HCTTL IC's. The eleven chips form the PC-side interface, the floppy-side interface, the timing clocks, the buffer sequencer, and the buffer address (17 bits) counters. So how is my buffer different than, for example, the Catweasel? 1. The Catweasel uses some custom LSI parts, as far as I can figure out. My circuit is much more "hackable", anyone with a TTL databook can figure out what it does and improve on it. Or you can build one yourself from scratch. (Other than the 128K*8 SRAM, all the other parts were literally purchased from the local electronics shop. Heck, most of the chips can be bought at Radio Shack!) Total cost for the chips in my buffer is about $30.00, about half of that in the SRAM chip. 2. The Catweasel uses a proprietary, largely undocumented programming interface. My circuitry is entirely open, and I think it's pretty easy to program. (My first hack at acquiring data with the new buffer was dashed off in about half an hour under QBASIC.) 3. The Catweasel requires a bus slot inside a PC-clone. My new buffer uses a much more general purpose parallel interface. So you can hook it up to a laptop, or even to something that isn't a PC-clone at all. Those are what I see as advantages over the Catweasel. There are also some disadvantages: 4. You can't just go out and buy my buffer, but you can buy Catweasels off the shelf. 5. My buffer is strictly "read-only" as I use it. I think the Catweasel (and Compaticard) both allow writing. Would it be worth writing up my new floppy disk data buffer so that others could improve on it? Would anyone be interested in unstuffed and/or stuffed PCB's? Should I give it a name? (The "Timweasel", anyone? I gotta think of a better name!) -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

7
6
0 0

need homes (fwd)

by vcf＠siconic.com

Stuff up for grabs. Please contact the original sender. Reply-to: crx_runner(a)hotmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 12:41:24 PDT From: Dave Broadbent <crx_runner(a)hotmail.com> Subject: need homes I have the following to give away: I had started a collection, then decided to stop. I am located in Souderton, PA (near Phila) Apple 111+, with monitor, with three additional drives. I never tested this to see if it works. Compaq Portable, the first model, have two, one works, one does not. Franklin Ace 1000, with BMC monitor(Aug, 1982), with two Rana System 5 1/4 drives, with Gemini 10 printer. This I am sure works. Dave work no. 215 540-0800 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California See http://www.vintage.org for details!

26 years

1
0
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>For quite some time I've tried to persuade Eric Smith, who's quite >knowledgable about programming the SCENIX SX processor, to write some >firmware that would create, functionally, a FDC chip out of one of these >ultra-fast single-chippers. "Better" is the enemy of "good enough". If I can throw something together in an afternoon out of TTL chips from Radio Shack, why go to the effort of creating what amounts to a custom chip? Maybe my priorities are too much on the "just do it" side, and not enough on the "do it Dick's way" side :-). >Interpreting it in light of the modulation, data format, data rate, etc, is >quite involved, but certainly achievable, though someone has to undertake to >write the code with which to accomplish this. The code obviously varies depending on the encoding method, but my method - a completely public circuit design with easy interface to a wide variety of computers - allows the user to write the decryption code in whatever he/she might be familiar with on whatever platform he/she wants. > Having the entire diskette >sampled as has been suggested, a track at a time means that one's computer >can, at its own pace, reduce, interpret, reformat, etc, the data prior to >writing it to a duplicate. The reformatting of the data into its original >format offers the advantage of phase coherency between sectors so the PLL on >the controller doesn't have to shift phase between sectors. That will make >the job easy in a case where the PLL has, over time, drifted off its nominal >data rate. ??? There is no need for a hardware PLL if you oversample by a factor of a few. >There are, IIRC, 10416 byte-times, nominally in an 8" FD track at MFM. at >16x ovrsampling, that's a fair amount of data. That's absolutely true. But RAM chips are fairly cheap these days, and I took advantage of that in my design. > While there are a number of >256Kx8 SRAMS out there, they're not likely to be lying in the corner unused. I used an ISSI 62C1024-7, a 128K*8 70ns 32-pin DIP, and it's good enough for me. Cost was $12.00. Looking in my Digi-Key catalog, it seems you can get 512K*8 parts for about $15.00 today, but they're in TSSOP's which aren't so quickly breadboarded for me. (Though they are the obvious solution if you transfer my design to a PCB layout.) I'm sure a fair number of people on this list have access to unused 486 motherboards with socketed cache RAM parts in the 32K*8 to 128K*8 range. These oughta do fine too. >I recommend, therefore that such a circuit be devised with DRAMS. Again, "better" is the enemy of "good enough". I made my circuit with parts that were easily available to me, and I decided that it wasn't worth the effort to build a DRAM controller when SRAM is so cheap. (And SRAM kept the parts count down, too...) You obviously have different priorities. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

2
1
0 0

newbie intro - free TRS stuff

by aclark＠envirolink.org

Hello to all fellow classic computer enthusiasts! I just heard about this mailing list last week. I'm glad to have found such an active discussion group. My primary interest is the Apple ][ & /// series. (I am a member of the venerable Washington Apple Pi.) I would be happy to swap private email with like-minded folks on this mailing list. I am always in search of Apple hardware for my collection, please send email if you have such to unload. Suggestions of individuals and companies who deal in old Apple hardware are also always welcome. I enjoy the old machines, but have been driven nearly mad trying to find hardware that people are actually willing to sell. ATTENTION TRS COLLECTORS: last year I inherited an enormous quantity of software and hardware from an old TRS business network. The console, terminals, cards, and printer are gone. All that remains is available for the cost of shipping, to good homes. I have five large boxes of 8 inch disks, with multiple copies of Xenix, with manuals. Many other boxes of system manuals and other sundries are also available. I also have an external hard drive, "Tandy Thirtyfive Meg Disk System." While I do not collect Tandy, I just can't bear the thought of all this stuff going to a landfill. I know how I feel when I am occasionally subjected to someone's story of how a friend of theirs had a "bunch of old Apple stuff, but finally just threw it all away last year." Anyone within driving distance of south-central Pennsylvania is welcome to come and look at everything. It's all free. If you want it, just arrange to come and pick it up. Regards & Happy 4th, Arthur Clark

26 years

3
2
0 0

Vintage Computer Festival 4.0

by vcf＠siconic.com

Vintage Computer Festival 4.0 September 30 through October 1, 2000 San Jose Convention Center San Jose, California Mark you calendar! The fourth annual Vintage Computer Festival is scheduled for Saturday, September 30th though Sunday, October 1st at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, California. The Vintage Computer Festival is a celebration of computers and their history. The event features speakers, a vintage computer exhibition, a vintage computer marketplace, and contests like The Nerd Trivia Challenge. We showcase all different types of computers for all differents kinds of platforms in all different shapes and sizes. REGISTER EARLY AND SAVE! Since you're already a VCF fan, we'd like to extend an early-bird registration offer to you. Register by July 15th and pay only $15 per person (after July 15th the fee will jump to $20 per person). Your registration includes complete event access, including speakers, the exhibition and the marketplace. And just like last year, the first 32 registrants will receive a VCF t-shirt! Act fast to secure your early registration and a free VCF t-shirt. We've made it easier than ever for you register online as we are now accepting credit card payments. Visit the VCF website for complete details. EXHIBIT YOUR VINTAGE COMPUTER Vintage Computer Collectors: we want you! Exhibit your favorite computer in the Vintage Computer Exhibition. Prizes will be awarded in 12 different categories, as well as a Best of Show prize which includes $50 cash! For complete details on the VCF Exhibition, visit: http://www.vintage.org/2000/exhibit.html To see the exhibits from VCF 3.0 go to: http://www.vintage.org/exhibit99.html BUY/SELL/TRADE AT THE VINTAGE COMPUTER MARKETPLACE Do you have some vintage computer items you'd like to sell? Whether you rent a booth or sell on consignment, the Vintage Computer Marketplace is the premier venue for selling old computers and related items. If you would like to rent a booth or inquire about consignment rates, please send e-mail to vendor(a)vintage.org for more information or visit: http://www.vintage.org/2000/vendor.html CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE! If you haven't visited the VCF website in a while, come on over and have a look at the completely new design. You'll find it easier to navigate and easier to find the information you're looking for. We've got plenty of good stuff to read and hundreds of new links to explore vintage computing on the web. We're constantly adding new content. Stop on by for a visit! TELL A FRIEND! TELL A FRIEND! TELL A FRIEND! We really hope to see you at VCF 4.0! And remember, tell your friends!! Vintage Computer Festival 4.0 September 30th through October 1st, 2000 San Jose Convention Center San Jose, California http://www.vintage.org

26 years

1
0
0 0

Tim's own version of the Catweasel/Compaticard/whatever

by allisonp＠world.std.com

> *I* buffer the pulses on the read data line by simply recording >a "1" bit if there was a pulse in a window, and a "0" if there wasn't. >I sample at 4MHz, meaning that a complete revolution of a floppy >requires most a megabit of RAM. I also buffer information such as >index pulse data (essential for decoding many hard-sectored floppy formats.) Sounds like a variation of the "Wells" controller ca. 1976, used 1x4k memory to buffer up all the the disks bits. Lots of SSI ttl to serialize/deserial the bits in and out of the ram but otherwise simple and functional. Check early BYTE or KB for the article on it. His design was limited to mfm (then the only thing used) but it would take little to deal with that. >Would it be worth writing up my new floppy disk data buffer so that >others could improve on it? Would anyone be interested in unstuffed and/or >stuffed PCB's? Should I give it a name? (The "Timweasel", anyone? I >gotta think of a better name!) If you would, please. I'd find it interesting. Allison

26 years

1
0
0 0

languages

by edick＠idcomm.com

English is my second language, though I've been using it as my primary language since I was 6. Because I learned it as my second language, I've developed into one who's somewhat stilted in his usage of the language, and also one who's very much aware of the application of grammar, syntax, and orthography. I am, therefore, thoroughly convinced that American English, if it follows the current trend, will degenerate into a sequence of monosyllabic grunts and whines by the time another couple or three generations have passed. Just look at the more recent additions to the Webster International Lexicon of the English language: words like "duuhh" ... Dick -----Original Message----- From: Gary Hildebrand <ghldbrd(a)ccp.com> To: classiccmp <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Date: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 9:37 PM Subject: languages >Interesting dialog on languages . . . . > >I myself have barely mastered English, american style. Somewhere along the >way I took three years of French in High School, the result being that my >English grades shot through the roof. Seems learning a foreign language >helps one master English grammar. Maybe the problem is that one can't >speak correct English in the first place. > >As for the Morse code, I've talked to many people who's answer was "I don't >think I can learn the code." It isn't a matter of skill -- five year old >kids have learned Morse code. I call it a case of 'wanna'. If you wanna >you can learn anything. But since the FCC deregulated the Amateur licencing >structure, getting 5 wpm is fairly easy, if you wanna. > >Gary Hildebrand WA7KKP >

26 years

15
27
0 0

Archives of OS/360-ish public domain software?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

Are there any on-line archives of OS/360 software in the public domain? I'm thinking not only of operating system software distributions (which are rumored to be in the public domain), but also of user-group collections of software for these beasts. I'm also interested in software for previous generations of old iron, like IBM 1401's, etc. I've asked around at a couple of prominent computer museums, but they all just shrug their shoulders when I ask them how they archive and index the original software, like they've never considered it to be important. I really feel like I'm talking to all the wrong curators, because they seem to have no interest in the subject at all. I've heard of the Hercules emulator project, but I don't know what software they have archived so far, or what efforts they are currently making. If someone could point me towards an index of their software archives I'd appreciate it. I consider myself to be an expert at archiving DEC-related software, and often am involved in all sorts of projects in that sphere that benefit everyone from hobbyists to those with legal cases, but I know little to nothing about what archives of old IBM stuff are available. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

7
7
0 0

IDV11-A/IDV11-C

by hofmanwb＠worldonline.nl

Has anybody an idea where I could get/buy the following DEC Special Systems Q-bus cards? 5 or more IDV11-C (M8005) 16 bit digital relais output 3 or more IDV11-A (M5026) 16 bit digital isolated input It would save us a lot of trouble if we could put our hands on them. Thanks in advance Wim

26 years

1
0
0 0

paper tape punch isnt punching

by lemay＠cs.umn.edu

I bought a paper tape reader/punch on ebay, a DSI NC2400. unfortunately, 2 of the holes arent punching through the mylar tape that came with the unit. does anyone have experience with this unit, or know what might be causing the problem? I know western numerical controls sells refurbished units, but I expect they would charge quite a bit just to replace the punching mechanism. their web page mentions something about "The precision die blocks are interchangeable and field-replaceable in just minutes, no adjustments necessary". so, I'm hoping that means I can buy a new set of punch parts and replace them easily. and hopefully inexpensively. any suggestions welcome, especially if they mean we stop discussing the job market. -Lawrence LeMay

26 years

2
3
0 0

Getting a good job

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> People are given projects which stress them; if > I ask someone what they're doing and the answer doesn't routinely include > the phrases "...trying to figure out..." then it's time to give > them something more challenging to do. This would be such a miracle to find here in the Louisville area. Instead, it's the opposite: when a superior has asked how I'm doing and when the answer has typically included "...trying to figure out..." then they think I've lost my focus and have gone off on a tangent. The expectation is that you've learned all you need to know, and now you're expected to regurgutate it upon command. And while that was bad in programming, it's even worse in support; my boss is an athelete, and since that's the paradigm he's most familiar with, he expects me to be working from some playbook: you know, 3rd down, 50 yards, use play #32. Sure wish there was an easy way to import that California good attitude here; maybe there's something I could drop in the local water supply? Ok, Echelon, I was just kidding on that last part.... -doug q

26 years

3
2
0 0

Duplicating an RSX-11M+ system disk.

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>I have a bit of a weird problem, I'm trying to make a 2nd bootable >system disk containig RSX-11M+. > >I have an 11/83 with 2 RD53's and 1 RD54, and the system is on one >of the RD53's. I booted [6,54]brusys.sys and then used DSC to copy >the contents to the 2nd RD53. DSC did not report any error. >Then when trying to boot du2 (the 2nd RD53), nothing happens besides >a number of retries to access the boot information. > >DSC is supposed to copy the boot information as well as the data, >so I'm wondering what I do wrong. Which version of 11M+ are you using? DSC became "unsupported" in recent. versions, the "supported" way of doing what you want is BRU. DSC isn't even included in the last few binary releases. (Thank the heavens that you aren't having to deal with PRESERV or ROLLIN!) -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927

26 years

2
1
0 0

Needs help - Information about older DEC products

by hsappleton＠sprintmail.com

Hi It seems that Compaq does not carry much info on older DEC products. Is there some site where I could enter an identifying number and will be able to get info on that particular products? Regards Headley

26 years

2
1
0 0

HP 97548D Hard Drives

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

I'm looking for a small number (two or three) of these drives; they're 5 1/4 inch full-height differential SCSI drives; they tend to be found in Sun boxen. Anybody have any they'd be willing to part with via sale/trade? -doug quebbeman

26 years

2
1
0 0

DEC VRT16 / 1660 monitor

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

I always look at www.monitorworld.com VRT16-DA Resolution: 1280 X 1024 Sync: Sync on Green H freq/Vfreq: 70khz/66hz Tube made by: Sony Tube model: GDM1660 Tube Size: 16" http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/dec/VRT16DA.html Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years

2
1
0 0

Reviving a MicroVAX II

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

To: David Williams et al I have two MicroVax II's in the deskside cabinets each with 3 drives. I'll check them out at home and report what's in them exactly. I know I have memory and the disks. I haven't opened them recently. If somebody wants them for shipping plus packing I'd gladly transfer them to you. I've got a Microvax 2000 to work with. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years

1
0
0 0

HP 97548D Hard Drives

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>Subj: HP 97548D Hard Drives >I'm looking for a small number (two or three) of these drives; >they're 5 1/4 inch full-height differential SCSI drives; they >tend to be found in Sun boxen. > >Anybody have any they'd be willing to part with via sale/trade? Do you need these exact HP drives? If it's a capacity issue, there's a very valuable technique called "mode page editing" that will let you adjust drive capacities downward so that you can use large-capacity recent-manufacture SCSI drives in place of older low-capacity SCSI drives. It's a very valuable technique when the hardware or OS don't support large-capacity drives, a very common situation with older hardware. Tim.

26 years

2
1
0 0

C65 owners unite!

by vcf＠siconic.com

I'm passing this message along... >Reply-To: "Andreas Waldhelm" <waldhelm(a)star-edv.de> >From: "Andreas Waldhelm" <waldhelm(a)star-edv.de> >To: <roger(a)sinasohn.com> >Subject: C65 >Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 16:45:56 +0200 >Organization: Star EDV >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 > >Hi! > >Im proud to be a Commodore C65 prototype owner. >I want to make a list of all C65 owners and the s/n wich you find on the >back of the C65. This is a good way to find out how many are sold (150?) >and how many are still working. Please mail me if you know any C65 >owners. > >thanks in advance > >Andreas >Hamburg / Germany Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California See http://www.vintage.org for details!

26 years

1
0
0 0

Your dream computer room.

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> On Sat, 1 Jul 2000, Douglas Quebbeman wrote: > > > Speaking of which: anybody know where I could find an old Plato terminal? > > I'd be interested too. I have a manual set for Plato applications. You have a manual set for a CDC-based Plato application? Or for one of the later incarnations of Plato (such as on the TI/99a)? -dq

26 years

2
1
0 0

Are we done with all this off-topic crap yet?

by foo＠siconic.com

Dudes, can we move on already? Go to the farking employer-master/employee-slave list to carry on all this Phd good/bad, work week long/short shit. Doesn't exist? Good, start one or something. Shit already. Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California See http://www.vintage.org for details!

26 years

2
2
0 0

Getting a Good Job(OT)(Long)

by mmcfadden＠cmh.edu

Here is my take on excessive work expectations. If that is the example you want to set for your children and expresses your values, i.e. your work is the most important thing in life and all else including family is peripheral, then you should work 80+ hours. However don't be surprised when your children have the same values and don't have time for you. If your company sees you as a resource to be consumed and then discarded for the newer/cheaper model then you may be in the right field. If you are single and want the challenge then work is like a drug, intoxicating for the knowledge and accomplishment. When you are married then perhaps life has other meanings, watching your children grow is exciting. I have been on both sides of this spectrum, when I was single the most excitement, all of my friends, my world revolved around work. When I got married and had children I realized that there was more to life and my values have changed. I'm not saying either lifestyle is the best, just works best for me. The hard part is the interaction between the hardcode work people and the hardcore humans, conflicting values. Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu

26 years

1
0
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