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

by philip＠neoncluster.com

Hi all, I?ve been struggling getting a 64k Dynamic RAM card back up and working in my IMSAI 8080. In fact I?m giving up on the DRAM card in this system and have decided to start looking for a SRAM card that can get the IMSAI up to 56k. In terms if SRAM cards, I presently have: 2 x Problem solver RAM16 cards - both seem to be working. 2 x 8K RAM cards - both seem to be working. Less cards generating heat, and putting stress on the old power supply is obviously best, so I?d be looking for either: - 1 x 16k SRAM card (for a total of 4 RAM cards (3 x 16k + 1 x 8k) in my system). A PSS RAM16 would be preferred for sake of consistency, but obviously not crucial. - 1 x 32k SRAM card (for a total of 3 RAM cards (1 x 32k, 1 x 16k + 1 x 8k) in my system) - 1 x 64k SRAM card that can have the last 8k bank turned off I would love to hear from anyone with one of the above cards who would be willing to pass it on. Much thanks for your time. Best regards Philip

10 years

6
11
0 0

CDC 6600 - Why so awesome?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brian Walenz >> Werner Buchholz (editor), "Planning a Computer System: Project >> Stretch", McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962 > http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/IBM-7030-Planning-McJones.pdf Yeah, I found that _after_ I sent the email, sigh... >> Speaking of books, there's also a CDC 6600 book: >> Jim E. Thornton, "Design of A Computer: The Control Data 6600", >> Scott, Foresman, Glenview, 1970 > http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/cdc/6x00/books/DesignOfAComputer_CDC… Didn't know that one was online too - excellent. >> Really gotta do that Bibliography! > Where is this 'computer history wiki', anyway? http://gunkies.org/wiki/Main_Page Note; automatic account creation is disabled to prevent spamming issues. You have to email Tore directly - and he is often busy, so it may take a bit. Noel

10 years

1
0
0 0

Data General 8000-series logic in my Nova 3?!

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello Mark, when you are ready with your machine up and running, you could try to use on a real Nova 3 the tool I wrote to raw read/write disks and tapes through the serial port. You just need a PC (linux preferred) and Python installed (plus serial port module). Then you should be able to dump the disk to image for SIMH, and eventually to write back an image to the disk. Thanks Andrea

10 years

2
1
0 0

Data General 8000-series logic in my Nova 3?!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mark J. Blair > An interface card schematic has appeared in my inbox as if by magic. If that allows you to create a list of what various 8000-series chips do (or if you've since located one), that would be a good thing to have available online. If you have (or create) one, we can stick it on the Computer History wiki... Noel

10 years

4
5
0 0

where to find DEC ECO's for KB11-A?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow aek at bitsavers.org > which one? > 1974_Field_Service_Technical_Manual_Dec74.pdf > is already on line under handbooks Dat be de one. Alas for the OP, it doesn't seem to contain any PDP-11 stuff (well, a bit on the RK11-C, etc, but nothing on any processor, at least that I could see). FWIW, it's available online on an indexed, page-by-page basis at: http://www.pdp8online.com/bklatt/TechTips.html Worth looking through. Some of them are amusing, like "Disk Destruction Made Simple" and "DECtape Reels Falling Off Drive". Noel

10 years

1
0
0 0

library/book carts available

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Maybe a year ago I got two metal 3 shelf library carts on wheels, to hold the manuals that were related to whatever machine I was working on at the time. Its extremely useful to have all the manuals at hand on a rolling stand when you're moving around working on the beast. I have not seen any for sale since then at a reasonable price (which I'd say is $100 or less). I just stopped at a place here in St. Louis, and I see they have 8 of these "library/book carts" available. They are basically in mint condition, and most of them come with old red binders on 2 of the 3 shelves. The binders are interesting - these are those old ones with sort of cloth surfaces and heavy metal latches inside. All the binders are about 3 or 3.5 inch wide. A typical place I see these type of binders is in machine shops and the like, holding press setup instructions and such. The binders are old, but the carts are basically new looking. The carts are 42.5" tall, 31" wide, and 13" deep. The carts hold books on one side only, and the height of each shelf between the next is 11 & 5/8. If your binders are taller than that they won't fit ;) $75 each. Here is a link to an almost-but-not-quite-identical cart: http://tinyurl.com/huamv7e I'm buying 2 of these for myself, leaving six. I'd be happy to purchase and hold for a while if someone non-local wants some, but it's probably not economical to ship them. I could deliver one or two to VCFMW this year perhaps. J

10 years

1
0
0 0

where to find DEC ECO's for KB11-A?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Fritz Mueller fritzm at fritzm.org > Are DEC ECO's available online anywhere? ... I am particularly > interested in ECO's related to the KB11-A (11/45). I have a DEC Field Circus handbook arriving today that allegedly contains some ECO information; if there's anything on the KB11-A, I'll see if I can get it scanned. Noel

10 years

3
2
0 0

cctalk Digest, Vol 24, Issue 22

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2016 18:08:49 -0700 > From: Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: PDP-11/40 modified to be a PDP-11/23 > > What boards exactly? Are you sure it's not an M7133 11/24 board instead? > > From front to back in the AB slots: - M8186, KDF11-A, 11/23 CPU, 18-bit addressing only - M8044-DM, MSV11-DD, 32-Kword 16-bit MOS RAM - M8043, DLVJ1-M, 4-Line Asynchronous Interface - M7940, DLV11, Serial Line Unit (SLU, Async) A custom interface to the front panel is in the CD connectors of the first slot. I will post pictures of the boards on the RICM WWW site. -- Michael Thompson

10 years

1
0
0 0

Data General 8000-series logic in my Nova 3?!

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

The testing that I've been doing so far to get the 6045 hard drive working on my Nova 3 suggests that the interface card receives commands over the IO channel (i.e., I can command seeks and get the expected clunking sounds from the drive). But the interface card does not appear to be responding back to the CPU so far, since attempts to read the three IO registers or the busy/done flags always return zeros. So, I'll need to move on to component-level debugging of the interface card now. I'll need to have access to the interface card, of course. The first step was to swap the positions of my Nova rack and my VAX-11/730 to get the right side of the Nova away from the wall. This wasn't easy in the tiny, cluttered room that they live in. Next, I lowered the Nova 2 rack units, because it was in the top rack position and I couldn't get access to all of the top cover screws to get the top cover off. Damn, that thing is heavy! I pressed my hydraulic lift hand truck into service. There was a 2U filler panel under the Nova that can now live at the top of the rack, so there will be no need to raise the Nova back up later. With the top of the Nova accessible, I removed the quad serial mux in slot 12 to expose the component side of the disk interface card in slot 11. There are 6 empty slots under the interface card, so I have good access to both sides of the interface card, as well as the backplane. Now I should be able to do things such as running a tight loop reading or writing a controller card register while I probe the logic. Should be simple, right? Well, it would be if I had a schematic diagram of the interface card. So, I'm doing this in hard mode. I decided to do a little preliminary trace identification on the card before going to bed tonight, and that's when I discovered that this game is in very hard mode: Most of the ICs on the controller card are marked with a DG logo and an 8000-series number, and I have no documentation about those chips yet. The busy/done flags come out of a DG 8109, but what the heck is that? I hope that they'll end up being rebadged 7400 series chips or something like that so I'll have some chance of finding replacements, but I'll need to figure out how to identify these DG chips before I can make much progress debugging the card. I've been looking through the documentation that I have, as well as looking in documents on Bitsavers for DG gear other than the Nova 3 in hopes of finding anything identifying these 8000-series chips. I haven't found the decoder key so far. If anybody out there in cctalk land knows about DG-marked 8000-series logic chips, I would appreciate any help very much! -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

10 years

1
1
0 0

PDP-11/40 modified to be a PDP-11/23

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

The RICM just picked up a PDP-11/40 chassis that was modified to accept a PDP-11/23 board set. It also contains a custom board to interface the PDP-11/23 to the original PDP-11/40 front panel. It is quite an accomplishment to get the Q-Bus board set working in the Unibus chassis. -- Michael Thompson

10 years

5
4
0 0

CDC 6600 - Why so awesome?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Swift Griggs > I see a lot of traffic about them on the list and I went out to > discover "why so cool?" One word - 'crunch'. The 6600 especially, but also its successors (7600, etc) were _the_ number-crunching monsters of their day. For everyone who had a scientific/engineering application that needed lots of cycles - especially floating-point - that was _the_ machine to have. IBM tried to outdo them, but spent a fortune, and didn't really get there - the 360/9x was essentially a failure - only 15 /91's and 2 /95's were ever built. (And IBM was later sued for predatory sales practices for announcing them before they knew they could make them.) IBM just couldn't match Seymour Cray. Speaking of whom, the 6600 was the source of the famous Watson memory (and Cray's sarcastic response) - Google it! Noel

10 years

2
1
0 0

Still ISO: Infotek MX-30 Memory boards for Infotek FP-30 (HP 9830 upgrade)

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Several years ago (well, three years ago, anyway) I stumbled upon a beat-up, incomplete HP 9830 desktop computer/calculator that had been upgraded with an Infotek FP-30 CPU upgrade. Unfortunately, it's missing the special memory boards (the MX-30) the system requires. I asked around back then and had no luck, I figured I'd try again. If anyone has any parts for this rare beast, drop me a line. Alternately, if someone else has a need for the parts I do have, let me know and maybe we can work something out. It would be nice to get a working system (even if it's not mine) out of this stuff. Thanks! Josh

10 years

1
0
0 0

CDC 6600 - Why so awesome?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> the 6600 was the source of the famous Watson memory Oops, typo; 'memo'. Noel

10 years

1
0
0 0

Found cleaning out stuff from before gray hairs and needing glasses

by pete＠petelancashire.com

http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7139

10 years

1
0
0 0

old friend is slimming down the warehouse

by sales＠elecplus.com

An old friend of mine in GA is slimming down his warehouse. I know a long time ago people sent me some pics and lists of things wanted, but that was a long time ago. If you are looking for old servers, big blue IBM things, DEC stuff, etc., please take a few minutes to send the following info to oldthingswantednow at gmail.com The name of the item A short description A link to a pic, or attach a pic What you want to pay for it The expected condition (tested, old and dirty is fine, etc.) His health is not the best, but he wants this stuff to go to people who will appreciate it, rather than by the pound. He will do his best to answer everyone. Inventory ranges from old typewriters to mainframes, and everything in between. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus

10 years

5
11
0 0

HP Series-80 computers - PRM-85 board case? ... maybe!

by ball.of.john＠gmail.com

>Anyone with a 3d printer want to make one for us? > >J Not only do I also own a PRM-85 but I do have part-time access to a 3D printer. If I can get the prototyped models (and the model itself fits within the limits of the printer bed)I can verify that they fit together in an HP 80 series machine (85 in my case)and that the board itself fits inside the enclosure however due to membership restrictions at our local makerspace I cannot use the printer to fulfill any orders, plus they will eat up a lot of filament. -John

10 years

1
0
0 0

Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Chuck Guzis > It's not the refresh rate that will kill things, but the horizontal > frequency. The high voltage in most CRT monitors (and TVs) is developed > from the scanning signal via a high-voltage "flyboack" transformer > ... > Ultimately, if taken too far, the voltage in the FBT secondary exceeds > the ratings of the winding insulation; an arc develops between windings > and the FBT self-destructs So, with Chuck's explanation (above) in hand, eventually my brain turned on, and I was able to work out what the deal is, and whether my monitor is safe; it also explains the somewhat contradictory CRT monitor manual: HP M50 manual says "Setting the screen resolution/refresh rate combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display." Even though the same document lists the vertical frequency range as "50-100 Hz"! They mention both the resolution and "refresh rate" since those two together control the horizontal flyback frequency, which Chuck pointed out as the key. (Well, the line count - 768 - is involved there, not the line length in pixels - although the latter will influence the maximum video bandwith or "dot rate" that needs to be supported - 65 MHz for this particular monitor.) The horizontal retrace frequency is simply the vertical retrace frequency, times the number of scan lines per vertical retrace plus a small slop factor for the actual retrace duration. So my monitor was running 1024x768 - but interlaced, so only 364 lines per screen scan (alternating odd and even lines in successive scans). I was seeing a refresh frequency of 44 Hz - but for full scan of all lines; the actual vertical retrace is being produced at 87 Hz. So the horizontal retrace frequency is about 87 * 364 = ~32 KHz - well within what the monitor can handle (30-49 Khz for the horizontal retrace, per the spec). So the monitor is safe! Probably by the time this monitor came out, the interlaced XGA format had fallen into disuse, and so they didn't need to clarify that "resolution/refresh rate combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display" refers to 'progressive' displays, not interlaced. And of course, as previously pointed out, the interlace explains why no LCD displays will work. So I'll have to carefully hoard my remaining video monitors! ;-) Thanks to everyone who helped me work this out... Noel

10 years

1
0
0 0

Programming for the Alto's Mesa

by lproven＠gmail.com

>From the discussions around Y Combinator's Alto restoration... (Some may not know that the founder of Y Combinator is Paul Graham, using some of the money Yahoo! paid him for Viaweb, which became Yahoo Stores. PG is a Lisp champion and evangelist.) The Alto restoration is being discussed on Hacker News, Y Combinator's very successful forums: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11929396 This comment struck me: ? Animats 2 days ago I just looked in some boxes I haven't opened in decades. I have "Mesa Language Manual, Version 5.0, April 1979". If the people with the Alto need this, let me know. If the world had used Mesa instead of C, computing would have been far less buggy. Mesa was a hard-compiled language, but it had concurrency, monitors, co-routines ("ports", similar to Go channels), strong type safety, and a sane way to pass arrays around. In the 1970s. (I should donate this stuff to the Computer Museum. I just found the original DEC Small Computer Manual, many 1960s UNIVAC mainframe manuals, and a reel of UNIVAC I steel magnetic tape.) ? I knew that the original Smalltalk boxes weren't Smalltalk all the way down to the metal, and that there was an OS and language, Mesa, underneath... but I didn't know it was used for anything much *else* or that some considered it important. Anyone here know or remember Mesa? I'd like to hear more about it. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

10 years

6
6
0 0

Sun4 370 PSU Maintenance/Schematics

by aswood＠t-online.de

Hello all, I do have an Symbolics UX1200 plugged into a Sun4 370 host. Before powering the host, just to be secure, I'd like to check the psu - or if the psu will be broken, I'd like to try to fix it. Yesterday I'd a look into the psu - very complicated layout! Is there any known documentation, servicing and maintenance documentation or schematics for psus used in Sun server/workstation available, of course esp. for psus used in Sun4 370 systems? -- Andreas ?

10 years

1
1
0 0

Programming for the Alto's Mesa

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch >> ISTR that BravoX was written in Mesa. -- Ian > Yes it was, as was MazeWar ?? There was a MazeWar on the Alto, early on, and I'm not sure that version was in Mesa. Maybe someone re-implemned it in Mesa for some of the later machines? (Of course, all the Xerox ones were inspired by the much earlier Imlac one.) Noel

10 years

2
1
0 0

FPGA I/O and external memory (was Re: CDC 6600 emulation - was Re: How do they make Verilog code for unknown ICs?)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 10:07 PM, ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: > Do you use Static or Dynamic ram with the FPGA's? I've done both. You indicated that you wanted 5V I/O. AFAIK, there haven't been any new FPGAs made in many years that have even 5V-tolerant I/O, let alone actual 5V I/O. Some really old FPGAs may still be in production, but are not very cost-effective. The latest midrange to high-end FPGAs aren't even 3.3V-tolerant. However, the economy FPGAs such as Spartan 6 and Artix 7 still support 3.3V I/O, and are quite inexpensive for the amount of resources provided. For 5V-tolerance, it is usually adequate to use 3.3V I/O with series resistors to limit the current. Xilinx specifies a maximum rated current for the clamp diodes. This works fine when interfacing actual TTL (or TTL-compatible MOS) parts. It is NOT adequate for driving 5V CMOS, such as CD4000 series, because the FPGA won't drive above 3.3V, and the 5V CMOS inputs typically are specified for Vih min of 90% of Vdd, which is 4.5V. The series resistor does slow down the signal, which usually isn't a problem with TTL since TTL is quite slow by FPGA standards. Where it is a problem, an nFET voltage clamp can be used instead.

10 years

1
0
0 0

How do they make Verilog code for unknown ICs?

by wkt＠tuhs.org

All, I messed around with VHDL last year. I found this a great book to learn VHDL best practices: http://www.gstitt.ece.ufl.edu/courses/eel4712/labs/free_range_vhdl.pdf The book is free but you can also buy a printed copy at http://freerangefactory.org/ I started with GHDL: https://www.fpgarelated.com/showarticle/20.php and then progressed to a Nexys4 FPGA board. Lots of fun. Just a few more resources to add to the mix. Cheers, Warren P.S The CPU I built with it: http://minnie.tuhs.org/Programs/UcodeCPU/index.html

10 years

1
0
0 0

NetBooting old MacOS 8.x or 7x.

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

Due to the news about the MacOS name change, it's becoming quite hard to Google for older MacOS stuff. Was it ever possible to netboot MacOS 8.1 or earlier? I have A/UX 3 running nicely on a Quadra 700, now, but now I want to dual boot it with MacOS, but I don't have a CDROM. Taking out the drive and putting it on my other 68k Mac (a Centris 660AV) and installing MacOS still gives me some weird issues that I suspect are related to having installed it on different hardware. If I can't do a network based install, I'll probably just steal a longer SCSI cable, use a molex power splitter to add another 5V power cable, and then install from CDROM while the system is half-open. Then I'll just button it up afterwards. The factor SCSI cable in my Quadra 700 has only one connector for a drive. -Swift

10 years

2
2
0 0

General *NIX ramble thread - was Re: Quadra 660AV what's with the "PowerPC" label?

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

Changing thread title and invoking filter. Thanks, - Ian On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 10:50 AM, Swift Griggs <swiftgriggs at gmail.com> wrote: > > And yet, now that significant chunks of the Linux underpinnings are > > being combined into one purpose-written close-knit chunk, designed by a > > single team, the same sort of people that praise *BSD for its conceptual > > unity are harshly damning the thing bringing comparable unity to Linux. > > Odd, that. > > It's not the same thing, IMO. People aren't slamming Linux+systemd for > unifying their team (I've not even seen the harshest systemd critics > mention this even in passing). They aren't upset because of the greater > "conceptual unity", either. They are upset because it's breaking faith > with "the unix way" (creating a giant all-consuming mega-daemon with > equally heinous binary opaque supporting-crap ala journald) and going > their own way (a hard right toward Bloatville with a couple of stops near > Lake Clueless if you ask me), and they are, in the opinion of many, being > jerks with the implementation of their planned schism. > > -Swift > > -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

10 years

2
1
0 0

DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Birkel >> I will upload the content to the CHW (and add the DB9 pinouts, too). > Yes, please. OK, done; see: http://gunkies.org/wiki/DEC_asynchronous_serial_line_pinout and it references the new: http://gunkies.org/wiki/EIA_RS-232_serial_line_interface I'd be grateful for any feedback on how I can improve the page(s) - more data to add, thinks to explain better, etc. Note: I added the DB9 pinouts, _but_ I have never made an actual DEC->DB9 cable, and am unlikely to (see below), so these have not been experimentally tested. I'm pretty sure they're right (I checked them against some online tables), but 'the difference between theory and practise', etc, etc. So if someone does make any DB9 cables from this page, and can confirm that they works, I'd be very grateful! :-) I personally don't recommend making DEC->DB9 cables. DB25P<->DB9S adaptors are cheap and easy to find on eBay, and if you make everything DB25, all you'll need are a few DB25P<->DB9S adaptors to connect to PCs, and all your other cabling activity (e.g. connecting one PDP-11 to another) will be simple, since everything will be standardized on DB25s; no having to keep two kinds of every cable. Noel

10 years

1
0
0 0

Eckert - Faster, Faster; books in general

by thebri＠gmail.com

Is there an electronic copy of this floating around? My (ex-library) copy is missing all of chapter 11, "What is there to calculate?. (And the last page of the previous chapter). The pages weren't ripped out, they were missing when it was bound. Very annoying, I enjoyed the book right up until it crashed, so to speak. Two, also ex-library, copies are listed on Amazon, and I hesitate to get another copy with the same problem. There are others, of course, at outrageous prices. Or maybe I don't realize the significance of '1st edition, not ex-library'. Just to make any discussion a bit more interesting, what would you suggest along similar lines? The two giant books on IBM (detailing "pre-360", and "360") were quite fun too. bri

10 years

4
3
0 0

Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> I'm puzzled as to how one could drive both interlaced and > non-interlaced monitors off the same video signal - wouldn't the > interlaced one need a video signal which has 'odd lines, then a > vertical retrace, then even lines, then a vertical retrace'? So to sort of answer my own question, interlaced and non-interlaced video signals are indeed different. It turn out that 1024x768 was defined by IBM as XGA, and it was originally an interlaced format - although a non- interlaced version was done later. So my laptop quite possibly really is producing interlaced video... Although how a monitor is supposed to tell whether a signal is interlaced, or non-interlaced, is not clear - there's certainly no pin on the VGA connector which says so! :-) > Anyway, so which one is the one which is the number to look at when > considering if the refresh rate is so high it might be dangerous to an > old CRT monitor? > E.g. my HP M50 manual says "Setting the screen resolution/refresh rate > combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display." Since the monitor I'm using is called an "Ultra VGA 1024", I'm going to assume it can handle 1042x768, and just stop worrying about it... If it melts down the monitor, it melts down the monitor! :-) > From: Jochen Kunz > Sounds like an interlaced video mode. No surprise that the LCD can't do > this. Yes, as soon as I realized it probably really was interlaced video, it became obvious why none of my LCD monitors would display it. Noel

10 years

2
1
0 0

Any extra DEC monitors in Europe?

by useddec＠gmail.com

I have a friend looking for 2 DEC VRC21-KA monitors in Europe. I have one here, but will pack it only as a last resort. If you have one of two you want to sell or trade, please let me know off list. Also where you are located. Thanks, Paul

10 years

1
0
0 0

Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I'm using an old (very old! :-) laptop for a console for some of my computers. The built-in screen on it is this miserable 800x600 thing (I said it was _old_ :-), so I'm trying to hook up an old 15" display (of which I have tons) and run it at 1024x768 at least (the highest resolution the old display hardware in the laptop will support). However... The first couple of LCD's I plugged in, they worked fine, but when I went to change from 800x600 to 1024x768, I got error messages about 'can't handle that display format' (or words to that effect). Nothing about what parameter was out of bounds, alas. Finally I found one that _did_ give me the numbers, and it said the retrace was 35.6 Khz / 44 Hz. OK, looking at some specs, it makes sense those LCD monitors didn't work - 44 Hz vertical retrace (which I gather is the same as the refresh rate, in things like 1024x768/60Hz - sorry about the newbiesh questions, but I want to make sure I'm not making a bad assumption) is _below_ the input specs on them. (Although why the refresh rate on an _LCD_ would have a lower bound that high doesn't make sense to me - so the screen updates less often, what's the problem? It's not like a CRT, where it could cause flicker.) So I finally found an old CRT monitor that worked - but now I have another problem! It reports the video as being 35.6 Khz / 87 Hz! Which makes me worry, because I'm not sure that particular monitor can handle an 87 Hz refresh. (Parenthetically, what exactly is the mechanism that causes damage if you run an old CRT monitor at too high a refresh rate? I assume the excessive speed generates too much heat somewhere, and causes transistors to fail, or something like that?) Anyway, back to the monitor - I'm wondering if that monitor is reporting a bad number on the vertical retrace, and in fact it actually is 44 Hz? Because I found this equation to calulate the vertical retrace frequency from i) the horizontal retrace frequency, and ii) the number of lines. So I plug 35.6 Khz (which agrees with the other monitor, note) and 768 into that formula, and get... 44 Hz! So is there some bizarre interlace mode, or something, that could legitimately cause confusion over the vertical retrace? Or is the second monitor just confused? I tried to look up the video controller chip (a Cirrus CL-GD 7543 'Viking'), to see if it could even _do_ 88 Hz, but I was unable to find any documentation about it online. Also, if it really is 44 Hz, can anyone point me at an old LCD display that will handle that? (The CRT I'm currently using - another one that supposedly handles up to 100 Hz vertical retrace - takes up too much room! And there's no point getting something new - and larger - since the machine won't do anything past 1024x768 anyway.) Noel

10 years

4
3
0 0

The Great TK revival

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi The great TK revival continues apace. There's a TK50 in my VAX 4000 running really well. Purrs like a cat I have TK70 in the RT-11 (11/83 QED) Machine that also runs. TK70 should read the TK50 tapes. It tries but complains about cant read the directory. So whats a common format I can write on a TK50 tape in a TK50 Drive (VMS) then take it over to the RT-11 box and have it read it.? Where is all this going? Well I need to end up with RSTS on an 11/83. So a bootable TK50 with RSTS install files on it is the goal. Meanwhile transfer by tape is useful. Rod

10 years

3
4
0 0

ISO: Terak 8510/a Keyboard and Monitor

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- At long last my Terak 8510/a is working again! I'd repaired the power supply a couple of years back but the system simply would not behave properly. I traced it down to some very unreliable IC sockets (they were not high-quality when they were new, and the damp environment this particular machine spent several years in before I got it did nothing to help). I finally replaced about 40 sockets with some nice turned-pin ones last week, and now the system is up and running and passing the System Acceptance Tests with flying colors. I do not have a keyboard or monitor for this system, and while it's pretty easy to fabricate replacements (the video's just standard composite, and the keyboard is an 8-bit parallel ASCII keyboard with a few extra special keys) I'd love to find a set of originals. If anyone has any spares in any condition, please drop me a line. (I'm also interested in tracking down an original single-density floppy controller just on the off chance...) Thanks! - Josh

10 years

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DEC's first use of PROMs

by chd＠chdickman.com

Well maybe not, but the first in the 23-001A1 sequence of part numbers was used in the PDP-8/e EAE. I was troubleshooting a problem with an EAE in which the step counter wouldn't load. There are 2 fusible PROMs in the circuit and I noticed they are 23-001A1 and 23-002A1. Maybe there is a 23-000A1.

10 years

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VCFed auction update

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Apple II (Rev. 4) sold for $4,056. Sol-20 sold for $2,878. Both were clean, autographed, and working. It is likely that bidders reached a little deeper because we are a non-profit.

10 years

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Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello list, I recently got a bunch of boards from somebody who was either not able to tell me where they were from. The boards seem to be unibus-based with numbers starting with X. I neither came across these before, nor could find any information in the web about it: Type, P/N , Description X029, 5013132B, AUC interconnect X022, 5012197C, unibuswindow X021, 5012181C, CD ROM control (did that ever exist for unibus?) X020, 5012180B, data path Two 16K mos memory modules M7847 came with the set. No backplane, unfortunately. Any hints about the type of system and application these boards were for? Many thanks for any pointers. Wish a nice weekend to all of you, Pierre ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

10 years

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thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

Here's what I'm currently looking at (all 486's, but I'd consider 386s and original Pentiums, too): * Compaq Prolinea systems * Canon ObjectStation * NEC Powermate * HP Vectra * IBM Aptiva or PS/1 Not considering: * Beige Packard Bell with Microsoft Sound System and a 1M graphics card. :-) I'm doing my Spring cleaning. I have way too much crap, and the particular type of crap that's lowest on my list of "things to keep" is PeeCee crap. I simply have too much and a lot of it are the parts I used to make PCs bearable at the time (like combo serial/LPT cards). I'm not all that happy that PeeCees even exist, yet I have over 20 of them last I checked. I think I'm going to rid myself of the vast majority of gear that Greg Douglas of Reputable system used to haze me for keeping, calling it "PeeCee crap", and that was 16 years ago. I was asking myself, why do I have all these junky plastic laptops from the early 2k era? They are mostly soulless trash (except maybe my Sony Picturebook - yes the cute one with the Transmeta Crusoe). Wouldn't I rather purge a gaggle of laptops and a few old crappy PCs and instead have a single "special" (but much slower) 486-era box ? Yes, I would. I'm actually pulling stuff out and playing with it more. Warehousing crap is becoming less and less an attractive pastime. So, I'm thinking I'll consolidate as much of the fun hardware from the 1990's as I can in one box. That will make me feel better about ditching the considerable horde of junk I'm looking at. To that end, I have a few bits I believe are considerably more desirable compared to others and I want to get as many as I can in one box. Chime in if you have suggestions. So, here we go, in no real order: * I want to stick with desktop or tower units only, no laptops, I'll probably have to add some PCI cards to get to "ultimate" status :-) * I'd use it with one of these OSs: *BSD, Linux, Solaris x86, OpenStep, BSDi, Unixware, Minix, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS, or OS/2. Thus the more compatible stuff is worth considering. Windows compatibility isn't something I care about ('cept maybe for comic relief, which I can get much more easily from politics these days). * Anyone know of a box with a built-in (integrated) Gravis Ultrasound? That'd save me a slot. However, there isn't much to compete with that card from the 90's. The SB16 was ubiquitous and worked well enough, but I didn't feel it could compete with a GUS. The SB16 wasn't the "ultimate" for sure. * Hmm, Symbios, LSI, or Adaptec on the SCSI controller.... OR! Maybe someone knows of a cool PC that had a built-in SCSI controller. I don't think I could abide PATA/IDE disks and for-sure no MFM/RLL drives (the horror). The nice stuff in the 90's was always SCSI, IIRC. I remember some NEC PCs that were pretty attractive and came with integrated SCSI. * I hate machines that used custom RAM. I guess it wouldn't be a deal breaker if it was already maxxed. * I'd certainly prefer PS/2 keyboard ports. * Slimline or other nice case designs are very much something I'll look for, but I need at least one PCI slot, methinks. Unless I could get a GUS and SCSI controller both integrated (man, wouldn't that be something!). Anything different or spacey is preferable to a beige box, even if it's just white or black. * Hmm, what was the ultimate PC framebuffer from the 1990s? I guess it depends on if you care about 3D or think it was too crappy in the 1990s to consider. I'm mostly in the latter camp. So, I'm more inclined to go for maximum 2D performance and maximum OS compatibility. Number Nine? Orchid? I guess I need to find some 2D performance benchmarks from 1999 or something similar. Matrox might work out. The MGA Millennium II comes to mind. I liked 3DFX, too, but I'm worried they were too 3D centric, plus they were ignored by the commercial Unix players. More video memory is great so it can run higher res where possible. * I'll use a 3Com 3c905, but I remember there being even better stuff. I'm just not sure which one is going to work best for all my OSs. Maybe the 3C509 is a better choice, but it's 10mbit and ISA, IIRC. I just remember that card works in more OSs than anything I've ever seen. Realtek is out. I won't use those PoSs ("fool me once" and all that). I'm also not a fan of Broadcom (again they burned me too often). * NTSC Video capability would be nice, but I'll probably just add it in the form of an old Happauge PCI WinTV. I need to find out what OpenSTEP and others supported. This is just a "nice to have" for me. I really liked things like the MacTV (all-in-one with NTSC tuner) back in the day. * Since I'm mostly looking at 486's, I'm mainly targeting the 486/66. I have nothing against Cyrix or exotic x86 processors from the era. -Swift

10 years

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media and software

by sales＠elecplus.com

I am going back to Dallas next week to sort 2 pallets of media and software. The age runs from reels of tape (9 track? Dated 1989 and earlier) to LTO4. Software, there are a LOT of MS Developer CDs from 2011 and much earlier, Xilinx CDs, AIX CDs, Solaris CDs (the earliest I noticed off the bat was version 6) and a lot of Dell server implementation disks. Also some things on cassette tapes. I need to know what is wanted. After next week it goes in the dumpster. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 500 Pershing Ave. Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com AOL IM elcpls

10 years

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Mystery HP 1000 board

by curiousmarc3＠gmail.com

Can anyone identify this HP board (see link to pictures)? https://goo.gl/photos/BBuAV1oozWNSqeUTA It was at under the main board of a newly acquired HP 1000-E, next to the firmware board. It says HP 54427-60050 Booster Microcode. It has 5 bitslice SN 74S181 chips at the back. So I surmise maybe it's a late ALU booster upgrade? Marc

10 years

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Monitor refresh rate query

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Peter Corlett Hi, thanks for helping me out here! > Both are correct. There are 44 (rounded) frames per second, and 87 > (rounded) fields per second. "fields per second" refers to interlaced displays, right? So the vertical retrace frequence there is the 87 Hz number (since you get a vertical retrace after only 768/2 lines are displayed). Or am I confused? Although if I'm right so far, I'm puzzled as to how one could drive both interlaced and non-interlaced monitors off the same video signal - wouldn't the interlaced one need a video signal which has 'odd lines, then a vertical retrace, then even lines, then a vertical retrace'? Anyway, so which one is the one which is the number to look at when considering if the refresh rate is so high it might be dangerous to an old CRT monitor? I would assume it's the 'fields per second', since that's the frequency of the vertical retrace? E.g. my HP M50 manual says "Setting the screen resolution/refresh rate combination higher than 1024x768 at 60 Hz can damage the display." Even though the same document lists the vertical frequency range as "50-100 Hz"! Noel

10 years

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Searching an IBM Model B typewriter for IBM 1620

by johannesthelen＠hotmail.com

I got just another jewel to my collection, IBM 1620 Model I (G level). Machine has all internals intact, but table top and the typewriter are missing (probably doorway was too narrow back then, parts removed and forgotten somewhere on the journey... ) That table top can be made again, but I would need that right model typewriter. Anyone have a spare..? Also I have another problem with it, memory is suffering wire corrosion (like these all does). So this can be a looooong shot, but if someone have a functional memory or just core array, I'm interested to buy or swap it to something. Photos can be found my blog, link below. Thaaaaanks! - Johannes ThelenFinland Before microcomputers blog (Finnish) http://ennenmikrotietokoneita.blogspot.fi/

10 years

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Quadra 660AV what's with the "PowerPC" label?

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

On Thu, 6/16/16, Sean Conner <spc at conman.org> wrote: > It was thus said that the Great Liam Proven once stated: > > And Plan 9 went one better, and (mostly) eliminated that nasty old > > unsafe mess, C, and it eliminated native binaries and brought > > platform-neutral binaries to the game. > >? Um ... what?? Plan 9 is written in C.? And they still use binaries, just > fat binaries (that is, the binary contains multiple code and data segments > for each supported architecture0). I suspect he was referring to Inferno when talking about the byte code executables. But Plan 9 doesn't use fat binaries. It keeps each architecture's binaries in a directory named for the architecture. Then one uses the union mounts to build a /bin that has the appropriate mix of binaries and shell scripts for the machine hosting that process. BLS

10 years

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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> William Degnan > Update: I now have .. a working .. DL11 (M7800) What did the problem turn out to be (or is this a different one)? If the latter, do you have any use for a 5-instruction 'scope loop program which sends characters continuously, which you can toggle in, to help debug the broken one? If so, let me know, and I'll verify that it works (I hand- assembled it in my head :-), and send it along. And Ethan, thanks for the tip about that old message! (I'd forgotten about that one!) I will upload the content to the CHW (and add the DB9 pinouts, too). Noel

10 years

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Eckert - Faster, Faster; books in general

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brian Walenz > My (ex-library) copy is missing all of chapter 11, "What is there to > calculate?. (And the last page of the previous chapter). The pages > weren't ripped out, they were missing when it was bound. Very odd. My copy is complete, so if you can't otherwise locate the missing content, I could scan those page for you. They cover: i) multiple simultanous linear equations with unknowns (the problem the ABC was created for), ii) ordinary differential equations such as ballistics calculations (ditto, the ENIAC), iii) partial differential equations, such as fluid dynamics, although the example he uses is from quantum mechanics. > Two, also ex-library, copies are listed on Amazon, and I hesitate to > get another copy with the same problem. You could contact the seller and ask them to check, specifically. > There are others, of course, at outrageous prices. Or maybe I don't > realize the significance of '1st edition, not ex-library'. Well, it say what it means: it's a first edition - some collectors prefer them; and it doesn't have all the stickers, glued-in paperwork, internal markings etc that one finds in a library copy. Collectors often find that annoying - I tend to stay away from ex-library copies unless there's a huge price difference. > Just to make any discussion a bit more interesting, what would you > suggest along similar lines? Oh, goodness, there's a long list. I'll put up an annotated bibliography on the Computer History wiki. > From: Pontus Pihlgren > What are the titles of the IBM books that of which you speak? They are: Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, "IBM's Early Computers", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986 Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, "IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1991 Both are excellent, as are: Emerson W. Pugh, "Memories That Shaped an Industry: Decisions Leading to IBM System/360", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984 Maurice V. Wilkes, "Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1985 >from the same series (the former covers the development of core memory from the perspectiv of IBM). Noel

10 years

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DL11 M7800

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

OK. I must be missing something here Does anyone have a M7800 (DL11) set for 9600 b N71 or N81 jumper'd with the default address for use as a serial terminal interface? I understand the other jumpers on the card, but the address and vector jumpers confuse me. I can't seem to find a table or a "here is the default for console" or I don't get it. I have the manual, I want I believe 777560, but I cannot find "table 5-2" referred to in my copy of the manual. Can someone give me a couple of examples "if you have Ax Ay Az connected then that represents address ------- . I am looking at the manual and web sites on the subject and I think for use as a simple serial terminal interface I need to jumper "in" *A9, A7, A5, A4, A3* ... correct? Vector jumpers *V6, V7 "*in" . Just curious if anyone can help me specifically not indirectly what I need, super thanks in advance. Thanks Bill -- @ BillDeg: Web: vintagecomputer.net Twitter: @billdeg <https://twitter.com/billdeg> Youtube: @billdeg <https://www.youtube.com/user/billdeg> Unauthorized Bio <http://www.vintagecomputer.net/readme.cfm>

10 years

4
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Want to trade: Complete MacIvory 2 system for standalone Symbolics XL machine

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

If anyone has standalone Symbolics hardware, and wants to trade for something more managable that can do an LCD display and uses more standard parts, I have the following system for trade for any Merlin / XL machine. I'm going all-in on wacky hardware, because I have multiple machines and already require lots of unweildly consoles. In particular, with one running XL, I want to double down for spare parts. Going by the last few eBay auctions, the value is identical, or even slightly skewed in favor of the MacIvory. Here's what it's kitted out with: > Mac IIfx host > Original Symbolics Keyboard / Mouse adapter > MacIvory II CPU with Floating Point Accellerator > NS 8/16 NuBus Memory > CF card for booting the Mac side > 36gb internal SCA drive for the FEP filesystems > NuVista color card (this can be used directly by S-PAINT, and S-GRAPHICS as a color render head) > Radius ThunderGX accellerated NuBus main graphics > Asante 10 megabit ethernet > Compatible CD-ROM drive > Genera 8.3 & Animation systems loaded Anyone interested in a smaller, friendlier Symbolics experience? Will also consider funding any cross-shipping myself. Cheers, - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

10 years

1
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Hazeltine 2000 Manuals

by dfnr2＠yahoo.com

Hi all, These Hazeltine 2000 were just on Ebay and were quickly snatched up.=C2=A0 = Did anybody here happen to snag them? http://www.ebay.com/itm/272275536298 http://www.ebay.com/itm/282069468875 I've been looking for these manuals for some time.=C2=A0 If someone won the= m (or has a set), I wonder if you'd be willing to create some nice high-qua= lity scans.=C2=A0 I'd be willing to pitch in to cover the costs of scanning= large pages, etc. with high resolution.=C2=A0 Alternatively, if anyone has= similar manuals and would be willing to sell them, I'd be interested. Thanks for any info! Dave

10 years

2
1
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DLI/Dolch C-100D Manuals?

by holm＠freibergnet.de

Hi, I've shoot an DLI / Dolch Logic Instrumnets Logic Analyzer Type C-100D on ebay today. It seems that I get some pos too, unfortunately no Z80 personality ..but a lot standard Pods. Since there are no Manuals for it included in the auction I'm asking nicely here if someone has the paperwork for this LA preferable in machine readable form ..? Has someone a z80 Personality to sell? TIA, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583 www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741

10 years

1
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Keyboards and the Model M (was Re: NEC ProSpeed 386)

by earl＠baugh.org

From: Swift Griggs <swiftgriggs at gmail.com> On Wed, 15 Jun 2016, geneb wrote: > I just wish the Unicomp keys were two-part keys like the Model M uses. I wish ALL keyboards did that... it's a superior design, IMHO. I'm puzzled, what do you mean two part? Cap and key? That's all I've gotten from Unicomp... That's how I got all of the "blank" caps from... EarltheSquirrel

10 years

4
4
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NEC ProSpeed 386

by cmhanson＠eschatologist.net

I just acquired an NEC ProSpeed 386 portable from WeirdStuff. http://imgur.com/a/vUTvd <http://imgur.com/a/vUTvd> The system boots fine off floppy, and after running the setup program?that can still be downloaded from NEC America?s FTP site!?I was able to boot DOS and Windows 3.11 from the internal HD that WeirdStuff didn?t think it had. The machine is actually quite zippy once booted too, it?s obviously a desktop replacement, it even has a goddamn mechanical keyboard! Unfortunately, there doesn?t seem to be all that much useful information about this system online. Does anyone have any pointers? What I?d like to do most is get into it and down to the motherboard, since the CMOS battery obviously needs replacing, and I could see whether there?s any damage that needs to be cleaned up. I tried to disassemble it this morning but unfortunately I couldn?t find any release latches and the plastic is old enough to be a little brittle so I didn?t want to work it too hard. As for what else I?ll do with it, I might consider replacing the drive with a larger one (or a larger CF card via an IDE/CF adaptor), adding the 8MB memory upgrade if I could ever find it, and adding an 80387 if I could ever find one and if there?s actually a socket for it. And if there?s any sort of network card for its weird-ass expansion slots of course I?d be all over that. I also expect the battery is quite sketchy at this point, being a discharged-for-decades NiCd. The system won?t boot without the battery pack attached though, so I?ll have to figure out how to bypass that. (I expect I can just install some sort of jumper at the battery port, or wire in a bypass.) And the system ports are obscured by the battery pack too. Nonetheless, not bad for well under the $60 sticker price when you consider that they also threw in the Griffin iMate I was also getting for that price! -- Chris

10 years

32
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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan > If I understand correctly, the first DL might be for example a TU58 or > other serial device. Well, DL11's long predate TU58's, and the 'first' DL11 would almost certainly have been connected to a terminal, but yes, basically. > The console = 0, the "first" is actually "1" (second) serial card. > right? Right. I'll add a sentence or two the the article about how DL11's #1-#16 are to be found at 776500-676. Noel

10 years

2
1
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DL11 M7800

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: William Degnan >>> Is there a table with the jumpers and values somewhere? >> No, but I'll whip one up and stick it on the Computer History wiki. > Many would appreciate this I bet. I'm sure I would have - I, like a lot of others, struggled with the address/vector jumpers (which are poorly covered in the DEC documentation). Anyway, try this on for size: http://gunkies.org/wiki/DL11_asynchronous_serial_line If there's anything else I could usefully add there, please let me know. I have provided jumper configs for the console, and the first serial line after that - are there any more that would be useful to list? Noel

10 years

2
1
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