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

by edick＠idcomm.com

There are three interest areas potentiallyh addressed by these documents and files. First of all, there are doc's relating to ISIS-II which (IIRC) was the 8-bit development environment of the very early '80's. Secondly, there are doc's relating to iRMX-86, and some source files. Thirdly, there are doc's and ostensibly source files relating to iAPX, which was another OS they were pushing for the 8x86/87/88/89 family. Some of the documents are assembler, debugger, compiler, etc. documents for PL/M-80 and PL/M 86, PASCAL 86, the various macro assemblers and cross-assemblers (in this case, for 8x86/88 family parts on their 8080/8085 platforms) and stuff like that. There are also some manuals relating to the console hardware, etc, and the MDS-80, among other things. There's even some hardware doc, though it's user manual stuff. If there were a web site which would accomodate the many thousands of pages involved here I'd consider scanning the stuff and forwarding the bitmaps to whoever wants them. Now, keep in mind that a typical TIFF of a printed page in single-bit format is about 1 MB in size, and we're looking at a 1-2'-high stack of paper with both sides printed in most cases. LEt's see. . . a ream is about 1-3/4" = 500 sheets . . . let's say 10 reams . . . so we're looking at 10 GB, right (GAWD! . . . I hope I've miscalculated!) Well . . . It could be sent as PCX files, only about 1/4 the size, and capable of being compressed as well . . . but it would still take a number of hours of transfer time unless I go to the POP to do it. There I have 44 Mb/sec . . . Now, who's got that much space at their ISP? Dick -----Original Message----- From: Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Friday, September 17, 1999 3:40 PM Subject: Re: Find of the day >Upon the date 03:05 PM 9/17/99 -0600, Richard Erlacher said something like: >>Yesterday or the day before, I posted that I had found a number of Intel >>ISIS-II, iAPX, and iRMX-86 manuals. Is there a website where these could be >>made available to whoever wants access? >> >>Likewise, I posted that I have about 20 diskettes in a case (not yet >>examined in detail) clearly marked iAPX Sources. Before I send these off to >>one fellow who wants them, perhaps they should be made available to the >>public at large. I'd be willing to send them to an appropriate web site if >>someone will recommend one. >> > >Hi Dick, > >There are members on here, like myself, who are into the VME- and >Multibus-based industrial/embedded systems. I have several Multibus-I >boards and a couple of crates that I want to someday get running. iRMX-80 >and -86 would indeed be of use in my attempts at this and any help such as >you're offering will be appreciated. Docs are just as important too. > >Thanks much! --Chris >-- -- >Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian >Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net > Member of Antique Wireless Association > URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/

26 years, 10 months

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Intel OS DOC and SOURCES (was) Re: Find of the day

by edick＠idcomm.com

sorry about forgetting to change the subject . . . it was sort of a find, though. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Friday, September 17, 1999 3:12 PM Subject: Re: Find of the day >Yesterday or the day before, I posted that I had found a number of Intel >ISIS-II, iAPX, and iRMX-86 manuals. Is there a website where these could be >made available to whoever wants access? > >Likewise, I posted that I have about 20 diskettes in a case (not yet >examined in detail) clearly marked iAPX Sources. Before I send these off to >one fellow who wants them, perhaps they should be made available to the >public at large. I'd be willing to send them to an appropriate web site if >someone will recommend one. > >Dick > > >

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by edick＠idcomm.com

Yesterday or the day before, I posted that I had found a number of Intel ISIS-II, iAPX, and iRMX-86 manuals. Is there a website where these could be made available to whoever wants access? Likewise, I posted that I have about 20 diskettes in a case (not yet examined in detail) clearly marked iAPX Sources. Before I send these off to one fellow who wants them, perhaps they should be made available to the public at large. I'd be willing to send them to an appropriate web site if someone will recommend one. Dick

26 years, 10 months

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Xerox Star buyer?

by Innfogra＠aol.com

Since the Star came from upstate NY and went to Chicago I bet it was a real sale. I bet the largest collection of computers in the world (http://www.vintagecomputers.com) didn't have an original star and was willing to meet a reserve price of $7500. I look forward to the web site when they get it done. Paxton

26 years, 10 months

4
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Find of the day

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> You've got me interested now, since I have a VMS CD but no way to hook a >> CDROM to my MicroVax-II...how would one go about doing this? >One of several ways: > > Find an RRD40 and qbus cotroller for it. > Find an RRD50 and qbus controller for it > Find a SCSI Qbus adaptor and a CDrom that works (different > block size for PC) > >Other routes would be to get a working TK50 or TK70 with controller and >have someone cut tapes for you (this is allowed). Yet another route is to get a desktop VMS machine (say, a 3100-xx, or an Alphastation) with a CD-ROM. Install VMS on the desktop machine, then boot the Microvax-II into the cluster and MSCP-serve all the disks (including the CD-ROM) between all cluster members. The hobbyist license kit includes the clustering licenses as well. Clustering is not only a powerful user tool, but a power system management tool as well. Resources on clustered VMS nodes are - for all important purposes - local after a machine boots into the cluster. -- 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, 10 months

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eBay auction rules for ending

by wsmith＠gj.com

> I guess my feeling is that what the seller did was unethical since he did > want to sell the item. If he wanted to sell the item, and put it up for > bid, then he is accepting the risk, like anyone else, of not getting what > they would like for it. That should not be sufficient cause for stopping > the auction and making those who bid in good faith suffer from his > greediness. At one time, and perhaps still today, eBay allowed the seller to place one bid on his/her own auction. This happened to me once on an auction where the seller outbid me at the last moment on a non-reserve auction. I was outraged, until the seller pointed out to me that he was within the rules in doing this. If it's still ok to bid on one's own auction, then the seller could put in a huge bid, immediately cancel the auction, and then still abide by the "rule" that the item be sold to the highest bidder. Right?

26 years, 10 months

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Xerox Star buyer?

by DD950＠prodigy.net

-----Original Message----- From: Mike Ford <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> >Why all the Sherlock Holmes, this person obviously belongs on this list, >somebody email them and invite them to join. > > That would probably meet the definition of spam. Err..., you do it. :-) Besides, what are you going to say: "Please join our list, and, uh, you got any money left?" :-) Just kidding, but I am sure you are all thinking the same as me; I wonder what else does he wants to buy? Regards, Jim Rossbach, Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club, www.TonkinYachts.cjb.net God Made Us Sisters and Brothers, Prozac Made Us Friends.

26 years, 10 months

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Xerox Star buyer?

by DD950＠prodigy.net

-----Original Message----- From: Innfogra(a)aol.com <Innfogra(a)aol.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, September 16, 1999 6:21 PM Subject: Xerox Star buyer? >Does anyone know who WWW.VintageComputers.Com is or where they are located? >Paxton > Why Network Solutions does :-) The Data in Network Solutions' WHOIS database is provided by Network Solutions for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration record. Network Solutions does not guarantee its accuracy. Registrant: Keystroke Engineering, LLC (VINTAGECOMPUTERS-DOM) 1233 N. Hoyne Chicago, IL 60622 US Domain Name: VINTAGECOMPUTERS.COM Administrative Contact: Zoghlin, Alex (AZ1172) zoghlin(a)IBM.NET (773) 395-6226 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Hostmaster, Rapidsite Inc. (HRI-ORG) hostmaster(a)RAPIDSITE.NET 561-994-6684 Fax- 561-994-6617 Fax- - 304-243-2497 Billing Contact: Zoghlin, Alex (AZ1172) zoghlin(a)IBM.NET (773) 395-6226

26 years, 10 months

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C64 I/O pinout

by CharlesII＠nwonline.net

Aaron Christopher Finney wrote: >This page has everything you are looking for and more... > >http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dsladic/vice/doc/serial.txt > >Hope it helps! > >Aaron > > > Yes, it did. Though ATN poses a problem on where to put it. I'm thinking of puting a logic inverter on it and connecting it to DTR on the RS232 port. Part of that article was cryptic when it came to the RESET pin I'll quote RESET: Serial Reset You may disconnect this line to save your disk drive. Did the reset pin actualy screw up the disk drive or what and from reading the artical it sounds like it is not needed. Charles

26 years, 10 months

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C64 I/O pinout

by charlesII＠nwonline.net

After searching all over the internet for this I've found the pin out for the C64 serial port. The goal of finding this information: to connect serial port of the C64 to the RS232 serial port on my computer. Here's what I found. Pin, description 1, ? 2, GND 3, ATN 4, CLK 5, DATA 6, RESET The description that I found didn't list pin 1 for anything could this possibly be +5V? If so I could connect this to CTS (I'm trying to keep to the standard). ATN is probably attention which tells what device the computer is going to talk to. CLK is probably a clock signal which could be connected to Receive Clock. Could ATN be connected to DCD on the PC? Also what are the logic levels on the C64 port is it inverted compared to RS232 when it comes to 1 and 0 and what is the voltage on pin five for 1 and 0. Charles

26 years, 10 months

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eBay auction rules for ending

by mbg＠world.std.com

Since someone mentioned that you can simply end an auction because you want to, here are the specifics... >Canceling Bids >You can cancel bids in an auction if one or more of the following >circumstances apply: > > 1.You've decided to end the auction > 2.A bidder contacts you to back out of a bid > 3.You can't verify the identity of a bidder after trying all > reasonable means of contact > >Please note: Cancellations are publicized in the auction bidding history, >and you will be asked to explain your cancellation to bidders. If the >cancellation was not legitimate, you're also likely to hear about it from >other users. > >Stop the Auction! > >You may miss out on just the bid you've been waiting for if you end your >auction early. Still, there may be times when you have a valid reason to >end an auction. You may stop your auction when you decide not to sell. To >do this, you must cancel all bids on your auction before it ends. If you do >not do this, you are obligated to sell to the high bidder. Note this last part... Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 10 months

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Xerox Star buyer?

by Innfogra＠aol.com

Does anyone know who WWW.VintageComputers.Com is or where they are located? Paxton

26 years, 10 months

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Xerox Star buyer?

by Innfogra＠aol.com

In a message dated 9/16/99 7:35:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, cfandt(a)netsync.net writes: > Upstate NY! That's basically my area. Do you know which town Paxton? No. The description of the Xerox Star listed "Upstate Ny" as the location. The email address 'oldcomputers(a)yahoo.com' is harder to find information about its' actual location. The Seller of the Star also has been active in selling intel 4004, 8008 and sets of intel processors on ebay. Paxton PS Paul Pierce may have the largest private collection in terms of Mass. IBM knew that value=weight and made correspondingly heavy systems. I am sure there are others out there with more individual systems.

26 years, 10 months

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3 1/2 disk drives

by max82＠surfree.com

>I would like to know if its possible use a 3 1/2" disk drive with my If not, you should be able to install another disk controller into it. There must be some kind of TSR which can help you with this also. >little more "friendly" than DOS, such as a file manager Well, I've been down that line, and I have not come up with a truly good way to hide DOS with a dos program. Norton Commander is my favorite file manager, someone here might have a copy to send you. Check out www.filelibrary.com (which requires free registration) for all kinds of DOS software. All the file managers you could dream of. All-in-all, DOS is a good functional OS which doesn't have a lot of pretty stuff. Unless you're going to USE the thing for word processing,etc. don't bother.

26 years, 10 months

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Vintage Computer Festival - Computer Museum Tour

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 October 2-3, 1999 Santa Clara Convention Center Santa Clara, California The Vintage Computer Festival is once again proud to present a tour of The Computer Museum History Center in Mountain View, California. The Computer Museum boasts the worlds largest collection of historic computers, including some one of a kind machines. If you've never visited the History Center then you should take advantage of this opportunity. Two tours are scheduled for 3:30pm on both Saturday and Sunday of the Festival based on demand. If there is not enough demand for two separate tours then all reservations will be consolidated to one tour on Sunday, October 3. Each tour will last approximately one hour. The tour is open to most everyone but you must register in advance to reserve a seat on the bus which will be taking participants to the History Center from the Santa Clara Convention Center. Since the History Center is located on a United States military base (Moffet Federal Airfield) foreign nationals will have to RSVP as soon as possible so that their identification can be processed. United States citizens and those with green cards should not have any difficulty registering. Please note there is a charge of $5 for the bus ride. Complete information on making a reservation can be found on The Computer Museum's web site: http://www.computerhistory.org/events/vcf_10021999/tours.page Spread the Word! Remember to tell a friend about the Vintage Computer Festival. This is a great event for the whole family since kids are admitted free. There will be plenty of fascinating old computers on display that will help introduce computing to a budding young mind. Sell Your Computer There are still a few booths available in the Vintage Computer Flea Market but they are going fast! If you have a bunch of old computers sitting in your closet, or want to cash in on the computer collecting craze, there's no better place than the VCF Flea Market to sell your old computers. Booths are $125 for the entire weekend. Don't wait too long to decide, this price is only good until September 15. You can also sell your items on consignment with the VCF. It's hassle free! See http://www.vintage.org/vcf/vendor.htm for complete details on vendor booths and consignment sales. We'll see you at VCF 3.0! And remember, tell your friends!! To be removed from this automated notification service simply reply to this message with the word REMOVE as the first line of the message. Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 October 2-3, 1999 Santa Clara Convention Center Santa Clara, California http://www.vintage.org/vcf

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day: continued

by cem14＠cornell.edu

Well , I made a cable with the appropriate pin-out and turned the thing on... here's what came on the terminal: KA630-A.V1.3 Performing normal system tests 7..6..5..4..3.. Tests completed >>> boot 2.. ?54 RETRY 2.. (after a long time, I hit the halt button) ?02 EXT HLT PC = 00001AA8 >>> boot dua0 2.. ?42 NOSUCHFILE, DUA0 ?06 HLT INST PC = 00000EE6 Failure >>> Does that mean that the drive is busted, or just that there is no OS? The drive spins up and it sounds like it is seeking after issuing the boot command. Carlos.

26 years, 10 months

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HP 2114 on ebay

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

It appears the HP 2114 on ebay sold from what I hear, it's no longer listed in any case. Just out of curiousity, did anyone here on the list get it??? Jay West

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day: continued

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<>>> boot < < 2.. < ?54 RETRY < < 2.. (after a long time, I hit the halt button) < ?02 EXT HLT < PC = 00001AA8 < <>>> boot dua0 < < 2.. < ?42 NOSUCHFILE, DUA0 < ?06 HLT INST < PC = 00000EE6 Either the drive is not dua0 or no OS on it. Allison

26 years, 10 months

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Central Point Option floppy controller

by zmerch＠30below.com

Rumor has it that Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) may have mentioned these words: >On Thu, 16 Sep 1999 CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com wrote: >> This may be going counter to the tone of the discussion, but... >> If the goal is the least-hassle way to read and write Apple ][ disks, isn't >> the best solution >> AN APPLE ][ ? >Absolutely. > >> Besides, none of these other solutions are more than 10 years old! > >Apple Turnover, Matchpoint?, Quadlink, Diamond Trakstar 128, and Copy2 >Option board are all over 10 years old. Most of them were DISCONTINUED >more that 10 years ago. Not only that, but IIRC the original gist of the discussion wasn't "how to read/write Apple ][ disks..." but was: "how to read/write Apple ][ disks on an IBM PC." For that, the Apple ][ really isn't the best solution. Besides, Apple ][s are really tough to find up here... my buddy rescued a //gs, tho... [[ and later wondered how much he could get for it when he was hard-up for cash... Him: How much could I get for it? Me: Maybe $20 tops... *if* you find someone interested in it. Him: What're my chances of finding that someone? Me: About the same odds of you gaining 600 pounds overnight and winning the Mr. Olympia title. (he's had a lot of gastro-intestinal surgery over the last 2 years -- he's over 6 foot tall and weights ~130lbs.) Him: You've got to be kidding! It's got a hard drive...]] Yea, he's still my friend, but as he owes me a lot of $$$, I'll prolly give him the $20 for the machine (off his tab, of course... ;-) Anywho, IMHO, YMMV, ABAF and all that jazz... Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.

26 years, 10 months

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Central Point Option floppy controller

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>Well, modern single-chip microcontrollers are very cheap, and they're >easy to use. Probably less hassle than attempting to (legally) clone the >Apple disk ][ controller. This may be going counter to the tone of the discussion, but... If the goal is the least-hassle way to read and write Apple ][ disks, isn't the best solution AN APPLE ][ ? Besides, none of these other solutions are more than 10 years old! Tim.

26 years, 10 months

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Seek and ye shall find - the story of the latest PDP-9 discovery.

by kstumpf＠unusual.on.ca

Hope you consider this message an encouragement. It is directed to those are are new to the hobby or those of you who are disappointed because you still haven't found that special something even though you have spent much time trying to find it. Have we dried up sources of old computers? Hardly. Can you still hope to find that missing system/ software/manual/etc.? Indeed. The proof I offer is the PDP-9 that Merle Pierce, of the Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc., recently told us about. There weren't many of them to start with and it is 30 years old so what are the chances there would still be one working everyday in a building in Philadelphia. Pretty low, but still, against the odds it is now safe for another 130+ years in the museum's collection. A while back a the fellow from the company in Philadelphia that used the 9 contacted me. He came to me because his 9 wasn't working and upon doing a search of the web he discovered I had a reference to PDP-9s since I used to have one. He asked me for help in fixing his, but I was no help. I did mention how much I'd like to have another one and that was end of our correspondence. About 7 weeks ago he contacted me out of the blue and offered the 9 and other gear if I would come and pick it up. Tempting. The customs and other regulatory hassles made the trip impossible so I offered the gear to Merle and the rest is history. Seek and ye shall find. Really, lots and lots of wonderful old small and big computers are waiting to be discovered. Yours in good faith. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems * www.unusual.on.ca +1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5 Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles. Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers & Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6 .

26 years, 10 months

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HP 2114 on ebay

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Ok... you've got me curious. (swinging wildly toward being O.T.) >What was there about this particular auction >that might have led to a complaint which would have resulted in it being >cancelled? (obviously, I did not see anything that threw up a flag) I really haven't been following the entire thread, so don't know what specific auction it was about -- I was just responding about the early end to an auction in general. So I can't tell what might have been wrong with it, if anything. Megan Gentry Former RT-11 Developer +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+ | Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com | | Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com | | Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' | | 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ | | Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler | | (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

26 years, 10 months

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HELP: RF72 info and Control panel info

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

Hello, First question for the list, does anyone have a technical manual on the RF72 (1GB DSSI drive)? The questions I have are: 1) What function does the blue wire in either pin 1 or pin 5 (depending on which is #1) of the power connector provide? 2) What function does the three position dip switch provide? (I've got a couple drives and some have switches set and others don't.) On a related topic, is there any documentation on the VAX "drive control" thingys? Various pieces of documentation I have offer tantalizing bits but I can't find the definitive definition. The Sigma docs talk about "active" and "passive" control panels, one of my BA213's has a 3 way DSSI panel with plugs for plastic "unit" plugs, one of my BA213's has a dual unit and the cab kit for SDI drives. My BA123 world box has four installed (not hooked up to anything) These latter ones appear to be "passive" (they have a 10 pin connector on them as well) --Chuck

26 years, 10 months

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Looking for a pdp-15 handbook or other docs

by mcquiggi＠sfu.ca

Hi Group: I have a friend who is looking for pdp-15 docs. Anybody have any, or pointers to any on the web? Kevin ========================================================== Sgt. Kevin McQuiggin, Vancouver Police Department E-Comm Project (604) 215-5095; Cell: (604) 868-0544 Email: mcquiggi(a)sfu.ca

26 years, 10 months

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Ending Auctions (was Re: HP 2114 on ebay)

by morrison＠t-iii.com

Well then he'd have to pay the commision on $7000, no? Neil Morrison email:morrison@t-iii.com > -----Original Message----- > From: George Currie [SMTP:g@kurico.com] > Sent: Thursday, September 16, 1999 1:44 PM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Re: Ending Auctions (was Re: HP 2114 on ebay) > > > Second, the basic rules continue to hold. Which are: > > - You offer something for sale, you have the option of setting > > a reserve price and a minimum bid. > > - When your auction ends, if the highest bid was above > > your reserve then you _MUST_ sell the item to the highest > > bidder. REGARDLESS OF HOW THE AUCTION ENDED. > > Speaking of this point, did anyone catch the auction for the Xerox > Star? Talk about weird endings, it was around $2100 (reserve not > met) until the very end, when suddenly a $7000 bid comes in > (reserve met). But get this, the alias of the high bidder is almost > exactly the same as the seller (seller was foobar, buyer was > foo.bar). Sounds like maybe the second place bidder actually hit > the reserve ($2300?) and the seller decided that he didn't want to > sell it so put in a massive bid under a diff. alias? > > George

26 years, 10 months

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IBM XT looking for a good home in L.A. area

by dastar＠ncal.verio.com

Rob Gregory contacted me saying he has an almost mint-condition IBM PC-XT he wants to go to a good home or else he chucks it. He's also got some printers he wants to throw into the deal, but that's for you to decide. His phone number is 310/829.5903. Please contact him directly of course. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0! See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 08/17/99]

26 years, 10 months

1
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Central Point Option floppy controller

by amichael＠nortelnetworks.com

> -----Original Message----- > > Don Maslin <donm(a)cts.com> wrote about the Central Point cards: > > First off, it is not a controller, per se, but rather a bridge adapter > > that goes between the ISA FDC and the floppy drive and enhances the > FDC's > > native capabilities. > Along similar lines, can anyone explain how to use a Manzana Mux Card? I picked one up recently, recalling it was supposed to let you expand the number of pc internal floppies from two to four. If I'm not mistaken, it installs as a bridge card (like the Central Point Option card) between the standard controller and the drives. Does anyone know how to configure it? It's got 3 jumper block areas. It looks like one sets up the port address, but the others are a mystery. Also I'm wondering if it needs a special software driver or something. Now, the bonus question: can the Manzana card be used in combination with the Central Point card to build a multi-format universal copy machine with a wild mix of drive types? What would the bridge cabling sequence be in this case? -- Arlen Michaels amichael(a)nortelnetworks.com Nortel Networks, Ottawa, Canada

26 years, 10 months

3
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Apple Mockingboard

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>I just bought an Apple IIe system with a Mockingboard in it. Is this a board >that was at all significant in the Apple world? It came with no >documentation although there are three original disks that look like they >came from Mockingboard. The Mockingboard had substantial support from many Apple video games of the mid-80's onward. Couple the Mockingboard with Steve Ciarcia's voice synthensizer (both circa early 80's) and you've got abilities beyond what was available for PC-clones until just a few years ago. -- 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, 10 months

1
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Seek and ye shall find - the story of the latest PDP-9 discov ery.

by morrison＠t-iii.com

A few years ago I came across a working IBM card punch, which reminded me of my days at varsity! But where could I store it in a tiny apartment? Ah well, Neil Morrison email:morrison@t-iii.com > -----Original Message----- > From: kstumpf(a)unusual.on.ca [SMTP:kstumpf@unusual.on.ca] > Sent: Thursday, September 16, 1999 10:50 AM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Seek and ye shall find - the story of the latest PDP-9 > discovery. > ........... > The proof I offer is the PDP-9 that Merle Pierce, of the > Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc., recently > told us about. > > There weren't many of them to start with and it is > 30 years old so what are the chances there would > still be one working everyday in a building in > Philadelphia. Pretty low, but still, against the odds > it is now safe for another 130+ years in the museum's > collection. > ...........

26 years, 10 months

1
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Central Point Option floppy controller

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> really do run in one clock cycle (rather than four). Also, they run at <> up to 100 MHz. They would be much more suitable for implementing a <> floppy disk controller. Why not just toss a cray XMP against the problem. Seriously, in 1979ish apple managed to do it with a little (very little) at something less than 2mhz... why would a PIC at a gazillion MHz be the hot ticket when the real need is enough ram to store all them bits! When you consider the data rate for DD 8" is 500kBits/sec the bandwidth is not that bad. Allison

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- allisonp(a)world.std.com wrote: > About all the st251 has in it's favor is it's half height. That and, in my experience, easier to find. Seagate shipped wads of them for use in early AT's. I don't love them either (slow and hot), but I do have several more of them than any other MFM drive besides the Micropolis 1325. -ethan === Infinet has been sold. The domain is going away in February. Please send all replies to erd(a)iname.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

26 years, 10 months

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Keeping pdp11s softwarily viable?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>> Can't do it all myself, but I'd like to see a port of a minimal >>version of lynx to 2.11BSD unix. Anyone care to comment on how >>(im)possible this is and what it would require? [[I'm tired of telnetting >>to my FreeBSD box everytime I want to mess with the web.]] While we're on >>it, what about emacs? That shouldn't be so bad since there's already a >>uEMACS for RSX. >> >>jake >On a related note, does anyone have a browser for RT-11? I've got Telnet >and FTP running, but would love to add web access :^) If anything was done for either 2.11 or RT-11, it'd have to be *very* scaled down from the full lynx. The CERN line-mode browser does fit on an -11. Of course, you can always just telnet to port 80. >Guess I really need to take a look at the source for lynx. It's huge, and it expects enormous contiguous amounts of memory to be available for temporary use. Not a realistic way to do things in the PDP-11's 16-bit memory space. -- 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, 10 months

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firefox

by danburrows＠mindspring.com

If you would include minor details like what the M# of the graphics board I may be able to help. There were a few different ones used over the years. Complete configurations can even be more helpful. It may be a day or 2 before I can respond depending on what Floyd decides to do to me. I have been getting the heavy rains most of the day and now the wind has kicked up. Thank heavens for UPS's for the power flickers. Dan >I have a VaxStation 3520 in the garage that seems to boot. I gather it's >a dual-processor model and it has SCSI, RGB, AUI, and TK70, all intact and >able to boot. Problem is I have no KB, no mouse, and no head for it. (I >had hooked it up to a monitor that had the right cables but the wrong sync >stuff, so I had like four shaking images of the boot stuff.) Anyone know >of a good cheap place to gather the junque I need to get this thing >running right (and part numbers, etc)? It seems like a really nice box >except for the BI bus (it has Qbus too!), but I guess that's fine if I >stick with OpenVMS. ((Which version?)) > >TIA > >jake

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com

--- Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net> wrote: > Incidentally, for you other DEC mavens, I tried reviewing the VAXArchive at > http://vaxarchive.ml.org/ but it seems to be either relocated or not > available anymore. I felt it was a good VAX info resource. "Unable to find > the server vaxarchive.ml.org" is the message thrown back which suggests > it's MIA. Could anyone confirm? The entire ml.org domain is defunct. I used to be antarctica.ml.org. -ethan === Infinet has been sold. The domain is going away in February. Please send all replies to erd(a)iname.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

26 years, 10 months

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vaxstation 4000 terminal/keyboard/mouse

by macierno＠hotmail.com

Does anyone know where I can get a vaxstation compatable terminal, keyboard, and mouse???? thanx mark acierno ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

26 years, 10 months

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HP 2114 on ebay

by morrison＠t-iii.com

Ask eBay! They do get back after a while. Neil Morrison email:morrison@t-iii.com > -----Original Message----- > From: Christian Fandt [SMTP:cfandt@netsync.net] > Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 12:59 PM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Re: HP 2114 on ebay > ..... > I couldn't even find it in the closed or "ended auction" area. Did he or > somebody completely remove all reference to the auction? Can that be done? > .....

26 years, 10 months

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RF series power requirements?

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

Does anyone know the power requirement on the RFxx series drives? I would like to mount one in a BA123 and the RFxx connector is a 5 pin power connector (which I have an extra of but I don't want to screw up!) Also if you run these things without the 10 pin header plugged in, do you need to jumper any of the pins? --Chuck

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> Yup. RD53 is an RLL 40 meg, I think. Not very reliable in my experience <> Somewhere on the system is probably a tk50 tape drive, too. Slow and not <> very high density per cartrige, but they work. BZZT! RD53 is MFM 70mb (100mb if RLL) and only old ones are unreliable... then again a new one is far from likely. They were reliable but the typical operational life was about 4 years (100% powered on). After that they tended to decay. For that time (late 80s) 35,000 power on hours was pretty good though not exceptional. the problem is the last ones were manufactured some 8 or more years ago! <As a matter of fact, the DB15F does have the interlocks found in AUI's. Nominal configuration, AUI for DEQNA or DELQA. Things to check, if either box make sure the fans work, they are needed! If its a BA123 end table box then there are three fans, they must all work or bad things happen. Then check the power supply cables if the box is BA23 (narrow one) as they have been known to melt at the bus or PS connectors. Generally this things are hard to kill and run well. VMS is available VIA DECUS hobbiest liccense for free. You can use any media you can find and versions to 7.2 (one older than current). Montagar sells a CD with VMS and various other tools included. If unix is you favorite then Netbsd is an ongoing project but the MVII port is reputed to be functional. I run two of them one in BA23 and the other in the larger ba123. Allison

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<> 1 CPU? it has two interesting-looking chips: <> 1: LSILIA 0485, 21-23413-01, DC379, TAC 8546 <> 2: LSILIA 0486, 21-23389-01, DC379, CAC 8544 < <A couple of very custom DEC chips that form the VAX CPU IIRC. The Microvax CPU is one chip. The DMA is the other. However neither is a 78032 Microvax CPU. Maybe a later one. <> what is the pinout? what is the funny-labeled rotary switch next to <> it?) Determins if the machine will stay in diagnostic mode, Inquire what language to use (13 possible) and run straight through to trying to boot. If there is a boot device it will try it, if not you get an error message and the >>> prompt. <> 3 dec memory board, holds 144 41256-212141302 chips < <DEC 4Mbyte memory board, I think. sounds about right. <> 4 dec board, some labels are: LPWR M94V-1 25787, and "M7516" in the <> extraction handle; connected to a DB15F in the back panel < <Ethernet I guess. Nice if it is... DELQA eithernet, the better one to have. <> 5 dec board, (disk controller?), reads M7555 in the extraction handle <> connected to what seems to be an older RLL hard drive < <Much more likely to be MFM than RLL. IIRC that board handles MFM hard <drives and RX50 floppy drives. RQDX3 controller, drive is likely Micropolus 1325(70mb) or Maxtor2190(159mb). Allison

26 years, 10 months

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Kaypro 10

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<function for a given piece of hardware. Someone dumped a 286 & 12" green <mono monitor at our store a few years back. Instead of throwing it out, I <spent a couple of afternoons patching together some C code, a few batch <files, and some other odds & ends and it's served us well as our cash <register ever since. It also cranks out our monthly state sales tax report <and maintains our customer database. 52 MB hard drive, 24 MB free -- I <imagine we'll be using it every day for years to come. Therein lies the appeal of many old machines to me. I can use them as single point applications as they were cheap and do it well. The up side is some are really interesting! <Cost: $0. Call me Yankee but, it's a frugal thing. <I even have a couple of business apps (Tony Duell, don't gag ;>) which I ru <on my Sinclair machines . . . just crank up the old imagination, Jim, and <surely you'll come up with some good use for that old "clunker." Oh, I forgot one. There's a program called "checks" that can be found on the WC CDrom and the OAK.oakland.edu archives. Runs nicely on the kaypro. Theres a lot of messydos and CPM software out there in the archives waiting to be used. Allison

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by allisonp＠world.std.com

Good for there time but very old and small. < RD50 5mb Seagate ST506 < RD51 10mb Seagate ST412 Excellent drive for a 30mb full height, near indestructable. < RD52 35mb Quantum Q540 Tended to get cranky when over 4-5 years old, most all are. < RD53 71mb Micropolis 1325 Good find, 159mb and reliable. < RD54 159mb Maxtor XT-2190 Excellent 20mb drive. < RD31 21mb Seagate ST225 Peice of garbage, runs hot and has spindle problems. < RD32 42mb Seagate ST251 Experience, I have them all and have used them all. Allison

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

At 07:54 PM 9/15/99 -0400, Carlos wrote: >Hi Zane; I don't understand; Jim and Chuck said that the pin-out was >standard... why do you need a special cable? I just plugged a DB9 to DB25 cable into it and the back of my FreeBSD box and ran tip to it. Worked fine. >> Unfortunatly it doesn't sound as if this system has a TK50 drive, they're >> kinda hard to miss ;^) > >Yes, there's nothing but the hard drive in the front. The "empty slot" with no cover is where the RX50 dual floppy goes. You can find them around as they are pretty common. You'll need one of the black "skids" for them as well. The funky card in the end of the card cage that cables the hard drive has cables that go to the floppy as well. If your cabinet is wide, sits on the floor, and has wheels, its a BA123 "world box" if it is about 6" tall, 19" wide and deep, it is a BA23 rack mount box. Thanks to DEC's re-use of parts you can swap out the CPU in these boxes to create a micro-PDP system (11/73 etc). Power supplies are ok for reliability, but too heavy to ship. Lately a lot of BA123's seem to be falling out of the sky around here. >How can you tell one from the other? This has four horizontal front bays >and one vertical; it is rated at 8.8A, 690W at 120V. The whole thing >measures about 24" (height) x 13" (width) x 27" (depth) Actually the part number should have told me it was a BA123 but your description confirms it. --Chuck

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by cfandt＠netsync.net

Upon the date 05:13 PM 9/15/99 -0400, cem14(a)cornell.edu said something like: > > >Today I hauled in something that I have no experience whatsoever with, >but that I'm sure most people in classiccmp own: a microvax II. >I don't know if it works, or how to hook a terminal to it to >test it. Here's what I've been able to gather: Hi Carlos, from how you speak below it sure shows you do have no experience whatsoever <g>! But we'll help fix that problem! You've actually got a nice box (provided it still functions) that will be rather fun to learn VMS or ULTRIX upon (if it still has either of those OS's running on it). NetBSD is also available. Your homework for tonite will be to study http://anacin.nsc.vcu.edu/~jim/mvax/mvax_faq.html which contains much about the MVII's. Another URL which has MVII bits is: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/jmcm/www/info/info.html (aka ASUBI). I've got an MVII that I've been working on upgrading the hard disk to an RD54. I haven't had time to touch it since last winter as I've had a heap of other projects more important. But I'm salivating at the thought of getting her up and running with OpenVMS during the next winter sometime :) The other DEC friends here have already given you some other important comments and I'm sure a few more of us will chime in. Have fun with it! Incidentally, for you other DEC mavens, I tried reviewing the VAXArchive at http://vaxarchive.ml.org/ but it seems to be either relocated or not available anymore. I felt it was a good VAX info resource. "Unable to find the server vaxarchive.ml.org" is the message thrown back which suggests it's MIA. Could anyone confirm? Regards, Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

That would be your basic Microvax II all right. It is a lot of fun to run VMS or NetBSD on them. Presumably you've got one with the Floppy drives in the front since I didn't see you mention the TQK50 controller or a 1/2" cartridge tape drive. The RD53 is a bit small for a complete UNIX distribution (VMS does well though) and you can net boot it from another server if you want. If you join DECUS you can get a free license to VMS. Console connects to the DB-9 in the back, standard serial port pin-out. Plug in a terminal and fire it up to see if it can get through post. You never know, it just may boot :-) Tony Duell would have you first carefully remove all the boards and unplug all the peripherals, and then power it up and test the voltages on the power rails, then plug in probably one board (enough to "load" the supplys a bit and test again) and then re-install and reseat everything and try booting it) But I only do that level of check on really old stuff. --Chuck At 05:13 PM 9/15/99 -0400, cem14(a)cornell.edu wrote: > > >Today I hauled in something that I have no experience whatsoever with, >but that I'm sure most people in classiccmp own: a microvax II. >I don't know if it works, or how to hook a terminal to it to >test it. Here's what I've been able to gather: > >Cards: > >Slot description >1 CPU? it has two interesting-looking chips: > 1: LSILIA 0485, 21-23413-01, DC379, TAC 8546 > 2: LSILIA 0486, 21-23389-01, DC379, CAC 8544 > This is connected to a DB9M in the back panel (console goes here? > what is the pinout? what is the funny-labeled rotary switch next to > it?) > >2 nemonix memory board, holds 56 TC511000AP-10 chips > >3 dec memory board, holds 144 41256-212141302 chips > >4 dec board, some labels are: LPWR M94V-1 25787, and "M7516" in the > extraction handle; connected to a DB15F in the back panel > >5 dec board, (disk controller?), reads M7555 in the extraction handle, > connected to what seems to be an older RLL hard drive > > >Hard drive: RD53-A rev A > >label in the back panel: > >Model: 630QB-A2 > >product variation: changed from 630QB-A2 to DH630Q4E2 by WFD. > > >So what exactly is this beast and how can I test if it works? > >Best regards, > >Carlos. > > > >

26 years, 10 months

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Find of the day

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On Wed, 15 Sep 1999, Jim Strickland wrote: >If it lands at the >>> prompt, try typing boot. I *think* the device name would >probably be DUA0 for that controller, but if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will >correct me. So if boot doesn't get it, try boot dua0. I think. Geez it's been >a long time since I had my hands on a microvax II. dua0 is indeed correct. >When I was a grad school sysadmin, we used a 13mb uVaxII with a pair of ESDI >disks (350 megs each, I think) as a file server for our office. Ironically >of all the vaxen I worked on at that site, that box is one of the few that's >still around, since the terminal server boots from it. :) I'm waiting and >salivating for when the University puts all those vaxen in the surplus auction >or (I hope I hope) takes me up on my offer to haul them all away for free. >They've got a 4000/500 that was brand new when I worked for them that I *want*. *drool* a 4000/500!! Now that *is* fast by today's standards. I've got a pair of 4000/400s that I adore. They are *sweet*. -Dave McGuire

26 years, 10 months

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HP 2114 on ebay

by wsmith＠gj.com

>>> Roger Merchberger <zmerch(a)30below.com> 09/15 3:31 PM >>> Rumor has it that James Willing may have mentioned these words: >The offering can be found here: > >http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160802545 > >Looks like the eBay systems are running behind (yet again) in processing >info on completed auctions. The final bid shows as $455.01 and it does >not appear that there was a reserve. Although, normally an ebay auction ends at the exact time that it's posted, either 3, 5, 7 or more days later. However, this auction ended 5 days 3 hours, 22 minutes and 52 seconds after it began... How could that be??? Just a thought, Roger "Merch" Merchberger ***According to eBay: "Ending Your Auction You can use this form [omitted here] if you want to end your auction early. But remember, lots of bidders wait until the very last minute to bid they're trying to avoid being outbid! So you may lose a potential buyer by ending your auction early. If you are ending the auction because you no longer wish to sell your item, you must cancel all bids on your auction before it ends. If you do not do so, you are obligated to sell to the high bidder." Wayne Smith ! ! !

26 years, 10 months

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Central Point Option floppy controller

by morrison＠t-iii.com

I wonder if one could use a PIC chip to do it. They'll do 20Mhz, and they like bits. Neil Morrison email:morrison@t-iii.com > -----Original Message----- > From: ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk [SMTP:ard@p850ug1.demon.co.uk] > Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 12:35 PM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Re: Central Point Option floppy controller > .......... > But that doesn't mean that's the only way to read such disks. The format > (as in just what pulses appear where on the disk) is pretty well > documented. It wouldn't be that hard to use some random logic or an FPGA > to make a disk controller that read apple disks and transfered bytes to > whatever host you wanted to use. > > I would guess the pulse rate is going to be low enough that modern CPUs > could read the pulse-stream off the disk directly and decode it. I'm not > going to try it, but I would be very supprised if it couldn't be done. > > > -tony

26 years, 10 months

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Central Point Option floppy controller

by morrison＠t-iii.com

And what you never had sex with! NM > -----Original Message----- > From: Don Maslin [SMTP:donm@cts.com] > When using the card, the native FDC is only used to > > select the drive and seek to the desired track. > > > > That depends on what the meaning of 'is' is :) > > > - don >

26 years, 10 months

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COBAL for TRS-80

by morrison＠t-iii.com

It isn't NM > -----Original Message----- > From: Russ Blakeman [SMTP:rhblake@bigfoot.com] > Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 2:21 PM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > Subject: Re: COBAL for TRS-80 > > Hopefully it''s listed as COBOL and not COBAL or not too many people will > locate the auction without this info. > > Phil Clayton wrote: > > If anyone needs COBAL for TRS-80 Model-1 or Model-3 computers, > I have listed it on eBay its currently at only $1.25 plus shipping.. > > <http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=163084785> > Phil.. > >

26 years, 10 months

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Reading TRS-80 discs (was RE: Archiving old discs...)

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<There are some UMC parts that have the disk controller + data separator + <precompensation, etc on the same chip. At least some of those claim to do <single density in the data sheet, but fail to work properly in practice <(the failure is a little odd -- the chip will find the sector and it will <attempt to read it. But the last byte will be mangled, something like that) One of my hacks is to use ISA boards like Hard disk controllers, FDCs and others as "modules" for other busses and I've used boards with UMC supper chips for standard modes including FM with ease. One of the problems is most people don't know much about programing 765 cores. <There are no pins for connecting an external data separator either. Not needed. You have to set up the auxilary registers for the right clock rate and precomp for FM. <I don't know if you can kludge them to do single-density. Maybe decode <the FM data externaly, re-encode it as MFM and fiddle the data rate :-). <A heck of a lot of work, though. Not required. <I assume that the UMC 8272-clone (there is one, just a plain 8272 with no <extra logic) will handle FM with the right external data separator, though Yep an 9216 or similar works though the counter based design used on DTK and some of the older compaq boards works fine if the clocks are correct. Some of those ISA-8 boards using 765A or 8272 (and clones) are easy to mod for most any data rate and mode. The lines to the chip for those functions are (MFM, RDD, RDclk, VFO, WDD, WClk, WREN, PS0, PS1) and should be easy to follow on some of thse boards. The 9216 or 9229 can do all modes and the only thing remaining is to maybe change the crystal. Allison

26 years, 10 months

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