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

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 7:24 AM, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: > Extreme Mailing > > What is the most unusual place you have sent mail from? Lake Hoare, Dry Valleys, Antarctica, November, 1995, after I installed a Ritron "radio phone" and a dialup modem at the Field Camp... http://penguincentral.com/pics/gallery/hoare/camp.jpg http://penguincentral.com/pics/gallery/hoare/hoare1.jpg It's a one-hour helo ride from McMurdo, one of several Field Camps in the region. (There are 20 times the number of people who go to/through the South Pole each year than ever see the Dry Valleys, so that's not as "unusual", I'd say, but it's a runner-up) -ethan

10 years, 2 months

1
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VMS consulting gig?

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I have an associate that is working with a large Fortune500 company and is having issues connecting his stuff to "legacy" technology there. Apparently, a company called "Synergex" has a "screen scraper" type program that presents a gui to a windows desktop user from a character based application (VMS or OpenVMS). So if anyone has general expertise with both OpenVMS and the Synergex "GUI on VMS programs" application, drop me a line off list and we'll get you involved. Best, J

10 years, 2 months

1
0
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Imlac PDS-1 source code

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > I have an Imlac PDS-1D ... > There's precious little software out there for this thing Did a copy of Mazewar for the Imlac survive? There are partal file system dumps of some of the MIT machines, but IIRC Mazewar was only on MIT-DM, and I'm not sure its files are still accessible (although they will be on backup tape at MIT). Noel

10 years, 2 months

3
2
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cctalk Digest, Vol 22, Issue 20

by fred＠MISER.MISERNET.NET

On Wed, 20 Apr 2016 cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 13:32:01 +0200 > From: Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: strangest systems I've sent email from > > Using something like "dtmail" on a Sparc 10 in 2016 on a daily basis, or > VMS MAIL on a MicroVax would be an anachronism equal to hooking up a KayPro > luggable to an acoustic coupler over a cellular modem in the 1980s in the > back of your A-Team van ;) Hey, I use PINE on OpenVMS daily. Sometimes I use good old MAIL if I'm not reading mailing list digests. (pine's viewer is easier to navigate long digests). I have MUSIC/SP running elsewhere (mainframe operating system) and I really wish I could get that communicating to the outside world, but despite on and off again attempts when I get the gumption to try some folks and I just can't make it work. That's why I want to get my own (small, if there is such a thing) 390 so I can *really* play. I also wouldn't mind a copy of PROFS, leaving out for the moment that it's licensed and IBM would probably Never(tm) hobbyist license a copy. One can dream. ;) Fred

10 years, 2 months

1
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Manual for DEC 433au

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

Anyone got the following document: DIGITAL Personal Workstation System Reference and Maintenance Guide The link on Manx is broken. Thanks Rob

10 years, 2 months

4
7
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LSSM event announcement

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

[I'm sending this around to several mailing lists] Most of you have heard of the Large Scale Systems Museum, a public museum in the Pittsburgh area that is focused on minicomputers, mainframes, and supercomputers. LSSM opened its doors to the public for the first time in October of 2015, coinciding with a city-wide festival. We have been doing tours by appointment since then, averaging 3-4 tours per month. On April 30th, there will be another such festival here in town, called "New Kensington Better Block". It's a large block party that will encompass much of the downtown area. There will be more than sixty street vendors offering food, handmade crafts from local artists, and just about everything else you can think of. There will be two stages' worth of live music, games, a beer garden featuring great brews from the historic Penn Brewery, lots of kids' activities like face-painting and caricature artists, drawings and raffles, the grand openings of three new businesses, and lots of other great stuff. Another star of the show, Pittsburgh-based C/PMuseum, as a guest of LSSM, will also be returning to Better Block with a special exhibit this time covering the history of the world's largest technology company, Apple Computer. From the humble beginnings of two friends named Steve, through today, Apple's 40th anniversary. See running examples of the actual machines that launched Apple in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, the gaming wing of C/PMuseum will feature a display with running examples of game consoles from the earliest generations through the most modern 3D immersive virtual reality. Where else can you start out playing on a Magnavox Odyssey, and end up inside the VR world of an HTC Vive? The C/PMuseum pop-up at New Kensington Better Block, that's where! The LSSM will be participating in that event just as we did last October, by being open to the public all day. (I'm aware that this is very short notice; for that I apologize) Many of the Very Large Computers here will be running and demonstrated on a rotation throughout the day. Come and hack on DEC PDP-8, PDP-11, and VAX systems, IBM System/36s, and everything in between. See Cray supercomputers, DECsystem-20s, IBM System/370 and System/390 mainframes, and real rarities such as a Symbolics Lisp Machine, and minicomputers from the 1960s such as an HP 2116B (one of their first!) and a Varian 620-L. See a Heath H-1, a tube-based analog computer from 1956. See nearly all of the IBM "midrange" line. See how SSP, the operating system from the IBM System/36, can run in a virtual environment on an AS/400. See what an 800-pound hard drive looks like. All are invited! The LSSM is located at 924 4th Avenue, New Kensington, PA 15068, right in the middle of the block party area. New Kensington is about ten minutes' drive from the Allegheny Valley exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Exit 48. It's a very easy area to reach, and there are a number of decent and inexpensive hotels nearby. I hope you can make it. Once again I apologize for the short notice. And of course if you cannot make it, feel free to contact the LSSM via email to info at lssmuseum.org or on Facebook (search for "Large Scale Systems Museum") to set up a visit at your leisure. You can also see some photos of our first big public opening on that page. Please feel free to forward this message to anyone whom you think might be interested. Thanks, -Dave McGuire President/Curator, LSSM -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

10 years, 2 months

1
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High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 21 April 2016 at 05:10, Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> wrote: > Ok, this one's from the 70s, and it's a large, external unit rather than a > single board, but I have a Floating Point Systems AP-120B, essentially an > array processor for fast floating point operations. There's a bit of > information here: > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPS_AP-120B > > I'd love to get it running one of these days, just need +5V at 100A and a > set of interface boards for a PDP-11... I remember that one, it was used with some Norsk Data ND100 (16bit) systems. I still have a power supply unit for the ND, it isn't physically very large but the +5V can provide 200A.. (there used to be a +5V 300A PSU in storage too but it went before i could grab it). The ND-5000 (32-bit) systems used an FPS 5000 unit and I'm a bit more familiar with that one.

10 years, 2 months

1
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cctech Digest, Vol 22, Issue 20

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 11:12:36 +0200 > From: Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> > Subject: Re: Seeking immediate rescue of full-rack SGI ONYX near > Northbrook, IL > On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 11:04 AM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote: > > > Intel's effort at RISC. Didn't go so well for them, but did inspire > > the name of Windows NT and was the original host platform for the > > then-new OS. > > > > The i860 was a neat little bugger. There was an iPSC/860 done by Intel > which would be a fun box to save/rescue/run with its own variation of Unix. > I have a quad-860 VME board for Sun systems in my collection. -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 2 months

2
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Re: [OT] eBay tale (Was: Re: flea markets (was Re: Vintage Computer Festivals???))

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Well a online site or a fest no.matter what size requires legal advice.. set things up right from the start to protect yourself... anything that involves buying and selling invites fraud.. ? ?build it and they will come but... they are not all honest. ?Ed# Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Marvin Johnston <marvin at west.net> Date: 4/20/2016 10:57 AM (GMT-08:00) To: ClassicCmp <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: [OT] eBay tale (Was: Re: flea markets (was Re: Vintage Computer Festivals???)) > Mark J. Blair nf6x at nf6x.net > I would happily donate that kind of money to create something of > value to us. I don't think it would work out well, though, for one > reason: The thing that makes eBay the venue of choice is that it is > well-known as the place to sell oddball stuff that you might find in > your dear, departed uncle's attic. So, when folks outside of our > niche hobbies want to get rid of things that would interest us, eBay > is where they go because eBay is what they know. > > A private special-interest eBay-clone might still be worth > investigation as a convenient venue for those of us who are already > part of the club to swap our toys, but I don't think it'll replace > eBay as a place for new items to find their way back into the hands > of dedicated collectors any time soon. > > Thoughts? I have a LOT of thoughts! My experience? I sold a computer last year and the buyer said it wasn't what he wanted, filed a SNAD claim, eBay took the money from my PayPal account, and I STILL don't have that computer back. I was putting on the US ARDF Championships and was out of internet range at the time and wasn't aware until it was too late that there was a problem. The eBay customer service dept, AKA Fraud promotion department, said it was my problem. I haven't bought or sold there since then. (I was a power seller with a 100% positive feedback rating... the buyer had zero feedback at the time.) The primary problem (as I see it) is pretty much identical to the flood of new computer manufacturers back in the mid 1970's... too many people with a great idea but no/minimal business or marketing experience to create a long term entity. Taking on eBay for a specific market (i.e. classic computers and related categories) is not difficult (simple and not easy.)? But it would require an intense marketing effort that most of us are not qualified to do, i.e. we don't know what we don't know. In case some of the people here aren't aware, there was talk of a vintage computer festival some 15 years ago (guessing since I don't remember exactly.) Sellam DID something instead of just talking about it, and the first Vintage Computer Festival was held at the Fairgrounds in Pleasonton, CA. While I don't agree with all of the current VCF policies (i.e. flea market), I absolutely admire and support what Evan and his team have done with VCF over the past years. Like Sellam, they have replaced talking with doing. Eric saw a need and started the Vintage Computer marketplace some years ago, and I think it is still a great idea. The only problem to some extent was buyers... the site needed more in order to attract more people :). What would I do if it became a priority? First set up some goals with the objectives of what the outcome is to be. One of the major goals would be building a community (such as this listserver!) or trying to get a buy-in from existing communities. A second would be to set up a timeline with monthly, 1 year, 5 year, etc. goals (can't hit a target that doesn't exist.) Defining the goals could be really hard depending on who was involved. I somewhat equate this to trying to herd feral cats :). The mechanics of putting up a site to compete with eBay is relatively easy although the legal aspects would probably require a specialized attorney if it were to become a major site. From a marketing perspective, I'd want to see podcasts (or similar) with interviews of people active in our hobby. This kind of historical perspective has been lost in other areas (amateur radio comes to mind) and is worth saving for posterity. Another aspect would be working to involve youth. The primary thing would be to get something going... it will never be "right" on the first try. An interesting marketing book is "Ready, Fire, Aim" by Michael Masterson (a pseudonym for Mark Ford?) That is a good philosophy to have. And realize that most of the time, those people who can start such a venture are probably unable to grow it to a significant business. Thus I would want the involved people to take the Kolbe A Index test (about $50.00, I'm 6384) showing what peoples natural strengths are and is pretty much constant thought a persons life. Anyway, a FEW ideas on building our hobby :). Marvin

10 years, 2 months

1
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[OT] eBay tale (Was: Re: flea markets (was Re: Vintage Computer Festivals???))

by marvin＠west.net

> Mark J. Blair nf6x at nf6x.net > I would happily donate that kind of money to create something of > value to us. I don't think it would work out well, though, for one > reason: The thing that makes eBay the venue of choice is that it is > well-known as the place to sell oddball stuff that you might find in > your dear, departed uncle's attic. So, when folks outside of our > niche hobbies want to get rid of things that would interest us, eBay > is where they go because eBay is what they know. > > A private special-interest eBay-clone might still be worth > investigation as a convenient venue for those of us who are already > part of the club to swap our toys, but I don't think it'll replace > eBay as a place for new items to find their way back into the hands > of dedicated collectors any time soon. > > Thoughts? I have a LOT of thoughts! My experience? I sold a computer last year and the buyer said it wasn't what he wanted, filed a SNAD claim, eBay took the money from my PayPal account, and I STILL don't have that computer back. I was putting on the US ARDF Championships and was out of internet range at the time and wasn't aware until it was too late that there was a problem. The eBay customer service dept, AKA Fraud promotion department, said it was my problem. I haven't bought or sold there since then. (I was a power seller with a 100% positive feedback rating... the buyer had zero feedback at the time.) The primary problem (as I see it) is pretty much identical to the flood of new computer manufacturers back in the mid 1970's... too many people with a great idea but no/minimal business or marketing experience to create a long term entity. Taking on eBay for a specific market (i.e. classic computers and related categories) is not difficult (simple and not easy.) But it would require an intense marketing effort that most of us are not qualified to do, i.e. we don't know what we don't know. In case some of the people here aren't aware, there was talk of a vintage computer festival some 15 years ago (guessing since I don't remember exactly.) Sellam DID something instead of just talking about it, and the first Vintage Computer Festival was held at the Fairgrounds in Pleasonton, CA. While I don't agree with all of the current VCF policies (i.e. flea market), I absolutely admire and support what Evan and his team have done with VCF over the past years. Like Sellam, they have replaced talking with doing. Eric saw a need and started the Vintage Computer marketplace some years ago, and I think it is still a great idea. The only problem to some extent was buyers... the site needed more in order to attract more people :). What would I do if it became a priority? First set up some goals with the objectives of what the outcome is to be. One of the major goals would be building a community (such as this listserver!) or trying to get a buy-in from existing communities. A second would be to set up a timeline with monthly, 1 year, 5 year, etc. goals (can't hit a target that doesn't exist.) Defining the goals could be really hard depending on who was involved. I somewhat equate this to trying to herd feral cats :). The mechanics of putting up a site to compete with eBay is relatively easy although the legal aspects would probably require a specialized attorney if it were to become a major site. From a marketing perspective, I'd want to see podcasts (or similar) with interviews of people active in our hobby. This kind of historical perspective has been lost in other areas (amateur radio comes to mind) and is worth saving for posterity. Another aspect would be working to involve youth. The primary thing would be to get something going... it will never be "right" on the first try. An interesting marketing book is "Ready, Fire, Aim" by Michael Masterson (a pseudonym for Mark Ford?) That is a good philosophy to have. And realize that most of the time, those people who can start such a venture are probably unable to grow it to a significant business. Thus I would want the involved people to take the Kolbe A Index test (about $50.00, I'm 6384) showing what peoples natural strengths are and is pretty much constant thought a persons life. Anyway, a FEW ideas on building our hobby :). Marvin

10 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Vintage Computer Festivals???

by tulsamike3434＠gmail.com

Is there ever any Vintage Computer Festivals in Oklahoma? If not How would I go about setting one up in Tulsa? I can have use of any of the buildings at the fairgrounds...? -- * *

10 years, 2 months

22
53
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ISO: Fujitsu M228x power supply (Josh Dersch)

by earl＠baugh.org

> > Another weekend acquisition is a Fujitsu M2284 SMD drive (14" platters > under a transparent cover, what's not to love?). It's in good shape and > was properly locked down for shipping so there's a good chance it'll > still work with some coaxing. I'm missing the power supply, however. I > believe this is the Fujitsu Denso B14L-0300-0018A. Anyone have one > going spare, in any condition? If this is the same drive as the Sun 1's, I actually have 2 spares right this min. (I am waiting to find out about someone locally who has some Fujitsu drives, which I haven't gotten model #'s from, but from description sound similar... so was keeping them for those drives... ) Mine are NOS, were spares from someone who used to do field engineering repairs on early Sun equipment. I might be persuaded to part with one, contact me off line.. Earl

10 years, 2 months

2
1
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Vintage computer ads...

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T1IYdjOpYE The video is an hour long, but you can skip around. It includes ads for machines like the ITT Xtra, IBM PC Jr, etc. The Hayes Smartmodem ad is just atrocious. :) There's even ads for IOMega drives and the Promethus Pro Modem... g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

10 years, 2 months

3
3
0 0

H960 leveling feet

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> I also need some of the larger main leveling feet, but I haven't been > able (yet) to find any. The threaded part is 7/16"-14 So I goofed. They are actually 1/2"-13. (I have no idea how I blew that one. I _thought_ I tried them with a known nut, but clearly something went wrong.) Anyway, Vlier makes them, too - FSE306S. Like the smaller ones for the extensions, the pad on the bottom is somewhat wider than on the DEC originals, but they still work fine. As before, if anyone Europe/etc needs some, and they aren't available locally, let me know. Noel

10 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

Microscience HH-1090 MFM hard disk manuals

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi there, Does anyone happen to have any manuals kicking around for Microscience MFM hard disk drives? One for the HH-1090 would be very nice -- especially if it includes service information (read: schematics). I have, as the gentleman said, a cunning plan... however, a little more information would save me a lot of effort. Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

10 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

Imlac PDS-1 source code

by lists＠loomcom.com

While arranging some shelves, I came across an Imlac PDS-1 printset that I rescued from somewhere (I don't remember where) What I didn't realize was that in the back of the printset was some assembler source code for David Bloodgood's "Imlac terminal emulator program". Photos here: http://imgur.com/a/QrV4T I haven't found this online. Is it interesting to anyone? Would anyone like a scan of it? -Seth -- Seth Morabito seth at loomcom.com

10 years, 2 months

3
2
0 0

Bulletin Repeat - Not sure previous version went OK

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi Guys With all of my PDP-8 range (8/e A + B, /f /m /i and /L either in or about to be in production. Its time to turn to that other collectors favorite the PDP-11. As in the past I like to let the list know how its going. Its just the same as somebody restoring a system and sharing the progress. Being a visual product some of what I would like to share is pictorial. The list does not (and should not ) allow attachments. Therefore I have to interact with individual members and often get help in the form of scans and pictures. Sometimes there are items that are general and anybody who was interested in panels of any sort might want. I hate scatter gun mail so I'm going to invite people to email me and ask to join the mailing list for panels to get mail that needs attachments but still do the usual bulletins via the list. I might even email to ask people if they would like to join. Evan is going to fix my screwed up registration on the VCF Site and I'll put bulletins there as well. So email me with which PDP-11 front panels you want to see produced and I'll try and do a priority list. Rod (Panelman) Smallwood

10 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

ROM Cartridges. Lifespan, and other tidbits

by barythrin＠gmail.com

I heard someone comment that there is some issue with game boy cartridges now and was recommending not buying those anymore. I'm not sure of what the details were.. maybe a battery issue? I think if they're bad they won't boot. ?Anyone know the real details??

10 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

by grif615＠mindspring.com

Did not read the whole thread, ?ill chime in with a vote for a tiny drill, an insulin syringe and ATF. ?done it since the 70s on muffin fans, 10 previous years on bronze bushed blower motors. -------- Original message -------- From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> Date: 04/18/2016 22:22 (GMT-08:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again) On 04/18/2016 09:15 PM, drlegendre . wrote: > "What's the going price per gallon of sperm whale oil?" > > Unless the Braycote products are directly interchangeable with Sperm > Whale oil, how is your comparison even remotely relevant? > > They are rendered from entirely different sources. Whale oil is a > natural, animal-derived product that pretty much went out with the > depletion of the resources (and finally, international treaties). > P/TFE and MoS2 were formulated in industrial laboratories, and to > this day, are turned out by industrial processes. > > Am I incorrect? No, just pointing out that there *are* other oils with very high price tags--and in years past, could be purchased by the gallon. ISTR that the antique clock folks still hoard whale oil. --Chuck ???

10 years, 2 months

3
3
0 0

ROM Cartridges. Lifespan, and other tidbits

by swiftgriggs＠gmail.com

Well, after discussing all things that can go wrong with a floppy disk to corrupt or destroy it, it makes me wonder about another vintage media format: the cart. How long will they last? Why does blowing on them help? (mosture? cleaning action?) Are some better than others in terms of longevity? Can they be refurbished ? Remember when folks would publish apps on carts to enhance the copy protection ? Remember the ones like Starfox for the SNES that had coprocessors embedded on them? Those were neat. Seen the crazy prices for rare Neo Geo carts? $400 bucks for "Twinkle Star Sprites" ? Sure! I have some 90's consoles in my collection and I fondly remember a few systems that took carts that family and friends owned back in the 80's and 90's. I thought the Colecovision Adam was awesome. My cousin had one and I was so jealous. The C64, 80's 8bit Atari PCs, the IBM PC Jr, and others all had cartridge ports, too. -Swift

10 years, 2 months

7
11
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Compugraphic MCS5 typesetter monitor needed

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

I'm seeking the monitor for a Compugraphic MCS5 typesetter. If anyone has one of these and is willing to let it go, please contact me directly. Thanks! -- Sellam Abraham VintageTech ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintagetech.com Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The truth is always simple. * * * NOTICE * * * Due to the insecure nature of the medium over which this message has been transmitted, no statement made in this writing may be considered reliable for any purpose either express or implied. The contents of this message are appropriate for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. The right of the people to be secure in their papers against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.

10 years, 2 months

1
0
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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by marvin＠west.net

From: Evan Koblentz <cctalk at snarc.net> > For VCF-West, I have a ridiculous amount of crap to dispose of Looking forward to seeing you there. I encourage you to sell as much as possible in consignment as long as it's on-topic. :) ********** Evan, One thing I ALWAYS looked forward to at the VCF shows was being able to "get rid" of excess stuff by selling it. Another big benefit was the socializing that always took place. Selling through a consignment table removes most of the motivation for me to attend. I have some friends here in SB who are planning on attending who want me to go with them. One of them suggested putting in a Craigslist ad to sell out of the van at the event or after hours :). Regardless, I have mixed feelings about attending. My current thought is to see about attending VCF Midwest since they appear to be combining a flea market with exhibitors. I'm not trying to change your mind, but I am trying to make clear my reasons for attending this type of show. Marvin

10 years, 2 months

1
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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Sellam.... why has he retired?? He was also selling off his computers etc..... ?Ed# Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Evan Koblentz <cctalk at snarc.net> Date: 4/18/2016 3:12 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Vintage Computer Festivals??? > please try it your way ... See how it goes, This is not "Evan trying it his way." :)? This past weekend was the 21st VCF based on the same arrangement (10 West shows until 2007, 11 East shows). We're not doing an experiment here. We (not just "Evan") have seen what works. Sellam mentored me in Festival management for a few years before he trusted me (and now the non-profit) to take over his baby. "See how it goes"...? It's been going great for 19 years. > If left unorganized, it quickly degenerates into very shabby, unsavory junkyard sales of worthless stuff, which is guaranteed to turn off the general public. Maybe one day we'll have a flea/swap event. Perhaps even include that as a separate day before/after the main show. VCF West XI this summer will be our standard arrangement (that's already settled). Sellam, the former MARCH, and now the non-profit have done plenty of innovative things. For example, at East a couple of years ago we added Friday which is devoted to technical classes. > So is consignment sales in a separate area the solution? Might very well be. It's worked fine for us our East and at all the past West shows. Again, something that works well ** twenty-one times ** is probably good. :)

10 years, 2 months

3
3
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ISO: VAX 11/750 RDM (L0006) and/or ECKAL diagnostic listing

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Finally got the power supplies in my 11/750 humming again (after numerous failures) and generally things are looking good -- it passes microverify (I get the '%%' output at power-up) and most diagnostics (that I can run without an RDM) are passing. The ECKAL (Cache/TB) Diagnostic is failing, however; it runs for about a second and then spits out: 00003488 06 I have a spare L0003 board and it exhibits exactly the same behavior (also swapped in a spare L0002, no change). Socketed chips have been removed, cleaned and replaced to no effect. I'd like to track down an RDM (L0006) module (even if just to borrow one) to run the more advanced diagnostics. Failing that, a listing of the ECKAL diagnostic would be very helpful in figuring out what it's reporting... Thanks as always, Josh

10 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: drlegendre > If they use sleeve bearings, take a close look at the material.. does > it have the sintered look of oil-impregnated bronze (Oilite)? It looks like copper, actually; it's quite reddish. (The central pin seems to be steel of some sort.) But I'm not familiar with Oilite, so I can't say for sure. > Are there channels in the bearing to allow the distribution or > retention of grease? There's a section of reduced diameter in the center of the pin; the ends are full diameter, with no grooves of any kind. The sleeve is a plain cylinder. > Those fans tend to run at pretty low RPM Not these. They are doing very high RPM indeed. Noel

10 years, 2 months

8
13
0 0

Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

{Multiple replies packaged together to minimize list traffic...} > From: Jon Elson > If you open one of these up, make sure to oil the cotton packing to > supply oil gradually to the bearing. I don't see any sign of a cotton packing around it (but maybe it's just sealed away where I can't see it). There is a gasket/washer of some sort of packing material / felting at one end, but I suspect that's for dust interception, not as an oil resevoir, as in the fan's normal operating orientation, it's on the bottom. Speaking of orientation, though: these fans, like most PDP-11 fans, send air downwards. I was thinking of flipping them, to send the heat upwards (its 'natural' direction), but after pondering a bit, I'm not sure this is a good idea: the air-flow on the intake side is diffuse, whereas on the output, it's a concentrated, directed blast - better for cooling boards, etc. > From: Chuck Guzis > I did some research among the antique fan collectors on the web. Thanks very much for taking the time to do that; my only concern is to wonder if their experience is applicable, since these things are turning an order of magnitude faster than old household fans. > Here's what's been recommended, in no particular order: > .. > 3-in-1 Electric Motor Oil (SAE 20) That's what I've been working with so far, but I was wondering if it would last without going gummy. If they're happy with it for the long term, that sounds like it would be good for this too. > From: Corey Cohen > I like to use a product called SuperLube that I get at the gun store. > It's synthetic and I find it doesn't like to pickup dust Thanks for the tip; I'll see if I can find any here. Oddly enough, I had found something called Hoppe's Lubricating Oil on my shelf - it's for firearms and fishing reels, and explicitly claims that it "will not gum [or] harden", which also sounds like it might similar to the above, and just what's called for. I had seen reference online to people using synthetic automatic transmission fluid, but the stuff I looked at claimed to "stop leaks", which makes it sounds like it contains some agent which hardens (or at least coagulates) when exposed to air (although I would assume there was some exposure to air in the transmission?), which is definitely not what is wanted! Noel

10 years, 2 months

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Weird c. 1982 Onyx systems 68010-based UNIX minicomputer

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

Folks, Just thought I'd post this here for fun. I had heard of Onyx systems, a Z8000 UNIX system vendor. Recently I was contacted by someone in the Seattle area who claimed to have an unused Onyx systems 68010 system, perhaps a prototype. There is nothing about this I was able to find online. It came with distribution media on QIC tape- some generic looking (from the docs it came with) flavor of UNIX, which I am going to get help imaging. There is nothing on the hard drive (installed via ESDI to SCSI bridge)- it was never used or installed. I don't really need anything- the machine was new in box and works correctly. It has media- but I'd love more context if people know it. Sure, it's a very boring generic M68K box, but I can barely find any record of it existing. I know Onyx was originally bought by Corvus, who had their own 68K box- perhaps why this was killed. Cheers, - Ian (apologies for the Instagram image host, I don't want to dig it out right now but I will send proper pictures to anyone interested) https://www.instagram.com/p/6EcFCwNSz4/?taken-by=tr1nitr0n https://www.instagram.com/p/6GK8brNS_V/?taken-by=tr1nitr0n https://www.instagram.com/p/6GLEvutS_e/?taken-by=tr1nitr0n -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

10 years, 2 months

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Atari 800 finally tested, using home theater projector

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Perhaps five years ago, a friend gave me some Atari 8-bit gear, including an 800, 800XL, 1020 plotter, 1027 letter-quality printer (which is undoubtedly no good now), and a 1050 floppy drive, but no software. The stuff has been in storage in my mother's basement until recently. I just kludged up a composite video cable for it, and tested it on a home theater projector. Without software, I can only test it with the built-in "Memo Pad", but it seems to work: https://www.flickr.com/photos/22368471 at N04/25892477424/ Now I'll look for BASIC and Star Raiders cartridges. It should be fun playing Star Raiders on the big screen. That was the first game I ever played on an Atari 800, back in 1979.

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Yep that's him. Attended one of his show in maybe 1980? Had a van load of power supplies for 8 inch sugart.. drives. ?They were new and surplused by intel..in phxWe sold everyone! ?It was a great show.?Wonder what h e is up to now????? Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Date: 4/18/2016 7:52 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Vintage Computer Festivals??? On Mon, 18 Apr 2016, couryhouse wrote: > Are we talking ?John Craig who used to have the 59 el camino?...ed# No idea what he was driving. It was 35 years ago, so a 59 El Camino was certainly possible. I think that he was also one of the publishers of Infoworld, if that helps you track him down.?? But there were also a lot of other John Craigs.

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Are we talking ?John Craig who used to have the 59 el camino?...ed# Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Date: 4/18/2016 4:36 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Vintage Computer Festivals??? > Maybe one day we'll have a flea/swap event. Perhaps even include that as a > separate day before/after the main show. It has been a long time.??? It has been far too long since VCF (west) John Craig experienced a process that a friend called "the inevitable decline of flea-markets".? They start out as a peer event, where the attendees and sellers are the same people.? Before long, realities of setup call for sellers being allowed in before buyers.?? That gives the sellers a headstart on buying the best deals.?? "We might as well just do musical chairs - when the music stop, you take home whatever is on the table that you ended up with" Soon, it attracted vendors who are NOT buyers.? In the case of computer swaps, those were the vendors of Taiwan clone systems and parts.? It was such a good deal for them that more and more of them signed up.? Soon, there started to be a shortage of spaces (a delightful prospect for show management!).? So, the management created a multi-level pricing for space. Competing companies offered more and more shows until there was one almost every weekend. Eventually, the show was ALL new item vendors, with hobbyists few and far between.? Soon the hobbyist buyers stopped coming.? There was a period of time where the show could still appeal to the general public ("great place to buy your new computer!"), but after a while, the swaps ceased to exist.

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by couryhouse＠aol.com

May want to jury it....you could get loaded up with piles of crap....... Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Evan Koblentz <cctalk at snarc.net> Date: 4/18/2016 2:54 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Vintage Computer Festivals??? > Q:? policy/attitude/preference:? At some swaps in the distant past, > there were limits (dozen items?) posed on amount any one person could > put in consignment.? Are you wanting to INCREASE the consignment volume? > I would love to just handoff a small station wagon full of stuff to THEM. The details aren't determined. When we figure it out (available consignment space for VCF West) then we'll announce it.

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by tdk.knight＠gmail.com

All depends For instance Lego On Apr 18, 2016 7:33 PM, "Ali" <cctalk at ibm51xx.net> wrote: > For VCF-West, I have a ridiculous amount of crap to dispose of. Far > too much to burden a consignment group. Most of it would be very > cheap, other than the need to make the expenses (direct and incidental) > of the event. As a first time attendee I am of course first and foremost excited to see some of the older systems I have never seen outside of YouTube/pictures. However, I also wouldn't mind picking up items that I am looking for. Heck, I am going to be there with a car what better opportunity to transport stuff and make sure it gets back in one piece. After the last set of fiascos with all the major shippers (nobody is immune these days) and the rising cost of shipping (even though gas has been crashing fast) buying items outside of chips is becoming cost prohibitive! If VCF feels it would be best to separate the two areas fine - but please make sure to have the two areas for those of us who are hobbyist/enthusiasts! -Ali

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by cctalk＠snarc.net

> In general, to have VCF shows relegate those folks to the vendor > hall just removes good potential exhibits from the show. "Relegate" isn't a fair word, Jim. The sales area is * right next to * the exhibits area. All I'm saying is we do not want to confuse the audience. They need to understand that here are entertaining demos and over there are things to buy. When I was young my father always took me to antique car shows. It's the perfect analogy for our hobby. Over here you have rows and rows of beautiful old cars shining in the sun (of course at VCF the equipment is running, not just sitting there!), and over on the other side you've got people selling stuff. These shows appeal to a much wider audience than just the people who actually buy antique cars. > In the end, given VCF East's stance, I think if I attend in 2017, I'll > just make up an exhibit of my wares, be in the exhibit hall, and just > tell people to meet me at lunch or after the show to buy the stuff. That's fine.

10 years, 2 months

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Any info on MTI 240 drive emulator?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- I just picked up an interesting device, it appears to be a drive emulator that adapts DEC SDI to either ESDI or MFM drives (I would guess ESDI, but no real way to be sure.) It's manufactured by "Micro Technology" and is labeled as an "MDI 240" on the front. (On the rear as "SPEC.MDI-240", P/N "970176-000".) Mine has no drives in it, just a power supply and two logic boards labeled "MSD13B" that connect to the drives. I can't find much information about this unit at all, and just a bit about Micro Technology (apparently they were sued by DEC for building this device :)). I'd like to be able to use this thing (possibly with my VAX 11/750). Anyone have any information hiding somewhere about it? Thanks, Josh

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Festivals???

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Agreed. The ? vintage camera shows do it the same way. ?Ed# Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Evan Koblentz <cctalk at snarc.net> Date: 4/18/2016 11:52 AM (GMT-08:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Vintage Computer Festivals??? >Still, calling a hobbyist who > sells some of his creations a vendor is a dubious distinction, in my > opinion, since no one is making much money on these things, it's just a > service for fellow enthusiasts. All of the other shows I attend (like > the upcoming CocoFEST!) make no distinction. We have a good reason for doing this. Events that mix sales/exhibits together, without making distinctions >from booth to booth, tend to become flea/swap-type events. That's fine for those of us IN the hobby, but these events will only ever shrink, not grow, as the audience/collectors get older. Our goal at VCF is to produce awesome events that show vintage computing to people * beyond * hobby insiders. When people who have casual interest attend a VCF, they're not going to come back if the room is a big confusing mix of exhibits and stuff for sale. These people -- a massive audience vs. the few of us active collectors -- aren't attending to find memory for their Banana 3000. They're attending to be wowed.

10 years, 2 months

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Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: drlegendre > Ok, so there's an annular groove cut mid-way along the length of the > shaft. That might well be for retention of lubricant. Yeah, that was my guess too. > I took these to be the typical 'Muffin' type fans, that run about 600 > RPM. For comparison, one of my desktops has a thing that reports the fan speeds in that machine; it says the case fan there is doing 1.5K RPM, and the CPU fan 5K. Going by that, since these are going considerably faster than that case fan, I'm going to say these are doing roughly 3K-4K or so. Since they are 120VAC fans, i.e. 60Hz AC input, if I had remembered enough EE, I should have been able to work out the speed from the number of poles on the rotor, etc, but alas that's beyond me. > This is a long-shot, but does the groove in the shaft communicate with > a passage in the bearing Nope, the cylindrical (outer part of the) bearing is a plain cylinder. But looking at it closely, it's probably not copper, so it might be that Oilite stuff. > What's the diameter of the shaft, btw? 1/4" or less? Pretty much about 1/4". > I'd stick with the suggestion to use a light-bodied grease like Phil's I'm just worried a bit about a grease, given the high speed. For comparison, a car wheel is about 2' in diameter, or about 6' in circumference, so at 60 MPH, which is 5280 FPM, it's going to be doing about 880 RPM, somewhat slower. Hence my thinking a fluid lubricant might be the way to go, although of course fluids can migrate. > But again, there's no harm in using a medium-body motor oil, like 30W > or 10W-40. It's not as if it's going to be in 24/7/365 service, eh? No, it's not, which is exactly the problem, though - I want something that won't coagulate if left to sit for a long period. Actually, now that I think of it, my son is a Mech E - I should ask _him_! :-) They probably know about all this stuff! Noel

10 years, 2 months

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Vintage Computer Forum

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 14 April 2016 at 09:45, Rod Smallwood <rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com> wrote: > Whats the matter with Vintage Computer Forum ? > Its got walls like Mordor > > I thought I might register. I filled out their form (tedious) and hit > submit. > It tells me my email address is already in use ! [..] The forum was moved to http://www.vcfed.org/forum/ recently, with all the original users and posts, and it looks like you registered April 29 last year. (search for yourself with site:www.vcfed.org/forum/ and you'll find your user) -Tor

10 years, 2 months

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HP 9845B Power Supply Unit

by Martin.Hepperle＠MH-AeroTools.de

Hi, a recently acquired HP 9845B desktop computer came with a literally broken power supply unit. One of the ferrite core transformers has a broken core. The lower, U-shaped core part is broken in the middle into two parts. Both parts are still there, rattling around in the coil part / transformer fixture. I do not think that I could find a new matching core. I am not sure of the magneto-electrical requirements and would like to hear about your experience or opinions: - should I glue the broken ferrite core with e.g. super-glue or epoxy (of course with ideally zero or minimum gap between the halves) ? - would it work or are there better ways to fix broken ferrite cores (e.g. adding a steel wire insert or something like that?) Thanks, Martin Hepperle

10 years, 2 months

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Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

by radiotest＠juno.com

At 08:22 PM 4/17/2016, drlegendre wrote: >... does it have the sintered look of oil-impregnated bronze (Oilite)? If the bearing is bronze do not use ordinary motor oil, as its sulphur content may attack the bronze. Dale H. Cook, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA Osborne 1 / Kaypro 4-84 / Kaypro 1 / Amstrad PPC-640 http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/radios/index.html

10 years, 2 months

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ISO: Fujitsu M228x power supply

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Another weekend acquisition is a Fujitsu M2284 SMD drive (14" platters under a transparent cover, what's not to love?). It's in good shape and was properly locked down for shipping so there's a good chance it'll still work with some coaxing. I'm missing the power supply, however. I believe this is the Fujitsu Denso B14L-0300-0018A. Anyone have one going spare, in any condition? Thanks, Josh

10 years, 2 months

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Fan bearing lubricant was Re: WD-40 (again)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: drlegendre > There are so many types, sources & grades of lubricating oil out there, > it boggles the best of minds. Speaking of lubricating oils... I've recently been cleaning/etc some of the ~4" boxer fans that the earlier PDP-11's use in large quantities. Some of the IMC fans (sleeve bearing) in the machine didn't really want to turn; on taking them apart, they were absolutely full of dirt, and when cleaned, spun up nicely. However.. what lubricant should I use on them before putting them back together for the long term? I assume I should use _something_? But the machine's going to be sitting a fair amount, so I don't want something that will dry out and/or gum up. What do people recommend? Would a 20SAE oil, as used on small electric motors, be OK, or is that in danger of turning into gummy stuff if left sitting for too long? Is there e.g. some silione-based stuff which is long-term capable? Thanks in advance for any/all advice! Noel

10 years, 2 months

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Needed - servicemanual for NCR PC4i

by fritz_chwolka＠t-online.de

Hello, I got 2 x NCR PC4i computers. One is running fine at the moment but the harddisk has some problems. The 2nd one had a dead CPU and Bios rom. I replace both but got no beep and nothing on the screen. The PC4i has a 'rack case' for the motherboard. Changing the case shows the same problem. There maybe a problem with the power supply. Does anyone have a service manual or other manuals for the NCR PC4i ? Here is what I have: http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/ncr/PC4i/index.html -- Thanks - greetings Mit freundlichen Gr??en Fritz Chwolka

10 years, 2 months

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wanted - M8650/M8655 async card

by Mark＠Misty.com

Hi, After meeting up with Kyle Owen at VCF-East today, and booting OS8 via OS/8 Disk Server on his system, I have renewed interest in getting my pdp-8/e more functional. Does anyone have an extra M8650 (KL8E) or M8655 (KL8JA) asynchronous interface card they would be interested in selling or bartering? Mark -- Mark G. Thomas (Mark at Misty.com), KC3DRE

10 years, 2 months

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In search of VAX 750 front door and CPU spares.

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

Please let me know if you know of any. Picked up a 750 today, and will be making a trip to Calgary in a few months for another... Sent from Outlook for iPhone<https://aka.ms/wp8k5y>

10 years, 2 months

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Manual for DEC 433au

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

On Apr 16, 2016 5:44 AM, "Robert Jarratt" <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote: > > Anyone got the following document: DIGITAL Personal Workstation System > Reference and Maintenance Guide > > The link on Manx is broken. What page are you looking at on Manx which has the broken link? Do you have the part number for the manual? That title is a rather generic one to use for searching.

10 years, 2 months

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KY11-LB drawing error

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So, now that I have the 85S68 datasheet in hand, it turns out there's an error in the KY11-LB drawings. (I just couldn't understand how the circuit could possibly work, until I discovered that!) On the two RAM chips (E11 and E27, used to hold the bus address, keypad data, etc) the "Output Store" and "Output Disable" labels are reversed. (Not the pin numbers, etc - just the labels.) I.e. 'Output Store' is actually pin 13; it is tied high (as shown on the drawings for that pin). I have 'fixed' a copy of that page from the print set, and will (soon) issue an updated PDF. Noel

10 years, 2 months

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Servicing DEC-T11 based products with a Fluke pod?

by johnwallace4＠yahoo.co.uk

Hi John, In the apparent absence of other T11-related suggestions, are you aware that there are a couple of T11-related manuals on Bitsavers, at least one of which has schematics? There's the T11 Users Manual, and the T11 Evaluation Module Users Guide: www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/t11/ Nothing about Fluke pods, but maybe something more than you have at the moment? Best of luck John Wallace

10 years, 2 months

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DECnet TRN Datalink spec, etc.

by mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG

>> While looking for DECnet documents, [...] > As the primary author of that document, I still have a hard copy > (available), and can answer any questions (if the neurons remember) And this sort of thing (original document authors' presence) is a substantial chunk of why I think this list is awesome. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

10 years, 2 months

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Need 85S68 datasheet

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Does anyone have an 85S68 (16x4 SRAM) datasheet? I've looked online, > can't find one. Ooops, never mind; found one under DM85S68N (sigh, clearly not very awake yet...) Noel

10 years, 2 months

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Need 85S68 datasheet

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Does anyone have an 85S68 (16x4 SRAM) datasheet? I've looked online, can't find one. Thanks in advance! Noel

10 years, 2 months

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