Did anyone catch the bit on ABC news last night about the use of old
computers to fill potholes?
I think some of our Windsor potholes would require at least a mini.
Regards
Charlie Fox
Charles E. Fox
Chas E. Fox Video Productions
793 Argyle Rd. Windsor N8Y 3J8 Ont. Canada
email foxvideo(a)wincom.net Homepage http://www.wincom.net/foxvideo
Anyone know if there's ever anything like this in/near/around Western PA
(Eastern Ohio, Northern VA)?
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Walker <lwalker(a)mail.interlog.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, April 07, 1999 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: SoCal TRW Swap and DEC Open House
On 7 Apr 99 at 17:04, John Lawson wrote:
>
>
> As promised last month... this month, April, on Saturday the
> 24th, I will offer hospitality and welcome to anyone wishing to
> view/play with/make bad jokes about my DEC collection. As many
> systems as I can get running will be 'on the air' (tho not all at
> once... zzzzzmp!) for your perusal and happiness. You can paw thru
> the junk and maybe find something you've wanted for months... we can
> trade... you can help me clean out the garage... (please....!)
>
> I will attend the TRW Swap Meet the morning of the 24th, and all
> are invited there, and immediately afterwards to the usual post-swap
> brunch-n-brag (around noon). Then I will travel to My Place, and any
> folk wishing to join in at any point in the day's activities are most
> welcome.
>
> We can party until Sunday night, if that's what you want. I have
> to be at work Monday morning, and so do you. Otherwise, it's
> unstructured.
>
> I would prefer to give directions privately, since where you are
> coming from will modify them. Please e-mail me if you think you
> might like to participate. It's completely informal, all are
> welcome, and if no one shows up, I'm gonna play with the machines
> all by myself. Directions will also be available from me at TRW.
>
> I know that several NorCal (Bay Area) listmembers [Sam?] told me
> they were going to try and make it down... let me know and we'll
> leave alll the lights on. :)
>
> Just a heads-up for all, and I encourage others in other locales to
> consider hosting a Compu-crawl for your area... it's a lot more
> interesting to me than Tupperware...
>
>
> Cheerz
>
> John
--- Bruce Lane <kyrrin(a)my-dejanews.com> wrote:
> Arrrgh! Why couldn't this guy have been in north Seattle or something?
> I've been hunting for an 11/83!
>
> Anyone in Ohio looking for a nice PDP in a Worldbox?
I've been looking for any PDP-11 faster than an 11/23. The WorldBox is
a nice touch (I've already got one for my uVAX-II)
> Attachment follows.
Thanks. I was out of town for the original announcement. I'll see if it's
still available (probably not).
-ethan
_________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
--- Mike Ford <mikeford(a)netwiz.net> wrote:
> >Anyone know if there's ever anything like this in/near/around Western PA
> >(Eastern Ohio, Northern VA)?
>
> Yes of course. Find hams, any ham, and they will know all the horsetrading
> within unreasonable driving distance.
I am in Central Ohio (not exactly Eastern Ohio, but probably as close to the
request as we're likely to see). The big mother of swapmeets in my immediate
area are the shows in Dayton in March and August (Dayton Computerfest) and
the massive Dayton Hamfest in May. Admittedly, none of these shows are purely
people with cool, used stuff to sell (there are more vendors selling new
stuff),
but I got some great bargains at the computerfest last month on lots of used
items that I have been seeking for some time.
These days there aren't many classics at the Dayton shows, but I have purchased
at Dayton in the past things like a COSMAC VIP, an ASR-33, a PDP-8L (my first
-8, about 15 years ago), DECmates, CPU chips from the 1970's, etc. Lately,
it's been easier to find older components than systems; I've gotten boxes of
Teac FD55's for a song (still untested ;-), MFM disk drives for less than $0.20
per meg, uVAX and DECmate cables for $1, some older IC's occasionally, etc.
Other than Dayton, there are a few Hamfests that I make a point of going to,
first and foremost: the Mansfield Hamfest, one of the first of the season.
It's where I picked up that Apple //c+, recently. Someone had a Kapyro 2
there, but I wasn't going to pay $100 for it.
We don't have as many opportunities here as on the coasts, but things can
be found. I just last night rescued a uVAX 2000 with a pair of VR290's
(one working, one with a bad power supply) from the widow of a friend of
mine who died last year. I was told to get this "junk" this week or it
was going out with the neighborhood bulk collection next week. Besides the
CPU and monitors, there's a TK50-FA, an LA120 and an 8-port terminal server.
Does anybody but DEC speak LAT?
-ethan
_________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
--- Ethan Dicks <ethan_dicks(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> Further, I am also told that a 6XX/MP board _will_ work in any sort of
> Sun VMS cage, including a 4/110 tower, one of the smaller configurations
> that Sun sold.
Doh! Make that a "VME" cage.
-ethan
_________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
On Apr 7, 22:38, Chuck McManis wrote:
> Subject: Q-bus pinout
> Hello, is the Q-bus pinout on line? I've got an extender card and I'd
like
> to know if it was compatible or not.
There's a PostScript file showing the pinout at
http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/QBusConns.ps
(and a larger copy there also). Can't help with the PDP-8 PSU, though.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Erm, I really don't think Smalltalk began with Lisp in any way.
The key idea in Smalltalk is encapsulization via class definition;
Lisp is all about lists and (to a purist) functional programming.
Both are very cool, and generally cleaner than the more "practical"
languages, maybe because they define a model that isn't so close
the the hardware. But they are really wildly different from each
other, right down to the bone. Lisp is not at all object oriented,
and Smalltalk is nothing but.
If all the languages you've used are the close-to-hardware
procedural kind, then these will seem novel. In that case, you
might also check out ML, Prolog, APL, SNOBOL, and Icon. APL and
Icon are still comfortably procedural, and SNOBOL is crude by
modern standards, but each of those has its own way-out-of-the-
mainstream aspects. Maybe none have the simplicity of pure Lisp,
though. There is something attractive about a language that does
just one thing, but does it well.
Bill.
PS. As a bonus, these all pass the ten-year rule. (Well, I'm not
100% sure about ML, but I *think* it does.)
] From: Max Eskin <max82(a)surfree.com>
] To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
] <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
] Date: Saturday, April 03, 1999 11:44 PM
] Subject: Hallelujah!
]
]
] I've finally gotten around to reading a LISP book that I had bought months
] before, and I can see why people refer to LISP as a religious experience
] (I've seen that said at least twice). It's really a wonderful language. I
] wonder how it is worse than BASIC or Perl. Also, although I didn't really
] take the time to really understand smalltalk (Squeak is slow and
] unstable), I can see the beginnings of smalltalk in LISP. Wow. This thing
] really is pretty amazing. This should be taught in every computer
] programming course, along with PAL-8, C, and Perl. I am now certain that
] if a language is hard to learn (C++ comes to mind), there's something
] wrong with it :)
]
] --Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)
Cheap would be cost of postage. I've been trying to get rid of
three of them for that price for, oh, probably a year now.
Finally, as of last week, I may have a taker. Though I haven't
heard back from him, and it has been several days now...
Bill.
On Tue, 6 Apr 1999, Mike Ford <mikeford(a)netwiz.net> wrote:
] In todays wanderings I found two seemingly very nice condition 4869
] external floppy drives, they were not cheap, but then I don't know what
] cheap for them would be. If anybody is interested email me as I will return
] to that haunt on Thursday.
<On Wed, 7 Apr 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote:
<> I don't believe those were the earliest of the 5-1/4" types. The early
<> SA-400's I remember used a lead screw just like the 8" drives, but that w
the SA800 was lead screw but, the sa400 was the spiral groove disk. I
know as I still have the working SA400 (not the later L) that came with
the Northstar* MDS purchased in 1977 (very low sn#).
Allison
--- Aaron Christopher Finney <af-list(a)lafleur.wfi-inc.com> wrote:
> Speaking of sparcs,
>
> This might be a little OT, but it does *involve* a Sun 3/50. At least the
> dead shell of one. John Lawson was kind enough to donate the mainboard
> from a Sparcserver 600MP to the cause today, but I don't have anywhere to
> put it (no comments on that, please). The question is this: can I put this
> board into the 3/50's case? From what I understand, the old VME chassis
> only provided power. Of course, the capacity of the 3/50's ps is a
> question too; I think it's rated somewhere around 20A at 5v, and the 600MP
> board requires something like 15A @ 5v, with no RAM or Mbus modules.
I tried that with no good results. I'm told that the 3/50 PSU doesn't
provide both +12v and -12v on the single power connector, or that the
6xx/MP board doesn't get comm voltages from that particular connector
or some other power-related reason why RS-232 doesn't work in that
configuration.
I was also told that the 6xx/MP board wants to see some kind of termination
on some of the VME signals or it won't past self-test. As I said, I could
never make it work, and the original 3/50 mainboard _does_ work in my 3/50
chassis, so it's not an overall PSU problem.
Further, I am also told that a 6XX/MP board _will_ work in any sort of
Sun VMS cage, including a 4/110 tower, one of the smaller configurations
that Sun sold.
BTW, don't try to run a newer version of Solaris on that board... Solaris 2.6
has checks for the 6XX/MP line and halts on startup. 2.7 (Solaris 7) is
completely missing kernel support for any VME machines.
If you find out any of this is wrong, I'd love to hear it; maybe someday
I could get my configuration working. For now, I'll restore the 3/50 as
is.
-ethan
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
These were in common use on Z89's and Z-90's. Heathkit used drives made
by
Tandon and Siemens. The Siemens drives were kinda unique: It used a
disk with a spiral groove for the head positioner.
The cabinets are among the best floppy enclosures ever made IMHO
(although
they can be a bitch to put back together). I have several of them
myself.
The (linear) power supplies in 'em are fairly beefy.
Jeff
On Wed, 7 Apr 1999 10:35:59 +0000 "Lawrence Walker"
<lwalker(a)mail.interlog.com> writes:
> I made a curbside rescue of a dual ext. fdd. Two FH 5 1/4 floppies
>mounted
>vertically. ZenithDS Heathkit H77 with ribbon cable connector. Looks
>more like
>an 8" mechanism than your standard floppies. I'm assuming these were
>for a
>Z-100 guaged by the ZDS H-K label timeframe . Any info on them ?
> Judging by the mechanism that I can see , like Rainbow drives but not
>
>laterly opposed , they're SS.
>
>ciao larry
>lwalker(a)interlog.com
>
>Collectors info http://members.xoom.com/T3C
___________________________________________________________________
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From: Christian Fandt <cfandt(a)netsync.net>
>>Anyone know if there's ever anything like this in/near/around Western PA
>>(Eastern Ohio, Northern VA)?
nope but here's an open invitation for anyone passing through Jacksonville
anytime.
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
This is one of APPLE & wierd Woz's patents. It's in almost every well
equipped electrical engineering library. There's also an ANSI standard for
GCR as applied by the 9-TRACK TAPE people to get up to 6250 bpi, which will
shed some light as well, should you choose to look it up. I used that
information to lay a groundwork for my APPLE HDC, which never made it to
market.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com <CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, April 07, 1999 7:12 PM
Subject: RE: Apple GCR
>>Can someone explain how the Apple II GCR worked? I tried deciphering this
>>several years ago and I could figure it out (the only references I found
>>were very vague).
>
>There's one reference which is extremely non-vague: _Beneath Apple
>DOS_, by Don Worth and Peter Lechner. In it you'll find wonderful
>illustrations featuring Sir Isaac Newton and leading you through the
>wonderfully intertwined world of the Disk ][ state machine, 6502
>machine code, and modulation formats. This book is still available
>new (see my past posts to comp.sys.apple2 for details on how to buy it.)
>
>If you're too cheap to buy the book (again, buy the book! It's
>worth every last cent!), the relevant section of it (minus the
>cute drawings) is online at
>
>http://www.umich.edu/~archive/apple2/misc/hardware/disk.encoding.txt
>
>But, again, buy the book! Woz is not my super-hero, but he could do
>amazing things with a half-dozen TTL chips, that everyone else was
>doing with a hundred or more...
>
>--
> 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
I saw a hardcover book from 1957 at the used bookstore, that discussed
digital computer circuits, and had chapters on vacuum tube logic circuits, corememory circuits, some transistor circuits, etc. If this is something
that someone here is dieing to have, perhaps because you're designing
a vacuum tube computer circuit, just let me know and i'll try to get it
before someone else does ;)
-Lawrence LeMay
Grab it before it's gone! Good chance for someone in or near Chicago
to mess with VME hardware.
-=-=- <snip> -=-=-
On Wed, 07 Apr 1999 18:32:42 GMT, in comp.arch.bus.vmebus you wrote:
>>From: mike(a)gmx.com
>>Newsgroups: comp.arch.bus.vmebus
>>Subject: Free! Motorola VME-10 System and Motorola Development Hardware
>>Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 18:32:42 GMT
>>Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion
>>Lines: 20
>>Message-ID: <7eg8ca$gmi$1(a)nnrp1.dejanews.com>
>>NNTP-Posting-Host: 199.179.170.230
>>X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Apr 07 18:32:42 1999 GMT
>>X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.01; Windows 95)
>>X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x17.dejanews.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 199.179.170.230
>>Path: news1.jps.net!news.pbi.net!206.190.128.10!newsfeed.yosemite.net!news1.ltinet.net!news.he.net!newshub.northeast.verio.net!news-feeds.jump.net!nntp2.dejanews.com!nnrp1.dejanews.com!not-for-mail
>>Xref: news1.jps.net comp.arch.bus.vmebus:23
>>
>>We have the following equipment which is going to be scrapped in the next
>>week or so unless someone in the Chicago area (we are in Northbrook) is
>>willing to come and pick it up (sorry, no shipping available).
>>
>>1 Mot VME10 System w/monitor & keyboard
>>1 Mot HDS-400 Hardware Development Station
>>1 Mot HDS-400/BSA 68020 Emulator/Analyzer
>>1 Mot HDS-300 Control Station
>>1 Mot Benchmark 20
>>1 Mot ExorTerm 155
>>
>>Plus miscellaneous manuals, cables, etc. This equipment was all working when
>>put in storage so years ago, but there are no guarantees... If interested,
>>contact me via email.
>>
>>Mike Magnus
>>mike(a)gmx.com
>>
>>-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
>>http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho,
Blue Feather Technologies -- kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech [dot] com
Web: http://www.bluefeathertech.com
"...No matter how we may wish otherwise, our science can only describe an object,
event, or living thing in our own human terms. It cannot possibly define any of them..."
I don't know about designators, but the first mini-floppy drives I got all
had lead screws like the 8" drives. Later on, the SA400-<something> became
available, and I don't remember what the <something> was, but they had the
helical cam with a 2-phase stepper.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, April 07, 1999 5:41 PM
Subject: SA-400's (was: Heatkit 5 1/4 floppies
>On Wed, 7 Apr 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote:
>> I don't believe those were the earliest of the 5-1/4" types. The early
>> SA-400's I remember used a lead screw just like the 8" drives, but that
was
>> too costly for the competition that followed. When Apple started buying
>> "partial" drive mechanisms in order to implement their more
software-driven
>> approach, with the idea of saving a few bucks . . . multiplied by a
milion
>> or two drives . . . other manufacturers including SIEMENS and BASF, among
>> others, tried a two-phase stepper on a helically-tracked drive wheel as
>> opposed to the stepper driving a lead screw. Most makers later went to a
>> band-actuator system using a small stepper.
>
>Interesting. All of the SA400s that I've seen used the spiral groove on a
>rotating disc. The only 5.25" drives of that vintage that I have with a
>helical lead screw were the Micropolis 35 track 48TPI and 77 track 100TPI
>(NOT 96TPI!!). Was there any sub model designation for the Shugarts to
>differentiate different positioners?
>
>--
>Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com
>XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
>2210 Sixth St. (510) 644-9366
>Berkeley, CA 94710-2219
>
Interesting. The Siemens drives were the only ones I've
ever seen that use this scheme. But then again, I didn't
look closely at the Shugarts in the Burroughs word processors
when I took my first real job ("you're not qualified").
These were the only ones I've ever seen.
Jeff
On Wed, 7 Apr 1999 12:22:56 -0700 (PDT) James Willing
<jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com> writes:
>On Wed, 7 Apr 1999, Jeffrey l Kaneko wrote:
>
>> These were in common use on Z89's and Z-90's. Heathkit used drives
>made
>> by
>> Tandon and Siemens. The Siemens drives were kinda unique: It used a
>
>> disk with a spiral groove for the head positioner.
>
>Hmmm... hardly that unique it would seem... The Shugart SA-400
>series
>drives used that same positioning systems (first?).
>
>-jim
>---
>jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
>The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
>Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
>
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At 22:33 31/03/99 +1, Hans wrote:
>For a usefull system a Country identyfier and the ZIP code
>should be used, like US-90210 or DE-81541 or CA-M2R3G3
>(ISO 2 Char Country identifyer plus up to 9 char for ZIP -
>there is _no_ ZIP code in the world with more than 9 digits).
>And for the state/province thing - that's not used outside
>US/CA and defacto redundant information, since the ZIP code
>already includes this - everybody knows the location of
>(at least) the first two or 3 digits within his country.
>
>Servus
>Hans
I fully agree with this kind of format
[CC-XXXXXXXXX]
C=International country identifier
X=National ZIP code
that I think it is also a recomandation from the international postal
organization.
Riccardo Romagnoli
<chemif(a)mbox.queen.it>
I-47100 Forl?
I don't think I have cp/m. I've got a bunch of software mothballed for just
this occasion but havent got to it yet. Ahhh... software.... good. good.
Does the 6 weeks start today?
:)
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 7:29 PM
Subject: RE: Chicago trs-80s
>On Tue, 6 Apr 1999, Steve Robertson wrote:
>
>> After careful disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly, the Model 2 returned
>> to life. Another list member has located a keyboard for me (thanks) so,
>> that one is complete. I haven't found a boot disk for it yet but, I'm
sure
>> it'll work just fine.
>
>I recently made a CP/M and TRSDOS-II boot disk for another list member and
>I'd be happy to do the same for both you and Mike. Of course, you'll
>probably have to wait as long as Aaron did (about 6 weeks).
>
>Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar(a)siconic.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
>
> Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0
> See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
> [Last web site update: 04/03/99]
>
>
As promised last month... this month, April, on Saturday the
24th, I will offer hospitality and welcome to anyone wishing to
view/play with/make bad jokes about my DEC collection. As many
systems as I can get running will be 'on the air' (tho not all at
once... zzzzzmp!) for your perusal and happiness. You can paw thru
the junk and maybe find something you've wanted for months... we can
trade... you can help me clean out the garage... (please....!)
I will attend the TRW Swap Meet the morning of the 24th, and all
are invited there, and immediately afterwards to the usual post-swap
brunch-n-brag (around noon). Then I will travel to My Place, and any
folk wishing to join in at any point in the day's activities are most
welcome.
We can party until Sunday night, if that's what you want. I have
to be at work Monday morning, and so do you. Otherwise, it's
unstructured.
I would prefer to give directions privately, since where you are
coming from will modify them. Please e-mail me if you think you
might like to participate. It's completely informal, all are
welcome, and if no one shows up, I'm gonna play with the machines
all by myself. Directions will also be available from me at TRW.
I know that several NorCal (Bay Area) listmembers [Sam?] told me
they were going to try and make it down... let me know and we'll
leave alll the lights on. :)
Just a heads-up for all, and I encourage others in other locales to
consider hosting a Compu-crawl for your area... it's a lot more
interesting to me than Tupperware...
Cheerz
John
There exists a well known file, the Field Guide, which lists all
PDP and VAX DEC boards by number and description. I have created a
web page on VAXarchive, my site with information on old DEC VAX
hardware and its operating systems, which is to be the visual version
of this list. It shows pictures of boards, and their number
and function. This makes it easy to identify boards with unreadable
or missing module numbers. There are now 24 pictures on this page,
which is of course just a tiny part of all boards that exist.
I am hoping that the readers of this list are able to help me get
more pictures.
If you own boards that are not on this page, I would appreciate
it very much if you could send me an image of them. If it is a dual
or quad width board, you do not need a digital camera to make this
picture, you can just lay it face down on a flat bed scanner.
(This is how all the pictures on the page were made.) Please mail
any pictures to pb0aia at iae.nl, or let me know on which ftp or www
site they are. Thanks in advance!
The URL of the page is:
<http://www.vaxarchive.org/hw/vfg/>
The boards already on the page are:
Dual width: M7270, M7504, M7546, M7555, M7607, M7954, M8043, M8044,
M8047, M8659, M9047.
Quad width: M3104, M7164, M7165, M7168, M7169, M7196, M7454, M7602,
M7606, M7608, M7609, M7624, M8639.
Non-DEC: QD21.
Regards,
Kees.
--
Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - kees.stravers(a)iae.nl
http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/
I'm Sysadmin and DEC PDP/VAX preservationist - Visit VAXarchive!
http://www.vaxarchive.org/ (primary)
http://www.sevensages.org/vax/ (mirror)
http://www.coyote.org/mirrors/vaxarchive/ (mirror)
"D. Peschel" <dpeschel(a)u.washington.edu> wrote:
> I guess posting something on-topic is the best solutioon. Does anyone have
> a Corvus Concept? I bet Blockout (3D Tetris) would look pretty cool on it.
What do you think a Corvus Concept would bring to Blockout? I don't know,
and it's been years since I played Tetris.
Yep, I've got one, the fancy landscape/portrait display boils down to
a VERT/HORIZ switch on the back of the CPU that the software reads to
figure out how to draw the display. (It's up to the user to make sure
the switch and the monitor are set the same way, and the switch doesn't
change anything about the beam deflection.)
-Frank McConnell
>On Mon, 5 Apr 1999, Tony Duell wrote:
>
>> > computers, the service representative came to the site, opened a panel
>> > on the operator console, and changed the 5 1/4" floppy disk. By doing
>>
>> I think I read somewhere that the 8" floppy was originally designed for
>> this purpose.
>
>IBM invented the floppy disk to distribute microcode updates.
>
>Sellam
I believe that I saw the first floppy disk drive invented at IBM San Jose
in late 1969. It was designed to load microcode into the new selector
channels being designed for the IBM S-370. Unlike the CPU's and selector
channels of the S-360 that had a variety of ROM designs, the System 370 and
the stand alone selector channels had writable control stores for microcode.
The device was very primitive since it was essentially a read only device
when installed in the channel. It was designed by Al Shugart or a team
under his direction. I know he was credited with it within IBM. I have
always hoped somebody would do an oral history with him of his IBM days and
the reasons that he left to start his own company.
Dean
hmm.. also in looking through the xenix docs I see mentioned, the DT-1.
I've got a PT-210 and pre-coco vidtex and have been looking for a DT-100 but
dont remember the DT-1. What's it like?
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
Having had a small chance to digest the new trs pillsI find that I newly
have:
- a 6000hd 15meg 1d that I'm currently running xenix 3.01.00 on
-a 16 1d that is missing some internal cables, this one has an odd model
16 vanity plate and matching keyboard.
-a 6000hd 15meg 1d
-a 16 2d with a bad floppy and intermittant keyboard
-a 6000 15meg 1d
-a 6000 15meg 1d
-a 16b 2d with a bad monitor
-a 16b 2d
- keyboards for 6000 (and a white key one) 12, 16, and 16b
- 8meg hd system (big black)
- 20meg hd sytem (small white)
- 3 extra 8" floppies
- a bad 15meg winchester replacement
- assundry cabling
And digging into the closet (past all the skeletons) I pulled the following
software out of stasis
- xenix basic interpreter
- model II cobol dev system
- versaledger
- scripsit
- multiplan
-profile plus
- ar/ap/payroll
- trs-dos
- videotex Plus
- trs-dos II
- trs-dos 4.0
- model 16 system disk
- xenix CTAR
- profile 16
- xenix 3.02.00
- xenix profile upgrade
- xenix multiuser upgrade
- profile 16 upgrade
- xenix 1.3.xx for model 16
Will the trsdos stuff above work under tsh?
Now to dust off the drive heads and install some stuff. If anyone has any
complimentary warez or needs copies yada yada yada.
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
--- allisonp(a)world.std.com wrote:
> > > boxes of paper tapes labeled "262.1-S PDP-8 Printer Driver Source",
> > > "265.1-OB PDP-8 printer Diagnostic Object 1 of 3", and the other 2 boxes.
--- After _I_ wrote:
> > I myself cannot tell what printer those work with from the numeric portion
> > of the title, but I can say that just for parallel printers, OMNIBUS -8's
> > supported
> > the LA180, the LQP01 and LQP02. Common serial printers...
> You forget LE8, LP14, lp25 series of line printers.
I didn't forget them... I never knew about the LE8 nor the LP14, and I didn't
know that there was ever an interface for the LP25 for any model of 8. It's
all news to me.
> PDP-8s were used with large and faster line printers of the day.
I have only ever seen PDP-8's used with what would be termed "personal" class
printers.
> Also the LA30 DECwriter was a parallel interface at 30cps.
I have heard of the LA30. I didn't know it was parallel. Never seen one.
-ethan
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>So I've got a Q-bus system with 64KW (128KB) of RAM that is allegedly an 18
>bit backplane. When I'm in ODT I can type:
>
>@177770/
>And enter values for 1777772, 1777774, 1777776, and then it wraps around to
>000000.
>
>If I start at 200000 it works until 3777777 and then wraps to 2000000. So
>it seems to not cross a 64KB boundary.
That's how it's supposed to work. If you look in the tech manual for the
processors, you see that there's a 16-bit register for the "low" part
of the ODT address, and another register for the high part of the ODT address,
but there's no carry connecting the two.
> Also the boot area is 177300 ? so it
>is in the upper 4K of the 64KB address space, is it legal to have memory
>"above" the I/O page?
Absolutely. In fact, some configurations had only a 2Kbyte I/O page
to allow a little bit of extra memory, and this still works (albeit not
officially supported) under RT-11 (it was tested before the 5.7
release.)
--
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
Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> --- Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org> wrote:
> >
> > I was rummaging around the back bedroom last night and found (again) three
> > boxes of paper tapes labeled "262.1-S PDP-8 Printer Driver Source",
> > "265.1-OB PDP-8 printer Diagnostic Object 1 of 3", and the other 2 boxes. I
> > have no idea what printer this might be used with. It came with the PDP-8L I
> > acquired many years ago. These tapes are rolled black tape. Anyone know what
> > these might be?
>
> Do you have any way of reading the tapes in? One way to tell is by reading
> the comments. Another way is by checking the IOT's used for the printer I/O.
The only paper tape reader I have right now is an ASR-33 and aside from it
being buried :), I can use it to read the tapes in. The PDP-8 was bought new
by someone here in Santa Barbara, and then donated to a local school which
is where I got it. It came with an ASR-33 (which I sold years ago <sigh>), a
Tri-Data tape recorder (anyone familiar with them?), and a schematic
package. One of these days, it would be fun to fire it up (hopefully not a
pun!)
> > boxes of paper tapes labeled "262.1-S PDP-8 Printer Driver Source",
> > "265.1-OB PDP-8 printer Diagnostic Object 1 of 3", and the other 2 boxes. I
> > have no idea what printer this might be used with. It came with the PDP-8L I
>
> I myself cannot tell what printer those work with from the numeric portion of
> the title, but I can say that just for parallel printers, OMNIBUS -8's
> supported
> the LA180, the LQP01 and LQP02. Common serial printers were the older members
You forget LE8, LP14, lp25 series of line printers. PDP-8s were used with
large and faster line printers of the day. Also the LA30 DECwriter was a
parallel interface at 30cps.
THey were far from limited to ASR33s (LT33).
Allison
--- Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org> wrote:
>
> I was rummaging around the back bedroom last night and found (again) three
> boxes of paper tapes labeled "262.1-S PDP-8 Printer Driver Source",
> "265.1-OB PDP-8 printer Diagnostic Object 1 of 3", and the other 2 boxes. I
> have no idea what printer this might be used with. It came with the PDP-8L I
> acquired many years ago. These tapes are rolled black tape. Anyone know what
> these might be?
Do you have any way of reading the tapes in? One way to tell is by reading
the comments. Another way is by checking the IOT's used for the printer I/O.
I myself cannot tell what printer those work with from the numeric portion of
the title, but I can say that just for parallel printers, OMNIBUS -8's
supported
the LA180, the LQP01 and LQP02. Common serial printers were the older members
of the DECWriter line (e.g., LA-36, probably not the LA-120). If that source
is for an older, non-OMNIBUS model, I wouldn't have a clue as to what model of
printer it would want to talk to. I think only the LA-36 was available in
current-loop configuration (excepting, of course, real TTY's).
Do you have a way of reading in the tape?
-ethan
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
I made a curbside rescue of a dual ext. fdd. Two FH 5 1/4 floppies mounted
vertically. ZenithDS Heathkit H77 with ribbon cable connector. Looks more like
an 8" mechanism than your standard floppies. I'm assuming these were for a
Z-100 guaged by the ZDS H-K label timeframe . Any info on them ?
Judging by the mechanism that I can see , like Rainbow drives but not
laterly opposed , they're SS.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
Collectors info http://members.xoom.com/T3C
At 06:13 PM 4/6/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Uncle, been away for several days... Did I miss anything?
Nope, still working on getting them out. My dad is currently
sorting/separating cables. Be patient, everybody. (Paying the mortgage is
a little higher priority. 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
At 11:14 AM 4/1/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Almost every computer involved person I know who
>has any control of their work schedule:
>
>1) Gets up after the sun has properly warmed the earth
> where they live
Dysania: (n) an inability to function early in the morning.
I've got it bad. (It's a real word, at least according to Balderdash, a
commercial version of the game Dictionary.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
It is exactly that. . . a YMMV thing . . . My experience with terminals was
always a disappointment. I can't even think of a way to fix it. The people
who wrote and sold software made assumptions about what's out there, and, if
you used three different vendors' software, it was unlikely any of the
sophisticated features, including emulations, by the way, would work well
enough to use the same terminal in all cases. Only with the lowest common
denominator (ADM-3A) did one have a reasonable time of it.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: homemade computer for fun and experience...
><This is going to be a YMMV thing, but I've never had problems with normal
><serial terminals, especially not DEC ones.
>
>AS someone actively running s100 and assorted other cpm systems... A soft
>terminal that can emulate ADM1, ADM3, Vt100 and telvideo covers the crowd
>right up until you get some oddball code that used a 64x16 VDM1. The
>reality was no standards and it's really not gotten that much better.
>
>My solution... An H19 thats over 21, A vt100 (all others are broken),
>a few Vt320s and a Vt340. The thing is I also run DEC hardware and while
>they will support any ansi tube a real VT is still easier to use.
>
><> I have never had a desire for DEC hardware, mainly because of my distast
><> (and disdain) for their application of technology, and of course for
thei
>
>Personal preference. I happen to like them and they seem to run a long
>time. At least all of mine still runs and the 11/03 cpu I have has turned
>20!
>
><Don't forget that this started with somebody who wanted to homebrew their
><first computer. In which case it should be as simple as possible.
>
>therein is the essence of the string and why terminals are somewhat nicer
>even if they lack color graphics you can play doom on.
>
><> See . . . there are reasons NOT to use a terminal.
><
><Sure. Not every machine should use a serial terminal, but equally, not
><every machine needs a built-in graphics display. Which you build is up to
><you.
>
>I'll add you still need a serial line for a modem. Then you still need a
>printer. CPM being a nongraphic OS and there is a distinct lack of
>software that uses graphics for it... kind of a moot point if you can
>have a 1280x1024 color tube. I can say this as I have a visual 1050
>that has a rather elaborate display system and there is lttle use for it
>save for it can emulate a terminal at a cost of another micro, ram and
>firmware to run it. Nothing like debuging two systems and blind at that.
>
>Allison
>
<> To put this slightly on topic, we all know that computer systems have
<> become more reliable in the last 20 years but does anyone have any real
Potentially they are. there are fewer chips and connectors to fail and
chips can be highly reliable however...
The average PC is tossed togeher from a motly assortment of parts and
software and usually works, sometimes. With that cases are more a fashon
statment rather than given the thought toward cooling... those 333mhz
celerons do get mightly hot and those cheap bushing fans do fail often.
When new system have the uptime records of my 12 year old uVAXII we can
debate this... the record is 422 days contuinious uptime without reboot, it
was limited by a power failure.
I've built Z80 based systems with uptimes measured in years (still
counting as they are battery backed). They are running very debugged code
and power failure is not seen due to power systems that expect brownouts.
It's not to say they cannot out do that, only that reliability is a
measure of quality and sadly most PCs greatly lack the latter.
Technology does not automagically beget reliability, it affords the
opportunity to create it. Often that boat never docked at the airport.
Allison
<This is going to be a YMMV thing, but I've never had problems with normal
<serial terminals, especially not DEC ones.
AS someone actively running s100 and assorted other cpm systems... A soft
terminal that can emulate ADM1, ADM3, Vt100 and telvideo covers the crowd
right up until you get some oddball code that used a 64x16 VDM1. The
reality was no standards and it's really not gotten that much better.
My solution... An H19 thats over 21, A vt100 (all others are broken),
a few Vt320s and a Vt340. The thing is I also run DEC hardware and while
they will support any ansi tube a real VT is still easier to use.
<> I have never had a desire for DEC hardware, mainly because of my distast
<> (and disdain) for their application of technology, and of course for thei
Personal preference. I happen to like them and they seem to run a long
time. At least all of mine still runs and the 11/03 cpu I have has turned
20!
<Don't forget that this started with somebody who wanted to homebrew their
<first computer. In which case it should be as simple as possible.
therein is the essence of the string and why terminals are somewhat nicer
even if they lack color graphics you can play doom on.
<> See . . . there are reasons NOT to use a terminal.
<
<Sure. Not every machine should use a serial terminal, but equally, not
<every machine needs a built-in graphics display. Which you build is up to
<you.
I'll add you still need a serial line for a modem. Then you still need a
printer. CPM being a nongraphic OS and there is a distinct lack of
software that uses graphics for it... kind of a moot point if you can
have a 1280x1024 color tube. I can say this as I have a visual 1050
that has a rather elaborate display system and there is lttle use for it
save for it can emulate a terminal at a cost of another micro, ram and
firmware to run it. Nothing like debuging two systems and blind at that.
Allison
I wonder is it would be possible to devise something that would use some
sort of disc with a bunch of holes in it and the sensors from an old (8"?)
floppy drive?
A desperate attempt to get this somewhat back on topic :)
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
===============================
---------------Original Message-----
From: Stan Perkins <stan(a)netcom.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: OT: ABS - or is it Pure BS/wheel sensors
>
>It's probably a similar system to the one used by Etak with their early
>car navigation systems. Basically, they used a special adhesive tape
>that contained a small bar magnet every inch along its length. This was
>applied to the circumference of the inside of each front wheel rim, and
>a Hall effect sensor was attached to a point on the front axle (usually
>to a part of the brake caliper assembly) where it was within an inch of
>this tape as it passed by. Each magnet passage would produce a countable
>pulse, and the Etak computer could determine the wheel speed and
>direction of rotation for each front wheel. *Supposedly* it could also
>detect a turn by the differential speed of the front wheels, but it also
>had a flux gate compass to help determine direction and turns.
>
>A pretty clever system that worked quite well, considering it was all
>done without reference to external navigation data sources like GPS,
>LORAN, etc!
>
>Since your system apparently produces only a single pulse per
>revolution, I would guess there's one magnet somewhere on each wheel
>rim. The speed resolution with only a single pulse per revolution is
>probably not good enough for ABS use.
>
>Hope this helps,
>Stan
>
My vacation/computer-rescue-mission has come to a close and there is now a
big honkin pile of trs-80 6000 and 16b toys on my living room floor. :)
Several of them have broken this or thatsz but the first one I pulled, a
6000hd 15mhd, booted into Xenix 3.0.1 I think (Microsoft '84). the 68k in
it crashed after about 20min of xenix frolicking. She's resting now. I'd
like cc and tcp for this if anyone can help me out? I 'm sure some parts
will be available as soon as I figure out what I have. Software, give me
software or give me death.
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
I am looking for an "Industrial" IBM-compat PC... the kind that
is mounted in a 19" rack enclosure with a small monitor integral to
the box, and usually a keyboard underneath on a slide-shelf.
My purpose is to run one of the PDP11 sims and Linux, and to
function as a more modern 'peripheral farm' and a comm node to my
Real PDP collection.
I am looking for a 486 or Pentium I unit with 8-16 meg of RAM, .5 -
1.5 G HD, compatible BIOS and able to run Win95... if it *has* to.
One serial, one parallel, one SCSI, and Ethernet, or capable of
supporting all these at once.
I am looking to trade or buy. Obviously I prefer not to have to
buy new, I would much rather keep it 'local'.
NOTE: ABS braking is neither required nor desired on the above unit.
Cheerz
John
Just wanted to let eveyone know that I have been contacted by someone
who works for a company where they have three (3) KS10s. One of the
machines is *CURRENTLY OPERATIONAL*. One was shut down several months
ago, and the person who wrote to me doesn't know about the third.
There are nine (9) RP06 disk drives distributed between the three
systems, two additional ones are broken. Two tape drives are on
line (with problems) and one is broken (one TM03 and two TU77s).
The computers are in a room without a raised floor, so the cables
are simply laying around.
The terms are that we (whoever) takes the equipment must do so at
their own cost, and must take everything, including cables and
non-working units.
Dismantling can start April 21st, removal has to be by April
27th. No later than this.
The KS10s take up about 6sqft of floor space each, and are about 600 lbs.,
the RP06s apparently take up about 7-9 sqft and I don't know how much they
weight. I don't know about the tape drives.
Someone told me it may be between 6000 and 8000 lbs all together...
Systems are located in Cambridge, Massachussetts.
We need to give an answer by April 13th at the latest.
I suspect that if it isn't saved, it will go to the scrapheap,
landfill, crusher, <fill_in_your_own_worst_nightmare_here>.
So, is anyone game? Please contact me off-list. I'll *try* to
coordinate this.
This is a chance to handle some *REAL IRON*...
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
G'day,
Yesterday four geeks (including myself) had tried to convince a HP 88780
9-track SCSI drive (cleverly disguised as Tandem 5160) to accept 6250 bpi
tapes. It works OK at 1600 bpi, but refuses to admit it knows about 6250:
"mt setdensity 3" on a Linux box results in "Incompatible media installed"
error (when the tape written at 6250 bpi is loaded.)
The problem is: no docs. By playing with front panel buttons, we
discovered lots of interesting knobs to turn (CONF 40..199), but weren't
inclined to try them all. What CONF will allow 6250 bpi density to be
used? Or is it permanently disabled by Tandem-customized firmware?
--
Sergey Svishchev -- svs{at}ropnet{dot}ru
*Having had decades of extensive driving during the long cold winters in
*western Canada, Qebec and Ontario , I would consider myself a quite skilled
*slippery road driver. The worst thing you can do when you go into a skid is
*lock your brakes. The best is to turn into the skid and use your
accellerator
*and steering to bring it back under control. I would rather have any brake
*action under my control and hope I can steer out of it without using
them.There
*are courses up here which teach this technique. ABS seems just damnright
*dangerous to me,
What happens when that novice (or anyone for that matter) who is used to
ABS,
when the ABS system fails?
* except perhaps for the complete novice who would lock his
*brakes out of fear and inexperience. I have also had experiences of
*power-steering failure one of which resulted in a serious accident for
myself.
*
*ciao larry
*lwalker(a)interlog.com
*
*Collectors info http://members.xoom.com/T3C
*
Amen.
:)
- Mike: dogas(a)leading.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Max Eskin <max82(a)surfree.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, April 03, 1999 11:44 PM
Subject: Hallelujah!
>I've finally gotten around to reading a LISP book that I had bought months
>before, and I can see why people refer to LISP as a religious experience
>(I've seen that said at least twice). It's really a wonderful language. I
>wonder how it is worse than BASIC or Perl. Also, although I didn't really
>take the time to really understand smalltalk (Squeak is slow and
>unstable), I can see the beginnings of smalltalk in LISP. Wow. This thing
>really is pretty amazing. This should be taught in every computer
>programming course, along with PAL-8, C, and Perl. I am now certain that
>if a language is hard to learn (C++ comes to mind), there's something
>wrong with it :)
>
>--Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)
>
>
I'm not sure if anyone else knows about what I'm talking about, but in my
Jeep (pre-ABS), there's a little panel on the dashboard (not original).
There's 4 LED's on the panel (one corresponding to each wheel). When the
wheel corresponding to a particular LED is completely stopped, the LED
lights steadily red. When the wheel is turning, the LED flashes green (one
flash for each revolution).
Anyone know how this would work (with out me pulling it out of my Jeep)? It
would be probably a good accessory for non-ABS cars.
--
-Jason Willgruber
(roblwill(a)usaor.net)
ICQ#: 1730318
<http://members.tripod.com/general_1>
>2) even if the ABS system fails it still works just like non-ABS brakes.
unless
>the vacuum (power assisted) system fails or the brake line is cut, or (very
>unlikely) the piston sticks open, the brakes will work just fine.
>
ABS - American Bull Shi...
I have noted one difficulty with ABS, and that is its failure to operate on
snow
and ice. Since I live in Southern California, I do not get that much snow
but,
in any quick application of my Mustang's breaks, on snow covered roads,
they always seem to lock up. Well, the pumping action occurs but, at each
application of the pump, I notice wheel lock-up. There is no stopping.
William R. Buckley
>>Sure. And the microcode compilers I've written and used are much better
>>at optimizing horizontal microcode than I have the time or patience to
>>do by hand.
>Your lack of time and patience is not equal to the claim you make
>regarding the quality of optimisation possible.
well put... I've yet to find a compiler which can produce code which
could not then be further optimized in some way by a person well
versed in that machine's architecture...
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 |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+