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

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

The question of "what classic equipment was rebadged" is circular. To be honest, I can't think of any computer equipment I've ever seen in my life that wasn't at some time or other rebadged, oemed, merged, etc. under a different name. Why don't we just change the question to "what classic equipment was never rebadged". If we do that, the conversation is basically over :) Jay West

27 years, 4 months

4
4
0 0

Old multimedia demos

by max82＠surfree.com

I found two CDs full of promotional kiosk demos which run on MS-DOS. The demos are of office apps such as DBase IV, etc. The most interesting demos are for the early Windows programs. If anyone would like me to upload any of these (many famous products from -88,-89) just name it. The Windows one is simply hilarious: "In the beginning, there was DOS..." I also found a CD that is full of in-store demos of Macintosh System 7 (hypercard 'n stuff). No word yet on availability of macintosh manuals mentioned earlier. --Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

7900A drives

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

I finally got a 7900A drive! Does anyone have any extra of the media for it they might part with or know where one can get that media at a reasonable price? The 7900A uses a 12869A cartridge, which I don't believe is the same media used in 7905 or 7906 drives (I think those used 12940 cartridges, don't recall at the moment). Thanks in advance for any tips and/or pointers! Jay West

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

WAS: rebadged - etc etc etc

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>>>And _History of Personal Workstations_ seems to classify the HP 9100 (1968) >>>as a workstation. >> >>Oh, did you mean graphical workstation? Then maybe it was the DEC GT40, >>introduced in 1972. > >What about the Tectronics terminals with vector graphics? I remember >playing basketball on one in 74. Both the GT40 and HP9100 were vector displays, too :-). (Although to get "vector graphics" on the 9100 you need the optional X-Y pen plotter.) The HP9100 is a very nice "personal compute machine", and the example I inherited was once used to compute the original space probe "slingshot" trajectories by Van Allen at the University of Iowa. -- 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

27 years, 4 months

3
2
0 0

Found today...

by scott＠isd.canberra.edu.au

Hello All, At 06:37 PM 3/4/99 -0500, Lance Lyon <black(a)gco.apana.org.au> wrote: >Added the following to my growing collection today : [Snip] >An IBM (no model number) two internal side-by-side black 3.5" floppies, >non-standard monitor connector, PS/2 style mouse & k/brd connectors, >small grey box, about the width of a normal keyboard, 5" high, about 12" >deep. On the rear "Manufactured by IBM Japan 1987" nothing else. Sounds to me like an IBM JX. It was pretty much IBM's last attempt to get into the low-cost home micro market. It was similar to the PC Jr in many respects. For a bit more info, check out http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~alexios/MACHINE-ROOM/IBM_JX.html Regards, | Scott McLauchlan |E-Mail: scott(a)cts.canberra.edu.au | | Network Services Team |Phone : +61 2 6201 5544 (Ext.5544)| | Client Services Division |Post : University of Canberra, | | University of Canberra, AUSTRALIA | ACT, 2601, AUSTRALIA. |

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

YANU - uVax

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<The RQDX3 would let you use an RX50, but it's not clear to me that this <buys you very much. I don't think you can install VMS, Ultrix, or NetBSD <from RX50s. At least, I've never heard of it being done. Assuming you have it on RX50s it can be done and was in the "early days". My first V4.6 install was from floppy (RX50) as memory serves there were some 60-80 of them. NetBSD can boot and do the initial install from RX50 as I'd tried it, unfortunatly it was 1.2C and that really killed the fun for me. Ultrix was also available on RX50 for a while. NONE were recommended but if it was all you had... Allison

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Info needed: PDP-11/03

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

My source came through again. Today I picked up what is supposed to be a PDP-11/03. Can anyone point me to a good URL to identify the cards in it and provide some general info. I don't know anything about PDP-11s. Joe

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Scanning old manuals

by jim＠ezol.com

>Okay, > > I have some old computer manuals and I just bought a scanner...... Anyone >care to suggest the best way to convert these manuals to electronic form >and not take up HUGE amounts of memory? I'm looking for insight on this as well... I've been experimenting with various ways to convert my old manuals and listings to electronic form with mixed results. It is not as easy as it might seem. The first problem is how labor intensive this is. Just a 100 page manual could take hours to scan front and back of every page. A scanner with a GOOD sheet feeder that doesn't skew the pages would be very desirable here. Next, is how to balance the text content with the graphical content of the pages. Do you leave the pages as a scanned image? Or do you try to OCR them? Leaving them as a scanned image is the easy way out, but isn't always practical. Some pages I have have very small print, and the resolution of the image required to make this text readable makes for huge files. I have attempted to OCR several of my manuals, but this is labor intensive as well, since the OCR dictionary seems ignorant to any technical term or abbriviation, and the formatting of the pages gives it fits too. What is the answer? I have a huge pile of old, hard to find docs that I am eager to put in electronic form for many reasons... ease of access, sharing with others, preserving hard to find information, getting some space back that's currently occupied by a mountain of books..... >Thanks, > >Arfon Thanks, Jim

27 years, 4 months

6
6
0 0

WAS: rebadged - etc etc etc

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

At 03:09 PM 3/9/99 -0500, Tim wrote: >> >>The HP9100 is a very nice "personal compute machine", and the example >>I inherited was once used to compute the original space probe "slingshot" >>trajectories by Van Allen at the University of Iowa. > Can you document that? They were rescued from a dumpster behind the U of Iowa's Van Allen Hall in the fall of '89. The 9100 and the plotter have Dept of Navy property stickers on them that could be used to trace usage back, assuming that any such records were kept. My conversations with Van Allen and other staff there didn't turn up anything showing that this was conclusively that calculator, though the fact that he had used a identical 9100+plotter combination for the calculations was enough to convince me. (Heck, I would've rescued the 9100 in any event.) >If you can prove that it's the one that you have then I'd say you have a >item of historical significance. You ought to try hanging out at national labs for a while. Just about everything gets junked. I had a blast at Caltech/JPL looking in the back of machine shops for WWII-era rocket assemblies. Found a lot of really cool assemblies, but obviously no complete rockets :-) -- 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

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

wither the MAC address of DELQNA?

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>Ok, so a uVax II can't do a 'test 50' to print out its MAC address, and it >isn't marked on the card itself. I can't seem to get tcpdump to see >anything, do I need a sniffer to get this puppy? Hmm - the boot request is actually far below TCP/IP in the protocol scheme, so it's not surprising that at least some versions of tcpdump don't see it. Does the tcpdump that you're running have a promiscuous mode (usually '-p')? Most boot servers can be set in a mode where they print out the hardware address of anything that makes a request. From VMS, you can just log in, do a REPLY/ENABLE, and you'll see the hardware address whenever anything on the net requests a boot. If you have a DEC machine that has an ability to show its hardware address (e.g. just about anything except a uVax II), you can pull the bipolar PROM on the DEQNA and drop it into the "more capable" machine and show the address burnt into the PROM. AFAIK all the DEC hardware address PROM's are interchangable. Alternatively, just boot VMS on the uVax, get into NCP, and do a SHOW CHAR LINE * to show the hardware addresses of all the configured ports: $ mcr ncp NCP>show char line * Known Line Volatile Characteristics as of 9-MAR-1999 17:37:22 Line = SVA-0 Receive buffers = 10 Controller = normal Protocol = Ethernet Service timer = 4000 Hardware address = 08-00-2B-39-7B-64 Device buffer size = 1498 -- 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

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

E&L Mini-Micro Designer

by fauradon＠pclink.com

This should probably be in the scanning document thread but... What format should I used for this kind of scans? I thought GIF was pretty universal. I'm not sure if I can produce PS outputs and the size of the files, I'll give it a try... Hold on... Francois >This gives me an interesting dilemma. Is it going to be quicker for me to >figure out some way to print that out on my Postscript printer or for me >to trace the schematics out from the real hardware :-) > >-tony >

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

NEC APC

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I found my copy of the Oct 1983 issue of Byte magazine with the article about the NEC APC. If anyone wants a copy, E-mail me directly. Joe

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

wither the MAC address of DELQNA?

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

Ok, so a uVax II can't do a 'test 50' to print out its MAC address, and it isn't marked on the card itself. I can't seem to get tcpdump to see anything, do I need a sniffer to get this puppy? --Chuck

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

WAS: rebadged - etc etc etc

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

You wrote... >PERQ? (Or do you count the fact that you can get them with PERQ systems >and ICL nameplates as badging. On the grounds they were partially >developped by both companies, I am not so sure). I would have to call that rebadging, but I do see your point on that one. >PERQ 3a (only ever ICL) > >Philips machines (although they _did_ badge other people's PCs at one point) > >Acorn Archimedes? > >HP9100 (a computer in all but name) > >Xerox Alto, D-machines? Yes, but would most people call ALL of these classic? Not to disparage them, but... perhaps it's my interpretation of "classic" getting in the way. Jay West

27 years, 4 months

5
6
0 0

E&L Mini-Micro Designer

by fauradon＠pclink.com

I just uploaded the schematics as published in Radio Electronics in May 1976 it's at : www.pclink.com/fauradon under the tech info page. Francois >I picked up an 8080 bread board trainer made by E&L Instruments this >weekend. Does anyone have a manual for it? > > Joe >

27 years, 4 months

3
2
0 0

Apple //c vs //c+

by fauradon＠pclink.com

Found a few reference documents from Apple: Apple IIc Plus: How It's Different From The Apple IIc http://til.info.apple.com/tilarchive.nsf/artnum/n1814 Apple IIc: Specifications http://til.info.apple.com/tilarchive.nsf/artnum/n312 Apple IIc Plus: Specifications http://til.info.apple.com/tilarchive.nsf/artnum/n3247 Apple IIc Plus: External Pinouts http://til.info.apple.com/tilarchive.nsf/artnum/n3798 Francois

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

E&L Mini-Micro Designer

by fauradon＠pclink.com

There I've saved the two images in EPS (Encapsulated Postcript format). Now for the bad news: The files are about ten times bigger than their GIF counterparts. I can not afford to place them on my server but if you don't mind long downloads I can send them to you as attachement. Francois I knew there was a reason for using GIF:) >> I just uploaded the schematics as published in Radio Electronics in May 1976 >> it's at : >> www.pclink.com/fauradon >> under the tech info page. > >This gives me an interesting dilemma. Is it going to be quicker for me to >figure out some way to print that out on my Postscript printer or for me >to trace the schematics out from the real hardware :-) > >-tony >

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

VAX 11/780 in today's Washington Post

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

In case anyone's interested, a front page story in today's (Tuesday, 9-MAR-1999) Washington's Post features a picture of a "VAX 11/780 Supercomputer" in a discussion of US policies towards supercomputer exports. The computer and two tape drives (TU77's?) are clearly visible. -- 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

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

YANU - uVax

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>The RQDX3 would let you use an RX50, but it's not clear to me that this >buys you very much. I don't think you can install VMS, Ultrix, or NetBSD >from RX50s. MicroVMS 4.x - a trimmed down VMS kit intended specifically for small installations - came on a couple dozen RX50's. I think this is just about as cruel as the Wagner Ring Cycle on "convenient" 45's. You can still build a VMS STABACKUP (standalone backup) kit on RX33's or RX50's, should you so desire. Just do @SYS$UPDATE:STABACKIT and answer the questions. The most convenient install medium for the past decade or so, of course, is CD-ROM. Alternatively, clustering a machine with an already-up node and moving the install sets over the network is pretty slick. -- 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

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

YANU - uVax

by emu＠ecubics.com

Hi, ---------- > From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Re: YANU - uVax > Date: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 1:08 AM > > At 10:39 PM 3/8/99 -0800, Zane H. Healy wrote: > >You are joking about wanting to "upgrade" aren't you? The only reason I > >can think of to do that is to attach a RX50, since you've already got a > >very good ESDI controller. I have all the controllers/rx50 ... I never used it. ESDI disks are easy to get, more capacity, .... > Yes, the only reason I want to add the RQDX3 is to have a monitor prom > supported bootable device with removable media. One of the uVax has the > Exabyte on it (I don't know if the Viking will boot it or not) and the > other has no media at all (although it does have a TK50 controller so if I > could find a TK50 drive that would work.) A TK50 is cheap, and you can boot from. > I'm going to try to net-boot NetBSD on it since I don't have any other > VAXen to cluster it with. If that is successful then perhaps it won't be > such a big deal, but I dislike computers that have a fairly high > infrastructure overhead before you can get them running. ?!?!?!?! Sorry, i have 2-3 uVax here, all of them have only cpu/mem/ethernet. All of them are working fine. "infrastructure overhead" ???? just my .0002 cents. cheers, emanuel

27 years, 4 months

3
4
0 0

Scanning old manuals

by edick＠idcomm.com

I had high hopes of benefitting from my sheet-fed scanner by scanning large software and hardware manuals into machine-readable files and searching them, but it turned out there is no easy way. Most scanner software sets, even the ones costing less than $100 including the scanner, have a "scan to text" mode, which means you lose all the illustrations but get a machine-readable text file. Subsequently, you have to reconnect them to the pictures by composing a new version of the document and inserting the pictures, scanned as line art or as color pictures, with the associated disk-space consumption. Tables, screened half-tones, and other highly structured images, regardless of the fact their content is really text, need to be treated as graphics because of the alignment of the printing grid with the scanner grid. If you scan screened photos, you can get lucky with the pictures, but it is just that . . . LUCK. Normally you have to take the most trouble with screened half-tone pictures. Once the document is scanned and composed, you can compress it and ship it around on the internet as an object. Dick ---------- > From: Arfon Gryffydd <arfonrg(a)texas.net> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: Scanning old manuals > Date: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 9:33 AM > > Okay, > > I have some old computer manuals and I just bought a scanner...... Anyone > care to suggest the best way to convert these manuals to electronic form > and not take up HUGE amounts of memory? > > Thanks, > > Arfon

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Scanning old manuals

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Mar 9, 12:32, Stephen Dauphin wrote: > I'd like to second this notion. Could those on this list, who are > scanning for posterity, share their methods? > > What platform(s), what hardware(s), what software(s). Any intermediary > format(s), final output format(s). Whatever it takes. I, too, would appreciate thoughts on software/platform. > [I note Jim Stricklan's reply came in while writing this. I have scanned > down to newspaper legal notice size. Is this 6 point? It OCRed virtually > identically at 200 or 300 dpi and the results were high 90%] That's not what I'd call "high". That means that on average, you have to correct or interpret every tenth character. I'd call less than 99% "low", not high. Our Department looked at this a few years ago, and rejected anything less than 95%, I think. Even that means correcting (or as one person put it, "clicking on") one character in every twenty. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Dept. of Computer Science University of York

27 years, 4 months

3
3
0 0

E&L Mini-Micro Designer

by rigdonj＠intellistar.net

I picked up an 8080 bread board trainer made by E&L Instruments this weekend. Does anyone have a manual for it? Joe

27 years, 4 months

3
6
0 0

Interesting to note about Altairs...

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<'click on this little picture to make it go'. Linux will do some damage i <the server market and other places where you have to have someone with som <computer smarts but, most corporate purse strings are again controlled by <those same 'click-idiots'. Not, will do. It is one of the significant players in the server market and growing. In that market teh cost of ownership and the ability to find people that know it and can grow it are big pluses. <I really wish GNU would take a good command line OS (like CP/M), make it <32/64 bit, and multi-tasking/user and add a GUI and try and compete with <Winblows. I'm a CP/m advocate but that really doesn't fly. First there are CP/M emulators for Linux already. The other is CP/M was never a prime time candidate for a GUI thing being totally single user and single tasking, the later CCPM may have had a shot. To keep closer to topic. Those that forget CP/M and what it was will forever repeat it's errors. It was good, is good and limited. The lack of heirachal directories is a serious limitation for modern software another is the size of disk and files (8mb in 2.2, 3.0 got it to 32mb). The single thread and single task problem would have to be dealt with as well. Then all the apps one would want would have to be ported from Z80 or worse 8088. There are people trying to do windows like/compatable interfaces but hitting the MS APIs is like shooting at a moving target. Besides Linux/unix has xwindows. What's missing is applications that appeal to those that already know windows. On the desktop no one cares what the OS is so long as the application they want/need runs under it. Allison

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Sorry...

by Anthony.Eros＠digital.com

Sheesh! Don't you just hate it when someone replies to the whole list instead of the one relevant person? Even worse, when they waste even more bandwidth and email space with useless "whole list" apologies! :-) -- Tony

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Interesting to note about Altairs...

by CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com

>Actually, I like them both for what they are. CP/M is nice because it is >simple. No libraries, no shared files, all files that are needed for an >application are usually in one directory and not strewn across the >directory structure. (But, it doesn't TCP/IP. DAMN!) > >Linux on the other hand is GREAT for it's multi-user, multi-tasking and >networking abilities! I love every one of my Linux boxes! But, it is a >flavor of Unix and therefore has endless numbers of library files (that >somehow are never the right version) and an application's needed support >files are strewn across 50 different directories. You make the "real world" sound like it's a competition between Microsoft products and Unix-derived products. In reality, there are many OS's out there which fall into neither category and are more than capable (and in all cases more capable than Unix-like or Microsoft OS's) to do the real-world jobs that they do. And many of these OS's run quite nicely on classic hardware, to boot. Anyone who thinks that the OS issue is entirely limited to Unix-alikes vs Microsoft vs CP/M is putting on a very limiting set of blinders as to what is out there doing the real work in banks, offices, factories, labs, and hospitals. -- 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

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

HP-85 belts/Capstan repair

by Anthony.Eros＠digital.com

Michael - I was part of the HP-85 belt group buy (5 sets,) but I can't find your note with the total owed and mailing address to send payment. Would you please resend the info to me? Thanks! -- Tony Eros 2105 Anson Road Wilmington, DE 19810 -----Original Message----- From: Michael Grigoni [SMTP:msg@computerpro.com] Sent: Monday, March 08, 1999 3:46 PM To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers Subject: HP-85 belts/Capstan repair Greetings to all: Since I've been absent for about a week, 800 messages have piled-up from the list; reviewing them will take awhile so I'm posting this to report on the HP-85 belt/capstan issues status globally. The belts have arrived and are being mailed-out early this week. I installed a set in our HP-85 and they work well. I tried a new approach to capstan repair which I find works very well. Clean the capstan of old rubber down to a minimal amount of residue with isopropyl. Obtain a can of dipping vinyl (for coating tool handles, etc.); most hardware stores should have it. Remove the capstan/encoder wheel ass'y from the motor shaft. Prepare the vinyl properly according to directions with the product. Dip the capstan (inverted) at the rate of about 5 seconds for its length, being careful to just dip just above the bottom rim of the capstan wheel so that the vinyl creates an overlap of 90 degrees. Withdraw the part at the same rate as insertion. Immediately invert the part and place on a level surface in a warm place to dry for four hours. During the drying time you will note that any vertical asymmetry evens out. Repeat with another dip and 4 hour dry. The results were very good and tests with an old tape containing an 84 record program produced no errors (reading or writing). Attached is a small jpg which gives an idea of the appearance of the results (max mag. avail with the camera lens). Michael Grigoni Cybertheque Museum << File: CAPSTAN2.JPG >>

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

More HP manuals (some new, some previously posted)

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

Note - the following item... >> Magnetic tape diagnostic nine-track 7970/13181 This is the manual for the diagnostic, not the diagnostic itself! Jay West

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

The new Amigas

by gareth.knight2＠which.net

John Foust replied: >>In a lot of cases Commodore shipped prototype machines to >>various maufacturers. I believe they used Sun systems to >>develop the original AmigaOS. > >They used Stratus 68000 boxes in the very early days. I remember >that; I don't remember the use of Suns quite as well. Yes that was it. I was confusing them with the Sun machines that the Los Gatos team bought after they were bought by Commodore. -- Gareth Knight Amiga Interactive Guide | ICQ No. 24185856 http://welcome.to/aig | "Shine on your star"

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

More HP manuals (some new, some previously posted)

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

Was cleaning out the manual shelf again... The following manuals are available free to a good home (yes, the titles are exact, if not long): Magnetic tape diagnostic nine-track 7970/13181 Maintenance manual 30032B asynchronous terminal controller for HP3000 computer systems Maintenance manual 30115A nine-track (NRZI-PE) magnetic tape subsystem for HP3000 computer systems Installation and service manual model 7905a cartridge disc subsystem for HP3000 computer systems Installation and service manual 40018A plenum assembly Installation and service manual model 13037A disc controller Operating and service manual 7970B/7970C digital magnetic tape units Operating and service manual 7970B/7970C digital magnetic tape units There is two of the last title. These are all manuals I have no use for or have duplicates of. Please - someone take them! Jay West

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

What classic equipment was rebadged?

by russmiller＠jps.net

>> HP machines at the last VCF?). But if TI puts bids out, then they care even >> less than I thought. Unless they have some perverse internal bid system? > >No, that's TI bidding the calculators to school districts. Obviously >they have to build what their customers want. I think 'bid specifications' have nothing to do with what customers want. It is boilerplate to be included in specifications for competitive bidding which will exclude other similar products. I've seen this done - you pick some irrelevant, but unique, features of the product you want to buy. Maybe you can avoid competitive bidding altogether by writing a sole-source justification. TI is just streamlining the acquisition process. Russ

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

YANU - uVax

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

(Yet Another Update) Thanks Megan! It turned out that when I removed the Viking tape card to inspect it I re-inserted it backward (no ears on that one). That meant the RQ11 wouldn't fit in slot 6 and that meant an empty slot. Q1) So how badly does it toast things in the Q-bus to be backwards in slots A-B ? Q2) Do all empty slots need to have bus grant boards? --Chuck

27 years, 4 months

6
9
0 0

PDP-11 (Qbus) disk question

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Is it impossible to use an RQDX2 on the Q-bus side of a DW11-B? I've run >a Unibus machine (an 11/45) with an RLV11, IBV11, MINC modules, etc on >the other side of a DW11-B with no problems. > >Never heard of it being done, but it might be fun to try.... I've never tried it myself, but if I had an 11/84, I would... I might just try having the cpu, mem, mem and a DELQA in the qbus part... But then, it has been a while since I last saw the insides of an 11/84 (I built one from parts found in the halls of the DEC Mill for use by the RT-11 development group way back when... We hadn't yet been able to requisition one, but had to support it anyway :-) 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Help, yet again...

by dogas＠leading.net

-----Original Message----- From: Megan <mbg(a)world.std.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> >Sorry... once I get my mits around hardware, it is hard to pry it >away from me... :-) Your husband must be very happy. ;) OK, you don't get to borrow it, but I'll look out for a second one with you in mind. - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Looking for a Versatec boot disk

by mikeparadiso＠worldnet.att.net

I recently picked up an old Versatec 8536 electrostatic plotter at a Hughes auction. When I inspected it, all the disks were there. A week later when I picked it up, as you might guess, all the 3.5" disks were gone. I am now looking for a set of disks to copy or purchase. Call Mike at 323 462-5772 or email mikeparadiso(a)worldnet.att.net

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

YANU - uVax

by mbg＠world.std.com

Darn, there was a mistake... so I had to redo it... - - - - - Let me answer like this... In a BA123: o The Qbus passes direct from slot1/ab to slot4/ab o For slots 5-12, it does the serpentine (5/ab, 5/cd, 6/cd, 6/ab, 7/ab, 7/cd, etc...) o All dual boards must be placed at some point in the serpentine. For slots 1-4, this means AB. For slots 5-12, this can be either AB or CD. o Quad boards which may not go in CD must go in slots 5-12 o For quad boards which can be either CD or Q/CD, the jumpers on-board must be set for the slot you are placing it in (there should be a couple of jumpers which are removed if the board is placed in a Q/CD slot, 1-4, and installed if it is placed in a Q/Q slot, 5-12) o For quad boards which can only go in Q/Q, they may only be placed in slots 5-12. o If you follow the serpentine, there should be no empty Qbus slots between the processor and the last board in the bus (there are exceptions, but for now regard it as a hard and fast rule). o For any gaps in the serpentine, you should install a M9047 o The RQDX1 is a mutant, since it doesn't pass any grant signals, it must be the last board in the bus o The RQDX2 tried to correct this, but didn't quite - it must be the last DMA device in the backplane... Non-DMA boards *can* be placed after it That's it in a nutshell. For a BA23, the critical numbers are slots 1-3 == Q/CD, 4-8 == Q/Q. There are also some backplanes with Q/CD in all slots, and some which are Q/Q in all slots. Know thy backplane! 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Help, yet again...

by mbg＠world.std.com

>After I get it built and have a chance to grok and run a few laps in it, >I'll let you *BORROW* it if you wish... Sorry... once I get my mits around hardware, it is hard to pry it away from me... :-) Thanks, I'll look for one of my own... :-) 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

YANU - uVax

by mbg＠world.std.com

>Thanks Megan! Any time... glad to help... >It turned out that when I removed the Viking tape card to inspect it I >re-inserted it backward (no ears on that one). That meant the RQ11 >wouldn't fit in slot 6 and that meant an empty slot. Whoops... I've done that once before (*once*) >Q1) So how badly does it toast things in the Q-bus to be backwards in >slots A-B ? >Q2) Do all empty slots need to have bus grant boards? Let me answer like this... In a BA123: o The Qbus passes direct from slot1/ab to slot4/ab o For slots 5-12, it does the serpentine (4/cd, 5/cd, 5/ab, 6/ab, 6/cd, etc) o All dual boards must be placed at some point in the serpentine. For slots 1-4, this means AB. For slots 5-12, this can be either AB or CD. o Quad boards which are not for CD, must go in slots 5-12 o For quad boards which can be either CD or Q/CD, the jumpers on-board must be set for the slot you are placing it in (there should be a couple of jumpers which are removed if the board is placed in a Q/CD slot, and installed if it is placed in a Q/Q slot) o For quad boards which can only go in Q/Q, they may only be placed in slots 5-12. o If you follow the serpentine, there should be no empty Qbus slots between the processor and the last board in the bus (there are exceptions, but for now regard it as a hard and fast rule). o For any gaps in the serpentine, you should install a M9047 That's it in a nutshell. For a BA23, the critical numbers are slots 1-3 == Q/CD, 4-8 == Q/Q 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 | +--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

FW: PDP-11/70's - Now you can owe one of these great work horses

by kyrrin＠my-dejanews.com

My God... and now we've got free PDP-11/70's in California. With SCSI, no less! Grab 'em while you can! -=-=- <break> -=-=- On Mon, 08 Mar 1999 14:48:25 -0800, in alt.sys.pdp11 you wrote: >>Message-ID: <36E453B9.E69B85EE(a)jps.net> >>Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 14:48:25 -0800 >>From: "E.B. Lieberman" <ebliebe(a)jps.net> >>Organization: Bank of America >>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.07 [en] (WinNT; I) >>MIME-Version: 1.0 >>Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11,comp.os.rsts,comp.os.vms >>Subject: PDP-11/70's - Now you can owe one of these great work horses >>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >>NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.239.202.39 >>X-NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.239.202.39 >>X-Trace: 8 Mar 1999 23:14:51 -0800, 209.239.202.39 >>Lines: 60 >>X-NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.63.224.240 >>Path: news1.jps.net!209.239.202.39 >>Xref: news1.jps.net alt.sys.pdp11:952 comp.os.rsts:69 comp.os.vms:21006 >> >>Now you can own a PDP-11/70! Yep, that's right. >> >> I'm not talking about those little 11/8x and 11/9x Q-bus jobs. >> I'm talking about the real thing; you know with MASSBUS and all. >> >>A global financial institution, previously headquartered in Northern >>California, is getting ready to say goodbye to the last of its >>PDP-11/70's. These machines (there are eight of them), were used as >>message store and forward switches for nearly 20 years. Great minds >>have tried to count the number of times the world wide GNP have flowed >>through these systems; and failed !!! >> >>Each CPU has roughly the same configuration as follows: >> >> QED 11/70 processor upgrade with 4Mb memory plus cache running at >>multiple VUP speeds. >> (Wow, faster than a 11/780, VAX engineering - eat your hearts >>out); >> >> Two System Industries CLUSTOR III MASSBUS disk controllers with 16 >>Seagate 1.0 Gig drives >> built with SMD interfaces. Ten drives are fixed while the remaining >>are in removable >> canisters; >> >> One Fujitsu 2480M/3480 SCSI tape drive (emulates a TU81) plus >>SCSI-UNIBUS controller; >> >> One TE16 or TU16 magtape drive (MASSBUS); >> >> Two DV-11's with modem control (16 channel sync or async adapters) >>and custom drivers >> set up for a variation on IBM BISYNC; >> >> Three DZ-11's and an ETHERNET DELUA; >> >> Plus software to show you that all hardware components are >>functional; >> >>Did I say eight (8) CPU's? There's more !! >>For a short time only, we can throw in tons of spares that include: >> >> More QED's, SETASI memory (2Mb and 4Mb), more DV-11's, more DZ-11's, >>full 11/70 CPU kits, >> DH-11's, DHQ-11's, 50-60 extra Seagate drives, as described above, >>in removable canisters, >> 24 or so extra SI CLUSTOR controllers, 3 to its own 19" rack. >> >>Am I finished? No way !!! >> >> I'll even throw in a few RP06 disk packs. The platters are great >>for making Frisbee's out of >> (kids, don't play with these without adult supervision). >> >> Boxes of hardware manuals and even a TECO manual (the first real >>editor that today still has the >> best macro generator going). >> >>So if you are interested in taking the entire lot (en masse), then drop >>me a line and we can talk about it. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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..."

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

FW: Free PDP-11/34A in Germany

by kyrrin＠my-dejanews.com

Don't know if we have any subscribers in or near Germany, but... If so, this may be worth a shot. Contact the owner directly if interested. -=-=- <break> -=-=- From: "Norbert Gmeinwieser" <NorbertGmeinwieser(a)swol.de> Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp11 Subject: PDP11/34A for free Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 20:55:55 +0100 Lines: 38 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 NNTP-Posting-Host: kons57.swol.de Message-ID: <36e43894(a)news.swol.de> X-Trace: 8 Mar 1999 21:52:36 +0100, kons57.swol.de Organization: personal X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 195.238.142.105 Path: news1.jps.net!news.pbi.net!131.119.28.147!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!nntp.flash.net!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!newsfeed.cwix.com!195.99.66.215!news-feed1.eu.concert.net!news-feed1.de1.concert.net!news.ipcore.viaginterkom.de!news.swol.de!kons57.swol.de Xref: news1.jps.net alt.sys.pdp11:950 Because of lack of time I would like to give my PDP11 in good hands. Location: South Germany, Konstanz The following modules are installed: KD11-EA M8266,M8265 FP11-A M8267 Bootstrap ROM M9301YF Prog. Console M7859 MOS Memory 248K (not DEC !) RX11 Unibus M7846, (2 Drives #0,#1 in a box = RX01) DL11/W SLU/RTC M7856 Tape Drive TS03 M7911,M7912,M7821,M796,M105,M795 RK11-D Control. M7254,M7255,M7256,M7257 some Unibus connectors M9202,M920 Bus Terminator M9302 Complete in a 19" * 71" cabinet 2 RK05J drives are mounted - one with a deffective blower motor. additional: * a complete box BA?? with memory,CPU, RK05 controller can be used as spare parts. * other spare parts: CPU and RK11 Control - boards only * media : may be 100 8" floppy disks, ~10 decpack for RK05J * OS: RT11, floppy set for RT11-03 (one with read errors), fortran 4 (not tested) last power on time was some years (~3) ago. any questions to: NorbertGmeinwieser(a)swol.de -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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..."

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

SWTPC and NETRONICS Parts

by jeff.kaneko＠juno.com

I could use the MP-A2, how much you asking? Jeff ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Apple //c

by fauradon＠pclink.com

My mistake, I was misleading in saying that the cricket is in a separate enclosure; actually it is in it's own box with only a cable coming out with a connector that could fit in the modem or printer connectors (Serial device comes to mind) I'll do more web search before posting on the comp.sys.apple2 Thanks for the answers Francois >On Mon, 8 Mar 1999, Francois wrote: > >> I just got a //c over the Week End, >> It came with what looks like a sound system: the item is in a separate >> enclosure with what looks like a speaker and a volume knob. It's labelled >> "cricket". Does anyone on the list have any infor on this item? Power >> requirement, software that uses it etc... > >Its a speech synthesizer speaker box. Unless a Cricket card was made that >could be installed inside the //c (I'm not aware of such a thing although >I won't rule it out) then this box probably went with something like a //e >that did have the speech synthesizer card in it. > >Er, wait a second, I'm thinking of something different. I do remember >reading articles in mid-80s Apple magazines that were advertising the >Cricket. It may very well have been for the //c. > >Try posting this message on comp.sys.apple2. Somewhere there should be >able to help you more than this message. > >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: 02/15/99] >

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

The new Amigas

by gareth.knight2＠which.net

Derek Peschel wrote: >You're putting an entirely different slant on what I said. I was under the >impression that the CD32 was a big failure. (Maybe I was thinking of the >CDTV.) Besides, what you said is literally true -- if you except CD-ROM, >then DVD-ROM IS novel. :) Commodore going bust cut the CD32 down in its prime. In the UK it sold the most CD-based software from the time of its release until around August 1994. Admittedly CD sales were not what they are now and it was up against competitors such as the Mega CD, CDi, and PC-CD ROM. >Maybe my lack of real Amiga experience has skewed my perspective. Maybe I >should not post so late at night. :) <PLUG>Hey! Visit my webpage for the complete guide to the Amiga. URL in the sig.</PLUG> >Except for the CD-32 and the CDTV (which IIRC were not that popular, at >least the CDTV) I don't think the Amiga has been released on a set-top box >configuration before. It was not the first time such an idea was proposed for the Amiga. When Escom bought the Amiga in 1995 they licensed the OS and chipset to an American company called Viscorp (now known as US Digital). They hired a number of Amiga personalities, including Carl Sassenrath, to create their "Amiga ED" system. From what I have seen the machine was in a semi-complete stage at the time of Escom's liquidation. There is a brief description of it on my web site- http://www.onlyamiga.freeserve.co.uk/amigaed.html. I've also got some interesting pictures of the machine in action that will be uploaded sometime in the future. Yesterday I mentioned the Siamese PCI card. I've just checked one of my other email accounts and have been told that development has stalled. From what I have heard Amiga Inc have stopped backing the project and there are major concerns about the state of the "Classic" Amiga market (as always). -- Gareth Knight Amiga Interactive Guide | ICQ No. 24185856 http://welcome.to/aig | "Shine on your star"

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Interesting to note about Altairs...

by dogas＠leading.net

-----Original Message----- From: Allison J Parent <allisonp(a)world.std.com> >There are people trying to do windows like/compatable interfaces but >hitting the MS APIs is like shooting at a moving target I guess by this you mean the constant flow of new COM interfaces/controls and extensions... The Win32 SDK itself has been immutably around for quite awhile. - Mike: dogas(a)leading.net

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

PDP-11 (Qbus) disk question

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<I've got several PDP-11's, all unibus - that use the RQDX2 controller. Impossible! RQDX2 is Qbus. ;) <A friend of mine just came up with a 380mb Maxtor ESDI drive. Will the RQDX <support it? RQDX1/2/3 support MFM not EDSI. It's of no help to you. Two possible choices, find a MAXTOR2190 or find a EDSI controller. Allison

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Viking QTO tests?

by cmcmanis＠freegate.com

Whew! The uVax II is talking to me again. With Megan's help and a couple of others the boards have been correctly arranged and once again I get the 'chevron' prompt. I use the following magic to get into WOMBAT on the controller: >>> D/P/W 20001F40 20 >>> D/L 20088008 80000002 >>> D/W <csr> AC >>> S 400 Where <csr> is replaced with 20001468 in my case. It varies based on how the switches are set. The WQESD manual claims you can get into WOMBAT by typing 'W' if the right switch is set but my VAX just says "illegal command" The disk controller doesn't "see" my ESDI disk but I've got some cable damage on the 34 pin cable that I need to repair. (replacing the cable) However, after the mistake of connecting the QTO card in backwards I'm trying to find some way to test it. My best guess is to put a tape in the drive and try to boot from it but I don't know what the device name would be... any help here would be good. --Chuck

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

PDP-11/70's - Now you can own one of these great work horses (fwd)

by jpl15＠netcom.com

Heads Up!! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 14:57:29 -0800 From: E.B. Lieberman <ebliebe(a)jps.net> To: Info-PDP11(a)transarc.com Subject: PDP-11/70's - Now you can own one of these great work horses Now you can own a PDP-11/70! Yep, that's right. I'm not talking about those little 11/8x and 11/9x Q-bus jobs. I'm talking about the real thing; you know with MASSBUS and all. A global financial institution, previously headquartered in Northern California, is getting ready to say goodbye to the last of its PDP-11/70's. These machines (there are eight of them), were used as message store and forward switches for nearly 20 years. Great minds have tried to count the number of times the world wide GNP have flowed through these systems; and failed !!! Each CPU has roughly the same configuration as follows: QED 11/70 processor upgrade with 4Mb memory plus cache running at multiple VUP speeds. (Wow, faster than a 11/780, VAX engineering - eat your hearts out); Two System Industries CLUSTOR III MASSBUS disk controllers with 16 Seagate 1.0 Gig drives built with SMD interfaces. Ten drives are fixed while the remaining are in removable canisters; One Fujitsu 2480M/3480 SCSI tape drive (emulates a TU81) plus SCSI-UNIBUS controller; One TE16 or TU16 magtape drive (MASSBUS); Two DV-11's with modem control (16 channel sync or async adapters) and custom drivers set up for a variation on IBM BISYNC; Three DZ-11's and an ETHERNET DELUA; Plus software to show you that all hardware components are functional; Did I say eight (8) CPU's? There's more !! For a short time only, we can throw in tons of spares that include: More QED's, SETASI memory (2Mb and 4Mb), more DV-11's, more DZ-11's, full 11/70 CPU kits, DH-11's, DHQ-11's, 50-60 extra Seagate drives, as described above, in removable canisters, 24 or so extra SI CLUSTOR controllers, 3 to its own 19" rack. Am I finished? No way !!! I'll even throw in a few RP06 disk packs. The platters are great for making Frisbee's out of (kids, don't play with these without adult supervision). Boxes of hardware manuals and even a TECO manual (the first real editor that today still has the best macro generator going). So if you are interested in taking the entire lot (en masse), then drop me a line and we can talk about it.

27 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Interesting to note about Altairs...

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

At 09:35 AM 3/8/99 -0800, Sellam Ismail wrote: >How "rare" can something be when an instance of it goes up for auction >every damn week!? Doug Yowza noted that there is one Altair or another on >sale at ebay every day! This is the point isn't it? Finding an Altair at a garage sale or swap meeting in Bloomington Indiana would be like finding the Holy Grail in a pawn shop, not friggin likely. But when you expand the garage sale to cover the whole freakin planet the chances go up to about 1.0. Added to that is that while only about 130 to 200M of us are actually online, given the natural connectivity of the human race we probably have access to the garages of more than 40% of the developed nations. That sort of re-defines rare in a different way, and after the orgasmic frenzy has passed of finding things that used to be incredibly hard to find in your local neighborhood, expectations will get reset and the market will rationalize and the so called "bottom" will drop out of Altair prices. --Chuck

27 years, 4 months

4
3
0 0

PDP-11 (Qbus) disk question

by jlwest＠tseinc.com

I've got several PDP-11's, all unibus - that use the RQDX2 controller. A friend of mine just came up with a 380mb Maxtor ESDI drive. Will the RQDX2 support it? Jay West

27 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

The TI 34010

by gareth.knight2＠which.net

Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote: > My idea of a perfect computer is the Amiga (or it's the closest thing yet >I've found). Enough hardware to keep the hardware guys happy, and the best >kernel design I've seen in a long time to keep the software guys happy. >Heck, the AmigaOS even has controlled ways for programs to take over the >hardware. And it's still a great gaming system. Then you're going to be very happy this November when the next generation Amigas are launched. -- Gareth Knight Amiga Interactive Guide | ICQ No. 24185856 http://welcome.to/aig | "Shine on your star"

27 years, 4 months

9
14
0 0

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb