Hi All,
I've just archived my Catamount Pertec Controller software and manuals as I
couldn't find a copy anywhere else.
The ATC-8 and ATC-16 series of Pertec controllers are still being sold by
Electrovalue, but with a different software package. I personally find the
Catamount software much more useful, as it allows for labelled backups,
programming tools, and hard drive + serial + parallel device emulation.
This is version 3.2F.
Software: https://archive.org/details/Catamount_ATC-16
Manuals: https://archive.org/details/3.2Manual
The software is in ZIP and IMD format, but I should be able to make IMG
dumps if anyone wants them. (not that it's really necessary)
Hopefully this will be of use to someone,
-Tom
> From: Tom Moss
> I guess I'll have to get myself a TU56 at some point.
Good luck with that! They are rare _and_ expensive; I'm trying to find one
myself!
Do you have a TC11 or TC08 (not sure which kind of system you're working with)
already? If not, those are even rarer! :-)
Noel
I recently got a NeXTstation Turbo running NeXTSTEP 3.3 (with patch 2
applied). It's a fresh install, and I have a complete set of floppies and
disks, including the development CD. The system seems to be working great!
I've burned a CD with OmniWeb 2.7 beta 3 and untar'ed it on the system.
Unfortunately, when I try to open an HTML document, it briefly comes up
with the browser window, then crashes. You can find OmniWeb here:
http://files.omnigroup.com/software/Archive/NEXTSTEP/OmniWeb/
I'm not all too familiar with NeXTSTEP, so I'm not sure how I'd go about
debugging this. But I figured I'd check here first to see if anyone has a
recommended browser for NeXTSTEP 3.3. I would prefer to keep it at 3.3 and
not move onto OPENSTEP if possible, just to keep things original.
I also have Nexus, but I can't even seem to get it to open its browser at
all. Document -> Open does nothing at all. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Kyle
Just dug my IBM 65sx out, which had already lost 2 of its original 6MB due
to a bad memory module - but it seems like the remaining 4MB is not very
happy, either, and it flakes out at 3.7MB or so.
Obviously I need to source some replacement RAM. Does anyone know if the
systems are picky about what they'll work with? I believe they have to have
parity (unless there's some magic jumper/setting somewhere to make it work
with non-parity stuff), but are there any other gotchas involved in terms
of DRAM type, capacities etc.?
(I'm wondering about trying some of the RAM from my SGI Indigo2, but I
think that would mean losing 128MB from the system to give up a 32MB module
for the IBM, as I believe the SGI needs them to be installed in groups of 4
- that's assuming that it's even compatible, anyway)
cheers
Jules
Hi All,
I have what appears to be an Altair 8800 with the original Rev 0 front
panel, but the rear panel and PSU is a back-to-front version of what's
standard on the 8800b.
Pictures at http://imgur.com/a/2EVRS
I'm guessing this is a factory error, since the bare patch for the bridge
rectifier and case holes are inverted too. But I'm aware of an upgrade kit
(8800b-PS) that was offered to 8800 owners. So I'm guessing that's where
the PSU and panel came from.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Are there others like it?
Regards,
-Tom
>Help would be nice reverse-engineering the chipset.
>I also picked up some of the Russian versions of the >instruction decode chip.
Any idea how one can do it ???
---
L'absence de virus dans ce courrier ?lectronique a ?t? v?rifi?e par le logiciel antivirus Avast.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Hi, all: I recently bought a PDP-11/45 [well, a /55, to be technical; the /45,
/50 and /55 are completely identical except for i) the memory options
installed at purchase, and ii) the printing on the front console :-], but
alas, when I looked closely, it is missing both upper and lower CPU fan
assemblies. (No doubt, removed to allow cannabilization of the fans, to keep
another machine running.)
(For those who aren't familiar, these are long brackets to which a number of
the usual square fans are bolted; one is placed above, and one below, the
cards in the main pull-out rack of the CPU. The one on top is hinged along the
long edge, so it can be rolled back out out of the way, for running cables to
boards.)
So, does anyone i) have a spare set they don't want (I know, I know, I know,
p < .00001, but maybe a miracle will happen); ii) have a set they can lend me
so that I can get the sheet-metal part copied (I might get a spare or two made
at the same time, depending on price, so we have some on hand); iii) failing
all of the above, be willing to take lots of pictures, and some measurements,
of a set, to aid in making reproductions.
Thanks (hopefully :-)!
Noel
> From: Jim Stephensn
> thanks for the help.
Eh, always happy to help anyone with PDP-11 stuff.
> the buddy mentioned above did a lot of dec maintenance and put these
> cables in a pile as he found them..
They're probably worth a good bit now, given how scarce they are! ;-)
> Also will order some parts to make the cable off the M7940.
You might want to order some 10-pin shells (for the DLV11-J, etc) at the same
time, those are really common on later DEC gear - the DLV11/DLV11-J was the
transition point.
(Actually, although there are only 10 pins, it looks like the connector
housings will hold 14-pin shells, so it you want to not have to carefully
align the cable before plugging it in, go for 14's. Haven't tried this
personally - yet - so take that one with a grain of salt!)
I'm off to order some 14-pin shells myself! :-)
Noel
> From: Jim Stephensn
> I'm looking for a cable or cable pinout to get the console of this
> 11/03 going.
> ...
> It has a M7940-YA DLV11 controller.
Hmm. I can't find anything online about the -YA variant of the DLV11; the
DLV11 prints (MP00055) don't seem to show it.
I don't know exactly wqhat the "extra wires to bring out clock & .. 110/300
speed change" entail - and whether you have to have the right jumpers, etc in
the Berg connector to make it run?
Maybe the easier path would be to buy a different DL-type serial line board
(plain DLV11, DLV11-E, DLV11-F, DLV11-J), they're available on eBait for not
much money, usually - unless you already have one on hand, of course. (Or did
you - for authenticity reasons - _have_ to run the -YA card?)
Those are all a known quantity, pinout-wise; the first three all use the
standard DL11 cable [same as the UNIBUS one, M7800], the last one uses the
smaller header common to the later QBUS machines (e.g. 11/23+, etc).
If you have the Berg female shells and pins (not sure if you do; if not,
definitely worth getting them, since the cables are basically unobtainable,
but fairly easy to make), but don't know the pinout for them, let me know,
and I can supply both null-modem and non-null-modem cable diagrams (for DB25
connectors, already worked out; I have made DB9 serial cables, but not for
direct connection to a DLV11, but could generate those too).
Noel
+2 with Marc !!!!
HP Boards, please, HP boards ;-)
---
L'absence de virus dans ce courrier ?lectronique a ?t? v?rifi?e par le logiciel antivirus Avast.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Hi all,
I've just emailed Rod Smallwood about a replacement panel, but in the
meantime, I have some chipping and curling at the edges of the panel paint
near the switches which seems to be getting worse and spreading.
Is there a way to seal the curling paint edges to prevent further damage?
perhaps clear nail polish?
thanks,
- Ian
--
Ian Finder
(206) 395-MIPS
ian.finder at gmail.com
> From: Jim Stephensn
> The 9400-YE has the cables that formerly went to the 11-780. I'm not
> sure what it does. ... I'm not sure if the M9400 needs to be pulled or
> not to run the system.
This one I actually can answer, since I've been looking for /780
documentation: found some, but nothing on the hardware config of the console
front end, alas. But I did discover about how the LSI-11 is interfaced to the
VAX!
The M9400-YE is a standard QBUS card for doing QBUS extension boxes; the QBUS
leaves the M9400-YE (at the end of one box) on a couple of cables, which
normally go to a M9401 (the sister card to the M9400) in the first slot of
the next box.
In the /780, the cables from the M9400-YE instead go to a card in the VAX
CPU, an M8236 (the CIB - CPU Console Interface Board, I think). That board
contains i) a bunch of ROM for the LSI-11, and ii) registers which allow the
LSI-11 access to the inside of the /780 CPU - all of which are actually on
the LSI-11's QBUS, logically/electrically.
So, as to the M9400 - you can pull it, or leave it - there are no active
components on it (although it does have termination pull-ups). Do pull the
cables, though - they'd be un-terminated antennas...
> The M9400 seems to possibly be the Floppy boot and some other logic.
There are some versions of the M9400 which contain ROM chips with a
bootstrap. The M9400-YE, which you have, does not have these; it only has the
headers for the cables, and the pull-up resistors.
> The line below that I clipped out, about the M7940-YA is for the
> adjacent card, and has no cable, just the open blue one waiting for an
> IDE cable to the back for serial connections.
Err, it's not an IDE cable, although it is a 40-pin connector; it is used
with special round cables, the wiring of which I described in an earlier
message.
> A post by Tony Duell some years back states that the M7940-YA may have
> both a current loop and RS232 drivers for the port. That ... might
> explain the puzzling extra bit in the Dec module description about
> extra wires.
No, the stock M7940 _already_ has support for both EIA and 20mA; see the
DLV11 prints (MP-00055), pg. 6; the EIA stuff is in the top right-hand
corner, the 20mA in the bottom right-hand.
On that same page, lower left, note the baud rate clock generation; note
that's entirely set by jumpers, so if there's some off-board way to set
it in the M9740-YA, they must have modified this area of the board.
Noel
> From: Jim Stephensn
>> "extra wires to bring out clock & .. 110/300 speed change"
> I am mainly asking if I want to hook up a terminal, can I get it going
> with TD, RD and GND (or 2 3 7 on a DB25), or do I need to loop back any
> of the other pins.
Well, without knowing how those extra pins work, it's very hard to say. Given
that _apparently_ one could change the baud rate externally (which means that
there's something in the cable - or at its other end - to do baud rate
selection), I'd _guess_ that a stock cable probably wouldn't work.
If you find a set of 11/780 prints, that _might_ include the specialized
cable for this beast, but short of that, you're talking signal trace/etc time.
> I have several 4 port DLV boards, but want to go with this as a
> reference. I paid a bit too much for it because it was "working"
Yes, but it doesn't have the cable!
Trust me, swapping to a DLV11-J is a fully known, simple, approach - not like
trying to work with a serial board with an unknown header pinout!
And that 'working' was some decades back! Who knows what the situation is now!
> I don't want to screw it up by replacing cards.
If all you do is replace the M7940 with an M8043 in the same slot, that
shouldn't present a problem (make sure the M8043 is configured properly to be
the console, though; it is, however, very well documented).
> I know even less about loading the backplane than I do about hooking up
> a serial cable.
That's OK, I have recently run both M7940's and M8043's in my QBUS systems
here; they are a straight replacement (albeit using different cables - a
40-pin Berg/DuPont connector on the former, and 10-pin Berg/DuPont on
the second one).
> I was hoping to get some idea whether the correct cable might be
> available from someone on the list first, and buy it, or better, find
> out how to spot them on ebay. I've had a lot of luck with the boards,
> but none with finding listings for cabling.
Like I say, I expect the cable for the M7940-YA is a special item. As for
cables on eBay - fuhgeddabahtit!
Well, that's not quite true: seller 'conflandard' has some console cables for
sale, but I think only DLV11-J/11-23+ type (they are the same cable,
basically - the header pinout on the two cards is the same, the difference is
that the stock 11/23+ cable allows baud rate selection on the back panel -
but an 11/23+ _will_ work with a stock DLV11-J cable, provided the board is
jumpered correctly).
I've _never_ seen a DL11 type cable (with the 40-pin Berg/Du Pont connector)
for sale on eBay - well, not EIA ones. I think someone had an 20mA one for
sale, once.
> and trying the 4 port cards. Most of them came from the cheap scrap
> guy, so I don't know the state of them as well. I've seen some people
> found there were duds in the pile.
_Most_ of the cards I bought from him worked (I haven't been able to try them
all, e.g. I don't have a working UNIBUS machine yet). The one exception was a
DLV11-J on which two of the four serial ports didn't work.
Once you have a working machine/board set, it all becomes much easier, of
course - you can swap boards around and see which ones are working. (If you'd
like, you can send me the DLV11-J, and I'll either send you a known
fully-good one, or test yours and send it back, along with the results. I've
done this for other people here.)
>> I can supply both null-modem and non-null-modem cable diagrams (for
>> DB25 connectors, already worked out; I have made DB9 serial cables,
>> but not for direct connection to a DLV11, but could generate those
>> too).
> I'd love that
OK, let me go unearth the cable diagrams - or I suppose I could just look
at a cable, I have a couple of mostly-finished ones on the workbench at the
moment! :-)
Noel
> From: Johnny Billquist
> I doubt the -YA makes any significant difference here.
> ...
> Note that a -YA normally means it's just a board with a newer revision.
> It do not normally means any change in functionality, except perhaps
> some improvement. But in general totally compatible.
This might be the exception to that rule! Note the description "extra wires to
bring out clock & 110/300 speed change"; if one could in fact change the baud
rate _off the card_, there's probably some special magic in the interface (and
thus the cable). I suggest consulting 11/780 manuals to see how it was used.
Noel
> From: Jim Stephensn
>> I can supply both null-modem and non-null-modem cable diagrams (for
>> DB25 connectors, already worked out; I have made DB9 serial cables,
>> but not for direct connection to a DLV11, but could generate those
>> too).
> I'd love that
OK, here are the bits.
For the 40-pin Berg/DuPont male header, when looking at the _header_ (on the
board) face-on, component-side up, pin A is in the lower left corner; they
then follow the 'DEC Alphabet' (What, you don't have this memorized? For
working with DEC gear, it's mandatory: 'ABCDEFHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZ' - G, I, O and
Q are dropped), and then repeated, AA-VV.
For the 40-pin connector (M7800 DL11, M7940 DLV11):
A - Ground
B - Ground
E - Interlock IN
F - EIA Serial Output
J - EIA Serial Input
M - EIA Interlock OUT
So for a 'normal' serial cable (i.e. DTE, male DB25), connect J to pin 3, and
F to 2. For a 'null modem' serial cable (i.e. DCE, female DB25), connect J to
pin 2, and F to pin 3. Grounds connect to pins 1/7. Pin E must be connected
to M. For other signals, consult the DL11 User's Manual (DEC-11-HDLAA-B-D),
it has a full table.
For the 10-pin header, when looking at the _header_ face-on, component-side
up, pin 1 is in the upper right corner; pin 6 is missing (interlock), and 10
is in the lower left.
For the 10-pin connector (M8043 DLV11-J, M8189 11/23+, M8190 11/83-84):
1 - Clock input
2 - Ground
3 - Transmit +
4 - Transmit -
5 - Ground
6 - Index
7 - Receive -
8 - Receive +
9 - Ground
10 - +12V
It's set up to do either differential, or single-sided; the usual EIA usage
is to ground the - side of the received data, so you can run single-sided. So
for a cable _with_ null modem (i.e. DCE, to a female DB25), you want to
connect:
Header DB25 Signal
2 7 Ground
3 3 Transmit Data
7 Loopback IN
8 2 Receive Data
9 Loopback OUT
For a normal DTE cable (to male DB25), swap pins 2 and 3 on the DB25 in
the list above.
I don't have notes for the cables to a DB9, to connect up directly to a PC's
serial input port, but if you want, they are pretty easy to put together a
list for.
(I did make a female-female DB9-DB9 cable, with null modem built in, to test
my serial line program, so I have the pinout for those too - just no PDP-11
direct to PC cables; I had a stack of DB25 to DB9 adaptors that I bought on
eBait, and I wanted all my PDP-11 cables wired to DB25's, so I'd be able to
interconnect -11's easily.)
Noel
> From: Henk Gooijen
> As far as my limited PDP-11 knowledge goes, none of them used
> handshake.
I'm pretty sure this is true of all the ones that had a hardwired serial
console - it's definitely true of the 11/23 and J11 chip ones (/73, etc), and
probably the 11/03's too (although it's been 30+ years since I used one of
those, so don't hold me to that :-).
> So, Rxd, TxD and GND is all you need to connect.
Errq, many of them _require_ a loop-back between a pair of pins on the
Berg/DuPont connector to operate - this is true of the DL11 (M7800 - UNIBUS),
DLV11 (M7940 - QBUS), DLV11-J (M8043) and 11/23+, for instance), and probably
the 11/83-84 too. So just connecting up R, X, and Gnd alone won't do it.
> Also, common (?) is *no* parity.
That, and number of bits, I have no idea about - we always changed things to
our local standard (8 bits, no parity, 2 stop bits, IIRC) straight away. Best
to check the hardware, and see what it's set to, and either set it to what
you're using, or change what you're plugging into it to match.
Noel
Those interested can download schematics for the ACI90 / WD9000 PascalMicroengine from my FTP site :
ftp.dreesen.ch/WD9000
You might notice sheet 5 missing, that is just the pinout of the PCB edge connector.
AFAIK these are not available elsewhere. More to follow whenever I get around to it.
And then around 100 / 150 8" floppies to image....
Jos Dreesen
> From: Pierre Gebhardt
> Lee and Rich,
> thanks a million for sharing .. your memories about George and his
> commitment regarding the preservation of these Sigma systems!!!
Ditto.
Noel
> Brad Parker wrote:
>
> That, and the newspaper printed versions of DDJ featuring some teaching
> language (pilot?) in HP basic, caused me to pursue software with a
> vengeance.
>
Yup, the language was indeed PILOT, which was a language focused on CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction). It was written in BASIC (a pretty large series of programs) on the HP Timeshared BASIC system. It was used quite a bit in the Chemistry and Math curriculums at the high school I went to run courseware for these classes. It annoyed us computer guys, as it meant more kids coming in to compete for the online 33ASR TTYs!
Rick Bensene
The Old Calculator Museum
http://oldcalculatormuseum.com
Hello list,
spotted this video recently on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQzDSOXHd70
It's a Xerox Digital Systems mainframe! Wow, I didn't know that such installations were still running as of 1997!
The computer room is quite untidy. Andybody has an idea, where with was filmed?
There's also a Data General minicomputer and Honeywell mainframe equipment.
Can anybody identify the Honeywell stuff? It's Level 6000 style, but
it's strange to me that there seems to be just this one cabinet along the
rest of the XDS equipment. Maybe a Datanet option?
There are *very* nice close views on running CDC disk drives using the 100/200MB disk packs.
I was looking for a long time for a video actually showing how the big head actuator
of these drives moves when performing data operations!
And there are nice reel tape drives which look to me like rebadged IBM drives (not sure, though).
Enjoy watching it! I did!
Kind regards,
Pierre
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de
Hi Guys
Ok I now have the pricing for the current run of panels.
Featuring all new silk screens.
PDP-8/e Type A or B ?65.00 UKP + Ship to US at ?15 UK =
?80.00 = USD $121.00
PDP-8/f or /m ?70.00 UKP + Ship to US at ?15
UK = ?85.00 = USD $130.00
Payment as before to my PayPal account using my email address
rodsmallwood52 at btinternet.com
Regards
Rod
I'm looking for a cable or cable pinout to get the console of this 11/03
going. I figure to ask the simple question here rather than dig my self
a hole trying to puzzle it out or guess the solution.
http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2015/11/pdp-1103-system.html
It has a M7940-YA DLV11 controller. I hope to get it working and run
thru some testing of the other boards I've accumulated and sell one back
off to end up with a working system.
I'll probably be in the market or need to try to set up a floppy drive
as this appears to have a floppy controller to also have a bit more
functionality.
Right now ODT and some fun would be nice.
thanks
Jim
http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2015/11/pdp-1103-system.html
>Curious as to the setup you are attempting this with, i.e. exactly what
modem are you
>using?
>One in the base of the 33 or some common external one?
>
>I'm not familiar with all the possible modem variations one might find in a
33, but
>AIUI the modem for the 33 at the standard 110 bps was Bell 101 standard.
>
>There's not going to be a lot to talk to out there using the old
parameters.
>Even if someone had an auto-baud dial-in setup out there somewhere, I
wouldn't
>anticipate it being compatible.
>
>We have a 101-standard modem (in the base of a 33) around here, but have
never tried it >or tried connecting it to a phone line, I'm also not
familiar with it enough to know
>how originate/answer issues are dealt with (whether it can do both) for
such 33 to 33
>communication.
Okay, this is where things get cool. For you folks who have issues with
javascript heavy pages, I don't recommend clicking the following image
links.
The teletype is connected to one of the original 300 baud Hayes Smartmodems
I had in a box doing nothing which solves a lot of problems with trying to
make an older dataset work with the much more plentiful Smartmodems and
their later clones by just about everyone. (which as a few have mentioned
have no issue working at 110 but with a catch) That I've found so far you
can dial pretty much any other hardware modem that isn't relying on a DSP or
sound CODEC (so late ISA and all PCI cards don't work) and it will work by
pure modulation. You just need to make sure the COM port on the machine is
set for (or will automatically detect and switch to) 110 or else it assumes
300 and nothing works.
The quirk I added however is that I took the guts of the teletype's UCC6 and
a TWX controller and built a custom CCU that gives me feedback on the modem
status and lets me control and dial from the front panel. The modem itself
now hides in the stand and I don't need to type in commands to do anything.
It looks as if it's a factory option. I even added a feature where in
Automatic Answer mode the motor is relay controlled by the modem itself.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/CGS_1118
.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/IMG_1390
.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/teletype
/CGS_1131.jpg
I have a massive writeup and a video that are about ready to go live but I
need a set of videos demonstrating the setup connecting to a remote user,
connecting to a remote machine and a remote user dialing into the teletype.
That's where I was having my troubles.
>Why don't you suggest the easiest and obvious: use a small analog PBX.
>There are _plenty_ of them floating around, and most can be had for free;
>you could for example even use your FritzBox Phone (a DSL WiFi Router with
>analog phone ports). Then you can do internal calls from one port to any
?other port (and also use your old rotary dial phone with VoIP if you
>like).
People have been nagging me for the last year to get a Panasonic 308. I've
yet to come across one so far that wasn't weirdly priced, plus my parents
aren't interested in a PBX being installed in their house.
-John
> Cindy Croxton wrote
>This week I passed up a
> large (at least 24" per side) HP server mainboard from the 70s
Large HP boards from the 70's. This sounds just about perfect. This one
would have fit the description of a HP 1000 mainboard pretty well. Medium
sized ones too. Anything HP from the 70's or early 80's for that matter.
Bring' em home!
Marc
Hi Guys
1 Real 8/e panel as absolute check leaves US on its way to
me to-day
2. Out of twenty slots sixteen have gone. That leaves four.
If they don't go before printing starts I'll have them
screened to uncommitted /e (can become A or B)
3. For me its back to PDP11/40 thru 11/70 layouts.
4. Anybody need a one off. I'm trying to find an economic
way to handle custom jobs
5. I'm also looking at an option to put manufacturing
locations on as found on some systems (default is Maynard)
Rod
Drat!? I just bought one for $10,000 last month.? Could have saved enoughfor a $5000 Lisa mouse.
--
Bill
No u couldn't Bill as that price is in sterling not dollars :)
I was just browsing eBay for stuff near me when I came across this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Color-Plotter-/291611803288
I don?t know anything about Apple stuff at all, but surely ?5,000 for this
is a bit optimistic, isn?t it?
Regards
Rob
Some of you may recall I have a faulty H7864 PSU, which failed a while ago
with a loud pop, but no obvious physical damage. I replaced the blown
transistor (on the primary side of the large transformer), but when I power
it on, the transistor does not switch and there is no output, so clearly
there is still a problem somewhere.
I have been spending some time drawing schematics for almost the whole
thing. I am now at the point where I intend to compare it with a working
one, probing each one side by side, to see up to where it appears to be
working. It would be awkward to have two dummy loads, just for lack of
suitable equipment. Does anyone know if it is safe to run these PSUs with no
load? Would my testing be valid without a load?
Thanks
Rob
I am looking to purchase/acquire a copy of Adobe FrameMaker 8 for Unix/Solaris.
Straight from Adobe, FrameMaker had always been a pretty pricy item, but I had
always managed to acquire a legal copy, sometimes years old and after the fact
through eBay, etc.
And through that method, I own legal copies+media of 5.x, 6.x and 7.x for Unix
and Mac.
I had hoped to purchase a copy of version 8 via a similar method, but several
years have passed by, and I have never seen a copy of version 8 for sale.
After version 8, FrameMaker was significantly changed and released for
dos/windows only. I believe that the current version is 11.x or above.
Also, in case it isn't obvious, this is for myself for home use only.
Jerry
An 11/84 I bought came with a couple of RSX-11M-PLUS V4.3 SYSGEN printouts; I
don't intend to run RSX on the machine, so is there any use to this printout,
or should I recycle it? If someone has a use for it, I'd be happy to send it
to them.
Noel
Often I come across various obsolete boards that SEEM to be what you guys
want, but I am never really sure. This week I passed up a large (at least
24" per side) HP server mainboard from the 70s, and some Wang boards from
the same period. Since I no longer have the warehouse, I have no way to keep
them until somebody says they want it. My question is, what should I bring
home? I do not have email access while I am scrounging, so I can't post to
this list. What besides old DEC boards are wanted?
Cindy
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> From: Tony Duell
> IIRC that 21" mounting box (and I assume therefore the fan assemblies)
> was used on other machines like the 11/40 (some versions), the 11/70,
> etc.
Yes, I _think_ the hardware was identical - I had an 11/40 for a year or two
'back in the day', before I got upgraded to an 11/45, but it's been a _long_
time since I've seen one, so I can't be positive. I tried to find parts
numbers in the drawings, but none of them (11/40, /45, or BA11-F) had them.
> the bottom one is a right pain, involving removing all the boards and
> dismantling the very fragile card guides
??? Mine still has the card guides in place, although the bottom fan assembly
is gone?
Thanks very much for the offer of help, but let's see what Henk turns up!
> From: Henk Gooijen
> The colors of the /55 are quite different from the 11/45.
Well, I did say that the front console was different! :-)
But other than that, I am pretty sure they are otherwise identical: same
backplane, same CPU boards (although the /45 can be found with both the
KB11-A and KB11-D variants; I _think_ the /55 only comes with the -D), etc.
> all 21" boxen (BA11-F ?)
My manuals say the 11/40 one is a BA11-FC, and the 11/45 is a BA11-FA. Not
sure what the difference is - maybe it's that the /45 has two H742's in it,
and the 11/40 has only one? Although I guess those are mounted on the cabinet
(although they are in some sense still part of the CPU chassis). Maybe it's
the different power harness/etc?
> The box is (AFAIR) mounted on the card cage with 4 or 6 (?) screws.
Mine looks like it uses 6.
Anyway, thanks very much, I have my fingers crossed that you will find both
of them when you look! :-)
Noel
Yes they are doing some good things! check out the video on the
Librascope!
Ed#
In a message dated 10/20/2015 3:39:37 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
chrise at pobox.com writes:
On Tuesday (10/20/2015 at 04:57PM -0500), Jay Jaeger wrote:
> On 10/20/2015 1:35 PM, Christian Liendo wrote:
> > I found a channel that's about a Month old, but no real information as
to who they are.
> >
> >
> > Computer History Archives
> > Educational Vintage Computer Films
> > View on www.youtube.com
> >
> > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOyJD0RHtF_77_oAf5tT1nQ
> >
>
> Nice narration...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KuoZ6cades
I have two Vicalloy tapes from a UNIVAC I. Anybody have a UNISERVO
drive we could read them on? ;-)
Chris
--
Chris Elmquist
>I think I found Mike's Youtube videos of one of his other System/23. It
even has
>blinkenlights! Dang it, now I'm trying to figure out where I'd
hypothetically stick a
>System/23 in my little house. Probably in the breakfast nook, assuming it
would even
>fit through the front door. I doubt it could make the turns into my
computer room. If I
>call it a "desk" and then put more computers on top of it, then does it
really occupy
>any space? :)
I remember trying to figure out logistics on that System/32 that was on ebay
out east for like $50 on ebay a few years ago. Don't remember if it sold or
not butabsolutely nothing I could come up with made transporting it out west
affordable.
-John
Can somone recommend a good USB-to-parallel port solution that will easily
work with Linux?
--
David Griffith
dave at 661.org
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
After seeing an M7706 on eBay (and realizing I already have a spare),
but no dual-port card (M7730), and reading instructions in the
maintenance manual regarding placement of a single M7706 drive interface
card in either slot, depending upon whether A or B is selected I began
to wonder...
Is there any reason one cannot do a manual dual port on an RK07 by
having both M7706 slots populated, but then only ever selecting A or B
using the buttons on the RK07? Has anyone ever done that?
The existence of two separate wire list pages in the schematic, and a
quick look at the M7706 diagram output signals suggests that this would
*not* work - that the output lines of the two M7706 cards are wired
together on a single-port drive and driven by ordinary TTL, and that a
dual-port drive had different wiring on the backplane, even though the
card cages are the same and the backplane itself is the same.
JRJ
Hi Guys
Things are proceeding well.
The girls are deciding the best way to do the matte
finish layer
I'm confirming exactly where the hole for the lock should
be to be so the panel can be pre-drilled.
One kind list member is shipping me an old damaged panel
in from the US which will help with both of the above.
Rod
I've been trying for the past week to verify that telephony on my teletype
machine (model 33) is functioning properly but the biggest hurdle I am
running into is I have nothing to easily dial into. Everyone I know off hand
either don't have a modem anymore or theirs is a Winmodem which won't work.
There's only one phone line into the residence here and those bluetooth to
cellular POTS bridges are too lossy to make do and connect to a machine
here. There is that youtube video of the model 37 apparently connecting to a
system at the Living Computer Museum in 2013 (MikoF6KZjm0) where they dialed
into a BBS I've never seen listed anywhere but the number listed no longer
seems to work and in the description it states the service is no longer
available. What other public systems are still out there that will work this
speed or possibly better yet, is there anyone out there willing to try a
teletype-to-teletype conversation?
-John
Subject line says it all -- I'm looking for the top/side cover for the
"slim" PDP-11/05. Probably not infeasible to build one, but I figured
I'd ask around first.
Got lucky on a cheap 8KW core plane (H214) on eBay to replace the
damaged one the /05 came with (which we had a discussion about last
year), and everything seems to be working fine other than a completely
dead Boxer fan (a replacement is on the way), I'd like to find the top
cover to help with air flow/cooling. And so I can put things on top of
it :).
Thanks,
Josh
Pictures of the S/130 system I'm building up are at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131070638 at N02
I think the last I posted here... the cpu was up and running, that was the
first piece I refurbished. I took everything out of the rack and cleaned
that up well, and the cpu has been remounted there.
Yesterday I mounted the 6030 dual 8" floppy drive. It was squeaky clean
inside and at power up everything does what it should. However, I can't
proceed further with it as I have no media. The docs say it uses hard sector
8" floppies, which I believe I can find. However, it specifies 8
sectors/track hard sector floppies - and those I've never heard of. Maybe DG
made them special just for their gear, or, maybe the drive or controller or
software was smart enough to expect the more common 32 hard sector floppies
and knew to only pay attention to every 4th sector hole ;) In any case,
before I spend "real dollar$" on media, if anyone has a single piece of 8
sector hard sectored 8" media I'd love to get one for testing :) Getting the
6030 connected to the cpu took a lot of documentation reading. It would seem
that DG didn't believe in anything plugging in to interface boards. Instead,
interface boards went in the cpu with no external connectors. Then you
wirewrap from the backplane from a given slot to one (of a stack) of paddle
boards bolted to the rear of the cpu chassis. Those paddleboards have edge
connectors, and that's where you connect the device cable. Fun stuff.
I started digging in to refurbishing a 6125 mag tape unit to go with the
above system. It has power supply issues. The schematics I have are similar
but not 100% correct so some guessing was involved. Whenever I turned on the
tape unit, any other things (shop light, oscilloscope, etc.) plugged in to
the same circuit would start randomly turning off and on. That is not a good
sign ;) Earth leakage... Checking the snubber circuit on the mains side of
the transformer led me to suspect a mylar that sat between hot and neutral.
I lifted one leg of it (just for testing) and that problem is definitely
gone. Next problem is the power supply makes a loud ringing noise. I believe
that's usually either ceramic disc capacitors or transformers, but I'm
having a really hard time locating the exact source of the sound. I'm going
to remove the power supply from the metal chassis and hook it up externally
(that's how it goes in the rack anyways) and see if I can tell for sure that
is the issue. Other than that, offline tests all work, so that will be
racked up shortly and cabled to the S/130 cpu.
Next on the list is refurbishing the DG 4084 dual cassette tape unit and
racking that. Something tells me media will be unobtainium for that.
Last step will be to refurbish and install a hard drive, most likely I'll
use a 6050.
So... some progress at least :)
J
> now that I have the better picture, let me see what I can turn up.
Got it! It's the _bottom_ indicator panel from an RP15 disk controller - from
a PDP-15. I think that's the only DEC controller I've ever seen with _two_
indictor panels on it!
And no, the one in the back is not the other RP15 indicator panel; it really
is an RP11.
Noel
> From: Johnny Billquist
> They could be from a PDP-11 or PDP-8 as well.
Not _impossible_ (since the RP11 does have one row of 36 lights - no doubt
because it can be used to read packs written by PDP-10's - it's the shift
register for reading the bit stream off the drive) but I'd say less likely,
given the two rows of 36 bits.
Or maybe not; one is a shift register, the other is a Longitudinal Parity
accumulator, which would also naturally be the same word length.
> The RP11 controller, for example, I seem to remember had panels like
> that.
In fact, I have a picture of an RP11 panel, and... the one in the back _is_
an RP11! Well, knock me over with a feather!
> Can't recall any PDP-8 stuff at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I've
> seen something like that for a PDP-8 as well.
I've seen images of (or worked out the light pattern for) two, the TS08 and
the RK08, and this isn't either one. (Both have only two rows of lights.)
I wonder if there's an RP08? {Checks} Yes, there is. Do we have prints?
{Checks} Yes. Alas, the scans of the connector pages of the prints are
pretty bad, but it doesn't seem to support a display panel.
> From: Vincent Slyngstad
> A higher resolution picture
Oooh, thanks very much, that will be _very_ helpful.
> From: Al Kossow
> They are both disk controller panels.
> The one marked tape controller has "sector word count"
Hmm. Could be; now that I have the better picture, let me see what I can
turn up.
I note the 'sector word count' has 7 bits in it, which kind of implies a
PDP-10 - most PDP-11 disks had 512 bytes / 256 words -> 8 bits. Although
maybe there are a few early ones that had 256 byte sectors, I have this vague
bit set that there were; will have to check that.
I think I'm going to have to create a page for DEC indicator pabels!
Noel
> From: William Degnan
> Of note...
Anyone know what the two indicator panels on top of the large blue box in the
center of this one:
ftp://jhoppe.ddns.net/vcfb2105/content/TB8A3377_large.html
are? They look to be PDP-10 {something}, given what appear to be two rows of
36 lights on the bottom (although they are hard to see clearly), but I
couldn't find a panel like that in my PDP-10 manual.
Noel
> From: Rich Alderson
> You know, the same company that does not have dis[kc]s, but DASD.
Some guy from IBM came to MIT to give a talk about some database system that
they had, and he kept referring to 'DASD'. Puzzled looks. Finally some brave
soul stuck up his hand, and asked was a DASD might be. Quoth the guy, 'round
brown'! :-) He was actually very sharp, and we liked his system, but I don't
recall anything about it, other than that line!
Noel