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

The KIM Uno -- a modern clone of the KIM-1

by lproven＠gmail.com

Just learned of this via a tweet from a former colleague: ? The KIM Uno is a small "open-source hardware" project to build a replica of the classic 1976 KIM-1 computer. It doubles up as a 6502 programmable calculator. It costs about $10 in commonly available parts (board & parts without case or power supply), but provides a faithful KIM-1 'experience'. An atMega328 (Arduino Pro Mini, actually) mounted on the back of the board contains all the logic and memory. ? http://obsolescence.wix.com/obsolescence#!kim-uno-summary/c1uuh -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

10 years, 8 months

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Announcing TCP/IP for RSX-11M-PLUS

by bqt＠softjar.se

Well, it's been a long time project, but I'm happy to finally announce a more public initial release of TCP/IP for RSX-11M-PLUS. This is the result of over 20 years of development. Needless to say, I've been doing a lot of things over the years, and this code have been through four reimplementations over the years. What I now release is something that I believe is a nice and useful piece of software. I am aware of the fact that most people do not use these machines any longer, but if someone actually wants to talk to me about support for this or other RSX software, let me know. Also, feel free to spread this information to anyone who might be interested, anywhere. So - what is in this release? It is a complete implementation of ARP, IP, UDP, and TCP for RSX-11M-PLUS. It has been tested on RSX-11M-PLUS V4.6, but should work on any V4 release. There might be some small tweaks or fixes required, but nothing major. It do require a system with split I/D-space, or else at least the TCP part will not fit. For Unibus machines, it should be possible to run without any additional software except what is in a base RSX distribution. For Q-bus machines, DECnet is required for ethernet networking. The TCP/IP stack can co-exist with DECnet. Some utilities also utilize RMS for file access. A bunch of tools, utilities and libraries are also included. These include: . IFCONFIG network configuration tool. . NETSTAT network information tool. . PING . TRACEROUTE . DNS client . FTP daemon . FTP client . HTTP server . TELNET client (rudimentary) . TFTP client . TFTP server . INET server that can do SINK, ECHO, DAYTIME, QUOTE, and IDENT . NTP client . LPR client that sits in the queue manager (rudimentary) . FORTRAN-77 library . BASIC+2 library . PDP-11 C library The implementation fulfills most of the requirements put forth in RFC 1122. There are a few limitations because of restrictions in the PDP-11, but none of them should really cause any problems. Documentation is still on the thin side, but example configs are also provided, along with installation scripts. A bunch of test programs and example programs are also included, as well as the sources of all tools and libraries. The TCP/IP stack itself only comes in binary form. All tools are also included precompiled in the distribution, so an installation only have to build the stack itself for your system, and then you should be ready to go. The API only have a slight resemblance to the Unix sockets API. However, if someone sits down to write code to use TCP/IP under RSX, I'm sure they will discover that it is extremely easy to use the libraries, or the basic functions. The TCP/IP implementation is mostly written as device drivers. This also have some other interesting implications, such as it is possible to access TCP as a normal file. You can, for instance do something similar to the Unix netcat command by issuing the MCR command: > PIP TI:=TC:"foo.com";4711 which would open a connection to foo.com, on port 4711, and any data sent from that machine will be shown on the terminal. The resources used by TCP/IP are modest. A memory area (size selectable at generation/startup) is used internally. The amount of memory in the private pool limits the amount of data that can be buffered. Normal pool is used in a small quantity for each TCP port that is open. People are welcome to play around with this, and make improvements. Contributions of code is most welcome. There are still lots of things to do. The programs marked as rudimentary should be rewritten. The most obvious thing still missing is a telnet daemon, which probably is my next step. However, the reason for now announcing the release is that it can finally be distributed natively from an RSX host. The main locations to download the TCP/IP for RSX are: Madame.Update.UU.SE (anonymous ftp). This is one of my development systems for this software. It runs under E11, and if things are down, I blame E11. :-) When connected, you are already in the right directory. There is both an RL02 disk image there, which can be downloaded by anyone. If you happen to have an RSX system which you are conneting from, you can also try getting the BQTCP.TAP tape image. Such an image will not transport cleanly to a non-RSX system, however. Sorry. ftp.Update.UU.SE (anonymous ftp) - /pub/pdp11/rsx/tcpip The disk image is normally duplicated to ftp.update.uu.se as well, so the same file can be found there. I hope some people will find this useful/amusing. :-) Johnny Billquist -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

10 years, 8 months

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Vintage BBC Computer gets FPGA Buddies

by lproven＠gmail.com

? The BBC Microcomputer System (or BBC Micro) was an innovative machine back in the early 1980?s. One feature that impressed reviewers was a ?tube? interface that allowed the machine to become an I/O processor for an additional CPU. When the onboard 6502 became too slow, it could become a slave to a Z-80 or even an ARM processor. The bus was actually useful for any high-speed device, but its purpose was to add new processors, a feature Byte magazine called ?innovative.? [Hoglet67] has released a very interesting set of FPGA designs that allows a small board sporting a Xilinx Spartan 3 to add a 6502, a Z80, a 6809, or a PDP/11 to a BBC Micro via the tube interface. There?s something satisfying about a classic computer acting as an I/O slave to a fairly modern FPGA that implements an even older PDP/11. ? http://hackaday.com/2015/10/03/vintage-bbc-computer-gets-fpga-buddies/ -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

10 years, 8 months

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8" hard sector (Was DG S/130 status)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I found a company selling new 8" 32-sector hard sector floppies. http://www.athana.com/html/diskette.html Item # 47-0801 They want $150 per box of 10. That's a pretty hefty pricetag... but in the absence of other suppliers I may just have to break down and buy a box from them. J

10 years, 8 months

9
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Looking for Serial Terminals

by fink＠stenoweb.net

Hi there, I've been wanting to get a nice serial terminal to use with my old systems (mostly UNIX) for a while now, but I haven't managed to find anything locally. Over the past few years I've been to thrifts, garage sales, surplus shops... But I haven't found any. This sort of surprises me, as Toronto isn't a small town. Is there anybody around the Toronto area that has a few extra dumb terminals lying around, or does anybody know of a good source for them around the Toronto area? Thanks -Brian

10 years, 8 months

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"Farm" slang terms

by echristopherson＠gmail.com

Hi, all. I'm looking for information on slang terms with the word "farm" in them, relating to computaters; especially the origins of such terms. I've known "cube farm" (a bunch of cubicles where office workers work) and "render farm" (a cluster of computers used for graphics rendering in parallel) for a long time, but just recently I found a reference to "link farm" as meaning "an incremental backup consisting mostly of links (most likely hard links) to the relevant files in the preceding iteration of the backup"; but this page <http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/link-farm> says "a website with little or no content, consisting of mostly (or entirely) links to other websites." So, does anyone know what the first such "farm" slang term was, and when and where it originated? And how about other terms with "farm" in them? (I came across a new one the other day, but of course I've forgotten it now.) -- Eric Christopherson

10 years, 8 months

9
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PDP8 / ETOS

by fast79ta＠yahoo.com

Hello. Just wondering if any one has any experience setting up an ETOS system on a PDP-8? I've got most of it working, including adding a second terminal, but can't for the life of me figure out the process on making a second drive available to the users once we are in ETOS timesharing. According to the system managers manual, it's a combination of Lookup and assign. Cheers, Joe

10 years, 8 months

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Archeological dig, update Sun 4/260

by jws＠jwsss.com

Word comes in that there is a number of "cartons" of Sun 4 and HP QIC tapes in the pile, which I'm hoping may be install media. Bad news is that it is QIC and in the place it is in. Good news is that it surfaced at all. I will see if Al or someone can image them if they are of interest. The HP tapes may just be brand names and not software, unknown at this time. Also there are some half inch 9 and 7 track tapes in the pile. The dig also turned up Sunsoft manual sets, which are promising as far as the 4/260 is concerned. Suggests that the software and manuals are for that system and not another. Once I get an inventory of the tapes, I'd appreciate any updates as to whether they are already imaged and saved somewhere. thanks Jim

10 years, 8 months

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ADVENT on TSX-Plus system?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Diane Bruce >> There was a version on the V6 PDP11 Unix at MIT; not sure if that was >> a local port, or one we picked up from somewhere else. > There was a hack for PDP11 Unix which added RT-11 compatibility > syscalls to the kernel. (UofT Spencer) The PDP-11 Unix machines are Tech Sq definitely did not have that; it would have run on standard Unix (although it may have included an RT11 emulator in the application - I don't at the moment have access to all that MIT stuff - yet!) Noel

10 years, 8 months

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ADVENT on TSX-Plus system?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Ben Franchuk > Did advent run under PDP11 unix? There was a version on the V6 PDP11 Unix at MIT; not sure if that was a local port, or one we picked up from somewhere else. Noel

10 years, 8 months

3
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IBM 1401

by wulfman＠wulfman.com

there is a cool video in the hackaday link below http://hackaday.com/2015/10/19/repairing-55000-of-vintage-core-memory/?utm_… -- The contents of this e-mail and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the named addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized use, copying, disclosure, or distribution of the contents of this e-mail is strictly prohibited by the sender and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete this e-mail.

10 years, 8 months

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ADVENT on TSX-Plus system?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

My reply didn?t show up for some reason... resubmitting: It should directly in TSX-Plus . Make sure your current memory limit is 56K. See below for my attempt. BTW TSX should only use RT11 to ?boot?. TSX doesn?t run over RT11SJ in this version. TSX replaces all the OS code. .sh memory ?... Current job memory limit = 56Kb Maximum job memory limit = 64Kb .sh ver 6.20 .run advent WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!! WOULD YOU LIKE INSTRUCTIONS? ----------------------- It turns out I have (at least the pack that?s in the drive) TSX-Plus 6.16, not 6.50. But ADVENT does work now. I have to admit to ?operator error? The bootable XM pack is currently in drive 0, and the bootable SJ pack with TSX-Plus is in drive 1. Somehow I?d forgotten to copy one of the ADVENT files from one pack to the other. So when I rebooted from DL1: it couldn?t find ADVTXT and crashed! Anyhow it does now run (on both the console and the other time-sharing terminal). Thanks for the information, though. -Charles

10 years, 8 months

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ADVENT on TSX-Plus system?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I have a PDP-11/23+ with 4 MB RAM and two RL02 drives. I can boot RT-11XM, then run VBGEXE and start ADVENT with no problem. But TSX-Plus 6.50, at least the version I have, has to run over RT-11SJ, and VBGEXE reports "Wrong version". And ADVENT won't run by itself (without VBGEXE), whether SJ or XM. So is there any way to run ADVENT while running TSX-Plus? thanks Charles

10 years, 8 months

3
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JAMMA board video hookup

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

OK, so it's sort-of computery. I snagged a JAMMA arcade board from a recycling pile a couple of days ago (this is an m68k-based early 90's board). Supposedly it's faulty, but I don't know the nature of the fault - maybe it's just RAM or a reset problem or something, so I figured I'd put a little bit of time into it. Anyway, I'm having a hard time finding details about the video output - I know it's negative composite sync (I got the manual, which says that much), and I *think* it's TTL levels (right?), but I'm not sure about frequencies. Then there's the RGB outputs - analog, but I'm not seeing anything that tells me peak voltages. I suppose the question is, what's the easiest display to try and hook this up to? I've monitors with an assortment of inputs (VGA, EGA, CGA, MDA, mono-composite), and I think there's a CRT TV kicking around that has a composite input too (and maybe S-video, not sure). It doesn't bother me if the quality's not great; I'm just interested in whatever's quickest to interface to at this stage, just to see if I can get something working. cheers Jules

10 years, 8 months

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Haul of the weekend

by jws＠jwsss.com

A run to a dark corner of Orange County yielded a Sun 4-260 and a DecServer 550. After loading the 4-260 the DecServer 550 seemed like a feather. Also in the pile to be collected, a stash of Hitachi ESDI drives of some sort (full high 500mb) Probably will be selling them. The storage circumstances was a bit rangy but beggars can't be choosers. Thanks Jim

10 years, 8 months

2
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Atari Unix

by lproven＠gmail.com

Apparently efforts are underway to get this unreleased product working. I believe it was aimed at the TT030 desktop "workstation" model of the ST family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_TT030 Atari did licence UNIX? and got a really good deal ? $10 a seat! http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/18/the-atari-st-could-have-run-unix/ ? But the original 68000 version couldn't hack it. No MMU. http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=1383 The product did eventually exist: http://www.atariunix.com/ But as ever it was too little, too late. -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

10 years, 8 months

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Opening a DECserver 90M External PSU

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

One of my DECserver 90M PSUs got dropped and stopped working as a result, possibly because it got pulled by the cable. That sounds like the kind of damage that might be repairable. I tried to open the enclosure and I found a hole under one of the labels, expecting it to be a screw hole, but it isn't. I am guessing you just have to pry the halves apart, but without knowing where the clips are inside it is easy just to break the thing. Does anyone know how you open these PSUs? Thanks Rob PS Yes I know these PSUs are notoriously unreliable, and that you can make a PSU with a DIN plug and a wall wart, but I would still like the original to work if possible.

10 years, 8 months

5
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Nice blog post on fixing a 1401 memory bug...

by lbickley＠bickleywest.com

I'm forwarding a blog post written by a member of the CHM 1401 Restoration Team. Excellent description (with pictures) of how 1401 memory is addressed, etc.: http://www.righto.com/2015/10/repairing-50-year-old-mainframe-inside.html Cheers, Lyle -- 73 AF6WS Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"

10 years, 8 months

1
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Decmate Owner's Guide (or equivalent experience)

by rob＠bitscience.ca

Hi Folks, Does anyone have a electronic copy of the original Decmate Owner?s Guide (AA-K330C-TA) that they could share? Alternatively, can anyone describe what can be accomplished (if anything) from the initial ?Setup? prompt on a VT278 *without* any disks attached? The situation is that Brent and I are trying to resurrect a Decmate ? we?ve plugged in a VT100 keyboard (Thanks, Bill!): - it boots to the ?Setup? prompt with the flashing cursor. - the ?Power? light on the rear of the unit is steady and the ?CPU OK? light is blinking. - the keyboard lights indicate ?online" - pressing ?2? or ?PF3? cause ?Setup? to disappear. ?3? seems to cause it to perform some self-test like procedure. - most keys cause keyclicks, but ?space?, ?M?, and ?/' don?t. With an oscilloscope, we can see data from the keyboard being sent for the ?silent? keys, however. Without disks, what else should we able to do? Eventually, we?d like to find or construct some solution for mass storage, but we?re still at the point of checking out the VT278 itself. Thanks, Rob Ferguson

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-12 Restoration at the RICM (tony duell)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 18:29:11 +0000 > From: tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> > Subject: RE: PDP-12 Restoration at the RICM > > > We swapped the TU56 and TU55 drives between the PDP-12 and the PDP-8/I. > We > > Does the TU55 work correctly on the 8/I ? > Yes, it works perfectly. It even worked OK after we put it back in the 8/I. > > The TU55 behaved a little better than the TU56, and sometimes would > > actually boot OS/8. We continued chasing the issue and found glitches on > > data channel 3. We have swapped every module and cable that relates to > data > > What exactly do you mean by 'glitches'? Are these on a TTL level signal, > an analogue > output of the read amplifer, or what? > You can see the logic analyzer trace of many of the TC12 signals here. <https://4310b1a9-a-11c96037-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/ricomputermuseum.org…> The labels at the far left of the image include the backplane slot and pin number for the probe location. The signals were TTL level by the time the logic analyzer saw them. Have you looked for glitches on the other data channels? > Tracks 1 & 2 look fine. We swapped the probes for track 2 & 3 just to make sure that it wasn't a logic analyzer problem. A 'scope connected to the differential signals shows the same track 3 glitches. The glitches were present with the TU55 and the TU56 tape drives. We used different control and data cables for the TU55 and TU56. We swapped the G882 modules between tracks, and from the TC01 in the PDP-8/I and did not see a change. We swapped the W603 module in slot F16, the R107 in F12, and the W512 in F13. The LTR WRITE ON L signal is inactive and stable. We tried several tapes, including ones formatted and written by DEC and the glitches are present on track 3. -tony > -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 8 months

3
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ASCI u68 (SystemX)

by unclefalter＠yahoo.ca

Hey guys, Posting this to various forums in the hopes of finding someone in the know - I have this ASCI u68 system (6800 cpu) that I understand was used in educational environments. I kind of have it running but know little about assembly language programming, etc. Or the unit itself. Have any of you ever messed with these? It looks like it has a serial connector on its mainboard.. was trying to figure out a way if I could patch it to one of my terminals. Also trying to find some simple 6800 assembly programs/routines to test it and see if it really works properly. There is an MC6821S chip on it (there are three of them actually) and one in the middle is marked 'BAD'. I understand those handle peripherals. I'd also heard rumours there was a second board available for these that gave them BASIC. I've never seen such a board for sale anywhere - wondered if anyone had seen one in the wild. Brad

10 years, 8 months

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nut bars? ;)

by mark＠markesystems.com

> From: "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> > Subject: nut bars? ;) <...> > Is there a modern source of nut bars that one could order with specific > thread size and # of holes (NEMA pattern)? Yeah, I know I'm being OCD and How about something from here? http://www.ebay.com/bhp/rack-rails I know they're not the floating-nut style you may have been thinking of, but they might work... ~~ Mark Moulding

10 years, 8 months

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SWTPC CT1024

by unclefalter＠yahoo.ca

While I was fooling around with my ASCI I decided to test the serial connection to my PC. The only thing I had available was my CT-1024 terminal with the optional serial board. This unit never worked when I got it. Thought it was its ancient and probably non functional PSU, but after hooking it up to a bench PSU same issues: 1) Unstable video display with large whitish band in the middle. 2) No response to keypresses. 3) Field of blinking ? marks if cursor is switched off, garbled one line of random characters up top if switched on. When I connected it to my PC running PUTTY via serial cable, I fully expected it to do nothing. But to my surprise, it generates a continuous stream of Js (punctuated by the odd H) on the PUTTY screen if the RECV switch is off. If I hit Break, it generates a whole bunch of Bs. If I switch the RECV switch ON, the Js stop but I can still generate Bs with the Break key. One thing I'm wondering now that I've switched power supplies and the video situation isn't cleared up.. I'm wondering if this thing was set up to connect to a composite monitor at all? I've seen pictures of the CT1024 with a Sanyo monitor just like mine.. but on the Sanyo it does the same thing it does on all the others. Anyway, thoughts/ideas welcome. Would love to get this thing running again.

10 years, 8 months

3
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Processor card for a HP 9835.

by phb.hfx＠gmail.com

I am searching for a CPU card for a 9835 to replace the dead processor in my 9835A, but a CPU card from a 9845B/C would also be ok. I would prefer the 9835 card as it would be a drop in replacement but with a 9845 card I would have to transfer over the CPU module. The part number on the module should be 5061 3001. Paul. phb.hfx at gmail.com

10 years, 8 months

3
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Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Woot! I finally got my HP 7970E (yeah, a year in the making!), HP 88780, and Overland Data OD3201 9-track tapes all working at the same time. One on HP-IB, one on SCSI-1, and one on Parallel Port interface. Only my ever finicky Qualstars got jealous and decided not to play ball. Here is a family video: https://youtu.be/eCBxNhEzIfc The DOS computer is a vintage Dolch PAC 65. Thanks for all here who helped with tips, documentation and software. Marc

10 years, 8 months

2
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Contents of DEC 8" floppies

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I bought a set of five DEC RX01 8" floppies (for the disks, since I have an RX01 hooked up to my PDP-8/A) but I thought the contents might be of interest to someone before I wipe them. They are labeled VAX PSI V3.0 1/5 thru 5/5, (c) 1984. In order they are AS-L154G-BE, AS-L155G-BE, AS-L156G-BE, AS-DC36B-BE, AS-DK35A-BE. I did email Al Kossow about archiving but maybe he didn't receive the message. Anyhow, if anyone is interested, please contact me off-list. I don't have a VAX so I can't read them. Perhaps we can trade for blank SSSD disks? thanks Charles

10 years, 8 months

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Anyone know of Sun Voyager bags for sale?

by ethan＠757.org

Anyone know of any of the padded cases for Sun Voyagers that would be for sale? (Sun Microsystems portable sparcstation) -- Ethan O'Toole

10 years, 8 months

3
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New logo: Vintage Computer Federation

by cctalk＠snarc.net

Cctalk'ers, Vintage Computer Federation -- the new 501(c)3 non-profit that now runs the MARCH museum, and which will soon make some major expansion announcements -- has a very cool new logo. Here's a preview: http://www.snarc.net/vcf-logo-preview.png. Hoping everyone likes it! - Evan

10 years, 8 months

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The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Amazing! I had not seen this - a great chronicle! It is important for all the folks to write up what they did... if they do not there will be no record... Ed# - _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 10/14/2015 6:34:04 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, lproven at gmail.com writes: The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode A bridge to 21st Century Computing By Jack Allweiss Copyright 2010 My name is Jack A. Allweiss, also known as ?The Father of the B5900 System?. I did not give myself that title, my friends and co-workers at Burroughs Corporation did, and I consider it a great honor. This true story is about the B5900, and why it was an important milestone for Burroughs and later Unisys, as well as the computer industry in general. ? http://jack.hoa.org/hoajaa/BurrMain.html

10 years, 8 months

1
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Fair price and ways to find a teletype

by unclefalter＠yahoo.ca

I've been watching a lot of vintage computer videos put up by enthusiasts (thanks so much for that). I have been really fascinated lately by the Altair and teletypes, paper tape readers and so on. Just watching one fellow load BASIC into his Altair. you just felt the history and the connection to Bill Gates and all the pioneers of an era that was happening just as I was being born. I only ever see teletypes for sale on ebay, only in the US, and of course I don't bite because of shipping costs, plus usually people ask insane prices for them. I am wondering what a reasonable price should be for a unit with a paper tape reader, and any tips on how I might go about finding one beyond Craigs, etc, up here in Canada. And anything I should watch out for and so on. Thanks muchly, Brad

10 years, 8 months

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Fair price and ways to find a teletype

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

the red apple ref book had a 5 level running off game port or??? something as I remember....Ed# In a message dated 10/15/2015 11:20:28 P.M. US Mountain Standard Tim, unclefalter at yahoo.ca writes: Thanks for this great explanation. So would anyone doing computing back in the early 70s have used a 5 level machine? I saw this one on ebay (or is it two? Not sure what the deal is here) It's probably sacked: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Teletype-equipment-1-model-28-writer-1-reperforater- 1-50vdc-supply-etc-/121784463105?hash=item1c5aeb6f01:g:UR8AAOSwnDZUJHWs -----Original Message----- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Brent Hilpert Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 10:07 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Fair price and ways to find a teletype On 2015-Oct-15, at 6:25 PM, Brad wrote: > > Also separate question to others: I want to stay away from the Baudot machines, right? (ie. Model 28, etc) I'd say it largely depends on what your interests or purposes are. A brief overview of the technology: In the main, there were 3 generations of teletypes: Era Common Model Code Speed Common Interface Mechanism ====== ============ ========== ======= =============== ============ 1) 1930s-40s: Model 15,19 5-level ~30-50 bps 60mA current loop Modified Typewriter Cage 2) 1950s-60s: Model 28 5-level <=75 bps 60mA current loop Typebox 3) 1960s-70s: Model 33 7/8-level/ASCII 110 bps 20mA current loop Type Cylinder These are the "page printers" that would type across and down sheet paper fed from a roll. There are other models, variations on the above. Not included here are the tape printers, simpler mechanisms that printed in one dimension on a narrow paper tape, ala stock tickers. The mechanism was the overriding distinction between these generations as speed and code capability followed from the mechanism: 1) Modified Typewriter Cage: Decoding bars select 1-of-30-odd symbol/type arms arrayed in an arc, to swing and hit the paper, just like a common typewriter. 2) Typebox: An ~ 1" by 2" metal box holds typeface symbol pins in two 4*8 matrices. The box is shifted up/down and left/right to bring a selected symbol pin between a hammer and the paper. 3) Type Cylinder: A cylinder embossed with the typeface is moved up/down and rotated CW/CCW to select a symbol. The 5-level devices are commonly referred to as Baudot devices but this is not strictly correct as they generally use the ITA2/USTTY codes (International Telegraphy Alphabet No.2). The speed of Model 28s (at least) was determined by a selected gear-set. 5-level machines need code conversion of course. They all need current loop interfaces. A lot of old computer equipment will do 110 bps as the 33s were so associated with computers. For working form modern equipment, the bit rates for all of them are potentially awkward. When working on the 28s, which were geared for 75 bps, I lucked out as I found the USB-serial interface I was using could do 75 bps - not entirely surprising as 75 is a factor of 2 down in the common 9600,1200,300 bps series. How many USB-serial interfaces are capable of this I have no idea. Regardless, the baud rates are slow enough that bit-banging from a program is not difficult, or an adjustable RC oscillator to a UART should do. ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.6172 / Virus Database: 4447/10805 - Release Date: 10/12/15

10 years, 8 months

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The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode

by lproven＠gmail.com

I don't know if this memoir is well-known or not, but I thought it might interest. ? The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode A bridge to 21st Century Computing By Jack Allweiss Copyright 2010 My name is Jack A. Allweiss, also known as ?The Father of the B5900 System?. I did not give myself that title, my friends and co-workers at Burroughs Corporation did, and I consider it a great honor. This true story is about the B5900, and why it was an important milestone for Burroughs and later Unisys, as well as the computer industry in general. ? http://jack.hoa.org/hoajaa/BurrMain.html -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

10 years, 8 months

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nut bars? ;)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Perhaps my google skills are challenged (probably so), but I can't find this. Is there a modern source of nut bars that one could order with specific thread size and # of holes (NEMA pattern)? Yeah, I know I'm being OCD and can just use individual nuts. But after you keep losing a handful of standard nuts in the bottom of the rack, I see why they used nut bars. In some cases, nut bars are very preferable to cage/clipon nuts. J

10 years, 8 months

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8-sector decpacks?

by JoshD＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

Does anyone have any idea what drive/system an 8-sector decpack would have been used with? We have a few of them on our shelves at the LCM and I can't find any reference that mentions 8-sector packs. (Just the usual 12 and 16-sector ones.) They're clearly labeled "decpack 1100 BPI - 8" and the sector ring marks out eight sectors. These are RK05 (IBM 2315) style packs. Thanks, Josh Sr. Vintage Software Engineer Living Computer Museum www.livingcomputermuseum.org<http://www.livingcomputermuseum.org>

10 years, 8 months

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FOUND RE: nut bars? ;)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Cindy wrote... ----- Are the one you want made by Accuride perhaps? http://www.accuride.com/media/1975/rackmountaccessories_pdf_3.pdf They call them "bar nuts" :-) ----- BINGO! That's the ones :) Thanks Cindy!!

10 years, 8 months

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Fair price and ways to find a teletype

by radiotest＠juno.com

At 07:59 PM 10/15/2015, drlegendre . wrote: >Sounds like another nice freebie M15 just popped up on the greenkeys list.. >though it's stateside, and once again in St. Louis! There ought to be plenty of the 15-RO units kicking around in the States. Time was when every almost radio station in the country had one (or sometimes two in larger markets) for AP or UPI. I have an ex-UPI 15-RO that I would like to get rid of. I once thought of restoring it, but I have too many other more useful things awaiting restoration. Dale H. Cook, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA Osborne 1 / Kaypro 4-84 / Kaypro 1 / Amstrad PPC-640 http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/radios/index.html

10 years, 8 months

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The Burroughs B5900 and E-Mode

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Liam Proven > I don't know if this memoir is well-known or not, but I thought it > might interest. > ... > http://jack.hoa.org/hoajaa/BurrMain.html Wow! What a fabulous story/writeup! Highly recommend to everyone. Noel

10 years, 8 months

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ULTRIX-11 3.1 manuals / help?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Anyone have a copy of the ULTRIX-11 3.0 or 3.1 manuals lying around? I've got the 11/44 up and running with an SMD disk and a SCSI 9-track tape drive and I have ULTRIX-11 3.1 installed. (Yay!) But there are issues (Boo.) Unfortunately, the "setup" tool (and *what* a tool it is!) doesn't seem to be able to access the tape drive to install optional software. (I know it's working -- the files are there in /dev, mt talks to it fine and I can dd files off of it no problem). Of course, in a very un-UNIXy move on DEC's part, "setup" is an executable, not a shell script so I can't see what the heck it's trying to do. And in a *very* UNIXy move, "setup" provides no actionable diagnostics whatsoever. It immediately fails (having made no attempt to access the drive as far as I can tell) and prints "Open of distribution device FAILED: Try again <y or n>?" I'd like to be able to restore the rest of the optional software and whatnot; the files on the tape appear to be tar archives so I can just do it manually (and tediously) and I imagine that that's what the setup tool does *anyway*, but I'd like to at least *try* to do it the official way. Anyone have any experience here? Also, having an actual manual would be useful, ULTRIX-11 3.X seems to be considerably different than 2.0 (at least in that it has this wonderful new "setup" program I'm having so much fun with), which is all I've been able to find. Thanks as always, Josh

10 years, 8 months

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VT52s, VT61s lots of DEC and DG keyboards- return trip through Maine, MA, NY, PA, OH, IN to IL

by useddec＠gmail.com

I'll be picking up a huge lot of DEC and some DG keyboards( no part numbers yet) over the next few days. I know what some of the DEC gear is and the condition of it, but not of the VTs. I would expect some power supply problems, but have no idea of tube rot/burn or cosmetics, except that all are complete. I don't really want to have to ship any, but I have reached out to one list member and will ship to him any possibly others. Boxing them, putting them in a gaylord and putting them on a pallet is the best I can come up with. This will be costly and labor intense, and if I have to ship, with one exception, I would prefer 4 to 6 units at a time. When I get home in a week or so I'll be putting out a list of unibus options which include the backplane and boards- like DB11-A bus repeater, DR11B, DH11s, a lot of com options, RH11, etc. Any questions, please contact me off list. Thanks, Paul

10 years, 8 months

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IBM 029

by jws＠jwsss.com

Someone on FB pointed out that the 029 was announced this day in 1964. I've got one as well as a 129. I didn't realize they were that old of a product. The 029 was the first keypunch I used in school. http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV4002.html Thanks Jim

10 years, 8 months

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Fair price and ways to find a teletype

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Be patient. 75 dollar 33s still exist Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: "drlegendre ." <drlegendre at gmail.com> Date: 10/14/2015 16:34 (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: Fair price and ways to find a teletype Brad, A few montns ago, with a fair bit of help of the folks on this list, I did up an Altair 8800 rebuild. And apparently you & I both saw the same videos, as I got all hot and bothered about getting an ASR33 and using it to load software - BASIC, for starters - into? the Altair. And again, on members' suggestion, I joined the Greenkeys list. Too bad, but I was totally +shocked+ at the 'value' placed on ASR33 these days!! Thousand dollars and more, not all all unusual.. and my resources just can't justify that level of expenditure for what is generally a 'cheap' DIY hobby of sorts. Meanwhile, a Greenkeys member in St. Louis, MO popped up with a very nice M15 (ex-Bell) that was Free to Good Home. I have (or at least had, ha!) a good friend in St. Louis, and he was able to take care of the pickup for me - and several months later, i arranged to have it delivered to my house by a relative. Now the M15 isn't a 33ASR, and lacks the paper tape punch & reader (though devices do exist). But what it is, is a truly fantastic piece of electro-mechanical engineering that borders on the "tight metal" genre of some earlier business machines, such as the Felt & Tarrant Comptometer. If you have general mechanical experience, I'd say the M15 is roughly on a par with a 2-spd or even 3-spd automatic transmission, in terms of mechanical complexity (the the tranny will have a higher parts count.. I think!). So while they can be worked with, and documentation is plentiful, they are a bit intimidating the first time you see one in action - or inaction, as it may be - and they do NOT respond kindly to false moves or other ham-fistery. But they are well worth learning, and don't yet seem to have joined their later progeny in the financial stratosphere. -Bill On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 2:39 PM, william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote: > You can ship these in a box if you detach the pedestal and put it on its > side, making sure the main unit is well padded and there is a weight > balance to the box, as you never know from what angle the box will > sit/fall/land/be carried.? I shrink wrap the main TTY to ensure it stays > secure, then wrap in layers of bubble wrap and foam.? I have shipped five > or six that way.? You can also use two boxes.? It's very easy to re-attach > the main unit from the pedestal, many have a reader motor in the pedestal, > but you just unscrew it. > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 3:28 PM, ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: > > > On 10/14/2015 12:48 PM, Brad wrote: > > > >> How heavy are these things?? They look like solid steel in pictures. > >> That's one of the things that presents a big problem for me up here in > >> Canada... shipping from the US has gotten outrageously expensive. > >> > > > > Well for big things shipping I think it is about the same for the last > few > > years. > > It is the US mail that is strange ... $3.00* for 3 weeks or $60 for > > overnight. I expect still cheaper shipping than when new. Note you still > > need a truck to get from the shippers warehouse. > > Ben. > > * I think books still send that way. > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Bill >

10 years, 8 months

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DG S/130 progress

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, I'm almost sure that the DG dual 8" uses hard-sectored floppies with 32 sectors (33 holes). The internal logic will generate sync signals for 8 sectors starting >from the 32 on the floppy. So industry standard hard-sectored floppies should be fine. You need to use formatted disks, DG supplied floppies already formatted, and the OS cannot format it. But: the drive itself has a format mode, so using a special formatter program (available at least on paper tape), you can format disks. Interesting thing (I think): as I have a Nova 3 with 6030 floppy, which I would restore when time will allow me to, and as I have no media to start the machine from, I searched a way to write new media from PC. Then I developed a tool to connect it to PC via serial, using the console port; this tool is somehow similar to VTserver for PDP11 realm, but more expandable. Basically, you can do memory transfers between Nova and PC (both directions), and execute almost *ANY* I/O instruction on the Nova, under the strict direction of the PC. On the PC, a tool developed in Python is used to bootstrap a special binary program (using Program Load feature on Nova), and then to execute special scripts, prepared for particular disk and/or tape peripherals, to dump a device to image file (compatible with SIMH), dump an image file to device, format a disk, and so on... As all these procedures are controlled remotely by the PC, on the Nova always sits the very same small binary code, thus supporting new peripherals should be very easy, once one understands how the whole stuff works. I already developed (and debugged using an emulated Nova3 on SIMH) all is needed to read/write/format disks on 6030. I think the very same code should work on the S/130, so if you want you could give a try. Interested? Andrea

10 years, 8 months

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Visual 100 Terminal - Circuit Diagram Wanted

by jonathan.chote＠gmail.com

Hey everyone, I know it exists out in the wild somewhere, but I can't find a copy myself. It's for a VT100 clone terminal called the Visual 100 - from around 1982. If anyone can help me track the circuit diagram down, and/or any other information too, I'd be very greatful. If payment is required I have the usual PayPal etc. Thanks! Jono

10 years, 8 months

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New logo: Vintage Computer Federation

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Ben Franchuk > I would get rid of the outer leaves I think I might agree - they don't add much, for the amount of space and complexity they add. Very clever to make them out of PCB traces, though! Noel

10 years, 8 months

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RK11-C (was Re: H960 logo panel)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 4:07 PM, Henk Gooijen <henk.gooijen at hotmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 2:13 PM, Henk Gooijen <henk.gooijen at hotmail.com> wrote: >> I'd love to get one complete RK11-C ... anybody? :-) > > I have an RK11-C but it did not come with a panel. > > Now you know where you can leave it behind for a good old retirement :-) > You don't happen to get that RK11-C from an eBay auction some 8 - 9, > maybe 10 years ago? I did not. I've had it since August, 1984, and I got it from Software Results shortly before starting to work there. It (along with a stripped PDP-8/a and a DataSystems 310 desk) came with a pair of RK05 drives: one RK05J and one RK05F (but no power supply) that I wanted to use with the PDP-8. I'm told the whole pile came from Ohio State Surplus sometime in 1983 or so. Sadly, I mangled the RK05F due to youth and inexperience. I might still have the front cover for that RK05F in a box of parts, but I'm pretty sure the rest of the drive got stripped for parts 30 years ago to repair RK05J drives (if I knew then what I know now, I assure you that events would have unfolded differently, but I had no docs and no experience... then I had a series of "educational experiences" with this hardware and am wiser now). I only ever saw one other RK05F in the wild, FWIW. > I remember (just) one RK11-C passing by on eBay, and that was when I > still worked at Oc? training centre, so at least 8 years ago. It sold for > ~ $50 (IIRC). Will never forget that I let that one go! :-( That's an amazing price just for the pile of FLIPCHIPs. -ethan

10 years, 8 months

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VAX in action

by jason＠smbfc.net

I was just speaking with a guy who works in the physics department at work (A large State University) . He was looking for a 68pin SCSI card for some purpose, which I was able to find for him in my pile-o-stuff. It turns out he's trying to revive one of their VMS machines which didn't come back after a power outage a couple weeks ago. Then I learn that they're still using a VAX to run their freakin' particle accelerator, I asked if I could see that stuff in action. So, I'm going to go over for a tour sometime in the next couple weeks. :) He also mentioned that they're starting to transition off the old DEC hardware -- this is also my chance to be sure it doesn't just end up in the bin. --Jason

10 years, 8 months

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H960 logo panel

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Henk Gooijen > I will probably download everything ... in my experience, websites > with "/~xxxx/" in it seem to disappear after "some" time :-/ True, but pages maintained by institutions are almost equally bad about staying put! Many's the time I've clicked on a link, and the target's gone... I make a real effort to try and not not kill any URL to my Web site that ever worked (via redirects, if needed). I wish institutions were the same, but alas, for most Web-masters, they apparently seem not to give a rodent's posterior. But the downloading is a good idea - the more copies, the better (although in this particular case, it's not like the content is irreplacable). > I have probably all PDP-11 models (except the PDP-11/50) > ... > I am not going to disassemble just for a scan. Well, the /45 front panel is easy: take out the 4 screws holding the bezel on (quite easy - unlike, say, removing an H7420 to clean it - something I am probably going to have to do), and then take out the 3 counter-sunk screws holding the panel on (ditto), remove the two knobs (ditto again) - done! And equally easy to reverse the process. > I could take pictures, but as you say, edges will warp a little. We've already got pretty good pictures of the 11/45 panel, and the RP11-C. There are no RF11 or RK11-C images (that I know of - the RF11 manual only has a drawing, and the RK11-C manual, not even that), so if you have either of those, a picture would be better than nothing. Noel

10 years, 8 months

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New logo: Vintage Computer Federation

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Looks good Evan... Yea the ADM 3 a classic indeed! Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 10/13/2015 7:13:24 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at snarc.net writes: Cctalk'ers, Vintage Computer Federation -- the new 501(c)3 non-profit that now runs the MARCH museum, and which will soon make some major expansion announcements -- has a very cool new logo. Here's a preview: http://www.snarc.net/vcf-logo-preview.png. Hoping everyone likes it! - Evan

10 years, 8 months

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ST506/412 failure modes? (in this case, an IBM 0665)

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

Afternoon all, This may be forgotten knowledge - or perhaps more likely, something that was never known in the first place - but are there any typical failure modes of ST506/412-type drives (beyond the obvious mechanical damage between heads and platters)? I've seen quite a few dead drives over the years, but of course haven't invested much time into thinking about what might actually be wrong with them, because they were once quite common. Now that working ones are getting scarce, it got me wondering if there were any obvious things to check. In this particular instance, I've got an IBM 0665 30MB drive in a Compaq which spins up, bounces the heads around a little, then causes the machine to issue a fixed disk failure at boot time. This is an embedded servo drive with a voice coil, not a stepper type. Oddly enough, it passes Compaq diag's spare cylinder read/write tests, but fails the seek test. I've not tried a LLF yet because I was interested in trying to salvage whatever data might be on it first; there are several large ASICs in the logic board, but also a lot of more common stuff, so it's possible that the fault is something fixable - but checking component by component is probably more trouble than it's worth. Yeah yeah, MFM emulators and whatnot... but I do want to keep noisy old boat anchors alive in my machines for as long as I can - while a modern replacement is the only long-term solution, I always think of modern tech as detracting from the experience of using old hardware. cheers Jules

10 years, 8 months

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Xebec 1410A (WAS Xebec 1402A Seagate HDD controller)

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

Ok, correction to previous message. It's a Xebec 1410A with 1.0 Firmware. Should be MUCH easier to find now that we have the correct model number! Was curious if anyone here has - or knows someone who does - a Xebec 1402A > Seagate HDD controller. The drive is in an IBM 5150. Note that this MUST be > the 1402A, NOT the more common 1402. There is some important historical > data we are trying to recover, but the controller is nonfunctioning. > Thank you for any help! -- Devin Monnens www.deserthat.com The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

10 years, 8 months

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