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

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

More Amstrad restoration, for those who might be interested. http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-10-08-amstrad-fd1-adventure.h… Terry (Tez)

10 years, 8 months

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Burroughs Distribution Box

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

Any idea what this might go to? Someone suggested a B1700, but wasn't exactly sure. http://imgur.com/a/rYtjR Thanks, Kyle

10 years, 8 months

2
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3480 additional info

by sales＠elecplus.com

The 3480 and other large stuff is in Chicago. The 3472 and 3477 terminals and keyboards are in WI. Cindy --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

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3480 pictures

by sales＠elecplus.com

See if this will work. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxqLDyoLYuCKZmNsZlo1U0JyVkE <https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxqLDyoLYuCKZmNsZlo1U0JyVkE&usp=sha ring> &usp=sharing Some of the pictures are not very good. Cindy --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

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3480 update

by sales＠elecplus.com

>From the people in Chicago: I have the Cabinets I am not sure about the part numbers though. I tried searching them but i was lost. We have 2, 3490-A10 a 3490-B40, two 44P4352 (as you will see in the pictures the laptop is with one of them) and what i think is 2066-002. Again I am not 100% on these part numbers. I hope the pictures help. He did not send the pictures as attachments, so I can't save them. I have asked him to re-send them. Cindy --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

1
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Small Computer Museum Entities [ Was: Re: MFM Emulator ]

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

CH is pretty nasty right now. We're trying to use my friend's old basement office apartment to get this started. He has been there for years and it's very cheap-- for now. Seattle has gotten ridiculous, so if the building sells or the rent goes up, most of the gear will get packed away once again. A definite risk factor, but hopefully by then we will at least have produced an active community. Or maybe it's all doomed from the get-go; only one way to find out-- It's all conjecture until I get around to moving my ass... :) We are quite close, just need to clean, move in a few more systems, and figure out the initial access structure. Any local folk interested in participating should ping me off-list. - Ian On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 12:37 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote: > On 10/8/15 11:38 AM, Ian Finder wrote: > > We do not intend to overlap with a big, professional museum like CHM or >> LCM. Rather think of this as a kind of a maker-space for old systems; There >> is a lot of interest in Seattle- largely people from the software industry- >> who would love to code something on a real PDP 11, Symbolics or a Xerox or >> a 3B2 / BLIT, but aren't equipped to handle care and feeding of these sorts >> of machines. >> >> > Good. There have been false starts for something similar down here for at > least five years > > The problem is real estate has become insanely expensive here, so it is > tough to get traction. > > I have a good friend that lived on CH in the 90's, and it sounds like > things are getting bad up there > too. > > > > -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

10 years, 8 months

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IBM 3480 server and storage

by sales＠elecplus.com

My Chicago buddy has an entire IBM 3480 system, server and storage. The storage rack has 64 hard drives. He has the tapes that go with it. Email me if you are interested. I can get PN and pics. Will palletize and ship or you can pick up. No, it is not a freebie J Cindy Croxton --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

4
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DEC pdp 11 "R-K ABBR. BOOT P. C. Board"

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay Jaeger > one ought to first check whether the board is intended for a UNIBUS or > Q-Bus system! Easiest way to do that is to look on the back side at the fingers; if the board does not do interrupts or DMA (likely, if this is a ROM card), there will be U-shaped traces to 'jumper' the grant lintes: a QBUS card will have a pair, with a single finger space between them; a UNIBUS card will have a group of four, with no spaces between them. Either pattern is absolutely definitive. If you don't see either... time to drag out the ohm-meter! :-) Noel

10 years, 8 months

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DEC pdp 11 "R-K ABBR. BOOT P. C. Board"

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

What is the purpose of this controller? It came with a PDP 11/05 system: http://vintagecomputer.net/digital/PDP11-05/dec_r-k_abbr_bootPC_Board-a_fro… Printed on the controller is R-K ABBR. BOOT P. C. Board 609395 Rev B 802000 Rev I searched around, found nothing specific Is this a bootstrap board for an RK drive? -- Bill vintagecomputer.net

10 years, 8 months

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Tape cleaner on eBay

by cclist＠sydex.com

While we're on the subject of half-inch tape, the innards of a CDC half-inch tape cleaner, item 281807671456. The seller was surprised to find out that the thing was merely a tape cleaner and not a tape drive, so he probably would like to see an offer. It appears to be complete, but for the outer cabinet. Sellers says it powers up just fine. Not mine, but cleaners don't come up too often, so I thought the list might be interested. --Chuck

10 years, 8 months

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Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive?

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

I know what you mean. There were two awesome CDC 609 available semi locally recently. Carl and I fantasized to pick them up. When we looked at the weight, clearer mind prevailed and we gave up. Not sure what happened to them. Marc ================================================ Subject: Re: Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive? My favorite drive is/are the CDC 607/609. Wonderful units--1500 lbs., IIRC. At any rate, you wouldn't want one to fall on you. Less so the 65x and 66x drives. --Chuck

10 years, 8 months

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cctalk Digest, Vol 16, Issue 7

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

I used John's routine to write and Chuck's to read an HP 1000 SIMH tape image, and the file diff came out identical, give or take a few end characters that I don't believe are part of the data. So you guys are essentially compatible as expected (16 bit machine it sure is). Marc From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: Re: Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS > On 10/06/2015 11:54 AM, Rich Alderson wrote: > Of course, that's mostly true for those machines restricted to silly > octets as their native data representation. :-> And one finds odd-byte-sized records not infrequently in big iron--and then you have to ask "where do most half-inch 9-track tapes originate?" It ain't from DEC, for sure. FWIW, my routines don't bother to pad to an even byte boundary. --Chuck

10 years, 8 months

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IBM terminals last call

by sales＠elecplus.com

Today they start getting cut up if no one responds. 3472 and 3477 terminals, keyboards, printers, etc. 12 pallets total. The terminals are coax. Maybe 100 of them. Keyboards are 122 key, prob abt 150 of them, most have cables. Some are RJ45 and some 5-pin DIN. Yes, you can go look, if you want 10 or more of something. No, he won't ship individual units. Located in WI. Email me off list if you seriously want to go buy. Cindy --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

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server for terminals

by sales＠elecplus.com

I did ask, and he said there is nothing labeled 360 or 390 or any server-looking cabinet, nor anything waist tall except the line printers, and nothing that looks like a computational device except the 3174-11R, of which there are 3. If there is something else to ask, please let me know. Cindy --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

2
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Looking for RX01/02 rack slides

by ball.of.john＠gmail.com

>> I actually need some slides for my RL02... Are these the same type? >Nope. DIGITAL designed their own chassis slides after the 11/34 >11/44, RLxx and everything after were custom. I think at that point there I'd wander down to the local computer recycling center, buy a set of suitable rails and mount a new set on with self-tapping screws once you checked your clearances. It's what I did to my 11/84, RA82 and Cipher drives. -John

10 years, 8 months

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Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive?

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

>I've got a bunch of files that are Overland 32xx-related, but I don't >know if they'll be useful. I don't recall where I got them off the web, >but I'll be happy to forward them along. Probably close to 75MB worth. Thanks, I?ll gladly take all of it. Email away, or if you can share on a web folder such as a Dropbox I can grab it. Jim Cimmeri also sent me some relevant files, thanks Jim. >I don't care much for the Overland desktop drives, due to the chassis >being constructed largely of plastic. Mine might be a different drive. Tower model, pretty slick design. Seems well constructed, out of metal (I think!), no foam inside the door. And nice locking door too. Very silent, easy to load. Like this one on e-bay right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-VINTAGE-OVERLAND-DATA-STORAGE-TRACK-DRIVE-MODE L-OD3201-/252096228767?hash=item3ab21b2d9f I like it better than my Qualstars. But then again, I haven?t yet met a 9-track tape I didn?t like ;-). My favorites so far are the 729 7-track tapes we have on the IBM 1401. Nothing beats a 1000 lbs, 112.5 inch/second vacuum column drive :-) ! I just posted a video about them acting up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwftXqJu8hs Marc > >Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015 10:02:53 -0700 >From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> > >I've got a bunch of files that are Overland 32xx-related, but I don't >know if they'll be useful. I don't recall where I got them off the web, >but I'll be happy to forward them along. Probably close to 75MB worth. > >I don't care much for the Overland desktop drives, due to the chassis >being constructed largely of plastic. Watch out for the foam in the lid >too--it degrades with age and then develops air leaks and suddenly, you >can't load a tape. > >--Chuck >

10 years, 8 months

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Spare Time Gizmos Life game LED tool

by dave＠661.org

I've acquired an unpopulated board for a Spare Time Gizmos Life game. Does anyone here who've made one still have an LED tool you don't need that you can pass along. How about a design file for making one myself? I tried asking this on the Spare Time Gizmos list and nobody replied. -- 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?

10 years, 8 months

2
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Compaq Portable II - IDE compatibility (and setup disk image)

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

My Portable II uses a Miniscribe ST506/412 drive hooked up to a bridge board that I'm told is IDE at the other side, back to the controller. The original drive in my machine is toast - I had to pop the lid to free the spindle. It spins up now, and might cough up some data (for a while), so intention is two-fold: 1) Put the original drive and bridge board into a more modern system to attempt a read, 2) Replace the original drive/bridge combo with a more modern IDE drive (happy to waste 99% of the space on it...) Are there any gotchas involved to either of these, given that IDE was presumably in its infancy when the system was current, and so its possibly a slightly different animal to a more modern version? I don't want to fry the Compaq's controller, or the bridge board. In addition to this, the machine's lost its config, so currently defaults to a floppy boot. Does anyone happen to have an image of the 360K setup floppy, either in Imagedisk or raw format? (LLF is presumably 512 byte sectors, 9 sectors/track, and 40 tracks per side?) cheers Jules

10 years, 8 months

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This is sad...

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > Which is a big reason I dislike eBay, people who chop computers and and > sell them in bits, and people who go on lists and ask "how much is this > worth?", since in many cases it's because they're trying to figure out > how much money they can make > ... > It's all just money... Well, I agree, sometimes the machine is disassmbled in a way that harms the components, or vital components are thrown away/re-cycled because 'they don't seem like they are useful/valuable' (case in point, cables - people save the boards, and throw away the cables - as a result of which, for many boards, we have more boards than we need, and no cables). On the other hand, if this stuff _wasn't_ worth money, most people would just re-cycle it, or pitch it. That would be better? Noel

10 years, 8 months

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A VIC-20 IEEE Project

by silent700＠gmail.com

Some friends in the local 8-bit micro hobby have whipped up a clone of Commodore's VIC-1112 IEEE interface for the VIC-20 computer. The news has probably permeated most of the C= scene but I figured it was worth dropping here for maximum exposure. I saw the prototype working at VCF Midwest earlier this year. They're funding it through Kickstarter and have reached their goal, so production is sure to go ahead. You've got your choice of a DiY board, assembled board or a fully cased cartridge. Just over 60 hours to go: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203958506/vic-20-ieee-interface -j

10 years, 8 months

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Looking for RX01/02 rack slides

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Thinking I had an easy solution to the missing outer slide, I ordered a $40 pair of new heavy-duty rack slides from eBay. Beautiful pieces and ball-bearing slides, decent quality hardware too. Only had to drill a couple of holes in them so they'd match the drive chassis, mounted everything up, and then discovered that they were 1/4" too narrow, no matter how I arranged the brackets, and the drive wouldn't slide between the rack rails. Crap! So I bought two 24" pieces of 2 x 2 x 1/8" angle iron at the local steel place for a whopping $1.40, drilled four holes in each, sanded off the scale/surface rust, bolted them to the rack and slid the drive right in. You can't even see the "homemade" part unless you're really looking, too. Should've done that to start with. If I ever need to service the drive, I'll just slide it back out and set it on the bench... http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/DrCharlesMorris/media/PDP-8/P09-29-15_19.… http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/DrCharlesMorris/media/PDP-8/P09-29-15_19.… However, if anyone should stumble over a set of stock RX sliding rails I'd be interested for the sake of originality ;) Jay, let me know exactly what measurements you would need. There's a pretty good view of the inside rail on the second pic. thanks Charles

10 years, 8 months

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VMS and supported VAX hardware

by pontus＠Update.UU.SE

Hi Is there a table of VMS versions and hardware that they support. I know that 7.3 is the last that supports VAX. But before that, are there limitations to what versions run on which hardware. For instance, would VAX/VMS 1.0 run on a VAXstation 4000? Or would 7.3 run on a 11/730? A somewhat open ended question, but I'm rather clueless to the whole thing. Also, what separates MicroVMS from VMS? Thanks, Pontus.

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > if it behaves as you describe, it would appear that if placed at the > remote end of the bus it could lock the bus by forcing SACK/ asserted > (as the M9302 does) if a grant chain is open [and there's a board with > a pull-up on the grant input just after the break], whereas if it is > placed at the CPU end it can't. YP;IF. But yeah, good point - this smarter board actually works _better_ at the start of the bus, than at the end. Noel

10 years, 8 months

1
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Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

John, Your program worked beautifully writing a SIMH format file on my HP 88780 tape! Thanks a million. Nothing like sending direct SCSI commands to tape >from DOS. Drivers are overrated ;-). Marc ================================ Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2015 02:52:36 -0400 From: John Wilson <wilson at dbit.com> My "ST.EXE" program (available from http://www.dbit.com/pub/ibmpc/util/ including source) runs on real DOS (not Windows) and can write from an E11-format .TAP file (which SIMH uses a garbled version of, but they're interchangeable for *even* record lengths which are 99% of the universe) to a real tape[...] John Wilson D Bit ===============================

10 years, 8 months

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4
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Swedish Election Vigil 1968, 1976 and 1982

by mattislind＠gmail.com

I just found these on SVT ?ppet Arkiv (Open Archive). Aside from the fact that they are fascinating time documents (cloths, haircuts, way of speaking), these are a little bit of interest to this community. I guess that since computers were not very commonplace at that time, SVT really liked to emphasize how modern they were to actually use computers. In the 1968 they show a guy that explains that the terminal is connected to a (IBM) 360/40 computer. Later on the actual machine is shown. Apparently they replaced IBM by DEC in 1976 since they are showing off two PDP-11/40 this time. And in 1982 they put the machines almost on the scene. http://www.oppetarkiv.se/video/2260421/valvakan-1968 http://www.oppetarkiv.se/video/2432414/valvakan-1976 http://www.oppetarkiv.se/video/2243834/valvakan-1982

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > Converting between genuine 20mA loop and RS232 is not that hard. Yes, but I'm i) lazy, and ii) overwhelmed with other projects! :-) >> there's a 'SACK Timeout Module' (M8264) which I think performs the >> same function, but at the _start_ of the bus. (I say 'think' because >> this module is poorly documented - e.g. I don't know of anything which >> definitely states which slot to plug it into.) > I remember a 4 bit counter and LEDs, possibly to count errant grants Yeah, that LED counter looks like a nice feature; I should find one, play with it. > I always assumed it went in the last SPC slot Well, looking at the print (it's in the 11/34 Vol. 2 set that's online), it looks like it should work plugged in anywhere; the circuit just seems to look for any BGn/NPG that's been on 'too long', and when it sees one, asserts SACK. More complicated than the M9302 circuit, which depends on being last, plus they could cram that onto the terminator, is probably why they switched to the M9302 approach. Noel

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > Yes, it is a pity that the later board set (a) has the jumper to > disable the built-in console port and (b) has the switchable divider > allowing higher baud rates so you generally don't need to :-) Well, except for those of us who don't have any 20mA gear, and want to standardize on EIA... :-) > Adjusting the RC clock is not hard given a frequency counter, and it > doesn't have to be that precise. The prints actually give the time for the pulse width on the two different speed groups, so a well-calibrated 'scope should do it. >> So, how did the M9302 see a 'grant' to start the whole process? Noise >> on an open input? Or maybe it powers up in that state? > The grants are the only (I think) unibus signals to be active high. Yup. A source of great confusion to me when I started working with the QBUS, where they are asserted _low_! I'd done a couple of DMA network interfaces on the UNIBUS, and so was totally familiar with how it worked, and when I recently switched to QBUS (I had used LSI-11's extensively BITD, but not done any hardware on them), that (and a few other similar quirks) really threw me until I got a grip on them! > So if the grant chain is open at any point, the next device along > (which might be the terminator) will have a grant input which is pulled > high by the pull-up resistor. Not always! Some devices (e.g. KW11-P) do have a pull-up, but others (e.g. DL11) only have a pull-down. I looked through a couple of UNIBUS handbooks, to see if there was a spec for how to terminate a grant line, and there isn't, which probably explains the variance in practice. But any which do have a pull-up will generate a bogus 'grant' when there's a break in the grant line between them and their upstream. But my theory of noise on an open input may not apply (unless there are devices with _neither_ pull-up not pull-down - I'l too lazy to exhaustively look at UNIBUS device prints ;-). > when that device gets the grant signal it will handle SACK and also > will not pass the grant on to subsequent devices ... So obviously there > is no way the grant should get all the way to the terminator. But in > some cases (I think a device deasserting the request before it gets the > grant is one) the grant can get all the way along the bus. Exactly. Device is requesting interrupt, but is e.g. reset at the same time the CPU grants the interrupt - result, unwanted grant. > I am not sure why that was deemed to be a problem on later machines and > not older ones (which run quite happily with the M930 terminator at > each end of the bus) I think the deal is that an un-wanted grant can cause things to come to a halt until a 'grant timeout' (the '75 Peripherals Handbook says this is 5-10 usec) happens, so the M9302 speeds that up. Interestingly, I think the M9302 was a _later_ solution to this problem in the 11/34. In the early ones, there's a 'SACK Timeout Module' (M8264) which I think performs the same function, but at the _start_ of the bus. (I say 'think' because this module is poorly documented - e.g. I don't know of anything which definitely states which slot to plug it into.) Noel

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

I have spent some time on the ill PDP-11/10 this weekend. I have this machine already a few years, but I recently got an empty H960 rack, which would be the perfect home for this PDP-11/10. When I picked up this 11/10, the story with it was "not good". "We put the boards in the backplane and switched on the machine. When we saw smoke, we turned it off. We did not know that the boards had to go in specific slots ..."! This machine is an 11/10"S" with 16KW core in the 9-slot CPU backplane. So, possibly the +20V core supply voltage fried ICs. However, a visual inspection did not show any blown ICs. After removing all boards (stored in ESD-safe bags), I first checked the power supply. All voltages are present on the backplanes. DC LO and AC LO are at 4.6V and have a ripple of 130 mV. Seems acceptable to me. Next, I placed the two CPU boards in the backplane. Of course in the correct slots :-) and connected the console ribbon cable. Power on... The RUN LED stays on. Alas, it is not the infamous NPG problem. The console is not responsive, although ENABLE/HALT and then START makes DATA/ADRRS LED 0 go on. But that's all. Seems like some fault finding is needed in the CPU and console. I downloaded "DEC-11-H05AA-A-D_1105um.pdf". In the back are some tests that you can do. I hope to find the problem by elimination. Chapter 6.11 describes a few useful checks to verify the console stand alone. Great! All 8 tests check out just fine, but ... the data pattern on the LEDs is "inverted"! The manual says for test numbers 5, 6, 7, and 8 that the LED pattern must be 052525, 031463, 007417, and 0003777 respectively. I got exactly the opposite data: 125252, 146314, 170360, and 177400. Looking at the schematic I could only explain that by a defective 7404 hex inverter, no longer inverting the input signal. But that seemed too weird to be true, and I was not sure whether that would be a correct assumption anyway. Back home I downloaded "EK-KD11B-MM-001_Jan75.pdf" as a preparation to some microstepping/debugging of the CPU. To my surprise, in the back is a chapter 5.11 "Console maintenance". It describes exactly the same tests, but now the LED data is different ... it is what I am seeing! So, I am happy to say that the console is eliminated as a problem source. I guess that the first manual is not for the 11/10 "S" version, although it surprises me that there would be a difference in the console hardware. I dug up 3 double-width extender boards and the KM11 maintenance panels, getting ready to do some microstepping as described in the manual(s). Keeping both manuals side by side! If you have some ideas how to proceed checking the CPU, I'm all ears! greetz, - Henk, PA8PDP

10 years, 8 months

7
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COS-310 "BAD DATE"

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2015 15:01:46 -0500 > From: Jay Jaeger <cube1 at charter.net> > Subject: Re: COS-310 "BAD DATE" > > I doubt that any PDP-8 family OS checks for licensing of any sort. > > Back in those days, DEC used the format DD-MMM-YY for dates, so try > something like: > > 04-OCT-78 > > JRJ > Thanks Jay, that worked! It is different syntax from the COS 300/310 manual that I have. Time to find a different COS manual. -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 8 months

1
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Trivia Question: Pixar Image

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2015 10:10:52 -0500 > From: Ben Sinclair <ben at bensinclair.com> > Subject: Re: Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer > > Are any Pixar Image Computers in the hands of collectors? I would love > to have one of those, even if it didn't do anything! > > -- > Ben Sinclair > ben at bensinclair.com > The RICM has two: http://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home/equipment/pixar-image-computer -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 8 months

1
0
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VCF Berlin Pics

by silent700＠gmail.com

Unfortunately I wasn't there but I still bring you photos, taken by Jack Rubin, from this weekend's Vintage Computer Festival Berlin: https://picasaweb.google.com/102190732096693814506/VCFBerlin2015?noredirect… I don't have any additional info to go with them, so we'll have to wait for Jack to return to the console and fill us in. In the meantime, enjoy the pics! -j

10 years, 8 months

4
3
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Phishing spam? Fwd: Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade

by cclist＠sydex.com

Admin: I take it that this is phishing spam. Just not used to seeing it on cctalk. --Chuck -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2015 01:56:57 +0800 From: Help Desk <weedboard at cassne.org> Reply-To: help.desk.team015 at tech-center.com Help Desk Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade Your account is in the process of being upgraded to a newest Windows-based servers and an enhanced online email interface inline with internet infrastructure Maintenance. The new servers will provide better anti-spam and anti-virus functions, along with IMAP Support for mobile devices to enhance your usage. To ensure that your account is not disrupted but active during and after this upgrade, you are required to kindly confirm your account by stating the details below: * Domain\user name: * Password: This will prompt the upgrade of your account. Failure to acknowledge the receipt of this notification, might result to a temporary deactivation of your account from our database. Your account shall remain active upon your confirmation of your login details. During this maintenance window, there may be periods of interruption to email services. This will include sending and receiving email in Outlook, on webmail, and on mobile devices. Also, if you leave your Mailbox open during the maintenance period, you may be prompted to close and reopen. We appreciate your patience as this maintenance is performed and we do apologize for any inconveniences caused. Sincerely, Customer Care Team (c) Copyright 2015, All Rights Reserved.

10 years, 8 months

1
0
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Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive?

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Anyone has the operation and service manual for the 9-track mag tape drive Overland Data OD3201? Similar to a Qualstar, but seems larger-faster-quieter-better. Just succeeded putting it online. This one is unusual in its simplicity - it has both a Pertec and a Parallel Port interface. Once I found the DOS software in a dark corner of the Internet, I connected it to the parallel port of a my vintage DOS machine and it worked straight out of the box. Look Ma, no interface cards needed! Reads and writes fine apparently. But it has the common ailment of servo motor tape drives, it creeps a little bit at rest. So I probably need to adjust a pot somewhere. Would be nice if I could find the service manual, but no luck on Googling it up. Marc

10 years, 8 months

2
1
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Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

by toby＠telegraphics.com.au

Hi, This recent Quora answer contained a little gap - the name of the person who designed the original logo on the case. Quick Googling didn't help. Anyone have the trivia answer? http://qr.ae/RP2GQy Any other PIC/Pixar/Renderman anecdotes welcome. Sounds like a pretty fancy bit of hardware for the time. --Toby

10 years, 8 months

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PDP 11/03

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jim S > I suspect I also need an additional card at minimum for my escapade, > and I'm not sure if one card will do it. > I've got pretty much one of every 2 size processor and the 11/03 4 up > processor card. I also have several serial cards, and some memory. Then you should have all you need to run a minimal system; CPU, memory and a serial interface for the console. (In fact, it's possible to run _very_ short programs with only an 11/23 or /73 CPU card, a serial interface card, and no memory - put the program in the PAR's! :-) > if someone has something laying around that would let me just run up to > a working serial port Do you mean, a cable? If so, I can hook you up there (not the most robust, mind, as my supply of pins/shells are cheapo knock-offs, but functional). What kind of serial card(s) do you have (some take the LSI-11 serial 'standard' 10-pin Berg connector shell, the early ones use the DL11 compatible 40-pin shell), and what's going to be on the non-PDP-11 end - a PC of some sort? Noel

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

>> From: Tony Duell >> I am working from 2 Printsets, both from Bitsavers. One is the GT40 one >> (yet another backplane of course, but the same CPU, core memory, etc). > Ah, thanks for that pointer; I'll see if it shows the same board > versions as my 'early' hardcopy set. It does seem to show _basically_ the same as my set; the print revs are slightly different (slightly later), but it does have what I've called the 'early' boards. The differences with mine are minor - e.g. on the M7261, there are two extra capacitors in the prints in the GT40 set. > isn't the switchable divider only present on later boards (the early > ones being pretty much 110 baud only)? Ooh, right you are - another way to tell the early M7260 from later ones. If your memory of a version with a crystal is correct, that does indeed make three versions of that board. Can all -11/05 and -11/10 owners look at their M7260, and see if they have one with a crystal? If so, we can institute a search for the prints of that version. > This printset _does_ show the jumpers I mentioned. Look at page 75 of > the .pdf bottom, left-ish. Jumper W1 is described as disabling the > internal serial port when fitted. Ah, right you are; maybe I am mis-remembering a long search through the 'early' printset for jumper W1? >> You have to tweak the trim pot to change from the 110/220/440/880/1760 >> speed set to the 150/300/600/1200/2400! Ugly!!) > May be easier than finding the right crystal to change a DL11A-E to the > 'other' set of baud rates :-) Well, today that's not so easy (although I did stumble on a pair of the 9600 baud crystals on eBay a while back), but back then, it was a lot easier! > The M9302 includes logic to assert SACK if a grant (any BG or NPG) gets > to it ... This causes problems with an open grant chain in that the CPU > sees the SACK, tries to deassert the grant (which it hasn't asserted in > the first place) and the bus is locked with SACK asserted and no grants. So, how did the M9302 see a 'grant' to start the whole process? Noise on an open input? Or maybe it powers up in that state? >> From: Johnny Billquist >> You most likely want to terminate the other end as well. > It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the > CPU backplane .. I am certain a terminator at the CPU end only will get > the machine doing something Yes, I think that in electrical terms it would be very similar to the typical LSI-11, which works fine with termination at one end only. Yes, there will be more noise on the bus due to the un-terminated end, but it will probably still work OK. Noel

10 years, 8 months

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Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Chuck, Thanks for your STP2T02.exe SCSI tape to SIMH program. Ran like a champ under Win98 DOS, first time. It's the only utility that did work out of the box to read a tape from my SCSI-1 HP 88780 9-track into a SIMH file, out of the 5 or so I tried. Before I jump to Linux, which seems to be the more straightforward option, does anyone have the reverse tool to write a SIMH image file on a 9 Track tape under Windows/DOS? None of the utilities I found using Windows Tape APIs could deal with my tape SCSI-1 early interface, they all expect some basic (SCSI-2?) functions that are not implemented. Marc

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > I am working from 2 Printsets, both from Bitsavers. One is the GT40 one > (yet another backplane of course, but the same CPU, core memory, etc). Ah, thanks for that pointer; I'll see if it shows the same board versions as my 'early' hardcopy set. > The other is the 11/05S schematic, which shows the later boards with > the crystal UART clock Say what? The "11/05S schematic" from Bitsavers shows the RC clock; look on page 61, bottom left corner, there's an RC circuit (and a couple of flops) producing an output "DPH TTY CLK (I) H", which is fed into the baud rate divider in the upper left corner. (Ooooh, what an ugly circuit! You have to tweak the trim pot to change from the 110/220/440/880/1760 speed set to the 150/300/600/1200/2400! Ugly!!) Noel

10 years, 8 months

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PDP 11/03

by jws＠jwsss.com

I've been gathering bits and pieces from recent Ebay purchases and would like to see if anyone has a spare 11/03 or 11/23 qbus type box. I've got quite a few cards, and even a backplane block, but the prices on ebay are crazy, and I'd like to check here before doing anything rash. I suspect I also need an additional card at minimum for my escapade, and I'm not sure if one card will do it. I've got pretty much one of every 2 size processor and the 11/03 4 up processor card. I also have several serial cards, and some memory. that's as far as I have it, and if someone has something laying around that would let me just run up to a working serial port I would think that would be a good start. I do have a few fully working larger 11's but they are of no use for this exercise, all are unibus, or not compatible with these cards. If the price isn't too shocking I'd like to buy if possible. thanks Jim

10 years, 8 months

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PDP-11/10 repair started

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Tony Duell > There are at least 2 versions of the 11/10 CPU boards. The later one, > which I thought was the 11/10S, has soldered wire links to disable the > arbiter ... I think another link disables the built-in console port. > And didn't it use a crystal rather than RC clock for the built-in > serial console port? It would be good to know exactly how many there are! I think there are at least three, because: There are two sets of 11/05 (let's not bother with the 05-10 distinction, I think that's just the artwork on the front panel) prints on-line, "1105_RevAH_Engineering_Drawings_Jul76": http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1105/1105_RevAH_Engineering_Drawings_Jul… and "1105S_Schem": http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1105/1105S_Schem.pdf Both of them show the exact same board revs: M7260 Rev C (drawing: date 1-22-73, rev N) M7261 Rec F (drawing: date 9-5-73, rev U) However, I don't think they show the W1 jumper to disable the onboard serial line, etc (I spent quite a while looking for it in these prints, after hearing of its existence :-); and they definitely show an RC circuit, and not a crystal, as the baud rate generator. So, the board set with those features (jumper + crystal) must be a later set than the ones shown in those two on-line sets of prints. (One of which is marked "11/05S", just to be confusing - I didn't check to see if that rev of the cards has a jumper to allow another machine to be bus master.) However, I have a set of hardcopy 11/05 prints, and they show an even earlier state: M7260 Rev B (drawing: date 4-07-72 rev H) M7261 Rev C (drawing: date 3-19-72 rev J) On this rev of the M7260, the UART chip is down near the contact fingers, and 'horizontal', not up near the Berg connector to the console, and 'vertical'. The M7261 is also quite distinct; there's a big gap on the center left of the card (full of traces). Just to thicken the plot a bit more, I have an M7261 that looks like that, and it is marked "M7261E" in the etch! So that's '3 versions' at least of the 11/05: - The latest (jumpers and crystal) - The middle (in the on-line prints) - The early (in the hardcopy prints I have) I say '3' because it's possible there are only early and late versions of each card, and the '3 versions' I listed are actually 3 different mixes of old/new cards. > The original and later boards seem to have the same numbers. Indeed; there's nothing on the handles, etc to indicate that they are totally different boards (except for that "M7261E" in the etch. Any chance you can find a print set that shows the later cards, with the jumpers, crystal, etc? Noel

10 years, 8 months

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COS-310 "BAD DATE"

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

I am fiddling with diskettes on my PDP-8/e. I booted COS-310 V8 and it asked for a date. I tried lots of date combinations, and none were accepted. Is this because I don't have an LTC installed? COS MONITOR V 8.00 DATE? . ERROR IN COMMAND .DA 10/04/74 BAD DATE COS MONITOR V 8.00 DATE? .DA 1/25/72 BAD DATE -- Michael Thompson

10 years, 8 months

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Interlisp-D (Medley) "display font" disks for the 1186?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > a currently non-working 1186 with an installation of the Lyric release > of Interlisp-D installed on the drive > ... > I have made a disk image of the ad-hoc font disk I created Might be a good idea to make an image of the entire Lyric hard drive, in case that drive fails, we won't lose the bits. Noel

10 years, 8 months

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Troubleshooting a 286.. oscope level!

by ethan＠757.org

Hello everyone, I'm working to troubleshoot a 286 laptop style computer. I've kind of hit the end of my knowledge and wondering if anyone has any insight. The computer in question I've never seen run. So I don't know normal behavior. There were a few caps inside that were leaking electrolyte, I cleaned it all up and replaced them. A few traces look a little bit corroded but test fine. First thing I'm thinking, is did the BIOS eproms loose a bit or two of data from age? Bit rot? I did read off the two BIOS chips (high and low pair I assume.) I can see text like Copyright Pheonix Technologies 1988, but I can see that for instance the first character of the text Copyright is wrong, it's a P in one file and 9A in the other. Second thing I hooked up Oscope and cut on computer. It never does a floppy seek. When I poke around the 27c256 EPROM I see constant activity on all address lines, and all datalines. This includes the OE pin as well. Would a normal runnng computer hit the BIOS that much? Any thoughts appreciated! -- Ethan O'Toole

10 years, 8 months

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This is sad...

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

hmmm.... be careful of that core..... may contain launch codes <grin!> Ed# In a message dated 10/3/2015 10:02:45 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, linimon at lonesome.com writes: On Sat, Oct 03, 2015 at 07:09:04PM -0400, Sean Caron wrote: > Software preservation is definitely important remember that with the latest US laws, that certain data (e.g. hard drives, magnetic media) *must* be destroyed on the supposition that they contain sensitive personal data. If you don't do so, you can create yourself a legal liability. (do NOT ask me about equipment sold by someone in South Austin who is now out of business, who should have been wiping drives.) mcl

10 years, 8 months

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This is sad...

by mattislind＠gmail.com

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111410385883 10 left 27 sold. Once they could have been used by someone. Now they can only be used as a conversation piece hanged on the wall.

10 years, 8 months

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Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Thanks, this looks perfect. And indeed my tape is ID 5 (brainwaves anyone?). Can you elaborate on the differences between E11 and SIMH? When is it the same, when will it not be compatible? Marc ================================ Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2015 02:52:36 -0400 From: John Wilson <wilson at dbit.com> My "ST.EXE" program (available from http://www.dbit.com/pub/ibmpc/util/ including source) runs on real DOS (not Windows) and can write from an E11-format .TAP file (which SIMH uses a garbled version of, but they're interchangeable for *even* record lengths which are 99% of the universe) to a real tape. It works on my HP 88780, and my Qualstar 1260S and even a DEC TZ30 or TK50Z-GA (which aren't quite full SCSI-1). Not picky at all. "st wput foo.tap" should write your image out. You need a DOS ASPI driver for your SCSI card, and you'll need to use something like "-f scsi5:" on the command line (or set the TAPE environment variable) so ST will know which SCSI ID (etc.) to use. John Wilson D Bit ===============================

10 years, 8 months

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Troubleshooting a 286.. oscope level!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Fred Cisin > Do you get any POST codes? How about beep codes? (A lot of machines give them out when things are too effed up to even display anything.) Noel

10 years, 8 months

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IBM terminals update 2

by sales＠elecplus.com

Without taking the skids apart, rough counts are , terminals - 57 keyboards - 77 printers - 4 line printer - 1 servers - 3 misc parts - 1 skid replacement bases ect all of the equipment is nice and white not yellowed so it looks good He wants to move it as a lot. He does not give a price point. Located in WI. Cindy Croxton --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

10 years, 8 months

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A new Lisp-based OS that hearkens back to the old days of comprehensible computers

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Liam Proven I am _very much_ in sympathy with the complaints here; I too feel that modern computers are too complex, etc. (Although some of it, like the entire computer turning into a single chip, were/are inevitable/unavoidable.) I like the functionality of modern system, but I feel they are _more complex than they need to be_ to generate that level of functionality. However, one thing I am going to quibble with: > This is a nice explanatory quote: > The main reasons TempleOS is simple and beautiful are because it's > ring-0-only .. Linux wants to be a secure, multi-user mainframe. ... > It was simple, open and hackable. It was not networked. ... It was ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > simple and unsecure. If you don't have malware and you don't have > bugs, protection just slows things down and makes the code complicated. Note the part I highlighted. If you want to have a system that's network-capable, which is pretty much mandatory for a _really_ usable system in this day and age, i) that means Web-capable, and ii) if it's Web-capable today, it has to be able to handle what I dub 'active content' (JavaScript, etc) - i.e. content coming off the network which contains code, which runs in the local machine. To paraphrase a certain well-known SF work, IMO active content is probably the worst idea since humans' fore-fathers crawled out of the mud. It's _potentially_ a giant, gaping security hole - one that in today's OS's is responsible for a huge share of security issues. (There _is_ a way to have systems which aren't as vulnerable, but it means having military-grade security on everyone's machine - and no, I don't mean crypto; probably not likely, alas.) I mourn the early days of the Web, when there was no active content - just text, images, etc, etc. But no, they had to add all sorts of flashy eye candy - and did so in a way that makes basically all modern machines horribly insecure. But let me dispense with the soap box... Anyway, the inevitable consequence is that if you want a networked machine, it's _not_ going to be simple. Alas. You're basically sharing the machine with _lots_ of other people - effectively, every Tom, Dick and Jane out there in the Internet. In other words, you need everything one normally saw/sees in a time-sharing machine. (And I'm not talking about wimpy ones like Unix/Linux. I mean industrial strength ones like Multics.) Noel

10 years, 8 months

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Looking for RRD40 caddy

by jpw＠chocolatejollis.net

Hello all, I am looking for a CD caddy that is compatible with the DEC RRD40. Willing to pay for the caddy + shipping; haven't had any luck with eBay et. al. Thanks, JP Willis

10 years, 8 months

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