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

by mattislind＠gmail.com

I have a few 8 inch floppy disks coming from a Q1 Lite computer. I tried reading them on a PC with a Adaptec 1522A floppy controller but it failed completely. Then I tried my Catweasel and dumped the raw flux data. The format differs >from what I have seen before. I did a quick histogram of the flux lengths and it appears that there are four groups of sample lengths evenly spaced. Peaks at 30, 48, 66 och 84 samples flux lengths. The longest flux lengths are interspersed in between more normal flux lengths in the actual data and I get the same type of result regardless of reads of the same track and between different tracks. But the relative frequency is much much lower for the longer flux lengths than the shorter ones. An RX02 (MFM ish) had 26, 41, 55 samples as the peaks in the histogram. As far as I understand cw2dmk software uses 14 MHz setting in the catweasel so each sample length is around 70ns. Anyone that has seen this kind of format before? Or is it just a reading error? I have the same result from several discs though and they look to be in quite good shape physically. Link contains histogram files and a raw track flux file. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1URC5i8AsRyP08d_ZhWRovbDp2TMgdj4B?us…

5 years, 1 month

7
18
0 0

TK70 maintenance--swapping capstans

by cz＠alembic.crystel.com

Well my little TK70 here has been squeaking and it looks like the capstans are frozen/bad. They don't move up and down and they don't spin well. Fortunately I have a dead TK70 with good capstans so I figured I would swap them. Unfortunately I don't have a maintenance manual (does anyone have one?) so I had to figure out alignment myself. Capstan alignment seems to be critical, if they are off the unit don't work... Anyway here is my procedure so far to get the unit to load and unload tapes on the bench. Not perfect, but a start.... Pulling the capstans requires you to remove the two lock nuts on top first. I recommend you count the turns from all the way tight if possible as alignment is critical, and the front and rear ones can be at different relative heights. Anyway if you didn't do this you need to adjust the rear height to trip the optical sensors and the front one to handle tape slew. Note: All the below is done with the unit on a bench, with a PC power supply. The first step is to adjust the rear capstan so the leader tape's wide hole for the end of tape-stop marker allows light from both LEDs/sensors to pass through. You do this by tightening the bolt down till snug, then back off 1/2 turn. Turn on unit, see if it unlatches. It probably will try to turn the tape 4 times then error out. Fine. Power down, back off the bolt 1/4 turn and try again. At some point it will open the latch. Note the # of turns of the bolt then keep going 1/4 turn at a time till it doesn't work again (too high). The proper value for your unit in turns is halfway between too low and too high. Reset the bolt and verify it works several times. For my unit the right height was about 1.5 turns out. Then you need to adjust the front capstan. The problem is if the front is higher or lower than the back you have tape slew errors. Start at the level of the rear one based on the # of turns minus a bit (1/2 turn). Then load a tape. It will load, but when you try to unload things will go bad, the tape will just move forward onto the take up reel 4 times, and the unit will error out. The reason is it has to read the tape as it turns to know a tape is loaded (as opposed to the leader where it looks for the end of leader light). If the capstans are not holding the tape level against the head it can't read. Each time it moves forward a bit, try bringing the front up 1/8 turn at a time. Eventually it will speed up, that means it can read the tape on one of those moves. It should then unload. Now you have the front basically set. It will unload the tape, cycle it a few times to make sure it's working. That's where I am now. Next step is to see if it will read the tape in the computer. I'll work on that tomorrow. Note if you ever shine an led flashlight into a running TK50 or 70 all hell will break loose as the system will see the light on the tape sensor and think it has hit BOT. Even worse is if both LED sensors trigger, then it thinks it is at end of leader and it will throw tape everywhere. Ask me how I know....

5 years, 1 month

1
2
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WTB: HP 9000-340 memory (HP 98268A), AUI (HP 98235A), SCSI (HP 98658A)

by cmhanson＠eschatologist.net

I've acquired an HP 9000-340C+ and I'd like to kit it out with the maximum RAM, SCSI, and AUI rather than thin Ethernet. Desired: - RAM boards: HP 98268A RAM board (three of them to get to 16MB, I'd probably buy extra just to be safe) - AUI LAN board: 98571-66534, aka HP 98235A AUI LAN Upgrade - SCSI board: HP 98658A SCSI Interface Card Anyone have any of this stuff that they might be interested in parting with? I'm also always on the lookout for an HP 98556A 2D/integer graphics accelerator in case anyone happens to have one that needs a home. That's the integer accelerator with a 68020 and some RAM, which piggybacks atop the 98550A (1280x1024 8-bit color card) via its extra Eurocard connector. -- Chris

5 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Systems Concepts SC-4 computer

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Lars Brinkhoff > I suppose that main computer could be the GE-645 on which Multics was > developed? And they would still refer to it as G.E. Oh, it was clearly referring to the Multics machine. I assumed that with the GE sale being 1970, by '72 it was not a GE machine anymore. But the MIT Multics site page: https://multicians.org/site-mit.html says the H-6180 was installed in November, 1972; shortly after the letter. Noel

5 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

found it: first speech synthesizer (at least, for S-100 systems)

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Have one filed in somewhere with all the s-100 boards... now I have a reason to dig it out! Yes... memories of Wirt's projects! Ed#?? smecc On Wednesday, December 16, 2020 Bill Degnan via cctalk <billdegnan at gmail.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: Very interesting Stan. Thank you for sharing this info Bill Degnan On Wed, Dec 16, 2020 at 2:43 AM Stan Sieler via cctalk < cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > Hi, > > Some years back, I was asking if anyone had information about the speech > synthesizer > developed for the Altair 8080 by Wirt Atmar of AICS (in New Mexico). > No "hits". > > Most places on the web claimed the Computalker was first, given the date as > 1976 or 1977. > > (Earlier speech synthesizes existed, but they were external boxes that one > interfaced to, > or were standalone (often with a large/weird keyboard).) > > Today, I stumbled over a fairly bad OCR of Byte magazine from August, 1976 > at > > https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1976-08/1976_08_BYTE_00-12_Speech_… > > It has two articles about speech synthesizers for S-100 bus systems. > > The first is by the Computalker people, who say: > > At the time this article > goes to press, a synthesizer > module incorporating several > detail refinements and im- > provements over the circuits > of this article is being de- > veloped by the author and > associates. > > and > > A detailed user's > guide will be supplied with the > Computalker module > > > Note the future tense! > > The second is by Wirt Atmar, whose product *was already shipping*. > > Near the end of his Byte article, Wirt lists currently available products: > > At the present time, two speech synthesizers > are both commercially available and affordable by > the hobbyist. > > One is the Votrax produced by: > > Vocal Interface Division > > Federal Screw Works > > 500 Stephenson Dr > > Troy Ml 48084 > > Price, approximately $2,000 > > Interfacing: Parallel or Serial (RS-232) > > > The second is the Model 1000 manufactured by: > > Ai Cybernetic Systems > > PO Box 4691 > > University Park NM 88003 > > Price, $425 > > > Wirt had told me (twenty years ago or so) that he thought his was the first > for microcomputers (e.g., a user installed card, not an external box). > Now, I'm sure ... but it was realllly close! > > Wirt demonstrated his product at the earlier MITS World Altair Computer > Conven- > tion, where it won first prize. > > He advertised it poorly/infrequently, since it was mostly a side business. > And, that shows, since history doesn't remember it. > > Stan >

5 years, 1 month

4
6
0 0

Plessey/Dilog DCV54

by nw.johnson＠ieee.org

Has anybody got a DCV54 that they are using? I am trying to get one working with David Gasswein's mfm board and having no luck. The controller is working fine with a standard floppy as an RX33, even boots the MicroVAX from it.? But on-board diagnostics cannot format or even recognise the mfm board as a winchester. Just got the scope out today and found that the drive select lines are being terminated OK on the mfm board, bit the controller is not even dropping drive select. (Yes I have tried new cables) Problem is I don't have anything old enough to test the mfm boards with other than the Plessey controlelr! I'm thinking there must be some on-board config that I am missing on the controller. - It has never had a real mfm drive connected to it. Any help appreciated, Nigel -- Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept! Skype: TILBURY2591 nw.johnson at ieee.org

5 years, 1 month

3
2
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Digitalker 54104 IC

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Bill...this just? struck a memory I think I have a Radioshack Digitalker in a packaging? but recall it being just one large chip...? Ed #??? SMECC On Saturday, February 13, 2021 Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: On 2/12/21 6:09 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: > On Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 6:01 PM Jim Brain via cctalk > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> But, I'm sad because no one either has one nor can help me test this >> one.? So, I cannot enjoy the thrill of making it say inappropriate stuff :-( > > I have several vintage speech ICs, but not that one. > I do as well.? I have the Radio Shack "Voice Synthesizer IC Set" sitting on the desk in front of me right now. bill

5 years, 1 month

5
5
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Wanted: Info on Optisys/Optidisk WORM file system

by cclist＠sydex.com

I have a bunch of Panasonic/Matsushita 470/940 MB phase-change WORM discs here--and the appropriate drive (Panasonic LF-5010 SCSI-2) to read them. Unlike CD-R media, however, the format of these discs is not anything standard--they were essentially treated as hard disks. So, adding a file involves copying the directory and then adding the file information to the copy. The same applies, of course, for file deletion. If the drive tries to read a (1,024 byte) sector that hasn't been written to, it will get an error after a number of retries. I should emphasize that this drive is *not* fast--throughput seems to be on the order of a floppy disk. I can probably (with a bit of head-scratching) figure out the methodology behind this system, but I'm giving a shout-out to see if this rings any bells. Phase-change WORM did not enjoy a long life in the world, being superseded by rewritable media (both CD-RW and MO). As a point of reference, here's the data from sector 1 of a sample disc (Sector 0 is not used): > 00000400 04 0d 04 16 00 0f 0a fe 02 00 20 03 00 03 48 47 |.......... ...HG| > 00000410 49 42 32 2e 31 31 2d 30 33 2e 30 30 43 72 65 61 |IB2.11-03.00Crea| > 00000420 74 65 64 3a 20 54 68 72 20 32 32 20 41 70 72 20 |ted: Thr 22 Apr | > 00000430 31 39 39 33 20 20 20 20 20 31 35 3a 20 32 2e 32 |1993 15: 2.2| > 00000440 38 3a 35 31 20 20 20 20 4f 70 74 69 73 79 73 20 |8:51 Optisys | > 00000450 4f 70 74 69 44 69 73 6b 20 28 43 29 20 43 6f 70 |OptiDisk (C) Cop| > 00000460 79 72 69 67 68 74 20 31 39 38 37 20 2d 20 31 39 |yright 1987 - 19| > 00000470 39 31 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 |91 | > 00000480 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 | | If nothing turns up in the community, I'll work out the format and make details available (as I understand them). TIA --Chuck

5 years, 1 month

6
10
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Digitalker 54104 IC

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Most challanging was to figure out to make it say naughty things... and once you did? how it almost caused havoc in AZ On Tuesday, February 9, 2021 Jim Brain via cctalk <brain at jbrain.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: I suspect the answer to question #1 is no, but thought I would ask. 1) Anyone happen to have a known working Digitalker 54104 IC they are looking to trade for some cash that does not involve me selling an arm or a leg :-)? 2) Barring that, anyone have a known working Digitalker-based unit that might be able to pop in a suspected non working Digitalker IC and test? I have a Jameco (yep, the parts firm) manufactured Digitalker unit here called the JE-520 that is my original unit.? It suffered some ROM bit rot long ago and was not working, but I acquired the ROMs a while back to repair the unit. Now, though, as I pull it out for another project, it seems to be misbehaving.? It's like "address bit 1" on the input commands is acting up.? For instance, word 48 is "zero", and 49 is "one", but zero will be followed by "three" and then "zero" and then "three" as one sends values 48,49,50,51 to the unit.? I'm working to confirm the bit 1 on the cable to the PC is not bad, but initial efforts point to it being the IC. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

5 years, 1 month

5
6
0 0

Mystery (unusual) 1973 terminal

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

Hi all, Hopefully the following link works, but someone over on one of the Facebook vintage groups has this oddball terminal from 1973 that they've been looking for any information on: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-2uEFbi3OKBYr06y6yHnygDiLMtw2Qkj ... it's somewhat unconventional in that half the CRT is hidden from view within the machine, i.e. it only actually displays the top half of the display to the user - I've no idea if that's because it had a specific application where space was limited, or if it was simply that memory at the time was horribly expensive and so it was designed to only use a few lines (I know some vendors did that, although I think they typically presented the whole CRT and at least had the option of RAM upgrade to more lines). The blower assembly seems a little on the homebrew side, but on the other hand the PCBs and case construction make it seem like a professional product. The owner says the only label anywhere on the thing is the one on the CRT saying "Mfd in Japan for Conrac", but that's presumably just the CRT itself and not the entire machine. I don't believe there's anything resembling a microprocessor in the system, it's all just TTL logic (the large white ceramic IC is an ACIA). Oh, I believe the owner's in Canada, so it may be it was made there and never exported to other parts of the world. cheers Jules

5 years, 1 month

7
9
0 0

Mystery DEC cartridge tape drive

by aek＠bitsavers.org

This is a mystery. What DEC system used a CDC Sentinel DC300 cartridge tape drive? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computer-DEC-BY5A5-E-Tape-Drive-77-014320/…

5 years, 1 month

4
3
0 0

One more thing to fix... HP9000/380 power supply

by ce.murillosanchez＠gmail.com

This decade seems to have increased the number of failing things in such a way that the "to be repaired" backlog is growing much faster than I can get to diminish it. Argh.? A month ago my trusty HP9000/380 ran just fine and I booted the different OS's in the SCSI and HPIB drives connected to it (this particular machine is interesting because the 9000/300 port of NetBSD was partly developed in it: it was Mike Wolfson's). Yesterday, it failed to turn on; the power supply is dead.? So I unracked the pile of drives and the computer, checked for obvious things (the fuse is fine, and nothing in the power supply is swelled up or leaking, or browned by heat; visually, it looks new; the HV caps seem to hold a charge).? I need the schematics for the power supply (at least the output connector; I can work my way back from that)? and also those for the backplane in this hp9000/380.? A preliminary search at bitsavers and elsewhere did not help.? Does anybody have these? In the meantime, I finally improved the mainboard (had the parts for a long while) from a 380 to a 385 by changing the clock generator, and replacing the 68040RC25 with an RC33. I ran this machine as a web server continuously for ten years in the 2000's, totally exposed.? Many tried to hack it... and failed. Another personal connection to this architecture is that I used Apollos and hp9000/300 at UW-Madison back in 1989-91.? Boy, did I crunch numbers... carlos.

5 years, 1 month

4
4
0 0

Reading ESDI disks

by mattislind＠gmail.com

What is the best way of dumping the contents of an ESDI disk? I have an original IBM Enhanced ESDI ISA controller board. Could that be used under Linux? Or NetBSD/FreeNSD? I googled but didn't find much. Is there any other way of dumping the disk contents? In theory it should be just a matter of clocking the raw data and finding the marks and extracting the data. Has anyone done something similar? /Mattis

5 years, 1 month

9
33
0 0

APL\360

by boris＠summitclinic.com

Counting in binary on ones fingers was something I first ran into at age 11 when found a book on Military Electronics in a surplus store. Everything simplified, but in computer section found binary system explained with using fingers to represent bits. That was something that I used immediately as used to count steps to various places but after 1000+ steps would often forget where I was so would increment my binary digital counter every 100 steps. At that age 1 mile was probably about 2500 steps so I my counter would have overflowed at about 40.9 miles. Also LSB was my left small finger which seems weird now but suspect that's what illustration in book showed of how to count in binary on your fingers. Found manual method easier to use than a pedometer. >I too count sheep with my fingers, but I never get past zero due to the >lack of sheep. :-) > >Tom Hunter > >On Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 5:34 PM Tor Arntsen via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> >wrote: > > > On Sat, 30 Jan 2021 at 03:27, dwight via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > wrote: > > > If we'd thought about it we could count to 1023 on our fingers. > > > Dwight > > > > Some sheep herders in (IIRC) the Caucasus do, or did at least. I > > learned about that some decades ago. Counting sheep on their fingers. > > I use the system sometimes. > > > > -Tor > >

5 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Al Lasher's electronics closing.

by korpela＠ssl.berkeley.edu

One fewer place to obtain old stock components in the NorCal East Bay. https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/12/03/lashers-electronics-berkeley-busine… -- Eric Korpela korpela at ssl.berkeley.edu AST:7731^29u18e3

5 years, 1 month

23
41
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IBM AS/400 and HP scope for sale in the UK

by alsilisk＠icloud.com

Dear all, I have been looking to downsize a bit in recent times and am looking to get rid of an IBM AS/400 9404 F10 and an HP 175a oscilloscope. As these things are large they are pickup only in the Petersfield area. I cannot guarantee either work. Although the scope comes with spares and does show some signs of life. It is not my area of expertise and it is probably going to need a full rework, it being from the 60s. The AS/400 is a similar story although will probably be a much simpler task. Send me an email if you are interested in either one of them or want pictures or have questions. I also realise it is lockdown, but if you send me a line now I can hold them for you rather than them being scrapped. Thanks, Al

5 years, 1 month

1
0
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ENIAC 75th Anniversary Celebration

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

This evening begins a series of events celebrating the 75th anniversary of the unveiling of the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania.? On the 11th and 18th, the Philadelphia Venture Cafe will be hosting virtual round tables with a number of us who have some connection to the ENIAC and Philadelphia technology.? Included among the people present will be: - Bill Mauchly and Chris Eckert, sons of the ENIAC creators - Bill Mensch, part of the 6502 engineering team - Kathy Kleiman, producer of the ENIAC programmers documentary (And yes, I'll be there for anyone who wants to get nerdy and talk about the technical aspects of the machine and its programming.) Monday, the 15th is the day of the anniversary, and there will be a full day of webcasting.? Starting at 10:30 EST, UPenn will be holding a mini-symposium in recognition of the ENIAC.? Then at 3:30 EST, Unisys will be webcasting an ENIAC celebration video that includes a number of panel discussions, as well as clips from early newsreels, and happy birthday wishes >from the various locations housing ENIAC artifacts. More details and links to all the events can be found here: http://www.eniacday.org/events/ BLS

5 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

RX02 DMK image to raw tool?

by david4602＠gmail.com

On 2/8/21 1:00 PM, Mattis Lind wrote: > This is highly annoying. Back in 2015 I did exactly this and now I have > forgotten how. > > I dumped a set of RX02 disks with catweasel into .DMK and now I want a raw > sector image to be able to test them with SimH. > > What is a good tool to use? I have some faint memory of glancing through > hexdumps of .dmk files. Perhaps I did something myself using dmklib by Eric > Smith? Don't really remember, unfortunately. > > But surely someone else has already done this, right? > > /Mattis I wrote my own, not knowing where another one lived. I happen to think in Java, so that's what it's implemented in. Description is here: https://github.com/RetroFloppy/transformenator/wiki/Utility-Functions#dmk2r… Code is here: https://github.com/RetroFloppy/transformenator/blob/master/src/org/transfor… The only thing of interest is the cw2dmk tool would read RX01 disks and "double" the data - so my tool will make an attempt to detect that and halve the data back out the other end. - David

5 years, 1 month

4
4
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New pinion gears for plotters...

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

For those of you with the Atari & Commodore pen plotters that have broken pinion gears, there's now a guy making new ones in brass: https://www.soigeneris.com/alps-printer-plotter-mechanism-pinion-gears g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

5 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

Mystery NCR disk pack

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello list, there is an NCR-labelled disk pack offered in the bay with a geometry that I've never come across before: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353379280282 It seems to be a 14" pack with three platter and six recordable surfaces. The platters themselves are quite thick and the distance between the platters is quite wide compared to the IBM 1316 and 2316 type standards. Does anybody know if this is really an NCR development or if it is a rebadged pack from another manufacturer? Any hints to solve this mystery is much appreciated :) Best regards, Pierre PS: I wonder if the seller describing the party dog is describing himself, but partying seemed to be an important part of his life ;) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.digitalheritage.de

5 years, 1 month

1
0
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resistor packs for terminating SCSI bus inside Exabyte 8020

by nw.johnson＠ieee.org

Hi all, I wonder if anybody has one with the terminators installed that can read off the p/n for these SIPs The manual says they are 8-pin 7 resistor 220/330 ones, but that is not possible! To put 7 resistor pairs to 220 and 330 you need a 9-pin, unless you have one resistor SIP for 220 and another for 330!? But there are 2 so that leaves an odd number! The sockets are 9-pin.? I have yet to find any 9-pin ones on digikey cheers, Nigel -- Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept! Skype: TILBURY2591 nw.johnson at ieee.org

5 years, 1 month

4
11
0 0

Apple ][+ ic

by david4602＠gmail.com

On 2/10/21 1:00 PM, John Many Jars<john at yoyodyne-propulsion.net> wrote: > So, I have an Apple ][+. It is missing an IC at location a3 on the > motherboard. > > I don't know why. it used to work... I think my mind is going. I have no > memory or removing it. Anyway, I need another one. The board is marked > 74166. > > Can I put any shift register IC with a similar part no, like this one: > > 74166PC | FAIRCHILD | IC DIP-16 Shift Register (icompplus.com) > <https://www.icompplus.com/en/integrated-circuits/24400/74166PC> > > in there, or ? > > Thanks, > > mark aka john I have a mobo that has that very part (Fairchild 74166PC), so it's a good bet it'll work. - David

5 years, 1 month

2
1
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Part# request: TK70 eject switch

by cz＠alembic.crystel.com

Working on fixing a pair of TK70's here to speed up my backups. The TK50 is fine on a TQK70 controller (it streams perfectly) but I am coming close to filling a tape. I've managed to assemble a working TK70 out of two unhappy ones, but to fix the other I need to replace the eject button switch. The plastic/rubber on it has turned to the usual goo. Does anyone know the part number for that switch? Taller than a usual SMD button switch, so a stock one won't work. I could take it apart but that would be a kludge. Thanks!

5 years, 1 month

2
1
0 0

APL\360

by paulkoning＠comcast.net

I was just poking around the computerhistory.org website, searching for Knuth stuff. The second or third hit when I search for "Knuth" is this one: https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-apl-programming-language-source-code/ . It's not just about APL, it actually has a downloadable copy of the source code. And it points to an executable version, apparently a packaged up Hercules running that code. Nice. I'll have to give it a try. paul

5 years, 2 months

34
132
0 0

Digitalker 54104 IC

by brain＠jbrain.com

I suspect the answer to question #1 is no, but thought I would ask. 1) Anyone happen to have a known working Digitalker 54104 IC they are looking to trade for some cash that does not involve me selling an arm or a leg :-)? 2) Barring that, anyone have a known working Digitalker-based unit that might be able to pop in a suspected non working Digitalker IC and test? I have a Jameco (yep, the parts firm) manufactured Digitalker unit here called the JE-520 that is my original unit.? It suffered some ROM bit rot long ago and was not working, but I acquired the ROMs a while back to repair the unit. Now, though, as I pull it out for another project, it seems to be misbehaving.? It's like "address bit 1" on the input commands is acting up.? For instance, word 48 is "zero", and 49 is "one", but zero will be followed by "three" and then "zero" and then "three" as one sends values 48,49,50,51 to the unit.? I'm working to confirm the bit 1 on the cable to the PC is not bad, but initial efforts point to it being the IC. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

5 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

DEC RK11-C Disk Controller - on ebay...or is it?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Fritz Mueller > In at least one case of attempting to recover a pac BTW, your neat hack to do that only works on the RK11-C, and not the RK11-D: the latter doesn't implement 'Read/Write-All'. Noel

5 years, 2 months

2
1
0 0

DEC RK11-C Disk Controller - on ebay...or is it?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> the Unix V6 RK pack formatter ... sets _both_ 'Format' and > 'Read/Write-All Oooops; my bad; I mis-read the register description. It's setting 'Inhibit Bus Address Increment' and 'Format', not 'Format' and 'Read/Write-All'. So ignore my speculation about 'Read/Write-All' not getting the sector header word from memory. My bad! Noel

5 years, 2 months

1
0
0 0

DEC RK11-C Disk Controller - on ebay...or is it?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Fron: Jon Elson > The write all function is likely how you format a blank pack. No, 'Format' is a separate bit in the CSR from 'Read/Write-All', and they do different things. The RK11 always re-writes the header word of each sector when it writes a sector in normal operation; when 'Format' is set on a Write operation, it merely supresses the 'read header word and check/compare' function (which normally precedes any disk operation, to make sure the head's at the right place). Format/Write then goes ahead and writes the header word of the sector, just as in normal operation. (It is possible to set 'Format' on a Read operation; that just reads in the sector header words into memory.) Although in theory one could use 'Read/Write-All/Write' to format packs, the Unix V6 RK pack formatter: https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V6/usr/source/mdec/rkf.s sets _both_ 'Format' and 'Read/Write-All', and _doesn't_ set up the sector header words in the memory buffer, arguing that even with 'Read/Write-All' on, the hardware is still generating the sector header word contents. (I'm too lazy to check the RK11-C and RK11-D engineering drawings to confirm that.) Noel

5 years, 2 months

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DEC RK11-C Disk Controller - on ebay...or is it?

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

If you search ebay for "DEC RK11-C Disk Controller", you'll find a listing of a backplane of flipchip cards, but it's not like any RK11-C I have ever seen. Am I right, this is a mis-labeled auction? Bill

5 years, 2 months

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DEC RK11-C Disk Controller - on ebay...or is it?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Ethan Dicks > I do have a replica KM-11 set that I need to construct. You'll need the RK11-C overlays (shown on pg 6-2 of the RK11-c Manual). (My set of overlays from Guy with his KM11 replica included them; thanks Guy :-). > From: Fritz Mueller > The cables are actually in the correct slots -- they connect A30 and > B30 to the pass-through connectors to support plugging in a pair of > KM11s from the outside of the rack for debug. Ah. The Double-Buffered RK11-C doesn't have those; the slots used (looks like C08 and D08) are used for logic. Noel

5 years, 2 months

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classic Mac GUSI compiler issue

by spectre＠floodgap.com

I think we have some old Mac programmers here. I've dusted off some code that allegedly compiles with CodeWarrior Pro 2, and it needs CWGUSI, so I installed 1.8.0 (which was on the CW Pro2 Tools CD). A bit of hacking and everything compiles, but it won't link; it's missing a symbol _Stdout that CWGUSI apparently requires (I traced it back to a couple fflush(stdout); calls). I've got SIOUX, the Metrowerks Standard Library and everything else I can think of, and while everything else builds, I can't seem to find the lib with this mysterious _Stdout symbol. Any guesses? Does this sound familiar? -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck?! -- Ryoga, "Ranma 1/2" ----

5 years, 2 months

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Request: Octave for VAX

by ce.murillosanchez＠gmail.com

Hello, everyone... I may have asked here many years ago about this:? Does anybody? have a binary distribution of Octave for VAX/VMS?? The sources for some early versions were distributed in the SIG tapes, but I never managed to complete a VMS build using them.? I tried tracking old octave archives with binary builds, but they're all gone (it used to be at ftp.chem.wisc.edu).? I even tried to contact John Eaton about this but got no response. Regards, Carlos.

5 years, 2 months

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Fwd: [GreenKeys] Teletype 33 KSR free in Knoxville, TN, USA

by jfoust＠threedee.com

The guy posted today, saying they're still available... - John >From: <highpwr at bellsouth.net> >To: <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> >Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2020 18:23:31 -0500 >Subject: [GreenKeys] Equipment Available > >I have the following available for pickup in the Knoxville TN area, it from >the estate of an old ham buddy that's now in the nursing home with >Alzheimer's. All was salvaged from his property which was sold to help >defer his nursing home expenses, and was going to go in the dumpster. >Really just wanted to save this stuff from the dumpster, and its free to a >good home, BUT if it works for you (whomever comes and get this stuff) a >donation that I could forward to his Nephew to help cover his nursing home >costs would be greatly appreciated. > >There are two Teletype Model 35 KSRs and at least one 33 KSR. Also there is >an model 14 Printing Reperf FRXD (very similar to frxd-1311-04.jpg (800?600) >(navy-radio.com) <http://navy-radio.com/tty/reperf/frxd-1311-04.jpg> on >Nick England's site. There may be some other in the future and possibly >some 11/16 paper tape, but this may be spoken for. > >All was stored in a dry outbuilding, but was in the building for well over >twenty years. It took the best part of a day to dig it out, salvage and >carry it out of said storage building. > > > > >I can provide additional more detailed photos if required, but please don't >ask unless your really interested and serious. The empty brass nor the gun >they were fired in are no longer available I'm keeping it.....Ha Ha. > >PS this stuff will not be available indefinitely, I don't have the space to >store it for another twenty years, it will probably go onto the dump or be >dismantle for parts before the end of February. > >Steve >KM4V

5 years, 2 months

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looking for egcs for PowerPC BeOS R4

by spectre＠floodgap.com

I know it exists, or existed, as there are references all over to it from the skeletal remains of various BeWare mirrors. However, the package itself has disappeared. The Intel version is marginally easier to find but if anyone knows where the *PowerPC* one is (I'll take R3 or R4) please advise. I guess, since I've got mwcc on it, I could try to reconstruct it, but I don't know if I would have all the BeOS-specific changes. -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I'm still right. -------

5 years, 2 months

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RX02 DMK image to raw tool?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

This is highly annoying. Back in 2015 I did exactly this and now I have forgotten how. I dumped a set of RX02 disks with catweasel into .DMK and now I want a raw sector image to be able to test them with SimH. What is a good tool to use? I have some faint memory of glancing through hexdumps of .dmk files. Perhaps I did something myself using dmklib by Eric Smith? Don't really remember, unfortunately. But surely someone else has already done this, right? /Mattis

5 years, 2 months

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PDP-11/70 debugging advice

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Making some progress with the "fire sale" PDP-11/70. Over the past month I've rebuilt the power supplies and burned them in on the bench, and I've gotten things cleaned up and reassembled. I'm still waiting on some new chassis fans but my curiosity overwhelmed my caution and I decided to power it up for a short time (like 30 seconds) just to see what happens. Good news: no smoke or fire. Voltages look good (need a tiny bit of adjustment yet) and AC LO and DC LO looked good everywhere I tested them. Bad news: processor is almost entirely unresponsive; comes up with the RUN and MASTER lights on, toggling Halt, and hitting Start causes the RUN light to go out, but that's the only response I get from the console. I got out the KM11 boardset and with that installed I can step through microinstructions and it's definitely executing them, and seems to be following the flow diagrams in the engineering drawings. Left to its own devices, however, the processor doesn't seem to be executing microinstructions at all, it's stuck at uAddress 200. In the troubleshooting section of the 11/70 service docs (diagram on p. 5-16) it states: IF LOAD ADRS DOES NOT WORK AND: - RUN, MASTER & ALL DATA INDICATORS ARE ON - uADRS = 200 (ZAP) THEN MEMORY HAS LOST POWER Which seems to adequately describe the symptoms I'm seeing, but as far as I can tell the AC and DC LO signals are all fine. (This system has a Setasi PEP70/Hypercache installed, so there's no separate memory chassis to worry about.) I'm going to go back and re-check everything, but I was curious if anyone knows whether loss of AC or DC would prevent the processor from executing microcode -- from everything I understand it should cause a trap, and I don't see anything in the docs about inhibiting microcode execution. But perhaps if this happens at power-up things behave differently? And the fact that the troubleshooting flowchart calls out these exact symptoms would seem to indicate that this is expected. But I'm curious why the KM11 can step the processor, in this case. I'm going to wait until the new fans arrive (hopefully tomorrow or tuesday) before I poke at this again, just looking for advice here on the off chance anyone's seen this behavior before. Thanks as always! - Josh

5 years, 2 months

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UDS EIA module for ASR33

by shumaker＠att.net

Recently acquired an ASR33 with an old EIA (RS-232) Interface convertor module. ? It came with a two page spec and cable pinout sheet that is more hole than it is paper. Manufacturer is United Data Services (UDS) in Phoenix.? Model seems to be 312 A 0568? (might be 0563)? Google hasn't been much help and Bitsavers is silent as well..? Herb Johnson of Retrocomputing.com has 312 A 0567 which appears similar but not close enough to be useful. Anyone familiar with this unit who could share docs??? (willing to scan and share if desired) Steve

5 years, 2 months

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RD51 reduced write current signal?

by paulkoning＠comcast.net

Looking at the DEC Pro documentation there's some ambiguity I'm trying to figure out. The hard drive documentation talks about the "reduced write current" signal. In one place it's explicitly described as relevant to the RD50 only. But later on in the RD50/RD51 chapter the signal is described generally, without any indication that RD51 ignores it. Does anyone know which is correct? If RD51 also uses it, how does the right value get set? What IS the right value, anyway? paul

5 years, 2 months

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HP Journal back issues

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Thanks!?? The radio site aside? from? using low bit rate scan also I think compresses the pdf files. Ed# On Wednesday, February 3, 2021 J. David Bryan via cctech <jdbryan at acm.org; cctech at classiccmp.org> wrote: On Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at 9:25, ED SHARPE via cctech wrote: > Indeed this site is great for reference but alas are too lo-res for good > museum display images. They appear to be scanned at 150 dpi. The ones here are scanned at 300 dpi: ? http://hparchive.com/hp_journals ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? -- Dave

5 years, 2 months

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Flip-Chip selloff (Al Kossow)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > > Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2021 09:19:08 -0800 > From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> > Subject: Flip-Chip selloff > > I don't have any equipment that uses them any more, so I'll be ebaying off > my > A-W series flip chips over the next few days. The W's and PT08 boards are > up now > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/184647476832 > https://www.ebay.com/itm/184647420812 > I am still maintaining a PDP-8/I & TC01, PDP-8/L, PDP-8/S, PDP-9 & TC02, and PDP-12 for the Rhode Island Computer Museum. The RICM would happily accept any donated FlipChips, especially the go-fast B versions and anything else for the PDP-9. You can even get a charitable tax deduction for the donation. -- Michael Thompson

5 years, 2 months

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Greaseweazle

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 08:32 AM 2/2/2021, geneb via cctalk wrote: >On Mon, 1 Feb 2021, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: >>and it is the software and the knowledge of what you need to do when >>recovering media in volume these guys have no clue about > >How about helping out instead of bitching from the sidelines? I was quite eager to hear Kossow's insights. Any engineer or programmer (or both) worth their salt eagerly seeks and accepts the "but it would be really handy if it did X, Y and Z" insights, especially if they're coming from someone with decades of experience in the field in question. How else will products improve? - John

5 years, 2 months

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HP Journal back issues

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Indeed this site is great for reference but alas are too lo-res for good museum display images. I do use this as a reference source? but need paper copies sometimes? to hi res scan some times! Ed# On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 Richard Milward via cctalk <rsmilward at frontier.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: You can find HP Journal issues at https://worldradiohistory.com/HP-Journal.htm <https://worldradiohistory.com/HP-Journal.htm> The World Radio History site is a fantastic resource in general, I use it regularly. **Richard

5 years, 2 months

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VAXstation 3100

by rlloken＠telus.net

Adam, I have a VAXstation sitting about three metres from me. As is usually the case, "it worked when I turned it off 20 years ago" I don't remember how many years ago I turned it off. I think it is a model 30 but casually looking at the box does not show me what model it is. I pulled out the nicad battery pack many years ago and it is sitting by my left hand and it does not leak. I have the system box, the expansion box with its little SCSI disk drive, the RRD40 and its wierd disc caddies, and the VR--- monochrome monitor, and probably the keyboard and mouse and documentation if I look around for half an hour. I have no idea where you are but I can send it to you for the price of shipping which would be astronomical I expect. I hesitate to ship the monitor - that would be had work - but the other components can be managed. -- Richard Loken VE6BSV : "...underneath those tuques we wear, Athabasca, Alberta Canada : our heads are naked!" ** rlloken at telus.net ** : - Arthur Black

5 years, 2 months

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cctalk Digest, Vol 77, Issue 3

by athornton＠gmail.com

As long as we?re talking about divesting: if anyone has a VaxStation that they?d sell me for substantially less than eBay prices, I?d be interested. I have a 3100M38, but it doesn?t POST; indeed, a replacement mainboard would be a place I could start. (I did try burning new ROMs and replacing them, but that wasn?t the problem). I?d even consider swapping an 11/730 in unknown condition (this is from the Kaur collection) for a working VaxStation, on two conditions: you have to pick it up, and you have to take an RM80 drive with it and dump it far enough away from my house that no one thinks it was me what done it. Adam

5 years, 2 months

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QIC 3M "Magnus 1.2" carts

by cclist＠sydex.com

I have received a few of the above-mentioned DC300-sized QIC carts for recovery. The usual stuff about tension bands applies, but I'm a bit stymied. The official specs for these tapes say that they're SLR 3. I've tried Tandberg SLR 3, 4 and 5 drives (any of which should be able to read these) with no luck. I've even tried an SLR2 QIC525, though why someone would pay for more tape than they need is a mystery. These would be ca. 1990 and most likely on a Mac, although the latter is pure conjecture. Before I unspool some of this tape and have a look with developer, am I missing something? --Chuck

5 years, 2 months

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Flip-Chip selloff

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I don't have any equipment that uses them any more, so I'll be ebaying off my A-W series flip chips over the next few days. The W's and PT08 boards are up now https://www.ebay.com/itm/184647476832 https://www.ebay.com/itm/184647420812

5 years, 2 months

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DEC backplane power connectors

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> I'm too burned out to look at the engineering drawings and get the part > number to confirm; I'll do that 'soon'. The BA11-K FMPS gives the male shell part numbers as 12-09350-06 and -15; the DD11-C lists the female shell numbers as 12-09351-06 and -15. Those look like they are DEC numbers: https://gunkies.org/wiki/DEC_part_numbers So I'm not sure those are much use. (I'm not going to bother trying to look up what they translate too; we already have the AMP numbers needed to order them; so not much to be gained.) > I took a picture of the male shells, and added it to the CHWiki page > (I'll add the females tomorrow). Done. Noel

5 years, 2 months

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NOT "Re: APL\360"

by sieler＠allegro.com

TL;DR: getting tired of separating the wheat from the chaff I have an odd but potentially useful idea for the list server ... Until we have an AI that can properly read a message and re-write the subject line, perhaps the list server would *auto generate* a new subject line after, say, the 29th reply with the same "Re:". After 29 "Re: APL\360", the next such msg would have subject line rewritten to "New topic 1", and the next (up to) 28 "Re: APL\360" would be similarly re-written (the '28' is decremented for every "Re: APL\360" and every "Re: New topic 1"). At that point, the next "Re: APL\360" or next "Re: New topic 1" gets rewritten as "New topic 2". (After a reuse counter for a subject has been 0 for two weeks, it could be reset to 20, to allow much later legitimate replies.) Yeah, tired of getting hopeful seeing "Re: APL\360" and seeing instead a discussion of pints, or endianness (big rules, for a number of reasons ... *even the creator of Intels's memory chip admitted that*), or bit numbering, or counting sheep! :) (And I'm not even complaining about the needless copying of the entire prior post :)

5 years, 2 months

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HP Journal back issues

by rsmilward＠frontier.com

You can find HP Journal issues at https://worldradiohistory.com/HP-Journal.htm <https://worldradiohistory.com/HP-Journal.htm> The World Radio History site is a fantastic resource in general, I use it regularly. **Richard

5 years, 2 months

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Greaseweazle

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 04:58 PM 2/1/2021, geneb wrote: >I've got one (F7+ Lightning version) and I've used it with 5.25" and 8" disks. I've got plans to use it with 8" disks, but I've not done it yet. You'll need to get the FDADAP from here: http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html in order to use it with the GW. Already have one of those. Did you say you have it working with eight inch? - John

5 years, 2 months

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