As part of my C-64 RS-232 to M15 60mA CL project, I've put together a
simple MAX232 based interface to connect the TTL levels on the C-64 to the
standard RS-232 +/- levels.
Is there any reason that I can or cannot install LEDs - on either side of
the MAX232 converter - to give some indication of line status?
Specifically, a pair of LEDs, one each for Tx and Rx lines, to blink / etc.
as line status changes and data moves.
I don't see any obvious issue - but I can conceive of a situation where it
might screw up the line in some way I haven't considered.
Comments?
I've got a TI Silent 785 I'm trying to get configured/running. I see docs on
bitsavers for the earlier models, but not anything in the 780 series and
outwardly they do appear to be somewhat different than the 700 series. My
google searches don't return joy either. I'm particularly looking for serial
port configuration.
Anyone have operators and/or service manual for the Silent 785?
J
Hi all,
I have two VT100 terminals. Both of them work just fine.
Should I leave well enough alone, or is there preventative maintenance that
should be done? For instance, should capacitors be proactively replaced. In
general, I'm thinking about things that, if they fail catastrophically,
would cause collateral damage.
Thanks!
- Earl
> Do we know the make/model of this drive?
It's a Chinon FR-506 (NOT an FZ-506)
>On 5.25" HD drives, pin 2 is generally a drive *input*. That is, the
>host telegraphs what's needed, not the drive.
Indeed, you have to be careful to put the right media and issue the proper
density specific format command yourself, unless you work at the default of
the drive, which in this case is HD. But I did, and I double checked the
computer was outputting the right density signal on pin 2 on format and on
write. Unfortunately the drive didn't respond correctly for writes in any
settings I tried (auto or fixed density).
On reading, from what I saw, the computer (at least mine) just tries both
densities a couple times until it can read something. If there is some good
data it declares success and keeps the pin 2 at the level that works for the
rest of the session. There the news was better, the drive responded
correctly to the pin 2 when it was set in auto, but incorrectly when it was
in fixed HD (reading only in DD instead). So I left it in auto.
At this point I'll declare this drive non functional, though still OK as a
dual density, read-only drive... And look for a better HD one. My other
5.25" 360k DD 48tpi/300RPM drives read and write OK, so I have a working
solution at low density. I want to recreate LIF drives for HP's, writing DD
is what I need most anyhow. Thanks for the help, you pointed me in the right
direction each time.
Hello All,
Recently I came across a complete Pertec interface (card, manual, software,
and, cables) thanks to list-member Shaun. Of course what is the point of
having an interface if you have nothing to interface it to!
So I've been looking at, and learning a bit, about 1/2" tape drives. I've
also looked into acquiring one. But before going down this path I wanted to
see what pitfalls, warning signs, etc. I should be on the lookout for. I am
looking for a unit mostly to experience the tech and to play around with. I
do not plan on recovering data from any particular system or format.
However, it would be nice if I could setup a system that actually worked for
backups of say an IBM AT for demonstration purposes.
Having read some old InfoWorld and PC Mag articles I can see there were a
number of tape drive manufacturers well into the early 90s. Based on the
reviews the Cipher and Qualstar units seem to be well suited for my
purposes. Any other brand/models I should keep an eye out for. I know IBM
also had some 1/2" 9 track tape drives (9437 and 9438) but neither was a
Pertec interface from what I have gleaned. The 9347 used a proprietary
interface and the 9348 used HVD SCSI which is atypical. There was apparently
a 9348-012 model which used narrow SCSI so should interface with a standard
Adaptec card. However, I have not been able to determine if it used standard
SCSI commands and could be accessed say with a tape backup program under
Windows 9x/NT or DOS.
Of course the biggest problem is finding one locally in the LA area.
Unfortunately my only resource is eBay and prices there are definitely not
hobbyist friendly (not to mention shipping). If anyone has a line on a
working drive in the LA area (to save on S&H and avoid the dangers of
shipping) or a reasonably priced one elsewhere I'd appreciate it. TIA for
any help.
I have a small batch of Data I/O EPROM burners. Trying to test them out and ran into a nightmare. They require a pin family and size parameter. But in none of the documentation is there any mention of what these values are. There are some generic pinouts, which are almost useless because Data I/O changed the definition of several pins.
Then the manual says to get your part's timing chart and compare them to 409 pages of timing charts to find the family type! Nothing is mentioned anywhere on how to calculate size parameter.
There should be a chart or document somewhere that gives the parameters by model numbers like 2516, 2764, etc.
Anyone know of a document like this?
Anyone have experience with the model 29A&B, Model 19, Model 100 gang programmer, etc.
At this point, without better data, these 11 -12 deveces are heading for the scrap pile. This is the poorest documentation I've ever seen on a piece of test equipment.
Billy Pettit
Chuck,
I looked at the pin 2 signal and resulting drive behavior. It doesn't
properly auto-switch between densities as it should. It does switch it for
reading, but not for writing. Below is the full story.
There is one jumper that controls DD/HD switching mode.
In the auto position, I can read both HD and DD formats (I use the right
diskettes for either format). You can see the computer on pin 2 (density
select) trying both positions, settling on the right one (high for HD, low
for DD), and reading the disc correctly.
That's great. But when writing, although pin 2 goes to the right level, the
floppy seems to ignore it. It will always write at DD, and refuse to write
in HD (no signal at the head).
Interestingly, in the fixed density position (should be HD only), it WILL
write at 1.2M HD! The write signal does appears at the head. Unfortunately
in this setting it will NOT switch the reading, get stuck reading only DD
and fail on HD.
So I can either have the reading HD or the writing HD, but not the two at
the same time. That's why a regular format fails. The density switching
logic seems to have a problem. Rather than track down which IC or transistor
failed on the board it might be much simpler to get another 5.25 floppy. In
the meantime my understanding of these simple critters has improved a lot.
Marc
>At high density, have you taken a good look at pin 2 of the floppy
>interface? Have you checked to see if pin 2 is configured (via jumpers)
>as "density select"?
>--Chuck
Hey everyone, I am looking for some vintage Gold-Lead clear LEDs that
light up red for a Scelbi project I am working on for VCFMW. Will need
29 of them if you have them, willing to trade or buy them, thnx!!
-Nick
> From: wulfman
> I have a modified dos program that talks to the data i/o
> its the one that they sold with the unit but only ran on a 286
> ...
> the modified one i have works in windows 7 in a dos box
I seem to recall that I downloaded some software to run my 29B (although I
have yet to work with it extensively), and that it did run in a DOS box under
Windows 98? Is that the '286' one you're referring to?
If so, maybe that won't run in a DOS box under the later versions of Windows?
Or maybe I have a different program from the one you're talking about? (Or
maybe I somehow downloaded an already-fixed version?)
> if your interested i can send it to you
Other than running under Windows 7, does it have any other improvements?
If so, I might be interested.
Whatever the case, if you would like someone to host it for open download,
let me know.
Noel
Hi all,
I'm looking for a pertec controller suitable for a Qualstar 1052.
ISA/SCSI/S-100 interfaces are fine. If anyone has one to sell, please let
me know.
Regards,
-Tom
> I lucked out. One of the dead ones had a broken trace on the bottom, and
> cracked corner of the socket for one of the big square chips.
So does that one work now?
> The second one started working after I simply re-seated the two square
> chips around their sockets.
Yeah, that happens a lot. I got an 11/23 from him, it didn't work at first, I
re-seated the CPU and MM chips, and now it seems to be fine.
Excellent news, though!
> Well, now both my 11/23 and 11/73 CPUs work with the MSV11-DB cards.
Right, those are Q18.
> a Clearpoint(?) Q22 memory card
Camminton makes 2MB dual cards (CMV-504, although you can upgrade partially
populated ones, which have a different number - 254, 500, 250); alas, the last
one on eBay just sold, although there may be some out there from dealers like
Continental). National Semi makes 1MB dual cards (NS23C - well, the manual
says they are only 256KB, but they can be upgraded to 1MB with 256Kx1 chips,
and a couple of simple etch cuts).
Noel
This discussion on the legality of sharing manuals, PDFs, etc. leads me to think about the vintage computing hobby as a whole. While we all encourage the hobby to grow, the downside is that as it does, the software copyright holders may start to take notice. As a developer of modern systems who expects to be paid for my work (except what I share with the community of course) I am in a conundrum because the hobby cannot succeed without the large collection of easily accessible vintage software available yet there is no way to ?buy? most of it today. But, we would also not expect or would we pay 1980s retail prices. I know some generous copyright owners have allowed unrestricted use of their old software, like Roy Soltoff from Misosys, but many others have not or have disappeared. I?m fairly new to the hobby so maybe this has already been hashed out years ago. Just wondering what the community thinks.
> From: Mark G. Thomas
> 4x M8192 - KDJ11 (AA or AB?) -- two work, two fail POST
And alas, we don't seem to have any prints for that card (although we do have
what amounts to a tech manual, so maybe we can create a set, with a certain
amount of tracing with an ohmmeter), so at the moment, at least, fixing them
isn't so easy.
> I was hoping I could boot XXDP or RT11 from an RX33/RQDX3. The
> RX33/RQDX3 works in my 11/53
Well, that's a very good sign...
> Since none of this has a bootstrap, I run the bootstrap from ROM
> provided by a Dilog SCSI card here, but typing "DU" or "DU0" at the
> prompt spins the floppy ever-so-briefly, then kicks out an error about
> no boot media found. Suggestions? Maybe I should try other bootstrap?
Definitely; the code on the Dilog card might not support that controller
properly (even though it seems to recognize "DU").
> I'm a little confused about what should work and what should not work,
> with just the 18 bit qbus.
If you have less than 256KB of memory (so Q22 processors won't wrap around,
when trying to size memory, and think there's memory there above 256K -
although Q18 memory probably will stop responding at 248KB, anyway), pretty
much everything _should_ work, I would think. The high address lines being
put out by the processor, DMA devices, etc should just have no effect.
Although the details get tricky...
E.g. if you don't have BDAL18-21 for a Q22 memory card, what will its bus
interface do when faced with those lines, which aren't driven in any way -
_especially_ not pulled up by terminators? Some DEC memory cards (e.g.
MSV11-L, M8059) have jumpers to run in either Q18 or Q22 mode, to work around
this.
> Do I need to wire wrap the additional address lines to be able to do
> anything with these KDJ11 CPUs?
No, if you have less than 256KB of memory, the high bits should just be
ignored (I think - I haven't actually tried this, to be absolutely sure).
> Does anyone have good instructions for this modification -- I'll
> probably want to do it. Do I just add the additional address lines, or
> are there other considerations?
I have modified an H9273 backplane (Q18) to H9276 (Q22), and it works fine;
all I did was bus all the BDAL18-21 pins together: pretty easy, as it's a
Q/CD backplane, not a Q/Q - just run a wire down, and solder it to each pin
as it goes (those backplanes don't have the pins stick out far enough for
wire wrap).
Q/Q will be only slightly more complicated (since you have to bus down one
side, then run the signals up and across to the top of the other side, and
then bus them in turn - do it this way, to avoid creating a branch in the bus
which will encourage reflections); I have done this mod on a Q18/Q18
backplane (a Sigma Q18/Q18), but have yet to actually try it.
The only complication might come with termination/pull-ups. Not all
backplanes have these built in (e.g. the DEC H9273/H9276 don't). But you
might not need them - IIRC both the 11/23 and 11/73 have on-board termination
which will pull the lines up. But if you _do_ need them... best bet, unless
you want to start soldering resistors to the backplane, is a terminator board
with Q22 pullups. That's a whole separate discussion which I will leave for
the moment... :-)
Noel
Just wondering if new posts are moderated vs. replies? I posted a new
message to the list a few hours ago and it still has not shown up. However,
a reply to a preexisting message I sent out a few minutes ago has already
appeared. Thanks.
I have had an interest in the DEC VAX line of computers for some time now
and am trying to find a good place to get a system to start out with. The
main pourpose being to have a machine to use VMS on. I have been running
VMS on emulated hardware via SIMH, however i would like to move to running
on real hardware. What would be the best machine for a beginner to VAX
Hardware to start out with?
My main place for looking for hardware has been ebay, although most of what
im seeing is untested and expensive. Is there a better place to find older
machines like this?
Greetings!
I know that many of my posts to this list tend to be on the fringes of what
is normally discussed here. I apologize in advance if this is too new for
the group.
I am trying to get my Powerbook 5300 up and running as a usable word
processor (with portable printer) for school and for email. It is currently
running System 7.5.2. The machine is capable of supporting MacOS 9.1, but
my goal is 8.6. I see them talking on lowendmac that upgrading the OS makes
the machine more solid, but it doesn't explain how to do it. The machine
only has a floppy drive and no networking. Were there any system 8.6
install floppies? I can't think of another way to get it on there.
TIA
Joe
Location?
-------- Messaggio originale --------
Da: Julian Wolfe <julian at twinax.org>
Data:20/08/2015 15:44 (GMT+01:00)
A: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Oggetto: DECdatasystem 534 (11/34) and VT52 for sale at VCF Midwest 10
I will be selling my DECdatasystem 534 and VT52 at the show. Cabinet rack,
72x24x26".11/34a, 32kW of core and A/D+D/A cards. System runs fine and
drops to a console prompt, and passes all the diags I've been able to throw
at it. I've restored all the foam filters and the cabinet was pressure
washed a couple of years ago so no funny smells or mold. I have no
peripherals for it. The VT52 does not power on. I'm entertaining pre-show
offers, so let me know privately if you are interested in either of these
items.
Julian
Does anyone have a spare 8-inch alignment floppy they'd be willing to
sell? I'd prefer a double-sided one, but even a single-sided would be
better than nothing.
Thanks Chuck. Looks like you are on to something, I'll search in this
direction. Unlikely it has anything to do with the disks themselves, which
were blank. The 500 kHz write signal present on the connector just doesn't
make it to the head, whereas the 300 kHz does. On the other handm something
along what Chuck suggests could create this exact problem. I'll let you know
how it goes.
I am aware of the narrow track problem of 360k written by HD drives, so I
have other native 360k DD drives for that purpose. For now I just want my HD
drive to behave as one ;-)
>At high density, have you taken a good look at pin 2 of the floppy
>interface? Have you checked to see if pin 2 is configured (via jumpers)
>as "density select"? Various drives have different jumperings for
>pins 2 and 34 (and sometimes 4). For example, I deal with some Japanese
>CNC gear that uses pin 2 for disk change and pin 34 for read (and pin 4
>for "in use".
>--Chuck
>> So I tried to force formatting in DOS at 360k, and sure enough it
>> worked! I can then read the diskette back, write on it, etc... And of
>> course it failed formatting at 1.2 Mb. But the drive (Chinon FR-506)
>> is a 1.2M one, and reads fine at 1.2M! Any clue? Is there a drive
>> setting that would prevent it to write at high density but let it do
>> at low density?
Weirdstuff recently received the following:
(2) Magnum 4000SC-50 mips systems
(2) RS 2030 mips systems
Look clean (from the outside)...
Contact Jim if you're interested in them.
Usual disclaimer: I have no relationship with Weirdstuff other than as a client. I receive no remuneration for posting this. I do a weekly "tour" of their facilities to find vintage gear.
Cheers,
Lyle
--
73 AF6WS
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Following Chuck's advice, I scoped out the pin 22 and 24 (write data and
write gate) on the floppy, and they looked fine. Then being curious, I
managed to figure out what the write wire for Head 0 was. And I discovered I
got nice matching writing pulses at 300 kHz (formatting at 360k density),
but none at 500 kHz (1.2 Mb density). Results posted here:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?43874-5-1-4-quot-Flop
py-Drive-Not-Reading/page9
So I tried to force formatting in DOS at 360k, and sure enough it worked! I
can then read the diskette back, write on it, etc... And of course it failed
formatting at 1.2 Mb. But the drive (Chinon FR-506) is a 1.2M one, and reads
fine at 1.2M! Any clue? Is there a drive setting that would prevent it to
write at high density but let it do at low density?
Marc
> Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 21:30:31 -0700
> From: cclist at sydex.com
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: 5.25 floppies that read but don't write
>
> On 08/18/2015 09:05 PM, Marc Verdiell wrote:
> >
> >
> > I have connected a 1.2M 5.25" floppy to my computer. After a bit of
> > jumper learning and setting, it's recognized and reads my old DD and
> > HD floppies fine. But for the life of me I cannot write to it. Not
> > under DOS, Win98, or WindowsXP. Which all read fine.
>
> Make sure that "WRITE GATE" goes low (use a logic probe) on pin 24 of
> the drive while you do your write. If so, your floppy write circuitry
> has a problem. I.e., it's not the cable.
>
> --Chuck
>
Last week I wanted to test some half-height eight-inch double-sided
drives (NEC, Mistubishi, and Qume) on the Quay 900. I cabled a
Mitsubishi drive in place of the original CDC/MPI 9406 77618022
drives, and the machine apparently wouldn't reset properly, since I
wasn't getting the prompt from my ROM monitor either on power-up or by
manually resetting it. I poked around a bit and discovered that the
+5V DC supply was at about 0.7V. I disconnected the Mitsubishi, and
it still didn't work, and the +5V was still at 0.7V. Uh oh, what did I
break?
After a lot of pulling of hair, gnashing of teeth, and sacrificing a
chicken at midnight, I discovered that +5V pin in the connector that
plugs onto the switching power supply was not crimped properly. It was
partially crimped, but the wire was just loose. The cable connector
is an AMP (now TE) 87025-7 "Ampmodu" 0.156-inch pitch shell which
accepts 102103-3 rectangular crimp receptacles. The shell has 20
positions, of which they inserted a keying plug in position 1, and
only use contacts in some of the even positions from 2 though 20,
because the header on the power supply PCB only has every other pin
loaded. TE no longer makes the 87025-7, but they still make the
87025-8, which is apparently the same thing without the part number
being stamped on the housing. I don't need another housing though,
just a pin, because without the right extraction tool I hadn't been
able to get the old pin out without mangling it a fair bit.
Mouser and Digikey sell the pins in small quantity for $0.50 each,
which seems absurdly high for a crimp pin with only tin plating.
(There's another part number for a gold contact, but distributors
don't stock it.)
Just for the hell of it, I looked up the TE manual (hand) crimping
tool designed for this pin, p/n 90274-2. It sells for over $6500.
There is a used one on eBay for $75, but I've had bad experience
buying used crimping tools. The only crimping tool I have on hand is
designed for terminals with a round shell that just have to be crimped
flat, vs. for terminals with V-shaped edges that have to be folded
back in, as is typical of Molex pins and the like. I decided to order
an inexpensive ratcheting crimping tool from an Amazon seller. It's an
Iwiss SN-28B, also sold under the Estone and other brands. The Iwiss
was $19. I couldn't tell from the photos whether it would be
suitable.
It turns out that it worked perfectly for the TE pins. It has two
pairs of dies stacked with one pair having a larger profile, so it
does crimp both the conductor and the insulator at the same time,
which I wasn't expecting for a sub-$20 tool.
That got the machine working again, and I verified that the CDC/MPI
drives are still working, or at least working as well as they were
before. I'm still seeing a lot of unreliability when using
double-density on the highest-numbered tracks (closest to spindle).
Could be the wrong amount of precomp, or the low-quality data
separator design. Since one of the two MPI drives gets more errors
than the other, there may be some issue with drive alignment or drive
electronics adjustment as well.
I unplugged the MPI drives and plugged in the Mitsubishi. Once again
the machine wouldn't reset properly.
It turns out that even though this bizarre variant of the 9406 uses
the Shugart pinout for the data connector instead of the MPI pinout,
and uses the same DC power connector as the Shugart, instead of the
header used in normal MPI 9406 drives, the DC power connector pinout
for the MPI does NOT match the Shugart DC pinout, as also used by the
various half-height drives I want to try. I'm becoming less and less
impressed with these MPI drives as I learn more about them.
With the Mitsubishi cabled up to the Quay, but using a separate DC
power supply with the correct pinout, I was able to verify that the
Mitsubishi drive actually works fine. When used with the Quay FDC, it
does need some retries for double-density on the inner tracks, like
the MPIs, but it doesn't need as many retries as either of the MPI
drives.
I have a PDP-8/A with a flaky RL8A (M8433) controller card. I can't track
the fault down. I've spent enough hours on it by now that I'd just as soon
buy another one.
Anyone have one to sell? Or possibly could repair mine (for compensation)?
thanks
Charles
We are currently running TCP/IP Services 5.1 under OpenVMS 7.3 on the museum's
VAX-11/780-5. The telnet listener has a known issue which is fixed in v5.3,
but we have not been able to locate this (we've asked in the right places).
Was this on a ConDist platter? Or was it made available in some other way?
We have a perpetual license for VMS, and renew our other licenses annually, so
PAKs are not an issue. Would someone be willing to loan us the install media?
Or otherwise make this available?
Thanks,
Rich
Rich Alderson
Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computer Museum
2245 1st Ave S
Seattle, WA 98134
Cell: (206) 465-2916
Desk: (206) 342-2239
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
On 2015-Aug-19, at 3:58 PM, William Donzelli wrote:
> . . .
> In fact, due to your time constraints, I would not bother with the HP,
> Tek, or Heathkit manuals at all
> . . .
Gosh, please don't do that! What a terrible piece of advice. A large portion
of the HP manuals are unavailable, and HP doesn't have them either. I have
been looking for the operating and service manual for the HP 12050A (HPIB
fiber optics extension) in vain. Couldn't find the one for the HP 7225B
(gantry XY Pen Plotter) online, but found a hard copy version on ebay.
Couldn't find any doc on the personality interface on it. On the computing
side, many of the interface cards for my HP 1000 are undocumented or missing
critical documents. Often a user manual is available, but not the service
one. Sometimes you find the A, but not the B and they are significantly
different. Etc, etc... And I am not talking obscure instruments at all.
Wow, I have just looked at the manuals collection at the Internet Archive site. I honestly can say I don't like it, but I will say it is because this is not how my mind works in organizing stuff. I am immediately turned off by the tiling of 'cards" on the screen and the categorizing of collections. I know it more closely matches tablet apps and how they seemed to be designed, but I can also say, although I am the user of a tablet, I am not always happy with that approach. Even switching to the list view within IA didn't help much.
I think it is great that Bitsavers material can be saved in more than one location, whether that be identical mirrors on multiple servers or with material copied into another environment. The point being the access to material and minimizing any risk of it all disappearing at once. But I agree that correct attribution of where material comes from is also very important.
And multiple interfaces to how to search and find information can be fine to, as we all think differently. I just happen to prefer collapsible trees, textual lists, and drill-down methods more than I do other newer visual methods. My previous experience with Internet Archives has been mainly looking for old videos from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s through primarily the Prelinger archive, plus some texts and books that I found through Google and other search engines, and in using the Wayback machine. Seeing this new interface to the Internet Archives made it clear that I haven't checked IA since they apparently redid this interface, and all I can't say is I don't like it, and clearly if I can't find the item I need from IA through a Google search, then I won't be trying to find it directly from Internet Archives.
The interface used at the Internet Archive is not Jason's fault. And certainly not so if the interface changed after Jason had already started his project. But I also feel that this collection at Internet Archive didn't necessarily help in useful ways to archive the older computer stuff, at least not that I can see from this initial review. Or if the collection is still good, the web interface is hindering a proper appreciation of that material and access to it. It also doesn't help that modern implementations of web content is all database driven (which the Internet Archive is one such site), which on the surface ought to be great, but in reality isn't when one no longer has as much control over the levels and depths of web pages in the same way as direct folders on a file server. The more flat and eclectic nature of today's web pages, with the expectation that one will "leap" all over the place within a largely flat structure, possibly employing
filters to limit choices, is much less useful in this case for archiving and organizing the material in question than say hierarchical tree structures. At least in my opinion....
Kevin Anderson
Dubuque, Iowa
Something non-technical from me for a change.
Most of you in the UK will have come across 'Really Useful Boxes' and probably use them for storing
cables, screws, etc (I wish they made anti-static ones ;-)). Anyway what I hadn't realised until today is
that the 3 litre size is just the right size for storing 5.25" floppy disks (in their cardboard covers), it will
take about 80 of them with enough free space to extract them easily. Finding modern boxes for
5.25" disks is not that easy (I have not found the size for 8" disks though :-()
Even better, at the moment, Rymans (at least round here) have them on sale at 4 for \pounds 10.00
(normally \pounds 3.99 each).
-tony
I'm again trying to debug my PDP-11/23, and I believe I'm having
trouble with my M8067-LB/MSV-11 memory.
According to the manual, there is a diagnostic program called CZKMA
(for my 18-bit system), but I can't seem to find it.
I have all of the xxdp images from AK6DN, but this one doesn't appear
to be on any of those. Some searching shows references to it and even
a (poorly) scanned source listing, but does anyone know if I can get
it on a TU58 image or another format?
Thanks!
--
Ben Sinclair
ben at bensinclair.com
I will be selling my DECdatasystem 534 and VT52 at the show. Cabinet rack,
72x24x26".11/34a, 32kW of core and A/D+D/A cards. System runs fine and
drops to a console prompt, and passes all the diags I've been able to throw
at it. I've restored all the foam filters and the cabinet was pressure
washed a couple of years ago so no funny smells or mold. I have no
peripherals for it. The VT52 does not power on. I'm entertaining pre-show
offers, so let me know privately if you are interested in either of these
items.
Julian
> From: Johnny Billquist
>> Yes, and if you plug one of their PMI memory boards into a Q/Q
>> backplane, it will emit magic smoke, too! :-)
> I don't remember if I've ever tried that
Don't! :-) As the MSV11-J manual puts it, "NOTE: Insertion of the MSV11-J in
a Q-Q backplane may damage other components or the memory itself. The PMI
bussing on the MSV11-J's CD connectors is not compatible with the +12V
bussing on the Q-Q backplane."
> but I can believe that some jumpers would need to be moved around for a
> Q-Q slot. ... No jumpers moved.
There are no jumpers to configure an MSV11-J for Q/Q slots. (It's only got 4
jumpers total, two of which are factory config; the others are battery backup
power.)
> By CRC, I guess you mean ECC.
Yup, sorry, not completely awake when I typed that, I guess! :-)
> And with 37 bits, I think it should have ECC. ECC depends on the CSR
> address set correctly. But I could be wrong as well.
I think it needs more than 5 bits, for 32. The MSV11-J uses 6 bits, for
16.
>> However, when I plugged the other one in - nada. No response at all;
>> the boot PROM bitched about 'no memory at 0'. So I'm not sure _what_
>> that configuration is for.
> Would sound like it was configured for a non-zero start address maybe?
I did wonder that, but why would anyone configure a 4MB card for a non-zero
start address?
Anyway, I have yet to investigate this jumper configuration more extensively
- later.
> But if you tried with the switches/jumpers the same as on the board
> working then it sounds like it would just be broken.
No, that board (mostly, except for the "Memory CSR" error) worked with the
jumpers in the _PMI_ configuration. Although I suppose some of the circuitry
for use in the non-PMI config could be broken, but I think not. (More below.)
>> The boot PROM was complaining about "Memory CSR Error" .. _but_ the
>> memory was shown (by the boot PROM 'map' command) as PMI, and my own
>> memory-test program showed it was all working OK.
> And then the cards also have a CSR register or two, which is used for
> various things. And they are expected to be at specific addresses.
> ...
> If you have a memory starting at address 0, there should be a CSR at a
> specific address as well
So I did some experiments, with very interesting results. I took the card
that got the "Memory CSR Error", plugged it in, and ran a 'find all device
registers' program in the system with it in. It showed a single memory CSR,
at 172100. I then plugged in the card that _does_ pass the startup test, and
it also had a single register, at that same location.
So I guess it must be something about the way that register operates, that is
different between the two cards. Which is possible; as I mentioned, there are
a few programmable chips which are different revs. (And one large custom
chip, which _seems_ to be a different rev.)
Oddly enough, if I operate that 'broken' card in QBUS mode (after the CPU),
not PMI mode (before), it _does_ pass the built-in self-test!!!
Which argues that its failure to operate in QBUS mode, with the non-PMI
jumper settings, is not because the hardware to operate in QBUS mode is
broken. So I have no idea what the other set of jumper settings is for!
Blast, I sure wish we had documentation for these things!
Noel
Dear Group,
My name is Sue Skonetski I am a vintage Digital, Compaq and HP person and now with VMS Software.
It is not a typo I am really looking for a VAX 9000.
Thanks,
Sue
Sue Skonetski
VP of Customer Advocacy
Sue.Skonetski at vmssoftware.com
Office: +1 (978) 451-0116
Mobile: +1 (603) 494-9886
Mit freundlichen Gr??en ? Avec mes meilleures salutations
I have connected a 1.2M 5.25" floppy to my computer. After a bit of jumper
learning and setting, it's recognized and reads my old DD and HD floppies
fine. But for the life of me I cannot write to it. Not under DOS, Win98, or
WindowsXP. Which all read fine.
But can't add a file. It goes through to the motions and makes the noise,
heads moves as if everything went fine, but if I take the disk out and put
it back in, the file is not there.
I can't format either. Fails after a while on the above OS'es with different
error messages without the head moving past track 0, suggesting it can't
even read back the first track it's trying to format. Formatting from
ImageDisk or OmniDisk looks like it works (head goes through the motions
over the whole disk). But nothing seems to be written on the disk: neither
utility can read the formatting back. Both HD and DD.
On the same cable there is a 3.5" A: drive which reads and writes fine.
Can't be the controller since it works on the 3.5" drive? The cable maybe? I
tried several. Anyone has had this happened ever? Time to bring out the
o'scope?
Would anyone have a surplus-to-needs, or know of a source for, a VT100 keyboard?
This would actually be for the DECmateI/VT278 I mentioned on the list a couple weeks ago, Rob and I are looking into doing something with it.
Alternatively, does anyone know if there is any degree of signalling compatibility between the VT100 and VT220/320 keyboards?
Those RX floppies in the pedestal on ebay mentioned a week or two ago were just what was needed to complete it, as they actually looked like they were part of a 278, but the listing was removed from ebay.
In Realtime: We are barely halfway done
http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4711
They are still looking for volunteers tomorrow (Tuesday, August 18).
Anyone in or near Baltimore might want to go help.
Hello all - I thought they did this weeks ago but the VCFMW hotel has
informed me that they still have the special rooms pricing block open.
It will close "for real this time" at the end of the day this Friday
the 21st. A rather humbling number of rooms have been reserved so far
- well beyond our expectations - but there is room for a few more.
Follow the link at http://vcfmw.org for details.
See you next weekend!
-j
On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 5:48 PM, Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
> Thanks, that was a question I had been intending to ask, but to confirm:
> If one obtained (as appropriate) bare RX01/2 floppy drive(s), it would
> just be a matter of power supply for the floppies, and passive cabling
> to interface the drives to the CPU/display?
Yes.
There's a board that goes under the wooden "top" that has a DB25 on
one side, a Berg 40 on the other, and some wires and ferrite beads in
between. It should be the identical board that's in the RX01
enclosure for the MINC-11 and/or WT78. The pinouts should be the same
even if those use a different part number for the board.
> I actually have the DB25-to-DC37 cable that goes between the disk unit and the DC37 connector on the CPU/display unit.
Right. Well documented and easy enough to make, but good you have
one. What I need to make (since I've never seen one) is the
DC37-dual-DB25 cable to hang all the drives off of the DECmate I.
100% passive and just a few dozen solder joints.
> If we move this along we may be asking for system software in the future,
> I haven't looked at what may be readily available (i.e. bitsavers) as yet.
I think mine came with WPS-8, but it should run OS-278. You just need
to find a way to write RX02 floppies. I need to come up with a
semi-portable PDP-11 rig with RX02s and 256K of RAM so I can cut
floppies with vtserver (and probably some RL01 and RL02s while I'm at
it)
-ethan
From: Paul Koning <paulkoning at comcast.net>
>> ...
> Ok. RSTS does indeed check for duplicate vectors. It also checks for
> devices interrupting at too high a priority.
> It?s pretty neat code. Back in 1977 or so when that came out, it may
> have been one of the first autoconfig systems, at least in DEC. It
> could probe almost all devices supported by RSTS (and some not
> supported); the exceptions being card readers and the DT07 bus switch.
> But it would do hairy things like the KMC-11 and DMC-11, for example.
Wait? What was tricky about KMCs and DMCs? They used the same
algorithms, I had it down cold at the time.
Speaking of which, I have one copy of the KMC-11A Programmer's Guide if
anyone needs it or would like to scan it?
Dave (KMC-11 Tools Developer, RSX and VMS)
PS: I used ALGOLW on MTS in one of my ECE classes because we could
represent processor registers and operations using bit arrays/vectors
and boolean operations. Thus building working models of systems in
code.
I have a number of laboratory instruments that are from the 1990 time
frame. They produce digital data that is the digitized signal from a
detector, the data can be from 512 to 65K samples long. The ADC used in
these instruments is a 16bit 100ksample/sec design. The ADC is in a 3
by 4 inch metal box with a row of pins on each long edge.
I think some of them are failing because I get the full 16 bit
resolution from one machine, but not the others. This was determined by
taking the digital samples and sorting the values and computing the
increments between the adjacent values. In some cases the output looked
like 14 bit resolution and in one case 6 bit resolution.
Does anyone have any experience with technology?
Who was the manufacturer? (There is no id on the outside)
What is inside the box? Is it a hybrid circuit?
Doug
Hi guys,
I'm fiddeling around for hours now to get an M3119-YA CXY08
Multiplexer to work in my VAX4000/300 on VMS7.3.
The Card is properly detected it seems..
Device Device Error
Name Status Count
FTA0: Offline 0
OPA0: Online 0
TNA0: Offline 0
TNA2: Online 0
TXA0: Online 4
TXA1: Online 0
TXA2: Online 0
TXA3: Online 7
TXA4: Online 0
TXA5: Online 0
TXA6: Online 0
TXA7: Online 0
VTA0: Offline 0
.
SYSGEN> SH/CONF
System CSR and Vectors on 17-AUG-2015 19:17:01.69
Name: PAA Units: 1 Nexus:0 (CI )
Name: PAB Units: 1 Nexus:1 (CI )
Name: EZA Units: 4 Nexus:2 (NI )
Name: PUA Units: 1 Nexus:3 (UBA) CSR: 772150 Vector1: 154 Vector2: 000
Name: PTA Units: 1 Nexus:3 (UBA) CSR: 774500 Vector1: 260 Vector2: 000
Name: PTB Units: 1 Nexus:3 (UBA) CSR: 760404 Vector1: 300 Vector2: 000
Name: TXA Units: 8 Nexus:3 (UBA) CSR: 760440 Vector1: 310 Vector2: 314
SYSGEN>
..and it is the first card left of the CPU in the QBUS Backplane followed
>from an working CQD200/TM.
AThe DIP Switches are set like the standard in some CXY08 Manual, the MUX
is set to DHU11 programming model.
I've first tried to connect a serial line pronter with no luck so I've
tried to connect a 2nd VT420 and have no luck again. I know of the meaning
of the several modem control signals and how they should be wired, have
connected such a "null modem RS232 device" that shorts 4 to 5 and 6+8 to
20. I've tried to copy data from a file to the lines and I have shorted 2+3
of the Muxer Pins from the line and done a SET HOST/DTE/ESC=E TXA0:,allt
that ends with an timeout writing to the lines and the lines acting
identically, regardles which one I try to use.
$ copy SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM txa3:
%COPY-E-WRITEERR, error writing TXA3:[]SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM;5
-RMS-F-WER, file write error
-SYSTEM-F-TIMEOUT, device timeout
%COPY-W-NOTCMPLT, SYS$COMMON:[SYSMGR]SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM;5 not completely
copied
$ sh term txa3
Terminal: _TXA3: Device_Type: Unknown Owner: No Owner
Input: 9600 LFfill: 0 Width: 80 Parity: None
Output: 9600 CRfill: 0 Page: 24
Terminal Characteristics:
Interactive Echo Type_ahead No Escape
No Hostsync TTsync Lowercase No Tab
Wrap Scope No Remote No Eightbit
Broadcast No Readsync No Form Fulldup
Modem No Local_echo Autobaud No Hangup
No Brdcstmbx No DMA No Altypeahd Set_speed
No Commsync Line Editing Overstrike editing No Fallback
No Dialup No Secure server No Disconnect No Pasthru
No Syspassword No SIXEL Graphics No Soft Characters No Printer Port
Numeric Keypad No ANSI_CRT No Regis No Block_mode
No Advanced_video No Edit_mode No DEC_CRT No DEC_CRT2
No DEC_CRT3 No DEC_CRT4 No DEC_CRT5 No Ansi_Color
VMS Style Input
$
Depending on set term/modem or set term/printer the modem control lines are
changing the level, that's ok. But I can't get a single character printed
to the terminal which I have verified with an USB to serial cable already,
the terminal is ok and I have an LED-Analyzer for RS232 between the RS232
Plugs..
Since I'm a total VMS Noob I now have some Questions:
.. have I missed something?
.. is the CXY08 bad?
.. what could I try next?
...is there some diagnosting software for the CXY08 existing for VMS
and if yes, where can I get it?
Thanks in advance,
Holm
--
Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe,
Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583
www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741
> IA saturates the channel. Jason and IA are deliberately working to redirect all search
> traffic to IA from the original mirrors by constantly creating useless 'new' content that
> Google thinks is real.
>
> I have watched over time as the volume of Google top search hits have migrated to IA hosted
> content from the mirrors.
I have occasionally stumbled into the bitsavers stuff on IA and was just confused and perplexed about what the IA guys are trying to do. Bitsavers has a perfectly obvious and navigable layout; IA makes no sense at all.
(Of course I'm a little biased!!!)
Tim N3QE
Try Imagedisk for DOS (with actually somewhat of an interface). Great
software, superb manual.
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm
Also Omnidisk for DOS (command line)
http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniDisk/OmniDisk.htm#Downloads
And Omniflop for WinXP with a GUI
http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm#Downloads
All of them can read and write a particular sector.
With Imagedisk you can image the original disk to a file image, and view the
image data in a nice hex editor by sector, make your changes, and write back
the modified version to a disk. All with a simple and efficient DOS GUI.
Marc
-----------------------------
jwsmobile <jws at jwsss.com> wrote:
I wonder if someone can help with a bit of a problem I have.
I have a compaq portable 3 system which has a working Pick (Non dos)
system on it.
It has the 5 1/4" floppy drives on it. I am looking for a bootable
floppy or 2 with something like dos 6.x on it and some utility that can
read and write disk sectors. Preferably the latter is a nice gui
program, but beggers can't be choosers.
I need to boot it up from the floppy drive and modify the pick system
dictionary to remove the main password. So the change to the system
will be surgical, just one sector.
If anyone can help, can you send me a note and let me know how I can
compensate you for your help.
If I really move crap around I may be able to find a system with the 5
1/4" floppies on it, but I'm not sure I could get a program onto the
system then out to the 5 1/4" drive and am also looking for suggestions
about what disk utility / editor might be useful if anyone has
suggestions on that. I'll go ahead and dredge up something soon if I
can't get help from somewhere.
thanks
Jim Stephens
-----------------------------
Hi Everyone,
I?m looking for a scan or a printout of the contents of DEC fiche EP-M8436-MA-A.
It?s referenced at the top of page 163 of http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/pdp11/xxdp/fiche_200dpi/0254_ind…, and allegedly contains the details for M8436, M8437,M8439, and M8440 boards -- all of which were parts for the Decmate series of machines.
If anyone has access to this (even if you have no way to read it), or has a pointer to where I might find it, I?d very much appreciate if you?d drop me a line.
Thanks very much,
Rob Ferguson
http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4711
Choice quote:
"I am writing this from the car, sitting in the passenger seat with my shoes off. I have been standing for 12 hours. I've been giving introductions and tours and explanations and theories and everything else that comes when you put a bunch of strangers together with a single-minded purpose. They have been too good. Way better than anybody deserves in the way of volunteers. They have been helpful, kind, inquisitive, dedicated. They have come from miles around. Sometime around 11 a.m., it became very obvious that the 252 banker boxes we have bought or a laughable underestimation. We were going to need more. We are going to need much more, and we were going to need it now. I made a call to the Uline Company, and asked for the impossible: I wanted 8 pallets of boxes, delivered within the day. And within four hours, they arrived. To deliver 1052 banker boxes within 4 hours, combined with the cost of the boxes themselves, was $4000."
> From: Eric Smith
> If a person has any reasonable business justification
But a lot of the people here don't; they're purely hobbyists. So spending
$1K on a piece of test equipment just isn't realistic for them.
Having said that, I do see some DSO's on eBay for not much money (e.g. the
little hand-held ones), and those might be a good alternative to a logic
analyzer - I never used one, so I tend not to think of them.
Noel
Some guy on eBay is selling a ton of QBUS boards, cheap:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/computer_surpluscheap/m.html
Includes deals such as 11/23 CPU's _with_ KTF11 and KEF11 for $30, 11/73 CPU's
for $50, etc, etc.
Anyone recognize those Motorola memory cards? Do we have documentatio for
them?
Noel
> From: Paul Koning
> If you can, avoid black/white scans. The reason is that scanners are
> often noisy in that mode ... Copiers used in scan mode are particularly
> likely to do this. Such documents are also surprisingly hard to read,
> look messy when printed, and utterly fail OCR.
I was talking about scanning prints (which is how this originally came up,
someone said 300 dpi doesn't catch the very fine printing one can find on
them - which is true, I've had issues in this regard too).
I'm using a professional-grade A3-size scanner (found on eBay for the
princely sum of $100 - it's an older model, with a SCSI interface) - for
scanning fold-out prints, the typical A4/8-1/2x11 scanner won't eat them
whole.
And of course OCR is a non-concept for prints.
For manuals (text), on the other hand, 300 dpi is of course fine.
Noel
> From: Sean Caron
> I have found that even fairly fine detail reproduces okay with a 300
> DPI scan ... there's no need in scanning with extraneous bit depth and
> then you start to get people complaining about file sizes
I have found that one can generally have one's cake, and eat it too:
if I scan at 600dpi in black and white, and then use "CCITT Group 4"
compression, the resulting images (of prints) are ~200KB per page.
Is that small enough? :-)
Noel
Now that I (hopefully) have my PDP 11/23 running (it passes CPU and memory
tests, anyway), I've been messing with my RLV11 so I can use my RL02.
For a first step, I'm trying to run the VRLBC0 diskless diagnostic to check
the controller. I checked that the address and vector switches are set to
the defaults according to he manual, and also verified them with a
multimeter.
The manual says the default vector address is 330, though the diagnostics
default to 160. I tried it both ways with the same result, though I should
be on 330.
I'm not actually sure what "BR LEVEL" refers to, so I left that at the
default.
This is a PDP 11/23 with an H-9273 backplane. I have the M8186, M8067,
M8043, then the two RLV11 boards, M8013 and M8014, then an M8012.
Here's a sample run. It appears to start, but never does anything else. If
I give it a bad address it does complain, so I think I have the switches
correct.
Does anyone know what I might try next? Thanks!
.R VRLBC0
VRLBC0.BIC
DRSSM-G2
CVRLB-C-0
RLV12 DISKLESS
UNIT IS RLV12, RLV11, OR RL11
RSTRT ADR 145702
DR>START
CHANGE HW (L) ? Y
# UNITS (D) ? 1
UNIT 0
RLV12 (L) Y ? N
RLV11 (L) Y ? Y
CSR ADDRESS (O) 174400 ?
VECTOR (O) 160 ? 330
BR LEVEL (O) 4 ?
CHANGE SW (L) ? Y
ERROR LIMIT FOR AUTO-DROP (D) 0 ?
ALL REMAINING QUERIES ARE FOR OPTIONAL (MANUFACTURING)
G5388 TEST-LOOP-MODULE SET-UP. USE <^Z> TO BYPASS.
G5388 TLM INSTALLED (L) N ? N
MMU AVAILABLE
MEMORY SIZE 124 KW
18 BIT ADDRESSING
--
Ben Sinclair
ben at bensinclair.com