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

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > DEC's memory boards never had any jumpers for PMI as such. Yes, and if you plug one of their PMI memory boards into a Q/Q backplane, it will emit magic smoke, too! :-) I think that's why this thing has the jumpers - to allow it to be used in a Q/Q backplane. It would, of course, only be normal (slower) QBUS memory, but at least one could use it there. However, I am unable to verify that hypothesis. (See below.) I looked at the jumpers along the edge in the C/D finger region, and a lot of them _do_ connect to pins used in the PMI bus. (Confusingly, a number connect to _other_ pins - I can see I have some detective work in front of me here!) However, that made it likely that the one that had jumpers on all those pins was configured for PMI use, so I rolled the dice, and tried plugging that board into a Q22/CD backplane, along with a KDJ11-B, and after a short bout of 'tired memory' (see my previous post), it did come up as a 4MB PMI memory! (Parity, though, not CRC - which might make sense, I guess - it has 148 memory chips on it, which is a multiple of 37, so 32 + byte parity, plus a spare chip, I would guess?) 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. So then I took a flier (although the cards use the identical PCB, they do have a few minor differences in chip rev in a couple of the programmable chips), and put the jumper config from the working PMI card onto the other card, and it did 'sort of' come up as a PMI card. The boot PROM was complaining about "Memory CSR Error" (I'll have to investigate that further), _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. Well, at least we have a jumper config that allows us to use these cards as PMI memory! Noel

10 years, 10 months

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Tired memory?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I've seen an odd phenomenon on some older QBUS memory boards I've got in. I can't understand it, and I'm wondering if anyone else has i) seen it, or ii) understand the cause. What happens is that the _first_ time I plug them in, some don't work - some (maybe all, sometimes) locations are mangling the data (I forget whether it's dropped or picked bits). Oh, and we're talking 4164's/41256's (or equivalents) here, for the actual devices. However, if I let them sit for a bit (powered off), and then try again, they work fine! I first experienced this phenomenon on some M8044's, which have on-board electrolytic filter caps, so I was guessing it was caused by some sort of noise caused by the caps not working, and after a little while powered on, the caps reformed, and things started to work. However, I just experienced the same phenomenon on a Clearpoint DCME/Q4E board - which doesn't have any electrolytic caps on it. So that can't be it. Anyone have any clue what's going on? (Oh, and of course, for others - if you buy and old memory board, and it doesn't work... don't immediately put it in the 'bad' pile, wait a bit, and try again. You might be seeing this.) Noel

10 years, 10 months

1
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Help needed please re possible loss of a Burroughs B7800 CPU

by nw＠retroComputingTasmania.com

Hi Evan and others who might have been wondering, I managed to find out what happened to the Burroughs B7800 that was "under the stairs" at Monash university. The good news is that the interesting parts, namely the indicator panels, have been saved by the Monash Museum of Computing History. They also retrieved the VAX 11/780 that was there too, and it is now in storage.

10 years, 10 months

2
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Freight recommendation for a teletype?

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Hi John, A testament to the extraordinary community that is classiccmp. I will certainly take you up on it, and get you a check, and/or some of the other great junk lying around here. I'm pretty well equipped with a good electronics lab. Do you need a scope? I have a few Tektronix digital scopes and I cant possibly use them all. 100 MHz .... I'm not sure about the lockdown, I imagine when its undone the bolt is stored in a available hole inside, and possibly is still there. I will see what comes back from craters and freighters and UShip, the thing has to be taken off the pedestal and wrapped/banded onto a pallet. Let me know what you need, and hey, Thanks, Randy > Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 21:49:59 -0500 > To: rdawson16 at hotmail.com > From: jfoust at threedee.com > Subject: RE: Freight recommendation for a teletype? > > At 09:29 PM 8/17/2015, you wrote: > >123 N Washington St. Elkhorn WI 53121. > >I asked for a quote from Craters and Freighters, and the UShip site. > > I'm not sure if I can help, but I thought I'd chime in. > > I'm 45 minutes from there, 30 minutes if I'm at my fianc?e's place. > (Jefferson, WI and Janesville, WI, respectively.) > > I do have a friend with a loading dock and pallets and wrap. > > You do need to lock down the upper machinery with the shipping bolt > or it'll destroy itself, depending on the shipping method. > > I have a 33 and a 28, too. > > - John >

10 years, 10 months

3
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Z80 / Z84C Swap (Doh!)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: drlegendre > Sigh.. and here I sit, yet again, with neither a logic analyzer I've bought Tek 1240's (which are really nice units, although of course without the capabilities of today's - but still a lot more powerful than the earliest LA's) on eBay for as little as $25 (albeit without leads), and I gather there are modern units which plug into a PC with a UCB port for not much more money. Yes, a lot of the older machines were built without benefit of them (pretty much all their builders had was 'scopes), but there are so many things where one cannot easily create a 'scope loop, and for investigating those, a logic analayzer is the perfect tool. It's just a critical tool to have if one is going to _repair_ old computers - only slightly less critical than a VOM. No ifs, ands or buts. Noel

10 years, 10 months

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Z80 / Z84C Swap (Doh!)

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

As the proud owner of an NtM Osborne 1 computer, courtesy of our own Jules Richardson (and another list member), I made no delay in opening the case to install a missing CPU. Jules was kind enough to let me know about the missing part prior to handing the old girl over to me. I'm sure you've already figured out what happened - unaware that the Z84C series was CMOS, that's what went into the Osborne's CPU socket. The machine came to life with a garbage display and howling on-board beeper. Tried resetting it a few times, all I got was more and different noise & garbage. That's when I shut down and did some reading - initially, I thought it might be a clock speed issue - sometimes 'faster' chips won't run at slower clock rates. What I did learn is that Z-80 were made in CMOS versions, and the Z84C is one. So what did I most likely do, here? Hose the CPU for sure? Collateral damage on the board? Both / Neither? As ever, it's what you don't get, that gets you.

10 years, 10 months

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SCSI Tape to TAP utility

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Thanks Al, I downloaded the assembler just in case. And to Chuck's point, it always felt like the MSDN distribution was a poorly documented, disorganized mess. I was not impressed. The old Turbo C and new Watcom C are available freely for DOS 16 bit and people say very good things of both. Marc > From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> > >> On 08/14/2015 12:00 PM, Al Kossow wrote: >> >> last 16 bit compiler is visual C++ 1.52c >> >> also ran across MASM 8 >> >> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=12654 >> >> if you need it > Schizophrenic MS labeling. The C++ suite is 1.52c, but the compiler > identifies itself as 8.00c. Crazy. > > --Chuck

10 years, 10 months

2
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Anyone have a Lockheed SUE?

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

think dcc made a fake dg nova also!? In a message dated 8/14/2015 8:24:14 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, aek at bitsavers.org writes: oops, it's actually a Digital Computer Controls DCC-112

10 years, 10 months

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Freight recommendation for a teletype?

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

only think that worries me is some guy in the suv takes a liking to it and "opps" he says " someone took it when I was in the restaurant!" Ed# In a message dated 8/17/2015 4:25:49 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, rdawson16 at hotmail.com writes: Thanks Cory, I listed it with UShip, and will wait to see what happens. This was a great idea, I never heard of such a 'crowd-sourced' shipping service before. Randy > Subject: Re: Freight recommendation for a teletype? > From: coryheisterkamp at gmail.com > Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 17:33:38 -0500 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > > Randy, > > One option might be UShip. These are best transported laying down once the paper and tape spindles are removed and preferably, that shipping screws anchor down the chassis (though I have moved them without). With UShip, you set an asking price with parameters, such as blanket wrap, or covered shipping. Everyone from professionals to those with room to spare in their SUV can then ask questions, accept the terms, or counter-offer. They don't get paid until you've received the item and are satisfied. With items like this, I almost prefer a private individual rather than a professional (bulk) mover. -C > > > On Aug 17, 2015, at 5:26 PM, Randy Dawson wrote: > > > Hi Classiccmp, > > > > I just purchased a ASR 33 teletype and now stuck with the problem of getting it here, its in Wisconsin and I am in LA. > > > > Its pickup, the owner will not pack and ship. > > > > Do you know of a freight company that will put it on a pallet, band it with care and take care of the shipping? > > > > Randy > =

10 years, 10 months

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Speaking of Creating 5 1/4" floppies

by jws＠jwsss.com

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

10 years, 10 months

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cctalk Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2015 01:29:27 -0400 > From: Evan Koblentz <evan at snarc.net> > Subject: MARCH's Straight 8 restoration notes > > The RICM PDP-12 thread made me realize that I (nor I think David > Gesswein) ever posted our PDP-8 notes here. (We did post a link to the > Youtube video of the ceremony at VCF East.) > > Anyway, here are David's notes: > http://www.pdp8.net/shows/vcfe15/slides/PDP-8_Restoration.html and also > his exhibit notes here: http://www.pdp8.net/shows/vcfe15/vcfe15.shtml. > Evan, It is nice to see documented proof that we are not the only people crazy enough to attempt a restoration of a machine in that condition. The TU20 tape drive that came with the PDP-9 also had a unauthorized mouse upgrade, and several transistors fell off the flip-chips when we touched them. They were Germanium transistors so getting replacements was a challenge. Michael Thompson

10 years, 10 months

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Freight recommendation for a teletype?

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Hi Classiccmp, I just purchased a ASR 33 teletype and now stuck with the problem of getting it here, its in Wisconsin and I am in LA. Its pickup, the owner will not pack and ship. Do you know of a freight company that will put it on a pallet, band it with care and take care of the shipping? Randy

10 years, 10 months

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MP3000's

by BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu

Anyone here pick up the two MP3000's on PublicSurplus for $99/ea?

10 years, 10 months

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No XT-IDE users?

by cctalk＠fahimi.net

Wow, I know it's not a DEC PDP but I was hoping at least a few people used the darn thing. Would it be better if I post in VCF? Thanks for any input. -Ali

10 years, 10 months

8
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No XT-IDE users?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Ali Fahimi > Wow, I know it's not a DEC PDP Hah! Don't feel too bad. I've lost count of the number of PDP-11 questions which I've brought here, only to hear a resounding silence (most recent case on point, my query about Clearpoint DCME/Q4E's). Noel

10 years, 10 months

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MARCH's Straight 8 restoration notes

by evan＠snarc.net

The RICM PDP-12 thread made me realize that I (nor I think David Gesswein) ever posted our PDP-8 notes here. (We did post a link to the Youtube video of the ceremony at VCF East.) Anyway, here are David's notes: http://www.pdp8.net/shows/vcfe15/slides/PDP-8_Restoration.html and also his exhibit notes here: http://www.pdp8.net/shows/vcfe15/vcfe15.shtml.

10 years, 10 months

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QIC-24 data analysis

by aek＠bitsavers.org

This looks like fun.. http://mightyframe.blogspot.com/2015/08/qic-24-tape-data-block-format-decod…

10 years, 10 months

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No XT-IDE users?

by couryhouse＠aol.com

Be fun to have identified controller for first ibm pc to demo it Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: william degnan <billdegnan at gmail.com> Date: 08/16/2015 4:31 PM (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: No XT-IDE users? I don't have a need for it, yet anyway Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net On Aug 16, 2015 7:26 PM, "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: > On 08/16/2015 03:26 PM, Ali wrote: > >> Wow, I know it's not a DEC PDP but I was hoping at least a few people >> used the darn thing. Would it be better if I post in VCF? Thanks for >> any input. -Ali >> > > Probably.? I have both the original and the one (can't remember the name) > with the CPLD on it.? Both worked well for me--and I modified the original > to juggle the addressing bits to make the "Chuck mod". > > I've always used my own version of the BIOS; I've always felt that the > more elaborate BIOSes, while interesting and reflecting a lot of work, were > unnecessarily complicated. > > I"ll help if I can, but I haven't played much with the thing in a couple > of years+. > > --Chuck > > > >

10 years, 10 months

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LPSXX-AD NIB

by useddec＠gmail.com

I found several of these while digging. Any interest? Please contact me off list. Paul

10 years, 10 months

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WANTED: HP 3000

by mloewen＠cpumagic.scol.pa.us

I worked on HP 3000 systems in the late '80s, and would like to find one for my collection. A series 42 would be nice, but a series 37 or micro XE would do. Any leads? I'm already aware of the one on Epay in Florida that's been sitting at $1,725 for the past year. I'm in central PA. Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

10 years, 10 months

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WANTED: HP 3000

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

Mike - this would be a good complete system for you Mike and good it has tapes. that may have the little cartridge drive in it too but beware the cartridge drives they seem to all have gummy capstans... I ruined a fos tape put it in... got error... pulled it out and looked like it was slimed with the 'black oil' like in x files! there is a work around for this though using some glue and rings on the capstan roller after you scrape the goo off. having the large tape drive is better anyway. like this unit has. Our aim here at SMECC is to get data off our old tapes fro the company days and also our bulletin board system we wrote that had 100 separate boards, email, voting and poll system multi user chat we let other 3000 system managers in the 80s use... it was really something in the pre-internet days. Mike - there should also be a full file of all the hp-3000 stuff that Marlys Nelson developed I always thought it would be fun to finally get a series 68 or 70 but... yikes the power bill would hit you and the cooling....Yikes! for the same reason we want a series II or III or CX for the museums display but to keep it under power 24/7 with a string of drives costs $$$ and especially when you consider the air conditioning ! I have a 37 cpu and a 50 meg drive but of course need recon fig it which means cold load tape as the other drives in the string are missing I can not it past the point of disavowing the other drives that do not exist. Fun time here with the manuals etc... I have not had my hands on A WORKING 3000 for over 22 years I think. A lot comes back but there are some head scratching still going on! OK have the cart tape drive with goo capstan and have reel to reel tape drive that when at initial power-up it just spins the reels. What do we need? spare cpu more little disk drives 50 meg will not hold the store set from 1986 Known good reel to reel hpib tape drives 1600 bpi ok as that is what our store set is in and any of the other reel to reel tape distributions contributions and found stuff was. I will keep an eyen out for east coast stuff for you and appreciate if you keep an eye out on west coast stuff for us! pretty fun with drop box we can share programs without having to ship tapes to each other! Ed Sharpe archaist for SMECC _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 8/15/2015 6:36:21 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, steerex at ccvn.com writes: Mike, I have a complete micro/37 that I'd be willing to part with. It was last booted about 2 years ago when another list member was trying to his a system running. Is is mounted in one of the short / narrow HP racks with 3x670H HPIB drives. I think the total disk size is about 1 Gb. That seems like a ton for a system that small. I also have a HPIB 7980 front loading tape drive, that I would include in the deal. AND... I have the original 9-track system tapes (FOS), some spare NOS tapes (let me know how many you'd like), the original MPE documents on CD, and I could probably dig up some MPE paper documentation as well. I am in western NC but could be coaxed into meeting you somewhere closer (possibly southern Virginia). I'll take an offer but, be warned, I'm not giving it away. Thanks, Steve Robertson steerex at ccvn.com On 8/14/2015 10:01 PM, Mike Loewen wrote: > > I worked on HP 3000 systems in the late '80s, and would like to find > one for my collection. A series 42 would be nice, but a series 37 or > micro XE would do. Any leads? I'm already aware of the one on Epay in > Florida that's been sitting at $1,725 for the past year. > > I'm in central PA. > > > Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us > Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/ > -- Steve Robertson steerex at ccvn.com

10 years, 10 months

2
1
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Clearpoint DCME/Q4E configuration

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Hi, does anyone know anything about the configuration of these boards? (The document on BitSavers only covers the Q4B; the jumper configuration on the Q4E is totally different.) They are 4MB quad QBUS memory cards; PMI capable, I'm pretty sure. I have two of them, one of which came out of an 11/84 (I never saw it in the machine, though), and is so probably configured to run PMI. The thing is that I stupidly mixed it in with the other one, and now I don't know which one is which - and they are jumpered differently. It doesn't have to be full (or any) documentation; if someone had one they _knew_ was jumpered for, say, PMI operation, I could copy their jumper setup (or see if one of mine already had the same). If not, I'm going to start in on drawing a picture of all the jumpers, and see what QBUS/PMI pins they are all connected to - looking at the card, there's a big row of jumpers next to the pins the PMI is on, and the jumpers are all 'on' on one card, and all 'off' on the other, so I suspect the one card is jumpered for PMI operation, and the other, not. So, even if there no documentation extant at all, we should be able to more of less figure out what many of the jumpers do, and start making use of these cards. But any help/info would be gratefully received! Noel

10 years, 10 months

2
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docs or software for Quay 900 (uses Quay 90F/MPS board)

by spacewar＠gmail.com

Does anyone happen to have documentation, schematics, or software for the Quay 900? It's a system based on the Quay 90F/MPS single-board Z80 computer and two MPI double-sided 8-inch floppy drives. The drives are MPI part no. 77618022, apparently a 9406 variant but not listed in the drive manual on Bitsavers. I suspect the pinout is close to the SA800/850 pinout (industry standard), but I was surprised to find that none of the variants in the 9406 manual have a pinout similar to that.

10 years, 10 months

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Still more Parts available: DEC, TI-990, and HP1000

by pfriedr＠gainbroadband.com

I've just added to yesterday's list of vintage computer items that need to find a good home. Details, part numbers, and descriptions can be found here: http://www.hpfriedrichs.com/hpfparts/hpfparts.htm Thank you to several classiccmp members who corrected my earlier post. Some of the parts I have listed are associated with PDP 11/23s, not 11/34s. 73 Pete AC7ZL

10 years, 10 months

1
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Free for Shipping

by r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com

I have the following items that I want to get rid of. All are quantity one, except the Poqets. They are free for shipping cost from Chicago (ZIP 60659). I prefer to ship in the US, but will consider shipping internationally. Contact me directly at r_a_feldman at hotmail.com if you are interested in any of the items. Bob Irwin Accutrak A250EP-05 external parallel port tape drive HP Travan T1000e external parallel port tape drive Microsolutions Backpack 800TD Model 143010 external parallel port tape drive Archive 11250Q internal tape drive Mitsumi CD-ROM Drive 16-bit PC interface cardDauphin keyboard Compaq keyboard 2680KB (from a large 386 semi-portable) Zenith Number pad ZA-3034-NP Compaq LTE Lite 25 laptop w/power brick. Backlight bad, SRAM battery bad. Never had a hard drive. Toshiba external 3.5? floppy ZA1115 Dual internal PCMCIA card reader w/EISA PC adapter card (for Win95 and earlier) 2 broken Poqet PQ-161 portables. One has a US-made motherboard and might be a ?prototype?. Has NASA sticker on it. Both have broken screens, dinged cases and a few missing keys. One shows some reaction when turned on.

10 years, 10 months

1
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Analog to Digital Converter

by dj.taylor4＠comcast.net

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 this ADC technology? Who was the manufacturer? (There is no id on the outside) What is inside the box? Is it a hybrid circuit? Doug

10 years, 10 months

1
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More DEC boards

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello Paul, I sent you an email, not sure if you received it, maybe antispam? Thanks Andrea

10 years, 10 months

2
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In Realtime: Saving 25,000 Manuals

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Liam Proven > Apologies if this is old news... Is this Manuals Plus? They said at the start of the year that they were going to close, and I bought a whole bunch of stuff, but then things seemed to go quiet. Noel

10 years, 10 months

2
1
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Booting an IBM MP 3000 S/390 System

by ggs＠shiresoft.com

I spent some time today and made a video of my MP 3000 system booting up to z/OS. The video is here: http://youtu.be/WnJmeQR0GQU. Even though the video is about 9-1/2 minutes long, it takes longer than that to boot. I edited out some of the more boring bits. ;-) TTFN - Guy

10 years, 10 months

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DEC VAX parts and 11/34 System for sale

by pfriedr＠gainbroadband.com

I still have a bunch of vintage computer parts I'd like to find homes for. If you are interested either in components for a DEC VAX or in a PDP 11/34 embedded system complete with card cage, please visit my website for details and contact information. http://www.hpfriedrichs.com/hpfparts/hpfparts.htm I will be posting more items when these have been sold. Regards, Pete AC7ZL

10 years, 10 months

1
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SCSI Tape to TAP utility

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Well, Chuck, thanks a bunch, this is very useful and quite difficult code to write from scratch. How does one compile for DOS by the way (I have to admit I am too young to have ever tried), and get a copy of MSC 8.00C. Is the DOS compiler buried in some part of Visual Studio? I have some old versions dating back from Windows 95 time, when it was called Visual Studio 97... Marc >From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> >Subject: SCSI Tape to TAP utility >A couple of weeks ago, I offered to share the source and executable for >a SCSI tape-to-SIMH .TAP file utility for MSDOS. >To run it, you'll need an ASPI driver for your SCSI adapter. >It was compiled using MSC 8.00C. >Find it here: >https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6qiudlpyitgxom/STP2T02.ZIP?dl=0 >Enjoy, >Chuck

10 years, 10 months

3
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WANTED: HP 3000

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

and I am looking for west coast hp -3000's! Mike! Due to freight az or cal... for a 3000/37 or micro gear but would pay the big freight if it was a old series II or II or cx or precx or series 1 I spent most of my time on series 2 and 3 machines and although I do not have one currently I DO have the additional plug in front panel that shows ALL registers The CEs would use it in dire times.... actually one interface card is for CX and one card for hooking into a series II or Series III.. I am going to bring up the 37 to use Did not know you had 3000 background also we will have to talk more! Ed# www.smecc.org In a message dated 8/14/2015 7:02:05 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us writes: I worked on HP 3000 systems in the late '80s, and would like to find one for my collection. A series 42 would be nice, but a series 37 or micro XE would do. Any leads? I'm already aware of the one on Epay in Florida that's been sitting at $1,725 for the past year. I'm in central PA. Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

10 years, 10 months

1
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8-E(s) in Illinois

by useddec＠gmail.com

While pulling parts for another list member my workers found another 8-E. I thought I had 2 in the area, but who knows. Anyway, if you are going to Chicago (VCF) I'm almost 3 hours south of there, but I have several list members who plan on stopping by before or after and might be willing to deliver or get it closer for the right price. I had already planned on selling one, so now I actually have 2. Both are 8-E boxes, H724(I think) power supply, a single omnibus backplane, a switch panel, silkscreen, one has white bezel. They do not have :keys, cover (or lid), slides. I can configure the boards to anything within reason, but I suggest you go with the mos board or kit available on the list. Core is getting expensive. Please contact me off list with questions. Thanks, Paul

10 years, 10 months

1
0
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Anyone have a Lockheed SUE?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I turned up some CPU info on it, which I uploaded to bitsavers/lockheed/sue Dumps of the programmable parts on the CPU would be nice if anyone has one.

10 years, 10 months

4
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Slightly OT: XT-IDE

by afahimi＠fahimienterprises.com

Hello All, I've been trying to help a friend of mine get his XT-IDE (DP ver 2 board) up and running to boot a HDD in an IBM 8525. It is a bit difficult since he is across the country but we have made progress. However, we still cannot get the system to boot. The card is recognized by the system, the boot menu comes up. At first we could not get it to find a HDD. However, after a bunch of trial error we were able to get the drive to be recognized. We booted w/ a DOS 6.22 disk, ran fdisk /mbr, and everything seems to have completed but after reboot the HDD will not format. Checking with fdisk shown no partition info at all. The XT-IDE is the only card in the system, booting from floppies is fine with no issues. We also have gotten a 1h error at times. Finally, to rule out the HDD as an issue we tried to boot using the serial connection. The card is seen by the server but when we attempt to boot again we get a 1h error. Config info as follows: ide_xt.bin: v2.0.0B3 (2013-03-02) Full Operating Mode: No IDE Controllers: 1 Power Management: Disabled Device Type: XTIDE r1 Base Address: 300h Control Block: 308h Master & Slave Settings: Block Mode Transfers: Yes CHS Translation: Auto Internal Write Cache: Disabled User Specified CHS/LBA: No Boot Settings: Display Mode: Default Number of Floppy Dr.: Auto Scan for Serial Drives: No Default Boot Drive: 80h The BIOS chip is an amtel http://www.atmel.com/images/doc0270.pdf EEPROM type: 2864 SDP: Enable Page Size: 1 byte EEPROM Address: D000h Generate Checksum byte: Yes At this point I am stumped. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. -Ali

10 years, 10 months

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GRiD Compass power supply information

by ian.finder＠gmail.com

Hi folks, I picked up an 1101 GRiDcompass with no power supply. I'd like to attempt a retrofit. Does anyone know what voltages are in play? I'm specifically worried about the EL panel and want to know if the high voltages for it are produced in the PSU itself, or the panel. Any information, or leads on a spare power supply are appreciated. Failing that, I'll start reverse engineering the PSU in my other 1101- they're just a pain to work on. - Ian -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS ian.finder at gmail.com

10 years, 10 months

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E-mail Archives Was: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > You can find a discussion about it in the archives (well, actually, you > can't). > Which reminds me.. > The archive have never come back to http://www.classiccmp.org/lists.html Ah, which archives are we speaking of? The CCTalk archives? If so, I've been hosting an 'un-official' copy of the archives from March '97 to January '05 here: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/cctalk/ and they should be in Google by now. I do have copies here of the archives from February '05 to Oct '14 (partial), which were wiped out in the big list failure last fall (I forget where I got them from), but they are not on-line. I think there was some talk of them coming back at the main site, but if that's not going to happen, I'd be happy to add them to the collection here. The actual conversion from mail archives to web pages (for the '97 to '05 archives) was performed by john_a_s2004 at hotmail.com (thanks, John!), and I don't have the code to do the transmogrification. I had enquired about doing the rest of the archives, but I didn't hear back. If there is significant interest in having them online too, I _could_ write new code to spit out the relevant HTML message and index files. Should I do so? Noel

10 years, 10 months

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More DEC boards

by useddec＠gmail.com

Well, here's another update on my never ending/ always changing list of quad and hex boards. These are all M7xxx, and the M8xxx should be done in a week or so. There are a few boards here I will be using myself, But I am planning on selling off about 80% of my DEC equipment. All is located in zip 61853 and most is shipable. There are a lot of boards to go through yet, and this list does not show any PDP8 parts or industrial control, but feel free to inquire. There are still some DEC things I am willing to trade for, but I also collect US, Great Britain, and Canadian and other coins, boy scout items, and from our English members or anyone else who knows what it is, Doulton, mostly Lambeth. Old microscopes, and almost anything Zeiss. Cash always works. Please contact me off list. https://doc-0s-6g-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/o60568klv0gtnika…

10 years, 10 months

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IMSAI VDP-80 documentation?

by santo.nucifora＠gmail.com

Today I am taking delivery of an IMSAI VDP-80 and am very happy to have found one. This helps fill in my IMSAI collection. While it comes with some disks (and I can deal with restoring the Persci drives), it comes with no documentation. I do want to restore it to working condition. I also have a PCS-80/30 that, I believe, shares some of the cards but not all and have the documentation for that one. Would anyone have any IMSAI VDP-80 documentation they can share? There doesn't appear to be any online; at least in the usual places. Thanks, Santo

10 years, 10 months

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Wang PC260 memory fault

by thrashbarg＠kaput.homeunix.org

Hi List, So a good friend of mine recently resurrected his childhood 286 Wang PC260 after I suggested he replace the keyboard controller. In the 14 or so years it's been unused, it has developed a memory fault in one of the conventional memory banks. The memory is soldered to the board so we're looking for anything that might assist in tracking down the dud memory IC. He can get it to boot if the memory size is set to 256kB, so I'm guessing the second 256kB bank is bad. Is there software that exists that can identify individual dead or faulty memory IC's, or at least the corresponding bit(s) which may not be working? According to Dr. Google, this machine was built by Tandy for Wang. Perhaps there's a Tandy diagnostic disk that'll work with it, or better yet a Wang diagnostic disk. (I'm wondering if this question has been asked/answered before too) Cheers, Alexis.

10 years, 10 months

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Help needed to read 5.2GB DVD-RAM Type 1 cartridges - UK

by PeksaDO＠cardiff.ac.uk

Can anyone help with this - A colleague (doing voluntary work) is trying to retrieve data archived on cartridges as per subject. Does anyone have a drive he can borrow or buy; can someone read them for him etc? If anyone can help, e-mail me directly and I'll put you in touch. Have seen a couple of drives on ebay.com but none on ebay.co.uk. As per my e-mail address, Cardiff area. Note - I read cctalk in digest mode. TIA. Doug.

10 years, 10 months

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And speaking of ALGOL

by mark.kahrs＠gmail.com

I assure you Chuck, I do know the original B5500 ALGOL having written my first program on one. For those of you who might be interested, I sent a listing of the B6700 ALGOL compiler source code to the CHM. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Burroughs extensions to ALGOL to optimise|ize the use of the native string instructions.

10 years, 10 months

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R: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by supervinx＠libero.it

Older DOS utils like IMD or TELEDISK knew better about 8" disks and precompression, directly accessing the controller. If the Supercard software has been written with no 8" disks support it will be hard to manage writes correctly. My two cents -------- Messaggio originale -------- Da: supervinx <supervinx at libero.it> Data:13/08/2015 08:28 (GMT+01:00) A: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Oggetto: R: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro He told me there's no Linux support. I should try Keirf's utils or access the hardware with a serial connection. May be I could try the Supercard in a VM. -------- Messaggio originale -------- Da: supervinx <supervinx at libero.it> Data:13/08/2015? 08:25? (GMT+01:00) A: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Oggetto: R: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro Hi! A bit OT. I tried the fdadap card successfully reading and writing SD and DD disks, together with a standard ISA controller. Had to try a bit, since not every disk controller manages SD writes.? So the FDADAP should be ok, and the problems lie on the Supercard side. I contacted the Supercard guy, in order to know if there's a Linux support. I've no windows machines, only some specialized DOS one. -------- Messaggio originale -------- Da: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> Data:13/08/2015? 04:46? (GMT+01:00) A: cctalk at classiccmp.org Oggetto: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro At 07:27 PM 8/11/2015, Josh Dersch wrote: >Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but less successful in writing them back out.? Thus far I've tried a pair of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842.? I'm using a DBit FDADAP (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 signals. I'd tried the SuperCard Pro / FDADAP combo last March with no success. I hope to return to the task.? Maybe it was a problem with my drive(s). - John

10 years, 10 months

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R: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by supervinx＠libero.it

He told me there's no Linux support. I should try Keirf's utils or access the hardware with a serial connection. May be I could try the Supercard in a VM. -------- Messaggio originale -------- Da: supervinx <supervinx at libero.it> Data:13/08/2015 08:25 (GMT+01:00) A: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Oggetto: R: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro Hi! A bit OT. I tried the fdadap card successfully reading and writing SD and DD disks, together with a standard ISA controller. Had to try a bit, since not every disk controller manages SD writes.? So the FDADAP should be ok, and the problems lie on the Supercard side. I contacted the Supercard guy, in order to know if there's a Linux support. I've no windows machines, only some specialized DOS one. -------- Messaggio originale -------- Da: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> Data:13/08/2015? 04:46? (GMT+01:00) A: cctalk at classiccmp.org Oggetto: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro At 07:27 PM 8/11/2015, Josh Dersch wrote: >Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but less successful in writing them back out.? Thus far I've tried a pair of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842.? I'm using a DBit FDADAP (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 signals. I'd tried the SuperCard Pro / FDADAP combo last March with no success. I hope to return to the task.? Maybe it was a problem with my drive(s). - John

10 years, 10 months

1
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R: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by supervinx＠libero.it

Hi! A bit OT. I tried the fdadap card successfully reading and writing SD and DD disks, together with a standard ISA controller. Had to try a bit, since not every disk controller manages SD writes.? So the FDADAP should be ok, and the problems lie on the Supercard side. I contacted the Supercard guy, in order to know if there's a Linux support. I've no windows machines, only some specialized DOS one. -------- Messaggio originale -------- Da: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> Data:13/08/2015 04:46 (GMT+01:00) A: cctalk at classiccmp.org Oggetto: Re: Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro At 07:27 PM 8/11/2015, Josh Dersch wrote: >Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but less successful in writing them back out.? Thus far I've tried a pair of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842.? I'm using a DBit FDADAP (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 signals. I'd tried the SuperCard Pro / FDADAP combo last March with no success. I hope to return to the task.? Maybe it was a problem with my drive(s). - John

10 years, 10 months

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Naked minis

by useddec＠gmail.com

I was having problems sending these to some members, so i'm trying to post them. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2MOaRm-6XKNfkxxZ0ZMZldZUGh0SjVMWHA…

10 years, 10 months

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Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I forgot to mention one item. Since I had VERY few Double Sided media with the index hole offset that extra 1/2" from the Single Sided index hole - and I have many RX02 compatible floppy media which are Single Sided with the index hole in the wrong place for being a Double Sided media - I added a DPDT switch to the sense circuit of the DSD 880/30 drive. In the normal position, the Single Sided floppy media are detected as Single Sided floppy media. In the opposite position, a Single Sided floppy media is detected as Double Sided and the DSD 880/30 is then able to read / write both sides of the floppy media. Since the DSD 880/30 is also able to perform a LLF (Low Level Format), I am able to use all of the RX02 media as Double Sided WITHOUT the inconvenience of having to punch the extra index hole. >Jerome H. Fine wrote: > >Josh Dersch wrote: > >> Here at the museum I'm evaluating the use of a SuperCard Pro >> (http://www.cbmstuff.com/proddetail.php?prod=SCP) to archive and >> duplicate 8" floppies from various machines. It's not technically >> supported (the manual states that it *should* work but has not been >> tested, etc.) The disks I'm reading are nothing exotic (They're >> standard double-density, double-sided disks with an IBM format -- I >> could use a PC and ImageDisk to do the job, but the SuperCard is very >> convenient, in theory...) >> >> Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but >> less successful in writing them back out. Thus far I've tried a pair >> of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842. I'm using a DBit FDADAP >> (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 >> signals. (And the 851s are jumpered properly for the TG43 signal, as >> far as I can tell). I've also tried a variety of media (Verbatim, >> Maxell) with the same results (though the position of the bad data >> varies from attempt to attempt). >> >> The issue is that upon reading back a disk that has been written via >> the SuperCard, data is fine up until about cylinder 60, at which >> point bad sectors start appearing more and more frequently (though >> most of the data is still OK). I tried disabling TG43 just to see if >> it made a difference, and it does - with TG43 disabled sectors >> written past cylinder 43 read back as garbage. >> >> I'm running short of ideas. Anyone else have any experience with >> this combo? Any suggestions on troubleshooting tips? > > I doubt that this suggestion will help, but it might be > useful for what are called RX03 compatible media. > > The RX02 drive from DEC was emulated in hardware > by DSD (Data Systems Design). DSD Produced a > drive which was named the DSD 880/30 which consisted > of 3 * RL02 internal drives and a single floppy drive which > could read IBM Single Density and DEC Double Density > floppy media. The DEC names for those two floppy media > were RX01 and RX02. The actual DEC RX02 drive was > able to read in both Single Density and Double density modes. > In the case of the DEC RX01 and DEC RX02 drives, they > were both Single Sided. Further DEC did at one point intend > to support a Double Sided drive which I understand was to > be called the DEC RX03, but it was never released that I > ever heard about. The software support was specifically > included in V04.00 of RT-11 in the file DY.MAC, but was > probably never tested since the code was incorrect. By > V05.00 of RT-11, DY.MAC no longer contained the extra > code to support Double Sided media. > > DSD extended the support and the DSD 880/30 contained > an RX03 compatible drive which could read Double Density > Double Sided media. What I don't know is IF the physical > characteristics of the Double Density media which DEC and > DSD supported are identical to the Double Density physical > characteristics of the floppy media to which you refer as having > "an IBM format" since I have never encountered any floppy > media from IBM other than Single Sided / Single Density. > > To make matters simple IF the floppy media which you have > are compatible with DEC RX02 Double Density format, then > with the DSD RX03 floppy drive, I extended the DY.MAC > file for RT-11 and it now supports reading a Double Sided / > Double Density floppy mounted in a DSD RX03 drive. If > you can manage to locate a DSD 880/30 and controller to > run on a DEC PDP-11/73 with RT-11, then I can make the > DYX.SYS device driver available. To first make sure that > everything will work with the DSD 880/30, you can test your > floppy to see if a DEC RX02 can at least read the first side of > your floppy. > > Please let me know if you know the answer to if your Double > Sided / Double Density floppy media are DEC RX02 compatible > on at least the first side. If that is true, then the DSD 880/30 > drive will probably be able to read both sides very easily. > > If you have any questions, please ask. > > Jerome Fine

10 years, 10 months

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Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 07:27 PM 8/11/2015, Josh Dersch wrote: >Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but less successful in writing them back out. Thus far I've tried a pair of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842. I'm using a DBit FDADAP (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 signals. I'd tried the SuperCard Pro / FDADAP combo last March with no success. I hope to return to the task. Maybe it was a problem with my drive(s). - John

10 years, 10 months

1
0
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Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by JoshD＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

Here at the museum I'm evaluating the use of a SuperCard Pro (http://www.cbmstuff.com/proddetail.php?prod=SCP) to archive and duplicate 8" floppies from various machines. It's not technically supported (the manual states that it *should* work but has not been tested, etc.) The disks I'm reading are nothing exotic (They're standard double-density, double-sided disks with an IBM format -- I could use a PC and ImageDisk to do the job, but the SuperCard is very convenient, in theory...) Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but less successful in writing them back out. Thus far I've tried a pair of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842. I'm using a DBit FDADAP (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 signals. (And the 851s are jumpered properly for the TG43 signal, as far as I can tell). I've also tried a variety of media (Verbatim, Maxell) with the same results (though the position of the bad data varies from attempt to attempt). The issue is that upon reading back a disk that has been written via the SuperCard, data is fine up until about cylinder 60, at which point bad sectors start appearing more and more frequently (though most of the data is still OK). I tried disabling TG43 just to see if it made a difference, and it does - with TG43 disabled sectors written past cylinder 43 read back as garbage. I'm running short of ideas. Anyone else have any experience with this combo? Any suggestions on troubleshooting tips? Thanks, Josh Sr. Vintage Software Engineer Living Computer Museum www.livingcomputermuseum.org<http://www.livingcomputermuseum.org>

10 years, 10 months

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Writing 8" floppies with SuperCard Pro

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I forgot to mention one item. Since I had VERY few Double Sided media with the index hole offset that extra 1/2" from the Single Sided index hole - and I have many RX02 compatible floppy media which are Single Sided with the index hole in the wrong place for being a Double Sided media - I added a DPDT switch to the sense circuit of the DSD 880/30 drive. In the normal position, the Single Sided floppy media are detected as Single Sided floppy media. In the opposite position, a Single Sided floppy media is detected as Double Sided and the DSD 880/30 is then able to read / write both sides of the floppy media. Since the DSD 880/30 is also able to perform a LLF (Low Level Format), I am able to use all of the RX02 media as Double Sided WITHOUT the inconvenience of having to punch the extra index hole. >Jerome H. Fine wrote: > >Josh Dersch wrote: > >> Here at the museum I'm evaluating the use of a SuperCard Pro >> (http://www.cbmstuff.com/proddetail.php?prod=SCP) to archive and >> duplicate 8" floppies from various machines. It's not technically >> supported (the manual states that it *should* work but has not been >> tested, etc.) The disks I'm reading are nothing exotic (They're >> standard double-density, double-sided disks with an IBM format -- I >> could use a PC and ImageDisk to do the job, but the SuperCard is very >> convenient, in theory...) >> >> Thus far I've been successful in creating images of floppies, but >> less successful in writing them back out. Thus far I've tried a pair >> of Shugart 851s and a Qume QumeTrack 842. I'm using a DBit FDADAP >> (http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html) to deal with cabling and the TG43 >> signals. (And the 851s are jumpered properly for the TG43 signal, as >> far as I can tell). I've also tried a variety of media (Verbatim, >> Maxell) with the same results (though the position of the bad data >> varies from attempt to attempt). >> >> The issue is that upon reading back a disk that has been written via >> the SuperCard, data is fine up until about cylinder 60, at which >> point bad sectors start appearing more and more frequently (though >> most of the data is still OK). I tried disabling TG43 just to see if >> it made a difference, and it does - with TG43 disabled sectors >> written past cylinder 43 read back as garbage. >> >> I'm running short of ideas. Anyone else have any experience with >> this combo? Any suggestions on troubleshooting tips? > > I doubt that this suggestion will help, but it might be > useful for what are called RX03 compatible media. > > The RX02 drive from DEC was emulated in hardware > by DSD (Data Systems Design). DSD Produced a > drive which was named the DSD 880/30 which consisted > of 3 * RL02 internal drives and a single floppy drive which > could read IBM Single Density and DEC Double Density > floppy media. The DEC names for those two floppy media > were RX01 and RX02. The actual DEC RX02 drive was > able to read in both Single Density and Double density modes. > In the case of the DEC RX01 and DEC RX02 drives, they > were both Single Sided. Further DEC did at one point intend > to support a Double Sided drive which I understand was to > be called the DEC RX03, but it was never released that I > ever heard about. The software support was specifically > included in V04.00 of RT-11 in the file DY.MAC, but was > probably never tested since the code was incorrect. By > V05.00 of RT-11, DY.MAC no longer contained the extra > code to support Double Sided media. > > DSD extended the support and the DSD 880/30 contained > an RX03 compatible drive which could read Double Density > Double Sided media. What I don't know is IF the physical > characteristics of the Double Density media which DEC and > DSD supported are identical to the Double Density physical > characteristics of the floppy media to which you refer as having > "an IBM format" since I have never encountered any floppy > media from IBM other than Single Sided / Single Density. > > To make matters simple IF the floppy media which you have > are compatible with DEC RX02 Double Density format, then > with the DSD RX03 floppy drive, I extended the DY.MAC > file for RT-11 and it now supports reading a Double Sided / > Double Density floppy mounted in a DSD RX03 drive. If > you can manage to locate a DSD 880/30 and controller to > run on a DEC PDP-11/73 with RT-11, then I can make the > DYX.SYS device driver available. To first make sure that > everything will work with the DSD 880/30, you can test your > floppy to see if a DEC RX02 can at least read the first side of > your floppy. > > Please let me know if you know the answer to if your Double > Sided / Double Density floppy media are DEC RX02 compatible > on at least the first side. If that is true, then the DSD 880/30 > drive will probably be able to read both sides very easily. > > If you have any questions, please ask. > > Jerome Fine

10 years, 10 months

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