So I have a couple of busted KDJ11-A cards (M8192), and it would be nice to
have a FMPS to look at, if I try and get them running. (I know it's not the
DCJ11 chips - I have tried them in a known good board, and they all work
fine.)
Does anyone know the whereabouts of one? Does one even exist? I have not
found any reference to one. The KDJ11-A User's Guide (EK-KDJ1A-UG-001) does
not mention one. (BTW, that UG is more like a Tech Manual - it contains a
lengthy chapter with detailed description of internal circuits.)
Thanks in advance (hopefully :-)!
Noel
Last month I debuted the electronic version of my book, "Abacus to
smartphone: The evolution of mobile and portable computers". Now it's
available on old-fashioned dead trees.
The best place to get it is https://www.createspace.com/5596053. The
second-best place is Amazon.com. Price is the same at both sites
($19.99) but CreateSpace sends me twice the royalty that Amazon does
(even though CS is owned by Amazon... weird.)
The book's web site is http://www.abacustosmartphone.com.
Two transistors on the front panel that turn on PC and MA lights failed.
They were painful to replace. Hopefully this won't be a weekly ritual.
We ran more of the LINC mode processor diagnostics. All that we could
figure out with no documentation worked OK. Hopefully someone has the
missing documentation that we need.
We worked on the TC12 LINCtape controller problem where it had a "LGP
GP=GPC PRESET" fault during diagnostics. We are not exactly sure what this
part of the TC12 does, something to do with tape groups, a LINC thing. It
looks like the diagnostic turns the GP=GPC flip-flop on, then presets
(clears) it, then tests to see that it was preset. Most of the time it
works OK, and always works OK when run in single step. We replaced the M216
module that contains the GP=GPC flip-flop, but that didn't change the
behavior. One of the M222 modules in the TC12 controller routes the GP=GPC
signal to the status register. The IC on the M222 that accepts this signal
is a SN7453. We have seen lots of failures of this unusual IC on other
restoration projects. We swapped the M222 that routes the GP=GPC signal and
the diag behavior changed. Next week we will replace the SN7453 and see if
that fixes this issue.
It will take quite a bit of work to fix the VR14, so we will try to use an
oscilloscope in X-Y mode as a display. It might even work!
--
Michael Thompson
Hi Guys
Well I'm back from holiday. I'm now sorting out what I'm
calling the PDP 8/e B model panel.
This has the markings for the latest type of selector switch, vertical
lines between lamp groups and
the line round the selector switch area.
If anybody has not got an order in and wants one please let me know.
I'm going through the wish lists to see whats next. Probably 8/f or 8/m
One off's for old systems where there are very few examples in existance
and need custom one off's
please email me to discuss.
Rod
> From: Guy Sotomayor
> my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe.
> ...
> I moved the MP3000 into a more convenient location in my office
Dude! If it doesn't take the whole room, it's not a _real_ mainframe! :-)
Noel
It?s been a while, so I thought I?d update folks on what?s been going on with my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe. I?ve updated the webpage for it at: http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid <http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid> to indicate it?s current status.
I?ve managed to boot it up into the version of z/OS (V1R5) that was installed. I discovered that some of the standard users were still present with their default passwords so I was able to log in and do stuff under TSO. I also figured out that one of the standard users had administrative capabilities, so I?m able to fully manage z/OS and make the changes necessary to have it work in my environment and to be able to perform any administrative tasks that I might need to perform.
I?ve configured the OS/2 side of things to be on my home network, so I can at lead use one of the various tn3270 programs to log in rather than having to sit as the OS/2 screen and do things. I also reconfigured my 3174 controller so that it could ?talk? to the MP3000 so I can also use my 3179 terminals to log in (which IMHO are much better than the tn3270 programs).
During all of this I acquired 8 more 18GB SSA drives so I have enough for a second 72GB array with some spares. I felt really fortunate to have found these drives as they are in no way standard (524 byte sectors) and you need the special carriers to work properly in the MP3000. Not to mention that they are SSA drives!
I have put the drives into the MP3000 but have yet to configure them for use. During the checkout of the drives, I discovered that the drive that had been assigned for the ?hot spare? was dead. One of my next tasks will be to assign one of the new drives as the ?hot spare?.
Since I have most things working now, I moved the MP3000 into a more convenient location in my office (see picture on the above link) rather than being in the middle of the traffic area of my shop.
I?m still going to be doing some ?tinkering? with z/OS before I really knuckle down to (re)learn the various aspects of MVS and TSO. Then off to write some mainframe programs!
TTFN - Guy
Happy Independence Day to USA readers, and good day to all others,
I found out what the problem was with the tape reader on the 33ASR Teletype.
This morning I had some time to do some diagnostics. It appeared that reader trip contacts that are triggered by the cycle clutch were making contact just fine (thanks for the recommendation to check this first).
However, there was no sign that there was any current flowing through the contacts, and there was no sign that the reader solenoid was activating.
So, I started backtracking, and found the tape reader power supply circuit board. There's a 1/2 Amp Fast-Blow fuse on the board that I tested right away. It was open.
I inspected the fuse under a microscope, and there was no sign that the fuse was blown...the filament looked intact. I then found by jiggling the fuse around, it would intermittently show continuity. There was absolutely no sign that the fuse had blown due to an overcurrent condition -- it was more like the fuse had some kind of mechanical fault.
So, I grabbed a 1/2 A SB fuse out of my parts bin and installed it, and powered up the Teletype. Put a tape in it (STARTREK listing from OS/8 BASIC), and started the reader. It immediately started reading the tape and printing out the program listing.
Good stuff!
I have subscribed to the GreenKeys list, and am waiting for approval, which probably may take a little extra time due to the holiday.
I need some ribbons, paper, and a new pad for the printhead hammer, but figure I should easily be able to find pointers to sources for these on the GreenKeys list.
Now to see if I can find out how to make a facsimile of the tape reader control gizmo that DEC used to allow the PDP 8 to control the paper tape reader, so I can get this terminal properly interfaced to the 8/e. In the meantime, I'm going to hook it up to the Altair 8800 for a little immediate nostalgia.
Thanks to all.
-Rick
For the UNIX/68k box possibly labelled Unisys, and in the absence, so far, of anything more definitive:
Have a look at Convergent Technologies Miniframe. A reasonable amount of info around. The pictures at
http://niki.hammler.net/wiki/Convergent_Systems_MiniFrame
may be helpful - one is of a back panel with multiple serial ports and a couple of others. That website is in German but others are available in other languages, and anyway a picture speaks approximately 1K words.
No guarantees, but worth a look by the sound of it.
I had the mixed fortune to use one of these briefly in the mid 1980s, primarily to use troff/nroff etc for documentation generation and software testing. Real development work was done in a platform-independent manner on a VMS box before being tested on the UNIX box. The System-V-based (?) Minframe software at the time was so unproductive that most of the document production was also done on the VMS box (a VAX11/725, for goodness sake, more productive than a hip/trendy UNIX box). Write in troff/nroff using EDT on VMS, put through a simplistic translation from troff/nroff to RUNOFF, check the output, repeat till it was about right, with only the final version being generated from troff/nroff on the CT box.
My recollection is that the 68K OS we had didn't do demand paging, just swapping, even though if it really did have a 68010, demand paging would have been possible (and preferable).
I believe these boxes were rebadged by various other vendors; the one I had was reportedly a prototype prior to being rebadged by Gould. Maybe Unisys were doing the same. It may have been Gould's (not CT's) software.
Have a lot of fun
john wallace
====================================================================
Re: out-of-mainstream minis
Saturday, 4 July, 2015 0:54
From:
? ? "mark at markesystems.com" <mark at markesystems.com>
To:
? ? cctalk at classiccmp.org
In the late 80?s, I bought from a surplus/junk shop a (by then somewhat obsolete) Unix computer, branded UniSys, I think.? It had 10 serial ports; one was the primary console, one was intended for a printer, and the other 8 were regular user TTYs.? The processor was a 68000 (not 010, 020, or anything else), I don?t remember how much memory, and it had an integral full-height hard drive as well (60 mB, maybe?).
When I say Unix, I mean real System-7 Unix ? not Linux or any other *nix.? I thought it was really a pretty neat system ? 8 (or 9) users and a printer, just perfect for a small office ? or my apartment at the time, which had a terminal or two in every room.? I learned how to program in Unix on that machine, since it matched exactly the System 7 manuals I had. Sadly, time moved on, I got married, and got rid of a bunch of ?useless junk?, like that computer.
Recently, I?ve been reminiscing and poking around some on the Web to try to find information about it, but it seems to have vanished completely with nary a ripple.? Has anyone else stumbled across this unit, or at least have any knowledge of it?? It was a black case, about the size of a standard IBM-PC, with ten serial ports on the back and not much else.? I?d sure be interested to know where I might locate data about that unit, or (gasp!) possibly even an existing one...
~~
Mark Moulding
>Jerome H. Fine wrote:
> >Jerome H. Fine wrote:
>
>> >Terry Stewart wrote:
>>
>>> I'm engaged in a Retrochallenge project where I'm recoding my
>>> classic-computers.org.nz site to make it suitable for mobile
>>> platforms. I
>>> want to modernise the code as well, making it as close to HTML5
>>> standard as
>>> I can
>>>
>>> The RetroChallenge blog site is here.
>>> http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-06-29-recoding-classic-comput…
>>
>> I checked this site under WinXP and found no problems. The software
>> is very old, but a quick search did not locate the version.
>
> As I mentioned, I backup up my Win98SE system, then accessed all
> of the links under Netscape 7.2 without any problems.
Sorry about the SPAM KEY being included in the Subject line. The
server which handles my e-mail frequently does that and I forget to
remove it from the Subject line when I reply.
Jerome Fine
You know ... I might still have some boards pulled from an ancient
Apollo in the garage that I had forgotten about. IIRC dual 68k.
Is anyone still maintaining one of those machines?
mcl
> From: tony duell
> OK, I've done it many times, but ... I had the drives out in under 5
> minutes. It is not that hard...
With a previously un-seen rack, it is _not_ guaranteed to be that easy, as
Bill D and I can attest!
Twice I've been up to get racks with stuff in them from him, and both times I
had the same thought: 'Oh, no problem, we'll just whip the units out of the
racks, and then load the resulting smaller objects.' Not so fast, kemo sabe.
On both occasions there was an hour-long struggle to get things out of the
rack; in both cases some of the bolts that held the slides onto the rack
(removing them being the usual approach when something won't come out of the
slides - detach the slides from the rack) were not all accessible
without... getting the unit in the slides out. (Catch-22...)
One time, we had an RK05 hang up because the front size Dzus fastener on the
RK05 cover had popped out, and it was in the vertical channel of the H960
where i) we couldn't get to it, and ii) it prevented movement of more than an
inch either way. The worse (worst) one was a BA11K that had one of its slides
rust, and freeze. We finaly had to give up on getting that out, and load the
rack with the BA11 still in it. That particular slide is _still_ frozen; my
son and I finally resorted to partially disassembling the rack (one of the
lowboy corporate racks) by punching out a couple of rivets, to get the BA11
out of it with the entire slide still attached; once out, we could then get
the slide off the BA11.
So I will echo the advice to take tools. Lots of tools.
Noel
We are missing the documentation for many of the MAINDEC-12 diagnostics.
MAINDEC-12-D0AB-PB PDP-12 CP TEST 2
MAINDEC-12-D0BA-PB INSTRUCTION TEST PART 1
MAINDEC-12-D0CB-PB PDP-12 CP TEST 3
MAINDEC-12-D0SA-PB Auto Priority Interrupt
MAINDEC-12-D1AC-PB Extended Memory Control
MAINDEC-12-D1BA-PB JMP SELF
MAINDEC-12-D1CA-PB Address Test
MAINDEC-12-D1DA-PB PDP-12 CHECKERBOARD
MAINDEC-12-D1FA-PB PDP-12 BASIC MEMORY CONTROL TEST
MAINDEC-12-D3EB-PB TC12-F Option Test
MAINDEC-12-D8CC-PB KW12A Clock Test
Anyone have the docs?
--
Michael Thompson
I get them too Jay is this because it is AOL mailbox?
thanks Ed#
In a message dated 7/3/2015 11:40:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
dj.taylor4 at comcast.net writes:
I've been getting those unsubscribe messages on a regular basis, they
appeared after I changed my mail from verizon to comcast. I was blaming
it on comcast, gave them holy hell! But the email does get thru.
On 7/3/2015 2:41 PM, Vincent Slyngstad wrote:
> From: John Willis: Friday, July 03, 2015 8:52 AM
>> Well, I am once again re-subscribed to this list. Why it or its
>> moderators
>> decide to unceremoniously unsubscribe me every few months without
>> warning
>> is beyond me. Especially annoying when subscription requests always take
>> 2-3 days to process. It would be _really_ nice to do a warning
>> message to
>> people who haven't broken any list rules and haven't asked to be removed
>> before dumping them, especially if this is an automatically-triggered
>> event
>> based on the member's lack of posting activity.
>
> I frequently get messages with this silliness:
>
> Your membership in the mailing list cctalk has been disabled due to
> excessive bounces The last bounce received from you was dated
> 01-Jan-1970. You will not get any more messages from this list until
> you re-enable your membership. You will receive 3 more reminders like
> this before your membership in the list is deleted.
>
> To re-enable your membership, you can simply respond to this message
> (leaving the Subject: line intact), or visit the confirmation page at
>
> Maybe yours are being routed to a spam folder somewhere?
>
> Vince
>
> (01-Jan-1970? Really?)
>
It's a 32 page pamphlet, in good condition. "Revised 10-46", but does not
appear to have a proper copyright. I found it recently at a used book store.
I don't see it online anywhere. I am willing to scan it and/or send the
physical copy to someone who needs it. $5 plus shipping to a private
collector, free to a museum; museums (e.g. bitsavers) get dibs.
Alexey
Hello, all,
Today I received a very nice, (mostly) operational Teletype ASR-33. It is in really stunning condition...no cracks, very little discoloring, everything is there, and the best part is that it is very clean inside, and it works great as far as I can test it in local mode, except for one thing:
The paper tape reader has a problem. Put a tape in, clip down the cover (not this is all done in LOCAL mode), and press the lever to START, and the tape reads one frame, prints the character, the reader stops, and the printer acts like it is receiving a BREAK signal...just free-runs without printing anything more. Only way to stop it is to power it off, then power it back on again.
I know there is the Green Keys list, but I'm not a member (though I probably should be now), but knowing the knowledge base of folks on this list, I figured I'd ask here first, and see if anyone has any ideas.
The TTY came with a neat General Electric TDM-114 Acoustically Coupled Data Set. There's a cable that comes out of the terminal (it's a table top model, not a pedestal model) that has a six-pin connector that plugs into a socket on the back of the dataset. The acoustic coupler cups aren't very deep, and are a relatively hard rubber-like material, but there are little spring loaded rollers that are designed to grab onto the handset and press it securely against the coupler cups. Quite different from many of the pressure-fit acoustic couplers that I've seen. This one requires the use of on original-style Western Electric telephone...anything else won't latch into the coupler. Fortunately, I've got a few of the old Western Electric telephone sets around here so I can test it out. Not much information out there about this modem...when I get it working, I'll have to take some pix and maybe a video of it running with the terminal, and post a little video about it on YouTube.
I'm wondering if perhaps TTL or (I'd never get so lucky) RS-232 signals are used for the coupler. I haven't taken the cover off the unit yet to determine if how the cable is connected into the terminal, as I'm really itching to hook this thing up to my PDP 8/e and do some "period-correct" computing. If the terminal only does current-loop, I think that I can make a cable that'll work with the serial card in the 8/e to get the terminal going (I seem to remember the serial card (can't remember the M number) can do both current loop and RS-232), but if the TTY could easily do RS-232, then it'd be a snap to hook it up.
Last week I did order a nice little Black Box Current Loop to RS-232 converter, which will make things easier, but it'll be a few days before it gets here.
Fortunately, the TTY also came with original Teletype technical docs, so once I get it open, I should be pretty easily able to figure things out.
Along with the TTY, also came two TI Silent 700 780-series data terminals and an old TI calculator for the museum.
Anyway, I'm really happy to have finally after so many years to have got my hands on a trusty old Teletype ASR-33.
Happy Independence Day to all!
Rick Bensene
The Old Calculator Museum
http://oldcalculatormuseum.com
Greetings,
I know this may be OT, but can someone tell me if a modern PC (with a USB
floppy drive) could read 1.44MB floppies from a 68k Mac? I want to use a
Powerbook 190 for some word processing and need a means of transferring
data.
Thanks
Joe
FYI - in the fairly near term, I plan to get rid of the "two views of the
same list" configuration on the classiccmp server. It has always created a
rather large administrative burden, but also lately just has not been
working right (problems subscribing, duplicate emails, a continuous stream
of bounces, etc.). The list would go back to the way it used to be - one
list, one view, at classiccmp at classiccmp.org.
The primary reason for the "two view" paradigm was due to (at the time) some
very substantial off-topicness, flamewars, etc. For a period of time I was
not regularly reading the list and thus missed those things when they were
occurring. For the past year or so (and it will very likely continue that
way) I have been back to regularly watching/reading the list - so on my part
I will do a better job monitoring the list for "outbreaks", and will email
the involved parties off-list whenever (if) it starts to occur. In addition,
many of the most vocal flamers are no longer here. Separately, those who are
more irked by off-topicness I would ask to get slightly more familiar with
the DEL key J
Best,
J
Hi all --
Last December I picked up an AMT DAP 600 (64x64 distributed array
processor) which came with a set of manuals and QIC tapes; the manuals
are on Bitsavers, the tapes were just recently (carefully) recovered by
Bear and I thought I'd make them available in case anyone out there has
a DAP 500 or 600 and is looking for software, since this seems to be
pretty hard to come by.
The archive is at:
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/dap/
(I'll be forwarding this on to Al as well so that it might someday make
it onto Bitsavers).
Tapes 1 and 2 are the vital ones, these include the Sun-based host
software (SCSI driver, host diagnostics and tools, assemblers and
FORTRAN-PLUS compiler). The rest are additional libraries (Image
Processing, DSP, etc) and a few backup tapes with what look like
interesting demos (I haven't tried them yet).
In other news, thanks to Bear's efforts my DAP 600 is now running
nicely, if you want to see a (crummy cellphone) video of it rendering
the Mandelbrot set, check this out:
http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/dap/mandelbrot.mp4
Thanks,
Josh
Hi folks,
I?ve got an empty BA23 (originally used for a 11/23 system), and a KA640 with the appropriate memory.
I know that the KA640 was more commonly used in the larger BA213 cabinets, but is it reasonable to put it in the BA23?
Is there a cab kit for that combination? What would it include ? just the rear panel, or was there a replacement front panel as well?
If such a kit exists (in either form), does anyone have a spare they might be willing to part with?
Thanks,
Rob
Rod, I received the panel, and thought I'd share with anyone on the fence, it's stunning!? It fit's my 8/m perfectly.? I think the rotary switch is has the smaller angles of the 'B' style panel, and I'm looking forward to checking those out as well.
Since this one doesn't have holes for the keyswitch and selector switch, I'm wondering what the best way is to mark the spot for drilling.? At first I was thinking of making a template, but probably I can just mark and trill at the midpoint between the top and bottom marks of the selector switch; and for the keyswitch, which is not PCB mounted, and therefore a bit more flexible, just drill the center of the middle colored rectangle in the group of 3 on the left.
Not being mechanically giftec, I figure I will make the mark, and do a tiny pilot drill, then cover over with painters tape before drilling the full-size holes.
Any suggestions?
Thanks again for the effort you have put into these beautiful panels!
Dave
> From: Sean Caron
> I think there's a lot of good advice here
Lots of good advice here; any chance we can capture it (and the rest in this
thread) in a Wiki page? (Hint, hint... :-)
Noel
> From: Sean Caron
> Anyone got a spare set of rails?
It turns out the company that built rails for the 11's BITD is still in
business, and still selling rails. I don't think they still make the exact
model used on various -11's, but they have almost identical units.
(Now, whether they have holes in the right places, I'm not sure. I was going
to buy one to see if the coating on the modern ones looks to be the same
thing as the old ones, but they were kind of pricy - $130 or so, IIRC - so
I'm holding off at the moment.)
The company is General Devices, and you can see their slides here:
http://generaldevices.thomasnet.com/category/solid-bearing-slides?plpver=10
I think the model we'd want would be like the CTHS-124 or CTRS-124 or
something.
They don't sell retail, but they gave me the name of a dealer who will:
Newark/element14
North America National Distributor
1-800-4-NEWARK (1800-263-9275)
If you went this route, you'd probably have to replace both sides, but I
think they big issue would be the holes.
Noel
> From: Christian Gauger-Cosgrove
> The other 1ESS/1AESS switch is a complete and functional unit, still in
> service, last I heard. But there are plans to scrap it and put in a
> modern switch in its place. Saving it would be a difficult proposition,
> to say the least.
I'd try to get the Smithsonian involved. This is a _very_ significant machine,
of national importance, and a national institution like the Smithsonian should
have one.
Let me know if I can help, e.g. by getting heavy hitters like Vint Cerf
involved.
Noel
On 2015-07-02 02:36 PM, tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> > I share your favourite(s). In the danish IT-museum-to-be (www.datamuseum.dk) we have two
>> > P857-based systems running. We have lots of spare parts and nearly all documentation, so
>> > if you need something, you are welcome to ask.
> Unfortunately I don't own anything in that series :-(. What I have is :
>
> P850 in the 6U rack box. I have the CPU technical manual and user manuals for it.
>
> P851 in card cage with quite a bit of I/O and twin 8" floppies. I have the user manual, CPU and I/O
> technical manuals and manuals for the floppy drive unit, including the CDC manual for the drives themselves
>
> P854 in cardcage with floppy drives and hard disk controller. Alas the X1215 hard disk was scrapped before
> I got it. I have a preliminary CPU technical manual, and of course I/O boards are the same as the P851 ones.
>
> Quite a few spare boards including complete P851 and P854 CPU board sets, I/O, RAM, extender board,
> prototyping boards (some have been used, I think I even have a brand new one), a single-chip P800 CPU,
> and so on.
>
> The manuals I am looking for (some hope!) are :
>
> The full P854 CPU technical manual (the one I have does not include the microcode source, that is 'to be
> supplied').
>
> Information on the hard disk controller for the X1215 in the P854 chassis. This is one eurocard with
> an 8X305 or something on it. I have some handwritten notes + a block diagram nothing more.
>
> P850 Core memory module technical manual
>
> P850/855 series I/O board technical manuals.
>
> It is possible I could get the manuals I have scanned if there is any serious interest
>
> -tony
There are some manuals online, but those are from the software side:
http://www.theoengel.nl/P800/ and
http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/divcomp/doc/index.html.
>
>
>
> P850 I/O board technical manuals
Fred Jan
the fun think about the old lunx browser is you could run it on a pc
8088 old system!
I have a pc speed little laptop and used the lynx in on the road
applications
we had a free net here in phx and many people used it for ages...
it was fun to use old machine with lynx but if I wanted to really work
though out came IE explorer or netscape get the fastest machine I
could get and a t1 LINE OR EVENTUALLY MY OWN CABLE AND DSL CONNECTION.
Ed#
In a message dated 7/2/2015 5:14:33 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
billdegnan at gmail.com writes:
I have been using Mosaic on my OpenVMS system, almost unusable, but fun.
It's more important in this day and age to keep up with the web publishing
standards than maintain backward compatibility. Google penalizes sites
that are not mobile friendly in their rankings. If you can't be found,
what's the point?
On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 7:24 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
> On 07/02/2015 03:26 PM, Terry Stewart wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm engaged in a Retrochallenge project where I'm recoding my
>> classic-computers.org.nz site to make it suitable for mobile platforms.
>> I
>> want to modernise the code as well, making it as close to HTML5 standard
>> as
>> I can
>>
>> The RetroChallenge blog site is here.
>>
>>
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-06-29-recoding-classic-comput…
>> .
>>
>> In doing this, I will probably need to say goodbye to old browser
>> compatibility. As in old I mean Netscape 4 or earlier, and other
pre-2000
>> browsers (and possibly IE 6, as it's not very standard).
>>
>
> I've got a couple systems with IE 6.1, but generally I go for Opera 10.64
> or thereabouts. Still very useful and not very demanding on system
> resources.
>
> I'll let you know about your web page later.
>
> --Chuck
>
>
>
wasn't lynx before even Internet explorer 1.0?
Heck if you have retro computer site make it look as old fashioned as
you can
then it is retro... then if people don't like it... well... you know
the rest <grin>
lynx might be too primitive... no screen graphics on page as you
scroll
make the retro site
early graphical
with nasty looking fonts...
lots of 'under Construction signs
some nasty lo res motion gifs
Ed _www.amecc.org_ (http://www.amecc.org)
In a message dated 7/2/2015 5:21:03 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG writes:
> Subject: Re: How many use old browsers (e.g. =< Netscape 4 or IE 6) as
their
> ONLY source of web content?
I didn't see the original of this, probably (based on the headers)
because it was sent through gmail. But, assuming the Subject: is an
accurate guide to the content, I may qualify.
My use of the Web falls into four categories:
(1) At work, for work purposes, on work-owned and work-administered
machines. This is minimal and done when the job in question has some
internal tool that desn't provide any saner interface.
(2) Over others' shoulders, as it were; for example, I have had people
hand me palmtop comput...umm, "smart phones", displaying something I
suspect was obtained as a Web page.
(3) Scripted fetching of, eg, webcomic image files. (There are a
handful of webcomics which I find worthwhile enough to bother setting
up such scripted fetches for.)
(4) lynx.
So far, I haven't run into anything that I care enough about to provoke
me to bother finding/building anything more elaborate than lynx for my
own use.
Does lynx count as "=< Netscape 4 or IE 6"? Is my sample size of one
relevant for your purposes? Only you can say. :-)
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
I'm looking for a copy of Solstice (or Solaris) Disk Suite 4.0 software. A bounty is available...
Cheers,
Lyle
--
73 AF6WS
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Ive been trying to get a pdp 11 for quite a few years now, I recently found
someone selling a 11/34 with related gear in a couple of racks Here in my
state of florida. I jumped at the chance and bought it, i have not found
anything for sale this close to me before, yet alone in my state.
The plan is to go get it all later this week. It is a 11/34 in a rack with
a bunch of related Rl drives and a couple of big reel to reel tape drives.
Not sure the specifics anymore, after I paid him he took down the ad, and i
did not write down the details. What I want to ask is is there anything i
should look out for, any precautions I can take to make sure this all gets
back in one piece? Especially in relation to the RL drives, ive never dealt
with any of this equipment before and am not sure what to expect.
The plan is to rent a uhaul trailer and go over there in a truck, and to
take everything delicately out of the racks and put it into the trailer,
and to put the empty racks into the truck.
Any advice that could help or prepare me for what i should expect to need
to do once i get there would be much appreciated.
> From: devin davison
> any precautions I can take to make sure this all gets back in one
> piece? Especially in relation to the RL drives
Other people have covered most of this; my additional advice is to download
the RL01/RL02 manual, and read it thoroughly. It covers the process on how to
open an un-powered RL0x drive (it's not obvious/trivial), and how to lock the
heads for moving the drive.
> From: Jerome H. Fine
> make sure that a fast (emergency?) stop does not shift the load.
True; stack all the stuff along the front wall of the truck enclosure, and
use shipping straps, etc, liberally.
Noel
Hi all --
I have a full-height rack of computer stuff I need to get packed up and
shipped from near Fresno, CA (Reedly, to be specific). I was hoping to use
Craters & Freighters as I've used them before and they seem to do OK work,
but they don't have a location near enough. I'm not too familiar with
other options -- anyone know of anyone in that area that they'd recommend?
Or maybe a long road trip is in my future. And a truck...
Thanks,
Josh
2 x 16mb 72 pin 70ns
2 x 8mb 72 pin 70ns
pulled from a working next slab that I upgraded; I've no use for them, so FFFS. (Invent an acronym that doesn't involve you having to send me $.73 via paypal and send me your mailing address, or pick up in Ben Lomond, CA)
Cheers,
--sma
Some have asked if I'm just posting gear from ads I see online in my
"equipment available" deals. The answer is no; I very frequently get
individuals emailing me directly about systems they want to dispose of, so
unless I was blind-CC'd, these equipment available deals are generally not
known elsewhere (not ebay, craigslist, etc.). When I pass these deals on to
someone, I don't ask anything in return. Just want to see the gear saved by
an interested party.
So. a new email just crossed my desk for HP fans.
A service company is wanting to divest (ie. $ell) their legacy HP inventory
consisting of..
. (3) HP1000 A900 2199E chassis.
. (41) A900, (12) A990, and (12) E-Series PCB boards such as
sequencer, memory controller and memory, data path, cache controller,
interface boards (Mux, HPIB, Serial, 802.3 LAN).
. Tape Drives (7979 and 7980).
. Terminals (2392A, 700/94).
. Disk Drives (7937XP, C2203, 670XP).
I have no interest in A series machines myself. I always have an interest in
spare E-series boards, so that part of it I may pursue. If anyone is
interested in the rest, please contact me off-list and I'll put you directly
in touch with the seller/owner. For fans of the 1000 21MX M/E/F, please note
that the A-series are fairly "different" machines and not interchangeable
with M/E/F boxes.
Best,
J
>
> FYI - in the fairly near term, I plan to get rid of the "two views of the
> same list" configuration on the classiccmp server. It has always created a
> rather large administrative burden, but also lately just has not been
> working right (problems subscribing, duplicate emails, a continuous stream
> of bounces, etc.). The list would go back to the way it used to be - one
> list, one view, at classiccmp at classiccmp.org.
>
Excellent.
Thank you Jay for providing this unique resource and for putting up with
all the grief that goes with it. I've looked after a few mailing lists in
a previous life but only on the technical side. It was difficult enough at
times and I am well aware how hard it is to please everyone but I've never
had to deal with the flamefests, feuds, off-topicness and other human issues so
I can only admire your patience, tolerance and ability to achieve the seemingly
impossible as a matter of routine, not to mention managing to keep the level
of spam which gets through to as near to absolute zero as it gets.
>
> The primary reason for the "two view" paradigm was due to (at the time) some
> very substantial off-topicness, flamewars, etc. For a period of time I was
> not regularly reading the list and thus missed those things when they were
> occurring. For the past year or so (and it will very likely continue that
> way) I have been back to regularly watching/reading the list - so on my part
> I will do a better job monitoring the list for "outbreaks", and will email
> the involved parties off-list whenever (if) it starts to occur. In addition,
> many of the most vocal flamers are no longer here. Separately, those who are
> more irked by off-topicness I would ask to get slightly more familiar with
> the DEL key J
>
I hope that we will all do our best to restrain ourselves and keep things civil
and on-topic and to think carefully about whether what we are about to post
will be a useful contribution to the discussion that at least a portion of
the membership will be likely to be interested in reading and that we will bear
in mind that some effort in presentation has only to be made once by the poster
but will be greatly appreciated by the all of the many recipients when they
find the conversation that much easier to follow.
For me, the DEL key simply does not function as a solution to those who prefer
to have write-only access to mailing lists and I tend to reach for the UNSUB
key instead. Thankfully this has never been necessary here, due in no small
part to the behind the scenes hard work of Jay and the list moderators.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
From: Dave G4UGM
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 8:43 AM
>> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Toby Thain
>> Sent: 30 June 2015 14:10
>> On 2015-06-30 4:44 AM, simon wrote:
>>> On 29-06-15 14:56, Toby Thain wrote:
>>>> On 2015-06-29 3:54 AM, simon wrote:
>>>>> the front of the internal bus options maintenance manual in front of me.
>>>>> But looking at the f in 8/f gives me the impression they mixed some
>>>>> fonts for the logo and taking a closer look at the line:
>>>>> "digital equipment corporation . maynard. massachusetts"
>>>>> is proving both of us wrong. the y in maynard is a rounded version,
>>>>> but both futura and avant garde hve a straight y.
>>>>> "...the search continues..."
>>>> Can you scan the page you're looking at?
>>> tada.wav: https://hack42.nl/mediawiki/images/a/a7/Dec_footer.png
>>> it is also used on the front of the pdp8/f here at our museum.
> If it?s the oldest logo why do Straight Eights have a serifed font...
> http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp8/images-3C8F62C8/R3378-hp.jpghttp://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/DEC/pdp-1/DEC.pdp_1.1960.…
This early brochure for the PDP-1 features the vertical d
e
c
logo in a picture, as well as a serif face for titles and *on the machine*.
Our PDP-7 likewise has a serif face for "Digital Equipment Corporation" on its
name plate, with an outline block sans-serif "PDP-7". A brief survey of the
manuals for the 18-bit systems on Bitsavers shows that the change from a serif
face for titles occurred during the development of the PDP-7 documentation:
The preliminary edition of the User Handbook has the system name in a block
serif typeface, while the release edition has the name in a block sans-serif.
The PDP-6 (36-bit system) also uses the serif face; the PDP-8 is schizophrenic,
and the PDP-9 et seq. use sans-serif.
Note that I use the terms (type)face and logo, not "font". Until Apple
bastardized the term, a _font_ was a package of metal type in a particular
_typeface_, and was the unit by which type was ordered from a foundry. A
_logo_ was a special item, cast as a single unit for printing, not a collection
of individual pieces of type.
Someone in this thread mentioned having been in the graphics design trade, and
can certainly back me up on this, as well as on the fact that advertising
houses and departments generally designed their own lettering for lithographic
reproduction rather than using commercially available typefaces; the latter
were used for printed materials consisting of large stretches of text rather
than one-offs. (A company might adopt a face, or commission one, as part of
the house identity, in which case the lettering done by the graphics people
would probably resemble the face, but it's unlikely that it would be cast at
the large sizes needed for advertising, since each size requires a set of steel
punches to be engraved and a set of matrices to be produced.)
Rich
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computer Museum
2245 1st Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98134
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.orghttp://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
Hi Guys
I'm just about done sending first batch front panels
Needless to say I have had some feed back on reqirements.
As well as the variations of 8/e panels, 8/f 8/i 8/L and 8/m have
been mentioned.
;
Of these the 8/f seemed like a good place to start. I have the white
border and DEC logo in place.
When it came to the address an interesting issue arose.
DEC used their own font, It can be identified like this
The letter a is formed by a circle with a vertical bar on the right hand
side.
This font is used for titles and the like in handbooks of this period.
I'm going to have go at building this font as a nornal windows font and
adding it those available on windows.
If anybody has aready done this I'd like to hear from them.
I'm on holiday from 25-JUN-2015 to 2-JUL-2015.
We go to the big Ham Radio meeting in Friedrichshafen every year.
I should be able to do email but not much else
Finally I am in need of the following cards for my 8/e
-- M8330 - KK8E Timing board (system clock)
-- M8340 \_ optional KE8E EAE board 1
-- M8341 / optional KE8E EAE board 2
xx M8310 \_ KK8E CPU control (/I already have this/)
-- M8300 / KK8E CPU registers
-- M837 - KM8E or MC8E extended Memory & Time Share control
Can I get a basic system up without the 8340/41 and the M837?
If yes then I just need the M8330 AND M8300
_Can you help bring my 8/e back to life?_
Rod Smallwood
ditto but I never complained as I was grateful that it existed in
the first place!
Ed#
In a message dated 6/30/2015 6:35:05 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
healyzh at aracnet.com writes:
On Jun 30, 2015, at 11:35 AM, "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> FYI - in the fairly near term, I plan to get rid of the "two views of the
> same list" configuration on the classiccmp server.
And there was much rejoicing!
Personally I've always hated the two list view.
Zane
I have a rather long list of enhancements to the classiccmp website that I'd
like to make, and IANAWD (I am not a web developer).
In the past I have always had one of the staff web developers here make
minor changes around the edges, but my list of enhancements is now "bigger
than that". Are there any experienced web developers on the list that have
some free time (*chuckle*) and would like to contribute some time to the
hobby? I'd rather a fellow hobbyist work on this as a labor of love than one
of my web developers who really doesn't "get it". I may be able to put
together a few clams to help entice.
If there's any interest, please contact me off-list.
Best,
J
A gentleman in Miami Springs, FL emailed me and has the following available:
Two DEC H960 cabinets with headers & side panels containing the below
11/34 cpu
Three RL01/RL02 drives (picture seems to show 1 rl02 and 2 rl01?s, can?t be
sure)
TE10W ? mag tape drive
Full library of RSXM manuals
Spare 11/34 cpu
Spare power supply
?Many spare circuit boards, disks, and tapes?
Two VT100 terminals
Two LP11-VA line printers
?Single owner, known to be working?
Owner is asking $600, does not want to pack/ship
If interested, email me off-list and I?ll get you contact information.
Please, only people that are serious about the system and are able to pick
it up safely.
Best,
J
I would appreciate some advice on both the software and the
hardware life expectancy of a PC Windows System. While
the hardware / software of the second and third system are
almost 10 years old, I don't consider them, let alone the first
system, topics for this list. But since my goal is to support
running legacy software, especially including the RT-11
operating system for the PDP-11 computer, I request your
indulgence.
At present, I have three systems that I am running:
(a) A 12 year old system that I am very pleased with that runs
32-bit Windows 98SE. I really only use it for e-mail under
Netscape 7.2 and to run the DOS variant of Erstaz-11 in
FULL SCREEN mode. It consists of a 0.75 GHz Pentium III
with 768 MB of memory and 3 * 131 GB ATA 100 hard drives.
The power supply has been replaced, but is still inadequate,
so a separate PC power supply is used to run the hard drives
which were also replaced about 5 years ago - the original
hard drives were only 40 GB each. Note that while this
system is a bit slow as compared to the next two systems
(which are about 4 times faster), it really does everything
I need to do. PLUS, the backups are a breeze since I use
Ghost 7.0 to back up the C: hard drive in about 5 minutes
every other day producing a single image file of about 1 GB.
(b) A 7 year old system that my wife uses which runs 32-bit
WinXP with 4 GB of memory and 2 * 500 GB SATA
hard drives. The CPU is a 2.67 GHz E8400 with 2 cores
and 6 MB of L2 cache, so it still runs reasonably well.
My wife uses it for e-mail, watching youtube videos and
google searches. The system has probably been used
about 16 hours every day and turned off every night.
The battery probably needs to be replaced since the
boot each day needs to reset the date / time when the
boot hangs at the very start, but otherwise the hardware
seems OK. The software is very out of date and needs
to be replaced. Note that if 7 years is not a really long
time for a WinXP system (specifically the motherboard,
video card and power supply) which has been used for
between 20,000 and 30,000 hours, then I could upgrade
this system to 64-bit Win7, double the memory to 8 GB
and, if appropriate, also replace the disk drives and the
power supply. The mother board, video card (which
supports two monitors) and CPU would be retained.
System (c) has the identical motherboard as system (b)
and was considered a replacement.
(c) A 7 year old system which runs 32-bit WinXP with 4 GB
of memory and 3 * 1 TB SATA hard drives. The CPU
is a 2.83 GHz Q9550 with 4 cores and 12 MB of L2
cache, so it runs reasonably well. The system was never
used very much, probably a total of 200 to 500 hours
and sat in its box for the past 4 or 5 years until I have
finally been persuaded to upgrade to 64-bit Win7 and
double the total RAM to 8 GB, the maximum the mother
board supports. I just turned on the system yesterday
and it runs correctly. My assumption at the moment is
to upgrade to 64-bit Win7 and replace my wife's system.
One aspect that puzzles me is that the video card, the
same video card as in system (b), no longer supports
two monitors (which it did and was correctly tested with
5 years ago).
My first question is if a 7 years old system such a (c) would
be likely to have any serious hardware problems after sitting
idle for 4 to 5 years. I can't see that any current I7 CPU from
Intel is likely to be much better, so why buy another system?
The hardware has been used sufficiently, so infant mortality
should finished. But, would a new I7 system be a sufficient
improvement to justify spending the money? So I intend to
replace (b) hardware and software with (c) hardware plus
4 GB of memory (for a total of 8 GB of memory) and switch
to 64-bit Win7. Is this a good plan? Or is it likely that the
motherboard and video card in system (b) is still sufficiently
reliable after 7 years to upgrade system (b) to 64-bit Win7
and use system (c) for something else?
My second question is just how thin is the ice that I am skating
on for system (a)? If the answer is VERY, then I have one
alternative to buying a new I7 system which would be used to
run 64-bit Win7. On the other hand, if the motherboard in
system (b) is not too old at 7 years and 30,000 hours, then
system (c) would still be available. A lot of choices and things
to consider.
Jerome Fine
>
> >
>
On page 24 of the slides, the computer should be an IBM 1130 not 1160.
> Bob
Ah! Thanks for pointing that out, Bob. The slides aren't used anymore
outside of the presentation, but I will fix that. (I think there's one or
two other errors in those slides...check the Spacewar demonstration photo!)
It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Spacewar paper I wrote
with research from Martin Goldberg and responses from many people on this
list has finally been published.
The paper, "Space Odyssey: The Long Journey of Spacewar from MIT to
Computer Labs Around the World" is available for free on Kinephanos, a
bilingual Canadian journal about film, games, and new media. The paper
explores the use and distribution of Spacewar after its creation at MIT and
provides a detailed look at several computer labs, including those at
Harvard, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, and of course MIT
and Stanford.
http://www.kinephanos.ca/2015/space-odyssey-the-long-journey-of-spacewar-fr…
The paper was presented last year at the International History of Games
Symposium in Montreal. The slides are available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22gYL7qHwW9dWMwQkNiWFlCMDA/view?usp=shari…
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided help for
our research.
Martin and I would appreciate any feedback you have on the paper, including
anything we might have missed or gotten in error and any new insights or
memories you wish to share. Note we are still interested in collecting data
through our survey, which anyone here is welcome to participate in.
http://ataribook.com/book/spacewar-questionnaire/
Enjoy!
-Devin Monnens
--
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> From: Jerome H. Fine
> just how thin is the ice that I am skating on for system (a)?
> ...
> if the motherboard in system (b) is not too old at 7 years and 30,000
> hours
One data point for you: I have a whole flock of old HP desktops (actually,
minitowers) from the late 90's (not sure of the exact date, but I _think_
they were released before Windows 98 came out) which I'm still running.
(They've been upgraded with the PowerLeap iP3/T CPU insert with 1.4MHz
Celerons, and Promise IDE controllers to run faster disks.)
Although I laid in spare motherboards, CPU chips, etc so far the only
problems I've had are that one of the iP3/T's died, and a mouse port died
(easy to work around, using a USB mouse). Of course, these are HP machines,
and relatively well engineered, so I can't extrapolate to other brands, but...
Noel
>Devin Monnens wrote:
>It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Spacewar paper I wrote
>with research from Martin Goldberg and responses from many people on this
>list has finally been published.
>
>The paper, "Space Odyssey: The Long Journey of Spacewar from MIT to
>Computer Labs Around the World" is available for free on Kinephanos, a
>bilingual Canadian journal about film, games, and new media. The paper
>explores the use and distribution of Spacewar after its creation at MIT and
>provides a detailed look at several computer labs, including those at
>Harvard, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, and of course MIT
>and Stanford.
>
>http://www.kinephanos.ca/2015/space-odyssey-the-long-journey-of-spacewar-fr…
>
>
>The paper was presented last year at the International History of Games
>Symposium in Montreal. The slides are available here:
>
>https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22gYL7qHwW9dWMwQkNiWFlCMDA/view?usp=shari…
>
>Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and provided help for
>our research.
>
>Martin and I would appreciate any feedback you have on the paper, including
>anything we might have missed or gotten in error and any new insights or
>memories you wish to share. Note we are still interested in collecting data
>through our survey, which anyone here is welcome to participate in.
>
>http://ataribook.com/book/spacewar-questionnaire/
>
>Enjoy!
>
>-Devin Monnens
>
>
Check
I never expected to see this one today: footage of Digital's Puerto Rican
plant on MST3K: The Beast of Yucca Flats! The PDP-8 is featured.
https://youtu.be/BRhGW53eoxY?t=26m33s
--
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
Hello everyone!
I have a J932SE system I am interested in selling.
It has 32 CPUs and if I remember correctly 2 megawords of memory.
IOS-V chassis (4x VME sparcstations that network boot from Sun
Sparcstation 5 SWS that provide io path to disks.)
4x 9GB hard drives. Seagate full height with Cray firmware. The chassis
exist for 24 hard drives.
I have Unicos 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2. Not original media.
I've gotten it to the point where the SWS side comes up (those run
VxWorks) then Unicos starts to boot for install then kernel panics. I
haven't had a ton of time to troubleshoot it. System was located in a
hackerspace in Norfolk where there was needed power but went back into
climate controlled storage after we lost the space.
The CPU rack is around 6' deep and 23" wide internally. Has 5 x 5000 watt
Pioneer Magnetics power supplies. Uses two 30 amp 220v feeds.
The Disk/IOS rack is shallower (Same depth as the smaller J916 system) and
19" wide internally. Uses a single 220v 30 amp feed.
It is the peak of my computer collecting hobby, but younger generation
screwed out of housing opportunities so owning stuff like this is hard
when you rent and get bumped around. So looking to find it a new home and
stick with the plastic computers.
Note, it probably need to be on a concrete floor. It weighs 2000+ pounds.
Movable with a penske truck with liftgate by removing all of the boards.
Looking for around $9000. Located in Norfolk Virginia. I relocated to a
better area so pick up would have to be on weekends, I can drive down to
facilitate purchase.
Always stored in climate controlled storage.
A much better deal when compared by weight to the Altair, IMSAI
and Apple I systems. ;-)
Rare opportunity to pick up a rare system!
Thanks.
--
Ethan O'Toole
All,
forwarded from Cindy, who isn?t able to post for some reason.
Any advice I should offer her for posting from her other ISP?
- Mark
Begin forwarded message:
From: <sales at elecplus.com<mailto:sales at elecplus.com>>
Subject: unable to post to list
Date: June 29, 2015 at 8:42:42 AM CDT
To: Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu<mailto:mtapley at swri.edu>>
HI Mark,
I sent this email to the list admin, but apparently my emails do not get through to the list. Could you help me out please?
Previously I was able to send messages to the list from my work computer, but I have closed the warehouse, and now my postings never appear. I have no clue why! Perhaps because I use a different ISP at home than I did at work?
At any rate, I have pile of old stuff still to move out. Many free; a small charge for some things. Could you please post this list for me, and let me know how I can do it directly in the future?
Thank you!
Cindy Croxton
Master Handbook of 1001 Practical Electronic Circuits, Solid State Edition, $10 + shipping
Quarterdeck expanded memory manager 386, includes 5.25" floppy and 2 books, $5 + shipping
Getting Started with TRS-80 BASIC For Use With Models I, III, and 4, $10 + shipping
Using Super Utility+ 3.X. Super Utility 4/4P, and PowerTool, $5 + shipping
Radio Shack Hard Disk System Startup TRS-80 Model 4/4P $5 + shipping
Earl's Word Power for RadioShack 32K Model, III, or 4 computers, includes 5.25" disk and manual, $10 + shipping
TRS-80 Data File Programming, A Self-Teaching Guide, $7 + shipping
Radio Shack Introduction to Your Disk System for Model 4 Free + shipping
MISOSYS Catalog 86-2 lists software for the TRS-80 Free + shipping
All are in excellent condition.