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

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

I have an old terminal available in Houston. It is a red terminal with Bendix and Logicport 2 printed on the front next to the side of the screen and an acoustic coupler on the top. It comes in a big red carrying case. Need to move this out if anyone is interested contact me off list otherwise I guess I'll have to take it to the recycle center. Would rather see it go to someone who could use or enjoy it. David Williams www.trailingedge.com

11 years, 2 months

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Obsolete computer discs, etc.

by bob＠warriston.freeserve.co.uk

Second time of sending. A response, please. While turning out my attic I unearthed obsolete *discs for a 1980s Amstrad computer *which has long been disposed of. One disc is, as far as I know, in mint condition but a further twelve contain programmes. Another six discs contain long forgotten person data which I can't access. I am intrigued to know what they contain. Also in my searches I have found a *Microsoft Works manual* complete with system discs, and an *Amstrad user's manual*. Also about a*dozen 5" discs* containing stock records of warehouse long demolished. Again, I am curious to see what I recorded 30 years ago. I am reluctant to consign these items to the dustbin if a) the discs can be deciphered, and b) they are are of use to someone else. Your organisation has been suggested as a possible home for at least some of these items. Are they of interest? If not, do you know any organisation that might be? R.J. Rickard. Edinburgh.

11 years, 2 months

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ACT and CMI Unibus boards

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Pictures of the two boards here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/56w5p671dxnlb1q/10039%20DUAL%20IO.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/rxf4e56cgo40bt5/10046_INTERLINK_U.jpg?dl=0 Andrea

11 years, 2 months

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HP TSB console lockout (was RE: HP (3rd party) id help?

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Rick wrote... ---- The computer center (as it was called then) was very much off limits to just about anyone but the operator, ... ---- Maybe it is/was common knowledge, but I had forgotten about this tidbit until finding a 1 sentence note almost hidden in a manual... To keep people from entering commands at the console who were not authorized, TSB monitors bit 0 of the S register on the main cpu. If that bit is set, no console commands will run and it just echos back the characters that you type. On the older machines where the front panel key switch actually could lock the panel, for security if people had access to the machine room you could set Sreg bit 0 and turn the key to lock and take it with you. Console disabled. I was curious if this would work with the newer cpu's where the key switch was just a door latch and the "lock/operate" switch was behind the front panel. Alas, sr0 bit 0 works as expected to lock the console, but setting the lock/operate switch behind the front panel does not disable the switch register. So on those model cpus... I guess it's "security through obscurity" :) J

11 years, 2 months

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HP (3rd party) id help?

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I don't think I ever asked this here, I apologize if this is a repost from long ago. I don't remember the answer in any case! In high school we had an HP 2000/Access system, and in one of the racks was a non-HP modem or leased line unit that supported multiple lines (maybe 16-ish ISTR). I remember there was a row of silver rocker switches (one for each channel). I think there was a rotary thumbdial on the right with numbers on it to select the line, and maybe an LED above each rocker switch to show which lines were in use. Maybe (not sure) there were some status LEDS on the right that showed status for whatever line was selected with the thumbwheel. I have a picture of the system racks at https://www.flickr.com/photos/131070638 at N02/17325691225/ In the dual bay HP on the right, it is the left rack, 2nd from the top. It's just under the 2748B paper tape reader and just above the 7900A disc drive. I was curious if anyone recognized definitively what brand/model that device was? Most unfortunately, that picture includes me holding a trophy for a programming contest and it shows I once was thin, once had hair, and always had acne LOL Kinda wish I had cropped it before uploading :\ I apologize for the fuzziness, it's a picture of a picture and the best I could get. The time period is roughly 1978-1982, and I think the system was a few years old already at the beginning of that period (was probably used and put together >from parts at other schools). Anyone know for sure on the comm device? J

11 years, 2 months

3
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Apple iBook G4 running Linux for sale

by shawn-gordon＠cox.net

I have Debian/Gnome installed on it, 1.2gb RAM and 56gb HD. I never configured the drivers for the wifi but a network cable works, shouldn't be hard to get the wifi working, I had it working with a different distro but swapped it out. Anyway, have a soft case for it and selling for just $80 plus shipping.

11 years, 2 months

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General Electric Terminet HP 2762A

by jws＠jwsss.com

I recently acquired a GE Terminet 300 in the guise of an HP 2762A terminal, KSR. I am attaching what I have so far in my blog. I've found little on the technical side for this terminal. If anyone has a manual I'd appreciate a copy. It is referenced in one listing of HP manuals, 02762-90001 the service manual. I'm not sure what to make of the one hit I get on that P/N that isn't bitsavers mirrors. I figured I'd ask here first. I'll also ask on the hp equipment group, I am on there too. hpmuseum.net is welcome to my photos, or contact me offline, and I'll make some better quality shots for your web site. I plan to get this going to use for the Multics Simulator at some point. The TN300 was a common console, and was an early symptom of the featureless, non-blink'n lites type shop that came to be. I know the Honeywell 6180 that ran Multics had an 8 panel service panel with wonderful sets of lights, but it was hidden in a cabinet, and typically not accessed by the operator. thanks Jim http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2015/04/2762a-terminal-printer-ge-terminet-…

11 years, 2 months

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ACT and CMI Unibus boards

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, thanks for the Info. I will post images of all the boards in next days. The ACT boards are indeed from Able Computer. From brochure pictures I identified these models: - DUAL I/O compatible dual DR11-C - BUSLINK for machine-machine bus link applications. Unfortunately there are no info about any of these board. Anybody has some documentations around on the shelf? Thanks Andrea

11 years, 2 months

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Ridge 32/330 up and running!

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Last summer I picked up a Ridge 32/330 that became available locally. This is a fairly obscure early RISC machine intended to be a competitor to the VAX, it uses a 32-bit CPU at 12.5Mhz built from discrete components (spanning three large PCBs). Mine's outfitted with 8mb of ECC memory, Pertec, SMD and SCSI QIC controllers, and Ethernet. You can see some pictures of this beast at: https://plus.google.com/117997069161125071032/posts/JtsR3BokUxp?pid=6063976… I got it running late last year after rebuilding the QIC tape drive and dealing with some intermittent failures due to a couple of low-quality DIP sockets. I now have a set of dedicated 20A circuits installed in my basement so I can run it for longer periods of time without worrying about burning my house down, so I'll be running it for the next couple of weeks just for fun to keep the basement warm and run up my electrical bill :). It's currently running RX/V 1.1 (Ridge's UNIX variant) and it's on the Internet (indirectly, since exposing a 25-year old UNIX directly to the 'net seems like a bad idea). I thought maybe some people here might be interested in checking it out since it's pretty obscure, if you want an account to play around, drop me a line and I can hook you up. I don't know of any other Ridge machines out there (running or not) -- if you have one let me know, there's very little information out there on these things. I'll add that I'm looking for an external SMD cabinet and cabling so that I can image the original SMD disk that was in the Ridge when I got it; it looks like it contains a valid partition table, but it will not boot. I didn't want to wipe it so the Ridge is currently running off of a spare drive -- I'd like to hook it up externally to dump an image from the running RX/V system. If anyone has one to loan (preferably within driving distance of Seattle) let me know. Once that's done, it's time to figure out how to get the Eagle that came with it running again... And a huge thanks to Al Kossow for archiving the OS media that's on Bitsavers, without which this machine would be a very large boat anchor taking up many cubic feet in my basement. (If anyone has any media or docs for this that aren't on Bitsavers, let me know -- I'm in particular looking for an ROS distribution on QIC media...) - Josh

11 years, 2 months

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Qualstar 1260 9 Track Tape Service Manual with Schematics

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Question for all in general and Al Kossow in particular... There is a scanned version of the Qualstar 1260 Service Manual on bitsavers, but it cuts off right where it gets interesting, just before the schematics in Appendix C... Does anybody have the full version somewhere with the schematics at the end? (BTW, the 1052 manual version has the schematics). The Qualstar tape drive in question hooked up to my Mac SE/30 (of all things!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqIrMXxPGUA But it misbehaves now (squeaks while motor reverses and fails reads test, hopefully mechanical?). And my second unit caught another virus and now refuses to load tape or get the motors going. Both used to work fine. Time to open them up I guess. - Marc

11 years, 2 months

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PDP11/70 on ebay

by dj.taylor4＠verizon.net

There is a PDP11/70 for sale on ebay, item number 331537471267 Sure is nice looking and expensive... It seems to have a lot of boards and such, but no disk drive, what gives? Disclaimer: I am not the seller, nor do I have connection. Just a gawker.

11 years, 2 months

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IBM 14 inch HDA at goodwill link.

by innfoclassics＠gmail.com

Spotted on the goodwill site, a IBM 14 inch hard drive. Pretty unusual. Someone here might be interested. http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/IBM-165600-Module-10SR-Mod-1-14-HDA-19… Paxton -- Paxton Hoag Astoria, OR USA

11 years, 2 months

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PDP11/70 on ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Wow. Someone really, _really_, ***REALLY*** wanted that machine. Noel

11 years, 2 months

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PDP-8/I replica kit

by oscar.vermeulen＠hotmail.com

Hi, I just completed the design of my PiDP-8, a kit replica of the venerable PDP-8/I, after exhibiting the prototypes at the VCFeX. Now, I'm gearing up to produce a batch of kits, and I'd like to collect expressions of interest in the coming two weeks.In other words, see how much interest there is, so I can determine parts volume and exact cost. -> Kit will cost no more than $135, hopefully a bit less (depends on volume!)-> Shipping will be $30 worldwide, as registered parcel with tracking -> Expected shipping date is mid-July, payment required only when kits are done-> Expression of interest means you're not committing to buy now, just indicate you're very likely to buy in early July. For details, here is a short Youtube demonstration:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hyUActgT2E If you are (seriously) planning to buy the kit, please add your name to the mailing list via the box on this page and I'll update you on progress:http://obsolescence.wix.com/obsolescence#!pidp-8-get-one/ctny If you already got an email from me today (or you registered your interest just today), then you're already on the list - in which case please ignore this message. Regards, Oscar.

11 years, 2 months

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Resolved: Re: 11/34 sanity check

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > it never occurred to me to just try flipping it around since usually > that's a pretty good way to let the magic smoke out of things. Exactly. Except for cases where I _know_ the connector was designed to be able to withstand being plugged in backwards (e.g. IDE), I would _never_ try reversing a cable 'on spec'. The chances are just too big one will kill something. (Amusing factoid: QBUS cards have the same thing, they are designed so that you can plug them in backwards, and not kill things. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that one one occasion, I actually did this! Luckily the engineer who did the QBUS saved my behind.) > From: Johnny Billquist > On 2015-04-27 00:50, Mike Ross wrote: >> One does not casually reverse the installation of cables just to see >> if maybe it will work! > Actually.... I often have done so, just because of this. And how many times have you melted something down, doing that? :-) Noel

11 years, 2 months

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IBM 370 Mainframe Operator Control Panel on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Here: www.ebay.com/itm/181726343378 Alas, it's 'Local pick-up only', in Portland, Oregon, but there may be someone here out there who's up for it. Noel

11 years, 2 months

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VK170 M7142 Serial Video Board

by jws＠jwsss.com

I have a friend preparing to bring one of these up in a small system (2 wide) backplane with an M7676 standalone pdp 11 card. Anyone have any experience with configuring these? Looks like the monitor is going to be a 9" Ball brothers monitor, not sure what else. Documentation is plentiful, but options are also complex, so someone who has one working, or any experience would be welcome to comment. thanks Jim

11 years, 2 months

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M9301-YB Bootstrap/Terminator ROM dumps / listings?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jorg Hoppe > I also have a spare DL11-W to offer Josh, if you want a second serial line, it's best to use a regular DL11 (M7800), not a DL11-W. (M7800s are available on eBay, for pretty modest amounts.) The reason is that each DL11-W presents a load on the line clock signal (from the power supply), even if the line clock on the second board is disabled; several Dl11-W's, and the line clock signal may get overloaded. > From: Josh Dersch > I need to scare up a second SLU so I can get an emulated TU-58 hooked > up to try booting XXDP I'm not sure any M9301 variant supports the TU-58? Some are set up to boot over the console serial line, though. (I haven't yet checked the code, so I don't know whether you need to feed it the absolute loader first, or if it will just take .LDA files directly.) And I just realized you're working with a -YB, and I've been dis-assembling the -YA! Fat lot of use that would have been! Oh well, I assume the code is fairly similar, I'll do the -YB next. (Anyone have a dump, to start me off?) > comparing the diagnostic/console PROM listings to what I have Where were those from? Thanks in advance... > From: Henk Gooijen > I could be wrong, but ISTR that in the first few words of a ROM are the > two capitals of the boot device that the PROM supports. Not in the M9301-YA, in either bank. Noel

11 years, 2 months

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ACT and CMI Unibus boards

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, just received some Unibus boards, some are from ACT, one from CMI. I would identify these boards. The first is a big hex board, marked ACT 10046: on front side has two 50pin connectors, plus two female edge connectors on the left side (some sort of narrow bus extender?). There are some resistive terminators onboard near one of the 50pin connectors. Very strange board... The second is a quad board marked ACT 10039: it has four 40pin connectors, two on front and two on a side. The last is for sure a RAM board, as it includes an array of 16x9 HM4716 ICs, with a total of 128KW. It's from CMI ON 207-010-300 and it has a lot of wire-wrap jumpers for configuration. Anybody has some knowledge over these boards? Thanks Andrea

11 years, 2 months

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PDP11/70 on ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mark J. Blair > I may be able to do that if A) it's still there in a couple weeks It won't. There are already two bids on it. Noel

11 years, 2 months

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PDP11/70 on ebay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Douglas Taylor > Sure is nice looking and expensive... I can't figure out if that price ($5K) is reasonable or not. I have previously dealt with that seller on another item, a dead/banged-up 11/05 that another list member wound up buying; the seller's asking price on that was a little high (based on the average of sales since then for that class of machine), but not an integral factor high, as often seen on eBay (or an order of magnitude high, also to be seen on eBay). My guess, given how rare they are now, the fact that it's complete (including all cables - often cut/removed), etc, etc is that this is once again in the ballpark, if on the high end. Am I confused? Noel

11 years, 2 months

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VCF East articles + pictures

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Evan Koblentz > Hackaday sponsored our Friday "VCF East University" classes and they > wrote many articles about us before, during, and after the show: Apparently Christopher Parish's RL02<->USB adapter went viral, e.g.: http://www.techspot.com/news/60442-world-largest-usb-thumb-drive-has-10mb-s… Noel

11 years, 2 months

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M9301-YB Bootstrap/Terminator ROM dumps / listings?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> from what I've seen so far, the code tends to loop on error, not halt. So I lied: it turns out that some of the later tests (in the extended tests - JSR, memory) do in fact halt on error. I realize it's not needed immediately now (Josh having solved his problem), but I've got the low part (diagnostics and TA11 boot) done, working on the top part now. Here's what I have so far: http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/pdp11/M9301-YA.mac I haven't densely commented the CPU tests as they seemed, at first glance, pretty non-complicated. The memory diagnostics are pretty inscrutable, I don't really understand them yet (may not bother). The top part (console and othr boots) - hoo boy, talk about 'sphagetti code'!! I think there's a picture of this in the dictionary when you look that term up. Very, very ugly code. That part may take a while... Noel

11 years, 2 months

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M9301-YB Bootstrap/Terminator ROM dumps / listings?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Charles Dickman > You can find a dump and partial disassembly So I decided, just for grins (this may be duplicative of what's on a fiche somewhere) to complete the disassembly, and there was something that was puzzling me. There a bunch of entry points (for auto-booting from different devices) which all are of the form: BR foo where foo is the same location. The code doesn't save anything before the branch, it just does it right off. So how does it know, when it gets there, which entry point was used? Well, it turns out that the answer, I am pretty sure, is that with the M9312, location 773024 is even more magic than it first appears. (Slight digression, for those who didn't get the reference: the way the M9312 forces the 11/04 or /34 CPU into the ROM, on power-fail or manual restart, is that when the CPU tries to fetch the PC/PS pair from location 024 - the power-fail/restart vector - the card jams the high UNIBUS address lines to 773000 for two bus cycles, directing the fetch of the new PC/PS to locations 773024-6. Next, when the CPU fetches the contents of location 773024, the basic contents of that location, in the ROM - 173000 - are or'd with switch S1-3 (bit 8, 4xx) through S1-10 (bit 1, 2). So that's how the code jumps to different entry points, based on the contents of S1.) However, from reading the code (yet to verify this on prints, but it _has_ to work this way, the code doesn't make any sense otherwise), it appears that _any_ reference to location 773024, at _any time_, produces the contents of ROM location 773024 or'd with the contents of switch S1!! In other words, location 773024 is effectively a hacky register that allows S1 to be read. (And the M9312 Maint Manual does _not_ make this clear. It talks about how the contents are modified during the power-on PC/PS fetch cycle, but _not_ about the later references part.) Very clever, though! Noel PS: Josh, from what I've seen so far, the code tends to loop on error, not halt. So if your machine's halting...

11 years, 2 months

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HP 700/92 green screen terminal for sale

by shawn-gordon＠cox.net

$75 plus shipping. Perfect working condition. thanks, shawn

11 years, 2 months

1
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Obsolete computer discs, etc.

by bob＠warriston.freeserve.co.uk

While turning out my attic I unearthed obsolete *discs for a 1980s Amstrad computer *which has long been disposed of. One disc is, as far as I know, in mint condition but a further twelve contain programmes. Another six discs contain long forgotten person data which I can't access. I am intrigued to know what they contain. Also in my searches I have found a *Microsoft Works manual* complete with system discs, and an *Amstrad user's manual*. Also about a*dozen 5" discs* containing stock records of warehouse long demolished. Again, I am curious to see what I recorded 30 years ago. I am reluctant to consign these items to the dustbin if a) the discs can be deciphered, and b) they are are of use to someone else. Your organisation has been suggested as a possible home for at least some of these items. Are they of interest? If not, do you know any organisation that might be? R.J. Rickard. Edinburgh.

11 years, 2 months

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OT: CSS help needed

by evan＠snarc.net

Anybody awake who's good at CSS and can help me on the phone right now? It's 1:10AM ET. If so, then please send me a private email: evan at snarc.net

11 years, 2 months

1
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Saving my Mac SE/30. My first foray into SMD work

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

For those that might be interested http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2015-04-28-recap-se30.htm I guess a lot more classic computer enthusiasts will be doing SMD work for repair in the future as "vintage computing" starts to encompasses machines >from the 1990s. Terry (Tez)

11 years, 2 months

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M9301-YB Bootstrap/Terminator ROM dumps / listings?

by derschjo＠gmail.com

The 11/34 seems to be pretty healthy, I've punched in some code to do some basic testing and the CPU seems to be capable of running simple programs and the RAM seems capable of holding data. So that's good. I've also verified that the console SLU is at the right address and vector (it wasn't initially, due to a pair of bad DIP switch blocks), and I can read/write characters from/to it. Huzzah. The bootstrap ROM doesn't seem to be executing properly, however. After power-on or a BOOT/CTRL It'll run for a fraction of a second and then halt, leaving me at address 0 with 161721 displayed. ROM Data appears at the expected addresses (773000-773777, 765000-765777) but I don't know if it's at all correct. I need to scare up a second SLU so I can get an emulated TU-58 hooked up to try booting XXDP, but in the meantime I thought I'd see if I could verify the ROM contents manually (it's only 512 bytes long). I can't find a listing, however -- the operator / maintenance manual doesn't contain it and I haven't found it anywhere else. I've found a reference to a microfiche, "EP-M9301-RL-A" that supposedly contains these listings, but it doesn't appear to be archived anywhere. Anyone have this, or have dumps of the M9301-YB PROMs? Thanks, Josh

11 years, 2 months

4
6
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IMSAI chassis color/texture...

by steven＠malikoff.com

I have not seen an IMSAI except for photos, so I'm guessing here - I suspect the finish it has is a spatter or blobby texture? If that is the case why not ask on a Board where people know all about such things. A bit of googling found this one which has amongst others a 'Specialty Coatings' and a 'Commercial and Industrial Painting' forum: http://www.painttalk.com I'm sure they could figure it out if a close-up photo was posted. Steve. ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: RE: IMSAI chassis color/texture... From: "Bill Sudbrink" <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net> Date: Sat, April 25, 2015 12:50 am To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic Posts'" <cctech at classiccmp.org> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Al Kossow wrote >> On 4/24/15 1:22 AM, Philip Lord wrote: >> > https://365pantone.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/pantone-7690/ >> > >> >> It's not the color so much as correctly duplicating the texture. > > Exactly. I'm talking with a couple of local (to me) paint shops. > They all have high tech color scanning and can scan my good chassis > for the color. The debate over whether the texture was accomplished > by some kind of powder coating or air brushing is the big thing. The > original documentation talks about "IBM Blue" which is also a pantone > color. Neither look "right" to me... on my computer screen anyway. > I have not seen an actual paint chip. > > Bill S. > > > >

11 years, 2 months

2
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HMI 68000 emulators

by wulfman＠wulfman.com

I am converting a 68008 HMI emulator back to a 68000 emulator. there are 2 headers that must be changed from 68008 to 68000 j1 and j2 i need a person that owns this emulator to pop off the plastic covers and record the jumpers soldered on the headers i can provide pictures to bitsavers of the 68008 conversion as well as pictures of the 68302 hmi emulators and a diagram of the 68008 headers. -- The contents of this e-mail and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the named addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized use, copying, disclosure, or distribution of the contents of this e-mail is strictly prohibited by the sender and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete this e-mail.

11 years, 2 months

1
0
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IBM 5120 again.

by supervinx＠libero.it

I've a request for a friend of mine. He's experiencing vertical bars on the display, characters repetitions and video shifting. For example, AABBCCDDEEFF or LOAD0 LOAD0 xxxx xxxx The 5120 completes its post. We suspect the video card shift reg or similar. He told me he cleaned all contacts and cheched all the cards. We need the SY34-0193 or SY31-0552 manuals. Can someone help? Thanks! -- Vincenzo (aka Supervinx) --==ooOoo==-- My computer collection: http://www.supervinx.com/OnlineMuseum --==ooOoo==-- You can reach me at: www.supervinx.com www.facebook.com/supervinx http://www.youtube.com/user/supervinx http://www.myspace.com/supervinx

11 years, 2 months

2
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11/34 sanity check

by derschjo＠gmail.com

While I was waiting for the Ridge's disk to dump over a 9600bps serial port, I finally got a chance to work on my 11/34. Picked it up last summer and it was in good shape but the power supply was completely dead. I've rebuilt the supply and last night I worked out the last few kinks. So at this point all voltages are spot-on, the AC LO and DC LO signals are high (these are active low, right?) but I can't get the machine to respond at all -- the "DC ON" and "RUN" lights are lit up brightly, and the "SR DISP," "BUS ERR," and "MAINT" lights are glowing dimly. The status register display is dark. The system does not respond to any keypresses on the panel. I'm getting better with UNIBUS stuff but I wanted to run this past you guys before I whip out the debugging tools and start tracing things. I've taken it down to a pretty minimal configuration, sans any memory or other stuff. Here's what I have in the main backplane (all others are disconnected for the time being) from right to left: Slot 1: M7266 (CPU) Slot 2: M7265 (CPU) Slot 3: (AB) M9301 (bootstrap terminator) / (CDEF) M7859 (front panel board) Slot 4: empty Slot 5: empty Slot 6: empty Slot 7: empty Slot 8: empty Slot 9: (AB) M9302 (terminator) The "empty" slots have Grant Continuity boards installed and the NPG jumpers on CB1-CB2 are all present on the backplane. I've confirmed that all the right voltages are making it to the backplane (and I've cleaned up those damned Molex connectors as well, just to be sure). Is there anything I'm missing? Anything I should try? Does this failure mode sound familiar at all? Thanks as always, Josh

11 years, 2 months

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Equipment available in Wichita, Ks

by microfilm＠microfilm.kscoxmail.com

I'm with Microfilm Services, Inc in Wichita, Ks. We've been in business nearly 50 years, and have to do some serious house cleaning. We are a microfilm service bureau and laser printing shop. These industries have long relied on what is now old equipment. Our cameras were fed by PDP11/34's with data coming in on 9T tape. Our laser printers were fed by 9T tape and Bus & Tag online interface. At this time, we have the following equipment for sale. You good folks get the first crack at it. Anything unsold as of Friday, May 1, 2015 will go on ebay. Anything unsold after that will go to the recyclers. Make offer on any/all, buyer arranges freight for large items, pay shipping on smaller items, from Wichita, Ks. Laser Magnetic tape drives, 6250bpi, one available. StorageTek 2920 tape drives, 6250bpi, two available. 3480 cartridge drive. All of these are Pertec interface (2x50 pin). Exabyte 8000 external DAT tape drive, SCSI interface. Tandberg 1.2GB QIC tape drives, internal, SCSI interface, several available. ** HARD DISKS *** Micropolis 1355 (ESDI, 151MB, 5.25", full height) - Several on hand Imprimis 94155-67 Wren-II (ST506/412, 56MB, 5.25" full height) - At least 4 on hand, possibly more Other assorted ESDI hard disks. Bus & Tag cables - multiple pairs available Bus & Tag terminators - lots. Barr Systems Bus & Tag ISA interface for PC, with D-sub to Bus & Tag cable. I have several of these cards, and two different host computers. One ran Windows NT Server 4.0, the other ran MSDOS. No idea if either host computer still functions. EPROM's - 27c128, 16k x 8, 12.75v programming voltage. I have 9 of these sitting next to me, and should have at least another 20-30. DEC DCJ11-AE 11/70-on-a-chip - I have several of these chips available, all believed to be functional. They came from Xerox 4090 printer controllers, which use a customized backplane. I have an entire 4090 controller available, working, as well as assorted cards. DEC h771-a power supply. I think these are for an RX01 drive? Two available. Never seen them in my time here, so assume the worst re: function. DEC h7834 (LA-34) power supply. One available. Astec power supply - 4 rails, 5v @ 3A, 12v @ 3A, 12v @ 20A, 5v @ 150A (not a typo). 220v input. These fed the modified Massbus card cages in the 4050 and 4090 print controllers. Four available. Link Technologies MC5 terminals, rebadged by Xerox, 220v. These appear to be locked into ADM3A emulation for use on Xerox printer controllers. Sun Microsystems power controllers, with line cables, have 3. (E-M Solutions Model 10, 250VAC) Sun Microsystems rack, one available. System Industries rack, one available. Bell & Howell CM-3700 COM recorder Comstor COM recorders, 2 available Canon Canofile 16mm microfilm cameras, with heads. Minolta DAR automatic 16mm microfilm camera Complete Xerox 4090 laser printer with online (bus & tag) interface, 9T tape drive. Complete, operational Xerox 4635 with Sun x86 controller. Misc solid state relays, mechanical relays, contactors, motors (12vdc, 20vdc, 24vdc), power supplies. I'm open to offers on any/all, we just need it gone. Photos available. Equipment is available for inspection by appointment. We can accept paypal (including credit cards via paypal), company check, money order, cash (in person only). Local sales and pickups are subject to sales tax. Thank you for any interest! --Shaun Microfilm Services, Inc. 316.269.2203

11 years, 2 months

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Still looking for VAXstation 3100 / Model 76 RAM

by polemon＠gmail.com

Hello, this is my first time posting to this ML. I'm trying to restore my old VAXstation 3100 / Model 76, to a more stable working order. One of the biggest problems, seems to be finding RAM modules for it. I've been looking for them in various places for many years now, but nothing has really come up. I seriously considered making them myself, as I have pretty decent skills in lay-outing PCBs, and electronics. I also need those rubber grommets, that hard drive used to be attached with to the chassis. The rubber seems to break down after twenty five years or so, and they start to become goo, kinda like warm licorice. Pretty much any periphery for the 3100/M76, like periphery, etc. I'm interested in that. Anything except the monitor, probably. I do have the GFX card in the machine, but the monitors fetch huge prices, and a big heavy thing like that, would cost a fortune to ship to Germany. Oh right, I'm in Germany. I'd pay for shipping and all that, of course. Cheers, --polemon

11 years, 2 months

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Sad News: The passing of Roe Peterson

by useddec＠gmail.com

A mutual friend told me about this a week or so ago, but I was waiting to get the obit before forwarding it on to the list. He will be missed. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/leaderpost/obituary.aspx?pid=174716697 Thanks, Paul

11 years, 2 months

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IMSAI chassis color/texture...

by philip＠neoncluster.com

Hi Bill, Screens, and the like (projectors etc), use a different color theory from pigments such as paint. One is additive color theory, the other is subtractive. You will be hard pressed to find a match between the two. I?ll forward you and Al a photo showing the 7690 pantone chip places on my IMSAI case as a side by side comparison. Color-wise, it?s almost a perfect match. Phil > On Apr 25, 2015, at 2:50 AM, Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net> wrote: > > Al Kossow wrote >> On 4/24/15 1:22 AM, Philip Lord wrote: >>> https://365pantone.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/pantone-7690/ >>> >> >> It's not the color so much as correctly duplicating the texture. > > Exactly. I'm talking with a couple of local (to me) paint shops. > They all have high tech color scanning and can scan my good chassis > for the color. The debate over whether the texture was accomplished > by some kind of powder coating or air brushing is the big thing. The > original documentation talks about "IBM Blue" which is also a pantone > color. Neither look "right" to me... on my computer screen anyway. > I have not seen an actual paint chip. > > Bill S. > > >

11 years, 2 months

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looking for info of the DEC Remote Services Console

by henk.gooijen＠hotmail.com

I saw a few listings on eBay of the DIGITAL Remote Services Console. I have one in excellent condition, and it would be nice to put it in use. But so far, I have not been able to find *any* documentation. Info on the four 25-pin sub-D connectors would be a great start. They are labeled A1, A2, B1, and B2. For pictures in the auctions, I'm guessing that A1 connects to a VT-style terminal and A2 connects to the system console port. That implies that the B connectors are intended to connect to modems. But I do not want to connect anything until I've seen documentation! Does anybody have info on this nice box? thanks, - Henk

11 years, 2 months

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11/34 sanity check

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Josh Dersch > the power supply was completely dead. I've rebuilt the supply Just out of curiousity, what was the failure mode? (Also, trying to figure out of the failure could have killed things...) BTW, is it in a BA11-K box, or a BA11-L? > the AC LO and DC LO signals are high (these are active low, right?) Yes. All UNIBUS signals are active low _except_ for grants, if memory serves... > The status register display is dark. Hmmm. > The system does not respond to any keypresses on the panel. Sounds like you've got the variant with the real ("Programmer's") front panel - that's a plus. Although it's too bad that variant doesn't have a "HALT/CONTINUE" switch - it would have been good to power it on with the HALT on, which would have prevented it from trying to do any bus cycles. No response to HALT/CRTL, though? Although I'm not sure if it would respond to that if it was in a double-bus fault loop (NXM on trying to respond to a NXM). > I've taken it down to a pretty minimal configuration, sans any memory > or other stuff. Always wise... :-) > Slot 3: (AB) M9301 (bootstrap terminator) / (CDEF) M7859 (front panel board) Most 11/34's run those cards in slot 4, not 3 (probably to leave room for the FPP/Cache in slot 3), but slots 3 and 3 are (AFAIK) identical, so it should be OK to run them there. > the NPG jumpers on CB1-CB2 are all present on the backplane. Err, I hope that's a typo for "CA1-CB1" - tying CB1 to CB2 (+15V) would not be good (although if you did do it, it should be harmless in this configuration). I don't really have much to add to Don's message, about the next things to try. There doesn't seem to be a way to configure the M9301 to have the machine halt on power up, which would to my mind be the ideal. It might be worth throwing a 'scope probe on MSYN, to see if it's trying to do bus cycles. Noel

11 years, 2 months

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Logic Analyzers and In-Circuit Emulators

by aek＠bitsavers.org

I spent the last week trying to document some of my analyzers and ICEs. There are tons of photos, firmware dumps and some new manuals on bitsavers under appliedMicrosystems, biomation, hmi, futuredata, hp/te hp/64000 and hp/64700. The HMI-200-68000 manual that arrived today had the 68K DOS software in the binder, zipped and up now under bits/HuntsvilleMicrosystems Has anyone ever noticed a pattern to the numbering on the underside of MMI PALs? It would be nice not to have to lift the labels off them. The ones I indentified were B7304 14L4 B7320 16L8 B7321 16R4 B7830 20S10 B7840 20L8 Most are protected. Every once and a while I found one that wasn't. I'd be interested in other AMC ICE firmware dumps to add to the archive. I've made some progress identifying the buses and what the various chunks of firmware are for. Next thing to do is trace the pinouts and see if the house-marked 6809 memory mapper is a MC6829. From looking at the manual, the HMI-200 is kind of interesting in that it can run without a target. The Applied Microsystems units require a 'null target' board.

11 years, 2 months

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Looking for a MOS Kim-1 for sale or trade

by mail.nickallen＠gmail.com

Looking for an EARLY MOS KIM-1 computer, let me know if you are interested in trading for it, or selling it, thanks! -Nick

11 years, 2 months

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DEC scanned documents for Bitsavers (message for Al Kossow)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: shadoooo > I'm scanning at 600dpi grayscale, lossless compression. I've been scanning a few things too, and I found that 600dpi grayscale produced absolutely enormous files (many, many MB's per page, for prints), no matter what I tried to do, compression-wise. 600dpi black and white, followed by saving as TIFF's with CCITT Group 4 compression, produced immensely smaller files (small 100's of KB's for the same pages), and they are quite readable (even the fine letter seems to be readable - b/6 is quite distinguishable, etc). Al, I hope that's acceptable for BitSavers - I have a number of things that are missing, and I was planning on scanning them in, and sending them along. Noel

11 years, 2 months

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Two new IBM DOS scans

by silent700＠gmail.com

Not that DOS...DOS! I have scanned two docs, "DOS System Control and Service" and "DOS Messages." They can be found here: http://chiclassiccomp.org/docs/index.php?dir=%2Fcomputing%2FIBM%2FMainframe… and would seem to belong here, if aek would like to add them: http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ibm/360/dos I will probably find more in this set as I work through the stacks. Enjoy! -j

11 years, 2 months

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Hand-wired core for ROM?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brent Hilpert > Core rope ROM has one magnetic core per the word-width of the memory. > That is, a memory of (say) 1024 16-bit words would have 16 cores. Not always (although your basic point, that in core ROM, a single core is often/usually used for more than one bit, is a very key point to note); the Apollo rope ROM had one core per 192 bits, or 12 words of 16 bits each, "thousands of ... cores" per memory rope. See: http://web.mit.edu/digitalapollo/Digital%20Apollo%20Annotated.doc and there's a picture of one here: http://klabs.org/mapld04/presentations/session_g/g1007_hall_s.ppt (see slide #15). Those notes do contain an interesting aside: "rearrange the program's fixed-memory allocations to avoid cases where such sets of 12 words contained too many ones to fit in their cores", which implies that the cores were fairly small, physically (since a one involved running the wire _through_ the core, not around it). I don't know why they didn't make the cores larger, and have fewer of them; my suspicion is that in manufacturing terms, it was easier to have more of them, with less wires through each one. (I can't think of an _electrical_ reason to do so; unlike with RAM cores, where smaller cores are faster to switch, and take less power to do so.) Noel

11 years, 2 months

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IBM 5160 oddball fault

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

I picked up a (known-faulty) 5160 a few weeks back, just because it had a keyboard with an intact decal, and the one on my otherwise-perfect system is missing. The machine came with a CGA card, which I've tested as working in my other 5160. Symptoms of the fault are one long beep and two short beeps at power-on, with 1024 characters of garbage displayed on-screen (typically either a solid block or a space, but with a handful of other random chars) - i.e. 12 rows of 80 and then a row of 64. Following this on screen, at location 13,64, the memory count occurs, and then it'll drop to ROM BASIC (no hard disk, and for the purposes of testing I've not bothered with a boot floppy), with the BASIC startup text starting at row 14 and all offset by 64 characters from the left margin. However, the function key reference on the bottom line of the display is OK, starting at position 25,1. I can issue BASIC commands, and each new line is offset by 64 characters, until I hit the bottom of the screen, at which point text appears at position 1 (but still offset from the top of the screen by 13 lines). Issuing a 'cls' doesn't remove the garbage from the display, and typing then resumes from location 13,64. Throughout all of this the cursor seems to appear where I'd expect it on the screen, however - I'm assuming it's done via hardware entirely within the CGA card. I've tried pulling all other cards, leaving just the CGA board, and the problem persists. One long and two short beeps seems to be 'video failure', but as mentioned I've verified that the card works in my other 5160. Does anyone have any ideas what might be going on? It doesn't quite seem like a memory fault - possibly some sort of address decoding error? It's almost like the video board is pulling display data from the wrong part of memory, but I'm not sure that makes sense given that the board has its own local RAM rather than relying on RAM on the system board. cheers Jules

11 years, 2 months

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DEC scanned documents for Bitsavers (message for Al Kossow)

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello Al Kossow, I'm scanning a bunch of documents. Many of them aren't not listed on Manx, and shouldn't be already loaded on bitsavers. I'm scanning at 600dpi grayscale, lossless compression. I could upload the documents somewhere in original RAW format, or already deskewed, converted to TIFF BW bitmap. I would contribute to Bitsavers, please contact me offlist for details of upload. Unfortunately I don't have a server, and the raw documents are heavy. Thanks Andrea

11 years, 2 months

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Pile Of Computer Stuff Up For Grabs (Mid Atlantic)

by fsmith＠ladylinux.com

Hiya, I have posted this in the past but I hate selling things but really that is selfish on my part and some of my interests have shifted. I need to move some items from the "Dust" and into the light from my collection. Its all stored in my climate controlled clean basement. I have mostly Dec gear although there are sprinkles of other stuff such as Kaypro's , Osbournes etc ... No blinken lights machines but some PDP's such as the 11/23 etc along with some Vaxstations and Alphas. The prices will be cheap and geared towards putting this into hands that can use them over people wanting a quick flip. I will not ship although anyone who wants to work with someone to pick up a pile and ship it is more than welcome. I am in the mid atlantic area and can be contacted via my gmail address ladylinux4u at gmail dot com. Thanks!! Fran --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com

11 years, 2 months

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In search of DEC H7140 (PDP-11/40 power supply) parts

by JoshD＠LivingComputerMuseum.org

I'm working over at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle and we're attempting to revive a PDP-11/44 for use in a project. At some point, someone stripped the power distribution panel from the 44's H7140 power supply (this is a small PCB that connects to the power supply terminals and provides molex power connectors for standard UNIBUS backplanes (or other backplanes). Anyone happen to have one of these distribution panels (or failing that, a complete supply) going spare? Thanks! Josh Sr. Vintage Software Engineer Living Computer Museum www.livingcomputermuseum.org<http://www.livingcomputermuseum.org> (206) 342-2537<tel:%28206%29%20342-2537>

11 years, 2 months

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IMSAI chassis color/texture...

by philip＠neoncluster.com

Once I get home, I could probably cross reference with a pantone color for you. > On Apr 23, 2015, at 2:38 PM, Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net> wrote: > > I remember a conversation about this subject from many > years ago that never came to any conclusion. Has anyone > discovered any "paint codes" or other definitive descriptions > for the finish on the upper case of an IMSAI? I'm thinking > of having my worst case (multiple scrapes and scratches, > several permanent stains) refinished. > > Bill S. > >

11 years, 2 months

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Hi and what are these?

by cctalk＠v6y.net

Hey everyone, I am new to the list, have a collection of 60's and 70's hardware I am slowly selling, but these have me stumped (I am not an expert in vintage computing): http://imgur.com/0SHTT9A http://imgur.com/lJXbLjf http://imgur.com/uPasyFE http://imgur.com/W3eHes1 http://imgur.com/A5GuF4Z http://imgur.com/Wp2jKOb http://imgur.com/KEiE9It http://imgur.com/okDQVJQ Anyone know what either of them are called or what system(s) they go to? Sometime in the next month or so, I will be auctioning off a complete (working) Data General Nova 2, along with a few other very rare (from my searches on this list) big items. Thanks! -Justin Keogh http://www.ebay.com/usr/jkeogh0

11 years, 2 months

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