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

by supervinx＠libero.it

Well, I need some help. I got an ICL Quattro PC I repaired the PSU. It powers up, the HD spins and seems to load something. Then no led activity, may be it's waiting for user input. I have no ICL terminals. I tried to connect with a straight serial cable and a terminal emulator, 9600, 8,N,1 No answer in either port. Tried also a null modem cable. Same stuff. The DB25 ports have a female connector, so I tried a straight cable, first. The straight cable shows some random and spurious characters. But there's also a DB15 female port. Do you know how to connect to this old beast? I'm getting no answer just because the Quattro is not working or I'm wrong somehow? Thanks! -- Vincenzo (aka Supervinx) --==ooOoo==-- My computer collection: http://www.supervinx.com/Retrocomputer --==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, 5 months

1
0
0 0

11/34 up! (sort of)

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

On Mon Jan 26 21:42:02 CST 2015, Jacob Ritorto wrote: > I initially had, but mysteriously lost the console emulator/ODT > functionality, seems it's starting at 165000 instead of 165200 at poweron. > Maybe a 9312 switch mis-set... So I'm booting from the panel by calling > the address of the ODT or the rl02 boot rom, which does the trick. I think it's supposed to be at 165020. Check switch-pack 1, and make sure that 7 is On. I think the default for the switch-pack is: 1, 2, and 7 = On. Everything else = Off. T

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

1983 IBM Hardware & Software price list

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

This has been floating around here for ages, and figured I should scan & share it out before it's lost for good. It's two JPEGs inside a ZIP archive; I was too lazy to merge them into a single image. IBM Hardware & Software Price List - March 8th, 1983 Tried sending this to the list as an attachment, but it was too large. You can download it here: http://nerp.net/~legendre/greenkeys/IBM_Price_List_8-MAR-1983.zip

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Home-made 8-bit portable computer

by lproven＠gmail.com

Maker describes it as a cross between a C64 and an HX-20. http://www.grappendorf.net/projects/6502-home-computer -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) ? +420 702 829 053 (?R)

11 years, 5 months

3
3
0 0

MSV11-D debugging question

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

OK, so I'm back to debugging busted memory cards. Again, I have a sitation where a bit is stuck on, and I'm curious to see if anyone has any insight into which chip (of 3) might be causing it (in an attempt to not have to try replacing them at random :-). Looking at the line from the memory chips (two chips - E26 and E27, if anyone cares - have outputs wire-or'd together) to the input of an octal tri-state latch (E40, an S373), that line goes to about +2V when the machine is powered on (which is similar to what other bits do); then, when I run a two-instruction read loop, (after writing 0 into that location), the line goes to +5V and stays there (which is distinctly unlike how other bits behave). Any guesses as to whether the culprit is the S373 or one of the memory chips? Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Digital PDP11/10 PDP 11/20 Price List Dec 15, 1969

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: B Degnan > there was a "rev 1" PDP11/10 that was used as a process control system. > You could buy the 11/20 version that had the front panel. Otherwise > they were very similar/same systems. According to my 1971 11/20-15-R20 handbook, the 11/15 (the 'rev 1' 11/10, KC11 processor) did have one significant difference from the 11/20, which is that it only supported one interrupt level, instead of four (see table pg. 2). I seem to recall reading that in other places, too. Of course, according to that table, the 11/05 (KD11-B) also only supported one interrupt level, so maybe that table is confused. Noel

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

ANSWER: Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150121)

by dpi＠dustyoldcomputers.com

And this question must have been too obscure to elicit any response. The answer is C) 50. After posting the trivia question I came up with a way on the PDP8 to measure time events to a resolution of 1.5 microseconds and went back and retested the High Speed Paper tape reader hardware. The earlier version could only measure to 3.0 microseconds resolution. Here is the 1.5 microsecond version of the program: / ADVANCED HIGH SPEED PAPER TAPE TIMING PROGRAM / / USES FIELD 1 AND LINK/AC TO MEASURE TIME DELAY / WITH INTERRUPTS. *0000 .-. / INTERRUPT ENTRY POINT RSF / MAKE CERTAIN IT WAS A HSR INTERRUPT HLT / HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM DCA I AUTO0 / SAVE COUNT AND LINK AS A 24 BIT RAL DCA I AUTO0 / SAVE LINK JMP MORE *0010 AUTO0, .-. / MORE, ISZ Z FRM1 / CHECK FOR DONE JMP NEXT / EXIT INTERRUPT AND CONTINUE TIMING TAD Z COUNTS / POINT AT START OF ARRAY DCA Z AUTO0 TAD Z CNTS / GET BACK ORIGINAL COUNT OF SAMPLES DCA Z FRM1 TLS / PRIME THE PUMP PRLP, TAD I Z AUTO0 / GET 12 BIT PART DCA Z BASE TAD I Z AUTO0 / GET LINK PART CLL RAR / RESTORE THE LINK TAD Z BASE / COUNT IS IN LINK AND AC TAD Z C0002 / ADD 2 WHICH CORRECTS TIMING FOR START DELAY DCA Z BASE / SAVE FOR PRINTING RAL / PRINT THE LEADING OCTAL DIGIT TAD Z CHZERO / ADD IN '0' TO GET LEADING DIGIT JMS PRINT / AND WE DONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE LINK ANYMORE TAD Z M0004 / INITIALIZE DIGIT COUNTER DCA Z DIGCNT DIGLP, TAD Z BASE / OCTAL DIGIT IS IN UPPER 3 BITS RTL RAL DCA Z BASE / NEXT DIGIT IS IN UPPER 3 BITS TAD Z BASE / NEED TO SHIFT ONCE MORE TO GET IN LOWER 3 BITS RAL AND Z C0007 / KEEP JUST THE LOWER 3 BITS TAD Z CHZERO / ADD IN THE OFFSET FOR ASCII 0 CHARACTER JMS PRINT / AND GO PRINT IT ISZ Z DIGCNT JMP DIGLP TAD Z CHSPC / PRINT A SPACE JMS PRINT TAD Z CHCR / PRINT CR JMS PRINT TAD Z CHLF / PRINT LF JMS PRINT ISZ Z FRM1 / ARE WE DONE? JMP PRLP / NO HLT / ALL DONE JMP START / GO AGAIN NEXT, CLA CLL / LINK AND AC MAKE A 13 BIT COUNTER ION / INTERRUPTS ON. CIF THAT FOLLOWS DELAYS THIS CIF 10 / SWITCH TO FIELD 1 AT THE JMP I CZERO RFC / START THE NEXT READ JMP I C0000 / START COUNTING (ADDS 2 TO THE ACTUAL COUNT) PRINT, .-. / PRINT THE CHARACTER IN THE AC TSF / WAIT FOR LAST CHARACTER TO FINISH PRINTING JMP .-1 / WAIT TLS / SHIP IT CLA CLL / RETURN WITH AC CLEAR JMP I PRINT / RETURN / CONSTANTS C0000, 0 C0002, 2 C0007, 0007 / MASK CIAC, IAC / IAC CONSTANT CHLF, 0012 / CONSTANT FOR LINE FEED CHCR, 0015 / CONSTANT FOR CARRIAGE RETURN CHSPC, 0040 / CONSTANT FOR A SPACE CHARACTER CHZERO, 0260 / CONSTANT FOR '0' CHARACTER COUNTS, ARRAY-1 / POINTER TO COUNTS ARRAY-1 FOR AUTO INCREMENT INITIALIZE M0004, -4 / VARIABLES FRM1, 0000 / FRAME COUNT KEPT HERE CNTS, 0000 / COPY OF FRAME COUNT READ FROM SWITCHES BASE, 0000 / TEMPORARY STORAGE OF WORD BEING PRINTED DIGCNT, 0000 / COUNT OF DIGITS WHEN PRINTING *0200 START, CLA DCA FRM1 / FILL ALL OF FIELD 1 WITH IAC INSTRUCTIONS CDF 10 FILL, TAD CIAC / GET THE CIAC INSTRUCTION DCA I FRM1 / PUT IT ON FIELD 1 ISZ FRM1 / BUMP AND CHECK FOR DONE JMP FILL / NOT DONE CDF 00 / RESTORE TO FIELD ZERO AGAIN, LAS / READ SR CMA / INITIALIZE FRAME COUNT FROM SR FOR ISZ DCA Z FRM1 TAD Z FRM1 DCA Z CNTS / KEEP A COPY FOR USE WHEN PRINTING TAD Z COUNTS / INITIALIZE THE AUTO INCREMENT REGISTER DCA Z AUTO0 JMP NEXT / AND GO MAKE A PASS *0400 ARRAY, .-. /STORE THE COUNTS HERE $ The program fills field 1 with IAC instructions and then reads the switch register to find out how many frames to process. Each frame is timed and the result stored in words pairs starting at 0400. Counts are 0-8191 which on a straight 8 would represent 0 - 12286.5 microseconds. The actual time is 2 counts more than this because of the JMP I C0000 to switch fields and start execution of the timer. Once the switch register count of frames is reached the contents of the array plus 2 is dumped out as 5 octal digits to the teletype. In the case of the Type 750 and PC01 the first character read sets the flag immediately so the first entry in the table shows as 2 which for the purpose of my emulator I fixed the first entry. My emulator of course gives the same answers as the 8 but then it has to because it uses the table generated by the real 8. The only other place I ran it was on Sim8 which always gives 0145 as the answer which is not even close. I will come up with something of more general interest for the next trivia question. I have something in mind already. Doug Ingraham PDP-8 S/N 1175 On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:27 PM, Doug Ingraham <dpi at dustyoldcomputers.com> wrote: > Many of us on this list are collectors of one sort of computer or > another. I don't think of myself as a collector so much as a caretaker of > my PDP-8. Of the things it has been fairly easy to get in recent years are > the CPU and its related cards for the models that were produced in fairly > large numbers. What is not easy to get are peripherals for these > machines. So here is a question relating to the Type 750 high speed paper > tape reader found on the early models. A few years back we were working on > getting the CPU back in good working order. We needed to read in the > diagnostic paper tapes but the reader was not reliable. Went through the > tuning procedure and found that it was trying to read the tape at nearly > 450 cps. After tuning it up the full speed now sits at 342 cps. > > The question is how many frames does it have to read before it reaches > full speed? > > A) 1 > B) 10 > C) 50 > D) 100 > > This is probably a somewhat squishy number and would depend somewhat on > tuning. I wrote a couple of programs to determine this so I could add > correct delays to my emulator. I was able to obtain a 3 microsecond > resolution count of the delay. How that was accomplished might make for > another trivia question. > > > > > -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

RA81 removal

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > If that was the case, then the previous user was sloppy. In addition to > that latch, you are also supposed to screw in four (I think it is) > screws from the rail to the drive there too. Yup, manual confirms 4. Anyway, maybe that's why they got rid of that feature on the RA81 - people were being lazy and depending on the latches, and not putting in the screws. Noel

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

RA81 removal

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > You are supposed to remove the two tiny screws that holds the slide to > the drive when you remove it. Yeah, that seems to be the conclusion. What's odd is that RL0x's use almost identical (maybe they are identical) slides, but on the RLOx's, there _is_ (I think) a way to take the drive out without undoing screws; there's a little latch at the very front of the slide, and it looks like if one trips that latch, the rail along the side of the drive case will slide out out of the slides. I wonder why they didn't do that on the RA8x's as well? Maybe because those weigh so much more? Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

RA81 removal

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > you then have some additional small locks and tricks if you want to > extend them beyond their normal point, as needed if you actually plan > to remove them from the slides. Sorry, I was not clear enough: that is exactly what I want to do - remove them from their slides (i.e. from the cabinet). I do know how to do that by taking out the two machine screws in each side which secure the slides to the disk case. However, is there some way to remove the drive completely, without doing that? I.e. a way to separate the slide into two parts, one of which stays with the cabinet, and one with the disk drive? Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Digital PDP11/10 PDP 11/20 Price List Dec 15, 1969

by billdeg＠buzz1.com

I scanned some info on the launch of the Digital PDP11. As the documents show, there was a "rev 1" PDP11/10 that was used as a process control system. You could buy the 11/20 version that had the front panel. Otherwise they were very similar/same systems. The "rev 2" PDP11/10 is the unit most people are more familiar with, the core system is interchangeable with the 11/05. Most references I have seen on the WWW do not include the original PDP11/10, anyone have one? http://vintagecomputer.org/browse_thread.cfm?id=593 Bill

11 years, 5 months

3
2
0 0

RA81 removal

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > You mean sliding them out on their rails or removing them from the > rails? Sliding them out on their rails. (Removing them from their rails I've figured out how to do! :-) Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

found a 1702

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I found a 1702 EPROM rattling around in the bottom of one of my boxes of stuff. I have no idea what's on it. Can someone give me some advice on just reading the thing with a TL866? If/when I decide I want to program it, I'll make something like this: http://www.tronola.com/html/1702a_prom_programmer.html -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

RA81 removal

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So, does anyone know how to take an RA81 on slides _out_ of the cabinet? The manual gives a lot of directions on how to _install_ it, but nothing on how to _remove_ one once one has it in. I had to take a pair of RA81's out of some cabinets, and I could not for the life of me find the trick! I finally resorted to undoing the two machine screws that hold the slides onto the RA81 case, which I consider sort of cheating (although from looking at that manual, that may be the correct, official way...) Noel

11 years, 5 months

3
2
0 0

HP 21MX Computer

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mike Loewen > He's been trying to sell that for months. Mmm. Didn't know that. I just passed the URL along because it seemed like a not totally unreasonable price for what's there (seems to be quite a few boards, no idea if it's a complete board set) - older minicomputers seem to be going for $1-2K in open auctions (the last two PDP-8's both went for $2K). Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

somewhat sad tek4015-1

by jacob.ritorto＠gmail.com

Hi, I pulled my tek4015-1 from storage (~10 years, dry but cold, had been working perfectly then) and brought it home to my living room, much to the dismay of my significant other. I plugged it in. it squealed a bit, zapped a little and lit up with that signature green expanding circle. I was able to get the line/local light to behave reasonably and it seemed to go into local mode ok. Was hoping to echo characters to the screen, but no love. The screen is really bright. It's as if the whole thing was in the lit-up state. PAGE key does blink the screen, but I remember it flashing brightly whilst erasing in the past. Now it looks like it's just staying bright all the time. I wiggled the boards in the cage around and managed to get it to repeat control-g feeps (while holding those keys down), but it's only able to do it intermittently, seems related to the positioning (or complete absence) of the display driver board. Still no characters showing up. Does anyone know how to work on these? thx jake

11 years, 5 months

2
2
0 0

DEC PDP-11/70 Wire Lists

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Birkel > Wire Lists for any/all of the following: > > KB11-C 11/70 Processor (or the older KB11-B) > FP11-C 11/70 Floating-point processor (or the older FP11-B, also used > in 11/45 and 11/50) > RH70 MASSBUS controller I don't know for sure about the 11/70 (I never looked at one closely), but for the 11/45 FPP, IIRC that was part of an integral multi-unit backplane assembly with the CPU, i.e. it was wired as part of a large wire mat that included the wiring for the CPU. So I don't think there's a separate wire list for the FPP. I would guess the same is true of the RH70. DEC generally included the wire lists in the engineering drawings; do the 11/70 prints not include the wire list? Noel

11 years, 5 months

3
2
0 0

DEC PDP-11/70 Wire Lists

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

All; I'm hoping that someone here has a back-room shoebox of DEC microfiche (or even hardcopy!) that includes Wire Lists for any/all of the following: KB11-C 11/70 Processor (or the older KB11-B) FP11-C 11/70 Floating-point processor (or the older FP11-B, also used in 11/45 and 11/50) RH70 MASSBUS controller MJ11-A Core memory I'd like to get these scanned and into Bitsavers. Please contact me off list, soonest, if you think that you can help me out. I'd be _very_ much obliged. Thanks, paul [PS: Of course, if they are already online somewhere that I've overlooked, or simply already-digital but not online, please educate me further :->.]

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

HP 21MX Computer

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

For all you HP fans: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111471510213 Noel

11 years, 5 months

4
4
0 0

HP tape drive novel repair

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I?m in the process of building another HP2000/Access TSB system. I pulled a 7970E tape drive out of a shipping container (I had not opened the shipping container since I bought it about 8 years ago). When I got the unit on the bench to give it a going over, while it looked pristine ? someone had dropped something very heavy (heavy enough to severely deform ?? steel) on the top of the unit. My thought (given there?s not a shortage of open space inside the chassis) was to put a car jack inside and jack it up thus pushing out the top. My concern there was that there would be an ?equal and opposite reaction?). Perhaps a 2x4 that goes side to side under the jack would alleviate this. But on freenode #classiccmp (where I hang out pretty much every night), PJustice and Sark both had similar ideas for an alternative approach that took advantage of the fact that the top of the chassis has a lot of vent holes on top. I implemented their approach and it worked very well so I thought I?d document it with pictures and post here. I should note that this approach only works because the angle iron I used was 14ga. Anything less would just bend itself. If I had facilities to cut the angle iron, I would have put a piece on top and on the bottom but I don?t. Failing that, I just had to pick specific spots on top to ?pull out? more carefully. As you know when steel bends it stretches so it would be impossible to get it back 100% perfect but I?m pretty pleased with the results. If you want to use this method and don?t have convenient holes already present from the manufacturer, you could always drill one or two holes to make it work. Note that without the wood blocks you can pull it straight but it might bend back (albeit less so), but with the wood blocks you can pull it further than straight so it bounces back ?mostly straight?. http://www.ezwind.net/hp2000/7970E/ And if you want to follow the build of the 2000/Access IO-rack (which holds tape, terminal controller and bulkhead, and disk controller subsystem): http://www.ezwind.net/hp2000/IO-Rack/ THANKS SARK AND PJUSTICE J J

11 years, 5 months

4
6
0 0

Shipping antique computers

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Actually I need to learn more about this. What do they exactly do when they "palletize" things? Does that include wrapping/protecting the item and lifting/anchoring it on the pallet? How small and how large an item can they deal with? How much does the service cost? How do you "unpalletize it" at the other end? Do you need a forklift or a hydraulic pallet moving thingy on the receiving end? Marc >> On 01/17/2015 11:09 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote: >> I know palletization's not cheap

11 years, 5 months

6
6
0 0

Sugru (moldable rubber) for ???

by jfoust＠threedee.com

I haven't ever played with official Sugru, but how does it differ >from ordinary relatively inexpensive Shoe Goo? Is Sugru like slightly dried-out Shoe Goo? I find that a tube of Shoe Goo dries out a bit after a few years and becomes a more easily worked substance. - John

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Maxtor XT-2190

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

The discussion about servos on the XT2190 prompted me to turn on a machine (Altos ACS 68000) that I have with one of these nice drives in it.? The initial sounds of the drive is it re-calibrating using a stepping sequence.? This may be done by the drive controller to find track zero, or the drive itself (I really don't know).? Since the stepping (and subsequent servo lock) happens at a low frequency, it is the sound you hear.? Sometimes it takes a couple of times to get its act together, but it works well.? This was a machine that had been off for a bunch of years (over 10?) and it came back to life nicely.? I couldn't say much about the terminal I had attached as the dust that had accumulated made some keys not function so well, but I'll take some canned air and "blow it out" to get it working well. I note that the MFM interface does not have any "microstep" capability, only a simple step function.? I believe that the SMD interface did (it has been a few years, I never used it in my work), and the ESDI might (I never worked with that one). Soon I'll get the MFM drive simulator working and go "solid state".

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Atari 800XL RF cable (and I/O cable availability?)

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

I picked up a little Atari 800XL bundle the other day (system, pair of 1050 drives, and an 850 expansion box) - cheap because it was missing cables and power supplies. 1) When hooking this up to a TV via the RF input - is there any "magic" involved, or will a suitable braided co-ax TV cable with a phono connector added at the Atari end do? I know it "works" because I lashed one up quickly (and I do mean quickly, no soldering involved) and ran the machine >from a stray +5V PSU, which obviously resulted in a fuzzy picture - but then when it came to making a good one, I got to thinking about those little antenna switch boxes that US machines often seemed to come with, and wondering if there were a bunch of passive components in there which make a difference to the signal quality. 2) Does anyone have any spare I/O cables, or know of a source of the connectors so I can make my own? (I suppose while I'm here I may as well ask if anyone just happens to know what voltage power supplies the 1050's and 850 need, but I'm sure I can dig the answers to that up online if needed) cheers Jules

11 years, 5 months

6
11
0 0

HP16500B Logicanalyzator on ebay

by aswood＠t-online.de

http://www.ebay.de/itm/HP-Agilent-16500B-Modular-Logic-Analysis-System-Main… Wrong side of the pond. Seller is also offering a lot of Tek scopes, Kaypro and some other interesting equipment. Had a Convex SPP1200CD - also wrong side of the pond - I'd have love to get the board, even the Vicor DC-DC converter on the boards.... -- Andreas

11 years, 5 months

3
2
0 0

calling all HP7970 tape owners....

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

Jay wrote... ---- Here is a link to pictures of the bracket, in case someone has it laying around but doesn't realize "this is what that's for"... www.ezwind.net/hp2000/7970E/ The bracket is pictures 0520 through 0525 ---- I see. It's a more involved bracket than I thought, with 3D bends in heavy gauge steel. It will need to be bent by hand since it's not worth making a fixture for so few. It's going to be an interesting calculation for the hole position if they drill them pre-bend, they might not get it right first time. Let us know what you find out. Marc

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Atari 800XL RF cable (and I/O cable availability?)

by cctalk＠beyondthepale.ie

> > > 1) When hooking this up to a TV via the RF input - is there any "magic" > > involved, or will a suitable braided co-ax TV cable with a phono connector > > added at the Atari end do? I know it "works" because I lashed one up > > Maybe... The modulator output is nominally 75 ohm, and should be linked to > such a piece of coax. European TVs have a 75 ohm aerial input, often on what > we call a 'Belling-Lee coax socket', so it's just a cable. US TVs, I am told, may have > either a 75 ohm coax input, often on an F connector, or a 300 ohm balanced input > (for parallel twin feeder cable) on a pair of screw terminals. For the former, just > connect it up. For the latter you may need a matching transformer, aka a 'balun' > (BALanced to UNbalanced converter). I am pretty sure you can buy these, but > it must be possible to wind one if you can get a suitable core > I don't know whether some US televisions do this too but I have a Japanese radio that has two screw terminals for a 300 Ohm balanced feeder and alternatively allows a 75 Ohm unbalanced feeder to be connected between one of those terminals and a ground terminal which is also provided. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

calling all HP7970 tape owners....

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Need input from anyone that has a HP7970 tape drive mounted in a rack. Fortunately, all my 7970's have come with the special mounting bracket. This is not a part of the 7970 itself. It is a long flat metal bar that mounts on the left of the rack. It bolts in from the front, and provides threaded holes on the side further back in the rack. While the right side of the 7970 is bolted into the rack from the front, on the left side - you open the chassis and bolt from inside the chassis on the left wall into the threaded holes provided by this mounting bracket. Given that, it would appear to me that mounting a 7970 WITHOUT that special mounting bracket would not be easily done. I'd like to know if anyone has mounted a 7970 in a rack without said bracket and if so - how did they do it? Since I've always used HP racks and the special 7970 mounting bracket my experience is probably blinded, but I don't see a way to do it without the bracket. Best, J

11 years, 5 months

8
11
0 0

Wanted: Apple II Plus escape key

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

I have an Apple II Plus at home with a broken escape key - does anyone happen to have a basket-case keyboard that they'd be able to salvage one >from for me? There's a little bit of stem left on the keyswitch, so I think I could possibly make it work with just the keycap, although (assuming the machine's keyboard even uses individual switches, I've not actually dismantled to check) I probably wouldn't say no to the associated keyswitch, too. It's an ex-school machine, so I wonder if it was broken off intentionally (i.e. to stop kids quitting out of some software that they weren't supposed to) - the system's in great cosmetic shape otherwise. cheers Jules

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Equipment Available (more)

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Just received the following "equipment available" email.. Vax 8600 MicroVax II 8mm & 4mm SCSI tape drives 6250 tape drive Dec 64 bit unix first DEC PC (Rainbow) with graphics card (1984) a lot of manuals an IBM AIX box too Location is Houston, TX. DO NOT EMAIL ME ASKING FOR MORE SPECIFICS. If you are interested in *ALL* of the gear, contact me off list and I'll put you in direct contact with the owner. If you want just PART of the gear, do not email me. Email whoever winds up getting the gear and work it out with them. Best, J

11 years, 5 months

4
6
0 0

Apple Lisas on Craigslist

by mark＠markesystems.com

I don?t really do Apple, but this seems like a pretty good trade for someone. I emailed the seller (trader?), and he responded, so I think it?s a real deal... http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sop/4845748625.html ~~ Mark Moulding

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

found 8"floppies

by simski＠dds.nl

hello all, received a box with a shugart 800-2 drive and some 8" floppies containing IBM system/1 software and one from intel with ISIS-II is this already online available or should I try to make images of them? ibm disks: rps pascal (2 of 2 ptf 5719-pc6-brg1 (2of 2) s1-IWSRPS-RPS-VOL (1 of 1) rps data entry system (5 of 5) s/1 rps realtime pgmm sys v6 (1 of 1) rps index acces method v2 (2of2) s/1 rps realtime pgmm sys v6 (disks 21-24 of 24) refresh-01-sm1 (1of1) rps pgm preparation subsys v (disk 24 of 28) the isis-II is version 3.4 -- Met vriendelijke Groet, Simon Claessen drukknop.nl

11 years, 5 months

5
8
0 0

MEM11 Status Update

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Johnny Billquist > The KI10, which is the one that pops into my mind here, have a > different panel, as the cabinets are wider. The KA10 had a mixture of narrow and wide cabinets. The two main CPU bays were wide (as were the display panels at the top - the one I have is 48 lights wide), as was the MA10 (I think) and MF10 (pretty sure about that one). Other bays (such as the DF10) were narrower (I think standard 19"). I didn't see much of KI10's, so I can't say for sure, but I suspect the same was true of them: I'm pretty sure they used the same DF10, etc as the KA10. Noel PS: Speaking of KI10's, does anyone know the story behind the bizarro images of the 'KI10 Indicator Panels' in the DECsystem-10 System Reference Manual (DEC-10-XSRMA-A-D; 3rd Edition, August 1974 - although other editions may have them too), pg. F1-5? Were those just placeholders that got by editorial control, or was that some sort of complicated in-joke?

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

equipment available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay West > The "two 11/73 machines" deal has been claimed. Just out of interest, what kind of disks did the machines have? Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

MEM11 Status Update

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Al Kossow > It is the generic bulb panel they used for all of the 8/11/15 panels on > the top of the racks. I think for the -10, too (and that was possibly the initial use, given the 36 wide lamp array - or, at least, they had the -10 usage in mind when they did it). I looked at my DECsystem-10 manual, and I suspect that at least the DF10 (channel), RP10 and TM10 controllers used it (4 rows of 36 lights, in the same aspect ratio), and maybe some of the memory cabinets (MB10, MD10) too - they have the right size, etc but have 4 switches in the lower left corner. Noel

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

equipment available

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I received the offer below, contact me off-list if interested. J I have two MicroPDP 11/73 computers I would like to sell. Last time I checked (5 years ago) they were working just fine. They have hard drives, no tape drives and were running DCL. I have no manuals and no console terminal. They are very heavy, so shipping is not an option. I am located in Eastern Pennsylvania, between Allentown and Philadelphia.

11 years, 5 months

1
1
0 0

MEM11 Status Update

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Guy Sotomayor > I'm building a "LED" board that attaches to the MEM11. ... I couldn't > resist more blinkin lights. Oh frabjous day! Das blinken-litz!! Excellent!!! Now I'm _really_ going to want a stack of these... :-) > The LED board will display all of the indicators for the RF11 > controller in a layout similar to what was on a real RF11. ... > It's optional and will connect to the MEM11 with a small cable (I plan > on using RS485 drivers for the cable) so the LED board can be a fair > distance away. Hmm. Looking at the original RF11 display panel, some of it may be impossible to really emulate; e.g. it displays the contents of the shift register used to assemble words from the bit stream being read from the disk; it's probably not feasible to emulate that... And of course, many of the error bits only make sense with an actual disk (e.g. the various Timing Track errors). How much bandwidth will you have from the board to the display panel anyway? I assume there will be latches on the display panel, and one sends commands down the link to turn given latches on/off? Looking at the original display panel, although it had the extended memory bits, it didn't show the memory address (it does have the disk address). Maybe we could put that where the shift register display used to be? (And speaking of the original display, I couldn't find a picture of one - does someone have one, or, better yet, an actual RF11, so as to copy the look of it as closely as possible?) > (I haven't looked at doing an overlay to make it look pretty) Oh, yes, please do!!! > it'll be somewhat generic (4 rows of 36 LEDs). I counted up (no doubt you did the same :-), and on the longest row (at the top), there are 30 lights, plus 4 empty spaces for the gaps between blocks, so 36 is good. Will you be grouping them in 3's, with slightly larger gaps between each group of 3? That would really maximize the ability to look just like the old RF11 display panel. And warm white LED's, please (of course :-). I'm really going to have to get going on my UNIBUS PDP-11's. I've mostly been working on the QBUS ones, but if I can have blinking lights... :-) I'm already planning on how I can put /, /bin and the pipe device on separate RF platters, so I can watch the lights and see what the machine is up to.. :-) Noel

11 years, 5 months

4
3
0 0

MEM11 Status Update

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Guy Sotomayor > the way that it works is that 144 bits will be shifted out and then > all latched at once. Ah. That will limit the rate at which you can update the lights, though, right? I mean, you won't (be able to) update the panel after every word, will you? Although I suppose even if you only do it after each transfer, that's probably still going to give much the same visual effect. > Will you be grouping them in 3's, with slightly larger gaps between > each group of 3? That would really maximize the ability to look just > like the old RF11 display panel. > No, it'll be just like the DEC panels. All of the LEDs (in this case) > will be evenly spaced. The overlay masked the bulbs that weren't used. Ah, I was faked out by the illustration (not a picture, alas!) in the RF11 manual, it looked like they were grouped. I wasn't sure if the larger spaces between various fields were just bulbs they didn't wire up, or if they were also masked by the overlay; I just looked at some of my KA-11 overlays (now _there's_ a machine with blinking lights! :-), and they are indeed blanked in the overlay, so I would guess/asssume they did the same on the RF11. > From: Bob Rosenbloom > I have an indicator panel that's labeled "Peripheral Indicator Panel > 5406458A" > No overlays or anything to indicate what it was used for. Is it > possibly the disk indicator panel? That sure looks like it. Too bad you don't have the overlay... Now that I think about it, I wonder if that panel was originally used on the KA? The 36 bits are certainly suggestive... I'll have to see if I can find a picture of the disk/tape controller display panel from the KA and see if that could have been it. Noel

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Building an 8008 SBC with modern components

by computerdoc＠sc.rr.com

Hi Guys, Has anyone ever built an 8008 SBC using modern components like CPLDs and/or FPGAs in place of the ancient hard to get parts used in the first 8008 based microcomputer? I'm looking at trying to do it on a small PCB, but obviously not sure of the exact size yet. Any ideas, thoughts anyone? Kip Koon <mailto:computerdoc at sc.rr.com> computerdoc at sc.rr.com <http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150121)

by dpi＠dustyoldcomputers.com

Many of us on this list are collectors of one sort of computer or another. I don't think of myself as a collector so much as a caretaker of my PDP-8. Of the things it has been fairly easy to get in recent years are the CPU and its related cards for the models that were produced in fairly large numbers. What is not easy to get are peripherals for these machines. So here is a question relating to the Type 750 high speed paper tape reader found on the early models. A few years back we were working on getting the CPU back in good working order. We needed to read in the diagnostic paper tapes but the reader was not reliable. Went through the tuning procedure and found that it was trying to read the tape at nearly 450 cps. After tuning it up the full speed now sits at 342 cps. The question is how many frames does it have to read before it reaches full speed? A) 1 B) 10 C) 50 D) 100 This is probably a somewhat squishy number and would depend somewhat on tuning. I wrote a couple of programs to determine this so I could add correct delays to my emulator. I was able to obtain a 3 microsecond resolution count of the delay. How that was accomplished might make for another trivia question.

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

Sugru (moldable rubber) for ???

by j＠ckrubin.us

This seems like some pretty cool stuff that might be useful in restoration work. Has anyone tried it? http://sugru.com/about

11 years, 5 months

4
3
0 0

Releasing Cover Off of Nashua RL02 Pack?

by leec2124＠gmail.com

I have a couple of Nashua brand third-party RL02 packs I'd like to remove the cover from, shown here: https://plus.google.com/photos/104239531634140817575/albums/610685195575310… The DEC RL02 packs have a slider release on the handle that one can use to remove the bottom cover before inserting the pack in the RL02 drive. However, the Nashua packs are missing this mechanism, and just lifting the handle does not release the bottom cover. Any hints on how to release the bottom cover off these packs? Thanks! Lee Courtney

11 years, 5 months

4
4
0 0

Maxtor XT-2190

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Al writes: > On 1/19/15 10:43 AM, Tom Gardner wrote: >> FWIW, microstepping goes back to at least the CDC SMD of the mid-70s >> and even some stepper motor drives were microstepped. So there is no >> question the XT2190 can do it. > Obviously, though with the limited documentation it would take some reverse engineering of the Maxtor servo system to do it. There is no way provided to do it from the 34 pin edge connector that I can see. My belief (perhaps unfounded) always was that when a XT2190 begins emitting "squeals and beeps" it is because the MFM interface has asserted "recovery mode" and it is microstepping. Oh, 20 years I was abandoning XT2190's whenever I could! I dreaded walking into the lab to find the RD54's emitting squeaks and beeps indicating problems reading them. Are the squeals and beeps from the head positioner, or is there a separate piezo element for those? It was really loud and obvious and would not be surprised if there was a piezo beeper just for making them. Then again firmware in the drive may have known how to make the head positioner squeal too. Perhaps the squeals and beeps were not recovery mode but simply re-calibrating on track zero.

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

HP tape drive novel repair

by marc.verdiell＠gmail.com

"Nice rack", as they say. I have an HP 7970E and was wondering what to put it into. That is the right solution... I've seen in pictures that HP also had some special desk-like looking furniture to put the early 7970's in, with a slanted panel in which the tape drive would go. Never seen one of these in the flesh. Marc >From: "Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> >And if you want to follow the build of the 2000/Access IO-rack (which holds >tape, terminal controller and bulkhead, and disk controller subsystem): >http://www.ezwind.net/hp2000/IO-Rack/ >J

11 years, 5 months

6
14
0 0

Genrad/Futuredata and HP 64000/64700 documentation

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Thanks to Lyle mentioning Manuals Plus, I acquired all of the docs that they still had on the Futuredata 2300, which is now up under http://bitsavers.org/pdf/futuredata If anyone still has a 2300, 01, or 02 I would like to archive the prom and floppies from them. I've also been working through or rescanning at a higher resolution, 64100/110 docs. Information on the 64120/64000-UX system would be interesting to find. In addition I've made progress on the 64700A/B. There is very little information on the earlier 64700A on line. Surviving software for those emulators would be good to find. I did pick up a B3763-14604 CD from 1997 which appears to have the PC version of the software (and the flash files). We'll see what happens when I try to get a 68030 pod working on a 64700B that had a 68332 pod on it.

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

Data Products 2230 manual - desperation....

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi again, no one has that manual part one?!? I'm getting depressed :-( Nobody has an idea who could have it? Regards Philipp

11 years, 5 months

2
1
0 0

HP modern peripherals (was RE: HP tape drive novel repair

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Mike wrote... ---- Someone needs to come up with the hardware equivalent of HPDrive so we don't need to dedicate an entire Windoze system just to emulate a drive. ---- To which I replied... ---- I am not 100% positive, but I think this was already done [snip] ---- Here is the magic: http://newton.freehostia.com/hp/ Note that this implementation uses a standard off the shelf dup reg board. That choice has major pluses, but the downside means you have to write a driver for any OS you want to use it with (RTE, HP2K, etc.). Maybe it's a starting point anyways.... J

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

RF Shield for the A1200 Needed

by brain＠jbrain.com

ANyone have a part like this: "you might have the item i am looking for (from your vast collection of parts) which is the RF Shield for the A1200. Looking for only the UPPER or even UPPER/LOWER." I don't have Amiga parts, but would like to help this person.

11 years, 5 months

8
10
0 0

MEM11 Status Update (Guy Sotomayor)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 21:27:59 -0800 > From: Guy Sotomayor <ggs at shiresoft.com> > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: MEM11 Status Update > > As some of you know I've been working (on and off again) a > multi-function Unibus board that contains all of the more difficult > items to allow a PDP-11/20 to run Unix V1 entirely within the CPU > chassis. Other than the CPU and the RK11-D controller, everything else > will be on the MEM11 board. Here's the background on what the MEM11 is > and the current progress. > > What's on the board is the following: > > * Up to 124KW of non-volatile memory > * Console Emulator ROM > * 4 Boot ROMs selected from 32 images on the board > * 2 DL11 SLUs > * RF11 controller with non-volatile memory emulating 8 RS11 drives > * KE11 EAE > * KW11K > * KW11L > * KW11P > * KW11W > > > TTFN - Guy > > ****************** > I am working on a similar project for the Omnibus. I am connecting a Microsemi SmartFusion FPGA to the Omnibus, and doing the peripheral emulation in a combination of the FPGA and Linux running on the ARM Cortex-M3 hard core in the FPGA. Anything with timing restrictions goes in the FPGA. Everything else goes in Linux as a combination of a device driver and an application. For simplicity, I am starting with programmed I/O devices, with the paper tape reader/punch first. I should be able to add serial ports, printer ports, analog I/O, diskettes, card reader, and maybe DECtape. Later I will add data break (DMA) and add disks and mag tape. I am planning to keep the disk images in flash, load them into RAM and run from there, and save them back to flash if the processor is halted. The MI8E bootloader wiggles the same Omnibus signals as the front panel. I could have the FPGA do the same, and load any one of a selection of bootloaders. I am not adding memory, because a nice 32kW RAM board already exists. -- Michael Thompson

11 years, 5 months

4
3
0 0

Operating systems of the 1970s handling dates beyond the year 2000

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 20 January 2015 at 17:38, David Brownlee <abs at absd.org> wrote: > IIRC there was a bug filed against VMS to the effect that dates past > 9999 were not supported. Have to be impressed by that belief in future > engineering :) There are, or were, some other forward-thinking people out there.. >from Wikipedia: "St. James's Gate Brewery (Irish: Gr?dlann Gheata Naomh S?amuis) is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. [..] The main product of the brewery is Guinness Draught.[..] Originally leased in 1759 to Arthur Guinness at ?45 per year for 9,000 years" (So although it looks like our decendants may run out of Guinness before VMS runs into date problems, no worries, they've since bought out the originally leased property. But good thinking still.) -Tor

11 years, 5 months

1
0
0 0

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

test-drb