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

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 23:41:59 +0100, Simon Claessen wrote: > > well, > > Good news always has some bad news as well. After careful examining of > the 952 (no, not 850...) pins, I found 52 broken ones. As they are made > of a gold plated springy metal wire, I needed to find a replacement. > Size: 0,5mm diameter. > > Guitar wires are out. They are way to flexible. I opted for fosfor > bronze wire, but could not find it in the shops in Amsterdam. Then I > stubled upon a shop selling beads and stuff to make bracelets and > earrings. They sell "memory wire", A very tough silver coated wire of > 0.6mm. I have no idea what the alloy is, but the mechanical > characteristics are not bad. > > The first clip I made fitted surprisingly good. now to find some time to > bend another 51... > > Oh well. > [snip] Simon, "Memory wire" is also known as Nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_titanium>. The Wikipedia page might give you the characteristics you may need. Bob

11 years, 5 months

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Resurrecting RK05

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > From: Johnny Billquist <bqt at update.uu.se> > Subject: Re: Resurrecting RK05 > > There was also a version of the RK8 controller which did a binary unit > selection. I don't remember the designation of that controller off my > head at the moment. > > Johnny > I believe that it is the RKS8 controller that can access 8 drives. -- Michael Thompson

11 years, 5 months

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Broken H724 power supply from PDP-8/e

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

The H724 power supply in my PDP-8/e works OK for about 5 seconds and then the +5V output goes to about 3.0V. If I leave it on for a few more seconds it will blow the 20A fuse for the +5V output. I have the power supply partially disassembled and disconnected from the chassis. I don't see anything obviously fried. There are three ring terminals with two wires each connected to the + side of C205. Two of the wires get hot in just a few seconds. I have not disassembled the wire harness, but I suspect that they are the wires that go to the fuse holder. C205 is the output filter for +5V. The capacitor resistance goes above 3k Ohms if I leave the VOM connected for about 20 seconds, so the cap is not the 20A short. Should I just keep disassembling the power supply and tracing the warm wires? Anyone have experience repairing one of these power supplies? -- Michael Thompson

11 years, 5 months

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Stromberg/Carlson, Okuma, Benning, and Computer Autumation Docs

by useddec＠gmail.com

I'm going through boxes of documentation and have a pile 3 or 4 feet high that I don't need. My plan is to try to list some several times a week until it's gone. It varies, but most print sets have manuals and repair notes with them. They came from a repair depot. The pile of Stromberg is 6 to 8 inches high. I keep finding more. i can go through specifics over the phone, but don't really want to type everything. Feel free to contact me off list if you have any interest. There will be a few foot pile of DEC items, but i want to finish this first. Thanks, Paul

11 years, 5 months

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Identifying a 16k by 16 core memory board

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

Does anyone know what this board would go to? It's a California Data Processors board, ca. 1978. http://imgur.com/a/AEfWX It was found packaged in a Data 100 Corporation cardboard box, but I am not convinced it really belongs in there. Thanks, Kyle

11 years, 5 months

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Another PDP-8 on eBay

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Another one (an 8/L) starting at a reasonable price: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181630674348 Non-functional, but sounds like it might be close to running. Noel

11 years, 5 months

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Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150105)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rich Alderson > Kanji are *LOGOgrams*, expressing *words*, not *ideas*. Since this is a list about antique computers, not about the technical minutiae of written languages, I elected to use the word that would be familiar to non-specialists, i.e. 'ideogram' (with the common meaning, not the specialist one). >> There is something called the 'iroha' ... It was used to teach writing > this poem was no longer used in schools Which would be why I said it "was used to teach writing", not 'is used to teach writing'. Noel

11 years, 5 months

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Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150105)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Chuck Guzis > I suspect that other languages have similar exercises, though > I don't know what the Japanese do in Kanji. Err, think you mean kana, right? (Kanji are the ideograms, there are over a thousand in common use.) There is something called the 'iroha': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha which is a poem which uses every element of the Japanese syllabary - and exactly once! It was used to teach writing, no idea if it's used for the keyboard thingy. Noel

11 years, 5 months

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Catweasel support for N*

by snhirsch＠gmail.com

Does anyone have a version of 'cwns' more recent than 0.01? It looks like Andrew Lynch wrote this, but Google did not turn up any work since 2007. It would be great to have a way to generate N* floppies on the CW card. Alternately, has Dave Dunfield's NST ever been ported to work on the Advantage? Google turns up nothing other then references to Kermit (not helpful for disk image transfer) or the Central Point Matchpoint card (unobtanium). I did find a disk image for Advantage N*DOS on Dunfield's site, which may have the ability to run the NST stub, but it presents a recursive problem in that I have no means to write it to a DS N* floppy. I do have a Horizon, but it's fitted with SSDD drives. Any suggestions or workarounds I'm overlooking? Steve --

11 years, 5 months

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Understanding DECsystem 5100 Self Test Failure

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:24:17 -0700 (MST), you wrote: [snip] > On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Robert Jarratt wrote: > >> Have you tried buying a DS12887 as a replacement? They are supposed to be >> drop-in replacements, and if yours is already socketed then it should be >> pretty simple to try. > > Yes, I have two of them here. That will be the first attempt and fortunate > then I will be able to stop there if I am lucky. > > -- > Richard Loken VE6BSV, Unix System Administrator : "Anybody can be a father > Athabasca University : but you have to earn > Athabasca, Alberta Canada : the title of 'daddy'" > ** richardlo at admin.athabascau.ca ** : - Lynn Johnston > Richard, Those chips have "battery-backed static RAM" according to their data sheet. Does your system store anything critical in them? If so, you may want to read & save that data so that you can put it back before you install the replacement chip (and add an external battery in a location where leakage won't cause serious damage in the future). I know that some Tektronix 'scopes store their calibration values in the (DS1297 or equal) chip's battery-backed RAM and it is critical to read the info and transfer it to the new chip *before* the original battery dies. Otherwise, you have to either pay ($$$) for or perform the entire re-calibration procedure yourself, if you have the necessary calibration equipment. However, since you said your battery was already dead and you have to reinstall VMS every time the system is powered down, I guess that your system doesn't store anything *critical* in that RAM. Bob

11 years, 5 months

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SC008s

by useddec＠gmail.com

I found a few while cleaning. If interested in making an offer please contact me off list. I think they all had mounting brackets and some terminators and jumpers. No nuts and bolts. Shipping from 61853 Thanks, Paul

11 years, 5 months

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Dataram, EEM (Electronics Memories & Magnetics) cross reference lists

by useddec＠gmail.com

Does anyone have easy access to lists that cross reference 3ed party memories to DEC, DG, ETC? Thanks, Paul

11 years, 5 months

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Understanding DECsystem 5100 Self Test Failure

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

When I power up my DECsystem 5100 I get the output shown at the end of this email. I thought this was to do with the DS1287 chip as it seems be an NVRAM battery error (perhaps). Since I know these devices fail I took out the DS1287, put in a socket and then bought a replacement DS12887A. But I still get the same problem. It could be that I bought a bad replacement, or that I have done some damage in my desoldering of the original, or it could be that the error is something completely different. In fact the Maintenance Manual suggests test 9 is to do with the DZ, and I can't find what test 4 relates to. Does anyone know what this failure is if it isnt' the DS1287? Is there an easy way to test a DS1287? Regards Rob 26..25..24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..14..14.. 13..12..11..10..09..?45a nv ba?45a nv bat ?45a nv ba?45a nv bat ?45a nv ba?45a nv bat 08..07..06..05..04..?45a nv bat 03.. ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat ?45a nv bat KN230 V1.4 08-00-2b-27-04-50 0x800000 >> conf -f hardware: revision 1 firmware: revision 5 cpu: revision 2.32 fpu: revision 3.32 security switch: secure mode password: clear eeprom: valid ethernet hardware address: 08-00-2b-27-04-50 option board: not present memory: total size 8MBs bank0 4MB SIMMs size: 8MBs 0 bad pages scsi peripherals unit type product removable/fixed capacity 7 host adapter >> prcache

11 years, 5 months

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paper tape readers

by useddec＠gmail.com

I found a FTI table top reader today, and the only number on it is 2939. Also a Remex rack mount with 6300BB1, which could be a serial number. I might have a few more to dig out at some point. If interested, please contact me off list. Shipping from zip 61853. Thanks, Paul

11 years, 5 months

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SIM990/DX10 help?

by scaron＠umich.edu

Hi everyone, I downloaded Dave Pitts' SIM990 emulator and the pre-rolled DX10 disk images available on his site yesterday evening, thinking I'd give it a run. SIM990 compiled clean; I'm running on Debian 7.7, 32-bit, on an Intel D510 Atom system. I feel as though this should be plenty of power... I run Hercules on this same system all the time to fool around with MTS and MVS 3.8J and I find the performance to be just fine... (way better than on my old Sun Fire V120s, LOL) I extracted the DX10 images and I started the emulator on them as directed: sim990 -msc 12 512K dx10.cfg For a terminal emulator, I'm using PuTTY; I also tried Procomm Plus (latest version) with a few different emulations and couldn't make it work, I seem to get furthest with PuTTY. I connect using Telnet protocol to port 2000 on the emulation host. I get the DX10 IPL screen: * TEXAS INSTRUMENTS * DX10 "SYS3 " SYSTEM IPL * ST01 I hit F10 then "!" and I get a sort of menu-like thing: **************************** DX10 3.7.0 THIS SYSTEM HAS THE FOLLOWING SUBSYSTEMS INSTALLED: COBOL PASCAL SORTMRG BASIC ... ***************************** I don't get a signon prompt but I assume user login has not been enabled on this basic disk image, however... I never get the SCI prompt, [], and it seems unresponsive; I've tried typing i.e. BASIC, COBOL, commands from the DX10 manual, totally random junk, etc. and I don't get any response; I mean, it seems to be refreshing the screen every time I hit RETURN; it's not giving me any kind of error message, but it's not really doing anything either. Is my emulation just not working right? I tried the DNOS image too and I was able to get a little further... At IPL it prompts for date and time which I'm able to fill in, and there is a login stage (l: SYSTEM, p: SYSTEM) which I can get through, just use the cursor keys to move through the fields and hit RETURN to push the screen (it seems screen-oriented, feels reminiscent of an IBM) but once that's done I land at an equally unresponsive main menu just like I describe occurring with DX10. Has anyone played with this and found a Telnet client that works well? I don't see anything on the author's site other than to note that Windows Telnet won't work. Not clear what I'm doing wrong. Thanks! Sean

11 years, 5 months

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Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20150105)

by dpi＠dustyoldcomputers.com

Time for another trivia question. We will start off the year with an easy one. This one is related to computers but not exclusive to computers. What is the significance of the phrase: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. No fair looking it up on the internet. Doug Ingraham PDP-8 S/N 1175

11 years, 5 months

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Seeking... TI TMS9902 ICs

by johnwallace4＠yahoo.co.uk

Dave Pitts' aforementioned page links to some 990 stuff at bitsavers. The stuff there is largely system level stuff. People whose interests are closer to chip level might want to have a look at the 9900 Microprocessor Series Family Systems Design Databook available at archive.org, if they're not already aware: https://archive.org/details/9900MicroprocessorSeriesFamilySystemsDesignData… A 2 inch thick book that contained pretty much everything you were likely to need to know about the 9900 family. One of the few other useful 9900 resources I vaguely remember was a 3rd party 9900 book which contained the source for an "instant input assembler" - a tiny line by line assembler which you could add to your PROM-based 9900 debug monitor so you could enter small programs as source rather than hex. Neat. Can't remember name of author or of book, can't quickly find them either. I worked with 990/4 systems many years ago and there was almost no 9900 family glue logic inside. As far as I remember, the /4 was designed before (most of?) the 99xx support chips came to market. So a serial card in a /4 had a handful of chips doing what a 9902 would eventually do in one. Not sure about the video controller but the same probably applied. I have a vague recollection that the interweb has some decent writeups of the innards of the 99/4 home computer stuff (sorry, no pointers); from those, it might be possible to work out if the kit of parts on eBay is a plausible match for a 99/4 or similar volume market product. Have a lot of fun John Wallace

11 years, 5 months

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PET/CBM Book available

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

I have a spare copy of the PET/CBM Personal Computer Guide Second Edition by Adam Osborne & Carroll S. Donahue published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill available. If you are interested make me an offer. David Williams www.trailingedge.com

11 years, 5 months

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Compaq Systempro processor board repair

by tothwolf＠concentric.net

I have a Compaq Systempro 486DX2/66 processor board (Spare No. 133825-001) which I'm trying to repair that is missing some SMD components on the solder side of the board. Does anyone happen to have one of these in their collection and would be willing to read the component markings so I can repair this one? Thankfully Compaq used SMD capacitors with readable codes on them which indicate their values. My board is missing R135, C227, C178, and C153. Looking at the solder side of the board with the card edge connectors facing towards you, R135 and C227 are towards the top left corner, about 1" from the top and 1.5" from the left. They are opposite U54 which is on the component side of the board. I /think/ R135 is supposed to be 56 ohms and C227 0.047uF (based on some similar looking circuitry on the board) but I have no way to verify if those are the correct values. C178 is about 1/4" from the top edge of the board and just to the left of U511 (ATT7C174J). It is opposite U43/U60 which is on the component side of the board. C153 is just above the longest card edge connector, about 1" from the leftmost contacts. It is opposite U32 which is on the component side of the board. I salvaged this board out of a scrap bin many years ago and have already made lots of repairs to it, but I've never quite finished it. I'm about to order some other SMD parts for other projects, so if I can figure out what value these parts are supposed to be, I can pick up a few extra reels of components and finally finish this board.

11 years, 5 months

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64700A

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Today's project was a teardown and photo shoot of a 64700A, which isn't of much practical use with a 68302 pod on it, and even after 10 years of ignoring them the prices are still too high and the software to use them unobtanium. http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/hp/64700/64700A/photos/ The lack of documentation for the whole 64700 family is pretty sad. I scraped the Agilent web site back in 2000 and there wasn't much there on the A series back then. I also pulled most of my Applied Microsystems stuff out and that will be tomorrow's project.

11 years, 6 months

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Camiacs Model V document V0.3 update

by drlegendre＠gmail.com

Camiacs RS-232 / CL converter Model V document - Updated, with corrections. Your comments / additions / etc are of course requested.

11 years, 6 months

1
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RK05 classic computing trivia question

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

Based on some boxes of stuff I unpacked today... How could you quickly distinguish an RK05F spare head from a normal RK05 spare head? -tony

11 years, 6 months

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OpenGenera

by aswood＠t-online.de

Shouldn't OpenGenera now free of copyright terms? I seem to remember 2015 was the year! -- Andreas

11 years, 6 months

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Happy New Year

by hp-fix＠xs4all.nl

Everybody a happy 2015 and fruitful new year, with a lot classic computing. -Rik

11 years, 6 months

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DECWriter Shelving Available - FCFS

by leec2124＠gmail.com

Free shelving used to store 4 DECWriters available for pick-up in Menlo Park, CA 94025. Can be used for other items. Plywood on rollers. Dimensions are 31"x53"x84" Available to first to pick-up. Send me note off-list via lee_courtney (at) acm (dot) org Picture at https://flic.kr/p/qC5rU4 -- Lee Courtney

11 years, 6 months

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Anyone have a spare DECstation in europe for a developer?

by abs＠absd.org

Bj?rn Johannesson has been working on the VAX framebuffer and keyboard code in NetBSD to get X running on the LCG equipped machines (like the VAXstation 4000/VLC and 4000/60). He's expressed an interest in looking at some issues in the DECstation X11 code, but doesn't have access to an appropriate machine. On the offchance, would anyone know of a little DECstation which might appreciate a new lease of life as a development box? :) Bj?rn is in Sweden, but I've heard that for the appropriate remuneration there are companies which will transport computers across oceans in (relative) safety :-p David

11 years, 6 months

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RDI laptop for sale (commercial listing)

by linimon＠lonesome.com

So I triaged this unit the other day and now my company has listed it on eBay. It didn't come with the power brick so we couldn't test it; if you have one of these with its brick and need a spare, this is for you :-) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rdi-Ultrabook-Sun-167MHz-or-200MHz-UltraSPARC1-256M… mcl

11 years, 6 months

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HP 16500A Breakout and Missile Command

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

On Sun, 28 Dec 2014 07:55:58 -0800 Al Kossow wrote: > > Also, if someone has one, I'm interested in getting a first-generation 500A CPU > card (the one with DIP DRAMs) since I'd like to get a good picture of it. I have one also from my 16500C upgrade, if you need one.

11 years, 6 months

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Italians around?

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

me, if you need!

11 years, 6 months

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HP 16500A Breakout and Missile Command

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Oh well, didn't quite get it in time for Christmas. http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/HP/16500/16500A/16500A_Games.zip There is an imagedisk image and extracted files from the LIF volume.

11 years, 6 months

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OT: Physical Book Prices

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Charles Dickman > a book that was pure computer geek porn: "Core Memory" by Mark Richards > & John Alderman. ... I went looking on Amazon for it. The price is $172 > for a new hardcover and $78 for a used hardcover. > This is ridiculous. For anyone who wants a copy, I just ran across a copy on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161534172515 going for a more reasonable amount ($29, no bids at the moment). The sale ends today (8:15PM EST). Noel

11 years, 6 months

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Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20141226)

by dpi＠dustyoldcomputers.com

This one is seemingly easy. On the front panel of the original PDP-8 (straight 8), how many lights are there? There is a pretty good picture of one on Wikipedia if you feel like sneaking a peek. Doug Ingraham PDP-8 S/N 1175

11 years, 6 months

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Multiple copies (Duplicates or more)...

by lbickley＠bickleywest.com

Am I the only one getting multiple copies (duplicates or more) of cctalk emails? Fortunately, my email client supports eliminating duplicates - but I'd like to know if this problem is specific to me - or are others experiencing this too??? Lyle -- Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"

11 years, 6 months

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ISO Applied Microsystems EL 1600 Emulator Documentation

by aek＠bitsavers.org

In the early 90's Applied Microsystems updated their 16 bit emulators with a 68020 processor and ethernet. The original had a 6809 as the emulation processor. There is almost nothing about these on the net, there was apparently a EL 3200 version which supported Intel. This may have been a short lived product since they switched to BLM and other serial products around then. Main interest is I discovered I have one, most of my AMC boxes are ES 1800 (serial 6809) and wanted to try to use it. It's possible they switched to some proprietary undocumented protocol on the other hand. Their product part numbering is cryptic, to say the least. I have two units that look indentical on the outside (later plastic cases with the carrying handle) and the emulation processors in them are 6809 in one (the Z8001 one) and 68xxx in the other (the 68000 one, pn. 750-01600-00). Looking on eBay, it appears the 32 bit units are pn 750-13200-xx http://www.ebay.com/itm/271314972572 for example

11 years, 6 months

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Tektronix 4014 optional communications

by djg＠pdp8online.com

I'm trying to get my 4014 working and am having trouble with the optional data communcations board. I'm not positive if its a later version of 021-0074-00 (070-1379-00) or a different option. It is identifiable by the control plate on the back has thumb switches that display the baud rate instead of a rotary switch. Does anybody have one of these who can tell me what settings and jumpers work for them or have the manual for this interface? My board is labeled 670-4758-00 JB-5337-00 Opt Data Comm With various settings I can get it to do nothing, send some characters properly and some wrong only while local echoing, and receive but not send.

11 years, 6 months

1
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HP equipment, call for documentation

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Hello everybody, Santa brought me two fine pieces of HP measurement equipment (o.k., I had to order and pay for them up front...) and I'm now looking for documentation on those. 1: HP 8016A Word Generator (http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=35). This basically is a 256 bit memory with control logic and drivers that can be configured to spit out its front panel programmed contents through 1, 2, 4 or 8 outputs (with a respective word length of 256, 128, 64 or 32 bits). Trigger can be applied externally or via pushbutton, bit clock (up to 50 MC) can be internally generated or externally connected. Output levels can be set to TTL or ECL with adjustable offset, RZ or NRZ operation selected. Each output is also available negated on a separate connector, four channels have separately adjustable delays. The real surprise with this one was that it came with the IEEE-488 (HP-IB) data load option installed. I have found datasheets and the User section of the manual (Chapter 1-3) here, but this contains neither the HPIB instruction set (which I'd like to have anyway) nor the schematic and service instructions (in case I should need them - couldn't try the device out yet because I'll have to replace a broken IEC receptacle first). 2: HP 11835A Serial Data Buffer (http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=665). Contains two banks of 64k x 16 bit parallel-input, serial-output data RAM, 128k x 16 bit control RAM feeding the frame control state machine, and 64k x 8 bit frequency RAM driving a parallel control output. Originally intended to provide continuous serial data streams at up to 4 MHz and control a frequency agile synthesizer (HP 8662A) for testing mobile communication devices; mine was in use at a Nokia R&D facility in Oulu, Finland, according to a sticker. This unit is usually controlled and fed with data from a microcomputer (HP 9000 Series 300 or Vectra series) through a HP 82306 GPIO interface, which I don't have. Found no documentation except for a four-page data sheet with a simplified block diagram (https://www.valuetronics.com/Manuals/HP_11835A.PDF) yet and would need at least the specification for the GPIO connector and its protocol to get anything working, plus preferably said interface card plus documentation and/or driver software. Thanks in advance for any assistance offered. Yours sincerly, Arno Kletzander

11 years, 6 months

2
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ASR33 carriange stopper issue

by billdeg＠buzz1.com

> .. it could well be that the grease or oil on the side of the piston has dried and has become sticky goo. just clean well with white spirit ans apply a thin layer of thin oil. adjusting the valve hole should only be caried out starting the carriage from the far end. > An alignment problem between the piston and the cylinder could also be the problem. are the ball bearings of the carriage free running? My $.02 Alignment is the first thing to check here. You can clean and check airflow of the piston into the cup, but be careful about what grease (?) you use. I'd just clean and make sure there is no debris in there only. If alignment fixes the problem you probably don't need to do anything else. Use a nut driver to loosen the nut screws and carefully move the printer and/or belt return a few millimeters at a time until you get the result you're looking for. Clean the return spring (with something underneath to catch any debris) if it's really gunked up with old oil. Don't use pliers to open the nut screws, the investment in a nut driver is very worth it. b

11 years, 6 months

1
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Italians around?

by info＠drukknop.nl

Hello all, as I am in the process of restoring a Olivetti Programma 101, Jim pointed me to a bunch of documents on the logic in this machine, all in italian. The Programma 101 is build using Resistor-Transistor-Logic, and the schematic representation is not one i've seen before. So I've decided to translate the docs to english and google translate can be of some help here, but a lot of the technical meaning is lost. By looking at the schematics and the boards themselves I could solve some mysteries, but I could use some help in translating. Our machine seems to have intermitted problems and I think they are caused by bad contacts in the backplane, but to be shure, a good schematic and explanation of the workings is a tremendous help. Is there someone able to take a look at the originals and my rudimentary translation and suggest improvements? -- Met vriendelijke Groet, Simon Claessen drukknop.nl

11 years, 6 months

5
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Wooden case for DBit power and signal adapters - and a drive too

by david＠attglobal.net

Finally feeling guilty enough about stringing a bunch of expensive electronic bits out on my bench whenever time came to use an 8" disk drive, I mounted my DBit-sourced parts and power supply into a case. And the power+smarts sled slides in and out and has little feet on the bottom so it can be re-used with other loose 8" drives too. Some pictures with the least-intrusive Google Drive URLs I could manage: The sled that holds the repurposed PC power supply, FDDC power converter, and FDADAP signal adapter: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevMHNRV0s2MzZWcEE/preview?pli=1 The FDADAP doesn't have great mounting capabilities, so I just made a little edge holder out of wood for it. This slides into a cabinet (made of wood scraps...) so that it sits above the floppy drive it's powering: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevT1M3QTdsWE9obk0/preview?pli=1 And of course what olden tech thing would be complete without a shiny red button? https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevaUVQRkxBbnozVTQ/preview?pli=1 There's room/depth on the front for a bezel, but I'm not sure I'll bother: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0im7ldJkbevSGJRREFxWklTRGc/preview?pli=1 Yeah, the digits on the FDADAP are upside down the way everything ended up being oriented, but I don't suppose I'll be looking at the back from now on.

11 years, 6 months

3
4
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ASR33 carriange stopper issue

by simski＠dds.nl

it could well be that the grease or oil on the side of the piston has dried and has become sticky goo. just clean well with white spirit ans apply a thin layer of thin oil. adjusting the valve hole should only be caried out starting the carriage from the far end. An alignment problem between the piston and the cylinder could also be the problem. are the ball bearings of the carriage free running? On 27-12-14 15:14, Robert Jarratt wrote: > I have not seen this on my 33. There is a little valve at the end of the cylinder to let air out, try adjusting that. I can't remember if you should oil or grease the cylinder too, I am not at home to check what I did. Careful not to make the resistance too low either, it needs to be not too high or too low. > > Regards > > Rob > > -----Original Message----- > From: "Martin Meiner" <martin at meiner.ch> > Sent: ?27/?12/?2014 14:07 > To: "cctech at classiccmp.org" <cctech at classiccmp.org> > Subject: ASR33 carriange stopper issue > > Hello guys. > I recently acquired for a mere 25 EUR a nice ASR33. Aside of needing a thorough cleaning and greasing, it seems to be pretty much working fine! > But I wouldn't write here if I wouldn't need your help: > The ASR33's carriage has a spring that gets tighter as you type. And upon CR, the spring will bring the carriage back to its original left position. There is a mechanism, similar as a piston and a cylinder, which acts as a "bumper" or stopper. My problem is that this stopper, while not showing any signs of usage, seems too tight. If the carriage is all the way to the right, the spring will be strong enough to overcome the "too tight stopper". But if only a few words were typed followed by CR, the force is not strong enough to bring the carriage to its left home-position. Of course I could take down some of the piston's diameter to overcome the problem. But this doesn't seem right. > Anyone out there also had a problem with this stopper being too tight to bring the carriage to its home position and how to overcome it? > Thanks for any advise on the issue. Martin > -- Met vriendelijke Groet, Simon Claessen drukknop.nl

11 years, 6 months

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ASR33 carriange stopper issue

by martin＠meiner.ch

Hello guys. I recently acquired for a mere 25 EUR a nice ASR33. Aside of needing a thorough cleaning and greasing, it seems to be pretty much working fine!? But I wouldn't write here if I wouldn't need your help:? The ASR33's carriage has a spring that gets tighter as you type. And upon CR, the spring will bring the carriage back to its original left position. There is a mechanism, similar as a piston and a cylinder, which acts as a "bumper" or stopper. My problem is that this stopper, while not showing any signs of usage, seems too tight. If the carriage is all the way to the right, the spring will be strong enough to overcome the "too tight stopper". But if only a few words were typed followed by CR, the force is not strong enough to bring the carriage to its left home-position. Of course I could take down some of the piston's diameter to overcome the problem. But this doesn't seem right.? Anyone out there also had a problem with this stopper being too tight to bring the carriage to its home position and how to overcome it?? Thanks for any advise on the issue.?Martin?

11 years, 6 months

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DEC printsets on line

by j＠ckrubin.us

I've digitized several early PDP-8 related printsets and placed them online in a public Dropbox folder. Circumstances did not allow direct scanning of the documents - they were photographed and then post-processed to produce .pdf files. Conditions were less than optimal and the resultant files are quite large but hopefully these files will be of use to those who need them. The files are: 779 Power Supply 832 Power Controller PDP-8/I Printset DM01 Printset KW8I Printset TC01 Printset TU55 Printset The files are located at: http://tinyurl.com/PDP8I-docs Best, Jack

11 years, 6 months

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Merry Christmas

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello Folks, Merry Christmas! Andrea

11 years, 6 months

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A bit of Hacker History

by silent700＠gmail.com

It's taken me far too long to get these things prepped and posted, so why not a holiday release? Some historical reading for your post-meal time on the sofa: http://silent700.blogspot.com/2014/12/is-this-something.html The tl;dr version: I was given some message board dumps from one of the original hack/phreak scene BBSes, covering a portion of its short run in 1980-1. That led to obtaining some more, which I've cleaned up and compiled into a PDF. I feel they're an invaluable insight into the "state of things" back then, not to mention just a fun read. Some familiar names in this lot...perhaps even some we know...? Happy $holiday(*) and enjoy... -j

11 years, 6 months

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A bit of Hacker History

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jason T > I was given some message board dumps from one of the original > hack/phreak scene BBSes ... That led to obtaining some more, which I've > cleaned up and compiled into a PDF. Thank you for saving, and making available, this valuable historical data. Noel

11 years, 6 months

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Last call for free VAX 6610, VAX 7760, Alpha GS60e

by binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com

Folks, These machines are still available in Newmarket UK, I'd like to save them even if it means me hiring my own truck next week. Paging Jim Austin, got room for them in York? Cheers, -- adrian/witchy Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection? www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

11 years, 6 months

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Best of Season

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Hello everybody, Happy Holiday (Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukka, Yule, Newtonsday...) to all my fellow listmembers. Hope you can enjoy a few holidays and have some (perhaps also classic computer related) fun. My best wishes also for the upcoming year 2015. Yours sincerely, Arno.

11 years, 6 months

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Delivering a computer in 1957

by sellam＠vintagetech.com

Neat photo: http://twistedsifter.com/2014/12/delivering-a-computer-in-1957/ -- Sellam ibn Abraham VintageTech ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintagetech.com Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The truth is always simple. * * * NOTICE * * * Due to the insecure nature of the medium over which this message has been transmitted, no statement made in this writing may be considered reliable for any purpose either express or implied. The contents of this message are appropriate for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. The right of the people to be secure in their papers against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.

11 years, 6 months

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Hosting large files Was: DEC printsets on line

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: steve shumaker > I'm looking at posting a large spreadsheet for the list to use and am > looking at options I'm happy to host any large files related to the list's focus. Noel

11 years, 6 months

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Okidata 182

by fast79ta＠yahoo.com

I was recently playing around with my old ML 182. Due to it's oki rom, it has some what limited use, as even windows 3.1 doesn't support it. There is an IBM rom for the printer mentioned as a kit (310-324-01), that will turn it into an IBM graphics printer. Does any one have, or know where to find this rom image? Thanks, and merry christmas everyone.

11 years, 6 months

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