Can anyone identify the text formatting program that the following is
meant for? Looks kind of like nroff, but it's not (particularly those
@-leadin sequences):
CHAP5
\format,16,60,66,8,60
\define,ref $&1
\title,c=- #p -
\block,i8
\nojust
\setu1
\seth at A
\setss[]
\seto!
\double
\page211
\blank
\skip10
\center,b,u,=Chapter 5 at D Biomass, Production and the Fishery
\skip6
15.1 Introduction1
\setu1,notblanks
A general review of the central and upper Amazon fishery has been
attempted based on comparative yield data (Bayley 1981).
Thanks for any pointers,
Chuck
A member of my staff has an Ultra5 that's destined for e-waste unless someone from the list wants it. FFS or pick it up in Santa Rosa, California.
--
Christian Kennedy Ph.D.
chris at mainecoon.com AF6AP | DB00000692 | PG00029419
http://www.mainecoon.com PGP KeyID 108DAB97
PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97
"Mr. McKittrick, after careful consideration..."
Dear listeners of this list and too whom it may concern or might be interested,
due to support my Thatched Roof Restauration Project at Indiegogo http://igg.me/at/reetdach I'm going to sell at lot of stuff from my collection:
There are PDP11 Systems: 11/23Plus, 11/24, 11/34, 11/44, 11/73, 11/84 and 11/93. Either only the cpu or as complete systems with disk drives or RL drives, e.g. there is a DecSystem with a 11/23Plus and two RL02, nice 11/84 Systems in a dual rack layout, which can be placed underneath an office desk.
There are H960 Racks with RK05 drives.
Additionally VT100 Terminals, RA drives, RC 25 drives and media, Tape drives, spare boards, RL drives and media, RX01 and 02 Spares.
Manuals and documentation.
There are some SMD drives (Fujitsu), a RP06 drive.
Furthermore I'm offering NEXT Stations (mono and color) and MicroVaxen, mostly SCSI System (dual BA23 Systems). Additionally "bigger" Vaxen.
More: Tektronix Storage Tube Display, Tektronix Computer, Wang Computer.
And HP1000 System like A700 and A900, HP 1000 E/F CPUs and spare boards
There are some HP9845 Computer.
Feel free to contact me off-list.
If you are willing to spend some $/? to my campaign, I possible will be able to order the roofer at the beginnig of October.
Andreas
I'm currently restoring a couple of VT100 terminals. After checking the
power supplies over and replacing the odd capacitor on the output side
I've had both of them running on a dummy load. They seem to work OK but
I've noticed that R27, which is a large 13W power resistor, gets quite
hot after only a few minutes of being powered on. This resistor is part
of a snubber circuit on the primary side of the main transformer. After
about 5 minutes I measure a temperature of around 95C (200F) on both
power supplies.
Another component that appears to have been quite hot over time (burnt
PCB) is R55, but perhaps this is just an underrated part?
Does anyone have a VT100 and can confirm whether this is 'normal' operation?
Many Thanks,
Matt
-----Original Message-----
On 01/09/2014 19:45, Charles wrote:
> I'm having really bizarre hardware problems with my 8/A (M8315/6/7, 32K,
> programmer?s panel, limited function panel, two RL02?s, OS/8). Most of the
> time it works perfectly, including last night, but today it began refusing
> to boot OS/8 again.
>
> If I toggle in a short program (say, to read the keyboard and echo to the
> printer) it works. So far so good.
>
> BUT if I hit the boot key (which doesn't boot correctly, although it does
> access both RL02's briefly), then halt the system, then run the test
> program, I can see while single-stepping that after two instructions it
> jumps to location 0 instead and thereafter into space!!
>
> Even more oddly, halting the system again, then running the test program
> again, works normally without the unwanted jump to location 0... every
> time. Until I hit BOOT, halt, and try and run it, then it jumps away
> again...
>
> The only thing that occurs to me right away is that power-fail & restart
> has an option to jump to address zero. But I've got that option turned
> off. Time to get out the logic analyer and scope... unless this weirdness
> is something you've heard of before? Any hints appreciated!
>
> thanks
> Charles
>
I have a PDP-8/A which I've been slowly repairing for some time now. I
got to the stage where I could run simple programs from the console or
>from virtual paper tape but trying to boot from floppy or running OS/8
would result in symptoms like you describe. The last time I powered it
on however, the console was totally unresponsive. After doing various
checks I found that there was excessive ripple from the power supply and
the -5V in particular was a mess. I haven't got round to investigating
this problem yet. I would check the power supply first with the scope
and go from there. It's probably best to check it under load too, like
when you press the boot key.
Matt
-------------------------------------
Thanks, but that's the first thing I always check... PS voltages are fine.
I learned some more today... interrupts make a JMS 0 and somewhere in the
boot process, apparently OS/8 is enabling interrupts. Both the RL8A
controller card and the SLU (console TTY port) can interrupt (and in fact
the SLU was creating the interrupt) . Explicitly disabling interrupts with
an IOF before running the echo program eliminates the jump to 0.
Does anyone know if OS/8 uses the interrupt facility of the RL8A controller?
Not sure if this is a problem or not with the interrupts also coming from
the console and holding the int request asserted...
However.
More possible clues: at one point I was applying finger-tip pressure to the
RL8A card, hit the boot switch and OS/8 came up! I started listing a
directory, which worked fine until I let go the pressure on the board - the
system crashed immediately. Can't get it to boot again except it will print
"V" on the tty instead of the "." prompt and it won't do anything else
(endless loop in zero page but ultimately waiting for drive at a
skip-on-done instruction).
Ran some diagnostics. DJKKBA (CPU exerciser) ran 8 passes without a failure.
DHKMAD (memory checkerboard) also ran until I got tired of waiting. AJRLHA
(RL seek/fctn) works on both drives. But - AJRLIA (read/write) on a scratch
pack fails immediately. Then I unloaded the drives and tried AJRLAC (RL8A
diskless diagnostic) a.k.a. controller card test - MANY failures all
involving the middle 4 bits of the 12 bit data starting with DAR - silo. If
this were an interrupt problem it'd be all bits, not the middle nibble!
So I believe that a 4-bit TTL device (buffer, RAM, ?) on the card has
failed. Hoping for a bad solder joint which would explain how flexing the
card temporarily fixed but then made it worse. More likely a defective IC
(pin or bond wire inside the plastic DIP). E13, an 8234, is the first
suspect the next time I feel like wrestling with this.
Anyone got an RL8A (M8433) card I can buy or borrow?
thanks
Charles
I have one AT&T 1600/6250 in a rackable case (no rails.) There is no
obvious model # but it's an HP rebadge, likely of the 88780. It has
the Pertec (non-SCSI) interface so it's of limited use to me but may
be a good fit for a minicomputer. Other than powering up, I haven't
tested it, having no suitable interface, but it looks clean. If I
have time I may be able to run a blank tape through its self-test
routines.
Pickup is in the NW Chicago suburbs (60070.) If you're coming in for
VCFMW, that would be a perfect time. It's a bit heavy to bring down
to the show but home is not too far from the venue.
-j
I'm having really bizarre hardware problems with my 8/A (M8315/6/7, 32K, programmer?s panel, limited function panel, two RL02?s, OS/8). Most of the time it works perfectly, including last night, but today it began refusing to boot OS/8 again.
If I toggle in a short program (say, to read the keyboard and echo to the printer) it works. So far so good.
BUT if I hit the boot key (which doesn't boot correctly, although it does access both RL02's briefly), then halt the system, then run the test program, I can see while single-stepping that after two instructions it jumps to location 0 instead and thereafter into space!!
Even more oddly, halting the system again, then running the test program again, works normally without the unwanted jump to location 0... every time. Until I hit BOOT, halt, and try and run it, then it jumps away again...
The only thing that occurs to me right away is that power-fail & restart has an option to jump to address zero. But I've got that option turned off. Time to get out the logic analyer and scope... unless this weirdness is something you've heard of before? Any hints appreciated!
thanks
Charles
And furthermore, does anyone have any documentation on it? I'm curious
as to what it looked like inside. The only thing I could find was a
PDF about a very early Ada compiler for it.
--
Thanks,
Kevin
Hello all
Since we got 4 of them, allw ith a broken power supply, I was wondering
if someone has already stumbled upon a solution. i have not open them
yet, but i think the problems are the same on all of them. googling on
hp150 is not the way to go unless you want info for modern devices
having 150 in their names...
--
Met vriendelijke Groet,
Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl
Just to hastily follow-up and divert everyone's attention from my
miss-fired reply (meant for Andreas and not the list), I found a
recent bitsavers document which suggests the drives I have (Emulex
SD590s) are not SMD drives as I originally thought, but DEC SDI (the
host side is DSA a forerunner of MSCP?) - something I've never heard
of before.
Is anyone familiar with these drives that might know if the KDA50-Q
controller is suitable?
(EK-KDA5Q-UG-001_KDA50-Q_Users_Guide_Nov84.pdf)
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/emulex/SM9050501-A_SD59X_S…
I get the impression these drives were really intended to be used with
VAX-BI based systems and I will be out of luck trying to get them to
run on a simpler QBUS MicroVAX system.
Q: What was VAXELN written in?
A: The software for the target (OS, drivers, tools, etc) was largely written in VAXELN's own
PASCAL-like language, EPASCAL. The intention was that complete VAXELN systems
(including drivers) could be developed with no need for knowledge of VAX assembler.
There was at one time a VAXELN Source Kit available, which had very little assembler in it.
There intentionally wasn't enough in the Source Kit to rebuild a complete VAXELN OS.
In later VAXELNs, other languages besides EPASCAL were added: VAX C, VAX Pascal, VAX
Ada. Maybe FORTRAN. And VAXELN's own debugger was supplemented by a host/target
variant of the standard VAX/VMS debugger.
VAXELN V4.5 or later (mid 1990s?) is a good place to aim for if you want a fully functional
version, rather than a historically interesting version.
Q: What's VAXELN's current status?
A: Retired, since a long time ago. Not ported to Alpha. VAXELN customers were "encouraged"
to move to VxWorks for Alpha, which would have been a major effort. I wasn't aware of anyone
in UK (or Europe) that bothered making the move.
Q: Who owns VAXELN now?
A: Unclear. It became part of DEC's Embedded + Realtime group, which was eventually sold off
(by Compaq) to SMART Modular Technologies and has since had various owners in the world of
high end embedded/RT systems. When I last looked, last year, Emerson Network Power owned
at least E+RT's PICMG hardware, but that again now seems to have moved elsewhere...
It has been claimed in comp.os.vms that VAXELN wasn't included when CPQ sold the E+RT stuff,
which is entirely plausible.
Definitive info welcome.
Q: What documentation is there for VAXELN?
A: The documentation that exists is to DEC's usual standards. Hardcopy and bookreader
versions of most VAXELN docs exist; the bookreader stuff is available online. I am not aware of
PS or PDF versions (there were internal-only PS versions).
There was/is a PC version of Bookreader, for those that don't yet have a VMS system.
The VAXELN Technical Summary is an excellent mini-book, if you happen across one. It'd be
nice if there was a copy online; I'm not aware of one.
The excellent VAX Realtime User's Guide, EK-VAXRT-UG001 (1986!) covers using VAX for
realtime applications on both VMS and VAXELN, in some considerable depth. Also not
immediately locatable online, sadly.
DEC EduServices used to have some nice training materials for VAXELN, going back a very long
time. Unlikely to be online.
There have been occasional VAXELN-related discussions in comp.os,vms, e.g. on 1 March 2007
I replied re VAXELN to a query on "History of VMS and related operating systems", see e.g.
http://unix.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.os.vms/2007-03/msg00014.html
(Google Groups links are not helpful as they are very likely to rot over time).
hth
john wallace
I have started playing with the rtVAX 1000 I collected last year. It was
running OK when then was a sudden bang and the machine stopped. Not even the
fans will run. There was no smell and no smoke, so I knew immediately that
it can't be the mains filter capacitors, which always fail on these power
supplies.
I have opened it up and cannot see any damage in the PSU, the CPU, the
memory, or any of the other boards. I am sure it must be the power supply,
but I really can't see any damage. The power supply is one of the ASTEC ones
common in the MicroVAX II.
My first step is going to be to test the PSU with a dummy load using light
bulbs (still haven't built a board for a dummy load) and with the fans
connected, but nothing else. Will also check for ripple at the same time.
There are two outputs from the PSU that I don't fully understand, one is P
OK, I am guessing that means *something* is OK, but not sure what, power
perhaps, but what power?. The other is called LTC, I have no idea what that
one means. Can anyone enlighten me?
Any other ideas?
Regards
Rob
This is a followup to my previous email (attached)...
I just finished reading the PDP-5 Users Manual - and discovered the
following statement regarding the "operate instruction" (note: words in
parentheses are mine):
"Any logical combination of bits within this group (Group 1) can be
combined into one microinstruction. For example, it is possible to
assign ones to bite 5,6 and 11; but it is not logical to assign ones to
bits 8 and 9 simultaneously since they specify conflicting operations
(bits 8&9 are rotate right and rotate left). If RAL or RAR is
specified, neither CMA or CML may be specified, and conversely. If RTL
or RTR is specified, neither CMA, CML or IAC may be specified, and
conversely."
So the PDP-5 was even more restrictive with regard to microinstructions
than the PDP-8/S!
Matter of fact, I'm now even more impressed how Saul Dinman was able to
design almost all of the functional capabilities of the PDP-8 into the
PDP-8/S's compact package.
In addition, while the PDP-8/S was only about half the performance of a
PDP-5, the price of the PDP-5 was $27,000 while the price of the PDP-8/S
was about $10,000 (4KW core, including TTY). In that context, it was a
pretty good deal...
Cheers,
Lyle
------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 17:31:45 -0700
From: Lyle Bickley <lbickley at bickleywest.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: PDP-8/S Incompatibilities......
I've had my PDP-8/S up and running for some time - but have recently
experienced failures using some PDP-8 software.
My 8/S passes all the DEC diagnostics - and it runs FOCAL-69 and 71
perfectly.
So I decided to track down what was causing some programs to fail - and
I discovered that the problem is PDP-8/S incompatibilities.
PDP-8/S "Reality"
-----------------
The PDP-8/S User Manual lies! It makes the following claim
regarding Group 1 Operate Instructions:
"The only restriction on combining OPR 1 (Group 1) operations
within one instruction, other than logical conflicts, is that
a rotate operation (bits 8, 9 or 10) may not be combined with
the increment AC operation (bit 11) since they are executed
during the same bit times."
I decided to test that claim on my PDP-8/S and got the
following results (via single stepping through the test
program below.)
The "8/S" column is Link AC contents (L AAAA):
*200 Page 1
1 0200 *200
2 /AC 8/S NOTES
3 00200 7200 CLA /0 0 0000
4 00201 7201 CLA IAC /1 0 0001
5 00202 7326 CLA CLL CML RTL /2 0 0002
6 00203 7325 CLA CLL CML IAC RAL /3 1 0003 8/I AND UP
7 00204 7307 CLA CLL IAC RTL /4 1 0001 8/I AND UP
8 00205 7327 CLA CLL CML IAC RTL /6 1 0003 8/I AND UP
9 00206 7215 CLA IAC RAL RAR /10 1 0003 6120
10 00207 7203 CLA IAC BSW /100 1 0001 8/E AND UP
11 00210 7332 CLA CLL CML RTR /2000 0 2000
12 00211 7354 CLA CLL CMA RAR RAL /3776 1 7777 8/I OR 8/L
13 00212 7350 CLA CLL CMA RAR /3777 1 7777
14 00213 7330 CLA CLL CML RAR /4000 0 4000
15 00214 7352 CLA CLL CMA RTR /5777 1 7777
16 00215 7333 CLA CLL CML IAC RTR /6000 1 0003 8/I AND UP
17 00216 7346 CLA CLL CMA RTL /7775 1 7777
18 00217 7344 CLA CLL CMA RAL /7776 1 7777
19 00220 7240 CLA CMA /7777 ? 7777
20 00221 7402 HLT
21 $
No detected errors
No links generated
Note that all of the CMA shift instructions failed - even
though the test (from Programming Languages) thought they
should work in pre-8/I machines.
At first I thought my PDP-8/S was failing - until I found the
following from the PDP-8/S FAQ (What is a PDP-8/S?):
"Compatibility: The core of the PDP-8 instruction set is present,
but there are a sufficient number of incompatibilities that, as
with the PDP-5, many otherwise portable "Family of 8" programs
will not run on the PDP-8/S. Perhaps the worst incompatibility
is that the Group 1 OPR instruction CMA cannot be combined with
any of the rotate instructions; as with the PDP-8, IAC also cannot
be combined with rotate."
I decided to understand WHY this happens - and the answer
is in the PDP-8/S Maintenance Manual and the PDP-8/S
schematics. I've abreviated the sequence of execution
below. (The "Ax" references are bit timimg):
Group 1 Instruction Sequencing
------------------------------
Fetch
-----
A12 Set or Clear Link, Clear AC per instruction
Execute
-------
A00 For right rotation (A00-01), shift AC+L together
once or twice per instruction
A(00-11) IAC: Adds one to AC
CMA: Complements the AC
IAC*CMA: Complement and add one to AC
Left Rotate: AC+L shifted right 11 or 12 times
per instruction
A12 IAC: Complements L on overflow (CMA appears
in gating, but has no effect)
As can be seen, while the system clears the AC and clears
or sets the Link during Fetch - it rotates right BEFORE
complementing the AC! It also attempts to execute a complement
of the AC at the SAME TIME as a left rotate - which simply
does not work!
Finally, just to verify the correctness of the test program,
I single stepped it on my PDP-8/E and got the same results
as the SIMH trace below:
SIMH PDP8 Trace of the above:
-----------------------------
sim> sh cpu history
PC L AC MQ ea IR
00200 1 7777 0000 CLA
00201 1 0000 0000 CLA IAC
00202 1 0001 0000 CLA CLL CML RTL
00203 0 0002 0000 CLA CLL CML IAC RAL
00204 0 0003 0000 CLA CLL IAC RTL
00205 0 0004 0000 CLA CLL CML IAC RTL
00206 0 0006 0000 CLA IAC RAL RAR
00207 0 0001 0000 CLA IAC BSW
00210 0 0100 0000 CLA CLL CML RTR
00211 0 2000 0000 CLA CLL CMA RAL RAR
00212 0 7354 0000 CLA CLL CMA RAR
00213 1 3777 0000 CLA CLL CML RAR
00214 0 4000 0000 CLA CLL CMA RTR
00215 1 5777 0000 CLA CLL CML IAC RTR
00216 0 6000 0000 CLA CLL CMA RTL
00217 1 7775 0000 CLA CLL CMA RAL
00220 1 7776 0000 STA
00221 1 7777 0000 HLT
sim>
Cheers,
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Anyone have copies of the service manuals for Tandberg, Archive, or Wangtek SCSI QIC tape drives
TDC 3600/3800, Archive 2160S/2150S, etc?
I picked up a copy of the product manual for the TDC3600 series, and I realized that I don't have
any maintenance manuals for the SCSI QIC products.
On a 4116, pin 1 is -5V, while the 4164 is N/C. Every guide online says
to snip off pin 1 if migrating to 4164s in a 4116 footprint, but I don't
understand why. If pin 1 on a 4164 is truly N/C, then why does it
matter if the pin is inserted?
Jim
--
Jim Brain
brain at jbrain.comwww.jbrain.com
Hello all,
I got a batch of orginal Convex tapes with ConvexOS for C1xx, C2xx, C34xx an C38xx.
This tape seems to be stored in a quite moisty environemnt and are partial molded.
Since these tapes, their content is of high value for me, beside of this I don't know if ConvvexOS is somewhere archived, how to process these tapes to be readed successfully.
@Al: shall I send this tape to you before starting my own experiments?
Andreas
----- Original Message -----
> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:49:32 -0500
> From: "drlegendre ." <drlegendre at gmail.com>
> ..,.For swaps, I have ... a couple of MM5314N
> display drivers, as used in Nixie tube clocks - the latter sell for
> $20-25/ea, IIRC.
----- Reply:
My MM5314Ns are digital clock chips, not display drivers, and they have 7
segment outputs not really suited for Nixie tubes at all...
m
Coming across some old PDP-8 files from him today reminded me, has ANYONE
heard anything from Jeff Russ? He may have retired by now. I think the last
time I saw him was when I went out there to visit in the early 2000's.
Well, we finally managed to pick up the huge collection of computers
>from a basement in enschede, The Netherlands.
Is was quite a project.
after visiting the place to get an idea about what there was and how to
get it out of there, we made a plan. the key problem was that almost 90
percent had to come through a small hatch 80x80cm. :-)
and the collection included pdp11's, Control Data diskpack drives,
microvaxes, SGI's, IBM RT machines, an IBM system/36 and a lot more
heavy stuff.
We rounded up around 15 people and a lot of transporting hardware an we
managed to get everything out in one day. :-)
To have a souvenir of the occasion we set up some camera's taking a
picture every 5 seconds and made a nice film:
Edited video: http://vimeo.com/ramdyne/dndexodus
Raw footage interior: https://vimeo.com/103064036
Raw footage exterior: http://hack42.sa007.nl/exodus/timelapse.avi and
https://vimeo.com/103081276
Info page: https://hack42.nl/wiki/DND_Kelder_leeghalen
We are still repackaging things and havent even started to look in
boxed. :-(
--
Met vriendelijke Groet,
Simon Claessen
hack42.nl
Since I've never seen this described anywhere
Older carts are easy, the reels and roller are held in place, the later ones
are not since the cover holds them down.
Assuming you're right-handed:
Put the cart on a table so the capstan roller is to your left
Take the band and place it on the capstan roller, pull it taught with your right
index finger and snake it between the two reels.
Put your thumb on the bottom reel (the one that normally has little tape on it)
your pinky or next-over finger on the capstan roller and index finder on the other
reel. Rotate one of the reels so the tape is tight, and apply pressure with all
three fingers to keep the tape tight.
Place the band across the bottom of the reel which has the most tape on it (depending
on if the tape was at the load point), by moving your index finger towards the appropriate
bottom white band roller. Make sure the band across the bottom of the tape is near the
center of the tape roll (you don't want it popping over or under the reel in the next step).
Now, you tighten the belt. This is the tricky part. The band really wants to go under one of
the reels as you do this. Place the band around the white roller closest to the supply reel,
making sure that the roller doesn't move upwards on the pin. Bring it over to the other roller
apply tension and pop it on. Hopefully, the band hasn't popped under something as you do this.
The most often thing that happens is the band goes under the capstan roller or the supply reel.
Now, the belt is on, but there is some slack in the tape. Take the band across the reel having
the least amount of tape and move it away from the reel, releasing the tension on it. Spin the
reel to take up the tape slack, and release the band.
The things I had the hardest time with were the rollers moving up and down, and thinking of a
simple way to tension the tape; move the band away.. duh..
Hi
I quite a lot OpenVMS manuals that needs to go to make room for other
documentation.
It is paperback for version 6.0, 6.2, 7.0 and 7.2. Unfortunately no
complete set and some dupes. If there is any interest I'll make a
complete inventory.
There is also older gray and orange wall type manuals.
Price is free for the cost of shipping from Uppsala, Sweden.
Unless a bidding war ensues of course :D Beer money is always welcome.
Regards,
Pontus.
Hi,
we got a Zilog S8000 this weekend. The system is really nice and in good
shape. Thanks to Oliver Lehmann, there's a bit of documentation for this
system (seems to be very rare nowadays). Our system had several errors
during bring up diagnostics that were caused by bad contacts in several IC
sockets (could be cured by pulling out all socketed ICs and reinserting
them). But there's one error left, and alas, our system is a Model 32 that
is a bit newer than the Model 31/31plus, the CPU board is different and
the error number is not in the hardware reference manual. The system also
doesn't boot successfully from the SMD disk, it is able to load the
primary bootstrap, but trying to load the secondary bootstrap immediatly
returns an error.
Here's what comes out on the terminal:
System 8000 HPCPU Monitor 10.1 - Press START to Load System
MONITOR POWER UP DIAGNOS
*** ERROR #0402 <03> 3600 3600 5555
TICS
ACTIVE PERIPHERALS:
SMC
TCC
SSB0
COMPLETE
MAXSEG=<3F>
> stand/boot
*** SMC ERROR
[
Question: What is error 0402 ? Did in the meantime more documents or even
tapes (ZEUS, SADIE) show up?
Some first pictures can be found here:
http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pics/s8000/
Christian
On Aug 29, 2014, at 12:00 PM, Simon Claessen wrote:
> Edited video: http://vimeo.com/ramdyne/dndexodus
Just ?. BRAVO!
Not a great idea to stand up and cheer at my desk, but I might watch this video many times this afternoon.
This makes my whole week!
*How* did all that get *in* there?
- Mark
I found several spare switches and handles for what I believe would be a
PDP-11/10 or similar. The handles are white and are marked 1210785.
The switches are C&K 7121 (on-on) and 7128(on-momentary on).
Can anyone confirm?
Thanks,
Kyle
They came standard on the industrial series of monitors from IBM.
<div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> </div><div>Date:08/29/2014 6:30 PM (GMT-08:00) </div><div>To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> </div><div>Subject: Re: IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege </div><div>
</div>On 08/29/2014 04:39 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>
> On Aug 29, 2014, at 16:12 , Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
>> At one time in my dark past, I had a polarized anti-reflection
>> screen to stick on to my CRT. Far superior than the black mesh
>> gizmos. It was tinted green also and so could be used on green- or
>> white-phosphor CRTs very effectively.
>
> That screen might have worked on color CRTs, too. The mesh ones: Not
> so much.
Apparently, the stuff is still made:
http://www.apioptics.com/circular-polarizers.html
--Chuck
> Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 23:14:05 -0700
> From: "Mark J. Blair" <nf6x at nf6x.net>
> Subject: IBM 5155 Portable PC CRT Sacrilege
>
> I do have one misgiving about getting this machine, though: I don't like orange CRTs. I mean,
> I REALLY don't like them. So, at the risk of being virtually tarred and feathered, I shall don my
> asbestos long johns and ask a sacrilegious question: Is there any prior art regarding swapping
> out the CRT in a 5155 for one with a less offensive phosphor, such as green, white, etc.?
Perhaps you could swap in a Toshiba 9-inch green monitor from a Kaypro 2 or 4. Seems to have
the same 4-pin connector, and used Kaypros are cheap. There's a standalone CRT on Ebay right
now, including yoke, for $19.99 + exorbitant shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CRT-Out-of-Kaypro-II-Computer-Toshiba-9-Monochrome-…
E64257-/331275168676?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d2189eba4
Seeing the discussions about the HP150 and the HP-IL stuff reminded me that I have an HP 150 with the 3COM Ethernet card, but I've never found any software for it. I checked hpmuseum.net and they don't have software, and didn't even have a picture of the card until I provided them some pictures of mine. Does anyone happen to have the software?
Not my auction -- just noticed this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computer-PDT-11-Console-and-Digital-Equipme…
Apparently includes software and documentation as well, who knows how much
or what it is.
Local pick-up only (in MA), but a nice haul for someone, for a decent
price. I think this was listed last week and didn't sell...
- Josh
I am not sure about finding a CRT that will find that housing. It is VERY
tight in there and the cables are routed every which way. However, you could
always use the component out with another monitor if you wish. The 5155 uses
a std. CGA video card. I've hooked up a IBM 5144 to it in the past and it
does make for a sharper image.
-Ali
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 9:00 AM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: cctalk Digest, Vol 132, Issue 56
Send cctalk mailing list submissions to
cctalk at classiccmp.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
"Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."
>Ethan Dicks wrote:
>>On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 8:16 PM, Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computer-PDT-11-Console-and-Digital-Equipme…
>>
>>Apparently includes software and documentation as well, who knows how much
>>or what it is.
>>
>Has anyone here ever used an application that required a VT62? I've
>read the docs but never encountered any software that used the
>features unique to the model.
>
Under RT-11 and RSTS/E, the KED editor supports the
VT100, the VT52 and the VT62 terminals. DEC produced
9 variants of KED:
Ked.SAV, K52.SAV and K62.SAV for normal RT-11 jobs
under both UnMapped and Mapped RT-11 Monitors although
with a V05.06 Mapped RT-11 Monitor, the cut / paste buffer
is much larger.
Kex.SAV, K5x,SAV and K6x.SAV for RT-11 jobs under
a Mapped Monitor probably expected to be executed as
system jobs.
Ker.SAV, K5r.SAV and K6r.SAV for RSTS/E jobs.
So there is software which is specific for the VT62. Since
I have never had a VT62, I have never used K62.
Because I usually execute under Ersatz-11 which supports
more than 24 line displays (and more than either 80 columns
OR 132 columns), I added code to the VT100 variants to
support the VT420 which supports 48 lines. The executable
files are K42.SAV, K4x.SAV and K4r.SAV, respectively. In
fact, since Ersatz-11 supports up to 255 lines by 255 columns,
K42.SAV also does so, BUT not at the same time (since the
screen buffer would then overflow the available memory).
In practice, even using the Win32 variant of Ersatz-11, the
maximum screen size my video card and monitor are able to
support is 79 lines by 120 columns in narrow mode and
79 lines by 198 columns in wide mode. So there is never
a problem if I stick to those values. The code and data in
K42.SAV have been optimized for use as a background job
under a Mapped RT-11 Monitor when VBGEXE is also
used so that the cut / paste buffer is MUCH larger. In
addition, K42.SAV interrogates the screen size (JUST
ONCE) immediately after the first file name is provided,
so the user can also use a VT100 screen size in addition
to any of the possible sizes which Ersatz-11 can support.
Consequently, no unnecessary characters are wasted on
the screen buffer.
Jerome Fine
Does anyone out there have the ability to read and image an RP03 disk pack? I have a rare opportunity to recover a rare unix version known as UNIMAX, a hybrid V7/SysV that runs on a 256k 11/34 or /45 system.
Thanks for any help!
Hello,
I have a VAX 4000-100A with possibly faulty firmware, version KA52 V1.3
VMB 2.15.
I would try to upgrade the firmware, I found on Maintenance Documents a
paragraph describing
how to upgrade it, having a ROM image file or a bootable tape.
Anybody has some of it?
Thanks
Andrea
I picked up an RX2620 recently. It came without an internal slimline DVD
drive. I believe it is IDE, but I don't know if the connector is standard
(it doesn't match a connector on a laptop DVD drive I found). I have not
been able to find any parts info for this machine.
What should I be looking for to get a slimline DVD drive for my RX2620?
Regards
Rob
For some last minute twiddling with the P112 project, I ordered some parts
and managed to buy SIP resistor packs with isolated resistors instead of
bussed. Would someone here happen to have two 47-ohm 8-pin bussed SIP
resistors they can send me? I'm trying to avoid paying $5-$10 for
shipping on 20 cents worth of parts.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
So, I decided to buy an IBM 5155 Portable PC on the eBay, in part due to it being a lot cheaper than other 51xx machines I've seen listed recently since I started paying attention. Maybe it'll satisfy my desire for an early IBM PC, and I won't need to spend money on another? Yeah, dream on. :) I'll try putting an XT CF Lite into it; I ordered one in kit form, since soldering on the surface-mount CF socket doesn't intimidate me.
I do have one misgiving about getting this machine, though: I don't like orange CRTs. I mean, I REALLY don't like them. So, at the risk of being virtually tarred and feathered, I shall don my asbestos long johns and ask a sacrilegious question: Is there any prior art regarding swapping out the CRT in a 5155 for one with a less offensive phosphor, such as green, white, etc.?
I'm diving into my flame-proof bunker now... ;)
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
Just done the light bulb test and get no output at all from the PSU on 5V,
12V, P OK and DC OK, all zero, the fans don't move. And yet, there is no
physical sign of any damage in the PSU.
Regards
Rob
From: Robert Jarratt [mailto:robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com]
Sent: 28 August 2014 18:53
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts (cctalk at classiccmp.org)
Subject: Mysterious rtVAX 1000 Failure
I have started playing with the rtVAX 1000 I collected last year. It was
running OK when then was a sudden bang and the machine stopped. Not even the
fans will run. There was no smell and no smoke, so I knew immediately that
it can't be the mains filter capacitors, which always fail on these power
supplies.
I have opened it up and cannot see any damage in the PSU, the CPU, the
memory, or any of the other boards. I am sure it must be the power supply,
but I really can't see any damage. The power supply is one of the ASTEC ones
common in the MicroVAX II.
My first step is going to be to test the PSU with a dummy load using light
bulbs (still haven't built a board for a dummy load) and with the fans
connected, but nothing else. Will also check for ripple at the same time.
There are two outputs from the PSU that I don't fully understand, one is P
OK, I am guessing that means *something* is OK, but not sure what, power
perhaps, but what power?. The other is called LTC, I have no idea what that
one means. Can anyone enlighten me?
Any other ideas?
Regards
Rob
Working away on the Altair 8800 restoration..
So the display/control board ("d/c") is now installed, and I'm running into
my first roadblock. I ask your understanding in advance, as my familiarity
with digital logic is pretty weak.
This machine has a Processor Tech. MB-1 mainboard in it. Full-width, 16
slots, and some mods I don't understand.
First, there's an LM309 (TO-3 case) mounted to the board, apparently
providing reg'd 5VCD to the normally 8V (un-reg'd) line. Why would that be
there? Every plug-in board I've seen - which isn't all that many,
admittedly - has its own regulator for 5V on-board.
Secondly, on the far left side of the board, there are several columns of
resistors that seem to be doing a couple different things - some are
pulling-up various groups of lines to what seems like 1/2 of VCC, others
are either there for termination or some other unknown function.
All together, close to 100 resistors installed there.. and it's clearly a
mod (at least partly) as a line of 50 new holes was drilled to accommodate
them.
Anyone know what's up with this stuff? Why it's there? At this point, my
sense is that I need to remove all of it, as they don't exist in the
original build - and I may even cut the main board in two - totally lop-off
the leftmost 12 sockets along with the resitors & reg.
As I understand it, there were IBM-branded versions of the Microsoft Macro Assembler(MASM) prior to version 4. I seem to recall seeing one way back when, in the usual small IBM binder in a slip cover box.
What version(s), if any, would have been roughly contemporary with IBM DOS 3.3? Did the MASM version numbers track with DOS releases, or were they independent? I think that I would like to get my hands on one of these. An original copy would be preferable; scans and images would be helpful if I can't find an original.
I have an original IBM DOS 3.3 distribution, still in shrink wrap. I understand that some developer-oriented tools were removed from the 3.3 distribution, and instead came on a utilities diskette with the DOS 3.30 Technical Reference. I see a listing for the book on eBay which I may buy, but it doesn't include the diskettes. If originals or images of the diskettes are available, I'd like to acquire them.
Were there any other IBM-branded development tools for the PC around the time of DOS 3.3?
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
Mark,
There were a number of IBM branded development tools at that time. There
were at least two versions of MASM, C, and FORTRAN not to mention the BASIC
compiler. As for contemporary to DOS 3.3 I am not a 100% but they would have
been current if not just the last release.
Ali
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 9:00 AM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: cctalk Digest, Vol 132, Issue 56
Send cctalk mailing list submissions to
cctalk at classiccmp.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
cctalk-request at classiccmp.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
cctalk-owner at classiccmp.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
"Re: Contents of cctalk digest..."
> From: Peter Corlett <abuse at cabal.org.uk>
>
> Hi,
>
> The recent thread on AB20 reminded me I have a large pile of CDs from the
> 1990s
> that could do with being imaged and uploaded to archive.org.
Ooh. Please share the link when you do get 'em up :)
I haven't had a chance to catch up on the new posts, way busy. But I +did+
fix the permissions issues with my info archive at
http://nerp.net/~legendre/altair. Need to pay more attention to permissions
when using scp..
Steve's new 4K DRAM schematics will be there in a moment, thank you, Steve.
On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 11:03 AM, Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink at verizon.net>
wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-
> > bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of William Donzelli
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 11:20 AM
> > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> > Subject: Re: Some Altair questions, if I may..
> >
> > > At a previous employer where we were doing *bringup* of new
> > processors on
> > > new hardware (Intel Core2 stuff...before the memory controller was
> > integrated
> > > in with the CPU) we had a "front side bus analyzer". It was "double
> > pumped"
> > > and running at 800MHz (so logically it's running at 1.6GHz). As I
> > recall that
> > > analyzer was in the high $100,000s (ie pushing $1,000,000).
> >
> > And in 20 years, that same item will be a $100 hamfest special.
>
> With the pods and data cables missing. Where the h*** do they go?
>
>
>
On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> This is quite a nroaml way to do it. A TTL output can sink a larger
> current tahn it can source,
By which Tony means "can sink a **MUCH** larger current than it can source".
If you look at the spec for the TI SN7404, the difference is a factor of 40:
max -0.4 mA source (high), vs. max 16 mA sink (low). Generally speaking,
0.4mA is nowhere near enough to be usable for an LED, so driving the low
side of the LED was the only practical approach with normal TTL.
Even the max sink spec of 16mA wasn't enough to drive a typical mid-1970s
red LED very brightly. For example, a Monsanto (later GI) MV5020 red LED
at 20 mA would only give you 2.0 mcd typical (and 0.6 mcd minimum!).
That very low source current spec (-0.4 mA) is about the same for all true
TTL families, excepting some buffer parts that are spec'd able to source more
current.
Modern CMOS parts tend to have closer or even identical source and sink
limits, so it has become somewhat more common to see high-side drive
for LEDs, though many designers have stuck with low-side drive out of
tradition.
Many modern LEDs are also much more efficient than those from the 1970s,
which is partially because different chemistries producing lower wavelengths
are commonly used for red, e.g., 620-340 nm vs. 660 nm, and the human
eye is significantly more sensitive to the lower wavelength. However, the
modern chemistries are also more efficient in terms of absolute light output
per current. A representative modern T1 3/4 LED with comparable spatial
distribution to the MV5020 is the Cree C503B-RCS-CW0Z0AA1, which has a
typical wavelength of 624 nm, and typical luminous intensity of 5100 mcd
(minimum 3000 mcd) at 20 mA.
When comparing LED specs, it is important to look at the spatial distribution.
A narrow viewing angle LED will give higher luminous intensity but only
on-axis.
Eric
I have some machines which I have had a while and which I have yet to power
on. I am a little wary of just switching them on and hoping they will work,
being concerned that if they are not right they may damage something in the
machine.
Since a switched mode PSU needs a load to work properly, what do people use
as a dummy test load for power supplies?
I was thinking of building a small board with a bunch of resistors on it and
suitable connectors (particularly the molex one common in most PCs). Maybe
switchable in some way to vary the amount of power consumed. Good idea?
Would it make sense to test the outputs of the PSU (for voltage and ripple)
just at the minimum power, or would it make sense to test the maximum rated
power consumption, or perhaps both?
I believe there are test instruments for this kind of thing, but that they
are very, very expensive.
Regards
Rob
Working on the assumption that there is a fair amount of Linux / OSS users
on the list..
Support for WiFi hardware has long been a thorn in the side of Linux users
- what product to buy, which chipset will it have, will it actually arrive
with the correct rev of the correct chipset, will the latest kernel support
it, etc etc. But I've come across a line of product which works so well I
have to put it out there..
It's the stuff based on the RALINK RT-5370 chipset. So far all I have are
USB-based adapters, but they are 100% plug-n-play under recent Ubuntu OSes
and seem utterly bulletproof. Fast, too!
I have tried both the tiny white 'chicklet' adapter as well as the more
conventional type with an external antenna, and both types perform
beautifully. They can be had for as little as $3.65 +shipped+ from China,
or around $8.95 from US sellers. I now own three.
Literally stunned at how well they work - plug it in, type in your network
pw and go. As I understand it, the chipset mfr. opened the specs for the
Arduino developers, and the adapters are targeted at Arduino users - at
least that's how they're advertised on eBay. But they sure work fine in my
commodity PC hardware..
What a pleasure!
I use 10 Ohm 10 or 25W resistors, 2 or more of them in parallel, depending how much current you want to draw. They look like white rectangular bars. They have them on the shelf at my Fry's electronics store. For what it's worth, on the latest power supply I tried, just one resistor was not enough to start the supply, I needed 2 to draw at least 1A from the 5V and then it was OK.
I'm working on a Kaypro II that I recently bought. The poor thing has suffered at the hands of a previous owner. Among other indignities, the brightness control and reset button were relocated from the back panel to the front for easy access. It appears that the brightness control was just a potentiometer in series with the unshielded video cable between the main board and monitor (assuming that the previous owner just moved it, and didn't change the overall design). The original wires weren't long enough, so he soldered a few feet of small-gauge speaker cord onto the potentiometer, and then spliced it to the video cable with wire nuts.
Wire nuts.
In the video signal path.
WIRE. NUTS. Big orange ones. In the video signal path.
I'll make a blog post soon with pictures, but I just couldn't wait to share this.
There are several poorly-soldered patches on the mainboard that I'll need to look into to determine if they should stay. One of the lifted pins has broken off, so I'll be doing some repairs for sure.
The front panel also grew a toggle switch which is connected to a small board plugged into the CPU socket, with a Z80B and a few other chips on it. The board is marked "(C) 1983 ADVENT PRODUCTS, INC.", and I'll want to figure out what it does so I can determine whether it's something that I want to keep in there.
Another mod (?) is a ROM chip marked "Kaypro 8 PRO MONITOR (c)1984 Micro Cornucopia". It has a lifted pin and a badly-soldered wire attached.
The machine arrived with some of the internal cables disconnected, and I'm not ready to try applying power to it yet.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/