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

ICE/ISEE-3 to return to an Earth no longer capable of speaking to it

by lproven＠gmail.com

1978 satellite returns to Earth orbit, still live - but NASA no longer has transmitting/receiving equipment old enough to communicate with it. http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/02070836-isee-3.html There might be potential for a CCmper to save the day on this one! :?) -- 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 Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 * Cell: +44 7939-087884

12 years, 4 months

6
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VAX 8000 Console?

by bqt＠update.uu.se

On 2014-02-08 10:00, allison<ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote: > > On 02/08/2014 03:06 AM, Zane Healy wrote: >> >On Feb 7, 2014, at 11:46 PM, Pontus Pihlgren<pontus at Update.UU.SE> wrote: >> > >>> >>On Fri, Feb 07, 2014 at 02:55:41PM -0800, Zane Healy wrote: >>>> >>>What kind of PDP-11's did VAX 8000's use as Consoles, and what >>>> >>>did their console software consist of. >>>> >>> >>> >>That depends, models 8600 and 8650 used an 11/03 with RX >>> >>floppies (ours has an RL drive too). I'm not sure about the OS, >>> >>I bet it is RT11. >>> >> >>> >>The other models didn't have a front end AFAIK. Pontus misremembers. Our 8650s (two of them), just like all 86x0 machines have an RL02 drive for the FE. > I don't think that was right. By time the 8600 arrived the 11/03 was > in retirement. IF memory serves it had a dedicated T-11 for console. > > The T-11 was a single chip version of the PDP-11 and the board > used would likely have been Falcon (T-11 Qbus SBC). Correct in that it is a T-11. Wrong in that it don't use a Falcon. The FE in the 86x0 is a dedicated board inside the 86x0 cabinet. And then two cables goes out to a Qbus backplane from there. The FE on the 86x0 machines are indeed running just a plain RT-11. And the Qbus only have an RLV12 controller and nothing else. As others have noted, other machines in the 8000-family used other consoles. There was PRO-380 based ones, and uVAX II based ones. But even newer have no FE at all. The VAX-11/780 was the machine with an 11/03 and RX02 floppies (or was it RX01?) for the FE. It ran a more dedicated system on the FE, but it might have been based on some RT-11 was well, not sure. Johnny

12 years, 4 months

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Re-done HD video on the Osborne 1

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

Wikipedia cites someone as saying..."Looks like a cross between a World War II field radio and a shrunken instrument panel of a DC-3"? Yes, but who says you need to be pretty to be a classic computer. For those who might be interested. Contains a shot of it running an external monitor at the end. http://youtu.be/m_FufKMd-lU

12 years, 4 months

6
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IBM 5120. Who would be interested?

by dani＠tiensepoort.be

Hi all, I have a working IBM 5120 (BASIC version / type-model 5110-3) along with its 5103 printer. I want to part with it and am wondering where would be the best place to put it up for sale, auction, ... or just find someone who would take care of it. What is it still worth? I once saw someone trying to sell one on Ebay for $3000 but that was way too high... but I read somewhere else that someone was willing to pay $800 for it... As it is a heavy machine ("desktop" but about 50kg) it is not easily shipped and I am living in Belgium...So the main issue would be how to find someone local (even in the neighbouring European countries) who would be willing to pick it up. Or could it be shipped internationally? I thought it was a quite rare but is this correct? Any ideas? Thank you, Dani

12 years, 4 months

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VAX 8000 Console?

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

What kind of PDP-11's did VAX 8000's use as Consoles, and what did their console software consist of. Zane -- healyzh at aracnet.com http://blog.zanesphotography.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanes-photography/

12 years, 4 months

6
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Booting OS/8 on a PDP-8/E from a PC

by rick＠rickmurphy.net

At 05:16 AM 2/7/2014, Bob Vines wrote: >Can OS/8 run on pre-OMNIBUS machines, i.e., anything other than the >PDP-8/E, /M, /F, or /A? The DECmates use OS/278 (and WPS 8/278 & >COS-310) instead, but what about the pre-8/E machines? OS/8 will run on any 8 family machine with at least 8K of memory. You'll need 12K for some devices (those with 2 page system handlers). Some device handler writers didn't think about pre-8/E machines, and use instructions like BSW that aren't in pre-omnibus 8s. Those devices won't work. The VT-278 uses serial port hardware that doesn't behave like a real KL8E so needs OS/278 to work properly. Other than that, there's really not a huge difference between OS/8 and OS/278. -Rick

12 years, 4 months

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MFM emulator update

by djg＠pdp8online.com

Slower than planned but I have now released the MFM emulator code and updated the MFM reading code. Needs more testing but it seems to work. http://www.pdp8online.com/mfm/mfm.shtml Next to test with will be my VAXStation II assuming I can figure out how to run it. I'm also staring on the PCB design to replace my wirewrap board. A couple of questions for people interested. Two people have said they are building wirewrap/protoboards themselves. 1) Gold edge fingers increase the board cost. Would people prefer a cheaper board with .1 headers like my wirewrap board that will need non standard cables or proper edge connectors for the drive emulation? 2) It might be possible to make the board emulate two drives. The system would have to be setup to use daisy-chained control cable since the board will only have one control connector and two data connectors. The second data cable would have to be .1 header. Is this enough interest to people to be worth trying to do?

12 years, 4 months

8
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Booting OS/8 on a PDP-8/E from a PC

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2014 11:32:13 -0600 > From: Kyle Owen <kylevowen at gmail.com> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: Booting OS/8 on a PDP-8/E from a PC [snip] > I've got a few spare locations in the handler. I'll look into the DP278 and > see what I can do. I hope one of my DECmates has the DP278! [snip] > Also, I had considered a handler version that operates on address 03/04 by > using some clever escape sequences, much like AT modem commands. You'd need > to use it with a special terminal program, or modify the server to output > non-handler messages to a pseudo-TTY that another terminal emulator is > connected to. This way, *anyone* with a PDP-8 that has just one > asynchronous serial card can boot OS/8! Can OS/8 run on pre-OMNIBUS machines, i.e., anything other than the PDP-8/E, /M, /F, or /A? The DECmates use OS/278 (and WPS 8/278 & COS-310) instead, but what about the pre-8/E machines? I'm looking forward to trying your sofware with my -8/E or /A! Bob

12 years, 4 months

1
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MFM emulator update

by dm561＠torfree.net

On Fri, 7 Feb 2014, David Gesswein wrote: > I did a little searching and some IMI units use a non ST506 interface so > without changes my unit can't deal with them. The IMI 77xx are neat > looking drives. Indeed; 8" platters, a 'real' voice coil and a transparent cover to let you watch the action. As a matter of fact this weekend I'm planning to see if I can revive a 7710. --- On Fri, 7 Feb 2014, Steven Hirsh wrote: > Corvus used the IMI 5006, 5012 and 5021H depending on the storage > capacity. From everything I can see, these are (or should be) plain > vanilla MFM drives. That's interesting; are you sure that 5021Hs are ST-412 drives? The 5021H drives that I have all have the IMI interface and almost definitely came >from the factory that way. Some of the 5 1/4" IMI drives were available in both versions for a while, with the IMI interface or the ST412 version (as well as a custom 'raw' version) and conversion kits were even available, but I always assumed that the original model numbers would be different. FWIW AFAIK their first 5 1/4" drive was the 5007, unusual in that it was in a plastic chassis and used an external optical index sensor; many fond memories of having to clean out dust and realign without losing client data... I also have an IMI interface 5018H but don't recall what its specs are. > The more I think about this, the more I think they've taken some pains to > ensure it will only work with IMI drives - maybe some sort of special > operational mode? I'd be surprised but it's certainly possible; Corvus and IMI were closely connected ever since Corvus began with an 8" 77xx-based hard drive cabinet for the Apple ][, and in fact they ultimately merged.

12 years, 4 months

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WTD: ITW "Magnetic Valve" keyswitches, low profile variant

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi, I've just got (another!) AT&T UNIX PC keyboard to replace the one with missing keycaps and -- woe and behold -- this one has a few dead keys! For bonus points, it doesn't use the same switches as the other keyboards: it uses ITW "Magnetic Valve" keyswitches instead -- Details here: http://deskthority.net/wiki/ITW_magnetic_valve Photos here: http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/reverse-rubber-dome-switch-t449.html http://park8.wakwak.com/~kaineko2/keyboard/album20110107.html These switches were apparently used in Decision Data, Aydin and Devlin keyboards, and consist of two metal pins and a tiny ferrite in the top of the black keyswitch base, and a pink plastic key which houses a large chunk of ferrite. A small chunk of rubber inside the keycap forms the spring which returns the key to the "not activated" position. The problem I have is that the ferrites on several of the keys have broken in transit... with these being delightfully obscure and apparently obsolete, my chances of repairing this thing (without parts at least) are slim. Does anyone have any of these keyswitches kicking around in a spares box, or a scrap keyboard which uses these keyswitches? Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

12 years, 4 months

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Code Charts navigation added to the terminals wiki

by legalize＠xmission.com

Did you ever want to see a summary of the ESC sequences understood and emitted by a terminal? The Terminals Wiki has added a new navigation menu in the upper left to quickly see a list of code charts for various terminals. <http://terminals.classiccmp.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Code_Chart> When a code chart for a terminal exists, it is linked from the info box for that terminal. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book <http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline> The Computer Graphics Museum <http://ComputerGraphicsMuseum.org> The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org> Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://LegalizeAdulthood.wordpress.com>

12 years, 4 months

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accepting pre-orders for the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board

by LYNCHAJ＠YAHOO.COM

Hi! We are about to do another run of our popular S-100 Bus Z80 CPU V2 board. This board can run in systems (with bus termination etc.) at up to 10MHz. Apart from all the then common features found on many older S100 Z80 boards (and being completely S-100 IEEE-696 compliant), it had an extremely clever and powerful ability to allow the Z80 to address up to 1 MG of RAM in 16K "windows" within the Z80's address space. This is described here:- http://www.s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/Z80%20Board/Z80%20CPU%20Boa rd.htm Its primary importance is that it can be used to address greater than 64K of RAM for CPM3 and that it can be used to load/examine 8086 code at the top of the 1MG address space. The new "V2" version of the board now has the ability to (under software control) dynamically switch between two 4K blocks of code in its onboard 28C64 EEPROM (or EPROM) yet still only occupy 4K in the Z80's 64K memory space. This in effect almost doubles the size of a possible Z80 monitor. The extra code (currently being written) will include things like directly downloading binary files from a PC into the Z80's 64K (or 8086's 1M) address space. In addition, the S-100 Z80 CPU V2 has the ability to use an external CPU clock from an external source (S-100 bus pin 66 aka NDEF3). This is essential for CPU to video synchronization for MSX compatibility particularly in games. There will be a corresponding ability to export a CPU clock signal on the next version of the S-100 VDP board although this could come from any S-100 board. Current owners of the V1 board can just switch the IC's to this new bare board. The S-100 Z80 CPU V2 PCBs will be $20 each as per the usual arrangement. Shipping in the US is $3 for a single PCB and $2 for each additional PCB. Shipping internationally is $12.75 for a single PCB and $3 for each additional PCB. This is for the bare basics USPS first class postage with no tracking or insurance. The builder assumes all risk of delivery as per usual arrangement. My preference is to sell these PCBs to vintage computer/home brew computer/classic computer hobbyists first but if there are any remaining boards I will put them on eBay. Please send a PayPal to LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM with the subject "S-100 Z80 CPU V2 board" and I will reserve your board(s). I need about 20 pre-orders to warrant a manufacturing run. I will post more information as it becomes available. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

12 years, 4 months

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Papertape Source (was: Re: Request for purchase of ASR-33)

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 16:14:31 -0800, "Mark J. Blair" <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote: [snip] > > * I'm having trouble finding 1" wide paper tape for my machine. It came with a small bit of black paper tape, and I see a single expensive roll of dark-colored 1" tape on eBay. I'd like to get a few rolls of plain old oiled paper tape in 1" width with a 2" core. There are several listings for narrower tape on eBay, but I'm not seeing the 1" width that I need. I'm looking forward to filling that chad box... > > * Last, but not least, I will naturally need a suitable computer such as a PDP-8 to go with it! :) > [snip] > > -- > Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> > http://www.nf6x.net/ Mark, Try westnc.com at http://www.westnc.com/paper-tape-rolls.html#tty for papertape. They have both oiled & unoiled 1-inch paper tape, but recommend the oiled tape for ASR 33s. A 1/4 case of oiled papertape (7 each 1000-foot rolls) may be affordable to you at $92 plus shipping. (And they have rolls of paper for the Teletype's printer too at $112 for a case of 12 rolls, plus shipping.) Good luck on finding a PDP-8 to go with it though. :) Bob

12 years, 4 months

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coss-4

by tdk.knight＠gmail.com

anyone herd of it never been able to find any info on it anywhere its on 1inch paper tape http://www.flickr.com/photos/85758861 at N00/6109885397/in/photolist-aiUL4F-dWX6HA-9fBJJ8

12 years, 4 months

2
2
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MFM emulator update

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

> 1) Gold edge fingers increase the board cost. Would people prefer a cheaper > board with .1 headers like my wirewrap board that will need non standard > cables or proper edge connectors for the drive emulation? Well worth the extra expense, in my opinion, as long as it will hold up to repeated insertion/ejections, as already mentioned in other posts. Would it be extremely difficult to put in a set of .100 holes onto the board, a little bit behind the card-edge connectors, so that folks could add their own header, if desired? > 2) It might be possible to make the board emulate two drives. The > system would have to be setup to use daisy-chained control cable since the > board will only have one control connector and two data connectors. The second > data cable would have to be .1 header. Is this enough interest to people > to be worth trying to do? TWO drives are always better than one. ;-) Would each drive be forced to the same geometry / drive types? T

12 years, 4 months

1
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VMS microfiche

by elson＠pico-systems.com

Just to let everyone know, the VMS Microfiche set is taken. I think I have another one at work, I will let everyone know when I get it dug out. Jon

12 years, 4 months

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Sigma serial card cable for LSI-11

by glenn.f.roberts＠gmail.com

An acquaintance of mine is looking to hook up his Heath/Zenith LSI-11 system to his H/Z-29 terminal. The system has the Sigma Information Systems 400200 interface card. I found him a copy of the manual but before attempting to build his own cable he was wondering if an existing cable might be found for RS-232 operation with this card. Any ideas on a source for something like that? - Glenn

12 years, 4 months

1
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VAX 4000-200 Boot Problem

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> >I have a working VAX 4000-200 and bought a spare CPU board for it. I plugged >in the spare board and it seems to hang when starting the OS boot process. >I've included the log below. I looked through the KA660 technical reference >and couldn't find what might be hanging at this point in the boot process. >I'm assuming that I can simply boot from the same OS image as the original >CPU. > Assuming you are using VMS, no changes are required to the system disk. In fact you should be able to use the same system disk to boot any of the various different VAX processors supported by the version of VMS installed, not just a 4000. > >I compared the few jumpers on both boards and they are the same. I even >validated the EPROM contents to be the same. Is the spare CPU board bad or >is there something else I should be trying/aware of? > I guess DIA5 is the correct disk to boot from as you appear to be typing it manually at the >>> prompt rather than relying on whatever is stored in NVRAM on the replacement board which is probably incorrect. > >You can see from the >log here that it does in fact pass all it's tests. Any help would be >appreciated before I attempt to return this otherwise great looking board! > >KA660-A V3.7, VMB 2.12 >Performing normal system tests. [successful tests snipped] >Tests completed. >>>>boot dia5 >(BOOT/R5:0 DIA5) > >2.. >-CAP05$DIA5 > > >Normally at this point you get a "1..0.." and then it boots into the OS. But >with the spare board, it just hangs after the last line shown above. The >EPROMs on both boards are identical as is the board revision and all part >numbers. > I have a VAX 4000/100A but I use a SCSI disk to boot it as both my DSSI disks have died. The disk I use fails to spin up sometimes after it has been left idle for a while. When this happens, my 4000 hangs at the same point as you are seeing. There are several short buzzing noises when the disk attempts to spin and if I lift it up and give it a sharp twist at the time that it tries, it usually starts spinning and all is well. I don't know if this is also a possibility with DSSI disks but it seems plausable. Is the problem still there if you put the original board back in? Regards, Peter Coghlan.

12 years, 4 months

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OT: Accessibility {WAS: "Re: contemporary XT software?"}

by captainkirk359＠gmail.com

On 4 February 2014 14:47, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: > Okay, how about this proposal for bottom-posting? > > 1. No HTML posts. Everything is plaintext ASCII. > 2. Edit the post to which you're responding to the minimum relevant part > (as above). Quoted text to be signified by ">" in the first line position. > Yes, that works excellently. Though, the beginning line of ">" does help visually distinguish quote text. Which is important for those with low vision who don't rely on screen readers. It's all a balancing act between "good for the screen reader" and "good for the magnifier." A single level of quotes (which I tend to trim messages down to, occasionally leaving a second level for context), works well, all though the stream of "LESS THAN" can be a bit distracting. > I can sympathize with your frustration with screen readers; the last time I > tried to use one, I thought I'd go crazy. > Personally, I barely use screen readers; I work well with magnifiers, and at home I have a monitor roughly the size of Spain. I've also a ~40" LCD TV beside my desk, cavled up to my desktop; occasionally I put stuff on there. (Normally, I just use it for YouTube videos instead of watch the roughly 100 channels of commericals that is called cablet television.) I once put a terminal emulator on that screen, with irssi in a screen session... I think my conversations were visible from space. :P Hmm... I need to see what RSX-11/M+'s RMD looks like on a 40 inch screen... Onwards to other things. One of the major things that keeps me from jumping ship from the Wonderful World of Windows to free software (FreeBSD or Debian, I like both), is that from my experiences of the free software world, accessibility and ease of use features seem to have been implemented by a lobotomized rhesus monkey. The "proper" screen reading and screen magnification software, that which is sold commercially and used/vetted by organizations, tends to be stuck as Windows software only, with some companies finally going to Mac OSX. Trying to run software like ZoomText or Kurzweil on a Linux or BSD system is damn well near impossible, at least the last time I tried. The free software is buggy, like the one magnifier/reader which by defaults starts up as a reader only, no magnification; after configuring it, it promptly goes "LOLNOPE" to keeping its new config after exiting the config screen. To bring this slightly back on topic, what kind of accessibility accomodations and software was around in classic hardware? Being a DEC fanboy myself, with some interest in IBM mainframe systems, I'm wondering specifically about those two "worlds", the System/360 and System/370 kind of system, and the PDP-11. Cheers, Christian -- Christian M. Gauger-Cosgrove STCKON08DS0 Contact information available upon request.

12 years, 4 months

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Booting OS/8 on a PDP-8/E from a PC

by steve＠tronola.com

>In summary, anyone with a spare M8650, M8655, or other serial card can now >boot OS/8, even if you don't have an RK05, DECtape, RX01/02, etc.! --- Congratulations Kyle!!!! Having a PC emulate a disk drive via a serial port could be a huge help in getting PDP-8s going. For those of us who do have RK05s, etc., it's a great backup tool for when there are issues with the drive. Could also serve as a second drive with which to make backups and such. I really look forward to trying this out. Steve L.

12 years, 4 months

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contemporary XT software?

by kspt.tor＠gmail.com

On 4 February 2014 20:14, Jerry Kemp - other <other at oryx.cc> wrote: > I don't know if everything from vetusware got captured on the mirror site, > but I hope so, it would be a shame to have a lot of that stuff lost to time. >From what I can tell it's only a relatively small subset there. Nothing CP/M, for example. -Tor

12 years, 4 months

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The final & "official" VCF East announcement

by evan＠snarc.net

The ninth ?annualish? Vintage Computer Festival East will be held April 4-6, 2014, at the InfoAge Science Center, in Wall, New Jersey. VCF East is a celebration of computer history from the 1940s-1980s. The schedule includes a hands-on exhibit hall, technical workshops, lectures, a marketplace, tours of the InfoAge museum complex, a dollar-per-pound book sale, prizes, more. This year's show will be bigger than ever. New attractions include Friday's ?VCF East University? which is a full day of technical classes. Friday attendees can win an oscilloscope courtesy of Tektronix! The main show on Saturday-Sunday will have lectures/workshops and dozens of exhibits. Keynotes include former IBM archivist Paul Lasewicz and IEEE 802 LAN/MAN committee founder Maris Graube. Other lectures topics include software preservation, the history of Franklin Computer Corp., and many more, all scheduled for the morning. In the workshops you can learn hands-on vintage computer repair skills or even build a working replica of something exotic. This year there will be two exhibit halls instead of one. Exhibits open in the afternoon ? imagine an antique car show, but instead of ?no touching? signs, everyone has to take you for a ride! Registered exhibits so far cover everything from a real Apple 1 to the M.I.T.S. Altair to DEC minicomputers. In addition, the event's main sponsor MARCH (Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists) will debut its UNIVAC 1219-B military mainframe computer, circa 1965. Tickets for VCF East University are just $20 and include a pizza lunch. Tickets for the main show are $15/day and $25/both days. Saturday/Sunday tickets are free for ages 17 and younger. A three-day adult admission is $40. Proceeds benefit MARCH. Official sponsors include the InfoAge Science Center, VintageTech, Tektronix, the Trenton Computer Festival, Eli's Software Encyclopedia, and Vintage-computer.com. Archive.org, IBM, and the IEEE History Center are providing informal assistance. ? Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple: "Seeing the early equipment at VCF is an amazing experience. For many of us, it's better than a museum. It touches on all the hopes and dreams of the time and the many efforts to achieve what others thought would never happen. It brings back memories of a revolution in the making. ... The people you meet at the VCF are amazing." ? Lee Felsenstein, moderator of the legendary Homebrew Computer Club and creator of the Osborne 1 portable computer: "In 35 years the personal computer grew from nothing into the most important device shaping everyday life. It should be part of everyone's education to see how it grew and to learn from the people who grew it in ways they wanted to see it grow. VCF is the place to be where not only the equipment can be seen and tried out but, perhaps more importantly, where the people who rose to the challenge offered by these machines can be met and heard from." ? Gordon Bell, top DEC engineer and co-founder of the Computer History Museum: "As a speaker at the first September 1998 VCF, I have been delighted to see it grow and flourish. The Vintage Computer Festival is an important institution for computing history simply by getting everyone together for collecting, sharing, and trading all form of bits. Having a forum, gathering, and market for old stuff a.k.a. vintage computers and the software that made them live is an essential way to preserve and expand the history of computing -- for some of us, the greatest invention." ? Dave Ahl, founder/editor, Creative Computing magazine: "Vintage Computer Festival East celebrates the hard work and vision of all the volunteers who have made the InfoAge Science Center ?- now a National Historic Landmark -- a place where one can learn from the past to live for the future. Oh, and it's great fun too!" Full details are online at http://www.vintage.org/2014/east/ and http://www.facebook.com/vcfeast. Contact: Evan Koblentz (President, MARCH; VCF East Producer): evan at snarc.net / (646) 546.9999 .... thank you and happy computing!

12 years, 4 months

1
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Multia CD-ROM

by BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu

Hi there! Many Multia owners out there? Anyone ever come across a copy of the "Multia for System Administrators CD-ROM"? I think the final version for Alpha was 3.0. Thanks! -Ben

12 years, 4 months

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7090 software: looking for SNOBOL3, found CTSS kit!

by phil＠ultimate.com

I'm a collector/maintainer of all things SNOBOL (www.snobol4.org), and was wondering if the original SNOBOL3 for the 7090 (submitted to SHARE) existed anywhere out there. I didn't find that; there is a collection of SHARE tapes (from YALE), but no information on what they contain.... BUT.... A pleasant surprise was finding a kit for booting CTSS (one of the mothers of all time sharing)! http://www.cozx.com/~dpitts/ibm7090.html ftp://www.cozx.com/pub/ibm709x/ctss-1.0.7.kit.tar.gz "WARNING: I've got limited bandwidth and large downloads during business hours, 8:00am to 5:00pm Mountain time, are likely to be terminated... "

12 years, 4 months

6
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watch out for ebay buyer "a1compservices"

by starbase89＠gmail.com

Hi I am having a rather unpleasant experience with this buyer. He bought an item from me, but did not pay for two weeks, five days after I opened an unpaid item report. Looking at his feedback, this is apparently common for him. In addition, the person is asking me for special shipping considerations after he paid. Since ebay's feedback system is so heavily weighted toward the buyer, this will not end well. Just so you know... Joe

12 years, 4 months

2
1
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DECnet or LAT terminal software?

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

Is there any sort of terminal software available for Mac OS X that speaks DECnet or LAT? I've spent the last couple days reviving my OpenVMS 8.3 and VAX/VMS 5.5-2 systems, and would like to be able to access the VAX without having the Alpha online. Next up, is my PDP-11/73, though cabling it is likely to be a bit of a challenge. If I had room in my office, I'd think about bringing a terminal in here. Zane -- healyzh at aracnet.com http://www.zanesphotography.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanes-photography/ https://www.facebook.com/ZanesPhotography

12 years, 4 months

10
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beware of "andananautions"

by hp-fix＠xs4all.nl

Tucker 'teoutlet' did the same to me.. Won two HP2100 manuals and asked for a combined shipment, said I got them so cheap he wouldn't combine so they cancelled the buy. -Rik -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: "Al Kossow" <aek at bitsavers.org> Verzonden: ?2-?2-?2014 19:58 Aan: "On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Onderwerp: beware of "andananautions" wow won some manuals cheap, then sent a message to see if they would combine shipping. the seller canceled all of the auctions, and apparently there is no recourse from the buyer. read his reply for yourself. this is the first time in 5000+ ebay deals that someone backed out after asking for combined shipping. beware.. his 'justification' Dear al_kossow, 1. You won several items yesterday. 2. I sent you an invoice for the total amount. 3. You emailed your disagreement over the terms of your purchase. 4. Therefore, we do not agree over the terms of the transaction. 4. So I filed the appropriate request to cancel the transaction with ebay. Now, you have suddenly changed your mind and claim that your purchase was a "Binding Contract"? Sounds like you want your cake and eat it, too. First, you engage in feedback extortion to try coerce me to lower the purchase price. Then, when you did not get your way, you attempt to compel me to go through with the transaction. Unfortunately, when you expressed your disagreement over the terms of the sale, it was obvious that there was no meeting of the minds in this transaction. As such, there is no contract. We both agreed to cancel the transaction and that is ok. I am sorry you were disappointed in the terms. I have refunded your paypal payment. You are whole. I am just curious as to where else you can buy something and then negotiate the terms of the transaction. After you have filled up your gas tank, do you then ask the gas station for a discount?

12 years, 4 months

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VMS microfiche set available

by elson＠pico-systems.com

I have a VMS 4.0 microfiche listing, with 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 updates, a total of 696 fiche sheets, about 3" thick. Anybody want this? How about $25 plus postage? Jon

12 years, 4 months

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Contemporary XT Software: cctalk Digest, Vol 126, Issue 7

by FidoNetDan＠aol.com

I have "reverified" these before posting... Alas, I discovered several of my favorite sites have disappeared along the way. Couple sites to try... http://www.myabandonware.com/ Not much here, for DOS. but a lot for old systems http://www.retroarchive.org/ Dan FidoNetDan Sysop of FogLine - FidoNet node 1:14/627

12 years, 4 months

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Turbodos Anyone?

by new_castle_j＠yahoo.com

I just finished bringing up a TurboDos system. You can read a little about it here www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?41297-TurboDos-Resurrected! Any TurboDos users or enthusiasts out there?

12 years, 4 months

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contemporary XT software?

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:54:05 -0600 > From: Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: contemporary XT software? > > Now that I seem to finally have a working XT clone, does anyone have > suggestions for interesting (and available!) contemporary software to run > on it? It'd be nice to load it up with a few games and productivity apps > of the era. > > It's only got 512K of RAM (although I may have an expansion board > somewhere), but it does have a 10MHz 8088 (well, if I can work out how to > kick it into high-speed mode) and I've got a VGA card in there right now. > > I'm not sure if anyone is maintaining a software repository for early x86 > PCs (and maybe what is out there will target '286 and above anyway)? > > cheers > > Jules Old PC games seem to be available at http://www.myabandonware.com/ or you can search around on the http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXsource.html site. Bob

12 years, 5 months

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Trouble Getting MFM Controller to Write

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

As you may be aware I am trying to build an emulator for MFM disks (mainly DEC RD5x disks) using an FPGA. Things have been going moderately well in that I have managed to get the MicroVAX 2000 formatter (TEST 70) to recognise the appropriate RD5x disk by counting cylinders. However, now I am at the stage when I want the controller in the 2000 to write something. I am trying to use the formatter to write data to the disk. However, the WRITE GATE signal never gets asserted. I cannot see what is stopping the 2000 from asserting WRITE GATE. I have implemented the Index signal which looks right on the oscilloscope, and of course all the signals for track selection. I am sending dummy data on READ DATA (all logical 0s as far as I can be sure). I am as sure as I can be that I have the right pin on the connector (32 according to the 2000's tech manual). This is the output from the 2000: >>> test 70 KA410-A RDRXfmt VSfmt_QUE_unitno (0-2) ? 0 VSfmt_STS_Siz .......... RD31 VSfmt_QUE_SerNbr (0-999999999) ? 0 VSfmt_QUE_RUsure (DUA0 1/0) ? 1 VSfmt_STS_RdMbb ..........? VSfmt_STS_FMTing .?? VSfmt_RES_ERR #3 84 FAIL >>> Any ideas? Thanks Rob

12 years, 5 months

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For your Amusement

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181315914698 For that price I think they might have thrown in free carriage... Dave

12 years, 5 months

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beware of "andananautions"

by marvin＠west.net

Well, this person has sold just about $175K over the past year, so (s)he is no beginner. > John Robertson wrote: > >> Curious - I find no ebay listings at all for "andananautions" either >> open or closed. Typo? > > Yes, he typo'd "andamanauctions". > > Bill S.

12 years, 5 months

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DEC-Net person in CT?

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

These messages reminded me.... On my way home from Vermont (to Connecticut) I was passed by a black higher-end vehicle with CT license plate of DEC-NET. DEC fan, or just a coincidence? -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 "Computers have lots of memory but no imagination." "The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back." - from some guy on the internet.

12 years, 5 months

1
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Help with vtserver?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I am using vtserver to transfer an image of an RL02 disk (9.5 MB) to a physical pack on my PDP-11. There appear to be a few files that are corrupted in the middle of the disk. Vtserver echoes some kind of symbol to the PC console, then an "r" each time the data is actually sent to the PDP-11. In the middle of the transfer, I see on the PC display a section of 100K blocks, always from"6600K sent" to "6800K sent" that looks very strange and not like all the other sections from the beginning through 9500K with a fairly regular pattern. Vtserver starts echoing long strings of "heart" characters to the PC console, often terminated with "e" which appears to be their code for an error, and takes an extremely long time between writes to the RL02. Then the normal display and speed resumes. I usually run the serial port at 19200 but decided to try at 9600 since there is no flow control. Same result. The pack does not have bad blocks and the drive has never been a problem when running the PDP-11. I am not conversant enough in C (and definitely not with Windows file handling) to fully understand what's happening there after studying the source code... can anyone help? Thanks.

12 years, 5 months

2
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ST11 BIOS - skipping drive initialization?

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

So, I've got a "Laser XT" clone which I hauled out of a dumpster a few days ago, and which has a Seagate ST-11R controller and ST225R drive inside. Upon booting, the controller (BIOS v1.7) detects that there's a drive present, then displays: "Drive 1 is not initialized. Run BIOS install routine for the drive (y/n)?" Pressing 'y' results in 'yes' appearing on the screen, but then nothing at all happening - no drive noises, no drive LED activity, no progress updates on screen. Although I might expect it to take quite a while to format, I'd expect some signs of life (and in fact I'm surprised it doesn't prompt for a defect table before doing anything else) Pressing 'n' does nothing at all, despite my expecting it to print 'no' on the screen and then immediately attempt a floppy boot. Does anyone know how to get around the initialization prompt, so that I can try booting from floppy and kicking the LL formatter off via debug? I suspect that the drive is fubar, but I'd like to try the debug approach if possible. The drive bears a 'PR' sticker, so I think as originally shipped it would have been matched to the controller and had a small partition containing the LL formatter - but I think the formatter is still present within the ST-11's BIOS too, and should be accessible via debug. cheers Jules

12 years, 5 months

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beware of "andananautions"

by aek＠bitsavers.org

wow won some manuals cheap, then sent a message to see if they would combine shipping. the seller canceled all of the auctions, and apparently there is no recourse from the buyer. read his reply for yourself. this is the first time in 5000+ ebay deals that someone backed out after asking for combined shipping. beware.. his 'justification' Dear al_kossow, 1. You won several items yesterday. 2. I sent you an invoice for the total amount. 3. You emailed your disagreement over the terms of your purchase. 4. Therefore, we do not agree over the terms of the transaction. 4. So I filed the appropriate request to cancel the transaction with ebay. Now, you have suddenly changed your mind and claim that your purchase was a "Binding Contract"? Sounds like you want your cake and eat it, too. First, you engage in feedback extortion to try coerce me to lower the purchase price. Then, when you did not get your way, you attempt to compel me to go through with the transaction. Unfortunately, when you expressed your disagreement over the terms of the sale, it was obvious that there was no meeting of the minds in this transaction. As such, there is no contract. We both agreed to cancel the transaction and that is ok. I am sorry you were disappointed in the terms. I have refunded your paypal payment. You are whole. I am just curious as to where else you can buy something and then negotiate the terms of the transaction. After you have filled up your gas tank, do you then ask the gas station for a discount?

12 years, 5 months

9
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Fw: Victor Poor/Datapoint 2200 videos/audio

by tom_a_sparks＠yahoo.com.au

> > I am looking for video/audio on Victor poor and/or Datapoint 2200 for a class > assignment > > > > > --- > tom_a_sparks "It's a nerdy thing I like to do" > Child of the Internet born 1983 > PGP ID: A7EF6006 > Please use ISO approved file formats excluding Office Open XML - > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html > Ubuntu wiki page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/tomsparks >

12 years, 5 months

1
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Chicken-and-egg problem with NEC PowerMate SX Plus

by jpw＠coherent-logic.com

Hello all, I recently picked up an NEC PowerMate SX Plus from eBay. Have been looking for one for years, so I jumped at the opportunity. The machine has no hard drive at all, and 5.25" (1.2MB) and 3.5" (1.44MB) floppy drives, configured as drives A and B, respectively, connected to an ISA FDC that also includes an IDE controller. Bought an IDE-to-SD board and a 256MB SD card to use as a hard drive. The difficulty is that this is one of those wonky beasts from the very late 1980s that requires a DOS-based utility in order to access the BIOS settings, which I must do in order to configure the cylinders/heads/sectors for the SD card. I have downloaded all of the PowerMate utilities from NEC's FTP site, per this thread: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?26016-NEC-Powermate-…, but this machine can only boot from the 5.25" drive. I have plenty of DSHD 5.25" media (brand new) upon which to write an MS-DOS boot floppy, but the only other machine I have whose BIOS claims to support 5.25" drives will neither read nor write 5.25" media in any of the three drives I've tried, claiming that track 0 is bad, or giving me a general failure error. Swapping the 5.25" and 3.5" drives in the NEC is out, since I would again need to get to the BIOS settings in order to make it all work. Not having the budget at the moment in order to buy more machines, I'm wondering if any of the people on this list have any suggestions, or would perhaps be willing to write such a boot floppy for me, if compensated for shipping and cost of media. Thanks in advance, JPW

12 years, 5 months

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AT&T UNIX PC - default interrupt/break key

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Does anyone know what the default BREAK/Interrupt key combination is on the AT&T 3B1 / 7300 UNIX PC? I was expecting Ctrl-C, but that doesn't seem to do anything. (I'm trying to kill off a long-running task which I've lost patience in ever completing!) Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

12 years, 5 months

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beware of "andananautions"

by js＠cimmeri.com

Unfortunate that the seller would jump to a cancellation so quickly, but sellers are only obligated to abide by the terms of their ad, and of course, ebay's policies. They are not obligated to do combined shipment. You can ask for combined if a combined policy is not stated in the ad, but be willing to accept a "no." I've had many sellers never answer my own requests for combined, so after waiting a few days for a reply, I just went ahead and paid "as purchased." The seller in question is just on of those overly anal a-holes one encounters on ebay every so often... but it is within his rights to insist upon "pay as invoiced." - jWs On 2/2/14 6:47 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > Subject: > beware of "andananautions" > From: > Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> > Date: > 2/2/14 1:40 PM > > To: > General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > > > wow > > won some manuals cheap, then sent a message to see if they would > combine shipping. > > the seller canceled all of the auctions, and apparently there is no > recourse from the buyer. > > read his reply for yourself. > > this is the first time in 5000+ ebay deals that someone backed out > after asking for combined shipping. > > beware.. > > his 'justification' > > Dear al_kossow, > > 1. You won several items yesterday. > 2. I sent you an invoice for the total amount. > 3. You emailed your disagreement over the terms of your purchase. > 4. Therefore, we do not agree over the terms of the transaction. > 4. So I filed the appropriate request to cancel the transaction with > ebay. > > Now, you have suddenly changed your mind and claim that your purchase > was a "Binding Contract"? > Sounds like you want your cake and eat it, too. > First, you engage in feedback extortion to try coerce me to lower the > purchase price. > Then, when you did not get your way, you attempt to compel me to go > through with the transaction. > > Unfortunately, when you expressed your disagreement over the terms of > the sale, it was obvious that there was no meeting of the minds in > this transaction. As such, there is no contract. We both agreed to > cancel the transaction and that is ok. I am sorry you were > disappointed in the terms. I have refunded your paypal payment. You > are whole. > > I am just curious as to where else you can buy something and then > negotiate the terms of the transaction. > After you have filled up your gas tank, do you then ask the gas > station for a discount? > >

12 years, 5 months

3
3
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Happy 30th MacIntosh

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

I look back with great fondness in regards to the original MacIntosh. It was 'ahead' of its time. Great marketing didn't hinder it either! Murray :)

12 years, 5 months

6
5
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Who built the first minicomputers?

by steve＠tronola.com

Think DEC built the first minis? Not so fast... I'm pleased to announce that we have just published a new, carefully researched article on Tronola.com which explores this very question: http://tronola.com/html/who_built_the_first_minicomput.html Enjoy! Steve Lafferty http://www.tronola.com

12 years, 5 months

20
35
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Datapoint 2200 cassette unit wanted...

by jdr_use＠bluewin.ch

To complete the Datapoint 2200 i received today I would love to have the cassette unit. ( my system has 4 x 8" SS floppies, but no cassette unit ) I know, chances are low, but if you don't try... I'll start however, by tackling the extreme screen rot.

12 years, 5 months

1
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Jason Ranheim Scanned Documents

by n2dvm＠arrl.net

I'm looking for ANY and ALL clean & clear scanned Jason Ranheim Cartridge documents and code/software etc.. I've found documents for the PCC-4 and PCC-8 carts but the scan is crappy and hard to read, mostly in the example code sections. Any help would be great. --- WWW: http://www.commodoredungeon.com QUOTE : "A Clean bench is a sign of a weak mind."

12 years, 5 months

1
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The Typography of /2001/

by lproven＠gmail.com

Wonderfully obsessive, but also looks in some detail at the real and fake tech used in the great film. But the author cannot identify the numeral in some screenshots. I wonder if any CCtalkers can? http://typesetinthefuture.com/2001-a-space-odyssey/ -- 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 Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 * Cell: +44 7939-087884

12 years, 5 months

3
3
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DEC Transistor Substitution

by steve＠tronola.com

Hi Michael, At 05:37 PM 2/1/2014, you wrote: >The PDP-9 at the RICM uses a bunch of B602 Pulse Amplifiers...The transistors are >listed in the Schematic as DEC-6A and DEC-6B. The parts are marked >DEC-2894-3A and DEC-2894-2B. > >Can I substitute 2N2894 parts for these transistors? --- The datasheet I found for the 2N2894 shows breakdown voltage at 12V. The B602 operates on supplies of +10V and -15V. While I didn't immediately find a schematic of the B602, I did find the B360, which seems similar except that a delay line is included. It isn't obvious to me, whether or not the PNP devices see more than the 15V that a simple inverter circuit would. If it were just 15V, the chances are good that the 2N2894 would work, because actual breakdown would be much higher than the 12V minimum spec. You can easily test the breakdown voltage of a sample (non-destructively) by applying it through a (say) 1K resistor to the collector and emitter, with the base open, while monitoring the voltage across the resistor. Raising the voltage, the point at which you see perhaps 1V or so could be considered the breakdown (BVceo). [The datasheet uses a much higher current but I would be more conservative.] If you see almost nil at 25-30V, the device should work okay. If it's 15-20V, it depends on the circuit as mentioned above. DEC part substitutions at http://so-much-stuff.com/pdp8/repair/subst.php showed a large number of entries but DEC-6 was given as "NONE". Looking at the turn-on, turn-off times for the 2N2894, I see max figures of 60, 90ns. From the 10MHz ratings of the B-series modules and the mention of a typical 40ns input pulse, those figures don't give me a warm feeling. On the other hand, speed is very dependent on drive, so actual performance could be much faster. Also, looking at a more detailed datasheet, showing curves of actual timings, I see that operating around 10mA, switching is in the 20-30ns region. You could setup a working module with a 40ns drive pulse, while observing input and output on a 2-channel scope. Measure the delays of both initial and trailing edges. Then observe the module with the substituted devices and see if there is a significant difference. Casting about at Central Semiconductor for alternatives, I found these: (2N2894 - 12V, 60/90ns for comparison) - 2N3829 - 20V, 35/65ns - 2N3073 - 60V, 40/100ns - 2N3209 - 20V, 60/90ns - 2N3250A - 60V, 35/50ns - 2N3251A - 60V, 35/50ns high beta --- So it looks like there are better bets out there. Of course, locating them in distribution may be an issue. I have found Octopart is a good place to start: http://octopart.com/ I found 2N3250A at American Microsemi for $7.59: http://www.americanmicrosemi.com/products/search/index.php Steve L.

12 years, 5 months

1
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DECnet or LAT terminal software?

by tiggerlasv＠aim.com

For me, the best way to interface with my DEC hardware was with a (hardware) TCP <> LAT converter. Xyplex made one many years ago (The MaxServer 1710) supposedly supported 24 concurrent sessions. I have one, but I've never used it, due to lack of documentation on the product. Instead, I rolled my own version using Micom's Marathon series of Integration Multiplexors. Using either a Marathon 2K, 5K, 5KT Pro, 10K, or 20K unit, combined with their "Remote Terminal Server" option module, you can create a TELNET <> LAT server, which will allow in excess of 32 simultaneous sessions. I can't provide any throughput statistics, however it should handle anything that a (real) PDP-11 could throw at it. The base units can be had off of e-bay for $25 - 50, and are readily available. The Remote Terminal Server module is a bit harder to find; I've seen them for $45 - $125 over the years. You can still get them NEW for about $250 from the Marathon Store, though this price is several years out of date. At any rate, you can't get much more universal than TELNET. ;-) My equipment is currently in mothballs right now, but if anyone is interested in the configuration settings required to make the Marathon equipment work, let me know, and I'll dig up the info. T

12 years, 5 months

1
0
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Would anyone like a Mac IIx?

by lproven＠gmail.com

My great kit clearout continues... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271387473908 -- 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 Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 * Cell: +44 7939-087884

12 years, 5 months

1
1
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