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

Old computer equipment information and value

by davestokie＠gmail.com

Hi, I have been advised to post here for some information about some old computer equipment I have. What I seek is advise on the value or how to find the value and sell the following items: 2x 3M data cartrage desktop storage file 3X (1 opened, 2 sealed) 3M data cartrages DC6151 1X Diaspron Total Shield, 12" 1x Selmar Multi-way distribution block (extension lead with a standard plug and 6 'kettle' sockets) 2X leads with 'kettle' plug and socket 2x leads with 'kettle' plug and 2 in plug 30x leads with kettle plug - nothing on other end I realise the leads have very little value, but I am unsure about the rest. Thanks for your time Dave.

13 years, 1 month

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SGI Season, obviously...

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Well, it must be the season driving all those nice colourful critters out of their holes... I also was called to an SGI rescue this weekend and came home with an Octane2 (with PCI cardcage housing a 100baseFX adaptor), an R4600 Indy and a teal Indigo2. I wasn't sure whether to accept that last one as I already have two of those - but only until I realized it was that system that contained the host card for the Galileo desktop video connection box that was part of the haul! Furthermore I picked up three different monitors (two in the old granite finish/"3D Cube" logo style, one of these is the variant with the remote control, and one in anthrazite black with the new "sgi" wordmark logo), a few mice and keyboards (including a pre-PS/2 one that will only need an adaptor cable to work with my Personal Iris), and an O2cam for one of my "bare metal" O2s (- their skins were smashed beyond any remedy when they hit the dumpster). So long, Arno

13 years, 1 month

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Classic Dr. Dobbs Journal

by earl＠retrobits.com

Does anyone know of a (legal, of course) source of Dr. Dobbs Journal from the 70s and 80s? I don't need the whole darned thing. Just a dozen or so issues would do. I'm starting a new podcast on programming of classic computers (covering both vintage tools and modern cross-dev technology), and would love to peruse some of the wonderful Dr. Dobbs articles from back when. The podcast, by the way, is called "Next Without For" ( www.nextwithoutfor.org) and the first episode, on dBase III Plus, should go live on the 20th. Thanks! - Earl

13 years, 1 month

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First Unix (was Re: An IRIX time capsule...)

by wlewisiii＠gmail.com

On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 3:51 AM, <cctalk-request at classiccmp.org> wrote: > From: "Cory Smelosky" <b4 at gewt.net> > This is gonna show how young I am...but my first experience with Linux was > Ubuntu on an Athlon Thunderbird. (pre-6.06). I've gained quite a bit of > knowledge since then. > > Can't recall my first UNIX experience proper...but it was likely FreeBSD. > > That's an upgrade from the Windows ME it originally had. ;) I had seen UNIX systems - Sun 3/60's in a lab & a VAX running Ultrix had my first public account. My first experiance at running UNIX was running Minix 1.x on a PC-XT. 640 kb ram, 10 mb full height MFM boat anchor & no memory protection. Smashing process together generally made the file system eat itself which did teach me all I ever wanted to know about said file system ;) Next was a 3B1/UNIX PC at the tech school. We had a dozen terminals hanging off of it and it was a hell of a lot more pleasant than using Cobol or RPG on the AS/400. Still it was a much "heavier" UNIX even by then than Minix which made me appreciate the older stuff. Of course that was around the time of 386BSD 0.1 & not too long later came that Linux kernel... I like the BSD's better to this day. My first client was runing Xenix 3.2.1. Then I moved to a state government position and got to use DG/UX & Solaris with X-terms. Till we were forced to go to Windows... :( This old Dell C640 from 2002 still runs Xubuntu 13.04 a whole lot better than anything from Redmond, despite any of its bloat. William -- Live like you will never die, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no-one is watching. Alex White

13 years, 1 month

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MXV11 Documentation

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

Does anyone know if there any engineering drawings on the DEC MXV11-A online? So far my google-fu has been unsuccessful in locating any. I've got three and two have faults. On one the receiver side of SLU 1 just quit on me, and on the other, the memory seems to have a stuck bit. So far, the only documentation I've been able to find in my disorganized mess is the '82 edition of the microcomputers and memories handbook. Thanks, BLS

13 years, 1 month

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cctalk Digest, Vol 117, Issue 18

by bobvines00＠gmail.com

> Subject: MXV11 Documentation > > Does anyone know if there any engineering drawings on the DEC MXV11-A > online? So far my google-fu has been unsuccessful in locating any. > I've got three and two have faults. On one the receiver side of SLU 1 > just quit on me, and on the other, the memory seems to have a stuck > bit. So far, the only documentation I've been able to find in my > disorganized mess is the '82 edition of the microcomputers and > memories handbook. > > Thanks, > BLS Try http://manx.classiccmp.org/details/1,6203. It links to the "MXV11-A Field Maintenance Print Set," MP-00730 Rev. A, 1981-08-10. Bob

13 years, 1 month

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DATAMATION Bound Mags from JAN 1980- Aug 88 Hardbound Buckram... For Trade or?

by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com

DATAMATION Bound Mags from JAN 1980- Aug 88 Hardbound Buckram... good stuff! Some gray covers come blue covers. Clean tight bindings a joy to hold and read. Any kid of computer or peripheral made it into these. Great ref. Great Articles. Great pictures. For trade or? for something of extreme use to the Museum for the library or display area. respond off list please Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org/)

13 years, 1 month

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H8

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

On Fri, 10 May 2013, Bill Sudbrink wrote: > Murray McCullough wrote: >> Help! Does anyone know or have the whereabouts for an H8 manual, in >> print and/or electronic form? My Heathkit is ailing and I would like >> to get it back up and running, if possible...Thanks > > http://sebhc.lesbird.com/ They have an EXCELLENT mailing list. g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://www.scarletdme.org - Get it _today_!

13 years, 1 month

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H8

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

Help! Does anyone know or have the whereabouts for an H8 manual, in print and/or electronic form? My Heathkit is ailing and I would like to get it back up and running, if possible...Thanks

13 years, 1 month

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Citizen W1D floppy for Multia

by mark.kahrs＠gmail.com

My Multia's floppy is very dead. It's a Citizen W1D. Anyone have one (or know where to get one without paying silly money)?

13 years, 1 month

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Help me identify these old boards?

by elson＠pico-systems.com

> Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 8 May 2013 19:09:51 -0700 > From: Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: Help me identify these old boards?(1960s?) Also have DEC > boards for sale. > Message-ID: <6E331F75-C625-4B51-98CD-7A370442C2ED at cs.ubc.ca> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed > Note the CSC logo in the circle. I have some of these, too. I think they are >from RCA or GE computers from the very early 60's. Jon

13 years, 1 month

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Help me identify these old boards?(1960s?) Also have DEC boards for sale.

by arrowrunner＠gmail.com

Today I picked up about 180 or so of these boards. I believe they might be >from the 60s or thereabouts. I couldn't find a datestamp on them but they don't use ICs. Instead it looks like they use the old gold-wired transistors. Not all of the boards are pictured but there were many duplicates so I probably got at least one of each kind. https://plus.google.com/photos/107294052056201862492/albums/587573571036743… In the same lot I picked up some DEC boards. These I would be looking to sell. They were tossed around and not handled properly so some may need repair or would just be for parts. https://plus.google.com/photos/107294052056201862492/albums/587565638136591… -- Sent from My Hippopotamus

13 years, 1 month

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Commodore CDTV (was Re: recyclers who will save things for me)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 10:30 AM, <jthecman at netscape.net> wrote: > On Wed, May 8, 2013 4:21 pm, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: >> ... a specific Amiga I'm casually looking for is the CDTV... essentially an >> Amiga 500 with CD-ROM that looks like a VCR or stereo receiver. > > I have two if the CDTV units along with a mouse, external 3.5 drive, > controllers, and some game CD's. Still looking for one of the black monitors > sold with it. I never got any of the accessories. What I did with mine was use it as an audio CD player, a CD+G player, and the first place I did any CD-ROM fiddling. The way I used it without all the accessories was to boot it off of a regular white external Amiga floppy drive with a Workbench disk that had PARnet and the "netkeys-handler". I connected it to my regular A1000, and PARnet/netkeys handled the transition and input event traffic when I moved the mouse pointer off the right of the A1000 screen to jump to the CDTV Workbench screen. I could then use my A1000's mouse and keyboard as if it were directly attached to the CDTV. It was a little laggy but quite usable. I only had it for a few weeks before it was burgled (along with a 35mm camera). It was probably the shiniest thing in the living room. -ethan

13 years, 1 month

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recyclers who will save things for me

by sales＠elecplus.com

I have 4 recyclers now in TX who will save old things for me. They won't save everything, so I have to email them lists. I can put as much as I want on the lists, since their software will flag anything that comes in that matches my want to buy list. Please note that since these will be coming from R2 certified recycle centers, all parts must stay in the US. They will not be tested for the most part, but will be power on tested for whole units. They do not test individual floppies, etc. So my request is, please send me lists of what you want, and what you are willing to pay, including shipping, and I will see if I can save some oldies but goldies from the crushers. If you want software, please specify the format (CD, size of diskette, etc.) and if it is version specific. Cindy Croxton _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3272 / Virus Database: 3162/6308 - Release Date: 05/08/13

13 years, 1 month

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Mac G3 requests

by alexandre.tabajara＠gmail.com

Is it old enough to be considered classic? :o) Maybe someone has these parts floating around... :o) - Any G3/G4 upgrade beyond 300 MHz - Radeon 7000 PCI for MAC or PC (I can reflash it to MAC firmware) - Wings or preferably Bordeaux video I/O card - Zip Drive faceplate, with metal support I do love my G3, I'd like to top it with better hardware :) Mine is the 300MHz basic, with no video input personality card, and 300MHz processor module. I was able to upgrade it to 768MB of ram, and I have a 36GB SCSI hard drive. Thanks Alexandre --- Enviado do meu Motorola PT550 Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br

13 years, 1 month

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Hardware vs Simh

by wlewisiii＠gmail.com

I've been learning about the PDP-11 lately thanks to the wonder that is Simh, running various software on it and generally having fun. I don't have any purpose other than that at this time. I've been running everything I can get my hands on though I find, given my background, tastes and biases, that it's usually either Unix Version 7 or, especially, 2.11BSD that I'm firing up and exploring rather than, say the more DEC traditional RSTS/E. That said, I've been wondering what would be different (aside from noise & heat ;) about running 2.11BSD on hardware rather than in Simh on my increasingly decrepit Dell C640 running Xubuntu. Logically I should spend the money on a new intel based laptop but what's the fun in that? But then that turns on the question - is there even a cheap PDP-11 that can run 2.11BSD? I don't need a speed demon but how small is too small vs big enough? Let me see if I understand correctly what I would need: A BA23 or BA123 chassis. Would others work as well? A CPU with separate I/D space. 11/23, 11/53, 11/73, 11/83 or 11/93 would work with the Q-bus chassis above. 1mb to 4mb memory, 1mb is absolute minimum for 2.11 BSD & 4mb is highly desirable. Disk controller - though more expensive, sanity really says I should find a SCSI controller like RQZX1, Emulex UC-7 or CMD CQD-220. I have old SCSI disks; ESDI & the like? Not so much ... A RQDX3 & RX50 or TQK70 & TK70 would probably be in the 'nice to have' category as well. DELQA ethernet controller Would this work? What are the going rates for hobbyists (rather than resellers to those with production equipment)? Are there any, hmm, less expensive bits here or there? This is mostly a thought experiment as I don't really have the disposable cash right now for the various parts right now. OTOH, I find the process of learning more about the hardware, what would be required and how it functions, to give me a better understanding of what I'm doing with the emulator. Thanks to all here (the 11/23 thread has been of great value to me) and to bitsavers ;) and all the other fun resources out there. William -- Live like you will never die, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no-one is watching. Alex White

13 years, 1 month

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IBM 2.88 mb microcode floppies

by jws＠jwsss.com

anyone have a way to image these? on a separate note, can anyone recommend how to get the images back out to media? I have some pretty rare token ring / 3290 microcode disks that probably should be archived somewhere. I tried to prepare to get a 3174-91R to talk to Hercules, and along the way, got IBM to send 3290 microcode for the unit. Another fellow on the Hercules list is working on bringing up a 3290, and I'd certainly like to help, but am not particularly anxious to send him my media. Obviously if I get images, he will have to obtain media >from somewhere, maybe buy some of the scrap ones off ebay and overwrite them, but maybe someone has some stashed. Thanks Jim

13 years, 1 month

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stepper motor on S100 buss terminator

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Can anyone understand why someone would attached a stepper motor to an S100 buss terminator board? See http://www.ebay.com/itm/230976941854 for headscratching goodness. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

13 years, 1 month

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Micropolis 1325 and DEC RZ28-VA

by sales＠elecplus.com

If you are looking for these, Bonnie Bosworth is selling them. No idea on pricing, and not affiliated with seller. bosworthbon at aol.com I will say to put everything in writing, and get the 90 day warranty in writing, before you send $, as I have heard some rumors. Cindy Croxton _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3272 / Virus Database: 3162/6308 - Release Date: 05/08/13

13 years, 1 month

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3174 drives and original IBM diskette

by sales＠elecplus.com

I have qty 2 1.2 drives and one 2.4 drive, pulled from old 3174 controller. These are still in their housing. No controller to test, but they should work fine. Also included is the original IBM 5.25" floppy 1.2MB 3174 LVL A5.6, hand written on it is Primary 3174/A4166. Any takers? _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3272 / Virus Database: 3162/6308 - Release Date: 05/08/13

13 years, 1 month

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Apple M0116 keyboard in Germany?

by sales＠elecplus.com

Does anyone in Germany have an Apple M0116 keyboard they want to sell? I have a customer that wanted to buy one for $20, but the shipping to Germany was prohibitive! Thank you! Cindy Croxton _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3272 / Virus Database: 3162/6308 - Release Date: 05/08/13

13 years, 1 month

2
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HD Emulator for TRS-80s...

by geneb＠deltasoft.com

This is really slick! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUjSJfKi-4 g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://www.scarletdme.org - Get it _today_!

13 years, 1 month

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FW:

by evan＠snarc.net

http://chopper.sakura.ne.jp/7ur7ta.php

13 years, 1 month

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VAX 6000s and HSC controllers available in Winnipeg

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Hello folks, the following cropped up on Bill Bradford's "rescue at sunhelp.org" mailing list. As I didn't see it here yet as well, I hope it is okay to cross post. The equipment probably deserves to be saved, my closest contact is in Guelph ON (which is > 2000 km away, I tend to forget that each and every distance is so huge over there...), and not at all equipped for dealing with that kind of machinery. Not connected in any way other than as a sentient being which takes pity when old iron is to be scrapped :) Arno Cory <cbajus at mts.net> wrote: > Any hardcore DEC collectors out there? > > $work is finally getting rid of a few rows of classic DEC gear from our > datacentre, which includes 3 VAX 6000s (310, 420, and 610) and a number of HSC > controllers (40, 50, and two 95s). I'm absolutely _not_ offering to ship any > of these items, but they're available for pickup in Winnipeg (Canada) if > anyone is interested. > > Thanks, > Cory.

13 years, 1 month

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Is anyone archiving TI-99/4A floppies?

by silent700＠gmail.com

On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > The subject says it all, is anyone working on archiving TI-99/4A software? Coincidentally, I ran across some TI software on 5.25" while sorting the garage last weekend and wondered the same thing. I doubt I have anything that planet-99 does not but one never knows (they were Scott Adams games, iirc.) I'm more interested in the process - can TI99 disks be read without a TI? Say with imgdisk or another PC-based program or, failing that, a Kryoflux? If it does require an actual TI, how would it handle disk imaging? There are no native serial ports, although you can get an RS-232 card for the expansion box. do have a pile of TI99/4A systems and a PEB or two with floppy drives but they are not easily accessible. -j

13 years, 1 month

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S100 stuff

by redodd＠comcast.net

I was looking at a Hannspree TV that this person has on ebay and found a whole lot of S100 stuff. Ralph

13 years, 1 month

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S100 stuff

by redodd＠comcast.net

I guess I should have added this. andamanauctions on ebay Ralph

13 years, 1 month

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Downsizing - many systems available

by dave13＠dunfield.com

>> The classiccmp server is broken. > >Or something is doing horrible things to throttle bandwidth at his new provider. >I've seen stalls for a minute on ftp wgets (which is how I sync bitsavers), >lots of random 503's on web accesses, and random POP login failures. When I access either my site or the mailing list, through the web I get: ------ Service Temporarily Unavailable The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. Apache/2.2.23 (FreeBSD) PHP/5.3.18 with Suhosin-Patch mod_ssl/2.2.23 OpenSSL/0.9.8x DAV/2 Server at www.classiccmp.org Port 80 ------ This appears to be a 503 originating at this server. When I access my site, I see individual 503 errors on many (sometimes most) of the photo link accesses. I would guess that the wgets fails becase it get s a 503 error, probably not knowing what it means, only that the accessed failed - and retries until it gets through which is what is taking a minite - (I've sat hear reclicking links for nearly a minite trying to open a message in the archive). To me it looks like a server problem. Dave -- dave13 (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield System/Firmware development services: www.dunfield.com (dot) com Classic computers: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield

13 years, 1 month

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Replacing the tube in a TRS-80 Model 4

by terry＠webweavers.co.nz

Fun times with a TRS-80 Model 4 (such a nice looking machine!). http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2013-04-06-replacing-model4-screen… Terry (Tez)

13 years, 1 month

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DG Compiler issue - Stand-alone lib, SOS.LB

by erik＠baigar.de

Dear DG-Addicts, I am running RDOS (within simh) and I can readily compile and run Algol programs in this environment. Now want to compile Algol programs to be loaded stand-alone onto a 8k store machine via paper tape. To do this, a library called SOS.LB is needed (at least the linker complains, that it is missing) and so the question is whether some one out there has already compiled stand alone programs using RDOS and probably has the SOS.LB for Algol, and eventually further files required, available? I already tried to get in touch with people involved in these web sites http://www.chookfest.net/nova3/paper-tapes.html http://www.ludd.luth.se/~ragge/nova/swdocs.html but so far I have not got hands on the Algol stand alone stuff. BTW: I do NOT want to use the stand-alone tool chain, but generate the programs using the RDOS (because this is more convenient). Any hints are welcome, best regards, Erik.

13 years, 1 month

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PC Portable Available

by tom94022＠comcast.net

A friend, Gerald Heitel [gheitel at gmail.com], not a member of this group has an IBM PC Portable in "mint condition" with original manuals and several software programs, floppy discs, etc. He offered it to the Computer History Museum, but they said that they already had one in their collection. He is seeking to contribute to a computer museum or sell to a private collector at a nominal price. Contact Gerry directly if interested or can help find a home. Tom

13 years, 1 month

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RSTS/E and simh

by john＠yoyodyne-propulsion.net

Hi Guys, I used to mess about with RSTS/E when I was a kid, and even managed to get into trouble with ASU and the folks that worked at the remote sites... banned, basically. (I went on to work there years later after the PDP11s had been scrapped...) Anyhow, I've been running one I built from tape with simh for ages... it's accessible on line via my bbs (telnet bbs.cortex-media.info) I've got an old, incomplete version of dungeon on there. I've found a more complete version in Fortran. What is the best way to get the files onto the emulated disk so I can build it? Would it be better to install decnet or use kermit or what? thanks, John -- Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems: "The Future Begins Tomorrow" Visit us at: http://www.yoyodyne-propulsion.net -------- "Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to discover that he had been transformed into a giant cockroach." Nah, it's too good. --Max Bialystock

13 years, 1 month

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Apple I with high auction estimate on the block

by jws＠jwsss.com

here we go again. I'm waiting for the breathless stories to start. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/03/mac_original_sale_wozniak/ http://auction-team.de/new_highlights/2012_11/oa/001.html

13 years, 1 month

4
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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > Do either of: > > > > $ REPLY /ENABLE > > $ SHOW ERROR > > > > show up any problems? You might need: > > > > $ SET TERMINAL /BROADCAST > > > > and/or > > > > $ SET BROADCAST=ALL > > > > with REPLY /ENABLE if you are doing this on the console and something has > > disabled broadcasts on the console. > > Any of these would probably be great, but I should probably be a little > more clear; it's not really responding at all to input after I respond > to a prompt. After the carriage return, it just sits there and doesn't > even echo anything, though as I mentioned, anything running elsewhere > (like MONITOR) still seems to keep going. > It's me who should have been clearer. Do the REPLY /ENABLE and friends before the problem shows up in the hope of seeing a message giving details about the problem when it does show up. You might see something like "Mount verification is in progress." for example. Do the SHOW ERROR anytime and if anything (other than a tape drive, terminal or any sort of virtual device) shows a non-zero error count, investigate the reason for it. Particularly watch for MEMORY or CPU errors. If your disk device starts clocking errors just before the system stalls, that would tend to point the finger in its direction. $ SHOW SYSTEM is the one command I know of that will usually execute when almost all others fail due to resource starvation. Using it to look at what states processes are in will give clues about what resources they might be waiting for. > > $ SHOW MEMORY /POOL /FULL > > > > will give a vast number of figures. If "Free space" is low and "Current size" > > is much bigger than "Initial size" and approaching "Maximum size", you may be > > running into problems with non-paged pool. > > The free space numbers seem fine and always have, but I haven't run > it while doing something like an install. I'll have to try that. > The pool space numbers don't seem terribly large, but I'm not quite > sure what nominal ones are. The numbers will vary depending on your hardware and configuration. What matters is that that "Free space" is not approaching zero when "Current size" is already as big as "Maximum size" which means there is no scope for further automatic expansion of the pool size. If you have plenty of free space, you are ok. If you don't have any free space but "Current size" is less than "Maximum size", you are still ok. Another approach to this sort of thing is to crash the system when it becomes unresponsive and analyse the resultant crash dump afterwards. Probably better to try the AUTOGEN first though. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 1 month

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Apple I with high auction estimate on the block

by barythrin＠gmail.com

Interesting. Pics look a lot like the last one. Have to be at a computer (not phone) to compare the two auctions.

13 years, 1 month

1
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ABQ area: Mainframe Manuals

by silent700＠gmail.com

It doesn't say if they're free, for sale cheap or what but there is a goodly stack of IBM documentation available in the Albuquerque area: http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/bks/3766923247.html (not mine, not in the area) -j

13 years, 1 month

3
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Is anyone archiving TI-99/4A floppies?

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

13 years, 1 month

3
2
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Available S-100 PCBs

by cube1＠charter.net

hi. I was on the list, for two boards, but am on vacation. Will contact you in a 11 days Andrew Lynch <LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM> wrote: >Hi! > >Here is an update on available S-100 board PCBs! I've sent out many of the >PCBs and they are almost gone. > >There are 21 of the S-100 IDE V2 reorder PCBs and 2 of the new S-100 bus >terminator/prototyping board PCBs. > >There are 2 of the S-100 LAVA PCBs available. > >http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/IDE%20Board/My%20IDE%20Card.htm > >http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewFolder&param=S-100%20bus%20t >erminator > >http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/Lava-10%20Board/LAVA-10%20Board >.htm > >The S-100 PCBs cost the same as before ($20 each).? However due to >unforeseen extreme price increases in shipping by USPS I am forced to change >shipping costs. > >Shipping in the US will be $3 for a single PCB and $2 for each additional >PCB.? Shipping internationally will be $10 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. > >I apologize for the large price increase on shipping but this is out of my >hands.? The USPS is in dire financial trouble and is raising prices on >shipping.? It affects us all and is most unfortunate.? These boards are >provided "at cost" so there is no margin to absorb any shipping price >increases.? I have to pass them along. > >If you would like one or more S-100 PCBs please send a PayPal to >LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM > >Thanks and have a nice day! > >Andrew Lynch > >

13 years, 1 month

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Does Anyone Know of a Running DG MV/2500?

by steve＠stephenmerrony.co.uk

Having got the PSU repaired in my recently acquired MV/2500 I now find (as expected) that the disks are u/s and I need the microcode etc. Does anyone know of a functioning example? Steve -- /Stephen Merrony Email: steve at stephenmerrony.co.uk http://stephen.homedns.org/dg//

13 years, 2 months

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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > > VMS has a process called ERRFMT which logs errors in a binary file called > > sys$errorlog:errlog.sys - the way to get a detailed human readable report of > > the contents of that file used to be ANALYZE /ERROR but I don't think that > > works any more. Maybe someone else can chime in and suggest what the current > > way is. > > Nope, that DEFINITELY still works. Many, many screens full of error > log printing. :-) I'll pore over those, then. > Good stuff. It must be only Alpha (and maybe Itanium?) it's messed up on then. You can rename sys$errorlog:errlog.sys to .old for example if you want to get rid of the accumulated errors and start afresh. ERRMFT will create a new errlog.sys the next time it has something to log. Alternatively, $ ANALYZE /ERROR /SINCE=time will only report on errors after the specified time (or date), or just plain: $ ANALYZE /ERROR /SINCE will report on errors logged today. > > > Keep an eye out also for operator messages relating to the PU and DU devices > > after doing a REPLY /ENABLE, SET TERMINAL, SET BROADCAST etc. > > Should those not be enabled on the main console at boot? That's > what I'm conversing with. Just for fun, I'll make double sure. > In principle, yes. However, exactly what happens varies depending on the VMS version and the type of hardware it is running on (workstation type machine versus server type machine) so it's best to confirm that something has not disabled operator messages when booting completed. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 2 months

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DECWriter II Available - Portland, Ore

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

I have a DECWriter II that needs a new home. It's located near Portland, local pickup only. I have no idea if it works or not, as I've never tried to power it on in the 15 or so years I've owned it. The plans I had for it have evaporated, and it takes up room I need. Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Photographer | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | My flickr Photostream | | http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/ | | My Photography Website | | http://www.zanesphotography.com |

13 years, 2 months

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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > > I suspect the manual is saying that a typical workload on a more capable VAX > > than an MVII would need 24 MB for good performance. I think you should be able > > to get by with rather less memory than that, particularly if you don't have a > > graphics card. > > That was essentially my assumption as well, but I'm just not 100% > sure if the pool adjustments I made to install it threw things > out of whack for my system. This is a slight bit beefier than an > MVII, but not by a lot. At some point in the near future, I'm > acquiring a VAX4000, which has a bit more to it; this one is > probably mostly going to be a curiosity or at most a file/DNS > server. > Apologies - I don't know where I picked up MVII from - I must have been reading something else and confused myself. I should have paid more attention to the subject line. > > > It should not be necessary to reinstall to see the effect of not running > > TCP/IP services. Just comment out the command to start it > > (probably in sys$manager:systartup_vms.com) and reboot. > > That part was simple, but I have no clue as of yet how to back out > the adjustments I made to the pool to run TCP/IP because I don't > fully understand AUTOGEN yet. I'll get there eventually, but I > need a stable system first and I can afford to throw the baby out > with the bathwater at the moment. :-) It's all in the Essentials > manual, but that's 500 pages, so it'll be a while before I'm done > reading it. > The purpose of AUTOGEN is to get your system parameters set to appropriate values for your workload and to make them consistent with each other and with the resources available on your system. Once you get your system stable, you don't need AUTOGEN any more :-) It's not necessary to back out previous changes - just tell AUTOGEN what parameters you need updated for software you have installed (by adding records to sys$system:modparam.dat as recommended in the appropriate installation manual) and then letting AUTOGEN sort it all out. If you have never run AUTOGEN, you might get a few surprises the first time you do but in the long run, I think it is better to make a habit of running it after any changes to the system. That way you have a better idea what to expect each time and there is less lightlyhood of big dramatic changes which might result when you have made many changes and put off doing an AUTOGEN for some time. Maybe it might be worth while trying it out in simh to get a feel for it? It's certainly possible to modify system parameters manually but I think it's better to build up experience by watching what AUTOGEN does before going down that road. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 2 months

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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> Ah, OK. So I get some PUA0: errors ticking up every so often, most > of which are right after the system has had some "hiccup" of non- > interactivity for several minutes. Some initial research indicates > that the PU device is the UDA controller, which is what I believe > the CQD-220 masquerades as (more or less). Right now, after three > hours of sitting basically idle, it's logged 26 errors. > > So I'll have to check that out. It could be something as simple as > balky SCSI termination, since I do have 4 devices in the chain and > the terminator is a Jaz drive using internal termination. I'll > play with it some. Hopefully it's not the hard drive going bad, > since my supply of SCSI drives is essentially dry. It's a bit > worrisome that it's the PU device going bad rather than the DU > device, but I'm not 100% sure how VMS logs the errors, so it could > be what I suspect. > VMS has a process called ERRFMT which logs errors in a binary file called sys$errorlog:errlog.sys - the way to get a detailed human readable report of the contents of that file used to be ANALYZE /ERROR but I don't think that works any more. Maybe someone else can chime in and suggest what the current way is. Keep an eye out also for operator messages relating to the PU and DU devices after doing a REPLY /ENABLE, SET TERMINAL, SET BROADCAST etc. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 2 months

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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > With VAX/VMS, having lots of physical memory is neither necessary nor > > sufficient. More important is how the virtual memory system is configured. > > Perhaps you are low on pagefile space or non-paged pool or something like > > that? > > I was musing on this while reviewing the install manual and it does > mention that at least 24 MB physical memory is necessary for TCP/IP > 5.1. I don't know how hard and fast that is, but it's possible that > the changes I made to the pool allocation per the manual have > destabilized the system. Since I don't have much running on there, > I've reinstalled from scratch to see if I have the same problem with > no TCP/IP installed/running. > I would worry more about DECWindows needing large amounts of memory rather than TCP/IP but having said that, I've always used Multinet rather than TCP/IP services so I don't know a lot about it. I suspect the manual is saying that a typical workload on a more capable VAX than an MVII would need 24 MB for good performance. I think you should be able to get by with rather less memory than that, particularly if you don't have a graphics card. It should not be necessary to reinstall to see the effect of not running TCP/IP services. Just comment out the command to start it (probably in sys$manager:systartup_vms.com) and reboot. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 2 months

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I have these ideas about how to document file formats

by tlindner＠macmess.org

For about seven years I have been writing code to document file formats. The first time I wrote something about it is here: http://tlindner.macmess.org/?p=56 <-- warning, a little rambling. Then a few years later I wrote a program called Blocks, here are some screen casts I made about it: http://tlindner.macmess.org/?page_id=311 Then a few years later I wrote Streams <https://github.com/tlindner/Stream/wiki>. I've been poking at it for a while. I've made two screen casts to show it off as well: http://www.macmess.org/downloads/StreamEditing.m4v <-- made about a year ago. http://www.macmess.org/downloads/Stream_Screen_Cast.mp4 <-- very recent. It's way past time to get some feed back. So for others who are interested in this sort of thing, what do you think? -- tim lindner

13 years, 2 months

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Older IBM RS/6000 RAM available

by mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com

I thought I was going to acquire an RS/6000 so I started buying spare parts. Plans changed ... Let me know if you need P/N 68X6356 (FRU 70F9976) which are 8MB SIMMs or P/N 32G8212 which are 16MB SIMMs. These came in a 'Bag O' Memory' so they are untested, but they were properly stored. They are not free - shipping cost and beer money will do fine though. Mike

13 years, 2 months

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cctalk Digest, Vol 117, Issue 8

by elson＠pico-systems.com

Date: Sat, 4 May 2013 22:04:38 -0400 From: David Riley <fraveydank at gmail.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity Message-ID: <0315AF5D-BB77-464C-9BD6-FE312DDCE21A at gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii The long saga of making my recent KA655 acquisition work continues! It's been mostly smooth sailing since I got a decent Plextor drive, but there's one persistent problem. Under VMS 7.3, after a longish period of inactivity (I've seen it after a few hours, but I've not been able to narrow it down beyond that), it seems to just kind of go out to lunch. VMS is still *running*... if I have a Telnet session running MONITOR, the clock will still update and the activity meters still move (a little; they show very little activity, but that's expected since there's not a lot going on on the machine yet). But if I terminate MONITOR (it responds interactively to ctrl-C, etc) and try to run anything else (say, HELP), it stops responding. Other terminals are totally unresponsive. If I try to open a Telnet session, TCP connects but no other traffic happens. This also happens if I turn TCP/IP off. I'm running with 16 MB RAM, which should be enough for a machine that's not really running much yet, and if I were having memory issues I would expect things like existing MONITOR sessions to have serious problems. If anyone has any idea what might be going on here, I'm all ears. I have seen this behavior a number of times when the disk has gone offline for some reason. I'm not sure there is a simple way to tell when the drive can no longer be accessed. Obviously, there will be no error logging of the condition, except that VMS may write some buffered error messages on the next boot that may offer a clue. Jon

13 years, 2 months

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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> > The long saga of making my recent KA655 acquisition work > continues! It's been mostly smooth sailing since I got > a decent Plextor drive, but there's one persistent problem. > Under VMS 7.3, after a longish period of inactivity (I've > seen it after a few hours, but I've not been able to > narrow it down beyond that), it seems to just kind of go > out to lunch. VMS is still *running*... if I have a > Telnet session running MONITOR, the clock will still update > and the activity meters still move (a little; they show > very little activity, but that's expected since there's not > a lot going on on the machine yet). But if I terminate > MONITOR (it responds interactively to ctrl-C, etc) and try > to run anything else (say, HELP), it stops responding. > Other terminals are totally unresponsive. If I try to > open a Telnet session, TCP connects but no other traffic > happens. > > This also happens if I turn TCP/IP off. I'm running with > 16 MB RAM, which should be enough for a machine that's not > really running much yet, and if I were having memory issues > I would expect things like existing MONITOR sessions to > have serious problems. > > The only other correlation I can think of is that this > seems to happen most when I've just installed a layered > product, so it could have something to do with the CD > still being mounted. On the other hand, I tend to leave > the machine alone and unattended for long periods of time > for product installs, so correlation is necessarily not > very trustworthy here. > > I can still issue a break from the terminal and boot again > from the console firmware, so that still seems fine. > > If anyone has any idea what might be going on here, I'm > all ears. > Do either of: $ REPLY /ENABLE $ SHOW ERROR show up any problems? You might need: $ SET TERMINAL /BROADCAST and/or $ SET BROADCAST=ALL with REPLY /ENABLE if you are doing this on the console and something has disabled broadcasts on the console. In older versions of VMS, $ ANALYZE /ERROR used to be very useful for spotting behind-the-scenes hardware problems and worked straight out of the box but it was replaced in later versions (on Alpha at least - I'm not sure about VAX) by $ DIAGNOSE /TRANSLATE which required extra software to be installed and possibly licensed first. I lost track of what happened after that but I think that was replaced again by something else equally difficult to make use of :-( Your disk could be going to sleep but it seems unlikely that it would recover by just halting and rebooting the system. With VAX/VMS, having lots of physical memory is neither necessary nor sufficient. More important is how the virtual memory system is configured. Perhaps you are low on pagefile space or non-paged pool or something like that? Use $ SHOW MEMORY /FILES to check how much free pagefile space you have. $ SHOW MEMORY /POOL /FULL will give a vast number of figures. If "Free space" is low and "Current size" is much bigger than "Initial size" and approaching "Maximum size", you may be running into problems with non-paged pool. If there are no hardware problems, an AUTOGEN might well help. For best results, it should be done after whatever activity that might have used up resources but it's obviously no good if the machine stops responding in the middle of the AUTOGEN procedure. Tell AUTOGEN to save feedback and use it when calculating new system parameters. It will complain that the machine wasn't up for 24 hours but tell it to do it anyway. $ @SYS$UPDATE:AUTOGEN HELP for further details. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 2 months

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uVAX 3900 out to lunch after inactivity

by PETER＠beyondthepale.ie

> > Do either of: > > > > $ REPLY /ENABLE > > $ SHOW ERROR > > > > show up any problems? You might need: > > > > $ SET TERMINAL /BROADCAST > > > > and/or > > > > $ SET BROADCAST=ALL > > > > with REPLY /ENABLE if you are doing this on the console and something has > > disabled broadcasts on the console. > > Any of these would probably be great, but I should probably be a little > more clear; it's not really responding at all to input after I respond > to a prompt. After the carriage return, it just sits there and doesn't > even echo anything, though as I mentioned, anything running elsewhere > (like MONITOR) still seems to keep going. > It's me who should have been clearer. Do the REPLY /ENABLE and friends before the problem shows up in the hope of seeing a message giving details about the problem when it does show up. You might see something like "Mount verification is in progress." for example. Do the SHOW ERROR anytime and if anything (other than a tape drive, terminal or any sort of virtual device) shows a non-zero error count, investigate the reason for it. Particularly watch for MEMORY or CPU errors. If your disk device starts clocking errors just before the system stalls, that would tend to point the finger in its direction. $ SHOW SYSTEM is the one command I know of that will usually execute when almost all others fail for reasons of resource starvation. Using it to look at what states processes are in will give clues about what resources they might be waiting for. > > $ SHOW MEMORY /POOL /FULL > > > > will give a vast number of figures. If "Free space" is low and "Current size" > > is much bigger than "Initial size" and approaching "Maximum size", you may be > > running into problems with non-paged pool. > > The free space numbers seem fine and always have, but I haven't run > it while doing something like an install. I'll have to try that. > The pool space numbers don't seem terribly large, but I'm not quite > sure what nominal ones are. The numbers will vary depending on your hardware and configuration. What matters is that that "Free space" is not approaching zero when "Current size" is already as big as "Maximum size" which means there is no scope for further automatic expansion of the pool size. If you have plenty of free space, you are ok. If you don't have any free space but "Current size" is less than "Maximum size", you are still ok. Another approach to this sort of thing is to crash the system when it becomes unresponsive and analyse the resultant crash dump afterwards. Probably easier to try the AUTOGEN first though. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

13 years, 2 months

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Available S-100 PCBs

by LYNCHAJ＠YAHOO.COM

Hi! Here is an update on available S-100 board PCBs! I've sent out many of the PCBs and they are almost gone. There are 21 of the S-100 IDE V2 reorder PCBs and 2 of the new S-100 bus terminator/prototyping board PCBs. There are 2 of the S-100 LAVA PCBs available. http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/IDE%20Board/My%20IDE%20Card.htm http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewFolder&param=S-100%20bus%20t erminator http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/Lava-10%20Board/LAVA-10%20Board .htm The S-100 PCBs cost the same as before ($20 each).? However due to unforeseen extreme price increases in shipping by USPS I am forced to change shipping costs. Shipping in the US will be $3 for a single PCB and $2 for each additional PCB.? Shipping internationally will be $10 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. I apologize for the large price increase on shipping but this is out of my hands.? The USPS is in dire financial trouble and is raising prices on shipping.? It affects us all and is most unfortunate.? These boards are provided "at cost" so there is no margin to absorb any shipping price increases.? I have to pass them along. If you would like one or more S-100 PCBs please send a PayPal to LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

13 years, 2 months

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