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

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> I ran across a DEC OBA11-VA (attached to a dual TU58 drive) while sorting > my junk room. Anyone have a link to documentation or any information on it? The BA11-VA was a small Q-bus enclosure with power supply. Most often, in the "SB11' system, it enclosed an LSI-11/03 equipped with a MXV11 and sometimes extra serial lines like DLV11J and sometimes a GPIB card (IBV11?) or general purpose parallel I/O. If yours had TU58's attached it was probably used like a small industrial/scientific controller or data logger or development system. Sometimes they had custom applicatons burnt into the EPROM in the MXV11, other times they just used a regular bootloader and booted RT-11 from TU58 which than ran the application. Look inside and see if you've got IBV11's or other I/O type cards. Up through the 90's similar small desktop Q-bus chassis were sold by MTI and Andromeda for similar purposes (although by the 90's with more modern peripherals than the TU58!) I traveled with an Andromeda Q-bus system a lot in the 90's. Tim.

15 years, 11 months

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FW: 68K ISA project

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

--- On Wed, 7/14/10, Andrew Lynch <lynchaj at yahoo.com> wrote: > I'll continue researching and hopefully something will turn > up.? If any of > our German/European colleagues have access to the PC Par > 68000 article in > "mc" from 1989 and would be willing to scan I would greatly > appreciate it as > it seems to be the most practical solution at the moment. Weren't you the OP? I done said Radio Electronics had a series on building a 68K box w/ISA slots. I perused the 1st installment this morning, and yep it'll run an MDA card (CGA probably too), and stock floppy controllers, as well as hard disk controllers. What more could you want! Keep in mind though the original developer is on these lists somewhere, and wants big bucks for the (more or less complete) kit. So you'll have to contact him if you want to use his firmware. I don't have the entire set of installments, but presumably (though don't quote me) the artwork was available right in the magazine. [AJL>] Hi Chris, Would you please tell me which Radio Electronics like year, month, had the 68K circuit. If the design is proprietary then it is probably not a usable design. What you are describing sounds like a 68K motherboard in the PC or AT format. My plan is to place the 68K SBC on an ISA board starting with an ISA prototyping board. If you or someone else would please scan the article it sounds very interesting whether it would be useful for my project or not. I've found a good circuit with a complete schematic and description. It has some firmware and appears complete. Also it is public domain hardware and free (speech -- GPL) software so it is an ideal home brew project. It makes sense to me to do a little research and select an established home brew 68K project and use it as a base to extend to the ISA board rather than reinvent the circuit entirely. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

15 years, 11 months

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Educator 64 for sale!

by bryan.pope＠comcast.net

First there was a PET 64, now here is an Educator 64! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190420575028 Cheers, Bryan

15 years, 11 months

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Preformatted RX50s (was Re: Amlyn Minipac diskette changer)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 7/19/10, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: >> market for blank diskettes and cartridges. Reminds me of the DEC Rainbow >> (wasn't that system deliberately crippled to prevent it from being able to >> >> format blank media?). > > Only (AFIAK) by DEC not supplying a formatter program with early versions > of the OS. The hardware was quite capable of formatting blank disks. In the case of the Rainbow, the hardware was capable of formatting media, but ISTR some other DEC controllers didn't have bits left over in a CSR or didn't have enough command packet varieties to include a media format request or some other design limitation that was left out for various reasons, not primarily to force users to buy pre-formatted media, but since DEC had been selling pre-formatted media for years (RX01, RX02, RL01, RL02, TU58...) (vs older devices that *could* be user-formatted - RK05, DECtape, etc) it was believed at the time that users wouldn't complain enough to make a more complicated (and expensive) solution necessary. I think for the most part, they were right - there might have been some grumbling about the cost of media, but commercial customers were used to paying for places to store their bits. Home users were another market entirely, and I don't think that it went over as smoothly when trying to sell expensive disks to that crowd. I remember complaints from the later RX50 era that I don't remember >from the RX01 era vis-a-vis buying pre-formatted media. The difference lies, I think, more with the audience than the technology on this one. -ethan

15 years, 11 months

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RTEM-11

by bqt＠softjar.se

"Jerome H. Fine" <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> wrote: > >Johnny Billquist wrote: > >>> > >Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: >> > >>>> >> >On 7/14/10, Jerome H. Fine <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> wrote: >>> >> >>>> >>> In addition, does anyone know of any systems currently running >>>> >>> which support RTEM-11 features which allow RT-11 programs >>>> >>> to run in that environment? My assumption is that VMS on a VAX >>>> >>> supported RTEM-11 at some point, but perhaps (if I am correct) >>>> >>> the RTEM-11 support was not continued with >>>> >>> more recent versions of VMS on the VAX and most definitely VMS on the >>>> >>> Alpha. Can anyone comment on these questions? >>> >> >>> >> Based on the vague reference at >>> >> http://s-and-b.net/help?key=RTEM~Release_notes&title=VMS Help&referer= >>> >> and what I know of VMS and DEC hardware, I'd think that RTEM-11 would >>> >> require a VAX processor with "compatibility mode", i.e., a "VAX-11" >>> >> processor. The primary models would be the 11/78x, 11/750, 11/730 and >>> >> 11/725 (I don't recall if the VAX 86xx still had "compatibility mode" >>> >> or not, but it should be easy to check). MicroVAXen and such did not >>> >> have it, and Alpha processors certainly did not have it. >>> >> >>> >> That being said, I have no experience with RTEM-11, but I would be >>> >> surprised to learn it ran on a machine made after about 1986 or so. >> > >> > RTEM might be something else than RTEM-11, which was a software >> > product for RSX. Just google for RTEM-11, and you'll find some >> > references for it. >> > >> > However, I wonder about RTEM for VAX. It's certainly possible, but I >> > can't find any other reference to it, and DEC's old SPDs, especially >> > those with software version compatiblity matrixes, are usually pretty >> > good as a way of finding out what software existed. >> > >> > As for PDP-11 compatibility in VAXen, yes, the 86x0 machines have >> > that. Those were the last, however. >> > >> > For all other VAXen running VMS, if you wanted to run RSX software, >> > you needed a PDP-11 emulator product for VMS, which was available, in >> > addition to the RSX additions for VMS, which was also a separate >> > product. That thing was supported up until fairly recently, though. >> > But again, that's for RSX stuff... > > I suspect that the most likely possibility is that RTEM and RTEM-11 are > used. Huh? If you are suggesting that they would be the same, I can assure you they could not. A very common misconception these days seems to be that VAXen with PDP-1 compatibility could run PDP-11 programs. That is only true in a very limited sense. Only the basic PDP-11 instruction set is supported by the VAX, and only the user mode stuff. EMTs, as well as any other kind of traps, interrupts, and so on, was *not* supported. When you execute an EMT in PDP-11 mode on a VAX, it will trap back to VAX mode. No possibility to have a PDP-11 trap handler. > In addition, I also suspect that both Johnny and Ethan are correct in > that RTEM > was supported under both RSX and VMS on an older VAX which allowed > compatibility mode. It would have to be totally separate products in that case. > I don''t know if Megan Gentry is still around or perhaps Allison or one > of the > other DEC fellows. Perhaps they might at least know something about which > hardware and operating system(s) supported RTEM? I definitely remember (and probably still have some mail somewhere) from Megan mentioning that she used RTEM-11 for RT-11 work, running on RSX machines. Possibly even an 11/74. > In addition, RSTS/E also supported RT-11 programs via the SWITCH RT11 > capability. However, only the RT-11 EMTs which are used by a SJ are > supported > by RSTS/E. At least there is quite reasonable documentation as well as > the ability > to test and actually run RT-11 programs under RSTS/E up to the latest > versions > of RSTS/E. RT-11 EMTs for mapped RT-11 monitors (RT11XM) are not supported > not are multi-terminal EMTs. Also, probably the latest RT-11 EMTs for > file status > information are also not supported under RSTS/E. The correct technical term is that RSTS/E have a RT-11 *run time system*. An RTS in RSTS/E provides an environment under which you can get a specific behaviour. So you had RTSes for RT-11, RSX, BASIC+, TECO, DCL and some other stuff. Some RTSes were also KBMs (keyboard monitors), meaning you could "switch" to them, and get an interactive command line interpreter with that. But the RTS mostly implemented system calls. However, there were RTSes which didn't implement any system calls, and only gave you the basic calls RSTS/E itself provided, and mostly focused on being a KBM, such as DCL. You can write you own RTS if you want to, and one think that have been at the back of my mind is if it wouldn't be pretty easy to write a Unix RTS for RSTS/E, so that you can run a bunch of Unix binaries under RSTS/E as well. All exeutable files have an RTS associated with it, and when the program is run, it is run under that RTS, which then handles all EMTs and so on when the program executes them. > Probably in the same manner as RSTS/E, if RTEM is supported under VMS on an > older VAX, the most likely only the RT-11 EMTs which are used by a SJ are > supported. Yes, RTEM-11 would most likely just provide a simple RT-11 environment, such as SJ. As I said before, I can't really find any proper information about any RT11 environment for VMS... But if it existed, it would probably be just SJ as well. Johnny

15 years, 12 months

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17" CRT - Worth Keeping?

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

personally I love old monitors. This ones seems especially instersting being it has BNC jacks. I'd stick it in the closet, or in the yard inside 2 or 3 very sturdy plastic bags. If Adrian gets his way, there won't be a single one left in the entire UK!

15 years, 12 months

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What is OBA11-VA?

by cctech＠vax-11.org

I ran across a DEC OBA11-VA (attached to a dual TU58 drive) while sorting my junk room. Anyone have a link to documentation or any information on it?

15 years, 12 months

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10 Vintage Ads that Time Forgot

by marvin＠west.net

I was reading Mashable, and they had these videos; most interesting! http://mashable.com/2010/07/17/vintage-apple-ads/

15 years, 12 months

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Fwd: [GreenKeys] Nice ASR-33 for sale

by jfoust＠threedee.com

>To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net >From: milgram at cgpp.com >Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:12:00 -0400 >Subject: [GreenKeys] Nice ASR-33 for sale > > > >Selling my Dad's old ASR-33. Works, but a little cleaning and lube >wouldn't hurt. Never a school machine - in private use since new. Comes >with an Anderson-Jacobson modem and some manuals. > >Details, movie, photos at http://www.cgpp.com/asr33/ > >ebay listing is: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140428991870 > >regards to all, > >Judah Milgram > >milgram at cgpp.com >______________________________________________________________ >GreenKeys mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

15 years, 12 months

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Amlyn Minipac diskette changer

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> From: Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> > Subject: Amlyn Minipac diskette changer > > Has anyone else on the list seen one of these? I picked up a Vista V1200 > disk system for Apple 2 that uses this type of drive. The mechanism takes > a plastic cartridge with five 5.25" floppy disks. The diskettes appear to > be conventional SS format with a couple of extra punchouts to mate with > the loader mechanism. Electrical interface is compatible with 8" floppy > drives (interface card was also sold for that purpose). > > I'm not able to turn up any information about the drive and am wondering > how the diskette select/load scheme is intended to work. There are > at least a couple of possibilities: > > - Treat the physical diskettes as portions of a single logical floppy and > select diskette by track range (first diskette 0-39, second 40-79, etc.) > > - Treat each physical diskette as a logical drive and use binary select > lines on interface to choose. > > Anyone have documentation on the drive mechanism or the Vista product? I had a very similar unit for the Apple 3. As I remember it looked like a single 6MB drive to the OS. I don't think that would have been possible on Apple 2. Earlier I had a 5MB ICE hard drive on an Apple 2 which looked like 35 floppy disks to DOS. It might have looked different under UCSD Pascal, maybe you could have a single large file, but its a long time ago, I just can't remember.

15 years, 12 months

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Quadlink by Quadram - put an Apple II in you PC

by markellis＠cox.net

Hi, I realize that this is a really long shot, but would you still happen to have the Quadlink setup? A friend of mine has been looking for one forever! Thanks, Mark E.

15 years, 12 months

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360/30 simulator video

by ljw-cctech＠ljw.me.uk

I have created a YouTube account and uploaded a short video showing the simulator running a small program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=walWU2MQ2OM Sorry about the lack of video quality, but I'm sure you'll get the idea. If you want to know more, you can get the FETOM Y24-3360-1 from Bitsavers (or a mirror!) There is a front-panel layout on p6-2 of this manual, which may help in deciphering the panel lamps. The program being run is The "Indian" Problem on p73 of the Introduction to System/360 Assembler Language manual SC20-1646-6, also on Bitsavers. It is loaded at address 100. I am in the process of readying the VHDL files for release - tidying up and adding GPL headers at the moment. They should be available within the next week or two. -- Lawrence Wilkinson lawrence at ljw.me.uk The IBM 360/30 page http://www.ljw.me.uk/ibm360

15 years, 12 months

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Research Machines Nimbus-186

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

I am now the proud owner of a Nimbus motherboard. Anyone w/a technical manual? Does it use standard floppy drives? It seems to have onboard video ports, so I'm thankful for that at least. I found some warez here: http://www.theoldcomputer.com I arrived at specific Nimbus files (about 5, including DOS 3.1 - will run on the N-186?) by googling (everything is categorized as a *rom*, it being the worlds biggest bloodiest rom site), so you might be better off using that back door. So help me out guys. Need to get this bad boy operating.

15 years, 12 months

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regarding Datamaster's and such

by chrism3667＠yahoo.com

a picture (or 2) might help Sharon :) IIRC, the *8085* in the System 23/Datamaster wasn't identified as such. It had some sort of IBM house number. Haven't opened mine in a while, but that's what I remember. Be specific about what you mean by p/s issues. And if that's the case, you're advised to test the voltages under load...but not the motherboard load/s. Perhaps you have a repackaged Datamaster. Mine unfortunately is *unavailable* for perusal at this present time. I do believe there are other people on the list that have one, but they don't seem to participate these days. Mine is buried beneath about 12 other machines (was I supposed to put it on top? It weighs ~95 lbs yer know).

15 years, 12 months

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Commodore Floppies

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

Can a C1541 or C1571 attached to a C64 read floppies from other Commodore computers such as the VIC-20 or C16? Since the floppy drive is basically a computer attached to the C64 by a serial cable, I tend to think it can, but I don't believe I've ever seen anything on this, and I know I've never tried. I've never had a floppy drive attached to any of my VIC-20's, back when it was my only computer, I only had a cassette drive. Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

15 years, 12 months

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68K ISA project

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Thanks for the interesting replies. If anyone is interested in an N8VEM 68K project please contact me. Basically this would be a simple 68K system for a simple bus like ECB, S-100, or ECB. Nothing fancy or complex just 2 layer boards, all DIP construction, common parts, nothing programmable other than an EPROM. I am thinking just CPU, RAM, ROM, and a dual latch to communicate with the main board CPU but am open to other ideas. I'll continue researching and hopefully something will turn up. If any of our German/European colleagues have access to the PC Par 68000 article in "mc" from 1989 and would be willing to scan I would greatly appreciate it as it seems to be the most practical solution at the moment. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

15 years, 12 months

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DEC Alpha 433au Serial Port and Manual

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

You probably need to know the SRM commands to turn on the Serial port. You might take a look on Hoff's website. I ran my 434au via the Serial port, same with the XP1000's. While I have VMS compatible graphics cards, it is more convenient with how I use them. Zane At 1:18 PM +0100 7/17/10, Rob Jarratt wrote: >I recently acquired a 433au and I want to access it through the serial port. >I am not having much luck with this and wonder if there might be something >odd about the serial port. I would also like to find a manual for the >machine and my web searches have not turned up anything. Does anyone have a >PDF of the 433au's manual? > >Thanks > >Rob -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Photographer | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | My flickr Photostream | | http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/ |

15 years, 12 months

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17" CRT - Worth Keeping?

by lproven＠gmail.com

On 17 July 2010 16:13, Rob Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote: > I have a bulky Unisys EVG-500-COL 17" monitor that is taking up space. It > has a 9-pin VGA connector and 5 BNC plugs on the back. It needs to warm up > to work properly. I am not sure whether to keep it or just take it to the > tip. What do people here think? Personally, I disposed of about 2 dozen such screens to ComputerAid last month. I suspect that any made before 2002, they just recycled. :?( -- Liam Proven ? Profile & links: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AIM/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven ? MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? ICQ: 73187508

15 years, 12 months

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17" CRT - Worth Keeping?

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I have a bulky Unisys EVG-500-COL 17" monitor that is taking up space. It has a 9-pin VGA connector and 5 BNC plugs on the back. It needs to warm up to work properly. I am not sure whether to keep it or just take it to the tip. What do people here think? Regards Rob

15 years, 12 months

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DEC Alpha 433au Serial Port and Manual

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I recently acquired a 433au and I want to access it through the serial port. I am not having much luck with this and wonder if there might be something odd about the serial port. I would also like to find a manual for the machine and my web searches have not turned up anything. Does anyone have a PDF of the 433au's manual? Thanks Rob

15 years, 12 months

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HOPE this weekend

by scheefj＠netscape.net

I'm sitting in the Tesla room waiting for the IPv6 session to start. We'll see how much stamina I have on Sunday. Jim Evan Koblentz <evan at snarc.net> wrote: > >>> American Bombe: How the U.S. Shattered the Enigma Code (Sunday, 1pm, Lovelace Room) >> I'm out in the midwest, so there's no chance of going to this - but I'd be curious to see the above. Any chance anyone is filming these things? > >I don't know. Go to www.thenexthope.org and inquire there. > >PS -- our MARCH booth will have some special guests -- Crunch is >stopping by, and David Ahl might come, too.

15 years, 12 months

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Beware of Chris W Tucker ( Low End Mac mailing list seller)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Chris W Tucker jetrigger at gmail.com never shipped two powerbooks (about $500 worth) I'd complain on the LEM feedback list, but it doesn't work and they won't accept any comments on the main mailing list lemswap at googlegroups.com

15 years, 12 months

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Slightly OT: Sun Ultra 5 Keyboard

by jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de

On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:16:00 +0100 "Rob Jarratt" <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote: > The machine came without a keyboard or mouse and I think I need at > least a keyboard to get it to boot. If no keyboard is connected the machine defaults to serial console on the first serial port. (IIRC this is the DB25 one.) 9600 8n1. Before investing money in a keyboard and mouse you should check if the machine lives at all via the serial console. -- tsch??, Jochen Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/

15 years, 12 months

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HOPE this weekend

by evan＠snarc.net

Hi all -- If anyone's going to HOPE in NYC this weekend (who isn't already on the MARCH mailing list), here are some on-topic things to see and do: MARCH will have a demo booth Saturday from approx. 10am - night. And there are many on-topic lectures, including mine/Bill Degnan's: Friday: Get Lamp Screening and Discussion (Friday, 11pm, Tesla Room -- by friend-o'-MARCH Jason Scott) Introduction to the Chip Scene: Low Bit Music and Visuals (Friday, 11pm, Lovelace Room -- same guys who played VCF East 6.0.) Saturday: T+40: The Three Greatest Hacks of Apollo (Saturday, 10am, Lovelace Room) Vintage Computing -- Evan/Bill (Saturday, noon, Lovelace Room) The Telephone Pioneers of America (Saturday, 8pm, Bell Room) 2600 Meetings: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Saturday, 10pm, Lovelace Room) Sunday: Cats and Mice: The Phone Company, the FBI, and the Phone Phreaks (Sunday, noon, Tesla Room) Simpsons Already Did It - Where Do You Think the Name "Trojan" Came From Anyway? (Sunday, noon, Lovelace Room) American Bombe: How the U.S. Shattered the Enigma Code (Sunday, 1pm, Lovelace Room)

15 years, 12 months

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regarding Datamaster's and such (Shannon Spurling)

by jonas＠otter.se

It is mentioned on IBM's site: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc/pc_9.html It talks to CICS: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cicsts/v2r3/index.jsp?topic=/com.ib m.cics.ts23.doc/dfha4/dfha47e.htm They were made in Italy in 1983: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/italy/italy_ch3.html and in Boca Raton: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV8004.html It is also mentioned here as having been introduced in 1981: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/documents/pdf/1970-1984.pdf Flickr photo here from VCF: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2282600489/ Old commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/17275/ Advertisement: http://books.google.com/books?id=aWxr0DFnO5gC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=%2Bibm+%2B datamaster&source=bl&ots=QF3pu63OnI&sig=Vm75Apq8RaAUdfrCAdgQYhbGIfs&hl=sv&ei =Wtk-TLOMFseHOIum9bcH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEUQ6AEwCD gK#v=onepage&q=%2Bibm%20%2Bdatamaster&f=false Other paper: http://www.angelfire.com/ms/cis/CIS29.System23.01.html Article from BYTE by one of the designers: http://www.krsaborio.net/ibm/research/1990/09.htm Reminiscences from another person involved in the project: http://www.chessin.com/paul/aftermath.html >From InfoWorld 1981: http://books.google.com/books?id=Mj0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=%2Bibm+%2B datamaster&source=bl&ots=eOE4r_uCBs&sig=wdPGLs30043Rbs-6RtCAip8ZEVg&hl=sv&ei =I9s-TP-sJoOeOOa8ra8H&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAT go#v=onepage&q=%2Bibm%20%2Bdatamaster&f=false Not very helpful if you want to get it running I am afraid, but at least some background info. /Jonas > Not even on wiki's or classic computer directories that I could find > talking about the Datamaster system. Usually they just say that an all > in one predecessor of the PC called the Datamaster or System/23 was > released months before the PC release date. I can't even find pictures > of the 5324 unit, which is what I have. Just wish I could get this > thing > to boot. I think I may have corroded connections or something. >

15 years, 12 months

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RTEM-11

by bqt＠softjar.se

Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: > On 7/14/10, Jerome H. Fine <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> wrote: >> In addition, does anyone know of any systems currently running >> which support RTEM-11 features which allow RT-11 programs >> to run in that environment? My assumption is that VMS on a VAX >> supported RTEM-11 at some point, but perhaps (if I am correct) >> the RTEM-11 support was not continued with >> more recent versions of VMS on the VAX and most definitely VMS on the >> Alpha. Can anyone comment on these questions? > > Based on the vague reference at > http://s-and-b.net/help?key=RTEM~Release_notes&title=VMS Help&referer= > and what I know of VMS and DEC hardware, I'd think that RTEM-11 would > require a VAX processor with "compatibility mode", i.e., a "VAX-11" > processor. The primary models would be the 11/78x, 11/750, 11/730 and > 11/725 (I don't recall if the VAX 86xx still had "compatibility mode" > or not, but it should be easy to check). MicroVAXen and such did not > have it, and Alpha processors certainly did not have it. > > That being said, I have no experience with RTEM-11, but I would be > surprised to learn it ran on a machine made after about 1986 or so. RTEM might be something else than RTEM-11, which was a software product for RSX. Just google for RTEM-11, and you'll find some references for it. However, I wonder about RTEM for VAX. It's certainly possible, but I can't find any other reference to it, and DEC's old SPDs, especially those with software version compatiblity matrixes, are usually pretty good as a way of finding out what software existed. As for PDP-11 compatibility in VAXen, yes, the 86x0 machines have that. Those were the last, however. For all other VAXen running VMS, if you wanted to run RSX software, you needed a PDP-11 emulator product for VMS, which was available, in addition to the RSX additions for VMS, which was also a separate product. That thing was supported up until fairly recently, though. But again, that's for RSX stuff... Johnny

15 years, 12 months

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Moto 88k on ISA card (was Re: 68K ISA project)

by classiccmp＠crash.com

> Were there any ISA boards released with the Motorola 88000-series CPU on them? But of course! Opus Systems, like Definicon, put a couple of different CPUs on full-length ISA cards that would be added to or bundled with PCs to create a lower cost workstation in the latter half of the 80s. Opus delivered products using the Nat Semi 32000 family, later developed the Personal Mainframe Series 8000 using an 88k chipset, and eventually did it again with SPARC. We had one of these 88k boards in a Compaq DeskPro on a researcher's desk in 1991 and he was quite pleased with it. If one of these 32k or 88k systems/boards should need a new home, feel free to give me a shout. ;^) /Los links!!/ - All of the following shortened links go to Google Books. Initial announcement in InfoWorld, February 1989: http://tinyurl.com/opus8000 A few more details, October 1989: http://tinyurl.com/opus8000-2 Opus' 32332-based Series 200 announcement: http://tinyurl.com/opus200 --S.

15 years, 12 months

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ACE xx2247 key

by spedraja＠ono.com

Hello. I sent this request initially to PDP8-Lovers list, but I send the same request here in the confidence of some help. I am cleaning one PDP8E box with some boards inside. Previously to do some cleaning of the internal boards, I tried to fire up the computer yesterday. In appeareance nothing is wrong no strange smells, no burns, no clouds, no boom!, etc...) But... I don't have the front key :-) One ACE xx2247 is needed. I don't have one available, and is impossible for me to get one in my country (Spain). I would be grateful is someone could provide me one, or even a couple. Contact me off list if you want to discuss details. Regards Sergio

15 years, 12 months

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RTEM-11

by bqt＠softjar.se

"Jerome H. Fine" <jhfinedp3k at compsys.to> wrote: > I have fixed some of the bugs in a program which runs under RT-11 > (obviously using the > PDP-11 instruction set - since actual DEC PDP-11 hardware can be > replaced by either > other compatible hardware on an emulator such as SIMH or E11). > > The bugs were causing problems when the program was run under VBGEXE, > especially > when the program was run as a system job. > > The requirements for the changes and additions to the RT-11 code have > been determined. > > However, the same program is expected to run under RSTS/E (using SWITCH > RT11), > TSX-Plus (which is fully compatible) and RTEM-11. It is this last > expectation for which I > have been unable to find any documentation, let alone any ability to > test the program. Does > anyone who is reading this know where there might be documentation > available concerning > how RTEM-11 handles RT-11 EMT requests? In addition, does anyone know > of any > systems currently running which support RTEM-11 features which allow > RT-11 programs > to run in that environment? My assumption is that VMS on a VAX > supported RTEM-11 > at some point, but perhaps (if I am correct) the RTEM-11 support was not > continued with > more recent versions of VMS on the VAX and most definitely VMS on the > Alpha. Can > anyone comment on these questions? As far as I know, RTEM-11 will not run under VMS. It was a product for RSX-11M (only). Long since retired now, and I don't have any details on it. However, I seem to remember that when you do an -11M SYSGEN, you still get a question for some RTEM-11 support to be included in the system. As expected, it will trap RT11 EMTs, but exactly what it will do for specific EMTs, and in which cases it might differ from RT11, I have no idea. It's probably also not compatible with any "recent" changes to RT11, just so that you know... Johnny

15 years, 12 months

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RTEM-11

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I have fixed some of the bugs in a program which runs under RT-11 (obviously using the PDP-11 instruction set - since actual DEC PDP-11 hardware can be replaced by either other compatible hardware on an emulator such as SIMH or E11). The bugs were causing problems when the program was run under VBGEXE, especially when the program was run as a system job. The requirements for the changes and additions to the RT-11 code have been determined. However, the same program is expected to run under RSTS/E (using SWITCH RT11), TSX-Plus (which is fully compatible) and RTEM-11. It is this last expectation for which I have been unable to find any documentation, let alone any ability to test the program. Does anyone who is reading this know where there might be documentation available concerning how RTEM-11 handles RT-11 EMT requests? In addition, does anyone know of any systems currently running which support RTEM-11 features which allow RT-11 programs to run in that environment? My assumption is that VMS on a VAX supported RTEM-11 at some point, but perhaps (if I am correct) the RTEM-11 support was not continued with more recent versions of VMS on the VAX and most definitely VMS on the Alpha. Can anyone comment on these questions? Jerome Fine

15 years, 12 months

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Microbyte PC-230

by thrashbarg＠kaput.homeunix.org

Hi, I've started playing around with this old XT/AT compatible machine I've had for a while, called the Microbyte PC-230. It's designed locally in South Australia. My question regards the OS installation. A thoughtful person has uploaded the installation disks to driverguide.com but they're not images, but ZIP files of the contents of the install disks. It seems the install program checks the disk label or something similar to see if the correct disk is in the drive. I don't know the disk label or anything else about the original disks so I can't install the OS on the hard drive. The original hard drive is a 20MB Miniscribe which has developed bad sectors, so I've installed a 511MB DEC badged hard drive. The system has the odd feature of having on-board SCSI. It's an 8086 (NEC V30). I've had a poke through (or peek as it were) the INSTALL.EXE file on disk 1. There are a heap of null-terminated strings towards the end of it. Just after the message which says to insert disk 1 it has the string "\MBSCO1". I can only assume this is the disk label, but setting the disk for that doesn't let the program continue. Even setting the disk with a backslash in Linux doesn't help. After the second insert disk message there's a "\MBSCO2" string too. Perhaps I'm missing something. Any thoughts? Alexis.

15 years, 12 months

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68K ISA project

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

I believe that the project you are interested in is the one done by Ingo Cyliax at Indiana University. He developed (for a class I believe) an ISA form factor board that had a MC68030. At one time I had all the artwork & schematics (I may still??). A search brought up a couple of references, but the page at Indiana University seems to have been taken down. It was a pretty good system, including interfaces for keyboards and mice (I believe). It DID have ISA slots, and the ROM software worked against a standard IDE/Serial/Parallel board set, booting the disk. The memory was fixed at 4 megs (I may be wrong at this), and used the synchronous interface of the MC68030. The ISA portion used the async interface for the ISA timing, and an interrupt multiplexer multi interface chip (MC68901??) to handle the keyboard I/O. The web site also included a frame buffer that used an alternate interface that was provided for. I believe that there was an edition of Minix that ran on it as well. I suspect that with a little work 68k Linux ought to work, as the MC68030 has an MMU. Maybe someone can use this information to access the Wayback machine and get a proper pointer. Hope this helps.

16 years

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68K ISA project

by trag＠io.com

> Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:30:35 -0600 > From: Ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> > The MMU bit reminded about DACK GROUNDED. I think that was the news > letter I saw on the web. Guess what ! All about hooking a 68000 to > a apple II for numeric processing. > The news letter may be easier to find than a 68020. The Mac LC used a 68020. I'm not sure whether it was socketed or soldered though. The LC was more or less free not too many years ago. I'm not sure what availability is like now. Really, it's a kindness to take the 68020 out of an LC. The LC only had a 16 bit wide data bus. Just senseless. Jeff Walther

16 years

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68K ISA project

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi! Just out of curiosity does anyone know of any home brew ISA bus 68K boards? I've seen numerous home brew 68K projects of varying styles but none meant to plug into the PC/AT ISA bus. I tried Google but nothing obvious turned up. Ideas/URLs appreciated. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch PS, something like this but with more detail http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/as/pcpar.html

16 years

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DECboard X

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

I have a couple of boards, clearly DEC, with numbers X020 and X030. They are both hex height - pretty standard, with the cast metal bracket holding the board ejectors. The X020 board is marked DATA PATH and the X030 board is marked CDC DISK CONTROL. Are these for the DEC badged CDC 97xx drives? -- Will

16 years

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Mosaic-CK 2.7ck9

by spectre＠floodgap.com

For those who follow my Mosaic-CK project, version 2.7ck9 is out, which improves the basic NCSA Mosaic rendering core with improved horizontal positioning, makes image loads asynchronous, adds a Dock icon and better integration with Mac OS X, and fixes a lot of bugs. For those who don't, it's my little playground and historical preservation of NCSA Mosaic, updated to build and run on modern operating systems, with both an alternative renderer to actually be vaguely useful as a basic browser and the classic renderer to show people just how far we've come. Binary available for Mac OS X 10.4+. Should build on just about anything with gcc 2 or better and X11R5 or higher. I'm slowly working on getting my Solbourne S3000 back in shape so I can build binaries on that too (they would likely be generically SPARC compatible, but this probably builds on SunOS already anyway). http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/machten/mosaic/ -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- He is rising from affluence to poverty. -- Mark Twain ----------------------

16 years

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Knuth

by evan＠snarc.net

I'm sure you all read Slashdot, but just in case not: "Knuth Plans 'Earthshaking Announcement'" http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/06/29/2233219/Knuth-Plans-Earthshaking-An…

16 years

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68K ISA project

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Andrew Lynch [mailto:lynchaj at yahoo.com] > Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 5:49 PM > To: 'cctalk at classiccmp.org' > Subject: 68K ISA project > > Hi! Just out of curiosity does anyone know of any home brew ISA bus 68K > boards? > > I've seen numerous home brew 68K projects of varying styles but none meant > to plug into the PC/AT ISA bus. I tried Google but nothing obvious turned > up. Ideas/URLs appreciated. > > Thanks and have a nice day! > > Andrew Lynch > > PS, something like this but with more detail > > http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/as/pcpar.html [AJL>] Hi! Thanks for the replies. Please let me further clarify what I am looking for. As part of the N8VEM project I do research into what sorts of designs are possible and practical for home brew constructions. Part of that is researching what sort of home brew/hobbyist designs have gone before to see what has been done and how it was designed and constructed. Commercial solutions are available however they are typically proprietary and lack the important schematics and/or other design information I need. I am not aware of any 68K home brew projects for the ISA bus with the exception of the PCPAR68000 mentioned in the 1989 mc article. Would anyone have access to that article or other similar 68K ISA bus projects? Similarly home brew S-100 68K type projects would also work although not the commercial CompuPro or Cromemco 68K boards. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

16 years

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ot: powermac g5 taking apart

by rachael＠telefisk.org

sorry to post offtopic, but I know we have a few apple users here, and I was hoping for some insigts into taking an powermac g5 2,7ghz dual apart, I brough it home last week along with an g4 quicksilver 2002. So we still a few years to go for them. The powermac g5 is running very hot on the memory controler heatsink u3, but it seem that part is actual placed on the backside of the mainboard, and cooled by a heatpipe that connects to the aluminium case, but as its running at 65 to 76 degree celsius, I am a bit worried. Regards Jacob Dahl Pind

16 years

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MDS Series 21

by cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

Hi, what exactly is a Mohawk Data Sciences (MDS) Series 21? There's almost nothing on the net about that system apart from one small article in the July 1978 issue of Computer. Is it worth saving? Christian

16 years

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partial P112 kits

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I'm pondering making two types of P112 kits . First there is the complete kit and then there would be a partial kit. The partial kit contains the board, surface-mounts already mounted, and memory chips with boot rom already burned in. How many of you would be interested in a partial kit rather than a complete kit? I'm not sure of the prices yet. -- 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?

16 years

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wanted ; docs for Omnibyte Corp OB68K1A multibus SBC

by lynn＠gdca.com

Hi, I am looking to buy the OB68K1A board by Omnibyte. Do you have any? Thanks, Lynn

16 years

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yet another pdp-11 in fgpa

by dave＠mitton.com

On 7/2/2010 01:00 PM, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote: >Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:08:37 +0200 >From: Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> >Subject: Re: yet another pdp-11 in fgpa >To: cctalk at classiccmp.org >Message-ID: <4C2DAC95.1020900 at softjar.se> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > >allison <ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote: > > > On 06/30/2010 11:27 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote: > >> > I'll reply to this one last time, and then I'll give up. > >(I can't seem to keep out, can I? :-) ) > > > I can't add too much to this regarding what parts and what DEC > > designators applied > > but here are memories of the time frame. > > > > The first multiprocessor 11/70 was built with existing hardware and a few > > wire wrap and jumper mods. Memory said there were 4 total, three > inside DEC > > and one at CMU that they hacked together possibly with DEC help. > >CMU did multiprocessor PDP-11s before DEC did, I think. However, they >went about it differently than the 11/74 (or whatever you want to call >it). Search for C.MMP and similar stuff on the net for more information >about CMUs multiprocessor PDP-11 projects. > >The 11/74 systems were designed and built inhouse, although they might >have talked with CMU to get help, experience and whatnot. Reportedly >more than three systems were built. Rumors have it that they even had >some systems out to external customers for test, but all systems were >returned at the end of the tests (even though there is a persistent >rumor about Ontario Hydro keeping their). > >I think I know of/heard of three systems that were in use inside DEC >long after the system was officially cancelled. We had, of course, >CASTOR:: which was the RSX engineering system, and which was up and >running as late as 2002 (2005?) or so. This was a 4-CPU system. >Then we had POLLUX::, which I think was a 2-CPU system. Not sure, but I >think it might have been DECnet engineering who had it. The third I've >heard about is PHEANX:: which might have been POLLUX:: after a move to >field service, and possibly also using bits and pieces from other >places inside DEC. > >As far as I know, all of these systems, as well as the ones gone out on >field test, were KB11-CM cpus. So, no CIS option ever made it out of >prototypes, nor any KB11-E. > >The boards from the 11/74 systems that were returned were allegedly used >in plain 11/70 machines inside DEC afterwards. They were, after all, >plug compatible with the normal 11/70 systems. The KB11-E boards would >not have been that, though. >....<snip> I've been amused by the directions that this thread has taken over time... My memory of the specifics of models and features is weak, as I had moved on from DECnet-RSX to DECnet-DOS. This website has a slightly different cut: http://www.village.org/pdp11/faq.pages/never11s.html What I seem to remember was that CASTOR:: and POLLUX:: were the names when they ran those systems as dual CPUs in ZK. And they put the two together when they wanted to run the quad. But that could have changed over time. We were free to move node names around. The picture on http://www.miim.com/faq/hardware/multipro.html#castor is definitely of Brian McCarthy, a senior member of the RSX development group and that looks like the lab I've seen (only once that I remember) When DECnet-RSX development was in LKG (earlier TWO) circa 1980-early 90s, ELROND:: was our dual 11/74. When the multiprocessor project was dropped, we continued to run our dual as the primary development timeshare. Otherwise FS would just downgrade the system into something they would maintain like an 11/70. I do remember those ugly no switch panels that Field Circus installed on all our high end systems do they could do remote diagnostics. Ohhh, Google finds that Bitsavers has EK-70MP-TM, PDP-11/70 Multiprocessor Manual (Preliminary) http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/1174/EK-70MP-TM_PRE_1170mp_Prelim_Te… Dave.

16 years

2
1
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Conecting new printer to a 286

by dm561＠torfree.net

> Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 21:29:29 +0100 (BST) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Subject: Re: Conecting new printer to a 286 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <m1OVsIF-000J48C at p850ug1> > Content-Type: text/plain > >> >> On 5 Jul 2010 at 7:59, Glen Slick wrote: >> >> > Yes, you are confused. Tony's problem statement to which I replied >> > was capturing print data from a vintage PC to a USB capable host PC, >> > not printing from a vintage PC directly to a USB printer device. >> >> Well, to be sure, you can get DIP packages like the Elexol USBMOD4 >> parallel-to-USB transfer module that would entail little more than >> wiring up a cable. >> >> But there are so many scrapped PCs available with USB and > > As I have said many times, that depeends on where you are... > >> (bidirectional) parallel ports, what would be the point of building >> anything? > > You;ve not seen my workbench ;-). I doubt I could find space for a PC + > monitor+keybaord alongide any classic machbine I was working on. > > Quite apart from the fact that the simpler something is, there less there > is to go wrong.... > > -tony > ------------------------------ Seems to me all you'd need is a stock off-the-shelf Parallel>Serial converter feeding into a Serial<>USB converter, no? I use that setup for various things; PrtScn capturing PC BIOS setup screens for reference, debugging by judiciously inserting LPRINTs of key variables to save or display on a second screen, etc., and even for printing to serial printers from a parallel port... ;-) m

16 years

3
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Conecting new printer to a 286

by dm561＠torfree.net

> Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 13:52:34 -0700 (PDT) > From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> > Subject: Re: Conecting new printer to a 286 > > On Tue, 6 Jul 2010, MikeS wrote: >> Seems to me all you'd need is a stock off-the-shelf Parallel>Serial >> converter feeding into a Serial<>USB converter, no? > > AND another PC. > > That will work fine for transferring files from a non-USB computer to a > USB computer. Although many of the off-the-shelf Parallel>Serial > converters make assumptions about the computer's parallel port and are not > always reconfigurable for all. > > The original post was about how to connect a 286 computer to a "modern > printer". > The 286 machine does not have a USB port. > Off the shelf Serial<>USB converters will NOT work unless they are > connected to a computer with USB. They will NOT work connected to a USB > printer without a computer that has USB. > kk > > > ------------------------------ Umm, yes, that's all quite obvious but I was commenting on Tony's suggestion below; considering that most inexpensive "modern printers" can no longer print ASCII, this is probably the way you'd have to go anyway: [QUOTE] > Um, I'm confused. The FT245R is a slave device. Would it not > require a host controller to interface to a USB printer? The FT245 > ISTR always looks like a communications device. It would, if you wanted to connect it straight to the printer. My idea was a device to let you get the data off the classic machine onto a modern PC, and then format/print it from there. In which case a slave USB device is what is needed. -tony [/QUOTE] m

16 years

2
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Interphase SMD controller

by cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

Hi, I have three Fujitsu SMD disk drives that came from a Nixdorf machine and I'm looking for a way to read the data (sector based would be good enough). Recently I got hold of a Multibus SMD controller with a Nixdorf label and I hope this will lead me to some conclusions about the low-level format. It's an Interphase SMD 2190 (not a 2180) which is built around an i8085. As I understand it the format differs from controller to controller, is that right? Of course it would be much easier if I could just hook up the drives to a Xylogics 7053 or 451 on a VME based SUN machine... So the big question is, has anyone a manual of or information on the Interphase 2190? Would it be feasible to put the controller into an Intel MDS800 (I know, but it's the only "real" Multibus machine we have here...) ? Christian

16 years

3
5
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FS: Orion 1/10

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

Thinning out the collection a bit pending a move. If anyone has any interest in the High Level Hardware Orion 1/10 computers (Clipper CPU, NetBSD) I have several of these systems collected over many years, and really only need to keep a couple (one to use, one as a backup). If anyone has any interest in these machines, send me an email of list. Based in the UK. Collection only on these items sorry, they are bulky and heavy.

16 years

2
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Conecting new printer to a 286

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

I'd just check eBay for an old HP Deskjet for under $35 or if Letter Quality isn't important, there are lots of old Dot Matrix printers there too. I keep an old IBM Graphics Printer (Epson MX-80), HP Deskjet 500 and an HP LJ IIIP around for printing off classic computers like my TRS-80, Atari, Amiga and other systems. Al

16 years

11
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Happy 4th, and more apple 2 questions

by jws＠jwsss.com

Does anyone have a working (hopefully, I know it's asking a lot) Apple 2C power supply? I can build one up if I weren't lazy, but I really would just like to get it going with a regular supply. Also will try to hook up and bootstrap over a copy of apple dos, assuming the ADT Pro will bootstrap me. The Apple 2e now has a super serial card waiting, so that project will proceed when the paying work clears later this week. I will have to find my serial kit and organize it a bit, but that will be a good exercise. Again, I don't know looking over the thread if I asked, if anyone could also spare or point at a cpm card for the 2e? I am a bit ahead of myself in asking for that, but I do have a number of boxes of CP/M disks in the pile with the ones I got with that system. I wish I weren't working on paying work over the 4th, but you work when those who pay want you to. Jim

16 years

6
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Interphase SMD controller

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> There's no standard on-disk format for SMD drives, unfortunately. Within the DEC-compatible SMD world, many controllers (especially the Massbus-emulating) offered lowest-common-denominator compatibility with DEC RM03/RM05/RP05 packs in CDC 9762/CDC 9766/Memorex 677-51 drives. There are some delicate hooks between the software device drivers, Massbus registers, and the low level format that made it desirable to keep this lowest-common-denominator there even for SMD drives that had geometries nothing like the 9762/9766/677-51. But in the Sun/VME world I know of no such lowest-common-denominator standard. Tim.

16 years

3
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