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

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

A more broad summary than the arstechnica one (which seems to harp on some points that I'm sure make sense to the arstechnica author but make no sense at all to me!) is in The Register: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/03/26/ibm_turbohercules_response/prin… and on the patent issue: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/06/ibm_hercules_project_patents/ A factoid I ignored or never knew until now: the 1956 consent decree's applicability seems to have expired in 2001 for IBM mainframe stuff. Wow. This is, for me, like finding out that Captain Kirk was engaged in a battle of wits with Opie's little brother. (I'm not making it up, it's true! Look up the cast for The Corbomite Maneuver.) Tim.

16 years, 3 months

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seeking PDP-11/93 CABKIT for BA23, swap or sell MicroVAX BA23 parts, and SBOX CQD223A/TM

by nigel.d.williams＠gmail.com

More details and pictures here: www.retrocomputingtasmania.com/members/nw-retrocomputingtasmania-com/pdp-11… If anyone knows the part numbers for the KDJ11 CABKIT or front/rear plastic panels for the BA23 that would help me contact suppliers. My aim is to run RSTS/E v10 on this machine so I am open to suggestions for the simplest path to this goal. I have a SBOX CQD223A/TM SCSI card which I would be willing to swap or sell for the QBUS variant or some other manageable RSTS/E compatible storage device. cheers, nigel. www.retroComputingTasmania.com

16 years, 3 months

1
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Masscomp still available for rescue

by shawn.t.rutledge＠gmail.com

I finally put up pics: http://ecloud.org/pics/Masscomp/ and got around to powering it up to see what would happen. I saw an amber power light, a quick blink on the green "run" light, the fans work, and the hard disk spins up, but I didn't see any output on the serial port which I thought should've been the console. Supposed to be a 68k-based Unix box. Apparently these were known for graphics, but I don't see anything looking like video output (other than a coverplate with video signals labeled) so maybe that's missing from this one. Manuals, disks and a tape will be included. Anyway... if anyone wants it, it's free for pickup in Phoenix, AZ, and if not, it's going to get scrapped pretty soon. My wife's been nagging me to get it off the patio (clean, dry patio, out of the weather) for years, and now there is a good chance we might be moving.

16 years, 3 months

1
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eBay disaster

by shoppa＠trailing-edge.com

> could someone please explain me THIS? > http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190385486840 I myself have put up something for sale that I was sure was "dear" and "valuable" and "rare", and it got no bids at all. Obviously the rest of the world didn't agree. Certainly telling the whole broad world that what you have is rarer then hen's teeth and ultra-desirable is a common ploy, so common that it means little. I'm guessing that the people who use RK05 packs have metric buttloads of them and don't need anymore, new or not. Certainly that describes the existing RK05 users I know of. Tim.

16 years, 3 months

3
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Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: Hamurabi Focal source)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 3/31/10, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: > OK... I was worried for a moment that somebdy had tried to archive paper > tapes by scanning them a foot at a time on a flatbed scanner or something > equally daft I did that exact thing with punched cards as an experiment. I did not (and still don't) have a punched card reader, but I have a correspondence course in "Data Processing" I picked up at a thrift store that came complete with blank coding forms and punch cards as teaching aids for the homework. I put the punchcard in a flatbed scanner with the unprinted side down (the "back" side) with a dark backing sheet to contrast the holes. I scanned it to a TIFF then converted it to a GIF and used Tom Boutell's GD library to import it into a C application that did some simple image transformations (edge detection, etc). I didn't complete the code to the point of converting spots to bits, but I did scale and locate the card in the scan area and was on the verge of writing the code to check for holes when I got distracted and set it aside. Making an 8 or 9 channel papertape reader from scratch is not an impossible exercise (witness the ancient Byte article referenced here every so often). Making a punchcard reader from scratch is a very different level of effort, so back then I figured that it'd be easier to use a flatbed scanner than try to make a 12-level reader and mechanical feed system on my own. These days, though, with inexpensive fabrication tools (access to laser cutters, home CNCs, Makerbots, etc) it might _not_ be as hard to make a punchcard reader >from scratch as it was 10 years ago. -ethan

16 years, 3 months

8
20
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eBay disaster

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> From: Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> > Subject: eBay disaster > > What did I do wrong? Maybe you didn't use the right words in the title line. My ebay search terms do not include 'beyond', 'rare' or 'new', they are fine for the main description but the title is too precious for them. The words 'computer' and either 'classic' or 'old' or even 'vintage' for instance would have been more useful. Some ebayers might even have an exclusion for new items by using -new. I wish ebay would divide computers into decades or generations, I find it useless using eBay categories or I end looking through 90s, 80s and for me even 70s stuff for hours looking for probably just one computer item from the early 1960s, often none at all. Roger Holmes (owner of a 1962 mainframe)

16 years, 3 months

1
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Anyone have an image of a Japanese PET chrgen ROM 901447-12?

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 18:18:33 -0400 From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> Subject: Re: Anyone have an image of a Japanese PET chrgen ROM 901447-12? On 4/5/10, M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote: > ----------------Original Message: > > Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 02:13:20 -0400 > From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Subject: Anyone have an image of a Japanese PET chrgen ROM 901447-12? > It would certainly be nice to find the 'official' ROM, but I thought that > the ROM that Philip (the owner of that PET on your bench) created > was pretty well complete and correct; it seems to match my Japanese > keyboard perfectly except for one character, and I suspect it's the key > that's wrong and not the CG. Why would the key be wrong? *MS: What I meant was that one of my keys might have been replaced; the picture of the chiclet keyboard has a Yen symbol, the normal graphic symbol and a Japanese character where the \ key usually is, whereas my keyboard just has the normal \ and graphic symbol. --- > Did you try that image and match it up to your Japanese chiclet > keyboard? I have not. If you could send me a copy of it off-list, that would be appreciated. I don't seem to have it in the place I store such things (though I do remember the conversation). *MS: I'll send you the binaries, character charts and pics of the keyboard off-list. --- > I've been playing with the idea of having all three (four?) character sets > available on screen at the same time, using the reverse video signal. How would that work? Obviously, you'd use some new means of toggling upper bits on the CHRGEN ROM, but I don't get how the reverse video signal would be the trigger... the upper bit on a PET character cell inverts the data out of the bit shifter (unlike the C-64 where it's just another address bit). I can see how you could steal that upper bit and pipe it into A11 on a larger CHRGEN ROM, but how do you get 3 or 4 sets from one bit? *MS: As you know, PETS have two mutually exclusive sets, upper/lower case or upper case/graphics; when you install the Japanese characters you have to give up at least one of those half-sets and you can't for example have Japanese characters and upper/lower Roman characters on the same screen, not to mention graphics. I haven't looked at the older PETs to see if/how it might be feasible, but the newer ones with a CRT controller have provision for selecting an alternate character set with one of the unused address lines, so I thought it might be easily possible to use that somehow, perhaps even connecting it to the reverse video signal so that the RVS on/off key would select the alternate set on an individual character basis and allow mixing (e.g.) Japanese, upper, lower and graphics characters, all on the same screen instead of switching the mode of the whole screen with the text/graphic poke. mike

16 years, 3 months

1
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eBay disaster

by marvin＠west.net

Did you do any market research before listing? I have no idea what a new disk pack would be worth, but obviously not a lot to the people who buy on ebay. In checking past US auctions for the past 90 days, there were only five listings and the highest price paid was about $15.00. On top of that, each auction had very few buyers; that tells me NOT to start the listing at one Euro. But the 15 Euros or so you got was still higher than anything sold here in the US. What did you expect (hope) it to sell for? > could someone please explain me THIS? > http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190385486840 > > What did I do wrong? > > Regards, > > Philipp

16 years, 3 months

1
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*free* NEC APC in Schenectady, NY

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Julie writes to me: --------------------------------------------------------- "I have *three* NEC APC's: two mono, one color. There are manuals and operating system diskettes." jhorn5555 at yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------- Contact her to get your very own NEC APC computer. They have freaky-cool 8-inch floppy drives.

16 years, 3 months

4
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Some original "IBM" software - $5 each

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Gene wrote to me: Contact Gene below if interested: ---------------------------------------------------- "I have a bunch of very old IBM software in original boxes that I would like to find a home for. I hate to throw them way when I know there must be those who would love to acquire them. $5 each + shipping. Ami Pro, Writing Assistant, Professional Write, Professional File, Professional Plan, QA3, Word Perfect and more Contact Gene at: ygehrich at yahoo.com ----------------------------------------------------

16 years, 3 months

1
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N* Question

by snhirsch＠gmail.com

All, I am working at bringing up a N* Horizon system and have some questions. At present, I don't have any system software and am attempting to determine basic functionality. The box currently has a Z80-A CPU card, HRAM64 memory card and an MDS-AD3 hard-sectored floppy controller (others have been removed temporarily). There are two built-in SA-400 SS 5.25" drives. Other cards that came with the unit include a Compupro bus terminator, A Morrow Disk Jockey 2D/B 8" controller and a Morrow HDCA-4A hard disk controller. Unfortunately, the 8" Morrow hard disk emitted some magic smoke at power up and I have not done any further troubleshooting yet. Anyone know anything about Memorex 8" drive mechanisms? At power up, the system tries to boot the first floppy drive, then gives up after 10-15 seconds. I take this as a sign that some life exists. Then, I connected a PC running ProComm Plus to the left serial port, but cannot get any reponse or output there. So, problem 1: Where are baud rate settings documented? I can find pinouts for assigning signals on the DB25 connector, but not a mention of baud rate. Is it possible to obtain any sort of monitor prompt in the absence of a booted system? Doesn't the floppy controller have some sort of ROM monitor on-board? Any tips for getting a terminal connection operational? I have played with handshake signals a bit, and it sure looks like both parties have the necessary lines in the necessary states for communication to occur. Steve --

16 years, 3 months

3
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Ampro "Little Board" boot disk?

by dave09＠dunfield.com

Hi Everybody, I received this request from a good friend lately: > PS: do you happen to know anyone who has an original Ampro "Little > Board"? I'd like a copy of the boot diskette for CP/M 2.2. > > It's the one with the Z80 and no SCSI? Not their later 8088 card. I > acquired the earliest Z80 board recently, but with no CP/M diskette. > While there are some Web archives with CP/M BIOS and ROM sources, for > some reason they don't have the "boot code" sources. Can anyone help? I would also like to add the boot disk image to the archive as well. Thanks, Dave -- dave09 (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Classic Computers: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/

16 years, 3 months

2
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eBay disaster

by melamy＠earthlink.net

well, you got what you listed then. eBay is no way a guarantee of getting a good price. You wanted a better price? Then you needed to set a minimum or a reserve price. If it sold then great, if it didn't then keep it longer or lower your price. English only, fine. You already have decided that I don't know what I am doing. I have only been selling on eBay since the late nineteen-hundreds. You asked for ideas and then discounted them. What you did - didn't work. Maybe you will be luckier next time. regards, Steve Thatcher BTW, missed the photo of an actual disk pack - It was buried farther down. The only thing I remembered from the listing was seeing a box and a comment about language. -----Original Message----- >From: Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> >Sent: Apr 5, 2010 3:26 PM >To: General Discussion at null, On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>, null at null >Subject: Re: eBay disaster > > >> I am assuming that you were hoping for a higher selling price... >Yes, of course! > >> First of all, you should have set a reserve price on the auction or a minimum bid of what you >> wanted to "at least" get from the auction. >Puh.. A minimum is possible. But a reserve? I feel uncomfortable when I see this "reserve not met" >thing in other auctions. So I don't really like that idea. > >> The buyer (whatever his rating) may have just signed >> up. >Yes. That's the reason why I refused to limit the group of people who are allowed to bid. If this >should turn out to be a scam, I'll think different when it comes to further offers. > >> I think I would have included the native language write up rather than just in English. >Oh, why? Because of my bad English? The chance to sell this kind of stuff to someone in Germany is >quite a bit lower than selling it to elsewhere (i.e. US) in the world. So I decided to write in >English only. > >> Second, sometimes just a picture of a box is just what a buyer gets. I would have taken pictures >> of the box insides or even included a stock photo of what the disk pack is that is in the box. >If you looked at the pictures I have put onto the auction you should have seen that I actually have >photographed a pack lying on the box. Another one, of course. I did not want to open the box - >opening the box would have spoiled the whole thing. > >

16 years, 3 months

1
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eBay disaster

by melamy＠earthlink.net

I am assuming that you were hoping for a higher selling price... First of all, you should have set a reserve price on the auction or a minimum bid of what you wanted to "at least" get from the auction. The buyer (whatever his rating) may have just signed up. I think I would have included the native language write up rather than just in English. Second, sometimes just a picture of a box is just what a buyer gets. I would have taken pictures of the box insides or even included a stock photo of what the disk pack is that is in the box. just a couple of thoughts. best regards, Steve Thatcher -----Original Message----- >From: Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> >Sent: Apr 5, 2010 5:54 PM >To: General Discussion at null, On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>, null at null >Subject: eBay disaster > >Hi folks, > >could someone please explain me THIS? >http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190385486840 > >I don't sell on eBay very often. And from time to time I see people paying astronomical sums for >more or less junk. But this time it was me offering stuff - and what did I get? I have no clue who >would sell me a used RK05 disk pack in unknown condition for that price. But this was a new in a box >one....! > >What did I do wrong? >Was it the winner of the auction who has 0 eBay points? There was absolutely no trace of fraud on my >side. I did neither bid with another account nor did I even ask someone to bid on my auctions to >drive up the price. That's what I got from it. I hope that the lucky 0 points high bidder on my pack >is someone who really exists... > >Regards, > >Philipp > > > > > > >-- >http://www.hachti.de

16 years, 3 months

4
3
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Paper drilling (was: Re: Making Hard Sector Floppies)

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

Message: 16 Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 13:03:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> Subject: Re: Paper drilling (was: Re: Making Hard Sector Floppies) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Message-ID: <20100405125858.W18344 at shell.lmi.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 5 Apr 2010, Dave Woyciesjes wrote: > > Well, when I was making a notepad (using the old pages from a > > Dilbert desk calendar) I just clamped the paper between a piece > > of 1/4" sheet wood and the circuit board backer; then used my > > hand drill. Kept the clamps as close to the hole location as > > possible. > > Congratulations > You manufactured a paper drill. Yep, hence my posting of what I'd done.... > Next time, . . . > You'll find that a drill press is much more convenient if you > need to do a bunch,... Yes, it would've been, if I indeed had one in my shop. > and that a hollow tubular drill bit (try > a printer Binding Supplies company!) works much better than a > standard helical drill bit. See comment above... Always one wise-ass in the bunch, isn't there? ;) > > The circuit board I used, IIRC, as a backer was a ISA > > riser card froman IBM PC300GL PC. Cut off all but one of > > the card edge slots. Keeps the pads at a good angle for > > use, and hanging... :) > > 'course now somebody will show up who is desperate for one of those > boards, . . . yeah, Murphy's law, ain't it? -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 "From there to here, From here to there, Funny things are everywhere." --- Dr. Seuss

16 years, 3 months

1
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Computer pioneer and Gates mentor Ed Roberts dies • The Register

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/02/ed_roberts_dies/ -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 "From there to here, From here to there, Funny things are everywhere." --- Dr. Seuss

16 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

Reading a BRUSYS tape

by quapla＠xs4all.nl

Hi everybody, I have a question, is there someone who can read for me 2 separate 9 track tapes containing a brusys type backup onto an image readable for SIMH? Please contact me off list. Thanks, Ed -- Dit is een HTML vrije email / This is an HTML free email.

16 years, 3 months

1
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Paper drilling (was: Re: Making Hard Sector Floppies)

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

From: Dave McGuire On Apr 2, 2010, at 5:16 PM, Andrew Burton wrote: > > I did a quick search online last night for "paper drill" and the > > results seemed to be US specific. I have never been in a print > > shop, so maybe they are common like you say. I will certainly > > ask a few colleagues at work and see if they have heard of them. > > > Well, there not being many other ways to make holes in > inches-thick stacks of paper.. > > -Dave Well, when I was making a notepad (using the old pages from a Dilbert desk calendar) I just clamped the paper between a piece of 1/4" sheet wood and the circuit board backer; then used my hand drill. Kept the clamps as close to the hole location as possible. The circuit board I used, IIRC, as a backer was a ISA riser card from an IBM PC300GL PC. Cut off all but one of the card edge slots. Keeps the pads at a good angle for use, and hanging... :) -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 "From there to here, From here to there, Funny things are everywhere." --- Dr. Seuss

16 years, 3 months

2
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Anyone have an image of a Japanese PET chrgen ROM 901447-12?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, All, This has all been discussed over on the cbm-hackers list over the past several months, but I've been fixing a couple of Static PET boards for someone in Japan. The only thing that appears to be unique to one of the boards is a 2316B in a Commodore-built 6540 adapter board (P/N 320076) and the 901447-12 ROM that's in it. There is no corresponding ROM image on Zimmers.net (where the old funet archive lives), and this ROM reads all zeros. I have a photo of the keyboard layout for a Japanese chicklet PET, and it doesn't happen to match the map of the Japanese C-64. One interesting feature is a few Kanji characters mixed in with the Katana, specifically, "4" maps to the Kanji for "year", "5" has "month", and "6" has "day" - obviously for rendering dates easily. There looks to be 51 Japanese glyphs total (all the Katakana characters, the three Kanji, and a couple of other characters needed to write sentences in Japanese). Given that the editor ROM is identical to a standard European/US BASIC 1.0 PET, it seems likely that the character drawn on the key would be the replacement in "upper/lower case mode" for that particular symbol. It seems likely I could reproduce the general contents of the ROM following the keyboard map, but it would be great it someone out there happened to have the real thing. I already know that nobody on the cbm-hackers list has come forward with a copy, but I'm pretty sure there are PET owners on this list who are not on cbm-hackers. If anyone happens to have this ROM or ROM image, please share it with the great repository at Zimmers.net. Thank you, -ethan

16 years, 3 months

2
2
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Northstar Horizon boot disks

by derschjo＠mail.msu.edu

Hi all -- I've spent the last couple nights searching in vain for the Northstar Horizon boot disks a listmember produced for me a few years back. I *swear* I had them in my hands not a month ago but now they are nowhere to be found. I'm worried they may have fallen into a box that got recycled. I've decided I want to get my Horizon running again now that I have a bit more spare time (my other current project, a '54 Nash Metropolitan, is now off to the body shop for some serious work) but I'm stuck without bootable media or any way to make my own, so I can't do much with it at the moment. Can anyone do me a favor and make me a copy of a couple of Horizon boot disks (CP/M or otherwise) for this machine? I have the MDS-AD3 double-density controller with a Shugart SA400 drive. (As a related aside, is there *anywhere* one can get hard-sectored 5.25" floppies these days?) Thanks as always, Josh

16 years, 3 months

9
16
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chips (was Re: Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: HamurabiFocal source))

by melamy＠earthlink.net

now that you mention IBM used the word "chips" then the rest of the industry would have to call it something else... They probably even copyrighted the name "chips" and good thing they didn't sue the TV guys when CHiPs was on TV. -----Original Message----- >From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> >Sent: Apr 5, 2010 9:49 AM >To: General Discussion at null, On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>, null at null >Subject: Re: chips (was Re: Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: HamurabiFocal source)) > >On 4/5/10 1:07 AM, Rod Smallwood wrote: > >> >> As to punched cards I never heard the rectangular punchings referred to as >> 'chips' on either side of the Atlantic. >> > >I refer you, then, to most IBM punched card documentation on bitsavers. > >http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/cardProc/22-8485-3_operGuide_Sep56.pdf >page 13, for example: > >"Chip Box > Slightly to the right of the machine, as you look at it from the rear, > is a removable box, which is the receptacle for the punching chips as > they are cut out. This box can be easily removed, when necessary, by > lifting a catch that locks it into position. The chip box should be > removed and emptied daily." > >

16 years, 3 months

1
0
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Making Hard Sector Floppies

by marvin＠west.net

I just finished a project using stepper motors and a PIC processor to drive the whole thing. Aside from defining the parameters (and debugging my mistakes), it was pretty easy to do. I used a Ramsey Stepper Motor driver kit to drive a 200 step/rev floppy disk drive motor along with a 16F84A PIC processor to control it, and it worked great. Using a sharpie to just mark the hole location sounds like it would be really easy to do. Anyone know the permissible hole tolerances on hard sector floppies? If using a laser, what power would be required to cut the holes and what kind of laser? I currently have a 35W IR laser that could be more than a bit dangerous without proper safety precautions ... I've kind of gotten used to eyesight :)! >> People have been known to make their own 5 1/4" hard-sectored disks. I don't >> > remember the details, but the basic idea was to take a 5 1/4" disk drive to >> > hold the disk, make an index wheel for the holes, add a hole punch, and then >> > just add time. > > One thought I had was to take an old 5.25" floppy frame (say an > SA400), replace the DC motor with a stepper, mount a floppy disc, then > drive the rotation so many steps (you'd have to calculate/measure the > pulley ratio), then punch the media. Simple stepper drivers are > inexpensive to buy ($20, say) or make and easy to drive from a > microcontroller or parallel port (or even 555, if you wanted to do it > "old school"). It'd be even "better" to have a laser make the hole, > but that's a lot of power to be squirting around - punches for mylar > rarely make holes in someone's retina. > > If it's too tricky to mount the punch or die in the floppy frame, one > could pulse the media around as required and dot the spot with a > sharpie, then eject the floppy and punch the holes by hand. > > -ethan

16 years, 3 months

14
32
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Executing of RT-11 programs under RSTS/E

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

I thought it would be better to wait until Sunday, April 4th since this request for help would otherwise be seen as an April fools joke. YES! I agree that only hobby users might be interested enough to want these changes, let alone use them. But it keeps me busy and challenged. I have almost finished making changes to MACRO.SAV to fix some bugs and display the year in four digits (1972 -> 2099). Along the way, I found that MACRO.SAV and CREF.SAV assume that each other are on the SY: device and .Chain back and forth when a cross-reference table is added to the listing. Now both MACRO.SAV and CREF.SAV are allowed to be on a device different from SY: and from each other if the user so specifies. All of the code has a simple solution under RT-11 and I presume there may be a simple solution when run under RSTS/E. However, I have not run any code under RSTS/E for 20 years and have no simple way of setting up a system. My preference would be to run RSTS/E under SIMH with: (a) Debug capability if possible (b) No debug capability, but just run the program (c) Have someone else run the program under RSTS/E and test it for me in that order of priority. Has anyone a simple RSTS/E image that I can download and run without modification to allow me to test the programs myself under SIMH? That should keep everything legal for an RSTS/E distribution that is allowed under SIMH. I would also need a few hints on running, but probably very few. Can anyone help? John Dundas has helped by providing a PDF of a manual describing the RT-11 emulation under RSTS/E. This manual provides some details of the RT-11 .Chain EMT request when used under the RT-11 Real Time emulation under RSTS/E, but there are conflicts with the documentation on the RT-11 side of the fence as to the use of the PPN from RSTS/E during an RT-11 .Chain EMT request. In particular, for some of the RT-11 documentation, the 5th word in the Chain Area starting at octal address 500 (i.e. at octal location 510) is the RSTS/E PPN value for the file to be .ChainED to while other definitions place a very different value at octal location 510. Does anyone have an idea as to which documentation is correct? There may be some RSTS/E images at trailing edge. However, I would appreciate something that is ready out of the can, so to speak, as my focus is so narrow. Using RSTS/E is far from my goal. I just want to have the modified MACRO.SAV and CREF.SAV pair work under RSTS/E as well as RT-11, RTEM and TSX-Plus. The manual It may also be useful to test under any other RT-11 emulator. I know of just one, but I can't remember who developed it. Jerome Fine

16 years, 3 months

1
0
0 0

PIC900C

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I am looking for a data sheet (or at least a pinout) for an IC numbered PIC900C. Despite the number, this is not a microcontroller, it's some kind of power driver IC -- from the 'house code' on it, I suspect it's little more than a transistor array, here [1] configured as a full-H driver foo a motor. FWIW it's in a 'wide' 18 pin DIL package with a metal top surface to attach to a heatsink. I beleive it was made by Unitrode in the early 1980s. Alas the only Unitrode data book I could find on the web was too early for it. [1] On the 'servo' (notor control) board of an HP9144 tape drive. -tony

16 years, 3 months

2
2
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PIC900C

by melamy＠earthlink.net

I will have to do some digging on this. I used a PIC625 from Unitrode in designing a 12 to 5 volt switching regulator. It is a switch mode transistor with a flyback diode in it if I remember correctly. The device is a four pin can (smaller than a TO3 case). Just not sure if the 900 was in the same family. best regards, Steve Thatcher -----Original Message----- >From: Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> >Sent: Apr 3, 2010 12:06 PM >To: cctalk at classiccmp.org >Subject: PIC900C > >I am looking for a data sheet (or at least a pinout) for an IC numbered >PIC900C. Despite the number, this is not a microcontroller, it's some >kind of power driver IC -- from the 'house code' on it, I suspect it's >little more than a transistor array, here [1] configured as a full-H driver >foo a motor. FWIW it's in a 'wide' 18 pin DIL package with a metal top >surface to attach to a heatsink. > >I beleive it was made by Unitrode in the early 1980s. Alas the only >Unitrode data book I could find on the web was too early for it. > >[1] On the 'servo' (notor control) board of an HP9144 tape drive. > >-tony >

16 years, 3 months

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RE: Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: Hamurabi Focal source)

by dm561＠torfree.net

----------------Original Message: Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:02:31 -0700 From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> Subject: RE: Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: Hamurabi Focal source) On 1 Apr 2010 at 0:17, Ian King wrote: > Interestingly, the idea of a timing mechanism hosted on the medium > itself never occurred to Herman Hollerith or his successors, which I > guess speaks to their confidence in their engineering. Not necessarily. If you look at Hollerith's card reader, it read the entire card in parallel, using spring-loaded probes that would extend through the card holes and touch a pool of mercury. No need for clocking. Serial card reading came later when the card was not manually read. If you're going to automate card transport, then reading the card serially actually is easier. What was the proportion of readers that read colum-serial versus row- serial? I believe the CDC 415 punch had its read station as 80 brushes, reading the card just punched row-wise. --Chuck --------------------Reply: As a matter of fact reading the card 'sideways' was a basic principle of the electro-mechanical punched card systems that (along with card sales) were IBM's bread and butter until the mid-sixties. With the exception of keypunches, paper tape converters etc. these machines were 'clocked' through the 12 states (12,11,0-9); the (firmly clamped) cards and various gears, relays, punches, type bars, etc. were cycled through these 12 states in synchronized parallel unison, much like most of the manual 'posting machines' with full row and column keyboards that preceded and coexisted with them. Timing diagrams looked much like the diagrams we're familiar with, but they were usually calibrated in degrees of rotation of the master camshaft instead of time. Interesting to compare not only the architectures of then vs. now, but the overall systems; a room full of various machines would be more or less the equivalent of a fairly simple micro, each machine (and operator in some cases) would be a programming algorithm or an IC, the data path would be an actual real well-worn path where cards would be carried from one machine to the next in the processing sequence, patch boards would be EPROMs, etc. etc. The hardware and documentation may be preserved, but I suspect the design of the actual application systems, i.e. 'programs' where procedures are in fact different physical machines, is becoming a lost art.

16 years, 3 months

4
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Don't Copy That Floppy

by marvin＠west.net

Ah yes, I still have one of their "Don't Copy That Floppy" posters and I *think* the VHS tape that was part of that campaign. Must be worth millions by now :). > The SPA ran their "Don't Copy That Floppy" campaign well into the mid- > to-late 90s. Did anyone ever *really* pay $100K for owning a single > illegal copy of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" as their ads > claimed? > > --Chuck >

16 years, 3 months

7
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Tons of 'free' TI-99/4A stuff in Helena, Montana

by tosteve＠yahoo.com

Kaye wrote to me: "As well as software and docs, there's TI magazines, monitors, computers, peripheral memory boxes and cards, joysticks, printers, etc.." None of it is terribly valuable - there are no TI-99/4 (non-A) systems. It's all free if picked-up in person - it's too much work to mail. e-mail her at kaye67 at bresnan.net if interested.

16 years, 3 months

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Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: Hamurabi Focal source)

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> From: M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > > As a matter of fact reading the card 'sideways' was a basic principle > of the electro-mechanical punched card systems that (along with > card sales) were IBM's bread and butter until the mid-sixties. > > With the exception of keypunches, paper tape converters etc. these > machines were 'clocked' through the 12 states (12,11,0-9); the (firmly > clamped) cards and various gears, relays, punches, type bars, etc. > were cycled through these 12 states in synchronized parallel unison, > much like most of the manual 'posting machines' with full row and > column keyboards that preceded and coexisted with them. > > Timing diagrams looked much like the diagrams we're familiar with, > but they were usually calibrated in degrees of rotation of the master > camshaft instead of time. The punch of my ICT1301 is an IBM design, originally built under licence by BTM (British Tabulating Machine co), which merged to form ICT. It clocks through the 12 states and a few more while the card is being fed. It mechanically pauses in the middle of each state by means of a Geneva mechanism. It has two camshafts with bakelite cams which operate contacts which controls the punch and signals the CPU when data is ready to be punched and check read. When one card is being punched the previous card is at the check reading station with 80 wire brush contacts. It does indeed have a timing diagram as you describe. The main mechanism sits on a steel casting, and I'm told its the top part of an original Holerith design which had integral cast ball and claw feet. This plate is mounted on rubber bushes to a massive angle iron frame with the widest bit of copper earth braid I've ever seen. It operates at 100 cards per minute and the CPU has to feed it 80 bits of data for each row and reads 80 bits back from the previous card. Yes the interface is 80 bit parallel in each direction plus lots of control and status signals, 200 wires in total (8 cables of 25 cores each). The manual tells programmers to avoid punching more than 60 columns in any row. How any programmer was supposed to avoid punching a card full of zeroes I don't know. I have punched fully laced cards with it no problem, and I have a complete spare mechanism anyway, which I'm thinking of linking to my Mac, though its a big project. I've never been told that the card reader or line printer have any connection with IBM but I suppose it is possible. The reader is 600 cards a minute (80 column first) and the printer is a 600 lines per minute, 120 column drum printer (all the similar characters aligned not staggered) with a sprag mechanism which advances the paper. The card reader has a reject hopper and a main stacker. The main stacker turns the card around a big rubber drum and feeds it into slots in a pair or rollers which then turn and flip it out under the stack of cards already read. Roger Holmes

16 years, 3 months

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AP: MITS Altair pioneer dies age 68

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

It's my understanding that Ed Roberts was indeed instrumental in bringing the microcomputer to the masses or at that time(mid-70's) to the cognoscenti. His Altair 8800 was covered by technical magazines since 1972 or thereabouts. The Micro-soft empire owes its existence to MITS. Some would say that Mr. Roberts never gained or received the recognition due or deserved. Yet as far as this reader can determine he never sought it and his devotion to medicine and patients in later years speaks volumes in a world obsessed with 15 minutes of fame. Vain-glory seems not to have been part of his character. Murray--

16 years, 3 months

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optical ADB mouse

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

I'm pondering putting an optical pickup in an old ADB mouse for use with my Mac SE. I find lots of web pages describing making these old mice optical, but all of them involve turning the mice into USB mice. So, is anyone aware of an ADB mouse with an optical pickup? -- 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, 3 months

2
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Servo tracks on SMD disk

by toby＠pdp11.co.uk

R ------Original Message------ From: Tony Duell Sender: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org To: cctalk at classiccmp.org ReplyTo: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Servo tracks on SMD disk Sent: 29 Mar 2010 19:14 > > Hi Tony, > > > Based on my experiences with Pentina, I don't believe a cat makes a > > unique sound... > You're speaking of the individuality of a DOG! A cat makes miau! :-) I am sure Pentina is a cat. And he certainly males many different noises... > > > > > Anyway, I assume you know it's not headcrashing (which can make a noise > > like a very angry cat). I think you'd know if that was the case... > No crash. But I have to admit that I got the drive crashed a few years > ago. After cleaning and using another pack it worked. I had 3 packs for it. I assuem it has worked since the crash. Could the heads have been damaged by the crash? > At some point in history I got a bunch of packs. They were used with a > somewhat dubious Nova clone system (DDC or DCC). They never really > worked fine. > A few months ago now the drive completely broke down: After having > successfully used the machine for several hours and pausing for another > few weeks, I ran into disaster: A mechanical buffer at the back of the > head slide had changed to a sticky liquid and blocked the whole > mechanism. That resulted in the heads staying on disk while the drive > did an urgency spindown. Hang on.. Are you saing the heads landed on the disk? And that the drive hasn't worked properly since that? I really wonder if the heads have been damaged. > I disassembled the whole thing and cleaned away the mess as good as > possible. I did not touch the head alignment. The heads stayed bolted to > their slide and were taken aside as a whole block. I also took care for > the heads not getting in contact. > This week I reassembled the drive and tried it out. The cartridge that > was in the drive during the disaster was far gone and runs with > "pre-crash" noise. > I realized that I had only the dubious packs. Some of them as I found > out yesterday can be formatted by the Emulex SC02 controller's low level > format routine, some stop shortly before the end (as I explained > before). When I then try to use them, I can run "INIT/BADBLOCKS" under > RT11 which says no bad blocks. Then when copying data in, I get write > errors and bad blocks. Number increases. They stay and are in the system > area most of the time. So I cannot use the packs :-( > The whole procedure can be repeated using the low-level formatting > routine and then RT11 INIT. OK... The formatting routine must move the heads across the disk surface, and it will read (but not write) the servo surface. Can you 'scope the output of the srrvo preamplifier while it's doing this? See if the signal changes in amplitude or whatever. > > That leads to the idea that there's something wrong about the data as well. > > > > This sounds somewhat similar in concept to the CDC 'Phoenix' drive. > > There's a separate servo surface for the remvoable pack (one servo, one > > data), and the 3 fixed disks (1 servo, 5 data surfaces). > Exactly. But there are differences. I don't think there's any oil-filled damper on the Phoenix. > > > > > What do you mean by 'outer' tracks? Normally, I would take that to mean > > ones closest to the edge of the disk, but it appears you mean ones neares > > the spindle. > Sorry, meant "inner", of course! I was tiredly writing in foreign English... OK. I was just making sureI knew where the problem area was. > > > Do you have schematics and a 'scope? > Yes. But... Sorry for saying that: That machine has a very very low > priority in my project queue as it's something from the 80s. I currently OK... Alas I suspect this is not going to be a quick fix. > have enough older stuff to repair (RK05s, TU56s, PDP8/I, PDP8/Ls, > Honeywell DDP-516 and H316 reconfiguration and testing, etc.). I just > wanted to get it either working and back in the rack or out of the > window (i.e. give it to someone else, NOT trashing it!). > > > What about any velocity > > feedback signal? > Speed might be worth a thought: > - If running too slow, servo and d Sent using BlackBerry? from Orange

16 years, 3 months

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Hamurabi Focal source

by blackmd＠gmail.com

On a not entirely unrelated note to my last email, does anybody know where I can obtain the original Focal source code to the game Hamurabi? I have a pdp-8e that I restored and have running Focal, but I have been unsuccessful in finding this classic game (apart from Ahl's Basic version.) Thanks in advance, Michael

16 years, 3 months

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AP: MITS Altair pioneer dies age 68

by philpem＠philpem.me.uk

Heard this on Radio 2 this morning, but it doesn't seem to be on the BBC News website... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i88Z-XwxRcgbBtP_lHW_DJqyo… > ATLANTA ? Dr. Henry Edward Roberts, a developer of an early personal > computer that inspired Bill Gates to found Microsoft, died Thursday > in Georgia. He was 68. > > Roberts, whose build-it-yourself kit concentrated thousands of > dollars worth of computer capability in an affordable package, > inspired Bill Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen to come up > with Microsoft in 1975 after they saw an article about the MITS > Altair 8800 in Popular Electronics. -- Phil. philpem at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

16 years, 3 months

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Classic Computers to see in Bristol UK and South Wales

by huw.davies＠mail.vsm.com.au

I'm going to be over in the UK, based in Bristol and then South Wales for the last two weeks of April. Any recommendations of classic computer visits in the area would be appreciated. I'm mainly a DEC sort of person but will push the limits if required :-) Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies at kerberos.davies.net.au Melbourne | "If soccer was meant to be played in the Australia | air, the sky would be painted green"

16 years, 3 months

2
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MARCH selling its entire minicomputer collection

by evan＠snarc.net

Hi all, We in MARCH decided to sell off our minicomputers and refocus on newer PC/WinTel history. Here are some starting prices: - Straight-8 - $10,000 - PDP-11/20 - $5,000 - IBM System/3 - $3,000 - IBM System/38 - $2,500 As for our Univac 1219, we just plan to scrap it. Happy April 1. :)

16 years, 3 months

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HP200LX, e-text and vertical reader

by iiju2000＠yahoo.co.kr

Hello Bob, I'm a 200lx user from Korea. While I was searching for a HORIZONTAL READER for 200lx, luckily I'v come across your message which was written more than 1 year ago. Will you please send me a copy of your reader program and source code? I appreciate it. Thank you Kyung.

16 years, 3 months

1
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Servo tracks on SMD disk

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi, I have some trouble with a 14" removable SMD disk drive (Ampex DFR 996): When it comes to the outer tracks it starts making noises like a cat and recalibrates. Endlessly. With some disks I have it manages to crouch up to the end, track by track with many retries. The problem seems to exist with most of the packs I have. I played around with the head cables while the heads are further outside. Seems to be no contact/strain problem here. The drive seems to be working fine for the rest of the surface. But having the end unusable makes the disks unusable for RT11 with its replacement tables. And if the drive doesn't even manage to arrive at the end, RT11 won't even write a new directory to the disk. The drive does not recalibrate on bad blocks. So the problem should be in the servo system and nowhere else. Does my problem sound familiar in any way? Playing with the servo head amplifier gain adjustment did not help. In fact I found out that there's a working range, and the original adjustment was quite in the middle of that. So I kept it the way it was adjusted. For real readjustment of the drive I'd need a disk exerciser board, CE cartridge and some other special purpose bits. None of them are available to me. Another idea is that the servo data is decaying more quickly in the center of the disk: The disk hub is held by a magnet in on the spindle. The magnetic field and the mechanical shock while inserting the cartridge could affect the disk. Or/and the problem could be caused by thinner magnetic coating in the center (too close to the inner edge of the coating?). Vague theses.... The disk drive also has a fixed disk with three disks and 5 data plus 1 servo surface. That works flawlessly. Any comments? If somebody can provide one or more known good and recently tested cartridges, I'd be glad to give them a try. Packs are named CDC 1204. Best wishes, Philipp

16 years, 3 months

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cctech Digest, Vol 80, Issue 1

by dm561＠torfree.net

-------------Original Message: Message: 27 Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 00:39:06 -0400 From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> Subject: Re: Reading ancient paper digital media (was Re: Hamurabi Focal source) <snip> > The way my reader (A Documation > M200) does it is to move the card at constant speed using known-diamter > rollers, then to detect the leading edge of the card (basically when the > optical sensors g form all on to all off, then use that to produce an > internal clock signal that should align with the centres of the columns > (if you see what I mean) and us that to strobe the read logic. What if the card slips? -Dave --------------Reply: Some readers used a blade that caught the edge of the card and pushed it through just as the parallel-read IBM EAMs had done in the old days; no problem with slippage, it either fed correctly or jammed. mike

16 years, 3 months

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Pre-1980 DEC Technical Reports/Memoranda?

by rdbrown＠pacific.net.au

Where would DEC Technical Reports prior to 1980 would be found - on the web? The following reference is one I've never sighted, thought it was referenced (as unsighted in Ross William's 1993 Painless guide to CRC posting). Wecker, S (1974). "A Table-Lookup Algorithm for Software Computation of Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)". Digital Equipment Corporation memorandum. or Wecker, S., "A Table-Lookup Algorithm for Software Computation of Cyclic Redundancy Check," Technical Note, Digital Equipment Corporation, January 1974. HP has "heritage" DEC/Compaq Technical Reports 1981-2002 at http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/Compaq-DEC/ but not earlier ones it seems. Google books and scholar show references to the paper, other papers and a book by Stuart Wecker in the 1970-80 period, but don't seem to give links to DEC Technical reports or memoranda prior to 1980. Google groups showed some people reminiscing about using the Stuart Weckers algorithm in comp.lang.lisp. I didn't see anything relevant in WorldCat or searching the Computer History Museum collection, nor from a quick glance at BitSavers. Suggestions or just ask HP?

16 years, 3 months

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need old DB9F<->HD15M VGA adapter or cable

by keithvz＠verizon.net

I currently have my Amiga 500 hooked up to an old multisync monitor by way of a DB23 female to DB9 male cable. The monitor port is labeled "signal analog." I've confirmed that my pinouts for the DB23 connector match this http://l8r.net/technical/t-db23video.shtml I'm now trying to attach my amiga to a standard LCD by way of chinese scan converter bought from ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250593765979&ssPageName=… The resolution is typically 320 x 200 at 15.75khz for horizontal sync. The scan converter claims to support this just fine. I need a small adapter to bring the DB9M from this proprietary DB23<->DB9 cable to the HD15 so it will interface to this board. I can potentially hack together a cable, but I think these adapters, at one time, were pretty popular. Does anyone have one lying around that they wouldn't mind parting with? Would this do the trick? http://www.amazon.com/Female-HD15-Male-Adaptor-Molded/dp/B000I97FGA Thanks Keith

16 years, 3 months

1
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Epson QX-10 available for shipping (somewhere in the USA)

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

This owner wants to donate an Epson QX-10 to an interested collector: > HI! > My e-mail address is pb38sage at centurytel.net > <mailto:pb38sage at centurytel.net>. I am writing this on a friends > computer, so please reply to my address. > > I have a QX-10 Epson computer and all of the original software plus > other software I purchased for it, Epson Lifeboat users magazines, etc. > > I hate to dump them at the recycle center if they are of any value to > anyone. I would be willing to send for the cost of shipping (and > might even be willing to send anyhow). > I just can't bare to throw this all in the trash. > > Pauline Braymen > pb38sage at centurytel.net <mailto:pb38sage at centurytel.net> > > Yes, my computer still works. Fred Jan Kraan

16 years, 3 months

3
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Siemens 'Pocket Reader'

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I've obtained Sioemens 'Pocket Reader' (called a 'Reading Pen' in the luser manual). This is a handheld 1-line scanner/OCR device. It's very modern for me (the manual is copyright 1998) but I guess it's on-topic here now. And it was cheap enough in a local charity shop... It came with a cable to link it to a PC (3 conductor 2.5mm jack (phone) plug at one end, DE9 socket at the other, the latter connects to a PC serial port) and a disk of software alas for Windows... Anyway, I have of course taken the thing apart. If yoy have one and want to do this, you stat by ignoring all the safety warnings in the manual (to be honest, there is no way this thing is goign to harm oyu unless you try to swallow it!). Take off the battery cover and remove the batteries, then undo the 4 TX6 screws on that side. Turn it over and lift off the top case (the buttons are captive in the top case). Unplug the display modeul (a stnadard 14-pin LCD text display I believe), then lift out th roller assembly (this operates the mirocswithc when you press the 'pen' down to scan a line of text and has the interrupter wheel to detect motion along the paper). Unplug the read head (CCD and LEDs) from the front edge of the main PCB. Free the batteryt contacts and lift the PCB out. My first real suprsie is that I expected this thing to be based on an ASIC, probabbly driect-on-board and expoxy capped. It isn't. It's all SMD chips with numbers I recgnise. The smarts is an ADSP2816 DSP chip, together with 1M*16 bits of mask ROM and a 29F040 flash ROM (to store the scanned text I assume). A few TTL parts, a DC-DC comverter, a compartor chip and an ERS232 buffer. Nothing really odd. Anyway, the problem is that the software is for an OS I don't have or wich to run. The manual doesn't give the seiral protocol (or even the baud rate), does anyone know of a description of it, or any open-source software that talks to this device? -tony

16 years, 3 months

2
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Speaking of paper tape....

by IanK＠vulcan.com

Does anyone out there have some or all of the "Paper Tape System" tapes for the PDP-11/20? We have a couple of 11/20s with the basic 4kW installed, and I'd like to set up a machine to demonstrate the life of a paper-tape-based programmer. I'd be glad to cover your expenses for a copy or, if it's more convenient, pay shipping for you to loan them to us and we would make the copies. Or, if someone is aware of where images of these live that I haven't been able to uncover, I'd be grateful for a pointer. Please feel free to contact me privately. Thanks! -- Ian UNIX is user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are. Ian S. King, Sr. Vintage Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum A project of Vulcan, Inc. http://www.livingcomputermuseum.org<http://www.livingcomputermuseum.com>

16 years, 3 months

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Using vintage computers in the classroom - Practical stuff

by billdeg＠degnanco.com

I have been teaching computer history at the U of Delaware for my 4th semester, and there are a few practical items worth mentioning in this discussion. I bring a (usually) working computer or device that I use for demonstration purposes for each class. I only bring what I can fit in my trunk, and carry on a collapse-able dolly. My classes are one hour and 15 minutes, there is not much time to set up and then vacate the room for the next lecturer. It is therefore very important that I practice staging the system before clas, and also carefully correograph the presentation in a way that incorporates the equipment in a meaningful way, beyond the ooo aaa factor. It is important to have a specific, targeted point to demonstrate. Use a laptop whenver you need a terminal , so that you can pipe the output onto the overhead projecting device. Sometimes I pick a student to start entering data (ie. toggle switches/BASIC code, etc) in the beginning of the class so that by the time we need the system it is ready for the demonstration. It is also kind of like a cooking show; you bring two of something, one that is "pre-finished" and other that is used for the demo so that you can show the end result of a long process within a limited time frame. One last thing, it is a courtesy when you're running something loud like a teletype to ask the professor in the next class if the noise will disturb the lecture! It's like a mini vintage computer festival every class, sometimes I wish I taught US History Bill Degnan

16 years, 3 months

1
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Leaving computers on... (was Re: Disc analyser news update)

by theodric＠gmail.com

> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:14:13 -0500 > From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> > Subject: Re: Leaving computers on... (was Re: Disc analyser news > update) > To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <201003240014.o2O0EISH064655 at billY.EZWIND.NET> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > At 07:06 PM 3/23/2010, Dave McGuire wrote: >> In my experience, on/off cycles kills equipment much faster than >> long "on" times. > > Is that biased by the experience of failures that appear when > equipment is powered-on? I offer you this unscientific anecdote: Yesterday, I rebooted an older Xeon box with 42 days' uptime to apply updates, but it decided it didn't want to come back up afterward: no POST, subsequent poweroff. I troubleshot briefly, and determined that after working perfectly for over a month at a stretch (and 4 years before that), it now refuses to POST unless you have half - any half - of the RAM in the first two slots. No obvious signs of magic smoke leakage. Coincidence? I suppose it's possible. I kinda wish I'd just kept the old kernel, in any event. But with the price of energy in the Netherlands, I wouldn't leave a system like that powered on for any length of time if my employer weren't footing the bill for it! Is there anybody here who keeps classic big(-ish) iron running 24x7? I've been told a story of a burning PDP-11/34 which has somewhat put me off any notion of leaving my -8s turned on when I'm not within reach of a killswitch & fire extinguisher. :) -js

16 years, 3 months

6
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Using vintage computers in the classroom

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

> Message: 11 > Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:35:27 -0400 > From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: Using vintage computers in the classroom > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: > <f4eb766f1003291335j760a2a34s5139ef92e6320754 at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 4:14 PM, Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com> wrote: >>> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com> wrote: >>>> We're still in our first steps, and haven't made a lot of use of >>> vintage systems in the classroom (although I do like to bring along my >>> PDP-8/f, just to demonstrate what a desktop computer looked like in >>> 1970). > . > > Sure, 10 years earlier, but there was something like that two years > earlier, and perhaps 5-6 years earlier (the PDP-8/S, though I'm not > sure what you could reasonable show off with a 4K tabletop unit since > the TTY interface is external). > > Fiddly details aside, it's still cool to wheel in a "personal > computer" from the era and watch the audience gape - I've done that > with my -8/L. > > -ethan I can't describe the reactions of those who visit my classic car show and then walk into a barn and find a five ton 1962 mainframe working away twirling tapes, reading and punching 80 column cards, reading and punching paper tape whilst making ghostly noises through its built in speaker. I should maybe give them ear defenders because its so noisy and I haven't even displayed the 600 line per minute printer working yet until I fix it. The heat and smell of hot electronics is a bit overpowering too. I have never worked out where the smell comes from, is it gas escaping from the components, the paxolin or the solder/flux. I know a lot comes from the magnetic tapes, we had a walk in safe full of tape where I worked once and when it was opened after a month or two locked up it made a hell of a stink, like Tutenkamen's tomb. Good luck with the course. If you ever need a Apple Mac based simulator for a 1962 mainframe with an unusual architecture get in touch. Roger Holmes. Owner of ICT 1301 serial number 6, the first of at least 160 to leave the factory. The design was started in the late 1950s.

16 years, 3 months

4
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DECTalk DTC01

by bqt＠softjar.se

Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE> wrote: > Hi All. > > I've become curious about the different DECTalk devices. There seems to > have been a number of variants. The stand alone DTC01, a UNIBUS version > and a PCI card version (DTC07). > > Do all these sound the same? Or are newer ones more advanced? > > The number (07) on the PCI version indicate that there has been at least > seven versions, what are the others? > > And finally, does anyone have system over and would consider selling it? > (DTC01 seems to be the simplest and is thus preferred) As far as I know, there was never a Unibus version of DECtalk. The DTC01 was connected via a normal serial port, and could be used on any machine. So DEC didn't really have a need to have a bus based card developed (they did later, though.) I played with one way back when I was working at DEC, around 1986. It was fun, and you could make it do a lot (including sing). Quite impressive for its day, and I'd say it is still definitely usable even today. I've heard some better, but there are current products out there which are worse than DECtalk was 25 years ago... (Btw, Stephen Hawkings used a DECtalk for many many years... :-) ) A pretty good list with some small information is http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/openvms_notes_DECtalk.html I don't know if a DTC02 ever existed, or what it might have been. Johnny

16 years, 3 months

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Using vintage computers in the classroom

by blackmd＠gmail.com

Hello cctech community, I am a computer science professor and an avid collector and restorer of old computers, which I routinely use in my classes. (I am also a long-time lurker on cctech, but haven't posted much yet, I'm afraid.) I am interested in chatting with other professors and teachers who use working demonstrations of vintage technology in their classes. I am aware of many cases where professors have taught courses on computer history, used pictures and simulations of vintage computers, or took students on field trips to computer museums. However, I am particularly interested in examples where professors bring actual working vintage equipment into the classroom (like a pdp-11 or a teletype machine) and tried to teach their students to operate it. Has anybody on this list tried it or know of people who do it? Thanks, Michael Black

16 years, 3 months

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Very Old IBM software

by ygehrich＠yahoo.com

I have a bunch of very old IBM software in original boxes that I would like to find a home for. I hate to throw them way when I know there must be those who would love to acquire them. $5 each + shipping. Contact me at ygehrich at yahoo.com. Ami Pro, Writing Assistant, Professional Write, Professional File, Professional Plan, QA3, Word Perfect and more

16 years, 3 months

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