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

Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by spedraja＠ono.com

I would be interested. I got one PDP-11/23 PLUS. If someone develops it for one PDP8E I got one too. Regards Sergio 2010/3/10 Rob Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> > There was a thread recently on the comp.sys.dec newsgroup which ended up > with the suggestion from David Riley that he would be prepared to build an > FPGA-based board with a QBUS interface on one side and an SD interface on > the other which anyone could then program to emulate any disk/controller > they like. I have been in touch with him to see how much interest he has > had, because he needs a minimum number of about 10 to make it viable, but > so > far there has only been me and one other person showing an interest. David > reckons they would come to a little over $200 each (possibly less if there > is more interest). David is not yet on cctalk so he agreed to let me > cross-post this to cctalk on his behalf, but I have cc'd him so you can > reply direct. > > Regards > > Rob >

16 years, 4 months

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Wirewrap boards update

by cclist＠sydex.com

Steve, it's hard to tell. Are all of these boards used? If not, I may be interested in one. Cutting wire out of one of these is a very tedious job! Anyone have any quick-and-dirty suggestions? Thanks, Chuck

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk- > bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Rob Jarratt > Sent: 10 March 2010 21:49 > To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' > Cc: 'David Riley' > Subject: Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02 > > There was a thread recently on the comp.sys.dec newsgroup which ended > up > with the suggestion from David Riley that he would be prepared to build > an > FPGA-based board with a QBUS interface on one side and an SD interface > on > the other which anyone could then program to emulate any > disk/controller > they like. I have been in touch with him to see how much interest he > has > had, because he needs a minimum number of about 10 to make it viable, > but so > far there has only been me and one other person showing an interest. > David > reckons they would come to a little over $200 each (possibly less if > there > is more interest). David is not yet on cctalk so he agreed to let me > cross-post this to cctalk on his behalf, but I have cc'd him so you can > reply direct. > > Regards > > Rob As David is currently unable to post to the list he has asked me to post the following on his behalf: ------------- So it seems there's at least quite a bit of discussion generated about the board. For those curious, here are the major design points (LONG email ahead): - The main QBUS interface (before the buffers) will be an FPGA (Altera Cyclone III EP3C16 at this point, for cost, but the same footprint will fit a 3C25 or 3C40 as well). This FPGA should be large enough to fit even rather complex devices fairly handily (you can make a soft-core 32-bit processor in less than 1k logic elements, and a 3C16 has 16k). This is, of course, assuming you build it all in the FPGA fabric; you don't have to because... - The FPGA will be bolted to the bus (16-bit, of course) of a Freescale MCF5208. This is a ColdFire (68k architecture) which runs at 166 MHz (88 MHz external bus) and also contains a 10/100 Ethernet controller. The controller requires an external PHY, but this is actually an advantage; by connecting the processor's MII to both a real 10/100 PHY and the FPGA, we can provide both RJ45 for straight-up Ethernet connections and build an MII-to-AUI bridge in the FPGA (not a day's work, for sure, but certainly doable). This means you could use this as a replacement DELQA if you have a cable kit for the external AUI connector; connect to thick/thinnet, etc. Alternatively, you could stream hard disk/tape images from a remote file server. Of course, it'll have a handful of serial consoles. In theory, you could make a CPU board with SLUs and all 4 MB RAM out of the FPGA, but this would be an extensive design effort. As to whomever asked for a clock, that should work as well. Anything you can do with a QBUS card can be done on the FPGA, it's just a matter of how much work you want to put into it. :-) I currently have 32 MB RAM and 4 MB flash slated for the processor (the processor should read the FPGA image off the SD card). - My vision for the basic build of the FPGA would actually be to just provide an interrupt-based bus interface for the processor. If the processor defines apertures for the CSRs and uses an ISR to provide the data for the reads and the writes, a 166MHz processor ought to be able to respond quickly enough to make for a fairly speedy card. If that's not enough performance, one can always implement the device in the actual FPGA fabric (if one is good with FPGAs, which can take a while for people who aren't hardware designers). Additionally, we should be able to support multiple "virtual" cards in a single board; the only limitation is the number of apertures that will fit nicely in the FPGA and the overhead of the software running on processor. At least 4 should be easily achievable. A simple DMA controller in the FPGA would go a long way towards making the performance of mass storage acceptable (processor DMAs into FPGA, FPGA DMAs into QBUS, or vice versa). This means that even software-only people should be able to implement the devices in an emulator-like fashion (without excluding the possibility of actual FPGA implementations). - Since the Coldfire is 68k and has excellent GCC support, it can be programmed entirely with Free Software. The actual hardware to program it costs $80 standalone (more or less; depends on who's building it), but most of that is assembly and PCB costs. I could integrate the same hardware onto the board for an additonal $5 or so instead. The FPGA can be programmed entirely with Altera's free (not to be confused with Free) Web Edition version of Quartus, but to program it you need either a) a $75 JTAG cable to program it or b) something running on the ColdFire to program the FPGA image (which will be the default mode on boot). The JTAG cable gives you the advantage of running the FPGA-based logic analyzer. - And of course, yes, it will be a fully open architecture. I'm using KiCAD (FOSS) to do the schematic and layout. Anyone should be able to make the board if they want, but it'll be expensive for small runs. For those of you who think $200 each is in the stratosphere, here's my current (rough) BOM at two different run sizes: Part Description Qty Price at 10 Price at 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------ EP3C16E144C8N FPGA (EQFP-144) 1 26.70 26.70 DP83848 10/100 PHY 1 4.29 3.50 SST39VF3201 2M x 16 NOR flash 1 3.61 3.61 IS43R16160B-6 16M x 16 DDR RAM 1 6.00 5.40 EN5335QI DC-DC converter 3 5.51(16.53) 5.41(16.23) SN74AS641DW Octal bus xcvr 4 4.80(19.20) 4.04(16.16) J0026D21ENL RJ45 w/magnetics 1 4.825 4.825 Assembly aapcb.com, 50 parts 1 47.00 39.80 PCB 4pcb.com 1 72.44 36.26 --------------------------------------------------------------- Total 200.59 152.48 This doesn't include the scads of little resistors and capacitors and a few other cheap parts I'd need to place, which while very cheap may drive the cost of assembly up. The PCB pricing is for a 5.3" x 8.4" board, 1 edge gold fingers, 4 layers, controlled stackup (There are too many high-speed buses on this thing to risk a 2-layer board and no controlled impedance). Eliminating the gold fingers only brings the price down about $10. My $200 figure was a sort of back-of-the envelope calculation (I hadn't made out a detailed costed BOM yet). The cost is still subject to change, and a number of the parts (particularly the MCF5208) are long-lead (14 weeks and no stock anywhere). Most pricing was done at Mouser except for the components I couldn't find there (the PHY and the FPGA, and the RJ45 was cheaper at DK), which came from Digi-Key. This also doesn't include the AUI transceiver buffering, which I haven't yet worked out, and I still haven't 100% finalized the arrangement of the QBUS buffers (as it is, I'll be using transistors for a few of them since the signals don't all fit nicely in the mold of a '245-style transceiver like the 74AS641). Also, someone mentioned nonstandard thickness. As far as I was aware, the boards were 62 mils, but I haven't measured (and couldn't find a reference anywhere, and don't have a micrometer). Anyone know otherwise? In any case, I hope this answers a number of the questions out there. My plan is to implement the basic FPGA hardware mentioned as well as an implementation of the software stack for at least a few of the controller cards I have in my possession. The user end (serial console) of the processor should be able to load board personalities from the SD card as well, so setting up a repository of personalities (if others develop any) would be the way to go there.

16 years, 4 months

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calculating electricity costs

by cfox1＠cogeco.ca

At 11:32 AM 3/11/2010, you wrote: >Suppose my power company claims that the charge is $0.02407 per >killowatt/hour. If I have a computer (or anything) that draws maybe 100 >watts. that should be 0.1kw/h x 0.02407 x 24 hours = 5.7768 cents per day >or $1.73 a month. I've been under the impression for quite some time that >it costs $20 a month to run a typical modern desktop computer 24 hours a day >for a month. I know there are taxes and fees thrown into the power bill. >But what's wrong with my math? Was I wrong before or am I wrong now? I got >this kw/h price from the power company web site burried in a pdf somewhere. >It looked like the right price to me. Maybe the actual charge is much >higher? > >brian > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2736 - Release Date: >03/11/10 02:33:00 I don't know how things are where you are located, but in good old Windsor Ontario my electricity bill for an unoccupied apartment was as follows: Electricity: 33.206 kWh @0.058 / kWh $ 1.93 Delivery $ 12.65 Regulatory charges $ 0.46 Debt retirement charges $ 0.22 GST $ 0.77 TOTAL $ 16.03 Cheers Charlie Fox

16 years, 4 months

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Pistol fired on Olympic honour campaign for Turing • The Register

by woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/10/turing_olympic_tribute_idea/ -- --- 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, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by bqt＠softjar.se

"e.stiebler" <emu at e-bbes.com> wrote: > Dave McGuire wrote: >>> >> OTOH, they old ones show up on ebay frequently, and they are not that >>> >> expensive. >> > Not that expensive? I call $100-200 for a Qbus card pretty pricey. >> > Unibus models go for many hundreds, upwards of $1000. > > Sorry, but the new one want be cheaper than that. That's why I don't > call them expensive. Indeed. If we talk $200 just for the board, and then you still have do develop the firmware, then $200 for a actual, already tested and proven SCSI controller is cheap. And new SCSI disks can still be bought as well. And while not dirt cheap perhaps, they are still not that expensive. Especially since you are not interested in several hundred gig drives for a PDP-11 anyway. Someone else asked about differences between a RQDX1 and RQDX3, from a software point of view. There is none, except in the irrelevant parts, such as the identity given by the controller, and version numbers and so on. The controllers are both MSCP. In fact, they are no different (either of them) from a KDA50, or UDA50 for that matter. Or any other MSCP controller. That's the whole point of MSCP. The controller always present the same interface to the computer. What it does on the other side is hidden. So, in fact, the device driver is the same for all these controllers, in all operating systems. MSCP is a great concept. Just wish it had survived. But, as with many DEC designs - they were technically wonderful, but they weren't PC. And PC became the de facto standard. No matter how lousy the hardware was/is. Johnny

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by bqt＠softjar.se

"Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > On Wed, 10 Mar 2010, e.stiebler wrote: > >> > Zane H. Healy wrote: >> > >>>> >>> OTOH, they old ones show up on ebay frequently, and they are not that >>>> >>> expensive. >>> >> >>> >> What "old ones" show up on eBay? >> > >> > The "usual" suspects like cmd, dilog, emulex ? >> > OK, in all honesty I didn't check for more than a year, but they showed up >> > before, that's why I canceled my design ... > > Okay, old 3rd party disk controllers. The problem with these is that they > also require old hard drives. I'm also slightly surprised to hear mention > of CMD controllers that aren't expensive, but then I've not looked for such > things in years. Huh? New SCSI disks works just as well. The biggest problem might be that some OSes gets confused by really big disks. With RSX for instance, the device driver used to have a bug so that disks larger than 8 Gig didn't work right. The size got masked to 24 bits... With M+ 4.6, the system instead caps the disk size at 8 Gig if the disk is larger, unless you switch to 32 bit LBNs. The only other problem with SCSI disks is that you might need to get adapters for the old style 50 pin connectors. However, as long as we talk plain SCSI, and not differential, or something else odd, it is still just fine being backward compatible... > My PDP-11's are using 1" High 3.5" SCSI Hard Drives, it does wonders for the > noise level, and helps with the power consumption, but I'm honestly a bit > worried about their long term viability. At least I have a much larger > supply of SCSI drives I can use than I do MFM Hard Drives (and yes, I have a > few of those, and a couple ESDI drives). I'm using second, or if it is third generation storage work disks for my machines. Blue boxes. Pretty. And I can put seven of them in one unit. Actually, I only have five in there, along with a DAT-3 tape unit, and an Exabyte externally. > Of course the other thing I worry about is power supplies. In fact that's > what I've been loosing VMS boxes to. :-( Power supplies for the PDP-11s? Yes, that is always a possible problem... And a bigger one than disks, I'd say. Johnny

16 years, 4 months

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General discussion of wire wrapping, was: AWG 30 stripping tools

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

I've got 3 different size wire wrapping tools. My ICT1301 uses monster wire wrap posts, most of which are made in two halves. One half is part of a printed (or some are hand wired) circuit board and the other half is part of the rack it fits in. Bare 25 AWG tinned copper wire is wrapped around the two halves, up to 25 for each board to connect the board to the rack. No tails going off anywhere else. To swap a board all the wire wraps need to be undone before the board can be slid out. It does mean every logic pin is easily accessible for fault finding, and each one has a little hook for the scope probe to hang from. The solid one are used for connecting the cabinets together, same size tool but using sleeving on the wire. Up to 1500 connections between racks. There are ten electronic cabinets, not counting the two power supply and twelve peripherals cabinets. The tool fits in the smallest size of Stanley 'yankee' spiral ratchet screwdriver. Clockwise to wrap, anti-clockwise to unwrap. I also have a similar slightly smaller one for back plane wiring of later ICL mainframes. Uses smaller pins and smaller wire otherwise identical. The third one is the more modern standard wire wrap for integrated circuits. I'm currently using it to build a serial/parallel interface to my 1301 using 74 series TTL and a few C/N MOS chips. At work I used to have a tool for this from RS components which had a wrapper on one end and unwrapper the other end and a stripper in the middle. This has probably been chucked away and a replacement is incredibly expensive so I'm making do with wire stripping pliers and a much simpler wrapping tool I bought over the internet from the states along with a half dozen colours of insulated wire.

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010, Rob Jarratt wrote: > There was a thread recently on the comp.sys.dec newsgroup which ended up > with the suggestion from David Riley that he would be prepared to build an > FPGA-based board with a QBUS interface on one side and an SD interface on > the other which anyone could then program to emulate any disk/controller > they like. I have been in touch with him to see how much interest he has > had, because he needs a minimum number of about 10 to make it viable, but so > far there has only been me and one other person showing an interest. David > reckons they would come to a little over $200 each (possibly less if there > is more interest). David is not yet on cctalk so he agreed to let me > cross-post this to cctalk on his behalf, but I have cc'd him so you can > reply direct. > > Regards > > Rob > I think it would be useful to include the RD51 and RD52 in the list of supported drives. I believe it is MicroRSTS/E which expects something like an RD51 or RD52 for a system disk. Additionally would such a board support hardware partitioning? Something like the old Webster WQESD/04 EDSI boards where you can partition a drive into multiple drives that appear to be seperate physical drives to the OS? This is especially useful when running multiple OS's on the same hardware. This is something I would definitely be interested in, especially if the price is right. Another thought is, would it be possible to have it include a system clock on the same board? Zane

16 years, 4 months

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AWG 30 stripping tools

by js＠cimmeri.com

On Mar 10, 2010, at 8:19 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> I've been using a Roadrunner pen since my supply of (cheap) wire-wrap >> >> sockets dried up. Similar idea, but with enamelled copper wire >> instead. You wrap the wire round a socket pin or component lead 2 >> or 3 >> times, then solder it, run it to the next lead, wrap, solder and >> carry >> on. > > Didn't Vector have a system that used tefzel-insulated wire called > "Slit-N-Wrap" that used a wiring pen with a little spool of wire on > top? I've seen tefzel wire offered on eBay, but it always seems to > be tinned, not silverplated. From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> Yeah, I remember those ads. "Slit-N-Wrap...don't Just Wrap and wonder if the post cut the insulation". They were competing with the Just Wrap product, which is self-explanatory. -Dave I was looking at an old ad for Ok Tools' "Just Wrap" today. Are Just Wrap or Vector's Slit N' Wrap around anymore? Were these not popular? Seems like they would have been much easier than cut n' wrap. - John S.

16 years, 4 months

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Semi-OT -- IEEE 802 Committee anniversary

by evan＠snarc.net

I don't normally like to mix work with pleasure, but (selfish plug) here is an article I wrote today: http://tinyurl.com/ykpd6bn It's about the history of the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committe -- from which we all got standardized Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc*. *< no shame > Slashdotting strongly encouraged. < / no shame >* *

16 years, 4 months

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DECwriters

by tsw-cc＠johana.com

Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: >On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 4:01 PM, Dave McGuire mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote: >> On Mar 9, 2010, at 3:20 PM, William Donzelli wrote: >>> Curious... >>> >>> Who here has a DECwriter I (LA30)? This is the original early 70s >>> DECwriter made out of Flip Chips. Google for a picture. >> >> ?Not me. :-( >> >>> Who here would like a DECwriter I? >>> >>> No, I am not selling, just curious... >> >> ?Oh, I'd definitely drool over such a device. ?I've typed on no end of LA34s, LA36s, and LA120s, but never an LA30. >Agreed - I have run miles of paper through the common models of teleprinters, but have never seen an LA30 up close. >-ethan I bunch of years ago, I got an LA30 decwriter that was about to be "discarded". I got the prints as well, and I added lower case to it. I used the ADM-3A method of making the lower case characters up one dot to allow for "decenders" (the LA30 uses a 5x7 matrix). I took out the 2513 character generator, and re-wired it for a 2716 EPROM. It is in my "other" garage and works OK. Plugs into dataphone and all that. I was lucky that there was an extra pin on the character generator board (or I used the negative supply I don't remember right now). The real modification I would like to do is add a FIFO chip or some such, as padding each line with a bunch of NUL characters is a pain. I guess that connecting it to my SBC6120 would be a good retro thing. Got to get it (the SBC6120) working!!

16 years, 4 months

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Xerox 820-II floppy images added to bitsavers

by richardlynch3＠tx.rr.com

For those with Xerox 820-II systems, Al has kindly posted a file on bitsavers containing images of a large collection of 8" floppies primarily for the 820-II (there are a few for other systems too) that I acquired a few years ago and just finished archiving this week. There is also an excel file with details on each floppy. These came from someone who worked as a software developer in the late 70s/early 80s and many appear to contain source code. Richard

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by bob＠jfcl.com

>which anyone could then program to emulate any disk/controller they like. Ah, well, this is the hard part of the job, right? Building the board is the easy part. I'd buy a couple, at least, without exaggeration, if the Verilog or VHDL to make them functional already existed. Bob Armstrong

16 years, 4 months

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Old books, mostly UNIX books

by segin2005＠gmail.com

I've got a number of old UNIX books that I need to get rid of soon. Books I have: The Waite Group's UNIX? Primer Plus (Sams Publishing) ISBN 0-672-22729-0 Introduction To UNIX? (QUE Publishing) ISBN 0-88022-745-1 QuickBASIC Programmer's Toolkit (QUE Publishing) ISBN 0-88022-450-9 UNIX? Programmer's Reference (QUE Publishing) ISBN 0-88022-536-X UNIX? Networking (Hayden Books) ISBN 0-672-48440-4 Exploring the UNIX? System, Second Edition (Hayden Books) ISBN 0-672-48447-1 EXAM CRAM TCP/IP for MCSE (Certification Insider Press) ISBN 1-57610-476-1 All ISBN codes reported exactly as they appear on the physical books themselves. Abnormal or non-compliant hyphenation is therefore the fault of the publisher. "QuickBASIC Programmer's Toolkit" includes a 5.25" floppy disk. The disk is in near-perfect condition (visually), with the only noticeable issue is that the disk label has lost it's adhesiveness. Unknown whether it is 360K or 1.2M. Whoever takes this book, I request that you image this disk for me. Something mountable using a loopback device, please, no DOS Teledisk format or whatever. Please reply either on or off list. Shipping location is Gibsonton, Florida, United States of America. Zip/Postal is 33534. I have to get rid of these by Saturday. I don't want to have to garbage them if someone will take them.

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by steve＠cosam.org

> There was a thread recently on the comp.sys.dec newsgroup which ended up > with the suggestion from David Riley that he would be prepared to build an > FPGA-based board with a QBUS interface on one side and an SD interface on > the other which anyone could then program to emulate any disk/controller > they like. I should've known I'd miss something like this if I stopped following the newsgroups... I've been working on something similar, which would essentially be an SD and/or ATA-based MSCP adapter. The current design is based on an ARM microcontroller handling MSCP and physical storage and an as yet to be selected PLD of some description for the QBus interface and DMA. It's still in the early stages, but I have a fair bit of it worked out and have started on a prototype. I'm not a bit fan of duplicated effort, so depending on how far David's project is and the common goals, maybe there is room for collaboration or even combination of projects to some degree. > I have been in touch with him to see how much interest he has > had, because he needs a minimum number of about 10 to make it viable, but so > far there has only been me and one other person showing an interest. David > reckons they would come to a little over $200 each (possibly less if there > is more interest). If it does MSCP and all the stuff I want my own project to do (or can be easily programmed to do so) I'd want one - would save me a lot of work ;-) At $200 a pop though, I would be more interested in two or three unpopulated PCBs than a complete unit. Cheers, -- Steve Maddison http://www.cosam.org/

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On Mar 10, 2010, at 4:49 PM, Rob Jarratt wrote: > There was a thread recently on the comp.sys.dec newsgroup which > ended up > with the suggestion from David Riley that he would be prepared to > build an > FPGA-based board with a QBUS interface on one side and an SD > interface on > the other which anyone could then program to emulate any disk/ > controller > they like. I have been in touch with him to see how much interest > he has > had, because he needs a minimum number of about 10 to make it > viable, but so > far there has only been me and one other person showing an > interest. David > reckons they would come to a little over $200 each (possibly less > if there > is more interest). David is not yet on cctalk so he agreed to let me > cross-post this to cctalk on his behalf, but I have cc'd him so you > can > reply direct. [raises hand] -- Dave McGuire Port Charlotte, FL

16 years, 4 months

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Solid State Disk replacement for RD53, 54, RK05, RL02/02

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

There was a thread recently on the comp.sys.dec newsgroup which ended up with the suggestion from David Riley that he would be prepared to build an FPGA-based board with a QBUS interface on one side and an SD interface on the other which anyone could then program to emulate any disk/controller they like. I have been in touch with him to see how much interest he has had, because he needs a minimum number of about 10 to make it viable, but so far there has only been me and one other person showing an interest. David reckons they would come to a little over $200 each (possibly less if there is more interest). David is not yet on cctalk so he agreed to let me cross-post this to cctalk on his behalf, but I have cc'd him so you can reply direct. Regards Rob

16 years, 4 months

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PDP-11 Color Codes

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

I think the rack headers all faded fairly rapidly and especially on the plastic panels, some yellowing went on as well. I think the actual shade on any given sample could be used by industrial archaeologists to deduce the UV and ozone contents of previous decades :(. I personally don't like faded or yellowed colors so when I want to re-do a paint job, I always choose a hue and shade more vibrant than any of my existing samples. So go pick the most vibrant burgundy and maroon you can find at the paint shop. Tim.

16 years, 4 months

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Another Cortesi book online - CP/M Programmer's Notebook

by jack.rubin＠ameritech.net

Dave has added the CP/M Programmer's Notebook to his website? - http://www.tassos-oak.com Links to the Notebook and Dr.Dobbs Z80?Toolbook are at the bottom center of the page. If you aren't familiar?with his work, take a look. Highly recommended! Jack

16 years, 4 months

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HPCC schematics CD-ROM version 4.0

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

There is now a new version of the HPCC schemaitcs CD-ROM. This one contains schematics for around 140 classic computer devices, I'll put a full list at the end of this message. As with the older disks, the schemaitcs are hand-drawn (by me). You will ahce to put up with my writing :-). There;s very little apart from the schematics, there are no isntruction o ntaking the things apart, no theory-of-operation information, and so on. In some cases the HP service manual is avaialble on-line, and will contain some of that information. All profits go to HPCC (Handheld and Portable Computer Cluh). To order the disk (I believe it's now 2 CD-ROMs or 1 DVD-ROM), please contact Dave Colver, sectretary at hpcc.org, who can tell you the price, etc And now for the machines chargers/eramco_pp Portable Plus car charger (Eramco) chargers/hp82028 chargers/hp82054 Car charger chargers/hp82055 Woodstock car charger desktops/hp110 `Portable' desktops/hp120 CP/M machine desktops/hp120key Notes on making a keyboard for the HP120 desktops/hp50960 SRM server desktops/hp86b desktop computer, external video monitor desktops/hp87 HP87 and HP87XM desktop computers desktops/hp9100b First generation RPN desktop desktops/hp9810 Second generation RPN desktop desktops/hp9815 RPN desktop calculator desktops/hp9816 68000-based computer with internal monitor desktops/hp9817 68010-based 'shoebox' desktops/hp9820 First Algebraic desktop desktops/hp9825 First HPL desktop (also covers 9831 BASIC desktop) desktops/hp982636 HP9826 and HP9836 68000 computers desktops/hp9830 First BASIC desktop desktops/hp9845b Desktop Computer, Opt 200 High speed language processor desktops/hp9915 Industrial control computer (based on HP85) desktops/integral Portable unix machine handhelds/classic/hp35 First handheld scientific handhelds/classic/hp45 Second handheld scientific handhelds/classic/hp55 Scientific with timer handhelds/classic/hp65 First handheld programmable handhelds/classic/hp67 Handheld programmable handhelds/classic/hp70 Simple financial handheld handhelds/classic/hp80 Financial handheld handhelds/hp48sxKeyboard HP48SX keyboard matrix handhelds/printing_classic/hp46 Printing 45 handhelds/printing_classic/hp81 Printing 80 (with many more functions) handhelds/spice/hp32e Non-continuous memory Spice (other 3xE are similar) handhelds/spice/hp33c Continuous memory Spice (other 3xC are similar) handhelds/sting/hp10a Printing adding machine handhelds/sting/hp19c Programming printing calculator handhelds/topcat/hp91 Printing scientific calculator handhelds/topcat/hp92 Printing financial calculator handhelds/topcat/hp95c Never-released printing programmable calculator handhelds/topcat/hp97sio I/O module part of HP97S handhelds/voyager/hp16c Programmer's calculator handhelds/woodstock/hp21 Scientific calculator handhelds/woodstock/hp22 Financial calculator handhelds/woodstock/hp25 Programmable calculator handhelds/woodstock/hp25c Continuous memory programmable calculator handhelds/woodstock/hp27 Financial and scientific calculator handhelds/woodstock/hp29c Continuous memory programmable calculator peripherals/dio/hp50962 DIO SRM Coax interface peripherals/dio/hp98204a DIO TV-rate video interface peripherals/dio/hp98204b DIO Video board (including graphics) peripherals/dio/hp98256 DIO 256K RAM PCB peripherals/dio/hp98257 DIO 1M RAM PCB peripherals/dio/hp98259 DIO 128K Bubble memory PCB peripherals/dio/hp98261 DIO ROM PCB peripherals/dio/hp98604 ROM HPL PCB for HP9000/200 machines peripherals/dio/hp98620b DIO DMA controller peripherals/dio/hp98622 DIO GPIO board peripherals/dio/hp98624 DIO HPIB Interface peripherals/dio/hp98626 DIO RS232 Interface peripherals/dio/hp98628 DIO RS232 Interface (Z80 controlled) peripherals/dio/hphil DIO HP-HIL/HPIB interface peripherals/dio/kbd9920 HP9920 keyboard interface/HPIB PCB peripherals/dio/kgmram KGM 1M DIO RAM board peripherals/dio/wkbp4a 3rd party 256K DIO RAM board peripherals/hhp_eprom EPROM box for HP41 peripherals/hp11202 8 bit parallel interface for HP98x0 peripherals/hp11203 BCD interface for HP98x0 peripherals/hp11205 RS232 interface for HP98x0 peripherals/hp11206 Modem interface for HP9830 peripherals/hp11284 Datacomms interface for 9830 peripherals/hp11336 Printer interface (HP9871) for HP98x0 peripherals/hp13264 Data link interface peripherals/hp13267 First multipoint interface peripherals/hp2671g HPIB Thermal printer peripherals/hp27201 HPIB extender peripherals/hp2748a Optical paper tape reader peripherals/hp35731 Monochrome monitor for HP9000/200 machines peripherals/hp46020 First type HP-HIL keyboard peripherals/hp46021 Second type HP-HIL keyboard peripherals/hp5055 Digital Recorder (strip printer) peripherals/hp59301 HPIB parallel interface peripherals/hp59304 HPIB remote display unit peripherals/hp59306 HPIB relay actuator peripherals/hp59308 HPIB timing generator peripherals/hp59309 HPIB digital clock peripherals/hp59401 HPIB analyser peripherals/hp59403 HPIB common carrier interface peripherals/hp59405 HPIB interface for HP9830 peripherals/hp59500 HPIB interface for HP6940 multiprogrammer peripherals/hp6940b Multiprogrammer peripherals/hp7245a Thermal printer/plotter peripherals/hp7440hpib HPIB ColourPro plotter peripherals/hp7470opt003 HPIL Plotter peripherals/hp7475 HPIB Plotter peripherals/hp7959b HPIB hard disk unit (ESDI drive) peripherals/hp82104 Card reader for HP41 peripherals/hp82143 Dedicated thermal printer for HP41 peripherals/hp82153 Barcode Wand for HP41 peripherals/hp82162 HPIL thermal printer peripherals/hp82168 HPIL modem peripherals/hp82440a IR thermal printer peripherals/hp82440b IR thermal printer peripherals/hp82901 Dual 5.25" disk drive peripherals/hp82905 Dot matrix printer (either HPIB or HPIL) peripherals/hp82985 Portable Plus video interface peripherals/hp9114a HPIL disk drivc peripherals/hp9114b HPIL disk drive peripherals/hp9121 Single-sided 3.5" HPIB floppy drive peripherals/hp9122 Double-sided 3.5" disk drive peripherals/hp9123 HPIB floppy drive for the HP150-II peripherals/hp9125a Plotter for HP9100 peripherals/hp9133h HPIB hard/floppy disk unit peripherals/hp9133vxv HP913V, HP9133XV hard/floppy disk units peripherals/hp9154b HPIB hard disk unit (Nighthawk drive) peripherals/hp98033 BCD interface for HP9825 peripherals/hp98034 HPIB interface for HP9825 peripherals/hp98035 Real time clock module for HP9825 peripherals/hp98036 RS232 interface for HP9825 peripherals/hp98133 BCD interface for HP9815 peripherals/hp98134 GPIO interface for HP9815 peripherals/hp9862if Plotter interface (only) for HP98x0 peripherals/hp9865 Cassette drive for HP98x0 -- Interface ONLY peripherals/hp9866 Thermal printer for 9800-series peripherals/hp9877 External tape drive for HP9825 peripherals/hp9878 Expansion chassis for HP9825 peripherals/hp98780 Enhanced mono monitor for HP9845B peripherals/ipc/hp82904 Expansion interface for Integral peripherals/ipc/hp82915 Modem PCB for Integral peripherals/ipc/hp82916 RAM PCBs for Integral peripherals/ipc/hp82919 RS232 interface for Integral peripherals/ipc/hp82971 ROM/EPROM module for Integral peripherals/mp/hp69321b 12-bit voltage D/A for multiprogrammer peripherals/mp/hp69330a Relay output for multiprogrammer peripherals/mp/hp69351 Voltage regulator for multiprogrammer peripherals/mp/hp69422a High-speed A/D for multiprogrammer peripherals/mp/hp69431a Digital input for multiprogrammer peripherals/mp/hp69502a Resistance program for multiprogrammer peripherals/paintjet Colour inkjet printer peripherals/rsu Eramco MLDL unit for HP41 peripherals/rsu2 Eramco MLDL for HP41 (card reader case) peripherals/wand75d Wand for the HP75D -tony

16 years, 4 months

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OT: Televisions

by brianlanning＠gmail.com

Well, maybe not so off topic... I have two things I'd like to ask about. First, I'll be replacing the display for my main computer shortly. I'd like to get something larger than 20". I'm thinking an LCD wide format thingy. I'm considering getting a "flat" television instead of a monitor. Most of them have DVI or VGA connectors on them. But they also include component inputs, HDMI, and maybe some other things that can ease connection to classic computers. A composite RCA is a must. Can anyone suggest a TV model that that's relatively fast (like < 8ms), and has a high enough resolution that would also be good for the classic stuff? I'm thinking 1080p would be fine for a windows desktop. The next question pertains to console televisions. I'd like to find (much to my wife's dismay) a console television like the one my parents had back in the late 70s. I'd like to use it to play old video game consoles from the 70s and 80s. I believe these were all vacuum tube sets though, is that correct? Is there a good source for these things (the TVs and the tubes) today? I imagine people threw them away mostly. If these are difficult to find and/or maintain, I've considered trying to create a replica console television from a newer set, maybe even something with an LCD in it. I'd probably prefer an original though. Then i could invite my mother over and sit too close to the television for her. brian

16 years, 4 months

21
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XXDP program to test a DLV11-J

by jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to

Does anyone know if an XXDP program exists to test a DLV11-J? Any do you also know the name of the program? Thank you in advance if you can help. Jerome Fine

16 years, 4 months

2
1
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Adding VGA, PS/2 keyboard, and microSD to generic Z80 CPU classic computers

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

> platforms. > > The idea is impressive, but that PCB is huge. Any chance the design could be made smaller? Jim Hi Jim I was thinking more about your question. The system in the photos is using a standard PropIO board with a *prototype* CPU adapter "shim socket" which would *not* be part of the final design. If the tests prove out then the perfboard and ribbon cable would be replaced with a 2"x1.5" shim socket PCB that would plug in under the host Z80 CPU. It would export the Z80 pins out to 40 pin dual row header. The PropIO would connect to the shim socket PCB via a 40 conductor ribbon cable. So yes, in that sense the system would be smaller than what is pictured in the N8VEM post. It would be functionally identical. I hope that clarifies things. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

16 years, 4 months

1
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Adding VGA, PS/2 keyboard, and microSD to generic Z80 CPU classic computers

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

> platforms. > > The idea is impressive, but that PCB is huge. Any chance the design could be made smaller? Jim Hi Jim The PropIO was designed as an ECB standard board (160x100mm) Eurocard format and is intended for use with the rest of the N8VEM system. However, the subject came up of adding SD to KayPro on the vintage-computer.com forums and rather than designing a board unique to that system my hope is to reuse an existing part with little or no modification. If you were to design a specific Propeller board for the KayPro it could be much smaller but then it would be forever tied to that platform. The concept here is to make an adapter board to allow general purpose N8VEM boards to provide IO to the less common vintage computers that are "stranded" due to lack of current hardware development and/or small developer community. WaveMate Bullet is an example but I am sure there are dozens if not hundreds of others. I am trying to gauge what sort of interest there is in this approach if any. Certainly this is less than optimal solution for any specific machine but then it may be applicable across a whole spectrum of vintage computers (Z80 DIP 40 socket). Most likely this idea will go no where but it is interesting to me and the initial test results are showing promise. This in theory could be a way to add features like DiskIO (IDE/FDC), video (VDU), or microSD (PropIO) to less common systems that otherwise would never get it. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch PS, the empty sockets on the PropIO are for the second Propeller. It is currently unallocated but communicates with the SBC over the ECB in a similar fashion as the first Propeller which serves the PS/2 keyboard, VGA, and microSD interface. The second Propeller has several free IO pins which are intended for builder experimentation. There are a few proposed ideas on how to use the second Propeller such as an EN28J60 Ethernet interface with PropNIC and/or the Propeller USB converter. I was planning initially on adding TV, audio, and some other toy doodads but the other builders convinced me to keep the second Propeller unallocated and instead add the mini prototyping area. The PropIO also includes a mezzanine connector and mounting hardware for a full sized mezzanine "upper deck" so builders can add whatever suits them. PropIO is a rather experimental board and not really a final design - more of a proof of concept. Thus it is ideal for situations where non-typical adaptations like jamming into a KayPro are being explored.

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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Adding VGA, PS/2 keyboard, and microSD to generic Z80 CPU classic computers

by lynchaj＠yahoo.com

Hi! I am working with one of the N8VEM builders to make an interface to allow a generic Z80 CPU computer (DIP 40 socket) to interface to the N8VEM PropIO board. The benefit of this would be that any Z80 computer with a DIP 40 socket could add VGA, PS/2 keyboard, and microSD capability. I think this would be helpful for debugging and also transferring data from legacy platforms. http://groups.google.com/group/n8vem/msg/b287ef9fbe0f1e8d Since the board plugs directly into the Z80 CPU socket it is independent of any particular bus. Any new installation would require custom software for the platform. It appears the KayPro can access the PropIO using MBASIC so writing software should be practical. In theory, this approach may be applicable to any of the N8VEM ECB peripheral boards (Disk IO, VDU, prototyping board, etc). The concept may be applicable to other CPUs with the appropriate shim socket PCBs. I believe this could be particularly helpful for classic computers that lack an active development community. If anyone is interested in doing some experimentation with your vintage Z80 computer please contact me. Thanks and have a nice day! Andrew Lynch

16 years, 4 months

7
6
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History of ....

by evan＠snarc.net

Dare I say it, here's a good piece on the history of (gasp!) Windows: http://technologizer.com/2010/03/08/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ Don't kill the messenger. :)

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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Wirewrap boards update

by steerex＠ccvn.com

Yo! I have posted a few pictures of the wirewrap boards that are offered. I haven't used this free service before so, I hope the links work OK for everyone. http://tinypic.com/r/2q0iovn/6 http://tinypic.com/r/whhb7o/6 http://tinypic.com/r/2cp97j5/6 http://tinypic.com/r/kaqkjl/6 http://tinypic.com/r/2ed1esm/6 http://tinypic.com/r/2chw679/6 My brain is getting kinda soft so, I mistakenly said the pins were on a .4" X .1" grid. That is not correct. They are on a .3" X .1" grid. So all the common DIP packages will plug right in. Sorry for any confusion. SteveRob steerex [at] ccvn [dot] com

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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DECwriters

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

Curious... Who here has a DECwriter I (LA30)? This is the original early 70s DECwriter made out of Flip Chips. Google for a picture. Who here would like a DECwriter I? No, I am not selling, just curious... -- Will

16 years, 4 months

5
6
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Old books, mostly UNIX books

by segin2005＠gmail.com

I want $5 + shipping per book; I'll try to minimize shipping costs by shipping all the books together. As for publishing years: The Waite Group's UNIX? Primer Plus 1991 Introduction To UNIX? 1992 QuickBASIC Programmer's Toolkit 1989 UNIX? Programmer's Reference 1992 UNIX? Networking 1991 Exploring the UNIX? System, Second Edition 1991 EXAM CRAM TCP/IP for MCSE 1999 Also, I did not originally list this book: UNIX? Shell Commands: Quick Reference (QUE Publishing) ISBN 0-88022-572-6 1992 On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 18:37, Roy J. Tellason, Sr. <rtellason at verizon.net>wrote: > > What years were they published? That would help. Too, you don't say what > you'd want for them? > > -- > Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and > ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can > be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" > - > Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. > --James > M Dakin >

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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ACM Turing Award Goes to Creator of First Modern Personal Computer

by glen.slick＠gmail.com

Saw this in the news today: http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2010/turing-award-09/ NEW YORK, March 9, 2010 ? ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery today named Charles P. Thacker the winner of the 2009 ACM A.M. Turing Award http://awards.acm.org/2010/turing-award.cfm for his pioneering design and realization of the Alto, the first modern personal computer, and the prototype for networked personal computers. Thacker?s design, which he built while at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), reflected a new vision of a self-sufficient, networked computer on every desk, equipped with innovations that are standard in today?s models. Thacker was also cited for his contributions to the Ethernet local area network, which enables multiple computers to communicate and share resources, as well as the first multiprocessor workstation, and the prototype for today?s most used tablet PC, with its capabilities for direct user interaction. The Turing Award, widely considered the ?Nobel Prize in Computing,? is named for the British mathematician Alan M. Turing. The award carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation and Google Inc.

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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Rack rails

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

Does anyone have any rack rails for sale (uk) for a regular 19" rack? These don't need to be the sliding type just a basic L shape rail? Contact me of list if you have anything. They are tricky to find for a reasonable price Thanks Ian

16 years, 4 months

2
1
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rare systems

by evan＠snarc.net

Guys, don't confuse "rare" with "more historic". "Rare" just means "fewer". If the people at Tandy produced a limited-edition TRS-80, and the only difference was it had a yellow polka-dot case design, and only 100 were ever made, does that mean it's more "rare" than a Straight-8? Technically, yes! Does that make it more historic? It's too dumb a question to even ask. (I'm not putting down the PERQ systems, etc.; those are certainly historic in their own regard.) And yes, DEC isn't as popular as Apple; there won't be millions of DEC fanboys and stuff ...... But it's hard to argue that the Straight-8 isn't one of the most * historic * systems ever made, re: historic = grand context and importance to the history of the computer industry. Rarity is a big factor too, but the '8 has it all. Historic, rare, desirable.

16 years, 4 months

10
16
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OT: for Christian Corti

by js＠cimmeri.com

Christian, received your email fine but still unable to reply. Here's the kind of errors I'm receiving, even with different email addresses: ---------------------------------------- A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed: corticn at zdi2.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de <mailto:corticn at zdi2.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de> (generated from cc at corti-net.de <mailto:cc at corti-net.de>) SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<corticn at zdi2.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de <mailto:corticn at zdi2.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>>: host mailgw.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de [129.69.211.42]: 554 5.7.1 <jws at casient.net <mailto:jws at casient.net>>: Sender address rejected: Access denied ---------------------------------------- Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mail2.sea5.speakeasy.net. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. <cc at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>: 129.69.211.41 does not acknowledge recipient. Remote host said: 554 5.7.1 <js at cimmeri.com>: Sender address rejected: Access denied Giving up on 129.69.211.41. - John Singleton

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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Northstar Horizion

by rodsmallwood＠btconnect.com

Wanted all parts (excluding motherboard) for a Northstar Horizon preferably in the UK. Specifically: Any suitable S100 boards (Northstar originals if possible) Case/Chassis SA400 Floppy Drives Fortunately I can get the right PSU capacitors and a new 2 x 8v + 1 x 15v transformer wound to order. Not original but safer. Rod Smallwood

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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Selling Calcomp 565 plotter

by pat＠computer-refuge.org

I'm working on clearing out my warehouse, and I'm selling one of my Calcomp 565 plotters on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220550441602 It came with a load of DG Nova gear that I rescued, but I've never had the opportunity to test it out. Pat -- Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/ The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org

16 years, 4 months

22
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Way OT: hydroponics

by brianlanning＠gmail.com

If anyone here is into hydroponics, please let me know off-list. I have a few questions. Thanks. My wife suggested I use a classic computer to monitor the system. :-) brian

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 22:25:32 -0800 3/8/10, Sellam wrote: A straight-8 has come up for sale. I am representing the seller.... At 06:03:06 -0500 3/8/10, Steve wrote: >Hey guys, >Sorry for the shameful plug but... Kudos to Steve for his manners! Yeah, I know. :-( See the subject. Couldn't resist the 'attaboy. Don't think Sellam reads this anyway.

16 years, 4 months

2
1
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OT: Best Glue for Marble

by ploopster＠gmail.com

Apologies for the OT, but there seem to be quite a few people on this list who are familiar with the subject of glue. I need to attach two pieces of marble to each other. There is a tiny gap between the pieces. What would be the best glue to use for something this hard, smooth and impermeable? Peace... Sridhar

16 years, 4 months

4
3
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Anyone running RTE-M on an HP 21MX series M, E, or F?

by js＠cimmeri.com

> [Christian Corti replied:] > Hm, I've never tried RTE-M, although I have rev. 2140 on magtape. ** Christian, thank you for taking the time to reply. I'd like to ask you a question re your RTE-M off-list... would you kindly send me your email? js at cimmeri.com -- I tried your "cc at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de" address a few times but it bounces back. > Instead, I prefer RTE-6/VM on the 1000F. I have a setup with a 7905 > (shared in a multi-cpu configuration with a HP 2100S), a 7970B, a > 7970E, a 9122C, a 7958B (system disk), 2648 on a BACI and a terminal > server on all the ports of an 8-channel MUX. Lovely system, and very > different from most modern stuff. > And the 2100S runs RTE-II from the fixed platter of the 7905. ** I am very impressed with your collection. How did you get a 9122C working? > Simh has proved to be very useful especially when generating a new > system. ** Yes, it looks like we'll be forced to use SIMH to try to generate a CS/80 compatible primary tape. John Singleton

16 years, 4 months

1
0
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Taking offers on PDP-8 (straight-8)

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

> 2. How did Humphrey Bogart get in there? > Or is it straight-8 -> treasure -> happy? Suggested language usage: Dude, don't bogart that straight 8! Tim.

16 years, 4 months

2
1
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They never stop: Yet another fradulent relisting of Ashley's TC11/TU55/RK05 rack

by wmaddox＠pacbell.net

He's at it again: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330411796683&ssPageName=… It's been reported to eBay, as well as to the ebay account owner and the fellow who's website was apparently hijacked to host part of the listing. I've expressed interest in buying the stuff. I wonder if he'll give me enough contact info to get him busted... --Bill

16 years, 4 months

3
2
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Sorcerer II progress...

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

I rewired the transformer per Pete and Tony (thanks guys!) and replaced all of the electrolytic caps in the power supply. Looking at the Sorcerer One schematics and confirmed on the board, there is a big 10-watt resistor across the +5 regulator like the Altair 680 PS so I tested with the dummy load I made for the 680. All voltages were spot-on. Close examination of the logic board didn't show anything that looked bad so I hooked up a small LCD test display, held my breath and turned it on. I assumed I would get a screen full of garbage if anything, but it turns out the little display can detect and show PAL. The Sorcerer is up 100 percent. The RAM/stack report in the monitor start message indicates that the full 48K is there. I did some random poking around and the RAM looks basically functional. With my luck running this good, I went ahead and powered down and inserted the BASIC "8-track" ROM cartridge. Powered back up and there was Standard BASIC, fully operational. So, it looks like I have a lot less to do with this machine than I thought. I do want to convert the unit back to NTSC and I have not tested the serial or cassette ports though. Anyway, I'm going to do some cosmetics next. The keyboard is filthy, so a disassembly and wash is in order. Next, most of the perforated metal ventilation panels have fallen out. I have them all. It looks like they were glued in place with hot-melt glue. Is that how they were originally attached? Bill

16 years, 4 months

10
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Sorcerer II progress...

by alhartman＠yahoo.com

Rather than drawing a disgram of the keycaps, wouldn't a picture taken by a digital or polaroid camera be easier and faster? Al

16 years, 4 months

2
1
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HP2631B printer

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

You may rememebr that a few weeks ago I asked ofr help on the encoder of an HP2631B printer. I've not sorted it all out, and will describe what I did... The initial problem was a defective 2114 RAM (!) on the procesosr board. After replacign that, the printer rammed the carriage into the side of the mechanmism, blowing the 2 motor driver transistors and an overvoltage zenenr on the -20V line. Furtehr tests showd there were no signals coming >from the shaft encoder on the carriage movement leadscrew. I took the machine apart. Really apart. Not having the special tools to remove the encoder form the leadscrew, I found I could take them out together, You loosen the cap screw in the collar on the carriage motor shafter, free the ribbon cable from the cips onthe rear paper guide, and tkae out the 3 screws from the encoder mounting plate. The whole lot this comes out of the right hand side of the mechamism. I could then remove the end cover from the encoder (carring the IR emitter) and the little cover over the cable connections. The HP service manual warns you not t oremove the carriage rails or platten bar, since 'an important adjustment will be upset'. I reckoned that my pritner was in a pretty bad state already, and little could make it any worde, so I took it all apart. I am wondering what the HP manaul is talking about. The 2 carriage rails have their ends turned down to fit in holes i nthe side plate, so theres no way they can be moved by more than a few thou. And these ends are not eccentric, I checked. The platten bar is locared by dowel pins to each side plate. It can't move either. As far as I can see there is no problem at all with completely stripping the mechanism. This meant I could deal with that substance well-know to all classic computer people -- sound-deadening foam that turns to dust. Back to the enconder. The person who said 'sounds like the IR emitter is out' was vey close. The IR emitter was indeed not glowing. The reason was that it's conencted to the rest of the encoder by 2 little pin sockets on the emeltter assembly (encoder end cover) which fit onto wires coming out of the enocderr boddy -- one of them seems to be the end of a current limiting resistor... Anyway, one of those wires was bent and not connecting to the emitter assembly. Easy to fix when you know where to look! I crelaced the shorted zneer diode on the PSU board, and did some simple checks on the rest of the electronics. The DIP switches on the priner logic PCB and HPIB conenctor PCB were not reliable. Since an HPIB address swithc which doesn't set the address you expect is going to be a curse, I replaced them. I managed to re-stake the puchbutton assemblies on the control panel PCB -- http://www.parts.agilent.com indicates that type of switch (plastic housing heat-staked to a PCB with gold contact pads) is still avaialbe, but only if you return the instrument to Agilent for repair. Sorry, but no way... With everything back together (apart from the motor driver transistors), it was time to give it a go. I could now see that the encoder was producing pulses, that the end sensors worked, and that it wasn't trying to turn on both motor driver transsitors at the same time. Powered down, fitted the (expensive, 25A) motor driver transistors, and tried again with the lesdscrew nut unscrewed from the carriage. The idea was that if the motor 'ran away', it wouldn't slam the carriage into the side plate. Tjhis time on power-up the mtoor ran -- but at a sensible speed, there were plento of pulses from the encoder, and by just touching the leadscrew nut I found it was indeed trying to drive the carriage to the left. Time fore the real test. I ffittd the 3 screws holding the leadscrew nut to the carriage, and tired again. The carriage went to the home position, and the macjhine gave a long beep. The frontpanel buttons did nothing apart from reset (which repeated the initialisation) and On-Line which caused it to beep again. I tried frobbing the paper-out switch, it made no difference, so I guessed I had a real fault. I spend 2 hours looking at signals. The peocessor was clearly running. The end sensor signals were fine. The enocder, position counters, direction flip-flop, and so on all seemed to be doing the right things. I was beginning to think i had a nasty fault in the custom HP procesosr chip. And yet, it was running the firmware, at least enough to run the carriage to the home position, sound the beeper, and so on. Checking what the processor ws trying to do to the pritner logic PCB indicated it was reading the sensors and writng to the carriage motor register, which made sense. It wasn't randoming acccessing all the ports. What had I missed? I went back to the paper out signal. It was high (indicating out-of-paprr) at the input pin of the 3-state buffer on the printer logic PCB. It was low on the motor harness pin on the PSU board (that makes sense, there's a NOT gate on the PSU board which inverts this sigal). But it didn't change state when I frobbed the microswitch. Aha... Although the microswitch is hidden inside the printer mechanism, I managed to disconenct one of the faston terminals from it (the switch is closed when out of paper). This time when I powered the machine up, it homed the carriage and didn't beep. I could do linefeeds and formfeeds >from the panel, the on-line button worked, and the self-test seemed to be trying to print something (I'd not fitted the printhead at this stage. So the microswtich was faulty. Strangely it was stuck closed (most switch porblems cause them to not make contact). I removed the printer mechanism again, turned it over, and removed the rear paper guide (4 screws). 2 mores screws released the microswitch from the guide. And it didn't 'click' when I pressed the actuating lever. Unfortunately, although it's a standard V3 size switch, the actuator is unusual, so getting a replacement would be nnon-trivial. With nothing to lose, I drilled out the rivet holding the swtich together, took off the cover and remvoed the contacts. I then fount that other substance well-known to classic computer types -- grease that turns to cement. Cleaned it off, cleanded thee contacts (well, while I had it apart) and resassmbled it. Now it clicked. And an ohmmeter showet it was woring electrically too. Put it all back together again. Now it will initialise and respond to the control paenl -- provided there's paper in it. Time to fit the printhead (trivial), and it now makes that well-known buzzing that everybody who's ever been near a dot-matrix printer would recognise. Will it print anyhting sensible? Well, let's try the ribbon. Which is jammed. The ribbon cartridge is heat-staked together, but the hold trick of pulling htr ribbon out and widing it back in got it free enough to work. Now the self-test prints a character set -- and it looks quite sensible, Tiem to try it with a computer. I grab my HPIB test set-up (HP71 + HPIL module + HP82169 HPIL-HPIB interface) and cable it all up. Set the printer address to 4 (yes, I used a PET in the old days...) type PRINTER IS 4 and then PRINT. The darn thing does a formfeed (!). Then try PRINT"0123456789". It prints "0000444488" andanotehr formfeed. Clearly the 2 least significat bits (bits 1 and 2 in HPIB terminology) weren't gettign through (an unconnected HPIB line is high, which corresponds to logic 0 on this bus). Hence the CR character was becoming a formfeed... Fortunately I'd picked an HPIB address where this wasn't a problem, I hoped the HP custom PHI HPIB chip hadn't failed. I disconnected the HPIB cabel from the HP82159 and removed the HPIB interface PCB together with the connector PCB and HPIB cable from the printer/And then did continuity checks from the free end of the HPIB cable to the pins on the 3448 buffer chips on the HPIB PCB. Fortuneately bits 1 and 2 were indeed open.And a few morre detaild test showed it was nothing more than dirty contacts on the H{PIB socket. A cotton bud and propn-2-ol cured that. And then it printed properly -- at last. The last job was to fit the cover and platten knob, which was trivial -- at least after everything else. -tony

16 years, 4 months

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ISO: Information on Fairchild/Schlumberger EXA 3000

by cclist＠sydex.com

Does anyone out there have information on the disk subsystem of the Fairchild/Schlumberger EXA 3000 tester? I think I've got it figured out, but some validation would come in useful. Thanks, Chuck

16 years, 4 months

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HP2631B printer

by Arno_1983＠gmx.de

Rik Bos wrote: (concerning The Adventures of Fabulous Tony with the Dot Matrix Printer): > NICE work ! I'd also like to congratulate to that successful bug hunting and squishing operation and utter my appreciation for its thorough description but... I think that's possible to do without quoting that whole lot ;) So long, Arno -- GMX DSL: Internet, Telefon und Entertainment f?r nur 19,99 EUR/mtl.! http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/dsl02

16 years, 4 months

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vintage equip F/S in CA

by shumaker＠att.net

A California Craigs List ad earlier this week caught my eye a couple days ago and some emailing with the seller resulted in the following: ************************************** Bear in mind that Gary was describing things and sometimes I don't get the jargo quite right. OK I have the info that you might like. We have a bunch of Kaypros as mentioned and they are all the same $60 except the 16 which is $125 Kaypro- 2 Kaypro2 - 6 Kaypro4 5 Kaypro10 1 Kaypro 16- in original box with everything Kaypro daisy wheel printer Kaypro pc Heathkit 89 A 2- one with dual floppy , Heath buss, Serial IO card, fan One with single floppy, and a CPU and memory main. We also have one H8 some missing memory chips and much documentation. We are asking $250 for H8 We have a printer buffer as well for that with the manuals, cords etc. Happy to include with it. I took some photos of the bunch of computers in the storage and will send some to you if you wish. However, I have a crummy photo editor and it requires a different email for each photo if I want to send them in a small size. Now, I am planning on listing the H8 in the next couple of weeks on ebay unless someone is serious enough to come up and buy it. We are closing our storage space in the next month or two and really want to see the big computers etc translated into money.. ***************************************************** They added more info today: ***************************************************** As for other stuff, it is a big list, I have over 100 assorted vintage computers (No, no Altairs and only one slightly munched IMSAI front panel). Partial list w/o S-100, Heath, Zenith, Kaypros or Osbornes: 3 each- TI99/4 2 each - TRS-80 Olivetti M15 Apple II Apple IIC Apple IIE Apple Monitor 3 each - Apple Mac (Cube) SE Apple Mac Wyse Video Terminal 2 each - Dual 8" floppy subsystems (Lobo and similar) NEC APC with built in color monitor and dual 8" floppies (seriously cool) NEC APC III with dual 5" floppies and separate color monitor. 2 each - Amiga 500 systems in box SWTPC 6800 Olivetti M-700-10 5 each - Compaq plasma lunch box ASR-33 teletype with paper tape and stand (very clean). Lots of old Monitors. ****************************************************** Units are being sold by a collector who has apprently been collecting since the 2nd West Coat Computer Fair and who is doing some house cleaning They have stated they will put them on Ebay soon but are willing to sell direct to interested collectors... Equipment is physically located in Ft Bragg, CA. contact info is "Barbara McCray" <bamccray at sonic.net> DISCLAIMER: FWIW, I know nothing of the seller or the equipment. She did mention that she sells on Ebay as "Dichroicarts". She is aware that I'm posting this info so if you're interested, go direct! steve

16 years, 4 months

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percom data separator

by keithvz＠verizon.net

I've read some passing threads about the percom data separator. Sounds pretty neat. Anyone have schematic, or know the chips involved -- or can tell me how this thing did its job? Thanks Keith

16 years, 4 months

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here's one i've never heard of

by brianlanning＠gmail.com

It's Z80 so it's just slightly before my time. But I thought you guys would be interested. It looks really clean. http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Computer-Ibex-Z80-64k-Console-Terminal-RARE-80_… brian

16 years, 4 months

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