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

by rickb＠bensene.com

Ethan O'Toole wrote: > We owe a ton of props to the Internet Archive. While they might not have > everything, they have a glimpse into the early days of the internet and > have been at it since early on. Here here. I very much second Ethan's sentiments regarding the Internet Archive. It's a daunting effort to scrape and store all that information. Fortunately, deduplication and compression technologies have come a long way, and long-term, online storage of large amounts of data processed as such has become much less expensive due to the huge decreases in the cost-per-bit of spinning rust. Despite all of that, it's still a lot to store, and even with these technologies, there are costs involved for staffing, servers, as well as continually adding storage. Any and all support the Internet Archive can be given is well-deserved, in my opinion. Shameless plug: I make regular donations to the Internet Archive, and right now, they are have a 2-to-1 matching gift campaign going on due to pledges from corporate and institutional donors, so if you possibly can make a donation, head over to https://archive.org and give help support this valuable /free/ resource. I just made a $25 donation myself. Every little bit helps. Best wishes for a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday to all, -Rick -- Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com Beavercreek, Oregon USA

6 years, 4 months

3
2
0 0

191202 Classic equipment available & my bad year.

by dave.dunfield＠gmail.com

Hi, made a number of updates to the sale pages on my site, and brought back a copy of my commercial site (good for downloads). Unfortunately I screwed up the .html pages and lost some links. Should all me fixed now. Added an FAQ some more parts (eg: 8008 CPI for MOD8), some sample pricing (please see FAQ before complaining). If you've looked at the site before, do refresh each page as you go to it as many browers cache page and will happily show you the old one. http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/sale/index.htm Dave

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

System/36 Twin-Ax decode help

by alan＠alanlee.org

All, I've recently scratched a curiosity itch on what it would take to build a multi-port Twin-Ax to WiFi bridge. The electrical interface is easy enough and ESP32s are cheap. So I built a bridge PCB-to-FPGA adapter and connected my System/36 (5362), an InfoWindow II (address 0 and 1), and my board during IPL and sign-on to see what I could sniff. The result is here: https://www.retrotronics.org/tmp/s36_ipl_twinax_decode_30nov19.zip I get occasional decode errors called out with 'BAD FRAME'. The [SPF] next to bytes mean bad start bit (0), parity error, or non-zero fill bytes respectively. And I occasionally get a sync pattern followed by either illegal Manchester transitions or return to idle without any bytes (and thus no address) - the zero frames in the log. My main question is I need help on the next step. For a brief moment, I was under the impression SNA LU6 or LU7 ran on top of the Twin-Ax line layer. But that doesn't appear to be the case. I'm not sure it's direct 5250 either. Can anyone familiar with IBM-Midrange-World take a look at the decode and point me to the next protocol layer up the stack? Even the slightest breadcrumbs would be appreciated as I know very little about the Midrange world. Additionally if anyone is familiar with the wire-level and could assist on some of the framing errors, that would help as well. The twin-ax cables are less than 2m each so the line should be 100% clean. The problems are likely something I am doing wrong in the interpreter. Thanks, -Alan Hightower

6 years, 4 months

3
4
0 0

PC 9821 hardware

by imp＠bsdimp.com

Greetings I think the time has come for me to part with my collection of PC 9821 hardware. It has deteriorated over time, but I think it all still works. I have two laptops and a desktop system. I used it to test FreeBSD/pc98 for years, but support was dropped a few years ago and I have no further need for it. It's a bit oddball for here, perhaps, but I don't want to just scrap it all... Anybody interested? Warner

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Free: USENIX publications (Computing Systems and late 90s ;login:)

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

I am continuing to clean out stuff from my office and today's items are printed copies of the USENIX publications Computing Systems (early 90s) and ;login: (late 90s). The content is available online, but some people like the printed versions. I prefer to send them all out in one lot rather than send them out one-at-a-time. They are located in the Seattle area. As far as shipping, I think they would all fit in a large flat-rate priority mail box. alan

6 years, 4 months

5
6
0 0

Compaq Floppy/Printer board?

by anders.k.nelson＠gmail.com

Hi all, I found this while throwing away e-waste at my old place: https://photos.app.goo.gl/R8xUxYijf1AYHNB38 Is it of any use to anyone? Need to know by Sunday. Thanks!

6 years, 4 months

3
5
0 0

CRT faceplates / screen "mold"

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

Many years ago I cut the faceplate off an HP display exhibiting serious decay of the sealant between the faceplate and the CRT itself, cleaned everything up, then reattached the plate just with a bead of sealant around the perimeter (where it wouldn't be seen once the bezel was back on). Short of outright replacing the CRT with one of the same type, is that still accepted practice - or in the years since has someone worked out a way of applying new sealant across the entire face without getting air trapped in there, thereby maintaining the structural integrity of the original? cheers Jules

6 years, 4 months

2
1
0 0

Grid server software

by grant＠millhouseindustries.com

I am looking for the elusive grid server software disks, I would really like to put this thing online I know of the disks that were on the yahoo grid group, but they were missing the all important utilities disk 2 , but worse than that they are for a tempest server, which unfortunately won't run the communications card on a regular server. I know there is a copy out there, as i watched the disks slip through my fingers a couple of yeas ago on ebay with a 2701 server drive. The search continues........

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

P118

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

It's not really classic (although it does try to pretend to be :-) but does anyone here do anything with the P118 SBC? I am trying to get 8" disks running on it but I am seeing some rather strange behavior. bill

6 years, 4 months

2
2
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Intel 8272 based floppy controller & Missing Address Mark

by dkgrizzly＠thewaffleiron.net

Hi friends, In the continuing saga of building a CP/M system with Pro-Log cards housed in a Heathkit dual 8? floppy drive cabinet I recently acquired a Pro-Log 7387 floppy disk controller card w/ manuals. The 8272 chip on the card was fried (either before I got it, or by me doing something stupid early on once I had acquired it), and so I replaced the chip with another pulled from a 8-bit ISA floppy controller. Now I am getting some more reasonable replies out of the card. Now I'm stuck with "Missing Address Mark" errors, no matter if I'm using a real 8" floppy drive (8MHz FDC clock, appropriate settings in all the software) or a GoTek floppy emulator (4MHz FDC clock, 720KB settings on the GoTek & Floppy Disk Utility). I can see the read data & read window lines working as I'd expect, so I'm fairly confident that the read data separator and related logic is OK (I even replaced the 74ls74 read data separator with no effect). What am I missing that would cause a 8272 to always return Missing Address Mark? I'm using RomWBW, with the included FDU utility patched to talk to the FDC at the correct addresses, and from the traces I've captured it appears that side of things is working correct. I'm hoping someone out there has experience troubleshooting floppy controllers?and can give me some pointers. -David ------ Trace with GoTek running FlashFloppy and emulating a 720KB drive follows ------- RetroBrew HBIOS v2.9.1-pre.5, 2019-11-23 PROLOG Z80 @ 3.686MHz 0 MEM W/S, 1 I/O W/S, INT MODE 1 512KB ROM, 2048KB RAM SIO0: IO=0xF5 SIO MODE=9600,8,N,1 SIO1: IO=0xF7 SIO MODE=9600,8,N,1 MD: UNITS=2 ROMDISK=384KB RAMDISK=1920KB FD: IO=0xC4 UNITS=2 Unit Device Type Capacity/Mode ---------- ---------- ---------------- -------------------- Disk 0 MD1: RAM Disk 1920KB,LBA Disk 1 MD0: ROM Disk 384KB,LBA Disk 2 FD0: Floppy Disk 3.5",DS/DD,CHS Disk 3 FD1: Floppy Disk 3.5",DS/DD,CHS Serial 0 SIO0: RS-232 9600,8,N,1 Serial 1 SIO1: RS-232 9600,8,N,1 PROLOG Z80 Boot Loader Boot: (C)PM, (Z)System, (M)onitor, (L)ist disks, or Disk Unit # ===> BOOT CPM FROM ROM CBIOS v2.9.1-pre.5 [WBW] Formatting RAMDISK... Configuring Drives... A:=MD1:0 B:=MD0:0 C:=FD0:0 D:=FD1:0 3623 Disk Buffer Bytes Free CP/M-80 v2.2, 54.0K TPA B> FDU Floppy Disk Utility (FDU) v5.2, 08-Jan-2018 [HBIOS] Copyright (C) 2017, Wayne Warthen, GNU GPL v3 SELECT FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLER: (0) Exit (1) Disk IO ECB Board (2) Disk IO 3 ECB Board (3) Zeta SBC Onboard FDC (4) Zeta 2 SBC Onboard FDC (5) Dual IDE ECB Board (6) N8 Onboard FDC (7) RC2014 SMC (SMB) (8) ProLog 7387 === OPTION ===> PL ===== PL ==============<< FDU MAIN MENU >>====================== (S)ETUP: UNIT=00 MEDIA=720KB MODE=POLL TRACE=00 ---------------------------------------------------------------- (R)EAD (W)RITE (F)ORMAT (V)ERIFY (I)NIT BUFFER (D)UMP BUFFER FDC (C)MDS E(X)IT === OPTION ===> FORMAT (T)RACK, (D)ISK ===> DISK ENTER INTERLEAVE [01-09] (02): RESET DRIVE... PROGRESS: TRACK=4F HEAD=01 SECTOR=01 ===== PL ==============<< FDU MAIN MENU >>====================== (S)ETUP: UNIT=00 MEDIA=720KB MODE=POLL TRACE=00 ---------------------------------------------------------------- (R)EAD (W)RITE (F)ORMAT (V)ERIFY (I)NIT BUFFER (D)UMP BUFFER FDC (C)MDS E(X)IT === OPTION ===> READ (S)ECTOR, (T)RACK, (D)ISK, (R)ANDOM ===> TRACK ENTER TRACK [00-4F] (00): ENTER HEAD [00-01] (00): PROGRESS: TRACK=00 HEAD=00 SECTOR=01 READ: 46 00 00 00 01 02 09 2A FF --> 40 01 00 00 00 01 02 [MISSING ADDRESS MARK] CONTINUE? (A)BORT, (R)ETRY, (I)GNORE ===>

6 years, 4 months

4
6
0 0

IBM SP/SP2 9076

by kevin.bowling＠kev009.com

Anyone have one of these collecting dust? Regards, Kevin

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

PDP - 8 Front panels

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hello Everybody ?After a two year pause due to my wife having been ill but now fully recovered I am back to starting making pdp-8 front panels again I have some stock: pdp-8/e (type A - vertical selector switch start mark) pdp-8/e (type B -? selector? switch start to left of vertical) pdp-8/f panels As pdp8/f but no /f marking. - doing a /m overprint for it pdp8/i I am looking for scrap pdp/8 panels (might trade for a new one), hi res front (and back) dead center pictures (panel on its own) and accurate dimensions (including holes) of any pdp-8 panel to aid me in offering the complete range. PDP-11 ?? Not at this time but maybe later I am busy at the moment with artwork redrawing. The UK winter is not kind to making screens. Even in good warm weather the exposed and washed out screen in its frame takes 24 hours to dry. Then after printing each layer (up to five per panel) takes 24hrs to dry before another layer can be added. Authentic panels produced the exact way they were in the '60s and '70s ain't going to be quick or cheap. But the result is sure worth it. Rod 'Panelman' Smallwood (Digital Equipment Corporation 1975 - 1985) --

6 years, 4 months

2
1
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TSS/8 on RK05

by mosst＠SDF.ORG

That's great Josh, I look forward to seeing it in action when I'm next at LCM+L! I had been thinking of doing something similar myself, as I also have an 8/e and RK05, but no RF08. Thanks for making the code available :) Regards, -Tom mosst at sdf.lonestar.org SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

Scanning docs for bitsavers

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jay Jaeger > CCITT Group 4 lossless compression That's very good indeed. I scan text pages in B+W at slightly less resolution (engineering prints I do higher, they need it), but compressed they turn out to be ~50KB per page, or less - for long documents (e.g. the DOS-11 System Programmer's Manual), that produces a reasonably-sized file. > The software I have been using i[s] Irfanview. That's what I use too; it has tons of useful features, including being able to drive my single-sided page-feed scanner and being able to number the even-sided pages correctly. The one I use for this is the 'batch mode'; I can do the entire document into CCITT 4 in one operation. Noel

6 years, 4 months

6
7
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TSS/8 on RK05

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- We've wanted to run TSS/8 on one of our PDP-8 systems at LCM+L for a long time now, and while we contemplated either (a) restoring our RF08 or (b) building an RF08 emulator, I decided it might be fun to investigate a third option: (c) modify TSS/8 to run off hardware we already have running, namely an RK05 drive. And it /was/ fun! And seems to have been successful, as we now have TSS/8 running on our PDP-8/e. Performance is acceptable, and it seems to be stable so far. The changes I made are here: https://github.com/livingcomputermuseum/cpus-pdp8 This is a fork of a codebase that Brad Parker put together a number of years back in which he did some serious work to get TSS/8 to build (amongst other things). I made use of this effort, which saved a lot of time and made building/testing my changes quite straightforward. I also modified the disk image: It's extended to 1MW (the maximum possible without modifying the filesystem code) and I ported a couple of extra programs to TSS/8 (CHEKMO and LISP). I figured some people here might also be able to take advantage of being able to run TSS/8 from RK05. I know RK8E's are pretty rare, but I'm also guessing more people have them than have working fixed-head disks :). If you do give it a try, let me know if you run into any issues or if you have any feature requests. Thanks, Josh

6 years, 4 months

3
3
0 0

VisiCorp VISI ON

by curt＠atarimuseum.com

Does anyone have original manuals/Disks for VISI ON? I?m looking for an original set and any of the VISI ON specific program packages.

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

RL02 disk crashes and taking them apart

by cz＠alembic.crystel.com

One of the RL02 packs I have did not look happy upon inspection, so I opened it up. Note that it's a little more complicated to take these packs apart than simply pushing a small rod through the holes in the back of the pack handle: You have to take apart the whole handle mechanism to get to the pins holding the pack to the carriage in order to get the pack off. I'll post some pics of all that eventually. Meantime, pictures of the disk. As you can see the top platter of the disk has a number of concentric rings and a hard crash ring. My guess is this thing was loaded in a bad RL02 that promptly trashed it. Oh well, one for the record books.... Pics at: https://i.imgur.com/phdLWUF.jpg Close up of the damage https://i.imgur.com/yQnt8BJ.jpg Overall shot of the disk Never dull. C

6 years, 4 months

1
0
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The information age

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

It is such a shame that in the "information age", we have lost so much of the information. It doesn't help when we have people like Jobs that like to write their own version. It is even worse when companies think it is a law suite risk to keep information more than a year. It is all lost. "The information lost age" Dwight

6 years, 4 months

6
8
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Key for IBM 9370 - 20

by drb＠msu.edu

> Sure you meant CCW from one o'clock? Sorry, you're looking into the end of the key, and this makes sense. My bad. De

6 years, 4 months

1
0
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Key for IBM 9370 - 20

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

I posted on the discord channel looking for information on measuring the keys (ACE cylinder locks) for duplication. I'm including a quote from a post by Jay on the subject.? I need to get the information on measuring the depths of the cuts, as the postings I've found don't mention how the depths are measured for each value. I have an ACE key for an IBM 9370 mod 20 I'm measuring. Found a post by Jay from 2016 Jay West jwest at classiccmp.org Fri Mar 18 15:57:30 CDT 2016 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FYI - the key codes I measured previously for Data General and HP have been cut, tested, and verified. Amazingly, my measurements were correct. So to summarize: XX2247 Code: 5173757 Use: DEC PDP-8 (all varieties), PDP-11 machines that do not use an ACE blank (11/24, 11/44) Anyone have a reference on the depths of the Code values? There's another post with depths, but not explicitly calling out what each number equates to. My master has a DND legend on the back, so I will need to get a copy cut and tested via codes, and will publish it when I find out that it works. Dennis Boone post: Allegedly Control Data used a National C415A on Network Processing Unit cabinets in the late 70s, early 80s. That's an Ilco 1069-N, cuts are 12343 from bow to tip. Cut spacings are .156 .249 .342 .435 .528. Depths are 1=.250 2=.225 3=.200 4=.175. The Boone post has numbers, but they make no sense WRT the post Jay posted (which has 7 depth values) Also need to know if metric or inches.

6 years, 4 months

5
10
0 0

"First Internet message" and ...

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Ooops, editing error: > Although one could build a system which has aggregatable addresses, used > for path selection, but hid them from the hosts, and used an 'invisible' > mapping system to translate from them to the aggregatable 'true' addresses. Should have been "to translate from the 'addresses' used by the hosts to the". > the changing nature of 'the Internet', but alas the list archives are > broken at the moment, so no URL Here are Jack's thoughts on how 'the Internet' is no longer a true internet: Circa 1984, I remember giving lots of presentations where one theme was that we had spent the first 10 years of the Internet (taking the 1974 TCP paper as the start) making it possible for every computer to talk with every other computer.BB We would spend the next 10 years making it not possible to do such things, so that only communications that were permitted would be possible. Sadly, I'm not sure that ever happened. The commercial world started adopting TCP big time. The government decided to focus on using COTS - Commercial Off-The-Shelf hardware and software. The Research world focused on things like faster and bigger networks. At BBN, the focus shifted to X.25, SNA, and such stuff that promised a big marketplace. TCP had gone through 5 releases from TCP2 through TCP4 in just a few years, so remaining items on the To-Do list, like address space, were expected to be addressed shortly. I'm not sure if anyone ever conveyed this architecture to the IETF or all the vendors that were popping up with products to build Internet(s). I think changes like NAT came about to solve pragmatic problems. But that of course broke the "end-to-end" architecture, which would view NAT actions as those of an intruder or equipment failure. So TCP became no longer end-to-end. The Internet is typically viewed as a way to interconnect networks. But I think it's evolved operationally to become the way to interconnect across administrative boundaries, where Autonomous Systems have become associated with different ISPs, other mechanisms are used by vendors to create their own walled gardens of services (e.g., "clouds" or "messaging"), and NAT is used at the edges to connect to users' internets. The end-to-end nature is gone. But that's just based on my observations from the outside. I don't have a clue as to what today's actual Internet Architecture is, other than a collection of RFCs and product manuals that may or may not reflect reality, or if there is anyone actually able to manage the architecture. From my user's perspective, it's a Wild West out there..... And the definition of The Internet is still elusive. I agree that the users' definition is the best working one -- The Internet is the thing I'm connected to to do what I do when I get "on the Net." Noel

6 years, 4 months

1
0
0 0

"First Internet message" and ...

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Brent Hilpert > Roughly, IP took care of a common addressing scheme and a common > packet presentation, TCP took care of end-to-end flow control. Yes on IP, but TCP's main function is reliability - much of the mechanism of TCP (sequence numbers, acknowledgements, timeouts and retransmissions, and checksums) is all there for that. > As so much nowadays is about throwing ethernet frames around on > different types of links and network formats (not what ethernet was > originally designed for), some of the earlier diversity that made > 'interneting' necessary may no longer be there. There is one aspect of internetworking (the original term - I probably should have described PUP/CHAOS/XNS as 'internetworking protocols') which _is_ crucial, though - the multi-layer address space. We'd need that even if _everything_ in the world used Ethernet frame headers. If one tried to do path selection (usually called 'routing', but I don't use that term as it can be confused with packet forwarding) using only 48-bit interface identifiers, it just wouldn't scale to the size network we have now. The ability to aggregate groups of hosts, so that a distant routing table contains only a single entry for all of them, is crucial for scaling purposes. Without that, routing tables would have to have billions (literally; add up the numbers of different kinds of end-user devices - laptops, etc) of entries. (Heck, even XNS had network numbers, precisely for this reason. Although one could build a system which has aggregatable addresses, used for path selection, but hid them from the hosts, and used an 'invisible' mapping system to translate from them to the aggregatable 'true' addresses. The LISP networking system does this, as does the 800 and inter-provider portability capability in the 'phone system - although in both cases the input and output to the mapping system have identical syntax.) Originally, IP had only two layers in the addressing - network # and 'rest', then we added a third layer with 'subnets', and finally went to a potentially multi-layer system with CIDR. (I'm not sure what ISPs are actually doing with them now - I'm now out of touch with that world.) > It might be arguable whether we have an 'internet' any longer or just a > great big 'network' with different types of links. I found Jack Haverty's message to the internet-history list about the changing nature of 'the Internet', but alas the list archives are broken at the moment, so no URL. Noel

6 years, 4 months

1
0
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First Internet message and ...

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

The first Internet message was sent 60 yrs. ago on Nov. 21 between SRI and UCLA. It was one-to-many, or more accurate one-to-one, but the world today is many-to-many though cctalk runs through a moderator. The Internet democratizes and gives a certain freedom to us all but it can lead to mis-information from "one" or mis-interpretation by the "many". Computerization of society as seen through cctalk tells this story well mainly through the hardware side. Happy computing. Murray ?

6 years, 4 months

13
18
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Correction for First Internet Message

by c.murray.mccullough＠gmail.com

I apologize for the wrong date. Should have said Nov. 21, 1969. Makes more sense timewise... Happy computing Murray ?

6 years, 4 months

2
1
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"First Internet message" and ...

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Nigel Johnson > No, your home has an intranet! Can you please provide a crisp, definitive, technical definition of what an 'intranet' is (similar to the one I just provided for 'internet' - "disparate networks tied together with packet switches which examine the internet-layer headers")? If not, it's just marketing-speak, and should go where "Hitchhiker's Guide" said marketing should go. (Having said that, only half-jokingly, I should add that I am fully aware that _really good_ marketing people are worth their own weight in gold-pressed latinum; the prime example being Steve Jobs, who invented several products that people didn't know they needed/wanted until he produced them.) > From: Paul Koning > No, "internet" has (had?) a very different meaning. Loosely, a network > of computers belonging to different organizations, or using different > technologies. That's not the definition used by the originators of the term: see the Cerf/Kahn paper. (I basically regurgitated it, above.) > "Internet" .. the term picked to replace "ARPAnet" when it became > desirable to call that network by a name that doesn't designate it as a > US government research agency creation. I can guarantee you that that is not correct (sorry). In 1982, which is approximately when the term was created, you _had_ to have a USG connection to get connected to the Internet. And the ARPANET was always called the ARPANET until its last remnants were turned off in 1990 (although use of NCP was discarded in January 1983, considerably earlier, so it was only used as a component of the Internet after that). In fact, I recollect the conversion with Vint Cerf (at an INENG/IETF meeting, IIRC) where the term 'Internet' was suggested/adopted; in fact I may have been the person who suggested it, although the memory is now too dim. The adoption was _solely_ to do with the need for a name for the large internet we were all connecting to, and _nothing_ to do with organizational stuff. Noel

6 years, 4 months

6
7
0 0

Disposing: IBM Microchannel cards, for free

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

I'm clearing out some old stuff. These are free (but you pay postage) if anyone wants them. Catch: they are in Sydney Australia. --------------------------- Digital Communications Associates Inc. Circa 1985 IRMAlink IRMA 2 3270 Micro-to-Mainframe communications IRMA 2 supplies the personal computer with direct coaxial connection to an IBM 3174, 3274, 3276 or Integral Terminal Controller with Type A adapters. Includes two completes sets, each: card + documentation + 3 x 3.5" disks with code and drivers. Not in original packing. See http://everist.org/spacejunk/sell/irma.htm --------------------------- DigiBoard MC/8e Intelligent Async serial communications board (8 ports) Circa 1993 One microchannel card plus octopus cable and manuals. Some manuals still in sealed envelopes. In original packing See http://everist.org/spacejunk/sell/mc8e.htm --------------------------- Guy

6 years, 4 months

3
3
0 0

"First Internet message" and ...

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Fred Cisin > Is that message about 1) history of internet? (THANK YOU for specifying > "internet", otherwise "computer to computer" involves much older history. > ... > those messages were sent on PRECURSORS to the internet, NOT on the > internet. Did you mean "internet" or 'Internet'? The poorly educated cretins at the AP nothwithstanding, those are two different words, with _different meanings_. > Definition and history of the WORD "internet" is also critical > ... > do you know of any actual use of the word/name "internet" prior to the > December 1974 RFC about TCP? I believe the word 'internet' was coined for: V. Cerf and R. Kahn, "A Protocol For Packet Network Intercommunication," IEEE Transactions on Communication, vol. C- 2O, No. 5. May 1974, pp. 637-648. There was earlier work in the general area of connecting computer data networks together, performed in the International Packet Network Working Group (INWG), which had an alternative term 'catenet' which had much the same meaning as 'internet'. (Although little-known, the INWG - not to be confused with the later DARPA-centric group of the same acronym - is documented in two papers, a draft one by Ronda Hauben, and a later one by Alex McKenzie.) I don't know if the term 'internet' was used there before its appearance in the Cerf/Kakhn paper. Interestingly, "Internetworking" is mentioned in RFC604, December 1973, so the word was in circulation in the technical community before the Cerf/Kahn paper came out. "Internet" came along later, when we needed a name for the internet centered around the ARPANET. The need was discussed on the then-central email list for the TCP/IP community (which may have been called 'inwg' - my memory is, alas, fading), and we decided on 'Internet'. I'd previously looked for the first use of 'Internet' in that sense in the RFC's, and found it, but I don't remember what it was! Looking again, there's a lot of 'Internet Protocol' and similar things to sort out; I see an 'Internet' in RFC780, May 1981, but it's marginal (it says "ARPA Internet"); the first 'true' use of 'Internet' on its own in the current meaning which I found was in RFC821, August 1982. Noel

6 years, 4 months

8
11
0 0

Straight -8 Front Panel

by rodsmallwood52＠btinternet.com

Hi ? Can anybody tell me the dimensions of a Straight-8 Front Panel. - Just the glass section Thanks Rod --

6 years, 4 months

3
4
0 0

"First Internet message" and ...

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Richard Pope > Isn't the proper term for my network of computers here at home: > internet It depends on what's inside it. An 'internet' is a collection of disparate networks tied together with packet switches which examine the internet-layer headers of the packets passing through them (such boxes are now known as 'routers'). The "internet layer" doesn't appear in the ISO 7-layer model, since the concept didn't appear until after that was done; but you can imagine it as layer '3A', crammed in between 3 ('Network') and 4 ('Transport'). Note that there are a number of networking protocol families that include the internet concept; CHAOS, PUP, XNS and DECnet among them (although there are several versions of DECnet and I no longer remember the details of most of them, so take that one with the proverbial grain, but several had internets). Does does the network in your house use router(s) to tie it together? If so, it's an internet; if not, no. If you have a wireless hub, connected to a CATV modem, you probably have a small piece of 'the Internet' in your house. (See below.) Note that there are still internets (and networks) which are not connected to the Internet - Google for "air gap". > and the term : Internet the proper term for the worldwide collection of > networked computers? Originally 'the Internet' was the large TCP/IP internet centered around the ARPANET, and later the NSFNET. These days, the concept is more diffuse - there was some discussion recently on the internet-history list: http://mailman.postel.org/pipermail/internet-history/ about it, but I'm too lazy to track down the exact messages. Noel

6 years, 4 months

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TurboDOS for S-100, IMS or L/F Technologies

by new_castle_j＠yahoo.com

Yes, I was able to determine that the TurboDOS 1.41c disks which would complete my particular setup do exist and that they are in good hands, however I have not been able to get copies of the disks as of yet. I'm hoping that patience will prevail and perhaps another copy will turn up or the copies that I know about might someday become available. The 16-bit 1.43 version that you need is readily available as 5.25" disk images. I've got copies of them and they work well. If you need it on 8" floppy, I can probably convert them using my IMS system to write them to 8". Getting a system up and running is not that difficult, I can guide you through if there's any trouble. Jonathan __________________________________________________________________________________________________ did anything more ever turn up? I'd like to try getting a 16-bit 1.43 running, there is a set of disks on ebay, but the seller has blocked me https://www.ebay.com/itm/193098921854 On 6/28/19 7:17 PM, Jonathan Haddox via cctalk wrote: > Just sending a thanks for the replies from various folks on this list. I was able to recover a partial set of operating system files for my IMS/LF-Technologies S-100 machine from members who dug deep into their archives. It's booting now to a basic single-user TurboDOS 1.4 which proves that my hardware is sound. In order to get what I really want out of this machine, I still need to source a full set of TurboDOS 1.4 drivers (.REL files) from IMS L/F Tech distribution diskettes. I'll be around if they ever turn up. > > Thank You! > > IMS A645 Z-80 Processor > IMS A631 serial/parallel I/O > IMS A930 Floppy controller > IMS A465 64K RAM > IMS 1100 Winchester Hard disk controller > IMS 862 User Processor (Z80) > IMS 1081 User Processor (186) > IMS 1120 Tape Controller On Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 11:55:29 AM CDT, Jonathan Haddox <new_castle_j at yahoo.com> wrote: > > I'm restoring an IMS - L/F Technologies S-100 Bus computer.? I've got all the pieces except for the Operating System.? I'm hoping that someone here may have a disk stashed away.? From the literature I have read, I would need TurboDOS version 1.40a or 1.41c from IMS or L/F Technologies.? I've seen TurboDOS 1.3 versions out in the wild from IMS, but the 1.4 version was greatly enhanced and offered better compatibility with my specific hardware.? I'd be much obliged if anyone can help. > > Thanks, > > Jonathan > new_castle_j? at yahoo

6 years, 4 months

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DEC KA650 VAX memory troubleshooting (video)

by joezatarski＠gmail.com

Hey Everyone, I just thought I'd share a video of how I'm going about troubleshooting the bad DRAMs on my MS650 memory board. https://youtu.be/eDMhdAEFEgc I apologize for the shaky-cam, I don't have a tripod, and I needed to do a lot of panning anyway. I will be sharing my notes on the MS650 once I have a chance to write them up properly as well. I wasn't able to find a printset for the RAM card itself, so I assume one doesn't exist in digital form yet. I have documented what bit and memory range each DRAM on the card corresponds to, which may help someone troubleshooting in the future Regards, Joe Zatarski

6 years, 4 months

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Who changed the gravitational constant (Dec pdp11 stuff)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Chris Zach > The MSV11-QC board ... failed startup diagnostics with what looks like > a stuck bit. .. now I need engineering schematics for that board so I > can replace one of the 41256 memory chips. On the positive side it looks like > a pretty obvious stuck bit, just need to know which chip is at that > address and memory location.... I suspect you're out of luck on the prints, I think all there is is the User Manual. Not to worry, it should be pretty easy to create a bit->chip table, I did that for the MSV11-J: https://gunkies.org/wiki/MSV11-J_QBUS_memory#Technical_information when I needed to repair one; it should be pretty easy to duplicate the process for the -Q. I did it with a 2-instruction scope loop, doing a word write to a given location, floating a '1' bit along a word of '0's, looking at the 'data in' pin on the DRAM chips. I see the -Q has a 17x8 array of DRAMs, so 16 bits of data and a parity bit (odd chip out); so in some ways even easier than the -J (which had ECC). 8 banks, but with a little luck they're in some sort of logical order. I have a -QA, of the later etch rev, which is the same etch as your -QC; so I can help with the mapping process, if you need it; let me know. Noel

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rob Doyle > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/RH11-C_Engineering_Drawings.pdf Oooh, thanks ever so much. Not sure how I missed that when I looked on BitSavers for RH11 stuff! Very illuminating - eventually! The M7294-YA seems to be a manual ECO to the M7294; there's a detailed rework list on page 6 of the PDF. I'm still trying to work out what the changes do. E66 is a 'component carrier' header, so it seems like in part the ECO adds a bunch of option-controlling jumpers there (see pg. 2 for a table of what they do). The main thing, though, seems to be the addition of E22, a 74191 binary up/down counter, on page DBCA (pg 10 of the PDF). It seems to modify the operation of 'Bus Hog' mode - maybe to do 16-cycle bursts? (All the bit inputs and outputs are unused; only the Max/Min output - pin 12 - is connected to anything.) That would make sense; with UNIBUS A and B tied together, the original Bus Hog (below) would lock out the CPU from the RH11 until the end of the transfer. Actually, though, even without the cross-connect, having the RH11 going flat out Bus Hog might lock out the CPU from the _KS10 memory_... > However there is plenty of DEC documentation that mentions that the > RH11C has a "bus hog" mode for the KS10 disks so that the Unibus can do > back-to-back 18-bit transactions. The RH11-AB has Bus Hog too; see Section 4.12.10, "BUS HOG Mode", pg. 4-22 (59 of the PDF) in "RH11-AB Option Description" for details; it "hold[s] the Unibus ... until the required number of words have been transferred". Noel

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Rob Doyle > Your memory is correct. The RH11C was the buffered version of the RH11 Umm, both the -AB and -B have FIFOs - confirmed from the prints. (I have an M7294 if we want to confirm that the prints aren't confused.) Now, maybe the -C has a _bigger_ FIFO (e.g. large enough to hold a complete sector), I could definitely see that. What's your source - I'd like to study/cite it? The only KS10 prints I can find don't show the RP11-C? Noel

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

>>>> *What it is:* >>>> In case you forgot: UniBone is a plugin board to DEC PDP-11 UNIBUS >>>> systems containing a BeagleBone Black. >>>> >>>> See http://retrocmp.com/projects/unibone. > > Is it possible to get it as a "kit+" where the SMD components only are already soldered onto > the bare board, but all the rest left for those who are ok with a normal soldering iron but > not confident on doing the SMD? Yes, can do that. Joerg

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> Although, with the 3 SPC slots - although they are on UNIBUS A, and only > UNIBUS B has the 18-bit capability Duhhhh. My brain finally turned on. It is of course perfectly possible to run UNIBUS _A_ (where the SPC slots are) in 18-bit mode too - although the _RH11_ can't use it that way. But you won't be using the RH11 anyway, so who cares? Also, I took another look at the KS10 tech manual, and they do in fact use use an M9200 'thin' jumper (although it's mis-labelled "M9300" in the diagram - that diagram has a number of errors, including the "M8014" in the UNIBUS 'A' In slot - they must mean an M9014 [UNIBUS to 3 flat cables] instead) to link the two UNIBI together. Which answers the question of how the KS10 CPU gained access to UNIBUS A (where the device registers, interrupts, etc are) when it also had to be connected to UNIBUS B (for 18-bit data transfers). So I think all our questions are answerered (except for the -AB/-C difference issue). Noel

6 years, 4 months

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TurboDOS for S-100, IMS or L/F Technologies

by new_castle_j＠yahoo.com

I'm restoring an IMS - L/F Technologies S-100 Bus computer.? I've got all the pieces except for the Operating System.? I'm hoping that someone here may have a disk stashed away.? From the literature I have read, I would need TurboDOS version 1.40a or 1.41c from IMS or L/F Technologies.? I've seen TurboDOS 1.3 versions out in the wild from IMS, but the 1.4 version was greatly enhanced and offered better compatibility with my specific hardware.? I'd be much obliged if anyone can help. Thanks, Jonathan new_castle_j at yahoo

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> the Revision J prints (September 1993). Ooops, typo: '1973'. Noel

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Eric Smith > One version of the RH11 added a small FIFO (called a "silo" by DEC, > IIRC) in the data path. I don't recall which suffix that was, nor > whether it was the version used in the KS10. Well, the -AB has the FIFO, according to the Revision J prints (September 1993). It's on the M7294 card (see drawings DBCC/D). Interestingly, I have prints for an RH11-B! That appears to differ by having an M7295-YA; that differs from the M7295 by having a hand ECO (i.e. same etch), part of which can been seen in the lower left corner of drawing BCTB - the two one-shots. As to the RH11-C, I looked, and we do have the KS10 prints (MP00540, mis-labelled "KS10_MaintSch" :-), and it does include RH11 prints. Alas, those show an M7294, not the claimed M9294-YA. :-( The RH11 sheets are also out of order (some are at the very back of the pack), and DBCD seems to be missing entirely. They are revision "L", and the RH11-BA prints are revision "H", FWLTW. Noel

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: J?rg Hoppe > UniBone can be used in UNIBUS-A SPC slots in 18 bit mode without any > extra adapters? And can emulate an RH11-C there As far as I can see, yes. > even if the RH11 is supposed to run in UNIBUS B? Well, all RH11's have both UNIBUS A and UNIBUS B; under program control, one can select either A or B to be the one where the DMA from the RH11 happens. (Access to the registers in the RH11 is only possible via UNIBUS A, and interrupts from it can only happen on A.) I'm not sure exactly what your question is, but I hope that answers it! :-) > We've seen early SPC slots (PDP-11/40, '45) without NPG wired, > 'cause SPC was apparently originally meant for "Small" peripherals > without DMA. Is KS10 UNIBUS-A wired to be DMA capable? Good question! Well, the RH11 is designed so that it can other devices 'downstream' from it, on both UNIBI. So that says that NPG is sent _through_ the RH11 on both UNIBI - but doesn't speak to the SPC slots. For that, one needs to look at the backplane wire list - which isn't in the drawings! :-( However, I happen to have an RH11-AB backplane, and it has the AA1-AB2 jumpers for NPG on those three slots. Same thing for interrupts - both UNIBI are wired to for them (although the grant lines for UNIBUS B don't go into the RH11 cards, they are only on the RH11 backplane). Noel

6 years, 4 months

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Who changed the gravitational constant (Dec pdp11 stuff)

by cz＠alembic.crystel.com

I do not remember these RL02 drives being this heavy..... https://i.imgur.com/7BwIwas.jpg On a slightly more interesting note it looks like I only have RL02 drives (3) and do not have any RL01 drives. That could be a problem if I want to re-load Cobol 81 onto this RSTS/E system. However the RL02's *should* allow me to reboot RSX11M 4.2 and repair the instance of RSX11M 4.0 that is on my Fujitsu drive (damaged). Likewise my RT11 images might be on RL01. However I do have the Plessey disk drive that emulated 4 RK05's on a fixed platter and a removable platter disk subsystem (which uses disks that look like RL01's but are *NOT* RL01's) and I *think* I had either RT11 with MUBASIC or a really weird Gen of RSX11M and RT11. Though I'm not sure if RSX11M would run on RK05's as boot devices (2.5mb of space) The dig continues. This weekend I'll see if I can fire a RL02 up.

6 years, 4 months

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ISO: I/O panel for Wangco ST-2222 (or similar) drive

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Picked up a mostly complete Wangco ST-2222 drive recently. This is a removable pack drive with one fixed platter, nominally Diablo 30 / RK05 compatible in terms of interface, but uses IBM 5540-style packs. It's in good condition and I'd like to restore it and see if I can interface it to an RK11. The part I'm missing is the I/O panel -- on this particular model there was a breakout board that bolted to the rear of the rack the drive was mounted in (rather than being mounted to the back of the drive), and it contained some buffers, level shifters, drive select logic, and the actual interface connectors. There were two variants of this -- 301062 was the Diablo 30/31 style (with the big Winchester blocks) and 301291 had a more generic interface with what looks like centronics-style connectors. (You can see assembly drawings of them in the schematic here: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/wangco/301462-002_Super_Series_Magnetic_Disk_Opera…, pages 55 and 69). I figure it's a long shot, but does anyone have one of these two boards going spare, or have a similar drive (others in the ST family share the same panel, it seems) that is in unrestorable/parts-donor condition they could steal one from? Thanks, Josh

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

>2. When doing 18bit on UNIBUS-A we put all kind of signal levels >on parity lines PA,PB = DATA<16:17>. >Won't the KS10 CPU interpret these as real BUS parity errors generated >by some UNIBUS-A device? I asked nonsense here: if UNIBUS-A is 18bit too, no parity will be evaluted of course. Joerg

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 22:13:30 -0500 > From: Chris Zach <cz at alembic.crystel.com> > Subject: Re: UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1 > > One of my long term questions has been to see if a 2020 could talk to a > RM80. It should be possible as the Massbus personality module talks to > the bus at 3600 RPM just like the RM03, and they did manage to get the > R80 to talk to the 11/730 with a dedicated memory channel connection > (though maybe the R80 was heavily interleaved) > > C > ITS could boot from an RM80 on a 2020. -- Michael Thompson

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> maybe the two can be jumpered together (the way the two UNIBI in the > KD11-A/D can). Actually, now that I think about it, that might be the reason for the order of the UNIBUS A out B in/out slots in the backplane: https://gunkies.org/wiki/RH11_MASSBUS_controller#Backplane_layout One of those thin M9200 UNIBUS jumpers could be used to connect the A out to the B in. > Depends what you mean by "full-length"; no MUD (hex) slots, but yes to > SPC slots (SPC) Oooh, typo: 'SPC slots (quad)' Noel `

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

* *Messages sorted by:* [ date ] <http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2019-November/date.html#41793> [ thread ] <http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2019-November/thread.html#41793> [ subject ] <http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2019-November/subject.html#41793> [ author ] <http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2019-November/author.html#41793> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Although, with the 3 SPC slots - although they are on UNIBUS A, and only >> UNIBUS B has the 18-bit capability > > It is of course perfectly possible to run UNIBUS _A_ (where the SPC slots are) > in 18-bit mode too - although the _RH11_ can't use it that way. But you won't > be using the RH11 anyway, so who cares? > >Also, I took another look at the KS10 tech manual, and they do in fact use use >an M9200 'thin' jumper (although it's mis-labelled "M9300" in the diagram - >that diagram has a number of errors, including the "M8014" in the UNIBUS 'A' >In slot - they must mean an M9014 [UNIBUS to 3 flat cables] instead) to link >the two UNIBI together. Which answers the question of how the KS10 CPU gained >access to UNIBUS A (where the device registers, interrupts, etc are) when it >also had to be connected to UNIBUS B (for 18-bit data transfers). > >So I think all our questions are answerered (except for the -AB/-C difference >issue). So I understand right: UniBone can be used in UNIBUS-A SPC slots in 18 bit mode without any extra adapters? And can emulate an RH11-C there, even if the RH11 is supposed to run in UNIBUS B? Thats good news. Two more things to check: 1. We've seen early SPC slots (PDP-11/40, '45) without NPG wired, 'cause SPC was apparently originally meant for "Small" peripherals without DMA. Is KS10 UNIBUS-A wired to be DMA capable? 2. When doing 18bit on UNIBUS-A we put all kind of signal levels on parity lines PA,PB = DATA<16:17>. Won't the KS10 CPU interpret these as real BUS parity errors generated by some UNIBUS-A device? best regards Joerg

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: J?rg Hoppe > did DEC construct 18bit mutants for a few PDP-11 peripherals to run > them in KS10? Yes and no. There were two 18-bit UNIBUS devices, but they were originally done for the PDP-15 (DEC's last 18-bit machine). They were the RK11-E and the RH11-AB. When the KS10 appeared, the RH11 was re-purposed for it. (How the RH11-C in the KS20 differed I'm not sure. I know it used the M7294-YA instead of the M7294, but I'm not sure how that differed. It's the MASSBUS data buffer and control, so it's something MASSBUS related. The RH11-AB already has the 18-bit stuff; see 4.16 "Logic Diagram DBCE", pg. 4-28 (65 of the PDF) in "RH11-AB Option Description" for details; it's poorly documented.) > From: Daniel Seagraves > There's still the problem of the disk Unibus itself to solve - the disk > UBA doesn't terminate into a normal Unibus. It goes into the disk RH11 > directly, and the bus is terminated on the far end of the RH11. ... The > ideal scenario would be if the first slot of a RH11 (where the bus > jumper comes in) can accommodate the (quad card) Unibone without > issues, the rest of the RH11 boards can simply be pulled without > breaking bus continuity The RH11-C seems like it's very similar to the RH11-AB, physically. Both the 'disk' and 'tape' RH11-C's seem like they are separate 9-slot system units, with the same layout (in terms of boards->slots). Both have 3 Small Peripheral Controller slots, like the -AB. The first slot is purpose-wired to hold the M7296 and M7297: https://gunkies.org/wiki/RH11_MASSBUS_controller#Backplane_layout so 'no' to that idea. Although, with the 3 SPC slots - although they are on UNIBUS A, and only UNIBUS B has the 18-bit capability - although maybe the two can be jumpered together (the way the two UNIBI in the KD11-A/D can). (IIRC, the "RH11 Peripheral Controller Course" may talk about that.) I don't think things will work with the RH11 boards pulled, unless you manually jumper whatever pins are used to feed NPG and BG? through the device. Probably the easiest thing is to change the bus address of the RH11. > From: Chris Zach > I seem to recall that the RH11C included a full length unibus slot > after the boards Depends what you mean by "full-length"; no MUD (hex) slots, but yes to SPC slots (SPC) - as above. Noel

6 years, 4 months

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UniBone: Linux-to-DEC-UNIBUS-bridge, year #1

by j_hoppe＠t-online.de

>> Well, I was expecting to have to do all of the work myself. There?s still the problem of the disk Unibus itself to solve > -the disk UBA doesn?t terminate into a normal Unibus. > It goes into the disk RH11 directly, and the bus is terminated on the far end of the RH11. I?d either have to buy another Unibus backplane to plug the Unibone into, or find a way to plug the cables from the UBA directly into the Unibone. >This still leaves the issue of terminating the bus. > The ideal scenario would be if the first slot of a RH11 (where the bus jumper comes in) can accommodate the (quad card) > Unibone without issues, the rest of the RH11 boards can simply be pulled without breaking bus continuity, > and the normal terminator in the far slot can be used. I haven?t looked at any prints or anything yet. I gave UniBone a set of pinheaders for all UNIBUS signals in parallel to the gold fingers. So an adapter board can be designed, which plugs onto the pinheaders, contains some provision for the UBA connection and contains the terminator array. The UBA-UniBone adapter may consist of two parts coupled via flat cable, with flipchip plugs on one end if necessary. All this is only mildly annoying, did similar before, for example http://www.retrocmp.com/tools/uniprobe > Right, there were two unibus ports on a 2020: The first one went to the > RH11-C and was very odd in that "Hog Mode DMA" was enabled to allow the > device to just stream data as much as it wanted to the controller. This > would mean that other devices on the bus would time out and not have > their interrupts serviced, but since the RH11 was the only thing it > didn't matter (and I think this is why you could use RM03's instead of > RM02's: The whole track could be read and buffered to the 2020's UBA > controller in one shot. > That would have to be programmed into the BBB software to ignore the 16 word > DMA limits and go as fast as the drive can go). As the disk drives are also emulated, they are not putting any constraints on the DMA logic: give them the speed and DMA length you prefer. Joerg

6 years, 4 months

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Got it: RD54 formatting write protect solved

by cz＠alembic.crystel.com

Figured it out at last. On a BA23, the RD54 needs to be jumpered at the disk as UNIT 3, and I had it as unit 4. Thus the jumper needed to be between 3 and C, I had it one stake over between 4 and C. Fixed that, did the format where you do not select Autoformat, and downline load UIT and you get the disk going tick, tick, tick as the sectors are formatted. Here is Terry Kennedy's instructions updated to a BA23 instead of a BA123: DR> STA CHANGE HW (L) ? Y # UNITS (D) ? 1 UNIT 0 Enter controller IP address (O) 172150 ? What unit do you want to format [0-255] (D) 0 ? 0 Would you like to revector a single LBN only [Y/N] (L) N ? Do you want to use the "AUTOFORMAT" Mode [Y/N] (L) Y ? N Would you like to use the RCT - Revector known bad blocks [Y/N] (L) N ? **** WARNING **** [text about don't proceed if you're just kidding deleted] Do you wish to continue [Y/N] (L) Y ? MSCP Controller Model: 19 Microcode Version: 4 Do you want to use manufacturing bad block information [Y/N] (A) N ? Downline load UIT [Y/N] (A) Y ? UIT Drive Name ------------------------------------------------------- 0 RD51 1 RD52 part # 30-21721-02 (1 light on front panel) 2 RD52 part # 30-23227-02 (2 lights on front panel) 3 RD53 4 RD31 5 RD54 6 RD32 Enter Unit Identifier Table (UIT) [0-7] (D) ? 5 Continue if bad block information is inaccessible [Y/N] (A) N ? Y Please type in the serial number [8-10 digits] (A) ? 013284212 (use whatever you want) Formatting of Drive 1 Begin. [a long sequences of messages is displayed here, 1 per minute, showing the progress of formatting and what step is in progress on which block number.] Format Completed. And Bob's your uncle!

6 years, 4 months

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Meantime, fixing RX50's.

by cz＠alembic.crystel.com

So while trying to figure out this XXDP format error (the FCT Write protect enabled one that's stopping me from formatting an RD54) I spent a bit of time copying the floppy to a backup disk. My RX50 was *very* flakey, throwing errors so I pulled it to see what was up. Opened the unit and sure enough: The disk head could use a cleaning, and more important the little pad on the other side came off when I touched it. Apparently the glue holding it in has decayed in the past 30 years. Drat. Used isopropyl and q tips to clean the heads, then broke a Q tip in half and put a bit of cyanacryllic glue on the tip, then transferred it to the pad holder, then put the pad back on. Pressed down and breathed on it to give the glue some moisture and waited an hour. Did same to other head. RX50 now works perfectly, and I was able to make and boot a backup. So if your RX50 is flakey check to see if the pads are still on the head assembly, it's possible it is loose or fell off (if fell off look around in the RX50 for it, probably in there somewhere) Never dull. Now to figure out this write protection issue: I have set the drive to unit 4 (well 3 in the 0-3 world), set the RQDX3 to pins 1 and 2 on the write precomp jumper, and it still comes up but thinks the drive is write protected. Drat.

6 years, 4 months

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