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

by evan＠snarc.net

Yesterday, here in New Jersey, a Burroughs B-205 tube computer was destroyed when the barn containing it burned down. It belonged to 85-year-old Claude Kagan who is a legend out here. Among other things, he formed the student computer club called the "RESISTORS" in the 1960s, and he wrote the SAM-76 programming language. The good news is that Claude was not harmed, and his main house is okay. But it's a good reminder, if anybody needs one, to save vintage computers while we can -- and to ensure the integrity of our storage areas.

16 years, 7 months

1
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Reanimating a PDP-11/23

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On Fri, December 4, 2009 5:52 pm, Pontus wrote: >> Then, assuming the cable really is correct (have you tried swapping Tx >> and Rx?), is plugged in to the correct > This was the somewhat obvious error I missed when checking the cable. I > discovered it by trying another cable which isn't keyed. So I > accidentally put it in upside down, which incidentally flips Tx and Rx. > Thanks for putting up with me :) > > So now I get this: > > 28 > START? > > Which confuses me, I have a 32kB (or is it kW ?) worth of memory > installed (M8044-DD) configured to start at address 0. Shouldn't it say > 32 instead of 28? How does the memory detection work anyway? 4K for the I/O page.. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Port Charlotte, FL

16 years, 7 months

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Iomega

by jgessling＠yahoo.com

Despite their crappy products, IOmega did leave behind one good legacy. Cheap 5/12v DC regulated wall warts. Perfect for the VFD clocks that I'm working on. 5v for the logic and 12v for the display. And thanks to the throwaway nature of their products these can be found pretty cheap at local flea markets. Regards, Jim

16 years, 7 months

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MC68010 early unix computer for sale on ebay

by vax9000＠gmail.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280433391656 I am selling it, and classiccmp members enjoy a discount if you win the auction.

16 years, 7 months

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Amiga Sidecar (was Re: Computer auction in Vancouver BC)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 12/1/09, Brian Lanning <brianlanning at gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Alexandre Souza - Listas < > pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com> wrote: > >> http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=327 >> >> Wow, a complete PC-XT that uses the keyboard and video monitor of the >> Amiga! :oD > > More cool pictures: > > http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2440 > http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2333 > http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2201 > http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2227 > http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2290 > http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2202 Very nice. I have a couple of 8-bit and 16-bit Bridgecards, but never ran across a Sidecar (and couldn't afford one when they were new, but didn't really need one then, anyway). I heard that by the A2000-A2286 era, one of the reasons Commodore kept making Bridgecards was for those customers whose employers had a strict "must run MS-DOS" rule for IT Purchasing. I do remember seeing forms in the mid-1980s with a checkbox that indicated if the machine being ordered was "IBM Compatible" - with the implication that you had better be prepared to explain yourself (or be rejected) if you didn't check the box. -ethan

16 years, 7 months

12
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HP Integral PC Manuals?

by derschjo＠msu.edu

Hey all -- Picked up an HP Integral PC. Probably paid too much for it but something about a luggable HP machine with a plasma display running HP-UX from ROM seemed irresistible. But I digress. Has anyone archived the manuals for this thing? I've been unable to find anything in my searches on the internet. Found some software archives (and after lubricating the floppy mechanism I've been able to make use of it...) but not much documentation. Docs for the HP BASIC for this machine would be nice, too. I've only played with it for a little while, but it seems like a really neat machine. (Though it seems like this thing is just begging for some sort of mass-storage other than the internal floppy and RAM. Anyone have an HPIB hard disk for sale? :) Thanks, Josh

16 years, 7 months

7
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Looking for mirror site

by fjkraan＠xs4all.nl

Hi, Since some time the only mirror of my site is gone, so all scanned material and some additional info are only present (as a set) via my local site. This site resides on cheap consumer grade quality hardware, so is not very reliable. So if anyone want to mirror it, I would be grateful. The site contains information on a limited set of computers, like DAI, Epson, some obscure DEC, etc. The url is http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/. A list of the scanned documentation is at http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/virtlibrary.html. Please contact me before starting copying; - the site is at the wrong side of an ADSL line, and contains mirrors of other sites (in http://electrickery.xs4all.nl/comp/mirrors). Also it _contains_copyrighted_material_ (but of vintage or cctech interest). Fred Jan

16 years, 7 months

1
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Different take on 10 Yr. 'RULE'

by dm561＠torfree.net

Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:49:20 -0500 From: Murray McCullough <c.murray.mccullough at gmail.com> Subject: Different take on 10 Yr. 'RULE' A different interpretation on the 10 Yr. 'Rule'. Many experts, CPU mag being one, say that we shouldn't store info on CDs, DVDs, etc. as they may be unreadable in less than 10 yrs. Wouldn't it be sad if we lost valuable information on the classic computing era? I guess old-fashioned paper is the best way after all! Let's hope these technologies last longer than my Zip-drive and disks that can't be read because the drive died and I can't get it fixed or at the very least at a decent price. So Sad! Murray-- --------------Reply: Only sad if you want it to be... No problem finding a working ZIP drive for free or next to nothing these days; all kinds of them on eBay at .99 with no bids, or just ask on the various forums and I'm sure someone'll be happy to get rid of one. Never had any problems with my drives or disks, FWIW. m

16 years, 7 months

4
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Ancient 3com switch

by mark.kahrs＠gmail.com

I don't know if the 10 year rule applies here, but I have a old 3com switch (3c3500) that I'd like to use. Problem is that the previous administrator was competent and changed all the passwords. So, how should I reset this unit? Mind you, there is a socketed flash SIMM ... Any ideas? There's also a bad SRAM chip, but that's another kettle of fish.

16 years, 7 months

3
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Leaky caps [Was: Re: vintage components]

by trag＠io.com

> > Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 13:23:18 -0600 > From: Brian Lanning <brianlanning at gmail.com> > Batteries I can handle. But leaky surface mount caps scare me to death. > I can solder, but not on the new surface-mount stuff. My eyes aren't what > they used to be. Maybe I should practice some and invest in a reflow > setup. But I don't have enough time either. The surface mount electrolytics aren't bad at all. You should be able to manage with reading glasses. To remove the old ones, just get two soldering pencils. Heat controlled is nice, but you can use a pair of Radio Shack 15watt grounded pencils (>$10 ea. last time I checked). Apply one pencil to each side of the capacitor until it lifts easily off of the board. Do not pry. Remove the old solder with a bit of desoldering braid. Clean the pads with your favorite solvent(s). Lightly tin one pad. Position the new capacitor on the pads and hold in place by pressing down with a flat blade screwdriver or similar (pencil eraser at end of pencil might work well). Heat the tinned side until the capacitor sinks flat on the pad. Remove heat, then remove screwdriver. Solder the other terminal normally. In the old Macintosh world we've been replacing the SM electrolytics with SM tantalums in hopes that they will last longer. Anyway, this may not be best practice, but it gets the job done for about $20 in equipment (two soldering pencils) and less than $10 in supplies (solder, flux, braid). Jeff Walther

16 years, 7 months

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vintage components

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

This discussion about old LEDs makes me wonder...Is anyone aware of a mailing list for discussion of vintage electronic components? It's not terribly off-topic here of course, but many people here may not care. And on that note...does anyone know if any manufacturer made 74LS244 (actually any logic family, doesn't have to be LS) in a gold- capped ceramic through-hole DIP package? And if so, would anyone happen to have any? -Dave -- Dave McGuire Port Charlotte, FL

16 years, 7 months

6
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Wanted - copy of HP E2450-17504 Symbol Utility (for HP 16500B)

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi, As some of you may be aware, I managed to hose the OS on my 16500B while trying to upgrade to the latest software. I've now got the analyser booting again, and it seems to be working more or less OK. Unfortunately (for me) it seems my backup (done with Filezilla, i.e. FTP) is totally duff -- apparently I had FZ set to "transfer files with no extension as ASCII", which has naturally hosed just about all the System, Driver and Extension files. Which means I've lost the E2450 Symbol Utility software. Bit of a pain when you want to use the analyser to debug microprocessor code. Seeing as there are a few folk here with 16500B analysers, I was wondering if I could ask a small favour... I need a copy of the Symbol Utility install floppy, HP part number E2450-17504, aka "Symbol Utility for HP16500B/C/CS". It should be either a normal 1.44MB DOS format floppy, or a HP LIF floppy (more likely DOS than LIF). If there's anyone on here with a copy of this disk (possibly stashed away in the manuals folder for their 16500B analyser), could I possibly ask for an image of it? Almost anything is fine; I'd prefer something reasonably standard though -- WinImage .IMA, ImageDisk, or even a raw "dd if=/dev/fd0 of=imagefile" (rawrite) dump. For what it's worth, I had V3.02 installed, but I suspect I might need something a little more recent now the analyser is running the V3.14 operating system. Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

16 years, 7 months

5
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Wanted - copy of HP E2450-17504 Symbol Utility (for HP 16500B)

by philpem＠philpem.me.uk

Hi, As a few of you may be aware, I managed to hose the OS on my 16500B while trying to upgrade to the latest software. I've now got the analyser booting again, and it's picking up the I/O cards correctly. Unfortunately (for me) it seems my backup (done with Filezilla, i.e. FTP) is totally duff -- apparently I had FZ set to "transfer files with no extension as ASCII", which has hosed all the System, Driver and Extension files. Which means I've lost the E2450 Symbol Utility software. Seeing as there are a few folk here with 16500B analysers, I was wondering if I could ask a small favour... I need a copy of the Symbol Utility install floppy, HP part number E2450-17504, aka "Symbol Utility for HP16500B/C/CS". It should be either a normal 1.44MB DOS format floppy, or a HP LIF floppy (more likely DOS than LIF). If there's anyone on here with a copy of this disk (possibly stashed away in the manuals folder for their 16500B analyser), could I possibly ask for an image of it? Almost anything is fine; I'd prefer something reasonably standard though -- WinImage .IMA, ImageDisk, or even a raw "dd if=/dev/fd0 of=imagefile" (rawrite) dump. For what it's worth, I had V3.02 installed, but any version is fine by me. Thanks, -- Phil. philpem at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

16 years, 7 months

1
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Wanted - HP16530A docs, HP-HIL keyboard/mouse/PS2 adapter

by classiccmp＠philpem.me.uk

Hi guys, I've just got my hands on a HP 16500B logic analyser mainframe, complete with a few acquisition cards (16530A 2-channel 400Msps oscilloscope and 16550A 100MHz State/500MHz Timing logic analyser). Now I'd rather like a keyboard and mouse for it... I'm aware that the HP-HIL keyboard and mouse used on the 16500B were HP-proprietary, and that they were also used on a couple of HP workstations. My question is, does anyone here have a HP-HIL keyboard, mouse, or (preferably) a mouse and keyboard pair for sale? (I'd also settle for a PS/2-to-HP-HIL adapter, if such a beast exists) I've had a quick look on Greed-bay, and it seems the only listings for HP-HIL kit are from test-and-measurement dealers whose prices are a bit... well... "out there". I could also do with the manuals for the 16530A oscilloscope card; at the least I need the Front Panel Operations Reference, but the Service Manual would be good too. I can't say I'm too fussed about the Programmer's Manual (it's on Agilent's website as a PDF), but it would be nice to have a complete set. I'll take PDF, (good quality) photocopy, or dead-tree, whatever's easiest. Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/

16 years, 7 months

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Computer auction in Vancouver BC

by ball.of.john＠gmail.com

If you live in Vancouver you MUST check this out: http://freegeekvancouver.org/en/computer_museum_auction Almost 120 machines are for sale, including: * Boxed IBM 5150 Personal Computer - The original PC from 1982, from which all modern PCs are still derived. Comes in box with accessories and manuals. * NeXT cube and NeXT Stations - The computers on which the World Wide Web was created. * Boxed Amiga 1000 - The first of a revolutionary line of computers. Comes in box with accessories and hardware upgrades. * Atari 1040STE - One of Atari's best and well know in the world of music. * Apple Macintosh 128k - The original Mac from 1984. * In addition to systems, there are other goodies like Model M keyboards for sale I have seen the stuff with my own eyes and this is not something to miss. There are some real gems going up for grabs. Sadly, no PDP stuff. :( John

16 years, 7 months

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Computer auction in Vancouver BC

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

John wrote: > Sadly, no PDP stuff. :( The SERF sales at UBC were really a goldmine of good minicomputer stuff in my past. And they had a lot of lab equipment too. I'm 3000 miles away now, and see that SERF still exists, but their online presence shows none of their inventory :-(. Tim.

16 years, 7 months

2
1
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Wanted: QBUS Backplane

by sb＠thebackend.de

Hi, in order to rebuild my LSI-11 System (salvaged from some kind of machine control system in the scrapyard) I'm looking for a small QBUS backplane (including the card cage). Something like 2x4 or 2x8 would be perfect (H9281). Anyone willing to part with one of these? I'd love to get this thing going again, but the original enclosure was just too big and heavy -- so I need a smaller replacement in order to make it compatible with both my girlfriend and my tiny flat ;-) - Sebastian PS: I'm in Germany but I will of course pay for shipping over the great lake if necessary!

16 years, 7 months

2
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Zip drive power supplies (was Re: Different take on 10 Yr. 'RULE')

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 12/1/09, Alexandre Souza - Listas <pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com> wrote: >> I've got a ZipPlus and the parallel cable somewhere; it more or less >> works, but needs a new power supply. Can't be bothered spending money on >> something I'm not going to use... > > This is a common 5VCC supply, you can supply it with your PC's power > supply. I do the opposite - there are many, many Zip power supplies in the thrift stores here, marked at about $1-$2 each. They are +5VDC @ 1A with a standard 2.1mm coax plug, and the newer ones are wee switchers that accept 240-100VAC - I use them to power projects and kits and such, and use them in the US, plus NZ and Europe when I travel. Somewhere in a box, I have a Zip backpack battery - it was meant to plug into the wall to charge, then clip to the Zip drive to power it with your laptop. I used mine to make my SBC6120 into a portable 12-bit computer. To me, the power supplies are much more useful than the drives. -ethan

16 years, 7 months

1
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old RTP chassis

by vonholtspam＠yahoo.com

I saw an old post of yours from 2005. Do you still have the RTP chassis? http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2005-January/037895.html Thanks, Alexander

16 years, 7 months

1
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AFIPS Proceedings, 1979 - CLAIMED

by jack.rubin＠ameritech.net

This book has been claimed - thank you. ******************************************** Available for the cost of mailing - AFIPS Conference Proceedings, 1979 National Computer Conference. I'll send it media mail but it's a big book - weighs about 6 pounds. Jack

16 years, 7 months

1
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Is Fido extinct?

by rodsmallwood＠btconnect.com

Calling all hoarders! I have been trying to get my old Fido BBS (circa 1983) running again on my DEC Rainbow. The original Tom Jennings code got trashed in a system crash may years ago. There's bits of it on his BBS but I would need to be a much better C programmer to have a hope of fixing it. There are copies on the old Decus site but the un-squeezer's (NUSQ & NUSQ110) just report errors. I know about FOSSIL but its FIDO_DEC.exe I'm really after. Does anybody have or know where FIDO_DEC.exe might be found. Rod Smallwood

16 years, 7 months

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AFIPS Proceedings, 1979

by jack.rubin＠ameritech.net

Available for the cost of mailing - AFIPS Conference Proceedings, 1979 National Computer Conference. I'll send it media mail but it's a big book - weighs about 6 pounds. Jack

16 years, 7 months

4
4
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Nand gate computer

by roger.holmes＠microspot.co.uk

On 29 Nov 2009, at 18:00, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:46:05 -0800 > From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com> > Subject: RE: Nand gate computer. > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: <4B11A82D.20057.304D556 at cclist.sydex.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > > On 28 Nov 2009 at 22:09, dwight elvey wrote: > >> I still like the 38s the best. Open collector >> parts can do so much more than just a logic function. > > The '12 is an OC 3-input NAND. I like 3-input gates better because > they lower the part count in circuits like J-K flip flops. If you > admit diodes to the mix, there's no reason that 38s or even 06s > wouldn't work just as well. > > RTL and DTL were great when it came to wired-ORing. Wire-OR is fine until you need to find out which signal is driving the input low, or should I say to logic '1' (my machine uses -6.3v = logic 1, 0v = logic 0). You need to isolate all the outputs to check them, not TOO hard on a wire wrapped machine but must be a swine if you've soldered everything together. Of course there still the other problem, if you need two or more wire-ORs from the same output, you need to buffer the outputs separately or generate the signal two or more times.

16 years, 7 months

4
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old simtel contents

by dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu

Does anyone still mirror the old Simtel archives anymore? I'm in need of msdos/arcers/extar10.zip among other things. -- David Griffith dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

16 years, 7 months

11
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BK Back to Life! -- BK0010 / BK0011 emulator

by stephane.tsacas＠gmail.com

From: http://code.google.com/p/bkbtl/ *BKBTL* -- *BK Back to Life!* -- is BK0010/BK0011<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronika_BK> emulator for Windows 2000/XP/Vista. BK is soviet home computer based on PDP-11 compatible processor K1801VM1. The project started on Nov. 14, 2009 and based on UKNCBTL <http://code.google.com/p/ukncbtl/> code. The emulator works under Windows 2000/2003/2008/XP/Vista. Written for Win32 and requires Unicode support. Current status: Beta, under development. Emulated: - CPU (still closer to 1801VM2) - Motherboard (partially) - Screen -- black and white mode, color mode, short mode (except the color mode palettes) - Keyboard (but mapped not all BK keys) - Reading from tape (WAV file) -- Stephane http://updatedoften.blogspot.com/

16 years, 7 months

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PDP-11 items for sale

by wacarder＠earthlink.net

Folks, I'm trying to free up some floor space in my shop and am clearing out a number of interesting mostly 1970s Unibus PDP-11 items. They are on ebay under user wacarder. Among these are a TU56 with a TC11 controller, an 11/35, an 11/34a, an RK05f, an RK05, ASR-33 teletypes, and more. If you are in the market for any Unibus PDP-11 items, let me know. I have MANY MANY items and I need to free up space. Thanks, Ashley, Leesville, SC

16 years, 7 months

1
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Apple II Europlus keyboard

by laurens＠daemon.be

Hello everyone, After a long time, I've booted my Apple II again. However, it seems that some keys on the keyboard are not always working. I can get some to work by pressing quickly & hard a couple of times. Before I'm going to pry open the keyboard, is it "normal" that these keys don't seem to make contact? Also, I forgot the name of the recently discovered old case cleaner material, does anyone know this? Thanks in advance!

16 years, 7 months

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Cleaning packs

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

> On the other hand, it isn't impossible to find used red packs. > CLEAN packs may be more difficult, though. One thing that I fear is that the knowledge to *properly* clean a pack is going away. There is (was?) a place near Boston that would do it, and I am sure Farris can as well, but I know of no others. It would be nice to document how packs are cleaned, so we can do this in the future. Speaking of Farris - is someone keeping an eye on them? Some day they are going to call it quits, and they have quite the pile to be saved. -- Will

16 years, 7 months

11
28
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Straight-8 cabinet

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

Well, now that it looks like the Dallas mystery cabinet is ID'd as possibly for a PDP-7, this started me thinking. Kicking around here is what I think it one of the extruded aluminum handles for a Straight-8 - one of the long ones that goes up the front door. It is (I think) the right shape, right length, and has decals MA thru MF inside. Does anyone need this for a restoration? Give me a sob story and shipping money and you can have it. -- Will

16 years, 7 months

1
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DEC CR10 card reader info?

by hachti＠hachti.de

Hi, does anyone have information (docs) on the DEC CR10 card reader? It has a Soroban "Desk Top Card Reader", type "ERD" inside. I could rescue that machine. But it's not that small. So I would like to know if anybody thinks I could use this with another computer than a PDP10 (without using too much modern interfacing). If anybody else is interested in the machine, let me know. It's located in northern Germany. Best wishes, Philipp -- http://www.hachti.de

16 years, 7 months

1
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Straight-8 Rack available

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 11/28/09, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > At 4:46 PM +0100 11/28/09, Pontus wrote: >>Not mine, not affiliated, but I think a serious collector should pick >>this up! >> >>http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/ele/1484014610.html > > I agree, racks like that are surely rare enough to warrant a rescue! > If I were local, I'd go for it! And for something 40+ years old, my definition of local is somewhat expanded... unfortunately, Texas is still a bit far from Ohio. If that were in Indiana or even Missouri, I'd definitely try to pick it up. Looking at the rack, since a Straight-8 has huge backplanes that fill the top of the rack, there are no upper doors - I'm wondering if that's an -8/S cabinet. -ethan

16 years, 7 months

5
7
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Straight-8 Rack available

by pontus＠update.uu.se

Hi. Not mine, not affiliated, but I think a serious collector should pick this up! http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/ele/1484014610.html Cheers, Pontus.

16 years, 7 months

5
6
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FS: NeXT Cube

by bdwheele＠indiana.edu

I'm selling a NeXT Cube I got in a palette of stuff. I've already got a turbo color slab so I really don't need a cube :) I'm located in Bloomington, IN and I'm not going to ship this! NeXT Cube N1000A P/N: 2115 S/N: ABA0003988 * 68040 @ 25MHz * 64M RAM * Floppy * Broken 5.25 FH HD. Spins up then down. I'll supply a 2G HH Drive * Non-ADB Keyboard * Non-ADB Mouse -- damaged. It looks like someone let it sit in glue or a solvent. The ball still rolls, but I can't open it to check to see if the rollers work. * Monochrome monitor. Readable, but like all monitors of that vintage its a bit faded. I'm asking $150 Brian

16 years, 7 months

1
0
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IBM PC 5150 power supply?

by fjk＠eircom.net

I'm looking for a IBM PC/ XT power supply for European voltages, 220 -240 V at 50Hz. I have three part numbers but can't find specs for them: 5150438 5150439 6323357

16 years, 7 months

4
5
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Mostly Q-Bus Parts

by useddec＠gmail.com

Going through boxes during my move in back in process. This is the first partial list of surplus boards available. $10 shipping for any amount within the US, overseas: please contact me. If interested in these or items something not on this list, please contact me off list. Feel free to respond with any comments or ?'s. M3107 DHQ11 $30 M7090 COMM $35 M7504 DEQNA $35 M7513 RD/RX EXP $30 M7546 TK50 $25 M7559 TQK70 $50 M7651 DRV11WA $75 N7940 DLV11 $20 M7944 MSV11B $25 M7946 RXV11 $45 M7949 LAV11 $30 M8044 MSV11/D $25..5/$100.00 The above boards are untested,but have a 30 day swap warranty 54-13009-03 VT100 basic video board $50 54-14185-01 VT101 (I think) video board $50 These were tested several years ago, and I might test them again, but will also have a 30 day warranty. Many Thanks, Paul

16 years, 7 months

1
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OT: Counterfeit ICs

by cclist＠sydex.com

For any of you who were temped to order through one of the Chinese outfits advertising rare and obsolete ICs on the web, here's a story of a guy who had the nerve to sell them to the Pentagon: http://www.edn.com/article/CA6709025.html Cheers, Chuck

16 years, 7 months

1
0
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RM Nimbus 186 info request....

by afra＠aurigae.demon.co.uk

Hi, On the offchance that someone here may be able to help me...... I'm looking for any low-level technical information about the RM Nimbus 80186 based machine. Specifically I'm looking for details of bios calls, and hardware addresses, bus pinouts etc. If anyone has a copy of "The Nimbus Advanced Programmers Refference Guide" that they would be willing to part with, that would be most helpfull. Cheers. Phill. -- Phill Harvey-Smith, Programmer, Hardware hacker, and general eccentric ! "You can twist perceptions, but reality won't budge" -- Rush.

16 years, 7 months

2
1
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Summagraphics Bit Pad One GPIB protocol documentation?

by derschjo＠mail.msu.edu

I'm working on supporting GPIB tablet support for PERQemu (right now it only supports the 3-button Kriz tablet). Anyone have documentation for the protocol used by the GPIB variant of the Summagraphics Bit Pad One? I've found documentation covering the Bit Pad Two (http://www.calcomp.com/files/Bit%20Pad%202%20Tech%20Ref.pdf) , which appears to be RS-232 only. I'm sure the protocols are similar, anyone know for sure? Thanks, Josh

16 years, 7 months

3
5
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VT78/MR78/OS78 (was Re: Vintage Computer Forum)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 11/25/09, allison <ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote: >> >> I should probably make a post there about my new-to-me VT78. It >> checks out so far, but I don't have a copy of OS/78 to do anything >> "fun" on it yet. I was hoping someone here would respond to my query >> about what's out there for the MR78 >> > The MR78 was only used for the booter. Right. It's just a bunch of ROMs and clock chips pretending to be a PR8E-like papertape reader. > I believe there were at least two booters, RX01, RX02. I've found reference for those as well as a mention of a diagnostic ROM set. I would like to be able to put together a box with 4x or 8x the normal ROM, use modern ROMs and burn all known booters rather than hack on my one-and-only MR78. Fortunately, it hangs off of a DB25, so it should be trivial to redesign and build in the same space. > OS/78 you need to find it on the net, then copy to RX01 > formatted 8" floppy. I've seen OS/278 from the DECUS collection. I must not be looking into the right places for OS/78. Writing the RX01 floppy is no big deal - with what I have sitting around the house, the shortest path is probably to throw an RXV11 or RXV12 into a Qbus box and use vtserver to move the disk image. The second shortest path would be to get around to assembling a 34-to-50-pin cable and using an old PC to write the image. Fortunately, I have multiple 8" drives and several boxes of still-in-the-shrinkwrap 8" disks, most (but not all) already formatted in IBM 3740 format. -ethan

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VT78/MR78/OS78 (was Re: Vintage Computer Forum)

by djg＠pdp8online.com

> Never played with COS. I have one COS DECtape for the -8/e + TD8E. I > think I booted it 25 years ago and didn't know how to make it do > anything and put it back on the shelf. > Manuals are here. Probably still not that exciting. http://www.pdp8online.com/pdp8cgi/query_docs/query.pl?Search=cos >> The closest source I know of is OS78 V4 which was for the DECmate I >> http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-8/os8/ > >I could use that for my DECmate I anyway. > I made a disk using that source and some others. They are in RX02 mode. http://www.pdp8online.com/images/images/os8/DECmate_I.shtml I haven't seen any original DECmate I disk images around.

16 years, 7 months

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VT78/MR78/OS78 (was Re: Vintage Computer Forum)

by djg＠pdp8online.com

>After years of looking, thanks to a tip from this list, > Did it wander further? My postings were to pdp8lovers and alt.sys.pdp8 >Are there any ROM dumps of the MR-78 anywhere? > Not that I know of. I have a MR78-BD on mine. The print set doesn't list what that version does. I probably can dump it if its different from yours. >I've seen OS/278 from the DECUS collection. I must not be looking >into the right places for OS/78. > OS78 images of the disks that came with my VT78 are here http://www.pdp8online.com/images/images/os8.shtml The R command not working is probably the set OS8/VT78 stuff they added. Also WPS78 here http://www.pdp8online.com/ftp/images/wps/ And COS for the VT78 http://www.pdp8online.com/ftp/images/cos/ The closest source I know of is OS78 V4 which was for the DECmate I http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-8/os8/ Enjoy your new toy.

16 years, 7 months

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Fwd: [Croydon-Freecycle] Offer: OLD Apple Mac, CR0

by lproven＠gmail.com

Machine is in Croydon, Surrey, England, FWIW. - LP ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: queenofcroydon <queenofcroydon at yahoo.co.uk> Date: Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 1:19 PM Subject: [Croydon-Freecycle] Offer: OLD Apple Mac, CR0 To: Croydon-Freecycle at yahoogroups.com Hi All, I have a Macintosh Performa 600 Series with CD-ROM Complete with Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse and external zip drive. I found a picture on "PC-Museum" http://pc-museum.com/gallery/rcm-035.jpg I know that this machine is from the technical perspective kind of if medieval. But maybe there is a MAC-fan out there somewhere, who likes this one. It is fully functional, comes with most of the manuals. Please let me know if you would like to have it - will just go as a bundle! Maike ------------------------------------ -- Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884 ? Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AOL/AIM/iChat/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven ? LiveJournal/Twitter: lproven MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? ICQ: 73187508

16 years, 7 months

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Emulex Q bus SCSI board

by mark.kahrs＠gmail.com

Does anyone have any info on this board? It's an S-box board with number QS1010402. Uses Emulex custom LSI all over the place.

16 years, 7 months

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DEC VT100 character generator

by pete＠dunnington.plus.com

Several months ago, someone was looking for an image of the 23-018E2 character generator ROM for a VT100. A generous reader has given me an image, which I've uploaded to my website at http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/DECROMs/ Better late than never, I hope! -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

16 years, 7 months

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Ten Year Rule

by brianlanning＠gmail.com

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 8:15 AM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > IBM had one or two *INTERESTING* PC desktop designs I've seen that would be > nearing 10 years old. A few others have as well, but I'm honestly not sure > anything that was built to run MS Windows will really ever be on-topic, that > would include modern Macs. > So it sounds to me like the rule is, "anything that doesn't run windows, either because of insufficient power or design." lol Although some of the 486 or greater single board computer/passive backplane thingies could easily run windows. So maybe we need an exemption for anything that has a design that isn't a classic PC. And if we exclude modern macs, does that exclusion include the Cube and Mac Mini? I want both of those machines eventually. What about that goofy mac that looks like a half-dome with an LCD monitor sticking out? That's certainly interesting. Was that one intel or did it slip out before the conversion? And which version of windows was it that ran on the dec alpha? brian

16 years, 7 months

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Cleaning packs

by thomas.gardner＠sbcglobal.net

> Message: 26 > Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:18:13 +0000 (GMT) > From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) > Subject: Re: Cleaning packs > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <m1NDPFl-000J3yC at p850ug1> > Content-Type: text/plain > > > > > > > On Nov 24, 2009, at 1:08 PM, geoffrey oltmans wrote: > > > > > Dumb question (perhaps), but do the relative positions of the disk > > > platters in the pack matter on these systems? I suppose it might for > > > interleaving purposes for data already recorded. > > > > I would suspect yes but never having cleaned multi-platter packs, I'd > > only do that on packs that I don't care about the data (ie I'm going > > to format the pack as soon as it's "clean"). If I care about the data > > that *might* be on them I probably wouldn't disassemble (ie de-stack) > > the pack. > > I would be very careful about dismantling the pack for another reason. > Often there is no automatic centring of the platters. If you seprate > them, you will have to centre them up. On the (crashed) 5-platter pack I > dismantled about 25 years ago (for interest), there were holes throuch > the top and bottom hparts of the hub through which you put long rods to > keep the platters and spacers _approximately_ cententerd. But then, I > think, you have to put the hu on the drive spindle (or a similar spindle > in a test rig) nd use a dial gauge to position the platters so there's > no run-out when you rotate the stack by hand. Given that moving one > platter is likely to slightly move all the others, this is a long and > tedious job. > > -tony I would not clean any pack that had a lubricated disk surface. The good news is I am pretty sure that lubrication was introduced with the IBM 3340 (Winchester) so the 2315, 2316, 3336, 3336-11, SMD and their DEC equivalents (RP0x, etc) were not lubricated. I don't know anything about the later uniquely DEC packs but I expect they used high load heads and were not lubricated. As I recall we cleaned non-lubricated disk packs with a tongue depressor, a non shedding wipe (Kim Wipe) and isopropyl alcohol (medical grade). You want to make sure there is no residue! If you don't care about the data you can disassemble and reassemble disk packs that do not use a track following servo systems, that is 2316 and 2x2316 types. You do not have to center them up! If you are real careful you can disassemble and reassemble a servo type disk pack so long as you are very, very careful not to move (or replace) the disk containing the servo pattern! This applies to the 3330 and SMD type of disk packs. A while ago, I was surprised to find out that several "recovery" houses were doing this routinely and claiming to recover data on the original disks still in the pack!. If you do move the servo disk, as witnessed by repeatable runout in the servo system, I am told that some skilled folks can actually center them up by careful instrumentation, measurement and gentle tapping of the servo disk in a not fully tightened assembly. Tom

16 years, 7 months

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Neat find: Maxx Steele Robot

by newsound＠tds.net

would you be willing to sell your Maxx Steele Robot?

16 years, 7 months

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external bus adapter

by aek＠bitsavers.org

just ran across this http://www.arstech.com/cat--ssi2.html if you want to run ISA/PCMCIA/PCI cards off of a laptop OS X support was interesting.

16 years, 7 months

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Tek t2xx mainframe with 7D01 plugin : still worthwhile ?

by jdr_use＠bluewin.ch

Is it worthwhile to rescue a Tek 7xxx scope system with a 7d01 logic analyzer plugin ? It looks nice, but after reading the manual the usefullness seems limited.... jos

16 years, 7 months

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Epson HPIL interface

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

I am trying to find something to put my latest E-bay purchase in. Note I am not saying that I am trying to find somewhere to put it, I have that problem whne I uy a complete computer system. This is just one PCB about 5" * 4" Let me start with some backgrounf information. Everybody rememebrs the Epson dot-matrix printes of the 1980s, things like the MX80, FX80 and so on. They had a standard Centronics interface on a 36 pin Blue Ribbon connector. What is less well knwon is that these printers have an 2*13 socket on the main PCB. 25 pins are used ,the other is a locating hey. This conenctor carries most of the Centronics signals, power lines, and a few others. It was designed for optional inteface PCBs, there is a blanking plate in the top case to allow access to a connector on such a PCB. For example, Epson made a couple of different serial interface PCBs. One was a bit-banger -- if a particular pin (P/S-) on the connector is pulled lwo, then data line D8 becomes a bit-banged serial input and the other 7 data lines are used to set the serial interface parameters. The other was a serail-parallel converter using a microcontroller with buffer memory. It jhad a parallel inteface to the printer. Now HP sold a couple of printers called the HP82905 and HP82906. These were based on Epson models -- in fact they _were_ Epson printers with different firmware to handle the HP command set. They were fitted with an Epson HPIB interface card as standard. But there was also a fairly rare HPIL interace card, made by HP. And that is what I have just bought. It's a PCB 82905-60001. It contains 2 chips, a 1LB3 (HPIL interface) and MK3870 (mask-programmed microcontorller) with the obvious support components. Since it just uses the stnadarsd parallel interface to the rwst of the printer, it should work in any Epson printer with that connector, no matter what firmeare is present (at least for printing text). After getting in on E-bay, but before it arrived, I remembered I had the Epson HPIB card somewhere. I could even rememebr were. I dug it out, and found it was missing a jackpost from the HPIB connector. 2 hours later, I had one fitted. No, it didn't take me that amount of time to find one, I just graed some brass ron and turned one. FWIW, the screw thread on the connecto that it screws into is 4-40 UNC, an odd choice (USA HPIB jackposts have a 6-32 thread on that end, and the Japanese normally use metric threads, so I would have expected either 6-32 UNC or M3 here). This board contains 16 TTL chips so should be triival to repair if it needs it. Anyway, the problem is that I am short of Epson printers. I have one. I thought it would be triivial to find such devices, but alas not. So questions 1) Does anyobody know which Epson models have this internal connector and which therefore could be used with the interfaces 2) Anyone know for sure what models the HP82905 and 82906 are based on? 3) Anyone in the London (England) area got any such printes that they want to sell cheaply? I suspect shipping them would be rather expensive, hense the 'London area' criterion. Obviously the HP models would be fine too, as would IBM5152 grapghics printers (the TechRef shows the connector I am talking about). Thanks in advance -tony

16 years, 7 months

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