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

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

Re: Cleaning an old keyboard Hey, that spiel would be a good start to a great article on the CHWiki, 'Cleaning keyboards'! (Not sure if any of the other replies contained anything worth picking up.) Noel

6 years, 6 months

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Timex 16k Ram Expansion on GoodWill auction site

by bob099＠centurytel.net

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/76238179 Ending today, just saw it

6 years, 6 months

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DJ11 Maintenance Manual available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So, I have a copy of the maintenance manual for the DJ11; is this something anyone needs?n If so, I'll move it up the scan queue. Noel

6 years, 6 months

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Tek logic analyzer probes available

by elson＠pico-systems.com

I have 6 Tek logic analyzer probes available. I have one P6464 pattern generator probe with a message about some bad channels (could have been the cable or pat gen board, too). There are 3 X P6452 analysis probes, and 2 X P6451. Anybody need any of these? Thanks, Jon

6 years, 6 months

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Help identifying mystery Unibus board

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Found this in a stack of boards, and I don't know what it is, other than that it's Unibus -- there's a logo but no text identifying the board or the manufacturer. Anyone recognize the logo in this picture? http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/random/board0.jpeg Here's the full board, for reference: http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/random/board1.jpeg Thanks, Josh

6 years, 6 months

5
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flux to imd

by cclist＠sydex.com

On 9/21/19 10:26 AM, Al Kossow wrote: > > > On 9/21/19 10:12 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: > >> Is it effective to bake cookies in their jackets? > I don't know, since i've never baked floppies. Chuck would know. Yes, I do. Usual 58C temps that I use for tapes. Doesn't seem to affect the jacket. --Chuck

6 years, 6 months

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M7821 variants

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I just discovered that there are three wildly different variants of the M7821 Interrupt Control card. More here, with images: http://gunkies.org/wiki/M782_Interrupt_Control I'll have to dredge around and see if I can find circuit diagrams for them all; they are wildly different, the -C has many fewer components than the -B and -D, and the latter has a couple of delay lines. Noel PS: Sorry about that dis-directed message to Cindy; not quite sure what I did wrong there.

6 years, 6 months

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Manx entry update

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Jim Stephens > I don't know how to contact the maintainer for manx There was discussion recently about that, and I did manage (with help from someone here who provided his email - thanks muchly!) to reach him. We were discussing how I could help update things, but a hurricane came by, and I dropped it; need to continue. > Anyway I found that the entry for one of the entries is stale but the > internet archive had captured the tar file with the information. > ... > One of the questions is whether archive.org entries are desirable or > acceptible by the rules, and 2, whether the internet archive will be > okay with that. I see frequently that Wikipedia entries retrieve and > publish those links. I can't see how either would be a problem (as you point out with Wikipedia). As long as the bits are there, and won't go away (which I assume is true of the IA) that should be OK. Noel

6 years, 6 months

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Dot Matrix Printers - UK - Free to good (or even bad) home

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

Folks, I have a couple of spare printers 1. Panasonic KX-P3626 wide carriage 24-pin dot matrix printer with sheet and tractor feed. Free to anyone who wants it. If needed I can throw in a box of music ruled fanfold paper. Comes with some spare ribbons. 2. Amstrad DPM2000 narrow carriage 9 pin printer. Sheet and tractor feed, but I can't spare a box of narrow paper. Located in south Manchester, North West England. I haven't tested but will do if there is any interest. Dave Wade G4UGM & EA7KAE

6 years, 6 months

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Manx entry update

by jwsmail＠jwsss.com

I looked for an image or record of the PDP8/L reference card, and one of the entries which showed up was for manx. I don't know how to contact the maintainer for manx but figure if someone can comment here it would be better than me ratholing and still not figuring it out. Anyway I found that the entry for one of the entries is stale but the internet archive had captured the tar file with the information. PDP-8 Pocket Reference Card http://manx-docs.org/details.php/1,5468 https://web.archive.org/web/20151121165042/http://www.vaxarchive.org/pdp11/… I did find this, and will try. Is something not working? Is a URL out of date or offline? Feel free to create a bug report <http://manx.codeplex.com/WorkItem/Create> on our CodePlex project <http://manx.codeplex.com> http://manx.codeplex.com/WorkItem/Create One of the questions is whether archive.org entries are desirable or acceptible by the rules, and 2, whether the internet archive will be okay with that.? I see frequently that Wikipedia entries retrieve and publish those links. Thanks. Jim

6 years, 6 months

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Vintage Computer Warehouse Liquidation

by guykd＠optusnet.com.au

At 04:59 PM 22/09/2019 -0500, Thomas Raguso wrote: >Update: I have also found IBM 500-series punch card equipment. If you find any full boxes of blank IBM punch cards, please mention. I might be able to afford postage on a few. > 1970s HP computers I'm probably going to cry when I see photos. (Because I'm in Australia.) Guy

6 years, 6 months

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MicroVAX 3100 ROMs

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello, first of all, I would advice to READ the original eproms and compare with known good. This will possibly spare a lot of efforts... Andrea

6 years, 6 months

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Tektrionix VAXBI board and DC100 training tapes?

by mattislind＠gmail.com

An ex DEC engineer offloaded some stuff that he had found in his attic. https://i.imgur.com/413NSSL.jpg?1 It came together with a tektronix 1241 Logic Analyzer. Someone that can tell more about it? Then there were some DC100 tapes in a huge heap of TU58 diagnostic tapes for VAX-11/730 and VAX-11/750 that looked different. https://i.imgur.com/6n8yCxd.jpg?1 They were marked "BI-SYNC TRAINING TAPE" and "ASYNC TRAINING TAPE TAP-895-103-1.0 3.04" Anyone recognize what that could be? BTW. What are the status of various 11/730 and 11/750 diagnostics on TU58. Are those already dumped? It takes some time to work with TU58 so if someone already done all this I might skip dealing with them. I know of only one place that has TU58 dumps. http://iamvirtual.ca/VAX11/VAX-11-software.html Anywhere else? /Mattis

6 years, 6 months

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DEC RP04 service manual available

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

So I have just acquired a copy of the service manual for the RP04 drive (ISS model 733). Does anyone have an immediate need to look at this? If so, I can put it on the top of the 'to scan' stack. Noel

6 years, 6 months

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Early Univac Commercial

by marvin＠west.net

I was watching an early airing of "What's My Line", and they aired a commercial by Remington Rand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-DNG_bbHDE The commercial starts about 19:30 and shows the Univac being used in a weather prediction. Not much useful information, but the video is quite interesting to watch. Marvin

6 years, 6 months

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MicroVAX 3100 ROMs

by athornton＠gmail.com

My MicroVAX 3100 gets stuck in boot with the leftmost 4 LEDs on, which indicates it's executed some instructions from ROM. That in turn may indicate that the ROMs are corrupt. From http://gentiane.org/~miod/machineroom/machines/digital/vax/3100-30/bare_mob… it looks as if the ROMs are a pair of M27C1024s. Mouser doesn't have those, but they do carry AT27C1024 in two different speeds. Those look like they should work. It looks like my ROM burner will support that, with an additional, not horrifically expensive, adapter. The machine is probably a ka42b CPU (I can check when I get home). That in turn suggests that the file simh/VAX/ka42b.bin (which is 256K, which is nice, since that is two megabits) is probably the image I need. So my major remaining question is: how are those chips laid out? Since they're 16 bits wide, I assume that what I really have is a 64kword memory image...but is one the bottom 32kwords and one the top? Or is one the left 16 bits of 64kwords, and the other the right 16 bits? In short, how do I slice the image from simh to put it into the replacement ROMs? Adam

6 years, 6 months

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analog computer - texas

by dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com

Seen on the vintage forums - I hope I am not spoiling some ones bid https://swicoauctions.com/online/26/item/43886 Dave Wade G4UGM & EA7KAE

6 years, 6 months

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PBXes at home

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2019 22:27:23 -0400 (EDT) > From: Ethan O'Toole <ethan at 757.org> > Subject: PBXes at home > > A number of years ago I picked up a Lucent Merlin Legend system. > > -- > : Ethan O'Toole > I have a little Merlin 410 PBX at home, with the Conference and Music on Hold plug-in modules. -- Michael Thompson

6 years, 6 months

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ISO: Keyboard for Intecolor 2400 terminal

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Picked up an Intecolor 2400 terminal awhile back; it's a nice VT100-compatible terminal with color enhancements. Unfortunately it's missing the detachable keyboard. Probably a longshot, but anyone have one of these lying around? Thanks, Josh

6 years, 6 months

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phone systems, old and less-old

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Kevin Monceaux > I'm not sure what it is about phone systems. ... I don't know why I'm > doing this. Oh, and the rest of us have a real use/need for old, slow, small (by modern standards) systems that use a ton of power? :-) Noel

6 years, 6 months

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UNIBUS FTGH: EMM / CMU MICRORAM memories &

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

The Microram was a multipurpose solid state memory chassis sold by EMM (Electronic Memories and Magnetics) with what we called later in the 1970's a "personality board" that plugged it into each different CPU's backplane. They sold a similar system (maybe even plug compatible at some level) with core planes under "Micromemory" brand name. I see we already have a "emm" directory in bitsavers with docs about some of their core products.

6 years, 6 months

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Another batch of fresh stuff from Sellam's collection

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

It's time for another batch of exciting stuff from my collection to find its way into yours! Today's batch: Compaq Contura 4/25 Compaq LTE/286 Laptop Compaq Portable III Operations Guide + System Software Packard Bell PB414A Multi-Media PC Radio Shack 1982 TRS-80 Microcomputer Catalog No. RSC-7 Radio Shack 1983 TRS-80 Microcomputer Catalog No. RSC-8 Radio Shack 1985 TRS-80 Microcomputer Catalog No. RSC-12 A Practical Guide to the Tandy 1000SX Heath Computer Systems H-386 Desktop PC Gravis MouseStick GMPU Logitech Wingman Attack Joystick Modular CIrcuit Technology PC EPROM Programmer Atari CX22 Trak-Ball Kingston DataCard KTM-DC16/127 Hard Disk/Memory Expansion Data General How To Use The Nova Computers Manual DEC Digital Products and Applications (1971) VAX Architecture Reference Manual Macintosh PowerBook 1400c Macintosh PowerBook 180 Apple 800K External Drive Apple PC 5.25 Drive AppleCD 300 AppleCD 300e Plus American Megatrends Voyager 486 Motherboard Zenith Data Systems N8003 External CD-ROM Drive Apple LisaDraw Manual Apple Lisa Office System Release 3.0 Manual Apple 486/66 DOS Compatibility Card Asante MC3NB NuBus Ethernet Interface Kingroyal 2-serial, 1-parallel, 1-game Interface STB 2-serial 1-parallel interface Sealevel Systems 3088 dual-port serial card Cardinal Technologies VGA 300 IEV Corp. VIP-2000 Interactive Graphics Controller Datacopy Corp. Datacopy Model III Domex UDS-IS10 SCSI interface Talking Tech Bigmouth Your PC Multi-Lab PCL-711 Analog and Digital I/O Card Danford SEU 3800 multi-port serial card Triad Systems PC-IDC-8 8-port ISA Serial Interface U.S. Digital PC7166 Incremental Encoder Interface Western Digital WD1003V-MM2 HD/FD Controller (Prototype?) Supra SupraExpress 33.6i Voice Modem 3Com EtherLink III 3C509B-TPO Allied Telesis AT-2000T-PNP TP ISA network interface Advanced Logic Research 16-bit VGA/Parallel Iwill SIDE VLB SCSI/IDE/FDC/I-O Controller Adaptec AHA-2940UW Ultra Wide SCSI Controller Berkshire Products PCI PC Watchdog BusLogic BT-958 SCSI-3 Adaptor Network Appliance 110-01579 PCI NVRAM Board Ocean Optics ADC2000-PCI+ A/D Converter Philips TV Tuner PCI Board S&S Research MOTU PCI-324 Audio PCI Interface Smart Modular Technologies 90079 Modem/Sound Combo Board ATI Rage IIc AGP Graphics Card Asus V8170/128M AGP Graphics Card Matrox G45+ AGP Graphics Card IBM 2330364 Token Ring Network Adaptor 16/4 SCO Informix v3.11 for the Apple Lisa 2 SCO Lyrix v3.10 for the Apple Lisa 2 SCO MF/SCO Level II COBOL v2.0 High Performance SCO Multiplan v2.10B for the Apple Lisa 2 SCO Xenix Development System v3.0 for the Apple Lisa 2 SCO Xenix Operating System v3.0 for the Apple Lisa 2 SCO Xenix Text Processing System v3.0 for the Apple Lisa 2 Hands-On BASIC for the IBM PCjr HP 82901M Flexible Disc Drive HP 9885M Flexible Disk Drive HP 10247A Clock Probe HP 10248B Eight Bit Probe HP 10248C Eight Bit Probe (Pod 1) HP 10248C Eight Bit Probe (Pod 2) HP 10248C Eight Bit Probe (Pod 3) HP 10248C Eight Bit Probe (Pod 4) HP 10248C Eight Bit Probe (1610B) Convergent Technologies NGEN XM-003 Memory Module Wico Command Control Joystick Links to the newly listed items can be found in the usual place: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hi… As always, please contact me directly by e-mail <sellam.ismail at gmail.com> to inquire about an item. Thanks! Sellam

6 years, 6 months

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FTGH: EMM / CMU MICRORAM UNIBUS memories & docs

by fritzm＠fritzm.org

Okay, I'm trying to beat back the hoard in my basement before the rainy season starts here in CA: I have a couple of NMOS static RAM UNIBUS address spaces that I picked up from CMU sometime back in the mid-'80s once when they were cleaning house. I've been hauling these around for 30+ years, thinking I would use them with the '11/45 that I picked up at the same time, but as previously discussed here I have a much more practical MS11-L working in that system now. So, I'd be more than happy to pass these one to somebody else who could put them to good use? There are two; they are 5U 19" rack chassis with integrated power supplies and fans. These are card cages with slots for 5 11"x15" cards plugging, into a PCB backplane (big, heavy!) Each chassis contains four fully-populated MICRORAM 3400N memory cards (at 32K words x 18 bits each, each chassis is a full UNIBUS address space); each of the memory cards caries 144 x socketed 4402ACC, with 1977 date codes. Each chassis also has a fifth card, a custom UNIBUS interface card that was developed at CMU, which takes the place of the self-test card in the original units. The units are marked S/N 100001 and 100002, P/N 929331-009A. They are in good shape, but dusty, and with some corrosion evident on the chassis. Have not seen power in several decades, so the power supplies probably need a going over... I also have full documentation (including schematics), and a folder of schematics and some hand-drawn notes for the CMU interface cards. I have dups of the EMM documentation, so could send it to Al if he is interested? Anybody out there interested? I am in Oakland, CA. It would be best to pick these up in person, because they'd probably be $$$ to ship. cheers, --FritzM.

6 years, 6 months

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RetroChallenge RC2019/10 is now open

by Michael＠jongleur.co.uk

Greetings all, I?ve now taken over custodianship of the RetroChallenge and would like to extend an invitation to any who are interested in joining in this October. Entry details at: http://www.retrochallenge.org Retro COMPUTE ;) -- *Blog: RetroRetrospective ? Fun today with yesterday's gear??.. <http://www.jongleur.co.uk/blogs/>* *Podcast*: *Retro Computing Roundtable <http://rcrpodcast.com/>* (Co-Host)

6 years, 6 months

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Partial success (SIMH TSS/8), new problem has me stumped

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I finally managed to get TSS/8 running under SIMH V4... console on the laptop, a time-sharing line (TTIX port 23) on an ADM-3A (much quieter while debugging) :) The interface is the Volpe current-loop to USB board, a small freeware program "COM By TCP" to allow a TCP port (USB is COM4, TCP is 127.0.0.1 port 23). So far so good. But I am having connection problems with the data coming >from SIMH to the terminal. At 110 baud I only get a few characters before the serial-TCP program hangs with this write-timeout message: 22:24:11: Socket connected to 127.0.0.1:23 22:24:11: SOCK: Unable to write on COM. The port is CLOSED.. <-- this is because I didn't "Get COM" first. 22:24:13: COM4 correctly opened! 22:24:24: System.TimeoutException: The write timed out. at System.IO.Ports.SerialStream.Write(Byte[] array, Int32 offset, Int32 count, Int32 timeout) at System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count) at COMbyTCP.Form.sockClient_dataRecived(Byte[] buffer, Int32 bytesRecived) I tried at 1200 baud and the same problem occurs, I can just get more characters before the terminal screen freezes. Nothing's locked up except the downstream SIMH data (i.e. I can hit Return on the terminal and the TSS/8 dot prompt reappears). It is repeatable regardless of what I am trying to do on the terminal. Only very small outputs come through in their entirety without this error message. I don't think it's the current-loop board, which has an onboard micro fast enough to translate Baudot on the fly. And the receive light stops flickering at the same time the write timeout message pops up. Does anyone know how I can extend the timeout parameter... is this a Windows networking problem, or something flaky in the freeware serial-TCP program? thanks Charles --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 6 months

1
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Connecting SIMH to teletype via USB

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I could use a hint... I have a USB to current-loop (Volpe) interface board, and Windows 7 on my laptop does recognize it as COM4 at 110 baud. So far so good. No problem hooking it up to my ASR-33 Teletype. Now I'd really like to figure out how to set SIMH to use the 33 as the console, so the TTY will be attached to the virtual PDP-8. I do have OS/8 and TSS/8 running on SIMH with the laptop as console. Just don't know how to make it "talk" to the USB serial port instead. Anything that starts with "set console..." gives a "no settable parameters" error. Thanks for any hints. -Charles --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 6 months

4
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Test message

by tmfdmike＠gmail.com

I was banned for ages, I've been told I'm not any more; test post; disregard. Mike

6 years, 7 months

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Connecting SIMH to teletype via USB

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I got ahead of myself a little bit... forgot I still couldn't connect a serial port to SIMH. Turns out my version of SIMH 3.08 was from 2008 or so... I just downloaded the latest version 4 from GitHub and sure enough it does accept SET CONSOLE SERIAL. Now I just have to figure out the port name since it doesn't like COM4: But I'm almost there :) -----Original Message----- From: Charles Sent: Friday, September 13, 2019 6:46 PM To: J. David Bryan ; cctalk digest Subject: Re: Connecting SIMH to teletype via USB Update: got my SIMH (set console telnet:23) talking to PuTTY in another window, via Telnet 127.0.0.1:23. So it is possible ;) Now it's time to hook up the actual TTY to the USB-current loop card and see what's what! -----Original Message----- From: J. David Bryan Sent: Friday, September 13, 2019 6:23 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Cc: Charles Subject: Re: Connecting SIMH to teletype via USB On Friday, September 13, 2019 at 15:42, Charles via cctalk wrote: > I could use a hint... I have a USB to current-loop (Volpe) interface > board, and Windows 7 on my laptop does recognize it as COM4 at 110 > baud. So far so good. No problem hooking it up to my ASR-33 Teletype. > > Now I'd really like to figure out how to set SIMH to use the 33 as the > console, so the TTY will be attached to the virtual PDP-8. Section 3.14, "Console Options" of the "SIMH Users' Guide V4.0" suggests that: set console serial=com4;110-8n2 ...should work (though you might need "7e2" or "7o2" instead, depending on how your Teletype is set up). > Anything that starts with "set console..." gives a "no settable > parameters" error. Does the above also give this error? -- Dave --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 7 months

1
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Test message

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Sorry, we did not receive your message. Have you tried turning it off and back on again? :) --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 7 months

5
5
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IBM System/32 available in Helsinki

by binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com

Folks, I've been made aware by Michael Ross (who for some reason can't join this list) that there is a System/32 available for not much money in Helsinki. If you're 100% interested the contact is stidialla at gmail.com Cheers! -- adrian/witchy Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest private home computer collection? t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

6 years, 7 months

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MSV11

by useddec＠gmail.com

Hi Doug, If you are going to VCFMW, I can bring you a DEC M8044 for $25. Need anything else? Thanks, Paul

6 years, 7 months

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Heath/Zenith Z100 technical...

by jules.richardson99＠gmail.com

I just picked up a board set from a Zenith Z-100 (not sure if it was a 110 or 120 model) which had been junked. I threw this out on the sebhc mailing list too, but perhaps someone here knows: a) If the machine's keyboard is completely passive (i.e. just a bunch of switches), or if there's any intelligence to it, b) If the system will start up with no boards plugged in (other than the bitmap display PCB) - i.e. no S100 FDC or winchester, c) If "yes" to the previous, whether the mainboard/bitmap board will function on just +5V and +/-12V (i.e. without the S100 +8V and +/-16V rails) Trying to power up what I have might be fun, but I'm really not sure about the lack-of-keyboard issue - if it's just switches and decoded via the mainboard then rigging something might be possible, but if there's some kind of higher level serial protocol involved then maybe it's too much hassle. I don't have a S100 bus machine kicking around to power things with at present (but of course rigging something would not be too difficult). I'm not sure what kind of details the documentation went into, either - I've got a Z-89 and the docs there are extremely technical, with full schematics, but I'm not seeing any equivalent online for the Z100 series (there seems to be very little out there about them at all - came too late in the S100 era, perhaps?) cheers Jules

6 years, 7 months

2
2
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Ferroresonant transformer supply repair

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

Has anyone replaced the capacitor in a ferroresonant power supply with much success? My current understanding is that the capacitor and transformer are mated as a pair, so replacing just one of them would require careful consideration. The PDP-8/I I'm working on has a 704A in it, with a GE 8uF 660V capacitor. It measures a couple of nF on my capacitor meter, and I was told by the previous owner that it's dead. Any advice? Thanks, Kyle

6 years, 7 months

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Ferroresonant transformer supply repair

by malcolm＠avitech.com.au

>Thanks! Someone else pointed me to Mouser as well. Was hoping to find something in stock, but I guess I can wait and go with Mouser; after all, the PDP-8/I has >been waiting well over 30 years for a new capacitor! > >Kyle It looks like Farnell/element14 have a couple in stock -> https://au.element14.com/search?st=8uf%20660v Element14 Order Number 2668607 Malcolm

6 years, 7 months

1
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Looking for schematics of QBUS 32KW memory module.

by vintagecomputersmn＠gmail.com

Hello, A few weeks ago I ordered a Sigma 400255 for my H11A LSI-11 computer with the hopes of getting a 8" floppy hooked up for VCFMW. For the most part, all the tests I ran from the ODT seemed to be AOK. The one this I couldn't do it boot RT-11 from my TU58 emulator, as it would crash every time. Every since I was able to boot RT-11 on my machine it has been unstable and prone to crashes, but i chalked that up to the TU58 emulator, and not the machine itself. Since I needed to boot from to TU58 in order to INIT and make a bootable RT-11 disk for my system, I looked for other causes for the crashes. I ran the VKAA XXDP test, which passed fine. I then ZKMA test, which lo and behold listed back there were numerous bad addresses all over memory. The only memory modules I have are 3 nearly identical 3rd party 32KW memory modules. The one that I have in the system right now came with it, and is the one with memory errors. The other two are ones I bought on eBay that are in rather poor condition and currently do not work at all. I was hoping to transfer some of the 4116 chips from my nonfunctional units over to my semi-functional unit, but I cannot find schematics for any of the boards because they don't have any marking identifying marking on them. If anyone knows where I can find schematics for these boards, that would be wonderful. I am including a picture of one of these boards below. https://i.ibb.co/sQwZw0j/32kwram.jpg Thank You, Gavin Tersteeg

6 years, 7 months

2
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ISO old AST mainframe comms driver software

by aek＠bitsavers.org

AST-coax, AST-432, AST-SNA, etc. IBM comms products circa late 80s I'm in the process of pdf-ing the manuals this afternoon. The only product disk I have is AST-3780

6 years, 7 months

1
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Announcing VCF Pacific Northwest 2020

by mbbrutman＠brutman.com

The Vintage Computer Federation is pleased to announce Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2020! We will be at Living Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle Washington on Saturday March 21st and Sunday March 22nd, 2020. To make this happen we are looking for exhibitors, speakers and volunteers. Last year we had 28 exhibits and 6 presentations. We had a great time, we broke the museum attendance record (again), and we are looking to have a good time again in March. If you are thinking of traveling from outside of the region there is plenty to do in Seattle while you are here. Local attractions include the Connections Museum, the Pacific Science Center, MoPOP, the Boeing factory tour, Mr. Rainier, etc. Victoria, British Columbia is also a short distance away. See a more complete list at https://goo.gl/3emMWH . Details about VCF PNW 2020 can be found at http://vcfed.org/vcf-pnw . The exhibitor registration instructions can be found at http://vcfed.org/vcf-pnw/exhibitor-registration . I'm happy to answer questions by email too. Regards, Mike mbbrutman at brutman.com or michael at vcfed.org

6 years, 7 months

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Looking for schematics of QBUS 32KW memory module.

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Mister PDP > listed back there were numerous bad addresses all over memory. > ... > I cannot find schematics for any of the boards You can repair MOS memory boards where the board is basically working, but just has some failing memory chips, without schematics. First you need to create a map which translates memory chip # to bits. You have 32 chips in the array, so there are probably 2 32KB banks, each 16 bits wide. Pull a chip, and then try and figure out which bit it is; then repeat with other chips to try and figure out which bits are stored in which chips. (Unless the designers were insane, each chip will hold the same bit in all the words in that bank.) On yours, the memory chips are in sockets, which makes this less painful. (On boards where the chips are soldered in, a program which loops, storing a word with a single 1 bit, can be used to the same effect; the chip data sheet will tell you which pin is the data pin.) Usually a missing chip results in bits stored in that chip reading as '0', but it's possible they will read back as 1. Anyway, to test the first possibility, start by finding a location in the each bank that can be written to all 0's and all 1's (read back after writing to verify). Next, pull a chip, and then try writing all 1's to that word in the low bank, and read it back. If it now has a 0 bit, congratulations i) you've verified that missing chips read as 0, ii) that chip is part of the low bank, and iii) the 0 bit tells you which bit that chip is - fill in that entry in your chip<->bit chart. If not, try the high bank word, and see if it now has a 0 bit. If not, try writing 0's to the high and low words, and check for a '1' bit; if so, i) missing chips read as 1, etc. If neither is true, check back here! Otherwise, try pulling another chip, and work out which bit that one is, and add it to the chart. Repeat for all 32 chips - although if you're lucky, after a couple you might find a pattern, and be able to predict which chips hold which bits. (But not always; many are random; see e.g.: http://gunkies.org/wiki/Q-RAM_11 http://gunkies.org/wiki/NS23M for some.) If so, do a few spot tests of your predictions to make sure your pattern is correct. With the completed chart in hand, given a failing word (address and bad data), you can work out which chip is at fault, and replace it. Repeat for all memory errors. Noel

6 years, 7 months

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Mohawk Data Sciences 6401 Schematic?

by coryheisterkamp＠gmail.com

Hey Guys, I recently picked up an MDS 6401 Key-To-Tape unit in NCR guise to park next to my keypunches. It's been in storage for a couple decades and is in pretty decent shape. Even has a tape on it from when the university that had it pulled the plug and sent it off for surplus. Found an internal date code of 1971. The unit does actually show signs of life, but I suspect a power supply issue. Does anyone have a lead on a schematic? This here is basically what I'm working with: http://www.thecorememory.com/NCR_C-735_-_MDS_6401_Memories.pdf Thanks, Cory

6 years, 7 months

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Info on testing vintage power supplies

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

Can anyone here provide a pointer to info on testing vintage power supplies? Search results on the web may eventually lead to the kind of info that I am looking for, but I have to get through too many pages of modern PC power supplies first. Specifically, I will be testing the power supplies in my Sun 3/260, which has 24V, 12V and 5V. I am wondering things like what is suitable loads and do I need to put a load on all three or can I test them one at a time and what I haven't thought of with regards to testing them. alan

6 years, 7 months

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Searching cctalk/cctech

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

Is there a way to search all of cctalk and cctech? I found the archives, but that is split all of the postings in a given month. alan

6 years, 7 months

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Shugart-Interface 8" Floppy Diskette Drive Configurability

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

I've been contemplating a floppy diskette drive emulator with features to make it fit better into systems using 50-pin Shugart style floppy drive interfaces vs. the other emulators already on the market. Studying manuals for various 8" floppy diskette drives, I see that they generally provided a great deal of configurability. There are the myriad of jumper-selectable options which change drive behavior for compatibility with various computers. Then there are features like FM data separators which are present on some, but not all, drives. And then there are many documented "cut this trace, then bodge wire this signal to pin X of the edge connector" options for special purposes such as individual drive motor controls, simultaneous monitoring of all four drive ready signals, etc. Since fully supporting all of the options I've seen documented would have real hardware cost and add complexity to the design, I'm wondering just how much of that configurability is really necessary. Which non-default options are really needed for system still in use and/or in the hands of collectors? Which were only ever provided for some obscure industrial system manufacturer, with no surviving systems in existence? Which were included just in case somebody might need them, but were never used in practice? I'd appreciate it if anybody can provide insight into this, such as examples of systems which required non-omnipresent and/or non-default configuration options. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

6 years, 7 months

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Data General/Rolm milspec systems

by technoid6502＠gmail.com

Message: 4 Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2019 10:03:54 -0400 From: "Craig M." <cmook1968 at gmail.com> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: ROLM - Dat general 1602 - AN/UYK-19 computers. Message-ID: < CAD1aQJ5FnQDS7i+iLeh-+zBSBrzaqV9-f61Q76XgEbz=fSN+nw at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Good Morning, Have you ever come across a document called the "Rolm I/O Designers Guide?" I am working with some developers trying to figure out the data words and how they work on a Navy AN/UYK-19 computer. I have some sticktime on the Eclipse machines. In going to boot camp getting my MV4000/DC I ran into some interesting characters. One was with DG on military sales, was visiting Groton? or another base where a test was being conducted. The computer was suspended on wires in a hangar and, while running, was subjected to simultaneous blows from heavy pendulums on either side. The noise was teriffic and my friend asked the same question, why on earth, to which the cryptic reply was two words: Depth Charges. Probably your USAF machine, corn field kept though it was, was designed for service in another kind of silo, the missile kind. Those would be projected to survive near-direct hits from megaton thermonuclear weapons. Not to mention that no air force property is immune from attack by all sorts of ordinance, nuclear or otherwise. Best, Jeff Another note, saw an old query on the "Rolm Computers: 1602, 1602A, 1602B, 1666, MSExx (was Data General Nova Star Trek)" thread about breaking down the military system designations. This website may help if you never got an earlier answer: https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/wordpress/2015/05/27/whats-in-a-name-… Thank you! Craig Mook

6 years, 7 months

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keyboard list

by sales＠elecplus.com

This is the next list of keyboards I can bring in. Anybody want some of this? 2 IBM 6052141 IBM 1391401 missing some keycaps Apple M3501 nice ,no pluggable connect cable WYSE PCE,p/n 900840-01 Din-5 connector Data Desk Int,new/unused Din-5 Datatech SBK-100 Cadmus 00185-00 (dark grey) no plug-in connect cable 2 Chicony KB-5311 very nice Din5 Commodore KPR-E9447 unused Din 5 Honeywell 101WN unused Din-5 Keytronic KB101 Plus Din-5 Mitsumi KPQ-EA9YC looks good Din-5 Mitsumi NPQ-E99ZC-13 Din-5 HP C14058 If so, please send price offer for what you want. Shipping will be extra. Yes, I will ship internationally. Cindy Croxton Electronics Plus 1613 Water Street Kerrville, TX 78028 830-370-3239 cell sales at elecplus.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 7 months

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Seeking enlightenment regarding Bus Adapter Purges on Unibus VAXen (and their ilk)

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hi all -- Been working on an MSCP implementation for Joerg Hoppe's Unibone project, and it's working well on PDP-11 systems; less well as of late on the VAX. I've been looking to tidy up a few dark corners in the MSCP spec and one thing that's left is bus adapter purges -- I have a pretty good grasp of Unibus mechanics these days but I'm not quite understanding the reasoning behind this. Here's what the Storage System Unibus Port Description (AA-L621A-TK) document says: "To support such higher-level protocol functions as transfer restarts, compares, etc., the host memory interface must allow repeated access to a given host memory location for both reads and writes. On purely Unibus systems such as 11/44, this requirement is trivially met with no participation by the host CPU. On systems with bus adapters such as the 11/780, the repeated access requirement means that the relevant adapter channel may have to be purged, requiring the active cooperation of the host CPU. The port signals its desire for an adapter channel purge by interrupting the host. The host writes zeroes to the SA register to indicate purge completion." This is also discussed, from the bus adapter point of view, in the technical documentation for the bus adapter itself. (See http://www.vaxhaven.com/images/2/29/EK-DW780-TD-001.pdf) It hasn't been particularly enlightening to me, but I will admit to not having read every page of this and the DW780 doc -- maybe I missed something :). I understand the mechanism here; in essence it's: 1) MSCP controller decides a purge is necessary after a DMA transfer and requests one by setting a value in a reserved slot in the communications area 2) Host system (MSCP driver) sees the special value, and issues a purge command to the bus adapter. 3) Host system then clears the value in the communications area 4) MSCP controller continues on its merry way. What I do not understand is (a) why such purges are necessary, and (b) how the MSCP controller knows when one should occur. The Port Description doc hints that it has to do with repeated access to a given area of memory. The DW780 documentation hints that it needs to happen after *any* block transfer. (See pg. 2-58 of the document linked above.) Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks! Josh

6 years, 7 months

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ROLM - Dat general 1602 - AN/UYK-19 computers.

by cmook1968＠gmail.com

Good Morning, Have you ever come across a document called the "Rolm I/O Designers Guide?" I am working with some developers trying to figure out the data words and how they work on a Navy AN/UYK-19 computer. Another note, saw an old query on the "Rolm Computers: 1602, 1602A, 1602B, 1666, MSExx (was Data General Nova Star Trek)" thread about breaking down the military system designations. This website may help if you never got an earlier answer: https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/wordpress/2015/05/27/whats-in-a-name-… Thank you! Craig Mook

6 years, 7 months

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A fun patent to wrap your head around

by aek＠bitsavers.org

5287534 "Correcting Crossover Distortion Produced When Analog Signal Thresholds Are Used To Remove Noise From Signal" It describes the DEC CXM04 board for the DS550 communications server, which inserts itself between an IBM establishment controller and a control unit (coax) terminal so the CUT can pretend it's a serial terminal to VAXen without dropping the polled connection to the IBM mainframe. weird..

6 years, 7 months

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Wanted: ATV Research Pixie-Verter

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

Hi, For historical reasons (I'm starting to plan my VCF East 2020 exhibit) I'd like to get real ATV Research PXV-2A Pixie-Verter. I know that there were a lot of other RF modulators out there (I have a SUP "R" MOD II (that I might trade)) but I want this one in particular. Various S-100 boards and other vintage computer hardware available for trade or cash if necessary. Thanks, Bill Sudbrink --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 7 months

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pdp11/34s FTGH in Dublin Ireland

by ronan.scaife＠dcu.ie

Dear All (mainly UK and Ireland), We have a "lo-boy" DEC cabinet containing 2x pdp11/34a in half height boxes, and 2x RL02 drives. It is available for free to be collected in north Dublin, 5 miles from Dublin port. It is also about to be scrapped, so urgent action is required. Please contact ronan.scaife at dcu.ie. Best Wishes, -- -- ?This Email, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Any unauthorised dissemination, distribution or copying of this message and of any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and cannot be relied upon as being those of Dublin City University. Email communications such as this cannot be guaranteed to be virus-free, timely, secure or error-free, and we do not accept liability for any such matters or their consequences. Please consider the environment before printing this Email.? ==== Dr. Ronan Scaife =============== ronan.scaife at dcu.ie ========== School of Elec Eng, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, IRELAND. http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~scaifer/ phone (office): +353-1-700-5434 fax: +353-1-700-5508 ==================================================================== -- * *S?anadh R?omhphoist/Email Disclaimer* *T? an r?omhphost seo agus aon chomhad a sheoltar leis faoi r?n agus is lena ?s?id ag an seola? agus sin amh?in ?. Is f?idir tuilleadh a l?amh anseo.? <https://sites.google.com/view/seanadh-riomhphoist>* *This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Read more here. <https://sites.google.com/view/dcu-email-disclaimer>* * -- <https://www.facebook.com/DCU/> <https://twitter.com/DublinCityUni> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/dublin-city-university> <https://www.instagram.com/dublincityuniversity/?hl=en> <https://www.youtube.com/user/DublinCityUniversity>

6 years, 7 months

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SMD disks

by aperry＠snowmoose.com

My Sun 3/260 came with a pair of 8-inch SMD disks in a separate cabinet. 1. Anyone have a pointer to docs that describe cabling and configuring SMD disks? My Google-fu has failed here. 2. The system came with no cables (external cables between cabinets). Are these standard cables or will they be Sun-specific? 3. The system "ran when parked" about a dozen years ago, but it was left in an open barn after that. How likely is it that the disks will work and be readable? One is a Fujitsu M2333; don't recall what they other one is. alan

6 years, 7 months

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