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

A selection of VCFW 2019 pictures

by spectre＠floodgap.com

I've put up some of my pics in two parts since the blogs I maintain have somewhat different audiences. This isn't everything I shot but it's the ones I found most meaningful to me. http://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2019/08/and-now-for-something-completely.html https://www.talospace.com/2019/08/power-stuff-and-other-stuff-at-vintage.ht… -- ------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- Everything you think you know is wrong. -- Jack Chalker --------------------

6 years, 8 months

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ADM-3A question

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

After replacing the RAM, the display is now back to normal (there's also a test switch on the motherboard (S6) that switches the display from blank spaces to all zeroes. The one that failed was a National Semi 2102, whereas the others are all >from another manufacturer. No sign of previous replacement. Interesting. (I once fixed up a PDP-8/L, chased down several bad chips. Nearly all were Signetics 7440's). I may have made a tactical error though - turns out that wet/damp PVA is electrically conductive! Enough to overcome the 5k pullup resistors. An unpleasant surprise. So now the keyboard thinks multiple keys are being pressed and won't work at all. Removing the keyboard to clean underneath it would be very tedious since every key has two soldered pins... There was a significant buildup of goop underneath the key scan mux and demux chips where the pins are close together (0.1"). I gave the bottom half of the board another good rinse and will let it dry overnight, maybe a hair dryer too. Or get some more 91% alcohol to it and a longer low-temp bake. It all worked before my "cleanup" so I expect it will resume normal operation once the moisture is out of any remaining goop. I hope ;) --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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DEC VT20 boot device

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

The DEC VT20 terminal apparently included a PDP-11/05 with a direct mapped character display and was intended for text editing and typesetting. It seems to have been followed by the VT21, and then VT71/VT72, all three based on an LSI-11 (KD11-F). There's a real lack of documentation about these online, although the VT72 does have a print set. Apparently the VT20 used the M792-YK as its bootstrap; the Field Guide is silent regarding the boot device and M792 documentation stops earlier in the series of variants. According to the VT72 print set, it used the MRV11-VC (M9942-YC; described in the Field Guide as a "bootstrap/diagnostic module") for its bootstrap but is also silent regarding the boot device. In interestingly, the Field Guide also describes a MRV11-AA (M7942-TB) as a "M7942 with VT52 emulator, VT71 bootstrap". For async. communications the VT20 used a DL11-B (M7800 (EIA)). the VT72 a DLV11-F (M8028). Looking in a DEC "Options and Modules" listing I see VT20 bundles including Typeset-11 and DECset-11, and it appears that the VT20 could be configured with two displays & serial lines in a single 11/05. So . is the boot device in these systems the remote host via the serial line? What protocol would that have been? Something native to Typeset-11 and DECset-11? paul

6 years, 8 months

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ADM-3A question

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Thanks Bill, I hadn?t seen that particular page. As I mentioned already, the formerly clear ?stuff? was so deteriorated I could just pull the glass plate off with gentle fingertip pressure. I ran a bead of clear silicone around the outside of the clean plate and CRT face and bonded them back together. Display looks great! However, I can now see that every other line, starting with line 2, is showing a full line of double quotes (0x22) instead of spaces (0x20). I read the circuit description and schematic, and it appears that bit ?2? is stuck high on the even-line RAM ? for some reason the designer decided to call the LSB bit 1 instead of bit 0. Typing (for example) ?abcdef123? shows the correct text on the blank odd lines, but on the even lines it echoes as ?cbcfef323?. Confirming that stuck bit. Looks like the RAM at location H15 should be the bad one... we?re having a heat wave and it?s too hot upstairs to work on it until tomorrow morning at the earliest. ETA: Now it's tomorrow morning and just cool enough (although 100% humidity, at least outside) but my replies aren't showing up in the archive - filtered somehow. Anyway. I did a bit more Googling and discovered that plain water dissolves the PVA goop just fine. No need to use a lot of expensive alcohol which seems to be a less effective solvent anyway! So I took the board out and scrubbed it in the kitchen sink with running warm water and an old toothbrush. Rinse with distilled water, now gently baking in the oven at around 140F to get the water out of the keyboard. Then onto the RAM replacement. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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Alphaservers for free in Athabasca, Alberta

by rlloken＠telus.net

I have access to 3 ES45s, a DS15, and an RA8000 in a tall blue Compaq rack in Athabasca, Alberta. All the in-service disks were removed but all the spares are available. The box also has the fibre switches used the connect the RA8000 to the servers and the cables, much of the paper documentation, and assorted doodads. It would probably work if plugged in but it has been a year since it was turned off. Athabasca, Alberta is about 1.000km North of the US Montana border and 10,000km from nowhere but it is summer and the weather is nice so we might be able to load this great heavy beast on a trailer and haul it up to a day's drive away if anybody want this stuff. This is rural Alberta so a day's drive is a l-o-n-g way (like 1,000km?). I tried to give this away in early 2019 but the deal fell through. If I don't get a place to send it then I will keep the DS15 and convert the rest of it into scrap metal. -- Richard Loken VE6BSV : "...underneath those tuques we wear, Athabasca, Alberta Canada : our heads are naked!" ** rlloken at telus.net ** : - Arthur Black

6 years, 8 months

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Test

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

Testing 1,2,3... my last couple of posts don't seem to be showing up? -Charles --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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DEC VT20 boot device

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Birkel > Apparently the VT20 used the M792-YK as its bootstrap; the Field Guide > is silent regarding the boot device and M792 documentation stops > earlier in the series of variants. An M792-YK recently sold on eBait; I didn't get it, but I did manage to get the seller to put up good photos of the board, so was able to dump the contents. I didn't fully disassamble the program, but it was clearly something serial line related. With the VT20 info, it's now clear what it was for. It should be pretty easy to fully disassamble, and work out the protocol. I have the dump of the contents if anyone has a use for them. Noel

6 years, 8 months

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List fault analysis (Was: Test)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Charles Morris > my last couple of posts don't seem to be showing up? I see several posts from you. To check suspected failures, look in the archive: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/ because just because you're not getting a personal email copy, doesn't mean it didn't go out to the list. E.g. you may have the 'Receive your own posts to the list?' option in your CCTalk subscription disabled. Noel

6 years, 8 months

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ADM-3A question

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

>On 8/10/19 8:33 AM, Charles via cctalk wrote: >> I also scrubbed off the black anti-reflective coating since it was >> significantly scratched and peeled anyway. > >um.. you didn't remove the aquadag from the outside of the crt, did you? No worries Al, I got my EE in '81 back when CRTs were still in use and I know how they work ;) I was referring to the translucent stuff on the (removable) glass implosion plate itself, designed to reduce light reflection, not the 'dag. Some say that black sheer pantyhose can be used to recreate the same effect, or a 3M Privacy Screen. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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ADM-3A question

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I decided just to fire it up and see if anything blew... it issued the expected beep as it came up. Set the switch to half-duplex and it does actually echo bell (Ctrl-G) and I can see the screen moving as I type! But there is some kind of garbage every other row, although the cursor moves and the screen will "clear" (except for the 12 rows of garbage). Power supply is 5.11 volts. So far so good. Unfortunately the screen rot is even worse than I thought - the PVA layer is so opaque and bubbled it looked like cottage cheese once removed, and I can't make out what characters are on the CRT... I took the monitor out (very easy disassembly). I didn't even have to use a heat gun or a hot wire, just started at one corner, applied a steady and gentle pull, and it came off in one sheet with a giant sucking sound. That oily mess took a while to clean up. I also scrubbed off the black anti-reflective coating since it was significantly scratched and peeled anyway. Now waiting for the bead of clear silicone (around the outside of the plate only) to cure. I'll make sure it's air tight so no black dust will get in there by electrostatic attraction. I can fix the RAM problem once I can see what is actually on the screen! ;) Also the wire bracket with threaded ends that holds the flyback to the monitor chassis is missing one end entirely, so I need to fix that (keep the core halves firmly together). Looks like I didn't get TOO bad a deal for $200 shipped, especially with upper-case installed. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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AIX 5L/ia64 media?

by plamenspam＠afterpeople.com

I know it was a short lived, but anyone has the installation cd or iso image?

6 years, 8 months

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Help ID'ing a PDP-8/A Omnibus board

by derschjo＠gmail.com

Hey all -- Got a PDP-8/A at VCFW this past weekend. It's an OEM model sans programmer panel and was apparently used in a CNC application. It contains a board I'm trying to ID. It says "PDP-8/A CONSOLE ROM" on it and has no other identifying marks other than a logo on the back. See the pictures here: http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/pdp-8/8aconsole1.jpg http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/pdp-8/8aconsole2.jpg <http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/pdp-8/8aconsole1.jpg> None of the braintrust at VCF were able to identify this mark. I'd guess that the board provides a simple ODT interface or something similar. The three ICs in the upper-left with the handwritten labels are 82S129 256x4 bipolar PROMs. They're not socketed so I haven't read them in yet. The 8/A's gonna need some TLC before I dare power it on... I'm mostly curious if anyone can ID the logo -- it would be interesting to know who made this thing. Thanks! Josh

6 years, 8 months

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ADM-3A question

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I bought an ADM-3A on ebay. The monitor and the circuit board/keyboard are >from two different terminals - confirmed by hand-engraved serial numbers on the halves that don't match. Not to mention the two different case colors (pale blue top, blue bottom)! But it does have the lower-case option already installed :) Anyhow, there appears to be some breakdown of the CRT implosion plate silicone (screen rot). I've read about this problem before, so no real surprise It seems to be turning into brown "goop" which has run down onto the circuit board. Do I need to remove the goop before powering it up? Or is it nonconductive and hopefully noncorrosive, so it can wait until I remove the implosion plate and fix it? thanks Charles --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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I'm sharing a toy

by athornton＠gmail.com

https://mvsevm.fsf.net Currently, the TOPS-10 guest account (42,42) and the Unix v7 account dmr have no passwords. Please treat the dmr account respectfully. I will get to account requests?eventually, probably. TImeliness is not guaranteed. All systems are hosted on Raspberry Pis (the 36-bit ones on a Pi 3B+ and the 16-bit and 32-bit ones on a Pi 2B+) on Debian Buster. Absolutely no guarantee of availability or usability is made. Adam

6 years, 8 months

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Sealed Sun memory modules

by sales＠elecplus.com

I am being offered some sealed Sun memory modules, PN 501-3050. These are 512MB compatible with: * Compatible with Sun Blade 1000 with 600MHz CPU, 1000 with 750MHz CPU, 1000 with 900MHz CPU, Blade 1000 Workstation, 2000 Blade 2000 with 900MHz CPU, Blade 2000 with 1.015GHz CPU, Blade 2000 with 1.05GHz CPU, Blade 2000 with 1.2GHz CPU, Blade 2000 Workstation, Fire 12K with CPU 900MHz, Fire 12K with CPU 1.05GHz, Fire 12K with CPU 1.2GHz, Fire 15K with CPU 900MHz, Fire 15K with CPU 1.05GHz, Fire 15K with CPU 1.2GHz, Sun Fire E20K, Fire E25K, 280R (A35), 3800, 4800 (750MHz), 4810, 6800, Netra 20 (N28). Apparently they must be installed in sets of 4. Is anyone interested in these? 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, 8 months

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I'm sharing a toy

by athornton＠gmail.com

> On Aug 8, 2019, at 11:52 PM, Boris Gimbarzevsky <boris at summitclinic.com> wrote: > > Thanks for putting it up. First time I've logged onto old Unix in decades (should try getting my copy of V6 up on simh). > Have a couple of RasberryPi's kicking around that just fired up once to play with. Only part that simulation doesn't let you do is to connect up all sorts of lab hardware to A/D's and D/A's. Have lots of PDP-11 code that wrote in 1980's that can't use as no-one has written additions to PDP-11 emulators which will make one think one is dealing with 80's era data acquisition hardware and digital I/O boards which are far faster on modern microprocessors than there were then. Well, you say that, but?.. I just ordered https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11 <https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11> , and it contains a prototyping area now so you can do stuff like https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11-temp-barometer-hack <https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11-temp-barometer-hack> . But, I mean?that?s a modern micro that looks to the PiDP-11 as if it were a Unibus peripheral, so it?s a decent model for what you want to do. And then there?s the Unibone?.http://retrocmp.com/projects/unibone <http://retrocmp.com/projects/unibone> if you want to drop some modern stuff into a real Unibus backplane. Adam

6 years, 8 months

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looking for a 7-track reel tape controller

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > The same is true for the HP 7970B tape drives, I even have a 9-track 7970B > that can be switched between 200, 556 and 800 bpi. I only need a 7-track > head... > > Christian > The DEC TU20 tape drive is an HP 7975A 200, 556, and 800 BPI transport with additional electronics to to connect it to the DEC tape drive bus. -- Michael Thompson

6 years, 8 months

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VCF West 2019 Visitor Survey

by mbbrutman＠brutman.com

Before VCF West 2019 becomes too much of a pleasant memory ... We'd like to hear from you! This should take less than two minutes: http://vcfed.org/vcf-survey Tell us what we did well and where we need improvement. Or contact me directly. We're not fussy, and we want to do better at our future events. Mike

6 years, 8 months

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New face of the Bank of England's £50 note is revealed as Alan Turing

by trash80＠internode.on.net

May be of interest to some list members https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48962557 Kevin Parker 0418 815 527

6 years, 8 months

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eBay: PDP-8/A KL8A serial line card

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Paul Anderson > $325?? Well, they did list it with a 'Best Offer'. I figure the third time they get an offer of US$100 (or whatever the thing is actually worth, I don't track PDP-8 board values), it might become clear to them that they are way optimistic on the value. I once had to wait a year for an eBay seller to come down to a semi-reasonable price on some RK05 drives... Eventually they gave in. Noel

6 years, 8 months

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looking for a 7-track reel tape controller

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > thanks a lot for your hint to the DEC controller. I wasn't aware that the > TM11, TMA11 and TMB11 controllers can handle 9-track as well as 7-track > NRZI-encoded tape drives. However, all these controllers seem to be very > rare in the public out there. Not too surprising considering that DEC TU > and TS tape drives themselves are rare and that 7-track tape drives were > soon replaced by 9-track tape technology in the early days. > > With best regards, > Pierre > The TC58 Magnetic Tape Controller for the PDP-8 and the TC59 for the PDP-9 can be connected to both 7-track and 9-track drives. The TU20 drive on the PDP-9 at the RICM is a 7-track drive. The only difference between the 7-track and 9-track versions of the TU20 is the tape head. All of the tape drive electronics is the same for both versions. -- Michael Thompson

6 years, 8 months

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I need a keypunch (briefly)

by chip＠aresti.com

I was referred to this group by dave.g4ugm at gmail.com who thought you might be able to help me. I need to punch a half-dozen datacards for an award for a retired IBMer. Anyone know where I can find a working 026/029/129 within 300 miles of Raleigh, NC? Many thanks for any pointers. Chip Davis chip at aresti.com +1.919.271.2582

6 years, 8 months

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eBay: PDP-8/A KL8A serial line card

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

This item: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133136230586 is poorly titled, so people's searches might not find it; the M8319 is a KL8A 4 channel EIA RS232 or 20mA current loop serial hex I/O card for the PDP-8/A. Noel

6 years, 8 months

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Sun Sparcstation 20 with accessories in Dallas

by sales＠elecplus.com

https://dallas-tx.americanlisted.com/75228/computers-parts/sun-sparcstation- sun-drives_23232767.html $50 OBO for take all 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, 8 months

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VCF Midwest 14 Talks and Talkers

by silent700＠gmail.com

We can at last announce our speaker roster for this year's Vintage Computer Festival Midwest. I think we've got some strong topics and great variety this year, and even a little space to give Trixter a break from the A/V console. Check it out - and don't miss the cool new speaker bios page - click a speaker's name to read a bit about them: http://vcfmw.org/talks.html 39 days to go! -j

6 years, 8 months

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TI99/4A computers, in original boxes

by sales＠elecplus.com

https://www.elecshopper.com/texas-instruments-ti-994a-computer-in-box-black- and-silver.html Only 4 of these on hand. 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, 8 months

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RSTS/RSX manuals available in the UK

by binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com

Hi folks, I?ve held onto this collection of manuals for the last 3 years and now they really need to go because I?m having to move house in the next 2-3 months, my landlady is selling up. I thought it was too good to be true being in this house for 7.5 years! The RSTS manuals are V10 (1990) and there's 3 RSX-11M V4 as well as RSX DECNET. I don?t have the time to scan them myself otherwise I would?ve done ages ago. I?m heading past Jim Austin?s place in a couple of weeks? time so if nobody else is interested I can drop them off there if he?s up for it. 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, 8 months

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IBM Series/1

by sieler＠allegro.com

> > > The hardware is excellent. They have fairly fast processors, and the > > I/O capacity is great. Reliability is typical IBM. > > > > The OS sucks balls. All the balls. > > > > Commercially, they were not a success, despite being IBM's first > > "open" system, in that they invited third party developers. It seems When I joined HP in mid-1979, the first week I spotted an IBM Series/1 in a small conference room ... with an IBM repairman. The HP engineers had apparently blown out a memory board somehow while "looking" at it :) >From the HP 3000 viewpoint, we weren't worried about the Series/1. Stan

6 years, 8 months

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MULTIPROCESSING FOR THE IMPOVERISHED Part 1: a 6809 Uniprocessor

by lproven＠gmail.com

1993 article on building a multiprocessor 6809 box. http://www.bradrodriguez.com/papers/6809cpu.htm -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

6 years, 8 months

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looking for a 7-track reel tape controller

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello Paul, thanks a lot for your hint to the DEC controller. I wasn't aware that the TM11, TMA11 and TMB11 controllers can handle 9-track as well as 7-track NRZI-encoded tape drives. However, all these controllers seem to be very rare in the public out there. Not too surprising considering that DEC TU and TS tape drives themselves are rare and that 7-track tape drives were soon replaced by 9-track tape technology in the early days. With best regards, Pierre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.digitalheritage.de Am Dienstag, 6. August 2019, 19:49:14 MESZ hat P Gebhardt <p.gebhardt at ymail.com> Folgendes geschrieben: Hello Paul, thanks a lot for your hint to the DEC controller. I wasn't aware that the TM11, TMA11 and TMB11 controllers can handle 9-track as well as 7-track NRZI-encoded tape drives. However, all these controllers seem to be very rare in the public out there. Not too surprising considering that DEC TU and TS tape drives themselves are rare and that 7-track tape drives were soon replaced by 9-track tape technology in the early days. With best regards, Pierre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.digitalheritage.de Am Freitag, 2. August 2019, 07:04:02 MESZ hat Paul Koning via cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org> Folgendes geschrieben: It may depend more on what kind of tape drive you have. The DEC TU10 controller handles both? 7 and 9 track tapes. ??? paul

6 years, 8 months

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PDP-11 Emulation on VAX Was Re: Alphaservers for free in Athabasca, Alberta

by raywjewhurst＠gmail.com

If I am not mistaken the 8600/50 were the last VAXen to feature PDP-11 emulation. After VMS 3.x the functionality was dropped so it was very short lived on the 8600. Ray

6 years, 8 months

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Alphaservers for free in Athabasca, Alberta

by rlloken＠telus.net

On Mon, 5 Aug 2019, Boris Gimbarzevsky wrote: > A mere 579 miles from Kamloops. Unfortunately have to talk to my wife who > thinks I have too many computers even though I've given away bulk of my DEC > stuff. Never got a chance to play around on Alpha as it came out during my > Mac days. A mere 1,000km, South I assume since you gave the distance in miles but I don't think you want a 7 foot rack of ES45s in your living room - the power bill, the heat, and the fan noise would wear on you after a while. Without looking it up, I imagine I am about 1,000km the other way from Kamloops. We could meet in the middle, have a beer together, and trade trailers. :) -- Richard Loken VE6BSV : "...underneath those tuques we wear, Athabasca, Alberta Canada : our heads are naked!" ** rlloken at telus.net ** : - Arthur Black

6 years, 8 months

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Control Data Cyber 960 available

by wdonzelli＠gmail.com

I just received a pile of goodies from BT Federal, the last remaining bit of Control Data. Part of the goodies included a complete set of spare CPU boards for a Cyber 960. This means my extra Cy960 is surplus to my needs - I bought it strictly as a source of spare parts. So it needs to go. The world is not all DEC and IBM. Play around with machine that has Seymour's fingerprints all over it. This is an ex-Florida Light and Power box. Mind you, this is a serious machine. It sucks a lot of power, and weighs a lot. 5000 pounds total in three cabinets. Completely over engineered. See the cray-cyber guys website for more specs. This is the CPU only - no disks or tapes, but I could include a DI with it (sort of a channel attached comms box for connecting terminals, printers, and networks). I think the cray-cyber guys are working on getting an emulator working for disk and tape. Software and docs are very available. No goofy license needed. Anyway, available pretty much immediately. Located in the Hudson Valley of NY. Serious machine, so serious inquiries only, please (off list). -- Will

6 years, 8 months

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mid-range IBM systems [was RE: IBM Series/1]

by RichA＠livingcomputers.org

From: Jay West Sent: Monday, August 05, 2019 10:38 AM > I used to run a system at Anheuser-Busch in the late 80's, ISTR it was a > 4331, 4341, or 4381. The 4331, 4361 and 4341 are slightly more than waist high. The 4381 is a high-boy cabinet. Rich Rich Alderson Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computers: Museum + Labs 2245 1st Ave S Seattle, WA 98134 http://www.LivingComputers.org/

6 years, 8 months

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Needed: instruction manual for AVA 103C

by wh.sudbrink＠verizon.net

I just picked up an AVA Model 103C Floppy Exerciser. While it has a few quick tips silkscreened on the bottom of it, I think it would be helpful to have the full manual. I've done a fair bit of googling, but all I've turned up is several repair manuals for other equipment, suggesting the 103C as the ideal tool for testing and repairing their gear. Thanks, Bill Sudbrink --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

6 years, 8 months

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Various Mac PowerPC, Dec and Sun equipment available in Houston TX

by nospam212-cctalk＠yahoo.com

The clearing continues... I have several system that are free to anyone who wants them before they get tossed. Local pick up gets preference but I'll ship if you are willing to pay for UPS packing and shipping. None of the systems have been powered on in several years and the DEC and Sun equipment is incomplete, see notes below. All systems are as is and include base system only, no monitors, keyboards, etc. All of the Macs came from a company that did audio/video production work. I believe these were mostly used to record and edit audio in a recording studio though some may have been used in their art department for graphics work. Systems include: Mac PowerPC 9600/300 Five Mac PowerPC G4s (Couple of the systems have cases modded for rack mounting) The DEC equipment is as follows: MicroVAX 3100 - No idea what is inside or condition. Case has an opening where it appears a tape or removable drive once was installed but is no longer there. DEC Storage Expansion - Believe this went with the MicroVAX above but not sure, no idea what all is inside or condition. And finally the Sun: Sun SparcStation 5 - No idea condition of what is inside, probably incomplete or missing components but no idea. All the above are offered free for local pickup or you pay to have them packed and shipped. Located in Houston, TX. Contact me off list if you have any questions or want to arrange pickup. Best, David Williams www.trailingedge.com

6 years, 8 months

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Selling my Data I/O 29B programmer

by woolfson＠telswitch.com

Just a heads? up to the group that I am not using this any more; ever since I restored the PLATO terminals for LCM and CHM, I have not touched the 29B. I don?t think that I am going to be having much use for it since I have not been dabbling in vintage hardware. If anyone is interested, it is listed right now; but I am more or less interested in giving it a good home and if someone wants it, just contact me directly and I?ll be happy to try to make that happen (and I can remove the auction if nobody has bid). https://www.ebay.com/itm/233305501413 <https://www.ebay.com/itm/233305501413>

6 years, 8 months

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IBM Series/1 (Kevin Bowling)

by michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com

> > Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2019 12:40:58 -0700 > From: Kevin Bowling <kevin.bowling at kev009.com> > Subject: IBM Series/1 > > Anyone have one of these? I'd like to find a system, but images of > the OS media would be interesting. > > Regards, > Kevin > The RICM has lots of Series/1 systems. They haven't been powered on for decades. You are welcome to explore what we have. http://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home/equipment/ibm-series1 -- Michael Thompson

6 years, 8 months

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IBM Series/1

by kevin.bowling＠kev009.com

Anyone have one of these? I'd like to find a system, but images of the OS media would be interesting. Regards, Kevin

6 years, 8 months

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Avoid shipping with pre-sale deals on stuff from Sellam's collection--today only!

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Howdy Folks. I wish I had thought of this a few days ago, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be making it to the VCF event this weekend. Being that I am, I'd like to offer to bring any item that you want to purchase to the VCF if you're going to be there yourself. That way you can save on the shipping. Also note that I have "show prices", which are higher than my normal prices to offset the consignment commission. However, if you confirm a purchase beforehand, you will pay the regular asking price. The listings on my Virtual Warehouse of Computing Wonders are presently up to date: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hi… Please be reminded that this is not my complete inventory, but merely what I have presently processed and listed from my warehouse mine. If there's something you are looking for that I don't have listed, please send a request by e-mail. Thanks! Sellam

6 years, 8 months

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VCF Midwest 14 Overflow Hotel Block Open

by silent700＠gmail.com

Hello vintage fans! This is exactly the kind of problem a growing show wants to have, but it's a problem nonetheless. The Clarion Inn hotel attached to our show venue is FULL for Saturday night 9/14. There may be a few rooms left for Friday 9/13, but that doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you're staying the weekend. We have arranged a small room block at the Comfort Suites in Oak Brook Terrace, a short drive away from our hotel (sadly there was nothing nearby that was walkable). Room rates are the same ($109/night) and we have King and Double rooms reserved from Thursday through Sunday nights. More information and a booking link can be found here: http://vcfmw.org/hotel.html We recommend checking with the host hotel (Clarion Inn, info at the link) first in case a cancellation freed up a room before booking with Comfort Suites. And remember - the deadline to book a room is August 24th. They're not going to let us slide! Looking forward to seeing everyone there in September! -jt

6 years, 8 months

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What's a half meg on the Atari800 good for under

by technoid6502＠gmail.com

Good question. There are upgrades up to 4mb, but ones for the 800 most common range from 64k to 1088k. A pair of really common and several less common standards have existed for many years. This one conforms to the Axlon standard, which is among the oldest for the Atari's. It switches the banks in 32k increments. The other standard was set by Atari on the introduction of the 130xe; that switches in 16k increments. Aside from a ramdisk, what can you do with it? My primary reason for building the thing is to gain memory for the Spartados X operating system, which benefits greatly from more memory (256k is the sweet spot). SDX barely runs on 48k ram and the SIDE driver does not load. SIDE2 is a cartridge for the machine that grafts a CF slot on and allows it to act as a hard disk under SDX. This is of course very useful. Here's a link to the Spartados X cooperative: http://sdx.atari8.info/index.php The Side2 cart, in addition to hosting Spartados X and the CF hard disk controller and firmware, also hosts a real-time clock, and can carry several other programs which must be hosted by hardware because of thier bank-selecting rom design, such as Basic XL, Basic XE... Spartados is a 256k bank-selected cartridge itself. Released in 1988 by ICD, Spartados X is a surprisingly rich disk operating system which adds a host of features not available on other 8-bit machines. IO redirection and batch processing, memory management, paths of various sorts... Here's a link to the Side2 cart, which comes with the SDX firmware pre- loaded: https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=55 Being able to load the SIDE driver and access the CF slot as a hard disk is my primary purpose. The machine will have ample memory to run real programs while running SDX, which is also very important. Best, Jeff On Fri, 2019-08-02 at 13:06 -0500, Eric Christopherson wrote: > On Fri, Aug 2, 2019 at 12:39 PM Jeffrey S. Worley via cctalk < > cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > > I'm building as many as ten of a 512k Axlon compatible memory board > > for > > > > the Atari 800 (not xl) computer. If you'd like to have one, please > > > > message me and let me know so I can reserve one for you. > > > > > > > > I'm not sure of my cost at the moment, but it is something on the > > order > > > > of $30.00 per board. I'll tot things up when I get around to it, > > but > > > > it will probably come out to less. So for parts and shipping, you > > can > > > > have one. Here's a photo of the completed board: > > > > > > > > https://atariage.com/forums/topic/256464-designing-an-axlon-compatible-boar… > > > > > > > > https://atariage.com/forums/topic/256464-designing-an-axlon-compatible-boar… > > > > > > > > I've got all the parts on order but the boards, for which I'm > > waiting > > > > for a quote. I gather the boards are about $10.00 each but am not > > > > counting my chickens quite yet. > > > > > > > > Best, > > > > > > > > Technoid Mutant > > Hi, Technoid! > > I'm certainly interested. I didn't know 512KB was possible in the > original 800. Other than RAM disks, do you know what sorts of things > it would let me do? > >

6 years, 8 months

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512k SRAM for Atari 800 computer

by technoid6502＠gmail.com

I'm building as many as ten of a 512k Axlon compatible memory board for the Atari 800 (not xl) computer. If you'd like to have one, please message me and let me know so I can reserve one for you. I'm not sure of my cost at the moment, but it is something on the order of $30.00 per board. I'll tot things up when I get around to it, but it will probably come out to less. So for parts and shipping, you can have one. Here's a photo of the completed board: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/256464-designing-an-axlon-compatible-boar… https://atariage.com/forums/topic/256464-designing-an-axlon-compatible-boar… I've got all the parts on order but the boards, for which I'm waiting for a quote. I gather the boards are about $10.00 each but am not counting my chickens quite yet. Best, Technoid Mutant

6 years, 8 months

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Announcing Cadetwriter

by dave＠babcock-family.org

To all, After several more months of delays - personal and project issues - Cadetwriter is being released.? [Cadetwriter is the official name of our general-purpose, Wheelwriter-based Computer Terminal.]? The public unveiling will be at this weekend's VCF West at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Attached is a flyer on the device. At the show we'll be demonstrating the Cadetwriter connected to: ??? ??? *? IBM 1620 Jr. via USB & proprietary protocol ??? ??? *? ALTAIR 8800 replica (Chris Davis) via RS-232 running OS/8 ??? ??? *? PiDP-8/I replica (Oscar Vermeulen) via USB running MITS Extended 16K BASIC (Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Monte Davidoff) ??? ??? *? Windows laptop via USB and a USB->RS-232 adapter Our plan for the show is to invite anyone with a computer having an RS-232 or USB port to try out Cadetwriter with their computer. We're hoping for a lot of takers We're finishing getting the documentation written or updated and everything uploaded to GitHub.? It should all be available next week. We appreciate your patience. Thanks, IBM 1620 Jr. Team

6 years, 8 months

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looking for a 7-track reel tape controller

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello list, I have been looking for years for a q-bus or unibus-based disk controller that is able to handle 7-track drives (NRZI encoding). So far, I only located one controller type which handles that: Dilog DQ120 or DU120 and I never came across any. Any other suggestions regarding controller types?Contact me off-list if you are happy to part any 7-track tape controller with me. That would be very much appreciated :) Best regards,Pierre -----------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.digitalheritage.de

6 years, 8 months

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A few VT-320 and keyboard questions

by athornton＠gmail.com

I just picked up a VT-320, with no keyboard. I have some questions: 1) the price on DEC keyboards, at least on eBay, is insane. Does anyone have a VT-320 keyboard they?d be willing to let go cheaply? 2) ?or, failing that, I found a posting of someone who?d done an Arduino-based key code mapper that let him use a PS/2 (or maybe it was an AT) keyboard as a replacement. The link to the actual project was dead, though. Anyone have schematic and source code for such a project? 3) If anyone's got a DB-9-or-25-to-MMP cable you?d sell cheap, I?d be happy to buy it instead or making my own. OK, that?s not really a question. There?s a blank insert where the 25-pin connector usually is; was that a ?feature? of the B2 model? (that?s a question but not much of one) ?aaaaand while I?m here, another question. 4) I have a number of Apple IIs and one III that have sustained some keyboard damage. Where can I get/what is the name of the little plus-shaped keyboard stems for those? If I had a couple dozen that would be most helpful. Adam

6 years, 8 months

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Your Heatkkit EC-1 analog computer

by rdawson16＠hotmail.com

Hi Jeff, I have hundreds of crystals here for you, and built a crystal tester (Jim Williams app note) https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/a… AN12 - Circuit Techniques for Clock Sources<https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/a…> Application Note 12 AN12-3 an12fa Figures 4a and 4b use another comparator based approach. In Figure 4a, the LT1016 comparator is set up with DC www.analog.com Brian and I are keen on making a new analog computer, possibly a kit. All new things, like the Analog Devices multipliers, better op amps etc, and possibly a USB, MIDI interface. Let us know how you come along on your bringup of the EC-1. The Heath manuals are the best in analog computing, on actual hardware. Randy

6 years, 8 months

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Ill NLS MS-230

by brain＠jbrain.com

I have an ill NLS MS-230 Miniscope.? Is there anyone on list that might be interested in getting it running for me?? I'm willing pay for the privilege.? I'd like to see the unit working, but I have no experience with analog scopes, and I'd rather just entrust it to someone who can see it to success.? I did replace the batteries and let it charge for quite a while.? The red LED lights up on the front when on, but no sign of a trace, even when fed a known good 1kHz wave.? The CRT does not appear to be on. Anyone a fan of these units and might be interested in taking a look? Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

6 years, 8 months

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Final reminder, VCF West

by cctalk＠snarc.net

VCF West is this weekend at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. All of the details (and online ticket sales) are at http://vcfed.org/vcfwest. -Evan K.

6 years, 8 months

1
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Resurrecting integrated circuits by cooking them.

by technoid6502＠gmail.com

Yesterday evening, in the process of refurbishing five very badly treated Atari 800 computers I had a hunch and subjected a failed Pokey chip (Atari Part CO12294 Wikki link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POKEY ) to high heat by way of the barrel of my soldering iron until saliva evaporated from it in about 1 second. The chip, which did not work before in any of the machines now works perfectly. Pokey (see wikki link) is common to all Atari 8-bit computers and common in many Atari coinop video game systems. These chips are becoming scarce, so much so there is a sort of replacement being manufactured https://hotrodarcade.com/products/pokeyone-atari-pokey-chip-replacement-for… . The replacement Pokey only emulates the audio portion of the original chip, leaving the PotKEY part unimplemented. Pokey gets its name from Potentiometer Keyboard. It also handles the Atari SIO peripheral signals, so without those an Atari computer cannot use standard peripherals like serial disk drives, and other common interfaces. Thus, for Atari computers a true Pokey is a must. I stumbled upon a fix for this one and wonder if I reinvented the wheel or if this information may be of use to the group in treating other sorts of chips. Reflowing is a treatment for a lot of hardware these days and generally regarded as a hack which won't last. As modern hardware, CPU's and video chips in particular run very hot, I can see how this might be, but Pokey and most of the stuff we work with don't have this environmental restriction. Most of our gear runs at 40 degrees centigrade or lower. So I'm guessing the problem with my disused chip was oxidation within the package and that cooking the chip a bit cleaned things up? Any advise or observations would be appreciated. I tried this on another chip the same evening, an Antic. The Antic DID work for a second or two, whereas it had before given no signs of life, but then returned to its failed state. Best, Jeff (Technoid Mutant)

6 years, 8 months

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