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

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Very nice presentation by Frank Griesshammer on the subject of the Hershey Fonts: https://vimeo.com/153653610 He does a superb job explaining how a font invented in 1967 by a mathematical physicist at a US Weapons Lab became essential for the last 40 years of technical writing. And is also an interesting font for actual font designers today :-) Tim N3QE [https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVP.0QZVssVrJ4Ynm3h5opaOeAEsCo&pid=Api]<https://vimeo.com/153653610> Frank Grie?hammer ? The Hershey Fonts<https://vimeo.com/153653610> vimeo.com Recorded during TypeCon2015: Condensed in Denver, Colorado In 1967, Dr. A.V. Hershey was working at the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory in Virginia; on some of the ...

8 years

1
0
0 0

Unix-PC

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

Well, I don't know what happened to everybody who wanted it but that Unix-PC is still sitting here and it needs to go.? One more offer before I scrap it.? Needs to be someone who can pick it up real soon. bill

8 years

6
7
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Amusing IBM test system model

by aek＠bitsavers.org

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132578314834 it appears IBM built a test system for NASA with an HP 1000 and 7900 disk in it

8 years

1
0
0 0

Toshiba Laptop needing new home

by mtapley＠swri.edu

All, in San Antonio (Texas), I have a Toshiba Satellite 2065CDS/4.3 laptop, Model number PRS206U-A, whose owner wants to give or throw it away (preferred give). It has a 16-bit ethernet card including dongle and driver floppy, annoying eraser-head cursor control with replacement eraser heads, USB port, 3.5? floppy, CD drive. Starts up to Toshiba screen and shows 160 MBytes of RAM. I watched it boot to Win98 once and fail to boot many times. I think the owner had it dual-booting to Linux as well, but he is having the disk wiped to make sure no personal information goes with it. The battery kept it running for only about 15 seconds on power-disconnect after being plugged in (running) for an hour or two, so probably not much battery life available. I think the freshly-cleaned hard drive has ~ 4 GB of space, don?t know for sure about that. Let me know if you are interested; I?ll forward inquiries to the owner as I get them. - Mark 210-522-6025 office 210-379-4635 cell

8 years

1
0
0 0

5.25- inch alignment disk needed

by spacewar＠gmail.com

I find myself in need of a 5.25-inch alignment disk. A few years ago someone mentioned a source for those, but I can't seem to find it. Is there still a source, or does anyone have one they'd be willing to sell? I could use an 8-inch alignment disk also, but don't need that as urgently.

8 years

4
3
0 0

P112

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

It's not really Classic Hardware, but it does run some pretty classic OSes.? Anybody here working with the P112?? I have had a couple for ages but never had time to play with them.? I see them now as a possible way to manipulate floppies (including 8") from classic systems so I decided to give it a try.? Problem is, it won't boot anything.? Not the disk that came with it and none of the images I got off the web. Anybody here know anything about them? bill

8 years

8
19
0 0

Vintage computing themed domain names for sale

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Hello Folks. I am selling the following two vintage computing themed domain names: vintage-computing.com paleocomputing.com Make an offer on either. Please of course reply directly to me if interested. Thanks! Sellam

8 years

1
0
0 0

SGI SN-921 dial box working! (was Re: Seeking software for SGI/Sun dial box)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Sun, Apr 8, 2018 at 5:01 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 3:48 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: >> SN-921 >> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Sgi_dialbox_sn-921_fron… > >>>>> https://github.com/hanshuebner/sgi-dialbox-usb/blob/master/dialbox.py >> >> I'm going to test this code out when I have a dialbox in hand. > > I have now tried this and am not having success. I have a traffic > light on the serial cable and I know I'm getting chars out of the host > and that I don't have TxD and RxD swapped. I'm not seeing any > responses from the dial box and the python script does all the > initialization and just sits there. Frobbing the knobs produces no > blinks on the traffic light and no text from the script. OK. I got the script working and two things were impediments: 1) One of the SN-921 pinouts running around on the 'net is incorrect, as I posted. The *correct* place for the ground is DE-9 pin 7. I was apparently getting enough of a parasitic ground to get chars *from* the SN-921 but not *into* the SN-921. As it turns out, it appears the SN-921 as set up for the SGI is mute except for a single status success byte 0x20. If you send it an INIT command (also 0x20), it will respond with its success after a fraction of a second, which leads to another problem... 2) The python script dialbox.py slams the init code and a command to set the dials to auto-report all at once, before the SN-921 has a chance to initialize. So to fix that, I added a few extra lines to send the 0x20 INIT command, pause, check for a 0x20 response (INIT GOOD) _then_ send the AUTO command (0x50 0x00 0xFF), which sets all 8 dials (one bit per dial) to send back a 3-byte packet when twisted. With the custom serial cable fixed and the init sequence fixed in the Python script, I'm now getting the right data stream when I twist any of the knobs. I did get a copy of dialbox.c from http://www.geocities.ws/joekrahn/dialbox.tgz Jim Stephens tracked down that there was a massive GeoCities scan done in 2009 and the file I was looking for happened to be scooped up then. There are a number of dial box and button box command sets in that code which reveals some of the more complex behavior possible. Here's a slice of the command byte definitions... #define DIAL_INITIALIZE 0x20 #define DIAL_SET_AUTO_DIALS 0x50 #define DIAL_SET_AUTO_DELTA_DIALS 0x51 #define DIAL_SET_FILTER 0x53 #define DIAL_SET_TEXT 0x61 #define DIAL_SET_BUTTONS_MOM_TYPE 0x71 #define DIAL_SET_AUTO_MOM_BUTTONS 0x73 #define DIAL_SET_LEDS 0x75 #define DIAL_SET_ALL_LEDS 0x4b It should be possible to write up a protocol definition from studying the code. I do not have one of these button boxes so I can't validate its behavior. -ethan

8 years

1
0
0 0

The Famous Computer Cafe

by dmonnens＠gmail.com

Hello, I am trying to find anyone who has recordings of a radio program >from 1982-1986 called The Famous Computer Cafe. This was broadcast on KIEV in Glendale, KFOX in Redondo Beach, and NPR through Santa Monica College (here in 1984-1985). The program contained numerous interviews with all the movers and shakers of computers and software during that period, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Jack Tramiel. As such, this show is of high historical importance. There was somewhere between 100 and 200 episodes all told. I understand it was an extremely popular program among hobbyists at the time, so was hoping someone from the list might have recordings. If you have any recordings or know someone who might, please let me know! I have contacted the show's hosts, but we have only been able to locate a handful of recordings. Thank you! -- Devin Monnens www.deserthat.com The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

8 years

1
0
0 0

Burroughs L8000 San Antonio TX

by billdegnan＠gmail.com

Anyone interested in buying a Burroughs L8000, currently San Antonio TX? If so, contact me via http://www.vintagecomputer.net/contact.cfm and I will put you in touch with the person who contacted me. I already have two or three of these so....just kidding not personally interested in this. Bill

8 years

1
0
0 0

Seeking software for SGI/Sun dial box (was Re: IBM 6094-010 "Dials" protocol?)

by Richard.Sheppard＠telus.com

On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 3:48 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com<http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctalk>> wrote: > SN-921 > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Sgi_dialbox_sn-921_fron… > > DANAHER CONTROLS Dials DLS80-1022 > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/SGI_dialbox_DLS80-1022_… >>>> https://github.com/hanshuebner/sgi-dialbox-usb/blob/master/dialbox.py > > I'm going to test this code out when I have a dialbox in hand. The Solaris CDs used to have /usr/demo/DIALBOX (and BUTTONBOX) with source code. I think it was meant for xview though so you'd need to pick out the useful bits (if any). Richard Sheppard

8 years

1
0
0 0

SGI Indigo Power Supply Pinout?

by ethan＠757.org

Howdy, Working on fixing an old SGI Indigo of mine in prep for VCF East. The issue is once any sort of IRIX kernel is running, it craps out WARNING: Power Failure Detected at a high rate. The SGI Indigo and a few other similar models could push out that error on the local console and perhaps network inbetween the time that AC power was lost going into the power supply and the power supply had discharged enough for system to die. Pretty impressive and strange! I was amazed when I first noticed it, of course now it has come back to haunt me. I have replaced some of the electrolytic caps in the power supply. But in the spirit of troubleshooting, does anyone have any sort of schematics or documentation on the power supply, or the midplane? This is a R4000 Indigo and has the higher output power supply to support bigger CPU and graphics. In the meantime I'm working to document what I can about the power connector and will publish, but I can only get so far without other insight. Thanks -- : Ethan O'Toole

8 years

2
2
0 0

Amust Executive up for auction

by trash80＠internode.on.net

Not sure if anyone in the Melbourne (Victoria, Australia) might be interested in this. I only just found about it from a friend of mine in Melbourne. The very famous (well famous here anyway) Kerleys Auction (http://www.kerleys.net.au) in Geelong have listed an Amust Executive computer in tomorrows (10 April) auction. http://www.kerleys.net.au/current-auction Its Lot 177 in the tomorrow's catalogue: http://www.kerleys.net.au/images/auctions/10-04-2018/CAT10-04-2018.PDF >From the only photo it looks in reasonably good condition. http://www.kerleys.net.au/images/auctions/10-04-2018/1-280/DSCN3459.JPG I believe Kerleys will take bids before the auction but not sure of terms - number is (03) 5223 1533 It's not something I'd like in my collection but may interest another Australian collector. Kevin Parker P: 0418 815 527

8 years

2
2
0 0

Seeking software for SGI/Sun dial box (was Re: IBM 6094-010 "Dials" protocol?)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 3:48 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote: > SN-921 > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Sgi_dialbox_sn-921_fron… > > DANAHER CONTROLS Dials DLS80-1022 > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/SGI_dialbox_DLS80-1022_… >>>> https://github.com/hanshuebner/sgi-dialbox-usb/blob/master/dialbox.py > > I'm going to test this code out when I have a dialbox in hand. I have now tried this and am not having success. I have a traffic light on the serial cable and I know I'm getting chars out of the host and that I don't have TxD and RxD swapped. I'm not seeing any responses from the dial box and the python script does all the initialization and just sits there. Frobbing the knobs produces no blinks on the traffic light and no text from the script. So... I'm digging deeper and I've found two references to some code >from around 2002 that can interact with dialboxes, but the sites are no longer up and the internet archive did not save the binary archive files. I'm asking here in the hope that someone saved copies 10+ years ago when these files were still being served... In the following thread on the ccp4bb list, there is a mention of these archives... [ in http://www.ysbl.york.ac.uk/ccp4bb/2003/msg00204.html ] "I'm using SGI dialbox (Part# DLS80-1022) with XFree86 4.0.x under linux, with modified version of the Joe Krahn's dialbox driver. You can get the modified version from http://www.biochem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~ishitani/dialbox/dialbox-new.tar.gz and the original version from http://www.geocities.com/joekrahn/ " So I'm looking for: dialbox-new.tar.gz dialbox.tgz dials.c Apparently Joe Krahn hasn't done much with Open Source in 15 years because looking for him has not been fruitful. Thanks for any bits! -ethan

8 years

2
4
0 0

Need help identifying Timex Sinclair ZX81 "Programmer Console" on eBay

by dan＠quakka.com

Hi everyone, I collect Timex Sinclair / ZX81 gear, but have never seen one of these before: https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vtg-TIMEX-SINCLAIR-ZX81-Computer-PROGRAMMER-C… <https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vtg-TIMEX-SINCLAIR-ZX81-Computer-PROGRAMMER-C…> Do any of you recognize it? Can you explain its purpose, please? Cheers, -Dan

8 years

3
2
0 0

alpha 3000-400S parts for sale

by useddec＠gmail.com

If interested, please contact me off list. Thanks, Paul

8 years

1
0
0 0

P112

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

I have a operational P112 with 3.5" floppies, GIDE/CF and CD-ROM. Do you know which ROM you have installed?

8 years

1
0
0 0

SGI Indy power supply: identify this diode?

by pete＠dunnington.plus.com

After a recent power cut and a series of glitches as the power was restored, one of my Indys suffered a PSU failure. It's a Sony APS-81 171W unit, SGI P/N 060-0008-001. I've found half a dozen damaged parts, and I've identified a 150R 1W metal film resistor (R135), two trannies (Q105, a 2SC4304 and Q106, a 2SC2785) and a couple of small diodes. One of them (D116) appears to be a 6.2b2 (6.2V 1/2W) zener. The other one I'm not sure about. On the PCB it's labelled D113, and it's adjacent to the 2SC2785. It's very small, with a green band at the cathode end, and the legend "4B" in green - photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnt103/albums/72157667056183978 Oddly, another Sony PSU I looked at had a diode there that looked identical except it's marked "4A". I have an idea what it might be but if anyone actually knows what family or type/value this is, I'd be grateful for any insight. -- Pete Pete Turnbull

8 years

4
7
0 0

WeirdStuff going out of business

by aek＠bitsavers.org

Last Day is this Sunday http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?63045-WeirdStuff-is-going-out-of-… since I can't attach a picture here

8 years

22
27
0 0

8080/8085 Programming books available UK/EU

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

A few seminal 8085 programming books available please see album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rv7vy9eDrMfGK9gz2 Looking for ?25 including postage to the UK or ?20 plus postage elsewhere. Regards Mark

8 years

2
1
0 0

PDP Programming books for sale UK

by shadoooo＠gmail.com

Hello Mark, I sent you an email some hours ago about the books, not sure if it got lost in spam... I would buy them all. Thanks Andrea

8 years

1
0
0 0

RL01/RL02 emulator needed -- (was Many thanks to Glen's Vintage Computer Info)

by Flash688＠flying-disk.com

jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) wrote: > Err, which RLV11/RLV12 emulators are you seeing? I know of several RL02 > emulators - Reinhard Heuberger's, and another I can't immediately find my > saved info on - (and one crazy project that turned a real RL02 into a USB > device :-), but you still need an RLV11/12 controller. The only ones I can find now are the ones you mention. Yes, I too can't find my notes on the second one, whatever it is/was. I was *sure* that someone had made a Qbus emulator that used SD cards, but I simply can't find any mention of it now. Right now, it looks like Reinhard Heuberger's board is the best bet. I haven't checked with him yet to see if boards or kits are still available. If I could find a working TDL-12 I would jump on it in an instant. All the older ones (Dilog, etc.) appear to use ST-506 type drives, which introduces its own set of problems. Alan Frisbie

8 years

2
1
0 0

PDP Programming books for sale UK

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

Please see album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZztlMFCSoZcy2ZJz1 Looking for ?20 plus postage likely to be less than ?5 UK. Regards Mark

8 years

1
0
0 0

RL01/RL02 emulator needed -- (was Many thanks to Glen's Vintage Computer Info)

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Alan Frisbie > I need a controller that emulates the DEC RLV11/RLV12 and RL01/RL02 > drives. From my Google searching, I see a couple that use SD or similar > solid state devices. Err, which RLV11/RLV12 emulators are you seeing? I know of several RL02 emulators - Reinhard Heuberger's, and another I can't immediately find my saved info on - (and one crazy project that turned a real RL02 into a USB device :-), but you still need an RLV11/12 controller. Noel

8 years

1
0
0 0

WeirdStuff going out of business

by barythrin＠gmail.com

Wow. That's unfortunate. Only been in town twice but was definitely part of my scheduled geekdom tour. So any local stores left for that type of thing? Any word on why the closure? I've always seen a lot of folks in the store (well my 2 times) but i don't know how many purchased. null

8 years

1
0
0 0

eBay: Anyone need a DLV11-J?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Bill Gunshannon > Caution!! The DSD board has some broken chips and bent pins and all of > them look like they spent time in muddy water. Thanks for catching that. I looked at it, saw that it was a DLV11-J, which I didn't need, and so didn't look any harder. Noel

8 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

ISO: Corvus Concept parts

by derschjo＠gmail.com

I picked up a Corvus Concept CPU unit about a decade ago now, and I've yet to track down any other parts for it. Looking for keyboards, monitors, drives, peripherals software -- anything. If anyone's got any parts, please drop me a line.? Always wanted to see one run... Thanks, Josh

8 years, 1 month

2
2
0 0

eBay: Anyone need a DLV11-J?

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

This is listed under a useless title: https://www.ebay.com/itm/292503681011 But it's (currently) cheap (don't all bid against each other ;-). Noel

8 years, 1 month

3
2
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RL01/RL02 emulator needed -- (was Many thanks to Glen's Vintage Computer Info)

by Flash688＠flying-disk.com

"peter at rittwage.com" <peter at rittwage.com> wrote: > You don't want to try to repair the controller? There are some custom > IC's on there (it appears) but is largely off-the-shelf TTL... I'm > sure someone on the list has a lot of experience with these and could > repair it or help. Indeed, I DO want to repair it, but that is a project for another day. Right now I need to solve the need for an RL02 emulator, which will let me quickly solve the current problem. Again, does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with any of the RL02 emulators our there? Thanks, Alan Frisbie

8 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

Apple B&W CRT monitor popping and clicking

by silvercreekvalley＠yahoo.com

Hi all, Recently booted up my B&W Powermac G3, all came up fine including the 17? CRT monitor. However after a second or so, the monitor gives a ?popping? sound and the image on the screen expands then shrinks. This repeats every few seconds. I?m guessing the monitor is on the way out - but as this is a complete B&W system - I wondered what the likely cause is? Thanks

8 years, 1 month

6
6
0 0

DEC DEREP repeater PSU

by binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com

Hi folks, Has anyone ever replaced the PSU in a DEREP with a more modern equivalent? The PSU is an ASTEC but as usual doesn?t have any markings for ratings or pinouts. I found the tech ref online but for PSU problems it just says ?replace? as I?d expect. Test LEDs on the unit itself (and the fuses) show +5 and +12 at 2A. This one suffered a bad heat-based death at some point after the fan seized? Cheers, -- adrian/witchy Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection? t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs <http://facebook.com/binarydinosaurs> w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk <http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/>

8 years, 1 month

1
0
0 0

DEC 3000 (alpha) faultfinding

by cctalk＠beyondthepale.ie

I've got a DEC 3000 model 300 and a couple of DEC 3000 model 600 alphas which failed some time ago and the recent Alphaservers thread has rekindled my interest in getting them working again. A couple of years ago, there was another thread "AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem" where the Alpha SROM mini console and various items of useful documentation were mentioned. I have now made up an adapter (cable and MAX232 line driver / receiver) as described in that thread to allow me to to talk to the the SROM mini console in my alphas and I am please to find they are all responsive at this level. I also found: "DEC 3000 300/400/500/600/700/800/900 AXP Models System Programmer's Manual Order Number: EK-D3SYS-PM. B01" (d3syspmb.pdf) which describes some of the internals of the machines in question. The mini console commands available on the model 300 are very limited compared to those in the documentation which targets a much later machine. However, it does have mt (memory test) which is not present on the model 600 for some reason. Results from this suggests that all 6 SIMMs present are bad in pretty much all locations. This seems a bit unlikely to me. Perhaps there is a failure in logic which causes the memory not to be accessed at all? Unfortunately, the manual does not seem to give any leads on how to diagnose this further. The em (examine memory) and dm (deposit memory) commands only accept 32 bit addresses meaning they cannot to be used to access input/output areas which require at least 33 bit addresses. However, a little experimentation led me to the existance of ei and di commands which can do this on the DEC 3000 machines and I found I can use di to update the diagnostic LEDs on the machines. The DEC 3000 600 machines both (usually) count down to F0 on their diagnostic LEDs and hang without producting any output on the main console. They do however produce output on the mini console - for example: DEC 3000 - M600 SROM 6.1 Powerup Sequence ff.fd.fb.fa.f9.f8.f7.f6.f5.f4.f3.f2.f1.f0. sysROM 00000033.000006f1 ioROM 00000033.00000162 MCRstat 11111111.808011c0 bnkSize 00000300.00000c01 memSize 000000c0.000000c0 However, they do not provide the SROM> prompt or accept mini console commands unless a I engineer another fault condition such as by pulling out one of the memory risers. I wonder if there is a jumper to enable mini console commands to be accepted without doing this? Looking around the system board, I see a pair of jumper pins labelled J9 hidden under the I/O board which looks like it could do this. Unfortunately, while there is legend on the PCB indicating the function of all other jumpers, there is none for J9 and it is not mentioned in the manual either. On the I/O board, there is one three pin jumper labelled simply "Off" and "On" and it is jumpered to the "On" side. It is close to the SCSI connector so I suspect it is more likely to be something to do with termination or termpwr than the mini console. One of the model 600s sometimes generates a machine check, like this: DEC 3000 - M600 SROM 6.1 Powerup Sequence ff.fd.fb.fa.f9.20. MCHK exc_addr 00000000.00001484 biu_stat 00000000.000022d8 dc_stat 00000000.00000007 fill_adr 00000001.f0080050 fill_syn 00000000.00000000 DataExp aaaaaaaa.aaaaaaaa DataRec aaaaaaaa.aaaaaaaa MCRstat 11111111.808011c0 bnkSize 00000300.00000c01 memSize 000000c0.000000c0 SROM> While this can be useful because it gets me to the SROM> prompt, I can't find anything in the manual which helps me diagnose what might be causing this. The meaning of the contents of biu_stat might be a useful start. The 600 machines have a socketed 27C512 EPROM. I assume this must be the SROM (although I can't see what is serial about it) as the machines fail to update the diagnostic LEDs or write to the mini console if it is removed. I dumped the two EPROMs and compared them and they are identical. However, I can't see any ASCII strings in them. Perhaps the bits are not used in the standard order? The manual suggests that there are 8 different 8KB SROM images present and those other than the "standard" one may be used for testing and diagnostics by setting jumpers. Unfortunatly, there is no further information about these images. The manual hints that the System ROM (SYSROM) (actually an FEPROM) is located at 1 E000 0000 to 1 E003 FFFF, however, looking at the beginning of this area with ei suggests it is in fact the IOROM (also an FEPROM). Hunting around some more, it seems that setting bit 9 of the System Support Register at 1 E004 0100 brings in the SYSROM instead (although the manual suggests bit 7 is also involved which seems unlikely as this bit is one of the diagnostic LEDs). The format of the headers in the SYSROM and IOROM do not exactly match the format given in the manual but they are "close". I wonder if this might be my problem or if the manual is incorrect. If anyone else has a 3000 600, could they take a peek at their SYSROM and maybe we could compare notes? It may be possible to map the SYSROM from a running operating system but as none of my 3000 machines run right now, I am not in a position to try this myself. Regards, Peter Coghlan.

8 years, 1 month

4
12
0 0

RL01/RL02 emulator needed -- (was Many thanks to Glen's Vintage Computer Info)

by Flash688＠flying-disk.com

Several days ago I wrote about my joy of finding a TDL-12 disk controller, emulating four DEC RL02 drives and using a SCSI drive. Sadly, I discovered that the controller is a dead as a doornail. It doesn't respond to any bus address at all. So, I'm back to my original quest: I need a controller that emulates the DEC RLV11/RLV12 and RL01/RL02 drives. From my Google searching, I see a couple that use SD or similar solid state devices. Does anyone here have any direct experience (good or bad) with any of these emulators? I don't mind spending money for a good solution. Thanks, Alan Frisbie

8 years, 1 month

3
2
0 0

PATA hard disks, anyone?

by decguy＠songdog.eskimo.com

The new sysadmin at work is clearing out closets full of junk^H^H^H^H cool old stuff accumulated by the previous sysadmin. There's a big carton full of PATA hard disks. Most of them are in the 4.3 GB - 20 GB range, a few larger, a few smaller. Anyone have any use for these? You can have them for the cost of shipping, or free for local pickup in Bothell, WA. They're going to be recycled as scrap if I don't find a home for them.

8 years, 1 month

21
46
0 0

Instruction video on laserdisk

by ed＠groenenberg.net

Today I received a PDP-11 instruction video on a laser disk, part 3 & 4. The disk partno. is EY-5537E-V2-0001, the title says 'Introduction to the PDP-11, Internal use Only, (c) 1988' Besides that, no indication if the video stream is NTSC or PAL. Anybody have a clou? I want to have the disk read and put the video on youtube eventually. Ed -- Ik email, dus ik besta.

8 years, 1 month

4
4
0 0

Software for AN/UGC-144 Communications Terminal?

by nf6x＠nf6x.net

I posted this originally on the ArmyRadios mailing list, but I think it's just computery enough that it may be of interest here, too. And maybe somebody here even has the answers to my questions! I just got an AN/UGC-144 communications terminal. It looks unused, and it came with cables and manuals (-12 and -30, but not including schematic diagrams or component-level details). It powers up, but fails to boot from its internal hard drive. The screen has some bad rows and columns, and the gas spring that supports the display needs to be replaced. I shared a bunch of pictures on Twitter today as I unpacked it and started playing with it, in this thread: https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/980174491673178112 Here are direct links to some of the more interesting pictures in that long thread: https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/980198067767947264 https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/980202029766230016 https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/980263764325941249 https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/980302909165338624 I haven't found very much about the terminal online yet, and I expect that I have a long road ahead of me as I try to fix the display and see if anything can be recovered from the hard drive. If the original software isn't present on the hard drive and recoverable, then this may be a great big doorstop! But it may also be a fun reverse-engineering project. I haven't dug into it deeply enough yet to determine whether it's built around an embedded PC-clone architecture or is something completely custom. In any case, I'll naturally want to try to dump and disassemble any ROMs I find inside of it. The CAGE code is for Sypris Electronics, and the boot screen shows a Honeywell copyright notice. I found that it tried to access a blank floppy diskette at boot time in the right drive, but I didn't have an MS-DOS boot diskette handy at the moment to see if it could boot from it. I'll give that a try when I have a chance... but probably after Easter. Have any software diskettes, programs, disk images, etc. for this terminal made it out into the wild? I presume that there were boot and installation diskettes that were used for hard drive formatting and software installation, and I would really love to get my hands on anything like that... especially if it turns out the the hard drive in my terminal is blank and/or dead. I'll be satisfied if I can use this rig as a dumb terminal for RTTY use, and even happier if I can do anything fancier with it. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net> http://www.nf6x.net/

8 years, 1 month

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DEC BA213 and BA213 S-boxes?

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

Hi, All, Watching some of the recent traffic about what newer Qbus boards will and won't work with 2.11BSD, I've remembered a thing I was once looking for. Back when I did DEC hardware for a living, we stopped buying new stuff after we got a MicroVAX-II. As such, I have plenty of LSI-11 to KA630 parts but very little from after that era. I do happen to have 2-3 boards with S-box handles including a KDF-11 CPU and a SCSI card, a great start to a system. What I don't have is the enclosure. I have a BA123 "World Box" and it's great. I know a BA213 is roughly the same size, but I've never had one. The BA215 looks more interesting to me as a match for size and power requirements (1 PSU and 6 slots, half the BA213) but I've never even seen a BA215. Anyone here have much experience with the BA215? Any "gotchas"? So far, from my looking on eBay, I think I spotted one loaded as a VAX. I'm more interested in setting mine up as a PDP-11, so the VAX end of one is not exactly a selling point to me. An empty box would do just as nicely. I'd say 80% of my Qbus work has been with two boxes, the BA-11N and the BA-23, thus all the S-box questions. Thanks for any tips, tidbits and stories. -ethan

8 years, 1 month

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DEC 3000 (alpha) faultfinding

by cruff＠ruffspot.net

According to the 21066 HRM, the processor loads its initial I-stream from the SROM. All Icache bits are loaded from the SROM, including the cache block metadata. The blocks are loaded in sequential order starting with block 0 and ending with block 255. For the 20166, the Icache is loaded LSB first filling from left to right (i.e. bit 0 of LW0 will be the first bit loaded). This is the resulting order of each cache block: BHT LW7 LW5 LW3 LW1 V ASM ASN TAG LW6 LW4 LW2 LW0 I thought I had some code do unmultiplex each bit stream from an SROM image and then reconstruct the resulting memory image, but I can't find it or I just thought about doing that.

8 years, 1 month

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Looking for opinions...

by useddec＠gmail.com

There are probably no perfect answers to this problem. I am looking for opinions, not criticism. I do not want to start arguments, nor get anyone here, especially Jay, pissed off. I found a stack of DEC microfiche a few nights ago. It's probably about 12 inches tall, and contains PM Procedures, IPBs, Manuals, Tech Info, and several type of Logistics, BOMs, vendors, etc which I will deal with later. Most of it is "company confidential", not that it matters anymore. The bulk of my microfiche is still missing. Several months ago there was a discussion here about breaking up sets. this is not a "set". It is made up of bunches found in different places at different times. I'm guessing a "set" of this would be an inch or two thick. My short list of options for disposal are as follows in order of current preference are: 1 Sort to get several sizable sets, sell the rest as partials. A LOT of sorting 2 Take requests to cherry pick, and sell as few smaller sets. Still a LOT of sorting. 3 Call Al. Oh, he gets a crack at whatever he needs anyway. 4 Sell it as a lot 5 Sell on e-pay. 6 Put it back where I found it. The first 3 are going to take a lot of time. Thanks in advance, Paul

8 years, 1 month

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Instruction video on laserdisk

by commodorejohn＠gmail.com

I don't know where you're located, but I'm in the US and have an NTSC Laserdisc player. If someone can hook me up with a video capture card, I'd be happy to copy the video for you.

8 years, 1 month

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How to set DZ11 line speeds under RT-11 V4?

by fritzm＠fritzm.org

Hi all, I've now had some success getting MU-BASIC configured and running on multiple terminals under RT-11 V4 in simh, with a hardware configuration similar to that in my real PDP-11/45. I have a serial console + DZ11 in both configurations. When SYSGEN-ing RT-11 V4, the only speed initialization options offered for the DZ11 lines are 110 or 300 baud. Is there a utility or incantation which will allow me to reconfigure these after RT-11 is booted? I scanned the RT-11 V4 docs last night, but came up empty (there is an "unsupported" SPEED.SAV in the distribution, but it looks like it only works with PDTs, and I couldn't find anything tucked away in the SET command or other places either). It looks like I could write some MACRO code to try and set this using the .MTGET/.MTSET programmed requests, but I thought I'd ask here in case there is some known prefab way to do this that I missed looking through the docs? cheers, --FritzM.

8 years, 1 month

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RL02 Question

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Aaron Jackson > I have tried three controllers, two r/w modules and two servo > controllers. I'm beginning to think the drive is fine and there is a > problem with the RLV21 controller. Err, think you mean RLV12 QBUS controller board, right? Anyway, you've already tried ("three controllers") swapping that out? If you have, perhaps there's a problem with a cable and/or the terminator? However, at this point, sub-system swapping is probably not going to be the best way to make progress. I think you're going to have to actually debug the problem; i.e. dive in and work out what's happening wrong, and why, and trace it back to the origin. Luckily, for this generation (and before), DEC produced wonderful technical manuals, which go into full detail of how the thing works. With that in hand, the investigative process is a lot easier; you don't have to work out how the thihg works by looking at the prints, it's all laid out in detail. And tech manuals for both the RL02 drive and RLV12 controller (EK-RLV12-TD-001) are available online, as are the prints (MP01282 for the RLV12). So, I'd sit down with the RLV12 tech man and read through the section on the drive<->controller bus (section 3.3). Then start looking at what the two are saying to each other on the bus, and figure out what's actually going wrong. >From there, you'll know where the source of the problem is, and can chase it further. I know this sounds like it would be time-consuming, but when you think about the time/energy you've already put into swapping things around, chasing this problem, it won't be. Noel

8 years, 1 month

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towards a working PDP: Anyone has a PDP 11/35 or PDP11/40 panel for $$$ to offer?

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello all, As I never came across a complete unit of an early PDP-11 with lights-and-switches console, I decided 5-6 years ago to figure out, if I can't build one of out of different parts. It seemed possible to get there if I focus on parts for a 11/35 or 11/40. 5 years ago, I came accross a backplane for such as system. Two years later, I was lucky to purchase an almost complete board set (one board missing, the M7232) from another classic computer enthusiast. Last year, I got a BA11-F chassis with the power supply. Over all those years, I looked out for a 11/35 or 11/40 panel (KY11-D), but I never was lucky to come accross one.On epay US, somebody is offering the plain PCB, but the seller says that he cannot ship to Europe :-( My frustation pushes me now to ask, if anybody on this list has such a panel with the electronics board that he would consider to offer me for some $$$ to help me building a complete machine? I don't mind the panel color, e.g., if it's from a front-end PDP-11 of some bigger DEC system, or if the silkscreen is damaged or even missing. It would be great for me to get an early PDP-11 up and running and connect it to peripherals such as an RK07 that are in my collection.? I am located in Germany. Contact me off-list, if you have something to offer, please.? Best regards,Pierre ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

8 years, 1 month

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Identifying an aluminum panel

by kylevowen＠gmail.com

I feel like I should know what this panel goes to...I found it in my garage when cleaning up. Any ideas? http://i.imgur.com/u4LMNqE.jpg Thanks, Kyle

8 years, 1 month

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break on pdp11 serial ports

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Sytse van Slooten > digging through the documentation of KL-11 and DL-11 I did find > references to generating a break (bit 0 in the XCSR). But not on how it > would be received. ... How did a DL-11 like interface signal the > reception of a break? As JohnW says, framing error. FWIW, the UART chips used back then actually produce a 'framing error' output, which is sent straight into that bit in the RCSR. > And how did the operating systems and software deal with it? Was it > actually used at all? Different systems used it for different things. Unix V6 used 'break' on dial-up lines as the signal to switch speeds when you first connected up - it would try 110, then 150, then 300. (Later this got extended, I expect - too lazy to check.) I see the hacked PWB1 Unix at MIT used it to send an interrupt: if (c & FRERR) { signal(tp->t_pgrp, SIGINT); return; } That's as far as my knowledge extends, others may know of more uses. Noel

8 years, 1 month

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CXY08 and DELQA compatible with 2.11bsd?

by bob＠jfcl.com

Does anyone know offhand if the CXY08 (M3119) and DELQA (M7516) work with 2.11bsd? I think the CXY08 has the same programmer interface as the DHV11, and I'm hoping it works with the 2.11bsd dh driver. Ditto for the DELQA and the qe driver. If somebody knows for sure, though, I'd appreciate it if you can save me the trouble of installing it all just to find out it doesn't work. Thanks, Bob

8 years, 1 month

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RL02 Question

by aaron＠aaronsplace.co.uk

Sorry to keep bothering you all with RL02 questions. I think I am nearly there. It seems my head cleaning in a warm bath of isopropyl alcohol was a success. I bought a tested RL02 pack and loaded it - no bad sounds, I can extend the heads all the way. So that's good. I have supposedly a working RL02K pack, and seemingly good heads. After I load a pack however, it goes into fault mode. Checking through the test points on my scope, there is no survo burst data until I push the heads 3-5mm further forward. So it seems to me that the heads are not loading far enough into the pack. I loosened the head alignment screws to move the heads all the way forward, tightened them back up, and tried loading the pack again. It stopped again, 3-5mm short of track 0. So moving the heads forward didn't seem to make any difference. I have tried a different control board, and read/write amplifier board, with no success. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there some sensor which I am not seeing? Thanks, Aaron. -- Aaron Jackson PhD Student, Computer Vision Laboratory, Uni of Nottingham http://aaronsplace.co.uk

8 years, 1 month

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RT-11 V4 MU-BASIC help

by fritzm＠fritzm.org

Hello all, I would like to try and get MU-BASIC working on my PDP-11/45, under RT-11 V4. The best bits I've been able to find to work with so far are the RK05 image here: http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/DEC/pdp11/discimages/rk05/rt11v4-mu… ...but I've not had much success getting this to work under simh. Using the 1USER.CNF configuration file in this image, no matter how I configure the machine, I get either traps, halts, or stack violations when issuing the first command in basic. Trying to rebuild MU-BASIC using the indirect files in the image results in a linker barf on some undefined symbols. Has anybody else here had much luck getting MU-BASIC up and running under RT-11 V4? Is there an alternate image or distribution kit somewhere that I could try to work with? thanks much, --FritzM.

8 years, 1 month

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TRS-80 Siting

by bill.gunshannon＠hotmail.com

I hate to suggest that people actually watch the garbage, but a recent Safe Auto Insurance commercial features a girl typing on a TRS-80 Model 4 with the badges removed. It's the one that starts out with a Disco skit.? The TRS-80 shows up in the very last part. bill Don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger. :-)

8 years, 1 month

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break on pdp11 serial ports

by cclist＠sytse.net

Hello all, I've been playing around with some ideas for designing some hardware to connect peripherals to an fpga for my vhdl pdp-11. One of the things that should definitely be on there, next to sd cards and leds... are some serial ports for console terminals etc. I've spent some time to create a prototype usb to serial thing that handles more than one port. Works kind of neat. While doing that, I stumbled on the concept of break. Up to now in all of the pdp2011 history I have ignored it, the serial port that sits at the pdp-11 side of things is about the most minimum that does the job. And that is good enough for a lot of things, actually - I didn't really miss a break signal so far. Anyway, digging through the documentation of KL-11 and DL-11 I did find references to generating a break (bit 0 in the XCSR). But not on how it would be received. That's where the questions start. How did a DL-11 like interface signal the reception of a break? And how did the operating systems and software deal with it? Was it actually used at all? I think to remember several occasions of impatiently banging the break key back in the day, but it is a bit fuzzy why (and if it had any result). anyway, I'm trying to judge whether it makes any sense to put effort into making the break thing work on my serial converter thing... any kind of input is greatly appreciated! cheers Sytse

8 years, 1 month

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