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

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

You poor folks, I'm definitely going to VCFe; I feel so sorry for those that will have to put up with me :) My vehicle/trailer arrangements are all made, and it turns out I'll have a bit more room than I was expecting. So... if anyone wants to arrange any trades in advance and is also going to VCFe, nows the time to let me know. I'm already getting all the stuff together that I'm taking so let me know asap if I may have something someone would want me to bring. Also, I'm getting into burlington late thursday and probably leaving right after VCF saturday. But is a group going out to dinner/bar/whatever friday night? If anyone wants, drop me a line. Regards, Jay West

21 years, 9 months

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Question about PDP8/a fans

by cheri-post＠web.de

Hello all, Yesterday, I brought my PDP8/a (with core memory) back to life, I got from our institute. It works, although the fans and the console panel (the plastic part, not the electronics) are missing. Now, what are the voltages of the fans ? I suppose that they're working with alternating current. They've to be replaced (somebody apparently "needed" them...). On the power supply, there is a dead thyristor/SCR in the 5 volt regulator circuit. As the machine works fine without it, I suppose that its function is to prevent high voltages, am I right ? So far, thanks alot for any help in advance ! Pierre ____________________________________________________ Aufnehmen, abschicken, nah sein - So einfach ist WEB.DE Video-Mail: http://freemail.web.de/?mc=021200

21 years, 9 months

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Lots of Tandy Pocket Computers ...

by evan947＠yahoo.com

Handhelds are all I collect, and I feel this seller's collection is overpriced. Tandy pocket computers aren't really that rare or historically significant. Well, the Sharp PC-1211 (which is what the Tandy PC-1 actually was) is significant, because it was the first of the category, tied with the Matsushita (Panasonic/Quasar) "Hand Held Computer" series. Alas, the PC-1 isn't part of this collection. I estimate the value of this collection at abut $200. - Evan People collecting Tandy Pocket Computers, this is your auction. The guy is asking $375 firm (and believe me, if I had $375, I would be buying this and not even telling you all about it ;-). http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3490262210 It's a very nice collection and almost all of them seem in great shape. I hope someone here can grab it. -- ---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser at floodgap.com -- The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman

21 years, 9 months

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Lots of Tandy Pocket Computers ...

by spectre＠floodgap.com

People collecting Tandy Pocket Computers, this is your auction. The guy is asking $375 firm (and believe me, if I had $375, I would be buying this and not even telling you all about it ;-). http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3490262210 It's a very nice collection and almost all of them seem in great shape. I hope someone here can grab it. -- ---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser(a)floodgap.com -- The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman -

21 years, 9 months

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ISI 68K Qbus board

by aek＠spies.com

I'd be curious to learn what devices their flavor of UNIX supports. Given the era, I'd almost expect MSCP disk and little else, but it'd be interesting to know. -- >from memory, their own ST506 ctlr emulating an RL02 and the usual MT/MS tape controllers. We had several at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee >From memory, they had Emulex discs with 80meg 2312s, Emulex DH and a magtape controller. Should check to see if they were finally thrown out >from storage.

21 years, 9 months

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DEC Rainbow 100 manuals?

by trestivo＠tarinc.com

Wai sun, I saw your post on classiccmp about Rainbow manuals. I may have some stuff at the warehouse if you're interested. I am the guy you bought some DEC stuff from on ebay (thom from tarinc). Let me know if you're still looking for the rainbow docs. I also have some rainbow hardware. Regards, Thom

21 years, 9 months

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"How to build a working digital computer" - Anyone with copies?

by jplist＠kiwigeek.com

A number of months ago a chap on the cctalk list mentioned this book (by Alcosser, Phillips and Wolk), and we started a correspondance whereby he took images of the pages and sent them to me. Unfortunately the chap appears to have disappeared (Presumably a busy fellow), and I only have a portion of the book. Does anyone else have this book and would be willing to image the pages (He used a digital camera, which worked fine as far as I could see) for me? The book is not easy to find, and being in the middle-of-nowhere Iowa, there aren't many obscure bookstores to find this sort of thing in. Not to mention the wealthy of resources on the ccmp list alone that might be able to help me. Thanks all; JP

21 years, 9 months

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NCD X Terminals

by auryn＠GCI-Net.com

Greetings! I am trying to finish documenting NCD keyboards and there's one area that has proven to be quite elusive... I don't expect to uncover any/many answers here, either -- but, it's worth a shot... Has anyone ever *seen* a "secure keyboard" for an NCD? Does it *look* the same as any other keyboard? If so, *which*? Or, was this an option that could be incorporated into *any* of the standard keyboards? It is my understanding that there were no other "magic keys" *added* to the keyboard to get these features; is that true? What was the procedure used to secure and unsecure the NCD? Presumably, the keyboard identified itself to the terminal in such a way that the terminal would add extra "security" options to the various menus. Were these user-visbile changes limited to the boot monitor? Or, were there consequences evident in NCDware? Are there any markings on the keyboard that identify it as such (e.g., a different model number, etc.)? Photos would be *excellent*! Extra credit question: what is the keyboard code that it delivers to the terminal to identify itself? Thanks! --don

21 years, 9 months

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ISI 68K Qbus board

by aek＠spies.com

> is there any documentation on the ISI board www.bitsavers.org/pdf/isi/IS68K_Qbus_Mar84.pdf if you decide not to keep it, please keep me in mind.

21 years, 9 months

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bitsavers mirror is up and in sync!

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 30, 11:23, Jay West wrote: > It was written..... > > rsync is great. wget works, too. > > Again, do not use rsync for mirroring static documents. It's whole claim to > fame is totally defeated in that environment. > > Rsync is an incredible tool. But it's NOT the tool for that job. Why not? If it's already got the document, it won't fetch it again. We use rsync for the official mirrors of PUPS for that reason. Most of the stuff doesn't change. Al's site is even better; it gets added to, but files rarely change. As I understand it, fmirror will be no more efficient for that, becasue it still has to fetch the whole of a new document, jusrt as rsync would. I wouldn't use wget, though; it's fine to do a one-off fetch, but not so good for keeping up to date on a regular basis (actually, it might work quite well for bitsavers, but for sites where files change). -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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bitsavers mirror is up and in sync!

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

The mirror at classiccmp of bitsavers.org is up and fully in sync with Al's site now. You can access it via http://www.classiccmp.org/bitsavers This mirror is updated once a day at 2am CDT. Jay --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

21 years, 9 months

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bitsavers mirror is up and in sync!

by cb＠mythtech.net

>Here "consumer" is $49.95 / month / computer. Usage of a router is >technically a violation, but is not being enforced. "business" is $279 / >month + $29 / month / additional computer . WOW... they really nail you on business in Long Island. CableVision in NJ (at least the Oakland office) does their business class cable internet thru a company called "Lightspeed" (maybe a division of Cablevision, I don't know). They want $99/mn for business class. However, that is per computer (as all cable companies like trying to do). I haven't read the TOS for them to see if that per computer is real, or just a scam. I have read the Cablevision TOS for residential ($50/mn) and although they plaster all over the place it is per computer, the actual TOS specifically states that it is per public IP and that you are in fact free to run a local NAT router and connect as many computers internally as you please. The only "penalty" is you void your rights to support until only one computer is connected again (so basically, they say go ahead and do it, but you are on your own if you do so). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 9 months

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Sony smc-70 computer

by hgieske＠seafarers.org

I have a working Sony SMC-70 computer with the manuals and many extras that needs a good home. hkagieske(a)nexet.net

21 years, 9 months

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Intriguing stuff on eBay

by jpl15＠panix.com

first this URL - for an obscure paper tape reader manual from 1976: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67387&item=510374866… and in the body of the text is this bit of Tantalization: "I will be auctioning a number of vintage computer related items (manuals, ads, hardware and software) over the next few weeks. They are all from the estate of an former JPL employee. I will gladly combine shipping if the items can be packed together. I will also allow pick up for certain items. Please email for details. " Might be worth an enquiry in the SoCal area Cheers John

21 years, 9 months

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Elan Eprom manual

by kbhipp＠hotmail.com

Tim A couple of months ago we exchanged emails concerning Elan EPROM programming manuals. Have you had any luck in obtaining a copy? I have not. I have been experimenting with the programmer and have not been very successful in programming a chip. I mainly wish to copy eproms. Have you been able to figure out your machine? Thanks Kevin B. Hipp

21 years, 9 months

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Mixer data sheet

by cronopien＠yahoo.de

Hi Cris, I read in a forum that you?ve a data sheet for the shure M68FCE ?mixer ?Do you still have the file? Would be great, I?d like to reuse this stuff Thanks a lot, Lorenz form Paris

21 years, 9 months

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Upgrading a KDF-11B ROMs for MSCP Bootstrap (disassembling a bootstrap ROM?)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 9:24, Robert Armstrong wrote: > I have a KDF-11B (that's the quad sized PDP-11/23+ CPU with onboard > serial ports and bootstrap/terminator) that's too old to know how to > boot from MSCP (e.g. RQDX/RD5x) drives. I know later versions of this > board could do that and I was planning to just upgrade the EPROMs on my > board, but all the later EPROM images are 8K bytes - my board has only > 2K (2716) 24 pin EPROMS. There's no way (at least no simple way) to > install 8K 28pin EPROMs. Actually, the EPROM sockets on my board are so > close together that I don't think I could get 28 pin devices to fit even > if I did "flying leads" for the extra 4 pins. > > Did the later KDF-11B boards really have 28 pin sockets? Is this > upgrade hopeless? (Bob and I exchanged some private email earlier, so he already knows part of this...) No, apparently they didn't; I checked the manuals. The later bootstraps used Motorola 24-pin 8Kx8 EPROMs (or potentially 8Kx8 mask ROMs, which have the same pinout, though I've never seen any DEC ones). The ones I've got are from a PDT, I think: they're type SCM90448C. To switch from 2Kx8 EPROMs to 8Kx8 EPROMs/mask ROMs, move the link from J23-J24 to J22-J23. Oh, and the DU: bootstrap that I posted to the list (following a post by Jerome) was on Monday June 14th, if you want to dig in the archive for "Re: Qbus hard disk controller". -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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Copy of NetWare 3.1x

by KParker＠workcover.com

I haven't looked but I thought a while ago I saw legacy stuff on Novell's site. +++++++++++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Manager WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 e: webmaster(a)workcover.com w: www.workcover.com +++++++++++++++++++ -----Original Message----- From: cctech-bounces(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Paul Berger Sent: Wednesday, 30 June 2004 3:28 AM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Copy of NetWare 3.1x Anybody have suggestions as to where I can find a copy of Netware 3.11 or 3.12 for a project I'm working on? Thanks and regards, Paul ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************

21 years, 9 months

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Buying in the States was Re: HP analyzer probes

by Innfogra＠aol.com

I would be happy to act as a trans-shipper. I am quite used to shipping internationally and really enjoy my international customers. I am also known for my packing. Paxton Astoria, Oregon 97103 USA Innfosale on eBay

21 years, 9 months

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Copy of NetWare 3.1x

by sanepsycho＠globaldialog.com

Anybody have suggestions as to where I can find a copy of Netware 3.11 or 3.12 for a project I'm working on? Thanks and regards, Paul

21 years, 9 months

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wang stuff

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Was googling for something else and came across this... thought I'd post for the wang people here... http://home.wxs.nl/~janvdv/wang/boards_and_manuals.htm --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

21 years, 9 months

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todays auction finds:A motorola qbus cpu ??

by aek＠spies.com

> So is this a motorola 68K Qbus board?? -- There were a few companies that made Qbus 68k systems, including Cadmus and Integrated Solutions, mostly running some version of Unix. The ISI board used a DART and CTC, and has a SUN style mmu.

21 years, 9 months

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HP-110 Plus laptop power supply specs?

by dr.ido＠bigpond.net.au

I picked a HP-110 Plus (the German version, if it matters) recently, but the power supply was nowhere to be found. Does anybody have the pinout and voltage/current requirements? Failing that, would it be safe to remove the battery and connect a 6VDC power supply to the battery terminals?

21 years, 9 months

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RK05 format program

by aek＠spies.com

http://home.t-online.de/home/bernhard.baehr/pdp8e/MAINDECs/MAINDEC-08-DHRKD… the writup is atŠ http://www.pdp8.net/pdp8cgi/query_docs/view.pl?id=82

21 years, 9 months

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RK05 format program

by tradde＠excite.com

Thanks for the info on formatting an RK05 disk. I guess I did not know this was possible. Does anyone happen to have the program to do the actual format? I use Dave Gesswein's dumprest to load code from a PC to my 8f. That program is not part of the package. I don't think I have ever seen it, but may have overlooked it while browsing the main pdp-8 sites. Thanks. It would be great if that's all I had to do to make the disks useful again. Tim R. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!

21 years, 9 months

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todays auction finds: A motorola qbus cpu ??

by tponsford＠theriver.com

Interesting day at the auction. The Data General Aviion 9500+ went for a whopping $17.00. The pallet of ultrasparc's went for $300, (way over my budget), but I walked out with a pdp11/73 in a BA11 case. And the mystery box. A black DEC BA11-m case with a dark camo-green panel and 3 qbus cards, a DRV11-b, a dual qbus card with two 20 pin berg connectors. No I.D. except for the stencil EXTREL 500869 C-81, I have no idea maybe a floppy controller or a serial card. And finally A Quad height Qbus board with a Motorolla MC68000l12 processor and a paper label at the bottom of the board that says: 590139 BUS CPU REV A EXTREL 2MHZ It also has 2 Zilog Z80 chips a Z80B CTC and a Z80 UART So is this a motorola 68K Qbus board?? Can Anybody enlighten me. Any documentation, a quick google search found very little .It probably was part of a instrument that was sold in another lot. I picked this one up as I spotted the ba-11 qbus box. Cheers Tom -- --- Please do not read this sig. If you have read this far, please unread back to the beginning.

21 years, 9 months

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Teaching assembler

by hansp＠citem.org

I just received a copy of Introduction to DECsystem-10 Assembler Language Programming by Michael Singer, published in 1978 by John Wiley ISBN : 0-471-03458-4 I would like to share some excerpts from the preface which resonate with the recent (long) discussion on teaching assembler language programming : With the widespread availability of higher level languages (such as ALGOL, COBOL FORTRAN, PL/1) for computer programming, as well as packages put out by the major computer manufacturers that, almost at the touch of a button, will perform a variety of complex tasks, it is reasonable to ask why any other than a relatively small number of specialists should trouble to learn assembler language programming at all. There are good practical, theoretical and aesthetic reasons for doing so. ... In our opinion, however, the most useful function served by a knowledge of assembler language programming is to give the user a much closer awareness of how the computer works, as well as inestimably greater control over its workings, than is feasible with a higher level language. In our experience, the higher level language user who is familiar with assembler language is a more efficient - even happier - programmer than one who is not. .... The notion that assembler language programming is esoteric and inherently difficult is, in our experience, very much mistaken. On the contrary, for many people it seems to be the natural way to start off with computers. ... All computers have a great deal in common, and much of what is said here applies equally well, with only minor changes, to many other machines. ... Octal and binary numbers must be introduced, and indeed a programmer should ideally be able to think with numbers in any base. Such a facility, however, may be acquired gradually, and so in Section 1.3 we go no further than is necessary to understand what follows. At no stage do we encourage the reader to gain skill in performing calculations in various bases, or in base conversion; in our experience, once the principles are understood, the student's time is better spent in learning how to pass such drudgery to the computer. .... Those readers who want to proceed further, particularly into systems programming, will be ready after reading this book to refer to the manuals. A warning should be given that much less care goes into [the] preparation of the descriptive literature than into the machine itself and its software, and the manuals contain many obscurities and errors. -- HansP

21 years, 9 months

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NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>Hi Dave Hi Dwight - seems we have several interests/machines in common. > I have a couple of Horizons and a older style box ( no wood ). I used to have an early Horizon in the blue metal (no wood) box - gave it away years ago, which I regret - would love to be able to build up another one, so if at some point you decide you have too many boxes (metal or wood) - please think of me - I still have a spare SD controller and a few other N* parts. >I've not had time to fiddle with these but I think the Horizons >use the double density controllers. Right now, I'm still fiddling >with the H8 machines but the N* was on my list of machines >to create a transfer program for. It sounds like you have already >done the work here. I wrote a transfer program for the N* SD controller in order to extract the disk images for my Altair simulator (I'm running the N* SD controller in the Altair) - All it needs is a bit of tweaking to allow it to handle DD disks. I've got tons of native software that I wrote for the N* system, and a few other utilities (the PC->N* binary input program I mentioned in previous post, as well as utilities to transfer files directly into and out of N* disk images) - I have no idea how many people are still into N*, but perhaps we should think about creating a pool of resources such as we have for the H8 - If enough people are interested. > None of my machine have been powered on since I got them ( at >least 2 or 3 years ). It'll be fun turning them on and watching >the smoke. I assume you know the right (and wrong) things to do - if not, contact me off-list and I can provide some pointers. > I think I have some disk with these but I've not looked to >see what I got. Projects, projects and more projects. I've got tons of SD software (much of it my own) - and I know a few people running DD horisons - I'm sure we can get you setup with usable software. Btw, in doing my Altair project, I contacted Dr. Charles Grant - the surviving founder of NorthStar, and he granted permission to distrubute and use all of the NorthStar material - I have the SD software and many of the N* manuals posted on my web site. It would be a fairly simple matter to tweak my Altair simulator into a Horizon simulator - mainly removing the front panel support and modifying the I/O map... Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 9 months

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HARD SECTORS on a PC? (was: NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Dave Dunfield" <dave04a(a)dunfield.com> > >At 11:40 29/06/2004 -0700, you wrote: >>On Tue, 29 Jun 2004, Dave Dunfield wrote: >>> Hi Guys, >>> I am trying to help someone with a NorthStar Horizon that has the double >>> density controller obtain a copy of CP/M for his system. I have located >>> someone with the software - not it's just a matter of figuring out how to >>> move it. >>> My plan is to write a little utility that will allow the one person to read >>> the disk image into a file on a PC which can be transferred by email, and >>> then the other guy can write it out to a diskette - this is somewhat complicated >>> by the fact that NorthStar allows mixed single/double density on a diskette >>> (I don't know if CP/M does this or not) - my idea is to read it a sector at a ---snip--- Hi Dave I have a couple of Horizons and a older style box ( no wood ). I've not had time to fiddle with these but I think the Horizons use the double density controllers. Right now, I'm still fiddling with the H8 machines but the N* was on my list of machines to create a transfer program for. It sounds like you have already done the work here. None of my machine have been powered on since I got them ( at least 2 or 3 years ). It'll be fun turning them on and watching the smoke. I think I have some disk with these but I've not looked to see what I got. Projects, projects and more projects. Dwight

21 years, 9 months

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not HARD SECTORS on a PC (was: NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>Sorry for the misinterpretation. >"read the disk image into a file on a PC . . . >then the other guy can write it out to a diskette" >is easily misread as reading/writing on the PC. >... and since you inquired in terms of transferring >OS, it implied that the target system was NOT bootable/suitable >for file transfer. [Repeated 1/2 dozen times] Perhaps I should repost my question regarding DCOM (the N* OS means of accessing the disk) 1/2 dozen times! As for "transferring OS" - perhaps if YOU had READ that I was interested in transferring CP/M - and was asking about N* disk system calls.... [Shall I repeat that 1/2 dozen times] Do you have any clairification on my original questions regarding the N* DCOM call when used with double density? Don't bother - I already know your answers(s) - and It doesn't look like meaningful discussion will be forthcoming. Cheers, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 9 months

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HARD SECTORS on a PC? (was: NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

At 11:40 29/06/2004 -0700, you wrote: >On Tue, 29 Jun 2004, Dave Dunfield wrote: >> Hi Guys, >> I am trying to help someone with a NorthStar Horizon that has the double >> density controller obtain a copy of CP/M for his system. I have located >> someone with the software - not it's just a matter of figuring out how to >> move it. >> My plan is to write a little utility that will allow the one person to read >> the disk image into a file on a PC which can be transferred by email, and >> then the other guy can write it out to a diskette - this is somewhat complicated >> by the fact that NorthStar allows mixed single/double density on a diskette >> (I don't know if CP/M does this or not) - my idea is to read it a sector at a >> time, and include a density flag for each sector - this will allow copying of >> an single, double or mixed mode disk. > >Single/double density is TRIVIAL compared to the fun that you are >about to embark on with trying to read and write HARD SECTORED >diskettes with a PC! Nobody said anything about reading/writing hard sectored disks on the PC - both parties have a functional N* system - I've already written software to transfer images to/from the my Altair running the N* single-density controller, (same images work under my emulator) and the PC via serial transfer - all I want to do is to update that to support double density - that way both of them can upload/download images to/from the PC, however I don't have the DD controller to test with, hence my request for some clairification regarding some of the finer points which are not explicit in the documentation - basically I have to send it to one of the other involved parties to get them to test it, so I would like to eliminate the variables as much as possible. I've already written a utility which allows me to take a binary N* executable, and transfer it into a N* system by essentially "typeing it" into the N* monitor (which all N* systems have) via the serial port. So - by sending this utility, and a binary of the disk transfer to both parties - they can both move the transfer program unto a n* disk, then use that to read/write diskette images to/from the PC via serial transfer. >Have you considered the possibility of using the Northstar that >HAS the software to make a duplicate copy, and then physically >transporting the duplicate diskette to the machine that needs it? >Snail mail will get it there eventually. Yeah - but that doesn't make it any easier in the future, and it's complicated and slowed by the fact that 10 sector disks are in short supply - the guy making the copy is in the States, and doesn't have any disks to spare. I and the guy needing the copy are in Canada - so for the snail mail technique, I first have to send diskettes to the States (and he has to import them through customs), then he has to send them back to me (and I have to import them through customers). Alternately, I could send him a ZIP containing two PC programs and a N* binary. He uses the first one to put the binary onto his system, then the second one in conjunction with that binary to read the disk images into PC files, which he ZIP's and sends to me). Next time - 1/2 the work is done, and it becomes even simpler. >If BOTH Northstars were to be functional (with system software), >then you could read the disk on the N*, and transfer it through >a serial port. Either directly, or with some PCs and internet >in between. But that won't work if the target N* doesn't already >have a boot disk/system software. Uh yeah (what a good idea :-) - but to do this, I need to understand the details of the double-density use of the N* DCOM function (OS low level disk acccess call) - which is what I asked about (please read earlier post). >> I am very familier with the N* single density controller (and have a system > >Then you must be aware of the HARD SECTORED nature. >When you become familiar with the PC floppy disk controller, >you will find that it is somewhat unwilling to deal with >HARD SECTORED formats. And what makes you think I am not familier the the PC controller (having designed and implemented several 756 based controllers from scratch) - the PeeCee controller has nothing to do with this, which is why I was asking about the N* DCOM function (part of the N* DOS servies, which would be booted on a N* system using the N* disk controller, and are used to read/wrote diskettes using the NORTH START controller). I don't think I mentioned the PC disk controller in my posting. Granted - I did not explicitly say I was doing a serial link, however that is not what I asked about (I have all the info and experience I need to do serial transfers) - I asked about the N* DCOM call, which should have been enough to let you know that what I am trying to do is read/write the disks via the N* DCOM call (ie: N* OS). Refer to my original posting to see that there are a couple of non-obvious things which I'd like to know without having to "try it" remotely a whole bunch of times. >Of course, you COULD build, from scratch, an auxiliary >floppy disk controller for the PC that accepts HARD >SECTORED diskettes. In fact, MicroSolutions once made >one! NO, it is NOT the "Compaticard"!! >The COpyII option board could be modified to do it, >or you could write software to use a CatWeasel. Got an option board - but why bother - both parties have a running N* horizon with DD controller - ie: hardware already exists to read/write the disks. >Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com I'll say - did you have an answer to my original questions? Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 9 months

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VCF East, ASR33 help wanted

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

Hi When I was in the service, I took apart the older type teletypes ( forget the name but the ones with the type boxes ) by following the teletype manual. I've done some minor disassembly, on the ASR33 that I have now, again by following the steps in the manual. I will not be making it to VCFe, unless someone wants to pay my way. Still, I feel that anyone with some level of mechanical competence can follow the manual and do the needed disassembly, cleaning, lubricating and reassembling of one of these units. The ASR33 doesn't need to be disassembled to the smallest screw, just separating the major units. There are a number of places that one needs to set things to specific measurements. For the most part, it is not necessary to undo these setting in order to get the machine apart enough to clean or inspect for bent or broken parts. One should have a set of feeler gages, preferably the wire type, to check that something hasn't slipped. I suspect that Bill's problem is just cleaning and relubricating. When we were in the service, we completely immersed the unit, less the platen, in a cleaner. Since that isn't practical, I'd recommend using something like BrakeClean to remove old oil and grit. This needs to be used in a well ventilated area and the person should wear eye shields. One should try to not have skin contact but this is not as serious because only small amounts are absorbed. It will dry the skin that can cause the skin to crack and bleed. Use oil liberally. We actually used a sprayer in an air hood( don't breath oil particles. This can quickly cause death as anyone that does scuba diving can tell you ). Dwight >From: "Ashley Carder" <wacarder(a)usit.net> > >I was thinking the same thing. I heard mention of the word "expert" >earlier, >but I have not seen anyone step forward and admit to being one of those. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Bill Sudbrink" <wh.sudbrink(a)verizon.net> >To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" ><cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> >Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 1:54 PM >Subject: RE: VCF East, ASR33 help wanted > > >> David V. Corbin wrote: >> > An ASR-33 rebuild center would be quite cool. What I would bring >> >> The problem so far seems to be that all of us "Wow! Look at all >> those gears and levers" types are going to be there, but none of the >> "I can assemble an ASR33 from parts, with one hand tied behind my >> back, blindfolded, in a snowstorm" will be. > > >

21 years, 9 months

1
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Need Sritek Baseboard (for NS16032 add-on) ...

by bernd＠kopriva.de

I'm the owner of a small NS16032 board, which has to be used together with an ISA baseboard. That stuff has been manufactured by Sritek. There were versions available with 680xx add-ons and NS16032 add-ons (which could be interchanged), and maybe some others ... I want to revive that board, so i'm in need of the baseboard ... ... can anyone help me with this ? Software and/or documentation for the board (either MC680xx or NS16032) is appreciated too ! Thanks alot Bernd

21 years, 9 months

1
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NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

Hi Guys, I am trying to help someone with a NorthStar Horizon that has the double density controller obtain a copy of CP/M for his system. I have located someone with the software - not it's just a matter of figuring out how to move it. My plan is to write a little utility that will allow the one person to read the disk image into a file on a PC which can be transferred by email, and then the other guy can write it out to a diskette - this is somewhat complicated by the fact that NorthStar allows mixed single/double density on a diskette (I don't know if CP/M does this or not) - my idea is to read it a sector at a time, and include a density flag for each sector - this will allow copying of an single, double or mixed mode disk. I am very familier with the N* single density controller (and have a system running one), however I have never owned the DD controller. The N* software manual fairly consistantly refers to SECTORS as either 256 or 512 byte depending on density, and FILE BLOCKS as 256 bytes - there are two file blocks to physical sector on the DD controller. My question is this: On page4 H-1 of the NorthStar System Software Manual, the DCOM (Disk Command) subroutine is documented to have these parameters: ACC=NUMBER OF BLOCKS B=COMMAND(0=WRITE, 1=READ, 2=VERIFY, -1=SING-INIT -2=DBL-INIT) C=UNIT NUMBER, Bit7=DOUBLE DENSITY BIT DE=STARTING RAM ADRESS HL=STARTING DISK ADDRESS My concern is that ACC indicates BLOCKS, not SECTORS - does this mean that the DD controller can read/write 1/2 sectors, must always begin on an even block number, or is this a typo and it really refers to 512 byte physical SECTORS. The question also applies to the HL parameter - is this the starting address in 256 byte BLOCKS, or 512 byte SECTORS? I would have assumed that the low-level command would only work on SECTORS, however as noted at the beginning of my message, the manual is fairly consistant elseware to use BLOCKS for 256 byte units, and SECTORS of physical disk units - the use of BLOCKS here would imply 256 byte logical units. This was never an issue on my SD system as BLOCK=SECTOR=256 bytes - both are interchangable. Can anyone with expereience on the N* DD system help clairify this issue? As I do not have a DD system to test on, it would save me considerable time. Thanks, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 9 months

6
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Any problem with Document Archive in Bitsavers.org ?

by aek＠spies.com

Several things are going on right now. At the same time that we were moving bitsavers to its own machine, script kiddies totally FU spies.com We've been dealing with that (little things like not having mail working for most of the weekend) As soon as bitsavers came on line again, google crawlers started downloading EVERYTHING from multiple IP adrs. There is now bandwidth limiting by host so I'm trying to keep them from consuming all of the bandwidth. FTP for mirroring isn't up yet, I've told Jay that I'll email when it works. Haven't heard any more from Patrick about the mirror he was starting.

21 years, 9 months

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Head Cleaners

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 29, 9:28, Paul Koning wrote: > >>>>> "Cameron" == Cameron Kaiser <spectre(a)floodgap.com> writes: > Cameron> I also add on that some forms of isopropyl alcohol are only > Cameron> 70% -- look for the 91% solution if you can, since that > Cameron> evapourates more cleanly. > > I'd put it more strongly. > > 70% isopropyl is typically "rubbing alcohol" which has all sorts of > weird stuff in it. That may be nice for skin, but not for disks. Umm, if someone sold me "rubbing alcohol", I'd wonder what was in it. We have a similar issue here (UK) with "surgical spirit" -- goodness only knows what's in that. But if someone sold me "70% isopropyl alcohol" I'd expect it to be an azeotropic micture of IPA and water, and would be entitled to sue him (or have Trading Standards prosecute) if it contained anything else. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

1
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IRIX 5.3 and resetting root password

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

OK, this is driving me nuts. I picked up an SGI Iris Indigo the other day which seems to run quite happily (as seems compulsory with old SGI machines, it did *not* come with a keyboard). I don't however know the root password. I do have another system SCSI disk for which I know the root password, so I can boot with that and the 'new' drive as a secondary disk, then mount and access the new disk's root partition from there. Right, the 'new' machine has IRIX 5.3 installed, and is using shadow passwords. So, first I tried editing the passwd file and just clearing the password field for root's entry (which was just set to 'x', presumably to signify the use of a shadow password), then booting from the 'new' disk with the cleared password. That didn't work - it just gave me an invalid login message. So instead I tried the same, but cleared the encrypted password string in the /etc/shadow file. Still no luck. I've now tried with and without the 'x' present in the passwd file, and with and without the encrypted password string in the shadow file. A few possibilities spring to mind: 1) IRIX 5.3 doesn't allow direct root login on the X console? 2) The system's set up to use some sort of authentication other than /etc/passwd - any pointers for what to look for if so? 3) The system's set to read from a file other then /etc/shadow - no idea where this is set up if so. I did quite a bit of work using newer SGI systems with IRIX 6.5.3 a few years ago, but I'm pretty rusty there - plus I've never seriously used earlier IRIX releases. Oh, anyone have install media for IRIX 4.0.5 and 5.3? (Our first Indigo's running 4.0.5). Be nice to be able to rebuild the machines if/when the OS drives fail! cheers, Jules

21 years, 9 months

2
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NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function

by melamy＠earthlink.net

Hi Dave, I was checking on this over the weekend and read my N* manual on system software. It is true that you can mix densities on a N* OS disk on a file by file basis (insane in my mind, but...). N* specifically talks about 256 byte blocks and indicates that a DD disk contains 2 blocks per sector. The starting disk address has to be independent of density. There would be no way for the controller to check previous tracks or sectors to make the starting address dependent on previous disk info. I would have to check that specifically when I get home tonight. The CP/M variation is all DD and I am sure would not allow any mixed densities as N* allows in their OS. If you want, have the guy send me a couple of 10 sector disks and I will send him back a 52K and 56K CP/M system disks. All he needs to do is cover postage. By the way, I booted up my N* OS and CP/M over the weekend sucessfully after I recreated the Intel ISIS monitor on my N* chassis. Email me offline for address, etc. best regards, Steve Thatcher -----Original Message----- From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a(a)dunfield.com> Sent: Jun 29, 2004 7:51 AM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: NorthStar Double Density - DOS low level DCOM function Hi Guys, I am trying to help someone with a NorthStar Horizon that has the double density controller obtain a copy of CP/M for his system. I have located someone with the software - not it's just a matter of figuring out how to move it. My plan is to write a little utility that will allow the one person to read the disk image into a file on a PC which can be transferred by email, and then the other guy can write it out to a diskette - this is somewhat complicated by the fact that NorthStar allows mixed single/double density on a diskette (I don't know if CP/M does this or not) - my idea is to read it a sector at a time, and include a density flag for each sector - this will allow copying of an single, double or mixed mode disk. I am very familier with the N* single density controller (and have a system running one), however I have never owned the DD controller. The N* software manual fairly consistantly refers to SECTORS as either 256 or 512 byte depending on density, and FILE BLOCKS as 256 bytes - there are two file blocks to physical sector on the DD controller. My question is this: On page4 H-1 of the NorthStar System Software Manual, the DCOM (Disk Command) subroutine is documented to have these parameters: ACC=NUMBER OF BLOCKS B=COMMAND(0=WRITE, 1=READ, 2=VERIFY, -1=SING-INIT -2=DBL-INIT) C=UNIT NUMBER, Bit7=DOUBLE DENSITY BIT DE=STARTING RAM ADRESS HL=STARTING DISK ADDRESS My concern is that ACC indicates BLOCKS, not SECTORS - does this mean that the DD controller can read/write 1/2 sectors, must always begin on an even block number, or is this a typo and it really refers to 512 byte physical SECTORS. The question also applies to the HL parameter - is this the starting address in 256 byte BLOCKS, or 512 byte SECTORS? I would have assumed that the low-level command would only work on SECTORS, however as noted at the beginning of my message, the manual is fairly consistant elseware to use BLOCKS for 256 byte units, and SECTORS of physical disk units - the use of BLOCKS here would imply 256 byte logical units. This was never an issue on my SD system as BLOCK=SECTOR=256 bytes - both are interchangable. Can anyone with expereience on the N* DD system help clairify this issue? As I do not have a DD system to test on, it would save me considerable time. Thanks, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 9 months

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My disaster, your good luck

by vern4wright＠yahoo.com

I lurk here, mostly through the digests, not having time to participate. I'm a lifelong computer man, and one-time CP/M code writer. My new landlord has decreed that we four all decamp out apts (and my workshop), by the end of July. I will not be able to take all my treasures with me - hell, I haven't the vaguest idea where I'll be living, or whether I'll have a workshop. So I must let go many things. Some of them are: a semi-pro wet darkroom (Bessler 23C based) an IMSAI 8080 (with a blank front panel) a Lobo Max 80 (10meg HD, three 8" floppies, 2 5-1/4" floppies) numerous Persci 277 8" dual floppies at least one RS Model 100 probably a couple of Macs various S-100 boxes, cards as you need them terminals, monitors BOOKS - dups from my huge library - espionage, sex, computer, probably other various STUFF, not all computer related, that I can't think of right now. Because I'm in a wheelchair, in San Diego, with little time for this, all stuff must be gotten HERE. NO DELIVERY. I'll haggle on price (for a few moments, but I know the value of everything, and the price too). Significant assistance in making a move will be taken into consideration - packing, lifting and hauling to interim storage, etc. So here's your chance. USE IT, or this stuff will end up in the landfill. I AM SERIOUS!!! Vern Wright vern4wright(a)yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

21 years, 9 months

1
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Mount disk images for MS-DOS

by cfnelson_87111＠yahoo.com

Yes, I am trying to find an MS-DOS version of what Teo Zenios described in his June 28 reply (excerpted below) to my original posting: ***** by Teo Zenios Under Mac OS and Disk Copy 6.3.3 you can image any number of disks that can then be double clicked and show up on the desktop just like a real disk would when inserted into the drive. This allows programs with multiple disks to be imaged and then installed directly from the images instead of having to be converted back to a real disk and inserted one at a time into the computer when it needed the next disk. If there a program in dos (assuming you had enough memory to work with) that did the same type of thing you could install multi disk games and apps without messing with real disks or hacking the files to the HD or a CD. The process would allow you to put your originals in a vault and never use them or a real floppy disk again. ***** I use an almost-vintage IBM ThinkPad 701 notebook (486 processor, 640x480 VGA display) for playing around with my "old" MS-DOS stuff (late 80s and early 90s vintage). Even using a 3.5" floppy requires an external drive for the ThinkPad; reading a 5.25" floppy requires that I drag out another system with the proper drive and then transfer the disk contents to a 3.5" floppy. I also worry about the future reliability of these old floppy disks and drives. Using disk images allows me to store away the original floppies. If I could also mount the disk images so they appear to MS-DOS as if there was actually a floppy in an floppy drive, then I could entirely avoid having to mess around with floppy drives and disks. I hope this clears up what I am trying to do. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

21 years, 9 months

1
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looking for DG docs

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

If anyone has spare copies of Data General S/130 and S/200 documentation, I'd appreciate a chance at 'em! Jay West --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

21 years, 9 months

5
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http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2003-August/017875.h tml

by bill_maclean＠west-point.org

So. Chatham, Mass. Bob-- "Applicon made CAD/CAM systems, very good ones too." Thank you! My older son sent me this link http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2003-August/017875.html today, apparently from a Google search. I worked several missions at Applicon, Burlington, 1969-1985; recall the type system you describe very well. "I used to work on these things!" Didn't we all. :^) Forgive me if your name doesn't come to mind after 25 years. Please remind me of your location, department. Best regards. --Bill

21 years, 9 months

1
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Core volatility

by dwight.elvey＠amd.com

>From: "Wai-Sun Chia" <waisun.chia(a)hp.com> > >I have MM11-DP (16kW parity core) in my /04 which seems to have a little >problem. > >Several locations which I've checked seems to be losing content (core is > supposed to be non-volatile). I've been debugging custom bootloaders >for the past week and it has since gone past annoying. It's like 3 >locations out of 50 that are always reverting back to 000000 after a reboot. > >Perhaps it's the driver logic to these 3 particular cores that are not >functioning properly? Or is it the cores itself? > > >-- >/wai-sun > Hi It is more likely that a spurious write pulse is happening when you power off. On my computer, you need to stop the processor first before turning it off. If I don't do this, a few bits get corrupted. Dwight

21 years, 9 months

3
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word document

by rschaefe＠gcfn.org

I have attached your document.

21 years, 9 months

1
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TI74 AC adapter specs

by rcini＠optonline.net

Hi: Does anyone have the TI AC-9201 adapter handy that they could grab tell me the specs and plug polarity? Thanks. Rich Rich Cini Collector of classic computers Build Master for the Altair32 Emulation Project Web site: http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/ /************************************************************/

21 years, 9 months

2
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Help Needed in Houston to Move Collection

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

I need help to complete moving the collection out of two 1800 sq/ft warehouses into three 45' trailers (no I can save everything). Anyone that can come by on Tuesday or Wednesday to help after 9AM it would be of great help at 7417 Hillcroft. Look for the three large trailers on the lot.. Thanks

21 years, 9 months

1
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IRIX 5.3 and resetting root password

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 23:07, Jochen Kunz wrote: > On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 20:03:39 +0000 > Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > > > Problem there is that the system disk for which I do have full access > > is only IRIX 4.0.5 - the 'new' system disk for which I don't have any > > passwords is IRIX 5.3. > Suboptimal. > > > 1) System is trying to use some authentication other than /etc/passwd > > and /etc/shadow. What other authentication methods existed for IRIX > > 5.3? > NIS / YP? What is configured in /etc/nsswitch.conf? > Are there any other network services configured? NFS / automount? Entries at the top of /etc/password override NIS, and NIS doesn't bother with /etc/shadow but does check /etc/passwd. /etc/nsswitch.conf doesn't exist in IRIX 5.3, so that's not it either. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

1
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MS BASIC for a Panasonic HHC RL-H1400

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 19:39, Pete Turnbull wrote: > Hi, Roger. > > Prmopted by Bob's message to the list about PDP-11/23+ bootstraps, and > some private email I had with him earlier [ ... ] Sorry, that was meant to go privately. I'll get the hang of this network mail stuff one day, I promise... -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

1
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manuals in pdf (resolution, compression)

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 28, 20:18, Paul Williams wrote: > Pete Turnbull wrote: > > > The last thing I > > scanned was a 166-page DEC manual, which came out as 6.4MB of PDF or > > 6.3MB of G4 TIFFs in a single TIFF file. That's a lot better than your > > 20MB JPEG, and higher resolution, too. > > But not quite as good as the 400 KiB of plain text it started off as ... > and became again :-) True :-) -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

1
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IRIX 5.3 and resetting root password

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Jun 27, 19:01, Jules Richardson wrote: > > Right, the 'new' machine has IRIX 5.3 installed, and is using shadow > passwords. So, first I tried editing the passwd file and just clearing > the password field for root's entry (which was just set to 'x', > presumably to signify the use of a shadow password), then booting from > the 'new' disk with the cleared password. > > That didn't work - it just gave me an invalid login message. So instead > I tried the same, but cleared the encrypted password string in the > /etc/shadow file. > > Still no luck. I've now tried with and without the 'x' present in the > passwd file, and with and without the encrypted password string in the > shadow file. > > A few possibilities spring to mind: > > 1) IRIX 5.3 doesn't allow direct root login on the X console? It does. Unless someone has restricted root logins to a particular device. > 2) The system's set up to use some sort of authentication other than > /etc/passwd - any pointers for what to look for if so? See if /etc/default/login has a line that says "SITECHECK=<something>" If it does, comment it out. In fact, comment out anything that looks unusually restrictive. > 3) The system's set to read from a file other then /etc/shadow - no idea > where this is set up if so. I don't think you can do that in IRIX 5.3, except as above. However, root's login might not be valid if root's home directory isn't available, or root's shell isn't acceptable, or if there's something in /var/Cadmin/clogin.conf to prevent it, or if there's some restriction on where root can log in (see /etc/default/login). If you delete /etc/shadow (or better, move it out the way) and delete the password field for root in /etc/passwd, it should work. The first line of /etc/passwd should look like: root::0:0:root:/: Even if /etc/default/login has "MANDPASS=YES" in it, this works for root. The reason I suggest moving /etc/shadow out of the way is that it records things like whether a password has expired, or an account is locked because of excessive failed logins. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

21 years, 9 months

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