7 Apr
2005
7 Apr
'05
11:24 p.m.
On Apr 8, 2005 1:39 AM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
No kidding! I've got a 3rd party framebuffer for
my PDP-11/73, but
have never gotten it working, in part because I'm not sure what it
would take to hook up a monitor or even what type monitor would be
needed. In my case I've got drivers for RSX-11M, but they existed
for RT-11, and maybe other OS's.
Interesting... I have a Qbus framebuffer, too. I got it from my old
boss from a project where we built a QA training station for an
ultrasonic inspector. My (MACRO-11) code would slice a portion of a
large (multi-megabyte) data file and display just the desired
component (out of a tray of dozens) on the screen at
1000-pixels-per-inch resolution on a 512x512 screen. It happened that
we were manupulating grey scale data, but the framebuffer would do
color. The card has three odd LIMO-like connectors for
RGB-sync-on-green and that's it. I have one cable (for the green
channel, naturally).
I have *no* idea if there are drivers for anything aside from RT-11,
since that's what I was given for the project. I still have a few
listings, and I _may_ have an RL01 and/or RL02 pack with source code.
I'd be interestded to see pictures of your framebuffer. Mine is
accessible, but not here, so if desired, I could do the same.
-ethan
8 Apr
8 Apr
12:12 a.m.
New subject: PDP-11 Framebuffers (Re: Unix on old-ish machines)
At 2:24 AM -0400 4/8/05, Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Apr 8, 2005 1:39 AM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at
aracnet.com> wrote:
Is what you have the DEC board? It looks like the board I have is
either 768x574 or 512x384 depending on the number of colours. I
don't have any sort of a cable for it, BUT I have the manuals. The
board in question came from a computer that was hooked up to an
Electron Microscope.
No kidding! I've got a 3rd party
framebuffer for my PDP-11/73, but
have never gotten it working, in part because I'm not sure what it
would take to hook up a monitor or even what type monitor would be
needed. In my case I've got drivers for RSX-11M, but they existed
for RT-11, and maybe other OS's.
Interesting... I have a Qbus framebuffer, too. I got it from my old
boss from a project where we built a QA training station for an
ultrasonic inspector. My (MACRO-11) code would slice a portion of a
large (multi-megabyte) data file and display just the desired
component (out of a tray of dozens) on the screen at
1000-pixels-per-inch resolution on a 512x512 screen. It happened that
we were manupulating grey scale data, but the framebuffer would do
color. The card has three odd LIMO-like connectors for
RGB-sync-on-green and that's it. I have one cable (for the green
channel, naturally). I have *no* idea if there are drivers for anything
aside from RT-11,
since that's what I was given for the project. I still have a few
listings, and I _may_ have an RL01 and/or RL02 pack with source code.
I'm guessing there is support for RSX-11M/M+ no matter what the
board, mine supports RT-11, RSX-11M/M+, VMS, and Unix.
I'd be interestded to see pictures of your
framebuffer. Mine is
accessible, but not here, so if desired, I could do the same.
Now that you mention it, I realize I'm really not sure where it is.
The odds are it's somewhere in one of the boxes of Q-Bus boards
around here, rather than up in storage. I do know where the manuals
are and it appears that it is called a "Supervisor Single Board
Display (SBD)", and the board is based on the 68k.
Zane
--
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
1:40 a.m.
Hi,
Ethan Dicks said:
I'd be interestded to see pictures of your
framebuffer. Mine is
accessible, but not here, so if desired, I could do the same.
When I summon up the strength to get my Micro 11/73 out of the
home-made vertical rack (not easy with my bad back!) I'll take
pictures of mine too. From the sockets on the back it appears
to have RGB and sync outputs.
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb at dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
6:59 a.m.
>>>> "Ethan" == Ethan Dicks
<ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
Ethan> On Apr 8, 2005 1:39 AM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com>
Ethan> wrote:
> No kidding! I've got a 3rd party framebuffer
for my PDP-11/73,
> but have never gotten it working, in part because I'm not sure
> what it would take to hook up a monitor or even what type monitor
> would be needed. In my case I've got drivers for RSX-11M, but
> they existed for RT-11, and maybe other OS's.
Ethan> Interesting... I have a Qbus framebuffer, too. ...
Some of the early VAXstation display controllers -- certainly the mono
frame buffer, and probably the first color controller ("Kaylith") are
likely to work just fine on PDP11s, though I don't know if that was
ever done at DEC.
For monitors -- you might just try a regular TV scan frequency monitor
(VR201 class). Failing that, an older multisync PC monitor is bound
to work, once you construct the right adapter to make the wires hook
up.
paul
7198
days inactive
7198
days old
3 comments
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participants (4)
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ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
pkoning＠equallogic.com -
stanb＠dial.pipex.com