5 Jan
2009
5 Jan
'09
6:31 a.m.
I am trying to keep a PDP8 computer alive which controls a measurement
system. I have a need for spares for this computer, in particular 16k memory
boards and all other boards. In fact the only parts I am now sure about are
the power supply and backplane.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Marek Pawlik
5 Jan
5 Jan
7:45 a.m.
At 2:31 PM +0000 1/5/09, SAS Ltd wrote:
I am trying to keep a PDP8 computer alive which
controls a measurement
system. I have a need for spares for this computer, in particular 16k memory
boards and all other boards. In fact the only parts I am now sure about are
the power supply and backplane.
It would be necessary to know *which* model of PDP-8 you're talking
about. It should be fairly "easy" to find spares for a PDP-8/e/f/m
or a PDP-8a, but for the other models it will be tricky.
One worthwhile option is to look into someone repairing any bad
boards you might have.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | 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/ |
7:49 a.m.
On Mon, Jan 05, 2009 at 02:31:23PM -0000, SAS Ltd wrote:
I am trying to keep a PDP8 computer alive which
controls a measurement
system. I have a need for spares for this computer, in particular 16k memory
boards and all other boards. In fact the only parts I am now sure about are
the power supply and backplane.
I'm afraid I wont be of much help, I'm just curious. Are you still
running a PDP-8 in a real world application? That must be one of last
ones out there. And if so, what prevents you from using an emulator?
custom hardware?
Also, what model PDP-8 is it?
Kind Regards,
Pontus.
8:22 a.m.
On Monday 05 January 2009, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:
I'm afraid I wont be of much help, I'm just
curious. Are you still
running a PDP-8 in a real world application? That must be one of last
ones out there. And if so, what prevents you from using an emulator?
custom hardware?
Also, what model PDP-8 is it?
Based on how the message reads (and the fact that it's out-of-order
timewise compared to other messages on the list), I really doubt the
person that posted this is a subscriber of this list..
Pat
--
Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
9:55 a.m.
On Jan 5, 2009, at 10:49 AM, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:
Just jumping in...There are actually quite a few of them still
running in production. Apparently, many commercial (i.e., not
retail) paint mixing and color matching systems use them, in particular.
For the past few days, I've been in an ongoing conversation with a
fellow who was my childhood PDP mentor 25 years ago; he runs a
service bureau and is working on a very flaky PDP-8/a that runs some
sort of manufacturing system.
I was shocked to learn of just how many of these systems are still
out there doing their jobs.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
I am trying to
keep a PDP8 computer alive which controls a
measurement
system. I have a need for spares for this computer, in particular
16k memory
boards and all other boards. In fact the only parts I am now sure
about are
the power supply and backplane.
I'm afraid I wont be of much help, I'm just curious. Are you still
running a PDP-8 in a real world application? That must be one of last
ones out there. And if so, what prevents you from using an emulator?
custom hardware?
10:12 a.m.
On Mon, 5 Jan 2009, Dave McGuire wrote:
Just jumping in...There are actually quite a few of
them still running in
production. Apparently, many commercial (i.e., not retail) paint mixing and
color matching systems use them, in particular.
Mills also seem to be a big user of them, and foundries.
For the past few days, I've been in an ongoing
conversation with a fellow
who was my childhood PDP mentor 25 years ago; he runs a service bureau and is
working on a very flaky PDP-8/a that runs some sort of manufacturing system.
I was shocked to learn of just how many of these systems are still out there
doing their jobs.
They work, and it always easy to replace them. I assume that some are in
jobs like some of the PDP-11's out there, where it would cost serious $$$'s
to replace any part of the system, as it would have to go through a very
expensive qualification process. This is why there is still a commercial
demand for things like RD53 hard drives.
Zane
3:16 p.m.
They work, and it always easy to replace them.
Well, some of the people I know that support 12-bitters have a wildly
different opinion. Most PDP-8 users would love to see the things go
away for something that could be replaced with stuff purchased at Best
Buy.
But, the costs of conversions...
--
Will
10:35 a.m.
On 5 Jan 2009 at 12:55, Dave McGuire wrote:
For the past few days, I've been in an ongoing
conversation with a
fellow who was my childhood PDP mentor 25 years ago; he runs a
service bureau and is working on a very flaky PDP-8/a that runs some
sort of manufacturing system.
I was shocked to learn of just how many of these systems are still
out there doing their jobs.
I suspect that the military also has a fair number of them. A couple
of years ago, I duplicated some RX02 floppies that were used in a rig
for maintaining C130 transports.
Cheers,
Chuck
3:13 p.m.
I suspect that the military also has a fair number of
them. A couple
of years ago, I duplicated some RX02 floppies that were used in a rig
for maintaining C130 transports.
Not 8s - they were never very popular with the military, even though
Straight-8s were tagged with JETDS nomenclature of AN/GSQ-something.
During the very early 1970s, I think Novas claimed most of what ground
the PDP-8s would be good for.
--
Will
4:26 p.m.
On 5 Jan 2009 at 18:13, William Donzelli wrote:
Not 8s - they were never very popular with the
military, even though
Straight-8s were tagged with JETDS nomenclature of AN/GSQ-something.
During the very early 1970s, I think Novas claimed most of what ground
the PDP-8s would be good for.
These were definitely RX02 floppies--that "funny" DEC MFM is pretty
distinctive. Maybe 11's? I've got the images somewhere here; I'll
have to take a gander at them when I get a chance.
Cheers,
Chuck
4:31 p.m.
These were definitely RX02 floppies--that
"funny" DEC MFM is pretty
distinctive. Maybe 11's? I've got the images somewhere here; I'll
have to take a gander at them when I get a chance.
Certainly 11s and VAX machines were more common associated with
military service. The VAX-11/785 RCS just received is ex-Sikorsky, and
spent most of its life - the latter half, anyway - writing a few
floppies a year, and nothing else.
--
Will
4:46 p.m.
On Mon, Jan 05, 2009 at 07:31:32PM -0500, William Donzelli wrote:
There was (still is?) a tempest shielded pdp-11 for military use.
- Diane
--
- db at FreeBSD.org db at db.net http://www.db.net/~db
These were
definitely RX02 floppies--that "funny" DEC MFM is pretty
distinctive. Maybe 11's? I've got the images somewhere here; I'll
have to take a gander at them when I get a chance.
Certainly 11s and VAX machines were more common associated with
5:10 p.m.
On 5 Jan 2009 at 19:31, William Donzelli wrote:
ISTR (I'll have to go back and check my notes), that this was a
maintenance setup for C130s--strictly ground-crew stuff. I'm pretty
sure it was at Warner-Robbins. The floppies were pretty clearly
labeled as program, not data.
Cheers,
Chuck
These were
definitely RX02 floppies--that "funny" DEC MFM is pretty
distinctive. Maybe 11's? I've got the images somewhere here; I'll
have to take a gander at them when I get a chance.
Certainly 11s and VAX machines were more common associated with
military service. The VAX-11/785 RCS just received is ex-Sikorsky, and
spent most of its life - the latter half, anyway - writing a few
floppies a year, and nothing else. 
8:34 a.m.
do you have the tools to do component level repairs manuals and tests here
http://www.pdp8online.com/query_docs/query_all.html
eg Logic analyser etc
that HP looks tempting
Dave Caroline
8:37 a.m.
forgot to mention Im east midlands and have a Logic analyser available
Dave Caroline
11:33 a.m.
I am trying to keep a PDP8 computer alive which controls a measurement
The term 'PDP8' covers a wide range of machines, from ones built from
discrete transsitors to microprocessors. Can you please give an
indication as to which PDP11 this is.
system. I have a need for spares for this computer, in
particular 16k memory
boards and all other boards. In fact the only parts I am now sure about are
the power supply and backplane.
Would you consider component-level repair? These machines were generally
very well documented (schematics, theory-of-operation manuals, etc), and
the chips are mostly still very easy to find. And I am sure there are
people who could assist in said repair.
-tony
10:22 p.m.
16K memory boards sounds like a PDP8-A. I might have a few of those
somewhere.
On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 8:31 AM, SAS Ltd <srp at saslab.net> wrote:
I am trying to keep a PDP8 computer alive which
controls a measurement
system. I have a need for spares for this computer, in particular 16k
memory
boards and all other boards. In fact the only parts I am now sure about are
the power supply and backplane.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Marek Pawlik
5607
days inactive
5608
days old
16 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
cclist＠sydex.com -
dave.thearchivist＠gmail.com -
db＠db.net -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
pat＠computer-refuge.org -
pontus＠Update.UU.SE -
srp＠saslab.net -
useddec＠gmail.com -
wdonzelli＠gmail.com