22 Apr
2009
22 Apr
'09
3:40 p.m.
I've just been handed a small DEC badged unit, which I think is a terminal. It appears
to have been made by Termiflex.
It is a handheld unit with a two line LED display, a 4x5 keypad, three unmarked buttons on
one side, and a wheel device on the other.
It has a 25 way D type and a 3 pole AMP connector.
Does anyone know anything about it?
Jim.
3:59 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Jim Beacon <jim at g1jbg.co.uk> wrote:
I've just been handed a small DEC badged unit,
which I think is a terminal. It appears to have been made by Termiflex.
It is a handheld unit with a two line LED display, a 4x5 keypad, three unmarked buttons
on one side, and a wheel device on the other.
It has a 25 way D type and a 3 pole AMP connector.
Does anyone know anything about it?
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've seen in RA81 docs - there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector inside the RA81 to plug
into. I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Check the RA81 service manual...
-ethan
4:08 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Jim Beacon <jim at
g1jbg.co.uk> wrote:
> I've just been handed a small DEC badged unit, which I think is a terminal. It
appears to have been made by Termiflex.
.
.
.
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've seen in
RA81 docs - there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector inside the RA81 to plug
into. ?I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Check the RA81 service manual...
EK-ORA81-SV-01
-ethan
4:56 p.m.
From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com>
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Jim Beacon <jim at
g1jbg.co.uk> wrote:
> I've just been handed a small DEC badged unit, which I think is a
> terminal. It appears to have been made by Termiflex.
.
.
.
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've seen in
RA81 docs - there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector inside the RA81 to plug
into. I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Check the RA81 service manual...
EK-ORA81-SV-01
-ethan
That's the one!
Thanks to everyone who replied. I'll go and have a play.
Jim.
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16:48:00
4:40 p.m.
New subject: DEC peripheral/parts nomenclature
In article <f4eb766f0904221259v22e47737xfb98f42b83523cc4 at mail.gmail.com>,
Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
Check the RA81 service manual...
Not being intimately familiar with all the DEC nomenclature, is there
any site where this sort of thing is summarized in table form?
KD11, RA81, RP04, LA36, VT100, etc., they all follow a pattern and it
seems there is even some consistency "R" for disc drives, "VT" for
video terminals, etc.
However, for those of us that don't have this sort of thing memorized,
it sure would be handy to have an online reference.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
5:16 p.m.
New subject: DEC peripheral/parts nomenclature
On 22/04/2009 21:40, Richard wrote:
In article
<f4eb766f0904221259v22e47737xfb98f42b83523cc4 at mail.gmail.com>,
Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
It's almost what you want, but it's not a complete list: there's a list
of two-character device mnemonics supported by XXDP on the last page of
my XXDP manual+notes, at
http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/PDP-11/XXDP.pdf
Note that there's a longer list of mnemonics on pages 3-5 of that
document, but those ones are not the standard ones used for device
drivers etc. They're used for unique naming of XXDP diagnostic programs.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Check the RA81 service manual...
Not being intimately familiar with all the DEC nomenclature, is there
any site where this sort of thing is summarized in table form?
KD11, RA81, RP04, LA36, VT100, etc., they all follow a pattern and it
seems there is even some consistency "R" for disc drives, "VT" for
video terminals, etc.
However, for those of us that don't have this sort of thing memorized,
it sure would be handy to have an online reference. 
5:18 p.m.
New subject: DEC peripheral/parts nomenclature
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-
bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Richard
Sent: 22 April 2009 21:40
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: DEC peripheral/parts nomenclature
In article
<f4eb766f0904221259v22e47737xfb98f42b83523cc4 at mail.gmail.com>,
Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
Ooops, replied to the wrong email. I meant to reply to this one:
Far from exhaustive, but I find this page useful:
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/sections.html
Regards
Rob
Check the RA81 service manual...
Not being intimately familiar with all the DEC nomenclature, is there
any site where this sort of thing is summarized in table form?
KD11, RA81, RP04, LA36, VT100, etc., they all follow a pattern and it
seems there is even some consistency "R" for disc drives, "VT" for
video terminals, etc.
However, for those of us that don't have this sort of thing memorized,
it sure would be handy to have an online reference.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for
download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/> 
5:22 p.m.
New subject: DEC peripheral/parts nomenclature
Not being intimately familiar with all the DEC
nomenclature,
is there any site where this sort of thing is summarized in table
form?
KD11, RA81, RP04, LA36, VT100, etc., they all follow a
pattern and it seems there is even some consistency "R" for
disc drives, "VT" for video terminals, etc.
However, for those of us that don't have this sort of thing
memorized, it sure would be handy to have an online reference.
You probably want the "Dick best" list, a comprehensive list
of DEC parts over the years. There are a few on the web but
I don't know of an electronic version (as opposed to a scan).
Antonio
5:58 p.m.
New subject: DEC peripheral/parts nomenclature
Antonio wrote:
You probably want the "Dick best" list, a
comprehensive list
of DEC parts over the years. There are a few on the web but
I don't know of an electronic version (as opposed to a scan).
Is that not the database you supplied me with, a few years ago? A search
for RA81 in the parts field reveals quite a lot of hits, for instance,
although the descriptions leave a lot to be desired!
http://vt100.net/manx/part?on=0&cp=1&q=ra81&po=on
4:43 p.m.
In article <f4eb766f0904221259v22e47737xfb98f42b83523cc4 at mail.gmail.com>,
Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've seen in
RA81 docs - there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector inside the RA81 to plug
into. I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Is this is the one you're talking about?
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/dec/RA81-field-service-terminal.png>
I have one of those I picked up on ebay, and I had no idea where/how
it was used, so thanks for mentioning the RA81 service manual :-).
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
4:57 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 4:43 PM, Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote:
In article <f4eb766f0904221259v22e47737xfb98f42b83523cc4 at mail.gmail.com>,
? ?Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> ?writes:
That is exactly the one I was talking about.
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've
seen in RA81 docs - there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector inside the RA81 to plug
into. ?I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Is this is the one you're talking about?
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/dec/RA81-field-service-terminal.png>
I have one of those I picked up on ebay, and I had no
idea where/how
it was used, so thanks for mentioning the RA81 service manual :-).
Generically speaking, it's just a "terminal", but the RA81 has the
power plug for it right next to the DB25, meaning that they were made
to work together. As Tony mentioned, you can hook a regular VT100 to
the RA81 (I've done that when diagnosing HDA faults), but for Field
Service, they can't assume that all customers will have a terminal
within 6' of the drive so they have a portable terminal to snoop on
the drive innards.
-ethan
5:16 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-
bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Richard
Sent: 22 April 2009 21:43
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Odd DEC terminal?
In article
<f4eb766f0904221259v22e47737xfb98f42b83523cc4 at mail.gmail.com>,
Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
Far from exhaustive, but I do find this page useful:
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/sections.html
Regards
Rob
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've
seen in RA81 docs -
there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector
inside the RA81 to plug
into. I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Is this is the one you're talking about?
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/vintage/images/dec/RA81-field-
service-terminal.png>
I have one of those I picked up on ebay, and I had no idea where/how
it was used, so thanks for mentioning the RA81 service manual :-).
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for
download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/> 
7:35 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 12:59 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
It sounds like the hand-held terminal I've seen in RA81 docs - there's
a DB25 and some sort of molex-type connector inside the RA81 to plug
into. ?I think the 3 unmarked buttons are "shift" buttons for the
keypad.
Check the RA81 service manual...
That reminds me, anyone have a copy of the RA82 service manual? I
have an RA82 that doesn't seem to do much and I can't get any response
from a terminal attached to the diagnostic port and the
LEDs on the
controller board don't seem to behave as fault codes listed in the
RA81 service manual.
-Glen
4:24 p.m.
I've just been handed a small DEC badged unit, which I think is a =
terminal. It appears to have been made by Termiflex.
It is a handheld unit with a two line LED display, a 4x5 keypad, three =
unmarked buttons on one side, and a wheel device on the other.
It has a 25 way D type and a 3 pole AMP connector.
Does anyone know anything about it?
THis sounds like the pocket terminal that field sevice used to run
diagnostics on RA81a, TU81s, etc. It's shown in some of the manuals for
those devices. You could use a normal CRT terminal for this, but the
pocket one was easier to cary around.
The DB25 is normal RS232, I assume it's wired as a DTE. THe Amp plug is
power input, I forget the voltage (it's likely to be either 5V or 12V, I
suspect the former).
-tony
5548
days inactive
5548
days old
14 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
arcarlini＠iee.org -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
dave.thearchivist＠gmail.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
glen.slick＠gmail.com -
jim＠g1jbg.co.uk -
legalize＠xmission.com -
paul＠frixxon.co.uk -
pete＠dunnington.plus.com -
robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com