11 Jan
2003
11 Jan
'03
11:25 a.m.
I picked up a bunch of unknown paper tapes last week. I was sorting through them today
and found several tapes that have "Digital Equipment Corporation Programmed Data
Processor" printer along the length of them. The label on one of them also says
"Memory CKR BRD (LOW)", "Memory CKR BRD (HIGH)", "Memory ADDR BRD
(LOW)", "Memory ADDR BRD (HIGH)". That one also has "PDP-8"
written on it in pencil. So I'm guessing that these are all for the PDP-8. The tapes
are marked variously "DB3", "DB4 SIMAT #1 3 SW TEST", "PAL
III", "Combined BB#51, INT #15, CORR #21 and Patches 1-11". Does anyone
know what these titles mean?
All of the tapes are on blue plastic spools that are 4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4
inch thick. Each spool has a removable blue plastic cylinder (with one end closed) that
slips over it. In the center of the spools are white plastic inserts with a hole and three
radial drive slots. The covers are marked "Reel-Dex Part No. 30" and
"Numeridex Incorporated Wheeling, Illinois 60090". It's pretty obvious that
the spools are made to be used directly in a PT reader. But does anyone know what kind?
Joe
11 Jan
11 Jan
11:31 a.m.
On Sat, 2003-01-11 at 12:34, Joe wrote:
The label on one of them also says "Memory CKR
BRD (LOW)",
"Memory CKR BRD (HIGH)", "Memory ADDR BRD (LOW)", "Memory ADDR
BRD (HIGH)".
That one also has "PDP-8" written on it in pencil. So I'm guessing that
these
are all for the PDP-8. The tapes are marked variously "DB3",
"DB4 SIMAT #1 3 SW TEST", "PAL III", "Combined BB#51, INT #15,
CORR #21 and Patches 1-11". Does anyone know what these titles mean?
Well, PAL III would be the PAL III assembler. The ones with Memory in
the title are diagnostic routines for checking the core memory. Not
sure what the others are.
--
Christopher L McNabb
Operating Systems Analyst Email: cmcnabb(a)4mcnabb.net
Virginia Tech ICBM: 37.1356N 80.4272N
GMRS: WPSR255 ARS: N2UX Grid Sq: EM97SD
11:59 a.m.
New subject: DEC PDP-8 Paper Tapes? What are these?
I have some of the paper tapes too with Digital Equipment Corp on them.
Mine also have various tests on them and some say Basic. However mine are
not in spools--mine are folded over on top of each other like 8 inches long
before being folded back on itself and then they are stored in a fancy blue
case where you slide each folded stack into. I am trying to figure out if
these are any good to anybody or whether they are only good on one specific
system. Can someone help me out here. I am pretty sure they are from a
large DEC computer used in a university in the 1960s and 1970s becuase the
dates on them are from 1965 to 1978.
-Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-admin(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org]On
Behalf Of Joe
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2003 5:34 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: DEC PDP-8 Paper Tapes?
I picked up a bunch of unknown paper tapes last week. I was
sorting through them today and found several tapes that have
"Digital Equipment Corporation Programmed Data Processor"
printer along the length of them. The label on one of them also
says "Memory CKR BRD (LOW)", "Memory CKR BRD (HIGH)", "Memory
ADDR BRD (LOW)", "Memory ADDR BRD (HIGH)". That one also has
"PDP-8" written on it in pencil. So I'm guessing that these are
all for the PDP-8. The tapes are marked variously "DB3", "DB4
SIMAT #1 3 SW TEST", "PAL III", "Combined BB#51, INT #15, CORR
#21 and Patches 1-11". Does anyone know what these titles mean?
All of the tapes are on blue plastic spools that are 4 inches
in diameter and 1 1/4 inch thick. Each spool has a removable blue
plastic cylinder (with one end closed) that slips over it. In the
center of the spools are white plastic inserts with a hole and
three radial drive slots. The covers are marked "Reel-Dex Part
No. 30" and "Numeridex Incorporated Wheeling, Illinois 60090".
It's pretty obvious that the spools are made to be used directly
in a PT reader. But does anyone know what kind?
Joe
12:06 p.m.
New subject: DEC PDP-8 Paper Tapes? What are these?
On Sat, 2003-01-11 at 18:02, Dave wrote:
I have some of the paper tapes too with Digital
Equipment Corp on them.
Mine also have various tests on them and some say Basic. However mine are
not in spools--mine are folded over on top of each other like 8 inches long
before being folded back on itself and then they are stored in a fancy blue
case where you slide each folded stack into. I am trying to figure out if
these are any good to anybody or whether they are only good on one specific
system. Can someone help me out here. I am pretty sure they are from a
large DEC computer used in a university in the 1960s and 1970s becuase the
dates on them are from 1965 to 1978.
-Dave
If you could post a list of them, I'm sure many of us could help you
out.
--
Christopher L McNabb
Operating Systems Analyst Email: cmcnabb(a)4mcnabb.net
Virginia Tech ICBM: 37.1356N 80.4272N
GMRS: WPSR255 ARS: N2UX Grid Sq: EM97SD
9:57 p.m.
New subject: DEC PDP-8 Paper Tapes? What are these?
--- Dave <d-gordon(a)sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I have some of the paper tapes too with Digital
Equipment Corp on them.
Mine also have various tests on them and some say Basic. However mine
are not in spools--mine are folded over on top of each other like 8
inches long before being folded back on itself and then they are stored
in a fancy blue case where you slide each folded stack into.
Fan-folded tape was what was used with "high speed" readers like the
PC04 and PC05. I have some PDP-8/i and PDP-8/e tapes like that.
Spooled tape was more common with low-speed readers, like the one
on the side of an ASR-33.
I am trying to figure out if these are any good to
anybody...
Almost certainly. With part numbers (if any are present), we could
probably determine if copies were already available online or not.
In any case, they are useful to someone who has a paper tape reader
(fan-fold tape can be read by an ASR-33 or a PC04, but I wouldn't
want to put spooled tape in a PC04... probably would snarl).
... or whether they are only good on one specific
system.
Depending on exactly what you have, chances are that they are
good for one _family_ of computers (some PDP-8 stuff works for
every thing (FOCAL, assemblers, other utilities), some stuff
is model-specific (diagnostics, some utilities)). Need more
info before we could make a determination.
Can someone help me out here.
Yes. Can you give us a listing of what's typed/written on the
first fold? Putting several stacks in a flatbed scanner and
making the picture available on a web page somewhere might
be equally useful... folks could comment on what they recognize.
I am pretty sure they are from a large DEC computer
used in a
university in the 1960s and 1970s becuase the
dates on them are from 1965 to 1978.
There were no PDP-11s in 1965, and most of the models of stuff that
_were_ available in 1965 were not getting new software from DEC in
1978. It's possible you have tapes from several types of machine
mixed togethe. It's also possible you have, say, PDP-8 tapes, from
a wide range of years (the PDP-8 was available in one form or
another from 1965 well past 1978).
Descriptions or pictures would be most helpful
-ethan
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cmcnabb＠4mcnabb.net -
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