19 Oct
2005
19 Oct
'05
2:18 p.m.
I was reminiscing to someone about an old GE mainframe with an analog meter
that registered Kops/sec. I'm sure it was little more than an RC
integrator hooked to the RNI signal reading out on a voltmeter, but it
seemed pretty spiffy at the time.
Has anyone done a similar thing with their vintage systems? On the 8080,
the M1 signal could be used; I'm not sure offhand about other processors.
I know--it's more simple amusement for a simple mind...but then, blinking
lights always fascinated me.
Cheers,
Chuck
19 Oct
19 Oct
2:32 p.m.
You're not alone. Among the things I'm adding to the 11/23PLUS I have, I
purchased a SCSI enclosure with several 5.25" bays. In those bays I'll be
putting a 5.25" speaker unit hooked to a DECtalk, a pair of analog gauges
meant for PCs that have system CPU speed and fan speed readouts on them
(once I figure out how they work!) and a serially controlled readout for
www.crystalfontz.com that shows random things like disk usage and whatnot.
It may even get neon lights underneath the cabinet, for...GROUND EFFECTS!
Alright, so I'm getting carried away, but why not? It's my computer :)
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 4:19 PM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Computer speedometers
I was reminiscing to someone about an old GE mainframe with an analog meter
that registered Kops/sec. I'm sure it was little more than an RC integrator
hooked to the RNI signal reading out on a voltmeter, but it seemed pretty
spiffy at the time.
Has anyone done a similar thing with their vintage systems? On the 8080,
the M1 signal could be used; I'm not sure offhand about other processors.
I know--it's more simple amusement for a simple mind...but then, blinking
lights always fascinated me.
Cheers,
Chuck
2:52 p.m.
On 10/19/2005 at 4:32 PM Julian Wolfe wrote:
Alright, so I'm getting carried away, but why not?
It's my computer :)
Well sure, why not? If you had an all static-CMOS MPU, you could even take
one of those big rheostats used for stage lighting and hook it up to a VFO
to provide a variable clock to your CPU. "Captain, if I turn it up any
higher, it'll blow for sure!".
Didn't a couple of Honeywell mainframes use bar-graph Nixie tubes to show
various system parameters?
Cheers,
Chuck
3:12 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 10/19/2005 at 4:32 PM Julian Wolfe wrote:
A PDP that'll go all the way up to 11? :-)
Alright, so I'm getting carried away, but why
not? It's my computer :)
Well sure, why not? If you had an all static-CMOS MPU, you could even take
one of those big rheostats used for stage lighting and hook it up to a VFO
to provide a variable clock to your CPU. "Captain, if I turn it up any
higher, it'll blow for sure!". Didn't a couple of Honeywell mainframes use
bar-graph Nixie tubes to show
various system parameters?
I certainly recall *something* of the mainframe era with rather funky
displays, more in keeping with a scifi movie... buggered if I can
remember what it was now, though!
cheers
Jules
5:36 p.m.
Well sure, why
not? If you had an all static-CMOS MPU, you could even take
one of those big rheostats used for stage lighting and hook it up to a VFO
to provide a variable clock to your CPU. "Captain, if I turn it up any
higher, it'll blow for sure!".
A PDP that'll go all the way up to 11? :-) 
3:13 p.m.
IBM 360 mod 65 had/has a nice one ...
http://www.ibm-collectables.com/albums/album01/PICT1651.jpg
Bob
3:09 p.m.
Has anyone done a similar thing with their vintage
systems? On the 8080,
the M1 signal could be used; I'm not sure offhand about other processors.
My incomplete Hitachi AS/6 has a meter good for all sorts of this, like
processor horsepower and I/O.
I know--it's more simple amusement for a simple
mind...but then, blinking
lights always fascinated me.
ANYTHING on topic is welcome at this point.
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org
2 Nov
2 Nov
4:59 p.m.
Re:
> Has anyone done a similar thing with their
vintage systems? On the 8080,
The PA-RISC based HP 3000s have a "speedometer" built-in to the
MPE/iX operating system.
The older models have a LED display that usually shows FxFF, with "x"
alternating between "F" and a value in the range 0..9,A which indicates
(when multiplied by 10) the CPU's percent busy.
Thus, F2FF means "CPU is 20% busy". (The alternating between
FxFF and FFFF gave the user a means of knowing whether or not the
OS had frozen, otherwise one couldn't tell if a constant FxFF was
meaningful :)
The newer models lost the LED display, sigh, but the info is available
at the operator's request ... in which case it will be displayed on
the 25th line (the "status line") of the operator console.
(On topic, because the 3000/930 was released in 1986.)
--
Stan Sieler
sieler at allegro.com
www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html
8:59 p.m.
Stan,
IIRC the PA-RISC HP3000s display DEAD on the LED display if the system had
crashed.
Lee Courtney
MontaVista Software
1237 East Arques Avenue
Sunnyvale, California 94085
(408) 328-9238 voice
(408) 328-9204 fax
Yahoo IM: charlesleecourtney
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Stan Sieler
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 4:59 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Computer speedometers
Re:
> Has anyone done a similar thing with their
vintage systems?
On the 8080,
The PA-RISC based HP 3000s have a "speedometer" built-in to the
MPE/iX operating system.
The older models have a LED display that usually shows FxFF, with "x"
alternating between "F" and a value in the range 0..9,A which indicates
(when multiplied by 10) the CPU's percent busy.
Thus, F2FF means "CPU is 20% busy". (The alternating between
FxFF and FFFF gave the user a means of knowing whether or not the
OS had frozen, otherwise one couldn't tell if a constant FxFF was
meaningful :)
The newer models lost the LED display, sigh, but the info is available
at the operator's request ... in which case it will be displayed on
the 25th line (the "status line") of the operator console.
(On topic, because the 3000/930 was released in 1986.)
--
Stan Sieler
sieler at allegro.com
www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html
19 Oct
19 Oct
3:14 p.m.
Has anyone done a similar thing with their vintage
systems? On the 8080,
the M1 signal could be used; I'm not sure offhand about other processors.
Come to think of it, the SGI 4D/380 has an LED bar graph matrix on the
front panel to show performance for each of the 8 CPUs.
And how could I forget the Systems Industries cache controller used on my
school's old VAX-11/780 - it was connected to two Fujitsu Eagles, and had
a truely massive LED bargraph for hit rate.
What a completely useless, expensive, way cool feature...
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org
3:36 p.m.
William Donzelli wrote:
And of course in more modern times the BeBox has its dual bargraph
displays up each side of the case front to do the same thing...
Has anyone done
a similar thing with their vintage systems? On the 8080,
the M1 signal could be used; I'm not sure offhand about other processors.
Come to think of it, the SGI 4D/380 has an LED bar graph matrix on the
front panel to show performance for each of the 8 CPUs. What a completely useless, expensive, way cool
feature...
Sometimes they're the best :)
5:29 p.m.
Some IBM 370's had a big galvanometer on the front,
EG the '168 had one even with the massive CRT
up there on the panel.
(photo courtesy the corestore)
http://www.corestore.org/370168-1.jpg
AIX / RS6000 had a nice set of onscreen meters.
Old fantasy: working Apollo CM control panel with all
the lights, switches and barberpoles.
John A.
20 Oct
20 Oct
4:55 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
I was reminiscing to someone about an old GE mainframe
with an analog meter
that registered Kops/sec. I'm sure it was little more than an RC
integrator hooked to the RNI signal reading out on a voltmeter, but it
seemed pretty spiffy at the time.
Has anyone done a similar thing with their vintage systems? On the 8080,
the M1 signal could be used; I'm not sure offhand about other processors.
I know--it's more simple amusement for a simple mind...but then, blinking
lights always fascinated me.
The idea that Dave McG mentioned to me was embedding an LED array in
your roof, and encode a bandwidth utilization meter into the LED's.
Peace... Sridhar
12:22 p.m.
At 02:18 PM 10/19/2005 -0700, you wrote:
I was reminiscing to someone about an old GE mainframe
with an analog meter
that registered Kops/sec.
Has anyone done a similar thing with their vintage systems?
In the late 70's I saw a PDP-11/45 that was wired up with an analog meter
like that. As I understood it, it was an RC integrator hooked up to one of
the Unibus lines. It was a great compliment to the RSTS spinning lights.
Cheers,
jp
www.saccade.com
6772
days inactive
6787
days old
13 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
allain＠panix.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
aw288＠osfn.org -
Bob＠BRADLEE.ORG -
cclist＠sydex.com -
fireflyst＠earthlink.net -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
lcourtney＠mvista.com -
pdp11＠saccade.com -
ploopster＠gmail.com -
sieler＠allegro.com