Hello,
I'm an employee with the National radio astronomy observatory here in Socorro New Mexico.
As part of our NGVLA upgrades, we are seeking to get rid of old data tapes from the tape reel days of Computing. These contain things such as the boot loaders, OS, specific collection programs and antenna movement programs.
I personally would hate to see these just wind up in the literal dumpster and would like to see them sent out to a museum or an archiving body that can preserve them and keep them safe as a dynamic part of history.
If anyone is interested or knows someone who would be interested in the VLAs data tape library please let me know.
V/R
Danielle Werts
Front end engineer
VLA Socorro New Mexico
Per the link below, it mentions a reference manual to IBM's BASIC for the
System/3 as part number GC34-0001-1 but that no digital copies are known
to exist.
https://manx-docs.org/details.php/19,11119
I know at VCF East they've been trying to restore one of these. Not sure
if any functional system still exists (especially probably not the Model 6
with CRT and disk drive).
Anyway, if anyone happens to have the physical manual described above, I'm
just curious if in the first few pages was it publication date? (before or
after 1970?)
Also - since IBM went out of their way to re-use the BASIC from the
System/3, does that imply there was never a variation of BASIC written for
the IBM 360/370? (asking because from my understanding, the System/3 was
a lot more difficult to program and operate -- and yet someone wrote a
BASIC interpreter for it).
-Steve
Hello all,
I have transferred some simh .tap files to my PDP-11/23+ running RSX11M+.
There I have tried to use VCP to attach them to a virtual device but I keep
getting an invalid record format error. I then realized the simh .tap files
most likely aren't organized correctly. If I attach them to TS0 in simh I
can work with them. So now I am trying duplicate a tape into a new .tap
file created using VCP. I can't for the life of me get it to work though.
BRU doesn't support tape-to-tape and FLX doesn't complain but also never
completes. Is there a process for tape duplication under RSX?
The images were first transferred to my PiDP-11 using ftp in binary mode
over TCP/IP. From there I used NFT in image mode and I tried both record
and block modes.
I have also seen the simh tape tools but there doesn't seem to be a tool to
convert a simh file back to what would be on a real tape.
Anyone have any information or pointers to get this to work?
Thanks!
-Peter
I am going to assume there are other TRS-80 people hanging out
here and go ahead and ask this:
Has anyone here used the DEFUSRx command?
I tried to use it for something I am working on and it
didn't work.
So, I copied the example program from page 115 of the
Model III Disk System Owner's Manual and, guess what,
it didn't work either.
150 DEFUSR1 = &H7D00
returns a Syntax Error
150 DEFUSR1 = 32000
works fine.
Anybody else ever run into this?
I can't believe something as blatant as that could have
gone on for all those years.
bill
It is few years that anybody asks, so here it is again:
ANYBODY has any manuals for it?
On Discord, we have some discussions, I found some of them in my boxes,
but nobody has documentation, and no success to get them working.
Any chance?
I've written a "side scroller" program using the IBM 5100's native PALM
instruction set. I talked about the 5100 in 2023, and for 2025 I wanted to
present something special for its 50th anniversary.
I kept getting sidetracked with other projects over the year. But thanks
to the IBM 5100 emulator now in MAME, that helped a lot in debugging the
program more efficiently. There is much I still don't fully understand
about PALM, so I probably do this in the most efficient way, but it does
work well.
I'm also still working towards restoring a POLY-88 (8080 based system,
similar to SOL-20 as far as being S-100 based). Someday I'd like to
attempt a similar side-scroller on that platform, to see how the
performance compares and if a micro that early could handle it (at 1.8MHz
and will need to find 16KB of working RAM- one thing about the IBM 5100, it
feels fairly rock solid after 50 years). Unless anyone already has a
working 8080-based system and wants to take a stab at this? I'll talk more
about the design approach (and use of PALM instruction set) after VCF next
month.
Here is the YouTube video preview of this scroller in action on real
hardware:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRAxKGkXC1I
And the Rumble version in case anyone has issues with YT:
https://rumble.com/v6tu80h-ibm-5100-vertical-side-scroller-hardware-demonst…
If anyone has a 5100 with the "expansion feature" and async card, we're
always interested in trying to get old system "online" (through WiModem
type devices), or a non-working 5100 is always good for spare parts on the
ones that do still work.
But one "fabled accessory" of the 5100 is it's carrying case -- which
surprisingly was the cheapest item on its price sheet (at $150 new). I've
only seen one of these once (in Florida), so they do exist. Or tapes
(even later 3M QIC DC6120 are compatible).
Cheers,
Steve
Was there someone on this list who can help repair boards, like the RQDX3s
I broke in my H9278? I don't know if it would be too costly, but if not I'd
like to restore them to working condition.
-Peter
Hello to the group,
I have been banging my head against a PDP-11/23 where I have an RQDX3 I'm
trying to get to work. Actually, I have two RQDX3's but only one at a time.
It is configured to the factory CSR, 172150, and it has the latest
microcode on it. When I run the XXDP ZRQCH0 formatter I get the following:
RQDX3 Disk Formatter Utility
UNIT IS Formattable Winchester (RDnn) or Floppy (RX33) Drives
RSTRT ADR 145702
DR>STA
CHANGE HW (L) ? Y
# UNITS (D) ? 1
UNIT 0
Enter controller IP Address (O) 172150 ?
What unit do you want to format [0-255] (D) 0 ?
Would you like to revector a single LBN only [Y/N] (L) N ?
Do you want to use the "AUTOFORMAT" Mode [Y/N] (L) Y ? N
ZRQC SYS FTL ERR 00006 ON UNIT 00 TST 001 SUB 000 PC: 105742
Fatal Controller Error During Initialization.
ZRQC SYS FTL ERR 00006 ON UNIT 00 TST 001 SUB 002 PC: 105742
Fatal Controller Error During Initialization.
ZRQC EOP 1
2 TOTAL ERRS
DR>
I have been booting XXDP and also RT11 over an emulator TU58. And I have a
BDV11 so it has an LTC.
I did try downgrading the microcode on the RQDX3 to the previous version,
3. It was 4. But no luck.
Am I missing something? This should work with an M8186 CPU board, right?
Anyone have any ideas? I haven't yet, but I plan to pop one of these RQDX3s
in my 11/23+ and see if it works there.
-Peter
I just managed to score a 5155. Well, soon, it is waiting for me to
pick it up at the University where I used to work. It looks to be in
really good shape and has been in storage for probably two decades or
more.
A couple quick question for anyone familiar with this system.
Is it likely there is one of those little batteries on it that would
now be dead and need replacing before I try to use it?
And, also, would this have a floppy controller on it that was capable
of reading and writing disks from systems like the TRS-80 with an SD
boot track?
Inquiring minds want to know. :-)
bill
