Message: 2
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2023 18:27:52 +0000
From: silcreval <silvercreekvalley(a)yahoo.com>
Subject: [cctalk] Re: PDP-8/A FPP8/A
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Message-ID: <4EF3AB13-972C-4EE0-8105-C11128DA4BFA(a)yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>Hi Bob
>Thanks - thats very interesting. I guess there was quite a >bit of overlap with the 11 and the 8/A so 'marketing' >stepped in :-)
Exactly what happened, you are correct. We did want to sell more 8 systems into labs... where small memory models made sense (256K words or less) and kept having this dream of a Fortran Machine that went fast for the times.
I don't recall exactly but I think one of the 11 models with FPU that got blown out of the water was the 11/60 (a harvard arch implementation by O'Loughlin iirc) that was a decent and very very reliable 11 (used pairs of them for a critical system and they were exceptionally reliable when compared with disk drives!!)
The 8A was (and still is) a good machine but some of us wanted to build a 10Mhz clock 8 but the cost would have put it in the wrong price range for the types of customers we were allowed to have.
bb
> Izzat a "SPARCBook II"? If so, I have one with 2 drives, and
> the /usr drive is failing. I can replace that but I have no
> idea how to reinstall SunOS/Solaris/Whatever.
I did that in the past using a network install. One will need
ftfp (for kernel) and bootp (for parameters and paths) as well
as old style nfs on a server with the installation media. Worked
nicely and is pretty fast if CDs are copied to harddrive before-
hand...
Best wishes and good luck,
Erik.
''~``
( o o )
+--------------------------.oooO--(_)--Oooo.-------------------------+
| Dr. Erik Baigar Inertial Navigation & |
| Salzstrasse 1 .oooO Vintage Computer |
| D87616 Marktoberdorf ( ) Oooo. Hobbyist / Physicist |
| erik(a)baigar.de +------\ (----( )---------------------------+
| www.baigar.de | \_) ) /
+----------------------+ (_/
Well, the weekend of hardware sudden death continues. The reason for getting
the UltraBook IIi out was to do some more work on kOpenRay, the free Sun Ray
server software I very occasionally maintain. Among other devices I use(d) two
Accutech Gobi laptops to talk to it since they have an oddball VPN setup that
used to cause problems.
Unfortunately, neither will configure their network interfaces anymore and just
hang. The board is of course a cheap mass of unrepairable components.
If anyone has an Accutech Gobi (either the 7 or 8 model, both will suffice, I
don't need the 3.5G module but will use it if it's there) sitting around
gathering dust, I'd love to buy it off you. I have the power supply and
batteries already. Southern California.
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser(a)floodgap.com
-- And now for something completely different. -- Monty Python ----------------
I’ve been restoring a RM380 I picked up not long ago and it’s been good news and bad news. All the cards are in wonderful condition and the case is presentable however the two BASF 6106 floppy drives are highly corroded and probably won’t work again but this isn’t what I’m wondering, the original supply is a little rough but looks tone perfectly restorable with the exception of the key lock been stuck (problem to solve later) and I can get all the parts needed to replace the three filters but it is a 70s linear supply and if my s-100 experience has told me anything they might not be the most reliable. What would you all recommend restoring it and keeping it original or fitting some modern SMPS in its place. It is a low serial number as well (691) but saying I want it to be reliable I’m torn.
Don White designed the FPP8/A. From my recollection, the unit that
was sold with 8/A was the second iteration of an Omnibus FPP8. I waa
off in LCG working on Jupiter so I never got to see the original but I
recall that the redesign to use the cycle stealing version that went
to market was because the original 8/A version was too "powerful"
meaning that it out performed all of the PDP-11 FPP units and was more
precise. I recall it was capable of 72 bit vice 36 bit max operations.
The marketed design was a cost reduced and really an extraordinary
simple design, elegant would be a better description. I seem to recall
the original was built around either ALU or 4 bit Slice chips like
AMD2901 or some variation of a TRW chip.
bob
Your troubles with USB floppy drives reinforces my own experiences. They seem to work okay in windows using a Microsoft written utility but not too well in dos or user written programs. It’s hit or miss as to if the program will see the usb floppy. However, using a builtin floppy always seems to work.
Sent from my iPhone
> On Feb 26, 2023, at 12:17, Chris Zach via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Henry!
>
>> You wanted a SETUP disk for a Deskpro/XE system, right? Like SP1363
>> as listed here https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=76542
>> <https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=76542> ? I was able to do
>> this in Dosbox-X no problem: mount the local directory with
>> sp1363.exe as C: or whatever, attach a disk image to A:, and then
>> let sp1363.exe create the disk image on A: . You can then write the
>> raw disk image to a 1.44" floppy.
>
> Interesting. I was using DOSBOX, not DOSBOX-X. I tried downloading it, set the A: drive to be the USB a: drive, and it doesn't work. This time it bombs out with QRST transfer incomplete.
>
> So I restarted, copied one of the diagnostic floppy images I did have to a filename of xe.img, mounted it in dosbox-x with the imgmount a (filename) command, then ran QRST and it seems to have worked.
>
> So if you try to use a USB floppy it can't see it, but if you use an image file it can. I wonder if Dosbox sees the external floppy as a SCSI device, but when you do an imgmount it knows to use the real, crappy DMA based routines to access the image file.
>
> Off to copy the image file to the pi, then to the USB floppy, then maybe to get the XE running. Fascinating, and thank yoU!
>
> CZ
Ok, so after pouting for awhile after destroying my only Teac 1.2mb 5.25
drive (old floppies are garbage) I sat for awhile and thought about this
whole issue. The goal is simple: Install P/OS 3.2 on my Pro/380 but
doing 21 floppies for the base OS, another 20 or so for the Toolkit, and
God knows how many for the layered applications is, shall we say, for
the birds.
I feel like a spaceman trying to start a fire on the moon by banging
rocks together. There needs to be a better way.
So I looked around some more and finally found a program. Someone wrote
it, called SAMDISK. From the "World of Sam"
https://www.worldofsam.org/products/samdisk-utility
Downloaded it to Windows10, fired it up (CMD mode only, thank God) and
typed:
samdisk 177-21.td0 disk0021.dsk
And sure enough a 430,336 byte image popped up in my directory. Moved it
to a USB, put it in my Gotek/Flashfloppy, fired up my pdp11/73 running
RSX111M+, and did a mount DU1: /over
It mounted. $ mount du1: /over
$ dir du1:[*,*]
Directory DU1:[ZZSYS]
26-FEB-2023 22:09
POSRES.TSK;1 42. C 23-JUN-1987 14:51
POS.SYS;1 441. C 23-JUN-1987 14:51
STARTUP.TSK;1 19. C 23-JUN-1987 14:52
SASCOM.TSK;1 4. C 23-JUN-1987 14:52
SAS.COM;1 1. 23-JUN-1987 14:52
SIR.TSK;1 74. C 23-JUN-1987 14:52
Total of 581./581. blocks in 6. files
Directory DU1:[1,54]
26-FEB-2023 22:09
SIR.MSG;1 17. 23-JUN-1987 14:52
SIR.MNU;1 5. 23-JUN-1987 14:52
SIR.HLP;1 10. 23-JUN-1987 14:52
SCRIPT.COM;1 23. 23-JUN-1987 14:52
Total of 55./55. blocks in 4. files
Grand total of 636./636. blocks in 10. files in 2. directories
That is the first disk in the POS series. So we know that this tool can
work to turn thse stupid TD0 files into images that we can use.
Now to convert the rest of the files, and get a second Gotek. Because I
am going to need to run two of them to emulate the two RX50's on a
Pro/380. If I set one as drive 0, the second as drive 1, and use a
straight 34 pin ribbon cable it might work.....
Never dull. But this is a far less painful solution than screwing around
with 100 floppy disks.
CZ
Hi all,
I'm cooking up a new interpreter for the PDP 8. It uses a C like language (C-) and is really a project to get my head round the PDP 8 architecture. Note its an interpreter not compiler :-)
I have recently got my hands on a wonderful working PDP 8/a, but it would be nice to have some actual storage e.g. a disk drive or tape of some kind. I'm not a fan of using tape emulators etc, although thats all I have at the moment. Happy to pay the going rate and will travel to collect. I'm in the UK - so can do anywhere in the UK or Netherlands/Germany/France etc.
I would also like to have a go with the FPP8/A which is a floating point option on the 8/A. If anyone has one for sale or would be prepared to do medium term loan that would be a great help.
More details on the project once its in a workable form and I've set up a website or whatever
Thanks
Ian
