test-drb November 1997

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

126 participants
546 discussions

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

I should probably know this by now, or be able to figure it out, but its been one of those weeks to far, with no signs of improvement... I need to format up an ST-212 drive as an RD51 (don't ask, I just need to) and can not for the life of me remember (or find my notes) the parameters to feed the formatter on my VS2000 to format this thing. Anyone have these parameters at hand? (Ok... I'm trying to load Micro-RSTS on one of my machines, and the distribution disk set installer demands an RD51 as the system drive) Thanks! -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

28 years

Rubbery Bits Gone Gooey

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Lately a friend has been trying to copy a tape for an HP 2645 terminal. Thus far he has discovered a problem with tape drives in two terminals. His description of the problem is that, when used, the motor capstan in the tape drive "melts". In one case he has not been able to get all the ex-capstan goo off of the belt capstan in the cartridge; fortunately that was a blank tape. My first thought was, hmm, this sounds like the problem the calculator folks have with the rubbery wheels that go gooey. I have one of these terminals too, but it's a bit buried in storage and I haven't got it out yet. (In fact, the tape contains games and he is trying to copy it because I expressed interest...of course, now I am thinking that when I dig the terminal out I need to open it up and check the capstans before I go and jam a tape in.) Instead I found the May 1976 issue of the HP Journal, which was smaller, lighter, closer to the front, and does a pretty good job of demonstrating how proud HP was of having fit tape drives to HP 264x terminals. What have I found out? The motor capstan has an aluminum core with an elastomer coating that is ground to the right size during manufacture. Said elastomer was chosen for quick recovery from the dent that forms in it when the loaded tape isn't moving (as the capstan is held against the tape cartridge's belt capstan). So now I guess I have two questions. One is just what do the calculator folks do about rubbery wheels gone gooey? And the other is, can I do something like that for these drives? Given that the object of this capstan is to press against and drive something less flexible than a magnetic card (the belt capstan in a DC100 tape cartridge) I'm not sure the same sort of material would work. And an observation: the HP 9815A desktop calculator I have sitting here seems to use a similar drive (at least the capstan looks similar when I peer in the slot), and I think the HP 85 does too. -Frank McConnell

28 years

PET Finds

by foxnhare＠goldrush.com

From: Grant Zozman <gzozman(a)escape.ca> Subject: Re: Commodore PET finds. >Scott Walde wrote: >> >> I also got 4 'MSD Super Disk Drive' model SD-1. These look similar in >> design to the external TRS-80 drives (except they're cream coloured). >> They have two 6-pin DIN plugs and an IEEE-488(?) plug. Are these what I >> think they are? (Drives that will work on the VIC-20/C-64 and PETs) I >> don't have any 6pin cables to try these on a VIC. I haven't tried them on >> a PET yet, either. Any idea what format these would be? (2040, 8050?) >The MSD drive will definitely work with a C-64. By extension, I belive >this means it will also work with the VIC-20. Not sure about PET >compatibility, though I believe the IEEE-488 interface was provided for >PET's. And they will work on the PET too! Yes, that is an IEEE-488 interface. and I have had mine (an SD-2, pretty cool drive!) hooked to my PET (before I sold it). and it provides you with 1541/4040 compatibility. Though not EXACT, as that would have violated Commodore's copyrights. I have read you can get JiffyDOS for various 3rd party drives and I think the MSD was one of them. Larry Anderson -- -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Visit our web page at: http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/ Call our BBS (Silicon Realms BBS 300-2400 baud) at: (209) 754-1363 -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

28 years

Intro msg: Teraks, emulators, reviving cassette data

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Well there were -10s and then there were -10s. Ours consisted of 25 19" <style rack cupboards next to each other (so it was about 40 odd feet in <length). There were three racks for the CPU, four for memory (we had 256KW That was a big ten! But compare it to a 9020(360/60) used by the FAA. Or for that fact some of the -10s used by compuserve, they had some really huge ones and not just a few. The biggest one inside DEC was the MARKET cluster, yep four -10s clustered sharing the same disk field. But a lot of 10s were small 128kw, swapdrum, maybe four RP04s and an 8I or 8E for IO control. The whole mess was two rows 24ft long. The CPU box alone for the 360 next door was 4x the size of the KA10 cpu. that seems big but a PDP-11 of that era would be 3-4 standard racks plus drives. <There were plans for the so called Jupiter system which was due to ship Jupiter was due to ship around '84 the 780 was sold in '78! The story is this (I worked in the mill at the time) Jupiter was required to perform at 4x the last System10/20. The best the design team could accomplish was 2x (subtantial enough but below design goal). It was also competing for resources(money) to design and build the 86xx (nautalus). What wasn't known was the cutomer base was hungry for even 2x increase. The day it was canceled was a very dark one for the engineering groups. <Sitting at home I have all the necessary bits to put together an Apple II <system to run UCSD Pascal. All I need is the time and the software (the on <bit I don't have). The reason for wanting this is Carl Helmers Byte articl <so many years ago describing such a system - for me the first microcompute <that was usable rather than a "toy" to play with. The appleII was more useful than most of the other non s100 systems like trs-80s which didn't have solid hardware at that time(EI timing problems). if you had a solid trs80 you could run UCSD psystem. I was running Psystem on a Northstar horizon with three drives and it was a useful system. Allison

28 years

Intro msg: Teraks, emulators, reviving cassette data

by jfoust＠threedee.com

Why, I thought I'd get a few replies about my Terak computer collection, as described in my intro message on 11/18. Anyone out there have any experience with these? - John www.threedee.com/jcm

28 years

Intro msg: Teraks, emulators, reviving cassette data

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

found a small written piece talking about the Terak 8510 with a LSI-11 processor, 20k words of 16 bit memory, 256k floppy drive, came out in January of 1977, cost at the time of over $5000, had RS232 and 20mA current loop serial interfaces. Software was Basic and Fortran. Hope this helps Keep computing - John At 10:31 AM 11/24/97 -0600, you wrote: > >Why, I thought I'd get a few replies about my Terak computer >collection, as described in my intro message on 11/18. >Anyone out there have any experience with these? > >- John >www.threedee.com/jcm > > >

28 years

PROGRESS! It booted!

by dseagrav＠bsdserver.tek-star.net

I was fiddling and I pulled the NPG from the Unibus ribbon cable and the machine will boot now! But when I try starting RSTS timesharing (START command to the bootloader [Is that INIT?]) it lists devices it disables and hangs there. I can see an LED go high on the 2nd UDA board (The one that doesn't connect to the drives), stay high for a second, then go lo, strobe, and repeat. The READY lamp on the RA81 has died, so I can't really tell what's happening... I'll go RTFM tonight, but if anyone knows for sure what's happening, it'd be nice to know!

28 years

Talk Of Building A Computer...

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 97-11-21 06:21:27 EST, HOTZE put forth: > PS- I've been looking for this for months. Does anyone know where I can find > the latest version of Elisa (Or another good AI) on the net? Elsewhere? elisa? that program that asks you the same open ended question? i may have a similar program if there really is an interest. david

28 years

[PDP-11/44]: OK, this has become an emergency situation!

by dseagrav＠bsdserver.tek-star.net

Here's the deal: Our landlord (at work) showed up. He was not happy with the '44, at all. It is currently in an unused room. (I have no other place to put it!) It looks quite ugly, as it's not working and all over the place. I cleaned up the best I can, but it's not enough. Since nor my business nor me can afford the spare room, I have been given orders to make it look nice. I have 3 days. After which, if the room does not meet his standards, he'll take the computer and feed it to the scrap man. I can't afford the room, I'm broke. And I can't move it anywhere else. Basically, I have 3 days to get everything back in the racks. And working if possible. Or else, whatever I can't fit in my car is property of the building owner, and then the scrap metal man. If I can make it run, I can put it in the main office (maybe). The uPDPs and such have to find another place to stay... One'll end up at my house, and the others probably in storage. I have things almost ready. The 2 BA11s power on, but there appears to be no bus continuity. The arragement has the CPU and RAM in the master BA11, and the UDA50 in the other. No DZs or anyhting yet. The lights on the UDA stobe normally, but it refuses to boot. It is in an NPG slot (I looked, the CA1 wire is cut), like it was originally. Just those MASSBUS backplanes are gone. I have NPGs in every available slot. There is one terminator, at the end of the bus. WHat am I doing wrong?

28 years

CGA & clock speeds

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<booted but did not give a display. I could tell it was working by <entering <DOS commands. I tried then at 5.33 MHz. It booted & ran OK (as far as <and found that the CGA card depends on the 14.31818 oscilator to run <properly. <Since the processor seemed to be running OK at 8 MHz, what I want to do Simple make sure you supply 14.31818 to the ISA bus from a seperate oscillator (or put it on the CGA card and bypass the buss connection). The problem is that much of the machine is timed off that clock. it is generated either using then 8284A clock generator or or a TTL oscillator can. The 8088 is driven off the 8284A (it supplies the correct 33% duty cycle closk) so it could be done as two seperate sources. There were "upgrades" that did exactly that yo yeild turbo systems. Allison

28 years

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test-drb November 1997