test-drb April 1999

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

170 participants
1190 discussions

by healyzh＠aracnet.com

I'm getting ready to test the /44's Power Supply tomorrow. Finished the initial AC checks tonite, of verifying that the power distribution unit is working. However, I just remembered a thread that was on the list MONTHS ago about powering on Power Supplies that have been out of service for half of forever. I seem to recall something about slowly applying AC power to the powersupply. I've got access to a variable powersupply that will provide 0-140 VAC. Is this a good idea? If so, how slowly is a good idea? Also, in talking to a friend tonite he was suggesting I hook an O-Scope up to the PS to check for "ripple". Is this necessary? I've got a scope, but honestly do not have any idea how to use it, and haven't had time to learn. Zane | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast | | healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |

26 years

PDP-11/44 Boot ROMS

by danburrows＠mindspring.com

>I've identified that I've got boot ROMS for the following > >751A9 RL01 >765A9 TU58 >757A9 TU16,45,77,TE16 >767A9 <-What is this one, the manual doesn't list it. The DU rom Add 23-E39-A9 to your manual also. MU ROM > >I assume that I can boot RL02's with the RL01 ROMS. Yes I may want to talk you out of a copy of the 765A9. I don't have that one. Dan

26 years

DEC

by edick＠idcomm.com

I don't really have an anti-DEC bias. They kept the industry moving forward (which served their interests if no one else's) at a time when the BIG guys didn't really want it to move form mainframes to distributed minis/micros. I did however, back in the days when this happened, have a bias against buying what we could make and sell at a profit, since I was the resident hardware/systems guru. Having come from a circuit design background as opposed to the usual "rack 'em and stack 'em" position assumed by defense/aerospace contractors, I wanted build something which inherently was suited to the task as opposed to buying a bunch of stuff that didn't and then filing, cutting, and gluing until it did. -----Original Message----- From: Bill Pechter <pechter(a)pechter.dyndns.org> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, April 24, 1999 1:10 PM Subject: Re: DEC >> That's the name of the guy! Stan Olson . . . the fellows at that one pitch >> to which I was referring in my original post on this subject were touting >> Stan Olson as being so cagey that he kept the gov out of the company's books >> by selling his wares to the gov through integration contractors so that the >> folks at the gov could specify DEC without naming them, and the various >> competing contractors would always decode the RFP to mean DEC and so DEC >> would win every time. I thought it was clever, if true, but the genius's >> name was Stan Olson. > This is actually a very clever and inherently legal way to get around the risk that someone else's product might get introduced into a market you nearly own all for yourself. > >No. Stan Olson's Ken Olson's brother and one of the folks who >kept pushing the company into things like the VT78 and WPS word >processors. He left the company a while back. > Well . . . it COULD have been Ken Olson to whom reference was being made. > >I think you've got a serious anti DEC bias here. > >Someone's very misinformed here or (more likely) the sales guy's full of it. > Well, there were bunches of them swooping down on us . . . the project in question involved about 60 8800's and bunches and bunches of microVaxen with each one. It was many hundreds of the taxpayer's millions that were involved . . . > >Q: How do you tell a computer salesman is lying? >A: His lips move. > >Q: What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman? >A: The used car salesman KNOWS when he's lying. > >Bill

26 years

Leaky nicad battery

by mark_k＠iname.com

Hi, I have an old PC which has a leaky nicad battery soldered to the PCB. There is stuff coming out of the battery, which has corroded the PCB traces near it. This is probably the reason why the machine doesn't work properly. Can anyone recommend an effective method of cleaning off this stuff so that further corrosion does not occur? When it comes to repairing PCB traces, I guess I'll just have to solder some wires in place. -- Mark

26 years

DEC

by edick＠idcomm.com

That's the name of the guy! Stan Olson . . . the fellows at that one pitch to which I was referring in my original post on this subject were touting Stan Olson as being so cagey that he kept the gov out of the company's books by selling his wares to the gov through integration contractors so that the folks at the gov could specify DEC without naming them, and the various competing contractors would always decode the RFP to mean DEC and so DEC would win every time. I thought it was clever, if true, but the genius's name was Stan Olson. I worked for a while at a major Government Agency which shall remain nameless . . . Every time I called one of my colleagues to leave a message, his lab partner would ask "are you from Digital?" I interpreted this as being digital, since we were digital systems group in the organization in question, and answered with a resounding YES, being new and underinformed as to the culture. One day at lunch the matter happened to come up and that's when I found out the message my colleague was receiving was causing him to call the DEC salesman. Too bad we haven't a way of pronouncing the case of a letter so people will understand. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Bill Pechter <pechter(a)pechter.dyndns.org> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 9:34 PM Subject: Re: DEC >> I have a manual for PrintDirecter put out by Digital Products Inc-"the sub-Lan >> Company" of Watertown, Ma. Was this a division of DEC ? I know there were >> several companies with Digital in their name. >> > >Digital was a bad name... too often used and too generic. >Too bad K.O. didn't allow the company to do business as DEC. >I believe Stan Olson was in favor of this at one time. > >Nah... the great story is people coming to the DEC facility in >Nashua to get their DIGITAL clocks and watches fixed. > >Bill > >--- > bpechter@shell.monmouth.com|pechter@pechter.dyndns.org > Three things never anger: First, the one who runs your DEC, > The one who does Field Service and the one who signs your check.

26 years

building core

by cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com

Ok, one step closer. The description of core in the PDP-8/a miniprocessor users manual shows the wires going straight through the cores. Is this correct? I'd expect the wire to make one or two turns around the core so that the magnetic field it induced would be "inside" the torroid. Comments? What about driving voltages? I've got a +/- 36v @ 3amps supply here, the PDP-8 uses its 15 volt supplies. I'm building a simply push-pull direct coupled amp out of a couple of transistors to send the signal that Allison drew. I'm using a Parallax BASIC Stamp to generate the waveforms (I could use the HP but then it wouldn't be portable) Sense wire? Straight through the core or also with a wrap? --Chuck

26 years

Leaky nicad battery

by edick＠idcomm.com

First, desolder the battery. If there's so much residue on the PCB that you feel you need to brush it off, a toothbrush (if you have an old one, else use someone else's) will serve to clear away the glutch. Then, use the toothbrush to scrub the area where the battery was with alcohol. Then apply diswashing soap or some other liquid detergent, and scrub with that, then wash all traces of detergent off the board with hot tap water and remove the water any way you can, avoiding mechanical stress on the board. If you want the board to work properly, you'll have to make some provision for a battery to replace the leaky one. An external arrangement of some sort will serve nicely, but you'll probably have to reconfigure the jumper(s) governing where the battery voltage is to be obtained. External arrangements vary some, so it's up to your ingenuity to figure that out. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Mark <mark_k(a)iname.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, April 24, 1999 12:27 PM Subject: Leaky nicad battery >Hi, > >I have an old PC which has a leaky nicad battery soldered to the PCB. There is >stuff coming out of the battery, which has corroded the PCB traces near it. >This is probably the reason why the machine doesn't work properly. > >Can anyone recommend an effective method of cleaning off this stuff so that >further corrosion does not occur? When it comes to repairing PCB traces, I >guess I'll just have to solder some wires in place. > > >-- Mark >

26 years

The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were the80s

by edick＠idcomm.com

I resemble that remark! First of all, my man, I'm not technically a senior citizen . . . yet . . . but I'm practicing. I've always been somewhat obnoxious, and you would know know, I imagine, about the propriety of any remark in this forum, since much of what you publish here would be inappropriate in any forum. I appreciate your choice of words, though. It seems you've got a real chip on your shoulder, Sellam, and I wonder why. If you look at the remark to which you refer in the context from which it was taken, you'd realize that it was quoted in the context that California tends to have an assortment of opinion which goes farther toward the extremes than many less collectively "enlightened" and, perhaps therefore, tolerant, regions of the planet. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Sellam Ismail <dastar(a)ncal.verio.com> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Saturday, April 24, 1999 2:34 AM Subject: Re: The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were the80s >On Fri, 23 Apr 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote: > >> Well Hans, there's this saying, a derogatory one directed at California, but >> not totally without foundation that "Whenever there's a tremor, all the >> loose nuts roll to California." > >Yeah, and there are plenty of derogatory remarks that can be directed at >senior citizens being obnoxious curmudgeons, but they're inappropriate for >this forum. > >Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- >Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. > > Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0! > See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! > [Last web site update: 04/03/99] >

26 years

Rabble Rousing (was: The "FIRST PC")

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

At 12:51 AM 4/24/99 -0700, you wrote: >On Thu, 22 Apr 1999, James Willing wrote: > >> So, do you have a mark-sense reader? Or should I still plan to bring mine? >> (never quite ready to give up!) B^} > >Yes, but mine is an old HP Optical Mark Reader and I've never played with >it yet so I don't know what's involved in running it or interfacing with >it. Is yours a ScanTron? Yep. I have a pair of ScanTrons. One is the stand alone quiz grading unit, and the other is the general purpose form (page) scanner. I've also got an HP or two... -jim --- jimw(a)computergarage.org The Computer Garage - http://www.computergarage.org Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174

26 years

The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were the80s

by allisonp＠world.std.com

<Where is the difference to the 70s and 80s ? The knee is around 75ish when the micro started to gain momentum the next knee is at 80-81 with a large number of user ready machine stepping up to the rail. '85 is the next in my mind where the market took a distinct shift and z80/6502 dominance took a noiceable down turn for the 80286/68k battle. There are more but during that time we would see vendors of quality system disappear from the noticable market shift. The in 80s one nearly killed MS (ok it scared them)! Allison

26 years

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test-drb April 1999