test-drb October 2004

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

245 participants
540 discussions

PDP customer on Cleveland, OH needs urgent help

by jwest＠huey.classiccmp.org

Just got a call from a PDP-11/05 customer in Cleveland OH. They are in a crisis situation due to a dead 11/05. They suspect memory problems but there may be power supply issues as well. If there is anyone local to them with 11/05 parts and or expertise, can you please call me right away? Best number to reach me right now is 314-494-7338 This company is willing to pay for help as the 11/05 being down takes their milling machine down. Jay West

21 years, 1 month

Semi-OT: Virtual PC 7 on Mac OS X

by cb＠mythtech.net

>As near as I can tell it came with Virtual PC 7 and WinXP Pro SP2, >and that is it. > >I don't think my old copy of VPC3 (where I got the Win98SE from) had >anything for DOS either. <http://www.techadvice.com/tech/M/MSCDEX.htm> <http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/floppies.htm#generic> Those two links should get you going. I've found the Oak CDROM driver works with most IDE cd drives. I don't think it will work with SCSI drives, so if your Mac CD drive is SCSI, it may fail to see it. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

21 years, 1 month

VAX 6000 Rescue (Eastern Conn)

by dvcorbin＠optonline.net

I was planning to rescue the above this coming weekend. However personal circumstances will be delaying (any possibly preventing) me doing this. Anyone interested, please contact me off list..... David 631-244-8487

21 years, 1 month

drum stores

by julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk

<happy dance> we're getting a drum store! </happy dance> Just been offered a late 1960's BCL Susie accounting machine - delay line accumulator and all the usual suspects (card reader, tape reader / writer etc.). Best thing being that it has a 64 track drum - as you know I've been after a machine with a drum for the museum for some time now. Sounds like it's been in a shed for the last ten years though so the owner's checking what kind of state it's in. Experience is that machines of that era survive moisture remarkably well though, so fingers crossed. Moving it's going to be interesting. :-) cheers Jules -- "We've had a lot of loonies around this place, but you're the first one who thought the sunrise was made out of stale beer. Now are you going to pick up your flute and leave, or shall I part your hair with this crowbar?"

21 years, 1 month

access to BIOS of DECpc

by bobcaar＠softhome.net

I've used a copy of Ontrack Disk Manager (~version 4?) from Seagate and it works with any brand drive. If you still need it, I can dig it out when I'm home in a couple of weeks and image it. I believe it will work with any settings in the BIOS, although it does recommend certain ones. T.H.x. Devon --------Original Message--------- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:52:29 +0200 From: Gooijen H <GOOI(a)oce.nl> Subject: RE: access to BIOS of DECpc I found the SET320P.EXE program on the COMPAQ site, and it allows several items 'normally' found in a BIOS to be manipulated. Alas, there is no field to change the hard drive parameters nor the type! The disk manager was a good idea, I have one old 486 PC with a big Western Digital drive, too big to be supported by the BIOS, and the EZ-DRIVE disk manager works perfectly here. However, EZ-DRIVE only accepts to work with Western Digital drives, and the 2.5" hard disk that I have is from HP. The disk manager also wants certain settings for the hard disk in the BIOS ... Still not giving up / one more try: could somebody point me to a site that has a non-commercial disk manager (for HP or not restricted to specific HDDs) or even better e-mail a ZIP with such disk manager? TIA, - Henk, PA8PDP.

21 years, 1 month

(Fwd) FW: UCSD Pascal Reunion Symposium 10/22

by ss＠allegro.com

Of possible interest to UCSD Pascal fans... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Kelly Briggs (kbriggs(a)soe.ucsd.edu) Subject: UCSD Pascal Reunion Symposium 10/22 Dozens of alumni will gather at UCSD on Friday, Oct. 22, to mark the 30th anniversary of the computer language UCSD Pascal, one of the first languages of the personal-computer era. The UCSD Pascal Reunion Symposium will take place from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Price Center Ballroom, and will be open to the public, free of charge. (To register, go to http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/Pascal/registration.sfe.) The UCSD Pascal symposium is organized by UCSD?s Jacobs School of Engineering and its Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department, and is co-sponsored by the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. The event will feature talks by several former researchers on the project, including UCSD Pascal?s founding father, professor emeritus Kenneth Bowles, who will speculate on "Pascal: What If?". Other speakers include Richard Kaufmann, class of ?78, now a distinguished technologist at Hewlett-Packard, who will reminisce on "What the Heck Was UCSD Pascal?;" Roger Sumner, ?77, president of Beach Software Designs, who will discuss Pascal?s far-reaching impact; and CSE professor Henrik Wann Jensen, on ?Digital Illumination.? Following those presentations, CSE professor Stefan Savage will moderate a roundtable discussion among Kaufmann, Sumner and four other members of Bowles? early research team: Mark Overgaard, '78, President, Pigeon Point Systems; John Van Zandt, '76 '79 '86, President, CEO Consultancy, Inc.; Keith Shillington, '78, Co-Owner, E Street Caf?, Encinitas, California; and Lucia Yandell, '78 '80, JSF SW Process Lead, Northrop Grumman, ST Radio Systems. UCSD Pascal became both a programming language and an operating system for some of the earliest personal computers. Its development not only put computer science at UCSD on the map in a big way, but its innovations also had a major impact on developers of other languages and operating systems at Apple, Microsoft, and elsewhere. Pascal was originally created by Swiss scientist Niklaus Wirth in 1969 for use on mainframe computers. But starting in 1974, Bowles ? who at the time directed UCSD?s computing center ? began to adapt Pascal for use on so-called "microcomputers," precursors of today?s PCs. At one point or another, more than 70 students were involved in the UCSD Pascal project, and by 1983, UCSD Pascal had become an ISO standard language. The University of California then sold the technology to SofTech Systems, which tried but failed to convince IBM to adopt UCSD Pascal as the core operating system of its first personal computers. (Microsoft's MS-DOS won the IBM contract.) For a history of the UCSD Pascal program, including recollections from many of the speakers who will attend the symposium, read ?UCSD Pascal and the PC Revolution,? by Christine Foster, in the September 2004 issue of @UCSD. It is available online at http://www.alumni.ucsd.edu/magazine/vol1no3/features/pascal.htm . For the complete program, go to http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/Pascal/ . We hope to see you there! ------- End of forwarded message -------

21 years, 1 month

otrona advanced systems

by BBalow＠dickinson-wright.com

I ran across your email inquiry regarding Otrona Advanced Systems. I worked there in quality assurance from 1982 until its untimely demise in the fall (I believe October) of 1984. The company did not pursue Chapter 11, instead heading immediately into a liquidation. Kodak was a prominent investor. Let me know if you'd like any additional information. Brian R. Balow Dickinson Wright PLLC 38525 Woodward Avenue Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304 248 433-7536 248 433-7274 (fax) 248 943-6953 (cell)

21 years, 1 month

Commodore 8010 IEEE-488 Acoustic Modem ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>> As for the 40-pin chip, unless it's something like a 6500/1 (a micro- >> controller-like relative of the 6502, as found in the 1520 plotter), > >Unless there's some EPROM/ROM in there, it's unlikely to be a >microprocessor. It might even be a gate array. There is no ROM that I could see... Also, this chip is completely unmarked - flat plack plastic DIP with no lettering. >> > Other apparent power sources from the connector head off into a maze >> > of op-amps and other analog circuitry, even with schematics it would >> > take a bit of work to figure out what supplies it was designed for... >> >> Hmm... that makes it hard. > >Hard, but not impossible. It should be possible to trace the 5 pins of >that DIN socket. I'll bet one of them is ground (which you must be able >to find). You mention a regulator. Where does the output of that go >(+5V line to the lgoic). And does the input come from a pin on the DIN >socket (that should give you a good guess as to what goes in there). Now >look at the power pins to the op-amps. Maybe they go straing to the DIN >socket (in which case I'll go for +/-12V there). Maybe more regulators >(if so, do the inputs come from the DIN sockets). And so on. I suspect it >would be possible to come up with a supply that works. Agreed that it's possible, and when I get the time I will go through it, I was just explaining why it would be nice to have someone measure the power supply pins so that I would have a starting place. I can basically identify all of the pins on the power socket - but I heasitate to assume +/-12 for the analog - It would be nice to at least have a no-load measurement... If I can't find any information, it may come down to doing what you suggest. Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

"Compact" tape drive?

by melamy＠earthlink.net

it looks more like a silver topped potty... you must have to "dump" the tape in... -----Original Message----- From: Ed Kelleher <Pres(a)macro-inc.com> Sent: Oct 21, 2004 7:17 AM To: cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Subject: "Compact" tape drive? And for the grand prize -- name the style of this tape drive! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5132851939&ssPageNa… My guess is, "Compact". :-) Ed K.

21 years, 1 month

Excercising vintage items - was: Commodore 8010 IEEE-488 Acoustic Modem ?

by dave04a＠dunfield.com

>That's unfortunate but not surprising... it's not a common thing. If >I had one, I'm not even sure I could find a use for it. I have to admit - I do not have a burning desire to connect to anything at 300 bps --- But I do have a burning desire to see it work. These are a questions that seems to have different answers from different collectors: - To use or not to use - To fix or not to fix - To power-up or not to power-up I spend plenty of hours fixing things that I know I'll never really use --- I like to know that the items in my collection actually work, and will continue to work as long as I can maintain them. I guess my idea of preserving this material means preserving it in working condition. I also LIKE fixing this stuff... I like the challenge of tracing a problem, and the insight that comes from figuring out how a particular design works. I know collectors who rake all the stuff up into a big pile and never even try it - just "having" is enough. I know collectors who check that it works, and then never turn it on again, because "it might stop working". I know collectors who focus on a very small area, and actually use the equipment on a daily basis. Personally, I cycle through the things in my collection frequently - I try and run everything at least once or twice a year (usually several times a year). I enjoy fooling with the different machines. I also demonstrate them working at every opportunity - I've taken vintage machines to local schools to let kids experience some of "how we got here", I take them out to local clubs and meets, and I show them to anyone who wants to drop by and see them. I often loan them out, although I do want to satisfy myself that they will be reasonably well taken care of first. Whats the point of storing all this stuff unless people can actually experience it - otherwise, why not just keep a pile of pictures. If a machine breaks - I fix it. IMHO, a machine that you can't use because "it might break" is no more useful than a machine that doesn't work in the first place. So - most anything that comes in here I try and get working. In this case, I think it would be "cool" to be able to demonstrate a PET connected through the 8010 IEEE modem to my Hayes S-100 modem (also a 103 type) in an Altair running a BBS system - This would show how it really worked! - but I don't expect anyone to actually want to use such a setup for any other purpose. Curious to know what others do with the vintage equipment you have stashed away in basement/garage etc. Regards, Dave-- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

21 years, 1 month

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test-drb October 2004