On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:57:20 -0500, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
> Has anyone read Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the
> Computer Age ?
...
> Anyone have any back stories or have read the book? I've got it on
> order, but I've read some scathing reviews about how the author got it
> wrong. I know some of the scathing reviews might be by people who
> weren't described in a favorable light in the book --- but I've seen
> plenty of technical stories get screwed up.
I remember reading and enjoying Dealers of Lightning several years ago
when it came out. I worked with some of the PARC folks at their next
gig (DEC Systems Research Center, run by Bob Taylor), and I don't
remember people there having major complaints about the book getting
things wrong. Of course a book like this never gets everything right --
certainly not to everyone's satisfaction, since different people who
experienced the same events don't see them the same way.
--
Tim Mann tim at tim-mann.orghttp://tim-mann.org/
--- On Thu, 6/4/09, rescue at hawkmountain.net <rescue at hawkmountain.net> wrote:
> So, what specs are this ? What does it run (OS
> ?, Apps ?),
> and what can be done with it (he was originally going to
> use
> it as an end table !!! until he found it actually booted).
I had an IBM AS/400 9404 for a while. It did not boot - the hard drives were missing. The specs of mine were:
heavy.
beige.
I used it as an end table.
-Ian
On Tue, June 2, 2009 4:45 am, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>> USB only guarantees to supply 100 milliamps. Up to 500 mA can be
>> negotiated with the controller, depending. Might your older device
>> depend on more amps than the USB adapter can supply?
>
> Huh? The RS-232-port isn't supposed to deliver any power at all. Some
> devices admittedly abused the RS-232 by using something like DTR to
> actually supply the power needed to drive the thing, but that is abuse.
>
> But I'd be surprised if a circa-70s modem was ever designed to use the
> power from the RS-232 port to drive the modem itself. I'd expect it to
> have an external power supply.
He's not talking about powering the device, he's talking about driving
the signal lines. Their input impedance isn't infinite, you know!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
--- On Tue, 6/2/09, Steve Maddison <steve at cosam.org> wrote:
> I recently dug out a TK50 I was tinkering with before and
> am having
> some trouble diagnosing what's up with it. It arrived with
> a tape
> stuck in it, but I've since managed to persuade that out
> and a good
> clean up had it loading and ejecting properly. Now any read
> or write
> just results in a bit of shoeshining, whereafter it goes
> into its
> light-show routine. Yes, I should probably just admit
> defeat and keep
> it for parts, but it seems so close to working I thought
> I'd take
> another stab.
Did you clean the heads AND the leader strip? I had one with so much fuzz on it that it would have surely gunked up the heads straight away. You can clean the leader with alcohol, just like the heads. Sometimes these things need multiple cleanings...
I assume you've got this connected to a PDP-11 or Vax that you're using to write to it, and that this isn't the SCSI flavored TK50Z. I ran into a similar problem with a TK50Z on a linux box - constant shoeshining. Turns out that I had to set the buffer in mt. After that, it worked just fine.
-Ian
I was chatting with a DEC broker recently regarding SCSI controllers for
DEC gear - when he mentioned that he had a quantity of Emulex UC07's
available.
UC07's are QBUS cards which have a single SCSI port and support either MSCP
or TMSCP (in RT land, that would be either DU or MU devices). The manual
states that the UC07 is compatible with RT, RSX, RSTS/E and Ultrix
versions which support MSCP or TMSCP.
The dealers initial price was high (as expected). However, he then
added - "I'd be willing to do better for hobbyists - as long as they
commit that the boards will only be used for hobby purposes - and not for
commercial use".
So here's the "deal": $235 per UC07 plus shipping from Mountain View, CA
(FedEx Ground).
I've paid MUCH more for SCSI interfaces for my DEC QBUS and UNIBUS
systems - so IMHO, this is a great deal.
The broker said he did not want to deal "individually with a bunch of
hobbyists" - so he asked if I would be willing to consolodate a single
order of UC07's to him. I reluctantly said "yes", as this is not my
business and I'm not interested in making money on this deal - only
covering costs.
To get a sense of interest, please reply to me privately if you'd like one
or more if these "critters".
The manual for the UC07 is available on bitsavers. A link to a bitsavers
mirror is below:
http://bitsavers.vt100.net/pdf/emulex/UC0751001-F_UC07_Feb90.pdf
Regards,
Lyle
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Josh writes:
? I'm thinking of seeing if I can squeeze an
? older version of Apache on it if I ever find the time...
Pre-Apache, it was the "NCSA HTTPd", and I think a very stripped down
version may fit. It may be vaguely possible to include the CGI stuff although
I think that would be a lot of effort for very little reward.
But... if you just want a web server, all you have to do is parse the HTTP
request string and serve up the file.
The DECUS C (K&R C, not ANSI C) web server at http://shop-pdp.kent.edu/
runs very nicely and would probably be way easier to port than starting
with anything in ANSI C. But I think the simplest thing is just to start from scratch!
Tim.
Mitsubishi MP 286L, needs power cord.
Free to good home.
Local Pick-Up Only or You pay shipping costs.
Soon to be recycled.
Thanks,
Denny Brown, P.E.
Environmental Engineer
TVA-Power Control Systems
1101 Market Street, SP4H-C
Chattanooga, TN 37402
office: 423-751-2807
mobile: 423-605-8614
Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote:
>In article <347d9b1b0906030131o2c2460d6qef0369629e5b40ef at mail.gmail.com>, Alexander Voropay <alec at sensi.org> writes:
>> > P.S. I have the original TETRIS.SAV binary for the Elektronika-60 (a
>> > Soviet LSI-11 clone)
>> > for the RT-11. It works under SIMH. Unfortunately, I have NO good
>> > opensource VT-52 emulator
>> > to play. Original Tetris requires 0177 character to be BLOCK to draw.
>
> Interesting! Most stuff is OK with VT100 instead of VT52. Is it
> because the VT100 emulation is lacking in its VT52 support, or is it
> because the real VT100 is lacking in its VT52 compatability?
That was a weird comment.
I'd say no stuff is OK with a VT100 if they expect a VT52. As soon as we
go outside the plain "output running text", they are different.
That said, a real VT100 can be switched into VT52-emulation, which is
pretty good, although not exactly identical.
In this case, the poster even was nice enough to tell what the problem
was. A VT52 will display a block character when you send a DEL to it. A
VT100 will not, not even in VT52-mode. And I don't think any other
VT52-emulation I've seen does it either.
In fact, I don't even know if a real VT52 do that. It might be a
"feature" of some russian VT52-clone for all I know.
I haven't had a working VT52 near me in 15 years now, so I can't check.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
Dear Cctech Members,
> On Tue, 2 Jun 2009, Andrew Burton wrote:
> > Technically it was lost over the Atlantic Ocean and reports
> > of some sort
> > of computer failure 30 minutes before they vanished.
> Windows BSOD??
> > It's a shame they were using Amiga's, they'd have made it to France 1
> > hour earlier than expected!
> "Guru meditation number"?
These posts are the most insensitive & complete off-topic remarks I have
ever seen on CCTech. The authors should be ashamed of themselves.
For all you or I know, CCTech members could have had friends or loved
ones on the aircraft, but in any case the passengers and staff who
(as is almost certain) lost their lives in such a tragic and terrifying
manner should be treated with far more respect than has been shown here.
Hi,
I saw a load of boards for sale here at 40 euro each:
http://www.mjs-electronics.se/
then navigate to 'Test Instrument' on top menu, then 'Data & Telecom' on left menu.
Some look like they belong in test equipment, but could some be for HP minis?
I have no idea whether these are a good price for untested boards, but they certainly have a lot of different ones to browse.
Regards,
John
_________________________________________________________________
Get the best of MSN on your mobile
http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/147991039/direct/01/
