test-drb January 2011

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

130 participants
209 discussions

by jonas＠otter.se

> > >3) I am not sure my video camera has much sensitivity in the IR. It > > >depends > > on which vidicon is fitted, I think. > > > > Yes, stupid of me I should have known, mea culpa ;-) > > I cna't beelive you've forgotten my taste for older devices :-) > What do you mean, "older"? Vidicons are modern. Iconoscopes and image orthicons are "older". Cranky ol' Jonas

15 years, 1 month

TZ30 tape drive (faulty?)

by robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com

I recently acquired a TZ30 tape drive. It does not want to load any tapes I put in it. I have never used a TZ30 before so I am not sure how it is supposed to be used. Let me explain what happens: The lock lever is over to the left in the unlocked position. I insert the tape in the slot, but nothing prevents it being pushed out again, I have to hold it in place while I move the lock lever across. This does not feel right, but I don't know, is it supposed to stay in place without me having to hold it there? While I am holding the tape in place the green light comes on and does not flash. After moving the lever to the lock position the lights flash a few moments and then the green light flashes to tell me there is a problem with the tape. However the drive mechanism makes no attempt to load the tape (I can see this because I have the cover of the system removed). It strikes me that the drive is faulty, but it could be user error. Can someone tell me if I am doing it right, and if I am, does anyone know of any well-known faults that might cause this? Thanks Rob

15 years, 1 month

SA4000 [was: Disc drive READY output -- any standards?]

by thomas.gardner＠sbcglobal.net

> Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:03:56 -0500 > From: "Shoppa, Tim" <tshoppa at wmata.com> > Subject: Re: SA4000 [was: Disc drive READY output -- any standards?] > To: "cctalk at classiccmp.org" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Message-ID: > <B136EDE3DF5EC441B6F08E0A7AB872450BACFA3EA4 at EX2K7-CMS-1.wmata.local> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Chuck mentions: <snip> > Without a doubt the stepper motor+band positioner was a huge step forward > in economizing microcomputer-oriented hard drives. > > I figured that chronologically the taut-band floppy drives came first but > now that I think about it, maybe the SA4000 came first and the floppy > application came later? > > Certainly stepper-motor use was first in the floppies. At least, AFAIK :-) > > Tim. The band-capstan-stepper motor actuator usage in disk drive art was probably invented by Warren Dalziel (US Patent # 4,161,004) who tells me he is pretty sure he designed the linear version for the double sided floppy (SA850) first and then the hard drive rotary version (SA4000). I suspect they shipped in that order too but the SA4000 probably wasn't too far behind. The patent filing date is Apr 5, 1977 which, given the way things work, is probably just before the first public showing. Anyone know of any early disk drives with a band-capstan-stepper motor actuator? Tom

15 years, 1 month

FS: M9302 Unibus terminator card

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

FS cheap: One M9302 (dual-height) Unibus terminator card. Don't need and can't test because I only have a Qbus PDP-11! There isn't much on it that could go wrong though. Make me any reasonable offer... shipping from US zip 65775. thanks Charles

15 years, 1 month

Can someone patch VTserver?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 02:02:58 -0600, you wrote: >Have you considered using a PS/2 mouse to free up COM1:? I am not sure exactly what one is... but this is a very old (relatively speaking) PC; the only jacks on the back panel besides the parallel printer port are the 9-pin COM1: and 25-pin COM2: ports. >Alternatively, if you're using XP, go to Settings->Control Panel- >>System and look at the Resources for COM1: and COM2:. Uncheck the >"use automatic settings" box and swap the IRQ and port addresses of >COM1: and COM2: > >That might work... > >--Chuck Thanks, but I already thought of that and tried it. Then the mouse didn't work :( and Windows is already enough of a PITA before taking away mouse support. Looks like the binary editor may be the best patch! -Charles

15 years, 1 month

Can someone patch VTserver?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

I'm pulling my hair out... trying to get an old PC with two COM ports to work with VTServer. Setup: WinXP, AMD K6/300 CPU. Serial mouse is plugged into the DE-9 connector and it's COM1. There is a DB-25 connector on COM2. I can use MS-DOS COPY/B to send binary files out the COM2 port, so I know COM2 works. Unfortunately, after examining the C source code of VTserver, it appears that it is hard-coded to use COM1 only. The comments are interesting ;) >void open_port() >{ >#ifdef _MSC_VER > /* The following is sort of like APL. If I have to explain it to you, you don't deserve to know. */ > /* Actually, I copied most of it from the examples, and I don't understand it that well myself */ > > DCB dcb; > struct _COMMTIMEOUTS TO = {MAXDWORD,MAXDWORD,1,2,1000}; /* NOTE -- timeouts are hard wired for 9600 baud or higher */ > > fprintf(stderr,"Opening port %s .... ", port); fflush(stderr); > > portfd = CreateFile("COM1:",GENERIC_READ|GENERIC_WRITE,0,0,OPEN_EXISTING,FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,0); > if(portfd == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) > { > fprintf(stderr, "can't open COM1:"); > exit(1); > } Not surprisingly, even when using an initialization line (in the .vtrc setup file) of MODE COM2:19200,n,8,1 which does setup the COM2 port properly, VTserver then outputs to the console: "Opening port COM2:.... can't open COM1:" Aaarrrgh!!! I CANNOT get WinXP and this particular motherboard/BIOS to put the damn mouse on COM2 so I can use COM1. IIRC I encountered this problem years ago when last using VTserver, but that was on a different and even older Win98 PC, and finally did manage to put the mouse on the other port. So the only other fix is to recompile VTserver to use port 2, and I don't even think I have a C compiler let alone any experience using it. Can someone *please* patch VTserver so I can use COM2 instead? thanks for any help! -Charles

15 years, 1 month

Radio Shack Science Fair manuals

by matt_marn＠optusnet.com.au

Hi, I was wondering if you knew how to get a copy or an original manual for the 28-249 200 in 1 electronic project lab, thanks, matt.

15 years, 1 month

Northgate omnikey ultra

by equityfi＠comcast.net

I will buy it from you for the $5.00 as I have one and need some of the parts. Thanks, Allen

15 years, 1 month

SA4000 [was: Disc drive READY output -- any standards?]

by tshoppa＠wmata.com

Chuck mentions: > I don't think anyone has mentioned that the SA4000 was remarkable in > that it was a hard disk that used a stepper motor as a positioner. > Up until that time, every hard drive I know of used either some sort > of servo or mechanical adder (e.g. Univac FASTRAND (okay, it's a > drum, but a movable head drum) or Bryant 4000). A hard drive using a > stepper was extremely unusual before the SA4000. Without a doubt the stepper motor+band positioner was a huge step forward in economizing microcomputer-oriented hard drives. I figured that chronologically the taut-band floppy drives came first but now that I think about it, maybe the SA4000 came first and the floppy application came later? Certainly stepper-motor use was first in the floppies. At least, AFAIK :-) Tim.

15 years, 1 month

Can someone patch VTserver?

by charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:00:01 -0600, you wrote: >From: cctech at vax-11.org > >It looks like you could open the binary up in Emacs, and perform a global >search/replace of COM1 with COM2. > >Clint Good idea, suggested by Ed also, so I just tried it. Although VTserver now says it opened COM2:, and starts transmitting (the usual slow scrolling line feeds appear, I don't have it hooked up to the PDP-11)... But. There is nothing actually coming out of the COM2: port! For hardware test purposes, in the MSDOS window "COPY/B <somefile> COM2:" *does* work correctly (I can see with a scope the serial data coming out on the COM2 TxD pin). More ideas please? thanks -Charles

15 years, 1 month

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test-drb January 2011