test-drb October 2019

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

137 participants
118 discussions

IBM 129 keypunch: How to remove the complete mechanics unit?

by p.gebhardt＠ymail.com

Hello all, I may get a 129 IBM keypuncher soon and was wondering, if for transportation- and weight-related reasons, the punch&read mechanics can be carefully removed with the cables from the rest of the sytem? >From the IBM documents, it seems that after removing the top cover from the table, the mechanics connected to two holders (one one each end) could be separated from the table by removing two screws and two bolts (one of each on every side) and deconnecting all cables down in the electronics cabinet. See for instance: UvA Computermuseum UvA Computermuseum Did anybody make any experiences with this? I am grateful for any suggestions and/or recommendations. Best regards, Pierre ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.digitalheritage.de

6 years, 1 month

Sun Ultra 1 PROM update to OBP 3.11.1 or better

by jacob.ritorto＠gmail.com

Hi, My pal Dave just gave me a very nice original Ultra 1 Creator! Found a nice 10000K 146GB disk and 1GB genuine X7004 Sun RAM from good old MemoryX and this store I'd never used before called DiscTech (great ecomm site and decent prices afaict), so this baby's shaping up to be a fantastic and affordable rescue! Alas, it seems some corporate best practices aficionado from the company that was entrusted with the care and feeding of Sun has unilaterally and unceremoniously "lost" all the old patch clusters for these machines. Anyone still have them? The particular one I need is the patch SUNWflell >from anytime after late 1997. This will allow her OpenBoot to play nice with 64-bit operating systems like Solaris and the Illumos-based Tribblix, OpenSXCE, etc, which I'm thinking will be extremely cool to see running on a 25 year old machine! thx much. jake

6 years, 1 month

VT420 drawings

by mattislind＠gmail.com

I got heaps of documentation from an ex-DEC field service engineer. Among them there were a VT420 print set. I didn't see any schematics for the VT420 on bitsavers so even though this one looks a bit strange it is better than nothing. http://storage.datormuseum.se/u/96935524/Datormusuem/DEC/VT420-engineering-… /Mattis

6 years, 1 month

DEC documentation

by mattislind＠gmail.com

I have updated my inventory of DEC documentation with the latest arrivals >from Gunnar, the ex-DEC FS tech. Those were mostly binders of software documentation and handbooks. If there are a document that you would like to have scanned I will do my best to help out. But please do me a favour to check if they are not online already >from the regular sources. http://forum.datormuseum.se/category/35A7E09F-5154-49F1-BE57-9F9E3D923327.h… I can only scan documents up to ledger size. Larger documents, like some of the old schematics, need help from a professional scanning service, which unfortunately cost money. I cannot scan books, either. I will continuously update the inventory as I go through all the documentation. There are likely to be errors in the inventory. Typing on the phone is a pain. If you find errors please let me know. /Mattis

6 years, 1 month

plated wire memory

by dkelvey＠hotmail.com

I was just listening to a video on the Voyager space craft. It used an interesting type of memory, called magnetic wire memory. There is only a little bit of information of it on the web. It is clever in that has a non-destructive read. I just wondered if any one else was familiar with this type of memory. Dwight

6 years, 1 month

plated wire memory

by tpisek＠pobox.com

I worked at Univac Defense Systems in the early 70's. The launch control computer for the Minuteman was made by Univac. It had plated wire memory. I remember when the failure analysis group had to analyze a module that failed in the field. The module was locked in a safe and someone had to boost their clearance level to work on it. In plant 1, in Saint Paul, MN near the Mississippi River, there was a thin film memory production facility. It produced the memory used in the S3A submarine hunter (an/ayk-10 if I remember correctly). The bit planes were made from etched glass that had metal sputtered onto it, with tons of tiny holes for the word wires. The bit planes were stacked and the word wires were threaded through the tiny holes perpendicular to the planes. Because I sometimes worked out of plant 1, I had to take safety training for hydrofluoric acid which was used to etch the glass. Nasty stuff.

6 years, 1 month

Anyone familiar with these vintage touchscreens?

by jon＠jonworld.com

Hi! I saw this crop up on twitter and now I?m curious. Anyone familiar with these? Any idea what the backend was? https://twitter.com/newsfedora/status/1154813199054712833?s=21 -- -Jon +44 7792 149029

6 years, 1 month

Anyone familiar with these vintage touchscreens?

by jfoust＠threedee.com

At 11:51 AM 10/21/2019, Tony Duell wrote: >> Theinfrared array you're thinking of was invented at PLATO, for flat panel (plasma) displays. They don't work for CRTs because of the convex screen. > >My HP150 will have to disagree with you there. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-150#/media/File:Hp150_touchscreen_20081129…>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-150#/media/File:Hp150_touchscreen_20081129… - John

6 years, 1 month

Microcap12 Spice simulator

by pbirkel＠gmail.com

Forwarding from another list because of its general interest: ..... A heads up that the guy who was responsible for the full professional grade Spice simulator Microcap (latest version 12) has retired, and made his software downloadable free of charge. It was $4,500 per seat before. Download page here http://www.spectrum-soft.com/download/download.shtm ..... paul

6 years, 1 month

Vintage Computer Warehouse Liquidation

by sellam.ismail＠gmail.com

Does anyone know whatever happened to John Keys and his collection? https://www.guidestar.org/profile/43-1950958 The mission of the Houston Computer Museum is to collect and preserve historic computers, technology, and related materials; and to use these collections for exhibitions, educational programs, historical research, and related activities for the benefit of the public. Principal Officer Mr. John Keys Main Address 9410 Harwin Ste E Houston, TX 77036 I suspect that something may have happened to John, and this may have been his collection. Sellam

6 years, 1 month

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test-drb October 2019