test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by lproven＠gmail.com

https://archive.org/details/FarewellEtaoinShrdlu 28min documentary on the last ever edition of the NY Times to be printed using hot metal -- before they switched to what are now a quite choice assortment of late-'70s minicomputers. I think I spotted a PDP, a Data General and some IBM device, but I am no expert in this era. As a veteran reader of Fredric Brown, especially "the Enchanted Linotype", I have been using ETAOIN SHRDLU to win at Hangman for many years... but I'd never seen one working before. It all still seems like magic to me. I've worked in the magazine industry so I should know more about this stuff, but I never worked at the repro end of things... -- Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lproven at gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven ? Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

5 years, 10 months

: Unknown Intel blinkenlight panel circa 1973

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Camiel Vanderhoeven > I know Intel made the in-4011 for the PDP-11, but I never saw a picture > of it. Was it UNIBUS memory, or what? It doesn't seem to be in that table of early Intel products. BTW, speaking of Intel PDP-11 memory, I have this: http://gunkies.org/wiki/File:IN-1611.jpg QBUS Intel memory board; hven't tried to get it running, though. Noel

5 years, 10 months

Future of classiccmp

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

Al wrote: >With Jay retiring, what are the hosting plans for these mailing lists? Well at least for me, there's more to it than that ? I retired from general work on 4/30/20. My consulting firm is going to be kept open on paper for a few years at least but I doubt I will be transacting much business through it. I guess if someone comes by with a short project that I find interesting, I may do it through that company but mostly it's staying open to handle a few germane expenses. All staff and offices are gone and regular payrolls ended 4/30. That leaves the hosting company for me to determine scope/future. Since that company (as long as you are proactive with admin tasks) takes virtually zero work and allows me to have a grossly oversized but paid for full-on high availability virtualization architecture, I was going to keep it going during retirement with just a few very low maintenance customers that cover the costs. I basically can then host any personal/hobby related sites for myself and friends at literally zero cost. In this company I do have one business partner, and that relationship has become quite difficult lately. So much so, that I'm ready to just turn it off and walk away. I'm sorry, but I have reached the point in my life where that stress outweighs the benefits. This infrastructure is of course where I've hosted not only the classiccmp mailing list, but a fair chunk of other classic computing related websites and services at zero cost to their respective owners. Throw in to the mix that for whatever reason - while I have dutifully taken care of this list and a lot of other related websites for probably 15+ years or more - I honestly don't feel that I am doing a good job of it's care & feeding lately. I think it's time for fresh eyes and attitudes to carry it forward. I hope no one begrudges me for after decades finally saying "it's time". I have enjoyed being of service. First and foremost, there is no worry about future hosting plans for above content. I'm not going to just turn it off one day - the grizzled veterans here that know me well know that I would not let that happen. There is no sense of immediate urgency nor any possibility of data just disappearing. That being said, I do wish to move steadily forward with those plans. Second, I do not wish to pass this off to someone who "has a server in their basement" or has spare space on a vps. While I appreciate these offers and the desire to help, I'm not sure you have full knowledge of what all is here. Putting it on a "PC in your basement" is not the environment this stuff requires. At the very least, asymmetric bandwidth (what most people have in their homes) is a non-starter. Sneaking it on to your company infrastructure isn't good either, as there is almost always a builtin "need to move this stuff soon" disruption in store. I've already been working with folks in this community to figure out what to offload, where, how, etc. That work will continue, and I suspect that each separate migration will go off transparently with little or no outward signs of change. Also, I am definitely not leaving the hobby; I just look forward to participating as an end-user instead of host. Just as a heads up at the same time I am looking to thin my herd; not because I've lost interest but because I want to gain focus. That means most likely that I will be moving out a lot of choice DEC, Data General, Heathkit, and related items. I will post separately on that topic, but at the least I am going to keep/focus on HP and a couple others. Will post more info once I have it ? Best, J

5 years, 10 months

Origin of 3-D printing (again)

by sieler＠allegro.com

Hi, Back in 2017, I posted something about seeing a possible first-ever reference to the idea of 3-D printing in a 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. I stumbled over an even earlier one tonight... The September, 1941, issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine has a story called "Elsewhere" by Caleb Saunders (a pseudonym of Robert A. Heinlein). On page 118 we see: [They used] a single general type of machine to manufacture almost anything. They fed into it a plan which Igor called, for want of a better term, the blueprints. It was, in fact, a careful scale model of the device to be manufactured; the machine retooled itself and produced the artifact. A three-dimensional pantograph, Igor called the machine, vaguely and inaccurately. One of them was, at that moment, molding the bodies of fighting planes out. of plastic, all in one piece and in one operation. Stan

5 years, 10 months

PLATO V Terminal

by ccth6600＠gmail.com

I have been "hunting" for a PLATO V terminal for some time. It was made by Regency - Carroll. If there is such a terminal gathering dust in a shed or garage and the owner would like to find a good home for it then please let me know. I have successfully restored a Control Data Corp IST-3 terminal and 721 Viking terminal and have the skills, equipment and passion to restore the terminal to its former beauty and functionality. Tom Hunter

5 years, 10 months

Future of cctalk/cctech

by couryhouse＠aol.com

These 2 have my vote as well.... I do not know, anyone using a text only mail reader anymore! > The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments. > > Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well. On Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Rob Jarratt via cctalk <rob at jarratt.me.uk; robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com; cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Al Kossow via > cctalk > Sent: 17 June 2020 13:55 > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Future of cctalk/cctech > > > > > I wonder what you don't like about "groups.io" Its pretty much a pure mailing > list? > > Like all of the webby time-wasters, they don't have easy to mirror zipped > archives, because they want to to spend time hovering around clicking on their > sites. > > > http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/ > > > The one thing I would change here is removal of the restriction on attachments. > > Well, two things.. Getting rid of the cctalk/cctech split as well. I would agree with both of those too. Rob

5 years, 10 months

Amiga Vendors?

by healyzh＠avanthar.com

I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in the US, I assume they?re gone. Zane

5 years, 10 months

Ancient transistor ?computer board (Peter Van Peborgh)

by peter＠vanpeborgh.eu

Sorry guys about the unusable tera-URLs. To reiterate, I have acquired this board and have trouble assigning it to a particular computer manufacturer and type: Try this for the photos: https://tinyurl.com/ydxnzh9g and https://tinyurl.com/yb6z3utv Smells of (early) 1960s transistorized. No helpful marking apart from * "GATE JJ01" on SIDE A. (components). * "C NT OL DATA" on side B (solder traces). Big transistors are Motorola "180376008". Also, any ideas what the "246 636 B" boxes are, they have four legs? Can any of you of mature years suggest anything? Many thanks, ( praise be to TinyURL), peter

5 years, 10 months

Future of cctalk/cctech

by couryhouse＠aol.com

5 years, 10 months

Was: PDP-8/A transformer hum Is: VXT-2000 stuff.

by joezatarski＠gmail.com

> > > > On 6/9/2020 11:51 AM, Glen Slick via cctalk wrote: >> On Tue, Jun 9, 2020 at 9:04 AM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk >> <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> For the VXT-2000 with an H7109-B the rated voltage and current values >> are printed right on the power supply label: >> >> +5.1V, 7.81A >> +12.1V, 0.62A >> -12.1V, 0.46A >> -9V, 0.2A >> >> Fixed width character pinout diagram: >> >> +=================+ >> -9V | Yellow | Orange | +12.1V >> +--------+--------+ >> ??? | White | Black | Gnd >> +--------+--------+ >> +5.1V | Red | Blue | -12.1V >> +--------+--------+ >> +5.1V | Red | Black | Gnd >> +--------+--------+ >> Gnd | Black | Black | Gnd >> +=================+ >> >> The mystery is the White wire. The power supply label only lists 4 >> output voltages. The White wire appears to be routed to the Ethernet >> daughter board. The measured voltage appears that it might be floating >> slightly negative, somewhere around -1.5V when the Ethernet daughter >> board is installed and around -5V when it is removed. Maybe it is a >> high impedance earth ground connection? It appears to be connected to >> the shield of the Ethernet BNC, which measures around 1M-Ohm to the >> chassis ground when the power supply is disconnected from the main >> board, and around 0.75M-Ohm when the power supply is connected. >> > As long as we are talking VXT-2000, I have this on file, figure it would > be useful for future googling of the list if > this were here as well.? May be a repeat of info from an earlier post, > or maybe elsewhere. > > I didn't save the source of the info, but looks like someone named Matt > Millman did it. > > The setup is as follows: HP Envy laptop running MOP boot daemon, > connected to Lantronix LTX-C twisted pair > ethernet to AUI converter (not the same as a twisted pair MAU). This is > then connected to a cabletron coax > MAU with a 10BASE5 vampire tap. The coax runs over to another MAU, which > is connected via an AUI cable to > my VXT2000. I didn't think of it, but it would have been nice to have a > real DEC MAU on the VXT2000, I've > got several DEC h4000's I could have used. > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5T2GlAN2N4 > > http://tech.mattmillman.com/projects/10base5/ The first link is mine actually. (Hi, I'm Joe from Joe's Vax Repair and More). I have a VXT-2000 and have had it setup and booting on a few occasions. I also happened into some 10BASE5 equipment a few years back and the VXT2000 was one of the only AUI devices I had at the time. I'm not Matt Millman, but I did reference that site to find the existence of the Lantronix LTX-C and similar devices. Now that I have more AUI gear, I plan to put different gear on the 3-node AUI segment (cisco 2511 router, media converter to 10BASE2, VAXStation 3200) and move the other 10Mb equipment to a 10BASE2 segment. The whole mess will be joined to the main network via T1 on a Kentrox CSU/DSU on the 2511. You can boot the VXT2000 using MOP or BOOTP and TFTP actually. MOP was the first thing I managed to get working, but BOOTP and TFTP worked equally well once I had it set up correctly. Unfortunately my bootptab file is on a roommate's MicroVAX II... Anyway, see the links section here for the software: https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/DEC_VXT2000 There's also theoretically OpenBSD and NetBSD support for the VXT2000, but in my experience the netboot stuff is pretty broken on VAX for whatever reason. There's at least one bug for the SGEC ethernet chip driver, and I could only get older versions of the network boot mop file to load. Of course, the older versions wouldn't support the newer kernel format, which apparently changed at some point. Or maybe I'm just doing something wrong. If the machine in question gets repaired, feel free to contact me with any questions. If you're familiar with netbooting VAX systems, it's not too hard to figure out though. I'll add that the note about the 9V supply being isolated sounds reasonable. It could be used as the supply for the built-in 10BASE2 MAU on some units. I can't confirm as my unit has 10BASET instead which has no requirement for an isolated supply.

5 years, 10 months

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