Hey all --
I've started stripping down the "fire-sale" PDP-11/45 I picked up in
November, in preparation for sanding and repainting the rack and processor
chassis. There were two H742a supplies in the rack that I believe are too
far gone to be reasonably restored (in particular the heat definitely did a
number on at least one of the transformers) and I have a pair of H7420a's
ready to take their place. I hate to see things go to waste, though, and
even though it's probably pointless -- before I send these off to the
scrapyard, I wanted to check to see if anyone here needed any parts.
Shipping the whole unit(s) would be pretty expensive, local pickup is an
option if you want the whole thing(s). The transformers are a bit toasty
but the power supply boards look like they might be usable after a good
cleaning and testing. Fans are dead (either melted away entirely or rusted
out). I suppose there's not really much else that'd be useful to anyone
but I have a compulsion to make sure...
Here's a couple of pictures:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aqb36sqnCIfMpL89R2GtJFrrRqZ1vQ?e=Re3KZr
And for fun, here's a bunch of pictures of the unit just prior to the
teardown: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aqb36sqnCIfMpL8-mTCp-NndzDTpbw?e=8aWCl4
(I do think there's a good chance this will run again, the major casualties
were the front panel, power supplies, and wiring harness. I have
replacements for the first two, and the third is just a matter of taking
the time to build a new one. The boards cleaned up nicely and there's no
real damage to the processor backplane, amazingly.)
- Josh
Earlier I'd found a box with a speaker, what looked like a volume
control and maybe a headphone jack with a ribbon cable going to a DB-25
connector. Thought it might be for playing sounds from the system.
Appears to be partly right. While digging through various Exidy doc on
Bitsavers I came across a manual for a Cognivox Speech Recongnition and
Voice Response Peripheral by a company called Voicetek. The images in
the manual match the box itself. What I thought was a headphone jack is
for a mic and it appears to plug into the parallel port in the expansion
unit.
I haven't found any of the software that the manual says ships with it
though I'm still finding parts of this system packed away in various
boxes so might find it yet. I know it is probably a huge long shot but
if anyone else has software or anything else about this peripheral,
please drop me a line.
David Williams
www.trailingedge.com
Hi,
I'm trying to find out if the BASIC dialect that was available for the
MINCAL computers (aboutn 1971) was something derived from another "system"
or whether it was an own dialect.
Some characteristic instructions that I can't find somewhere else are:
- Formatted output with PRINT FOR(<FORTRAN like description>)
Example: PRINT FOR(F5.0)500.1
- Computed GOTO with GOTO <expression> OF n1,n2,...
Example: GOTO A+B+1 OF 100,20,50
- Presence of "DEF FN", lack of RESTORE for DATA/READ constructs.
This BASIC must have been around 1970-1972.
Christian
On 4/23/21 10:33 AM, Rik Bos wrote:
> That would not work the capstans of the 9144/45 have much larger
> diameter. Those drives use DC600HC tapes not a QIC tape.
How do you figure that? I've got a DC600HC cart here and it's the same
dimensions as a standard DC600A cartridge--it is Iotamat preformatted,
without the usual optical sense stuff. It was used on a number of QIC
(yes, it's quarter-inch) drives, such as the Kennedy 9455 and the ADIC
32-track drives.
As far as the capstan being too large, I suspect you may underestimate
the "stretchiness" of silicone hose. Somewhere, I posted a photo if an
Archive 2060S drive with a red hose replacement capstan.
The hose comes in larger sizes, regardless. I still need to refurb the
capstan on my 3M DCD-01 drive, but it's been too long since I've run
into any 2-track DC300 tapes, so it's not a priority.
In any case, the suggestion is offered for whatever value one can gain
>from it.
--Chuck
Hi folks,
I just got pipped on an auction for one of these last night, clearly someone needed it more than me and I hope it was for a real usage reason and not just to add to their collection of MDS-related machines.
I?ve been looking for an 8085 ICE for ages now to help troubleshoot my STC Executel phone systems so this seemed like an ideal opportunity to get my hands on one but hey, that?s how auctions work. This one also has an external 37 pin floppy interface so I was hoping I could hook up an 8? drive to be able to read the Executel source floppy disks I have.
Does anyone have one in the UK they don?t need/taking up too much space etc?
This weekend I?ll be investigating getting a Greaseweazle running with an 8? drive now that I have all the components to power my Shugart 860.
(I now await comments along the lines of ?what do you need an ICE for when you have a DMM, scope and LA - easy answer: the whole environment was designed on an MDS80 so it would be fun)
Cheers,
--
Adrian Graham
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest private home computer collection?
t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs
w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
Hello all again,
With a heavy heart I need to find a new home for the following beautiful
hardware:
- AlphaServer DS15 server
- Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 1U rack server
- Sun Blade 10 mini tower
- HP Proliant DL380 G7 2U rack server
- DEC VT220 with screen, keyboard, and various adapter cables
Please note that the Sun T5140 and HP DL380 are deep (700mm for purposes
of installation in a rack).
I'm starting a new job next week and intend to focus on that and my
family. I've stopped working on various projects and I am vacating my
studio workshop, so I have a lot of things to give away or sell.
The above items are all FREE FOR COLLECTION ONLY (a car will be fine to
transport the above items).
I am located in London, UK. Post code is N15 4QL (Seven Sisters and
Tottenham Hale) in Haringey, London.
Kind regards,
Andrew
There's a nice, working PDP 11/23 with 20 meg hdd and 1meg (!!) of ram,
with terminal screens indicating full operation. The asking price is
$900.00, but I imagine the fellow might negotiate. Shipping is gonna
be a fair penny.
best,
Jeff
Moved recently and finally have space to set up the collection and play
with it. I've set up my Apple IIgs and a Macintosh Plus and in testing
they are still working but while doing so I've noticed an issue with the
3.5" drives. I have an Apple Superdrive and 4 Apple 3.5 Drives on the
IIgs and where they all work as far as reading and writing, only the
Superdrive can actually eject the disks. The Mac Plus has the internal
drive and an external Apple 800K drive, both of which work except not
being able to eject disks either. So out of 7 drives, I have one that
doesn't need a paperclip to eject the disk. Haven't opened them up to
look at them yet, wanted to see if this is common and suggestions on
possible causes to check.
Thanks.
David Williams
www.trailingedge.com