Re: Cold War Tech - Area 52
> > A real Area 51 link. - US UFO's > http://astronautix.com/craft/pyeacket.htm > I was looking for > Deepcold: Secrets of the Cold War in Space, 1959-1969 > but alas the web site has vanished from the face of the Earth. > Ben. > Try https://web.archive.org/web/20120616210332/http://www.deepcold.com/index.html -- - d...@freebsd.org d...@db.net http://www.db.net/~db
Re: Cold War Tech - Area 52
On 8/29/2015 6:52 AM, Diane Bruce wrote: A real Area 51 link. - US UFO's http://astronautix.com/craft/pyeacket.htm I was looking for Deepcold: Secrets of the Cold War in Space, 1959-1969 but alas the web site has vanished from the face of the Earth. Ben. Try https://web.archive.org/web/20120616210332/http://www.deepcold.com/index.html I don't have time to look at the archive, but did the animated movies get archived. The important stuff as very little non text is archived from web pages. Porn of 1995 is just as important historical thing as any when regarding history of then net. Ben.
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/28/15 11:01 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote: I'm thinking that air circulation should be helpful to reduce hot spots Yes, and this has been discussed on this list for at least ten years. Someone I know who has processed thousands of 1/2" tapes built a very large convection oven and he told me one of the critical things was to get a lot of airflow into the reel.
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
> On Aug 29, 2015, at 06:55, Matt Patoray wrote: > > On the American Harvest the center hole is 2.25" across I think an 8" > floppy will fit in that but I am not sure, I don't have any on hand to test > with I don't think 8" floppies will fit, then. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
But the food dehydrator comes with multiple shelves, and you can cut the center support out of one of them. That is how I have modified mine to accept 1" C format Videotape reels. I am going to b baking some Sony 1/2" EIAJ Videotape today and when I start getting things set up I will check if I have an 8" floppy I can check with on the I modified shelves. Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 29, 2015, at 10:54 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: > > >> On Aug 29, 2015, at 06:55, Matt Patoray wrote: >> >> On the American Harvest the center hole is 2.25" across I think an 8" >> floppy will fit in that but I am not sure, I don't have any on hand to test >> with > > I don't think 8" floppies will fit, then. > > > -- > Mark J. Blair, NF6X > http://www.nf6x.net/ >
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/29/2015 01:01 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 19:46, Jon Elson wrote: Then, the only problem is the temp variation across the size of the oven, which can be considerable. I'm thinking that air circulation should be helpful to reduce hot spots, whether I'm baking boards or media. I expect that I'll get a much better understanding of how my layout affects things like tombstoning once I reflow my own boards. I've designed many a board, but other than ones I've hand soldered myself with irons, they've all been assembled out of sight and out of mind from me. Tombstoning is actually quite rare when using good solder paste. I've done thousands of boards, had a fair share of head-in-pillow and plain solder failure, but maybe just 6 actual tombstones. Probably the slow temperature ramp with the toaster oven helps avoid this. Jon
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
> On Aug 29, 2015, at 08:00, Matt Patoray wrote: > > But the food dehydrator comes with multiple shelves, and you can cut the > center support out of one of them. That is how I have modified mine to accept > 1" C format Videotape reels. Oh, maybe I misunderstood, then. I thought the center support was some sort of fixed air duct, and that anything too large to fit between the center and edge would need a center hole large enough to fit over the center support. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
On 8/28/15 9:25 AM, Jay Jaeger wrote: Many/most 9 Track tapes (those from the early to mid-eighties until 1995 or so - what matters is the date of manufacture, not when they were written) have to be "baked" before reading, owing to "sticky shed syndrome". My experience with tapes earlier than that is that I can read them without baking them first. Mid-80's are the worst, especially Memorex, and BASF, which everyone used because they were cheap. Whatever HP bought for their distribution tapes (probably Graham Magnetics) is very good. IBM tape is good too. DEC used crap tape for their distributions. Sadly, AT&T and Mt XINU ALSO used especially bad tape in the late 80's, so many of the Unix distributions I've been dealing with from them lately are so sticky even after baking that they are impossible to deal with. If you are going to be processing a lot of tapes, get a portable "tape scraper" (tape cleaner) and cover the blade. Retension the tapes with it at low speed after baking. The shed on the cloth covering the blade will tell you how bad the shed is. You can see a Graham Magentics portable cleaner in Paul's setup on the right. http://www.piercefuller.com/collect/proj.html I've processed over a thousand tapes in the past ten years, and their condition is not improving with time. Chuck has mentioned 3M Black Watch being bad, and I've started to see that now too, which wasn't the case in the past.
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
On 8/29/15 8:57 AM, Al Kossow wrote: I've processed over a thousand tapes in the past ten years, and their condition is not improving with time. Chuck has mentioned 3M Black Watch being bad, and I've started to see that now too, which wasn't the case in the past. There was a question about airflow in my oven this morning, so I shot a picture of the inside, which will be on the bottom of the bitsavers main page in the afternoon. I also put up the two old pictures of my old processing labs. Hopefully, my new lab space in Fremont will be ready to move into soon.
Future Computers FX31
Anyone know anything about this system? Someone on a vintage computer group on Facebook has one (missing its keyboard[1]), and having seen some photos, although it seems to be mostly a generic PC-compatible with 8-bit ISA, it's notable for having a "video in" connector on the back, as well as LAN in/out ports (proprietary? presumably some kind of ring network though) Surprisingly, Google's coughing up nothing of any use. I'm guessing someone tried making a PC-compatible with a few built-in extras as a selling point (not that uncommon back then), and of course it didn't work out. [1] Although the keyboard socket is something oddball, I see four wires leading back to the motherboard and an 8042 near to where the keyboard connects, so there's a possibility that it can be wired to a standard AT (or possibly XT) keyboard - although of course maybe the scan codes or even the protocol are completely different, and the owner has themselves a nice boat anchor... cheers Jules
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
On 08/29/2015 08:57 AM, Al Kossow wrote: Mid-80's are the worst, especially Memorex, and BASF, which everyone used because they were cheap. Whatever HP bought for their distribution tapes (probably Graham Magnetics) is very good. IBM tape is good too. DEC used crap tape for their distributions. I'll disagree about the worst. 70s Scotch 810x tapes from the 70s suffer from "sticky bleed", where the binder has bled through the oxide layer. The result is that the tape sticks to anything--heads, tape, capstans, guide rollers, etc. A tape cleaning machine doesn't do anything for that. Scotch 800 series audio tape suffers the same issue and is well-known to the tapeheads crowd. My solution was to take a thick felt strip, anoint it with D5 (cyclomethicone) lubricant and attach it to a large round guide (made from a 2" PVC pipe cap) on my tape cleaning machine. Make a pass (you may need to add D5 about midway through), read immediately. D5 evaporates fairly quickly (< 1 hour) so re-treatment may be necessary. Fortunately the stuff is utterly inert and doesn't permanently affect the tape. Needless to mention, you should clean your equipment after using this stuff. --Chuck
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
I thought the center thing was a duct also Ed# In a message dated 8/29/2015 8:45:57 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, n...@nf6x.net writes: > On Aug 29, 2015, at 08:00, Matt Patoray wrote: > > But the food dehydrator comes with multiple shelves, and you can cut the center support out of one of them. That is how I have modified mine to accept 1" C format Videotape reels. Oh, maybe I misunderstood, then. I thought the center support was some sort of fixed air duct, and that anything too large to fit between the center and edge would need a center hole large enough to fit over the center support. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, couryho...@aol.com wrote: I thought the center thing was a duct also Ed# Baking diskettes in it would reduce the central ducting. The HarborFreight food dehydrator (#66906 $30, currently sale at $25) will work with the central ducting partially blocked. It has a heating element. On the ones with an incandescent bulb, using a CFL will reduce power consumption, but it doesn't do much drying/baking.
Re: Future Computers FX31
I can not see the picture but could it be an alphabook? Forgive me if this sounds like a joke,, but there a very short lived hardware called an Alphabook. Ran very hot, to hot for a laptop and weighed 14 pounds. If you have one I would hold onto it, People have mistakeny thought it was laptop (same dimensions). A friend picked on up for $25 because the person thought t was a broken laptop. This is a real Alpha. > On Aug 29, 2015, at 12:29 PM, Jules Richardson > wrote: > > > > Anyone know anything about this system? Someone on a vintage computer group > on Facebook has one (missing its keyboard[1]), and having seen some photos, > although it seems to be mostly a generic PC-compatible with 8-bit ISA, it's > notable for having a "video in" connector on the back, as well as LAN in/out > ports (proprietary? presumably some kind of ring network though) > > Surprisingly, Google's coughing up nothing of any use. I'm guessing someone > tried making a PC-compatible with a few built-in extras as a selling point > (not that uncommon back then), and of course it didn't work out. > > [1] Although the keyboard socket is something oddball, I see four wires > leading back to the motherboard and an 8042 near to where the keyboard > connects, so there's a possibility that it can be wired to a standard AT (or > possibly XT) keyboard - although of course maybe the scan codes or even the > protocol are completely different, and the owner has themselves a nice boat > anchor... > > cheers > > Jules > Sue Skonetski VP of Customer Advocacy sue.skonet...@vmssoftware.com Office: +1 (978) 451-0116 Mobile: +1 (603) 494-9886 Mit freundlichen Grüßen – Avec mes meilleures salutations
RE: TK50/TK70 Info
> > It has a heating element. On the ones with an incandescent bulb, using a > CFL will reduce power consumption, but it doesn't do much drying/baking. ROFL -tony
Area 51 - was Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
On 2015-08-28 9:49 PM, Eric Smith wrote: On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 4:57 PM, ben wrote: Just the US goverment in general. Try area 51 next. Don't bother. There's nothing interesting in Area 51 any more; due to all the publicity Area 51 has gotten, they've long since moved all the good stuff to Area 52, which still has a low profile. I know you're just being witty, but in fact it still seems quite active: http://ur1.ca/nloay --Toby
Re: Cold War Tech - Area 52
If you're like this kind of stuff, I most emphatically suggest the book Valkyrie: North American's Mach 3 Superbomber by Landis and Jenkins. In addition to covering the XB-70 inside and out, it discusses contemporary programs of same i.e. the XF-103, XF-108 and even the Pye Wacket there in the original post (which was originally developed to be used with the XB-70)... extensively illustrated and with copious detail, it's an interesting look inside some of the far-out aerospace programs of the 1960s ... unfortunately out of print but a used copy is worth every dollar! Best, Sean On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 10:31 AM, ben wrote: > On 8/29/2015 6:52 AM, Diane Bruce wrote: > >> >>> A real Area 51 link. - US UFO's >>> http://astronautix.com/craft/pyeacket.htm >>> I was looking for >>> Deepcold: Secrets of the Cold War in Space, 1959-1969 >>> but alas the web site has vanished from the face of the Earth. >>> Ben. >>> >>> >> Try >> >> https://web.archive.org/web/20120616210332/http://www.deepcold.com/index.html >> >> I don't have time to look at the archive, > but did the animated movies get archived. The important stuff as > very little non text is archived from web pages. > Porn of 1995 is just as important historical thing as any when > regarding history of then net. > Ben. > >
Re: Future Computers FX31
Alphabook is indeed a real thing; it was made by RDI, IIRC. They also did a HPPA laptop as well as their more commonly known SPARC machines sold in competition against Tadpole. These machines all suffered from the vices you describe however some people seem to still dig them just to have the exotic processors in the laptop form factor :O But I think the OP is describing something that's significantly older; maybe some kind of early near-PC-compatible x86 machine? Best, Sean On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Sue Skonetski < sue.skonet...@vmssoftware.com> wrote: > I can not see the picture but could it be an alphabook? Forgive me if > this sounds like a joke,, but there a very short lived hardware called an > Alphabook. Ran very hot, to hot for a laptop and weighed 14 pounds. If > you have one I would hold onto it, People have mistakeny thought it was > laptop (same dimensions). A friend picked on up for $25 because the person > thought t was a broken laptop. This is a real Alpha. > > On Aug 29, 2015, at 12:29 PM, Jules Richardson < > jules.richardso...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > Anyone know anything about this system? Someone on a vintage computer > group on Facebook has one (missing its keyboard[1]), and having seen some > photos, although it seems to be mostly a generic PC-compatible with 8-bit > ISA, it's notable for having a "video in" connector on the back, as well as > LAN in/out ports (proprietary? presumably some kind of ring network though) > > > > Surprisingly, Google's coughing up nothing of any use. I'm guessing > someone tried making a PC-compatible with a few built-in extras as a > selling point (not that uncommon back then), and of course it didn't work > out. > > > > [1] Although the keyboard socket is something oddball, I see four wires > leading back to the motherboard and an 8042 near to where the keyboard > connects, so there's a possibility that it can be wired to a standard AT > (or possibly XT) keyboard - although of course maybe the scan codes or even > the protocol are completely different, and the owner has themselves a nice > boat anchor... > > > > cheers > > > > Jules > > > > Sue Skonetski > > VP of Customer Advocacy > sue.skonet...@vmssoftware.com > Office: +1 (978) 451-0116 > Mobile: +1 (603) 494-9886 > > > > > > > > Mit freundlichen Grüßen – Avec mes meilleures salutations > > > >
Re: Future Computers FX31
On 08/29/2015 01:39 PM, Sean Caron wrote: But I think the OP is describing something that's significantly older; maybe some kind of early near-PC-compatible x86 machine? Yes, it's a desktop system. From what I can make out from the photos, IC dates seem to be in 1987. I don't know what CPU it has - the owner just mentioned it as being pre-'386 - but it's odd to see an 8 bit ISA bus in something so late (and so with the inclusion of LAN hardware and the video input port, maybe it was built with a specific purpose in mind) cheers J.
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
On 8/29/2015 10:57 AM, Al Kossow wrote: > On 8/28/15 9:25 AM, Jay Jaeger wrote: > >> Many/most 9 Track tapes (those from the early to mid-eighties until 1995 >> or so - what matters is the date of manufacture, not when they were >> written) have to be "baked" before reading, owing to "sticky shed >> syndrome". My experience with tapes earlier than that is that I can >> read them without baking them first. >> > > Mid-80's are the worst, especially Memorex, and BASF, which everyone used > because they were cheap. > Whatever HP bought for their distribution tapes (probably Graham > Magnetics) is very good. > IBM tape is good too. > DEC used crap tape for their distributions. > > Sadly, AT&T and Mt XINU ALSO used especially bad tape in > the late 80's, so many of the Unix distributions I've been dealing with > from > them lately are so sticky even after baking that they are impossible to > deal > with. > You can add Burroughs SP 3200 and SP 5000 and SP 9000 to your "bad boy" list. I had good luck with a 3M 777 6250 BPI Security Computer Tape. Like you, I have not had any issues with IBM tape. One Graham Verituf Certified Zero Defect at 3200 FCI / 1600 BPI that I processed did leave some residue, even after baking. If a tape is at 1600 BPI, I can sometimes get through it even if it is sticky after baking, so long as there are no retries. In fact, I have taken to setting retries to the smallest possible number (I think it is 2) on the drive during my first attempt at reading a tape so that if it does stick, I minimize the damage. A few times I have had luck with doing that, having a couple of read errors, then cleaning the drive and reading the tape again with the normal number of retries (9). At 6250 BPI, the drive won't stream continuously, so if one of those is sticky after baking, it is usually a challenge to get a good copy. JRJ
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/29/2015 1:04 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: > On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, couryho...@aol.com wrote: >> I thought the center thing was a duct also Ed# > > Baking diskettes in it would reduce the central ducting. > > The HarborFreight food dehydrator (#66906 $30, currently sale at $25) > will work with the central ducting partially blocked. > > It has a heating element. On the ones with an incandescent bulb, using > a CFL will reduce power consumption, but it doesn't do much drying/baking. > > Ooooh. Thanks for the pointer to HarborFreight. I think I will pop over to the store with a tape and see if they have one out to see if it is suitable today or tomorrow. JRJ
Re: IBM 1620
> On Aug 29, 2015, at 12:36 AM, Lyle Bickley wrote: > >> ... > > I was not on the Team that did the memory analysis and the ultimate > "modern" replacement memory. However, when I joined the Team, I asked > similar questions and was told that the core memory was literally > "falling apart" and was not repairable. I sure have a hard time fathoming any of this. Quite apart from the obvious one of building a pin-compatible modern memory, another answer comes to mind. If a core plane has come apart, the cores could be recovered and restrung. That requires patience and dexterity, but it should be doable. It also requires a device to hold the cores correctly for threading; something like that could easily be made in a a 3d printer. paul
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
The HarborFreight food dehydrator (#66906 $30, currently sale at $25) will work with the central ducting partially blocked. On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, Jay Jaeger wrote: Ooooh. Thanks for the pointer to HarborFreight. I think I will pop over to the store with a tape and see if they have one out to see if it is suitable today or tomorrow. ID is 12.5" So, it would hold up to about 8.75" square If you're going to use it regularly, consider adding a fan.
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
this is similar to harvest one I have as my tiny baker. BUT I do not see a temp control.. more details!? even the temp control on harvester not to be trusted I have a long Kodak process thermometer I stick in for the occasional temp check IF IT DOES NOT HAVE A TEMP THERMOSTAT DO NOT GET Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) a baker since before it was proper! In a message dated 8/29/2015 1:27:02 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cu...@charter.net writes: On 8/29/2015 1:04 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: > On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, couryho...@aol.com wrote: >> I thought the center thing was a duct also Ed# > > Baking diskettes in it would reduce the central ducting. > > The HarborFreight food dehydrator (#66906 $30, currently sale at $25) > will work with the central ducting partially blocked. > > It has a heating element. On the ones with an incandescent bulb, using > a CFL will reduce power consumption, but it doesn't do much drying/baking. > > Ooooh. Thanks for the pointer to HarborFreight. I think I will pop over to the store with a tape and see if they have one out to see if it is suitable today or tomorrow. JRJ
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/29/2015 3:36 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: >>> The HarborFreight food dehydrator (#66906 $30, currently sale at $25) >>> will work with the central ducting partially blocked. > > On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, Jay Jaeger wrote: >> Ooooh. Thanks for the pointer to HarborFreight. I think I will pop >> over to the store with a tape and see if they have one out to see if it >> is suitable today or tomorrow. > > ID is 12.5" > So, it would hold up to about 8.75" square > > If you're going to use it regularly, consider adding a fan. > > I went over and had a look at it. As you mention, it has no fan at all. Size looked OK, and the heating element looked OK (it is not just a light bulb). No thermostat at all. All told, I decided to pass it up. JRJ
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/29/2015 5:11 PM, couryho...@aol.com wrote: > this is similar to harvest one I have as my tiny baker. BUT I do not > see a temp control.. > > more details!? > > even the temp control on harvester not to be trusted I have a long > Kodak process thermometer I stick in for the occasional temp check > > > IF IT DOES NOT HAVE A TEMP THERMOSTAT DO NOT GET > > Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) a baker since before it was > proper! > > No thermostat. But the fact that it had no thermostat was not, of itself, a deal breaker for me, as I have a PIC controller and UL listed power controller that I use now. But between no thermostat and no fan, I decided to take a pass, though the size was fine for the large 10.5" mag tape reels. JRJ
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
do not get this EVIL no fan no thermostat... found B! NOT A GOOD ONE ( for tapes) manual for it http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/66000-66999/66906.pdf I have one wife found at garage sale ... it is not good for tape work... I rather suggest $64 http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-American-FD-61-Snackmaster-Dehydrator/dp/B000CEM3WM I thinkI got mine at Walmart - but remember use the thermostatto on off the thing butfor actual temp use a process thermometer . ALSO LOOK AT OTHER OFFERING IN SIZE AN WATTAGE at bottom of this Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=nesco+american+harvest+trays&tag=g ooghydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=61714117524&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=s&hvrand=10 83555451302563676&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2uhe80t19_b hope this helps Ed Sharpe Archivist and Chief Baker for SMECC! N ote: When the unit is plugged in, it’s warming element will constantly be on. When you are finished, unplug the unit to turn it off. 6. After the food is arranged on a tray, do not place on the base yet. STACK UP AND SET ASIDE. In a message dated 8/29/2015 1:27:02 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, cu...@charter.net writes: On 8/29/2015 1:04 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: > On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, couryho...@aol.com wrote: >> I thought the center thing was a duct also Ed# > > Baking diskettes in it would reduce the central ducting. > > The HarborFreight food dehydrator (#66906 $30, currently sale at $25) > will work with the central ducting partially blocked. > > It has a heating element. On the ones with an incandescent bulb, using > a CFL will reduce power consumption, but it doesn't do much drying/baking. > > Ooooh. Thanks for the pointer to HarborFreight. I think I will pop over to the store with a tape and see if they have one out to see if it is suitable today or tomorrow. JRJ
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, couryho...@aol.com wrote: IF IT DOES NOT HAVE A TEMP THERMOSTAT DO NOT GET So that we can remove it and put in a trustworthy one? The commercial part is the housing, trays, lid (with adjustable vent). Prefer transparent. You can make your own, or buy something cheap to build a good one out of. The HarborFreight one is barely usable for this unless/until you add a thermostat, a fan, a timer, an extension cord, . . . Were you looking for one that already has the desired enhancements? I used one sorta like it 35 years ago (before HarborFreight was selling one)
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
If it helps, I use an PID controller in my unit (inexpensive on eBay) with a PT100 sensor in the center (open air) of the chamber. A low-speed fan (from a microwave oven, using a 7W lamp in series) blows down over a 60W incandescent lamp at the top of the chamber and over the material to be treated. As I mentioned before, it is well insulated. It takes about 20 minutes to reach and stabilize at 58C. It can run for days using very little power. Using a separate temperature probe, I've noticed no hot spots to speak of. Capacity is about 1.5 cu. ft. --Chuck
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
I JUST USE IT WITH MY PROCESS THERMOMETER . WHICH I WOULD STILL USE ANYWAY TO CHECK SOME DIGITAL CONTRAPTION I HAD REPLACED THE ORIGINAL THERMOSTAT WITH ANYWAY... Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone Original message From: Fred Cisin Date: 08/29/2015 4:11 PM (GMT-07:00) To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Subject: Re: TK50/TK70 Info On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, couryho...@aol.com wrote: > IF IT DOES NOT HAVE A TEMP THERMOSTAT DO NOT GET So that we can remove it and put in a trustworthy one? The commercial part is the housing, trays, lid (with adjustable vent). Prefer transparent. You can make your own, or buy something cheap to build a good one out of. The HarborFreight one is barely usable for this unless/until you add a thermostat, a fan, a timer, an extension cord, . . . Were you looking for one that already has the desired enhancements? I used one sorta like it 35 years ago (before HarborFreight was selling one)
Re: IBM 1620
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, Paul Koning wrote: On Aug 29, 2015, at 12:36 AM, Lyle Bickley wrote: I was not on the Team that did the memory analysis and the ultimate "modern" replacement memory. However, when I joined the Team, I asked similar questions and was told that the core memory was literally "falling apart" and was not repairable. I sure have a hard time fathoming any of this. Quite apart from the obvious one of building a pin-compatible modern memory, another answer comes to mind. If a core plane has come apart, the cores could be recovered and restrung. That requires patience and dexterity, but it should be doable. It also requires a device to hold the cores correctly for threading; something like that could easily be made in a a 3d printer. Those particular cores are quite small and I'm not sure a 3d printer would be able to print a jig with the tolerances required. IBM had special machines to position and thread them. http://ibm-1401.info/IBMCoreArraysIEEEMagnetics1969.pdf I can certainly understand why repair wasn't initially attempted, however that doesn't mean it is impossible. Given the rarity of the system, welding new stubs of wire to the original enamel wire or completely rebuilding the core planes with all new wire might still well be a worthwhile project at some point in the future. It might even be possible to keep most of the cores in position and rethread just one portion (X, Y, sense/inhibit) at a time. Another plus is that because of the way the wires are threaded, it is unlikely that any of the cores have been lost, even if a large number of wires have broken at the terminals.
Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more-than-10/?intcmp=hpbt4 Lyle -- Lyle Bickley Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Xerox 6085 / daybreak microcode boot issues
So I picked up a 6085- When I try and boot it, it gets stuck on 0199, which indicates microcode is getting loaded. It never gets to 0200 or 0201, indicating a success or failure loading microcode. It just hangs. If I boot diagnostics instead, it tells me (in report codes) to replace the MPB first, followed by the IOP/io board. Well, I can't really replace the MPB because I don't have another, and I paid quite a bit for the machine. Anyone seen this issue before? Where should I start on diagnosing the CPU? Better yet, if someone has a 6085 MPB they are willing to sell, I would be eternally grateful. Cheers, - Ian Sent from my iPhone
Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, Lyle Bickley wrote: I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more-than-10/?intcmp=hpbt4 Is that true? Where can we bury some stuff?
Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
I managed to get one of the cartridges, but it was not an E.T. cartridge. I got one of the dirtier ones, I wasn't gonna pay over $300 for it. When I got mine on eBay, the more pristene cartridges were going for $1000 to $1500. I only saw 6 or 7 items like that though. But from what I recall, the person doing the selling was only selling around 30 cartridges at a time, most being sold individually - though there were a few really dirty carts they tried to sell as a lot (e.g. 3 cartridges in one sale). So, not only did I get a cartridge (in a plastic bag, with some dirt from across the pond), but I did get some neat documentation too (which did include a few pictures). Regards, Andrew Burton aliensrcoo...@yahoo.co.uk www.aliensrcooluk.com - Original Message - From: "Lyle Bickley" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 2:29 AM Subject: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000 > I was surprised to see the average cart price to be over $120! > > http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/29/sales-unearthed-atari-games-total-more-than-10/?intcmp=hpbt4 > > Lyle > -- > Lyle Bickley > Bickley Consulting West Inc. > http://bickleywest.com > "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Re: Sales of unearthed Atari games total more than $100,000
Have the prices for 2600 E.T. carts climbed over the years, or is these buyers paying a premium to own a "Genuine landfill ATARI E.T. game, complete with certificate of authenticity" etc.? General ET carts are cheap AFAIK. The landfill ones are special. Thing is, the article mentions only a few hundred carts. Rumor had it that many thousands of carts were dumped, and realistically, such an operation would never have been worth the while to dispose of only a few hundred, or maybe a couple thousand carts. There were rumors of tons of them, but what they found was warehouse excess and I don't think it was that much of it. There are a few documentaries made on it. One was a full movie from the Angry Video Game Nerd (people have been bugging him to review ET for a long time.) Then there were a few others, should be on youtube. If you're interested in Atari 2600 history, I also recommend the documentaries "Stella At 20" and the Stella at 20 part two. It was a 20th birthday party for the 2600 held at Noland Bushnells house (the first part, 2nd was additional people off site.) Lots of interesting insight into the a machine that changed the world.
MEM11 Status Update
I'm making good progress on the MEM11 firmware. I spent the last few days re-doing the firmware build environment. Previously, it would build all the files each time. Now there is a proper Makefile (even though it takes about a minute to build everything). I realized that I needed something better than what I had because there are multiple targets (emulator, FPGA eval board and the MEM11 board itself). Right now I'm focused on getting as much debugged on the emulator since it has a reasonable debuging environment. I've also integrated various test programs into the build environment and use various low level code as part of the main firmware for hardware access. This "kills two birds with one stone" since it tests not only the various hardware functions it also allows me to debug some of the firmware separately from the full code base. At this point, the emulator fully supports all of the J1 instructions (and they all work too!). In terms of I/O (that will be part of the MEM11 board) it supports LEDs and various configuration inputs, FRAM, UART and timers. The biggest risk that I'm taking is that the UART is emulated as being directly exposed. On the MEM11 hardware, the UART will be connected through a SPI interface which requires that all accesses to the UART are asynchronous transactions. The biggest piece of work remaining on the emulator will be emulating the Unibus interface. The work here will mainly to create a means to script various Unibus transactions. However, before doing that, I'll be testing out the boot loader code and the configuration firmware since none of that is dependent upon the existence of functional Unibus hardware. TTFN - Guy
RE: MEM11 Status Update
Hi Guy, Hello!?! What is the MEM11 Board and are there other boards to make this a fully functional PDP11? I definitely want to know! Thanks in advance. Kip Koon computer...@sc.rr.com http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Guy Sotomayor > Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 1:06 AM > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: MEM11 Status Update > > I'm making good progress on the MEM11 firmware. I spent the last few days > re-doing the firmware build environment. Previously, it > would build all the files each time. Now there is a proper Makefile (even > though it takes about a minute to build everything). I > realized that I needed something better than what I had because there are > multiple targets (emulator, FPGA eval board and the > MEM11 board itself). Right now I'm focused on getting as much debugged on > the emulator since it has a reasonable debuging > environment. > > I've also integrated various test programs into the build environment and use > various low level code as part of the main firmware for > hardware access. > This "kills two birds with one stone" since it tests not only the various > hardware functions it also allows me to debug some of the > firmware separately from the full code base. > > At this point, the emulator fully supports all of the J1 instructions (and > they all work too!). In terms of I/O (that will be part of the > MEM11 board) it supports LEDs and various configuration inputs, FRAM, UART > and timers. > The biggest risk that I'm taking is that the UART is emulated as being > directly exposed. On the MEM11 hardware, the UART will be > connected through a SPI interface which requires that all accesses to the > UART are asynchronous transactions. > > The biggest piece of work remaining on the emulator will be emulating the > Unibus interface. The work here will mainly to create a > means to script various Unibus transactions. > > However, before doing that, I'll be testing out the boot loader code and the > configuration firmware since none of that is dependent > upon the existence of functional Unibus hardware. > > TTFN - Guy
Re: MEM11 Status Update
The MEM11 is a multi-function memory board for Unibus based PDP-11 computers. It contains: * 128KW memory * Emulates console ROM & boot ROMs * 2 SLUs (DL11s) * KW11K * KW11P * KW11L * KW11W * RF11 (emulating up to 8 RS11 disks) * KE11 Because of the large number of devices that exist on the board, it operates in 2 modes: - Run Mode. This is the operational mode of the MEM11 where it appears as the indicated devices to the rest of the PDP11. - Config Mode. This is a mode where the devices on the MEM11 can be configured. This is all done though a CLI that is accessed through one of the SLUs. Because all of this is implemented in firmware on the MEM11 board (it contains a J1 uP in the FPGA), I've implemented a boot loader to load various versions of the code into the FPGA. The firmware is stored in the FRAM not used for emulating the Unibus memory, ROMs or RS11 disks. The boot loader (based upon the settings of the only 2 jumpers on the board) will determine what code to load into the FPGA. It should be noted that the memory that the J1 executes out of is all contained in the FPGA itself. The J1 RAM (as it's called) initially contains the "cold boot" loader which determines which area from the FRAM is to be loaded. When in Config Mode, various parts of the FRAM can be updated. This allows for me to send out firmware updates without folks having to use a JTAG programmer. Config Mode also contains the ability to transfer data to/from the various FRAM regions using the XMODEM protocol. This also allows for the various ROM images to be loaded/dumped as well as the contents of the RS11 disks. The biggest struggle has been one of space. The J1 only has 16KB of RAM space. Right now the Config Mode image is a bit over 15KB. I also have to reserve 512B in each image for the boot loader. In order to get the Config Mode image to fit all of the strings that are used for printing, parsing, help text, etc. remain in FRAM. Individual strings are only fetched into J1 RAM when the string is to be used. The Config Mode firmware is now complete. I've been building up the emulator so that I'm very close to starting to actually debug the full firmware image. I have a few other tests to perform first. The Run Mode firmware is not yet complete. The main parts of the firmware have been written. Currently the Run Mode firmware supports: - Unibus memory - ROMs - SLUs I want to get that working on the emulator before I write the remaining firmware. The main objective is to provide the memory and I/O necessary to be able to run Unix V1 (I also added a few more things because they're just "code"). There's a lot to this (and various things have kept me from working on this as much as I wanted to). I also plan on providing fairly detailed documentation with each board (but there is a fairly extensive help system in Config Mode). TTFN - Guy On 8/29/15 10:16 PM, Kip Koon wrote: Hi Guy, Hello!?! What is the MEM11 Board and are there other boards to make this a fully functional PDP11? I definitely want to know! Thanks in advance. Kip Koon computer...@sc.rr.com http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Guy Sotomayor Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 1:06 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: MEM11 Status Update I'm making good progress on the MEM11 firmware. I spent the last few days re-doing the firmware build environment. Previously, it would build all the files each time. Now there is a proper Makefile (even though it takes about a minute to build everything). I realized that I needed something better than what I had because there are multiple targets (emulator, FPGA eval board and the MEM11 board itself). Right now I'm focused on getting as much debugged on the emulator since it has a reasonable debuging environment. I've also integrated various test programs into the build environment and use various low level code as part of the main firmware for hardware access. This "kills two birds with one stone" since it tests not only the various hardware functions it also allows me to debug some of the firmware separately from the full code base. At this point, the emulator fully supports all of the J1 instructions (and they all work too!). In terms of I/O (that will be part of the MEM11 board) it supports LEDs and various configuration inputs, FRAM, UART and timers. The biggest risk that I'm taking is that the UART is emulated as being directly exposed. On the MEM11 hardware, the UART will be connected through a SPI interface which requires that all accesses to the UART are asynchronous transactions. The biggest piece of work remaining on the emulator will be emulating the Unibus interface. The work here will mainly to create a means to script various Unibus transactions. However, before
Xerox 6085 microcode boot issues
So I picked up a 6085- When I try and boot it, it gets stuck on 0199, which indicates microcode is getting loaded. It never gets to 0200 or 0201, indicating a success or failure loading microcode. It just hangs. If I boot diagnostics instead, it tells me (in report codes) to replace the MPB first, followed by the IOP/io board. Well, I can't really replace the MPB because I don't have another, and I paid quite a bit for the machine. Anyone seen this issue before? Where should I start on diagnosing the CPU? Better yet, if someone has a 6085 MPB they are willing to sell, I would be eternally grateful. Cheers, - Ian
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
Here is what one of the modified trays looks like installed. And here is an unmodified one. My timer and temperature monitoring system. The thermistor probe sits in the air stream. Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 29, 2015, at 11:45 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: > > >> On Aug 29, 2015, at 08:00, Matt Patoray wrote: >> >> But the food dehydrator comes with multiple shelves, and you can cut the >> center support out of one of them. That is how I have modified mine to >> accept 1" C format Videotape reels. > > Oh, maybe I misunderstood, then. I thought the center support was some sort > of fixed air duct, and that anything too large to fit between the center and > edge would need a center hole large enough to fit over the center support. > > > -- > Mark J. Blair, NF6X > http://www.nf6x.net/ >
Re: Future Computers FX31
>Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 9:12 PM >From: "Jules Richardson" >Yes, it's a desktop system. From what I can make out from the photos, IC >dates seem to be in 1987. I don't know what CPU it has - the owner just >mentioned it as being pre-'386 - but it's odd to see an 8 bit ISA bus in >something so late (and so with the inclusion of LAN hardware and the video >input port, maybe it was built with a specific purpose in mind) I'm guessing this is it: http://www.sekaimon.com/i361201143538 Scroll down to find the images of a desktop unit. The pics look just like an FX31 that was advertised on ebay.co.uk earlier on this year.
Re: Advice about repairing an IBM 5151
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, william degnan wrote: often the card is the culprit, sometimes shorting out the entire sytem. Absolutely! And, if the motherboard is set for CGA, instead of MDA, the board might not come up. BUT, he did say that he had what the thought might be video signals reaching the monitor. In addition, VGA boards can be problematic in configuration. When bringing up a PC of those vintages, I try to always start with a CGA board and appropriate monitor. THEN, once that is working, THEN put the VGA in.
Re: Advice about repairing an IBM 5151
I am trying to identify why my IBM 5151 display has no picture when connected to a normal MDA card in a IBM PC 5150. So armed with an On Sat, 29 Aug 2015, william degnan wrote: There is a 2nd connector for the video card of the 5151. 5151 is a monitor number. I can't quite tell if you mean you have the video card that comes with the 5155 and you're trying to test with a card that came from somewhere else or something else. I am unsure if the 2nd connector pertains to the internal or external port, but you want to be sure you have this in place. http://vintagecomputer.net/ibm/5155/ibm5155_monitor_connector_cga_card_closeup.jpg He said 5151 connected to MDA in 5150. That would have little or no overlap with what the 5155 has. The 5155 does not use an MDA, although one COULD be added for a second monitor. The 5155 uses CGA. The CGA has three video outs. There is a DE9 RGB video out, for color monitors. Should never be connected to a 5151 or other MDA/MONO(MDA)/Hercules monitor! The CGA also has an RCA with composite (almost RS-170) video out. And, the CGA has, just inside the bracket, a 4 pin sometimes keyed Berg connector that was originally intended for an RF modulator such as the SUP'R'MODII. That connector has voltage and composite, and is used in the 5155 for the internal monitor. The CGA also has a 6 pin Berg connector for light-pen. He said 5151 connected to MDA in 5150. So, none of the CGA stuff applies. The MDA board, has a DE9 for IBM MDA MONO (sometimes called "Hercules" in a futile attempt to avoid ambiguity). The IBM MDA board also has a DB25 parallel printer port (sometimes erroneously called "Centronics"). Hence, the IBM board is called MDP, and there are many AFTER-market MDA boards. Some of the IBM MDA boards have a light-pen connector?
