Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On Thu, 1 Oct 2015, chocolatejolli...@gmail.com wrote: Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial card. Could this MCT be Modular Circuit Technology, the generic brand of add on cards once sold in the JDR Microdevices catalog? Possibly, I mentioned this in the other thread. JDR Microdevices started selling stuff in 1979 and this board looks like it was made in 1980. I think this board might eventually turn up in an old magazine article or ad (Radio Electronics, Popular Electronics, Kilobaud Microcomputing, etc) since it looks like it may have been a kit.
Re: Robotron K1840 .. (11/780 alike..)
Jay Jaeger wrote: > On 9/29/2015 1:22 PM, Holm Tiffe wrote: > > Holm Tiffe wrote: > >> > > Forgot to ask: > > In the VAX CPU the M8236 should be the Interface to the Console Computer, > > what is ion the other reEnd in the PDP11? > > > > Regards, > > > > Holm > > > > I have one taken out of a VAX 11/780, and my inventory records indicate > it is an M9400-YE. > > The complete complement of boards in that machine, in slot order: > > M7264-YC (CPU) > M7946 (RXV11 floppy control) > M7940 (DLV11 serial port) > M8400-EH (Memory) > M9400-YE (Terminator / VAX Interface - presumably has ROMS too). > > JRJ Thanks Jay, that clears things up. Do you possibly want to sell that M9400-YE? (I don't know if the people in Halle would buy it, I'm just asking to tell them). Regards, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Straße 42, 09600 Oberschöna, USt-Id: DE253710583 www.tsht.de, i...@tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On 9/30/2015 10:46 PM, drlegendre . wrote: Hey guys, I'm fairly certain this is a serial board - mostly because the PO told me so, and when I received it, it had a 25-pin male connector on a three-wire cable carelessly soldered to the pads behind one of the cable headers on the top edge. But the cable was removed as a matter of course when I was prepping the machine for a rebuild. I mistakenly assumed that the docs would be trivial to locate - so no need to record the original wiring connections. no disputing that. Glad Tony made his point, I was curious if it was early enough to not have had what we are accustomed to now days. Previous owner had it in an S100 system? that is my remaining concern. I have some pretty convincing boards which look like but aren't ducks. Interesting card, thanks for posting it. It'll be interesting to see what you find. I'm also interested in what the referenced info source, from Bill Degan, retrotechnology.com turns up. thanks Jim
RE: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
Hi drlegendre, According to the attached datasheet for the GI AY-3-1014A & AY-3-1015D chips on your board, they are 0-30K baud UAR/T chips so you at least have two serial ports. As to what the rest of the board is, many of the other chips identifications are a bit fuzzy plus one chip is missing and several Resister networks are missing as well. If I would have to guess, the two 50 pin interfaces might be some type of parallel interface. With the attached datasheet, you should be able to trace out where the three wires you removed would have to go. You would of course at a minimum need an RS-232 Transmit Data, Receive Data and Ground. That would of course not connect any hardware control of any kind. I hope this is at least enough to get the serial ports working. Also I would check what look like 4 resistors and 2 capacitors in the brown, burnt area below the two 40 pin chips as their values may be altered from excessive heat. The rest of the board looks like it may not have been finished as some parts are missing. The kit idea sounds very plausible. Thanks for the picture you have provided. It's much better than I could have done with my cell phone or video camera. I hope you do eventually figure out the rest of the board. Take care my friend. 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 drlegendre . > Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 8:52 PM > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board? > > (Months along, posts to several boards / lists, still no help on this one.. > so I'm giving it another shot. I'd really like to use this board) > > Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial card. > I'm pretty sure the card works, as it came from a previously-working system > - but all documents are missing, and without the info, I have no idea how to > put it to use. Photos are here: > > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_01.jpg > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_02.jpg > > Other than what I believe is an artwork / batch number on the rear, the only > marking is "Assy 105510" on the front silk screen. My > hunch is that this may have been a fairly generic 'OEM' type card which could > have been re-badged and sold under one or more > different names. So perhaps the docs exist under a name other than MCT? > > Any help greatly appreciated - thanks! > > -Bill
Re: A new Lisp-based OS that hearkens back to the old days of comprehensible computers
On 1 October 2015 at 02:34, Sean Caron wrote: > While there are a few "forks" of BSD, there never was a proliferation of > various "distributions"; that is to say, there is only one, definitive > FreeBSD, one, definitive NetBSD and one, definitive OpenBSD. All are > significantly stripped of crud out of the box compared to Linux. Well, there's one OpenBSD and one NetBSD. Off the top of my head, FreeBSD has begotten: * DragonflyBSD * m0n0wall * PC-BSD * GhostBSD * NeXT BSD >From some cursory research, there are also: * MidnightBSD * pfSense * FreeSBIE * DesktopBSD Whether FreeNAS and NAS4Free count is open to interpretation. There are others, too. I have played with PC-BSD and GhostBSD, both of which I quite liked but found too minimal for me compared to Linux. I thought MidnightBSD was dead but apparently there's recently been a new release, which I shall investigate. -- Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR)
RE: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
> > > > I'm fairly certain this is a serial board - mostly because the PO told > > me so, and when I received it, it had a 25-pin male connector on a > > three-wire cable carelessly soldered to the pads behind one of the > > cable headers on the top edge. But the cable was removed as a matter > > of course when I was prepping the machine for a rebuild. I mistakenly > > assumed that the docs would be trivial to locate - so no need to > > record the original wiring connections. > > > no disputing that. Glad Tony made his point, I was curious if it was > early enough to not have had what we are accustomed to now days. Does 'now days' include RS232 interfaces :-) But before the 1488 (or at least before it was common), many manufacturers used op-amps as RS232 drivers. Look at the HP11205 and 11206 interfaces for the HP9830, for example. For input I could believe taking the signal through a resistor to a zener diode to ground. Remember a zener is reverse-biased in 'breakdown' mode so that circuit will clamp +ve voltages to the zener voltages and -ve voltages (where the zener is not the normal way round and therefore acts as a normal silicon diode) to -0.6V. Or indeed resistor +diode clamps to +5V and ground. Then into a TTL gate. Given that the original connection was 3 wires, it's a good bet they were TxD, RxD and ground. Ground should be trivial to find. The trace the SO output of the UART to an op-amp and then to the header. Similarly trace SI back through a TTL gate (which has been mentioned already) to a header pin. I can't believe this is a complicated circuit OK, I've been doing this sort of thing for years, but I wouldn't be surprised if I could trace those connections in less time that it's taken to try to look for the docs... -tony
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
I have been doing a bit of spadework on this one. There was a company call MCT who advertised in the PC Mag. in the early 80's The products were add-ons for PC's. The possibiliy that they made S100 products prior to 1980 is not an unreasonable one. So anybody with an early 80's PC Mag might find them. In fact any publication from about then may have a reference. Rod On 01/10/2015 13:30, tony duell wrote: I'm fairly certain this is a serial board - mostly because the PO told me so, and when I received it, it had a 25-pin male connector on a three-wire cable carelessly soldered to the pads behind one of the cable headers on the top edge. But the cable was removed as a matter of course when I was prepping the machine for a rebuild. I mistakenly assumed that the docs would be trivial to locate - so no need to record the original wiring connections. no disputing that. Glad Tony made his point, I was curious if it was early enough to not have had what we are accustomed to now days. Does 'now days' include RS232 interfaces :-) But before the 1488 (or at least before it was common), many manufacturers used op-amps as RS232 drivers. Look at the HP11205 and 11206 interfaces for the HP9830, for example. For input I could believe taking the signal through a resistor to a zener diode to ground. Remember a zener is reverse-biased in 'breakdown' mode so that circuit will clamp +ve voltages to the zener voltages and -ve voltages (where the zener is not the normal way round and therefore acts as a normal silicon diode) to -0.6V. Or indeed resistor +diode clamps to +5V and ground. Then into a TTL gate. Given that the original connection was 3 wires, it's a good bet they were TxD, RxD and ground. Ground should be trivial to find. The trace the SO output of the UART to an op-amp and then to the header. Similarly trace SI back through a TTL gate (which has been mentioned already) to a header pin. I can't believe this is a complicated circuit OK, I've been doing this sort of thing for years, but I wouldn't be surprised if I could trace those connections in less time that it's taken to try to look for the docs... -tony -- Wanted : KDJ11-E M8981 KK8-E M8300 KK8-E M8310 KK8-E M8320 KK8-E M8330
Re: DEC handles
They still have them. They pulled the bin and put your name on it. It's about 100 (my guess) pieces at .15 each. I already did a lifetime buy myself. Joe On Sep 29, 2015, at 9:36 PM, j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) wrote: >> From: Joseph Lang > >> How many do you want? > > How many do I need, or how many do I want? :-) > > I'm tempted to buy the whole bin (unless it's like a 55 gallon barrel :-), > and hold onto them for other CCTalk people who need them. > > Maybe this will work: if you find them, point them out to the store people, > and tell them I'll call? Would that be the easiest thing for you? > > Thanks! > >Noel
Re: IBM 026 - Decision Data 8010 card punch on Ebay in Germany
The same seller is apparently selling a lot of punched card machines: http://www.ebay.de/itm/371453045495 http://www.ebay.de/itm/371453065369 2015-09-21 22:32 GMT+02:00 Henk Gooijen : > -Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: jwsmobile > Sent: Monday, September 21, 2015 8:37 PM > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Re: IBM 026 - Decision Data 8010 card punch on Ebay in Germany > > On 9/21/2015 10:14 AM, Dave G4UGM wrote: > >> Pretty sure that’s later than an 029, but really nice. >> > I used 029's in 1971, and they had been around for at least a year or > two at the school. The auction say 1973, which is probably right. > >> >>> Not really a 026 but maybe contemporary with the 029: >>> >>> http://www.ebay.de/itm/371439456530 >>> >>> Not mine. >>> >> Trimmed the URL so it doesn't wrap. > > Google translate text of description. I'd love to see Bitsavers get a > scan of the documents. > > Another nit, I think the auction states no shipment to the US > (translation leaves a bit to be desired). Currently sitting @ 1 euro. > Needs Repair. > > Experience the EDP the early period and even punch cards punching > > Here is a keypunch (Interpreting Data Recorder) of Decision Data, type > 8010 available. > This card-punch came in 1973 on the market and had very many features. > > The device was made so quickly, that it practiced by Locher inside > could still mitstanzen in real time even at the fastest input. > with the fastest input> (my interpretation) > > The optical condition of the device is very good, almost > as good as new. > > Technically, it is not functional. It needs to be fixed. > > For auction includes a German manual and 2000 original punch card > (uncut), so that for once can punch card repair (incl. Lettering). In > addition, the Manual is one with all the detailed schematics and > explanations. > > Dimensions: H = 98cm, B = 119cm, T estimated = 68cm Weight: 80-100 kg. > > Therefore only be collected in 65779 near Frankfurt / Main. Private sale > of collection reducing without guarantee and no redemption. Similar > offers will follow soon. > > Thanks > Jim > > == > > I can give a better translation than Google does, but there are German > guys on this list who can do that too. It is pick up only near Frankfurt. > I am not prepared to pay too much (it is not DEC ...) but will give it > a try. Home to Frankfurt is some 400 km drive one-way. > The trip (+ truck rental) will already cost a nice penny though. > > I do have a DEC card reader, so it would be nice if I can create > punched cards for the reader ... but not at any cost! > > - Henk >
Re: DEC handles
> They still have them. They pulled the bin and put your name on it. Great, thanks very much! Just called them up and ordered the whole shebang. > It's about 100 (my guess) pieces Your guess was very accurate - actually, 105! > I already did a lifetime buy myself. If anyone needs a _few_ (between boards I already have that need them, and future needs, for some boards I am building, most of these are spoken for), let me know. Noel
Re: Robotron K1840 .. (11/780 alike..)
On 10/1/2015 2:34 AM, Holm Tiffe wrote: > Jay Jaeger wrote: > > > Do you possibly want to sell that M9400-YE? (I don't know if the > people in Halle would buy it, I'm just asking to tell them). > > > Regards, > > Holm > I expect that I would be willing to sell it, as I have no VAX to connect it to, and wouldn't expect to ever have room for one. ;) I also confirmed on the .../dec/vax/780 doc on bitsavers (MP00534_KC780_Nov77.pdf) that the M9400-YE is what connects to the VAX CPU. JRJ
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
I had a look, and it seems to me that there is more going on on this board than just serial ports. It is even possible that the system it was in had essentially re-purposed the board to use for a serial ports in a way that the original designer did not intend. That would explain the lack of obvious level shifting - it may have been used for TTL level serial I/O. Also, there are lots more passive components on this board than I would expect for a serial interface board. A company with these initials made EPROM programmers, though their logo was different - but perhaps it changed over time. Maybe this was a very early interface board to one of their very early programmers - and perhaps it is missing some of the parts, like connector headers and resistor packs, and then was re-purposed. JRJ On 9/30/2015 7:52 PM, drlegendre . wrote: > (Months along, posts to several boards / lists, still no help on this one.. > so I'm giving it another shot. I'd really like to use this board) > > Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial card. > I'm pretty sure the card works, as it came from a previously-working system > - but all documents are missing, and without the info, I have no idea how > to put it to use. Photos are here: > > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_01.jpg > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_02.jpg > > Other than what I believe is an artwork / batch number on the rear, the > only marking is "Assy 105510" on the front silk screen. My hunch is that > this may have been a fairly generic 'OEM' type card which could have been > re-badged and sold under one or more different names. So perhaps the docs > exist under a name other than MCT? > > Any help greatly appreciated - thanks! > > -Bill >
Re: IBM 026 - Decision Data 8010 card punch on Ebay in Germany
I picked up the Decision Data card puncher last Tuesday. Heavy stuff! I helped the seller move the orange colored card punch. It's a Juki. Also *very heavy*. BTW, the keyboard of the Decision Data puncher is connected with a cable; you can move the keyboard to a comfortable position. IIRC, the keyboard of the Juki is fixed placed on the desk. - Henk, PA8PDP -Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: Mattis Lind Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 4:46 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: IBM 026 - Decision Data 8010 card punch on Ebay in Germany The same seller is apparently selling a lot of punched card machines: http://www.ebay.de/itm/371453045495 http://www.ebay.de/itm/371453065369 2015-09-21 22:32 GMT+02:00 Henk Gooijen : -Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: jwsmobile Sent: Monday, September 21, 2015 8:37 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: IBM 026 - Decision Data 8010 card punch on Ebay in Germany On 9/21/2015 10:14 AM, Dave G4UGM wrote: Pretty sure that’s later than an 029, but really nice. I used 029's in 1971, and they had been around for at least a year or two at the school. The auction say 1973, which is probably right. Not really a 026 but maybe contemporary with the 029: http://www.ebay.de/itm/371439456530 Not mine. Trimmed the URL so it doesn't wrap. Google translate text of description. I'd love to see Bitsavers get a scan of the documents. Another nit, I think the auction states no shipment to the US (translation leaves a bit to be desired). Currently sitting @ 1 euro. Needs Repair. Experience the EDP the early period and even punch cards punching Here is a keypunch (Interpreting Data Recorder) of Decision Data, type 8010 available. This card-punch came in 1973 on the market and had very many features. The device was made so quickly, that it practiced by Locher inside could still mitstanzen in real time even at the fastest input. (my interpretation) The optical condition of the device is very good, almost as good as new. Technically, it is not functional. It needs to be fixed. For auction includes a German manual and 2000 original punch card (uncut), so that for once can punch card repair (incl. Lettering). In addition, the Manual is one with all the detailed schematics and explanations. Dimensions: H = 98cm, B = 119cm, T estimated = 68cm Weight: 80-100 kg. Therefore only be collected in 65779 near Frankfurt / Main. Private sale of collection reducing without guarantee and no redemption. Similar offers will follow soon. Thanks Jim == I can give a better translation than Google does, but there are German guys on this list who can do that too. It is pick up only near Frankfurt. I am not prepared to pay too much (it is not DEC ...) but will give it a try. Home to Frankfurt is some 400 km drive one-way. The trip (+ truck rental) will already cost a nice penny though. I do have a DEC card reader, so it would be nice if I can create punched cards for the reader ... but not at any cost! - Henk
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On 09/30/2015 11:14 PM, chocolatejolli...@gmail.com wrote: Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial card. Could this MCT be Modular Circuit Technology, the generic brand of add on cards once sold in the JDR Microdevices catalog? I suggested that back in an earlier thread, but the "MCT" logo on the board differs in appearance from the logo used on the PC stuff. If anyone has a 1982 or so JDR catalog, that might confirm the suspicion one way or another, but I'm pretty sure after some investigation that this isn't a JDR MCT product. --Chuck
Re: Aresco Newsletters
Just ran across this while deleting old posts; many of the Aresco 'PET Paper's can be found here: http://6502.org/documents/publications/pet_paper/ The Midnight Gazette also took over 'The Paper', to be found here: http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/newsletters/midnight-software-gazette/midnight-software-gazette.htm m - Original Message - From: "Matthew Mikolay" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Monday, May 18, 2015 7:07 AM Subject: Aresco Newsletters Hi all, Out of curiosity, did anybody on here subscribe to any of the newsletters published by a company called Aresco back in the late 70s and early 80s? These newsletters were VIPER (Cosmac VIP), Paper (Commodore PET), Source (Exidy Sorcerer), and Rainbow (Apple II). Aresco also published a series of books by Tom Swan titled PIPs for VIPs. I own several issues of VIPER, but I'm still looking for copies of the others. Does anybody have these newsletters in their collection? Matt
Re: A new Lisp-based OS that hearkens back to the old days of comprehensible computers
On Thu, 1 Oct 2015, Liam Proven wrote: * m0n0wall Isn't m0n0wall just a LiveCD for a firewall? It was when I used it last. g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
Re: Robotron K1840 .. (11/780 alike..)
Jay Jaeger wrote: > On 10/1/2015 2:34 AM, Holm Tiffe wrote: > > Jay Jaeger wrote: > > > > > > Do you possibly want to sell that M9400-YE? (I don't know if the > > people in Halle would buy it, I'm just asking to tell them). > > > > > > Regards, > > > > Holm > > > > I expect that I would be willing to sell it, as I have no VAX to connect > it to, and wouldn't expect to ever have room for one. ;) > > I also confirmed on the .../dec/vax/780 doc on bitsavers > (MP00534_KC780_Nov77.pdf) that the M9400-YE is what connects to the VAX > CPU. > > JRJ Ok Jay, I've forwarded your informations to here: http://www.robotrontechnik.de/html/forum/thwb/showtopic.php?threadid=12615 Hope that the people at "Rechenwerk" will get into contact with you regarding this. Thanks, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Straße 42, 09600 Oberschöna, USt-Id: DE253710583 www.tsht.de, i...@tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741
Re: Aresco Newsletters
On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 1:08 PM, Mike Stein wrote: > Just ran across this while deleting old posts; > many of the Aresco 'PET Paper's can be found here: > > http://6502.org/documents/publications/pet_paper/ Those are great, but incomplete. Looks like only the even pages of Volume 1 Issue 6 (August 1978, labelled April 1978) got scanned, and none of Volume 2 is present. Does anyone here have those? -ethan
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
I've got another theory regarding drlegendre's board. I happen to know via out-of-band information that he is here in MN. There is a company in the Twin Cities called Micro Component Technology that existed in the 70s, 80s, 90s and still today. They make handling and test systems for IC fabrication. http://www.mct.com/Company.aspx I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts or lingonberries to lefse that his board is a custom job made by the MN MCT and it went into the computer control of one of their machines from the early 80s. Something probably designed in the mid to late 70s. The logo on the board matches what I remember seeing on their building in Shoreview ages ago. I don't think it's the MCT that made PC (as in IBM PC) plugins... Chris On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 10:14AM -0500), Jay Jaeger wrote: > I had a look, and it seems to me that there is more going on on this > board than just serial ports. It is even possible that the system it > was in had essentially re-purposed the board to use for a serial ports > in a way that the original designer did not intend. That would explain > the lack of obvious level shifting - it may have been used for TTL level > serial I/O. > > Also, there are lots more passive components on this board than I would > expect for a serial interface board. > > A company with these initials made EPROM programmers, though their logo > was different - but perhaps it changed over time. Maybe this was a very > early interface board to one of their very early programmers - and > perhaps it is missing some of the parts, like connector headers and > resistor packs, and then was re-purposed. > > JRJ > > On 9/30/2015 7:52 PM, drlegendre . wrote: > > (Months along, posts to several boards / lists, still no help on this one.. > > so I'm giving it another shot. I'd really like to use this board) > > > > Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial card. > > I'm pretty sure the card works, as it came from a previously-working system > > - but all documents are missing, and without the info, I have no idea how > > to put it to use. Photos are here: > > > > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_01.jpg > > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_02.jpg > > > > Other than what I believe is an artwork / batch number on the rear, the > > only marking is "Assy 105510" on the front silk screen. My hunch is that > > this may have been a fairly generic 'OEM' type card which could have been > > re-badged and sold under one or more different names. So perhaps the docs > > exist under a name other than MCT? > > > > Any help greatly appreciated - thanks! > > > > -Bill > > -- Chris Elmquist
Re: A new Lisp-based OS that hearkens back to the old days of comprehensible computers
Who knew? Not me :O But those are all kind of "piddly" (sorry) ... I don't think they have much "mindshare" or very many actual installations compared to the top-line FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD ... and those BSD repackagers don't have so much potential influence to argue over the basic direction of *BSD, versus say, Red Hat might have with Linux ... I would consider some like m0n0wall and pfSense exceptions because the goal of the project is really to provide a pre-rolled security appliance rather than an OS distribution proper ... same reason I wouldn't call PIAF a Linux distribution, just a pre-rolled Asterisk appliance. Best, Sean On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 7:45 AM, Liam Proven wrote: > On 1 October 2015 at 02:34, Sean Caron wrote: > > While there are a few "forks" of BSD, there never was a proliferation of > > various "distributions"; that is to say, there is only one, definitive > > FreeBSD, one, definitive NetBSD and one, definitive OpenBSD. All are > > significantly stripped of crud out of the box compared to Linux. > > Well, there's one OpenBSD and one NetBSD. > > Off the top of my head, FreeBSD has begotten: > * DragonflyBSD > * m0n0wall > * PC-BSD > * GhostBSD > * NeXT BSD > > From some cursory research, there are also: > * MidnightBSD > * pfSense > * FreeSBIE > * DesktopBSD > > Whether FreeNAS and NAS4Free count is open to interpretation. > > There are others, too. > > I have played with PC-BSD and GhostBSD, both of which I quite liked > but found too minimal for me compared to Linux. I thought MidnightBSD > was dead but apparently there's recently been a new release, which I > shall investigate. > > -- > Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile > Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven > MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven > Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR) >
Re: DEC handles
> From: Stephen Lafferty > When I bought the Omnibus prototyping board from Douglas Electronics by > phone a few years ago, the lady I spoke to offered to include handles > ... > I have not found the handles mentioned on their website but I might > have missed it. They do still have a few (~100) left, but you have to contact them, they are indeed not on the Web-site; $.55 each. Grab them while they're there! :-) Noel
Re: Thoughts on manual database design?
On 9/25/2015 4:03 PM, m...@markesystems.com wrote: >>> Not sure why you have VARCHARs for primary keys, why not use the >>> conventional auto-increment int so you can dispense with >>> the LastGeneratedArtifactID table. >>> > >> Because my artifact ID's are not always just numbers. In some cases >> they may already be marked on an artifact (though typically not for >> manuals - but this is just the first of a set of such projects, and they >> *are* marked on many of my computer boards). > For anyone who might care, today I decided to move to an auto-increment key on the Manual table, and then use that key in the Manual_Artifact, Manual_File and Manual_Machines tables. (But not the ArtifactID ;) ). It was an outgrowth of doing some data clean up and realizing that a manual from one manufacturer was sometimes related to a machine by a different manufacturer (e.g., ABLE computer boards in Digital Equipment machines). I was going to sometimes end up with two manufacturers in the Manual_Machines table, which was apt to get confusing over time. So I will now have a Manual_MFG column, which is used only in the Manual table, and a Machine_MFG column, used only in the Manual_Machine table. A new Manual_Key will be used in place of the Machine_MFG:Manual_Number pair I had been using all over the place. I still have to finish the model, and will update the PDF I put on my website at some point in the next day or so. JRJ
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
@Chris That's an intriguing and very real possibility, but then there's this: http://www.mct.net/ - Does that logo look familiar? Founded in the 80s, controller boards, interface modules, single-board computers.. but yes, they are in Germany. I did try contacting them, but never heard back. @All To answer a few questions: Yes, I am certain this is an S-100 board. It was pulled from the Altair I rebuilt and the PO confirmed that he "had a terminal or something" connected to it. The burned area on the board is where a couple of zener regulators gave it up. You can maybe see that I've replaced them with 3W zeners and 1W resistors. I believe these create +/- 12V supplies for the op-amps and RS-232 levels? I did some tracing on it, not my cup of tea, but I did learn some things.. here's what I found: Each of the two 10-pin headers (I'll call these serial ports) seem to be wired the same, with duplicate component setups for each port. Pins 4 & 6 connect via 175R and 47R resistors, respectively, to one input of an XNOR gate on an LS266 chip. Second input to same XNOR gate seems tied to Vcc via jumpers. Output of XNOR gate has 1K pull-up to Vcc (open collector output) and then connects to pin 20 on the 1014/15 UART which is "SI". So pins 4 & 6 seem to be our serial inputs (RxD) with two different series resistances offered (175R or 47R). Might be an input voltage divider or termination option? Pin 1 connects to the collector of a 2N3906 which is in turn driven by the output of one section of an LM1458 op-amp. The non-inverting input of the op-amp connects back to pin 25 on the UART, which is "SO". I'm not sure what the inverting input of the op-amp is tied to.. perhaps it's part of an enable circuit? But it seems pin 1 is our serial output (TxD). The other port pins are variously tied to resistors, jumpers and/or 74XX logic. These might be our handshaking lines, ring detect, etc. That's all I know so far. On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 3:30 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote: > I've got another theory regarding drlegendre's board. > > I happen to know via out-of-band information that he is here in MN. > > There is a company in the Twin Cities called Micro Component Technology > that existed in the 70s, 80s, 90s and still today. > > They make handling and test systems for IC fabrication. > > http://www.mct.com/Company.aspx > > I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts or lingonberries to lefse that his > board is a custom job made by the MN MCT and it went into the computer > control of one of their machines from the early 80s. Something probably > designed in the mid to late 70s. > > The logo on the board matches what I remember seeing on their building > in Shoreview ages ago. > > I don't think it's the MCT that made PC (as in IBM PC) plugins... > > Chris > > > On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 10:14AM -0500), Jay Jaeger wrote: > > I had a look, and it seems to me that there is more going on on this > > board than just serial ports. It is even possible that the system it > > was in had essentially re-purposed the board to use for a serial ports > > in a way that the original designer did not intend. That would explain > > the lack of obvious level shifting - it may have been used for TTL level > > serial I/O. > > > > Also, there are lots more passive components on this board than I would > > expect for a serial interface board. > > > > A company with these initials made EPROM programmers, though their logo > > was different - but perhaps it changed over time. Maybe this was a very > > early interface board to one of their very early programmers - and > > perhaps it is missing some of the parts, like connector headers and > > resistor packs, and then was re-purposed. > > > > JRJ > > > > On 9/30/2015 7:52 PM, drlegendre . wrote: > > > (Months along, posts to several boards / lists, still no help on this > one.. > > > so I'm giving it another shot. I'd really like to use this board) > > > > > > Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial > card. > > > I'm pretty sure the card works, as it came from a previously-working > system > > > - but all documents are missing, and without the info, I have no idea > how > > > to put it to use. Photos are here: > > > > > > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_01.jpg > > > https://nerp.net/~legendre/altair/mct_serial_02.jpg > > > > > > Other than what I believe is an artwork / batch number on the rear, the > > > only marking is "Assy 105510" on the front silk screen. My hunch is > that > > > this may have been a fairly generic 'OEM' type card which could have > been > > > re-badged and sold under one or more different names. So perhaps the > docs > > > exist under a name other than MCT? > > > > > > Any help greatly appreciated - thanks! > > > > > > -Bill > > > > > -- > Chris Elmquist > >
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
Now a question.. Can someone give me a quick rundown on how the CPU communicates with this board? Does the board show up as a few bytes in the memory map, like on page zero? Does it connect directly to some registers in the CPU? How does data move from the CPU / buss into & out of the board? In short, how does the computer know where to "find" the board - and how do they converse? I'm only concerend with the serial portion, the rest is still a mystery - the 50 pin headers might be anything from parallel ports to (proprietary?) controller interfaces. On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:21 PM, drlegendre . wrote: > @Chris > > That's an intriguing and very real possibility, but then there's this: > http://www.mct.net/ - Does that logo look familiar? Founded in the 80s, > controller boards, interface modules, single-board computers.. but yes, > they are in Germany. I did try contacting them, but never heard back. > > @All > > To answer a few questions: > > Yes, I am certain this is an S-100 board. It was pulled from the Altair I > rebuilt and the PO confirmed that he "had a terminal or something" > connected to it. > > The burned area on the board is where a couple of zener regulators gave it > up. You can maybe see that I've replaced them with 3W zeners and 1W > resistors. I believe these create +/- 12V supplies for the op-amps and > RS-232 levels? > > I did some tracing on it, not my cup of tea, but I did learn some things.. > here's what I found: Each of the two 10-pin headers (I'll call these serial > ports) seem to be wired the same, with duplicate component setups for each > port. > > Pins 4 & 6 connect via 175R and 47R resistors, respectively, to one input > of an XNOR gate on an LS266 chip. Second input to same XNOR gate seems tied > to Vcc via jumpers. Output of XNOR gate has 1K pull-up to Vcc (open > collector output) and then connects to pin 20 on the 1014/15 UART which is > "SI". So pins 4 & 6 seem to be our serial inputs (RxD) with two different > series resistances offered (175R or 47R). Might be an input voltage divider > or termination option? > > Pin 1 connects to the collector of a 2N3906 which is in turn driven by the > output of one section of an LM1458 op-amp. The non-inverting input of the > op-amp connects back to pin 25 on the UART, which is "SO". I'm not sure > what the inverting input of the op-amp is tied to.. perhaps it's part of an > enable circuit? But it seems pin 1 is our serial output (TxD). > > The other port pins are variously tied to resistors, jumpers and/or 74XX > logic. These might be our handshaking lines, ring detect, etc. > > That's all I know so far. > > On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 3:30 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote: > >> I've got another theory regarding drlegendre's board. >> >> I happen to know via out-of-band information that he is here in MN. >> >> There is a company in the Twin Cities called Micro Component Technology >> that existed in the 70s, 80s, 90s and still today. >> >> They make handling and test systems for IC fabrication. >> >> http://www.mct.com/Company.aspx >> >> I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts or lingonberries to lefse that his >> board is a custom job made by the MN MCT and it went into the computer >> control of one of their machines from the early 80s. Something probably >> designed in the mid to late 70s. >> >> The logo on the board matches what I remember seeing on their building >> in Shoreview ages ago. >> >> I don't think it's the MCT that made PC (as in IBM PC) plugins... >> >> Chris >> >> >> On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 10:14AM -0500), Jay Jaeger wrote: >> > I had a look, and it seems to me that there is more going on on this >> > board than just serial ports. It is even possible that the system it >> > was in had essentially re-purposed the board to use for a serial ports >> > in a way that the original designer did not intend. That would explain >> > the lack of obvious level shifting - it may have been used for TTL level >> > serial I/O. >> > >> > Also, there are lots more passive components on this board than I would >> > expect for a serial interface board. >> > >> > A company with these initials made EPROM programmers, though their logo >> > was different - but perhaps it changed over time. Maybe this was a very >> > early interface board to one of their very early programmers - and >> > perhaps it is missing some of the parts, like connector headers and >> > resistor packs, and then was re-purposed. >> > >> > JRJ >> > >> > On 9/30/2015 7:52 PM, drlegendre . wrote: >> > > (Months along, posts to several boards / lists, still no help on this >> one.. >> > > so I'm giving it another shot. I'd really like to use this board) >> > > >> > > Been trying to no avail to find any info on this 'MCT' S-100 serial >> card. >> > > I'm pretty sure the card works, as it came from a previously-working >> system >> > > - but all documents are missing, and without the info, I have no idea >> how >> > > to put it to use. Photos are here: >> > > >> > > https://n
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 06:21PM -0500), drlegendre . wrote: > @Chris > > That's an intriguing and very real possibility, but then there's this: > http://www.mct.net/ - Does that logo look familiar? Founded in the 80s, > controller boards, interface modules, single-board computers.. but yes, > they are in Germany. I did try contacting them, but never heard back. They claim "Embedded Control know-how since 1984." but you have 1980 and 1981 date code parts on your board. It's possible they made the board before they knew how however. That is not unheard of. :-) If you know the provenance of your Altair, maybe it's possible it was at one time owned by an MCT employee or was actually used at MCT as a development system. There was a strong S-100 and CP/M community in this town in the late 70s, of which I and a number of my Multi-Tech and later CDC colleagues were a part. Chris -- Chris Elmquist
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On 10/01/2015 04:36 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote: They claim "Embedded Control know-how since 1984." but you have 1980 and 1981 date code parts on your board. It's possible they made the board before they knew how however. That is not unheard of. :-) If you know the provenance of your Altair, maybe it's possible it was at one time owned by an MCT employee or was actually used at MCT as a development system. The problem is that there are and have been many, many "MCT" organizations. Just an image search for corporate logos for MCT shows a bewildering array to choose from. --Chuck
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 06:27PM -0500), drlegendre . wrote: > Now a question.. > > Can someone give me a quick rundown on how the CPU communicates with this > board? Does the board show up as a few bytes in the memory map, like on > page zero? Does it connect directly to some registers in the CPU? How does > data move from the CPU / buss into & out of the board? > > In short, how does the computer know where to "find" the board - and how do > they converse? I'm only concerend with the serial portion, the rest is > still a mystery - the 50 pin headers might be anything from parallel ports > to (proprietary?) controller interfaces. This is where I'm holding onto my theory that it is a custom design for a specific purpose-- as I do not see the usual jumpers or DIP switches to set I/O or memory addresses.If it were a generic card built for general purpose use, it would almost certainly have DIP switches to set an I/O or memory address decode. On S-100 systems, you have both I/O and MEMORY space. Things like serial port cards were almost always in I/O space and were decoded within a 256 byte block. Different S-100 systems had their console or other I/O at different addresses and with different chips (8251, 6850, 2661 and other UARTs with internal register sets as well as TR1602, AY-3-1015 and similar "dumb" parts). Without any jumpers or switches to set the decode, you will have to reverse the design to figure out how they did it. It might be I/O mapped but it might be memory mapped since it was likely purpose built for a specific application. Along with this, you will probably not have operating system support that understands how to talk to this setup so you will need to modify a CP/M BIOS or other OS I/O support to understand how to talk to it. The AY-3-1015 UARTs are "dumb". Their framing format is decided by strapping inputs to the chip and then they present a byte-wide input register and output register and strobes to read or write those registers. This would likely be handled by buffers with enables to gate these paths onto the S-100 bus. I concur with Chuck that there were and are a lot of "MCT" companies. I just have a high confidence that the logo on Bill's board matches the logos I am familiar with for the local MCT here in town. Chris -- Chris Elmquist
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
@Chris / All Unfortunately, I've never eyeballed the logo of the locally-based MCT corp so I can't comment on it, but again, it's an intriguing thought. And yes, it's quite possible that the PO knew or ever purchased this Altair from an employee there. He (PO) indicated that he bought the system second-hand, in the early 1980s, from an engineering colleague who worked elsewhere in the locality. And the PO is the kind of guy who would have hacked-out the cheapest and most expedient solution to whatever was presented. Don't get me wrong, the guy is quite sharp and well-educated, but just a real practical 'bailing wire and duct tape' kinda guy.. half EE, half farmer or something. ;-) Oh - about it being a 'kit'.. I gave a good look, and it's hard to say for sure, but the board +is+ totally hand-soldered. But the work is excellent. So it's either a well-built kit or a smaller-run factory board - but it wasn't wave / batch soldered. Also, I'm curious about the 50-pin headers.. why were they never installed? All of the other work was done, all the expensive parts (chips) are in-place - so why not a couple of cheap headers? Yes, a few resistor SIPs are gone, as is one chip missing, but still, you get the point. On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:56 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote: > On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 06:27PM -0500), drlegendre . wrote: > > Now a question.. > > > > Can someone give me a quick rundown on how the CPU communicates with this > > board? Does the board show up as a few bytes in the memory map, like on > > page zero? Does it connect directly to some registers in the CPU? How > does > > data move from the CPU / buss into & out of the board? > > > > In short, how does the computer know where to "find" the board - and how > do > > they converse? I'm only concerend with the serial portion, the rest is > > still a mystery - the 50 pin headers might be anything from parallel > ports > > to (proprietary?) controller interfaces. > > This is where I'm holding onto my theory that it is a custom design for > a specific purpose-- as I do not see the usual jumpers or DIP switches > to set I/O or memory addresses.If it were a generic card built for > general purpose use, it would almost certainly have DIP switches to set > an I/O or memory address decode. > > On S-100 systems, you have both I/O and MEMORY space. Things like serial > port cards were almost always in I/O space and were decoded within a 256 > byte block. Different S-100 systems had their console or other I/O at > different addresses and with different chips (8251, 6850, 2661 and other > UARTs with internal register sets as well as TR1602, AY-3-1015 and similar > "dumb" parts). > > Without any jumpers or switches to set the decode, you will have to > reverse the design to figure out how they did it. It might be I/O > mapped but it might be memory mapped since it was likely purpose built > for a specific application. Along with this, you will probably not have > operating system support that understands how to talk to this setup so > you will need to modify a CP/M BIOS or other OS I/O support to understand > how to talk to it. > > The AY-3-1015 UARTs are "dumb". Their framing format is decided by > strapping inputs to the chip and then they present a byte-wide input > register and output register and strobes to read or write those registers. > This would likely be handled by buffers with enables to gate these paths > onto the S-100 bus. > > I concur with Chuck that there were and are a lot of "MCT" companies. > I just have a high confidence that the logo on Bill's board matches the > logos I am familiar with for the local MCT here in town. > > Chris > -- > Chris Elmquist >
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 07:30PM -0500), drlegendre . wrote: > @Chris / All > > Unfortunately, I've never eyeballed the logo of the locally-based MCT corp > so I can't comment on it, but again, it's an intriguing thought. And yes, > it's quite possible that the PO knew or ever purchased this Altair from an > employee there. He (PO) indicated that he bought the system second-hand, in > the early 1980s, from an engineering colleague who worked elsewhere in the > locality. So, I'm still betting lingonberries to lefse that the PO that the PO got the machine from might have worked at MCT and possibly even designed said board and so knew how to use it in an Altair while it was normally used in a more dedicated, purpose built system. I know for a fact that the local power company (called NSP in the day) was doing a lot of work with S-100 systems for monitoring and control applications in '78 and '79. So, the word was out and a lot of these outfits were seeing the commercial upside to "personal computers" in the late 70s around here. S-100 machines were easy to get by then. > And the PO is the kind of guy who would have hacked-out the cheapest and > most expedient solution to whatever was presented. Don't get me wrong, the > guy is quite sharp and well-educated, but just a real practical 'bailing > wire and duct tape' kinda guy.. half EE, half farmer or something. ;-) And so his fishing buddy gave him a board that "fell out" of the lab at work and he promptly put that baby into service in his Altair. There were a lot of S-100 machines built around here, with 16K or 32K of 2102 SRAMs, all of which came out of the QA department at CDC as an example. Of course I am offering all of this as theory but having lived these exact experiences, I feel like it's the truth :-) > Oh - about it being a 'kit'.. I gave a good look, and it's hard to say for > sure, but the board +is+ totally hand-soldered. But the work is excellent. > So it's either a well-built kit or a smaller-run factory board - but it > wasn't wave / batch soldered. I know that Multi-Tech made and shipped tens of thousands of modems throughout the 70s and 80s that were all hand soldered by some nice ladies that worked in a very large room at the back of the company in New Brighton, MN. I don't think you start to see a lot of flow or wave soldering for products made around here until the mid to late 80s. > Also, I'm curious about the 50-pin headers.. why were they never installed? > All of the other work was done, all the expensive parts (chips) are > in-place - so why not a couple of cheap headers? Yes, a few resistor SIPs > are gone, as is one chip missing, but still, you get the point. Good chance those connectors were the most expensive part on the board then. Might have also been a build option depending on how the board was used and this one was nabbed from a situation where those interfaces weren't used. Chris > On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:56 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote: > > > On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 06:27PM -0500), drlegendre . wrote: > > > Now a question.. > > > > > > Can someone give me a quick rundown on how the CPU communicates with this > > > board? Does the board show up as a few bytes in the memory map, like on > > > page zero? Does it connect directly to some registers in the CPU? How > > does > > > data move from the CPU / buss into & out of the board? > > > > > > In short, how does the computer know where to "find" the board - and how > > do > > > they converse? I'm only concerend with the serial portion, the rest is > > > still a mystery - the 50 pin headers might be anything from parallel > > ports > > > to (proprietary?) controller interfaces. > > > > This is where I'm holding onto my theory that it is a custom design for > > a specific purpose-- as I do not see the usual jumpers or DIP switches > > to set I/O or memory addresses.If it were a generic card built for > > general purpose use, it would almost certainly have DIP switches to set > > an I/O or memory address decode. > > > > On S-100 systems, you have both I/O and MEMORY space. Things like serial > > port cards were almost always in I/O space and were decoded within a 256 > > byte block. Different S-100 systems had their console or other I/O at > > different addresses and with different chips (8251, 6850, 2661 and other > > UARTs with internal register sets as well as TR1602, AY-3-1015 and similar > > "dumb" parts). > > > > Without any jumpers or switches to set the decode, you will have to > > reverse the design to figure out how they did it. It might be I/O > > mapped but it might be memory mapped since it was likely purpose built > > for a specific application. Along with this, you will probably not have > > operating system support that understands how to talk to this setup so > > you will need to modify a CP/M BIOS or other OS I/O support to understand > > how to talk to it. > > > > The AY-3-1015 UARTs are "dumb". Their framing format is decided by
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
Here's more grist for the mill. I did contact and receive a reply from gentleman Herb Johnson at retrocomputing. I hope he doesn't mind if I quote his comments here.. they seem quite pertinent and they reflect or complement many of our working assumptions. Herb Sez: "Warning: I'm offering advice, which I do not warrant in any way. I am not responsible for loss, injury or damage to you or your equipment or software. Use any information, advice or suggestions I make, entirely at your own risk. Always work with caution. 1) identify big chips. AY-3-1015 is a UART, so is AY-3-1014. The crystal is probably a baud rate generator. Those two small connectors near the UART are probably serial ports. If you trace the lines and chips near those connectors, you can decide what some of the lines are. the UARTs have transmit and recieve pins so you can trace through from there. My guess is that the serial connectors are NOT "RS-232" because of all the resistors and caps. 2) identify connectors. There's two 50-pin connectors but they are not "populated". I see 74LS373 and '374 chips, those are 8-bit I/O devices. You can trace those, probably, to those connectors. This suggests the connectors are "parallel ports". 3) look at the S-100 connector. there's not that many S-100 pins wired to the board. That suggests it's an I/O board, which often only uses the lower 8-bits of address (and of course both 8-bit data line sets). 4) follow the traces. So it's likely this is a serial/parallel I/O card. If you follow a few address lines from the S-100, you'll find where they are decoded to specific I/O addresses, and see probably some jumpers to change that address. 5) tests. Before plugging the board into the bus, check the DC power lines for shorts. Check with an ohmmeter across all "tantalum" capacitors for shorts (under 100 ohms about) and replace those caps. When you apply power, confirm the regulator produces 5.0V. Be prepared to shut down your S-100 bus power at ANY sign of heat or smoke - and identify immediately any burned component. I often use a Variac to control power to a S-100 card or system. -- I recognize "MCT" as a brand of S-100 boards, but I've not owned docs for them, I don't believe. When you see MCT branded cards discussed, you might ask owners about documentation. I should create a list of undocumented S-100 cards, just for these kinds of boards. Let me know if any of the above information is helpful and any results from checking out your card as suggested. OK? Good hunting!" Thanks again, Herb - your time is sincerely appreciated! Nice to know a guy like that still has time for a newbish enterprise as this.. ;-) On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 8:26 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote: > On Thursday (10/01/2015 at 07:30PM -0500), drlegendre . wrote: > > @Chris / All > > > > Unfortunately, I've never eyeballed the logo of the locally-based MCT > corp > > so I can't comment on it, but again, it's an intriguing thought. And yes, > > it's quite possible that the PO knew or ever purchased this Altair from > an > > employee there. He (PO) indicated that he bought the system second-hand, > in > > the early 1980s, from an engineering colleague who worked elsewhere in > the > > locality. > > So, I'm still betting lingonberries to lefse that the PO that the PO > got the machine from might have worked at MCT and possibly even designed > said board and so knew how to use it in an Altair while it was normally > used in a more dedicated, purpose built system. > > I know for a fact that the local power company (called NSP in the day) > was doing a lot of work with S-100 systems for monitoring and control > applications in '78 and '79. So, the word was out and a lot of these > outfits were seeing the commercial upside to "personal computers" in > the late 70s around here. S-100 machines were easy to get by then. > > > And the PO is the kind of guy who would have hacked-out the cheapest and > > most expedient solution to whatever was presented. Don't get me wrong, > the > > guy is quite sharp and well-educated, but just a real practical 'bailing > > wire and duct tape' kinda guy.. half EE, half farmer or something. ;-) > > And so his fishing buddy gave him a board that "fell out" of the lab at > work and he promptly put that baby into service in his Altair. > > There were a lot of S-100 machines built around here, with 16K or 32K > of 2102 SRAMs, all of which came out of the QA department at CDC as > an example. > > Of course I am offering all of this as theory but having lived these > exact experiences, I feel like it's the truth :-) > > > Oh - about it being a 'kit'.. I gave a good look, and it's hard to say > for > > sure, but the board +is+ totally hand-soldered. But the work is > excellent. > > So it's either a well-built kit or a smaller-run factory board - but it > > wasn't wave / batch soldered. > > I know that Multi-Tech made and shipped tens of thousands of modems > throughout the 70s and 80s that were all hand
Re: A new Lisp-based OS that hearkens back to the old days of comprehensible computers
On Thu, Oct 01, 2015 at 01:45:27PM +0200, Liam Proven wrote: > Well, there's one OpenBSD and one NetBSD. > > Off the top of my head, FreeBSD has begotten: FreeBSD keeps a "BSD family tree" chart in ASCII. Of course it is not complete, and open to disagreement. But here it is from the commit repo: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/share/misc/bsd-family-tree?view=markup mcl
Re: Thoughts on manual database design?
Coming up with a schema that works with multiple manufacturers is the big challenge. On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:01 PM, Jay Jaeger wrote: > On 9/25/2015 4:03 PM, m...@markesystems.com wrote: > >>> Not sure why you have VARCHARs for primary keys, why not use the > >>> conventional auto-increment int so you can dispense with > >>> the LastGeneratedArtifactID table. > >>> > > > >> Because my artifact ID's are not always just numbers. In some cases > >> they may already be marked on an artifact (though typically not for > >> manuals - but this is just the first of a set of such projects, and they > >> *are* marked on many of my computer boards). > > > > For anyone who might care, today I decided to move to an auto-increment > key on the Manual table, and then use that key in the Manual_Artifact, > Manual_File and Manual_Machines tables. (But not the ArtifactID ;) ). > > It was an outgrowth of doing some data clean up and realizing that a > manual from one manufacturer was sometimes related to a machine by a > different manufacturer (e.g., ABLE computer boards in Digital Equipment > machines). I was going to sometimes end up with two manufacturers in > the Manual_Machines table, which was apt to get confusing over time. > > So I will now have a Manual_MFG column, which is used only in the Manual > table, and a Machine_MFG column, used only in the Manual_Machine table. > A new Manual_Key will be used in place of the Machine_MFG:Manual_Number > pair I had been using all over the place. > > I still have to finish the model, and will update the PDF I put on my > website at some point in the next day or so. > > JRJ > -- Bill vintagecomputer.net
Re: One more try - Can you ID this S-100 Serial board?
"My guess would be cost. Those headers back then were somewhat expensive due to the heavy (30) gold plating." Wow. I never even considered that a header could be more costly than a 74LSXXX chip - doesn't make sense. But then again, I wasn't in the field back in that day. On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 10:48 PM, Tothwolf wrote: > On Thu, 1 Oct 2015, drlegendre . wrote: > > Also, I'm curious about the 50-pin headers.. why were they never >> installed? All of the other work was done, all the expensive parts (chips) >> are in-place - so why not a couple of cheap headers? Yes, a few resistor >> SIPs are gone, as is one chip missing, but still, you get the point. >> > > My guess would be cost. Those headers back then were somewhat expensive > due to the heavy (30) gold plating. > > I found out today that as of August 3M has discontinued their 3000 series > gray box headers and the last time buy on them was October 1st. They are > replacing them with the D3000 series made with black fiberglass reinforced > nylon instead of the gray nylon they've always used. (3000 series datasheet > attached) > > The part numbers for the 50-pin headers without eject levers for 1/16" > thick pc board would be 3433-5002. Mouser shows some stock, however their > system may or may not be correct and they might try to substitute the newer > D3000 series. > http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/3M/3433-5002/?qs=%2fha2pyFadugF4%2fyP%252bp8%252b57ygnI%2fCWx880e6iwa7L1bU7rpqbpN%252bwEQ%3d%3d > > I also spotted some 3433-5402 on eBay at a reasonable price that might > work, however those use a roll pin to attach the eject levers, so they are > much harder to remove than the ones that used snap-in eject levers. > http://www.ebay.com/itm/3M-3433-Locking-Ejector-Header-50-pin-right-angle-gold-plated-0-1-tails-1-x-1-/201386884555 > > Also, don't forget about C2. It and C1 were probably a matched set for the > crystal.
