Re: Emulex QD32
On Fri, 30 Oct 2015, Jay Jaeger wrote: I also have a QD32. I have Emulex diagnostics, but on a TK50, and I don't have an image, nor do I have any diagnostic documentation. However, when I ran the diagnostic (many YEARS ago) on my uVax II (FVD32M) it was self-explanatory. [...] I wish it were true in my case. I don't even get it running under SIMH. Is it possible that the error is because of the monitor not seeing the QD32? At least if I netboot NetBSD it doesn't see the QD32 either, only the RQDX3. But OTOH I can enter B DUB2 from the console and it tries to boot from the SMD disk (which fails because of read errors). This is the SIMH output (running the microvax2 binary with the patched ka630.bin image): (and yes, the monitor identifies the CPU as MicroVAX I ...) sim> att rq3 emulex_qd32_diag.img sim> b cpu KA630-A.V1.3 Performing normal system tests. 5..4..3.. Tests completed. b dua3 2..1..0.. Emulex VAX Monitor V1.2 MicroVAX I 16-SEP-1985 09:00:00 uEVM>LOAD FVD32M --->ERROR: COULD NOT LOAD PROGRAM; PHYSICAL READ ERROR I think it would be great to have your TK50 imaged in some way and have it e.g. on bitsavers. Christian
Re: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load
2015-11-01 17:35 GMT+01:00 Robert Jarratt : > > > > > > Maybe you can publish your schematic somwhere. It is much easier to > > > > come > > > up > > > > with ideas to pin point problems if we all view the same schematic. > > > > I > > > think it > > > > would be possible to identify the problem without comparing the two > > > > PSUs > > > at > > > > least in this case where there is some kind of fundamental problem. > > > > > > I do intend to publish the schematics, but right now I am pretty sure > > > they > > > are: > > > > > > a) full of mistakes > > > b) not drawn logically > > > c) there are a couple of areas I couldn't trace without major surgery > > > on the board. > > > > > > > Well. I guess that anything is better than nothing. > > > > > Here is a link to what I have now http://1drv.ms/1KQkTBp > > There are Eagle sch files, and PNG files for those who do not have Eagle. > I took a quick look at the schematics and I had hard times following the schematics, but I guess I asked for it. Anyway. I think that the signal is produced somewhere behind the transformer T301 and then passes through a number of driver stages (Q405 and Q408) until it gets to the Q301. You could check the signal on T301 and onwards. The designation for the connector of the small boards are all X1 while there X1, X2, X3 mentioned on one schematic so I am a little bit confused. Then there are four small boards which presumably have Xn connectors but I can only find three in your schematics. But this is maybe a result of the fact the schematics are incomplete or me misunderstanding something. The circuitry C403 and R407 doesn't make sense to me. It has to be a drawing mistake. Maybe it is a good idea to to focus on one area and to make that part of the schematic complete. Like the part surrounding the main switch transistor. Then try to follow the signal back through T301 and trace that part out. If the PWM signal is produced on the secondary side then there has to be some small PSU providing power to this circuitry at startup so that the PSU can bootstrap. But I cannot see where this is. Good Luck! /Mattis > > Regards > > Rob > >
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
[top-posting and no-trimming damage repaired manually] >>> Just asking: Any interest in 80-pin SCA drives, Ultra 3 [...] >> Are those the kind of drives that are appropriate for use at a >> Renaissance Faire? > I don't understand the question; what kind of drives are you talking > about? Methinks Eric is playing on an alternative meaning of SCA, specifically, the Society for Creative Anachronism, members of which frequently attend - and sometimes hold - renaissance fair(e)s. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTMLmo...@rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
Re: Emulex QD32
On Mon, 2 Nov 2015, Christian Corti wrote: I wish it were true in my case. I don't even get it running under SIMH. Is it possible that the error is because of the monitor not seeing the QD32? At least if I netboot NetBSD it doesn't see the QD32 either, only the RQDX3. [...] Playing a bit with the QD32 I've found out that it has the "big" EPROM, i.e. the 27256 32kB ROM, and this one *includes* the diagnostic routines. So there are the instructions how to enter the built-in routines: U I D/P/W 20001F40 20 D/P/L 20088000 8000 D/P/L 20088004 8001 D/P/W 20EC 1 D/P/W 20EE 3003 D * 4401 S 80 And here we go: Firmware-Resident Diagnostic Copyright (c) 1988 Emulex Corporation all rights reserved QD32 controller, firmware revision level K IP address = 160354 Option menu 1 - Self Test Loop 2 - Format 3 - Verify 4 - Format and Verify 5 - Data Reliability Test 6 - Format, Verify, and Data Reliability Test 7 - Read Only Test 8 - List Known Units 9 - Replace Block 10 - Display Novram 11 - Edit / Load Novram Enter option number: Christian
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
On Nov 1, 2015, at 12:46 PM, "Mike Stein" wrote: > Just asking: Any interest in 80-pin SCA drives, Ultra 3 and Ultra320 in > various capacities, both IBM and HP/Compaq 'caddies' ? > > m I don't need any, but if anyone can get their hands on JBOD boxes that use these, they're fantastic drives. I was lucky enough to get several Andataco 3-Drive JBOD boxes (I passed on the 7-drive units as to big, heavy, noisy, and power hungry). These are great for OpenVMS/Alpha and Sun systems, and provide a cheap way to get decent sized SCSI drives, as most people can't use them. I had a couple of the 3-Drive units and a DEC BA350 shelf running in our dining room for several years (the BA350 was on a VAX). My most recent score was some brand new 300GB SCA drives. :-) They'll allow me to take my Alpha down to two HD's and drastically shrink its power requirements. Zane
Re: Emulex QD32
On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 5:56 AM, Christian Corti wrote: > > Playing a bit with the QD32 I've found out that it has the "big" EPROM, i.e. > the 27256 32kB ROM, and this one *includes* the diagnostic routines. > > So there are the instructions how to enter the built-in routines: > > U > I > D/P/W 20001F40 20 > D/P/L 20088000 8000 > D/P/L 20088004 8001 > D/P/W 20EC 1 > D/P/W 20EE 3003 > D * 4401 > S 80 > > And here we go: > > Firmware-Resident Diagnostic > Copyright (c) 1988 Emulex Corporation all rights reserved That looks like the same magic F.R.D. spell shared by at least the QD21 and QD33 as documented in section 4.7.3 Starting F.R.D. on a MicroVAX II and a GPX Workstation in these manuals: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/emulex/QD2151002-J_QD21_Jun90.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/emulex/QD3351002-M_QD33_Dec90.pdf Helpful that they kept that consistent across multiple controllers.
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
Thanks everyone for your feedback. Since there may be sensitive data on them I have to either securely wipe them or destroy them; I did just find a couple of Proliant servers that somehow escaped my purge though, so wiping them may not be as big a PITA as I feared. Looks like most (~10) are 18.5GB 10KRPM 160 MB/s Ultra3 units, 4 or 5 146GB Ultra320s and a few in between. In case anyone is looking for the 'caddies' it looks like they're mostly HP/Compaq, including several dummies; I scrapped more IBM servers than HP, but to my surprise I only found two IBM units. I've noted the folks who expressed interest and I'll post again if/when I decide to test & wipe them; thanks again! m - Original Message - From: "Zane Healy" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 10:37 AM Subject: Re: SCA drives - any interest? On Nov 1, 2015, at 12:46 PM, "Mike Stein" wrote: Just asking: Any interest in 80-pin SCA drives, Ultra 3 and Ultra320 in various capacities, both IBM and HP/Compaq 'caddies' ? m I don't need any, but if anyone can get their hands on JBOD boxes that use these, they're fantastic drives. I was lucky enough to get several Andataco 3-Drive JBOD boxes (I passed on the 7-drive units as to big, heavy, noisy, and power hungry). These are great for OpenVMS/Alpha and Sun systems, and provide a cheap way to get decent sized SCSI drives, as most people can't use them. I had a couple of the 3-Drive units and a DEC BA350 shelf running in our dining room for several years (the BA350 was on a VAX). My most recent score was some brand new 300GB SCA drives. :-) They'll allow me to take my Alpha down to two HD's and drastically shrink its power requirements. Zane
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
On 11/02/2015 08:54 AM, Mike Stein wrote: In case anyone is looking for the 'caddies' it looks like they're mostly HP/Compaq, including several dummies; I scrapped more IBM servers than HP, but to my surprise I only found two IBM units. The nice thing about SCA drives is that adapters for narrow- or wide-SCSI are/used to be available. I've run SCA drives with old Power Macintoshes, for example. I don't know if it's still true, but high-performance SCA drives do tend to run pretty hot. --Chuck
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
- Original Message - From: "Chuck Guzis" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 1:42 PM Subject: Re: SCA drives - any interest? On 11/02/2015 08:54 AM, Mike Stein wrote: In case anyone is looking for the 'caddies' it looks like they're mostly HP/Compaq, including several dummies; I scrapped more IBM servers than HP, but to my surprise I only found two IBM units. The nice thing about SCA drives is that adapters for narrow- or wide-SCSI are/used to be available. I've run SCA drives with old Power Macintoshes, for example. I don't know if it's still true, but high-performance SCA drives do tend to run pretty hot. --Chuck - Reply - Yeah, can't find it at the moment of course but I do have an 80<>68 pin adapter; just need a cable, controller, system and time... m
Re: VCF nonsense (was: VCF-Berlin, 2015)
And the last time you decided to litigate this topic here, I also told you to talk to Erik. That was just a few weeks ago. I have no objections to you pursuing and enjoying your hobby. I have moved on. Talk to Erik about undoing the ban at VCF and you can move on to. I have already told Erik that the ban should be lifted and I have no objections. Or, you can continue to keep bringing it up here and then pointing out how it doesn't belong here. On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Mike Stein wrote: > - Original Message - From: "Michael Brutman" < > mbbrut...@brutman.com> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic > Posts" > Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 12:35 AM > Subject: Re: VCF-Berlin, 2015 > > > Hi Mike, >> >> I'm not annoyed and I'm not blocking you from >> viewing anything. Talk to >> the owner of the VC forum - Erik can help you, >> it is his forum and his call. >> On Oct 30, 2015 9:30 AM, "Mike Stein" >> wrote: >> >> Hi Jack, >>> >>> Unfortunately I can't access the pictures on >>> VCF >>> because I apparently annoyed the moderator Mike >>> Brutman, but I really enjoyed the pics on >>> Picasa; >>> thanks for posting - always fun to see some of >>> the >>> European stuff. >>> >> > - Reply - > > For the record: Erik didn't cut me off from the > various VCF resources, Mike did (as well as > posting insults, telling me to f$ck myself etc., > none of it becoming for a moderator IMO) > > Anybody interested can look it up; any further > comments (if any) belong off-list, please. > > m > >
RE: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load
> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Mattis Lind > Sent: 02 November 2015 13:20 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Re: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load > > 2015-11-01 17:35 GMT+01:00 Robert Jarratt : > > > > > > > > > > Maybe you can publish your schematic somwhere. It is much easier > > > > > to come > > > > up > > > > > with ideas to pin point problems if we all view the same schematic. > > > > > I > > > > think it > > > > > would be possible to identify the problem without comparing the > > > > > two PSUs > > > > at > > > > > least in this case where there is some kind of fundamental problem. > > > > > > > > I do intend to publish the schematics, but right now I am pretty > > > > sure they > > > > are: > > > > > > > > a) full of mistakes > > > > b) not drawn logically > > > > c) there are a couple of areas I couldn't trace without major > > > > surgery on the board. > > > > > > > > > > Well. I guess that anything is better than nothing. > > > > > > > > > Here is a link to what I have now http://1drv.ms/1KQkTBp > > > > There are Eagle sch files, and PNG files for those who do not have Eagle. > > > > I took a quick look at the schematics and I had hard times following the > schematics, but I guess I asked for it. I did warn you! :-) :-), but thanks for looking and trying to make sense of them. > > Anyway. I think that the signal is produced somewhere behind the transformer > T301 and then passes through a number of driver stages (Q405 and Q408) until > it gets to the Q301. You could check the signal on T301 and onwards. The > designation for the connector of the small boards are all > X1 while there X1, X2, X3 mentioned on one schematic so I am a little bit > confused. Then there are four small boards which presumably have Xn > connectors but I can only find three in your schematics. But this is maybe a > result of the fact the schematics are incomplete or me misunderstanding > something. Yes, I wasn't very disciplined with the labelling. Basically on the big schematic, called Secondary I have drawn the connectors for each of the riser boards. The text near the connector identifies which riser board it is the connector for and the connector schematic only has one connector, but it will always be called X1, I didn't make it correspond to the Secondary schematic. I will fix this. Note also that the small riser on the primary side is included in the Primary Control schematic, I didn't do a separate schematic, which was a mistake I think. > The circuitry C403 and R407 doesn't make sense to me. It has to be > a drawing mistake. Thanks, I will check this. I have found lots of mistakes, I am sure this is another one. > > Maybe it is a good idea to to focus on one area and to make that part of the > schematic complete. Like the part surrounding the main switch transistor. Then > try to follow the signal back through T301 and trace that part out. Yes, I agree, the Primary Control is the one where the incorrect operation seems to be happening, Q301 does not appear to be switching. I think this schematic is as complete as I can make it, although it could still have mistakes Some time ago I got a scope on Q301, and I could see the b-e never went high enough to switch it on. There were some very short and very low pulses every 40us, but that was all. When I compared this to the working one, I could see a signal, still every 40us, but definitely switching the transistor on during the cycle. > > If the PWM signal is produced on the secondary side then there has to be some > small PSU providing power to this circuitry at startup so that the PSU can > bootstrap. But I cannot see where this is. > > Good Luck! > > /Mattis > > > > > > > Regards > > > > Rob > > > >
Re: VCF nonsense (was: VCF-Berlin, 2015)
I only meant to point out that you have to be a VCF member to see Jack's pictures and that I couldn't access them because I'd been permanently banned; the ban itself, whether it should be lifted etc. definitely don't belong here and I apologize for rising to the bait. m - Original Message - From: "Michael Brutman" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 4:50 PM Subject: Re: VCF nonsense (was: VCF-Berlin, 2015) And the last time you decided to litigate this topic here, I also told you to talk to Erik. That was just a few weeks ago. I have no objections to you pursuing and enjoying your hobby. I have moved on. Talk to Erik about undoing the ban at VCF and you can move on to. I have already told Erik that the ban should be lifted and I have no objections. Or, you can continue to keep bringing it up here and then pointing out how it doesn't belong here. On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Mike Stein wrote: - Original Message - From: "Michael Brutman" < mbbrut...@brutman.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 12:35 AM Subject: Re: VCF-Berlin, 2015 Hi Mike, I'm not annoyed and I'm not blocking you from viewing anything. Talk to the owner of the VC forum - Erik can help you, it is his forum and his call. On Oct 30, 2015 9:30 AM, "Mike Stein" wrote: Hi Jack, Unfortunately I can't access the pictures on VCF because I apparently annoyed the moderator Mike Brutman, but I really enjoyed the pics on Picasa; thanks for posting - always fun to see some of the European stuff. - Reply - For the record: Erik didn't cut me off from the various VCF resources, Mike did (as well as posting insults, telling me to f$ck myself etc., none of it becoming for a moderator IMO) Anybody interested can look it up; any further comments (if any) belong off-list, please. m
RE: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load
> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Robert > Jarratt > Sent: 02 November 2015 20:36 > To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' > Subject: RE: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load > > > > > -Original Message- > > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of > > Mattis Lind > > Sent: 02 November 2015 13:20 > > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > > Subject: Re: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load > > > > 2015-11-01 17:35 GMT+01:00 Robert Jarratt : > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Maybe you can publish your schematic somwhere. It is much > > > > > > easier to come > > > > > up > > > > > > with ideas to pin point problems if we all view the same schematic. > > > > > > I > > > > > think it > > > > > > would be possible to identify the problem without comparing > > > > > > the two PSUs > > > > > at > > > > > > least in this case where there is some kind of fundamental problem. > > > > > > > > > > I do intend to publish the schematics, but right now I am pretty > > > > > sure they > > > > > are: > > > > > > > > > > a) full of mistakes > > > > > b) not drawn logically > > > > > c) there are a couple of areas I couldn't trace without major > > > > > surgery on the board. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Well. I guess that anything is better than nothing. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Here is a link to what I have now http://1drv.ms/1KQkTBp > > > > > > There are Eagle sch files, and PNG files for those who do not have Eagle. > > > > > > > I took a quick look at the schematics and I had hard times following > > the schematics, but I guess I asked for it. > > > I did warn you! :-) :-), but thanks for looking and trying to make sense of > them. > > > > > Anyway. I think that the signal is produced somewhere behind the > > transformer > > T301 and then passes through a number of driver stages (Q405 and Q408) > > until it gets to the Q301. You could check the signal on T301 and > > onwards. The designation for the connector of the small boards are all > > X1 while there X1, X2, X3 mentioned on one schematic so I am a little > > bit confused. Then there are four small boards which presumably have > > Xn connectors but I can only find three in your schematics. But this > > is maybe a result of the fact the schematics are incomplete or me > > misunderstanding something. > > Yes, I wasn't very disciplined with the labelling. Basically on the big > schematic, > called Secondary I have drawn the connectors for each of the riser boards. The > text near the connector identifies which riser board it is the connector for > and > the connector schematic only has one connector, but it will always be called > X1, > I didn't make it correspond to the Secondary schematic. I will fix this. Note > also > that the small riser on the primary side is included in the Primary Control > schematic, I didn't do a separate schematic, which was a mistake I think. > > > > The circuitry C403 and R407 doesn't make sense to me. It has to be a > > drawing mistake. > > Thanks, I will check this. I have found lots of mistakes, I am sure this is > another > one. > > > > > Maybe it is a good idea to to focus on one area and to make that part > > of the schematic complete. Like the part surrounding the main switch > > transistor. Then try to follow the signal back through T301 and trace that > > part > out. > > > Yes, I agree, the Primary Control is the one where the incorrect operation > seems to be happening, Q301 does not appear to be switching. I think this > schematic is as complete as I can make it, although it could still have > mistakes > > Some time ago I got a scope on Q301, and I could see the b-e never went high > enough to switch it on. There were some very short and very low pulses every > 40us, but that was all. When I compared this to the working one, I could see a > signal, still every 40us, but definitely switching the transistor on during > the > cycle. > > > > > If the PWM signal is produced on the secondary side then there has to > > be some small PSU providing power to this circuitry at startup so that > > the PSU can bootstrap. But I cannot see where this is. > > > > Good Luck! > > > > /Mattis > > > > > > > > > > > > Regards > > > > > > Rob > > > > > > I have just uploaded all the corrections. So the connector names on the risers should now correspond. I have also corrected the area on the primary control module around C403 and R407. Regards Rob
Re: VCF nonsense
Whats all the fuss about.? What did the poor guy do to be banned? Rod On 02/11/15 20:48, Mike Stein wrote: I only meant to point out that you have to be a VCF member to see Jack's pictures and that I couldn't access them because I'd been permanently banned; the ban itself, whether it should be lifted etc. definitely don't belong here and I apologize for rising to the bait. m - Original Message - From: "Michael Brutman" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 4:50 PM Subject: Re: VCF nonsense (was: VCF-Berlin, 2015) And the last time you decided to litigate this topic here, I also told you to talk to Erik. That was just a few weeks ago. I have no objections to you pursuing and enjoying your hobby. I have moved on. Talk to Erik about undoing the ban at VCF and you can move on to. I have already told Erik that the ban should be lifted and I have no objections. Or, you can continue to keep bringing it up here and then pointing out how it doesn't belong here. On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Mike Stein wrote: - Original Message - From: "Michael Brutman" < mbbrut...@brutman.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2015 12:35 AM Subject: Re: VCF-Berlin, 2015 Hi Mike, I'm not annoyed and I'm not blocking you from viewing anything. Talk to the owner of the VC forum - Erik can help you, it is his forum and his call. On Oct 30, 2015 9:30 AM, "Mike Stein" wrote: Hi Jack, Unfortunately I can't access the pictures on VCF because I apparently annoyed the moderator Mike Brutman, but I really enjoyed the pics on Picasa; thanks for posting - always fun to see some of the European stuff. - Reply - For the record: Erik didn't cut me off from the various VCF resources, Mike did (as well as posting insults, telling me to f$ck myself etc., none of it becoming for a moderator IMO) Anybody interested can look it up; any further comments (if any) belong off-list, please. m
Re: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load
2015-11-02 22:05 GMT+01:00 Robert Jarratt : > > > > I have just uploaded all the corrections. So the connector names on the > risers should now correspond. I have also corrected the area on the primary > control module around C403 and R407. > > Regards > > Rob > > Checked the new one. There are still something weird. The base of Q301 it is short circuited to the emitter (which if that is true would of cause your problem). But I think this is a drawing mistake. The base signals goes to the D405 diode which is connected to emitter Q405 and emitter Q406 which is then connected to emitter Q301... Please check this again. Maybe there are a short circuit component that makes you trace it wrong (if you do it by ohm-meter) /Mattis
RE: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice peripherals
From: Lee Courtney Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2015 10:37 AM > I posted the video you linked to. The machines on the video belonged to > George Plue, who ran a medical billing service bureau in Flagstaff AZ. They > are now located at the Living Computer Museum (LCM) in Seattle. > George originally ran the Computer Center at Anderson University in Berrien Andrews > Springs MI, and the center ran several generations of SDS the XDS Sigma > mainframes over the years. When Xerox decided to get out of the mainframe > computing business in August 1975 the market for Sigmas essentially > collapsed despite Honeywell agreeing to buy the carcass of the business. > George and a partner got into the used Sigma HW business and he maintained > a stock of HW, SW and documentation at his home in MI. More info here: > http://www.andrews.edu/~calkins/profess/SDSigma7.htm George's partner was Stan Ritland, who came from a family of doctors but who did not like medicine as a career path himself. They located the business in Flagstaff to take advantage of the built in customer base made up of Stan's three brothers; their offices were across the street from the main hospital, and they quickly grew. (George, an only child, met Stan when they were 8 years old. They were best friends for nearly 60 years, and George spent as much time at Stan's home as at his own growing up.) > I'm unclear on when he acquired his second home in Flagstaff, but he had a > typical ranch style house in Flagstaff. The big difference being that he > had installed a significantly larger electrical feed with three-phase power > than one would find in a residence, and the downstairs family and bedrooms > were used as the machine room in the video. The reason George *bought* the house was that there was already a 220V service running across the back of the property, so that running 220V into the house was a lot less expensive than usual. The basement in which the computers and peripherals were a tilt-up add-on to the original house. > I visited George in the early 2000's (I think) and at that time he had a > fully configured Sigma-9 and Sigma-8 mainframes, along with several tape > drives, and string of DASD. Yes, the machine room was strewn with > printouts, docs, partially finished projects, tapes, etc. But all the > machines worked and it was glorious. ;-) It's a Sigma 6, not a Sigma 8. The 6 was a clone of the 7 and 9 built for the education market with all of the usually unbundled products included in the license for CP-V. > Unfortunately George passed away a few years ago. All the HW and SW that > was in running condition was rescued by the LCM in Seattle. I know LCM has > had someone with Sigma experience working on and off on the Sigma to get it > running again. Not sure of the current status. But, that would be an > awesome time-sharing system alongside the DEC-20 they have. Not just running condition. 100,000 pounds of gear, including the 9, 6, and a 7 that had been retired in the 90s, spares for all of them, the 8 running disk drives and 4 running tape drives, along with about 20 more disk drives (the older 50MB hydraulic units) from the 7. Five 24' trucks, driven by Stan and his brothers from Flagstaff to Seattle. My colleague Keith and I spent 3 days in Flagstaff deinstalling everything, while Stan, 2 of his brothers, and George's wife, daughter, and granddaughter looked on, labeled, packed, fed us, forklifted onto the trucks, and celebrated George's life. > There was also a group in AZ working on restoring a Sigma mainframe, maybe > some of Georges collection. He also had a complete Sigma-7 and a boatload > of Honeywell peripherals in his garage in Flagstaff. The AZ group was very > energetic, but I have not heard any updates in several years. Having worked > on CHM's first restoration, the IBM 1620, from start to finish I know its a > huge undertaking to get even a relatively straightforward machine up and > running. No, George helped them, but he was running a Sigma support business; he was not inclined to give things away. George Plue was a true wizard. One of his creations was a SCSI interface for the Sigma 9 which allowed him to copy magnetic tape files to DAT (not, as we all know now, the best choice of medium, but remarkable for all that). George was also a true gentleman, as is Stan Ritland. It was a privilege to know George for the short time that I did. We met about a year and a half before his untimely passing, thanks to Lee Courtney. Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:ri...@livingcomputermuseum.org http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
RE: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load
> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Mattis Lind > Sent: 02 November 2015 21:44 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Re: Testing H7864 (MicroVAX II) PSU With No Load > > 2015-11-02 22:05 GMT+01:00 Robert Jarratt : > > > > > > > > > I have just uploaded all the corrections. So the connector names on > > the risers should now correspond. I have also corrected the area on > > the primary control module around C403 and R407. > > > > Regards > > > > Rob > > > > > Checked the new one. There are still something weird. The base of Q301 it is > short circuited to the emitter (which if that is true would of cause your > problem). But I think this is a drawing mistake. The base signals goes to the > D405 diode which is connected to emitter Q405 and emitter Q406 which is then > connected to emitter Q301... Please check this again. Maybe there are a short > circuit component that makes you trace it wrong (if you do it by ohm-meter) > > /Mattis Thanks for spotting the drawing mistake. I have noted an apparent short before, and I have some notes I made at the time, but that was so long ago (almost a year!), and the notes don't seem to conclude whether I found the short or not. I think I may have put it down to some of the transformers at the time, but I can't be sure. I will investigate this further as this is quite promising, but it looks like I will need to desolder some components... Regards Rob
Re: VCF nonsense
On Mon, Nov 02, 2015, rod wrote: > Whats all the fuss about.? > What did the poor guy do to be banned? There's some stuff about it in the list archives. I for one would prefer we not rehash it here now. -- Eric Christopherson
Re: VCF nonsense
On Mon, 2 Nov 2015, rod wrote: Whats all the fuss about.? Some sort of import of flamewar(s) from another list (we can't create enough of our own?) What did the poor guy do to be banned? Nothing on this list. The parties involved don't seem to agree. Has probably now devolved into a battle over having The Last Word.
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
>Just asking: Any interest in 80-pin SCA drives, >Ultra 3 and Ultra320 in various capacities, both >IBM and HP/Compaq 'caddies' ? > >m I think you mentioned you had ~150GB drives, but I was wondering if you had some in larger size? I'd take a couple 300GB if the price was right. I bought an LTO-3 drive, but if I want to do any CPU based compression, I'm going to need at least a (400GB) tape's worth of 'tape spooling' buffer space. 3 ~150GB drives would work, but I'd like to cut down on power and noise, and go with a couple 300GB drives if you have them, and the price is right. I'd be willing to do about $40 for the two or three drives, if that's not worth your time, then just let me know and I'll start looking for some drives elsewhere. Thanks, Joseph Zatarski
RE: VCF nonsense (was: VCF-Berlin, 2015)
This came up a few months ago here, and I asked for it to be taken to private email. Not sure why it resurfaced again (nor do I wish an explanation for it)... let's just keep this topic in private email please. J
Re: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice peripherals
- Ursprüngliche Message - > Von: Rich Alderson > An: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' > CC: > Gesendet: 22:15 Montag, 2.November 2015 > Betreff: RE: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of > nice peripherals > > From: Lee Courtney > Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2015 10:37 AM > >> I posted the video you linked to. The machines on the video belonged to >> George Plue, who ran a medical billing service bureau in Flagstaff AZ. They >> are now located at the Living Computer Museum (LCM) in Seattle. > >> George originally ran the Computer Center at Anderson University in Berrien >Andrews >> Springs MI, and the center ran several generations of SDS the XDS Sigma >> mainframes over the years. When Xerox decided to get out of the mainframe >> computing business in August 1975 the market for Sigmas essentially >> collapsed despite Honeywell agreeing to buy the carcass of the business. >> George and a partner got into the used Sigma HW business and he maintained >> a stock of HW, SW and documentation at his home in MI. More info here: >> http://www.andrews.edu/~calkins/profess/SDSigma7.htm > > George's partner was Stan Ritland, who came from a family of doctors but who > did not like medicine as a career path himself. They located the business in > Flagstaff to take advantage of the built in customer base made up of Stan's > three brothers; their offices were across the street from the main hospital, > and they quickly grew. > > (George, an only child, met Stan when they were 8 years old. They were best > friends for nearly 60 years, and George spent as much time at Stan's home as > at his own growing up.) > >> I'm unclear on when he acquired his second home in Flagstaff, but he > had a >> typical ranch style house in Flagstaff. The big difference being that he >> had installed a significantly larger electrical feed with three-phase power >> than one would find in a residence, and the downstairs family and bedrooms >> were used as the machine room in the video. > > The reason George *bought* the house was that there was already a 220V service > running across the back of the property, so that running 220V into the house > was a lot less expensive than usual. > > The basement in which the computers and peripherals were a tilt-up add-on to > the original house. > >> I visited George in the early 2000's (I think) and at that time he had > a >> fully configured Sigma-9 and Sigma-8 mainframes, along with several tape >> drives, and string of DASD. Yes, the machine room was strewn with >> printouts, docs, partially finished projects, tapes, etc. But all the >> machines worked and it was glorious. ;-) > > It's a Sigma 6, not a Sigma 8. The 6 was a clone of the 7 and 9 built for > the > education market with all of the usually unbundled products included in the > license for CP-V. > >> Unfortunately George passed away a few years ago. All the HW and SW that >> was in running condition was rescued by the LCM in Seattle. I know LCM has >> had someone with Sigma experience working on and off on the Sigma to get it >> running again. Not sure of the current status. But, that would be an >> awesome time-sharing system alongside the DEC-20 they have. > > Not just running condition. 100,000 pounds of gear, including the 9, 6, and a > 7 that had been retired in the 90s, spares for all of them, the 8 running disk > drives and 4 running tape drives, along with about 20 more disk drives (the > older 50MB hydraulic units) from the 7. Five 24' trucks, driven by Stan and > his > brothers from Flagstaff to Seattle. > > My colleague Keith and I spent 3 days in Flagstaff deinstalling everything, > while Stan, 2 of his brothers, and George's wife, daughter, and > granddaughter > looked on, labeled, packed, fed us, forklifted onto the trucks, and celebrated > George's life. > >> There was also a group in AZ working on restoring a Sigma mainframe, maybe >> some of Georges collection. He also had a complete Sigma-7 and a boatload >> of Honeywell peripherals in his garage in Flagstaff. The AZ group was very >> energetic, but I have not heard any updates in several years. Having worked >> on CHM's first restoration, the IBM 1620, from start to finish I know > its a >> huge undertaking to get even a relatively straightforward machine up and >> running. > > No, George helped them, but he was running a Sigma support business; he was > not > inclined to give things away. > > George Plue was a true wizard. One of his creations was a SCSI interface for > the Sigma 9 which allowed him to copy magnetic tape files to DAT (not, as we > all know now, the best choice of medium, but remarkable for all that). > > George was also a true gentleman, as is Stan Ritland. It was a privilege to > know George for the short time that I did. We met about a year and a half > before his untimely passing, thanks
Re: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice peripherals
On 11/2/15 2:15 PM, Rich Alderson wrote: Not just running condition. 100,000 pounds of gear, including the 9, 6, and a 7 that had been retired in the 90s, spares for all of them, the 8 running disk drives and 4 running tape drives, along with about 20 more disk drives (the older 50MB hydraulic units) from the 7. Five 24' trucks, driven by Stan and his brothers from Flagstaff to Seattle. I am glad that LCM was able to save these systems. If I were king, there would be a Sigma running where the 1401 is at CHM.
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
On Nov 2, 2015, at 10:42 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > On 11/02/2015 08:54 AM, Mike Stein wrote: > >> In case anyone is looking for the 'caddies' it looks like they're >> mostly HP/Compaq, including several dummies; I scrapped more IBM >> servers than HP, but to my surprise I only found two IBM units. > > The nice thing about SCA drives is that adapters for narrow- or wide-SCSI > are/used to be available. I've run SCA drives with old Power Macintoshes, > for example. > > I don't know if it's still true, but high-performance SCA drives do tend to > run pretty hot. > > --Chuck I have one or two of those adapters somewhere. Any SCA drives I've used, have been quite hot, which is why I run them in external enclosures intended for them. It's rare to find ones that run at less than 7200rpm, most are 10k or 15k. Zane
Chuck Forsberg died on 9/24. :(
Here's the obituary: http://www.anewtradition.com/obituaries/obituary/12060_Charles_Alton_Forsberg 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_!
IBM z890
I recently won an IBM z890 via auction for $237. It was a very interesting adventure to retrieve this machine since it weighs 1500LBS on a good day, and well myself only clocking in around 115LBS I needed the help of a few friends and family to get this thing into the basement... I stripped the machine down to its bare rack to get it into the basement safely, although the rack itself I calculated to weigh about 800LBS itself. I'd say the most difficult part was the excavation we had to do to get it to fit under the deck! It was a REALLY tight fit as you will see in the photos. It took two trips to get it all, one with the truck alone to remove most of the innards and another with the trailer to grab the rest out of the rack and the rack itself. Its already in the basement and most of the way back together, just running the wiring internally for it then I need to wire up a 240v 30a outlet once we get the new breaker box in since there is no more room in the current box. Photos of the whole adventure: http://imgur.com/a/5uWit I plan to pickup an SAN based SCSI box to install Linux and play with. As far as I know I can't install any IBM OS' this way, I would need FICON or ESCON type storage to boot anything like z/OS. (Read EXPENSIVE!) As far as I know I can grab one of these boxes: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201459314771 And hook this up to a FICON interface and it will act as storage via FCP as a SAN. This 'should' allow me to use SCSI devices like an array of hard drives to install Linux. I'm obviously not very familiar with the z-series but I have been trying to read up and learn about everything. Let me know if my thought process and info are correct, also any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated! -Connor K
Re: IBM z890
On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 4:03 PM, Connor Krukosky wrote: > I recently won an IBM z890 via auction for $237. Congratulations! Mainframes are fun! > It was a very interesting adventure to retrieve this machine since it weighs > 1500LBS on a good day, and well myself only clocking in around 115LBS I > needed the help of a few friends and family to get this thing into the > basement... So I see. I thought I was mad. Shoehorning that thing under that deck is about the silliest bit of computer preservation nonsense I've ever seen! Well done! Exactly the kind of thing I might do :-) > I plan to pickup an SAN based SCSI box to install Linux and play with. As > far as I know I can't install any IBM OS' this way, I would need FICON or > ESCON type storage to boot One does not boot a mainframe; one IPLs it. :) > anything like z/OS. (Read EXPENSIVE!) I can't advise you as to the other boxes. From my Linux experience on mainframe I can say it doesn't seem to boo... IPL any differently to any other mainframe OS. If you can define the device to the mainframe and issue an IPL command, you *should* be able to IPL anything I think? http://www.corestore.org 'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame. For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.'
Re: IBM z890
Excellent! Another person with an IBM Mainframe! TTFN - Guy TTFN - Guy On 11/2/15 7:03 PM, Connor Krukosky wrote: I recently won an IBM z890 via auction for $237. It was a very interesting adventure to retrieve this machine since it weighs 1500LBS on a good day, and well myself only clocking in around 115LBS I needed the help of a few friends and family to get this thing into the basement... I stripped the machine down to its bare rack to get it into the basement safely, although the rack itself I calculated to weigh about 800LBS itself. I'd say the most difficult part was the excavation we had to do to get it to fit under the deck! It was a REALLY tight fit as you will see in the photos. It took two trips to get it all, one with the truck alone to remove most of the innards and another with the trailer to grab the rest out of the rack and the rack itself. Its already in the basement and most of the way back together, just running the wiring internally for it then I need to wire up a 240v 30a outlet once we get the new breaker box in since there is no more room in the current box. Photos of the whole adventure: http://imgur.com/a/5uWit I plan to pickup an SAN based SCSI box to install Linux and play with. As far as I know I can't install any IBM OS' this way, I would need FICON or ESCON type storage to boot anything like z/OS. (Read EXPENSIVE!) As far as I know I can grab one of these boxes: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201459314771 And hook this up to a FICON interface and it will act as storage via FCP as a SAN. This 'should' allow me to use SCSI devices like an array of hard drives to install Linux. I'm obviously not very familiar with the z-series but I have been trying to read up and learn about everything. Let me know if my thought process and info are correct, also any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated! -Connor K
Re: IBM z890
> On Nov 2, 2015, at 10:03 PM, Connor Krukosky > wrote: > > I recently won an IBM z890 via auction for $237. > > Its already in the basement and most of the way back together, just running > the wiring internally for it then I need to wire up a 240v 30a outlet once we > get the new breaker box in since there is no more room in the current box. > > -Connor K So you bought a new electric furnace for the house, huh? :) You mainframe collectors are hard-core.
Re: IBM z890
On 11/2/2015 10:34 PM, Peter Cetinski wrote: So you bought a new electric furnace for the house, huh? :) Quite literally yes I did, because the basement and first floor does not have HVAC yet! Only the second and third floors do! On 11/2/2015 10:15 PM, Mike Ross wrote: Congratulations! Mainframes are fun! Thanks and yes they are :) One does not boot a mainframe; one IPLs it. :) I totally knew this but somehow forgot such terminology while writing this email. *facepalm* I can't advise you as to the other boxes. From my Linux experience on mainframe I can say it doesn't seem to boo... IPL any differently to any other mainframe OS. If you can define the device to the mainframe and issue an IPL command, you *should* be able to IPL anything I think? Hm ok, I will have to do some more research on the storage front then. What I have been told is that you can IPL Linux over a SAN but not any IBM OS. But if IPLing shouldn't be any different then maybe you can't IPL from a SAN at all which I wouldn't be surprised at. -Connor K
Re: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice periphe...
Be good to see this all live again! \ Kudos to Allen and LCM! Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 11/2/2015 5:48:04 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, p.gebha...@ymail.com writes: All the HW and SW that >> was in running condition was rescued by the LCM in Seattle. I know LCM has >> had someone with Sigma experience working on and off on the Sigma to get it >> running again. Not sure of the current status. But, that would be an >> awesome time-sharing system alongside the DEC-20 they have.
Re: Chuck Forsberg died on 9/24. :(
On Nov 2, 2015 9:53 PM, "geneb" wrote: > > Here's the obituary: > > http://www.anewtradition.com/obituaries/obituary/12060_Charles_Alton_Forsberg > > g. > > > -- Inventor of zmodem, eh? Thanks for passing this along. Bill
Re: Chuck Forsberg died on 9/24. :(
On Mon, Nov 02, 2015, william degnan wrote: > On Nov 2, 2015 9:53 PM, "geneb" wrote: > > > > Here's the obituary: > > > > > http://www.anewtradition.com/obituaries/obituary/12060_Charles_Alton_Forsberg > > > > g. > > > > > > -- > > Inventor of zmodem, eh? Thanks for passing this along. > Bill I never realized he was right near here. :( -- Eric Christopherson
Re: IBM z890
>> >> Congratulations! Mainframes are fun! > > Thanks and yes they are :) > >> One does not boot a mainframe; one IPLs it. :) > > I totally knew this but somehow forgot such terminology while writing this email. *facepalm* > >> I can't advise you as to the other boxes. From my Linux experience on mainframe I can say it doesn't seem to boo... IPL any differently to any other mainframe OS. If you can define the device to the mainframe and issue an IPL command, you *should* be able to IPL anything I think? > > Hm ok, I will have to do some more research on the storage front then. > What I have been told is that you can IPL Linux over a SAN but not any IBM OS. > But if IPLing shouldn't be any different then maybe you can't IPL from a SAN at all which I wouldn't be surprised at. > > -Connor K Check the OS defaults of the SAN networking software layer. My instinct is AIX might play a part here.
Re: IBM z890
I am so jealous. On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 11:48 PM, william degnan wrote: > >> > >> Congratulations! Mainframes are fun! > > > > Thanks and yes they are :) > > > >> One does not boot a mainframe; one IPLs it. :) > > > > I totally knew this but somehow forgot such terminology while writing > this email. *facepalm* > > > >> I can't advise you as to the other boxes. From my Linux experience on > mainframe I can say it doesn't seem to boo... IPL any differently to any > other mainframe OS. If you can define the device to the mainframe and issue > an IPL command, you *should* be able to IPL anything I think? > > > > Hm ok, I will have to do some more research on the storage front then. > > What I have been told is that you can IPL Linux over a SAN but not any > IBM OS. > > But if IPLing shouldn't be any different then maybe you can't IPL from a > SAN at all which I wouldn't be surprised at. > > > > -Connor K > > Check the OS defaults of the SAN networking software layer. My instinct is > AIX might play a part here. > -- Gary G. Sparkes Jr. KB3HAG
Re: SCA drives - any interest?
I have a couple of 6-drive hot swap bays that some of these drives came out of; unfortunately I didn't make a note of what systems they came out of but they look like the bay in this Proliant ML370: http://techtradepartners.squarespace.com/blog/2011/1/3/we-practice-what-we-preach.html although this 5500 looks vaguely familiar and there are two of these bays...: http://tempcomgauper.blog.com/2014/04/06/compaq-proliant-5500-server/ In any case, they interface through a 68-pin SCSI connector and a 6-pin power connector; by any chance would anyone know where I could find the pinout for that power connector? Maybe this isn't the best place to ask; is there a forum where server fans hang out? Thanks, mike - Original Message - From: "Zane Healy" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 8:21 PM Subject: Re: SCA drives - any interest? On Nov 2, 2015, at 10:42 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 11/02/2015 08:54 AM, Mike Stein wrote: In case anyone is looking for the 'caddies' it looks like they're mostly HP/Compaq, including several dummies; I scrapped more IBM servers than HP, but to my surprise I only found two IBM units. The nice thing about SCA drives is that adapters for narrow- or wide-SCSI are/used to be available. I've run SCA drives with old Power Macintoshes, for example. I don't know if it's still true, but high-performance SCA drives do tend to run pretty hot. --Chuck I have one or two of those adapters somewhere. Any SCA drives I've used, have been quite hot, which is why I run them in external enclosures intended for them. It's rare to find ones that run at less than 7200rpm, most are 10k or 15k. Zane
Re: IBM z890
- Original Message - From: "Connor Krukosky" To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 10:53 PM Subject: Re: IBM z890 On 11/2/2015 10:34 PM, Peter Cetinski wrote: So you bought a new electric furnace for the house, huh? :) Quite literally yes I did, because the basement and first floor does not have HVAC yet! Only the second and third floors do! -Connor K Now THAT's what I call good planning! ;-)
Re: Chuck Forsberg died on 9/24. :(
On 11/2/2015 8:44 PM, Eric Christopherson wrote: On Mon, Nov 02, 2015, william degnan wrote: On Nov 2, 2015 9:53 PM, "geneb" wrote: Here's the obituary: http://www.anewtradition.com/obituaries/obituary/12060_Charles_Alton_Forsberg g. -- Inventor of zmodem, eh? Thanks for passing this along. Bill I never realized he was right near here. :( Sad to hear of his passing. I looked for his info on the usual places as well, and found he had a company, Omen Technology. His site www.omen.com seems to be unresponsive, but there are copies on archive.org. There are some interesting tidbits that maybe should be archived. Tek 4114 software to name one thing with download. Thanks Jim
Micro-Altair tape interface
As I finally complete my Micro-Altair kit from Briel Computers, my thoughts turn to the question of how I can get an audio tape interface working on this machine. I understand that the MITS tape controller is essentially a serial port with a simple modem bolted on the rear. The Micro-Altair has only one serial port, coming off the ramdisk board, which will be used for the console (no, I don't want to use the built-in terminal). How can a second serial port be added to this machine? Then for recognizing Kansas City tape tones, I suppose I could clone the circuitry of the tape drive modem. Then I realized I could make an Arduino do this with a handful of other common parts. I could make it recognize Tarbell and other tape formats. Has anyone else done this sort of thing? -- David Griffith d...@661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
Re: Front panels
Well I've had a good look at the section marked 'Display' It looks like the same row of 37 lamps is repeated on a number of sub panels with up to four rows on a panel. The lamps look to be pushed through from behind and held every so often with a chrome screw from the front. The photo of the lower half shows four sub panels CO4 ROWS OU1 ROW DU2 ROWS APU 1 ROW That might be do-able Rod On 02/11/15 01:00, Charles Anthony wrote: On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 12:18 PM, Michael Thompson < michael.99.thomp...@gmail.com> wrote: Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2015 13:11:29 -0700 From: Charles Anthony Subject: Front panels The front panel I want to build is for my DPS8-M (aka Honeywell 6180) emulator. http://8bitaficionado.com/2010/09/22/multics-honeywell-6180-mainframe-panel-on-ebay/ TIA, -- Charles That is only one of two panels on the Honeywell processors. There was another one on the other CPU door. There is are three rollers with an encoding switchs to change what the lights were displaying. Moving the roller changed the text that was visible in the window below the light bulbs and told you what each light meant. For my purposes, I'm interested in the lower half of the pictured panel -- the "Display" -- which showed the PC and registers. My emulated panel can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkjvx5A7vJw. -- Charles
sort by date back in google groups searches
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/classiccmp|sort:date for example
Re: Front panels
On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 1:28 PM, rod wrote: > Well I've had a good look at the section marked 'Display' > > It looks like the same row of 37 lamps is repeated on a number of sub > panels with up to four rows on a panel. > The lamps look to be pushed through from behind and held every so often > with a chrome screw from the front. > > The photo of the lower half shows four sub panels > > > CO4 ROWS > I think that should be 'CU'; Control Unit (CPU). First row is instruction decoder; second row is the instruction buffer; third row is the PC and instruction sequencer state; fourth row is a bunch of internal state bits. Fifth row is the computed address (the current state of the incredibly complex 6180 indirect addressing model). OU1 ROW > Operation unit; fixed point and boolean math. > DU2 ROWS > Decimal Unit. Does decimal math. APU 1 ROW > Append Unit. Does virtual address translation. Towards the top are the "DATA" and "ADDRESS" panels which allow displaying and toggling in data. In addition the DATA switches are readable from by the software; Multics requires certain magic settings on the data switches, probably indicated by the bits of white tape in the picture. Also, the INITIALIZE button that does just that. The upper half of the display panel has the "Execute" button which causes a CPU fault based on the ADDRESS switches; Multics uses this to break out of wedged operation and reenter Bootload Command Environment (GRUB), where the operator can dump memory to a disk partition for analysis and reboot. Below the EXECUTE is the indicator register display; things like "negative", "carry", "zero" and the like. To the right of that is the history register display; the last 16 or 64 instructions and their operand values are kept in a circular queue; very handy for low-level debugging. Below that is ICT and FUNCTION REGISTER tracks communication between the units. I don't see the A and Q register display; they must be on the other panel. They have a distinctive 'crawl pattern' when Multics is idling. (You can see it in the youtube clip.) You may notice that there is no RUN/STOP switch. The 6180 runs all of the time. When it is first turned on, memory is zero and the PC is zero. Instruction code 0 is illegal, which causes a fault. It then executes the illegal operation fault handling word pair, which are zeros, and cause a fault while processing a fault: a Double Fault. It toddles off and executes the double fault handling word pair, causing a double fault. Somewhere on that display panel is the fault code display, which would show a steady double fault code. The BOOT button (sorry, not IPL here) is on the Input/Output Manager cabinet, not the CPU. It reads a tape record into low memory overwriting the interrupt handler word pair, and interrupts the CPU, which executes the interrupt word pair which now contains instructions to jump into the code read in from tape. There are some interesting gyrations to make the first tape record both a boot loader and a legitimate tape label. Anyway, I know what most of those lights mean. Initially, I am just going to build a plexiglass board and use LEDs, laid out in a similar order to the display; I'm mostly interested in CPU state. That will give me a better idea of the scope of the project, and allow me to make more educated decisions about the Mk. II display. A lot of helpful ideas from cctalk; thank you all very much. -- Charles
