Need info for a VAX Station 3100 SPX / VS42A-DA

[Pete Lancashire]

Won the guy on the big auction site, put the minimum bid down and $50 later
it showed up on the doorstop.

http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6027

Sorry for the bad photo's but the sun was going down fast.

Been trying to find the display interface specs, pinout, freqs, etc. but so
far have been overwhelmed with just about everything else.

Other things I guess I'll need are

Also what keyboard should I be looking for ?

What options do I have for an O/S ?

The last time I logged into a VAX was one of many 11/780s the company I
worked for was like 198? something.

A LONG time ago ..

-pete

RE: RSX-11 trouble

[Mark Matlock]

> 
> Well...
> REM ...AT. worked since an AT entry was present in the TAL output
> INS $BIGIND not
> INS -- File not found
> 
> Disk (RD51) has 850 blocks free after some cleaning up. It had 738 before.


> Thank for your answer.
> I'll try your suggestions.
> It's RSX-11 and I've found some troubles on the disk.
> I ran VFY with the /RC option.
> Some files can't be read (it reports -4 and -101 errors, parity error
> and forced error mark).
> INDEXF.SYS itself appears to have a bad spot.
> So I'm tempted to backup all relevant data and reinstall.
> 
> BTW there's no [3,54] on the fixed disk.


Ok, if you don't have [3,54] then you must have RSX-11M not RSX-11M+. In that 
case you 
should have two versions of Indirect:
[1,54]ICP.TSK
[1,54]ICX.TSK

ICP.TSK is the default, "full capacity" version and in V4.0 of RSX11M it shows 
up under TAS as:
>TAS ...AT.
...AT. 1.0GEN 64. 0006 LB0:-00114253 

so try removing it as you did above and then INS the ICX.TSK and try it.

>REM …AT.
>INS [1,54]ICX.TSK
>TAS …AT.
...AT. 9.01   GEN 64. 0006 LB0:-00114033 

It would be good to know which version of RSX-11M you have and also a bit about 
the configuration.
You mention backing up your data, what disks do you have? To back up a system 
disk sometimes
it is best to use BRUSYS.SYS which on M should be in [1,51] It is a memory 
resident version
of BRU (running under RSX11S) that you BOOT and then can copy disks.

Good Luck! 
Mark 

Re: Need info for a VAX Station 3100 SPX / VS42A-DA

[Glen Slick]

On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 7:45 PM, Pete Lancashire
 wrote:
> Won the guy on the big auction site, put the minimum bid down and $50 later
> it showed up on the doorstop.
>
> http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6027
>
> Sorry for the bad photo's but the sun was going down fast.
>
> Been trying to find the display interface specs, pinout, freqs, etc. but so
> far have been overwhelmed with just about everything else.
>
> Other things I guess I'll need are
>
> Also what keyboard should I be looking for ?
>
> What options do I have for an O/S ?
>
> The last time I logged into a VAX was one of many 11/780s the company I
> worked for was like 198? something.

A VAXstation 3100 series GPX (VS40X-PA) controller is supposed to have
a resolution of 1024 by 864 at 60Hz while the SPX (WS01X-GA)
controller is supposed to have a resolution of 1280 by 1024 at 66 Hz.

The color video cable 15-pin D-shell to 3-BNC cable for the SPX is the BC23J-03.

The keyboard is the common LK201.

I installed OpenVMS 7.3 on my VAXstation 3100 M76 SPX.

R: RE: RSX-11 trouble

[supervinx]

Here I am!
RSX-11M V4.2 BL38B

I have two RX50 disk units and Kermit.
512kb and one RD51 fixed disk.
I planned to archive separately every [*,*] and image the disks.
I tried and can write back and read RX50 disks with a properly setup PC.
I need only RSX-11M installation disks images but I'm confident they can be 
found somewhere on the net.
I'll give a look to BRU...
Thanks!

Re: Need info for a VAX Station 3100 SPX / VS42A-DA

[Jarratt RMA]

> 
> On 01 April 2016 at 03:45 Pete Lancashire  wrote:
> 
> Won the guy on the big auction site, put the minimum bid down and $50
> later
> it showed up on the doorstop.
> 
> http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6027
> 
> Sorry for the bad photo's but the sun was going down fast.
> 
> Been trying to find the display interface specs, pinout, freqs, etc. but
> so
> far have been overwhelmed with just about everything else.
> 
> Other things I guess I'll need are
> 
> Also what keyboard should I be looking for ?
> 
> What options do I have for an O/S ?
> 
> The last time I logged into a VAX was one of many 11/780s the company I
> worked for was like 198? something.
> 
> A LONG time ago ..
> 
> -pete
> 


To get started you don't need a display or a keyboard. As long as you have some
DECconnect serial cable and an adapter (see Hoff's site for details:
http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/467), then you can connect it to a terminal
emulator on a PC. You need to switch the machine to console mode (can't remember
the official name) though. To do that there is a small switch on the back. In
this picture http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6056 it is in
the small hole immediately to the left of the diagnostic LEDs.

You won't get a graphics display, but at least you can start setting it up.

Regards

Rob

Re: R: RE: RSX-11 trouble

[supervinx]

Well, let me understand better...

1) VFY reports errors on some files (-4 and -101), but ELI DU0:/SH
reports no soft or hard errors.
I have a defective disk or the file system is broken?

2) No ICX.TSK. Only ICP.TSK, (-4 and -101 errors with VFY)

3) I've found only tape images for RSX-11M. I have no tape unit. 

Shipping big things across the atlantic.

[Pontus Pihlgren]

Hi.

I'm considering to ship an empty full height rack from the USA to Sweden. It is 
definitely something I wont find here so it might be worth the cost and effort.

What are my options to get it here safely? If you have any experience I would 
greatly appreciate if you could share them.

Thanks in advance,
Pontus.

Re: Shipping big things across the atlantic.

[Mike Ross]

If you're in no hurry best bet is an international mover on
'consolidation' - basically it's delivered to the mover and it's
loaded in a shared container and it only moves once the container is
full. And if you can pick it up at the arrival end that saves big-time
too.

Mike

On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 5:48 AM, Pontus Pihlgren  wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I'm considering to ship an empty full height rack from the USA to Sweden. It 
> is
> definitely something I wont find here so it might be worth the cost and 
> effort.
>
> What are my options to get it here safely? If you have any experience I would
> greatly appreciate if you could share them.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Pontus.



-- 

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: Shipping big things across the atlantic.

[Jonathan Katz]

When I moved from the US to Belgium we used http://upakweship.com/

You can ship a single pallet worth of stuff; the fees are done by
cubic volume, so you may want to load up that rack.

On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Mike Ross  wrote:
> If you're in no hurry best bet is an international mover on
> 'consolidation' - basically it's delivered to the mover and it's
> loaded in a shared container and it only moves once the container is
> full. And if you can pick it up at the arrival end that saves big-time
> too.
>
> Mike
>
> On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 5:48 AM, Pontus Pihlgren  wrote:
>> Hi.
>>
>> I'm considering to ship an empty full height rack from the USA to Sweden. It 
>> is
>> definitely something I wont find here so it might be worth the cost and 
>> effort.
>>
>> What are my options to get it here safely? If you have any experience I would
>> greatly appreciate if you could share them.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Pontus.
>
>
>
> --
>
> 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.'



-- 
-Jon
+32 0 486 260 686

Re: Shipping big things across the atlantic.

[jwsmobile]

On 4/1/2016 2:48 AM, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:

Hi.

I'm considering to ship an empty full height rack from the USA to Sweden. It is
definitely something I wont find here so it might be worth the cost and effort.

What are my options to get it here safely? If you have any experience I would
greatly appreciate if you could share them.

Thanks in advance,
Pontus.


If you deliver to the port and pick up from the port, the moving cost 
between points can be remarkably cheap for such moves.  I had a quote 
from a point in the US to a port in Korea and also quote from a port 
(Los Angeles) in the US to Korea and the difference was $3000 for the 
moving of the item in the US.  Turned out that it was cheap for the 
shipper to get the item to the port of LA and a lot of the $3000 was saved.


I think the item was larger than you had, but the shipping cost was in 
the low hundreds for that portion of the shipping.


For your reference, someone may correct me if you can find an eastern 
seaboard shipping point such as Boston, New York, etc. you should do 
well.  Maybe Chicago as well, but not sure of the cost of seaborne 
shipping from ports on the Great Lakes.  The cost of getting there is 
probably more than Atlantic Ports.


Thanks
Jim

Re: Sun keyboards, yellowed

[Mouse]

>>> I collected some Sun keyboards for a customer, but some are too
>>> yellowed for him to use.  [...]
>> Oh perfect timing!  What's the interface on the Type 4 cable?
>> 15-pin D or DIN?  I'll probably have one in any case; there are
>> adapters :-)

The type-4 uses miniDIN-8; as far as I know nothing past the type-3
uses DA-15 - after that I think it was miniDIN-8 right up until they
drank the USB koolaid.  (I'm sure someone will correct me if not!)

> No cables on the Type 4.  Apparently they were removable,

Yes; as far as I know all type-4s have a miniDIN-8 socket on the
keyboard, with the cable being a boring miniDIN-8 on each end, wired
straight through.  Some later versions had a cable with one end
permanently wired into the keyboard (as in, you have to disassemble the
keyboard to get it free without cutting it).

(No, I'm not interested in any of the keyboards.  If there were any
type-3s on the list, maybe; the type-3 is the only Sun keyboard that's
worth anything to me.)

/~\ 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

Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Swift Griggs]

Since I doubt I'm the only one on the list with failing eyes. I thought 
I'd ask about monitors. Now, I'll preface this with the fact that I have 
some macular degeneration in my retinae. So, I prefer lower resolution 
monitors (so that fonts can't get too tiny). I also prefer as many NITs, 
CD/M2, candlepower, or whatever you like to call "brightness" as I can 
get (again, it's my eye issues).


I was curious what folks liked? Since I mess with a lot of consoles and 
still occasionally play with the Amiga or MiST, I like to have the option 
to do composite video. Keep in mind is all geared toward retro users. I 
konw there is "better" gear than this, now.


Favorite LCD Monitor line: NEC Multisync, Dell Ultrasharp

Favorite CRT Monitor line: Iiyama (Sony Trinitron as a runner up)

Favorite Video Resolutions: 1280x1024 4:3 and 1280x720 (16:9)

Favorite display Devices: SGI O2 CRM graphics, The Voodoo3 for PC, The 
VillageTronic Picasso IV for the Amiga.


Favorite retro NTSC/PAL Video capture devices: SGI Indy built-in 
composite/s-video, SGI O2 A/V option, Amiga Newtek Video Toaster Flyer, 
Quadra 880AV option for Macs, and the Matrox Rainbow Runner for desktop 
PeeCee.


Favorite Retro Sound Cards: Gravis Ultrasound for PC, Sound Blaster emu10k 
("Pro" PCI cards), Amiga Studio 16, SGI DM8 for SGI/IRIX, Pro Audio 
Spectrum for 68k macs.


If we are going further back to the 90's I'd say I liked 640x480 for all 
the great artwork done in that res on various platforms and MCGA 320x200 
for games (mainly because they finally got 8-bit color that way).


The biggest downside to the NEC monitors is that few of them support 
composite or S-Video. The biggest upside is that most of them perfectly 
support sync-on-green. Another good monitor in terms of flexibility for 
retro use is the Dell 2007FP Ultrasharp. It's 20" I think, but has a 
plethora of ports and features.


I also own a Sony Trinitron PVM-20M2MDU medical monitor for my Genesis, 
SNES, and Neo Geo MVS conversion system. It's around 50 pounds (22 kilos), 
but at 20" it's small enough to keep around. It's tough to beat these for 
any type of non-HD video.


I'm getting interested in projectors, too. However, I'm doubting I'll find 
one that's bright enough and will do all the video modes I want (ie.. mix 
of sync-on-green with composite etc..)


-Swift

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Swift Griggs]

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Swift Griggs wrote:

Favorite LCD Monitor line: NEC Multisync, Dell Ultrasharp


I almost forgot the king daddy 4:3 monitor, the Samsung 214T 21". It does 
1600x1200 at 300 cd/m, has HD15 VGA, Supports DVI-I, Composite, Svideo, 
and does PAL && NTSC, IIRC.


I had one of these and I gave it to my brother when he was in college so I 
could buy a newer monitor. I now regret it. I shoulda gave him a cheap 
16:9 monitor.


-Swift

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Paul Koning]

I remember looking at an SGI PC years ago, with a plasma panel display.  That 
was when plasma displays cost thousands of dollars and LCD displays hadn't 
quite arrived yet.  I almost bought one but decided against it.  It sure was 
impressive to look at.  Plasma displays have a reputation for excellent 
brightness and contrast.

(I may be partial; I have fond memories, and an actual working copy of, a 512 x 
512 "orange and white" plasma display...)

paul

Looking for M865 serial card photo

[Vincent Slyngstad]

Hi,

I'm putting the finishing touches on my efforts to re-draw the M865 
schematic for the website www.so-much-stuff.com (which has a 
collection of similar drawings).  I am looking for photos of the 
front and back, reasonably square-on, with enough resolution 
and light to make out the traces easily.  My intent is to "trace 
over the traces" with my CAD software (Eagle 6.6), to document 
the board while simultaneously verifying the work I've done to 
draw the schematic.


Does anyone have photos of the component and solder sides 
of an M865?  It's the older Omnibus serial card, with the current 
loop cable soldered in.


Permission to use the photos on the website would also be 
great.


The folks I've found so far who own boards can't get photos of them
for a week or more, and I'd like to finish these drawings before my 
motivation fades.  (I know from experience how long it can take me 
to get back to half-finished projects!)


   Vince

--
o< The ASCII Ribbon Campaign Against HTML Email!

Re: Looking for M865 serial card photo

[Paul Anderson]

I can text you one over the weekend.  Contact me off list.


On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 12:00 PM, Vincent Slyngstad  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm putting the finishing touches on my efforts to re-draw the M865
> schematic for the website www.so-much-stuff.com (which has a collection
> of similar drawings).  I am looking for photos of the front and back,
> reasonably square-on, with enough resolution and light to make out the
> traces easily.  My intent is to "trace over the traces" with my CAD
> software (Eagle 6.6), to document the board while simultaneously verifying
> the work I've done to draw the schematic.
>
> Does anyone have photos of the component and solder sides of an M865?
> It's the older Omnibus serial card, with the current loop cable soldered in.
>
> Permission to use the photos on the website would also be great.
>
> The folks I've found so far who own boards can't get photos of them
> for a week or more, and I'd like to finish these drawings before my
> motivation fades.  (I know from experience how long it can take me to get
> back to half-finished projects!)
>
>Vince
>
> --
> o< The ASCII Ribbon Campaign Against HTML Email!
>
>

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Swift Griggs]

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Paul Koning wrote:
I remember looking at an SGI PC years ago, with a plasma panel display. 
That was when plasma displays cost thousands of dollars and LCD displays 
hadn't quite arrived yet.


I wonder if it was one of these that you saw:

http://www.geocities.ws/hinv.geo/sgipics/flatpanel/indy_presenters.jpg

or perhaps this one:

http://www.bytecellar.com/2008/02/13/the_sgi_1600sw/

I almost bought one but decided against it.  It sure was impressive to 
look at.


If it was the Indy Presenter, then it's too bad you didn't snag one, they 
go for a pretty penny on Ebay these days. The 1600SW used to fetch quite a 
bit, too, but nowadays it's relatively dim next to a modern LCD. The only 
advantage to getting a 1600SW now is that it does a slightly higher 
resolution with the O2 than it'll do out of the HD15 VGA port. That and it 
matches the style of the O2.


 Plasma displays have a reputation for excellent brightness and 
contrast.


A well deserved reputation.

(I may be partial; I have fond memories, and an actual working copy of, 
a 512 x 512 "orange and white" plasma display...)


I remember seeing those. I also remember a few laptops that had them. For 
certain applications they were terrific. I know the military used them for 
displays in some of their gear since they didn't easily wash out with 
sunlight. Some even thrived on sunlight by backing the plasma display with 
what was basically a half-silvered mirror.


-Swift

Re: AT&T Uverse IPv6 vs. Mac OS X 10.6

[Jerry Weiss]

> On Mar 27, 2016, at 11:36 PM, Tapley, Mark  wrote:
> 
>> On Mar 26, 2016, at 5:19 PM, Jerry Kemp  wrote:
>> 
>> Just curious if something specifically is broken or non-fixable with the 
>> 10.6.8 IPv6 stack?
>> 
>> I'm specifically wondering if you did any troubleshooting to resolve this?  
>> Or if just disabling IPv6 was the quick'n'dirty answer?
> 
> I’m pretty helpless with networking, so I can’t comment on either AT&T's or 
> Apple’s implementations. As you say, disabling IPv6 was the Quick’n’dirty 
> answer. If network-aware folks have tests to suggest, I can use the G3 on 
> 10.4.8 as a guinea pig.
> 
> We figured this out Friday night; my wife plans to contact AT&T (and the 
> Apple Genius Bar) Monday. I’ll report if they have any suggestions. 
> 
> I will say that my MacBook Pro (definitely off-topic) never hiccupped, and it 
> is running OS X 10.9.5, so somewhere between 10.6.8 and 10.9.5, Apple’s 
> implementation seems to have changed to be compatible with AT&T’s (new) 
> implementation.

For my Ubuntu 7 machine, the DNS resolution was not working on IPv6.  This is a 
2007 release that I don't want to upgrade.  

Check and see if a 'dig - www.site-u-want.com' resolves to a valid address. 
 That was one of  my first clue that something was wrong.

I did not do much investigation for the Mac.  Quick cure (not a fix) for my 
needs at the time.

Jerry

Projectors - Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Toby Thain]

I don't think you'll have trouble finding very bright projectors.

I recently bought one of these, 1300 lumens:
https://www.amazon.ca/Optoma-HD80-1080p-Theater-Projector/dp/B000R4J69K
... definitely bright enough for our needs although we use it only at 
night anyway.


This NEC model is almost 3 x brighter (!) with a conventional lamp,
http://www.necdisplay.com/p/multimedia-projectors/np-m363w (3600 lumen)

Their range goes much brighter than that, though, including 
laser/phosphor models:

http://www.necdisplay.com/p/multimedia-projectors/np-p502hl (5000 lumen)

--Toby

tumble under BSD

[Al Kossow]

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever gotten Eric Smith's tumble pdf 
creation program running under any version of BSD?


I ran into a problem porting it to OS X, in the way it used rewind()
and was wondering if anyone else ran into that on other BSDs

Re: Projectors - Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Swift Griggs]

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Toby Thain wrote:

I don't think you'll have trouble finding very bright projectors.


Based on that list, I guess not! I find the idea of a laser based 
projector pretty awesome. Now I just have to find enough space to set one 
up. :-)


It also looks like every one of those projectors has NTSC composite 
inputs and HD15 VGA. That's also really cool. Now I'm wondering if any of 
them support sync-on-green. I kind of doubt that one, if they are newer.


Does anyone use a projector frequently for non-video applications?  I mean 
things like gaming, browsing, coding, etc.. I'd be interested in your 
experiences.


-Swift

Re: tumble under BSD

[Diane Bruce]

On Fri, Apr 01, 2016 at 11:55:50AM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
> Out of curiosity, has anyone ever gotten Eric Smith's tumble pdf 
> creation program running under any version of BSD?
> 
> I ran into a problem porting it to OS X, in the way it used rewind()
> and was wondering if anyone else ran into that on other BSDs

It's in ports /usr/ports/graphics/tumble

Not sure if it is up to date or not.

http://tumble.brouhaha.com/

> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
- d...@freebsd.org d...@db.net http://www.db.net/~db

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Paul Koning]

> On Apr 1, 2016, at 1:19 PM, Swift Griggs  wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Paul Koning wrote:
>> I remember looking at an SGI PC years ago, with a plasma panel display. That 
>> was when plasma displays cost thousands of dollars and LCD displays hadn't 
>> quite arrived yet.
> 
> I wonder if it was one of these that you saw:
> 
> http://www.geocities.ws/hinv.geo/sgipics/flatpanel/indy_presenters.jpg
> 
> or perhaps this one:
> 
> http://www.bytecellar.com/2008/02/13/the_sgi_1600sw/

It looked like that one, but I'm 98% sure it was plasma, not LCD as that one 
says it is.

> ...
>> (I may be partial; I have fond memories, and an actual working copy of, a 
>> 512 x 512 "orange and white" plasma display...)
> 
> I remember seeing those. I also remember a few laptops that had them. For 
> certain applications they were terrific. I know the military used them for 
> displays in some of their gear since they didn't easily wash out with 
> sunlight. Some even thrived on sunlight by backing the plasma display with 
> what was basically a half-silvered mirror.

I can't figure out the mirror bit.  Normal practice in the panels I remember 
was that they had a polaroid filter in the front, partly to cut down on 
reflections and partly to improve contrast with high ambient light.  They were 
PLATO terminals.  And yes, that technology was later applied to military 
displays (including in 1k x 1k version, 16 inches high/wide) and early 
"luggable" PCs.

paul

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Pete Turnbull]

On 01/04/2016 17:07, Swift Griggs wrote:


I was curious what folks liked? Since I mess with a lot of consoles and
still occasionally play with the Amiga or MiST, I like to have the
option to do composite video. Keep in mind is all geared toward retro
users. I konw there is "better" gear than this, now.

Favorite LCD Monitor line: NEC Multisync, Dell Ultrasharp


I have couple of NEC Multisync LCDs as well, and they're nice because 
although they don't have a composite input as such they will handle the 
frame rates from older home computers.



Favorite CRT Monitor line: Iiyama (Sony Trinitron as a runner up)


Never had an Iiyama CRT, only their LCDs.  I have a couple of SGI-badged 
Trinitrons for Indys and two Acorn-badged Philips(?) which I keep 
because they're original for some of my machines and one also handles 
some newer stuff while living on a KVM switch.



Favorite Video Resolutions: 1280x1024 4:3 and 1280x720 (16:9)


Lots of 1280x1024 here.  4 of them on one machine :-)

I have a number of O2s - some with the "good" AV and some with the basic 
version, three Indys, four (I think) Indigos - all with different 
graphics options, and a full-rack Origin 2000 in my SGI collection.  Two 
still in day-to-day use, too.   Not the Origin, though it does make a 
good hair drier.


--
Pete

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Swift Griggs]

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Paul Koning wrote:

http://www.bytecellar.com/2008/02/13/the_sgi_1600sw/
It looked like that one, but I'm 98% sure it was plasma, not LCD as that 
one says it is.


They had a couple of models, I've only ever seen the LCD one, but there 
was another model (if you look close, one has a bit of an amber cast to 
it). That could have been a plasma model. I think it was the one meant to 
work with overhead projectors, but I'm not sure.


I can't figure out the mirror bit.  Normal practice in the panels I 
remember was that they had a polaroid filter in the front, partly to cut 
down on reflections and partly to improve contrast with high ambient 
light.


The ones I vaguely remember were on very early ruggedized laptops (those 
big brick / nearly-luggable laptops in the style of the Mac Portable). 
Someone at a swap-meet called them "Daylight screens". I think they used 
those a bit in cop-cars for VMDs, too.


And yes, that technology was later applied to military displays 
(including in 1k x 1k version, 16 inches high/wide) and early "luggable" 
PCs.


I had one of those old Compaq Portable III machines for a while. It was 
what I used to drag to conventions in the mid 90's. I didn't have the cash 
for a "real" laptop. I think it has a gas-plasma display on it. It was 
amber, I remember that, at least.


-Swift

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Swift Griggs]

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Pete Turnbull wrote:
I have couple of NEC Multisync LCDs as well, and they're nice because 
although they don't have a composite input as such they will handle the 
frame rates from older home computers.


I share your reasoning. I also use scan-doublers to overcome the lack of a 
14Khz refresh rate. However, the monitor will happily do the low 
resolutions of an Amiga or ST with a scandoubler.



Lots of 1280x1024 here.  4 of them on one machine :-)


Whoa. What's the story there ? Are you using some specialized system or is 
just that they fit on your workspace well and you like multi-head? I have 
a friend who, after at least 6 years of keeping his triple 4:3 monitor 
setup in place, broke down and got him one of those ultra-super-wide 
gaming monitors. He says it's better for games (no seams), but worse for 
applications (can't split up the real-estate).


I have a number of O2s - some with the "good" AV and some with the basic 
version,


I used to have 3 O2s, but I've gone down to just one bad-dog top of the 
line R12k O2+. That's fixed my O2 lust issues. I just had to make "one 
good one." :-)



Not the Origin, though it does make a good hair drier.


Lots of SGI's do. My old Octanes did, my Tezro does, etc... I wish I could 
find some audio-spec fans to replace these loud ones they come with, but 
it's harder than one might think.


-Swift

Re: Need info for a VAX Station 3100 SPX / VS42A-DA

[william degnan]

On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 11:36 PM, Glen Slick  wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 7:45 PM, Pete Lancashire
>  wrote:
> > Won the guy on the big auction site, put the minimum bid down and $50
> later
> > it showed up on the doorstop.
> >
> > http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6027
> >
> > Sorry for the bad photo's but the sun was going down fast.
> >
> > Been trying to find the display interface specs, pinout, freqs, etc. but
> so
> > far have been overwhelmed with just about everything else.
> >
> > Other things I guess I'll need are
> >
> > Also what keyboard should I be looking for ?
> >
> > What options do I have for an O/S ?
> >
> > The last time I logged into a VAX was one of many 11/780s the company I
> > worked for was like 198? something.
>
> A VAXstation 3100 series GPX (VS40X-PA) controller is supposed to have
> a resolution of 1024 by 864 at 60Hz while the SPX (WS01X-GA)
> controller is supposed to have a resolution of 1280 by 1024 at 66 Hz.
>
> The color video cable 15-pin D-shell to 3-BNC cable for the SPX is the
> BC23J-03.
>
> The keyboard is the common LK201.
>
> I installed OpenVMS 7.3 on my VAXstation 3100 M76 SPX.
>


If you don't have the correct monitor for xwindow for now that may not
matter yet anyway.  First you need to get into the serial console to set up
the system, reset the password, etc.  I have a 3100 I recently got up and
running, the thread is on my web site if any of this info will be useful to
you.

My battery is still good, but you also will want to replace the battery if
the system asks you to set the time on each cold boot.

My microvax3100 has only serial console display.
-- 
@ BillDeg:
Web: vintagecomputer.net
Twitter: @billdeg 
Youtube: @billdeg 
Unauthorized Bio 

Re: Need info for a VAX Station 3100 SPX / VS42A-DA

[Pete Lancashire]

Sounds good, your reply and Glen's kicked me into remember I have somewhere
a couple of the serial cables and DB25 adapters, just have to remember from
around 15 years ago where they are.

-pete

On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 9:36 AM, william degnan  wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 11:36 PM, Glen Slick  wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 7:45 PM, Pete Lancashire
> >  wrote:
> > > Won the guy on the big auction site, put the minimum bid down and $50
> > later
> > > it showed up on the doorstop.
> > >
> > > http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6027
> > >
> > > Sorry for the bad photo's but the sun was going down fast.
> > >
> > > Been trying to find the display interface specs, pinout, freqs, etc.
> but
> > so
> > > far have been overwhelmed with just about everything else.
> > >
> > > Other things I guess I'll need are
> > >
> > > Also what keyboard should I be looking for ?
> > >
> > > What options do I have for an O/S ?
> > >
> > > The last time I logged into a VAX was one of many 11/780s the company I
> > > worked for was like 198? something.
> >
> > A VAXstation 3100 series GPX (VS40X-PA) controller is supposed to have
> > a resolution of 1024 by 864 at 60Hz while the SPX (WS01X-GA)
> > controller is supposed to have a resolution of 1280 by 1024 at 66 Hz.
> >
> > The color video cable 15-pin D-shell to 3-BNC cable for the SPX is the
> > BC23J-03.
> >
> > The keyboard is the common LK201.
> >
> > I installed OpenVMS 7.3 on my VAXstation 3100 M76 SPX.
> >
>
>
> If you don't have the correct monitor for xwindow for now that may not
> matter yet anyway.  First you need to get into the serial console to set up
> the system, reset the password, etc.  I have a 3100 I recently got up and
> running, the thread is on my web site if any of this info will be useful to
> you.
>
> My battery is still good, but you also will want to replace the battery if
> the system asks you to set the time on each cold boot.
>
> My microvax3100 has only serial console display.
> --
> @ BillDeg:
> Web: vintagecomputer.net
> Twitter: @billdeg 
> Youtube: @billdeg 
> Unauthorized Bio 
>
>

Re: Favorite Resolution && favorite monitor, sound, video, and capture (retro)

[Pete Turnbull]

On 01/04/2016 21:24, Swift Griggs wrote:

On Fri, 1 Apr 2016, Pete Turnbull wrote:

Lots of 1280x1024 here.  4 of them on one machine :-)


Whoa. What's the story there ? Are you using some specialized system or
is just that they fit on your workspace well and you like multi-head?


The latter, really.  It started as a dual-head PC and the nearby third 
monitor on an Indy got a KVM switch.  Then a while ago I snagged a 2-up 
2-across stand and happened to have 4 matching Iiyamas that had cost me 
nothing, so...  It's grown organically and a lot cheaper than buying one 
really large hi-res display.  The two graphics cards can actually drive 
three monitors each but that really would be OTT, and besides then I'd 
probably have to actually /buy/ something.


It's useful when photo editing or doing anything "interesting" on the 
network that needs a lot of windows.  The KVM is still there so 
sometimes the top right is displaying the Indy desktop.


--
Pete

AT&T 3B2 floppy format

[Seth Morabito]

I finally have my own AT&T 3B2/300, and I'm having a heck of a time
getting disk images transferred to physical media.

I have here a set of AT&T SVR3.2 diskette images, apparently made (not
by me) using dd. I would like to transfer them to physical media in
such a way that they're usable by the 3B2/300.

Here's what I know so far:

  * 3B2 diskettes are 720KB, Double Sided Quad Density (DSQD) 96tpi
  * Each side is 80 tracks, 9 sectors per track, 512KB per sector
  * Sectors use 3:1 interleave
  * Physical media should be good quality DSDD
  * The 3B2 fdc is a TMS2797 (WD 2797 compatible)
  * The 3B2 floppy drive is a CDC 9429

On my PC, I'm using a venerable TEAC FD55-GV with the "I" jumper in
place, so at double density it should be spinning at 300RPM.
ImageDisk claims that reading and writing at 300kbps is successful.

I have been using ImageDisk to translate the BIN files I've downloaded
into IMD files with the following commands:

D:\> BIN2IMD DISK1.BIN TMP.IMD /2 /U N=80 DM=4 SS=512 SM=1-9
D:\> IMDU TMP.IMD DISK1.IMD IL=3

(The two-step translation is necessary because BIN2IMD cannot directly
write 3:1 interleaved data unless it's interleaved in the BIN image,
so you have to use IMDU to reshuffle things... it's complicated!)

Anyway, after doing this, what I end up with is a disk that is
_almost_ usable. I can boot off of it, but it fails shortly after
loading the UNIX kernel. I can run the 3B2's "dgmon" floppy
diagnostics on it, and they almost pass, but fail to reliably read and
write during the R/W test.

Now, here's the thing: If I use the exact same media and low level
format it _on the 3B2 itself_, the disks are 100% readable on the 3B2
and pass all floppy diagnostics with flying colors.

So I'm trying to pin down what about my setup is not right.

My pet theory right now is that the R/W gap and Format gap are wrong.
The default values for the gaps when calculated by ImageDisk are
24/64. I've played with 22/32, 34/62, and 42/80, all based on reading
the datasheet and/or old Linux "fdprm" settings, but nothing seems to
make the disks 100% reliable on the 3B2 when written on the PC.

Does anyone have any insight into the gap lengths used by the 3B2? Or,
have you successfully written 3B2 floppies from disk image before?

-Seth
-- 
Seth Morabito

seeking EK-OLA30-OP - LA30 DECwriter User's Manual

[Nigel Williams]

Not an essential manual but for completeness I would like to find a
copy. If anyone has one would they be willing to scan it please or I
can arrange to get it done.

The list of manuals for the DECwriter I LA-30 are:

(missing) EK-OLA30-OPLA30 DECwriter User's Manual

(online) DEC-00-LA30-DC1972-08LA30 DECwriter Maintenance Manual
(online) LA30 Engineering drawings Nov-1973

(online) via Manx or bitsavers.

If anyone has paper for these printers in the right size I'd be glad
to have some (whatever would fit in an large envelope). LA30 is fixed
sprocket position, needs 9-7/8 inch wide (1/2 inch pitch x 0.150 inch
diameter feed holes) continuous paper.

RE: RSX-11M trouble

[Mark Matlock]

> The SYSVMR.CMD shows that the Indirect Command Processor is named ICP.TSK.
> Sadly, ICP.TSK is one of the four tasks that have read issues...
> 
> I need another info: BAD is destructive or not destructive?
> 
BAD is destructive to the data on the disk!
If there are only four tasks that have read issues you may be able to move just 
those 
tasks over from a good version of RSX-11M with Kermit which you mentioned you 
had.

> Here I am!
> RSX-11M V4.2 BL38B
> 
> I have two RX50 disk units and Kermit.
> 512kb and one RD51 fixed disk.
> I planned to archive separately every [*,*] and image the disks.
> I tried and can write back and read RX50 disks with a properly setup PC.
> I need only RSX-11M installation disks images but I'm confident they can be 
> found somewhere on the net.
> I'll give a look to BRU...

A RD51 drive holds about 10 MB which is about the minimum for a RSX-11M system. 
The RX50
disks could load a version of Micro RSX which was a pre-GENed RSX-11M system. I 
used it
one time to recover a non-bootable RSX system disk where someone deleted the 
RSX11M.SYS
file that the boot block pointed to. I have not seem those RX50 images of Micro 
RSX on the internet so far.

Since you can read and write the RX50 disks with a PC. Get a copy of PUTR from 
John Wilson Dbit site

http://www.dbit.com/pub/putr/

to be able to write RX50s in RT-11 which can be read in RSX-11M with FLX. Then 
get a copy of Simh
from the GitHub:

https://github.com/simh/simh

Once you have a working Simh PDP-11 emulator (e.g. pdp11.exe) then get a 
bootable baseline RSX11M disk image

ftp://ftp.trailing-edge.com/pub/rsx_dists/rsxm70.dsk.bz2 (Note: this disk image 
is actually RSX11M V4.8

The Simh will need a configuration file (e.g. sim.ini) that describes the 
PDP-11 system it is emulating like this:

sim> do sim.ini
set console log=./console.log
set cpu 11/23, 256K
set cpu idle
set tto 8b
set rq0 rd54
attach rq0 rsxm70.dsk
sim>show rq
sim> show rq
RQ  address=17772150-17772153, no vector, RQDX3, 4 units
  RQ0   159MB, not attached, write enabled
RD54, autosize, SIMH format
  RQ1   159MB, not attached, write enabled
RD54, autosize, SIMH format
  RQ2   159MB, not attached, write enabled
RD54, autosize, SIMH format
  RQ3   800KB, not attached, write enabled
RX50, autosize, SIMH format
sim> b rq0
and it will boot RSX11M where

this will bring up a baseline RSX11M system. DU3 should be a virtual RX50 that 
will create a disk image that can be read with
PUTR and moved to a real RX50 or you could use Linux DD to image the RX50.

At any rate the emulated RSX11M system will have the tasks that should be 
compatible on your real PDP-11. You might also
be able to kermit from the simulated to the physical PDP-11.

At any rate having a virtual RSX11M system to experiment with will help you a 
great deal in getting your real system running.
If this is too complicated, I could try sending you an RX50 disk image with the 
tasks you need, but I only have RSX11M V4.8 
(I mostly use RSX11M+ V4.6) handy so we'd have to try those .TSKs to see if 
they might work. 


> Well, let me understand better...
> 
> 1) VFY reports errors on some files (-4 and -101), but ELI DU0:/SH
> reports no soft or hard errors.
> I have a defective disk or the file system is broken?
> 
> 2) No ICX.TSK. Only ICP.TSK, (-4 and -101 errors with VFY)
> 
> 3) I've found only tape images for RSX-11M. I have no tape unit. 

If you are not getting errors on the disk, then the disk is probably ok and the 
file
system has some corruption. Remember that an RSX11M system should be
shut down by running shut up to make sure all files are closed etc.

>RUN SHUTUP

BRU can do disk to disk copies but with only one RD51 and no tape it won't help 
much.

In my RSX work I use a SCSI disk controller like a Emulex UC07 with the SCSI2SD
card that emulates unto 4 DU disks on one microSD card. This makes it very easy 
to move
large disk images from Simh on a PC to be bootable RSX disks on the PDP-11. It 
is
easy to back up and very reliable. The SCSI2SD card is only $65 but Qbus SCSI 
cards
are a bit pricey.

By the way which CPU is in the PDP-11, a 11/23?

Good Luck,
Mark

Broken BA123

[David Coolbear]

If my house were on fire and I had to pick what to save, near the top of 
my list would be my MicroVAX in a BA123 enclosure. It is by FAR my 
favorite computer. Sadly, there was a tragic accident and the 
ventilation louver, just about the power switch got broken. I know, I 
know. How could this happen? I am overcome by guilt. I can't rest until 
my poor, sad VAX is fully repaired and back to it's perfect condition.


I've tried to repair it, but not had satisfactory results. Is there 
anyone out there that would be willing to sell me a replacement?

Re: Broken BA123

[Pontus Pihlgren]

On Fri, Apr 01, 2016 at 09:25:38PM -0700, David Coolbear wrote:
> If my house were on fire and I had to pick what to save, near the top of my
> list would be my MicroVAX in a BA123 enclosure. It is by FAR my favorite
> computer. Sadly, there was a tragic accident and the ventilation louver,
> just about the power switch got broken. I know, I know. How could this
> happen? I am overcome by guilt. I can't rest until my poor, sad VAX is fully
> repaired and back to it's perfect condition.

Is it the one on the front or is there a breaker on the back?

> 
> I've tried to repair it, but not had satisfactory results. Is there anyone
> out there that would be willing to sell me a replacement?
> 

The front breaker on my MicroPDP-11 broke and they are still made. I couldn't 
find 
the right color but I could reuse the original housing:

http://www.update.uu.se/~pontus/pdp1173_restore.shtml

I'm not certain it's the same for the VAX in BA123.

An issue though is that the bulb in the new switch didn't light up but I guess
that is a problem with the fron panel PCB. Pergaps it is configurable with a 
jumper?

Speaking of BA123. Does anyone have a set of skins for sale?

/P

VMS Software

[Pete Lancashire]

Pulled these out of the trash

http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6062&g2_navId=x09e4617c

The first picture are for VAX the yet to be check in the second photo are
VMS for Alpha.

Now that I have that little VAX 3100 I only want to get it configured. Is
someone other there I should give these to, I want to make sure the
contents are not lost.

Bitsavers.org for example.

-pete

Re: AT&T 3B2 floppy format

[Curious Marc]

It looks like you did everything right. However I thought one specifies 
interleave directly in the BIN2IMD command using the DM=3 option. I see you 
have DM=4 on your command line. But since you can load the kernel that might 
not be the source of your problem. Having a disk being formatted in one drive 
not readable in another could simply be that one of the two drives is 
misaligned. Or some silly difference with the track width between the two heads 
of your later HD drive and the earlier QD drive, although since they are both 
80 tracks that should not be. BTW, can you do the reverse, format a disk in 
your AT&T and recover every sector through IMD on your PC? In this case there 
might be an option in ImageDisk to write without formatting. I think you can do 
that with Omnidisk.
Marc

From:  cctalk  on behalf of Seth Morabito 

Reply-To:  "cctalk@classiccmp.org" 
Date:  Friday, April 1, 2016 at 6:53 PM
To:  "cctalk@classiccmp.org" 
Subject:  AT&T 3B2 floppy format

I finally have my own AT&T 3B2/300, and I'm having a heck of a time
getting disk images transferred to physical media.

I have here a set of AT&T SVR3.2 diskette images, apparently made (not
by me) using dd. I would like to transfer them to physical media in
such a way that they're usable by the 3B2/300.

Here's what I know so far:

  * 3B2 diskettes are 720KB, Double Sided Quad Density (DSQD) 96tpi
  * Each side is 80 tracks, 9 sectors per track, 512KB per sector
  * Sectors use 3:1 interleave
  * Physical media should be good quality DSDD
  * The 3B2 fdc is a TMS2797 (WD 2797 compatible)
  * The 3B2 floppy drive is a CDC 9429

On my PC, I'm using a venerable TEAC FD55-GV with the "I" jumper in
place, so at double density it should be spinning at 300RPM.
ImageDisk claims that reading and writing at 300kbps is successful.

I have been using ImageDisk to translate the BIN files I've downloaded
into IMD files with the following commands:

D:\> BIN2IMD DISK1.BIN TMP.IMD /2 /U N=80 DM=4 SS=512 SM=1-9
D:\> IMDU TMP.IMD DISK1.IMD IL=3

(The two-step translation is necessary because BIN2IMD cannot directly
write 3:1 interleaved data unless it's interleaved in the BIN image,
so you have to use IMDU to reshuffle things... it's complicated!)

Anyway, after doing this, what I end up with is a disk that is
_almost_ usable. I can boot off of it, but it fails shortly after
loading the UNIX kernel. I can run the 3B2's "dgmon" floppy
diagnostics on it, and they almost pass, but fail to reliably read and
write during the R/W test.

Now, here's the thing: If I use the exact same media and low level
format it _on the 3B2 itself_, the disks are 100% readable on the 3B2
and pass all floppy diagnostics with flying colors.

So I'm trying to pin down what about my setup is not right.

My pet theory right now is that the R/W gap and Format gap are wrong.
The default values for the gaps when calculated by ImageDisk are
24/64. I've played with 22/32, 34/62, and 42/80, all based on reading
the datasheet and/or old Linux "fdprm" settings, but nothing seems to
make the disks 100% reliable on the 3B2 when written on the PC.

Does anyone have any insight into the gap lengths used by the 3B2? Or,
have you successfully written 3B2 floppies from disk image before?

-Seth
-- 
Seth Morabito