[cctalk] Re: Is this a RIFA (uV3100-10 PSU)?

[Maciej W. Rozycki via cctalk]

On Wed, 2 Nov 2022, Peter Coghlan via cctalk wrote:

> > Did you have to replace the power LED at all? I've just bench-tested the PSU
> > I've swapped the X2 cap in (luckily it powers up without a load, so all I
> > did was hook up a DVM and check out the voltages), and I noticed that the
> > LED didn't light. I'm pretty sure I connected it back (and it is keyed!) so
> > I think I may be looking for a replacement. Something in the back of my mind
> > says that there is something that makes the replacement slightly non-trivial
> > (funny LED, odd housing it fits in, some trick to getting it out ... I can't
> > remember unfortunately).
> > 
> 
> The LED is more than just a power on indicator.  When it fails to light,
> it can indicate that something is not right in the PSU.  It may tie in
> with the "power good" output from the PSU.

 It does.  I have an H7821 PSU where the LED lights briefly upon power-on 
and then goes dark.  The PSU cannot be used to power a mainboard as it 
does not come up, however it works just fine with storage in an expansion 
box.  It is one of those that I recapped after leaks have appeared; in 
fact it is the one that made me aware of the problem in the first place.  
I'll have to get back to it sometime to get this sorted.

> It could be that it is failing to light because the regulation is not
> working properly because there is no load.  I'd try it with a load
> before anything else.  The H7822 may need a load on both boards.

 There's a 2Ω dummy load on the 5V line in storage expansion boxes powered 
by the H7821, so these do require minimum current to work correctly.

> > BTW was it just the 1800uF 25V 105degC caps (mine are brown) that you had to
> > replace? Mine look fine but there are some other large electrolytics in
> > there (two large brown 470uF voltage unclear, and one large black cap by the
> > mains input on which I cannot see any of the markings).
> > 
> 
> It was only the 1800uF 25V capacitors were bad (mine are all brown too).
> In an earlier posting I said there were six of them in a H7821 and ten of
> them in a H7822.  I should have said five in a H7821 and nine in a H7822.
> The 470uF 400V capacitors in my units were all fine.

 Same here, five 1800uF 25V caps to replace in the H7821 according to my 
notes.  Overall if you spot a cap that says SXF on it, then replace it 
right away whether already leaking or not.  These were made by Chemi-con.  
Other Chemi-con lines reported problematic are SXE and LXF, though from 
own experience they seem less prone.

 Also Nichicon PL and PF parts may have to be replaced, I have seen the 
former ones actually leaking in other DEC PSUs, such as the H7826, which 
is also infested by SXF parts in various capacitances.  Both kinds leaked 
in a generic industrial Bel Power PSU used with a Cisco device.

 Sadly the problem with component shortage has hit capacitors as well and 
some that used to be readily available are not anymore and prices have 
risen too.

 NB I wasn't aware about the problem with RIFA capacitors, it seems like I 
might have to replace them in several PSUs I have already recapped, sigh.  
I haven't seen any of them fail though, not at least in an obvious way.

 HTH,

  Maciej

[cctalk] Apple AWACS register documentation

[Cameron Kaiser via cctalk]

Any Apple alumni (Al?) with documentation on AWACS registers? I'm trying to
figure out why the BeOS AWACS sound driver works on some Power Mac 6500s and
TAMs but not others (but works fine on 6400s and everything previously).

Yes, I'm aware that Be considered the 6500 "Unsupported but Compatible" and it
boots fine on my 6500/275 but is totally mute. An instrumented driver in debug
mode yielded little insight. The driver thinks it's initialized everything
correctly and reports no errors. I wonder if there's something about the SRS
sound enhancement that's different on later 6500s/TAMs.

-- 
 personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckai...@floodgap.com
-- God made the integers; all else is the work of Man. -- Kronecker ---

[cctalk] Looking for NORTRONICS Read/Write head for IBM 5100/5110/5106 tape unit

[Steve Lewis via cctalk]

I have a 5100 and 5106 both with a working tape unit.

But the tape unit in my 5110 is not working, and I believe it is the
read/write head.  The REWIND command works, but the MARK command does not
(ERR 3).

I took the Tape Card from the 5110 and swapped it into the 5106, and the
5106 continued to work (and 5110 then had same result, ERR 3).  This tells
me the issue isn't any electronics in the Tape Card electronics (such as
bad IC's).


Swapping the electronics card is easy.  But I haven't yet tried taking the
read/write head from the 5106 and putting it into 5110's tape unit (they
both use all the same components) -- it's not that difficult, but I don't
really want to put a working 5106 at more risk of becoming non-working.


Hence, that's why I'm asking around first if anyone might happen to have
one of these NORTRONICS or a suitable substitute to try.   For example, it
may be the same kind of read/write head used in some reel-to-reel systems
of that era (early/mid 1970s).

The various numbers on the read/write head are as follows:

NORTRONICS
PN 1608752
C584980
269
24256

I have measurements and photos of what I'm looking for at the bottom of
this link:
https://voidstar.blog/ibm-5100-internal-tape-and-5106/
The head is about a 15mm x 20mm, with a 26mm ground extension on one side
for mounting.

A few months ago I contacted Nortronics.  They had some stock that was
close, but not this exact pin out (4-pins on one side, 6-pins on the other;
not sure which is read vs write).  I think all the ones they had were
4-pin/4-pin.

I've also tried different brand tapes, DC6150 vs DC600A (which all of them
do work in the 5100, but not the 5110).



-Steve

[cctalk] Re: Nova and Eclipse Emulator beta release

[Bruce Ray via cctalk]

G'day Jay -

- You mention that the emulator combines "the SimH project structure" 
with Wild Hare's commercial code.  I take this to mean that the emulator 
is an extension of simh to support the listed DG processors and 
devices.  Can you clarify which version (and ideally commit id) of simh 
is this based on?


OpenSimH rev 4, simh git commit id: 009d748a

- I noticed that the license document available on the dgbeta 
 page only covers the legacy 
software produced by DG.  Given the inclusion of commercial code in the 
simh executables, can you clarify what license the emulator binaries are 
released under? (Ideally this would be published along side the legacy 
license text).


The standard SimH structure is used and its license is honored.



- Do you envision at some point publishing the simh emulator changes as 
a pull request to the simh project (presumably under the simh license)?


The new Nova and Eclipse emulator, along with the commercial components, 
will become part of the standard OpenSimH project and its license.



Again, thank you for your efforts here.  It's great to see this software 
opened up to hobbyist use.

--Jay


On 11/10/2022 5:47 PM, Bruce Ray via cctalk wrote:


Wild Hare Computer Systems is pleased to announce the public beta 
release of its Data General Nova and Eclipse emulator.


This emulator allows the full range of DG 16-bit Nova and Eclipse 
computer software to run on Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms, and 
will become a major part of Wild Hare's increased efforts to preserve 
Data General's significant contributions to computer history.


The emulator combines portions of Wild Hare's commercial products with 
the SimH project structure to create a single emulator for the 16-bit 
Nova and Eclipse computers.  The program supports a wide range of 
features, including:


Processors:

    unmapped Nova, SuperNova, Nova 1200, Nova 800, Nova 2, Nova 3, Nova 4
    mapped Nova 840
    mapped Nova 3/D
    mapped Nova 4/X
    Eclipse S/130
    Eclipse S/140
    Eclipse S/150
    Eclipse S/120
    Eclipse Desktop Generation Model 20 and Model 30


Peripherals:

    TTI/TTO    primary console (TeleType) input/output
    RTC    real-time clock
    TTI1/TTO1    secondary console (TeleType) input/output
    PTR    paper tape reader
    PTP    paper tape punch
    PLT    plotter
    LPT    line printer
    MTA    mag tape unit
    DSK    fixed-head disks
    DKP    moving head disks
    DEP    Desktop Generation disks
    DZP    popular "Zebra" moving head disks
    QTY    4060 "Quad" asynchronous multiplexers
    ALM    4255 Asynchronous Line Multiplexers


Software:

    Operating Systems

    DOS    Novas (first DOS written for Nova)
    URDOS    RDOS for Novas and Eclipses (in unmapped mode)
    MRDOS    RDOS for Mapped Nova 840
    NRDOS    RDOS for Mapped Nova 3/D and Nova 4/X
    ZRDOS    RDOS for Mapped Eclipses
    MP/OS    Nova 4
    DG/RDOS    Eclipses
    AOS    Eclipses
    MP/AOS    Eclipses

    Languages

    ASM (Assembler)
    MAC (Macro Assembler)
    ALGOL
    DG/L
    FORTRAN 4
    FORTRAN 5
    FORTRAN 77
    Extended BASIC
    Business BASIC
    MP Pascal
    SP Pascal
    COBOL
    Interactive COBOL (ICOBOL)
    PL/1
    RPG II
    IDEA
    INFOS II
    CEO

Prior Data General knowledge is beneficial to using the emulator and 
corresponding DG software.  For convenience, Wild Hare has created 
container files of pre-configured operating system environments and 
their corresponding languages to minimize the time needed to enjoy the 
full DG "experience".


This "beta-level" software release is intended to gather user feedback 
to help guide future product development.  Bug reports, comments, 
suggestions, ridicule and giggles can be sent to 
b...@wildharecomputers.com.


Further information is contained in the emulator beta release web page:

www.NovasAreForever.org/dgbeta



Bruce Ray
Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
Denver, Colorado USA
b...@wildharecomputers.com

...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.org

[cctalk] Re: Data General Nova and Eclipse Hobbyist License...

[Bruce Ray via cctalk]

It is not a sublicense, Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc., now has 
copyright and title to the legacy DG/EMC software.


On 10/24/2022 5:35 PM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:

Very nice!  So I take it that's a sublicense of Dell/EMC IP?  It doesn't say 
that.

paul



On Oct 24, 2022, at 6:26 PM, Bruce Ray via cctalk  wrote:


Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc., is pleased to announce that a
"Hobbyist License" is now available for legacy Data General
Nova and Eclipse software.  This license allows educational, hobbyist,
non-commercial use of the vast amount of DG software - software
that changed the world in many ways.

The initial archives are currently available at:

www.NovasAreForever.org/dgsw

and includes documentation for the corresponding software.


This October announcement also honors the 54th anniversary of the original
Data General Nova. An international celebration of the Nova's 50th anniversary 
was
hosted by Wild Computer Systems in Colorado, USA.  Some of the festivities
can be seen at:

www.Nova-At-50.org

and

www.Nova-At-50.org/album/index.html


To complement this Hobbyist License, a Nova and Eclipse emulator that can run 
all of the
software will be introduced later this week.


Wild Hare Computer Systems is dedicated to preserving Data General's
significant contributions to computer history.  We seek DG hardware, software, 
documentation,
sales literature - basically "anything DG" - that can be added to the
archives for posterity.



Bruce Ray
Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
Denver, Colorado USA
b...@wildharecomputers.com

...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.org

www.WildHareComputers.com

www.NovasAreForever.org