Re: Convex C220 lives

[Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctalk]

On 9/18/17, 3:02 PM, "Peter Allan"  wrote:

> Hi Camiel,
> 
> Nice to hear that you have the Convex C220 up and running.
> 
> Regarding things to run on it, starting with LINPACK is probably a good idea.
> However, in term of what they were actually used for back in the 1980's, I
> know that they were popular with the radio astronomy community, starting with
> the Convex C1. The package called AIPS (Astronomical Image Processing System)
> was the most popular way of processing data from multi-antenna telescopes like
> the VLA in New Mexico.
> 
> AIPS (written in Fortran) is now known as AIPS Classic, to distinguish it from
> AIPS++ (written in C++) which was developed in the 1990's. There is plenty of
> information about it on the internet. If you have any difficulty getting the
> code, let me know as I might be able to help.
> 
> AIPS is very portable; before the era of the mini-supers, it ran on a lot of
> VAXen (yeah!!) amongst other things.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Peter Allan

I¹ll check that out. Code I have running on the C220 now includes:
* FORTRAN code to solve Navier-Stokes equations for airflow over a wing or
even a complete aircraft
* Some electronics design software I found on one of the disks I have,
including Spice, Anacad Eldo
* Neurosim neural network simulator
Camiel

Re: Apple ][ PS

[Michael Mulhern via cctalk]

I've used this one.
http://store.reactivemicro.com/product/universal-psu-kit/

Michael.

On Tue, 19 Sep 2017 at 6:09 am, Shoppa, Tim via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Local friend has an Apple ][+ with fried and cooked PS PCB. I used to
> replace a capacitor and/or diode when the PS's would do the
> I-can't-start-click-click but it feels like for this one, I'm gonna need a
> bigger boat.
>
> 20+ years ago, complete aftermarket power supply replacements for Apple ][
> were still available from Jameco and other suppliers. Maybe $40 ballpark.
>
> I recall the ones I bought from Jameco in the 80s and 90s  were Meanwell
> brand, probably the first Meanwells I ever saw.
>
> A quick web search doesn't find these today.
>
> Does anyone know of any drop in replacements still available?
>
> Taking the original aluminum shell and mounting some cheapo Meanwell
> supplies in it seems feasible but I remember some precautionary note about
> the rail sequencing for 4116 DRAM.
>
> Tim N3QE
>
>
> Sent from my VAX-11/780

-- 


*Blog: RetroRetrospective – Fun today with yesterday's gear……..
*
*Podcast*: *Retro Computing Roundtable * (Co-Host)

RE: H7878 Fails Under Even Moderate Load

[Rob Jarratt via cctalk]

Thanks for that. The slow start one sounds like an interesting avenue to 
explore. I have been told some of the capacitors on these tend to be bad. 
Finding the capacitor (if it does indeed do a slow start) will be a challenge 
for me. I have been reverse engineering the schematic a bit, but some of the 
parts are hard to see as they are hidden by a heatsink which is not easily 
removed...

In doing the reverse engineering I have spotted a 10R resistor near the output 
section that is relatively high power that seems to have some physical damage 
(it is one of the hard to see components). It is marked as 10R and measures 10R 
(in circuit), but measures 0V across it when the PSU is powered up. I may 
remove it to check it over.

Regards

Rob

> -Original Message-
> From: cctech [mailto:cctech-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of shad
> via cctech
> Sent: 18 September 2017 18:42
> To: cct...@classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: H7878 Fails Under Even Moderate Load
> 
> hello,
> well it's difficult without the piece in hands to understand the circuit, and
> without the schematic, but I could give a try.
> 
> 1)
> On a switching PSU, only one output is really stabilized, here it seems 5v.
> The other outputs are "unregulated", but in some way related to the stabilized
> one, for example via transformer windings ratio.
> However, to protect circuits, some voltage range or current range detectors
> are added, to avoid these outputs to go outside acceptable values. Maybe
> something in these circuits on secondary section detects a false condition of
> error, cutting off supply current on primary section.
> 
> 2)
> voltage seems to go high too slowly, as if a soft start is going too slow.
> Normally SS is done charging via a resistor a capacitor on the feedback,
> affecting maximum current on the primary.
> If the capacitor is leaking current, it will charge too slowly, and will 
> never reach
> maximum voltage required, so basically you will never have maximum current
> in the output.
> This could be a small capacitor charged by a done kohm resistor.
> 
> Andrea

Re: 40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[Steve Malikoff via cctalk]

Bill said:
AA is the 12th pin on the lower row.

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 8:50 PM, Steve Malikoff via cctalk 
 wrote:
Chuck said
> Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
>
> When using modern replacement connectors with keys and marked pin 1,
> the translation seems to be pin AA == pin 40.
>
> Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?
>
> -chuck

Not sure if this helps, as its the serial connector

http://www.retrocmp.com/how-tos/interfacing-to-a-pdp-1105/144-interfacing-with-a-pdp-1105-sorting-the-wires

Personally, it's a well-meaning page on a great site, but it confuses my 
newbie knowledge greatly when it says the upper
table should be mounted on every PDP-11, then reckons the lower table is 
the / 05 one. The above /05 photo appears to
correspond to the upper table but the lower table is the inverted SCL on 
the /05... is it not? It could do with more
annotation I think. Otherwise, it's WTF for me.
I suppose when I get to powering up my /05 I should of course sanity check 
other references so I don't fry anything.

Steve.

So it is definately the lower pinout table, inverted as presented there? (ie 
TL=40,BL=39,TR=02,BR=01)
Why then does the photo show the left end of the connector labelled as A and B 
from the upper table instead of VV and
UU, corresponding to the lower inverted table?
In the photo above that one, there is another label across the top of the 
connector but no click-through to a higher
res image, I would have liked to know what it said.

Steve.

Re: 40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[Noel Chiappa via cctalk]

> From: Charles Dickman

> Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
> ...
> Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?

http://gunkies.org/wiki/DEC_asynchronous_serial_line_pinout

Noel

Re: 40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[william degnan via cctalk]

AA is the 12th pin on the lower row.

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 8:50 PM, Steve Malikoff via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> Chuck said
> > Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
> >
> > When using modern replacement connectors with keys and marked pin 1,
> > the translation seems to be pin AA == pin 40.
> >
> > Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?
> >
> > -chuck
>
> Not sure if this helps, as its the serial connector
> http://www.retrocmp.com/how-tos/interfacing-to-a-pdp-1105/
> 144-interfacing-with-a-pdp-1105-sorting-the-wires
>
> Personally, it's a well-meaning page on a great site, but it confuses my
> newbie knowledge greatly when it says the upper
> table should be mounted on every PDP-11, then reckons the lower table is
> the / 05 one. The above /05 photo appears to
> correspond to the upper table but the lower table is the inverted SCL on
> the /05... is it not? It could do with more
> annotation I think. Otherwise, it's WTF for me.
> I suppose when I get to powering up my /05 I should of course sanity check
> other references so I don't fry anything.
>
> Steve.
>
>
>

Re: Apple ][ PS

[Jon Elson via cctalk]

On 09/18/2017 03:09 PM, Shoppa, Tim via cctalk wrote:

Local friend has an Apple ][+ with fried and cooked PS PCB. I used to replace a 
capacitor and/or diode when the PS's would do the I-can't-start-click-click but 
it feels like for this one, I'm gonna need a bigger boat.

20+ years ago, complete aftermarket power supply replacements for Apple ][ were 
still available from Jameco and other suppliers. Maybe $40 ballpark.
Is that an MPS-40?  I have an original Plus power 
supply that I'm pretty sure was from an Apple ][ of some model.


Jon

Re: 40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[Steve Malikoff via cctalk]

Chuck said
> Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
>
> When using modern replacement connectors with keys and marked pin 1,
> the translation seems to be pin AA == pin 40.
>
> Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?
>
> -chuck

Not sure if this helps, as its the serial connector
http://www.retrocmp.com/how-tos/interfacing-to-a-pdp-1105/144-interfacing-with-a-pdp-1105-sorting-the-wires

Personally, it's a well-meaning page on a great site, but it confuses my newbie 
knowledge greatly when it says the upper
table should be mounted on every PDP-11, then reckons the lower table is the / 
05 one. The above /05 photo appears to
correspond to the upper table but the lower table is the inverted SCL on the 
/05... is it not? It could do with more
annotation I think. Otherwise, it's WTF for me.
I suppose when I get to powering up my /05 I should of course sanity check 
other references so I don't fry anything.

Steve.

Re: 40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[william degnan via cctalk]

http://www.vintagecomputer.net/teletype/asr33/M9970_TTY.pdf

This is a short pdf that has a nice diagram of the 40 pin molex letters

Bill Degnan
twitter: billdeg
vintagecomputer.net
On Sep 18, 2017 8:41 PM, "Charles Dickman via cctalk" 
wrote:

> and of course there's a typo.
>
> Is pin A == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
>
> On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 8:28 PM, Charles Dickman 
> wrote:
> > Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
> >
> > When using modern replacement connectors with keys and marked pin 1,
> > the translation seems to be pin AA == pin 40.
> >
> > Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?
> >
> > -chuck
>

Re: 40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[Charles Dickman via cctalk]

and of course there's a typo.

Is pin A == pin 1 or pin 40 ?

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 8:28 PM, Charles Dickman  wrote:
> Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?
>
> When using modern replacement connectors with keys and marked pin 1,
> the translation seems to be pin AA == pin 40.
>
> Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?
>
> -chuck

40pin Berg connectors, the DEC alphabet, and pin numbering

[Charles Dickman via cctalk]

Is pin AA == pin 1 or pin 40 ?

When using modern replacement connectors with keys and marked pin 1,
the translation seems to be pin AA == pin 40.

Did DEC have an accepted mapping between the alphabet and numbers?

-chuck

Midwest road trip

[Mark Linimon via cctalk]

I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that I was taking a
road trip to get out the Texas heat.  Now that I've fulfilled
my social obligations in Minnesota, I'm going to work my way over
to Cleveland and then Pittsburg.  I do have the pickup truck with
me so if someone needs to move stuff somewhere in that direction,
let me know.  (Currently in La Crosse, WI, for another 2 nights.)

I don't need to be reimbursed but cold microbrews would be
appreciated :-)

mcl

Re: WTB: SMD drive

[jim stephens via cctalk]

On 9/18/2017 12:22 PM, Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctalk wrote:

(these are only 68 MB disks, the smallest
disk supported on the Convex is the 300 MB CDC drive)
Are these EMD drives?  They had the higher rotational rate, and included 
up to 1.2gb drives in the line.


Our controller and CRC chip couldn't run at the higher rate for the 
newer drives, and we could only use the drives like up to the Memorex 
300mb drives, and the like.


If they are EMD, you might get by with one of the drives that is higher 
capacity, and that has large enough track length, head and cylinder count.


there were no configuration parameters sent by the drive, so if you put 
a drive that exceeded the numbers of one of the drives you list on the 
system, the system would work fine.  We used a low capacity drive size 
when vendors brought in drives, before reconfiguring our controller.  
(It required prom programming to add a drive).


thanks
Jim

Apple ][ PS

[Shoppa, Tim via cctalk]

Local friend has an Apple ][+ with fried and cooked PS PCB. I used to replace a 
capacitor and/or diode when the PS's would do the I-can't-start-click-click but 
it feels like for this one, I'm gonna need a bigger boat.

20+ years ago, complete aftermarket power supply replacements for Apple ][ were 
still available from Jameco and other suppliers. Maybe $40 ballpark.

I recall the ones I bought from Jameco in the 80s and 90s  were Meanwell brand, 
probably the first Meanwells I ever saw.

A quick web search doesn't find these today.

Does anyone know of any drop in replacements still available?

Taking the original aluminum shell and mounting some cheapo Meanwell supplies 
in it seems feasible but I remember some precautionary note about the rail 
sequencing for 4116 DRAM.

Tim N3QE


Sent from my VAX-11/780

Re: WTB: SMD drive

[Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctalk]

On 9/18/17, 3:16 PM, "cctech on behalf of Andrew Back via cctech"
 wrote:


>On 18/09/17 19:48, Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctech wrote:
>> Now that I have the Convex C220 completely up and running again, I¹m
>> hoping to do the same thing for my Convex C1. I just acquired a set of
>> 9-track tapes containing dumped root, /usr, and /mnt filesystems for it.
>> Once I obtain a suitable drive, I could connect it to the C220, restore
>> the filesystems there, and move the disk over to the C1 to serve as its
>> system disk.
>> 
>> So, I¹m in the market for an SMD drive. It has to be one of the
>>following
>> four types though:
>> * Fujitsu M2351 (Eagle)
>> * CDC 9766
>> * NEC D2352
>> * NEC D2363
>> 
>> And I¹d prefer it to be located somewhere in continental Europe (even
>> better if it¹s in the Netherlands).
>
>Apologies if the link for these has already been shared:
>
>
>http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEC-D2246-8-0-FHT-SMD-DISK-DRIVE-UN-TESTED-NEW-O
>LD-STOCK-RARE-VINTAGE-/253049784698
>
>Andrew

I’m aware of those; unfortunately, those are not one of the four types of
disks this system will recognize (these are only 68 MB disks, the smallest
disk supported on the Convex is the 300 MB CDC drive); it really has to be
one of those four on the list above.

Camiel

Re: WTB: SMD drive

[Andrew Back via cctalk]

On 18/09/17 19:48, Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctech wrote:
> Now that I have the Convex C220 completely up and running again, I¹m
> hoping to do the same thing for my Convex C1. I just acquired a set of
> 9-track tapes containing dumped root, /usr, and /mnt filesystems for it.
> Once I obtain a suitable drive, I could connect it to the C220, restore
> the filesystems there, and move the disk over to the C1 to serve as its
> system disk.
> 
> So, I¹m in the market for an SMD drive. It has to be one of the following
> four types though:
> * Fujitsu M2351 (Eagle)
> * CDC 9766
> * NEC D2352
> * NEC D2363
> 
> And I¹d prefer it to be located somewhere in continental Europe (even
> better if it¹s in the Netherlands).

Apologies if the link for these has already been shared:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEC-D2246-8-0-FHT-SMD-DISK-DRIVE-UN-TESTED-NEW-OLD-STOCK-RARE-VINTAGE-/253049784698

Andrew

Re: H7878 Fails Under Even Moderate Load

[shadoooo via cctalk]

hello,
well it's difficult without the piece in hands to understand the circuit,
and without the schematic, but I could give a try.

1)
On a switching PSU, only one output is really stabilized, here it seems 5v.
The other outputs are "unregulated", but in some way related to the
stabilized one, for example via transformer windings ratio.
However, to protect circuits, some voltage range or current range detectors
are added, to avoid these outputs to go outside acceptable values. Maybe
something in these circuits on secondary section detects a false condition
of error, cutting off supply current on primary section.

2)
voltage seems to go high too slowly, as if a soft start is going too slow.
Normally SS is done charging via a resistor a capacitor on the feedback,
affecting maximum current on the primary.
If the capacitor is leaking current, it will charge too slowly, and will
never reach maximum voltage required, so basically you will never have
maximum current in the output.
This could be a small capacitor charged by a done kohm resistor.

Andrea

RE: Convex C220 lives

[Peter Allan via cctalk]

Hi Camiel,

Nice to hear that you have the Convex C220 up and running.

Regarding things to run on it, starting with LINPACK is probably a good
idea. However, in term of what they were actually used for back in the
1980's, I know that they were popular with the radio astronomy community,
starting with the Convex C1. The package called AIPS (Astronomical Image
Processing System) was the most popular way of processing data from
multi-antenna telescopes like the VLA in New Mexico.

AIPS (written in Fortran) is now known as AIPS Classic, to distinguish it
from AIPS++ (written in C++) which was developed in the 1990's. There is
plenty of information about it on the internet. If you have any difficulty
getting the code, let me know as I might be able to help.

AIPS is very portable; before the era of the mini-supers, it ran on a lot
of VAXen (yeah!!) amongst other things.

Cheers

Peter Allan


> -Original Message-
>From: Camiel Vanderhoeven 
>To: cctech 
>Subject: Convex C220 lives
>Message-ID: 
>Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="ISO-8859-1"
>
>For a change, rather than a request for help, here?s a success story: I
>managed to bring a Convex C220 (dual vector CPU mini supercomputer from
>1988) back to life. Both CPUs are working, but I?m running with a single
>CPU because of the power it draws with two CPUs. Next challenges: the
>Convex C1, and quad vector processor C240 (not before I?ve upgraded the
>power feed).
>
>Running ConvexOS 11.5.1, it has FORTRAN 7.0.1 installed; I ran a little
>benchmark, and with a single CPU the system clocks in at 49.1 MFLOPS on a
>big multiply-add loop (advertised peak performance was 50 MFLOPS per CPU).
>
>Getting the system to the state where it is now was quite a journey
>(though nowhere near as bad as it might have been). If you?re interested
>in the details, I have a (somewhat long) report of my work on my website;
>if you go to http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/other-bits/603-convex-c220,
>there are some links at the bottom that have much more details, as well as
>photos of the system and the boards.
>
>Now I?m looking for some FORTRAN code that would typically have run on
>this kind of computer so I can show people what this kind of system was
>used for.
>
>Camiel

WTB: SMD drive

[Camiel Vanderhoeven via cctalk]

Now that I have the Convex C220 completely up and running again, I¹m
hoping to do the same thing for my Convex C1. I just acquired a set of
9-track tapes containing dumped root, /usr, and /mnt filesystems for it.
Once I obtain a suitable drive, I could connect it to the C220, restore
the filesystems there, and move the disk over to the C1 to serve as its
system disk.

So, I¹m in the market for an SMD drive. It has to be one of the following
four types though:
* Fujitsu M2351 (Eagle)
* CDC 9766
* NEC D2352
* NEC D2363

And I¹d prefer it to be located somewhere in continental Europe (even
better if it¹s in the Netherlands).

If anyone has one for sale at a reasonable price, please contact me.

Camiel

Re: Chasing Digiac...

[geneb via cctalk]

On Mon, 18 Sep 2017, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:


From what I can determine off the web, Digiac made quite a range of

training tools, both analog and digital.   One particular one could be a
prize for some collector--a 25-bit (!) mini capable of running FORTRAN:

https://digiac3080.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/nitty-gritty/

Circa 1964.  But nothing that I can find about the 4500, other than
someone having some S100 PCBs for it.

Yeah, the posts regarding the 4500 & S-100 is the system I'm referring to 
- the guy doing the restoration has posted pics on the vcf forum about it. 
We're both trying to find docs for it, or even a sales brochure that 
talked about it.


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_!

Free for pick up - West Chester, Ohio (Cincinnati area) - DEC/Compaq/HP

[John H. Reinhardt via cctalk]

I'm moving from SW Ohio to the Dallas - Fort Worth area.  I have a storage unit 
and basement full of stuff I can't take and I'm looking for someone that wants 
it.  Hopefully in one big load but if I have to I will piece it out.  There are 
two deadlines - one is impossibly close.  I'm leaving town Friday, so if there 
is ANYBODY that can be here and load things from my basement or the storage 
unit 3 miles away by late Thursday, Sept 21st then I want to hear from you.  
Otherwise anything I don't take will probably be in the storage unit and 
available until late October.  But that will be the hard deadline. After that 
it goes to a scrapper.

An incomplete list of items follows.  There are other spares and miscellaneous 
items that are way too many to list.


▪   (2) 42u AlphaServer racks.  36” deep with front and rear doors.
▪   DEC RAID Array R7000/R8000 4x6 storage array.  Currently it has 
in it two HSG80 storage controllers and is set up for 1GB FC access.  I have 2 
or 3 HSZ70 controller cards that came in it originally and they worked at the 
time of removal.  However, I'd been told that there is a NVRAM battery on board 
them that if it dies, the controller dies and can't be restored.  Since they 
have been in storage for about 7 years I'd say they were toast (assuming what 
I'd been told was correct).  It has a range of drives in it from 9.1Gb to 18.2 
or maybe 36GB.  Some of my DEC brick drives had died so I opened them up and 
replaced them with Seagate drives of larger capacity.  I have a few extra empty 
containers as well as some extra power supplies.
▪   HP EVA3000 - in pieces - No management workstation.
⁃   (2) HSV110 Controller
⁃   (2) FC-AL hubs
⁃   (3) MSA 5314 Fibre storage shelves
⁃   (x) 36GB Fibre drives
⁃   (x) bus cables, hubs, misc parts.
▪   HP MSA1500cs - 4 SCSI modules, 2 FC modules
▪   HP MSA1500cs - Unknown configuration - probably 1 SCSI module, 
1 FC module
▪   HP MSA20 w/12 750GB LFF drives
▪   (3) Compaq 4314 SCSI Dual bus storage shells with 18GB and 36GB 
drives
▪   (2) HP DL380 G3 Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, SA6400 RAID, 2GB FC, 
6x36GB SCSI disk
▪   HP DL380 G3 Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM, SA6400 RAID, 2GB FC, 
6x36GB SCSI disk
▪   (2) HP DL360 G3 1-4GB memory, 2 SCSI drives 9.1GB or 18.2GB
▪   (2) HP DL360 G1 1-4GB memory, 2 SCSI drives 9.1GB or 18.2GB
▪   (2) DEC AlphaServer 800's.  500MHz CPU, I think they have 2GB 
of memory each and a couple 9GB hard drives in the disk slots.  Each has at 
least one SCSI card and a 1GB FC card. I think they have a DEC DE500 or a 
Compaq NC31xx series 100Meg network card.
▪   (1) DEC AlphaServer 1200 and (1) DEC Digital Server 5305 Each of these 
has two 500MHz CPUs and also 2GB of memory.  They each have several of the DEC 
StorageWorks disk "bricks" and at least 2 SCSI cards and a 1GB FC card.  They 
also have a DEC DE500 or a Compaq NC31xx series 100Meg network card.  The “white box” 
5305 has NVRAM modified to run OpenVMS
▪   DEC Alphastation 255 that won't boot due to a hardware fault.  
Might be memory but I never looked into it.  IIRC, memory for that system was 
tough to come by.
▪   DEC/Compaq PWS533 that hasn't been run in a while.  
Configuration unknown.
▪   HP ZX2000 is a 1.4GHz system, faster than most out there.  Has 
1GB of memory and I have 2GB here that I never got around to installing.  It's 
got two 250GB IDE drives, 1 IDE CDRom and a Plexor PX-716a SCSI cd burner.  
Currently it's got Windows 2000 server (IA64 version) on it. Theoretically 
OpenVMS can be installed but you need a SCSI card/drives.  I think I bought a 
compatible SCSI card but I never got around to installing it.
▪   HP ZX6000 is either a dual 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz system.  Memory is 
unknown but I've got enough around here to put up to 6GB in it.
▪   (2) HP RX2600 dual 1.4GHz CPU systems.  Each has at least 4GB 
of memory, 3x36GB SCSI drives, DVD Optical Drive, 2GB FC card and a management 
processor card.
▪   Compaq TL891 tape library with two TK89 DLT drives.  Was in 
working condition 8 years ago when replaced with
▪   Compaq SSL2020 library with 2 Sony AIT-2 drives  50/100GB 
capacity tapes.  Also was in working condition when it was replaced with
▪   Compaq SSL2020 library with 2 Sony AIT-2 drives  50/100GB 
capacity tapes.  About 50 nearly new tape cartridges available. Also was in 
working condition when it was replaced with
▪   Compaq MSL5026 with (2) SDLT 1  160/320GB drives.  Drives are 
SCSI. Has NSR1200 FC interface card in library also in working condition when 
replaced with a MSL2024 LTO library.
▪   Several Compaq/HP SAN switches.  1 really old Compaq 1GB 

Re: ICL 1501 terminal available in Sweden.

[jos via cctalk]

Hi Mattis,


I am certainly interested, but Sweden is big
Where about are they ? What kind of money is he looking for ?



Best regards, Jos Dreesen




/Mattis

Free Alpha Server 2100 (USA Mid Atlantic)

[Fran Smith via cctalk]

Hiya,

Free as in Beer come and get it. Its complete including disk drives and 
other than dusty is in pretty good shape. I am in the Baltimore City 
area and it must be gone by this weekend. Or I will break it down 
Saturday and recycle the rest.


Also I have some other stuff that is related I might throw in.

I lied about the Free but not the Beer. But I would love it if a six 
pack of nice Autumm Craft beer was dropped off.


Fran

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Re: Free Acorn RISC OS kit offer (California, USA)

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On 18 September 2017 at 16:51, Zane Healy  wrote:
> I can’t help but think that in the US, this belongs in a museum.

I agree and that is Peter's thought as well.

>
> For those wanting to give RISC OS a try, it’s available for the Raspberry Pi 
> (and yes, that’s why I bought a Pi).

Yes, I have a bootable RISC OS µSD card for my own RasPi 3. :-)


> I would have thought that the RISC OS community would be appreciative of an 
> app such as Firefox being available.

You would think, wouldn't you?

However, by RISC OS standards it is a huge and very slow app, and
being a ported Unix app, it does not follow RISC OS user interface
conventions.

http://www.osnews.com/story/15798/The-Slightly-Strange-World-of-RISC-OS/

So it was not widely adopted, nobody helped with the port, and it sort
of withered on the vine. Tragic given the amount of effort that Peter
put into it.

He developed a library offering a Unix API to apps running under RISC OS:

http://www.riscos.info/index.php/UnixLib

There was, I think, an existing port of GCC:

http://www.riscos.info/index.php/GCCSDK

But again, RISC OS users didn't like it as you couldn't readily built
RISC OS itself and RISC OS apps with it -- for that, you needed
Acorn's very expensive Norcroft C compiler.

Peter also wrote another library allowing X.11 apps to run under RISC OS:

http://www.riscos.info/index.php/ChoX11

It also supported other apps, including SDL for some games:

http://www.drobe.co.uk/article.php?id=655=peter+naulls

They, or rather he with a little assistance, ported a number of apps
and provided dev tools.

https://archive.org/details/cdrom-riscos-cunix

But the apps were considered large, inefficient, they did not blend in
with existing RISC OS apps, so nobody else got on board.

Also, RISC OS was and is proprietary and there's a strong culture of
paying for software and hardware. There are commercial apps which on
other platforms would be considered toys. They have the attitude that
anything that's free can't be any good. The community is surprisingly
lively, but they're mostly quite elderly now -- I used to go to the
meetings in London and in my mid-40s was most often the youngest
person there. They are 60-70 year olds who reluctantly moved to GUI
computing some 30-odd years back and do not want to move on again,
particularly to foreign (i.e. non-British) software which is, by RISC
OS standards, huge and slow and inefficient.

I have some sympathy -- I cut my teeth on RISC OS myself, and I retain
a fondness for it. It was a blisteringly quick OS with a powerful,
elegant UI. The _only_ other desktop OS I've ever used that came close
was BeOS.

OS/2, Windows, Linux and *BSD, all are horrid sprawling messes of
half-implemented cruft by comparison. :-D

I never even really "got" the Amiga and AmigaOS -- I chose an
Archimedes instead and never regretted it for a second.

All IMHO natch and I do not mean to represent any individual.

Anyway, in the end, Peter took another job and basically dropped his
involvement with the RO community. Tragic, but I understand why.

Anyway, I think this is to whom he offered the machines:

http://www.computerhistory.org/

Whether anyone else would want them, e.g.
http://www.livingcomputers.org/ I do not know.

But I hope someone rescues them.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven • Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 • ČR/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053

Re: Free to a good home: Sun Ultra 1, Cisco routers, PDUs

[Mark Linimon via cctalk]

On Mon, Sep 04, 2017 at 09:21:06PM -0700, Ryan Finnie via cctalk wrote:
> - Two 2U BayTech RPC9E remote PDUs, 20 5-15R outlets each, L5-20P plugs.
>  You can control these via serial (with an odd pinout), telnet, and IIRC
> SSH.

Have you given these away yet?

If not, can you tell me if they are the "RCP92-20NC" ones?  Or, at least,
if there is an Ethernet jack on it.

Thanks.

mcl

Re: Free Acorn RISC OS kit offer (California, USA)

[Zane Healy via cctalk]

I can’t help but think that in the US, this belongs in a museum.

For those wanting to give RISC OS a try, it’s available for the Raspberry Pi 
(and yes, that’s why I bought a Pi).

I would have thought that the RISC OS community would be appreciative of an app 
such as Firefox being available.

Zane



> On Sep 18, 2017, at 4:13 AM, Liam Proven via cctech  
> wrote:
> 
> Peter Naulls is the creator of the Unix Porting Project, which
> successfully created Acorn RISC OS versions of some FOSS Unix apps
> such as Firefox:
> 
> http://www.riscos.info/index.php/Unix_Porting_Project
> 
> Alas it never really caught on as Acorn users tend to be very insular
> and did not understand the significance of this remarkable tool.
> 
> He relocated from the UK to California a few years ago.
> 
> He no longer works on RISC OS stuff and he wishes to dispose of the
> machines that he took with him -- an original Acorn RISC PC and a
> Castle Technologies Iyonix.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RiscPC
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyonix_PC
> 
> Apparently the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley has turned
> them down after initially indicating interest.
> 
> He hopes that  they will be preserved in a collection or museum,
> ideally for public display or failing that a private one. He's not
> looking for money for them. As he puts it, "there's history there".
> 
> He has given me written permission to post here and give his email
> address, which is his forename, "peter" -- the domain is chocky.org.
> 
> I know Acorn kit is relatively rate States-side so I thought this
> might be of interest...
> 
> I don't have much more info but I will help if I can. Best to contact
> him directly, though.
> 
> -- 
> Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
> Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
> Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven • Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven
> UK: +44 7939-087884 • ČR/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053

Re: Chasing Digiac...

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

On 09/17/2017 11:17 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
> yep Allison - noticed the date  but once posted... alas too  late. too 
> late. 
> I  would like to  find the  1966  one by the  same  name  though! Ed#

>From what I can determine off the web, Digiac made quite a range of
training tools, both analog and digital.   One particular one could be a
prize for some collector--a 25-bit (!) mini capable of running FORTRAN:

https://digiac3080.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/nitty-gritty/

Circa 1964.  But nothing that I can find about the 4500, other than
someone having some S100 PCBs for it.

--Chuck

Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 39, Issue 15

[Fred via cctalk]

On Sat, 16 Sep 2017, Guy Sotomayor Jr wrote:



Sorry ?bout that Fred!  But it does have a good home!  ;-)  I?ve just 
been too busy lately to really do much with it yet.


Yeah, no problem.  Once I saw that you had won, I was a little less 
annoyed. :)   I was just glad it didn't go to a scrapper or someone who 
didn't know what it was!



In terms of my last name, I?ve pretty much seen it all.  ;-)  BTW, the US
Supreme Court Justice with the same last name as mine is actually my 2nd
cousin!  ;-)  Which brings me to my little riddle: What do a US Supreme
Court Justice, a medieval Spanish castle and Christopher Columbus all have
in common?  ;-)


Actually it was not only me not wanting to butcher your name, but also 
being too lazy to copy and paste it from the list archives ... ;)



There is an MP 3000 on eBay at the moment (but it?s a littlepricey): 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/7060-H30-IBM-S390-Multiprise-3000-Enterpri
se-server-H30/27274154?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438
.l2649


I'll check it out.  Normally the ones I see are either way too far away or 
they want crazy money for something that "worked when turned off but 
hasn't been turned on in 10 years.".  Sometimes they also are slow to 
respond to the critical questions i.e. is the laptop there and intact, 
etc.  So I pass.  I want something that will work out of the gate with 
at least all the pieces parts present.


Fred

Free Acorn RISC OS kit offer (California, USA)

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

Peter Naulls is the creator of the Unix Porting Project, which
successfully created Acorn RISC OS versions of some FOSS Unix apps
such as Firefox:

http://www.riscos.info/index.php/Unix_Porting_Project

Alas it never really caught on as Acorn users tend to be very insular
and did not understand the significance of this remarkable tool.

He relocated from the UK to California a few years ago.

He no longer works on RISC OS stuff and he wishes to dispose of the
machines that he took with him -- an original Acorn RISC PC and a
Castle Technologies Iyonix.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RiscPC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyonix_PC

Apparently the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley has turned
them down after initially indicating interest.

He hopes that  they will be preserved in a collection or museum,
ideally for public display or failing that a private one. He's not
looking for money for them. As he puts it, "there's history there".

He has given me written permission to post here and give his email
address, which is his forename, "peter" -- the domain is chocky.org.

I know Acorn kit is relatively rate States-side so I thought this
might be of interest...

I don't have much more info but I will help if I can. Best to contact
him directly, though.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • Google Mail/Talk/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven • Skype/LinkedIn/AIM/Yahoo: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 • ČR/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal: +420 702 829 053

Re: ICL 1501 terminal available in Sweden.

[Neil Thompson via cctalk]

In the early 1980s I was working for a large grocery chain (Checkers) here
in South Africa and the ICL 15xx boxes were used as branch level machines
connected via our country-wide network to the central data processing
facility with ICL 2900-type machines running VME/B.  The 15xx programmes
were written in BASIC.

On 18 September 2017 at 02:06, Ed Sharpe via cctalk 
wrote:

> looks like a good catch for someone... we have never seen these
> before   Ed#
>
> Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
>
> On Sunday, September 17, 2017 Torfinn Ingolfsen via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 17, 2017 at 10:01 PM, Mattis Lind via cctalk
>  wrote:
> > In a closed Facebook group in Sweden there is someone that want to sell a
> > number of ICL1501 terminals.
> >
> >
> > https://i.imgur.com/GvwCeEw.jpg
> > https://i.imgur.com/WdzXiNw.jpg
> > https://i.imgur.com/EXAV19v.jpg
> >
> > They have two small tape drives that uses what it seem standard audio
> > tapes. The terminals seems to be very ICL specific.
> >
> > If there are interest in these I could get you in contact with the
> seller.
>
> There doesn't seem to be any information about ICL terminals at the
> Terminals wiki http://terminals-wiki.org/
>
> But some information is found
> http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/
> dev_en/icl1501/icl1501.html
>
> looks like these are a bit more than terminals
>
> --
> Regards,
> Torfinn Ingolfsen
>

Re: Chasing Digiac...

[Ed via cctalk]

yep Allison - noticed the date  but once posted... alas too  late. too 
late. 
I  would like to  find the  1966  one by the  same  name  though! Ed#
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/17/2017 9:50:32 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

Huge  temporal disconnect.

The smcc manual is from 1966...  S100 was  first seen as the MITS altair
in late 1974.

Allison


On  09/17/2017 03:03 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
> well there is  this  total  cool  book and picture! 
>  
>  http://www.smecc.org/digiac.htm
>  
> we  would love  to  find the system!
>  
>  
>
> 
>  From:  cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Reply-to: ge...@deltasoft.com
> To:   cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Sent: 9/17/2017 11:55:38 A.M. US Mountain  Standard  Time
> Subj: Chasing Digiac...
>
>
>  I'm trying to find out more information about a Digiac 4500  S-100 bus  
> system that will eventually be coming my way.  The machine   was 
originally 
> obtained through an estate sale and all the docs  were  thrown out. :(
>
> It appears to be some kind of  computer system trainer,  but information 
on 

> the 'net is  VERY scarce.  In fact, the only time  I've found "Digiac 
4500"  
> _anywhere_ is where it's listed as having  software support in  an ad for 
a 
> robot  arm.
>
> Thanks!
>
>  g.
>
>