Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Don North]

On 6/8/2016 5:56 PM, Paul Koning wrote:

On Jun 8, 2016, at 6:46 PM, Jay West  wrote:

I wrote...
On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:

23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

To which mike replied...

Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...

BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?

Possibly, but some (me) are sticklers for original code. Plus, I am not sure, 
but I think someone said this rom did something really bizarre to fit in the 
available rom space - self modifying code or something...

MSCP isn't all that hard.  The RSTS secondary loader fits in one block, and it 
contains not just code to speak MSCP but also enough room for a map of pointers 
to where the code to load lives (as opposed to the primary boot which just has 
to load one block from address zero).

paul


In an M9312 boot PROM there are 49. words of bootstrap space that are available 
for code and data. Getting an MSCP boot to fit in that space required playing 
some tricks like treating some specially crafted instructions as data values 
(and vice versa).



--
Don North
AK6DN

Re: SunOS 4

[Pete Plank]

> On Jun 8, 2016, at 7:51 PM, Seth Morabito  wrote:
> If you have a Sun3, you can grab SunOS-4.1.3_U1B.iso.gz.
> 
> -Seth
> -- 
> Seth Morabito
> s...@loomcom.com 

There’s also a decent SunOS collection for Sun3/3x available on the Sun3/3x 
archive at: https://www.sun3arc.org/BootTapes/index.phtml 

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Don North]

On 6/8/2016 5:56 PM, Mike Ross wrote:

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 12:27 PM, John Robertson  wrote:


No way the M9312 can self modify, it is a burn once PROM -

I kinda assumed it was a case of copying itself to RAM and
self-modifying as it runs there - if it ever happened.

Mike


As it happens the 23-760A9 TT/PR boot PROM does this copy by building a 
bootstrap
sequence in RAM, and then jumping to it. Once it is built it is not self 
modifying, however.


Ref:  http://ak6dn.dyndns.org/PDP-11/M9312/23-760A9/23-760A9.lst

--
Don North
AK6DN

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Mike Ross]

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 12:27 PM, John Robertson  wrote:
> On 06/08/2016 3:46 PM, Jay West wrote:
>>
>> I wrote...
>> On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:
>>>
>>> 23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81
>>
>> To which mike replied...
>> 
>> Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
>> UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...
>>
>> BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312
>> ROMs?
>> 
>> Possibly, but some (me) are sticklers for original code. Plus, I am not
>> sure, but I think someone said this rom did something really bizarre to fit
>> in the available rom space - self modifying code or something...
>>
>
> No way the M9312 can self modify, it is a burn once PROM -

I kinda assumed it was a case of copying itself to RAM and
self-modifying as it runs there - if it ever happened.

Mike

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: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Paul Koning]

> On Jun 8, 2016, at 6:46 PM, Jay West  wrote:
> 
> I wrote...
> On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:
>> 23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81
> 
> To which mike replied...
> 
> Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
> UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...
> 
> BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?
> 
> Possibly, but some (me) are sticklers for original code. Plus, I am not sure, 
> but I think someone said this rom did something really bizarre to fit in the 
> available rom space - self modifying code or something...

MSCP isn't all that hard.  The RSTS secondary loader fits in one block, and it 
contains not just code to speak MSCP but also enough room for a map of pointers 
to where the code to load lives (as opposed to the primary boot which just has 
to load one block from address zero).

paul

Re: SunOS 4

[Seth Morabito]

* On Tue, Jun 07, 2016 at 10:32:09AM -0400, Bryan C. Everly 
 wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have really fond memories of this operating system (from before the
> SVR4 Solaris days).  It was the first UNIX I used (and I'm still a big
> BSD fan).
> 
> (Not sure what the protocol is here for asking something like this so
> if I run afoul of a copyright policy or something, just tell me to
> stop asking and I will.)
> 
> Is there any way someone can get their hands on an install disc for
> this?  I have some old SPARC hardware that it would be fun to run on
> if I could find the installer.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bryan

Hi Bryan,

I don't suppose anyone will be too upset if I share my SunOS stuff
on the web.

For now I've put it at:

http://www.loomcom.com/SunOS

You'll probably want SunOS-4.1.4.iso.gz, which should expand to
about 380MB or so. Patches are under sunos_414_patches

If you have a Sun3, you can grab SunOS-4.1.3_U1B.iso.gz.

-Seth
-- 
Seth Morabito
s...@loomcom.com

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[John Robertson]

On 06/08/2016 3:46 PM, Jay West wrote:

I wrote...
On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:

23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

To which mike replied...

Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...

BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?

Possibly, but some (me) are sticklers for original code. Plus, I am not sure, 
but I think someone said this rom did something really bizarre to fit in the 
available rom space - self modifying code or something...

Data I/O 29B

J





No way the M9312 can self modify, it is a burn once PROM - 
82S137/Am27S32/74S573 (1024x4-TS) and can easily be read and blown on a 
Data I/O 29B.


If you have a good copy of the original code it WILL replicate on a new 
PROM just fine.


Reference page of the files:

http://www.bluefeathertech.com/technoid/promfiles.html

John :-#)#

--
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, VideoGames)
 www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out"

RE: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Jay West]

I wrote...
On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:
> 23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

To which mike replied...

Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...

BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?

Possibly, but some (me) are sticklers for original code. Plus, I am not sure, 
but I think someone said this rom did something really bizarre to fit in the 
available rom space - self modifying code or something...

Data I/O 29B

J

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Mike Ross]

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:
> 23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...

BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?

Mike

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: IO Selectric

[Chuck Guzis]

I just did a quick check--the Yahoo golfballtypewritershop group does
have the Louis Sander 1983 article from Micro magazine about converting
an I/O selectric for general computer use.

There's also a two parter on the I/O Selectric theory of operation.

You should have enough there to keep you busy.

--Chuck

Re: IO Selectric

[Chuck Guzis]

On 06/08/2016 02:11 PM, Dave Wade wrote:

> 
> sorry for the long link. Does anyone have any suggestions as to
> which manuals are appropriate, and which documentation was followed
> to allow it to be used as a printer?


Don't know if it'll help but the Yahoo group "golfballtypewritershop"
does have manuals and a lot of expertise:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/golfballtypewritershop/info

--Chuck

IO Selectric

[Dave Wade]

Folks
I have today collect a recent E-Bay purchase. It appears to be an IO
Selectric that has been left in a garage for a long period of time and is
very gummed up. It will turn over with the manual handle, and it appears to
try and type, but the carriage does not advance. All the tapes and chords
appear to be in place. I have put some pictures here:-

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!119461&authkey=!AGfgR
GXKAjqDm7E&ithint=folder%2cJPG

sorry for the long link. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which
manuals are appropriate, and which documentation was followed to allow it to
be used as a printer?

Dave Wade
G4UGM

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Don North]

On 6/8/2016 3:13 PM, Mike Ross wrote:

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:

23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...

BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?

I have tried to compress/adapt the TMSCP boot in the PDP11 SIMH device driver, a 
bootstrap listing in a DEC tech manual, and using the programming concepts 
(hacks) in the MSCP DU M9312 boot prom 23-767A9, and have not been able to get a 
valid code image that fits in the PROM and has all the required functionality. 
So DEC must have taken some magic shortcut to get working TU boot code in the 
23-E39A9 PROM.


As to programming parts, I use an EETools TopMax programmer that I have had for 
years. It will do just about any of the older programmable devices. There are 
other programmers around (old DataIO's for example) that can do these bipolar 
PROMs.


Also, M9312 boot PROMs are typically 82S131 (or equiv) 512x4 tristate devices, 
but only half the device is used; the other half of the device is never accessed 
on the M9312 and is just blank filled.  An 82S129 (or equiv) 256x4 tristate 
device works just as well as a boot PROM as the upper address pin becomes an 
active low chip select, and this pin is pulled low on the M9312 board.


--
Don North
AK6DN

Actually the page listed below is a big out of date with respect to some M9312 
images (it is not an up to date mirror).

The up to date page is at:  http://ak6dn.dyndns.org/PDP-11/M9312/

Also note the 82S137/Am27S32/74S573 (1024x4-TS) device list applies to the 
CONSOLE PROMs, not the BOOT PROMs.


On 6/8/2016 5:27 PM, John Robertson wrote:


No way the M9312 can self modify, it is a burn once PROM - 
82S137/Am27S32/74S573 (1024x4-TS) and can easily be read and blown on a Data 
I/O 29B.


If you have a good copy of the original code it WILL replicate on a new PROM 
just fine.


Reference page of the files:

http://www.bluefeathertech.com/technoid/promfiles.html

John :-#)#




--
Don North
AK6DN

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Don North]

On 6/8/2016 3:13 PM, Mike Ross wrote:

On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Jay West  wrote:

23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

Could that not be reverse-engineered from the boot code in e.g. Emulex
UC17 ROMs? They could do TMSCP...

BTW what PROM blower would folks recommend for creating/imaging M9312 ROMs?

I have tried to compress/adapt the TMSCP boot in the PDP11 SIMH device driver, a 
bootstrap listing in a DEC tech manual, and using the programming concepts 
(hacks) in the MSCP DU M9312 boot prom 23-767A9, and have not been able to get a 
valid code image that fits in the PROM and has all the required functionality. 
So DEC must have taken some magic shortcut to get working TU boot code in the 
23-E39A9 PROM.


As to programming parts, I use an EETools TopMax programmer that I have had for 
years. It will do just about any of the older programmable devices. There are 
other programmers around (old DataIO's for example) that can do these bipolar PROMs.


Also, M9312 boot PROMs are typically 82S131 (or equiv) 512x4 tristate devices, 
but only half the device is used; the other half of the device is never accessed 
on the M9312 and is just blank filled.  An 82S129 (or equiv) 256x4 tristate 
device works just as well as a boot PROM as the upper address pin becomes an 
active low chip select, and this pin is pulled low on the M9312 board.


--
Don North
AK6DN

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Mark J. Blair]

> On Jun 8, 2016, at 09:34, Evan Koblentz  wrote:
> Give us a break, this is fundraising for a non-profit.

I wasn't trying to be critical at all. I just didn't make the connection that 
the auction was the specific announcement that you were referring to.

-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X 
http://www.nf6x.net/

Updates to the Alpha Micro Phun Machine

[Cameron Kaiser]

For those of you not on vcfed, yes, this is a real, live Alpha Micro Eagle
300 with AlphaTCP serving you information on the unusual Alpha Micro 68K
systems and their peculiar DEC-like operating system, AMOS.

New in this iteration is a lot of link cleanup, some custodial edits and a
number of new downloads, including a tool for browsing ISO 9660 CDs and
even a Rogue/Nethack port!

http://ampm.floodgap.com/

(And if you don't believe it's an Alpha Micro:)

http://ampm.floodgap.com/cgi-bin/systat

-- 
 personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckai...@floodgap.com
-- Bowl angry. 

Re: Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

[P Gebhardt]

> I asked my DEC dealer friends, and they said the PN will be on the metal 
> handles. If you can provide those, then he can tell u what they went to.
> 
> Cindy
> 



Hi Cindy,

thanks for your reply. I will look them up tomorrow as soon as I have access to 
the boards again.

Cheers,
Pierre

Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

[Geoffrey Oltmans]

If you're in the neighborhood of a DX2-66 IIRC, 486DX 50s with VLB were
fairly desirable vs a 486DX2-66 if you got the right mix of VLB cards to
use, since you could run the VLB cards faster.

Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

[Geoffrey Oltmans]

On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 6:16 PM, Chuck Guzis  wrote:

>
> 2.88M 3.5" floppies were a huge mistake (there were also 2.88M 5.25"
> ones as well).  The media was expensive (I think I paid nearly $50 for
> box of 10 DSED floppies and the drives needed FDC support.  That being
> said, most P2 and later boxes did have 2.88M FDC support.  Drives were
> uncommon (e.g. Teac FD235J).  I think that I've seen all of about five
> floppies in for conversion over the last 20 years in 2.88M format.
>
>
given the poor track record of 3.5" DSHD media I've had in my collection, I
can only imagine how unreliable ED media is/was.

IO Selectric

[Dave Wade]

Folks
I have today collect a recent E-Bay purchase. It appears to be an IO
Selectric that has been left in a garage for a long period of time and is
very gummed up. It will turn over with the manual handle, and it appears to
try and type, but the carriage does not advance. All the tapes and chords
appear to be in place. I have put some pictures here:-
 
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!119461

&authkey=!AGfgRGXKAjqDm7E&ithint=folder%2cJPG
 
sorry for the long link. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which
manuals are appropriate, and which documentation was followed to allow it to
be used as a printer?
 
Dave Wade
G4UGM
 

Re: SunOS 4

[Eric Christopherson]

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 3:06 PM, Josh Dersch  wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Josh Dersch  wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Swift Griggs 
> > wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, 8 Jun 2016, Plamen Mihaylov wrote:
> >> > SunOS 4.1.4 sun4 iso image is available at
> >> > https://winworldpc.com/download/3E59C28A-18DA-11E4-99E5-7054D21A8599
> >>
> >> Methinks it's bogus. It's only 40.23MB in size on that site. I have the
> >> ISO on my file server at home and that's not even close:
> >>
> >> $ du -h *
> >> 315Msunos414_sparc_1994.iso
> >>
> >
> > The file is compressed, and since everything on the CD is basically
> > uncompressed tar archives, it compresses quite well.
> >
>
> Addendum:  "everything on the CD is basically uncompressed tar archives
> *and empty space*"
>
> - Josh
>
>
> >
> > It uncompresses to an  ISO of 329,297,920 bytes and the ISO contains what
> > looks like a valid installation.
> >
> > - Josh
>
>
Now if anyone can dig up the patches I'll be happy.

Re: SunOS 4

[Josh Dersch]

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Josh Dersch  wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Swift Griggs 
> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 8 Jun 2016, Plamen Mihaylov wrote:
>> > SunOS 4.1.4 sun4 iso image is available at
>> > https://winworldpc.com/download/3E59C28A-18DA-11E4-99E5-7054D21A8599
>>
>> Methinks it's bogus. It's only 40.23MB in size on that site. I have the
>> ISO on my file server at home and that's not even close:
>>
>> $ du -h *
>> 315Msunos414_sparc_1994.iso
>>
>
> The file is compressed, and since everything on the CD is basically
> uncompressed tar archives, it compresses quite well.
>

Addendum:  "everything on the CD is basically uncompressed tar archives
*and empty space*"

- Josh


>
> It uncompresses to an  ISO of 329,297,920 bytes and the ISO contains what
> looks like a valid installation.
>
> - Josh
>
>
>
>>
>> -Swift
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: SunOS 4

[Josh Dersch]

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Swift Griggs  wrote:

> On Wed, 8 Jun 2016, Plamen Mihaylov wrote:
> > SunOS 4.1.4 sun4 iso image is available at
> > https://winworldpc.com/download/3E59C28A-18DA-11E4-99E5-7054D21A8599
>
> Methinks it's bogus. It's only 40.23MB in size on that site. I have the
> ISO on my file server at home and that's not even close:
>
> $ du -h *
> 315Msunos414_sparc_1994.iso
>

The file is compressed, and since everything on the CD is basically
uncompressed tar archives, it compresses quite well.

It uncompresses to an  ISO of 329,297,920 bytes and the ISO contains what
looks like a valid installation.

- Josh



>
> -Swift
>
>
>

Re: SunOS 4

[Swift Griggs]

On Wed, 8 Jun 2016, Plamen Mihaylov wrote:
> SunOS 4.1.4 sun4 iso image is available at
> https://winworldpc.com/download/3E59C28A-18DA-11E4-99E5-7054D21A8599

Methinks it's bogus. It's only 40.23MB in size on that site. I have the 
ISO on my file server at home and that's not even close:

$ du -h *
315Msunos414_sparc_1994.iso

-Swift

PS/2 luggables I noticed for sale in Denver

[Swift Griggs]

I saw some retro gear on CL today. 

20Mhz 386 PS/2 lookin' thing
http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/5589047344.html
which is this:
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/30497/IBM-Model-8573-121/

And this one:
http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/5589142407.html
which is this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_Convertible

I'm not an IBM nut (sorry, I worked there too long). However, they are 
cool machines. Someone might be interested.

-Swift

RE: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Jay West]

23-E39A9 is still lost to time, afaik. TMSCP - TU81

J

UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[william degnan]

Posted an inventory of my M9312 ROMs

http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=638

b

-- 
@ BillDeg:
Web: vintagecomputer.net
Twitter: @billdeg 
Youtube: @billdeg 
Unauthorized Bio 

Re: UNIBUS M9312 ROMS

[Al Kossow]

decnet ethernet boot still MIA :-(


On 6/8/16 11:24 AM, william degnan wrote:
> Posted an inventory of my M9312 ROMs
> 
> http://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=638
> 
> b
> 

Re: SunOS 4

[Plamen Mihaylov]

SunOS 4.1.4 sun4 iso image is available at
https://winworldpc.com/download/3E59C28A-18DA-11E4-99E5-7054D21A8599

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 4:08 PM, geneb  wrote:

> On Tue, 7 Jun 2016, Stefan Skoglund (lokal användare) wrote:
>
> tis 2016-06-07 klockan 10:55 -0700 skrev Chris Hanson:
>>
>>> I know MemoryX in Santa Clara has at least recently had full boxed
>>> copies of SunOS 4.1.4 (aka Solaris 1.1.3) available for something like $99.
>>>
>>> I'm unaware of whether Sun SPARC hardware carries a license for the OS
>>> with which it shipped. Some hardware companies did that, others bound the
>>> license to the media, still others bound it to a maintenance contract.
>>>
>>>   -- Chris
>>>
>>
>> SunOS : no trouble - historically "a machine" == "a license"
>>
>> No patches available now.
>>
>
> Check archive.org - ftp.sun.com may have been grabbed.
>
> g.
>
> --
> Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
> http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
> http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
> Some people collect things for a hobby.  Geeks collect hobbies.
>
> ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
> A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
> http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
>

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Cameron Kaiser]

> I seem to have missed the announcement in the noise, unless you were
> referring to the Woz-signed Apple auction. Northern CA is nice, but it's
> farther than I wish to drive. ;)

I'll be up there. I think I'm in the same region as you. My wife is coming
also.

-- 
 personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckai...@floodgap.com
-- Perl scripting: the ultimate open source software. -

Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

[Cameron Kaiser]

> > Those were machines with 3.5" 720K as the only internal drives. 
> > Possibility of other kinds of drives externally. But, 3.5" 720K
> > drives became available at that time (PC-DOS 3.20) as external drives
> > and/or as internal for 5150/5160/5170.
> 
> The first (intimate) contact I had with 3.5 diskette drives

Hey, I'm EATING HERE.

-- 
 personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckai...@floodgap.com
-- Maybe this world is another planet's hell. -- Aldous Huxley 

RE: Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

[Electronics Plus]

I asked my DEC dealer friends, and they said the PN will be on the metal 
handles. If you can provide those, then he can tell u what they went to.

Cindy

-Original Message-
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of P Gebhardt
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2016 4:51 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

>>the 50x number with the letter behind it could be a dec board number.
>
>
>The 50 class could be the artwork, and the letter the board rev.  If that is 
>the case, there is probably a 54- class on the other side of the board one 
>number higher. The 54  number is the board with components, and can be tracked 
>down, but not easily. 
>


Thanks for this hint, Paul. I rechecked for numbers, but couldn't any 
54-numbers on the boards.

>>They could have been renamed by another company. 
>


It looks very much to me like original DEC equipment.


>>Any other print in the etch?
>


Interestingly, the prints in the etches are those I stated and all have an X 
prior to the actual number.

>>Any pictures?
>


Yes, I uploaded some at 

http://www.digitalheritage.de/other/dec_mystery_boards/


I still have not clue what these boards are for. Any help is highly appreciated!

Thanks,
Pierre


>>
>
>On Sat, May 28, 2016 at 5:51 AM, P Gebhardt  wrote:
>
>Hello list,
>>
>>I recently got a bunch of boards from somebody who was either not able to 
>>tell me where they were from.
>>The boards seem to be unibus-based with numbers starting with X. I neither 
>>came across these before, nor could find any information in the web about it:
>>
>>Type, P/N , Description
>>X029, 5013132B, AUC interconnect
>>X022, 5012197C, unibuswindow
>>X021, 5012181C, CD ROM control (did that ever exist for unibus?)
>>
>>X020, 5012180B, data path
>>
>>
>>
>>Two 16K mos memory modules M7847 came with the set.
>>
>>
>>No backplane, unfortunately.
>>Any hints about the type of system and application these boards were for?
>>Many thanks for any pointers.
>>
>>Wish a nice weekend to all of you,
>>Pierre
>>
>>
>>---
>>
>>Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: 
>>http://www.digitalheritage.de
>>
>
>
>

Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 06/08/2016 06:50 AM, Fred Cisin wrote:

> Those were machines with 3.5" 720K as the only internal drives. 
> Possibility of other kinds of drives externally. But, 3.5" 720K
> drives became available at that time (PC-DOS 3.20) as external drives
> and/or as internal for 5150/5160/5170.

The first (intimate) contact I had with 3.5 diskette drives was a
contract to do the BIOS for a Z80 luggable made by an outfit called
Preis.  I still have the BIOS, but not the machine.  The big advantage
was that one could fit two floppies and a hard drive in the same box
with the system boards and display.   IIRC, the floppies were the
half-height Sony OA32's; single-sided 66 track, 600 RPM.  (I'd have to
refer to my notes to be certain).  It was pretty nifty, but not
overwhelmingly so.

I'm not even sure that the product ever made it to market.

--Chuck

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Evan Koblentz]

I'm hoping for VCF Southern California. It's probably not VCF Southern 
California. Is it VCF Southern California? :)


Read list your emails. :)  It was not VCF Southern California.

But northern California is nice too.


I seem to have missed the announcement in the noise, unless you were referring 
to the Woz-signed Apple auction.


Yes. And also a Felsenstein-autographed Sol-20.

Give us a break, this is fundraising for a non-profit.



Northern CA is nice, but it's farther than I wish to drive. ;)


Don't know what to tell you. People attend VCF East/West (and the indy 
shows, too) from many times zones and even other countries/continents.

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Geoffrey Oltmans]

On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 10:58 AM, Mark J. Blair  wrote:

>
> > On Jun 8, 2016, at 08:39, Evan Koblentz  wrote:
>
> > Read list your emails. :)  It was not VCF Southern California.
> >
> > But northern California is nice too.
>
> I seem to have missed the announcement in the noise, unless you were
> referring to the Woz-signed Apple auction. Northern CA is nice, but it's
> farther than I wish to drive. ;)
>
>
>
I didn't see it either.

RE: Anyone with a Data General Eclipse S/230 out there?

[Jay West]

On 6/8/16 7:42 AM, Jay West wrote:
> an FPS fp array processor.
> 

To which AEK replied
-
I have the drawing set for this. It is a custom unit for GE CAT scanner image 
convolution.

Ah ok. I just had noticed on the back of the device Floating Point Systems, and 
a model number - FPS-100 I think. The board for it that is in the cpu chassis 
is labled "Floating Point Option".

This box surprised me as being the densest amount of circuitry I have ever 
seen. It's stuffed top to bottom with boards that all touch eachother. I don't 
think you could find any space to put another chip anywhere inside it.

This certainly explains the huge and large number of cooling fans on the back 
of the chassis :>

J

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Mark J. Blair]

> On Jun 8, 2016, at 08:39, Evan Koblentz  wrote:
>> I'm hoping for VCF Southern California. It's probably not VCF Southern 
>> California. Is it VCF Southern California? :)
> 
> Read list your emails. :)  It was not VCF Southern California.
> 
> But northern California is nice too.

I seem to have missed the announcement in the noise, unless you were referring 
to the Woz-signed Apple auction. Northern CA is nice, but it's farther than I 
wish to drive. ;)

-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X 
http://www.nf6x.net/

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Evan Koblentz]

There's a big announcement happening from the Vintage Computer
Federation tomorrow night. :)

Stay tuned...




How get 63 more bytes when running BASIC?
Ducks!


I'm hoping for VCF Southern California. It's probably not VCF Southern 
California. Is it VCF Southern California? :)


Read list your emails. :)  It was not VCF Southern California.

But northern California is nice too.

Re: Anyone with a Data General Eclipse S/230 out there?

[Al Kossow]

On 6/8/16 7:42 AM, Jay West wrote:
> an FPS fp array processor.
> 

I have the drawing set for this. It is a custom unit for GE CAT scanner image 
convolution.

Re: Big announcement tomorrow night

[Mark J. Blair]

> On Jun 7, 2016, at 15:56, ben  wrote:
> 
> On 6/6/2016 10:04 PM, Evan Koblentz wrote:
>> There's a big announcement happening from the Vintage Computer
>> Federation tomorrow night. :)
>> 
>> Stay tuned...
>> 
>> 
> 
> How get 63 more bytes when running BASIC?
> Ducks!

I'm hoping for VCF Southern California. It's probably not VCF Southern 
California. Is it VCF Southern California? :)


-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X 
http://www.nf6x.net/

RE: Anyone with a Data General Eclipse S/230 out there?

[Jay West]

Josh wrote...

I just acquired a DG Eclipse S/230 in semi-decent condition. It's mostly 
complete with some fun peripherals in a gigantic rack.  


Josh - I've just been down that road recently. I have an S/130 that is pretty 
close to finished on the restoration front and I may have nuggets of helpful 
info for you (but Bruce here is the expert). 

Along those lines; now that I'm close to finishing off my S/130 rack, there are 
two racks of DG Eclipse gear left over that I do not want to keep.

One rack has a S/200 cpu (front panel scavenged), the 1/2 vacuum column mag 
tape drive (6021/6023), and an FPS fp array processor.

The other rack is a complete S/120 system including 3rd party paper tape and DG 
combo disk & 8" floppy.

I would be happy if someone would just show up at the back door with a trailer 
and haul them both off, but I'd prefer to get something for them... trade or 
cash.

J

Re: Restoring an RXV21 and/or an RX02

[Rod Smallwood]

On 08/06/2016 13:01, Jerome H. Fine wrote:

>Rod Smallwood wrote:

In my quest for a working  RX02 I'm trying to find out the best way 
of checking out an RXV21 and get it talking to the RX02. I have most 
of the standard diagnostics including XXDP.


The setup is an 11/83 with an RX50 and RD53.  (I can boot from either)

In the box is

  MSV11-J PMI

  KDF11-B

   RXV21

   RQDX3

They are in the order as above. The two dual height modules are in 
the right hand side of the back plane when viewed from the front.


I am unsure as if there is a utility for RXV21 among all the diags I 
have or  should I go in with ODT on a halted system and look at 
registers.


With the setup above I need to get the RXV21 going in order to check 
out the RX02.


You did not specify the backplane.  I am going to assume
a BA23 box.  Since both the RXV21 and the RQDX3
are dual modules, and the first three slots are ABCD,
you do not need (and should not have) a bus grant
(M9047) beside the RXV21.  So while the RXV21
is in the AB portion of an ABCD slot, the RQDX3 is
in an ABAB or Q22 slot.  That is what is supposed to
be the situation.  If you add a TK50, then that controller
will be placed into the 4th slot beside the RQDX3.

As long as the RQDX3 is immediately below the RXV21
and the RQDX3 is working, then you should be able to
check the IOPAGE registers on the RXV21 while you
are running RT-11.  Either use ODT or SD.SYS if you
are running V05.05 of RT-11 or later.

Other than that, I can't help much with the RX02 drive.
The only thing that I can think of is that the cable between
the RXV21 and the RX02 is installed incorrectly.  I seem
the remember doing that once or twice.

Other hardware individuals can help much better that I can.

Jerome Fine

Thanks for the reply.
Its good to know I have at least got the boards in the right order.

Well we have moved on again after a complete check of  cables and 
connectors.
The DY (RX02) driver seems to have loaded and now the RX02 has started 
to respond.


If you do say DIR DY0 then drive 0 clonks even if there is a disk in the 
drive.

Same applies for drive 1.
So drive select works . Its probably looking for data from the head or 
sector pulses.

So me it seems to be down to the drive itself.

It fails with controller error 20 so I best go find what that means
Rod

Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

[Fred Cisin]

But AFAIK IBM never shipped machines with DS/DD/80t track drives as
standard, did it?

Of course they did. PS/2 8530.

Oops. And the 5140 "Convertible".

Interesting. I did not know that!


Those were machines with 3.5" 720K as the only internal drives.
Possibility of other kinds of drives externally.
But, 3.5" 720K drives became available at that time (PC-DOS 3.20) as 
external drives and/or as internal for 5150/5160/5170.


Soon thereafter (PC-DOS 3.30), 1.4M drives became available on machines 
with a 500K bits per second data transfer rate (coincidentally all IBM 
machines with 80286 and above processors).  For machines that could take 
the 1.4M drives, few chose to get the more limited, but almost the same 
price, 720K drives.



Therefore, the reign of 720K was non-IBM laptops (mostly since MS-DOS 
2.11) before 1.4M,  throughout the market during IBM PC-DOS 3.20, and then 
only the remaining 8088/8086 machines from 3.30 on.
Easy enough to have missed their short-term domination of the market if 
you happened to have been on holiday.
I was waiting at the door of the Oakland IBM store on the day that PC-DOS 
3.20 was released.

Re: SunOS 4

[geneb]

On Tue, 7 Jun 2016, Stefan Skoglund (lokal användare) wrote:


tis 2016-06-07 klockan 10:55 -0700 skrev Chris Hanson:

I know MemoryX in Santa Clara has at least recently had full boxed copies of 
SunOS 4.1.4 (aka Solaris 1.1.3) available for something like $99.

I'm unaware of whether Sun SPARC hardware carries a license for the OS with 
which it shipped. Some hardware companies did that, others bound the license to 
the media, still others bound it to a maintenance contract.

  -- Chris


SunOS : no trouble - historically "a machine" == "a license"

No patches available now.


Check archive.org - ftp.sun.com may have been grabbed.

g.

--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby.  Geeks collect hobbies.

ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!

Re: Restoring an RXV21 and/or an RX02

[Jerome H. Fine]

>Rod Smallwood wrote:

In my quest for a working  RX02 I'm trying to find out the best way of 
checking out an RXV21 and get it talking to the RX02. I have most of 
the standard diagnostics including XXDP.


The setup is an 11/83 with an RX50 and RD53.  (I can boot from either)

In the box is

  MSV11-J PMI

  KDF11-B

   RXV21

   RQDX3

They are in the order as above. The two dual height modules are in the 
right hand side of the back plane when viewed from the front.


I am unsure as if there is a utility for RXV21 among all the diags I 
have or  should I go in with ODT on a halted system and look at 
registers.


With the setup above I need to get the RXV21 going in order to check 
out the RX02.


You did not specify the backplane.  I am going to assume
a BA23 box.  Since both the RXV21 and the RQDX3
are dual modules, and the first three slots are ABCD,
you do not need (and should not have) a bus grant
(M9047) beside the RXV21.  So while the RXV21
is in the AB portion of an ABCD slot, the RQDX3 is
in an ABAB or Q22 slot.  That is what is supposed to
be the situation.  If you add a TK50, then that controller
will be placed into the 4th slot beside the RQDX3.

As long as the RQDX3 is immediately below the RXV21
and the RQDX3 is working, then you should be able to
check the IOPAGE registers on the RXV21 while you
are running RT-11.  Either use ODT or SD.SYS if you
are running V05.05 of RT-11 or later.

Other than that, I can't help much with the RX02 drive.
The only thing that I can think of is that the cable between
the RXV21 and the RX02 is installed incorrectly.  I seem
the remember doing that once or twice.

Other hardware individuals can help much better that I can.

Jerome Fine

Restoring an RXV21 and/or an RX02

[Rod Smallwood]

In my quest for a working  RX02 I'm trying to find out the best way of 
checking out an RXV21 and get it talking to the RX02. I have most of the 
standard diagnostics including XXDP.


The setup is an 11/83 with an RX50 and RD53.  (I can boot from either)

In the box is

  MSV11-J PMI

  KDF11-B

   RXV21

   RQDX3

They are in the order as above. The two dual height modules are in the 
right hand side of the back plane when viewed from the front.


I am unsure as if there is a utility for RXV21 among all the diags I 
have or  should I go in with ODT on a halted system and look at registers.


With the setup above I need to get the RXV21 going in order to check out 
the RX02.


The precise syntax of any commands is important because presuming I may 
have prior knowledge is not a good


idea.

I may have known this stuff in the past but I cant remember if I did or 
not!!



Rod

Re: TI Professional Computer (TIPC) Service Manual?

[Martin Peters]

Hi all!

Martin Peters:
(...)
> We measure the additional diagnostic information on the onboard parallel
> port and it turned out, it was a FDC interrupt failure. After replacing
> the 1793 on the motherboard, the "** system error **  - 0004" message
> was gone. \o/
> 
> Now, there is a "** keyboard error **  - 0010", sometimes "0011" and the

Ok, it's working again :-)

Great graphical abilities for a PC "clone" in 1983. This could have been
a MDA/CGA/Herc-killer if TI would have decided to sell the videocard for
IBM PCs and compatibles :)

Thanks for all your help.

Greeting,
Martin
-- 
Martin Peters
mar...@shackspace.de

Re: thinking of the "ultimate" retro x86 PCs - what bits to seek/keep ?

[Liam Proven]

On 7 June 2016 at 02:19, r.stricklin  wrote:
> On Jun 6, 2016, at 5:17 PM, r.stricklin wrote:
>
>> On Jun 6, 2016, at 8:28 AM, Liam Proven wrote:
>>
>>> But AFAIK IBM never shipped machines with DS/DD/80t track drives as
>>> standard, did it?
>>
>> Of course they did. PS/2 8530.
>
> Oops. And the 5140 "Convertible".


Interesting. I did not know that!

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
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