Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
Thanks, Peter! Here it's way not as bad as on the Linux Kernel mailing list... I once came up with some nice additions to the ftdi usb serial driver. Reaction was something like "Do it right! Now!" The "right" was only a question how the thing should be controlled from the system's perspective. I only added functionality and a simple sysfs interface. But that was not enough. They wanted it to be attached to the GPIO framework (which I still consider unsuitable for the issue). Instead of taking my changes and staying with the wish that there should be even more stuff added, it was refused and I lost interest in upstreaming my mega-speed patch. But I will produce my board (again). Withe xc9572xl and Eagle and without Arduino. Whoever wants a different board, can make/derive one afterwards. Kind regards Philipp -- Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Philipp Hachtmann Buchdruck, Bleisatz, Spezialitäten Alemannstr. 21, D-30165 Hannover Tel. 0511/352, Mobil 0171/2632239 Fax. 0511/3500439 phil...@hachtmann.com www.tiegeldruck.de UStdID DE 202668329 > Am 20.02.2017 um 15:53 schrieb Peter Coghlan : > > Philipp wrote: >> >> I am so sorry that I use Eagle! >> >> Please let us stop this discussion. It's just a tool. And KiCAD is another >> tool. I currently use Eagle and that's it. >> > > I'm with Philipp on this. > > Every time someone posts to the list to offer some piece of hardware they > are developing, our response is "You're doing it wrong. Do it this way > instead.". Then there follows a long and useless debate, quite tangential > to classic computing, which often ends up with the project getting delayed > or shelved, possibly because of the added hassle for the person doing the > work. > > When someone comes offering something like this, couldn't we just accept > that whoever is doing the work has already put some thought into it and > has good reasons for the options they are going with? If they post > looking for suggestions, they are looking for suggestions, not looking > for someone to convert them to a different religeon. > > We could just be thankful that someone is willing to put the effort into > doing something like this and make an effort to make things as easy as > possible for them. > > If anyone doesn't like what is on offer, they are free to put the work > into creating what they believe would be a better project but not to > hold up what has already begun. > Regards, > Peter Coghlan.
DISSPLA fortran source anyone?
The scientific graphics software package, written By Ian Hirscholn. Later sold to Coumputer Automation. He ported it to the PC later, with his company ISSCO. They also made a neat bitslice machine to run it, the Portable Graphics Mainframe, I had one for a bit, I was their rep. Anybody have anything on this beast, it was amazing. Randy
RE: Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry
Original Message Subject: Re: Sun E1 Historical Enquiry From: Jonathan KatzThere was a guy who I used to talk to who was on one of the Sun lists and was based in the top-tier hardware development/software development out of San Diego, and then later he moved east, but I forgot who that was. == I know who it is - we're still in contact once in a while. I plan to ping him and see if he's interested in participating. I also have another friend who drove a number of E10Ks for a large company here in the Twin Cities. Steve
RE: DATARAM DR-118 docs?
Just some more details on this. Here is the DR-118A for the 8/a. Hex version http://www.ebay.com/itm/DATARAM-DR-118A-CORE-MEMORY-BOARD-DR118A-/351926961139?hash=item51f07b43f3:g:~mEAAOSw2xRYRvDW and here is the manual to the "A" Again, I'd love to find the docs on the "E" version http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dataram/DR118A-RefMan.pdf -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of W2HX Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 3:44 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: RE: DATARAM DR-118 docs? From what I have seen, yes. There is a Hex version of this board for the 8/A. the product for the E was a 2 board set. Each pair of boards had 16k X 12 bit. So two pair of boards are required. I have two pair but have some stuck bits I need to figure out. -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Doug Ingraham Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 3:38 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: DATARAM DR-118 docs? On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 10:09 PM, W2HX wrote: > Hi folks, > > Looking for documentation on the DATARAM DR-118 16Kx12 core memory for > PDP-8/e. I have the documentation on the DR-118A which is for the PDP-8/a. > It is probably similar, but would love to find the right version. > > Anyone have such thing? > Thanks > Eugene > > I don't have an answer for you only an additional question. Since the E came out before the A and DATARAM made a board for the E, and quad boards from the E would work perfectly in the A why would you make a board specifically for the A? Did they make a Hex board version of it for the A? Was the E a two board set? Hope you find the documentation. -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175
Re: Free to a good home: Honeywell/Bull DPS-6 workstation / server (Seattle, WA)
do you still have this ? thanks Kevin
RE: DATARAM DR-118 docs?
From what I have seen, yes. There is a Hex version of this board for the 8/A. the product for the E was a 2 board set. Each pair of boards had 16k X 12 bit. So two pair of boards are required. I have two pair but have some stuck bits I need to figure out. -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Doug Ingraham Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 3:38 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: DATARAM DR-118 docs? On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 10:09 PM, W2HX wrote: > Hi folks, > > Looking for documentation on the DATARAM DR-118 16Kx12 core memory for > PDP-8/e. I have the documentation on the DR-118A which is for the PDP-8/a. > It is probably similar, but would love to find the right version. > > Anyone have such thing? > Thanks > Eugene > > I don't have an answer for you only an additional question. Since the E came out before the A and DATARAM made a board for the E, and quad boards from the E would work perfectly in the A why would you make a board specifically for the A? Did they make a Hex board version of it for the A? Was the E a two board set? Hope you find the documentation. -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175
Re: DATARAM DR-118 docs?
On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 10:09 PM, W2HX wrote: > Hi folks, > > Looking for documentation on the DATARAM DR-118 16Kx12 core memory for > PDP-8/e. I have the documentation on the DR-118A which is for the PDP-8/a. > It is probably similar, but would love to find the right version. > > Anyone have such thing? > Thanks > Eugene > > I don't have an answer for you only an additional question. Since the E came out before the A and DATARAM made a board for the E, and quad boards from the E would work perfectly in the A why would you make a board specifically for the A? Did they make a Hex board version of it for the A? Was the E a two board set? Hope you find the documentation. -- Doug Ingraham PDP-8 SN 1175
Re: Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry
On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 4:53 PM, JP Hindin wrote: > All this talk of favourite machines and getting into the hobby has gotten me > amped up to work on my E10k. The E10k was always the "coolest" machine for > me - largely due to the timing of my entry into the industry. It started as a Cray system; have you read up on the CS6400? The E10K was the next derivation of that. I deployed them as a Sun PS engineer; towards the end of the life they were giving the inventory away, almost (buy a SF6800 and get an E10K "free".) There was a guy who I used to talk to who was on one of the Sun lists and was based in the top-tier hardware development/software development out of San Diego, and then later he moved east, but I forgot who that was.
3D scans and sounds
Hello, I'm grateful that there are plenty of pictures of classic computer. However, I want more. 3D scans and sound recordings. Has anyone attempted to do that?
LGP-Resto Update
For those curious about the status of the LGP-30 restoration, I’ve got a blog up with the latest. http://radar58.com/LGP30/ The power supplies are stable, the blower unit was overhauled and new bearings installed, all the modules have been recapped. I had a noisy bearing in the memory drum, thankfully it was one that could be accessed through the pulley end and I was able to inject fresh grease. There were burnt contacts in one of the open frame relays in the sequencer unit leading to intermittents. I found a NOS 3-pole version with fresh contacts and transferred those over yesterday and we now have correct startup. The ‘digital display’ chassis has been worked over with fresh resistors and this has made the controls much more responsive. The Flexowriter is behaving and the 6 associated FF's in the machine respond to keystrokes. All-told, I’m at the point of troubleshooting the scope display- I have a sad, unintelligible, wavy line, but I believe retrace is derived from the system clock track on the drum, so that’s my next investigation. Both vertical and horizontal boards have been rebuilt and tubes substituted with no change. -C
Sun E10000 Historical Enquiry
Greetings to all; All this talk of favourite machines and getting into the hobby has gotten me amped up to work on my E10k. The E10k was always the "coolest" machine for me - largely due to the timing of my entry into the industry. I recently read Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine and was pondering the history of the E10k and its start in Cray Research Inc and its subsequent sale to Sun. The asset transfer that must've taken place and then how Sun turned it around to make it a Sun product and made its impact on the market has to be a fascinating story too. I would love to talk to anyone who was involved in the development, transfer, initial rollout and support of the E10k - from both CRI's and Sun's perspective. Heck, I'd be fascinated to talk to anyone who purchased the machines during their lifespan (1997-2001) and could tell me what you used them for. If you only know of someone that was involved that you might think would be interested in talking to me, please pass my eMail address on. Maybe if I get a big response I could put something together, if there was suitable interest of course. But at this point, I'm mostly just fascinated for myself. Thanks to all! - JP
Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
> On Feb 20, 2017, at 06:24, Holm Tiffe wrote: > > Why is that nice? This way the pcb company has your "sourcecode". > Besides of that where is the real difference to going to > "File->Plot", Select "Gerber" and push the "Plot" Button? > > That can't really be to difficult... In every PCB tool I've used, Gerber generation is a separate, configurable process which can easily be misconfigured. Visually checking my Gerbers for common mistakes is a normal part of my flow, no matter what tool I use, even after I have the settings dialed in. Yes, I usually just click "plot" as you say, but I still proof the plots for mistakes that can creep in, such as designing a board with more layers than I had previously used in that particular tool installation, and forgetting to emit the Gerbers for the added layers. Back when I had to review a lot of customer PCB designs as an applications engineer for a chip manufacturer, I'd regularly get Gerbers from professional designers which required post-processing such as changing drill scaling and offset before I could even view them, and that taught me to be a lot more careful about my own Gerber generation. I suspect that full-service PCB houses would just quietly fix problems like that and only raise flags for serious errors, so many designers probably never got any feedback about their Gerbers being messy. But no-touch quick-turn shops require pretty clean Gerbers, so skipping Gerber generation lowers the bar for inexperienced PCB designers. I don't personally send in PCB source files instead of Gerbers, but I can see how being able to do that can be helpful and convenient for beginners. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
Philipp wrote: I am so sorry that I use Eagle! Please let us stop this discussion. It's just a tool. And KiCAD is another tool. I currently use Eagle and that's it. I'm with Philipp on this. Every time someone posts to the list to offer some piece of hardware they are developing, our response is "You're doing it wrong. Do it this way instead.". Then there follows a long and useless debate, quite tangential to classic computing, which often ends up with the project getting delayed or shelved, possibly because of the added hassle for the person doing the work. When someone comes offering something like this, couldn't we just accept that whoever is doing the work has already put some thought into it and has good reasons for the options they are going with? If they post looking for suggestions, they are looking for suggestions, not looking for someone to convert them to a different religeon. We could just be thankful that someone is willing to put the effort into doing something like this and make an effort to make things as easy as possible for them. If anyone doesn't like what is on offer, they are free to put the work into creating what they believe would be a better project but not to hold up what has already begun. Regards, Peter Coghlan.
Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
Paul Koning wrote: > > > On Feb 17, 2017, at 2:35 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote: > > > > ... > >> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr > > > >> In terms of community supplied libraries, Eagle has those too and I've > >> found that by and large they are junk (it's easier/quicker for me to > >> create a part on my own > >> ... While I haven't seen a lot of KiCAD contributed libraries (that's > >> part of the problem) > > > > KiCAD came with a fairly large set of user-contributed libraries. For > > various > > reasons (including working with archaic parts), I've wound up adding quite a > > few, but i've usally found it pretty easy to modify an exising part from the > > libraries, to get what I need. YMMV. > > One thing I learned with Eagle (an old version -- I started with it on DOS, > with a physical license dongle) is that you can define library stuff via > scripting. This is very helpful when defining 120-pin PCB footprints. I've made pcbnew footprints for PLCC Sockets in the past with some scripting. In the meantime the footprint format has changed to that .pretty. I don't had to make footprints with such big pincounts sine them again, but I don't think they made it simpossible to use scripting for that at all. > > I don't remember precisely, but I think you can export libraries from Eagle > in some sort of text form. If that's true, then it would be SMOP to write a > KiCAD library importer. The key question is whether the library semantics > are compatible. EAGLE is rather nice in the way it handles schematic symbols > vs. footprints and all that. You can select footprints corrsponding to a part in the schematic editor for each part. What's the problem? > > I used EAGLE long ago for one project, and more recently for another, but I > haven't found it sufficiently useful to buy it a second time to get the > non-free version. Not that I really need the autorouter, it isn't really all > that useful. But still, it's pretty steep for a hobbyist. I discovered > KiCAD, haven't used it yet, should give it a try. > > One nice aspect of EAGLE is that a number of PCB fab shops will accept EAGLE > *.BRD files directly, rather than asking for Gerber and drill files. > > paul > Why is that nice? This way the pcb company has your "sourcecode". Besides of that where is the real difference to going to "File->Plot", Select "Gerber" and push the "Plot" Button? That can't really be to difficult... Regards, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Straße 42, 09600 Oberschöna, USt-Id: DE253710583 i...@tsht.de Fax +49 3731 74200 Tel +49 3731 74222 Mobil: 0172 8790 741
Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
On 02/20/2017 02:30 PM, Holm Tiffe wrote: As I wrote two minutes ago: Perhaps I've gone too far by seeing KiCAD too close to the Arduino thing. I know at least one clever guy using KiCAD as well. Thanks for the flowers :-) Haha, I thought of someone outside of cctalk...! But.. you're welcome :-)
Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
Philipp Hachtmann wrote: > > > I don't have a problem with your arduino related point of view, > :) > > > but I'm > > sure you never heard from the push and shove router that kicad implements? > I admit: you're right. > > > (take a look at youtube!) > > If you have used it once, egale would look a lot like > > copy-and-paste-maker-arduino-blinky-blinky-community-thingy.. > > As I wrote two minutes ago: Perhaps I've gone too far by seeing KiCAD > too close to the Arduino thing. I know at least one clever guy using > KiCAD as well. Thanks for the flowers :-) Regards, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Straße 42, 09600 Oberschöna, USt-Id: DE253710583 i...@tsht.de Fax +49 3731 74200 Tel +49 3731 74222 Mobil: 0172 8790 741
Re: New batch of pdp8 OMNIBUS to USB interface! Please Read and react!
I am so sorry that I use Eagle! Please let us stop this discussion. It's just a tool. And KiCAD is another tool. I currently use Eagle and that's it.
