Re: Tape Storage Rack WAS: RE: 1/2" tape storage.

[Zane Healy via cctalk]

> On Apr 8, 2019, at 9:34 PM, Ali via cctalk  wrote:
> 
> While on the subject of tape storage anyone know if it is still possible to 
> get desktop/table top wire bins to hold tapes in canisters and/or reels? Not 
> that I have that many tapes or anything like that. This would be more for 
> display purposes than anything else.
> 
> Something akin to this: ibm51xx.classiccmp.org/CCTalkPics/taperack.png
> 
> Do they still make things like this or do I have to find it at university 
> junk sale?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -Ali

The ones I have came out of the Tektronix country store decades ago. I think 
that you’ll only find these used, if you get lucky.  

Of course I use mine for drying darkroom prints. :-)  My 9-Track tape 
collection lives in a filing cabinet.

Zane

Tape Storage Rack WAS: RE: 1/2" tape storage.

[Ali via cctalk]

While on the subject of tape storage anyone know if it is still possible to get 
desktop/table top wire bins to hold tapes in canisters and/or reels? Not that I 
have that many tapes or anything like that. This would be more for display 
purposes than anything else.

Something akin to this: ibm51xx.classiccmp.org/CCTalkPics/taperack.png

Do they still make things like this or do I have to find it at university junk 
sale?

Thanks.

-Ali

Re: Pleas ID this IBM system....

[Jon Elson via cctalk]

On 04/08/2019 06:10 PM, Tom Gardner via cctalk wrote:

FWIW the tape drive is an IBM 2315 announced April 16, 1965 
  for use on 
low end S/360s.  Here is a brochure 
  as well as manuals at 
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/2415/


So, is that a capstan and pinch roller drive?  I'd kind of 
guess so, if announced in 1965.
(for future readers, 2315 is apparently a typo, 2415 would 
fit in with 24xx models being tape drives, 23xx was for disks.)


Jon

Re: Sticking RL02 positioner

[Charles via cctalk]

-Original Message- 
From: Paul Koning

Sent: Monday, April 08, 2019 6:26 PM
To: Charles ; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Sticking RL02 positioner



On Apr 8, 2019, at 6:11 PM, Charles via cctalk  
wrote:


One of my RL02 drives (that sat for a long time) has developed what 
appears to be a sticky head positioner.
But it's only a problem going from the full-retracted position to loading 
track 0.

Once it's loaded, the drive will pass all seek and read/write tests.

It takes a surprising (to me) amount of force to pull the heads out into 
the disk area (power off, no pack). When they're out there, the arm slides 
back and forth easily.
Sometimes it won't load at all - push the load button, light goes out, 
disk spins up to what sounds like normal speed, but the heads never move 
and the Ready light doesn't come on.
There's supposed to be a Fault after 40 secs but that doesn't happen - 
it'll sit there forever spinning but not ready.
If I turn off the power and remove the pack, and pull the positioner out 
just enough to avoid opening the Heads Home microswitch (which causes a 
Fault light), then it'll spin up, load track 0, and work fine the rest of 
the day.


The manual (as usual) only recommends replacing the bad assembly for ease 
in field servicing, which is deliberate.
But I don't have a DEC repairman and a warehouse full of parts handy... Is 
there some kind of adjustment or lubrication I can do?


Lubrication in a disk assembly sounds like a thing to avoid because of 
contamination.


I don't know the RL02 specifically, but some pack type disk drives have a 
"head unload ramp", a wedge shaped device that lifts the heads away from the 
platters when the positioner retracts to the unload position.  I wonder if 
there might be dirt on those that could be cleaned with a suitable cleaner 
(kimwipes or similar lint free cleaner) and solvent (96% isopropanol comes 
to mind).  Does the book give any guidance about this sort of thing?


paul
===
Yes, I am sure there is such a ramp, since the heads do move close together 
when the positioner extends. I can feel it "wedging".
I'll take another look at it, when I have obtained some lint-free wipes or 
swabs :) 

Re: Sticking RL02 positioner

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Apr 8, 2019, at 6:11 PM, Charles via cctalk  wrote:
> 
> One of my RL02 drives (that sat for a long time) has developed what appears 
> to be a sticky head positioner.
> But it's only a problem going from the full-retracted position to loading 
> track 0.
> Once it's loaded, the drive will pass all seek and read/write tests.
> 
> It takes a surprising (to me) amount of force to pull the heads out into the 
> disk area (power off, no pack). When they're out there, the arm slides back 
> and forth easily.
> Sometimes it won't load at all - push the load button, light goes out, disk 
> spins up to what sounds like normal speed, but the heads never move and the 
> Ready light doesn't come on.
> There's supposed to be a Fault after 40 secs but that doesn't happen - it'll 
> sit there forever spinning but not ready.
> If I turn off the power and remove the pack, and pull the positioner out just 
> enough to avoid opening the Heads Home microswitch (which causes a Fault 
> light), then it'll spin up, load track 0, and work fine the rest of the day.
> 
> The manual (as usual) only recommends replacing the bad assembly for ease in 
> field servicing, which is deliberate.
> But I don't have a DEC repairman and a warehouse full of parts handy... Is 
> there some kind of adjustment or lubrication I can do?

Lubrication in a disk assembly sounds like a thing to avoid because of 
contamination.

I don't know the RL02 specifically, but some pack type disk drives have a "head 
unload ramp", a wedge shaped device that lifts the heads away from the platters 
when the positioner retracts to the unload position.  I wonder if there might 
be dirt on those that could be cleaned with a suitable cleaner (kimwipes or 
similar lint free cleaner) and solvent (96% isopropanol comes to mind).  Does 
the book give any guidance about this sort of thing?

paul

RE: Pleas ID this IBM system....

[Tom Gardner via cctalk]

FWIW the tape drive is an IBM 2315 announced April 16, 1965 
  for 
use on low end S/360s.  Here is a brochure 
  as well as manuals at 
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/2415/ 

 

Tom

 

-Original Message-
From: P Gebhardt [mailto:p.gebha...@ymail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2019 4:08 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Pleas ID this IBM system

 

wow! ...Hopefully some larger museums or seriously envolved hobbyists within 
Germany can take care of this piece of history to save this nice piece of 
computer history. 

 

--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to:  
 http://www.digitalheritage.de

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am Samstag, 6. April 2019, 16:04:26 MESZ hat jos via cctalk < 
 cctalk@classiccmp.org> Folgendes geschrieben: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seller clearly has no idea, but the starting price is right !

 

 

 
https://www.ebay.de/itm/seltene-Anlage-Puma-Computer-IBM-2020/202646831828?hash=item2f2eb142d4:g:izoAAOSwhV1cpw

 

 

 

Jos

 

 

Sticking RL02 positioner

[Charles via cctalk]

One of my RL02 drives (that sat for a long time) has developed what appears 
to be a sticky head positioner.
But it's only a problem going from the full-retracted position to loading 
track 0.

Once it's loaded, the drive will pass all seek and read/write tests.

It takes a surprising (to me) amount of force to pull the heads out into the 
disk area (power off, no pack). When they're out there, the arm slides back 
and forth easily.
Sometimes it won't load at all - push the load button, light goes out, disk 
spins up to what sounds like normal speed, but the heads never move and the 
Ready light doesn't come on.
There's supposed to be a Fault after 40 secs but that doesn't happen - it'll 
sit there forever spinning but not ready.
If I turn off the power and remove the pack, and pull the positioner out 
just enough to avoid opening the Heads Home microswitch (which causes a 
Fault light), then it'll spin up, load track 0, and work fine the rest of 
the day.


The manual (as usual) only recommends replacing the bad assembly for ease in 
field servicing, which is deliberate.
But I don't have a DEC repairman and a warehouse full of parts handy... Is 
there some kind of adjustment or lubrication I can do?
If I replace the positioner then I have to realign the heads (not too bad a 
job on this drive, though).

Any ideas?
thanks
Charles

Re: 1/2" tape storage.

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

Just got Larry Urbanski's film cans in--about the same as the others;
800' can fits a 10.5" tape reel perfectly.  The difference is that
Urbanski's aren't vented, which, while being a minus for acetate movie
film, is probably a plus for mag tape:

Image here: https://i.imgur.com/pVfkFqW.jpg

At this point, these seem to be the low-price leader at $5.73 each.


--Chuck

Re: Storage for 1/2" open reel tape

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

On 4/8/19 10:44 AM, Kevin Monceaux via cctalk wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 05, 2019 at 10:57:54AM -0700, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>  
>> I hit on the idea of using 16mm move film plastic "cans".  Much to my
>> surprise, I found that there is still an active market for these things.
> 
> My small 16mm collection is stored on an open reel tape cart.

I'm not following.  Are you proposing this for magnetic tape?

--Chuck

Re: Storage for 1/2" open reel tape

[Fred Cisin via cctalk]

I hit on the idea of using 16mm move film plastic "cans".  Much to my
surprise, I found that there is still an active market for these things.


On Mon, 8 Apr 2019, Kevin Monceaux via cctalk wrote:

My small 16mm collection is stored on an open reel tape cart.


I wonder how tape rings would do on 16mm reels?

Re: Storage for 1/2" open reel tape

[Kevin Monceaux via cctalk]

On Fri, Apr 05, 2019 at 10:57:54AM -0700, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
 
> I hit on the idea of using 16mm move film plastic "cans".  Much to my
> surprise, I found that there is still an active market for these things.

My small 16mm collection is stored on an open reel tape cart.


-- 

Kevin
http://www.RawFedDogs.net
http://www.Lassie.xyz
http://www.WacoAgilityGroup.org
Bruceville, TX

What's the definition of a legacy system? One that works!
Errare humanum est, ignoscere caninum.

Re: Game of Life for PDP-8

[dwight via cctalk]

For those searching on the web, look for life and Conway. Otherwise you get a 
lot of other junk. There is an interesting video of an interview with John done 
not to many years ago.
Dwight


From: cctalk  on behalf of dwight via cctalk 

Sent: Monday, April 8, 2019 6:54 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Game of Life for PDP-8

When I first got my arduino and connected it to a small oled screen I thought 
about a script to generate life on the screen. As it was, I wrote a pong game, 
using pots for paddles.
One thing to think about, in life, is how to deal with edges.
One way is that the bits could just fall off. Another way is they could reflect.
Yet another way is the edges could wrap around. In other words, if it when off 
the top, it would show up in the same column at the bottom of the screen. A 
variation of this is that it might swap sides when going of an edge. This could 
include rotating axis and/or swapping polarity of axis.
Each has interesting effects when shooting gliders at things.
There is a lot of stuff on the web.
Dwight


From: cctalk  on behalf of Bill Degnan via 
cctalk 
Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2019 8:14 PM
To: Kyle Owen; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Game of Life for PDP-8

>
> Would love to hear some comments if anyone plays with this. And, if someone
> significantly speeds things up while keeping the large playing field, I'll
> be very happy to hear how!
>
> Kyle
>

A few years ago I made some videos of the output on vt50 driven by my pdp8e.

Spontaneous generation of squirrels

https://youtu.be/B-H-h-s5IpM

Well, they looked like squirrels at the time..

Bill

Re: Pleas ID this IBM system....

[Adrian Stoness via cctalk]

yay good luck

On Mon, Apr 8, 2019 at 4:53 AM Christian Corti via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On Sun, 7 Apr 2019, P Gebhardt wrote:
> > wow! ...Hopefully some larger museums or seriously envolved hobbyists
> > within Germany can take care of this piece of history to save this nice
> > piece of computer history.
>
> Hm, let's see if our museum can get that system - as long as the price
> stays reasonable. It's not too far from Stuttgart and we could pick
> it up in Nuremberg (or possibly in Herzogenaurach).
>
> Christian
>

Re: Game of Life for PDP-8

[dwight via cctalk]

When I first got my arduino and connected it to a small oled screen I thought 
about a script to generate life on the screen. As it was, I wrote a pong game, 
using pots for paddles.
One thing to think about, in life, is how to deal with edges.
One way is that the bits could just fall off. Another way is they could reflect.
Yet another way is the edges could wrap around. In other words, if it when off 
the top, it would show up in the same column at the bottom of the screen. A 
variation of this is that it might swap sides when going of an edge. This could 
include rotating axis and/or swapping polarity of axis.
Each has interesting effects when shooting gliders at things.
There is a lot of stuff on the web.
Dwight


From: cctalk  on behalf of Bill Degnan via 
cctalk 
Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2019 8:14 PM
To: Kyle Owen; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Game of Life for PDP-8

>
> Would love to hear some comments if anyone plays with this. And, if someone
> significantly speeds things up while keeping the large playing field, I'll
> be very happy to hear how!
>
> Kyle
>

A few years ago I made some videos of the output on vt50 driven by my pdp8e.

Spontaneous generation of squirrels

https://youtu.be/B-H-h-s5IpM

Well, they looked like squirrels at the time..

Bill

Re: Pleas ID this IBM system....

[Christian Corti via cctalk]

On Sun, 7 Apr 2019, P Gebhardt wrote:
wow! ...Hopefully some larger museums or seriously envolved hobbyists 
within Germany can take care of this piece of history to save this nice 
piece of computer history.


Hm, let's see if our museum can get that system - as long as the price 
stays reasonable. It's not too far from Stuttgart and we could pick 
it up in Nuremberg (or possibly in Herzogenaurach).


Christian

IBM 360? on eBay.de

[Ulrich Tagge via cctalk]

I'm not affiliated with the seller.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/seltene-Anlage-Puma-Computer-IBM-2020/202646831828?hash=item2f2eb142d4:g:izoAAOSwhV1cpwr2=true