Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160 console and 
has deep pockets: That's your opportunity ;)
ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe that such 
cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the U.S. for business 
purposes ...

Cheers, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Adrian Stoness via cctalk]

how come when ever  people post these numbers can never find the item

On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 2:30 AM P Gebhardt via cctalk 
wrote:

> If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160
> console and has deep pockets: That's your opportunity ;)
> ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
> Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe that
> such cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the U.S. for
> business purposes ...
>
> Cheers,
> Pierre
>
>
> -
> http://www.digitalheritage.de
>

RE: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Dave Wade G4UGM via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk  On Behalf Of Adrian Stoness
> via cctalk
> Sent: 06 January 2021 08:47
> To: P Gebhardt ; General Discussion: On-Topic and
> Off-Topic Posts 
> Subject: Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay
> 
> how come when ever  people post these numbers can never find the item


Don't put them in the search box just go

http://www.ebay.co,uk/itm/

so for these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203239181341

&

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203239156838

usually works. You should be able to use any country specific e-bay, the 
numbers are global.

Dave


> 
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 2:30 AM P Gebhardt via cctalk
> 
> wrote:
> 
> > If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160
> > console and has deep pockets: That's your opportunity ;) ebay numbers
> > 203239156838 and 203239181341 Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw
> > the listings - can't believe that such cool systems are still stored
> > in some warehouses in the U.S. for business purposes ...
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Pierre
> >
> >
> > --
> > ---
> > http://www.digitalheritage.de
> >

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Adrian Graham via cctalk]

> On 6 Jan 2021, at 08:46, Adrian Stoness via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> how come when ever  people post these numbers can never find the item
> 

http://ebay.com/itm/203239156838 
http://ebay .com/itm/203239181341


>> ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
>> Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe that
>> such cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the U.S. for
>> business purposes ...
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Pierre
>> 
>> 
>> -
>> http://www.digitalheritage.de
>> 

-- 
Adrian Graham
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest private home computer collection?
t: @binarydinosaursf: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs
w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Re: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in Germany

[Patrik Schindler via cctalk]

Hello,

Am 06.01.2021 um 02:04 schrieb mazzi...@tin.it:

> Yeh, I know for a fact you cannot setup Hdds for an as/400 unless with the 
> ibm factory tool. ( saw people using AS for a lot of years professionally 
> discuss this )
> You had an as400, you had to buy the spares hdds sold by ibm and ibm only

Yes, I know about that and can confirm. What I understood from your last 
posting is that once you reformat an AS/400 disk for 512 Bytes per sector as 
used by commodity hardware, you can’t use it again on AS/400, even by 
reformatting.

> About the panel ... let me see...
> 
> Press 1 time "arrow up" to get 02 on the display
> Press "insert" > panel will show "02 BN"
> Press 4 times "arrow up" so that it changes to "02 BM"
> Press 2 times the white power on button, to start the shutdown/poweroff phase

This is *not* an orderly shutdown, but some kind of emergency shutdown 
procedure to prevent excess damage through RAM content not yet flushed to disk. 
A bit like doing a „sync“ and immediate power off on Unix/Linux.

:wq! PoC

RE: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in Germany

[mazzinia--- via cctalk]

> Yes, I know about that and can confirm. What I understood from your last 
> posting is that once you reformat an AS/400 disk for 512 Bytes per sector as 
> used by commodity hardware, you can’t use it again on AS/400, even by 
> reformatting.

Yes, that's correct

And I doubt that there's an orderly shutdown from the panel... I remember being 
told of only one procedure, but it would not cause damages/issues of sort. In 
any case we're speaking about something that was meant to be turned on and 
never turned off unless some maintenance or a big issue.
For scheduled maintenance, the qsecofr / admin account could issue a pwrdwnsys 
, and for a catastrophe where the terminal is not accessible ... the panel does 
its job

-Original Message-
From: cctalk  On Behalf Of Patrik Schindler via 
cctalk
Sent: Wednesday, January 6, 2021 1:27 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
Subject: Re: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in 
Germany

Hello,

Am 06.01.2021 um 02:04 schrieb mazzi...@tin.it:

> Yeh, I know for a fact you cannot setup Hdds for an as/400 unless with 
> the ibm factory tool. ( saw people using AS for a lot of years 
> professionally discuss this ) You had an as400, you had to buy the 
> spares hdds sold by ibm and ibm only

Yes, I know about that and can confirm. What I understood from your last 
posting is that once you reformat an AS/400 disk for 512 Bytes per sector as 
used by commodity hardware, you can’t use it again on AS/400, even by 
reformatting.

> About the panel ... let me see...
> 
> Press 1 time "arrow up" to get 02 on the display Press "insert" > 
> panel will show "02 BN"
> Press 4 times "arrow up" so that it changes to "02 BM"
> Press 2 times the white power on button, to start the 
> shutdown/poweroff phase

This is *not* an orderly shutdown, but some kind of emergency shutdown 
procedure to prevent excess damage through RAM content not yet flushed to disk. 
A bit like doing a „sync“ and immediate power off on Unix/Linux.

:wq! PoC

Re: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in Germany

[Patrik Schindler via cctalk]

Hello Tomasz,

allow me to send ahead, that it’s a pleasure to have a conversation going on 
with you.


Am 06.01.2021 um 03:35 schrieb Tomasz Rola via cctalk :

>> If you’re new to the platform, I agree. :-)
> To be frank, I am "new" to many things out there.

I’m sorry for being ambiguous. With „If you“, I meant „If somebody“. I should 
have written like that.

> Always trying to learn. Perhaps this is my real hobby.


I don’t see what’s wrong about that. Keep learning. That’s what my Grandpa said 
to me when I was a child. :-)

> I think I am truly lousy hobbist.

Don't worry too much. I have a lot of games in my Steam Library „just in case“, 
and because there once was a huge discount in price. A lot of them, I never 
installed so far.

Doing something from begin to end requires patience and ongoing motivation. And 
a certain curiosity level. There are times when I cannot come up with enough of 
that, and then I feel like what you describe.

> I do not want to find myself under the raised floor.


Depends on the raised floor. I saw one DC in Karlsruhe/Germany where it’s 
raised one meter. The only drawback is the ongoing storm and chill. ;-)

> Yes indeed, if I had to describe IBM's world in one word, the word would be 
> "different“.

Exactly. But most people struggle to realize that IBM was a first in many 
things. Since IBM computing is a very nice environment, there wasn’t much 
exchange in software concepts to common computing as we know it. What we have 
today, mostly evolved from the home computer area in the 1970’s. And IBM stuff 
evolved in parallel.

> Even tried to heroically (i.e. without reading manuals) install one of the 
> turnkeys.

This could succeed if you have your favorite one-to-many chat solutions on line 
and are joined to a group of patient experts. :-)

> I came upon some problems with keyboard mapping


… which is almost always a client problem.

> to have a look into the DEC world

This is still on my list, waiting to be serviced. From my experience, this will 
happen when I feel bored with the other stuff.

> I have some intro book about mainframes stuffed on my e-book reader, maybe I 
> will try again. Some day.

No need to rush. „The mainframe is dead“ is a meme now decades old. And it’s 
still there, and relevant. Not that this would be an issue in this list. ;-)

> There is, or was, a very interesting effort to create a modern upgrade to 
> S360, called S380 (and there are, or were, upgraded versions of OS and MVS).

I’m aware. The upgrade involved mostly raising the tight virtual address of 16 
MBytes space per region. The driving force was the will to be able to compile 
GCC. There was a lot of discussion behind the scenes, why on earth something 
like what is mainly a text parser needs anything more than being in the C89/C90 
standard, etc.

Some other people are appalled against this Franken-MVS, because it’s not the 
true thing.

> It was great idea, because S360 and related software all have fallen into 
> public domain, free to tinker with.

Yap. Although progress is very slow, because there are not too many skilled 
people trying to move stuff forward. So, kludges are built, as most often in 
similar situations.

> they regularly hang dogs on IBM for wiping whole sections of old 
> documentation off the redbooks site. Whatever one finds there, be thankful 
> and download.


Yap, I do regularly. Need to provide a proper index, though.

> That was interesting thing to learn. Thanks again.

You’re most welcome. If there arise any questions being AS/400 specific, just 
ask me and I’ll try to help as best as I can. To me it’s somewhat 
underrepresented in hobbyist circles.

:wq! PoC

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Ed Groenenberg via cctalk]

January 6, 2021 9:30 AM, "P Gebhardt via cctalk"  wrote:

> If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160 console 
> and has deep pockets:
> That's your opportunity ;)
> ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
> Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe that 
> such cool systems are
> still stored in some warehouses in the U.S. for business purposes ...
> 
> Cheers, 
> Pierre
> 
> -
> http://www.digitalheritage.de

It can be debated of the price for the Bendix is high or not, but it is truly a 
nice
and rare machine. And by the looks of it, it seems to be complete too.
Not sure tough if the rack on the right belongs to it.

I hope it ends up in a proper museum and hopefully it can be displayed in 
running condition.

Ed
--
Ik email, dus ik besta 😆

Re: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in Germany

[Patrik Schindler via cctalk]

Hello,

Am 06.01.2021 um 13:37 schrieb mazzi...@tin.it:

>> What I understood from your last posting is that once you reformat an AS/400 
>> disk for 512 Bytes per sector as used by commodity hardware, you can’t use 
>> it again on AS/400, even by reformatting.
> 
> Yes, that's correct

Hm, I never verified that claim. Maybe I once had such an ex-AS/400 disk in 
earlier times which might sit unrecognized in my hard disk drawer. I can’t 
confirm your claim but I doubt it’s true: Firmware extensions will not get 
overridden from a reformat, and you can always reformat with 522 Bytes/Sector. 
I bet it will work again.

> And I doubt that there's an orderly shutdown from the panel…

That’s exactly what I wanted to express. :-)

> I remember being told of only one procedure, but it would not cause 
> damages/issues of sort.

I’ve read about that procedure in an IBM (red)book and it’s „not recommended 
for regular use“. I would need to look up the source if you want a proof.

> In any case we're speaking about something that was meant to be turned on and 
> never turned off unless some maintenance or a big issue.

The OS has highly sophisticated scheduling for automatic start and shutdown, 
with possible exceptions per weekday and one-time exceptions like holidays. 
(Type GO POWER into the command line to see the menu.) I guess even one or two 
decades back, there was reason to save power.

> and for a catastrophe where the terminal is not accessible

That’s what I mean. The procedure is not meant to be used as a substitute for 
pwrdwnsys.

:wq! PoC

RE: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in Germany

[mazzinia--- via cctalk]

There are people that tried, it doesn't work. There's something proprietary 
written at low level that gets erased doing  a low level format ( required to 
change the sectors ). The specifics were never released... 
With this I mean that the trick is not the firmware of the disk, but low level 
bits on the platters 

About the automatic shutdowns/restarts , I agree but I think it's a feature 
that was mainly directed at smaller AS used in satellite offices to support the 
local workforce and that had nothing going on, as a consequence, outside of 
business hours

-Original Message-
From: cctalk  On Behalf Of Patrik Schindler via 
cctalk
Sent: Wednesday, January 6, 2021 2:22 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
Subject: Re: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in 
Germany

Hello,

Am 06.01.2021 um 13:37 schrieb mazzi...@tin.it:

>> What I understood from your last posting is that once you reformat an AS/400 
>> disk for 512 Bytes per sector as used by commodity hardware, you can’t use 
>> it again on AS/400, even by reformatting.
> 
> Yes, that's correct

Hm, I never verified that claim. Maybe I once had such an ex-AS/400 disk in 
earlier times which might sit unrecognized in my hard disk drawer. I can’t 
confirm your claim but I doubt it’s true: Firmware extensions will not get 
overridden from a reformat, and you can always reformat with 522 Bytes/Sector. 
I bet it will work again.

> And I doubt that there's an orderly shutdown from the panel…

That’s exactly what I wanted to express. :-)

> I remember being told of only one procedure, but it would not cause 
> damages/issues of sort.

I’ve read about that procedure in an IBM (red)book and it’s „not recommended 
for regular use“. I would need to look up the source if you want a proof.

> In any case we're speaking about something that was meant to be turned on and 
> never turned off unless some maintenance or a big issue.

The OS has highly sophisticated scheduling for automatic start and shutdown, 
with possible exceptions per weekday and one-time exceptions like holidays. 
(Type GO POWER into the command line to see the menu.) I guess even one or two 
decades back, there was reason to save power.

> and for a catastrophe where the terminal is not accessible

That’s what I mean. The procedure is not meant to be used as a substitute for 
pwrdwnsys.

:wq! PoC

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Jon Elson via cctalk]

On 01/06/2021 03:12 AM, Adrian Graham via cctalk wrote:



Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe that
such cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the U.S. for
business purposes ...


Business purposes?  No WAY!  The G-15 was obsolete within a 
year after it was introduced, but it was cheap, and for a 
few years core memory was still very expensive.  The 
performance was laughable by 1965 for sure.  They've had it 
for 25+ years?  How about FIFTY?


As for that rack on the right, it may be that they replaced 
the rather crude power supplies inside the

CPU with external regulated supplies.

Jon

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Mark Linimon via cctalk]

On Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 09:54:23AM -0600, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
> The G-15 was obsolete within a year after it was introduced, but it

stayed in production, especially in highway departments, for many years
afterwards.

mcl

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Mark Linimon via cctalk]

On Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 08:52:51AM +, Ed Groenenberg via cctalk wrote:
> It can be debated of the price for the Bendix is high or not, but it
> is truly a nice and rare machine. And by the looks of it, it seems to
> be complete too.

This was the machine I learned to program on.  (What was then Humble
Oil & Refining donated it to my high school.  I was the only student
curious enough to work on it.)

I still have one of each of the vaccum tube plugin cards.

Oh, and a copy of the technical manual with the FE's notes :-)

The last time I tried to gather together information about it (see
URL below), there were four still known.  Even as late at 20 years
ago there had been others, at McGill University in Canada, and one
in Australia:

  http://obscurecomputers.org/g15/index.html

> Not sure tough if the rack on the right belongs to it.

I'm not either.  I have never seen that before.

> I hope it ends up in a proper museum and hopefully it can be displayed
> in running condition.

I hope so too.  I'm not at the stage of my life where I could take on
this task.  But I would be glad to assist anyone actually working on one.

mcl

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Van Snyder via cctalk]

On Wed, 2021-01-06 at 08:52 +, Ed Groenenberg via cctalk wrote:
> It can be debated of the price for the Bendix is high or not, but it is truly 
> a nice
> and rare machine. And by the looks of it, it seems to be complete too.
> Not sure tough if the rack on the right belongs to it.
> 
> I hope it ends up in a proper museum and hopefully it can be
> displayed in running condition.

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA has one, but it's not
in operating order.I don't know whether they have a mag tape drive.

G-15 was the first machine I used, at the Summer Science Program, in
Ojai, CA in 1963. We used it to calculate asteroid positions on
photographic plates, prior to computing orbit elements -- which we did
by hand on Monroe and Friden calculators.

Several years ago, I wrote an emulator for Intercom-1000. It's at 
http://vandyke.mynetgear.com/1401/G15.

UCLA used at least one G15 to syntax check Fortran programs before they
were submitted to the 7094.

Highway departments used them for years because Bendix provided cut-
and-cover software. The software might have been developed by a highway
department in Australia.

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Van Snyder via cctalk]

On Wed, 2021-01-06 at 08:30 +, P Gebhardt via cctalk wrote:
> If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160
> console and has deep pockets: That's your opportunity ;)
> ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
> Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe
> that such cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the
> U.S. for business purposes ...

G15 was called the "First Personal Computer" because Bendix gave one to
Harry Huskey, who had designed it. He was also a professor at UC
Berkeley.
> Cheers, Pierre
> ---
> --http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Van Snyder via cctalk]

On Wed, 2021-01-06 at 08:30 +, P Gebhardt via cctalk wrote:
> If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160
> console and has deep pockets: That's your opportunity ;)
> ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
> Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe
> that such cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the
> U.S. for business purposes ...

In the G15 programming manual at 
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/bendix/g-15/G15D_Programmers_Ref_Man.pdf
, there's a remark about sexagesimal digits. 
The manual says "usually hex in conversation because nobody wants to
abbreviate sex."
"The symbols in the sexagesimal language are u, v, w, x, y and z. These
are arbitrary markings; other computers may use different alphabetic
characters for these last six digits."
We're all familiar with A-F. The Illiac-I used KSNJFL because the input
device was a 5-bit Baudot-code teletype, and in "figs" mode they
produced those six binary patterns.
There were two mnemonics to remember those digits.
King Size Numbers Just For LaughsKind Souls Never Jostle Fat Ladies
> Cheers, Pierre
> ---
> --http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[Mike Loewen via cctalk]

On Wed, 6 Jan 2021, Van Snyder via cctalk wrote:


I hope it ends up in a proper museum and hopefully it can be
displayed in running condition.


The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA has one, but it's not
in operating order.I don't know whether they have a mag tape drive.


   The VCF museum at Infoage in NJ also has a G-15 on display. Not 
operational.


http://q7.neurotica.com/IMG_5176.JPG


Mike Loewen mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology  http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

M688 Flip Chip Unibus Power Fail Driver Modules

[Noel Chiappa via cctalk]

Anyone need/want a couple of these? Someone has a group of 5 for sale on eBait
(#184317666245), and I want a couple, but not _5_. The seller didn't respond
to a request to split up the lot, so I'd like to go in with a couple of other
people on the. Any takers?

   Noel

Re: M688 Flip Chip Unibus Power Fail Driver Modules

[Ethan Dicks via cctalk]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 5:24 PM Noel Chiappa via cctalk
 wrote:
> Anyone need/want a couple of these? Someone has a group of 5 for sale on eBait
> (#184317666245), and I want a couple, but not _5_. The seller didn't respond
> to a request to split up the lot, so I'd like to go in with a couple of other
> people on the. Any takers?

I'm a "maybe"... what are these found in? (I have quite a bit of early
70s PDP-11 gear).

-ethan

Re: M688 Flip Chip Unibus Power Fail Driver Modules

[Steve Malikoff via cctalk]

> On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 5:24 PM Noel Chiappa via cctalk
>  wrote:
>> Anyone need/want a couple of these? Someone has a group of 5 for sale on 
>> eBait
>> (#184317666245), and I want a couple, but not _5_. The seller didn't respond
>> to a request to split up the lot, so I'd like to go in with a couple of other
>> people on the. Any takers?
>
> I'm a "maybe"... what are these found in? (I have quite a bit of early
> 70s PDP-11 gear).
>
> -ethan

It's not used in the PDP-11/15, that I can tell. I checked the 11/15 module 
utilisation
diagram and it specifies the KP11-A M7217 and M7218 Power Fail and Restart 
modules, which
my FOX2 does have installed.

Steve.

worlds of classic objects [was Re: DEDICATED HOBBYIST ALERT: IBM AS/400 9406-F2 for cheap sale in Germany]

[Tomasz Rola via cctalk]

On Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 02:01:17PM +0100, Patrik Schindler via cctalk wrote:
> Hello Tomasz,
> 
> allow me to send ahead, that it’s a pleasure to have a conversation
> going on with you.

And it is a pleasure to have a conversation with you, too. Perhaps
because this place is full of goodwilling strangers.

> Am 06.01.2021 um 03:35 schrieb Tomasz Rola via cctalk
> 
[...]
> > I think I am truly lousy hobbist.
> 
> Don't worry too much. I have a lot of games in my Steam Library
> „just in case“, and because there once was a huge discount in
> price. A lot of them, I never installed so far.
> 
> Doing something from begin to end requires patience and ongoing
> motivation. And a certain curiosity level. There are times when I
> cannot come up with enough of that, and then I feel like what you
> describe.

Man, I do have both patience and motivation (at least when I am not
asleep). Otherwise, how could I play a game over and over for more
than twenty years? Well, of course when I make a break and do not play
it for a year, I forget details and it makes sense to start again. And
those emotions. It is a bit like going to the bar where locals
demanded to beat me, but I ran away so there was no conclusion, then
after a year I come again...

(In case this not quite obvious, I am making jokes of myself. I need
more practice, because I am rather lousy satorist...)

[...]
> > Even tried to heroically (i.e. without reading manuals) install
> > one of the turnkeys.
> 
> This could succeed if you have your favorite one-to-many chat
> solutions on line and are joined to a group of patient experts. :-)

Nah. It would not be heroic if I started calling for help.

[...]
> > to have a look into the DEC world
> 
> This is still on my list, waiting to be serviced. From my
> experience, this will happen when I feel bored with the other
> stuff. 

Myself, I now feel the inexplicable pull towards the world of
CP/M. Really, I have to play with it and be done with it. But, yes, if
time permits.

[...]
> > There is, or was, a very interesting effort to create a modern
> upgrade to S360, called S380 (and there are, or were, upgraded
> versions of OS and MVS).
> 
> I’m aware. The upgrade involved mostly raising the tight virtual
> address of 16 MBytes space per region. The driving force was the
> will to be able to compile GCC. There was a lot of discussion behind
> the scenes, why on earth something like what is mainly a text parser
> needs anything more than being in the C89/C90 standard, etc.
> 
> Some other people are appalled against this Franken-MVS, because
> it’s not the true thing. 

I kind of understand their attitude. And I think I will always admire
it when someone can resuscitate the original and make it shine. And I
can learn plenty of interesting things by reading about old ways.

But, I think that just as I was looking at classic computers,
something in the back of my head was asking, if this object could be
used by me in some practical way. And usually there is plenty of uses
for a new object like this, but they no longer make them new. So for
practical uses, the only resonable choice seems to be making
franken-objects, connecting new parts with old soft, yes, this means
emulation but also extension.

Otherwise, the originals will fade away - sooner or later they will -
and there would be no trace of whatever valuable lessons the past had.

[...]
> > they regularly hang dogs on IBM for wiping whole sections of old
> documentation off the redbooks site. Whatever one finds there, be
> thankful and download. 
> 
> Yap, I do regularly. Need to provide a proper index, though.

For such things I use org-mode, a kind of modular extension in
Emacs-the-editor. Actually, it is a code in elisp and Emacs just
interprets it and shows specially formatted text as tree-like
structure, which can be treated as knowledge base, or notes, a book
one is writing, a blog which is then converted and exported to the
server (I never saw it, but some claim they do this) or whatever one
wants - one can also make use of pim/diary/todos, insert and run code
snippets in huge number of languages, and make small spreadsheets
inside the org-file. I find it very handy. Not perfect but more than
"good enough". Of course the tree-like structure can be edited inside
Emacs. This is just a text file, so it can also be processed by
standard unix tools, or whatever other tools or scripts one prefers
for text processing.

There are/were some movies on y-t, I watched them first to have an
idea of what to expect from it.

The world of Emacs was so cool that I actually spent some time and
learnt enough to use for my various purposes. It took few years of
lazy learning, but right now I am on the level of writing my own
functions which serve as shortcuts (doing something "my way"), or, for
example, allow me to write text in Polish even when I do not have
proper kb mappings (transform, say, "za/.z/'o//l/'c g/,e/'sl/,a
ja/'z/'n" into unicoded "zażółć gęślą jaźń"). This 

RE: M688 Flip Chip Unibus Power Fail Driver Modules

[Henk Gooijen via cctalk]

Van: Ethan Dicks via cctalk
Verzonden: donderdag 7 januari 2021 01:55
Aan: Noel Chiappa; General Discussion: 
On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Onderwerp: Re: M688 Flip Chip Unibus Power Fail Driver Modules

On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 5:24 PM Noel Chiappa via cctalk
 wrote:
> Anyone need/want a couple of these? Someone has a group of 5 for sale on eBait
> (#184317666245), and I want a couple, but not _5_. The seller didn't respond
> to a request to split up the lot, so I'd like to go in with a couple of other
> people on the. Any takers?

I'm a "maybe"... what are these found in? (I have quite a bit of early
70s PDP-11 gear).

-ethan


ISTR that the M688 is optional in the RH-11 (MASSBUS interface for PDP-11),
but I am too lazy to check (still too early).

Henk, PA8PDP