[cctalk] Re: VCFMW
I am located about 2 hours south of Chicago, by Champaign, where 1-72, I-57, and I-74 meet. I also forgot to mention I found a box of new punchcards and several plotter pen holders. On Sat, Sep 2, 2023 at 3:27 AM Paul Anderson wrote: > I've started pulling parts for people who have requested them and keep > finding things I had forgotten. A few things of possible interest include: > PDP-8A parts including backplanes, most CPU boards, 128K, MM board > MM8-AA/AB > 8-E boxes and boards > DECMATE Rainbow, and PRO systems and parts > A few 11/05, 11/10 boxes > a new 54-21149 KN15 cpu > VS40X 4 plane color options > SI-QS 1000 board labeled QED 993 CPU > Tape drive heads > LA36, LA120, and other printers and parts > various VTs and monitors and parts > MFM and floppy drives > Qbus boxes and hundreds of boards > 1000s of DEC boards and parts > possible a few 3000 and 5000 boxes and parts > > If anyone wants to stop by and look for things, please contact me off list > to set up a time. Most of the people who have stopped by would say I have > quite a lot of DEC items. > > If you have any questions contact me off list. >
[cctalk] Re: SDF Interim Computer Festival
I have only just now joined the outfit, I was unaware of the event until Tarek (Thank You!) posted it. I certainly cannot speak for the actual organizers, but this would be My take. After having many great years Of membership in the truly spectacular Living Computer Museum that the late Paul Allen created, along with 2 terrific years of the LCM hosting the 2018 and 2019 editions of VCF Pacific Northwest, the LCM was closed "For Now" in early 2020, due to Covid concerns, and VCF NW 2020 was cancelled. Not long after the temporary Closure, I got an email that my pro rata membership was being refunded. No news since, just conjecture, but the LCM is a part of the Paul Allen estate, which is in probate. My uneducated guess; it is called "Interim" as all of us old computer Nerds up here in Seattle are hoping For the best, that someone interested in continuing the legacy of the LCM will appear, re-open the LCM, start Hosting VCF PNW again.. OK, a guy can Dream :>) Mark -Original Message- From: Tarek Hoteit via cctalk Sent: Saturday, September 2, 2023 9:25 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Cc: Tarek Hoteit Subject: [cctalk] Re: SDF Interim Computer Festival I believe it is an early experiment unlike the well established VCFs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tarek Hoteit ta...@infocom.ai +1 360-838-3675 https://infocom.ai > On Sep 2, 2023, at 8:58 AM, Sellam Abraham via cctalk > wrote: > > Why "Interim"? > > Sellam > > On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 7:25 PM Tarek Hoteit via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> FYI, SDF retro computing and home brew exhibition is scheduled for >> September 30 to October 1 in Seattle WA . Link to the exhibit is at >> https://sdf.org/icf/ and https://icm.museum/ >> >> >> - - - - >> Tarek Hoteit >> ta...@infocom.ai >> +1 360-838-3675 >> >> https://infocom.ai >> >> >> >>
[cctalk] Re: Friden (was Silly question about S-100 and video monitors)
On 2023-09-02 8:01 a.m., Will Cooke via cctalk wrote: On 09/02/2023 8:50 AM CDT Peter Corlett via cctalk wrote: On Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 04:32:57PM -0600, ben via cctalk wrote: [...] I think that way has been for a while. Having a hard time finding a 68B50 Unicorn Electronics has the 68B50 for $7.99 https://www.unicornelectronics.com/IC/6800.html $ 30 mininum order and 4 weeks shipping to canada stopped me. $12.06 US from china. (ebay). I am having my PCB's made from PCBWAY in china. Shipping takes longer than them being made. ~ $100 US for the PCB's and ~ $50 for shipping and tax.
[cctalk] Re: Friden (was Silly question about S-100 and video monitors)
On 2023-09-02 7:50 a.m., Peter Corlett via cctalk wrote: On Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 04:32:57PM -0600, ben via cctalk wrote: [...] I think that way has been for a while. Having a hard time finding a 68B50 on ebay. All the modern serial devices (I can buy) seem to be serial interfaced. Sigh. I see the 68B50 on AliExpress, and they're probably even genuine. The vendor I'm tempted to order some other retro chips from offers them in five packs for about a euro each. For new parts available from a reputable supplier, there's the W65C51. The bumph notes it is "compatible with 65xx and 68xx microprocessors". Available in a variety of packages including DIP, and also in -S and -N variants depending on whether you want CMOS or TTL levels, it runs at a nominal 5V and has speed grades up to 14MHz. It's not a direct replacement for the 6850 but will look quite familiar and present no surprises. For new designs, it's simpler to use as it doesn't need external baud rate generators. A single W65C51N6TPG-14 (DIP, TTL, 14MHz) is €7.10 from my local Mouser. If you can handle SMD, there's even the venerable 16550 and clones which could be handy if you're trying to do high-speed serial, although that's got a more 8080-style bus interface so you'll need a few extra gates to get that going. I need it simple, as I am bringing up a new cpu design. 36 bits lives again*. Program testing is to be done I expect from the front panel, until I get boot strap loader into eeprom. The 6850 is just right and coding examples are easy to find. This last PCB is memory and IO.** Ben. * I am building one, if it works is is another story. I use a lot of cmos pals in the design, it makes things so easy build stuff with. ** Once working in need find N x 9 non volitile memory.
[cctalk] Re: SDF Interim Computer Festival
I believe it is an early experiment unlike the well established VCFs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tarek Hoteit ta...@infocom.ai +1 360-838-3675 https://infocom.ai > On Sep 2, 2023, at 8:58 AM, Sellam Abraham via cctalk > wrote: > > Why "Interim"? > > Sellam > > On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 7:25 PM Tarek Hoteit via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> FYI, SDF retro computing and home brew exhibition is scheduled for >> September 30 to October 1 in Seattle WA . Link to the exhibit is at >> https://sdf.org/icf/ and https://icm.museum/ >> >> >> - - - - >> Tarek Hoteit >> ta...@infocom.ai >> +1 360-838-3675 >> >> https://infocom.ai >> >> >> >>
[cctalk] Re: SDF Interim Computer Festival
Why "Interim"? Sellam On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 7:25 PM Tarek Hoteit via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > FYI, SDF retro computing and home brew exhibition is scheduled for > September 30 to October 1 in Seattle WA . Link to the exhibit is at > https://sdf.org/icf/ and https://icm.museum/ > > > - - - - > Tarek Hoteit > ta...@infocom.ai > +1 360-838-3675 > > https://infocom.ai > > > >
[cctalk] Re: Friden (was Silly question about S-100 and video monitors)
> On 09/02/2023 8:50 AM CDT Peter Corlett via cctalk > wrote: > > > On Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 04:32:57PM -0600, ben via cctalk wrote: > [...] > > I think that way has been for a while. Having a hard time finding a 68B50 Unicorn Electronics has the 68B50 for $7.99 https://www.unicornelectronics.com/IC/6800.html Will If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
[cctalk] Re: Friden (was Silly question about S-100 and video monitors)
On Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 04:32:57PM -0600, ben via cctalk wrote: [...] > I think that way has been for a while. Having a hard time finding a 68B50 > on ebay. All the modern serial devices (I can buy) seem to be serial > interfaced. Sigh. I see the 68B50 on AliExpress, and they're probably even genuine. The vendor I'm tempted to order some other retro chips from offers them in five packs for about a euro each. For new parts available from a reputable supplier, there's the W65C51. The bumph notes it is "compatible with 65xx and 68xx microprocessors". Available in a variety of packages including DIP, and also in -S and -N variants depending on whether you want CMOS or TTL levels, it runs at a nominal 5V and has speed grades up to 14MHz. It's not a direct replacement for the 6850 but will look quite familiar and present no surprises. For new designs, it's simpler to use as it doesn't need external baud rate generators. A single W65C51N6TPG-14 (DIP, TTL, 14MHz) is €7.10 from my local Mouser. If you can handle SMD, there's even the venerable 16550 and clones which could be handy if you're trying to do high-speed serial, although that's got a more 8080-style bus interface so you'll need a few extra gates to get that going. > PS: Is it me or was the 6850 ACIA the only simple and bug free uart around > at the time with interupts. The W65C51 datasheet notes it has a bug with the flag bit indicating that the transmit buffer is empty, and the recommended workarounds are "don't do that" or "keep using the old NMOS 6551". I suggest the former since the latter is probably once again harder to find.
[cctalk] Re: Silly question about S-100 and video monitors
On 9/1/2023 11:45 AM, dwight via cctalk wrote: My first computer was a Poly-88. I had no monitor and no keyboard. I read and understood the instructions about finding a TV that used a transformer power supply. Many newer TV's of that day were not using a transformer for the main supply. I went to several secondhand stores and found one that would work. The keyboard was from a surplus Singer data entry machine ( I thought they only made sewing machines ). Believe it or not, at one time they even made Flight Simulators. Early 70's I wanted to work at their Binghamton, NY facility but like IBM in Endicott I couldn't even get my foot in the door. bill
[cctalk] Re: Silly question about S-100 and video monitors
On Fri, 1 Sep 2023, wrco...@wrcooke.net wrote: My favorite is Votrax (speech synthesizers) being a division of Federal Screw Works. We have one attached to our lab8/e :-) Christian
[cctalk] Re: Friden (was Silly question about S-100 and video monitors)
On Fri, 1 Sep 2023, Rick Bensene wrote: The machine was able to be implemented with so few transistors because the microcode word was quite wide, and was designed so that it was sequentially interpreted as the bits streamed out of the delay line, so not all that many flip flops were needed. Working registers were stored in the other delay line, along with program steps (yes, the machine was programmable). Well, the machine (Diehl Combitron etc.) itself is not microcoded. The machine instructions (5 bit code) are all hardwired. The program on the steel tape is the customer application, i.e. the implementation of the calculator. We had a student who developed a cross assembler for the Combitron, able to load a program or data into the delay line (hooked the reader input to a PC). The small delay line contains the current 11 instructions (one 55 bit word), a double-wide accumulator and an MQ register, in total 4 words. The basic instructions are the four arithmetical functions (yes, hardware multiply and divide) as well as some I/O (for the keyboard and printer) and fill/wait instructions to transfer words from the big delay line, i.e. data/program storage, into or from the small delay line containing the registers and the small block of the current instructions (there was room for 11 instructions). There are *no* jumps! OTOH, to jump to another "location", which means changing the 11-instruction word with another one from the main delay line, you issue a special wait (delay lines are like magnetic drums) and then a fill instruction to transfer a word from the big to the small memory. And, it must be explicitely noted, the CPU does *not* have a program counter! A very ingenious but also very complex/braintwisting design. Christian
[cctalk] VCFMW
I've started pulling parts for people who have requested them and keep finding things I had forgotten. A few things of possible interest include: PDP-8A parts including backplanes, most CPU boards, 128K, MM board MM8-AA/AB 8-E boxes and boards DECMATE Rainbow, and PRO systems and parts A few 11/05, 11/10 boxes a new 54-21149 KN15 cpu VS40X 4 plane color options SI-QS 1000 board labeled QED 993 CPU Tape drive heads LA36, LA120, and other printers and parts various VTs and monitors and parts MFM and floppy drives Qbus boxes and hundreds of boards 1000s of DEC boards and parts possible a few 3000 and 5000 boxes and parts If anyone wants to stop by and look for things, please contact me off list to set up a time. Most of the people who have stopped by would say I have quite a lot of DEC items. If you have any questions contact me off list.
