[cctalk] Re: Fwd: Civility; Was Re: Re: LCM auction pre-notice

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 02:10 PM 7/16/2024, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>Collectors always assert that their collection has value, and the next of kin 
>never believe a word of that.

It's not just the claimed value, which could be correct at a given 
moment in time.  It's the cost involved in physically storing the
stuff, the time and skill it would take to assess and describe it
all for sale, and then conducting the sale and shipment.  It's 
a lot of work.

At 02:35 PM 7/16/2024, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
>We also talked about sticking it to the survivors.  I think we concluded
>it's best to sell or give away the collection before you're too old to do so.

Far easier to acquire something - just one more! - than to dispose of one.

- John

[cctalk] Re: what to do with our "treasures"

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:46 PM 6/27/2024, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>THAT's a tough one, and it is likely to go up or down, as things develop. And 
>in fact, it might be necessary to have that be a function of how difficult it 
>will be to move the stuff.
>Most inheritors, and even owners, of collections would probably be willing to 
>accept fairly substantial commission percentages.  There will probably even be 
>more than a few who will effectively say, "I don't care!  If you remove ALL of 
>it, we'lll be happy!"

When I had to quickly move/disburse my office warehouse cache two years ago, 
I had a trusted friend who was interested in reselling.  I offered
him a 50/50 split.  I let him take (almost) whatever he wanted.

He took maybe three minivans worth.  I'm still quite content with
the terms of that deal, as well as what he's paid me.  I still have
roughly 1,200 square feet of stuff to deal with.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Experience using an Altair 8800 ("Personal computer" from 70s)

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 07:50 AM 5/24/2024, Henry Bent via cctalk wrote:
>Surely the code written for Traf-O-Data, before Altair BASIC, counts as a
>commercial product; I'm not sure what definition of "published" you're
>using here.

They didn't sell Traf-o-data, did they?  I thought it was a tool they
used to analyze data for municipalities, and got paid for the service.

- John

[cctalk] Re: C. Gordon Bell, Creator of a Personal Computer Prototype, Dies at 89

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:32 PM 5/22/2024, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
>His and his wife
>Gwen's (god rest her soul as well) personal collecting and the museum at
>DEC was the basis for the Boston Computer Museum, which effectively went
>west and became the Computer History Museum.

He was quite sensitive about this.  I made the same mistake, referring
to it as the "Boston Computer Museum."  He told me:

"Let me be clear The Computer Museum (TCM) was NEVER called the 
Boston Computer Museum...  Boston was a temporary home when computing 
passed through New England, but the city itself gave nothing to it.
...  As a former collector, founder, and board member of the 
Digital Computer Museum > The Computer Museum >> current Computer History 
Museum 
(a name I deplore and that exists only because of the way the Museum left 
Boston) 
I have always been a strong advocate of getting as many artifacts into as many 
hands as possible, and this includes selling museum artifacts when appropriate.
In essence a whole industry of museums and collectors is essential."

- John

[cctalk] Re: What to take to a vintage computer show

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:52 PM 5/1/2024, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>In the early days of the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, (and I may have the two 
>reversed in the following anecdote), Atari had a nice display of a bouncing 
>checkered beach ball.  Amiga had almost nothing.
>But, the second day, everybody except the booth bimbos at Commodore looked 
>haggard, but their machine was showing a bouncing checkered beach ball. And it 
>was bouncing faster than Atari's!

Yes, you have them mixed up.  Amiga had the bouncing beach ball, with sound.
Atari had nothing.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Death of Mitnick

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 02:05 AM 7/20/2023, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
>On Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 8:35 PM Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
>wrote:
>> Too bad, but on the other hand, John Draper turned 80 this year.
>> Probably a better role model.
>>
>> --Chuck
>
>Oh, god, no.

Chuck's only saying that because he wasn't invited to "work out."

- John

[cctalk] Re: long lived media (Was: Damage to CD-R from CD Sleeve

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:54 AM 1/17/2023, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
> To pick one example, I have an 1990s era Dell laptop that no longer passes 
> POST (it gives a "beep code" failure that I haven't been able to cure).  I 
> would like to get whatever is on its hard disk, but that has a proprietary 
> interface as far as I can tell and I have nothing to plug it into.

Really?  Maybe there's an odd Dell cable that goes from IDE to the mobo,
but I would be surprised if it was a proprietary drive.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 03:30 PM 12/12/2022, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
>$700 for a C64?  Egads, you've been watching too much bad cable TV.

Hmm, not really.  My memory was a little off...  it was a C-128D
system from my warehouse that sold a year ago for almost $700.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:53 AM 12/12/2022, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
>No wonder the prices on vintage computer stuff has been going through the
>roof on eBay over the past couple years.

If you spent $1,000 on a Commodore 64 system in 1985, 
that's about $2,800 in today's dollars, courtesy of inflation.

A working C-64 system might go for $700 on eBay today?  But people
were giving them away not long ago.  It's the bathtub curve.

I have a bunch of old Amiga posters up there now.  I thought they'd
fetch nice prices but they've seen little interest so far.

I have other R@RE items I'll list.  Who knows how they'll do.

I have a NewTek Digiview digitizer that is the populated circuit board.
The chips have not been sanded to remove their numbers, nor is
it potted in epoxy like all the retail production units.  

I saw a recent sale of a Digiview-labelled parallel port gender-changer 
that went for $30.  Go figure.  I have at least one.

At 10:06 AM 12/12/2022, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
>Holy crap, someone actually paid $810 for it?

They paid almost another $200 on top for the eBay global shipping program
and custom duties, too, as I had said I'll only ship to the USA.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:20 AM 12/12/2022, John Herron via cctalk wrote:
>I haven't found the episode yet but this is their website with what I
>assume is the poster.
>https://gspawn.com/products/apple-computer-poster-map-of-silicon-valley-in-1990-price-check.
>They are asking $799.00.

That is a similar style, but not my poster.  Mine was landscape, larger, 
not branded by Apple.  I can't read the copyright in the lower left.

My listing is still up: https://www.ebay.com/itm/334649989332

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:37 PM 12/11/2022, ED SHARPE via cctalk wrote:
>Having a good hi Def scan would indeed be nice.
>Having this thing show up on pawn stars probably helped kick the price up.Ed#

Again, I wanted the San Francisco episode you mentioned and
I don't see this poster there.  Can you point to it?

- John

At 08:48 AM 12/5/2022, John Foust wrote:
>At 02:07 AM 12/5/2022, you wrote:
>>Watch PAWN stars do America WITH CHUM LEE  ETC. . The SF. Episode that ran. 
>> That poster was in it I believe 
>
>I don't see it.  I see a guy with sci-fi posters at 38:00.
>
>https://play.history.com/shows/pawn-stars-do-america/season-1/episode-3
>
>Does anyone have a guess of its date of creation, based on
>companies that are there?
>
>- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 07:18 PM 12/10/2022, steve shumaker via cctalk wrote:
>If there's that much interest, it might be worth taking to a FedEx shop and 
>getting a high quality wide format scan.

Their web site locator didn't specifically let me find which offices
can do large format scanning.  It also didn't say what resolution
they can do.  

I have an architect client who'd let me use his blueprint scanner/printer,
but I think it's only 300 DPI.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

Well, she went for $810 to a map dealer in London, and he had to pay
about another $200 for the eBay global shipping program and duties.

I asked one of the other losing bidders about what I had here and why it
was popular...  he said "Dealers are collecting them and 
trying to sell them at various price points. So far sales 
have been pretty minimal at anything over $1000. The 
exception is that some libraries are starting to collect 
them with an eye on the future."

I'll see if I can stitch a good scan before I ship it out.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 02:07 AM 12/5/2022, you wrote:
>Watch PAWN stars do America WITH CHUM LEE  ETC. . The SF. Episode that ran.  
>That poster was in it I believe 

I don't see it.  I see a guy with sci-fi posters at 38:00.

https://play.history.com/shows/pawn-stars-do-america/season-1/episode-3

Does anyone have a guess of its date of creation, based on
companies that are there?

- John

[cctalk] Re: Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:20 AM 12/5/2022, Alexander Huemer via cctalk wrote:
>It would be cool if those could be scanned before disappearing 
>somewhere.

Yes, I have considered that.  I have an Epson V850 Pro flatbed.  
I'd need to scan it carefully in pieces and then use some kind
of stitching tool.  I use Microsoft ICE for pictures.
I have an architectural client with a large format printer that
can also scan, but I think it's only 300 DPI.

The only credit I see on it is "PhotoGraphics."  No idea if
they're still around.  They'd still have copyright, so I couldn't
really reproduce it.

- John

[cctalk] Old Silicon Valley poster

[John Foust via cctalk]

I'm cleaning out my warehouse bit by bit, and started selling posters
on the eBay.

I have two of these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334649989332

I sold one of these posters last week for $95+20 s/h.  

I listed the second one and the buyer of the first one submitted 
an offer for $300 and then for $500.  Then a second guy offered $350.
I declined all three, then did the rotten move of jacking the price 
to $350 because no one had yet bid, and now the second guy 
has bid $350. 

Not to humble brag, but what do I have here?  I probably got 
them for free at a trade show.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Great Vintage Computer Heist of 2012

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:15 AM 10/18/2022, Ethan O'Toole via cctalk wrote:
>>Own your land.
>>Museum or individual.
>
>You never own your land. They can always take it.

Far more probable than someone taking your property?  Wanting to give it up.
Needing to give it up.  Or your death, and then someone else wants and needs 
to get rid of it.

A year ago today, someone made a great offer on my office building and I had
less than 30 days to move out 30 years and 4,500 square feet of crap.  
I managed to down-size into about 1,500 square feet.

- John

[cctalk] Re: 8" floppy diskette storage cases

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:16 AM 10/11/2022, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
>Yes, eBay charges the seller the same commission on shipping as it does for
>the item price, and the taxes charged to the buyer as well.

A year or so ago, I tried to figure out how to even see a detailed
breakdown of eBay's costs and commissions on several servers I'd sold
for a client.  I gave up.  I'm convinced it is purposefully opaque.
You get what you get.

- John

[cctalk] Re: Minicomputer front panel.

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 06:29 PM 9/23/2022, Mike Katz via cctalk wrote:
>Unfortunately there are some collectors who are also resellers so they buy 
>entire lots, keep what they want and sell the rest on eBay at high prices.

Storage space isn't free, even if the mortgage is already paid.

- John

Re: cleaning up edge connectors

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 03:45 PM 4/28/2022, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
>>>If neither of these is doable or practical, what are people
>>>doing to clean up these connectors?
>>Anent that, here's an oldie but goldie:
>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqr-ZmDHR8U
>
>Now that was cool.  But, somehow I doubt it is still available.

Not cheap but they are out there.

https://www.goldplating.com/collections/jewelry-plating-kits

I had a similar set of jars of metal salts for plating 40+ years ago.

- John

Re: interesting DEC Pro stuff on eBay

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:27 PM 4/20/2022, Paul Koning wrote:
>Maybe a different guy, since Pro development was in the late 1970s to early 
>1980s.

Perhaps his son?  Or the guy returned to DEC, or listed his career 
differently on LinkedIn for other reasons?  It's not a common name.

- John

Re: interesting DEC Pro stuff on eBay

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:40 PM 4/19/2022, Bjoren Davis via cctalk wrote:
>Looking at the photo I see the name "Dave Iacobone".  I wonder if he is still 
>around and remembers that board.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-iacobone-0a11436/

At DEC from 1993 to 1996, now at iRobot.

- John

Re: idea for a universal disk interface

[John Foust via cctalk]

Magnetic visualizers also discussed here:

http://qicreader.blogspot.com/p/track-visualization.html

- John

Re: idea for a universal disk interface

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:45 PM 4/13/2022, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>It certainly seems that it would be THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE, with an extreme 
>budget, to build a high resolution device similar to the 3M Magnetic Tape 
>viewer, . . . 
>https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/03/01/the-magnetic-tape-viewer-see-the-sound-on-a-tape/

And how often do those antique viewers come up on eBay and at what price?

Modern ones are for sale for about $120:

https://store.arnoldmagnetics.com/product/284/magnetic-viewer-b-1022

But you can't really use an optical method, right?  You need to scan
the field another way.

And if you set a limit on disk platter tech to anything made before 1985,
what's the magnetic resolution you'd need and what would you need to detect?

Could the reconstruction be software-based, reconstructing from data
gathered while scanning X-Y across surfaces using a mechanism not 
unlike a scanner or 3D printer?  Or would you need to scan like
the flying head that wrote the data back then?

>So, I am making a 24" patio table out of it (under 3/8" tempered glass).
>http://www.ed-thelen.org/RAMAC/RAMAC_Plaque_v40.pdf

A rare item.  How many others have you seen in the wild?

- John

Re: Does anyone/museum test disk packs?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:25 PM 3/16/2022, John Herron via cctalk wrote:
>I was visiting a new thrift store and saw a disk pack they had. I joked
>that mine are just fun display/conversation pieces.

Wait  you bought it, right?  Was it $2?

- John

Sun stuff in MA, USA

[John Foust via cctalk]

https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/t6mqgh/my_dad_who_recently_passed_has_a_bunch_of_sun/

- John

Re: Seeking paper tape punch

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:24 PM 2/21/2022, Steve Malikoff via cctalk wrote:
>Consumer-grade CNC stencil cutters are fine at cutting plastic sheet and 
>should be ok with film stock.
>My ptap2dxf (latest version 1.3) will produce output to cut tapes for ...

Meaning the Cricut kind of device?  Clever!  So it works for
short sections?

Has anyone ever made a Cricut style cutter that has a continuous feed
of tape?

Why did you pick AutoCAD DXF as compared to Adobe Illustrator?

At 07:02 PM 2/21/2022, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
>I understand there is a group called "Green keys" -- ham radio operators who 
>use old "teletype" machines -- which in that community means wny sort of 
>keyboard telex-type machine, not necessarily made by Teletype Co. though US 
>ones often are.  5  bit machines are common in that crowd, some 8 bit machines 
>also appear.  I haven't participated, but I would think that you might find 
>pointers to options there.

GreenKeys mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:greenk...@mailman.qth.net

They can be very helpful.  They tend to focus on other non-33 teletypes.
The list can be a good place to find out about people selling or giving
away equipment, though.

The collectors of the heavy, older, machined teletypes tend to shake
their heads at the high prices and popularity of the light-duty
cheaper punched-metal 33s.

You might find someone giving away a bulky heavy ASR 28 that
handles 5-level tape...

https://www.telegramcableco.com/teletype-model-28-asr.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_28

Less common to find them giving away a 33 because the computer nuts
will pay $xxx to $x,xxx for them.

- John

Re: Classic sale/give-away Jefferson, WI USA

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:25 PM 9/18/2021, Jay Jaeger via cctalk wrote:
>Nearby, in Madison but, unfortunately, essentially out of room.  8(

Darn, I was hoping you'd want some... 

>I suggest listing the S100 stuff on the S100Computers Google Group. Would be 
>happy to assist, given a list of stuff, in getting it posted there.

It was a box of misc cards I picked up in a rescue a decade or so ago.
Nothing too special as far as I remember...

>I'd also be interested in Q-Bus or UNIBUS SCSI, and Q-Bus RX01/RX02, RK05 (if 
>such existed) and RL01/02 controllers.
>If nobody else wanted the MicroPDP-11, I *might* take that as a spare unit to 
>mine.

That's the spirit.  :-)

- John

Classic sale/give-away Jefferson, WI USA

[John Foust via cctalk]

Given the hot real estate market, I've received an unsolicited 
offer to purchase my office building and I'd like to accept it.

This means disposing of a great deal of classic computer stuff in
the next 30 days.  I need to let go of what isn't sparking joy,
as they say these days.  At least I saved the pieces.  What will
best let me part with it is knowing that it went to someone who
also appreciates it.

I'm located in Jefferson, WI, halfway between Madison and Milwaukee.
I'd prefer in-person pickup over shipping, as I have a shortage of
time and adequate shipping boxes for heavy stuff.  

Sure, I'll take cash but I also realize I may need to be giving 
it away.  I'm debating how to do it.  Facebook Marketplace?
eBay pick-up only?  Just here on CCC?  A web site?  I'll work on 
a more detailed list and pics of what has to go and I'll figure out 
the best way to post.  Yes, it's unfortunate that I didn't take 
a van-load to VCF Midwest a few days ago.

Off the top of my head, a Microvax, a MicroPDP-11, an 11-23, 
a Vaxstation, a Kaypro, two CBM PETs, a Tandy M-100 or two, a 
Zilog development system, two PDQ-1, a Sage, some S-100 cards, 
piles of other cards for various systems, probably a pile of Amiga 
stuff (A500, A1000, A2000, A3000, Toasters, early developer docs), 
some C-64 or C-128 and software, some Apple II and clone stuff, 
Macs from classic on up, a great deal of 3D related software and 
manuals from 80s/90s for Amiga/PC/Mac/SGI, several SGIs, a Play Trinity 
video system, Palm handhelds and developer stuff, Compaq and HP 
handhelds, a Pertec 9-track, an ASR-33, bare 8-inch drives
and cabling, a number of tube monitors of sizes from large and 
SGI and Trinitron down to smaller terminals.  A serial terminal 
or two.  A few dot-matrix printers and lasers and ink-jets.  
A stack of Pentium Pro 200 chips, bags of other CPUs and older 
memory chips.

I have either the world's largest or second-largest collection of 
Terak computers, on the order of a dozen, and nine or ten need to go.

Plus other interconnecting stuff, BNC cable, serial and parallel, etc. 
 
Docs like a decade of SIGGRAPH proceedings, Inside Mac, years of 
MSDN CD sets (Intel/MIPS/AXP era), sets of late-80s early-90s 
computer magazines (inc. early BYTE and Kilobaud and Dr. Dobbs,
Amiga mags, video industry mags).  

A pile of early WISP outdoor WiFi era antennas (dishes, panels, 
directionals of various dB, N connector) and associated heavy coax. 

Plus a fair pile of more "contemporary" PC stuff from the last 20 years.
Misc cards, VLB, EISA, etc.  A bunch of PCs, plus IDE and SATA drives.
Many misc. consumer firewalls.

Some odd laser and optical stuff.  A number of older lab-quality 
microscopes like a projector scope, several desk microscopes, 
a black Leitz Ortholux, an articulated standing Zeiss surgical scope.  
A Leitz Focomat II photo enlarger and all the extras.
An AMRAY electron microscope.

And just to put fear in your heart, what doesn't go will go to you
will go to the electronics scrapper and the dumpster.

Send me an email...

- John

Re: Extremely CISC instructions

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 04:13 AM 8/24/2021, Peter Corlett via cctalk wrote:
>move.b ([0x12345678, %pc, %d0.w*8], 0x9abcdef0), ([0x87654321, %sp], %a0*4, 
>0x0fedcba9)

And which language and compiler case was this aimed at?  

Wasn't that a primary driver for complex CISC instructions?  That if it 
happened often enough, it would be faster or smaller as a single instruction?

>(Yet Amiga owners used to poke fun at PC owners with their excessively
>complex x86, which has simpler addressing modes.)

I dunno, 68000 seemed like PDP-11 to me, and I often say one of the big reasons
I quit a particular job was the prospect of my role changing to having to write
80x86 assembler all day.

And yes I quit that job to become an Amiga magazine writer.  :-)

- John

Re: ISO Laserjet I/II/III firmware

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:57 AM 8/12/2021, you wrote:
>There has been some work going on emulating early Laserwriters in MAME and I 
>was wondering
>if anyone still has boards or firmware dumps from Laserjets.
>It seems most have been scrapped.

There were software updates for the firmware and I imagine they were
a complete image and not a patch.  Did anyone save those?

I saved a 4si PS, a QMS 420 and an Apple Laserwriter.  Others 
were recycled perhaps only two years ago.  One step behind
the wrecking ball or the recycling dumpster as the case may be.

- John

Re: PC floppy disk sets avaialble free

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 11:23 AM 8/9/2021, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>sometimes I wonder why I even bother putting this s*it up

Well, actually... it said "Pathworks V5.1 (35 disks) plus LAN Mgr Setup."

So is it 5.1 or is it the 4.1 you have on Bitsavers?

An ISO of a 5.1 CD is at https://vetusware.com/download/Pathworks%205.1/?id=8935
if that's a real site.

- John

Re: Help reading a 9 track tape

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 11:45 AM 8/6/2021, Jay Jaeger via cctalk wrote:
>On 8/5/2021 2:57 PM, Len Shustek via cctalk wrote:
>> > On Aug 5, 2021, at 8:39 AM, Jay Jaeger via cctech  
>> > wrote:
>> > I know Paul well (we were contemporaries at U. WI).

Where did Paul work at UW-Madison?  I don't recall him.  I was on campus
from 1981 to 1985.

>There is also this one for 9 track drives:
>https://github.com/jakubfi/ninetracklab

Has anyone ever developed a method of reading a magnetic tape
with some sort of array of new sensors capable of the pre-1908s
densities and tracks?  A fine array of Hall effect sensors?
At 6250 BPI the bits are pretty tiny, aren't they?

- John

Re: Ian Hirschsohn - DISSPLA, Superset Inc. and sad news

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:56 AM 7/31/2021, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
>As some here know, I collect some dusty deck fortran graphics.  We have 
>MOVIE.BYU up and running! (Thanks Douglas Taylor and Emanuel Steibler).

Once I was in the business of making 3D file format translators,
and I still have code that runs under Windows that can read
and write Movie.BYU format.

- John

Re: What's left of the Houston Museum stuff

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 02:01 PM 7/23/2021, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>like a friend said, we are all just delay lines for the dump

How about "temporary caretakers who will pass these things
along to someone else who also cares?"

- John

Re: core matt repair

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:13 PM 7/20/2021, pspan via cctalk wrote:
>I worked at a company called DMA located in Amery Wisconsin during the 80's 
>and 90's that did do core mat repair. 

And why were they in Amery, WI - a very small town?

- John

Re: Who has a working Terak?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:50 AM 6/19/2021, you wrote:
>off topic, but since Teraks came up
>does anyone have boot disks for the later Calcomp Teraks that have an NEC 7220
>graphics color graphics board?

I have one 8600 color (Q-Bus add-on, separate box) system I inherited from 
a Terak founder.  His estate didn't provide disks.  I believe his nephew 
got all the disks but I don't think he's ever answered my emails.  Apart 
from the software, I imagine there must be a companion card for it that 
goes in an 8510 - I don't think I have that.

I think Cyrus Smith (once of Electric Image) had a color system but
last time I asked he said it might be "gone."

- John

Who has a working Terak?

[John Foust via cctalk]

One of the original UCSD Pascal team contacted me, asking if
any of my Teraks are still working.  Sadly, they don't.

I seem to remember hearing on the list that someone had re-capped and 
re-socketed their Terak, and that it's working.

He wants to get video of an original, working Terak to demonstrate
the UCSD Pascal menu system.  He wants to show how the UCSD Pascal
menu system could've influenced Apple's menus on the Lisa.

Yes, I pointed out that you can run it under emulation.

- John

MITS 300/55 Business System

[John Foust via cctalk]

Fellow wants to unload it, located in Lansing, MI USA.  80 meg HD.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/o2qggk/altair_8800a_with_500_pound_hard_drive/

- John

Re: Vintage Computer Museum eBay Sales

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 03:59 PM 6/17/2021, jim stephens via cctalk wrote:
>When I first crossed paths with this guy I sent him a message about some item 
>he had listed correcting his claims about it.  Don't recall that.

Is there some reason we're not naming names here?  Are they known?

>And a Museum doesn't imply that any of the articles were acquired by 
>donations.  I think that' s just part of the game.

I used "museum" in the name of my web for my classic stuff a long time ago.  
Got a few calls from people over the years who wanted to visit...  well, 
it's just all the stuff in storage here.  No exhibits.  

- John

Re: Looking for VAXSET Software Engineering Tools for VMS 4.x

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:03 PM 4/17/2021, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
>Do you have access to a Record Store that deals in used CDs?  I know one of 
>our local ones used to have  a machine for resurfacing CDs, at the time, I 
>didn’t need to make use of the service.  Another option might be used Video 
>Game stores.

In the USA, it is not uncommon that a public library would have
such a CD/DVD rescue machine, too.  Ask a librarian.

- John

Re: Lisa Source Code

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 02:27 PM 4/8/2021, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>By the way, does anyone know the structure of an ".ITI" file

The context is a WORM file system, or a particular OS, or an app environment?

- John

Re: Lisa Source Code

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:52 PM 4/6/2021, Lyle Bickley via cctalk wrote:
> I converted them to Unix end of line conventions and spaces for
>Pascal tabs after recovering the files using Disk Image Chef, 

OK I'll bite.  Googling for quote Disk Image Chef doesn't
turn up much beyond this press release (which is all over
the web in many languages.)

What is it?

- John

RE: Hard To Believe This Person Is Serious

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:41 PM 3/26/2021, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>Q: what does "FURBISH" mean?

M-W says "to make lustrous" and "to give a new look to."

"Refurbish" is "to brighten or freshen up."

At Dell Outlet, for example, I think they call a computer "refurbished" even
if it never left the warehouse - for example if someone custom-ordered
a PC and then failed to pay or take delivery - that's a new computer
but now it's refurbished and for sale as-configured.

- John

Re: [GreenKeys] OT FTGH Xerox 820

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:59 AM 3/11/2021, Tom Uban wrote:
>I am interested if this is not already spoken for.

I'm sorry, I forgot to include the giver's email.   

"John, W9DDD" 

Contact him directly.

- John

Re: [GreenKeys] OT FTGH Xerox 820

[John Foust via cctalk]

Richardson, TX I assume.

At 09:42 AM 3/11/2021, John, W9DDD wrote:
>I have a Xerox 820 (rev 2 -II?) that will go to it's happy hunting grounds 
>soon unless there is interest.
>
>Pictures if interested, part it out if it gets to that point.
>
>(On topic to the extent it makes room for more Teletype equipment.)
>
>-- 
>John, W9DDD
>__
>GreenKeys mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys

Re: Spelunking the places where files are not

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 03:16 AM 3/8/2021, Tor Arntsen via cctalk wrote:
>Linux distros come with a standard tool to do some of that,
>'testdisk'. From the overview:

I'm familiar with the various undelete tools for Windows and Linux.  
Such tools may not exist or make sense for older file systems.

Entire files would be great to find, but I suspect interesting
fragments may be more likely.

Running a Windows-based tool like Recuva on a hard drive leads
to such a firehose of fragments if you choose the deep scan that
examines all unused blocks.  I've only tried the free version.
Does the pro version give you a way to exclude all the dozens
of OS file types that are probably not the user-made files 
that you want?

And for the archaic disk formats, it would be good to have 
platform-specific methods of identifying fragments to guess
their file type beyond executable and ASCII.  Older run-length
compression image formats may be more possible to recover than
today's block-compressed images.

- John

Re: Spelunking the places where files are not

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 07:55 PM 3/6/2021, John Foust via cctalk wrote:
>And I guess I hadn't thought of that case where the file system 
>named the number of bytes in the file and that the unused ends
>of blocks could also contain stuff, too.  Is there a name for those bytes?

An interesting analysis of "slack bytes" on the IBM DOS 1.0 disks.

https://thestarman.pcministry.com/DOS/ibm100/Exam.htm

- John

Re: Spelunking the places where files are not

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 07:20 PM 3/6/2021, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>The data forensics folks are at least 20 years ahead of you, John!
>They're interested in *everything* on disk, active or not.

Yes, I've looked at some of the high-end tools and once wondered about
a career in data forensics.  I've had a few consulting clients push
me in this direction, asking the question "what exactly was this
employee really doing?" short of a criminal investigation.

For purposes of this thread, of course, I was thinking about all
the old file systems.  I imagine the expensive packages don't handle,
say, UCSD Pascal or RT-11 or Amiga disk file systems, right?
But I bet they handle FAT and NTFS and Mac and Unix/Linux.

One feature from the big-boy software that would be nice to 
carry down to the old stuff would be lists of known OS files
so they could be subtracted from disks (thereby leaving the
user-created stuff.)

>More than 30 years ago, I posted a utility for MSDOS floppies called
>"SEEJUNK". 

https://lostarchives.org/category/27/file/2258#

And I guess I hadn't thought of that case where the file system 
named the number of bytes in the file and that the unused ends
of blocks could also contain stuff, too.  Is there a name for those bytes?

> It was very revealing what could be found on manufacturers'
>disks.

Such as?

>To be fair, I also wrote a companion utility to clean the stuff
>out called PRUNE.

And Microsoft is still handing out a zeroing tool, useful in several
situations including thinning virtualized drives.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sdelete

- John

Fwd: [TUHS] A stack of PDP-11 field maintenance print sets

[John Foust via cctalk]

>
>From: John Floren 
>Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 14:51:40 -0800
>To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society 
>Subject: [TUHS] A stack of PDP-11 field maintenance print sets
>
>I've been hauling around a pile of DEC Field Maintenance Print Sets
>for PDP-11 components for over a decade now, intending to see if
>they're worth having scanned or if there are digital versions out
>there already. Can anyone on the list point me to either an existing
>archive where these exist, or an archivist who would be interested in
>scanning them? They're full of exploded diagrams, schematics, and
>assembly listings.
>
>Here's the list of what I have:
>
>Field Maintenance Print Set (17" wide, 11" high):
>RLV11 disk controller
>RL01-AK disk drive
>ADV-11A (??)
>
>Field Maintenance Print Set (14" wide, 8.5" high):
>RL01 disk drive
>DLV11-J serial line controller
>RLV11 disk controller
>KFD11-A cpu
>KEF11-A floating point processor
>PDP11/23
>PDP11/03-L
>
>Absolutely not tossing them, just wondering if there are already
>scanned copies available somewhere, if I should send them off to be
>scanned and put online, or if I should just check in with computer
>museums (I'm near the CHM, for instance)
>
>John Floren

Spelunking the places where files are not

[John Foust via cctalk]

After thinking about disk imaging tools like Greaseweasel, 
I started thinking about tools that would grab and examine the unused
portions of disks.

It's obviously file-system dependent.  At one level we know of 
"undelete" tools that could piece together recently deleted files
and restore them intact by using abandoned bits of block table info.
Of course some simple file systems can't even permit that.

But very few systems would bother to zero out the released blocks
of erased or rewritten files and then blocks are left full of
old data.  Text source code would be easy to spot. 

I have vague memories of bits of Amiga OS source code being unintentionally
released in unused blocks on OS binary disks that were sent out for 
mass duplication and distribution.  

This situation makes me hesitant to release disk images from the past.
It's one thing to do it with disks that were mine and to take responsibility
for my risk; it's another to release disks once owned and used by others.
Do the unused sectors contain their love letters from 1983?  

Or if I want to release disk images that contain known personal files,
how will I image, then remove specific files, then zero unused blocks
if I don't want to alter the original media?

Obviously in some situations the relevant files can be pulled and 
redistributed in a new filesystem like a Zip.

The situation only gets worse with distributing larger images of
entire hard disks.  Or with Windows, "quick format" doesn't zero blocks.

In another case I encountered while digging through files on an old 
RSTS backup tape, we had a program that logged usage data to a file 
and for speed purposes it would preallocate a large file (as opposed 
to extending the file, which was slower) and then write block records 
to it.  RSTS reused blocks without zeroing.  In the unused blocks 
of an extant file I found an email I'd sent in '82 as well as bits
from other users of the same timesharing system.

Certainly the archivists out there have considered these questions.
How are they solved?

Are there notable tools that focus on the files that aren't there?

I don't mean modern forensic carving tools...  but some concepts would
be similar.

- John

Re: digital group's Richard Bemis

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:23 PM 3/3/2021, Brad H via cctalk wrote:
>I am working on a 30 minute historical video about the digital group.  For 
>source material there isn't a ton of stuff out there unfortunately and much of 
>the account of what happened to the company comes from the late Dr. Robert 
>Suding.  In his account, Suding sort of points fingers at Richard "Dick" Bemis 
>for mismanagement of the company.  

DG was in Colorado, right?  Do you have a middle initial for him?  

Ancestry.com has a Richard J Bemis divorce in Otero county, CO, in '74.
But nothing else for CO.

- John

Fwd: [GreenKeys] Teletype 33 KSR free in Knoxville, TN, USA

[John Foust via cctalk]

The guy posted today, saying they're still available...

- John

>From: 
>To: 
>Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2020 18:23:31 -0500
>Subject: [GreenKeys] Equipment Available
>
>I have the following available for pickup in the Knoxville TN area, it from
>the estate of an old ham buddy that's now in the nursing home with
>Alzheimer's.  All was salvaged from his property which was sold to help
>defer his nursing home expenses, and was going to go in the dumpster.
>Really just wanted to save this stuff from the dumpster,  and its free to a
>good home, BUT if it works for you (whomever comes and get this stuff) a
>donation that I could forward to his Nephew to help cover his nursing home
>costs would be greatly appreciated.
>
>There are two Teletype Model 35 KSRs and at least one 33 KSR. Also there is
>an model 14 Printing Reperf FRXD (very similar to frxd-1311-04.jpg (800×600)
>(navy-radio.com)  on
>Nick England's site.  There may be some other in the future and possibly
>some 11/16 paper tape, but this may be spoken for.
>
>All was stored in a dry outbuilding, but was in the building for well over
>twenty years. It took the best part of a day to dig it out, salvage and
>carry it out of said storage building.
>
> 
>
> 
>I can provide additional more detailed photos if required, but please don't
>ask unless your really interested and serious.  The empty brass nor the gun
>they were fired in are no longer available I'm keeping it.Ha Ha.
>
>PS this stuff will not be available indefinitely, I don't have the space to
>store it for another twenty years, it will probably go onto the dump or be
>dismantle for parts before the end of February.
>
>Steve
>KM4V

Re: Flip-Chip selloff (Al Kossow)

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 04:01 PM 2/3/2021, you wrote:
>and I won't go into how disgusted I am with eBay's new seller payment system
>they forced everyone into on the first of the month.

A few months ago I sold on eBay some servers and NAS stuff for a client.
I thought it would be easy to see the detailed financial breakdown...  
what it sold for, what came in, what was their cut, how much was shipping, 
what went to PayPal, etc.  I couldn't find it for the life of me.

- John

Re: Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 03:37 PM 2/3/2021, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>"Reasonably quickly" is a relative term.   I've got samples here that I
>had to cogitate over for a year.
>Admittedly, these were items that were sui generis, but "quickly" was
>not in the picture. 

Well, there's the balance between novice normal mode and expert mode.

I heard people asking for a way to see the reults quickly so you could 
adjust the reading, abort if problems were spotted, or change tactics
if weird data arose.  We want smart software for the novices and 
adjustable software for the experts.

- John

Re: Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

What I'm hearing is that these microcontroller standalone devices
don't give any feedback on the reading process.  Couldn't they be more
tightly coupled to a PC so the raw data could be displayed immediately
and analyzed reasonably quickly?  Certainly they could send all
the samples over USB quite quickly?

- John

Re: Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:32 AM 2/2/2021, geneb via cctalk wrote:
>On Mon, 1 Feb 2021, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>>and it is the software and the knowledge of what you need to do when
>>recovering media in volume these guys have no clue about
>
>How about helping out instead of bitching from the sidelines?

I was quite eager to hear Kossow's insights.  Any engineer or programmer
(or both) worth their salt eagerly seeks and accepts the "but it would be really
handy if it did X, Y and Z" insights, especially if they're coming from
someone with decades of experience in the field in question.  

How else will products improve?  

- John

Re: Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 07:54 PM 2/1/2021, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>The workflow of 'squirt across a bitstream from the whole disk, let the PC
>chew on it and maybe it's right' is fundamentally wrong
>It may work on clean media but you are guaranteed of getting garbage after the
>head clogs at some point during the march across the disk.

Hmm, OK...  So a dirty media problem eventually goops the head...  

Are you saying a flux recorder should have a better way of detecting that 
problem?
And stop earlier?

- John

Re: Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 06:15 PM 2/1/2021, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>On 2/1/21 4:13 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>>any moderately capable
>>modern MCU can do the job.
>
>and it is the software and the knowledge of what you need to do when
>recovering media in volume these guys have no clue about

What aspects are they missing?

- John

Re: Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 04:58 PM 2/1/2021, geneb wrote:
>I've got one (F7+ Lightning version) and I've used it with 5.25" and 8" disks. 
> I've got plans to use it with 8" disks, but I've not done it yet. You'll need 
>to get the FDADAP from here: http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html in order to use 
>it with the GW.

Already have one of those.  Did you say you have it working with eight inch?

- John

Greaseweazle

[John Foust via cctalk]

https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle

I heard about this today and I'm surprised I hadn't heard about it
on this list before.  

Flux reading and writing from all sizes of floppy?

Anyone here using one?  I'd love to get it working for 8 inch,
5 1/4, 3 1/2 drives here in my shop.

- John

Usenet and Google Groups

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 06:01 PM 1/30/2021, you wrote:
>>>Which Henry was that?  Henry Spencer perhaps?
>>Yes, Henry Spencer (formerly of zoo.toronto.edu).
>>N.
>
>Another blast from the past.  I haven't seen anything of or spoken with him in 
>nearly 30 years.

A legend, indeed, and one that only makes me upset about Google's Usenet 
archive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Spencer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Groups

Couldn't Google just give someone else a copy of what Spencer
(and everyone else) gave them?

- John

Re: Compuserve

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:56 AM 1/12/2021, James B DiGriz via cctalk wrote:
>I'm kicking myself right now because I had forgotten that archive.org
>hosts a web interface to an (incomplete) archive of the Compuserve web
>forums. I think this is based on the archiveteam emergency scrape of
>2017.

Do you have a link to it?

> Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. There is also a 64GB tranche of
>raw SC-40 and SCSI FE disk images on IA. 

Disk images of what, from where?  CompuServe?

- John

Re: Compuserve

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:57 AM 1/11/2021, Ethan O'Toole wrote:
>>So how could you organize all that into a web database and interface?
>
>Could you put a text front end on it that emulates the original CIS?

I'd say the first step is defining a SQL database structure to hold
it all, then the code to display it, and sure, maybe an interactive
emulation would be nifty...  but note that CompuServe messages 
disappeared on their own.  A forum could only hold so many, and
the oldest were flushed.  So an emulation would need to pick a
moment in time to emulate.

In today's interface style, I'd say you'd want to be able to search 
it all, then view a message in context with the rest of its thread.

>>Am I going to trust my parser to have never made a mistake?
>>Or do I need to read a half-million posts to confirm it didn't?
>
>Search for your name?

Not that simple.  After you'd navigated to the email area and
asked to display a particular waiting message, it only showed
date / from / subject at the top, and at least in 1995, it
actually put the "Distribution: To: John Foust - Syndesis 
Corporation > [76004,1763]" at the bottom after the message!

For Internet gateway'd email, it showed the full message as is, 
with the raw headers and/or "Content-type:" and left you to
figure it out on your own.

- John

Re: Compuserve

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 04:03 PM 1/10/2021, James B DiGriz via cctalk wrote:
>There will have been pieces saved here and there, but mostly on floppies or 
>old,
>failing hard disks or rotting tapes not stored safely, so if anyone
>wants to archive them, they need to do it ASAP.  

 From '85 until '94 or so, I saved my transcripts from visiting 
CompuServe, PeopleLink, Delphi, Genie, BIX, the Well, etc.  

I probably focused on Amiga forums.  There are some CAD and 
3D animation and programmer and Atari and Tandy M-100 forums, too.

I was often free-flagged on CIS and many other services so surfing was free.  
For the kids out there, in today's dollars CompuServe was about $20 an hour.

I had largely automated my visits with Pro-YAM on a PC.  Log in, grab
my personal email, upload the outgoing mail, scrape the forums I wanted 
to read, save it all to a text file, and then I'd read and edit in Brief 
at my leisure.  Some of the time, my visits were not scripted.

Then I'd squeeze them all into floppy-sized ZIPs for archiving.  At 
some point I copied all those floppies to the active storage I use and
backup now.

My archives aren't pristine backups.  I erased many posts that
I thought were uninteresting at the time.  As I read, I compulsively 
reformatted paragraphs with Brief's word-wrap macro.  

The largest part of my archive was CompuServe.  In 2015 I wrote a little 
Perl parser to separate individual forum posts.  I have about 400 megs of 
messages, on the order of 525,000 messages.  I split each post 
into its own XML file, tagging the pieces (from, to, subject, etc.) 

I've left the hard part of constructing the web software to make it all
readable and searchable.  

There are a few problems to solve.  You'd want to impose some structure
on it all.  A topic such as "Amiga" had several forums...  user, programmer,
arts, vendors.  

Enter a forum and it would tell you the range of message numbers 
available and the number of the last one you've read.  At that
point I'd generally say "read all new."  Each forum had a dozen or so 
numbered sections.  Sections had names and they changed over time.  

Posts have a number and replies mention the parent message in the subject
line, so they're kind of threaded.  An example:

  #: 126608 S0/Sysop's Corner
  29-Oct-95  00:20:12
  Sb: #126546-#Problem Uploading Files
  Fm: Betty Clay 76702,337
  To: Shawn/Silent Paw 74777,2602 (X)

  This would be caused by the entire forum running out of blocks in the library.
  Steve handles that, and I'm sure he has noticed and requested more by now.  It
  is quite likely that we won't get them before Monday, though. Sometimes 
there's
  no one around to handle the request on weekends.

Like this message, some sections were "sysop" and perhaps should be 
considered non-public.

My transcripts also have stuff from before and after the forum posts.  
Who knows, maybe someone would find interesting the "What's new this week" 
intro menu you'd see at login.  

Or better yet, the file libraries.  Each section had a "data library".  
Each file showed a filename, timestamp and size, uploader PPN and
name, and title line and keywords and a paragraph of description.
I have some listings of the file areas. I may also have the original
files I downloaded.  All that could be linked into a new web version, too.

Maybe there are some text-based public live group chats (conferences), too.

So how could you organize all that into a web database and interface?

It has some similarities to Usenet posts.  But not quite.  The sections
change over time.

It would also make sense for me to improve my parser to separate 
out each email I sent or received.  I'd be eager to release the public
forum posts but I also don't want to release my private emails.

Am I going to trust my parser to have never made a mistake?
Or do I need to read a half-million posts to confirm it didn't?

I have to believe that other people saved transcripts of CompuServe 
forums if not other services, too.  Ideally there could be a way to add
everyone's messages to the reconstruction.

Indeed, google ' "Sb:" "Fm:" "To:" sysop cis ' and you'll see
other bits and pieces of CompuServe transcripts.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Sb%3A%22+%22Fm%3A%22+%22To%3A%22+sysop+cis

I don't know what it was like inside CIS back then, but I can't help
but wonder if any magtape archives left the building.  I asked 
an Amiga forum owner if he saved anything...  he said "no" but
maybe other forum owners did.

As an aside, keep in mind that the people running CIS forums held a 
contract with CIS and they were paid.  For many, it was their sole income.
Some ran several forums and made quite a bit of money at it.

I was very surprised to learn the web-based http://forums.compuserve.com/ 
existed until three-four years ago.

- John

Re: Keyboard storage, part 2

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:31 PM 1/4/2021, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote:
>Next, I ordered the Uline keyboard boxes. I had to get 25 of them and they are 
>not free 

Well, actually... neither are the "free" USPS boxes.  *Someone* paid for them,
and they're supposed to be used for shipping.

- John

Re: misc stuff - free

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:37 AM 12/14/2020, Don Stalkowski via cctalk wrote:
>Softech microsystems UCSD p-System 8" floppy disks:

I would've paid for shipping these, if anyone is visiting to 
grab anything.  I'm in Wisconsin.  I'd at least want to know
someone imaged them.

- John

Re: Fire-Sale PDP-11 update (and request for parts)

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:41 AM 12/5/2020, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote:
>Thought you folks might be interested in a quick update on my folly here.
>
>At the beginning of November I drove down to the bay area to pick up the
>two fire-damaged PDP-11 systems -- a PDP-11/70 and a PDP-11/45.  (I also
>made a few other stops and got a few other items, but that's not what I'm
>here to talk about...)

Darn, I thought you'd tell some other tales of what Dale had in
his warehouse.  

- John

Re: Syquest druve owner in 541 area code? (Usa)

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:17 PM 11/8/2020, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
> Thus came into my site, if you can help contact me privatelthanks
>...
>I have an old Syquest 5.25" removable cartridge (44MB) and am
>trying to find a service that will get the graphics data off the cartridge
>for me. If you have any suggestions I'd LOVE to hear them. It seems
>impossible to find anyone with a functioning drive to read this thing.

I was thinking about firing up the old (late 80s?) drive I have in storage
and trying to image the carts I have.

What should I watch for?  Any typical failure mode?

- John

Re: non-shunting jumpers?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:30 PM 10/22/2020, you wrote:
>I have seen surface mount 0.05 pitch
>pin headers come from their manufacturer with protective caps, but I
>haven't been able to find anything to apply to 0.1" pin headers that I
>could by aftermarket.

I'd use two jumpers.  Hang one off one pin, hang the other off the other.  
If you wanted to get fancy, superglue them in the middle.

- John

Re: [TUHS] Fwd: Choice of Unix for 11/03 and 11/23+ Systems

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:51 PM 9/30/2020, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>I guess all this PDP-11 hardware detail isn't really on-topic for this list; I
>should move it to Classic Computers, or something. 

I've got Riordan's udis[01..10].DSK disk images that I presume
are similar to http://www.bitsavers.org/bits/Terak/mini-unix/
IMD images.

Which filesystem would I find in these images, and which tool
can burst the image into its files?

- John

Revived Terak 8510

[John Foust via cctalk]

Mine stopped working a decade or so ago.  I have a dozen or so,
but none are powering up any more.

I seem to remember someone here who'd revived one.  Did it mean
replacing sockets, replacing caps?

- John

Fwd: [GreenKeys] Teletype Model 28 Free, La Crosse, WI area

[John Foust via cctalk]

>
>Subject: [GreenKeys] Model 28 Free
>From: GARY WEBB via GreenKeys 
>
>Model 28 with modem installed.  Tape reader/reperf.  Variable speed.  Manuals. 
> Last used 20+ years ago.  If no one wants it, soon will be in the local land 
>fill.  Located in Onalaska, WI   Phone 608-769-5633  NI9V

Fwd: [GreenKeys] Teletype 33 near Phoenix AZ

[John Foust via cctalk]

>
>From: Joe Clanin 
>Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2020 04:56:27 -0500
>To: greenk...@mailman.qth.net
>Subject: [GreenKeys] 28KSR, 26, 33 For Sale Near Phoenix, AZ
>
>I have no affiliation with the seller, just passing it along.
>
>28:Â 
>https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/ele/d/mesa-teletype-model-28/7194476271.html
>
>26:Â 
>https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/ele/d/mesa-teletype-model-26/7194473134.html
>
>33:Â 
>https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/sys/d/mesa-teletype-model-33-ksr/7184200181.html
>
>-Joe
>__

IBM and Calcomp gear rescue in Toronto area

[John Foust via cctalk]

https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/id17d2/i_need_vintagecomputings_help_in_the_early_1980s/
 

IBM 29 card punch
IBM 2501 card reader
IBM 3420 magnetic tape unit
IBM 3803 tape control unit
Calcomp 663 plotter
Calcomp 770 plotter tape storage
Remington tabulator
and some relatively more modern printers, two daisywheels and a laser printer.

Re: Circuit board trace repair...

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 05:33 PM 8/12/2020, Doc Shipley via cctalk wrote:
>When I worked for Texas Instruments in '83, we used 30ga 24K gold wire... 

And these days, that's sold by the inch?

- John

Re: [GreenKeys] Omaha craigslist - Teletype RO printer - what model?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:56 PM 8/3/2020, Nick England wrote:
>Looks interesting - I know nothing more
>https://omaha.craigslist.org/sys/d/omaha-heathkit-h19-terminal-vintage-old/7170438478.html
>
>What model printer is that? typewheel, not dot matrix.

Any ideas over here?

- John

Teletype KSR 33 in portable hard-shell case

[John Foust via cctalk]

I'd like to know what to call this portable teletype 33.

I have not yet found any ID tag.  I'd love to see some original literature.
Have not yet found another on the internets.

The hard-shell lid is removable and has a nice compartment to hold 
the DA-15 to DB-25 serial cable and the AC power cable. 

I uploaded pics at https://imgur.com/a/zAHchbb .

It has some issues.  Typing JOHN FOUST gives HMHL DMEAD and line feed doesn't.

- John

Re: OpenVMS Community License

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:03 AM 7/28/2020, you wrote:
>FYI...new VMS community license.
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ2n2RlNVtw

Titled "Failover Mechanism".

Did you mean "VSI Community License Program" dated 7/28/2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCjFIASH87s
 

- John

Re: Interested in Microport 286 System V?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 01:18 PM 7/20/2020, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>>>Bela Lubkin
>>Waait. Is this somehow related to the Armory?
>
>I know Bela, and will be picking it up from him tonight

I knew him back in the Amiga days, and just a few years ago
I was looking at my class roster from Shorewood (WI) Intermediate School
and I was surprised to see we were in the same class, and 
I can't remember if I knew him back then.  We'd go over
to the high school to learn BASIC on the 33s via dial-up to UW-M.

- John

Re: Fwd: Looking for BAD / Faulty core memory for a display piece

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 04:35 AM 7/21/2020, Gary Sparkes via cctalk wrote:
>Anyone? even if it's physically broken


You don't like the ones on eBay?

- John

Re: A tool many of you may make find useful!

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:41 AM 6/25/2020, Dave Dunfield via cctalk wrote:
>I originally wrote it for my own use, but it has proven SO useful that I took
>a little time to clean it up and post it at my personal site.:

Downloading http://dunfield.maknonsolutions.com/dos/sw/ddw2020.zip
gets flagged by Windows Defender on Windows 10 Pro (1909) 
as "Worm:Win32/Spybot".

- John

Re: PDP-11 tape question

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 12:50 AM 6/24/2020, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>Thanks for straightening that out--all I know is that the tapes are from
>an 11/70, which isn't much information, admittedly.

A few months ago, I was re-rescuing some files that a friend had
once read from a RSTS tape.  He gave two sets of files.  
I'm not sure what tool or system he was using, but it
probably was newer than the RSTS.

One grabbed the files with the 14 bytes prepended to every file
but without correct filenames, the other rescued the files
with the filenames but without the correct dates.

Once I figured out the nameless files had the 14 byte DOS-11
tape header, I wrote a little C tool that gave the files their
proper filename and date.  You're welcome to it.  For Windows
at least and probably Unix.

My deeper goal was to rescue the files well enough to 
get them running again under SIMH and/or one of the 
JavaScript-based in-browser emulators.  The programs wanted
the FORTRAN compiler environment and BASIC-PLUS, and
finding all those installers of the right version and combination,
learning how to get it all right...  whew, I wasn't sysop-level
back then, and so much time has passed, it's quite a puzzle.

- John

Re: Future of cctalk/cctech

[John Foust via cctalk]

I'm most puzzled by the eager hosting volunteers who'd volunteer even before
they have a full understanding of the job.  Wouldn't you want to know
how much time it might take you to administer the list, how much 
bandwidth it eats, storage, format of the archives, etc.?

- John

Re: Amiga Vendors?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 11:05 AM 6/10/2020, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
>I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US?  I 
>need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in 
>the US, I assume they’re gone.

Geeze, we're not that old.  You make it sound like we should be dead by now.

- John

Re: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 05:05 PM 5/29/2020, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>One reaason why you don't hear much about that is because the first version of 
>Microsoft Fortran for the PC wasn't real great.
>It was written in Microsoft Pascal.

Really!

How does this connect to Microsoft's FORTRAN-80 for CP/M circa 1977?

- John

Re: Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:59 AM 5/29/2020, Jecel Assumpcao Jr via cctech wrote:
>The modern variation of the Turing Tarpit. At least they come to this
>illusion honestly given that you even have people who think implementing
>Forth in C is the way to go.

What, are you saying that someone couldn't write some Perl or Python
to translate the GW BASIC assembler to portable C?

- John

Re: Living Computer Museum

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 08:04 AM 5/29/2020, Daniel Seagraves via cctalk wrote:
>I’ve been just kinda skimming along in this thread, I’ve been busy; Just 
>wanna make sure I have everything down...

"Anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone 
going faster than you is a maniac" - George Carlin

- John

Re: Living Computer Museum

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:25 AM 5/28/2020, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
>Nothing like asking people to jump thru hoops before you let them
>do you a favor.  :-)

Much of the effort of running a thrift store is disposal of 
donated material that has no rapid resale value.

- John

Re: DIY Paper Tape Punch - Mechanism diagram?

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 07:18 AM 5/1/2020, Hugh Pyle via cctalk wrote:
>I've cut Mylar tape with a Glowforge laser.  It cuts very nicely but the
>alignment is a major hassle, plus you can only cut ~15" of tape which
>doesn't go very far.  Not worth the effort.  If you were to build a custom
>linear drive it might work.  But also very slow.

Hmm.  You could have N fixed lasers at the spots of potential holes, 
and then a mechanism to move the whole assembly of them in the shape of a
single hole, drawing them all at once.

You could have one laser on that moved precisely along the hole row,
and use the same sort of mechanical motion to draw a hole.

How much laser do you need to cut paper, how much to cut mylar?

Were there any paper tape devices that did not use the sprocket holes 
to move the tape?

- John

Re: tape baking

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 05:56 AM 4/28/2020, you wrote:

>https://www.morressier.com/article/towards-understanding-thermal-remediation-degraded-archival-reeltoreel-audio-tapes/5e736c6bcde2b641284abb13

Lower right pic on "layers in contact" slide, looks like it was inverted...

- John

Re: Fixed my pdt11/150

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 03:33 PM 4/26/2020, Chris Zach via cctalk wrote:
>So I've had a boat anchor pdt11/150 here for awhile. It's probably one of the 
>weirdest pdp11s ever built: An 11/03 CPU ish, six serial ports, ish, and a 
>pair of RX01 drives.

I remember using one for a while in the early 80s.  I kind of liked it.
I think the local DEC rep gave it to us for a song for some reason.

- John

Re: Another old phart trying to clean out the house

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:46 AM 1/13/2020, you wrote:
>If there is anyone in the greater Chicago area (or anywhere else) who'd like 
>to drive over and take away anything from a carton to a carload of old stuff, 
>from docs to chips, please let me know. No inventory list, no shipping - just 
>a walk-through and carry out.

OK no inventory list, but how about pictures of piles?

And "greater Chicago" is a very large area.  Where are you in slightly
more specific terms?

- John

Re: RSTS emulation in a browser (now "FILMGR")

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:23 PM 12/15/2019, John Foust via cctalk wrote:
>At 11:11 PM 12/13/2019, John Foust via cctalk wrote:
>>Another RSTS question.  One of my rescued tapes has only several
>>files with the extension ".FLB"  Compared to other files of the
>>sets, these are relatively large... up to a meg or so.

And in digging through the 1000+ files on these backups, 
I found some code that I had written back in '82 that
bursts these FLB files back into their constituent files.  

So weird to have forgotten it all, so weird to find my own code.  
Yes, they could've been created by some UW-Madison home-grown 
tool that bundled files together.  

So has anyone uploaded ready-to-use DSK images with all of RSTS
in them?  I'd like the full BASIC-PLUS and FORTRAN environment
at my fingers.  Or do I need to build them myself from TAP images?

- John

Re: RSTS emulation in a browser (now "FILMGR")

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 11:11 PM 12/13/2019, John Foust via cctalk wrote:
>Another RSTS question.  One of my rescued tapes has only several
>files with the extension ".FLB"  Compared to other files of the
>sets, these are relatively large... up to a meg or so.

I'd found some RAD-50 filenames in the headers at constant positions,
names like I24J19.DAT and K82LOG.DAT.  Not the source code I was 
hoping for - maybe some kind of login/logout logs, or program usage logs. 

The smaller FLB files seem to contain some text and code 
fragments, confirming the idea that it didn't bother to 
compress the last partial block of a file.

Someone on comp.sys.dec thought they might be from the FMS-11
forms management system but that doesn't make sense based on
the contents I see so far.

- John

Re: RSTS emulation in a browser (now "FILMGR")

[John Foust via cctalk]

Another RSTS question.  One of my rescued tapes has only several
files with the extension ".FLB"  Compared to other files of the
sets, these are relatively large... up to a meg or so.

In a text file on another related tape, a manager wrote "Learn 
how to use FILMGR, which is invoked by DO FILMGR. It keeps 
storage space down."

Sounds like archiving and compression.  Google is no help.
I looked at DECUS RSTS lists and didn't see it.

Does anyone remember a program called FILMGR for RSTS/e 7
circa 1982?  Does "FLB" mean "file library"?

- John

Re: RSTS emulation in a browser

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 02:04 PM 12/10/2019, Boris Gimbarzevsky wrote:
>Downloaded files for previous PDP-11 emulator but couldn't get it to run.  
>Link to German site at bottom of your post works fine and Unix runs about same 
>speed that it ran on my 11/34 in 1983.  Scary that coding a PDP-11 emulator in 
>an incredibly inefficient scripting language such as Javascript matches speed 
>of the machine I was using back then.

Google says JavaScript is now only two to seven times slower than C++.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJPdhx5zTaw
 

https://blog.reactiveconf.com/5-reasons-why-javascript-is-eating-the-world-bbc4aca0a527
 

- John

Re: RSTS emulation in a browser

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 10:51 PM 12/9/2019, Jay Jaeger wrote:
>No, not necessarily.  A web server provides a content header based on
>its own internal configuration.  For local files, it is determined
>locally, and so might be different.
>
>Also it is possible that there are some file references in there that
>are not purely relative or that there is another file that is not there.
> One would have to look at the .html and .js files to see.

The code looks pretty flat; no folders.  It didn't even need any 
tweaks for file permissions when I uploaded to a web server.  The 
HTML mentions two .js files fpp.js and vg11.js that aren't present 
on his web or in the zip, but it runs without them.  It's not trying 
to write back to the DSK files, it just keeps an in-memory cache 
when it's running.  I imagined it was something related to security 
in a local browser.

I tried emailing the author but no response yet.

http://pdp11.aiju.de/ seems to be a different, simpler 
PDP emulator
written in JavaScript.

- John

Re: RSTS emulation in a browser

[John Foust via cctalk]

At 09:07 PM 12/6/2019, Jay Jaeger via cctalk wrote:
>When I try and contact the site, it times out / can't connect, though I
>did manage to get an index listing by leaving off the pdp11.html.

I also saw the time­outs but a retry usually fixed it.

>Not quite sure what you mean by trying to run it "locally".   Is it that
>you downloaded pdp11.zip and unzipped it and pointed at that as a file URL?  

Yes, loading pdp11.html locally.  Should work, no?

>Or did you copy it to a local web server you have?

Yes, I've done that, and it runs fine there.

>There are at least three files involved, I spect:  pdp11.html, pdp11.js
>and bootcode.js, and probably vt11,js, pdp-11-45.svg and pdp11-70.svg as
>well.

Yes, I've been wishing it was better documented.  But all the source is there.

- John

RSTS emulation in a browser

[John Foust via cctalk]

Back in 2000, Jay Jaeger generously helped me read some old backup tapes 
from a RSTS V7.0-07 system.

I'm not sure why I hadn't tried before, but I recently thought I could 
try to run those circa-1982 BASIC-PLUS and FORTRAN programs under emulation.  
And maybe even in a browser.  There's a JavaScript emulator at:

https://skn.noip.me/pdp11/pdp11.html 

I can 'boot rl2' on that web site and it runs, but when I try to
run it locally in a browser, it hangs.

Am I missing something simple?

That page is maintained by Paul Nankervis .

- John