[cctalk] Re: unpleasant odor from VT100
Hi Hush: There are dangerous - potentially lethal - voltages inside a CRT display, so be very, very careful if you don’t have lots of experience with these devices. Touch the high voltage points by mistake and you are likely dead on the spot. The issue probably relates to bad electrolytic capacitors in the high voltage circuitry, or with the flyback transformer as another reader has commented. Best course of action as it doesn’t sound like you have a ton of high voltage servicing experience with these devices is to visit an old school TV repair shop. Techs there can probably figure out what the issue is. Schematics are available for VT terminals on bitsavers and similar sites. Not to be alarmist, but BE CAREFUL! Kevin Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 20, 2022, at 14:06, hush hush via cctalk wrote: > > Peter, thank you for the reply! i had to wait a bit for it to get dark > enough, but i just checked and i could not see any visible arcing inside > the chassis when the terminal is powered on. there is a slight buzzing > noise coming from the problem area but i suspect that is normal. > > i did notice something new and potentially enlightening though, this time > when i turned the terminal on i could see several lines stretching > diagonally across the screen that were not there before. i also checked the > transformer(?) above the power distribution board while the unit was > powered on, it does not seem to be overheating. > >> On Tue, Dec 20, 2022 at 1:09 PM Peter Coghlan via cctalk < >> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> I had something similar with a VT220. I didn't get around to >> investigating it >> before the flyback transformer failed :-( >> >> I can only suggest to run it for a short time with the cover off and the >> lights >> out while looking for any glows / discharges around the flyback >> transformer, >> the EHT cable, the EHT connector on the tube and the tube base connector. >> >> Regards, >> Peter Coghlan. >> >> Ps: Anyone got a flyback transformer for a VT220? >> >>> >>> i have a VT100 that is working fine (powers on, navigates setup, >>> saves/restores settings, etc) but has an unpleasant burning/ozone odor >>> coming from the rear of it. i suspect something is running hot but i am >> not >>> sure what, i do not currently have an IR camera in my hands- working on >>> that. the original power supply has failed and is currently in storage, >> so >>> the terminal is being powered by an ATX power supply and adapter board >> for >>> the time being. this eliminates the usual R27 as being the culprit. >>> >>> as best i can tell, the smell is strongest just above the power >>> distribution board, around the neck of the CRT. appreciate any >> suggestions >>> you might have! >>
[cctalk] 11/45 and 11/34 Taken!
Hi All: I’m pleased to report that my 11/45 and 11/34 which were in need of a new home have been taken by another collector here in BC. They will be off to a very good home! Thanks for reading my post. Kevin
[cctalk] Test Message
Pardon the test message, I have just re-subscribed to the list but have seen no traffic on it for a couple of days. Kevin McQuiggin
Re: Electr* Engineering
Norman, I recall you! I was at SFU first as a high school student from 1975 then as an undergrad 1977-1981. Elma, Doreen, Ted Sterling, James Weinkam - you’ll remember them! I was a TA as well in the late 1970s and classes were small, especially upper level. 5-6 students per class and we’d TA one another based on our specialities. Mine was system software, OSes, a bit of hardware. It was a great “classic” university eduction, not the big machine it is now. Best wishes, Kevin Remember Gana and Chris Dewhurst? > On Aug 13, 2019, at 8:37 AM, Norman Jaffe via cctalk > wrote: > > Kevin - which university did you go to? > I was in the first class at Simon Fraser University that started in Computing > Science (1974) rather than transferring in from another department... we > often had TAs in one class that were students in the next one, as they had > taken the first class earlier... > > From: "cctalk" > To: "Adam Thornton" , "cctalk" > Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2019 7:50:15 AM > Subject: Re: Electr* Engineering > > In my school in Canada, the computing science program started about 1974 and > grew out of the math department, but when it was formalized as a department > in 1976-77 the university wisely placed it in a new “Interdisciplinary > Studies” faculty and staffed the school with people from mathematics, > chemistry, physics, and some external engineering folks. > > It worked out very well and the program was recognized shortly as one of the > best in Canada due to recognition of CS’ interdisciplinary nature. > >> On Aug 12, 2019, at 11:05 PM, Adam Thornton via cctalk >> wrote: >> >> At Rice in the early 90s the department was "Electrical and Computer >> Engineering" if my hazy memory serves. >> >> The genealogy of Computer Science departments (and their curricula) (at >> least in the US) is also weird and historically-contingent. Basically it >> seems to have been a tossup at any given school whether it came out of the >> Electr[ical|onic] Engineering department, in which case it was memories and >> logic gates and a bottom-up, hardware-focused curriculum, or out of the >> Mathematics department, in which case it was algorithms and complexity >> analysis and a software-focused curriculum. >> >> Adam
Re: Electr* Engineering
In my school in Canada, the computing science program started about 1974 and grew out of the math department, but when it was formalized as a department in 1976-77 the university wisely placed it in a new “Interdisciplinary Studies” faculty and staffed the school with people from mathematics, chemistry, physics, and some external engineering folks. It worked out very well and the program was recognized shortly as one of the best in Canada due to recognition of CS’ interdisciplinary nature. > On Aug 12, 2019, at 11:05 PM, Adam Thornton via cctalk > wrote: > > At Rice in the early 90s the department was "Electrical and Computer > Engineering" if my hazy memory serves. > > The genealogy of Computer Science departments (and their curricula) (at least > in the US) is also weird and historically-contingent. Basically it seems to > have been a tossup at any given school whether it came out of the > Electr[ical|onic] Engineering department, in which case it was memories and > logic gates and a bottom-up, hardware-focused curriculum, or out of the > Mathematics department, in which case it was algorithms and complexity > analysis and a software-focused curriculum. > > Adam
Re: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR (among other things)
In the early days of cyber crime (it was called “computer crime” back in the 1980s), fraudsters would purchase an aerosol spray with tiny metal particles in it (I forget what the specific valid use case was, but it was legitimate), and apply the spray to the mag stripe on the back of credit cards, then visually read out the bits with a magnifier. 1s and 0s oriented the tiny metal bits orthogonally, and this could be observed. Then they would program card blanks with the recovered mag stripe data. Mag stripe readers were expensive and hard to acquire in those days, so this was the chosen method of recovering track data from credit cards. I was a police detective investigating “Stone Age”, i.e. pre-Internet cyber crime in that era, and saw this for myself by actually spraying a card and then reading out its data. Very creative criminals! Kevin > On Jun 27, 2019, at 7:30 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk > wrote: > >> From: Liam Proven > >> This is *epic*. > > Indeed. I was blown away by the complexity of his technique for reading > the digits. > > I can't believe there wasn't a much easier technique, though, e.g. using a > logic analyzer and a small program to read through the ROS! > > Perhaps the challenge of doing it his way entertained him, though, like > George Mallory's famous line about climbing Everest. > > Noel
Re: Lots of unused CompacTape IV Cartridges Available
Hi Richard: I have a couple of compatible drives that I use on my Microvaxes, if you could spare say 6 then that’d be great. I live in Vancouver and of course would pay shipping! Kevin McQuiggin Sent from my iPad > On Dec 17, 2018, at 15:07, Richard Loken via cctalk > wrote: > > I have access to a trove of maybe 10 dozen unused CompacTape IV cartridges. > > These can be had free for the cost of shipping. I may be able to talk > them out of a few DLT4000 and DLT tape drives as well, I don't know about > that part. > > Anybody besides me still backing up his data on DLTs? I have a lifetime > of spare cartridges already. > > -- > Richard Loken VE6BSV : "...underneath those tuques we wear, > Athabasca, Alberta Canada : our heads are naked!" > ** rllo...@telus.net ** :- Arthur Black
Re: chasing down an old game
Might be the old “Star Trek” game? It is still around, I think. Sent from my iPad > On Dec 9, 2018, at 01:20, Dr Iain Maoileoin via cctalk > wrote: > > Many many years ago in a distant galaxy (called Strathclyde University > Computer Science) we ran a game on the > PDPs. It was great at testing out terminal line speed handing and debugging > curses (well that is what we told the > bosses). > > I remember the game as being called “search”. But since we had the source > code it could have been anything. > > It was played on 24 x 80 dumb terminals. It was multi user. In the game you > moved around the universe in your > craft - the display was a kind of 3-D picture (you got closer to a plant and > the planet got bigger - try drawing increasing > circles on a 24x80!). > > You could travel through the universe shooting other craft (friend of foe). > The only craft name I think I remember is > “shankers” - becuase we had source a lot of the craft names turned into > locally relevant names. > > You could team up with other players and (1 line) communication with a group > or with that player. > > I have searched (on and off) for the game. > > I cant find anything like it. > > I would like it to test out the DZ cards on my PDP! - OK that is my excuse ;-) > > Is anybody aware of what I am talking about? Does anyone have any old code > anywhere? > > Aye, it was not as good as the old GT40 - but it was a different era. > > >
Re: UniBone - access DEC PDP-11 UNIBUS under Linux
Wow, fantastic!!! Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 12, 2018, at 05:33, Jörg Hoppe via cctech > wrote: > > Guys, > > I'm about to finish another project: > "UniBone" - a Linux-to-UNIBUS bridge, based on the BeagleBone Black. > > It is supposed to be a development platform for device emulation. > At the moment it can emulate memory, emulate an RL11 controller with 4 RL > drives attached, and act as UNIBUS hardware test adapter. > > There are some web pages at http://retrocmp.com/projects/unibone > And I'll show it on VCFE.CH in Zurich on Nov 24/25, plugged into a PDP-11/05. > > Enjoy, > Joerg >
Re: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!
Yup that’s me, stuck working! > On Nov 22, 2018, at 11:38 AM, Jim MacKenzie via cctalk > wrote: > > And happy Thursday to all the non-Americans :) (Stuck at work today :( :) ) > > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of ED SHARPE > via cctalk > Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2018 11:34 AM > To: cctalk@classiccmp.org > Subject: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! > > HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 2018! > > Sent from AOL Mobile Mail >
Re: IND$FILE
Ah, fond memories! IEFBR14... Sent from my iPad > On Nov 19, 2018, at 19:00, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote: > >> On 11/19/2018 03:11 PM, jim stephens via cctalk wrote: >> >> >> I believe the package internal to mvs / OS has the preface of IND for the >> modules. Similar to IFBR14 is part of the IFB suite of programs. >> > Shouldn't that be IEFBR14? > > Jon
Re: Historic IBM memory tech
Hi Peter: You might try asking Paul Pierce in Portland Oregon. Just google “Pierce Computer Collection”. He has dozens of historic IBM machines going back to a vacuum tube (valve) -based 704. Kevin Sent from my iPad > On Aug 8, 2018, at 10:49, Peter Van Peborgh via cctech > wrote: > > Vintage techie guys and girls, > > Do any of you know where I could get hold of IBM 3850 Mass storage and IBM > 2321 Data cell media? 1960s-1970s. > > See: > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3850 > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_2321_Data_Cell > > If you do, I would like to get hold of one of each. > > Many thanks, > > Peter > || | | || | | || > Peter Van Peborgh > 62 St Mary's Rise > Writhlington Radstock > SomersetBA3 3PD > UK > 01761 439 234 > || | | || | | || > >
