[cctalk] Re: Bringing up a Sun 386i: Can I use a modern monitor

[Mike Niswonger via cctalk]

It it used the 13W3 D connector, I've used these (years ago) before with 
success:


https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-100071-13W3-M-Video-Port-Adapter/dp/B007TZG526

Actually, not the specific brand, just 13W3 to VGA adapters...

    -- Mike

On 9/4/22 00:54, jjacocks--- via cctalk wrote:

Likely the RGB2HDMI board found here:

https://github.com/hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

Get Outlook for Android

From: Chris Zach via cctalk 
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2022 5:10:41 PM
To: CCTalk mailing list 
Cc: Chris Zach 
Subject: [cctalk] Bringing up a Sun 386i: Can I use a modern monitor

Continuing my exploration of my old stuff pile I'm starting to work on
my Sun 386i systems. Old, no doubt but still there.

First step would be finding a monitor for them. The video cards I have
are the monochrome one, the CGI3 and a CGI5 board. For the color
monitors the cable I have goes to the RGBSync and of course to the
keyboard/mouse combination.

Question: Is there an adapter that can turn the Sun's output to HDMI or
VGA for a more modern monitor?

C

Re: Identifying some boards

[Mike Niswonger via cctalk]

Originally, System Engineering Laboratories (SEL) out of Fort Lauderdale 
(later bought by Gould (Gould SEL), then NEC and finally spun off as 
Encore) built one of the original 32 bit mini computers (and later 
super-minicomputers) in the 70's -90's.


Popular for large flight simulators and nuclear power plant control, 
they were high performance real-time computers.


The instruction set was designed and implemented in many technologies.  
In the latter days, micro-programmed bit slice architecture enabled the 
company to squeeze the performance of a multi board CPU set down onto a 
single board.


The VERY large connectors seen were the standard backplane, the SELbus.  
The central pins were actually the bus itself, while pins on the end 
were carried through the backplane to create an IO bus where boards 
plugged onto the BACK of the backplane.


The instruction set was nice and easy to code in assembly.  The machines 
I worked with in the early 80s )32/87, 32/8780, 32/9780) were typically 
about 4 times faster than a VAX 11/780 and considerably faster for 
interrupt response in a real-time environment.  The primary OS was 
called MPX-32. though machines with a slightly modified instruction set 
(called PowerNodes - PN9000) ran a Unix variant.


Primary programming languages were FORTRAN and assembly.

This class of machine (minicomputers) of course fell to the side once 
microprocessors picked up speed in the 90s...


The architecture is generally referred to as SEL32 - there is a mostly 
complete SIMH implementation of this architecture that needs some more 
testing and debugging.


Those were fun times.

Mike Niswonger,
crufty old minicomputer and FORTRAN programmer


On 6/24/19 10:16 AM, Kyle Owen via cctalk wrote:

I picked up these boards many weeks ago, but haven't photographed them
until recently. Some of them are pretty disgusting, but some of the others
look alright.

Anyone have any idea what these came out of? Some are labeled Gould, others
are labeled Encore.

http://imgur.com/a/d9iK9qb

Thanks!

Kyle

Re: P112 redesigned for Z280?

[Mike Niswonger via cctalk]

On 12/12/18 6:58 AM, David Griffith via cctalk wrote:


My reply is at the bottom.
Please put your reply there too.
On Tue, 4 Dec 2018, ben via cctalk wrote:

On 12/4/2018 1:17 PM, Tony Nicholson via cctalk wrote:

Hello David

I saw your posting on the cctalk mailing list regarding RSX180.

It is Hector Peraza that's been tinkering with this.  He intends 
making the
full source-code available via SourceForge or GitHub but is still 
working
on preliminary web pages and documenting etc.  No doubt he will 
provide you

with more details.

I've been tinkering with a Z280 system designed by Bill Shen (the 
Z280RC on

the RetroBrew web site at
https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=builderpages:plasmo:z280rc 
)

and have contacted Hector about porting it to the Z280.


That is the easy part, where is the 99 cent dumb terminal to go with it?
Ben.


That's got me thinking... Suppose I redesign the P112 board to take a 
Z280 CPU.  Would you guys go for it?  I'd like to come up with a way 
to use a socketed CPU or put a surface-mounted chip on a carrier board 
to allow greater versatility with playing with different Zilog chips.




David,

    Count me in on this one... Definitely sounds interesting...

    -- Mike

Re: Unknown Z80 CPU board and backplane ID anyone?

[Mike Niswonger via cctalk]

Don't know the system, but the logo is "Varian Associates"...

    -- Mike Niswonger

On 07/30/2018 12:27 PM, Adrian Graham via cctalk wrote:

Hi folks,

A friend of mine in the UK is looking for any info on the following boards. The 
CPU board is marked ‘VA 03-907023-00’ and features a Z80 with 16K RAM and an 
18.432MHz crystal. The backplane is also VA and has 11 132-pin slots that 
aren’t all identical implying usage for different cards in those locations. 
Voltages are +5/-5/+12V.

Pics:

http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/tynemouthsw_2018-Jul-30.jpg 

http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/tynemouthsw_2018-Jul-30-1.jpg 

http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/tynemouthsw_2018-Jul-30-2.jpg 

http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/tynemouthsw_2018-Jul-30-3.jpg 


My duckduckgo-fu has let me down.

Cheers!

Re: PDP 11/73 and 11/34 CPUs for sale

[Mike Niswonger via cctalk]

Sellam,
Did this 11/73 ever find a home?

-- Mike Niswonger

On 05/11/2017 12:38 AM, Sellam Ismail via cctalk wrote:

I have each a PDP 11/73 and PDP 11/34 CPU for sale.

Please see the respective links below for more details.

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?57667-LLNL-LSI-11-Homebrew-system

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?57668-Dec-pdp-11-73-cpu

Please reply to me directly via this e-mail address for quickest response.

Thank you!

Sellam

Looking for a 22 bit Qbus chassis...

[Mike Niswonger via cctalk]

Looking for a Qbus chassis to put an 11/73 system back together with.

Anyone have anything they're willing to part with for a reasonable price?

I'd prefer something in the southeast US to minimize shipping cost...

 -- Mike Niswonger