[cctalk] Re: Alacron i860 boards

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Wow Tony, thats a really cool board.  I hope you get the support software, 
compilers and all that.
I had an i860 fromAT  Truevision, for their TOPAS 3D modeling SW, but they 
dropped it.
The i860 was also in a desktop, Kubota bought the Ardent graphics supercomputer 
and moving the software to this.
What a flame that was, for a time there, we all thought we were going to get 
graphics supercomputers.
I have not coded any CUDA on the Nvidia boards yet, but I am sure it beats 
their socks off.
Randy

From: Tony Jones via cctalk 
Sent: Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:15 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org 
Cc: Tony Jones 
Subject: [cctalk] Alacron i860 boards

I recently bought an Alacron FT200-AT dual i860 card.  Basically the
earlier ISA version of this:
http://www.alacron.org/clientuploads/FT-200-PCI.PDF

It included two manuals but no software.  Alacron seems still in business
but they didn't reply to email.   I've called twice and noone answers their
phone, it just goes to an anonymous voicemail.

Does anyone have any software?   I couldn't find anything via Google or on
bitsavers.

Thanks

Tony

[cctalk] Re: Minicomputer front panel.

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

OK, the web is your friend.

Looks like it has applications in cryptography, or searching thru text:

https://cryptome.org/jya/sadd.htm


From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2022 11:28 AM
To: Randy Dawson via cctalk 
Cc: Chuck Guzis 
Subject: [cctalk] Re: Minicomputer front panel.

On 9/23/22 11:14, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
> On the top secret number cruching
>
> The Cray had an instruction called 'population count'
>
> asked for by the NSA.
>
> The number of bits on in a word, not sure what this was used for.

The CDC 6600 had a dedicated functional unit for this instruction.
Wasted a lot of time trying to think up practical uses for it--totting
up disk block allocation bitmaps was perhaps the most useful.

--Chuck

[cctalk] Re: Minicomputer front panel.

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

On the top secret number cruching

The Cray had an instruction called 'population count'

asked for by the NSA.

The number of bits on in a word, not sure what this was used for.

From: ben via cctalk 
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2022 10:52 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org 
Cc: ben 
Subject: [cctalk] Re: Minicomputer front panel.

On 2022-09-23 11:35 a.m., Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> On 9/23/22 09:53, Paul Koning wrote:
>
>> Those are good examples, but is it "many" or just those two and maybe one or 
>> two more?  For example, Burroughs and IBM mainframes were both very much 
>> "lights and switches" control panel type machines.  For that matter, so were 
>> the other CDC products; the 6000 series was a bit of an outlier I think.
>
> How many supercomputers were there in the 1960s?   I suppose you could
> count the 360/195 as a ridiculous example of the opposite approach, but
> eventually, even IBM saw the light.
>
> --Chuck
>
>
Just how do the supercomputer do i/o for all that floating numbers.
Weather maps I can see for output, but what about all that Top Secret
number crunching.
Ben.

Re: Early '80s Motorola Semiconductor Reference - anyone?

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I found a few of the databooks here:

https://usermanual.wiki/search.php?q=motorola%20semiconductor%20reference

Randy


From: cctech  on behalf of r.stricklin via 
cctech 
Sent: Saturday, August 7, 2021 5:50 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts 
Subject: Early '80s Motorola Semiconductor Reference - anyone?

Anyone have an early ‘80s Motorola semiconductor reference manual? I am 
attempting to repair a Boschert power supply from ~1983 that is full of 
Motorola parts marked as 1027 (DO-42ish), 1077 (TO-3ish), 1078 (DO-5ish), etc. 
It would be extremely helpful to know their specifications, or ideally how to 
cross-ref them to “standard” parts.


ok
bear.

Ian Hirschsohn - DISSPLA, Superset Inc. and sad news

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

As some here know, I collect some dusty deck fortran graphics.  We have 
MOVIE.BYU up and running! (Thanks Douglas Taylor and Emanuel Steibler).
Ian built AMD 2901 bit slice hardware to run his graphics, it was called 
SuperSet, and was very quick for the 1980s.  Architecture was 48 bit, A=B op C, 
similar to DSPs.  Compiler processed fortran to this 48 bit 2900 hardware (he 
wrote the compiler too).  Small package, a dormitory size refrigerator with all 
I/O to drive plotters and graphics terminals.
I went to look him up today, as he is not far from me in LA, San Diego, and a 
fellow R/C flier, and chat about the old Superset days, we did SIGGRAPH many 
times together.
Well, he is dead I find out, killed last year in Mexico is what the news says, 
buried in a well with his wife.  They went often, many times a year.

Randy

Re: Distribution floppies (Was: Microsoft OSs (was: Install Floppies)

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

LOT'S OF GOOD INFORMATION HERE!

I am keeping this one Fred, and thank you.


From: cctalk  on behalf of Fred Cisin via cctalk 

Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2021 3:27 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
Subject: Distribution floppies (Was: Microsoft OSs (was: Install Floppies)

> On Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 10:41 AM Grant Taylor via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>> Maybe someone who is more versed in the possible disk sizes and more
>> accurate (non-rounded) count.  I'm extremely foggy when it comes to
>> 5-1/4 inch disk capacities.  720 kB and 1.44 MB disks I can deal with.
>> But the minutia between 320 kB and 360 kB, combined with rounded
>> measurements, things get foggy for me.

OK, I am going to take a chance that you, or others here, want to
know more about it.

The sizes that would be used were:
360K
1.2M
1.4M
DMF  1.64M
XDF  1.8M


TLDR:
Other PC formats:

"160K"  5.25":
August 1981, the 5150 ("PC") was released with 5.25" "industry
standard" Tandon TM100-1 drives.  IBM was not ready to use double sided.
DOS 1.00
300 RPM, 48 Tracks Per inch, 250,000 bits per second
1 side,  40 tracks,  8 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector
163,840   160K
Please note: This is not "rounded", it is based on K meaning Kibibyte of
1024 bytes.

"320K":
DOS 1.10
Same, but double sided.
2 sides * 40 cylinders (trackse per side) * 8 Sectors per track * 512 BPS
327,680   320K

"180K":
DOS 2.00
Change from 8 sectors pr track to 9 sectors per track.
Single sided version:
1 side * 40 tracks * 9 SPT * 512 BPS
184,320  180K

"360K":
Same but double sided.
2 sides * 40 cylinders * 9 SPT * 512 BPS
368,640   360K

Some software distribution continued to be on 180K, to allow for customers
who still used single sided drives.

"720K" 5.25":
NON-USA PC-DOS 2.10
IBM PC-JX (not sold in USA) had an 80 track per side 5.25" drive (what
some CP/M companies called "Quad Density")

"720K":
MS-DOS 2.11
OEM versions of MS-DOS were sometimes provided with 720K support,
primarily companies that had implemented 3.5" drives, such as Gavilan,
Zenith, Data General, etc.  They did not all use the same numbers of
sectors in the file system overhead.  For example, Gavilan, when switching
from 2.11J to 2.11K changed to be compatible with the later IBM 3.5"
format.

"1.2M"/"HD 5.25":
PC-DOS 3.00
IBM PC/AT (5170) supported a "High Density" 5.25"
96 tracks per inch, 360 RPM 500,000; bits per second.
2 sides * 80 cylinders * 15 SPT * 512 BPS
1,228,800   1,200K   1.17MiB1.2 MARKETING-MEGABYTES (1,000 * 1,024)
The AT controller ALSO supported
250,000 bits per second, for 300 RPM 360K drives   and
300,000 bits per second, for 360K disks in the 360RPM 1.2M drive.
(Many companies then came out with two speed (300RPM and 360RPM) drives,
300RPM in the 1.2M drive permitted 250,000 bits per second for 360K disks)
Weltek developed a kludge o 180RPM at 250,000 bits per second.


MSCDEX   (drive related, but not floppy)
3.10
The "network redirector" (undocumented for a while) permitted MSCDEX to
fool DOS into thinking that a CD-ROM was NOT A DRIVE ON THE MACHINE, but
was, instead a remote service on a network.   Attempting to CHKDSK a
CD-ROM gave "Can not CHKDSK a network drive".


"720K 3.5":
PC-DOS 3.20
135 tracks per inch, 250,000 bits per second
2 sides * 80 cylinders * 9 SPT * 512 BPS
737,280   720K
(could also be added to PC (5150), XT (5160) machines)
DOS 3.20 added DRIVER.SYS that added 720K support to DOS, and DRIVPARM
that changed the drive parameters without an additional driver.
I can not fully explain why DRIVPARM worked with PC-DOS and MS-DOS on
aftermarket ATs, but FAILED on ATs with IBM AT BIOS, with either DOS.

"1.4M":
PC-DOS 3.30
"High Density" 3.5"
135 tracks per inch, 500,000 bits per second
2 sides * 80 cylinders * 18 SPT * 512 BPS
1,474,560  1,440K  1.40625 MiB; 1.44 MARKETING-MEGABYTES
Note that the only way that you can get 1.44 is if you define "Megabyte"
to be 1,024,000   1000 * 1024
(So, yes, "1.4M" is ROUNDED)


HDD >32M  (not floppy)
MS-DOS 3.31, PC-DOS 4.00
Note that IBM did not warn Norton in advance, so the Norton fUtilities had
difficulties on PC-DOS 4.00, which was usually reported as "DOS 4 is not
compatible and buggy".  Most of those "bugs" went away with the next
release of Norton.


"2.8M"
PC-DOS 4.00
1,000,000 bits per second (or could be kludged with 500,000 bits per
second at 150RPM)
2 sides * 80 cylinders * 36 SPT * 512 BPS
2,949,120;  2880 K;  2.8125 MiB;  2.88 MARKETING MEGABYTES
It never really caught on.


"DMF":
Microsoft Distribution Media Format
By cheating on the intersector-gaps, Microsoft managed to get 21 sectors
per track, instead of 18 on "1.4M" disks!
2 sides * 80 cylinders * 21 SPT * 512
1,720,320;  1680 K;   1.640625MiB;   1.68 MARKETING MEGABYTES
Floptical, USB, and other drives that have their own firmware can't handle
them.  Older versions of DOS need a device driver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_Media_Format

Re: Pro-Log M980 Programmer

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I had a Data I/O 29B with a serial interface and I assume your Pro-Log is 
similar.
Cabled up and baud correct you should get a menu on a CR with your host.
Mine took an Intel or Motorala ASCI HEX string on power up without any commands 
or prompts.
Randy


From: cctalk  on behalf of DI Gerhard Kreuzer 
via cctalk 
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2021 2:36 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org 
Subject: Pro-Log M980 Programmer

Hi,
  I own a Pro-Log M980 Prom Programmer and want to program a 2732 EProm. I
have everything needed, but how can I get the data in?
  There is a serial interface, did anybody have some program for a standard
PC to handle that daa transfer?
  Cabling istn't an issue, can do it.

  Thanks for helping.

  With best regards

  Gerhard

COMPAQ ISA PC to ethernent

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

If anyone has ideas about boards or software to connect this original Compaq to 
the net let me know!
Browsing the ebay, I do not find a PC 8 bit ethernet  board but still looking.
Then, the rest, a net set of tools in source would be great.

Original Intel 8085 training briefcase with tapes

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Just on a chance, would anybody have the paper workbook that goes with this kit?
It is a 8085 SDK board in a briefcase, power supply and tape player that was 
probably part of a class they presented.

Mine works fine, including the Sony Walkman in the case, I am listening to the 
10 or more training tapes.

The whole kit is pristine, but no paper - the workbook from the kit.

Anybody help me on this, or want it?

I revisit things now and then, and this is one of them.  It may need a new home.

Randy

Microsoft fortran and c manuals

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Thomas,

Did you ever the pdf copies of these?

I also would like to get a set.

Thanks,

Randy

interesting manual find - usermanual.wiki

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Ran across this, give it a try.

There are tons of old (and new) manuals in there.

Randy

evil thing to ask but I need keystroke logger

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I have kids that after corona are in lockdown, so they are on computers all the 
time.
Supposed to be doing schoolwork, but no, feedback from the school is negative.

Can I trap some traffic from these PC's and what software would you recommend?

Randy

Re: Tektronix PDP-11 Signal Processing System BASIC 1980

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Al,

Fantastic!
Your work here has always been the best, and the Tektronix graphics documents, 
as a subject was on target.
I have a Tek 4051, and, its gathering dust.  I need to fix a broken trace 
blanking, but this thing is hard to get into.  Its going to be lay it out on 
the bench for scope probing.
Thanks Al, for the post,
Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Al Kossow via cctalk 

Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 2:05 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
Subject: Tektronix PDP-11 Signal Processing System BASIC 1980

Just recovered these RX01 diskettes today ca. 1980

http://bitsavers.org/bits/Tektronix/SPS_BASIC

manuals
http://bitsavers.org/test_equipment/tektronix/wdi

Re: Computer History

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

fix your links.  CC yourself and see if you can click on them.


From: cctalk  on behalf of Murray McCullough via 
cctalk 
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2020 5:25 PM
To: cctalk 
Subject: Computer History

I've recently reread *Fire In The Valley, Ed. 1,2 &3.* They are the
seminal, authoritative & comprehensive sources for the history of the
microcomputer. We in the classic computer community need to know the
history of our hobby to keep it vital and relevant to today's society. More
than ever we need to know how microcomputers came about that may be helpful
in understanding the role microcomputers play in our lives now.

Happy computing all.

Murray 


Virus-free.
www.avg.com

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

IBM professional graphics adapter and monitor

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Before I ebay buy a monitor, original IBM 5135, will it match the scan rates of 
the IBM of the IBM Professional Graphics Controller?

I wanted to keep this system looking all original IBM.

Will I need a different monitor, Princeton or something like that?

Your recommendations appreciated.

Thanks,

Randy

Herbert Schildt C code from books

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

A wild guess that maybe some on the group may have these files.

I bought the books from abe books,  a few dollar's each. They are (vintage 
80-90's) but of course the code floppy disks are not there.

Did anybody keep these files?

The Art of C
The Craft of C
C Power Users Guide

I hope you say no, because I will probably learn more by keying in the code in 
the text, and finding my errors.

Randy

CHM software

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Follow up to the Living Computer Museum discussion...

I can understand why CHM does not allow access to the hardware,

But what about the software?

It should all be downloadable.

Randy

Re: Grinnell Systems

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Emanuel,

I remember them well, I was their manufacturer's rep in Houston, and sold 
several to petrochem, NASA and universities.

It was a big ticket item, selling for upwards of 40K when loaded up with all 
the options.

NASA was using it for animation, the petrochem guys for geology visualizations 
in oil exportation.  A bought one for LANDSAT imagery.

I see if I can find some old ads, they were in the IEEE computer graphics mags 
quite a bit.

Randy


From: cctech  on behalf of emanuel stiebler via 
cctech 
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 12:27 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only 
Subject: Grinnell Systems

Hi all,
was just fishing in old memories & graphics systems. We had in the
1980's a big fridge from Grinnell Systems as a frame buffer on a 11/34.

Anybody remember those? Links to any documentation?

Cheers!

Re: anybody have MOVIE.BYU?

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

A couple other ccmp guys, Emanuel Steibler and Doug Taylor and I have been 
passing around what I have. Doug got it working under linux.

Where is the best place to put this?

I also have BYU's follow up CQUEL, greatly expanded, with X11 GUI.

Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Al Kossow via cctalk 

Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 12:07 PM
To: Jon Elson via cctalk 
Subject: Re: anybody have MOVIE.BYU?

On 4/15/20 11:34 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:

> If anyone is interested, I could pack it up and send it to you. This was for 
> VAX/VMS.  The directory contains 67 files.
>

I'd like the files you have.
I have a partial copy of mini-movie

Re: Old FORTRAN programs, libraries, graphics

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Emanuel, I have you covered with FORTRAN graphics.

I have your 3d wireframe, and rendering too with MOVIE.BYU.  The greatest 3D 
and animation package in its day, say late 70's early 80s.

Martin Hepler gave me the latest, I got most of it working, but aaa well 
something took me away.

Let me put it up somewhere.

I also have VERSAPLOT, the Versatec graphics package.  Does one cool thing, 
since they made electrostatic printers.  Its got a Laing Barsky rasterizer in 
it.  You do your plot with all the great stuff, then it generates a vector list 
and rasterizes it for the printer.

Give me a day and I will put it up somewhere.

Randy




From: cctech  on behalf of emanuel stiebler via 
cctech 
Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2020 6:21 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only 
Subject: Old FORTRAN programs, libraries, graphics

Being stuck at home, was musing the idea to look into some graphics
software from the '70's, or early 80's ...

Looking for some wire frames, hidden line removal, 3d graphics...

Any pointers?

View month ago or longer, somebody on this list recovered some large
package of FORTRAN code, and wanted to invest it, but I think it was
posted under a wrong subject, so I can't find it anymore ...

THANKS!

Re: PDP-8 Straight 8 restoration

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I can't be the only one who would like to see the FORTRAN source of some of 
those editors, linkers, macro processors.

As a medical electronics guy, I had to deal with a fortran monster of a 
database engine, manman.

It was legacy in with the FDA, but woa, what a suck piece of crap it is.

Hi Diane.  Still Cadence here, signal integrity work for space


From: cctalk  on behalf of Diane Bruce via 
cctalk 
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2020 4:09 PM
To: Nigel Johnson ; General Discussion: On-Topic and 
Off-Topic Posts 
Subject: Re: PDP-8 Straight 8 restoration

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 05:59:42PM -0400, Nigel Johnson via cctalk wrote:
> Brings back memories!  My first 6800 cross assembler came to me as 2000
> Fortran source code punch cards. We had an F4R4 compiler on the PDP11 but
> the card reader was on the PDP-8.

Funny how the kids don't realise Fortran was the 'C' language at one time.
Editors, linker, macro preprocessors a lot of it was done in Fortran. ;)

>
> The only common peripheral was paper tape.  One night, the Chief Engineer
> and I fed the cards into the PDP8 card reader, punched tape, and fed it
> directly into the PDP11 tape reader.  X-on X-off was handled by hitting the
> stop and continue buttons on the PDP8 as the punch was faster than the
> reader.  The buffer was a pile of paper tape in the floor, which we
> carefully prevented from tangling.  Somehow OS/8 managed to not crash with
> the constant start/stop.

heh I can only imagine.

>
> Nobody was more surprised than we were when the output compiled perfectly on
> the PDP11 and we made our first 6800 program - a ham repeater controller!

Cool!

>
> The Chief Engineer is still alive - I was at his 95th birthday last year and
> we often have fun talking about the good old days!

Nice!


>
> cheers,
>
> Nigel Johnson
>
>
> On 29/03/2020 16:59, Diane Bruce via cctalk wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 09:47:51AM +1300, Brendan McNeill via cctech wrote:
> > > Here in NZ and around the world many of us are in lockdown and spending 
> > > more time on our computers, if that were possible.  I have just completed 
> > > the restoration of a PDP-8 Straight 8 which I believe is the only one in 
> > > New Zealand.  You can view the restoration story and find appropriate 
> > > resources here:  https://pdp-8.nz 
> > >
> > > While it plays Chess, it would be great if someone wanted to write (say) 
> > > a Prime Number Generator, or some other application and email it to me 
> > > off list.  I have Focal-69 and can probably source other languages for 
> > > this wonderful old machine with 4K of memory.
> > I have memories of keying in RIM and BIN. Long long time ago. I also learned
> > how to talk to the OS/8 file system so we could play morse code from a file
> > instead of a paper tape for our University club station. ;)
> >
> > > --//
> > > bren...@mcneill.co.nz
> > > +64 21 881 883
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > 73 de VA3DB for those that care ;)
>
>
> --
> Nigel Johnson
> MSc., MIEEE
> VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU
>
> Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!
>
>
> You can reach me by voice on Skype:  TILBURY2591
>
> If time travel ever will be possible, it already is. Ask me again yesterday
>
> This e-mail is not and cannot, by its nature, be confidential. En route from 
> me to you, it will pass across the public Internet, easily readable by any 
> number of system administrators along the way.
>Nigel Johnson 
>
> Please consider the environment when deciding if you really need to print 
> this message
>
>

--
- d...@freebsd.org d...@db.net http://www.db.net/~db

Re: First Internet message and ...

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

No, this was the first personal computer...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tektronix_4050#/media/File:Tektronix_4051_ad_April_1976.jpg


From: cctalk  on behalf of Mike Stein via cctalk 

Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2019 7:15 PM
To: Fred Cisin ; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic 
Posts 
Subject: Re: First Internet message and ...


- Original Message -
From: "Fred Cisin via cctalk" 
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2019 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: First Internet message and ...


> On Tue, 26 Nov 2019, TeoZ via cctalk wrote:
>> The only reason Apple sold so many Apple II's was because some software
>> designer came out with Visicalc.
>
> Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston  ("Software Arts")
> They sold it through "Personal Software", who became "VisiCorp"
> http://www.bricklin.com/history/sai.htm
>
> Frankly, I think that word processing was more responsible than
> spreadsheet for microcomputer sales.
> But, Apple had a headstart by having both.
>
> A far from complete and only partially chronological list:
> Electric Pencil  (Michael Shrayer)
> Electric Pencil for CP/M  (with a program to transfer files from Electric
> Pencil disks to and from CP/M disks)
> Wordstar for CP/M (MicroPro (later WordStar, Inc))
> Easy Writer (Apple II, by John Draper)
> Scripsit (TRS80)
> Electric Pencil for TRS80
> Easy Writer for IBm PC
> Wordstar for PC
> Electric Pencil for PC (Harv Pennington)
> Microsoft Word  (PC and Apple)
> WordPervert
> PC-Write (Bob Wallace)
>

WordPro, Paper Clip (written by local boys) and PaperMate for the Commodore PET 
(and later for the C64)

Re: Looking for older Motorola pagers (UHF, POCSAG)

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I do not have the pagers themselves, but 2 large boxes of NEW Motorola RF 
components.
ICs, RF transistors, etc.


From: cctalk  on behalf of Ethan O'Toole via 
cctalk 
Sent: Wednesday, November 6, 2019 10:27 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org 
Subject: Looking for older Motorola pagers (UHF, POCSAG)


Anyone have any pointers to places to buy quantity of UHF Motorola pagers?

Also wouldn't mind a VHF Advisor or two (the original large one with
holsters.)

Mainly looking for UHF non-FLEX ones.

Thanks

--
: Ethan O'Toole

Re: Wanted: Scan of RF modulator article in Sept. 1978 Radio Electronics

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

The next issue is here (as well as all pop tronics and radio electronics, Byte 
and more)
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Electronics/70s/1978/Radio-Electronics-1978-09.pdf
'' 1' - 
americanradiohistory.com
Tired of Reruns? Fluke counters with a new series in the 5 Hz -520 MHz/time 
slot. If you're paying over $345 for a counter and getting fre- quency only, 
tune in on our new 1900 -series of priced -right multicounters. Five different 
models offer both time and frequency, with award -worthy performance and 
features; the ratings are
www.americanradiohistory.com
Good luck Bill!

Randy


From: cctalk  on behalf of William Sudbrink via 
cctalk 
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2019 5:36 PM
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' 
Subject: Wanted: Scan of RF modulator article in Sept. 1978 Radio Electronics

Hi,



I'd like to read the second part of the article found here:



https://www.schematicsforfree.com/archive/file/Video/Circuits/Video%20Modula
tor.pdf



I don't have a real print of the magazine and my Google-Fu fails me if it's
already scanned somewhere.



Thanks,

Bill S.





---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Re: Anyone have any Datapoint software on floppy?

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Anyone interested in Datapoint should get this book:

Datapoint
The Lost Story of the Texans Who Invented the Personal Computer Revolution
ISBN 978-1-936449-36-1

Quite a story, I could not put it down.

Randy


From: cctalk  on behalf of jos via cctalk 

Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2019 12:12 PM
To: Al Kossow via cctalk 
Subject: Re: Anyone have any Datapoint software on floppy?

On 07.08.19 20:00, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> I picked up Eric's DP 1500 Z80 system at VCF West this weekend, unfortunately
> the boot disk has bad sectors. Anyone have any diskettes/images around for the
> 1500 or any other version of their systems?
>
> I took pics and dumped the firmware from it along with a DP 1551 pcb I've had
> for a while, and have been uploading the manuals to bitsavers that came with 
> it,
> as well as a bunch that I've had scanned in the backlog
>
>
>
I have Catweasel images of the 2 floppies that came with my 1550 Floppy drive ( 
 alas I do not have the 1550 itself ...)

ftp://ftp.dreesen.ch/Datapoint/FloppyImage

( these are multiple catweasel  scans of the same 2 floppies )

No idea what these actually contain.


Still hoping to find documentation and floppy images on the DP2200 / DP1100 
floppy drive electronics.


Jos

Your Heatkkit EC-1 analog computer

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Jeff,
I have hundreds of crystals here for you, and built a crystal tester (Jim 
Williams app note)
https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/an12fa.pdf
AN12 - Circuit Techniques for Clock 
Sources
Application Note 12 AN12-3 an12fa Figures 4a and 4b use another comparator 
based approach. In Figure 4a, the LT1016 comparator is set up with DC
www.analog.com
Brian and I are keen on making a new analog computer, possibly a kit.  All new 
things, like the Analog Devices multipliers, better op amps etc, and possibly a 
USB, MIDI interface.
Let us know how you come along on your bringup of the EC-1.
The Heath manuals are the best in analog computing, on actual hardware.
Randy

Re: Latest Additions to the Virtual Warehouse of Computing Wonders Sale Inventory

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Anybody try business with this guy?
His prices are 10X off the chart


From: cctalk  on behalf of Sellam Ismail via 
cctalk 
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2019 9:59 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Latest Additions to the Virtual Warehouse of Computing Wonders Sale 
Inventory

Greetings Folks!

I have finalized the latest batch of items added to the inventory of my
Virtual Warehouse of Computing Wonders, and here it is:

Commodore 64
Exatron MM800 Internal Memory
IBM PCjr Power Expansion Attachment
IBM 74F3465 The 3270 Connection
Polaroid PerfectData DS/DD 8" floppy disk (10-pack)
Xidex Precision DSDD 8" Floppy Disks (10-pack)
Diablo Printwheel - APL 10
Diablo Printwheel - Courier 10
Diablo Printwheel - European Elite 12
Diablo Printwheel - OCR A
Diablo Printwheel - Pica 10
Diablo Print Ribbon (Carton of 12)
SmartPrint Printer Sharing Network Add-on Computer Module
Symantec Think C for Macintosh 6.0 (Upgrade)
Hayes Personal Modem 1200
Gravis Mac MouseStick II
Apple Power Mac Processor Upgrade (APMPU)
Orange Micro OrangePC MS-DOS Coprocessor
Radius Full Page Display SE
Corvus Systems Macintosh OmniDrive User Guide
Corvus Systems Qbus Interface
RT-11 System Reference Card
RT-11 System Reference Card
Convergent Technologies WK-100 WorkSlate
Convergent Technologies WorkSlate Travel Task Ware
Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computer
Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 Cassette Interface Cable
TRS-80 Model 100 Calculator
TRS-80 Model 100 Bar Code Drivers
TRS-80 Model 100 Bar Code Writer
TRS-80 Model 100 Executive Calendar
TRS-80 Model 100 Function Plotter
TRS-80 Model 100 Personal Finance
TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computing with the Model 100
TRS-80 Model 100 SCRIPSIT 100
TRS-80 Model 100 StarBlaze 100
TRS-80 Model 100 Tandy Code
Tandy 102 Owner's Manual/Applications and BASIC Reference Guide
IBM Personal Computer PCjr BASIC Reference
IBM Personal Computer PCjr Guide to Operations
Hands-On BASIC for the IBM PCjr
AST VGA Plus
Tall Tree Systems AT3-P w/JLaser-3 daughterboard
Western Digital WD7000-ASC FASST2 SCSI Controller
Ziatech IEEE 488 Interface for PS/2 Computers
Everex 24E+ External Modem
Epson FX-86e/286e Printer User's Manual
Citizen Color Ribbon
Okidata Okimate 20 Plug 'N Print for IBM PC and Compatibles
Okidata Tractor Feed Option Kit (boxed)
Memorex Epson MX-80 Printer Ribbon
3M DS,HD 5.25" Diskettes (10-pack)
Dysan 100 MD2HD floppy diskette 10-pack
Ohio Scientific 5.25" Mini Floppy Diskette (10-pack)
Verbatim Datalife SS/DD 5.25" Minidisks (7-pack)
Epson E95D0U External 5.25" Disk Drive
Compaq MS-DOS Version 3 Reference Guide
DEC PDP-8/L Instruction List reference card
Osborne dBase II Version 2.3b (manual only)
Altera MAX+plus II Programmable Logic Development System
FHR Industries 1200 Intelligent Modem
Commodore 64
HP 92220R HPIB Right Angle Cable (1ft)
HP10833B HPIB Cable (2m)
SunRize Industries Perfect Sound
Timex-Sinclair 1000
Sinclair ZX81 case
Apple Macintosh Plus (Platinum)
Apple Macintosh SE w/Targus Carrying Case

(Those are two different Commodore 64 units, one has a case "variation".)

Links to the newly arrived items are here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hiX0pNmy48/edit?pli=1=IwAR29aeaPInesPowqSLeq_ElmtOwSThjfRAJyW9T_oN6mnjPPt4wO1CchMGQ#gid=949372371=A1

I have discovered the myriad of Facebook vintage computing groups, so I
have begun posting my sale lists there as well.  However, I will always
post notifications of new lists here and on the VCFed forums 24 hours
before I unleash them on the FB groups, which results in a deluge of
activity.  In this way, I give you guys first stab at the action on the new
stuff before the hordes descend upon it.  You are welcome.

As always, please contact me directly by e-mail to inquire about an item.

Thanks!

Sellam

Re: PDP 11/15

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Paul,
That is so cool!
How much space would it take?
That is my first computer (outside of timesharing and Z-80 homebrew).
My first job was on the PDP-15 to transcribe the APOLLO analog range tapes of 
the lunar experiments, primarily the seismometer moonquake data for the 
University of Texas Geophysics Lab (they designed the seismometers).

The machine was a pretty good wall, 4-5 racks.  On the other side of the room 
were the FM/Direct Bell and Howell analog range tape players and demodulators.
I ran this stuff all night long, hanging tapes, using the scope to adjust 
analog heads for the best signal and transcribe to the digital tape.
NASA was not interested in this stuff anymore, they were onto Skylab.  The 
ALSEP lunar stations were TEG powered and would go on for decades transmitting, 
probably still are.  All we got was freetime gratis from the range stations to 
point at the moon and hang a tape, the data was always bad and a challenge to 
tweak heads the best we could.

We had a Versatec electrostatic plotter to output the continuous seismic record 
as I was decoding the tapes.
Anytime there was an 'event' on the plotter, I had Dr. Yosio Nakamura's home 
number to call him in and take a look.

Many nights, we re tweaked heads, to get the last bits of clean seismometer 
data.

Randy
Trivia: As I hung a tape out of sequence once, Fortran coders fixed that next 
day.  Next time it happened, the TTY chatters, RANDY! DIDN'T YOU ALREADY ENTER 
GMT JULIAN DATE XXX:XXX:XXX
It was a all night job alone in the computer room, and I am listening  to 
Foghat between tape hangs and alignment.



From: cctalk  on behalf of Paul Anderson via 
cctalk 
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2019 7:16 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts; cct...@vax-11.org
Subject: PDP 11/15

I bought a large package of DEC gear last year and it came with a PDP
11/15. I have no need for this classic, and put it on the list. A few
people responded, but because of my problems, I never followed up with
them.

For those who responded, I apologize for dropping the ball. If anyone is
interested in it, please contact me off list.

BTW, I have started on pulling a few things out of the warehouse.

Thanks, Paul

Re: PDP-8: count number of set bits in a word

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Kyle,

hat's a really interesting problem, and the government (NSA) wanted this badly 
and done FAST.

they asked Seymour Cray to create a specific instruction for this and they 
called it 'population count'

Anybody know the why and how it is useful?

I am deep in matrix math books and 'classification algorithms' in statistics 
math, looking into electronics reliability WCCA, so this is an interesting 
topic.

Randy


From: cctalk  on behalf of Vincent Slyngstad via 
cctalk 
Sent: Friday, April 5, 2019 12:08 PM
To: Kyle Owen; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: PDP-8: count number of set bits in a word

From: Kyle Owen via cctalk: Friday, April 05, 2019 8:59 AM
> Just wondering if anyone has come up with a fast way to count the number of
> 1s in a word on a PDP-8. The obvious way is looping 12 times, rotating the
> word through the link or sign bit, incrementing a count based on the value
> of the link or sign.

That's probably the shortest, but not the fastest.  (I get 13 words.)

You could use RTL and check two bits at a time, for a probably-faster
version.  (That one is 32 words with the loop unrolled.)

> With a small lookup table, you can reduce the total number of loops by
> counting multiple groups of bits at a time, but this of course comes with
> the cost of using more memory. Any other suggestions?

I know a hack to clear a single bit at a time. Here's my first attempt (14
words):

/
/ Return the number of bits that were set in AC.
CBITS,  .-.
DCA CBMASK  / Save the value
DCA CBCNT   / No bits yet
CBLP,   TAD CBMASK  / Get bits, or bits-1
AND CBMASK  / Likely clear bottom bit
SNA  / Last one?
JMP CBRET
ISZ CBCNT/ One more bit
DCA CBMASK  / New mask
CMA / Complement bottom bit
JMP CBLP / ...and go again
CBRET,  TAD CBCNT   / Get result
JMP I CBITS / ...and return
CBMASK, .-.
CBCNT,  .-.
$

The run time is related to the number of bits set, and independent of their
position.

It feels like we did this a year or two ago?  Or maybe in the PiDP group?

Vince

Re: Looking for Byte Jan 78 missing page

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

The american radio history site has this byte issue intact, with your missing 
pages:

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Byte/70s/Byte-1978-01.pdf


From: cctalk  on behalf of Peter Cetinski via 
cctalk 
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2019 1:40 PM
To: wrco...@wrcooke.net; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Looking for Byte Jan 78 missing page



Pete

> On Mar 24, 2019, at 2:20 PM, Will Cooke via cctalk  
> wrote:
>
> In the Jan 78 issue of Byte magazine a series of articles titled "The Brains 
> of Men and Machines" (also the issue title on the cover) started.  EVERY 
> single scan I can find on the web is missing pages 96 and 97, right in the 
> middle of that article.  They all (including archive.org) appear to be the 
> same scan.

Ha!  I just happen to be looking through the BYTE magazines at the VCF museum 
this very moment.  Here you go. Page 97 is an advertisement.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ltkjs2no3gnj8tv/AADUZICSjpQ2O7op0_u7e-7Ja?dl=0

a timer for the PC - screen tme for the kids

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Before I develop this, I thought it may already exist, and the classiccmp mail 
list might be the place to ask.

What we have, is the screen time problem with the kids.  If we are not there 
hounding and policing them, they will be on for hours.

All the medical community says, we need to limit their screen time, as it 
contributes to their AD disorder and schoolwork, homework failures.

My idea was initially do this in hardware, with a timer, and a solid state 
relay to gate the AC to the PC.

On further thought, I should be able to do this in software, with a timer that 
lets the PC run for an hour, and then shuts the PC down until the next 24 hour 
cycle.
(Installs itself on windows startup)

Has anybody seen this, before I re-invent the wheel?

Randy

Re: Another dealer going under

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I an next door, give us the address please...

Thanks,

Randy


From: cctalk  on behalf of Ali via cctalk 

Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 9:07 AM
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Cc: 'Electronics Plus'
Subject: RE: Another dealer going under

> Calabasas, CA

Well for a change it is someone just next door so I can definitely take a
look. I wonder if they have anything available. Do you have contact
info/address?

-Ali

>
> -Original Message-
> From: Ali [mailto:cct...@ibm51xx.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2019 2:57 PM
> To: 'Electronics Plus'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
> Posts'
> Subject: RE: Another dealer going under
>
>
> > I don't get replies from here yet, so I have seen no replies to my
> > posts,
> > nor the posts themselves.
> >
> > There is a shop that has been in biz for over 25 years that is
> closing
> > in
> > California.
> >
>
> Cindy,
>
> Where in CA? It's a big state :)
>
> -Ali

Re: ISO - 386 or 486 system or cplt mobo

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

We use a website called 'nextdoor' which is a neighborhood community exchange.  
I posted a message asking for the same, old PC's.

In a coupe of days I picked up 5 of them for free.

Two were VERY unique, belonging to a LA area movie editor.  They came with high 
end Matrox frame grabber/video cards for component video in/out and production.

Randy


From: cctalk  on behalf of drlegendre via cctalk 

Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2019 2:53 PM
To: Devin; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: ISO - 386 or 486 system or cplt mobo

Devin,

Do you have boards or complete machines?  Very interested to see some pics.

Thanks for your help,
Bill

On Sun, Jan 6, 2019, 12:53 AM devin davison via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org wrote:

> I have a stockpile of them. Will get you pictures tomorrow.
>
> On Sat, Jan 5, 2019, 11:59 PM Will Cooke via cctalk  >
> wrote:
>
> >
> > > On January 5, 2019 at 8:42 PM drlegendre via cctalk <
> > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > I'm interested in finding a 386 or slow 486 machine or moboj ust for
> > > playing DOS games. Does anyone have such a thing sitting around,
> looking
> > > for a home?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > I have a couple of 386sx motherboards with I think 1MB ram.  I thought I
> > had a full 386 board with 8MB ram but I can't seem to find it.  Would one
> > of those work for you?
> >
> > Will
> >
> >
> > "He may look dumb but that's just a disguise."  -- Charlie Daniels
> >
> >
> > "The names of global variables should start with// "  --
> > https://isocpp.org
> >
>

Re: Researching IBM rare equipment from 50s to 80s

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I worked with an ex-IBMer who told me about this thing.

It was nick-named "The Noodle Snatcher" - with a puff of air it wiggled the mag 
tape and wrapped it around a drum for read/write.

It had a nasty habit of mis-handling the tape.

He told me that during a sales presentation  to a customer, this happened, it 
wrinkled the tape wrapped it around the drum, and then put the crumpled tape 
back in the holder.

The IBM salesman, without missing a beat, said, "and when it finds BAD data..."

From: cctech  on behalf of Jay Jaeger via cctech 

Sent: Friday, December 14, 2018 1:04 PM
To: cct...@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Researching IBM rare equipment from 50s to 80s

On 12/14/2018 4:41 AM, Peter Van Peborgh via cctech wrote:
> Fellow geeks of more mature vintage,
>
> Do any of you guys know whether it is possible to find out to whom any IBM
> equipment was sold back in the day? (Still chasing IBM 2321 Data Cell - I
> never learn!)
>
> Many thanks,
>
> peter
>

Well, if your intention is to actually find one, can't help.

I do know that Wisconsin DOT had one back in the day, on an IBM 360/50,
but it was gone before I started work there.  I think that I have a
large negative of the beastie lying around somewhere.  No, it is not
stuffed anywhere.  Indeed the building that formerly housed it (and was
home for me during my career) was razed just this year.

In general, even if IBM still had such records, I am sure that they
would not release them, and doubt that they would be indexed in fine
detail such that you could find customers of any particular machine type
(unless they fed them to Watson ;) ).  Leased units would have been
turned back into IBM.  Purchased units would have been mostly traded in
and scrapped.

A Google Search found these instances of customer units (there may well
be more - I stopped after a few pages)

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/datacell.html

https://www.facebook.com/HealthManagementTechnology/photos/ibm-2321-data-cell-drive/132475567020/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IBM2321DataCellAtUMich.jpg




JRJ

Re: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Kilobaud is also up on the Internet archive.
https://archive.org/details/kilobaudmagazine
Kilobaud Microcomputing Magazine - Internet 
Archive<https://archive.org/details/kilobaudmagazine>
Kilobaud Microcomputing was a magazine dedicated to the computer homebrew 
hobbyists from the end of the 1970s until the beginning of the 1980s. Wayne 
Green, the Publisher/Editor of kilobaud, had been the publisher of BYTE 
magazine, (another influential microcomputer magazine of the time) where he...
archive.org



From: cctalk  on behalf of ben via cctalk 

Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2018 12:27 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine

On 12/15/2018 12:54 AM, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
> Zane, your comments are appreciated.
>
> I have paid for subscriptions to ebooks that cost ~10 a month, and
> they are OK for text, but when a schematic comes up, it sucks
> (scribd) you cant zoom or increase the resolution. I also follow you
> on your purchase experience with out of print and search. I am dumb
> or spend hours on search, then find it and think everybody already
> knows but me.  Most recent all the Dr. Dobbs and Byte, Pop Sci online
> I only found recently.

That still leaves Kilobaud  scans.

> I suppose there is money to be made if you can check in your morals.
> I see all this (now) public domain type stuff (including Al's
> bitsavers manuals) for sale on ebay DVDs. The unwashed will be
> relieved from their dollars.

I better shower, so I can clean and EVIL.

> Randy 

Ben.

Re: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Zane, your comments are appreciated.

I have paid for subscriptions to ebooks that cost ~10 a month, and they are OK 
for text, but when a schematic comes up, it sucks (scribd) you cant zoom or 
increase the resolution.
I also follow you on your purchase experience with out of print and search.
I am dumb or spend hours on search, then find it and think everybody already 
knows but me.  Most recent all the Dr. Dobbs and Byte, Pop Sci online I only 
found recently.
I suppose there is money to be made if you can check in your morals.  I see all 
this (now) public domain type stuff (including Al's bitsavers manuals) for sale 
on ebay DVDs.
The unwashed will be relieved from their dollars.

Randy

From: cctalk  on behalf of Zane Healy via cctalk 

Sent: Friday, December 14, 2018 5:40 PM
To: Fred Cisin; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine


> On Dec 14, 2018, at 1:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk  
> wrote:
>
>>> There exist some people who DISCARD materials once they have been scanned.
>>> Some people object to calling that "preservation".
>
> On Fri, 14 Dec 2018, Zane Healy wrote:
>> Aren’t these the same people that scan at such poor quality that only the 
>> text is “usable”, and illustrations are largely unusable?
>
> I wouldn't be surprised if there is substantial overlap between the two 
> groups.  Although one would hope that those who think that digital copies are 
> adequate would care about making them adequate.
> Admittedly, there are SOME materials where scans need only be adequate for 
> OCR. Certainly Murphy would hold that the least available ones would be those 
> that most need quality scanning.

And scan in colour, where it’s important!

>> Case in point, I’m trying to track down a 150 year old book, by one of my 
>> favorite photography authors, it’s on Google books, but the illustrations, 
>> which are vital to understanding what the author is talking about, are 
>> largely useless.
>
> Hmmm.  150 year old photography book would be just after civil war.
> My preference for photography books isusually from about 60 to 80 years ago, 
> when publishers could do a good job of B plates, and the technology of 35mm 
> was coming along.   (Morgan and Lester, etc.)
> Occasionally, I'll drive to Carmel to look at Ansel Adams prints at the 
> Weston Gallery - "megapixel" just doesn't cut it!

It’s less a technical book, and more a philosophical book on composition, and 
uses works of a well known 19th century painter in most examples.  As for books 
in the time frame you’re mentioning, don’t forget the “Ilford Manual of 
Photography”, the examples for troubleshooting are actually easy to use 
compared to the newer “Manual of Photography”, even though they’re mostly the 
same photo’s.  Right now I’m fighting with some processing issues with 8x10 and 
11x14 film.  Though if I was driving to Carmel, it wouldn’t be to look at Ansel 
Adams prints, it would be to look at Edward Weston’s.  His work for Walt 
Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”, drives much of my efforts.

> Is there any way to penetrate the Google infrastructure, to track down who 
> scanned the book, and where it now is?

I think I’ve finally tracked down a copy.  Part of the hold-up has been 
ensuring that I don’t buy an older edition.  There were at least 4 editions.  
It’s also *not* a cheap book.  Oddly enough, some of the techniques used in the 
book, seem better suited to Adobe Photoshop. :-)  H.P. Robinson was a man 
before his time!

Zane

Re: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi John,

If you have not gotten any takers, I will step up.
I am in Los Angeles (Thousand Oaks).

I see most if not all is online at internet achive an here:

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm

I would rather have the physical magazine.  Let me know what others you want to 
get rid of (Kilobaud?)

Randy
BYTE MAGAZINE: Early computer 
publication
Byte magazine was an early microcomputer magazine, influential in the late 
1970s and throughout the 1980s because of its wide-ranging editorial coverage. 
Byte started in 1975, shortly after the first personal computers appeared as 
kits which were advertised in the back of electronics magazines.
www.americanradiohistory.com



From: cctalk  on behalf of John Klos via cctalk 

Sent: Friday, December 14, 2018 10:16 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine

Hi, all,

I have a collection of most of BYTE Magazine from the beginning through
about 1985. Instead of selling it on eBay, I'd rather find a home for it
where people can enjoy it. I also have a small collection of other
computer magazines from the late 1970s and early 1980s which I'd like to
include.

Does anyone know of any person or organization within a reasonable
distance from southern California who might take these magazines and
preserve them, instead of just selling them on eBay?

Thanks!
John
--
I don't know which scares me more - that people adhere to the idea of an
omnipotent being powerful enough to create the universe, but whose
supposedly most cherished creation is a race modeled after himself which
can't stop hurting and killing each other, or the idea that those same
people cannot or will not consider the possibility that the universe is
random and unfeeling, and it's up to us to create order and beauty out of
chaos and entropy.

Re: AMD Am8177 Datasheet

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Let us know of any bipolar AMD am2900, anything in the am2900 Bipolar 
Microprocessor Family.
2900 demo board:
http://www.donnamaie.com/AMD_Vintage/EVAL_Board_cropped_reduced.pdf
www.donnamaie.com
Created Date: 1/15/2009 12:09:39 PM
www.donnamaie.com




From: cctalk  on behalf of Paul Anderson via 
cctalk 
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2018 10:04 PM
To: Kyle Owen; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: AMD Am8177 Datasheet

I have a few thousand ECL chips here if anyone needs any. I'll try to post
a list by the first.

Paul

On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 12:00 AM Kyle Owen via cctalk 
wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 23:49 Marc Howard via cctalk  wrote:
>
> > Kyle,
> >
> > Where did you find that part?  I designed the video stage of the AT
> Pixel
> > Machine back in the late 80's using that part.  It was perfect for us as
> I
> > had to access up to 16 cards worth of pixels in TTL and spit out a video
> > rate stream in ECL to drive the lookup tables and the DACs.  Only time
> I've
> > ever designed a backplane with active parts on it.
> >
>
> Very cool! I found this one in the bwtwo framebuffer for a Sun 3/60. They
> didn't seem to use the chip in other Sun machines, far as I can tell.
>
> Kyle
>
> >
>

Re: Tektronix 6800 Board Bucket and 4051 Working Together Video

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Thats amazing Brad!

Good job.

The amazing is that you have working board bucket, that has to be the rarest 
thing out there in 4051 hardware.

I need to follow vcfed and you guys more, you are definitely on top of the 
hardware.

Randy

From: cctalk  on behalf of Brad H via cctalk 

Sent: Saturday, December 1, 2018 9:16 AM
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: Tektronix 6800 Board Bucket and 4051 Working Together Video

I'm not sure how many of you who are on this list are on the vcfed.org
forum, but just for those who aren't, with the help of Dave and Monty from
there, I have recently restored a 4051 I bought a couple years ago to
working condition.  Last night with their guidance I connected it to a
Tektronix development system called the Board Bucket, also a 6800 driven
machine that Tek engineers/employees could buy from Tek (I think in parts)
that I purchased previously.



With the 4051 in terminal mode, we were able to demonstrate that the BASIC
in ROM in the Board Bucket can drive graphics on the Tek terminal.  This was
pretty much clear after I dumped the ROMs and Dave had a close look at them,
but it was still very cool to see the two working together nonetheless.  I
feel very privileged to have both one of the products of Tek's computer
development efforts and the development machine used to help create it
(and/or others) in my possession.



Anyway for those interested, I posted a 4 min video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSkHRzx5Bno



Brad

Re: Looking for optical grid mouse pad

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Carmiel you lucky dog!

How come you get TWO Titan's, all I want is ONE.

I had one for about a year after it came out.  I convinced their sales to park 
it in my office next to NASA JSC while we both were entertaining customers.

I did some visualization work using Dore' and AVS.

recently, I have built Dore' on a BSD and Linux box, and got the 'Flag' and 
'Trunk' demos working.

Let me know how you are coming, and the moment you run out of space for one of 
these, let me know.

Randy

From: cctech  on behalf of Camiel Vanderhoeven 
via cctech 
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2018 8:24 AM
To: cctech
Subject: Looking for optical grid mouse pad

Hello everyone,



A week ago, I took possession of a second Ardent Titan graphics supercomputer, 
and unlike the other Titan, this one is almost complete. There is one tiny bit 
missing, and that is a mouse pad. The mouse used with this systems is a Mouse 
Systems M4 variant (M4Q), and it does not appear to be a normal serial mouse. 
So, if anyone has one of those reflective mousepads with a grid of fine blue 
and grey lines that they don’t need, I’d be very happy to have it.



I have tried to print my own mousepad, but the mouse only works in the y 
direction on it.



For those who want to know, the Titan is outfitted as follows:



2 x Titan P3 vector processors (using a MIPS R3000 for scalar operations)

2 x 64 MB main memory

Extended G2 Graphics

3 Maxtor 760 MB disks

QIC-120 tapedrive

19” trinitron monitor with stereo bezel and 3d glasses

Keyboard, mouse, knob box



Titan OS 4.2 installed (plus version 3.0, 4.1, and 4.2 installation tapes)
Dore, AVS, and PHIGS+ graphics environments

Vectorizing FORTRAN compiler with LINPACK, EISPACK, and FFT libraries

Matlab-Pro 3.5 (the Titan was the only computer ever that had Matlab as part of 
its bundled programs)

Biodesign Biograf 3.0 molecular modeling application



All bits and pieces, and all software appears to work.



Camiel

Re: Teletype cheap

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

There are 4 tie down bolts that you insert in the bottom to secure the printer 
carriage.
this is pretty critical

From: cctalk  on behalf of steve shumaker via 
cctalk 
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 7:39 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Teletype cheap

OK, got it.  Will be my first one. Now, how does one transport the
thing?   Does it easily come off the pedestal?   Can it be laid on it's
back?  Anything need to be secured before it gets moved?

Steve

n 10/24/2018 6:56 PM, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Teletype-Machine-Model-3320-3WA-Teletypewriter-AS-IS-FOR-PARTS-local-pick-up/142981290439?hash=item214a5959c7:g:UXoAAOSwmXJbylEN:rk:6:pf:1=true
>
> b
>

Re: modern stuff - i860

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Two design wins I remember:

TrueVision, the AT computer graphics people that did the TARGA video boards 
had software to back the board sales up, a 3D animation package TOPAS.
Beautiful, but dog slow even on the fastest 25MHz PCs at the time, so they had 
ported it to the i860 as an add in card.  I think render frame rates went from 
minutes to a few seconds.  I used TOPAS under DOSBox on a current PC, and it 
screams.  Its up on Vetusware if your interested.

The famous graphic supercomputer hardware war, Ardent / Stellar, the later 
merge and purchase by Kubota had two applications, Dore' and Advanced 
Visualization System, AVS.
These impressive machines were canned, and Kubota came out with a i860 desktop 
for graphics.  I remember the introduction in Houston, and the 3D geophysicists 
and petro exploration guys were all over it.  the graphics demos and 
computation capability was amazing.

I never knew what happened to that workstation.

From: cctalk  on behalf of emanuel stiebler via 
cctalk 
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 5:55 AM
To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: modern stuff

On 2018-10-25 14:48, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> While this was a failure on a spectacular level, it was by no means the
> only misstep by Intel.   The i860 RISC CPU at one time was even being
> endorsed by BillG as a possible personal computer basis.

the i860 found at least a little niche on graphics boards, so somehow
not a complete failure ;-)

Re: Source code listings from REDAC PDP-based PCB layout system.

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I think this is Racal-Readac, one of the early PCB software vendors (from the 
UK).
Later bought up by Zunken (the big three are Cadence, Mentor, Zunken).

Is the source straight PDP-15 assembly, or a mix with another high level 
language?

It would be great to look at this, I hope it makes it to bitsavers...

Randy

From: cctalk  on behalf of Al Kossow via cctalk 

Sent: Monday, October 1, 2018 3:17 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Source code listings from REDAC PDP-based PCB layout system.

I'm interested.
PDP-15 software in any form is pretty rare

On 10/1/18 7:33 AM, Mattis Lind via cctalk wrote:
> I have a set of around 5 to 8 binders with printed source code listings
> from a PDP-15 system. The listings appear to be from a REDAC SOFTWARE
> LIMITED PCB CAD system. The name of the software seems to be REDAL 3 MARK
> 7. There are dates on the listings in the range 74 and 75.
>
> https://i.imgur.com/m1ji9uR.jpg
> https://i.imgur.com/SzaiH78.jpg
>
> First of all does anyone has more info on the REDAL software from REDAC?
>
> Then secondly is there anyone interested in these binders with listings? I
> think the quality of printout is good enough to do OCR on.
>
> Note that there is no guarantee that these are the complete set of binders
> with listings.
>
> /Mattis
>

Microsoft DOS Fortran 5.1 graphics

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I am looking for a sort of 'hello world' example and/or samples to use the 
graphics library in this compiler, some sample code.  My target is DOS and the 
Compaq luggable mono display.


It looks like its all there, the library and include files for display adapters 
and modes, but I cant find an example on the netwebs to get me started.


Anybody have a set of demo files or application source to study and  to use 
this?


I have TurboC running on this machine, and the graphics are great.  Did 
Microsoft have a similar set of examples for Fortran?


Randy

Re: Looking for Tektronix 4052 R12 Graphics Enhancement ROM Pack and Tektronix 4014 demo files

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

My 4051 is down at the moment, it seems to be just a minor supply issue but I 
will get you the demo files.


I really think the 4051 users are a really lose knit group out here.

Since I bought mine a few years back at that auction site for divorce prices, I 
have met maybe half a dozen users,owners.


I used to work at Tek, and I know the VintageTek guys, they have one.

There is an ad-on, created by a Tek, called FASTGRAPHICS, that did two things:

write to the display at a reduced current, so the storage tube acted like a 
normal scope, and the writes did not persist

A dramatic speed up in the vector draw, that I think outruns the bit-slice 4052


I think Brad Sebrink (wrote the 4051 emulator for the PC) was looking to glue 
us together with a user's group.  Nothing happened, because there is probably 
only 10 of us.  Surprise me, prove me wrong.


Hello Brad, you still want to create a group?


Randy




From: cctalk  on behalf of Zane Healy via cctalk 

Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2018 1:58 PM
To: Monty McGraw; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Looking for Tektronix 4052 R12 Graphics Enhancement ROM Pack and 
Tektronix 4014 demo files

Looking at that Snoopy picture brought back a couple memories.  Do the 
files/programs necessary to create the Battlestar Galactica displays exist 
anywhere?

I’m also in search of a copy of the TekWeek that has the article on Battlestar 
Galactica.  As I recall they used $3 Million in Tektronix hardware on the sets. 
 My dad should still have a copy squirreled away somewhere, the trick will be 
finding it.

Cool!  It’s finally available online!
https://vintagetek.org/tektronix-in-movies-shows/
Tektronix In Movies and Shows - vintageTEK 
Museum
vintagetek.org
Tektronix equipment has been used in movies and shows. This is the earliest 
film we know of which features a 1952 Type 511A oscilloscope (based on the top 
louvers).


https://vintagetek.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/BattlestarGalactica_TW_060291978.pdf

The other thing the Snoopy picture reminded me of was a, if I remember 
correctly, National Guard exhibit at the Washington County Fairgrounds in the 
early 70’s.  They were making computer printouts of a Snoopy picture and, I 
think a calendar.  I’m pretty sure I have it in my archives, the trick is 
finding it…

Zane

Re: More tapes - This time all Tektronix 405x series

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Pete,


Send them to  Monty - my 4051 is crippled with no serial port.  I currently 
have no way to get data in and out of this, except via Micheal's RAMSTORE 
modules.


Monty, I also looked at emulating the tape drive, or the floppy disk over GPIB, 
that would be great, have the PC with a NI USB dongle.

I could not figure out how to make the National Instruments dongle act like a 
slave, its normally the master.


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Pete Lancashire via 
cctalk 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2018 11:06 AM
To: mmcgra...@gmail.com; General
Subject: Re: More tapes - This time all Tektronix 405x series

a few months ago i had about 20 4051/4052 tapes. if i still do i can send
them to you

On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 5:53 AM Monty McGraw via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> I was successfull at capturing all the files from a 4051 Graphics T1 tape
> last weekend.
>
> Here is the link to a couple of photos of the process:
>
> Capturing Tektronix 4051 Graphics T1 tape files to laptop
> 
>
> First I replaced the disintegrated drive belt with one from a NOS 3M DC6250
> cartridge.
>
> I used my 4051 to PC serial transfer program on my recently repaired and
> upgraded 4054A.
>
> I set the comm speed of the 4054 serial interface to the maximum 9600 baud,
> but as it is 7-bit, my program changes all 32 Tektronix control characters
> to "~X~" where X is the ASCII character corresponding to that control
> character.
>
> This way I don't lose any of the Tektronix 405x text formatting in the
> transfer.
>
> I was using ExtraPutty on the laptop to capture the program text strings,
> then copied the statements into Notepad++ and saved each file.
>
> I am also working on a Tektronix 4051/52/54 compatible GPIB MicroSD flash
> drive that will emulate the Tektronix 4924 tape drive - for all of us with
> these computers to use - since both the tapes and drives are very
> problematic after all these years.
>
> This flash drive contains an Arduino with my code - based on the GPIB
> flowcharts and info in a 4051 and 4052 GPIB manual.
>
> You will be able to use the existing 405x program statements with @Y for
> the drive GPIB address - since I don't know how to write a ROMPACK for any
> of the series :)
>
> I plan to organize the different captured tapes in directories on the flash
> - and that may mean using a non-4924 GPIB secondary address for that
> command.  It also likely means I need to change any tape commands in each
> program to use the flash drive GPIB address.
>
> That's why I wanted to capture one of the Tektronix tapes with a menu - is
> to ensure I could get those files to work on my flash drive design.
>
> Monty McGraw
>
>

Re: More tapes - This time all Tektronix 405x series

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Wow, good job Marty.


Now there are three of us.  Brad Sebrink has a 4051, and also written an 
emulator.

The Tek guys in Beaverton have another, VintageTek.  I will contact one of the 
guys there, he may have a RAMPACK and MAXIPACK for you, his software speeds up 
the graphics incredibly, and give you a non-volatile EEPROM program store.  He 
has put all of the collected programs we have so far on there, mostly games.


I have to cut into my 4051, it quit a few weeks back, I think it is just a 
supply problem.  I can run a simple basic loop, but what it draws on the screen 
is garbled, on of the analog supplies is messed up screwing up the vector 
drawing, but the computer itself is running.


I did the elastiband transfer when I first got the machine, from NOS tapes to 
the one that was in the machine.  Tricky, but I got it working, and WEATHERWAR 
off of it and a few others, biorhythm, etc.


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Monty McGraw via 
cctalk 
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2018 5:39 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: RE: More tapes - This time all Tektronix 405x series

I was successfull at capturing all the files from a Tektronix 4051 Graphics
T1 tape last weekend.

Here is the link to a couple of photos of the process:

Capturing Tektronix 4051 Graphics T1 tape files to laptop


First I replaced the disintegrated drive belt with one from a NOS 3M DC6250
cartridge.

I used my 4051 to PC serial transfer program on my recently repaired and
upgraded 4054A.

I set the comm speed of the 4054 serial interface to the maximum 9600 baud,
but as it is 7-bit, my program changes all 32 Tektronix control characters
to "~X~" where X is the ASCII character corresponding to that control
character.

This way I don't lose any of the Tektronix 405x text formatting in the
transfer.

I was using ExtraPutty on the laptop to capture the program text strings,
then copied the statements into Notepad++ and saved each file.

I am also working on a Tektronix 4051/52/54 compatible GPIB MicroSD flash
drive that will emulate the Tektronix 4924 tape drive - for all of us with
these computers to use - since both the tapes and drives are very
problematic after all these years.

This flash drive contains an Arduino with my code - based on the GPIB
flowcharts and info in a 4051 and 4052 GPIB manual.

You will be able to use the existing 405x program statements with @Y for
the drive GPIB address - since I don't know how to write a ROMPACK for any
of the series :)

I plan to organize the different captured tapes in directories on the flash
- and that may mean using a non-4924 GPIB secondary address for that
command.  It also likely means I need to change any tape commands in each
program to use the flash drive GPIB address.

That's why I wanted to capture one of the Tektronix tapes with a menu - is
to ensure I could get those files to work on my flash drive design.

Monty McGraw

Re: New Listings for Sellam's Collection Sales

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Inspired by ebay for all the items there that never sell for the asking price.


C'mon Sellam, you want to get out, how about lowering the prices a bit to move 
things along?



From: cctalk  on behalf of Ed Sharpe via cctalk 

Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 7:50 PM
To: sellam.ism...@gmail.com; cctalk@classiccmp.org; cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: New Listings for Sellam's Collection Sales

do the prices keep increasing?

In a message dated 6/4/2018 10:02:53 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:


 Hi Folks.

I've reorganized my sales listings into a Google Sheets set. The
introductory page is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hiX0pNmy48/edit#gid=0

Use the tabs on the bottom of the sheet to navigate to the various "rooms".

New items have been added and are listed here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I53wxarLHlNmlPVf_HJ5oMKuab4zrApI_hiX0pNmy48/edit#gid=949372371

New items are always added to the New Arrivals Niche, so that's the first
place you should check when you visit my virtual online warehouse. I will
post a message to this list and the VCFed forums whenever new items are
listed, which will occur more regularly.

As always, please inquire directly to me via e-mail for the fastest
response.

Thanks!

Sellam

Original CAD code in the wild?

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

For a while I have collected bits of legacy CAD, most recently Martin Hepperle 
sent me what I believe is the last version of Hank Christianson's MOVIE.BYU, a 
FORTRAN based 3D modeling and animation system.

I also have experimented with the original Berkley SPICE, also written in 
FORTRAN.


This weekend, I am reading "the Engineering Design Revolution", a 650 page 
history of the CAD industry by David Weisberg, who was there and worked for 
many of the companies in the beginning of the industry, I highly recommend this 
for anyone interested in CAD:


www.cadhistory.net

The Engineering Design Revolution
www.cadhistory.net
The Engineering Design Revolution. The People, Companies and Computer Systems 
That Changed Forever the Practice of Engineering. By. David E. Weisberg



My question is, did any of the source code for these systems, Applicon, 
Auto-Trol, Calma, ComputerVision, thousands of lines of primarily FORTRAN ever 
make it out, where we could read and study this original body of mathematical 
geometry done on computers?


I know we are primarily a hardware group here, but where is the interest in the 
software discussed?


Randy

Re: Kaypro II keyboard fault / keyswitches wanted

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Here you go:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Victor-9000-SIRIUS-1-Keyboard-repair-Foam-Pads-for-KeyTronic-Keyboards/121266887970?hash=item1c3c11dd22:g:HRYAAOSw91NTtPPK


[https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/121266887970-0-1/s-l1000.jpg]

Victor 9000 / SIRIUS 1 Keyboard repair, Foam Pads for KeyTronic Keyboards | 
eBay
www.ebay.com
Besteht aus einem Schaumstoff Pad, dass nun nach rund dreißig Jahren sein 
Lebensende erreicht hat. Der Schaumstoff. Die Pads bestehen aus einem 
doppelseitig mit Klebefolie ausgestatteten Schaumstoff. | eBay!



You still have to add the Mylar foil to them.  I cut up some dollar store 
silver balloons.



From: cctalk  on behalf of Jim Brain via cctalk 

Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 4:02 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Kaypro II keyboard fault / keyswitches wanted

On 4/18/2018 6:01 PM, Jules Richardson via cctalk wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> I snagged a Kaypro II a short while ago which I finally got around to
> looking at. After some minor TLC to the drives, it's booting.
>
> However, the keyboard appears unresponsive. Pressing keys (with the
> exception of caps-lock, the two shifts, and ctrl) results in a
> buzz/click from within the keyboard - if I'm interpreting the
> schematics right, the click is actually driven by the system in
> response to a keypress, which suggests that my keyswitches are OK (I
> believe these use a foam disc approach, which are prone to
> deterioration) and that keyboard data is being received OK (at least
> on some low level).
>
> Any suggestions for possible things to investigate? It doesn't feel
> like a memory fault, given that it's using 64kx1 ICs and booting as
> far as a prompt, but I suppose it's possible.
>
> On the back of this, I'm in need of three keyswitches, if anyone
> happens to have a parts machine and would be willing to sell any. A
> student of the machine's previous owner dropped the keyboard years ago
> and broke three of the keys off. I have the keycaps, but the switch
> stems are broken and it would probably be easier to replace the entire
> stem portions rather than attempting to glue things back together.
>
> cheers
>
> Jules

Can't help on the diag, but wanted to stay tuned in if keyswitches are
available.  Been hunting for a few for a few years.

Jim

--
Jim Brain
br...@jbrain.com
www.jbrain.com
The Brain Trust - Things Worth Mentioning
www.jbrain.com
Howdy. Welcome to The Brain Trust! Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join 
the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS 
feed.See ya around!

Re: WeirdStuff going out of business

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Zane,

The Country Store is still going, and while you are there check the museum, 
VintageTek next door.

Surplus Gizmos in Hillsboro looks to still be in business:

http://www.surplusgizmos.com/

Welcome to SurplusGizmos.com, LLC - We sell the Gizmos 
...
www.surplusgizmos.com
Welcome to the web store of SurplusGizmos.com, LLC. Our retail store is 
located: 5797 NW Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Oregon, 97124 (503-439-1249)

Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Zane Healy via cctalk 

Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 9:38 PM
To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: WeirdStuff going out of business


> On Apr 5, 2018, at 9:31 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk  
> wrote:
>
> On 04/05/2018 08:16 PM, Eric Korpela via cctalk wrote:
>> I'm not religious, but I consider this a sign of the apocalypse.
>>
>> I've got bags of stuff I've purchase there (including in its old location)
>> that I haven't had time to deal/play with.
>
> It is sad--in the 70s and 80s, the Bay area was rife with surplus
> places.   Many an engineer working for a startup cruised those floors.
>
> But how much stuff is actually manufactured in the Santa Clara valley
> now?  I suspect that the bulk of manufacturing is done elsewhere.
>
> I went to school in Chicago and can remember the surplus electronics
> places on South Michigan Avenue.   They were probably gone by the mid 70s.
>
> So too were the local parts places--you know, the ones with real parts
> counters.
>
> Heck, I still have stuff I purchased at Sunnyvale Electronics.
>
> It's a different world now.
>
> --Chuck

Here in the Silicon Forest, “Wacky Willies” has been gone for longer than I 
care to remember.  I don’t know if the “Tek Country Store” is still around in 
any form.  Even the non-Surplus Electronics Parts places around here are long 
gone. :-(

Zane

Re: 4051 communications PACK

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Bob,


that would be great!


BTW, I printed your PACK case, and it came out really great.


The idea was to try and clone some other modules.


Also use it to make more copies of FASTGRAPHICS and RAMPACK from Micheal 
Cranford.  The cases are what holding that up. These really make the 4051 shine 
with demos, and its what they are using in the VintageTek museum on the 
Tektronix campus.


Have you seen anywhere the schematic for the "toaster", an 8 module expansion 
box?


Thanks,


Randy



From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> on behalf of Bob Rosenbloom via 
cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 7, 2018 9:37 AM
To: Randy Dawson via cctalk
Subject: 4051 communications PACK

Hi Randy.


I'm sure I have an extra com pack. I'll check storage today.


Bob

--
Vintage computers and electronics
www.dvq.com<http://www.dvq.com>
[http://banners.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/banner/ban/wxBanner?bannertype=pws250=KCASANTA382]<http://www.dvq.com/>

dvq.com<http://www.dvq.com/>
www.dvq.com
Like Microcomputers? Apple 1's? Visit the Microcomputer Museum in Virginia. You 
can send mail to DVQ via: info (at) dvq (dot) com


www.tekmuseum.com<http://www.tekmuseum.com>
[http://tekmuseum.com/images/tek-museum001002.jpg]<http://www.tekmuseum.com/>

Home [tekmuseum.com]<http://www.tekmuseum.com/>
www.tekmuseum.com
This website has been created with technology from Avanquest Software.


www.decmuseum.org<http://www.decmuseum.org>
[http://decmuseum.org/image/obj123geo101pg1p11.jpg]<http://www.decmuseum.org/>

DEC Computers<http://www.decmuseum.org/>
www.decmuseum.org
A collection of vintage Digital Equipment Computers. DEC Minicomputers in my 
collection. The collection starts with a "Straight 8", the basis for all later 
PDP-8 ...

Re: Tek 40xx computer users

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

This was for Mike Hass, he was not in the email chain, and I do not have his 
address.


But it' s a general shout out to the other Tek 40xx users out there...


Randy



From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> on behalf of Randy Dawson via 
cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 6, 2018 9:54 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Tek 40xx computer users

Hi Gary,


Well its been a year.


Some news from here:


Micheal Cranford finished his MAXIPACK and FASTGRAPHICS PACK, and the results 
are awesome.

50-100% increase in the graphics speed, and he put all the demos and games on 
the MAXIPACK.


I 3D printed the plastic case for the PACKs and they look good.


I would like to see if we can work together, to clone the ROMs out of the packs 
you have, or see if you are willing to sell duplicates you have.


I really need a communications PACK, my 4051 did not have the comm port.  I 
have no way to transfer data in and out, I was going to attempt it over GPIB, 
bit I did not get very far.


What is new from your end?


I think we are trying to organize a 405x users group, I am talking with a few 
other guys.


Cheers,


Randy



From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> on behalf of Mike Haas 
<dogaschesswarr...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2016 8:10 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Tek 40xx computer users

Congrats on your new Tek.My 4051 pile came from came indirectly from
Gary Spence, who had inhouse involvement with the model. (can't locate his
bio at the moment)  Here's what I got... somewhere:

4051, 2x 4907 Dual 8" floppys, and the "System Test Fixture" front panel, a
box of DC300 tapes
"GAS 6800"  - a Homebrew 4051  (maybe a prototype   4051  ???)

and  these paks:

RS232 I/O compak
dual port memorypack
UNIBURN EPROM burner pack
VIDEOFRAME digitizer
GPIB Enhancement rompack
RS232 Printer Interface
Parallel Interface
Rompack Switch
Data Communications Interface
8k Rom pack
Addressable Data Tracking backpack
IC Analyzer
Editor Pack
Filemanager Pack
Binary Program Loader Pack
Signal Processor Pack
Service Pack
Pack extender board
a few empty packs and several wired edges



On Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 10:15 PM, Randy Dawson <rdawso...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> I bought the Tek 4051 on ebay today; Jason brought it to my house and it
> works perfectly, with about a half hour of programming instruction my 12
> old daughter was plotting a cat face.
>
>
> https://www.facebook.com/Thelma.Franco/videos/10154277153852670/
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>
>
> I would like to get in touch with other users of this first personal
> computer, and find additional resources.
>
>
> Do you know where I can find an archive of BASIC programs for this?
>
>
> Has anybody built plug in cards in the back, mine came with a realtime
> clock and a "file manager", I do not know what that one does.
>
>
> I have some Tek scopes with IEE-488, and I will see if I can get the IEEE
> interface working.
>
>
> There was a DC300 tape in the machine:
>
>
> biorithm
>
> craps
>
> blackjack
>
> artillery
>
> tanks
>
> weatherwar
>
>
> The belt is broken in the tape, I have ordered some new DC300's and will
> transplant the tape.
>
>
> Any resources will be welcome!
>
>
> Randy
>
>
>
>
>

Re: Tek 40xx computer users

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Gary,


Well its been a year.


Some news from here:


Micheal Cranford finished his MAXIPACK and FASTGRAPHICS PACK, and the results 
are awesome.

50-100% increase in the graphics speed, and he put all the demos and games on 
the MAXIPACK.


I 3D printed the plastic case for the PACKs and they look good.


I would like to see if we can work together, to clone the ROMs out of the packs 
you have, or see if you are willing to sell duplicates you have.


I really need a communications PACK, my 4051 did not have the comm port.  I 
have no way to transfer data in and out, I was going to attempt it over GPIB, 
bit I did not get very far.


What is new from your end?


I think we are trying to organize a 405x users group, I am talking with a few 
other guys.


Cheers,


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Mike Haas 

Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2016 8:10 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Tek 40xx computer users

Congrats on your new Tek.My 4051 pile came from came indirectly from
Gary Spence, who had inhouse involvement with the model. (can't locate his
bio at the moment)  Here's what I got... somewhere:

4051, 2x 4907 Dual 8" floppys, and the "System Test Fixture" front panel, a
box of DC300 tapes
"GAS 6800"  - a Homebrew 4051  (maybe a prototype   4051  ???)

and  these paks:

RS232 I/O compak
dual port memorypack
UNIBURN EPROM burner pack
VIDEOFRAME digitizer
GPIB Enhancement rompack
RS232 Printer Interface
Parallel Interface
Rompack Switch
Data Communications Interface
8k Rom pack
Addressable Data Tracking backpack
IC Analyzer
Editor Pack
Filemanager Pack
Binary Program Loader Pack
Signal Processor Pack
Service Pack
Pack extender board
a few empty packs and several wired edges



On Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 10:15 PM, Randy Dawson 
wrote:

> I bought the Tek 4051 on ebay today; Jason brought it to my house and it
> works perfectly, with about a half hour of programming instruction my 12
> old daughter was plotting a cat face.
>
>
> https://www.facebook.com/Thelma.Franco/videos/10154277153852670/
Log In or Sign Up to 
View
www.facebook.com
See posts, photos and more on Facebook.


>
>
> I would like to get in touch with other users of this first personal
> computer, and find additional resources.
>
>
> Do you know where I can find an archive of BASIC programs for this?
>
>
> Has anybody built plug in cards in the back, mine came with a realtime
> clock and a "file manager", I do not know what that one does.
>
>
> I have some Tek scopes with IEE-488, and I will see if I can get the IEEE
> interface working.
>
>
> There was a DC300 tape in the machine:
>
>
> biorithm
>
> craps
>
> blackjack
>
> artillery
>
> tanks
>
> weatherwar
>
>
> The belt is broken in the tape, I have ordered some new DC300's and will
> transplant the tape.
>
>
> Any resources will be welcome!
>
>
> Randy
>
>
>
>
>

To the 2901 bit slicers out there

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Since I know there's tons of PDP/11 geniuses here, and other gurus with a NOVA 
4, and a Tektronix 4052 guy (I have the 4051):


What have you done, with microprogramming this part?  In your architecture,  
have you changed the microcode, create an instruction to enhance your machine?


I would be interested in any hardware projects, stories (or even in the FPGA, I 
hear its a popular thing to copy);


I read all of Donnamaies pages, and planing to hook up, breadboard the eval 
kit, perhaps reproduce the PCB if you guys are interested.


What about the coding tools?  ADASM?  Looks long gone, how do you do microcode 
today?


If I forget the soldering iron, can anyone show me an example on a Xilinx 
board, ISE, Vivado that uses the original AMD 2900 architecture?


http://www.donnamaie.com/AMD_Vintage/AMD_2900_ED2900A.html

Donnamaie E. White - AMD 2900 Family, Bit-Slice; Am2900 
...
www.donnamaie.com
Lecture Monograph updated. The AMD 2900 Family (Am2900) Bit-Slice and other 
devices were supported by a number of high-level application notes. (Generated 
by the AMD ...

Re: Ebay listings from potomacstore

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I considered the Tektronix 4051 hardcopy unit, but my search turned up zilch 
for the paper (3M Dry Silver type)


Price is right, the printer looks great, but no source for the paper that I can 
find.


randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of systems_glitch via 
cctalk 
Sent: Saturday, December 2, 2017 7:36 AM
To: Mattis Lind; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Ebay listings from potomacstore

I know a few of us have bought from them before, my experiences have been
positive. I think the last thing I bought was a Teletype Model 33 ASR that
fell on its face, seller made a pretty good deal as it was local pick-up
and essentially it was a parts bucket at that point.

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 7:28 AM, Mattis Lind via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> There is a seller "potomacestore" that lists a number of items in various
> condition.
>
> A HP9866A. very nice if you have the HP9830A but no printer!
>
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/401341724680
[http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/401341724680-0-1/s-l1000.jpg]

VINTAGE HP 9866A Uppercase 5x7 Dot Matrix Printer for HP 9830A Calculator | 
eBay
www.ebay.com
Designed For use with HP 9830A Calculator. Uppercase 5x7 dot cell matrix. Print 
speed of 250 lines per minute. Evaluated and Non-Functioning, R2/Ready for 
Repair: The equipment must be evaluated prior to sale to ensure that the resale 
value will exceed the cost of repairs, and that the equipment is capable of 
being repaired. | eBay!


>
> A weird Tektronix 8 inch drive thing. The drive resembles the Memorex 651
> drives, but could something else. But what is it? The photos are not very
> good.
>
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/192119338523
[http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/192119338523-0-1/s-l1000.jpg]

Vintage Tektronix Computer Dual 8 Inch Floppy Drive | 
eBay
www.ebay.com
Did not have test media or interface to conduct further tests. Key functions 
tested Potomac eCycle is certified to the R2/RIOS standard which was created 
specifically for the Electronics Recyling industry to promote Environmental, 
Health and Safety. | eBay!


>
>
> A decent looking Tektronix 4112 terminal:
>
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/401325451012
[http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/401325451012-0-1/s-l1000.jpg]

VINTAGE Tektronix 4112A 15 In. Computer Display Terminal w/RS-232C Interface | 
eBay
www.ebay.com
RS-232C Interface. Evaluated and Non-Functioning, R2/Ready for Repair: The 
equipment must be evaluated prior to sale to ensure that the resale value will 
exceed the cost of repairs, and that the equipment is capable of being 
repaired. | eBay!


>
>
> And some other HP, tektronix stuff.
>

Re: Tek 4051 semi-repaired

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I will be glad to open mine up, and 'PhotoFact' it for you.


I can take scope shots of the critical signals, voltage rails.  I suppose the 
first, would be if you hit the HOME PAGE key it should clear the screen, I can 
follow that signal path, and take some scope shots...


Even with the screen flooded,if I let it sit and hit space, not HOME PAGE on my 
working 4051, you can still see the characters you type faintly, and the cursor 
blink.



Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Brad H via cctalk 

Sent: Tuesday, October 3, 2017 7:10 PM
To: 'Pete Lancashire'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Tek 4051 semi-repaired

I’ll have to check that when I get it back – I didn’t really have a look inside 
and wouldn’t have known to look for that.  I’m hoping not.. cosmetically the 
machine is excellent – the interior could almost fool you into thinking you 
were looking into a brand new Mac, with all that stainless.  But that doesn’t 
mean anything in terms of the actual components, of course.



My CRT guy seems to be convinced the computer isn’t doing what it should be, 
based on his read of the schematics.  But he said the only way he could be 
really sure was to have a working unit to compare to.



From: xyzzy...@gmail.com [mailto:xyzzy...@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Pete 
Lancashire
Sent: Tuesday, October 3, 2017 10:01 AM
To: Brad H ; General Discussion: On-Topic 
and Off-Topic Posts 
Cc: Ian Finder 
Subject: Re: Tek 4051 semi-repaired



If the CRT floods one can say the CRT is good with one major thing left, 
phosphor burns. In a DVST (Direct View Storage Tube) the most common effect is 
the burn area will not store with the same potential as the rest of the tube, 
or if burned enough will not store at all. There are other things that can go 
wrong but so far you know the flood guns are  good, do you see the man CRT gun 
assemblies filament light up (can't remember if can been seen with the shield 
on) ?



Good Luck, while at Tek I kept thinking of building one but never did.



-pete



On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 9:42 AM, Brad H via cctalk  > wrote:

Also the computer itself *was* semi-working.. with the monitor board 
disconnected, voltages were good and I could blindly type in a simple endless 
loop program and get the ‘BUSY’ light to light up when I ran it.



I don’t have the computer just yet and my tech guy didn’t have time to try 
entering something like that.  So I’ll have to confirm.  He seems to think 
three indicator lights on the right come up on power on now and then go out.  
The power light at the bottom appears to be dead.



From: Ian Finder [mailto:ian.fin...@gmail.com  ]
Sent: Tuesday, October 3, 2017 9:39 AM
To: Brad H  >; General Discussion: On-Topic 
and Off-Topic Posts  >
Subject: Re: Tek 4051 semi-repaired



Does it warm up or flood?



"When I got my 4051, on power up there

would be no voltage to the motherboard and nothing came up on the screen.
That has been fixed, however we still do not have any kind of prompt or
anything appearing."


Care to share with the class what you've done so far?



On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 9:29 AM, Brad H via cctalk    > > wrote:

Hi there,



My go-to guy for CRT stuff has informed me that he has the CRT on my 4051
working and that the tube is good.  When I got my 4051, on power up there
would be no voltage to the motherboard and nothing came up on the screen.
That has been fixed, however we still do not have any kind of prompt or
anything appearing.



Wondering if anyone has any ideas on where to go from here?   I'm picking up
the machine this week and will do some more testing.. hopefully the board
didn't take any damage while he was working on the CRT.



Brad







--

   Ian Finder
   (206) 395-MIPS

   ian.fin...@gmail.com   
 >




 
 _source=link_campaign=sig-email_content=emailclient>

Virus-free.  
 _source=link_campaign=sig-email_content=emailclient> 
www.avg.com 










 

Tek 4051 users and replacement for the 405x QIC Tape

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

One of the Ex-Tek's, Micheal Cranford has designed a modern FLASH based RAMPACK 
for the tape drive, and filled it with most of the known BASIC games.

More significant, Micheal has written FASTGRAPHICS, a replacement for the BASIC 
vector draw functions; 100x increase in performance, in addition to the ability 
to draw non-store vectors.


I think he has a few of these left.  The big problem is the RAMPACK plastic 
cases are recycled from old ROMPACKs and these are in short supply.


He is looking for a 'Toaster' too.  Can we get a count of active 405x users out 
there, and start a group effort to build, swap, restore 405x hardware?


(I got an original Kraft joystick, and starting that project from the 
schematics on bitsavers.)


Randy

Re: Tektronix 4050E01

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Bob,


I have a 4051, in perfect working order.  I would like to buy one of these 
'Toasters' from you.


I could also take your schematic and make more copies of it for others.


What ROMPACKS do you have?


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Bob Rosenbloom via 
cctalk 
Sent: Monday, October 2, 2017 8:24 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Tektronix 4050E01

I'm looking for the schematic of a Tektronix 4050E01 ROM expander
(toaster). This is the one that works with either the
Tektronix 4051 or 4052/4054 units. Different than the 4051E01. I have a
few to fix. Anyone have a manual for one that they
could scan?

Thanks,

Bob

--
Vintage computers and electronics
www.dvq.com
[http://banners.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/banner/ban/wxBanner?bannertype=pws250=KCASANTA382]

dvq.com
www.dvq.com
Like Microcomputers? Apple 1's? Visit the Microcomputer Museum in Virginia. You 
can send mail to DVQ via: info (at) dvq (dot) com


www.tekmuseum.com
[http://tekmuseum.com/images/tek-museum001002.jpg]

Home [tekmuseum.com]
www.tekmuseum.com
This website has been created with technology from Avanquest Software.


www.decmuseum.org
[http://decmuseum.org/image/obj123geo101pg1p11.jpg]

DEC Computers
www.decmuseum.org
A collection of vintage Digital Equipment Computers. DEC Minicomputers in my 
collection. The collection starts with a "Straight 8", the basis for all later 
PDP-8 ...

Re: Convex C220 lives

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Carmiel,


What did you do with the Ardent (Stardent).


That's where all your great benchmark demos are.  The Dore' system, the 'Flag' 
demo.


If you want Fortran, I have been working on MOVIE.BYU, a dusty deck, but I have 
almost got there.  It is wireframe and rendered poly animation.  It is 
currently barking at some float to integer in gfortran for the whole thing to 
come together, but I have the TITLE (3d wireframe of ASCII text working).


Thanks to



From: cctech  on behalf of Peter Allan via 
cctech 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 12:02 PM
To: camiel.vanderhoe...@vmssoftware.com; cct...@classiccmp.org
Subject: RE: Convex C220 lives

Hi Camiel,

Nice to hear that you have the Convex C220 up and running.

Regarding things to run on it, starting with LINPACK is probably a good
idea. However, in term of what they were actually used for back in the
1980's, I know that they were popular with the radio astronomy community,
starting with the Convex C1. The package called AIPS (Astronomical Image
Processing System) was the most popular way of processing data from
multi-antenna telescopes like the VLA in New Mexico.

AIPS (written in Fortran) is now known as AIPS Classic, to distinguish it
from AIPS++ (written in C++) which was developed in the 1990's. There is
plenty of information about it on the internet. If you have any difficulty
getting the code, let me know as I might be able to help.

AIPS is very portable; before the era of the mini-supers, it ran on a lot
of VAXen (yeah!!) amongst other things.

Cheers

Peter Allan


> -Original Message-
>From: Camiel Vanderhoeven 
>To: cctech 
>Subject: Convex C220 lives
>Message-ID: 
>Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="ISO-8859-1"
>
>For a change, rather than a request for help, here?s a success story: I
>managed to bring a Convex C220 (dual vector CPU mini supercomputer from
>1988) back to life. Both CPUs are working, but I?m running with a single
>CPU because of the power it draws with two CPUs. Next challenges: the
>Convex C1, and quad vector processor C240 (not before I?ve upgraded the
>power feed).
>
>Running ConvexOS 11.5.1, it has FORTRAN 7.0.1 installed; I ran a little
>benchmark, and with a single CPU the system clocks in at 49.1 MFLOPS on a
>big multiply-add loop (advertised peak performance was 50 MFLOPS per CPU).
>
>Getting the system to the state where it is now was quite a journey
>(though nowhere near as bad as it might have been). If you?re interested
>in the details, I have a (somewhat long) report of my work on my website;
>if you go to http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/other-bits/603-convex-c220,
[https://www.vaxbarn.com//images/convex/1/1.png]

Convex C220
www.vaxbarn.com
VAXBARN: Camiel Vanderhoeven's computer collection


>there are some links at the bottom that have much more details, as well as
>photos of the system and the boards.
>
>Now I?m looking for some FORTRAN code that would typically have run on
>this kind of computer so I can show people what this kind of system was
>used for.
>
>Camiel

Re: Convex C220 lives

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

martin.heppe...@dlr.de



Thanks to Martin,

Where should we post, it the last copy I know of, movie.byu


From: Randy Dawson 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 10:30 PM
To: Peter Allan; General Discussion: On-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Convex C220 lives


Hi Carmiel,


What did you do with the Ardent (Stardent).


That's where all your great benchmark demos are.  The Dore' system, the 'Flag' 
demo.


If you want Fortran, I have been working on MOVIE.BYU, a dusty deck, but I have 
almost got there.  It is wireframe and rendered poly animation.  It is 
currently barking at some float to integer in gfortran for the whole thing to 
come together, but I have the TITLE (3d wireframe of ASCII text working).


Thanks to



From: cctech  on behalf of Peter Allan via 
cctech 
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 12:02 PM
To: camiel.vanderhoe...@vmssoftware.com; cct...@classiccmp.org
Subject: RE: Convex C220 lives

Hi Camiel,

Nice to hear that you have the Convex C220 up and running.

Regarding things to run on it, starting with LINPACK is probably a good
idea. However, in term of what they were actually used for back in the
1980's, I know that they were popular with the radio astronomy community,
starting with the Convex C1. The package called AIPS (Astronomical Image
Processing System) was the most popular way of processing data from
multi-antenna telescopes like the VLA in New Mexico.

AIPS (written in Fortran) is now known as AIPS Classic, to distinguish it
from AIPS++ (written in C++) which was developed in the 1990's. There is
plenty of information about it on the internet. If you have any difficulty
getting the code, let me know as I might be able to help.

AIPS is very portable; before the era of the mini-supers, it ran on a lot
of VAXen (yeah!!) amongst other things.

Cheers

Peter Allan


> -Original Message-
>From: Camiel Vanderhoeven 
>To: cctech 
>Subject: Convex C220 lives
>Message-ID: 
>Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="ISO-8859-1"
>
>For a change, rather than a request for help, here?s a success story: I
>managed to bring a Convex C220 (dual vector CPU mini supercomputer from
>1988) back to life. Both CPUs are working, but I?m running with a single
>CPU because of the power it draws with two CPUs. Next challenges: the
>Convex C1, and quad vector processor C240 (not before I?ve upgraded the
>power feed).
>
>Running ConvexOS 11.5.1, it has FORTRAN 7.0.1 installed; I ran a little
>benchmark, and with a single CPU the system clocks in at 49.1 MFLOPS on a
>big multiply-add loop (advertised peak performance was 50 MFLOPS per CPU).
>
>Getting the system to the state where it is now was quite a journey
>(though nowhere near as bad as it might have been). If you?re interested
>in the details, I have a (somewhat long) report of my work on my website;
>if you go to http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/other-bits/603-convex-c220,
[https://www.vaxbarn.com//images/convex/1/1.png]

Convex C220
www.vaxbarn.com
VAXBARN: Camiel Vanderhoeven's computer collection


>there are some links at the bottom that have much more details, as well as
>photos of the system and the boards.
>
>Now I?m looking for some FORTRAN code that would typically have run on
>this kind of computer so I can show people what this kind of system was
>used for.
>
>Camiel

Re: EBAY - DEC RX01/02 floppy disks - Andromeda Systems and AED utilities

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

I saw one of the disk labels in the pictures, - VERSATEC VERSAPLOT


I have that, its fortran source, a pretty nice plotting package, plus it does a 
nice job of vector to raster (to support their electrostatic plotters).


I was a customer, and did build this on the PC, I think it was lahey or phar 
lap compiler.


Who wants it, or how to submit this to bitsavers, I have never done that.


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Glen Slick via cctalk 

Sent: Friday, September 8, 2017 4:51 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: EBAY - DEC RX01/02 floppy disks - Andromeda Systems and AED 
utilities

On Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 11:37 PM, Mattis Lind via cctalk
 wrote:
> Someone in the UK is selling a lot of floppy disks (shipping to UK only).
> Labels mentions "Andromeda Systems WDLT DL/DY Utilities", "WDC11 support
> disk" and "Advanced Electronic Design WINC-05/8"
>
> Unless this type of software isn't already imaged and saved it might be
> useful if someone in the UK would buy them and image them.
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/222629853408
[http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/222629853408-0-1/s-l1000.jpg]

31 RARE Vintage DIGITAL 8" Floppy Disk Diskettes & Storage Boxes DIGITAL 3M | 
eBay
www.ebay.com
But we have not tested them ourselves. | eBay!



Sold for GBP 32.95 yesterday. Did someone on the list pick up these disks?

I have a WDC11-C MFM disk controller. I believe it has no on-board
disk configuration and formatting utility and needs to run a host
based utility to configure and format disks. If someone here grabbed
these disks and they have a configuration and format utility for the
WDC11 it would be appreciated if disk images were made available.

Re: IBM Scientific Subroutine Package (was Re: SIMH .tap file 7 track?)

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Thanks Al.


I did not have the insight to look in the decus library.  This is exactly what 
I wanted.


Randy



From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> on behalf of Al Kossow via cctalk 
<cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:44 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: IBM Scientific Subroutine Package (was Re: SIMH .tap file 7 track?)



On 7/11/17 3:36 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>
> On 7/11/17 3:31 PM, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
>> Hi Chuck,
>>
>>
>> Maybe you can answer a related question to the conversion of IBM 360 .tap 
>> files.
>>
>>
>> I see the IBM FORTRAN Scientific Subroutine Package on Bitsavers in .tap 
>> format:
>>
>>
>> http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/IBM/360/360A_CM-03X_Scientific_Subr_Pkg.zip
>>
>>
>> How do I read/convert this back into the ASCII files?
>>
>
> it appears to be a stream of 3200 byte records, in EBCDIC
> so convert the .tap records to a byte stream, convert the character set, and 
> add a newline
> every 80 characters
>
>

this is how it starts

C   TALL  10
C ..TALL  20
C   TALL  30
CSUBROUTINE TALLY   TALL  40
C   TALL  50
CPURPOSETALL  60
C   CALCULATE TOTAL, MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION, MINIMUM, MAXIMUM TALL  70
C   FOR EACH VARIABLE IN A SET (OR A SUBSET) OF OBSERVATIONSTALL  80
C   TALL  90
CUSAGE  TALL 100
C   CALL TALLY(A,S,TOTAL,AVER,SD,VMIN,VMAX,NO,NV)   TALL 110
C   TALL 120
CDESCRIPTION OF PARAMETERS  TALL 130
C   A - OBSERVATION MATRIX, NO BY NVTALL 140
C   S - INPUT VECTOR INDICATING SUBSET OF A. ONLY THOSE TALL 150
C   OBSERVATIONS WITH A NON-ZERO S(J) ARE CONSIDERED.   TALL 160
C   VECTOR LENGTH IS NO.TALL 170
C   TOTAL - OUTPUT VECTOR OF TOTALS OF EACH VARIABLE. VECTORTALL 180
C   LENGTH IS NV.   TALL 190

which matches
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/decuslib10-02/01/43,50145/tally.ssp.html

IBM Scientific Subroutine Package (was Re: SIMH .tap file 7 track?)

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Chuck,


Maybe you can answer a related question to the conversion of IBM 360 .tap files.


I see the IBM FORTRAN Scientific Subroutine Package on Bitsavers in .tap format:


http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/IBM/360/360A_CM-03X_Scientific_Subr_Pkg.zip


How do I read/convert this back into the ASCII files?


Thanks,


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Chuck Guzis via 
cctalk 
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:10 PM
To: CCtalk
Subject: SIMH .tap file 7 track?

This is one that I haven't seen addressed.

If I'm reading a 7-track tape and writing a SIMH .tap file, what's the
custom?  6 bits per 8-bit byte, right-justified (i.e. 2 high bits
zero-filled)?

Just wondering if there's a convention established for this.

--Chuck

Re: Re: Directory of old computer collectors

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Jim,


Anybody that is paranoid about telling their location and the computer 
dinosaurs running in their basement needs a head alignment.


Another case of some guy over-estimating the worth of the junk we hold on to.  
It is zero, of value to only us that play with it.


And our numbers are diminishing every day.


Randy







From: jim stephens 
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 11:26 PM
To: Randy Dawson; steven stengel
Subject: Fwd: Re: Directory of old computer collectors


Randy,
I'm sort of running interference for STeve on the list.  Since his email is 
cc'd here and he's a subscriber I suspect has seen this.

the tost...@yahoo.com is his email for these computer 
matters.

People are getting a bit torqued out over non issues, I think, thanks for 
chiming in.  Hopefully we can all help each others collecting efforts with a 
bit of visibility.

thanks
jim


 Forwarded Message 
Subject:Re: Directory of old computer collectors
Date:   Wed, 24 May 2017 05:19:41 +
From:   Randy Dawson 
To: jim stephens , steven 
stengel , General Discussion: 
On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 




Hi Jim,


add me to your list.


I am in Thousand Oaks, CA (Los Angeles area).


I have a Tektronix 4051 vector graphics computer running, just BASIC games at 
the moment. I have  a Compaq Model 1 with the PC-IDE flash setup, running 
Autocad, Versacad, Dr. Halo, Turbo-C, MS-Fortran.


I am in conversation with some Tek guys to add a modern RAM flash drive to the 
4051 to replace the DC300 tape.  We are about to build some PCBs for it, let me 
know if you have a 4051.


Randy



From: cctalk 
 on behalf 
of steven stengel via cctalk 

Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 12:05 PM
To: jim stephens; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Directory of old computer collectors

I will post anything you want me to, just tell me.
email is not necessary, a link or website will do fine as well.The map is 
intended to be a method to see who's where for assistance, trading, meet-ups, 
etc.There's hundreds of people here, but few know where each other live, I 
suppose.



  From: jim stephens via cctalk 

 To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
 Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 12:09 AM
 Subject: Re: Directory of old computer collectors



On 5/22/2017 11:06 PM, Lyle Bickley via cctalk wrote:
> On Mon, 22 May 2017 16:29:22 -0400
> william degnan via cctalk 
>  wrote:
>
>> can you send a link to the people who are on the list so they can see
>> their listing?  I personally don't mind as long as any record that
>> includes me personally does not include my email address or phone
>> number.I much prefer to send people to my web page contact form.
> Folks who are on the list should have the opportunity to approve what
> will and will not be posted about them. That's not only a legal
> requirement in many States, but also common courtesy.
>
> Regards,
> Lyle
You do get that this isn't cctalk, but one that people had already sent
contact info for.  I sent him revised publishable contact info for the
list.  I realize he probably made the request w/o 40 pages of consent
forms to read, but he seems to just be asking to allow him to publish
from that list, and a note here for anyone who didn't see it in their
email, since the respondents came from here.

thanks
jim

>> On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 4:19 PM, steven stengel via cctalk <
>> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> In the past, I requested the email address and home city of old
>>> computer collectors to a compile a list for my own purposes.
>>> Over 120 people had responded, which is great! Now I want to make
>>> this list PUBLIC with a Google map showing everyones location,
>>> email, and collecting preferences.
>>> Since I don't have anyone's explicit permission to publish their
>>> information, I am now asking.
>>> Please let me know if I may, or may not, place your information on
>>> the public webpage.
>>> Thanks-
>>> Steven Stengelhttp://oldcomputers.net/
>>>
>>>
>
>

Re: Directory of old computer collectors

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Jim,


add me to your list.


I am in Thousand Oaks, CA (Los Angeles area).


I have a Tektronix 4051 vector graphics computer running, just BASIC games at 
the moment. I have  a Compaq Model 1 with the PC-IDE flash setup, running 
Autocad, Versacad, Dr. Halo, Turbo-C, MS-Fortran.


I am in conversation with some Tek guys to add a modern RAM flash drive to the 
4051 to replace the DC300 tape.  We are about to build some PCBs for it, let me 
know if you have a 4051.


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of steven stengel via 
cctalk 
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 12:05 PM
To: jim stephens; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Directory of old computer collectors

I will post anything you want me to, just tell me.
email is not necessary, a link or website will do fine as well.The map is 
intended to be a method to see who's where for assistance, trading, meet-ups, 
etc.There's hundreds of people here, but few know where each other live, I 
suppose.



  From: jim stephens via cctalk 
 To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
 Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 12:09 AM
 Subject: Re: Directory of old computer collectors



On 5/22/2017 11:06 PM, Lyle Bickley via cctalk wrote:
> On Mon, 22 May 2017 16:29:22 -0400
> william degnan via cctalk  wrote:
>
>> can you send a link to the people who are on the list so they can see
>> their listing?  I personally don't mind as long as any record that
>> includes me personally does not include my email address or phone
>> number.I much prefer to send people to my web page contact form.
> Folks who are on the list should have the opportunity to approve what
> will and will not be posted about them. That's not only a legal
> requirement in many States, but also common courtesy.
>
> Regards,
> Lyle
You do get that this isn't cctalk, but one that people had already sent
contact info for.  I sent him revised publishable contact info for the
list.  I realize he probably made the request w/o 40 pages of consent
forms to read, but he seems to just be asking to allow him to publish
from that list, and a note here for anyone who didn't see it in their
email, since the respondents came from here.

thanks
jim

>> On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 4:19 PM, steven stengel via cctalk <
>> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> In the past, I requested the email address and home city of old
>>> computer collectors to a compile a list for my own purposes.
>>> Over 120 people had responded, which is great! Now I want to make
>>> this list PUBLIC with a Google map showing everyones location,
>>> email, and collecting preferences.
>>> Since I don't have anyone's explicit permission to publish their
>>> information, I am now asking.
>>> Please let me know if I may, or may not, place your information on
>>> the public webpage.
>>> Thanks-
>>> Steven Stengelhttp://oldcomputers.net/
>>>
>>>
>
>

Re: SimH PDP-8 simulator plays music

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Kudos!


That is awesome Kyle, and sounds great.


Have you had a look at Max B. Mathews MUSIC4BF?


Old FORTRAN dusty deck I want to bring up, it is not realtime like yours, but 
calcs wavetable (or DAC) output for later processes.


Anybody found the source for this?


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Kyle Owen via cctalk 

Sent: Wednesday, April 5, 2017 7:43 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: SimH PDP-8 simulator plays music

I suspected that I could somehow get some music out of the SimH PDP-8
simulator for a while now, if I could only make it run real time and toggle
a GPIO pin fast enough say, on a Raspberry Pi. That may still be doable in
the future, but I also had a suspicion that I could generate music not in
real time.

I finally got around to trying out my idea last night. A few lines were
added to pdp8_cpu.c to spit out the elapsed instruction cycles every time a
CAF instruction is executed, the default "noise" instruction in the MUSIC.PA
program.

That's all I did to the simulator. I then ran MUSIC with a given .MU file
and watched as many integers are spit out onto the screen. These were
copied and pasted into a new text file and saved.

The rest of it is in a single C program that I cobbled together. It reads
in this new text file and generates a series of pulses as an array of
floats. Each interval is about 1.93 microseconds, which I calculated to be
the average number of pulses for the music program to be "in tune" with
A=440 Hz, plus or minus. This value is subject to change, particularly as
the notes get higher in frequency, but only by perhaps 6% or so from my
experiments. One detail to note is that per the recommendation of the
MUSIC.PA manual, these pulses are extended to roughly 6 microseconds, or
three time intervals in my program.

This array of floats is then downsampled use libsamplerate to 44.1 kHz
(from 1/1.93 microseconds, or roughly 520 kHz) and output to a canonical
WAV file, 16-bit single channel.

What do you know, it worked! Here's a sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_urDcyluX9c
[https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVF.X4rar%2fthDhiKS0hGfDpAGA=Api]

Maple Leaf Rag - SimH PDP-8
www.youtube.com
I made a hacked version of SimH's PDP-8 simulator which outputs timestamps 
every time a certain instruction is executed. When used with the music program, 
MU...



My code can be found here, for those interested:
https://github.com/drovak/music

Presumably, this technique could be used to generate music from any given
computer simulator.

Thanks,

Kyle

Re: Old manuals (Univac, IBM, Burroughs, Teletype)

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Todd,


I have a Model 33, what do you want for those manuals?


Thanks,


Randy



From: cctech  on behalf of Todd Pisek via cctech 

Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2017 2:00 PM
To: cct...@classiccmp.org
Subject: Old manuals (Univac, IBM, Burroughs, Teletype)

Spring cleaning has unearthed manuals I no longer need (not clear if I ever 
needed them ... ).

Here's the list:

Univac an/uyk-7 theory & diagrams
Univac federal systems Technical Bulletins (1973)

IBM 1620&1622 CE manuals & complete system diagrams (vol 1,2, & 3)
IBM 3031 theory of ops diagrams (vol 1-5)
IBM 129 card punch CE & ald diagrams
IBM 3275 ald diagrams (2 vols)

Burroughs Global Memory schematics & flow diagrams

Teletype 33 teletypewriter (ksr & asr) technical manuals and parts list

--- Todd

Re: Ardent Titan

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Hi Camiel,


First let me say you are one lucky guy.


I had one of these in my office for a few months, after their demo in Houston 
we were in constant contact to promote and sell them.

Ardent, later Stardent supplied the hardware and we ported an application to 
show at the Offshore Technology Conference, in our booth.

Great guys, and it got a lot of interest - it was a 3D model of downhole pipe 
exhibiting corrosion, 100K rendered polygons and you could swing it around in 
realtime, very impressive hardware for the 80's.


I have maintained my interest, they dissolved in spite of a very impressive 
machine.  The visualization pipeline was spun off as a separate company, AVS.


Kubota (who purchased Stardent) put the rendering software, Dore' in the public 
domain.  I have built it here under FreeBSD on a PC; it was in the ports system 
for a while, and without to much messing with, I got the demos running (FLAG, a 
flag blowing in the wind, with controls for wind speed and direction, 
controlled by the knob box) are still impressive.


Let me know how you come along, I really want to see you bring this up.  I can 
certainly copy Dore' over to you.


Another great resource, is the story of the machine itself.  It was a 
promotional book given to prospective clients, but a very detailed and well 
written book:


The Architecture of Supercomputers, Titan a Case Study

Daniel P. Siewiorek, Philip John Koopman, Jr.

ISBN 0-12-6430-60-8


I see its on Amazon:


https://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Supercomputers-Titan-Case-Study/dp/1483246590



Good luck, and keep in touch on how this is coming.


Regards,


Randy Dawson

The Architecture of Supercomputers: Titan, a Case Study 
...
www.amazon.com
The Architecture of Supercomputers: Titan, A Case Study describes the 
architecture of the first member of an entirely new computing class, the 
graphic supercomputing ...










From: cctech  on behalf of Camiel Vanderhoeven 
via cctech 
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2017 8:24 AM
To: cct...@classiccmp.org
Subject: Ardent Titan

Last Friday, I finally received a shipment of 1980's minisupercomputers
from the US that I've been working on since September. One of the systems
is an Ardent Titan, which to my knowledge was the first (mini-)
supercomputer to come with an integrated high-end graphics subsystem
(1280x1024@60Hz, hardware spheres, antialiasing, and cast shadows).

After careful checking, I powered it on yesterday, and got as far as
trying to boot it; unfortunately, the harddisk does not contain the OS,
but I'm trying to get access to an installation tape. There's a full
writeup about my efforts this weekend on my website:
http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/42-repair/576-ardent-titan-power-on
[http://www.vaxbarn.com/images/ardent/titan/a_02.jpg]

Ardent Titan 
power-on
www.vaxbarn.com
VAXBARN: Camiel Vanderhoeven's computer collection


A description with some pictures of the Ardent can be found here:
http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/other-bits/565-ardent-titan
Ardent Titan - 
VAXBARN
www.vaxbarn.com
This Ardent Titan is one of the systems donated by a Stanford University 
professor. They are currently being shipped to me, so I have not been able to 
inspect these ...


Uncrating pictures are here:
http://www.vaxbarn.com/index.php/41-acquisitions/575-supercomputers-have-ar
[http://www.vaxbarn.com/images/acq/convex4/20170310_140351.jpg]

Supercomputers have 
arrived
www.vaxbarn.com
VAXBARN: Camiel Vanderhoeven's computer collection


rived

Anyone who knows anything about these machines, please contact me! Also,
if you have access to installation tapes, manuals, brochures, anything
related to these systems, please let me know.

Kind regards,
Camiel Vanderhoeven

MOVIE.BYU - progress

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

Thanks group for the links to the source.


These have passed thru many copies, and somehow have embedded control 
characters and such, but I am successful so far at the cleanup:


I pull the source into a fortran knowledgeable editor, I am using "blocks"


When the editor stops in the file, I drop into jedit, delete whatever is there, 
the invisible text and save;


restart "blocks" and it parses further


I should have this to compile in a few days.


It outputs to the Tek terminal, for those guys working on that.


Randy

Re: Tektronix Terminal Emulation

[Randy Dawson via cctalk]

xterm will do your Tek 4014 emulation.


There should be lots of Tek stuff in X11, they were one of the original 
consortium members.


While you are fishing around for software to run, I have MOVIE.BYU from one of 
the guys here.


ISSCO's DISPLA should be around, but I have not found it.


Look on youtube, there are a bunch of of clips of folks doing just what you are 
about to do.


Randy



From: cctalk  on behalf of Douglas Taylor via 
cctalk 
Sent: Thursday, March 9, 2017 7:00 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Tektronix Terminal Emulation

I'm trying to return to the computing days of yesteryear when people
hooked graphics terminals to VAXes.

I don't have a Tektronix graphics terminal but I do have a MicroVax II
and a laptop running Debian Linux.  Up to now I've been using the laptop
as a console device and connecting to the Vax using minicom.  I thought
that the laptop would be a natural as a Tektronix type terminal.

On the MicroVax I have just started with PGPLOT and MIIPS, which are
scientific plotting packages that run on Vaxes.

I would like to use the laptop to emulate a Tek terminal connected to
the Vax through a serial port, but there doesn't seem to be anything
available to do that.  Does anyone know of such a thing?

Doug