Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
This one isn't so pleasant... I worked at CompUSA fixing computers in the 90's, and one time an employee brought in his personal machine for repair. Fortunately I wasn't the one that opened it up, as when the tech popped the case, cockroaches scurried everywhere! The machine was beyond hope with the amount of insect debris inside. I believe we had an exterminator out the next day! On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 5:17 PM, Adrian Stoness tdk.kni...@gmail.com wrote: When I was a toddler apparently I used to stuff penny's inside the floppy drives of my dads rainbow 100 the drives survived this I slot and are still I. Working order as far as I know since last time I saw that beast On Sunday, August 2, 2015, Tom Moss tomjm...@googlemail.com wrote: I once found a whole box worth of crayola crayons in a 1541 disk drive. What amazes me is how nothing was blocked and they hadn't melted. On 2 August 2015 at 05:53, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net javascript:; wrote: By the way: I still keep the dollar with the computer. Just in case it's a critical component, you know. :) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net javascript:; http://www.nf6x.net/ -- Ben Sinclair b...@bensinclair.com
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
When I was a toddler apparently I used to stuff penny's inside the floppy drives of my dads rainbow 100 the drives survived this I slot and are still I. Working order as far as I know since last time I saw that beast On Sunday, August 2, 2015, Tom Moss tomjm...@googlemail.com wrote: I once found a whole box worth of crayola crayons in a 1541 disk drive. What amazes me is how nothing was blocked and they hadn't melted. On 2 August 2015 at 05:53, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net javascript:; wrote: By the way: I still keep the dollar with the computer. Just in case it's a critical component, you know. :) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net javascript:; http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On Aug 3, 2015, at 14:51 , ben bfranc...@jetnet.ab.ca wrote: Written on the drive, is a lot different than paper floating around inside The bad blocks were written on the drive in the sense that they were written or printed on a paper label stuck to the top of the drive, not stored digitally on the drive platter(s). I may be mistaken, but I have a memory rattling around in my head of the bad block list even being printed on greenbar paper at final test, which was then cut with scissors and Scotch taped to the top of the drive. So, they were very literally written on the drive in layman's terms. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: Pertec Tape Drive Interface Musings
On 08/03/2015 03:40 PM, Al Kossow wrote: On 6/10/15 8:17 AM, Jon Elson wrote: I got a Pertec key to tape system surplus, and created a mostly software interface with very minimal hardware to read and write tapes on my S-100 Z-80 system. XL-40? The system I had was, I'm pretty sure, made by Pertec. I still have the manuals for it, and curiously they don't list ANY manufacturer in the title block. It was a really small thing, about 19 inches wide and 12 inches tall, with a fairly stock spring-arm 9 track drive with 7 tape reels. I couldn't find the listing on eBay. Jon
Re: Steve Jobs engraved iPads - Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
Where is the inscription? Inside the case? On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Toby Thain t...@telegraphics.com.au wrote: On 2015-08-03 12:49 PM, Steve Algernon wrote: As an employee with some involvement, there was a batch of original iPads that were engraved with Steve Jobs signature. ... But when it does eventually wind up with some collector down the line, I hope they'll be surprised and a little confused. Its always nice to make someones life a little more surreal. Great story! I hope this list archive survives until that happens somebody completes the circle... --Toby Cheers, --sma
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On Aug 3, 2015, at 14:51 , ben bfranc...@jetnet.ab.ca wrote: Written on the drive, is a lot different than paper floating around inside On Mon, 3 Aug 2015, Mark J. Blair wrote: The bad blocks were written on the drive in the sense that they were written or printed on a paper label stuck to the top of the drive, not stored digitally on the drive platter(s). I may be mistaken, but I have a memory rattling around in my head of the bad block list even being printed on greenbar paper at final test, which was then cut with scissors and Scotch taped to the top of the drive. So, they were very literally written on the drive in layman's terms. Some were written on paper and taped to the drive. Before long, MOST manufacturers went to writing them on a lable stuck to the drive.
Re: Pertec Tape Drive Interface Musings
On 8/3/15 6:41 PM, Jon Elson wrote: On 08/03/2015 03:40 PM, Al Kossow wrote: On 6/10/15 8:17 AM, Jon Elson wrote: I got a Pertec key to tape system surplus, and created a mostly software interface with very minimal hardware to read and write tapes on my S-100 Z-80 system. XL-40? The system I had was, I'm pretty sure, made by Pertec. I still have the manuals for it, and curiously they don't list ANY manufacturer in the title block. It was a really small thing, about 19 inches wide and 12 inches tall, with a fairly stock spring-arm 9 track drive with 7 tape reels. I couldn't find the listing on eBay. Jon do you have anything on the instruction set? here is the auction for the manuals http://www.ebay.com/itm/321821273842 If you look in his completed auctions, the boards are there. I doubt anyone bought them. He still has two Fuji 2322s and an NEC SMD drive listed that I'm guessing came out them and he has a Pertec 8640, but I doubt he's going to bother to list it. I also rescued a XL40 diag tape.
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On 8/3/2015 3:25 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 08/03/2015 11:33 AM, ben wrote: If is that bad, time for a new drive. Perhaps you don't remember but old ST506-style drives had no automatic bad sector remapping, so even new ones had bad sector maps affixed by the manufacturer. Most often these were in the form of byte offset from index. Written on the drive, is a lot different than paper floating around inside --Chuck I think soon we need to look for real cpu chips, everything will be microsoft hardware. Ben.
Re: Pertec Tape Drive Interface Musings
On 08/03/2015 09:06 PM, Al Kossow wrote: do you have anything on the instruction set? Instruction set? This was not a computer. It was an all hard-wired-logic key to tape system. It could be set to enter data to tape, verify data by retyping it, and it would beep if a record did not match, or allow you to view the tape contents on a panel of lights, one bulb per EBCDIC character. The thing had a core memory buffer to hold one 80-character record, only keeping 6 bits per character. I ripped out all the key to tape logic, fortunately, it was designed with a mag tape sort of interface at a particular card slot, so I left the 3 boards or so that managed the tape drive, and then supplied the rest of the interface with a few one-shots and some 8-bit wide registers, and a bunch of timing loops. I used this mostly to back up my S-100 hard drive. OK, I verified it was indeed made by Pertec. The title block of the drawings doesn't have anything real obvious, but there is a bunch of legal boilerplate advising the restrictions on use of the drawings, and the last words are prior written permission of Pertec. Jon
Re: Steve Jobs engraved iPads - Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On Aug 3, 2015, at 6:52 PM, drlegendre . drlegen...@gmail.com wrote: Where is the inscription? Inside the case? On the back. I don't have a handy picture, but someone else posted theirs: http://deirdre.net/steve-jobss-death-and-influence/back-camera-3/
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
When I was in middle school, I once saw another kid stuff a bunch of potato chips in a Disk ][ ... does that count? LOL Best, Sean On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 6:17 PM, Adrian Stoness tdk.kni...@gmail.com wrote: When I was a toddler apparently I used to stuff penny's inside the floppy drives of my dads rainbow 100 the drives survived this I slot and are still I. Working order as far as I know since last time I saw that beast On Sunday, August 2, 2015, Tom Moss tomjm...@googlemail.com wrote: I once found a whole box worth of crayola crayons in a 1541 disk drive. What amazes me is how nothing was blocked and they hadn't melted. On 2 August 2015 at 05:53, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net javascript:; wrote: By the way: I still keep the dollar with the computer. Just in case it's a critical component, you know. :) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net javascript:; http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: Pertec Tape Drive Interface Musings
On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 9:47 AM, Al Kossow a...@bitsavers.org wrote: I need to figure out why this program also doesn't deal with tape errors well. If you get an error, it will go into an endless loop creating -1 byte records. I haven't looked at that in many years, so I'm not sure. Maybe when you get a read error you have to issue a skip forward before you can read the next block?
Re: Pertec Tape Drive Interface Musings
On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 9:40 AM, Dennis Boone d...@msu.edu wrote: The main limitation seems to be that it's hard to get the (broken) data from a block that had a read error when using SCSI hardware. There's probably a way around this if one digs into lower layers of SCSI magic; I haven't gone looking. Nothing using standard SCSI commands, unfortunately. Might be some vendor-unique stuff.
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On 08/03/2015 11:33 AM, ben wrote: If is that bad, time for a new drive. Perhaps you don't remember but old ST506-style drives had no automatic bad sector remapping, so even new ones had bad sector maps affixed by the manufacturer. Most often these were in the form of byte offset from index. --Chuck
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On Sun, Aug 02, 2015 at 11:55:10AM -0700, Chuck Guzis wrote: Turning this discussion on its head, I wonder if I'm the only one to stash manuals and setup CDs in the cases of my systems. Has anyone ever picked up an old system and found system documentation inside? Not really inside but I got an IBM 3270PC (it's just a 5150 with some extras to make it a terminal emulator). But it was upgraded with a new motherboard and a 486 CPU. In an open 5.25 inch slot was the manual for the motherboard, it fit rather snuggly and easily accesible from the front. /P
RE: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!
On Sat, 1 Aug 2015, Robert Jarratt wrote: Thanks for the suggestion, but Hakko appears not to be available in the UK. On ebay I can find US sellers and Chinese sellers. I suspect the Chinese ones are imitations, so I would prefer to avoid those. Sorry - missed the UK part :) Did some googling, and it looks like Hakko makes a 230v version. I found a UK retailer that lists it: http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888D.html http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888D.html Thanks. I did do a search, but obviously not that well :-( Proto-PIC have them too: http://proto-pic.co.uk/hakko-fx-888d-silver-digital-solder-station/ http://proto-pic.co.uk/hakko-fx888d-blue-yellow-digital-solder-station/ Mind that £99 is the net price. :( Maciej
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On 8/3/2015 12:11 PM, Jules Richardson wrote: On 08/02/2015 01:55 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: Turning this discussion on its head, I wonder if I'm the only one to stash manuals and setup CDs in the cases of my systems. Has anyone ever picked up an old system and found system documentation inside? I suppose that bad sector maps for ST506/412 hard drives don't count? :-) If is that bad, time for a new drive. Ben.
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
As an employee with some involvement, there was a batch of original iPads that were engraved with Steve Jobs signature. Scott Forstall joked I don't want to see these show up on eBay! Anyway, being none too careful, I let my then 3 year old play with it, and she was walking around with rapt attention to whatever cartwheeling clown was on it, when she dropped it on some bricks. The iPad's back was dented (not near the signature), and while it still worked, wouldn't take a charge. Failure Analysis said they didn't want to take it since it was one the special' ones... So I opened it up (easier then then now; just wedge the screen out and break some metal retaining clips) and found that the dent, while small, was sharp and deep and pressed on the charging circuit. I wanted to insulate it, so I put a picture of my daughter there and sealed it up. Still works to this day and is great for netflix. But when it does eventually wind up with some collector down the line, I hope they'll be surprised and a little confused. Its always nice to make someones life a little more surreal. Cheers, --sma
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On 08/02/2015 01:55 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: Turning this discussion on its head, I wonder if I'm the only one to stash manuals and setup CDs in the cases of my systems. Has anyone ever picked up an old system and found system documentation inside? I suppose that bad sector maps for ST506/412 hard drives don't count? :-)
Re: Front Panel Update
On Mon, Aug 03, 2015 at 12:23:56PM +0100, Rod Smallwood wrote: Hi Guys The drawings for pdp8/e (A), pdp8/e (B), pdp8/f and pdp8/m have now gone to the silkscreeners for checking and costing. I'll let you all know when they are available. Those who chose to prepay but to wait for the version they needed will go out first. One issue I need to clear up. Are PDP-8/i and pdp-8/l thats (i) and (l) the same due to font ambiguity or different? 8/i and 8/l are distincly different. If you want to group them 8/e/f/m are similar and the rest are distinct from eachother. See here for an overview: http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/pan08.htm /P
Re: Front Panel Update
Hi Pontus Thanks that clears up one or two things. I worked on a straight 8 with its clear cover on top along with a couple of 8/e's at Harwell. Whilst at DEC 1975 onwards I saw loads of 8/a's and the odd 8/e lurking on the top of a filing cabinet. As far as I can remember I never saw an 8/i,8/i, 8/f,8/s or 8/m used in house. By that time flavor of the month was the PDP-11/34A. We sold a hell of alot of those. I have one awaiting restoration. I can't remember if they have a switching psu or not. It matters not. Turf out all electrolytic capacitors on sight. Regards Rod On 03/08/2015 13:35, Pontus Pihlgren wrote: On Mon, Aug 03, 2015 at 12:23:56PM +0100, Rod Smallwood wrote: Hi Guys The drawings for pdp8/e (A), pdp8/e (B), pdp8/f and pdp8/m have now gone to the silkscreeners for checking and costing. I'll let you all know when they are available. Those who chose to prepay but to wait for the version they needed will go out first. One issue I need to clear up. Are PDP-8/i and pdp-8/l thats (i) and (l) the same due to font ambiguity or different? 8/i and 8/l are distincly different. If you want to group them 8/e/f/m are similar and the rest are distinct from eachother. See here for an overview: http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/pan08.htm /P
RE: diagnosing an Intel Series II MDS monitor failure
From: a...@p850ug1.demon.co.uk Was the failed IC marked '723' or some house number? -tony Hi Tony As I recall, it was marked LAS723-2.5Luckily, before I simply replaced it, I checked the feedbackresistor values. They didn't make sense for 7V.My guess is that it made using the 723 for 5V supplies morepractical, although it could be wired up.The data sheet seems to indicate a better tolerance.The 2.5V references are usually bandgap and are tightertolerance. As I recall, in the supply I was working on, it was a low current 12V line.Dwight
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
Most Cray systems shipped from Chippewa Falls with several cases of Leinenkugel's beer inside. This was intended for the SEs after they got the system installed and up and running and not for the customer :-) Chris -- Chris Elmquist
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
I suppose that bad sector maps for ST506/412 hard drives don't count? :-) On Mon, 3 Aug 2015, ben wrote: If is that bad, time for a new drive. In the early days, particularly when actual ST506 and ST412 were common drives, there were VERY VERY few that had no bad tracks. In the days of ST506/412 drives every responsible manufacturer included a list of bad tracks. In the early days, there were plenty. That was one of several reasons why reputable hard drive manufacturers rounded the capacity down, rather than peddling them with the size stated to half a dozen significant digits. Would you rather have a 10 Meg drive that formatted out to 10.1Mebibytes, or one that formatted to 10.1Mebibytes that was sold as being 10.653696 Meg (WOW! This drive is so good that it gave me MORE capacity than it was rated for!) For a brief while, Spinrite defaulted to retoring to service any BAD TRACKS that passed Spinrite's tests! That was based on the assumption that a simple read/write test is surely far more trustworthy than the special hardware and software that the manufacturer used to decide to tell you not to trust that track. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!
On Mon, 3 Aug 2015, Sean Caron wrote: When it comes to soldering, I usually recommend Hakko or Pace irons; I have a Hakko 936 and it's a great all-rounder. The FX-888D seems to be their recommended replacement for the 936 so I guess I will endorse that, if they are making the new models as well as they built the old ones (although IMO they look a little silly now) ... I paid less than $100 USD for my 936 brand new and I think I just got it from some random eBay vendor, maybe you can find them there, even in the Commonwealth? I have both the FX-888 and FX-888D. They're VERY nice irons. The tips are the same as those used with the 936. g. -- Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007 http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind. http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home. Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies. ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes. http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
Re: SPARCClassic won't boot cdrom
To the OP.
From the OK OBP prompt, can you please share the output of:
probe-scsi
AND
probe-scsi-all
assuming your OBP supports those commands.
Jerry
On 08/ 2/15 04:35 PM, Sean Caron wrote:
Oh! And if you're using the boot cdrom mnemonic, make sure that your
CD-ROM is actually set to SCSI ID 6, otherwise you need to substitute in
your boot path i.e.
/iommu/sbus/espdma@4,840/esp@4,880/sd@{scsiid},0
Definitely check that!
Best,
Sean
On Sun, Aug 2, 2015 at 2:53 PM, Michael Thompson
michael.99.thomp...@gmail.com wrote:
From: Benjamin Huntsman bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu
Subject: SPARCClassic won't boot cdrom
Hi all!
I recently acquired a SPARCclassic, which is my first bit of Sun
hardware. Having an awful time getting it to boot from the CD-ROM. I
have
tried a bunch of different terminators and several different cables, but
whenever I try to boot I get this:
ok boot cdrom -s
Boot device: /iommu/sbus/espdma@4,840/esp@4,880/sd@6,0:d File
and args: -s
The SCSI bus is hung. Perhaps an external device is turned off.
Any ideas as to what might be wrong here? The thing does not seem to
send any commands to the CD-ROM, as the LED never comes on and I don't
hear
it doing anything...
Thanks!
-Ben
The terminator on the end of the SCSI bus needs to be powered. Without
power on the terminator the bus will hang. Sometimes the power comes from
the SPARC through the SCSI cable, but not all SCSI cables pass the power.
Sometimes there is a jumper or switch on the last drive to enable SCSI
terminator power.
--
Michael Thompson
Re: Unusual stuff inside computers
On Mon, Aug 03, 2015 at 12:33:33PM -0700, Fred Cisin wrote: I suppose that bad sector maps for ST506/412 hard drives don't count? :-) Once upon a time, it was the job of the OS to take this badblock count and remap blocks itself since the drives themselves weren't smart enough. On Mon, 3 Aug 2015, ben wrote: If is that bad, time for a new drive. In the early days, particularly when actual ST506 and ST412 were common drives, there were VERY VERY few that had no bad tracks. In the days of ST506/412 drives every responsible manufacturer included a list of bad tracks. In the early days, there were plenty. That was one of several reasons why reputable hard drive manufacturers rounded the capacity down, rather than peddling them with the size stated to half a dozen significant digits. Would you rather have a 10 Meg drive that formatted out to 10.1Mebibytes, or one that formatted to 10.1Mebibytes that was sold as being 10.653696 Meg (WOW! This drive is so good that it gave me MORE capacity than it was rated for!) For a brief while, Spinrite defaulted to retoring to service any BAD TRACKS that passed Spinrite's tests! That was based on the assumption that a simple read/write test is surely far more trustworthy than the special hardware and software that the manufacturer used to decide to tell you not to trust that track. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com -- - d...@freebsd.org d...@db.net http://www.db.net/~db
paging mouse (rodents/montreal)
Sorry for the public post, can't get through privately. But oddly, the list seems to make it through. Very strange. Mouse, tried sending you a few replies, but your mail server sends rejections back from your MX host. Any chance you could whitelist the classiccmp.org server IP? Best, J
Re: This Hobby Is Actually Useful!
When it comes to soldering, I usually recommend Hakko or Pace irons; I have a Hakko 936 and it's a great all-rounder. The FX-888D seems to be their recommended replacement for the 936 so I guess I will endorse that, if they are making the new models as well as they built the old ones (although IMO they look a little silly now) ... I paid less than $100 USD for my 936 brand new and I think I just got it from some random eBay vendor, maybe you can find them there, even in the Commonwealth? Best, Sean On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 11:20 AM, Maciej W. Rozycki ma...@linux-mips.org wrote: On Sat, 1 Aug 2015, Robert Jarratt wrote: Thanks for the suggestion, but Hakko appears not to be available in the UK. On ebay I can find US sellers and Chinese sellers. I suspect the Chinese ones are imitations, so I would prefer to avoid those. Sorry - missed the UK part :) Did some googling, and it looks like Hakko makes a 230v version. I found a UK retailer that lists it: http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888D.html http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888D.html Thanks. I did do a search, but obviously not that well :-( Proto-PIC have them too: http://proto-pic.co.uk/hakko-fx-888d-silver-digital-solder-station/ http://proto-pic.co.uk/hakko-fx888d-blue-yellow-digital-solder-station/ Mind that £99 is the net price. :( Maciej
Printer manuals that must go!
Good morning all! I have the following printer manuals that I must get out of my space. If you want any of them enough to make it worth my while to ship them, let me know soon. They will be out of here by next Monday, one way or another. Shipping from Madison, WI 53714. Comrex ComRiterIIE User's Guide Gemini-10X/15X Users Manual Citizen MSP-40/45 User's Manual Wespergroup Model DLP-1132 Printer Controller User's Manual digital Letterwriter 100 Operator Guide Dataproducts Model 9030/9040 Printers Operating Guide Fujitsu M304X Series Line Printer Operator's Guide HP 7580B, 7585B, and 7586B Drafting Plotters Interfacing and Programming Manual HP 7580B, 7585B, and 7586B Drafting Plotters Interfacing and Operator's Manual Mannesmann Tally Spirit-80 Computer Printer Operator's manual Star Micronics radix-10 PC radix-15 PC User's Manual Panasonic KX-P3151 Daisy Wheel Printer Operating Instructions -Jon
Re: Pertec Tape Drive Interface Musings
On 6/10/15 8:17 AM, Jon Elson wrote: I got a Pertec key to tape system surplus, and created a mostly software interface with very minimal hardware to read and write tapes on my S-100 Z-80 system. XL-40? Someone out here put some XL-40 parts and docs up on eBay this weekend, so I went over and got the docs from him and one board set. This was sold by Univac as the 1900/10
