Re: 3 8 inch drives, new and used floppies
20150827_124943.jpg https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MOaRm-6XKNbHB0a0stNkdFRm9lVll5VjBaT0tKbVRHc3Jv/view?usp=drive_web On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 2:23 AM, Paul Anderson used...@gmail.com wrote: 20150827_125000.jpg https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MOaRm-6XKNclExVHVVU0dKTlRGUmV4b1o2X1pLaThPdHp3/view?usp=drive_web 20150827_125000.jpg https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MOaRm-6XKNclExVHVVU0dKTlRGUmV4b1o2X1pLaThPdHp3/view?usp=drive_web If interested, please contact me off list.
3 8 inch drives, new and used floppies
20150827_125000.jpg https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MOaRm-6XKNclExVHVVU0dKTlRGUmV4b1o2X1pLaThPdHp3/view?usp=drive_web 20150827_125000.jpg https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MOaRm-6XKNclExVHVVU0dKTlRGUmV4b1o2X1pLaThPdHp3/view?usp=drive_web If interested, please contact me off list.
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 27, 2015, at 23:22 , r.stricklin b...@typewritten.org wrote: Yes, your tapes need baking. Even for folks who don't experience problems as catastrophic as yours, the TK50, TK30, and TK70 will each stall out if it senses the tape dragging even slightly. That includes for rewind/unload. At least in the case of the TK30, it appears to insist on digging itself further and further into the hole. It runs the tape forwards first, then it experiences trouble, then it panics and quits. Each attempt just puts more tape on the take-up reel at best, and can end up making a tangled mess like the one I pictured. Extracting the tape without cutting it and dumping it on the floor takes a lot of effort and disassembly. Ok, so I need to build my media ez-bake oven before I try anything else with my TK drives. I think I ought to build a cartridge de-interlocker and manual rewinder gizmo, too, to make the failures less painful. Not this month, but one of these days! Can the TK50 cartridges be baked as-is, or do the reels need to come out of the casings to get air flow? I'm new to this magnetic pastry chef stuff. :) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
Given that it's summertime, I wonder if I could just leave the tapes in my truck for a week to bake them? :) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 27, 2015, at 9:39 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote: Maybe my tapes need baking or something to keep the oxide from shedding? Yes, your tapes need baking. Even for folks who don't experience problems as catastrophic as yours, the TK50, TK30, and TK70 will each stall out if it senses the tape dragging even slightly. That includes for rewind/unload. ok bear. -- until further notice
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 27, 2015, at 11:50 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote: It runs the tape forwards first, then it experiences trouble, then it panics and quits. Yes. Can the TK50 cartridges be baked as-is It may depend on how effective your setup is, but I bake mine as-is. ok bear. -- until further notice
CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
(Rumor was that there was also a CDC-160A in somebody's basement here in town, as well). Speaking of which: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Control-Data-160-Computer-System-Vintage-Computer-/252070822992?hash=item3ab0978450 Maybe it's the one from that basement :) Cheers, Pierre --- Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
What takes, today, present time, to read 1/2-inch reel-to-reel tape? Years ago, I've found literally HUNDREDS of half inch reel-to-reel tape, stacked outside a telco switching building. I managed to scavenge one hundred and ninety of them. Ended up throwing (because of lack of storing space... and no prospect to be able to do anything with it...) 176. I kept 14 reels. Anyway... are there still people throwing/giving hardware able to read that? Hugs. Л.// On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 6:17 PM, Jay Jaeger cu...@charter.net wrote: On 8/26/2015 2:21 PM, Mike Loewen wrote: On Wed, 26 Aug 2015, Jay Jaeger wrote: On 8/26/2015 8:00 AM, Jacob Ritorto wrote: Ah, I knew that sounded familiar. I have a pretty sizable stack of what appear to be original nine-track tapes with their pdp11 software on them in my collection. Any interest? I could try to get my tu-10 going again to image them, but might need some help --jake I have an HP 9 Track drive (800 - 6250 BPI), and a baking setup I can use if you wanted to send them to Madison, WI. Just out of curiosity, which model HP drive is that? A modern streamer with an 800bpi option? Mike Loewenmloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technologyhttp://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/ Relatively modern: HP 88780B
RE: IBM 1620
Many 1620's were leased and IBM recovered them at the end of the lease. There is a note somewhere I have seen about the one at Lancaster University have a disk drive replaced and then returned to IBM within weeks... .. on the other had I know the one at Newcastle Polytechnic hung around for at least a year. I wonder what happened to the one at Constantine College (later Teeside Polytechnic, and now Teesside University) which ran my first Fortran Program... Dave -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Jay Jaeger Sent: 28 August 2015 03:41 To: cctalk@classiccmp.org Subject: Re: IBM 1620 On 8/27/2015 9:18 PM, Kevin Tikker wrote: Thanks very much for the link. Maybe there is one out there There were two IBM 1620's in the College of Engineering in Madison, WI when I started school, and rumor was that one of them ended up in somebody's basement. Whether or not that rumor was true, and if so, if it is still around, or not, I have no idea. (Rumor was that there was also a CDC-160A in somebody's basement here in town, as well). Both of these rumors date back 30+ years, though. JRJ
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 2015-08-27 22:43, Kyle Owen wrote: Yup, I'm aware of the owner's manual, but my question was more aimed at What are the common failure modes of this drive? rather than how to operate it. I'll see what it'll take to get my VAX connected via Ethernet. Looks like I've got the hardware, but not sure about the software just yet. http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/tk50.html
Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
On 8/28/2015 3:14 AM, P Gebhardt wrote: We all KNOW the government people still have one running for your tax . After all the bribes and shady dealings it gets turned on twice a year. Too old to have the Y2000 bug. Ben.
Re: A tale of woe, including carelessness, stupidity and laziness....
On Aug 27, 2015, at 7:13 PM, Michael Thompson michael.99.thomp...@gmail.com wrote: ... In any case, RP06s use three phase power. The issue wasn't the power in this particular story, but rather the ground wire (the green protective ground that isn't supposed to carry current at all under normal operation). Not exactly true. RP06 drives are typically connected to 3-phase power, but only use two of the three phases. I have and RP06 running at home on 110/220VAC 2-phase. That's interesting. I was told that an RP06 requires attention to the correct phase connections or it will attempt to spin in the wrong direction, implying that it uses a 3 phase spindle motor. Or perhaps that was a different RPnn? Or perhaps it was simply an urban legend? paul
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
On Aug 28, 2015, at 3:59 AM, Operon Lac operon@gmail.com wrote: What takes, today, present time, to read 1/2-inch reel-to-reel tape? Years ago, I've found literally HUNDREDS of half inch reel-to-reel tape, stacked outside a telco switching building. I managed to scavenge one hundred and ninety of them. Ended up throwing (because of lack of storing space... and no prospect to be able to do anything with it...) 176. I kept 14 reels. Anyway... are there still people throwing/giving hardware able to read that? Yes, there are plenty of people who can read 9 track tape. More impressively still, there are also people (not many) who can read 7 track tape. Some of these have developed the skills and processes needed to recover data from old tapes, which often requires special case to avoid having the oxide come off on the first read attempt. I believe there are also some who have created specialized drives with DSP technology, able to recover data from marginal tapes that standard drives would not handle. If you have tapes but no drive, and an interest in having the data recovered, you should ask here; my experience is that you'll get pointers to people interested in helping out, especially if there is some reason to believe the data to be recovered is interesting or unusual in some way. The same sort of comments apply to other old storage technology, like paper tape or DECtape/LINCtape. Disk drives (removable packs) seem to be harder, I suppose because there are so many incompatible formats and a given drive will typically read only its own format. The RM80 pack I have will mechanically fit into an RM03 drive, but that drive won't read the format... paul
Items to get rid of - North Haven CT 06473 area
I got a few items I need to get rid of: 2 HP LaserJet 5MP - One I know works. The other I had for parts, I think it works. I believe I have a PS module in it. There is also a RAM chip siting with it too, don't have the specs at the moment. Includes 3 toner carts, all in various states of used. HP JetDirect external printer server - LPT, RJ-45, BNC Black IBM Model M type keyboard with trackpoint. PS/2 mechanical keyboard with AT connector. Shipping is unfortunately something I can't do at this time. Monetary donation would be nice, but I just need these to go. Some good lager or ale wouldn't be turned down either... :) -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 Computers have lots of memory but no imagination. The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back. - from some guy on the internet.
Re: IBM 1620
On Aug 28, 2015, at 1:30 AM, Chuck Guzis ccl...@sydex.com wrote: ... Well, other than the Model I (CADET) typewriter acting as if it were going to fly apart at any time, the 1311 disk drive was fun to watch. Especially if you didn't have the direct seek option. I had a one-card program that would do for (i=0; i100; i++) seek_cylinder(i). That doesn't step track to track as you would expect; instead, it goes from track n to 0 to n+1, resulting in progressively wilder and slower seeks as n increases. paul
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/28/15 12:46 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: leave the tapes in my truck for a week to bake them? :) not enough airflow
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/28/15 12:46 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: leave the tapes in my truck for a week to bake them? :) On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Al Kossow wrote: not enough airflow humidity?
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 28, 2015, at 08:09, Al Kossow a...@bitsavers.org wrote: On 8/28/15 12:46 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: leave the tapes in my truck for a week to bake them? :) not enough airflow Well, I guess I'll need to build a little convection tape baker, then. Maybe I'll use something like an Arduino to control the temperature. I want to build a toaster oven solder reflow over, too, which might use the same controller. But operating at a much higher temperature, of course. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
If you can find an American Harvest food dehydrator, those work great for baking tapes, low controlled heat, a round form factor and it can hold 10 reels of tape. I use one for baking old EIAJ videotape. Sent from my iPhone On Aug 28, 2015, at 11:44 AM, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 08:09, Al Kossow a...@bitsavers.org wrote: On 8/28/15 12:46 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: leave the tapes in my truck for a week to bake them? :) not enough airflow Well, I guess I'll need to build a little convection tape baker, then. Maybe I'll use something like an Arduino to control the temperature. I want to build a toaster oven solder reflow over, too, which might use the same controller. But operating at a much higher temperature, of course. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
Cool. Wonder what it will go for. JRJ On 8/28/2015 4:14 AM, P Gebhardt wrote: (Rumor was that there was also a CDC-160A in somebody's basement here in town, as well). Speaking of which: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Control-Data-160-Computer-System-Vintage-Computer-/252070822992?hash=item3ab0978450 Maybe it's the one from that basement :) Cheers, Pierre --- Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de
Re: Announcing TCP/IP for RSX-11M-PLUS
I have received some bug reports, and it turns out there was some very serious bug in the release, which corrupted low memory, including interrupt vectors. A new release have been cut. Please update immediately if you have updated since the announcement I made two days ago... Johnny On 2015-08-26 15:44, Johnny Billquist wrote: Close to two months since my last official release, so I figure it's time I do another one. So - there is a new release of BQTCP/IP. I strongly encourage anyone who uses this software to upgrade. A short list of changed: . TCP have been rewritten to not use any system pool at all. Even the small amount previously used added up when a lot of traffic was going on. At the same time, IPPOOL usage for connections have also decreased, as memory is only allocated when needed for transmissions. This also lead to the ability to have larger transmit buffers. . A new HELP file have been included for some help in general. If installed, you can see information through HELP/IP . FTP rate calculation was slightly wrong. Fixed now. . Various included tasks have now been built without the need for language specific resident libraries so that they can be used on any system. . TCP could disconnect sessions erroneously under some circumstances. Fixed. . Telnet daemon can give more comprehensive welcome messages now. . WWW server CGI scripts could cause the web connection to close even though the script was not finished. Fixed. . The SPOOF detection/prevention now will not block the DNS server. . Improved response times for TCP connection establishment. . If a daemon created a task, and the task never picked up the connection that came in, the socket was left in a broken state. Fixed. As usual, the distribution is available from: ftp://madame.update.uu.se/bqtcp.dsk ftp://madame.update.uu.se/bqtcp.tap ftp://ftp.update.uu.se/pub/pdp11/rsx/tcpip/tcpip.dsk The documentation is also available through ftp on Madame, or also at http://madame.update.uu.se/tcpipdoc Right now, I don't know what the next project will be. Some testing and improvements. But I probably need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Do anyone have any special wishes (and don't say SSH or IPv6 :-) ). Oh, and as a icing on the cake, http://magica.update.uu.se (or telnet://magica.update.uu.se) will lead you to a real, physical PDP-11/70 running this software. Magica have been on the internet in the past, but she has been down for quite some time. But I'm happy to announce that the machine is starting to live again. Johnny On 2015-06-30 13:46, Johnny Billquist wrote: I'm happy to announce a new release of TCP/IP for RSX-11M-PLUS. Since I'm broadening the scope of the announcement slightly, a more complete list of features is included, and not just what changed since last. For anyone who is currently running TCP/IP for RSX, I strongly encourage you to update to this latest version. Several improvements have gone in in the last couple of weeks. Most important change is that there now is telnet support, both client and server side. The TCP/IP for RSX that I've written is sometimes referred to as BQTCP/IP, just to make clear that it is a different product than Process Software's TCPWARE, or JSA's TCP/IP. BQTCP/IP is a rather feature rich TCP/IP implementation, which also comes with libraries for various high level languages. The API is not compatible, even at the source level, with Unix, but on the other hand, if people write some code, they will see that it is a very easy API to work with. The reasons for the incompatibilities are several, including both resource concerns and differences between how RSX works and Unix like operating systems. BQTCP/IP has tried to comply with all relevant RFCs, but I'm sure there are corners where it does not do things right. It also does not demand much resources. It do require RSX-11M-PLUS with split I/D space, and it has only been tested properly on RSX-11M-PLUS V4.6. It should work on any version 4 release of RSX-11M-PLUS, but there might be a couple of tweaks or fixes needed. BQTCP/IP is distributed in binary form, so very little compilation is required to get it up and running. However, pretty much all utilities do come with sources. The actual TCP/IP stack sources are not included. I do not have a good setup for distributing them in a sane way, and it has had a low priority on my list of things to do. But I do not mind distributing the sources as a general principle. All that said, BQTCP/IP current supports the following protocols: o Ethernet and loopback interfaces. o ARP. BQTCP/IP can use Ethernet in co-existance with DECnet, or standalone using the provided Unibus ethernet device driver. o IP. The largest IP packets supported are approximately 8KB. o ICMP. o UDP. The largest UDP packets supported are approximately 8KB. o TCP. The window is approximately 8KB in size, and TCP do manage
Re: A tale of woe, including carelessness, stupidity and laziness....
On 2015-08-28 14:56, Paul Koning wrote: On Aug 27, 2015, at 7:13 PM, Michael Thompson michael.99.thomp...@gmail.com wrote: ... In any case, RP06s use three phase power. The issue wasn't the power in this particular story, but rather the ground wire (the green protective ground that isn't supposed to carry current at all under normal operation). Not exactly true. RP06 drives are typically connected to 3-phase power, but only use two of the three phases. I have and RP06 running at home on 110/220VAC 2-phase. That's interesting. I was told that an RP06 requires attention to the correct phase connections or it will attempt to spin in the wrong direction, implying that it uses a 3 phase spindle motor. Or perhaps that was a different RPnn? Or perhaps it was simply an urban legend? Paul, that was my belief as well. I knew the RP06 only used 2 out of the 3 phases, but I thought the motor was depending on them. Anyway, I located the manual, and it turns out that the actual phases are not important. Yes, it uses 2 phases, but only to get the proper voltage (or so I gathered from the manual). You can actually update the drive in the field to run on different types of power sources. The only thing fixed is frequency, so you cannot move from 50Hz to 60Hz or back easily. Johnny
Re: IBM 1620
On Thu, 27 Aug 2015, Lyle Bickley wrote: The IBM 1620 at the CHM is a running computer. There were two teams that worked on the 1620 at the CHM. The first Team got it running. Unfortunately, IBM used the wrong kind of solder on the core memory and so the wires of the core memory literally dissolved. With all the different solder alloys I work with regularly, I have to ask...what type of solder caused that sort of damage? Was it the alloy itself, or did IBM use a flux which was too active and then failed to clean away all the residue? If they used a rosin-based flux, was it due to the specific activator used in the flux?
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 28, 2015, at 08:52, Matt Patoray mspproducti...@gmail.com wrote: If you can find an American Harvest food dehydrator, those work great for baking tapes, low controlled heat, a round form factor and it can hold 10 reels of tape. Interesting! Is the central shaft small enough for 5.25 and 8 floppy disks to fit in it? I have a lot of 8 disks that need baking, too. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: De-yellowing results
On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 4:04 PM, Terry Stewart te...@webweavers.co.nz wrote: Regarding the keycaps -- Corey Cohen suggested that I remove them and soak them in 3% peroxide. Going to have to try that. Well, remember this is with just 3% hydrogen peroxide, which is quite a bit less than what's in the hair gels (what's it, 20-40%)? I used this on my commodore 128D, just a handful of parts and it worked fine. It did take several days to work though, which is probably better as far as the blooiming and streaking effects that happen with the stronger treatments.
Re: IBM 1620
On 08/28/2015 07:42 AM, Tothwolf wrote: With all the different solder alloys I work with regularly, I have to ask...what type of solder caused that sort of damage? Was it the alloy itself, or did IBM use a flux which was too active and then failed to clean away all the residue? If they used a rosin-based flux, was it due to the specific activator used in the flux? That's actually a little puzzling. 1401 core frames have survived well (got one in my desk drawer). You'd expect that the same process would be used for equipment that's pretty close to contemporary. --Chuck
Re: IBM 1620
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Lyle Bickley wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 20:31:16 -0500 (CDT) Tothwolf wrote: I think I've answered my own question today while looking at a datasheet for another type of solder. My guess is that the solder they used did not contain any copper, and the tin in the solder IBM used dissolved small amounts of the already very tiny copper wires, creating a weak point where the wires were soldered to the terminals. Lyle, was there any discussion of possibly laser welding replacement stubs of wire before the breaks that could then be re-soldered to the terminals? That would seem to be a viable repair option, although it would require special equipment. I was not on the Team that did the memory analysis and the ultimate modern replacement memory. However, when I joined the Team, I asked similar questions and was told that the core memory was literally falling apart and was not repairable. So the core mats were more or less dangling? Still, I would think they would be repairable, but it would be a major undertaking since there would probably be 1000s of tiny stubs of wire to weld in (every single connection, basically). All of those enamel wire terminations would then also need to be soldered to the terminals with either a low-tin or copper containing alloy of solder too. I also can't help but wonder what other systems which use core memory might suffer from this type of failure as they continue to age. Any chance someone on the team took some photos of the core memory? I didn't see any on CHM's IBM 1620 webpage. http://www.computerhistory.org/projects/ibm_1620/ibm1620/ For those interested, here is a paper Google turned up which explains the problem: Lead Alloys for High Temperature Soldering of Magnet Wire https://app.aws.org/wj/supplement/WJ_1975_10_s370.pdf
Cold War Tech - Area 52
On 8/28/2015 8:02 PM, Mike Loewen wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, ben wrote: On 8/28/2015 3:17 PM, Jay Jaeger wrote: I expect that Ben's posting was a joke directed at the IRS. Just the US goverment in general. Try area 51 next. The 1980's was the last use I suspect of the 1965's machines. The military used 1950's machines into the '80s. E.g. the IBM-built AN/FSQ-7 computers for SAGE became operational starting in 1957, and some stayed on the job until 1983. Good old Cold War Computing. A real Area 51 link. - US UFO's http://astronautix.com/craft/pyeacket.htm I was looking for Deepcold: Secrets of the Cold War in Space, 1959-1969 but alas the web site has vanished from the face of the Earth. Ben.
Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 4:57 PM, ben bfranc...@jetnet.ab.ca wrote: Just the US goverment in general. Try area 51 next. Don't bother. There's nothing interesting in Area 51 any more; due to all the publicity Area 51 has gotten, they've long since moved all the good stuff to Area 52, which still has a low profile.
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/28/2015 12:41 PM, Jon Elson wrote: On 08/28/2015 11:52 AM, Paul Koning wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 11:44 AM, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net wrote: ... Well, I guess I'll need to build a little convection tape baker, then. Maybe I'll use something like an Arduino to control the temperature. I want to build a toaster oven solder reflow over, too, which might use the same controller. But operating at a much higher temperature, of course. If you can puzzle out German, you might find this article worth reading. It describes SMD reflow in a toaster oven, and some of the pitfalls. The main one is that the temperature sensor needs to be attached to the board, or to a (blank) copy of that board. If it's attached to something with a significantly different copper to etch ratio, it will be heated differently and your board will either not heat enough, or be overheated -- possibly enough to scorch it. I have made thousands of boards in a large GE toaster oven. snip snip OOps, obviously I completely missed what the original question was, here. Jon
Re: IBM 1620
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015 20:31:16 -0500 (CDT) Tothwolf tothw...@concentric.net wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 08/28/2015 07:42 AM, Tothwolf wrote: With all the different solder alloys I work with regularly, I have to ask...what type of solder caused that sort of damage? Was it the alloy itself, or did IBM use a flux which was too active and then failed to clean away all the residue? If they used a rosin-based flux, was it due to the specific activator used in the flux? That's actually a little puzzling. 1401 core frames have survived well (got one in my desk drawer). You'd expect that the same process would be used for equipment that's pretty close to contemporary. I think I've answered my own question today while looking at a datasheet for another type of solder. My guess is that the solder they used did not contain any copper, and the tin in the solder IBM used dissolved small amounts of the already very tiny copper wires, creating a weak point where the wires were soldered to the terminals. Lyle, was there any discussion of possibly laser welding replacement stubs of wire before the breaks that could then be re-soldered to the terminals? That would seem to be a viable repair option, although it would require special equipment. I was not on the Team that did the memory analysis and the ultimate modern replacement memory. However, when I joined the Team, I asked similar questions and was told that the core memory was literally falling apart and was not repairable. Lyle -- Lyle Bickley Bickley Consulting West Inc. http://bickleywest.com Black holes are where God is dividing by zero
Re: DEC 9 Track Tapes (was Re: Applikon Workstation?)
On 8/28/2015 2:59 AM, Operon Lac wrote: What takes, today, present time, to read 1/2-inch reel-to-reel tape? Years ago, I've found literally HUNDREDS of half inch reel-to-reel tape, stacked outside a telco switching building. I managed to scavenge one hundred and ninety of them. Ended up throwing (because of lack of storing space... and no prospect to be able to do anything with it...) 176. I kept 14 reels. Anyway... are there still people throwing/giving hardware able to read that? Hugs. Л.// Well, obviously, it takes a 9 Track tape drive. I doubt you are likely to find a give-away at this point. (I got one for nearly that, via local university surplus, with a Pertec interface.) I purchased a SCSI tape drive off of eBay for around $200. Currently I am using the SCSI interface from the latter on the former drive. They do show up on eBay from time to time (Search 9 Track Tape drive), typically anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars on up. If you want to hook one up to a PC, I suggest a SCSI interface as being easier to manage - however the SCSI interface does seem to make error detection a bit trickier. Many/most 9 Track tapes (those from the early to mid-eighties until 1995 or so - what matters is the date of manufacture, not when they were written) have to be baked before reading, owing to sticky shed syndrome. My experience with tapes earlier than that is that I can read them without baking them first. JRJ
Re: IBM 1620 / IBM 1401.
Here in Australia, the Australian Computer Museum Society has an IBM 1401 - just the big CPU unit. We know of an IBM 1620 CPU unit in Computer Sciences at the University of NSW. I worked on a 1620 in the 1960s - and thought that it was 'magic'. Sadly, we don't have enough sponsors to put either on public display. Regards,John GEREMIN, ASTC, Honorary Curator, www.acms.org.au
Re: De-yellowing results
I use 2 of these in a large plastic tub: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HD6Y4VU?psc=1redirect=trueref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage I cut holes in the lid of the tub for them and used tin foil to line the insides. Seems to work very well for me. I coat the items in bblonde mixed with a little extra peroxide to make it thinner. Then I have a bottle of peroxide with a sprayer nozzle that I use to keep everything damp every hour or so. I usually get good results in 4 hours. -- Brian Archer On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 12:36 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans oltma...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 11:28 AM, Evan Koblentz e...@snarc.net wrote: Ah! That explains my lack of results. I soaked the keys for five or six hours. They got clean, but didn't change color very much. Sounds like I pulled them out too soon. Several days, you say? The keys float (as noted in T's link), so I just turned them upside-down in the peroxide. Yes, in my case I did it in a mostly dark room with a small UV light (that I use for erasing EEPROMS), so it didn't get a full sun treatment, but it did take the better part of a week. And, as you say, I had problems with keys constantly wanting to float away. I figure next time I try it I may get some silly putty to put in the underside to weigh them down or something.
Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, ben wrote: On 8/28/2015 3:17 PM, Jay Jaeger wrote: I expect that Ben's posting was a joke directed at the IRS. Just the US goverment in general. Try area 51 next. The 1980's was the last use I suspect of the 1965's machines. The military used 1950's machines into the '80s. E.g. the IBM-built AN/FSQ-7 computers for SAGE became operational starting in 1957, and some stayed on the job until 1983. Mike Loewen mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/28/2015 12:55 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 10:41 , Jon Elson el...@pico-systems.com wrote: The trick is to poke a tiny thermocouple into a plated through hole in one of the boards. Then, the controller is measuring actual temperature. I tried having the thermocouple in the air, and the boards got seriously fried. I had planned to tape a thermocouple to the board, but putting it in a plated through hole seems like an even better idea. For my own board designs, I can make sure to include a hole of the right diameter for whatever thermocouple I use, at my best guess of an optimum point on the board to measure temperature. I was lucky to get 1000 feet of tiny thermocouple wire in an odd type (Type E) . But, my temp controller had that type available in its menu. Then, the only problem is the temp variation across the size of the oven, which can be considerable. Jon
Re: IBM 1620
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 08/28/2015 07:42 AM, Tothwolf wrote: With all the different solder alloys I work with regularly, I have to ask...what type of solder caused that sort of damage? Was it the alloy itself, or did IBM use a flux which was too active and then failed to clean away all the residue? If they used a rosin-based flux, was it due to the specific activator used in the flux? That's actually a little puzzling. 1401 core frames have survived well (got one in my desk drawer). You'd expect that the same process would be used for equipment that's pretty close to contemporary. I think I've answered my own question today while looking at a datasheet for another type of solder. My guess is that the solder they used did not contain any copper, and the tin in the solder IBM used dissolved small amounts of the already very tiny copper wires, creating a weak point where the wires were soldered to the terminals. Lyle, was there any discussion of possibly laser welding replacement stubs of wire before the breaks that could then be re-soldered to the terminals? That would seem to be a viable repair option, although it would require special equipment.
Re: IBM 1620
On 08/28/2015 05:59 AM, Paul Koning wrote: Especially if you didn't have the direct seek option. I had a one-card program that would do for (i=0; i100; i++) seek_cylinder(i). That doesn't step track to track as you would expect; instead, it goes from track n to 0 to n+1, resulting in progressively wilder and slower seeks as n increases. Yup, the one I worked with did not have the direct seek option. What was interesting from a historical standpoint was the way in which the 1311 was used by Monitor II-D. IIRC, the first 25 cylinders were dubbed work cylinders with no formal filesystem. The remainder was used for more-or-less permanent storage of programs--not so much as a data store. The CADET I worked on did have the Indirect Addressing feature, which I believe was required to run Monitor II-D. Hard today to think of an addressing mode as an optional ($$$) feature. The Model II had an index register. I can still remember many of the 1620 numeric opcodes. Strange, considering that I can't remember where I put my keys or what I had for breakfast... --Chuck
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/28/2015 08:58 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: Interesting! Is the central shaft small enough for 5.25 and 8 floppy disks to fit in it? I have a lot of 8 disks that need baking, too. If you've got access to woodworking equipment and some scrap plywood, you can built one easily enough from parts you may already have lying about. Insulate with rigid foam (polystyrene insulation works fine). My only out-of-pocket cost was for the PID controller and some 70C thermal fuses (you really do want a safety measure). Heat is provided by a 60W incandescent bulb.I stack 10 reels of tape using old cottage cheese containers, which fit the hub holes quite neatly. My oven looks like a nice piece of furniture--and even has casters so it can be easily rolled around. Not out of place in a living room. --Chuck
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 28, 2015, at 11:44 AM, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net wrote: ... Well, I guess I'll need to build a little convection tape baker, then. Maybe I'll use something like an Arduino to control the temperature. I want to build a toaster oven solder reflow over, too, which might use the same controller. But operating at a much higher temperature, of course. If you can puzzle out German, you might find this article worth reading. It describes SMD reflow in a toaster oven, and some of the pitfalls. The main one is that the temperature sensor needs to be attached to the board, or to a (blank) copy of that board. If it's attached to something with a significantly different copper to etch ratio, it will be heated differently and your board will either not heat enough, or be overheated -- possibly enough to scorch it. https://www.beta-estore.com/download/rk/RK-10001_76.pdf paul
RE: De-yellowing results
Ah! That explains my lack of results. I soaked the keys for five or six hours. They got clean, but didn't change color very much. Sounds like I pulled them out too soon. Several days, you say? Has anyone tried a glass/plexi-glass bath w/ UV lights? It might get expensive if you want UV lights that are dimmable (to control strength) but UV lights and ballasts are not that expensive. A simple timer and maybe a reflective surface on the enclosure and you are good to go. Then real experiments can be done by varying exposure time and concentration of the solution to see if there is a happy medium. Problem is you need someone with lots of yellowed parts that they don't mind experimenting on/ruining in the process. -Ali
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/28/2015 10:58 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 08:52, Matt Patoray mspproducti...@gmail.com wrote: If you can find an American Harvest food dehydrator, those work great for baking tapes, low controlled heat, a round form factor and it can hold 10 reels of tape. Interesting! Is the central shaft small enough for 5.25 and 8 floppy disks to fit in it? I have a lot of 8 disks that need baking, too. Interesting. I have yet to experience the need to bake 8 floppies. JRJ
Re: De-yellowing results
Regarding the keycaps -- Corey Cohen suggested that I remove them and soak them in 3% peroxide. Going to have to try that. Well, remember this is with just 3% hydrogen peroxide, which is quite a bit less than what's in the hair gels (what's it, 20-40%)? I used this on my commodore 128D, just a handful of parts and it worked fine. It did take several days to work though, which is probably better as far as the blooiming and streaking effects that happen with the stronger treatments. Ah! That explains my lack of results. I soaked the keys for five or six hours. They got clean, but didn't change color very much. Sounds like I pulled them out too soon. Several days, you say? The keys float (as noted in T's link), so I just turned them upside-down in the peroxide.
Re: VMS drivers
I am very interested in these drivers! I am new to the group please let me know the proper procedure/process. Thanks so much, Sue Skonetdki VMS Software Inc., On Aug 28, 2015, at 12:34 PM, Jon Elson el...@pico-systems.com wrote: Hello, guys, While rummaging through recovered backups from my MicroVAX I found a few items that might be of interest to the group. I got an MDB mag tape interface (quite possibly the ONLY Pertec Unformatted controller ever made for Q-bus) that follows the MT-11 register format. There was no driver for this. I got a homebrew MT-11 driver for Unibus machines from somebody at work, and hacked it up to assemble for VMS 4.7 and adjust to the quirks of the MDB board (which were REALLY minor). I also have a driver for my Jupiter 7 for the MicroVAX. Thus used a DRV11-WA DMA interface with some wire-wrapped glue logic to adapt to the Jupiter's 50-pin interface bus. It is based on the stock DRV11-WA driver, with some additional logic to handle the handshakes between Jupiter and the DRV11. Additionally, I built a graphics library based on the NASA min-Vicar image processing suite, which was a hideous hack job that ran on the PDP-11. That used pre-assigned, numbered files. I generalized it to use normal VMS files of arbitrary size, but otherwise kept most of the original functions. I used the VMS table driven parser, tparse, to parse most of the commands. I also knew a fair bit about Versatec printers back then, if anybody ever wants to get one of those hideous machines running. If anybody is interested in these drivers, etc. let me know. Jon Sue Skonetski VP of Customer Advocacy sue.skonet...@vmssoftware.com Office: +1 (978) 451-0116 Mobile: +1 (603) 494-9886 Mit freundlichen Grüßen – Avec mes meilleures salutations
VMS drivers
Hello, guys, While rummaging through recovered backups from my MicroVAX I found a few items that might be of interest to the group. I got an MDB mag tape interface (quite possibly the ONLY Pertec Unformatted controller ever made for Q-bus) that follows the MT-11 register format. There was no driver for this. I got a homebrew MT-11 driver for Unibus machines from somebody at work, and hacked it up to assemble for VMS 4.7 and adjust to the quirks of the MDB board (which were REALLY minor). I also have a driver for my Jupiter 7 for the MicroVAX. Thus used a DRV11-WA DMA interface with some wire-wrapped glue logic to adapt to the Jupiter's 50-pin interface bus. It is based on the stock DRV11-WA driver, with some additional logic to handle the handshakes between Jupiter and the DRV11. Additionally, I built a graphics library based on the NASA min-Vicar image processing suite, which was a hideous hack job that ran on the PDP-11. That used pre-assigned, numbered files. I generalized it to use normal VMS files of arbitrary size, but otherwise kept most of the original functions. I used the VMS table driven parser, tparse, to parse most of the commands. I also knew a fair bit about Versatec printers back then, if anybody ever wants to get one of those hideous machines running. If anybody is interested in these drivers, etc. let me know. Jon
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/28/2015 09:30 AM, Jay Jaeger wrote: Interesting. I have yet to experience the need to bake 8 floppies. Clearly, you've never been presented with a load of 8 Radio Shack-branded floppies... Wright Line and Wabash branded floppies seem to share the undesirable characteristic. FWIW, I don't think that sticky shed has much to do with humidity, at least according to the audio tape folks. Sticky bleed problems are much nastier. I think that the selection of a food dehydrator was merely a convenient source of a ready-made temperature-controlled solution. The Tapeheads forum is a good source of information on this. --Chuck
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 8/28/2015 10:44 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 08:09, Al Kossow a...@bitsavers.org wrote: On 8/28/15 12:46 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote: leave the tapes in my truck for a week to bake them? :) not enough airflow Well, I guess I'll need to build a little convection tape baker, then. Maybe I'll use something like an Arduino to control the temperature. I want to build a toaster oven solder reflow over, too, which might use the same controller. But operating at a much higher temperature, of course. Mine is similar in concept, using a PIC. I use a 250W lamp as the heating elements, and fans. JRJ
RE: De-yellowing results
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Ali wrote: Ah! That explains my lack of results. I soaked the keys for five or six hours. They got clean, but didn't change color very much. Sounds like I pulled them out too soon. Several days, you say? Has anyone tried a glass/plexi-glass bath w/ UV lights? It might get expensive if you want UV lights that are dimmable (to control strength) but UV lights and ballasts are not that expensive. A simple timer and maybe a reflective surface on the enclosure and you are good to go. Then real experiments can be done by varying exposure time and concentration of the solution to see if there is a happy medium. Problem is you need someone with lots of yellowed parts that they don't mind experimenting on/ruining in the process. Glass blocks UV light. This is why EPROMS were made with quartz windows even though glass would have been much cheaper. Regular acrylic plastic will block UV as well, but special types are available that allow transmission of UV (such as for sun room roof panels and tanning beds). Keep in mind also that short wave UV-C (such as a germicidal lamp) is dangerous to work around, which is why devices such as EPROM erasers generally have a mechanical interlock to disable the lamp when open. UV-A (blacklight) is much safer, and would probably give about the same results as having something out in the sun (UV-C is blocked by the atmosphere while UV-A isn't).
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
To be honest, an engine block wouldn't look out of place in my living room. :) -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: De-yellowing results
Ah! That explains my lack of results. I soaked the keys for five or six hours. They got clean, but didn't change color very much. Sounds like I pulled them out too soon. Several days, you say? Has anyone tried a glass/plexi-glass bath w/ UV lights? It might get expensive if you want UV lights that are dimmable (to control strength) but UV lights and ballasts are not that expensive. A simple timer and maybe a reflective surface on the enclosure and you are good to go. Then real experiments can be done by varying exposure time and concentration of the solution to see if there is a happy medium. Problem is you need someone with lots of yellowed parts that they don't mind experimenting on/ruining in the process. We're thinking about building that kind of deyellowing station in the MARCH warehouse. We have plenty of yellowed parts for experimenting. If the station/experiment works, then we might offer it as a service at VCF East next spring. Of course, anyone who submits their yellowed plastic will have to sign a waiver in case they're unhappy with the results, or if anything explodes and creates a wormhole. :)
wanted - MXV11-B (M7195-XX)
Hi, Does anyone happen to have a spare MXV11-B (M7195-XX) they would be willing to sell or trade? I'd like to build a small BSD2.11 system from this M8192 from the cheap board guy on e-bay and need something with a bootstrap ROM. Mark -- Mark G. Thomas (m...@misty.com), KC3DRE
Re: wanted - MXV11-B (M7195-XX)
Hi Johnny, On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 07:33:21PM +0200, Johnny Billquist wrote: On 2015-08-28 19:30, Mark G. Thomas wrote: Hi, Does anyone happen to have a spare MXV11-B (M7195-XX) they would be willing to sell or trade? I'd like to build a small BSD2.11 system from this M8192 from the cheap board guy on e-bay and need something with a bootstrap ROM. Unless I remember wrong, and is confused, the M8192 is an 11/73 or 11/83 CPU board. It already have boot roms on it. Johnny The M8192 is a dual-width 11/73 card, with no ROM or SLUs. Quad-width 11/73 (and 11/83) CPUs have boot roms, but the M8192 does not. Mark -- Mark G. Thomas (m...@misty.com), KC3DRE
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 28, 2015, at 10:41 , Jon Elson el...@pico-systems.com wrote: The trick is to poke a tiny thermocouple into a plated through hole in one of the boards. Then, the controller is measuring actual temperature. I tried having the thermocouple in the air, and the boards got seriously fried. I had planned to tape a thermocouple to the board, but putting it in a plated through hole seems like an even better idea. For my own board designs, I can make sure to include a hole of the right diameter for whatever thermocouple I use, at my best guess of an optimum point on the board to measure temperature. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 2015-08-28 20:07, Fred Cisin wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, tony duell wrote: I realised the other day that I do not live in a normal house. Apart from the toilet, every room on the ground floor contains at least one PDP11 (some not set up yet). Nice! The WC only has microcomputers? Terminals... WCs only requires terminals... :-) Johnny
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
Here is a good article about tape baking On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Johnny Billquist b...@update.uu.se wrote: On 2015-08-28 20:07, Fred Cisin wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, tony duell wrote: I realised the other day that I do not live in a normal house. Apart from the toilet, every room on the ground floor contains at least one PDP11 (some not set up yet). Nice! The WC only has microcomputers? Terminals... WCs only requires terminals... :-) Johnny -- Matt Patoray Owner, MSP Productions KD8AMG Amateur Radio Call Sign
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
Well how about pasting in the link... http://www.wendycarlos.com/bake%20a%20tape/baketape.html On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 3:03 PM, Matt Patoray mspproducti...@gmail.com wrote: Here is a good article about tape baking On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Johnny Billquist b...@update.uu.se wrote: On 2015-08-28 20:07, Fred Cisin wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, tony duell wrote: I realised the other day that I do not live in a normal house. Apart from the toilet, every room on the ground floor contains at least one PDP11 (some not set up yet). Nice! The WC only has microcomputers? Terminals... WCs only requires terminals... :-) Johnny -- Matt Patoray Owner, MSP Productions KD8AMG Amateur Radio Call Sign -- Matt Patoray Owner, MSP Productions (330)542-3698 mspproducti...@gmail.com KD8AMG Amateur Radio Call Sign
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/28/2015 11:52 AM, Paul Koning wrote: On Aug 28, 2015, at 11:44 AM, Mark J. Blair n...@nf6x.net wrote: ... Well, I guess I'll need to build a little convection tape baker, then. Maybe I'll use something like an Arduino to control the temperature. I want to build a toaster oven solder reflow over, too, which might use the same controller. But operating at a much higher temperature, of course. If you can puzzle out German, you might find this article worth reading. It describes SMD reflow in a toaster oven, and some of the pitfalls. The main one is that the temperature sensor needs to be attached to the board, or to a (blank) copy of that board. If it's attached to something with a significantly different copper to etch ratio, it will be heated differently and your board will either not heat enough, or be overheated -- possibly enough to scorch it. I have made thousands of boards in a large GE toaster oven. I got a ramp-and-soak thermocouple controller on eBay. They are usually $600-800, but I got it for a song. It allows you to set temperature ramp rates and hold times. I ramp to 180 C, hold for one minute, than ramp to 230 C (for leaded solder) or 245 C for lead free, hold for one minute and then cool rapidly. The trick is to poke a tiny thermocouple into a plated through hole in one of the boards. Then, the controller is measuring actual temperature. I tried having the thermocouple in the air, and the boards got seriously fried. With good solder paste applied in the right amounts, the process is totally amazing. I make my own solder stencils using essentially PC board etching techniques. I make litho film photomasters with a home-made laser photoplotter, then use those to expose PC board dry film photoresist to 0.003 brass shim stock. Develop the resist and etch in ferric chloride. it is important to shrink the apertures so as not to get too much solder paste on the chip's pads. The finer the lead pitch, the more you have to shrink the apertures. Jon
Re: A tale of woe, including carelessness, stupidity and laziness....
On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 6:56 AM, Paul Koning paulkon...@comcast.net wrote: That's interesting. I was told that an RP06 requires attention to the correct phase connections or it will attempt to spin in the wrong direction, implying that it uses a 3 phase spindle motor. Or perhaps that was a different RPnn? Or perhaps it was simply an urban legend? The RP06 spindle motor is a single-phase motor wired between two phases of the 120/208 three-phase-wye input, so it nominally gets 208VAC, but the motor is rated to operate over a wide enough range that 220-240V single phase will work fine.
Re: wanted - MXV11-B (M7195-XX)
On 2015-08-28 19:44, Mark G. Thomas wrote: Hi Johnny, On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 07:33:21PM +0200, Johnny Billquist wrote: On 2015-08-28 19:30, Mark G. Thomas wrote: Hi, Does anyone happen to have a spare MXV11-B (M7195-XX) they would be willing to sell or trade? I'd like to build a small BSD2.11 system from this M8192 from the cheap board guy on e-bay and need something with a bootstrap ROM. Unless I remember wrong, and is confused, the M8192 is an 11/73 or 11/83 CPU board. It already have boot roms on it. Johnny The M8192 is a dual-width 11/73 card, with no ROM or SLUs. Quad-width 11/73 (and 11/83) CPUs have boot roms, but the M8192 does not. Ah. Damn! I confused it with M8190. Anyway, another possibility is if you have something like the CMD SCSI controllers, as they have the bootstrap on the controller card for you to use... Johnny
Re: De-yellowing results
Glass blocks UV light. This is why EPROMS were made with quartz windows even though glass would have been much cheaper. Regular acrylic plastic will block UV as well, but special types are available that allow transmission of UV (such as for sun room roof panels and tanning beds). My other concern with Plexi-Glass, and this could be completely unfounded, is that would it etch or get damaged by high concentration peroxide? Not a concern: we'd just build a walled tub of sorts, put in enough de-yellowing solution to cover the yellowed item in question, and have the plexi sitting well above it. The solution would never be anywhere near the plexi.
Terminals in the WC, was Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On 08/28/2015 11:09, Johnny Billquist wrote: On 2015-08-28 20:07, Fred Cisin wrote: On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, tony duell wrote: I realised the other day that I do not live in a normal house. Apart from the toilet, every room on the ground floor contains at least one PDP11 (some not set up yet). Nice! The WC only has microcomputers? Terminals... WCs only requires terminals... :-) Seems like this thread should now tie into the discussion of germocidal UV-C lamps in the de-yelowing thread...
Re: Terminals in the WC, was Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, tony duell wrote: I realised the other day that I do not live in a normal house. Apart from the toilet, every room on the ground floor contains at least one PDP11 (some not set up yet). On 2015-08-28 20:07, Fred Cisin wrote: Nice! The WC only has microcomputers? On 08/28/2015 11:09, Johnny Billquist wrote: Terminals... WCs only requires terminals... :-) On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Steven M Jones wrote: Seems like this thread should now tie into the discussion of germocidal UV-C lamps in the de-yellowing thread... They did say that they were going to do the peroxide soaking in the tub. And WCs are generally too humid for baking tapes.
Re: IBM 1620
I attended Vista at both locations the main building and the basement of the former Ross store. The new building was a mess, half finished, poorly designed and with the video studio poorly built. Thanks for the info on the 1620. Petals is such a vast organization it's entirely possible some 1620 lurks in some dark, dank unfinished space. Sent from my iPhone On Aug 28, 2015, at 11:05 AM, Fred Cisin ci...@xenosoft.com wrote: On Thu, 27 Aug 2015, Kevin Tikker wrote: I went to both Laney and Berkeley City College so you may have a clue. Thank you If you actually want to follow-up on such tenuous leads, . . . Wil Price would know what happened to the 1620 and 1401. So would Ben Micallef and Jack Olson, but they're dead. I guess that it may have been in the move up onto the hill in 1972? that Merritt switched to DEC. Reliability of the PDP suffered from a bad disk drive, so it was replaced in 1983 with a few RJE terminals and a lot of 5150s. In 1983, the PDP with drive that never worked reliably, was sold to Richmond schools (to pay for 5150s). PGE didn't fully understand the difference between Delta and Y three-phase. But, in exchange for going along with lie that it was struck by lightning during installation (no other lightning strikes within miles for 100 years), PGE magnanimously (with tax break) bought Richmond schools a new one. Some of the 026 punches and EAM equipment was in the back hallways of Merritt until 1980s. I did not have storage space to save anything, and they tried to fire the guy who pulled the other PDP from the dumpster. I don't know what Laney was using. Berkeley City College didn't exist at that time; it was established later and was known as Vista College until 2006, when it finally got its own building (on Center Street, instead of Milvia). We suggested a delay in the name change from Vista to BCC with both names in use: 1) like a restaurant or retail establishment, a name change simultaneous with a move might save on stationery (which as expected, they didn't replace right away anyway) , but in terms of public, it is more like closing down and a new one opening. THAT was borne out by enrollments. 2) release of Windoze Vista. Our most heavily populated classes were job training for the digital sweatshop, and we could have advertised, Vista is the best place to learn Vista! I taught programming in all campuses of Peralta (Merritt, Laney, College Of Alameda, Vista/BCC) from 1981 - 2013. My pension is handled by the state (secure unless Mew Whitman gets elected), but my health benefits are run by Peralta, so kinda risky. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: IBM 1620
On Thu, 27 Aug 2015, Kevin Tikker wrote: I went to both Laney and Berkeley City College so you may have a clue. Thank you If you actually want to follow-up on such tenuous leads, . . . Wil Price would know what happened to the 1620 and 1401. So would Ben Micallef and Jack Olson, but they're dead. I guess that it may have been in the move up onto the hill in 1972? that Merritt switched to DEC. Reliability of the PDP suffered from a bad disk drive, so it was replaced in 1983 with a few RJE terminals and a lot of 5150s. In 1983, the PDP with drive that never worked reliably, was sold to Richmond schools (to pay for 5150s). PGE didn't fully understand the difference between Delta and Y three-phase. But, in exchange for going along with lie that it was struck by lightning during installation (no other lightning strikes within miles for 100 years), PGE magnanimously (with tax break) bought Richmond schools a new one. Some of the 026 punches and EAM equipment was in the back hallways of Merritt until 1980s. I did not have storage space to save anything, and they tried to fire the guy who pulled the other PDP from the dumpster. I don't know what Laney was using. Berkeley City College didn't exist at that time; it was established later and was known as Vista College until 2006, when it finally got its own building (on Center Street, instead of Milvia). We suggested a delay in the name change from Vista to BCC with both names in use: 1) like a restaurant or retail establishment, a name change simultaneous with a move might save on stationery (which as expected, they didn't replace right away anyway) , but in terms of public, it is more like closing down and a new one opening. THAT was borne out by enrollments. 2) release of Windoze Vista. Our most heavily populated classes were job training for the digital sweatshop, and we could have advertised, Vista is the best place to learn Vista! I taught programming in all campuses of Peralta (Merritt, Laney, College Of Alameda, Vista/BCC) from 1981 - 2013. My pension is handled by the state (secure unless Mew Whitman gets elected), but my health benefits are run by Peralta, so kinda risky. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
Which government agency? Sent from my iPhone On Aug 28, 2015, at 5:15 AM, ben bfranc...@jetnet.ab.ca wrote: On 8/28/2015 3:14 AM, P Gebhardt wrote: We all KNOW the government people still have one running for your tax . After all the bribes and shady dealings it gets turned on twice a year. Too old to have the Y2000 bug. Ben.
Re: Applikon Workstation?
OK, I'm wondering if we're even talking about the same thing here. This stuff's all labeled Applicon, not Applikon. Nonetheless, here's what I found. I think there's more like these buried around here somewhere. https://goo.gl/photos/p2RTXn62xBmv1Ltf9 On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 9:43 AM, Jacob Ritorto jacob.rito...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 9:34 AM, Jerome H. Fine jhfined...@compsys.to wrote: Jacob Ritorto wrote: Ah, I knew that sounded familiar. I have a pretty sizable stack of what appear to be original nine-track tapes with their pdp11 software on them in my collection. Any interest? I could try to get my tu-10 going again to image them, but might need some help --jake Most PDP-11 software distributions on tape were labelled with the software and the version. Any idea of what is on the various tapes? If I don't run out of time today, I'll check at the warehouse this afternoon and report back...
Re: CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)
On 8/28/2015 2:00 PM, Kevin Tikker wrote: Which government agency? Sent from my iPhone On Aug 28, 2015, at 5:15 AM, ben bfranc...@jetnet.ab.ca wrote: On 8/28/2015 3:14 AM, P Gebhardt wrote: We all KNOW the government people still have one running for your tax . After all the bribes and shady dealings it gets turned on twice a year. Too old to have the Y2000 bug. Ben. I expect that Ben's posting was a joke directed at the IRS.
Re: TK50/TK70 Info
On Aug 28, 2015, at 12:04 , Matt Patoray mspproducti...@gmail.com wrote: Well how about pasting in the link... http://www.wendycarlos.com/bake%20a%20tape/baketape.html Thank you very much! I may try one of those dehydrators just as a path of minimum effort to having a serviceable tape baker. If the hub is small enough for 8 floppies to fit around it, then that will be even better. -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net http://www.nf6x.net/
Re: wanted - MXV11-B (M7195-XX)
Hi Mark, I think I have 3 left, one with ROMs, one without. Feel free to contact me off list. Thanks,, Paul On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Mark G. Thomas m...@misty.com wrote: Hi, Does anyone happen to have a spare MXV11-B (M7195-XX) they would be willing to sell or trade? I'd like to build a small BSD2.11 system from this M8192 from the cheap board guy on e-bay and need something with a bootstrap ROM. Mark -- Mark G. Thomas (m...@misty.com), KC3DRE
Re: De-yellowing results
On 28/08/2015 20:36, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: Yes, in my case I did it in a mostly dark room with a small UV light (that I use for erasing EEPROMS), so it didn't get a full sun treatment, but it did take the better part of a week. And, as you say, I had problems with keys constantly wanting to float away. I figure next time I try it I may get some silly putty to put in the underside to weigh them down or something. Well, here's an idea for some over-engineering: how about one of the tumblers that rock collectors use for polishing small stones, or handloader use for cleaning brass. Make a new cylinder from thin perspex (it doesn't completely block UVA or UVB) or a large-diameter glass tube and mount a small UV tube above it. That should ensure that not only does every surface get covered, but also exposed to the UV. Or put all the keytops in a small bucket, and put a small aquarium pump (something like a Micro-Jet MC320) in the bottom. The flow should keep everything circulating and tumbling. -- Pete Pete Turnbull
RE: De-yellowing results
Glass blocks UV light. This is why EPROMS were made with quartz windows even though glass would have been much cheaper. Regular acrylic plastic will block UV as well, but special types are available that allow transmission of UV (such as for sun room roof panels and tanning beds). My other concern with Plexi-Glass, and this could be completely unfounded, is that would it etch or get damaged by high concentration peroxide? -Ali
RE: De-yellowing results
Not a concern: we'd just build a walled tub of sorts, put in enough de- yellowing solution to cover the yellowed item in question, and have the plexi sitting well above it. The solution would never be anywhere near the plexi. Evan, Actually I was thinking the tub would be built out of plexi. That way you could get the same level of light from all around as opposed to just from the top (hence the reflective surfaced for the container). That way you may get more even UV illumination on all the surfaces especially in the nooks and crannies. Just a thought though as it may not improve or make things worse. -Ali
Re: IBM 1620
On Fri, 28 Aug 2015, Kevin Tikker wrote: I attended Vista at both locations the main building and the basement of the former Ross store. The new building was a mess, half finished, poorly designed and with the video studio poorly built. It is now a mess, half finished (unwired handicap door buttons, etc.), and poorly designed. The signs for ALS, and amplified and TTY phones were put up, but there is not a single public telephone in the building. One of the entrances to the library was mis-prepped as an exit and can not be locked, and it is impossible to get the plans changed to allow fixing it. Thanks for the info on the 1620. Petals is such a vast organization it's entirely possible some 1620 lurks in some dark, dank unfinished space. Not within Peralta. Corporate culture of destruction and erasing of the past. We retrieved some stuff from the dark, dank tunnels at Merritt (and they tried to fire one guy for dumpster diving) Laney is too obsessed with throwing things away and changing, just for the sake of changing. Guarded dumpsters, cleared often. Couldn't save some broken (needed toner cartridge) almost current LaserJets. Did save (for the CIS department) a projector that needed its signal cord repaired - almost got fired for soldering a DE15, in a well-ventilated non-flammable workroom; if I hadn't been there that day, it would have been scrapped. College Of Alameda was built without adequate dark storage. Last of the 5170s is long gone. Nothing bigger nor more interesting than generic PCs (primarily HPaq) were ever moved into the BCC spaces. No word on the DisplayWriters that used to be in the Milvia building. The other space was temporary lease, now gone; long before it was a Ross and later Walgreen's, it was a JCPenney's. District Office has occasionally had a few interesting things, but not any more. Used to be a 4381? there. There ARE some interesting things in dark, dank storage spaces in UC. CCSF used to have some interesting stuff, such as Honeywell mainframe. But, has recently had VERY thorough clearing out due to the Barbara Beno (accreditation Commission) pressure. Heard that some folk at DeAnza/Foothill squirreled away some goodies. Don't know the current state of stuff at Contra Costa Colleges nor SF State. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: De-yellowing results
On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 11:28 AM, Evan Koblentz e...@snarc.net wrote: Ah! That explains my lack of results. I soaked the keys for five or six hours. They got clean, but didn't change color very much. Sounds like I pulled them out too soon. Several days, you say? The keys float (as noted in T's link), so I just turned them upside-down in the peroxide. Yes, in my case I did it in a mostly dark room with a small UV light (that I use for erasing EEPROMS), so it didn't get a full sun treatment, but it did take the better part of a week. And, as you say, I had problems with keys constantly wanting to float away. I figure next time I try it I may get some silly putty to put in the underside to weigh them down or something.
Re: De-yellowing results
It last long enough to sell on ebay I assume. -Original Message- From: Peter Cetinski Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2015 2:55 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Cc: gene...@classiccmp.org Subject: Re: De-yellowing results I’ve only seen anecdotes that the yellowing returns.= --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
