Re: sun model 47. code 4/40 does it have the nvram with battery?

[ED SHARPE via cctalk]

OK that is promising!

Sent from AOL Mobile Mail

On Tuesday, December 4, 2018 Chris Hanson  wrote:
Most Suns of that era don’t need intact NVRAM to run, you can just key in a few 
lines of Forth when you start it up (to set its Ethernet address and serial 
number), then tell it to boot off network/disk/CD, and it’ll be fine.

-- Chris

> 

On Dec 1, 2018, at 6:55 PM, ED SHARPE via cctalk  wrote:
> 
> BUMMER
> It may become a static display.
> 
> Ed#
> 
> 
> In a message dated 12/1/2018 7:53:44 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
> cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:
> 
> 
> A 4/40 is a SPARCstation IPC. It used a M48T02 NVRAM for the IDPROM. 
> 
> Yes, one with the dreaded battery.
> 
> alan
> 
> On 12/1/18 5:04 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
>> we were given this and a hard dribe a floor standimg decwriter. does 
>> this use NV ram with dreaded battery? thanks,ed
>> 
>> Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
> 

Re: sun model 47. code 4/40 does it have the nvram with battery?

[Chris Hanson via cctalk]

There are also the Fujitsu LeiA SPARC portables. I’ve used OPENSTEP 4.2 on one…

  -- Chris

> On Dec 3, 2018, at 8:45 PM, Alan Perry via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> A company called RDI made the Britelite and Powerlite laptops. They 
> eventually merged with Tadpole, which made its own SPARC laptops 
> (SPARCbooks). As someone else mentioned, there were different Britelite 
> models based on the various Sun lunchbox system boards. When I had my 
> Britelite IPX on display on VCF, someone told me that they recognized the 
> case as something used in another laptop.
> 
> Sun never made their own laptop, but they made a portable called the 
> SPARCstation Voyager.
> 
> On 12/3/18 7:33 PM, ED SHARPE wrote:
>> Very Nice collection! Yes  have to love that  laptop. Did not know  SUN made 
>> one. or  I  guess a third  party  put the  Sun  goodies in a case of their  
>> design?  either way   NEAT!
>> 
>> 
>> Seeing   a  nice  run of  systems like this in wonderful condition  is  
>> great!
>> 
>> 
>> Ed#
>> 
>> In a message dated 12/2/2018 5:49:49 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
>> cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:
>> 
>> I will have to get back with you on the audio. It is on offline backup
>> media and I need to find it.
>> 
>> Here is a link to some photos of the exhibit -
>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/7qC8UbEYCeCf9CBo7
>> 
>> The RDI Britelite (laptop) is a SPARCstation IPX system board in a
>> laptop chassis. It was in the Day 1 exhibit, but not the Day 2 exhibit
>> because the power adapter died on the morning of the second day.
>> 
>> One of the photos is an opened-up SPARCstation LX, which is very similar
>> on the inside to your IPC.
>> 
>> My exhibit next year will be on early 90s SPARC clones.
>> 
>> alan
>> 
>> On 12/2/18 1:43 PM, ED SHARPE via cctalk wrote:
>> > Alan...   would   love  a  copy  of  the  audio  for  our archives  here.
>> >
>> >
>> > Would  like to  see pix  of  your  display too  sounds neat!
>> >
>> > Any  other   files  text  or  otherwise  welcome  also  to  this  address  
>> >  or  drop  us a   dropbox  link
>> >
>> > The  Sun  workstations  I  never  knew too much  about as at the time   
>> > did not  seems  like  old  history  nor  did  we use any  so playing 
>> > catchup!
>> >
>> > Thanks in  advance...
>> >
>> > Ed#
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > In a message dated 12/2/2018 12:44:32 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
>> > cctalk@classiccmp.org  writes:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > There is only room for drives in the top half of the chassis.  The PSU
>> > and an assembly that holds the drives fills the top half. A 3.5"
>> > half-height drive fits in one side of the assembly and a 3.5" floppy
>> > drive fits in the other. The PSU cables go from the rear to the front of
>> > that side of the chassis, below the FDD (when the chassis is closed).
>> >
>> > I did an exhibit on Sun lunchbox systems, including the IPC (4/40), for
>> > PNW VCF earlier this year. I looked for press kits, posters, etc. to use
>> > in the exhibit, but could only find text files. I know people who worked
>> > at Sun on the development of those early SPARCstations and none of them
>> > had any of that kind of material.
>> >
>> > I had an audio cassette "Introducing the IPC" for Sun sales. I donated
>> > it to CHM this year (but I ripped the audio before I sent it to them).
>> >
>> > alan
>> >
>> > On 12/2/18 10:13 AM, ED SHARPE via cctalk wrote:
>> >> Thanks  for the  info  to  get it  open!  when  back at the  office   
>> >> shall   do that..   there  may  be  drives in 2 places -  on board and  
>> >> the off board  one. Always interesting to  explore  something   one  has  
>> >> only  read  about!
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Along the   same  line  of  UNIX   stuff   we  have a COBALT   1U Pretty  
>> >> blue  sever and a  COBALT  CUBE.  I  do remember   lusting  after  one of 
>> >> these   1U  COBALT  servers when they  were  current didn't  have 
>> >> anything in  the  budget back then  though  for  one.  I  have  been  
>> >> told  SUN eventually ended up  owning COBALT.
>> >>
>> >> As  will all that   wehave  we  are  looking  for any  ad slicks   
>> >> press kitsposters,  wild artwork   for the  Sun $/40,and the  2  
>> >> COBALT  machines..
>> >>
>> >> Ed Sharpe archivist  for SMECC www.smecc.org 
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> In a message dated 12/1/2018 8:15:39 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
>> >> ape...@snowmoose.com  writes:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Yes. It is next to floppy in the upper half of the chassis. There is a 
>> >> 50-pin (IDC connectors) ribbon cable that goes down to system board at 
>> >> the bottom of the lower half of the chassis. The chassis splits in the 
>> >> vertical middle in a, if looking at the chassis, fairly obvious place. 
>> >> Because of the cables that run from the top to bottom, it effectively 
>> >> hinges at the front of the chassis. There a couple buttons on the side to 
>> >> release and sometimes a 

Re: sun model 47. code 4/40 does it have the nvram with battery?

[Chris Hanson via cctalk]

Most Suns of that era don’t need intact NVRAM to run, you can just key in a few 
lines of Forth when you start it up (to set its Ethernet address and serial 
number), then tell it to boot off network/disk/CD, and it’ll be fine.

  -- Chris

> On Dec 1, 2018, at 6:55 PM, ED SHARPE via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> BUMMER
> It may become a static  display.
>  
> Ed#
>  
>  
> In a message dated 12/1/2018 7:53:44 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
> cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:
> 
>  
> A 4/40 is a SPARCstation IPC. It used a M48T02 NVRAM for the IDPROM. 
> 
> Yes, one with the dreaded battery.
> 
> alan
> 
> On 12/1/18 5:04 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
>> we were given this and a hard dribe a floor standimg decwriter. does 
>> this use NV ram with dreaded battery? thanks,ed
>> 
>> Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
> 

Re: p112

[ben via cctalk]

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

Hello David

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

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

I've been tinkering with a Z280 system designed by Bill Shen (the Z280RC on
the RetroBrew web site at
https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=builderpages:plasmo:z280rc )
and have contacted Hector about porting it to the Z280.


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

Re: p112

[Tony Nicholson via cctalk]

Hello David

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

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

I've been tinkering with a Z280 system designed by Bill Shen (the Z280RC on
the RetroBrew web site at
https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=builderpages:plasmo:z280rc )
and have contacted Hector about porting it to the Z280.

A Z180 system is also on my hobbyist "to-do" list.  Should you decide to
produce another run I'd be interested in one. Most likely I'd use a
CompactFlash on IDE interface and an GoTek style floppy emulator with it.

-- 
Tony Nicholson 

Re: Text encoding Babel. Was Re: George Keremedjiev

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On Sat, 1 Dec 2018 at 02:00, Maciej W. Rozycki  wrote:

>  Be assured there were enough IBM PC clones running DOS around from 1989
> onwards for this stuff to matter,

OK, fair enough. Thanks for the info!

> and hardly anyone switched to MS Windows
> before version 95 (running Windows 3.0 with the ubiquitous HGC-compatible
> graphics adapters was sort of fun anyway, and I am not sure if Windows 3.1
> even supported it; maybe with extra drivers).

It did. Demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lOGPQQlxT8

Screenshot:

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2016/12/windows-30-multimedia-edition-early.html

The difficult bit was Windows 3.0 on an 8088/8086 with VGA, I believe.
The VGA driver contained 80286 instructions because MS didn't imagine
anyone would want Win3 on such old PCs.

(This again shows that MS didn't believe Win3 would be such a big hit,
giving the lie to all the pro-OS/2 anti-MS conspiracy theories...

https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2011/06/01/windows-3-0/
)

To run Win3 on an 8086 in VGA mode, you had to replace the CPU with an
NEC V20 or V30, as I heard it and faintly recall...

The driver did later get patched to work:

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?35593-Windows-3-0-VGA-color-driver-for-8088-XT




-- 
Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: Text encoding Babel. Was Re: George Keremedjiev

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On Tue, 4 Dec 2018 at 15:02, Maciej W. Rozycki via cctalk
 wrote:

>  I don't know if the unreal mode has been retained in the x86 architecture
> to this day; as I noted above it was not officially supported.  But then
> some originally undocumented x86 features, such as the second byte of AAD
> and AAM instructions actually being an immediate argument that could have
> a value different from 10, have become standardised at one point.

I know, and was surprised that, v86 mode isn't supported in x86-64.

This caused major problems for the developers of DOSEMU.


-- 
Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: P112 runs RSX-11

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 12/4/18 7:51 AM, Dennis Boone via cctalk wrote:
>  > That's all I could find, too.  If anyone knows where the source might
>  > be or stumbles on it, I would definitely be interested as well.
> 
> I think that's Hector Peraza's site.  His email address is listed; you
> could try writing to him.
> 
> De
> 

Subject: Re: Interested in a Z280 SBC
Posted by
hperaza
 on Thu, 12 Oct 2017 12:44:09 GMT
View Forum Message
 <>
Reply to Message
lowen wrote on Wed, 11 October 2017 06:44While I personally would like to see a 
bit more
coordination of efforts especially in the area of the C compiler, assembler, 
and emulator, I know of
several efforts by several people already underway.  I am very interested in 
the emulation side of
things, and even going as far as a VHDL or verilog core that could be used in 
an FPGA.  With the
annoying bugs fixed, of course!
Some of the bugs could even be emulated (if they are not of erratic nature, of 
course). That could
be useful in case someone wants to test a program on the FPGA version that is 
intended to work
on the real iron as well. The "compatibility" mode could be controlled by a bit 
in an additional CPU
control register.
Which brings up another question: is there any updated list somewhere of the 
known Z280 bugs?
So far the information available is rather fragmented and incomplete.
Quote:To all who are involved in doing a compiler, assembler, or emulator: I 
know you've probably
posted before, but I would like to get a list together of all of these efforts 
and see what
coordination might be possible.
OK, here is my list:
 native Z280 (macro)-assembler, preferably M80 or SLR compatible (currently 
working on that)
debugger (e.g. like DDTZ, but using the single-step capabilities of the chip) 
get UZI280 working
(haven't even looked at it yet) and add more utilities, etc. same for Fuzix 
port of MP/M better hard
disk support (e.g. via FDISK utility like the one for the P112, with automatic 
recognition of
partitions in CP/M and UZI so one will not have to change the BIOS every time 
partitions change)
better ROM setup? again taking the P112 as an example (i.e. adding disk timing 
parameters to
the NV RAM, if possible add a simple embedded debugger?) a Verilog or VHDL Z280 
core,
perhaps taking T80 as the base. And if I really get the time, would like to 
make something like this,
so it could be plugged directly into the CPU280 CPU socket. and like Lamar I 
also have my own,
other niche project - a port of a multitasking, RSX-11M-like OS I wrote many 
years ago for the Z80
(now ported to the Z180). The PDP-11 always was my favorite machine, and the 
Z280 has many
PDP-ish features, including a similar MMU, so for me is an interesting hobby 
project.

Re: sun model 47. code 4/40 does it have the nvram with battery?

[ED SHARPE via cctalk]

https://janit.iki.fi/docs/SPARCstationVoyagerJTF.pdf


This   document shows  some   data  on  this   unit.  It is  like the  design  
of  today's  ALL IN ONE   computers  offering an uncluttered   footprint on the 
  desk  top.   Never saw  one of these  either in person!
Another NEAT  one!   Ed#
 
 
In a message dated 12/3/2018 9:45:53 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
ape...@snowmoose.com writes:

 
A company called RDI made the Britelite and Powerlite laptops. They eventually 
merged with Tadpole, which made its own SPARC laptops (SPARCbooks). As someone 
else mentioned, there were different Britelite models based on the various Sun 
lunchbox system boards. When I had my Britelite IPX on display on VCF, someone 
told me that they recognized the case as something used in another laptop.

Sun never made their own laptop, but they made a portable called the 
SPARCstation Voyager.

On 12/3/18 7:33 PM, ED SHARPE wrote:
Very Nice collection!    Yes  have to love that  laptop. Did not know  SUN made 
one. or  I  guess a third  party  put the  Sun  goodies in a case of their  
design?  either way   NEAT!


 
Seeing   a  nice  run  of  systems like this in wonderful condition  is  great!
 
 
Ed#
 
In a message dated 12/2/2018 5:49:49 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:
 
I will have to get back with you on the audio. It is on offline backup 

media and I need to find it.

Here is a link to some photos of the exhibit - 
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7qC8UbEYCeCf9CBo7

The RDI Britelite (laptop) is a SPARCstation IPX system board in a 
laptop chassis. It was in the Day 1 exhibit, but not the Day 2 exhibit 
because the power adapter died on the morning of the second day.

One of the photos is an opened-up SPARCstation LX, which is very similar 
on the inside to your IPC.

My exhibit next year will be on early 90s SPARC clones.

alan

On 12/2/18 1:43 PM, ED SHARPE via cctalk wrote:
> Alan...   would   love  a  copy  of  the  audio  for  our  archives  here.
>
>
> Would  like to  see pix  of  your  display too  sounds  neat!
> 
> Any  other   files  text  or  otherwise  welcome  also   to  this  address   
> or  drop  us a   dropbox  link
> 
> The  Sun  workstations  I  never  knew too much  about as  at the time   did 
> not  seems  like  old  history  nor  did  we  use any  so playing catchup!
> 
> Thanks in  advance...
> 
> Ed#
> 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 12/2/2018 12:44:32 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
> cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:
>
> 
>
> There is only room for drives in the top half of the chassis.  The PSU
> and an assembly that holds the drives fills the top half. A 3.5"
> half-height drive fits in one side of the assembly and a 3.5" floppy
> drive fits in the other. The PSU cables go from the rear to the front of
> that side of the chassis, below the FDD (when the chassis is closed).
>
> I did an exhibit on Sun lunchbox systems, including the IPC (4/40), for
> PNW VCF earlier this year. I looked for press kits, posters, etc. to use
> in the exhibit, but could only find text files. I know people who worked
> at Sun on the development of those early SPARCstations and none of them
> had any of that kind of material.
>
> I had an audio cassette "Introducing the IPC" for Sun sales. I donated
> it to CHM this year (but I ripped the audio before I sent it to them).
>
> alan
>
> On 12/2/18 10:13 AM, ED SHARPE via cctalk wrote:
>> Thanks  for the  info  to  get it  open!  when  back at the  office   shall  
>>  do that..   there  may  be  drives in 2 places -  on board and  the off 
>> board  one. Always interesting to  explore  something   one  has  only  read 
>>  about!
>>
>>
>>
>> Along the   same  line  of  UNIX   stuff   we  have a  COBALT   1U Pretty  
>> blue  sever and a  COBALT  CUBE.  I  do remember   lusting  after  one of 
>> these   1U  COBALT  servers when they  were  current didn't  have anything 
>> in  the  budget  back then  though  for  one.  I  have  been  told  SUN  
>> eventually ended up  owning COBALT.
>>
>> As  will all that   we    have  we  are  looking  for  any  ad slicks   
>> press kits    posters,  wild artwork   for  the  Sun $/40,    and the  2  
>> COBALT  machines..
>>
>> Ed Sharpe archivist  for SMECC  www.smecc.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 12/1/2018 8:15:39 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
>> ape...@snowmoose.com writes:
>>
>>
>> Yes. It is next to floppy in the upper half of the chassis. There is a 
>> 50-pin (IDC connectors) ribbon cable that goes down to system board at the 
>> bottom of the lower half of the chassis. The chassis splits in the vertical 
>> middle in a, if looking at the chassis, fairly obvious place. Because of the 
>> cables that run from the top to bottom, it effectively hinges at the front 
>> of the chassis. There a couple buttons on the side to release and sometimes 
>> a security cable bit to remove (phillips screw).
>>
>> On 12/1/18 7:08 PM, ED SHARPE wrote:
>> Hi  Alan - The  hard drive is same  size cabinet    

Re: sun model 47. code 4/40 does it have the nvram with battery?

[Ethan via cctalk]

Sun never made their own laptop, but they made a portable called the 
SPARCstation Voyager.


I own a Voyager (Can bring it to the next VCF East if needed.) I have been 
looking for the padded bag that goes with it for a long time. Any leads 
appreciated!



- Ethan

Re: P112 runs RSX-11

[Dennis Boone via cctalk]

 > That's all I could find, too.  If anyone knows where the source might
 > be or stumbles on it, I would definitely be interested as well.

I think that's Hector Peraza's site.  His email address is listed; you
could try writing to him.

De

Re: P112 runs RSX-11

[Bill Gunshannon via cctalk]

On 12/4/18 10:28 AM, Warner Losh wrote:


On Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 7:45 AM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk 
mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> wrote:

On 12/4/18 9:28 AM, allison via cctalk wrote:
> On 12/04/2018 04:26 AM, David Griffith via cctalk wrote:
>> I don't know who did it, but here's a video of a P112 running RSX:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s6IOCCk3Uw
>>
>> If the creator of this thing is reading, I'd very much like to get my
>> hands on RSX-180 and put it up on the P112 page at Sourceforge,
>> Gitlab, et al.
>>
>>
> I did find this here: https://en.everybodywiki.com/RSX-180
>
That's all I could find, too.  If anyone knows where the source might

be or stumbles on it, I would definitely be interested as well.


I have two P112's.  :-)

http://p112.sourceforge.net/index.php?downloads

has two links to download binaries at the bottom for RSX-180




What about the source?  Binaries are fun, but the source

would be a lot more fun.


bill

Re: P112 runs RSX-11

[Warner Losh via cctalk]

On Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 7:45 AM Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

>
> On 12/4/18 9:28 AM, allison via cctalk wrote:
> > On 12/04/2018 04:26 AM, David Griffith via cctalk wrote:
> >> I don't know who did it, but here's a video of a P112 running RSX:
> >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s6IOCCk3Uw
> >>
> >> If the creator of this thing is reading, I'd very much like to get my
> >> hands on RSX-180 and put it up on the P112 page at Sourceforge,
> >> Gitlab, et al.
> >>
> >>
> > I did find this here: https://en.everybodywiki.com/RSX-180
> >
> That's all I could find, too.  If anyone knows where the source might
>
> be or stumbles on it, I would definitely be interested as well.
>
>
> I have two P112's.  :-)
>

http://p112.sourceforge.net/index.php?downloads

has two links to download binaries at the bottom for RSX-180

Warner

Re: RS6k 7012/320H woes

[Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez via cctalk]

Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez wrote:
Still, no luck making the console work; the 320H does not assert DTR 
or RTS even though it is seeing DSR, CTS, and DCD asserted.


2) I cleaned the floppy drive (it wasn't that dirty), re-wrote the 
four aix diagnostics floppies and tried them once more in service 
mode.  The same thing happened: it reads the complete first disk 
(apparently without error), but then it goes again to read the hard 
drive and stalls in the same spot.  Does anybody have images of 
diagnostics floppies that would be known to work in a 320H?


3) I now have AIX 4.3.3 install CDs.  Does the 320H expect a CDROM 
drive to be at a specific SCSI ID?


Carlos.

I have made some progress here.  I imaged the original hard drive and by 
searching this image in bvi I found that the
original AIX version in it is AIX 3.1. I found another set of 
BOSboot diskettes on the net, but for AIX 3.2, and some
advice about not running the getrootfs script in the maintenance shell 
of V3.2 in a V3.1 system.  I was able to boot the
maintenance shell off these diskettes (Finally the console came up! My 
console cable and my MODU serial connector
kludge were fine).  I figured a way to mount the hard drive's partitions 
in this ramdisk-based maintenance shell and
get around the very limited commands in this shell (no ed, ex, vi, ls, 
or many others) to modify /etc/security/passwd,
/etc/inittab to something basic.   I found that there is no /sbin or 
/usr/sbin in this hard drive, but then I noticed that
most of the commands that usually reside in those directories were to be 
found in /etc .  With one major omission:  there
is no /etc/mount anywhere to be found.  I found that the programs in the 
hard drive bomb immediately ("Killed") in
the V3.2 maintenance shell, so I believe that they are 
binary-incompatible.  After all of this, I was able to boot
(partiallly, see below) the machine and log in the root account. But, 
since the mount command is missing,
the file systems in /etc/filesystems were not mounted, so I do not have 
access to /usr .  I copied the /etc/mount
command in the V3.2 maintenance shell to /etc/mount in the hard drive, 
but this command also bombs under V 3.1.
So, I need a copy of the /etc/mount binary from AIX V3.1 .  I think that 
I can mount a DOS floppy and transfer
this binary that way (this system does not have a network card). Or, I 
can copy the /usr/bin/uudecode binary from
the /usr partition to /etc/uudecode in the root partition while in the 
maintenance shell and then use that to get the

binary while under V3.1 .

So, does anybody have access to an AIX V3.1 /etc/mount binary?

My inittab generates some errors, all of which seem to be attributable 
to the fact that /usr is not mounted.


Eventually, I will probably install AIX 4.3.3, but first I need to get 
more SD2SCSI devices, so that will take a while.


carlos.

Re: P112 runs RSX-11

[Bill Gunshannon via cctalk]

On 12/4/18 9:28 AM, allison via cctalk wrote:
> On 12/04/2018 04:26 AM, David Griffith via cctalk wrote:
>> I don't know who did it, but here's a video of a P112 running RSX:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s6IOCCk3Uw
>>
>> If the creator of this thing is reading, I'd very much like to get my
>> hands on RSX-180 and put it up on the P112 page at Sourceforge,
>> Gitlab, et al.
>>
>>
> I did find this here: https://en.everybodywiki.com/RSX-180
>
That's all I could find, too.  If anyone knows where the source might

be or stumbles on it, I would definitely be interested as well.


I have two P112's.  :-)


bill

Re: P112 runs RSX-11

[allison via cctalk]

On 12/04/2018 04:26 AM, David Griffith via cctalk wrote:
>
> I don't know who did it, but here's a video of a P112 running RSX:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s6IOCCk3Uw
>
> If the creator of this thing is reading, I'd very much like to get my
> hands on RSX-180 and put it up on the P112 page at Sourceforge,
> Gitlab, et al.
>
>

I did find this here: https://en.everybodywiki.com/RSX-180

Allison

Re: Text encoding Babel. Was Re: George Keremedjiev

[Maciej W. Rozycki via cctalk]

On Fri, 30 Nov 2018, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

> > Well, ATA drives at that time should have already had the capability to
> > remap bad blocks or whole tracks transparently in the firmware, although
> 
> Not even IDE.
> Seagate ST4096  (ST506/412 MFM)  80MB formatted, which was still considered
> good size by those of us who weren't wealthy.

 Sure!  You did need a bad block list for such a drive though.

> > Of course the ability to remap bad storage areas transparently is not an
> > excuse for the OS not to handle them gracefully, it was not that time yet
> > back then when a hard drive with a bad block or a dozen was considered
> > broken like it usually is nowadays.
> 
> Yes, they still came with list of known bad blocks.  Usually taped to the
> drive.  THIS one wasn't on the manufacturer's list, and neither SpeedStor nor
> SpinRite could find it!
> There were other ways to lock out a block besides filling it with a garbage
> file, but that was easiest.

 IIRC for MS-DOS the canonical way was to mark the containing cluster as 
bad using a special code in the FAT.  Both `format' and `chkdsk' were able 
to do that, as were some third-party tools.  That ensured that disk 
maintenance tools, such as `defrag', didn't reuse the cluster for 
something else as it could happen with a real file assignment of such a 
cluster.

> And, I did try to tell the Microsoft people that the OS "should recover
> gracefully from hardware errors".  In those words.

 I found switching to Linux a reasonable solution to this kind of customer 
service attitude.  There you can fix an issue yourself or if you don't 
feel like, then you can hire someone to do it for you (or often just ask 
kindly, as engineers usually feel responsible for code they have 
committed, including any bugs). :)

> > Did 3.1 support running in the real mode though (as opposed to switching
> > to the real mode for DOS tasks only)?  I honestly do not remember anymore,
> > and ISTR it was removed at one point.  I am sure 3.0 did.
> 
> I believe that it did.  I don't remember WHAT the program didn't like about
> 3.1, or if there were a real reason, not just an arbitrary limit.
> I don't think that the Cordata's refusal to run on 286 was based on a real
> reason.
> 
> But, the Win 3.1 installation program(s) balked at anything without A20 and a
> tiny bit of RAM above 10h I didn't have a problem with having a few
> dedicated machines (an XT with Cordata interface, an AT with Eiconscript card
> for postscript and HP PCL, an AT Win 3.0 for the font editor, a machine for
> disk duplication (no-notch disks), order entry, accounting, and lots of
> machines with lots of different floppy drive types.)  I also tested every
> release of my programs on many variants of the platform (after I discovered
> the hard way that 286 had a longer pre-fetch buffer than 8088!)

 Hmm, interesting.  I never tried any version of MS Windows on a PC/XT 
class machine and the least equipped 80286-based system I've used had at 
least 1MiB of RAM and a chipset clever enough to remap a part of it above 
1MiB.  And then that was made available via HIMEM.SYS.

 What might be unknown to some is that apart from toggling the A20 mask 
gate HIMEM.SYS also switched on the so-called "unreal mode" on processors 
that supported it.  These were at least the 80486 and possibly the 80386 
as well (but my memory has faded about it at this point), and certainly 
not the 80286 as it didn't support segment sizes beyond 64kiB.  This mode 
gave access to the whole 4GiB 32-bit address space to real mode programs, 
by setting data segment limits (sizes) to 4GiB.

 This was possible by programming segment descriptors in the protected 
mode and then switching back to the real mode without resetting the limits 
to the usual 64kiB value beforehand.  This worked because unlike in the 
protected mode segment register writes made in the real mode only updated 
the segment base and not the limit stored in the corresponding descriptor.  
IIRC it was not possible for the code segment to use a 4GiB limit in the 
real mode as it would malfunction (i.e. it would not work as per real mode 
expectations), so it was left at 64kiB.

 According to Intel documentation software was required to reset segment 
sizes to 64kiB before switching back to the real mode, so this was not an 
officially supported mode of operation.  MS Windows may or may not have 
made use of this feature in its real mode of operation; I am not sure, 
although I do believe HIMEM.SYS itself did use it (or otherwise why would 
it set it in the first place?).

 I discovered it by accident in early 1990s while experimenting with some 
assembly programming (possibly by trying to read from beyond the end of a 
segment by using an address size override prefix, a word or a doubleword 
data quantity and an offset of 0x and not seeing a trap or suchlike) 
and could not explain where this phenomenon came from as it contradicted 
the x86 processor manual I 

Tektronix Xterm xp217

[Carlo Pisani via cctalk]

hi
I have one Xterm xp217 for sale, including it's PSU and plastic
(I can also provide the firmware)

Re: p112

[David Griffith via cctalk]

On Mon, 3 Dec 2018, Joe Smith via cctech wrote:

Are there any boards available or rom monitor updates?


No more boards are available.  This is primarily due to difficulty in 
getting sufficient quantities of brand-new super-IO chips.  The fabber I 
used has problems with using pulls because the legs are off just enough to 
make the pick-and-place robots throw fits.  I'm pondering doing a new run 
of bare boards and either doing the SMT myself or leaving that for buyers. 
In any case, I probably won't be offering complete kits.


Besides Joe, who else would be interested in acquiring one or more P112 
boards?



--
David Griffith
d...@661.org

A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

P112 runs RSX-11

[David Griffith via cctalk]

I don't know who did it, but here's a video of a P112 running RSX: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s6IOCCk3Uw


If the creator of this thing is reading, I'd very much like to get my 
hands on RSX-180 and put it up on the P112 page at Sourceforge, Gitlab, 
et al.



--
David Griffith
d...@661.org

A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?