Re: Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

2019-06-24 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk
> From: Al Kossow

> Does anyone know where Steve Rothman is?

And also Bill Weiske, who's listed as the go-to for the KS11.

Noel


Re: Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

2019-06-24 Thread Al Kossow via cctalk
Does anyone know where Steve Rothman is?
I assume this is the same person who wrote the VAX spec.

On 6/24/19 3:19 PM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
> > From: Al Kossow
> 
> > It is in the Dick Best Options and Modules List 197503
> 
> Ah, thanks for the pointer; I see it's listed as a "Memory Extension
> Control" - not sure that tells me much, alas!
> 
> Interestingly, it's not in the earlier Options and Modules lists, e.g.
> June '74, but the KS11 is in that earlier list, so the MX11's a later
> addition.
> 
>   Noel
> 



Re: Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

2019-06-24 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk
> From: Al Kossow

> It is in the Dick Best Options and Modules List 197503

Ah, thanks for the pointer; I see it's listed as a "Memory Extension
Control" - not sure that tells me much, alas!

Interestingly, it's not in the earlier Options and Modules lists, e.g.
June '74, but the KS11 is in that earlier list, so the MX11's a later
addition.

Noel


Re: Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

2019-06-24 Thread Al Kossow via cctalk
It is in the Dick Best Options and Modules List 197503
Steve Rothman is shown as responsible engineer

On 6/24/19 1:38 PM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
> While I asking on the TUHS list about the KS11, someone mentioned the MX11
> Memory Extension Option, described as "enabl[ing] the usage of 128 KW memory
> (18-bit addressing range) ... developed by the Digital CSS (Computer Special
> Systems)".
> 
> I'm not familiar with this



Re: Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

2019-06-24 Thread allison via cctalk
On 06/24/2019 04:38 PM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
> MX11
> Memory Extension Option

If it is not KT-11 then its not memory address extension.

MX-11 and variants are memory boards or systems.

BEst I can do it never appears in my Qbus world so it may be
a board/module level reference to the KT1-11B Memory address
extension (CPU option).

Allison


Re: Anyone have any info on the obscure MX11 PDP-11 option?

2019-06-24 Thread Guy Sotomayor Jr via cctalk
One place to look and see if there was anything, is to look for any hardware 
information
about C.MMP at CMU.  Since C. had a mix of modified 11/20s and 11/40s, there 
*may*
be some information on what they did.

Unfortunately I don’t think it would map directly because C. had (as I recall) 
1.2MW of
memory off of the cross point switch.  It was probably capable of more, but I 
know at
the time I was doing stuff on C., it had 1.2MW.

For those not familiar, C.MMP was a 16-way multiprocessor using PDP-11s that ran
an OS called Hydra.  As far as I remember, the individual 11’s had 8K of local 
memory
and everything else was accessible through the memory off of the cross-point 
switch
(basically think of it as 16-port memory).  The cross point switch was pretty 
spectacular
since there were LEDs at each “intersection” (processor and memory) for a total 
of
256 LEDs (in a 16 x 16 array).  The LED lit when a processor was accessing a 
particular
memory region.  It made for some spectacular light shows!

TTFN - Guy

> On Jun 24, 2019, at 1:38 PM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> While I asking on the TUHS list about the KS11, someone mentioned the MX11
> Memory Extension Option, described as "enabl[ing] the usage of 128 KW memory
> (18-bit addressing range) ... developed by the Digital CSS (Computer Special
> Systems)".
> 
> I'm not familiar with this, and I couldn't find anything about it. (It's not
> even in the Spare Modules Handbook, but then again, neither is the KS11 -
> although the KT11-B is). Some early UNIBUS device address lists (e.g. the '72
> "peripherals and interfacing handbook") list up to six, from #1 at 777600-06
> to #6 at 777650-56.
> 
> I can _guess_ what it did, from the description above (e.g. maps an 8KB block,
> since there can be up to 6), but I was wondering if anyone had any hard data;
> e.g. memories based on using one BITD, etc, etc.
> 
> Even a high level description (e.g. 'sat on the UNIBUS between the CPU and
> extra memory, and mapped a fixed block of low UNIBUS address space to a block
> controlled by a register') would be an improvement on what we have now, which
> is basically nothing.
> 
>   Noel



Re: Help with a qic data tape

2019-06-24 Thread Grant Taylor via cctalk

On 6/23/19 7:18 PM, Danr via cctalk wrote:
Someone gave me your info.I have a very important tape I need help 
with.   The tape spooled off the end and I need the belt put back on. 
Maybe getting the data off the tape too.


It’s a 3m dc2120 120Megabyte tape.

I’ve tried to do some practice tapes with junk tapes but I’m not 
confident enough to do it.


Have you seen the following videos?

Link - Vintage HP Mini Cartridge Tapes Part 1: Refurbishing the Drives
 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTZCD4OXETk

Link - Vintage HP Mini Cartridge Tapes Part 2: Tape Salad
 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuMBOiwPnOg

Marc talks about the issues that he ran into with his old QIC tapes.

Maybe you already know the information he shares.

I've personally put belts back on and ""reattached tape to one of the 
reels.  (There was enough leader that I didn't have a problem.)  The 
simple basics worked for me when I did it years ago.  Your situation may 
be more complicated.




--
Grant. . . .
unix || die


Identifying some boards

2019-06-24 Thread Kyle Owen via cctalk
I picked up these boards many weeks ago, but haven't photographed them
until recently. Some of them are pretty disgusting, but some of the others
look alright.

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

http://imgur.com/a/d9iK9qb

Thanks!

Kyle


Re: One of the deeper dives into RISC vs CISC I've seen

2019-06-24 Thread Tony Aiuto via cctalk
On a related note, a fun talk about ARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2045=_6sh097Dk5k