[cctalk] Available in Germany: PDP 11/23 Plus with two RL02 drives in a H9642 cabinet

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list, 

there is a PDP 11/23 Plus with two RL02 drives available near Stuttgart, 
Germany. 
The configuration corresponds to the one shown here: 

http://www.cosam.org/computers/dec/pdp11-23/cabinet.html

Contact me off-list if you are interested. 

Cheers, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Fw: Re: VCFMW

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Apologies to the list for the noise.
This email was supposed to be sent directly to Paul, my mistake. 
Have a nice Sunday, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -

Von: P Gebhardt 
An: Paul Anderson via cctalk 
Gesendet: Sonntag, 10. September 2023 um 08:21:59 MESZ
Betreff: Re: [cctalk] Re: VCFMW


Hello Paul, 

how are you doing? Hope that healthwise, things are fine on your side since our 
last conversations a few years ago. I bought an RK611 controller back then from 
you. 
Just came accross your below post and was wondering if you have any 
CI750-related equipment around?
I have the boards, but one has broken ICs. I am also missing the CI750 
backplane. 
Let me know if you happen to remember to have anything around related to that 
piece of equipment that allows to connect a 11/750 to a CI-network. 


Thanks, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Montag, 4. September 2023 um 06:58:47 MESZ hat Paul Anderson via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





I just found a box of 11/150 and 11/780 prints including FP750, FP780 and
CI780.I have other prints and manuals of which some are available.

If you like compatible boards I have over 100 Dilog, Emulex, CMD, etc boards

I also have BA11-M, N, and S Qbus boxes and several hundred boards. I can
configure a system pretty much any way you want it.

Paul

On Sat, Sep 2, 2023 at 3:27 AM Paul Anderson  wrote:

> I've started pulling parts for people who have requested them and keep
> finding things I had forgotten. A few things of possible interest include:
> PDP-8A parts including backplanes, most CPU boards, 128K, MM board
> MM8-AA/AB
> 8-E boxes and boards
> DECMATE Rainbow, and PRO systems and parts
> A few 11/05, 11/10 boxes
> a new 54-21149 KN15 cpu
> VS40X 4 plane color options
> SI-QS 1000 board labeled QED 993 CPU
> Tape drive heads
> LA36, LA120, and other printers and parts
> various VTs and monitors and parts
> MFM and floppy drives
> Qbus boxes and hundreds of boards
> 1000s of DEC boards and parts
> possible a few 3000 and 5000 boxes and parts
>
> If anyone wants to stop by and look for things, please contact me off list
> to set up a time. Most of the people who have stopped by would say I have
> quite a lot of DEC items.
>
> If you have any questions contact me off list.
>

[cctalk] Re: VCFMW

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Paul, 

how are you doing? Hope that healthwise, things are fine on your side since our 
last conversations a few years ago. I bought an RK611 controller back then from 
you. 
Just came accross your below post and was wondering if you have any 
CI750-related equipment around?
I have the boards, but one has broken ICs. I am also missing the CI750 
backplane. 
Let me know if you happen to remember to have anything around related to that 
piece of equipment that allows to connect a 11/750 to a CI-network. 


Thanks, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Montag, 4. September 2023 um 06:58:47 MESZ hat Paul Anderson via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





I just found a box of 11/150 and 11/780 prints including FP750, FP780 and
CI780.I have other prints and manuals of which some are available.

If you like compatible boards I have over 100 Dilog, Emulex, CMD, etc boards

I also have BA11-M, N, and S Qbus boxes and several hundred boards. I can
configure a system pretty much any way you want it.

Paul

On Sat, Sep 2, 2023 at 3:27 AM Paul Anderson  wrote:

> I've started pulling parts for people who have requested them and keep
> finding things I had forgotten. A few things of possible interest include:
> PDP-8A parts including backplanes, most CPU boards, 128K, MM board
> MM8-AA/AB
> 8-E boxes and boards
> DECMATE Rainbow, and PRO systems and parts
> A few 11/05, 11/10 boxes
> a new 54-21149 KN15 cpu
> VS40X 4 plane color options
> SI-QS 1000 board labeled QED 993 CPU
> Tape drive heads
> LA36, LA120, and other printers and parts
> various VTs and monitors and parts
> MFM and floppy drives
> Qbus boxes and hundreds of boards
> 1000s of DEC boards and parts
> possible a few 3000 and 5000 boxes and parts
>
> If anyone wants to stop by and look for things, please contact me off list
> to set up a time. Most of the people who have stopped by would say I have
> quite a lot of DEC items.
>
> If you have any questions contact me off list.
>

[cctalk] Re: Disk-pack-based drives at LCM

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi Rod, 

I don't blame them either! Operating these drives means having access to spare 
heads, alignment equipment and and alignment pack - not taking into account the 
work to be put in all of this!
Anyway, thanks for sharing your anecdote with us :)
Greetings, 
Pierre


>I can't say I blame them.  It was a lot of work to get a drive running after a 
>head crash.  If it was a bad crash, there >could be extensive cleaning to be 
>done followed by replacing one or more heads.  Then the new heads had to be 
>>aligned.  If you hadn't cleaned thoroughly enough, you risked damaging the 
>expensive alignment disk.
>
>Once I came back from lunch to see the operators had 3 drives open.  They kept 
>swapping a disk pack which was >giving I/O errors to new drives and were 
>crashing heads along the way due to the damaged disk pack.  I stopped >them 
>before they spun up the pack on a 4th drive.  That wasn't as bad as the time 
>one of them dropped a disk pack >and bent platters.  That ripped heads 
>completely out of the mounting mechanism.
>
>Ah, the good old days!
>
>Rod

> On Jun 2, 2023, at 2:51 AM, P Gebhardt via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> Hi all, 
> 
> I just came across pictures on the LCM website about their SDS Sigma 
> installation there.
> On the pictures, one can see 10-platter disk packs in the corner and stored 
> on the disk drives. 
> Did the LCM ever had these in operation, either for data retrieval or even 
> demo purposes?
> I know of the Jim Austin Computer museum where they fixed a CDC 9766 drive 
> but it suffered
> a head crash after a few hours according to their description which led to 
> giving up the operation 
> of these drives.
> 
> Greetings, 
> Pierre
> 
> -
> http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Re: Disk-pack-based drives at LCM

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Lee, 
thanks for confirming this! To my knowledge, that would have been the only 
place world-wide in very recent past where 300MB drives based on disk packs 
would still (or again) be operational and actually be used!
Simply amazing - and so unfortunate that it's closed!

Greetings, 
Pierre


Am Freitag, 2. Juni 2023 um 19:52:38 MESZ hat Lee Courtney  
Folgendes geschrieben: 





Hi Pierre,

Yes, when LCM was open the Sigma-9 and the connected drives were up and 
operational, I can't remember what OS the system was running. Maybe CP-V or 
UTS? 

Lee

On Thu, Jun 1, 2023 at 11:51 PM P Gebhardt via cctalk  
wrote:
> Hi all, 
> 
> I just came across pictures on the LCM website about their SDS Sigma 
> installation there.
> On the pictures, one can see 10-platter disk packs in the corner and stored 
> on the disk drives. 
> Did the LCM ever had these in operation, either for data retrieval or even 
> demo purposes?
> I know of the Jim Austin Computer museum where they fixed a CDC 9766 drive 
> but it suffered
> a head crash after a few hours according to their description which led to 
> giving up the operation 
> of these drives.
> 
> Greetings, 
> Pierre
> 
> -
> http://www.digitalheritage.de
> 


-- 
Lee Courtney
+1-650-704-3934 cell

[cctalk] Disk-pack-based drives at LCM

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi all, 

I just came across pictures on the LCM website about their SDS Sigma 
installation there.
On the pictures, one can see 10-platter disk packs in the corner and stored on 
the disk drives. 
Did the LCM ever had these in operation, either for data retrieval or even demo 
purposes?
I know of the Jim Austin Computer museum where they fixed a CDC 9766 drive but 
it suffered
a head crash after a few hours according to their description which led to 
giving up the operation 
of these drives.

Greetings, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] ebay: GE reel tape drives from the 60s

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi list ,

came across this listing: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354525985222

I just love the engineering quality of these early electro-mechanical systems! 
Reminds me of the CDC 60x series reel tape drives. 
BTW, not affiliated with the seller.
In my point of view, 5000 bucks is a lot of money for these, though...

Greetings, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Re: Disk pack production tools

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

 Am Dienstag, 17. Januar 2023 um 01:20:22 MEZ hat Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 

On 1/16/23 12:40, Paul Koning wrote:
> On the CERL PLATO system at U of Illinois, around 1977, we had 20-ish
> 844-21 drives, and maybe a few 844-41 as well. Those were roughly the
> same as the DEC RP04 and RP05 drives, same pack and track count.
> Different sectors, though; 322 12-bit words per sector. Those are 3600
> rpm drives, linear voice coil head actuator, dedicated servo surface.
> The details of the format was handled in a sort of microcoded bit
> handling engine, one of two engines in the programmable controller
> (7054). I actually have the source code still around, and the manual
> for that beast also still exists.
   Most of our customers from that time had all of the drive farm as
well as the unit record equipment on MACs.  (Predates Apple--Multiple
Access Controller).  We kept Spence Preston busy... :

We had a 1311 on a CADET.  Slow, but better than the alternatives (cards
or paper tape).  Monitor IID, IIRC.   Work cylinders were 0-25, IIRC. 
No real file system, just DIM entries. I don't recall what options had
to be installed on a CADET to run Monitor, but I think indirect
addressing was a requirement.

My favorite was the CDC 6603/Bryant 4000.  That bugger was engineered to
leak oil--it even had plastic jugs inside to collect the drippings.  My
fondest memory was watching a COMSOURCE operator run to refill a 501
printer, hitting the Bryant oil patch and falling flat on his back...



Paul, Chuck, the hydraulic actuator-driven disk systems surely bring maintenance
and related issues to another level and stories :) Thanks!

>From what I see at least by the return on our list, there don't seem to be, 
>for example, 
servo writer and disk plattern mechanical alignment tools still around - at 
least to the
knowledge of the cctalk list members. 
I wonder, if the CHM could have any additional knowledge about this and I will 
contact 
Al Kossow out of curiosity regarding this. 

Anybody aroundhere  who used drives in the last 10 years to read multi-platter 
disk 
packs successfully?
At least the CHM did so to read single-platter disks and archive software 
(thanks to the great
videos, curious Marc!), but I don't know if they tried to work with 
multi-platter disks. 
I recall that the Jim Austin Computer Museum tried to get a 9766 300MB disk 
drive up and
running, but it suffered a head-crash after a few hours and they decided not to 
go any further
down this road...

Greetings, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Re: Disk pack production tools

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Am Montag, 16. Januar 2023 um 17:57:46 MEZ hat Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 

Hi Chuck, 

>The 844 drives date from the early 70s.  I worked for CDC on a military
>project where these were brought in to replace the 821s that were bid
>(yes, I know there's no information on those--they're essentially a
>high-capacity unit build on an 808 chassis and unreliable as hell).  A
>typical installation might have used over 100 of the units on a 4-CPU
>Cyber cluster.  They worked well, unless one got a bad pack, which would
>clobber the heads on a drive; using the drive on a new pack would result
>in creating another head-clobbering pack.   I recall an overnight report
>issued by an operator where he succeeded in trashing several packs and
>multiple drives in his attempt to get something to work.  It was a
>blow-by-blow report somewhat akin to the Gerard Hoffnung bricklayer story.

Wow, thanks for sharing this story!
Did the 844 drives have the same hydraulic-actuator approach like the MMD 841 
drives?

Greetings, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Re: Disk pack production tools

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Am Montag, 16. Januar 2023 um 17:55:22 MEZ hat Jon Elson via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 


>Washington University had a magnetic media lab at one time, 
>and got several semi loads of gear from an IBM lab.  There 
>were air bearing spindle tables and many racks of IBM 
>circuitry based on MST chip technology.  I assume some of 
>this could have been used as servo track writers.  Any 
>system that doesn't have a dedicated servo surface or 
>embedded servo info doesn't need a servo track writer, it 
>can just format the pack by itself (with proper diagnostic 
>programs, of course.)
>
>Aligning the heads on the drive is an issue only if you want 
>to interchange platters.  Then, you need an alignment pack - 
>wow, those would be quite hard to find today!  There are 
>tools like alignment meters that can make the job easier, 
>but really all you need is a scope and generally a rod with 
>an eccentric tip to adjust the head position.
>
>Jon

Thanks for sharing this information with us, Jon! I wasn't aware that academia 
got equipment from industry for research on magnetic media, but it actually 
makes sense, as a lot of research was conducted in this field. 
I can confirm that finding alignment packs is extremely difficult!

Greetings, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Re: Disk pack production tools

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Am Montag, 16. Januar 2023 um 17:30:50 MEZ hat geneb via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 


>> I bought RK05 packs from Althea (sp?).  I know they make diskettes too.
>> Trying to locate their web site so I must be spelling it wrong :-)
>
>I think you're referring to Athana.

Are there still companies like Athana in business that sell new and/or 
refurbished disk packs?
I am aware of M.Farris and Associates, but I am not sure, if they are still in 
active business. Their compatibility tables for packs and disk drives are 
fantastic, by the way!

Greetings, 
Pierre

[cctalk] Re: long lived media (Was: Damage to CD-R from CD Sleeve

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Am Dienstag, 17. Januar 2023 um 15:54:54 MEZ hat Paul Koning via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 



>With hard drives you have to worry about mechanical faults, of course.  I 
>wonder if there are any long term storage issues with the bearings.

To my understanding, during the late 90s, the bearigs where changed from 
mechanical-type to fluid-type bearings in order to be within required 
tolerances decreasing by the increasing storage density. I wonder, how well 
these fluid-bearings last over two or three decades especially when merely 
used. I recall that there were problems reported with winchester disk drives 
from the 80s where the bearings got stuck when the drives were not used in 10 
or more years, possibly in combination with inapproriate storage conditions 
(temperature).


>I have an RM03 pack somewhere.  There probably are a few places left that 
>could read it.  If it were an RA60 pack it would be a whole lot more 
>problematic, I suspect.  Without an >old drive, how would you recover the 
>data?  Spin table?  Perhaps, if you can find, or reverse engineer, the format.

Do you assume the problem with RA60 disk packs to be more problematic because 
of a smaller availability of systems with RA60 drives to read the packs 
compared to CDC 9762 /RM03 drives?

Greetings, 
Pierre

[cctalk] Fw: Disk pack production tools

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>now. Older drives are close to unobtainium. I never came across a five-platter 
>pack for my CDC 854 drive and i have never seen packs for my MMD 844 or my CDC 
>BC3xx disk 
>drive for 200MB disk packs. 

Little correction: It's a CDC 844 Multiple Disk Drive, not a 841.


Greetings,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] "Revival" of a dedicated Micropolis webpage on internet

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list, 

by coincidence, I came across this website:

https://www.micropolis.com/

It seems to have been set up by a former employee of Micropolis with 
information about Micropolis products done until the late 90s.

Cheers, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

[cctalk] Re: How to reproduce the DEC cabinets' grey colour paint?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list, 

>
>
>My attempt at the colors from several years ago.
>
>http://www.chdickman.com/pdp8/DECcolors/
>
>CHM = Color Harmony Manual


Many thanks to those (especially Charles and Vincent) who gave me pointers on 
how to reproduce the DEC grey colour of the DEC cabinets. I wasn't aware that 
the colour codes were expressed in old standards. I don't have the impression 
that the paint of cabinet side panels, for instance, faded over the years. 
Again, just an impression, when comparing the color of different cabinets. 
As soon as I have time, I will make a few tests and give feedback to the list 
how it went. 

Cheers, 
Pierre

How to reproduce the DEC cabinets' grey colour paint?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list, 

does anybody of you know colour codes or the mixture to obtain the grey paint 
that DEC used for their early H960 cabinet side panels as well as for their 
later cabinet from the 80s and 90s like the H9A10 or H9A15? 
Some of my cabinets have scratches and I would like to cosmetically fix this. 
I thought I remember some discussions about DEC paint some years ago but I 
couldn't find anything helpful in my archives except for discussions about 
colours for DEC's classic front panels. 
Any pointers are very much appreciated.
Thanks, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Your pictures of a Tullamore pulse height analyzer on flickr

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Apologies for the spam, folks, 
that message was supposed to be sent as a private one, and not via the mailing 
list. 

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de



 >Am Donnerstag, 2. Juni 2022, 16:21:14 MESZ hat P Gebhardt via cctalk 
 > Folgendes geschrieben: 
>
>
>Hello Patrick, 
>
>I came across your pictures of a Tullamore pulse heigh analyzer on flickr 
>while looking for more information about these systems on internet. >Did you 
>possibly take more pictures of this unit which are not on flickr?  If so, then 
>I'd be interested in these as more pictures can help me to fix >my unit which 
>has two missing front panels. 
>
>Thanks in advance for any feedback!
>With kind regards, 
>Pierre
>
>-
>http://www.digitalheritage.de

Your pictures of a Tullamore pulse height analyzer on flickr

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Patrick, 

I came across your pictures of a Tullamore pulse heigh analyzer on flickr while 
looking for more information about these systems on internet. Did you possibly 
take more pictures of this unit which are not on flickr?  If so, then I'd be 
interested in these as more pictures can help me to fix my unit which has two 
missing front panels. 

Thanks in advance for any feedback!
With kind regards, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: LSSM is chasing this, was Re: General Data? Computer Equipment Auction - GSA

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

 > Ok, it hit $1200, we're out of the running.  I hope these systems go 
> to a good home, and don't disappear into the black hole of a private 
>
>collection.
>
I think that next time, you should consider to rephrase this in a more 
considerate way. There are public museums on both sides of the great pond where 
stuff is stored in the basements for preservation and does not become 
accessible for years and years, even if one asks for it. And I am not only 
meaning hardware or software, I also mean documentation (this is based on 
personal experience). In my point of view, black holes exist in private as well 
as public museums, regardless of the different reasons for this. Some do a 
great job in making their collection accessible in public either for real or 
online via a website, and some don't. It just depends from case to case and 
generalising here doesn't seem appropriate. 
Cheers, 
Pierre

Re: Red Hat Linux 7.2 for Alpha

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

 Hi Ben,

>  I can't seem to find this anymore.  I have seen a few mentions that there is 
>a "wrapper" installer that is necessary to install 7.2 on an ES47/ES80 
>>machine, and I'm hoping that it was archived or mirrored some place...

Back then in 2016, I also looked for these images for my ES80 machine on the HP 
site and tried to find ftp mirrors, but all I found were broken links. I would 
be happy, too, if anybody has a copy of these installation sets.

Cheers,
Pierre

Re: VAX 780 on eBay

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>I'm rather puzzled that an -11/70 will sell for north of $10K, while a /780
>can't fetch $5K. I can only guess that PDP-11'S are seen as more important in
>the collector world (even though the BSD work, which had such a huge impact on
>UNIX, which has now - in the form of Linux - taken over the world, was
>centered on the VAX).

Noel, maybethis is also related to the bare size of an 11/780 (any peripherals 
excluded) compared to a 11/70 which can be handled a bit easier when it comes 
to moving and storing it somewhere. And then we had these recent discussions 
about powering an 11/780 for those who would actually like to do something with 
it rather than just storing it. I think that an 11/70 is more convenient in 
practical terms for a lot of enthousiasts out there. 

Cheers, 
Piere

Re: DEC HDD heads?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>
>Dunno if this is useful for anyone but the price seems right:
>
>https://www.ebay.com/itm/Qty-8-Cdc-Dec-Disk-Head-Heads-75010109-75010101-/255306991030

Indeed useful for my drives :) I placed a bid on it.
Cheers, 
Pierre

Re: VAX 780 on eBay

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>There's a photo on twitter:
>
>https://twitter.com/DonaldM38768041/status/1215804561333473280/photo/2
>
>showing a guy standing before an open one at Fermilab.


In of the pictures are shown some very handy tape and disk pack holders on 
wheels. I never saw such fancy holders. Would be great to come across one of 
those - or better so some myself.

Cheers, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: tamayatech let down

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi Jacob and list, 
some years ago, I was also interested in some of their boards. 
The first thing I usually do with companies I didn't deal with, yet, is to 
contact them with questions to see if I get an answer and of what type it is. 
>From tamayatech, I never got any answers. 
Thus, I never ordered anything. 
PinnacleMicro was very different and a pleasure to deal with, but 
unfortunately, they dropped the DEC equipment support. I wonder where all their 
remaining equipment went to. Probably to some other support vendors. There are 
only a handful left regarding some bigger ones, to my knowledge. 
Cheers, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Dienstag, 21. Dezember 2021, 03:33:18 MEZ hat Jacob Ritorto via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





I think I should pass on my experience as a warning to others.

I googled around for a particular PDP-11 board I needed and tamayatech.com
was a hit, with "buy now" option and condition: refurbished.  Seemed
convincing and the price was in the sane ballpark.  So I bought it, paid
through their ecommerce routine, etc.

Sent a mail thanking them and asking if it would be despatched soon as I
had work time off in the coming week..  No reply.

Waited a week and telephoned their phone number from the purchase
confirmation email.  No answer.  Left message.

Several (well over ten) repeated email and phone contact attempts through
the last months (this began early November) to no avail.  There has been
absolutely no response.  So my conclusion: it looks as though they took my
credit card and never shipped it, then just ignored me. I hope the fellow's
okay but feel quite thoroughly ripped off.

So 'buyer' beware.

Interestingly their SEO is rather well maintained and punching DEC part
numbers into Google, etc. often results in a hit to their site.  So they're
at least keeping that part of the business updated.

Anybody else with similar experience?  Any way to rectify the situation?

thx
jake

Re: Wilson Laboratories SX-530 disk exerciser

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Alan,

I am not at home right now, but when I will be back next week, I will see if I 
have the manual for that exerciser. If so, then I will scan it to upload it on 
bitsavers.
Best regards, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Donnerstag, 26. August 2021, 01:51:48 MESZ hat Alan Frisbie via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





I recently acquired a Wilson Laboratories SX-530 disk exerciser
for SMD interface disk drives.  Unfortunately, it did not come
with a manual.  Does anyone out there have a copy they could
make available?  Yes, Bitsavers was the first place I checked.  :-)

Yes, I still have some SMD drives in working condition -- at
least they were before I moved.  One is a Century Data Systems
T-302, and another is a Fujitsu Eagle.  The T-302 is wonderful
for impressing younger people who aren't familiar with older
technology like 12-platter removable disk packs.  :-)
220 volt, 30 amps starting, 6 amps running, all for a whole
256 megabytes (formatted).

Thanks,

Alan

Re: Writings on AI from 17 years ago....

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>
>Don't trust that museums will abide by your wishes when you donate an item.
>They almost never will no matter how secure you think your agreement with
>them is.
>
>I believe that enthusiastic and competent individuals will look after
>valuable items much better than most museums can.

While I have also observed this in the case of a few (former) museums in 
Europe, I think that there is no perfect solution to either individuals or 
museums unless items are considered national heritage and "enjoying" a 
different state of protection than what is typifally seen in computer museums 
(In France, a very early Bull system has that particular protection). No matter 
the individuals or museums, if circumstances change in ways that were unforseen 
(individual dies and heritage is not taken care of as panned, or museum shuts 
down and collection needs to get "disposed of" ASAP), then things will usually 
not end well for the majority of a collection - again: no matter if it is a 
museum or from private hands.

Cheers, 
Pierre

Re: Writings on AI from 17 years ago....

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>
>Which just makes me sick to the stomach, considering what I sent up there.  I 
>really hope you’re wrong.  What I really >regret is a LARGE box of GCOS-8 
>documentation.  :-(  They have a lot of unobtainable software and 
>documentation.
>
>Zane

You didn't scan the documents prior to giving them to the museum?
I always do that before donating documents to a museum, since it is fairly sure 
that they are going to probably stay there for as long as the museum exists... 
with the only problem that they do not get accessible to the public anymore 
before somebody like Al Kossow or other curators or  museum members have the 
time to help out and make them accessible when somebody asks for access.

Cheers, 
Pierre

Re: H960 documentation

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us, Noel!
I was looking for such information on the H960 cabinets in the past and this 
covers it all.

Best regards, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Freitag, 28. Mai 2021, 16:02:54 MESZ hat Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





So, I have images of two different pieces of DEC documentation for the H960
series of racks/cabinets (the H950 is the bare rack; the H960 is the rack
complete with various appurtenances such as side panel, stabilizer feet,
etc). I had a request for them, so I've put them online. They are:

  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DEC_cabinets1.jpg
  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DEC_cabinets2.jpg

The entry in the Direct Sales Catalog which covers them; includes illustrated
breakdowns, and the DEC part numbers for everything.

  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DECRackManual1.jpg
  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DECRackManual2.jpg
  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DECRackManual3.jpg
  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DECRackManual4.jpg
  http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/H960/DECRackManual5.jpg

The Assembly Guide; it shows in detail how all the bits go together (includes
all the captive nuts, bolts, etc).

    Noel

Massbus - was: Re: VAX 11/750

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

 Am Mittwoch, 24. Februar 2021, 03:53:19 MEZ hat Chris Zach via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 


>Wow, I've always wanted an 11/750. Not sure why, the small box size is 
>impressive and all that. However it doesn't look like that one has a 
>MASSBUS adapter so I will have to pass...
>
>And I just gave away a M7850 memory board :-)
>
>C
>

I happen to have a massbus adapter and the cabling with terminator for my 
11/750, but I never came across any massbus peripherals. Considering the price 
back then and the size for these, they seem nowadays quite rare, which is a 
real pity.  
Anybody knows if there was conversion kit to equip CDC 9762 and 9766 type SMD 
drives into MASSBUS drives much like the TU81 could be turned into a TA81 (SDI)?

Cheers, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Mystery NCR disk pack

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list, 

there is an NCR-labelled disk pack offered in the bay with a geometry that I've 
never come across before: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353379280282


It seems to be a 14" pack with three platter and six recordable surfaces. The 
platters themselves are quite thick and the distance between the platters is 
quite wide compared to the IBM 1316 and 2316 type standards.
Does anybody know if this is really an NCR development or if it is a rebadged 
pack from another manufacturer?
Any hints to solve this mystery is much appreciated :)

Best regards,
Pierre

PS: I wonder if the seller describing the party dog is describing himself, but 
partying seemed to be an important part of his life ;)

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Bendix G-15 and Control Data 160 console on ebay

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

If anybody of you has been looking for a Bendix System or a CDC 160 console and 
has deep pockets: That's your opportunity ;)
ebay numbers 203239156838 and 203239181341
Not affiliated with the seller. Just saw the listings - can't believe that such 
cool systems are still stored in some warehouses in the U.S. for business 
purposes ...

Cheers, 
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Regional accents and dialects (Was: The best hard drives??

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>
>How many are aware that the capital of South Dakota, "PIERRE" is 
>pronounced by the locals "PEER"?
>
>
>Is the "correct" pronunciation the dominant local one?


I knew about a city called like my first name, but I never knew that it was 
pronounced that differently :-D
Cheers, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

CDC/Seagate Sabre, Elite and Wren disk drive documents on bitsavers

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi list, 
i don't know who in the end made available all the documents for the 
CDC/Seagate Sabre IPI and SMD disk drives, but I am very happy that they are 
finally there for the public! 
Thanks a lot to the document providers and Al for maintaining bitsavers!

Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Manuals for Imprimis/Seagate 5" Elite SMD/IPI drives

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>
>one of the white whales.
>anyone have OEM documentation for their 5" Elite SMD or IPI drives?
>
>The only thing I've ever been able to find was an installation manual for the 
>SMD verison


I'd be *very*  interested to see docs on bitsavers, too. There are four IPI-2  
drives (5-inch) in a SUN enclosure and I never came across any documents for 
them.
Cheers,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Future of cctalk/cctech

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>On 6/16/2020 4:43 PM, Chris Zach via cctalk wrote:
>> Although we all know Google will be around forever
>
>
>they destroyed dejanews despite promising to keep it.
>
>A few long threads I discussed things with Tanenbaum and a guy named 
>Torvalds, gone.
>
>Also some responses from a guy named DMR.
>
>Google.  uh no, not a fan.  Remember google plus?  Google hangouts is 
>gone this year.  I hold a grudge.  Could go on.  If they get bored with 
>groups, wonder if they'll do a better job preserving it.

Google doesn't have any obligations to keep their services up and running in 
any ways, since they are for FREE.
They offer these as long as they contribute to generate income by providing 
information from their users.
And why should a multi-national company of that size stick to promises they 
made in the past? Unfortunately, ethics and principles don't play much of a 
role when it comes to making money for companies of these sizes. It's about 
revenue in the first place. 

I think that we should avoid Google as a host, but that's just my humble 
opinion. Unfortunately, I don't have alternatives to come up with except for 
another mailing list, since I never tried groups.io.

Cheers,
Pierre

CRT from IBM terminal available

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,

I was contacted regarding the availability of a CRT from the terminal shown in 
this picture:
http://www.robotrontechnik.de/bilder/Galerien/Computersammlung/Computersammlung_268.jpg
Location is Germany. 
Please contact me offlist and I will establish the contact to the owner with 
you in case of interest.

Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Did anybody ever came across the DEC CI750 User Guide?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello all,

the headline says it all. DEC document number is EK-CI750-UG
I've been looking for that one for years but never came across a paper copy or 
scanned document. Does anybody know where to get one? 
The technical description and the schematics are available, though. 
Thanks for any feedback on this.

Best regards, 
Pierre
-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: help needed: Document scan of ISS Sperry Univac Driver Exerciser avalaible for bitsavers upload

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi Ed,

this exerciser supports the ISS 7330-type of drives, which come with capacities 
of 100MBytes and 200MBytes on 10-platter-placks (they are IBM-3336 equivalents).

Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Montag, 30. März 2020, 08:49:23 MESZ hat ED SHARPE via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





  I mean 
which  iss  drive  the  10 platter pack.  the  20 meg one?   Ed# 




In a message dated 3/29/2020 10:22:30 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

which  iss  drive  the  10 plotter  20 meg one?   Ed#
In a message dated 3/27/2020 5:12:08 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
cctalk@classiccmp.org writes:

On 3/27/20 3:55 AM, P Gebhardt via cctalk wrote:
> I contacted two times Al via email for access credentials to upload the 
> document as I did in the past years for numerous scans, but I never got an 
> answer.

private msg sent
sorry, things have been crazy

help needed: Document scan of ISS Sperry Univac Driver Exerciser avalaible for bitsavers upload

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,

I have a scan of a manual with schematics for a  ISS Sperry Univac Driver 
Exerciser for 7330 and 843x type of disk drives that was kindly scanned and 
provided to me by Mark from the Computer History Archivies Project, since he 
and myself happen to come accross such exercisers. I contacted two times Al via 
email for access credentials to upload the document as I did in the past years 
for numerous scans, but I never got an answer. He is probably very busy during 
the last months. In case anybody has access for uploading documents on this 
list, can you contact me so that we can make this document available to 
everybody? 

Best regards,
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Classic computers, and peripherals offers in France

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,

this might be of interest for list members located in France (Normandie) or 
close to it:

There is seller who offers different types of classic systems. Micros as well 
as larger systems andwhat appears to be a punched card sorter from the 50s. He 
writes that he has more stuff and that he can send pictures upon request.
Descriptions are in French, but google translate might help out...


https://www.leboncoin.fr/recherche/?text=Informatique%20vintage=Bernay_27300__49.10325_0.58486_6186

Cheers,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: H7821 power supply in MicroVAX 3100, SCSI disk enclosures and others

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Yep, that's what I call preventive electronics maintenance: I power up for a 
little time at least once a year all electronics that were in operational order 
up to a year ago, no matter what it is, to make sure they don't turn defective 
from "non-running", which is mainly affected by caps indeed. 
Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de


Am Freitag, 31. Januar 2020, 19:30:17 MEZ hat crufta cat via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





General rule for Elecrolytic caps is age and heat is not their friend.

So the assumption is if it powers up they may be leaky(electrically) or
leaking
and not completely bad so inspection is well advised.

My experience is if powered regularly (at least once a year for a hour or
more)
they seem to behave well.  Same for other electronics (non computer).

Allison


On Fri, Jan 31, 2020 at 8:24 AM Peter Coghlan via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> The recent discussion on BSC protocol prompted me to dig out my Microvax
> 3100
> with DSH32 synchronous serial interface.  It had been idle in storage for
> several years and it wouldn't power up, only giving a brief flash on the
> diagnostic LEDs and a quick twitch of the fans.  There was a slight smell,
> like
> the stale air that comes out of a deflating tyre.
>
> I took out the H7821 power supply and found that five identical brown
> 1800uF 25V
> electrolytic capacitors on the output side had leaked.
>
> The SCSI disk enclosure where the machine's system disk lives required
> several
> power cycles to get it to run at all and it died as soon as the disk tried
> to
> spin up.  It turned out to also contain a H7821 power supply which had a
> similar issue with the same five brown capacitors, although not as
> extensive
> as in the main unit.
>
> I found a second disk enclosure which had seen little use and grabbed the
> power
> supply out of that to put in the MicroVAX.  It worked well enough to test
> with
> but there was a ring of goo around the bottom of one of the brown
> capacitors
> which was worst affected in the other units.  Time to order a batch of
> replacement capacitors and figure out what else has been damaged.  While
> it is
> not the worst I have seen, access to these power supplies for repairs is
> quite
> difficult and it is really difficult to debug them safely while they are
> running with the cover off :-(
>
> If anyone has anything with H7821 power supplies in them, I suggest
> checking
> on these capacitors.  If anything with these power supplies is in storage,
> I
> suggest ensuring it is stored the normal way up as this should limit the
> ability of the goo to escape and spread around the power supply.
>
> And there I was thought I was being safe enough by removing the nicad
> battery
> packs some years ago...
>
> Regards,
> Peter Coghlan.
>

IBM 129 keypunch: How to remove the complete mechanics unit?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello all,

I may get a 129 IBM keypuncher soon and was wondering, if for transportation- 
and weight-related reasons, the punch mechanics can be carefully removed 
with the cables from the rest of the sytem?
>From the IBM documents, it seems that after removing the top cover from the 
>table, the mechanics connected to two holders (one one each end) could be 
>separated from the table by removing two screws and two bolts (one of each on 
>every side) and deconnecting all cables down in the electronics cabinet.

See for instance: UvA Computermuseum

UvA Computermuseum




Did anybody make any experiences with this?
I am grateful for any suggestions and/or recommendations.

Best regards,
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: DJ11 Maintenance Manual available

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Noel, 
there seems to be a copy of the maintenance manual in the unibus-folder on 
bitsavers:
EK-DJ11-MM-003_DJ11_Maint_Man_Aug76.pdf 
Would be worth checking the document revision. 
What is missing, however, is an engineering manual with the schematics.

Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Dienstag, 24. September 2019, 18:22:55 MESZ hat Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





So, I have a copy of the maintenance manual for the DJ11; is this something
anyone needs?n If so, I'll move it up the scan queue.

      Noel

Re: DEC RP04 service manual available

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi Noel,
I am very glad that you're the one who put hands on it. I planned to get it 
with the same intention to scan it for bitsavers, but then I got distracted and 
missed it!

Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Mittwoch, 18. September 2019, 20:33:44 MESZ hat Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





So I have just acquired a copy of the service manual for the RP04 drive (ISS
model 733). Does anyone have an immediate need to look at this? If so, I can
put it on the top of the 'to scan' stack.

    Noel

Re: SMD disks

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Al,thanks a million for having uploaded the Super Eagle manual. I had been 
looking for a long time for it!
Best regards,Pierre

-http://www.digitalheritage.de
 

Am Freitag, 30. August 2019, 18:03:34 GMT-7 hat Al Kossow via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben:  
 
 

On 8/30/19 12:50 AM, P Gebhardt via cctalk wrote:

> Talking about such drives, did anybody ever come across some manuals for the 
> Super Eagles M2361A? 

Just uploaded it to bitsavers


  

Re: SMD disks

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi Alan,

>3. The system "ran when parked" about a dozen years ago, but it was left 
>in an open barn after that. How likely is it that the disks will work 
>and be readable? One is a Fujitsu M2333; don't recall what they other 
>one is.
>


Alan, I have a few of these drives of which two were stored in a humid 
environment before I got them. There was rust everywhere... After a bit of 
cleaning, they both worked fine, formatting and checking was successful. In my 
experience, the 8" Fujitsu SMD drives are rock-solid, all of my drives work, 
never had issues, even after years of storage. It's a very different story with 
the 10.5" Fujitsu Super Eagles...

Talking about such drives, did anybody ever come across some manuals for the 
Super Eages M2361A? There are M2351 Eagle manuals online, but not for the Super 
Eagles which are different. Never came across a paper version, either.

Best regards,
Pierre

Control Data 9766 drive on epay

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi list,

Just came across this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Computing-CDC-Magnetic-Peripherals-Control-Data-9766-Storage-Module/143351908424?hash=item2160708848:g:3yEAAOSw1oJdTo9u

Haven't seen one listed in years. The price lets me assume that this offer 
addresses customers that may use these drives in a production environment or 
so...
I am not aware of museums or hobbyists who have such drives currently in a 
functional state to read and write from and to 80MB (CDC 9762) or 300MB (CDC 
9766) disk packs. Maybe the CHM? ... not taking into consideration the CHM 
activities related to the Xerox disk cartidge  (2315-equivalent) software 
archive project. 
Anybody out there? Would be interesting to know.

Best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: looking for a 7-track reel tape controller

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Paul, 
thanks a lot for your hint to the DEC controller. I wasn't aware that the TM11, 
TMA11 and TMB11 controllers can handle 9-track as well as 7-track NRZI-encoded 
tape drives. However, all these controllers seem to be very rare in the public 
out there. Not too surprising considering that DEC TU and TS tape drives 
themselves are rare and that 7-track tape drives were soon replaced by 9-track 
tape technology in the early days. 

With best regards, 
Pierre


-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Dienstag, 6. August 2019, 19:49:14 MESZ hat P Gebhardt 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





Hello Paul,

thanks a lot for your hint to the DEC controller. I wasn't aware that the TM11, 
TMA11 and TMB11 controllers can handle 9-track as well as 7-track NRZI-encoded 
tape drives. However, all these controllers seem to be very rare in the public 
out there. Not too surprising considering that DEC TU and TS tape drives 
themselves are rare and that 7-track tape drives were soon replaced by 9-track 
tape technology in the early days.

With best regards,
Pierre

-
http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Freitag, 2. August 2019, 07:04:02 MESZ hat Paul Koning via cctech 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





It may depend more on what kind of tape drive you have.

The DEC TU10 controller handles both  7 and 9 track tapes.

    paul

looking for a 7-track reel tape controller

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,
I have been looking for years for a q-bus or unibus-based disk controller that 
is able to handle 7-track drives (NRZI encoding). So far, I only located one 
controller type which handles that: Dilog DQ120 or DU120 and I never came 
across any.
Any other suggestions regarding controller types?Contact me off-list if you are 
happy to part any 7-track tape controller with me. That would be very much 
appreciated :)
Best regards,Pierre

-http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Pleas ID this IBM system....

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

wow! ...Hopefully some larger museums or seriously envolved hobbyists within 
Germany can take care of this piece of history to save this nice piece of 
computer history. 

--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Samstag, 6. April 2019, 16:04:26 MESZ hat jos via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 






The seller clearly has no idea, but the starting price is right !

https://www.ebay.de/itm/seltene-Anlage-Puma-Computer-IBM-2020/202646831828?hash=item2f2eb142d4:g:izoAAOSwhV1cpw



Jos

Re: Data books available in Aachen

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi Al,

I work at the RWTH Aachen and will contact him. I'd be happy to save the books 
from being thrown away.

All the best,
Pierre

--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Montag, 22. Oktober 2018, 15:54:28 MESZ hat Al Kossow via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





I received this message this morning, if someone in Germany would like a data 
book collection


"The computer club at the RWTH Aachen University has to move from a larger 
collection of semiconductor data books. These
are 2..3 steel cabinets full of data books of various manufacturers, for which 
there is no more space in the new
premises. I have seen your website and that you are dealing with the archiving 
/ digitization of such books. Would you
be interested in taking over this data book inventory? You would otherwise have 
to go to the waste paper ..."

--

From: Alfred Arnold 

Guten Tag,

der Computerclub an der RWTH Aachen muß sich im Zuge eines Umzugs von
einer größeren Sammlung an Halbleiter-Datenbüchern trennen.  Dabei handelt
es sich um 2..3 Stahlschränke voll von Datenbüchern verschiedenster
Hersteller, für die in den neuen Räumlichkeiten kein Platz mehr ist.
Ich habe Ihre Webseite gesehen und daß Sie sich mit der
Archivierung/Digitalisierung solcher Bücher beschäftigen.  Bestünde
eventuell Interesse an der Übernahme dieses Datenbuch-Bestandes?  Sie
müßten wohl ansonsten ins Altpapier gehen...

Viele Grüße

Alfred Arnold

-- 
Alfred Arnold                  E-Mail: alf...@ccac.rwth-aachen.de
Computer Club at the            http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/alf/
Technical University            Phone: +49-241-406526
of Aachen

Re: 1970s CDC disk drive (Craigslist, Washington DC)

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

it's  too bad that  I am on the other side of the great pond . I would have 
been very interested in it :-(

Pierre
---
 Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: 
http://www.digitalheritage.de


Chuck Guzis via cctalk  schrieb am Mo, 22.10.2018:

 Betreff: Re: 1970s CDC disk drive (Craigslist, Washington DC)
 An: "Ken Shirriff via cctalk" 
 Datum: Montag, 22. Oktober, 2018 08:16 Uhr
 
 On 10/21/18 7:12 PM, Ken Shirriff
 via cctalk wrote:
 > Someone pointed out
 this CDC disk drive on Craigslist in the Washington DC
 > area:
 > https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/zip/d/early-computer-era-rolling/6728728220.html
 > 
 > I have no connection
 to this, and don't know anything about it, but
 figured
 > someone on cctalk might want to
 pick it up, rather than it getting scrapped.
 > 
 
 Looks
 like a 9746.
 
 --Chuck

Re: Looking for two DEC H445 power bricks for PDP 11/40 project

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>
 >Am Dienstag, 18. September 2018, 16:27:49 MESZ hat Noel Chiappa 
 > Folgendes >geschrieben:
>
>
>
>
>
>    > From: Pierre Gebhardt
>
>    > As I don't have core memory modules available, I thought of using MS11
>    > memory, which, according to my research, seems to be an option for
>    > 11/40 systems. 
>
>Err, which kind of MS11? There are lots of different ones:
>
>  http://gunkies.org/wiki/MS11
>
>and they don't all work in every UNIBUS PDP-11!
>
>Your options are the -E/-J group, and the -L, but the latter are a bit hard
>to find, and expensive. (There may be non-DEC equivalents, but I don't know
>about them.) They all need a MUD backplane such as the DD11-C or DD11-D.

Indeed, these are MS11-LB boards, but I don't know yet, if they work. Got them 
a long time ago with a bunch of other untested unibus boards. With the BA11-F 
enclosure actually came a DD11-DK backplane. 
On Henk's website, I saw that one of his systems also has a DD11-DK backplane 
mounted in it despite the shorter
cable lengths compared to a DD11-DF according to what Paul Anderson wrote. 
I will have a look at this as soon as I have time and will extend the cables 
accordingly, if required. 

Thanks a lot for all the great hints provided so far by the list member :)
All the best,
Pierre

Re: Looking for two DEC H445 power bricks for PDP 11/40 project

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>    > From: Henk Gooijen
>
>   > As far as I know, the 11/40 uses only one H745.
>
>Depends on what kind of memory it has. If MF11-L, it has two H745's; if
>MM11-U, it has an H745 and an H754.
>
>(The harness has two different connectors for the 5th 'brick', so it can
>handle either kind. At least, that's the situation on the later machines
>[serial numbers above 6000]; early production /40's only support the MF11-L,
>and you have to use special add-on harnesses to support an MF11-U in them;
>see DEC-11-H40SA-B-D, Chapter 6 for the details.)

As I don't have core memory modules available, I thought of using MS11 memory, 
which, according to my research, seems to be an option for 11/40 systems. 
The system manual states on page 6-7 that the base power configuration consists
of two H745 regulators and that one may be swapped with a H754 in case MF11-U 
memory is used. 
Does that mean that a single H745 regulator might be sufficient for my needs?

All the best,
Pierre

Re: Looking for two DEC H445 power bricks for PDP 11/40 project

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Noel,

thanks for your quick reply. There are indeed some DEC power brick models on 
epay, but none regarding the H745. 

All the best,
Pierre




    > From: Pierre Gebhardt

    > two H745 bricks (delivering -15V) which are still missing. I'd be very
    > happy, if anybody could consider parting with one or two. Location is
    > in Germany.

There should be some on eBait; mildly expensive, but if you get them from
the US, the shipping is going to be a fair amount anyway...

    Noel

Looking for two DEC H445 power bricks for PDP 11/40 project

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,
last year, I was able to obtain a BA11-F chassis for my PDP 11/40 build-up 
project. The power supply to run a system in basic configuration is complete 
except for two H745 bricks (delivering -15V) which are still missing.
I'd be very happy, if anybody could consider parting with one or two. Location 
is in Germany. Please contact me off-list. 
Thanks a lot in advance for anybody of you helping me to work towards a running 
my first very classic PDP-11! 
Best regards,Pierre

--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Whence 556?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hi all,

thanks, Chuck, for pointing to my website with the 604 drive, but 
it's currently offline as I am required to update the disclaimer part.
This is required, since in Europe,a new law for data protection was 
introduced on Friday, 25th of May. 
I plan to put the website back online this weekend.

All the best,
Pierre

--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de






Am Montag, 4. Juni 2018, 23:15:10 MESZ hat Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
 Folgendes geschrieben: 





On 06/04/2018 11:20 AM, Rich Alderson via cctalk wrote:


> For decades, I remembered the lowest density for magnetic tapes as 225 
> bits/in,
> not 200.  I have never been able to find the number "225" in any manual since
> starting the project which became the museum 15 years ago (sob!), but it still
> hangs around in my mind and pings whenever I see "200BPI" mentioned.


Nope.  I've seen 248 mentioned and I have period-specific tapes that are
declared to be 200 bpi on the label and then there's this:

http://www.digitalheritage.de/peripherals/cdc/604/604.htm

Note the density indicators on this panel from a CDC 604.

--Chuck

towards a working PDP: Anyone has a PDP 11/35 or PDP11/40 panel for $$$ to offer?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello all,
As I never came across a complete unit of an early PDP-11 with 
lights-and-switches console, I decided 5-6 years ago to figure out, if I can't 
build one of out of different parts. It seemed possible to get there if I focus 
on parts for a 11/35 or 11/40. 
5 years ago, I came accross a backplane for such as system. Two years later, I 
was lucky to purchase an almost complete board set (one board missing, the 
M7232) from another classic computer enthusiast. Last year, I got a BA11-F 
chassis with the power supply. 
Over all those years, I looked out for a 11/35 or 11/40 panel (KY11-D), but I 
never was lucky to come accross one.On epay US, somebody is offering the plain 
PCB, but the seller says that he cannot ship to Europe :-(
My frustation pushes me now to ask, if anybody on this list has such a panel 
with the electronics board that he would consider to offer me for some $$$ to 
help me building a complete machine? I don't mind the panel color, e.g., if 
it's from a front-end PDP-11 of some bigger DEC system, or if the silkscreen is 
damaged or even missing. It would be great for me to get an early PDP-11 up and 
running and connect it to peripherals such as an RK07 that are in my 
collection.  I am located in Germany. Contact me off-list, if you have 
something to offer, please.  Best regards,Pierre

--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Control Data 841 disk drive's 3-phase power supply resurrection

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>The claim about the "only CDC disk drive with hydraulic positioner"  is
>false.  Starting with the Bryant 6603, I believe that the 808 and very
>rare 821 also used hydraulics.  Voice-coil positioners started to be
>used with the 844 drives.  I don't recall what the 854 used, as it
>wasn't very common on big CDC iron.
>
>--Chuck
Chuck, thanks a lot for your reply and for these insights! I indeed wasn't 
aware that within CDC, the 808 and 821 worked-with hydraulics, too. I will 
update the description on the web accordingly!The 85x drives don't use a 
hydraulic positioner. To my understanding, they used a solenoid and a carriage 
assembly that is controlled by a photo-cell, -transistor and a timing wheel 
with slots. 
All the best,Pierre
  

Control Data 841 disk drive's 3-phase power supply resurrection

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,

currently, I am in the process of trying to bring back to life a disk drive 
installation from Control Data known as "841 Multiple Disk Drive" ( MDD ). From 
the early '70s. It uses hydraulic disk head actuators! Pictures of the 
subsystem are here:

http://www.digitalheritage.de/peripherals/cdc/841/841.htm

I started with the power supply. Most of the electrolytic capacitors need to be 
reformed which is being done. 
As far as I know, some computer installations used 400Hz 3-phase back in the 
days. Does anybody know, if that is the case for this type of drive systems? I 
couldn't find any indication so far, except for the input filter that supports 
up to 400Hz (written on it). 
I've quite some experience with old linear power supplies, but never worked 
with three-phase supplies, yet.
Has anybody experience with this? Anything particular to be considered?

There is an operator's manual, but there don't seem to be manuals or schematics 
about this type of CDC drive nor on bitsavers, neither elsewhere on the net. 
How could help me in pointing out where to get these?
A lot of questions, I know :)

Thanks a lot for any of your precious help,
Pierre



--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: eBay: MEMOREX 3693-2 & 3690-2 Disc Drive Mainframe IBM 3370-2 VINTAGE

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

>eBay: MEMOREX 3693-2 & 3690-2 Disc Drive Mainframe IBM 3370-2 VINTAGE
>
>No connection to the seller, but they mention it will be scrapped if no 
>takers. $150 Buy it now.
>https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MEMOREX-3693-2-3690-2-Disc-Drive-Mainframe-IBM-3370-2-VINTAGE/272983151498
>or eBay item number: 272983151498
>
>Steve.
I saw that one today, too! If it wouldn't be across the great pond, then I 
would try to save these drives from being scrapped.It would be a real shame if 
nobody could take them. This Memorex equipment is very rare to come across. 

All the best,Pierre

--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

   

Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello Al,

>> The surfaces of the disk packs of type 9871 or 871 that came with it where 
>> corroded and are not usable anymore. 
>
>Did you keep them?
>
>The platters can be replaced with ones from the single-platter IBM 2315 (ie. 
>RK05) and use similar head technology which is pretty rugged.

>

Yes, I kept the disk packs. However, I guess that one need to have special 
alignment tools to replace single platters of a disk pack. Or is a reformat 
enough, as long as the servo disk surface is error-free and available?

>The two drives you have are equivalent to IBM 2311 and 2314, which both use 
>hydraulic actuators.

>
I didn't know that they were equivalent! Are you sure it's the drives 
themselves that are equivalent between IBM and CDC, not the disk pack specs for 
both drives? I assumed that the IBM and CDC drives wth hydraulic actuators were 
independent developments...

>We were constrained at the time by what we could take from Dortmund. As it was 
>it was a very expensive move.

>I'm glad that so much of what we couldn't take was saved.

>From what I found regarding remaining documents hidden inside some cabinets in 
>Dortmund, I scanned them in already and most of them were uploaded to 
>bitsavers in the past. 


All the best,
Pierre

Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello everybody,

recently, there was an US epay auction with a CDC 849 disk pack. 


http://www.ebay.com/itm/292129988099

This pack is for the early CDC 851/852 disk storage drives and thus not of 
interest for me, as the packs I am looking for my 854 drive have a different 
amount of sectors per track and these packs are numbered: 9851 or 851. 


Here's a link to the drive that I'd like to restore some day:

http://www.digitalheritage.de/peripherals/cdc/854/854.htm

Same question regarding the 841 Multiple Disk Drive in the collection:
http://www.digitalheritage.de/peripherals/cdc/841/841.htm

The surfaces of the disk packs of type 9871 or 871 that came with it where 
corroded and are not usable anymore. 


These packs and the drives seem rare and though I've been looking for these for 
some years now, I don't came across them :-(

Thus my question to anybody having disk packs of these types:
Would you spare a disk pack, even if in unknown working condition? I am located 
in Germany.
Thanks in advance for getting in contact with me!


All the best,
Pierre

--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Help needed: Identifying the right RK611 <-> RK06/RK07 cabling

[P Gebhardt via cctalk]

Hello list,

Paul Anderson and myself are trying to figure out the available cabling options 
that allow to connect an RK611 controller to RK06/RK07 drives.

To my knowledge, there is the possibility to get a drive connect via:

RK611 <-> flat cable <-> cabinet transition bracket <-> round cable <-> RK06/07

The part numbers I found so far:

Flat cable: BC-06R-xx
round cable: 70-12292
or BC23Z-xx

The transition bracket's PN is 70-12415 and is the same as for RL01/RL02 
configurations.

The round cable with same connectors as used for RL01/02 cannot be used for 
RK06/07 as not all cables are wired to the connectors. But a RK06/07 cable can 
be used for RL01/RL02.
Can the BC-06R also be used for RL01/RL02?

Apparently, there are also direct cable connections between RK611 and RK06/07 
existing. In that case, no transition bracket is needed. 


BC80M shielded: RK611 to first drive


... and the cable required to connect two RK07/07 drives:

BC17Eshielded


Can anybody help us in confirming and correcting us regarding the cabling 
configurations
and the part numbers?

Thanks a lot for your help!
Have a nice Sunday,
Pierre


 
--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: 11/44, parts, 11/24, DZ11

[P Gebhardt]

Apologies to the list for the noise,that message was supposed to be sent 
directly to Paul and not to the list.
Best regards,Pierre
--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

  Von: P Gebhardt <p.gebha...@ymail.com>
 An: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
 Gesendet: 10:07 Mittwoch, 8.Februar 2017
 Betreff: Re: 11/44, parts, 11/24, DZ11
   
Hello Paul,
this is sort of unrelated, but it reminded me of asking you, if you will have 
time in the next months to watch out for the KT11-D board (M7236) and the RK611 
cabling (flat cable BC06R-xx and the transition brack 70-12415 (same as for 
RL01/02)) ?
Thank you very much in advance!All the best,Pierre
--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

  Von: Paul Anderson <used...@gmail.com>
 An: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org>; 
cct...@vax-11.org 
 Gesendet: 20:40 Samstag, 4.Februar 2017
 Betreff: Re: 11/44, parts, 11/24, DZ11
  
Opps...That should read FP11-F.  Sorry, I changed drugs recently

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 11:33 PM, Paul Anderson <used...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have at least one 11/44 for sale, at least one 11/24 for sale. I can
> configure them as needed within reason.  They can be packed and shipped as
> freight carrier of your choice or pickup in IL. or IN. Please contact me
> off list.
>
> Also the following parts:
>
> M7090
> M7094
> M7095
> M7096
> M7097
> M7098
>
> $300/SET (several available)
>
> 70-15672 backplane  $70
>
> M7093  FP11-A  make offer
>
> M7819 DZ11 board only $50
>
> Any quantity boards ship for $10 within US.
>
> Thanks, Paul
>


   

   

Re: 11/44, parts, 11/24, DZ11

[P Gebhardt]

Hello Paul,
this is sort of unrelated, but it reminded me of asking you, if you will have 
time in the next months to watch out for the KT11-D board (M7236) and the RK611 
cabling (flat cable BC06R-xx and the transition brack 70-12415 (same as for 
RL01/02)) ?
Thank you very much in advance!All the best,Pierre
--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

  Von: Paul Anderson 
 An: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts ; 
cct...@vax-11.org 
 Gesendet: 20:40 Samstag, 4.Februar 2017
 Betreff: Re: 11/44, parts, 11/24, DZ11
   
Opps...That should read FP11-F.  Sorry, I changed drugs recently

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 11:33 PM, Paul Anderson  wrote:

> I have at least one 11/44 for sale, at least one 11/24 for sale. I can
> configure them as needed within reason.  They can be packed and shipped as
> freight carrier of your choice or pickup in IL. or IN. Please contact me
> off list.
>
> Also the following parts:
>
> M7090
> M7094
> M7095
> M7096
> M7097
> M7098
>
> $300/SET (several available)
>
> 70-15672 backplane  $70
>
> M7093  FP11-A  make offer
>
> M7819 DZ11 board only $50
>
> Any quantity boards ship for $10 within US.
>
> Thanks, Paul
>


   

Re: NWA auctions

[P Gebhardt]

>https://grafeauction.proxibid.com/asp/catalog.asp?aid=117590=288#288
>
>someone needs to grab those 11/45's!


Again on the wrong side of the pond :(((


--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

[P Gebhardt]

Hello all,

>I recently got a bunch of boards from somebody who was either not able to tell 
>me where they were from.
>The boards seem to be unibus-based with numbers starting with X. I neither 
>came across these before, nor could find any information in the web about it:
>
>Type, P/N , Description
>X029, 5013132B, AUC interconnect
>X022, 5012197C, unibuswindow
>X021, 5012181C, CD ROM control (did that ever exist for unibus?)
>X020, 5012180B, data path
>
>Two 16K mos memory modules M7847 came with the set. 
>


Thanks to everybody who tried to help figuring out from what installation these 
DEC boards with Unibus-type connecction are. I'm somehow amazed that there seem 
to be some board types from DEC around that seem pretty much unknown. I also 
didn't find any information in the DEC part number catalogs on bitsavers. I 
confirm that the X-type numbers (x020, X029 etc) are found on the metal etches 
of the boards. 

Anyway, I will keep the photos of the boards at the below link. Maybe somebody 
who steps over it someday can tell us what these boards are from :)  


http://www.digitalheritage.de/other/dec_mystery_boards/

Thanks again to the list for your help so far on this,
Pierre

Re: Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

[P Gebhardt]

> I asked my DEC dealer friends, and they said the PN will be on the metal 
> handles. If you can provide those, then he can tell u what they went to.
> 
> Cindy
> 



Hi Cindy,

thanks for your reply. I will look them up tomorrow as soon as I have access to 
the boards again.

Cheers,
Pierre

Re: Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

[P Gebhardt]

>>the 50x number with the letter behind it could be a dec board number.
>
>
>The 50 class could be the artwork, and the letter the board rev.  If that is 
>the case, there is probably a 54- class on the other side of the board one 
>number higher. The 54  number is the board with components, and can be tracked 
>down, but not easily. 
>


Thanks for this hint, Paul. I rechecked for numbers, but couldn't any 
54-numbers on the boards.

>>They could have been renamed by another company. 
>


It looks very much to me like original DEC equipment.


>>Any other print in the etch?
>


Interestingly, the prints in the etches are those I stated and all have an X 
prior to the actual number.

>>Any pictures?
>


Yes, I uploaded some at 

http://www.digitalheritage.de/other/dec_mystery_boards/


I still have not clue what these boards are for. Any help is highly appreciated!

Thanks,
Pierre


>>
>
>On Sat, May 28, 2016 at 5:51 AM, P Gebhardt <p.gebha...@ymail.com> wrote:
>
>Hello list,
>>
>>I recently got a bunch of boards from somebody who was either not able to 
>>tell me where they were from.
>>The boards seem to be unibus-based with numbers starting with X. I neither 
>>came across these before, nor could find any information in the web about it:
>>
>>Type, P/N , Description
>>X029, 5013132B, AUC interconnect
>>X022, 5012197C, unibuswindow
>>X021, 5012181C, CD ROM control (did that ever exist for unibus?)
>>
>>X020, 5012180B, data path
>>
>>
>>
>>Two 16K mos memory modules M7847 came with the set.
>>
>>
>>No backplane, unfortunately.
>>Any hints about the type of system and application these boards were for?
>>Many thanks for any pointers.
>>
>>Wish a nice weekend to all of you,
>>Pierre
>>
>>
>>---
>>
>>Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: 
>>http://www.digitalheritage.de
>>
>
>
>

Set of mystery DEC boards: who can help me identifying these?

[P Gebhardt]

Hello list,

I recently got a bunch of boards from somebody who was either not able to tell 
me where they were from.
The boards seem to be unibus-based with numbers starting with X. I neither came 
across these before, nor could find any information in the web about it:

Type, P/N , Description
X029, 5013132B, AUC interconnect
X022, 5012197C, unibuswindow
X021, 5012181C, CD ROM control (did that ever exist for unibus?)

X020, 5012180B, data path



Two 16K mos memory modules M7847 came with the set. 


No backplane, unfortunately.
Any hints about the type of system and application these boards were for?
Many thanks for any pointers.

Wish a nice weekend to all of you,
Pierre


--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Offer: HP 1611A logic state analyser with option A80 for 8080 microprocessors

[P Gebhardt]

Hello list,

I've had this HP logic state analyzer for many years now, but never found 
actual use for it and thus never used it. So I decided that a new home would be 
more suitable for it. The analyzer comes with the option to debug and analyze 
8080 microporcessors. Probes are provided, but no manual. However, there is a 
small command overview on the front of the  keyboard. 

The system completes the selftest and I did let it run for two hours yesterday. 
No more tests done, but if anybody wants me to do a specific test, then I can 
do it, provided you explain to me what to do. 

Pictures are under 


http://www.digitalheritage.de/other/hp_1611a/

Make me an offer via private reply. Pick-up in Bonn (Germany) or international 
shipping possible. However, keep in mind that the system weights 13kg (29 lbs), 
so shipping is not going to be cheap.

Cheers,
Pierre  


 
--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: DEC Unibus backplanes/options

[P Gebhardt]

> RM11-A  massbus
> TM03 tape formatter
> 


Does anybody from the list know the exact difference between the RM11 and the 
RH11? I could find barely any information about the RM11 except that is also 
seems to talk Massbus like the RH11...

Best wishes,
Pierre

Re: VCF-Berlin, 2015

[P Gebhardt]

> Anyone know what the two indicator panels on top of the large blue box in the
> center of this one:
> 
>   ftp://jhoppe.ddns.net/vcfb2105/content/TB8A3377_large.html
> 
> are? They look to be PDP-10 {something}, given what appear to be two rows 
> of
> 36 lights on the bottom (although they are hard to see clearly), but I
> couldn't find a panel like that in my PDP-10 manual.
> 
> Noel

> 


If think that the left console panel is from a PDP-15.

Kind regards,
Pierre



---
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: IBM z890

[P Gebhardt]

> So now we know what can and can't IPL over which interfaces, now its a 
> matter of finding which devices support what.
> I think the IBM TotalStorage series of disk arrays support FC, at-least 
> DS4000 and up, DS3000 may but I am not sure.
> I have found some DS4000 chassis up which are somewhat cheap but then I 
> need to buy caddies and drives and that will add up...
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-1740-710-DS4000-EXP710-Total-Storage-Expansion-Unit-zq-/281628536073?hash=item41925e6d09:g:~44AAOSwrklVAxIp
> I have found complete DS4000's for around 200 dollars.
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-DS4000-EXP100-SAN-Expansion-Unit-1724-1xp-w-14x-400GB-7-2k-Hard-Drives-3650-/171988053156?hash=item280b496ca4:g:j20AAOSweW5VgGTH
> But still I am not 100% sure they support FC, and are not just SAN's 
> over FCP which I think they also support.
> To say the least I need to find someone very familiar with the newer IBM 
> hardware because I don't want to pay as much as I did for the machine to 
> get storage that 'might' work.


I did read the last sentence three times, I think. Weren't these machines worth 

over 200k USD ten years ago? :)

Cheers,
Pierre



--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice peripherals

[P Gebhardt]

- Ursprüngliche Message -
> Von: Rich Alderson 
> An: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' 
> CC: 
> Gesendet: 22:15 Montag, 2.November 2015
> Betreff: RE: youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of 
> nice peripherals
> 
> From: Lee Courtney
> Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2015 10:37 AM
> 
>>  I posted the video you linked to. The machines on the video belonged to
>>  George Plue, who ran a medical billing service bureau in Flagstaff AZ. They
>>  are now located at the Living Computer Museum (LCM) in Seattle.
> 
>>  George originally ran the Computer Center at Anderson University in Berrien
>Andrews
>>  Springs MI, and the center ran several generations of SDS the XDS Sigma
>>  mainframes over the years. When Xerox decided to get out of the mainframe
>>  computing business in August 1975 the market for Sigmas essentially
>>  collapsed despite Honeywell agreeing to buy the carcass of the business.
>>  George and a partner got into the used Sigma HW business and he maintained
>>  a stock of HW, SW and documentation at his home in MI. More info here:
>>  http://www.andrews.edu/~calkins/profess/SDSigma7.htm
> 
> George's partner was Stan Ritland, who came from a family of doctors but who
> did not like medicine as a career path himself.  They located the business in
> Flagstaff to take advantage of the built in customer base made up of Stan's
> three brothers; their offices were across the street from the main hospital,
> and they quickly grew.
> 
> (George, an only child, met Stan when they were 8 years old.  They were best
> friends for nearly 60 years, and George spent as much time at Stan's home as
> at his own growing up.)
> 
>>  I'm unclear on when he acquired his second home in Flagstaff, but he 
> had a
>>  typical ranch style house in Flagstaff. The big difference being that he
>>  had installed a significantly larger electrical feed with three-phase power
>>  than one would find in a residence, and the downstairs family and bedrooms
>>  were used as the machine room in the video.
> 
> The reason George *bought* the house was that there was already a 220V service
> running across the back of the property, so that running 220V into the house
> was a lot less expensive than usual.
> 
> The basement in which the computers and peripherals were a tilt-up add-on to
> the original house.
> 
>>  I visited George in the early 2000's (I think) and at that time he had 
> a
>>  fully configured Sigma-9 and Sigma-8 mainframes, along with several tape
>>  drives, and string of DASD. Yes, the machine room was strewn with
>>  printouts, docs, partially finished projects, tapes, etc. But all the
>>  machines worked and it was glorious. ;-)
> 
> It's a Sigma 6, not a Sigma 8.  The 6 was a clone of the 7 and 9 built for 
> the
> education market with all of the usually unbundled products included in the
> license for CP-V.
> 
>>  Unfortunately George passed away a few years ago. All the HW and SW that
>>  was in running condition was rescued by the LCM in Seattle. I know LCM has
>>  had someone with Sigma experience working on and off on the Sigma to get it
>>  running again. Not sure of the current status. But, that would be an
>>  awesome time-sharing system alongside the DEC-20 they have.
> 
> Not just running condition.  100,000 pounds of gear, including the 9, 6, and a
> 7 that had been retired in the 90s, spares for all of them, the 8 running disk
> drives and 4 running tape drives, along with about 20 more disk drives (the
> older 50MB hydraulic units) from the 7.  Five 24' trucks, driven by Stan and 
> his
> brothers from Flagstaff to Seattle.
> 
> My colleague Keith and I spent 3 days in Flagstaff deinstalling everything,
> while Stan, 2 of his brothers, and George's wife, daughter, and 
> granddaughter
> looked on, labeled, packed, fed us, forklifted onto the trucks, and celebrated
> George's life.
> 
>>  There was also a group in AZ working on restoring a Sigma mainframe, maybe
>>  some of Georges collection. He also had a complete Sigma-7 and a boatload
>>  of Honeywell peripherals in his garage in Flagstaff. The AZ group was very
>>  energetic, but I have not heard any updates in several years. Having worked
>>  on CHM's first restoration, the IBM 1620, from start to finish I know 
> its a
>>  huge undertaking to get even a relatively straightforward machine up and
>>  running.
> 
> No, George helped them, but he was running a Sigma support business; he was 
> not
> inclined to give things away.
> 
> George Plue was a true wizard.  One of his creations was a SCSI interface for
> the Sigma 9 which allowed him to copy magnetic tape files to DAT (not, as we
> all know now, the best choice of medium, but remarkable for all that).
> 
> George was also a true gentleman, as is Stan Ritland.  It was a privilege to
> know George for the short time that I did.  We met about 

youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice peripherals

[P Gebhardt]

Hello list,

spotted this video recently on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQzDSOXHd70

It's a Xerox Digital Systems mainframe! Wow, I didn't know that such 
installations were still running as of 1997!

The computer room is quite untidy. Andybody has an idea, where with was filmed?


There's also a Data General minicomputer and Honeywell mainframe equipment.
Can anybody identify the Honeywell stuff? It's Level 6000 style, but
it's strange to me that there seems to be just this one cabinet along the
rest of the XDS equipment. Maybe a Datanet option?


There are *very* nice close views on running CDC disk drives using the 
100/200MB disk packs.
I was looking for a long time for a video actually showing how the big head 
actuator 

of these drives moves when performing data operations!

And there are nice reel tape drives which look to me like rebadged IBM drives 
(not sure, though).

Enjoy watching it! I did!

 
Kind regards,
Pierre

--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: There's hope... and then there's aggressively optimistic

[P Gebhardt]

Noel, I've observed this quite some times now on ebay: Some people put up 

auctions for a price and the auctions end with no bidders. Afterwards, they 
re-list the 

items long term (so no auction) with higher prices. They go fishing for the 

rare number of people interested in these things.


Cheers,
Pierre

 
--- 

Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de


- Ursprüngliche Message -
> Von: Noel Chiappa 
> An: cctalk@classiccmp.org
> CC: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu
> Gesendet: 14:59 Freitag, 30.Oktober 2015
> Betreff: There's hope... and then there's aggressively optimistic
> 
> I love this person's style:
> 
>   http://www.ebay.com/itm/281835789336
> 
> It doesn't sell for $25? Fine, re-list it at $35!
> 
> Noel
>

Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

[P Gebhardt]

- Ursprüngliche Message -
> Von: Chuck Guzis 
> An: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
> CC: 
> Gesendet: 18:16 Freitag, 23.Oktober 2015
> Betreff: Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?
> 
> On 10/23/2015 09:10 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
> 
> 
>>  Maxtor drives have a very distinctive (and loud) recal sound.
> 
> And some Maxtor drives are Miniscribes.  I have one (I think it's an 
> ESDI, IIRC) that has a beautiful Miniscribe HDA casting, with a Maxtor 
> label wrapped around it.
> 
> Ah, the good old days of brick-filled boxes...
> 
> --Chuck

> 


Haha, I guess you're alluding to the massive scam with the bricks, Miniscribe 
did back them to pretend stocks full of disk drives...
BTW, are there any other similar stories from the disk drive buisiness back in 
these days?

Pierre

CDC-160 (was Re: IBM 1620)

[P Gebhardt]

 
 (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: Time to dig out some of my DEC XX2247 keys

[P Gebhardt]

Ok, now who can tell me why the hell people bid so much on the metal version of 
the start/stop keys?
I'm rally curious about that!

 
--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de


- Ursprüngliche Message -
 Von: Al Kossow a...@bitsavers.org
 An: gene...@classiccmp.org
 CC: 
 Gesendet: 21:49 Mittwoch, 15.Juli 2015
 Betreff: Time to dig out some of my DEC XX2247 keys
 
 http://www.ebay.com/itm/281749697289

Re: CDC disk drives (was Re: what IBM system is this?)

[P Gebhardt]

 I remember encountering them mostly as replacements for the terrible 821 
 drives, which had the appearance of an 808, but substantially increased 
 capacity.  I don't think any 821s were ever installed at a customer's 
 site, however--I saw the lot of them that we had falling to the CE 
 sledgehammer.
 
 They were replaced by banks of 844s--lots of them.  I think one site had 
 well over 100 installed, all hooked together with a MAC on at least 2 
 Cyber 74s.
 
 
 --Chuck

 


Wow, more than hundred of these CDC drives??? This must have been a massive 

installation! I didn't know so many disk drives could be combined with 

Cyber systems. Thanks for the insights!
I was already amazed by pictures provided by the University of Auckland:

https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/historydisplays/FifthFloor/MagneticDataStorage/DataStorageImages/DiskPacks/CDCComputerRoom.jpg

It doesn't say, though, where this picture was taken.

Kind regards,
Pierre

---
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de

Re: VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

[P Gebhardt]

- Ursprüngliche Message -
 Von: Johnny Billquist b...@update.uu.se
 An: cct...@classiccmp.org
 CC: 
 Gesendet: 23:02 Dienstag, 7.Juli 2015
 Betreff: Re: VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)
 
 On 2015-07-07 23:55, Robert Armstrong wrote:
  Johnny Billquist bqt at update.uu.se wrote:
  some of the 8000-series stuff are probably the biggest ...
 
 Not all of them.  The 82xx/83xx family was just one 10-1/2 chassis 
 for
  the CPU - the same physical size as a 11/730, yet they were genuine single
  or dual CPU BI bus VAXen.  Of course, many of their brothers were quite a
  bit bigger.
 
 And don't forget the VAXstation-8000...
 
 Right. But I did say some. :-)
 
 Think 8978 for example...


I'd say that the 8000 series (besides the 11/7x0 series) were the most diverse 
in size compared to the 6000, 7000 and 9000 series. As already mentioned, the 
82x0 or 83x0 fit into a small half-height cabinet. The 85x0 has the size of a 
6000 or 7000 series vax, if I remember well. The 8800 series were housed in 
very large cabients, larger than the 6000 and 7000 series cabinets.

Pierre

Re: VAX-11/750 registry (Was: Reviving a VAX-11/750)

[P Gebhardt]

  Sorry for the scope creep; but perhaps it might be more
  useful/interesting to make it a registry of any VAX that has a name of
  the form VAX-11/7xx? (Which could also include the VAX 8600 and 
 VAX
  8650, since were originally to be called the VAX-11/790 and
  VAX-11/795.)
 
 I'd vote for big VAX list. The minutiae of marketing names is 
 pretty 
 boring and irrelevant to such a list isn't it?
 
 --Toby


I wonder how the ratio of VAX 6000s and 7000s in enthusiasts' hands compared of 
VAX 11's in terms of numbers is? I guess that /780 and larger systems are rare, 
but I'd guess that there are some more /730 and /750 around. No idea if my gut 
feeling reflects facts, though.

Kind regards,
Pierre

CDC disk drives (was Re: what IBM system is this?)

[P Gebhardt]

 

 I don't believe you're looking at a single system.  Note the banks of 
 CDC 844 disk drives in the foreground (you can even make out the 
 Control Data logo.
 


Chuck, I would have guessed these are 9756/9780 type of drives (100 and 200MB 
disk packs, respectively). But I just saw that the 844-41 also uses 
high-capacity disk packs (in contrast to the original plain 844). 

From the physical appearance, they seem to look very similar or even 
identical? Is there a way to distinguish these drives from a looks/appearance 
point-of-view?

Kind regards,
Pierre

Re: What are the differences between the DEC RP11-C and RP11-E controllers?

[P Gebhardt]

Mike, Charles and the two Pauls,
thanks very much for your feedback on this!

The remaining point now is that they are practically impossible to find anymore 
these days, but that's different topic...

Thanks again,
Pierre


 
--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de



 Von: Paul Anderson used...@gmail.com
An: P Gebhardt p.gebha...@ymail.com; General Discussion: On-Topic and 
Off-Topic Posts cctalk@classiccmp.org 
Gesendet: 22:08 Montag, 22.Juni 2015
Betreff: Re: What are the differences between the DEC RP11-C and RP11-E 
controllers?
 


The RP11-E is a newer, but about same size, than the RP11-C. I don't remember 
the differences, but i went to Chicago and was trained on both in the late 
70's.


I have a few cabinets of documentation to sort through and I might have some 
in there.  Al, do you want to scan it if you don't have it and I find it?

















On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 3:24 PM, P Gebhardt p.gebha...@ymail.com wrote:

Hi list,

the subject sais it all: While seeking for information on the RP11-C on the 
web (I saved a RP03 from being scrapped 3 years ago), I came across a hint, 
that there was also a RP11-E controller. At least using google, there is 
practically not a single information/document on the RP11-E other than its 
existence in the past. Is the difference maybe just a different input voltage 
specification (110V vs. 220V)?


Who knows anything on the difference between the C- and the E-type, Google 
doesn't? :)
I'd be happy on any hints.

Kind regards,
Pierre


---
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: 
http://www.digitalheritage.de

What are the differences between the DEC RP11-C and RP11-E controllers?

[P Gebhardt]

Hi list,

the subject sais it all: While seeking for information on the RP11-C on the web 
(I saved a RP03 from being scrapped 3 years ago), I came across a hint, that 
there was also a RP11-E controller. At least using google, there is practically 
not a single information/document on the RP11-E other than its existence in the 
past. Is the difference maybe just a different input voltage specification 
(110V vs. 220V)?


Who knows anything on the difference between the C- and the E-type, Google 
doesn't? :)
I'd be happy on any hints.

Kind regards,
Pierre

 
--- 
Pierre's collection of classic computers moved to: http://www.digitalheritage.de