Re: multinet 4.1 PAK

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Tue, 22 Mar 2016 13:45:38 +0100, John H. Reinhardt  
 wrote:



Anyone can also get a free membership at Encompasserve by ssh to  
eisner.decus.org and creating an account.


Good to know -- many thanks, Peter! Most of the ones I tried were long  
defunct.


--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: multinet 4.1 PAK

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Tue, 22 Mar 2016 12:29:18 +0100, Peter Coghlan  
 wrote:



You also need to be a member of a user group such as DECUS
or Interex or whatever it is called this week.  Some of these have   
membership

fees but as far as I know, there is at least one international group that
anyone can join for free.


I'd be interested in joining -- anyone have info on the international  
group?



--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: OT: lenses (Was: Front Panels - PDP8 and PDP 11

[Roland Schregle]

On 11/03/2016, at 8:01 AM, Zane Healy  wrote:

> 
>> On Mar 10, 2016, at 10:05 PM, couryho...@aol.com wrote:
>> 
>> I  wonder if the tele tessar was a true  tessar   design  or  just a  use 
>> of  'the name' ? I have seen   snipits in google referring to it being a 
>> true 
>> telephoto...  with a true  tessar formula  lens  IS NOT.
> 
> I think it’s based on the Tessar, but is something different from what’s in 
> the Hasselblad manual.  The cross-section is definitely different.  There are 
> apparently at least two Tele-Tessar designs, with different numbers of 
> elements.
> 
>> ok  the  norm   for the hassleblad was a80 mm  f  2.8 planar...
>> 
>> in the rolliflex   the tessar was the entry level lens... the  planar  the  
>> upgrade.
>> 
>> my  first  'real' camera was a 1933 rolliflex  with a   f3.5 tessar.   not 
>> bad  at  all  but a little soft  wide open.
>> I still have  this  camera. and the low  shutter   speeds are a little  
>> slow  but OTW   rest is   fine..
>> In  HD  I  bought an argus  c3   from my  geometry teacher  for   $8   and 
>> used it a lot   more  shots  per  roll and  would operate  eye level  and 
>> had a  pretty  good  split image rangefinder.. the   lens  was  decent too.
>> 
>> when I  went in USAF  sold   the  C#  to  my  brother but  kept the 
>> rolliflex  (  wish I had   saved both! as  the argus  shot  some of  my   
>> first  
>> press  work)  adn  when in USAF   got a  SLR.
> 
> I’ve not been able to justify the cost of a Planar Rolleiflex, though I’d 
> really love one with a nice f/2.8 Planar lens.  Both of mine have the 75mm 
> f/3.5 Tessar.  The older of my two is from 1936, the newer from about 1958.  
> For me the Rollei is more of a small lightweight travel camera, or shooting 
> for fun, than a serious camera.  Sort of a “getting back to my roots” sort of 
> thing, as I started with a Yashica 44LM TLR.

There's always the Schneider Xenotar as alternative to the Planar; got one on 
my 2.8C. The performance is pretty much identical for a fraction of the price. 
Of course it doesn't have the same prestige. There's been endless discussions 
about the relative merits of these two lens, but for all intents and purposes, 
they are absolutely on par. They're for users, not collectors.

Have the Tessar on a 3.5B (aka MX-EVS). Excellent expect when wide open as 
mentioned here, though I wouldn't call it entry level. I think Zeiss made an 
earlier, sub-standard lens (Biotar ?) for Rollei before they could deliver 75mm 
Tessars.

Also have Distagon wide angles for my SL35 (Rollei's 1st foray into 35mm SLRs), 
including a clunky f/1.4 35mm and an f/2.8 25mm. These are superb lens; even 
the ones made under license by Rollei Singapore are pretty good. The Zeiss ones 
are more solidly built tho. Of course I also have the Planar as standard lens 
for the SL35, plus a 200mm TeleTessar. The latter is fairly unimpressive unless 
really stopped down.

Somebody mentioned the Zeiss ZM line for Leica. Have the f/2.8 35mm Biogon and 
the f/2 50mm Planar for my M3 and M2. These perform very close to the original 
Leitz glass, but are at least affordable for mere mortals. Having said that, I 
find the colour rendition of these lens over the top; way too saturated 
compared to the earlier Zeiss lens (note that these are actually made by Cosina 
in Japan).

--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]

Re: Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2016 14:23:34 +0100, Peter Coghlan  
 wrote:




FWIW, here's a thermography (hope the link works) of the B-cache  
section of the KA-675 after being powered up for ca. 30 mins:  
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2nsx1dfngp1jfq5/TH710065.BMP?dl=0


Note that the rightmost chip just below the CPU heatsink has a pin  
that's ca. 2 degrees warmer than the others. I don't know if that says  
anything, but it *is* reproducible. Maybe I should start with that one.




I can't really make it out on the image but if it is just one pin that is
hot, maybe there is nothing more complicated wrong than a bad solder  
joint

at that pin, particularly if it is a power or ground pin.


Hi Peter,

I've already reworked that pin, but to no avail. :^(

I've converted the pic to grayscale for better contrast and highlighted  
the pin in red:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ss76hldqxziazyc/ka-675-1.png?dl=0

For comparison, here's a thermograph of the 2nd KA-675 with the dead DSSI  
controller:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8twvrytrr60mrb9/ka-675-2.jpg?dl=0

The artefact doesn't show up on the 2nd board.  Might be a long shot tho.  
I'm not sure a chip failure would even show here. This was more of a lame  
experiment, since we have the thermal tracer in the lab anyway (and the  
pix look cool).


--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:09:02 +0100, Peter Coghlan  
 wrote:






I have two KA-675s for this beast: Board #1 (originally installed) has  
a failed B-cache (console reports SUBTEST_35_12,  
DE_B_Cache_diag_mode.LIS) and crashes with an asynchronous write memory  
failure when booting VMS from CD.




I wonder is there a way to disable the B-cache?



I mention this because I have more than one Alphaserver 1000A with failed
B-cache and I have found it is possible to work around this issue by  
moving a
jumper on the CPU board to disable the B-cache.  The result is that the  
machine

works with reduced performance.


Yeah, I wondered about that too, but there's no jumper on the KA-675.  
Interestingly the console firmware has no problem with the failed B-cache,  
or somehow bypasses it. Booting VMS fails though.


--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Wed, 09 Mar 2016 21:59:27 +0100, Robert Jarratt  
 wrote:



I think one day I will have to equip myself and learn how to desolder  
and resolder surface mount chips. I don't know how many chips implement  
the B-CACHE, but perhaps you could replace all of them, assuming you  
know which ones they are. Perhaps some careful probing of the board with  
a scope might show if there any chips that are perhaps completely dead.  
You could do the same for the DSSI controller on the other board of  
course, if you can identify that.


Our lab has an EE department with some pretty fancy SM gear, I just have  
to practice on it (which would come in handy anyway). The B-cache consists  
of 18x CY7C166-20 SRAM plus 5x CY7C170A-25 tag RAM, so they're easily  
identified (the KA-675 manual infact points them out).


Replacing 18 SRAMs doesn't sound like a lot of fun, and I have no idea how  
to probe the board in the cardcage without disassembling the chassis, in  
which case the thing may overheat; opening the CPU bulkhead infact  
triggers a prompt reaction from the fan controller.


FWIW, here's a thermography (hope the link works) of the B-cache section  
of the KA-675 after being powered up for ca. 30 mins:  
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2nsx1dfngp1jfq5/TH710065.BMP?dl=0


Note that the rightmost chip just below the CPU heatsink has a pin that's  
ca. 2 degrees warmer than the others. I don't know if that says anything,  
but it *is* reproducible. Maybe I should start with that one.


The dead DSSI controller on the other board is easily identified, as it  
was physically destroyed in transit. I'm not inclined to transplant a  
160-pin PGA as my first foray into SMT... :^\


Thanks for the feedback,

--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Wed, 09 Mar 2016 23:22:04 +0100, Dennis Boone  wrote:


The RF72 disk is a 1GB DSSI drive, and I think it's supported by the
base /400 machine.  Once you have a working CPU, you can actually do
some testing on this disk drive with just the VAX console firmware,
because it's intelligent, and you can connect to it via a maintenance
protocol and give it commands.


I've talked to it and run the diags; looks good. It is incredibly noisy  
though with its intermittent recalibration grind.
Note that the console seems to do fine with the failed B-cache... until  
you boot.



After formatting the RD54 using the nearby VS2000, the way to get this
one online is probably to netboot it from the SimH VMS instance
described above.  However, is the RD54 unformatted, or just empty of
data?  It's _in_ a VS3200, after all.


I retrofitted the RD54, the VS was originally diskless. I had to run a  
cable to the I/O bulkhead from the controller, so apparently it never had  
a disk and may have indeed netbooted from a cluster node. I have no idea  
what's on that disk, and the neither did the previous owner. BOOT  
definitely fails, and the VS3200 console seems to lack any way of testing  
it.


--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Wed, 09 Mar 2016 23:20:16 +0100, Glen Slick   
wrote:



On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 12:59 PM, Robert Jarratt
 wrote:


I don't have a 3200, nor can I find a manual, but since it looks to be  
more modern than a 2000, and apparently supports an RD54, then I would  
have thought the console firmware could format it. On the 2000 TEST 71  
will check the disk and tell you what it is, TEST 70 will format it.  
Perhaps you could try those commands to see if they also work on the  
3200.




Should be an M7620 KA650 CPU in a BA23 box with an M7168 / M7169 VCB02
QDSS video subsystem. The storage controller should be an M7555 RQDX3.

Manual available here:
http://manx.classiccmp.org/collections/hcps/154aaow1.pdf

If you could swap a Q-Bus PDP-11 CPU and memory in for the KA650 VAX
CPU then you could run XXDP ZRQCH0 diagnostics to format the RD54 on
the RQDX3.


Yep, it's in a BA23 with a ridiculously dense Q-Bus. I considered  
installing the KZQSA from the 4000 in the 3200, but the edge connectors  
won't fit even after removing the panel, plus I read in the list archives  
that the 3200 won't boot from it. :^(


There's a QDSS as you point out, but I haven't tested it yet; need a  
splitter cable and one of those elusive VSXXX mice. Do have an LK201  
knocking about tho.


Wasn't aware the XXDP diags run on a PDP...

--GT


--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Re: Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

On Wed, 09 Mar 2016 20:29:56 +0100, Robert Jarratt  
 wrote:



You could run the 3200 by netbooting it from a SIMH instance of VMS. If  
the RD54 was formatted (and working!) then you could transfer VMS onto  
the disk from the boot node.


G'day Rob, thanks for the quick reply.

I've contemplated the SIMH/netboot option (was made aware of it a while  
ago), but I'm not even sure the 3200 can netboot; at least it does have a  
DELQA, so correct me if I'm wrong. In any case, I'd have to set up DECnet  
under Linux first.


To format the RD54 you would need to find a 2000 though, or at least  
borrow one. You should tell the list where you live as there might be  
someone close by who could help out.


The VS is located in Germany, but I'm currently working in Switzerland and  
won't get at the thing until my next vacation, probably sometime after  
Easter.


I know that Bernd Ulmann (alias VAXMAN!) has a VS2000 and is --more or  
less-- close by, but I haven't managed to schedule a visit (yet).


It might be though that the RD54 is formatted, worth trying once you  
netboot.


I checked out the RD54 on an old ST506/412 controller a few years back,  
and it did seek. Of course I couldn't read the format, so I can't tell  
what's on it. It definitely doesn't boot on the VS. Any other way to check  
for a format from the console?


As for the KA675, I don't know really, I suspect you would be into  
surface mount work, but with two boards you might be able to swap bits  
around to get a working board. Perhaps if you got a KFQSA or a KZQSA you  
could get this to work?


Yep, it's SMT, but replacing a 22 pin DIP shouldn't be a big deal with the  
right tools and a bit of practice. But the console diags don't indicate  
the faulty chip! :^(


The 4000 does have a KZQSA, and it boots from CD -- until it bails out  
with the async write error, which I assume has to do with the failed  
B-cache.


Thanks for the hints,

--GT



--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]

Options for resurrecting VAX 4000/400 and Vaxstation 3200

[Dr. Roland Schregle]

Dear all,

I have two VAXen that I'd like to resurrect simply for the sake of playing  
around with The Real Thing[tm] running VMS. Note that I'm completely new  
to VMS and DEC hardware -- hence the interest!


Box #1 is a VAX4000 model 400 with no working CPU (KA-675) and 2x 32Mb  
RAM, an RF72 (wiped), plus a KZQSA QBUS controller. PSU is good, fans  
squeal on startup but run silently once spun up. Have VMS installation  
media in CD.


I have two KA-675s for this beast: Board #1 (originally installed) has a  
failed B-cache (console reports SUBTEST_35_12, DE_B_Cache_diag_mode.LIS)  
and crashes with an asynchronous write memory failure when booting VMS  
from CD. Board #2 (DOA from eBay but fully refunded) has a dead DSSI bus 0  
controller and crashes on SHOW DEV; I assume that's a write-off. Any  
chance of identifying the flaky B-cache SRAM on board #1 and replacing it?  
Alternatively, anyone out there have a KA-675 for sale?


Box #2 is a VAXstation 3200 with TK50, and an RD54. PSU and fans ok (and  
very quiet), ditto CPU. The RD54 is unformatted; I understand this can  
only be formatted in the field with a VS2000 or with some obscure field  
diagnostics. There's no SCSI controller, so I can't install from CD. I  
haven't been able to track down VMS installation media on TK50, and I  
doubt they'd still be readable anyway. On top of that I have no idea what  
condition the drive is in, as I have no blank tapes to test with. I've  
found tape images online but see no way to dump these to TK50 (assuming  
the drive is ok), unless I get a TZ30.


What are my options and chances of success for getting either of these  
boxes up and running with VMS? A KA-675 and TZ30 can be obtained from  
resellers, but I hesitate to invest several hundred in something this old  
purely for the occasional mucking about. I have also considered selling  
the units (or parts thereof) if nothing gives.


Any ideas much appreciated,

--GT



--
"END OF LINE" [MCP, 1982]
"... nowhere in the standards is it specified that 'programs that use a  
lot of memory may randomly crash at any time for no apparent reason'"  
[Stackoverflow forum, 2012]