Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> From: Dennis Boone >> it says "Chicago Lock Co" and "GRB 2" > Aha. > Cut 215 on Ilco S1041T. You were able to deduce that from the "GRB 2"? Is that authoritative? If so, I'd like to add it to the 11/05-10 page on the Computer History Wiki. Also, I have an original XX2065

Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On Fri, 22 Apr 2016, Sean Conner wrote: > One major problem with adding a faster CPU to an SGI is the MIPS chip > itself---code compiled for one MIPS CPU (say, the R3000) won't run on > another MIPS CPU (say, the R4400) due to the differences in the pipeline. Oh and you are so totally correct.

Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On Sat, 23 Apr 2016, Chris Hanson wrote: > I want to use the systems as a whole enough not to just live in emulation, > but I only have a limited amount of time to spend with them, so replacing > just a few subsystems in ways that make the use of the overall systems > smoother seems like a

Re: Finding classic computers in the UK

On 25 April 2016 at 15:15, wrote: > > How hard is it to get things like Sinclair Spectrum, BBC Micro and > Amdstrad CPC type computers? Surprisingly difficult for me even though I'm in the seat of UK computing in Cambridgeshire. Quite a few Tangerine computers were built

Re: Finding classic computers in the UK

I can't speak for Sinclair and Amstrad, but aquiring BBC Micros in the UK is incredibly easy. There are many of them and a huge number of them are still working flawlessly. Roughly ten years ago I was secondary school. I noticed a BBC Master 128 had disappeared from one of the maths classrooms.

Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> On Apr 24, 2016, at 8:54 PM, Jerome H. Fine wrote: > > >Kyle Owen wrote: > >> On a related note, a former DEC field engineer gave me this key (and >> keychain). He thought it was a PDP-8 key at first, but it's not the >> standard XX2247. It says KBM1100...any ideas

RE: Finding classic computers in the UK

Dave is right, I have bagged the VT220 and will be collecting it soon. They are indeed quite hard to come by. Perhaps you could offer the university a swap for their VT220? I mean a PC with putty on it might suit their needs just as well. You don't say where you are in the UK. I only ask because

Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> From: Dennis Boone > Haven't managed to id the 11/05 key yet. I have an original (which was used to make a ton of replicas for people a while back); it says "Chicago Lock Co" and "GRB 2". No idea what the latter means. The copies were made with Hillman Y11 and FR4 blanks (both work,

Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

> On Apr 25, 2016, at 11:05 AM, Swift Griggs wrote: > > On Fri, 22 Apr 2016, Sean Conner wrote: > >> One major problem with adding a faster CPU to an SGI is the MIPS chip >> itself---code compiled for one MIPS CPU (say, the R3000) won't run on >> another MIPS CPU (say,

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 21 April 2016 at 18:11, Swift Griggs wrote: > I'm not saying everything was perfect in the 80's or 90's. I mean, some > CS professors in the 90's were teaching Oberon, LISP dialects, or > Smalltalk. Then if you ever uttered the (completely true) phrase "not >

Re: High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

On 25 April 2016 at 15:47, Liam Proven wrote: > Acorn looked at the 16-bit machines in the mid-80s, mostly powered by > Motorola 68000s of course, and decided they weren't good enough and > that the tiny UK company could do better. So it did. I meant to develop this point

Re: High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

On 25 April 2016 at 16:02, Liam Proven wrote: > The Communicator is a *far* more interesting beast, with no 6502 or > copro -- it's a native 16-bit machine in the BBC family. Remarkable. > I haven't seen a Communicator since 2006 when I exhibited some machines at the

Re: Sony eVilla BeIA (was Re: strangest systems I've sent email from)

On Fri, 22 Apr 2016, Chris Hanson wrote: > > 2. Sony eVilla BeIA appliance using some kind of (crappy) built-in mail > > application. > Were these ever actually shipped? I only recall hearing that they were in > development. Not that I'm aware of. My friend Takeda-san and I were fiddling

Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> You were able to deduce that from the "GRB 2"? Is that authoritative? > If so, I'd like to add it to the 11/05-10 page on the Computer > History Wiki. Yes, I looked up "GRB 2" in the Chicago codebook. The Chicago designation for the blank is K5K. De

RE: Finding classic computers in the UK

Whilst I haven't tried bidding I have watched and a working BBC with Disk Drives might set you back $300 or so. I think this is expensive. Dave P.S. I have a non-working one in my loft. Whilst it would be nice to have it fixed, I think its low on my list. I have replaced the PSU caps but it

Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> I have an original (which was used to make a ton of replicas for > people a while back); it says "Chicago Lock Co" and "GRB 2". No idea > what the latter means. The copies were made with Hillman Y11 and FR4 > blanks (both work, but one has to be trimmed a bit, length-wise). Aha. Cut 215 on

Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Paul Koning wrote: > I know some very ancient MIPS processors had oddball required delays > ("load delay"?) that went away after. And there's the misbegotten > "branch delay slot" -- but that is part of the architecture and applies > to all MIPS even long after the reason

Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> All the H967's I've seen had non-ace keys for the back doors. Most > (if not all, can't remember) of my H960's use non-ace keys for the > back doors. I believe the common back door key is a National C415A. Cut 12343 b-t on an Ilco 1069N blank. These are also used in electrical panels, so

Re: High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

On 22 April 2016 at 19:51, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Fri, 22 Apr 2016, Liam Proven wrote: >> GEM ran on MS-DOS, DR's own DOS+ (a forerunner of the later DR-DOS) > > It still runs under FreeDOS, too. I've puttered around with it several > times in that environment. Yes

Re: Screen sizes. Was Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 04/25/2016 02:46 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, ben wrote: >> PS: I hate OS's for upgrading the screen resolution to get more >> crappy dancing toasters. BRING BACK 640x480. I can READ the >> SCREEN. > > Amen to that. I have macular degeneration in my retinae. It's not >

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 4/25/2016 1:12 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 04/25/2016 10:50 AM, Brian L. Stuart wrote: I usually try to stay out of such discussions, but I think it's important to draw some distinctions here. First, it's not pointing out which languages/techniques are popular that's narrow- minded and

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 4/25/2016 3:55 PM, Toby Thain wrote: There is no upper limit to size & more pixels means better fidelity to letterforms and therefore better legibility, not worse. Ask a typographer anything. --Toby I suspect other that TEX fonts, You cannot get fonts to scale properly for the bigger

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 04/25/2016 09:39 AM, Jon Elson wrote: I used it to port a couple of my programs from (Ughhh!) Borland Turbo Pascal for Windows to Linux, and it was a surprisingly painless job. The only thing I notice is the error messages look exactly like Borland

Re: High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

On 25 April 2016 at 17:24, Adrian Graham wrote: > On 25 April 2016 at 16:02, Liam Proven wrote: > >> The Communicator is a *far* more interesting beast, with no 6502 or >> copro -- it's a native 16-bit machine in the BBC family. Remarkable. >> > > I

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On Mon, 4/25/16, Swift Griggs wrote: > So, the point is that the masses > don't often pick "great" languages to fixate on.  IMHO, Just > because I point that out, doesn't make me "foolish, ignorant, narrow > minded, or short-sighted" I usually try to stay out of such

Re: Data General Nova Star Trek

Hi Jim, regarding reading the StarTrek paper tapes I spent some time on the weekend to rework my SPT11A manual reader - I got this from an eBay auction and it was an accessory for some military receiver (probalby to read in some codes). It had a fimrwaere which refused to communicate with a

Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

> From: Jules Richardson > I think my personal view is that I'll consider modern replacements to > things when it's impossible to use the originals - but not simply for > reasons of speed, cost, convenience. This sounds like it's not _that_ far from my position, which is that I

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 04/25/2016 09:39 AM, Jon Elson wrote: > I used it to port a couple of my programs from (Ughhh!) Borland > Turbo Pascal for Windows to Linux, and it was a surprisingly painless > job. The only thing I notice is the error messages look exactly like > Borland error messages on DOS. (Error 132 at

bought in error - 1W Resistors

Folks, Thanks to an ordering SNAFU by me I have some 1W resistors spare at 1K, 10K, 220R and 330R. 20 of each. They only cost ukp1 per bag so it's not worth me trying to send them back. Anyone? Or do I just bung them in my spares box and use them ad-hoc... -- adrian/witchy Owner of Binary

RE: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Noel > Chiappa > Sent: 25 April 2016 17:51 > To: cctalk@classiccmp.org > Cc: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu > Subject: Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business? > > > From: Jules Richardson > >

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 04/25/2016 09:38 AM, Liam Proven wrote: Oberon "not commercially viable"? That's a remarkably foolish, short-sighted and ignorant thing to say. Oberon is what Pascal grew up into, and I think a million-odd Delphi programmers would have very strong words with you that the Pascal family

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

> > There are 210,000 results for "LISP sucks" on Google and I can paste > in the first couple of links, too. What does that prove ? > I think it demonstrates that quoting the initial number of search results that Google returns is pretty unusable for any purpose. I only get 209,000 results.

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Brian L. Stuart wrote: > First, it's not pointing out which languages/techniques are popular that's > narrow- minded and short-sighted. I get that. > It's the view that popularity and "commercial viability" is the primary > consideration of value in education that's

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Peter Coghlan wrote: > > There are 210,000 results for "LISP sucks" on Google and I can paste > > in the first couple of links, too. What does that prove ? > I think it demonstrates that quoting the initial number of search > results that Google returns is pretty unusable for

Re: bit slice chips (was Re: Harris H800 Computer)

Ah PolyPaks! The parts were always guaranteed. If they were bad, you could send them back and then you could test the next one. They surely created the term "You-Test-Em". Dwight From: cctalk on behalf of Jon Elson

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Toby Thain wrote: > Incorrect. Scalable system (& third party) fonts have been with us for > more than 30 years, as I said. Though you are quite correct, it doesn't mean that scalable fonts are everywhere. They might be present more or less everywhere in MacOS and maybe

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 2016-04-25 8:15 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Toby Thain wrote: Incorrect. Scalable system (& third party) fonts have been with us for more than 30 years, as I said. Though you are quite correct, it doesn't mean that scalable fonts are everywhere. They might be present

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

> From: Swift Griggs > it's (currently) a big hassle in Windows to get absolutely every font > to get bigger at once. Have you tried right-click on a blank spot on the desktop, 'Properties', 'Setting', 'Advanced'? The window that pops up allows you to change i) on older Windows,

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 2016-04-25 6:34 PM, ben wrote: On 4/25/2016 3:55 PM, Toby Thain wrote: There is no upper limit to size & more pixels means better fidelity to letterforms and therefore better legibility, not worse. Ask a typographer anything. --Toby I suspect other that TEX fonts, You cannot get fonts to

Re: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

>Paul Koning wrote: On Apr 24, 2016, at 8:54 PM, Jerome H. Fine wrote: Kyle Owen wrote: On a related note, a former DEC field engineer gave me this key (and keychain). He thought it was a PDP-8 key at first, but it's not the standard XX2247. It says

Re: High performance coprocessor boards of the 80s and 90s - was Re: SGI ONYX

On 04/25/2016 10:02 AM, Liam Proven wrote: I meant to develop this point slightly, and did in a blog post, here: http://liam-on-linux.livejournal.com/48593.html But in the meantime, it kept the 6502-based, resolutely-8-bit BBC Micro line alive with updates and new models, including ROM-based

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

> On Apr 25, 2016, at 8:15 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: > > On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Toby Thain wrote: >> Incorrect. Scalable system (& third party) fonts have been with us for >> more than 30 years, as I said. > > Though you are quite correct, it doesn't mean that scalable

Re: pdp8/e problems

On 4/24/16 7:18 PM, Ian S. King wrote: > You do know about bitsavers.org, yes? The M8330 is a particularly bad drawing. It was apparently originally very large and didn't do well when it was copied inside DEC.

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Liam Proven wrote: > Wow. That is really remarkably narrow-minded and I'm not even slightly > surprised that you've had some strongly negative reactions already. I'm not either. LISP fans act like it's a "cause", not a language. I wasn't even attacking LISP, really. Just

Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 2:17 PM, wrote: > >> The >> other is that many Amigas had processor "slots" (with edge connectors) >> rather than some tiny fiddly ball-grid array etc... but I'm not a EE; so >> maybe that's bunk. >> >> > High clock rates for data busses of modern systems

Re: Finding classic computers in the UK

I hope you enjoy the VT220. I would have been surprised if that was still unclaimed by now. Unfortunately for me, I believe the sysadmin here is quite attached to some of the older gear lying around. I've noticed a few 9 track tapes too. I'm very central, in Nottingham, so travelling isn't too

Re: Finding classic computers in the UK

> >> Thanks for the links. I'll take a look. I probably stand more chance > > looking at > >> my University. I was in the server room the other day clearing some > space. > >> On one of the shelves they had a VT220 connected up to an old Solaris > box. > >> Very stylish! > I may be interested in

RE: Keys - Non-Ace was RE: ACE Key codes (xx2247 etc.)

> Just for curiosity, which Key codes were used for the PDP-11 > systems? I used to have some PDP-11 racks for RL02 drives > with a Qbus PDP-11/23 inside and I thought I remembered that > XX2247 was used on them, but I would just like to know for sure. > Actually, the more I think about it, just

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 04/25/2016 12:42 PM, geneb wrote: On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 04/25/2016 09:39 AM, Jon Elson wrote: I used it to port a couple of my programs from (Ughhh!) Borland Turbo Pascal for Windows to Linux, and it was a surprisingly painless job. The only thing I notice is the

Re: Screen sizes. Was Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 25 April 2016 at 23:46, Swift Griggs wrote: > On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, ben wrote: >> PS: I hate OS's for upgrading the screen resolution to get more crappy >> dancing toasters. BRING BACK 640x480. I can READ the SCREEN. > > Amen to that. I have macular degeneration in my

The Ivory Tower saga was Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

First let me say "Wow, what a thoughtful and detailed response." We might not agree, but at least you are civil about it and I appreciate that. On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Brian L. Stuart wrote: > Certainly a lot of people do view it that way, but it's not what I was > getting at or how I see it.

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 4/25/2016 6:15 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Toby Thain wrote: Incorrect. Scalable system (& third party) fonts have been with us for more than 30 years, as I said. Though you are quite correct, it doesn't mean that scalable fonts are everywhere. They might be present more

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 4/25/2016 7:17 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 04/25/2016 02:14 PM, ben wrote: But for the most part Common Folk did not have the resources I suspect for REAL programing languages, because those require a REAL OS to run with, and after the 8086 the Newer chips became too complex to use, and the

Fast Unibus Sync Serial?

Is there an equivalent to the DSV11 for Unibus? Or other quick Unibus sync serial that my Google-fu isn't good enough to find? The DMC11 looks like it can do 56Kbps over V.35, which is better than the 19.2kbps on the DMF32, but it would be useful to be able to push to 256Kbps (or faster). I'm

Re: High resolution screens are great for typography - Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

On 4/25/2016 6:56 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote: > From: Swift Griggs > it's (currently) a big hassle in Windows to get absolutely every font > to get bigger at once. Have you tried right-click on a blank spot on the desktop, 'Properties', 'Setting', 'Advanced'? The window that pops up

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 04/25/2016 12:30 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 04/25/2016 09:39 AM, Jon Elson wrote: I used it to port a couple of my programs from (Ughhh!) Borland Turbo Pascal for Windows to Linux, and it was a surprisingly painless job. The only thing I notice is the error messages look exactly like Borland

Re: Fast Unibus Sync Serial?

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 9:45 PM, Ken Seefried wrote: > Is there an equivalent to the DSV11 for Unibus? Or other quick Unibus > sync serial that my Google-fu isn't good enough to find? DUP-11? Will that do what you need? -ethan

Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 04/25/2016 07:05 PM, ben wrote: > DIM FLOAT J(256,256), FLOAT SUM > > How do you access variable I cleanly, if DIRECT LONG is not a > option? Ben. What variable I? You haven't declared it. You have 32 bit A and D registers. You do your arithmetic in the D registers and move the result to

Re: The Ivory Tower saga was Re: strangest systems I've sent email from

On 4/25/2016 9:39 PM, Swift Griggs wrote: You bring the torch for civilization. I'll hunt us up some grub. Maybe we both can live in the world, eh? Don't forget the Skimpy Fur clad Females. -Swift

Re: Data General Nova Star Trek

have discussed w/ Jim: I have a 240 Euro connector bench transformer meant for this.

Re: Data General Nova Star Trek

under the heading of déjà vu, if this unit is a Rockwell Collins mil hand paper tape puller, my old roommate ran the qualification tests on the development of that system. That happened here in Santa Ana @ their Harbor & Warner facility. They drove around the parking lot in the bed of pickup

RE: AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Robert Jarratt wrote: > To help me work out why my program isn't working I went back to the console > command to try to write to the flashbus index register, I used the following > command: > > deposit -l pmem:1 9400 > > This should set up the flashbus

RE: AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

> -Original Message- > From: cctech [mailto:cctech-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Maciej > W. Rozycki > Sent: 25 April 2016 14:29 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts > Subject: RE: AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem > > On Sun, 24 Apr 2016, Maciej W.

RE: AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

On Sun, 24 Apr 2016, Maciej W. Rozycki wrote: > > The thing > > I am struggling with at the moment is getting sys$crmpsc_pfn_64 to work so I > > can use C to test the NVRAM. I seem to have a problem with the service > > writing back the address and length, but I don't yet know why. > > That's

RE: AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

> > > From what I read the 3000 is a slightly earlier generation, not sure how close > it will be. Sounds like a good idea to get it going anyway. The thing I am > struggling with at the moment is getting sys$crmpsc_pfn_64 to work so I can > use C to test the NVRAM. I seem to have a problem with

RE: AlphaStation 200 NVRAM Problem

On Sun, 24 Apr 2016, Robert Jarratt wrote: > > Reminds me to revive my 3000/700, once I get the mechanical issues from > > mishandling in shipping sorted out. I hope it hasn't rotted from disuse > > -- it was alright, booted OSF/1 even, when I last powered it on ~10 years > ago. > > I should

Re: Have VAX 82x0/83x0 console floppies been archived?

Thank you! On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 09:39:09PM -0700, Josh Dersch wrote: > I've archived all the unique floppies that came with my 8350 (there were > many duplicates), which came to 28 disks. I've put images up at: > > http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/VAX8200/ > > Images are provided in the