Re: Audio Devices, Inc. company history?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 6/2/19 12:04 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> Does anyone remember these folks?

I only have one reel of audiotape, and that has a tag of
being cleaned in 1968. I couldn't find any other chocolate brown
oxide tapes with dates later than that. Maybe they died off
with the switch to 800bpi (coercivity change with the darker
formula)?

Re: Audio Devices, Inc. company history?

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

I had a look at a couple of additional reels of Audio Devices tape from
1965 and 1966.  Both were darker and labeled with an "Certified for 800
bpi" sticker and well as a "Heavy Duty Made with 1.5 mil DuPont Mylar".

I'm concluding that the tape in question is pretty darned old.

--Chuck

updates to the Alpha Micro Phun Machine

[Cameron Kaiser via cctalk]

Besides link cleanups and custodial changes, there is now a model-specific
page for the Eagle 450, one of the earliest ColdFire systems extant, plus
performance statistics for many of the machines and several more newly uploaded
freeware games. Hosted on an Alpha Micro Eagle 300.

http://ampm.floodgap.com/

-- 
 personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckai...@floodgap.com
-- It's not an optical illusion. It just looks like one. -- Phil White 

Audio Devices, Inc. company history?

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

I've got a few old reels of milk-chocolate brown 7-track tape here and
was wondering if it's possible to date them accurately.   The reels
themselves have the Audio Devices name molded into them; the rear white
flange is quite yellowed with age.  The tapes have been used quite
heavily as they've been shortened to much less than 2400'.

I know that AD and EMI had a merger agreement with Capitol on their
vinyl business around 1967 and that the result was spun off as EMI.
That leaves the tape business.  It seems that CDC acquired some or all
of AD in 1969, but I can find no details.

Does anyone remember these folks?  They used to be *the* major tape
supplier in the USA.

--Chuck

Re: M7264 Troubleshooting

[Mister PDP via cctalk]

Sorry for the break, finals at school have been a little crazy. For
simplicity of testing I have switched back to the M8017-AA instead of the
M8043. The both are behaving in the exact same manner, so I am not ruling
out the idea that the CPU is at fault just yet.

On Wed, May 29, 2019 at 6:17 AM Noel Chiappa via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> I suppose it would be worth while checking BDALn, BSYNC and BDIN _on the
> console card_ (I'm not sure where he was looking at them, before) just to
> rule out the broken bus line possibility.
>

I took a look on them, all of the signals make it into the card

On Tue, May 28, 2019 at 9:08 PM Noel Chiappa 
wrote:

> Hey, I have some extra console cards; probably the best thing to do at
> this point is to send you a known working (i.e. tested) one. You can
> then send me back your broken (maybe?) card - I don't mind getting a
> broken one in trade, I can amuse myself fixing it.
>
> If you'd like to try this, let me know your mailing address, and I'll
> get a tested card off to you (once the tree craziness dies down).
>
> Sorry you're not up and running yet... :-(
>
>   Noel
>

Thanks for the offer, but I think I can diagnose if the card is working
properly pretty easily. Looking at the schematics for the M8017, the BRPLY
signal is generated by the 4 DC005 and DC004 (or DC003, I can't remember)
chip. The bank of DC005 chips compare the address coming in with the
address defined by the jumpers, and the DC004 takes some of the other
signals on the backplane and combine the MATCH signal from the DC005s to
generate the BRPLY signal. I should be able to find if the correct signals
are coming in by looking at my logic analyzer, and then use that to see if
the DC005s are generating the MATCH signal.

RE: 9-Track Magtape Drive ID

[Henk Gooijen via cctalk]

Van: Mark J. Blair via cctalk
Verzonden: zondag 2 juni 2019 00:25
Aan: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic 
Posts
Onderwerp: Re: 9-Track Magtape Drive ID

> On Jun 1, 2019, at 14:57, John H. Reinhardt via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> Is this the system that was on Reddit?

Yes. I’ll be fetching it next weekend. I’m excited! I wonder if the hard drive 
is still usable, and if there is anything interesting on it?

By a chance meeting with my neighbor today, I learned he has a bunch of pallet 
racking from a defunct business he emptied out. He offered that I could go grab 
some for myself. He also mentioned that he planned to bring some to his farm 
next door to me before he sells off the rest. Since I’m planning to rent a 
truck next weekend anyway, I offered to help out by hauling for both of us in 
exchange for taking a skim off the top of the pile. It’ll be a busy weekend!

--
Mark J. Blair 
http://www.nf6x.net

Mark, you probably know …
It is best to get a truck with a tail lift. Then you can roll the entire rack 
into the truck.
No hassle with disassembly and making notoes how everything was routed.
BTW, the disk drive in the bottom is *heavy*. You could lift it by yourself, 
but that
Is not very clever. Better lift it with two persons. The same goed for the 
Kennedy
tape drive – heavy!  And the 11/34, in a 10.5” box will be heavy at the rear 
side
where the transformer and power supplies are.
So, disassembly will give you 3 heavy items best lifted by 2 guys. Leaving it 
in the
rack and pay a bit more for a truck with tail lift, is a wise decision for your 
back!

Regarding the rubber rings on the hubs of the tape drive, I remember that 
somebody
once told that when the rubber tension is weak (because the ring diameter got a 
bit
bigger, you can get the ring back to its original shape by putting it in warm 
water.
Worth a try if needed …

Henk, PA8PDP

RE: 9-Track Magtape Drive ID

[Steve Malikoff via cctalk]

Henk said
> Regarding the rubber rings on the hubs of the tape drive, I remember that 
> somebody
> once told that when the rubber tension is weak (because the ring diameter got 
> a bit
> bigger, you can get the ring back to its original shape by putting it in warm 
> water.

I tried this. It didn't work, at all. I had a few sizes of nitrile O-rings I 
use for
another purpose (micro lathe drive belts) and tried a range, the BS336 as 
mentioned
worked perfectly. It may perhaps work for other brands of tape unit if the hub 
pinch
clamp arrangement is the same diameter but that is for someone else to try.

Steve.