Re: Dead PET4032

[Mike Stein]

- Original Message - 
From: "Adrian Graham" 
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic 
Posts" 

Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: Dead PET4032



Hi Tony,

The screen's not connected, nor keyboard. I 
figured there was no point

until I got a chirrup.

My logic tester is a cheapo Micronta, yes. 
There's an unpopulated ROM
socket at UD11 so I can easily get +5 and GND 
from there for probing, I'll

do that tonight.

A


Is UD11 the only empty socket? If there's a chip 
in UD12 I'd remove it in case it's defective or 
has bent pins etc.; it'll be an option ROM of some 
sort.


Tony's right about the CG; it's not directly 
connected to the data & address busses so it's not 
likely to hang the system unless it's pulling down 
Vcc. I would connect the monitor though instead of 
just relying on the buzzer for signs of life; if 
there's any display at all it might give a useful 
clue.


I'd also check UD7 for poor contact or bent pins

Finally, I'd ask on the Vintage Computer Forum; 
even without me (;-) there are some very 
knowledgable PET folks there.


Good luck!

m



On 5 October 2015 at 16:55, tony duell 
 wrote:



>
> One chip that does get hot is the Character 
> Generator at UA3 which I was
> going to swap with the one in my other 4032, 
> but that doesn't power up
> either. Presumably I can borrow one from a 
> 3032 or 8096?


A machine with a dead character generator ROM 
(unless it is so dead as to
pull a power supply line down) will still 
initialise. You would get the

warble.

And I would be surprised if you got nothing on 
the screen either. Odd bit
rot would mean the wrong patterns for some 
characters. But still something.


This is presumably a large-screen machine with 
a 6845 on the mainboard.
Is it initialising that (look at the vertical 
and horizontal sync outputs

with your
logic probe, are they toggling)?

Is it accessing the kernal ROM? Is the CS/ pin 
pulsing low?


What about the RAS/ and CAS/ signals on the 
DRAMs?


> A lot of the repair pages use a piggyback 
> 6502/ROM/RAM add-in called a
> PETvet but all I have is a DMM, logic tester 
> and other working PETs as

> sources of chips I can borrow.

I assume the logic tester is a simple logic 
probe and not a logic

analyser, alas

-tony





--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home 
computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk 

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Pontus Pihlgren]

On Mon, Oct 05, 2015 at 10:52:15AM -0400, Sean Caron wrote:
> you'll find not as bad as you had originally thought! :O

:) 

Thank you, I'll see when I get there. I'm curious about the old window 
managers though, the pre X11 stuff. So I'll probably try a few different 
versions.

/P

Phishing spam? Fwd: Scheduled Maintenance & Upgrade

[Chuck Guzis]

Admin:   I take it that this is phishing spam.  Just not used to seeing 
it on cctalk.


--Chuck



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Re: Dead PET4032

[william degnan]

Look for inconsistencies in voltages and pulses to and from RAM.  You may
need RAM at the lowest memory locations to boot.  Hooking up the keyboard
at least to eliminate a missing keyboard as a reason the system does not
boot, and you can issue commands to search a disk drive even if the display
is faulty.  At least if you have a IEEE drive attached you can watch for
the the drive to respond when the 4032 is powered on, for signs of life
from the computer.

On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 1:40 PM, Mike Stein  wrote:

> - Original Message - From: "Adrian Graham" <
> binarydinosa...@gmail.com>
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 12:27 PM
> Subject: Re: Dead PET4032
>
>
> Hi Tony,
>>
>> The screen's not connected, nor keyboard. I figured there was no point
>> until I got a chirrup.
>>
>> My logic tester is a cheapo Micronta, yes. There's an unpopulated ROM
>> socket at UD11 so I can easily get +5 and GND from there for probing, I'll
>> do that tonight.
>>
>> A
>>
>
> Is UD11 the only empty socket? If there's a chip in UD12 I'd remove it in
> case it's defective or has bent pins etc.; it'll be an option ROM of some
> sort.
>
> Tony's right about the CG; it's not directly connected to the data &
> address busses so it's not likely to hang the system unless it's pulling
> down Vcc. I would connect the monitor though instead of just relying on the
> buzzer for signs of life; if there's any display at all it might give a
> useful clue.
>
> I'd also check UD7 for poor contact or bent pins
>
> Finally, I'd ask on the Vintage Computer Forum; even without me (;-) there
> are some very knowledgable PET folks there.
>
> Good luck!
>
> m
>
>
>
>> On 5 October 2015 at 16:55, tony duell  wrote:
>>
>> >
>>> > One chip that does get hot is the Character > Generator at UA3 which I
>>> was
>>> > going to swap with the one in my other 4032, > but that doesn't power
>>> up
>>> > either. Presumably I can borrow one from a > 3032 or 8096?
>>>
>>> A machine with a dead character generator ROM (unless it is so dead as to
>>> pull a power supply line down) will still initialise. You would get the
>>> warble.
>>>
>>> And I would be surprised if you got nothing on the screen either. Odd bit
>>> rot would mean the wrong patterns for some characters. But still
>>> something.
>>>
>>> This is presumably a large-screen machine with a 6845 on the mainboard.
>>> Is it initialising that (look at the vertical and horizontal sync outputs
>>> with your
>>> logic probe, are they toggling)?
>>>
>>> Is it accessing the kernal ROM? Is the CS/ pin pulsing low?
>>>
>>> What about the RAS/ and CAS/ signals on the DRAMs?
>>>
>>> > A lot of the repair pages use a piggyback > 6502/ROM/RAM add-in called
>>> a
>>> > PETvet but all I have is a DMM, logic tester > and other working PETs
>>> as
>>> > sources of chips I can borrow.
>>>
>>> I assume the logic tester is a simple logic probe and not a logic
>>> analyser, alas
>>>
>>> -tony
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> adrian/witchy
>> Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
>> www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
>>
>
>


-- 
Bill
vintagecomputer.net

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Paul Koning]

> On Oct 5, 2015, at 3:07 PM, Pontus Pihlgren  wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Oct 05, 2015 at 10:52:15AM -0400, Sean Caron wrote:
>> you'll find not as bad as you had originally thought! :O
> 
> :) 
> 
> Thank you, I'll see when I get there. I'm curious about the old window 
> managers though, the pre X11 stuff. So I'll probably try a few different 
> versions.

You mean VWS?  From what I remember, X11 is, amazingly enough, a fair amount 
faster as well as functionally way superior.

paul

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[william degnan]

What are the DC LO and AC LO values off the backplane?  Do they change when
you insert the CPU card.  (one at a time).

On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 12:01 PM, Johnny Billquist  wrote:

> On 2015-10-05 17:56, Henk Gooijen wrote:
>
>> -Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: Johnny Billquist Sent: Monday,
>> October 05, 2015 5:44 PM To: cctalk@classiccmp.org Subject: Re:
>> PDP-11/10 repair started
>> Ok. I got the initial impression that you only had the CPU in. Thanks
>> for the expanded info.
>>
>> When you don't have any core memory, I wonder if you might need bus
>> grants in those slots as well...? It's not as if they aren't a part of
>> the Unibus... Memory sits on the Unibus, just like everything else,
>> remember? Needs to check further if any special wiring are in place for
>> those slots, though.
>>
>> Johnny
>>
>> =
>>
>> I am not sure the "core slots" would need grant cards. The documentation
>> is clear about slot 3-4-5 as SPC, needing grant cards. I never saw any
>> doc where the core memory slots, when optional, but not installed, could
>> be used as an SPC slot. I certainly am Not "trying" that ...
>> I did try the system *with* the core slots filled with the correct boards
>> but the behavior remained the same.
>> To make fault finding not more complex, I removed the core board set.
>>
>
> Ok. Not sure if it makes it more complex or not, but I guess it's not the
> issue right now anyway.
>
> But my original comment about the behavior you described being very much
> like what I've seen on other machines with bad/no termination still
> applies. CPU seemingly stuck, but doing a master reset sortof gets it out.
> But not functioning as it should.
>
> Well, no more ideas here at the moment.
>
> Johnny
>
>


-- 
Bill
vintagecomputer.net

Spare Time Gizmos Life game LED tool

[dave]

I've acquired an unpopulated board for a Spare Time Gizmos Life game. 
Does anyone here who've made one still have an LED tool you don't need 
that you can pass along.  How about a design file for making one myself? 
I tried asking this on the Spare Time Gizmos list and nobody replied.


--
David Griffith
d...@661.org

A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Henk Gooijen]

-Oorspronkelijk bericht- 
From: william degnan 
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 8:59 PM 
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
Subject: Re: PDP-11/10 repair started 


What are the DC LO and AC LO values off the backplane?  Do they change when
you insert the CPU card.  (one at a time).
--
Bill
vintagecomputer.net

=
I measured AC LO and DC LO with a scope while both CPU boards are in
the backplane. Both measured 4.6 V, there was a ripple of 130 mV
(looked like a sawtooth signal). I did not see spikes.

- Henk

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[william degnan]

good news as far as power supply goes.

On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 4:02 PM, Henk Gooijen 
wrote:

> -Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: william degnan Sent: Monday,
> October 05, 2015 8:59 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
> Posts Subject: Re: PDP-11/10 repair started
> What are the DC LO and AC LO values off the backplane?  Do they change when
> you insert the CPU card.  (one at a time).
> --
> Bill
> vintagecomputer.net
>
> =
> I measured AC LO and DC LO with a scope while both CPU boards are in
> the backplane. Both measured 4.6 V, there was a ripple of 130 mV
> (looked like a sawtooth signal). I did not see spikes.
>
> - Henk
>



-- 
Bill
vintagecomputer.net

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Pontus Pihlgren]

On Mon, Oct 05, 2015 at 03:19:55PM -0400, Paul Koning wrote:
> 
> You mean VWS?  From what I remember, X11 is, amazingly enough, a fair 
> amount faster as well as functionally way superior.
> 

Yes VWS, I don't always play with classic computers for their 
performance and superiority ;-)

/P

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Pontus Pihlgren]

Thank you Sue. I've been following the development of VSI. I just read the 
latest 
roadmap.

/P

On Sat, Oct 03, 2015 at 06:24:15PM -0400, Sue Skonetski wrote:
> Please note that VMS is now owned by VMS Software Inc (VSI) and VMS is all we 
> do, no hardware, no storage just VMS, USA company.  We just released OpenVMS 
> v8.4-1h1 with much more in the pipeline.
> 
> Warm Regards,
> Sue
> 
> > On Oct 3, 2015, at 6:03 PM, Ethan Dicks  wrote:
> > 
> > On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 4:00 PM, Pontus Pihlgren  wrote:
> >> Hi
> >> 
> >> Is there a table of VMS versions and hardware that they support.
> > 
> > A ready-to-read table?  I do not know of one, but it sounds like a good 
> > idea.
> > 
> > I know that 7.3 is
> >> the last that supports VAX. But before that, are there limitations to what 
> >> versions
> >> run on which hardware.
> > 
> > Yes.
> > 
> >> For instance, would VAX/VMS 1.0 run on a VAXstation 4000?
> > 
> > No.
> > 
> >> Or would 7.3 run on a 11/730?
> > 
> > I don't think so.
> > 
> > the SPDs will contain the official list of what hardware is supported.
> > Disk and memory size are critical to what's in and what is not.
> > Additionally, sometimes, you can stretch some of the limits, but it
> > would have been unsupported (like me running VMS 6.x on a MicroVax II
> > w/RQDX3 and RD54 - the disk was _very_ tight, but the OS itself had no
> > specific problems running).
> > 
> > -ethan
> 
> Sue Skonetski
> 
> VP of Customer Advocacy
> sue.skonet...@vmssoftware.com
> Office: +1 (978) 451-0116
> Mobile: +1 (603) 494-9886
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mit freundlichen Grüßen – Avec mes meilleures salutations
> 
> 
> 

COS-310 "BAD DATE"

[Michael Thompson]

I am fiddling with diskettes on my PDP-8/e. I booted COS-310 V8 and it
asked for a date. I tried lots of date combinations, and none were accepted.

Is this because I don't have an LTC installed?

COS MONITOR  V 8.00
DATE?
.
ERROR IN COMMAND
.DA 10/04/74
BAD DATE

COS MONITOR  V 8.00
DATE?
.DA 1/25/72
BAD DATE


-- 
Michael Thompson

Re: COS-310 "BAD DATE"

[Jay Jaeger]

I doubt that any PDP-8 family OS checks for licensing of any sort.

Back in those days, DEC used the format DD-MMM-YY for dates, so try
something like:

04-OCT-78

JRJ

On 10/4/2015 1:17 PM, Michael Thompson wrote:
> I am fiddling with diskettes on my PDP-8/e. I booted COS-310 V8 and it
> asked for a date. I tried lots of date combinations, and none were accepted.
> 
> Is this because I don't have an LTC installed?
> 
> COS MONITOR  V 8.00
> DATE?
> .
> ERROR IN COMMAND
> .DA 10/04/74
> BAD DATE
> 
> COS MONITOR  V 8.00
> DATE?
> .DA 1/25/72
> BAD DATE
> 
> 

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Pontus Pihlgren]

Thank you Glen, this was the sort of overview I was looking for.

/P

On Sat, Oct 03, 2015 at 04:34:52PM -0700, Glen Slick wrote:
> There is this OpenVMS Release History which has some useful
> information. It only goes back to V4.0:
> 
> http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/os/openvms-release-history.html
> http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/os/openvms-release-history.txt
> 
> Here is a copy of the SPD 25.01.69 for HP OpenVMS Operating System for
> Alpha Version 7.3-1 and 7.3-2, and VAX Version 7.3:
> http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/spdalpha731732vax73.pdf
> 
> From the above SPD 25.01.69:
> 
> System Restrictions
> 
> OpenVMS VAX Version 5.1-1 is the final version to support the following 
> systems:
> VAX-11/725
> 
> OpenVMS VAX Version 6.2 is the final version to support the following systems:
> VAX-11/730
> VAX-11/750
> VAX-11/751
> VAX-11/780
> VAX-11/782
> VAX-11/785
> VAXft 110
> VAXft 310
> VAXft 410
> VAXft 610
> VAXft 810
> MicroVAX I
> VAXstation I
> 
> OpenVMS VAX Version 7.2 is the final version to support the following systems:
> MicroVAX II
> VAXstation II/GPX
> VAXstation II/QVSS
> VAXstation 2000
> VAXstation 2000/GPX
> VAXstation 2000/MFB
> MicroVAX 2000
> 
> OpenVMS VAX Version 7.3 is the final version to support the following systems:
> VAX 8200, VAX 8250, VAXserver 8200, VAXserver 8250
> VAX 8300, VAX 8350, VAXserver 8300, VAXserver 8350
> VAX 8530, VAXserver 8530, VAX 8550, VAXserver 8550
> VAX 8600, VAX 8650, VAXserver 8600, VAXserver 8650
> VAX 8700, VAXserver 8700
> VAX 8800, VAX 8810, VAX 8820, VAX 8830, VAX 8840
> VAXserver 8800, VAXserver 8810, VAXserver 8820, VAXserver 8830,
> VAXserver 8840, VAX 8842, VAX 8974, VAX 8978
> VAX 9000, Models 110, 110VP, 210, 210VP, 310, 310VP
> VAX 9000, Models 320, 320VP, 330, 330VP, 340, 340VP
> VAX 9000, Models 410, 410VP, 420, 420VP, 430, 430VP, 440, 440VP

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Pontus Pihlgren]

On Sun, Oct 04, 2015 at 12:51:28AM +0200, Johnny Billquist wrote:
> 
> OpenVMS 7.3 was the last release. And with that release, a few early
> VAX models were officially not supported. However, I think it should
> work, in theory. There is always the question of the machine being
> slow enough, or not have enough memory, to maybe cause problems. But
> DEC never removed the hardware support code. 

Interresting, the concensus of this thread seems to be that given enough RAM 
and 
disk space VMS 7.3 should run on most, if not all, VAX models. Whether 
performance 
would be good is another question.

The minimum version needed for a given VAX is another matter. Glen's post gave 
a 
pretty good answer though not complete.

> 
> It also came on one TK50, or about 20 RX50 floppies, for installation.
> (I have some "fun" memories of installing it from floppies when I
> was working at DEC in the mid-80s... Remind me when we meet, and
> I'll tell you all about it.)
> 

Will do, didn't know you had worked for DEC.

/P

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Pontus Pihlgren]

On Sat, Oct 03, 2015 at 11:49:28PM -0400, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote:
> So yes, [Open]VMS 7.3 will run on a VAX-11 series VAX. And probably
> even on a microVAX as well (though I haven't tried).
> 

The follow up question then is, is there a reason to avoid 7.3 on lower end VAX 
models, say VAXstation 2000 or MicroVAX-II, both of which I have.

I suppose disk space is the most pressing issue. What about memory consumption 
in 
a basic install?

Or memory usage for options like TCP/IP or DECWindows.

Thanks,
Pontus

Re: Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

[Erik Baigar]

Hi Simon,

thanks for your email. I took the pictures on the weekend and loaded
them onto my server - curious, whether you have got the same setup:

   http://www.baigar.de/electronics/Calcomp103X/

than that pictured in the user guide. I took some more picts of the pcb's in 
the machine. I will post them on our hack42.nl site later today.


Great, I will check for your pictures and compare... I have got
engineering drawings (i.e. schematics) only for the power supply,
the logic board (sequencer) and the pen driver. Unfortunately the
schematics for the OPC (online plotter controller?) are missing,
i.e. exactly for the interesting PCB with the CPU there are no
schematics at the moment  :-(

was loose inside the machine, and it seems ours is wired for current loop, 
looking at the settings decal on the inside of the backplate. How is yours 
wired?


That looks very crowded as you can see and I do not know whether
this is representative. I guess mine was used in some form of
daisy chain setup but at least the levels are RS232. Yes - I have
been able to plot data on my plotter, but the PCI/906 language
the OPC uses is quite strange and the RS232 is not that easy as it
is using hardware handshake and checks for all signals (RTS/CTS
and DSR/DTR) I think.

I had to put away the calcomp for the time being as we had a fair 
yesterday.


Yes, that is quite a heavy machine. Mine is stored at my parent's
basement, so I only have access to the plotter and the documentation
once a month...

Best regards,

   Erik.


On 03-10-15 20:18, Erik Baigar wrote:

Hi Simon, Hello to the group,

this weekend I went digging for the Calcomp 1038/1039 manual and
if your plotter looks like this...

http://www.baigar.de/electronics/Calcomp103X.gif

...I may have what you need. Drop me a note and I will try to
scan the schematics next week and load them onto my web
page. Did you make any progress with the plotter already?

Best regards,

Erik.

P.S. My plotter is a 1038 which has been upgraded with the
PCI/906 interface but it only has got a single pen holder. Does
your plotter have got three colors?


On Mon, 21 Sep 2015, Erik Baigar wrote:



Hi All,

the 1039 is an interesting plotter I have got a 1038/1039 as well:
There are two
big
PCBs inside - one is for the low level functions (essentally driving
the servos
and
drawing lines using TTL implemented Bresenham) the second one contains
the
computer (68xx based) which is handling the communication.

So for simply moving the pens with the arrow buttons, the computer PCB
may not
be
necessary. Have you tried this?

The computer PCB controls the LEDs and blinking may well indicate a
problem on
the computer PCB - I thinke I have got a set of documentation. But
unfortunately
it is
stored away, but surely I can do a search within the next four weeks
if there is
real interest. I even read out the bipolar PROMs of the processor card
for
safety
some years ago...

   Erik, e...@baigar.de



tony duell  hat am 20. September 2015 um 20:02
geschrieben:



Hi All,

we have a 1039 in our space with the user guide, but without any
service
docs. Our specimen does not react to buttons except the reset and test
buttons. the four statusleds light up on a reset and after a second the
center two leds start blinking in sequence. paper and pens are
loaded as
per the user guide.


Silly question... It doesn't happen to use 2114 RAMs does it? If so,
check
and/or
replace them. I've foudn such RAM in printers/plotters from many
manufacturers
and perhaps 90%+ of electronic problems are caused by them.

-tony




--
Met vriendelijke Groet,

Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl

Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive?

[Marc Verdiell]

Anyone has the operation and service manual for the 9-track mag tape drive
Overland Data OD3201? Similar to a Qualstar, but seems
larger-faster-quieter-better. Just succeeded putting it online. This one is
unusual in its simplicity - it has both a Pertec and a Parallel Port
interface. Once I found the DOS software in a dark corner of the Internet, I
connected it to the parallel port of a my vintage DOS machine and it worked
straight out of the box. Look Ma, no interface cards needed! 

Reads and writes fine apparently. But it has the common ailment of servo
motor tape drives, it creeps a little bit at rest. So I probably need to
adjust a pot somewhere. Would be nice if I could find the service manual,
but no luck on Googling it up. 

Marc

 

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-10-05 07:26, tony duell wrote:


You have no memory, and probably no devices to complete the
Unibus. So, it is quite likely showing the Unibus is in a
jammed state.  At the least, you need a Unibus terminator,
and any bus grant cards between the CPU and the terminator
(you'd have to check the manual to see how the Unibus is wired.)


The specific issue of an open grant chain locking the Unibus is a quirk
of the M9302 terminator (which asserts SACK under such conditions). This
is unlikely to be a problem on an 11/10.


Why? The 11/10 also have a Unibus, and also needs the terminator as well 
as the SACK and other signals in order.



But you do need some kind of termination/pullups on the Unibus. At least
fit the CPU-end terminator (M930 in the right slot near the CPU boards) if
you haven't done so already.


You most likely want to terminate the other end as well.

Johnny

--
Johnny Billquist  || "I'm on a bus
  ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: b...@softjar.se ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive! ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

Re: COS-310 "BAD DATE"

[Michael Thompson]

>
> Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2015 15:01:46 -0500
> From: Jay Jaeger 
> Subject: Re: COS-310 "BAD DATE"
>
> I doubt that any PDP-8 family OS checks for licensing of any sort.
>
> Back in those days, DEC used the format DD-MMM-YY for dates, so try
> something like:
>
> 04-OCT-78
>
> JRJ
>

Thanks Jay, that worked!

It is different syntax from the COS 300/310 manual that I have.
Time to find a different COS manual.

-- 
Michael Thompson

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[j...@cimmeri.com]

On 10/5/2015 10:24 AM, Henk Gooijen wrote:


=
Sorry for the delayed answer, I don't 
have email available at work -:/


I have one M930 in slot 3 position 
A-B, because that is the termination
for the processor. I am pretty sure 
(not 100%) that I also have an M930
in slot 9 position A-B. To be 
complete, this is the current state.

slot 1 A-F : M7260
slot 2 A-F : M7261
slot 3 A-B : M930   C-D : G7273
slot 4 A-B : M9970  C-D : G7273
slot 5 C-D : G7273
slot 6 empty
slot 7 empty
slot 8 empty
slot 9 A-B : M930

Slot 6-7-8-9 is for core memory, 
respectively G235, H217D, G114, M8293.
The documentation says that a G727 
should go in slot 3-4-5 position D.
I hate those "knuckle-busters". Plus, 
I am lazy to check NPR continuity
on the backplane, so I installed 
G7273s instead of G727s. Always good.


I totally forgot that the GT40 is 
based on the 11/05. Great tip in case
it turns out that I have a "different" 
CPU module! You never know ...



Henk, I'm confused by your slot 
arrangement, but maybe my 11/05 is 
different than yours.


My module utilization is as follows, and 
is an 8k backplane (the 16k backplane is 
also different):


slot 9 A-F : M7260
slot 8 A-F : M7261
slot 7 A-F : G110
Slot 6 A-F :G231
Slot 5 AB : M930   C-F : H214
Slot 4 AB : blankC-F G727 in D4.
Slot 3 AB : M930   C-F G727 in D3
Slot 2 AB: KM11 Maint  C-F G727 in D2
Slot 1 AB: DF11 Comm  C-F G727 in D1

John

Re: Dead PET4032

[Adrian Graham]

> Is UD11 the only empty socket? If there's a chip
> in UD12 I'd remove it in case it's defective or
> has bent pins etc.; it'll be an option ROM of some
> sort.

Done, I'll see if my programmer can read it once my only working windows box
stops updating itself, sheesh.

> Vcc. I would connect the monitor though instead of
> just relying on the buzzer for signs of life; if
> there's any display at all it might give a useful
> clue.

Hm. Nothing at all from the monitor and checking the voltage at 10 + 11 on
the iron lump shows nothing - I didn't check them over the weekend as they
only run the monitor and the other pins seemed ok at 18 and 8VAC.
 
> I'd also check UD7 for poor contact or bent pins

Had that out earlier and it seems ok.
 
> Finally, I'd ask on the Vintage Computer Forum;
> even without me (;-) there are some very
> knowledgable PET folks there.

OK :)

-- 
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?

Re: Dead PET4032

[Adrian Graham]

On 05/10/2015 19:52, "william degnan"  wrote:

> Look for inconsistencies in voltages and pulses to and from RAM.  You may
> need RAM at the lowest memory locations to boot.  Hooking up the keyboard
> at least to eliminate a missing keyboard as a reason the system does not
> boot, and you can issue commands to search a disk drive even if the display
> is faulty.  At least if you have a IEEE drive attached you can watch for
> the the drive to respond when the 4032 is powered on, for signs of life
> from the computer.

I can try that, though there may be similar bitrot in my drives since
they've not been powered up for 10+ years...

-- 
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?

Re: Dead PET4032

[Ethan Dicks]

On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 2:52 PM, william degnan  wrote:
> Look for inconsistencies in voltages and pulses to and from RAM.

Yep.

> You may need RAM at the lowest memory locations to boot.

Absolutely.  The startup routines will be unhappy if zeropage is not there.

You can check for -5V as well, since the 4116 DRAMs need that.
There's a small circuit on the board with a 7905 to produce that.

>  Hooking up the keyboard
> at least to eliminate a missing keyboard as a reason the system does not
> boot

Nope.  As Tony Duell mentioned, it's a passive matrix.  The system
will not notice a missing keyboard.

> and you can issue commands to search a disk drive even if the display
> is faulty.

You can issue disk commands headless, but if you don't get the piezo
"twiddle", you probably aren't getting through POST to a READY prompt
anyway.

You _could_ be at a TIM prompt, I've seen that for some flavors of
broken PETs.  The video works, but something is bad in RAM or ROM to
screw up BASIC initialization.

> At least if you have a IEEE drive attached you can watch for
> the the drive to respond when the 4032 is powered on, for signs of life
> from the computer.

The machine does not autoboot.  The only signal that can affect the
disk drive is RESET, and that doesn't require the IEEE signals to be
initialized in software.

If you can get power to the video, you can pull the Chargen ROM and
you'll just see blanks for regular chars and solid blocks for inverse
video - like the cursor.

With the older models with TTL video circuits, they would display
chars if the ICs in the video section were working even if the CPU
wasn't, but the 4032 has a 6545 CRTC which is initialized by the ROMs.

On a machine that mostly worked but with dead video, I'd expect to see
strobing on the keyboard matrix every 1/60th of a second, and lots of
RAM and ROM enable strobing constantly.

One of the old hardware debugging tools was to take a real 6502 and
bend out the data pins and run wires from them to power and ground to
"spell out" $EA, for NOP (like this guy did...
http://www.grappendorf.net/projects/6502-home-computer/the-microprocessor).
Then back in its socket, the 6502 would run up the address bus and you
could watch the accesses flood over the address space, looking for
stuck select/enable bits

I have replaced dead 2114s (video SRAM), dead RAM (4116 DRAM and 6550
SRAM) and every once in a while, a dead ROM.  That's where I'd poke
around first, depending on what symptoms match what you are seeing.

-ethan

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Jon Elson]

On 10/05/2015 09:52 AM, Sean Caron wrote:

I ran OpenVMS V7.2 on a MicroVAX II (KA630) back when I was in high school
and it ran quite happily albeit very slowly with 16 MB RAM (and a SCSI
disk). Just text mode but I was able to use layered products like TCP/IP or
some of the compilers.


I set up my home MicroVAX in 1986 with just the 1 MB of 
memory on the CPU card, an Andromeda MFM + floppy disk 
controller and the console serial port.  As time and money 
permitted, I kept adding stuff to it (VCB-01 and then a 
VCB-02, mag tapes, SCSI tapes, ESDI disks, then SCSI disks, 
DHV11 and so on.)


I ran it until 2007, although I moved all new software 
development to other systems after the mid 90's.


Jon

Compaq Portable II - IDE compatibility (and setup disk image)

[Jules Richardson]

My Portable II uses a Miniscribe ST506/412 drive hooked up to a bridge 
board that I'm told is IDE at the other side, back to the controller. The 
original drive in my machine is toast - I had to pop the lid to free the 
spindle. It spins up now, and might cough up some data (for a while), so 
intention is two-fold:


1) Put the original drive and bridge board into a more modern system to 
attempt a read,


2) Replace the original drive/bridge combo with a more modern IDE drive 
(happy to waste 99% of the space on it...)


Are there any gotchas involved to either of these, given that IDE was 
presumably in its infancy when the system was current, and so its possibly 
a slightly different animal to a more modern version? I don't want to fry 
the Compaq's controller, or the bridge board.


In addition to this, the machine's lost its config, so currently defaults 
to a floppy boot. Does anyone happen to have an image of the 360K setup 
floppy, either in  Imagedisk or raw format? (LLF is presumably 512 byte 
sectors, 9 sectors/track, and 40 tracks per side?)


cheers

Jules

RE: PDP-11/10 repair started

[tony duell]

> > The specific issue of an open grant chain locking the Unibus is a quirk
> > of the M9302 terminator (which asserts SACK under such conditions). This
> > is unlikely to be a problem on an 11/10.
> 
> Why? The 11/10 also have a Unibus, and also needs the terminator as well
> as the SACK and other signals in order.

The M9302 includes logic to assert SACK if a grant (any BG or NPG) gets to it, 
meaning no device on the bus as intercepted the grant. This causes problems
with an open grant chain in that the CPU sees the SACK, tries to deassert
the grant (which it hasn't asserted in the first place) and the bus is locked 
with
SACK asserted and no grants. The M930 terminator does not include said logic.

As a result an open grant chain will cause problems on a machine where the 
terminator is an M9302. On a machine where it's an M930, an open grant chain
is of course a bad idea (interrupts and DMA will not work properly) but it will 
not
lock the bus and prevent the front panel from working. 

The 11/10 generally uses an M930 terminator.  


> > But you do need some kind of termination/pullups on the Unibus. At least
> > fit the CPU-end terminator (M930 in the right slot near the CPU boards) if
> > you haven't done so already.
> 
> You most likely want to terminate the other end as well.

It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the CPU 
backplane, 
or even a BA11-K full of backplanes, I am certain a terminator at the CPU end 
only
will get the machine doing something, even running programs correctly. Totally 
ignoring the front panel is not caused by a missing far-end terminator on such 
a 
small machine.

-tony

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Peter Coghlan]

On Mon, 05 Oct 2015 at 09:12:59 +0200, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 03, 2015 at 11:49:28PM -0400, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote:
> > So yes, [Open]VMS 7.3 will run on a VAX-11 series VAX. And probably
> > even on a microVAX as well (though I haven't tried).
> > 
>
> The follow up question then is, is there a reason to avoid 7.3 on lower end 
> VAX 
> models, say VAXstation 2000 or MicroVAX-II, both of which I have.
>
> I suppose disk space is the most pressing issue. What about memory 
> consumption in 
> a basic install?
>
> Or memory usage for options like TCP/IP or DECWindows.
>

My preference is to not go higher than V5.5-2 on the smaller graphics equipped
machines.  This allows the pre-Motif version of DECWindows (I think it is called
XUI?) to be used which is much less of a resource hog than Motif.

Even on machines without a graphics display, significant amounts of Motif are
started up anyway in order to enable remote display and this requires a lot
of disk and memory unless it is disabled.

There is also the pre-DECWindows windowing software called VWS (VAXstation
Workstation Software?) which is even lighter on resources.  I haven't looked at
this for many years but I suspect the cut off for using it is also at V5.5-2.

The lower end VAXstation 3100 machines struggle with Motif.  It takes a long
time to start and when in use, the response feels sluggish.  I can only imagine
what it would do to a VAXstation 2000 or MicroVAX-II.

Regards,
Peter Coghlan.

Re: VMS and supported VAX hardware

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-10-05 11:21, Peter Coghlan wrote:

On Mon, 05 Oct 2015 at 09:12:59 +0200, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:

On Sat, Oct 03, 2015 at 11:49:28PM -0400, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote:

So yes, [Open]VMS 7.3 will run on a VAX-11 series VAX. And probably
even on a microVAX as well (though I haven't tried).



The follow up question then is, is there a reason to avoid 7.3 on lower end VAX
models, say VAXstation 2000 or MicroVAX-II, both of which I have.

I suppose disk space is the most pressing issue. What about memory consumption 
in
a basic install?

Or memory usage for options like TCP/IP or DECWindows.



My preference is to not go higher than V5.5-2 on the smaller graphics equipped
machines.  This allows the pre-Motif version of DECWindows (I think it is called
XUI?) to be used which is much less of a resource hog than Motif.

Even on machines without a graphics display, significant amounts of Motif are
started up anyway in order to enable remote display and this requires a lot
of disk and memory unless it is disabled.

There is also the pre-DECWindows windowing software called VWS (VAXstation
Workstation Software?) which is even lighter on resources.  I haven't looked at
this for many years but I suspect the cut off for using it is also at V5.5-2.

The lower end VAXstation 3100 machines struggle with Motif.  It takes a long
time to start and when in use, the response feels sluggish.  I can only imagine
what it would do to a VAXstation 2000 or MicroVAX-II.


Agreed that graphics, and especially Motif is a hog.
However, VMS V5 was in itself problematic in that it really had bad 
performance.
It was significantly slower than V4, and customers complained. So much 
that DEC explicitly addressed this concern with V6.

So, from that perspective, I would avoid V5 if I could...

Johnny

--
Johnny Billquist  || "I'm on a bus
  ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: b...@softjar.se ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive! ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-10-05 13:50, tony duell wrote:

The specific issue of an open grant chain locking the Unibus is a quirk
of the M9302 terminator (which asserts SACK under such conditions). This
is unlikely to be a problem on an 11/10.


Why? The 11/10 also have a Unibus, and also needs the terminator as well
as the SACK and other signals in order.


The M9302 includes logic to assert SACK if a grant (any BG or NPG) gets to it,
meaning no device on the bus as intercepted the grant. This causes problems
with an open grant chain in that the CPU sees the SACK, tries to deassert
the grant (which it hasn't asserted in the first place) and the bus is locked 
with
SACK asserted and no grants. The M930 terminator does not include said logic.

As a result an open grant chain will cause problems on a machine where the
terminator is an M9302. On a machine where it's an M930, an open grant chain
is of course a bad idea (interrupts and DMA will not work properly) but it will 
not
lock the bus and prevent the front panel from working.

The 11/10 generally uses an M930 terminator.


Right. However, the SACK signal exists, even on the 11/10.
And if that signal is floating, or non-working, you can still have 
problems. So, termination is still important.
The additional feature of of the M9302 is just to catch if BG signals 
are sent out when noone was actually requesting an interrupt.


So your comment about open grant chain locking is relevant, but do not 
negate the claim that you need to make sure you have terminators in 
place, and that signals are carried through the whole backplane.


Note that my original comment was not about BG/BR continuity as such, 
but termination and signals running through the whole bus. BG/BR is just 
one part of that.



But you do need some kind of termination/pullups on the Unibus. At least
fit the CPU-end terminator (M930 in the right slot near the CPU boards) if
you haven't done so already.


You most likely want to terminate the other end as well.


It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the CPU 
backplane,
or even a BA11-K full of backplanes, I am certain a terminator at the CPU end 
only
will get the machine doing something, even running programs correctly. Totally
ignoring the front panel is not caused by a missing far-end terminator on such a
small machine.


The 11/10 do not have a built-in terminator at the CPU end. You are 
supposed to have two M930 on the backplane.


Johnny

Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

[Toby Thain]

Hi,

This recent Quora answer contained a little gap - the name of the person 
who designed the original logo on the case.


Quick Googling didn't help. Anyone have the trivia answer?

  http://qr.ae/RP2GQy

Any other PIC/Pixar/Renderman anecdotes welcome. Sounds like a pretty 
fancy bit of hardware for the time.


--Toby

Re: Writing SCSI 9-Track Mag Tapes from Windows/DOS

[simon]

well, we at hack42 are discussing a pertec to usb converter based on a 
microcontroller. pertec seems straightforward, now how to present the 
drive to the os...


Simon

On 03-10-15 10:20, Mike Ross wrote:

Question: will this kind of hookup work with a USB-SCSI converter? If
so, are there any specific brands and models known to work? I'm
interested in both SE & differential, 50 pin & 68 pin.

Or does it need a traditional Adaptec or similar card?

Preferably under Linux; Windows possible but deprecated.

Mike

On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 7:52 PM, John Wilson  wrote:

On Fri, Oct 02, 2015 at 11:28:49PM -0700, Marc Verdiell wrote:

Thanks for your STP2T02.exe  SCSI tape to SIMH program. Ran like a champ
under Win98 DOS, first time. It's the only utility that did work out of the
box to read a tape from my SCSI-1 HP 88780 9-track into a SIMH file,  out of
the 5 or so I tried.  Before I jump to Linux, which seems to be the more
straightforward option, does anyone have the reverse tool to write a SIMH
image file on a 9 Track tape under Windows/DOS? None of the utilities I
found using Windows Tape APIs could deal with my tape SCSI-1 early
interface, they all expect some basic (SCSI-2?) functions that are not
implemented.


My "ST.EXE" program (available from http://www.dbit.com/pub/ibmpc/util/
including source) runs on real DOS (not Windows) and can write from an
E11-format .TAP file (which SIMH uses a garbled version of, but they're
interchangeable for *even* record lengths which are 99% of the universe)
to a real tape.  It works on my HP 88780, and my Qualstar 1260S and even
a DEC TZ30 or TK50Z-GA (which aren't quite full SCSI-1).  Not picky at all.
"st wput foo.tap" should write your image out.  You need a DOS ASPI driver
for your SCSI card, and you'll need to use something like "-f scsi5:" on
the command line (or set the TAPE environment variable) so ST will know
which SCSI ID (etc.) to use.

John Wilson
D Bit






--
Met vriendelijke Groet,

Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl

Re: PDP 11/03

[Noel Chiappa]

> From: Jim S

> I suspect I also need an additional card at minimum for my escapade,
> and I'm not sure if one card will do it.
> I've got pretty much one of every 2 size processor and the 11/03 4 up
> processor card. I also have several serial cards, and some memory.

Then you should have all you need to run a minimal system; CPU, memory and a
serial interface for the console. (In fact, it's possible to run _very_ short
programs with only an 11/23 or /73 CPU card, a serial interface card, and no
memory - put the program in the PAR's! :-)

> if someone has something laying around that would let me just run up to
> a working serial port

Do you mean, a cable? If so, I can hook you up there (not the most robust,
mind, as my supply of pins/shells are cheapo knock-offs, but functional).

What kind of serial card(s) do you have (some take the LSI-11 serial
'standard' 10-pin Berg connector shell, the early ones use the DL11
compatible 40-pin shell), and what's going to be on the non-PDP-11 end
- a PC of some sort?

Noel

Re: Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

[Ben Sinclair]

Are any Pixar Image Computers in the hands of collectors? I would love
to have one of those, even if it didn't do anything!

On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 8:28 AM, Toby Thain  wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This recent Quora answer contained a little gap - the name of the person who
> designed the original logo on the case.
>
> Quick Googling didn't help. Anyone have the trivia answer?
>
>   http://qr.ae/RP2GQy
>
> Any other PIC/Pixar/Renderman anecdotes welcome. Sounds like a pretty fancy
> bit of hardware for the time.
>
> --Toby



-- 
Ben Sinclair
b...@bensinclair.com

Re: Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

[Jonathan Katz]

My guess would be good 'ol John Lasseter.

On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 3:28 PM, Toby Thain  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> This recent Quora answer contained a little gap - the name of the person
> who designed the original logo on the case.
>
> Quick Googling didn't help. Anyone have the trivia answer?
>
>   http://qr.ae/RP2GQy
>
> Any other PIC/Pixar/Renderman anecdotes welcome. Sounds like a pretty
> fancy bit of hardware for the time.
>
> --Toby
>



-- 
-Jon
+32 0 486 260 686

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Noel Chiappa]

>> From: Tony Duell 

>> I am working from 2 Printsets, both from Bitsavers. One is the GT40 one
>> (yet another backplane of course, but the same CPU, core memory, etc).

> Ah, thanks for that pointer; I'll see if it shows the same board
> versions as my 'early' hardcopy set.

It does seem to show _basically_ the same as my set; the print revs are
slightly different (slightly later), but it does have what I've called the
'early' boards. The differences with mine are minor - e.g. on the M7261,
there are two extra capacitors in the prints in the GT40 set.


> isn't the switchable divider only present on later boards (the early
> ones being pretty much 110 baud only)?

Ooh, right you are - another way to tell the early M7260 from later ones. If
your memory of a version with a crystal is correct, that does indeed make
three versions of that board. Can all -11/05 and -11/10 owners look at their
M7260, and see if they have one with a crystal? If so, we can institute a
search for the prints of that version.

> This printset _does_ show the jumpers I mentioned. Look at page 75 of
> the .pdf bottom, left-ish. Jumper W1 is described as disabling the
> internal serial port when fitted.

Ah, right you are; maybe I am mis-remembering a long search through the
'early' printset for jumper W1?


>> You have to tweak the trim pot to change from the 110/220/440/880/1760
>> speed set to the 150/300/600/1200/2400! Ugly!!)

> May be easier than finding the right crystal to change a DL11A-E to the
> 'other' set of baud rates :-)

Well, today that's not so easy (although I did stumble on a pair of the 9600
baud crystals on eBay a while back), but back then, it was a lot easier!


> The M9302 includes logic to assert SACK if a grant (any BG or NPG) gets
> to it ... This causes problems with an open grant chain in that the CPU
> sees the SACK, tries to deassert the grant (which it hasn't asserted in
> the first place) and the bus is locked with SACK asserted and no grants.

So, how did the M9302 see a 'grant' to start the whole process? Noise on an
open input? Or maybe it powers up in that state?


>> From: Johnny Billquist

>> You most likely want to terminate the other end as well.

> It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the
> CPU backplane .. I am certain a terminator at the CPU end only will get
> the machine doing something

Yes, I think that in electrical terms it would be very similar to the typical
LSI-11, which works fine with termination at one end only. Yes, there will be
more noise on the bus due to the un-terminated end, but it will probably
still work OK.

Noel

Re: Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

[simon]

Hey this is interesting. we have a different controller, indicating that 
a change from a 1038 to a 1039 involved changing the controller as well.


see my pics.
https://hack42.nl/gallery/v/Museum/2015-09-18-138.jpg

unfortunately i cannot find a picture of the back of the controller.

simon

On 05-10-15 07:59, Erik Baigar wrote:

Hi Simon,

thanks for your email. I took the pictures on the weekend and loaded
them onto my server - curious, whether you have got the same setup:

http://www.baigar.de/electronics/Calcomp103X/


than that pictured in the user guide. I took some more picts of the
pcb's in the machine. I will post them on our hack42.nl site later today.


Great, I will check for your pictures and compare... I have got
engineering drawings (i.e. schematics) only for the power supply,
the logic board (sequencer) and the pen driver. Unfortunately the
schematics for the OPC (online plotter controller?) are missing,
i.e. exactly for the interesting PCB with the CPU there are no
schematics at the moment  :-(


was loose inside the machine, and it seems ours is wired for current
loop, looking at the settings decal on the inside of the backplate.
How is yours wired?


That looks very crowded as you can see and I do not know whether
this is representative. I guess mine was used in some form of
daisy chain setup but at least the levels are RS232. Yes - I have
been able to plot data on my plotter, but the PCI/906 language
the OPC uses is quite strange and the RS232 is not that easy as it
is using hardware handshake and checks for all signals (RTS/CTS
and DSR/DTR) I think.


I had to put away the calcomp for the time being as we had a fair
yesterday.


Yes, that is quite a heavy machine. Mine is stored at my parent's
basement, so I only have access to the plotter and the documentation
once a month...

Best regards,

Erik.


On 03-10-15 20:18, Erik Baigar wrote:

Hi Simon, Hello to the group,

this weekend I went digging for the Calcomp 1038/1039 manual and
if your plotter looks like this...

http://www.baigar.de/electronics/Calcomp103X.gif

...I may have what you need. Drop me a note and I will try to
scan the schematics next week and load them onto my web
page. Did you make any progress with the plotter already?

Best regards,

Erik.

P.S. My plotter is a 1038 which has been upgraded with the
PCI/906 interface but it only has got a single pen holder. Does
your plotter have got three colors?


On Mon, 21 Sep 2015, Erik Baigar wrote:



Hi All,

the 1039 is an interesting plotter I have got a 1038/1039 as well:
There are two
big
PCBs inside - one is for the low level functions (essentally driving
the servos
and
drawing lines using TTL implemented Bresenham) the second one contains
the
computer (68xx based) which is handling the communication.

So for simply moving the pens with the arrow buttons, the computer PCB
may not
be
necessary. Have you tried this?

The computer PCB controls the LEDs and blinking may well indicate a
problem on
the computer PCB - I thinke I have got a set of documentation. But
unfortunately
it is
stored away, but surely I can do a search within the next four weeks
if there is
real interest. I even read out the bipolar PROMs of the processor card
for
safety
some years ago...

   Erik, e...@baigar.de



tony duell  hat am 20. September 2015 um
20:02
geschrieben:



Hi All,

we have a 1039 in our space with the user guide, but without any
service
docs. Our specimen does not react to buttons except the reset and
test
buttons. the four statusleds light up on a reset and after a
second the
center two leds start blinking in sequence. paper and pens are
loaded as
per the user guide.


Silly question... It doesn't happen to use 2114 RAMs does it? If so,
check
and/or
replace them. I've foudn such RAM in printers/plotters from many
manufacturers
and perhaps 90%+ of electronic problems are caused by them.

-tony




--
Met vriendelijke Groet,

Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl





--
Met vriendelijke Groet,

Simon Claessen
drukknop.nl

Re: Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

[Toby Thain]

On 2015-10-05 9:39 AM, Jonathan Katz wrote:

My guess would be good 'ol John Lasseter.



The answer did include the extra info that it was a stone carver. I 
don't see that in Lasseter's bio.


--Toby



On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 3:28 PM, Toby Thain  wrote:


Hi,

This recent Quora answer contained a little gap - the name of the person
who designed the original logo on the case.

Quick Googling didn't help. Anyone have the trivia answer?

   http://qr.ae/RP2GQy

Any other PIC/Pixar/Renderman anecdotes welcome. Sounds like a pretty
fancy bit of hardware for the time.

--Toby

Re: Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

[Erik Baigar]

Hi Simon,

thanks for your email and the link to the pictures - you indeed
have a more modern version of the controller. Maybe, yours is the
later OPC907 and not the 906 I have got. Anyhow the plugs look
quite similar, so it probably is a drop in repelacelemt...

My controller understands a subset ot the PCI/907 commands, but this
did nor hurt me as I am only using the very basic pen up / pen down
and goto commands.

The pictures are all I currently have got (at least until my next
visit at my parent's basement  ;-))

I think first step is to make the keypads work and than to look
into the controller of the plotter...

   Best regards,

  Erik.



On Mon, 5 Oct 2015, simon wrote:

Hey this is interesting. we have a different controller, indicating that a 
change from a 1038 to a 1039 involved changing the controller as well.


see my pics.
https://hack42.nl/gallery/v/Museum/2015-09-18-138.jpg

unfortunately i cannot find a picture of the back of the controller.

simon

On 05-10-15 07:59, Erik Baigar wrote:

Hi Simon,

thanks for your email. I took the pictures on the weekend and loaded
them onto my server - curious, whether you have got the same setup:

http://www.baigar.de/electronics/Calcomp103X/


than that pictured in the user guide. I took some more picts of the
pcb's in the machine. I will post them on our hack42.nl site later today.


Great, I will check for your pictures and compare... I have got
engineering drawings (i.e. schematics) only for the power supply,
the logic board (sequencer) and the pen driver. Unfortunately the
schematics for the OPC (online plotter controller?) are missing,
i.e. exactly for the interesting PCB with the CPU there are no
schematics at the moment  :-(


was loose inside the machine, and it seems ours is wired for current
loop, looking at the settings decal on the inside of the backplate.
How is yours wired?


That looks very crowded as you can see and I do not know whether
this is representative. I guess mine was used in some form of
daisy chain setup but at least the levels are RS232. Yes - I have
been able to plot data on my plotter, but the PCI/906 language
the OPC uses is quite strange and the RS232 is not that easy as it
is using hardware handshake and checks for all signals (RTS/CTS
and DSR/DTR) I think.


I had to put away the calcomp for the time being as we had a fair
yesterday.


Yes, that is quite a heavy machine. Mine is stored at my parent's
basement, so I only have access to the plotter and the documentation
once a month...

Best regards,

Erik.

Re: Calcomp 1039 plotter docs?

[Mike Loewen]

Guys:

   Please don't CC to both cctalk and cctech.


Mike Loewen mloe...@cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology  http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

RE: Trivia Question: Pixar Image Computer

[Ali]

> Are any Pixar Image Computers in the hands of collectors? I would love
> to have one of those, even if it didn't do anything!

Probably - I remember at least two being listed on eBay over the past five to 
six years. They were being offered at ridiculous prices so not sure if anyone 
bough them but they are out there.

-Ali

Dead PET4032

[Adrian Graham]

Hi folks,

Some storage reorganisation last week uncovered a PET4032 I'd forgotten I
had. Spotless internally (I remembered why later) and glass fuse intact so
I attempted powerup. Nothing. No screen and no chirrup.

Google + schematics time. I've checked AC voltage at the iron lump and all
major chips + DRAM are getting the right voltages. The processor is
generating a clock signal at PHI2 (~2.7V), I've checked continuity of all
address and data lines for ROMs/processor/VIA/PIA. I can't check the
contents of the Kernal ROM since it's not socketed and my track record of
successfully removing big chips whole isn't good.

One chip that does get hot is the Character Generator at UA3 which I was
going to swap with the one in my other 4032, but that doesn't power up
either. Presumably I can borrow one from a 3032 or 8096?

A lot of the repair pages use a piggyback 6502/ROM/RAM add-in called a
PETvet but all I have is a DMM, logic tester and other working PETs as
sources of chips I can borrow.

Are there any more steps I can try before checking ROM contents becomes
necessary?

Cheers.

-- 
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Re: Dead PET4032

[Adrian Graham]

Hi Tony,

The screen's not connected, nor keyboard. I figured there was no point
until I got a chirrup.

My logic tester is a cheapo Micronta, yes. There's an unpopulated ROM
socket at UD11 so I can easily get +5 and GND from there for probing, I'll
do that tonight.

A

On 5 October 2015 at 16:55, tony duell  wrote:

> >
> > One chip that does get hot is the Character Generator at UA3 which I was
> > going to swap with the one in my other 4032, but that doesn't power up
> > either. Presumably I can borrow one from a 3032 or 8096?
>
> A machine with a dead character generator ROM (unless it is so dead as to
> pull a power supply line down) will still initialise. You would get the
> warble.
>
> And I would be surprised if you got nothing on the screen either. Odd bit
> rot would mean the wrong patterns for some characters. But still something.
>
> This is presumably a large-screen machine with a 6845 on the mainboard.
> Is it initialising that (look at the vertical and horizontal sync outputs
> with your
> logic probe, are they toggling)?
>
> Is it accessing the kernal ROM? Is the CS/ pin pulsing low?
>
> What about the RAS/ and CAS/ signals on the DRAMs?
>
> > A lot of the repair pages use a piggyback 6502/ROM/RAM add-in called a
> > PETvet but all I have is a DMM, logic tester and other working PETs as
> > sources of chips I can borrow.
>
> I assume the logic tester is a simple logic probe and not a logic
> analyser, alas
>
> -tony
>



-- 
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk

RE: Dead PET4032

[tony duell]

>
> The screen's not connected, nor keyboard. I figured there was no point
> until I got a chirrup.

Well, if the piezo buzzer has failed But I guess that's not very likely.

-tony

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Henk Gooijen]

-Oorspronkelijk bericht- 
From: Johnny Billquist

Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 4:53 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

On 2015-10-05 13:50, tony duell wrote:

The 11/10 generally uses an M930 terminator.


Right. However, the SACK signal exists, even on the 11/10.
And if that signal is floating, or non-working, you can still have
problems. So, termination is still important.
The additional feature of of the M9302 is just to catch if BG signals
are sent out when noone was actually requesting an interrupt.

So your comment about open grant chain locking is relevant, but do not
negate the claim that you need to make sure you have terminators in
place, and that signals are carried through the whole backplane.

Note that my original comment was not about BG/BR continuity as such,
but termination and signals running through the whole bus. BG/BR is just
one part of that.


But you do need some kind of termination/pullups on the Unibus. At least
fit the CPU-end terminator (M930 in the right slot near the CPU boards) 
if

you haven't done so already.


You most likely want to terminate the other end as well.


It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the CPU 
backplane,
or even a BA11-K full of backplanes, I am certain a terminator at the CPU 
end only
will get the machine doing something, even running programs correctly. 
Totally
ignoring the front panel is not caused by a missing far-end terminator on 
such a

small machine.


The 11/10 do not have a built-in terminator at the CPU end. You are
supposed to have two M930 on the backplane.

Johnny

=
Sorry for the delayed answer, I don't have email available at work -:/

I have one M930 in slot 3 position A-B, because that is the termination
for the processor. I am pretty sure (not 100%) that I also have an M930
in slot 9 position A-B. To be complete, this is the current state.
slot 1 A-F : M7260
slot 2 A-F : M7261
slot 3 A-B : M930   C-D : G7273
slot 4 A-B : M9970  C-D : G7273
slot 5 C-D : G7273
slot 6 empty
slot 7 empty
slot 8 empty
slot 9 A-B : M930

Slot 6-7-8-9 is for core memory, respectively G235, H217D, G114, M8293.
The documentation says that a G727 should go in slot 3-4-5 position D.
I hate those "knuckle-busters". Plus, I am lazy to check NPR continuity
on the backplane, so I installed G7273s instead of G727s. Always good.

I totally forgot that the GT40 is based on the 11/05. Great tip in case
it turns out that I have a "different" CPU module! You never know ...

When I got the 11/10, all boards were in their correct location, so after
the goof up of wrong placement, somebody more knowledgeable placed the
boards in their correct slots. I guess he hoped to see a working system.
So I do not know which board was place where :-/  That makes guessing
what might be damaged a bit tricky, although in/outs that go to fingers
of the board are first candidate for inspection. A visual check did not
reveal anything abviously blown or burnt.

@Bill : keep us posted of your progress :-)
@Johnny : I do not think an NPR problem exists, unless it is there,
because of damaged hardware.
@Jon : After I checked the correct levels of all power suplly voltages,
I also tried the system with slot 6-7-8-9 filled with the core memory.
Behavior did not change. Again, I am pretty sure NPR is not the problem.
@Noell : thanks for mentioning the possible versions!  Good to keep in
mind!

As Tony says, the M930 terminator close to the CPU (slot 3) should be
enough, especially as all other slots that matter are empty. But I am
pretty sure that for 100% correctness I also have one M930 in slot 9.

Thanks for all support, I hope to continue on Saturday ...
- Henk

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-10-05 17:24, Henk Gooijen wrote:

-Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: Johnny Billquist
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 4:53 PM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

On 2015-10-05 13:50, tony duell wrote:

The 11/10 generally uses an M930 terminator.


Right. However, the SACK signal exists, even on the 11/10.
And if that signal is floating, or non-working, you can still have
problems. So, termination is still important.
The additional feature of of the M9302 is just to catch if BG signals
are sent out when noone was actually requesting an interrupt.

So your comment about open grant chain locking is relevant, but do not
negate the claim that you need to make sure you have terminators in
place, and that signals are carried through the whole backplane.

Note that my original comment was not about BG/BR continuity as such,
but termination and signals running through the whole bus. BG/BR is just
one part of that.


But you do need some kind of termination/pullups on the Unibus. At
least
fit the CPU-end terminator (M930 in the right slot near the CPU
boards) if
you haven't done so already.


You most likely want to terminate the other end as well.


It may not be a perfect electrical match, but if all you have is the
CPU backplane,
or even a BA11-K full of backplanes, I am certain a terminator at the
CPU end only
will get the machine doing something, even running programs correctly.
Totally
ignoring the front panel is not caused by a missing far-end terminator
on such a
small machine.


The 11/10 do not have a built-in terminator at the CPU end. You are
supposed to have two M930 on the backplane.

Johnny

=
Sorry for the delayed answer, I don't have email available at work -:/

I have one M930 in slot 3 position A-B, because that is the termination
for the processor. I am pretty sure (not 100%) that I also have an M930
in slot 9 position A-B. To be complete, this is the current state.
slot 1 A-F : M7260
slot 2 A-F : M7261
slot 3 A-B : M930   C-D : G7273
slot 4 A-B : M9970  C-D : G7273
slot 5 C-D : G7273
slot 6 empty
slot 7 empty
slot 8 empty
slot 9 A-B : M930

Slot 6-7-8-9 is for core memory, respectively G235, H217D, G114, M8293.
The documentation says that a G727 should go in slot 3-4-5 position D.
I hate those "knuckle-busters". Plus, I am lazy to check NPR continuity
on the backplane, so I installed G7273s instead of G727s. Always good.

I totally forgot that the GT40 is based on the 11/05. Great tip in case
it turns out that I have a "different" CPU module! You never know ...

When I got the 11/10, all boards were in their correct location, so after
the goof up of wrong placement, somebody more knowledgeable placed the
boards in their correct slots. I guess he hoped to see a working system.
So I do not know which board was place where :-/  That makes guessing
what might be damaged a bit tricky, although in/outs that go to fingers
of the board are first candidate for inspection. A visual check did not
reveal anything abviously blown or burnt.

@Bill : keep us posted of your progress :-)
@Johnny : I do not think an NPR problem exists, unless it is there,
because of damaged hardware.
@Jon : After I checked the correct levels of all power suplly voltages,
I also tried the system with slot 6-7-8-9 filled with the core memory.
Behavior did not change. Again, I am pretty sure NPR is not the problem.
@Noell : thanks for mentioning the possible versions!  Good to keep in
mind!

As Tony says, the M930 terminator close to the CPU (slot 3) should be
enough, especially as all other slots that matter are empty. But I am
pretty sure that for 100% correctness I also have one M930 in slot 9.

Thanks for all support, I hope to continue on Saturday ...
- Henk


Ok. I got the initial impression that you only had the CPU in. Thanks 
for the expanded info.


When you don't have any core memory, I wonder if you might need bus 
grants in those slots as well...? It's not as if they aren't a part of 
the Unibus... Memory sits on the Unibus, just like everything else, 
remember? Needs to check further if any special wiring are in place for 
those slots, though.


Johnny

RE: PDP-11/10 repair started

[tony duell]

> 
> When you don't have any core memory, I wonder if you might need bus
> grants in those slots as well...? It's not as if they aren't a part of
> the Unibus... Memory sits on the Unibus, just like everything else,
> remember? Needs to check further if any special wiring are in place for
> those slots, though.

The core memory slots are specially wired (that's why the 8K and 16K
backplanes are different, one is wired for one set of core, the other
for 2 sets, with SPCs in the remaining slots). You do NOT put grant
cards in there.

In any case, an open grant chain will not cause problems at this stage of the
11/10. If you left out all the grant continuity cards the machine would still 
respond
to the console switches, let you load addresses, etc. So let's get that working
first

-tony

RE: Dead PET4032

[tony duell]

> 
> One chip that does get hot is the Character Generator at UA3 which I was
> going to swap with the one in my other 4032, but that doesn't power up
> either. Presumably I can borrow one from a 3032 or 8096?

A machine with a dead character generator ROM (unless it is so dead as to 
pull a power supply line down) will still initialise. You would get the warble.

And I would be surprised if you got nothing on the screen either. Odd bit
rot would mean the wrong patterns for some characters. But still something.

This is presumably a large-screen machine with a 6845 on the mainboard. 
Is it initialising that (look at the vertical and horizontal sync outputs with 
your
logic probe, are they toggling)?

Is it accessing the kernal ROM? Is the CS/ pin pulsing low?

What about the RAS/ and CAS/ signals on the DRAMs?

> A lot of the repair pages use a piggyback 6502/ROM/RAM add-in called a
> PETvet but all I have is a DMM, logic tester and other working PETs as
> sources of chips I can borrow.

I assume the logic tester is a simple logic probe and not a logic analyser, alas

-tony

Re: PDP-11/10 repair started

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-10-05 17:56, Henk Gooijen wrote:

-Oorspronkelijk bericht- From: Johnny Billquist Sent: Monday,
October 05, 2015 5:44 PM To: cctalk@classiccmp.org Subject: Re:
PDP-11/10 repair started
Ok. I got the initial impression that you only had the CPU in. Thanks
for the expanded info.

When you don't have any core memory, I wonder if you might need bus
grants in those slots as well...? It's not as if they aren't a part of
the Unibus... Memory sits on the Unibus, just like everything else,
remember? Needs to check further if any special wiring are in place for
those slots, though.

Johnny

=

I am not sure the "core slots" would need grant cards. The documentation
is clear about slot 3-4-5 as SPC, needing grant cards. I never saw any
doc where the core memory slots, when optional, but not installed, could
be used as an SPC slot. I certainly am Not "trying" that ...
I did try the system *with* the core slots filled with the correct boards
but the behavior remained the same.
To make fault finding not more complex, I removed the core board set.


Ok. Not sure if it makes it more complex or not, but I guess it's not 
the issue right now anyway.


But my original comment about the behavior you described being very much 
like what I've seen on other machines with bad/no termination still 
applies. CPU seemingly stuck, but doing a master reset sortof gets it 
out. But not functioning as it should.


Well, no more ideas here at the moment.

Johnny

Re: Manual for the Overland Data OD3201 Tape Drive?

[Chuck Guzis]

On 10/04/2015 11:12 PM, Marc Verdiell wrote:

Anyone has the operation and service manual for the 9-track mag tape
drive Overland Data OD3201? Similar to a Qualstar, but seems
larger-faster-quieter-better. Just succeeded putting it online. This
one is unusual in its simplicity - it has both a Pertec and a
Parallel Port interface. Once I found the DOS software in a dark
corner of the Internet, I connected it to the parallel port of a my
vintage DOS machine and it worked straight out of the box. Look Ma,
no interface cards needed!

Reads and writes fine apparently. But it has the common ailment of
servo motor tape drives, it creeps a little bit at rest. So I
probably need to adjust a pot somewhere. Would be nice if I could
find the service manual, but no luck on Googling it up.


I've got a bunch of files that are Overland 32xx-related, but I don't 
know if they'll be useful.  I don't recall where I got them off the web, 
but I'll be happy to forward them along.  Probably close to 75MB worth.


I don't care much for the Overland desktop drives, due to the chassis 
being constructed largely of plastic.  Watch out for the foam in the lid 
too--it degrades with age and then develops air leaks and suddenly, you 
can't load a tape.


--Chuck