Re: favor at vcfmw

2018-09-17 Thread Paul Anderson via cctalk 
 Hi Al ,

I survived VCFMW. I thought you received my reply, but I've been having all
kinds of problems.
I'll try to have my son  or someone send you pics.

Thanks, Paul



Paul Anderson 
Aug 23
to Al
Hi Al,

I have four DILOG boards that the components match the photo  you sent me.
The difference is after the DQ6 is blank on 2, and others say 57067A or
57086.  The ROM numbers that can be read are different numbers.

I think the only difference might be the ROMs.

Did Emulex make one? I remember looking for one like this a few months ago.

Thanks, Paul


On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 1:35 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk  wrote:

> If Paul brings some Dilog qbus boards, could someone look for a DQ614 for
> me?
> I've been trying to find out if he has one, and haven't been able to do it.
>
>

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

2018-09-17 Thread Paul Anderson via cctalk 
The H744 was 25 amp, but then they came out with the H7440  28amp? And the
H7441 at 32 amp.

A lot of units were upgraded in the field.

Paul

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 5:49 PM, Eric Smith via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 4:17 PM, dwight via cctalk 
> wrote:
>
> > I had a problem with brick power supplies a number of years back. I found
> > an issue that caused them to fail. I had about ten of them on the same
> > power switch. You'd think this would not be an issue but it is.
> >
> > You see it works like this, each one had a transformer in it. When you
> > disconnect the power, with a switch, each of the transformers often has
> > energy left in the cores. Normally for just one supply, this isn't an
> > issue. When you have a bunch of these, only one supply absorbs all of the
> > energy. When it does, it will blow some part of that supply up. On the
> ones
> > I had, it'd take of the negative rail.
> >
> > I put a MOV on the power rail and didn't have any more issues with power
> > cycling.
>
>
> Interesting!
>
> The DEC regulator modules under discussion (H744, H745, H754, etc) probably
> don't have that particular problem. They are switchers, and run on 20-30VAC
> input rather than directly on mains voltage. The H742 or H7420 bulk supply
> which the regulator modules plug into has a large power transformer from
> mains to the intermediate AC, and supports up to five regulator modules, It
> also has a control module which includes one or two built-in linear
> regulators (low-power compared to the plug-in switching regulators).
>
> The PDP-11/40 has one H742 with five regulator modules. The PDP-11/70 has
> two H7420s with three or four H744 regulator modules each.
>
> Some of the regulator modules are rated for up to 150W output. The most
> common, the H744, is rated for 125W (5V 25A). However, DEC designed
> somewhat conservatively and didn't normally operate the regulators near the
> maximum rated current. I don't think the H742 or H7420 can handle much more
> than 500W total, hence the 11/70 needing two of them.
>

Re: SAGE memory plane

2018-09-17 Thread Mike Loewen via cctalk 

On Sun, 16 Sep 2018, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:


ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/232927847019

https://secretsofcoldwarradar.omeka.net/exhibits/show/cold-war-radar-technology/item/4

can someone identify exactly what this box was called, when it was deployed, 
and what training manual they are referring to?


   In the T.O. (http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/sage/3-32-0_Central_Computer_System_Vol1_Feb59.pdf), 
that cabinet is called "core memory 1", or 256² ferrite core array". We  just 
called it "Big Mem".  Here's a picture of the cabinet from McChord's 
SAGE:


http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/BigMem.jpg

   I'll have to look through my references to find out when it was deployed. 
That training manual doesn't seem to be on Bitsavers.  :-)  It would be nice 
to find it.



we have a couple
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102633198

and they keep getting mis-identified.


   I have one, as well:

http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/SAGE/Coreplane-1L.jpg


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

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

2018-09-17 Thread Eric Smith via cctalk 
On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 4:17 PM, dwight via cctalk 
wrote:

> I had a problem with brick power supplies a number of years back. I found
> an issue that caused them to fail. I had about ten of them on the same
> power switch. You'd think this would not be an issue but it is.
>
> You see it works like this, each one had a transformer in it. When you
> disconnect the power, with a switch, each of the transformers often has
> energy left in the cores. Normally for just one supply, this isn't an
> issue. When you have a bunch of these, only one supply absorbs all of the
> energy. When it does, it will blow some part of that supply up. On the ones
> I had, it'd take of the negative rail.
>
> I put a MOV on the power rail and didn't have any more issues with power
> cycling.


Interesting!

The DEC regulator modules under discussion (H744, H745, H754, etc) probably
don't have that particular problem. They are switchers, and run on 20-30VAC
input rather than directly on mains voltage. The H742 or H7420 bulk supply
which the regulator modules plug into has a large power transformer from
mains to the intermediate AC, and supports up to five regulator modules, It
also has a control module which includes one or two built-in linear
regulators (low-power compared to the plug-in switching regulators).

The PDP-11/40 has one H742 with five regulator modules. The PDP-11/70 has
two H7420s with three or four H744 regulator modules each.

Some of the regulator modules are rated for up to 150W output. The most
common, the H744, is rated for 125W (5V 25A). However, DEC designed
somewhat conservatively and didn't normally operate the regulators near the
maximum rated current. I don't think the H742 or H7420 can handle much more
than 500W total, hence the 11/70 needing two of them.

Re: VT100 emulation

2018-09-17 Thread Zane Healy via cctalk 


> On Sep 17, 2018, at 8:04 AM, Ken Seefried via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> From: Al Kossow 
>> 
>> a 7" android tablet based on the wondermedia wm8650 SOC
>> ...
>> these things are so old they've disappeared from the market
>> 
> 
> Well...not 7", but there is this:
> https://blackberrymobile.com/product/blackberry-key2/
> 
> KJ

As long as you are connecting over the network, my iPod Touch works quite well 
for Multics and Unix, when running SecureCRT.  It’s semi-usable for VMS 
(lacking in keys).  The same app works pretty good with the iPad and large 
wireless keyboard.

Zane

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

2018-09-17 Thread Eric Smith via cctalk 
On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 1:30 PM, Henk Gooijen via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> As far as I know, the 11/40 uses only one H745.
> And vague memory seems te recall that the -15V brick is an “odd one”,
> because, unlike all other bricks, it needs the +15V from the regulator that
> is inside the H742 block. But I could be wrong ...
>

The D and E position regulators in the H742 of an 11/40 can be:
* both H745, if no MM11-U core memory is used
* one H745 in D and one H754 in E, if some core memory is used
* no H745, and two H754 in D and E, if a lot of core memory is used

The A, B, and C position are always H744 (+5V 25A).

I'm not clear on the distinction between "some" and "a lot" of MM11-U core
memory. It might be explained in the 11/40 manual, or one might have to
work it out from which memory backplanes are powered from which regulator
modules.

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

2018-09-17 Thread dwight via cctalk 
I had a problem with brick power supplies a number of years back. I found an 
issue that caused them to fail. I had about ten of them on the same power 
switch. You'd think this would not be an issue but it is.

You see it works like this, each one had a transformer in it. When you 
disconnect the power, with a switch, each of the transformers often has energy 
left in the cores. Normally for just one supply, this isn't an issue. When you 
have a bunch of these, only one supply absorbs all of the energy. When it does, 
it will blow some part of that supply up. On the ones I had, it'd take of the 
negative rail.

I put a MOV on the power rail and didn't have any more issues with power 
cycling.

Dwight



From: cctalk  on behalf of Bill Degnan via 
cctalk 
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 12:07:22 PM
To: p.gebha...@ymail.com; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Looking for two DEC H445 power bricks for PDP 11/40 project

here is a photo of some of the failed regulators I have on hand that I have
pulled from production over the years:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DML8O8dW0AISX5m.jpg

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 3:05 PM Bill Degnan  wrote:

> H745's are harder to find.  I have at least one that needs service but I
> am located in the USA and I have no clear idea what's wrong with it.  Is it
> that you have zero h745's at all or you have a bad one?  Is there a typical
> point of failure for these?  If so, I'd try to track down a bad one and fix
> it. Probably a lot cheaper.
> b
>
> On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 2:54 PM P Gebhardt via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>> Hello Noel,
>>
>> thanks for your quick reply. There are indeed some DEC power brick models
>> on epay, but none regarding the H745.
>>
>> All the best,
>> Pierre
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > From: Pierre Gebhardt
>>
>> > two H745 bricks (delivering -15V) which are still missing. I'd be
>> very
>> > happy, if anybody could consider parting with one or two. Location
>> is
>> > in Germany.
>>
>> There should be some on eBait; mildly expensive, but if you get them from
>> the US, the shipping is going to be a fair amount anyway...
>>
>> Noel
>>
>

Re: VT100 emulation

2018-09-17 Thread Ken Seefried via cctalk 
The BBKey2 has punctuation on the keys.  It's not all of them (|, &
and \ aren't there), but the SYM key brings up an onscreen keyboard
with those.  Not ideal, but I would argue reasonable compromise for
something relatively modern that fits in your pocket.  Not sure about
diacritics, but at least in the older BBs, my French and German
colleagues didn't seem to have trouble sending messages with them.

KJ
On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 11:43 AM Liam Proven  wrote:
>
> On Mon, 17 Sep 2018 at 17:05, Ken Seefried via cctalk
>  wrote:
> >
> > Well...not 7", but there is this:
> > https://blackberrymobile.com/product/blackberry-key2/
>
> True.
>
> I have not had or used an Android Blackberry with a hardware keyboard,
> but I did have a Passport, the older QNX-based device.
>
> One thing to note about the keyboard is that is has no punctuation
> marks at all. It only has letters, backspace, return, Alt and Shift.
>
> No keys for numbers or . , ' ? & * | > < etc.
>
> Some of these things are accessible with Alt, some with softkeys on
> the display, and some will be hard to find at all.
>
> It was great for entering English text but I suspect it would be a
> real handful for shell commands or in a terminal emulator.
>
> The Psion/Gemini keyboard doesn't have many, just these:
>
> , /
>
> ' ~
> . ?
>
> ... and it causes problems for non-English users. It has no keys for
> æ, å, é, á, š and so on. There are workarounds but users of languages
> with many diacritics tend to be very used to having dedicated keys for
> these things.
>
>
>
> --
> Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
> Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
> Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
> UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 48, Issue 17

2018-09-17 Thread Eric Smith via cctalk 
On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 1:11 PM, Jeffrey S. Worley via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> What kind of cores does it use?
>

Pretty ordinary core memory. Being an early system, the cores were rather
large, so high currents were needed for read and write. There was forced
air temperature control, vs. oil immersion used in the contemporary IBM
7302 core storage unit (later replaced by air-cooled 7302A).

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

2018-09-17 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
> From: Henk Gooijen

> As far as I know, the 11/40 uses only one H745.

Depends on what kind of memory it has. If MF11-L, it has two H745's; if
MM11-U, it has an H745 and an H754.

(The harness has two different connectors for the 5th 'brick', so it can
handle either kind. At least, that's the situation on the later machines
[serial numbers above 6000]; early production /40's only support the MF11-L,
and you have to use special add-on harnesses to support an MF11-U in them;
see DEC-11-H40SA-B-D, Chapter 6 for the details.)

Noel

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

2018-09-17 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
> From: Pierre Gebhardt

> There are indeed some DEC power brick models on epay, but none
> regarding the H745.

Here is one:

  https://www.ebay.com/itm/270303423286

but it is _really_ pricey. I have dealt with them before, they put high
prices on things; try offering them a reasonable amount and see if they take
it.


Also, you could try contacting this guy:

  https://www.ebay.com/usr/patrick-j

He has a lot of 'brick's listed, just not an H745, but he has a ton of stuff
(I 'picked' his warehouse, it's enormous), and maybe he just forgot to
re-list it when it expired, or something?

Noel

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

2018-09-17 Thread Henk Gooijen via cctalk 
See answer below …

Van: P Gebhardt via cctalk
Verzonden: maandag 17 september 2018 19:54
Aan: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic 
Posts
Onderwerp: Looking for two DEC H445 power bricks for PDP 11/40 project

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

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


Hi Pierre,
As far as I know, the 11/40 uses only one H745.
And vague memory seems te recall that the -15V brick is an “odd one”, because, 
unlike all other bricks, it needs the +15V from the regulator that is inside 
the H742 block. But I could be wrong ...

If you have a faulty H745, you can probably repair it. It is not too 
complicated, and when you have a +24 .. 30V DC power supply on the bench (and 
possiby that +15V DC) you can check the H745 out. It’s a secundary switcher, so 
safe to work on.
If you don’t have any H745, let me know. No promises, but I can check what I 
have on a shelf (probably defective, but as said, they can be repaired).

Greetz,
Henk, PA8PDP

Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 48, Issue 17

2018-09-17 Thread Chuck Guzis via cctalk 
On 09/17/2018 12:11 PM, Jeffrey S. Worley via cctalk wrote:
> I recall the SAGE was an integrated system of control for Interceptors.
> It began in the 1950's and became fully operational with the
> F106 fighter interceptor aircraft.  It could control an entire
> intercept from wheels up to flare on landing.  I never thought I'd SEE
> a chunk of the system.  Thanks!  I think it stood for Semi-Automatic
> Ground Environment, or some such.
> 
> What kind of cores does it use?  I once saw a board of Ruby Rod core
> memory at a junkyard.  Very beautiful.

Dunno, but I had a manager with SAGE experience.  He said it was very
useful for keeping one's lunch warm.

--Chuck

Re: cctalk Digest, Vol 48, Issue 17

2018-09-17 Thread Jeffrey S. Worley via cctalk 
I recall the SAGE was an integrated system of control for Interceptors.
It began in the 1950's and became fully operational with the
F106 fighter interceptor aircraft.  It could control an entire
intercept from wheels up to flare on landing.  I never thought I'd SEE
a chunk of the system.  Thanks!  I think it stood for Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment, or some such.

What kind of cores does it use?  I once saw a board of Ruby Rod core
memory at a junkyard.  Very beautiful.

Jeff

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

2018-09-17 Thread Bill Degnan via cctalk 
here is a photo of some of the failed regulators I have on hand that I have
pulled from production over the years:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DML8O8dW0AISX5m.jpg

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 3:05 PM Bill Degnan  wrote:

> H745's are harder to find.  I have at least one that needs service but I
> am located in the USA and I have no clear idea what's wrong with it.  Is it
> that you have zero h745's at all or you have a bad one?  Is there a typical
> point of failure for these?  If so, I'd try to track down a bad one and fix
> it. Probably a lot cheaper.
> b
>
> On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 2:54 PM P Gebhardt via cctalk <
> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>> Hello Noel,
>>
>> thanks for your quick reply. There are indeed some DEC power brick models
>> on epay, but none regarding the H745.
>>
>> All the best,
>> Pierre
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > From: Pierre Gebhardt
>>
>> > two H745 bricks (delivering -15V) which are still missing. I'd be
>> very
>> > happy, if anybody could consider parting with one or two. Location
>> is
>> > in Germany.
>>
>> There should be some on eBait; mildly expensive, but if you get them from
>> the US, the shipping is going to be a fair amount anyway...
>>
>> Noel
>>
>

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

2018-09-17 Thread Bill Degnan via cctalk 
H745's are harder to find.  I have at least one that needs service but I am
located in the USA and I have no clear idea what's wrong with it.  Is it
that you have zero h745's at all or you have a bad one?  Is there a typical
point of failure for these?  If so, I'd try to track down a bad one and fix
it. Probably a lot cheaper.
b

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 2:54 PM P Gebhardt via cctalk 
wrote:

> Hello Noel,
>
> thanks for your quick reply. There are indeed some DEC power brick models
> on epay, but none regarding the H745.
>
> All the best,
> Pierre
>
>
>
>
> > From: Pierre Gebhardt
>
> > two H745 bricks (delivering -15V) which are still missing. I'd be
> very
> > happy, if anybody could consider parting with one or two. Location is
> > in Germany.
>
> There should be some on eBait; mildly expensive, but if you get them from
> the US, the shipping is going to be a fair amount anyway...
>
> Noel
>

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

2018-09-17 Thread P Gebhardt via cctalk 
Hello Noel,

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

All the best,
Pierre




    > From: Pierre Gebhardt

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

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

    Noel

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

2018-09-17 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
> From: Pierre Gebhardt

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

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

Noel

SPARC Solaris 1.1.2 running in MAME

2018-09-17 Thread Al Kossow via cctalk 
on a simulated SPARCstation 1

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=113948#Post113947

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

2018-09-17 Thread P Gebhardt via cctalk 
Hello list,
last year, I was able to obtain a BA11-F chassis for my PDP 11/40 build-up 
project. The power supply to run a system in basic configuration is complete 
except for two H745 bricks (delivering -15V) which are still missing.
I'd be very happy, if anybody could consider parting with one or two. Location 
is in Germany. Please contact me off-list. 
Thanks a lot in advance for anybody of you helping me to work towards a running 
my first very classic PDP-11! 
Best regards,Pierre

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

Re: Further Lisp Machine Developments

2018-09-17 Thread Noel Chiappa via cctalk 
> From: Daniel Seagraves

> I spun up a blog for posting the ongoing status of things;

Cool! Thanks! Very interesting...

How many cards came with the CADR? My memory is dim, are there just memory
and I/O cards, or was the disk controller on a separate card from other I/O?

I wonder how many physical CADRs are left in the world? Anyone have a list?

Noel

Further Lisp Machine Developments

2018-09-17 Thread Daniel Seagraves via cctalk 
I spun up a blog for posting the ongoing status of things; It’s at 
https://www.orinrin.land/lispm/

Re: VT100 emulation

2018-09-17 Thread Liam Proven via cctalk 
On Mon, 17 Sep 2018 at 17:05, Ken Seefried via cctalk
 wrote:
>
> Well...not 7", but there is this:
> https://blackberrymobile.com/product/blackberry-key2/

True.

I have not had or used an Android Blackberry with a hardware keyboard,
but I did have a Passport, the older QNX-based device.

One thing to note about the keyboard is that is has no punctuation
marks at all. It only has letters, backspace, return, Alt and Shift.

No keys for numbers or . , ' ? & * | > < etc.

Some of these things are accessible with Alt, some with softkeys on
the display, and some will be hard to find at all.

It was great for entering English text but I suspect it would be a
real handful for shell commands or in a terminal emulator.

The Psion/Gemini keyboard doesn't have many, just these:

, /

' ~
. ?

... and it causes problems for non-English users. It has no keys for
æ, å, é, á, š and so on. There are workarounds but users of languages
with many diacritics tend to be very used to having dedicated keys for
these things.



-- 
Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: VT100 emulation

2018-09-17 Thread Ken Seefried via cctalk 
From: Al Kossow 
>
> a 7" android tablet based on the wondermedia wm8650 SOC
> ...
> these things are so old they've disappeared from the market
>

Well...not 7", but there is this:
https://blackberrymobile.com/product/blackberry-key2/

KJ