[cctalk] Re: VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Mark Huffstutter via cctalk]

Steve,
Thank You very much for taking the time to post your
Mini-tour! I agree with the earlier poster, sure looks like a lot
Of Cool stuff there at Southwest. Would have loved to have
Seen that ADS-B "Radar" setup in person!

I've never seen an HP-9830A that gorgeous, and with the
Companion HP-9866A printer no less, wow!

I had forgotten "END OF LINE" from Cylons in the Galactica
Second series, but I always pretty much considered that they'd
Copped it. The "END OF LINE" quote I remember best was issued
By the Evil MCP Master Control Program in the original TRON, in
1982. My best memory is seeing it in a big theater, now gone, with
A big crowd of fellow Nerds. The first time got quite a humorous 
Response from the crowd...

Thank You!
Mark

-Original Message-
From: Steve Lewis via cctalk  
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 5:05 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts 
Cc: Steve Lewis 
Subject: [cctalk] VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

VCF SW was this past weekend near Dallas, Texas.

Here are some highlights from my perspective.

https://voidstar.blog/vcf-southwest-2023/


Most photos you can click to enlarge (Edge has bugs with WordPress, you may 
need to scroll up/down a little bit to get the click thing working)


Cheers,
Steve

[cctalk] Re: Any RSX-11 fans able to identify file types?

[Bill Gunshannon via cctalk]

On 6/26/2023 10:07 AM, Paul Koning wrote:



On Jun 26, 2023, at 7:16 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk  
wrote:


On 6/25/2023 8:26 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

On 6/25/23 16:59, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:


I have 3" and 1800 pages of possible PDP-11 applications.  Trying to
guess what

application created those files is likely to be a study in frustration.
Does the

"customer" have no idea what programs they ran under RSX-11 that might have

created those files?

The "customer" no longer inhabits this vale of tears.

Was there an application called A2Z?  Just probing around in the files.


Actually, there was.  It was a DEC product and ran on MicroRSX. It consisted of 
a
number of packages and was a complete business operations system.


bill

On RSTS, also, I think.  Some vague memory says that it was a trimmed-down variant of 
"ALL-IN-ONE".



The Software Sourcebook list only MicroRSX as the OS supporting the various

pieces of A-to-Z.  There is no listing for anything called A2Z.


bill

[cctalk] Re: VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Richard via cctalk]

[private reply]

In article  
you write:
>On Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 1:06 PM Steve Lewis via cctalk
> wrote:
>>
>> VCF SW was this past weekend near Dallas, Texas.
>>
>> Here are some highlights from my perspective.
>>
>> https://voidstar.blog/vcf-southwest-2023/
>>
>>
>> Most photos you can click to enlarge (Edge has bugs with WordPress, you
>may
>> need to scroll up/down a little bit to get the click thing working)
>
>I may be talking nonsense, but you describe the Tektronix 4054 as a
>6800-based system. I thought the 4051 used that processor, but the
>4052 and 4054 used a board of AM2900-series bitslice chips that
>implement a processor with an instruction set similar to the 6800 but
>with no BCD operations and some 16 bit extensions.

My understanding is that it was a strict superset of 6800 with some unused
opcodes implemented fo faster math instructions.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book 
The Terminals Wiki 
 The Computer Graphics Museum 
  Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) 

[cctalk] Re: Any RSX-11 fans able to identify file types?

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

On 6/26/23 13:17, Lee Gleason via cctalk wrote:
>   Some of the filenames  (eg ATOZ013.MSL)  suggest that the DEC product
> A-TO-Z might be involved. This was an RSX based product for small offices.

As I mentioned, it fits perfectly.  In particular when I look at the
backup file, I run into this:

> b030  3b 00 30 31 30 31 44 55  30 3a 5b 41 54 4f 5a 4d  |;.0101DU0:[ATOZM|
> b040  4f 44 5d 41 32 55 4d 41  49 4e 2e 4d 4e 55 20 20  |OD]A2UMAIN.MNU  |
> b050  20 20 20 20 4d 45 4e 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |MEN |
> b060  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 00 ff ff  | ...|
| ...|

I did find a brief overall description of A2Z/A-to-Z here:

> https://www.1000bit.it/js/web/viewer.html?file=%2Fad%2Fbro%2Fdigital%2Fdec%2Dguide%2Da%2Dto%2Dz%2Epd

--Chuck

[cctalk] Re: H7819-AA / VAXstation 4000/90 and 4000/96

[Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctalk]

Hi!

On Mon, 2023-06-26 20:06:08 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctalk 
 wrote:
>   Just added a PiSCSI, uploaded a NetBSD ISO image, configured a 2 GB
> HDD and fired up again:
> 
> 
> >>> sh conf
> 
> KA49-A V1.0-006-V4.0
> 08-00-2B-35-5D-DF
> 128MB
> 
> DEVNBRDEVNAM   INFO
> ----
>  1 NVR?? 001 0016
>  3  DZOK
>  4   CACHEOK
>  5 MEMOK
>   128MB   0A,0B,0C,0D=16MB, 1E,1F,1G,1H=16MB 
>  6 FPUOK
>  7  ITOK
>  8 SYSOK
>  9  NIOK
> 10SCSIOK
>   1-RZ28M   3-SCSI6-INITR
> 11 AUDOK
> 
> >>> sh dev
> 
>   VMS/VMB  ADDR  DEVTYPENUMBYTES RM/FXWPDEVNAM  
> REV
>   ---    --- -----  
> ---
>   EZA0 08-00-2B-35-5D-DF
>   DKA100   A/1/0 DISK 2.10GB  FXRZ28M   
> 0568
>   DKA300   A/3/0 RODISK 370.80MB  RM  WPSCSI
> 2304
>  ..HostID..A/6   INITR

Just for the record: I tried booting with "b dka3" and failed.
However, writing the full device name as shown ("b dka300") works like
a charm! So this 4000/90 (with its old V1.0 ROM) is now up'n'running
with a patched DS1287 and a simulated disk. That setup should allow me
to easily automate NetBSD testing and maybe do some first steps with
VMS. (Any good introduction material? I've never used VMS.)

MfG, JBG

-- 

[cctalk] Re: Any RSX-11 fans able to identify file types?

[Lee Gleason via cctalk]

  Some of the filenames  (eg ATOZ013.MSL)  suggest that the DEC product 
A-TO-Z might be involved. This was an RSX based product for small offices.


--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
lee.glea...@comcast.ne

[cctalk] Re: VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Rick Bensene via cctalk]

Tony D. wrote:


> I may be talking nonsense, but you describe the Tektronix 4054 as a 
> 6800-based system. I 
> thought the 4051 used that processor, but the 4052 and 4054 used a board of 
> AM2900-series
> bitslice chips that implement a processor with an instruction set similar to 
> the 6800
> but with no BCD operations and some 16 bit extensions.

No nonsense at all, Tony.  You are correct.  The architecture of the 4052 and 
4054 were definitely bitslice microcoded implementations of the 6800 CPU, with 
the omissions and additions as you mentioned.

The memory architecture of these computers was also heavily modified to allow 
bank switching of RAM and ROM programmatically to create an address space that 
provided more memory capacity than the 64K address space of the 6800 used in 
the 4051.   

The display subsystem was also modified to allow additions of graphics 
co-processors for doing things like display list processing and refresh vector 
graphics which were drawn at a lower intensity so that the vectors would not be 
stored on the screen.Later, a special CRT was made for the 4054 that had a 
unique storage CRT that had two layers, a green layer and a yellow/orange layer 
of phosphor that could be triggered by different beam intensities, both in 
storage and "write-through" mode that allowed three-color (yellow/orange, 
green, and a mix of the two IIRC), refreshed vector graphics at up to 1000 
vectors per second.Still, it was just fast enough for simple animated 
graphics for things like games and graphical editors that would use refresh 
graphics for placing an object, then writing it in storage mode once it was 
placed.

The special three-color tube was not available in the 4052, only the 4054, but 
the add-on boards for providing the vector write-thru display were compatible 
with the 4052.

The microcoded CPU and improved memory architecture of the 4052/4054 made the 
machines significantly faster at compute-bound tasks.  I/O and display were not 
sped up much by the new architecture, as the speed at which vectors and text 
could be written to the storage tube display was limited by the tube itself, so 
graphics intensive stuff wasn't all that much faster than the 4051.   If the 
graphics involved computing the vectors in real-time, that type of graphics 
would be faster on the 4052/4054 due to the significantly faster computing 
speed of the 2901-based 6800 "clone/extension".   Things like GPIB I/O were 
more limited by the peripheral devices than the CPU itself, so things like I/O 
to the GPIB 4907 8" floppy disc drives, wasn't all that much faster.

I have a 4051 and a 4052A, both working.   Comparing them side-to-side doing 
compute bound things (like finding prime numbers) clearly shows the speed 
advantage of the bit-slice architecture in the 4052.   Drawing "canned" 
graphics is slightly faster on the 4052 simply because the interpretation of 
the BASIC code that does the drawing runs significantly faster, which does make 
a small, but noticeable difference in the time it takes to render an image, 
with the 4052A finishing any given drawing a bit sooner than the 4051.   Floppy 
disc access on the 4907 doesn't seem to be much faster other than the faster 
speed of interpretation of the BASIC program, with the actual speed of 
reading/writing being about the same due mostly to the speed of GPIB 
transactions, and the fixed rate that data is read/written to the floppy.

The 4050-series computers were quite amazing for their time.  Nothing else 
except hugely expensive graphics systems that ran on minicomputers, such as 
those made by Evans & Sutherland and others, could exceed the capabilities of 
the 4050-series machines (especially the 4052 and 4054), and the 4050-series 
machines fit on a desktop and were (other than being rather heavy) relatively 
portable, very easy to use/program, and cost dramatically less than anything 
else.

DVST was a great technology at a time when large amounts of high-speed random 
access memory was very expensive.   Magnetic core that was fast enough was 
quite expensive and complex, and IC-based RAM was just beginning to have 
reasonable capacity, but still ran somewhat slowly, and was also initially 
quite expensive.As the price of fast, high-capacity IC-based RAM came down, 
raster type display systems with bitmapped display memory, and even dedicated 
blitter hardware for shifting bits around in display memory, made 
cost-effective machines with at least equivalent (monochrome) display 
capability in terms of resolution, along with everything (including characters) 
being refreshed graphics straight out of the framebuffer RAM.   Once that 
occurred, the market for DVST shrunk quite dramatically.  Desktop workstations 
(like Sun, Apollo, Perq, etc.) with graphics capabilities that met or exceeded 
those of the 4050-series quickly took the place of these watershed machines.

-Rick
--
Rick Bensene, Curator
The Old Calculator (and some 

[cctalk] Re: H7819-AA / VAXstation 4000/90 and 4000/96

[Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctalk]

Hi Tony!

On Mon, 2023-06-26 15:45:14 +0100, Tony Duell  wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 3:38 PM Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> > As I'm preparing to setup my old hardware, I fetched two VAXstations
> > (4000/90 and /96) from storage and cleaned one of them throughoutly.
> >
> >   Then I gave power (to both of them), but both won't really start:
> > all 8 diag LEDs are on (--> power available but CPU didn't start
> > executing instructions.)
> >
> >   I took the PSU (from the cleaned /90), a DEC H7819-AA, and measured
> > it. Unfortunately I didn't find pinouts or schematics at a first
> > search. The plate states that there should be 3.3V, 5V, 12V, -12V and
> > -9V. I found most of that:
> >
> >
> > +--+
> > |o |
> > | DEC H7819-AA PSU  10 +---+ 1 |
> > |  (view at the bottom side)   |   |   |
> > |  |   |   |
> > |  |   |   |
> > |   18 +---+ 9 |
> > |o |
> > |+---++---+|
> > ||  Fan  ||  Fan  ||
> > ++---++---++
> >
> > With above pin numbering, this is what I could find / measure / deduce:
> >
> >   3V3   brown 10   1 blue12V
> >   3V3   brown 11   2 black   GND
> >   GND   black 12   3 red  5V
> >   GND   black 13   4 red  5V
> >   GND   black 14   5 black   GND
> >5V red 15   6 black   GND
> >5V red 16   7 white  -12V
> >5V red 17   8 blue   (0.78V)
> >(4.91V)  lilac 18   9 brown  (-1.65V)
> >
> > Most values look plausible, except those three in parentheses. At
> > least one of them should probably be -9V wrt. GND I guess, but that's
> > totally absent. And what's the other two? (If I got the colors wrong:
> > Please forgive, I'm red-green blind.) That could be some "power-okay"
> > indicator, or external switch-off?
> 
> I don't know this machine at all (too modern :-)) but that -9V sounds
> at thought it might be for an internal ethernet transceiver. Now an
> ethernet transceiver is supposed to be isolated from ground and one
> way of helping with that is to have a totally isolated 9V output on
> the power supply with its own 'ground', not connected to the ground
> for the rest of the supplies.
> 
> Using a high impedence voltmeter like most DMMs, you'd see random
> noise voltages on those 2 lines wrt the normal ground.
> 
> What voltage do you measure between the suspect blue and brown wires?
> Connect your meter between them, not to the black ground and something
> else.

Did that any you're totally right here: Using pin 8 (blue) as GND, pin
9 (brown) becomes -9V. Just the lila wire remaining as a mystery.

  HOWEVER! A Polish friend suggested that even with all LEDs lit (which
is as severe as it gets), it might just be a dead RTC chip. I dremel'd
it open and soldered some wires, added a battery (not yet with a
proper battery clip) and ... it started up.

  So I learned something about the PSU (--> most of its external
pinout), the usage of -9V for ethernet (would never guessed that!) and
that the stupid battery-backed RAM may completely kill a machine.

  Just added a PiSCSI, uploaded a NetBSD ISO image, configured a 2 GB
HDD and fired up again:


>>> sh conf

KA49-A V1.0-006-V4.0
08-00-2B-35-5D-DF
128MB

DEVNBRDEVNAM   INFO
----
 1 NVR?? 001 0016
 3  DZOK
 4   CACHEOK
 5 MEMOK
  128MB   0A,0B,0C,0D=16MB, 1E,1F,1G,1H=16MB 
 6 FPUOK
 7  ITOK
 8 SYSOK
 9  NIOK
10SCSIOK
  1-RZ28M   3-SCSI6-INITR
11 AUDOK

>>> sh dev

  VMS/VMB  ADDR  DEVTYPENUMBYTES RM/FXWPDEVNAM  REV
  ---    --- -----  ---
  EZA0 08-00-2B-35-5D-DF
  DKA100   A/1/0 DISK 2.10GB  FXRZ28M   0568
  DKA300   A/3/0 RODISK 370.80MB  RM  WPSCSI2304
 ..HostID..A/6   INITR



Thanks for the help!

MfG, JBG

-- 

[cctalk] Re: VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Ali via cctalk]

> VCF SW was this past weekend near Dallas, Texas.
> 
> Here are some highlights from my perspective.
> 
> https://voidstar.blog/vcf-southwest-2023/
> 

Man there is always cooler stuff at the other VCFs the n VCFW. Just looking at 
those pictures the Compaq 468 Portable is nice and the NEC Multisync XL 
immediately caught my eye. I've had my eye out for one of those for a lng 
time. Nice pictures and thanks for sharing!

-Ali

[cctalk] Re: VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Steve Lewis via cctalk]

I think you're right - I hadn't realized such a shift from the 4051, but
makes sense.  Demos of the original 4051 that I've seen, the system seemed
"painfully slow." Updated to try to clarify, thanks!


On Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 7:12 AM Tony Duell  wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 1:06 PM Steve Lewis via cctalk
>  wrote:
> >
> > VCF SW was this past weekend near Dallas, Texas.
> >
> > Here are some highlights from my perspective.
> >
> > https://voidstar.blog/vcf-southwest-2023/
> >
> >
> > Most photos you can click to enlarge (Edge has bugs with WordPress, you
> may
> > need to scroll up/down a little bit to get the click thing working)
>
> I may be talking nonsense, but you describe the Tektronix 4054 as a
> 6800-based system. I thought the 4051 used that processor, but the
> 4052 and 4054 used a board of AM2900-series bitslice chips that
> implement a processor with an instruction set similar to the 6800 but
> with no BCD operations and some 16 bit extensions.
>
> -tony
>

[cctalk] Re: Any RSX-11 fans able to identify file types?

[Chuck Guzis via cctalk]

On 6/26/23 04:16, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:

> Actually, there was.  It was a DEC product and ran on MicroRSX. It
> consisted of a
> 
> number of packages and was a complete business operations system.

That would fit perfectly, given the source of the disks, which were
probably created by an executive assistant/secretary.  The selection of
files archived by BRU would also likely be dictated by the package.  The
contents of most of the files containing text seem to be consistent with
a journal/notebook kept by such a person.

At least this ties down the source, if not the use of the data.

Welcome to my world.

Now, on to a batch of Wang 2200 floppies whose content that not even Jim
Battle appears to recognize.

--Chuck

[cctalk] Re: H7819-AA / VAXstation 4000/90 and 4000/96

[Tony Duell via cctalk]

On Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 3:38 PM Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctalk
 wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> As I'm preparing to setup my old hardware, I fetched two VAXstations
> (4000/90 and /96) from storage and cleaned one of them throughoutly.
>
>   Then I gave power (to both of them), but both won't really start:
> all 8 diag LEDs are on (--> power available but CPU didn't start
> executing instructions.)
>
>   I took the PSU (from the cleaned /90), a DEC H7819-AA, and measured
> it. Unfortunately I didn't find pinouts or schematics at a first
> search. The plate states that there should be 3.3V, 5V, 12V, -12V and
> -9V. I found most of that:
>
>
> +--+
> |o |
> | DEC H7819-AA PSU  10 +---+ 1 |
> |  (view at the bottom side)   |   |   |
> |  |   |   |
> |  |   |   |
> |   18 +---+ 9 |
> |o |
> |+---++---+|
> ||  Fan  ||  Fan  ||
> ++---++---++
>
> With above pin numbering, this is what I could find / measure / deduce:
>
>   3V3   brown 10   1 blue12V
>   3V3   brown 11   2 black   GND
>   GND   black 12   3 red  5V
>   GND   black 13   4 red  5V
>   GND   black 14   5 black   GND
>5V red 15   6 black   GND
>5V red 16   7 white  -12V
>5V red 17   8 blue   (0.78V)
>(4.91V)  lilac 18   9 brown  (-1.65V)
>
> Most values look plausible, except those three in parentheses. At
> least one of them should probably be -9V wrt. GND I guess, but that's
> totally absent. And what's the other two? (If I got the colors wrong:
> Please forgive, I'm red-green blind.) That could be some "power-okay"
> indicator, or external switch-off?

I don't know this machine at all (too modern :-)) but that -9V sounds
at thought it might be for an internal ethernet transceiver. Now an
ethernet transceiver is supposed to be isolated from ground and one
way of helping with that is to have a totally isolated 9V output on
the power supply with its own 'ground', not connected to the ground
for the rest of the supplies.

Using a high impedence voltmeter like most DMMs, you'd see random
noise voltages on those 2 lines wrt the normal ground.

What voltage do you measure between the suspect blue and brown wires?
Connect your meter between them, not to the black ground and something
else.

-tony
'There is no such thing as ground' -- Don Vonada

[cctalk] H7819-AA / VAXstation 4000/90 and 4000/96

[Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctalk]

Hi!

As I'm preparing to setup my old hardware, I fetched two VAXstations
(4000/90 and /96) from storage and cleaned one of them throughoutly.

  Then I gave power (to both of them), but both won't really start:
all 8 diag LEDs are on (--> power available but CPU didn't start
executing instructions.)

  I took the PSU (from the cleaned /90), a DEC H7819-AA, and measured
it. Unfortunately I didn't find pinouts or schematics at a first
search. The plate states that there should be 3.3V, 5V, 12V, -12V and
-9V. I found most of that:


+--+
|o |
| DEC H7819-AA PSU  10 +---+ 1 |
|  (view at the bottom side)   |   |   |
|  |   |   |
|  |   |   |
|   18 +---+ 9 |
|o |
|+---++---+|
||  Fan  ||  Fan  ||
++---++---++

With above pin numbering, this is what I could find / measure / deduce:

  3V3   brown 10   1 blue12V
  3V3   brown 11   2 black   GND
  GND   black 12   3 red  5V
  GND   black 13   4 red  5V
  GND   black 14   5 black   GND
   5V red 15   6 black   GND
   5V red 16   7 white  -12V
   5V red 17   8 blue   (0.78V)
   (4.91V)  lilac 18   9 brown  (-1.65V)

Most values look plausible, except those three in parentheses. At
least one of them should probably be -9V wrt. GND I guess, but that's
totally absent. And what's the other two? (If I got the colors wrong:
Please forgive, I'm red-green blind.) That could be some "power-okay"
indicator, or external switch-off?

  Maybe anybody has faced these issues and can point me to some docs
or "well known to be failing" capacitors? I'd be quite grateful for
any hints! :)  ...and hope that maybe the above drawing/measurements
will be helpful for anybody else later on.

Thanks,
  Jan-Benedict

-- 

[cctalk] Re: Any RSX-11 fans able to identify file types?

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Jun 26, 2023, at 7:16 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 6/25/2023 8:26 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>> On 6/25/23 16:59, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
>> 
>>> I have 3" and 1800 pages of possible PDP-11 applications.  Trying to
>>> guess what
>>> 
>>> application created those files is likely to be a study in frustration.
>>> Does the
>>> 
>>> "customer" have no idea what programs they ran under RSX-11 that might have
>>> 
>>> created those files?
>> The "customer" no longer inhabits this vale of tears.
>> 
>> Was there an application called A2Z?  Just probing around in the files.
> 
> 
> Actually, there was.  It was a DEC product and ran on MicroRSX. It consisted 
> of a
> number of packages and was a complete business operations system.
> 
> 
> bill

On RSTS, also, I think.  Some vague memory says that it was a trimmed-down 
variant of "ALL-IN-ONE".

paul

[cctalk] Re: VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Tony Duell via cctalk]

On Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 1:06 PM Steve Lewis via cctalk
 wrote:
>
> VCF SW was this past weekend near Dallas, Texas.
>
> Here are some highlights from my perspective.
>
> https://voidstar.blog/vcf-southwest-2023/
>
>
> Most photos you can click to enlarge (Edge has bugs with WordPress, you may
> need to scroll up/down a little bit to get the click thing working)

I may be talking nonsense, but you describe the Tektronix 4054 as a
6800-based system. I thought the 4051 used that processor, but the
4052 and 4054 used a board of AM2900-series bitslice chips that
implement a processor with an instruction set similar to the 6800 but
with no BCD operations and some 16 bit extensions.

-tony

[cctalk] VCF Southwest 2023 some highlights

[Steve Lewis via cctalk]

VCF SW was this past weekend near Dallas, Texas.

Here are some highlights from my perspective.

https://voidstar.blog/vcf-southwest-2023/


Most photos you can click to enlarge (Edge has bugs with WordPress, you may
need to scroll up/down a little bit to get the click thing working)


Cheers,
Steve

[cctalk] Re: Any RSX-11 fans able to identify file types?

[Bill Gunshannon via cctalk]

On 6/25/2023 8:26 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

On 6/25/23 16:59, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:


I have 3" and 1800 pages of possible PDP-11 applications.  Trying to
guess what

application created those files is likely to be a study in frustration.
Does the

"customer" have no idea what programs they ran under RSX-11 that might have

created those files?

The "customer" no longer inhabits this vale of tears.

Was there an application called A2Z?  Just probing around in the files.



Actually, there was.  It was a DEC product and ran on MicroRSX. It 
consisted of a


number of packages and was a complete business operations system.


bill