Fwd: 50% DISCOUNT WEBSITE MANUAL & PARTS, ONE WEEK ONLY

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

FYI

 Forwarded Message 
Subject:50% DISCOUNT WEBSITE MANUAL & PARTS, ONE WEEK ONLY
Date:   Mon, 27 Mar 2017 06:53:02 -0700
From:   Tucker Electronics Company 
To: a...@bitsavers.org



50% DISCOUNT  WEBSITE MANUALS & PARTS, ONE WEEK ONLY
 Thanks for your purchases of manuals and parts last week and previously.   We 
have slashed the selling price of most
manuals on eBay by 50-75% in recent months.
Our two websites www.etestmanuals.com 
 and
www.etestparts.com 
 have many 
more listings than
our eBay site ( teoutlet).   Unfortunately, we have not been able to update 
pricing and shipping costs on these sites.
   These manuals and parts were purchased when we had a large repair and 
calibration lab.   Many are one of a kind and
subject to prior sale.We have over 43000 different listings on  
www.etestmanuals.com
.   We 
have over 12,000 different listings on
www.etestparts.com 
.THE  
50% DISCOUNT APPLIES
TO ALL ITEMS LISTED ON THESE TWO SITES THAT ARE AVAILABLE  STILL. The promotion 
will run from March 27th to April 1st.
All items are subject to prior sale.  We want to encourage you to buy 
especially the next two months.   If you are most
comfortable buying on eBay ( our site
is teoutlet), please continue to do so.   On US sales, we can make consolidated 
shipping quotes as needed.We are
very motivated to sell although there are limits to what we can do on eBay.
 On our two websites listed above, we encourage you to make a list and contact 
us at jtuc...@tucker.com
 regarding consolidated prices and shipping costs.  
Our websites can be used to look
equipment up, but not to take advantage of the 50% discount prices this week.   
We can send you PayPal invoices for any
purchases not done on eBay.   In all cases you have the buyer protection of 
PayPal.   We can also take Credit Cards.
Our phone number is 2143488800.  We do prefer email to jtuc...@tucker.com 
 as most questions
about manuals require research and can’t be handled by a phone call.Please 
keep in mind that quantities are limited
on the majority of listings and everything is subject to prior sale.
 SOME EQUIPMENT PROMOTIONS FOR THIS WEEK ONLY:
3 each Agilent-HP 6031A Power Supplies, 0-20V, 0-120A, 1000 watts with manual
These have been TESTED and are on eBay at $750 regular price.   $550 each this 
week only by direct purchase.
 3  each Tektronix P5205 High Voltage Differential Probes with All Accessories. 
  Regularly listed on eBay at $550.
Price for this week only of $350 each by direct purchase.
 Electro Scientific Industries DT72A Standard Decade Transformer.  Regular 
price of $750.   Priced to sell this week for
$550.
 Thanks again for your business and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
 Jim Tucker
Tucker Electronics Company
11448 Pagemill Road
Dallas, TX 75243
jtuc...@tucker.com 
2143488800


 

Sent by Tucker Electronics Company  |  11448 Pagemill Road, Dallas, TX 75243 
Sent to: "a...@bitsavers.org"  |  You are
subscribed to "Websites sale list" Change your preferences / opt out

 www.pinpointe.com 

Re: PDP-11/20 in Iowa (x3)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/27/17 7:37 AM, Systems Glitch via cctalk wrote:
>> I don't know of MOS memory appearing in 11/20s as built by DEC, but there's 
>> no reason against it.

There were 3rd party cards, Monolithic Systems, for example.
The problem with the 11/20 is that hex wide cards don't fit, the fans overlap 
the unibus jumper area.
If you ever see hex-wide cards with a big notch in one end, they were designed 
to work in the 11/15 11/20

Re: Cross-talk square-wave?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/29/17 2:14 PM, David Bridgham via cctalk wrote:
> And I think this picture is the smoking gun.
> 
> http://pdp10.froghouse.org/qsic/pic_24_2.gif
> 
> Again, the bottom trace is the CS signal in question and the upper trace
> is now one of the QBUS DAL lines (after the bus transceiver and level
> converter) that's running across the ribbon cable near the CS signal. 
> It does appear that induction can make a fairly clean square wave.
> 
> 

simple thing to try is split the ribbon cable between the two signals

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/turok-source-code-ebay

On 3/28/17 6:36 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
> 
> On 3/28/17 6:21 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
> 
>> Anything else would be seriously unethical.
> 
> the guy on ebay made a big deal on the net about one SGI machine that he knew 
> had video game source code on it.
> 
> 
> 

Re: PreOwned machine privacy - Was: Acclaim Entertainment Indy (with data, emails, etc) on eBay

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/28/17 6:21 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

> Anything else would be seriously unethical.

the guy on ebay made a big deal on the net about one SGI machine that he knew 
had video game source code on it.

Re: Trip to CHM - Hotel/Restaurant Advice

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/30/17 9:29 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> In the late 70s, on Evelyn in Sunnyvale, near Wolfe, I believe.

That would be the original Halted location, Evelyn and Wolfe

Halted moved to roughly laurence and central, then moved to 3051 Corvin
last year.

The previous building was demolished last week. The entire block is gone
all the way from central to keifer, including the building that was ACE 
Electronics
on Keifer.

Re: Pair of Twiggys

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/14/17 1:31 PM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:

> does the CHM have a Datapoint 2200?

http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X1621.99A

AC magnetic field strengths

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

I bought an AlphaLabs GM-2 Gaussmeter for another project, and measured the AC 
magnetic
field strength touching these devices yesterday, since I really didn't have any 
idea beyond
order of magnitude what they might be

Handheld tape head demagnetizer: 40 Gauss
GC Elec 9317 CRT degausing coil: 70 Gauss
Audiolab TD-3 desktop bulk eraser: 1000 Gauss
Inmac 7180 or
RS 44-233A handheld bulk tape erasers: 2000 Gauss



also the DC field of a 1/4" button super magnet like on the
backs of clip on badges is about 3000 Gauss

Re: Pair of Twiggys

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/15/17 10:40 AM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote:
> the Mac was designed by a number of ex-PARC
> researchers.

Steve Capps was the only person on the original Mac team who worked at PARC.
They were influenced strongly by the UI and graphics work of Lisa.

There were several ex-Xerox (PARC and SDD) people on Lisa, Frank Ludolph, for
example, who was an author of the Lisa UI paper I pointed to yesterday.

Jean-Louis Gassée was the person who was the manager of engineering when Nubus
was added to the Mac. He had "Open Mac" as his license plate at the time.

http://kootenaymac.blogspot.com/2016/08/vintage-macintosh-87-open-mac-license.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=ED8EMBAJ=PT20=PT20=%22open+mac%22+license+plate=bl=GNixQxKrJP=a-22GlibEC6GLAUaEZF0PAgP_qU=en=X=0ahUKEwjI5YWGidnSAhWHwVQKHauYCe8Q6AEIIjAB#v=onepage=%22open%20mac%22%20license%20plate=false

Re: Pair of Twiggys

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/15/17 11:08 AM, Josh Dersch wrote:

> Wasn't Bruce Horn at PARC (at least as a student?).

yes, he worked in the Smalltalk group.
I also forgot about Bob Beleville.

Re: Pair of Twiggys

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/14/17 5:45 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:

> Judging by the eBay response, it looks like a replica (or counterfeit?) would 
> be far more valuable than a usable
> substitute.

I keep waiting to see how much a Macintosh version of the Twiggy would sell for.
The interface is completely different that the one used on Lisa and I have 
never seen one for sale.

1.2meg media works fine in a Twiggy jacket.

The mechanics of the drive positioner stinks. I spent months recovering Twiggy 
media in 2015
and keeping the heads clean and the pads on was a PITA. You have to completely 
disassemble the
drive to work on the back head.

Re: Pair of Twiggys

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/14/17 6:23 PM, Chris Hanson via cctalk wrote:
> a large portion is documented in “Inventing the Lisa Human Interface,” a 
> retrospective paper written by a couple of the Lisa folks for ACM’s 
> Interactions journal about 20 years ago.
> 

http://www.guidebookgallery.org/articles/inventingthelisauserinterface

Re: DCC-116 E / DATA GENERAL NOVA 2/10 / Nixdorf 620 - Restoring and restarting

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 4/1/17 12:33 PM, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:
> strange machine, there is a tape reader inside the printer.

it is used to program vertical forms postioning. the format tape is in a loop

Re: Trip to CHM - Hotel/Restaurant Advice

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/30/17 8:15 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> On 03/30/2017 08:04 PM, jim stephens via cctalk wrote:
>> As to recommendations, I like the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson in 
>> Sunnyvale, which is at Ca 237 and Caribbean.  If you run around by
>> the bay is Weird Stuff, and it is about 2 or so miles from the CHM.
>> At 237 Caribbean becomes Lawrence which is a handy road since you can
>> easily get to Halted for another stop.  Their new spot is quite a bit
>> better stocked than the original location.
> 
> 
> Bonus points for those who remember their original original location.
> 
> --Chuck
> 

Phelen Ave in San Jose, which was before the larger place on Sycamore in 
Milpitas.

Richard Anderson had several places after he, Mac McDougal and the Schutz's 
started WSW.
The Weird Stuff name and logo came from Richard's brother, who was in the
advertising business.

Re: Trip to CHM - Hotel/Restaurant Advice

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 3/30/17 8:35 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>The guys who did the Hard Disk drive guide book had their
>> original store in there

Corporate Systems Center
their main office was on Maude

Re: LOD bands for MIT CADR

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

http://www.unlambda.com/index.php?n=Main.Cadr

On 4/12/17 7:50 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt via cctalk wrote:
> Anyone seen or got any?
> 

Re: Harry Huskey, Bob Taylor -- sad news

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

some, but not enough

Harry did an oral history at CHM when he became a fellow, as did Bob

On 4/15/17 8:34 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:

> Wow, that's amazing.  I had no idea he was still around!  I hope he wrote up 
> some memoirs or left stories.
> 
> Jon

Re: LambdaDelta 0.98.1 released!

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

yay!

I also sent a note to richard that the RSS seems to have stopped updating 
mid-march


On 4/22/17 9:21 AM, Daniel Seagraves via cctalk wrote:
> Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages - I present to
> you LambdaDelta, my decidedly average LMI Lambda emulator.
> 
> See https://github.com/dseagrav/ld for the source repository and release
> tarball. So far we have been able to run full-speed on a 2.3 GHz i7 and a
> 2.5 GHz i5, but the i5 was pushing it. The i7 gets a bit warm.
> 
> Bitsavers now has the LMI software, so there's no reason to hold off on a
> release other than I would have liked to get fetch working properly at
> least. I'm going to keep working at it in the meantime.

Re: Bitsavers size

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 4/22/17 8:22 AM, Joseph Zatarski via cctalk wrote:

> But wouldn't a nice tape be a much more appropriate distribution
> medium?

For the record, I have no intention of creating these "more appropriate"
distribution media for anyone.

Did anyone on the list get these Displaywriter boards?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

forgot to set a snipe on them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-Vintage-Circuit-Boards-1970s-INTEL-/142304100248
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-VINTAGE-Computer-Circuit-Boards-IBM-/142304122673

there were several boards in there I had never seen before

Re: Tape reel data recovery from MERA-400 polish computer

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

This is fsckin cool.
Chuck and I were wondering how it turned out.

On 3/9/17 7:10 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
> http://museo.freaknet.org/en/recupero-dati-nastri-magnetici-del-computer-polacco-mera-400/
> 

Re: Tape reel data recovery from MERA-400 polish computer

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

Spinning at 50ips probably helped instead of the default 20

I would have digitized the tach signal too, but luckily it wasn't needed

Sad neither you or I are mentioned in the credits

I'm going to try it as well, since I have all the hw to try it out.

On 3/10/17 10:16 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> On 03/10/2017 09:59 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>> This is fsckin cool. Chuck and I were wondering how it turned out.
>>
>> On 3/9/17 7:10 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
>>> http://museo.freaknet.org/en/recupero-dati-nastri-magnetici-del-computer-polacco-mera-400/
> 
> That's pretty amazing, considering the crappy nature of those Qualstar
> drives.
> 
> I may give it a try.
> 
> --Chuck
> 

Re: Tape reel data recovery from MERA-400 polish computer

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

The next extension is to track the tachometer values so that you can detect and 
compensate for tape stick/drag
which is absolutely critical for formats that don't self-clock, like NRZI.

Fortunately, they mention that the tapes they worked with were in good 
condition.

The killer problem with the Qualstar is the reel motors are low torque. If you 
get a sticky tape, the RPMs go wonky.

Good news is the Saleae 16 can do digital and analog capture.


On 3/10/17 10:22 AM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:

> The software mentioned in the article sounds very interesting.  It talks 
> about starting with digital data streams from the 9 heads, but adds that you 
> can start with analog data too.  That would be a small change: you'd 
> basically have to add the slicer in software.  That's potentially valuable, 
> if the signals are marginal so the threshold needs to adjust on the fly.
> 
> Obviously this can also be adapted to other tape formats, for example 7 track 
> tapes.  Or esoteric stuff like 10 track tapes.
> 
> Thanks for that link!
> 
>   paul
> 

Re: Looking for Apollo Workstations for TV show

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

> If it says "Earth is destroyed, the programmers failed"


You appear to have no clue what "Halt and Catch Fire" is.

Univac I memory tank

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/162428766985

Asked if the mercury was still in it. They ignored me.

Pair of Twiggys

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

www.ebay.com/itm/122383386508

still a few hours to go, hovering at $20K

Re: Trip to CHM - Hotel/Restaurant Advice

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

DeAnza College swap in Cupertino happens on the 2nd Sat of the month.

eBay has pretty much killed off anything of value there.


On 4/1/17 10:41 AM, Chris Elmquist via cctalk wrote:
> Are there any swap meets / flea markets in the area on weekends anymore?
> 

Re: SimH PDP-8 simulator plays music

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 4/5/17 11:12 PM, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:

> Have you had a look at Max B. Mathews MUSIC4BF?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSIC-N

Re: SimH PDP-8 simulator plays music

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

https://www.media.mit.edu/events/EMS/bv-interview.html

I had a summer gig in the early 80's at EMS helping Steve Haflich
with some 68K hardware.

I may have Unix MUSIC-11 on a pack somewhere.


On 4/6/17 6:17 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
> 
> On 4/5/17 11:12 PM, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
> 
>> Have you had a look at Max B. Mathews MUSIC4BF?
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSIC-N
> 
> 
> 
> 

Re: Tektronix 8560 floppies

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 4/24/17 6:55 AM, Christian Groessler via cctalk wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've imaged (with ImageDisk) some floppies I've got with my "new" 8560 system.


that reminds me I wanted to see if the a.out format was compatible with stock V7
and if the tools would run on an ordinary PDP-11 Unix V7 system.

Re: Sperry UTS 40 on Ebay - Statesboro, Georgia

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/28/17 4:35 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
> 
> I think I probably still have a manual for that
> box around here somewhere.

There are brochures and UTS 30 manuals on bitsavers under univac/terminals

I should have UTS 40 and 60 manuals scanned somewhere. I don't think I have
any maintenance information but I think I have a few 8" CP/M disks somewhere.

I think one of the people who designed it has popped up on vcfed.org but it 
isn't
coming up in a search.

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?49011-Sperry-UTS-30

I bought one of the ebay ones to dump the firmware, would be nice if anyone else
with UTS terminals/computers would do the same.

Re: Sperry UTS 40 on Ebay - Statesboro, Georgia

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/28/17 4:56 AM, Henk Gooijen via cctalk wrote:

> I knew most of the commands (starting with @) plus the options by heart,

@ == "Master Space"

UW-Milwaukee's first big system was a Univac 1106, which was traded in for
an 1100/80 after I left. Just picked up some operator manuals that came out
of UMD recently that I'm waiting to upload. Still remember the 1106's weird
console clock that counted in decimal seconds. A friend worked at the UMD
computer center, and he told me they ran their 1108 'blind' since Sperry
maintenance couldn't fix their console printer or Uniscope any more. They
ran the same batch jobs, and the operators knew what tapes to mount even
without the console prompts.

I spent most of my time at UWM in front of PDPs and BSD Vaxen there fortunately,
though. Half-duplex terminals were no fun

WAIT LAST INPUT IGNORED

Re: Sperry UTS 40 on Ebay - Statesboro, Georgia

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/27/17 10:31 PM, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:
> Oh, I have a Sperry Univac UTS 40 and its 8-inch floppy disk subsystem.

Do you have any way to image the floppies for it?

Re: The first CD

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

This isn't "the first CD".

The only thing this has in common with them is digital recording
on a spiral track.

Apparently the seller has never heard of WORMs or knows the history of optical 
data recording.


On 7/28/17 6:19 AM, Sam O'nella via cctalk wrote:
> I dont think I've heard if the history of the technology behind cds. Was it 
> SRI? I only thought the first cdrom software at least was that encyclopedia 
> on CD?
> This being 14" just sounds like a disk platter. 
> null
> 

Re: The first CD

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/28/17 8:20 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:

>> I dont think I've heard if the history of the technology behind cds. Was it 
>> SRI?

Sony.
They wrote a book about it.

Re: The first CD

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/28/17 8:30 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
> 
> On 7/28/17 8:20 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
>>> I dont think I've heard if the history of the technology behind cds. Was it 
>>> SRI?
> 
> Sony.
> They wrote a book about it.
> 
> 

actually this was the book I was thinking of

Martin, "The Complete Compact Disc Player"
1987 0-13-159294-7

Both Philips (NV Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken) of the Netherlands and Japan's 
Sony
Corp. made individual contributions to the production of the compact disc and 
player.
Philips began efforts to develop a compact disc in 1969, but it required ten 
years of
effort before it could show the first working system to the European press.

Philips' contribution was the creation of a video disc system using tracking by
means of a laser beam. With this as a basis, Philips then developed a more 
compact
version for sound reproduction. Sony added to the technology through its 
research on
data coding and error correction circuitry. Without these advances by Sony, 
reproduction
of the audio signal would not have been possible. Error correction circuitry 
helps
to ensure correct reproduction of sound even when the compact disc is plagued 
with
fingerprints due to disc handling, dust, scratches on the discs, and defects 
occurring
during manufacturing.

Since Sony and Philips were the prime movers toward the compact disc format,
we can better appreciate their efforts as shown in the following timetable.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPACT DISC: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

1928Harry Nyquist establishes mathematically that the sampling
rate of an analog audio waveform must be twice the highest
frequency of the wave being sampled.

1939Pulse code modulation invented by H. A. Reeves.

1969Philips Research Laboratories begins work on optical disc
recording of video, audio, and data.

1972First public demonstration of optical disc recording (VLP,
the future LaserVison

1973/74 Requirements established for video, audio, and data recording.
Philips' associate, Polygram, producer of first laser-read
discs becomes full participant.

1974Sony develops stationary-head digital audio recorder

1975Philips begins development of industrial disc mastering
equipment

1976Sony produces first digital audio disc system based on FM
video format. The disc rotated at 1800 rpm, supplied 30
minutes of music on one side, and used an optical readout
system.

1976Conception of small diameter (compact) disc defines digital
audio project parameters

1977Sony announces digital audio processor to be coupled with a
video tape recorder for 12-bit quantized, two-channel
recording and playback.

1977Sony creates the first consumer digital audio processor. It
was called the PCM-l and. it recorded digital pulse signals
on video cassettes

1977JVC develops its first pulse code modulation digital audio
processor. The company begins to provide professional
digital recording technologies used in recording studios
throughout the world.

1977In cooperation with NHK, Sony develops a digital audio
processor for use with a professional U-matic videocassette
recorder.

1977Sony markets the world's first consumer digital audio
processor for use with the Betamax home videocassette
recorder.


1977Sony makes available a digital audio disc system employing
a pulse code modulation direct recording method. The disc
rotated at 900 rpm and supplied 1 hour of recording and
playback per side. It used an optical readout system.

1978After further technological advances, Philips defines Compact
Disc as a digital audio system to reproduce one hour of
stereo sound on one side. Efforts continue to develop
commercially viable lasers, optics, ICs, disc mastering, and
production equipment.

1978The world's first broadcast of digitally recorded programs is
made through Japan's four major FM networks

1978Sony develops a long-playing digital audio disc system with
the disc rotating at 450 rpm. The unit used an optical
readout system and played 150 minutes per side.

1978Sony announces the development of a stationary-head digital
audio recorder using 1/4-inch tape

1979Philips shows working model of their Compact Disc player
to press at Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Five months later
and ten years after research began in Eindhoven, Sony signs
agreement to cooperate in further system development with
the aim of making Compact Disc the world standard for
digital audio.

1980Philips, Polygram, and Sony agree to Compact Disc System
and submit it to Digital Audio Disc Committee in Japan.

1980Sony announces

Re: Ontel 8" floppy disc drives cabinet

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 9/29/11 6:58 AM, Shoppa, Tim wrote:
> Probably from an Ontel OP-1 system in the late 70's or very early 80's.
> 
> The OP-1 was somewhere between a configurable terminal and a dedicated word 
> processor depending on firmware and peripherals installed. Peripherals did 
> include 8" floppies in the high end, I saw this being used in car dealerships 
> back in the early 80's as the front end to a central-office PDP-11 system.
> 
> There are at least a few other manufacturers that used 8" floppies on a DB25 
> cable. E.g. the RX01 cabinet kit for a WPS-8 system. I would not expect to 
> find any of them using compatible pinouts or even "interface concepts". E.g. 
> the RX01 is a dedicated serial bus with some smarts (or at least a state 
> machine) at the drives. The DSD-440 line used a different dedicated serial 
> bus (26 pin ribbon cable IDC's usually but I think I saw it routed over a 
> DB-25 at least once) and a microprocessor in the drive. I'm guessing your 
> board that sits between 50-pin Shugart and 25-pin connectors, doesn't have 
> much smarts, it probably just drops the many unused signal lines and 
> consolidates many of the grounds.
> 
> 
> 

thread from the dead..

was working on cleaning out a room full of boxes in storage, and found several 
dozen Ontel 8" floppy disks

also forgot I bought the manuals for the system, which I will put up as soon as 
I can get some more
disk space on bitsavers

does anyone have a system?

I see one person in the UK with the Telefunken version (Telecomp 5200)

http://www.randomorbit.co.uk/?cat=35

Re: Cleaning a board slightly oxydized ??

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/31/17 9:53 AM, william degnan via cctalk wrote:

> DE-Oxit?
> 
over an entire board?
seems like a really expensive solution to a simple problem
has anyone ever determined what the real active ingredient is in that stuff?

Re: WTB: RX02 Floppy Disks

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/1/17 10:36 PM, Ulrich Tagge via cctalk wrote:

> Looks like I was wrongly under the impression, that there is no way to 
> reformat, disks to work in an RX02.

There is no way to low-level format disks on a DEC RX01 or RX02. The hardware 
doesn't support it in the controller
inside the DEC disk drive. DEC expected you to buy media from them.

You can do it with third-party controllers like Qbus Sigma, DSD, or MTI using 
standard Shugart interface disk drives.
Some also support "RX03" double-sided drives.

You could also clone a formatted double-density disks with a flux-level 
reader/writer board.

Re: 2.11BSD on two RL02 drives? Probably not, but...

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/3/17 7:10 AM, Rick Bensene via cctalk wrote:

> I've found much the same with ESDI drives...they tend to die just sitting, 
> and it's not stiction that seems to be the culprit...they simply quit working.

That isn't good news. I still have about 100 drives that came out of Apollo's 
development cluster to image. Mostly
Micropolis and Maxtor >300mb.

If I actually get this done, I should have a pile of tested drives when it's 
over.

--

It would be nice, though if someone just finished a MSCP controller with a CF 
or SD on it.

Re: Disk imaging with IMD - question

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/10/17 1:29 AM, Christian Corti via cctalk wrote:
> On Wed, 9 Aug 2017, Chuck Guzis wrote:
>> I'll try again--it doesn't matter if the Qume 242 (I've got one)

I have a pretty strong dislike for the Qume drives, the 242 in particular
seems to like to eat the top side of media.

The design of the head actuator makes the heads
really difficult to clean.

I switched back to a SA 851, took off the plastic cover over the heads, and
cleaning the heads is easy.

Re: 5251 emulation

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

do you have the software?

On 8/10/17 2:21 PM, Gary McGill via cctalk wrote:
> Anyone interested in Emerald 3x twin emulation?  This is a card for a PC,
> with software and cable to connect from card to 3x twinax cable, to allow a
> PC to emulate a 5251 terminal on a 3x computer.
> 
> Email off list (nwsoftw...@comcast.net)
> 
>   GM
> Gary McGill
> 

Re: Floppy Disk Images

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/11/17 12:12 PM, Mattis Lind via cctalk wrote:

> There is a very nice MFM-emulator by David Gesswein.

It works very well. I've dumped several hundred 5" drives with it
which resulted in added support for many different controllers in
his decoder.

8" shugart interface drives are rising on the list of importance for
me. I've got several dozen with things that need to be imaged
and a bunch of IMI drives which I'm less hopeful of because of
their funky interface.

Re: DEC Unibus, Omnibus and TTL Flip-Chips sought for!

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/12/17 3:21 AM, Mattis Lind via cctalk wrote:

OK. There haven't been that many replies. The other route is to try to
reverse engineer the boards.


If it were me, I'd just do a new layout using parts you can still buy today.

Re: Floppy Disk Images

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/11/17 10:58 AM, Marvin Johnston via cctalk wrote:


I have probably at least 10,000 floppy disks of many flavors (formats,
hard sector, soft sector, various TPI and Tracks/disk, 3.5"/5.25?/8",
etc.)


I've been thinking about this, and you need to organize what you want to
read and get this down to something you can do in your lifetime. I'm 
guessing I've only read a few thousand disks in fifteen years. I think

the fastest I've processed a disk was still around 5 minutes a disk. It
can quickly go much higher if any work has to be done on the physical
media and especially if there are media retrys.

The problem will be the workflow. If you are really lucky, you might be
able to get a few systems running in parallel but in practice they need
to be watched and the heads cleaned frequently. I can only stand doing
this for maybe a week or two of full-time work at a reading station.

The fastest way to deal with metadata is bundling like media types 
together, put a reference number near the label, scan the disk label 
(and things like paper directory listings) on a flatbed, use that number 
for the file name, do a batch, rinse lather repeat. If you're using 
Imagedisk, don't bother adding the tag when you read it, reconcile it 
with the scanned label in batches later, if at all.


I do the reading on a separate machine from where the data is archived
and shuttle it over on a thumb drive, then put the scans and images
together into directories by project/system name number date. Then after
I can't stand dealing with reading disks any more, I reconcile what I've
done that day (or past couple of days)

Re: The SPERRY UNIVAC UTS 40 system + 8406 double-sided diskette subsystem : Restoration

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/12/17 6:45 AM, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:

> I did not know this type of case for capacitors
> 
> http://www.zeltrax.com/classiccmp_forum/uts40/M2894-63_board03.jpg


the black one in the lower left

it is a tantalum, which are known to short, try removing them

Re: The SPERRY UNIVAC UTS 40 system + 8406 double-sided diskette subsystem : Restoration

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/11/17 5:40 AM, Dominique Carlier via cctalk wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I continued my investigations about the power supply if the 8406 subsystem.
> Here is what I observe:
> 
> With the PSU in charge, I mean with a disk drive connected but without the 
> +24V :
> +5V -5V +12V -12V: OK
> If I connect the +24V to the drive this is at this moment than the power 
> supply goes mad and sends erratic alternating
> voltages to the + & - 5V and + & - 12v.

It sounds like something is wrong with the disk drives, probably a shorted 
capacitor on the drive.

If you apply a resistive load on the 24v does the supply still go crazy?

Re: nassa tapes destroyed but the family left to dispose of the computer?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzakkn/nasa-destroyed-hundreds-of-mystery-tapes-found-in-a-dead-mans-basement-apollo-era

well, a metal scrapper contacted NASA, so I would imagine with him.

at least we know now a little more about where the FOIA request came from



On 8/13/17 4:01 PM, Ed via cctalk wrote:
> wonder where it  ended up?

copy of Kildall's "Computer Connections"

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

just sold for $1600

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Computer-Connections-Gary-Kildall-Father-of-Personal-Computer-Software-/182705906183

Re: VCF?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/13/17 6:34 PM, Steve Malikoff via cctalk wrote:

> Anyway I was wondering if it would be possible to get some accurate and 
> detailed scale measurements of the Alto chorded keyset?

I have one that I am cleaning right now, so it is disassembled.
I'll put some info up soon.

Re: Disk imaging with IMD - question

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 8/10/17 9:25 AM, camiel.vanderhoeven--- via cctalk wrote:

> My workhorse 8" drives are some Ye-Data half-height ones. I still have about 
> a dozen of them as NOS.

Glad they work out for you. Fairlight people like them, so I've been giving 
them away to them.
I wont' try to recover anything I care about on those.

Re: Disk imaging with IMD - question

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?55277-Selecting-an-8-quot-floppy-drive

for someone else's opinion of the Qume PsOS

On 8/10/17 9:57 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
> 
> On 8/10/17 9:25 AM, camiel.vanderhoeven--- via cctalk wrote:
> 
>> My workhorse 8" drives are some Ye-Data half-height ones. I still have about 
>> a dozen of them as NOS.
> 
> Glad they work out for you. Fairlight people like them, so I've been giving 
> them away to them.
> I wont' try to recover anything I care about on those.
> 
> 

Altos 8600 floppy images

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

www.ebay.com/itm/263105671822

If any of the people who bid against me on these are on the list,
here are the disk images.

http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/Altos/Altos_8000_Family_disk_images/8600_Floppy_Images_Aug2017/

You're welcome.

Re: Line printer art: (was Re: tape baking)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/7/17 11:10 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> I've puzzled over how to do tape flux-transition recording in any
> meaningful way.

The way JBI did it was to digitize the capstan encoder as a clock reference for 
tape motion
obliquely referenced in
http://storageconference.us/2008/presentations/3.Wednesday/5.Bordynuik.pdf

--

Thanks to the current administration, all of the NASA Nimbus data reports 
appear to have
dissapeared from the web.

mentions in
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214242815000212#bb0035

"An examination of these 7-track tapes revealed they were in poor shape. The 
tapes iron oxide media was falling off the
acetate film backing. Fortunately, GSFC had just learned of a Canadian company, 
JBI Incorporated that had developed a
tape recovery process that could read the bits from magnetic tapes with a high 
degree of certainty. The JBI recovery
process involved using specially developed tape drives with 36 magnetoresistive 
(MR) heads, tape baking (10 h at 175°),
bit detection and processing techniques to read the 800 bit-per-inch, 7-track 
tapes. Based on the original Nimbus HRIR
system documentation, GSFC was then able to recover and rescue the observations 
from thousands of Nimbus HRIR digital
data tapes"

M. Hobish, D. Gallaher, G. Campbell, W. Meier
Dark data rescue: shedding new light on old photons
The Earth Observer May–June 2014, 26 (3) (2014), pp. 4-10


for example

gsfc.nasa.gov/nimbus/documentation/documents/N7_Recovery_Report_Jul16.doc

Re: Line printer art: (was Re: tape baking)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/7/17 10:26 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:

> I stopped beating that horse years ago.

And I'm moving towards flux-level archiving and away from using
stock tape transports.

But then, I've been saying that for 15+ years now and haven't done it.

Re: Line printer art: (was Re: tape baking)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/7/17 9:35 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> I've voiced my opinion before of being a bit surprised that neither AWS
> nor TAP makes any provision for metadata.   The tape data bits don't
> tell the whole story.


I stopped beating that horse years ago. They also assume that all of the data
blocks read correctly, they don't save the error correction data if the block
had it, etc etc.

Need to update my reader anyway soon, so I'm going to append something similar 
to
what you did the new images I create, probably just a ascii text record and a 
label picture.

Re: Line printer art: (was Re: tape baking)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/7/17 12:08 PM, Paul Koning wrote:

>> And I'm moving towards flux-level archiving and away from using
>> stock tape transports.
>>
>> But then, I've been saying that for 15+ years now and haven't done it.
> 
> It would be great to have that capability, after the company that had it 
> before seemingly vanished.  Better yet if you can handle not just plain 7 and 
> 9 track 1/2 inch tape but also other formats.  3/4 inch tape would come to 
> mind (DECtape and friends).  There's one inch tape (CDC 626) though I'm not 
> sure if any has been preserved.  There's 1/2 inch 10 track tape 
> (Electrologica X1 and others).
> 
> Stuff like error correction data makes sense for such low level capture.  
> It's not so obvious if you're working with a conventional tape transport, 
> which simply tells you "read error, you're SOL" if the checksums are no good. 
>  


I guess you've tried contacting John then about the Xelctrologica tapes?

He sent me a prototype drive with 18-track (IBM 3480) head that I still haven't
gotten to work. Most of the code lives on a Virtex FPGA board with the A/D 
converters
attached and he never gave me the source or adequate instructions on how to 
talk to it

This only works because the 3480 and 90 still used 1/2" width tape.

DECtape recovery hasn't been a problem. It's pretty rugged stuff.

I'm much less hopeful on any other parallel tape formats, since there are so 
few and the desire
to recover any of that has been low.

Thousandth data book uploaded to bitsavers

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

As of this morning, there are now over a thousand data books on bitsavers, and 
well over four
million pages in all of the pdfs there.

In the middle of June, I got my fifth large databook collection, and didn't 
have space for it,
so I've been doing dedup/recycling and scanning of what I hadn't already done 
to try to deal with
having it come in.

Re: Identifying Some SOT-23 Components

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/13/17 4:05 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:

> SD is probably a Schottky diode
  DS

Re: Identifying Some SOT-23 Components

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/13/17 3:24 PM, Rob Jarratt via cctalk wrote:

> The first appears to be a surface mount transistor (it is labelled "TR2"),
> the markings are not very clear. On one board it seems to be marked "1N",
> and on the spare it is marked "S1A". Neither of these seem to turn up on the
> reputable sites, so I wonder if anyone knows of a good equivalent?

did you try here?
http://www.s-manuals.com/smd


SD is probably a Schottky diode

Re: Through-hole desoldering (was Re: IBM 5110 - Where does the character set live? And other questions.)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/13/17 10:22 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> It was horrible--the tip would never stay tinned, the glass collector
> and hose was always in the way (that glass gets *hot*) and the action
> wasn't that good.

That was my experience with Weller and Pace, they clogged way too fast
and you had to wait for the glass to cool to clean them. I made the
mistake of getting another Weller last fall and just gave up
trying to make in work reliably.

The all-in one and pencil Hakkos that I bought after that work amazingly
well and are easy to clean. They also ended up being cheaper in the end
than what I spent on the Weller base unit and all of the repair parts.

Re: Depressing article

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

Tell me about it. We get a lot of calls from widows in the valley.
I have other people deal with it now, because I find going there too depressing.
I wonder if the guy had the CDC 160 that would have gone with those 162 tape 
drives
or how much documentation was ignored and dumpstered.

On 7/14/17 7:35 AM, systems_glitch wrote:
> Unfortunately this seems to be what happens with a lot of old engineers' 
> hardware.
> 

Re: Depressing article

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/14/17 7:45 AM, Ian McLaughlin via cctalk wrote:
>>
>  Why would NASA say “destroy the tapes” ?

Because they are a health risk, they have no facilities to recover the data, 
and someone
decided they didn't have a budget to attempt to preserve them given they have 
no idea what
is on them.

I'm sure they would have preferred to not have gotten the call from the surplus 
guy in the
first place, since all this will do is give them another PR black eye.

Depressing article

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

https://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2017/07/nasa-computer-engineer-basement/

of events that happened two years ago that had to be obtained through a NASA 
FOIA request

Re: Thousandth data book uploaded to bitsavers

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

either.

dealing with a truckload of data books for the past month and trying to
find all of them in storage to try to see an end to something I've been
working on for over 15 years has pushed me over the edge.

On 7/17/17 8:02 AM, Toby Thain wrote:
> On 2017-07-17 10:11 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>>
>>
>> I'm not actively soliciting any donations for bitsavers currently
>> because I already have a several year backlog
> 
> Paper, digital, or either?

Re: Thousandth data book uploaded to bitsavers

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

I'm not actively soliciting any donations for bitsavers currently
because I already have a several year backlog

On 7/16/17 7:44 PM, steve shumaker via cctalk wrote:
> find the ones you're
> missing.

Re: Fwd: [multicians] Fwd: Multics dps8m emulator

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

woot!

there was also a slashdot post about it, with typical clueless response


On 7/9/17 11:43 AM, Charles Anthony via cctalk wrote:
> -- Forwarded message --
> From: Tom Van Vleck  [multicians]
> Date: Sat, Jul 8, 2017 at 7:20 AM
> Subject: [multicians] Fwd: Multics dps8m emulator
> To: multicians
> 
> 
> 
> The Multics Simulator now has a packaged non-beta Release 1.0.
> Thanks to all the folks who worked hard on this.

Re: Line printer art: (was Re: tape baking)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/7/17 12:28 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> It brings up another aspect.   I've done a batch of tapes that had
> nothing more that the originator's name and an inventory number.   Upon
> recovering data, the customer had no idea what it meant or how it was
> created or even the system used to create it.

> 
> We're coming onto the "Linear B" era in computing I think, where
> knowledge is passing out of human memory. 
We have a VERY large collection of paper tapes from Whirlwind. They have
nice numbers on the outside of the boxes. We have no catalog. The best I've
been able to do is piece together a guess as to what non-secret projects they
were associated with based on the periodic MIT project reports. What is data
and what are programs, who knows? oh.. and they were stored in a basement and
the boxes are moldy.

There is a water mark where if something isn't of value enough to someone
to save and continue to pay for its preservation, it's dumpstered. While
it is nice to say things need to be preserved, if there isn't manpower or
space it won't be.

It is literally "you can't save everything, where would you put it?"

You can be completely buried by piles of unknown data on magnetic media.

Re: Line printer art: (was Re: tape baking)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

yup

On 7/7/17 12:33 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> On 07/07/2017 12:04 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
>>
>> The way JBI did it was to digitize the capstan encoder as a clock
>> reference for tape motion obliquely referenced in 
>> http://storageconference.us/2008/presentations/3.Wednesday/5.Bordynuik.pdf
> They mention a 36-track tape head.  Were those pretty much stock 3490E
> heads?
> 
> --Chuck
> 

Re: Any 7 track drives available?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

Can you come up with any HP 7970 drives?
I have spare 7/9 track read-only combo head stacks
Don't know of how much time you want to spend on it

On 7/7/17 2:32 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> Hi Gang,
> 
> I just got another batch of tapes.  While the customer specified 9
> track, there are a bunch of 7 track/556 bpi tapes in the mix.
> 
> Anyone have a drive that they're willing to part with/loan for these things?
> 
> Thanks,
> Chuck
> 

Re: Cipher F880 with S100 interface card on local CL

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/8/17 5:18 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> From his photo, it does appear to be S100-sized.

I didn't see any 50 pin connectors, or regulators. If you
look closely it's 8-bit ISA.
You can see the HD connector on the back

Re: IBM Scientific Subroutine Package (was Re: SIMH .tap file 7 track?)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/11/17 3:31 PM, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
> Hi Chuck,
> 
> 
> Maybe you can answer a related question to the conversion of IBM 360 .tap 
> files.
> 
> 
> I see the IBM FORTRAN Scientific Subroutine Package on Bitsavers in .tap 
> format:
> 
> 
> http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/IBM/360/360A_CM-03X_Scientific_Subr_Pkg.zip
> 
> 
> How do I read/convert this back into the ASCII files?
> 

it appears to be a stream of 3200 byte records, in EBCDIC
so convert the .tap records to a byte stream, convert the character set, and 
add a newline
every 80 characters

Re: tape baking

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

yup, the SAM HARBISON ones are classic, esp SPOCK
http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/ASCII/

On 7/6/17 10:59 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> It worked--I retrieved a tape of line printer art from Princeton quite
> successfully.  Oddly, nobody was interested in a copy of the files.

Re: Thousandth data book uploaded to bitsavers

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/14/17 1:42 PM, Tomasz Rola wrote:


> So what is the title of a lucky manual?
> 

toshiba/_dataBooks/1988_Toshiba_TLCS-68000_Users_Manual.pdf

Re: Thousandth data book uploaded to bitsavers

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/13/17 10:11 PM, Jason T via cctalk wrote:

> Many databooks I find are printed on the fragile "telephone book" type
> paper, either transparent, beige or both.  Do you have any techniques
> for getting good images out of those, and making sure they survive the
> trip through the ADF?
> 

I've worked out settings on my Panasonic KV-S3065CW that work ok. between
the brittleness and bleed-through, the old ones are a challenge. They also
need to be scanned at 600dpi because of the fine print, which can be pretty
noisy without adjusting the built-in noise removal. It also runs the feed
slower which helps. There isn't any way to get around hand feeding the sheets
though, because any bit of leftover glue sticking the pages together can
crumple the second sheet.

Re: Depressing article

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/14/17 9:34 AM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
> PR black eye?  I doubt it.  Who, other than the people here, is ever going
> to hear about it?


anyone who saw the story posted on arstechnica.co.uk today, which is where the 
original
posting points to

Re: Xerox stores

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/15/17 9:30 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
> with eBay, if you are
> really interested in this stuff, you can still get your hands on things.


To a degree. What shows up there is heavily sorted by the seller in what he
thinks he can get money for.

It's not like a junk store where a whole rack of stuff (sometimes with the docs)
is there to pick over.

I'm fairly annoyed at what Weird Stuff did to the
stuff I recycled there a few weeks ago, like separating (and losing) the Tek
1240 analyzer pods that went with the unit I dumped off there.

Once it got into the store, someone stole the knobs off it :-(

Re: HP 300-series boot rom archive?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/17/17 8:42 PM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote:

> Yep, I found that one, but it's not useful for actually repairing anything
> beyond basic board-swapping.

Internally HP maintained Technical Information Packages on their products which
actually had the useful information, though it isn't THAT useful since it 
doesn't
cover the innards of all of their ASICs, which had separate ERSs or TIPs.
That knowledge isn't that helpful though since there is pretty much no chance of
finding them at this late date unless an engineer squirreled away a copy 
somewhere.

CHM obtained what was left of the paper and software of the 9000/Apollo support 
group in
Roseville about ten years ago and I went through it all and scanned pretty most 
of
it. The rare stuff (like TIPs) are on line, product documents are still in the 
to-do pile of
scans.

When MAME started supporting the 68K 9000s, I made an effort to go through all 
of my machines
and dump the firmware. I didn't have a 375, which is why it isn't there. It 
would be nice if
some other collectors (Bear?) would dump any firmware out of their machines. 
The later ones
are a bit of a hassle because they went to PLCC instead of DIP parts.

Re: Repurposed Art (ahem...)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/18/17 8:34 AM, Paul Berger via cctalk wrote:
> the keyboard is gone
When they die, I hope whoever got it ends up in that special
Hell where keyboard collectors go.

It has every keyboard they ever wanted, but they have no arms.

Re: Thousandth data book uploaded to bitsavers

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/16/17 7:44 PM, steve shumaker via cctalk wrote:

> Actually that does trigger a thought... Is there a (simple) way to get a list 
> of the scanned ones?
fgrep _dataB IndexByDate.txt |sort -k 3

gets you a sorted list the current uploaded pdfs that are filed as data books

IndexByDate.txt gets recreated at least once a day after I've uploaded a batch 
of pdfs

There are a few hundred more data books scanned but not pdf-ed and uploaded yet

Re: In search of DEC DZ11 cabling/panel

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

this is Bob Rosenbloom

On 7/22/17 10:58 PM, Glen Slick via cctalk wrote:

> http://www.ebay.com/itm/332138639416
> 

Re: RK05 head alignment -- how difficult?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/23/17 10:12 PM, Fritz Mueller via cctalk wrote:

>   "Meh, RK05 alignment is not really that tough, and you would be better off 
> making sure your heads are thoroughly clean and intact."

This, but it really isn't that difficult to keep them clean with an inspection 
mirror and a good flat cleaning device.
Sadly, Texsleeves are no longer made, they are the best.

Re: Scsi tape and compatible tapes that are available

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/24/17 8:46 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:

> The problem with Exabyte drives is they seemed to have a short shelf life.

Most of the rubber parts have failed in the dozens of Exabytes I have.

LTO is the direction the world has been going for a while. They have about three
generations of backwards compatibility, so that sets your maximum time for media
migration.

There is going to be a problem though if you really need to stick with SCSI, 
since
the transfer rates can't be handled off of a modern LTO drive.

Re: early (pre-1971) edge-triggered D flip-flop ICs

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/19/17 4:40 PM, Brent Hilpert via cctalk wrote:

> There are near-type cross-refs in the 69 book to the National DM8510, Sprague 
> NE8828, Sprague USN7474, and Signetics N7474.
> 
> I can take and email you photos of the applicable pages if you like.
> Don't have a web site up right now to put them up on.
> 

They should all be on bitsavers. If not, i'll scan the backlog for stragglers

Eric's interest in the guts of the D flip-flop has been around for a while and
I've been watching for early references.

Re: early (pre-1971) edge-triggered D flip-flop ICs

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/19/17 5:36 PM, Brent Hilpert via cctalk wrote:

> I also have the 65 TI catalog, which introduces the 5400 / future-7400 
> series, but the family is only half-a-dozen packages of gates and the 5470 FF 
> at that point.
> 

I started scanning Allied Electronics catalogs since they give prices and show 
product lines for early ICs
I'll do a few more, but I lost interest once I came across 
http://www.alliedcatalogs.com/
Don't like the Javascript mung wrapped around it though.

Re: IBM Scientific Subroutine Package (was Re: SIMH .tap file 7 track?)

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/11/17 3:36 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> 
> On 7/11/17 3:31 PM, Randy Dawson via cctalk wrote:
>> Hi Chuck,
>>
>>
>> Maybe you can answer a related question to the conversion of IBM 360 .tap 
>> files.
>>
>>
>> I see the IBM FORTRAN Scientific Subroutine Package on Bitsavers in .tap 
>> format:
>>
>>
>> http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/IBM/360/360A_CM-03X_Scientific_Subr_Pkg.zip
>>
>>
>> How do I read/convert this back into the ASCII files?
>>
> 
> it appears to be a stream of 3200 byte records, in EBCDIC
> so convert the .tap records to a byte stream, convert the character set, and 
> add a newline
> every 80 characters
> 
> 

this is how it starts

C   TALL  10
C ..TALL  20
C   TALL  30
CSUBROUTINE TALLY   TALL  40
C   TALL  50
CPURPOSETALL  60
C   CALCULATE TOTAL, MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION, MINIMUM, MAXIMUM TALL  70
C   FOR EACH VARIABLE IN A SET (OR A SUBSET) OF OBSERVATIONSTALL  80
C   TALL  90
CUSAGE  TALL 100
C   CALL TALLY(A,S,TOTAL,AVER,SD,VMIN,VMAX,NO,NV)   TALL 110
C   TALL 120
CDESCRIPTION OF PARAMETERS  TALL 130
C   A - OBSERVATION MATRIX, NO BY NVTALL 140
C   S - INPUT VECTOR INDICATING SUBSET OF A. ONLY THOSE TALL 150
C   OBSERVATIONS WITH A NON-ZERO S(J) ARE CONSIDERED.   TALL 160
C   VECTOR LENGTH IS NO.TALL 170
C   TOTAL - OUTPUT VECTOR OF TOTALS OF EACH VARIABLE. VECTORTALL 180
C   LENGTH IS NV.   TALL 190

which matches
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/decuslib10-02/01/43,50145/tally.ssp.html

tape baking

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

https://strandgames.com/blog/magnetic-scrolls-games-source-code-recovered

and now we know why all the questions were asked recently

Re: tape baking

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/4/17 7:53 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
> > From: Al Kossow
> 
> > You need moving air, though.
> > I'm not sure how you do that well in a TK50 style cartridge.
> 
> Hmm, maybe not? I start with the need for moving air - which I do not
> dispute, just wondering what the needed effect is. I don't think it can be
> removing out-gassed material, I think it has to be temperature leveling -
> making sure the heat from the heat source is spread evenly? So one probably
> doesn't need moving air inside the cartridge, _if_ its temperature is even?

This came from personal experience and was also told to me by someone very 
experienced
in baking 1/2" computer tape. The 'out-gassed material' is water, which has 
been absorbed
by the binder, which is hydroscopic.

When I initially built my processing chamber ten years ago, I didn't have any 
fans in
it, and the results were not good. I put 9 boxer fans into the bottom, forcing 
air across
the surface of the tapes, which are mounted on a bar and held vertically, and 
the sticking
reduced a LOT.

When I process QIC carts, I take the covers off so the reels are exposed in the 
commercial
food dehydrator that I use. I've never tried just putting them in without doing 
that.

I'm skeptical that a TK50 would have been demagnetized by overtemp, the tape is 
much thinner
though, and I could see physical damage occurring if it got too hot.


https://www.google.com/patents/US6797072
http://www.richardhess.net/restoration_notes/USP5236790.pdf
http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=35353

Re: M9301-YB ROM flaky

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

I pulled out the M9301 and M9302 drawings from the set and uploaded them to 
bitsavers dec/unibus

On 7/4/17 8:34 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:

> As Mattis says, they are in the 11/04 drawings (MP00019). But I'm a bit
> puzzled why you didn't find them online; I have a page, "'Missing' Digital
> Equipment Corporation Field Maintenance Print Sets Online":
> 
>   http://ana-3.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/tech/FMPSOnline.html  
> 
> specifically to deal with this, and indeed a search for "M9301 Field
> Maintenance Print Set" and "M9301 Engineering Drawings" turns up this page as
> the first entry for both searches?

Re: Tools, Craftsman (Was: Model M case screws

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/2/17 2:15 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:

> Some brands have suffered badly under the shadow of acquisition.   Klein
> used to be the best source for small pliers and cutters, but my
> experience with them lately has not demonstrated that.

Xcelite was never the greatest stuff in the world, but you can see the 
progression
to garbage with each company that bought the name. They claim to be make in the 
US
but I have a tough time beleiving it.

My latest adventure was trying to find a circlip pliers to lube the bearing on 
a Boxer
fan. Finally bought a Knipex 48 11 J0 which was a decent tool at a medium 
price. Anything
cheaper was worthless crap.

Re: Model M case screws

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

> On Sun, 2 Jul 2017, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>> About the best advice I've heard in this respect was "if you're looking
>> to assemble a good assortment of hand tools, make an offer for the
>> contents of the toolchest  to the widow of a recently deceased mechanic."

service cases and tool boxes show up fairly often on eBay

I bought a not very attractive one that I recognized as coming from a DEC
field service guy, which has all sorts of very handy little things for working 
on
disk drives that filled a very big hole in my tool chest.

Re: Steve Garcia / Micromint SB180

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/2/17 11:26 AM, Straight Up Productions via cctalk wrote:
> How would you take payment for shipping? I am interested, though I am in
> the USA.


Has the firmware and OS been archived somewhere?

I just scanned and pdf-ed the manual, waiting now for some disk space to free 
up on the bitsavers server.

Re: tape baking

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/3/17 11:49 AM, Alan Frisbie via cctalk wrote:

> So, what are the currently-recommended tape baking temperatures and times?

In the range you're using. You need moving air, though.

I'm not sure how you do that well in a TK50 style cartridge.

Re: Dobbertin 4003 Eprommer driver, moldy floppy rescue in .de?

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/4/17 10:55 PM, Arno Kletzander via cctalk wrote:

> A quick look on the media surface however revealed a multitude of tarnished 
> spots that look to me like fungus growth. Having read about dirt and fungus 
> on media, moisture causing sticky shed syndrome, cleaning and baking 
> procedures and the like here, but not yet having gone through it myself (and 
> thus afraid to botch it if I tried it), I asked him not to read the floppy on 
> his own right now but let me ask for help.

Actually, dirt and fungus cause media dropouts. Sometimes you can (carefully) 
clean it off by washing and drying the
cookie and putting the disk in a new jacket.

When cleaning, you should carefully inspect the areas of the disk, preferably 
under magnification, to try to just take
off the surface contaminants and not the oxide and binder.

Re: Steve Garcia / Micromint SB180

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

argh.. forgot there was already a micromint dir, so I moved it there

On 7/5/17 5:13 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
> it will be under microMint early tomorrow
> 
> On 7/5/17 12:32 PM, GerardCJAT via cctalk wrote:
> 
>> PLEASE, under what directory you put the pdf of the manual  ??
>>
> 

Re: Steve Garcia / Micromint SB180

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

it will be under microMint early tomorrow

On 7/5/17 12:32 PM, GerardCJAT via cctalk wrote:

> PLEASE, under what directory you put the pdf of the manual  ??
> 

Re: tape baking

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 7/6/17 9:47 AM, Mark J. Blair via cctalk wrote:
> Maybe I could make a machine to allow me to unspool a TK50 tape while wiping 
> on cyclomethicone and then re-spool it, perhaps by hacking up a drive 
> mechanism.
> 

It evaporates too quickly.
I have also seen it dissolve binder if you use too much.

Re: Ford-Higgins Powerframe QBUS Docs

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 4/25/17 1:46 PM, Jason T via cctalk wrote:
> It has a combo fixed-disk/cart drive that their docs
> call an RC40.

Amcodyne 7110 Arapahoe

competitor to the CDC 9457 Lark

Re: Ford-Higgins Powerframe QBUS Docs

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

nope.

wonder if the 68k board was from Integrated Solutions


On 4/25/17 4:52 PM, Jason T via cctalk wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 6:38 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk
> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>> On 4/25/17 1:46 PM, Jason T via cctalk wrote:
>>> It has a combo fixed-disk/cart drive that their docs
>>> call an RC40.
>>
>> Amcodyne 7110 Arapahoe
> 
> Interesting!  I've never heard of that manufacturer.
> 
> Do you know anything else about the Ford-Higgins machines?
> 

Re: Attaching DEC Handles, the Right Way

[Al Kossow via cctalk]

On 4/26/17 8:06 AM, jim stephens via cctalk wrote:

> Stu Phillips, a friend of ours did the insertion of metal metal Southco 
> extractor handles on our boards for the
> Microdata 1600.  He probably had a machine, as the Southco levers were 
> riveted onto our board thru holes in the corner
> and levered the board in and out of the card cage.

I think these are the same style used on the DG Nova and the Alto. They have a 
problem that they bend if you aren't
paying attention to card alignment.

Also came upon this

http://www.aboveboardelectronics.com/bivar/pdf/page26.pdf

modern source for DEC style plastic handles?