October 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Considering sale of Apple Lisa...
by William Sudbrink 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

Oh, one last thing to add, stored in cool dry basement since what? 1998 or maybe 1997. From: William Sudbrink [mailto:wh.sudbrink@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 9:39 PM To: 'vcf-midatlantic' Subject: RE: [vcf-midatlantic] Considering sale of Apple Lisa... Ok. For anyone holding their breath, it's a Lisa 2, not a 1. Oh well. Pictures here: http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/images/Lisa_Pics/ You can see close up shots of where the battery was removed. The only leak damage is very slight corrosion on some of the leads of the resistors and diodes in the immediate area. One condition note that I had forgotten is that somehow, a small hole was punched in the left shift key. This happened before I got it. As I said, I've never applied power, but mechanically, the key appears to work correctly. Things to note: All keyboard keys operate smoothly and easily. Mouse is clean, ball rolls nicely and button clicks sharply. Glare filter is clean and complete. Documentation appears complete. More than 20 user labeled diskettes. Original Apple branded power cord. Original Apple branded interface cable to Profile drive. Original Apple branded interface cable to printer. Apparently, it will boot into MacWorks XL or UNIX SYSTEM V. Bill Sudbrink --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Considering sale of Apple Lisa...
by William Sudbrink 11 Oct '17

11 Oct '17

Ok. For anyone holding their breath, it's a Lisa 2, not a 1. Oh well. Pictures here: http://wsudbrink.dyndns.org:8080/images/Lisa_Pics/ You can see close up shots of where the battery was removed. The only leak damage is very slight corrosion on some of the leads of the resistors and diodes in the immediate area. One condition note that I had forgotten is that somehow, a small hole was punched in the left shift key. This happened before I got it. As I said, I've never applied power, but mechanically, the key appears to work correctly. Things to note: All keyboard keys operate smoothly and easily. Mouse is clean, ball rolls nicely and button clicks sharply. Glare filter is clean and complete. Documentation appears complete. More than 20 user labeled diskettes. Original Apple branded power cord. Original Apple branded interface cable to Profile drive. Original Apple branded interface cable to printer. Apparently, it will boot into MacWorks XL or UNIX SYSTEM V. Bill Sudbrink --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Considering sale of Apple Lisa...
by William Sudbrink 11 Oct '17

11 Oct '17

Hi All, Sorry to do this here, but I'd really rather avoid boxing and shipping if I can get this to someone relatively local. I have an Apple Lisa computer that I've been "sitting on" for a long time and I'm coming to the conclusion that I will never do it justice. It is pretty complete, including an external hard drive, printer, software diskettes and documents. When I got it, the battery was leaking. I removed the battery and did some cleanup at the time, but nothing more. I've never applied power. Drop me a private message if you are interested and I will take some pictures. Sincerely, Bill Sudbrink PS: This is a little "weird" but I will trade the Lisa for the follow group of items: 1) One of Glitch's OSI memory boards (completely populated) 2) A Jade S-100 bus probe 3) A Percom SS-50 bus graphics card (I can give you details of how to acquire this but you have to buy a complete SWTPc system (which I don't need)) --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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WTB: Large Quantity 6116 SRAMs
by systems_glitch 11 Oct '17

11 Oct '17

All, Before I spin the wheel on China relabels, does anyone have a bunch of 6116 type 2K x 8 static RAM ICs they want to sell? I have a few RAM boards that came to me with all of the SRAMs pulled, looking to try and repopulate them and get them going. Looking for 32 or more, don't care if they're used or pulls or whatever. Thanks, Jonathan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: housing?
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 10 Oct '17

10 Oct '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >NJ members, > >I need a new place to live by early November. Anyone have a spare room? > >(Please withhold non-constructive responses, I don't need advice or "I >wish I could help but", I need a place to live.) It's fun to stay at the YMCA... Sorry, not constructive but I couldn't resist.

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OT: housing?
by Evan Koblentz 10 Oct '17

10 Oct '17

NJ members, I need a new place to live by early November. Anyone have a spare room? (Please withhold non-constructive responses, I don't need advice or "I wish I could help but", I need a place to live.) ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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re-marked ICs
by Herb Johnson 10 Oct '17

10 Oct '17

http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/chip_re-labeling.html There was some discussion in this list, about pulled vintage IC's being relabeled with different datecodes, brands, sometimes the wrong function. An ancient TTL chip was actually a touch-tone decoder chip - ONE IC! The depth of this problem, down to handfulls of chips selling for little, surprised me. So I gathered some details from the sources and participants, added discussion from another vintage list, and created a Web page to report on the issue and practices. My thanks for their permission and reportage. I'd welcome an email from any who stumble over this problem, when buying some part to fix a S-100 card or other vintage microcomputer. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Univac update
by Evan Koblentz 10 Oct '17

10 Oct '17

Duane Craps (from several states away) and Bill Dromgoole spent the weekend at our museum to work on the Univac. Here's a lightly edited version of their report: --------------- The 1219B is mostly operational It still has a few intermittent problems and a few we know about like a fan not operating below the memory chassis. We don’t have full communication with the 1540 tape drive but can transfer functional commands. We found a few bad cards in the tape drive but a lot more work is needed. We are able to load UPAK and diagnostic programs. We loaded and executed the memory test program but did not get a full 10 passes to get a good printout. After about 5 to 8 passes we get a program fault. We think due to overheating. We also were able to load and run “Hunt the Wumpus” game program. Here are some photos and videos. The second photo shows the broken computer with the main timing chain not working and some random lights lit. The eighth photo shows the parts at fault we found the first day. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sauxna7fBda2OroU2 This link should work for anyone who thinks 640K is enough." ----------------- Related: Drom and Duane also served as museum docents. They reported a modest amount of visitors Saturday and tons of visitors Sunday. Said Drom: "It was so hectic I couldn’t give people as much attention as they wanted."

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FS: Processor Tech 2KRO 1702/5203 EPROM S-100 Board Repaired/Tested/Working
by systems_glitch 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272880791277 Processor Tech's early 2K ROM board, can be used with 1702/5203 type ROMs, including the slower 1702 variants (up to 4 wait states can be added). This board arrived with two shorted tantalum capacitors, which have been replaced. I changed addressing and wait state jumpers from soldered wire to machine pin sockets to save on board wear and tear. Tested with a 1702A pattern ROM (not included) in my IMSAI 8080 -- works fine! Thanks, Jonathan

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] vax scsi questions
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

william degnan via vcf-midatlantic writes: >> > > Minimum boot will not execute your system's SYSTARTUP_VMS (or *_V5 >because > you're living in the past). > > >ironic statement. In my case I just wanted to keep the license as-is >being all historical and all that I am. I have a VMS 7.2 or .3 on CD if >I really wanted to upgrade. > > >> That is, typically, where one would add MOUNT > commands to mount >other device volumes available to the system. When you > DO startup the >system minimally, there are many other aspects of *normal* > VMS startup >that are also bypassed. You can also modify the system startup > in >SYSGEN when you boot conversationally (>>> BOOT/[R5:]1) and define the > >startup to the OPA0: (SYSBOOT> SET/STARTUP OPA0:). WHen your system >boots, > it will leave you at the DCL prompt ($). No need to even know >the SYSTEM > password or login to the SYSTEM account. However, when you >do this, there > is no error handling! A error, even a typo >precipitating an unknown > command > syntax error, will kick you out >with no resolve other than to reboot. The > trick here is to issue a "$ >SPAWN" command first. This way, you'll have a > subprocess that, if it >terminates, will dump you back into the STARTUP pro- > cess. NOTE: If >you change the startup, you will want to change it back. > >Conversationally boot. SYSBOOT> SET/STARTUP SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP.COM and >> SYSBOOT> CONTINUE. > > I ran this > >SYSBOOT> SET STARTUP_P1 = " " SYSBOOT> CONTINUE > >problem is now the computer always tries to boot into the network. I >need to re-establish a boot into DKB500. I thought this would work: > >SYSBOOT> SET STARTUP_P1 = "DKB500" > >but I am starting to think with V5 you need to do it this way: > >SYSBOOT> SET STARTUP_P1 = "DKB500:" (with the colon) > >On my systems, I MOUNT volumes in a procedure (I call >SYSTARTUP_MOUNT.COM) > that I run as a detached process. If it hangs up >on a MOUNT I can still, > eventually after STARTUP.COM and its scion >complete, login. > > That makes sense. I still have a ways to go to >make a safe system exposed to the outside WWW as well. One thing about >VMS, it let's you make catastrophic mistakes without protest. Very >flexible OS though. You know, there was a VMS I&DS manual in the consignment at one of the (last) VCF at InfoAge that probably would have got to the skip if I hadn't saved it from becoming landfill. You would be well suited to have a copy and read it. By the time you see SYSBOOT, you've already DECIDED what is the boot device. The boot device can he specified at the dead sargeant (>>> B DKB500) or you can specify to the console that it be the default device to be assumed when you issue the BOOT command. >>> SET BOOT DKB500 If nothing has been established, the console will attempt to boot off of the network (if a network card is present) and then off of the various devices. It's looking for VMB.EXE which is the primary bootstrap loader. Again, by the time VMB.EXE is executing (which maps much of VMS and SYSBOOT), it's far too late to try to change the boot volume. You know, if there was a real interest, I'd consider doing a VMS seminar at VCF but I've so many more things in my personal life's firepit at the moment to commit to yet another log on the fire.

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