March 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Support 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

>From what I remember back in those days - these Controllers changed almost weekly. It was a really crazy time with all the clone hardware. Every corner Tech Shop sold these Controllers, and who knows where they got them from. It was really the Wild West once the Clones took over (1989-90), and lasted most of that whole decade really. I would be really surprised if you find an actual manual. Most of the times my dealer would give me a photocopy page if there was even anything. The more 'standard' or mass produced Controllers came in boxes... but also cost 2-3x as much. If I had to guess it's MFM over RLL since RLL was much more rare. Shouldn't hurt to test on either drive - assuming you can find any that are still working. Anyway, good luck. $.02 Henry S. Courbis Office Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848) Office/Mobile Direct: (856) 779-1900 www.ReactiveMicro.com - Sales, Support, and News, Our Headquarters on the Internet ReactiveMicro.com/wiki - Support, Software, Manuals, and History. Create your own page today! Facebook.com/reactivemicrousa - Our Social Media Outlet and Support On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 7:27 PM, Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Christopher Blackmon <ckblackm(a)yahoo.com> > To: Tony Bogan <thebogans(a)mac.com> > Cc: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2017 23:27:14 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x15qpbmvvznsn8w/AAB37n56zJ4jBTWOGhYe_s8Ba?dl=0 > > I put 3 pictures at this location. > thanks,Christopher. > > >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Jason Perkins 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Looks like a ST506 type disk controller. Probably RLL. -J On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 7:39 PM Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x15qpbmvvznsn8w/AAB37n56zJ4jBTWOGhYe_s8Ba?dl=0 > > I put 3 pictures at this location. > thanks,Christopher. > > -- Jason Perkins 313 355 0085 Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Neil Cherry 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

On 03/20/2017 02:04 PM, Christopher Blackmon via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > I've got a full length 16-bit ISA card with the part # WD1006V-WA2 on it that I'm > trying to find the spec's for... I've found several that are close via google, but none > that are exact matches. Would anyone happento have some info on this card? A guess (for memory long time ago old): Western Digital Hard Drive interface card. ST-506 (?) insterface. Probably 2 drive interface, each drive needed 1 long and 1 short header cable. I don't know if it supports RLL but I kind of doubt it. I recall jumping into ROM on the card to format the drives. Sorry that's all I have. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Help IDing card
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

>> Does the list allow photo attachments or do I need to use dropbox? We prefer that you post them somewhere and then email the link.

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Help IDing card
by Christopher Blackmon 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

I've got a full length 16-bit ISA card with the part # WD1006V-WA2 on it that I'm trying to find the spec's for... I've found several that are close via google, but none that are exact matches. Would anyone happento have some info on this card? thanks,Christopher.

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The Atlantic : How Aristotle Created the Computer
by Christian Liendo 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

This is not off topic as it relates to how a publication is making a claim on the history of computing. I'm looking for opinions because my first response is no. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/aristotle-computer/5…

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MARCHIAN invasion of Trenton
by Jeffrey Jonas 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Michael Kato and Jeff Galinat were venders. I got to chat with Bill Inderrieden, Wm Dudley, Rebecca Mercuri, Neil Cherry, Herb, Dean & Drew and "the usual suspects". Despite being compressed into one day, I felt satisfied. I got some goodies in the dealer's den - displays from Galinat - books from Kato - bags of 1,000 leds and VFD modules from Ott Neil Cherry's home automation presentation had new things from last year. With 13 presentations at a time, everyone's sure to be disappointed and miss things. I missed the earlier C++ talk and the later one was cancelled. -- jeffj

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Moderate amount of visitors today. About a dozen people in four or five groups of families. I continued setting up the tablets. Finished most of the physical installation. Ordered a few USB extension cables on Amazon so we can power everything without daisy-chaining regular extension cords or power strips. The USB extensions should be here later this week. Me, Adam, and possibly others will be there again next weekend. I have a long list of museum things to get done in time for VCF East. Next weekend will almost be a reality TV episode: can disorganized Evan lead a crew to finish a dozen overlapping projects by the deadline? We'll see! ------------------------- 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

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DEC stuff available
by Richard Cini 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

All – I was contacted last week by a gentleman in Fitchburg, MA, who used to work for DEC and has a huge load of DEC hardware, manuals, print sets and other stuff. Based on his email, he worked on RSTS and RT-11 (checking to see if he knows Megan G.). Here’s a sample: · If you have a MicroVAX, i might have some extra memory boards for that. · i have a lot of manuals, the logic manual, the PDP-11 manuals, and unibus peripherals manuals... all handbooks · I have an 11/05 cpu, with box, backplane, power supply, front control panel. not sure about the memory, these had core · i have an 11/34 in the large box with the programmers keyboard and a 9-slot expansion bus and a full schematic set for it. · i have several sorts of LSI-11 backplanes including the ones that make a VT-100 into a VT-103. · and i have the kits to turn a VT-100 into a ReGis graphics terminal... VT125 · i have 11/23 boards, which do 22-bit addressing, and a bunch of 512K OEM memory boards (clearpoint or Camminton) · and the MXV-11 boards with the EPROM sockets, some RAM and 2 serial ports are in abundance. · also DLV-11J quad serial port boards, mostly OEM stuff, · some of these boards i have schematics for... · for the hard-core hackers, i have several wire-wrap-roll-your-own boards, dual height and quad. · i also have software... mostly RT-11 but i also have some Micro-RSX · also have some DECUS software, esp a cross-assembler for the 6502... I fixed some bugs and improved the functionality of this tool and used it myself extensively. He also said that he’s still into PDP projects. If anyone’s remotely interested, contact me off-list and I’ll pass his info on to you. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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Trenton report
by Evan Koblentz 19 Mar '17

19 Mar '17

All went well in Trenton yesterday. Jeff B.'s Commodore/Capsella robot and my Apple/Lego robot both worked perfectly and everyone who stopped at our booth seemed impressed. Herb pointed out that some college students were showing a modern $40,000 robot but were unable to explain how it works nor do much more than our designs. :) Group members spotted in addition to me, Jeff, and Herb: Jeff Galinat, Jeff Golas, Jeff Jonas, Neil, Dean, Drew, Brian Stuart, Bill I., and Steve ... sorry if I forgot anyone. Plus the usual groupies :) who attend Trenton, VCF East, etc. but aren't official members. Brace and I gave a successful lecture. The audience wasn't huge (about 10 people) but they seemed very interested and I think we did a good job presenting historical and technical information. They asked some smart questions afterward. A while ago Gini Mauchly offered us a desk fan that her father brought home from Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company. At the show yesterday we took delivery of it. Me, Brace, Dean, and Drew went to dinner. Burgers and beer.... om nom nom nom. ------------------------- 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

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