July 2017 - vcf-midatlantic

Head align Tape
by Duane Craps 15 Jul '18

15 Jul '18

>>> 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". Head alignment tapes are not track specific. They have one track the width of the tape and are used to adjust time delays to time align the bits coming off the read head when reading the alignment tape. Then a "scratch tape" is used while writing all ones to adjust the write delays while looking at the read amps. We used the same alignment tape for 7 and 9 track units. Duane On 6/17/2017 11:40 AM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". On 6/17/2017 11:40 AM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > On 06/17/2017 11:37 AM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >>> UNIVAC 1540 Magnetic Tape Unit...I wonder if anyone has a 800 BPI, >>> NRZ Master Head Alignment Tape (skew tape) to donate to VCF. >> 7 track or 9 track? The Univacs are pretty old even for "vintage". >> >> Also, as Dave McGuire noted, a lightly-used tape from a known-good drive >> will be useful. In the floppy-disk world, I use several diskettes each >> from a known good drive to validate "alignment". > That wasn't me. But yes, that can be useful for rough validation. > >> Seems to me, there's likely several boxes of mag-tapes in the inventory. > Yes, I brought a few boxes several years ago. > > -Dave > v

4 3

Tandy Assembly
by Peter Cetinski 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

Does everyone here know about Tandy Assembly in October? http://www.tandyassembly.com/ It's going to be the largest gathering of Tandy Radio Shack enthusiasts since the 1980s! Disclaimer: This is not a VCF event so apologies if I'm being improper with the list. Pete

5 8

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] COBOL: vintage vs. legacy code
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

"Joseph S. Barrera III via vcf-midatlantic" writes: >On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 7:53 PM, Jeffrey Jonas via vcf-midatlantic < >vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> Java and all its variants and environments, > > >I've been writing Java for almost 20 years and fully expect to be >writing in it for another 10. I've been writing assembly for 40+ years and fully expect to be writing it for another 10+. ;)

10 17

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: WTD Programmer with Experience in PDF Editing Programatically (Windows)
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

william degnan via vcf-midatlantic writes: >I am working on an application that edits PDF file text, I am tired of >banging my head on the desk ... so, I am looking for someone with >related experience who can help. > >In the simplest terms it's a business forms generator. The program >starts with a PDF template and then receives input from a web form. The >output is a copy of the PDF template with the form data, placed and >sized correctly. The file will be sent to the printer. > >Anyone done that before? The best I can do is replace text, but I can't >move it around. Yes I know editing PDFs is clunky, but *if you have >done this before* contact me if you're looking for a project. Postscript but not PDF. For the Postsript, the input collected was stored as|to a postscript variable. (eg. /Surname (the-input) def Then, the 'form' simply issued, at the appropriate place, a 'Surname show'. I'm pretty sure that the same approach would work with PDF.

1 0

OT: WTD Programmer with Experience in PDF Editing Programatically (Windows)
by william degnan 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

I am working on an application that edits PDF file text, I am tired of banging my head on the desk ... so, I am looking for someone with related experience who can help. In the simplest terms it's a business forms generator. The program starts with a PDF template and then receives input from a web form. The output is a copy of the PDF template with the form data, placed and sized correctly. The file will be sent to the printer. Anyone done that before? The best I can do is replace text, but I can't move it around. Yes I know editing PDFs is clunky, but *if you have done this before* contact me if you're looking for a project. To reach me off list: my company site, degnanco.net --> click Contact. Bill

1 0

$40 IBM 5150 in Parsippany
by Christian Liendo 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

I think this is a good deal. Hope it goes to a good home. https://newjersey.craigslist.org/sys/d/vintage-ibm-model/6242460762.html

5 7

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo!
by Duane 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Evan, If there is any interest, Ill do a demonstration of my 1219 cross assembler at VCF ORG &O1000 ENTB TEXT_BUFF ; LOAD INDEX REGISTER WITH ADDRESS OF TEXT BUFFER RJP TYPEAS ; RETURN JUMP TO TYPE ASCII STRING ROUTINE STOP &O40 ; STOP PROGRAM >TEXT_BUFF AS HELLO WORLD FROM VCF ; BUILD ASCII BUFFER END ; PRODUCES: TEST.PRG ORG &O1000 001000 321003 ENTB TEXT_BUFF ; LOAD INDEX REGISTER WITH ADDRESS OF TEXT BUFFER 001001 761016 RJP TYPEAS ; RETURN JUMP TO TYPE ASCII STRING ROUTINE 001002 505640 STOP &O40 ; STOP PROGRAM TEXT_BUFF 001003 110105 AS HE HELLO WORLD FROM VCF 001004 114114 AS LL 001005 117040 AS O 001006 127117 AS WO 001007 122114 AS RL 001010 104040 AS D 001011 106122 AS FR 001012 117115 AS OM 001013 040126 AS V 001014 103106 AS CF 001015 440040 AS TYPEAS 001016 000000 DATA 0 ; TYPE OUT SUBROUTINE GOES HERE LABEL TABLE TEXT_BUFF 001003 TYPEAS 001016 The formatting got a screwed pasting into the email Its not pretty but it beats hand assembly. Duane -----Original Message----- From: Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2017 1:13 PM To: Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic Cc: Evan Koblentz Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo! > When you get more practice with this, > I would suggest using a 6502 cross-assembler Yup, that's the plan. > about printing Text on the screen, > There are many of these assemblers and cross-assemblers which have a > feature called Macro's > This is not specific to a computer platform, just the developer who wrote > the code for the assembler I understand what you're saying. However, as I learn, I want to be very careful to avoid confusing stuff that's part of Apple 6502 assembly vs. stuff that's part of any specific editor/assembler. I may not know the difference at first. > about what Mike said, definitely use comments I know.

1 0

Woohoo!
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Made my first assembly program just now. :) http://snarc.net/h.jpg I was nudged by Ragooman, inspired by attending Kfest, and grateful for the book "Apple Roots" (the previously recommended book "Assembly Lines" left my brain in a knot after 5 pages). I read chapters 1, 3, and 4 -- skipped chapter 2 about number systems because I already understand that well enough to fake it and it didn't seem pivotal to * jumping in and doing something *. I used ProDOS Assembly Tools which I downloaded from the Asimov site. (Adam convinced me to switch to a real program like Merlin soon.) Tried the sample program (ADDNRS) in chapters 3/4 and got it to work after Facebook user Katherine S. in the Apple II group noted that I was missing some spaces in the sample code. After that it assembled without errors. Our own list member Paul H. provided additional insight. Then, armed with sleep-deprived confidence, I went back and applied what I learned to the "HI" example in chapter 1. That worked too, so I looked up the number chart at the back of the book and changed it to HELLO WORLD. It worked but I had a typo in the output: it showed a hyphen instead of a space. That was a good thing because it forced me to download the manual and learn how to load and edit the listing. Corrected it and this time it showed HELLO WORL ... what happened to the D? Looked again and I'd forgotten the final $FDED to display what I LDA'd. Okay then! Now it works. I have absolutely no clue if this is the "correct" way to make a hello world in Apple II 6502 assembly. I understand there's probably a more efficient way to do it. But for now, I basically skimmed three of the first four chapters and wound up with this: 1 ORG $1000 2 LDA #200 3 JSR $FDED 4 LDA #197 5 JSR $FDED 6 LDA #204 7 JSR $FDED 8 LDA #204 9 JSR $FDED 10 LDA #207 11 JSR $FDED 12 LDA #160 13 JSR $FDED 14 LDA #215 15 JSR $FDED 16 LDA #207 17 JSR $FDED 18 LDA #210 19 JSR $FDED 20 LDA #204 21 JSR $FDED 22 LDA #196 23 JSR $FDED 24 RTS Efficient or not, it works! ________________________________ 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

4 6

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo!
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

This popped into my mind: what if you want to display a large amount of text? I assume there's some better way than loading each individual character. The book I'm reading may explain it in a later chapter, and maybe it's counterproductive for me to ask at this point! Not looking for a code example right now. But someone please assure me assembly isn't always * this tedious *.

4 5

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Woohoo!
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Made my first assembly program just now. :) > >http://snarc.net/h.jpg Your code would be more interesting.

2 1