September 2020 - vcf-midatlantic

Dinner Signup for Repair Workshop 9/12
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

*Saturday Night 9/12*: Applebees (Tinton Falls) Signup here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BO_JyNgDfebd1hgsKEQTcZUXdexQrCwSEUP… Usually we will meet there by 7:30PM -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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B205 tape drive (reduced)
by Herb Johnson 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

> The Burroughs B205 tape drive in South Carolina ... > This was originally part of Claude Kagan's B205 system. I contacted Mike Loewen because of my continuing interest in Claude Kagan's legacy: https://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/kagan.html Mike filled me in with the details of the tape drive's history, and I have my own knowledge of Claude's legacy. I produced the following Web page accordingly, and linked to it from my memorial Web page. https://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/kagan/b205_tape.html Currently it tracks those tape drives and other things Claude dispersed from the Burroughs B-205 systems he obtained. I'll add later, photos and notes about the B-205 and its loss in the barn fire several years ago. There's some interest in ancient mainframes, and few of the vaccum-tube era digital systems still exist. So materials on the B-205 are worth preserving. Regards, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info

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LSI-11 simulator (looking for the author)
by Richard Cini 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

All – I’m cleaning out my shop (I will have a “to go” list at some point) and going through magazine articles I saved. One peaked my interest, from Circuit Cellar (7/1996) by Robert W. Meister, was an LSI-11 simulator. I liked working on my Altair32 project, so I thought this would be good to play with. I was able to find the original simulator code from the article and it compiles under MS-DOS with only minor changes, but it has certain compromises regarding the hardware memory addresses and return codes that require it to use a custom RT-11 boot diskette (it has a custom DX.SYS, I’m guessing). I’ve done quite a bit of Googling about the simulator and the author (who worked for the NASD at the time he wrote the article), but haven’t come up with much additional information. Yes, I could easily use SIMH instead, but this is a fun project to work on to keep the mind busy. I guess I have four options: move memory around and see if the default DX.SYS will work; write a custom DX.SYS and make a new image using SIMH (way beyond me); continue to hunt down the author and see if he has any of the original files; give up and just use SIMH. If anyone is interested, I can send a PDF of the article. It’s actually a neatly-written program, and the ODT works fine. Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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article on TRS-80 in Nuts and Volts
by W2HX 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

Don't know if anyone gets/reads this old rag but I thought I'd share an article I came across: https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/the-trs-80-model-1 73 Eugene W2HX

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vVCF Midwest Schdule
by Jason T 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

Hello to our east-coast friends! Many of you have probably heard about our attempt to virtualize our show via other channels, but I figured I would drop a note here as well that our schedule has been posted: http://vcfmw.org/virtual.html We'll be presenting videos from community members sequentially throughout the day Saturday, using YouTube's "Premiere" feature, as well as keeping an open chat going on a bridged IRC/Discord channel. A low-key affair for a likely rainy Saturday in the Midwest. We'd love to have you join us, but the videos will of course remain posted on our YouTube channel for those who would like to check them out later (or again!) -jt -- vcfmw.org / chiclassiccomp.org / nocarrier.net

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Rescue in Delran, NJ
by Jeffrey Brace 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

Anyone coming to the workshop this weekend interested in helping pickup some items from Delran, NJ? I have two people helping to pickup, but I might need more depending on the space in their vehicles. Send me a message privately. Thanks! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] LSI-11 simulator
by Herb Johnson 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

> No RT-11 disk image I’ve used will boot, > I was hoping someone could point me to a listing of what the on-disk boot block code on an RT-11 floppy might look like. Rich, I don't understand your problem. If you have access to RT-11 disk images on the Web, my guess is some of them are "bootable". By "bootable" that means by your account, they have PDP11 boot code on their first sector. If they have boot code on their first sector - then extract the first sector and *hand disassemble the binary*. Then you know what that code quote "looks like". 256 words (512 bytes) is just a handful of disassembly work - hardly worth bothering to run an emulator to run some debugger to produce some PDP-11 code. and you seem so deep into this custom emulator and the LSI-11 architecture, that you seem to know what you'd need to make sense of the boot code. I'm familiar with PDP-11's a little, it's not horrendous binary code. YOu also say, this emulator apparently needs a custom RT-11, presumably with custom boot code. But the creator doesn't recall the details. Well, 24 years is a long time to remember such things. That being the case, you will have to figure out the boot process anyway. You already have to dig into the emulator. And you seem to know the hardware. Thus doing the hand disassembly will be, er, "informative". What am I missing here? Do you need some known bootable RT-11 diskettes, so you can put one in some drive and read off the boot sector? Or someone to send you that binary or disk image? Likewise: > It’s like looking for a disassembly of the MS-DOS boot sector. (snort) MS-DOS DEBUG will do that, with a IBM PC tech manual in hand. I don't mean to belabor the point, but maybe this is as I suspect: a desire to avoid hand-disassembly. If that's a personal issue, my apologies, but I think it's a very useful skill. And if it's not a desirable task, well, there's usually debuggers which do that, or one can cobble up a disassembler in one's favorite language (or borrow one and rework it). I've done all those things, and still do, but that's just me. Puzzled, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info

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Soda and Water for repair workshop
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

I got the soda and water for the repair workshop. If anyone has any preferences for next time, then let me know. This time there was a sale on both Coke and Pepsi. I know that people really like Mountain Dew so I got that again. This is what I got for this time: Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Pepsi Max. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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September 11th exhibit @ InfoAge
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

Volunteers at InfoAge are doing their grand opening of their September 11th memorial exhibit this weekend on September 12th. I got a sneak peek at it and it's really a great tribute and memorial. I encourage everyone to stop by and see the exhibit. I helped them with technical assistance in getting a digital playback machine to play a slideshow automatically. -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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Info for Repair Workshop 9/12 & 9/13
by Jeffrey Brace 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

Remember the spaces are first come first serve to the CDL space. We have a limit of how many we can fit in there. Otherwise members will have to go to the 9032-A where we used to have our workshops. The workshop is $10 *per* person, *per* day. This is InfoAge's rule and not our decision. So that means for two days it is $20. Sign up to guarantee a table. DATE: September 12 & 13, 2020 LOCATION (two locations): InfoAge: 2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ 1) Building 9059 (CDL Hackerspace - Formerly IXR) AND 2) Building 9032-A (Old workshop area in main building) TIME: Saturday START time == 10 A.M. END time == 11PM. Sunday START time == 10 A.M. and END == 5 P.M. SIGNUP: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QPWVJSRL94SdHKtmkUmH6WESwckeXbn8PgV… > Workshop area is limited to 10 people per building and facemasks are required. Hand sanitizer is available. COST: - $10 per person, PER day. This is required by InfoAge for us to pay for renting the space. - $25 for those wanting to stay overnight (Money goes to InfoAge). Please pay ME (Jeff Brace) upon arrival. Cash or PayPal is acceptable as payment. Ask ahead of time if you need to use a credit card. OVERNIGHT: Bring your own pillow, blankets, soap etc. We provide a bed frame and an uncovered mattress. There are showers and a kitchen for your use. - You can pay via PayPal to paypal(a)vcfed.org. or to me via cash or credit card in person. EQUIPMENT: - VCF will provide a table and you can use any available electrical outlet. - Bring your own tools, power strips, power cords, and supplies etc. - If you need particular tools that you don't know or particular parts, please post to the list for those going. They may have what you need. Let them know ahead of time. - Please bring an extra power strip to lend to someone that forgot. DRINKS: You should bring your own. We have a refrigerator in CDL to keep them cold. VCF will buy some water and soft drinks for member use. FOOD: *Saturday afternoon*: Pizza from Attilios (Tinton Falls) *Saturday Night*: Applebees (Tinton Falls) signup here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BO_JyNgDfebd1hgsKEQTcZUXdexQrCwSEUP… *Sunday Morning*: Bagel order from Delicious Bagels ( https://www.deliciousbagelspointpleasant.com/) Fill out Order here: < https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MR8t6lHGraOwd5NiQA0oGzm-GauVQA5j6-a… > *Sunday Afternoon*: Wawa order GATE: Please close the gate behind you at all times. We want to discourage random strangers from wandering the campus. We have had this happen numerous times. PARKING: Park in the main parking lot, unless you are unloading. Don't park on the lawn. QUESTIONS? Contact Jeff: 732-759-1783 jeffrey(a)vcfed.org Have fun everyone! -- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey(a)vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783

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