- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - Cooking times
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 04 Dec '15

04 Dec '15

Systems Glitch via vcf-midatlantic writes: >> How about a blue-ribbon committee? > >Pabst Blue Ribbon Bleachk!

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - Cooking times
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 04 Dec '15

04 Dec '15

william degnan via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 7:08 AM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic < >vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > >> Please be advised that I was thinking about doing burger/hot doog >cooking > at 2pm and again at 7pm. I may adjust this time slightly >depending on > circumstances. > > Jeff Brace > > > >How about cook when there are a lot of people who are hungry? Stop tossing logic into this! :)

2 1

Herd @ Festivus
by Evan Koblentz 04 Dec '15

04 Dec '15

Bil Herd will be there Saturday afternoon.

4 5

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] UPDATE -- Festivus food thread: Who'sbringingwhat?
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

Bill Dromgoole via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On Nov 25, 2015, at 4:40 PM, Chris via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > >> Also there are three cases of fanfold pin feed paper up for grabs if >VCF > doesn't want it. > >What size?= > >9 1/2 by 11 inches Plain? I wouldn't mind having some.

2 1

8 inch PT DOS disks
by Kelly Leavitt 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

Did anyone come get these from me? If not, I'd like to dig them up tonight or tomorrow and bring them to Festivus if anyone can use them. corey986 expressed an interest but I don't recall anyone coming for them. This was in November of 2013. Kelly Here is the post from Corey RE: PT DOS on 8" free Nov 24, 2013 Actually Kelly, email me at corey986@...I can swing up to you this week and pick them up. I think your in northern NJ up near the NY border?There aren't too many working Helios that can use those disks. I know I'd put them to good use.I actually recently setup one of my Sol-20 to be my main telnet/SSH machine for work because I love the keyboard so much. Sure there is a raspberry pi involved ;-)Cheers, Corey

2 1

Virtual 3D Presentation of the Living Computer Museum
by Christian Liendo 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

I figured you guys would like this. https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=FSBUxKALmPW

4 5

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Core Memory Purchase
by John Sully 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

Thanks for your help everyone. This is one of the stacks I was looking at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USSR-Russian-Magnetic-Ferrite-Core-Memory-CUBE-from… I'm planning to build my own drive electronics so the less electronics on it the better in my opinion. Another goal is to have it big enough to "be interesting". Eventually I want to integrate it into a TTL CPU I'm planning to build. For now though I'd just be happy controlling it with a microcontroller.

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Core Memory Purchase
by Jonathan Gevaryahu 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

Here is a response about reviving old core memory boards, from Kevin 'kevtris' Horton, who has revived 3 of them in the past. -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Re: Fwd: [vcf-midatlantic] Core Memory Purchase Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 01:15:52 -0500 From: K Horton <kevtris(a)comcast.net> To: Jonathan Gevaryahu <jgevaryahu(a)gmail.com> On 12/2/2015 22:17 , Jonathan Gevaryahu wrote: > kevtris, you have some experience resurrecting core memory. Do you > want to respond here? > > > -------- Forwarded Message -------- > Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Core Memory Purchase > Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2015 16:56:35 -0800 > From: John Sully via vcf-midatlantic > <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > Reply-To: vcf-midatlantic > <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > To: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org > CC: John Sully <john(a)csquare.ca> > > > > I'm planning to resurrect some old core memory as a hobby project. I was > wondering if anyone with experience on getting this memory working could > provide some insights on what I should look for. > > EBay seems to have a large number of expensive ones that don't appear to be > in working order - along with some much cheaper (relatively speaking) > russian made stacks. > yes, this is a big problem. if the core memory is shown "open" on ebay, don't buy it. there's a 99% chance it's going to be broken. The cores and wiring are extremely fragile, just blowing on it can destroy it (well not THAT bad, but it's still pretty insanely fragile). I have three fully working core memory boards: two 16K*18 and one 32K*18 boards. I had to fix all three of them, since they had bad parts here and there, but it wasn't TOO hard. All of them work similar; there's a hardware state machine that runs a little sequence for reads that do this: read the word, then write the same data back (since reading core is destructive). I successfully dumped the data that was sitting on all three of my core boards; the 16K boards were repaired and put in stock as spares apparently, and just had a 0101010101 pattern, while the 32K board contained actual NASA code! I dumped it but lost 256 words of data, unfortunately. That board had some problems with reading/writing because there was a bad transistor in the X driver, and there was a bad TTL chip. All of them had bad tantalum caps that I had to replace; the 32K board kept randomly drawing enough power to trip the current limit on my power supply every few hours, so I finally found it and replaced the cap which fixed that. The 32K board is extremely "advanced', compared to the 16K boards which are more traditional. The 32K board only has a single X and single Y driver instead of a bunch of each. All of them have a forest of transistor arrays, diodes, and pulse transformers to do selection because it saves a ton of hardware this way. I have a dir on my website with all the stuff I did on it and if there's interest I can make a video showing off my rig and how I tested the memory. I had schematics I drew for the boards but I think I might've lost them. there's some PDFs in there that give esoteric details on the care and feeding of core memory. http://blog.kevtris.org/blogfiles/corememory/

1 0

Core Memory Purchase
by John Sully 02 Dec '15

02 Dec '15

I'm planning to resurrect some old core memory as a hobby project. I was wondering if anyone with experience on getting this memory working could provide some insights on what I should look for. EBay seems to have a large number of expensive ones that don't appear to be in working order - along with some much cheaper (relatively speaking) russian made stacks.

3 2

Festivus - Who's going?
by Herb Johnson 02 Dec '15

02 Dec '15

Herb Johnson - sat late morning -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - Who's going?
by James Garland 02 Dec '15

02 Dec '15

> Put your name on the list and approximate arrival time. > > 1. Jeff Brace 10:30AM Saturday (Staying all weekend) > 2. Evan Koblentz > 3. Dean Notarnicola 11:00 Sat. only > 4. Bill Degnan TBD > 5. Bill Dudley and Xiulan Zhao (not sure of arrival time -- mid-afternoon > Sat?) > 6. Kelly L and Ann 11:00 Sat. only > 7. Steven Toth (mid morn Saturday, all weekend probably). > 8. Tom Hornberger - around 11 on Sun > 9. Dave Riley (noonish Saturday until noonish Sunday) > 10. Connor Krukosky > 11. Ian Primus > 12. Bob Murphy 11:30 Sat - (probably just a cameo to drop off gear) > 13. Chris Fala (both days, Sat. AM - time uncertain) > 14. Jonathan + Amy, 1100 SAT - SUN > 15. Neil Cherry around 3PM (Saturday only) > 16. Bill Dromgoole Saturday about 12:00 to 1:00 and Sunday > 17. James & Eric Garland ~11AM Sunday > 18. > 19. > 20.

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Vaxman
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

David Hoelzer via vcf-midatlantic writes: >Sorry to bother you listmates=E2=80=A6 > >Vaxman, I=E2=80=99d really appreciate it if you would reach out and = >explain to me why I suddenly have a PayPal payment dispute from you but >= no other emails to explain it. I tried to reach you directly but your >= listed email address bounces. Sorry, my wife and I were reviewing the PayPal for the yearly upcoming tax season when she asked me what cybersecurity was. I, for the life of me, didn't recall. Now that you've contacted me, I recall this. Sorry but I couldn't find any other email referneces to cyber-security. I'll remove the dispute immediately.

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] New web site is live
by Evan Koblentz 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

> There's gonna be a VCF _West_ this year? Shh, don't tell anyone. :) It will not be this year (which ends in 30 days). I can't say more until some business things are settled.

2 1

Vaxman
by David Hoelzer 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

Actually, the error is as follows: <vaxman(a)tmesis.com <mailto:vaxman@tmesis.com>>: host mail.tmesis.com <http://mail.tmesis.com/>[24.187.213.26] said: 554 5.7.1 Message rejected due to header contents. (in reply to end of DATA command) Reporting-MTA: dns; savfw21a.sans.org <http://savfw21a.sans.org/> X-Spam-Firewall-Queue-ID: D979713C0F8 X-Spam-Firewall-Sender: rfc822; dhoelzer(a)enclaveforensics.com <mailto:dhoelzer@enclaveforensics.com> Arrival-Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 20:19:42 +0000 (GMT) Final-Recipient: rfc822; vaxman(a)tmesis.com <mailto:vaxman@tmesis.com> Original-Recipient: rfc822;vaxman(a)tmesis.com <mailto:vaxman@tmesis.com> Action: failed Status: 5.7.1 Remote-MTA: dns; mail.tmesis.com <http://mail.tmesis.com/> Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 554 5.7.1 Message rejected due to header contents.

1 0

Vaxman
by David Hoelzer 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

Sorry to bother you listmates… Vaxman, I’d really appreciate it if you would reach out and explain to me why I suddenly have a PayPal payment dispute from you but no other emails to explain it. I tried to reach you directly but your listed email address bounces. Thanks

1 0

Festivus - Who's going?
by Chris Fala 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

Put your name on the list and approximate arrival time. 1. Jeff Brace 10:30AM Saturday (Staying all weekend) 2. Evan Koblentz 3. Dean Notarnicola 11:00 Sat. only 4. Drew Notarnicola 11:00 Sat. only 5. Bill Dudley and Xiulan Zhao (not sure of arrival time -- mid-afternoon Sat?) 6. Kelly L and Ann 11:00 Sat. only 7. Steven Toth (mid morn Saturday, all weekend probably). 8. Tom Hornberger - around 11 on Sun 9. Dave Riley (noonish Saturday) 10. Connor Krukosky 11. Ian Primus 12. Bob Murphy 11:30 Sat - (probably just a cameo to drop off gear) 13. Chris Fala (both days, Sat. AM - time uncertain) 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

6 5

Festivus - Who's going?
by Jeffrey Brace 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

Just trying to get a rough idea of who's coming to Festivus this coming Dec. 5 & 6. Put your name on the list and approximate arrival time. 1. Jeff Brace 10:30AM Saturday (Staying all weekend) 2. Evan Koblentz 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. <https://www.avast.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-em…> This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-em…> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

12 15

Fwd: Re: Updated list - Festivus - Who's going?
by alex bodnar 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

> >> Just trying to get a rough idea of who's coming to Festivus this coming >> Dec. 5 & 6. >> >> Put your name on the list and approximate arrival time. >> >> 1. Jeff Brace 10:30AM Saturday (Staying all weekend) >> 2. Evan Koblentz >> 3./4. Dean & Drew Notarnicola 11:00 Sat. only >> 5./6. Bill Dudley and Xiulan Zhao (not sure of arrival time -- >> mid-afternoon Sat?) >> 7./8. Kelly L. and Ann 11:00 Sat. only >> 9. Steven Toth (mid morn Saturday, all weekend probably). >> 10. Connor Krukosky >> 11. Tony Bogan - between 11 & 12 on Saturday. Back on Sunday too! >> 12. Tom Hornberger - around 11 on Sun >> 13(ish). Dave Riley (noonish Saturday) > >14. Ian > >(Doh! He replied right after I sent a cleaned-up list.) 15. Alex B Alex M. Bodnar aviation: PP-SEL-IA amateur Radio: K3CIM Emergency Services: EMT-BD, ARES/RACES

3 2

Update - new museum space
by Evan Koblentz 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

Everyone, Here are some updates on our new museum space. We're still working on final details of the lease. We are on course to move from our current museum (in building 9032-C) to the new space (in building 9010-A) in the first half of 2016. Obviously the goal is to get the new space up and running in time for VCF East in mid-April. I took some pictures after Jeff B., Tony (+son), Steve A., and I set up the new space for Festivus yesterday. The file at http://snarc.net/alcove.jpg shows an alcove in one corner of the room. It's a food area during Festivus, however for the museum it will be a hands-on learning laboratory. No, we can't keep the fridge in there year-round. :) The file at http://snarc.net/theater.jpg shows 16 chairs facing a short wall. We'll put the portable screen and/or the screen from David G. on a table so it's high up. The file at http://snarc.net/inner.jpg shows the wall along the hallway. That's Steve A. at the far door. The near door is the middle of three, so it is fine to block it. (We will put a "do not open" sign on the other side.) Third door is off-camera to the right. Either the middle door or the off-camera one will became a double doorway in the near future. We do not yet know which one. The file at http://snarc.net/overall.jpg shows the whole room from our "Festivus Theatre" area looking out. We will put two or three more tables in the middle for Festivus. For the museum, there will be a faux wall down the middle which stops about 10 feet from each end. The side by the doors will have a welcome desk and mainframes. The end by Festivus Theatre will be minicomputers. The side by the windows will be microcomputers. The short wall between the alcove and the doors will be an exhibit of "history of the present". Rather than just having boring straight aisles, the exhibits will be arranged so as to make people weave and wind. That gives a sense that you're exploring vs. simply walking through. There will be more of this as you move from mainframes to minis to micros, due to equipment size -- it's difficult to arrange mainframes any way other than in rows; it's easy with microcomputers. The full layout in its latest (fourth) version has room for 26 microcomputers that can be up-and-running (on tables) and dozens more that can be static displays on shelves above the tables. However, the layout is still being prepared so I can't share that. Soon...

1 0

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Festivus - Who's going?
by tom.hornberger＠verizon.net 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

1 0

Gobble, gobble!
by Evan Koblentz 29 Nov '15

29 Nov '15

Happy Thanksgiving to all. 2015 was a good year for us! Many new members, fantastic artifacts came to us, VCF East bigger than ever, starting a non-profit, and moving forward with a larger museum space. In two weekends we'll celebrate. For now, I hope everyone has a relaxing day with family/friends, good food, and (since we're nerds) 8-bit videogame football.

4 3

Productive day @ museum
by Evan Koblentz 29 Nov '15

29 Nov '15

Me, Jeff B., Tony (plus his son Mike), and Steve A. got a lot done at the museum today. In the new museum room: - Removed all leftover Infoage stuff - Swept the floor, brought in trash cans - Tony brought a bunch of tables and chairs for Festivus + we set them up - Moved a refrigerator into the room - Brought in the non-perishable food - Located the correct thermostat In the warehouse: - Assembled and filled two shelving units - Put away various unsorted items - Made a plan for sorting the rest of it - Brought in various stuff from museum Jeff B. will stop by on Friday to plug in the fridge and load it with soft drinks + perishable food (no point in plugging it in today and leaving it on all week).

1 1

11am Festivus start next Saturday
by Evan Koblentz 29 Nov '15

29 Nov '15

That's all.

1 0

Calcomp Colormaster printer.
by murphnj 29 Nov '15

29 Nov '15

Hello folks. I have a problem. I have to get a lot of stuff out of my apartment, or I'm going ot be in the street soon. I have a few things that I'd like to find homes for, and this is one of the largest. It's a Calcomp Colormaster printer. It's parallel, thermal transfer. (Per-postscript) Last time I had it out, it worked, printed fine. Oh, and by the way, if you're interested, you can get a second one free! One of them has a bad board, but the mechanicals were fine. I had swapped the board while troubleshooting, and both of them printed with the good board. One has the original box and packing material, the other does not. Not sure which is which anymore. That was a long time ago. There are Amiga drivers for it, not sure about anything else. (There were Windows drivers back in the day, but that day was quite a while ago.) I'd really like to find someone interested in it, so if anyone is, please let me know, or if you know someone off-list that may be please let them know. This must happen pretty fast, though. Also, it's large. As in too-large to-fit-in-my BRZ. So it will have to be picked up, in Morris county. Any takers? Want more details? Pictures? I'll dig 'em up. Thanks, --murph

1 0

Festivus Entertainment Thread
by Jeffrey Brace 27 Nov '15

27 Nov '15

Who is bringing what for entertainment? Equipment, games, DVDs?

8 21

Modern Core Memory Implementation
by J. Alexander Jacocks 27 Nov '15

27 Nov '15

All, I just finished reading these posts, and watching the accompanying YouTube videos, and I was absolutely blown away: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=79346 Amazing work, and really neat to see someone doing such a modern reconstruction of core. Definitely worth a look. - Alex

1 0

Core memory
by william degnan 27 Nov '15

27 Nov '15

Getting intermittent stuck bits with my pdp 11 non parity core stack. Without getting into a lot of detail, I noticed that something is causing the inhibit to fart high every so often, effecting address bits and to a lesser extent data bits. I have been doing a lot of research. My question.. aside from manuals and the tech docs does anyone have any anecdotal info, advice or test procedures related to DEC core RAM and intermittent stuck bits? Shielding tips? Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

2 6

Heathkit 3400's
by william degnan 26 Nov '15

26 Nov '15

I remember ~10 or so people got nice cheap mostly working Heathkit 3400's at VCF 10 last year. Anyone do anything with theirs? Someone today sent me a question through my web site about terminal settings for the 3400 monitor program, I pulled my 3400 system out and fired it up to test and confirm mine is 2400 7/n/2 -- Bill

3 6

Manuals For Sale or trade or for the V.C.F.
by Kelly Leavitt 25 Nov '15

25 Nov '15

Just found several more boxes of manuals. Specifically, I found about 300 pounds of old TRS-80 model II, 12, 16, and 6000 manuals (both hardware and software). I have most of them. Looking for a loving home. Lots of Xenix, programming, database, and OS manuals as well as hardware reference manuals. I want these to find a home, not the recycle bin. The "federation" has first dibs if they want them for a donation. Any interest? Make an offer direct to my email. Two manuals I found that I've been looking for for several years are the Informix for Xenix and the VideoTex and Office System server manual. Not software yet, but I'm just getting started.

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] UPDATE -- Festivus food thread: Who'sbringing what?
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 25 Nov '15

25 Nov '15

Bill Dromgoole via vcf-midatlantic writes: >I will bring a case of Yeungling beer. I will also bring a portable >projection screen. The screen is available for donation to VCFederation >if needed or wanted. Also there are three cases of fanfold pin feed >paper up for grabs if VCF doesn't want it. Pottsvile piss! While I was weened on that stuff, I wouldn't drink it today!

1 0

v/68
by william degnan 25 Nov '15

25 Nov '15

anyone running a v/68 system (motorola UNIX-ette) -- Bill

3 6

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] IBM 360 Panel in NYC
by Corey Cohen 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

We give you a letter describing your donation. You and your tax advisor have to figure out what it's worth and what it does to your taxes. corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ > On Nov 23, 2015, at 4:29 PM, Bill Sudbrink via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > Evan Koblentz wrote: >> It's certainly interesting, but we do not purchase artifacts. > > Yes, but you give generous tax breaks. That's the whole idea, > right? > > Bill S. > >

3 3

IBM 360 Panel in NYC
by Jason T 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

This may be of interest to the museum: https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/3tzepr/front_panel_of_ib…

3 2

PDP 11 on eBay just closed
by Chris Fala 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

Anyone here get this? It was fun watching it. Within a few minutes it went from around $600 to almost $10,000. http://www.ebay.com/itm/191737673720

8 8

Museum Report
by Jeffrey Brace 23 Nov '15

23 Nov '15

4 visitors today. Steve Anderson was docent.

2 1

Scheduled IRC or Online Hacking
by william degnan 22 Nov '15

22 Nov '15

All, There is a relatively active IRC at irc.slashnet.net / #vc. There is also an IRC for apple2 (forget the loc/name) that comes with the RasApple Debian Linux image. I was thinking vintagefed should put up an IRC called vintagefed or vcf. -- Bill

3 2

Hoodies update
by Evan Koblentz 22 Nov '15

22 Nov '15

Our shirt guy asked me to visit his shop today because he wanted to ensure the correct shade of greenish-blueish. He mixed a few different inks while I was there. Took a few tries but we finally got a perfect shade. It's basically 2:1 of green and blue. He made a single screen print of our logo onto an old black t-shirt and it looked great. I am excited about how awesome it's going to look on the heavyweight new sweatshirts.

2 1

Zilog System 8000
by Herb Johnson 21 Nov '15

21 Nov '15

Microtech Dart wrote: > Actually, I've already done something that works well for a lot > of what you mention. [With] my Universal QIC tape reader.... > I've read a number of different head/track configurations > with this, by finding the tracks of the 9 that overlap with > the 4, and choosing the correct direction on my > manual switch control. > > http://microtechm1.blogspot.com/2015/09/ >kennedy-6450-tape-drive-data-format.html I have a question, but first some set-up for it. I have a point in spelling this out. Over the years, a number of people have read off binary data streams from either cartridge tape drives or very old hard drives; they store the binary samples as huge files (relative to the original data). And there are devices like the Catweasel series of cards, which operate floppy disk drives and sample their binary data streams. "Sampling" means there's many bits saved, to detect each "bit" of real data on the medium. Sometimes, these methods aren't sampling, they include the drive's "decoder" to produce actual binary data from the media. So a recovered "bit" is a real "data bit". But not all of those who produce these methods, take the next step of decoding the samples into blocks of original-as-recorded data; and then decode the blocks back into the original files which were written-to the storage devices in the first place. result: there's data "recovery" but not file recovery. I've explained what I mean by that. Now, I've looked at the microtechm1 blog. Since like most blogs it's written as a sequence of events, there's no obvious-to-me summary of current progress, beyond the "most recent" entry. I don't have time to read all prior entries. I can see there's progress on decoding the recovered data; and some hints that data at the "block" level may have been recovered. Some posts about "here's a binary extraction". This is good work, this is hard work. But I'm not clear about how far it has gone; and I made a good-faith effort to look. So here's my questions. Have you 1) reproduced the actual block-by-block data from the tapes you've processed ? 2) do you have programs to decode the blocks to interpret checksums, block numbers and so on? and 3) can you therefore process the successful blocks further to recover actual, individual files? I'm not trying to minimize all the good, and necessary, technical work done. I'm asking if files have been extracted, and if so where they may be, and where the supporting programs may be. Why am I interested? I "get" your point, these methods may be useful to me, in recovering other data from other tapes or devices; as was suggested. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

2 3

An object lesson in modern vintage computing
by Herb Johnson 20 Nov '15

20 Nov '15

...so Wed noon, someone who writes for an online personal-tech lets-make-it-whee Web site, emails me. "I was asked to write about a possible trend toward retro tech. Would you answer questions like this? 1) what's so fascinating about retro tech? Is interest increasing? 2) is retro tech practical or nostalgic? 3) does retro tech have any advantage over modern tech? You can have me email or phone you, let me know." [I'll remind readers, my Web domain is "retrotechnology.com".] Of course, I have a life, so I did not respond that same second. It was the next day, just about 24 hours later, I emailed "OK, contact me with your questions, and give me some clue about your audience. Because, most of my answers will depend on what kinds of people you are talking about." I made the obvious-to-me statement that there's different generations of people, who are involved with vintage computing. They have different points of view; the questions I was given suggest as much. Response back, in six minutes: "the editors moved up my deadline and the story already has been filed. Thanks for the offer." Thus I was given, an object lesson about modern vintage computing. Namely - there's no time. It must be now, just like modern computing and modern "life". My view, is that the preservation of vintage computing hardware and methods, is to preserve the object lessons (of development, production, business) learned then, on their own merits; and on the merits of developing technology in a resource-poor environment, which could occur again. Put another way: then, we had time but no resources. Today, we have too many resources, but no time. If this is too cryptic, you may have to think about it awhile. Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

5 4

Zilog System 8000
by Oliver Lehmann 20 Nov '15

20 Nov '15

Hi computer history enthusiasts, I hope that it is ok that I signed on to your list. I am from germany and I'm looking for information about the Zilog System 8000. I know that you owned at least one in the past. I don't know if you still have it, but I hope so :) Bit more about what the background of my question is: - I own a Zilog System 8000/21 but neither do I have a harddrive for it nor do I have a working tapedrive or any tape medias. - A friend of mine also got a Zilog System 8000/21 lately but his harddrive is broken (heads do not find track 0), and his tape drive capstan went to "gum". He got a noriginal Zilog ZEUS (Zilogs UNIX) tape media but with the broken drives no way of backing it up or retrieve at least its contents. - Today I found out, that another enthusiast from a local university also has a System 8000/32 (newer than /21 with SMD harddisks) in the uni museum. He has a dying harddrive, a working tape drive but no media. You see... lots of "missing", "dying" and so on.... I wonder in what condition your System 8000 is. In the past (2009 and 2012 iirc) I had contact with Jeff Jonas. He was trying to back up the tapes you guys have for the system. But iirc his problem was also, that the capstan of your System 8000s tape drive went literally to fluid.... I wonder if there is any status update? We really could need those tape images and it looks like there are not much System 8000s around any one - and even less installation medias. Beware - even if the tape might fit into a regular QIC-11 Tape drive - its encoding is MFM - so far from any QIC standard. It will only work with the original Tape drive from the System 8000. Please be extremly cautionous with the tape medias. They might be the only ones left still be readable... who knows.... Before you try anything - try it with unimportant tapes many times before you risk the Zilog tape. Backing up over serial can not be recommended as the tape will fetch data more then 10th as fast as the SIO can pump it to a remote machine. This will lead to a permanent stop/start mode the tape will work in resulting in maximum stress for the Zilog tape. I would _not_ recommend this. You see - I'm quite careful when it comes to your tape, but still seeking out for any posibility to aquire a dump of it somehow. Any information about "my" S8000? Feel free to look it up at http://www.pofo.de/S8000/ Regards, Oliver!

7 17

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] An object lesson in modern vintage computing
by Mike Willegal 20 Nov '15

20 Nov '15

I’m guessing that Evan knows what’s going on behind the scenes, but I’ve found media types need a response within about 45 minutes (on average) or they will have moved onto the next thing. regards, Mike Willegal

1 0

DEC Real Time Clock board wanted - ETOS
by Jack Rubin 19 Nov '15

19 Nov '15

I'm hoping to build a system to run ETOS, a PDP-8 multiuser system. One of the requirements is a system clock for time slicing and stamping. I'm looking for either an M882 (line frequency) or M8830 (crystal controlled) clock card. Anyone have a spare? Working preferred but anything will do. Happy to buy or trade. Thanks, Jack

2 1

Unix manuals available
by Kelly Leavitt 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

Miscellaneous manuals for Unix software. Wordperfect for Unix dBase for Unix Lotus 123 for Unix SCO Unix manuals Any interest? I can bring them to Festivus if I get them out of the attic in time. Kelly

3 2

Zilog System 8000
by Herb Johnson 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

> Your tape drive has also a capstan which went to goo over the past > 30 years, so please do not just put them into the drive without > fixing that first. The following are suggestions I'm not implemented, but they seem plausible to me based on other's discussions and some related experience. Please report any results. Consider making another capstan, otherwise called a "pressure roller". In the end, it's a stiff rubber wheel on a bronze bearing with an internal diameter to fit on some roller. Examine your drive or others of same brand and model to determine dimensions. Keep in mind: it's the metal drive roller which determines tape speed, not the roller. It's possible a piece of bronze can be machined to be the correct size, then rubber molded around it, and then carefully machine the rubber to the correct diameter. There are two-part rubber compounds which when mixed and cured are quite stiff. Or, obtain another larger roller and cut it to fit. Rubber can be abraded in a lathe at low speed. Stiff rubber pieces are often sold as furniture bumpers or "corks" for pipe and "test tubes". These machining operations may require practice, and old tape drives can be found to make test rollers - as all you really need to do is drive the capstan motor and monitor tape speed for stability. Any signal on any tape can be watched on an oscilloscope and tape speed determined. A stable signal means tape speed is stable, a wriggly signal means tape speed is varying, probably at the rotation rate of the capstan pressure wheel, or rotation rate of the drive capstan, or due to other irregularities. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

6 8

Replicating Boot Drive, VAX
by william degnan 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

Reading up about VAX 4000 support. I have a three drive 4000-200 in the BA430 enclosure. It also has a tape drive and ethernet device Question - Do you formerly MARCH and now VCFedgerationites who are also VAX users with similar systems maintain more than one bootable drive as a rule of thumb? I am not detecting any issues with my primary drive but I don't want to take chances. Just curious what kinds of support strategy ideas you may have. I have the manuals and have been reading up on backups, etc. I just got a new hard drive and I need to replace a bad drive, amd I was thinking now would be a good time to set as the 2nd bootable drive, before I put anything on it. I thus could experiment with one drive knowing I have a fall-back that will boot. I am also reading up about how the three drives worth together, it's not as simple as "three independent hard drives" as far as I can tell. Interesting and complex file system. -- Bill

2 1

Wanted: Commodore PET
by Todd George 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

First, my apologies if this somehow shows up on the list twice, I think there was an issue with how I have my email that is registered with the new list configured. Anyway... Been looking for a Commodore PET for a while. None have shown up locally on CraigsList. The eBay ones are either too far away (trying to avoid huge shipping costs and/or damage) or are overpriced. Anyone with MARCH/VCFed have an extra or spare (need NOT be working) that they'd like to (or be willing to) part with (for someone who would appreciate it immensely)?? I would like one with a standard keyboard, not the chicklet. Otherwise, I've got very little preference. As I said, shipping tends to be really expensive on these. Something local-ish would work better. Willing to trade stuff or pay cash. Festivus? Contact me off-list. Thanks!!! -Todd

1 0

Semi-OT: FS: 20 MHz Leader dual channel oscilloscope
by Systems Glitch 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

All, I figured I'd offer this to the group before listing it on eBay. I've got a small "student" oscilloscope, I believe a LS 1020, for sale. Limited in bandwidth but adequate for most vintage computer repairs, general hobby use, et c. It's a barebones unit from the Virginia Tech physics department, completely analog with no storage, but it does work and has a nice, bright CRT. It's fairly small and light. I can confirm model numbers if anyone is interested -- it's still in the truck with the rest of the test equipment from the VT Surplus Auction. Looking for $75, doesn't include probes but I'm sure I can dig up a pair for a little bit more. I can ship, but would prefer to exchange at the festivus get-together. Thanks, Jonathan

4 4

ODYSSEY 2 on Craigs list in LI
by Kelly Leavitt 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/sys/5313961495.html I want it, but I don't want to drive out there. Anyone else interested? Kelly

2 1

Zilog System 8000
by Herb Johnson 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

http://pics.pofo.de/gallery3/index.php/S8000/Repair/tapedrive If this is the correct series of photos for your tape drive, then the rubber roller which is driven by the tape drive motor IS, repeat IS, of critical dimensions. Please verify. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

2 1

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Lack Of Windows 3.1 Technicians Causes Traffic Backup At French Airport
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

Kelly Leavitt via vcf-midatlantic writes: >A little OT for this group: > >http://consumerist.com/2015/11/13/lack-of-windows-3-1-technicians-causes-tr= >affic-backup-at-french-airport/ One of the reasons I do NOT fly into Paris. I fly into London and take the Chunnel train to the other .EU countries! WEENDOZE... the only winning move is not to play!

1 0