[vcf-midatlantic] Workshop report

[Christian Liendo]

Nice.. Congrats on getting it to work.

On Mon, Aug 1, 2022 at 11:04 PM Mike Loewen via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
>
>
> Summary: the museum's HP 2117F now runs RTE-6/VM from the hard disc, and the
> 7970B tape drive is working.
>
>     At this weekend's VCF workshop at Infoage, I worked on the museum's HP
> 2117F minicomputer. The last time I was there, I had copied an OS image to the
> 7912 hard drive, but it wouldn't boot. After consulting with my HP guru, we
> decided that the problem was likely the Time Base Generator Board (TBG). I
> pulled a TBG from one of the warehouse hangar queens, and ran diagnostics on
> it. Everything passed, and the machine booted RTE-6/VM from the hard disc.
>
>     The 7970B 9-track tape drive had been untested, because the 2117F lacked
> the two-board interface for the drive. A gentleman from Sweden donated the
> boards, for the cost of shipping. I installed the boards, cleaned the tape
> head, path, and the capstan. Bill Dromgoole provided a scratch tape to use,
> and the drive loaded tape without a problem. I copied over an OS image with
> the tape drive configured, and was able to backup and restore files to the
> tape drive. The 7970B is an 800bpi drive, running at 45ips.
>
>     I procured a cable to connect the 2621P terminal to the 2117F. The battery
> which maintains the terminal configuration has turned to powder, and it should
> be removed and the contacts cleaned. The battery is a Mallory TR133 (4.5V,
> 600mah, alkaline), or equivalent. It can be purchased from several online
> battery outlets.
>
>     Because the terminal configuration is lost at power-off, the configuration
> screen appears at each power-on. The only two things that need to be changed
> are the baud (9600) and REMOTE mode enabled. The terminal's printer works.
>
>     Rick brought in an HP 2622A terminal, which he was donating to the museum.
> He dusted it off and I swapped it in for the console terminal. It works!
> There's a fair amount of screen burn, but it's perfectly useable. It needs a
> good cleaning, and I'll have to make another cable adapter to connect to the
> 2117F. It also needs a battery. In future, we'll be able to have both
> terminals online for demos.
>
>     Currently, power to the 2117F is being fed by power strips. It needs to be
> split across two power strips, as the current draw will trip the breaker on a
> single strip. Power to the individual units is all 110V. Ideally, the original
> 208V 3-phase power distribution scheme should be restored. The unit splits two
> phases out to two internal power strips, one to each cabinet. The individual
> units would then be plugged into those internal power strips and their power
> switches left on. A single button on the front of the CPU cabinet would then
> power on/off all connected equipment. Bill Dromgoole said he could check the
> wiring on the plug and figure out the best way to wire it into the breaker
> panel.
>
>     I will be writing up detailed instructions for the docents to demo the
> system.
>
>
> Mike Loewen                             mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
> Old Technology                          http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/