Wanted: VT103 with TU58s. (Yes i'm serious).
ger...@decus.org.au
I have had a request for a VT103 with in-built TU58s.
The rest of the configuration is not critical.
I am in Australia - hence would need 240v and 50Hz.
I would prefer to get one that is already in Australia,
but do not imagine that these systems are plentiful. Hence I would like
to hear from anyone wishing to sell a working system.
As an aside: The VT103 would have made an excellent PC type machine had
the people in DEC marketing been awake at the time. Similarly the PDT-150.
Oops there goes my bias showing again.
--
Regards, John G. (alias 'megaJOHN')
v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v
John Geremin, PDP-11 Support Consultant, MEGATRONICS, Aust.
John Geremin, V.P. and Treasurer, Aust. COMPUTER MUSEUM Society Inc.
IN%"ger...@decus.org.au" or fax: 61-2- 764 4679 (24 hours).
a/h President, Peugeot Car Club of NSW Inc.
-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-
Megan
>Hi Folks,
> I have had a request for a VT103 with in-built TU58s.
> The rest of the configuration is not critical.
> I am in Australia - hence would need 240v and 50Hz.
> I would prefer to get one that is already in Australia,
>but do not imagine that these systems are plentiful. Hence I would like
>to hear from anyone wishing to sell a working system.
Sorry, the only one I have is just that ... the only one I have.
>As an aside: The VT103 would have made an excellent PC type machine had
>the people in DEC marketing been awake at the time. Similarly the PDT-150.
>Oops there goes my bias showing again.
Actually, I think the best PC machine would have been a MicroPDP-11,
if only Digital had actually turned out a bitmap graphics option (like
what was done on the PRO-300 series) to be supported on it...
Maybe using a VCB01 (QVSS) would work... hmmm...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
Roger Ivie
>
> Actually, I think the best PC machine would have been a MicroPDP-11,
> if only Digital had actually turned out a bitmap graphics option (like
> what was done on the PRO-300 series) to be supported on it...
Interesting perspective. Since my idea of a PC is pretty much driven by
CP/M boxes, I tend to hate machines with a built-in console and/or
memory-mapped video. A straight MicroPDP-11 seems like a fine PC to me...
--
----------------+------------------------------------------------------
Roger Ivie | Never underestimate the bandwidth of a
iv...@cc.usu.edu | truckload of tapes
Megan
>In article <D5s2s...@world.std.com>, m...@world.std.com (Megan) writes:
>>
>> Actually, I think the best PC machine would have been a MicroPDP-11,
>> if only Digital had actually turned out a bitmap graphics option (like
>> what was done on the PRO-300 series) to be supported on it...
>Interesting perspective. Since my idea of a PC is pretty much driven by
>CP/M boxes, I tend to hate machines with a built-in console and/or
>memory-mapped video. A straight MicroPDP-11 seems like a fine PC to me...
But at the time that all the PCs were coming out (and since), they have
had *some sort* of graphics capabilities. If we had provided that on the
MicroPDP-11 (not necessarily *the* console), I think it would have sold.
This was the same time-frame when the PRO and P/OS was coming out...
I wish the effort which had gone into graphics and other options on the
PRO series had gone into equivalent options for 'normal' qbus machines.
That way, it would have been available for the MicroPDP-11 line and the
MicroVAX line...
d...@zl2tnm.gen.nz
> if only Digital had actually turned out a bitmap graphics option (like
> what was done on the PRO-300 series) to be supported on it...
I always thought the BA23 was pretty much on the outside of what most
people are prepared to share an office with; it's just a wee bit too big
and just a wee bit too noisy. (The VSII/RC fan controllers I have
installed on all my BA23 chassis make a *big* difference.)
An idea that was floating around was a "brick-11" ... I figured that a
4-slot dual-width Qbus backplane, KDJ11-A (11/73), MSV11-L (256kb),
MXV11-B (2 serial/boot) & an RQDX3, mounted in a 5.25" disk drive shoebox
should leave room for an RD32 or whatever ... an external connector could
attach an RX50 or RX33 for installing software, and the two SLUs would
allow a terminal and external comms device. If the shoebox had a bit of
headroom, an 8-slot backplane could be used and one or two devices
(additional SLUs, DEQNA, more memory etc) could be added. Something
like:
+--------------------------------------------+
| ###=====================KDJ11-A====< |
| #Q#=====================MSV11-L====< |
| #2#=====================MXV11-B====< |
Dist # #2#=====================DEQNA======< |
| ###=====================RQDX3======< |
Panel # ### .----------------------------------||
| ### | ||
| ### | 5.25" 1/2-height disk ||
| | ||
| `----------------------------------||
+--------------------------------------------+
(The PSU is usually alongside in these boxes.) You could run RSTS or RSX
on a box like this, as well as RT11.
I'm sure a PC box could be converted to contain an 8-slot quad backplane
if you held your mouth right.
> Maybe using a VCB01 (QVSS) would work... hmmm...
Ugh. I always thought the bitmapped graphics on the Pro was a *horrible*
idea -- at least on the PeeCees you always had a text mode that was
character mapped so the thing would go *fast*. Back when I was driving
Nautilus VAXes (which had Pro 350s as consoles), I had the Pros' RD52s
mounted by the VAXes and reverse-engineered the console log format so
that I wouldn't have to use the Pro's "graphics" screen to read the
*text* console log -- it was *that* slow. Icky icky icky!
The VCB01 isn't a whole lot better. I have one on my VAXstation II, and
somewhere around here I have a manual for it (but d'ya think I can find
it?). It occupies a large chunk of Qbus address space, and has no smarts
to speak of at all -- it's basically a big frame buffer. Talking to it
over the Qbus is slow on the VAX; I suspect it'd be worse on an 11, never
mind the virtual address space issue.
Better perhaps to put a VT240 logic board inside the box and speak to it
via an SLU using ReGIS. pdp11s with their 16 bit address space don't as
a rule make good raster graphics machines, and there's already software
out there that knows about ReGIS. (Nor does the 8085(?) in a VT240, but
at least the ugliness is out of sight and out of mind.)
Don Stokes, Network Manager, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
d...@zl2tnm.gen.nz(home) d...@vuw.ac.nz(work) +64 4 495-5052 Fax+64 4 471-5386
Thomas A. Endo
| >In article <D5s2s...@world.std.com>, m...@world.std.com (Megan) writes:
| >>
| >> Actually, I think the best PC machine would have been a MicroPDP-11,
| >> if only Digital had actually turned out a bitmap graphics option (like
| >> what was done on the PRO-300 series) to be supported on it...
Does anyone remember Terak 8510a machines? Terak had corporate headquarters
in Scottsdale, AZ. I have several UCSD Pascal disks and I used to program
in Pascal on these machines for fun while I was back at UCI. I also saw
RT-11 run on these machines. (By the way, I have a couple of boot disks for
RT-11; one of them booted on a Terak.) They had bitmapped graphics on the
screen; as I remember 320 wide by 200 high.
These had an LSI-11 processor in them; probably were 11/03 or 11/04 equivalent
machines, though I didn't have a firm understanding of the hardware on them.
Tom
--
Thomas A. Endo (te...@netcom.com)
1 John 1:9
Terry C Shannon
remember the VT180 "Robin"????
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry C. Shannon, sha...@illuminata.com
For a free sample of _Shannon Knows DEC_, The Newsletter That Takes No
Prisoners (sm), email your postal address to newsl...@illuminata.com.
Or, meet *Digital Dog* at http://www.mv.com/biz/illuminata/ddog.html
Megan
>VT103 with TU58s I can fondly recollect. Is anyone out there old enough to
>remember the VT180 "Robin"????
Yep ... and I have a full manual set for it still... I *might* even have
one somewhere in my collection of hardware... Though I was never really
into using it and didn't have the software...
Paul Repacholi
> Ugh. I always thought the bitmapped graphics on the Pro was a *horrible*
> idea -- at least on the PeeCees you always had a text mode that was
> character mapped so the thing would go *fast*. Back when I was driving
> Nautilus VAXes (which had Pro 350s as consoles), I had the Pros' RD52s
...
> Better perhaps to put a VT240 logic board inside the box and speak to it
> via an SLU using ReGIS. pdp11s with their 16 bit address space don't as
> a rule make good raster graphics machines, and there's already software
> out there that knows about ReGIS. (Nor does the 8085(?) in a VT240, but
> at least the ugliness is out of sight and out of mind.)
Oh the irony of this... No Don, 8085s know nothing of regis.
--
~Paul
pr...@yarrow.wt.com.au +61 (09) 257-1001
pr...@yarrow.wt.uwa.edu.au ( old ) 1 Crescent Rd,
Kalamunda,
West Aust 6076
Don Stokes
>Oh the irony of this... No Don, 8085s know nothing of regis.
My GIGI would be deeply offended to hear that.
(What is the processor in a VT240? I thought it was basically a rip-off
of the GIGI's 8085 code -- it's slow enough...)
--
Don Stokes, Network Manager, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
d...@vuw.ac.nz(work) d...@zl2tnm.gen.nz(home) +64 4 495-5052 Fax+64 4 471-5386
Paul Repacholi
<3l7bjb$e...@st-james.comp.vuw.ac.nz>
NNTP-Posting-Host: yarrow.wt.com.au
In-reply-to: d...@rata.vuw.ac.nz's message of 27 Mar 1995 21:44:10 GMT
Xref: harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au comp.sys.dec:26209 vmsnet.pdp-11:3640 decus.nop:38 alt.sys.pdp11:323
In article <3l7bjb$e...@st-james.comp.vuw.ac.nz> d...@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Don Stokes) writes:
> Paul Repacholi <pr...@yarrow.wt.com.au> wrote:
> >Oh the irony of this... No Don, 8085s know nothing of regis.
>
> My GIGI would be deeply offended to hear that.
>
> (What is the processor in a VT240? I thought it was basically a rip-off
> of the GIGI's 8085 code -- it's slow enough...)
Well, 2 clues. 1) you have mentioned it in this thread.
2) You'll be REAL pissed off at the answer.
PS Yes, I'm enjoying this. Almost as good as a cricket test ;-)
kir...@decus.org.au
> VT103 with TU58s I can fondly recollect. Is anyone out there old enough to
> remember the VT180 "Robin"????
The Robin I have, but what I dont have is the connection cable between the
Vt180 and RX180 floppy drives which is essentially 37 pin at the Robin end
and 25 pin DB25M at the RX180. I've started to experiment, but havent quite
got it right. If someone has a cable BC26K-2B I'd appreciate the pinouts.
Regards Ken Kirkby
v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v
Ken Kirkby, K J Kirkby & Associates Pty Ltd, PLC Peripherals
PO Box 157, Terrigal, NSW, AUSTRALIA, 2260. Fax +61-43-853720
FIDO 3:711/446 PLC-Support Terrigal NSW Australia +61-43-853783
IN%"kir...@decus.org.au" voice: 61-43-852-335 (7am-11pm)
-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-
man...@decus.org.au
> In article <D5zEM...@world.std.com>, sha...@world.std.com (Terry C Shannon) writes:
>> remember the VT180 "Robin"????
>
> Vt180 and RX180 floppy drives which is essentially 37 pin at the Robin end
> and 25 pin DB25M at the RX180. I've started to experiment, but havent quite
> got it right. If someone has a cable BC26K-2B I'd appreciate the pinouts.
>
Well, if you ever get it going, I have a "store-bought" i.e.
neatly printed label type, Robin floppy with Adventure on it. The floppy
worked last year, 'cos the Rainbow can read it.
regards,
CrazyCam