Having long ago got rid of my collection of ageing British (super)
minis, I realise I'm missing them, though I'm not sure why. I can't
pretend any more that something running 4.2BSD is really practical,
so I'd like to get something really impractical, like a pdp11.
What I'd like to be able to do is run 7th edition or thereabouts and/
or 2.11BSD on something which is not too large (so full-height 19"
racks are out). I'm not interested in emulators. It looks to me
like there are such systems - for instance the recently-discussed
11/23 (or 11/73) looks practical, other than being in Utah.
So I guess I have two questions:
Firstly is this a practical thing to do in terms of reliability of HW
etc? I finally gave up on the previous lot of machines at least
partly because disks &c were just so flaky that it was too painful to
keep things working (also we're talking full-height 19" racks in some
cases so they were a bit, well, big). I don't want to spend my life
trying to source ancient disks etc (though I'm clearly not expecting
things to be as reliable as good, new modern kit).
Secondly, does anyone in the UK (may be there is no one but me, of
course...) have any hints where I might look and what I might expect
to pay. I've looked on ebay but I'm a little nervous of what I might
get that way.
Thanks
--tim
I know, this is completley off the wall, and odd at best. But are
there any surviving copies of v6, that ran on the 370? I understand
there were several ports, one running on UTS, another on bare metal
before AIX was ported...
Did any of these survive?
>
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:39:58 -0600
> From: "Brad Midgley" <bmidgley(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [pups] pdp11 in Utah
> To: pups(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Message-ID:
> <d89ddf300710311039q134e47b4q5f515efb22860d43(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi
>
> I have a pdp11 (about the size of a 6u rackmount) free if anyone is
> interested.
This sounds like a Digital BA-11 of some sort. It could be something
as early as a pdp 11/20, 11/05, 11/34, 11/35, or as late as a 11/24
or 11/44 -- possibly others.
>
> --
> Brad
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:44:50 -0400
> From: "Gregg Levine" <gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pups] pdp11 in Utah
> To: "Brad Midgley" <bmidgley(a)gmail.com>
> Cc: pups(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Message-ID:
> <18d205ed0710311344g13a53c8bo9fbdd03b73ef4ae1(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> On 10/31/07, Brad Midgley <bmidgley(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> I have a pdp11 (about the size of a 6u rackmount) free if anyone
>> is interested.
>>
>> --
>> Brad
>> _______________________________________________
>> PUPS mailing list
>> PUPS(a)minnie.tuhs.org
>> https://minnie.tuhs.org/mailman/listinfo/pups
>>
> Hello!
> Brad, I am interested, although the space in my apartment would be the
> big issue. The problem is that I am in an apartment in NYC, Queens to
> be exact. Just how hard would it be to send it to me?
Not easy or cheap. It's bulky, heavy and would usually require 2
persons to move around. I've moved various of my pdp11s around and
it's always been hard work. Stashing a case of beer in the bottom of
an H960 is good incentive for assistants.
> If its both cost
> and space excessive then perhaps others on the list would be
> interested.
>
> Oh and which model is this fellow? I am looking for a PDP-11/53, and
> have been for many years.
e-Bay?
> --
> Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8(a)gmail.com
> "This signature was once found posting rude
> messages in English in the Moscow subway."
[snip]
--
Milo Velimirović, Unix Computer Network Administrator
608-785-6618 Office - 608-386-2817 Cell
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601 USA 43 48 48 N 91 13 53 W
--
There's a reason Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson have been awarded
the U.S. National Medal of Technology (1998) and are fellows of the
Computer History Museum Online. Dave Cutler hasn't and isn't.
"You are not expected to understand this."
Hi All,
That's a BA23 in tower stand, aka a room heater.
The system looks like a Micro-PDP11/23 or /53.
The tape unit seems to be an old model TK50 (it
has no markings, which was standard for the old
units), the disk could be an RD-53, it has the
same alu frame. Other disks (RD54) are full-metal,
or smaller (RD31, 32, 20).
The buttons on the front panel seem to be just 4,
not 6. The original Micro-11 (aka 11/23) had 4,
because it could handle only a single disk (the
10MB disk RD50); the newer systems had two extra
buttons (online and WP) for a second disk.
So... looks like a Micro-11[/23] with larger than
standard disk (RD53)and the original TK50 tape.
On the back panel we only see the bulkhead for the
system-standard DZV-11 4-port async module, of
which ports 0 and 1 (console and aux, resp) are
in semi-fixed mode.
Cheers,
Fred
PS: for people in NL; I have a few 11/53 systems
left... :)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
> To: "Al Kossow" <aek(a)bitsavers.org>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:22:33 +0100
>
>
> Tue, Oct 30, 2007 at 04:26:14PM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
>
> > > Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of recovering flaky CDs?
> > Easiest first step is try using different kinds of CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
> > I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
>
> I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
> damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
> own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
> connected to an old soundcard like Spectrum or other similars,
> having some cdrom interfaces.
>
> sorry for my bad english :)
>
>
Those CD Doctor "cleaners" (they actually do a minor
resurfacing of the disc) have rescued several discs
for me.
Hi,
I have the same problem with an old floppy disk (2,5). Any Ideas what I
can do?
Thanks a lot and kid regards,
Christopher
On Thu, 1 Nov 2007, tuhs-request(a)minnie.tuhs.org wrote:
> Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:00:01 +1000
> From: tuhs-request(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Reply-To: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> To: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Subject: TUHS Digest, Vol 43, Issue 1
>
> Send TUHS mailing list submissions to
> tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> https://minnie.tuhs.org/mailman/listinfo/tuhs
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> tuhs-request(a)minnie.tuhs.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> tuhs-owner(a)minnie.tuhs.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of TUHS digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (asbesto)
> 2. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (James Petts)
> 3. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (asbesto)
> 4. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (Warner Losh)
> 5. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (Angus Robinson)
> 6. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (Wilko Bulte)
> 7. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (James Petts)
> 8. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (asbesto)
> 9. Re: Recovering flaky CDs (Wilko Bulte)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:22:33 +0100
> From: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> To: Al Kossow <aek(a)bitsavers.org>
> Cc: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Message-ID: <20071031092233.GC14989(a)freaknet.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15
>
> Tue, Oct 30, 2007 at 04:26:14PM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
>
>>> Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of recovering flaky CDs?
>> Easiest first step is try using different kinds of CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
>> I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
>
> I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
> damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
> own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
> connected to an old soundcard like Spectrum or other similars,
> having some cdrom interfaces.
>
> sorry for my bad english :)
>
>
>
>
> --
> [ 73 de IW9HGS : freaknet medialab : radiocybernet : poetry hacklab]
> [ http://freaknet.org/asbesto - http://papuasia.org/radiocybernet ]
> [ NON SCRIVERMI USANDO LETTERE ACCENTATE! - NON MANDARMI ALLEGATI ]
> [ *I DELETE* EMAIL > 100K, ATTACHMENTS, HTML, M$-WORD DOC and SPAM ]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:25:00 -0800
> From: "James Petts" <jpetts(a)operamail.com>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> To: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
> Cc: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Message-ID: <20071031162500.832803AA648(a)ws5-8.us4.outblaze.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
>> To: "Al Kossow" <aek(a)bitsavers.org>
>> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:22:33 +0100
>>
>>
>> Tue, Oct 30, 2007 at 04:26:14PM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
>>
>>>> Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of recovering flaky CDs?
>>> Easiest first step is try using different kinds of CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
>>> I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
>>
>> I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
>> damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
>> own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
>> connected to an old soundcard like Spectrum or other similars,
>> having some cdrom interfaces.
>>
>> sorry for my bad english :)
>>
>>
>
> Those CD Doctor "cleaners" (they actually do a minor
> resurfacing of the disc) have rescued several discs
> for me.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:47:36 +0100
> From: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> To: James Petts <jpetts(a)operamail.com>
> Cc: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org
> Message-ID: <20071031164736.GB22786(a)freaknet.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15
>
> Wed, Oct 31, 2007 at 08:25:00AM -0800, James Petts wrote:
>
>>>>> Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of recovering flaky CDs?
>>>> Easiest first step is try using different kinds of CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
>>>> I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
>>> I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
>>> damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
>>> own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
>> Those CD Doctor "cleaners" (they actually do a minor
>> resurfacing of the disc) have rescued several discs
>> for me.
>
> A great problem I had some time ago was a sort of oxydation of the
> cd material; this seem to happen using very bad cd brands. i had
> this horrible problems with "SEANTRAM" and "PRINCO" cd's; the
> princo cd was literally unreadable after only 6 months of age!
>
>
> --
> [ 73 de IW9HGS : freaknet medialab : radiocybernet : poetry hacklab]
> [ http://freaknet.org/asbesto - http://papuasia.org/radiocybernet ]
> [ NON SCRIVERMI USANDO LETTERE ACCENTATE! - NON MANDARMI ALLEGATI ]
> [ *I DELETE* EMAIL > 100K, ATTACHMENTS, HTML, M$-WORD DOC and SPAM ]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:56:29 -0600 (MDT)
> From: Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> To: jpetts(a)operamail.com
> Cc: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org, asbesto(a)freaknet.org
> Message-ID: <20071031.105629.104123720.imp(a)bsdimp.com>
> Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> From: "James Petts" <jpetts(a)operamail.com>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:25:00 -0800
>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
>>> To: "Al Kossow" <aek(a)bitsavers.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
>>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:22:33 +0100
>>>
>>>
>>> Tue, Oct 30, 2007 at 04:26:14PM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of recovering flaky CDs?
>>>> Easiest first step is try using different kinds of CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
>>>> I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
>>>
>>> I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
>>> damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
>>> own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
>>> connected to an old soundcard like Spectrum or other similars,
>>> having some cdrom interfaces.
>>>
>>> sorry for my bad english :)
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Those CD Doctor "cleaners" (they actually do a minor
>> resurfacing of the disc) have rescued several discs
>> for me.
>
> I've used cdparanoia to recover badly damaged audio disks. Are there
> not similar programs for data disks?
>
> Warner
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:15:09 +0200
> From: Angus Robinson <angus(a)fairhaven.za.net>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> To: Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com>
> Cc: tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org, asbesto(a)freaknet.org
> Message-ID: <4728B81D.40304(a)fairhaven.za.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
>
> Warner Losh wrote:
>> From: "James Petts" <jpetts(a)operamail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:25:00 -0800
>>
>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
>>>> To: "Al Kossow" <aek(a)bitsavers.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
>>>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:22:33 +0100
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tue, Oct 30, 2007 at 04:26:14PM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of recovering flaky CDs?
>>>>>>
>>>>> Easiest first step is try using different kinds of CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
>>>>> I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
>>>>>
>>>> I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
>>>> damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
>>>> own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
>>>> connected to an old soundcard like Spectrum or other similars,
>>>> having some cdrom interfaces.
>>>>
>>>> sorry for my bad english :)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Those CD Doctor "cleaners" (they actually do a minor
>>> resurfacing of the disc) have rescued several discs
>>> for me.
>>>
>>
>> I've used cdparanoia to recover badly damaged audio disks. Are there
>> not similar programs for data disks?
>>
>> Warner
>>
>
> Dont know how true it is but the local paper here was running a story
> about some students using goverment condoms to fix scratched cd's. They
> worked for 3 uses. Never tried it as most of the stuff i have on cd i
> can get again.
>
> Regards,
> Angus
>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TUHS mailing list
>> TUHS(a)minnie.tuhs.org
>> https://minnie.tuhs.org/mailman/listinfo/tuhs
>>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wilko Bulte" <wb(a)freebie.xs4all.nl>
> To: asbesto <asbesto(a)freaknet.org>
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Recovering flaky CDs
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:09:11 +0100
>
>
> Quoting asbesto, who wrote on Wed, Oct 31, 2007 at 05:47:36PM +0100 ..
> > Wed, Oct 31, 2007 at 08:25:00AM -0800, James Petts wrote:
> >
> > > > > > Is there anybody on this list who knows a way of
> > recovering flaky CDs?
> > > > > Easiest first step is try using different kinds of
> > CD/CD-R/DVD-R drives.
> > > > > I have found some 'unreadable' CDs could be read using a DVD drive.
> > > > I remember a very old SONY cd-rom reader capable of reading very
> > > > damaged cd! It was the SONY CDU-33A, it has his
> > > > own controller, so was not an IDE or SCSI drive. But it can be
> > > Those CD Doctor "cleaners" (they actually do a minor
> > > resurfacing of the disc) have rescued several discs
> > > for me.
> >
> > A great problem I had some time ago was a sort of oxydation of the
> > cd material; this seem to happen using very bad cd brands. i had
>
> Note that the reflecting layer in factory produced CDs is aluminium.
> A thin layer of lacquer is protecting the reflector.
>
> As an interesting eye opening experiment I dumped one of these AOL promo CDs
> we used to be bombarded with in a bowl of lukewarm water. Plain water, 25
> degrC. Within a day the aluminium layer had holes in it the size of dimes.
> Apparantly the protective lacquer was very substandard.
>
> El-cheapo CDR can have similar characteristics.
And it is the top side (label side) of the CD that is most
fragile, not the reading side. There is about 0.5 mm of
plastic that can take some pretty fearsome scratches and
still be readable, or at least resurfaceable (is that a
word?).
I emailed Jim Gettys on ancient X Window System code and this is his reply.
(I asked him if it was okay to pass this on to the TUHS list, and he said
yes.)
He's after someone who knows ClearCase, so if there's anyone on this list
who's knowledgable, or knows someone else who's knowledgeable, feel free to
get in touch with him.
Thanks
Wesley Parish
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: Re: X Windows preX10R3 releases
Date: Wednesday 17 October 2007 01:53
From: Jim Gettys <jg at laptop dot org>
To: Wesley Parish <wes.parish at paradise dot net dot nz>
Yup. I have bits back to the very beginning of X, and slightly
before.... I have snapshots of our RCS pool back into 1984 or so;
unfortunately, I did not copy the RCS pool itself which would have every
commit.
I also have copies of the X Consortium backups; in there are ClearCase
databases which the RCS pool was imported into, and may have the commit
by commit history back to the beginning for many files; but it will take
someone with ClearCase expertise to retrieve things from that.
I've been meaning to do something with these for the last couple years,
but have been too busy with OLPC to follow up.
Regards,
- Jim Gettys
On Tue, 2007-10-16 at 21:19 +1300, Wesley Parish wrote:
> Hi. I'm a part of TUHS, The (amorphous ;) Unix Heritage Society, and was
> wondering on the mail list about the X Window System releases prior to
> X11Rx, in relation to a Groklaw article on Yet Another Stupid Lawsuit aimed
> at Red Hat and Novell:
> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071011205044141
> referencing some basic aspects of X Window architecture. I was referred to
> google, and the presence of the X10R[3 4] which apparently were the first
> public release.
>
> I then wondered about the existence of the releases even earlier than
> X10R3, and Paul Jones, formerly of the DEC Systems Research Center, advised
> me to contact you in relation to this. He also says to say "Hi".
>
> Thanks for any help you can give on this question.
>
> Wesley Parish
--
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child
-------------------------------------------------------
--
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
Gaul is quartered into three halves. Things which are
impossible are equal to each other. Guerrilla
warfare means up to their monkey tricks.
Extracts from "Schoolboy Howlers" - the collective wisdom
of the foolish.
-----
Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui?
You ask, what is the most important thing?
Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.
