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Recorded in 2019 and just released - . Tom is a great engineer and a great story teller - long interview, but it all sparkles with info and his good humor. He started a Lincoln Labs with Wes Clark where he worked on early mag tape systems before moving on to DEC. Worth listening too - and...

I'm looking for service manuals and schematics for both these machines. The FACIT 4046 is just a 4047 without the read head, so really the same machine. Bitsavers and others have user and "Technical Description" manuals but not true service information. No immediate problems, but good to be...

Text on the tag says "MTC01-04"; smaller label says "1B"

Jerry has started a very nice series on restoring an 8/M. So far, a detailed power supply repair and timing card testing. Thorough and well done with clear description of the logic used in testing. View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WQyaQorPxc0

I know several people here are working with FPGAs in one form or another. Here are several texts by Pedroni which, for some reason, are available online in pdf format. I’ve down loaded them but won’t pretend to have gotten beyond the tables of contents. All are current publications from the MIT...

Oscar Vermeulen just shared an interesting project on the pidp-8 list - a B cross-compiler that emits native PAL assembler code - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/pidp-8/9DHdTj7jMbc The introductory paper not only describes the language syntax and usage of the cross-compiler, but...

I'm vaguely aware that SerialDisk has been modified to remove the original BSW dependency that limited it's use to post 8/E machines. There was also a Bobaboba mod that added more disks and maybe something else. Can these all be folded back into the main distribution tree that Kyle established...

Always a good event - see you in Chicago! http://vcfmw.org for more info, pictures of past events, etc.

I finally finished assembling my 32K+Bootloader combo card today and popped it into my newly revived 8/E, planning to start running MAINDECs. As a warmup, I turned on the machine, noted the Cylon salute and then pushed the button on the bootloader until 26 was displayed in the MA register. I...

I've been thinning my collection with a lot of eBay sales over the last few months. Thanks to all who have helped me re-home my "treasures". A surprising (to me) number of my sales have been to international buyers. I've generally avoided using the GSP because it seemed to cost my customers...

Has anyone found a current source for the quick-fasten screws that hold the top and bottom covers in place on RK05 drives? The screws have retainer washers on them but they still tend to come loose and get lost. Having a full complement of fasteners in place on the drive is important since the...

In case anyone hasn't been paying attention over in alt.sys.pdp8, Martin Eberhard has shared a couple very useful tools for dealing with PDP-8 assembly language. Don't let the fact that they are Excel spreadsheets fool you. Take a look here -...

I'm working on a "new" 8/E that came to me a few months ago. Yesterday, I ran through the acceptance MAINDECs but with a twist. I'm testing an automatic bootloader from Malcolm Macleod, so no more toggling. The board is set up to load the RIM loader every time I toggle the SW switch on the...

Not actually DEC but hopefully someone on the forum can help. I'm looking for a 20-pin edge connector similar to that used for the data cable on MFM/RLL drives but without the locating key in the connector (or with a removable key). The application is for a test connector on the CPU card used...

Paul Rickards makes a tiny "wifi modem" that is little more than an ESP-01 wireless module soldered on the back of a DB-25 connector. His original goal was to create a way for people to use serial terminals to "dial out" to online BBS's but he's extended the ESP8266's built-in AT command set to...

I returned from the recent VCF-West with one more item off my ever-shorter "must have" list - I am the new owner of a very nice Calcomp 565 drum plotter. Even better, I was able to find the perfect shipping container for it at Weird Stuff! More photos here - http://tinyurl.com/calcomp565 ...

I received a PDP-8/E system yesterday that includes an unknown (to me) Monolithic Systems OMNIBUS board. It is marked "METS 303-0115-000C" in the front solder layer and "304-0115-001 REV A" on the back. Monolithic made MOS memory boards for the PDP-8 and PDP-11 but this isn't one of them. Chip...

Just taking a quick poll - how many people here use John Wilson's PUTR utility? It's a really handy way to work with DEC disk images and physical media, especially for transferring files in and out of images from other sources. I ask because the version currently available only runs on 16/32 bit...

Kyle Owen's SerialDisk RK05 'emulator' can be run in stand-alone "virtual" mode, allowing you to load handlers, BUILD system disks, test server code, etc. without the need for any DEC hardware. This has been an on-again/off-again proposition because of a couple of bugs in SIMH that were exposed...