Northern Europe WTB: Computer Automation cards / software / paper tapes

[hansit]

I am restoring 2 "Computer Automation Alpha LSI/2" computers and i am searching for extra cards and software.

I can boot from paper tape and run diagnostics, but the diagnostics don't have the tests for floppy drives, so any paper tapes with diagnostic software is interesting.

Computer Automation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

/H

 

[ahend]

I am also working on an Alpha LSI-2 that came equipped with two 8" floppy drives, a terminal and keyboard. I'm currently having issues with my 32K MOS RAM card. This system was a naked mini but I found an Alpha front panel for it. It came with a couple 8" floppy discs but I have no idea what may be on them as the system is not operational yet. If I can find a way to access them you are more than welcome to any content that may be viable. Given their age, I am sure there will be issues. If you ever come across any static RAM hardware that you may not need, I would appreciate a chance at it. Would you be willing to share any software with me?

A few weeks back I found cache of paper tapes and documentation in an Australian museum. I reached out to see if I could get copies of some of the documents and they are willing to oblige but it will take a while. I will share the extra photos they have sent me to identify what I would like copied or photographed. As for the paper tape collection, I have not asked them yet but I would like to get "copies" of those too. I'm working on a small and simple device I could send over to the museum that would quickly document the tapes one by one. The output would be a video of the entire length that I could decode programmatically. This would allow for a quick and non technical transfer of data.

https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/379346

 

[hansit]

hi, good to hear that there is more alpha's that is being restored
there is one system on a museum here in sweden also, but they dont have any software on floppy or documentation, but they have some rigid discs for a pertec drive.

I have 2 16K core memorys that dont work, and one 8K core memory that work.
i am trying to use the bitsavers floppy images, but i cant boot from them, i don't know if it is my hardware or if the images that don't work, i have 2 floppy controllers and they both behave the same way.

i built this to read my paper tapes.

GitHub - dhansel/PaperTapeReader: A DIY reader for vintage 8-bit paper tapes

A DIY reader for vintage 8-bit paper tapes. Contribute to dhansel/PaperTapeReader development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

i had to add rs232 (+-12Volt )converters to be able to connect to it. it worked very well, i had to tune the resistors and the spacing between the photodetectors and the leds.
now i have a teletype with a tape reader and punch.

i stored the diagnostic tape on my site here.

gridcontroller.net

the diagnostic i have dont include the diagnostic for the floppy controller.

i will archive the rest of the paper tapes after the summer.

/H

 

[ahend]

Thanks for the information in the QCD program. I gather CA used it for burn in testing?

Do you know of Lars Nordenström? He has a blog at sdu.se with many scanned CA documents. The Floppy Disk Diagnostic/Formatter Program manual may be of use.
https://www.sdu.se/pub/computer-automation/scanned/computer-automation/

You might also get in touch with David Carroll from his site https://www.alphalsi.com. He it bit side tracked with other older systems but he is a great source or information. There are comments in his blog from some people that used to operate, program, and fix CA hardware. They may be able to help you out.

You may already be familiar with these URL's but I want to make sure you know. I'll follow up with any programs I may get from the museum collection.

Best of luck! Please let me know of your progress as I will soon be knee deep in it - hopefully.

Andrew

 

[hansit]

thanks for the urls Andrew.
i tried to contact David Carroll a couple month's ago, but i didn't get any replay.
i will probably not do much over the summer with my alphas.
there is a discord group with people that have ca computers, cant find your name there, if you want i can ask the admin to send an invitation.
/H

 

[ahend]

thanks for the urls Andrew.
i tried to contact David Carroll a couple month's ago, but i didn't get any replay.
i will probably not do much over the summer with my alphas.
there is a discord group with people that have ca computers, cant find your name there, if you want i can ask the admin to send an invitation.
/H

I would like the discord invite and would greatly appreciate an invite - Thanks.
Do you know anything about a 73-53771-00 board made by CA?

Andrew

 

[Simmo1010]

To continue my habit of resurrecting old threads ...

@ahend did you get anywhere with this? I have just picked up a Naked Mini 4 which also has the 73-53771 CPU board, plus 64k words of RAM on a 73-53775-640, and what I think might be a fixed disk controller board pair (73-53643 and 73-53694). Unfortunately no power supply or any way of getting software onto the thing other than the front panel! (ie no floppy controller as far as I can tell). I've been through all the bitsavers docs and can't find any reference to these boards.

I'd really like to know if there is any more information out there before getting too deep into another project.

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[ahend]

Truly sorry for the late reply! I did not find any other documentation resources. You can wire in some modern power supplies to get started and play with the front panel to see if you can deposit and read memory. If you have not found it already, check out David Carroll's site: https://www.alphalsi.com/