[comp.os.vms] A piece of History...

ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall) (05/03/90)

In article <2732@husc6.harvard.edu>, joltes@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (Richard Joltes) writes:
> p.s.--how about a DEC Peripherals Handbook for 1981-82!  "The two most recent
> additions to DIGITAL's family of computer peripherals supported by VAX systems
> are the RP07 disk drive, utilizing Winchester fixed-media technology, and the
> TU78 magnetic tape drive..."  (Actually, I'm keeping this one...)

I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found this
table of current disks on page 3-4:

MODEL		DESCRIPTION	CAPACITY/	AV ACCESS	DATA RATE
				DRIVE		TIME

RC11/RS64	Fixed head disk	64 K words	17 msec		16 usec/word
RF11/RS11	Fixed head disk	256 K		17		16
RK11/RK05	Disk cartridge	1.2 million	70		11
RP11/RP03	Disk pack	20 million	42		7.5

The RK05! Ah, yes, I remember it well!

-- 
Ted Marshall          ...!ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!ted  <or>  ted@blia.bli.com
ShareBase Corp., 14600 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, Ca 95030     (408)378-7000
The opinions expressed above are those of the poster and not his employer.

helen@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Helen Rapozo) (05/03/90)

In article <2732@husc6.harvard.edu> joltes@husc4.UUCP (Richard Joltes) writes:
>I can even offer a set of VMS 2.0 manuals (relatively complete, in the original
>blue binders)!!!
***********
How many binders did VMS V2.0 take up?




-- 
US Mail Address: 874 Dillingham Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96817, Ph# (808) 845-9202
Internet: cs_rapozo@hccadb.hcc.hawaii.edu
          helen@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu

hubcap@hubcap.clemson.edu (System Janitor) (05/03/90)

*From article <11461@blia.BLI.COM>, by ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall):
* In article <2732@husc6.harvard.edu>, joltes@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (Richard Joltes)
* writes: ... about old DEC stuff he has laying around...
* I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found 
* ... lots of other old DEC stuff...

Maybe I can beat both of you... my shelf contains a Blue VMS 2.2 
``Internals and data structures'' book...

-Mike

deichert@hydra.unm.edu (Diana Eichert) (05/03/90)

>The RK05! Ah, yes, I remember it well!
>

I do and my back does to, remember trying to move it.

>-- 
>Ted Marshall          ...!ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!ted  <or>  ted@blia.bli.com
>ShareBase Corp., 14600 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, Ca 95030     (408)378-7000
>The opinions expressed above are those of the poster and not his employer.

diana eichert
Yrisarri Systems

deichert@hydra.unm.edu

jin@spdcc.COM (Jerry Natowitz) (05/03/90)

In article <8950@hubcap.clemson.edu> hubcap@hubcap.clemson.edu (System Janitor) writes:
>*From article <11461@blia.BLI.COM>, by ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall):
>* In article <2732@husc6.harvard.edu>, joltes@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (Richard Joltes)
>* writes: ... about old DEC stuff he has laying around...
>* I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found 
>* ... lots of other old DEC stuff...
>
>Maybe I can beat both of you... my shelf contains a Blue VMS 2.2 
>``Internals and data structures'' book...

Don't think so, VMS doesn't pre-date 1973, but my 1972 Peripherals and
Interfacing handbook beats both.  I also have the 'old' OS/8 single
handbook, but I don't know the date.

-- 
     Jerry Natowitz
     Guest user on:
ARPA jin@ursa-major.spdcc.com
UUCP {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!jin

tedcrane@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane) (05/03/90)

In article <8950@hubcap.clemson.edu> hubcap@hubcap.clemson.edu (System Janitor) writes:
>Maybe I can beat both of you... my shelf contains a Blue VMS 2.2 
>``Internals and data structures'' book...

Nah.  Every DECcie has their 1968 PDP-8 handbook.  And the 1975 PDP 11/45
handbook.  And the original 1978 VAX Architecture Handbook.  All of them
present the same information as their current counterparts, and in a
much more usable format.

Oh...but do you have your (blue) VMS 0.5 documentation?  (yes, youngsters,
this was a serious release!).

ardai@bass.bu.edu (Michael Ardai) (05/04/90)

How about a release VMS 1.0 tape?  Does it count? (I also have a 2.0 tape :-)
/mike

\|/ Michael L. Ardai     ardai@bu-pub.bu.edu   
--- ---------------------------------------------------------------
/|\ ...!sun!teda!maven.dnet!ardai (preferred)

ben@vmsa.technion.ac.il (05/06/90)

> I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found this
> table of current disks on page 3-4:
RK05? I still have a couple of them running!!
I can still beat that. My museum pieces include a copy of the 1972 pdp11/45
processor handbook, and the gem: a 1968 (yes!!) small computer handbook, that
includes a "detailed description of the new pdp-8/I computer."
--

________________________________________________________________________
|                                                                      |
|      Ben Pashkoff                 BEN@VMSA.TECHNION.AC.IL            |
|                                   BEN@TECHMAX.BITNET                 |
|                                   BEN@TECHUNIX.BITNET                |
|      VAX/VMS Systems                                                 |
|      Computer Center                                                 |
|      Technion IIT                 Phone:(972)-4-292177               |
|      Haifa, Israel 32000          FAX: (972)-4-236212                |
|                                                                      |
|______________________________________________________________________|

hascall@cs.iastate.edu (John Hascall) (05/07/90)

In article <1308.26442bec@vmsa.technion.ac.il> ben@vmsa.technion.ac.il writes:
}> I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found this
}> table of current disks on page 3-4:
}RK05? I still have a couple of them running!!
}I can still beat that. My museum pieces include a copy of the 1972 pdp11/45
}processor handbook, and the gem: a 1968 (yes!!) small computer handbook, that
}includes a "detailed description of the new pdp-8/I computer."

    How about a copy of "DIGITAL MODULES" dated 1962 (the year I was born!!)
    which has a section tucked away at the very end called "Other Digital
    Products" which extoles the virtutes of the PDP-1 and the PDP-4.

John Hascall
Iowa State Univ.

ardai@bass.bu.edu (Michael Ardai) (05/07/90)

In article <1308.26442bec@vmsa.technion.ac.il> ben@vmsa.technion.ac.il writes:
>> I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found this
>> table of current disks on page 3-4:
>RK05? I still have a couple of them running!!
>I can still beat that. My museum pieces include a copy of the 1972 pdp11/45
>processor handbook, and the gem: a 1968 (yes!!) small computer handbook, that
>includes a "detailed description of the new pdp-8/I computer."
>--

And I can beat that!  In my collection, I have a quad flipflop module
from a PDP 1!  This is a board about 6x7 inches full of discrete components.
I also have a (restored) front panel off a PDP-10. 

/mike

PS. Anyone know what model it was?  It has light and dark blue push buttons,
not the traditional flip switches.
\|/ Michael L. Ardai     ardai@bu-pub.bu.edu   
--- ---------------------------------------------------------------
/|\ ...!sun!teda!maven.dnet!ardai (preferred)

eric@spock.UUCP (Eric Volpe) (05/07/90)

Heck, I've got a brochure on DEC's "new" PDP-4 computer, and also one for
the PDP-1, and a couple of boards out of a pdp-1! They're built using
"cordwood" construction - two separate PC boards with the components in 
between. Most, like resistors and capacitors and stuff, have one lead in
each board. I don't know about transistors; I don't think they existed yet.


			eric

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Volpe					  ...uunet!hsi!yale!spock!eric
Choate Rosemary Hall '90			[.sig still under construction]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) (05/07/90)

In article <1308.26442bec@vmsa.technion.ac.il> ben@vmsa.technion.ac.il writes:
> > I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found this
> > table of current disks on page 3-4:
> RK05? I still have a couple of them running!!
> I can still beat that. My museum pieces include a copy of the 1972 pdp11/45
> processor handbook, and the gem: a 1968 (yes!!) small computer handbook, that
> includes a "detailed description of the new pdp-8/I computer."

Come on - I've got the nice ancient multi-colored PDP-11/20 manual, the PDP-8
manuals that describe the original PDP-8 and the new economy PDP-8/S and a
nice large format PDP-6 Manual.  All this attests to little more than my
qualifications as a pack-rat.  Think more in terms of what those olde machines
meant - huge amounts of core (4k) that it was almost inconceivable to fill up
with assembly code, bogus fortran subsets, 32K-byte disk drives, monster 128K
dectapes and the conforting clunk and rhythm of ASR-33's.

It's also amusing the think of some of the software features and attributes
that are still with us and to comtemplate what the world would look like if
the PDP-6/10 hadn't been graced with those 4 superfluous bits - imagine no
PDP-11's or Vaxen and a single product line of PDP-10 super/subsets reaching
back into the mists of time...

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,     uucp:   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing:   domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com
Commodore, Engineering Department     phone:  215-431-9349 (only by moonlite)

don@gp.govt.nz (Don Stokes) (05/07/90)

In article <1990May6.213507.7737@spock.UUCP>, eric@spock.UUCP (Eric Volpe) writes:
> Heck, I've got a brochure on DEC's "new" PDP-4 computer, and also one for
> the PDP-1, and a couple of boards out of a pdp-1! They're built using
> "cordwood" construction - two separate PC boards with the components in 
> between. Most, like resistors and capacitors and stuff, have one lead in
> each board. I don't know about transistors; I don't think they existed yet.

Did you see any valves?  Must have been transistors or ICs in there 
somewhere (did they have ICs then? ... it was about that sort of time).


I'm not going to try to beat anyone on age of parts; (we'll leave that to
the real grey-beards) but I thought I'd list a bit of the esoterica at my
disposal: 

At home:
        Hard sectored 5.25" floppy disks.
        800 BPI RSX 4.1 kit.
        PDP-11/34A (fully operational, use it a lot), circa 1979.
        2xRL01 disk drives, attached to PDP-11/34 (10 Megs!  Wow!)
        Hardware & maintenance docs for 11/34 and peripherals.
        MicroPDP-11 (/23+), twice the memory, 3 times the disk (RD52),
                            half the power (watts, not MIPS)...
                            Soon to be upgraded to a /73 - three times 
                            the MIPS...
        1976 DEC Logic Handbook, including the *new* LSI-11 Microcomputer.
        1978 DEC Microcomputer Handbook

At work:
        A MicroVAX I, with RD52.
        A VAX 11/730.
        Part 5/5 of VMS V3.4, on TU58, dated 27-Oct-1983.
        TK50 cartridge with tape missing (eaten by drive).
        PDT-11/150s

Sigh.  VMS doesn't fit on our baby MicroVAX I any more.  RSX-11M runs
just fine in 128KW memory and 5MB disk on my trusty 11/34A, as well as
providing heating for the house....... 

In the subject of books, how many people get hold of DEC handbooks and
flick through them just to look at the pictures?  I thought it was a
trait peculiar to me, until the last DECUS LUG meeting (four of us turned
up; well it *was* on the subject of PDP-11s), when somebody else
remarked, to nods of assent, that the pictures were what made the
handbooks interesting.... 


Don Stokes, ZL2TNM    /  /                              PSI%(5301)47000028::DON
Systems Programmer   /GP/ Government Printing Office      Postmaster@gp.govt.nz
____________________/  /__Wellington__New_Zealand________________don@gp.govt.nz
          No job is so simple that it can't possibly get screwed up. 

siegel@stsci.EDU (Howard Siegel) (05/09/90)

In <11461@blia.BLI.COM> ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall) writes:
>In <2732@husc6.harvard.edu>, joltes@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (Richard Joltes) writes:
>> p.s.--how about a DEC Peripherals Handbook for 1981-82!...
>> are the RP07 disk drive, utilizing Winchester fixed-media technology, and
>> TU78 magnetic tape drive..."  (Actually, I'm keeping this one...)
>
>I can beat that! Pulling down my 1973-1974 Peripherals Handbook, I found this
>table of current disks on page 3-4:
>
>     [chart]
>
>The RK05! Ah, yes, I remember it well!

I accept the challenge...

From "Logic Handbook", published in 1968:

 RANDOM ACCESS DISC

  A new DECdisc random access memory storage device significantly expands
  the memory capacity of the PDP-8/I, PDP-8, and PDP-8/S computers.  The
  DF32 has a capacity of 32,768 thirteen bit words (12 bits plus parity)
  with capability of expansion to 131,072 words.  It is a fixed disc with
  one head per track.  Transfer rate is 66 microseconds per 12 bit word.
  Average access time is 16.67 milliseconds.

Also described in the handbook, besides the PDP-8 machines mentioned above,
are the LINC-8, the PDP-9, and the PDP-10 (models 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50).
The rest of the handbook is a catalog of FLIP-CHIP modules!

-- 
    Howard Siegel    (301) 338-4418
    TRW   c/o Space Telescope Science Institute   Baltimore, MD 21218
    ARPA:  siegel@stsci.edu          SPAN:  STOSC::SIEGEL
    uucp:  {arizona,decvax,hao}!noao!stsci!siegel