Hmm ... wasn't that machine called the 8800B instead?
Nice trick. Some controllers would only work with soft sectored disks -- if the controller didn't see an ID sector, it would give up. The hard sectors got more data on the disk -- but you lost flexibility in sector size.
I remember having problems with the distribution floppy disks for OS/9, and having to copy them to other disks (It turned out that my only double-sided 5.25" floppy was suffering from a dying (and massively overloaded) set of spindle bearings. They had used flanged bearings, but ball and not designed for axial loads, but the pulley end of the shaft was secured by a screw and washer into the end of the shaft, compressing the bearings seriously, and then locked with Glyptal. I got some replacement bearings and turned a spacer sleeve to go between the inner races to keep the load down to a reasonable level, and that drive became usable again.
In the meanwhile, the copies were done on a track-by-track basis, and wound up totally scrambled because of different interleave. I had to figure out how to unscramble the sectors before I could load OS-9 into the system -- from the 8" floppies which worked, not the single double-sided 5.25" one which cogged and thus changed the speed enough so the data was unreadable.
The FORTRAN for the SWTP 6800 with SSB DOS-68 never worked for me for whatever reason.
And no COBOL either. Lots of versions of BASIC, including (later) ones with good random file access support, when DOS-68 got up to a version which could handle that.
Wasn't the AT based on the 80286, not the 8086? Yes, I agree that the original PC was on the 8088 not the 8086.
And there *was* an 8088 based CP/M for the original PCs, but it would not work on anything from 80286 on up. :-) I had one to play with for a while. (Actually, I probably still have it somewhere.)
Was this a genuine DEC drive, or a third-party drive? I used to work with 1GB 8" drives with SMD format cables from the controller cards on Solbourne rack-mount systems running variants of SunOs 4.1.X at the time. They shut down computer making about the time of the move to Solaris, though I still have a couple of Solbourne desktop machines, which were faster than the SS-2s of the same period. They are now retired, as newer machines are so *much* faster. :-) Unfortunately, the
1GB SMB 8" drives moved into the classified area and were thus "contaminated" with classified data, so they could never be thrown out and put to private use. Instead, if they ever get fully retired, they need to be slagged or otherwise destroyed.
My first v7 unix system wound up running on Fujitsu M2312K drives, 8", and 84 MB with the SMD interface. Of course, that system is also fully retired by now -- but I learned a lot from it. :-)
So the 8" drive was SCSI, not SMD?
While I took to unix very happily -- through the OS-9 path. I've never used VMS, but the flavor of the commands which I have seen (and the ftp format needed to get things from the original Simtel-20, which was a DecSystem 20, IIRC) kept me convinced that I would not like it. :-)
Hmm ... I've got a couple of Tektronix 6130s -- 32016 based, with a BSD 4.2 flavor of unix.
Hmm ... SunOs 4.1.x came with a Versatec driver as one of the standard ones. I just never had the printer to use with it. :-) (And I did write to a Versatec from a CDC 6600 long ago, writing some 3D view graphics files -- and I was not impressed with the quality -- just the length of plot which could come out of it. :-)
I've never really seen a linux that I like. I have been really happy with both the old SunOs 4.1.x (BSD flavored) and the later versions of Solaris -- especially Solaris 10, which you can download for free from Sun's site. I also like OpenBSD for systems which are going to be exposed to the outside net, though less so for workstations. They make great firewalls, however -- and on just about any platform you have around. :-)
Well ... most of my earlier unix machines had no GUI, or in the case of the AT&T Unix-PC/7300/3B1, there was a GUI, but a rather klugey one. The first X11 that I used was on the Sun 2/120, and on from there continuing.
My first serious work in C was on OS-9, which did have a real C compiler, unlike the Tiny C variants on the DOS-68 systems. By the time I got my v7 unix box I was quite at home with C.
O.K. You got into EMC rather early allright. Are you using the Servo-to-go card and servos, or are you using steppers?
Slight confusion, this is for SMT, not through-hole, but, yet, it places the parts on the board. I paid $1500 for the machine in completely-working condition, with 50 feeders (these go for $200-300 each, used). I had to pay about $2500 to have a door widened for the machine - ouch!
Ahh, I went out to the local KBC store and picked it up in my Toyota Corolla station wagon. They guys in the warehouse were a LITTLE leery about putting a 375 Lb (shipping weight) plate in the back of my car, but I figured two big guys could easily weigh that much. The rear DID sag a bit, but I got it home, then had a big problem dragging it out of the back of the car and hurt my back. Oh, but I saved a bundle on shipping, never mind that my back will never be quite the same!!!
I scraped a Michael Morgan straightedge, and then used that to "scrape" my 15" Sheldon lathe
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have since scraped in a set of 3 right angles against each other, and will someday use those to redo my Bridgeport.
The reason I sav "scrape" above is the Sheldon had flame hardened tool steel ways that a carbide scraper blade just glides over, doesn't even leave a scratch! I had to spot as usual, then use a die grinder and white Cratex muslin-bonded polishing wheels to remove material in a controlled fashion. VERY slow!
It's Cummins, and I have no idea what connection they have with the large Diesel engine builder. The stuff looks like Harbor Freight in every possible way, and most of what is there is totally awful crap. I did buy an engine hoist on eBay that would be quite similar to what they have, and it works Ok for home shop use. But, I'm real leery of buying any tools at a place like that, everything just looks so CHEEZY! They have sale sheets in the local newspaper.
Fujitsu SCSI drive, 3rd party controller. I started with DEC MFM drives, went to ESDI, finally to SCSI. I have a Pertec formatter to SCSI
Yes, but the above was talking about a mag tape adaptor i got of a Digi-Data streaming tape drive we had at work - the worst POS I've ever seen. Brand-new drive, 4 months old, started burning out read-amp chips, and they cost $100 each. I have some CDC-MPI Keystone 92185 tape drives, really good streaming
1600/6250 BPI drives, but these have the Pertec formatter interface, and SCSI would be a lot easier way to connect to a PC. I haven't tried this adaptor out to see if it will work with the keystone drives, but I suspect it will.
Well, it didn't have the piping concept, but the command language was VERY well constructed and uniform over all the commands, unlike the way things are in the Unix shells. One major difference is VMS's Record Management System was part of the kernel, so the file system was essentially a database, if you needed to search on record keys.
I don't even know what a 6130 is. I have some Tek 9200 logic analyzers that have 68030's in them, I think.
Yeas, as soon as the first under-$10K laser printer came out, Versatec was DEAD! Horrible ugly-feeling paper, like handling a dirty chalkboard.
Well, I have one app that NEEDS Linux, the EMC machine tool control. And another that is only supported on Linux and Windows, I think, FlightGear. Is there a VMware version for Solaris? I need that to run Windows apps under Linux.
I used a Servo-to-Go card for years, but eventually had to upgrade the PC hardware (going flaky) and move to more current software, so I finally started using my own interface hardware on it. (Something like the shoemaker's kids going barefoot.) I am a stepper-hater, or servo-snob, so I don't have any steppers on my machines.
--I don't suppose it's possible, but were it me I think I'd try to stuff a cargo container in that hole, then build the shop on top of that, then cut a hole in the roof of it to get your 'basement'. Prolly not practical tho; I think you've got the right idea of trenching, then filling with rebar and concrete.
Hmm ... HP made a nice front-loading self-threading tape drive (which we had with the Solbournes), which was SCSI interface. And I've got one which is AT&T branded, and which was thus slightly incompatible with the Sun or Solbourne drivers of the time. I should try it with Solaris 10 to see whether it can work properly there.
Hmm ... while with unix you can pick the shell which you particularly like. I use tcsh for a command-line shell, and zsh for writing scripts -- because it will do the looping structures from tcsh, but is a bit friendlier for certain other features. :-)
Well ... I have known of people who use the long filenames possible in the BSD FFS (also present in all versions of SunOs and Solaris which I have used) as the first stage of a database, using the shell's wildcarding to pre-select records form very ugly filenames. :-)
The 6130 was also built on the 32016 -- and its main claim to fame is an IEEE-488 interface for controlling test equipment. All of an
80 MB internal disk drive, and no format command on the system -- but it did have a plugin card to allow SCSI devices, which I used for backup tapes -- but never found a way to format drives properly for mounting on the system. It had the ability to be a workstation, but neither of mine had the framebuffer cards, so I used them either via serial port and terminals, or rlogin via ethernet. (Needless to say, these days I would keep them on the protected side of a firewall -- though probably most attack would be looking for newer systems. :-)
:-)
I wonder what the technology which It used was? It looked sort of like a raster scanned photo buildup. Was it wet or dry processed?
Now, if I could just find a good laser printer which could print on a roll of paper, I would be happy. :-)
Maybe or maybe not. Solaris is supposed to be a real-time OS to start with, and with a PCI version of the Servo-To-Go card it should be possible to bring it up on any of the Ultra systems (which all have PCI slots instead of Sbus.) I've been sort of considering trying that with my Bridgeport. (The linux seems to not be stable with my current hardware, and I've never finished the conversion of the machine -- which started life as a Bridgeport Series-I BOSS-3 running on an old quad-wide LSI-11. The system had a massive case of electronic Altzheimer's, and would forget what it was doing within fifteen seconds of being reset. Usually, that was not enough time to load a tiny progrma to test it. :-)
More about it later.
That I don't know. I've never wanted to run Windows under Solaris -- though I do have a card which should allow me to run it in one of the PCI slots -- if I ever take the time to load the drivers and then the OS.
Well ... I've got steppers on my Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC lathe, but it came with them.
I've been converting the controller to EMC based, and the steppers to servo motors, with one serious hangup. The servos are a lot longer than the original steppers. The Y-axis stepper fit into a recess in the knee, and the servo can't fit. I've got to build an alternate motor mount/belt guard which slopes at a 45 degree angle down to the right, so the motor winds up beside the knee instead of trying to stab through the knee's jackscrew. :-) And to do this properly, I really need welding capability -- which I do not yet have. Or I need to get the motor mount assembly from a later Bridgeport -- from after *they* moved to servos.
I've got all the servos, and some nice self-powered servo amps. It will all go into a (Plexi)glass-fronted relay rack to keep the chips out of the electronics, and the vibration out of the electronics, too. I plan to hang a dedicated VFD on the spindle motor, and use the Servo-to-go card's 4th axis to feed it command voltage for the selected spindle speed to keep from having to crank the pulley speed change cranks as much. :-)
There were two front-loading 9-track drives. i don't think either of them were very good, but the Digi-Data was certainly one of the worst things I've ever seen. It could have amazing disasters during threading, and I suspect any tape in the drive when it faults or loses power is trash, as it will simply slide off the hub onto the bottom of the drive when tension is lost.
No, this wasn't just file names, (although it was a part of directory searching) it had all the possible lowest-level indexed, multi-keyed and hashed record location features built into the FS.
Very wet. There was a big bottle of toner, which had something like laser toner suspended in some kind of solvent that smelled a little like paint thinner, a little like gasoline. Just writing about it, I can smell the stuff now! Yucck!
Anyway, the paper had a (clay?) dielectric on one side, it had a backplate with about 1" bars that were charged to 800 V, and wire electrodes at 400 V (2112 across ~10.5") to give 200 pixels/inch. A massive stepper motor drove the paper feed. It could do 1200 LPM in print mode, the paper just SPEWED out of the thing. It could have gone faster, but the stepper couldn't keep up. No computer we had could pump raster data fast enough to keep up with it, but we could still get one-page plots in 10-15 seconds.
Yes, that was the ONE advantage of the Versatec, but the rest of it was a DIS-advantage.
There IS no PCI version of the Servo-to-Go card. Strictly ISA, and thus woefully obsolete. My hardware runs on an IEEE-1284 capable parallel port. Is the real time compatible with rtai? I've been sort of considering trying that with
Bridgeport never got the hang of cooling electronics, all their gear cooked chips. They also built their own, very bad, power supplies. I know garage hardware hackers who have no formal training in electronics who build MUCH better gear than the old BOSS systems. Not a whole lot of LSI-11's around that still work.
That is a common issue. The Y-axis stepper fit into a recess
I need some of the same parts. I have a 1938 round-ram Bridgeport that I converted to CNC, but it still has the short knee from those days. I pcked up a later BOSS knee and saddle that have been stripped, and have been accumulating bits for it, to eventually put it on the old machine. I found a new Y ballscrew on eBay, but haven't come up with an X screw, yet. And, I need all the bearing mounts/belt housings, etc. Not a big rush, as it still has a lot of scraping to do before it is ready to go on.
Ouch! The HP was quite forgiving -- but there were flanges on the take-up hub in that machine, so it would have been better once it got threaded.
[ ... ]
O.K. Glad that I didn't try for one at the on-post surplus sales. For all I know, it came from the computer center where I used it that once -- but since it was a mainframe, I had to use it at a distance. :-)
[ ... ]
Just as it is the one advantage of a drum plotter which I have. Resolution is 0.010", almost direct drive of stepper motors from the computer, something like a 15 V input signal, even though it was low current. It required a special wire-wrapped interface from my SWTP
6809.
The advantage of that roll paper feed was that I could directly plot the fret positions for a stringed instrument.
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So I see after visiting their web site. There is simply the original (which I have) and the second version, which is still ISA.
RTAI? What is that? The later Suns (including my SB-1000s) have a fully programmable parallel port, once you find the right termio signals to send to the driver. I would Google for RTAI, but the time is getting too close to go to the CAMS (Chesapeake Area Metalworking Society) meeting here in Virginia. (Alternate months are in VA and MD, and only the VA one is close enough to be really reasonable with a SUV which takes lots of fuel to carry the show-and-tell metalworking things to the meeting. :-)
O.K. I've got three of them -- but the rest of the system locked up regularly. Actually -- the only time it behaved normally was when it was too hot in the shop for *me* to work without drowning the machine is salty sweat. :-(
Do you know that the X-axis ballscrew does not turn? It is rigidly mounted to the right-hand end of the table, and the ball *nut* is what is turned between two matched bearings. The advantages are:
1) The leadscrew cannot whip with a quick move.
2) The ball screw cover is simpler -- a telescoping flat spring wound around the ballscrew.
And do you have the Series-I head for the CNC version? The ball screw for that is hollow -- surrounding the quill, with the ball nut rotating around that, so the thrust is truly on axis.
Just as I don't have a great hurry here. I've got a nice Nichols horizontal mill with a vertical head which works nicely for manual milling.
I still have a Calcomp 1076C plotter, takes up to size E paper, has servos that give 3 G accel and 50+ IPS motion. Mostly it just tears paper and wrecks $30 ceramic pen nibs (probably because I don't know how to set it up right.) I haven't turned it on in 5+ years, but being high-quality gear it most likely would fire right up if I did.
I did just get a color laser printer off the loading dock at work, where people set cast-offs that somebody may want. It almost worked, and with a little web searching, I found there's a little damper pad that works out of position and fouls up the pull-in time of a solenoid. Difficult to get to, but insanely easy to fix once you have it apart. Prints incredibly good color output.
A friend of mine did exactly the same on an ancient Calcomp at the Wash Univ. data center some 30+ years ago.
Yes, can't imagine they sell a whole bunch of them anymore.
Rtai is the current real time "extension" for Linux. It actually runs above the Linux kernel, and makes Linux the lowest priority task. The RT programs run as loadable kernel modules, and run with kernel privileges, and also kernel restrictions. The later Suns (including my SB-1000s)
The advantage of the IEEE-1284 (EPP) mode of the PC parallel port is it does all the handshaking between the PC CPU and the device(s) on the parallel port in hardware, so you can read or write a register on the device with a single CPU instruction, and do single-byte transfers at the rate of every 800 ns or so.
Yes, and I've actually got a screw made like that from some other machine, but it is obviously not a Bridgeport BOSS part. It actually would work pretty well, and I may use it, but I will have to machine all the attachment hardware to use it. I'm still deciding whether that screw should go on the mill or the lathe.
No, I do not have this. I have a usable 1J head that I have added a ballscrew assembly to the front of the housing, as close to the quill as I can get it. It has a little flex in the linkage, but the backlash is barely over .001", so I am mostly satisfied with it. You can see my insane hack job of a retrofit
Hmm ... a much faster one than what I have. The pitch of the steppers is in the mid-low audio region -- 100 Hz, IIRC.
Nice! I've got an HP LaserJet 5C which has died as a result of a series of power glitches when a tree was blowing into the big three-phase wiring at the head of the block -- which I can't get as three phase in the house here. :-(
It appears to have blown a fuse -- but I can't find a fuse anywhere accessible from the outside, I guess that I'll have to rip it apart, which is going to need some help moving it to where I can work on it. Too little access from any side but the front where it is.
Or -- get a more recent laser printer -- though the LaserJet 4+ still works beautifully.
Probably the same model of Calcomp. It was a three digit starting with 8 (the paper roll width in inches, IIRC). There was also a three-foot wide one at work.
[ ... ]
Hmm -- I don't know, to be honest. I seem to remember that the EMC project has gone through about three real-time mods to Linux over time, and what you are describing sounds like the first.
O.K. I've not tried low-level driving the parallel port on these -- I've pretty much ignored it.
What I would like would be a small box which would hang on the ethernet and translate packets to what is needed for the controller hardware.
O.K.
That sounds like the conversion which Anilam hung on a Taiwanese clone of the Bridgeport which we had at work. The main worry was that the off-center thrust would accelerate wear of the quill in the head casting -- especially with the number of cycles possible with CNC.
O.K. That looks reasonably workable.
You know that the EMC project has moved outside of NIST now, and is under the URL of
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IIRC.
Interestingly enough, this has drifted back *on* topic -- still without the "Subject: " header changing, however. :-)
I guess my 'worst' one for running out of control was when I saw the 'Jamie should use safety glasses because hammers can chip' episode of mythbusters. They said they couldn't chip, and did just about everything wrong with that episode. So I spent the next couple of months getting a hammer hitting rig set up, had to buy a 1/3rd motor, found out it was too weak to run with a router speed control. Then I got an inverter rated 1 hp motor, and a VFD. Found out that was too weak too. Got a 3 HP rated VFD and a 2 HP motor (in case the 2 HP motor was too weak, I could get a 3 HP motor without having to get a new VFD), and finally got the rig working. Had to redesign and rebuild the rig about 3-4 times as well. Finally got some good video of chips flying off the hammer faces and got the video ready to send in. Then, I got invited by somebody who knew about my project to be on a panel with 2 of the build team at a nearby convention. And 3 days before the convention, they had the revisit of this 'myth' broadcast. Well, they fixed about 90% of their mistakes. However appearntly they had shifted the goalposts from chip/crack/break to shatter/explode.
Oh well, I was still invited to be on the panel, so I went anyway. Turns out that my guest pass for the convention was not one that would let me into the green room, as was implied by the staff member who invited me. Nice and embarassing there. And when the panel rolled around, apparently they changed the format, so that I and the other non-mythbuster guest just got to stand around and say nothing for the entire 2 hours.
So...pretty much a complete waste. I was able to use the VFD/motor to power my KMG grinder when I got it, so I guess it wasn't a 'complete' waste. Oh, and I still have the video, but I'm wondering if I should even bother putting it on Youtube.
A cow-orker of mine dash-mounted an oil pressure gauge and laced the poly tubing next to the exhaust manifold. The car went into afterburner on the freeway at
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