I used to repair PDP1134A circuit boards to component level and had a PMK05 unibus analyser. 173004 load address, control start with M7762 disc drive controller and RL02 removable disc assembly pack with XXDP diagnostics. last one fixed 1995
To quote Monty Python - "You lucky, lucky b*stard!" You got GIVEN a fully populated late model 11/34?! Such an item would command silly money if advertised on certain auction sites even in non-working condition. However, as you say, this is likely to be a (very!) long-term project 😲 Certainly it will take longer than it took for me to build my PiDP-11 😁 Good luck! I will be following your progress with great interest.
Jerry, congratulations on the gift of the PDP-34A! I had a chance the take _three_ of them home from work when they were replaced ~30-ish years ago where I used to work, but was afraid to "liberate" them. The Engineer responsible for them offered them to me several times, but I knew it was still frowned upon, so I let them go to scrap, and am still kicking myself. :( They were absolutely packed with the modules needed to control the test stands in that building (before they were replaced with more powerful computers - MicroVaxes, I think) and each had 3-4 RL-01s and/or RL-02s (there was a mix in there). The room was a (mostly) functioning timecapsule at that point. (Many of the test stands still had Nixie tube displays when I started working there, but they were slowly replaced with 7-segment displays, then more modern displays as time passed by the time I retired.)
Congratulations on getting hold of one! When they occasionally do turn up, they're usually unaffordable - I've been looking for years now. It should make for some excellent videos - looking forward to them!
Nice machine. At one time I had 4 of them, with 6 or so spare cpu/fpu boards at hand. And yours has the RK11 controller for the RK05 disks. Just get an RK05 removable drive....
Yes I have tried all the basics. I will be posting another video tomorrow. The initial problem is that the console interface is not running at all so I will be looking at getting that repaired first. I did not elaborate much on this in the video as I did not want to confuse anyone not familiar with the PDP's so want to show it step by step. Hopefully it is a power supply issue but could be a failed 8008 or ROM but as the card seems to be dead it could be anything. In the next video I will be running just the console with all other cards removed and see how it goes. Once I get the console working I can move on to the actual PDP CPU cards etc.
@@JerryWalker001 i used to use one of these back in the days for geo mapping of wildlife, wetlands, waterways etc, with calcomp a0 digitisers, and sharing data via ebcdic format tapes with the museum etc! pt100 series terminals and other wyse asci terminals .. brings back memories :)
Yes, only one fan was starting to spin. This machine had not been powered up for several decades (from what I was told) and one fan was fairly stiff so did not start. A few manual spins and it freed up and now joins in the noise party when power is applied.
I used to repair PDP1134A circuit boards to component level and had a PMK05 unibus analyser. 173004 load address, control start with M7762 disc drive controller and RL02 removable disc assembly pack with XXDP diagnostics. last one fixed 1995
Looking forward to new video series 😉👍
To quote Monty Python - "You lucky, lucky b*stard!" You got GIVEN a fully populated late model 11/34?! Such an item would command silly money if advertised on certain auction sites even in non-working condition. However, as you say, this is likely to be a (very!) long-term project 😲 Certainly it will take longer than it took for me to build my PiDP-11 😁 Good luck! I will be following your progress with great interest.
Jerry, congratulations on the gift of the PDP-34A! I had a chance the take _three_ of them home from work when they were replaced ~30-ish years ago where I used to work, but was afraid to "liberate" them. The Engineer responsible for them offered them to me several times, but I knew it was still frowned upon, so I let them go to scrap, and am still kicking myself. :( They were absolutely packed with the modules needed to control the test stands in that building (before they were replaced with more powerful computers - MicroVaxes, I think) and each had 3-4 RL-01s and/or RL-02s (there was a mix in there). The room was a (mostly) functioning timecapsule at that point. (Many of the test stands still had Nixie tube displays when I started working there, but they were slowly replaced with 7-segment displays, then more modern displays as time passed by the time I retired.)
Congratulations on getting hold of one! When they occasionally do turn up, they're usually unaffordable - I've been looking for years now. It should make for some excellent videos - looking forward to them!
Nice machine. At one time I had 4 of them, with 6 or so spare cpu/fpu boards at hand. And yours has the RK11 controller for the RK05 disks. Just get an RK05 removable drive....
I wonder how people are left that understand these things? Quite a challenge getting it running again
Jerry have you tried to do combined ctrl + halt key to stop it !
Yes I have tried all the basics. I will be posting another video tomorrow. The initial problem is that the console interface is not running at all so I will be looking at getting that repaired first. I did not elaborate much on this in the video as I did not want to confuse anyone not familiar with the PDP's so want to show it step by step. Hopefully it is a power supply issue but could be a failed 8008 or ROM but as the card seems to be dead it could be anything. In the next video I will be running just the console with all other cards removed and see how it goes. Once I get the console working I can move on to the actual PDP CPU cards etc.
@@JerryWalker001 i used to use one of these back in the days for geo mapping of wildlife, wetlands, waterways etc, with calcomp a0 digitisers, and sharing data via ebcdic format tapes with the museum etc! pt100 series terminals and other wyse asci terminals .. brings back memories :)
It sounds a bit like only one fan comes on when you power the machine up.
Yes, only one fan was starting to spin. This machine had not been powered up for several decades (from what I was told) and one fan was fairly stiff so did not start. A few manual spins and it freed up and now joins in the noise party when power is applied.