Douglas Fields

UPDATE: No joy. Still self-reboots. So, I put the Merlin II card back into the XL1201, connected the power and console, and powered it up. Nothing. Blank screen (which means the monitor was at least … »

UPDATE: I clipped and removed the broken capacitor. Replacing it will be the task of another day. I spent two days removing, cleaning and reseating each DIP chip on the Symbolics XL1201 Merlin II Main … »

To see if I can isolate the cause of the XL1201 instability, I am going to physically inspect the two main cards with a loupe and flashlight. If I see anything suspect, I’ll take a picture with … »

Well, after living with the default keyboard mapping for Genera under X-Windows, I decided to make an optimized one for an 87-key ANSI layout. The design goals were: Utilize all the 16 top row keys … »

(neti:remote-login-on) - See Networks pages 13 and 21 Serial (neti:enable-serial-terminal) - Networks page 21 - enables login on serial ports »

Just a brief hint… After you modify the file that has your translations (e.g., sys.translations), to make the new changes active, call (load-patches). Per Site Operations guide, page 514, … »

It has taken some effort, but I finally created a reasonable (and close-to-default) keyboard layout and mapping for Genera for using a modern, 87-key “tenkeyless” keyboard under Xquartz. I … »

c-HELP: Shows Input Editor Commands at the Lisp Listener m-HELP: Shows a random “hint” at the Lisp Listener, called a Hacksaw »

In an effort to rule out the power supply causing the XL1201’s instability, I sent it out for overhaul by Power Clinic. After reinstalling it, I booted the XL1201 and just let it sit in the … »

References: xmodmap guide The xmodmap output has four columns: Keysym Shifted Keysym Mode-shifted Keysym (e.g., alt/option on the Mac) Shifted Mode-shifted Keysym Xquartz 2.7.10_beta2 xmodmap -pk … »

Space is a premium in my little vintage computing paradise, so I had the bright idea of transplanting my MacIvory III from a desktop Quadra 650 to a tower Quadra 950 and clear some desktop space. … »

So, I learned something about the Todd MAX-354-1252 power supply in the Symbolics XL1201 today that I thought I’d share. Not that I understand it, mind you. The power supply has six trim pots. … »

As I haven’t had the time to continue to debug the XL1201 hardware problems, I turned back to the MacIvory III and an Intel i7 NUC I had. First I set up Ubuntu 14.04 on the NUC with NFS and the … »

Well, I couldn’t find MouseKey 1.0 or 1.1.1 software anywhere on the Internet. Logitech has 2.0 on their web site, and I found 1.1 elsewhere. However, the 1.1 software can’t see my mouse … »

Well, tonight I had more crashes using the XL1201. Each time the computer crashed after about 20 minutes. This indicates to me that there’s something odd going on somewhere. Before the first … »

Well, the instability on the XL1201 has been disheartening. However, I have a few suggestions and plans to see if I can figure it out. Kalman Reti would like to see backtraces to see if it’s a … »

I don’t have the time to post all the details before going to sleep, but I did a few things tonight including measure the power supply voltages, install new RAM, and have a lot of problems and … »

I have been having a hell of a time today with the XL1201. It keeps crashing to the FEP from Genera. Very frustrating. You can Continue but it will crash again very soon afterwards. Does anyone have … »

Getting the FEP display on the serial port isn’t hard - as long as you want to use the serial port built onto the console. So far I haven’t seen a way to tell the FEP to use the serial … »

Every time Genera boots, it asks for the time. However, Genera clearly uses the RFC 868 Time Protocol. So, I thought I’d try to make my local Linux server (named HELIUM in our namespace) serve … »

Although away, I have my laptop with me and decided to try to get Xquartz running with the Genera X11 fonts. Find the Genera X11 fonts (in bdf format) and transfer them to your Mac. I put them in … »

Last Updated July 2, 2016 Current Goals and Plans Maintenance Expand LMFS on main XL1201 Genera boot drive Set up CrashPlan on Linux NFS server Usability Autoboot world Serial access to FEP Telnet … »

I’ve decided to take a minor detour when I get back from the gaming convention to make a disk image for someone with an XL400 without a working console. My goal here will be to make a world … »

An organized list of the content available on this site. Digital VAX VAX Hardware VAX Intro - my 2026 retrocomputing project Symbolics Symbolics Hardware XL1201 Power Consumption Console Internals … »

Well, on a whim I decided to see if I could get Genera running on my iMac’s X display. (This way I can spare the 3620 Console from use while I figure out how to recap it.) It was a frustrating … »