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Rescue 1130: 2014 Pickup of an IBM 1130 System and More

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Computing historyRetro computing

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2,465 from 5 Aug 2014 to 26 Oct 2026
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October 2026

  1. Assembled and tested the Teletype ASR-33 paper tape reader power supplies
  2. Built my signal sledgehammer for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility and gave it a test
  3. Parts arriving and work begins on both Schmitt Trigger Conditioner and the ASR-33 Reader Power Supply
  4. Quick side project - power supply for ASR-33 Teletype automatic tape reader
  5. Bringing out the signal sledgehammer - dealing with the signal quality issues for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  6. Results of latest logic analyzer capture of write on Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  7. Debugging the double increment of addresses during a write by the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  8. Investigating the early end of a write on the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  9. All Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility utility programs now using Qt graphical user interface
  10. Wrote more utility programs to use with the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  11. More debugging of write functionality of Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility

September 2026

  1. Still working on write errors in the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  2. Testing Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility capturing data written from the IBM 1130 to the virtual disk
  3. Identifying issue capturing data on write to Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  4. Another write test of Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility after correcting FPGA logic
  5. Installed prototype enclosure and attempted testing of Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  6. Test build of Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility enclosure and mini disk drive
  7. Debugging write of Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - ensuring data is captured correctly
  8. Deglitching the write output of the 1130 for Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 2
  9. Final wiring of Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility into the VCF - Infoage Museum IBM 1130
  10. Deglitching the write output of the 1130 for Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 1
  11. Debugging 1130 disk controller logic concerning -write gate malfunction part 2
  12. Debugging 1130 disk controller logic concerning -write gate malfunction
  13. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 17
  14. Completed my EDUC-8 computer based on Electronics Australia articles starting August 1974
  15. Further research into the issue logging commands in one of the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility boxes
  16. Checking signals and termination resistors on the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 2
  17. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - virtual mode
  18. Troubleshooting the logging function of the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility

August 2026

  1. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - 16 and now works correctly in real mode
  2. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - 15
  3. Checking signals and termination resistors on the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 1
  4. Working hard on making seek shadowing state machine impervious to glitches for Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  5. Switching over to electronic switch version of 2310 Interface Board for Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  6. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 14
  7. Work on the internal disk drive of IBM 1130 - part 3
  8. Work on the internal disk drive of IBM 1130 - part 2
  9. Work on the internal disk drive of IBM 1130 - part 1
  10. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 13
  11. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 12
  12. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 11
  13. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 10
  14. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 9 - Fixed cylinder 202 issue
  15. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 8
  16. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 7
  17. Improved Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility behavior when drive powered down then back up

July 2026

  1. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 6
  2. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 5
  3. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 4
  4. Changing the terminator to improve impedance matching for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  5. Adjusting my Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility design to increase signal integrity between 1130 and disk drive
  6. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 3
  7. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 2
  8. Human 1, AI 0 - 40 minutes of debugging and my PICO tool projects microSD card as USB thumb drive to PC
  9. Grok joins Claude, Copilot and Gemini in my hall of shame; pleased to hear my 1627 Plotter card was built successfully for another 1130
  10. Testing my new seek logic for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility - part 1
  11. Whiling away the hours waiting for Visual Studio to install
  12. More experimenting with AI for USB microSD PICO project
  13. More experimenting with AI to assist in simple tool to use Raspberry Pi PICO to present microSD card as disk drive over USB
  14. Wrapping up the successful 1130 memory substitute project
  15. Failed testing of mechanism to read virtual 2315 cartridges conveniently from a PC
  16. Needed to wait for Lattice Semi to send the hobbyist license file
  17. More this and that, while waiting
  18. This and that - waiting while moving several projects along
  19. Returning to testing for the Virtual 2315 Cartridge Facility
  20. Debugging work on the multiply-divide issue with the 1130 MRAM board - memory fixed and working flawlessly!!!!!
  21. Unexpected results when digging into the Multiply-Divide error in the CPU diagnostic program
  22. Updated memory substitute board, chasing down two failures
  23. Building the Diablo 2315 Archiver circuit board
  24. Better chat with Copilot led me to an important issue with the 1130 MRAM board - and it appears to be the root cause of my issues!
  25. I have a loose lower head cable clamp in the Diablo 31 drive that must be reattached before heads can be installed
  26. Prepared the power supplies and cable for the Diablo model 31 drive I am using with the Archiver - powers on
  27. Fighting to install the heads in the Diablo 31 drive
  28. Getting insight into what is happening during failure of 1130 MRAM doing reads - no more quantum effects
  29. Started master file list from all 2315 cartridges and stored on Google workspace
  30. Work progressing on Diablo Archiver project

June 2026

  1. Sent Head Adapter Tool off to fab; supports aligning heads in standard density Diablo 31 drive
  2. Creating the Head Adapter Tool for aligning the Diablo drive
  3. Thinking about auto-aligning mechanism for the Diablo drive when archiving 2315 cartridges from an IBM 1130
  4. Trying to understand 1130 MRAM sporadic failures using Active FET Probe
  5. Verified configuration of Diablo drive for use with the archiver
  6. Building the cable for the 2315 cartridge archiver using the Diablo disk drive
  7. Orders placed for interface PCB for the Diablo drive archiver for 1130 based 2315 disk cartridges
  8. Given some pricy advice to make progress debugging the 1130 MRAM memory infrequent bit failures
  9. Invested time simulating and correcting code to archive IBM 2315 cartridges on a Diablo model 31 disk drive
  10. Using new hysteresis technique to protect against noisy signals in some of my FPGA designs
  11. Found substitute spring for the Calcomp 565 plotter and verified it works properly
  12. Whipped up a 1053 Emulator log file display and print program
  13. Implementing and testing the overtyping behavior in the 1052 Emulator - part 3
  14. Created an SMS signal socket to connect to a paddle card for the 1052 Emulator
  15. Implementing and testing the overtyping behavior in the 1052 Emulator - part 2
  16. Implementing and testing the overtyping behavior in the 1052 Emulator - part 1
  17. Finished debugging the 1053 Emulator - part 6
  18. Suitable spring found for the Calcomp 565 (IBM 1627 equivalent) plotter restoration
  19. Continued debugging of the 1053 Emulator - part 5
  20. Continued debugging of the 1053 Emulator - part 4
  21. Continued debugging of the 1053 Emulator - part 3
  22. Experimenting with method to support overtyped APL characters using the 1053 Emulator
  23. Building the new MOSFET switching board for the 1053 Emulator - almost done
  24. Repaired Calcomp 565 power supply and pen up/down circuit

May 2026

  1. Refining the 1053 Emulator code in the Arduino
  2. Power supply failure and debugging on the Calcomp 565 plotter
  3. Designed SMS socket and having it manufactured
  4. Continued debugging of the 1053 Emulator - part 2
  5. Developing SMS socket to connect to paddle cards
  6. Replaced transistor to restore Calcomp 565 plotter carriage movement
  7. Continued debugging of the 1053 Emulator - part 1
  8. Attempting to make the 1053 Emulator usable for SSM in time for their pickup of typewriter tomorrow
  9. Debugging my 1053 printer emulator box
  10. Conquered 1053 rotate turnbuckle adjustment problems, wrapped up the printer
  11. Ran SSM 1053 to stretch tilt/rotate tapes, making final adjustments
  12. Finished work on System Source Museum 1053 console printer
  13. Diagnosed failure point of Calcomp 565 plotter carriage stepper circuit
  14. Adjusting System Source Museum 1053 console printer (typewriter)
  15. Replaced rotate and tilt tapes on System Source Museum 1053 console
  16. Debugging failure of carriage to move on Calcomp 565 plotter
  17. Restoring a Calcomp 565 plotter for use with my IBM 1130 system
  18. Testing with a Calcomp 535 - part 2
  19. Project to support a 1627 plotter on an IBM 1130 is a success!
  20. Testing with a Calcomp 535 (equivalent of IBM 1627 model 1) - part 1
  21. Testing the plotter controller card in the IBM 1130, without a plotter hooked up - part 2
  22. Testing the plotter controller card in the IBM 1130, without a plotter hooked up - part 1
  23. More bench testing of 1627 controller card
  24. Troubleshooting bench testing setup for the 1627 controller card
  25. Modified plotter controller card
  26. Testing the new controller card for the 1627 plotter on the bench
  27. Finished building 1627 controller card
  28. Tied up preparing for a major celebration at the Space Force Museum
  29. Assembling the new 1627 controller card

April 2026

  1. Don't waste your time, spammers. Comments are moderated and spam deleted
  2. Revision PCB being built for the 1627 Plotter substitute controller card
  3. Back to the need to load the 1130 SBR card pins the same as my oscilloscope probe
  4. Fighting with the SLT contacts to solder them onto my 1627 plotter controller card
  5. Showing redundant wirewrap connection for Sense Bit 14 entering the SBR card
  6. Adding functionality to 1627 Plotter controller card project
  7. Working on the connectors for the substitute 1627 plotter controller card
  8. 1130 MRAM board effort continues - not quite there yet
  9. Continued confusion over analog issue with the 1130 MRAM board BUT progress made
  10. Collecting data with logic analyzer on 1130 MRAM parity stops - tantalizing hints
  11. Finishing the build of the substitute controller card to hook a 1627 plotter to an IBM 1130
  12. Chasing down 1130 MRAM memory issues
  13. Odd error detected with memory, possible issue on the 1130 MRAM board
  14. Trying to track down the parity stop failure using my 1130 MRAM board while running IBM's core memory diagnostics
  15. More work building 1627 plotter controller card for IBM 1130
  16. Constructing the 1627 plotter controller card for the IBM 1130

March 2026

  1. Honing the FPGA logic for the 1130 MRAM board and testing results
  2. Finding remaining issues on my MRAM board
  3. 1627 Plotter controller card redesign - printed circuit board arrives from PCBWAY.COM
  4. The advantage of leveraging FPGA for 1130 related designs - 1627 Plotter behavior discovery
  5. Hoping to finish the testing of the 1130 MRAM core memory replacement board

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