Burroughs L7000

[billdeg]

UPDATE
The system unit has been moved to the MARCH museum in Wall, NJ. I (we) will probably move the rest on December 12th.

[J-EE]

Hi, i am new to this forum.
My name is Jan and I am living in Sweden.

It was nice to see the old Burroughs computer, i have one too.
It is an L-8000 with the floor mounted line-printer, three tape drives (compact cassette type),
an externel paper punch and a external paper reader.

And on the right side of it, there is an DC-300 tape drive.
I have tried for many years ago to start up the machine with the tape, but no luck.
I don´t know what I have to do before I push on the "START" button or something else?

I was told the bell is ringing when it has finish loaded the tape into the memory.
Well, it was a long time ago now......

Greetings from Sweden!
Jan

[MikeS]

Hi, i am new to this forum.
My name is Jan and I am living in Sweden.

It was nice to see the old Burroughs computer, i have one too.
It is an L-8000 with the floor mounted line-printer, three tape drives (compact cassette type),
an externel paper punch and a external paper reader.

And on the right side of it, there is an DC-300 tape drive.
I have tried for many years ago to start up the machine with the tape, but no luck.
I don´t know what I have to do before I push on the "START" button or something else?

I was told the bell is ringing when it has finish loaded the tape into the memory.
Well, it was a long time ago now......

Greetings from Sweden!
Jan

Hello!
I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid that the chances of bringing that L8000 back to life are probably not very good unless you happen to have the firmware tapes. I used to have the full set of tapes for the L5000, 8000 and 9000 but unfortunately threw them all out before I realized that there actually are some of these machines still out there, and I'd be surprised if there were still any copies of some of them anywhere today.

Check the DC300 tape mechanically: there is a good chance that the drive band inside is either broken or stretched, or the tape has unspooled; does the tape move smoothly if you turn the drive wheel by hand (in the right direction!) ? Also clean the lamp, sensor and mirror if necessary.

On the slim chance that the tape is mechanically still OK, remove the cover from the drive and clean the head and drive roller, and check that the rubber drive roller is still solid and not mushy or sticky. Does the roller spin when you turn on the machine?

Even in the unlikely event that the drive and the tape are mechanically OK there is still a good chance that the data on the tape is corrupted. The earlier model L's including Bill's L7000 used a fixed disk (2 in the L7000) for the working memory, so if the power was turned off there was no problem; when you turned it back on, it just 'booted' from the hard disk much like the kind of hard disk system we're familiar with.

However, the L8000 and 9000 had no non-volatile storage at all (other than paper tape); the working storage was a number of solid state 2KB (18x 2102 IIRC) cards. As you probably know, underneath the tape drive is a set of batteries; if the power failed these batteries were supposed to keep the machine powered long enough to dump the contents of memory to the DC300 tape, and when power was restored the system would automatically reload memory from the tape.

Unfortunately this didn't always work as often there was a mechanical problem with the tape or drive, or the batteries would die before it finished writing the tape; either way you were left with a corrupted tape and a totally dumb machine. Even though the batteries are no doubt long dead by now, do *not* power off with a tape in the drive.

The only option at this point was to reload the machine from the master paper tapes; if you are lucky these might have been left in the back of the machine with the print set, in which case you might be able to revive it. You are looking for a rather long paper or mylar tape labelled with a Burroughs number or "firmware" (as opposed to customer application program tapes); you will also need several utilities and add-ons, especially the cassette and paper tape add-ons.

Note that you don't use the external paper tape reader to load these tapes (if you have them); instead, you use the removable loader cartridge to the front left of the keyboard.

Good luck; if by chance you do get it running I do still have a number of cassette tapes with some games and utilities on them. I may also still have an L8000 DC300, but it's not very likely to still be good (if it ever was) or, if it is, that it matches your configuration.

But if you do get it running it would be fun to try to send you some programs for it over the internet... -

So, were there any paper or mylar tapes in the bottom of the machine and if so, how are they labelled (if at all)?

mike

[pontus]

Greetings from Sweden!
Jan

Hello Jan! A warm welcome to the forums from another swede! It's allways nice to get to know other local big iron collectors, where in sweden are you located?

[J-EE]

Thanks a lot and a BIG thanks for the informations, MikeS !

We´ll, as I say to you, it was some years ago I was trying to start up the machine.

But, back in 1990 when I bought it from my former working place, they said to me
that it had been used between 1974 until the main cord was unplugged 1987.
And they also said the battery near the DC-300 tape station was empty the last years
they used machine and it was because of that, never shut off.

But, I also get a box full of manuals, schematics (also for the printer), a lot of different
magnetic tapes and paper tapes.

The DC-300 seems to working correct, but no bell was ringin when finished.

But they told me before the start, I have to move some breakers in the right position,
then start it up with one of the DC-300-tapes, then when the bell has rang, moving the breaker back again.
That was because the backup battery was empty, they said.
And it was necessery to do that, if the power cord has been removed.

Every periferal equipment was disconnected when I got it and all of the connectors seems
to fit everywhere......a little problem.
And I have also tried the "Firmware" paper tapes in the reader, but it only gets in and out again.

Hej Pontus, then we are at least two from Sweden here, I am living in Mellerud, just
a little village between Karlstad and Gothenburg.

I also have one DataSaab in my garage.

Greetings
J-EE

[MikeS]

Thanks a lot and a BIG thanks for the informations, MikeS !

We´ll, as I say to you, it was some years ago I was trying to start up the machine.

But, back in 1990 when I bought it from my former working place, they said to me
that it had been used between 1974 until the main cord was unplugged 1987.
And they also said the battery near the DC-300 tape station was empty the last years
they used machine and it was because of that, never shut off.

But, I also get a box full of manuals, schematics (also for the printer), a lot of different
magnetic tapes and paper tapes.

The DC-300 seems to working correct, but no bell was ringin when finished.

But they told me before the start, I have to move some breakers in the right position,
then start it up with one of the DC-300-tapes, then when the bell has rang, moving the breaker back again.
That was because the backup battery was empty, they said.
And it was necessery to do that, if the power cord has been removed.

Every periferal equipment was disconnected when I got it and all of the connectors seems
to fit everywhere......a little problem.
And I have also tried the "Firmware" paper tapes in the reader, but it only gets in and out again.

Hej Pontus, then we are at least two from Sweden here, I am living in Mellerud, just
a little village between Karlstad and Gothenburg.

I also have one DataSaab in my garage.

Greetings
J-EE

Sounds like you might be lucky and get that baby up again after all; if/when you decide to give it another try I'd really be interested to follow your progress.

Yes, I think there is a switch inside one of the panels (but I don't remember where) which has to be turned off to load the DC300.

IIRC to load paper tapes you thread the tape, press PK2 (?), turn on the loader switch, and when it runs out turn off the loader and press the reset button (in a recessed hole to the left of where your knee would be); you'll need to load several tapes in sequence and probably also "gen" a system register (although I think you can do that from cassette).

Assuming you have the print set (a large binder with schematics, wire lists, etc.) you should be able to figure out where the peripherals plug in. Failing that, if you look at the connectors you'll probably find that not all pins are used and you might be able to match plugs and sockets that way.

On the off chance that you bring it up and also have the memory modify tape, I do still have the SL-5 programming manuals for those machines; also some ribbons & MMR ledger cards...

I know of a few series L machines in existence but AFAIK none (except perhaps an L5000 at Bletchley) are actually running; yours would be a rarity indeed if you get it going, especially since it is exceptionally loaded with 3 cassettes, a line printer *and* PPT I/O.

Good luck!

[pontus]

Hej Pontus, then we are at least two from Sweden here, I am living in Mellerud, just
a little village between Karlstad and Gothenburg.

We are a few more Zeela and Carlsson are also swedish.

I also have one DataSaab in my garage.

Ooh, which one? Datasaab made really nice machine, the little I've read about them has been very neat.

[J-EE]

Thank you for your help MikeS!

Your info is very valuable for me and I gonna save it until the next attempt.
And of course, I will let you know, when I doing the next try.

Maybe it´s a little unusual for now, the most of the Burroughs are maybe in the computer heaven...

Right now it´s parked in my garage and there´s a lot of other things filling up the space around it, so i have to wait until I get rid of all other different things around it.
But then......

At the factory who owns it before, they used it for sending out all the bills to the customers and
also handle the accounts for all of the employees (300), and for the book keeping.

The women who used it everyday back then, was sitting inside a little airconditioned and sound insulated room with windows all around. She also used ear plugs.
It produced a lot of heat and a lot of noise too.....

I didn´t know there was more people from Sweden here, but I am also an newbie here.

My Datasaab is from around 1975 and it was used on the same factory only for
verifications to the book keeping.
But 1981 they went over to the PC systems instead.

I don´t know what model it is, I am a little curious too.
But I have never seen it on a picture either.

Sorry, i don´t have a photo of it, it is in the garage too.

It´s a small but heavy system unit, approx. 80 cm. height, 40cm. width and 60cm. deep.
A separate heavy electromechanic white keyboard and a separate small monitor in sheet metal.
Maybe 12 inches with amber lightning.
That´s the whole system.

The most of it, is colored light blue with some of it white or grey.

On the front of the system unit is a magnetic tape r/w (Compact Cassette).
And it works fine, at least at the last time i checked it.

Greetings!
J-EE

[pontus]

My Datasaab is from around 1975 and it was used on the same factory only for
verifications to the book keeping.
But 1981 they went over to the PC systems instead.

I don´t know what model it is, I am a little curious too.
But I have never seen it on a picture either.

Sorry, i don´t have a photo of it, it is in the garage too.

It´s a small but heavy system unit, approx. 80 cm. height, 40cm. width and 60cm. deep.
A separate heavy electromechanic white keyboard and a separate small monitor in sheet metal.
Maybe 12 inches with amber lightning.
That´s the whole system.

The most of it, is colored light blue with some of it white or grey.

On the front of the system unit is a magnetic tape r/w (Compact Cassette).
And it works fine, at least at the last time i checked it.

Greetings!
J-EE

Perhaps it is a D5 or D15. But since you say it is blue I'm thinking it might have been after datasaab was bought by Ericsson, they painted some of their systems blue, but if you say 1975 it is a little to early for that (I think, information about datasaab is sparse).

http://www.datasaab.se/Bildarkiv/D530/d530.htm