Hello, all:
Well, I got the RD52 external HD on my MicroVAX-I working tonight. I swapped
the blown power supply with a new surplus one. Had to redrill the case, but oh
well. I also figured out that the VAX external drive cable is the same as a
DB50 SCSI cable.
So, the VAX now recognizes that there is an external drive device at
/dev/rra1h but it complains that it has a bad superblock and a wrong magic
number. It also once complained of a hard error "sn16". Sounds to me that it
needs to be reformatted, or whatever the Ultrix equivalent of "fdisk /mbr" is
to rebuild the boot block.
Here are a few questions:
1. Since I don't know what is on the drive in the first place, how
do I avoid a permanent destruction of the file system yet still
correcting the problem?
2. If <1> is not possible, how do I go about fixing the problem. I
could not find a program named "fdisk", so either it had been
deleted from the root partition, or it's under another name.
3. The only way that I could get the drive to respond is to put
the cable in the middle connector (J2). The drive did not
respond at all in J1 or J3. There must be jumpers somewhere
that govern this, like on the buss extender card, but I have
no jumper map.
4. {unrelated} Every time I restart the uVAX, it complains about
the time needing to be reset. Do the uVAXen have internal
clock batteries that have to be recharged/replaced?
TIA for any help!
+============================================+
| Rich Cini/WUGNET |
| <rcini(a)msn.com> |
| MCP Windows 95 and Windows Networking, |
| Charter ClubWin! Member (6) and a |
| collector of classic computers |
+============================================+
<> Despite their possible historical significance, I've never been able
<> to justify keeping a Microvax I around. The 11/730 - which for most
<
<I suppose it'd be a relatively UN-power-sucking way to enjoy or learn
<VAX assembly language.
Microvax-I uses more power than a microvax-II. The lowest power VAXen of
the lot may be the vs2000 or the 3100m38s as they are in the PC power use
range and performance is good(maybe the best!) on a per watt basis.
The microvax-I was historically significant as the first q-bus vax and
smallest of the lot with the shortest production lifetime. Performance
wise it was the bottom of the barrel. Most uVAX-Is were upgraded to
uVAX-IIs (about 3x faster!) shortly after introduction. The uVAX-II
offered 1meg of ram on card, FPU and a faster memory interface(PMI)
along with denser 1mb, 2mb, and 4mb (and later 8/16mb) cards. This made
a 5mb microvax-II possible in two cards instead of 7 using uVAX-I! Typical
uVAX-IIs were 5 or 9mb with DEQNA, DHV11 and varying disk systems including
the RA60, RA80 and RA81. This forced the phaseout of the 730 in favor of a
smaller, lower cost, slightly better performing system with lower power
needs.
Allison
A friend (yes, Virginia, I do have a friend) has a Mac plus for sale. 80 MB
HDD (I think)...software includes Claris Works and some other stuff. He
wants $300 US, but will probably be willing to negotiate.
manney(a)nwohio.com
<Well, I got the RD52 external HD on my MicroVAX-I working tonight. I swapp
<the blown power supply with a new surplus one. Had to redrill the case, but
A microvax-1? Really? Are you sure of that?
Most of them couldn't support enough memory to run netbsd or ultrix.
Generally in their day it was 2mb, sometimes 3mb. The reason was the CPU
was two boards and memory at the time was either 512k or 1mb per board and
there was only 8 slots in a ba23. so the typical line up was cpu, 4 memory
cards, an rqdx2 disk and a DHV or DZV serial card. the problem was that
would put the power supply 20% over the top!
<1. Since I don't know what is on the drive in the first place, how
< do I avoid a permanent destruction of the file system yet still
< correcting the problem?
Well you have to know whats on the drive first. I've never seen a MV-1
running ultrix though it may be possible.
<
<2. If <1> is not possible, how do I go about fixing the problem. I
< could not find a program named "fdisk", so either it had been
< deleted from the root partition, or it's under another name.
If it's ultrix then most unix conventions apply.
If you booted in single user mode you do not have full access to the system.
<3. The only way that I could get the drive to respond is to put
< the cable in the middle connector (J2). The drive did not
< respond at all in J1 or J3. There must be jumpers somewhere
< that govern this, like on the buss extender card, but I have
< no jumper map.
???? is this a ba23 or ba123? In a ba23 the rd52 disk is connected via
two cables to bulkhead J7 and J2. if its a ba123 with M9058 distribution
board then it's rd0(bottom most connector pair).
A third possibility is a two box ba23 system using a RQDXE, though drive 0
is nominally in the main box and the rqdxe is only needed for 3 or more
drives (including the floppy).
<4. {unrelated} Every time I restart the uVAX, it complains about
< the time needing to be reset. Do the uVAXen have internal
< clock batteries that have to be recharged/replaced?
<< TIA for any help!
Yes on the back of the console connector there is a battery pack of three
aaa sized nicads. pull them and charge them by hand. if they don't charge
you can find similar packs in many dec systems (rainbow, any ba23 or ba123
or vs2000 box). Also you can use any three cell pack for cordless phones
that fit.
Allison
Announcing the First Annual Vintage Computer Festival!
------------------------------------------------------
Mark your calendars! The first ever public celebration of vintage
computers will take place at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton,
California this October 25th and 26th.
The Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) is the first event of its kind
anywhere in the world. This two day festival will feature presentations
and workshops by notable computer industry figures and vintage computer
hobbyists. There will also be an on-site, hands-on vintage computer
exhibition. Experiment with the classic computers of yesteryear!
Each year a computer from the past is placed in the Vintage Computer
Spotlight. This year we focus on the Apple ][. To celebrate the 20th
anniversary of this classic, we will be giving away an original Apple ][
personal computer! Each person who attends the VCF is automatically
entered into the drawing!
Both seasoned and new computer collectors will enjoy workshops and
panels to share ideas and learn about finding, acquiring, restoring,
and enjoying vintage computers.
The VCF also features the Vintage Computer Flea Market. Find those old
computers, peripherals, manuals, and programs you've been looking for!
The flea market is the ideal way for new comers to the field to start
their own collection or for seasoned collectors to add to their existing
stash.
Celebrate the good old days of computing! Attend the First Annual Vintage
Computer Festival!!!
When: October 25-26th, 9:00AM - 5:00PM daily
Where: Alameda County Fairgrounds, Pleasanton, California
Admission: Pre-registered ($SAVE$)
Individual: $15
Family: $24 (two adults and four children)
Benefits of pre-registration include:
o Access to speakers, workshops, flea market and
exhibition
o Pre-paid parking
To pre-register, send a check or money order to:
Vintage Computer Festival
4275-29 Rosewood Drive #161
Pleasanton, California 94588
Please make checks payable to "Vintage Computer Festival"
At-the-door
o Speakers, Workshops, Flea Market and Exhibition
Individual: $10.00
Family: $16.00
o Flea Market and Exhibition only
Individual: $5.00
Family: $10.00
Please note: "At-the-door" rate is for a one day pass
only and does not include parking.
For more information including the latest list of speakers and workshops
please check out:
http://www.siconic.com/vcf
or send e-mail to:
mailto:vcf@siconic.com
SEE YOU AT THE VINTAGE COMPUTER FESTIVAL!!!
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Had a pretty good week picked up the following:
1. Pet 2001-8 with manuals (5.00)
2. Heath HTX-10 about the size of a C64, anyone have info on this one. Also
need the 9pin power supply for this unit (5.00)
3. TRS-80 pocket printer parts
4. Apple Color Plus non working (5.00)
5. HP86 with 82936A Rom Drawer cartridge, 82909A 128k Memory module, 82908A
64k Memory module (4.00)
6. VIC Music Composer (.80)
7. VIC Forth (.80)
8. A 1' X 2' box full of new and used parts (still have to get into it)
Well that's my finds for the week, have a big computer auction to attend on
Saturday.
Stopped at a new used-computer store and...
After talking and business cards he offeres me a tandy 1000(25-1051) with
docs, cables everything but a monitor and disks.
Get it home open it up and it's got:
20meg HDcard
Diamond trackstar (128k apple board uses appleDOS3.3)
1200baud modem
Docs and the tech manual for the t-1000.
not bad, eh!
I need to fire it up and see what's on the harddrive (hope its the
trackstart files).
Allison
Paul Pierce <prp(a)hf.intel.com> wrote:
> The A-series computers are stack machines. Its a very interesting
> architecture. At the time of the B5000 series it was considered ahead of
> its time, but now that architecture is essentially dead. The most recent
> new stack machine I know of is the original HP 3000 minicomputer from
> the late 70's early 80's.
The "classic" HP 3000 is identified by its series. Numbers <= 70, no
designation at all, and the letters "CX" alone mean it's the classic
stack machine. Numbers >= 900 mean it's a PA-RISC 3000.
The first HP 3000s were shipped in November 1972, and were pretty much
a disaster -- HP ended up recalling them. But they kept plugging at
it and turned it into what I think is one of the finest
transaction-processing systems available. I'm not sure when the last
classics were introduced, but I think HP continued to sell some of the
low-end ones (Micro 3000 GX/LX/RX) into the early 1990s, certainly
into the late 1980s. The last of them go out of support life over the
next year or so, though.
HP 9000 series 500 (520, 540, 550, was there a 530?) are 32-bit stack
machines inside, with the potential for multiple CPUs and IOPs on the
larger systems. I think HP now has something called a T500 that is
PA-RISC based; the old series 500s are pretty much forgotten (but not
all gone, I have a 520 in storage that I need to reanimate). HP sold
these from the early-to-mid 1980s before they were superseded by fast
Motorola 680[23]0s and PA-RISC systems (series 300/400 and 800/700).
-Frank McConnell "I want my MPE" (w/apologies to Dire Straits)
<fmc(a)reanimators.org>
Uhhhh...was it my deodorant?
=-)
Anthony Clifton - WireHead Prime
On Fri, 5 Sep 1997, Faiaz, Michael C. HSD wrote:
> unsubscribe
>
> ----------
> From: Anthony Clifton
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: DEC Scrounging & SWTPC 6800 Update
> Date: Thursday, September 04, 1997 5:21PM
>
>
>
> (BTW, I'm going to leave this thread public because I think it might
> be of interest to collectors new to the PDP series and who might run
> across machines like this.)
>
> > > An 11/84 CPU alone apparently pulls 1100 watts
> >
> > A *fully-loaded* 10.5" 11/84 box will pull 1100 watts. A very much
> > reduced configuration - just a CPU, memory, and (non KDA50) disk
> controller
> > - will only draw 100 watts or so.
> >
> Well the backplane looked about half full roughly. So this is sounding
> a bit more hopeful. I have $10 a month to spend on this machine for
> electricity at about 8 cents per kilowatt hour so....
>
> > I believe the spec for the RA-80 spinup surge current is 40 Amps. While
> > running, it's probably about 7 amps.
> >
> I didn't have ALOT of time to look the machine over but I did look in
> the
> back of the cabinet containing the TU80 and the RA80 and saw a sticker
> that said "30 amps" which I ASSUMED referred to the RA80. I only ever
> owned RL and RK series drives when I was collecting PDPs in the early
> 90s...what are the size etc specs on the RA80? A friend of mine and I
> built an 11/34 system with 2 or 3 RK series drives and an older model
> DEC 9 track drive. So I'm not completely ignorant but I'm still getting
> used to the CURRENT state of the art in throwaway PDPs.
>
> > A TU80 doesn't take much; about 50 watts with power off, and less than
> > 200 watts with the blower and reels running.
> >
> Aha! This IS sounding alot more hopeful. Basically, if I could come up
> with a controller to drive modern SCSI drives or something a bit less
> power hungry, I could probably afford to run this guy at least all
> weekend
> every weekend or something like that. Hmmm...I wonder if there's any
> market for converting 9 track media to more modern forms? It'd only
> take $60.00 a month, with modern drives, to run the beastie 24 hours...
> perhaps less. =-)
>
> > (presumably) is in the 11/84 will also talk to RA7n's and RA9n's. With
> > a Emulex/CMD/Dilog ESDI or SCSI controller in the box, you can even hook
> > up perfectly modern 3.5" hard drives.
> >
> Hmmmm...what's strange is that they claim they upgraded the drive around
> two years ago. Upgrading TO an RA80 seems a bit strange in 1995. But
> the
> front of the drive said RA80 so....
>
> > > Now for my request, if anyone has schematics or technical drawings of
> this
> >
> > What do you specifically need? A print set for a complete configuration
> > is several hundred 11x17" sheets...
>
> Sheesh. I guess that's true...the print set for my old 34 was several
> 'books' of many pages a piece if I recall correctly. Ummm...if anyone
> has the print set for an 11/84 they'd like to go to a good home then
> let me know. =-) (If not, I'll probably run across one one of these
> days.)
>
> The machine DOES work apparently and the guy who operated it showed it
> to
> me today. He claims that it worked fine when they shut it down 2 years
> ago (yeah yeah I know) and it's just been sitting in the corner since
> then. He claims that if I plugged it in, which I didn't have an
> opportunity to do, it would come right up into RSX. We'll see after
> next week. One other obstacle is that it all has the funky twisty
> safety
> plugs on the AC cords but it's configured for 125 v etc so I'll replace
> the plugs, like I did on my 34, with high quality normal ones.
>
> Anthony Clifton - WireHead Prime
>
> Burroughs machines are rare, especially one this old. Burroughs had a
> policy of taking back their old machines in trade, which they would then
> destroy to avoid having used machines in competition with their new
> ones.
Rumor around here is that when it came time to get rid of the old Burroughs,
Burroughs sold a new machine to the university that bid on our old machine
for less than what they had bid on the old machine.
Everyone here assumed it was because Burroughs was pissed that we had
gone with big VAXen; but perhaps that was just the way Burroughs worked.
> The A-series computers are stack machines. Its a very interesting
> architecture. At the time of the B5000 series it was considered ahead of
> its time, but now that architecture is essentially dead. The most recent
> new stack machine I know of is the original HP 3000 minicomputer from
> the late 70's early 80's. It is inherently difficult to get a stack
> machine to run very fast, like today's superscalar microprocessors. But
> a stack architecture results in small code. The virtual machine for Java
> byte code is a stack architecture.
http://www.ptsc.com/ describes ShBoom, a stack machine designed by
Chuck Moore (aka the inventor of Forth). The theory behind ShBoom, and
his more recent stack machine, is that if you use a wide word (in this
case 32 bits) you can fetch a whole bunch of tiny instructions at once
then blaze through them. In the case of ShBoom, the core runs at 100Mhz
while the external bus runs slower. Since each opcode is a byte, he can
fetch four opcodes at once with the slower bus rate yet keep the fast
internal core fed.
Chuck Moore also has some newer designs. F21 and P21, for instance.
These are 21-bit machines with (IIRC) a 20-bit external bus. Each
opcode is five bits, so (again) he's fetching four instructions with
each external bus transaction.
There was a big argument on comp.arch recently about just how hard it
is to go superscalar on a stack machine. IIRC, a Unisys A series
engineer was heavily involved in that discussion. Perhaps interested
folks can dredge it up using http://www.dejanews.com/. I don't recall
whether there was a conclusion to the argument (is there ever a conclusion
on usenet?); a lot of the discussion was over my head.
Roger ivie
ivie(a)cc.usu.edu
