Hi gang, I need your help in finding something.
Some of you know I rescued an IBM 9370 system from my now-ex employer in
mid-'97. It is considered as a small mainframe; a CMOS version of the
S/370. I could only fit the racked components into the old house back then,
not the two rather large rack enclosures (too wide and deep and weighed
over 139 kg or 300+ pounds). Also, I certainly could not keep the 500+
pound 3262-5 printer! So, I had to scrap those large items.
At that time, I carefully stacked the DASD (disk drives) upon a sturdy
wooden crate and made a hefty roll-around pallet for the previously
rack-mounted 9375-60 Processor (weighs 132 kg or just over 290 pounds.) The
9347 tape drive was set upon the 9375-60. I cabled everything up and set to
getting it IPL'd. The system uses a PS/2 Model 30 (8086) as the System
Console and IPL device. Some sort of failure occured at IPL that I could
not debug so I let it set as we got rather busy looking for, buying, fixing
up and ultimately moving into this house.
It looks like I will be able to just squeeze a 9309-2 rack down through the
basement door and stairway in this new house. Therefore, I'm looking for a
single IBM 9309 Model 2 rack enclosure. Should be empty. I already have a
Power Control Compartment, operator panel and wiring I salvaged from the
old racks. A six or ten inch stabilizer (anti-tipover stabilizer) would
also be desired.
The catch is that it should be sort of nearby my hometown in Western NY
State. Shipping would be too costly otherwise. I'm unemployed up to now and
should save my severance pay for real bills and more remodeling of this
house. See sig below for location. However, I can pay for gas money and
meals for anyone who rolls one into their pickup truck and hauls it out
here! :-)
You see, I have what is understood as being Serial Number One of the 9370
production release. My employer bought the first 9370 available when we
upgraded our data processing system in 1987 from the old Hewlett-Packard
HP250-30 system (which is also in my collection!).
Now that we have a house in which a Model 2 rack enclosure should just fit
into the basement door and stairs, I want to give the 9375-60 processor,
9347 tape drive and several 9332-400 DASD's a decent place to live as it is
a bit historically significant being system S/N 1.
These 9309 racks were used not just for 9370's but for other IBM machines
such as the early AS/400's and other systems and/or their mass storage
devices, so they should be around. More and more of these old systems are
being taken out of service and usually junked nowadays.
Let me know if you hear of or have any 9309-2 racks!! Or even the shorter
9309-1 racks (need two of 'em then.)
Thanks so much for the help!
Sincerely, Chris
-- --
=======================================================
Christian R. Fandt Phone: +716-488-1722
31 Houston Avenue email: cfandt(a)netsync.net
Jamestown, New York
14701-2627 USA
On Wed, 9 Dec 1998 ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
> Or, of course, released some of his software under a different license.
> AFAIK, nobody, not even RMS, has to release anything under the GPL if
> they don't want to.
*sigh*
It's politics again, as the whole OSS thing. There is the concept that
releasing source code with the program is good, and then there is
everything else, like stuff about Linux being renamed to GNU/Linux, etc.
They're just being pedantic, and whoever wins gets the throne though
there is no real issue to fight over (and no real throne)
> -tony
>
----------------------------------------------------
Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor
On Sun, 6 Dec 1998, "Richard A. Cini, Jr." <rcini(a)msn.com> wrote:
> Does anyone have the 1/83 issue of Byte Magazine? In it is part 3 of an
> article by Steve Ciarcia about the MPX-16 PC-compatible SBC. I have parts
> 1
> and 2, so I need the third.
>
I see Barry beat me to it and found the article for you. I actually have
Ciarcia's original prototypes for the MPX-16 motherboard, and some paperwork
>from his project file.
Do you suppose I should e-bay them into university tuition for my kids? :)
If you can't find what you need in the Byte article, it's possible there's
more info buried in the notes I got from Steve.
Arlen
--
Arlen Michaels amichael(a)nortelnetworks.com
At 05:34 PM 12/8/98 -0600, Doug Yowza wrote:
>According to the interview I read (from 1996), Stallman considers Linux to
>be the fullfillment of his mission to make Unix free, but he might be a
>bit unhappy that Linus is seen as the creator of something that couldn't
>have been pulled off without his help. Linux would be a sorry joke
>without GNU.
Can't wait to hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth with the first
release of the first Microsoft Linux CD.
- John
< > After reading some of the sentiments posted recently, what I'm
< > hearing is that the price of Altair's is a bubble without
< > underlying value, that is, they may be somewhat rare but aren't
< > really great machines, like a Ferarri or whatever, and that
< > the BASIC software for it wasn't very innovative.
<
<
< That's basically my view.
Same here. Historically important but generally poor design.
I'd say machines like the NorthStar Horizon, CCS 2xxx series and
CompuPro systems did more to put systems in business and other non
hobby applications. I have several old enough to vote and they still
run well.
< > Also the Altair was a very open hardware platform, you had
< > the schematics, you got the educational experience of
No one would have bought it without! Assembling it would have been far
harder too!
Hans Franke wrote:
>The Web-Disk runs perfectly on a 8 MB machine and I can't find any
>information to have 640K plus 8MB, which would be a rather unusual
>configuration for a PC, since you need a 12 SIMM slot board with
>8x1MB + 4x256K, And 256 KB SIMs have been only a very short
>time (back in the age of '286es and '386es) widely available.
What type of machine are you trying to boot it on? I've tried to run in on a
Compaq 486 33MHz with 8Mb. It goes through the booting process until it
reachs 100% and then states that the machine does not have enough memory to
run. Of course I have no idea about PC memory, the Amiga appears simple
compared to a PC :)
Also, the Compaq has a weird non-standard interface that connects the 3.5
IDE hard drive to the board. Does anyone know where you can find these type
of connectors in the UK. I've tried Compaq but they say that they haven't
had any of these for years.
--
Gareth Knight
Amiga Interactive Guide | ICQ No. 24185856
http://welcome.to/aig | "Shine on your star"
FYI
>To: "Jason Willgruber" <roblwill(a)usaor.net>
>From: Joe <rigdonj(a)intellistar.net>
>Subject: HP-HIL Re: OT HP vectra networking
>In-Reply-To: <01be219c$1fad04c0$bb8ea6d1@the-general>
>
>FYI
>
>
>Jason,
>
>At 08:43 PM 12/6/98 -0800, you wrote:
>>Hi!
>>
>>The connector on my Vectra has two dots on the 'cable' of the plug depicted
>>above the connector. I"m assuming that this means I can connect two devices
>>to the one connector?
>
> No, the two dots tells you which end of the HP_HIL cable to plug into
that port. They have nothing to do with how many things you can connect to
the port. The two ends of the cables are different electrically but the
same physically. You have to be sure and match the number of dots on the
socket with the number of dots on the plug that you plug into it. Most of
the HIL devices have two ports, one that goes back to the computer (maybe
through another device) and the second port lets you hang even more HIL
devices on the chain. Within limits, you can hang as many HP-HIL devices as
you like on the port. I think the only limitaion is the amount of power
that the computer can supply to the devices. Generally that means about 9
devices. However, most people only put a keyboard and mouse on there.
>>
>>What would you want for a mouse (someone offered me a keyboard for the cost
>>of shipping if he can get it)? Do I need any special drivers to the mouse,
>>or is it automatically recognized?
>
> It's recognized automaticly but some software won't use it. For example,
there's only one piece of software for the HP 150 Touch Screen II that will
use the mouse. I expect the newer HP-UX software will make more use of it.
>
> Joe
>>
>>ThAnX,
>>--
>> -Jason Willgruber
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, 8 December 1998 13:35
Subject: Re: WHOOPEE!
>If you think the first paragraph is bad, you should try the UK at about
>the same time. You had to rent the entire modem from the GPO (Post
>Office, who also ran the telephone system). And you had to have a
>'barrier box' (a box containing zeners and fuses) on the RS232 port of
>the modem, just in case your terminal decided to send mains down to the
>modem.
Australia was almost as bad. The then PMG Dept. (The phone 'company' was
part of the Post Office at that time) were rather hostile about plugging
anything but a phone in. Initially a "line isolation" unit was required
between any 3rd party device and the phone, and only a PMG technician could
install it. Eventually, they started to test and approve the modems etc
themselves, but it was virtually impossible to get anything homebuilt
through that process, since it involved providing examples for the PMG to
test to destruction by pouring enourmous voltages into them to ensure that
they would not permit said destructive voltage to reach the phone system.
Even now, we can't legally use modems that are not Austel approved, even if
they are ok under FCC or British Telecom regs. There was a time when lots
of BBS's ran illegal HST Modems, which were not imported into Australia, and
hence not type approved at the time.
Cheers
Geoff
Computer Room Internet Cafe
Port Pirie
South Australia.
netcafe(a)pirie.mtx.net.au
My boss has just told me to get rid of the Fujitsu 9-track tape drive
that's been sitting unused in the corner of our machine room for the
past several years. It's about ten years old, its model number is
M2444A, and I think it uses an SMD interface. It's in a 5-foot-tall
rack. The bottom of the rack also contains three hard disks of unknown
capacity.
If you want it, you'll have to pick it up in Chicago. Is anyone interested?
eric
