From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com>
>Does anyone know the approximate lifetime of the NiCd battery on a VAX
when
>it isn't turned on all the time? I've got several dead ones and it is
The battery will be dead in about 3-4 weeks of non power. The problem
with the cells
is they develop internal shorts when sitting discharged. the trick of
blasting them
using a 100,000uf cap charged to 20-30V sometimes open those shorts.
Replacement is any 3nicad pack over 100mAH that can be fitted in the
available
space. Nicad lifetime in use or discharged varies all over the map.
Allison
On Dec 24, 1:58, Tony Duell wrote:
> > Now then, I've got an RL02 pack labeled RSX-11M, which I'm hoping
> > contains a complete RSX-11M distribution. If I can get an RL02
>
> I would doubt it. From what I remmeber, RSX11M 4.x was about 3 RL02 packs
or
> 5 RL01 packs, or 1 RK07 pack. 3.x might be a bit smaller, but it would be
> a squeeze to get it onto a single RL02, I think.
You can get a working system on one RL02, you can get a minimal working
system onto a pair of RX03s (double-sided RX02), you can just barely get a
bootable system onto a pair of RX02s (I've done all of the above).
However, the distribution comes on five RL02s, of which you need at least
two (maybe three, it's a long time since I did a SYSGEN) to build a working
system.
3.x is indeed smaller -- I've seen several systems with all the system
required on an RL01 and user data on a second one.
> > controller board for the 11/73, will there be any problem with just
> > connecting one of the SMD cables to the CDC drive and copying RSX-11M
The bootstrap will be different, and what you need to do will depend on
what your controller emulates -- it could be multiple RL02s, a few RK06s or
RK07s, or a couple of RM02s. Or possibly other things; it will depend on
the controller. Even if the boot block were the same (some drive types
shared the same boot block), you still need the driver and that probably
isn't present on a working RL02 pack unless the original system had both
types of drive. It might be on your 11/73's disks, if you have RSX on
there.
As for booting from "any PDP-11", no it will depend on how the system was
built. It will depend on the machine having at least as much memory as the
original, whether it was built "mapped" or "unmapped" (memory management),
and whether it was built for separate I&D space. Other differences will
probably generate error messages, but as far as I remember won't stop it
booting.
I'm sure someone else asked about this on the list a year or two ago; it
might be worth looking through the archive.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Oops! Almost forgot...
Amongst the available machines for my project, add the following (sorry...
one is about 1 year short of being a 'classic', and none of them are VAXen).
--Mid-90's vintage Pentium system, dual-CPU, 64MB RAM.
--Two NCR 3300 series MicroChannel/486 systems, at least 32MB RAM each.
--One NCR 3450 series MCA Dual-CPU 486 system, 64MB RAM.
--One IBM PS/2-90 series, 486/50, 32MB RAM.
Thanks much.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be
superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).
On Dec 23, 14:18, David Gesswein wrote:
> >From: pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com (Pete Turnbull)
> >Is there anything in particular I should watch out for when I power it
up?
> This is an area of discussion. The full treatment [...].
Well, I would do most of that anyway, but I wondered if there were any
particular gotchas. I assume not, so I'll just take normal care :-)
> >I don't have the RX01 drives [...] I also have a set of RX02s
> My VT78 is running off of RX02's set to RX8E mode. They also have the
> DB25 plug on the back which will connect directly to the VT78 cable. If
> yours don't I should be able to dig up the pinout if you don't run across
> it in one of the manuals.
I don't see a DB25, but Tony has said something similar, and I should be
able to hack an adaptor. Thanks for the tip about RX8E mode -- that's one
of the things I was wondering about.
I assume that the difference between RX8E (= RXV11/RX11) mode, and RX28
mode, is the denisty supported? ie, RX28 mode makes the drives behave as
RX02 rather than RX01? Did'nt I read somewhere that some VT78s (or was it
only DECmates?) can use RX02 mode?
> I have WPS, RX02 and OS/78, and COS manuals online. I have a complete
VT78
> printset but I have not scanned it yet.
> http://www.pdp8.net/query_docs/query.shtml
That's extremely helpful -- thanks! I knew you had several manuals but
I've not had time to browse yet.
> What is FOCAL-GT/RT?
All I know is what the front of the manual says: FOCAL-GT is a version of
FOCAL-11 extended to use a GT40 with graphics as well as a teletype. So in
fact, it's not relevant at all, as it's meant for an 11/05. It was a red
herring, sorry.
> >I should have some 8" floppies, though I'm not sure what's on them
because
> >I've not actually found them yet :-) Is there anything I should try
> >downloading from the net?
> >
> I have OS/78, COS and WPS images online, poke around in
ftp://pdp8.net/images/
Even better, since I've unpacked al the boxes and can't find any VT78
floppies. Lots of other things I forgot I had :-) but not those.
> If you have a OS/8 variant on the floppy that may be able to use my disk
> image dump and restore programs, dumprest.zip in
> ftp://pdp8.net/software/
> I have never actually tried to use it on the VT78, I write the images
> from the 8/E.
>
> If you find you don't have any bootable floppies I can make you one.
Well, before I go that far, I might try to get 8" drives running on an old
PC that has an XT controler which *should* do SD, I think. Can I use
something like PUTR to create a disk that way?
Thanks for the suggestions and help.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
On Dec 23, 17:27, Tony Duell wrote:
> I had to do almost the reverse -- my PDP8/e is a desktop system (I don't
> have a spare rack for it at the moment), and the RX01 drive is in the
> tabletop case. I had to make up the cable to link the DB25 on the back
> of that to the RX8e card in the PDP8.
The pins used in the DB25 (and the 37-way) are arranged at one end of the
connector, in such a way that I am wondering if they're arranged to be easy
to crimp a matching connector onto a ribbon cable. And I seem to remember
that only the alternate pairs of pins are used on the RX02's 40-way Berg.
Hmm, looking at the M7744 there seem to be 11 signal lines, so that idea's
not quite right. Time to dig out the print set, I think.
> AFAIK, you can set the DIP switches in an RX02 so that it behaves
> identically to the RX01. This shouldn't give any problems.
Yes, I've found the User Manual now, and it gives the DIP switch settings
for use with RXV21/RX211, RXV11/RX11/RX8E, and RX28.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Hi
I accumulted about 30+ compact macs in the recent months (128ks,512ks etc...).
I am in the process of restoring/fixing the most interesting ones...and keeping just maybe one of each model for my collection...
Really hate to throw this SE30 board in the garbage...
Just get a bunch of horizontal stripes.
Replaced all surface mount caps. Some had obviously leaked.
All ram good. Simm Rom good.
Putting board in other functionnal Se30 case still gives me horizontal stripes.
Next step is getting scope in there but I have no schematics.
Perhaps someone who has fixed a lot of these boards can point me to where most problems were.
Thanks for reading
Claude
Fellow compu-folks,
While I appreciate the advice given so far, NONE of it has addressed my
original question. Let me clarify a couple of things.
1). I already have a perfectly good hardware firewall/router in the form
of a Zyxel Prestige 312. I do NOT need to dedicate any other system to this
task.
2). My ORIGINAL question: Given the list of machines I posted earlier,
which system would be best suited to which function?
Here are my current thoughts on this.
Mail servers: Both SPARCClassics or a Classic and that accelerated IPX I
have.
(Future) Web server: The NEC RISCStation 2200. Plenty of headroom to grow
there.
The FTP/News box: One of the MicroVAX 3's. Lots of space up front for
large-capacity hard drives.
The maintenance node: That Motorola MVME147 tower.
Ok? Any counterpoints? Thanks much.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be
superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).
Fellow CLASSICCMP'ers and NetBSD Port-VAX'ers,
I've reached the point where I need to make some decisions, and I would
appreciate some insights from those who have obviously been computing since
before I figured out how to pull apart my first alarm clock. ;-)
I'm getting ready to create my own 'server farm' to place the
bluefeathertech.com domain on. My ultimate goal is to be dependent on Qwest
(or whoever my ISP ends up being in the long run) only for:
--The DSL line
--DNS support
--Usenet (and maybe not even that if I choose to set up a caching news
server locally).
I want to take responsibility for everything else, including:
--Two mail servers (primary and backup)
--A web server (already up and running since last summer)
--An FTP system that can do double-duty as a local caching Usenet server
with a LIMITED (less than 50) newsgroups (I don't have a terabyte storage
array). ;-)
--A "maintenance" server that can be dedicated to netbooting other
systems, if need be, and that will also serve as a central recording point
for logging from the other machines.
Everything will run a version of NetBSD as its OS. This is not negotiable.
With all this in mind, and considering I have numerous retired systems
available, I'm looking for suggestions on which platform to use for which
purpose. Here is what I have active now:
SPARC IPC (Local DNS, intranet only).
SPARCClassic, 32MB RAM, 1 gig disk -- Web server.
Here are the machines I have available that have yet to be put to use.
--SPARC IPX with the Weitek PowerSPARC upgrade CPU, 32MB RAM.
--At least one, possibly two more SPARCClassics, 32MB RAM each (both under
consideration for mail servers).
--NEC RISCServer 2200, dual CPUs, 64MB RAM (Under consideration for taking
over as web server at a future point).
--Two MicroVAX 3's, 32MB RAM each.
--DEC 3000/600 Alpha system, 128MB RAM (under consideration as a future
workstation).
--VAXServer 3100, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--VAXStation 3100/M38, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--ApplicationDEC dual-CPU 486 system, 16MB RAM.
--DEC 5000/200 MIPS box, RAM unknown.
--Motorola MVME147 tower system, RAM unknown (at least 8, possibly 16MB),
under consideration for the "maintenance" node mentioned earlier.
So..... which machine gets to do what? Any thoughts? I have enough SCSI
disks to give all the machines a minimum storage space of between 520MB-1
gig. I do have one 9-gig Seagate that I'm reserving for the FTP/Usenet box.
Thanks in advance.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be
superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).
I've just got all my collection back out of storage and I'm hoping to get
my VT78 up and running after Christmas. It's not been used in about 10
years (before I got it), so obviously some care and testing is going to be
required first. And of course I have a "few" questions...
Is there anything in particular I should watch out for when I power it up?
I don't have the RX01 drives that originally came with it, but I do have
the connecting cable with a D-37 connector at the VT78 end and a DB-25 at
the other end (only 18 pins fitted). I also have a set of RX02s in the
adjacent rack, and I have the RX02 printset and manuals somewhere. I
assume I can set the RX02 (M7044) switches appropriately, and use that with
an appropriate adapter cable? Anyone know the relevant VT78 pinout?
Documentation: all I can find that's even vaguely relevant is the DECscope
User's manual, RX8/RX11 Floppy Disk System User's Manual, RX8/RX11 Floppy
Disk System Maintenance Manual, the OS/8 Software Support Manual, and a
FOCAL-GT/RT User's Manual. I have borrowed copies of the Small Computer
Handbook (that's the one for 8/e, 8/f and 8/m) and the PDP8/a Minicomputer
Handbook. I should have the RX02 User Manual somewhere too. What else am
I going to need, that's downloadable from the net?
I should have some 8" floppies, though I'm not sure what's on them becasuse
I've not actually found them yet :-) Is there anything I should try
downloading from the net?
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
If you live in Austin several computers, printers, and monitors
are available for free. The location is just north of the intersection
of Burnet and Metric on Burnet. The stuff is located by the dumpster
behind the Compass Bank building. The computers are 386 and 486 and
were working when taken off line. The Monitors are VGA some are dim.
Most of the printers are in the dumpster. A few SCSI drives and cables
are also stacked by the dumpster. All are free if any thing is left
it will be trashed Sat afternoon. What you dont want can be taken to
Computer GoodWill on 183 or to "Computers-4Kids Thrift Store" on 2928
Manor Rd. in east Austin. The "Computers-4Kids" is also a good place
to pick up old computers.
Reuben
