test-drb October 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

259 participants
770 discussions

first step getting VAX 6000-400 booted ...

by pjschilling＠gcstech.net

Gunther, Slightly off your topic, but did you convert the power to 220 single phase on your 6000? If so exactly which reference did you follow. I need to set up both my 6000 and the drive array for single phase so I can get them fired up. Thanks Phil Schilling GCS Tech -----Original Message----- From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Gunther Schadow Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 1:02 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org; port-vax(a)netbsd.org Subject: first step getting VAX 6000-400 booted ... Hi, after my pretty good VAX treck last weekend (more details coming up on my project web site at a later time) I finally have SDI disks. I hooked one up last night and did all the checking as per the RA9x manual (yes I have one plus many more, will scan those at some time...) and it seems to be O.K. (even though it was pretty messed up stored in a barn among lots of birds for many years). Here is one para about where I am at and then I have some specific questions for Geoff Roberts or Ragge or anyone who has had experienced any luck with getting a 6000 up to operation. I have bootable tape for Ultrix 4.1 and VMS 5.3 both TK50. None of them work. I seem to have no luck with the TK70 and I have no way finding out what's wrong. I tried to boot from that RA90 disk, even though I don't know what's on it. It has unit #0, so I thought it might be a system disk. But that too failed with some I/O error very early in the process. I also have a TU81+ and VMS bootable tape on 9-track, maybe that's more reliable? Tonight's project is to move the TU81+ into the basement and hook it up. I'm afraid I'll get stuck there too and what then? Network booting? Here's some more detail and questions: The TK50 boot proceeds for quite a while, although it never shows any message on the console about where it is at before it halts due to some unspecified error. However, about one or two minutes into the tape running the system-panel's FAULT light comes on and at the same time both yellow and green LEDs on the TKB70 board extinguish. That's for about a second or two. Then the lights go back to normal and the fault light turned off. Another 30 seconds to a minute tape streaming and the same light-spiel happens again: fault on, TKB70 LEDs off, and back to normal. Now a shorter time (like 10 seconds) of tape streaming and again. From now on that repeats for about 4 or 5 more cycles and finally the system is halted and console says: system halted due to previous error. However, no error message is being printed. I have no idea where I am in the process. I have tried cleaning the TK70 read/write head of course. I have tried a different copy of that Ultrix tape. It's always the same. Is this bliking of fault and shutting off of both TBK70 LEDs normal for media read errors or does it indicate something more serious? How can I tell where in the process I am? Is there an error flag somewhere in memory that I could EXAMINE to find out what is wrong? BTW: at first I had my CIBCA cards in and the boot process would halt earlier: system would say "insufficient memory for CI" and "10% or more of the memory is bad". Who is checking memory there? I could not find anything in Ultrix 4.2 sources that would generate such a message. And why would it anyway, because my system check tells me that I have 512 MB of memory OK. Or does it speak of 10% of the CIBCA's internal memory? Is there a boot flag that I could turn on that would cause the loader etc. to be more verbose? Has anyone tried booting Ultrix over the network? I am going to try that but all I have is Ultrix on TK50 (that doesn't work) and sources without any VAX running to compile them on. Is there a cross compiler suite? I'd like to compile with the DEBUG flag set. Thanks for your suggestions, -Gunther -- Gunther_Schadow-------------------------------http://aurora.rg.iupui.edu Regenstrief Institute for Health Care 1050 Wishard Blvd., Indianapolis IN 46202, Phone: (317) 630 7960 schadow(a)aurora.rg.iupui.edu------------------#include <usual/disclaimer>

22 years, 8 months

value of classic DEC machines?

by spedraja＠ono.com

>> BTW, on thread. A good clean runnung PDP-11 with SW >> and docs can fetch over $4K, to the original question. I ever wanted to get one VAX/11 730 like one that we had in my old Computing Courses school and, related with it, a couple of PDP systems, compounding all of them a little network. My hope was that these machines some day could be only trash stuff and this could be the way to get one. In the actual day I only have one PDP-11/23 PLUS that works but only has 256 Kb. of memory, and a diverse stuff that can be connected to it but needs some more additional stuff like a rack support, some boards and cables. Almost everything I need mustbe purchased. A few months ago this appears to be cheap and quick, but not now. And some items destinated to enhance the machine appears very far and expensive, like one expansion memory of 4 megabytes, or one good SCSI board. Of course, I try to don't think anymore in obtain one VAX/11 in any way, or one PDP/11 70 or 44. Even one that I could obtain in UK was cancelled because any transport agency wanted to transport it to my country. And my city even have one regular ferry line with the UK every week !! (this was bad luck, I recognize). In this context, one cause or another can do that one machine like one PDP-11/70 grows in its value until incredible limits. In fact, I check the eBay bidders many times and I see a lot of auctions are bidded and even winned by people with very few (or 0) feedback. Computer collectors matures ? I don't think so. Greetings Sergio

22 years, 8 months

Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external cdrom unit

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

> SP [mailto:spedraja@ono.com] > I'm in Spain, Antonio, in the North (Santander). > > Thanks. Your option appears to be the better and less > expensive, if you permit to me the comment :-) > I'll pack one up and try and work out postage on Monday (I'm away from the office after today). I'll let you know how much it is then, if you're still keen and noone else finds one nearer to you. If you can supply a working email address (the one above just bounced ...) then I can talk to you without bothering the rest of the list :-) Antonio arcarlini(a)iee.org

22 years, 8 months

ISA cards for free...

by r_beaudry＠hotmail.com

>Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 09:13:58 -0700 >From: Geoff Reed <geoffr(a)zipcon.net> >Subject: Re: ISA cards for free... >At 09:21 AM 10/23/01 -0400, you wrote: >>Hello all, >> >>Cleanout time again... I have the following ISA cards available for cost of >>postage only. These cards were part of a lot I picked up just for the two >>Compaticard II cards that were in the pile :-). > >You lucky bastige :) Yup, but it's the law of affinity. I bought a nice Compaticard IV (thanks Don!), but have yet to get it working with my 8" drives (no tech problems, just too busy). Then I found a Compaticard II on eBay for a decent price, then I found these two in another lot from eBay. One of them is odd in the sense that it has a D-connector out the back (37 pin, I think), but no internal 34-pin header for a floppy cable. It doesn't look modified, so I think it came from the factory that way.... Weird. Also, EVERYONE wants the SCSI cards, so I'll be putting names in a hat... I'll wait a day and then draw straws :-) Rich B.

22 years, 8 months

Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external cdrom unit

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Indeed, caddies for the RRD40 are not easy to find. At least over here in The Netherlands. I have a DECstation 3100 with Storage Expansion and RRD40, but I am also still looking for at least one caddy as I do not have any (yet). - Henk.

22 years, 8 months

Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external cdrom unit

by spedraja＠ono.com

I'm in Spain, Antonio, in the North (Santander). Thanks. Your option appears to be the better and less expensive, if you permit to me the comment :-) Greetings Sergio -----Mensaje original----- De: Carlini, Antonio <Antonio.Carlini(a)riverstonenet.com> Para: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Fecha: mi?rcoles, 24 de octubre de 2001 16:57 Asunto: RE: Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external cdrom unit >John Allain [mailto:allain@panix.com] >> I have spares for the '42. if they're the same as the '40 you >> can have one. I think they're Very common. I don't think >> I've seen a caddied CDROM drive that Doesn't use this >> type of caddy. > >The RRD42 is (IIRC) a Sony unit (possibly >with modified firmware). It takes >a "standard" caddy. > >The RRD40 is a much older Philips(?) >CD-ROM (1x) and it takes a caompletely >different form of CD holder (often >referred to as "antlers"). > >FWIW: the RRD43 is a tray-loader and >the RRD44 is back to a caddy. The >first DEC CDROM drive was the RRD50, which >was essentially a tabletop, caddyless >(flip open the top and load CD) >RRD40 (except, I believe, *slower*!!). > >I have at least one RRD40 CD holder, >which I can supply if noone nearer >can dig one up (I'm in the UK). > > >Antonio

22 years, 8 months

Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external cdrom unit

by spedraja＠ono.com

>> Do anyone has one Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external >> cdrom unit ? > >I have spares for the '42. if they're the same as the '40 you >can have one. I think they're Very common. I don't think >I've seen a caddied CDROM drive that Doesn't use this >type of caddy. This caddy don't appears to be the usual caddy that most common CDROM's used. I have one of these and don't go well. The entry ranure of the CD device is more THIN than the others, and this don't work. It can be too a problem of my caddies: I have two NEC caddies to probe, and any of it works. Greetings Sergio

22 years, 8 months

Adventure in Ersatz-11

by GOOI＠oce.nl

Stupid that I did not think of trying SJ. With SJ entering .R ADVENT starts Adventure also! I assumed that VBG was for Virtual BackGround, so nice to be comfirmed on that. Indeed, I have E11 running on an 486DX2/66, but I cannot give an idea of how fast it runs, compared to a PDP-11. Although E11 can be set to an 11/70, I have set it to /35-40 because that is also the *real* hardware I have. Never set it to /34(A) or to /44. Both those systems I also have running. Next time that I start the 11/35 I will run ADVENT on both of them and measure the time until the welcome message appears on the screen. For the "blinkenlights" check out my webpage. http://home.hetnet.nl/~tshaj/pdpsite/pdpstartpage.html then click in the left pane on the link Homebrew 'PDP-11'. At this moment only the LEDs of the data bus blink. I hope to add a piece of hardware that 'talks' to Ersatz-11 so that the address bus LEDs are also active *and* that the switches function as on the real thing. The goal is that the hardware design can facilitate *any* real PDP-11 console that has switches and lights, from an 11/10 to an 11/70. Of course, this project needs the cooperation of John Wilson, and I had already some preliminary contacts with him. He also likes the option to connect a real console to the demo(!) version of Ersatz-11. -Henk. > -----Original Message----- > From: Jerome Fine [mailto:jhfine@idirect.com] > Sent: woensdag 24 oktober 2001 0:41 > To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: Adventure in Ersatz-11 > > > >Gooijen H wrote: > > > Yes !! > > Jerome Fine replies: > > Thank you for the feed back. I was not sure how much memory > ADVENT requires. You might also try: > BOOT RT11SJ > if you wish. > > > Thanks very much, Jerome. > > Booting RT-11FB and then running ADVENT still produces > > the "Insufficient memory" fatal error. > > However, VBGEXE works fine ! > > After the "Welcome to Adventure!! Would you like instructions?" > > and entering 'YES", it goes: Somewhere nearby is Colossal Cave, > > etc. > > This means that I am now going to play Adventure. This has a > > serious drawback on the expansion of my website ... > > I am playing it on my "homebrew-PDP" with the BLINKENLIGHTS on!! > > On my website this project (early phase) has a separate link. > > BTW. What is VBGEXE, what do the letters stand for? > > Thanks again, > > Henk. > > "EXEcute Virtual BackGround program" is how I think of the letters > with the understanding that the word EXEcute is then switched > to the end. > > A few points worth noting. > > (a) If FOO.SAV requires any arguments as in: > "RUN DEV:FOO.SAV arguments" or replace RUN with VBGEXE, > then they must be on the same line. The alternative is the > put all three > parts of the command on separate lines. Otherwise, with just > "VBGEXE DEV:FOO.SAV" on the first line, somehow the request > for information expects the arguments to already be there and if not, > just exits. Entering: > VBGEXE > DEV:FOO.SAV > arguments > on three separate lines works as well. > > (b) The command: > SRUN VBGEXE.SAV/TERMINAL:n/LEVEL:m/NAME:utility > also works very well when you want to run a system job at a > higher priority. > TERMINAL is only useful with a system that has multi-terminal support > LEVEL specifies the system job number ( 1=>6 ) > NAME can be used to automatically select an executable file > called SY:utility.SAV > One minor problem is that if name is omitted, then only ONE > instance of > VBGEXE can be invoked as a system job since the high memory > GRCBs (Global > Region Control Blocks) must all have different names. I have > a small patch > with allows the user to do the command: > SRUN VBGEXE.SAV/TERMINAL:n/LEVEL:m/NAME:VBGEXm > If that is done, each GRCB is given the name VBGEXm making them all > different. This means that no program can have the name VBGEX(1=>6), > a restriction that I assume can be lived with. > > I also remember that modifying TECO to be named VMUNG so that > "VBGEXE VMUNG arguments" > would work the same as > "MUNG arguments" > but use the full 64 KBytes allowed by VBGEXE. > > By the way, I assume that you are using E11 on a PC. Which hardware > and how fast do you find that the code runs compared to any > real PDP-11 > hardware. Plus, I can't remember about the "BLINKENLIGHTS" - what > did you do to have those available? > > Sincerely yours, > > Jerome Fine > >

22 years, 8 months

Caddy for one DEC-RDD40 external cdrom unit

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

John Allain [mailto:allain@panix.com] > I have spares for the '42. if they're the same as the '40 you > can have one. I think they're Very common. I don't think > I've seen a caddied CDROM drive that Doesn't use this > type of caddy. The RRD42 is (IIRC) a Sony unit (possibly with modified firmware). It takes a "standard" caddy. The RRD40 is a much older Philips(?) CD-ROM (1x) and it takes a caompletely different form of CD holder (often referred to as "antlers"). FWIW: the RRD43 is a tray-loader and the RRD44 is back to a caddy. The first DEC CDROM drive was the RRD50, which was essentially a tabletop, caddyless (flip open the top and load CD) RRD40 (except, I believe, *slower*!!). I have at least one RRD40 CD holder, which I can supply if noone nearer can dig one up (I'm in the UK). Antonio

22 years, 8 months

CoCo 3 hot or hmmm

by tlindner＠ix.netcom.com

> One of my swapmeet friends showed up today with Radio Shack Color Computer > 3 in the original box, is it worth anything? (no clue on condition or > completeness etc., but I could look next time). I think they are cool. But then I have been acquiring CoCo stuff for the last twenty-one years! A 128K CoCo 3 with box and manuals is probably worth $25.00. -- tim lindner tlindner(a)ix.netcom.com "Life. Don't talk to me about life." - Marvin, the android

22 years, 8 months

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test-drb October 2001