>Isn't the RRD50 the one with the wierd "pincer" caddy? I've found it to be
>very bootable and useful. Sure it's *SLOW*, but hey, the important thing is
>that it boots! OTOH, if you try and hook it up to something like an
>AlphaStation 200 4/233 I know for a fact it won't work.
No - the RRD50 is the tabletop device with a pop-up lid.
I'm pretty sure it is slower than the (later) RRD40. Both
used the KRQ50 Qbus interface, although the RRD40
was also available with an internal converter board that
turned it into a SCSI drive. Quite popular in the early
VAXstation 3100s, IIRC.
I have an RRD40 right in front of me and (again, AFAIK)
it can be used as a boot device but unlike the RRD50,
it's only dog slow :-)
The RRD40 and RRD50 both came from Philips (I think).
Both used their LMSI(??) interface. The converter board
that helped the RRD40 do SCSI was reputed to be "not that
good". Put another way, the RRD40 has a bunch of quirks.
I'm not in the least suprised that an AlphaStation turns up
its nose at it. (I vaguely remember some alpha console
command that can tweak the SCSI interface - perhaps
you can persuade the two to get on that way ... assuming
you can find the details which I've helpfully forgotten!)
Antonio
>I'm not sure you'll be able to even run V5.5-4Hx (I think that's the high mark
>for V5.5 and I'm not sure what the 'x' was), and I'm pretty sure you can't
>run plain V5.5. You might need to go with V6.0 in order to have VMS support
>your hardware. If you can get someone to build you tapes, I'd recommend
>getting V7.2 or V7.3 instead of earlier versions if you can, as all the doc's
>are available online.
While I would agree with the recommendation to go with a modern
OpenVMS variant (V7.3 or V7.2), the VAX 4000-200 was in fact
supported as far back as VMS V5.4-2. TF85 support may not go
back quite that far: I don't have the old VMS SPDs to hand.
Antonio
> The RRD50 is only theoretically bootable ... it's less than a 1x drive
> so it takes sometime longer than the current age of the Universe to
> actually boot any OS ...
>
> An RRD42 or later does quite reasonably.
>
> Antonio
Isn't the RRD50 the one with the wierd "pincer" caddy? I've found it to be
very bootable and useful. Sure it's *SLOW*, but hey, the important thing is
that it boots! OTOH, if you try and hook it up to something like an
AlphaStation 200 4/233 I know for a fact it won't work.
Zane
>http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/index.html on CDs... of course, if you
>can't find a bootable CDROM drive like a RRD5x, or don't have SCSI, that
The RRD50 is only theoretically bootable ... it's less than a 1x drive
so it takes sometime longer than the current age of the Universe to
actually boot any OS ...
An RRD42 or later does quite reasonably.
Antonio
The TF85/TZ85/TK85 are all the same basic drive, with
DSSI/SCSI/STI interfaces respectively.
Everything up to the TZ87 can read TK50 (CompacTape)
and TK70 (CompacTape II) carts.
The TZ87N was a cost-reduced TZ87, some of the cost
saving coming from dropping the backwards compatibility.
Beyond the TZ87N, nothing (AFAIK) can read TK50 or TK70
carts.
Antonio
> Just picked up a 4000-200 for next to nothing, but I need to install VMS
> on TK50, anyone have a VMS Install, maybe ver 4 or 5 or higher???? (I'm
> not familiar with a TF85, will it read TK50's and TK70's..... shaking the
> dust off of my near forgotten Vax skills {or here-in lack of})
>
> Curt
I'm not sure you'll be able to even run V5.5-4Hx (I think that's the high mark
for V5.5 and I'm not sure what the 'x' was), and I'm pretty sure you can't
run plain V5.5. You might need to go with V6.0 in order to have VMS support
your hardware. If you can get someone to build you tapes, I'd recommend
getting V7.2 or V7.3 instead of earlier versions if you can, as all the doc's
are available online.
IIRC, the TF85 can read TK50's and TK70's just fine, however, you can't
write them. Once you get the system up and running you'll probably want
some Compact III DLT tapes (or does it require Compact II tapes).
I take it this is the first VMS system you've owned? If so you'll probably
find some useful pointers in the VAX section of
http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/decemu.html
Zane
> Thanks Eric, I was hoping based on the numbering that it might be backward
> compatible, I'd just never heard of a TF drive before.
>
> Curt
More or less
TF = DSSI
TZ = SCSI
Zane
> Just picked up a 4000-200 for next to nothing, but I need to install VMS
> on TK50, anyone have a VMS Install, maybe ver 4 or 5 or higher???? (I'm
> not familiar with a TF85, will it read TK50's and TK70's..... shaking the
> dust off of my near forgotten Vax skills {or here-in lack of})
You should be able to read TK50 and TK70 tapes on a TF85.
--
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net
Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/
+15V
-----Original Message-----
From: John Honniball [mailto:coredump@gifford.co.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 3:15 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Olivetti M24 monitor
<snip>
The Olivetti monochrome monitor was powered with 12V from the M24.
The colour monitor had its own internal power supply.
Beware of plugging a parallel printer into the M24's video
connector by accident (same "D" connector). It'll blow up
chips inside the printer due to that 12V supply!
--
John Honniball
coredump(a)gifford.co.uk
Hi all
I need to kludge a momitor for an M24 (which is
running some kind of a cutting table for making
rubber boats)
I remember the machine from student days, and the
monitor was, as far as I remember, not standard
at all.
Any ideas?
Wouter
