Just grabbed 3 HP 7980 9 track tape drives on there way
to the scraper. I have too many already.(20+) free for pickup
in Kent wa. 2 are SCSI, 1 is HPIB. ((1) is a 7980S)
Front loading, all look to be in good condition
No Shipping
- Jerry
Jerry Wright
Hi Guys,
Recently acquired some VAXen - I have a soft spot in my heart
for VAX/VMS as I worked professionally as a user on a VAX/VMS
system for quite some years, however I have little to no
experience from a system administration standpoint.
What I have:
VAXstation 3100, currently running NETBSD
VAXserver 3100 - Installed hobby version of OPENvms on it.
VAXstation 4000 VLC - Has a full VMS 5.5 installed on it.
Datability VCP300 16-port LAT terminal server (The VLC
appears to load LAT networking when it boots, but I haven't
looked into it further yet)
My immediate concern is that I'd like to make a full backup
of the VMS 5.5 on the VLC, and also attempt restoring it to
another drive. Not quite sure what the best way to go about
this is, and I want to make sure I *DON'T* cause any damage
to it in the process, so I'm looking for someone experienced
in VMS who can give be a bit of advice/guidance.
I've got some documentation that I've dug up on the web
including a VMS administrators guide, and I also have the
full VMS 4.0 documentation set (about 3-feet of paper!).
I've seen reference to booting stand-along BACKUP - I do have
the OPENvms install CD which appears to boot to a configuration
which can do stand-alone BACKUP (at least it can restore from a
backup image on the CD).
Possible backup media that I have available:
- A pair of Exabyte HH-CTS 8mm DAT tape drives
- A SONY SDT-5010 4mm DAT tape drive
- SCSI ZIP Drive
- Another SCSI hard drive
Are any of these feasable as a backup medium for VAX/VMS?
(All three of these machines have SCSI ports) If so, any pointers
as to how to configure the drives/media to be recognized and
accessable to the stand-alone backup, and info on how to perform
such a backup would be most appreciated. I'll probably pull the
original drive and install OPENvms to another drive for a "test
run" before I try and backup the original system.
Related topic: Keyboard/Mouse emulator?
So far most of what I've been doing has been via a serial console,
however both the 4000 VLC and the VAXstation 3100 support keyboard
and mouse - The VLC has a VGA video connector, and I've found a
couple of LCD monitors supporting sync-on-green which work on it.
I've also scrounged up an LK-201 keyboard which works, and I'm
working on acquiring a DEC mouse ... I did figure out how to activate
"dead rodent mode" which lets me do mouse movements through the
keyboard, and DEC windows does come up and run!
I found details of the keyboard and mouse protocol in the back of
a Microvax manual, and have been toying with the idea of building
a small embedded controller to take a PC (PS2) keyboard and mouse,
and emulate the DEC equivalents to the VAX - would anyone else be
interested in this?
Regards,
Dave
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html
On 14 Jan, 2008, at 19:11, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
>
> I am looking for a home for a monster tape drive:
> http://www.fpns.net/willy/forsale/TAPEDRV.HTM
> Hope this isn't too off topic. Is it worth perserving?
> I don't have the interest, nor space. Anyone interested, esp
> a club should get in touch, its heading towards the dumpster.
> Will
What continent is it on?
Is it half inch tape, one inch or quarter inch? Any idea how many
tracks? Someone said it was 61-63, well half inch drives then had ten
tracks, later seven tracks and later still nine tracks. Some analogue
recorders had even more tracks.
Roger Holmes
Owner of a dozen Ampex TM4 ten track drives.
A friend of mine has a Coleco Adam (and bits to go with the system) that
he wants to get rid. I do not yet have the complete list of what he
has. Anyone here interested in it? It is located in Shelton, WA. It
sounded like it was free, but I need to confirm that.
alan
Coleco ADAM! Now there's a system seldom heard these days!
I'm an old Adamite at heart. There may be someone on Coleco Adam lists
that may be interested.
Murray--
"Computing forever!"
Message: 9
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:42:54 -0800
From: Alan Perry <alanp at snowmoose.com> <alanp at snowmoose.com>
Subject: Anyone interested in a Coleco Adam?
To: cctech at classiccmp.org
Message-ID: <478B127E.5090205 at snowmoose.com> <478B127E.5090205 at snowmoose.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
A friend of mine has a Coleco Adam (and bits to go with the system) that
he wants to get rid. I do not yet have the complete list of what he
has. Anyone here interested in it? It is located in Shelton, WA. It
sounded like it was free, but I need to confirm that.
alan
Hi,
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 "Martin Bishop" wrote:
> IIRC someone suggested using a multisync monitor, that is likely to be
> the cheapest and simplest way ahead. SyncOnGreen to Grn should give
> you a nice green greyscale - white would require a video buffer (the
> problem is loading by the terminators - which might just be
> switchable / linkable). However UK prices for 19" NEC MultiSyncs are
> about 200, i.e. double the price of cheap TFTs. Perhaps you can pick
> up a small second hand one.
>
> Boxes are available to convert RGB to VGA, see e.g.
> http://www.cadesigns.co.uk/mi1a.htm. Not cheap, just slightly less
> than a multisync monitor, but the target market is banking. I have
> used these for (VaxStation) VCB02 (RGB) to (VGA) TFT conversion.
> Although the Hz fit of the screen image can be a bit "iffy" -
> infinitely better than working on the console port.
>
> If you wish to roll your own, which I'm certain you don't, the
> Intersil EL4583 data sheet and associated apps notes are a good place
> to start. Additionally, the apps notes contain a fair bit of
> background information which may be of interest.
Thanks for the tip. Luckily it seems the video converter board I want to
use has separate TTL-level horizontal & vertical syncs, just like VGA.
I still need to determine the video signal amplitude, but it's looking
like I'll just be able to use a resistor to connect it to the green line
of the monitor. My monitor has 5 BNC inputs and can be set to high-Z,
but I'll be running it through a KVM switch which has normal VGA
connectors. The KVM probably has on-board termination. The amplitude
probably isn't sufficient to drive 75-ohm red, green and blue lines
without buffering/amplification.
Horizontal sync frequency will be around either 31kHz or 54kHz depending
on the mode (pixel clock 49.5MHz or 72MHz), so most modern (CRT)
monitors should be able to handle that. Interestingly, looking at the
board circuitry there seems to be a facility to provide your own pixel
clock, so the horizontal & vertical frequencies could be adjusted if
necessary. (Or maybe that was only used for factory testing.)
-- Mark
-------------Original Message:
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:07:00 +0000
From: g-wright at att.net
Subject: Keybard repair help. Older terminals
I seem to have my share of Terminals that have bad keyboard parts.
3 that I'm working now have the same type of Keyboard. These
are Hazeltine 1500 and ADM 3As. These have an molded base
with fingers that stick up and a second square piece that slide into the base
and makes and breaks the finger contact. It also has a square opening in the
top for the key cap. So when someone drops a heavy object on the the key board
this intermediate piece cracks in the corners and binds in the base.
What I would like to find is a doner type of system that does not have
any value so I can rob the middle piece.. (typewiter) ???
Tandy (Archer) sold a Alpha-Numrtic keyboard that said it was made
for the TI 99/4 computer. It used the same switch type keyboard.
- Jerry
Jerry Wright
g-wright at att.net
--------Reply:
I've got a few boxes full of keyboards & parts; any chance of a picture off-list?
mike