7 Apr
2010
7 Apr
'10
10:45 p.m.
On 4/8/10, Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at update.uu.se> wrote:
> But he says he has an RFP which has no room for
changes or negotiation.
Looks like VARX is advertising 8200s and 8250s for $5K in a number of
configurations...
http://www.varx.com/CAT/VAX_SYSTEM_BASE_PRICES.HTML
... but who knows if they really have them or if 5K is enough to make
them look for one.
There seems to be a few systems around given the other
replies to this
thread. I have two KA820-AA CPU boards and two memory boards (can't
remember the size). What is the difference between tha KA820 and KA825,
another reply indicated it was a matter of a firmware upgrade?
If you meant my reply (I mentioned firmware), that was about matching
the firmware in two KA820s so that they could be bound in an SMP
configuration. If you mean someone else, then I don't know. I always
thought there was a speed difference (5MHz vs 6.25MHz CPU clock?)
between the KA820 and KA825, plus some firmware marker to ID the board
as one or the other.
I would love a box to put the cards in, but I will
also sell/trade them
if someone needs spares.
I don't know that I need another KA820, but if you wouldn't mind
looking at the memory boards and checking the board numbers or the
sizes for me. I only have the one BA32, so I couldn't help you turn
your boards into a system.
16-17 years ago when we were making BI COMBOARDs, it was cheaper to
buy 2MB BI memory boards used than to buy new VAXBI "BIIC" chips (for
the BI corner). I must have scrapped out at least half a dozen 2MB
boards. I still have a couple of them in my machine, but I'd rather
have fewer but larger boards. I'd have to either fire up the machine
or crack the case to check what's in there now, but I think I have two
4MB boards and a random number of 2MB boards.
Looks like the boards break out like this...
MS820-AA / DEC T1008 VAX 8200 2MB MEMORY MODULE
MS820-BA / DEC T1019-A VAX 8200/8300 4MB MEMORY MODULE
MS820-CA / DEC T1040 VAX 8200/8300 16MB MEMORY MODULE
The system limit is apparently 128MB, but I'd be happy just to have
16MB or more in fewer than 6 boards (now that I think about it, ISTR I
have 12MB - 2 x 2MB + 2 x 4MB, but it could be 1 x 4MB and 4 x 2MB) -
it's been a while since I reconfigured it.
I've only seen a couple 8200-class machines in the wild, so I'm not
surprised the memory wasn't easier to find in the larger sizes the
last time I looked - larger machines didn't put memory on the BI bus,
so I think there were more peripherals to be found than 8200 memory.
-ethan