6 Jun
2005
6 Jun
'05
4:26 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
On 6/6/05,
Kevin Handy <kth at srv.net> wrote:
You could make one like DEC used to: Take an
8-slot backplane, and
fill in four of the slots with epoxy. You now have a 4 slot backplane.
Ahhhhgggg! Ever seen that with a BA123? Makes you cry... DEC didn't
want their graphical workstations being converted to departmental
server use, so they plugged up the extra holes in the backplane to
prevent expansion. For a while, one could order a virgin backplane
from spares, but they eventually caught on (then they stopped hosing
workstation customers so much ;-)
Fortunately, I've only ever seen it at a DECUS (DEC-owned demo
machines); none of the machines I've worked with or personally owned
were broken this way.
Antonio Carlini wrote:
This was the (thankfully) short-lived VAXstation II/RC.
The
one I saw came in a BA23, not a BA123. There were companies
around that would (allegedly) remove the epoxy (or whatever
it was they used) and hence restore full functionality.
Just so I could say I tried, I once spent a few
hours attempting to remove the epoxy - not a cost
effective use of my time. I suspect that these
companies were more likely to have either purchased
a replacement backplane or found a damaged BA23
with a good backplane and removed the good backplane.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
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