Picked up a VAX 4000/200 myself recently. Fairly nice machine, heavy, same
processor type as a Vaxstation 4000-VLC. Each memory board is 16 MB, system can
address up to 4. DSSI drives standard, probably also has SCSI Qbus card (the
connector at the far side of the chassis is DSSI NOT SCSI). Rumor has it that
there is some way to hack the SCSI through to the backplane shelf in lieu of
the DSSI. Haven't put VMS on it yet (no drives installed), but for 32MB RAM it's
much faster to the "dead sargent" (is it called SRM in VAX too?) than my
3100/76. Unfortunately, not upgradeable to better VAXen withoug a backplane swap
(best thought of as the king of the classic Qbus MicroVAXen than a "real VAX")
Won't run Ultrix so don't ask. Manx is great- looks like all manuals are
there. If you can get it cheap, go for it- the BA430 really needs two people to
load (over 100lbs, I'm still sore) but the 215 is probably a one-person deal.
P.S.- it runs on 120- you need to get either a "keyed" CEE or hack a standard
with a Dremel and drill.
Does anyone here know if DSSI is worth the bother? seems to be hard to
find, small and expensive but I have no experience with it.
-Scott Quinn
P.S. Note to all who asked for the Asimov archives- mine are a bit old, it
seems. I'm trying to get them updated, that's what's taking a while.