29 Jun
2015
29 Jun
'15
12:29 p.m.
On 2015-06-29 21:21, tony duell wrote:
Well, ok, if your list was intended as a "first VAX" only list, then
fair enough. I would not consider most of those machines as good first
VAXen either. Although, the 6000 is actually not that hard, nor some of
the small 8000-machines, such as the 8200.
The problem with lots of the more modern machines though, are that they
essentially are fine if they work, but if they break, you'll have a hard
time to fix them. That goes both for the 6000 series as well as all the
pizza boxes.
Johnny
So, where would you place a VAX8650 in there? Or the 6000- or
7000-series? :-D
(Or, drool, a 9000?)
Those come under the 'many other families' I would argue that those machines
are much rarer and much harder to maintain than the 3 families I suggested for
a _first_ VAX. In fact having seen inside a 6210 cabinet there is no way I would
want to maintain one. Not sure about the 8650, though...
If you want to run those at home, fine... If you are offered one, make sure you
know what you are taking on.
FWIW, I wouldn't recomend a PDP11/45 with only the printset for documentation as a
first PDP11 either. But it's what I started with.