20 Dec
2001
20 Dec
'01
2:08 p.m.
A few weeks ago, at least, there was a Crimson system in a nearby surplus
equipment warehouse. Where are you located?
-- Tony
At 01:11 PM 12/21/2001 -0500, you wrote:
Please see embedded comments.
Well, speak of the devil... and all that. After
mentioning yesterday
that a
Power Series machine would be nice to have, I
found that somebody
brought
one home for me. (seriously...)
Thats pretty cool.. I've got a bunch of smaller SGI machines including
Indigo,
Indigo2, and Indy, but nothing larger. I have an entire Crimson
boardset, but
no chassis for it, alas.
So before I get started here, let me also mention
that it would be
nice to
have:
A Symbolics Lisp Machine
A Next Dimension Cube
A PDP-11 in a small rack with blinkenlights and core
I'd love to get my hands on a LISP machine someday, too - if anyone ever
comes across one thats up for grabs, let me know! I'll "move heaven and
earth" to try and pick that up!
I've got a PDP 11/34a with core, but its not really a complete system. I
really need some sort of disk controller and subsystem for it, and I
also need
to figure out the pinout for the console terminal connector.
I've got a NeXT Cube and a Slab, but the Cube is the original 68030
model
and doesn't have the NeXTDimension board. If you're ever interested in a
road trip, though, noticing that you're in Illinois, the University of
Michigan
Property Disposition warehouse had a NeXTDimension Cube laying around
about a month ago; $50, I think. I would've picked it up myself, but I
was
totally out of money at the time. I'd imagine it's stilll there, though.
... enough of that, though. :)
So, I now am the proud owner of a Power Series VGX machine. It seems
to
have 4 40Mhz CPUs in it, a full compliment of
graphics boards, FDDI,
and
some extra video I/O boards.
That's a relatively higher-end one, then... 4D/340, perhaps? There's a
neat
site called This Old SGI that talks a lot about getting these old Power
Series
machines running. You can find it pretty quickly with Google.
It's a deskside type machine, the whole thing
fitting in one very
large
tower --err... coffee-table :)
Firstly, this machine is in need of:
The plastic "skirt" piece for the right side of the chassis.
The plastic back plate.
The power-cable.
Keyboard, monitor, mouse (all of which I can probably get locally...
I checked a couple of days ago and there is an original SGI 4D keyboard
and mouse set on eBay for not too much... less than $10, I think. I'm
not
sure how much longer it'll be there, though.
I'd probably give up on finding the skins for the machine - I've never
really seen them turn up by themselves, and usually, MACHINES that
turn up are missing pieces of them. The power cable's probably going
to have to be a homemade job, too, as I don't see them turn up very
often, but from what I gather, they shouldn't be too hard to assemble.
(that's it.. I think I have the entire
machine otherwise)
Does anyone know where I can get these, or (in the case of the
power-cord,
for instance) parts to make them?
I've heard that you can find the connectors for the power cord at
hardware
stores, but I can't confirm that myself.
Any warnings/information/antic dotes for these
machines?
I do intend to use the thing. I also intend to
use it at home. It
appears
to require 20 Amp service, though, and I have no
good 20 Amp outlet
within
reach. I do have some 20 Amp and a couple 30 Amp
fuses (Yes, fuses.
I
intend to replace the one I hook this to with a
mini-breaker) in the
box,
which I intend to trace before I decide where to
plug it in. It may
be that
I'll contract somebody to run a 20 Amp outlet
for this machine. (Never
having done AC wiring work on my own, I feel that
I don't want to
start by
wiring an outlet for this beast) Otherwise, the
plan will be to plug
it
into a circuit with a highly rated fuse on it,
and unplug everything
else.
Any holes in this plan? The breaker on the
power-supply is rated 16
Amps,
btw. I have no idea how much pull to expect from
a monitor -- anyone
know
whether I can safely use both on the same
circuit? That would
simplify
things.
I believe a best option is to have somebody run a line up from the
washer/dryer hookups in the basement. Those are hooked to 30-amp
fuses
already and have cutoff switches. As long as
nobody does laundry
while the
machine's running, then, it would be fine.
:)
Lastly, even before I get this thing plugged in, I'd like to inventory
it,
and check it for health. What should I look for?
I'd DEFINITELY suggest taking a look at the power supply (and fuse)
before
you begin. Make sure the power transistors and caps are in good order. I
say
this because the power supplies on these machines are getting a little
old and
they are known for being somewhat iffy. I've had a similar supply (on a
SGI
Crimson machine) flame out on me before - it makes a very spectacular
noise!
That, incidentally, is where the Crimson boardset came from... I wish I
would
have saved the chassis from the Dumpster, too (this was at work when we
had
picked up an old Crimson from a customer as scrap once and were messing
around with it). Ah, well. I'm still trying to find another SGI VME
machine to
this day. Maybe an Onyx or something :)
Regards,
Chris
Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL
/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl
Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
Kind regards,
Sean Caron
scaron(a)engin.umich.edu
root(a)diablonet.net