14 Jan
2004
14 Jan
'04
7:15 p.m.
Hi folks,
Just thought I'd report in after an excellent couple of days on the vintage
trail! Yesterday gave me a genuine MicroVAX I with a fully stuffed backplane
I haven't investigated yet, though there's definitely the 2-card CPU,
memory, RQDX disk controller (for the RD52) installed and a 4-line serial
option which will probably be a DHV11. I'll find out tomorrow. The system
came with a Tektronix 4019 colour display which is the biggest monitor
(physically) I've ever laid eyes on I think, complete with keyboard and
drawing tablet. Not sure what I'm going to do with it as yet - it's got to
be a 19" screen! Apparently the RD52 has some sort of CAD package installed
so I'll find out hopefully once the machine's stabilised itself to the house
temperature.
Also in the bundle was a boxful of Tangerine Microtan 65 bits including the
machine itself (with TANEX expansion) in a lovely home-made wooden box, what
looks suspiciously like an Apple ][ keyboard, full documentation and the
first 30 or so issues of the Tangerine User Group magazine. More on that
later. There's a handful of DEC cards too:
M7944 x2 - 4K RAM
M7680/M7681 - RK05 control cards
M7258 - LP11 driver
M7860 - DR11 driver
as well as a 4-slot self-contained backplane containing:
M7270 - KD11-HA LSI 11/2 CPU
M7944 x2 - 4K RAM
M8027 - LPV11 driver.
Also several copies of the MicroVAX II diagnostic kit on RX50 and RX33
floppies as well as (I think) most of VMS V5 on RX50. I don't think there's
enough disks for it to be a complete set :-/
Today brought a couple of visits, one to see Nick Toop who some of you may
know was involved with many early UK home computing projects including the
Science of Cambridge MK14 (supporting hardware), Acorn Atom (designer) and
the should-have-been-venerable Enterprise 64 (graphics chip and supporting
hardware). Lovely bloke - he sorted out my 'suspect' Atom and brought it
back to life! Excellent.
Second visit was to help Kevan Heydon of this 'ere list empty some of his
garage with Jules Richardson, so new museum additions are a cased Ohio
Superboard II (with docs), Memotech RS128 with FDX floppy subsystem (yay!),
boxed NeXT Station (double yay!), 2nd Microtan 65 with extended backplane
and more cards, and a CST Thor - Sinclair QL that's been massively expanded
and recased. Thanks Kevan :)
Faaaaaaantastic! Now where is it all going to go....
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
15 Jan
15 Jan
5:34 p.m.
M7270 - KD11-HA LSI 11/2 CPU
M7944 x2 - 4K RAM
M8027 - LPV11 driver.
Is this a small brownish box that you can reasonably lift with
two hands (or maybe even one)? If so I think I've seen one
before and they are pretty nice!
Also several copies of the MicroVAX II diagnostic kit
on RX50
and RX33 floppies as well as (I think) most of VMS V5 on
RX50. I don't think there's enough disks for it to be a
complete set :-/
People keep looking for the diags and failing to find them.
If these are the customer diags, they may not be that
interesting, otherwise they will be the field service diags,
which are the only ones that can do stuff like format an
RD device from scratch. You could make yourself very popular
by firing up your nearest OpenVMS box with an RX50 and
having a go at BACKUP/PHYSICAL!
As for the VMS V5 disks: I *think* there are either 18
or 23 in the full set. I never actually had to try an
install using such a set - it must have been very painful.
Once you've taken the trouble to set up a box to back up
the diags, it would be a shame not to do these while
you are at it :-)
Probably worth recording the disk part numbers (I think
they all vary slightly so each diskette is uniquely
identifiable) in maybe the filename.
You can probably back these up with PUTR too: I've never
tried but I know that BACKUP/PHYSICAL will work (I
restored some WPS disks years ago using that method).
Antonio
--
---------------
Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
6:11 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: Antonio Carlini [mailto:arcarlini@iee.org]
Sent: 15 January 2004 23:34
To: witchy(a)binarydinosaurs.co.uk; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and
Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Field trip :)
Nope, it's a simple cage with a 4-slot backplane with extended bolts that
'plugs in' to a bigger enclosure, which might be the brown box you're
talking about - I might have just the innards. Any clues on what it actually
was?
M7270 - KD11-HA LSI 11/2 CPU
M7944 x2 - 4K RAM
M8027 - LPV11 driver.
Is this a small brownish box that you can reasonably lift with
two hands (or maybe even one)? If so I think I've seen one
before and they are pretty nice! which are the only ones that can do stuff like format
an
RD device from scratch. You could make yourself very popular
by firing up your nearest OpenVMS box with an RX50 and
having a go at BACKUP/PHYSICAL!
Not a problem, assuming either this MVI or my MVII still work. Since I got
them from a retired DEC engineer they must be field circus diags; from what
I remember the customer ones were only 2 disks (format being one of them
IIRC) whereas these ones are upwards of 6 or 7 disks. There's at least 6
sets of them too.
I'm most interested at seeing what version of VMS is on the MV I......It's
got over a meg of memory so it could be 4.5 or 4.6. 5.x wouldn't run with
less than 4 would it?
As for the VMS V5 disks: I *think* there are either
18
or 23 in the full set. I never actually had to try an
install using such a set - it must have been very painful.
Looks about right, it's just the labelling that's confusing since they've
got the required, optional and library sets with different 'total' numbers,
ie 12/32, 13/32 etc when there's clearly not 32 disks in the set.
Once you've taken the trouble to set up a box to
back up
the diags, it would be a shame not to do these while
you are at it :-)
heh! I'm desperately trying to remember if the BA123 box I thought was my
MVII (well, it was the company's back in the late 80s) was actually upgraded
by me to be an MV 3400 or not. I know I got a BA213 (?) 'real' MV3400 cab to
house the boards in its later life but I can't remember if I restored the
MVII to its former glory.....grr....I know exactly where the cab is so I'll
check.
As an aside the MVII back then ended up being called 'fruit' because it was
paired with a 3100-10 called 'nut' to form the 'fruit&nut cluster' :)
The
MVII was replaced with a 3100-40 (whose motherboard I've still got ) called
'dough'. You can guess the rest.
Probably worth recording the disk part numbers (I
think
they all vary slightly so each diskette is uniquely
identifiable) in maybe the filename.
No bother.
You can probably back these up with PUTR too: I've
never
tried but I know that BACKUP/PHYSICAL will work (I
restored some WPS disks years ago using that method).
I'll make it a priority once I've finished building the cupboards in the
alcoves in the living room :) Bloody B&Q [1] with their warping
doors....grr.....
[1] UK copy of Home Depot for our US readers, though with no sign of Norm
Abram :)
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
16 Jan
16 Jan
12:30 a.m.
On Jan 15, 2004, at 5:34 PM, Antonio Carlini wrote:
People keep looking for the diags and failing to find
them.
If these are the customer diags, they may not be that
interesting, otherwise they will be the field service diags,
which are the only ones that can do stuff like format an
RD device from scratch. You could make yourself very popular
by firing up your nearest OpenVMS box with an RX50 and
having a go at BACKUP/PHYSICAL!
Ahh, would a dump of a TK50 diag tape do? They work, it's the field
service diags, I've mentioned them here several times and so far one
person has asked for them. I'm fairly certain I set it up as a mktape
archive with script.
I can look if you like.
I also have the MV-I diags on RX50, but I don't have an MV-I to test
them. Haven't gotten around to trying them on an MV-II. I could dump
them, but I can't vouch for them. Or promise that it'll happen this
month.
Doc
3:45 p.m.
At 06:34 PM 1/15/2004, Antonio Carlini wrote:
People keep looking for the diags and failing to find
them.
If these are the customer diags, they may not be that
interesting, otherwise they will be the field service diags,
which are the only ones that can do stuff like format an
RD device from scratch. You could make yourself very popular
by firing up your nearest OpenVMS box with an RX50 and
having a go at BACKUP/PHYSICAL!
I didn't know these were that rare.
I have the two sets of MDM floppies (one 4 disk set, one 6) and the TK50.
The TK50 is definitely the FS tape and I think the floppies are as well.
If there's any interest, I'll be happy to try to capture images.
I'll need something to get an image of the TK50..
-Rick
17 Jan
17 Jan
7:46 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Rick Murphy
Sent: 16 January 2004 21:45
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Field trip :)
I think I've got both the customer MV diags on floppy and the FS TK50 too.
Perhaps it's time to see if the TZ30 in one of the VAXen works.....
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
by firing up your nearest OpenVMS box with an RX50
and
having a go at BACKUP/PHYSICAL!
I didn't know these were that rare.
I have the two sets of MDM floppies (one 4 disk set, one 6) and the TK50.
The TK50 is definitely the FS tape and I think the floppies are as well.
If there's any interest, I'll be happy to try to capture images.
I'll need something to get an image of the TK50..
18 Jan
18 Jan
3:50 p.m.
Witchy wrote:
Rick Murphy wrote:
> I didn't know these were that rare.
> I have the two sets of MDM floppies (one 4 disk set, one 6) and the
> TK50. The TK50 is definitely the FS tape and I think the floppies
are
> as well.
Maybe they aren't that rare - maybe it's just that *I* don't have
them or know of anyone who has them in case I do ever need them.
I think I've got both the customer MV diags on
floppy and the
FS TK50 too. Perhaps it's time to see if the TZ30 in one of
the VAXen works.....
Now is always a good time to check a TZ30 :-)
Antonio
--
---------------
Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
7663
days inactive
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6 comments
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participants (4)
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arcarlini＠iee.org -
doc＠mdrconsult.com -
rick＠rickmurphy.net -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk