6 Aug
2001
6 Aug
'01
2:44 p.m.
This is likely off-topic - I have no idea how old the DEC 3000 is - but
I'm hoping it will fall cool hardware exception.
I think its either a model 600 or 700. At any rate, its very large and
is a tower design. I have not yet used the system and am trying to get
it to boot. I do not have a keyboard, mouse, or monitor for it, so I
need to connect via terminal, but am having som trouble.
For a terminal, I am using an Apple Powerbook G4 with ZTerm set to 9600,
8, n, 1. I'm using a Keyspan USB-Serial adapter and a null modem
adapter. I've connected my "terminal" to the 25 pin printer serial port
on the DEC 3000. I power up the DEC, it does its whirling and spinning
up, but I never get anything at all on my terminal. I've tried booting
with the S3 switch (whicdh I understand is supposed to change from kb/
mouse/monitor to console mode) in both directions, but to no avail.
The LED on the front reads "FD". It's possible that the RAM I have
installed (which I got from another DEC 3000) is not appropriate for the
system.
Any suggestions on what I need to do to get this to work are very much
appreciated. This is completely out of my area of expertise and I hate
to keep power cycling the DEC while I experiment.
Thanks!
Tom
Applefritter
www.applefritter.com
6 Aug
6 Aug
3:21 p.m.
On Mon, 6 Aug 2001, Tom Owad wrote:
This is likely off-topic - I have no idea how old the
DEC 3000 is - but
I'm hoping it will fall cool hardware exception.
I think its either a model 600 or 700. At any rate, its very large and
is a tower design. I have not yet used the system and am trying to get
it to boot. I do not have a keyboard, mouse, or monitor for it, so I
need to connect via terminal, but am having som trouble.
The 600 is a desktop model, so I am assuming that you are referring to a
700. The DEC 3000's usually expect the keyboard/mouse cable to be present.
If it doesn't detect them it will generate an error. In order to use it as
a headless system make sure you flip the small switch that is on the back
where all the ports are. Then the machine will ignore the keyboard error
and use the serial console port.
For a terminal, I am using an Apple Powerbook G4 with
ZTerm set to 9600,
8, n, 1. I'm using a Keyspan USB-Serial adapter and a null modem
adapter. I've connected my "terminal" to the 25 pin printer serial port
on the DEC 3000.
That is not a serial port, actually it is parallel. The serial ports in
the DEC3000 are MMJ type, which is a modied phone jack and propietary to
DEC. Try to find an MMJ to DB9 or 25 converter. That is your serial
port...
I power up the DEC, it does its whirling and spinning
up, but I never get anything at all on my terminal.
I've tried booting
with the S3 switch (whicdh I understand is supposed to change from kb/
mouse/monitor to console mode) in both directions, but to no avail.
The LED on the front reads "FD". It's possible that the RAM I have
installed (which I got from another DEC 3000) is not appropriate for the
system.
Putting RAM is also tricky, you need to put them in groups of 8 simms per
bank, all of the same type in each bank. A bank is defined by all the
simms at the same height (the model 600, which I am familiar with has the
memory simms plugged into 4 sets of raisers, so bank 1 = all the simms
that go near the motherboard from the bottom, and bank 2 = all the simms
that go on top of bank 1)
/--> simm raiser
/
i.e. Bank2 ====-| |-==== --> simm
| |
Bank1 ====-| |-====
| |
------------------- (motherboard)
Any suggestions on what I need to do to get this to
work are very much
appreciated. This is completely out of my area of expertise and I hate
to keep power cycling the DEC while I experiment.
Good luck, hope this helps...
Thanks!
Tom
_______________________________________________________________________
Francisco J. MesaMartinez http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~javi
_______________________________________________________________________
Basking Engineering Ctr #228 email:javi@cse.ucsc.edu
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 phone:(831) 502-2073
_______________________________________________________________________
5:18 p.m.
I think its
either a model 600 or 700. At any rate, its very large and
is a tower design. I have not yet used the system and am trying to get
it to boot. I do not have a keyboard, mouse, or monitor for it, so I
need to connect via terminal, but am having som trouble.
The 600 is a desktop model, so I am assuming that you are referring to a
700. The DEC 3000's usually expect the keyboard/mouse
cable to be present.
If it doesn't detect them it will generate an error. In order to use it as
a headless system make sure you flip the small switch that is on the back
where all the ports are. Then the machine will ignore the keyboard error
and use the serial console port.
Which way is flipped? Left or right? I've tried it both ways.
For a
terminal, I am using an Apple Powerbook G4 with ZTerm set to 9600,
8, n, 1. I'm using a Keyspan USB-Serial adapter and a null modem
adapter. I've connected my "terminal" to the 25 pin printer serial port
on the DEC 3000.
That is not a serial port, actually it is parallel. The serial ports in
the DEC3000 are MMJ type, which is a modied phone jack and propietary to
DEC. Try to find an MMJ to DB9 or 25 converter. That is your serial
port... > I power up the DEC, it does its whirling and
spinning
> up, but I never get anything at all on my terminal. I've tried booting
> with the S3 switch (whicdh I understand is supposed to change from kb/
> mouse/monitor to console mode) in both directions, but to no avail.
>
> The LED on the front reads "FD". It's possible that the RAM I have
> installed (which I got from another DEC 3000) is not appropriate for the
> system.
Does "FD" mean anything in particular?
Putting RAM is also tricky, you need to put them in
groups of 8 simms per
bank, all of the same type in each bank. A bank is defined by all the
simms at the same height (the model 600, which I am familiar with has the
memory simms plugged into 4 sets of raisers, so bank 1 = all the simms
that go near the motherboard from the bottom, and bank 2 = all the simms
that go on top of bank 1)
I have the first card (of four cards) completely filled.
Any
suggestions on what I need to do to get this to work are very much
appreciated. This is completely out of my area of expertise and I hate
to keep power cycling the DEC while I experiment.
Good luck, hope this helps... 
7 Aug
7 Aug
12:50 a.m.
On 6 Aug, Tom Owad wrote:
I found the name on the back. It's an 800.
Nice. I am still looking for an Alpha of this class.
Searching for MMJ adatpers...
Do you own / know
how to handle a soldering iron? If yes, search the net
for the wiring of a VAXstation MMJ serial console cable. It is the
same. You may find a link to the MMJ cable wiring on this page:
http://anacin.nsc.vcu.edu/~jim/mvax/mvax_faq.html
It is easy to build a MMJ cable from a regular phone cable. Cut off the
tab of the RJ plug and solder a DB25 at the other side of the phone
cable.
--
tschuess,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz
10 Aug
10 Aug
7:46 a.m.
Do you own / know how to handle a soldering iron? If
yes, search the net
for the wiring of a VAXstation MMJ serial console cable. It is the
same. You may find a link to the MMJ cable wiring on this page:
http://anacin.nsc.vcu.edu/~jim/mvax/mvax_faq.html
It is easy to build a MMJ cable from a regular phone cable. Cut off the
tab of the RJ plug and solder a DB25 at the other side of the phone
cable.
Ok, I got ahold of a 6-prong telephone cable, clipped the tab, and
soldered connected it to a DB25 cable using the following pinout:
Wire# Signal Color Destination/25pin plug
1 DTR White 20
2 TXD Black 2
3 GND Red 7
4 Com Green 8
5 RXD Yellow 3
6 DSR Blue 6
Still, I can get absolutely nothing to display on the terminal. My
solder job is horrible, but I don't believe so bad as complete stop the
connection. I've tried booting the system with the S3 switch in both
places and with and without a null modem adapter in place (do I need one?).
Any suggestions as to what I should try next?
Thanks,
Tom
Applefritter
www.applefritter.com
12:23 p.m.
On 10 Aug, Tom Owad wrote:
Ok, I got ahold of a 6-prong telephone cable, clipped
the tab, and
soldered connected it to a DB25 cable using the following pinout:
Hmm. The MMJ port
is differential. So you have to connect pins 3 and 4
of the MMJ to GND, pin 7, on the DB25. Pin 2 is TXD and 5 is RXD on the
MMJ. They have to go to the pins 2 and 3 on the DB25. I don't know what
wiring form the folowing I used (I think it was H8575-A), but at least
one should work:
http://anacin.nsc.vcu.edu/~jim/mvax/pinouts.html
--- schnipp ---
6-pin modified modular jack (MMJ) used for serial ports on the VAXstation.
DEC carries four DB-to-MMJ adaptors. They are internally wired as follows
Rdy Out TX+ TX- RX- RX+ Rdy In
Adaptor Gender 1 2 3 4 5 6 Use with:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
H8575-A F 20 2 7 7 3 6&8 VTxxx terminal
H8571-C M 6 3 7 7 2 20 DEC printer
H8571-D M 6 3 7 7 2 20 Modem
H8571-E M 20 2 7 7 3 6&8 Female terminal
or LaserWriter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RS-232 using DB-25 connectors:
DTE DCE
Terminal Modem
or computer
Pin Number Signal Name
2 TD Transmit Data -->
3 RD Receive Data <--
7 GND Ground ---
6 DSR Data Set Ready <--
8 DCD Data Carrier Detect <--
20 DTR Data Terminal Ready -->
--- schnapp ---
--
tschuess,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz
8377
days inactive
8381
days old
5 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
javi＠cse.ucsc.edu -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
owad＠applefritter.com