At 06:44 PM 3/23/01 -0500, you wrote: Not a problem, everyone starts with zero knowledge and works up. Yup, looking from the back of the M3100 there will be an MMJ hole and next to it a little switch that is recessed behind the panel. That is the console port and the small switch tells the system that you want to use it as a console. Get any cable that has MMJ connectors on both ends and it will work. On the VT340, again looking from the back. There is a DB25 port on the left hand side. This is "port 1" when it is using RS-232 levels. Lower and to the right of this port are two MMJ plugs with the back to back arrows over them. These represent Port 1 again (this time using DEC levels) and Port 2. Connect the MMJ cable between Port 1, and the MMJ port you identified in step one above. Now turn on the VT340 and hit 'F3' to enter the setup menu. Set the 'comm' parameters for Port 1 to use the DEC-423 and 'data leads only' and 9600 baud, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. Now power on the VAX and look at the diagnostic LEDs. They should all come on and then some should go off in what appears to be a random sequence. After about 15 seconds a banner will print on the VT340 announcing the CPU type and start counting down the tests. If the diagnostic lights change from 'all on' to various other states and the VT340 does *NOT* print anything after 15 or 20 seconds, then using a small device (an ice pick works great) to change the position of that recessed switch you identified in step one, and power off and then on again the VAX and wait for the banner. The console port is the one that is next to the small recessed switch and has the arrows over it. The ports on the VT340 (as you've ordered them) are: PORT 1, PORT 2, PRINTER, KEYBOARD, PORT 1 (RS-232), MOUSE. --Chuck

Hello, Your doing better than I am! I found a cable with the mmj connectors, but am still not able to get anything on my vt320! I have a MicroVax 3400, and the "progress" code eventually goes to 1 (one). Any ideas? Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA Compusync wrote:

Hello Chuck, Chuck McManis wrote: Yes, Ok, I wondered how to save this. Most everything was already setup for me already, However. Mine doesn't have the the rs232 option. Ok here. Ok, I'll have to turn local echo on. I get number flashing on the panel, but nothing on the terminal, as of last night. I just recently started messing with this. I think it is at 2400 currently. I'll check it. I hope nothing broken! I'll go over your list of things and get back with you. Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

At 04:41 PM 3/30/2001 -0500, Chad wrote: And you've confirmed that with local echo on you can type and the terminal will display what you type right? Good. They represent what the status register has in it, stopping at '1' means it is trying to boot. You want it to stop at 3. (which is in the console monitor). So look at the position of the rotary switch and slide switch on the console panel. Rotary switch points to the arrow, slide switch goes down to the side indicated with the 'dot-out-of-the-hole.' Work from one end out to the other. Assuming you've done all the steps in the previous message and the follow things are true to the best of your knowledge: 1) The 3400 is set to 9600 baud console speed. 2) On the console bulkhead the round switch (has a raised triangle on it) is set to point at the "arrow" glyph, and the slide switch next to it on the left is in the lower position (dot-out-of-the-circle). 3) The VT320 is connected from the MMJ on the bulkhead to the MMJ with back to back arrows (second MMJ from the left looking at the back of the VT320) 4) The VT320 is set to talk 9600 baud (transmit and receive), jump scroll no flow control. 5) The VT320 is powered up and passes its self tests. And it still doesn't work. Then you go into "fault finding" mode. And that is where you start at one end and work toward the other. A question occurs to me, did you make your own MMJ cable or is it a DEC one? If you made it yourself did you remember to flip the wires in one end? (All MMJ cables have a 'half-twist' which connects pins on two MMJ connections to their opposite counterparts. This is a really cool feature of DEC-423 ports which allows you to hook up any two pieces of gear with the same cable and they always are wired to talk. If you made your own cable, or had it made, this is the likely problem. So we'll start at the VT320 end as that is the simplest to test without any special tools. After you've verified that your VT320 can locally echo characters then the next step in the signal path is the serial port on the back of the terminal. So the 6 pin connector on the MMJ has wires on one side that are exposed. If you think of these wires as three 'pairs' with the two middle pins as the first pair, the next two out from the center (pins 2 and 5) as the next pair, and the outer pins as the third pair, then you want to short the second pair. You can do this either with a very fine wire, or by plugging the cable into a MMJ->DB25 adapter and shorting pins 2 and 3 on that adapter. This will create a loop-back path for the terminal such that when it is *not* in local echo mode, characters typed on the keyboard are sent through the MMJ, down the cable, travel across your short to the other pin, come back up the cable and back into the MMJ (now as transmitted characters) and get displayed on your screen. If you find yourself wanting to test a lot of DEC terminals for some reason, making an MMJ loopback cable just for this is quite cheap and easy if you have the crimper tool. If after the above test, you see the characters you type getting echoed on the screen, then you know that the VT320 is working and the cable does not have any breaks in it (you don't know if the cable is wired properly but unfortunately.) You can test proper cable wireing with an ohmmeter or a lightbulb/battery/two wires circuit. Check to see that pin 1 on one MMJ has continuity with pin 6 on the other MMJ, then 2 and 5, then 3 and 4 etc. If you want to validate the baud rate on the Vt320 you can either hook it to a known good system (I use a laptop's serial port) or an oscilloscope. On an oscilloscope you should type 'U' or '*' (nice pattern of 10101010 in ascii) and measure the time between edges to verify 9600 baud timing.) So if that works, then it gets a bit harder because it means the fault is between the console plug on the VAX and the CPU board. If you _do_ have an oscilloscope. Just hook your MMJ cable to the VAX and put the scope on pins 2 and 3 (gnd) to see if you see characters being produced. If they aren't then its quite possible that the MMJ circuit got toasted. This happens if you have a VT220 plugged in and you unplug the terminal from the power line rather than turning it off at the switch. It generates a voltage spike (that looks like the current loop voltage) across the MMJ and toasts the receiver. The fix for that problem is to replace the differential driver chip (or the console bulk head) [Note if you or anyone else reading this wants a 3400 console bulkhead then $10 will get you one delivered via priority mail to any of the 48 states :-)] At this point though my money is on the MMJ cable. --Chuck

This was the greatest computer festival on the east coast but its gone pretty heavy to the PC crowd over the years. I remember swapping pdp11 and 8 stories and parts in the parking lot and I may still go this year -- I'm looking for a Sparcstation 10 or 20 to add to home... and some VaxStation parts. Bill -- bpechter(a)monmouth.com | FreeBSD since 1.0.2, Linux since 0.99.10 Brainbench MVP | Unix Sys Admin since Sys V/BSD 4.2 Unix Sys.Admin. | Windows System Administration: "Magical Misery Tour"

Chuck McManis wrote: I don't know if it is a DEC part or not. I didn't make it, but found it at a surplus electronic shop. I wish I had the materials to make my own. I bought some wire, but I don't have the connectors or crimpers. The wires are kind of hard to see on the cable I have. I plan on checking continuity to see how that thing is wired. I re-tried a 2 line phone cable I bought at Lowes. I filed the connectors down so I could plug them into the MMJ ports. This time it worked. I must have had everything else mixed up, last time I tried this cable. I am now wandering aimlessly around the console monitor. Anything I should do while here? I don't know how to do much, but I did find that I could "show mem" and it reports 44megs of ram. I also did "show qbus", but it didn't tell me much. I was hoping it would tell me what cards I have installed, and what they are. I did boot the machine... well sort of. It tells me that it has OpenVMS Vax version 6.2, major version 1, minor version 0. It also reports pagefile.sys, not found. The licenses are expired, it was shutdown improperly, the disk is full, and that a whole bunch of files are inaccessible, and then eventually goes back to the >>> prompt. What now? Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

Chuck McManis wrote: I did try that. I came up with 3 HDs, ethernet, and something else. I'll have to recheck it and right it down. I think I have 2 16s, and an 8. If I am thinking correctly, I have 3 memory boards total I'll right these down too. If a whole disk is missing, it must have been external, as all of my bays are used. I didn't think NetBSD supported the internal DSSI controller? I thought I did, at first. That card I thought was SCSI is a serial card, I think. It has the same little double arrows on it as the console port, even if the connectors are centronics 50. Will it take anything special in a cdrom, or will anything scsi work? I have an old 4Plex stashed away some place. Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

Chuck McManis wrote: The 2 RF35 (I think that's the number) don't have the cables hooked up for the panel. I assumed they didn't use the panel. Am I wrong on this? They look like later, more modern drives to me, so I thought they wouldn't use the panel, and I didn't see any place to hook them up. The drive mounted lights do come on. Mine seems to have a standard 4 connector cable. If I made a cable, how many memory boards could I use? CXY08, is exactly it. Good. What should I look for in a SCSI card? When I do get a SCSI card, should I remove the TK70, or just mount the cd-rom in an external case? I would like the cd-rom internal, but I don't know how important that TK70 might be. Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

Question: I thought that the hobbyist program had been slowed to a Beaurocratic standstill (corporate non-funding?). A while back people were saying that they hadn't got responses to eMail. Am I suffering from a misconception? Has the hobbyist program gone green-light? John A.

At 10:24 AM 3/29/01 -0500, Compusync wrote: Well you've made tremendous progress! You need to make sure the communication parameters are set to 9600 baud, 8 data bits, one stop bit, and no parity. Also you should set the port to be "DEC-423, Data Leads Only" otherwise you might be running afoul of the flow control handshaking. That's just telling you that you don't have a mouse hooked up and your network interface is not seeing carrier. Another thing to try is a different MMJ connector on the back. I know its silly but one one system I tried this was the problem. Got the power up tests but it wasn't the "real" console. You're not at an operating system yet, so far your still in the bootrom/monitor. I just finished doing a full up install of VMS on a VS3100/M30 (KA42 rather than a KA41 but otherwise similar) and it has 8MB of RAM and two hard drives (RZ58's). It runs VMS very nicely single user and I'm setting up a budding young collector with it. The single best upgrade you can do to that system is to get a CD-ROM for it, either an internal mount or an external SCSI one. Once you crack the keyboard issue type 'show config' or 'Test 50' to the monitor and it will list out what is currently on the system. Other useful commands are 'show mem' to see how much memory is installed and 'show dev' to see what devices are there. --Chuck