19 May
2016
19 May
'16
4:57 p.m.
Swift's thread on the "ones that got away" got me thinking about another
source of guilt/regret common to the classic computer collector:
Systems we've neglected or failed to boot recently.
I've had a re-jig of my storage, and whilst it was great to uncover gems
that I'd forgotten I even had, it also brought some regrets for the systems
I've neglected - lots of them not booted in 10 years or more.
Because they were easily accessible I pulled out my Colour Classic and G4
Cube (is the latter on-topic through the "10 year rule" or are we sticking
to pre-millenials?):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2c70f4flucjo3f6/IMG_7576.jpg?dl=0
Quick check-over and they both booted just fine!
The systems I'm feeling really guilty over neglecting are:
SGI Crimson VGX (skins perfect but needs some TLC before power-on)
Micro PDP 11/83 (same)
Maxed-out Acorn A3000 (my home-brew external SCSI Podule needs finishing)
And I have a vast box of Sinclair Specturm games on tape that would
probably take the rest of the year to load if I fired up my +2 and played
them sequentially!
-Austin.
19 May
19 May
5:09 p.m.
Ah! I've always wanted to play with a Crimson... ever since I saw them
being used for visualization at the Army Corp of Engineers back in the
early 90's. I was working in a different group and never got to use them.
Not even sure where to look for one nowadays.
Todd Killingsworth.
On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 4:57 PM, Austin Pass <austinpass at gmail.com> wrote:
Swift's thread on the "ones that got
away" got me thinking about another
source of guilt/regret common to the classic computer collector:
Systems we've neglected or failed to boot recently.
I've had a re-jig of my storage, and whilst it was great to uncover gems
that I'd forgotten I even had, it also brought some regrets for the systems
I've neglected - lots of them not booted in 10 years or more.
Because they were easily accessible I pulled out my Colour Classic and G4
Cube (is the latter on-topic through the "10 year rule" or are we sticking
to pre-millenials?):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2c70f4flucjo3f6/IMG_7576.jpg?dl=0
Quick check-over and they both booted just fine!
The systems I'm feeling really guilty over neglecting are:
SGI Crimson VGX (skins perfect but needs some TLC before power-on)
Micro PDP 11/83 (same)
Maxed-out Acorn A3000 (my home-brew external SCSI Podule needs finishing)
And I have a vast box of Sinclair Specturm games on tape that would
probably take the rest of the year to load if I fired up my +2 and played
them sequentially!
-Austin.
6:15 p.m.
On 19 May 2016, at 22:09, Todd Killingsworth
<killingsworth.todd at gmail.com> wrote:
Ah! I've always wanted to play with a Crimson... ever since I saw them
being used for visualization at the Army Corp of Engineers back in the
early 90's. I was working in a different group and never got to use them.
Not even sure where to look for one nowadays.
Todd Killingsworth.
>
They're a pretty spectacular machine, in physical presence as well as function (esp.
with RealityEngine GFX).
We had some building work done recently, and the Crimson was protected under a custom felt
lined dust sheet made by a removals friend of mine (made from a cut-down piano cover for
anyone interested!) When steels etc. were being installed in a particular area, the
workmen were instructed to move it *with extreme care* to the furthest, cleanest point
before proceeding. They carried this out for 3 weeks with extreme diligence. One of them -
the youngest - when leaving admitted to taking a peek under the dust cover and googled
what he found. Asking me about it, he wasn't at all surprised that I was so attached
to a 24 year old gigantic workstation and forced his colleagues to watch Jurassic Park to
show them "that giant b*stard under the dust sheet we've been hefting
around!"
-Austin.
6:24 p.m.
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Austin Pass wrote:
I almost had a Crimson but the power supply blew up. It was a pretty basic
model (just fitted with LG1 graphics, intended as a file server) but I was
sure to keep all the boards. The IP19 is a looker. I use it to decorate in
my databook room :O All those big ceramic PGAs!
Best,
Sean
On 19 May 2016, at 22:09, Todd Killingsworth
<killingsworth.todd at gmail.com> wrote:
Ah! I've always wanted to play with a Crimson... ever since I saw them
being used for visualization at the Army Corp of Engineers back in the
early 90's. I was working in a different group and never got to use them.
Not even sure where to look for one nowadays.
Todd Killingsworth.
>
They're a pretty spectacular machine, in physical presence as well as function (esp.
with RealityEngine GFX).
We had some building work done recently, and the Crimson was protected under a custom
felt lined dust sheet made by a removals friend of mine (made from a cut-down piano cover
for anyone interested!) When steels etc. were being installed in a particular area, the
workmen were instructed to move it *with extreme care* to the furthest, cleanest point
before proceeding. They carried this out for 3 weeks with extreme diligence. One of them -
the youngest - when leaving admitted to taking a peek under the dust cover and googled
what he found. Asking me about it, he wasn't at all surprised that I was so attached
to a 24 year old gigantic workstation and forced his colleagues to watch Jurassic Park to
show them "that giant b*stard under the dust sheet we've been hefting
around!"
-Austin.
6:36 p.m.
On 19 May 2016, at 23:24, Sean Caron <scaron at
diablonet.net> wrote:
I almost had a Crimson but the power supply blew up. It was a pretty basic model (just
fitted with LG1 graphics, intended as a file server) but I was sure to keep all the
boards. The IP19 is a looker. I use it to decorate in my databook room :O All those big
ceramic PGAs!
Best,
Sean
I have a spare IP19 with mine, and intend to wall-mount it for that very reason. Very
substantial and impressive! I like the Pentium Pro chip packaging for the same reason.
-Austin.
7:25 p.m.
You parted a Crimson into wall hangings just because the PSU blew? They're
super easy to work on.
Sometimes this list makes me {m,s}ad.
On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 3:24 PM, Sean Caron <scaron at diablonet.net> wrote:
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Austin Pass wrote:
--
Ian Finder
(206) 395-MIPS
ian.finder at gmail.com
On 19 May 2016, at 22:09, Todd Killingsworth
<
I almost had a Crimson but the power supply blew up. It was a pretty basic
model (just fitted with LG1 graphics, intended as a file server) but I was
sure to keep all the boards. The IP19 is a looker. I use it to decorate in
my databook room :O All those big ceramic PGAs!
Best,
Sean
killingsworth.todd at gmail.com> wrote:
Ah! I've always wanted to play with a Crimson... ever since I saw them
being used for visualization at the Army Corp of Engineers back in the
early 90's. I was working in a different group and never got to use
them.
Not even sure where to look for one nowadays.
Todd Killingsworth.
>
>
They're a pretty spectacular machine, in physical presence as well as
function (esp. with RealityEngine GFX).
We had some building work done recently, and the Crimson was protected
under a custom felt lined dust sheet made by a removals friend of mine
(made from a cut-down piano cover for anyone interested!) When steels etc.
were being installed in a particular area, the workmen were instructed to
move it *with extreme care* to the furthest, cleanest point before
proceeding. They carried this out for 3 weeks with extreme diligence. One
of them - the youngest - when leaving admitted to taking a peek under the
dust cover and googled what he found. Asking me about it, he wasn't at all
surprised that I was so attached to a 24 year old gigantic workstation and
forced his colleagues to watch Jurassic Park to show them "that giant
b*stard under the dust sheet we've been hefting around!"
-Austin.
8:02 p.m.
+1
Been looking for a Crimson for about 8 years now.
A couple have come up, but none anywhere close to me. Due to size and weight
shipping has been prohibitive.
:(
Jerry
On 05/19/16 06:25 PM, Ian Finder wrote:
You parted a Crimson into wall hangings just because
the PSU blew? They're
super easy to work on.
Sometimes this list makes me {m,s}ad.
20 May
20 May
11:07 a.m.
+1
Been looking for a Crimson for about 8 years now.
A couple have come up, but none anywhere close to me. Due to size and weight
shipping has been prohibitive.
:(
Jerry
I've owned 3 Crimsons and 3 or 4 Onyx desksides. I wonder where they are
now? I know one Crimson buyer drove to Virginia Beach from Atlanta GA.
FWIW, everyone loves the Crimson. I like the Challenge L and Onyx deskside
better.
I know that one of my old Onyx's is in New Mexico, not sure where the
others are these days.
I gave away *four* Challenge Ls. Not sure if the one guy still uses them
as a table end or not.
11:17 a.m.
I've owned 3 Crimsons and 3 or 4 Onyx desksides. I wonder where they are
now? I know one Crimson buyer drove to Virginia Beach from Atlanta GA.
FWIW, everyone loves the Crimson. I like the Challenge L and Onyx deskside
better.
I know that one of my old Onyx's is in New Mexico, not sure where the
others are these days.
I gave away *four* Challenge Ls. Not sure if the one guy still uses them
as a table end or not.
I had an opportunity to get four Origin 3000s and two Cray J-90s in the
2008-9 timeframe.
Could never arrange for transportation though, so they got away.
11:35 a.m.
On Fri, 20 May 2016, John Willis wrote:
I had an opportunity to get four Origin 3000s and two
Cray J-90s in the
2008-9 timeframe. Could never arrange for transportation though, so they
got away.
That wasn't by chance at NOAA or NREL, was it? One of those DoE sub-org
folks had a similar rig IIRC, for a while. Exxon had six O3k's or
something like that for a while.
-Swift
11:32 a.m.
On Fri, 20 May 2016, ethan at 757.org wrote:
FWIW, everyone loves the Crimson. I like the Challenge
L and Onyx
deskside better.
They love them because they are Awesome. :-)
I know that one of my old Onyx's is in New Mexico,
not sure where the
others are these days.
People love them. I just wish folks would take better care of the skins.
I gave away *four* Challenge Ls. Not sure if the one
guy still uses them
as a table end or not.
Damn, Ethan, you have had more SGI's than I have. That's freakin' saying
something, and you don't seem to mind the big ones, either. Then again,
all you British folks live in large country estates, right? :-)
In the USA, we just name apartment complexes like we wish it was medieval
times in rural Britain. Ie.. "Willowmanor Estates", "Manorwood Manor",
"Blokehappy Hollow" etc.. However, despite the name, they frequently don't
have 220v L630 twist lock whips, 3-phase power, or anything else that
makes life as a Big-SGI collector easy. :-P
My favorite is actually the Tezro. I love the crossbar architecture, and
it's basically (same procs same RAM etc..) a mini Origin 3k supercomputer.
It's just a brusin' bad-dude of a graphics workstation. Stick a dmedia rig
on there and it's graphics/video heaven (even HD). The machine feels much
faster than 4x1Ghz. Even browsers run fast. To me, this is the "high art"
intersection of electrical engineering, Unix, and design-friendly
philosophy. I just need to get mine to 16GB of RAM and I'll be in
hog-heaven (a very loud fan-blown heaven, but still). I've got my Tezro
all beefed up with SSD drives too (acard 3.5" converters used and work
very nicely). Yesterday I put it on my living room coffee table to cheer
me up when I come home from work (I have no kids, dog, life, hehe). Is
that a bit much ?
The Octane is also a really wonderful platform for many of the same
reasons as the Tezro. I don't currently own one, but I've got room for one
more SGI, and I think it'll be either a Fuel or an Octane2. I just need to
find one with skins in good condition and a decent CPU. It'll probably be
an Octane2 because the Fuel reminds me too much of a PeeCee. It's like
when Sun came out with UltraSPARCs and started in with cheapened PeeCee
sparcstations (my opinion from looking at the guts of those machines and
comparing with older machines such as the venerable SS10). Still, the
Fuels are fast and take commodity hardware very easily.
-Swift
PS: I'm never selling my SGIs unless something exceedingly horrible
happens. I've even got them in my will. I want them to go to people I
trust. etc... Nutty? Probably. Such is my life.
PPS: You guys got me all paranoid with your battery horror stories. I
stayed up late last night powering on Indys. Whew! Everything is working,
including my Sega 32X!
3:38 p.m.
Damn, Ethan, you have had more SGI's than I have.
That's freakin' saying
something, and you don't seem to mind the big ones, either. Then again,
all you British folks live in large country estates, right? :-)
Bought my first Indigo from Reputable Systems. I then started to go to the
auctions at NASA Langley Research Center. From there I'd pick up odds and
ends, and from time to time trade some hardware for others and such. I'd
sell the stuff I didn't want that was bundled into the lots (you had to
buy whole lots.) Eventually I ended up working in the supercomputing
facility at NASA as an IRIX admin/Solaris admin/Linux admin. When SGI shut
their Hampton Va office down I ended up with some of the excess. Because
it was given to me, I never sold any of it I paid it forward and gave it
away to others. As my personal stuff aged I ended up giving some of it
away as well, mainly Indys and such.
"Blokehappy Hollow" etc.. However, despite
the name, they frequently don't
have 220v L630 twist lock whips, 3-phase power, or anything else that
makes life as a Big-SGI collector easy. :-P
I used to plug the Onyx into a normal outlet, I just had it lightly
loaded? I have tons of pics of stuff from them days, I just need to sort
it all.
The way I ended up at NASA is someone I knew from the BBS scene who also
messed around in the DOS virus scene (loong story) came to visit and he
saw the stacks of SGI Indys in the dining room running ISP functions and
was like, "EWWW YOU LIKE THIS SHIT?" I said yea, he said give me your
resume then. Boom, NASA contractor. He was pro linux anti SGI/Sun. Heh.
My favorite is actually the Tezro. I love the crossbar
architecture, and
it's basically (same procs same RAM etc..) a mini Origin 3k supercomputer.
It's just a brusin' bad-dude of a graphics workstation. Stick a dmedia rig
on there and it's graphics/video heaven (even HD). The machine feels much
faster than 4x1Ghz. Even browsers run fast. To me, this is the "high art"
intersection of electrical engineering, Unix, and design-friendly
philosophy. I just need to get mine to 16GB of RAM and I'll be in
hog-heaven (a very loud fan-blown heaven, but still). I've got my Tezro
all beefed up with SSD drives too (acard 3.5" converters used and work
very nicely). Yesterday I put it on my living room coffee table to cheer
me up when I come home from work (I have no kids, dog, life, hehe). Is
that a bit much ?
The Octane is also a really wonderful platform for many of the same
reasons as the Tezro. I don't currently own one, but I've got room for one
more SGI, and I think it'll be either a Fuel or an Octane2. I just need to
find one with skins in good condition and a decent CPU. It'll probably be
an Octane2 because the Fuel reminds me too much of a PeeCee. It's like
when Sun came out with UltraSPARCs and started in with cheapened PeeCee
sparcstations (my opinion from looking at the guts of those machines and
comparing with older machines such as the venerable SS10). Still, the
Fuels are fast and take commodity hardware very easily.
Tezros look killer! I think an Origin 350 would be my other SGI.
PS: I'm never selling my SGIs unless something
exceedingly horrible
happens. I've even got them in my will. I want them to go to people I
trust. etc... Nutty? Probably. Such is my life.
I think I know someone that wants to be buried in his. I'm not sure if
it's strange humor or not?
--
Ethan O'Toole
3:08 p.m.
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Jerry Kemp wrote:
+1
Been looking for a Crimson for about 8 years now.
A couple have come up, but none anywhere close to me. Due to size and weight
shipping has been prohibitive.
:(
Jerry
On 05/19/16 06:25 PM, Ian Finder wrote:
Hey, it is what it is ... I must have been 16 and my boss at the shop had
an engineering background ... no stranger to board-level repair. He wasn't
too keen to dive in and attempt to troubleshoot a multi-kW switcher and I
honestly don't know too many guys that are. We had no idea if the boards
may have been damaged in the PSU failure so even if we did put the time
and effort into the PSU and did successfully manage to repair, there was
no guarantee that we'd end up with a working machine.
It was a bit big to haul to just be a doorstop ... I didn't see any real
chance of getting a replacement PSU or repair in the immediate future. I
just decided to save what I could ... the most interesting bits, and the
rest, well, you can't save it all.
As I say, it was a very basic machine, no RealityEngine. Really all that
was in there was the CPU board and an IO3B. LG1 graphics right out of an
Indigo, with a little VME interposer board. Friends and family generally
consider me a packrat, but I guess even I have my limits ;)
Best,
Sean
You parted a Crimson into wall hangings just
because the PSU blew? They're
super easy to work on.
Sometimes this list makes me {m,s}ad.
19 May
19 May
5:31 p.m.
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Austin Pass wrote:
systems I've neglected - lots of them not booted
in 10 years or more.
Ouch. I'm thinking my oldest boot is going to be 6 years on my:
* Sega Genesis + 32X
* SNES (but I do play on the SupraBoy)
* Sun Ultra 60
* SGI Indy R4600/200
Actually, I'm just going to treat this as a service reminder and go do
some "spring cleaning" and actually test a few this week.
Quick check-over and they both booted just fine!
woot!
The systems I'm feeling really guilty over
neglecting are:
SGI Crimson VGX (skins perfect but needs some TLC before power-on)
Ohhh, pretty.
Maxed-out Acorn A3000 (my home-brew external SCSI
Podule needs
finishing)
I missed out on those, to my sorry.
-Swift
6:21 p.m.
On 19 May 2016, at 22:31, Swift Griggs <swiftgriggs at gmail.com> wrote:
Is Acorn kit available at all, Stateside? Growing up I was surrounded by it (parents both
teachers and Acorn owned the UK Ed. market in the 1980's).
I'm surprised I have relatively little of it now (just the A3000 and a very clean
Model B). I'd like a RISC PC but supply is thin on the ground here nowadays, it
appears the boat has sailed.
I have a Genesis (badged Megadrive here) and regularly fire it up - both my kids love
Psycho Pinball. I have a Saturn and GameGear in my collection, but they don't see much
action. Still use (and adore) my Dreamcast of course, bought from new.
-Austin.
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Austin Pass wrote:
systems I've neglected - lots of them not booted in 10 years or more.
Ouch. I'm thinking my oldest boot is going to be 6 years on my:
* Sega Genesis + 32X
* SNES (but I do play on the SupraBoy)
* Sun Ultra 60
* SGI Indy R4600/200
Actually, I'm just going to treat this as a service reminder and go do
some "spring cleaning" and actually test a few this week.
Quick check-over and they both booted just fine!
woot!
The systems I'm feeling really guilty over
neglecting are:
SGI Crimson VGX (skins perfect but needs some TLC before power-on)
Ohhh, pretty.
Maxed-out Acorn A3000 (my home-brew external SCSI
Podule needs
finishing)
I missed out on those, to my sorry.
-Swift 
20 May
20 May
3:32 a.m.
On 19/05/2016 23:21, "Austin Pass" <austinpass at gmail.com> wrote:
I'm surprised I have relatively little of it now
(just the A3000 and a very
clean Model B). I'd like a RISC PC but supply is thin on the ground here
nowadays, it appears the boat has sailed.
They're still around - I got 2 RPCs and an Iyonix the other month from the
local freecycle group. If you're anywhere near Stratford-on-Avon in July I'm
doing an exhibition there so the Iyonix will be on display.
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
19 May
19 May
5:57 p.m.
I haven't booted my Lisa 2/10 in a very long time, not since before a cross-country
move.
I'm a little worried about it. Last time I looked (a couple years ago) it didn't
look like any caps had gone though. And at least it doesn't have an internal battery
to worry about.
It definitely needs a floppy drive recalibration though, if not repair. Now that
MacFloppyEmu exists (and I have one) I may just not worry about it, and run a cable out to
use with that instead, so I can install the latest Office System as well as install
Workshop.
I also need to pull out and boot my NeXT mono slab.
-- Chris
6:10 p.m.
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Chris Hanson wrote:
I haven't booted my Lisa 2/10 in a very long time,
not since before a cross-country move.
I'm a little worried about it. Last time I looked (a couple years ago) it didn't
look like any caps had gone though. And at least it doesn't have an internal battery
to worry about.
It definitely needs a floppy drive recalibration though, if not repair. Now that
MacFloppyEmu exists (and I have one) I may just not worry about it, and run a cable out to
use with that instead, so I can install the latest Office System as well as install
Workshop.
I also need to pull out and boot my NeXT mono slab.
-- Chris
Be sure to check the battery! I saw a Lisa on EEVblog that met a horrible
end. Rotted out more thoroughly than any Amiga I've ever seen with battery
issues.
It reminds me, I should probably pull my Dad's Lisa 2 out of storage next
time I visit and give it a good looking over.
I have found NeXT machines to age pretty well. If they don't fire right up
just give the battery a change.
Best,
Sean
11:37 p.m.
On May 19, 2016, at 3:10 PM, Sean Caron <scaron at diablonet.net> wrote:
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Chris Hanson wrote:
As I said, my Lisa is a Lisa 2/10, so it has no battery to worry about. :)
The Lisa 2 (aka 2/5, using an external 5MB ProFile) is the one that has the NiCd battery
pack, not the 2/10.
I haven't booted my Lisa 2/10 in a very long
time, not since before a cross-country move.
I'm a little worried about it. Last time I looked (a couple years ago) it didn't
look like any caps had gone though. And at least it doesn't have an internal battery
to worry about.
Be sure to check the battery! I saw a Lisa on EEVblog that met a horrible end. Rotted out
more thoroughly than any Amiga I've ever seen with battery issues. It reminds me, I should probably pull my Dad's
Lisa 2 out of storage next time I visit and give it a good looking over.
Here?s hoping it?s just fine!
-- Chris
20 May
20 May
12:10 a.m.
I haven't booted up either of my Durango F85s for a few years. My old
Integrand S100 box hasn't seen a boot in almost 30 years.
Eh, I'll get to them one of these days.
--Chuck
3:39 a.m.
On 19/05/2016 23:10, "Sean Caron" <scaron at diablonet.net> wrote:
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Chris Hanson wrote:
I had a panic about my Lisa 2/5 after unearthing one of my Amiga 2000s and
discovering the battery damage. Fortunately because I'd had it stored on its
side (it fits in a Mac Plus box) the damage was limited to the immediate
area around the battery and it was very fixable.
That in turn made me attempt to power up my 2/10 but it's never been powered
up even though I've had it for over 10 years so I wasn't surprised when I
hit the button and got nothing. Fortunately I know someone who's well versed
on the PSUs of these things.
My NeXT slab also hadn't been powered up for 10 years so I checked that one
and all was ok, only it wasn't my slab! I picked up a load of NeXT gear from
an ex-employee many years ago including a colour turbo, cube, slab and
Elonex SCSI PC running the x86 version of NeXTSTEP (NeXTSTART by then?). At
some point I must've accidentally swapped the slabs...
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
I haven't booted my Lisa 2/10 in a very long
time, not since before a
cross-country move.
I'm a little worried about it. Last time I looked (a couple years ago) it
didn't look like any caps had gone though. And at least it doesn't have an
internal battery to worry about.
It definitely needs a floppy drive recalibration though, if not repair. Now
that MacFloppyEmu exists (and I have one) I may just not worry about it, and
run a cable out to use with that instead, so I can install the latest Office
System as well as install Workshop.
I also need to pull out and boot my NeXT mono slab.
-- Chris
Be sure to check the battery! I saw a Lisa on EEVblog that met a horrible
end. Rotted out more thoroughly than any Amiga I've ever seen with battery
issues.
It reminds me, I should probably pull my Dad's Lisa 2 out of storage next
time I visit and give it a good looking over.
I have found NeXT machines to age pretty well. If they don't fire right up
just give the battery a change. 
10:50 a.m.
On 2016-05-20 3:39 AM, Adrian Graham wrote:
On 19/05/2016 23:10, "Sean Caron" <scaron
at diablonet.net> wrote:
...
My NeXT slab also hadn't been powered up for 10 years so I checked that one
and all was ok, only it wasn't my slab! I picked up a load of NeXT gear from
an ex-employee many years ago including a colour turbo, cube, slab and
Elonex SCSI PC running the x86 version of NeXTSTEP (NeXTSTART by then?). At
OPENSTEP?
some point I must've accidentally swapped the
slabs...
I'm not sure I understand the shell game here. If you swapped them, what
happened to yours?
--Toby
10:59 a.m.
On 20 May 2016 at 15:50, Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
On 2016-05-20 3:39 AM, Adrian Graham wrote:
That's the kiddie. It's on a DEC RZ25. Unfortunately said drive's rubber
mounts turned to goo and infiltrated the PSU, we discovered this in the
bloke's flat when he turned the machine on and it promptly went pop. I
powered the machine up using a normal PSU (the Elonex one is a proprietary)
but I need a boot floppy which I don't have.
On 19/05/2016 23:10, "Sean Caron"
<scaron at diablonet.net> wrote:
...
My NeXT slab also hadn't been powered up for 10 years so I checked that
one
and all was ok, only it wasn't my slab! I picked up a load of NeXT gear
from
an ex-employee many years ago including a colour turbo, cube, slab and
Elonex SCSI PC running the x86 version of NeXTSTEP (NeXTSTART by then?).
At
OPENSTEP?
some point I must've accidentally swapped the
slabs...
I'm not sure I understand the shell game here. If you swapped them, what
happened to yours?
All the kit I picked up with some exceptions was destined for TNMOC at
Bletchley Park. I guess my slab ended up there. Doesn't matter anyway
because I replaced the drive in mine before installing NeXTSTEP 3.3.
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
2:04 p.m.
On 20 May 2016 at 15:50, Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
On 2016-05-20 3:39 AM, Adrian Graham wrote:
Could be, though NeXTSTEP 3.x (for x>0) was definitely available on
Intel hardware - I remember helping support a bunch of Pentium 133
"workstations" at Dreamworks running custom software under NeXTSTEP
3.3. They also mainly had Micropolis disks ("For all your data loss
needs").
This combined with NeXTSTEP's baroque install process and tendency to
occasionally crap out and destroy its own disk (I believe this was
more of an x86 only feature), meant production support spent a fair
amount of time reinstalling boxes.
The solution was BSD boot floppy which asked for their pager id, then
downloaded and blatted a compressed NeXTSTEP disk image onto the local
disk, emailed their pager and then rebooted into a nearly complete
NeXTSTEP system, so they could walk away and be pinged to come back to
finish off the config some time later.
On 19/05/2016 23:10, "Sean Caron" <scaron at diablonet.net> wrote:
...
My NeXT slab also hadn't been powered up for 10 years so I checked that
one
and all was ok, only it wasn't my slab! I picked up a load of NeXT gear
from
an ex-employee many years ago including a colour turbo, cube, slab and
Elonex SCSI PC running the x86 version of NeXTSTEP (NeXTSTART by then?).
At
OPENSTEP?
2:30 p.m.
New subject: NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP history - was Re: Classics long overdue a Boot.
On 2016-05-20 2:04 PM, David Brownlee wrote:
On 20 May 2016 at 15:50, Toby Thain <toby at
telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
Sure. I just hadn't heard of NeXTSTART.
--Toby
On 2016-05-20 3:39 AM, Adrian Graham wrote:
Could be, though NeXTSTEP 3.x (for x>0) was definitely available on
Intel hardware - I remember helping support a bunch of Pentium 133
On 19/05/2016 23:10, "Sean Caron" <scaron at diablonet.net> wrote:
...
My NeXT slab also hadn't been powered up for 10 years so I checked that
one
and all was ok, only it wasn't my slab! I picked up a load of NeXT gear
from
an ex-employee many years ago including a colour turbo, cube, slab and
Elonex SCSI PC running the x86 version of NeXTSTEP (NeXTSTART by then?).
At
OPENSTEP?
"workstations" at Dreamworks running custom
software under NeXTSTEP
3.3. They also mainly had Micropolis disks ("For all your data loss
needs").
This combined with NeXTSTEP's baroque install process and tendency to
occasionally crap out and destroy its own disk (I believe this was
more of an x86 only feature), meant production support spent a fair
amount of time reinstalling boxes.
The solution was BSD boot floppy which asked for their pager id, then
downloaded and blatted a compressed NeXTSTEP disk image onto the local
disk, emailed their pager and then rebooted into a nearly complete
NeXTSTEP system, so they could walk away and be pinged to come back to
finish off the config some time later.
2:57 p.m.
On 20 May 2016, at 19:04, David Brownlee <abs at
absd.org> wrote:
They also mainly had Micropolis disks ("For all your data loss
needs").
Drink duly spat over exterior of SPARCclassic laughing at this!
I remember wondering who the $??%#<^* had brought a cement mixer into the workshop c.
1996, only to realise the noise was coming from the Micropolis 5.25" HDD in our
Novell Netware 3.12 server. Nasty, nasty things. We renamed them Necropolis due to their
propensity toward the data afterlife.
-Austin.
4:08 p.m.
On Fri, 20 May 2016, David Brownlee wrote:
Could be, though NeXTSTEP 3.x (for x>0) was
definitely available on
Intel hardware - I remember helping support a bunch of Pentium 133
"workstations" at Dreamworks running custom software under NeXTSTEP 3.3.
I know they do, too because I've run it myself. I have a copy of 3.3. See
the directory tree below my sig. You just need to select your hardware
*very* carefully.
They also mainly had Micropolis disks ("For all
your data loss needs").
Oh, s*** ya, those things were total garbage. I'm convinced they made them
from recycled blender parts and rust to save on
materials cost. I had a
few throughout the years. It got to the point that if I
found any in a
machine, I'd just convince management to replace them before they took
someone's data out of commission like a Takada airbag in a Jamaican Summer.
This combined with NeXTSTEP's baroque install
process and tendency to
occasionally crap out and destroy its own disk (I believe this was more
of an x86 only feature), meant production support spent a fair amount of
time reinstalling boxes.
I've experienced this. It's very easy to mess up as you say. Use a
sacrificial lamb of a box with nothing you care about. I'd recommend
against trying it with a virtual machine. It runs slower than a
octogenarian with ankle weights in a VM for whatever reason (once you
spend hours fiddling with it to get it working).
-Swift
Swift's NextStep 3.3 collection:
|-- 3.3_Boot_Disk.floppyimage
|-- NextSTEP\ 3.3\ CISC\ (Intel\ x86+Motorola\ 68k).iso
|-- drivers
| |-- beta
| | |-- AMDPCnet32.pkg.compressed
| | |-- ATIRageDisplay.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Adaptec1542BSCSI.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Adaptec2940SCSI.pkg.compressed
| | |-- BusLogicFPSCSI.pkg.compressed
| | |-- DECChip21040net.pkg.compressed
| | |-- DECChip21140Net.pkg.compressed
| | |-- DECChip21142Net.pkg.compressed
| | |-- DECChip21x4xNet.pkg.compressed
| | |-- DiamondStealth.pkg.compressed
| | |-- EIDE.pkg.compressed
| | |-- EISABus.pkg.compressed
| | |-- ES1x88Audio.pkg.compressed
| | |-- EtherExpress16.pkg.compressed
| | |-- EtherLink3.pkg.compressed
| | |-- EtherLinkXL.pkg.compressed
| | |-- HPXU_Display.pkg.compressed
| | |-- IBMTokenRing.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Intel82365PCIC.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Intel82557Net.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Intel82595Net.pkg.compressed
| | |-- MatroxMGA2064W.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Num9Imagine128s2.pkg.compressed
| | |-- Number9Motion331.pkg.compressed
| | |-- PCMCIABus.pkg.compressed
| | |-- S3GenericDisplay.pkg.compressed
| | |-- S3ViRGEDisplay.pkg.compressed
| | |-- SCSITape.pkg.compressed
| | |-- SoundBlaster16.pkg.compressed
| | |-- ThinkPad760CD.pkg.compressed
| | |-- ThinkPad760ED.pkg.compressed
| | |-- TridentGeneric.pkg.compressed
| | |-- WD90C24Display.pkg.compressed
| | |-- XircomIIps.pkg.compressed
| | |-- XircomNewave.pkg.compressed
| | `-- YamahaOPLAudio.pkg.compressed
| `-- released
| |-- AIC6X60SCSI.pkg.compressed
| |-- AMDPCnet32.pkg.compressed
| |-- AMD_PC_SCSI.pkg.compressed
| |-- ATIMach32.pkg.compressed
| |-- ATI_Mach64.pkg.compressed
| |-- Adaptec2740SCSI.pkg.compressed
| |-- Adaptec2940SCSI,pkg.compressed
| |-- BusLogicSCSI.pkg.compressed
| |-- CL_GD5434.pkg.compressed
| |-- CT_Wingine_64300.pkg.compressed
| |-- Compaq_QVision.pkg.compressed
| |-- DECChip21040.pkg.compressed
| |-- DECChip21140.pkg.compressed
| |-- DPTSCSI.pkg.compressed
| |-- DiamondStealth.pkg.compressed
| |-- EIDE.pkg.compressed
| |-- EISABus.pkg.compressed
| |-- ESS1x88Audio.pkg.compressed
| |-- FTGISALightPen.pkg.compressed
| |-- FTGSerLightPen.pkg.compressed
| |-- IBMTokenRing.pkg.compressed
| |-- ISA_Serial_Port.pkg.compressed
| |-- Intel82365PC.pkg.compressed
| |-- Intel824x0.pkg.compressed
| |-- Intel82556.pkg.compressed
| |-- Intel82557Net.pkg.compressed
| |-- Intel82595Net.pkg.compressed
| |-- Intel82596Net.pkg.compressed
| |-- Matrox_MGA_Mill.pkg.compressed
| |-- MedVisionJazz16.pkg.compressed
| |-- Num9GXE64Pro.pkg.compressed
| |-- Num9Motion771.pkg.compressed
| |-- Num9_Imagine128.pkg.compressed
| |-- PCMCIABus.pkg.compressed
| |-- PS2Mouse.pkg.compressed
| |-- Pegasus_Display.pkg.compressed
| |-- PortServer.pkg.compressed
| |-- S3_Generic.pkg.compressed
| |-- SMC16.pkg.compressed
| |-- SMCUltra.pkg.compressed
| |-- SYM53c8.pkg.compressed
| |-- SerialPointer.pkg.compressed
| |-- SoundBlaster16.pkg.compressed
| |-- ThinkPad755CX.pkg.compressed
| |-- WeitekPower9100.pkg.compressed
| |-- XircomNetwave.pkg.compressed
| `-- XircomPerf.pkg.compressed
|-- floppies
| |-- 3.2_Addl_Drivers.floppyimage
| |-- 3.2_Boot_Disk.floppyimage
| |-- 3.2_Moto_Boot_Disk.floppyimage
| |-- 3.3_Addl_Drivers.floppyimage
| |-- 3.3_Beta_Drivers.floppyimage
| |-- 3.3_Boot_Disk.floppyimage
| |-- 3.3_Core_Drivers.floppyimage
| |-- 3.3_Driver_Disk.floppyimage
| |-- 3.3_Moto_Boot_Disk.floppyimage
| `-- 3.3_PCCard_Install.floppyimage
`-- patches
|-- 3.3_Patch_1
| |-- 3.3DeveloperPatch.pkg.tar
| |-- 3.3_HP_SPARC_Patch1.pkg.tar
| |-- 3.3_Int_68k_Patch1.tar
| |-- 3.3_Patch1_DNS_PostInstall
| `-- 3.3_Patch1_Libs_PostInstall
|-- 3.3_Patch_2
| |-- NS33CISCUserPatch2.tar
| |-- NS33DeveloperPatch2.tar
| `-- NS33RISCUserPatch2.tar
|-- 3.3_Patch_3
| |-- NS33CISCUserPatch3.tar
| `-- NS33RISCUserPatch3.tar
|-- FoundationUserPatch.compressed
|-- NT_Printing_Patch.compressed
`-- rc.cdrom
19 May
19 May
6:06 p.m.
On Thu, 19 May 2016, Austin Pass wrote:
Swift's thread on the "ones that got
away" got me thinking about another
source of guilt/regret common to the classic computer collector:
Systems we've neglected or failed to boot recently.
I've had a re-jig of my storage, and whilst it was great to uncover gems
that I'd forgotten I even had, it also brought some regrets for the systems
I've neglected - lots of them not booted in 10 years or more.
Because they were easily accessible I pulled out my Colour Classic and G4
Cube (is the latter on-topic through the "10 year rule" or are we sticking
to pre-millenials?):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2c70f4flucjo3f6/IMG_7576.jpg?dl=0
Quick check-over and they both booted just fine!
The systems I'm feeling really guilty over neglecting are:
SGI Crimson VGX (skins perfect but needs some TLC before power-on)
Micro PDP 11/83 (same)
Maxed-out Acorn A3000 (my home-brew external SCSI Podule needs finishing)
And I have a vast box of Sinclair Specturm games on tape that would
probably take the rest of the year to load if I fired up my +2 and played
them sequentially!
-Austin.
Here's my best story along these lines. I've had a NeXT Cube for quite a
while and it sat for some time in my parent's basement while I went off to
school and got my adult life together.
A few years ago, I made a pass through the town where I grew up with a box
truck (on the way to Indiana to grab my ROLM CBX) and picked up all the
remaining stuff I had in storage there and brought it home with me.
I connected the monitor, keyboard and mouse and plugged the Cube in. Hit
the power button on the keyboard and it powered up and booted right into
NeXTstep as if it had just run a few days ago. I think the system must
have been sitting idle for almost fifteen years before I got back to it. I
even managed to remember the password ;)
Since then, I've restored pretty much everything I was able to bring back
to running condition. I try to fire them all up a few times a year, at a
minimum. In general, things have held up pretty well. Drives tend to be
the greatest challenge - but can sometimes present the greatest surprises
as well :O
Best,
Sean
6:30 p.m.
Here's my best story along these lines. I've had a NeXT Cube for quite a while
and it sat for some time in my parent's basement while I went off to school and got my
adult life together.
A few years ago, I made a pass through the town where I grew up with a box truck (on the
way to Indiana to grab my ROLM CBX) and picked up all the remaining stuff I had in storage
there and brought it home with me.
I connected the monitor, keyboard and mouse and plugged the Cube in. Hit the power button
on the keyboard and it powered up and booted right into NeXTstep as if it had just run a
few days ago. I think the system must have been sitting idle for almost fifteen years
before I got back to it. I even managed to remember the password ;)
Since then, I've restored pretty much everything I was able to bring back to running
condition. I try to fire them all up a few times a year, at a minimum. In general, things
have held up pretty well. Drives tend to be the greatest challenge - but can sometimes
present the greatest surprises as well :O
Best,
Sean
NeXT cubes are amongst the "most coveted" systems I don't currently have in
my collection.
Whilst being devoid of value in market terms, I agree that the old data on some of these
systems is a real period treasure trove. Take the Colour Classic in my original post. It
came from a school (since demolished) and has lots of old, crude work on it - seemingly
from a Geography department. I actually learned something about glaciers by reading some
tonight!!
-Austin.
8:04 p.m.
If I manage to make it to VCF, I should try to get rid of:
Epson RC20 - Z80 RAM, pseudo ROM, serial port. Unfortunately, not having
charged it up in way too long, in addition to battery charge, somebody
will have to locate the "ROM-Roader", or make one.
NEC 8201A - same group of machines as Model100.
OQO - I have a bunch of them. Most of the MANY batteries will need new
cells.
I wonder if that Epson QX-10 is still in my shed
If I get enough stuff out, then it's time to part with my early 5150
(which, although very early, has a few trivial mods)
A lot of IBM 5150 series manuals. (at least a dozen shelf feet of IBM
binders in slipcases)
But getting rid of all that will only reduce the clutter to "extreme
hoarding".
2986
days inactive
2987
days old
31 comments
15 participants
participants (15)
-
abs＠absd.org -
austinpass＠gmail.com -
binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com -
cclist＠sydex.com -
chocolatejollis38＠gmail.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
cmhanson＠eschatologist.net -
ethan＠757.org -
ian.finder＠gmail.com -
killingsworth.todd＠gmail.com -
other＠oryx.us -
scaron＠diablonet.net -
swiftgriggs＠gmail.com -
toby＠telegraphics.com.au -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk