9 Mar
2007
9 Mar
'07
10:02 p.m.
Is there any interest here in DEC XMI gear? Preferably cash or trade
interest.... ;)
I have several rackmount XMI enclosures, a couple of CI and a *bunch*
of SCSI and ethernet boards with cab kits. They're about to go on eBay,
but I thought I'd check here to see if anyone's looking.
Oh, yeah, I also have 5 or 6 star couplers and a bunch of Big Blue CI
cable, and a couple of HS<mumble> CI-SCSI adapters *without* their flash
cards.
For that matter, I have 2 rackmount DEC7000 cabinets I'd like to see
disappear. One is the bare cabinet, the other has 2 procs and the
laserbus-XMI adapter intact.
I'm supremely uninterested in crating or palletizing the enclosures,
so you'll need either to arrange that yourself or prepare to be extorted. :)
Reply off-list if interested. I'll be making a more specific
inventory this weekend.
Doc
9 Mar
9 Mar
10:26 p.m.
In article <45F21FCE.8070603 at mdrconsult.com>,
Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> writes:
Is there any interest here in DEC XMI gear?
I haven't the foggiest idea what XMI gear is :-)
--
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10:35 p.m.
On 3/9/07, Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote:
In article <45F21FCE.8070603 at mdrconsult.com>,
Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> writes:
I should probably let Doc chime in here, but I can't resist... it's
the CPU/memory bus used in late-model DEC VAXen like the VAX 6000
line. One stuffs a few CPUs, some memory, perhaps some network or
cluster controllers and maybe a VAXBI cage or two on the XMI bus and
you have a fully-loaded VAX 6xxx (where the exact model number is a
product of the number and speed/variety of the CPUs). If I remember
correctly, one may stuff up to 6 CPUs on the XMI bus, which is limited
to a smallish number of total slots), but if one wants to max out the
memory and have other peripherals in there, it might not be possible
to have all 6 CPUs loaded.
Interesting stuff, if you want to run a VAX the size of a
refrigerator. The last one I saw in the wild was a few years ago, but
there are quite a few in hobbyist hands. Someone (here?) has
described how to run one off of either single-phase or US 220VAC, but
they shipped from DEC with 3-phase power, IIRC.
-ethan
Is there any interest here in DEC XMI gear?
I haven't the foggiest idea what XMI gear is :-)
11:16 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
On 3/9/07, Richard <legalize at xmission.com>
wrote:
No, please, you know way more about 'em than me. I've never run
these, although they were running till the day before I took them. I
uncabled them on the datacenter floor, and they've been stored gently
since. I picked up only because there were machines in the lot that I
did want.
If you google "technical specifications DEC 7000" there's a pretty
detailed description of the laserbus/XMI scheme out there in pdf.
In article <45F21FCE.8070603 at mdrconsult.com>,
Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> writes:
I should probably let Doc chime in here, but I can't resist... it's
the CPU/memory bus used in late-model DEC VAXen like the VAX 6000
line. One stuffs a few CPUs, some memory, perhaps some network or
cluster controllers and maybe a VAXBI cage or two on the XMI bus and
you have a fully-loaded VAX 6xxx (where the exact model number is a
product of the number and speed/variety of the CPUs). If I remember
correctly, one may stuff up to 6 CPUs on the XMI bus, which is limited
to a smallish number of total slots), but if one wants to max out the
memory and have other peripherals in there, it might not be possible
to have all 6 CPUs loaded. Is there any interest here in DEC XMI gear?
I haven't the foggiest idea what XMI gear is :-) Interesting stuff, if you want to run a VAX the size
of a
refrigerator. The last one I saw in the wild was a few years ago, but
there are quite a few in hobbyist hands. Someone (here?) has
described how to run one off of either single-phase or US 220VAC, but
they shipped from DEC with 3-phase power, IIRC.
The floor cabinet models are 3-phase, but the rackmount system unit
and the RM XMI crate are both 200-240VAC single-phase. The standard
plug is a NEMA 6-15, so I'd guess it's not pulling more than 10A-12A peak.
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/SOC/QB0013PF.PDF
A whole system, including processor, XMI cage, and a half-dozen
BA350s, will fit in a full-height rack.
Doc
10 Mar
10 Mar
6:48 p.m.
On Fri, 9 Mar 2007, Ethan Dicks wrote:
If I remember correctly, one may stuff up to 6 CPUs on
the XMI bus,
which is limited to a smallish number of total slots), but if one wants
to max out the memory and have other peripherals in there, it might not
be possible to have all 6 CPUs loaded.
Close... The bus you're describing there is the LSB bus, which can handle
up to 8 CPU or memory modules (1-6 CPUs, VAX or Alpha; 1-7 memory modules,
up to 3.5GB on VAX), and one dedicated slot for the IO module.
The IO module connects to 1-4 XMI card cages which handle Ethernet, DSSI
(VAX only), SCSI (Alpha only), CI, and a bridge to VAXBI.
Interesting stuff, if you want to run a VAX the size
of a
refrigerator. The last one I saw in the wild was a few years ago, but
there are quite a few in hobbyist hands. Someone (here?) has
described how to run one off of either single-phase or US 220VAC, but
they shipped from DEC with 3-phase power, IIRC.
Well, they ship with a 3-phase input, but each of the three power
regulators is a simple single-phase load. If the machine isn't loaded
with extra cards and storage PIUs, it can be run from a single regulator.
--Ian
10:53 p.m.
Ian Viemeister wrote:
Actually, you can max out the entire machine and run on a 220V + center
tap dryer plug. I know it can be done because I've done it.
Peace... Sridhar
On Fri, 9 Mar 2007, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Nope. It applies to the XMI bus in the VAX 6000 too. If you max out
CPU's you can't max out RAM.
If I remember correctly, one may stuff up to 6
CPUs on the XMI bus,
which is limited to a smallish number of total slots), but if one wants
to max out the memory and have other peripherals in there, it might not
be possible to have all 6 CPUs loaded.
Close... The bus you're describing there is the LSB bus, which can handle
up to 8 CPU or memory modules (1-6 CPUs, VAX or Alpha; 1-7 memory modules,
up to 3.5GB on VAX), and one dedicated slot for the IO module. The IO module connects to 1-4 XMI card cages which
handle Ethernet, DSSI
(VAX only), SCSI (Alpha only), CI, and a bridge to VAXBI.
Not only those, but on Alpha, you can hook to PCI and (IIRC) Futurebus+.
Interesting
stuff, if you want to run a VAX the size of a
refrigerator. The last one I saw in the wild was a few years ago, but
there are quite a few in hobbyist hands. Someone (here?) has
described how to run one off of either single-phase or US 220VAC, but
they shipped from DEC with 3-phase power, IIRC.
Well, they ship with a 3-phase input, but each of the three power
regulators is a simple single-phase load. If the machine isn't loaded
with extra cards and storage PIUs, it can be run from a single regulator.
11 Mar
11 Mar
1:32 a.m.
Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
Ahem.
The rackmount laserbus system enclosure AND the rackmount XMI cage
are both shipped as 240V single phase.
Which is the main reason I thought somebody might be interested in
them. Well, that, and shipping wouldn't break the bank quite as badly
as the standalone cabinet.
Doc
Ian Viemeister wrote:
Well, they
ship with a 3-phase input, but each of the three power
regulators is a simple single-phase load. If the machine isn't loaded
with extra cards and storage PIUs, it can be run from a single regulator.
Actually, you can max out the entire machine and run on a 220V + center
tap dryer plug. I know it can be done because I've done it.
9 Mar
9 Mar
10:37 p.m.
Richard wrote:
In article <45F21FCE.8070603 at
mdrconsult.com>,
Doc Shipley <doc at mdrconsult.com> writes:
It's one of DEC's more arcane I/O busses. I've only ever seen it
attached to VAX6000, DEC7000 and VAX7000, and DEC10000 systems. I don't
know if any other systms used it.
Doc
Is there any interest here in DEC XMI gear?
I haven't the foggiest idea what XMI gear is :-) 
10 Mar
10 Mar
4:34 a.m.
On Fri, 9 Mar 2007, Doc Shipley wrote:
I used to work on VAX7000s at British Gas and one day my boss decided we
needed another to test out patches and that it had to be a 7000 to
match production. So I duly found a secondhand machine and arranged for
it to be installed. But he wasn't prepared to pay for HSJ controllers
etc, and IIRC we ended up converting one bus to another so we could then
attach a DSSI adapter and small shelf with a couple of disks in. And for
some reason this config was *incredibly* slow to boot as a result. I
remember developers calling 30 mins afer loss of service to see when it would
be back up and saying "Sorry, it's still crashing" (dumping).
Was a 10000 essentially a 7000 with tons of batteries in for UPS, or the
VAX that could be reconfigured into an Alpha?
Andrew
I haven't
the foggiest idea what XMI gear is :-)
It's one of DEC's more arcane I/O busses. I've only ever seen it attached
to VAX6000, DEC7000 and VAX7000, and DEC10000 systems. I don't know if any
other systms used it.
12:05 a.m.
Doc Shipley wrote:
Is there any interest here in DEC XMI gear?
Preferably cash or trade
interest.... ;)
I have several rackmount XMI enclosures, a couple of CI and a *bunch*
of SCSI and ethernet boards with cab kits. They're about to go on eBay,
but I thought I'd check here to see if anyone's looking.
Oh, yeah, I also have 5 or 6 star couplers and a bunch of Big Blue CI
cable, and a couple of HS<mumble> CI-SCSI adapters *without* their flash
cards.
For that matter, I have 2 rackmount DEC7000 cabinets I'd like to see
disappear. One is the bare cabinet, the other has 2 procs and the
laserbus-XMI adapter intact.
I'm supremely uninterested in crating or palletizing the enclosures,
so you'll need either to arrange that yourself or prepare to be
extorted. :)
Reply off-list if interested. I'll be making a more specific
inventory this weekend.
I'd love to have all of that stuff. (All of it. Really.) But you're a
bit too far from me. 8-/
I'd love to make a rackmount VAX 6000 and a rackmount VAX 7000.
Peace... Sridhar
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9 comments
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participants (6)
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andy＠smokebelch.org -
classiccmp＠ian.viemeister.com -
doc＠mdrconsult.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
legalize＠xmission.com -
ploopster＠gmail.com