21 Oct
2004
21 Oct
'04
2:58 p.m.
I'm sitting on a pair of half-wide rackmount storage devices
silk-screened "RA 8" and "System Technology Associates" on front.
Standard buttons - Write-Protect, Fault, A, B, on the front panel and an
LED readout. 3 characters, I think. There's a Control Data Corp label
on top of the box, but the model label on the side is STA. Model RA8-1100.
Open PSU inside, and a logic board that converts the SDI I/O to talk
to 2 Maxtor XT-8760-E ESDI drives.
I can't find any mention of these puppies on Google. STA is
apparently still operating as an HP VAR, but their site is less than
useless.
So, has anybody ever seen one?
Doc
21 Oct
21 Oct
3:20 p.m.
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 04:58:00PM -0700, Doc Shipley wrote:
I'm sitting on a pair of half-wide rackmount
storage devices
silk-screened "RA 8" and "System Technology Associates" on front.
Standard buttons - Write-Protect, Fault, A, B, on the front panel and an
LED readout. 3 characters, I think. There's a Control Data Corp label
on top of the box, but the model label on the side is STA. Model RA8-1100.
Open PSU inside, and a logic board that converts the SDI I/O to talk
to 2 Maxtor XT-8760-E ESDI drives.
That sounds similar to a box I have at home, but with an SDI<->ESDI bridge.
Mine is full-width (19"), and has the mounting space for 2 sets of drives
and bridge card, but only one set is installed, (2 x 1.2GB).
So, has anybody ever seen one?
Not that exact one; sorry.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 22-Oct-2004 00:10 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -68.0 F (-55.6 C) Windchill -95.3 F (-70.7 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 6.1 kts Grid 140 Barometer 671.4 mb (10953. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
3:21 p.m.
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 04:58:00PM -0700, Doc Shipley wrote:
Open PSU inside, and a logic board that converts the
SDI I/O to talk
to 2 Maxtor XT-8760-E ESDI drives.
Oops... I misread your message and parsed "SMD" where you wrote
"ESDI".
Perhaps we have the same bridge card, but in a different enclosure?
Can't verify now... give me a few months if you don't find any info.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 22-Oct-2004 00:20 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -68.2 F (-55.7 C) Windchill -98.7 F (-72.59 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 7.6 kts Grid 134 Barometer 671.4 mb (10953. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
3:45 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 04:58:00PM -0700, Doc Shipley
wrote:
Could be. I think these might have been the cans in a full-wide
shelf, too. The bridge board is about 8" x 12", and sits above the PSU,
with the ESDI drives sitting sideways in the enclosure in front of that.
Open PSU inside, and a logic board that converts
the SDI I/O to talk
to 2 Maxtor XT-8760-E ESDI drives.
Oops... I misread your message and parsed "SMD" where you wrote
"ESDI".
Perhaps we have the same bridge card, but in a different enclosure? Can't verify now... give me a few months if you
don't find any info.
Awww, c'mon, Ethan! Just trot out to the garage and have a look!
I'm going to test the power and check them out, and then ASSume that
if the drives are functional then it'll talk to a UDA50 or KDA50 without
further ado. They're both clean, inside and out, but were stacked sort
of willy-nilly on a cement floor when I found them. I don't know how
tough those Maxtors are, or even yet whether they autopark on power-down.
If they work, it'll be a major improvement - power-wise, space-wise,
volume-wise, and noise-wise - over the RA60s I'm running now. :)
I can probably post pics on my web page if anybody's interested.
Doc
5:54 p.m.
New subject: South Pole. (was: "System Technology Associates"? SDI-ESDI adapter)
> Awww, c'mon, Ethan! Just trot out to the
garage and have a look!
Psssssst!! Ethan is at south pole! :-O
Hey, here's a semintelligent, if OT, question.
What time zone is at the South Pole?
John A.
eeney-meenie-miney...
22 Oct
22 Oct
9:57 a.m.
New subject: South Pole. (was: "System Technology Associates"? SDI-ESDI adapter)
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 10:54:49PM -0400, John Allain wrote:
Hey, here's a semintelligent, if OT, question.
What time zone is at the South Pole?
Well... the easy answer is "whichever one we want".
In fact, the one we have selected is the one that matches where our flights
come from so it's easy to synchronize operations. That means NZST/NZDT,
since our flights come from McMurdo, and their flights come from Christchurch,
NZ (yes, we are at GMT+13 right now, and we _do_ observe daylight savings
time, even though the sun is up 24/7)
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 22-Oct-2004 18:50 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -55.2 F (-48.5 C) Windchill -65.3 F (-54.1 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 1.8 kts Grid 062 Barometer 672.8 mb (10900. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
12:35 p.m.
New subject: South Pole.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 10:54:49PM -0400, John Allain
wrote:
I did a bunch of work last year for a client whose datacenter is in
the Pacific time zone, but they're an online stockbroker, so all their
servers and most of the desktops at the datacenter site are "3 hours
off", to match Wall Street time.
It was weird. I learned to account for it OK, but I never really got
used to it.
Doc
Hey, here's a semintelligent, if OT,
question.
What time zone is at the South Pole?
Well... the easy answer is "whichever one we want".
In fact, the one we have selected is the one that matches where our flights
come from so it's easy to synchronize operations. That means NZST/NZDT,
since our flights come from McMurdo, and their flights come from Christchurch,
NZ (yes, we are at GMT+13 right now, and we _do_ observe daylight savings
time, even though the sun is up 24/7) 
11:28 a.m.
New subject: South Pole.
John Allain wrote:
Hey, here's a semintelligent, if OT, question.
What time zone is at
the South Pole?
<http://geography.about.com/library/faq/blqztimeatpoles.htm>
What time is it at the North and South Pole?
Since lines of longitude converge at the North and South Pole, it's
almost impossible (and very impractical) to determine which time zone
you're in based on the longitude.
Therefore, researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the earth
usually use the time zone associated with their research stations. For
example, since nearly all flights to Antarctica and the South Pole are
from New Zealand, New Zealand time is the most commonly
used time zone
in Antarctica.
11:53 a.m.
New subject: South Pole.
On Fri, Oct 22, 2004 at 01:28:44PM -0700, Joseph S. Barrera III wrote:
John Allain wrote:
Yep... fanatical following of timezones would put different buildings
at Pole on different times - not practical at all.
Hey, here's a semintelligent, if OT,
question. What time zone is at
the South Pole?
<http://geography.about.com/library/faq/blqztimeatpoles.htm>
What time is it at the North and South Pole?
Since lines of longitude converge at the North and South Pole, it's
almost impossible (and very impractical) to determine which time zone
you're in based on the longitude. Therefore, researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic
regions of the earth
usually use the time zone associated with their research stations. For
example, since nearly all flights to Antarctica and the South Pole are
from New Zealand, New Zealand time is the most commonly used time zone
in Antarctica.
Exactly. Both McMurdo and Pole keep NZ time (including daylight savings!)
The two stations represent well over 1,000 people in the summer (1,300?)
and several hundred in the winter, the lion's share of the people here.
The principal remains the same, even for Palmer Station (US) - no flights,
but the boats come from Punta Arenas, Chile; so they are on Chilean time
(and at one point, decades ago, were on Argentinian time when the boats
came from there).
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 22-Oct-2004 20:50 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -53.7 F (-47.7 C) Windchill -69.2 F (-56.2 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 2.9 kts Grid 055 Barometer 673.2 mb (10884. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
22 Oct
22 Oct
10:44 a.m.
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 05:45:31PM -0700, Doc Shipley wrote:
A) It's in the basement
B) The basement is in Ohio
C) Ohio is 12,000 miles from here.
Could be. I think these might have been the cans in
a full-wide
shelf, too. The bridge board is about 8" x 12", and sits above the PSU,
with the ESDI drives sitting sideways in the enclosure in front of that.
Hmm... that size sounds different than the one I have - my memory is
a card that is square and about 8" on a side.
Can't
verify now... give me a few months if you don't find any info.
Awww, c'mon, Ethan! Just trot out to the garage and have a look! I'm going to test the power and check them out,
and then ASSume that
if the drives are functional then it'll talk to a UDA50 or KDA50 without
further ado. They're both clean, inside and out, but were stacked sort
of willy-nilly on a cement floor when I found them. I don't know how
tough those Maxtors are, or even yet whether they autopark on power-down.
I can't say for sure, but largish (capacity) 5.25" drives _should_ auto-park
(parking was an issue for transporting < 100MB MFM drives, but later units
usually got over it), and the beauty of MSCP is that you can just throw a
drive on a controller and there's no host-side configuration.
If they work, it'll be a major improvement -
power-wise, space-wise,
volume-wise, and noise-wise - over the RA60s I'm running now. :)
Oh, yea. We had an RA60 at work, c. 1987. It was handy to be able to
change packs to change the OS, but in practice, we virtually never did
so. I received a short rack with a couple of RA60s in 2000, and haven't
had occasion to power them on yet (I'd rather focus my energy on putting
my RA70s to use - similar capacity, *much* less power).
For that matter, I wouldn't mind finding an RA72 or two... size without
the wallet-sucking motors.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 22-Oct-2004 19:30 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -60.3 F (-51.3 C) Windchill -76.09 F (-60.1 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 2.8 kts Grid 065 Barometer 672.9 mb (10896. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
11:07 a.m.
On Fri, Oct 22, 2004 at 08:01:05PM +0000, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Fri, 2004-10-22 at 19:44 +0000, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Or fly direct - we route through LA and Christchurch, so it's further than
the shortest path (which would be closer to 8,000 miles)
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 22-Oct-2004 20:00 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -53.7 F (-47.7 C) Windchill -67.40 F (-55.2 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 2.5 kts Grid 065 Barometer 673 mb (10892. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
C) Ohio is 12,000 miles from here.
not if you dig a tunnel!
4:16 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
A) It's in the basement
B) The basement is in Ohio
C) Ohio is 12,000 miles from here.
I know, I know! I *knew* I shoulda put a smiley there!
BTW, I turned my spousal equivalent on to your McMurdo pages and
she's a huge fan now.
I do actually swap packs a lot in the RA60 attached to my 11/84. One
for BSD, one for RT-11, etc.
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 05:45:31PM -0700, Doc Shipley
wrote:
Well, that's based on the 5-minute inspection outside the thrift
where I got 'em. :) I'm hoping to have time to get board numbers and
snapshots this weekend. Maybe even see how they run.
Could be. I think these might have been the
cans in a full-wide
shelf, too. The bridge board is about 8" x 12", and sits above the PSU,
with the ESDI drives sitting sideways in the enclosure in front of that.
Hmm... that size sounds different than the one I have - my memory is
a card that is square and about 8" on a side. Can't verify now... give me a few months if you
don't find any info.
Awww, c'mon, Ethan! Just trot out to the garage and have a look! I can't say for sure, but largish (capacity)
5.25" drives _should_ auto-park
(parking was an issue for transporting < 100MB MFM drives, but later units
usually got over it), and the beauty of MSCP is that you can just throw a
drive on a controller and there's no host-side configuration.
Exactly.
If they work,
it'll be a major improvement - power-wise, space-wise,
volume-wise, and noise-wise - over the RA60s I'm running now. :)
Oh, yea. We had an RA60 at work, c. 1987. It was handy to be able to
change packs to change the OS, but in practice, we virtually never did
so. I received a short rack with a couple of RA60s in 2000, and haven't
had occasion to power them on yet (I'd rather focus my energy on putting
my RA70s to use - similar capacity, *much* less power). For that matter, I wouldn't mind finding an RA72
or two... size without
the wallet-sucking motors.
I have 2 RA81s I've never even tested. One's probably trash - it
came in the lot with the RA60s, and none of the RA60s had the heads
locked down. Sooner or later I'll check, but I'm betting the RA81 isn't
parked. And the specced power budget on that pup is about twice that of
the RA60. FOURTEEN AMPS just to spin up????
Jeeze.
Doc
24 Oct
24 Oct
8:41 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 04:58:00PM -0700, Doc Shipley
wrote:
Didn't get to power them up yet, but I finally had a chance to take
some snapshots. You can't really tell, but that socketed 40-pin DIP on
the bridge card is a Z80.
http://www.docsbox.net/RA8/
One of the first things I want to check, after basic function, is
whether these guys will function on one disk. Looks like they should.
If they will, one of those Maxtors is going to go live in my PC/RT.
The RT has a 280MB IDE Seagate Medalist in it right now, which was a
cool hack, but I'd be happier with the ESDI adapter back in. And the
Maxtor is bigger. :)
Doc
Open PSU inside, and a logic board that converts
the SDI I/O to talk
to 2 Maxtor XT-8760-E ESDI drives.
Oops... I misread your message and parsed "SMD" where you wrote
"ESDI".
Perhaps we have the same bridge card, but in a different enclosure?
Can't verify now... give me a few months if you don't find any info.
26 Oct
26 Oct
1:56 p.m.
On Mon, Oct 25, 2004 at 12:41:57AM -0500, Doc Shipley wrote:
It's been many years since I cracked mine, but the boards are not
obviously different. I wish I could tell you more about mine, but
I literally just plugged in the SDI cable to a KDB50 (VAXBI), and
*bam* - lotsa disk. I only opened it up because I was curious.
I have no idea what I might have to do to format different ESDI
drives on it. It just works.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 26-Oct-2004 22:50 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -58.4 F (-50.2 C) Windchill -90.8 F (-68.2 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 10.3 kts Grid 055 Barometer 674 mb (10852. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
Perhaps we have
the same bridge card, but in a different enclosure?
http://www.docsbox.net/RA8/
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16 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
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allain＠panix.com -
dickset＠amanda.spole.gov -
doc＠mdrconsult.com -
joe＠barrera.org -
jpero＠sympatico.ca -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
thompson＠new.rr.com