3 Dec
1999
3 Dec
'99
10:36 a.m.
Zane,
Do you stay with DEC OEM Model NUMBER on replacement?
What utilities exist to help identify drives to a MicroVAX?
Can I "dummy" some CYL/SPT/Hd count and hand it to the MicroVax and have the
OS Come in later and claim its an RD5? something provided the figures match?
Like, Whats the difference between a Quantum Q-540 and a DEC RD52?
Since Allison Parent mentioned that the RD52 was a Q-540, I have looked it
up in "The Hard Disk Technical Guide" by Micro-House. All the details are
there.
If I were to Find a Micropolis or CDC drive that fit some larger DEC
equivalent on CYL/SPT/Heads MFM ST506 RPM etc what would stop me from
generating a workable drive profile?
Anyone done this?
-----Original Message-----
From: Zane H. Healy [mailto:healyzh@aracnet.com]
Sent: Friday, December 03, 1999 4:18 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: VMS 4.7 was VAXstation 3100 history (Was ... different)
I've been known to pull the hard drive that came with the machine, and use
a different harddrive. Did this with the VAXstation 3100/30 I've got.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
> On a
philosophical side, what do you guys do, preserve both hardware
> and original software or upgrade the software? On my 3100/M38 I took
> out the original RZ24 with 5.?, put an old IBM disk and installed 7.2.
My view is that I'd never overwrite an original distribution kit -- I'd
preserve it and probably back it up. But I may well install a newer
version of the OS (given suitable licenses) on the machine. I'd attempt
to back up what was already there first, though. That's because I _use_
these old machines. For a museum exhibit, as you said, you want to have
contemporary software. 
3 Dec
3 Dec
10:52 a.m.
On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Truthan,Larry wrote:
Zane,
Do you stay with DEC OEM Model NUMBER on replacement?
What utilities exist to help identify drives to a MicroVAX?
Can I "dummy" some CYL/SPT/Hd count and hand it to the MicroVax and have the
OS Come in later and claim its an RD5? something provided the figures match?
Like, Whats the difference between a Quantum Q-540 and a DEC RD52?
Since Allison Parent mentioned that the RD52 was a Q-540, I have looked it
up in "The Hard Disk Technical Guide" by Micro-House. All the details are
there.
If I were to Find a Micropolis or CDC drive that fit some larger DEC
equivalent on CYL/SPT/Heads MFM ST506 RPM etc what would stop me from
generating a workable drive profile?
Anyone done this?
I have successfully and without problem formatted both Maxtor XT2190 and
Priam 519 drives that had been in DOS service on a MicroVAX 2000 using
Test 70. It appears that if the CSH numbers equate to an RDnn number's
figures that it is assumed to be one.
- don
-----Original Message-----
From: Zane H. Healy [mailto:healyzh@aracnet.com]
Sent: Friday, December 03, 1999 4:18 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: VMS 4.7 was VAXstation 3100 history (Was ... different)
I've been known to pull the hard drive that came with the machine, and use
a different harddrive. Did this with the VAXstation 3100/30 I've got.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
> On a
philosophical side, what do you guys do, preserve both hardware
> and original software or upgrade the software? On my 3100/M38 I took
> out the original RZ24 with 5.?, put an old IBM disk and installed 7.2.
My view is that I'd never overwrite an original distribution kit -- I'd
preserve it and probably back it up. But I may well install a newer
version of the OS (given suitable licenses) on the machine. I'd attempt
to back up what was already there first, though. That's because I _use_
these old machines. For a museum exhibit, as you said, you want to have
contemporary software. 
10:57 a.m.
What utilities exist to help identify drives to a
MicroVAX?
Not at teh console boot level. VMS will idenify them as weill MDM diags.
Like, Whats the difference between a Quantum Q-540 and
a DEC RD52?
NONE, RD52 is what dec calls a Q-540.
If I were to Find a Micropolis or CDC drive that fit
some larger DEC
equivalent on CYL/SPT/Heads MFM ST506 RPM etc what would stop me from
generating a workable drive profile?
RD54 is Maxtor2190, look that up.
Now, heres the nasty part. Of the RD52/3/4 disks there are Quantum,
Micropolus and MAXTOR drives non DEC branded. They are the same. They
are also different! The NON-DEC supplied are not formatted to match the
RQDX2/3 controllers. So if you find some D540s, you may also have to
format them... you likely don't have diags to do that. So even with a
pile of them your still not ahead.
Solution: prevail on someone that bas a Qbus PDP-11 with diags that can
format the drive.
Allison
11:18 a.m.
Zane,
Do you stay with DEC OEM Model NUMBER on replacement?
What utilities exist to help identify drives to a MicroVAX?
Can I "dummy" some CYL/SPT/Hd count and hand it to the MicroVax and have the
OS Come in later and claim its an RD5? something provided the figures match?
Like, Whats the difference between a Quantum Q-540 and a DEC RD52?
Since Allison Parent mentioned that the RD52 was a Q-540, I have looked it
up in "The Hard Disk Technical Guide" by Micro-House. All the details are
there.
If I were to Find a Micropolis or CDC drive that fit some larger DEC
equivalent on CYL/SPT/Heads MFM ST506 RPM etc what would stop me from
generating a workable drive profile?
Anyone done this?
Depends. In the case of RDxx drives I use whatever I can get my hands on.
I think one of my 3 RD54's is the real thing. One someone else setup as an
RD54, the third is the Maxtor that's the exact same drive.
I don't think there is *any* difference between a RD52 and a Q540 other
than the DEC formatting.
For RDxx drives, I've got a VAXstation 2000 that I've used to format them.
It's the only thing the system is used for, and it's the only thing that
particular VS2000 is good for. It has bad memory, but can still be used as
a drive formatter, and I don't have any desire to be bothered with fixing
it up.
I'm trying to get away from having any of my systems using MFM Hard Drives
though for obvious reasons, though with some like the Pro380 I don't have
any chioce.
For SCSI drives I generally use DEC drives, though I've got non-DEC drives
in my pair of AlphaStation 200's, one of which causes problems unless it's
tricked into spining up before I boot the system. I'm not sure if some of
my StorageWorks drives are 3rd party or not I was thinking they were, but
am no longer sure. Though on my PDP-11's I prefer non-DEC SCSI drives that
auto-spinup.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
8993
days inactive
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days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
allisonp＠world.std.com -
donm＠cts.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
truthanl＠oclc.org