25 Aug
2020
25 Aug
'20
11:46 a.m.
I was going to comment that the only way I could see a
1U VAX was if
someone rack mounted a 4000/VLC. Is that the stock VLC power supply?
My cluster doesn?t even have that much space.
What do you use to go from SATA to SCSI (SCSI-1 even)?
It's a standard 1U power supply with a custom adapter. You can see it
better here:
https://twitter.com/AnachronistJohn/status/1294725819038752768
I use a SATA to IDE adapter, then an IDE to UW-SCSI adapter, then an
UW-SCSI cable and terminator, then finally a 68 to 50 pin adapter.
The previous drive was a Samsung SSD, but I think that constant, non-stop
swap use wore it out. This was the smallest new spinning rust drive I
could find.
SCSI2SD would work for a while, but, again, swap usage would wear out an
SD card in no time, I'm sure.
John
25 Aug
25 Aug
12:30 p.m.
On Aug 25, 2020, at 11:46 AM, John Klos via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
Thanks! That is good to know, as the power supply in my VLC has issues. As it stands,
the VLC was replaced with a VAXstation 4000/60 a friend gave me. I?m still using DEC
drives in a BA350 (originally a DEC BA353). At some point, I should simply move it to a
VM, as I?ve done with the rest of my DEC systems. I?d like to convert either the
VAXstation 4000/vlc or the 4000/60 back to being a desktop. Right now the 4000/60 is
mounted in a rack, and is my DECnet Area Router.
Zane
I was going to comment that the only way I could
see a 1U VAX was if someone rack mounted a 4000/VLC. Is that the stock VLC power supply?
My cluster doesn?t even have that much space.
What do you use to go from SATA to SCSI (SCSI-1 even)?
It's a standard 1U power supply with a custom adapter. You can see it better here:
https://twitter.com/AnachronistJohn/status/1294725819038752768
I use a SATA to IDE adapter, then an IDE to UW-SCSI adapter, then an UW-SCSI cable and
terminator, then finally a 68 to 50 pin adapter.
The previous drive was a Samsung SSD, but I think that constant, non-stop swap use wore
it out. This was the smallest new spinning rust drive I could find.
SCSI2SD would work for a while, but, again, swap usage would wear out an SD card in no
time, I'm sure.
John 
1 p.m.
On Tue, 25 Aug 2020 at 19:46, John Klos via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Wow, I'm surprised the VLC could generate enough traffic to wear out
an SSD - compared to a modern box running heavy compiles and suchlike.
Very cool box :)
Thinking about SCSI devices for my collection of older boxes - I
wonder if rascsi set to use the pi's RAM rather than an SD card to
provide a swap device would work out.
Actually, could be interesting to run a modern *nix box with the right
type of scsi adapter in target mode and have it "export" devices and
or ramdrives to older boxes...
David
I was going to comment that the only way I could
see a 1U VAX was if
someone rack mounted a 4000/VLC. Is that the stock VLC power supply?
My cluster doesn?t even have that much space.
What do you use to go from SATA to SCSI (SCSI-1 even)?
It's a standard 1U power supply with a custom adapter. You can see it
better here:
https://twitter.com/AnachronistJohn/status/1294725819038752768
I use a SATA to IDE adapter, then an IDE to UW-SCSI adapter, then an
UW-SCSI cable and terminator, then finally a 68 to 50 pin adapter.
The previous drive was a Samsung SSD, but I think that constant, non-stop
swap use wore it out. This was the smallest new spinning rust drive I
could find.
SCSI2SD would work for a while, but, again, swap usage would wear out an
SD card in no time, I'm sure. 
2:07 p.m.
On 8/25/2020 3:00 PM, David Brownlee via cctalk wrote:
On Tue, 25 Aug 2020 at 19:46, John Klos via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Wow, I'm surprised the VLC could generate
enough traffic to wear out
an SSD - compared to a modern box running heavy compiles and suchlike.
Very cool box :)
Thinking about SCSI devices for my collection of older boxes - I
wonder if rascsi set to use the pi's RAM rather than an SD card to
provide a swap device would work out.
Actually, could be interesting to run a modern *nix box with the right
type of scsi adapter in target mode and have it "export" devices and
or ramdrives to older boxes...
David
Make sure you use a higher quality SD card.? Something labeled "High
Endurance" or "Industrial".? They have internal wear leveling firmware to
spread the writes/erases out over the memory array and help keep it from getting any hot
spots that wear out quickly.? It won't last forever but it will help it last longer.
Examples: High Endurance: <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B9KTLJZ>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NY23WBG>
Industrial: <https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CV344WJ>
It may seem wasteful, but if planning on long life for an SD card that is the O/S drive
then get something big and only use a portion of it so that the wear leveling can work
with more.? So if you want a 16GB disk, then get a 32GB or even 64GB SD card and use
SCSI2SD's internal partitioning to only use 1/2 or 1/4 of the full drive.
That's my theory anyway.? I'll let you know in a year or three if it worked. I
have SCSI2SD in two AlphaServer DS10's, a MicroVAX 3100 and a PDP-11.? I also use the
same theory in a couple Raspberry Pi's.? The Pi's use log2ram for the /var/log
files to help also. They don't actually swap much.
--
John H. Reinhardt
I was
going to comment that the only way I could see a 1U VAX was if
someone rack mounted a 4000/VLC. Is that the stock VLC power supply?
My cluster doesn?t even have that much space.
What do you use to go from SATA to SCSI (SCSI-1 even)?
It's a standard 1U
power supply with a custom adapter. You can see it
better here:
https://twitter.com/AnachronistJohn/status/1294725819038752768
I use a SATA to IDE adapter, then an IDE to UW-SCSI adapter, then an
UW-SCSI cable and terminator, then finally a 68 to 50 pin adapter.
The previous drive was a Samsung SSD, but I think that constant, non-stop
swap use wore it out. This was the smallest new spinning rust drive I
could find.
SCSI2SD would work for a while, but, again, swap usage would wear out an
SD card in no time, I'm sure.
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