28 Sep
2007
28 Sep
'07
5:32 p.m.
To all,
I have monitored the postings and know of a few collectors of VAXen, all types it seems.
The
PDP family is popular too. What about Alphaservers? some are by classic definition at
least
10 years old such as the 1000/1000A and 1200 series. Alphastations definitely qualify like
the
200/250/255/500 series. I collect most of the Alpha family as I use them frequently.
OpenVMS
and Digital Unix is the OS of choice.
I have in my collection:
1 Alphastation 200/166 - 192M
1 Alphastation 250/266 - 256M
1 Alphaserver 400/233 - 256M
1 Alphaserver 800/500 - 2G
1 Alphaserver 1000/266 - 768M
1 Alphaserver 1000A/333 - 1G
1 Alphaserver 1200/w dual 533 CPUs - 2G
1 Alphaserver DS20/w Dual 500 CPUs - 4G
1 Alpha PWS 600au - 2G
2 Alpha XP1000/667 - 2G
1 Alpha XL366 - 256M
2 DEC3000 300X - 256M
2 Alphastation 500/400 and 333 - 512M
I have VAXen as well, fully loaded
2 MicroVAX 3800 w 64M and fully loaded with QBUS options
The VAXen are not used as often, but I have one client left that still has these machines
in use.
I remember the PDP family as I have used them in the past, but I do not have any desire
to re-live that part of my past.
Enough for now, let me and/or the group what you have. Maybe we can form some sort of
list for contact and advice or maybe part swapping.
Dan
29 Sep
29 Sep
8:55 p.m.
Enough for now, let me and/or the group what you have.
Maybe we can
form some sort of list for contact and advice or maybe part swapping.
Well, I wouldn't say I "collect" Alphas or VAXen. But I have a handful
of them. I have a MicroVAX-II (in a BA123). I have a couple of more
recent VAXen which I put on the shelf when I got them and haven't yet
collected the round tuits to get out and do anything with; I don't even
remember their model numbers. I have a drawer full of MicroVAX-II
cards (CPUs, DEQNAs, disk interfaces, tape interfaces, etc) and a spare
BA123, and quite likely could assemble another machine if I wanted to.
As for alphas, I have a NoName (an AXPpci33, I think, is the proper
name for it). I have a PWS 600au. I have a "DEC 3000 - M300X,
175MHz".
The ?V2 I almost never turn on, because I have basically no disk for
it, and it's *very* slow to run it entirely diskless. One of my
projects is to try to put together a simple disk interface of some
sort (probably IDE), but that's very much a blue-sky project at the
moment.
The NoName has cooling issues. I have it in a peecee case, and to keep
it from overheating I not only had to add a big fan blowing directly on
the CPU and 3.3V regulator heatsinks, but also run it with the case
open. It also won't reboot cleanly; if I tell it to reboot, it hangs,
and I have to hard-cycle power to make it come back. I suspect this
may be a legacy from having overheated to the point of crashing too
many times.
The 3000/M300X has been unstable too, but in rather intermittent ways,
and I've mostly given up on stabilizing it. I'm not even sure whether
the problems were hardware or software, though I suspect hardware.
The PWS600au has been stable, and I have hopes that it will prove to be
the stable-&-usable Alpha I've wanted for quite a while.
/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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30 Sep
30 Sep
11:19 a.m.
Well, I wouldn't say I "collect" Alphas
or VAXen
Collect? That's what seems to have happen being a pack rat. It was not
intentional, it's
just I seem to be unable the sell or throw out any of my DEC stuff. When I
needed more speed
or memory I bought a faster unit and never thought about the old ones.
The 3000/M300X has been unstable too, but in rather
intermittent ways,
and I've mostly given up on stabilizing it. I'm not even sure whether
the problems were hardware or software, though I suspect hardware
The DEC 3000's I have are 150MHz and they can be unstable at times. I was
told it was the
SIMM sockets, I just periodically reseat the memory and go.
The PWS600au has been stable, and I have hopes that it
will prove to be
the stable-&-usable Alpha I've wanted for quite a while.
I agree the PWS600 is stable and very usefull, good for surfing and code
building.
The ?V2 I almost never turn on, because I have
basically no disk for
it, and it's *very* slow to run it entirely diskless
The MicroVAX 3800's are a lesson in patience when booting, though I still
have use for them.
I have added an HSD30 to one of them, allowing me to image the DSSI disks to
SCSI ones.
The SCSI drives are faster and the machine will boot noticably faster.
The NoName has cooling issues
Heat issues are what the Alphaserver 1200 is about, for sure keep the case
closed. It has
dual 475W supplies and both are required for operation. It does serve very
well as a space
heater. I justify it for this purpose by looking at the watt rating of an
average oil filled electric
space heater, they are 1500W.
Thanks for the reply... Dan
----- Original Message -----
From: "der Mouse" <mouse at Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: Anyone collect Dec/Compaq Alphaservers or VAXen?
> > Enough for now, let me and/or the group what you have. Maybe we can
> > form some sort of list for contact and advice or maybe part swapping.
>
> Well, I wouldn't say I "collect" Alphas or VAXen. But I have a
handful
> of them. I have a MicroVAX-II (in a BA123). I have a couple of more
> recent VAXen which I put on the shelf when I got them and haven't yet
> collected the round tuits to get out and do anything with; I don't even
> remember their model numbers. I have a drawer full of MicroVAX-II
> cards (CPUs, DEQNAs, disk interfaces, tape interfaces, etc) and a spare
> BA123, and quite likely could assemble another machine if I wanted to.
> As for alphas, I have a NoName (an AXPpci33, I think, is the proper
> name for it). I have a PWS 600au. I have a "DEC 3000 - M300X,
> 175MHz".
>
> The ?V2 I almost never turn on, because I have basically no disk for
> it, and it's *very* slow to run it entirely diskless. One of my
> projects is to try to put together a simple disk interface of some
> sort (probably IDE), but that's very much a blue-sky project at the
> moment.
>
> The NoName has cooling issues. I have it in a peecee case, and to keep
> it from overheating I not only had to add a big fan blowing directly on
> the CPU and 3.3V regulator heatsinks, but also run it with the case
> open. It also won't reboot cleanly; if I tell it to reboot, it hangs,
> and I have to hard-cycle power to make it come back. I suspect this
> may be a legacy from having overheated to the point of crashing too
> many times.
>
> The 3000/M300X has been unstable too, but in rather intermittent ways,
> and I've mostly given up on stabilizing it. I'm not even sure whether
> the problems were hardware or software, though I suspect hardware.
>
The PWS600au has been stable, and I have hopes that it
will prove to be
the stable-&-usable Alpha I've wanted for quite a while.
> /~\ The ASCII der Mouse
> \ / Ribbon Campaign
> X Against HTML mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca
> / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
>
11:03 a.m.
On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:32:23 -0400
"Dan Snyder" <ddsnyder at zoominternet.net> wrote:
I have monitored the postings and know of a few
collectors of VAXen,
all types it seems. The PDP family is popular too. What about
Alphaservers?
I don't "collect" Alphas in that sense, but I like to
grab them, if they
come across my way. At the moment I have: DEC3000 600 and 300X,
Alphastation 200/166 (my first Alpha) and a PWS 500au. The PWS 500au run
Tru64 and was my main desktop for two years. Now it runs NetBSD, like
the other Alphas, since I switched my desktop to a SGI Octane...
I also owned these machines:
EB164 based machine: Gave it to a friend who had a better use for it.
It was almost idle when I owned it.
AlphaStation 600 and an
AlphaServer 1000: Did never anything real with them. So I soled them at
the VCF Europa flea market.
AplhaServer 2000: Gave it to a friend when I got an...
AlphaServer 2100: Gave it to a friend after I had "played" enough with
it. It was unpowered for quite some time and he Tru64-clustered it
with an other 2100...
I still would like to get my hands on some multi-EV6-CPU machine...
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
11:50 a.m.
Dan Snyder wrote:
Enough for now, let me and/or the group what you have. Maybe we can form some sort of
list for contact and advice or maybe part swapping.
I want to thank you for sending out this request, Dan. Because having
written this out I now realize what a sick, sick man I am. ;^) This
isn't quite all the DEC stuff I have, and this doesn't even touch on the
DG, SGI, Sun, and other gear. What the hell am I doing with all this
stuff? Sigh...
There are a few LSI-11's, which I might as well mention. I've got a
VT103 (integrated 4-slot Qbus) with a big tabletop storage box - 8" HDD
and QIC24 tape. There's my trusty PDT-11/150, which come to think of it
was probably my first retrocomputing acquisition back in 1988. A full
MicroPDP-11/73 boardset that I bought with a BA123, and numerous Qbus cards.
Oh yeah, there's a functioning Pro-350, and an untested
VAXconsole/Pro-380. And the pdp-11/44 with RA60 that I picked up for
somebody who never collected it. And there's that big triple-Qbus
backplane rackmount box, in which I figured I could build up a couple of
these J-11 and LSI-11/2 boardsets. A questionable RX02 subsystem came
with that.
I've got a couple of whole VAXen: 11/730, uVAX 2000, 3400, 4000/500, and
VS3100m38. Ah, well, except I junked the 730's failing R80 -- it was
1990, I was young and foolish and didn't think about running out of
UNIBUS slots... At least one full KA655 boardset (CPU+RAM+KFQSA) to
upgrade the 3400 or go in the BA123. A KA690 to go in the 4000. Oh, and
an InfoServer 150, which is a CVAX in sheep's clothing.
Should I include the DECstation 5000/200, DS5000/240 and the DS5000/260?
There's a DS3100 that accrued somewhere in there too.
And finally the Alphas. A DECstation 3000/300LX, the model I used to
build firewalls out of back in 1995. An AlphaStation 1200 that I hadn't
been able to get to POST. A MicroWay 4U 600MHz 21164 of some
description. A PC164LX board with CPU and RAM that I hadn't built up.
One big beautiful AlphaServer 4000 who's config I don't recall, in the
original blue pedestal packaging. And one bare AS4100 SBB with (I think)
4 x 533 MHz CPUs that I meant to swap into the pedestal, as I'd rather
have the two additional CPUs than the extra I/O backplane of the 4000.
Oh, and a PWS 500au kicking around somewhere.
What would I still like to have at some point? I'd still like to get a
21264 SMP system, preferably with CPUs of 1GHz or so. An ES45 would be
fine for this, but the prices have a way to go before that will happen.
Maybe that'll give me time to figure out a good way to overlay the
Compaq logo with Digital...
--Steve.
6068
days inactive
6069
days old
4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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classiccmp＠crash.com -
ddsnyder＠zoominternet.net -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
mouse＠Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA