12 Jun
2011
12 Jun
'11
3:40 a.m.
Hi all,
I have a DECServer 90L+ that I am trying to use as a terminal server.
After some time, I managed to get it powered up and started to look
for MOP boot requests. However, the expected, give me a MOP boot image
broadcast on the network did not occur. The Ethernet frames that I see
give the impression that the DECServer is looking for a specific
machine on the network. I am also not getting any output on the first
serial port (MMJ to MMJ cable connected to a VT320)[1].
So, first question. Does anyone know how to do a factory reset on
these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
Oh, I am considering it a success so far in that I got it powered up
and saw Ethernet traffic from it!
[1] I haven't checked my MMJ cable for continuity yet.
Many thanks.
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
12 Jun
12 Jun
3:57 a.m.
Simon Fryer [fryers at gmail.com] wrote:
I have a DECServer 90L+ that I am trying to use as a
terminal
server. After some time, I managed to get it powered up and
started to look for MOP boot requests. However, the expected,
give me a MOP boot image broadcast on the network did not
occur. The Ethernet frames that I see give the impression
that the DECServer is looking for a specific machine on the
network. I am also not getting any output on the first serial
port (MMJ to MMJ cable connected to a VT320)[1].
There's (at least) one decserver that has the smarts (such as they are)
in ROM and doesn't MOP load (or, at least, doesn't need to ... I don't
recall if it is possible to upload newer firmware on demand).
I have a feeling that the DS90L+ may be the one.
You should be able to plug into any of the ports and hit RETURN (perhaps
a few times in quick succession) and have it talk to you.
Antonio
arcarlini at iee.org
4:30 a.m.
Hi,
On 12 June 2011 18:57, <arcarlini at iee.org> wrote:
Simon Fryer [fryers at gmail.com] wrote:
After reading the manual, I think the DS90L+ would appear to be the
one that has it all in NVRAM.
I have a DECServer 90L+ that I am trying to use
as a terminal
server. After some time, I managed to get it powered up and
started to look for MOP boot requests. However, the expected,
give me a MOP boot image broadcast on the network did not
occur. The Ethernet frames that I see give the impression
that the DECServer is looking for a specific machine on the
network. I am also not getting any output on the first serial
port (MMJ to MMJ cable connected to a VT320)[1].
There's (at least) one decserver that has the smarts (such as they are)
in ROM and doesn't MOP load (or, at least, doesn't need to ... I don't
recall if it is possible to upload newer firmware on demand).
I have a feeling that the DS90L+ may be the one. You should be able to plug into any of the ports and
hit RETURN (perhaps
a few times in quick succession) and have it talk to you.
Well, in theory. I have just checked and confirmed that my terminal is
setting some voltage and the voltage changes slightly with a couple of
hits of the return key. However the serial activity LED on the front
of the 90L+ does not seem to blink - which according to the manual,
*should* when there is activity on the serial ports.
Not knowing the history of this DECServer (I have had it a few years
and I can not remember the source) I am not sure if there is a
configuration issue, or a hardware issue.
I guess it is time to look into it a little more.
Thanks.
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
6:49 a.m.
All,
On 12 June 2011 19:30, Simon Fryer <fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
[DECServer 90L+ has everything in firmware]
Not knowing the history of this DECServer (I have had
it a few years
and I can not remember the source) I am not sure if there is a
configuration issue, or a hardware issue.
I guess it is time to look into it a little more.
I just had a more in depth look at what the DECServer is putting onto
the network. First thing seems to be an Ethernet frame of type 0x3433
with the terminal servers Ethernet address in both the source and
destination fields. I am guessing this first frame is part of the
POST.
Second are some Ethernet frames of type 0x6002. According to a quick
bit of googling (easier than looking it up in a book - bad Simon) this
is MOP remote console action. So, there does seem to be some internal
configuration that needs to be optimised away. Does anyone have a good
incantation for the return to factory settings?
Many thanks.
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
6:44 a.m.
On 12/06/2011 11:40, "Simon Fryer" <fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
So, first question. Does anyone know how to do a
factory reset on
these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
For a proper factory reset you need a running VMS host with DECnet
(hopefully phaseIV) started, then you can hop onto it using
MC NCP CONN VIA (ethernet interface) PHYS xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx (MAC address
printed on the label on the front)
Then
SET
S(erver)
F(actory)
Y(es)
(from memory :))
The reason you might not be getting output on the VT is because you can
dedicate each port to a particular LAT session which is why you're seeing
requests for a service name.
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
6:58 a.m.
Hi,
On 12 June 2011 21:44, Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
On 12/06/2011 11:40, "Simon Fryer"
<fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
Ahhh. The incantation. Many thanks.
I was hoping that I didn't require a VMS box. Putting together a box
to run VMS is on my todo list. Just not in the short term future. I
guess I should get the aphas powered up to see if the same thing can
be done with Tru64 or if it is only something supported by VMS.
So, first question. Does anyone know how to do a
factory reset on
these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
For a proper factory reset you need a running VMS host with DECnet
(hopefully phaseIV) started, then you can hop onto it using
MC NCP CONN VIA (ethernet interface) PHYS xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx (MAC address
printed on the label on the front)
Then
SET
S(erver)
F(actory)
Y(es)
(from memory :)) The reason you might not be getting output on the VT
is because you can
dedicate each port to a particular LAT session which is why you're seeing
requests for a service name.
Or that the terminal lines are configured off.
Many thanks. I have somewhere to start from now.
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
7:16 a.m.
On 12/06/2011 14:58, "Simon Fryer" <fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
You can't turn them off, just assign them a LAT service name. Or set them as
printers of course.
I was hoping that I didn't require a VMS box.
Putting together a box
to run VMS is on my todo list. Just not in the short term future. I
guess I should get the aphas powered up to see if the same thing can
be done with Tru64 or if it is only something supported by VMS.
You can do it from Tru64 if you're running DECnet/OSI but I've not tried
that for many many years. Pity it's not a 90TL you've got because they have
a reset button on the front, simples :)
The reason you
might not be getting output on the VT is because you can
dedicate each port to a particular LAT session which is why you're seeing
requests for a service name.
Or that the terminal lines are configured off. Many thanks. I have somewhere to start from now.
Get an Alpha running, you know you want to ;)
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
7:26 a.m.
All,
On 12 June 2011 22:16, Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
You can't turn them off, just assign them a LAT service name. Or set them as
printers of course.
Ahhh. Okay.
Mmmmm. Real hardware. The Alphas were next on the list. I just needed
something to put the serial consoles into! :)
Simon
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh
On 12/06/2011 14:58, "Simon Fryer"
<fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
:) Yes. I first downloaded the manual for the 90TL and then checked
the front again... Bummer!
I was hoping that I didn't require a VMS box.
Putting together a box
to run VMS is on my todo list. Just not in the short term future. I
guess I should get the aphas powered up to see if the same thing can
be done with Tru64 or if it is only something supported by VMS.
You can do it from Tru64 if you're running DECnet/OSI but I've not tried
that for many many years. Pity it's not a 90TL you've got because they have
a reset button on the front, simples :) The reason you might not be getting output on the VT
is because you can
dedicate each port to a particular LAT session which is why you're seeing
requests for a service name.
Or that the terminal lines are configured off. Many thanks. I
have somewhere to start from now.
Get an Alpha running, you know you want to ;)
9:57 a.m.
On 12/06/2011 15:26, "Simon Fryer" <fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
Arr, the 90TL is a 'real' server that's essentially a condensed
DECserver700-16 which talks LAT/TELNET/3270 etc. The 90l+ was purely a
reduced cost LAT server with many limitations, but for a low volume office
it was perfect.
You can do it
from Tru64 if you're running DECnet/OSI but I've not tried
that for many many years. Pity it's not a 90TL you've got because they have
a reset button on the front, simples :)
:) Yes. I first downloaded the manual for the 90TL and then checked
the front again... Bummer! Mmmmm. Real hardware. The Alphas were next on the
list. I just needed
something to put the serial consoles into! :)
You've got a VT to get them running, but bear in mind the 90L+ doesn't do
'reverse' connections for consoles - you need a TL for that which will let
you set up telnet listeners on each port. All you can do with the L+ is
create LAT sessions TO an alpha, not the other way round.
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
2:34 p.m.
On 6/12/11 6:44 AM, "Adrian Graham" <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
wrote:
On 12/06/2011 11:40, "Simon Fryer"
<fryers at gmail.com> wrote:
Can the VMS host be an emulated one?
So, first question. Does anyone know how to do a
factory reset on
these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
For a proper factory reset you need a running VMS host with DECnet
(hopefully phaseIV) started, then you can hop onto it using
MC NCP CONN VIA (ethernet interface) PHYS xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx (MAC address
printed on the label on the front)
Then
SET
S(erver)
F(actory)
Y(es)
(from memory :))
The reason you might not be getting output on the VT is because you can
dedicate each port to a particular LAT session which is why you're seeing
requests for a service name.
2:40 p.m.
On 6/12/11 5:34 PM, Geoffrey Reed wrote:
Can the VMS host be an emulated one?
(sorry for jumping in)
It can, but the networking has to be functional.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
So, first question. Does anyone know how to do a
factory reset on
these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
For a proper factory reset you need a running VMS host with DECnet
(hopefully phaseIV) started, then you can hop onto it using
2:57 p.m.
On 6/12/11 2:40 PM, "Dave McGuire" <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
On 6/12/11 5:34 PM, Geoffrey Reed wrote:
Can the VMS host be an emulated one?
(sorry for jumping in)
It can, but the networking has to be functional.
-Dave
No problem :) I just figured that many of the geeks out here are more
likely to be able to whip up a virtual machine quicker than actual iron...
And figured it wouldn't hurt to ask :)
So, first question. Does anyone know how to do a
factory reset on
these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
For a proper factory reset you need a running VMS host with DECnet
(hopefully phaseIV) started, then you can hop onto it using
13 Jun
13 Jun
11:44 a.m.
On 12/06/2011 22:57, "Geoffrey Reed" <geoffr at zipcon.net> wrote:
On 6/12/11 2:40 PM, "Dave McGuire"
<mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
That's a good point actually, I never think of it as I have VAXen and Alphas
easily available but something like Personal Alpha should do it as it has
proper networking.
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
On 6/12/11 5:34 PM, Geoffrey Reed wrote:
(sorry for jumping in)
It can, but the networking has to be functional.
-Dave
No problem :) I just figured that many of the geeks out here are more
likely to be able to whip up a virtual machine quicker than actual iron...
And figured it wouldn't hurt to ask :) > So,
first question. Does anyone know how to do a factory reset on
> these. The operating manual isn't much help. :(
For a proper factory reset you need a running VMS host with DECnet
(hopefully phaseIV) started, then you can hop onto it using
Can the VMS host be an emulated one?
4941
days inactive
4942
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12 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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arcarlini＠iee.org -
fryers＠gmail.com -
geoffr＠zipcon.net -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk