22 Mar
1999
22 Mar
'99
12:51 a.m.
I just noticed in the TOR.FORSALE.COMPUTERS newsgroup an advert for a Data
General NOVA 2 "with core memory in a DG rack" call 519-744-2900. I know
nothing about this at all other than it looked like something that someone
somewhere might somehow be intersted.
If its really cool and you get it for virtually nothing, don't tell me.
I'm doing everything in my power to ignore it. Painful as ignoring my
curiosity may be.
Colan
22 Mar
22 Mar
1:13 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Minicomputer
I was talking this weekend with someone who has offered me several older
computers and one of them was a Xebec Minicomputer (I am assuming it is
spelled this way from the pronunciation.) It sounds like it comes with the
big platters for disk storage. Anyone know what this thing is and/or any
information about it? Thanks.
1:27 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
Of what use is a DEC Pro-350?
I just picked one up that seems to have all its boards, it has an RX50
drive (on a DEC Sled so I could slot it into the uVax) and a Seagate ST-251
on another sled. When powered up it makes the disk wiggle but it didn't
come with a keyboard or a monitor so I have know idea what its doing.
I remember someone asking about ethernet as well. This unit has an ethernet
connector on the back.
--Chuck
1:29 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
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1:57 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
Chuck,
Zane's earlier comment is right on. I have a 380, and it's a semi-alternative
to an 11/23 or 11/73. Although it uses the same chip as the 11/73, its bus
(CTI=Computing Terminal Interconnect) is pretty slow; I think it's an 8-bit
bus that multiplexes everything.
The main advantage to a 350 or 380 is that you can get complete software,
either the P/OS system (RSX-11M-) or Venix, completely free and legal on
the 'Net.
All Pros have the ethernet connector on the back, but they don't necessarily
have an adapter (DECNA) inside. Look to see if it has a card with the number
000042 on its handle. A 350 will typically have: a floppy adapter, a hard
drive adapter, 0 or 2 graphics cards, 0 or more memory cards, ethernet card,
etc. You can also add memory with a daughter board on the motherboard without
using any of the 6 slots. If you want a memory daughter board, let me know--
I have a couple of extra ones.
Look inside and tell me the numbers. I can tell you what they are.
Dave
Chuck McManis wrote:
Of what use is a DEC Pro-350?
I just picked one up that seems to have all its boards, it has an RX50
drive (on a DEC Sled so I could slot it into the uVax) and a Seagate ST-251
on another sled. When powered up it makes the disk wiggle but it didn't
come with a keyboard or a monitor so I have know idea what its doing.
I remember someone asking about ethernet as well. This unit has an ethernet
connector on the back.
--Chuck
2:13 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
The main advantage to a 350 or 380 is that you can get
complete software,
either the P/OS system (RSX-11M-) or Venix, completely free and legal on
the 'Net.
Since P/OS is "in the public domain" (having been contributed to DECUS), does
that mean that I can in principle reverse engineer it and publish my
reverse-engineered "source code"?
Not that I have time for such an endeavor. :-)
2:24 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
Card numbers (from left to right) are:
000401
002004
001002
000034
000034
At 04:57 PM 3/22/99 -0800, Dave wrote:
The main advantage to a 350 or 380 is that you can get
complete software,
either the P/OS system (RSX-11M-) or Venix, completely free and legal on
the 'Net.
Does Venix use the serial port for the console?
--Chuck
4:53 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
You have as below. You probably have 512Kbytes on the motherboard for a total
of 1Mbytes. You can do mono with your setup. To do color, you need another
2 bitmap planes, which come on the 001403 card, and a VR241 monitor (not
impossible to find). You also need an LK201 keyboard (pretty common) and a
cable for the monitor/keyboard.
As I mentioned, I have a daughter memory board you can have, and the right
cable. (Someone just gave me a box with an inordinate number of cables--
makes you wonder what ever happened to the monitors that could have gone
with them.) There is a 2% chance I have a 001403 card in storage, but I
won't be able to check that until April 10 or so.
I don't think you need to run the DECNA in the 6th slot. Mine is in the
5th slot (6th is an RTI, and that has to be 6th slot), and although I have
never actually gotten it to talk to anything yet (no other DECnet nodes), I
see it transmit and receive stuff on my network when I boot up; and it does
pass diagnostics, which transmit and receive.
Dave
Chuck McManis wrote:
Card numbers (from left to right) are:
000401 Hard disk controller, what drives you can use with this
depends on the ROM level; you said you had ST251, so it's
probably the latest level
002004 Floppy disk controller
001002 Basic video card
000034 256Kbytes memory
000034 256Kbytes memory
Does Venix use the serial port for the console?
Venix uses the console for the console. You can use the Printer port for
another tty if you have a "license" for more than one user. You can, I
think, fudge the license program at ftp.update.uu.se to increase the number
of users.
--Chuck
2:01 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
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3:23 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
All Pros have the ethernet connector on the back, but
they don't
necessarily have an adapter (DECNA) inside. Look to see if it has a card
with the number 000042 on its handle. A 350 will typically have: a
floppy adapter, a hard drive adapter, 0 or 2 graphics cards, 0 or more
memory cards, ethernet card, etc. You can also add memory with a
daughter board on the motherboard without using any of the 6 slots. If
you want a memory daughter board, let me know-- I have a couple of extra
ones.
There has to be at least 1 graphics board on the 350... the 380
has it integral to the mother board. The 350 can have the EBO
board (extended bitmap option) which provides two additional planes
of display memory.
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
3:41 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
Since P/OS is "in the public domain" (having
been contributed to DECUS),
does that mean that I can in principle reverse engineer it and publish my
reverse-engineered "source code"?
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv, radio or anywhere else...
But I would suspect that the software is still *owned* by Compaq
(through Digital), even though the binary images are available
in the public domain...
If you made any such patches, you probably couldn't charge for
them (except for media)... but what the heck do I know...
Somewhere in my collection of packs... I believe I have a set
of development packs for P/OS, bequethed to me by a former
developer who left DEC... copies of the master.
I'll have to look around for them and verify that it is true
(I think they are RA60s, but I don't yet have an RA60 drive).
If I do, I'll have to look into their status...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
2:14 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Minicomputer
CYBEX perhaps? (www.cybex.com)
Fault tolerant, multi-processor systems. All the ones that I've seen
have 486 engines. Really don't know anything about them.
Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com>
Marvin wrote:
I was talking this weekend with someone who has offered me several older
computers and one of them was a Xebec Minicomputer (I am assuming it is
spelled this way from the pronunciation.) It sounds like it comes with the
big platters for disk storage. Anyone know what this thing is and/or any
information about it? Thanks.
3:19 p.m.
New subject: Pro-350 anyone?
Of what use is a DEC Pro-350?
The same use as any other general purpose computer... you
can have it do anything you program it to...
It is a pdp-11 (of sorts), designed with the DCF11 chipset, so
it is like a pdp-11/23. It uses an entirely different interrupt
structure from normal pdp-11s, but RT-11 does run on it. There
is also P/OS, V3.2 which is available from one of the pdp-11
archive sites, and a unix-lookalike (Venix).
Supposedly 2.9BSD can also run on it, if you have the right
set of patches...
I just picked one up that seems to have all its boards,
it has an RX50
drive (on a DEC Sled so I could slot it into the uVax) and a Seagate
ST-251 on another sled. When powered up it makes the disk wiggle but it
didn't come with a keyboard or a monitor so I have know idea what its
doing.
You *have* to have the monitor and keyboard... it doesn't work without
them. Although it has a port which can be configured as the console
terminal, it requires a special cable and it only works with programmed
I/O -- not interrupt driven.
The PRO uses a special bitmap for the display. There is a special
handler under RT-11 (the PI[X].sys handler) which takes care of the
keyboard and the bitmap display, emulating a VT100... it also handles
the 64 ticks/sec clock (one of every 16 clock ticks is ignored,
resulting in a 60hz clock)
I remember someone asking about ethernet as well. This
unit has an
ethernet connector on the back.
The connector is there on all of them... but you need the DECNA
option board for it to work...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
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12 comments
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