12 Mar
2018
12 Mar
'18
9:25 p.m.
Place your wagers...
How many more years do you think it'll take before decent, practical-sized Alphas,
like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10, will be obtainable at hobbyist-friendly
prices?
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit, drinks power
like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
12 Mar
12 Mar
10:15 p.m.
I have a Compaq XP1000/667 that?s my primary VMS system. I picked up a couple XP1000?s a
little over a decade ago when they were affordable, as a replacement for my AlphaStation
433au. I need a new power supply for the /500. I think the days of hobbyist-friendly
prices are largely gone.
Realistically the XP1000 and it?s two external JBOD pull a lot more power than I like, and
I?ve been working to migrate much of my VMS activity to a SIMH/VAX cluster that the XP1000
is now part of. Once that?s done, I?m considering seeing about reviving one of my
AlphaStation 200 4/233?s as a ?lower power? VMS workstation. The one AlphaStation 200
used to run OpenBSD, nearly 20 years ago. Other than that I?ve used them for VMS.
Oh, and I do keep one Physical VAX running, it?s a VAXstation 4000/60. I have other VAXen
and Alpha?s, but they aren?t doing anything.
Zane
On Mar 12, 2018, at 9:25 PM, Benjamin Huntsman via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Place your wagers...
How many more years do you think it'll take before decent, practical-sized Alphas,
like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10, will be obtainable at hobbyist-friendly
prices?
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit, drinks
power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
10:53 p.m.
On Mon, Mar 12, 2018 at 9:25 PM, Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit, drinks
power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I have a 2 drawer / 4 processor ES47 system with the interprocessor
cables, but no rack hardware. The hardware was somewhat cheap enough,
the shipping was not. I really should have passed on it. I have
probably only powered it up less than a dozen times in the 5 years
I've had it. Too much hassle to set it up somewhere to use it.
The dual processor AS1200 system seems small and light in comparison,
while of course it is neither. I booted that up a month or so ago when
I needed access to a Tru64 system to mount a disc that I was unable to
mount anywhere else.
13 Mar
13 Mar
12:53 a.m.
I know of 3 desk side DS's, one was fully operational before going into
storage, all ran when I got them.
boxes of new Tru64 still shrink wrapped, and a binder full of keys for > 20
Alpha's
-pete
On Mon, Mar 12, 2018 at 9:25 PM, Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Place your wagers...
How many more years do you think it'll take before decent, practical-sized
Alphas, like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10, will be obtainable at
hobbyist-friendly prices?
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit,
drinks power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
3:43 a.m.
New subject: R: AlphaServers
Lucky snatch, especially the Tru64 boxes (envy)
-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Per conto di Pete Lancashire via
cctalk
Inviato: marted? 13 marzo 2018 08:54
A: Benjamin Huntsman; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Oggetto: Re: AlphaServers
I know of 3 desk side DS's, one was fully operational before going into storage, all
ran when I got them.
boxes of new Tru64 still shrink wrapped, and a binder full of keys for > 20
Alpha's
-pete
On Mon, Mar 12, 2018 at 9:25 PM, Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk < cctalk at
classiccmp.org> wrote:
Place your wagers...
How many more years do you think it'll take before decent,
practical-sized Alphas, like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10,
will be obtainable at hobbyist-friendly prices?
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail
kit, drinks power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
4:49 a.m.
How many more years do you think it'll take before decent, practical-sized
Alphas, like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10, will be obtainable at
hobbyist-friendly prices?
A former colleague of mine has a DS10L. I don't like these very much. It
makes the wrong kind of noise, a loud high pitched squeal and can only take
one PCI card. This one was probably got for nothing because the services it
was running were shut down. Marketplace prices probably reflect whether
people are still using them for useful work and will probably remain high if
there continues to be demand for them.
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit,
drinks power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
That's more like it. A nice big animal of a machine you can use to heat the
room.
A few years ago, I had lots of fun looking after a few racks of ES40s running
VMS. They ran great but the memory had to be exactly right to avoid wierd
failures under heavy load. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to snag any of them
when they went out of service.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I've got a few:
An Alphaserver 2100 (old and slow but makes the right kind of noise)
A PWS 500a(u?) (faster but doesn't look the part, needs more memory)
An Alphaserver 800 with rails but not currently in a rack.
3 x Alphaserver 1000A (lots of problems, none working now)
2 x DEC 3000 / 600 and 1 x DEC 3000 / 300 (none currently working either)
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
5:40 a.m.
An interesting discussion, especially considering the stuff usually
spoken in comp.os.vms regardiong the viability of X86 boxes.
I have had 3 Alphas.? Two of the office refrigerator sized boxes
and one of the PC Tower sized boxes.? All three have died.? In
the meantime I have X86 based boxes that are much older and
continue to serve me well.? While I thought the Alpha was an
excellent architectural design the market has made it somewhat
irrelevant.
Of course, when t comes to VMS I still run a VAX.? :-)
bill
5:44 a.m.
Several people have now mentioned they have dead Alphas. What is generally
failing about them?
Kyle
5:49 a.m.
In my cases all three just one day became inoperative.
I have heard of power supply failures, but none of mine had that.
The first two had redundant PSU's and the third had a standard PC type PSU
and the disks and CD's worked even after the motherboard became dead
enough to not even do the POST.
bill
On 03/13/2018 08:44 AM, Kyle Owen via cctalk wrote:
Several people have now mentioned they have dead
Alphas. What is generally
failing about them?
Kyle
6:21 a.m.
Several people have now mentioned they have dead Alphas. What is generally
failing about them?
The B-Cache on the CPU card on every Alphaserver 1000A I have laid eyes on has
failed at some point. It can be disabled with a jumper but this makes the
machine a lot slower for some tasks. I have also had problems with
intermittent shutdowns for no reason on these machines, probably due to
failures in the thermal protection logic. Also possibly problems with the
connector the CPU card sits in and just plain failure to do anything.
The 115/230V power supply in my DEC 3000 / 300 decided to go permanently into
115V mode despite the power here being 230V which resulted in a bang. Removing
the shorted triac and replacing the exploded VDR and fuse fixed that for a
while but now the machine has some other problem that I can't recall. The
monitor that was with it has some sort of EHT problem.
My two DEC 3000 / 600 machines go through their power up tests, flashing the
diagnostic LEDs nicely but don't boot or produce a console prompt afterwards.
One of them went into this state when I was trying to reboot it remotely while
it was in service. It really needed a reset or power cycle at the time but I
couldn't do that remotely so I tried various not very likely to succeed console
commands. I may have somehow damaged the firmware doing that or a fault may
have arose coincidentally but I never got a console prompt since on it. The
other one behaves the same as it but it started happening when noone was
looking at it.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
10:08 a.m.
On Mar 13, 2018, at 7:44 AM, Kyle Owen via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Several people have now mentioned they have dead Alphas. What is generally
failing about them?
Kyle
When my 1000 started failing, the manual lead me to believe it was b-cache, but the jumper
map wound up to be wrong, it was actually failed RAM. Even knowing that, I?m not sure I
want to invest hundreds in new RAM for a machine whose b-cache is known to be a ticking
time bomb. (1000s and 1000As have notoriously unreliable b-cache)
10:33 a.m.
So, B-Cache is a common failure; any idea what specifically is failing
about it?
I've got a 1000A, but its been years since I've tried booting it. It was
successfully booting when I last tried it, however. I think I've got Tru64
installation media somewhere around here, too...
Kyle
10:45 a.m.
If anyone is in or near Portland Oregon and interested, they are available.
There are also at least 2 x 14 drive SCSI arrays, cables, etc.
At one time I was offered a 5 rack fully redundant Alpha setup based on 3
40's or 45's Two servers were running with one is hot standby, the 3rd was
a cold standby.
The two racks in the middle of around 100 SCSI disks and the hardware to
support having 2 active SCSI masters.
The only time I have seen Tru64 do its magic.
-pete
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 10:33 AM, Kyle Owen via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
So, B-Cache is a common failure; any idea what
specifically is failing
about it?
I've got a 1000A, but its been years since I've tried booting it. It was
successfully booting when I last tried it, however. I think I've got Tru64
installation media somewhere around here, too...
Kyle
11:33 a.m.
When my 1000 started failing, the manual lead me to believe it was b-cache,
but the jumper map wound up to be wrong,
There are a number of variants and the manuals are extremely unclear.
it was actually failed RAM.
I forgot. I had that too. The firmware is supposed to specify which bank
and SIMM is faulty. Another reason to not love these machines:
If SIMM 0 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 0.
If SIMM 1 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 1.
If SIMM 2 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 3.
If SIMM 3 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 3.
Even knowing that, I?m not sure I want to
invest hundreds in new RAM for a machine whose b-cache is known to be a
ticking time bomb. (1000s and 1000As have notoriously unreliable b-cache)
I might be willing to swap my AS1000A RAM (some of which may be faulty and
I probably can't test it unless I can resurrect one of my machines briefly)
for memory for a PWS 500, Alphaserver 2100 or an Alphaserver 800.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
12:50 p.m.
I seem to remember issues with Alpha's even when new. I was asked to help out
somewhere running VMS on Alpha and we had a couple of failures on the CPUs over the few
months I was there...
.. contrast this with working on IBM xServers and we had over 100 servers and only ever
had failures on really old boxes, and then usually RAM or PSU.
In fact given this distaste folks have for NT derived OSs on Intel servers, its worthy
of note that even with around 120 boxes I wasn't leaping up and down every 5 mins
minutes to fix them.
Every 5 months perhaps one of the older ones would go crank but usually it was a 6 or
seven year old box that was well past its best before date...
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Peter Coghlan
via cctalk
Sent: 13 March 2018 18:33
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: AlphaServers
When my 1000 started failing, the manual lead me to believe it was
b-cache, but the jumper map wound up to be wrong,
There are a number of variants and the manuals are extremely unclear.
it was actually failed RAM.
I forgot. I had that too. The firmware is supposed to specify which bank and
SIMM is faulty. Another reason to not love these machines:
If SIMM 0 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 0.
If SIMM 1 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 1.
If SIMM 2 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 3.
If SIMM 3 has failed, the firmware reports a failure in SIMM 3.
Even knowing that, I?m not sure I want to invest hundreds in new RAM
for a machine whose b-cache is known to be a ticking time bomb. (1000s
and 1000As have notoriously unreliable b-cache)
I might be willing to swap my AS1000A RAM (some of which may be faulty
and I probably can't test it unless I can resurrect one of my machines briefly)
for memory for a PWS 500, Alphaserver 2100 or an Alphaserver 800.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
1:22 p.m.
On Mar 13, 2018, at 5:44 AM, Kyle Owen via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Several people have now mentioned they have dead Alphas. What is generally
failing about them?
Kyle
My DEC AlphaStation PWS 433au lost a PCI slot, after I used it for a few years. I ran it
like that for several years until I upgraded to an XP1000.
My Compaq XP1000/667 lost it?s powersupply after I?d had it for about a year. I replaced
it with the power supply from my XP1000/500.
A real concern is the AlphaStation 200/233?s I have. I?ve not powered either up in about
a decade, and I?d really like to put one back into use. Most issues I?ve heard around
Alpha?s seem to be this model, or server class systems. Then again, there were a ton of
?Onsale.com Alpha?s? in the hands of hobbyists. I bought three that way, one was for a
friend. These are great little boxes, and you can take them way beyond the advertised RAM
limit, up to 768MB, IIRC. Of course that assumes you?re lucky enough to get ahold of
large enough SIMM?s.
On the VAX side, the power supply is out on my VAXstation 4000/vlc. I also have a
VAXstation 4000/60 with issues, and a /90 with issues. The only VAX I?m currently running
is a /60. I have several other VAXen though, mostly Q-Bus systems.
The fact is, these are all very old systems (both the VAX and Alpha), and not really
designed to be repairable).
Really on the VAX side, emulation makes sense. For $75, I picked up a HP i5 system that?s
dedicated to running SIMH 24x7, and I also have SIMH running on my HP i7 ESXI system, and
on a RPi2. The i7 is my fastest ?VAX?.
If running commercially, emulation makes sense for the Alpha. For the Hobbyist, not so
much. The only good way to get Alpha emulation for a Hobbyist right now is if you?re
running Windows. I?m not running Windows, and the hobbyist emulator config is rather
small for my needs.
As an FYI, I?ve been working on updating my DEC Emulation webpages, and have the VAX and
Alpha pages fairly up to date.
http://www.avanthar.com/healyzh/decemulation/vax.html
http://www.avanthar.com/healyzh/decemulation/Alpha.html
Zane
1:54 p.m.
On Tue, 13 Mar 2018, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
Really on the VAX side, emulation makes sense. For
$75, I picked up a
HP i5 system that?s dedicated to running SIMH 24x7, and I also have SIMH
running on my HP i7 ESXI system, and on a RPi2. The i7 is my fastest
?VAX?.
Zane, what's the host OS that you're using for SIMH?
tnx.
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
14 Mar
14 Mar
11:47 a.m.
On Mar 13, 2018, at 1:54 PM, geneb via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Tue, 13 Mar 2018, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
I?m currently using Ubuntu (I?ve run SIMH a lot of different UNIX & Linux flavors over
the years).
With the ESXI and RPi systems, I?m using the version of SIMH/VAX that Ubuntu provides.
With the i5, I upgraded to current to try to resolve some issues. The i5 is serving up
several large drives, and a couple small Shadowsets that it shares with another system.
The Shadowsets are for Cluster Files, and critical data. It?s also my cluster tape server
(virtual tapes).
There can be issues, but I think the ones I?ve run into are more a OpenVMS/VAX v7.3 &
OpenVMS/Alpha v8.3 clustering issue. Backing up an ODS-5 disk from a VAX isn?t a good
idea, but it seems fine to back it up from the Alpha, to a tape drive on the VAX.
Zane
Really on the VAX side, emulation makes sense.
For $75, I picked up a HP i5 system that?s dedicated to running SIMH 24x7, and I also have
SIMH running on my HP i7 ESXI system, and on a RPi2. The i7 is my fastest ?VAX?.
Zane, what's the host OS that you're using for SIMH?
tnx.
g.
12:40 p.m.
On Wed, 14 Mar 2018, Zane Healy wrote:
I?m currently using Ubuntu (I?ve run SIMH a lot of different UNIX &
Linux flavors over the years).
With the ESXI and RPi systems, I?m using the version of SIMH/VAX that
Ubuntu provides. With the i5, I upgraded to current to try to resolve
some issues. The i5 is serving up several large drives, and a couple
small Shadowsets that it shares with another system. The Shadowsets are
for Cluster Files, and critical data. It?s also my cluster tape server
(virtual tapes).
There can be issues, but I think the ones I?ve run into are more a
OpenVMS/VAX v7.3 & OpenVMS/Alpha v8.3 clustering issue. Backing up an
ODS-5 disk from a VAX isn?t a good idea, but it seems fine to back it up
from the Alpha, to a tape drive on the VAX.
What model of HP i5 did you get? I'm entertaining the idea of getting
another R710, but they're still ~$250 plus drives.
tnx.
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
Really on the VAX side, emulation makes sense.
For $75, I picked up a
HP i5 system that?s dedicated to running SIMH 24x7, and I also have
SIMH running on my HP i7 ESXI system, and on a RPi2. The i7 is my
fastest ?VAX?.
Zane, what's the host OS that you're using for SIMH?
tnx.
g.
2:43 p.m.
On Mar 14, 2018, at 12:40 PM, geneb via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Wed, 14 Mar 2018, Zane Healy wrote:
I?ve been using the HP SFF systems. I think the i5 I got specifically to run SIMH is a
6300. It?s an i5-3470 3.2Ghz system with 4 GB RAM. I had to add a hard drive, but had an
old 500GB drive laying around. That?s plenty big to backup and migrate the data on my
Compaq XP1000 running OpenVMS 8.3 to. It?s not a modern system, but it?s newer by far
than any of my real VMS hardware. To me the key thing is, it only cost $75.
I also have two other HP SFF systems, both are 8200?s one is an i5, the other an i7. The
i7 is the ESXI system I mentioned. The VM running SIMH is able to outperform SIMH on the
HP 6300 SFF box. I initially had lots of issues with clock drift on OpenVMS running under
ESXI, but it turns out that was due to my having throttled the VM itself. Once I removed
that, everything is fine. I?ve since switched to using CPU idling under SIMH, to reduce
the load on the host CPU.
In spite of having a website on emulating DEC HW, I?ve resisted emulating the VAX, as I
didn?t see the point. We?ve reached the point where even a RPI running SIMH outperforms
most of my VAXen, and the i5 and i7 based systems running SIMH can outperform all of my
VAXen. I just wish the hobbyist options for Alpha emulation were better.
I may consider picking up another HP SFF running a supported version of Windows, and then
trying the Alpha emulation on it.
Zane
I?m currently using Ubuntu (I?ve run SIMH a lot
of different UNIX & Linux flavors over the years).
With the ESXI and RPi systems, I?m using the version of SIMH/VAX that Ubuntu provides.
With the i5, I upgraded to current to try to resolve some issues. The i5 is serving up
several large drives, and a couple small Shadowsets that it shares with another system.
The Shadowsets are for Cluster Files, and critical data. It?s also my cluster tape server
(virtual tapes).
There can be issues, but I think the ones I?ve run into are more a OpenVMS/VAX v7.3 &
OpenVMS/Alpha v8.3 clustering issue. Backing up an ODS-5 disk from a VAX isn?t a good
idea, but it seems fine to back it up from the Alpha, to a tape drive on the VAX.
What model of HP i5 did you get? I'm entertaining the idea of getting another R710,
but they're still ~$250 plus drives.
tnx.
g.
3:01 p.m.
On Wed, 14 Mar 2018, Zane Healy wrote:
I?ve been using the HP SFF systems. I think the i5 I
got specifically
to run SIMH is a 6300. It?s an i5-3470 3.2Ghz system with 4 GB RAM. I
had to add a hard drive, but had an old 500GB drive laying around.
That?s plenty big to backup and migrate the data on my Compaq XP1000
running OpenVMS 8.3 to. It?s not a modern system, but it?s newer by far
than any of my real VMS hardware. To me the key thing is, it only cost
$75.
Ah, ok. So you're using little desktop boxes for it. You might want to
look into an R710 then. I paid around $350 for mine (no drives) and it
came with a pair of Xeon 5570 CPUs at 2.93 Ghz and 32GB of RAM. I dropped
four Western Digital 2TB Red SATA drives into it and it goes like a
scalded cat. I've got three Win7x64, four Linux servers, one MacOS and
one FreeBSD instance running on it. The average power consumption is
around 173 watts according to ESXi. I may have to try SIMH on there as
well, but the only PAKs I have are for MicroVMS 4 if memory serves...
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
5:01 a.m.
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 12:44:15PM +0000, Kyle Owen via cctalk wrote:
Several people have now mentioned they have dead
Alphas. What is generally
failing about them?
A number of years ago I had an AlphaServer 2100 running Tru64 that just
died. It worked fine one day and the next day started displaying fault
codes on the front LCD (IIRC). I never managed to work out what they meant
although I suspected a CPU board fault. I later gave the machine to a
friend to cannabilise for parts (he's a heavy VMS user and was able to
salvage some of the parts).
IIRC it was a 4/200, with a pair of EV4 CPUs, 512MiB RAM and half a dozen
2GiB SCSI drives. It had the pedestal chassis.
Cheers, MJ
--
Michael-John Turner * mj at mjturner.net * http://mjturner.net/
13 Mar
13 Mar
10:26 a.m.
On 13 March 2018 at 05:25, Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I never got my hands on one, although there was a time when I coveted one.
(Now as I am -- well, not homeless, but I don't have a house any more,
or indeed an apartment of my own -- I am confining my collection to
portable/pocketable and battery-powered devices.)
I believe list-member St?phane has at least one, but I don't know if
he's got it running...
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven ? Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
10:43 a.m.
On Mar 13, 2018, at 12:26 PM, Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On 13 March 2018 at 05:25, Benjamin Huntsman via
cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have an AS 2100 4/275 in sight of me in my office - waiting for me to get a round tuit
on installing OpenVMS - and another pizza-box station (300?) in the same condition. (Also
a VaxStation VLC and a Rainbow, so Some Day (TM) I want to have a whole little DEC network
with 4 different types of CPU talking together?)
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I never got my hands on one, although there was a time when I coveted one.
(Now as I am -- well, not homeless, but I don't have a house any more,
or indeed an apartment of my own -- I am confining my collection to
portable/pocketable and battery-powered devices.)
I believe list-member St?phane has at least one, but I don't know if
he's got it running...
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven ? Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053 
1:36 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 12:25 AM, Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I did a bit of work on Alphas from 1997-2003 but at home I have...
DEC 4000 AXP - works fine, haven't powered it on in a while. I have
to unplug my VAX 8300 to plug the DEC 4000 in - I only have the one
30A receptacle in the basement. It has multiple disks in it - Ultrix
and OSF/1 boot drives, IIRC.
DEC Multia Alpha workstation - got it from a friend and haven't played
with it yet. Has Red Hat 5.3 on it. Came with boxed OS.
DEC PC-form-factor motherboard. I can't remember the model number,
but this fits in a standard PC tower case. Made to run WinNT or UNIX.
-ethan
2:09 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 4:36 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 12:25 AM, Benjamin Huntsman
via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I am working through some new to me VAX/Alphas/QBUS parts from the other
weekend.
http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=715
I also have some new-to-me smaller VAX and an Alpha 3000 or two. Some of
these need new homes. I was thinking of hosting a VAX/Alpha workshop at or
near my house in the Newark, Delaware, USA area next month. I have plenty
of machines and parts for anyone interested who'd like to participate.
More details coming.
I have VMS and DECUNIX machines running here at my house, and few with
FQDS's personally I think they're worth preserving. I have written about
them here in the past (when I needed help). I am relatively new to the VMS
world but gaining experience. I have a smattering of actual work
experience in VMS back when these were current and from college.
Bill
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
4:22 p.m.
So for the most part, no hobbyists are running DS15?s? I?m sort of surprised that there?s
that many still in critical production roles. Where?s all the VAR guys trying to help
people migrate? Haha.
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 13, 2018, at 2:09 PM, Bill Degnan via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 4:36 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 12:25 AM, Benjamin
Huntsman via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I am working through some new to me VAX/Alphas/QBUS parts from the other
weekend.
http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=715
I also have some new-to-me smaller VAX and an Alpha 3000 or two. Some of
these need new homes. I was thinking of hosting a VAX/Alpha workshop at or
near my house in the Newark, Delaware, USA area next month. I have plenty
of machines and parts for anyone interested who'd like to participate.
More details coming.
I have VMS and DECUNIX machines running here at my house, and few with
FQDS's personally I think they're worth preserving. I have written about
them here in the past (when I needed help). I am relatively new to the VMS
world but gaining experience. I have a smattering of actual work
experience in VMS back when these were current and from college.
Bill Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
8:27 p.m.
On Mar 13, 2018, at 4:22 PM, Benjamin Huntsman via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
So for the most part, no hobbyists are running DS15?s? I?m sort of surprised that
there?s that many still in critical production roles. Where?s all the VAR guys trying to
help people migrate? Haha.
A better question might be, how many DS15?s were produced compared to something like the
AlphaStation 200 4/233.
I?d love a DS15, but if they are far from cheap.
A lot of the VAR?s are trying to get folks to migrate to Emulated Alpha?s from what I?m
seeing. My guess is that anyone that was going to convert to Itanium did, and many of
those are now looking towards porting to Xeon. Personally I?m skipping Itanium, but will
be looking to move to Xeon at some point. I rather like the idea of running OpenVMS on an
HP DL360 or DL380.
Zane
6:17 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 4:36 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 12:25 AM, Benjamin Huntsman
via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
AXPpci 33 board with a 21066 processor that I stuffed into an Enlight
tower and fiddled with 15+ years ago.
-ethan
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I did a bit of work on Alphas from 1997-2003 but at home I have...
DEC 4000 AXP - works fine, haven't powered it on in a while. I have
to unplug my VAX 8300 to plug the DEC 4000 in - I only have the one
30A receptacle in the basement. It has multiple disks in it - Ultrix
and OSF/1 boot drives, IIRC.
DEC Multia Alpha workstation - got it from a friend and haven't played
with it yet. Has Red Hat 5.3 on it. Came with boxed OS.
DEC PC-form-factor motherboard. I can't remember the model number,
but this fits in a standard PC tower case. Made to run WinNT or UNIX. 
7:55 p.m.
DEC PC-form-factor motherboard. I can't remember
the model number,
but this fits in a standard PC tower case. Made to run WinNT or UNIX.
Probably one of the 164LXes or similar. I have a 164LX here running Tru64
and OpenGenera.
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- God may be subtle, but He isn't plain mean. -- Albert Einstein -------------
14 Mar
14 Mar
3:06 a.m.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I'm lucky enough to be in a position where they drop out of the woodwork
into my lap, the biggest being a DS25 running Tru64 and the smallest being
the Multia NT Workstation. Ones in use fairly regularly are a DS10 along
with my VAX 3100/90 from an old workplace. I'm in the process of giving
some of them away though because they take up too much room.
A
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs
w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
On 13 March 2018 at 04:25, Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> Place your wagers...
>
>
> How many more years do you think it'll take before decent, practical-sized
> Alphas, like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10, will be obtainable at
> hobbyist-friendly prices?
>
>
> I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit,
> drinks power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
>
>
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
>
3:55 a.m.
On 14 March 2018 at 11:06, Adrian Graham via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I'm in the process of giving
some of them away though because they take up too much room.
The OpenBSD project are, or were, looking for donations of high-end
VAXstations. I offered them a VAXstation 4000/60 (Red Hat offered to
sponsor shipping from London to Canada) but after some
toing-and-froing, Theo DeRaadt turned it down.
Unfortunately, I believe RH has now lost my machine. :-(
But if anyone is willing to donate a /90 or similar, he might be interested.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven ? Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
4:54 a.m.
On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 10:55:18AM +0000, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
But if anyone is willing to donate a /90 or similar, he
might be
interested.
I'm guessing the lack of interest from Theo may have been because the VAX
port was dropped after OpenBSD 5.9[1]. Was rather sad when that happened as
NetBSD's VAX support isn't in a great state these days.
[1] https://www.openbsd.org/vax.html
Cheers, MJ
--
Michael-John Turner * mj at mjturner.net * http://mjturner.net/
5:02 a.m.
On 14 March 2018 at 12:54, Michael-John Turner <mj at mjturner.net> wrote:
I'm guessing the lack of interest from Theo may have been because the VAX
port was dropped after OpenBSD 5.9[1]. Was rather sad when that happened as
NetBSD's VAX support isn't in a great state these days.
[1] https://www.openbsd.org/vax.html
Cause/effect error. I offered my 4000/60 to him when I was leaving the
country in 2014. After some weeks of consideration, during which time
I packed it up and got it delivered to Red Hat in Farnborough, he
decided he didn't want it.
I started working for Red Hat in Brno soon afterwards. Sadly, a couple
of months later, I stopped working for Red Hat.
When I asked for the machine back in 2016, they had lost it. :-(
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven at gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven ? Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
5:09 a.m.
On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 12:02:24PM +0000, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
Cause/effect error. I offered my 4000/60 to him when I
was leaving the
country in 2014. After some weeks of consideration, during which time
I packed it up and got it delivered to Red Hat in Farnborough, he
decided he didn't want it.
Ah, in 2014 the VAX port was still very much active.
When I asked for the machine back in 2016, they had
lost it. :-(
:( That sucks - the 4000/60 is a nice machine. I'd love one - my only VAX
is a 3100/M30.
Cheers, MJ
--
Michael-John Turner * mj at mjturner.net * http://mjturner.net/
6:54 a.m.
On 2018-03-14 6:55 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
On 14 March 2018 at 11:06, Adrian Graham via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
OpenBSD can't support VAX-11 any longer, unless somebody implements TLS
for that architecture (which I believe would need major toolchain work?)
http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20160309192510
That would explain why they no longer want VAX-11 hardware.
--Toby
I'm in the process of giving
some of them away though because they take up too much room.
The OpenBSD project are, or were, looking for donations of high-end
VAXstations. I offered them a VAXstation 4000/60 (Red Hat offered to
sponsor shipping from London to Canada) but after some
toing-and-froing, Theo DeRaadt turned it down.
Unfortunately, I believe RH has now lost my machine. :-(
But if anyone is willing to donate a /90 or similar, he might be interested.
9:14 a.m.
so .... do the 3 macines go in the scrap pile ?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fx4Dw6RrQgVJBXWo1
On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 6:54 AM, Toby Thain via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 2018-03-14 6:55 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
On 14 March 2018 at 11:06, Adrian Graham via
cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
OpenBSD can't support VAX-11 any longer, unless somebody implements TLS
for that architecture (which I believe would need major toolchain work?)
http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20160309192510
That would explain why they no longer want VAX-11 hardware.
--Toby
I'm in the process of giving
some of them away though because they take up too much room.
The OpenBSD project are, or were, looking for donations of high-end
VAXstations. I offered them a VAXstation 4000/60 (Red Hat offered to
sponsor shipping from London to Canada) but after some
toing-and-froing, Theo DeRaadt turned it down.
Unfortunately, I believe RH has now lost my machine. :-(
But if anyone is willing to donate a /90 or similar, he might be
interested.
10:17 a.m.
New subject: R: AlphaServers
I hope the answer is "no" :S
-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Per conto di Pete Lancashire via
cctalk
Inviato: mercoled? 14 marzo 2018 17:15
A: Toby Thain; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Oggetto: Re: AlphaServers
so .... do the 3 macines go in the scrap pile ?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fx4Dw6RrQgVJBXWo1
On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 6:54 AM, Toby Thain via cctalk < cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On 2018-03-14 6:55 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
On 14 March 2018 at 11:06, Adrian Graham via
cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
OpenBSD can't support VAX-11 any longer, unless somebody implements
TLS for that architecture (which I believe would need major toolchain
work?)
http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20160309192510
That would explain why they no longer want VAX-11 hardware.
--Toby
I'm in the process of giving
some of them away though because they take up too much room.
The OpenBSD project are, or were, looking for donations of high-end
VAXstations. I offered them a VAXstation 4000/60 (Red Hat offered to
sponsor shipping from London to Canada) but after some
toing-and-froing, Theo DeRaadt turned it down.
Unfortunately, I believe RH has now lost my machine. :-(
But if anyone is willing to donate a /90 or similar, he might be
interested.
10:18 a.m.
What models are these? You said they?re in Oregon?
Zane
On Mar 14, 2018, at 9:14 AM, Pete Lancashire via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
so .... do the 3 macines go in the scrap pile ?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fx4Dw6RrQgVJBXWo1
10:27 a.m.
The are in Oregon about 25 miles west of Portland. I don't remember the
model numbers. It maybe some time before I can get to them,
but they to go, where they are being stored needs to be emptied of
anything of value by early July. What is left will go to recycle or
metal scrap. I am looking for a few $'s to cover the expenses against my
estate. Like $200 for all three ?
Maybe someone on CC can ID them.
One or two were running when moved to storge.
-pete
On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 10:18 AM, Zane Healy <healyzh at avanthar.com> wrote:
What models are these? You said they?re in Oregon?
Zane
On Mar 14, 2018, at 9:14 AM, Pete Lancashire via
cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
so .... do the 3 macines go in the scrap pile ?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fx4Dw6RrQgVJBXWo1
9:22 a.m.
Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk wrote:
Place your wagers...
How many more years do you think it'll take before decent, practical-sized Alphas,
like the DS15, and to some degree, the DS10, will be obtainable at hobbyist-friendly
prices?
I have an ES47 I got for a price I could stomach, but it's sans rail kit, drinks
power like it's going out of style, and can anchor a 40-ft yacht.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I have a DEC 500/AU Miata and a 500/AU from Compaq as far as I know,
The Comapq ran at 600Mhz 24/7 in a company I was employed with FreeBSD,
the DEC is untouched since I got it and has cache memory (3rd. level)
in difference to the compaq which has no cache module.
Besides of that I have a VAX4000/300 running VMS7.3, an VS4000/90
with VMS 7.3 and NetBSD and a VS3100/M76 with Open- and NetBSD as far as
I remember.
Most of the time they all switched off, because of enery bills...
Regards,
Holm
--
Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe,
Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583
info at tsht.de Fax +49 3731 74200 Tel +49 3731 74222 Mobil: 0172 8790 741
19 Mar
19 Mar
8:38 a.m.
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I have a running;
1000A 4/266 with 384MB Ram an full compliment of Storage Works disks
(has redundant power supplies and a nice roll around cabinet)
3000-300 booting from a SCSI2SD disk, (this is nice since it is kind of
light and can be picked up and moved easily)
3000-400 booting from a SCSI2SD disk.? (this thing is quite heavy, built
with heavy think metal to support a equally heavy monitor placed on top)
All running hobbyist OpenVMS 8.4, an one VRC16 DEC color monitor.
The only part that failed was in the 3000-400, the I/O module (runs
network, serial, SCSI, video, etc) was faulty and kept the power supply
from starting up.
These 64 bit machines are an interesting compliment to the 32 bit VAXes
I have, 4000/400, 3100/M76, MVII, 40000VLC and the 16 bit PDP-11's.
Doug
9:22 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Douglas
Taylor via cctalk
Sent: 19 March 2018 15:39
To: Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: AlphaServers
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "do". Do you mean is anyone selling
them, using them for real work or just using them as a hobbyist? I do the last of these
(occasionally).
Regards
Rob
I have a running;
1000A 4/266 with 384MB Ram an full compliment of Storage Works disks (has
redundant power supplies and a nice roll around cabinet)
3000-300 booting from a SCSI2SD disk, (this is nice since it is kind of light and
can be picked up and moved easily)
3000-400 booting from a SCSI2SD disk. (this thing is quite heavy, built with
heavy think metal to support a equally heavy monitor placed on top)
All running hobbyist OpenVMS 8.4, an one VRC16 DEC color monitor.
The only part that failed was in the 3000-400, the I/O module (runs network,
serial, SCSI, video, etc) was faulty and kept the power supply from starting up.
These 64 bit machines are an interesting compliment to the 32 bit VAXes I
have, 4000/400, 3100/M76, MVII, 40000VLC and the 16 bit PDP-11's.
Doug
3:13 p.m.
In the Alpha stable I have a 1000A fully loaded with SSB and an external
SSB enclosure running VMS 7.3. I also have the desktop 3000/600 which was
bought for my PhD work with 2GB external DAT and 24 bit graphics. I have
two rackmount 3000/600s and a 3000/800.
I've been planning on downsizing for a while, I'll keep the desktop
3000/600 but will be looking to shift the rest. I had a buyer for the 1000A
a while back but couldn't get it shipped - he was going to give me ?250 for
it. I am willing to give away the 3000/800 but it can't be shipped. The
developer of the TB-USB card was earmarked for that one but he is in
Germany and it's just very difficult to get a machine with that weight
shipped.
Regards, Mark.
Windermere, UK.
On 19 March 2018 at 16:22, Rob Jarratt via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
-----Original
Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Douglas
Taylor via cctalk
Sent: 19 March 2018 15:39
To: Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: AlphaServers
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "do". Do you mean is anyone
selling them, using them for real work or just using them as a hobbyist? I
do the last of these (occasionally).
Regards
Rob
I have a running;
1000A 4/266 with 384MB Ram an full compliment of Storage Works disks (has
redundant power supplies and a nice roll around cabinet)
3000-300 booting from a SCSI2SD disk, (this is nice since it is kind of
light and
can be picked up and moved easily)
3000-400 booting from a SCSI2SD disk. (this thing is quite heavy, built
with
heavy think metal to support a equally heavy
monitor placed on top)
All running hobbyist OpenVMS 8.4, an one VRC16 DEC color monitor.
The only part that failed was in the 3000-400, the I/O module (runs
network,
serial, SCSI, video, etc) was faulty and kept the
power supply from
starting up.
These 64 bit machines are an interesting compliment to the 32 bit VAXes I
have, 4000/400, 3100/M76, MVII, 40000VLC and the 16 bit PDP-11's.
Doug
4:43 p.m.
Ran across these
https://photos.app.goo.gl/716Mr3cCL7g4uTs62
On Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 3:13 PM, Mark Wickens via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
In the Alpha stable I have a 1000A fully loaded with
SSB and an external
SSB enclosure running VMS 7.3. I also have the desktop 3000/600 which was
bought for my PhD work with 2GB external DAT and 24 bit graphics. I have
two rackmount 3000/600s and a 3000/800.
I've been planning on downsizing for a while, I'll keep the desktop
3000/600 but will be looking to shift the rest. I had a buyer for the 1000A
a while back but couldn't get it shipped - he was going to give me ?250 for
it. I am willing to give away the 3000/800 but it can't be shipped. The
developer of the TB-USB card was earmarked for that one but he is in
Germany and it's just very difficult to get a machine with that weight
shipped.
Regards, Mark.
Windermere, UK.
On 19 March 2018 at 16:22, Rob Jarratt via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
I
built
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of
Douglas
Taylor
via cctalk
Sent: 19 March 2018 15:39
To: Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: AlphaServers
Anyone out there do Alphas anymore?
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "do". Do you mean is anyone
selling them, using them for real work or just using them as a hobbyist? do the last of these (occasionally).
Regards
Rob
> I have a running;
>
> 1000A 4/266 with 384MB Ram an full compliment of Storage Works disks
(has
redundant
power supplies and a nice roll around cabinet)
3000-300 booting from a SCSI2SD disk, (this is nice since it is kind of
light and
> can be picked up and moved easily)
>
> 3000-400 booting from a SCSI2SD disk. (this thing is quite heavy, with
VAXes I
heavy think metal to support a equally heavy
monitor placed on top)
All running hobbyist OpenVMS 8.4, an one VRC16 DEC color monitor.
The only part that failed was in the 3000-400, the I/O module (runs
network,
serial, SCSI, video, etc) was faulty and kept the
power supply from
starting up.
>
> These 64 bit machines are an interesting compliment to the 32 bit have,
4000/400, 3100/M76, MVII, 40000VLC and the 16 bit PDP-11's.
Doug
2470
days inactive
2476
days old
45 comments
23 participants
participants (23)
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