4 Dec
2004
4 Dec
'04
11:43 a.m.
Today at auction I acquired a MicroVAX 3100 system. It's my first VAX
hardware.
I don't know a lot about it and thought I would ask here for help.
I put up a picture of the system on some personal webspace. The page
is: http://sasteven.multics.org/MicroVAX/MicroVAX3100.html
The system is a low-profile box, with one opening in the front face
with a 5-1/4" form factor tape drive presently installed. There are
free connectors and space inside for a single narrow SCSI drive. The
system has two mezzazine-mounted memory cards inside and appears to
have 16 megs of RAM on the cards.
The model plate on back (one of the pictures on the page I put up)
reads:
Model- DV031DTA-A - A01
S/N- KA324TJ182
Some questions:
1. I notice on the Web that there is quite a bit of info about
MicroVAX 3100 systems. I also see that there are a variety of models.
Is there an easy way to figure out which one I have?
2. Would it be possible and/or work to replace the tape drive with a
SCSI CD-ROM reader? I don't have a source for tapes.
3. Is it worth putting VMS on this box? It looks like it could run
NetBSD as well. I also have McKusik's BSD archive CD set that he
sells. Is there a flavor of vintage UNIX that I could put on the
system?
4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the three serial
ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a TTY-only
machine, no framebuffer, etc.
5. Is there a thorough hardware reference for this machine out there
on the net that I should get? I looked on the HP/Compaq site, and it
appears that they pay a small amount of homage to the system, but
without much substancial info. A hardware reference manual in PDF
would be great.
Any and all info would be appreciated. If there's a good site that I
should be pointed to (there seems to be tons and tons of info out
there, which results in Google pulling up a huge mass of stuff to weed
through) instead of answering these specific questions, a pointer to
it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Scott.
4 Dec
4 Dec
12:10 p.m.
Today at auction I acquired a MicroVAX 3100 system.
It's my first VAX
hardware.
Once the bug bites, it won't be your last!
The system is a low-profile box, with one opening in
the front face
with a 5-1/4" form factor tape drive presently installed. There are
free connectors and space inside for a single narrow SCSI drive. The
system has two mezzazine-mounted memory cards inside and appears to
have 16 megs of RAM on the cards.
The tape is a TZ30. Basically a SCSI TK50, so anything you read
about the TK50 probably applies. They're not as bad as people
make out. Obviously 95MB does not go too far these days. But since
almost all applicable Oses will support this tape bott media
(and it is bootable from the console) I would keep it around if I
were you.
1. I notice on the Web that there is quite a bit of
info about
MicroVAX 3100 systems. I also see that there are a variety of models.
Is there an easy way to figure out which one I have?
Yes. Since the memory is a stack of cards rather than a
set of sticks, it must be a MicroVAX 3100 Model 10 or 10e or 20 or 20e.
The difference between the 10 and 20 is the size of the case:
the Model 10 has one internal tray on which you can mount drives,
the 20 hase two. Your picture looks like a 10.
Assuming that that is so, then you either have a Model 10 or
a Model 10e. The 10e is slightly later and maybe half as fast
again (don't get exceited :-)).
If you hook up a console and power up you can tell the
difference. A Model 10 will report itself as being a
KA41-A, a Model 10e will report itself as being a KA41-D.
My guess would be a Model 10 as these are far more common.
(Note: a 20 or 20e will report the same things: the 10/20
distinction is *only* the box it comes in).
2. Would it be possible and/or work to replace the
tape drive with a
SCSI CD-ROM reader? I don't have a source for tapes.
Yes. Best to use on of the DEC ones since you will be able to
boot off it. OpenVMS, at least, cares. I do not recall whether the
console itself cares (so you might be able to boot into Ultrix
or one of the BSDs etc. with any old CDROM). If you cannot get
an RRD42 (or better), look for one which supports 512-byte blocks.
3. Is it worth putting VMS on this box? It looks like it could run
NetBSD as well. I also have McKusik's BSD archive CD set that he
sells. Is there a flavor of vintage UNIX that I could put on the
system?
Ultrix will run on these, as will NetBSD. OpenVMS will also run on it,
but the maximum memory you can put in is 32MB, which might be a
bit limiting.
4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the
three serial
ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a TTY-only
machine, no framebuffer, etc.
No video. For that you need a VAXstation 3100 of some flavour.
I should remember whether it is the rightmost or leftmost MMJ that
provides the console, but I don't :-0. 9600, 8 NONE should set you
on your way.
BTW: IIRC the three upper connectors from left to right are
[4-11] asynch comms (probably a DHW42 - needs a cable to bring out
the umpteen terminal ports), [B1] a synch port (I used to support
the software for these!) and the external SCSI connector [diamond].
5. Is there a thorough hardware reference for this
machine out there
on the net that I should get? I looked on the HP/Compaq site, and it
appears that they pay a small amount of homage to the system, but
without much substancial info. A hardware reference manual in PDF
would be great.
http://vt100.net/manx
Any and all info would be appreciated. If there's
a good site that I
should be pointed to (there seems to be tons and tons of info out
there, which results in Google pulling up a huge mass of stuff to weed
through) instead of answering these specific questions, a pointer to
it would be appreciated.
Manx will find pretty much everything you need.
--
---------------
Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
12:13 p.m.
On Saturday 04 December 2004 17:43, Scott Stevens wrote:
Today at auction I acquired a MicroVAX 3100 system.
It's my first
VAX hardware.
Ahh, you're the guy... I was only interested in making sure it didn't
get scrapped for parts, really. Anyways, I'm glad it went to someone
who'll appreciate it. I was afraid it was just a clueless idiot, who'd
get it home, figure out what it is, and then throw it out, but it seems
my worries are unfounded. : ) There seemed to be a lot of those there
after the Cisco gear today.
I don't know a lot about it and thought I would
ask here for help.
I'll see what I can do.
I put up a picture of the system on some personal
webspace. The page
is: http://sasteven.multics.org/MicroVAX/MicroVAX3100.html
The system is a low-profile box, with one opening in the front face
with a 5-1/4" form factor tape drive presently installed. There are
free connectors and space inside for a single narrow SCSI drive. The
system has two mezzazine-mounted memory cards inside and appears to
have 16 megs of RAM on the cards.
Not too bad for a VAX.
The model plate on back (one of the pictures on the
page I put up)
reads:
Model- DV031DTA-A - A01
S/N- KA324TJ182
Some questions:
1. I notice on the Web that there is quite a bit of info about
MicroVAX 3100 systems. I also see that there are a variety of
models. Is there an easy way to figure out which one I have?
I can tell you it's either an M20, M20e, or M40. My guess, since it's
not labelled which model, would be an M20, which has 2.4 VUPS. And,
fairly nice, as it uses nice, cheap SCSI disks.
2. Would it be possible and/or work to replace the
tape drive with a
SCSI CD-ROM reader? I don't have a source for tapes.
You should be able to, but you'll need the proper CDROM drive. I've had
good luck with the 1" tall cdroms in Sparcstation 5's and 10's, which
is basically the same as an RRD42. If you don't have any let me know,
I've got some stock of them.
3. Is it worth putting VMS on this box? It looks
like it could run
NetBSD as well. I also have McKusik's BSD archive CD set that he
sells. Is there a flavor of vintage UNIX that I could put on the
system?
VMS would run decently on that, you could run 7.2/7.3 even, as it has
plenty of RAM.
4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the
three serial
ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a
TTY-only machine, no framebuffer, etc.
Should be the MMJ connector labelled "3" IIRC. If want a proper MMJ
cable, I've made them for people on the list before. If not, a piece
of 4pr phone cable with the tab filed/cut off should be able to connect
it to an RJ45->DE9 or DB25 adaptor properly. Xyplex, Sun, and
Cisco-wired adaptors should all work with it. If you want a pinout,
search google for "xyplex pinout" and hit I'm Feeling Lucky.
5. Is there a thorough hardware reference for this
machine out there
on the net that I should get? I looked on the HP/Compaq site, and it
appears that they pay a small amount of homage to the system, but
without much substancial info. A hardware reference manual in PDF
would be great.
Try bitsavers (or, since it's currently down, my mirror at
computer-refuge.org/bitsavers).
Any and all info would be appreciated. If there's
a good site that I
should be pointed to (there seems to be tons and tons of info out
there, which results in Google pulling up a huge mass of stuff to
weed through) instead of answering these specific questions, a
pointer to it would be appreciated.
Hmm. Compaq's openvms doc site is good for VMS documentation (free PDFs
and HTML versions) at http://www.openvms.compaq.com:8000/
For other info, either looking at bitsavers or google should work well.
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCS --- http://www.itap.purdue.edu/rcs/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
1:17 p.m.
On Sat, 4 Dec 2004 18:13:07 -0500, you wrote:
I found the Xyplex info in Google. I probably have one of these
adapters lying around here someplace, but storage/organization here is
kinda in crisis mode, so I'll probably have to make another by
splicing a phone cable.
Scott
On Saturday 04 December 2004 17:43, Scott Stevens
wrote:
There are always a lot of choppers/scrappers and Windows-only people
at the IUPUI auction. I spend a good amount of time steering 'regular
folk' types looking for a home computer away from UNIX hardware and
huge SGI/Sun monitors that they'd end up ditching after they gave up
trying to use it.
At one of the earlier sales this year somebody bought a whole skid of
Sun Ultra 5/10/20 boxes (I was carrying some stuff to the car when it
came up unexpectedly and came in just as the bidding closed!) for
$100. I heard later from someone else that "he never figured out what
any of it was" and has probably stripped drives and memory before
pitching most of it. Theres a lot of hardware-death out there
committed by people with a Windows CD, a phillips screwdriver, and
half a clue.
Today at auction I acquired a MicroVAX 3100
system. It's my first
VAX hardware.
Ahh, you're the guy... I was only interested in making sure it didn't
get scrapped for parts, really. Anyways, I'm glad it went to someone
who'll appreciate it. I was afraid it was just a clueless idiot, who'd
get it home, figure out what it is, and then throw it out, but it seems
my worries are unfounded. : ) There seemed to be a lot of those there
after the Cisco gear today.
You should be able to, but you'll need the proper CDROM drive. I've had
good luck with the 1" tall cdroms in Sparcstation 5's and 10's, which
is basically the same as an RRD42. If you don't have any let me know,
I've got some stock of them.
I've had good luck getting plain old Apple CD drives to boot in Sparc
hardware (that can take the normal width CD), and have one or two
drives that I was able to get to boot AIX on an ancient RS/6000 box I
have (got two more huge RS6K boxes today for $5 each- off topic here,
tho, too new). I'll dig around in stuff. Is there such a thing as
bootable CD media for this MicroVAX that I could create? Maybe I need
to dig around at NetBSD/vax for a while to get started... (getting
NetBSD running is always a good way to 'wring out' an unusual system
if it's supported)
4. What is
the console on this hardware? It has the three serial
ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a
TTY-only machine, no framebuffer, etc.
Should be the MMJ connector labelled "3" IIRC. If want a proper MMJ
cable, I've made them for people on the list before. If not, a piece
of 4pr phone cable with the tab filed/cut off should be able to connect
it to an RJ45->DE9 or DB25 adaptor properly. Xyplex, Sun, and
Cisco-wired adaptors should all work with it. If you want a pinout,
search google for "xyplex pinout" and hit I'm Feeling Lucky.
5 Dec
5 Dec
12:16 a.m.
Scott Stevens wrote:
4. What is the console on this hardware? It has the
three serial
ports on RJ-type connectors, and from what I gather this is a TTY-only
machine, no framebuffer, etc.
I made a connector for my DECStation 3100 by grinding bits off an RJ45
connector until it fitted. Brutal but effective. Prepare to lose a few
RJ45s in the process - you'd be better with your own crimping tool and a
bag of plugs.
Better still would be the proper DEC connector, but I couldn't find any
of those.
Gordon JC Pearce
7165
days inactive
7166
days old
4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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a.carlini＠ntlworld.com -
chenmel＠earthlink.net -
gordon＠gjcp.net -
pat＠computer-refuge.org