20 Oct
2013
20 Oct
'13
4:19 p.m.
Hi there!
I picked up a VAX 4000 VLC a while back that was listed "as-is".
Unfortunately, while it does power up, I could never get a console to come up on it, and I
don't have multimeter/scope skills. It suffered a bit of damage on the way to me, and
there's a bit of broken plastic, and the keyboard connector on the video board is
broken. Otherwise, it's in decent shape.
Rather than toss it though, I figured I'd offer it up here in case anyone had the
time, patience, and interest to try to fix it. Free for the taking... I only ask for
shipping cost.
Thanks!
-Ben
20 Oct
20 Oct
8:03 p.m.
On 21 October 2013 00:19, Benjamin Huntsman
<BHuntsman at mail2.cu-portland.edu> wrote:
Hi there!
I picked up a VAX 4000 VLC a while back that was listed "as-is".
Unfortunately, while it does power up, I could never get a console to come up on it, and I
don't have multimeter/scope skills. It suffered a bit of damage on the way to me, and
there's a bit of broken plastic, and the keyboard connector on the video board is
broken. Otherwise, it's in decent shape.
Rather than toss it though, I figured I'd offer it up here in case anyone had the
time, patience, and interest to try to fix it. Free for the taking... I only ask for
shipping cost.
Thanks!
That's a shame - I've wanted one of those for ages, years, but I don't
have the requisite skills either. Also, I suspect I'm on the wrong
side of an ocean. :?(
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884
8:18 p.m.
On Mon, 21 Oct 2013, Liam Proven wrote:
--
Cory Smelosky
http://gewt.net Personal stuff
http://gimme-sympathy.org Projects
On 21 October 2013 00:19, Benjamin Huntsman
<BHuntsman at mail2.cu-portland.edu> wrote:
I have several guesses as to what might be wrong.
A quick search on ebay UK turned up enough parts to make a VS4k-VLC devoid
of case but I think you'd get one cheaper shipped from the US.
Any specific fondness for the VLC or would any of the 4000 series do?
Hi there!
I picked up a VAX 4000 VLC a while back that was listed "as-is".
Unfortunately, while it does power up, I could never get a console to come up on it, and I
don't have multimeter/scope skills. It suffered a bit of damage on the way to me, and
there's a bit of broken plastic, and the keyboard connector on the video board is
broken. Otherwise, it's in decent shape.
Rather than toss it though, I figured I'd offer it up here in case anyone had the
time, patience, and interest to try to fix it. Free for the taking... I only ask for
shipping cost.
Thanks!
That's a shame - I've wanted one of those for ages, years, but I don't
have the requisite skills either. Also, I suspect I'm on the wrong
side of an ocean. :?(
8:48 p.m.
On 21 October 2013 04:18, Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> wrote:
A quick search on ebay UK turned up enough parts to
make a VS4k-VLC devoid
of case but I think you'd get one cheaper shipped from the US.
Gosh. My saved searches have only ever turned up 1 hopeful company who
regularly have been relisting the same graphics card, for an
over-inflated price (ISTM), for a couple of years now.
Any specific fondness for the VLC or would any of the
4000 series do?
Well, I'm interested in a VAX*station* because I wanted to run
DECwindows on it, and the VLC seems to offer the best balance of
price:performance.
I bought a 3100 model 38 some years ago, with monitor, mouse, keyboard
etc., for the princely sum of ?0.99 -- about US$1.60 -- but sadly, the
vendor kept the hard disk *and the mounting bracket and cables*. To
replace them, the cheapest price I've found was about ?70... & my
budget is minute.
(I chose it because I ran a small group of those as servers in my days
in the City of London in the early 1990s.)
I used to have a MicroVAX 3100 (-something) given to me by a friend --
and list-lurker -- about 12y ago, but sadly, I returned it to him in
order for him to give me a better-specced one, and just then, he sadly
got divorced and lost his whole DEC collection. Very sad.
A few years ago, I found that VMS on my tech CV was attracting a lot
of attention and a few interviews, when my Windows/Mac/Linux skills
seem to be of little interest to anyone any more. So my plan was to
brush up on my not-used-since-the-mid-1990s VAX skills with a
VAXstation, then see if I could get some VAX sysadmin work.
However, VMS isn't attracting any interest any longer, AFAICS, and I
am gradually disposing of my collection, so I guess it's probably not
going to happen now, sadly...
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884
22 Oct
22 Oct
7:12 a.m.
On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 04:48:02AM +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
I bought a 3100 model 38 some years ago, with monitor,
mouse, keyboard
etc., for the princely sum of ?0.99 -- about US$1.60 -- but sadly, the
vendor kept the hard disk *and the mounting bracket and cables*. To
replace them, the cheapest price I've found was about ?70... & my
budget is minute.
I haven't opened my 3100 in some years, but wouldn't a regular 50-pin SCSI
cable and drive get you up and running? If so, I'm sure I can find both in
my parts bin and send them to you.
-mj
--
Michael-John Turner
mj at mjturner.net <> http://mjturner.net/
7:44 a.m.
On Oct 22, 2013, at 10:12 AM, Michael-John Turner wrote:
On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 04:48:02AM +0100, Liam Proven
wrote:
Earlier 3100s have a 1.0something limit on the size of the boot
drive because the firmware only issues the older, shorter SCSI
commands which can only address that many blocks. You can use
any size you'd like for the drives used once it's booted, since
the OS usually has no such problem (it's not a problem with the
SCSI controller itself).
Can anyone confirm that the 3100/80 does not have that problem?
My recollection is that it's essentially a reboxed version of
the 4000/60, which does not (none of the 4000s do, IIRC). I'll
try it out sometime soon regardless, but it would be nice to
have an idea before I dive in.
- Dave
I bought a 3100 model 38 some years ago, with
monitor, mouse, keyboard
etc., for the princely sum of ?0.99 -- about US$1.60 -- but sadly, the
vendor kept the hard disk *and the mounting bracket and cables*. To
replace them, the cheapest price I've found was about ?70... & my
budget is minute.
I haven't opened my 3100 in some years, but wouldn't a regular 50-pin SCSI
cable and drive get you up and running? If so, I'm sure I can find both in
my parts bin and send them to you. 
11:27 a.m.
On Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:44:45 -0400
David Riley <fraveydank at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I bought a 3100 model 38 some years ago, with
monitor, mouse, keyboard
>> etc., for the princely sum of ?0.99 -- about US$1.60 -- but sadly, the
>> vendor kept the hard disk *and the mounting bracket and cables*. To
>> replace them, the cheapest price I've found was about ?70... & my
>> budget is minute.
>
> I haven't opened my 3100 in some years, but wouldn't a regular 50-pin SCSI
> cable and drive get you up and running? If so, I'm sure I can find both in
> my parts bin and send them to you.
I am not sure. But the m30 / m38 and the
m76 use, IIRC, a 100 pin
connector to break out two SCSI busses on one connector. But the 100
pin connector is a "standard" HD-IDC connector. Building a new cable
isn't impossible. The mounting bracket is not needed. I screwed disks
onto the base plate in VS3k1 back in the days when I played with those
VAXen.
Earlier 3100s have a 1.0something limit on the size of
the boot
drive because the firmware only issues the older, shorter SCSI
commands which can only address that many blocks. You can use
any size you'd like for the drives used once it's booted, since
the OS usually has no such problem (it's not a problem with the
SCSI controller itself).
AFAIK you can get away with making the boot partition
smaller then
1 GB. Then you can use disks larger 1 GB even asd boot drive.
Can anyone confirm that the 3100/80 does not have that
problem?
Don't know. Most likely not.
My recollection is that it's essentially a reboxed
version of
the 4000/60, which does not (none of the 4000s do, IIRC). I'll
try it out sometime soon regardless, but it would be nice to
have an idea before I dive in.
MV3k1m80 and VS4k60 are Mariah based:
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/vaxstations.html#vaxst…
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/microvaxes.html#microv…
So most likely the MV3k1m80 is not affected by that problem.
--
\end{Jochen}
\ref{http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/}
11:48 a.m.
On Oct 22, 2013, at 2:27 PM, Jochen Kunz <jkunz at unixag-kl.fh-kl.de> wrote:
True. My statement was oversimplified. It does rely on being
able to partition the drive, which is not something every OS
really does.
That's the same conclusion I came to, with the same data. Good
to know I'm not totally nuts, but I was mostly wondering if
anyone had specific experience with it before I go plundering my
dwindling cache of 50-pin SCSI drives.
- Dave
Earlier 3100s
have a 1.0something limit on the size of the boot
drive because the firmware only issues the older, shorter SCSI
commands which can only address that many blocks. You can use
any size you'd like for the drives used once it's booted, since
the OS usually has no such problem (it's not a problem with the
SCSI controller itself).
AFAIK you can get away with making the boot partition
smaller then
1 GB. Then you can use disks larger 1 GB even asd boot drive. My
recollection is that it's essentially a reboxed version of
the 4000/60, which does not (none of the 4000s do, IIRC). I'll
try it out sometime soon regardless, but it would be nice to
have an idea before I dive in.
MV3k1m80 and VS4k60 are Mariah based:
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/vaxstations.html#vaxst…
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/microvaxes.html#microv…
So most likely the MV3k1m80 is not affected by that problem. 
12:09 p.m.
New subject: Looking for a key for DEC BA213
Anyone have an extra little plastic key for a VAX BA213 case ? I think
they are all the same. I'm in the US if it matters.
Also I could use a DSSI Drive with the right sled too. All the drives
got yanked out of this.
8:50 p.m.
On 22/10/2013 19:27, Jochen Kunz wrote:
On Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:44:45 -0400
David Riley <fraveydank at gmail.com> wrote:
David, I have a drive mounting plate and cable set you can have for ?10
+ postage at cost.
If anyone else needs Model 3100 spares I have several which don't work
in their own right but who's parts are either fine or probably worth a
trying. PSUs I can at least guarantee spin up for example.
Regards, Mark
--
http://www.wickensonline.co.uk
http://hecnet.eu
http://declegacy.org.uk
http://retrochallenge.net
https://twitter.com/#!/%40urbancamo
>> I bought a 3100 model 38 some years ago,
with monitor, mouse, keyboard
>> etc., for the princely sum of ?0.99 -- about US$1.60 -- but sadly, the
>> vendor kept the hard disk *and the mounting bracket and cables*. To
>> replace them, the cheapest price I've found was about ?70... & my
>> budget is minute.
> I haven't opened my 3100 in some years, but wouldn't a regular 50-pin SCSI
> cable and drive get you up and running? If so, I'm sure I can find both in
> my parts bin and send them to you.
I am not sure. But the m30 / m38 and the
m76 use, IIRC, a 100 pin
connector to break out two SCSI busses on one connector. But the 100
pin connector is a "standard" HD-IDC connector. Building a new cable
isn't impossible. The mounting bracket is not needed. I screwed disks
onto the base plate in VS3k1 back in the days when I played with those
VAXen.
Earlier 3100s have a 1.0something limit on the
size of the boot
drive because the firmware only issues the older, shorter SCSI
commands which can only address that many blocks. You can use
any size you'd like for the drives used once it's booted, since
the OS usually has no such problem (it's not a problem with the
SCSI controller itself).
AFAIK you can get away with making the boot partition
smaller then
1 GB. Then you can use disks larger 1 GB even asd boot drive.
Can anyone confirm that the 3100/80 does not have
that problem?
Don't know. Most likely not.
My recollection is that it's essentially a
reboxed version of
the 4000/60, which does not (none of the 4000s do, IIRC). I'll
try it out sometime soon regardless, but it would be nice to
have an idea before I dive in.
MV3k1m80 and VS4k60 are Mariah based:
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/vaxstations.html#vaxst…
http://www.netbsd.org/docs/Hardware/Machines/DEC/vax/microvaxes.html#microv…
So most likely the MV3k1m80 is not affected by that problem. 
8:54 a.m.
On 10/22/13 9:12 AM, Michael-John Turner wrote:
On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 04:48:02AM +0100, Liam Proven
wrote:
There are several variants of the 3100-38, and if I remember
correctly, none of the ones I had used a standard SCSI cable. The cable
looped back to the SCSI mezzanine board, and memory says it was on one
header, not two.
Doc
I bought a 3100 model 38 some years ago, with
monitor, mouse, keyboard
etc., for the princely sum of ?0.99 -- about US$1.60 -- but sadly, the
vendor kept the hard disk *and the mounting bracket and cables*. To
replace them, the cheapest price I've found was about ?70... & my
budget is minute.
I haven't opened my 3100 in some years, but wouldn't a regular 50-pin SCSI
cable and drive get you up and running? If so, I'm sure I can find both in
my parts bin and send them to you. 
20 Oct
20 Oct
8:27 p.m.
On 20/10/13 11:03 PM, Liam Proven wrote:
On 21 October 2013 00:19, Benjamin Huntsman
<BHuntsman at mail2.cu-portland.edu> wrote:
You're also on the wrong side of the ocean for the VAX 4000/60s that Dan
Gehlinger is getting rid of in Scarborough, Ontario... Seems there's a
recent glut of ccmp in Ontario. :<
--Toby
Hi there!
I picked up a VAX 4000 VLC a while back that was listed "as-is".
Unfortunately, while it does power up, I could never get a console to come up on it, and I
don't have multimeter/scope skills. It suffered a bit of damage on the way to me, and
there's a bit of broken plastic, and the keyboard connector on the video board is
broken. Otherwise, it's in decent shape.
Rather than toss it though, I figured I'd offer it up here in case anyone had the
time, patience, and interest to try to fix it. Free for the taking... I only ask for
shipping cost.
Thanks!
That's a shame - I've wanted one of those for ages, years, but I don't
have the requisite skills either. Also, I suspect I'm on the wrong
side of an ocean. :?(
21 Oct
21 Oct
12:32 p.m.
You're also on the wrong side of the ocean for the
VAX 4000/60s that
Dan Gehlinger is getting rid of in Scarborough, Ontario... Seems
there's a recent glut of ccmp in Ontario. :<
And I'm in the unpacking-&-sorting stage of a move myself, and will
have some stuff available once that's done. I've expressed some
interest in machines recently, even though I really shouldn't be
acquiring more machines now; it's just that, well, VAXen! And Suns!
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
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days inactive
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12 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
b4＠gewt.net -
BHuntsman＠mail2.cu-portland.edu -
doc＠vaxen.net -
fraveydank＠gmail.com -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
lproven＠gmail.com -
mark＠wickensonline.co.uk -
mc68010＠gmail.com -
mj＠mjturner.net -
mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG -
toby＠telegraphics.com.au