Need info for a VAX Station 3100 SPX / VS42A-DA

[Jarratt RMA]

> 
>     On 01 April 2016 at 03:45 Pete Lancashire <pete at petelancashire.com> wrote:
> 
>     Won the guy on the big auction site, put the minimum bid down and $50
> later
>     it showed up on the doorstop.
> 
>     http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6027
> 
>     Sorry for the bad photo's but the sun was going down fast.
> 
>     Been trying to find the display interface specs, pinout, freqs, etc. but
> so
>     far have been overwhelmed with just about everything else.
> 
>     Other things I guess I'll need are
> 
>     Also what keyboard should I be looking for ?
> 
>     What options do I have for an O/S ?
> 
>     The last time I logged into a VAX was one of many 11/780s the company I
>     worked for was like 198? something.
> 
>     A LONG time ago ..
> 
>     -pete
> 


To get started you don't need a display or a keyboard. As long as you have some
DECconnect serial cable and an adapter (see Hoff's site for details:
http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/467), then you can connect it to a terminal
emulator on a PC. You need to switch the machine to console mode (can't remember
the official name) though. To do that there is a small switch on the back. In
this picture http://petelancashire.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6056 it is in
the small hole immediately to the left of the diagnostic LEDs.

You won't get a graphics display, but at least you can start setting it up.

Regards

Rob