1U VAX, was: Re: Computer stores

[David Brownlee]

On Tue, 25 Aug 2020 at 19:46, John Klos via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> > I was going to comment that the only way I could see a 1U VAX was if
> > someone rack mounted a 4000/VLC.  Is that the stock VLC power supply?
> > My cluster doesn?t even have that much space.
> >
> > What do you use to go from SATA to SCSI (SCSI-1 even)?
>
> It's a standard 1U power supply with a custom adapter. You can see it
> better here:
>
> https://twitter.com/AnachronistJohn/status/1294725819038752768
>
> I use a SATA to IDE adapter, then an IDE to UW-SCSI adapter, then an
> UW-SCSI cable and terminator, then finally a 68 to 50 pin adapter.
>
> The previous drive was a Samsung SSD, but I think that constant, non-stop
> swap use wore it out. This was the smallest new spinning rust drive I
> could find.
>
> SCSI2SD would work for a while, but, again, swap usage would wear out an
> SD card in no time, I'm sure.

Wow, I'm surprised the VLC could generate enough traffic to wear out
an SSD - compared to a modern box running heavy compiles and suchlike.

Very cool box :)

Thinking about SCSI devices for my collection of older boxes - I
wonder if rascsi set to use the pi's RAM rather than an SD card to
provide a swap device would work out.
Actually, could be interesting to run a modern *nix box with the right
type of scsi adapter in target mode and have it "export" devices and
or ramdrives to older boxes...

David