- HECnet - lists @ Update

by md.benson＠gmail.com

On 7 Jul 2011, at 23:47, MG wrote: For the zx6000/rx2600 there's unfortunately no 'glass terminal' (only the rx2620 has that, since it supports newer firmware). Ahh to hell with that then - I'm not running a Serial Console to a machine with a ATi FireGL card in :P -- Mark Benson My Blog: <http://markbenson.org/blog> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mdbenson "Never send a human to do a machine's job..."

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VMS on zx6000 - argh?

by sampsa＠mac.com

On 7 Jul 2011, at 23:49, MG wrote: That would be the "M-cable", it's a splitter/break-out cable. It's only available for systems with the iLO/MP card present. That should be no problem though, there is still the serial port that should work as well. That's what I was trying to say :) So it's even simpler - just plug another box into the serial port with a null modem cable.. Sampsa

14 years

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VMS on zx6000 - argh?

by marcogb＠xs4all.nl

On 8-7-2011 0:44, Sampsa Laine wrote: Don't know much about the EFI options but do you have a console cable for it? Just boot it plugged into another box via the console serial port. At least on my RX2600 it's a big weird DB connector joined to a cable that has like 3 DB9 serial connectors hanging off of it. Sampsa That would be the "M-cable", it's a splitter/break-out cable. It's only available for systems with the iLO/MP card present. That should be no problem though, there is still the serial port that should work as well. - MG

14 years

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VMS on zx6000 - argh?

by marcogb＠xs4all.nl

On 8-7-2011 0:15, Mark Benson wrote: Well I got my new disks today so I decided to throw VMS at my zx6000. No go. Boots okay from DVD-ROM but barfs instantly reporting: Unable to identify primary console device You must select a console input device from the boot manager menu I have checked and the USB port is selected as the Console Input Device. The keyboard works fine. I don't understand... :( For the zx6000/rx2600 there's unfortunately no 'glass terminal' (only the rx2620 has that, since it supports newer firmware). That means you can't actually see what's going on via your monitor, as if it were a 'graphics terminal' (in SRM terms). So, you'll have to connect to it through the iLO/MP (if present, I'm not sure if these were available for the zx6000) or else simply the serial port. - MG

14 years

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VMS on zx6000 - argh?

by sampsa＠mac.com

Don't know much about the EFI options but do you have a console cable for it? Just boot it plugged into another box via the console serial port. At least on my RX2600 it's a big weird DB connector joined to a cable that has like 3 DB9 serial connectors hanging off of it. Sampsa On 7 Jul 2011, at 23:15, Mark Benson wrote: Well I got my new disks today so I decided to throw VMS at my zx6000. No go. Boots okay from DVD-ROM but barfs instantly reporting: Unable to identify primary console device You must select a console input device from the boot manager menu I have checked and the USB port is selected as the Console Input Device. The keyboard works fine. I don't understand... :( -- Mark Benson My Blog: <http://markbenson.org/blog> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mdbenson "Never send a human to do a machine's job..."

14 years

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VMS on zx6000 - argh?

by md.benson＠gmail.com

Well I got my new disks today so I decided to throw VMS at my zx6000. No go. Boots okay from DVD-ROM but barfs instantly reporting: Unable to identify primary console device You must select a console input device from the boot manager menu I have checked and the USB port is selected as the Console Input Device. The keyboard works fine. I don't understand... :( -- Mark Benson My Blog: <http://markbenson.org/blog> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mdbenson "Never send a human to do a machine's job..."

14 years

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SCA Disks...

by md.benson＠gmail.com

I have 2 of those AB421A HP disks next to me at work. They are indeed brand new, never opened and the 2 I have are dated as February 2008 so they aren't even all that old! The one I opened to look at is a Seagate ST373455LC. Quoted acoustic noise level is 3.6 Bels (36dB?) which is pretty famed good for a 15krpm drive. At 60 GBP a pop if these are quiet enough I might grab 2 more. They are half the retail price if a new ST373455LC and you could probably resell the carriers on eBay at a tenner a go if you don't need them :P Link is in my previous e-mail. -- Mark Benson http://markbenson.org/blog http://twitter.com/MDBenson

14 years

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House heater anyone?

by sampsa＠mac.com

I'm a contractor right now and waiting for some work to kick off in September, so trying to make my buffer last as long as possible. Otherwise I'd have just bought it :) Also, might be moving to Lebanon so not much point buying crazy servers in the UK... Sampsa On 7 Jul 2011, at 10:42, Mark Wickens wrote: On 07/07/11 10:32, Mark Benson wrote: On 7 Jul 2011, at 09:04, Mark Wickens wrote: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350475648545&ssPageNam… Fully loaded RX4640 up for GBP 640, that would put a dent in your electricity bill. Always amazed me that these came with only two drives built in, given the size of the case! Mark. Have a look at his Shop - he's got a DS20E on there too :) Yes, one of those would be nice. Unfortunately, gone are the contractor days when I'd just have bought it. Mark.

14 years

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House heater anyone?

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

On 07/07/11 10:32, Mark Benson wrote: On 7 Jul 2011, at 09:04, Mark Wickens wrote: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350475648545&ssPageNam… Fully loaded RX4640 up for GBP 640, that would put a dent in your electricity bill. Always amazed me that these came with only two drives built in, given the size of the case! Mark. Have a look at his Shop - he's got a DS20E on there too :) Yes, one of those would be nice. Unfortunately, gone are the contractor days when I'd just have bought it. Mark.

14 years

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House heater anyone?

by md.benson＠gmail.com

On 7 Jul 2011, at 09:04, Mark Wickens wrote: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350475648545&ssPageNam… Fully loaded RX4640 up for GBP 640, that would put a dent in your electricity bill. Always amazed me that these came with only two drives built in, given the size of the case! Mark. Have a look at his Shop - he's got a DS20E on there too :) -- Mark Benson http://markbenson.org/blog http://twitter.com/MDBenson

14 years

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House heater anyone?

by md.benson＠gmail.com

On 7 Jul 2011, at 09:04, Mark Wickens wrote: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350475648545&ssPageNam… Fully loaded RX4640 up for GBP 640, that would put a dent in your electricity bill. Always amazed me that these came with only two drives built in, given the size of the case! Yeah HP tend to push storage arrays onto people who use large servers like that. There's a good case for plumbing the airflow into a room and using it for blown-air heating I thunk! -- Mark Benson http://markbenson.org/blog http://twitter.com/MDBenson

14 years

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House heater anyone?

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350475648545&ssPageNam… Fully loaded RX4640 up for GBP 640, that would put a dent in your electricity bill. Always amazed me that these came with only two drives built in, given the size of the case! Mark.

14 years

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Introduction

by md.benson＠gmail.com

On 18 Jun 2011, at 09:21, H Vlems wrote: Now I have a couple of VMS systems running which greatly improves my aging memory ;-) And will keep my electricity meter spinning a lot faster too. The contents of the DECW$PRIVATE_SERVER-SETUP.COM file: $ set verify $ decw$server_page_file== 160000 $ decw$xsize_in_pixels == 1280 $ decw$ysize_in_pixels == 1024 $ define/exec/system/nolog decw$server_pixel_depth 24 $ define/exec/system/nolog decw$server_refresh_rate 75 $ set noverify Just as an FYI - I redid this tonight on my re-installed 500au and it worked a charm. I set the colour depth to 16 bit and the refresh rate to 60Hz and it works flawlessly. I have a better understanding of the system and how it handles COM files and of EVE as an editor now so maybe that helped. Amazing what some research and a bit of RTFM does for your skills! Thanks anyhow, I can be a happy DECwindows user on the PSW 500au now :D -- Mark Benson My Blog: <http://markbenson.org/blog> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mdbenson "Never send a human to do a machine's job..."

14 years

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SCA disks...

by jferraro＠gmail.com

Do you know Mark? http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/NY8689/Mark-D-Benson.html Hopefully this is not him (he does us co.uk ebay urls)... On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Sampsa Laine <sampsa at mac.com> wrote: Also, always check whether the drive is full of NHS patient data or possibly one of the police authorities' sex offenders register. Hilarity will ensue. I think The Sun pays like up to ten grand for tips :) Sampsa On 5 Jul 2011, at 17:13, Mark Wickens wrote: > On 05/07/11 17:08, Mark Benson wrote: >> On the subject if lacking any decent SCA drives, anyone got any *quiet* 36GB or 72GB SCAs lying around they could part with? >> > I've kept a watch on eBay for new SCA drives for a while now, and put a low bid in every now and again. I find that drives in specific enclosures for storage arrays, servers, etc. are the best bet and for some reason people don't seem to realise the drive in the enclosure is the same as if bought separate. > > I stick to HP or Compaq drives and *always* check the drives are sealed and secured - I've had too many incidents buying 'new' drives that turned out to be far from it. > > Good luck! > > Mark.

14 years

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SCA disks...

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

On 06/07/11 00:54, MG wrote: On 6-7-2011 1:27, Mark Benson wrote: Anyone any idea how loud these might be - bit worried 15k drives will be a bit whiny: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260808957717 Can't really tell but from the lids they look like Seagates. It depends how new, or modern, the disk is and what quantity. All of my modern 15K (but also 10K) disks, i.e. all of 73 GB and above, are almost silent compared to older disks. Maybe I've been lucky, but this has been my experience so far. These HP original disks in 'ring' sleds (like in the eBay auction) would typically belong to the above category and are usually of great quality and not high-pitched. Surely not louder than an rx2600/rx2620, zx6000 even, or let alone rx1600/rx1620 (needless to say, of course). - MG Oh yes, and well spotted finding drives in the right sledges! This is no mean trick! Bear in mind as always that guaranteed new drives are almost always quieter, but that 15k drives are going to be noisy compared with 10k/7.2k/5.4k rpm drives. Even my laptop drive gets annoying sometimes. (he says having spent the last 4 hours attempting to get a BA356 loaded with 5 36GB SBBs to talk succesfully to the 1000A also containing 6 drives. In the end the disk in slot 1 of the external enclosure was causing all sorts of horrible problems. Took much swapping of personality modules, cables, host adaptor cards, reflowing solder joints, pulling hair to determine the problem.) Oh, and time. Mark.

14 years

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SCA disks...

by marcogb＠xs4all.nl

On 6-7-2011 1:27, Mark Benson wrote: Anyone any idea how loud these might be - bit worried 15k drives will be a bit whiny: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260808957717 Can't really tell but from the lids they look like Seagates. It depends how new, or modern, the disk is and what quantity. All of my modern 15K (but also 10K) disks, i.e. all of 73 GB and above, are almost silent compared to older disks. Maybe I've been lucky, but this has been my experience so far. These HP original disks in 'ring' sleds (like in the eBay auction) would typically belong to the above category and are usually of great quality and not high-pitched. Surely not louder than an rx2600/rx2620, zx6000 even, or let alone rx1600/rx1620 (needless to say, of course). - MG

14 years

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SCA disks...

by md.benson＠gmail.com

Anyone any idea how loud these might be - bit worried 15k drives will be a bit whiny: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260808957717 Can't really tell but from the lids they look like Seagates. -- Mark Benson My Blog: <http://markbenson.org/blog> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mdbenson "Never send a human to do a machine's job..."

14 years

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AlphaServer 1000A memory?

by HECNET＠beyondthepale.ie

Mark Wickens wrote: Whilst I'm thinking about it, does anyone have any Alphaserver 1000A memory kicking around. I started getting a bit parity error a couple of days ago (which the box helpfully pinpointed to an individual SIMM) but had to pull all four SIMMs in the bank. I also had a problem with memory in an Alphaserver 1000A. The firmware did indeed narrow it down to an individual SIMM. However the diagram inside the lid did not identify which SIMM was which, only the banks. In the course of figuring out which SIMM was which by moving them around, I found that the firmware sometimes lies about which SIMM is faulty :-( If I put the SIMM which I eventually determined to be faulty into slot 2, it got reported as a problem with slot 3 and despite trying all sorts of permutations, I never found a way to make it report a problem with slot 2. Problems with slots 0, 1 and 3 were correctly identified. Someone kindly gave me a pdf of the owners guide since then which does have a diagram of the memory layout with the individual SIMMs labelled and I was able to confirm that I had correctly figured out which slot was which. The part number I'm looking for is: 50-21276-01-02, it's a 8MB x 36 SIMM 60ns EDO FPM, also listed as being for an AlphaServer 200 4/233. My set of 3 spare working SIMMs arising from my one failed SIMM are marked: "54-24123-AA 16MX36.60 Z" which doesn't seem to be what you need :-( (My experience with ES40s is that they are very picky about memory and don't like memory being mixed and matched. I don't know if this also applies to the Alphaserver 1000A - hopefully not.) Regards, Peter Coghlan.

14 years

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Lovely books...

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

Just been through a bag of books: Terminals and Communications Handbook, Digital Press, 1978 PDP-11 peripherals handbook, Digital Press, 1975 Computer Interfacing Accessories and Logic Handbook, Digital Press, 1978-79 PDP-11 Software Handbook, Digital Press, 1978 Terminals and Printers Handbook, Digital Press, 1983 PDP-11 Microcomputer Interfaces Handbook, Digital Press, 1983 Desiging a Distributed Processing System, Associated Business Press, 1979, Hamish Donaldson A guide to the successful management of computer projects, Associated Business Press, 1978, Hamish Donaldson OpenVMS and Digital UNIX Interoperability Guide, Digital Press, 1995 PDP-11 Architecture Handbook, Digital Press, 1983 PDP-11 Software Handbook, Digital Press, 1983 PDP-11 MICRO/PDP-11 Handbook, Digital Press, 1983 PDP-11 Bus Handbook, Digital Press, 1979 PDP-11 UNIBUS Processor Handbook, PDP-11/84, PDP-11/44 and PDP-11/24, Digital Press,

14 years

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SCA disks...

by gregg.drwho8＠gmail.com

On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Sampsa Laine <sampsa at mac.com> wrote: Also, always check whether the drive is full of NHS patient data or possibly one of the police authorities' sex offenders register. Hilarity will ensue. I think The Sun pays like up to ten grand for tips :) Sampsa On 5 Jul 2011, at 17:13, Mark Wickens wrote: On 05/07/11 17:08, Mark Benson wrote: On the subject if lacking any decent SCA drives, anyone got any *quiet* 36GB or 72GB SCAs lying around they could part with? I've kept a watch on eBay for new SCA drives for a while now, and put a low bid in every now and again. I find that drives in specific enclosures for storage arrays, servers, etc. are the best bet and for some reason people don't seem to realise the drive in the enclosure is the same as if bought separate. I stick to HP or Compaq drives and *always* check the drives are sealed and secured - I've had too many incidents buying 'new' drives that turned out to be far from it. Good luck! Mark. Hello! Don't forget those clowns at "News of the World". They need to do something specific to keep them from breaking into departed teenaged female mobiles. Now on the subject of drives, I need to find 34G type SCSI drives, of the kind that can be stuffed into an external storage box, and have big connectors on the end. Of course figuring out how to safely arrange for the data to be moved from the older drive to the replacement.... Now there's an idea. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

14 years

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SCA disks...

by sampsa＠mac.com

Also, always check whether the drive is full of NHS patient data or possibly one of the police authorities' sex offenders register. Hilarity will ensue. I think The Sun pays like up to ten grand for tips :) Sampsa On 5 Jul 2011, at 17:13, Mark Wickens wrote: On 05/07/11 17:08, Mark Benson wrote: On the subject if lacking any decent SCA drives, anyone got any *quiet* 36GB or 72GB SCAs lying around they could part with? I've kept a watch on eBay for new SCA drives for a while now, and put a low bid in every now and again. I find that drives in specific enclosures for storage arrays, servers, etc. are the best bet and for some reason people don't seem to realise the drive in the enclosure is the same as if bought separate. I stick to HP or Compaq drives and *always* check the drives are sealed and secured - I've had too many incidents buying 'new' drives that turned out to be far from it. Good luck! Mark.

14 years

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SCA disks...

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

On 05/07/11 17:08, Mark Benson wrote: On the subject if lacking any decent SCA drives, anyone got any *quiet* 36GB or 72GB SCAs lying around they could part with? I've kept a watch on eBay for new SCA drives for a while now, and put a low bid in every now and again. I find that drives in specific enclosures for storage arrays, servers, etc. are the best bet and for some reason people don't seem to realise the drive in the enclosure is the same as if bought separate. I stick to HP or Compaq drives and *always* check the drives are sealed and secured - I've had too many incidents buying 'new' drives that turned out to be far from it. Good luck! Mark.

14 years

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SCA disks...

by md.benson＠gmail.com

On the subject if lacking any decent SCA drives, anyone got any *quiet* 36GB or 72GB SCAs lying around they could part with? -- Mark Benson http://markbenson.org/blog http://twitter.com/MDBenson

14 years

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So who's looking forward to all the cheap second-hand Itanium gear that will soon be flooding the market?

by md.benson＠gmail.com

On 5 Jul 2011, at 16:35, Sampsa Laine <sampsa at mac.com> wrote: Cool machine, 24 GB of RAM too, that's pretty chunky. RHESUS has about 8 GB I think. No PSUs - are those hard to come by? If you are in the UK/EU Chiltern IT Parts have 2 left. Search for A6874-69000 at: www.chilternitparts.com Got mine there and the one they sent me was very clean and works fine. -- Mark Benson http://markbenson.org/blog http://twitter.com/MDBenson

14 years

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So who's looking forward to all the cheap second-hand Itanium gear that will soon be flooding the market?

by mark＠wickensonline.co.uk

On 05/07/11 16:45, Mark Benson wrote: On 5 Jul 2011, at 16:12, Mark Wickens wrote: ZX6000 were primarily Windows server workstations - they didn't ever really fit a defined niche as far as I can tell. Not exclusively though. Mine ran HP-UX in it's former life. It used to be a CAD/CAM workstation for Honda F1 (according to it's asset tag) and the EFI boot menu still had the entry in for HP-UX. Yeah mine too, in fact the picture of the ZX600 showed it sat in what looked like a F1 workshop... I don't think my graphics card was ever supported under HP/UX, but I could be wrong... I bought mine about 4 years ago for GBP 500 which was as much as I was prepared to pay at the time. They are going now for around GBP 100 depending on the configuration. Mine cost me 125 with no PSU or disks but 24GB of RAM. I reckon the recyclers sold the PSUs on to the place I bought mine from (better profit that way I suspect) who charged another 70-odd. In all it cost 235 GBP which I didn't think was at all bad. It's in clean nick and runs very quietly. FWIW I couldn't find a comparable machine UK or USA for under 200 GBP - that excluded any rx2600s as they are way louder. Mine was maxed out with memory and came with drives, so I guess that's worth something. My only stumbling block is mine has a pair of battered old IBM SCA 18GB disks. I didn't have anything bigger I could stand being in the room with :) Luckily they still run OpenVMS, otherwise your options are very limited - various linux flavours sort of work, but I believe gentoo is the only one still currently being maintained. Debian Squeeze (6.0) runs on IA64 but it got a monk on with my ATi FireGL card and refused to work Xorg with it. There is always HP-UX 11i but finding that for Itanium is a major mission, or costs more than the machine. I know the hardware is not the greatest, but it's a shame it hasn't been better supported, given that it is a true 64 bit architecture. Thong is I can't see much wrong with it apart from being power hungry and running hot but hey when's that ever worried people who run DEC gear :D I like the EFI firmware although it's not on the same plateu as OpenFirmware on IBM and Sun gear, and I like that it's a pure 64-bit architecture without all the x86_64 shenanigans. Yeah, I don't turn my on enough because of the power consumption, but then having said that it makes a great heater in the attic during the winter... But then, what do I know... I just love anything that is different or esoteric - which firmly makes me *not* the man in the street. Are any of us on this list? ;) OK, fair enough... :) BTW I would imagine the latest processor runs substantially cooler given the reduction in fabrication size, and next years will be even better.

14 years

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