HECnet

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15588 discussions

lunchbox VAXen, was Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On 06/08/2012 12:13 AM, Boyanich, Alastair wrote: @DaveMc: *Snip!* .. here we called the VS2000's "wine casks" or "goon vax" because cask wine is oft called "goon" over here. I like it! -----Original Message----- I think someone even wrote a driver for VMS to use disks on that controller. I have several of those machines; I really should look into that. Does anyone have any further information on, or actual copies of, those boot ROMs and/or the VMS device driver? Reinhard Heuberger I think? Might've been a controller out of a rainbow in an 11/23 http://www.pdp11gy.com/indexE.html No, the SCSI host adapter in question is actually integrated onto the MicroVAX-2000 and VAXstation-2000 main board. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 7 months

lunchbox VAXen, was Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network

by Alastair.Boyanich＠au.fujitsu.com

@DaveMc: *Snip!* .. here we called the VS2000's "wine casks" or "goon vax" because cask wine is oft called "goon" over here. -----Original Message----- I think someone even wrote a driver for VMS to use disks on that controller. I have several of those machines; I really should look into that. Does anyone have any further information on, or actual copies of, those boot ROMs and/or the VMS device driver? Reinhard Heuberger I think? Might've been a controller out of a rainbow in an 11/23 http://www.pdp11gy.com/indexE.html

13 years, 7 months

Introducing myself... and my little network

by gregg.drwho8＠gmail.com

On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 11:37 PM, Boyanich, Alastair <Alastair.Boyanich at au.fujitsu.com> wrote: @Sampsa: There was wordperfect on VMS? Wow. I used to use the shared version of it on SCO in the early 90's. I didn't know there was a VMS version. That'd be interesting to see. Al. -----Original Message----- From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf Of Sampsa Laine Sent: Thursday, 7 June 2012 8:50 PM To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE Subject: Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network Speaking of old software, does anybody happen to have WordPerfect for VMS lying around? Would love to play with that.. Sampsa On 7 Jun 2012, at 11:48, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote: Al 07/06/12 12:11, En/na hvlems at zonnet.nl ha escrit: Jordi, You wrote that the NIC on the 4000-90 was broken. Did you try an external transceiver on the AUI connector (there's a switch on the back). An Alllied Telesys or DEC transceiver might solve the issue. The logic that drives the BNC connector is on a separate module IIRC. I didn't. Actually, I thought you needed a thickwire segment to use a transceiver and a drop cable. I should have researched it better. Any idea of the DEC name for that thinwire transceiver? (Or a compabtible one). Anyways, I think I canibalized that machine a little bit, so I'm not sure what is actually inside of the inclosure. It looks like a nice summer vacation project :) If you need software kits for the VAX, post your needs. If I have the kit(s) I'll burn them on a CD. Hans Oh, thanks. As I said, I've plenty of "modern" stuff, but I miss some of the older software I used back in those days (pre-5.0), a (call it nostalgia) I'm quite trying to reproduce that first environment I worked on. Right now, I miss: - FMS - TDMS - VAX BASIC - LSE That's pretty all. I also used AI1 (the dreaded office package) but I'm not sure I'll want to fight that monster again ;). No need to burn a CD, we could arrange the transfer by network (HECnet or regular internet). I understand the use of that stuff is covered by the hobbyist license (not sure about TDMS though), so we would not do anything out of the law. Hello! I'm not Sampsa, he's busy at the moment.... But yes there was indeed a version of WP for VMS. It was better supported for the VAX, then the one for SCO. As it happens I found out about it when I participated in a discussion with the fellow who sold it for SCO. Sadly the SCO one dropped out of site when that company started to crater. Strangely enough it happened well before the history of VMS started to get interesting. The VMS one was very popular at an agency I had, well an interest in. However the secretaries all typed poorly using it and worse for the PC release..... But yes it was there. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

13 years, 7 months

Introducing myself... and my little network

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On 06/07/2012 11:41 PM, Boyanich, Alastair wrote: Dave: I have I have enough of a 4000-m60 laying around and could try it if there's support for Mariah in there. 4000-VLC also. Doesn't look like there was support for that stuff until at least 5.5, according to another list member's research. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 7 months

Introducing myself... and my little network

by Alastair.Boyanich＠au.fujitsu.com

Dave: I have I have enough of a 4000-m60 laying around and could try it if there's support for Mariah in there. 4000-VLC also. -----Original Message----- From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf Of Dave McGuire Sent: Thursday, 7 June 2012 9:15 PM To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE Subject: Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network On 06/07/2012 07:10 AM, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote: Will pre-5.0 VMS run on a 4000-90? I don't recall when NVAX CPU support was added to VMS. I don't think so. I've built a 4.7 system running in a 11-780 SIMH emulator :) I doubt 4.7 would run even in my 3300 (my oldest real machine). I was still running 4.7 on one machine (11/750) when I installed my first 3100. I'm pretty sure I installed 5.0 on the 3100 though. I was already running 5.0 on a pair of MicroVAX-3600s, and then 5.1 came out very shortly thereafter. BTW, 4.7 boots so fast under SIMH than at first I thought it had somehow crashed or hung. When I got the "username:" prompt after pressing return I was amazed :) Nice. :-) I bet 4.7 would absolutely scream on a 4000-90 if it had CPU support. The difference between 4.7 and 5.0 on a 2.8VUP MicroVAX-III is like night and day...I can only imagine it on a 4000-90, more than ten times faster! -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 7 months

Introducing myself... and my little network

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On 06/07/2012 11:37 PM, Boyanich, Alastair wrote: There was wordperfect on VMS? Wow. I used to use the shared version of it on SCO in the early 90's. I didn't know there was a VMS version. That'd be interesting to see. There was even a version for SunOS, with a fairly respectable WYSIWYG GUI. I used that quite a bit Back In The Day(tm). I think I still have it somewhere. Those binaries will likely run under current Solaris on UltraSPARC; I've been amazed at the degree of both architectural and ABI compatibility between BSD-based SunOS 4 and SysV-based Solaris. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 7 months

Introducing myself... and my little network

by Alastair.Boyanich＠au.fujitsu.com

@Sampsa: There was wordperfect on VMS? Wow. I used to use the shared version of it on SCO in the early 90's. I didn't know there was a VMS version. That'd be interesting to see. Al. -----Original Message----- From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf Of Sampsa Laine Sent: Thursday, 7 June 2012 8:50 PM To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE Subject: Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network Speaking of old software, does anybody happen to have WordPerfect for VMS lying around? Would love to play with that.. Sampsa On 7 Jun 2012, at 11:48, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote: Al 07/06/12 12:11, En/na hvlems at zonnet.nl ha escrit: Jordi, You wrote that the NIC on the 4000-90 was broken. Did you try an external transceiver on the AUI connector (there's a switch on the back). An Alllied Telesys or DEC transceiver might solve the issue. The logic that drives the BNC connector is on a separate module IIRC. I didn't. Actually, I thought you needed a thickwire segment to use a transceiver and a drop cable. I should have researched it better. Any idea of the DEC name for that thinwire transceiver? (Or a compabtible one). Anyways, I think I canibalized that machine a little bit, so I'm not sure what is actually inside of the inclosure. It looks like a nice summer vacation project :) If you need software kits for the VAX, post your needs. If I have the kit(s) I'll burn them on a CD. Hans Oh, thanks. As I said, I've plenty of "modern" stuff, but I miss some of the older software I used back in those days (pre-5.0), a (call it nostalgia) I'm quite trying to reproduce that first environment I worked on. Right now, I miss: - FMS - TDMS - VAX BASIC - LSE That's pretty all. I also used AI1 (the dreaded office package) but I'm not sure I'll want to fight that monster again ;). No need to burn a CD, we could arrange the transfer by network (HECnet or regular internet). I understand the use of that stuff is covered by the hobbyist license (not sure about TDMS though), so we would not do anything out of the law.

13 years, 7 months

DECnet-DOS, was Re: [HECnet] Size of HECnet

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On 06/07/2012 07:08 PM, Gregg Levine wrote: Is this the same as DECnet-DOS? I ran that a long time ago. Does anyone have a copy? It included drivers for that weird DEC ISA Ethernet card, the DEPCA, which was a full-length 8-bit board that also included (strangely) a mouse interface. I have the programs for that thing. (Don't have the card.) I, ah, made a copy of the programs onto a floppy from a PC/AT that I was repairing for a customer, oh say about twenty years ago. The customer, (not mine Dave the store I was working at) was a student at one of the schools, (college) who had a remarkable DEC installation running at it, it might have been Columbia. I found the card in it, and asked the manager who was double checking my work, as was his wont, and of course he didn't know what it was. I found out later what it was, and yes it was what you've described. I'd love a copy of that stuff, if you can arrange it. Obviously I never got the stuff to connect to a for real DEC setup, but heck it would be fun to try and do so. Indeed! By the way Dave outside your door is a well dressed gentleman in a suit that looks like something a certain outrageous poet and author wore, and has hair to match. (Hint: its the same daft stuff I sometimes pull on Sampsa.) There's also a blue colored box outside......... Ok, you lost me there, my friend. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 7 months

rtVAX 300, was Re: lunchbox VAXen, was Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On 06/07/2012 09:10 PM, Gregg Levine wrote: Oh my field density equalizers! So THAT'S what they're calling them now. ;) That gizmo is the one. I thought so! And if I had the space I'd track the thing down, again. I already have an M68K based VME board here. My problem isn't now finding a card cage for it, its working on how to get our old friend Tux working there. VME card cages aren't too tough to find. They're used all over the industrial world, though, which keeps the prices high. Best to find one at a surplus place who doesn't sell into industry much. Well someday perhaps. If you do find the time to get it working with your favorite OS, can you do me a favor and work on how to get me access onto it? Of course! -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

13 years, 7 months

rtVAX 300, was Re: lunchbox VAXen, was Re: [HECnet] Introducing myself... and my little network

by gregg.drwho8＠gmail.com

On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 9:01 PM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote: On 06/07/2012 08:29 PM, Gregg Levine wrote: I don't know why, but here goes, a while ago there were advertisements for a thing DEC called the "rtVAX", it was the processor element in a case about the size of a paperback and mounted on a VME board. Like this one? http://www.neurotica.com/misc/rtVAX-300-1.jpg http://www.neurotica.com/misc/rtVAX-300-2.jpg I picked that up at a hamfest just this past weekend! =) The rtVAX-300 is significantly smaller than a paperback, by the way. If memory serves, it contains a CVAX chipset, an Ethernet controller (SGEC I think), and some ROM. They advertised it as an embedded processor for specialty applications. The user would, what else? build their code on a host such as what we are talking about and including the implied difficulties of debugging it of course, and then deploy it onto the unit's storage media. And then off it went wearing the code written and the rest of it on something else. Why I want one (or two or three or four) is any number of reasons, but it would be an interesting job getting one of the things working on our network. I think it wouldn't be too tough to get most any OS running on it that supports a CVAX-based machine. I'm looking forward to messing with it. It's on a 6U VME module made by Aeon, and with it I also got a 6U VME mass storage module (a SCSI hard drive, and a floppy drive with a SCSI bridge board) and a very nice card cage with attached power supply. There's also a Motorola MVME-series 68040 CPU board in the card cage. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA Hello! Oh my field density equalizers! That gizmo is the one. And if I had the space I'd track the thing down, again. I already have an M68K based VME board here. My problem isn't now finding a card cage for it, its working on how to get our old friend Tux working there. Well someday perhaps. If you do find the time to get it working with your favorite OS, can you do me a favor and work on how to get me access onto it? ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."

13 years, 7 months

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