On Fri, 4 Jun 1999 03:05:05 GMT, lemay_at_cs.umn.edu said:
>Does anyone here have experience with AT&T 3B2 300 hardware/software?
>I apparently have a pile of doc and software which is in complete disarray.
>The software is all on 5.25" DSDD diskettes, and i'm not even sure if
>i have what i need to format and reinstall an operating system. Does
>anyone know what type of hard drives these computers support, or know
>if the floppy drive can be upgraded to high density?
This is going to be tricky. I have a 3B2/400 which seems to work, but
I have never dared to do much with it because I do not have any software
on tape or floppies at all, only what is on the hard disk. To install or
maintain the system, you need a special 'system manager' floppy which has
the needed formatter and other tools, and that even until the end of life
of the systems was only available from AT&T direct for a stiff price.
Even the tcp/ip communications software was an (expensive) option.
I don't have it, my machine only has serial ports. BTW, you need special
RJ45 to DB25 cables for the serial ports, do you have those?
AFAIK the floppy drive in my 3b2 is 80tr dsdd. The hard disk is 70MB MFM.
Never heard of other floppy types working. My 3B2 has two hard disks, I
don't think more are possible.
You should back up the floppies at once, you will have a lot of trouble
getting other ones if you damage the ones you have. I think Teledisk will
be capable of copying them.
comp.sys.att is the newsgroup where the 3B2 fans are. It has a FAQ.
Web sites that may be useful (just copied from a list, haven't looked at them)
http://cua6.csuohio.edu/~bob/3b2faq.html
http://www.apex.net/users/tgoodin/3b2.htm
http://www.iserv.net/~retroj/3b2/
ftp://little.nhlink.net/
http://members.aol.com/jitb/stand.htm
Be very careful handling the 3B2, mine was very heavy although it didn't
seem to be. When I parked it I don't know how many years ago (yikes) where it
still is now, I pulled a muscle in my back so bad I had to have four weeks
therapy. When I am tired the pain sometimes returns, reminding me yet again
that living in a house filled with old computers that need to be moved
sometimes to make room for more, may have a few slight disadvantages.
That reminds me, the room in the house where the 3B2 is I haven't photographed
yet for my web page. Have to dig up the camera again.
Good luck, and let the group know if you manage to get the machine to work!
Kees.
--
Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - kees.stravers_at_iae.nl
http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/ - My Computer Home page
http://www.vaxarchive.org/ - Docs for old DEC VAX systems
NetTamer 1.08.1 Registered
Received on Sun Jun 13 1999 - 13:31:50 BST