Here's a bit of a report of what I found at the Hamvention. I was there on
Friday from about 09:15 to 17:30 except lunch for which we went off the
grounds and on Saturday from about 08:00 to 13:30. Therefore with my method
of checking every promising box and poking around under tables I saw about
3/4 of the whole fleamarket. I was looking for quite a variety of things
-not just old computers.
Stuff I dragged home were two DG Ones (model 2208A), two DG printers which
go with them (model 2230), one AC power supply and one printer cable all
for $15; VMEbus boards including one unopened Force Computers SYS68Y DRAM-2
memory board ($5) and four Motorola CODEX boards, $15; an IOMEGA Ditto Easy
3200 external tape drive (Travan 3) with cable and power supply, $25.
And my best find of all: a virtually mint, seemingly unused HP9000/300
computer with 7958B hard drive (150 Mb IIRC) and 9144A 16-track tape drive.
A label on the 98574 CPU module indicated it's been upgraded to a 375 which
is just about the ultimate of the 300-series. A 68030 processor running at
50MHz and 16 Mb of RAM. Nice!
I've been casually looking for one of the 300's for a couple of years. My
ex-colleague who's an engineering manager from my ex-company's German
parent company told me last week when he visited the house that an HP
9000/332 system was promised to me and will be shipped to me from their
Chicago facility late this year.
My new 9000/375 system was built into a 19" rack enclosure which was in
turn bolted into a fiberglas transit case about 3' tall, 2' wide by about
2.5' deep. It was part of a military surplus system. I did not get a chance
to find the AN system designation on the rack or case, just that it weighed
97 pounds and required two persons to carry.
Apparently it had been built and not used *ever*. Just stuck in a military
warehouse probably as a result of a military contract which didn't go
anywhere or as a result of the Cold War ceasing or something. I absolutely
cannot see *any* dust on the leading edges of the fan blades so this system
has maybe only an hour or two at most of operation :) SNs are from mid-89.
There's a Federal Stock Number or system part number rubber stamped onto
the right side of the computer box. A probably earlier FSN or contractor's
PN has been blacked out with paint (about 3/8" x 1.5" strip) and the
present number rubber stamped onto the case after the upgrade to the 375
model was done. A little ugly, but what the hey! It shows a bit about the
original purpose of the machine. That's the only indication of any special
use of it. The update was done in December '91 according to a date
handwritten on the CPU board tag inside.
I was passing by the previous owner's space when I overheard one of the
guys asking "What is it?" as they were taking the cover off the 7958B box
to try and figure out just what *it* was. I looked and saw the main box was
a 300 system (Whoa!! Let's stop and look!), became interested and checked
it out. I offered an explanation as to what it was, what it was usually
used for, typical processors used in the 300's, etc. Apparently the
then-new owner who'd just dragged it to his space from a nearby surplus
dealer didn't see a use for it for himself and offered the HP 9000 items to
me and I paid him nearly all the remaining money I had to spend: $40 for
all three boxes. He kept the transit case and 19" rack which bolted inside
as he had a use for it back at home in Houston. He didn't recognize at
first when he bought the whole transit case (for $50) that those 3 HP boxes
which were clamped onto rack slide plates were actually a computer. He was
happy somebody got it who knew what it was and could use it and he was
happy to have the transit case. I love happiness :-) Only thing I had to
promise him was to email him with what I found on the disk. He's a UNI*
system admin and had enough UNI* machines of his own. I'm surprised he
hadn't seen an HP 9000 machine before but these 300's were obsolete some
time ago and he indicated he was always an Intel-based UNI* user.
I've got a copy of HP-UX 7.0 on tape with the license, both still
shrinkwrapped, and manual set that I've had for some time. Now I've got a
machine to hang it upon! :) BTW, ver. 7.0 is near or at the end of HP-UX
support for the 300's. Have BASIC-UX ver. 5.0 w/license and docs too!
The keyboard and monitor were some sort of rugged, militarized things built
into an operator's station. The fellow who had it never got from the
surplus dealer as it obviously didn't quite interest him and maybe he
didn't realize what it was. If it's what I *think* I saw an hour or so
earlier at a surplus dealer's space not far away it definitelly wasn't the
normal HP keyboard as it was part of some other section of the system used
as the operations console and was connected via AN/MS connectors and
cables. Have absolutely no idea as to the function of the whole system. If
there's something on the hard disk when it comes up it may give me a good
clue. But I gotta get it lit up first.
So, does anybody have a very decent looking keyboard and HP-HIL k'bd cable
they're willing to sell to me? Keyboard model *I think* should be a 46020
or 46021 or a 98203C. I don't know the exact differences as I have no
pictures or specs. but they are mentioned in the "Peripheral Installation
Guide for the HP 9000 Series 200/300", which I have had for some time, as
being used with the 300-series. I'll post a separate request for a k'brd
and other info in a separate msg. later today or tomorrow. Need feet for
bottom of the boxes too but probably large stick-on rubber feet should be okay.
I've got two old non-HP fixed frequency monitors I'll drag out of the
garage and try after I get a k'bd. The video interface card is a 98547A
which is not mentioned in the Periph. Inst. Guide.
I saw a few DEC items: A rather lonely RL02 standing amongst a bunch of
fairly new amateur gear; a VT320 and VT 420 with a few of DEC's serial
cables; a couple of AUI-to-BNC translator modules for $10 each (Too much?
Just right?) and little else that I could see.
Bought a couple more Ethernet NICs for $10 new (Intel 8/16); 3.5-to-5.25"
floppy adaptors for $1 each; 25' CAT5 cables for $3 each; "The Hard Disk
Technical Guide", "The Modem Tech. Guide", and "The Network Tech. Guide"
all w/CDROMs, published by Micro House, for $5 each; misc. cables and bits.
Hard disks were even cheaper than I'd ever seen but had no extra bucks to
spend, dang it.
Also saw a pallet full (4' x 4' x 5' high) of Sun SPARC LX boxen; a Grid
computer, don't know exact model as I don't know Grids, but I'd wager it
was early. No model # on bottom or back. It weighed a ton it seemed,
painted black. Guy wanted $30 but by then I was flat broke by then :( ;
lots of C64 and C128 machines and accessories; tons of PeeCee stuff of all
ages and condx; pallets full of printers and monitors; lots of IBM
MicroChannel machines and boards; several HP Vectras; boxes of network
stuff of varying conditions and types; boxes of shrinkwrapped software;
bunches of other stuff I can't recall at the moment. Lots and lots of
amateur radio gear of course.
I wish I had more money to spend there dang it!
Importantly, I did score a few really hard to find parts for the WWII
BC-191F transmitter I'm trying to restore plus a few military connectors
for some gear in the collection; also got a couple of test equipment
manuals for units I have in the collection. Still wish I had more $$$ so I
could get more old gear and parts! Dang.
Saw a couple of antique radio collector friends from other distant parts of
the country; made contacts with a couple of folks who may have parts for
the BC-191 and the virtually identical BC-375 transmitters. Understand from
another email list (Greenkeys) that a couple of fellow teletype collectors
were there too. Not much TTY gear to be found though :( May have bumped
into one of you ClassicCmp folks but we wouldn't have known each other
visually.
All-in-all a very good time. Free shuttle buses running frequently all day
every day between the several distant parking areas (we parked free at the
Salem Mall) and that made it very convenient to haul a heavy object or
several bag loads back to the car :)
Something for everybody there. Rain held off on Fri and Sat was really
beautiful. I may go again someday as my uncle lives in nearby Xenia, OH and
I have basically free room and board :) Only 360 miles from home so I don't
have too much of an excuse not to go especially if after I find a decent
paying job and could have extra $$ to spend.
Wonder what the attendance was this year? No motel rooms available within a
75 mile or more radius. Columbus area was reported to be closest rooms.
Incidentally, you locals may have noticed there's quite a different scene
at Mendelson's Surplus in the past year or so. We went there to pickup a
Hamvention ticket for myself and I was pleasantly surprised. New minor
league baseball stadium being built across the street, an audio store just
opened inside the main building, new parking lot in back of the church, a
new Mendelson's outlet store next door across the new parking lot. But it
apparently still has the good ol' 3rd floor full of all kinds of parts,
equipment and untold amounts of obscure goodies! :-)
Yes indeed, next year :)
Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt_at_netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL:
http://www.ggw.org/awa
Received on Tue May 18 1999 - 11:34:10 BST