At 12:34 PM 5/18/99 -0400, you wrote:
>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 have a fairly substantial pile of 46021 keyboards, HP-HIL cables, and
mice for the 9000-300 series, and you are welcome to have one of each for
free. All I ask is reimbursmment for the shipping charges.
Regards,
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
>
>
Kenneth L. Marshall
Research Engineer, Optical Materials
Laboratory for Laser Energetics
University of Rochester
250 East River Road
Rochester, NY 14623
Phone:(716)-275-8247
Fax: (716)-275-5960
Received on Tue May 18 1999 - 13:37:36 BST