Vax 4000/VLC

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Fri Nov 5 20:13:52 1999

At 05:23 PM 11/5/99 -0800, Zane wrote:
>OK, you're starting to get irritating :^) I was doing good to find some
>transcievers today.

Hey at least I'm not pulling Straight-8's out of my "misc" pile :-)
[Seriously, I'll trade a fully functional VAX w/ NetBSD installed for a
working straight 8 in decent condition.]

>> was a little tiny VAX. A VAXStation 4000/VLC,
>
>Cool! They look like a nice system. Kind of like a Alpha Multia, only a
>they are a VAX.

The model tag says: Model #:VS48K-CA

>Well, it's better than the average VS3100, but not as good as a 4000/60.
>The good news is it takes more or less normal 72-pin SIMMs, IIRC, they've
>got to be true parity. I think they _have_ to be 4MB SIMMs though.

The ram slots are stuffed but I can't tell by inspection what kind of SIMMS
they are. The chips on them are marked TMS444000 (1MB x 4) which makes me
suspect they are perhaps 4MB SIMMs? That would put the memory at 24MB.

>> Can I netboot it?
>Yes, in fact I suspect this might have been the norm.

When I opened it up I found an RZ24 nestled inside of it. So I can put a
basic OS there now that Ragge has SCSI working.

>>Cluster it?
>Well, you've got to be running OpenVMS and have clustering licenses
>installed :^)

I've got most of what I need for this, does the hobbiest license include
clustering licenses?

>>can it run headless?
>Yes, or if you've got a monitor cable I think you can hook it up to a
>Multisync monitor, it should have a pretty decent framebuffer. There are
>actually 3 different models of the system, each with a slightly different
>framebuffer.

Ok, I don't have a sync-on-green monitor nor a dec monitor cable yet. No
doubt it will start calling out to nearby monitors ... :-) If I run it
headless where do I plug the console? One of the MMJs?

>On a OpenVMS note, I'd advise staying away from Samba 2.0.3 on OpenVMS for
>the time being, I just spent a lot of my free time for the last couple days
>trying to install it. It took me longer to FTP Samba 1.9 just now than it
>did to install it and have it working.

Thanks for that pointer! I've been using Samba as a decent solution for
file sharing for now.

I'm going to have to take pictures of the whole VAX family now.

Unrelated: I got the 11/34 out of the rack by unscrewing the rack mounting
bolts! kept the slides right on the sides. One of the guys at the warehouse
used a forklift to put the tongs under the chassis so it wouldn't fall out.
--Chuck
Received on Fri Nov 05 1999 - 20:13:52 GMT