Made a deal to get a Vax 6000, 2 Fujitsu Supercomputers and TOPS10???

From: Geoff Roberts <geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au>
Date: Wed Nov 24 19:05:05 1999

----- Original Message -----
From: John B <dylanb_at_sympatico.ca>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, 25 November 1999 7:01
Subject: Re: Made a deal to get a Vax 6000, 2 Fujitsu Supercomputers and
TOPS10???


> >>Anyone here know what a SA600 is?
> >
> > It's a rack full of RA-series drives.

Probable makeup:-
2 x SA70's with total of 8 RA7x drives. (RA70's are 250Mb SDI drives, they
are the
standard fitment in such racks. Could have any mix of 7x drives up to
1.5Gb? each.
House brick size, the 2 SA70 enclosures in the cabinet take about the same
area as
a single RA8x drive. (But weigh less)

3 RA8x drives, probably 81 or 82. 480 & 620 Mb respectively. Big suckers
64Kg each.

> Ahhh, I should have remembered that! , thanks... I guess more weight
-( ..
> This Vax 6000 was in the lab so it had quite a few toys hooked up to it
> (hopefully some good boards to rip out of it).

If you could post a list of the board numbers, we can tell you exactly what
it has.

> >>As for the systems, I will probably scrap the Vax6000 (for EBay
> souvenirs).

You'd probably do better offering them here first, depending on what's in
it.
A 6000 is often a classic, depending on what model/year of man etc..
It could contain up to 6 cpus & 256mb of ram. 5 different cpu types too.

> >>I saw one of the Fujitsu boards last year.... nice... most of the chips
> had
> >>heat sinks on them (ram board).. and they were huge.. Again too new and
> too
> >>big to deal with.. I'll get what gold I can out of it.

Again, perhaps offer it complete first, on Ebay if you prefer. Whilst not
strictly classic,
it may well be a supercomputer of some kind, which is a valuable device even
now, to
some people. Worth checking it out....

> >
> > Grrrrrr.
> >
>
>
> Don't Grrr me guy! If I even tried to keep every mini I get every month my
> wife would divorce me or we would go broke on storage costs.

Don't be too hard on him, considering this list is devoted to preserving
things like these,
it is an understandable response to something as unusual as a Fujitsu Super
becoming
scrap metal for tooth fillings, and as a collector of 6000's, I only scrap
ones that are really
beat up, since they are good hobbyist systems, despite the physical size.
(They are low power consumption ~ 500w)
Put it this way, if I was in the US, I'd take 'em off your hands complete.

> I hope someone out there can use the boards in their minis....

IF you are going to part out the 6000, make sure you get the backplane
connections etc for
the various boards to go with them.
FWIW a "basic" 6000 would contain (at minimum)
1 cpu & 64mb ram. (XMI) 200 or 300 series cpus are the most common.
a couple of XMI/BI & BI/XMI interface cards
1 or more Ethernet cards, usually BI, but I have seen XMI ones.
either :-
CI interface to talk to a HSC50/70/90 whatever (If you find one of these
buried
in the haul somewhere, that would prove it) Again, usually BI, but have seen
an XMI version. This indicates a Vaxcluster, so there might well be more
than one
Vax in the haul.
or a KDB50 SDI/STI interface or two, for direct connection to the drives.

Regards

Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie, South Australia.
Email: geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
           netcafe_at_pirie.mtx.net.au
ICQ #: 1970476
Received on Wed Nov 24 1999 - 19:05:05 GMT