Aaron Christopher Finney <af-list_at_wfi-inc.com> wrote:
[Aaron's looking for:]
> A keyboard for my HP2649 terminal
>
> HP2392, HP2622, or HP2645 terminal. I need one for my 3000 (using a laptop
> with an HP term program right now). The 2649 I have is dubious; I get a
> screen full of what looks like garbage to me, but then again, I don't have
> a keyboard and, in addition, the 2649 is interesting in that it could have
> a custom program on it for something other than being a straight terminal.
I can't remember whether the terminal would come up without the
keyboard (but I think so), and I don't really know for sure what is
inside a 2649 though I think it's not too different from a
2641/2645/2648, meaning an 8080 processor...unfortunately my memory's
far enough gone that I don't really remember what's inside a 2645
either beyond a bunch of boards. But those boards would be things
like a processor card (which I think also has ROM and about 1KB of
RAM), a keyboard interface, a datacomm interface, one or more cards
for the display, and zero or more memory cards. Some of the cards
(but not the memory) would also be joined at their tops by a sort of
"frontplane" interconnect board.
That said, there's limited interchangeability between 264X terminal
keyboards. Once upon a time I swapped keyboards and keyboard interface
cards between a 2640B and 2645A just to see if I could, and it mostly
worked. Of course, there was the matter that the 2640B keyboard
didn't have all the same keys, and its baud rate switch wasn't labeled
above 2400.
So far as the 3000's concerned, you could also use 262x (for x>1; 2621
will work for character mode but will not support VPLUS block-mode
applications), 2382 (which is nice and small but has a 9" display),
239x, or 700/9x terminals. Or an HP150, which pretends to be a 2623A
graphics terminal when it's not being a personal computer. BTW, I
think you mentioned passing up some HP terminal keyboards, and you
might want to stop that, as the keyboards have a habit of becoming
detached from the rest of the terminal on their way through the
surplus food chain.
Once you start thinking about network configuration with NMMGR, a 264X
terminal can be a problem as later versions of NMMGR were made to
use the terminal's function key display area for some screens, and
264X terminals don't have a function key display area. I have no idea
why NMMGR was changed; as near as I can tell it was mostly gratuitous
on HP's part and NMMGR will still function correctly, you just have to
know which function keys correspond to which functions on those
screens. (Guess who was still using a 2645 as the system console and
only hardwired terminal on his 3000/58. Fortunately, I did know which
buttons to push.)
On the other hand, the 2645 will run Space Invaders, and I wouldn't be
surprised to find that the 2649 would too.
> An HD for my HP3000 that will fit in the bottom rack space. I've gotten
> some great info from Joe Rigdon on models and have my eyes open; I need
> something big enough so that I can do the initial install of MPE V 3P with
> full subsys (it's been estimated that I need at least 100mb or so).
A 7958 is about (a little larger than, I think) 100MB and will work
and fit in a 3000/37 cabinet. 7958B is faster than 7958A if it
matters. I think bigger numbers (e.g. 7959 and 796x) are larger
capacities.
-Frank McConnell
Received on Wed Feb 23 2000 - 00:52:17 GMT