Question about a system

From: Geoff Roberts <geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au>
Date: Thu Mar 23 00:48:17 2000

----- Original Message -----
From: "Megan" <mbg_at_world.std.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 12:35 PM
Subject: Question about a system


Hi Megan,

> Consider the following machine:

> VAX6000/400

Circa 1990 vintage.
Ambiguous model no. These can have up to 6 cpus, ie a 410 would have
one, a 420 2 etc.
Ram could be anything from 64mb up to 512Mb. XMI and (usually) VAXBI
card cages.
I have a couple of these. A 6000-430 that's my own, and a 6000-440 at
work that is our
Web/FTP/Email/POP/Proxy server. Bomb proof. Very low maintainance. The
TK70 tape is the
least reliable component in it.
Power consumption is surprisingly small. I run these easily from a
standard domestic power point
after modifying the 3 phase to single phase. Around 2-2.5A_at_240vac
depending on card fit.
Probably the most economical of 'BIG" vaxen to run as a hobbyist system,
depending on the
drive's you use. 7000's use a similar cabinet and layout.
The fact it's talking to HSC's means it has a CI bus adapter, either XMI
or BI based.
So it probably doesn't have an onboard disk controller. Ethernet is
standard. (AUI connector).
1 console port for a VT100 or similar. Everything else is optional.
(SCSI, DSSI, SDI etc)
Almost certainly running some version of VMS. Probably 6.something
unless it was still on maintainance
til recently.

> 3 x HSC70

Waist high filing cabinet size. Weigh around 300lbs IIRC. SDI drive
controller for Vax Clusters.
Have their own O/S called CRONIC. (Colorado Rudimentary Operating
Nucleus for Intelligent Controllers)
Basically a PDP-11 dedicated to looking after disk drives. Boot from a
5&1/4" disk.
Ver 8.3 is current/last version I think.
Have a couple of these and a couple of HSC50s. (similar, but slower and
boot off Tu58(?) tape.)
Power consumption around 400-500w. (Roughly the same as the Vax) 70's
are single phase
disguised as 3 phase.

> 2 x TU79

Very big, heavy, 9 track 1/2" tape drives. Run on lots of electricity
and vaccuum.
Have a huge internal air compressor. Consumption around 15A_at_240vac when
the compressor is running.
SDI/STI interface. Talk to HSC's or KDB50's etc. Fast as tape drives go.
Autothreading (that's what the
vaccuum system is for)
Single phase here, (240v) but might be 3 phase in use config, not sure.
Got a couple of these.

> 11 x Exsys disk drives
> 6 x Microtech disk drives

Never heard of the particular drives. They would almost certainly be
SDI, RA7x,8x, or 9x compatible in some way.
The Exsys might be Exabytes, probably RA9x clones, around 25-30lbs each.
Dunno about the Microtechs.

> o How big is this machine?

Big. Think large fridge for the system unit, weight around 500lbs.
(384kg according to my specs)
Tape drives around the same. Genuine DEC SDI hard disk drives for these
vary from
5lb RA7x drives around the size of a house brick, to 68kg RA8x drives
the size of two beer cartons.
This seems to be a later system so I would think it more likely to have
the somewhat smaller (physically)
drives.

> o How much might it originally have gone for?

A full cluster setup like this would have cost on the close order of
$800-900,000US I would think.
FWIW, a 6000-310 (just the system unit!) with 64Mb of ram cost Pasminco
Metals $375,000AU in 1989. YMMV.
The HSC50 was around $85,000AU in 1987 IIRC.

> o What might it be worth now?

Not much. Around $300AU a tonne as scrap in most places in Oz.
According to my (almost) local scrapper.
Not much valuable metal in them. Gold mine to an electronics buff for
the power supplies etc.

We paid $200 for one and had a complete cluster *given* to us shortly
after.

> I'm not looking for answers like, "Pay me and I'll cart it away."

 The correct answer is that it has no significant *commercial* value.

 ie Whatever you can get above the scrap price. Or whatever a
collector/hobbyist will pay for it, bearing in mind the cost of shifting
it
any sort of distance.

> I know someone who has such a machine and is trying to sell it, but
> I suspect that he is expecting a LOT more for it than it may be
> worth nowadays... it is 10-12 years old

Closer to 10. The 400 series came out in '90 IIRC.

> and he recently had it at
> auction on eBay for a minimum bid of $10000... I gather it did not
> get any bids...

ROFL!
Not surprised. Reality - It's not worth significant real money,
especially in view of the size/weight
and associated transport hassles/costs. FWIW, six blokes and a ute (er,
pickup in USspeak) are
the minimum to load, transport and unload these beasties. Much easier if
you have a forklift
at one or both ends, but you CAN do it manually, if you are careful.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. I like these particular
machines.

Cheers

Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie,
South Australia
geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
netcafe_at_tell.net.au
ICQ: 1970476
Received on Thu Mar 23 2000 - 00:48:17 GMT