VAXStation 4000 VLC

From: Kevin Stewart <stewart_kevin_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Wed Sep 27 22:27:18 2000

----- Original Message -----
From: <healyzh_at_aracnet.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 8:05 PM
Subject: Re: VAXStation 4000 VLC


> Now there is an attitude I like :^) Don't let any of these bums talk you
> into running NetBSD on it :^)

Oh, I've played with *BSD quite a bit (and like it -- it's fairly nice for a
$0/os ;) ) but I've never played with VMS, something that I've always wanted
to do. I may run BSD on it some day, but that would be on another hd ;)


> >I have an external 1.3 gig SCSI drive for the SCSI port,
> > an AUI -> BNC transceiver for ethernet... but no console. I'm looking
for
> > that cable to go from the serial port to a terminal. Where can I get
one?
>
> Um, no idea where you can find them, I've found a couple in a junk store.
> Of course what I find harder to find is the DB25 plugs that plug into the
> cable.

Actually, that's what I need... I don't have an authentic DEC terminal, just
a WYSE that speaks just about everything.

> The above URL will give info on installation, and I got a doc describing
how
> to do it with my Hobbyist CD. Also see the OpenVMS FAQ at:
...

Thanks for the URLs.

>
> > SCSI CD (1X, woohoo!) and an NFS/FTP server. BOOTP is almost set up,
DHCP
> > already is. Can the machine come to life with bootp and tftp? Is it
possible
> > to install VMS this way?
>
> You're not going to be able to do it with bootp or tftp. However, the
fact
> your SCSI CD is only 1x is a good thing believe it or not, as that
increases
> the likelyhood that it will do 512-byte blocks instead of 2048-byte
blocks.
> You must have a CD-ROM that does 512-byte blocks in order to boot from the
> CD.

I've installed Linux on 5 boxen with that beast. It's still faster than
doing FTP installs from my LAN, as the FTP server only has a 4X and it keeps
spinning down ;)
And if nothing else, I should be able to find one at the place where I do
volunteer work (The Full Circle Group -- non-profit computer recycling
group. We take computers from corporations that are upgrading, reformat,
reinstall and give them to schools, individuals, community centres etc).
There's a ton of oddball hardware there. And I've picked up a lot of great
stuff -- $100 worth of SCSI cables, 10 p133 boxen, misc. networking stuff,
several macs and more for the cost of my Saturdays.

> Zane
>
Kevin
Received on Wed Sep 27 2000 - 22:27:18 BST