Power Series

From: Christopher Smith <csmith_at_amdocs.com>
Date: Wed Dec 19 12:55:42 2001

Well, speak of the devil... and all that. After mentioning yesterday that a
Power Series machine would be nice to have, I found that somebody brought
one home for me. (seriously...)

So before I get started here, let me also mention that it would be nice to
have:

A Symbolics Lisp Machine
A Next Dimension Cube
A PDP-11 in a small rack with blinkenlights and core

... enough of that, though. :)

So, I now am the proud owner of a Power Series VGX machine. It seems to
have 4 40Mhz CPUs in it, a full compliment of graphics boards, FDDI, and
some extra video I/O boards.

It's a deskside type machine, the whole thing fitting in one very large
tower --err... coffee-table :)

Firstly, this machine is in need of:

The plastic "skirt" piece for the right side of the chassis.

The plastic back plate.

The power-cable.

Keyboard, monitor, mouse (all of which I can probably get locally...

(that's it.. I think I have the entire machine otherwise)

Does anyone know where I can get these, or (in the case of the power-cord,
for instance) parts to make them?

Any warnings/information/antic dotes for these machines?

I do intend to use the thing. I also intend to use it at home. It appears
to require 20 Amp service, though, and I have no good 20 Amp outlet within
reach. I do have some 20 Amp and a couple 30 Amp fuses (Yes, fuses. I
intend to replace the one I hook this to with a mini-breaker) in the box,
which I intend to trace before I decide where to plug it in. It may be that
I'll contract somebody to run a 20 Amp outlet for this machine. (Never
having done AC wiring work on my own, I feel that I don't want to start by
wiring an outlet for this beast) Otherwise, the plan will be to plug it
into a circuit with a highly rated fuse on it, and unplug everything else.
Any holes in this plan? The breaker on the power-supply is rated 16 Amps,
btw. I have no idea how much pull to expect from a monitor -- anyone know
whether I can safely use both on the same circuit? That would simplify
things.

I believe a best option is to have somebody run a line up from the
washer/dryer hookups in the basement. Those are hooked to 30-amp fuses
already and have cutoff switches. As long as nobody does laundry while the
machine's running, then, it would be fine. :)

Lastly, even before I get this thing plugged in, I'd like to inventory it,
and check it for health. What should I look for?

Regards,

Chris

Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL

/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
 
Received on Wed Dec 19 2001 - 12:55:42 GMT