--- Sergio Pedraja Cabo <CAA007216_at_mail.ono.es> wrote:
> Hello. I'm actually working with one Microvax 2000... Until I know, is
> necessary to modify the EPROM with a patch that I have. The problem to
> do it is, of course, the WAY to do it. And this is the matter:
>
> * How can I update/patch the EPROM of one Microvax 2000 from version
> 1.2 A to version 2.3 (I think this is the version of the patch) to
> support SCSI bootable devices, like one installed in one RZ55
> external enclosure ?
I'm in the same boat. I have ancient ROMs, the same patch you probably
have and a patched 32-bit file that isn't split up into 4 parts. I got
a ROM splitter routine from somewhere and did the cut, but without
sitting around and switching out ROMs from socket to socket (at least one
of the pins on one is starting to go), I'm stalled. Maybe if I installed
four ZIF sockets...
> Just by the way... Anybody knows where I could obtain this stuff for
> the 2000 ? That is:
>
> * One diskette unit (I think it goes inside CPU, but I'm not sure, and
> additionally I'd like to know, what happens then with the RD54 disk
> that comes inside it actually)
You can't have a floppy drive and a full-height hard drive in the same
box. I don't know if the PSU could take it, but there's room for, say
an RD-32 (ST-251-1 _at_ 40Mb) and an RX33 (Teac FD-55-GFR) in the same box,
but you might have to modify the internal bracket.
> * One external expansion box with one additional RD5x disk. I think
> it uses something like one SASI connector to plug into the 2000.
It's a DD50P, like Sun used to use with Sun3-era SCSI. You have to have
this extra expansion skirt at the bottom of your MicroVAX 2000 that
houses a small circuit board. You would also need a corresponding
external RD54 enclosure for the other end of the cable. It's MFM signals,
over a single 50-pin cable.
My first uVAX 2000 had the skirt - it came with two RD54 drives and
a DHT32 serial expansion. I got the box because the client asked me how
much it would cost to double the number of terminals in the office.
I gave them a quote and they asked me how much they could get for the
system. They wanted 3x what it was worth, so I waited and a year later,
I offered them _half_ of what I'd offered them in the first place and they
took it (the astute reader will note that they got 1/6th of what they
originally wanted; I think they originally asked about $2000 (this was
many years ago - they replaced the uVAX with a Novell network of DOS
machines) ISTR paying them about as much for the entire system as an RD54
drive sold for retail at the time. Oh... that included 6 VT320s which I
sold to a DEC reseller on the way home from the client. I think my out-of-
pocket cost was under $200 for what I kept).
> * One additional RS-232 ports expansion unit. I've read that it provides
> the Microvax (or Vaxstation) 2000 with up to... Four / Eight ?
> additional comm ports.
Eight. It's a DHT-32. Very rare. You are probably better off trying to
find a terminal server. It's not the same, but they are more common. I
never got mine working because the 36-pin interface cable and the harmonica
were apparently left in the ceiling when they moved during that year they
sat on the machine. I got a cable and what I thought was the right
harmonica, but apparently I am mistaken. Does anyone have any docs on the
DHT-32?
-ethan
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Received on Tue Jul 31 2001 - 08:49:56 BST