question about vaxservers

From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh_at_aracnet.com>
Date: Mon Oct 8 15:36:31 2001

> Hello Everyone,
> I have a question:
> Someone on Ebay is selling a Vaxserver 3100 model 10.
> The question is: what is the difference betwen a vaxserver and a vaxstation
> 3100? This wil be my first vax system. Is this a good one to grab?
>
> I'm new to this, so any help would be apreciated.

The only *physical* difference is the lack of graphics hardware on the
VAXserver, however, the more important difference is that a VAXserver
requires different licenses than a VAXstation. This isn't that important if
you're using a Hobbyist license though. Where this becomes important is if
you've got a VAXstation with Commercial licenses and try to run it headless
and without a keyboard (at which point the OS thinks it's running on a
VAXserver).

As for if it's a good system to grab, it's not a bad system, but there are
better, and the external SCSI port is probably non-standard (requireing a
special DEC cable. I'd personally recommend a VAXstation 4000/VLC as a
first VAX. OTOH, the 3100m10 should hopefully go for next to nothing, which
does make it attractive. Plus you can temporarily hook a CD-ROM up to the
internal SCSI cable to load VMS.

                        Zane
Received on Mon Oct 08 2001 - 15:36:31 BST