At 12:22 AM 10/27/01 -0400, Chris wrote:
>Does anyone know anything about an ATEX system?
>A friend works for a local newspaper, and they use a system called ATEX
>(that is the only name anyone seems to know it by)
They've been mentioned on the list before - at least the older
ATEX systems were PDP-based. Below is one from a few months ago.
- John
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Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 21:32:33 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Jeffrey S. Sharp" <jss_at_ou.edu>
Subject: Huge PDP-11 rescue opportunity
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Status:
Well, I guess it's time to let the cat out of the bag with this
one...
I've been planning a very nice equipment rescue in Seattle for some
time now, but as circumstances are, I will not be able to afford the
trip. I'd rather not see anything scrapped, so I am hoping someone
on the list will be able to pick up where I'm leaving off.
What we have is a *bunch* of OEM and third-party PDP-11 equipment.
Here's an overview. There are two types of systems: old and new.
Both were made by ATEX using a combination of DEC and custom
hardware.
The old systems consisted of, originally, PDP-11/34s and 04s.
These were upgraded later on by replacing the CPU cards with with a
single card with a J11 processor and a SIMM on board. The old
systems are in black 6ft racks which have a blue ATEX legend at the
top instead of the traditional DEC legend. Each rack contains one
PDP-11/34 or /04 box up top and an additional backplane down below
with gobs of custom ATEX cards.
Each of the new systems looks a bit like two PDP-11/44s in a white
4ft cabinet, but as I understand it, they use the same boards as the
updated old systems.
The systems are "networked" using some special hardware that
connects all of the Unibuses. They share a system of disks and a
tape drive. Some of the systems have a built-in small SCSI drive
and JAZ drive; these particular machines may not be available at the
moment.
Here's an inventory.
Old systems (13 total):
9 currently in operation, 5 available next month
4 out of operation, 2 available now
They're going to keep 4 of these for another year.
New systems (8 total):
4 currently in operation, 4 available next month (?)
4 out of operation, 4 available now
Approximately 20 hard drive systems. These were some sort of CDC
8" drive, but were converted to 300MB-1GB SCSI drives. The cases
were reused.
At least one Kennedy 9100 tape drive.
Boxes of old boards and spare boards.
As you might have guessed, they are still in the process of
decommisioning the systems. As far as I can tell, each cabinet is
being removed from the computer room as it decommisioned and
prepared for shipping. The prepped cabinets are brought to a
warehouse where they await pickup.
The owners want $100 for the entire lot.
If you are interested in rescuing this lot, please reply to me.
The owners wish not to be barraged with e-mail, so I will manage
the selection and briefing of the new picker-upper. I have a
contact in Seattle that went to the location, took pictures, and
wrote most of what you just read. I can send those pictures to
anyone who's interested.
>From what I can see, the equipment looks to be in pristine
condition, having been well cared for in their computer room. I
hope that it makes a nice find for someone.
--
Jeffrey S. Sharp
jss_at_ou.edu
Received on Sat Oct 27 2001 - 08:44:46 BST