Qbus artifact score!

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed Apr 2 14:34:00 2003

I was visiting a data-center-not-to-be-named and talked them out of an
item on the scrap heap - a CompuServe Tri-Node - it's a rackable box,
about 21" tall (twice as tall as an RX01, say), with *3* independent
Qbuses inside. The only cards I got were some CompuServe-branded
grant cards and one terminator each. I don't know how long ago it was
gutted, but it's been sitting on a pallet for months.

The front panel is in triplicate - three boot switches, three LTC
switches and three run switches. It has three power switches on
the back, and three watchdog boards inside.

*Dual* boot?!? Nay! Three OSes in one! I should have enough PDP-11
boards to have an RT-11, a 2BSD, and some thing else, all in the same
cabinet (external disks, naturally). I have plenty of LSI-11 and
KDF-11 boards, but not KDJ-11, unfortunately. If only there was a
DEC terminal with triple-session capability. Maybe I could rig up a
video switcher and use three VT240 bases?!? (I know I can switch the
RS-232 line, but that won't preserve screen contents of the other sessions)
... or perhaps three ports on a terminal server...

The only thing missing is the back door skin. It was apparently removed
some years ago, and none of the tri-nodes have them.

Should be a bunch of fun getting this guy running!

-ethan
Received on Wed Apr 02 2003 - 14:34:00 BST