Things FS (dec, ncd, sun, chips), and Info requested

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Wed Feb 5 15:18:00 2003

>> > + Digital SC008-AB, one with an "A" and one with a "B" on
>> it, has many
>> > (maybe 20) TNC Jacks monted on it, some with 'terminators' on it.
>> Does anyone know what this is? I'm intrigued by it.
>> > $5 each + shipping
>>
>> StarCoupler, for CI.
>
> ... which are like hen's teeth, except much rarer IIRC !

No kidding, I had to go on a >2000 mile road trip to get one
(along with a lot of other stuff, though). Richie Lary,
formerly of DEC, tells me that they designed an active CI switch,
but the project was cancelled.

For the benefit of those of you that aren't familiar with it, CI is a
70 Mbit/second network (somewhat similar to Ethernet) which DEC
introduced in 1981. It was originally supported on the DECSYSTEM-20
and VAX-11/780, and the HSC50 was used to attach disk and tape drives
to CI clusters. The Star Coupler is a passive device that acts as a
hub.

I'm still looking for an HSC50 on the west coast. Someone offered
to sell me one that is stored in Houston, and if I get sufficiently
desperate I'll buy that one.

Other HSCxx models are potentially of interest to me, but not as much
as the 50.

Also looking for HSC modules, documentation and software, RA81 disk
drives (especially 18-bit ones), and TA81 tape drives.

Eric
Received on Wed Feb 05 2003 - 15:18:00 GMT