Field trip :)

From: Witchy <witchy_at_binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
Date: Thu Jan 15 18:11:07 2004

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Antonio Carlini [mailto:arcarlini_at_iee.org]
> Sent: 15 January 2004 23:34
> To: witchy_at_binarydinosaurs.co.uk; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and
> Off-Topic Posts'
> Subject: RE: Field trip :)
>
>
> > M7270 - KD11-HA LSI 11/2 CPU
> > M7944 x2 - 4K RAM
> > M8027 - LPV11 driver.
>
> Is this a small brownish box that you can reasonably lift with
> two hands (or maybe even one)? If so I think I've seen one
> before and they are pretty nice!

Nope, it's a simple cage with a 4-slot backplane with extended bolts that
'plugs in' to a bigger enclosure, which might be the brown box you're
talking about - I might have just the innards. Any clues on what it actually
was?

> which are the only ones that can do stuff like format an
> RD device from scratch. You could make yourself very popular
> by firing up your nearest OpenVMS box with an RX50 and
> having a go at BACKUP/PHYSICAL!

Not a problem, assuming either this MVI or my MVII still work. Since I got
them from a retired DEC engineer they must be field circus diags; from what
I remember the customer ones were only 2 disks (format being one of them
IIRC) whereas these ones are upwards of 6 or 7 disks. There's at least 6
sets of them too.

I'm most interested at seeing what version of VMS is on the MV I......It's
got over a meg of memory so it could be 4.5 or 4.6. 5.x wouldn't run with
less than 4 would it?

> As for the VMS V5 disks: I *think* there are either 18
> or 23 in the full set. I never actually had to try an
> install using such a set - it must have been very painful.

Looks about right, it's just the labelling that's confusing since they've
got the required, optional and library sets with different 'total' numbers,
ie 12/32, 13/32 etc when there's clearly not 32 disks in the set.

> Once you've taken the trouble to set up a box to back up
> the diags, it would be a shame not to do these while
> you are at it :-)

heh! I'm desperately trying to remember if the BA123 box I thought was my
MVII (well, it was the company's back in the late 80s) was actually upgraded
by me to be an MV 3400 or not. I know I got a BA213 (?) 'real' MV3400 cab to
house the boards in its later life but I can't remember if I restored the
MVII to its former glory.....grr....I know exactly where the cab is so I'll
check.

As an aside the MVII back then ended up being called 'fruit' because it was
paired with a 3100-10 called 'nut' to form the 'fruit&nut cluster' :) The
MVII was replaced with a 3100-40 (whose motherboard I've still got ) called
'dough'. You can guess the rest.

> Probably worth recording the disk part numbers (I think
> they all vary slightly so each diskette is uniquely
> identifiable) in maybe the filename.

No bother.

> You can probably back these up with PUTR too: I've never
> tried but I know that BACKUP/PHYSICAL will work (I
> restored some WPS disks years ago using that method).

I'll make it a priority once I've finished building the cupboards in the
alcoves in the living room :) Bloody B&Q [1] with their warping
doors....grr.....

[1] UK copy of Home Depot for our US readers, though with no sign of Norm
Abram :)

cheers

--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
Received on Thu Jan 15 2004 - 18:11:07 GMT

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