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From: karish@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Chuck Karish)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: A Unix on my Micro VAX ???
Date: 18 Jul 1994 17:05:22 GMT
Organization: Mindcraft, Inc.
Lines: 102
Message-ID: <30ecoi$gqm@nntp2.Stanford.EDU>
References: <309ese$aid@cumulus.cam.org>
NNTP-Posting-Host: pangea.stanford.edu
In article <309ese$aid@cumulus.cam.org>, Jean Laganiere <jean@CAM.ORG> wrote:
>I recently bouth a Micro VAX II for very cheap.
>In the front, there are 4 buttons: HD1 write protect, Stop, Ready, Restart.
>It seem to have about 7 years hold. There is a big HD inside.
>At the back, there are (8) DB-25 connectors, (1) 15 pins connector named
>DELQA, and a 9 pins connector with a baud rate selector.
>I tryed to boot it with a vt-100 plugged in the 9 pins connector.
>It gives me this :
>
>KA630-A.V1.3
>Performing normal system test
>7..6..5..4..3..
>Test completed
>>>>
>
>Then when I type 'b' :
>
>>>>b
>2..
>?4c DEVINACT, DUAO
>?06 HLT INST
> PC= 00000EE6
>Failure
>>>>
Is there a green LED glowing in the middle of the READY button for HD1?
All four buttons should be in the "out" position.
Sonething else to try: type 'b dua1' in case the label on the front
panel is accurate. DEC was inconsistent between hardware, firmware,
and software as to whether device numbers start with 1 or 0.
>I dont know any thing about VMS or RSX.
Do you know what OS is installed on the machine now?
>My questions are:
>
>1- Is there a version of Unix that I can install on that machine?
Yes. DEC ULTRIX and older versions of BSD UNIX.
>2- If yes, can I have it for free or very cheap? (Like Linux).
I'm not sure. There may be VAX support in BSD4.4, but it's
probably not complete in the license-free version (4.4 Lite).
>3- Is that machine worth someting.
Not much, if you mean can you sell it. If you have to pay
for a software license or for hardware repairs, its value is
negative. It also uses more power than a 486 box would.
Many of the boards in this computer are very sensitive to
static electricity. Do not open the card cage cover unless
you absolutely have to.
>I mean if I use it as a server on a network is it fast enough?
Slower than a fast 486 PC, but possibly with somewhat more I/O
bandwidth.
>4- Can I install an ethernet card inside?
It already has one. That's what the DELQA is.
>5- Can I install a 1.2 or 1.44 floppy drive in this machine and how to
> configure it?
Probably not.
>6- My dream is to make a SLIP server with this machine. Is it possible?
Yes.
>7- How can I know the capacity of the hard drive?
Once you get the machine to boot, it will tell you the model
number of the drive.
>8- The (8) DB-25 ports, are they rs-232 interfaces ?
Probably. With a reasonable OS, this box would make an OK
communications server for a network except for hardware
reliability questions. As a file server, it would be limited by
the expense of adding disk storage, since you'd need to buy DEC
disks or a Q-bus SCSI card (probably not cheap).
>9- What is DELQA?
See above.
>If you have an answer for one or many of these questions, please send me
>an email at jean@cam.org.
>
>Tanks in advance.
You're welcome.
--
Chuck Karish karish@mindcraft.com
(415) 323-9000 x117 karish@pangea.stanford.edu