Re: MicroVAX 3500 questions
- From: Kari Uusimäki <uusimaki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 22:50:48 +0300
H Vlems wrote:
On 16 mei, 06:01, dgsof...@xxxxxxxxx (David Goodwin) wrote:On Thu, 15 May 2008 14:09:32 -0700 (PDT), H Vlems <hvl...@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
David,Thanks for the information. I guess I will just pull the battery out
visit Google groups and enter the search string "microvax 3500". The
amount of hits is enough to get you going.
HP still has some documentation on-line:
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/vax/archive/mv3500.html
It's been too long, I'm sure my memory is not accurate anymore. Didn't
the 3500 have an RA82 drive in the top of the cabinet?
The cpu runs at around 3 VUPS. The 3400/3500/3600 models didn't have
DSSI nor SCSI, they're equiped with KDA50 controllers
for the disks.
The battery powers the nvram. If it's dead, each time the system boots
it will ask what language you want for the console.
It won't remember the default boot device, what to do at power up or
after a failure and so on.
It's an inconvenience but the system will boot without it.
If you get to the >>> prompt, try ? or HELP
Try SHO DEV or SHO ALL to list its hardware configuration. DUA0, DUB1
etc are disks (try >>> B DUA0)
MUA0 is the tape drive, if present.
Good luck,
Hans
so it doesnt make any more of a mess than it already has. Considering
the amount of green on the console ports contacts the PCB is going to
need quite a bit of cleaning before I wire up an adapter cable.
Ive put some images of the four ports, label and cards on google:http://picasaweb.google.com/dgsoftnz/MicroVAX3500/
This machine has no hard disk but that probably isnt too bad -
considering how long it has taken to get just a vax I dont think I
could ever find replacement SDI disks. Im considering disconnecting
the TK70 drive for about the same reason - the tape in the drive has
snapped making the machine rather noisy.
Ive pulled the machine apart a bit and it has (from right to left) a
TK70 drive, the operator control panel and those port things. It has
the following cards installed:
1* KA650 CPU board (M7620 according to the panel, M7626 according to
the board)
2* 16MB MOS Memory cards (M7622)
2* Grant Continuity cards (M9047)
1* TK70 controller (M7559)
1* DELQA Ethernet controller (M7516)
1* CMD CQD-220/TM (SCSI I think)
1* CMD CQD-220/M (also SCSI I think)
2* Webster Computer Corp. WQDHV11/02 (no idea what these are)
If the two CMD cards are SCSI I suppose I could attach a hard disk to
one of those and boot off that. Otherwise, maybe there is some way I
can network boot OpenVMS from my AlphaServer 1200.
Thanks,
David Goodwin
David,
picture 4 is the panel that connects to RA disks. As Chris mentioned,
there is no longer a KDA50 in the system, but these are not really
rare. The disks are a different matter. The RA81 (456 MB) or RA82
(622MB) are rare. An RA81 would fit, but at 121 MB it's rather
useless. Alternatives are the RA70 or RA72 but I'm not sure there is a
way of fitting those. The RA90 (1 GB) or RA92 (1.2 GB) are each half
the size of an RA8x disk and these might be available somewhere. The
RA8x and RA9x drives take a *lot* of mains power for relatively little
storage. The RA7x drives are about the size of an RD54. A little more
storage though, and as Chris mentioned, you're blessed with SCSI
controllers that support disks, so buy a couple of 4 GB drives, a
CDrom drive and install VAX/VMS.
Booting over ethernet probably works on a 4200. Booting off an AS1200
only works if you have a VAX/VMS system disk on it. I've never tried
to boot a VAX off an installation CD in an Alpha. What does work is
install VMS on a simh (emulated) VAX, and boot the 4200 as a satellite
node in a local area cluster. It is probably the fastest way to boot
the 4200 and get VMS on it without scsi peripherals.
Hans
I agree with Hans that the RA* disks are something you might want to forget if you don't plan to find another cabinet for disks. I don't know any way how to install any of them into a BA213 box. The RA70's are full height 5.25" and are the smallest the RA90's are even bigger ant the RA80's need a 19" wide space.
The SCSI disks would be the most clever option to use. Especially if you find a BA350 or BA356 (with the 8-bit personality module). Into that you can install several SCSI disks (and even a CD-ROM drive with the appropriate SBB).
If you run OpenVMS Alpha V8.3 on your AS1200, you can mount the VAX/VMS operating system CD and then create an Infoserver service for it. Then you copy the isl_svax.sys to the MOM$SYSTEM directory on the AS1200 and boot the VAX interactively using the DELQA interface.
>>> B/100
bootfile: ISL_SVAX.SYS
When it has loaded the ISL image, you can find the Infoserver service from the network and then connect to it to install the VAX/VMS on your VAX. I guess you are familiar with installing VAX/VMS? It differs from installing the AXPVMS.
Good Luck!
Best Regards,
Kari
P.S. If you decide not to use the RA disk panel, I would like to discuss its future with you. :)
.
- References:
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- From: David Goodwin
- Re: MicroVAX 3500 questions
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- Re: MicroVAX 3500 questions
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