29 Jan
1999
29 Jan
'99
6:04 p.m.
How well can the so-called "desktop vaxen" run 4.3 BSD? I'm thinking
about systems like the MicroVAX 2000, etc. I'd like to set up a
system to run some sort of 4.3 system (maybe Michael Sokolov's
Quasijarus distribution) and I've noticed the occasional desktop vax
show up in places like eBay. Is it possible to avoid the hernia and
use one of these "2nd floor apartment-friendly" computers?
--Mirian
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29 Jan
29 Jan
6:45 p.m.
On 29 Jan 1999, Mirian Crzig Lennox wrote:
How well can the so-called "desktop vaxen"
run 4.3 BSD? I'm thinking
about systems like the MicroVAX 2000, etc. I'd like to set up a
system to run some sort of 4.3 system (maybe Michael Sokolov's
Quasijarus distribution) and I've noticed the occasional desktop vax
show up in places like eBay. Is it possible to avoid the hernia and
use one of these "2nd floor apartment-friendly" computers?
These are of the same or similar performance level as MicrovaxIIs and do
run Ultrix(DEC version of BSD) fairly well. The problems you will have
is that the largest internal disk is a RD54 (159mb) and hard to find. You
can also add an external RD54 if you can find the box and cables for it.
Performance as a single user system is acceptable. Note that
VAXstation3100, Microvax3100 system are also of the same class but off
3-10+ times the performance in a 4x18x16 inch case and they have SCSI
interface to disks allowing for much more common and larger disks.
I can't speak for anything else. I generally run VMS on vaxen.
Allison
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8:28 p.m.
As I recall, you can attach an external SCSI hard disk to a MicroVAX 2000,
and Ultrix will be able to use it, but you can't boot from it. The
Centronics expansion port really is a SCSI port, even though it was never
billed as such (and the TZK50 tape drive really is a SCSI drive, and you
can use it on other systems that have SCSI - not sure why you'd want to,
though....).
4.3BSD (and its variants) for the VAX has no SCSI support at all, so
you're out of luck if you want to use SCSI disks on a MicroVAX under 4.3.
--Pat.
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9:06 p.m.
On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Pat Barron wrote:
As I recall, you can attach an external SCSI hard disk
to a MicroVAX 2000,
and Ultrix will be able to use it, but you can't boot from it. The
Centronics expansion port really is a SCSI port, even though it was never
billed as such (and the TZK50 tape drive really is a SCSI drive, and you
can use it on other systems that have SCSI - not sure why you'd want to,
though....).
The centronics is electrically scsi and uses the NCR scsi chip (5380) but
there is nothing in the boot-diagnostic rom that supports it save for the
TK50FA version that has an oddball device protocal. If you boot from
floppy or RDxx disk and have a driver that supports VS200 scsi properly it
can be used for expansion. There are however issues in that the hard disk
interface and the SCSI chip use the same DMA channel and it would cause
some performance degrdation.
The port however is not for centronis printer as dec used serial
interfaced printers.
4.3BSD (and its variants) for the VAX has no SCSI
support at all, so
you're out of luck if you want to use SCSI disks on a MicroVAX under 4.3.
--Pat.
Tha is what the socalled qasijarius project is supposed to fix.
Allison
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allisonp＠world.std.com -
Mirian Crzig Lennox -
Pat Barron