MicroVAX I
My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original monitors. Sent from my iPhone
Re: MicroVAX I
Hi Robert, Where is the machine located? Thanks, Paul On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 10:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in > 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? > Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two > original monitors. > > Sent from my iPhone >
Re: MicroVAX I
On 8/12/2018 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original monitors. Sent from my iPhone Could be quite interesting to this community depending on how it has been stored since 1984 and is it complete and functional. Don't have any expectations for hard disks to work. What models are the monitors? VT100's? Do you have the keyboards? Any software? It is an antique and the condition, along with what's inside of the box determine how much interest there will be. As far as Vax and MicroVax systems the MicroVax I was probably the slowest of them all, and least capable. Their selling point was that they didn't need an entire room, it could be placed in a normal office environment. Doug
RE: MicroVAX I
If it is in the UK then I would be interested in it. Regards Rob > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Douglas > Taylor via cctalk > Sent: 13 August 2018 16:23 > To: cctalk@classiccmp.org > Subject: Re: MicroVAX I > > On 8/12/2018 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: > > My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back > in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? > Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two > original > monitors. > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > Could be quite interesting to this community depending on how it has been > stored since 1984 and is it complete and functional. Don't have any > expectations for hard disks to work. What models are the monitors? > VT100's? Do you have the keyboards? Any software? > > It is an antique and the condition, along with what's inside of the box > determine how much interest there will be. > > As far as Vax and MicroVax systems the MicroVax I was probably the slowest > of them all, and least capable. Their selling point was that they didn't need > an entire room, it could be placed in a normal office environment. > > Doug
Re: MicroVAX I
> On Aug 13, 2018, at 8:22 AM, Douglas Taylor via cctalk > wrote: > > On 8/12/2018 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: >> My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in >> 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can >> you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original >> monitors. >> >> Sent from my iPhone > > Could be quite interesting to this community depending on how it has been > stored since 1984 and is it complete and functional. Don't have any > expectations for hard disks to work. What models are the monitors? VT100's? > Do you have the keyboards? Any software? > > It is an antique and the condition, along with what's inside of the box > determine how much interest there will be. > > As far as Vax and MicroVax systems the MicroVax I was probably the slowest of > them all, and least capable. Their selling point was that they didn't need > an entire room, it could be placed in a normal office environment. > > Doug Something that comes to my mind, what chassis were available for the MicroVAX I? I’m far more familiar with the MicroVAX II. While traditionally I’ve preferred the BA123 chassis, I’m rather partial to the BA23’s these days, as they take up about half the space. Good point on the monitor question, I was trying to figure out how/why a MicroVAX I would have two monitors. Two terminals makes perfect sense. Zane
Re: MicroVAX I
I know speed wise this was the slowest VAX of the day, but mine came from a former DEC engineer and was used as a CAD station - it had a socking great Tektronix monitor with it that's now at TNMoC in Bletchley Park. Or at least I hope it still is. -- adrian/witchy Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection? t: @binarydinosaursf: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk On Mon, 13 Aug 2018 at 16:48, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: > > > On Aug 13, 2018, at 8:22 AM, Douglas Taylor via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > > On 8/12/2018 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: > >> My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back > in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? > Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two > original monitors. > >> > >> Sent from my iPhone > > > > Could be quite interesting to this community depending on how it has > been stored since 1984 and is it complete and functional. Don't have any > expectations for hard disks to work. What models are the monitors? > VT100's? Do you have the keyboards? Any software? > > > > It is an antique and the condition, along with what's inside of the box > determine how much interest there will be. > > > > As far as Vax and MicroVax systems the MicroVax I was probably the > slowest of them all, and least capable. Their selling point was that they > didn't need an entire room, it could be placed in a normal office > environment. > > > > Doug > > Something that comes to my mind, what chassis were available for the > MicroVAX I? I’m far more familiar with the MicroVAX II. While > traditionally I’ve preferred the BA123 chassis, I’m rather partial to the > BA23’s these days, as they take up about half the space. > > Good point on the monitor question, I was trying to figure out how/why a > MicroVAX I would have two monitors. Two terminals makes perfect sense. > > Zane > > >
Re: MicroVAX I
On 08/12/2018 10:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original monitors. Wow, relatively rare. Other than historical interest, there's pretty much no "value" in it. It was a performance DOG. Jon
Re: MicroVAX I
yes, but as a bit of history quite valuable if you want the entire line up especially! -Ed# In a message dated 8/13/2018 9:12:53 AM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk@classiccmp.org writes: On 08/12/2018 10:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: > My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in > 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can > you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original > monitors. > > Wow, relatively rare. Other than historical interest, there's pretty much no "value" in it. It was a performance DOG. Jon
Re: MicroVAX I
> On Aug 13, 2018, at 9:12 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk > wrote: > > On 08/12/2018 10:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: >> My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in >> 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can >> you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original >> monitors. >> >> > Wow, relatively rare. Other than historical interest, there's pretty much no > "value" in it. It was a performance DOG. > > Jon The VAX-11/725 and VAX-11/730 is equally bad performance wise. A MicroVAX I is 0.3 VUPS, and a MicroVAX II is 0.9 VUPS. http://www.people.vcu.edu/~agnew/MVAX/VAX-PERF.HTML Zane
RE: MicroVAX I
Even though the 730 is also pretty slow, I would love to have one if anyone in the UK has one going spare Regards Rob > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Zane Healy > via cctalk > Sent: 13 August 2018 18:39 > To: Jon Elson ; General Discussion: On-Topic and > Off-Topic Posts > Cc: gene...@ezwind.net; robertbeaucham...@yahoo.com > Subject: Re: MicroVAX I > > > > On Aug 13, 2018, at 9:12 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk > wrote: > > > > On 08/12/2018 10:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: > >> My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new > back in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your > chart? Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two > original monitors. > >> > >> > > Wow, relatively rare. Other than historical interest, there's pretty much > > no > "value" in it. It was a performance DOG. > > > > Jon > > The VAX-11/725 and VAX-11/730 is equally bad performance wise. A > MicroVAX I is 0.3 VUPS, and a MicroVAX II is 0.9 VUPS. > > http://www.people.vcu.edu/~agnew/MVAX/VAX-PERF.HTML > > Zane
Re: MicroVAX I
On Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 06:59:06PM +0100, Rob Jarratt via cctalk wrote: > Even though the 730 is also pretty slow, I would love to have one if > anyone in the UK has one going spare I'd love to come across one needing a good home in my neck of the woods some day myself, or even more so an 11/750. An 11/750 was my first exposure to a system larger than a PC. Actually I probably wouldn't say no to any VAX in need of a good home, including a MicroVAX I. -- Kevin http://www.RawFedDogs.net http://www.Lassie.xyz http://www.WacoAgilityGroup.org Bruceville, TX What's the definition of a legacy system? One that works! Errare humanum est, ignoscere caninum.
Re: MicroVAX I
On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: > My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in > 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can > you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original > monitors. There is some value, since it's in a BA23 and _is_ a VAX, even as slow as can be. They are somewhat uncommon because they were only available for a couple of years unlike most other DEC machines. Having used one in the mid-80s when they were brand new (and $10,000), they are quite slow and painful and limited to, I think, various versions of MicroVMS and VMS 4.x, depending on disk size (MicroVMS fits on a 30MB disk when the full version would not). I don't recall if there is any support for them in VMS 5.x - the max RAM is 4MB (unlike later Qbus VAXen, the RAM is _on_ the Qbus) but one could easily put a newer disk controller in there other than the RQDX1 and a larger disk. As shipped, though, I don't think the uVAX-I arrived with a large enough disk for VMS 5.0, at least not without a very manual, very painful install. Where is this? (city? country? continent?) I still have the one from work from 1984 so I'm not in the market, but people here do want to know. -ethan
Re: MicroVAX I
On 8/14/2018 2:12 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original monitors. There is some value, since it's in a BA23 and _is_ a VAX, even as slow as can be. They are somewhat uncommon because they were only available for a couple of years unlike most other DEC machines. Having used one in the mid-80s when they were brand new (and $10,000), they are quite slow and painful and limited to, I think, various versions of MicroVMS and VMS 4.x, depending on disk size (MicroVMS fits on a 30MB disk when the full version would not). I don't recall if there is any support for them in VMS 5.x - the max RAM is 4MB (unlike later Qbus VAXen, the RAM is _on_ the Qbus) but one could easily put a newer disk controller in there other than the RQDX1 and a larger disk. Be aware that most (if not all?) QBus SCSI controllers appear to be incompatible with the MicroVAX I. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but none of the Emulex, CMD, or Dilog controllers I've tried are listed as compatible with the system -- they all state compatibility with the II and later .I've tried using them in my MicroVAX I with no success. VMS fails to boot, and Ultrix kernel panics. Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone have any idea why this might be? I'd like to get the system doing something interesting and not having to rely on very old MFM disks would be nice... - Josh As shipped, though, I don't think the uVAX-I arrived with a large enough disk for VMS 5.0, at least not without a very manual, very painful install. Where is this? (city? country? continent?) I still have the one from work from 1984 so I'm not in the market, but people here do want to know. -ethan
Re: MicroVAX I
On 8/14/18 5:40 PM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote: On 8/14/2018 2:12 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 11:36 PM, robertbeauchamp33--- via cctalk wrote: My mother is moving and her spouse has a MicroVax I he bought new back in 1984 for some crazy amount. I don’t see this model listed in your chart? Can you tell me if there is any value to this machine? He also has two original monitors. There is some value, since it's in a BA23 and _is_ a VAX, even as slow as can be. They are somewhat uncommon because they were only available for a couple of years unlike most other DEC machines. Having used one in the mid-80s when they were brand new (and $10,000), they are quite slow and painful and limited to, I think, various versions of MicroVMS and VMS 4.x, depending on disk size (MicroVMS fits on a 30MB disk when the full version would not). I don't recall if there is any support for them in VMS 5.x - the max RAM is 4MB (unlike later Qbus VAXen, the RAM is _on_ the Qbus) but one could easily put a newer disk controller in there other than the RQDX1 and a larger disk. Be aware that most (if not all?) QBus SCSI controllers appear to be incompatible with the MicroVAX I. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but none of the Emulex, CMD, or Dilog controllers I've tried are listed as compatible with the system -- they all state compatibility with the II and later .I've tried using them in my MicroVAX I with no success. VMS fails to boot, and Ultrix kernel panics. Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone have any idea why this might be? I'd like to get the system doing something interesting and not having to rely on very old MFM disks would be nice... - Josh No personal experience here, but the Emulex UC04 is listed as MicroVAX I compatible. See https://ia801902.us.archive.org/11/items/bitsavers_emulex1987_5921218/1987_catalog_text.pdf page 27. The UC07/UC08 is documented not to support the MicroVax I due to lack of Scatter/Gather support. See https://ia801902.us.archive.org/11/items/bitsavers_emulex1987_5921218/1987_catalog_text.pdf Section 1.6.3 Page 1-22. Having no Scatter/Gather (aka Qbus IO Map) is not a surprise as the MicroVax I only uses Qbus Memory directly. Thus mapping to a larger physical address space should not be needed (micronote #22). However, I don't follow what changed to lose support on the UC07/08. Jerry
MicroVAX I Diagnostic floppies
Hi all -- I'm attempting to resurrect a MicroVAX I (because it's there, that's why) and the CPU appears to have developed a fault. Microverify passes at powerup, but I can't get VMS to boot (it dies with a SYSBOOT-F-Unexpected Machine Check almost immediately). Also tried Ultrix and it dies shortly after enumerating disks. I know the memory and disk controllers are fine, and there's nothing else in the system at the moment, so unless anyone has any bright ideas, I think I'm going to need to debug the CPU. I'm trying to track down the diagnostics for this machine, no luck so far. Anyone have a copy sitting around somewhere? I believe there were two RX50 floppies for this purpose, DEC part numbers BL-T856A-DE and BL-T857A-DE. Thanks as always, Josh
Re: MicroVAX I Diagnostic floppies
Well, that figures. Found them here, for future reference: https://www.headcrashers.org/comp/rx50/index.html - Josh On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 10:50 AM, Josh Dersch wrote: > Hi all -- > > I'm attempting to resurrect a MicroVAX I (because it's there, that's why) > and the CPU appears to have developed a fault. Microverify passes at > powerup, but I can't get VMS to boot (it dies with a SYSBOOT-F-Unexpected > Machine Check almost immediately). Also tried Ultrix and it dies shortly > after enumerating disks. I know the memory and disk controllers are fine, > and there's nothing else in the system at the moment, so unless anyone has > any bright ideas, I think I'm going to need to debug the CPU. > > I'm trying to track down the diagnostics for this machine, no luck so > far. Anyone have a copy sitting around somewhere? I believe there were > two RX50 floppies for this purpose, DEC part numbers BL-T856A-DE and > BL-T857A-DE. > > Thanks as always, > Josh >
