The collected works of bifo

hm this seems like progress, setting it to 19200. here's the readout ˜€`f`˜x˜ž˜˜˜€`fž~fž`fž˜ff~†žfžf†ž`˜€æžæžf~†žþžøžæ€˜€føæø~ffž˜àæžøž`f~~†žøž~æž~fx˜æ~fæø~f€˜€æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ€˜€æ€˜€`fxx†žfž`f†~~~怘€æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†˜ž˜ž˜ž˜ž˜ž˜ž˜ž˜˜€˜€ff˜˜ž˜˜††˜˜æ˜ž€f˜žf†˜ž˜˜†xf˜ž˜f˜ž˜ø†f†˜ž`fæ€æàž†žx`fxø†˜˜€˜æ˜f˜˜˜ž˜˜˜€˜f`æ˜øþ˜ž˜`˜†€f€˜€˜xf˜˜˜xx`˜˜€˜˜æ€æ€˜˜˜x˜æ~†˜˜˜þ˜þž`føfxfxøž`˜æfx††àx€†˜˜˜þ˜þž`føfxfxøž`f€˜€˜†˜øþ˜ž˜˜~€žf†ø†žf~˜x`†øfxæø†~˜ž˜žxf†˜æ˜ž˜æ€f†x†f€˜†˜æ†f€˜€˜˜æ€æ˜f˜øþ˜ž˜˜˜€˜æ˜`ø˜øþ˜ž˜˜˜€æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ†æ€˜€føæø~ffžæž~fx˜æ~fæø~xf~fæà~fx˜††ø†ø枆f†ø†æ€˜€f†fx˜øæžf†ø˜øfæø~ffžxþžf~æžf†ž`f~†žþžøžxþž˜žæžfx˜˜†žxæžfž~†žþžøžø†æ€˜€˜€æ€˜˜`†žæ昘`f†ž~fž†fæfžæøfx˜æžæž†ž`fx††˜€æ€˜˜`ff~`æøæàž˜ø˜˜˜~ž†ž†žþž˜€æ€˜˜`ff~`æøæàž†fàž~fx†ž˜f†˜à˜˜˜fxf†øž†ž`æø†æ€˜˜˜†ž~ž†žž˜à˜à˜˜˜þžæøææ†æ€`˜˜˜†ž~ž†žž††øfž`fžžþ††˜fžž††˜àx††fž~fæxffþ†æ€f˜˜˜æøffþžàž˜à˜x††˜˜f~þžæž†ž˜€æ€x˜˜`f†ž~fž˜à††˜˜†~f†žææf†æ€~˜˜`f†ž~fž†f†žx†žf†ž††˜à˜æ˜˜fàžffž†æ€˜€æ€˜xø

I've now tried every single normal bitrate from 300 to 115200 and while i always get output from the line, its always garbage. here's what i get at 600 baud: ç)Úr­”k”^¼Cb,‚Z$ˆ‘a#ˆBÒHòB(B†Dÿ”kJJrëHBï1BëBHBV
VÖ["n:B¢" B\

it never takes any input and sometimes it settles on a diag led code that the manual says is impossible for it to settle on (E0
Informational Only — will never stop here.) i think this must have something to do with the terminal settings, kind of like if a network settles on 192.168.etc, but I am way too young to have lived through the era when this kind of thing made sense to anyone

OH SWEET JESUS GOD IT SPAT OUT READABLE TEXT AND I HAVE A PROMPT

i literally screamed when the drives spun up

oh ffs it boots to vms 6.1 and now i get to figure out how to extract an operator password from the damn thing, or wipe it. 64mb ram 2.1gb hd space between two rx26's. it's trying to connect to a decnet server that doesnt exist anymore. this is like booting up an android hundreds of years after it was decommissioned and having it ask where its master is

ok theres an rz28 and an rz26, the rz26 doesnt even spin up and the rz28 sounds like a buzzsaw so i'm going to take both out and we'll see where i can get with the ancient scsi drive that i had working in the vaxen with a fresh install of vms 8.3. the RRD42 that was installed does not appear to work either, so I've spent the evening trying to get the damn thing to boot of my pioneer dr-u124x which worked fine for vax.

This poor little alpha seems to have had a hard, neglected life, and I intend to provide it with a nice comfortable retirement.

robespierre wrote: It can be a struggle finding CDROM drives that they can boot from; I had good luck with Toshiba XM-4101B, and the notes on the Sun compatible CD-ROM page should mostly also apply.
The DEC RZ drives are all sufficiently old that their bearings are likely to be shot. I don't think any of them were new enough to have hydrodynamic bearings.

the pioneer drive was the only one that worked of about half a dozen that I bought for the vaxstation project, so I'm sure that it'll work and the alpha does recognize it (shows as a drive, shows the actual size of the CDR that's in it, just wont boot from the CDR which i blame on the ISO). I think I just need to get the current server address for the hobbyist alpha vms software, which I'll need anyway to get the PCSI files for the various compilers and so on, so I've fired off an email to the hobbyist folks and hopefully they'll get back to me sooner rather than later.

I am in no way surprised that the RRD & RZ drives are shot, but I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to get that vms 6.1 login. Next big question is going to be what the firmware version is, since that could limit which version of VMS i can install on it. Also, has anyone tried putting a 68-pin drive in one of these with a converter? Seems like it would be the ideal solution, since SCSI2SD converters are still extremely expensive. I am hopeful that I can image the rz28 that still spins up and then have a look through whats on there.

Appears as though I will need to update the firmware, but for the time being I've got VMS6.2 running on there.

wanted to drop an update on this project. i managed to find, through a hell of a lot of deep googling and fighting with HP's garbage FTP server (hidden folders on a public ftp with important files ffs) the firmware update that i needed for the system, which i was able to burn and install nicely. Unfortunately the CD drive that i've been using with it seems to have decided to start dying, which happens when a mechanical drive is 25 years old i guess, but its meant that i have not been able to properly install VMS or Tru64. Every time i try to run an install from the cd drive it winds up throwing a bus error, somehow, but on the other hand i can confirm that the 50-pin SCA adapters on ebay do function properly and i have the system up and running on a 146GB 10Krpm SCA drive just fine. I think i'll need to buy a new cd drive, plus a second adapter and another sca hard drive before i can install vms, but thats probably a few weeks away.

this was posted from dillo on the alpha itself, if the CD wont work, install a BSD via ftp

current status: chugging along calmly 24/7 with openBSD 6.0. everything works fine, but i think the problem with the cd drive is a matter of timing issues between the old scsi 2x cdrom and the adapter. once i buy another drive & adapter i'm going to attempt to use the old scsi drive i have with a working version of VMS to do a BACKUP on to the new drive and see if that works, since that should be much much faster

those prices aren't aimed at hobbyists like us, they're aimed at people with corporate budgets who need to replace dying legacy hardware which can't be upgraded (at least in theory). its the same reason you see $200+ prices on 20mb MFM/RLL hard drives and even more on floppy drives. the problem is that the businesses have got the sellers who don't have any idea what they're selling thinking it's worth serious money, except in theory the business-to-business sellers will back up what they're selling with repairs and some level of warranty, which is why they expect a premium.

similar things happen with music equipment

iBook G3 800mhz makes probably the most powerful and compact OS 9 machine out there. I keep one around for running classic programs, since they're all abandonware now and that includes a lot of games and media apps that work perfectly well. Same reason i keep an old dell c600 around to run win98.