[HECnet] Hello

[Chris Kurowicki]

I really appreciate helping me narrow down my search! I gave the local resale shop a ring and they had no idea what I meant by "Alpha", oh well. The search continues! Ebay is the only place I've found Alphas, but the prices are outrageous. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Jul 18, 2015, at 12:06 PM, Hans Vlems <hvlems at zonnet.nl> wrote:
> 
> Hi Chris, plenty models are rack mountable. The problem may be lifting the heavy boxes...
> My systems live in the attic and I only take systems that I can handle all by myself.  
> In terms of performance, and more importantly, power consumption, have a look at more modern machines: with EV6 cpu's. Like a ds10, ds20 or ds20e, a ds25. 
> Or a workstation : xp900, xp1000.
> 
> Prices may vary from free (just lift it from the floor) to over $1000 on ebay. These guys are looking at commercial users that still operate old gear like this. I only paid for three Alpha's, the most expensive one a ds25 for €100, say $120.
> ‎The rest was free.
> Good luck!
> Hans
> 
> ‎Http://home.zonnet.nl/hvlems
> 
> 
> Verzonden vanaf mijn BlackBerry 10-smartphone.
> Van: Chris Kurowicki
> Verzonden: zaterdag 18 juli 2015 19:12
> Aan: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
> Beantwoorden: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
> Onderwerp: Re: [HECnet] Hello
> 
> Thanks, Hans. I have considered and looked at the Alphas, that may be the way I go after I play with simh. There are models I can rack mount, which is great. 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jul 17, 2015, at 11:59 PM, Hans Vlems <hvlems at zonnet.nl> wrote:
>> 
>> Good morning Chris,
>> welcome to this list. It's across the globe, I'm in the Netherlands. ‎As others already suggested, the quickest way to get started is with a simulator.
>> VMS has an active hobbyist program and HP issues licenses and operating system kits as well as compilers. VMS runs on three platforms and though I love the VAX if you're looking for real hardware go for a cheap Alpha. Even an rx2600 itanium is cheap these days. 
>> Why, well VAX hardware is showing its age in terms of performance and VMS was frozen at V7.3.
>> Itanium and alpha run VMS V8.4 and that runs‎ fast and offers reasonably current software to run on.
>> You can run simh and emulate a VAX on alpha/vms too :-)
>> 
>> Hans
>> 
>> Verzonden vanaf mijn BlackBerry 10-smartphone.
>> Van: Chris Kurowicki
>> Verzonden: zaterdag 18 juli 2015 05:43
>> Aan: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
>> Beantwoorden: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
>> Onderwerp: Re: [HECnet] Hello
>> 
>> I've read a bit about simh, the general opinion seems to be that that is the place to start.
>> 
>>  I do have some space. Problem is I already have a decent setup of machines, it's on my blog, but I have an 18U enclosure with a few things mounted up, maybe 6U left over. I don't think that'll help with a miniVAX, though. I've considered a VAXstation, there was a 3100 on E-bay for $80 that looked promising. For now I'm getting my LCII going again ("new" hard drive the way. The darn thing failed immediately after I installed System 7.5.5 from a set of floppy's, go figure). I need to focus on one thing at a time, but the VAX world definitely has my interest. I have a microVAX handbook from '84 on the way to me from E-bay land to read over. Anyway, to answer your question, I'm in Portland, OR. Recent(ish) transplant from Michigan. 
>> 
>> Oh, I didn't notice at first! Ian McLaughlin is the one who "sent me" here. Thanks!
>> 
>>> On Fri, Jul 17, 2015 at 7:18 PM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
>>> On 07/17/2015 09:08 PM, Chris Kurowicki wrote:
>>> > Hi there. I'm new. No equipment yet. My father used a PDP-11 years
>>> > ago. I'm into retro computing, learning all I can about DEC and VAX.
>>> > I think this network you've created is awesome. So, hi! Any early
>>> > suggestions?
>>> 
>>>   Welcome!
>>> 
>>>   First, get ahold of an emulator; I suggest simh.  Next...do you have
>>> the space for actual hardware?
>>> 
>>>   Where are you located, if you don't mind my asking?
>>> 
>>>   I myself am cleaning up some rack wiring after repairing my PDP-11/34a
>>> system.  I'll be doing a Phase III sysgen (RSX-11M) on it tonight.
>>> 
>>>              -Dave
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
>>> New Kensington, PA
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Christopher G. Kurowicki
>> M.S. Information Assurance
>> www.tauceti.org
>> 
>> 
> 
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