Hello,

> > Another question i thought of, at the risk of sounding silly:
> > is this break to console thing handled by some interrupt or
> > something ? Shouldn't OS be able to hook that interrupt and
> > prevent this behavior if that is the case ?
> 
> It almost certainly is an NMI of some sort but there will
> be no easy way for the OS to get in the way. The whole point
> is to be able to still recover the console even when something
> else decides to play at IPL 31 forever!

I don't know how things work on Vaxen but NMIs can be hooked too on x86
so in theory the handler could decide whether it wants to invoke
original handler (the one that breaks to console and so on) or not.
Actually i'm slightly surprised that OS allows such interruptions,
unless, of course, if this is a 'feature' :)
 
> Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder: I got mine for free,
> so I would not shell out that much for one. I don't know what the
> typical ebay selling price for these is - I don't even know if there
> are enough selling on ebay for a typical price to make any
> sense.

Uhh ... shortly after a joined this mailing list somebody posted up
about a VS 4k/90 in Italy for free - i live in Slovenia, practically
next door :) I didn't get the box :-( These are so damn hard to come by
over here, i offered the guy to pay something for it and to cover the
shipping. Bigger irons (which might be easier to come by, if only i
owned a forklifter, a truck and my own appartment <sigh>) would probably
be easier to come by. 
 
> bid £50 and the reserve has not been met. I assume you want to
> ship it to the US, in which case it could set you back another
> £55 minimum on top of the auction price.

60-65 UKP shipping, seller said so himself. What irritates me is that
box was mostlikely full of goodies when he got it, presumeably for free,
and he stripped it almost bare and wants to make money off of poor
enthusiast here ...
 
> Aren't there any nearer?

Unfortunately not :( If you happen to know about a VS 4k/90/A/96, uVax
3100 or VAX 4000 with NVAX CPU (= something with best crunshing power
and enclosure of dimensions i can still fit in my cubicle that i call
room) in continental Europe please let me know. Unlike in the US these
were not abundant over here, i traced one that is still being used but
it will depart for some former Yugoslavian republic after they decide to
throw it out .. as if they needed a Vaxstation down there, i bet i'll
end up on a junkyard.

Blaz Antonic