At 07:04 PM 8/8/01 +0000, wlewis@mailbag.com wrote:
>Hello all,
>I am joing the Vax club with one of these machines next week. I have a couple
>of questions that I hope you can help with.

Congrats, its a nice VAX.

>1) Good RAM source? It only has 8mb. IIUC, it takes 4mb SIMMs (1mbx36, true
>parity, 72 pin, 80ns or better) and I need 4 more to max the machine out.

In the SF Bay Area there are surplus computer outlets that typically will 
have 1M x 36 SIMMs, I just got one to upgrade a DECServer700 to 5MB. Be 
prepared to pay about $10/stick if they are "new old stock." I believe 
Kingston still sells this memory on their website.

>2) Does anyone have a manual for this machine? I've searched the net, but no
>joy. Is there a pdf out there someplace?

I've got the manual but haven't had time to scan it (plus it isn't 
particularly useful :-)) it does give some of the LED patterns and what 
they mean etc.

>3) It has a 1gb drive internally and I have an external case with a 1gb, 
>512mb,
>and an old plextor 4x cdrom. If I want to set up both NetBSD and VMS, will 
>that
>be possible? Any gotchas? Any reason 1 system or the other should be on the
>internal disk?

That should be fine. Note that VMS doesn't know about partitioning drives 
AFAIK so pick one to be VMS and the other to be NetBSD. Put the system you 
will use most inside. Then you can move the external box around. The 512M 
is great for VMS.


--Chuck