[Info-vax] Some good news !

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <00026cc3$0$2618$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>,
	JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> writes:
> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> 
>> Huh?  Name one disk for a MIcroVAX-II that is "cheap". 
> 
> Since sales of brand spanking new All Mighty Microvax II stopped last
> century, it is likely that those MVIIs that are atill around were
> upgraded and can support SCSI disks.

And just how  much does one of those controllers cost today?  And we
won't even address the fact that while IDE disk prices have fallen
through the basement SCSI disks are just as expensive as ever.

> 
> Yes, back then a SCSI controller costed a lot. But it allowed you to buy
> bigger and cheaper disks than the RD53.

Cheaper?  Priced any SCSI disks lately?

> 
>>Can't run an RA.
> 
> KDA50 controller for RA drives is fully supported in the MVII. But the
> electrical costs of running one outweight the costs of buying a cheap
> SCSI drive.

The power supply in a MicroVAX-II will not support a KDA-50.  You had to
have a second box with a QBUS extender just to support the KDA.  I know,
I used to have one.  I forget who I gave that box to.

> 
>>  A SCSI controller costs more than the
>> entire machine. 
> 
> NOW, yes. But back then, the SCSI controllers were very cheap compared
> to the cost of the machine.

We are not talking about back then, I was told I could do all this on
my MicroVAX-II right now.

> 
> 
>> What media that
>> can be used on a MicroVAX-II is still supported?
> 
> You forget ethernet. If the MVII is still stuck with an RD54, you could
> use than as a swap/pagefile and boot from ethernet and use remote drives.

On what?  Oh wait, you want me to have anotehr, larger VAX in order to
use my MicropVAX-II.  Yeah, I can seehow that woould be a cheap solution.

> 
> 
> 
>> Unless you had a SCSI controller I really don't see how you could load
>> VMS from a CD.  And, if you can find a QBUS SCSI controller it is anything
>> but cheap.
> 
> That is because they have high resale value because they are a bit rare.

So then, the answer is that I can get  no better or cheaper support for a
MicroVAX-II than any other old piece of gear.  Which was what I said in the
first place.  The handling of obsolete VMS systems is no better than the
handling of obsolete Unix or obsolete Windows systems.  As it should be.

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>