[Info-vax] Multia

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 11/8/21 6:31 PM, MG wrote:
> On 11/8/21 00:52, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> I used mine for years with never a failure.
> 
> For approximately how long per 'boot'?

Usually a week or so. It wasn't my primary system but for a
while iot was my only Alpha.
> 
> 
>> The heat problem was well known.  Other than ensurinf that it was
>> always stood on end to allow for heat flow a small fan made this
>> a non-problem. > [...]
>> Never had any power supply problems.
> 
> Good for you.
> 
> 
>> Usually too big and too expensive to get shipped to me and also
>> too big and noisy to run in the house. 
> 
> The Multia/UDB with a proper fan wasn't silent either, in so
> far I recall.

I used to mount small (~1.5 - 2") boxers and it was quieter than
the average PC of the era.

> 
> 
>> Multia's will do all that I need to do now and I really liked the 
>> little box.  Ran VMS, Linux and BSD on it and all of them performed 
>> very well.  I wanted to try Windows NT but never got around to trying it.
> 
> Why would you run Linux or BSD on it...?  You'd get a
> far more pleasurable experience from just about any
> modern x86/-64, Arm, etc. system, which hopefully goes
> without saying.

Because I wanted to work with the Alpha architecture.  I still run
Sparc every once n a while, too. (and there is no reason to mention
all my PDP-11's again. :-)

> 
> I'm sure the point is arriving fast where a low-power
> Arm single board system will emulate AXP faster than
> arguably 'even' the most tricked out, max-spec'ed,
> Multia/UDB would ever run.

Maybe, but I have had very little luck getting VMS on an
Alpha emulator to do much that was useful.  Even with
my PDP's and VAX I still prefer real hardware over any
emulated system.

> 
> VMS on the Multia/UDB perhaps has some 'curiosity'
> value, being relatively unusual, yet with very few if
> any actual practical purposes in terms of end usage
> though...

I don't do this for a living any more so the question of
practicality doesn't come into it.  It's all about what
I find to provide fun.

> 
> Arguably the most 'reliable' OS choice is Digital/Tru64
> UNIX, up to the latest version including patches up to
> those released all the way in 2010, which runs fully
> featured, in so far I'm aware, unlike the unofficial,
> wholly unsupported and hacked-together mess of VMS V7.1
> and V7.2 (where you could not install certain patches
> and additional software, without the risk of breaking
> fundamental hardware support).

I have been doing Unix since V7.  I still have at least six
different flavors available to me any time I want them.  I
have never been intersted in Tru64.  And as for support,
I'm just a Hobbyist.  Support is not an issue.

> 
> I remember, just as a sort of experiment, I drove a
> SCSI disk array with an LSM/AdvFS stripe set and a
> custom external SCSI connector and self-made, custom,
> back-panel.  I even combined it with a compatible PCI
> audio adapter, for some "multimedia" support and (non-
> existent) 'functionality'.
> 
> Useful?  Definitely not, but it was fun and interesting
> on some level... for as long as it would run.
> 


If everyone thinks like you there should be a lot of them
available.  Send to me and keep them out of your landfills.

:-)

bill