Another Beige Alpha Joins the Fleet - Compaq Professional Workstation XP1000

In the middle of last year an interesting workstation computer came up for sale on Facebook Marketplace here in my area.  The Compaq Professional Workstation XP1000 is an Alpha based workstation from just after Compaq purchased Digital Equipment Corporation.  The Facebook Markeplace ad stated that it was stopping on a boot screen and that it might not be working, but the price was low enough that I thought it was worth the risk of not being able to repair it.

Once I got the system home I was able to verify that the system was in the condition described and then started to read what I could find about this computer.  I soon discovered that the motherboard had a password installed on it.  In the PC world we would call this a BIOS password, but for an Alpha machine like this, it's the SRM console password.  The SRM console uses a command line but with it locked out even the help command was generating an error "Console is secure.  Please login.".  Because PCs have a jumper to reset this I was quite hopeful that it would just be a matter of time till I figured out how to reset that password but after not finding much documentation online I decided to ask for help on the Vintage Computer Federation Forums.

As usual there were several people who were a big help there, including one gentleman that uploaded some documentation to the thread that I had not been able to find online anywhere else.  Sadly, though, we did NOT discover a backdoor designed by Compaq to reset the console password.  Although I could not find an explicit statement for this motherboard I did learn that were other machines designed by Compaq that did not contain a back door, if the password is lost, the main logic board containing the firmware must be replaced.  So I decided to put the project on hold and keep the machine.  I setup a saved search on eBay since you never know what will pop up there and didn't think much about this project in the second half of last year.

At the end of last year I gave quite a bit of thought to my Vintage Computing hobby.  I purged alot of my project machines, selling, donating to Free Geek, or recycling responsibly.  I also went through my wish lists and eBay saved searches and purged items that were no longer of interest and I discovered that I had setup the wrong search, adding an extra zero.  When I fixed the saved search I was shocked to learn that there was a logic board on eBay for sale!  I watched the item for a while and eventually made an offer that was accepted.

The board shipped from Israel so it took a while to get here but once it arrived I was able to pull my machine completely apart.  I used this as an opportunity to do some much needed dusting inside the case of this machine.  It was a huge relief when the system started back up after re-assembly and an even bigger relief when I was able to use the SRM console and issue commands to boot an Operating System off an Installation Disk!

Once I could start to explore, I learned that this was one of the newer XP1000 machines.  This machine can run the VMS operating systems and Unix like systems, but not Windows NT.  The older, slower machines could boot NT, but I already have one Alpha machine setup that way.  I know at least one DEC hardware enthusiast  who will be glad to see the machine running DEC software and not Microsoft software.

I had some old media for OpenVMS which I had burned while I was a part of the Community Licensing program, but that program has ended now.  I was able to install OpenVMS 8 on the hardware, but without licenses it's not very interesting or useful.  After searching on the Internet and reading for a bit, I learned that the archived version of Tru64 Unix on WinWorld has keys with the archive, so I gave that a try, and it worked well.

Configuring networking was a bit of a challenge, but I ended up getting that working with a Static IP and now the computer can read articles on FrogFind.com and 68k.news just fine.  I'm quite happy with how the machine turned out...

I was disappointed that I couldn't load older software on here.  I have been looking for some VAX hardware since that is what we used back in College, I remember the Motif Window Manager and that was such an interesting look and feel, but I didn't know that Motif was the precursor to the Common Desktop Environment (CDE).  Because of multiple vendors working together on this more open code base this Compaq (Digital Equipment) machine will join several others CDE machines that I have including IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, and SGI Irix.

Hackers and the PiPD-10

I've previously written about using simulation and buying replica kits as a more attainable way of getting hands-on time with retro computers that are rare.  This article is two years old (as of this writing), and since then I've built another PPD-8 like system and Oscar Vermeulen's PiPD-11 (in Mid 2023).  I still think these kits are a great way to learn about old systems.  The learning continues with Oscars newest kit, the PiPD-10.

As soon as I heard about the PiDP-10 project I was excited.  I've known something of the original Hacker culture since reading the Jargon file online in the early 2000s and I've had a copy of the "New Hackers Dictionary" since then.  My college, the Milwaukee School of Engineering had Digital Equipment Corporation VAX machines when I was there in the 1990s.  I'm sure that without being conscious of it I was exposed too and adopted a midwestern version of Hacker culture as it existed there in the late 1990s.  

I've been anticipating Oscar's new machine for quite a while.  During the wait I read Steven Levy's book "Hackers".  This is a book that describes longer periods of the history of computing, but it has chapters focused on the people and the culture of the MIT AI Lab in the early days of computing in the 1960s that I had not read much about before.  This is the time period of the PDP10.  Even though the ITS system did not become prominent and is not a direct predecessor to the Operating Systems of today, so many of the people who worked on it and the ideas behind it have been incorporated into today's software.

But enough background and back to modern times.  I got into the PiDP10 Google Group for conversation about PiDP-10 and I asked to be added to Oscar's "expression of interest" list as soon as the Beta test period ended.  My PiDP10 Kit arrived in mid April 2024.  I build the kit on the first weekend after it arrived.  The build went pretty well.  The biggest challenge that I had was damage around a trace that I caused by not being careful with a component, but once I repaired the broken trace all the LEDs worked as expected.  It was a long build but well documented as usual for one of Oscars kits.  The PiPD10 looks great and since it has some graphical elements I'm going to keep it in a place of honor on the shelf above my desk where I can also keep it plugged into a Monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse...

The next step for me after building the kit was a challenge.  Not knowing anything about ITS I really needed the manual to make progress.  At one point I'd thought the system wasn't coming up because I'd corrupted the file systems so I re-installed a fresh image on the Pi and went through the entire install procedure again,  But that was not the root issue, I just didn't know how to bring up ITS.

Oscar published a draft version of the manual in the PiDP10 Google Group shortly after my kit was built and with that I was able to bring up ITS on the simulated hardware and begin a bit of happy hacking!  I haven't had much time with the system yet, but having it convenient at my desk will make it easy to go back and explore what it was like to use a computer back in an era when having computer access was not a part of normal life for people.  I'm looking forward to that!

Let me know in the comments, or send an email if you have memories or a connection to Hacker culture.  Also let me know if you have suggested about the ITS or TOPS operating systems and things that I should try on the PiPD10.  Thanks!

Building a New / Old Single Board Computer

As readers of my bLog will know, I have a soft spot for Digital Equipment Corporation's hardware.  I'm the fortunate owner of multiple terminals and the PiDP-8 and PiDP-11 kits.  At VCF Midwest this year I met a guy who explained to me about the RetroBrew Computers SBC6120 Single Board Computer built on the Harris 6120 Microprocessor.  He had built one and had parts left for multiple kits.  He sold me a complete kit with all the parts.

The documentation for this kit is very good.  I'm glad that I read through the instructions before I started though because this is not a beginner's kit.  And there are notes about the RBC revision of the board that you have to read which superceed the original documentation, so you need to go back and forth between the updated notes and the original detailed documentation.  The traces on the board are very small and the advice about using a fine tip on the soldering iron and a fine solder was very helpful.  My build went very well.  I spent one afternoon doing the bulk of the soldering, then cleaned the board and set it aside.  I came back the next day and did touch up soldering and more cleaning.  I also spent time re-reading the "bring up" instructions and the jumper settings required.

I brought the board up in steps using the described procedure and it worked right away.  I was very pleased that I'd gone slowly double checking the work along the way. I'm sure that taking my time ended up being less time and certainly less frustrating than troubleshooting a design that I'm not familiar with.

I'm in the enviable position of having to decide which terminal to pair with this system and since my VT100 is tied up with the PiDP-8 I went with the VT220.  The documentation does point out that you need to use 7-M-1 in order to get the proper display from both the boot loader and from OS/8 after it starts.  

There are three different disk images linked from the RBC page about the SBC6120.  I used a Windows 10 computer to write these out to some small CF cards that I had on hand.  At first I thought that my disk images were not working, however the root cause ended up being that I had not saved the serial settings in the terminal and when I cycled power it went back to 8-N-1.  Once the serial settings were restored and saved to 7-M-1, I was able to get output from all three of the boot disk images linked above on the RBC page.

I'm quite happy to have one of these PDP-8s on a Chip, it should be a great learning platform for the platform and the OS/8 operating system.  Perhaps someday I may even be able to own "Real PDP-8" hardware.

Let me know if you have any stories to share about this platform, or better yet join us on the Vintage Computer Forum and let us know "What did you do with your PDP-8 Today".

Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023 Recap

I've just returned from Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023.  I had a great time during my first year as an exhibitor.  The thing I enjoyed most were seeing so many people enjoying the computers I brought along...

Many types of people enjoyed the computers, from those who have never gotten to work on a NeXT machine because they were too young to those who had used the Apple Power Mac G3 w/ the 21" Studio Display back in the day.  It was so much fun hearing about peoples memories with these computers,  answering questions, or hearing small parts of many many different stories.  It was a really great time.

I was also able to connect with some of my favorite YouTubers, purchasing a boxed game from David Murray (the 8-bit guy), meeting Adrian Black for the first time, and even recording a YouTube Short for RetroTech Chris, in addition to hanging out with Steve from Mac84 and Ron from Ron's Computer Videos who I had met 2 years ago at VCF Midwest for the first time.

Also, I was able to purge several project machines that I'd lost interested in onto the "Free Pile".  Hopefully my failures can become part of a successful repair or refurbishment for another collector.  One of my friends, Matt, had a table right next to the free pile and he gave me a couple of items off the pile that he had recovered.  The crowds were so large that the good stuff came and left the free pile pretty quickly!

One goal I had set for myself was to buy only parts and pieces for projects that I already had pending.  I didn't want to leave VCF with a bunch of new projects and I was able to accomplish that goal!  I found many parts and pieces that I was looking for, mostly on Sunday.  I waited till about 11AM on Sunday to make offers.  With only a few hours left in the show many of the vendors were happy to make deals.  I have 4 or 5 projects now that I can complete with parts that I found at the show, including hard to find parts like: a DEC keyboard w/ a PS/2 port, a SUN CRT, and a New Old Stock Floppy Drive.

In summary I had a wonderful time at VCF Midwest 2023.  There were some growing pains that go along with the number of people at the show but my overall impression was quite positive and I hope to return as an exhibitor next year with a completely different set of computers to show and to share.

Preparing for VCF Midwest 2023 - September 9 and 10

I'm heading back to VCF Midwest this year and I couldn't be more excited about it.  I consider the year of the pandemic (2020) as my first VCF because I eagerly watched all the sessions (the event was online only that year).  The following year (2021) I attended for the first time in person.  I was able to pickup a NeXTstation during that show and meet so many interesting people including regular collectors like myself and a few YouTubers like Clint from LGR and David Murray, The 8-Bit Guy.  I missed last year (2022) but ended up buying several machines before the show from a local friend who has been downsizing his collection.

This year I decided that I'd like to try to exhibit.  I was inspired by a couple of different sources.  The first was a history book that presents computer history as a series of computing stories.  This book made an impression on me this year and left me thinking about the importance of teaching computer history to the next generation.  Last year Bill Degnan gave an interesting talk about how to build a Vintage Computer Museum at VCF Midwest.  I found his idea of building exhibits one at a time and looking for opportunities to display them pretty interesting and so this year I'm taking advantage of the opportunity at VCF Midwest to bring this exhibit...

The title of my exhibit this year is "Engineering Workstations of the 1990's".  This was a time when I was going to school and early in my career.  I really wanted one of these specialized machines, but never had anything other than a PC.

The first computer I'll be displaying is the NeXT NextStation from 1990 I've already mentioned.  It's had a bit of preventative maintenance since its last appearance at VCF in 2021, and it works great.  Come and check out some of the applications I've installed and maybe even surf the web a bit with frogfind.com.

The next computer I'll be showing is the Digital Equipment AlphaServer 300 from 1996.  This machine is running Windows NT 4.0, an OS that I experimented with back in the day (on PC hardware) but never used at work.  As I have learned about the history of Windows NT and its chief architecture David Cutler I've wondered if the DEC Alpha may have been the primary development target for Windows NT.  There isn't very much software for the machine, but you can come and try out what I've been able to install so far at VCF.  Perhaps we'll find some other applications to install during the show.

Finally, the last computer is an Apple Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White from 1999 that I have recently upgraded.  The G3 B&W is a machine that I had at home back in the day and shows an amazing progression during the 90s from the expensive and rare NeXTstation to the much more affordable G3, becoming so affordable that it could be purchased as a home computer.  Come and check out all the different OSes I have installed on this machine, including Rhapsody.

There is an interesting "what if" scenario about a pivotal event in computer history that ties these machines together but I will save that story for the show.  Stop by my table if you are there!  I'll be in the "Big Iron" room, table D33.

Digital Equipment Corporation - AlphaServer 300 4/266

This year I missed VCF Midwest in Chicago.  I had a really great time last year and I was disappointed to miss out.  One of the retro collectors I know from Free Geek Twin Cities was willing to set aside several of the machines that he was planning to sell there.  You'll be hearing more about these computers on my bLog as I work my way down the stack.  The first in the series is a Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha Server 300 4/266.  This line was released in 1995 and this particular machine dates from 1996 or 1997.  It's one of the lower end from the Alpha Server line, but given the desktop form factor it should perform nicely as a workstation.

I've always wanted a RISC Windows NT machine ever since they were new.  When I bought this machine I was thinking that it may have been limited to run VMS or True64 Unix, but I was willing to purchase it anyway because VMS is also quite nostalgic for me, as that was the OS that was running on our VAX cluster back in my college days at MSOE.

As usual I started my intake process with some cleaning and inspection.  I was surprised when I opened the case and found a Matrox Millennium II PCI card and a Sound Blaster 32 ISA Sound Card in the machine, I didn't know that these were supported.  The machine was really clean inside.  I was happy to find an enterprise grade SCSI HDD (hopefully less likely to die soon) and fully populated RAM slots (which ended up being 256MB of RAM).  The HDD had a sticker on it indicating that the drive had been wiped at Free Geek at some point.  The machine also needed a new clock battery, but this machine uses a standard CR2032 so that was an easy fix.  After that the machine was clean and there were no loose parts and connections, so it was ready for a first boot.  

The machine booted for me, and just as I had been told it was coming up to a prompt:
>>>>
After some reading I learned that this is the Alpha's ROM prompt. 

I started googling around and reading about this machine.  As you may know Alpha was a short lived platform and it was sold off (killed) after Compaq acquired DEC.  The main software architect of Windows NT, Dave Cutler, was previously a Digital employee who was a member of the Vax / VMS software team.  I think there's a pretty convincing argument to be made that Alpha was the primary target platform for Windows NT during it's early development at Microsoft with x86 being a runner up.  It's interesting to think about how things might have turned out differently if Digital would have been able to reinvent itself.

But back to this machine.  One of the first items I encountered was this document, a procedure for installing Windows NT.  I was anxious to try it out since I didn't know if this would work or not.  I found a Windows NT 4.0 disk image on WinWorld and got to work.  In hindsight, if you are doing this, you will want to also download the full ISO CD version of Service Pack 6.  It has additional files that are not available in the self extracting EXE version of the last Service Pack and it's helpful when looking for drivers to be able to have both the entire Windows NT installer and the entire uncompressed SP6 on the local hard drive.

I struggled getting a driver installed for the Matrox Millennium graphics card.  After reading a bit on the forums, I planed another trip to Free Geek.  My contact at Free Geek set me up with an S3 video card from 1995.  I was concerned that this was not "specialized' hardware, but in hindsight this machine does not require specialized hardware, as it came right up at boot time.  Windows NT Plug and Play recognized the S3 video card on boot and I had 256 colors for the first time since working on the machine!

Getting Audio working was also a bit of a pain with lots of trial and error, but I think having both the NT installer files and the SP6 files on the hard drive would have avoided most of the difficulty.  The key enabler for getting this card to work was that ISA cards don't have Plug and Play out of the box.  On the NT install CD ROM Extras there is an installer for ISA PnP. After installing this and restarting the machine the ISA sound card is found at startup.  I ended up having to move the card to the bottom ISA slot and to manually assign resources (Default Resources 0000) too the card, but after a couple of restarts the sound card is working in Windows NT!

So, in hindsight, I think the trick is to use only hardware that is on the Windows NT 4.0 Hardware Compatibility List.  I had trouble finding a readable version of this document on the web, so I'm including a link here to an Archive.  Perhaps it's good that I didn't find this doucment till later as the AlphaServer 300 is not on the HCL.  Still, after many hours of runtime the machine is stable and running well with zero hangs or bluescreens.

I'm quite pleased with how this machine turned out paired with a large CRT monitor.  Being that these machines were so expensive at the time and were often used for art or engineering they were often paired with larger CRTs...

The entire appeal of these machines at the time was that they were faster than the x86 machines of the time.  How much faster is I suppose a matter of debate but loading this up with period correct software like MS Office, VB 6.0, Visual C++ 4.0, and other tools, it does seem quite a bit faster than Pentium PCs of the era, although I'm sure a good part of that is the benefit of a fast wide SCSI bus vs. IDE.

A New Addition to the Collection - DEC VT-180 Robin

Knowing of my interest in both Digital Equipment Corporation and CP/M Machines a friend recently offered to sell me his DEC VT-180 Computer, also known as the Robin.  I jumped at this chance and I consider myself very fortunate to be the next owner / caretaker of this survivor from 1982.

My system came with some but not all of the software that has been archived.  I was able to write out floppy disks from the images on BitSavers which are listed here. and I have converted these to the more universal IMD format (Dave Dunfield's Image Disk) and uploaded them to Archive.org.  Also, I used the KERMIT80 software which was included on one of the disks to send data over a serial link to create disks for ZORK 1, 2 & 3, as well as send three floppy disks full of Basic games.  I've uploaded disk images (In IMD format) for this "new" contribution to Archive.org if there are others that can use this.

As we all know, gaming is the "Killer App" for Retro Computers, so I've also tried finding a couple of other CP/M Games like Ladder and a text-based PacMan clone.  The only archives of these that I've found, do not appear to contain versions that will run on the DEC, although I do see one YouTube video showing these games, so I do think they are out there.  Please leave a comment below or reach out via email (address in my Profile) if you have disks you'd be willing to swap, send, or image?

The Robin has been a super interesting machine to learn about.  As many of the earlier personal computers, it has single sided double-density floppy drives, and to make up for that it supports up to four drives at a time.  The machine is hosted inside of a VT-100 terminal.  It has two serial ports, one "general purpose" that could be used for a Modem or terminal emulation, and a second to connect to a printer.  The system is not expandable beyond the ports on the back as there are no open card slots.  This machine is built like a tank, and each of the drive enclosures is also solid sheet steel and amazingly strong.

Perhaps in the future I will blog about a hands on comparison and contrast between the DEC Robin and the IBM PC, but for now I'm just going to bask in the warm glow of the VT-180 experience.  Perhaps it's finally time for me to play through Zork, that's something I never did finish back in the day?

Really Old Computers - Simulation Using Kits as a Path Forward

As readers of my bLog will know one of my goals in the Retro Computing hobby has been to "move back in time", learning about earlier and earlier computer systems.  Over the last couple of years as I've built my collection and interest in the hobby has increased prices have risen.  The machines that I can afford to buy (as a hobby) are of a certain age and no older.  The machines from the 70's are becoming out of reach for the average hobbyist, including the 1977 "trinity" of pre-assembled home computers; Commodore PET, Apple II, and Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1.  For machines that are older than that, the original kit built home computers like the Altair 8800, IMSAI 8080 and more obscure machines like the ones that Brad @ Tech Time Traveller covers on YouTube, prices are also quite high.  

Prior to the Home Computer revolution, computers were purchased by companies in smaller numbers and tended to be quite large, so hardware from IBM and the Seven Dwarves isn't a practical target for an individual to buy and tinker with.  Even early "Mini Computers", systems from Data General or Digital Equipment are beyond the limit for most hobbyists in terms of cost, size, and power requirements.

But, there is an option that I've recently become aware of that I've become convinced is a good way to go for those of us who are just learning and aren't yet certain if we are willing (or able) to make the commitments required.  Emulation has proliferated as one of the many benefits of the Open Source software movement, and Hardware Simulation has become easier since only the User Interface needs to be Simulated with the rest of the functionality easily emulated in Software.  There are some really lovely simulators out there now with front panels like; Adwater & Stir's AltairDuino,  High Nibble's IMSAI replica, and Oscar Vermuelen's PiDP-8 replica.

As Oscar explains on his web page one of the many advantages of pursuing the hobby in this way is that these systems are more stable and reliable than the retro computers themselves.  Learning these systems is complicated when running on actual hardware because the hardware is often breaking down due to component age.  Along withe lower cost and no risk of damaging an actual antique, I find that a quite a compelling list of arguments, so I took the plunge and got in an order for the PiDP8 project.  Based on the instructions on the website I was able to get the Pi setup and running before the hardware arrived, and I had that running as shown in my last bLog article about building what looks like a Retro terminal.

While I was waiting for the kit to arrive a friend of mine reached out about a Terminal that he had acquired as a part of a large lot of vintage gear that he had purchased.  He offered to sell it to me at a great price, an offer I couldn't refuse, so now I am the proud owner of a Digital Equipment Corporation VT-520 from 1996.  This was the last Terminal that DEC made and I believe based on the date code that this may have been one of the last of the DEC branded terminals.  I'm quite happy to have gotten it, and because it is compatible with PC keyboards that also lowers the cost of entry.  I've paired it with a very nice clicky Unicomp from 2001...

Shortly after I got the Terminal online with the Raspberry Pi computer, the PiDP8 kit hardware arrived.  The build was time consuming but very well documented. My son helped me start the build, so that was fun.  It's a great looking build as expected...

I couldn't be more pleased with the build, and I'm going to move other computers around to keep this machine easily accessible so that my learning about the operation of the machine and the software can continue.