Hi,

(I was just doing a random dip into my much-neglected IB-Architect
folder and saw this ...)

On 15/07/2009, at 8:31 AM, Jim Starkey wrote:
> Sure. I've got an attic full. The problem is that no devices from
> 1985
> exist in 2009. Gotta 8" floppy? How about an Apollo cartridge
> tape? A
> TK50 drive?

I have a client with a working system with a TK50 and probably a TK70,
who uses it to support one of his clients still running a control
system on a MicroVAX. An RX01/RX02 is a bit of a stretch. Apollo?
If it a QIC, I have a QIC 150 drive in the cupboard which might be
able to read it, it it's an Exabyte I can't do anything. I'm not sure
what I'd plug the QIC drive into thought ... I think it's SCSI ...

> A friend at DEC had a cartoon on a trashed disk of Watson saying to a
> distraught Sherlock Holmes, "There, there Holmes. You still have the
> listings."

You could probably sensibly OCR it these days.

> On the other hand, I do have machines for all that stuff, though
> nothing
> has been turned on since the great politically/correct imbroglio. But
> how would I connect thin-net to CAT5?
>

The same client probably has some spare DEChub 90s, with 10base2 and
10baseT connectors.

However, if you are connecting to a VAX of some sort (or any Ethernet
of that generation), you probably have an AUI connector and could
pretty easily get an AUI to 10baseT transceiver and avoid thinwire
altogether. Should be able to get one on eBay pretty cheaply. Some
cheap hubs from about 10 years ago also had a single 10base2 connector
for the "uplink" as well as the 10baseT connectors. I see one of
those used for getting to the aforementioned old support Vax.

Regards,

Jan.