hart@cp1.UUCP (Rod Hart) (10/06/85)
In an effort to locate and obtain computer equipment for a Balto. City public middle school, I posted a request for surplus equip- ment. At the time I was not aware of the fact that a number of Dec PDP 11/03L systems were being retired within my company. Anyhow it looks like I will beable to provided the school with from 10-20 systems without terminals. I now have (2) new problems that I need info/help/donations to solve. First off, Dec wants a pot of money for rt-11 or rsx-11 to run on the systems. Is there a PD operating system for this hardware? If so, who do I contact to obtain a copy? The second problem is that fact that none of the equipment is being retired with terminals. Therefore I am still in need of donations. Please, check your old storerooms and put some of that old GOOD junk to use educating a group of real fine young people. Any information about available software that could be used in a middle school program would also be appreciated. I am a member of Decus, but have never understood how they handle software. By the way, the equipment we have is configured as follows: dual rx02 drives 64k ram 5 async io ports lsi-11/2 cpu There is a good possibility we will beable to locate a few RK05 drives and controllers. Any help/info/donation will be sincerely appreciated . Thanks! -- =========================================================================== Signed by: Rod Hart (WA3MEZ) Minicomputer Technical Support District Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. Co. A Bell Atlantic Company Silver Spring, Md. sabre!cp1!hart - gamma!cp1!hart - umcp-cs!cp1!hart - aplvax!cp1!hart ===========================================================================
cdl@mplvax.UUCP (Carl Lowenstein) (10/11/85)
This got bounced back by a mailer who couldn't find cp1. So here it is broadcast to the public at large. In article <1114@cp1.UUCP> you write: > >First off, Dec wants a pot of money >for rt-11 or rsx-11 to run on the systems. Perhaps you have asked Dec the wrong question. Not 'what does a primary RT11 license cost' but 'what does a secondary (license to copy) cost. At worst, you would get a primary license for one machine and secondary for all others. If you have a local friend who doesn't mind being your software support person, you could probably get away with license to copy for all systems. You will then find that the cost of the documenation exceeds the cost of the license. I don't know of a genuinely public domain operating system for this hardware -- Comer's Xinu has residual Unix code in it, and needs a VAX or equivalent as a support machine, but it would be interesting. Generally speaking, RT11 is the way to go for your hardware configuration, as it is not particularly disk intensive. >I am a member of Decus, but have >never understood how they handle software. Lots of public-domain programs, available for the cost of duplication by DEC. (significantly over media cost, since they charge for labor and amortize the hardware too) $35 for a floppy. As a Decus member, you should have received your current (1985-86) library catalog a few months ago. If not, contact DECUS Program Library 249 Northboro Rd. BP02 Marlboro, MA 01752 (617) 480-3422 Also look for a local user group in your area. There is an active group in the DC area that I know of. > > dual rx02 drives > 64k ram > 5 async io ports > lsi-11/2 cpu Looks like a reasonable hardware configuration. Especially if you have or can get the floating-point chip for the processor. > >There is a good possibility we will be able to locate a few RK05 >drives and controllers. > After many years of RK05, I am reluctantly abandoning them. If you have any money at all, the new generation of small Winchester disks is a better way to go. There are lots of relatively inexpensive Q-bus controllers that emulate RL02 disks, and are thus software compatible with standard DEC software. > >=========================================================================== >Signed by: > Rod Hart (WA3MEZ) > Minicomputer Technical Support District > Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. Co. > A Bell Atlantic Company > Silver Spring, Md. > sabre!cp1!hart - gamma!cp1!hart - umcp-cs!cp1!hart - aplvax!cp1!hart >=========================================================================== -- carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego {ihnp4|decvax|akgua|dcdwest|ucbvax} !sdcsvax!mplvax!cdl