On March 5, you wrote:
> Ok, so I went dumpster diving with a friend of mine today. I 
> got 3 VAXstation II/RC machines. I got one tk50 drive, one
> Micropolis drive, and a bunch of serial ports. 
> 
> Questions:
> 1) Does NetBSD support this machine yet?

  Yes!  It's a standard MicroVAX-II with glue squirted into some of
the slots to limit expansion.  The "RC" stands for "Restricted
Configuration."  The glue is damn near impossible to get out.  If you
bought an 'RC, the price was much lower than a non-RC machine, and the
system serial number reflects the fact that it's an RC so DEC could
decide what software they would and would not sell you.

> 2) How do I test the machine to see how well it works and stuff?
> I am going to piece together 1 machine, possibly 2, and my
> roommate gets the other machine. What sources of info are
> available on this machine? 

  Testing: agh.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have more energy and get into
this subject.  They are pretty solid machines and rarely break, so
they'll probably work.  I recently got about 30 Qbus boards (just
boards) that had been sitting out in the rain, mud, and snow for about
four months.  EVERY ONE of them works.  Amazing gear!

  Info: I am working on a bunch of web-accessible DEC hardware
information in conjuncion with the NetBSD/vax FAQ which is maintained
by Gunnar Helliesen.  Currently, all I have is a front-end to an SQL
database that you can use to look up the various boards in your system
to see what they are.  It's not complete, and this URL will change
soon, but you can try it now at http://www.neurotica.com/dec-info.

  If you have specific questions, I or others here may be able to help
you.

> 3) Can I get SCSI for these things? They look like they have 1 free
> slot in them.

  Emulex and a few other companies make SCSI host adapters for Qbus
machines like these...they're still pretty expensive, but sometimes
you can find 'em.

> 4) The tk50 doesn't have SCSI on it, what interface is it, and
> how can I make use of it even if I can't get at least one machine
> working?

  The tk50 is not a regular SCSI drive.  It's weird.  You can boot
from it to install NetBSD, though.


                          -Dave McGuire
                           mcguire@digex.net