New Find: Apollo Workstation

[Eric Josephson]

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005, Scott Stevens wrote:

> Will I be able to use this system over a serial console?  I'm hoping it
> will 'just come up' with whatever system is on the hard drive, though I
> probably won't get past a login prompt.  This is the main way I use my
> Sun boxes (serial console).  Will it just sense the lack of a keyboard
> and bring up serial port A?

Switching to the serial console is probably not going to be
as straightforward as it is on your Sun, but the service
handbook (link below) should tell you what you need to know.

IIRC you can boot into something like single-user mode to
bypass the login provided certain security features aren't
enabled.  I've forgotten the details, but I'm sure I've
done this with other parisc hpux boxen

> What OS did a system of this vintage run?  By looking at chip markings,
> etc, it appears to be about a 1990 vintage system.

According to:

http://www.openpa.net/systems/735_755.html

It runs hpux, nextstep, linux, or openbsd.  Of that lineup, I'd go
with nextstep:  I don't know about the 735, but it's *really* pretty
on my 712 and my 715.  The downside is that nextstep doesn't do
wide scsi and may or may not support your framebuffer.

The link to the service handbook from the above site is broken, but
here's one that worked:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/lpv38563/lpv38563.pdf

> I'm really upset with myself that I wasn't more 'on the ball' with this
> system.  I know I saw the video cable (triple BNC) go away to somebody
> else in another box they got really cheap, I saw the monitor there and
> know it went for a dollar, and judging by the completeness of parts of
> the system that I saw in boxes and the parts that I (thankfully) got, I
> am fairly certain there was probably an  HP keyboard in the mess, too.
> I could have gotten a complete system here, and now I'm going to have to
> settle for serial console for the time being, if that's even possible.

I may have a spare anchor^H^H^H^H^H^Hmonitor cable from a 425.
Does your framebuffer have three BNC ports?  I also have plenty
of hp-hil keyboards (and mice) I'd just love to give away to a
good home, so contact me off-list if you're interested.

I wouldn't sweat missing out on the monitor: the video should
work with most any workstation monitor that has BNC connectors
(I've not yet encountered one that doesn't do sync on green).
If you're near Seattle, you can stop by Boeing surplus and
take your pick of 17"-21" BNC monitors for $5-$10.  I suppose
that's one benefit of the state charging recyling fees to dispose
of anything with a CRT. :)

Nice box, by the way.

Regards,

--
Eric Josephson