AT&T 3B2/600 Unix System
Max F Lang
AT&T terminal, user books, and some tapes. The system runs AT&T Unix
SysV rel 3.2.3. It has 16 megs memory, and two spacy 155 megs drives.
The tape drive uses large cassettes, and the collection I got has DC
600s, 6320s, and 6150s. At least one of those tapes is said to be
bootable, and this is the crux of my post.
How does one boot this system from tape? The root password for this
system has been long forgotten, and I was told the only way left to get
into the system is to boot off a bootable tape. But none of the sysadmin
documentation came down to me, and nobody familiar with this system is
left to be consulted. The sum total of my Unix work is with PC-based
systems, including Xenix, SCO, FreeBSD and Linux, so this monster is
beyond my ken.
The system itself was owned by AT&T (has an asset tag, even!) here in
Orlando, and was one of several that ran a usenet feed into the area
until they were all retired. Its machine name is "kiwi2". This system is
said to be to only surviving one of the bunch, and is quite beautiful
for its size and level of noise. It takes almost ten minutes to boot to
a login prompt, and at that point that's all I've gotten.
Anyone here familiar with a system like this?
Max.
Charles Eicher
<mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back, including an
> AT&T terminal, user books, and some tapes. The system runs AT&T Unix
> SysV rel 3.2.3. It has 16 megs memory, and two spacy 155 megs drives.
> The tape drive uses large cassettes, and the collection I got has DC
> 600s, 6320s, and 6150s. At least one of those tapes is said to be
> bootable, and this is the crux of my post.
[snip]
> Anyone here familiar with a system like this?
Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
mates with the cabinet?
------------------
Charles Eicher
-=-
cei...@inav.net
------------------
Max F Lang
> <mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back, including an
> Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
> mates with the cabinet?
Not this model, by long shot! This is a huge behemoth, a rectangular box
over a foot and a half by a foot on the front panel, and over two feet
deep. And it is a heavy thing. The system itself is completely separate
from any terminal.
This particular machine has 46 serial RJ45 connections in the back, plus
three more for consoles, the only one I have already connected.
I've found only one company that has any familiarity with this system,
and they haven't responed back yet.
Max.
Bill Vermillion
<mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>Charles Eicher wrote:
>
>> <mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>> > I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back,
>> > including an
>
>> Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the
>> keyboard mates with the cabinet?
>
>Not this model, by long shot! This is a huge behemoth, a
>rectangular box over a foot and a half by a foot on the front
>panel, and over two feet deep. And it is a heavy thing. The system
>itself is completely separate from any terminal.
So that's a small one. In a warehouse where I worked is a gutted
600 - cabinets (two) are at least 4 feet high.
--
Bill Vermillion bv @ wjv.com
Charles Eicher
>
>Charles Eicher wrote:
>> <mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> > I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back, including an
>
>> Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
>> mates with the cabinet?
>
>Not this model, by long shot! This is a huge behemoth, a rectangular box
>over a foot and a half by a foot on the front panel, and over two feet
>deep. And it is a heavy thing. The system itself is completely separate
>from any terminal.
Oh, nevermind. I used to work at a shop that sold AT&T hardware, and they gave
us a demo unit of a unix machine, I coulda sworn it was labeled 3B2/something.
But it was a small desktop machine. Cool cabinet design, though. It did have
some serious power, loaded from tapes, and had multiple serial ports to drive
terminals. That must have been in the late '80s sometime.
Peter Seebach
Hmm. I think I can explain this:
3b2/600: Big square machine.
3b2/400: Smaller "desktop" machine, still pretty big.
3b1: wedge-shapped machine, keyboard "mates with cabinet".
-s
--
Copyright 1999, All rights reserved. Peter Seebach / se...@plethora.net
C/Unix wizard, Pro-commerce radical, Spam fighter. Boycott Spamazon!
Will work for interesting hardware. http://www.plethora.net/~seebs/
Visit my new ISP <URL:http://www.plethora.net/> --- More Net, Less Spam!
Peter Stephenson
Olivetti. There is a way in if you've lost the root password (don't
get excited). You can (if I remember correctly) bring the machine up
in three different modes: multi-user, single-user, and 'maintenance'
(or something). There's a maintenance-mode password which was always
set to the same thing out of the factory, and very few people knew how
to change it so you could normally get in that way. You had to be on
the 'console' monitor (different port on the back??). And now the bad
news: I can't remember the default maintenance mode password :-(.
Or was there some other way round it from the ops console??
Sorry to be so unhelpful, I'll keep scratching my head.
Pete
On Mon, 02 Aug 1999 07:34:54 -0400, Max F Lang <mfl...@bellsouth.net>
wrote:
>Charles Eicher wrote:
>> <mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> > I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back, including an
>
>> Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
>> mates with the cabinet?
>
>Not this model, by long shot! This is a huge behemoth, a rectangular box
>over a foot and a half by a foot on the front panel, and over two feet
>deep. And it is a heavy thing. The system itself is completely separate
>from any terminal.
>
ahoe...@netcom16.netcom.com
[3B2 monitor mode]
: I can't remember the default maintenance mode password :-(.
If memory serves, it's "mcp". (maybe "ocp")
-andrew
--
"Head transplantation is not theologically inconsistent with any of the
Catholic Church's tenets."
-- Robert West
jpb
cei...@inav.net (Charles Eicher) wrote:
>In article <37A46223...@bellsouth.net>, Max F Lang
><mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>> I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back, including an
>> AT&T terminal, user books, and some tapes. The system runs AT&T Unix
>> SysV rel 3.2.3. It has 16 megs memory, and two spacy 155 megs drives.
>> The tape drive uses large cassettes, and the collection I got has DC
>> 600s, 6320s, and 6150s. At least one of those tapes is said to be
>> bootable, and this is the crux of my post.
>
>[snip]
>
>> Anyone here familiar with a system like this?
>
>Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
>mates with the cabinet?
You're thinking of the 3b1 (originally 7300). As I recall it had a 10Mhz 68010.
jpb
--
Joe Block <j...@technologist.com>
It isn't that unix isn't a user friendly operating system, it's just
choosy about who it wants to be friends with.
r j decker
wrote:
>Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
>mates with the cabinet?
You are describing the AT&T Unix PC. Came in 2 models: 7300 and 3B1.
The 3B1 is a bit wedge shaped so the case can accomodate the
physically taller disk (50MB). Attached mono (green) monitor 2MB RAM,
2 built in 2400bps modems, detachable keyboard / mouse, 68000 (6800x?)
processor.
I have one but haven't used it in ages. Had to fire it up to get the
disk size - I thought 40MB but s/w reported 50.
--
rjd
Jeff Stuesse
They are great.....
I have some pictures on my website of the 3b2/600 and some of the 3b1/7300
mentioned in this thread
www.stuesse.com
The pictures of the 3b2 are with my old camera...
Jeff
jpb wrote in message ...
>In article <ceicher-ya0240800...@enews.newsguy.com>,
>cei...@inav.net (Charles Eicher) wrote:
>
>>In article <37A46223...@bellsouth.net>, Max F Lang
>><mfl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I got ahold of an AT&T 3B2 model 600 system a while back, including an
>>> AT&T terminal, user books, and some tapes. The system runs AT&T Unix
>>> SysV rel 3.2.3. It has 16 megs memory, and two spacy 155 megs drives.
>>> The tape drive uses large cassettes, and the collection I got has DC
>>> 600s, 6320s, and 6150s. At least one of those tapes is said to be
>>> bootable, and this is the crux of my post.
>>
>>[snip]
>>
>>> Anyone here familiar with a system like this?
>>
>>Is this a desktop machine, shaped sorta like a wedge, where the keyboard
>>mates with the cabinet?
>
r j decker
Charles Eicher
says...
Thanks for the excellent info, I was curious about this old beast. I looked at
the picture, its hard to tell, but it looks a little different from the model I
remember. But of course, it is probably just my faulty memory. Damn, I feel
really old sometimes, this hardware is so old, I've used so many different
machines over the years, and I can barely remember them all.
Anyway, sorry about the topic drift.. Now I'm curious if the guy got his 3B2/600
operational.. That would be way cool.
Andrew Gabriel
p...@gol.com (Peter Stephenson) writes:
>I used to work with these things, they were distributed in Europe by
>Olivetti. There is a way in if you've lost the root password (don't
>get excited). You can (if I remember correctly) bring the machine up
>in three different modes: multi-user, single-user, and 'maintenance'
>(or something).
It might be worth trying single user mode. I used a few System V
3.2 systems (although not AT&T hardware), and I don't recall any
of them needing the root passwd when booting into single user
mode before you get a shell.
No idea how you boot single user mode on your box though - that
is different on all unix systems I've come across.
--
Andrew Gabriel
Consultant Software Engineer
Max F Lang
> Anyway, sorry about the topic drift.. Now I'm curious if the
> guy got his 3B2/600 operational.. That would be way cool.
That would be me, and the answer is "not yet." :-(
Somebody sent me some faqs and info texts on the 3B2, including one that
describes how to break into maintenance mode. Either I'm not flipping
the reset switch correctly (at the right time, if at all), or none of
the tapes I got are really bootable. I didn't get any diagnostic
floppies or a sysadmin's manual with the system, and those would have
been big helps. Just gotta keep trying, I guess..
I'm having to learn to be patient with this system's boot process: it
takes a -long- time to get this beast going.
Max.
r j decker
>the picture, its hard to tell, but it looks a little different from the model I
>remember. But of course, it is probably just my faulty memory.
The 7300 had a much flatter case (no wedge) - perhaps that's what you
remember.
--
rjd
Matt Curtin
deck...@aolnospam.com (r j decker) said:
r> The 7300 had a much flatter case (no wedge) - perhaps that's what
r> you remember.
Sure about that? The UNIXpc 7300 I remember was definitely
wedge-shaped. The 6300 (which were DOS machines) were flat, as were
the 3B2s.
--
Matt Curtin cmcu...@interhack.net http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/
Max F Lang
> Sure about that? The UNIXpc 7300 I remember was definitely
> wedge-shaped. The 6300 (which were DOS machines) were flat, as were
> the 3B2s.
I finally have a way to describe the size of my 3B2/600: take two
regular banker's boxes, and add about an inch and a half (*) to the
height of each. Place the two together at their long side, side by side.
If each box is loosely filled with papers, both boxes together are just
somewhat lighter than the 3B2/600.
So I wouldn't exactly describe this machine as "flat." :-)
(*) with apologies to those in metric countries.
Max.
gla...@glass2.lexington.ibm.com
What's a banker's box? Isn't it difficult to communicate when you don't
have any references in common? :*)
Dave
P.S. Standard Disclaimer: I work for them, but I don't speak for them.
QillerDaemon
>
> What's a banker's box? Isn't it difficult to communicate when you don't
> have any references in common? :*)
OK, OK! This is a fairly common sized box in the US and Canada, but
probably in other parts of the world it isn't. So...
A banker's box is a box often used in many other types of businesses
besides banks to store papers and files in, often for long term storage
and eventual disposal. The box itself is about 11.5" wide, 9" deep, and
17.5" long. The box reams of paper are shipped in is pretty much the
same size. Picture the standard wrapped ream of 8.5" by 11" paper, 500
sheets per. Make a stack of five reams, then put another stack of five
reams next to it on the long side. That's close to the inside volume of
a banker's box. Comprenez-vous...?
My 3B2 is about the size of two of these boxes, if they were just a
little higher. If both these boxes were filed to the top with loose
papers, the combined weight is just a little short of my machine.
Max.
jpb
<cmcu...@interhack.net> wrote:
>>>>>> On Thu, 05 Aug 1999 17:34:48 GMT,
> deck...@aolnospam.com (r j decker) said:
>
>r> The 7300 had a much flatter case (no wedge) - perhaps that's what
>r> you remember.
>
>Sure about that? The UNIXpc 7300 I remember was definitely
>wedge-shaped. The 6300 (which were DOS machines) were flat, as were
>the 3B2s.
My 7300 was definitely wedge shaped.
r j decker
wrote:
>Sure about that? The UNIXpc 7300 I remember was definitely
>wedge-shaped. The 6300 (which were DOS machines) were flat, as were
>the 3B2s.
You are correct of course. I should have looked at my 3b1 before
answering. The physical difference between the 7300 and the 3b1 is
the addition of a 2" 'hump' in the case just abve the center of the
3b1 keyboard to accomodate the taller hard drive. They are both wedge
shaped. Thanks,
--
rjd