Intergraph 6000
Dennis Grevenstein
this is my last try as nobody in comp.sys.intergraph answered,
so please forgive me if this is the wrong place.
I got three Intergraph 6000 computers from 1990 and I would like
to get them up and running.
First I need more information about the hardware and second I need
an operating system to run on these things. Any idea where to get
this strange CLIX Unix today?
TIA
Dennis
Jay R. Ashworth
I have a 225 and a 3050, and haven't been able to get *either* of them
running, notwithstanding some yeoman help from an ex-Intergrapher who
was kind enough to send me books and a boot set on his own cuff. The
primary problem is that the drives were wiped, and I don't have
an *install* set for either box, and I gather they're different.
So I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm told that the Clipper processors in these things are 386-40 or so
class chips, though, so I hope you're only interested in them
for orphan value...
Cheers,
-- jra
--
Jay R. Ashworth j...@baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff Baylink
The Suncoast Freenet The Things I Think
Tampa Bay, Florida http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 804 5015
Paul Repacholi
evilness we have come to love from Ig. I have a copy of CLIX from
one of the systems I rescued, in fact I think I have two, one from
a 6K, and from a 2400 I think. I'll dig it out and see how big it
is.
Anyone know how to sort these boxes? What file system they used?
--
Paul Repacholi 1 Crescent Rd.,
+61 (08) 9257-1001 Kalamunda.
West Australia 6076
Raw, Cooked or Well-done, it's all half baked.
Dennis Grevenstein
Jay R. Ashworth <j...@dorothy.msas.net> wrote:
> I have a 225 and a 3050, and haven't been able to get *either* of them
> running, notwithstanding some yeoman help from an ex-Intergrapher who
> was kind enough to send me books and a boot set on his own cuff. The
> primary problem is that the drives were wiped, and I don't have
> an *install* set for either box, and I gather they're different.
My machines lack monitor/mouse/keyboard and harddisks.
I want to use a serial terminal first allthough it may be a shame as
these things seem to have pretty cool graphic boards.
(Well, as cool as graphics from 1990 can be)
> So I'm in the same boat as you.
I know others that have old Intergraph machines, but don't get them
running for some reasons. The most serious problem is the operating system.
> I'm told that the Clipper processors in these things are 386-40 or so
> class chips, though, so I hope you're only interested in them
> for orphan value...
Who cares? If I want a fast computer I can use a PC.
These machines are certainly not my slowest computers.
Dennis
Pete Fenelon
>> I'm told that the Clipper processors in these things are 386-40 or so
>> class chips, though, so I hope you're only interested in them
>> for orphan value...
>
> Who cares? If I want a fast computer I can use a PC.
> These machines are certainly not my slowest computers.
>
I used to use HLH Orions powered by the Clipper (and the older microcoded
ones, too) for a couple of years... it was certainly quick enough
to timeshare 30-40 users on serial lines pretty painlessly - I
forget its rating in Vax MIPS, but after moving from the 780 we
used to use for general timesharing the Clipper Orion felt incredibly
snappy!
I suspect my alma mater chose Clipper-based Orions to replace Vaxes
for a number of reasons, one of them being that their pet startup company
had got a contract to port its Ada compiler to Intergraph boxes at about
that time (I turned down a job there when I graduated...)
pete
Carl R. Friend
Aw, Hell. So many queries and so little time....
In any event, the InterXXX 6000 is a Clipper (ex-Fairchild with
some Ingr mods to it after they bought the rights) based computer.
The operating system is a mix of the best/worst of AT&T SysV and
Berzerkeley UNIXes.
The disk format, on the newer ones, bills itself as "FFS"; I'm
assuming that this means Berkeley's "Fast File System" (which was
based on 4k bits instead of 512 byte bits - anyone please feel free
to correct that!).
In the event that you lack graphics monitors for the machine, it's
possible to get it to revert to an RS-232 "console" by unplugging the
graphics adapter. I've done this successfully in the past (when the
27" monitor failed on one), so I have reason to believe it works.
Sadly, I forget the rat-tail port number you have to plug the console
into....
If you have a copy of the "Systems Software" CD from Intergraph,
you should be able to re-create the whole shooting match, save the
development environment (read: "no compilers"). There must be a
way to carve up the boot-disk images on the CDs so one can make a
boot-floppy set on a non-CLIX box. I just haven't found it yet.
Another chap asked if 225s and 3050s were different. Yes they
are, and code meant for one will _NOT_ run on the other. The 225
used an Intel 80186 as its I/O processor; the 3050 used a 80386.
However, the code for both is on the CDs....
Honest queries gracefully accepted - flames go to /dev/null
--
+------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin) | West Boylston |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast | Massachusetts, USA |
| mailto:crfr...@ma.ultranet.com +---------------------+
| http://www.ultranet.com/~crfriend/museum | ICBM: 42:22N 71:47W |
+------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
Paul Repacholi
> I'm told that the Clipper processors in these things are 386-40 or so
> class chips, though, so I hope you're only interested in them
> for orphan value...
The line topped out at 40MHz before Ig dumped the remains of the first
Semi company.
Given it has I and D caches, and a pretty reasonable Bus and Memory
interface, I doubt a 386 could stay on the same lap.
Jay R. Ashworth
Carl R. Friend <carl....@prescienttech.com> wrote:
> Another chap asked if 225s and 3050s were different. Yes they
> are, and code meant for one will _NOT_ run on the other. The 225
> used an Intel 80186 as its I/O processor; the 3050 used a 80386.
> However, the code for both is on the CDs....
That would be me.
Alas, I couldn't *get* a CD, just a boot floppy set (6 disks, I think).
I don't think either machine has a CD-ROM drive, anyway; luckily, both
appear to be SCSI.
Chris Adams
>Alas, I couldn't *get* a CD, just a boot floppy set (6 disks, I think).
You might try asking in hsv.tech, a local newsgroup in Huntsville, AL
(home of Intergraph). Some former Intergraphers can be found there from
time to time (also in hsv.general, but they'll just cast aspersions on
your politics in that group :-) ).
--
Chris Adams <cma...@hiwaay.net>
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.
Jay R. Ashworth
Chris Adams <cma...@HiWAAY.net> wrote:
> Once upon a time, Jay R. Ashworth <j...@baylink.com> said:
> >Alas, I couldn't *get* a CD, just a boot floppy set (6 disks, I think).
>
> You might try asking in hsv.tech, a local newsgroup in Huntsville, AL
> (home of Intergraph). Some former Intergraphers can be found there from
> time to time (also in hsv.general, but they'll just cast aspersions on
> your politics in that group :-) ).
Yeah, RoadRunner probably echoes that group. I'll give it a try... after I
clean up the office and reassemble the boxen.
Thanks.
Carl R. Friend
>
> Alas, I couldn't *get* a CD, just a boot floppy set (6 disks, I
> think).
>
> I don't think either machine has a CD-ROM drive, anyway; luckily,
> both appear to be SCSI.
Yes, both the machines do sport SCSI busses. Note that you're
going to have to find the slowest CD/ROM drive you can. I do not
believe that the Clippers ever supported anything faster than a 1x
drive (I've tried 4xes and have had them fail miserably); an original
Toshiba TXM-3201A1 (yep, just looked at the bottom of my old one) is
probably what's called for as that's what shipped from Ingr.
Cheers.
Dennis Grevenstein
> Yes, both the machines do sport SCSI busses. Note that you're
> going to have to find the slowest CD/ROM drive you can. I do not
> believe that the Clippers ever supported anything faster than a 1x
> drive (I've tried 4xes and have had them fail miserably);
One of my machines has a Toshiba XM-3401B.
Dennis
Jay R. Ashworth
> going to have to find the slowest CD/ROM drive you can. I do not
> believe that the Clippers ever supported anything faster than a 1x
> drive (I've tried 4xes and have had them fail miserably); an original
> Toshiba TXM-3201A1 (yep, just looked at the bottom of my old one) is
> probably what's called for as that's what shipped from Ingr.
I actually do have a 1X or 2X laying around, I'm pretty sure. Thanks
for the pointers. Are the install disks bootable? Or couldn't you do
that back then?
Cheers,
Carl R. Friend
>
> I actually do have a 1X or 2X laying around, I'm pretty sure. Thanks
> for the pointers. Are the install disks bootable? Or couldn't you do
> that back then?
CLIX CDs are not bootable. IIRC, bootable CDs came into being in '98
or so; the CLIX stuff will date, probably, to '95 or '96 (later changes
were made, but they were _very_ minor).
Intergraph were in the process of making some _hints_ that the CDs
would (someday) be bootable, but I never saw one that was.
Erno Palonheimo
> "Jay R. Ashworth" wrote:
> >
> > I actually do have a 1X or 2X laying around, I'm pretty sure. Thanks
> > for the pointers. Are the install disks bootable? Or couldn't you do
> > that back then?
>
> CLIX CDs are not bootable. IIRC, bootable CDs came into being in '98
> or so; the CLIX stuff will date, probably, to '95 or '96 (later changes
> were made, but they were _very_ minor).
>
> Intergraph were in the process of making some _hints_ that the CDs
> would (someday) be bootable, but I never saw one that was.
How about licensing terms of the software? I'd just love to get a
more recent/decent version of CLIX for my Intergraph Interpro 120. :-)
--
Erno Palonheimo ; e...@iki.fi ; http://iki.fi/esp/ ; +358505604765
Jay R. Ashworth
Erno Palonheimo <e...@theremin.hut.fi> wrote:
> How about licensing terms of the software? I'd just love to get a
> more recent/decent version of CLIX for my Intergraph Interpro 120. :-)
Yeah.
I actually went so far as to climb the telephone tree once a couple
years back. I got the usual directed apathy about orphans; it amounts,
roughly, to "if we gave you manuals or disks, even if you paid for
them, you'd probably want us to support you too, and we don' wanna."
They would have been happy to sell me CLIX for my $50 3050... for
$1200, single user.
Oh, you want the network code, too?
Cheers,
-- jra