The ECN No Name Newsletter is no longer being published. This is an archived issue.
[previous article] [next article]In keeping with long term plans, the ECN has shut down three VAX 11/780 systems in the past six months. The machines that were shut down were known as "AA", "PA", and "PD". All of these machines have been replaced with Sun 4/280 systems. In order to keep all affected user terminal lines working, the ECN is building bus adapters (developed at PUCC for their SEQUENT machines) to connect serial port adapters to the Sun servers. The bus adapters allow us to connect up to 128 VAX serial ports to the Sun systems. Work is planned to allow us to move tape drives and other selected VAX peripherals to the Sun systems in the future.
The first VAX to Sun cutover was replacing the PD machine with the CINDAS machine. This cutover was done during the summer of 1988. The CINDAS machine serves 32 serial ports.
The first of the bus adapter boards was placed in service on the IIES machine in November of 1988. The IIES machine replaced the PA machine and serves two Sun clients and 64 serial ports. Despite some early problems with the bus adapter and related software, the cutover from the VAX to the Sun system went fairly smoothly.
The second bus adapter board was placed in service on the Stable machine in January of 1989. The Stable machine replaced the AA machine and serves 13 Sun clients and 112 serial ports.
Other bus adapter boards are built and ready to be installed at the Mechanical, Grissom, and MSEE sites at the end of the current semester.
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