HP 9000/856 aka E55 Questions...

Hi,

a few days ago I provided a new home to a HP 9000/856/E55. I installed
HP-UX 11.11 which seems to run fine (found in ITRC that it's not
supported but will run). However, I have a few questions:

- Is there any Doc available for that System? I didn't find any :-(

- Does anybody know where I might download/get the latest PDC for that
Machine? According to some threads at ITRC the latest PDC is 2.1;
however, my System is at 2.0. I only found a Download for Version 1.3
via a Link on openpa.net.

- If there are no Docs: Could somebody please explain the Function of
the "Service"/"Normal" Switch of the CPU-Board (A2051-66541) and of the
4-Pin DIP-Switch on the SCSI/IO-Board (A1703-60022)?

Many thanks in advance!

Cheers,
_ralf_

Ralf Folkerts schrieb:
> Hi,
>
> a few days ago I provided a new home to a HP 9000/856/E55. I installed
> HP-UX 11.11 which seems to run fine (found in ITRC that it's not
> supported but will run). However, I have a few questions:
>
> - Is there any Doc available for that System? I didn't find any :-(

http://www.openpa.net/ ?

Michael Kraemer schrieb:
> Ralf Folkerts schrieb:
>> Hi,
>>
>> a few days ago I provided a new home to a HP 9000/856/E55. I installed
>> HP-UX 11.11 which seems to run fine (found in ITRC that it's not
>> supported but will run). However, I have a few questions:
>>
>> - Is there any Doc available for that System? I didn't find any :-(
>
> http://www.openpa.net/ ?

Hi Michael,

thanks for the Link! As written I found a link to the 1.3 PDC on
openpa.net (plus some Infos on the Processor etc) but nothing like a
Manual :-(

Maybe I didn't look at the right places there -- I'll check that site again.

Cheers,
_ralf_

Ralf Folkerts <ralffmail-news2@yahoo.de> wrote:
> a few days ago I provided a new home to a HP 9000/856/E55. I
> installed HP-UX 11.11 which seems to run fine (found in ITRC that
> it's not supported but will run). However, I have a few questions:

> - Is there any Doc available for that System? I didn't find any :-(

I was going to suggest docs.hp.com, but looks like the system is old
enough that anything that _may_ have been online for it got pulled
Still, feel free to take another look, perhaps I missed something.
Also feel free to feedback to the webmaster to suggest an historical
section for long obsolete hardware.

> - Does anybody know where I might download/get the latest PDC for that
> Machine? According to some threads at ITRC the latest PDC is 2.1;
> however, my System is at 2.0. I only found a Download for Version 1.3
> via a Link on openpa.net.

You might look where patches are distributed. IIRC there is
ftp.otrc.hp.com and it may still have some "obsolete" stuff for the
E55 - just a guess though.

rick jones
--
The glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. The glass has a leak.
The real question is "Can it be patched?"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Rick Jones schrieb:
> Ralf Folkerts <ralffmail-news2@yahoo.de> wrote:
>> a few days ago I provided a new home to a HP 9000/856/E55. I
>> installed HP-UX 11.11 which seems to run fine (found in ITRC that
>> it's not supported but will run). However, I have a few questions:
>
>> - Is there any Doc available for that System? I didn't find any :-(
>
> I was going to suggest docs.hp.com, but looks like the system is old
> enough that anything that _may_ have been online for it got pulled
> Still, feel free to take another look, perhaps I missed something.
> Also feel free to feedback to the webmaster to suggest an historical
> section for long obsolete hardware.
>
>> - Does anybody know where I might download/get the latest PDC for that
>> Machine? According to some threads at ITRC the latest PDC is 2.1;
>> however, my System is at 2.0. I only found a Download for Version 1.3
>> via a Link on openpa.net.
>
> You might look where patches are distributed. IIRC there is
> ftp.otrc.hp.com and it may still have some "obsolete" stuff for the
> E55 - just a guess though.

Hi Rick,

thanks for the hints!

Well, I did look at docs.hp.com but found only a few References to E55
in HP-UX Docs :-(

However, asking the Webmaster is indeed a good idea. While I'm afraid it
won't help there is at least a slight chance it might be changed ;-)


Re. the Firmware: Is there a Typo in your link (i.e. is it supposed to
be ftp.itrc.hp.com)? I can't resolve ftp.otrc.hp.com :-(

Well, I did search thru ftp.itrc.hp.com several Times; however, the
latest PDC available there is 1.3 - while there are some threads on ITRC
which mention 2.1 :-(

Thanks again!
Cheers,
_ralf_

Ralf Folkerts <ralffmail-news2@yahoo.de> wrote:
> Re. the Firmware: Is there a Typo in your link (i.e. is it supposed to
> be ftp.itrc.hp.com)? I can't resolve ftp.otrc.hp.com :-(

I, O, heck, I was only off by one key on my qwerty keyboard Yes, it
should be itrc.

> Well, I did search thru ftp.itrc.hp.com several Times; however, the
> latest PDC available there is 1.3 - while there are some threads on ITRC
> which mention 2.1 :-(

Only thing I can suggest then is to post followups to those threads in
the forums asking folks where they got the PDC.

rick jones
--
denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, rebirth...
where do you want to be today?
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

and another one:

http://hpmuseum.net/

Rick Jones schrieb:
> Ralf Folkerts <ralffmail-news2@yahoo.de> wrote:
>> Re. the Firmware: Is there a Typo in your link (i.e. is it supposed to
>> be ftp.itrc.hp.com)? I can't resolve ftp.otrc.hp.com :-(
>
> I, O, heck, I was only off by one key on my qwerty keyboard Yes, it
> should be itrc.
>
>> Well, I did search thru ftp.itrc.hp.com several Times; however, the
>> latest PDC available there is 1.3 - while there are some threads on ITRC
>> which mention 2.1 :-(
>
> Only thing I can suggest then is to post followups to those threads in
> the forums asking folks where they got the PDC.
>
> rick jones


Hi Rick,

just a short Feedback:

- Asked the Webmaster for the Docs; the response was: "I'm sorry to
report that the HP 9000/856/E55 System predates the docs.hp.com archive.
We do not have any copies of documents for that system." :-(

- I posted a follow-up to one of the PDC-Threads.

Cheers,
_ralf_

Michael Kraemer schrieb:
> and another one:
>
> http://hpmuseum.net/
>

Hi Michael,

thanks! Wow, that's definitely an impressive site. Unfortunately my E55
seems to be to young for them (as is the VisualizeX C2731A that I also
got together with the E55).

Nevertheless I bookmarked it, might be a BIG help should I ever get my
hands onto something older than the E55 :-)

Cheers,
_ralf_

Ralf Folkerts <ralffmail-news2@yahoo.de> wrote:
> Hi Rick,

> just a short Feedback:

> - Asked the Webmaster for the Docs; the response was: "I'm sorry to
> report that the HP 9000/856/E55 System predates the docs.hp.com
> archive. We do not have any copies of documents for that system."
> :-(

I was wondering/worried about that. I'll try to keep my eyes out for
old E55 manuals. I suspect that the service/normal switch for the E55
was common across the entire E-class and so if you found docs for
E[234]5 (iirc those were the other models) it would apply.

For that matter, service/normal switch was something IIRC on later
model systems like the K-class (a key switch). I _suspect_ it would
do similar things there too. Or on older systems as might be found at
the hpmuseum - say the 8X2's or even older.

rick jones
--
denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, rebirth...
where do you want to be today?
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...