[rescue] AT&T 3B2 revival

Ian Finder ian.finder at gmail.com
Tue Aug 18 15:15:43 CDT 2015


I picked up a 3B2 400 and an AT&T 5620 "BLIT" recently and am always looking
for software, folklore, discussion to supplement their restoration.

I just don't know if a listserv is the right venue to collaborate on. But I
don't have any better ideas.

Any content and software people have collected, I would be happy to host on
one of my Azure machines for distribution.

- Ian

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 18, 2015, at 13:10, Jerry Kemp <sun.mail.list47 at oryx.us> wrote:
>
>> On 08/18/15 10:53 AM, Alan Hightower wrote:
>> Forgive me not quoting a previous email as I just joined the list. I am
>> here to stay though. To disagree with Dave M. a bit, the 3B2 isn't very
>> well documented at all. Some of the original AT&T user documentation is
>> preserved on Al's site and a few others. However there is almost nothing
>> about the machine internals nor a comprehensive and verified software
>> archive. I've collected bits and peices of software over the years from
>> places like yahozna and some VCF personal collections. However I'd like
>> to see a shrine of knowledge somewhere eventually. It's a pretty
>> important machine in the UNIX timeline.
>
> Thank you for your post.  I've also been collecting 3b2 stuff off of the
Internet for many years, as it appears/disappears, and I have pretty much
zilch for internal HW documentation.  I'm sure you are aware that this same
discussion is taking place over on the Classiccmp mailing list.
>
>
>>
>> Ed Eckert, the cheif archivest for Alcatel-Lucent claims much of the
>> original techincal documentation on the machine is in safe hands and not
>> in any danger of being lost. But he still considers it
>> proprietary,confidential, and not currently suitable for
>> reclassification for public release. He suggested I reach out to George
>> Kupczak at the AT&T Archives in Warren, NJ which I have not done yet.
>
> That is an interesting bit of information that I was not aware of.
>
> I'm aware that they own the information, but, how long has it been since the
last 3B2 rolled off of the assembly line? 20, 25 years?
>
>
>>
>> A long time collector in Brunswick, GA allowed me to purchase his
>> 1000-80 recently for restoration and investigation. It has a blown power
>> supply which I am replacing with an newly made ATX PSU bridge board. I
>> normally would not consider that route, but the 600, 700, 1000 series
>> had an early hybrid switching+linear PSU. In the interrum, I feel safer
>> with a modern OC/OV limited ATX supply than the original until I can
>> fully root cause what went wrong and why. Once I get it running again
>> and SVR3.2 re-installed on a modern flash drive, I'll return to a few
>> project ideas for building up new CIO cards for the old girl.
>>
>> I'm interested in at least banding together a community and perhaps a
>> Google group or mailman list to start.
>
> I would love to participate in a 3b2 mailing list.   I would only hope that
we wouldn't be the only two on it.
>
> Jerry
>
>
>
>>
>> -Alan
>> _______________________________________________
>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> _______________________________________________
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