[legodude]

Years ago I had a HP 712/60 with NeXTSTEP and had a lot of fun. That machine was sold over a decade ago and I got the itch again recently. One thing led to another and an ebay search and I found a nice 712/80 with a low buy it now and I'm the proud owner of a 712... again. This one has 96mb ram and the rare-ish dual monitor card. It was listed as unworking, but boots up to HPUX 10.20. I've spent some time fighting with it, but the machine looked to be used at HP and is heavily dependent on NIS/NFS/etc. I've spent a few hours of fighting, and it at least boots now, but networking, X, etc are nonfunctional and there does not appear to be any interesting software in this system.

Before I fool with setting up clean installs of HP-UX 10.20 and NeXT on SD cards for my ZuluSCSI, does anyone have images they can share? 

thanks
mike

[Shiunbird]

I have a 712/60 with 128MB of RAM running NS on ZuluSCSI and it works PERFECTLY. It's really a dream. I use it almost everyday when I want a distraction-free work environment. The configuration advice from Sophie's pizzabox.computer blog works perfectly (block sizes, etc) and all parameters translate fine from SCSI2SD.

The images for nextstep I got from the internet archive and they work fine. I even got DoomED running! In the ZuluSCSI:
1. Configure block size for the HD image correctly.
2. Create a 2GB blank file and move to ZuluSCSI.
3. Copy the ISOs from the internet archive into the ZuluSCSI and edit the config file to point to them. When you eject the CD in nextstep, it will cycle through the CDs automatically - it's super convenient. This way, you don't need to be opening your machine all the time.
Make the HD SCSI ID 6.

To install, do a "sea" in the firmware prompt and choose to install the CD. After installation, normal boot works, but I find it too slow, so I always push Esc and do a "bo scsi.6.0".

I have the original 1GB micropolis hard drive with a clean 10.20 install, but I don't have the installation media. If you can't find 10.20 anywhere, I can try to image it for you. I have the images for 11.11 and they should work (albeit slowly). I think the ZuluSCSI has an eject button and you will need, because I think 11.11 has multiple disks.

[legodude]

Thanks for the offer and install advice. I have ISOs for 10.20 and 3.3 (and original disks for each buried somewhere).

I'll give it a go some time in the near future and report back

mike

[Shiunbird]

Thanks for the offer and install advice. I have ISOs for 10.20 and 3.3 (and original disks for each buried somewhere).

I'll give it a go some time in the near future and report back

mike

Then, if you have the SCSI CD-ROM, I guess you are set. I bet it is faster to install from the SD, though. I tried to order one from ebay and the caddy went powder...

Sophie's tips for the SD configuration were spot-on. It worked on the first attempt and that was truly impressive.

[legodude]

Thanks for the offer and install advice. I have ISOs for 10.20 and 3.3 (and original disks for each buried somewhere).

I'll give it a go some time in the near future and report back

mike

Then, if you have the SCSI CD-ROM, I guess you are set. I bet it is faster to install from the SD, though. I tried to order one from ebay and the caddy went powder...

Sophie's tips for the SD configuration were spot-on. It worked on the first attempt and that was truly impressive.

I'm having terrible problems with this machine. It came with an install of HPUX that ran okay, except that the hard drive seemed to be failing - like it would not spin up again for reads if left idle.

I ordered a ZuluSCSI and a few new Sandisk SD cards. It seems very picky re: SD cards. Using the same files on different cards, I get a range of behaviors. The best I've gotten with Nextstep is an install that hung halfway through. Other cards crash in the Next bootloader. I managed to get HPUX to install on a different card, but I get strange behaviors like complaints of missing libraries, which makes me think of data corruption. I can't get HPUX to load with the same configuration on a different card. I upgraded the Zulu firmware to the latest version without improvement.

I ordered a BlueSCSI today to see I have more luck. I swore to myself years ago that I would never touch optical drives again so that approach is out...


mike

[vishnu]

I have to admit I've never used HPUX, but if you can get it to boot, and it's got a compiler, try getting smartmontools running, it'll tell you what's wrong (if anything) with your disks:

http://www.smartmontools.org/

[legodude]

Partial successes... I found a combination of SD card and ZuluSCSI config that works for HPUX. I now have a 4gb base install of 10.20 if anyone is interested. (root/hp712). Dual monitors were a snap to get working in sam. A second LCD is incoming, so I should hopefully have a dual monitor picture to share.

I'm trying to update the firmware to 2.3 (from 1.4). I'm having a heck of a time with ZuluSCSI, so this may be another attempt for BlueSCSI...

I also ended up throwing a fan on the CPU heatsink. Is it necessary - probably not. Do I feel better? Yes.

To do list
-Upgrade firmware
-Find 2x32mb sticks to max out memory
-Fix name resolution
-Get NeXT to work

mike

[Shiunbird]

Hey Mike,

I am using a 64GB (quite old) Sandisk Extreme that is in use for more than 7 years and, as mentioned, I got it the first time running both with HPUX and NS (matter of fact, I can dual boot - just need to do bo scsi.6.0, etc)

I think the key setting here is the HD block size. Did you set it right as per Sophie's instructions?

If you want to check my zuluscsi ini file, let me know. I just tried to pull it up quickly but I am not managing to remove my top cover and I am too sleepy to figure out what I am doing wrong.

One of my plans for this machine is to get one of the 3D printers from our local factory, get a longer SCSI cable and make the SD available via the floppy disk cover.

[legodude]

I've progressed to the point where, depending on my ZuluSCSI settings, I can get it to crash at various points in the install. To me, that suggests larger problems than just the disk geometry. I have been trying Sophie's recommended sectors/heads without success so far. Which ZuluSCSI do you have? I have the newest red RP2040-based model (2023a), and I wonder if trying an earlier blue model might be helpful if the BlueSCSI doesn't work.

   
   
   
Only difference between these three crashes is slightly different settings. For example, changing the install media drive type from "CD" to "removable" caused the installer to no longer crash early in the process.

Long term I wonder if the ZuluSCSI code base could be modified to alternate between configurations depending on a toggle switch.

Fan mount with a 40x10mm Noctua fan:
   
I also need to 3d print a way to remount my floppy case insert (all of the tabs are broken).

mike

[robespierre]

Does it ever occur to anyone that those error codes have defined meanings?!

ASC 0C, ASCQ 02 means "Write Error--Auto Reallocation Failed".

This means that when trying to write the block, there was a defect on the medium and the device server was unable to allocate a spare block.