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Looking at eventually getting a DEC Alpha

T

TeamBlackFox

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So I've been eventually considering acquiring a DEC Alpha computer for the purpose of cutting my teeth into the DEC world without committed space to a PDP-11 or VAX. Does anyone know of a decent model for a beginner who has never used any DEC specific OS ( I've used BSD and System V UNIX a lot though ) and thats not going to halt and catch fire like a Multia?
 
PC164LX boards sometimes pop up on eBay for dirt-cheap (I got one for $25 + S/H.) They run at a pretty good clip and have built-in IDE - add supported video and Ethernet cards and maybe a SCSI controller and you're pretty well set. (You will have to flash it if you want to run Tru64 or OpenVMS rather than NT, though.)

For the record though, you can get some pretty small 11s and VAXes - the MicroPDP-11 line in the BA23 case only a bit larger than a full tower PC, and some of the later VAXStations are about the size of a Mac II.
 
commodorejohn said:
For the record though, you can get some pretty small 11s and VAXes - the MicroPDP-11 line in the BA23 case only a bit larger than a full tower PC, and some of the later VAXStations are about the size of a Mac II.
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Yep, something like a MicroVAX or VAXstation 3100 is fairly small and cheap. My smallest Alpha is an AS800 and even that isn't exactly small.
 
TeamBlackFox said:
So I've been eventually considering acquiring a DEC Alpha computer for the purpose of cutting my teeth into the DEC world without committed space to a PDP-11 or VAX. Does anyone know of a decent model for a beginner who has never used any DEC specific OS ( I've used BSD and System V UNIX a lot though ) and thats not going to halt and catch fire like a Multia?
Click to expand...

The smaller Alpha desktop boxes that aren't multia's go for a small fortune. Like $1-4K on ebay. It's not crazy sellers wanting too much either. They actually go for that. Still companies supporting them for government and industry clients and they will pay anything to get spares. ANYTHING. Same with the faster VAX desktops.

If you don't have room for a larger Alpha just use the emulators. They are much less hassle to deal with. Otherwise, you'll probably need to deal with a Multia or one of the PC motherboards that go in clone pc cases.
 
SSC said:
The smaller Alpha desktop boxes that aren't multia's go for a small fortune. Like $1-4K on ebay. It's not crazy sellers wanting too much either. They actually go for that. Still companies supporting them for government and industry clients and they will pay anything to get spares. ANYTHING. Same with the faster VAX desktops.
Click to expand...

Does that include DEC 3000 series Alpha machines? I haven't been able to give mine away so far.
 
Unfortunately no. The DEC3000 is unloved. It is big, heavy, slow, and likes to cook itself to death more than the Multia does. I've seen some motherboards that looked like they had been in a fire. I've never had more problems on Alphas than working on 3000. All heat related I suspect. I am not sure they ended up used in a lot of mission critical applications but, I wouldn't really know. Most I've run into were used for early Alpha software development and stuck in closets soon after when better stuff came along. Think they had some success in the CAD market but, I may just be thinking of all the ads showing them doing CAD.

Still, someone should grab it if they are local. As long as you don't have to pay for shipping and it works they are fun to play with.
 
I'm with Commodore John up above. I did exactly that, buying one of those $25 mobos and building the system from scratch. I did go the SCSI route, as it seems to be a bit better supported than using the on-board IDE. If you have lots of 90's PC parts around your basement, then you should go the scratch route.

Lou
 
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