RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 - Progress

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

Folks,

 

Well I seem to be running around in circles. As it takes most of a weekend
to back up the P390 because of various things, I decided there must be a
quicker way. And there is!

 

1.  Set up SD card in SCSI2SD as a single disk physical rather than
split to match the config on the RAID array. I still have the same number of
partitions but they are all on one LUN.
2.  SD card can now all be seen by windows but as most partitions a HPFS
I can't mount them but I can use MS's DISK2VHD to image the card.
3.  Install OS/2 in a VirtualBox and I can now mount the HPFS partitions
4.  ZIP up drives and FTP to NAS box. Both are on same gigabit LAN so
its fast.

 

So I can now back up the server in a morning. Just need to script it and
test restore.

 

Dave.

 

From: Dave Wade  
Sent: 26 May 2018 21:16
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'

Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

Folks,

 

Well in case any one has the slightest bit of interest, I have now plugged
the RAID card back in and after replacing on of the drive carriers I can get
five of the six drives to spin up. Its now copying stuff to my Buffalo NAS
but as its 10Mbit LAN its not terribly fast. I think the NAS isn't very fast
either. It looks like zipping up the files and FTPing the ZIP files might be
the quickest way to go.

 

Dave

 

From: Dave Wade mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> > 
Sent: 18 May 2018 22:31
To: 'Benjamin Huntsman' mailto:bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu> >; 'General Discussion: On-Topic
and Off-Topic Posts' mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

I thought I had captioned that picture. It's the original RAID controller
which I am not using. If I plug it in it starts the disks in the RAID array
which takes ages, and steals the hard disk BIOS vector which I need for the
SCSI card that's running the system.

I didn't want to remove it fully as I need to label the cables feeding it.
One feeds the top drive bays, and the other the bottom so if I ever need to
put it back it I need to know which is which. 

If I get some free time I will have a go at starting the disks in it and
repairing the RAID array, and perhaps copy the disks that are installed.

 

Dave

 

 

From: Benjamin Huntsman mailto:bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu> > 
Sent: 18 May 2018 21:49
To: Dave Wade mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >; General
Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

I gotta ask, what's the deal with the dangling card?  That cracked me up!

 

Thanks for posting some pics!

 

  _  

From: cctalk mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> > on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk
mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 1:46 PM
To: 'Guy Sotomayor Jr'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 

 



> -Original Message-
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr mailto:g...@shiresoft.com> >
> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
> To: Dave Wade mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >;
General Discussion: On-Topic
> and Off-Topic Posts mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>
>
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > That's, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE
Controllers
> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so
every
> thing must be on the MCA bus.
> > So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an
Adaptec
> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple
SCSI/2 card,
> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
> >4GB drive option.
> > OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks
find
> the drive and install the proper drivers.
> > To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card
that
> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The
card
> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix.
The CD
> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
> >
> 


Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display
resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive. 

I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1 


 <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> 

 <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> P390

flic.kr

Explore this photo album by Dave G4UGM on Flickr!




next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..

Dave

> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (alo

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> >
> >
> 
> I used Clonezilla to make an image of my PCI machien with a P/390E card to a
> USB drive - but in your case that would, of course, require it to recognize
> your RAID array (which it just might, if the BIOS recognizes it).

Whilst enough of the disk has to be visible to the BIOS to allow it to boot I 
don't think it can see all the drive.
There is I think enough to allow the boot partition to be cloned but of course 
for CLONEZILLA to work I also need to get it to boot from CD..
.. I had high hopes for GHOST but the copy I have falls over when it reads the 
partition table. 

Dave

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Jay Jaeger via cctalk]

On 5/26/2018 3:15 PM, Dave Wade via cctech wrote:
> Folks,
> 
>  
> 
> Well in case any one has the slightest bit of interest, I have now plugged
> the RAID card back in and after replacing on of the drive carriers I can get
> five of the six drives to spin up. Its now copying stuff to my Buffalo NAS
> but as its 10Mbit LAN its not terribly fast. I think the NAS isn't very fast
> either. It looks like zipping up the files and FTPing the ZIP files might be
> the quickest way to go.
> 
>  
> 
> Dave
> 
>  
> 
> From: Dave Wade  
> Sent: 18 May 2018 22:31
> To: 'Benjamin Huntsman' ; 'General
> Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' 
> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
>  
> 
> I thought I had captioned that picture. It's the original RAID controller
> which I am not using. If I plug it in it starts the disks in the RAID array
> which takes ages, and steals the hard disk BIOS vector which I need for the
> SCSI card that's running the system.
> 
> I didn't want to remove it fully as I need to label the cables feeding it.
> One feeds the top drive bays, and the other the bottom so if I ever need to
> put it back it I need to know which is which. 
> 
> If I get some free time I will have a go at starting the disks in it and
> repairing the RAID array, and perhaps copy the disks that are installed.
> 
>  
> 
> Dave
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> From: Benjamin Huntsman  <mailto:bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu> > 
> Sent: 18 May 2018 21:49
> To: Dave Wade mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >; General
> Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts  <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
>  
> 
> I gotta ask, what's the deal with the dangling card?  That cracked me up!
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for posting some pics!
> 
>  
> 
>   _  
> 
> From: cctalk  <mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> > on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk
> mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 1:46 PM
> To: 'Guy Sotomayor Jr'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
>> -Original Message-----
>> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr mailto:g...@shiresoft.com> >
>> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
>> To: Dave Wade mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >;
> General Discussion: On-Topic
>> and Off-Topic Posts mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>
>>
>> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
>>
>>
>>
>>> On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk  <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> That's, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE
> Controllers
>> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so
> every
>> thing must be on the MCA bus.
>>> So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an
> Adaptec
>> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple
> SCSI/2 card,
>> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
>>> 4GB drive option.
>>> OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks
> find
>> the drive and install the proper drivers.
>>> To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card
> that
>> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
>> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The
> card
>> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix.
> The CD
>> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
>>>
>>
> 
> 
> Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display
> resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive. 
> 
> I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-
> 
> https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1 
> 
> 
>  <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> 
> 
>  <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> P390
> 
> flic.kr
> 
> Explore this photo album by Dave G4UGM on Flickr!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..
> 
> Dave
> 
>> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC
> files).  I
>> went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I
>> kept running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.
>>
>> I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I'll install AIX
> on and
>> have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven't had the time yet to make any progress on
> it.
>>
>> But it's good to know that you've managed to do this if I decide to go
> back
>> and attempt the PC route again.
>>
>> TTFN - Guy
> 
> 

I used Clonezilla to make an image of my PCI machien with a P/390E card
to a USB drive - but in your case that would, of course, require it to
recognize your RAID array (which it just might, if the BIOS recognizes it).

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On Mon, 4 Jun 2018 at 09:40, Dave Wade via cctalk  wrote:

> Just to say I now have a bootable copy of the OS on SD card.

Well done!

> I got caught out because OS2 wildcarding works like UNIX wild carding, not 
> MSDOS wild carding.
> So in order to back up the "C" drive you need "XCOPY C:\*   ...". I 
> instinctively used "*.*" which misses out a whole bunch of files, especially 
> those used by the code page conversion routines.

I did not know that. O_o

Getting a Thinkpad running OS/2 is still on my to-do list...

> Whilst it boots cleanly (and quietly). The machine is noticeably slower on SD 
> card so I think I might have to try a RAID or other fast/wide SCSI solution 
> once I have good backups of the other drives.

That's very surprising.

Might CF be quicker than SD? CF is a PATA bus, SD is a multiplexed
serial (or nearly) bus, AIUI.

Failing that, there are 2 real-SSD options: either:

[1] PATA SSD -- they still exist but they're relatively expensive.

[2] an MSATA SSD in a PATA convertor. Small MSATA drives are cheap --
I bought 64GB for ~£30 last autumn -- and the convertor cradles are
about a tenner.

That only leaves the problem of getting a PS/2 to talk to IDE... ;-)


-- 
Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> > Either way, COOL!!!
> >
> > It sounds like you're doing some good computer archaeology /
> preservation.
> >

Just to say I now have a bootable copy of the OS on SD card. I got caught out 
because OS2 wildcarding works like UNIX wild carding, not MSDOS wild carding.
So in order to back up the "C" drive you need "XCOPY C:\*   ...". I 
instinctively used "*.*" which misses out a whole bunch of files, especially 
those used by the code page conversion routines.

Whilst it boots cleanly (and quietly). The machine is noticeably slower on SD 
card so I think I might have to try a RAID or other fast/wide SCSI solution 
once I have good backups of the other drives.

> OI think there are plenty of P390 boxes around, and most of the software is
> available, but its interesting to a Mainframe OS on real hardware.
> The Hercules emulator on a modern (Core i3 or Core I5) PC is much faster
> than the P390.
> 
> >
> >
> > --
> > Grant. . . .
> > unix || die
> 
> Dave

Dave

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Grant Taylor via cctalk]

On 05/26/2018 03:31 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:
The Hercules emulator on a modern (Core i3 or Core I5) PC is much faster 
than the P390.


Ya.  But there's still something to be said about older IBM servers.  ;-)



--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Grant Taylor via
> cctalk
> Sent: 26 May 2018 21:40
> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> On 05/26/2018 02:15 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:
> > Well in case any one has the slightest bit of interest, I have now
> > plugged the RAID card back in and after replacing on of the drive
> > carriers I can get five of the six drives to spin up. Its now copying
> > stuff to my Buffalo NAS but as its 10Mbit LAN its not terribly fast. I
> > think the NAS isn't very fast either. It looks like zipping up the
> > files and FTPing the ZIP files might be the quickest way to go.
> 
> So is the RAID up in a degraded state?  Or is it optimal and the other two 
> disks
> are spares?
> 

Its degraded. There are no spares in the config. It did once rebuild the 
non-operational drive, but dropped it again very quickly. 
IBM recommended running the box from a UPS and never powering it off. I can't 
really afford the electricity

> Either way, COOL!!!
> 
> It sounds like you're doing some good computer archaeology / preservation.
> 
OI think there are plenty of P390 boxes around, and most of the software is 
available, but its interesting to a Mainframe OS on real hardware. 
The Hercules emulator on a modern (Core i3 or Core I5) PC is much faster than 
the P390.

> 
> 
> --
> Grant. . . .
> unix || die

Dave

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Grant Taylor via cctalk]

On 05/26/2018 02:15 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:
Well in case any one has the slightest bit of interest, I have now plugged 
the RAID card back in and after replacing on of the drive carriers I 
can get five of the six drives to spin up. Its now copying stuff to my 
Buffalo NAS but as its 10Mbit LAN its not terribly fast. I think the NAS 
isn't very fast either. It looks like zipping up the files and FTPing 
the ZIP files might be the quickest way to go.


So is the RAID up in a degraded state?  Or is it optimal and the other 
two disks are spares?


Either way, COOL!!!

It sounds like you're doing some good computer archaeology / preservation.



--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

Folks,

 

Well in case any one has the slightest bit of interest, I have now plugged
the RAID card back in and after replacing on of the drive carriers I can get
five of the six drives to spin up. Its now copying stuff to my Buffalo NAS
but as its 10Mbit LAN its not terribly fast. I think the NAS isn't very fast
either. It looks like zipping up the files and FTPing the ZIP files might be
the quickest way to go.

 

Dave

 

From: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com> 
Sent: 18 May 2018 22:31
To: 'Benjamin Huntsman' <bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu>; 'General
Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

I thought I had captioned that picture. It's the original RAID controller
which I am not using. If I plug it in it starts the disks in the RAID array
which takes ages, and steals the hard disk BIOS vector which I need for the
SCSI card that's running the system.

I didn't want to remove it fully as I need to label the cables feeding it.
One feeds the top drive bays, and the other the bottom so if I ever need to
put it back it I need to know which is which. 

If I get some free time I will have a go at starting the disks in it and
repairing the RAID array, and perhaps copy the disks that are installed.

 

Dave

 

 

From: Benjamin Huntsman <bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu
<mailto:bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu> > 
Sent: 18 May 2018 21:49
To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com <mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >; General
Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org
<mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

I gotta ask, what's the deal with the dangling card?  That cracked me up!

 

Thanks for posting some pics!

 

  _  

From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org
<mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> > on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk
<cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 1:46 PM
To: 'Guy Sotomayor Jr'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 

 



> -Original Message-
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr <g...@shiresoft.com <mailto:g...@shiresoft.com> >
> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com <mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >;
General Discussion: On-Topic
> and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>
>
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org
<mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > That's, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE
Controllers
> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so
every
> thing must be on the MCA bus.
> > So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an
Adaptec
> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple
SCSI/2 card,
> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
> >4GB drive option.
> > OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks
find
> the drive and install the proper drivers.
> > To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card
that
> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The
card
> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix.
The CD
> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
> >
> 


Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display
resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive. 

I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1 


 <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> 

 <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> P390

flic.kr

Explore this photo album by Dave G4UGM on Flickr!




next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..

Dave

> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC
files).  I
> went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I
> kept running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.
> 
> I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I'll install AIX
on and
> have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven't had the time yet to make any progress on
it.
> 
> But it's good to know that you've managed to do this if I decide to go
back
> and attempt the PC route again.
> 
> TTFN - Guy

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

I thought I had captioned that picture. It's the original RAID controller
which I am not using. If I plug it in it starts the disks in the RAID array
which takes ages, and steals the hard disk BIOS vector which I need for the
SCSI card that's running the system.

I didn't want to remove it fully as I need to label the cables feeding it.
One feeds the top drive bays, and the other the bottom so if I ever need to
put it back it I need to know which is which. 

If I get some free time I will have a go at starting the disks in it and
repairing the RAID array, and perhaps copy the disks that are installed.

 

Dave

 

 

From: Benjamin Huntsman <bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu> 
Sent: 18 May 2018 21:49
To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com>; General Discussion: On-Topic and
Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

I gotta ask, what's the deal with the dangling card?  That cracked me up!

 

Thanks for posting some pics!

 

  _  

From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org
<mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> > on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk
<cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 1:46 PM
To: 'Guy Sotomayor Jr'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 

 



> -Original Message-
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr <g...@shiresoft.com <mailto:g...@shiresoft.com> >
> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com <mailto:dave.g4...@gmail.com> >;
General Discussion: On-Topic
> and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>
>
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org
<mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> >
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > That's, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE
Controllers
> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so
every
> thing must be on the MCA bus.
> > So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an
Adaptec
> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple
SCSI/2 card,
> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
> >4GB drive option.
> > OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks
find
> the drive and install the proper drivers.
> > To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card
that
> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The
card
> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix.
The CD
> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
> >
> 


Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display
resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive. 

I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1 


 <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> 

 <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> P390

flic.kr

Explore this photo album by Dave G4UGM on Flickr!




next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..

Dave

> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC
files).  I
> went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I
> kept running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.
> 
> I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I'll install AIX
on and
> have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven't had the time yet to make any progress on
it.
> 
> But it's good to know that you've managed to do this if I decide to go
back
> and attempt the PC route again.
> 
> TTFN - Guy

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk]

I gotta ask, what's the deal with the dangling card?  That cracked me up!


Thanks for posting some pics!



From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk 
<cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 1:46 PM
To: 'Guy Sotomayor Jr'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390



> -Original Message-
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr <g...@shiresoft.com>
> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com>; General Discussion: On-Topic
> and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
>
>
>
> > On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > That’s, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE 
> > Controllers
> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so every
> thing must be on the MCA bus.
> > So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an Adaptec
> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple 
> SCSI/2 card,
> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
> >4GB drive option.
> > OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks find
> the drive and install the proper drivers.
> > To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card that
> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The card
> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix. The 
> CD
> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
> >
>


Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display 
resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive.

I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1
[https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/981/27325931687_813922732f_h.jpg]<https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1>

P390<https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1>
flic.kr
Explore this photo album by Dave G4UGM on Flickr!




next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..

Dave

> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC files). 
>  I
> went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I
> kept running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.
>
> I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I’ll install AIX on 
> and
> have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven’t had the time yet to make any progress on it.
>
> But it’s good to know that you’ve managed to do this if I decide to go back
> and attempt the PC route again.
>
> TTFN - Guy

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr <g...@shiresoft.com>
> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com>; General Discussion: On-Topic
> and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > That’s, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE 
> > Controllers
> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so every
> thing must be on the MCA bus.
> > So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an Adaptec
> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple 
> SCSI/2 card,
> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
> >4GB drive option.
> > OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks find
> the drive and install the proper drivers.
> > To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card that
> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The card
> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix. The 
> CD
> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
> >
> 


Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display 
resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive. 

I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1

next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..

Dave

> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC files). 
>  I
> went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I
> kept running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.
> 
> I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I’ll install AIX on 
> and
> have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven’t had the time yet to make any progress on it.
> 
> But it’s good to know that you’ve managed to do this if I decide to go back
> and attempt the PC route again.
> 
> TTFN - Guy

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Grant Taylor via cctalk]

On 05/15/2018 02:38 PM, Guy Sotomayor Jr via cctalk wrote:
I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I’ll install 
AIX on and have an R/390.  :-)  I haven’t had the time yet to make any 
progress on it.


Props for the R/390.  I've not heard mention of them in quite a while.



--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Adam Thornton via cctalk]

> On May 14, 2018, at 11:29 PM, Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>> -Original Message-
>> From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Adam Thornton
>> via cctalk
>> Sent: 15 May 2018 03:03
>> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
>> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
>> 
>> I Frankensteined a P/390 together out of a P/325 server and the PCI P/390
>> card back in the day.
>> 
> 
> I am told the PCI card is rather choosy about which servers it will run in. 
> The system came with most of a P330 as well, but no case.


It is pretty picky.  It did not run in a whitebox PC I had at the time, but the 
PC Server 325 was close enough to its expected host that it was happy.  I would 
guess that any of the IBM x86 server machines from the right general era would 
work.

That machine now lives at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle, although I do 
not know if they have it available for use.

> 
> 
> It’s the RAID card that’s the problem, and it seems to have always been 
> temperamental. Did you use RAID in your P/325?


I don’t think I did.  Have you tried just putting a different (OS/2-supported) 
disk controller in and just not doing RAID?

> 
>> 
>> I used mine to run VM/CMS and Linux (under VM) quite well.
>> 
> 
> I was thinking of trying Linux. I assume you ran Debian? 


Indeed I did, although also SLES.  I assume you found my NASPA article on 
Debian on 390 from 2004?

Adam

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Guy Sotomayor Jr via cctalk]

> On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> 
> That’s, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE Controllers 
> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so every 
> thing must be on the MCA bus.
> So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an Adaptec 
> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple 
> SCSI/2 card, no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable 
> drives and a >4GB drive option.
> OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks find 
> the drive and install the proper drivers. 
> To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card that 
> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives 
> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The card 
> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix. The 
> CD ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
> 

Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC files).  
I went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I kept 
running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.

I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I’ll install AIX on and 
have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven’t had the time yet to make any progress on it.

But it’s good to know that you’ve managed to do this if I decide to go back and 
attempt the PC route again.

TTFN - Guy

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: Adam Thornton <athorn...@gmail.com>
> Sent: 15 May 2018 16:35
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com>; cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 14, 2018, at 11:29 PM, Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >> -Original Message-
> >> From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Adam
> >> Thornton via cctalk
> >> Sent: 15 May 2018 03:03
> >> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
> >> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> >>
> >> I Frankensteined a P/390 together out of a P/325 server and the PCI
> >> P/390 card back in the day.
> >>
> >
> > I am told the PCI card is rather choosy about which servers it will run in. 
> > The
> system came with most of a P330 as well, but no case.
> 
> 
> It is pretty picky.  It did not run in a whitebox PC I had at the time, but 
> the PC
> Server 325 was close enough to its expected host that it was happy.  I would
> guess that any of the IBM x86 server machines from the right general era
> would work.
> 
> That machine now lives at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle, although I
> do not know if they have it available for use.
> 

OK I got a PCI P390 card in the bundle of spares but have nothing PCI server 
style to run it in.
Where I worked we binned loads of X330's which might have been usable...

> >
> >
> > It’s the RAID card that’s the problem, and it seems to have always been
> temperamental. Did you use RAID in your P/325?
> 
> 
> I don’t think I did.  Have you tried just putting a different (OS/2-supported)
> disk controller in and just not doing RAID?
> 

That’s, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE Controllers I 
have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so every thing 
must be on the MCA bus.
So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an Adaptec card 
as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple SCSI/2 card, 
no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a >4GB 
drive option.
OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks find 
the drive and install the proper drivers. 
To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card that puts 
an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives depending on 
how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The card in it is 32gb so 
I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix. The CD ROM sites on 
the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..

> >
> >>
> >> I used mine to run VM/CMS and Linux (under VM) quite well.
> >>
> >
> > I was thinking of trying Linux. I assume you ran Debian?
> 
> 
> Indeed I did, although also SLES.  I assume you found my NASPA article on
> Debian on 390 from 2004?
> 

I think that’s the one...


> Adam
> 
> 

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 - now running

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: Benjamin Huntsman <bhunts...@mail2.cu-portland.edu>
> Sent: 15 May 2018 00:32
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com>; General Discussion: On-Topic
> and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 - now running
> 
> I seem to recall having to install some vram chips on my P/390 to get
> 1024x768 resolution, but I think that was on my PC Server 330...

It’s a separate display card. Real pain. The server came with a dead Cirrus 
Logic card but it now has an "IBM Display Adaptor/A" (I think) which should do 
1024x768x256 colors. Must check.

> 
> I’m glad you got it working!  That is awesome!  Did you get networking
> functional?
> 

Not through to VM. That’s next (after sorting the display)

> Have fun!
> 
> -Ben
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> > On May 14, 2018, at 4:16 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > Folks,
> >
> > Just to say I did end up doing a re-install of OS/2 on a smaller drive, 
> > which
> took most of today, but the P390 software is now installed and I have loaded
> VM/CMS and IPL'd a simple 3-pack system copied from Hercules. The
> readme that comes with the P/390 V2.5 software explains how to set up the
> systems so PCOMMS can talk to it. I still don't have the screen resolution
> working at 1024 x 768 which the manual says it should. Oh and PMVNC also
> runs so I can remote control the beast. It was all a bit of a slog, mostly
> because OS/2 is a bit of a slog. The P/390 was the easy part.
> >
> > Thanks to all who helped,
> >
> > Dave
> >
> >
> >

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Adam Thornton
> via cctalk
> Sent: 15 May 2018 03:03
> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> I Frankensteined a P/390 together out of a P/325 server and the PCI P/390
> card back in the day.
> 

I am told the PCI card is rather choosy about which servers it will run in. The 
system came with most of a P330 as well, but no case.

> I assume you do have the LIC for the P/390 card, without which you’re dead
> in the water.
> 

The latest version of the PC support tools simply load it from the P390 
Advanced Diagnostics Disk.  
This was the bit I was worried about but it wasn't a problem at all.

> At least the PCI model wasn’t picky about the disks it used.  And I’m pretty
> sure it’ll work with whatever the final Warp Server release was (4, maybe?)
> by which time the native TCP/IP support was a lot better.  It was a nice 
> little
> machine for its day, although Hercules is now many times its speed on
> modern hardware.

It’s the RAID card that’s the problem, and it seems to have always been 
temperamental. Did you use RAID in your P/325?


> 
> I used mine to run VM/CMS and Linux (under VM) quite well.
> 

I was thinking of trying Linux. I assume you ran Debian? 

> Adam

Dave

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On Tue, 15 May 2018 at 06:19, Adam Thornton via cctalk <
cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:

> And I’m pretty sure it’ll work with whatever the final Warp Server
release was (4, maybe?) by which time the native TCP/IP support was a lot
better.

Warp Server 4.5, I believe. Specifically 4.52 with various fixpacks, IIRC.



-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven • Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 • ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Adam Thornton via cctalk]

I Frankensteined a P/390 together out of a P/325 server and the PCI P/390 card 
back in the day.

I assume you do have the LIC for the P/390 card, without which you’re dead in 
the water.

At least the PCI model wasn’t picky about the disks it used.  And I’m pretty 
sure it’ll work with whatever the final Warp Server release was (4, maybe?) by 
which time the native TCP/IP support was a lot better.  It was a nice little 
machine for its day, although Hercules is now many times its speed on modern 
hardware.  

I used mine to run VM/CMS and Linux (under VM) quite well.

Adam

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 - now running

[Benjamin Huntsman via cctalk]

I seem to recall having to install some vram chips on my P/390 to get 1024x768 
resolution, but I think that was on my PC Server 330...

I’m glad you got it working!  That is awesome!  Did you get networking 
functional?

Have fun!

-Ben

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 14, 2018, at 4:16 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk  
> wrote:
> 
> Folks, 
> 
> Just to say I did end up doing a re-install of OS/2 on a smaller drive, which 
> took most of today, but the P390 software is now installed and I have loaded 
> VM/CMS and IPL'd a simple 3-pack system copied from Hercules. The readme that 
> comes with the P/390 V2.5 software explains how to set up the systems so 
> PCOMMS can talk to it. I still don't have the screen resolution working at 
> 1024 x 768 which the manual says it should. Oh and PMVNC also runs so I can 
> remote control the beast. It was all a bit of a slog, mostly because OS/2 is 
> a bit of a slog. The P/390 was the easy part.
> 
> Thanks to all who helped,
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
> 

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 - now running

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

Folks, 

Just to say I did end up doing a re-install of OS/2 on a smaller drive, which 
took most of today, but the P390 software is now installed and I have loaded 
VM/CMS and IPL'd a simple 3-pack system copied from Hercules. The readme that 
comes with the P/390 V2.5 software explains how to set up the systems so PCOMMS 
can talk to it. I still don't have the screen resolution working at 1024 x 768 
which the manual says it should. Oh and PMVNC also runs so I can remote control 
the beast. It was all a bit of a slog, mostly because OS/2 is a bit of a slog. 
The P/390 was the easy part.

Thanks to all who helped,

Dave

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Grant Taylor via cctalk]

On 05/12/2018 05:07 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:
I was so unsure of what I was doing that I haven't blogged, twittered, 
or even Facebooked


And here I went and asked you to air dirty laundry.  —  I'm sorry.

But I am grateful that you did so.  :-)  I did find it an interesting 
read, and I have a few comments that I'll share inline below.


The server just about worked when I got it, but with six 20 year old 
disks (I think they are twenty) in a flaky RAID array the thing spent 
more time recovering dropped disks than it did working.  The spin up 
time is critical, and like me I think these are showing their age and 
the array controller gets tired of waiting for them to come ready and 
then the array needs to be checked for consistency. Yuk.


Ya, I can see how that could be a problem.

What sort of RAID are they in?  One big six disk RAID 5?  Or is it 
something more exotic?  Striping across three sets of two disk mirrors? 
Is one of them a hot spare?


How big are each of the disks?

Are they true SCSI?  Or are they some variant of SCSI that IBM liked to 
mess with in the late '90s through the early '00s?  Serial Storage 
Architecture (SSA) comes to mind.


If they are standard SCSI, I'd be tempted to hook the drives up to 
another machine, image them, and likely run SpinRite on them.  (Order 
may depend on their current state.)


I might also be tempted to try to have the drives spin up and stay 
spinning, even if the machine is otherwise off.  An external enclosure 
with separate power would be really nice.  At least that would help the 
typical physical issues that drives tend to have.


Then, hopefully the drives would be stable and happy enough that you 
could focus on the RAID card.


I was hoping to get the RAID working and copy the data to elsewhere, and 
may still try and do that, but for now I have been implementing "Plan B":-


*nod*

Is there still original data on the RAID?  Is it just intermittently 
accessible?  Just unstable enough that you can't rely on it for playing 
/ learning?


1. Cleaned the floppy drive. It’s a 2.88 and still a little flaky, but 
it gets used a lot when messing with Microchannel and OS/2. The equivalent 
of the BIOS config is run from floppy and it needs to be re-run every time 
you move cards around.


Yep, I remember the System Reference Disks.  —  I've been messing with a 
Compaq ProLiant that has similar programs, but they reside on a 
partition on the drive.  Making it a little easier to run them.


The CDs are not bootable and need at least two floppies to get them 
loading so more reliance on the FDD.


*nod*nod*

My how things have changed.

Its not simple to change the drive as IBM "re-purposed" some of the lines 
on the cable that are "gnd" on most drives and used them to pass info 
about drive. Plan is to try replacing it with a GoTek hack to provide 
fake disk size info.  Some one has done this on a p70. Not sure if this 
will work here.


Grr!  I think I'd heard that before, but did not realize the 
implications until now.



http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56273-PS-2-P70-and-GOTEK-floppy-Emulator-Disk-Change


joy

Well, at least it's information that might be a helpful start.

Do you need the 2.88 MB disk drive?  I thought that OS/2 and the System 
Reference (configuration) disks were 1.44 MB.  I'm wondering if you 
might be able to trade it out with a 1.44 MB drive that might be a 
little bit happier.


Also, I think that ThinkPad's used similar (decedent?) floppy 
technology.  There might be something you could take from ThinkPads and 
get it to work (with adapter) in the PC Server 500.


2. Messed with the RAID firmware, drive links and drives. Its still 
Foo Bared. The system came with no CD Drive or 9mm DAT fitted. When I 
popped that back I think it broke the RAID. For now I have un-plugged 
the RAID card.


ACK

That means that the existing RAID array is inaccessible.

3. Installed a BT646 Microchannel SCSI card from E-Bay. Its SCSI/2 but not 
as fast as the RAID card which is wide and of course can do multiple i/os.


I wonder if the RAID card has a RAM cache on it, and if the RAM might be 
failing.  Lord knows what it would take to replace the RAM.  Maybe the 
cache could be disabled?


4. Installed a SCSI2SD instead of hard drive. I have a 32Gb card in it 
which works out a little less than what was in the server.  Getting the 
config right for this proved fun. At present I have it set as 2 x 4gb 
drives. The rest is un-allocated.


I've not yet had the pleasure of working with a SCSI to SD adapter.

I'm going to be messing with a Compaq Deskpro XL 560 which uses SCSI. 
I"m hoping to use a SCSI-to-SATA adapter and then use a small SATA SSD. 
*Hoping!*


5. There is a SCSI CD ROM on the interface as well. This seems to have 
fits from time to time.


I thought the SCSI CD-ROM was fairly standard.  Meaning you can probably 
trade it out with a different SCSI CD-ROM or possibly even a DVD-ROM.


Sure it's not authentic, 

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

> -Original Message-
> From: cctalk <cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Grant Taylor via
> cctalk
> Sent: 12 May 2018 19:39
> To: cctalk@classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
> On 05/12/2018 05:32 AM, Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:
> > I am rebuilding a Microchannel server with a P/390 card.
> Will you be chronicling this process anywhere?  I'd like to observe from a
> distance.  Blog / Twitter / other?

I was so unsure of what I was doing that I haven't blogged, twittered, or even 
Facebooked

The server just about worked when I got it, but with six 20 year old disks (I 
think they are twenty) in a flaky RAID array the thing spent more time 
recovering dropped disks than it did working.
The spin up time is critical, and like me I think these are showing their age 
and the array controller gets tired of waiting for them to come ready and then 
the array needs to be checked for consistency. Yuk.

I was hoping to get the RAID working and copy the data to elsewhere, and may 
still try and do that, but for now I have been implementing "Plan B":-

1. Cleaned the floppy drive. It’s a 2.88 and still a little flaky, but it gets 
used a lot when messing with Microchannel and OS/2. The equivalent of the BIOS 
config is run from floppy and it needs to be re-run every time you move cards 
around.
The CDs are not bootable and need at least two floppies to get them loading so 
more reliance on the FDD.
Its not simple to change the drive as IBM "re-purposed" some of the lines on 
the cable that are "gnd" on most drives and used them to pass info about drive. 
Plan is to try replacing it with a GoTek hack to provide fake disk size info. 
Some one has done this on a p70. Not sure if this will work here.

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?56273-PS-2-P70-and-GOTEK-floppy-Emulator-Disk-Change


2. Messed with the RAID firmware, drive links and drives. Its still Foo Bared. 
The system came with no CD Drive or 9mm DAT fitted. When I popped that back I 
think it broke the RAID. For now I have un-plugged the RAID card.

3. Installed a BT646 Microchannel SCSI card from E-Bay. Its SCSI/2 but not as 
fast as the RAID card which is wide and of course can do multiple i/os.

4. Installed a SCSI2SD instead of hard drive. I have a 32Gb card in it which 
works out a little less than what was in the server.  Getting the config right 
for this proved fun. At present I have it set as 2 x 4gb drives. The rest is 
un-allocated.

5. There is a SCSI CD ROM on the interface as well. This seems to have fits 
from time to time.

6. I had a couple of goes at installing OS/2 Warp Server 4 (This is Warp 3 with 
server components). I couldn't get the server to boot from the SCSI2SD but 
there is a setting hidden in the Server Config that must have got lost.

7. At this point I had the SCSI2SD set as 2 x 1GB  drives but decided I needed 
more space, so I re-set them as 2 x 4gb. The base OS/2 installed OK but server 
portion barfed saying not enough free space. I guess a pointer over flows. So 
spend an hour copying the CD onto the "C" drive several times. It then 
installed OK. 

So at this point I had an OS/2 system that booted. I couldn't get the P390 
software to install as it wanted Communications Manager and I didn't have it. 
For those who don't know the base OS/2 has virtually no networking included. 
IBM chose to separate networking as a separate product, Communications Manager 
and charge a small fortune for it. I think at this point I also installed 
service from a WarpUp! CD. I have also installed Netscape 4.6 and InfoZip from 
this CD but not Java. 

However, I have since found that Personal Communications which includes 3270 
and 5250 terminal emulators also includes a "mini" version of Communications 
manager and should be sufficient to run the P390 code.  I have now installed 
that but at first I still couldn't get the P/390 support code to install. 
However, I found I wasn't installing the very latest version of the P390 
support code. That has now gone on, after copying one disk in another PC as the 
drive in the server decided it couldn't read it. I can now load the microcode 
into the card, but I can't connect the 3270 emulator as a console. 

I have now re-read the documents and think I know what I need to do, I don't 
have the IP port in the P390 config matching the port in PCOMMS. I also think I 
may need to tweak the OS/2 config.sys. 

At some point I have also zipped up a mainframe OS from Hercules, copied it to 
a CD and un-zipped it onto the server. Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to 
load VM/CMS.

I also am still having issues with the Video Card. Its IBM SVGA Adaptor/1 which 
I believe should do 1024 x 768 but its stuck in 800 x 600.  I can't get PMVNC 
to run. It says its started but when I try the config program it says it can't 
find the started program.

Dave

> 
> 
> 
> --
> Grant. . . .
> unix || die

Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Grant Taylor via cctalk]

On 05/12/2018 05:32 AM, Dave Wade via cctalk wrote:

I am rebuilding a Microchannel server with a P/390 card.
Will you be chronicling this process anywhere?  I'd like to observe from 
a distance.  Blog / Twitter / other?




--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

Folks,

Can I say thanks to the folks that helped me "off list". I have found that
if I use the latest version of the P390 support software it doesn't need
Communications Manager.

Dave

 

From: Dave Wade <dave.g4...@gmail.com> 
Sent: 12 May 2018 12:33
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
Subject: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

 

Folks,

 

I am rebuilding a Microchannel server with a P/390 card. It must have come
with a licence for OS/2 Communications Manager as its required to get the
P390 working but despite having several boxes of CDs and Floppy Disks I
can't find a copy of this software anywhere. If anyone has a copy of CM 2.11
they are not using and would be prepared to sell me., I would be pleased to
pay for it.

 

Dave Wade

G4UGM & EA7KAE

 

Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Dave Wade via cctalk]

Folks,

 

I am rebuilding a Microchannel server with a P/390 card. It must have come
with a licence for OS/2 Communications Manager as its required to get the
P390 working but despite having several boxes of CDs and Floppy Disks I
can't find a copy of this software anywhere. If anyone has a copy of CM 2.11
they are not using and would be prepared to sell me., I would be pleased to
pay for it.

 

Dave Wade

G4UGM & EA7KAE