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From: rjn@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: 9836 - Request for help
Message-ID: <7370356@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>
Date: 1 Apr 91 21:04:51 GMT
References: <1991Apr01.064759.27629@ariel.unm.edu>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard/FSY Ft.Collins,CO,USA
Lines: 29

re: > I'm trying to get documentation and software for an "obsolete" 9836C.
    > I've tried the local HP people but they haven't been able to help.
    > This computer is to be used as part of a student built and operated
    > satellite tracking station at UNM, and we'd like to use the HP-IB port
    > for control of equipment.

The 9836C (aka HP 9000 Model 236) may be obsolete, but HP still supports
recent versions of the stand-alone BASIC and Pascal operating systems on it.
These would be the variants of product numbers 98616 and 98617, and your
local sales person should be able to help with that.  BASIC is probably your
best bet for easy HP-IB control.  You need to determine how much RAM your
machine has, since BASIC has grown since the 236 was new.

> Someone said we could run UNIX on it, but would need some extra memory
> and such.  Help in this area would be appreciated, too.

HP-UX 5.1 was the last rev for the Series 200 and can no longer be purchased
(we are now at HP-UX 8.0).  Even if you find a copy, the 236 would have to
have a MC68010 processor (and it probably has an 8 or 12 Mhz 68000).  Even
if it has an '010, you would need 100+ Mbytes of hard disk, a 98620B DMA
card, a 98625A/B high-speed HP-IB card and at least 2Mbytes of RAM.  This
would result in a Unix workstation that blazes along at about 0.7 MIPS :-)
This is not only 1/100 the speed of our new stuff, it is really
.s..l...o....w.  (speaking as someone who used one).  Stick with BASIC; it
runs just fine on a 236.

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                UUCP: [hplabs|hpfcse]!hpfcrjn!rjn     Ft Collins CO 80525-9599