Monterey Bay CommunicationsHP 1000 Newsletter The Beacon , Winter 1999

Monterey Bay Communications: HP 1000 Beacon Newsletter

A Resource for Real Time Users Volume 4 Page 1

FROM THE EDITOR,

From time-to-time we get calls from anxious Users who are concerned that HP may not honor its pledge to support the HP 1000 platform until the Year 2010. Hopefully, the information contained in this issue of The Beacon will address some of these concerns. Certainly not all components are going to be available from HP until then, but that is our mission here at MBC. And these days, no manufacturer of any computer equipment
will guarantee availability of a particular product-line ten years hence!

Year 2000 Is Coming-Are You Ready?

If you are a relatively large corporation, you are probably
already aware of the potential problems associated with the Year 2000. If you are a smaller company, you may not be as aware of these issues. Is it a problem for HP RTE and RTE-A Users? Perhaps, perhaps not.
The Year 2000 (Y2K) problem is simple to understand, but potentially difficult and expensive to fix. Due to data storage limitations, and the presumption that computer users would upgrade their systems every few years, early programmers represented years by the last two digits of the century.

Thus the year 1970 is represented by the number "70" in many older software applications. After the turn of the century, the year will jump back to "00" according to many older applications.
The great news for RTE Users is that the HP 1000 Series (with the exception of the A990's TOD clock) has no inherent problem with the year 2000. As of revision 6.2, HP has certified that nearly all RTE-6/VM and RTE-A languages and subsystems are Y2K compliant.
Some time-related issues were addressed in previous revisions, so many RTE-6 and older-revision RTE-A Users may find that they too will encounter no problems when the fateful day arrives.

Users currently running on an older revision RTE system who are interested in obtaining updated software will be happy to know that HP is now offering special Year 2000 Upgrade Pricing for RTE 6.2 software at greatly reduced prices. Even Users who are not currently on software support are eligible for this discounted pricing.
For more information on RTE/Y2K issues, solutions, and pricing Users should contact the
HP Website at:

http://www.hp.com/esy/
related/rte/y2k_rte_special.html

Or you can contact your regular account rep at MBC.

A990's For Sale!

Are you planning on keeping your HP 1000 A-Series machines for awhile longer, and want to make sure you are using a product that will be supported by HP well into the next century? Or, just want to add some horsepower to your system? MBC has exactly what you need . . . the HP A990 Processor!
   MBC has HP A990 Processors andA990/12990C Upgrade Kits, all options, in stock, new and pre-owned, with a 90-day warranty. And, at surprisingly affordable prices.
   At three times the processing speed of the Model A900 and six times that of the A400 or A600, we're talking about a serious performance enhancement. Installation is simple, and it is not
necessary to upgrade your operating system to utilize the A990.
   Not all Users may be aware of this, but HP is discontinuing production of A600, A700, and A900 Processors.

This means that availability of parts and support from the manufacturer for these
models may diminish in the foreseeable future.
   Hewlett Packard is committed to manufacturing the A990 Processor into the next century. Parts and service support is assured through the year 2010.
   MBC is pleased to offer free-of-charge, no-obligation evaluation HP A990 Upgrade Kits for Users who want to evaluate firsthand the
performance enhancements available with this product. Generous trade-in allowances for older A-Series systems are offered as well.
   Guaranteed long-term support, greater dependability, lower maintenance cost, enhanced hardware and software performance are great reasons to upgrade your A-Series machines. Call MBC for a price quotation today!

HP 1000 Q&A

Several customers have reported receiving the following error after
installing their 6.2 RTE-A update:

IO Device error on LU 1
Reason is: Illegal request
Request has been flushed

This error does not occur with 6.1,
nor does it cause any ill effect on 6.2.
The message occurs on 12040D muxes which have 5.02 or older firmware
installed. The solution is to replace the 12040D mux firmware to the latest 5.22 revision, part number 5181-8682.

How can I determine exact size
of new SCSI Disks?

The Hewlett Packard Response Center can give you information regarding the exact size of many HP supported SCSI drives. However, HP and OEM SCSI drives are introduced every year, and the information is not always immediately available. Beginning at RTE-A revision 6.0, you can use the VSCSI utility on RTE-A to request the total volume size. The VSCSI command UNITSIZE reports the total number of blocks on a disk unit. In order to use the VSCSI program on line, you must have at least one LU generated for the 12016A SCSI interface connected to the SCSI drive in question. If your system does not currently include any LU’s for the SCSI card, you can use the memory based system !VSCSI on the RTE-A 6.0 or later Bootables tape.

How can I determine what revision level firmware I have on my HP A990 Processor?

The easiest way to determine the revision is by visually inspecting the part number of the EPROM in U1913 on the A990 processor and checking it against the following table:

Octal
Rev. Decimal
Revision P/N EPROM
U1913

10 8 12990-80106

Original Release of A990 EPROM

11 9 12290-80111

Fixed SR# 4701103903. All customers
should have been updated to this rev.

12 10 No HP part #

New VME Instructions added for 6.0

13 11 12990-80112

Stack overflows MPisinstead of giving CS06 errors. DDIR instructions fixed.
(Note: This EPROM never shipped.)

14 12 12990-80113

VCP fixed to boot from C1701C MO Disk.
See document MF9312300800 for list of other fixes.

If it is not possible to physically inspect the processor board, the following procedure will work. On power up, or after a processor reset, the X-register displays the revision of the firmware. Use the T command from VCP to display the X-register value: VCP > %T

The following is a sample of the registers listed:

P 000000 M 000000 T 000000 RW 000000
A 000012 B 004025 X 000014 Y 000000

Then just compare the value of the contents of the X-register with the octal value listed in the firmware revision table above.

Send your HP 1000 questions to:
HP 1000 Beacon
250 Natural Bridges Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
or to email address:sales@montbay.com
Some questions reprinted from HP 1000 Corner,
a publication of Hewlett-Packard.

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