A video about the Unisys Aquanta HS/6 (aka ALR 6x6). I take you through a quick tour of these monster Pentium Pro systems.
Unisys Aquanta HS/6 aka ALR 6x6 Pentium Pro Monster Machine
Hope you enjoy!
Nice ! Interesting about any Trio64, have yet to find a board it will not work with, must be a BIOS/resource issue on the ALR dual...
Yeah most call it a cpu terminator 😀 Great looking HS+fans. 🤣 on "if I can find them", done that a thousand times but never with a 3 CPU card hahaaa.
Good explaination on the scsi SCA drives too
Over all I say Good Job ! Very informative...(and nice to know am not the only one with a little grey on top ;p)
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
liqmat wrote on 2021-01-12, 22:35:Hope you enjoy!
Nice system! I wonder how well my SIV utility will report it, I added support ages ago, but have never tested it. Please will you try it and post the two Menu->File->Save Local files.
I wonder how to read the CPU temperature's etc., maybe SIV will find some sensor chips.
Horun wrote on 2021-01-13, 02:13:Yeah most call it a cpu terminator 😀
After working in a datacenter for almost 15 years I've heard both depending on the sys admin you're talking to and the system they're talking about, but yes I hear terminator board more. Glad you enjoyed it.
liqmat wrote on 2021-01-12, 22:35:Youtube premiere on the Unisys Aquanta HS/6 (aka ALR 6x6) @ 6:00PM tonight Eastern time. I take you through a quick tour of these monster Pentium Pro systems.
Hope you enjoy!
What is your model number of this 19 or 20" LCD monitor with front buttons on bottom right side? Will this work with vintage games?
Very nice youtube by the way about the 6x6. I have set of intel extended express CPU board, ram card and motherboard with correct power supply. One day will find a way to turn it on.
Cheers,
Great Northern aka Canada.
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-01-13, 20:55:What is your model number of this 19 or 20" LCD monitor with front buttons on bottom right side? Will this work with vintage games?
Very nice youtube by the way about the 6x6. I have set of intel extended express CPU board, ram card and motherboard with correct power supply. One day will find a way to turn it on.
Cheers,
I posted about that IBM panel almost two years ago >> Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
I am always on the hunt for 1600x1200 panels like that.
Ouch, ebay has only one seller who sells these for 500.
Cheers,
Great Northern aka Canada.
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-01-14, 00:05:Ouch, ebay has only one seller who sells these for 500.
Cheers,
I found two so far on Craigslist. The Dell models are very good as well. The Dell 2001fp and 2007fp.
How about NEC LCD models?
Cheers,
Great Northern aka Canada.
liqmat wrote on 2021-01-14, 00:17:pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-01-14, 00:05:Ouch, ebay has only one seller who sells these for 500.
Cheers,
I found two so far on Craigslist. The Dell models are very good as well. The Dell 2001fp and 2007fp.
Locally none in this area, did get a couple of the 19" Dell cousins in last few years but they only support to 1280x1024 @75Hz good thing: they cost only $15 each.
added: And yes thanks again ! I did enjoy your video, and left a positive comment 😀
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
damn it, the irritational part of me wishes I had one all the more now, I didn't even know about the touch screen!
At least the sane part of me enjoyed at least looking at these things virtually.
and congratulations on your self discipline and not keeping at least 1. Shelf in my garage filled with more modern and boring servers is proof your a stronger willed man then I
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-01-14, 02:35:How about NEC LCD models?
Cheers,
Hey, if it does 1600x1200 and cheap enough I don't care what logo is on the front, I'll take it. For my purposes, 1600x1200 LCD panels are perfect. Unfortunately, the second IBM I found on Craigslist was bad, but it came in an original box and I kept the stand as a spare so it wasn't a total loss.
For any Unisys Aquanta HS/6 - ALR 6x6 owners out there who run across this thread I solved a small puzzle with the LCD control panel. One of the machines had a very dim and hard to read display and I could not find any adjustments for it. I started to suspect a failing backlight, but then I took a closer look at the LCD logic board. Lo and behold, behind the KBD and RESET wires on the LCD logic board...
A contrast adjustment wheel.
Problem solved. Display looks bright and crisp again. Quite hidden from view so thought I would post about it.
Oh nice. I'll certainly turn mine down low so 9t lasts longer.
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
Looks like I am keeping the last one of the five 6x6 floor models after all. There was also a sixth 6x6 rack model that Luckybob has.
So since that tower is staying, I went hunting for some 80-pin SCA to 68-pin SCSI removable drawers. I already have a couple of 68-pin to 68-pin drawer models. Turns out the SCA to 68 variant is fairly hard to find. Finally found some all aluminum NOS units and they should look nice in the ALR chassis.
I had a bunch of SCA SCSI drives from the GPPH 2018 (gave away most of them) so I needed these so I could take use of my remaining drives easily. I gave away my two RAID cages since I have zero interest in setting up a six drive RAID 5. Nothing mission critical going on here. I may setup a RAID 1 with two of those drawers so I have some redundancy.
As I was browsing the archived Unisys website looking at the unicorn 10 and 12-way Socket 8 systems (Aquanta XR/6 & Aquanta XS/6) I ran across even more files for the Aquanta HS/6 (ALR 6x6). Some newer BIOS images and the System Configuration Utility. I am not too confident those BIOS images will work with my revision motherboard so instead of possibly bricking a rare system, I'll just leave it be.
They started from a mere $60,000 , but I suspect one with all 12 CPUs would cost more than that. It also looks like a special HAL is needed and I wonder if they can run Windows 2000.
red-ray wrote on 2021-02-01, 14:19:They started from a mere $60,000 , but I suspect one with all 12 CPUs would cost more than that. It also looks like a special HAL is needed and I wonder if they can run Windows 2000.
Oh those models got easily into the hundreds of thousands of dollars fully configured. They were the pinnacle of custom Socket 8 designed systems through specialized hardware. You just never see those Unisys X models out in the wild probably due to their high price tags which led to fairly limited supply. Windows 2000 Datacenter would be the flavor to handle the job. It could scale up to 32 CPUs.
Just an update on those SCA 80-pin to 68-pin SCSI drive caddies. Finally got them installed on the ALR 6x6 and I have to admit I think they are quite sexy. All aluminum, including the pull handle, and with a light up LCD display. The display shows SCSI ID number, voltage, temp and which fans are in use. The units come with two fans mounted in front and back. I have noticed only the rear fan is continuously on and the front kicks in only when temp thresholds are crossed. Another nice feature is you can set those voltage and temp thresholds right on the LCD display and if they are crossed you can set it to sound an audible alarm. Probably the most advanced removable drive caddy I've ever come across. They come in beige and black and are still available on Ebay from a UK seller called evercase. Although, they did tell me the beige models are getting low in stock so if you would like one, grab one while you still can.
That is a sexy beast you have there. All those screens just look fantastic . Excellent job with this machine.
