On Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:12:43 EDT, Ron Burnett
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>No apologies for the title of the message!
>
>I'm in the market for a 947/957 class machine to be used
>for Y2K testing, and later relegated to a development and
>possibly disaster recovery resource.
>
>We have a 9000/H50 (is that an 887?), and could consider
>converting it to its 3000 MPE/iX equivalent.  Has anyone
>done this?  We had a mention or two about the kit availability
>many months ago.  Is it outrageously priced?

The process does exist, but to my knowledge is not published in a
price list anywhere ... it's something you have to ask for in hushed
whispers in a dark alley at midnight. You realize that if you order
one, HP is gonna have to make a new marketing slide to show that this
product actually sold a unit? :)

It WILL be expensive. The hardware cost is minimal ... in fact it's
just a little PROM or maybe two that tell the bootstrap loader what
kind of OS to look for. What will cost you is getting to buy that MPE
and IMAGE license.

And of course they'll have to swap out ALL your disk drives, since
drives for HP-UX are so much different than drives for MPE/iX, which
explains why the 9000 drives are cheaper..... (acutally, no they won't
swap your drives out, which basically admits their previous stance on
9000 vs 3000 peripherals was strictly a marketing ploy).

Frankly, aside from the academic value of doing the research, you will
probably find that buying a used 9x7 box will be much more economical
for you, esp. if you trade in the H50 which still has some life left
in the used 9000 market. I would be interested what you hear about the
upgrade from HP, though.


----
Mark Landin
UNIX Sys. Admin, T. D. Williamson, Inc. (Standard disclaimer applies)
[log in to unmask]


"Before anyone passes judgment ... remember, we *are* in
the Arctic" .. Fox Mulder (prior to a physical exam)