Chris Satterfield
compgeke.com
Chris Satterfield
@compgeke.com
I just collect old stuff. It's not hoarding if it's functional, right? (previously @compgeke on birdapp)
idk who you are but why are you pooping in my yard
November 24, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Oh let me edit a text field hahahaha comment popup. Double tap to actually edit? Hope you like layered stuff that buries what you’re trying to do.

This is such an infuriating experience I started printing out some stuff to hand fill.
November 18, 2025 at 5:58 PM
November 13, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Not everyone can make it to Sacramento this weekend but feel free to try calling or faxing in to the Amiga!
November 1, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Come find me at Amiwest this weekend!
November 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
These cameras were released months apart
October 22, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Up in South Lake Tahoe for work, drug old cameras with me. Fujifilm S1 Pro still slaps, 25 years later.

Unironically the first good digital camera.
October 22, 2025 at 1:28 AM
shes cold
October 14, 2025 at 3:08 AM
I got a new microwave
October 13, 2025 at 5:35 PM
October 11, 2025 at 3:18 AM
my new computer has a cassette deck, does yours?
October 10, 2025 at 2:11 AM
We used to be a real country
October 6, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Picked up a laptop from ewaste. Not only does it actually function, it has a 120V input instead of a power brick :)
October 6, 2025 at 5:57 AM
I'm a somewhat techy person who pays for colo and I have literally zero interest in "running my own whatever".

I'd just as soon stop posting public and keep to the Friend Chats.
October 4, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Another fun bit you can do with these is install VMS over the network, no additional stuff needed.

This is how I've always installed VMS, just, using an emulated InfoServer instead of a real one.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
So how're we going to tie this back together?

Well, let's say you have an entire fleet of VAX machines. You need to update them. You'd get your CDs from DEC, plop them into the InfoTower. Then you could just push the update over the network! DEC mentions this in their product literature, even.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
But anyway, DEC went *all in* on their CD-ROM love early on. By the late 80s they were shipping basically every VAX software release and update on CD-ROM. Here's one such example, from 1989. archive.org/details/vms-...
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Another thing to note with the CD-only config is DEC was a *really* early adapter of CD-ROM. You could order a CD-ROM drive for your VAX in 1985.

Related, if anyone has the DEC/Philips/LMSI drive for this please lemme know I have the controller <3
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
This particular machine is filled with four (4) CD-ROM drives as its storage medium. This seems kind of funny, but consider this is from ~1992. That's 2.6 GB of storage available for your site.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
From there, it has a ribbon cable that heads to the back for the network/console connector. In my case, BNC only. Was half hoping I could solder an AUI on here, but oh well I can live.

Terminal is the standard DEC MMJ.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
The CPU in question is a CVAX-60, the same as a Microvax 3100. Fitting, as the earlier InfoServer line was more or less just a 3100 with different ROMs.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
If we crack the appliance box open, we can definitely see this is, in fact, a computer. We've got a CPU, SCSI controller, some basic chipset stuff, a Dallas brick, ram.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
It's based around a SCSI tower that DEC slapped a mini VAX-based network appliance in. Basically embedded VAX.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
If you're unfamiliar with the DEC InfoServer line, it's a series of appliances sold by DEC as basic network storage servers.
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Oh, it's DEC InfoServer 1000!
October 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM