IBM RS/6000 42T specific notes

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The 42T is another reminiscence of the "good old times". It appeared in mid 1995 and was sort of MCA's last hoorray as far as workstations were concerned. I was accustomed to 25Ts, cute and well-manufactured MCA-based pizzaboxes, and I hoped for something similar as a successor, possibly a fictitious "290", i.e. a POWER2 pizzabox. Instead we were offered the PC-style PCI-based 43P line, quite a disappointment if you asked me back then. The only way to (at least temporarily) escape them were the 42x machines. They had the same CPU (PPC 604) as the PCI machines, but were significantly more expensive, so resistance was futile in the long run.
I got my "retro" 42T for a couple of Euros some time in 2006. I gradually upgraded it with more RAM, and installed AIX 4.2.1, partly because of the numbering equivalence (42T <=> 4.2), and partly out of curiosity because I had no experience with this particular AIX release.

Pictures

view front view rear view inside view

To open the chassis:

  1. turn the key into "maintenance" position,
  2. loosen the single screw at the rear side
  3. pull the cover a few centimeters to the front side and remove it

Key Mode Secrets

Bootable CD-ROMs

Sony CDU-561

SCSI oddities

Unlike other RS6K boxes the 42T seems to be vulnerable when an external SCSI chain is disrupted. The system crashes.
Last updated: 23-Nov-2008, M.Kraemer