16 May
2025
16 May
'25
6:16 p.m.
I am building up a micro vax and need an empty chassis.
Given the number of dec boards on ebay, I assume (hopefully) that there are some empty
chassis
out there.
Please PM if you know of an option.
tnx
jc
16 May
16 May
7:32 p.m.
Location would be helpful, shipping is the biggest concern. Those
chassis are heavy.
The issue you'll have is that BA23 chassis are just too convenient for
those with PDP11 boards, and BA123 chassis are large and hard to ship
(and rarer than their BA23 counterparts)
Good luck,
Josh Rice
On 16/05/2025 17:16, lbmgmusic--- via cctalk wrote:
I am building up a micro vax and need an empty
chassis.
Given the number of dec boards on ebay, I assume (hopefully) that there are some empty
chassis
out there.
Please PM if you know of an option.
tnx
jc
8:27 p.m.
There are some PDP-11/23 (PLUS) BA-11 boxes on Ebay, but the prices are high (IMHO), some
are beat up and I don't think the straight 11/23 BA11 can support a MV. I'm pretty
sure they are 18-bit. The 11/23 PLUS are 22-bit and might work, but I think are Q22/Q22
rather than Q22/CD slots.
I just got a BA123 about 4 months ago after a 2-yr search.
John H. Reinhardt
On 5/16/2025 12:32 PM, Joshua Rice via cctalk wrote:
Location would be helpful, shipping is the biggest
concern. Those chassis are heavy.
The issue you'll have is that BA23 chassis are just too convenient for those with
PDP11 boards, and BA123 chassis are large and hard to ship (and rarer than their BA23
counterparts)
Good luck,
Josh Rice
On 16/05/2025 17:16, lbmgmusic--- via cctalk wrote:
> I am building up a micro vax and need an empty chassis.
>
> Given the number of dec boards on ebay, I assume (hopefully) that there are some
empty chassis
> out there.
>
> Please PM if you know of an option.
>
> tnx
> jc
8:46 p.m.
The micro vax iii documents say that a BA23 chassis or BA123 chassis will work.
I think (might be wrong) the BA23 is Q22/CD
jc
9:04 p.m.
On 5/16/2025 1:46 PM, lbmgmusic--- via cctalk wrote:
The micro vax iii documents say that a BA23 chassis or
BA123 chassis will work.
I think (might be wrong) the BA23 is Q22/CD
jc
They are hybrid - BA23 has slots 1-3 as Q22/CD and then 4-8 are Q22/Q22
I believe the BA123 is Slots 1-4 Q22/CD and 4-12 are Q22/Q22
--
John H. Reinhardt
10:57 p.m.
On Friday, May 16, 2025 at 12:13:30 PM PDT, John H. Reinhardt via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
They are hybrid - BA23 has slots 1-3 as Q22/CD and
then 4-8 are Q22/Q22
I believe the BA123 is Slots 1-4 Q22/CD and 4-12 are Q22/Q22
BA123 has 4 Q22/CD slots and the rest are Q22/Q22. There is another slot behind, slightly
raised, which is 'reserved'. I believe the dual height RQDX3-Extender cards are
permitted in the "raised" slot, but I'd have to check which half.
BA213 and 215 are Q22/CD entirely.
Several of the Q18 backplanes can be converted to Q22 by modifying or wire-wrapping the
four pins. The path is serpentine -- alternating left-to-right/right-to-left by row.
frainresearch.org had instructions and pictures, and useful information on Qbus
termination. That site is gone, but the content is still on the Internet Archive's
WayBack machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150506140342/http://web.frainresearch.org:808….
However a pure Q22/Q22 backplane will not support any Microvax II or III memory cards, as
they use CD slots as part of the Private Memory Interconnect (PMI) to the CPU. You could
run a KA630 with just the 1MB on the CPU board; but it'd be even more constrained than
a microvax 2000/vaxstation 2000 with just the 2MB onboard memory.
17 May
17 May
3:26 a.m.
On Fri, 16 May 2025 at 20:33, Jonathan Stone via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
However a pure Q22/Q22 backplane will not support any Microvax II or III
memory cards, as they use CD slots as part of the Private Memory
Interconnect (PMI) to the CPU. You could run a KA630 with just the 1MB on
the CPU board; but it'd be even more constrained than a microvax
2000/vaxstation 2000 with just the 2MB onboard memory.
Does anyone know what the reasoning behind the 1MB on the KA630 board was?
Just enough for a realtime application, maybe, or a single tinkerer? I
can't see running much of anything serious in 1MB on a uVAX II in 1985 if
you were really trying to take advantage of the hardware, so I wonder if
the idea was that the board would have other applications.
-Henry
3:48 a.m.
On Fri, May 16, 2025, 7:33 PM Henry Bent via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
wrote:
On Fri, 16 May 2025 at 20:33, Jonathan Stone via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
VAX eln realtime applications?
Warner
However a pure Q22/Q22 backplane will not support any Microvax II or III
memory cards, as they use CD slots as part of the Private Memory
Interconnect (PMI) to the CPU. You could run a KA630 with just the 1MB on
the CPU board; but it'd be even more constrained than a microvax
2000/vaxstation 2000 with just the 2MB onboard memory.
Does anyone know what the reasoning behind the 1MB on the KA630 board was?
Just enough for a realtime application, maybe, or a single tinkerer? I
can't see running much of anything serious in 1MB on a uVAX II in 1985 if
you were really trying to take advantage of the hardware, so I wonder if
the idea was that the board would have other applications.
4:38 a.m.
On Fri, May 16, 2025, 21:49 Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote:
On Fri, May 16, 2025, 7:33 PM Henry Bent via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
wrote:
Yeah, I always forget that that existed. I kind of get the sense that
everyone else did too. Did it get any real market penetration?
-Henry
On Fri, 16 May 2025 at 20:33, Jonathan Stone via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
VAX eln realtime applications?
Warner
However a pure Q22/Q22 backplane will not support any Microvax II or III
memory cards, as they use CD slots as part of the Private Memory
Interconnect (PMI) to the CPU. You could run a KA630 with just the 1MB
on
the CPU board; but it'd be even more
constrained than a microvax
2000/vaxstation 2000 with just the 2MB onboard memory.
Does anyone know what the reasoning behind the 1MB on the KA630 board was?
Just enough for a realtime application, maybe, or a single tinkerer? I
can't see running much of anything serious in 1MB on a uVAX II in 1985 if
you were really trying to take advantage of the hardware, so I wonder if
the idea was that the board would have other applications.
8:18 a.m.
Henry Bent via cctalk wrote:
On Fri, May 16, 2025, 21:49 Warner Losh
<imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote:
Oh yes, it got..but probaply not with that KA630.
Take a look at this:
https://www.tiffe.de/Robotron/PDP-VAX/rtVAX300/
That rTVAX 300 contains an CVAX with SGEC and serial devices, meant as
a building block for embedded Applications with VAXeln.
I've tried to port NetBSD to the ISA board, but failed. There was no
Interest from the NetBSD VAX People to help. I've run in a problem with the
Memory management afte the positve results at the beginning.
Regards,
Holm
--
Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe,
Goethestrasse 15, 09569 Oederan, USt-Id: DE253710583
info(a)tsht.de Tel +49 37292 709778 Mobil: 0172 8790 741
On Fri, May 16, 2025, 7:33 PM Henry Bent via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
Yeah, I always forget that that existed. I kind of get the sense that
everyone else did too. Did it get any real market penetration?
-Henry
> On Fri, 16 May 2025 at 20:33, Jonathan Stone via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
VAX eln realtime applications?
Warner
However a pure Q22/Q22 backplane will not support any Microvax II or III
memory cards, as they use CD slots as part of the Private Memory
Interconnect (PMI) to the CPU. You could run a KA630 with just the 1MB
on
the CPU board; but it'd be even more
constrained than a microvax
2000/vaxstation 2000 with just the 2MB onboard memory.
Does anyone know what the reasoning behind the 1MB on the KA630 board was?
Just enough for a realtime application, maybe, or a single tinkerer? I
can't see running much of anything serious in 1MB on a uVAX II in 1985 if
you were really trying to take advantage of the hardware, so I wonder if
the idea was that the board would have other applications.
4:01 p.m.
On May 16, 2025, at 10:38 PM, Henry Bent via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
One VAXeln application is the LPS40 PostScript print server, the first high speed
PostScript printer produced by DEC.
paul
...VAX eln realtime applications?
Warner
Yeah, I always forget that that existed. I kind of get the sense that
everyone else did too. Did it get any real market penetration?
-Henry
7:41 p.m.
On 5/16/25 20:26, Henry Bent via cctalk wrote:
On Fri, 16 May 2025 at 20:33, Jonathan Stone via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
MicroVMS on the uVAX II was a demand-paged virtual memory
system, and ran QUITE a lot of stuff in the basic 1 MB. The
original aim of the uVAX II was to support a single user
desktop environment, and it did so VERY well. If you wanted
to surf the web with streaming videos, then it was
overwhelmed, but nobody was doing that in 1986 when it came out.
I ran a home system starting in 1986 on a uVAX II with just
the on-board memory, and it ran FINE like that. I did a lot
of tape duplicating as a DECUS librarian, and also ran a
home environment monitor as a permanent batch job. I
started with just the console terminal, then added a DHV-11
serial multiplexer, then a VCB01 monochrome graphics board
and DECWindows, then upgraded to a VCB02 and added a few
more MB of memory. I also did driver developement on that
system.
Jon
However a pure Q22/Q22 backplane will not support
any Microvax II or III
memory cards, as they use CD slots as part of the Private Memory
Interconnect (PMI) to the CPU. You could run a KA630 with just the 1MB on
the CPU board; but it'd be even more constrained than a microvax
2000/vaxstation 2000 with just the 2MB onboard memory.
Does anyone know what the reasoning behind the 1MB on the KA630 board was?
Just enough for a realtime application, maybe, or a single tinkerer? I
can't see running much of anything serious in 1MB on a uVAX II in 1985 if
you were really trying to take advantage of the hardware, so I wonder if
the idea was that the board would have other applications.
5
days inactive
6
days old
13 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
Henry Bent -
Holm Tiffe -
John H. Reinhardt -
Jon Elson -
Jonathan Stone -
Joshua Rice -
js＠cimmeri.com -
lbmgmusic＠gmail.com -
Paul Koning -
Warner Losh