test-drb September 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

256 participants
661 discussions

by RCini＠congressfinancial.com

Hello, all: Work on the Altair32 emulator is progressing and I'm up to getting the floppy controller code working, but I've run into a snag. Has anyone ever used this controller? Does anyone know if it has a BIOS or something *other* than the 256-byte bootrom? I disassembled the bootrom that I borrowed from the Elena Altair simulator and it seems to reference addresses outside its execution range. Thanks. Rich ========================== Richard A. Cini, Jr. Congress Financial Corporation 1133 Avenue of the Americas 30th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 545-4402 (212) 840-6259 (facsimile)

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

Huw Davies [mailto:Huw.Davies@kerberos.davies.net.au] > systems. All of these systems used either a PRO-350 or PRO-380 as the > VAXconsole. Later (when all the PROs were used up?) the console was > replaced with a uVAX-II and the systems renamed 88x0 (for > x=1,2,3 or 4 CPUs). Actually, the Nautilus family underwent a slight redesign (or possibly a major redesign) and became the Polarstar family. This was the VAX 8810 (1 cpu) through to the VAX 8840 (4 cpu). Up to 2 CPUs per cab, max 2 cabs for a full system. The system bus was renamed from NMI to PMI (and presumably underwent some changes). The PRO console was replaced with a MicroVAX II. There was some confusion about the 8700 and 8800 machines and so they were (IIRC) renamed VAX 8810-N and VAX 8800-N. I never saw one of these so I don't know whether they were real VAX 8700 and VAX 8800 or whether they were a VAX 8810/VAX 8820 but with a PRO console ( or even a MicroVAX II console!). The maintenance manual for the Nautilus series was online at http://208.190.133.201/decimages/moremanuals.htm but that seems to have slipped two months backwards in a time warp and all that has vanished! I've never seen a similar manual for the Polarstar series, but I have seen the corresponding lists of modules and they did look quite different to Nautilus IIRC. Antonio

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

jkunz(a)unixag-kl.fh-kl.de wrote: >There is the 8600 (aka 11/790) listed as a SBI machine. That's correct. It was going to be known as the VAX-11/790 until someone changed their mind (it was very late, so they had plenty of time to play with the name!). >There is no reference to the 8700. The VAX 8700 is a single processor VAX 8800. >The 8800 is listed as: > Basically an 8550 processor in a bigger box with space for additional > processors to make it into an 8820 or 8840 No. The Nautilus family started out as the single processor VAX 8700 which could have a few more (or many more, I forget) cards added to become the dual processor VAX 8800. The VAX 8550 was a VAX 8700 in a (big) cab that could *not* be upgraded to a VAX 8800. The VAX 8500 was a VAX 8550 with microcode deliberately slugged to slow it down. This was soon followed by a microcode update that removed the NOPs ... *all* 8500s were supposed to be upgraded and the machine was renamed the VAX 8530. The processor(s) live(d) on the NMI bus (Nautilus Memory Interconnect, I assume). The I/O bus was the VAXBI. This is in contrast to the VAX 8200/8300 which came out at the same time and used the VAXBI as their system bus as well as teh I/O bus. >The 8550 is listed: > XMI processor/memory backplane with VAXBI I/O XMI is wrong ... it's NMI. The VAX 6000 series was the first family (IIRC) to use the XMI. >So I assume the "base" machine is the 8550. In a biger chasiss it is >named 8700 and with a second CPU the 8700 is called 8800? Yes, that's a good summary but don't forget the runt of the litter, the VAX 8500 (which rapidly became the VAX 8530). Antonio

22 years, 10 months

microcoding a PC into a PDP-11 (was: RE: Classic Computers v s. Classic Computing)

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

Bill Pechter wrote: > Actually much of the 11/780 microcode is in rom. > The stuff loaded from RX01 is mostly bug fixes to the rom code. > The patches went into the Writeable Control Store board. The VAX-11/750 did the same thing (IIRC the first microcode patch required a large number of roms to be changed by field service ... the control store was redesigned to allow patchable code a-la 780). > The 11/785 went to completely RAM loaded microcode. > The 11/780 did have an optional second User Writeable Control Store > board. In one or other of the DTJ articles, the development of the MicroVAX II is described. They used the VAX-11/730 with new microcode to simulate a MicroVAX II: the 11/730 was *completely* soft. Antonio

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> At 10:53 PM 9/19/01 -0500, Eric wrote: > > but I can post VUPs for requested systems from the list, if you ask. > > Ok, what are the VUPs rating of the > MicroVAX 3400, 3500, 3800, and 4000/200 (KA640, KA650, KA655, and > KA660) Here there are, plus a couple of extras: System VUPS 3200 2.7 3300/3400 2.4 3500/3600 2.7 3800/3900 3.8 4000/200 5.0 4000/300 8.0 4000/400 16.0 4000/500 24.0 4000/600 32.0 -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> >So I assume the "base" machine is the 8550. In a biger chasiss it is > >named 8700 and with a second CPU the 8700 is called 8800? > > As far as I recall, the first two products were the 8700 and the 8800, the > only difference was the number of CPUs (one and two respectively). There > were two slower implementations (8550, 8530) that were both single CPU > systems. All of these systems used either a PRO-350 or PRO-380 as the > VAXconsole. Later (when all the PROs were used up?) the console was > replaced with a uVAX-II and the systems renamed 88x0 (for x=1,2,3 or 4 CPUs). The 8700/8800 used a Pro-350 or Pro-380 as the console. Later, DEC renamed them the 8810 and 8820. Later on DEC introduced a new 8810 and 8820 that were different and could be upgraded to an 8830 or 8840. Unfortunately they aren't compatible and this leads to problems when you need to get repair parts. You need to be specific on whether your 8810 or 8820 is a -N or not. I can't remember whether the -N is the newer model or not. The easiest way to tell is whether your system has a Pro or a MicroVAX II as the console. When DEC introduced the newer models they really should have used a new model number or renamed the older models the 8710 and 8720. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by dittman＠dittman.net

> > Actually that rack contains two VAX 4000/700As. > Ahhhh! I get jealous reading that. The 4k VAXen are quite nice and the > 700A has around 33VUPs. My best VAXen are a 4k400 and a VS4k90. The VAXstation 4000/90 is a 42 VUP system and the VAX 4000/400 is a 16 VUP system, so you aren't doing too bad. I seem to recall the VAX 4000/700A is about 40 VUPs and the /705A is about 45-50 VUPs. > > That thing that looks > > like a BA215 is actually an external DSSI cabinet full of disks. > Ahh, I know that. I got such a thing with my MV4k200... > > > I now have craploads of 2 GB DSSI disks. > I know people that would kill for 2GB DSSI disks (and a KFQSA). ;-) I would rather go with a QBUS SCSI or HSDxx controller. Once I find one I"ll get rid of my DSSI disks. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

22 years, 10 months

MC68881 vs MC68882 (was Re: Mac Plus as a webserver...)

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Ethan Dicks wrote: > My memory is that the parts were interchangable in hardware (presuming > the speed was OK) but the performance was better at a given speed > for the 68882 over the 68881. I never did any rendering on my Amigas, Yup. I've replaced many 68881s with 68882s in Sun3/50 and /60 machines when I was doing lots of raytracing with them back in '90 or so. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Eric Dittman wrote: > Maybe the /90 is 32 VUPs and the /90A is 38.8, which would make sense if the > list on DSN is off for both system. What leads me to believe the DSN listing > is in error now is I just ran a test program on a /90, 90A, /400, and /500, > and the numbers for the /90 and /90A are way off from what I'd expect if the > ratings from DSN are correct. I'm going to run some tests this weekend to > try to get better numbers. The CPU Summary lists the /90A at 38.5. > I wish the original DEC test program was available. Me too. :-/ -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

22 years, 10 months

Mainframe stuff...

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On September 19, Absurdly Obtuse wrote: > > Very nice toys. I have a MV4k200 in a BA215. A very handy QBus VAX and > > it is nice to work on the BA215. No finger breaking and flor crawling > > like on the flor stand BA23. > > This one is an even nicer toy. This one is two 4K/700As in a rack. That > thing on the floor is an external DSSI box. There is one more like it in > the rack. You're welcome, fanboy. -Dave -- Dave McGuire Laurel, MD

22 years, 10 months

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test-drb September 2001