Hi, All,
Today's threads about maxing out VAX4000s reminds me that I've been
meaning to ask if anyone has fully stuffed a 512KB MSV11-PK and turned
it into a 1MB MSV11-PL? I have the requisite handbooks and know how
to strap the cards and such, but having in the past upgraded DEC
memory cards, I remember the "joy" of sucking out hundreds of holes
and looking for cold joints when the card didn't work the first time I
tried it (eventually, I did get it to work). I just haven't done it
with a card that's more than a dumb block of RAM (the MSV11-P series
has a CSR for querying parity status, among other things).
Abstractly, I expect it's a matter of cleaning the solder out of the
pins, installing a lot of 4164s (the card supports 4116s or 4164s),
then changing a strap or two for the extra fields. I'm just wondering
if anyone has done this and found and surprises.
I'd love to just have a pile of 4MB Qbus memory lying around so I
didn't have to fuss with things (for those that don't know DEC
equipment, 4MB fills the memory space on a 22-bit Qbus (no PMI)
machine), but I think I have exactly one card that large and it lives
in a MicroVAX I.
Thanks for any tips or warnings,
-ethan
P.S. - someday, I may try the same with an M8417 to turn an MSC8AA
(16K) into an MSC8DJ (128K) by removing the 4K DRAMs and
fully-populating the card with 4116s. The sheer number of solder
joints to get right has held me back on that one.
Greetings all;
I picked up a VAX4000 last week and have been trying to get talking with
it. I found a general VAX4000 series guide which says the terminal
settings should be 8N1 and I've got the speed right between the dial on
the front of the VAX module and the VT240 I'm using.
I get partial data, with ?s scattered all over the place. Frequently it
loses carriage returns and things get stuck scrolling off the side of the
screen.
What am I missing here? Is it not 8N1? I've tried flipping it around to
7N1, 7E1, etc, but usually that just results in absolute gibberish, the
8N1 provides the best signal-to-noise ratio.
I'd appreciate any thoughts given.
Elsewise, I'm pretty pumped. I have another 4000/300, but it has a bad
PSU. I figured I'd put the two together to get the nicest working machine,
store the spare PCBs and dump the chassis (anyone want an empty
4000/300?). The unit is complaining about some memory errors (came with
four memory boards), but with all the crap coming up on the screen, I'm
not entirely positive what it's complaining about since I can only read a
partial output...
Thanks again;
- JP
I just purchased one of these on ebay, but am unable to find even a shred
of documentation on the web.
It's equipped with a "PC" style 4-pin Molex connector for power, unlike
the more usual 6-pin square connector used by all my other 8" drives.
What I'd like to confirm is whether this unit can actually run on 12VDC.
It does not seem to work correctly with 12V applied, which could suggest
either that it requires 24V or is defective.
Before I let the magic smoke out of it, does anyone know the proper
voltages for this drive?
Steve
--
I have a chance to buy an IBM 5160 (pc-xt) with I believe an original CGA
(iirc) monitor. The interesting thing is that he seller claims it has a
386-16 upgrade board. What do we know about these? How much would that
upgrade board be worth? I'm trying to figure out if his price is fair.
brian
Thanks to help from the list admin, I have figured out why I stopped
seeing my own posts to the list!
Seems that gmail, in the their infinite wisdom, decided that it would be
best for me if my own messages were shunted directly to 'archive' and
never appear in the incoming folder. There is no control or option that I
can find to turn this "feature" off. Subsequently, I've had to change my
list subscription to use my ISP's mail service and all is well again.
Talk about obnoxious! I'm starting to wonder if gmail isn't more trouble
than it's worth. On the good side: It's free and their spam filtering is
very effective. On the bad side: They silently drop most binary
attachments, both coming and going, with no consistent policy involved
that I've been able to determine. And now, this.
Steve
--
Any one have copies of the WD controller specifications for the PC/AT?? It
would be a WD1003 model probably the ?WAH version but any version would be
appreciated. The following is a list of some known versions
WD1002A-WX1: Half-slot PC XT, PC AT compatible Winchester controller (MFM).
WD1002-27X: RLL 2,7 half-slot PC XT, PC AT compatible Winchester controller.
WD1002A-27X: Half-slot PC XT compatible Winchester controller. RLL, SMT, no
jumper selection required.
WD1003-WAH: Winchester controller with PC AT compatible interface.
RLL 2,7 version available (-RAH).
WD1003S-WAH: Surface mount technology version of WD1003-WAH.
RLL 2,7 version available (-RAH).
WD1003-WA2: Winchester and floppy controller board with PC AT interface.
RLL 2,7 version available (-RA2).
WD1003A-WA2: PC XT form factor version of WD1003-WA2.
RLL 2,7 version available (-RA2).
The corresponding WD AT interface chips are probably the WD11C00C-22 and the
WD12C00A-22 -? copies of their specs would also be appreciated.? I happen to
have the WD11C00C-17 spec, which is the XT version.
Tom
On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 at 16:18:22 Chuck Guzis wrote:
> From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
> Subject: Re: Early WD Controller and/or chip specs
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Message-ID: <4AEF064E.17548.1A2E6A5 at cclist.sydex.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> On 2 Nov 2009 at 14:48, Tom Gardner wrote:
>
> > Any one have copies of the WD controller specifications for the
> > PC/AT?? It would be a WD1003 model probably the -WAH version but any
> > version would be appreciated. The following is a list of some known
> > versions
>
> Tom, I'm not certain what you're looking for, but I've got the 25-30
> page booklets for both the WD1003V-SR1/SR2 and the WD1003V-SM1/SM2,
> if that's what you're looking for. The chip lineup is:
>
> WD42C22
> WD1017
> WD10C22
> WD37C65 (for the floppy versions)
>
> Also have the databooks for the WD1007 ESDI and a few other
> controllers. I have product description sheets for more.
>
> --Chuck
Hi Chuck:
I would very much like to get copies of both the SR and SM booklets. If u
are willing, can we work out details off line? My email address:
t.gardner-AT-computer.org
FWIW, the WD1003V is the 1986 version of this line. I'm not sure exactly
which model shipped in the first PC/AT other than I am pretty sure it was of
the WD1003 family.
Tom
Rich Alderson <RichA at vulcan.com> wrote:
>> From: Johnny Billquist
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:00 PM
>
>> Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE> wrote:
>
>>> Ps.
>
>>> Checking the archives, both you and Peter posted the link :D
>
>>> http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/htdig/cctalk/2003-July/025598.html
>>> http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/htdig/cctalk/2009-January/267600.html
>
>> Ah. That first link was really good. There people can see what Peter
>> have in storage. Most of it very much possible to get running. So he
>> have actually four KI10 systems, as well as two KA10, and a bunch of KL
>> and KS. It was more than I thought.
>
>> Looks like a pretty good collection of all 36-bit machines with PDP-10
>> like architecture. Missing is a PDP-6, as well as a few clones.
>
> No one has a PDP-6. No one. :-(((
Afraid you might be right on that one, Rich. :-(
>> The SC30 is actually online on HECnet. :-)
>
>> .ncp tell sol sho exec
>
>> Node summary as of 28-OCT-09 19:53:09
>
>> Executor node = 59.10 (SOL)
>
>> Identification = Systems Concepts SF CA USA - SC30M - DN-20 4.0
>> State = On, Active links = 0
>
>> I think his TOAD-1 is also running, but it don't seem to be online on
>> HECnet right now.
>
> If I understand it correctly, HECNET is a DECnet network, right?
Correct.
> In that case, unless Peter or someone else has done the work to make the
> Toad-1 speak DECnet, no one's Toad-1, Peter's or any other, will ever be
> on HECNET. The management at XKL absolutely forbade the software people
> to work on DECnet, for reasons obvious to anyone knowing the company history.
Hmm. What would prevent it? After all DECnet already exists for TOPS-20.
Did XKL make such big, incompatible changes to T20 after they got it
>from DEC?
I would definitely not hold it above Peter to fix it if it didn't work
for some reason. He has done things like that in the past.
The Toad-1 do have a node number allocated on HECnet anyway.
.ncp sho nod toad1
Node summary as of 30-OCT-09 18:29:13
Remote Active Next
Node State Links Delay Circuit Node
59.30 (TOAD1) 0 30 60.664 (PDXVAX)
Johnny
