2 Mar
2002
2 Mar
'02
2:40 p.m.
Tom Leffingwell wrote:
On Wed, 27 Feb
2002, Zane H. Healy wrote:
OK, what I see that concerns me is the fact you're using a 11/03 box.
Unless I'm mistaken the 11/03 was only Q16, which has me wondering how
you're even running a 11/23 CPU, which should be Q18, in it (it's possible
someone upgraded the backplane to be 18-bit).
It did have the M8186 11/23 CPU in
the 11/03 chassis when I got it, not
that that means anything. I did change the memory module to a 128KW
MSV11-LK. There's an older Q-bus VAX system at the
University that will probably be
taken out of service soon, and there's a chance I can grab its SCSI
controller (I'm not sure exactly what it has, but I know it has one).
You should be aware that a CQD 220/TM is no longer available and that
manuals are difficult to obtain. Ask on the list and we can help if that is
the version of the host adapter. If possible, get your dibs in early so
that you can grab it when it becomes available.
I took a quick
look and it looks like CMD made SCSI controllers that would
work in either a Q18 or Q22 system. It also looks like Viking controllers
only work in a Q22 system.
As for your Fortran programs, I would think they would work on V5.x, but am
not sure. The best people on the list to know about that would be Megan or
Jerome.
Is this a hobbyist system, or is it a production system?
Its mostly a hobbyist
system, in that I paid for it personally, and if it
weren't for it being a hobby, I would have given up a long time ago. :) From what I know of FORTRAN IV programs and V4.00 vs
V5.00
compatibility, you are VERY unlikely to have a problem. Assume for
now that you won't - which is an assumption I rarely make in any
circumstances. That means that I have so rarely found a problem
that for most cases it is just not an issue.
Your bigger problem will be to transfer the files to a SCSI hard drive.
I will volunteer to put V5.03 on a SCSI hard drive for you if no one
else is available in the US. Since I am in Toronto, crossing the border
could be a complication. But ANYONE else who is able to write
to a SCSI hard drive on either a real PDP-11 or anyone who has a
Full version of E11 can also do that for you. A SCSI hard drive is a
SCSI hard drive on any system. Under E11, I can connect the same
2 GByte ST32550N drive from a real PDP-11 to a header on the
SCSI cable to an Adaptec AHA2940AU PCI host adapter. I do
need to "trick" the software by having a Sony SMO S501 powered
up on the same SCSI ID when I first boot Windows98 and load
ASPI8DOS.SYS for E11, but after I turn off the power on the
Sony SMO S501, I can power on the ST32550N (the SCSI cable
may NEED to be plugged in first - I always do) hard drive and
E11 is very happy to use the ST2550N as an RT-11 device.
Its kind of hard to explain, but I'll try. I work
for a university on a
National Science Foundation funded project that provides satellite
communication to scientists at the geographic south pole, and a few other
assorted places in the Antarctic. Normal commericial satellite
communication isn't affordable to the scientific community, so the
operation uses old satellites (ranging in launch year from 1967 to 1977)
that are no longer usable for their original purpose, such as imager
failures in the case of the older GOES satellites. We also use ATS-3, the
oldest continously operating satellite in the world. It took the first
color pictures of the earth from space in 1967. Also, being low on
station keeping fuel, which causes the orbit to drift north and south of
the equator, so that it its no longer geostationary is another reason.
That's good for us, because at geostationary orbit, you can only see down
to about 80 degrees south. With the drift, you can see the poles for
about 6 hours a day.
In order to perform maneuvers (fire the jets) on a spin-stabilized
satellite, you have to synchronize your commanding with a reference point
(usually the sun). If you were in the 1970s and wanted to design a
reliable "portable" computing system for each launch site required around
the world, what would you use? You guessed it, a PDP-11. The software
was on an RX02 along with RT-11.
Anyway, we built our own command equipment awhile ago with a small
microcontroller. This was intended for commanding where the timing isn't
critical, such as turning things on and off, switching sensors, etc. The
attitude of a spinning satellite precesses slowly over time, and you
correct it by firing jets in a synchronized manner, which we can't do with
our equipment. The attitude starting to be off enough to where it needs
to be corrected. Lacking the funding to develop something new, combined
with everyone assuming I wouldn't be able to revive this system, I decided
to rebuilt it on my own. (We only had a few pieces of the original system
that attached to the DMA and PIO interfaces, which didn't work, and none
of the PDP equipment). It was working pretty well until the RX02
incident. I was hoping I could scrape up a SCSI controller from somewhere
around the university, so I could have a longer-term storage option. So
in the next couple of months, it will get used for a "production" purpose,
but then it won't be needed for quite awhile.
I have never quite head your complete situation. Anything else I can help
with? If anyone could provide a loan CQD 220/TM for a few months,
might that help? SCSI hard drives are not the problem - the ST32550N
cost only $ US 10.00 and plenty of others are also available.
I can't understand how funding can be so tight that a project which uses
a $ 100 million satellite can't find the support for a PDP-11 system
at this point. Doe someone nearby have a BA23 box that they can
provide you. That will be a problem to some extent since you should
also have at least an M8189 (quad 11/23 with boot ROMs). But
I would be willing to send that to you if more memory would also
help. Otherwise, if 1/4 MByte of memory is sufficient, then your
present system with a SCSI host adapter and hard drive will likely
serve you very well.
If you need any more help with RT-11, please ask here at any time.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine