New finds: DEC/DSD/MDB

Jerome Fine replies: Transduction designed and produced the BLUE box a few years before DEC came out with the BA23/BA123 boxes. They were much better (in my humble opinion) than the BA11 boxes, but not as good or convenient than the BA23 boxes. But they were also limited in that they were all rack mount. If the 11/23 is a dual board, you may have a bit of a problem in the BA23 since the BLUE box was designed with boot boards that might not be compatible with the BA23. If I remember, Transduction used a hex back plane modified to be a Qbus interface with a serpentine use of the "extra" slots. But I can't remember the order. By the time I acquired a BLUE box, I also had a BA23 box and found it to be so much more convenient that I discarded the BLUE box. Transduction is (STILL - but no longer making DEC compatible equipment) in Toronto. Around 1985 (when DEC began the big push to get rid of smaller VARs), Transduction began the switch to the PC world. They are still active with industrial systems. Around 1988 they held an auction at which I picked up a number of RD52 drives. They also had a package of TK25 tapes, but I bowed out at about $5 per tape. They could attract only 2 people to the auction - it was rather fun as a result. Probably. MDB boards were usually named by their DEC counterpart. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine