4.3BSD Quasijarus

On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 11:40 AM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote: The 11/730Z configuration (same backplane as for the 11/725) only has room for five 1MB boards. I don't know about the later 11/730 packaging, the one that looks like it's in a BA-11-type box at the top of a 42" cabinet (reminding me a little of a skinny 11/750). I never had one of those, and after the limitations of the -Z packaging, was always curious about it. The -Z is nice if all you need is a CPU, an RB80 disk, an RL02, 5MB of memory, a DMF32, and perhaps a tape drive or a couple of SPCs. You can run an external BA-11 (we did), but having a side-along cabinet sort-of defeats the purpose of the integrated packaging. The 11/725 can also be rigged with a BA-11 (I've seen it done, but haven't done it myself), but it helps to nibble out a notch in the outer skin to pass the Unibus cable out. Electrically, it works, but it was never a supported configuration, and there's no pre-made way to deal with cable issues. 8MB on an 11/750 is adequate for many things. 5MB on a KA730 is much more constrictive. I know they were balancing models and trying not to cannibalize high-end customers on a cheaper package, but we found memory, not CPU speed (slow as it is) to be the ultimate limiting factor with those models. -ethan