Reanimating a PDP-11/23

On 30/11/2009 20:50, Pontus Pihlgren wrote: If you're using a DE-9 connector cable on a microPDP-11/23, or the cab kit belonging to one, the pinout isn't the same as the common modern PC version, as Ethan pointed out. If you're using a 25-pin D-connector on some other cabinet kit, make sure you have Tx and Rx (pins 2 and 3) the right way round, and signal ground (pin 7, not the same as protective ground on pin 1) connected. If you're using a 10-pin berg-style connector directly onto the DLV11-J, check it's made up correctly; it has differential signals and you need to link pins 7 and 9 to make it work properly (though I'd not expect that to stop it transmitting. The other pins you need are Tx+ on pin 3, Rx+ on 8 pin, and ground on pin 2. Whatever you're doing, make sure you have the baud rate set correctly. If the speed is wildly out, you may see nothing. If you have Tx and Rx mixed up, you will see nothing. And on a DLV11-J, make sure you're using the correct port -- only port 3 can be the console port (the one on the extreme left as you look at it from the back) -- and that it is actually set up as a console, and that the DLV11-J is set to the standard address. You can set a DLV11-J *not* to reserve one port for the console, and you can also set it to different start addresses (though that shouldn't, in itself, affect the console port, if it's configured to provide one). Unlikely to be wrong, but do you have the cards in the right places in the backplane? If this is a serpentine backplane, they should be in slot 1 AB, then slot 1 CD, slot 2 CD. If it's a straight backplane (standard for an 11/23) they should be one under the other, with no cards in the CD section (except, of course, the BDV11 which take up all 4 sections of the slot). If this is a standard BA11-N or BA11-S box, or anything similar, that switch isn't connected to the PSU, exactly. It is usually jumpered to enable/disable the LTC signal, but it can be cabled to the rack's power controller using a 3-core cable with a 3-pin AMP Commercial Mate-N-Lolk connector on each end. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York