3 Jan
2002
3 Jan
'02
5:53 a.m.
--- Sergio Pedraja Cabo <CAA007216(a)mail.ono.es> wrote:
Hello everybody and Happy New Year (if applicable).
I did the first tests with the DQ614P.SAV program and my Dilog DQ614
MFM controller board.
Good for you... you beat me to it (I'm still selecting my machine and
disk from my pile of parts)
* One PDP-11/23 PLUS with 128 Kwords of memory
Nice choice. For me it'll be that or the KDJ11 I just got.
* One PC connected to the second SLU simulating one
TU58
double unit (thanks, Will Kranz !)
I had forgotten about that option. I think I'll do the same to get the
program in there (I already have RT-11 v5.3 on RX50). I _had_ been
planning on using a real TU-58 cart or an RX50 diskette.
* One Dilog DQ614 Revision S
I will have to check my card to see what rev mine is.
* One Quantum MFM Hard Disk Q540 (Aka. RD52-A)
Personally, I plan to pick something that is _not_ a drop-in replacement
for a DEC drive - I can format all sorts of stuff on an RQDX3, but it's
nice to stick to the right models when you can to make drive geometry
tables in the OS and/or drivers match.
i.e., if I had a Q540 that wasn't DEC formatted, I'd probably save it
for use with a MicroVAX-I or MicroPDP.
* RT-11 v.4
OK... Should be good. I'll be testing with RT-11 v5.3. Hopefully, there
won't be any surprises from anything that "new".
Environment tips:
* I assume the vector addresses of the unit is 174400 and 160.
As long as the board was set up as defaults, that should be fine.
The program startup and asks me if I'm working
with a C.R.T (I assume
it speaks about a terminal).
Yes. That was common so the application would know how to handle
the delete key - backup or overstrike.
Later the program asks me about the
access vector for the controller. By default it uses 174400 and 160
values. I assume them too.
Sure.
The next step is to select one MFM hard disk.
My disk is the 73, one Quantum Q540.
Is there a list anywhere of what the program is expecting?
Inmediately, the program permits
me to select how much DL disks I want to emulate. I can emulate two
RL02 and two RL01. The program asks me: "Are you sure ?". My answer is
yes. The process begins... and some seconds later, the program send me
a message telling: "UNEXPECTED RESPONSE IN ADDRESS 00000160 (sometimes
is the address 00000000).
That suggests to me that it got an interrupt when it wasn't expecting
one.
Have you formatted this drive on another controller and scanned for
bad blocks? I know the RQDX3 has a "standard" way of handling them
(well... standard for the RQDX line), so I'm not sure there's a
"factory BBL" to reference or if there is, that the DQ614 does reference
it, but I would see if the drive passes a low-level format on something
else, perhaps a WD1003 in an old 486 that still has the format option
in the BIOS menu. You could also try it on a WX-1 with its BIOS
formatter (accessed through debug, typically).
I've tried to change the cable selection,
the address selection, etc... In this case, the message tells me that
the unit can't be accessed.
Sounds like you have it right.
Like a final indication, the Q540 hard disk have 5
jumpers named
DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4 and ^. Actually is selected the DS1.
I think that's correct. What I remember is that you can have one or
two drives on it and it supports a variety of combinations of emulated
drive sizes, based on what the physical sizes are. I was considering
throwing an ST-251 (yes... I know it could also be an RD33, but they
are somewhat plentiful as MFM drives go) on there and seeing if there
was enough room for 4 x RL02 (not sure how much space is taken up by
overhead).
What is wrong ? I suspect that the program must be the
same revision
than the board (Revision "O" the program, revision "S" the board).
If somebody can supply it to me, I'll agree a lot.
As far as I've seen in 17 years of searching, this rev O program is
the only thing to surface.
Any other suggestion about the vector address, etc,
are welcome.
No real suggestions except to try the drive on a different controller
to see if it formats and to try a different drive with the DQ614 and
see how _it_ formats. If you get the same problem, I'm not sure. There's
a finite (but not large) possibility that your controller is hosed.
If the machine contains only what you describe (CPU board, RAM, DQ614),
then I'm not sure. If you happen to have an RLV11 or RLV12 that is
also strapped to the default addresses, that would be a problem, but I
suspect that you would have bombed out much earlier if that were the
case.
Dunno... I guess I can see how things work on my end and give a report,
too. Hopefully it will all work for me. Not sure.
-ethan
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