21 May
2009
21 May
'09
12:06 p.m.
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com> wrote:
Unless you have a DMA device - which is typically
going to be something like a disk or tape controller - the NPG grant should be
daisy-chained without break.
Agreed.
?I disagree slightly with Ethan's assertion that
this is something you'll play with these jumpers a lot: I've only done it once,
for a tape controller. ?Maybe I've just been lucky. ?:-) ?I think if I ever remove
that tape controller and put in a non-NPR board, I'm going to find some sort of
slide-on jumper for CA1-CB1, just in case....
It depends on how you use your machine. In my experience, the
contents change. If you don't have to remove a DMA-capable-board (to
borrow it for another machine, say), then you won't have to fiddle NPR
wires. If you only have devices like an RX-11, it's not a DMA device
so you don't have to fiddle jumpers. We used to move tape and disk
controllers several times a year as we mocked up customer
configurations to chase down bugs. I'm glad we had a pile of
dual-height grant cards that were effectively free. It saved us a lot
of time when we changed the machines, which we did from time to time.
If you only have one PDP-11 or you have enough peripheral cards for
each of the PDP-11s you do have then maybe you won't have to
reconfigure very often.
YMMV.
-ethan