17 Jun
2013
17 Jun
'13
11:30 a.m.
On Jun 17, 2013, at 12:40 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove <captainkirk359 at
gmail.com> wrote:
That's why I'm openly asking whether
"downgrading" from an 11/83 w/FPU
to a dual-wide 11/73 with FPU, a boot-ROM board, and a DLV11-J would
be a worthwhile trade to anyone. If anyone feels like that's a bad
deal (for me), I'm also looking for the "rest" of a PDP-11 system, by
which I mean a BA11-N box or a bare H786 power supply (the PSU for the
BA11-N), alternatively, I'm in the market for memory (MSV11-QC, which
I would be willing to pay for, but not $NEEDTOSELLMYSPLEEN). There's
other things I'm looking for as well.[3]
I got an MSV11-QC for a great price ($150, which I think is pretty
decent for that particular board) off eBay from JT Computers (seller
conflansrd). I think they still have some -QBs in stock (that's the
2MB version, still block-mode capable). They accept decent "make an
offer" offers. Of course, it may be a lot more expensive if you're
not in the US, which I can't quite recall at the moment.
You may like the BA11-S box as well; it's quite comparable to the
BA11-N, but with a nicer power supply and the backplane is generally
22-bit. I don't recall 100%, but I don't think they ever had 11/03
bezels, though. The aesthetic is similar to the other BA11-[NM]
boxes, not BA23.
Also, as a stopgap, you can rig up a PC power supply as the backplane
power supply. It's not pretty, but it works; I used such a thing
with my H9270 backplane (4x4 serpentine) to make a PDP-11 which fit
in a Pan-Am bag to bring to a local workshop event a few months ago.
The only downside is that you don't get the line clock or front panel
switches, but those aren't hard to rig up externally. Someone made
the point that you can make the line clock with a wall-wart that does
AC output (more common than you'd think) and a comparator, which
sounds like a pretty great approach to me.
- Dave