23 Oct
2015
23 Oct
'15
5:39 a.m.
I think that the switches can be found, but they might be expensive. I have
a few that I used on recent project.
What I found hard was obtaining centre off switches as it appear from this
picture:-
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?46651-hi-PDP-11-45-fo
und-at-Attic-What-is-this
that PDP-11 Switches may be flipped up or down, or is that not true?
I believe they were made by C&K who are still in business. I wonder if it is
worth approaching them.
The double pole version appears to be still "stocked", I see Farnell has
some in the UK
http://cpc.farnell.com/c-k-components/7203j50-zqe/switch-body-ctr-off/dp/SW0
4163
http://www.newark.com/c-k-components/7203j50-zqe/switch-body-ctr-off/dp/99K0
440?ost=7203J50&categoryId=&categoryName=
but they are a tad expensive in the US....
.. still working out how to build a front panel for his SBC6120 as FPC6120
kits are even more un-obtainium than the switches....
Dave Wade
G4UGM
come over
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Noel
Chiappa
Sent: 23 October 2015 12:49
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Cc: jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu
Subject: Re: KIM Uno /PiDP-11 plans...
the
From: Alexandre Souza
Easily done if I had the original part on hand
We have plenty of the original bezels, from which it would be easy to cast
molds (the same part is used on the 11/45 and 11/70, unlike the rest of front console).
The real issue in any front panel recreation is going to be the switches
(not
the plastic toggles, the actual electrical device).
Both the /45 and /70
used the
now-apparently-unobtainium version with the intergral
metal plate to hold
the switch in place in a metal holder plate. So a recreation front panel
is going
to have to have some new mechanical design, to allow
use of standard
micro-switches - and that's probably going to mean a re-design of the
plastic
toggles, as those attached to side-plates on the
original toggle switches.
(That's all a bit difficult to describe in words; a picture will make it
obvious, if
anyone wants to know more.)
I wonder how big an order of switches would be required before some
switch-making firm could be convinced to do a run? Maybe whoever made
the 'back in the day' still has the tooling to do so gathering dust in an
old
room....
stashed
From: David C. Jenner
> How about making a version for a REAL PDP-11/70 front panel, and one
> for a REAL PDP-11/45 front panel, for those of us who have such away waiting
for the right simulator to come along...
To do that is going to require exactly emulating the interface to the CPU,
which is not going to be entirely trivial. Physically, the signals all flat ribbon cables to standard Berg connectors, so
that won't be hard, but
I
doubt the interface is documented, someone will have
to puzzle it out by
reading prints - and probably looking at a working one with a logic
analyzer.
Also, powering the front console requires an unusual AMP connector shell,
although that may still be available? And of course one could always bodge
the power connection...
Noel