26 Oct
2016
26 Oct
'16
5:43 a.m.
On 10/26/16 7:38 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
But DS8641's are available in the 10's of thousands, there's no earthly way
we could use them all on repairs. Yes, when they run out, we'll have a
problem - but I plan to cross than bridge _if_ and when we get to it.
Noel
Actually since about 1987 I've used about 1200 pieces of the 8641 alone
repairing boards
at the commercial level. Up till recently I had a side business keeping
commercial in use
pdp-8 and pdp11 system in NC machines. Subs are not possible in that
case as its all
about pin out and form factor. Same for unique no-DEC boards in that
service.
There is no choice for them, it has to fit the same hole. And most of
the 11s were Qbus
as the Unibus machines even minimal sized ones were generally large.
No they are scarce, any parts are NOS(new but old stock) of an out of
manufacture part.
If you going to build a board or three maybe even 20 its not a big deal
but its not
a reliable source of predictable quality. If you get to the bridge
your talking redesign
in reality or an expensive buy from unreliable source then testing them
in bulk.
Allison