15 Sep
1999
15 Sep
'99
11:26 a.m.
Congratulations!
I have several of these machines, and probably have an extra
users manual as well...
On Wed, 15 Sep 1999 cem14(a)cornell.edu wrote:
Today I hauled in something that I have no experience whatsoever with,
but that I'm sure most people in classiccmp own: a microvax II.
I don't know if it works, or how to hook a terminal to it to
test it. Here's what I've been able to gather:
Cards:
Slot description
1 CPU? it has two interesting-looking chips:
1: LSILIA 0485, 21-23413-01, DC379, TAC 8546
2: LSILIA 0486, 21-23389-01, DC379, CAC 8544
This is connected to a DB9M in the back panel (console goes here?
what is the pinout? what is the funny-labeled rotary switch next to
it?)
Yep, that is the CPU. Near the upper right corner (with the card
fingers down) should be 'M7606' the dec model number for a uVAX II
CPU (AKA KA630).
The pinout is a bit strange:
DE-9 (DEC) DB-25 (PC)
1 1
2 3
3 2
4 5
5 6
6 20
7 7
8 -\
9 -/ (short 8 & 9) together
The toggle switch controls whether the system boots on powerup,
or enters the console.
The three position rotary switch controls the power up mode
(arrow is normal, face is language inquiry, i dunno the other one)
The last one is the console baud rate.
2 nemonix memory board, holds 56 TC511000AP-10
chips
Unknown 3rd party memory... Probably 4Mb or 8Mb
3 dec memory board, holds 144 41256-212141302 chips
8Mb DEC memory board, IIRC.
The maximum amount of memory you can have in a uVAX II is 16Mb, using
two 8Mb memory boards. Unless it is a VAXStation II/GPX in which case
the max is 12MB (or maybe 13MB)... You don't have the extra three cards
to make it a GPX system.
The CPU has 1MB on it, but it is disabled if there are two 8MB memory
boards installed.
4 dec board, some labels are: LPWR M94V-1 25787, and "M7516" in the
extraction handle; connected to a DB15F in the back panel
Ethernet card, probably a DEQNA. The 15 pin connector is a (old style)
AUI interface. You can get a DESTA to convert the AUI to thinwire coax,
or ??? to convert to 10-base-T.
5 dec board, (disk controller?), reads M7555 in
the extraction handle,
connected to what seems to be an older RLL hard drive
Yep, disk controller (an RQDX3 to be precise)... Also can interface to
floppies if you have any.
Hard drive: RD53-A rev A
75 or so MB MFM hard drive. Probably dead... They never were very
good.
label in the back panel:
Model: 630QB-A2
product variation: changed from 630QB-A2 to DH630Q4E2 by WFD.
Don't know what that means, I've got a similiar one on the machine
nearest to me (I have one on each floor of my house :)
So what exactly is this beast and how can I test if it works?
About the same horsepower as a VAX 11/780 (but doesn't handle
multiple users because of a slower I/O system). It is reasonably
spunky for one user.
Build a cable (or use a DEC BC08 cable), plug it in to a terminal,
set the proper baud rate, power it up and you should see something
like:
KA630-A.1
1) Dansk 7) Nederlands
blah blah blah
(1..11):
If you choose the language of choice, you get:
Performing normal systems tests.
7..6..5..4..3..
Tests completed.
>>
The countdown takes a while (several minutes), then the chevron
appears if you set the boot toggle switch to halt on powerup.
Otherwise it will:
2..1..0
And start booting off the disk (unless it is bad)...
Good luck!!!
clint
Best regards,
Carlos.