4 Aug
2005
4 Aug
'05
12:03 p.m.
At 04:55 PM 8/4/05 -0500, you wrote:
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:32:39, Joe R. <rigdonj at
cfl.rr.com> wrote:
That's what I was told.
Gil,
I have a Diablo 30 and I need cables for it. I've been told that it can
be used with the PDP-8 but I need to find out which interface it requires.
With the right cable adapters, the Diablo 30 should work with an RK8E. ISTR the Diablo has a fat-pin square grid-type
connector, like an old
fashioned V.35 serial connector, right?
Yeap, that's them. I've heard them called Winchester connectors. I've
been watching for a connector to fit the drive but haven't found one yet. I
did find one that is one row longer so I could probable use it except that
one screw won't line up. There are three connectors on the D30. One is for
power, one is for computer interface and the other is to connect to
additional drives or a terminator. BTW the manuals for the Diablo 30 are
on Al's site.
The RK05 uses a DEC backplane
block internally, with genuine Unibus cables (RK11D) or
a DEC-style
paddle connector and 40-pin ribbon cables (RKV11D, RK8E).
_Electrically_ the Diablo 30 should be the same as a real RK05, but
mechanically, the cables are entirely different.
Yeah that was an unplesant surprise!
BTW I found out that the d30 uses an external power supply. Does anyone
have the specs or pinout for it or even an extra PSU?
Joe
The drive chain also needs to be terminated. In the case of an RK05,
it's an M930 Unibus terminator in the last drive. Not sure about a
Diablo 30, unless you hang a real M930 off of one of those cable
adapters I mentioned. Of course, if you can find the right connector
for your Diablo 30, you could make a custom terminator - it's just a
bunch of resistors, and I'm sure the schematic is in multiple Unibus
printsets on bitsavers (but I can't really say where to start, except
look at any and all Unibus CPU prints).
-ethan