Mounting a SCSI Device in a BA-123

Jerome Fine replies: Yes. And in a BA23 as well. In fact, the BA23 with the bad DRV11 has a CQD 220/TM with a 3.5" SCSI drive and a Zip 100 MByte Iomega drive to handle removable media. Both drives are mounted on the standard 5 1/4" black plastic sleds that used to hold an RD53 and an RX50. The 3.5" drive is held in place using two angle brackets (90 degrees) that attach to the sled and the drive. The Iomega Zip drive came with its own 5 1/4" adapter kit (it was a so-called SCSI Insider). The cable used was a standard (about) 20" PC SCSI with three 50 pin headers. There is JUST enough length between the CQD220/TM and the hard drive (with about 0.1 mm to spare) to be able to connect the two. And the extra length between the hard drive and the Zip drive also JUST fits (with about 0.5 mm to spare). The 50 pin cable comes through under the plate that allows for a TK50 cable. While I agree that the DEC standard black plastic sleds are not easily adapted, I was able to find a number of the angle brackets when I needed them. If needed, they are just thin metal brackets bent at 90 degrees with one hole as an anchor to hold the drive on each side and the sled. More is unnecessary since the 3.5" drives are not heavy like the 5 1/4" drives. You can buy such plates for for cosmetic reasons, but I really don't find it necessary for actual use. As for myself, I know that Zane has found a SCSI CD-ROM which works on the actual PDP-11, but I have not made the effort to find one. Does anyone have one for sale? I solved my problem with a couple of Sony SMO S501 magneto optical disk drives that are erasable and hole 300 MBytes per each side of the cartridge. With one drive on the PDP-11 and one drive on the PC, I can transfer up to 300 MBytes at a time between the two systems. The cable for the BA23 does not seem any shorter. So shifting to that box probably will not help. If you can find a bunch of M9047 bus grant cards, that would allow you to move the host adapter all the way to the back. PLUS, I suspect that if you are not using the ABCD aspects of the first 4 slots in the BA123 (unlikely unless you have a uVAX II and must do so because the memory requires the ABCD, then with a PDP-11, it is not necessary to use the ABCD slots for the CPU unless you are using PMI memory. Also, I don't think it is hard to make a longer SCSI cable. I have several that have the 50 pin header at one end and a 50 pin centronics at the other that are over 4 feet long. I just add as many 50 pin headers as needed to accommodate any internal drives. But I only have one extra, so if I sold it, I would charge what it would cost me in parts to replace it. Or if you sent me double the 50 pin headers needed and one 50 pin centronics, I could make one up for you. Better yet, make one for yourself with the parts and an ordinary vice (large - at least 2.5" heads to tighten on the parts) and a magnifying glass to look closely at the alignment before you tighten the vice. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine