27 Aug
2002
27 Aug
'02
9:43 a.m.
Isn't the RRD50 the one with the wierd
"pincer" caddy? I've found it to be
very bootable and useful. Sure it's *SLOW*, but hey, the important thing is
that it boots! OTOH, if you try and hook it up to something like an
AlphaStation 200 4/233 I know for a fact it won't work.
No - the RRD50 is the tabletop device with a pop-up lid.
I'm pretty sure it is slower than the (later) RRD40. Both
used the KRQ50 Qbus interface, although the RRD40
was also available with an internal converter board that
turned it into a SCSI drive. Quite popular in the early
VAXstation 3100s, IIRC.
I have an RRD40 right in front of me and (again, AFAIK)
it can be used as a boot device but unlike the RRD50,
it's only dog slow :-)
The RRD40 and RRD50 both came from Philips (I think).
Both used their LMSI(??) interface. The converter board
that helped the RRD40 do SCSI was reputed to be "not that
good". Put another way, the RRD40 has a bunch of quirks.
I'm not in the least suprised that an AlphaStation turns up
its nose at it. (I vaguely remember some alpha console
command that can tweak the SCSI interface - perhaps
you can persuade the two to get on that way ... assuming
you can find the details which I've helpfully forgotten!)
Antonio