17 Nov
2013
17 Nov
'13
1:48 a.m.
Brad,
first, congrats with this great result.
I read the web page and noticed one line which is not in your post.
It can also act as a boot ROM or generic RAM.
Now, those last two words make the board even more interesting.
With current (static) RAM chip sizes, can you have 256 KW RAM
on the board too? That makes the PDP-11 system even smaller,
because the RL11 and (all) memory boards are just one single
board! (I admit, I have not looked at the PDF or schematics).
256 KW would be too much for the 11/05, and I am not sure it
would work in an 11/70. But it would be nice in an 11/34 or /40.
Given the size of your card, would it fit in an 11/20? That would
be great, because the RL11 does not fit in the CPU box, and
I do not have memory for my 11/20 ...
I hope more people find this sufficiently interesting and order
a board. That would bring the cost down a little ;-)
I am interested, even though I have some 8 RL02 drives ...
All of the parts are available via digikey, which is
one of my
'rules'.
Would you be willing to make a kit for this? As US citizen
ordering with Digikey is easier for me than for non-US chaps.
Funds paid in advance, of course!
Once I have the new boards working, I plan to make up
2 "loaner"
boards - I'll like someone with an older machine like an 11/05
or an 11/70 or 11/45 to try them out if they are game.
I'm sure there are people in the US with these machines in running
state. I just finished moving my collection, so nothing is connected
at the moment, and they haven't run in some 5 years ... My /05 and
/70 were working, the /45 has a cut power cable harness :-/ so that
one needs repair work (next year).
- Henk