21 Oct
2000
21 Oct
'00
2:35 p.m.
OK, I have my Microvax II KA-630 (thanks Carlos) and I now need to
completely understand it. I have discovered the follow boards are in
it:
KA-630 (CPU w/FPU and 1 Meg RAM)
Nemonix NXII-16 (half filled, Meg of RAM)
M7608 RAM (4Meg I think)
M7516 (DELQA Ethernet adapter)
M7555 (2x MFM Disk controller)
SI Part # 981-4617 (ESDI board? SCD-RQD11/EC)
RCI - Recognition Concepts INC. NO 100220 - Has a TRW 1007J1C3 8451/AP
(Analog?)
M5976-SA KZQSA (SCSI)
Ok this machine has 1 MFM drive (~50M) and another drive (which I haven't
kooed up yet). I hope to build the IDE interface in the next few months
to save money on the drives. I can get a 760M ESDI drive for ~$300(US).
Now the SCSI is borrowed from a BA213 (hence the SA) I intend on knocking
out the rivets and making it usable in both machines. I may also upgrade
the Nemonix to 15M to get a full 16M. I already have 3 2.5G SCSI (and a 9G
SCSI-3 drive, yea I know ...).
Does anyone recognize the SI board or the RCI board? What is the minimum
size drive for loading VMS 7.2? Any other thoughts? My fingers are itching
to learn VMS?
One other question, what command do I need to remount the drives on a
Microvax II? My machines go off line and I don't know what commands to
type to get them back.
Thanks.
--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52 (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ (SourceForge)
21 Oct
21 Oct
3:21 p.m.
New subject: Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs
I recently acquired two of these 5 1/4 inch drives,
which have the garage-door type opening (and very low
ser. nos.). Does anyone know the specs for these
drives? I assume they are probably SS/SD. They look
like they may be what was used for the Atari 801. Is
this right?
9:32 p.m.
New subject: Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs
I recently acquired two of these 5 1/4 inch drives,
which have the garage-door type opening (and very low
ser. nos.). Does anyone know the specs for these
drives? I assume they are probably SS/SD. They look
like they may be what was used for the Atari 801. Is
this right?
Typo there. Meant to say Atari 810.
22 Oct
22 Oct
4:13 a.m.
New subject: Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs
First of all, there never were ANY 5-1/4" drives of any sort I've ever
encountered, that were SD, that's because the drive doesn't determine the
rlux reversal density with which the controller writes on the media, and
because the head technology, by the time 5-1/4" drives came into common
usage, would always support "double density" which relies on a more
efficient modulation technique than what's used in SD.
Secondly, if you look at the drive, you should be able to tell whether there
are two heads or just one from the cable connectors. On some drives you
may have to look where the cables come from by dismounting the board and
looking underneath, but these are often shielded cables with thin (#28 or
smaller) insulated wires in a common shield, coming from the heads. One
such cable will dome from each side of the head assembly.
MPI drives were used in the original IBM PC's, so they might look the same
as what you see in the old PC's at the junk shops. There is nothing strange
about any of the MPI drives, so, unless you have an OEM version of one sort
or another, you may safely assume the obvious.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne M. Smith <wmsmith(a)earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2000 9:21 PM
Subject: Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs
I recently acquired two of these 5 1/4 inch drives,
which have the garage-door type opening (and very low
ser. nos.). Does anyone know the specs for these
drives? I assume they are probably SS/SD. They look
like they may be what was used for the Atari 801. Is
this right?
4:46 a.m.
New subject: Micro Peipherals model B51 FDDs
On Sat, 21 Oct 2000, Wayne M. Smith wrote:
I recently acquired two of these 5 1/4 inch drives,
which have the garage-door type opening (and very low
ser. nos.). Does anyone know the specs for these
drives? I assume they are probably SS/SD. They look
like they may be what was used for the Atari 801. Is
this right?
I first saw (and bought) the MPI B51 drives at the 3rd West Coast Computer
Faire (that was the one time that they held it in LA.) They were the
first 5.25" drive that I ever saw after the Shugart SA400. We (Elcompco)
were worried about whether they would work for TRS-80, but they did very
nicely.
They were single sided, 40 track (48 TPI), with faster step than the
Shugarts. IIRC, the B52 was DS, B91? was SS 96TPI, and B92? was DS 96TPI.
The door was a manual closure, and would slam open when you press the
button. But the people who refused to hold the door while it was
opening were the same people who would "flip" the doors (and break
them) on Shugarts and Tandons. We replaced fewer doors on the MPIs than
on the Shugarts and Tandons.
[Richard: although many people did put them in their PC's, IBM did NOT
use them. IBM used first Tandons, and then later some CDCs]
--
Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com
XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
PO Box 1236 (510) 558-9366
Berkeley, CA 94701-1236
1:08 a.m.
M7608 RAM (4Meg I think)
Is it -A* or -B*? If it's -A* it's 2MB, if -B* it's 4MB.
M7516 (DELQA Ethernet adapter)
M7555 (2x MFM Disk controller)
I'm not sure you actually have a need for this. I know in my
MutantPDP-11/73 the only reason I've got one installed is to drive my RX50
floppies. ESDI or SCSI totally blows this sucker away!
SI Part # 981-4617 (ESDI board? SCD-RQD11/EC)
I believe this is a rebadged Webster board, a very nice ESDI controller!
M5976-SA KZQSA (SCSI)
It's early and my mind is foggy. Is this CD-ROM only?
to save money on the drives. I can get a 760M ESDI
drive for ~$300(US).
Uh, I don't know what part of the world you're in, but take a look around
for scrappers and junk dealers! That's where I've gotten my ESDI drives.
While I've only found 150-380MB drives, I've also only payed $5 apiece for
them.
Does anyone recognize the SI board or the RCI board?
What is the minimum
size drive for loading VMS 7.2? Any other thoughts? My fingers are itching
to learn VMS?
Take a look at the SPD. http://www.digital.com/SP2501/SP2501SC.TXT
One other question, what command do I need to remount
the drives on a
Microvax II? My machines go off line and I don't know what commands to
type to get them back.
? I'm not sure I follow you here. Are you saying the disk goes off-line
and you don't know how to get it back?
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
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+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
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5 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
ncherry＠home.net -
richard＠idcomm.com -
wmsmith＠earthlink.net