9 May
2012
9 May
'12
12:43 p.m.
Hi folks,
First I'd just like to say it's good to be back. I think I first joined
Classiccmp in 1998-ish, and I've been on-again off-again as time and
life has permitted participation in the hobby. Following a very long
time spent off the list, it's really good to finally be back. I've
missed this place a lot.
Now, for the meat...
Last year I was offered a PDP-11/35 by a friend who was cleaning out his
shed in preparation for a move back to the Bay Area. I haven't had
any PDP-11s in a long time (unfortunately!), so I jumped at the offer.
He moved it down here two weeks ago, and I picked it up.
It's seen better days, that's for sure. Time, the climate, mice, and
spiders all did some damage. On first sight I was scared there wouldn't
be anything salvageable. But I was in luck, the physical damage was
largely confined to the metal chassis, which is covered in surface rust
and dirt.
I've started to work on cleaning it up and restoring it, and I'm
documenting the process here:
http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/index.html
I haven't done very much yet other than disassembly and a little surface
cleaning. My next priority will be to get the power supply out so I can
inspect it, clean it (if needed), and start testing it on my workbench.
Eventually I want to take care of the chassis by sandblasting it and
re-painting it. That will be a while, though.
Anyway, I hope I'll be able to bounce debugging questions off folks here
as I go along. And if anyone local to me (San Francisco Bay Area) would
be willing to lend a hand now and again, that would be fantastic. I may
need some help by the time I get around to applying power.
One downside to this is that it has rekindled my DEC-lust to levels not
seen since 2000. A real pity - over the years I've had tons (probably
literally) of DEC gear come and go through my collection, but I've kept
almost none of it due to lack of a permanent, owned home for it all.
But now that I'm settling down and I have some time again, I wish I'd
kept a lot of it. Such is life - you never really appreciate what you
have until it's gone :) At least it has all gone to other collectors,
and not to the scrappers!
-Seth
9 May
9 May
2:08 p.m.
Hi Seth,
If you have any hardware questions, I'll be glad to offer phone
support. I have spares for most of the parts also. Beware the jumpers!
Paul
On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 2:43 PM, Seth Morabito <lists at loomcom.com> wrote:
Hi folks,
First I'd just like to say it's good to be back. I think I first joined
Classiccmp in 1998-ish, and I've been on-again off-again as time and
life has permitted participation in the hobby. Following a very long
time spent off the list, it's really good to finally be back. I've
missed this place a lot.
Now, for the meat...
Last year I was offered a PDP-11/35 by a friend who was cleaning out his
shed in preparation for a move back to the Bay Area. I haven't had
any PDP-11s in a long time (unfortunately!), so I jumped at the offer.
He moved it down here two weeks ago, and I picked it up.
It's seen better days, that's for sure. Time, the climate, mice, and
spiders all did some damage. On first sight I was scared there wouldn't
be anything salvageable. But I was in luck, the physical damage was
largely confined to the metal chassis, which is covered in surface rust
and dirt.
I've started to work on cleaning it up and restoring it, and I'm
documenting the process here:
?http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/index.html
I haven't done very much yet other than disassembly and a little surface
cleaning. My next priority will be to get the power supply out so I can
inspect it, clean it (if needed), and start testing it on my workbench.
Eventually I want to take care of the chassis by sandblasting it and
re-painting it. That will be a while, though.
Anyway, I hope I'll be able to bounce debugging questions off folks here
as I go along. And if anyone local to me (San Francisco Bay Area) would
be willing to lend a hand now and again, that would be fantastic. I may
need some help by the time I get around to applying power.
One downside to this is that it has rekindled my DEC-lust to levels not
seen since 2000. A real pity - over the years I've had tons (probably
literally) of DEC gear come and go through my collection, but I've kept
almost none of it due to lack of a permanent, owned home for it all.
But now that I'm settling down and I have some time again, I wish I'd
kept a lot of it. Such is life - you never really appreciate what you
have until it's gone :) At least it has all gone to other collectors,
and not to the scrappers!
-Seth
2:20 p.m.
I just looked at the pics and comfiguration. Do you have the RK11-C to
control the Diablo 30? I have a drive here but not sure about the
controller. I don't thinh the RK11-d will work on that drive, and I
didn't see eother in the pic.
The BA11-D box is nice ans easier to work with in some ways than the
BA11-F. I see it has moss in it, which is cool, but I still like core
in that era.
thanks, Paul
On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 2:43 PM, Seth Morabito <lists at loomcom.com> wrote:
Hi folks,
First I'd just like to say it's good to be back. I think I first joined
Classiccmp in 1998-ish, and I've been on-again off-again as time and
life has permitted participation in the hobby. Following a very long
time spent off the list, it's really good to finally be back. I've
missed this place a lot.
Now, for the meat...
Last year I was offered a PDP-11/35 by a friend who was cleaning out his
shed in preparation for a move back to the Bay Area. I haven't had
any PDP-11s in a long time (unfortunately!), so I jumped at the offer.
He moved it down here two weeks ago, and I picked it up.
It's seen better days, that's for sure. Time, the climate, mice, and
spiders all did some damage. On first sight I was scared there wouldn't
be anything salvageable. But I was in luck, the physical damage was
largely confined to the metal chassis, which is covered in surface rust
and dirt.
I've started to work on cleaning it up and restoring it, and I'm
documenting the process here:
?http://www.loomcom.com/projects/pdp11-35/index.html
I haven't done very much yet other than disassembly and a little surface
cleaning. My next priority will be to get the power supply out so I can
inspect it, clean it (if needed), and start testing it on my workbench.
Eventually I want to take care of the chassis by sandblasting it and
re-painting it. That will be a while, though.
Anyway, I hope I'll be able to bounce debugging questions off folks here
as I go along. And if anyone local to me (San Francisco Bay Area) would
be willing to lend a hand now and again, that would be fantastic. I may
need some help by the time I get around to applying power.
One downside to this is that it has rekindled my DEC-lust to levels not
seen since 2000. A real pity - over the years I've had tons (probably
literally) of DEC gear come and go through my collection, but I've kept
almost none of it due to lack of a permanent, owned home for it all.
But now that I'm settling down and I have some time again, I wish I'd
kept a lot of it. Such is life - you never really appreciate what you
have until it's gone :) At least it has all gone to other collectors,
and not to the scrappers!
-Seth
3:02 p.m.
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 04:20:03PM -0500, Paul Anderson <useddec at gmail.com>
wrote:
I just looked at the pics and comfiguration. Do you
have the RK11-C to
control the Diablo 30? I have a drive here but not sure about the
controller. I don't thinh the RK11-d will work on that drive, and I
didn't see eother in the pic.
Unfortunately, no. The controller for the Diablo 30 was not included.
According to the Unibus field guide, it wants an M7255-YA, which is
listed as "Modified M7255 for Diablo series 30 disk drives".
The BA11-D box is nice ans easier to work with in some
ways than the
BA11-F. I see it has moss in it, which is cool, but I still like core
in that era.
Agreed. I'd love a core stack, but I'm happy just to have a system at
all, so I'll try not to be too picky :-)
-Seth
3:15 p.m.
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 06:02:43PM -0400, Seth Morabito <lists at loomcom.com>
wrote:
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 04:20:03PM -0500, Paul
Anderson <useddec at gmail.com> wrote:
Paul,
I take it back. My previous statement was incorrect. Al Kossow set me
straight on the disk controller.
The controller for the Diablo Series 30 is the AED 2200 Disk Controller
mounted at the bottom of the rack.
So that clears up my mystery. (Or at least, part of it. I still need to
investigate the AED2200 and see how it connects to the Unibus.)
-Seth
I just looked at the pics and comfiguration. Do
you have the RK11-C to
control the Diablo 30? I have a drive here but not sure about the
controller. I don't thinh the RK11-d will work on that drive, and I
didn't see eother in the pic.
Unfortunately, no. [...]
4:02 p.m.
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 03:23:51PM -0700, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 5/9/12 3:15 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
Brilliant. I actually have that cable! Now I just need to figure out
what slot it came out of. That shouldn't be too hard since I have the
backplanes removed already (I'm assuming it's going to be slot 15 A-B,
but I have already discovered what assuming does.)
Thanks very much for your help,
-Seth
So that clears up my mystery. (Or at least, part
of it. I still need to
investigate the AED2200 and see how it connects to the Unibus.)
Daisy-chained Unibus cable through a slot in the back of the chassis.
3:31 p.m.
On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Seth Morabito <lists at loomcom.com> wrote:
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 06:02:43PM -0400, Seth
Morabito <lists at loomcom.com> wrote:
They are probably conected with a Unibus cable- BC11A-xx. XX= length in feet
Paul
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 04:20:03PM -0500, Paul
Anderson <useddec at gmail.com> wrote:
Paul,
I take it back. My previous statement was incorrect. Al Kossow set me
straight on the disk controller.
The controller for the Diablo Series 30 is the AED 2200 Disk Controller
mounted at the bottom of the rack.
So that clears up my mystery. (Or at least, part of it. I still need to
investigate the AED2200 and see how it connects to the Unibus.)
-Seth I just looked at the pics and comfiguration. Do
you have the RK11-C to
control the Diablo 30? I have a drive here but not sure about the
controller. I don't thinh the RK11-d will work on that drive, and I
didn't see eother in the pic.
Unfortunately, no. [...] 
10 May
10 May
12:45 p.m.
I just looked at the pics and comfiguration. Do you have the RK11-C to
control the Diablo 30? I have a drive here but not sure about the
controller. I don't thinh the RK11-d will work on that drive, and I
didn't see eother in the pic.
There are 2 main differncees between the RK11-C and RK11-D.
The first is that the -C can also handle low-density drives like the
RK02. I don't think this applies here
The second is the drive select lines. The RK11-C has 4 lines per drive
cabvle connector, 1-of-n encoded (oee signals is asserted at a time to
select oen drive). Thus each cable can have 4 drives conencted to it,
there are 2 cable conenctros for a total of 8 drives
The RK11-D uses binary encoding on 3 lines (so 8 drives on one cable).
The RK05 drive cna handle either, there's singal on the itnerface
conencotr which is groudned by an RK11-D to eneable a decoder in the
drive. Mny other drives, like the Diablo 30, could only handle 1-of-n
select lines.
Over here,. Plessey sold an (exact?) clone of the RK11-D which was sued
with Diablo and similar dreives. The trick was that the drive cable had
a decoder IC on the PCB at the controller end. I don't think I have any
more infroamtion on that, alas.
-tony
9 May
9 May
2:20 p.m.
On 5/9/12 12:43 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
The disk controller is an Advanced Electronics Design 2200, which has a nice set
of blinkinlights on the front. Where is the 10mb disk drive mounted? I wasn't aware
that
the 2200 could run anything other than diablo-interface drives.
Bob Rosenbloom is also in the process of restoring an 11/35.
3:06 p.m.
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 02:20:41PM -0700, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 5/9/12 12:43 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
The disk controller is an Advanced Electronics Design 2200, which has a nice set
of blinkinlights on the front. Where is the 10mb disk drive mounted? I wasn't aware
that
the 2200 could run anything other than diablo-interface drives.
Aha! Thanks, Al, this clears up a real mystery.
I was going purely on what my friend told me. He thought the AED 2200
was a 10MB winchester, and I haven't dug into it any further (haven't
de-racked it or even researched it yet), so I just went with his assumption.
Further, I was unhappy to find that the Diablo Series 30 did not have an
RK11-D controller. I assumed it had gotten scrapped and that the Diablo
30 would be useless.
Now it comes together - the AED2200 _is_ the controller for the Diablo,
and there is _no_ 10MB winchester.
Thanks for that. I'll update the page now that it all makes sense.
-Seth
3:11 p.m.
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 02:20:41PM -0700, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 5/9/12 12:43 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
The disk controller is an Advanced Electronics Design 2200, which has a nice set
of blinkinlights on the front. Where is the 10mb disk drive mounted? I wasn't aware
that
the 2200 could run anything other than diablo-interface drives.
Aha! Thanks, Al, this clears up a real mystery.
I was going purely on what my friend told me. He thought the AED 2200
was a 10MB winchester, and I haven't dug into it any further (haven't
de-racked it or even researched it yet), so I just went with his
assumption.
Further, I was unhappy to find that the Diablo Series 30 did not have an
RK11-D controller. I assumed it had gotten scrapped and that the Diablo
30 would be useless.
Now it comes together - the AED2200 _is_ the controller for the Diablo,
and there is _no_ 10MB winchester.
Thanks for that. I'll update the page now that it all makes sense.
-Seth
3:22 p.m.
On 5/9/12 3:11 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
Now it comes together - the AED2200 _is_ the
controller for the Diablo,
and there is _no_ 10MB winchester.
It is essentially a clone of the RK-11C
Unfortunately, I don't have any docs for it. I did have one a LONG time ago.
Another manual that I wish I had saved.
3:45 p.m.
* On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 03:22:40PM -0700, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 5/9/12 3:11 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
Isn't that always the way. I hate to think of all the things I wish I'd
saved.
I will probably pull this out of the rack next and start trying to
investigate it. It was closest to the ground, and I'm worried it will
have the most corrosion.
-Seth
Now it comes together - the AED2200 _is_ the
controller for the Diablo,
and there is _no_ 10MB winchester.
It is essentially a clone of the RK-11C
Unfortunately, I don't have any docs for it. I did have one a LONG time ago.
Another manual that I wish I had saved.
9:44 p.m.
Tonight, I de-racked the Diablo 30 and cleaned it off the best I could. I couldn't
even see inside before, but it cleaned up pretty well.
There's still a pack inside. The heads are locked (I think they auto-lock on power
off) so I hope they're OK.
Inside things look good except for a few spots of rust here and there. The heads look like
they're in good shape.
I can't unload the pack (or, I don't know how) without power, so I'll just
leave everything as-is for now, until I come back around to restoring the Diablo 30.
-Seth
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aek＠bitsavers.org -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
lists＠loomcom.com -
seth＠loomcom.com -
useddec＠gmail.com