VAX 8000 Console? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

8 Feb 2014

On 2014-02-08 10:00, allison<ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote:
...

 On 02/08/2014 03:06 AM, Zane Healy wrote:
> >On Feb 7, 2014, at 11:46 PM, Pontus Pihlgren<pontus at Update.UU.SE> 
wrote:
> >
>> >>On Fri, Feb 07, 2014 at 02:55:41PM -0800, Zane Healy wrote:
>>> >>>What kind of PDP-11's did VAX 8000's use as Consoles, and
what
>>> >>>did their console software consist of.
>>> >>>
>> >>That depends, models 8600 and 8650 used an 11/03 with RX
>> >>floppies (ours has an RL drive too). I'm not sure about the OS,
>> >>I bet it is RT11.
>> >>
>> >>The other models didn't have a front end AFAIK. 
Pontus misremembers. Our 8650s (two of them), just like all 86x0 
machines have an RL02 drive for the FE.

...
  I don't think that was right.  By time the 8600
arrived the 11/03 was
 in retirement.  IF memory serves it had a dedicated T-11 for console.

 The T-11 was a single chip version of the PDP-11 and the board
 used would likely have been Falcon (T-11 Qbus SBC). 
Correct in that it is a T-11. Wrong in that it don't use a Falcon. The 
FE in the 86x0 is a dedicated board inside the 86x0 cabinet. And then 
two cables goes out to a Qbus backplane from there. The FE on the 86x0 
machines are indeed running just a plain RT-11. And the Qbus only have 
an RLV12 controller and nothing else.

As others have noted, other machines in the 8000-family used other 
consoles. There was PRO-380 based ones, and uVAX II based ones. But even 
newer have no FE at all.

The VAX-11/780 was the machine with an 11/03 and RX02 floppies (or was 
it RX01?) for the FE. It ran a more dedicated system on the FE, but it 
might have been based on some RT-11 was well, not sure.

	Johnny