11 May
2016
11 May
'16
12:30 p.m.
From: Dave Wade
I have recently a PDP-11 which apparently came from a
VAX console.
If that's really where it came from, it's a QBUS 11/03. (And IIRC only the
780 had a PDP-11 console, although I'm not a VAX expert.)
It looks to me like there are two CPU's in there
Well, as Bill said, send us the 'M-numbers' (on the board handles), and we'll
tell you what you've got - but multi-CPU PDP11's basically don't exist (with
some rare exceptions), and certainly not in a VAX console. So I'm not sure
what you have there.
and Bus Terminator
Actually, that's the 'QBUS out' connector card; the way the PDP-11 runs the
VAX is that there's a card in the 780 CPU which is on the QBUS (there are
cables that run from the QBUS out to that card), and it allows the -11 to
totally control the 780 CPU.
I have done lots of searching and there doesn't
seem to be a simple
list of what can run on it
Well, nothing that needs memory management - at least, as it sits. You could
swap out the CPU card for an 11/23 or 11/73, then you could run an OS that
needs memory management (Unix, or one of the DEC OS's that needs it - I know
nothing of the DEC OS's for the -11, someone else here will, though). And
your backplane is probably so-called Q18, limited to 256KB of memory, but
that's easy to upgrade.
Noel
11 May
11 May
12:45 p.m.
On May 11, 2016, at 3:30 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at
mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
Some others had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models specifically.
From: Dave Wade
I have recently a PDP-11 which apparently came
from a VAX console.
If that's really where it came from, it's a QBUS 11/03. (And IIRC only the
780 had a PDP-11 console, although I'm not a VAX expert.) ...
The 11/03 should run RT-11 nicely. Limited RSX, possibly; I don't know those details.
RSTS V4 also runs on unmapped PDP-11 systems, but that OS only supports Unibus machines
and a very limited set of disk controllers (which doesn't include floppies).
paul
I have done lots of searching and there
doesn't seem to be a simple
list of what can run on it
Well, nothing that needs memory management - at least, as it sits. You could
swap out the CPU card for an 11/23 or 11/73, then you could run an OS that
needs memory management (Unix, or one of the DEC OS's that needs it - I know
nothing of the DEC OS's for the -11, someone else here will, though). And
your backplane is probably so-called Q18, limited to 256KB of memory, but
that's easy to upgrade. 
1:53 p.m.
I thought I had attached a pic of the card layouts, I assume these are
deleted... Here is a link... Sorry it's long.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!88626&authkey=!A…
Cards are
M7264,
M7940,M9400ye
M8044ee,m7946
M8192,empty.
Also have loose grant card....
On 11 May 2016 20:46, "Paul Koning" <paulkoning at comcast.net> wrote:
specifically.
those
details. RSTS V4 also runs on unmapped PDP-11 systems, but that OS
only supports Unibus machines and a very limited set of disk controllers
(which doesn't include floppies).
> On May 11, 2016, at 3:30 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
wrote:
>
>> From: Dave Wade
>
>> I have recently a PDP-11 which apparently came from a VAX console.
>
> If that's really where it came from, it's a QBUS 11/03. (And IIRC only
the
780 had a
PDP-11 console, although I'm not a VAX expert.)
Some others had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models
> ...
>> I have done lots of searching and there doesn't seem to be a simple
>> list of what can run on it
>
> Well, nothing that needs memory management - at least, as it sits. You
could
> swap out the CPU card for an 11/23 or 11/73, then
you could run an OS
that
> needs memory management (Unix, or one of the DEC
OS's that needs it - I
know
> nothing of the DEC OS's for the -11, someone
else here will, though).
And
> your backplane is probably so-called Q18, limited
to 256KB of memory,
but
that's
easy to upgrade.
The 11/03 should run RT-11 nicely. Limited RSX, possibly; I don't know
paul
2:20 p.m.
On 11 May 2016 at 21:53 Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> wrote:
I thought I had attached a pic of the card layouts, I assume these are
deleted... Here is a link... Sorry it's long.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=277A0739F125010E!88626&authkey=!A…
Cards are
M7264,
M7940,M9400ye
M8044ee,m7946
M8192,empty.
Also have loose grant card....
I collected this machine on Dave's behalf. The seller said it was indeed out of
a 780. I got the impression the 11/23 card was just a spare he had that he put
in the enclosure, not really part of the original system.
Regards
Rob
On 11 May 2016 20:46, "Paul Koning" <paulkoning at comcast.net>
wrote:
specifically.
those details. RSTS V4 also runs on unmapped PDP-11 systems, but that OS
only supports Unibus machines and a very limited set of disk controllers
(which doesn't include floppies).
> On May 11, 2016, at 3:30 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
wrote:
>
>> From: Dave Wade
>
>> I have recently a PDP-11 which apparently came from a VAX console.
>
> If that's really where it came from, it's a QBUS 11/03. (And IIRC only
the
780 had a
PDP-11 console, although I'm not a VAX expert.)
Some others had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models
> ...
>> I have done lots of searching and there doesn't seem to be a simple
>> list of what can run on it
>
> Well, nothing that needs memory management - at least, as it sits. You
could
> swap out the CPU card for an 11/23 or 11/73,
then you could run an OS
that
> needs memory management (Unix, or one of the
DEC OS's that needs it -
> I
know
> nothing of the DEC OS's for the -11,
someone else here will, though).
And
> your backplane is probably so-called Q18,
limited to 256KB of memory,
but
that's easy to upgrade.
The 11/03 should run RT-11 nicely. Limited RSX, possibly; I don't know
paul
2:24 p.m.
On 11/05/2016 20:45, "Paul Koning" <paulkoning at comcast.net> wrote:
The 8{3|5}50s our biggest customer used had Pro380 VAX CONSOLES, I remember
our main menu system looked odd on them since they had a bitmapped display.
I've still got one of them I think, can't remember the last time I powered
it up but I'm pretty sure it was running TSX-11.
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
On May 11, 2016, at 3:30 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc
at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
Some others had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models
specifically. From: Dave Wade
I have recently a PDP-11 which apparently came
from a VAX console.
If that's really where it came from, it's a QBUS 11/03. (And IIRC only the
780 had a PDP-11 console, although I'm not a VAX expert.) 
2:27 p.m.
On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 2:24 PM, Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk
wrote:
> On 11/05/2016 20:45, "Paul Koning" <paulkoning at comcast.net wrote:
>
> >
> >> On May 11, 2016, at 3:30 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at
mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
wrote:
> >>
> >>> From: Dave Wade
> >>
> >>> I have recently a PDP-11 which apparently came from a VAX console.
> >>
> >> If that's really where it came from, it's a QBUS 11/03. (And IIRC
only
> the
> >> 780 had a PDP-11 console, although I'm not a VAX expert.)
> >
> > Some others had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models
> > specifically.
>
> The 8{3|5}50s our biggest customer used had Pro380 VAX CONSOLES, I remember
> our main menu system looked odd on them since they had a bitmapped display.
> I've still got one of them I think, can't remember the last time I powered
> it up but I'm pretty sure it was running TSX-11.
>
While we're on that subject --
I have a friend locally with an 8550 that's missing the console Pro-380
system; if anyone happens to have one (with the appropriate VAX interface
hardware) drop me a line...
- Josh
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
3:08 p.m.
On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 5:24 PM, Adrian Graham
<witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
Not the 82xx/83xx, but the larger 85xx, 87xx and 88xx... Machines with
a Nautilus bus, mostly. The 8200|8250|8300|8350 were more like a
VAX-11/750 where the console "processor" was embedded into the CPU.
Some others
had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models
specifically.
The 8{3|5}50s our biggest customer used had Pro380 VAX CONSOLES
I remember
our main menu system looked odd on them since they had a bitmapped display.
I've still got one of them I think, can't remember the last time I powered
it up but I'm pretty sure it was running TSX-11.
Nope. TSX-11 was not a DEC product. Pro350s and Pro380s (Pro325
didn't have a hard disk) usually ran P/OS, an RSX derivative for the
Professional series. You could also get RT-11 for the Pro, as well as
VENIX, but when used as a VAX console, it was P/OS and some
menus/assets for being a console. It's not hard to repurpose them.
-ethan
4:05 p.m.
On 11/05/2016 23:08, "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 5:24 PM, Adrian Graham
<witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
Not the 82xx/83xx, but the larger 85xx, 87xx and 88xx... Machines with
a Nautilus bus, mostly. The 8200|8250|8300|8350 were more like a
VAX-11/750 where the console "processor" was embedded into the CPU.
My memory's getting skewed with age, clearly. I can remember RKG's (Royal
Kingdom of Geordies) finest 2 engineers upgrading the 8350s to 8550s and the
passage of time has me convinced it was 'only' a backplane swap. I was
purely a code monkey back then. One thing that definitely happened was the
MD of this company was going to have his new VAXen removed again because
they didn't have blinkenlights.
Some
others had a PRO as their console. Don't remember which models
specifically.
The 8{3|5}50s our biggest customer used had Pro380 VAX CONSOLES
Nope. TSX-11 was not a DEC product. Pro350s and
Pro380s (Pro325
didn't have a hard disk) usually ran P/OS, an RSX derivative for the
Professional series. You could also get RT-11 for the Pro, as well as
VENIX, but when used as a VAX console, it was P/OS and some
menus/assets for being a console. It's not hard to repurpose them.
Aaah P/OS! Yes, I think it's all the recent chat on here about TSX-11 that
had me thinking that's what was running. The box of floppies I got might
contain P/OS disks....Tomorrow I'll grab the RCD socket from the kitchen and
plug said console in and will be prepared to be amazed if the RD51 spins up.
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
4:17 p.m.
On 12/05/16 00:05, Adrian Graham wrote:
My memory's getting skewed with age, clearly. I can remember RKG's (Royal
Kingdom of Geordies) finest 2 engineers upgrading the 8350s to 8550s and the
passage of time has me convinced it was 'only' a backplane swap. I was
purely a code monkey back then. One thing that definitely happened was the
MD of this company was going to have his new VAXen removed again because
they didn't have blinkenlights.
The VAX 8200/8250/8300/8350 was a low-end BI-based system.
Put in one CPU and you had a VAX 8200; put in two and you had a VAX8300.
There was a mid-life kicker, which was a slightly faster CPU and that
gave you
the 8250/8350. I'm sure I put three CPUs in the one I had back at DEC and
it booted and (this is where I'm hazy) called itself a VAX 8370.
The VAX 8500 ("Flounder", someone was definitely "having a larf"...)
was
a VAX 8550 with
NOPs in the microcode. Customers noticed and the NOPs were removed. That
made the
VAX 8530 iirc. The VAX 8550 was the faster variant in the same box.
These systems
had a PRO variant for the console. They all used the NMI backplane and
so were
similar to (but not iirc upgradeable to) the VAX 88x0 series ("Polarstar").
These were all much taller boxes than the VAX 8200 series.
BTW: well done for remembering RKG :-)
Antonio
--
Antonio Carlini
arcarlini at iee.org
11:44 p.m.
New subject: VAX 83xx [Was: Re: PDP-11]
On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 12:17:57AM +0100, Antonio Carlini wrote:
The VAX 8200/8250/8300/8350 was a low-end BI-based system.
Put in one CPU and you had a VAX 8200; put in two and you had a VAX8300.
There was a mid-life kicker, which was a slightly faster CPU and that gave
you
the 8250/8350. I'm sure I put three CPUs in the one I had back at DEC and
it booted and (this is where I'm hazy) called itself a VAX 8370.
I'm about to pick up an 8350 which the previous owner says has four cpus
and calls it an 8354.
I can report back later in the summer after I have picked it up.
/P
12 May
12 May
11:54 a.m.
On 12/05/2016 00:17, "Antonio Carlini" <a.carlini at ntlworld.com> wrote:
On 12/05/16 00:05, Adrian Graham wrote:
OK, the mists of time are clearing, there was definite a cabinet swap at one
point and I can recall wheeling some smaller cabs out into the warehouse
because they'd been replaced by the 85xx cabs. The smaller ones hadn't
lasted very long IIRC. This was the reason for the 85xx being threatened
with removal, along with the blinkenlights.
My memory's getting skewed with age, clearly. I can remember RKG's (Royal
Kingdom of Geordies) finest 2 engineers upgrading the 8350s to 8550s and the
passage of time has me convinced it was 'only' a backplane swap. I was
purely a code monkey back then. One thing that definitely happened was the
MD of this company was going to have his new VAXen removed again because
they didn't have blinkenlights.
The VAX 8200/8250/8300/8350 was a low-end BI-based system.
Put in one CPU and you had a VAX 8200; put in two and you had a VAX8300.
There was a mid-life kicker, which was a slightly faster CPU and that
gave you
the 8250/8350. I'm sure I put three CPUs in the one I had back at DEC and
it booted and (this is where I'm hazy) called itself a VAX 8370 VAX 8530 iirc. The VAX 8550 was the faster variant in
the same box.
These systems
had a PRO variant for the console. They all used the NMI backplane and
so were
similar to (but not iirc upgradeable to) the VAX 88x0 series ("Polarstar").
Gotcha.
These were all much taller boxes than the VAX 8200 series.
BTW: well done for remembering RKG :-)
My second home for a long while and I'm still friends with the engineers,
Allan, Aiden, Alan, Mike, John etc. We had ales aplenty last year :)
--
Adrian/Witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
3146
days inactive
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10 comments
9 participants
participants (9)
-
a.carlini＠ntlworld.com -
dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
derschjo＠gmail.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu -
paulkoning＠comcast.net -
pontus＠Update.UU.SE -
robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk