The MINC is certainly an interesting machine... As you probably know, it's a Q-bus box. The backplane is electrically pretty standard (with CD interconnect), but mechnaically odd. At the right had side are 7 (IIRC) slots at the normal spacing. There are then 8 slots widely spaced for the MINC modules, and finally one more slot on the left end. The last slot takes a BDV11 bootstrap/terminator module. The 7 'normal' slots hold the CPU (a PDP11/03 or PDP11/23 CPU board), RAM, IBV11 (IEEE-488 interface), dLV11-J (console port and 3 more 'spare' serial ports), LPV11 (printer) and a disk cotnroller, either an RXV21 or RLV11, depending on whetehr you have the RX02 or RL01 version of the MINC. Those 7 slots have a cover over them which has 'Do Not Remove -- DEC Field Service Only' written on it, needless to say that didn't stop me :-) The 8 slots in the middle of the backplane take the MINC realtime I/O modules. I know of the floowing : MNCAD (12 bit ADC with 8 input mxx) MNCAA (4 channel 12 bit DAC) MNCDI (16 bit digital input MNCDO (16 bit digital output) MNCKW (clock/counter) MNCAM (16 input analogue mux) MNCTP (8 channel (IIRC) themocouple preamp) MNCAG (4 channel voltage/current/resistance preamp). These modules partly communnicate over the CD interconnect of the backplane, as well as using the normal Qbus signals. For example the preamps pass their outputs into the ADC module, the clock can be used to trigger the ADC. I find 'lab' computers and their ioterfaces interesting. HP were another company who had some nice products in this area, such as BCD interfaces for their desktop calcualtors to link them to digital measuring instruments, and the Multiprogrammer (a modular I/O system that could be controlled by many HP computers and which had capabilities similar to the I/O section of the MINC) -tony