28 Mar
2003
28 Mar
'03
1:56 p.m.
First, what's the significance of the FC on the model number?
Second, I went through chassis and here's a list of the cards in it. QED stands for
Quickware Engineering & Designs. They made several of the cards in this one. Anyone
have any info on them? H,Q,U stand for Hex-bus, Quad-bus and Uni-bus respectively. Anyone
want to take a stab at id'ing these cards?
Slot: Card:
4 M7231D H Data Path
7 CI M60 made by QED Q
9 90 CPU made by QED has DCJ11-AA IC Q
11 MS 95 made by QED H
15-16 M920 U
19-20 M920 U
16 M7254 Q
17 M7255 Q
18 M7256 Q
19 M7257 Q
22 M7762 H
23 Tektronix CL3 Date/Time Option Q
24 Datasystems DLP-11 Q Printer card?
27 M7228 Q
29 M7800 Q
31 M7800 Q
33 M7800 Q
36 M7911 Q
37 M7912 H
38 M7821 fits in single slot (#2)
38 M105 fits in single slot (#3)
38 M796 fits in single slot (#4)
38 M930 U bus terminator? installed in bottom two slots
39 M795 installed u[pside down. Is this correct?
Joe
28 Mar
28 Mar
2:26 p.m.
--- Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote:
First, what's the significance of the FC on the
model number?
No idea. If this were "Suspended", I'd guess "Filter Computer"
:-)
Second, I went through chassis and here's a list
of the cards in it.
Slot: Card:
4 M7231D H Data Path
7 CI M60 made by QED Q
9 90 CPU made by QED has DCJ11-AA IC Q
11 MS 95 made by QED H
Neat - plenty of horsepower there!
15-16 M920 U
19-20 M920 U
Jumper cards. Interesting comment about them here:
http://www.varx.com/va01005.html
I think they mean that in modern Unibus designs, the cable length
is suboptimal to prevent signal reflection. The newer jumper blocks
are taller with more mylar cable folded up inside. Consult DEC's
Unibus Handbook for details on Unibus configuration. I figure if
the machine has them now, they'll be OK, but if all you want to do
is hook some DD11CKs and DD11DKs together, go with the newer ones.
16 M7254 Q
17 M7255 Q
18 M7256 Q
19 M7257 Q
RK11D (including the backplane)
22 M7762 H
RL11 (RL01/RL02 controller - up to 4 drives)
27 M7228 Q
KW11-P real-time clock.
29 M7800 Q
31 M7800 Q
33 M7800 Q
DL-11E serial boards
36 M7911 Q
37 M7912 H
38 M7821 fits in single slot (#2)
38 M105 fits in single slot (#3)
38 M796 fits in single slot (#4)
38 M930 U bus terminator? installed in bottom two slots
39 M795 installed u[pside down. Is this correct?
TS03 controller (the entire backplane - these aren't SPC (Small Peripheral
Controller) slots). Not sure about the M795 being upside-down. I'd
check that before applying power. Sometimes non-DEC goobs aren't paying
attention when they randomly pull boards.
-ethan
3:03 p.m.
At 12:23 PM 3/28/03 -0800, Ethan wrote:
If you say so. Can you tell me more?
What do they do, jumper the CPU section to memory section?
Interesting comment about them here:
What's a TS-03 controller?
Not sure about the M795 being upside-down. I'd
--- Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote:
I wondered if it had anything to do with the front panel.
First, what's the significance of the FC on
the model number?
No idea. If this were "Suspended", I'd guess "Filter Computer"
:-) Second, I went through chassis and here's a
list of the cards in it.
Slot: Card:
4 M7231D H Data Path
7 CI M60 made by QED Q
9 90 CPU made by QED has DCJ11-AA IC Q
11 MS 95 made by QED H
Neat - plenty of horsepower there! 15-16 M920 U
19-20 M920 U
Jumper cards.
http://www.varx.com/va01005.html
I think they mean that in modern Unibus designs, the cable length
is suboptimal to prevent signal reflection. The newer jumper blocks
are taller with more mylar cable folded up inside. Consult DEC's
Unibus Handbook for details on Unibus configuration. I figure if
the machine has them now, they'll be OK, but if all you want to do
is hook some DD11CKs and DD11DKs together, go with the newer ones.
I looked these two up and it looks like they're both tape controllers. Is that
right? Why TWO controllers? There was both a PT reader/punch and mag tape drive on the
system is that why it has two controllers? (Does each controller only handle one device?)
16 M7254 Q
17 M7255 Q
18 M7256 Q
19 M7257 Q
RK11D (including the backplane)
22 M7762 H
RL11 (RL01/RL02 controller - up to 4 drives)
27 M7228 Q
KW11-P real-time clock.
29 M7800 Q
31 M7800 Q
33 M7800 Q
DL-11E serial boards
> 36 M7911 Q TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1
> 37 M7912 H TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1 Hex 38 M7821 fits
in single slot (#2) SINGLE HEIGHT INTERRUPT CONTROL BD
38 M105 fits in single slot (#3)
38 M796 fits in single slot (#4) SINGLE HEIGHT UNIBUS MASTER CONTROL BD
38 M930 U bus terminator? installed in bottom two slots
39 M795 installed u[pside down. Is this correct?
TS03 controller (the entire backplane - these aren't SPC (Small Peripheral
Controller) slots). check that before applying power. Sometimes non-DEC
goobs aren't paying
attention when they randomly pull boards.
That's what I thought but I thought I'd ask the experts.
Joe
3:26 p.m.
--- Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote:
If you say so. Can you tell me more?
It has a 3rd-party CPU board with the same chip as the 11/73
through 11/93. I don't know the particular clock speed of
any QED products, but you are looking at a box that is at least
as powerful as a MicroPDP-11/73, and perhaps as powerful as
a PDP-11/93 (the "90" is suggestive but not definitive).
What do they do, jumper the CPU section to memory section?
They pass the Unibus across from backplane to backplane. If you
look underneath, you'll see there is no connection from section to
section. Each of those backplanes can be removed. Unlike a PeeCee,
DEC stuff was modular, even in the CPU cabinet. After you left the
CPU backplane, things started getting optional.
It's not two controllers. It's two parts of *one* controller.
Peripheral
Controller) slots).
What's a TS-03 controller?
A controller for a TS03 (or similar) magtape drive. DEC nomenclature
"T" for tape, "TS" for one kind of register set (as opposed to
"TM",
which looks different to the CPU and uses different boot code and device
drivers), "03" for a particular model of tape drive. The TS03 was 800 bpi
(only?) and took small reels. It didn't even have a takeup reel - the
tape packed on itself on a bare aluminum hub to save space - the entire
tape drive was about the size of a toaster oven (19" wide, 10.5" tall
and less than 24" deep). I expect that the controller could be used
with other tape drives, but I haven't personally seen that.
This entire backplane and all the cards I grouped together is the tape
controller. You can't remove part of it and migrate it around, nor can
you put other boards in this backplane and expect them to work.
Unlike "modern" machines, just because the slots look identical from the
top doesn't mean they _are_ identical.
A slot that can take a single-card controller is called a "Small Peripheral
Controller" slot (SPC) - it defines where to find what Unibus signals on
what pins. The alternative is a device that has a backplane that is Unibus
on the front and back (where the M920s, et al. go), but "random" in
between. Cards like the M105 and the M796 are standard components in a
Unibus controller of this vintage. Cards like the M7911 and M7912 are
what make it a TS03 controller as opposed to an RH-11, for example.
The M930 in the middle there is another common thing of that era - they
used Unibus cables to get the tape drive signals from the controller
backplane to the tape drive. There are a pair of H851s at the edge of
the board in the TS03 drive to receive that cable. The RK05 uses a
similar scheme - Unibus cables, but *not* Unibus signals. As long as
the Field Engineer can keep them straight (not typically a problem),
it's a good thing to reuse parts like that - keeps costs low and makes
spares kits easier to stock.
You have a mix of ancient and modern there (ancient being 1970-1978;
modern being 1984-present). Not unusual in a machine that was bought
many years ago and operated continuously since the present. Much like
doing archaeology of an ancient city that's still occupied, it can
cause confusion in the uninitated. I've never seen a machine quite
like this, but no single part of it is terribly unusual.
-ethan
At 12:23 PM 3/28/03 -0800, Ethan wrote:
Slot: Card:
4 M7231D H Data Path
7 CI M60 made by QED Q
9 90 CPU made by QED has DCJ11-AA IC Q
11 MS 95 made by QED H
Neat - plenty of horsepower there! 15-16 M920 U
19-20 M920 U
Jumper cards. > 36 M7911
Q TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1
> 37 M7912 H TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1 Hex
I looked these two up and it looks like they're both tape controllers.
Is that right? Why TWO controllers? There was both a PT reader/punch and
mag tape drive on the system is that why it has two controllers? (Does
each controller only handle one device?)
No. These boards are both part of the same device. The PC05 controller
is somewhere else (didn't see it in your list). It will be a single
quad card with two 40-pin Berg connectors, IIRC.
> 38 M7821
fits in single slot (#2) SINGLE HEIGHT INTERRUPT CONTROL BD
> 38 M105 fits in single slot (#3)
> 38 M796 fits in single slot (#4) SINGLE HEIGHT UNIBUS MASTER CONTROL
BD
38 M930
U bus terminator? installed in bottom two slots
39 M795 installed u[pside down. Is this correct?
TS03 controller (the entire backplane - these aren't SPC (Small
9:20 p.m.
Thanks for the additional details. One question:
It's not two controllers. It's two parts of *one* controller.
OK then why are both "Control 1"? They both sound like the first card of a
set.
Joe
>
36 M7911 Q TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1
> 37 M7912 H TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1 Hex
I looked these two up and it looks like they're both tape controllers.
Is that right? Why TWO controllers?
10:56 p.m.
--- Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote:
Thanks for the additional details. One question:
>
>> >> 36 M7911 Q TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1
>> >> 37 M7912 H TMB11 TAPE CONTROL 1 Hex
.
.
.
OK then why are both "Control 1"? They
both sound like the first card
of a set.
I have absolutely no idea.
-ethan
7946
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