12 Aug
2002
12 Aug
'02
9:13 p.m.
I'm having some problems getting my RL02 drive to play nice with my RLV12
in my VAXstation 3200. I've got the drive connected to the controller
with a piece of 40pin ribbon cable from an IDE drive, since I have no
'offical' cable to connect the two (or a cab kit for the controller). The
drive is set to ID 3, because I don't have a '0' Ready light cover. Also,
I don't have a terminator to use.
Right now, the drive has its 'FAULT' light on, including when the VAX is
powered up and at its monitor. A 'SHOW QBUS' shows the adaptor at address
774400 (I think), and a 'SHOW RLV12' shows no devices attached to the
controller.
Previously, when I connected a clock signal to the drive's clock in, which
was anywhere near 4.2MHz, the fault light would go off. Now, I can't get
the light to go off at all, and I'm suspecting the controller. This cable
is the second one I've tried, and both cables have had all 40pins going
straight through. I also have tried reversing the cable to ensure I had
pin 1 the same on both ends, to no avail (could that have nuked the
interface on either the controller or drive?).
Any suggestions or help would be appreciated.
-- Pat
12 Aug
12 Aug
10:12 p.m.
You have to put the terminator in. Without it, the fault light will stay
on.
Ready light cover. Also, I don't have a
terminator to use.
Right now, the drive has its 'FAULT' light on, including when the VAX
is powered up and at its monitor. A 'SHOW QBUS' shows the adaptor at
address 774400 (I think), and a 'SHOW RLV12' shows no devices attached
to the controller.
Ed
13 Aug
13 Aug
7:22 a.m.
Heh, OK, I was hoping that wasn't the problem...
Does anyone have a spare terminator or a pinout so I can build one?
Thanks!
-- Pat
On Tue, 13 Aug 2002 quapla(a)xs4all.nl wrote:
You have to put the terminator in. Without it, the fault light will stay
on.
Ready light cover. Also, I don't have a
terminator to use.
Right now, the drive has its 'FAULT' light on, including when the VAX
is powered up and at its monitor. A 'SHOW QBUS' shows the adaptor at
address 774400 (I think), and a 'SHOW RLV12' shows no devices attached
to the controller.
Ed
2:49 p.m.
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20 Aug
20 Aug
8:50 a.m.
--- Patrick Finnegan <pat(a)purdueriots.com> wrote:
I'm having some problems getting my RL02 drive to
play nice with my RLV12
in my VAXstation 3200...
OK.
I've got the drive connected to the controller
with a piece of 40pin
ribbon cable from an IDE drive, since I have no 'offical' cable to
connect the two (or a cab kit for the controller).
Never done that (always had cables), but for a short distance, it
should work.
The drive is set to ID 3, because I don't have a
'0' Ready light cover.
Also never done that. Don't remember if it works or not. We were
always short of 0s and 1s (but seemed to always have a box of 2s and
3s ;-)
Also, I don't have a terminator to use.
Major problem.
Right now, the drive has its 'FAULT' light on,
including when the VAX is
powered up and at its monitor.
As has been mentioned numerous times, the FAULT light will stay lit
until you secure a terminator.
A 'SHOW QBUS' shows the adaptor at address
774400 (I think),
That's the right place.
and a 'SHOW RLV12' shows no devices attached
to the controller.
Don't expect it to find FAULTed drives.
Previously, when I connected a clock signal to the
drive's clock in,
which was anywhere near 4.2MHz, the fault light would go off.
Hmm... interesting. Never played with RL drives at the signal level.
Not sure what that would do.
Now, I can't get the light to go off at all, and
I'm suspecting the
controller. This cable is the second one I've tried, and both cables
have had all 40pins going straight through.
Don't know if that's the right thing or not, but it sounds good.
I also have tried reversing the cable to ensure I had
pin 1 the same on both ends, to no avail (could that have nuked the
interface on either the controller or drive?).
No. DEC built their stuff to withstand upside-down and backwards
cables (but not modules - a former boss of mine watched an FE
install an OMNIBUS board facing the wrong way - the box smoked,
the FE sheepishly shrugged and picked up the phone to get the
office to send over one of everything).
I am fairly certain that I have put the 40-pin cable wrong into
either an RLV12 or RLV11. I'm sure I've done it to an RL11 (there's
an 8' flat cable to a transition bracket (like the two on the back
of the drive) that mounts up on the H960 near the CPU - from there,
it's all round RL cables - it's easy to get the flat cable upside down
into the transition header). No damage should occur.
Any suggestions or help would be appreciated.
Borrow a terminator. Making one is a second option, but without
grubbing over the schematics or having one to copy, I wouldn't
know what to use for a resistor.
-ethan
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11:21 a.m.
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11:43 a.m.
On Tue, 20 Aug 2002, Tony Duell wrote:
The drive will work fine if it has a '3' lamp cover and is the only drive
connected to the controller. But you must have a 'ready' lamp cover
fitted -- don't assume that if none is installed then the drive will
default to 3. In fact, it won't work at all -- there's an extra contact
in the ready lamp holder/select switch that detects that _a_ cover is
installed.
Yes, it has the '3' ready lamp cover. I also have a 1 or 2 I think, but
definately not a '0'.
Agreed.
I've found someone who will loan me a terminator (thanks Tom!), so once I
get that I can further evaluate the situation.
One cause of 'Fault' is if the clock signal from the controller is
missing. It's around 4.2MHz. But IIRC, if there's no terminator on the
drive bus then the drive won't properly detect the clock (or any other
signals from the controller) so you will get this error.
Incidentally, the clock frequency is critical for running the drive (it
determines the spindle speed amongst other things), but for testing the
fault circuit it's not particularly critical.
That's what I thought... now if I run it at a differenct frequency, can I
get a different data rate out of it? I've thought about creating a
controller that is ISA bus or something, but needed the whole setup to do
any reverse-engineering, of course. Also, I've noticed it's hard to find
8.4 or 4.2MHz (or is it 8.2 and 4.1MHz?) oscillators.
I will confirm that the RL's don't mind if you get the cable in
upside-down. I've done it (using official DEC cables, etc) and never
damaged anything.
Good. I just wanted to make sure I didn't make a big 'boo-boo'.
-- Pat
The drive is set to ID 3, because I don't have a
'0' Ready light cover.
Also never done that. Don't remember if it works or not. We were
always short of 0s and 1s (but seemed to always have a box of 2s and
3s ;-) The RK06/RK07 drives use identical covers, but they
are numbered from 0
to 7 (you can have up to 8 such drives on a single controller). These
covers will work in RLs. The drive number is taken mod 4 in this case, so
that cover 4 -> drive 0, cover 5 -> drive 1, etc
I'll remember that if I come across any.
Also, I don't have a terminator to use.
Major problem.
Previously, when I connected a clock signal to the
drive's clock in,
which was anywhere near 4.2MHz, the fault light would go off.
Hmm... interesting. Never played with RL drives at the signal level.
Not sure what that would do. IIRC, the DEC cable doesn't connect all the pins
(some are just not used)
-- the RK06/RK07 uses a similar-looking cable with more pins wired.
One of the corner pins is deliberately not bussed between the drives.
It's a 5V output from the drive's PSU and is used to power the
terminator. Needless to say, connecting 2 power supplies together is
normally a bad idea. IIRC, though, it's a no-connect on the controller,
so it shouldn't matter if you connect this pin on single-drive system.
On my PDF version of the RL Pocket Guide, it says that all the non-signal
pins are wired to ground... Hmm. There's a copy of it here:
http://www.dadaboom.com/pdp11/rlPocketGuide.pdf
I'll go home and check this with a multimeter tonight.
I also have tried reversing the cable to ensure I
had
pin 1 the same on both ends, to no avail (could that have nuked the
interface on either the controller or drive?).
No. DEC built their stuff to withstand upside-down and backwards
cables (but not modules - a former boss of mine watched an FE
12:14 p.m.
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2:19 p.m.
In message <20020820175029.80205.qmail(a)web10306.mail.yahoo.com>om>, Ethan Dicks wr
ites:
--- Patrick Finnegan <pat(a)purdueriots.com> wrote:
I don't remember what I started with, but proper application
of a file resulted in the 0 I have on my RL01. I can't even
look at what it was becaue I also filed of the number and
stuck on a replacement number.
Brian L. Stuart
The drive is set to ID 3, because I don't
have a '0' Ready light cover.
Also never done that. Don't remember if it works or not. We were
always short of 0s and 1s (but seemed to always have a box of 2s and
3s ;-) 
22 Aug
22 Aug
6:41 a.m.
New subject: Looking for a BBN Advanced Computers Inc TC2000
Hello,
Years ago, I helped develop the symmetric Un*x operating system code for the
massively parallel BBN Advanced Computers Inc. Butterfly (68020) and TC2000
(88100)
non-uniform memory architecture computers. I've been trying to track down a
"small"
TC2000 machine to add to my collection, but I am afraid that there may not
be any
left. If you happen to come across anyone who knows of one, I would
appreciate it
if you would let me know.
--tnx
--tom
8039
days inactive
8048
days old
9 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
blstuart＠bellsouth.net -
erd_6502＠yahoo.com -
pat＠purdueriots.com -
quapla＠xs4all.nl -
uban＠ubanproductions.com