15 Aug
1998
15 Aug
'98
10:17 p.m.
In looking at the PDP-11/03's that I got today, one thing is very obvious.
They've got disk controllers that are useless to me. The controllers are
from a company called 'Xebec', and it is my
understanding that they went to
special drives.
Now I know that the /03's are SLOW, however, they're in a nice little case
so I'm looking at them thinking, hmmmm. I wonder if I can put a DILOG
floppy controller I've got in one of them. What I'm wondering is do such
things as drive controllers care about the 18bit / 22bit differences of the
backplane? At least it's my understanding that a PDP-11/03 has a 18bit
backplane.
On a separate note, I ended up with 3 more VT100's with this, and one of
them had a loose top, so I took a look inside, and noticed that it has what
looks to be a Q-Bus backplane. What is the story here? Can I put some
cards in here and have a working PDP-11? (I know figure the odds) I took
a look through the VT100 tech manual I got today, but couldn't find
anything about the backplane.
On a positive note, I've finally got some documentation, so maybe I'll
quite asking so many stupid questions. :^) On that note, I think I'll
send this, and spend some time trying to find some shelf space for said
documentation :^(
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
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15 Aug
15 Aug
10:27 p.m.
New subject: The battery problem
As long as I'm getting physics lessons, I figure now's a good time for
chemistry.
I've got a bunch of portables, most of them with batteries. The batteries
are clearly the weak-points of these systems in terms of long-term
viability. First, is there any way to ensure the batteries live forever?
If not, what's the best way to preserve them, how long should I expect
them to last, and what can I do now to prepare for the inevitable
repair/replacement down the road?
My current plan is to remove all batteries and store them in the fridge,
but I'm not crazy about the idea. Do some battery types store better than
others? I have to deal with NiCd, Li+, NiMH, and Lead-acid.
-- Doug
16 Aug
16 Aug
6:15 a.m.
New subject: The battery problem
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6:03 a.m.
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3:30 p.m.
In looking at the PDP-11/03's that I got today, one thing is very obvious.
They've got disk controllers that are useless to me. The controllers are
from a company called 'Xebec', and it is my understanding that they went to
special drives.
Hmmm.. I associate 'Xebec' with ST506 controllers. What are the
connectors on these strange boards. 'Special drives' in a DEC machine may
mean anything not made by DEC.
3:57 p.m.
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7:05 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Controller (was: Re: Odd Q-Bus questions 18/22bit)
The connectors
themselves on the board (2) are standard 50-pin ribbon, the
other end is a 50pin connector (how do I explain this), ok you know the
Edge connectors? I have seen Xebec boards that link ST506 drives to a
SASI bus. Somehow, I
doubt you're lucky enough to have found a SASI interface for the PDP11,
though.
What logic is on the Q-bus card? Mostly TTL? any large chips? Any
analogue parts?
-tony
Let's see, they're quad height boards. They're a combination of 14 and 16
pin chips. They're on a 12 x 6 grid of chips, with 5 spots not having
chips, two of those spots have resisters in them. Two of the chips say
Beckman on them and a grey instead of black. It's got some other
components on it that I can't identify.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
6:34 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Controller (was: Re: Odd Q-Bus questions 18/22bit)
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17 Aug
17 Aug
12:37 a.m.
New subject: Xebec Controller and DFV-11A Controller
Aha, so not a lot of logic. I think this rules out the
Q-bus card being a
complete drive controller, and it probably makes it a bus interface/host
adapter for some other controller...
OK, this makes sense, I was wondering how it could do anything with so few
chips.
The beckman chips are almost certainly resistor
networks - probably for
termination. They don't happen to have a number like 221331 on them, do they?
They've got the following:
Beckman
898-5-R220/330
7720
and
Beckman
898-5-R220/330
7726
components on
it that I can't identify.
Post a description, and I'll see if I can identify them. 
1:13 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Controller and DFV-11A Controller
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9:07 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Controller and DFV-11A Controller
R220/330 means 220Ohm/330Ohm terminator (the 221331
number I mentioned
means the same thing - read it as 22*10^1, etc). Interestingly, that's
the standard terminator for SASI/SCSI!
Hmmm.... Unfortunatly I don't see it being able to function as a SASI/SCSI
controller by itself, we're back to what you'd mentioned with it only being
one side of the controller.
OK, do you have a multimeter? If so, first find a
ground pin on the board
(shouldn't be hard), and then find which pins of the connector are
connected to ground (all along one side, possibly missing the middle
one?). Then see which other pins have _some_ resistance to ground.
OK, I checked one of the connectors while the board was in the /03. The
1's have some resistance, and the 2's are grounded.
000011111100000000000000
222222222222222222222222
-----------Circuit Board-----------------
Well if
you've got a web browser, I just stuck the a photo of it on my web
I have a web browser, but it's lynx, and thus text only...
-tony
18 Aug
18 Aug
12:54 p.m.
New subject: Xebec Controller and DFV-11A Controller
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6:24 p.m.
New subject: Question about DHQ11-Ms
I have a pair of DHQ11-Ms in my MicroVax II. I've been fooling around
with connecting one of the ports to my little Livingston terminal server
so I can telnet to it. Alas, I left my breakout box at work!
At any rate, are the female DB-25 bulkhead connectors true RS-232 or some
weirdie mutation like the console DB-9 port?
Also, I've got a DECMate III in the garage with no monitor or keyboard.
But it's got an RX50 and some RD series drive. Obviously the RX50 can be
moved to the MVII since it doesn't have one (but does have an RQDX3) but
what about the RD series hard disk? I'd like to put it on the MVII for
extra storage capacity but I seem to recall from playing with the
MicroPDP I used to have that formatting etc issues with RD drives on DEC
gear can be...uh...funky. Suggestions, advice?
I figure if I can get it hooked up to the terminal server it'll be alot
easier to seek help from more knowledgable individuals as I can ask them
to simply telnet into it and look around. =-D I did ALOT of Dibol
programming for my jobs on MicroVaxen back in 88-89 and alot of related
database work, and then Macro, Pascal, DCL etc in college on the 11/780
which was upgrade to an 8600 and later some weird little 4000ish creature.
But I never did that much administration work so I'm having ALL kinds of
fun trying to control myself from playing with things like authorize too
much. ;-D
Also, although it includes Macro (of course) it includes NO other
language development tools. Apparently it was a turnkey type system for
reading utility meters. Field service last logged-in in '92!!! And it's
got 13000some blocks free on the disk. I'm tempted to get things like
the GNU C binaries for it etc etc...and I always give in to that sort of
temptation! =)
Once I've got good backups, got it cleaned out suitably, got the meter
reading stuff turned off and removed, got security under my belt etc
etc...I'll probably just give away accounts to interested folks and leave
it on the terminal server 24/7. Maybe I can finally get my
Put-Obsolete-Machines-On-The-Net project going.
Thanks...
Anthony Clifton - Wirehead
11:36 p.m.
At 12:03 PM 16-08-98 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
THat sounds like a VT103. It _is_ a Q-bus backplane -
you can put a PDP11
CPU + memory + I/O cards in there. You need a serial port on the Q-bus,
which you then link to the VT100 logic board that's also in there.
I also believe a uVAX-II will also work in a VT103....
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)latrobe.edu.au
Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
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