6 Sep
2014
6 Sep
'14
12:26 a.m.
I was poking about for alternatives to the hefty KDB50-Q SDI
controller set for MicroVAX to connect up my Emulex SD590 SDI hard
drives and found on ebay this item:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190665553055
DEC T1003 VAXstation BDA SDI 5015772-01 Disk Adapter to Single Drive Interface
It is labelled as a VAXstation BDA (VAX BI Disk Adapter) and
interestingly the T1003 is one component of the KDB50-Q board-set, so
I am guessing this could be a VAXstation specific KDB50 all-in-one?
anyone know anything about these? I could not find any manuals for
them nor could I find a VAXstation that has some type of extensible
bus that would support a board like this. I notice this seller has
several other "VAXstation" boards too.
I have a couple of M38 VAXstations but I don't think they take any
type of expansion option other than graphics cards, so I guess the
VAXstation BDA options go in the 4000 series? Looking at the few pages
on the 4000 series does not reveal much in the way of expansion
options either.
thanks,
nigel.
6 Sep
6 Sep
2:18 a.m.
That's for a VAXBI bus based system. The only VAXstation it would work
in is a VAXstation 8000, which is very hard to find. It's not
complete, a complete controller would consist of the T1002
(controller) and T1003 (SDI interface) boards. Together, they're
called a KDB50.
I've never heard of a KDB50-Q. The Q-Bus SDI controller is the
KDA50-Q, consisting of two boards (M7164 and M7165).
What are the part numbers on the boards you have?
On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Nigel Williams
<nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote:
I was poking about for alternatives to the hefty
KDB50-Q SDI
controller set for MicroVAX to connect up my Emulex SD590 SDI hard
drives and found on ebay this item:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190665553055
DEC T1003 VAXstation BDA SDI 5015772-01 Disk Adapter to Single Drive Interface
It is labelled as a VAXstation BDA (VAX BI Disk Adapter) and
interestingly the T1003 is one component of the KDB50-Q board-set, so
I am guessing this could be a VAXstation specific KDB50 all-in-one?
anyone know anything about these? I could not find any manuals for
them nor could I find a VAXstation that has some type of extensible
bus that would support a board like this. I notice this seller has
several other "VAXstation" boards too.
I have a couple of M38 VAXstations but I don't think they take any
type of expansion option other than graphics cards, so I guess the
VAXstation BDA options go in the 4000 series? Looking at the few pages
on the 4000 series does not reveal much in the way of expansion
options either.
thanks,
nigel.
7 Sep
7 Sep
2:46 a.m.
On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 7:18 PM, Camiel Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com> wrote:
I've never heard of a KDB50-Q. The Q-Bus SDI
controller is the
KDA50-Q, consisting of two boards (M7164 and M7165).
My mistake, yes I meant KDB50-Q.
What are the part numbers on the boards you have?
I was hoping that T1003 was an all-in-one board that might do the work
of the two boardset for the KDB-50 and work in a more common
VAXstation machine, but as you note it seems not.
I don't have any SDI controller yet, just exploring the options and
hoping I can find the easiest option to work with, single-board low
power would be great.
There does not seem to be a lot of information about the SDI
controllers at least from a range perspective (a list of all the
various implementations) so I am bumping into more questions than
answers.
3:07 a.m.
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Nigel Williams
<nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote:
On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 7:18 PM, Camiel Vanderhoeven
<iamcamiel at gmail.com> wrote:
Too funny I make the mistake again, let me try one last time the
KDA50-Q...sigh...
I've never heard of a KDB50-Q. The Q-Bus SDI
controller is the
KDA50-Q, consisting of two boards (M7164 and M7165).
My mistake, yes I meant KDB50-Q.
5:39 a.m.
OK,
I believe these are the options:
For UNIBUS: UDA50 (M7161 + M7162)
UDA50-A (M7485)
UDA52 (M7486)
For QBUS: KDA50-Q (M7164 + M7165)
For VAXBI: KDB50 (T1002 + T1003)
For XMI: KDM70 (T2022 + T2023)
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Nigel Williams
<nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote:
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Nigel Williams
<nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote:
On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 7:18 PM, Camiel
Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com> wrote:
Too funny I make the mistake again, let me try one last time the
KDA50-Q...sigh... I've never heard of a KDB50-Q. The Q-Bus SDI
controller is the
KDA50-Q, consisting of two boards (M7164 and M7165).
My mistake, yes I meant KDB50-Q. 
6:13 a.m.
On Sep 7, 2014, at 8:39 AM, Camiel Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com> wrote:
OK,
I believe these are the options:
For UNIBUS: UDA50 (M7161 + M7162)
UDA50-A (M7485)
UDA52 (M7486)
For QBUS: KDA50-Q (M7164 + M7165)
For VAXBI: KDB50 (T1002 + T1003)
For XMI: KDM70 (T2022 + T2023)
There's also the disk data channel unit for the HSC50/70, which
are L0108-YA or HSC5X-BA, according to the HSC50/70 technical
manual I'm currently reading.
- Dave
9:38 a.m.
I think that the Field Guide is a bit confusing regarding the Unibus
situation. Despite what the OPTION column reads there, the UDA50-A is only
the controller and not the Interface (which is listed on the next row/entry
as "UDA52"), so the M7485 +M7486 always are paired -- just as are the M7161
+ M7162.
The Option/Module list actually describes the UDA50-A like this:
UNIBUS DISK ADAPTOR,32KB BUFFER (M7485-YA,M7486)
The UDA50 apparently only has an 8KB buffer.
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 8:39 AM, Camiel Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com>
wrote:
OK,
I believe these are the options:
For UNIBUS: UDA50 (M7161 + M7162)
UDA50-A (M7485)
UDA52 (M7486)
For QBUS: KDA50-Q (M7164 + M7165)
For VAXBI: KDB50 (T1002 + T1003)
For XMI: KDM70 (T2022 + T2023)
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Nigel Williams
<nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote:
Too funny I make the mistake again, let me try one last time the
KDA50-Q...sigh...
On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Nigel Williams
<nw at retrocomputingtasmania.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 7:18 PM, Camiel Vanderhoeven <
iamcamiel at
gmail.com> wrote:
I've never heard of a KDB50-Q. The Q-Bus SDI
controller is the
KDA50-Q, consisting of two boards (M7164 and M7165).
My mistake, yes I meant KDB50-Q. 
9:31 a.m.
On 06/09/14 08:26, Nigel Williams wrote:
I was poking about for alternatives to the hefty
KDB50-Q SDI
controller set for MicroVAX to connect up my Emulex SD590 SDI hard
drives and found on ebay this item:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190665553055
DEC T1003 VAXstation BDA SDI 5015772-01 Disk Adapter to Single Drive Interface
That's a VAXBI boardset. As others have pointed out, the only "microvax"
machine
that these might fit into would be a VAXstation 8000. That's rare and
(iirc) something
of an oddball, so the KDB may not work even in that.
If you have MicroVAX 3100/VAXstation 3100 style machines, they're SCSI.
Although some of the later
ones could do DSSI (if you have the right adapter).
The MicroVAX 3500/3600/3800/3900 machines are Qbus. So with those your
only option
would be a KDA50. A KDA50 will also work with a MicroVAX II.
Turning things around slightly, if you have SDI disks, then your easy
connectivity options
are KDA50 for a Qbus machine or KDB50 for a VAXBI system (VAX 8200/8300
would be
the smallest of these). If you are lucky enough to have a VAX 6000
system then there's
an XMI SDI controller (iirc) or you can add a VAXBI to your system (I
don't recall whether
it happens to have one already).
Antonio
3759
days inactive
3760
days old
7 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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a.carlini＠ntlworld.com -
fraveydank＠gmail.com -
iamcamiel＠gmail.com -
nw＠retrocomputingtasmania.com -
pbirkel＠gmail.com