6 Apr
2002
6 Apr
'02
1:09 p.m.
Hi, all.
I went last night and picked up (OK, dragged, while groaning) the
MicroVAX Terry Murphy posted for rescue Thursday night.
I'm fairly certain he hadn't ever used it, as the description was not
terribly accurate. There was no DELQA, several of the cab kits aren't
there, memory is only 16M, etc. Nice haul, anyway. The thing came in a
42" elephant-ear cabinet, which is in fair cosmetic shape, and without
plugging it in, I'd guess good to excellent functional shape. Some QBus
boards I can't ID, and the other goodies that came with, I'll post
separately.
So.
I'm not enamored of the idea of running a 240VAC rack in my garage if
not necessary. That leaves me with two other ideas.
1) The "drawers" are simply BA23 enclosures, right? Any reason I can't
use the primary enclosure as a stand-alone unit? It's going to be
running a minimal set of hardware:
KA655 CPU
Dataram 63016 16M RAM
DMV11 (simply to occupy the last CD slot)
DEQNA/DELQA (whichever I can scrounge cheapest, first)
TQK50 (undecided)
RQDX3 (with probably only the RX50 or an RX33 attached)
That _is_ the right bus order, isn't it?
Will either the power requirements or cooling be a problem? What if I
decide to run the RD54 instead of the TK50? Is it OK to run the BA23
without skins, lying flat?
And, if I want to run the second backplane and extra drives, can I
just stack them?
2) I can put all the above in the BA123 lurking downstairs. But it
seems a huge waste of space & power over the BA23. Plus, I don't have
cooling vanes for the dual cards in the added CD slots, or enough
D<mumble>11 boards to go around. Plus, the BA23 I can wedge into my
office, but the BA123 would have to live in the garage.
Advice, discussion, points I've missed, all welcome.
Doc
6 Apr
6 Apr
2:52 p.m.
you can pull the BA-23's out and use them standalone.. they are simply
rackmounted.
Doc Shipley wrote:
Hi, all.
I went last night and picked up (OK, dragged, while groaning) the
MicroVAX Terry Murphy posted for rescue Thursday night.
I'm fairly certain he hadn't ever used it, as the description was not
terribly accurate. There was no DELQA, several of the cab kits aren't
there, memory is only 16M, etc. Nice haul, anyway. The thing came in a
42" elephant-ear cabinet, which is in fair cosmetic shape, and without
plugging it in, I'd guess good to excellent functional shape. Some QBus
boards I can't ID, and the other goodies that came with, I'll post
separately.
So.
I'm not enamored of the idea of running a 240VAC rack in my garage if
not necessary. That leaves me with two other ideas.
1) The "drawers" are simply BA23 enclosures, right? Any reason I can't
use the primary enclosure as a stand-alone unit? It's going to be
running a minimal set of hardware:
KA655 CPU
Dataram 63016 16M RAM
DMV11 (simply to occupy the last CD slot)
DEQNA/DELQA (whichever I can scrounge cheapest, first)
TQK50 (undecided)
RQDX3 (with probably only the RX50 or an RX33 attached)
That _is_ the right bus order, isn't it?
Will either the power requirements or cooling be a problem? What if I
decide to run the RD54 instead of the TK50? Is it OK to run the BA23
without skins, lying flat?
And, if I want to run the second backplane and extra drives, can I
just stack them?
2) I can put all the above in the BA123 lurking downstairs. But it
seems a huge waste of space & power over the BA23. Plus, I don't have
cooling vanes for the dual cards in the added CD slots, or enough
D<mumble>11 boards to go around. Plus, the BA23 I can wedge into my
office, but the BA123 would have to live in the garage.
Advice, discussion, points I've missed, all welcome.
Doc
--
David Barnes
davebarnes(a)adelphia.net
OpenVMS , Tru64, Netbsd, Linux guru
and collector of DEC equipment
2:53 p.m.
Doc,
in a 42" unit rack, the term _Micro_VAX wouldn't quite correctly
describe the machine.
I'm not enamored of the idea of running a 240VAC
rack in my garage if
not necessary. That leaves me with two other ideas.
1) The "drawers" are simply BA23 enclosures, right? Any reason I can't
use the primary enclosure as a stand-alone unit? It's going to be
running a minimal set of hardware:
No reason not to do this. DEC made plastic covers to hold these boxes in
exactly this position on a desktop. The same skin with a floor stand
attached to its left side was the pedestal box.
KA655 CPU
Dataram 63016 16M RAM
DMV11 (simply to occupy the last CD slot)
DEQNA/DELQA (whichever I can scrounge cheapest, first)
TQK50 (undecided)
RQDX3 (with probably only the RX50 or an RX33 attached)
Looks OK. However, you should be able to omit the DMV11 if you don't
actually want to use it: the DEQNA and DELQA are dual-width modules, so
each of them will nicely fit into the A/B alots without touching the C/D
interconnect.
That _is_ the right bus order, isn't it?
I think so, too.
Will either the power requirements or cooling be a
problem? What if I
decide to run the RD54 instead of the TK50? Is it OK to run the BA23
without skins, lying flat?
Without actually adding up the power requirements: You should be able to
run a RD54 _and_ a TK50 in the same box. Many MicroVAXes were configured
that way. Even if the KA655 uses significantly more power than the
KA630, you will most probably be safe because you don't have too many
modules in the bus.
And, if I want to run the second backplane and extra
drives, can I
just stack them?
You can, but wouldn't it then be easier to use a BA123 right away? It
provides almost exactly the same features as two BA23s, but it doesn't
need the cables between the halves of the bus, it has only one power
cable and switch, etc. etc.
2) I can put all the above in the BA123 lurking
downstairs. But it
seems a huge waste of space & power over the BA23. Plus, I don't have
cooling vanes for the dual cards in the added CD slots, or enough
D<mumble>11 boards to go around. Plus, the BA23 I can wedge into my
office, but the BA123 would have to live in the garage.
Must be a very small office. Anyway, living in the office sounds better
than living in a garage, so why not go for the BA23?
Andreas
4:14 p.m.
On Sat, 6 Apr 2002, Andreas Freiherr wrote:
2 BA23s is still smaller than a BA123. They'll stack on top of the
existing BA123 easier than another BA123, too. ;)
in a 42" unit rack, the term _Micro_VAX wouldn't quite correctly
describe the machine.
My sentiments exactly, but that's what the badge says....
The thing dwarfs my washing machine.
Looks OK. However, you should be able to omit the
DMV11 if you don't
actually want to use it: the DEQNA and DELQA are dual-width modules, so
each of them will nicely fit into the A/B alots without touching the C/D
interconnect.
I know you can run dual-heght boards in the A/B slots, but what about
cooling? My MV-II has a couple of black plastic dummies in the C/D side
that I assumed are for airflow direction. If those aren't strictly
needed, that would simplify things somewhat.
Without actually adding up the power requirements: You
should be able to
run a RD54 _and_ a TK50 in the same box. Many MicroVAXes were configured
that way. Even if the KA655 uses significantly more power than the
KA630, you will most probably be safe because you don't have too many
modules in the bus.
Well, I need the RX50, and there are only 2 drive bays. I'll probably
run remote filesystems either way.
And, if I
want to run the second backplane and extra drives, can I
just stack them?
You can, but wouldn't it then be easier to use a BA123 right away? It Must be a very small office.
The "office" is a converted second-floor bedroom. Currently houses
the existing MV-II in BA123, a VAXstation 4000/60, a minitower firewall,
my desktop PC, an IBM 4029 printer, a PS/2 model 9577, 2 RS/6000 7043s,
a Mac IIci, a Mac 7200, an SGI Indigo2, a stack of Indys, a stack of
VS3100s and SZ12 expansions, an HP 9000/735, a MV3100-80, a DECstation
5000/240, 2 DS3000/300x, an Altos 580, an IBM RT 6150, 2 desks, and 2
bookcases. Only 3 displays right now; I use a KVM with everything
that'll do VGA/SVGA, the RT has its own, and I have an extremely
versatile IBM Power17 that gets its cables switched a lot.
Also several hundred CD's, boxes of drives and floppies, boxes of
tapes, a stack of external tape drives, applicable keyboards & mice,
yadda yadda yadda yadda.
It _feels_ very small....
Doc
8 Apr
8 Apr
5:20 a.m.
Doc wrote:
On Sat, 6 Apr 2002, Andreas Freiherr wrote:
I have seen a number of MicroVAXen with dual-height modules, but without
those dummies, and I have seen all of them still running after years, so
I don't think you need to get stuck by not having dummies.
Imagination says you'll have only one slot that is half-filled (the one
beneath the memory card, where the DEQNA or DELQA will be), followed by
an A/B/A/B slot with the TQK50 and RQDX3 plugged in. Below these, there
will be a lot of open space. If you are very concerned about cooling,
you might want to partly block air flow in that area to force the air
stream across the electronics, but I still don't think this is
absolutely necessary, provided you stay within the specifications for
ambient temperature etc.
Looks OK. However, you should be able to omit the
DMV11 if you don't
actually want to use it: the DEQNA and DELQA are dual-width modules, so
each of them will nicely fit into the A/B alots without touching the C/D
interconnect.
I know you can run dual-heght boards in the A/B slots, but what about
cooling? My MV-II has a couple of black plastic dummies in the C/D side
that I assumed are for airflow direction. If those aren't strictly
needed, that would simplify things somewhat. ...
Also several hundred CD's, boxes of drives and floppies, boxes of
tapes, a stack of external tape drives, applicable keyboards & mice,
yadda yadda yadda yadda.
It _feels_ very small....
After skimming through the equipment list, I can believe that.
--
Andreas Freiherr
Vishay Semiconductor GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany
http://www.vishay.com
9:33 a.m.
On Mon, 8 Apr 2002, Andreas Freiherr wrote:
Imagination says you'll have only one slot that is
half-filled (the one
beneath the memory card, where the DEQNA or DELQA will be), followed by
an A/B/A/B slot with the TQK50 and RQDX3 plugged in. Below these, there
will be a lot of open space. If you are very concerned about cooling,
you might want to partly block air flow in that area to force the air
stream across the electronics, but I still don't think this is
absolutely necessary, provided you stay within the specifications for
ambient temperature etc.
Cool. (Pun definitely intended.) It was a pretty busy weekend, but I
think I'll be able to get it put together toninght.
Doc
8312
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5 comments
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Andreas.Freiherr＠Vishay.com -
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doc＠mdrconsult.com