27 Feb
2017
27 Feb
'17
8:32 p.m.
Hi all -
Anyone have any technical information (manuals, schematics, etc.) for
the DEC DW11 UNIBUS->QBus interface? I'm curious to know what it's
capable of and what the requirements are, especially on the QBus side of
things. What kind of backplane is required? I assume it doesn't
support 22-bit QBus devices given the age of the interface (and the
complexity required to do so), but does it handle 18-bit devices, or
only 16?
I haven't found much technical information on it at all. Anyone have
any details to share?
Thanks,
Josh
27 Feb
27 Feb
8:52 p.m.
On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 11:32 PM, Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all -
Anyone have any technical information (manuals, schematics, etc.) for the
DEC DW11 UNIBUS->QBus interface? I'm curious to know what it's capable of
and what the requirements are, especially on the QBus side of things. What
kind of backplane is required? I assume it doesn't support 22-bit QBus
devices given the age of the interface (and the complexity required to do
so), but does it handle 18-bit devices, or only 16?
I saw one in a PDP-11/34 at a Physics Lab at Ohio state in the early
1990s. It was in there so that they could use an IBV11 IEEE-488
interface with a Unibus machine. AFAIK, it's 18-bit not 16-bit.
22-bit Qbus wouldn't be directly controllable from a Unibus anyway
(machines like the 11/44 that can address more than 256MB of memory
have Unibus mapping registers that take care of RAM addressing, but
the Unibus is still always 18-bit). The DW-11 came with a 4-slot hex
Qbus backplane, a DDV11-CK, I'm fairly certain it was, that mounted
directly in the BA11-K box, right next to a DD11-DK and a DD11-PK that
were the Unibus slots for the CPU and memory.
I've always wanted to see if it would work with a Qbus SCSI controller
since Unibus SCSI controllers are far, far less common.
-ethan
10:02 p.m.
On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 4:32 AM, Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all -
Anyone have any technical information (manuals, schematics, etc.) for the
DEC DW11 UNIBUS->QBus interface? I'm curious to know what it's capable of
I am pretty sure I have the printset for it somewhere. I think the
VS11 prints also
include it (the VS11 is a VSV11 with said interface to allow it to be
used on the
Unibus).
and what the requirements are, especially on the QBus
side of things. What
kind of backplane is required? I assume it doesn't support 22-bit QBus
devices given the age of the interface (and the complexity required to do
so), but does it handle 18-bit devices, or only 16?
From memory it handles 18 bit addressing (not 22, of
course), interrupts and
NPR (DMA). The Unibus side (quad card) goes in any SPC slot,
you have to
remove the NPG jumper. It links with a pair of 40 way ribbon cables to the
Qbus board (dual height) which goes in the 'first' slot of a Qbus backplane,
where the CPU board wound normally go. AFAIK there are no real restrictions
on the Qbus backplane, I have used one to hang a MINC chassis off a Unibus
processor.
I seems to be transparent in operation. You just acccess Qbus devices at their
normal addresses.
-tony
2 Mar
2 Mar
10:26 p.m.
On 2/27/17 10:02 PM, Tony Duell via cctalk wrote:
Cool. I managed to snag an M8217+M9403 so all I need to do is
track
down/build some cabling to tie the two together (any idea what the max
length of these cables is?). I'm kind of hoping I can use it to run a
QBus SCSI controller, amongst other things. I'll report back my findings...
Thanks,
- Josh
On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 4:32 AM, Josh Dersch
<derschjo at gmail.com> wrote:
Yeah, the VS11 drawings have the M8217 schematics, so that's useful.
It'd be nice to find an actual manual, but it's a good start.
Hi all -
Anyone have any technical information (manuals, schematics, etc.) for the
DEC DW11 UNIBUS->QBus interface? I'm curious to know what it's capable of
I am pretty sure I have the printset for it somewhere. I think the
VS11 prints also
include it (the VS11 is a VSV11 with said interface to allow it to be
used on the
Unibus). and what the requirements are, especially on the
QBus side of things. What
kind of backplane is required? I assume it doesn't support 22-bit QBus
devices given the age of the interface (and the complexity required to do
so), but does it handle 18-bit devices, or only 16?
From memory it handles 18 bit addressing (not 22, of course), interrupts and
NPR
(DMA). The Unibus side (quad card) goes in any SPC slot, you have to
remove the NPG jumper. It links with a pair of 40 way ribbon cables to the
Qbus board (dual height) which goes in the 'first' slot of a Qbus backplane,
where the CPU board wound normally go. AFAIK there are no real restrictions
on the Qbus backplane, I have used one to hang a MINC chassis off a Unibus
processor.
I seems to be transparent in operation. You just acccess Qbus devices at their
normal addresses.
-tony
10:31 p.m.
On Fri, Mar 3, 2017 at 6:26 AM, Josh Dersch <derschjo at gmail.com> wrote:
Cool. I managed to snag an M8217+M9403 so all I need
to do is track
down/build some cabling to tie the two together (any idea what the max
Officially it's just a pair of standard DEC 40 way ribbon cables.
length of these cables is?). I'm kind of hoping I
can use it to run a QBus
But _unofficially_ I've seen it run with the signals going down a pair of the
round cables used with RK07 drives (not the RL ones which don't have
all pins wired). So that was ribbon cable - bulkhead connector - RK07
type cable - bulkhead connector - ribbon cable. And it worked.
SCSI controller, amongst other things. I'll
report back my findings...
I've run RL drives off a RLV11 on a unibus machine with a DW11-B. That
used interrupts and DMA. I would think a SCSI controller should work
-tony
11 Mar
11 Mar
8:49 p.m.
On 3/2/17 10:26 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
On 2/27/17 10:02 PM, Tony Duell via cctalk wrote:
Cool. I managed to snag an M8217+M9403 so all I need to do is
track
down/build some cabling to tie the two together (any idea what the max
length of these cables is?). I'm kind of hoping I can use it to run a
QBus SCSI controller, amongst other things. I'll report back my
findings...
Just to bring some closure to this thread, I had some time this evening
to get everything hooked up: A PDP-11/34 connected to an SB11 QBus
chassis via a DW11-B. And I've successfully booted XXDP and Ultrix-11
From
memory it handles 18 bit addressing (not 22, of course),
interrupts and
NPR (DMA). The Unibus side (quad card) goes in any SPC slot, you have to
remove the NPG jumper. It links with a pair of 40 way ribbon cables
to the
Qbus board (dual height) which goes in the 'first' slot of a Qbus
backplane,
where the CPU board wound normally go. AFAIK there are no real
restrictions
on the Qbus backplane, I have used one to hang a MINC chassis off a
Unibus
processor.
I seems to be transparent in operation. You just acccess Qbus devices
at their
normal addresses. from a CMD CQD-200 SCSI controller installed in the
SB11. Seems to work
perfectly.
Thanks for the input, everyone!
- Josh
2609
days inactive
2621
days old
5 comments
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participants (3)
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ard.p850ug1＠gmail.com -
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ethan.dicks＠gmail.com