3 Jan
2014
3 Jan
'14
12:01 p.m.
On Jan 3, 2014, at 12:00 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
From: Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com>
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Need DEC BC80J-20 cable
Message-ID: <52C6D5C1.3080207 at heeltoe.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
On 12/15/13, 10:48 PM, Charles wrote:
The BC80J-20 has the 40-pin header on one end and enough flat ribbon
cable to make it out the back of the chassis... I have never seen a
"real" one but I believe it has some kind of transition to the round
cable (which then has the quick-disconnect on the other end)?
BTW, Continental Computers answered my quote request with they can
"let it go for $145"... that's about four times what I expected to pay
for one!
-Charles
I'm looking for a BC80J-20 cable...
that's the one that goes from the
RL controller card to the first drive, with a 40 pin header on one
end
and that big quick-release connector on the other end.
(I am tired of failures and damage to the rigged ribbon cable/IDC
header I've been using, and now that I'm chasing a fault in my
two-RL02 system, I can't swap drives without taking the cover off to
get to the header connectors inside).
I think I'm looking for one of these as well. Or maybe someone here
can
point me to what I really want :-)
I have an RL02 driver and an RL02 controller, but I seem to have
lost/misplaced the "cabinet kit". I could swear I had one at one
point.
So, the RL02 drive has a terminator and a nice long round cable which
seems to have a 2x.1" header. But I believe I need the cable part
which
is normally install on the cpu cabinet. My guess is it would cable a
shielded ribbon cable with a connector for the board header and the
other end would have a metal bracket and something to mate with the
nice
round cable...
Is this even close?
-brad 
3 Jan
3 Jan
12:28 p.m.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 12:01 PM, Charles
<charlesmorris800 at centurytel.net> wrote:
The BC80J-20 has the 40-pin header on one end and
enough flat ribbon cable
to make it out the back of the chassis... I have never seen a "real" one but
I believe it has some kind of transition to the round cable (which then has
the quick-disconnect on the other end)?
the BC80J I'm familiar with has no flat cable. It's like a round
BC20J drive-to-drive cable, cut in half, with a 40-pin Berg connector
installed on the cut end. Because of how fragile those end wires are
and how hard it is to route through the tiny hole in the back of the
PDP-8/a chassis, back when I used mine every day, I made a 6" flat
cable with male-to-female IDC ends so I could see where the BC80J
plugged in (and more easily strap it down to prevent tugging on the
short wires. It wasn't part of the original cable though.
BTW, Continental Computers answered my quote request
with they can "let it
go for $145"... that's about four times what I expected to pay for one!
For a drive cable? Crazy.
-ethan
1:35 p.m.
On 1/3/14 9:01 AM, Charles wrote:
The BC80J-20 has the 40-pin header on one end and
enough flat ribbon cable to make it out the back of the chassis... I have never seen a
"real" one but I believe it has some kind of transition to the
round cable (which then has the quick-disconnect on the other end)?
BTW, Continental Computers answered my quote request with they can "let it go for
$145"... that's about four times what I expected to pay for one!
-Charles
The BC80M listed for 57.50 should work fine. You'll probably have to fiddle with the
big drain cable on
the controller end.
http://www.pinnaclemicro.com/computer/parts.php?i=bc-80&cf=2
I would think you should be able to find one cheaper. This would be the cable for the
RLV21 which
shouldn't be in the collectable range yet. I would think Paul Anderson would have a
bunch of either
the 80J or 80M.
1:50 p.m.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 1:35 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
That one looks to be 6' (BC80M06) which is the only length I've seen
in person. They also have a BC80M25 for three times as much.
BTW,
Continental Computers answered my quote request with they can "let it
go for $145"... that's about four times what I expected to pay for one!
The BC80M listed for 57.50 should work fine. You'll probably have to fiddle with the big drain
cable on the controller end.
I remember that big fat braid. ISTR it was not easy to find a
convenient place to bolt that down on a BA23.
-ethan
2:04 p.m.
On 1/3/14 10:50 AM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
I remember that big fat braid. ISTR it was not easy
to find a
convenient place to bolt that down on a BA23.
well, hopefully Paul will pop up with some at a better price.
I was just thinking I have some RL11 and RLV12 controllers, and it would be fun to
try getting one of the FPGA drive simulators running (another project to add to the
pile).
3:09 p.m.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 1/3/14 10:50 AM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
I could use a spare. I think I have more cards than cables right now.
I remember that big fat braid. ISTR it was not
easy to find a
convenient place to bolt that down on a BA23.
well, hopefully Paul will pop up with some at a better price. I was just thinking I have some RL11 and RLV12
controllers, and it
would be fun to try getting one of the FPGA drive simulators running
(another project to add to the pile).
That would be one I would enjoy testing. I spun a lot of RL drives
over the years, and while I always found them reliable, it takes
up a lot of space to put together a moderate amount of storage
(like the time I installed 2.9BSD on my 11/24. about 5 years
before Linux appeared - I had to add a second RL02 to have
enough room to rebuild the kernel).
-ethan
4:17 p.m.
On Jan 3, 2014, at 12:09 , Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
That would be one I would enjoy testing. I spun a lot
of RL drives
over the years, and while I always found them reliable, it takes
up a lot of space to put together a moderate amount of storage
(like the time I installed 2.9BSD on my 11/24. about 5 years
before Linux appeared - I had to add a second RL02 to have
enough room to rebuild the kernel).
I'm just getting started in DEC stuff in general and RL02 drives in particular.
I'm putting together a PDP-11/44 system, and I hope to try running both RT11 and BSD
on it. Would a two-drive system be sufficient, or would I need more storage space? I have
four RL02 drives in unknown condition, but I was only planning to rack up two of them with
the PDP-11/44 and a Kennedy 9610 9-track tape drive.
My PDP-11/44 pile came with an RL11 board and the cable from it to the first RL02 drive.
It doesn't have a bulkhead fitting; it just goes from the controller directly to the
connector that plugs into the back of an RL02 drive. I haven't looked at the cable
carefully yet, but I can examine, measure and photograph it if that would be helpful to
anybody else in this thread.
BTW, I am looking for drive ID lenses for my RL02 drives. I need a "1" and a
"2", and I could either buy them outright or trade "0" lenses for
them. My RL02 pile came with three "0" lenses and a "3".
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
5:57 p.m.
On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 5:13 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 1/3/14 11:04 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
It would indeed. if you had 48MB (or 64MB) of storage, you could make
all 4 units active.
-ethan
I was just thinking I have some RL11 and RLV12
controllers, and it would
be fun to
try getting one of the FPGA drive simulators running (another project to
add to the pile).
Wake up, Al :-(
That would just require a 40 pin ribbon cable. 
4 Jan
4 Jan
11:28 p.m.
Thanks for thinking of me Al.
I have a few here, but not sure how many I will need yet. Most of my cables
are still buried.
I will ask a few friends not on the list if they have any.
Thanks, Paul
On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 1:04 PM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 1/3/14 10:50 AM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
I remember that big fat braid. ISTR it was not easy to find a
convenient place to bolt that down on a BA23.
well, hopefully Paul will pop up with some at a better price.
I was just thinking I have some RL11 and RLV12 controllers, and it would
be fun to
try getting one of the FPGA drive simulators running (another project to
add to the pile).
3857
days inactive
3859
days old
9 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
nf6x＠nf6x.net -
useddec＠gmail.com