15 Dec
1999
15 Dec
'99
8:47 p.m.
In the 11/44 system which is now occupying my evenings... there
are three Massbuss adaptors [M5904]. I actually have an RA90+power
supply out in the garage, condition unknown at this time.. I don't
know anything at all about the Massbuss and it's peripherals, save
that its serial and kinda fast.
I have a DataProducts P300, that I think DEC called an LXY11... at
any rate , this printer has a DataProducts standard interface. I
believe there exist several Unibus cards that speak the Dataproducts
protocol, I just can't find them in all the manuals around here. Yet.
Would anyone like to have one (or two) of these M5904s in trade
for a Unibus <-> DataProducts P300 card (and very hopefully cable)??
What are the general spec for an RA90? Is it worthwhile even
attempting to attach it to the System?
Another question: Has anyone any suggestions re: a good
communications program for the 11/44 under RSTS/E?
Cheers... and Best of the Season
John
16 Dec
16 Dec
3:57 a.m.
On Wed, 15 Dec 1999, John Lawson wrote:
In the 11/44 system which is now occupying my evenings... there
are three Massbuss adaptors [M5904]. I actually have an RA90+power
supply out in the garage, condition unknown at this time.. I don't
know anything at all about the Massbuss and it's peripherals, save
that its serial and kinda fast.
The RH11 UNIBUS MASSBUS adapter actually consists of several boards:
M5903 MASSBUS terminal tranceiver
M5904 MASSBUS control tranceiver
M7294 MASSBUS data buffer and control
M7294-YA Modified M7294 for RH11-C (used on DECSYSTEM-2020)
M7295 MASSBUS bus control (RH11-A only)
M7295-YA Modified M7295 for RH11-B
M7296 MASSBUS control and status registers
M7297 MASSBUS parity control
The appropriate boards live in their own section of backplane.
(Does anyone know what the reason is behind Digital putting a "-YA" suffix
on the module number of a board that's been modified somehow? Does it
stand for "Yet Another"...? :-) )
The RA90 is an MSCP drive; you need a UDA50 to run it. MASSBUS drives are
drives like the RP04/5/6 (washing-machine looking), and RM02/03/04/80 (not
quite washing-machine size, but still pretty big). The RP07 is also a
MASSBUS drive, but I am not sure if it will run off of an RH11 (I think
it was originally meant to be attached to an RH20 interface on a
DECsystem-10 or DECSYSTEM-20).
--Pat.
5:59 a.m.
On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Pat Barron wrote:
On Wed, 15 Dec 1999, John Lawson wrote:
>
> In the 11/44 system which is now occupying my evenings... there
[Snip]
The RH11 UNIBUS MASSBUS adapter actually consists of several boards:
M5903 MASSBUS terminal tranceiver
-> M5904 MASSBUS control tranceiver
-> M7294 MASSBUS data buffer and control
M7294-YA Modified M7294 for RH11-C (used on DECSYSTEM-2020)
-> M7295 MASSBUS bus control (RH11-A only)
M7295-YA Modified M7295 for RH11-B
-> M7296 MASSBUS control and status registers
-> M7297 MASSBUS parity control
The appropriate boards live in their own section of backplane.
Ah, so... I have the boards (as marked above) in the unit
currently... just like you have described it.
The RA90 is an MSCP drive; you need a UDA50 to run it. MASSBUS drives are
Yup. I gathered this from the Peripherals Handbook that I fell
asleep reading last night. O Well.. I got the RA 90 for $5 from a
guy at the TRW Ham Swapmeet here in SoCal who thought it was a big
power supply, because the power unit for the drive rides piggyback
on it, and has a big rating plate that identifies it as a power supply.
Thanks very much for your help!
Cheers
John
4:33 a.m.
I have a DataProducts P300, that I think DEC called
an LXY11... at
any rate , this printer has a DataProducts standard interface. I
believe there exist several Unibus cards that speak the Dataproducts
protocol, I just can't find them in all the manuals around here. Yet.
LP-11, Any card that talks to LP11 and LP2x(lp25/26/27) all use the same
interface (dataproducts.
Allison
5:37 a.m.
On Thu, 16 Dec 1999 allisonp(a)world.std.com wrote:
> I have a DataProducts P300, that I think DEC
called an LXY11... at
[snip]
LP-11, Any card that talks to LP11 and LP2x(lp25/26/27) all use the same
interface (dataproducts.
Bingo!
Thanks again, Allison. This evening I'll plow thru the stacks of
DEC Modules and see if one doesn't fall out of the pile somehow.
Then there's the cable to wrangle up.....
Cheers
John
4:49 a.m.
John Lawson wrote:
I have a DataProducts P300, that I think DEC called
an LXY11... at
any rate , this printer has a DataProducts standard interface. I
believe there exist several Unibus cards that speak the Dataproducts
protocol, I just can't find them in all the manuals around here. Yet.
The Dataproducts i/f youre looking is the M7930, LP11. We also use the
M7258 LS11 interface here which can be jumpered for Dataproducts
protocols, lots of jumpers. Got manuals for both so would be glad to help
with your setup if needed.
Nick
6:06 a.m.
On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Nick Oliviero wrote:
John Lawson wrote:
Tonite I will search my board inventory.. I *seem* to remember
having one or two of these... but no doc that I know of. Thanks
for your kind offer and info... I will certainly need to reference
the manual at some point.
Cheers
John
I have a DataProducts P300, that I think DEC
called an LXY11... at
The Dataproducts i/f youre looking is the M7930, LP11. We also use the 
9:10 a.m.
John Lawson <jpl15(a)netcom.com> wrote:
In the 11/44 system which is now occupying my
evenings... there
are three Massbuss adaptors [M5904].
[...]
Would anyone like to have one (or two) of these
M5904s in trade
for a Unibus <-> DataProducts P300 card (and very hopefully cable)??
Presumably you're aware that the M5904 is only the transceiver module,
and that it plugs into an RH11 backplane with several other modules to
form a complete Massbus adapter.
I could use an extra RH11.
I'm not familiar with the P300, so I don't know exactly what printer interface
would be required. I have two DEC LP06-YA drum printers and two LP26 chain
printers which (according to the bill of sale) use "LP/LS-11" printer
interfaces. It looks like there should be a spare interface card, so if
that's what you need, I'd be happy to trade it.
I actually have an RA90+power
supply out in the garage, condition unknown at this time.. I don't
know anything at all about the Massbuss and it's peripherals, save
that its serial and kinda fast.
It's parallel, with a 16-bit command/status bus and a 16 or 18 bit data bus.
It was fast by mid-to-late 1970s standards. There's a reasonably good
general overview in _Computer Engineering_.
Cheers,
Eric
11:08 a.m.
New subject: Surplus sightings
Things I have seen recently in local (SoCal) surplus joints:
Gaylord full of 5+ year old northern Telecomm cards with a Meridian 1 and
various other bits.
Pallets of stuff from MTI (sorry I don't know more, but its some DEC I
think storage maker). Lots of full length metal chassis that fit in the
larger roll around racks, and a couple of those racks (about 4 feet tall).
Quite a few new in the static bag old cards, MTI, emulex, many little cards
that seem to attach to the rear of drives to go in above chassis. Hunting
in this mess is totally impractical (sealed static bags etc.), but if
sufficient interest exists maybe I can get him to hold it for more snooping
time later. Hints on what I should look for welcomed.
Compaq Plus, suitcase with the keyboard on the bottom.
ST19171FC drives, both new and used (looks too expensive to me $150+).
Long cables with the HD68 connectors or maybe 68 pin (someday I will learn
to id cables). One looks like a miniture centronics with the tab in the
middle, and other is HD68 I think with closely spaced pins. Cable is FAT
like half an inch and maybe 25+ feet long.
8980
days inactive
8980
days old
8 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
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allisonp＠world.std.com -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
jpl15＠netcom.com -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
oliv555＠arrl.net -
pat＠transarc.ibm.com