Here comes a huge first shot. Any questions ask. I've likely answered them before. I have here most every Qbus configuration for PDP-11 and a few DEC would never support and a few Qbus uVAX too. All operational. If you liked programming the 6809 the PDP-11 will be familair and even nicer. (CUBIX-11). Any (and all) of the late 70s through mid 80s "MicroComputer Handbooks" [microcomputers and memories, Microcomputer interfacing handbook] DEC put out. They are chock full of info, explanation and are just gotta have items. The PDP11 and MicroVAX have heavy overlap in the Q-bus realm so any and all info for one will be helpfull for the other. Those books will help with.. PDP11 programming (or microVAX) PDP11 modules and their jumpers Standard addresses for various functions Some info on standard configurations including what board goes where. Boot code for many devices Mxxxx to function conversion DEC history! To make a system you need roughtly (pdp11). A box with power, backplane and at least minimal front pannel (three switch) A CPU be it LSI-11 or M8186 the latter is mroe versitile. An SL serial port configured as console (dl11 or better DLV11J OR MXV11) My prefernce is the 11j and seperate ram as the MXV is a sea of jumpers. However teh MXV-11 Two or up to 4 total make for a compact systems with boot and IO galore. the MXV11s mostly seenare limited to Q18 configurations due to limited address decoding but fully populated boards times four Gives you 64KW (128KB) with is a moderately large memory system and also 8 serial lines 4 PPI! Popular card for embedded systems. Memory at least 4K more for an OS (16k minimum) To run an OS some form of mass storage (could be a Tu58 emulator running on a PC on A serial port) A good OS to start with is RT-11, compact, small ram fooprint and can run from any device 256k or larger, looks like dos. ;) NOTE: The LSI-11 is the oldest and has some bus configuration items to pay attnetion to. It's limited to 32KW addressing (Q16) and when you remove the IO page (PDP-11 and VAX use memory mapped IO) typical space is 26KW (big for basic 11). The M8186 is the F11 cipset and has MMU also (Q18/Q22) can address larger memory. Most all 8186s I've seen despite handbooks claims of only Q18 addressing do Q22 (22bit). It's also much faster than the LSI-11. The dual floppy is RX50. The front pannel is processor specific as are the real pannel (if present!) inserts. That box works for both Q-bus 11 cpus and Qbus uVAX cpus. BA11N BAllVA??? Should have a label somewhere identifying it. Generally the DEC backplanes are wirecage to cupport the guides and the backplane at the end with power and control connectors. That is the base "LSI-11" cpu card. Use in many machines and even the H11. Older and often flaky, if it works keep it, if unsure keep it. AKA the RQDX3 controller for MFM and floppy(RX50 and RX33 aka TEAC FD55GFR). uVAXII cpu has matching ram with an over the top IDE cable. M7608 is ONLY for uVAXII. DL-11 card, generic serial line interface. That an older one but very useable. Pair that up with LSI-11 cpu. Goes with the LSI-11 CPU. It's not teh FDC it's really only the bus interface to the FDC. The drive RX01 has a simple randome logic processor to do all the heavy lifiting. RX01 is SSSD 8" standard. DLV11J, the standard 4 serial line interface for QBUS. For qbus 11 systems. MXV11 compact card with a million jumpers that gives you yp to 32kB of ram, ROm, 2 serial(DL compatable) and parallel(8255). First generation F11 cpu, fine board has uODT in microcode. ODT is a very simple Octal based (all 11s are octal) monitor debugger. Always handy for filling holes. The bus is wires such that interrupt and DMA grant are passed through eash card so that the highest priority requestor is nearest the CPU. used with Qbus 11 cpus that are romless. can boot RX01 and I think two otehr devicves bus terminator reqired in some cases optional in others not wanted in some. Memory says same as RQDXn. desireable board if you have info.