On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 5:00 PM, Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com> wrote: Wow. That's specific and obscure. Sounds like someone is up against the wall. Having an 8200 (or 8300, depending on the loadout) in the basement, I can say that the CPU enclosure is fundamentally a BA32 cabinet. I suspect one might be able to lay hands on just that or its PSU if one had a dead CPU cabinet. There was at least one BI SCSI card manufactured, but back in the day, it was $10K, so we never bought one. It was easier to get a KDB50 SDI interface since nearly every 8200/8300/8250/8350 was initially configured with one (including the used 8200 we bought c. 1989). Unibus was available (DWBUA) but less universal (I have one of those, but it has never worked since I moved the machine from its former home to mine - I presently have three dead UET cards so the DWBUA module doesn't pass self-test and isn't available when the machine boots). For the right price, I could part with my one 8200, but it would obviously need a KA825 rather than a KA820. -ethan

CMD had a raid controller that hooked to the Vax 8xxx's that I saw, but I have no idea of part number, etc. I was a technical author on an article about it for CMD for a PR article in some DEC rags. I was picked because the word went out they needed a "Unix" expert to help with the article. This is from the hardware group there, plus their marketing. When I got there I was invited to log in, and found it quite puzzling that they had a VMS system for me... Anyway, they did take the interface that was connected via two coax cables (75 ohm as I recall) to a controller, and SCSI out the other side. And it was quite fast, and a lot less hardware than the DEC equivalent. Jim On 4/6/2010 2:52 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote:

On 4/7/10, Bob Armstrong <bob at jfcl.com> wrote: I'm right there with you. That's why I keep mine around (that and I have a VAXBI peripheral board I helped design and did the ROM code and device driver for, so I'd like to have a place to run it). I'm not so keen on that aspect of the design - we had numerous problems with our 8300 that were resolved by reseating the cards. I don't mind the cables on the back (though we did have a design-induced problem because the lead hardware engineer dismissed my feedback, assuring me that no customer would ever plug the cables in wrong - in fact we had *every single customer* do that since in the DEC world, no harm usually comes from inverted cables, so when something doesn't work, it's common to flip the cable and try again), but the ZIF backplane sockets were always a PITA to me. All true! When we were debugging our product, we needed to hang an analyzer pod and an EPROM emulator pod on our board, and the cables were too thick for the original lid to close enough. We ended up making a 3/4ths "lid" out of cardboard and routing our cables out through a new hole. There was enough airflow to keep the PSU happy, and we were in a machine-room environment, so the ambient air was cold enough to keep the boards happy. My former employers paid $13K for that machine c. 1990, equipped with 1 CPU, 4MB of RAM (2x2MB, IIRC) and a KDB50. Later, we added another KA820 ($100? $150?) and matched the microcode revs and made an 8300 out of it for SMP driver testing. We never did get a serial card or ethernet for it, though I picked up a DEBNT for $50 or less in the early 1990s. There used to be a scrapper down the road from my house - besides things like MicroVAX Is, he occasionally got in VAXBI boards - as a result, I picked up a 4MB board or two for under $50. My configuration right now is one or two CPUs, variable amounts of memory between 4MB and, IIRC, 12MB (depending on how many slots I have available), usually a COMBOARD-BI (my product), a KDB50 (two slots), a DEBNT (not yet working - need to check if I have the right cab kit for the cables), and a DWBUA (not yet working - need to fix a UET module before the DWBUA self-test will complete). My box has the two BI cages; the DWBUA has external cables to a BA-11 in the next cabinet over (which holds a couple of SDI disks). For logins, I use the built-in four serial ports. I just went googling for DEBNI/DEBNA/DEBNT information. Found this helpful post... http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-vax/1998/08/07/0000.html ... where Antonio Carlini mentions that the DEBNT might only be supported in the VAXstation 8000. It's been years since I tried to work on it - I don't recall where it shows up or fails to show up, but I _think_ it passes self-test (amber LED), I think its registers show up on the bus (there's an easy way to poke around on the console reading physical I/O registers), but I don't think I have an ESA0: or similar device at the VMS level. If I had to replace the DEBNT with a DEBNA or DEBNI, it wouldn't break my heart, but I do happen to have the DEBNT handy, so it'd be nice to see it work. In the meantime, I have a long serial cable running between the basement and my "office" room. -ethan

A followup on this would be fun, but I guess it might all be secret. There seems to be a few systems arround given the other replies to this thread. I have two KA820-AA CPU boards and two memory boards (can't remember the size). What is the difference between tha KA820 and KA825, another reply indicated it was a matter of a firmware upgrade? I would love a box to put the cards in, but I will also sell/trade them if someone needs spares. /Pontus.

Yes, that was what I was refering to, and I missunderstood what you meant. I'll check when I come home. I seem to recall 4MB, but it might as well be 2MB. Of course the boards are untested. /P