DEC BA213 and BA213 S-boxes?

[Ethan Dicks]

Hi, All,

Watching some of the recent traffic about what newer Qbus boards will
and won't work with 2.11BSD, I've remembered a thing I was once
looking for.  Back when I did DEC hardware for a living, we stopped
buying new stuff after we got a MicroVAX-II.  As such, I have plenty
of LSI-11 to KA630 parts but very little from after that era.  I do
happen to have 2-3 boards with S-box handles including a KDF-11 CPU
and a SCSI card, a great start to a system.  What I don't have is the
enclosure.

I have a BA123 "World Box" and it's great.  I know a BA213 is roughly
the same size, but I've never had one.   The BA215 looks more
interesting to me as a match for size and power requirements (1 PSU
and 6 slots, half the BA213) but I've never even seen a BA215.

Anyone here have much experience with the BA215?  Any "gotchas"?  So
far, from my looking on eBay, I think I spotted one loaded as a VAX.
I'm more interested in setting mine up as a PDP-11, so the VAX end of
one is not exactly a selling point to me.  An empty box would do just
as nicely.

I'd say 80% of my Qbus work has been with two boxes, the BA-11N and
the BA-23, thus all the S-box questions.

Thanks for any tips, tidbits and stories.

-ethan