DEC BA213 and BA213 S-boxes?

[Glen Slick]

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 10:14 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> 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 have a BA215 box that was configured as a MicroVAX 3300 when I got
it with an M7624 KA640 CPU. Currently I have it configured as a VAX
4000-200 with an M7626 KA660 CPU and maxed out with 64MB with a 3rd
party Camintonn CMX-4200-48 48MB board and an M7622 16MB board. With
DSSI and Ethernet controllers built in with the KA660 that leaves 3 of
the 6 slots free for an S-handle M5976 KZQSA to attach a SCSI CD-ROM
and an S-handle M3119 CXY08 for 8 async lines.

Loaded up the BA215 is certainly not light, but you can easily wheel
it around, and if necessary I can pick it up and carry it a short
distance by myself. I won't try to move a BA123 or BA215 / BA430 /
BA440 box by myself beyond just rolling them without stripping them
down to completely empty boxes.

If you want to set up a BA215 as a PDP-11 a nice way to go is with an
S-handle M7554 KDJ11-D DECserver 550 CPU, the 18MHz version with
1.5MB. Sometimes good deals on those can be found. Then add either a
2MB M7551 MSV11-Q or a 2MB M8637 MSV11-J for 3.5MB. Add an S-handle
M3127 DESQA Ethernet controller, and an M3119 CXY08 if you want more
than the 2 async lines on the M7554 KDJ11-D. If the BA215 box came
with any DSSI drives installed add an M7769 KFQSA. The KFQSA is MSCP
compatible so later PDP-11 software should be able to use it.

If you can find a decent deal on a BA215 box it is worth grabbing one.
Most of the time I would rather work on a BA215 box than a BA23 /
BA123 or BA215 / BA430 / BA440 box (ok, the BA440 VAX will be much
faster). In some cases only 6 slots might be limiting if you wanted to
use something like a 3 board set M7168 / M7169 VCB02 or a 2 board set
M7164 / M7165 KDA50-Q.