Diversified Technology CAT904 80286 single board PC

Tue Mar 16 12:57:09 CDT 2021

 I've got a Diversified Tech 286 SBC as well and was able to switch to 3.5 floppies by modifying the BIOS settings. Mine has the Dallas Real Time Clock chip and the battery was dead so the BIOS settings weren't preserved after a reboot. Fortunately I obtained a replacement chip available on ebay to fix that issue. I haven't got a manual to share, but it's a neat little board.

Jonathan
     On Tuesday, March 16, 2021, 12:00:02 PM CDT, <cctalk-request at classiccmp.org> wrote:  

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Today's Topics:

  1. VAX rom patches - VAXstation 2000 SCSI boot, KA420 > 1GB boot
      (David Brownlee)
  2. Re: Diversified Technology CAT904 80286 single board PC
      (david raingeard)
  3. Re: PDP-10 I/O notes (Lars Brinkhoff)
  4. who collects modems? (Tom Uban)
  5. Re: Any info on a Western Peripherals DC-230 disk controller?
      (Jay Jaeger)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2021 18:36:23 +0000
From: David Brownlee <abs at absd.org>
To: rob at jarratt.me.uk,  "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
    Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>, port-vax List <port-vax at netbsd.org>
Cc: Malte Dehling <mdehling at gmail.com>
Subject: VAX rom patches - VAXstation 2000 SCSI boot, KA420 > 1GB boot
Message-ID:
    <CAGN_6pbBzUQDJP-YiCQRZsaNOsGye1oWQ_ULyvavEd52ZrYp2Q at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

I had some extra A4 pages with a VAXstation 2000 manual which covered
a preview PK2K kit for VMS, bootloader and ROM to allow use of the
VAXstation 2000 SCSI controller for more than just tapes.

Rough scan at http://sync.absd.org/vax/VAX-PK2K-preview-kit.pdf (the
originals will be sent to someone who can do a better job)

The pages led me to http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/ which includes some goodies:
- http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/pk2k - uVAX-2k SCSI patches with source
for boot roms, VMB & VMS
- http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/ka420 - ROM patches for KA420/KA430 boot
from >1GB disks
- http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/vms/dk-552/ - VMS 5.2 patch to allow to
accept more SCSI disk devices

(Starting a new thread in case there is (slightly) more general
interest for anyone interested in using the onboard uVAX-2K SCSI
controller more more than tapes (OK, OK, for anyone not running NetBSD
on their uVAX-2K interested in etc etc) - have cross posted to cctalk
& port-vax - hopefully not violating any conventions there)

David

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2021 16:41:54 +0100
From: david raingeard <david.raingeard at gmail.com>
To: Tom Uban <tom at figureeightbrewing.com>,  "General Discussion:
    On-Topic Posts" <cctech at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Diversified Technology CAT904 80286 single board PC
Message-ID:
    <CAFvDS1SvQZFE_dzGQaheyLRpFqh-ZqFZyyWpBaMg_D22gZ+8kA at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

i rather do  what doe with ibm dos

Le lun. 15 mars 2021 ? 16:23, Tom Uban via cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org> a
?crit :

> It dawned on me that I probably just need to change a BIOS setting. I
> haven't dealt with PCs in so
> long I've forgotten what to do...
> I would still like to find a manual if someone has one.
>
> > I have a Diversified Technology CAT904 80286 single board PC in a system
> with a 5.25" floppy drive
> running DOS.
> > I would like to switch the system to use a 3.5" drive and am wondering
> if anyone has a manual for
> the dip switch settings for this board or if I can simply add a 3.5" drive
> as a 2nd device on the
> floppy cable (guessing not without switch changes)?
> >
> > --tnx
> > --tom
>
>

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 06:04:44 +0000
From: Lars Brinkhoff <lars at nocrew.org>
To: Don Stalkowski via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: PDP-10 I/O notes
Message-ID: <7wzgz3zlab.fsf at junk.nocrew.org>
Content-Type: text/plain

Don Stalkowski wrote:
> For what it's worth I've posted some notes on PDP-10 I/O from a course
> taught by Mike Bennett at UWO in the early 1970s.

Thank you!

Interesting to see the DECtape file structure format.

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 09:48:33 -0500
From: Tom Uban <tom at figureeightbrewing.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
    <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: who collects modems?
Message-ID:
    <d22a7559-5c13-28e5-eec0-b1587b5c5a79 at figureeightbrewing.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Clearing out stuff at my space, I have the following modems:

NEC UltraLite-Series Image Modem Plus w/box
CTS Datacomm 2424 ADA modem w/box
Scout Plus External Data/Fax modem w/box
Digital DF03 modem

Any offers?

--tom

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 11:23:28 -0500
From: Jay Jaeger <cube1 at charter.net>
To: Josh Dersch via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Any info on a Western Peripherals DC-230 disk controller?
Message-ID: <0877749a-9d01-466e-9e59-854977e13808 at charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

I may have a little info - but the info is in storage, and it is just a 
"Western Peripherals Instruction Reference Card", apparently referring 
to the DC-230, PDP-11 and TC-130 (the latter being a tape controller, 
for which I do have some doc.)

Once the weather warms up again - say, maybe this weekend, I'll trot off 
to storage, bring it back and scan it.

Back in the 1970's the UW Madison CS Department's 11/20 had a 3rd party 
disk controller of some sort - one pack removable, one fixed, but I 
don't remember who made it (might have been Wangco).

JRJ

On 3/12/2021 5:02 PM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote:
> Any ideas what this disc controller is?
> 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/PDP-11-Backplane-Western-Peripherals-DC-230-Disk-Controller-DEC-Digital-PDP/353417412426
> 
> Can't find much about this on the 'net, other than that it was a controller
> for Diablo/Pertec style drives -- no idea if it's an RK11 clone or
> something else entirely. Looks to be suitable for a PDP-11/20 given the
> little notch missing from the side there, and the lack of a separate power
> harness for the backplane.
> 
> - Josh
> 

End of cctalk Digest, Vol 78, Issue 16
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