SQ703/6 conversion and a little fun

[Zane Healy]

I should have realized that it was Dilog.  Interesting, I wasn’t aware that was due to Royalty payments that you had to choose between  Tape, Disk, or Disk/Tape.  That makes perfect sense.  I can’t speak for Dilog, my experience is with the Viking boards (I forget how many names they were sold under).

With the Viking (Unibus and Q-Bus), you need the correct PAL, the correct EPROM, and you need the correct cab-kit that lets you log into the controller and flip a couple bits. 

I need to work on a power-supply or two for my PDP-11’s.  I don’t really feel like letting the magic smoke out on my BA23 or BA123.

Zane



> On Nov 1, 2021, at 6:09 PM, Nigel Johnson Ham <g4ajq1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> No, Zane, it is made by Dilog. I heard that the device can do both tape and disk, but that to save money on DEC's royalty payments they only put the proms in for what you bought - which is not a problem since I got two of them!
> 
> I figure if you can't beat it, go with the flow!  I am going to move the Plessey DCV54 to 160340 and let the SQ706 play at 172150, even though its         diagnostic says its at 174500! The reason I know it is coming up at 172150 is that the DCV54 diagnostic says there is a non-DCV54 controller there, only when the SQ703(6) is plugged in.
> 
> Unfortunately  there are other jobs I have to do first, including fixing a very noisy power contactor in a DEC power controller that is upsetting the wife, and the microvax seems to have a ground  loop voltage that is preventing me from entering anything on the console channel since I installed the power converter!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Nigel
> 
> 
> Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU
> Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!
> Skype:  TILBURY2591 nw.johnson at ieee.org <mailto:nw.johnson at ieee.org>
> 
> 
> 
> On 2021-11-01 1:40 p.m., Zane Healy wrote:
>> Who made the SQ703/SQ706?  Is this a rebadge Viking board?  If so then it’s the PAL. 
>> 
>> I think that the OED needs to improve their definition of VAX.
>> 
>> Zane
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Nov 1, 2021, at 4:23 AM, Nigel Johnson Ham via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> A few months ago, thanks to help from several people here, I converted
>>> an SQ703 TMSCP controller to SQ706 MSCP.
>>> 
>>> I had problems trying to use it on the vax due to the complexity of
>>> mapping Q-Bus registers under ODT, so put off trying until I got the
>>> LSI-11/73 going.
>>> 
>>> Now I have a problem: It seems to run and recognise the controller as
>>> SQ706 according to the on-board diagnostics, however it insists saying
>>> it is at 777450, the TMSCP address.  Trying to change it gives me an
>>> out-of-bounds message.
>>> 
>>> OK, I thought, I will just use it there.
>>> 
>>> Put it in to a running RT11 system and it shows up at 772150 and clashes
>>> with an existing controller!
>>> 
>>> It seems that one of the PALs is maybe setting up the address!
>>> 
>>> Anybody else tried this?
>>> 
>>> cheers,
>>> 
>>> Nigel
>>> 
>>> Here's the fun: 
>>> https://www(dot)bbc(dot)com/news/entertainment-arts-59089596 <https://www(dot)bbc(dot)com/news/entertainment-arts-59089596>
>>> 
>>> Maybe our vax computers will become popular once again!
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Nigel Johnson, MSc., MIEEE, MCSE VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU
>>> Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!
>>> Skype:  TILBURY2591 nw.johnson at ieee.org <mailto:nw.johnson at ieee.org>
>>> 
>>> 
>>>