Introduction and need help bringing some pdp11's back

[Chris Zach]

Hi Paul!

Pleasure to meet you. What kinds of things do you have?

What I would love to do is get the latest versions of RSX11/M+ up and 
running. I have compiler licenses for Fortran77 and Cobol81, but only 
11/M 4.1 and 4.0 media on RL02/01 packs.

C

On 10/29/2019 10:16 PM, Paul Anderson via cctalk wrote:
> Hi Chris,
> 
> I have a lot of the parts you might need. Please feel free to contact me
> off list
> 
> Thanks, Paul
> 
> On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 11:28 AM Chris Zach via cctalk <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi all!
>>
>> Re-subscribing to this list after a 20+ year "vacation" while raising
>> kids. I was pretty active in the Dec pdp10, pdp11, and pdp8 communities
>> back in the 80's and managed to acquire a lot of "stuff". Now that I
>> have some time and space again I'm looking back into the pile of "high
>> mass hobbies" and wondering what still works.
>>
>> In terms of communities I see the pdp8-lovers list is still going but I
>> can't seem to find the pdp11 email list anymore. If anyone can add me
>> I'd appreciate.
>>
>> On to the technical issues: I currently am trying to bring back online a
>> PDT11/150 and my main Q-Bus pdp11/73. The 11/150 is trying to boot but
>> it looks like my old disk with RT11 5.1 and the PD: boot driver is no
>> longer working. Does anyone have a copy of RT11 5.1 source disks they
>> can loan me (I can't find my set).
>>
>> The 11/73 is a bit more interesting: It's an 11/73 quad height CPU, 4mb
>> of ram on a single DEC Q bus card, and for storage has an MTI ESDI
>> controller hooked up to a Fujitsu ESDI drive. After some workings I was
>> able to get the controller back online (hint: The password to get into
>> the controller to make changes is MTI) and while I can boot RT11 off one
>> of the two partitions my RSX11M 4.0 generated instance is flunking with
>> a boot error. Probably some disk rot.
>>
>> I also have a RLV12 controller in it and a pair of RL02's sitting in a
>> closet here that I can drag upstairs with RSX111M 4.1 on them. Better
>> than nothing and might allow me to boot up and possibly run a disk
>> repair/regenerate the boot code on the EDSI disk. But that's not the
>> real problem.
>>
>> The real problem is I'm trying to put an RQDX3 in there instead of the
>> ESDI controller so I can boot off RX50's. And I have no idea which way
>> all the various ribbon cables are supposed to go. Will any 50 pin cable
>> work between the RQDX3 and the BA23 distribution bulkhead? Anything
>> special about the 34ish pin cable that goes between the bulkhead and the
>> RX50? So far when I try to boot all devices DU0-3 give me not yet ready.
>>
>> Ultimately I would like to format one of my MFM Maxtor drives as a RD54,
>> then install MicroRSX and MicroRSTS from floppy. For the big ESDI drive
>> I'd be happy getting that upgraded to RSX11M+ if I can find install
>> media and running it as a serious system.
>>
>> I also have TK70's, and a couple of other oddball things here including
>> all the parts for BLT.AI.MIT.EDU (Sometimes called LSD), a RM80, an RX02
>> with a RXV11 controller, and a bunch of other weird stuff.
>>
>> Anyway, will be interesting to see if I can get these going. If I can
>> get the 73 running the next step would be to get the 11/24 up and going,
>> then start working on the 2020...
>>
>> CZ
>>
>> On 10/29/2019 11:27 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote:
>>> On 10/29/2019 09:45 AM, jos via cctalk wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> an IBM 4331 for 1000 Euro b.i.n. seems OK to me, if I was in that sort
>>>> of thing !
>>>>
>>>> See  https://www.ebay.de/itm/IBM-grosrechner/184010116585 and his
>>>> other offerings...
>>>>
>>> WOW, this is some amazing stuff he has!
>>>
>>> Jon
>>