SQ703/6 conversion and a little fun
Zane Healy
healyzh at avanthar.com
Tue Nov 2 09:26:06 CDT 2021
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>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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