Thanks everyone!
73 Eugene W2HX My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@w2hx/videos -----Original Message----- From: Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2024 12:37 AM To: Glen Slick via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> Cc: Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez <ce.murillosanc...@gmail.com> Subject: [cctalk] Re: PDP-11 thingy. What is it? Glen Slick via cctalk wrote: > On Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 7:22 PM Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> Jonathan Chapman via cctalk wrote: >>>> 1. I have read that the card and the drives were compatible with >>>> the >> dec rx02 drives. Why would the CRDS even bother to redesign a card >> where DEC had perfectly good working ones? Anyone know if there is >> any value in keeping the FC-202 or just keep with the DEC cards? >>> A lot of the third-party controllers could talk to Shugart-style 8" >> floppy drives. They can also usually *format* the diskettes, which >> the >> RX01/RX02 systems from DEC can't do -- you have to use preformatted media. >> This isn't a *huge* deal since RX01 is just IBM 3740 and you can >> format it on CP/M boxes, with ImageDisk, etc. There's an XXDP utility >> to upconvert >> RX01 media to RX02, which is M2FM and very few things can work with it. >>> Apparently a lot of small shops kept a CP/M box just for the task, >>> the >> Alspa ACI-2 I had was supposedly used like that. >>>> 2. Any idea on that other card? >> https://w2hx.com/?prefix=x/What-Is-It/PDP-11-Thing/Board1/ >>> Looks like a non-DEC Qniverter -- QBus to Unibus converter. If >>> that's >> what it is, you'd plug your Unibus cable into that pair of connectors >> on top and run it to whatever Unibus device you were wanting to talk >> to, potentially another backplane full of Unibus stuff. Commonish >> upgrade on e.g. CNC machines that were originally controlled by a >> PDP-11/05 or something in one Unibus chassis, with another Unibus >> chassis full of machine-specific cards. >>> Thanks, >>> Jonathan >>> . >>> >> I spy two AM2901 4-bit slice ALUs, two N82S181 1024x8 PROMs, three >> AM2911 microprogram sequencers, and an SN74150 3-to-8 line decoder. >> This thing is doing arithmetic. >> >> Carlos. > > That is not an unusual bit slice architecture for a drive controller. > > This Dilog DQ419 also has two AM2901 ALUs and three AM2911 sequencers, > and what appears to be six microcode PROMs. > > https://avitech.com.au/?page_id=847 How interesting, thanks! The knowledge in this list never ceases to amaze me. Carlos.
