[Info-vax] BA356 16-bit (wide) personality module

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

In article
<67940eee-7661-4ea8-8528-817b814e984d at x42g2000yqx.googlegroups.com>, H
Vlems <hvlems at freenet.de> writes: 

> Not sure Phillip, could you give some model numbers?

BA356 with the standard personality modules.

> Your explanation indicates you're using a shelf controller with two 68
> pin female connectors, one on the front
> and one on the side of the controller, right?

I think of the controller as the PCI card in the box.  The personality 
module lets a wide box talk to a narrow or wide controller, depending on 
which one one installs.  Although the wide PMs have some switches, 
basically they are (I think) just a connector.  The narrow ones give the 
same result as a cable with 68 pins on one end and 50 on the other (in 
other words, with the narrow PN I can connect a wide box to a narrow 
controller with a symmetric cable).

> If so, with what SCSI controller are you conducting the experiment? I
> may have a cable that fits.

What I need is a cable with the larger (i.e. not VHDCI) 68-pin connector
on end but with the plug turned 90 degrees with respect to a standard 
cable, so that the row of pins is parallel to the cable.  On the other 
end should be the same connector (at whatever angle) or a VHDCI 
connector.  I can probably get such a cable tomorrow, but I need more 
than one.

Let me recap: Wide shelf (BA356), wide or narrow drives.  Computer has a 
wide controller.  What I want is to be able to connect the computer to 
the shelf with the wide PM, but I'm lacking the cable.  To test if the 
shelf and controller themselves work, I did the following:

   o  Connect the wide PN to the wide controller via the "wrong" plug
      (i.e. the one on the front, not the one on the side).  Doesn't
      work.

   o  As above, but connected to a narrow controller via an asymmetric
      cable.  This works.

   o  Narrow PM connected (via appropriate cable) to narrow or wide
      controller.  Both work.

Thus, it seems that everything works, but in order to use the shelf in
wide mode (i.e. so that I can put wide disks in it and benefit from the
higher transfer rate) I have to connect it via the connector on the
side, for which I need a cable with an angled plug.