[Info-vax] vax4000

[Steven Schweda]

On Oct 14, 7:34 am, "nierveze" <nierv... at radio-astronomie.com> wrote:

>  [...] do you think I can use the 'end' of the backplane of a ba23 box,I have
> several  of them with defunct pdp11 or Vaxstations, [...]

   I know nothing, but I'd guess that you could put an M9405
into one end of almost any (22-bit?) Q-bus backplane, and use
the remaining slots with your 4000-100.  I'd look at the
stuff carefully before I connected anything.

   Long ago, I worked with a VAX 4000 model 300, which was
connected to a B400X full of MDB MLSI-DR11-W cards (like a
DRV11-WA, but quad-height, and software-identical to a Unibus
DR11-W).  Now, I have a 4000-200 in a (small) BA215 box,
which is not connected to its (big) B213F expansion box, but
I should still have all the parts.  (Somewhere.  I can't find
the M9404 card right now.)

   In my B213F expansion box, the M9405-PA card is in Q-bus
slot 1 (far right).  It is a dual-height card, with two
50-pin headers.  The "-PA" version has the modern front panel
with two three-row D connectors (like some old SCSI
connectors, but one male and one female).  The real M9405
card is on top, with a plastic dummy filling the bottom half.

   The far-left Q-bus slot (not marked, 12?) holds an
M9060-YA, which looks like a dummy load for the power supply
(many power resistors, with one green LED, "5V"?).

  The cables are BC04V-09, and also have one male end and one
female end.  "-09" means 9 feet, so about 3m, and you
probably can't go much longer than that.

   The two cabinets are also normally connected by a fairly
heavy ground wire.  The BA440 and B400X also had a small
cable with 3-pin (?) Molex connectors tying the power
supplies together.  I don't see any place to connect anything
like that on my current boxes.