[Info-vax] DZQ11 on VAX/4000 Model 300

[John E. Malmberg]

On 1/15/2019 1:06 AM, Steven Schweda wrote:
>> [...] The board I added was a 4-port serial which I
>> understood to be low priority. Therefore I placed it at the
>> left hand side of the existing cards.
> 
>     A Web search for "The following list shows the recommended
> sequence of modules" could be educational on card order.  For
> example, page 4-2 of:
> 
> http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/vax/630/
> AX-GLBAA-MN_MicroVAX_II_630QB_Technical_Manual_Nov85.pdf
> 
> (My paper copy has the same copyright date, 1985, but a
> typewriter-like font.  "AZ-FE09A-TN".)

All devices greater than BIRQ4 should be closer to the CPU than any 
serial card, regardless of what the documentation states or you will 
eventually get either a bugcheck or machine check.

All Q-bus serial cards that I have seen have a bug in that they only 
pass the birq4 related signal from cards after them in the bus.

Many 3rd party Q-bus disk controllers are BIRQ5.

>     And yes, [SYSGEN or console] CONFIGURE is your friend.
> I'd visit it whenever making any change on the Q-bus.

A simple running of configure shows that the kzqsa defaults to floating 
and shows why the system will not boot.

MERCRY> mcr sysgen configure
DEVICE> tu81
DEVICE> dz11
DEVICE> qza
DEVICE> ^Z
Device: TU81  Name: PTA    CSR: 774500     Vector: 260    Support: yes
Device: DZ11  Name: TTA    CSR: 760100*    Vector: 300*   Support: yes
Device: QZA   Name: PKA    CSR: 761400*    Vector: 310*   Support: yes

MERCRY> mcr sysgen configure
DEVICE> tu81
DEVICE> qza
DEVICE> ^Z
Device: TU81  Name: PTA    CSR: 774500     Vector: 260    Support: yes
Device: QZA   Name: PKA    CSR: 761300*    Vector: 300*   Support: yes

Adding or removing a serial card or other floating device requires 
changing the CSR and vector of the KZQSA.

On a VAX-4000 model 300, you do not specify any of the embedded I0 
devices when running configure, only what is on the Q-BUS.

>     A "modern" serial card is a CXY08 (M3119):
> 
>        http://antinode.info/dec/cxy08_settings.html

Nice, as long as you have the octopus cables for them.

For serial, I would look for a used LAT compatible terminal server.

Regards,
-John