From terry@spcvxb.spc.edu Tue Aug 9 08:18:08 PDT 1994 Article: 2719 of vmsnet.pdp-11 Newsgroups: vmsnet.pdp-11,comp.sys.dec,alt.sys.pdp11 Path: nntp-server.caltech.edu!netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!trane.uninett.no!eunet.no!nuug!EU.net!uunet!spcuna!spcvxb!terry From: terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.) Subject: Re: Fujitsu M2311K/M2312K Drives for Micro PDP-11/73 Nntp-Posting-Host: spcvxa.spc.edu References: <3240urINNoue@umbc8.umbc.edu> <8AUG199418224454@siva.bris.ac.uk> <326r29INNdg7@umbc8.umbc.edu> Sender: news@spcuna.spc.edu (Network News) Organization: St. Peter's College, US Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 10:48:59 GMT Message-ID: <1994Aug9.064859.1@spcvxb.spc.edu> Lines: 53 Xref: nntp-server.caltech.edu vmsnet.pdp-11:2719 comp.sys.dec:25961 alt.sys.pdp11:222 In article <326r29INNdg7@umbc8.umbc.edu>, rdavis4@umbc.edu (davis robert) writes: > In article <8AUG199418224454@siva.bris.ac.uk>, > PDP11 Hacker ..... wrote: >>The last is loved by managers, since it's almost self configuring, but >>disliked >>by myself since low-level docs are impossible to obtain. > > It's very annoying when low-level documentation for anything cannot be > obtained. Call DEC and order the following: -QP905-GZ UDA50 PROG V1.0 DOC KIT-ARCHI E/U Adj. % Service: 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Gross Net Gross Net Gross Net List: 66.00 66.00 Standard: Agreement: Lead Time: 7 Days Processor: Mo. Charge: Media: SPD: 999999999 Lic Pmt Term: SMS: SW Lic Req'd: SSS: SW Serv Type: MDDS: E/U Code: Y DPP - END USER OEM Code: H DPP RSLR-SOFTWARE It's not entirely complete (the chapter on Q-bus controllers is missing, but they *do* call this the UDA-50 kit, as is the info about the on-disk layout of the FCT), but you can write a driver from this info. > More things should be sold in kit form and more things should use > discrete components and TTL chips to make them easier to repair. If > more things were sold in kit form, more people would learn how things > work and how to repair things. Unfortuately, I don't think that the > marketroids and other forces of evil will ever allow such sensible > things to happen. Many of the computers in use today (dare I say "most"?) wouldn't be build- able out of loose TTL. That makes it harder for you and I to fix things, but it has also driven the cost down (a 386SX/25 motherboard costs about $80 if you buy a high-end one). The last chip I saw that was prototyped in TTL was the Yamaha chip that's the precursor to the one used on the Sound Blaster. It took 2 floor-to-ceiling 19" racks and never worked reliably due to the longer signal lines in use. Yamaha finally bit the bullet and went to silicon on it and the part worked. Somehow I can't imagine a chip as complex as the 386 (let alone the DECchip 21064) implemented in "commodity" TTL. We're talking a few million transistors here... Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing terry@spcvxa.spc.edu St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA +1 201 915 9381 (voice) +1 201 435-3662 (FAX)