NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/comp/sys/dec/4900

Internet Message Format | 1992-09-09 | 3.8 KB

Xref: sparky comp.sys.dec:4900 alt.folklore.computers:13794
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,alt.folklore.computers
Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!uw-beaver!fluke!doctor
From: [e-mail] (Doug Klopfenstein)
Subject: More specific request for info on RK05
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: poster
Keywords: rk05, pdp8, documentation, info
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 16:59:39 GMT
Lines: 70

Yow!

I have been inundated with all sorts of information about the RK05 drives
and PDP8 systems. It is all very helpful, but I can see that I should have
been more specific in my request for info.

There are really two things I need to know (I thought of the second one last
night after reading all the messages in my mailbox). One is, how to connect
the RK05 to the PDP8? The second is, how to hook a terminal to the PDP8?

Here is a list of boards in the PDP8:

M8315     Omnibus CPU
M8317     8/A Internal Option 2
M8316     Option Board 1
G649                        \
H219A     Core Memory Stack  --> two of these
M8655     Terminal Control
M8365     LA180 Interface
M7106     (RK05 Cable Board) --> this has the cable that goes to the RK05
M7105     RK Disk Controller 2
M7104     RK BE Disk Controller 1

The cable from the M7106 board goes to a board that I assume plugs into the
back of the RK05 (the number on the board is M993). The back of the RK05 has
an opening that contains slots for eight boards. Six of the slots are full
(the first six from right to left looking toward the front of the drive).
The leftmost two slots are empty. My question is, which one of the slots
does the board plug into?

There is also a second RK05 drive that was retrieved from the basement. The
last two slots contain two boards with a very wide, slippery white cable. I
assume that at one time one end of the cable went from drive 0 to drive 1,
but to facilitate disassembly of the system, they took the plug from the
first drive and plugged it into the empty slot in the second drive. Does
anyone know which slots in drive 0 and drive 1 this cable should be
connected? Also, I haven't been able to find a terminator board for the
drives. Is one really necessary?

Just as an aside, when this system was brought down, the dummies didn't
bother to unload the disks, so when I took the top off of one of the drives,
there was the disk pack, wide open, with the heads fully extended. How safe
would it be to grab the voice coil and carefully push the heads back into
the load position? Is there any chance that the heads are still ok? I
certainly don't want to start the drive with it in this position. I also
noticed that the foam rubber around the air blower is cracked all the way
around and the air passage is wide open. I assume that this should be
repaired before the drive is started.

As far as hooking up a terminal, the only cable that was attached to the
PDP8 was on the M8316 Option Board 1 in the back, right connector. The other
end of the cable is a DB25 connector with pins 1 through 6 inserted. This
sounds suspiciously like a 20 mA loop, but I'm not sure which pins are
which. At one time, the PDP8 had 2 VT52s connected to it, but I don't know
if it was to this M8316 board, or the M8655 Terminal Board. So, my question
is, which of the boards on the PDP8 should I connect a terminal to so that I
have a console? The other possible console board might be the M8365 LA180
Interface. Does anyone know which board contains the console port?

Well, this has gotten overly long, so I'll sign off. Thanks to all who sent
me mail. I guess I should have been more specific in my first message so
that I wouldn't have to waste bandwidth with this verbose request.

Thanks,
Doug Klopfenstein
[e-mail]
[phone] --> work
[phone] --> home
Seattle, WA