(last updated: 19-Feb-2013)
The current configuration is in its original 'as acquired' condition. I haven't changed any of the modules/cards or their order in the backplane.
28-Jul-2009
Today, I received a phone call from
the seller. He has accepted my offer! Turns out he's in Sparks, Nevada and We chatted about how to best take the next steps and he invited me over to examine the system before I make a full commitment. I assured him that I'm quite comfortable with the system offer, but I agreed that a looksee would be a good idea.
The system includes (5) racks (with at least one RK05 removable cartridge drive), and (3) separate floor-standing RM03 disk-pack drives (each 67MB).
This is going to be a huge operation, similar to the amount of gear that we brought over from Longmont, Colorado in February 2005. It's going to take a lot of floor space, too.
14-Aug-2009
I flew over to Reno to take a look at the system. Russ wanted to be sure that everything was to my satisfaction before we settled the deal. Russ also had some other materials and equipment that he tested my interest on. In the end I also took a VAX 4000/400, two boxes with OpenVMS distribution tapes and manuals, 20 or so spare Qbus and Unibus boards of various kinds, and RL01/02 disk carts.
18-Aug-2009
11/70 CPU cabinet - 72"x30" - 775# Tape cabinet - 24"x30" - 450# RK/DZ cabinet - 24"x30" - 400# x3 RM03 cabinets - 24"x30" - 375# (each) 1125# (total) VAX 4000/400 - 24"x30" - 350# Misc cartons - 5 count - 150# total
I started calling around for freighting the system to homebase. I got quotes from Arrow Moving & Storage in SLC, and Bailey's M&S in SLC, and tried to get a quote from Atlas, who never called me back. Mayflower won my business. I ended up skipping Allied Van Lines for two reasons. One, they had failed me before on my instructions, and in this case they came in with a freighting charge 1/3 more than Mayflower.
04-Sep-2009
The truck arrived at 9:00AM as expected and the two delivery men were friendly and careful. They did a good job of getting the equipment off of the truck into the far bay in the garage. All items arrived in good shape.
I took a few photos of the equipment in this post-delivery situation. There is dust on everything (of course), and there will be some serious cleanup required! There is the scent of tobacco smoke, too, that is pretty strong. I'm confident that this will take care of itself as I clean everything up.
A quick sub-system inventory:
- PDP-11/70 CPU w/ remote console - TE16 800/1600bpi tape drive (TWE16) - RK05 2.5MB cartridge disk drive - (x3) RM03 67MB pack disk drives - (x5) cartons of disk carts, spare modules, OpenVMS distros
And a separate system:
- VAX 4000/400
06-Sep-2009
In order to reclaim space in the garage for my car, I wanted to get at least four of the cabinets cleaned up enough to relocate to my basement workspace. I was able to do this with all three RM03 drives and the bonus VAX 4000-400 that was part of this rescue. I describe all the details in a separate file for each of these units.
10-Jun-2010
With the garage bay opened up for a few days, I wanted to dig into this system, at last, and determine what I have. After fiddling a little be with the cabinet's latches, I was able top open it up by removing the lower front panel (screwdriver through the outboard slot to release) and the top panel (twist-lock on the underside) and the side panel (pull bottom out then lift, once top is removed).
To my horror, I finally have a chance to see inside the CPU backplane. Empty!!! All the CPU boards are missing! There are almost two complete sets of Massbus interface modules, but not quite. That's it! I've been cheated!
Here's what I have:
1 EF: M9312 2..24 (none) 25 AB:M5904 26 AB:M5904 CF:M8152 27 AB:M5904 CF:M8153 28 AF:M8150 29 AB:M5904 CF:M8151 30 AB:M5904 CF:M8152 31 AB:M5904 CF:M8153 32..44 (none)
Should be (based on top label):
1 A:(none) B:CP.MAINT. C:(blank) D:M787 KWII CLOCK EF:M9301 UBUS TERM
FLOATING POINT
2 AF: M8126 FRH 3 AF: M8127 FRL 4 AF: M8128 FRM 5 AF: M8129 FXP
CENTRAL PROCESSOR
6 AF:M8130 DAP 7 AF:m8131 GRA 8 AF:M8132 IRC 9 AF:M8123 RAC 10 AF:M8134 PDR 11 AF:M8135 TMC 12 AF:m8136 UBC 13 AB: (none) CF: M8139 TIG
MEMORY MANAGEMENT
14 AF: m8137 DAP 15 AF: M8138 YA SSR 16 AF: M8140 SCC
CACHE MEMORY
17 AF: M8142 CCB 18 AF: M8143 ADM 19 AF: (none) 20 AF: M8144 DTM 21 AF: M8145 CDP
MAP
22 AF: M8141 MAP 23 AF: (none)
RH-70 CONTROLLER A
24 AF: M8150 MDP 25 AB: M5904 MBS-A CF: M8151 CST 26 AB: M5904 MBS-B CF: M8152 AWR 27 AB: M5904 MBS-C CF: M8153 BCT
RH-70 CONTROLLER B
28 AF: M8150 MDP 29 AB: M5904 MBS-A CF: M8151 CST 30 AB: M5904 MBS-B CF: M8152 AWR 31 AB: M5904 MBS-C CF: M8153 BCT
RH-70 CONTROLLER C
32 AF: M8150 MDP 33 AB: M5904 MBS-A CF: M8151 CST 34 AB: M5904 MBS-B CF: M8152 AWR 35 AB: M5904 MBS-C CF: M8153 BCT
RH-70 CONTROLLER D
36 AF: M8150 MDP 37 AB: M5904 MBS-A CF: M8151 CST 38 AB: M5904 MBS-B CF: M8152 AWR 39 AB: M5904 MBS-C CF: M8153 BCT
SMALL PERIPHERAL CONTROLLER
40 AB: (NONE) CF: M???? (BLACKED-OUT) 41 AF: SPC B 42 AF: SPC C 43 AF: SPC D 44 AB: M9302 UBUS TERM or UBUS OUT CF: SPC E
While researching the cabinet, I came across two interesting websites:
http://www.shiresoft.com/systems/11-70/index.html http://www.neurotica.com/albums/pdp1170/tn/pdp1170.jpg.html
These sites suggest that my system is called a "DECdatasystem 570", in this corporate cabinet.
Handwritten module numbers on this unit are: 40 M7836(?) DLU-D(?) 41 Mx822(?) DUH-DA 42 M7819(?) DUH-A 43 M7819(?) DUH-B 44 (blank)
Also inside the DECDATASYSTEM cabinet are: On the left: - pullout: CPU backplane - lower front: 861-D power controller - what appears to be a bare-board modem (POTS cable with RJ11) - behind CPU pull-out front panel: x2 H7420-A power supply units, each of which has x3 h744 5v power supplies behind. On the right: - pullout MK11BY memory backplane (empty!) - lower front: unknown, looks like a power controller sequencer or controller for RBB (next item) - x3 H775D REMOTE BATTERY BACKUP controllers in the rear
From Bitsavers.org I found the PDP-11/70 Installation and Maintenance manual (saved locally) and a quick review shows that it gives plenty of useful information about the backplane and boardset, the memory backplane and boardset, all of the power supplies and controllers, and how it all gets cabled together. Very complete information.
This manual also confirms my suspicions...the CPU needs 3-phase power. Not something that I have here at home. If I ever get the correct set of CPU and memory modules, I still can't test things here. Not unless I call an electrician to wire something up for me, which may or may not be possible here at home.
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