Azog-Thoth@cup.portal.com (William Thomas Daugustine) (06/06/91)
Today I tried to bring my PDP-11/34a back to life. Ive gotten a 128kw
memory board, RK05 drives, and an RK11 controller for it. First before
I installed all that, I wanted to make sure that the 'base' machine
was working.
Below is a graphic layout of the backplane. Pardon my poor rendition :-)
1
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
---------------------
A | | | | | | | | | | | A
| | | | | | | | |M|M|
T P ? | |
B | | | | | | | | |8|8| B
| | | | | | | | | | |
---------------------
C | | | | | |1| | | | | C
| | | | | | | | |2|2|
M 6 M
D | | | | | | | | |6|6| D
|G|7|G|G|G|K|7|G| | |
---------------------
E | |8| | | | |8| | | | E
| | | | | | | | | | |
5 5 5 6
F | | | | | | | | | | | F
| |6| | | | |9| | | |
---------------------
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1
T = unibuss terminator
G = grant
P = parity memory module
16k = 16k module, MOS
M7856 = DL11
M7859 = to front console
??? = cant find number, but also part of the front panel
M8265 & M8266 = CPU set
Notice that the grant cards are in D, third from the front (I may have my
addressing mixed up)
First off, just curious. I thought that unibuss backplanes came in two
flavours: 9 and 4 slot. This is a 10 slot. Does it being an 34a have
anything to do with it?
Anyways. When I power on the machine, I get nothing on the console display
(a terminal attached to the DL11). My main concern is: is the above
layout a correct configuration? I dont care about not having a lot of
memory, or no drives attached. But I thought that when you powered this
beast on it gave you some sorta octal memory display, with an @ prompt,
from which you can do things? I get nothing on my console.
When I use the front panel to try to display addresses, I get a buss error
LED.
And also, could someone supply me with switch settings for the DL11? I
thought that I had it set for 9600, but cant be sure. BTW: speaking of
the DL11, does it matter if there is two in one machine? When i first got
it, it had two, side by side.
There is an empty 9-slot backplane next to the above, and next to that
is the RK11 controller in its own 4-slot backplane. But neither are
attached to the main one (that little funky card that jumpers slot A to
slot A on another backplane? dont have the number handy right now)
I know my description is problably vague, but Ive included as much info
as I could think of. I know at one time that the machine was working,
and am hoping that I didnt kill it! (I used to have the prints and
a handbook for the 34a, but cant seem to find it :-/ )
Thanx to anyone who can help
Billy D'Augustine
Azog-Thoth@cup.portal.comterry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.) (06/07/91)
In article <42996@cup.portal.com>, Azog-Thoth@cup.portal.com (William Thomas Daugustine) writes: > First off, just curious. I thought that unibuss backplanes came in two > flavours: 9 and 4 slot. This is a 10 slot. Does it being an 34a have > anything to do with it? Unibus _expansion_ backplanes are commonly 4 or 9 slot. Processor back- planes vary depending on the CPU model. After all, an 11/70 is what, 44 or 45 slots? > Anyways. When I power on the machine, I get nothing on the console display > (a terminal attached to the DL11). My main concern is: is the above > layout a correct configuration? I dont care about not having a lot of > memory, or no drives attached. But I thought that when you powered this > beast on it gave you some sorta octal memory display, with an @ prompt, > from which you can do things? I get nothing on my console. If you have a.... hmmm... it's either 248 or 616 boot ROM, you get an ASCII console which prints out 4 registers in hex and then an @-sign. If you have a lights & switches console, you get to do that stuff on the console. Note that the two are not exclusive - I have ASCII ROMs in my 11/70 systems for convenience. > When I use the front panel to try to display addresses, I get a buss error > LED. What address were you trying? You should have memory at 0 (assuming that it's installed and working) and you should also be able to see some device registers in the I/O page, as well as the CPU registers way at the top of the address space. > And also, could someone supply me with switch settings for the DL11? I > thought that I had it set for 9600, but cant be sure. BTW: speaking of > the DL11, does it matter if there is two in one machine? When i first got > it, it had two, side by side. If you mail me your FAX number, I'll fax them to you. As far as having two, that's fine as long as they're configured at different addresses. > There is an empty 9-slot backplane next to the above, and next to that > is the RK11 controller in its own 4-slot backplane. But neither are > attached to the main one (that little funky card that jumpers slot A to > slot A on another backplane? dont have the number handy right now) M920 or M9202. As long as you have a terminator at the end of the active part (which just seems to be the CPU backplane in your system), you're Ok. You could move the terminator to the end and install the two M9202's (one between the 4 and the 9, and one between the 9 and the CPU), and as long as you had grant cards in the right places (watch out for the RK11 and other "dedicated" backplanes - they're wired differently) you should be Ok. Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing terry@spcvxa.bitnet St. Peter's College, US terry@spcvxa.spc.edu (201) 915-9381