[comp.sys.dec] MicroVAX support for RL02

cts@dragon.uucp (Charles T. Smith, Jr.) (08/29/90)

Does anyone know if the RL211 and RL02 drives are supported by the MicroVAX
II?

Thanks!
  Charles Smith
  ..gatech!emory!dragon!cts

SLSW2@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) (09/06/90)

In article <330.26db7121@dragon.uucp>, cts@dragon.uucp (Charles T. Smith, Jr.) writes:
> Does anyone know if the RL211 and RL02 drives are supported by the MicroVAX
> II?
> 

It's been a few years (and a few versions of VMS), but I once hooked an
RL02 to my MicroVAX. It involved simply plugging in the controller and
talking to DLA0: after you booted.

Of course, this was back before VMS used all 22 bits worth of QBUS mapping.
If you hook an RL02 up these days, you should make certain that it's the
new, one board, 22 bit controller instead of the old two board 18 bit
controller.

As for whether or not this configuration is supported: I have no idea.

BTW: I do know that RX02s don't work because they won't DMA across a 64K
byte boundary (shades of the PC!).

-- 
===============================================================================
Roger Ivie

35 S 300 W
Logan, Ut.  84321
(801) 752-8633
===============================================================================

jonathan@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Jonathan) (09/08/90)

In article <33151@cc.usu.edu> SLSW2@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) writes:
>In article <330.26db7121@dragon.uucp>, cts@dragon.uucp (Charles T. Smith, Jr.) writes:
>> Does anyone know if the RL211 and RL02 drives are supported by the MicroVAX
>> II?
>> 
>
> [Positive answer]
>
>Of course, this was back before VMS used all 22 bits worth of QBUS mapping.
>If you hook an RL02 up these days, you should make certain that it's the
>new, one board, 22 bit controller instead of the old two board 18 bit
>controller.
>

The 22-bit addressing is indeeld necessary  for recent versions of
VMS. Is it possible to use the old two-board controller for 4.3bsd,
or for old versions of VMS that don't need 22-bit addressing?

The 18-bit two-board controller (RLV11?) must be in two adjacent Qbus
slots that are wired for the ``CD'' scheme, rather than normal Qbus.
The only such slots in a normal Microvax-11 backplane are the two
slots immediately after the CPU board[1], in which the CD slots are
``reserved for memory expansion''.  Installing this controller
mandates removing any additional memory from a Microvax-II, leaving
only the 1Mbyte on the CPU board.

Assuming one's sofware will run in 1 Mbyte physical memory, and does
not use 22-bit addressing, can anyone confirm that an RLV11 works in a
microvax-11?

[1]  DEC documentation variously says that these two slots implement
CD interconnect in the right two "fingers", and an otherwise
undescribed Microvax-II  memory expansion bus. 
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SLSW2@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) (09/11/90)

In article <1990Sep08.100922.6323@comp.vuw.ac.nz>, jonathan@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Jonathan) writes:

> [1]  DEC documentation variously says that these two slots implement
> CD interconnect in the right two "fingers", and an otherwise
> undescribed Microvax-II  memory expansion bus. 

The MicroVAX II uses the CD Interconnect in conjunction with a ribbon cable
running across the top of the boards to make its Private Memory Interconnect.

===============================================================================
Roger Ivie

35 S 300 W
Logan, Ut.  84321
(801) 752-8633
===============================================================================