SEYMOUR@phast.phys.washington.EDU (05/14/88)
(wait a minute... that's an internal DEC address! what gives?) to the best of my knowledge, you CANNOT simply "chain" RD-drives (thanks, DEC). you need an RQDXE-AA or -FA $250 in last fall's decdirect catalog. the -AA is for internal expansion (drive in same BA-cabinet, -FA is external (drive in external box)). i've got an -FA -- there are a fascinating number of parts on it. "it" is a dual-wide card that sits in your host cpu box. it uses power but does not need other Qbus signals, so it need not be in the proper "next-slot" that a REAL Qbus member would occupy. lots of jumpers to play with (took our installer about three tries). the inability to "chain" the drives is probably connected with the inability to use plain-jane (i.e. cheap) ST-506 drives. rumor has it that the RD-family has the "seek controller" chip on the drive (instead of making the master controller card do it). there are foreign vendors for RD-equivalents, at about 60% of dec cost. they might also have RQDXE clones, but at $250 it's getting too cheap to bother. -- dick seymour seymour@uwaphast.bitnet
bronson@mfci.UUCP (Tan Bronson) (05/23/88)
In article <8805161326.AA15631@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> SEYMOUR@phast.phys.washington.EDU writes: >(wait a minute... that's an internal DEC address! what gives?) > ]to the best of my knowledge, you CANNOT simply "chain" RD-drives ](thanks, DEC). you need an RQDXE-AA or -FA $250 in last fall's ] ]the inability to "chain" the drives is probably connected with the ]inability to use plain-jane (i.e. cheap) ST-506 drives. rumor has ]it that the RD-family has the "seek controller" chip on the drive ](instead of making the master controller card do it).... ] This is curious, I have two RD53's connected to a SCSI controller and they work fine. For the price of a cable with two 34 pin connectors and a second head cable, I would experiment before I parted with $250. Maybe DEC does something like IBM on their PCs and allow only two drives, by using no encoding the select lines. Tan Bronson Multiflow Computer Inc UUCP(work): {yale,uunet}!mfci!bronson 175 N Main St UUCP(home): {yale,mfci}!bronson!tan Branford, Ct 06405 Phone(work):(203)-488-6090 x228