jim@piggy.ucsb.edu (Oreo Cat) (11/29/90)
I'm looking to buy some equipment for my MicroVax II machine. It is
Q-bus and in a BA123 enclosure. If you have something on my list
you want to get rid of, send me some mail.
1) I need a 4 or 8 port RS232 board. It's important that it be
fairly smart, so that it doesn't bring down the CPU too
much. Also need Cabinet Kit for same for BA123 enclosure.
Needs to be supported by Ultrix 3.1. Also needs modem
control, since some of the lines will be for dialup. I
don't really know the difference between the different
interfaces out there (doesn't everyone wish DEC would use
english instead of those weird codes?). Which one would
you most recommend for my requirements? Does anybody have
a list of what each board is?
2) I need more memory. I currently have 1 meg on the CPU board,
and two expansions, one with 2 and one with 4. I think
right now I'd like to replace the 2 meg board with an
8 meg board. (MS630-CA, right?) Also, I might eventually
want to go all the way to the 16 meg limit supported by
this machine. I don't see any 7 meg boards out there. If
I put in two 8 meg expansion boards, will one meg just
be ignored, or will I have problems?
3) I would like to get color sometime along the line. I gather
from a recent post that the VCB-02 also supports grayscale
on a VR260 monitor. Is this true? If so I would like
to get a VCB-02 now and then get the color monitor later
when I have more money.
4) I also need more disk space. I recently bought the $650 RD54
drive offered here, but i'm going to run out of space soon. The
cheapest I see at the brokers for this drive is $1000, with
prices going all the way up to $1500. Anybody seen this
drive for cheaper? (I don't have the diagnostics that allow
formatting, so I can't just buy an XT-2190 and format it
myself. However, I would be interested in the diagnostics
tape if someone has one out there!)
5) I have an RD53 drive which is broken. According to the utility
programs on my AT, something is wrong with head zero. I
could just get it repaired through one of the many disk
repair places, but because I don't have the formatting
diagnostics (see #4 above), I wouldn't be able to use it
on the microvax. (I already have enough disk space on my
AT...) Does anyone know of a repair place which would
repair the drive and reformat it for me on an RQDX3 (more
silly codes!)? I would prefer something around $175 for
this service.
Thanks!
Jim Lick
Work: University of California | Home: 6657 El Colegio #24
Santa Barbara | Isla Vista, CA 93117-4280
Dept. of Mechanical Engr. | (805) 968-0189 voice
2311 Engr II Building | (805) 968-1239 data 1
(805) 893-4113 | (805) 968-2734 data 2
jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu | bahamut!jim@ivucsb.sba.ca.us