info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA (05/15/85)
From: Richard Garland <OC.GARLAND@CU20B.ARPA>
Today DEC officially announced the microVAX-II, together with its derivative,
the VAXstation-II, and a number of microVAX peripherals. I was at the session
in New York city and I will summarize as best I can.
microVAX-II -
o 75% of a 780 for a "general" job; 100% for some jobs.
o 200 nsec cycle time, pipelined archetecture, Z-mos technology.
o 1 board containing CPU, 1Meg memory, Floating Point Accellerator, and
console port.
o CPU is 1 chip, Floating point is 1 chip.
o Memory has private 32-bit bus. 9 Meg limit at this time. 1 Gbyte
archetectural limit (for physical memory). The 9 Meg consists of the
1 Meg on the CPU board, and 2 4 Meg boards. uses 256k rams. separate
bus achieves higher speed, no Q-bus contention, and larger adress space.
o Same instructions as microVAX-I except floating point has more (G type)
o Memory has scatter/gather mapping. Horray.
packaging -
o small floor pedestal (like uVAX-I) - 9 Q bus slots.
o large pedestal (BA123) (looks a bit like a 725) - 12 slots, can hold
4 5 1/4 inch "things" (floppies, winchesters, etc. see below)
o RA81 cabinet version "coming". The SI-disk controller not yet announced.
Peripherals:
RD53 disk -
o 71 Meg 5 1/4 inch winchester.
o uses new RQDX2 controller, a faster "fixed" RQDX1.
o faster. 38 msec av. access time. 5 Mbit transfer rate.
o RQDX can handle 4 disks.
TK50 streaming tape cartridge.
o 95 Meg. 1/2 inch tape.
o 5 1/4 inch form factor for unit.
o back up an RD53 in 30 - 35 min.
o 45 kbyte/sec transfer rate.
o appears as an MSPC tape. No new software driver.
CDROM - compact laser disk reader
o 600 Meg capacity. Read-only.
o 1 sec. average access time.
o "industry standard" recording format (Sony, Phillips)
o 150 Kbyte/sec transfer rate.
o appears as an MSPC disk. No new software driver.
microVAX-I --> microVAX-II upgrade
o "swap out the inside of your machine"
o get new CPU board, new RQDX2 controller. Lose old stuff.
o old memory no good with uVAX-II
Software -
o microVMS
o Ultrix-32m
o VAXEln
Pricing -
o starts at $18,840.
o upgrade $9700
o microVMS pricing now depends on number of users. software inforces
user limit.
The accuracy of any of this information should be confirmed. These facts
are the notes I wrote down. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made.
Looks like its finally here. (Woops - I forgot
to ask when. I think I heard late summer. First customer ship probably
now or soon).
Rg
[I do not work for DEC. I am responsible for any errors in reporting.]
-------info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA (05/16/85)
From: ihnp4!nwuxg!mike27@BERKELEY I hear rumors that DEC will bring the RAxx disks to the MicroVAX II soon.....comments?? ihnp4!nwuxg!mike27
info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA (05/17/85)
From: sasaki@harvard.ARPA (Marty Sasaki) I just attended a microVAX-II demo/technical presentation. The KDA-50 (a Q-bus version of the UDA-50) will be available this summer. Marty Sasaki
info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA (05/18/85)
From: jwb%ecsvax%mcnc.csnet@csnet-relay.ARPA The DEC marketing manager for the microVAX-II gave a presentation here the day after the anouncement. One of the slides showed a "KDA-50" and an RA type drive. He said he shouldn't have shown that slide since we were not under non-disclosure. He didn't say why, but I assummed that the KDA-50 was a Q-bus equivalent of the UDA-50 and that it was a real but as yet unannounced product. Jack Buchanan Medicine and Biomedical Engineering UNC-Chapel Hill decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!jwb Usenet jwb.mcnc@CSNET-RELAY Arpa
info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA (05/21/85)
From: ulysses!gamma!sabre!decvax!ittvax!keegane@BERKELEY (Edward Keegan) You're right that is the Q-Bus version of the UDA-50. DEC has promised support for RA81's and packaging in the H9642 (42") cabinet by late summer '85. This is an interrim solution until the uVAX III is announced. It will get rid of the Q-Bus completely, probably either UNIBus or CIBus based system. Rumor has it that it's performance is better than a 780.