> >> ultrix never ran on the 4000's... :( 
> >
> >In the interest of getting NetBSD up....
> >
> >> > It has a pair of M7622 ram boards for 32mb, and a M7626 processor,
> >> > that appears to be a VAX 4000 of some kind, and sadly, dssi drives.
> >
> >What CPU's will work with these ram boards?  Any gotchas in backplanes?
> 
> The KA655 (aka MicroVAX 3800/3900), KA650 (aka MicroVAX 3500/3600), and
> KA640 (aka MicroVAX 3300/3400). The KA640 will even use the same 
> cab kit so there :-).

I have a KA650 cpu, but it is in my BA123, MVIII machine.  The BA123
cabinet has more expansion space than the BA213 so I would not want to
get that stripped.

> >Is there some combo of boards I can wheedle together to get NetBSD or
> >Ultrix up on the backplane/case?  Or, is it mostly a function of
> >finding that proverbial mystical magickal lustful Qbus scsi board?
> 
> You can't get Ultrix up on it unless you downgrade the CPU to a KA655
> at least (maybe as low as a KA650) and you will have to 'add back' an
> ethernet 
> interface. (like a DESQA). However, with *ANY* MSCP disk board in their
> you can use NetBSD on it as is, so if you put a KFQSA (DSSI board) you can 
> even run the same drives.

The drives were stripped out of it.  But, all the boards for a minimal
machine still were there...cpu/ram/tk50.

> If you plug in a Dilog DQ696 or something to run ESDI drives and cobble
> up an ESDI drive inside you can run that too, be 
> aware however that DSSI power connectors don't work on 4 pin ESDI/MFM/SCSI
> drives, you need the little adapter cord (there is one on the TK70 in 
> that box). I probably have a spare one but its no doubt in the bottom
> of a box somewhere.

That is what I found out with my breadboard 4.3BSD VAX... I am using a
BA215 case as the backplane and power, but the drives and tape are
spread out on a board on top of the critter.  I cobbled up a splitter
cable to come out of the dssi power line (the dssi line has one extra
line compared to the normal power line so the cobbling up was simple).
The connector info can be seen from that tape power plug dongle.
I could use a couple more of those if they were around, but the old
soldering iron-pigtail trick worked, too.  It is ugly, but it works.
I was thinking that the BA213 case (as it turns out to be) might
be useful to better house the bits, if it turned out that finding
4000 level parts was a problem.  I don't want to give up that
4.3BSD box, since it is a lot of fun, and runs blindingly fast.
It would be fun to get it up on the 4000 cpu, but the support may
not work well (are the 4000 cpu's directly upwards compatible with
the MVII KA630 CPU?).  Using ESDI drives on the 4000 might be
interesting.... any gotchas there?

> >Heaven forbid, but, can I take the MVII boardset and stuff it in
> >that backplane, and dongle/cable up ESDI drives internally to get
> >my 4.3BSD breadboard VAX stuffed into some sort of cabinet?
> 
> PLEASE don't do that. You could, the cab kit I sent you will let you
> run the KA630 in the cabinet without any kludging, again you'll need
> an Ethernet card.

That is what the breadboard VAX basically is doing.  The hardware
mounts are my problem, mostly.  The electronics works fine.

> However any BA2xx/BA4xx series ethernet with S-box handles will work.
> Heck, if you want I'll ship you a BA123 for your MV II if you'll send
> that bad boy this way :-)

Well, shipping would be more than they are really worth.  I have folks
keeping eyes out, locally for VAXbits should they surface.  There are
only two or three folks around here that play with VAXen, so mostly
they just sit, and it becomes a find them before the crusher does
thing.  I seem to never find the right S-handle bits, though.
 
> >Is it possible to use the dssi bus cabling as ordinary scsi, IFF
> >I I only use two internal scsi drives, and remove the terminator
> >plug, terminating the last drive on the drive?  It seems to be
> >only a straight 50 pin cable, otherwise.
> 
> I believe it should be. I've not seen it documented, and you will
> of course have the issue with the power cables.

I looked at the drive bus cabling in the BA215 and it appeared to be
nothing but a straight 50 pin run, EXCEPT that the terminator is a
folded arrangement rather than linear (?) as on HD50 scsi?  I need
to check that to be sure, but I think other than that, it should work
fine.

> >Is this cabinet one of those with the hard-to-find cable for input
> >power, that has the strange extra groove?
> 
> Generally yes, unless it is the narrow one. Did you go to
> http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/computers/vaxen and look at the
> BA213 picture? Is that what  you've got?

Yup, that's it.  That power cable will require some fiddling.
There is a long shot that I MAY still have a cable from scrounging.
I am keeping fingers crossed....

> 
> >Well, I thought I would ask the strange VAXbuilding questions...(:+}}.
> >There has gotta be some way to use this critter!
> 
> If nothing else you can use it to trade for more VAX goodies that
> you can use directly :-)

Possibly....

VAXentoyz are fun.....(:+}}.....

Bob