Re: DSSI and VAX 4000-200

Hi Johnny,

Just to let you know, I added the KFQSA and set it to ID 6 and I was able to see the two drives in the unit.

I then proceeded to net boot the vax and install NetBSD 9.1 on the drives. I have my 2Gb drive as "/" and my 1GB as "/usr/pkg". I NFS mounted "/usr/pkgsrc" and also "/usr/src"....

I also picked up an old MicroVAX 3100-40 for around $150 and added 3 "1 Gb" drives to the internal SCSI bus.

A couple of things to note about NetBSD 9.1 and the 3100-400:

1) the current kernel need to have the patch applied for the Lance network controller.

2) my SCSI Digital RRD40 will crash the kernel.

3) I am having issues with the 9.1 src and the tools compile under the GCC src. (will figure that out and let people know.)

I also found out that my KZQSA (Q-Bus SCSI) is not supported, on the Old 4000-200, but that gives me a hobby on the snowy days in Upstate NY... ;-)

Thanks for all you help,

Jim

On Sun, Nov 15, 2020 at 8:10 PM James Robinson <jmr13031%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:

Hi Johnny,
Just getting back to the VAX, so here is what I did and am thinking.
I have a KFQSA installed in my VAXServer 4000-200 and configured for 2 disks.
>>set host/uqssp/maint/serv 0
? set 0 772150 21
? set 1 760334 21
? set 6 KFQSA

I was going to run a DSSI cable from the left bulkhead connector on my VAX chassis to the front of the KFQSA's board connector.
This I hope will allow me to jumper my internal chassis DSSI bus with my 2 hard drives, to the KFQSA.
Seeing that the KFQSA is supported in NetBSD and the controller on the KA660's SHAC is currently not, I was hoping to boot via the KFQSA.
I see that my KA660's SHAC is set to id 7 and that is why I chose id 6 for the KFQSA.
Does this sound about right?
Thanks,
James

On Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 8:03 AM Johnny Billquist <bqt%update.uu.se@localhost> wrote:
On 2020-07-19 15:06, James Robinson wrote:
> I know the on board DSSI controller is not supported. But can I use a
> Q-Bus version (m7769) and jumper over to the internal bus to get access
> to my drives?

Not sure what jumpers you are thinking about, but yes, the KFQSA is just
a normal MSCP controller from the computer point of view. So it works
(but see below).

> I think I would need to configure it as controler 6 because the SHAC is
> at 7.

Not sure what you are talking about here. The KFQSA sits on the Qbus,
and connects to DSSI disks. If you plan to connect both DSSI controllers
to the disks, then yes, one should be unit 6 and the other 7.

> Or should I just get a SCSI card and not use the internal drives.

Obviously all up to you... :-)

> Or better yet, help finish the port for the SHAC controller.... :-)

That would also be nice. I have had a long term plan to get the whole CI
code from Ultrix ported over to NetBSD. Obviously this might not be
possible to distribute as is, since it's copyrighted. But it would be a
start. However, I have been too busy with other things, and meanwhile
NetBSD have deteriorated some.

Anyway, I happen to have a KFQSA, and last I tested it with NetBSD, it
ran for a while, but NetBSD got stuck after some time. I think there are
some bugs somewhere that either plays badly with the KFQSA, or else are
buggy in some other way (having two UDA-50 on two separate Unibuses on
an 8650 also do not work).

So there is some chance that you will not find things very usable in the
end anyway, even with the KFQSA.

Johnny

--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt%softjar.se@localhost || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol