Massbus simulation

[Paul Anderson]

I think the RH11 is in a nine slot backplane.  Most DEC RH controllers are
still available.

Paul Anderson


On 6/20/07, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
>
> On Jun 20, 2007, at 11:44 AM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> >> > The 11/[750,780,785,790,795] has Massbus too.
> >>
> >>    Well they *can*.  As can many PDP-11s.  So yes, I suppose you have
> >> a point!
> >
> > I haven't tried to find an RH-11 recently, but an RH750 is a single
> > card (no backplane required), with a simple cable arrangement from the
> > 11/750 backplane to the I/O bulkhead area (theoretically, depending on
> > how a modern Massbus device was constructed, one could even just run a
> > trio of 40-pin cables between the 11/750 backplane and the new device,
> > and bypass "real" Massbus cables).
>
>   An RH-11 is a four-slot backplane full of cards.  And the most
> static-sensitive piece of DEC equipment I have *ever* seen.
>
> > I would almost expect that every 11/780 that's still running these
> > days has an RH780, but I doubt that's a very large pool of machines.
> > At least 11/750s are small enough to run in a home/office environment.
> > Even so, I'd think the most obvious consumers of a new Massbus
> > storage device would probably be either the 11/70 crowd, or, more
> > likely, the PDP-10 crowd.  I know I'd rather run a 3.5" IDE drive
> > attached to some electronics than an RP07 for every-day use.
>
>   Well I'd love to have one for my PDP-11/70, but at least I do have
> other disk options for it, so it's not as urgent.  The KS10, on the
> other hand, is a big paperweight without a TU45 and a MASSBUS-
> attached disk.
>
> > I don't have hard numbers in front of me, but am of the opinion that
> > there are enough hobbyists who would buy a new Massbus disk to make
> > the effort worthwhile.
>
>   Well, with VAXen in mind, I'd be inclined to agree...though it's
> not really that difficult to get non-MASSBUS disks on VAXen.
>
> >   Of couse there are more who could use a Unibus
> > disk, but that's no reason not to take a stab at Massbus.
>
>   No, absolutely not...and I'd love to see it happen.
>
>           -Dave
>
> --
> Dave McGuire
> Port Charlotte, FL
>
>
>