MicroVax II

[Glen Slick]

On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 6:08 PM, Douglas Taylor <dj.taylor4 at comcast.net> wrote:
> I just got a MicroVax II in the BA123 world box chassis.  I has a TK50,
> RX50, RXDQ2, but no DEQNA.  I'd like to get it running an OS.
>
> The DU disks don't work, but I have a couple of Qbus SCSI controllers that
> might come in handy.
>
> What OS's can I use with this hardware?  NetBSD?  Are versions of VMS
> available?  How do you get an OS onto this system?

What Qbus SCSI controllers do you have? The CMD CQD-200 CQD-220, Dilog
SQ706A, Emulex UC07 I have tried were all able to boot from an
appropriate SCSI CD-ROM drive. That how I usually go about installing
OpenVMS 7.3 on a Qbus VAX. I never got around to picking up a SCSI-SD
adapter yet. I just use old fashioned rotating drives, although they
are 68-pin drives with 50-pin adapters.

I have a BA123 that I maxed out as a something close to a VAXstation
III/GPX. Replaced the M7606 KA630 with a M7625 KA655. There are only 4
Q22/CD slots so normally you can only have 48MB using 3 M7622 MS650
16MB boards plus the CPU. I found a couple of third-party 32MB boards
to max out at 64MB. Added a (2x) M7168 + M7169 VCB02 set for the GPX
graphics.

The BA123 is an interesting item for DEC collectors and I'm glad I was
able to pick one up, although it's been a while now since I last
powered it up.