From edpigdog.niehs.nih.gov Tue Jan 30 17:10:09 GMT 1996 Received: from pigdog.niehs.nih.gov (pigdog.niehs.nih.gov [157.98.9.236]) by ribble.csc.liv.ac.uk (8.7.3/LUCS-DTS-2.1R) with ESMTP id RAA03918; Tue, 30 Jan 1996 17:09:53 GMT Received: from pigdog.niehs.nih.gov (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigdog.niehs.nih.gov (8.7.1/8.7.1) with SMTP id MAA20717 for csc.liv.ac.uk>; Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:08:48 -0500 Sender: edpigdog.niehs.nih.gov Message-ID: <310E50A0.25D94F90pigdog.niehs.nih.gov> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:08:48 -0500 From: "Edward C. Bailey" pigdog.niehs.nih.gov> X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0b6a (X11; I; Linux 1.3.32 i586) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: edwardcsc.liv.ac.uk Subject: uVAX II stuff... X-URL: http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/users/edward/mvax_faq.html Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Status: RO Hello, Nice FAQ! I noticed you mention the VAXstation II with the QVSS graphics board. This is a monochrome unit, unaccelerated, and all in all not much fun. A much nicer VAXstation II would be one with the QDSS (sometimes called "dragon") board. This was an accelerated color unit. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think it came in 4-bit and 8-bit color depths (not sure if this was an add-on card or different boards). The dragon board was available, if not when the QVSS was, then shortly thereafter... There was something called a VAXstation II/RC, which was a BA23-based VAXstation II with half the backplane slots filled with epoxy. The idea was to sell the 'RC at a steep discount, secure in the knowledge that it couldn't be expanded into a system that would eat into normal MicroVAX II profits. Shortly after the 'RC came out, DEC had a run on replacement BA23 backplanes; the cost of replacing the backplane was a small percentage of the price delta between the 'RC and the regular 'II. The 'RC went away shortly thereafter... On the VS2000, if you have the color display adapter, it is a seperate board. The mono display adapter is part of the mainboard. So, when the color adapter board is installed, you get color. Why? Because you have a special cable that sends the color signal to your color monitor. BUT, the pins used by the monochrome card are not used by the color card, so it is possible to make a special connector that fits in between the color cable plug and VS2000's video connector, and bring the monochrome signals out to a VR260 (or other mono monitor). As I recall, I had to manually configure the card via sysgen, and there was a DECwindows startup command procedure that needed to be hacked a bit to run the X server on *two* screens, but it did work well once set up. The mouse would drop off the right side of the color monitor, and appear on the left side of the mono monitor. I ran text-based stuff on the mono monitor, and left the color one for graphics. Quite nice! This trick also worked for a VS3100 I had, but I can't recall the model number. In fact, the cable I made for the VS2000 worked on the '3100, too... Let's see... I originally had a BA23-based uVAXII, and wanted to put a couple extra RD53s on it (it already had an RD54 system disk). I got an RQDXE card, bulkhead, and external cable, and a surplus dual "floppy" box/powersupply from a Univac. I was able to get the schematics for a "Leprechaun" box (the external RD5x), and was able to make the appropriate cabling for the drives. This included a little chunk of perfboard with a few resistors and transistors, and some frontpanel switches and LEDs to do the ol' online/offline/write protect thing. As I recall, the circuit was a simple transistor with a pull-up resistor on the collector. A friendly Field Service person can get the 'fiche with the schematics. I also recall there was a little (1/4) Q-bus card in BA123 cabinets than can be used to control multiple drives in a BA23, but it is ugly (ribbon cable hanging out the back, etc. I think that's about all I can remember. Well, best of luck with your FAQ! Ed -- Ed Bailey, Information Systems and Networks (contracted to: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) 2327 Englert Drive. Suite 200 Durham, NC 27713 Internet: baileyniehs.nih.gov BITnet: BAILEYNIEHS.BITNET Voice: (919)361-9422, extension 239 FAX: (919)544-6642