My Collection

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Sat Apr 14 19:13:55 2001

>Dave McGuire wrote:

> On April 13, Jerome Fine wrote:
> > > I care about it; I like it quite a bit. I have a Micro 11/73
> > > running v5.4, and a Kevex X-ray analyzer (an accessory to the electron
> > > microscope) that has a pdp11/73 in it that runs RT-11.
> > I sounds like this is now strictly for hobby use.
> Not exactly. I've several monetary offers in-hand for analyses for
> when I finish getting it connected to the microscope.

Jerome Fine replies:

This sounds very much like what I do. I make modifications to the RT-11
Operating System for the fun and the challenge. Right now I am working
on the SL: (Single Line Editor) for about the tenth time over the past ten
years. Every so often, someone comes along who needs some paid work
done with RT-11. Last year with Y2K bug fixes, it was a good year. This
year seems like it will be a bottom year for any paid work - in fact, it will
almost certainly be a loss.

What is really great is when I get to do some work that I usually do for free
and get paid for it.

> As far as I can tell Kevex shipped analyzers in this configuration
> until just a couple of years ago. Now their newer products are based
> around a Windows PeeCee that takes over twice as long to run a spectral
> analysis on a sample as their previous [J11 and embedded Z8000] design
> did.

I once worked with a system that had a SKYMNK co-processor in an
11/23 system in the same Qbus backplane. Sounds similar. If it were not
for all those special boards, you could run the system on a PC with an emulator
to run RT-11. Even with the special boards, the fellow that services the
system might find it possible to switch to a PC with a PCI <=> Qbus Adapter
board and still run the RT-11 emulator for the stuff that RT-11 can't emulate.
In most cases, however, the original manufacturer decides to toss RT-11
completely because of the cost of the RT-11 license. The adapter is even
more expensive, so that solution is only when the original software investment
is VERY large and RT-11 can still run the original software extremely well
and the non-DEC Qbus boards can still be maintained.

> > Do you have any non-DEC
> > boards? What is the interface between the PDP-11 and the microscope?
> I have tons of them. I assume you mean in the Kevex analyzer. ;) The
> analyzer consists of a KDJ11 board, a third-party disk controller
> board, a graphics board, and a bunch of parallel I/O ports. It
> connects to a custom backplane containing an embedded Z8000 data
> cruncher, which in turn connects to a NIM bin which contains the
> analog front-end and detector interface and the A/D converter stuff.
> The detector attaches to the rear of the microscope chamber in an
> accessory port.

This does not seem like a candidate for the emulator. But I could be wrong.

> > How does RT-11 perform? Are there any enhancements that you could use
> > at this point?
> It performs wonderfully. The only thing I'd like better is if it [the
> control software] were networkable, but since most of it talks
> directly to the graphics board in the qbus backplane, I doubt that'd
> be a likely hack candidate. The unit isn't old enough to be able to
> get the source out of Kevex for hobbyist use, since it's still a
> supported model.

I know that Zane Healy has TCP/IP running on his RT-11 system on the
real PDP-11. Would being able to send files back and forth using either
a system job or the background job when you are not running the application
programs help? I presume that you don't use the SL: (Single Line Editor) since
you mostly run the application programs. Might Kevex be interested in having
that added to their system?

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Sat Apr 14 2001 - 19:13:55 BST