Looking for VAX FAQs

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_at_infinet.com>
Date: Wed Jul 8 10:46:56 1998

>
> Just a few notes: The VUP is based on the speed of the 11/780 alone. The
> MicroVAX II is 0.9 VUP.

Yes, the 11/780 is a smidge faster than the uVAXII, however, I've seen .95 VUP
for the uVAXII, so I rounded up.
>
> > It will also run Ultrix (BSD UNIX). I recommend an old version, say, 1.1.
>
> Um... Ultrix is NOT BSD Unix. You may only have been saying that they're
> similar, however....

No... I meant that the foundation for Ultrix _is_ BSD 4.2. I have loaded
MicroUltrix, and Ultrix 1.1 through 2.3, and have install kits up through
Ultrix 4.3 at least. It's BSD with a lot of DECisms on top of it (DEC
disk drive geometries, DEC package tools, DEC gimme apps like 2780).
> > We always used a tu80 on our 11/730. There are other drives you can use,
> > but that was the cheapest way for us to go.
 
> Best way to go: Find a Unibus SCSI controller. Rare, expensive, but well
> worth the cost.

I haven't seen one that I could afford. I'd love to have SCSI on *any* VAX.
I'd even considered building my own (I used to manufacture a Q-Bus/Unibus/VAXBI
line of synchronous serial cards based on the 68000). The thing that held me
back was a lack of knowledge of how to emulate an MSCP device with something
that is *not* register compatible with an RQDX[123] or UDA50. I have written
VMS device drivers from scratch, but not _disk_ device drivers.

-ethan
Received on Wed Jul 08 1998 - 10:46:56 BST