--- Andreas Freiherr <Andreas.Freiherr_at_vishay.com> wrote:
> Ethan,
>
> yes, I also remember having seen PDP-11/VAX peripherals controlled by a
> 68000. However, with this board, I am not quite sure if it is Qbus or
> UNIBUS at all
True, but if it fits a DEC backplane, the chances are it's one
or the other (it's unlikely it's OMNIBUS)
> I'd have to trace the connections, but before doing so,
> my suspicion is that this was some different kind of system with the
> Motorola centipede being the main processor.
That's entirely possible, especially based on other comments from this
thread, but it wouldn't have been my first guess.
> And, no, I did not notice any particular driver chips like the 1488/1489
> (or maybe 75188/75189, or some of those 8-pin chips from the DLV-11/J,
9636/9637
> or...). The absence of such chips together with the large number of pins
> makes me think this might be a separate memory bus, similar to what the
> MicroVAX II had.
Again, entirely possible, especially if it's intended to be the
primary CPU.
> Sorry for making the task of guessing so hard, I think it's time to get
> a digital camera. I hesitate because I don't have access to any computer
> with a working USB to upload the pics, and this application alone
> wouldn't justify buying Win2000.
No doubt. I'm personally looking for a digital camera with Compact
Flash as a primary storage medium because of my (positive) experiences
in the past with the Kodak DC50 and DC120 cameras. I used to make
quick backups by dropping the FLASH cards into a PCMCIA slot on a
laptop or properly equipped desktop and treating the camera storage
like a removable hard drive. I zipped up the files right from the
FLASH card and went from there. No serial download required (especially
important as my own laptop doesn't have USB or Windows (it's running
Linux at the moment, but I have a hard disk with Solaris for it, too).
> > > 3) Qbus-like board, supposedly a CPU, handles made by DEC, board is 4
> > > slots wide, labelled "PCS" (is that PCS CADMUS?), has Motorola
> > > MC68000L10, 4k SRAM (2*6116), 16k EPROM (2*2764)...
I *hope* the BERG connectors are for external memory. Even the lowliest
COMBOARD had 32KB (a *wad* of 2114 SRAMs) The Q-BOARD had 512KB of
50256 chips, and the VAXBI board had 2MB of 44256s (same DRAM controller,
the 74S409, but N x 4 chips to get a decent memory density)
I've always wanted to stick a Q-BOARD on a QBus as the primary CPU,
and port a flavor of Unix to it, but I have *never* had the time to even
plan such a task. At best, since it has a 64-pin socket for an 8Mhz
processor, I could drop a 68010 in there. With no MMU, however, it would
likely have to be a flavor of Minix-68K, since "real" UNIX really wants an
MMU or at least a segmented architecture machine to partition processes
to give them the illusion of having all the memory space to themselves.
I'd love to hear what your board was for. The 68K is one of my personal
favorite (non-DEC) CPUs (along with the RCA 1802 and the MOS 6502). I'm
curious what your board did and who were its target market.
-ethan
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Received on Mon Jun 03 2002 - 19:45:06 BST