WTB: Pro380, VAXstation

From: Tom Ponsford <tponsford_at_theriver.com>
Date: Sat Apr 17 13:04:14 2004

> Zane H. Healy wrote:

> Hands down, a /73 or better is the way to go. While a Pro350/380 might be
> cheaper, you're seriously restricted as to what you can use for disk drives
> (IIRC RD51, RD52, and RD53). With a Q-Bus based PDP-11 you can use 3rd
> party disk controllers that let you use non-DEC MFM, ESDI, or SCSI Hard
> Drives.

I agree a 11/73 is far superior to a Pro380/350. And as mentioned in this
thread, the Pro 350/380's seem harder to find.

I currently own 3 Pro 325/350's and a Pro 380 One I keep running and the
others are for backup/spares.

I also have an Eletronika-85 which is an exact Russian copy of the Dec
Pro-350. The Electronika-85 also has the first Winchester disk ever introduced
to a desktop PC in the former Soviet Union/Eastern Block.

When I get the time, I'll take some pictures of a side-by-side comparison of
the Dec 350 and the Electronica-85. It's really weird. The Electronica was
designed to be so compatible with the DEC 350, that the parts were to be
interchangeable. They are not, however. There are certain differences.
Although my Electronica is complete. it does not however power-on. I have
lacked the time to track down the problem, so it sits in storage. The fact
that everything is labelled in Cyrillic slow troubleshooting down. I have yet
to find anybody in the U.S. who has one or ANY documentation, even in
Cyrillic. Anybody!!

> Personally I feel the best plan is to simply start collecting all the pieces
> needed to build a /23+ or /73 (chassis, CPU, RAM, Disk Controller, etc).
> This is basically how I built my main PDP-11, though I have others that came
> complete, or mostly complete.

The trouble with that if you are a newbie is the learning curve. and piecing
together a Pdp can get quite expensive. I have been lucky in that I bought a
lot of stuff at auctions for next-to-nothing. If you live in a city with a
major university nearby, check to see if they have surplus auctions.
Industrial liquidators are also good. Many pdp's were used in
Computer-controlled-machinery and are sold as essentially scrap.

>
Cheers

Tom
>

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Received on Sat Apr 17 2004 - 13:04:14 BST

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