PDP-11 Newbie Alert --- (gotta start somewhere)

Milo Velimirovic milov at toes.its.uwlax.edu
Wed Apr 15 23:17:47 AEST 1998


Hi,

>
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>[snip]
>On Apr 14, 14:44, Robert D. Keys wrote:
>
[snip]

>
>> Also, I see pdp-11ish things in surplus around here quite often.
>> What would be needed to cobble together a system, for a minimal system 7
>> sort of box to play with?  If there were a list of required boards and
>> chassis for various levels of system, that might help a newbie get some
>> sort of machine together.
>
>There are so many permutations, it's hard to make a list.  There are two
>general classes of PDP-11, QBus and Unibus.  Most even-numbered models are
>Unibus, most odd-numbered models are QBus (but not all).  QBus machines tend to
>be smaller.

QBUS 11/2 11/03 11/23 11/53 11/73 11/83
Unibus 11/05 11/10 11/15 11/20 11/24 11/3411/35 11/40 11/44 11/45 11/55 11/60 11/70 11/84...

Odd numbered machines where the odd digit is a 5 are usually a Unibus machine.
(They're also old and will eat you out of house and home with their appetite
for electricity. :) 

Has anyone looked at the possibility of retrofitting older pdp11's with modern
switching power supplies to ease the electricity demands...?  
(donning asbestos suit in anticipation of cries of "heretic" and "Frankenstein"...)
>
>As to operating system versions, 2.11BSD needs at least an 11/73 or 83 to run,

How about an 11/44? 

>as it needs memory management with separate address spaces for instructions and
>data.  7th Edition will also run on those machines, and if the kernel is
>suitably compiled, will also run on smaller machines such as 11/23s, which are
>quite common.  Early versions will run on a whole range of models.
>
>Whatever you get, you'll need a processor (which might be a single card or as
>many as ten), memory (256K will do fine for 7th Edition, but more is better),
>at least one serial line unit for a terminal (or PC with terminal emulation
>software), and a disk controller with a suitable hard disk.  Here again there
>are lots of possibilities, you want at least 10MB for 7th Edition and a lot
>more for BSD.
>
>Others may wish to expand on what I've written.  Personally, I'd go see what
>you can find, describe it to the list, and wait for the 101 pieces of advice
>you'll get from all of us about its suitability/desirability :-)
>
>-- 
>
>Pete						Peter Turnbull
>						Dept. of Computer Science
>						University of York
>
---
Milo Velimirovic       <Milo.Velimirovic at uwlax.edu>
Unix Computer Network Administrator  (608) 785-8030
Information Technology Services -- Network Services
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601 USA    43 48 05 N 91 14 22 W



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