rickgc@calweb.com (Rick Copeland) wrote:
> I would like to connect a VT220 to a uV2k can this be done?

Connect it to the DB9 connector on the back with a BCC08 cable, which shorts
pins 8 and 9. This will work the same way on both MV2K and VS2K: make serial
port 3 the console and (at least under Ultrix) disable all other serial ports,
so forget about a modem on port 2. This configuration is called the alternative
diagnostic console. Note that it is not the native configuration of MV2K. The
latter normally has a 3-MMJ wee box screwed into the DB9 and DB15 connectors,
and this thing does NOT short pins 8 and 9. Instead, a jumper is set on the
system board that tells the thing to use serial port 0 as the console, ignore
breaks on any serial ports (so you have to walk up to the box to halt it), and
(at least under Ultrix) to allow you to use serial ports 1-3 as normal terminal
ports. If the jumper is set the other way, it tells the thing to use the video
for the console, to use port 0 for the keyboard, and (at least under Ultrix) to
make all other ports normal (UWS will then use port 1 for the mouse, but the
kernel doesn't force you to do that). If pins 8 and 9 on the DB9 are shorted,
the alternative diagnostic console is selected and the jumper is disregarded.

AFAIK, NetBSD disregards both the jumper and the pins on the DB9, always using
port 3 for the console. Also AFAIK it doesn't let you use the other 3 ports for
anything. If you want to run NetBSD, connect a BCC08 cable to the DB9. If you
want to run Ultrix, you can do that too, or, if you want to connect a modem to
port 2, get or make the 3-MMJ wee box and set the jumper on the system board to
the MV2K position.

> Also the bottom
> of the chassis has an extention with two different 50 pin coneectors on it,
> is this supposed to be for SCSI?

The Amphenol connector is SCSI, and the 3-row one is external ST-506/412. If
you want to use the SCSI port for anything useful, ask Agent Mulder to sneak
into the DEC archives the same way he has sneaked into ARPA and Area 51 and get
the system ROM sources for KA410, KA41, KA42, and the mass storage controller
daughterboards for the latter.

Sincerely,
Michael Sokolov
Phone: 440-449-0299
ARPA Internet SMTP mail: sokolov@alpha.ces.cwru.edu