Subject: Re: Vax 4000/200 Tech Questions
To: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis@mcmanis.com>
From: Henry R. Bent <henry.bent@oberlin.edu>
List: port-pmax
Date: 04/28/2002 18:05:22
Chuck McManis wrote:
> 
> Consider visiting the House of VAX at
> <http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/computers/vaxen>
> and check out the section on decoding the front panel glyphs...

Yeah, I already checked out a fair portion of your site.  Nice collection!  I
just hadn't gotten to the part about panel glyphs yet.  Very helpful.

> >1. Power connection.  The socket looks like it would take a standard power
> >cord but it's got a piece of plastic blocking the top.  In all my boxes it
> >seems to be the one thing I'm missing.  Can I scrape some plastic out of the
> >top of a regular power cord and use it?  The power rating does say 11.2A at
> >120V so perhaps DEC is just making sure you use a safe power cord.
> 
> Uses a high temperature IEC cord, as Dave mentioned you can get them from
> Cisco support shops, some HW stores will special order them. Or you can dig
> out the plastic and use a non-high temperature cord. Given that your system
> is not fully loaded this won't be a problem.

I'm digging away right now :-)

> The BA430 chassis that your CPU is in has a 50 pin back plane for the
> disks. On the DECSystem 5500 that backplane was SCSI, on the 4000/200 its
> DSSI. The appropriate terminator needs to be installed and the other port
> covered with a red cover. (actually it doesn't have to be red but the DEC
> docs on the 430 chassis specify it that way :-)

Oh, okay.  Yeah, it had a red cover on it.  Shucks... I suppose I really do
need to buy a Qbus SCSI card.

<snip: Simpact ICP1622T>

So I guess I just need a breakout box of some sort.  Well, I have no real
reason to use this as a comm server anyway, so I'll just leave the card alone.

-- 
Henry Bent                       henry.bent@oberlin.edu
Want the Stars Productions       http://www.wtsp.org