I recently had two MicroVAX-IIs dropped on me, so to speak.  They're
the fat case, not the skinny one - I can never remember the BA-
nomenclature, and the model number on the sticker for the case calls it
a 630QB-A2.

Now, I already have two VAXen, one a uVAX-II in the skinny enclosure
and one a somewhat broken VS2K.  But I had almost no disk for the
uVAX-II, and these two machines ended up giving me four disk drives.
But they don't work for me on the home machine.

It could be that all four drives are broken.  But it also occurred to
me that there could be something controller-specific involved, so I was
going to take home the controllers from the new machines and try the
disks that way.

But those controllers connect to a breakout board which is placed
outside the usual Q-bus enclosure, in a slot marked "13".  And it's not
just for physical mounting; there are a few etch runs to the card edge,
and some active components on the board.

So I'm asking the collective wisdom of the experts here, can I make
this work in my skinny case, or do I have to haul one of the fat cases
home?  Will it work to leave that board not plugged into anything?  To
plug it into an ordinary Q-bus slot?  What *is* that slot 13?

The "new" controllers are different; one is a dual-height M7555 and the
other is a quad-height M8639.  But the breakout boards, which are
dual-height and have no number on the handles, appear identical, and
the foil side etch includes the lettering "5016673-01B1 M9058".

Or are the disks supposed to work regardless of the controller, and
this indicates that all four "new" drives really are broken?  (Or
perhaps the cables I was using....)

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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