> You need to be trained to work on these systems.

They said that about the VAX 8000s and the VAX 6000s :-)

> The following XMI options are not supported on DEC/VAX=20
> 7000/10000 systems. Be careful if upgrading from a 6000 to a=20
> 7000, you cannot tranfer these modules.

> CIXCD	CI		T2080	Use CIXCD-AC (T2080-YA)

No idea why this one would not work. It probably does not know
about the enhanced XBI+ stuff, but the enhancements are=20
backwards compatible. If it works in the VAX 6000-600 it
must be compatible with >512MB of physical memory. It
can't be a VAX/Alpha thing, as it clearly works in the=20
VAX 7000.

> DWMBA	BI		T2012	Old BI adapter, use DWMBB

You'd need the new adapter for systems with >512MB. That's
the only difference I remember between the DWMBA and DWMBB.
This would also apply to the VAX 6000-600, although 7000s
were more likely to ship with > 512MB.

> DWMUA	Unibus			Mythical XMI to Unibus adapter?

Never heard of it. UNIBUS hanging off BI hanging off XMI never
worked that well on the 6000s and throwing in the LSB would have
surely reduced the number of working devices from a few to nothing!
If it existed though, I can imagine a fair few customers who
would have wanted it on the 6000.

> KFMSA-AA DSSI		T2036	Old DSSI adapter, use KFMSA-BA

This I have a problem with: I recall the KFMSB being the Alpha
variant and the KMFSA being the VAX variant. I don't have any docs
to back this up right now, but I'll go looking.

> > That doesn't mean all controllers would work in all systems. As an=20
> > obscure example, the DSB32 VAXBI synch controller would not=20
> work in a=20
> > VAX 7000 system. The microcode locked the VAXBI bus in a way that=20
> > would not work when the VAXBI was hung off an XMI bus.
>=20
> Maybe this is the problem for the other adapters (such as the=20
> CI) as well.

Yes. Although to correct what I wrote above, it obviously *does*
work when a BI was hung off an XMI system bus (as is the case on
a VAX 6000). The problem comes when the XMI is an I/O bus hung
off something else, in this case, the 7000's LSB. I don't recall,
offhand, whether it worked on a VAX 9000 (which also used the
XMI as an I/O bus and not a system bus).

> Now you have the neccesary information. Well, I actually=20
> suspect you already have it, but maybe you haven't been=20
> reading it like I have. :-)

I no longer have a VAX 6000 handy.

Send me a VAX 7000 and I'll be sure to brush up :-)

Antonio
=20
--=20

---------------
Antonio Carlini             arcarlini@iee.org