From alderson+news@panix.com Tue Nov 28 11:35:51 PST 2000 Article: 2034 of alt.sys.pdp10 Path: nntp1.ba.best.com!news1.best.com!newsfeed.mathworks.com!panix!news.panix.com!not-for-mail From: Rich Alderson Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp10 Subject: Re: Tim Stark's emulator, Lars GCC port and ... Date: 27 Nov 2000 20:47:28 -0500 Organization: Systems Administration, XKL LLC, Redmond WA 98052 Lines: 31 Sender: alderson+news@panix3.panix.com Message-ID: References: <3A213AEA.D783B415@bellatlantic.net> <8vtibc$1qo$2@bob.news.rcn.net> <3A2298E1.36F65ACB@bartek.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: panix3.panix.com X-Trace: news.panix.com 975376049 13495 166.84.0.228 (28 Nov 2000 01:47:29 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@panix.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 28 Nov 2000 01:47:29 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.6 Xref: nntp1.ba.best.com alt.sys.pdp10:2034 Arthur Krewat writes: > Am I correct in assuming that the only UNIBUS in a KL10 was in the -11 > front-end? If so, what bus did an Ethernet controller use in a KL10? > Was it possible to access the UNIBUS in the -11 from the KL10? Your assumption is correct. There was a Tops-20 program that set things up so that the front-end filesystem was accessible as device FE:, for transferring things back and forth; I expect that something similar existed on Tops-10. DEC didn't provide a native Ethernet controller until after the Jupiter cancellation, when they brought out the NI-20. This was the same as the CI-20, with different microcode and a different network interface. Both used up *two* RH20 slots. Long before DEC had an Ethernet interface, you could get a MEIS (MASSBUSS- Ethernet Interface Subsystem) from Stanford's Computer Science Deaprtment computer Facility, later also available from cisco Systems. This is an interesting device, which resided in the -11 cabinet in the KL for power, but lived on an RH20. Looked much like a tape device to the operating system. The NI-20 could not listen to itself, which made loopback debugging very difficult; the MEIS had double buffers and worked much better than the DEC device. I admit that I'm biased--I know the guy who designed the MEIS, and the guy who implemented it, and used both in my days at Stanford. -- Rich Alderson alderson+news@panix.com "You get what anybody gets. You get a lifetime." --Death, of the Endless