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Article #264

PDP 11/T55

#264
From: Scott Statton
Date: Sat, 08 Aug 1992 07:42
43 lines
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Greetings!  
I've had in my posession for some time a PDP-11/T55 that I picked up
for a song/dance at Stanford Surplus.  After sitting in my garage for
precisely three months, I borrowed a truck, and three burly friends and
schlepped three six-foot racks up the two flights of stairs to my office 
(where I don't have to pay for electricity/air conditioning).  Now I've
got everything back in their racks, and most of the cabling hooked up.

I have some specific questions, but first some observations
1)  The front panel says, "pdp 11/t55 integrated bipolar processor"
    but the backplane for the CPU cab says, "pdp 11/45".  (A much more
    recognizable number)

2)  It has an odd selection of memories.  FIRST - in slots 17 through 20
    are each 4K x 18 "Bipolar Memories";  THEN - in the second SU is a 32K
    x18 core stack, and a 16K x 20 (!!) core stack [ I assume they are doing 
    16 + 2 parity, and happened to have a bunch of PDP-15 memory surplus :-)]
    FINALLY - in a Unibus Expansion Cab there is a M7891-BC (128K x 18) that is
    only half populated.  (Total = 128k x 18)

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:
1)	How do I go about using the front-panel?  I powered up just the two
	CPU supplies [but not the Unibus expansion cab] and cannot seem
	to get any sensible response.  No matter what I set the address
	switches to, none of the ADDR Led's illuminate (regardless of switch
	position SD,SI,UD,UI,KD,KI etc.)  As I turn the DATA PATH/BUS/etc
	switch, the data lights show various values, irrespective of Addr
	settings.

2)	Where can I get a processor manual for this?  Does DEC have a 
	warehouse somewhere for wacko's who collect ancient gear [before
	this, I fed & housed an 11/730 and a few uVaxen]?  Does DECUS
	maintain a printed-material-library?

I'm certain to have more questions -- any tidbits of info you might
have would really be appreciated.

	Scott

P.S.  This machine belonged to the Stanford Med. Dep't and apparently
read data from some external device [It was hooked up to a DR11] and
computed on it.  If you were around in the mid 80's, you might remember
Technical Details
Message-ID: <wgzm=6p.n1gak@netcom.com>
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!wupost!csus.edu!netcom.com!n1gak

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!wupost!csus.edu!netcom.com!n1gak
From: n1gak@netcom.com (Scott Statton)
Subject: PDP 11/T55
Message-ID: <wgzm=6p.n1gak@netcom.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Aug 92 07:42:17 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
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