This machine comes in a BA123 case (makes a nice side table, see The BA123 enclosure). As all older MicroVAX systems it has a Q-bus system for extension boards. Each of the slots consists of 4 sockets to plug expansion boards in. Remember the PC 8 bit and 16 bit ISA slots? Qbus probably only used one socket in the beginning, but the boards in my VAX all use either 2 sockets (double modules) or all 4 sockets (quad modules). The CPU and memory extension additionally are connected with a special cable
Here is a list of modules which are currently in my "big" VAX:
Mod.Number | DEC Name | D/Q | Slot | |
M7546 | TQK50-AA | D | 7 TOP | TMSCP controller for TK50 tape unit |
M7555 | RQDX3 | D | 7 BOT | Winchester and floppy disk controller (RX50/RD50-54/RD31/RD32) and an additional connector card |
M9047 | D | 6 TOP | Grant continuity (also M9047-SA, -SF) | |
Emulex | QD32 | D | 6 BOT | MSCP 2-drive SMD-E disk controller, diagnostic and setup programmes in ROM, NVRAM config settings. Q-22. Emulex. |
M3104 | DHV11-A | Q | 5 QUAD | 8-line async DMA MUX |
M7500 | KMV1A-S | Q | 4 QUAD | Programmable comms controller, BA2xxx. -PA, -PF RS232 -PB, -PG RS422 -PC, -PH RS423 |
M7504 | DEQNA-AA | D | 3 TOP | Q-bus (Q-22) to ethernet adapter. |
EMC | Memory | Q | 2 QUAD | Memory (4 MB?) 240-130-... |
M7606-AA | KA630-AA | Q | 1 QUAD | microVAX II with 1-Mbyte, floating point, time of year clock, boot/diagnostic ROM (Q22-bus) |
Additionally it came with the following components:
I'm currently trying to connect both Fujitsu drives to the Emulex controller. Each of these drives is a full 19'' wide heavy box sitting in a 19'' rack about 1.50 m high. I successfully networked the MicroVAX with my VAXstation over serial line and Ethernet. Unfortunately the DEQNA isn't supported for running in a VAXcluster by VMS 5.x and later.