On 6/30/2017 7:30 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
> From: Josh Dersch
>> Now I'm confused. There is no cable from the front panel to the CPU in
>> a standard 11/34? (There's one from the front panel to the backplane;
>> another from the front panel to the M9301; and another from the
>> programmer's front panel [if present] to the programmer's front panel
>> board, the M7859
> Front panel to the CPU upgrade, not the original CPU. ...
> there's a pair of connectors on the CPU board that look suspiciously
> like those on the M7859.
Right, that's what's confusing me. I can't work out what you could possibly
be cabling to, on the new CPU board!
There's a 20-pin header on the CPU upgrade board which connects to the
front panel. There's also a single 10-pin header whose function I can't
fathom.
Those two connectors on the M7859 are used only with the 11/34, not the 11/04
(the cable from the M7859 to the programmer's front panel must be there, with
both); they are there for the micro-code single-stepping function on the
11/34, etc. (One cable carries uclock, the other uPC data.)
Since the new CPU probably doesn't have that ability (on the LSI-11 and F-11
chipsets, the micro-word bus is accessible outside the chips, but AFAIK the
same is not true of the J-11), I'm not at all sure what those two connectors
might be.
Yes, the programmer's panel loses most of its functionality (as I'd
expect, for the reasons you list) but the HALT/SS and BOOT switches are
functional with the cable connected. (The ADDRESS/DATA display just
shows "7" for whatever reason.) With the 20-pin cable from the front
panel disconnected, the HALT and BOOT switches are non-functional.
Perhaps they are serial lines using the 'new' DEC standard pinout, which also
use 10-pin headers?
That's possible. If so, the one on the CPU doesn't appear to conflict
with the M7856 I already have in the /34.
- Josh
Noel
