Ethan;
I have owned both BA213 and BA215 microvaxes. The one recurring problem
I had was with the power supplies, H7868 I think the number is.
Luckily, I picked up a couple of Dec Serv 550's which gave me spares and
a PDP11/53 S box CPU.
I was able to run the PDP11 in one of the VAX based BA boxes, the BA215
would make a good choice based on size and weight.
If I remember correctly, the BA215 had space for one full height drive
and a tape drive.
Maybe someone else knows, but I think both boxes could use ordinary
power cords, not like the VAX 4000-400 series which has that 20 amp cord.
Doug
On 3/31/2018 1:14 AM, Ethan Dicks via cctech wrote:
Hi, All,
Watching some of the recent traffic about what newer Qbus boards will
and won't work with 2.11BSD, I've remembered a thing I was once
looking for. Back when I did DEC hardware for a living, we stopped
buying new stuff after we got a MicroVAX-II. As such, I have plenty
of LSI-11 to KA630 parts but very little from after that era. I do
happen to have 2-3 boards with S-box handles including a KDF-11 CPU
and a SCSI card, a great start to a system. What I don't have is the
enclosure.
I have a BA123 "World Box" and it's great. I know a BA213 is roughly
the same size, but I've never had one. The BA215 looks more
interesting to me as a match for size and power requirements (1 PSU
and 6 slots, half the BA213) but I've never even seen a BA215.
Anyone here have much experience with the BA215? Any "gotchas"? So
far, from my looking on eBay, I think I spotted one loaded as a VAX.
I'm more interested in setting mine up as a PDP-11, so the VAX end of
one is not exactly a selling point to me. An empty box would do just
as nicely.
I'd say 80% of my Qbus work has been with two boxes, the BA-11N and
the BA-23, thus all the S-box questions.
Thanks for any tips, tidbits and stories.
-ethan
