[rescue] VAX hardware (wanted)

[Dave McGuire]

On Jan 4, 2004, at 3:46 PM, Corey wrote:
> Any list subscribers out there with old piles
> of VAX hardware? I recently acquired a VAX 3400
> on which I intend to install NetBSD and put up
> on to the net. The problem is that NetBSD does
> not support the integrated DSSI (a predecessor
> of SCSI) controller. Therefore, I either must
> hang SCSI drives off of the QBus SCSI controller
> (an ugly, inelegant fix) or find a QBus DSSI
> controller, which NetBSD will talk to. The
> part number is KFQSA-SG, which is the standard
> DEC QBus DSSI controller for the BA213 enclosure.
> If you have one to sell/trade/donate, kindly
> reply.

   DSSI is *not* a predecessor to SCSI.  Modern SCSI has surpassed it in 
terms of transfer speed, but DSSI does things that SCSI has never, and 
will never do.

   Picture logging into a disk drive and running a process on it o 
generate seek length distribution histograms in ASCII graphics.

   But more to the point...I think I have a KFQSA here somewhere, but 
I'm in the middle of moving and I have no idea where it might be.  I 
will look for it.

   Why is adding SCSI disks to the QBus SCSI controller ugly and 
inelegant?

      -Dave

--
Dave McGuire                      "My tummy hurts now, but my soul
St. Petersburg, FL                 feels a little better."     -Ed