[rescue] Trying to get Cadmus 9200 running (serial console trouble)

[John Hudak]

Generally speaking, for DEC systems in the US, the base setting for the
dlv11 E,F,J was 9600 baud 1.5 stop bits, no parity bit, and when connecting
to a terminal, needed to use a null modem cable.   BUT...there are 5+
variations of  dlv11s that supported various physical interfaces and
protocols....RS232, RS 423,  488,  20ma current loop, etc.  In addition,
not all dlv11's had adjustable baud rates, and some variations had support
for modem control.
Best  you check configuration for the exact version of the board you have
(dlv11, (-Athru D), -E, -F and J)...IIRC.
Bitsavers is your friend
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/qbus/EK-DLV11-OP-001_DLV11-E_and_DLV11-F_Asynchronous_Line_Interface_Users_Manual_Jun77.pdf
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/qbus/EK-DLV1J-UG-001_DLV11-J_Users_Guide_Oct78.pdf
Good luck
J

On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 11:48 AM Peter Stokes <peter at ashlyn.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi
>
> On reading this blog
>
> http://www.pcs-cadmus.de/en/blog/2016/05/06/cadmus-and-pdp11/
>
> The systems are essentially the old Dec LSI Qbus systems with the LSI proc
> replaced with a Motorola one. Importantly it states that the serial
> console is
> based on the DLV11-J board, is that the case here?
>
> If so go through the settings on the DLV11-J, which if you are stuck
> should be
> available online I guess or in the Cadmus docs?
>
> If not I can dig out may old Dec books to scan them in!
>
> Peter
> ---------------------------
> Peter Stokes
> Ashlyn Computer Services
> Mbl: 07977 532320
> ---------------------------
>
>
>
>
> On 4 Feb 2019, at 16:29, Mike Spooner <mike.spooner.ux at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Do you need to have the PC serial ports set to 7N2 or 7N1.5 instead of
> > 8N1? Also might want to try different parity settings instead of N (none)
> > - try E (even), or O (odd).
> >
> > -- Mike Spooner
> >
> > --------- Original Message ---------
> > From: Meelis Roos
> > To: rescue at sunhelp.org
> > Date: Sun Feb 03 14:58:49 GMT+00:00 2019
> > Subject: [rescue] Trying to get Cadmus 9200 running (serial console
> > trouble)
> > Some time ago (last year? or 2017?) I wrote about rescue of 5 sets of
> > 2-box
> > Cadmus 9200 computers. Now I finally got around to sorting them out to
> > decide
> > what to leave for myself and what to send out to those in the queue.
> >
> > Yesterday I dug them out.
> >
> > The sets all seem to be Cadmus 9230 (some parts are from 1987, some from
> > 1988):
> > Cadmus 2800 main box with QBUS cage and no storage and Cadmus 2804-62
> > storage box
> > with 65M SMD disk and 16M QIC tape drive (4 boxes have tape drives, one
> > misses the
> > tape drive). All main boxes have MC68010L10 CPU, 512M RAM board (directly
> > connected
> > to the CPU board), Emulex SMD disk controller (4-wide), 8-port serial mux
> > card
> > (4-wide) and a 2-wide tape controller card, 3 also have parallel port
> > card (4-wide)
> > with MC68000-10 CPU on it.
> >
> > I happily found that there is virtually no dust inside to clean before
> > plugging in,
> > and tried to get some output. Just from the main box, no storage
> > attached. After two
> > days of trying and reading manuals, I still have no output at all.
> >
> > The two boxes I used most have three front panel lights and they are on
> > (well,
> > one lamp is out on one of the boxes but I know the lamp should be on by
> > swapping the
> > lamp panels around). The lamps are "RUN", "LTC" (line to clock) and INIT
> > and they
> > should be on normally, according to the manual. So the box thinks it is
> > somewhat alive.
> > If I remove some QBUS boards, the lamps still light on powerup, except
> > when I remove
> > the CPU board (then RUN goes off, as would be expected).
> >
> > I tried 3 different cables to two PC-s (one Dell D600 with native serial,
> > one a later
> > Thinkpad with pl2303-based USB-serial adapter). Tried with and without a
> > null modem
> > adapter with all the cables to be sure that I have at least one correct
> > twistedness.
> > 9600-8N1 as the manual says, and tried both hardware flow control and no
> > flow control
> > (by the manual, most ports should have no hardware flow control lines
> > connected, only
> > console and another port have it, no explicit mention of whether the
> > console port
> > should have hardware flow control).
> >
> > Reseating all the QBUS cards did not change anything.
> >
> > With one unknown black cable and no null modem adapter, I got some
> > strangeness: there
> > is partial echo back of what I type, but that is garbled (about 1 out of
> > 3 characters
> > is the same, 2 are garbage that is different for each character).
> > Interesting part is
> > that I only get echo for 4 last serial ports (including console on 8) but
> > no echo on
> > first 4 serial ports. Might that be some strange pinout of the black
> > cable that is
> > somehow activated by remote port handshake?
> >
> > Does anyone have any ideas how to continue? I want to get the systems up
> > to the point
> > where I can at least see which hard disks might still be working (for
> > sorting).
> >
> > --
> > Meelis Roos
> > _______________________________________________
> > rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> > _______________________________________________
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