[HECnet] VMS question

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-08-10 16:50, Dave McGuire wrote:
> On 08/10/2015 10:35 AM, Hans Vlems wrote:
>> What I can remember of. 6000 model 4000 was that it had a fast XMI
>> bus that held cpu's, memory, fast controllers (ci and the kdm‎) and
>> connected to the BI bus(ses) that held the slower controllers. The
>> 7000 didn't have that? I know that the 7000 was "alpha ready", which
>> I think was a box swap.
>
>    There's really no commonality between the 6000 and the 7000; they are
> very different machines in nearly every way.

Right.

>    The 7000's processor/memory interconnect is LSB ("LaserBus").  LSB
> "nodes" are either processors, memory, or an LSB<->XMI bridge.  The
> latter connects via a ribbon cable to an XMI card cage in the bottom of
> the 7000 chassis, for I/O controllers.

Yes.

>    The Alpha "version" of that machine is the 8400.  The processor/memory
> interconnect is TLSB ("TurboLaserBus"), and an LSB-based VAX can be
> in-cabinet upgraded to a TLSB-based Alpha system.

Um. Not really. The Alpha version of that machine was the DEC 7000, 
which was identical, except you had CPU cards with Alphas instead of 
NVAX on them. All other things were identical. However, some of the 
cards on the LSB (or if it was XMI) used different firmware if used by 
an Alpha or a VAX. And some options (like the SCSI controller) was Alpha 
only.

The 8400 is the next gemeration of this stuff.
(Or if it is two generations...)

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
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