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PDP-11/34 and PDP-11/73

The 11/34 looks like a curious beast though, not very much like a conventional 11/34 at any rate. Not even a useable panel. It doesn’t really look a very useful collection of bits outside of its original environment though it might appeal to a specialist somewhere who knows something about the Atex systems. I don’t think I’d be attracted by a $6k starting bid myself though tbh shipping across the Atlantic makes it a nonstarter anyway.
 
It would make a great movie prop, especially being some of the terminals are with it. Don’t see how they addressed storage not seeing any drives but perhaps it that’s what’s missing from the bottom of the rack. As far as the front panel on the 34 so what, I have found that having the local keypad on the front is not all that useful and other then the wow factor of running a Unibus system with switches and lights once you progress to the stage of operating systems and software the ability of direct addressing memory, registers and ports is somewhat overrated. On something like an Omnibus where you were not running an operating system and just loading a program into memory or where you may want to look at a peripheral directly the switches and lights are fun but by the time you get into 16 bit systems intended to run complex software other then manually setting a boot address don’t see the value.
Going to assume that was running RSX and some form of word processing software and maybe layout and composition software to talk to the system that did the printing?
I would almost like to buy that being it’s a hard to find today example of a complete first generation newsroom system and maybe has some value being an example of early journalism automation.
At the university we just did an upgrade of our Avid I News newsroom software that integrates with our Teleprompters, character generation systems and brings in things like our AP wire services, it also allows students to pull up video on I pads and do editing on them along with all our existing Media Composer workstations. Imagine that old system would be a lot more fun to work with and a lot less licensing and security concerns.
 
The hard disk was a Control Data 9766 300mb cartridge drive. I have access to the drive, and can add it to the bundle, but it weighs 560 lbs and is the size of a washing machine, so I did not pick it up initially. Is there a market for such a drive?
 
How much is this all worth(including the RM05)? Granted we don't know if any of it works. What would you offer?
 
Unlike the RM03, the RM05 uses a separate, cabinet sized controller, so if it 'just' the drive itself, it would be only useful for someone who has already the controller.
Else it would be a nice showpiece imho.
BTW, it indeed weighs a ton, almost gave myself a hernia when I tried to unload one from the van.....
 
Unlike the RM03, the RM05 uses a separate, cabinet sized controller, so if it 'just' the drive itself, it would be only useful for someone who has already the controller.

The RICM received an RM05 controller few weeks ago. It is about the same size as the 9766 disk drive, and really heavy.
 
Unlike the RM03, the RM05 uses a separate, cabinet sized controller, so if it 'just' the drive itself, it would be only useful for someone who has already the controller.
If it is a 9766 and not an RM05, it is a SMD drive and there are various single-board controllers from Emulex, Dilog, etc. that will run it. I think the best of those boards would be the Emulex UD33 - it emulates MSCP on the PDP-11 side. The outboard "controller" for the RM05 is a Massbus adapter, and since the RM05 is a 3600 RPM drive, you will get overruns on an un-modified RH11 controller. You need either an RH70 (for the PDP-11/70) or a RH780 (for a VAX 78x) to run RM05 drives.
 
If it is a 9766 and not an RM05, it is a SMD drive and there are various single-board controllers from Emulex, Dilog, etc. that will run it. I think the best of those boards would be the Emulex UD33 - it emulates MSCP on the PDP-11 side. The outboard "controller" for the RM05 is a Massbus adapter, and since the RM05 is a 3600 RPM drive, you will get overruns on an un-modified RH11 controller. You need either an RH70 (for the PDP-11/70) or a RH780 (for a VAX 78x) to run RM05 drives.

Yes indeed, only the RM02 is usable with the RH11, as it runs at 3000 rpm, rather than 3600 rpm. Not sure if the RA80 is able to work on a RH11 tough.
 
No fair! I'm in MN - how'd you get one (or more) of our PDPs down in Texas? :)

I wonder if your ATEX machine came from the Mpls Star-Tribune? I'm pretty sure they ran those there.
 
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