kda50 manual and sdi cables & questions

[Ethan Dicks]

On 4/28/05, Witchy <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
> plus don't the RAxx
> drives have manual selects on them anyway? I think without setting
> anything they'll default to ID 1 port A.

I don't know for certain about the RA73, but my RA70 has a front panel
that attaches via a low-pin-count ribbon cable.  I am not aware of any
local configuration jumpers, but I have to admit that I've never
looked.  In any case, the drives do come up with sensible defaults if
no front panel is attached, but AFAIK, if you want to hook multiple
drives up to the same controller, one would need a front panel, at
least on the RA7x series.  With the other drives that I've worked
with, this isn't a problem because the front panels are integral*.

-ethan

* except for this one RA90 front panel I have in my parts bin that's
been attempting to attract a compatble drive for years without
success.  I'm still "stuck" with RA81s, an RA60, and a couple of
RA70s... nothing SDI with massive capacity (massive from a VAX, not
PDP-11 standpoint).