RQDX3 on an 11/23?

[David Betz]

Do the drives for the RQDX3 have to be DEC drives or will any MFM drive 
do? It seems like ST225 drives are fairly easy to find.

Anyone have an RQDX3 with cables and distribution board for sale?

On Mar 15, 2005, at 1:51 PM, Fred N. van Kempen wrote:

> David,
>
>> I have a PDP-11/23 and would like to add a hard disk. Would the RQDX3
>> be the way to go? What do I need besides the board itself and an MFM
>> drive? Obviously, I need some sort of cable to connect the two. Is
>> there anything else I need? Will RT-11 V5 support an MFM drive on an
>> RQDX3?
> The RQDX3 is a great controller.  Assuming you can get drives (not
> always easy!) you need the usual two cables, plus an RDRX distribution
> board, which splits out the signals.  Many people just made a custom
> cable going from the RQDX3's 50-pin header to the drives, with some
> pullup R's added in.
>
> Failing that, I'd strongly suggest a SCSI controller if you can find
> (and afford) one, or, quite nice as well, an ESDI controller that
> does MSCP- it then basically presents the ESDI drive(s) as
> RAxx drives to the system.
>
> Personally, I use all of the above.  ESDI is a very good middle
> way solution.. drives are available, cheap and fast.
>
> --f
>