[Simh] RD53 image size

Bob Supnik bob at supnik.org
Thu May 7 12:45:33 EDT 2015


With your assumptions. The RD53 has 138672 logical blocks. 138672 * 512 
= 71,000,064. This is less than the actual physical capacity because the 
controller reserves some amount of space for bad block tables and 
replacement blocks. See the attached document, chapter 3, for details.

The same is true of the RD52. It is actually 512 cylinders, not 480, and 
the visible capacity is a subset of the physical capacity. There were 
two different vendor drives used, one with 8 surfaces, one with 7, and 
the capacity is limited to what the 7 surface drive could hold.

/Bob Supnik

On 5/7/2015 12:00 PM, simh-request at trailing-edge.com wrote:
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 6 May 2015 22:29:24 -0500
> From: Seth Morabito<lists+simh at loomcom.com>
> To:simh at trailing-edge.com
> Subject: [Simh] RD53 image size
> Message-ID:<20150507032924.GA21046 at loomcom.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Hello all,
>
> I'm trying to build an RD53 image that I can transfer to a real RD53
> on an 11/73. I did the same with an RD52 on another system and it
> worked perfectly, but I noticed something odd about the RD53.
>
> The RD52 image size is 30,965,760 bytes. That maps exactly to 480
> cylinders, 7 heads, 18 sectors/cylinder, 512 bytes per sector.
> (480 * 7 * 18 * 512 = 30965760).
>
> The RD53 image that SIMH generates, on the other hand, is 71,000,064
> bytes. This does not match what I would expect. The RD53 is 1024
> cylinders, 8 heads, 17 sectors/cylinder, 512 bytes per sector. That
> should be 71,303,168 bytes, shouldn't it?
>
> Is something wrong with my math, or one of my assumptions?
>
> -Seth

-------------- next part --------------



      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                                       |
      | |d|i|g|i|t|a|l|                                                       |
      | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                                       |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      |                    DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION                      |
      |                        MAYNARD, MASSACHUSETTS                         |
      |                                                                       |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      | ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION                          DATE: 09-JUN-1986  |
      |                                                                       |
      |                                                                       |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      |  Title: RQDX3 Engineering Specification                               |
      |                                                                       |
      |                                                                       |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      |                                Revisions                              |
      |                                                                       |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      | Rev |    Description       | Chg No | Orig  | Date |  Appd By  | Date |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      |  A  |    First Release     |        |       |      |           |      |
      |  B  |    Add New Devices   |        |       |      |           |      |
      |     |                      |        |       |      |           |      |
      |                                                                       |
      |                                                                       |
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      |                                                                       |
      |                                                                       |
      |                                                                       |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      | Eng:            |  Appd:      | Size  | Code  |  Number     |   Rev   |
      |                 |             |-------|-------|-------------|---------|
      | Nick A. Warchol |             |  K    |  SP   | RQDX3-0-DBF |    A    |
      |                 |             |       |       |             |         |
      |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
      |     This document  and the specifications  contained  herein  are     |
      |    confidential and proprietary. They are the property of Digital     |
      |    Equipment Corporation and shall not be reproduced or copied or     |
      |    used in  whole or in  part as the basis for the manufacture or     |
      |    sale  of  items without written permission.   This is  an  un-     |
      |    published work protected under the federal copyright laws.         |
      |         COPYRIGHT  (C) 1985, DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION            |
      |                                                                       |
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 2
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF












                         RQDX3 Engineering Specification


                              REV. 2.0   09-JUN-1986
















                                                    Nick A. Warchol
                                                    Stephen F. Shirron



                     C O M P A N Y   C O N F I D E N T I A L



            Copyright (c) 1985, 1986 by Digital Equipment Corporation

            The information in this  document  is  subject  to  change
            without notice and should not be construed as a commitment
            by  Digital  Equipment  Corporation.   Digital   Equipment
            Corporation  assumes no responsibility for any errors that
            may occur in this document.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 3
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                                         CONTENTS

              1       ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
              2       INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
              3       HARDWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
              3.1       Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
              3.2       Performance optimizations  . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
              3.2.1     Elimination of Hard Disk Sector Interleave . . . . 6
              3.2.2     Elevator Seek Algorithm  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
              3.2.3     Buffered Seeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
              3.2.4     Overlapped Seeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
              3.2.5     Physical Sector Skew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
              3.2.6     Error Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
              3.3       Write Precompensation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
              3.4       Devices and Geometries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
              3.4.1     Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
              3.4.2     Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
              3.4.3     RD54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
              3.4.4     RD53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
              3.4.5     RD52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
              3.4.6     RD51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
              3.4.7     RD31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
              3.4.8     RX50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
              3.4.9     RX33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
              4       FIRMWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
              4.1       Disk Geometry  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
              4.2       Data Structures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
              4.3       T11 Functional Code  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
              4.3.1     MSCP Implementation Specifics  . . . . . . . . .  19
              4.3.1.1   Unit Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
              4.3.1.2   Controller Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
              4.3.1.3   Opcodes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
              4.3.1.4   Command Modifiers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
              4.3.1.5   Attention Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
              4.3.1.6   Error Log Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
              4.3.2     DUP Implementation Specifics . . . . . . . . . .  25
              4.3.2.1   Opcodes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
              4.3.3     UQSSP Implementation Specifics . . . . . . . . .  26
              4.3.3.1   Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
              5       DIAGNOSTICS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
              5.1       Local Diagnostics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
              5.2       Field Service Invoked Tests  . . . . . . . . . .  27
              6       ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS  . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
              6.1       Q22 Bus Loading  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
              6.2       Power Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
              7       ENVIRONMENTAL AND RELIABILITY  . . . . . . . . . .  28
              8       PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
              8.1       Module Finger Connections  . . . . . . . . . . .  29
              8.2       Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
              8.3       Connector Signal Description . . . . . . . . . .  31
              8.4       Jumper Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 4
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


      APPENDIX A      Applicable Documents

      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 5
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            1  ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

            The  purpose  of  this  document  is   to   describe   the
            capabilities  of  the  RQDX3  disk controller, specify its
            software  and  hardware  interfaces,  and  give  a   brief
            description  of how the controller performs its functions.
            It is not intended to be a description of the internals of
            the controller; for that detail the reader should refer to
            both the RQDX3 Technical Description and the documentation
            drawings for the module (M7555).



            2  INTRODUCTION

            The RQDX3 is a dual height module that  interfaces  up  to
            four  logical  disk units to the Q22 bus.  These units can
            be RD31, RD51, RD52, RD53, or RD54 hard disk  drives,  250
            kHz  data  rate  RX50  floppy disk drives, or 500 kHz data
            rate  RX33  floppy  disk  drives.   The  controller   also
            contains the logic to support a disk system front panel.

            The  controller  supports  the  MSCP  protocol,  the   DUP
            protocol  and  the  U/Q  port  protocol.   Performance  is
            optimized by the use of block mode DMA  transfers  on  the
            Q22  bus,  a  1-to-1  sector  interleave  on the hard disk
            drives, and the use of the microprocessor to perform  seek
            optimizations.   The  controller supports command retries,
            error  correction,  and  controller  initiated  bad  block
            replacement   on   hard   disk   drives  to  improve  data
            reliability.

            Cost has been kept low through the use of an available LSI
            disk  controller,  gate array devices for most of the data
            path, and a T11 microprocessor.



            3  HARDWARE

            3.1  Architecture

            The heart of the controller architecture is  a  three-port
            8k  word  RAM buffer that allows predictable access by the
            Qbus DMA engine, the  T11  microprocessor,  and  the  disk
            controller  port.   This  buffer is large enough to hold a
            full track of disk  data  plus  microprocessor  workspace.
            This multiport architecture permits the parallel operation
            of  host  data  transfers,  disk   data   transfers,   and
            microprocessor access to local data structures for maximum
            performance.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 6
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            The majority of the data path functions are  contained  in
            two  CMOS  gate  array devices.  These devices contain all
            the registers and latches required to implement the  three
            ported  memory  system,  the registers required by the U/Q
            port, support logic for the Qbus DMA machine and  the  T11
            microprocessor,  and  the  digital logic for the disk data
            separator.



            3.2  Performance optimizations

            It is a goal of the architecture to provide the mechanisms
            for  various  optimizations  in  order  to improve overall
            system performance.  The following optimizations have been
            included in the controller design.



            3.2.1  Elimination of Hard Disk Sector Interleave -

            The current RQDX1 and RQDX2 disk controllers use a  3-to-1
            sector  interleave  of  logical disk blocks.  This has the
            effect of requiring  an  average  of  3.5  revolutions  to
            transfer  a  single  track.   This has been proven to be a
            very  poor  characteristic  of  those   controllers   when
            attached to MicroVax systems.

            The RQDX3 has eliminated this data transfer problem.   The
            architecture  of the controller has been designed to allow
            a 1-to-1 sector interleave on the  disk  surface  bringing
            the  maximum  average  transfer  time for one track to 1.5
            revolutions.  This was accomplished through the use  of  a
            multiport   memory   structure  that  allows  simultaneous
            operation  of  disk  data  transfers  and  Qbus  DMA  data
            transfers.

            It should be noted that disk  drives  currently  operating
            with  an  RQDX1  or  RQDX2  controller  will NOT be FORMAT
            COMPATIBLE with this controller.  Before being  used  with
            this  controller  they MUST BE BACKED UP TO ANOTHER MEDIA,
            AND THEN REFORMATTED AND REWRITTEN WITH THIS CONTROLLER.

            In order to provide the same maximum storage capacity  for
            the  RD51  drive  as is currently available with the RQDX1
            and RQDX2 controllers, a 2-to-1 sector interleave will  be
            used with the RD51 drive.



            3.2.2  Elevator Seek Algorithm -
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 7
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            This optimization operates the actuator arm of the disk in
            the  same manner as an elevator in a building is operated.
            When the arm is moving in one direction all transfers that
            can  be performed while moving in that same direction will
            be serviced, and those that would require a change in  arm
            direction  will  be  postponed.   When  the  actuator  arm
            reaches a limit, the direction  is  reversed.   This  seek
            reordering can be overridden on a per-command basis.



            3.2.3  Buffered Seeks -

            The  hard  disk  interface  provides  for  buffered   seek
            operations.   All  the  required step pulses for the drive
            can be sent to the drive in a short period  of  time,  the
            drive will then increase the rate of actuator arm movement
            in order to provide a faster average seek rate.



            3.2.4  Overlapped Seeks -

            When  multiple  hard  disk  drives  are  attached  to  the
            controller,  the  seek  pulses for each drive will be sent
            without waiting for a seek complete  indication  from  the
            drive.   The drives will then be polled for the first seek
            completion at which  time  that  data  transfer  operation
            pending for that drive will be performed.  This will allow
            a percentage of the seek time to be overlapped  with  data
            transfers on another drive.



            3.2.5  Physical Sector Skew -

            The mapping  of  logical  data  blocks  to  physical  disk
            sectors  will  incorporate  a  skew  between  surfaces and
            cylinders.  The amount of skew is specified at format time
            to allow the most efficient transfer of contiguous logical
            data blocks for the particular drive in use.



            3.2.6  Error Correction -

            All data will be written with either CRC or ECC appended.

            The controller will perform retries to eliminate soft data
            errors.   If a reasonable number of retries cannot correct
            the error then it will be considered a  hard  data  error.
            For  hard  disk  drives an attempt will be made to correct
            this error using the ECC value calculated  when  the  data
            were  written.   The ECC algorithm is capable of detecting
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 8
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            up to an 11-bit error within a  sector.   Because  of  the
            possibility  of  miscorrection  with  the error correction
            polynomial used (x^32 + x^23 + x^21 + x^11 + x^2 + 1) only
            single bit correction is performed by the controller.

            It should be noted that the error correction code can only
            be  used  for  protection  of the data fields on hard disk
            drives.  Sector headers for both hard and floppy disks and
            the  data  fields of the floppy disks are protected with a
            CRC code.  The polynomial used in the CRC  calculation  is
            x^16 + x^12 + x^5 + 1.

            Errors on hard disk drives that indicate that a sector  is
            defective  will cause the sector to be replaced with on of
            the available replacement blocks.  Future accesses to  the
            defective  sector  will automatically be revectored to the
            replacement block.  The total number of replacement blocks
            on  a  drive  is  dependent upon the drive capacity and is
            specified at format time.



            3.3  Write Precompensation

            Inner tracks of the disk media surfaces  must  be  written
            with  write  precompensation  to overcome the bit shift at
            the higher flux densities.  The controller will write  the
            data with the required amount of precompensation depending
            upon the current disk track in use.

            The use of write precompensation is  drive  dependent  and
            listed  in  section  3.4  for  each of the supported drive
            types.



            3.4  Devices and Geometries

            3.4.1  Supported Configurations -

            The RQDX3 is capable of supporting 4  logical  disk  units
            with  up  to  16  surfaces  per  unit  and 2048 tracks per
            surface.  The module contains enough logic  to  support  a
            system  front  panel  for  4  hard disk drives.  The front
            panel support for each hard disk drive is  a  Ready  light
            and switch and a Write Protect light and switch.  There is
            no front panel support for floppy disk drives.



            3.4.2  Formatting -
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                   Page 9
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            The  RQDX3  will  eliminate  the  problem  of   controller
            microcode   ECOs  when  new  hard  disk  devices  must  be
            supported.   At  disk  format  time  the   host   resident
            formatter   program  will  pass  the  drive  geometry  and
            characteristics to the controller.  These  parameters  can
            either  be  obtained  from  a  menu  driven  selection  of
            currently  available  DEC  drives,  or  from  answers   to
            specific  questions  about  the  drive.  The latter method
            will allow new drives to be immediately used or will allow
            OEM  customers  to  use the drives of their choice.  These
            drive  parameters  will  be  used  to  format   the   disk
            surface(s)  and  then will be written to a reserved sector
            on a surface that can be found in a common way across  all
            drives.   The controller will then be able to obtain these
            parameters from the drive itself instead of from ROM based
            tables.

            Formatting is supported for all hard disk drives  and  for
            RX33  media.  RX50 media must be preformatted to guarantee
            media interchange due to uncontrollable  speed  variations
            within the floppy disk drives.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 10
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.3  RD54 -
                                                    Maxtor
                     Sector Interleave                1:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1
                     LBNs/track:                       17
                     Tracks/group:                     15
                     Groups/cylinder:                   1
                     Cylinders/unit:                 1225
                     Total LBNs/unit:              312375
                     RBNs/unit:                       609
                     RCT size(blocks):                  7
                     RCT copies:                        8
                     DBNs/unit:                       201
                     XBNs/unit:                        54
                     User LBNs/unit:               311200
                     User capacity(bytes):    159,334,400
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)          11.2 
                     Step Rate(usec)                 17.6
                     Write Precomp                   none
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 11
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.4  RD53 -
                                                  Micropolis
                     Sector Interleave                1:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1
                     LBNs/track:                       17
                     Tracks/group:                      8
                     Groups/cylinder:                   1
                     Cylinders/unit:                 1024
                     Total LBNs/unit:              139264
                     RBNs/unit:                       280
                     RCT size(blocks):                  5
                     RCT copies:                        8
                     DBNs/unit:                        82
                     XBNs/unit:                        54
                     User LBNs/unit:               138672
                     User capacity(bytes):     71,000,064
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)          11.2 
                     Step Rate(usec)                 17.6
                     Write Precomp                   none
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 12
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.5  RD52 -
                                                    Quantum        Atasi
                     Sector Interleave                1:1           1:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512           512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1             1
                     LBNs/track:                       17            17
                     Tracks/group:                      8             7
                     Groups/cylinder:                   1             1
                     Cylinders/unit:                  512           645
                     Total LBNs/unit:               69632         76755
                     RBNs/unit                        168           168
                     RCT size(blocks):                  4             4
                     RCT copies:                        8             8
                     DBNs/unit:                        82            65
                     XBNs/unit:                        54            54
                     User LBNs/unit:                60480         60480
                     User capacity(bytes):     30,965,760    30,965,760
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)          11.2          11.2
                     Step Rate(usec)                 17.6          17.6
                     Write Precomp(nsec)               10            10
                     Precomp cylinders            256-511       320-644
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 13
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.6  RD51 -
                                                    Seagate
                     Sector Interleave                2:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1
                     LBNs/track:                       18
                     Tracks/group:                      1
                     Groups/cylinder:                   4
                     Cylinders/unit:                  306
                     Total LBNs/unit:               22032
                     RBNs/unit                        144
                     RCT size(blocks):                 36
                     RCT copies:                        4    
                     DBNs/unit:                        87
                     XBNs/unit:                        57
                     User LBNs/unit:               21,600
                     User capacity(bytes):     11,059,200
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)          11.2
                     Step Rate(usec)                 17.6
                     Write Precomp(nsec)               10
                     Precomp cylinders            110-305
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 14
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.7  RD31 -
                                                    Seagate
                     Sector Interleave                1:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1
                     LBNs/track:                       17
                     Tracks/group:                      4
                     Groups/cylinder:                   1
                     Cylinders/unit:                  615
                     Total LBNs/unit:               41820
                     RBNs/unit:                       100
                     RCT size(blocks):                  3
                     RCT copies:                        8
                     DBNs/unit:                        14
                     XBNs/unit:                        54
                     User LBNs/unit:                41560
                     User capacity(bytes):     21,278,720
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)          11.2 
                     Step Rate(usec)                 17.6
                     Write Precomp                   none
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 15
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.8  RX50 -
                     Sector Interleave                2:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1
                     LBNs/track:                       10
                     Tracks/group:                     80
                     Group/cylinder:                    1
                     Cylinders/unit:                    1
                     Total LBNs/unit:                 800
                     RBNs/track:                        0    (not supported)
                     RCT size:                          0    (not supported)
                     RCT copies:                        0    (not supported)
                     DBNs/unit:                         0    (not supported)
                     User LBNs/unit:                  800
                     User capacity(bytes):        409,600
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)           224
                     Step Rate(msec)                    8
                     Write Precomp     +/- 110 nsec cylinders 0-55
                                      +/- 210 nsec cylinders 56-79
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 16
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            3.4.9  RX33 -
                     Sector Interleave                1:1
                     Bytes/sector:                    512
                     Sectors/LBN:                       1
                     LBNs/track:                       15
                     Tracks/group:                      2
                     Group/cylinder:                    1
                     Cylinders/unit:                   80
                     Total LBNs/unit:                2400
                     RBNs/track:                        0    (not supported)
                     RCT size:                          0    (not supported)
                     RCT copies:                        0    (not supported)
                     DBNs/unit:                         0    (not supported)
                     User LBNs/unit:                 2400
                     User capacity(bytes):      1,228,800
                     Step Pulse Width(usec)           112
                     Step Rate(msec)                    4
                     Write Precomp     +/- 210 nsec cylinders 0-79



            4  FIRMWARE

            4.1  Disk Geometry

            Hard disk drives may have various numbers of  XBNs,  DBNs,
            LBNs,  and  RBNs.   The  number  of each may be set during
            format time, according to the following constraints.   The
            RQDX3  firmware  requires  XBNs  to  store  drive-specific
            characteristics and to  implement  the  track-reformatting
            required  to  efficiently handle bad block revectoring; in
            each  copy,  a  single  sector  is  used  to   store   the
            aforementioned  characteristics  and  an  entire  track is
            required to store the data belonging to a  specific  track
            being  reformatted  during  bad  block  replacement.   For
            redundancy three copies of the  XBN  structure  are  used.
            Diagnostic  programs will require access to an area of the
            disk reserved  for  this  purpose,  in  order  to  perform
            diagnostic  reads  and writes; a certain minimum number of
            DBNs are set aside for this purpose.  The major portion of
            the  disk  consists  of LBNs, which the host uses to store
            data and which the controller uses to store the RCT.   The
            remaining  area  on  the  disk is used for RBNs, which are
            sectors set aside to replace failing sectors  in  the  LBN
            space.



            4.2  Data Structures

            Before  entering  a  description  of  the  layers  of  the
            firmware,  it is important to understand what the firmware
            is trying to  do  and  the  data  structures  which  allow
            communication between these functional blocks.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 17
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            The function of the RQDX3 firmware is to control the Q-bus
            DMA  engine and the SMC9224 disk controller chip on behalf
            of a host.  The firmware obtains command packets from  the
            host,  checks  their  validity,  directs  the  hardware to
            perform the required tasks, and finally informs  the  host
            of  the  success  or  failure  of these tasks via response
            packets.  The  firmware  also  operates  the  front  panel
            (i.e.,  the  human interface).  To perform these tasks and
            several others, the firmware uses blocks of  RAM  to  hold
            host  commands  and associated responses, to maintain disk
            drive status and controller status,  to  communicate  with
            the   other   two  subsystems,  and  to  perform  internal
            bookkeeping  between  competing  requests   and   external
            events.   The  RQDX3  firmware  uses  the  following  data
            structures:

             o  Command and Response Ring Description Blocks

                These are small blocks of RAM which  contain  pointers
                into  the host command and response rings, the size of
                these rings, and  which  packet  within  the  ring  is
                currently active.

             o  Command and Response Packets

                These are fixed length blocks of RAM containing a host
                command  or  response.  Packet offsets are in the form
                P.offset for MACRO code and P_offset for C code.  Thus
                the  unit  number  in  the packet may be referenced as
                P.UNIT (or P_UNIT).

             o  Sector Buffers

                These are large, fixed length blocks of  RAM  used  as
                intermediate  buffers  for  data  being  read  from or
                written to disk by the SMC9224.  During  a  read,  the
                sector  buffer  is  filled by the Q-bus DMA engine and
                later emptied by the SMC9224 chip; during a write, the
                sector  buffer  is  filled  by the SMC9224 chip and is
                later emptied by the Q-bus DMA engine.

             o  Controller and Unit Control Blocks

                These are fixed length blocks of  RAM  containing  the
                current  status  of  the controller and of each of the
                attached disk drives.  These contain  all  information
                needed  to  perform  any  given  task.   Some  of this
                information may be read by the host (with  appropriate
                commands)  and  some may be written.  For example, the
                drive geometry information is returned in the GET UNIT
                STATUS  command,  while  controller  flags may be both
                read   and   written   with   the    SET    CONTROLLER
                CHARACTERISTICS command.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 18
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


             o  Queues

                These are structures which link together other related
                control structures.  For example, the Q-bus DMA engine
                and the SMC9224 disk  controller  chip  both  maintain
                queues  of  work  to  do,  and as required extract the
                highest priority tasks from  their  respective  queues
                and  start  them  going.  Two distinct types of queues
                are used in the RQDX3 firmware.  When order  within  a
                queue  is  either  unimportant (e.g., a queue of empty
                packets) or is priority  ordered  (e.g.,  a  queue  of
                transfers  to  perform),  a singly linked list is used
                (only a "listhead" is needed).  When a queue  must  be
                handled  in  FIFO  order  (e.g., a queue of sequential
                MSCP packets), an additional piece of  information  is
                required (the "listtail") for efficiency.




            4.3  T11 Functional Code

            The T11 firmware can be broken down into major  functional
            sections:

             o  Operating System Code

                The operating system  code  serves  as  the  outermost
                control structure and handles dispatching to the other
                functional sections.

             o  UQSSP Code

                The UQSSP code handles communication between the  host
                and  the  T11  via  the  IP and SA registers, and also
                manages the reception of command packets from the host
                and transmission of response packets to the host.

             o  MSCP Code

                The MSCP code performs all associated handling of MSCP
                command  and  response packets, including verification
                of fields and initiation of data transfers.   It  also
                generates log packets for serious errors.

             o  DUP Code

                The DUP code performs all associated handling  of  DUP
                command  and response packets.  It manages the running
                of diagnostic programs (either local or loadable).

             o  Low-Level Disk I/O Code
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 19
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                The  low-level  disk  I/O  code  is  responsible   for
                communicating  with  both the Q-bus DMA engine and the
                SMC9224 chip, initiating  transfers  to  disk  and  to
                memory.  It handles error detection and recovery.


            The RQDX3  firmware  consists  of  a  set  of  cooperating
            routines  ("jobs") which each perform dedicated functions.
            Each job has its own stack and thus its own context.   Any
            operations  which could possibly run in parallel have been
            separated, and are  controlled  by  separate  jobs.   Jobs
            block  and unblock one another as they hand tasks back and
            forth; unblocking can also be done  by  interrupt  service
            routines.

            The MAIN job creates the other jobs  and  handles  various
            timer  functions.   It is the lowest priority job and will
            only run when all other jobs are blocked.

            The  POLL  job  polls  the  host  communications  area  in
            response  to  an  IP read, gathers any available commands,
            and dispatches to  either  MSCP  or  DUP,  which  in  turn
            dispatch on the given opcode to individual routines (e.g.,
            READ, WRITE, or SEND DATA).  These latter routines  either
            complete  the  requested  operation  immediately  or  else
            insert the request onto the right queue and  unblock  some
            other job.

            The SCAN job periodically wakes up and checks front  panel
            status  for  each  of  the units; this catches floppy disk
            door    transitions    (open/close,    close/open)     and
            online/offline transitions.

            Each unit (i.e., disk drive) has a WORK  job  which  scans
            for  either  additional transfers to perform or additional
            packets  to  decode.   These  jobs  are  responsible   for
            selecting  the  optimal  transfer  to perform based on the
            elevator seek algorithm; if more  than  one  unit  has  an
            available  transfer, then seeks are started in parallel on
            each of the units.



            4.3.1  MSCP Implementation Specifics -

            The RQDX3 supports all of MSCP, with the  following  major
            additions  and  omissions:  controller-initiated bad block
            replacement is implemented; caching, shadowing, multi-host
            support,  data  encryption,  and  the  REPLACE  and ACCESS
            NON-VOLATILE MEMORY commands are not implemented.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 20
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            4.3.1.1  Unit Flags -

            The following unit flags are supported by the RQDX3:

             o  Compare Reads

                If this flag is set by the host, all READ commands are
                followed   by  compare  operations  (see  the  command
                modifier "Compare").

             o  Compare Writes

                If this flag is set by the host,  all  WRITE  commands
                are  followed  by  compare operations (see the command
                modifier "Compare").

             o  Controller-Initiated Bad Block Replacement

                This flag being set by the controller signals the host
                that   it   will  never  have  to  perform  bad  block
                replacement on behalf of the controller.

             o  Removable Media

                This flag is set by the controller  for  floppy  disks
                and is cleared for hard disks.

             o  Write Protect (hard)

                This flag is set by the  controller  when  it  detects
                that the unit is hardware write-protected.

             o  Write Protect (soft)

                This  flag  is  set  by  the  host  to  disable  write
                operations to the unit.

             o  576-Byte Sectors

                This flag is cleared by the controller since  it  does
                not support 576-byte sectors.


            The following unit flags are not supported by the RQDX3:

             o  Inactive Shadow Set

                This flag is ignored by the controller since  it  does
                not support shadowing.

             o  Suppress Caching, Write-Back/Write-Through
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 21
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                These flags are ignored by  the  controller  since  it
                does not support caching.




            4.3.1.2  Controller Flags -

            The following controller flags are supported by the RQDX3:

             o  Enable Attention Messages

                This  flag  is  set  by  the  host  if  it  wants  the
                controller  to  send  any  and all attention messages.
                Attention  messages  are  generated  by   asynchronous
                events.

             o  Enable This Host's Error Log Messages

                This  flag  is  set  by  the  host  if  it  wants  the
                controller  to  send  any  and all error log messages.
                Error  log  messages  are  generated  by   synchronous
                events.

             o  Controller-Initiated Bad Block Replacement

                This flag being set by the controller signals the host
                that   it   will  never  have  to  perform  bad  block
                replacement on behalf of the controller.

             o  Shadowing

                This flag is cleared by the controller since  it  does
                not support shadowing.

             o  576-Byte Sectors

                This flag is cleared by the controller since  it  does
                not support 576-byte sectors.

             o  Multi-Host Support

                This flag is cleared by the controller since  it  does
                not support multiple hosts.

             o  Caching

                This flag is cleared by the controller since  it  does
                not support caching.


            The following controller flags are not  supported  by  the
            RQDX3:
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 22
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


             o  Enable Miscellaneous Error Log Messages

                This flag is ignored by the controller since it  never
                generates miscellaneous error log messages.

             o  Enable Other Host's Error Log Messages

                This flag is ignored by the controller since  it  does
                not support multiple hosts.




            4.3.1.3  Opcodes -

            The following opcodes are supported by the RQDX3:

             o  SET CONTROLLER CHARACTERISTICS

             o  ABORT

             o  AVAILABLE

             o  ONLINE

             o  GET COMMAND STATUS

             o  GET UNIT STATUS

             o  SET UNIT CHARACTERISTICS

             o  READ

             o  WRITE

             o  COMPARE

             o  ACCESS

             o  ERASE


            The following opcodes are supported by the RQDX3  but  are
            no-ops:

             o  COMPARE CONTROLLER DATA

             o  DETERMINE ACCESS PATHS

             o  FLUSH

      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 23
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            The following opcodes are not supported by the RQDX3:

             o  ACCESS NON-VOLATILE MEMORY

             o  REPLACE




            4.3.1.4  Command Modifiers -

            All transfer commands (READ, WRITE, COMPARE,  ACCESS,  and
            ERASE) support the following command modifiers:

             o  Compare

                This modifier requests that  a  compare  operation  be
                performed  after  the  initial  operation is complete.
                This is accomplished by (re)obtaining  the  data  from
                the host buffer, (re)obtaining the data from the disk,
                and comparing the two.  Any pair of bytes which  fails
                to  match  causes  the  command  to  terminate with an
                error.

             o  Express Request

                This modifier requests that the controller ignore  its
                usual optimization procedures and complete the command
                as quickly  as  possible.   This  is  accomplished  by
                inserting  this  request  at  the head of the transfer
                queue, ignoring the elevator seek algorithm.

             o  Force Error

                This modifier requests that the  controller  mark  the
                blocks   to  be  written  as  questionable.   This  is
                accomplished by performing the  write  operation  with
                the  "write  deleted data mark" modifier set; when the
                blocks are subsequently read back, this information is
                recovered and returned to the host.

             o  Suppress Error Correction

                This modifier requests that the controller not try  to
                correct  any  block  which  is read with an ECC error.
                This is accomplished by omitting the error  correction
                step in the low-level disk read/write routine.

             o  Suppress Error Recovery

                This modifier requests that the controller not try  to
                recover any block which has an initial error.  This is
                accomplished  by  setting  the  number  of   allowable
                retries  in  the  low-level disk read/write routine to
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 24
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                zero, and also by  implicitly  setting  the  "Suppress
                Error  Correction"  modifier  bit (since correction is
                one method of recovery).


            The GET UNIT STATUS command supports the following command
            modifier:

             o  Next Unit

                This modifier  requests  that  the  controller  return
                status  about  the  next  known  unit with unit number
                greater than or equal to the given unit number.   This
                is  used  by  host  drivers  to  determine  which unit
                numbers are known to a given controller.


            The  SET  UNIT  CHARACTERISTICS   command   supports   the
            following command modifiers:

             o  Enable Set Write Protect

                This modifier requests that the  host  be  allowed  to
                manipulate  the  software  write protect status of the
                unit.

             o  Shadow Unit Specified

                This modifier is not allowed, since shadowing  is  not
                supported.  If it is set, an error is returned.


            The  ONLINE  command  supports   the   following   command
            modifiers:

             o  Ignore Media Format Error

                This modifier requests that the unit be brought online
                even  if  the  controller  detects  some unrecoverable
                error (e.g., corrupted RCT) which would normally cause
                the unit to remain offline.

             o  Enable Set Write Protect

                Same as under SET UNIT CHARACTERISTICS.

             o  Shadow Unit Specified

                Same as under SET UNIT CHARACTERISTICS.


            If a command modifier has not been mentioned here,  it  is
            not supported (i.e., it is ignored).
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 25
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            4.3.1.5  Attention Messages -

            Only the AVAILABLE attention message  is  ever  generated;
            this   happens   when   a   unit   which   is  Unit-Online
            spontaneously transitions to Unit-Available (e.g., after a
            bad  block  replacement  attempt  fails due to a corrupted
            volume, or when the unit is disabled by opening the floppy
            disk  door  or  depressing the offline button on the front
            panel).  The  other  defined  attention  messages,  ACCESS
            PATHS and DUPLICATE UNIT NUMBER, are never generated.



            4.3.1.6  Error Log Messages -

            The HOST MEMORY ACCESS ERROR, DISK TRANSFER ERROR, and BAD
            BLOCK  REPLACEMENT  ATTEMPT  error  log  messages  are all
            supported  and  occasionally  generated.   The  CONTROLLER
            error  log message is never generated because there are no
            known failure modes which are not catastrophic.   The  SDI
            ERROR  error  log  message  is  never  generated since the
            controller does not support SDI-type drives.



            4.3.2  DUP Implementation Specifics -

            The RQDX3 supports all of DUP, with  the  following  major
            additions  and omissions:  running both local and supplied
            programs is implemented; concurrent operation with MSCP is
            not implemented.



            4.3.2.1  Opcodes -

            The following opcodes are supported by the RQDX3:

             o  ABORT PROGRAM

             o  GET DUP STATUS

             o  EXECUTE LOCAL PROGRAM

             o  EXECUTE SUPPLIED PROGRAM

             o  SEND DATA

             o  RECEIVE DATA


            The status returned by GET DUP STATUS indicates  that  the
            DUP  server must run standalone (i.e., it crashes the MSCP
            server), that there is a local load media (ROM), and  that
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 26
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            supplied  programs  are  allowed  also.   The  only  local
            programs are DIRECTORY and FORMAT; when DIRECTORY is  run,
            it returns this information.



            4.3.3  UQSSP Implementation Specifics -

            The RQDX3 supports all of UQSSP, with the following  major
            additions    and    omissions:    mapped   transfers   are
            implemented; transfers to odd  addresses  and  maintenance
            read/write are not implemented.



            4.3.3.1  Options -

            The following options are communicated to the host  during
            port initialization:

             o  Mapped Transfers

                The RQDX3 can run on hosts which do not have their own
                scatter/gather map.

             o  Adapter Purges

                The RQDX3 can run  on  hosts  which  require  explicit
                adapter  purges  to flush the cache within the adapter
                itself.

             o  Host-Settable Interrupt Vector

                The RQDX3 has a soft interrupt vector, which the  host
                can set to any value.

             o  22-Bit Q-Bus Space

                The RQDX3 hardware  supports  the  full  22-bit  Q-bus
                address space.

             o  Enhanced Diagnostics

                The RQDX3 supports the enhanced  diagnostics  required
                (purge/poll tests, SA register wrap around).

             o  No Odd Addresses

                The RQDX3 hardware cannot transfer to  an  odd  buffer
                address.

             o  No Maintenance Read/Write
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 27
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                The RQDX3 does not implement the optional  maintenance
                read/write commands.




            5  DIAGNOSTICS

            5.1  Local Diagnostics

            Diagnostic  tests  will  be  run  at  power  up  to   give
            confidence  in  module  operation.   These  tests  will be
            non-destructive to either host memory or user data  stored
            on the disk surfaces.

            The powerup tests will include the following:

             o  ROM checksum test

             o  Limited internal register  and  data  path  test  (non
                destructive).

             o  RAM test in single port mode.

            There are also Port Initialization tests that are run when
            the  host  attempts to bring the controller online.  These
            tests are:

             o  Qbus DMA test

             o  Further internal register  tests  including  the  disk
                controller chip.

             o  Multiport operation of the memory subsystem.

            Successful self diagnostics are indicated  with  a  single
            LED on the module.  This LED will be on after a Qbus power
            up sequence or a Qbus initialization and  will  be  turned
            off after the successful completion of the self tests.



            5.2  Field Service Invoked Tests

            By supporting the Diagnostic and Utility Protocol (DUP) it
            will  be possible to further test and diagnose the module.
            By using the host loadable program feature of  DUP  it  is
            possible  to  load  more  extensive test programs into the
            controller for execution.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 28
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


            6  ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS

            6.1  Q22 Bus Loading


             o  1.9 AC bus loads

             o  0.5 DC bus load




            6.2  Power Requirements


             o  2.48 Amps typical at +5.0 VDC +/- 5%

             o  2.90 Amps maximum at +5.0 VDC +/- 5%

             o  0.06 Amps typical at +12 VDC +/- 5%

             o  0.1 Amps maximum at +12 VDC +/- 5%




            7  ENVIRONMENTAL AND RELIABILITY

            This module adheres  to  DEC  Standard  102  as  a  device
            capable  of  operating  in a class C environment, although
            the  actual  environment  is  usually   limited   by   the
            mechanical  disk  drives  that  this controller interfaces
            with.

             o  Temperature

                 .  Operating     +5 to +60 degrees C

                 .  Storage       -40 to +66 degrees C


             o  Humidity

                 .  Operating      10 to 95% non-condensing

                 .  Storage        10 to 95% non-condensing


             o  Altitude

                 .  Operating      8,000 ft (2.4 Km)
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 29
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                    Note:  De-rate the maximum  operating  temperature
                    by  1.8 degrees C for each 1000 meters of altitude
                    unless constant cooling is provided as air density
                    changes with altitude.

                 .  Storage        30,000 ft (9.1 Km)


             o  Airflow, operating

                Adequate airflow must be provided to limit  the  inlet
                to  outlet  temperature  rise across the module so the
                outlet   temperature   never   exceeds   70    degrees
                Centigrade.   The  typical  power  dissipation  of the
                module  is  such  that  with  a  60  degree  C   inlet
                temperature,  this can be achieved with a 4 cubic feet
                per minute airflow.  No  area  of  the  board  may  be
                subjected  to  a  local  ambient  temperature above 70
                degrees C under any environmental conditions.

             o  MTBF

                 .  Class A - 66,000 hours

                 .  Class B - 29,000 hours

                 .  Class C - 18,000 hours


             o  Soft Error Rate

                 .  Hard Disk Drives - 1 error in 10^10 bits read

                 .  Floppy Disk Drives - 1 error in 10^8 bits read

                Note  that  "bits  read"  includes  all  headers   and
                checksums  read  during  the  seek  and  data transfer
                operation.




            8  PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS

            8.1  Module Finger Connections

            Note:  Names in the parenthesis are bus signals not used.

                       AA1    (BIRQ5 L)            AA2    +5V
                       AB1    (BIRQ6 L)            AB2    (-12V)
                       AC1    BDAL16 L             AC2    GND
                       AD1    BDAL17 L             AD2    +12
                       AE1    (SSPARE1 or +5B)     AE2    BDOUT L
                       AF1    (SSPARE2)            AF2    BRPLY L
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 30
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                       AH1    (SSPARE3)            AH2    BDIN L
                       AJ1    GND                  AJ2    BSYNC L
                       AK1    (MSPAREA)            AK2    BWTBT L
                       AL1    (MSPAREB)            AL2    BIRQ4 L
                       AM1    GND                  AM2    BIAKI L
                       AN1    BDMR L               AN2    BIAKO L
                       AP1    (BHALT L)            AP2    BBS7 L
                       AR1    BREF L               AR2    BDMGI L
                       AS1    (+12B or +5B)        AS2    BDMGO L
                       AT1    GND                  AT2    BINIT L
                       AU1    (PSPARE1)            AU2    BDAL0 L
                       AV1    (+5B)                AV2    BDAL1 L

                       BA1    (BDCOK H)            BA2    +5V
                       BB1    BPOK H               BB2    (-12V)
                       BC1    BDAL18 L             BC2    GND
                       BD1    BDAL19 L             BD2    +12V
                       BE1    BDAL20 L             BE2    BDAL2 L
                       BF1    BDAL21 L             BF2    BDAL3 L
                       BH1    (SSPARE8)            BH2    BDAL4 L
                       BJ1    GND                  BJ2    BDAL5 L
                       BK1    (MSPAREB)            BK2    BDAL6 L
                       BL1    (MSPAREB)            BL2    BDAL7 L
                       BM1    GND                  BM2    BDAL8 L
                       BN1    BSACK L              BN2    BDAL9 L
                       BP1    (BIRQ7 L)            BP2    BDAL10 L
                       BR1    (BEVNT L)            BR2    BDAL11 L
                       BS1    (+12B)               BS2    BDAL12 L
                       BT1    GND                  BT2    BDAL13 L
                       BU1    (PSPARE2)            BU2    BDAL14 L
                       BV1    +5V                  BV2    BDAL15 L




            8.2  Connector Pinout

            Connector J1: 12-13506-13

                 PIN #       SIGNAL NAME              PIN #       SIGNAL NAME
                 J1-1--------MFMWRTDT1 (H)            J1-2--------MFMWRTDT1 (L)
                 J1-3--------GROUND                   J1-4--------HEADSEL2 (L)
                 J1-5--------GROUND                   J1-6--------SEEKCPLT (L)
                 J1-7--------DRV4RDY (H)              J1-8--------WRTFAULT (L)
                 J1-9--------HEADSEL3 (L)*            J1-10-------HEADSEL1 (L)
                 J1-11-------DRV1RDY (H)              J1-12-------DRV3RDY (H)
                 J1-13-------DRV1WPT (L)              J1-14-------DRVSL0ACK (L)
                 J1-15-------MFMRDDAT0 (H)            J1-16-------MFMRDDAT0 (L)
                 J1-17-------MFMWRTDT0 (H)            J1-18-------MFMWRTDT0 (L)
                 J1-19-------MFMRDDAT1 (H)            J1-20-------MFMRDDAT1 (L)
                 J1-21-------GROUND                   J1-22-------REDUCWRTI (L)**
                 J1-23-------DRV3WPT (L)              J1-24-------DRVSEL4 (L)
                 J1-25-------GROUND                   J1-26-------INDEX (L)
                 J1-27-------DRV4WPT (L)              J1-28-------DRVSEL1 (L)
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 31
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                 J1-29-------DRVSEL2 (L)              J1-30-------DRVSEL3 (L)
                 J1-31-------DRV2RDY (H)              J1-32-------RXMOTORON (L)
                 J1-33-------GROUND                   J1-34-------DIRECTION (L)
                 J1-35-------GROUND                   J1-36-------STEP (L)
                 J1-37-------GROUND                   J1-38-------RXWRTDATA (L)
                 J1-39-------GROUND                   J1-40-------WRTGATE (L)
                 J1-41-------GROUND                   J1-42-------TRACK0 (L)
                 J1-43-------DRV2WPT (L)              J1-44-------DRVSL1ACK (L)
                 J1-45-------GROUND                   J1-46-------RXRDATA (L)
                 J1-47-------GROUND                   J1-48-------HEADSEL0 (L)
                 J1-49-------GROUND                   J1-50-------READY (L)

                 * Connected to the HEADSEL3 signal, left open, or grounded via
                   a jumper on the module.

                ** The HEADSEL3 signal may be ORed with the REDUCWRTI signal
                   via a jumper on the module.




            8.3  Connector Signal Description

            It is recommended that the output signals from this module
            be  terminated at the far end of a 130 ohm impedance cable
            with a  single  220/330  resistor  divider  network.   The
            maximum  allowable cable length when proper termination is
            used is 8 ft.  It is  the  responsibility  of  the  system
            design  engineer  to  insure the integrity of these output
            signals  through  proper  cabling  techniques.   With  the
            variable  lengths  of cables used in different systems and
            the various methods of signal distribution some  engineers
            may  choose to violate this specification.  It will not be
            possible the guarantee the specified soft error  rates  in
            these situations.

            The following is a description of the signals available on
            the   drive   interface  connector  J1.   The  timing  and
            electrical characteristics of these signals are compatible
            with  the  signals  as  specified in the RD31, RD51, RD52,
            RD53, RD54, RX33 and RX50 purchase specifications.

             o  DIRECTION(L)                  Output

                This signal controls the direction of  head  movement.
                When asserted the direction of movement is towards the
                spindle (in).

             o  DRV<4:1>RDY(H)                Input/Output

                When one or more of these signals is asserted  by  the
                front  panel  (READY  switch open) the controller will
                assume that the hard disk drive on  the  corresponding
                DRV<4:1>SEL  line  is  ready for data transfers.  When
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 32
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                the controller performs a seek function on a hard disk
                drive  it  will  force  this  signal  to an unasserted
                condition to turn off the READY  light  on  the  front
                panel for the corresponding drive.

                The  controller  will  ignore   the   state   of   the
                appropriate  DRV<4:1>RDY signal when there is a floppy
                disk drive attached to a DRV<4:1>SEL line.

             o  DRV<4:1>WPT(L)                Input/Output

                These signals, when  asserted  from  the  front  panel
                (Write Protect switch closed), are used to indicate to
                the controller that hard disk drive connected  to  the
                corresponding   DRV<4:1>SEL  line  is  to  be  protect
                against write operations.

                The controller will assert  a  DRV<4:1>WPT  signal  to
                indicate  that the system software has write protected
                the hard disk on the corresponding DRV<4:1>SEL line.

                The  controller  will  ignore   the   state   of   the
                appropriate  DRV<4:1>WPT signal when there is a floppy
                disk drive attached to a DRV<4:1>SEL line.

             o  DRV<4:1>SEL(L)                Output

                The controller will assert one  of  these  signals  to
                select one of four drives for operation.

             o  DRVSL<1:0>ACK(L)              Input

                These input signals are asserted by a hard disk  drive
                to indicate that it has been selected.  When either or
                both of these signals are asserted the controller will
                assume  that  there  is a hard disk drive connected to
                the currently active DRV<4:1>SEL line.

             o  GROUND

                The signal return path.

             o  HEADSEL<3:0>(L)               Output

                These signals are used to select one of up to  sixteen
                surfaces on the currently selected drive.

             o  INDEX(L)                      Input

                This input signal  informs  the  controller  that  the
                currently  selected  drive  is  at  the beginning of a
                track.
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 33
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


             o  MFMRDDAT<1:0>(H)              Input

                MFMRDDAT<1:0>(L)              Input

                Data  from  the  hard  disk  drive  surface  will   be
                transmitted  to  the  controller on these differential
                signal pairs.  The controller will  assume  that  hard
                disk drives on DRV1SEL and DRV3SEL will transmit their
                data on the MFMRDDAT0 differential pair and that  hard
                disk drives on DRV2SEL and DRV4SEL will transmit their
                data on the MFMRDDAT1 pair.

             o  MFMWRTDT<1:0>(H)              Output

                MFMWRTDT<1:0>(L)              Output

                These differential signal pairs will define  the  data
                to  be written to the disk surface when the Write Gate
                signal is asserted.   There  are  two  sets  of  these
                differential pairs to allow two hard disk drives to be
                connected  without  external  logic.   Both  pairs  of
                signals will be active at the same time.

             o  READY/DISK CHANGE(L)          Input

                This input signal from the  drive  will  indicate  the
                following:

                For hard  disk  drives  it  will  indicate  that  when
                SEEKCPLT  is also asserted the drive is ready to read,
                write, or seek.

                For RX33 floppy disk drives it will indicate that  the
                drive  has  powered up or that media has been removed;
                the signal is cleared  when  the  drive  is  selected,
                media  is installed, and a STEP pulse is issued to the
                drive.

                For RX50 floppy disk drives it will indicate that  the
                front door is closed, and media is present.

             o  REDUCWRTI/MOTOR SPEED(L)      Output

                This controller output can be asserted to force a disk
                drive   to  use  a  low  value  of  write  current  if
                appropriate.

                The RX33 floppy disk drive uses this signal to control
                the  motor speed:  if asserted, low speed is selected;
                if unasserted, high speed is selected.

             o  RXMOTORON(L)                  Output
      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 34
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                This signal is asserted by the controller to  turn  on
                the floppy disk drive motors.

             o  RXRDATA(L)                    Input

                This input is the read data channel  from  the  floppy
                disk drives.

             o  RXWRTDATA(L)                  Output

                This output is the write data channel  to  the  floppy
                disk drives.

             o  SEEKCPLT(L)                   Input

                This  input  signal  should  be  asserted   when   the
                currently  selected  hard  disk  drive has completed a
                seek function.

             o  STEP(L)                       Output

                This output signal is used to step the head(s) of  the
                currently  selected  floppy  disk  drive  or hard disk
                drive.

             o  TRACK0(L)                     Input

                This input signal from  the  currently  selected  hard
                disk drive or floppy disk drive will indicate that the
                drives head(s) are positioned at track zero.

             o  WRTFAULT(L)                   Input

                This  signal  will  be  asserted  from  the  currently
                selected drive for the following reasons:

                For hard disk drives this  input  should  be  asserted
                when  a  condition  exists  in  a  selected drive that
                should cause writing  to  be  inhibited.   The  signal
                should  remain  asserted  until the error condition is
                corrected and the drive is deselected.  Some of  these
                error conditions include:

                 .  Write current and no write gate, or  drive  select
                    and write gate with no write current.

                 .  Multiple heads, no head,  or  improperly  selected
                    head.

                 .  DC voltages out of tolerance.

                 .  Write gate and Seek Complete deasserted.

      ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION             DIGITAL                  Page 35
      RQDX3 Engineering Specification                            RQDX3-0-DBF


                For floppy disk drives this signal is asserted when  a
                write protected diskette is present.

             o  WRTGATE(L)                    Output

                When asserted this controller output signal will  turn
                on the write drivers of the currently selected drive.




            8.4  Jumper Configuration

            The  installation  process  for  the   RQDX3   module   is
            relatively  simple since the standard configuration should
            be  suitable  for   most   applications.    The   standard
            configuration is as follows:

             o  Base Address 172150

             o  Logical Unit Numbers (of drives) = 0 to 3

             o  Drive cable configured for RQDX1/2 compatibility.

            The following rules should be followed to  change  one  or
            more of the above characteristics.

             o  Base  Address  --  The  module  base  address  can  be
                configured with jumpers W1 (address bit 2) through W11
                (address bit 12).  A jumper is installed for  a  match
                to  a  1  in the corresponding address bit and removed
                for a match to a 0.  Address bits 13 through  15  will
                always  be  matched  to  a  one  (Qbus I/O page).  The
                standard  base  address  is  selected  by   installing
                jumpers W2, W4, W5, W9, and W11.

             o  Logical Unit Number --  There  are  six  logical  unit
                number jumpers on the module labeled W12 (LSB) through
                W17 (MSB).  These  jumpers  allow  the  drives  to  be
                configured  on  a  logical  unit number boundary of 4.
                (ie.  A jumper setting of the binary number 3, jumpers
                W12  and  W13 installed, would configure the drives on
                this module to respond  to  logical  unit  numbers  12
                through 15).

             o  Cable compatibility -- This jumper should have  little
                affect  until  hard  disk  drives  with  more  that  8
                surfaces are used.  This jumper allows the fourth head
                select  signal  to  be  OR tied with the Reduced Write
                Current cable signal as  required  by  current  system
                boxes  (jumper across pins 1 and 2 of W23) or put onto
                a separate cable signal (jumper across pins 2 and 3 of
                W23) for a less restrictive mix of drive types.












                                 APPENDIX A

                            Applicable Documents



           o  RQDX3 Technical Description

           o  RQDX3 User's Guide

           o  DEC Std 30 (Module Manufacturing Standard)

           o  DEC Std 102 (Environmental Standard)

           o  DEC Std 103 (RFI Standard)

           o  DEC Std 139 (Reliability Standard)

           o  DEC Std 160 (LSI-11 Bus Specification)

           o  DEC Std 166 (Disk Format Standard)

           o  UQSSP (Unibus/Qbus Storage Systems Port Specification)

           o  MSCP (Mass Storage Control Protocol Specification)

           o  DUP (Diagnostic and Utility Protocol Specification)

           o  RX33 Purchase Specification

           o  RX50 Purchase Specification

           o  RD51 Purchase Specification

           o  RD52 Purchase Specification

           o  RD53 Purchase Specification

           o  RD54 Purchase Specification


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