MM11-E and MM1-F core memories

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Revision as of 02:47, 29 May 2018 by Jnc (talk | contribs) (Mention M109/M1091 interleaving)
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The MM11-E and MM11-F core memories were UNIBUS main memory units; the first UNIBUS memories produced by DEC. They came out with the first PDP-11, the PDP-11/20.

They were very similar - both 4K word (8K bytes); the MM11-F was capable of interleaving, and also had a parity version available, the MM11-FP (which used a 4kx18 core plane instead of the 4Kx16 used in the MM11-E and MM11-F).

The MM11-F was also slightly faster: the MM11-E had an access time of 500 nsec and a cycle time of 1.2 μsec; the MM11-F had an access time of 400 nsec and a cycle time of 980 nsec.

They consisted of a quad H207 (non-parity) or H210 (parity) core plane board, along with a number of dual and single cards, plugged into a quad system unit. The MM11-F and MM11-FP used the same backplane; only the board set was different

Board locations

These are the board locations for the MM11-E and F (as seen from the board side) of the backplane:

Connector Slot 4 Slot 3 Slot 2 Slot 1
A UNIBUS
Out
Power   UNIBUS
In
B G225% M109!
C H207
or
H210
G226 G226 G729@
or
H7290%
D G102 G102
E G102 G102 ++
F G226 G226 G103

++ = G225 (MM11-E) or G108 (MM11-FP)
@ = MM11-E only
% = MM11-F only
! = Possibly the later M1091

Apparently the M1091 could be used in the MM11-E as well as the MM11-F; it seems that the difference between the M109 and M1091 is the addition of jumpers to allow interleaving.