Able Computer
Able Computer was a company based in Irvine, California which made a variety of device controllers and similar devices (e.g. caches) for PDP-11s and other machines which used the UNIBUS or QBUS.
The controllers were usually program-compatible to existing DEC products, but more cost-effective; their other boards offered performance and capability enhancements that DEC themselves did not offer.
The following table gives the part numbers and sizes of Able products, to aid in identification of un-identified boards:
| Product | Part Number | Size | Bus or Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNIVERTER | 10001 | quad* | QBUS (UNIBUS output) |
| CACHE/45 | 10003? (main) 10020 (jumper) |
hex + double dual | PDP-11/45, etc |
| REBUS | 10014 | double dual | UNIBUS |
| QUADRASYNC/B | 10015 | quad | UNIBUS |
| SCAT/45 | 10017 (control) 10025 (data) |
hex (control and data) | PDP-11/45, etc |
| QUADRASYNC/C | 10022 | quad | UNIBUS |
| QUADRASYNC/E | 10028 | hex* | UNIBUS |
| CACHE/434-440 | 10031 | double dual | PDP-11/34, PDP-11/40 |
| Dual I/O | 10039 | quad | UNIBUS |
| QUADRACALL | 10045 | quad | UNIBUS |
| DMAX/16 | 10048 | double hex | UNIBUS |
| BUSLINK | 10062 | quad | QBUS |
| INTERLINK | 10064 | hex* | UNIBUS |
| QNIVERTER | 10067 | quad* | QBUS (UNIBUS input/output) |
| DZ/16 | 10090 | hex | UNIBUS |
| DH/DM | 10100 | hex | UNIBUS |
| VaxDZ | 10140 | hex | UNIBUS |
| UNIMAP | 10143 | quad* | QBUS (UNIBUS output) |
| VMZ/32 | 10185 | hex | UNIBUS |
| DV/16 | hex | UNIBUS | |
| ENABLE | hex* (main board), quad (optional cache) | MUD (UNIBUS input) | |
| Q/DH | quad | QBUS | |
| QNIMAP | double dual | QBUS |
* indicates a non-rectangular board; usually because there is a UNUBUS female connector on the back edge of the board
The notation "PDP-11/45, etc" means it also applies to the -11/50 and -11/55 (machines which are physically identical to the -11/45, with different main memory configurations).
In some documentation, the INTERLINK was also named the 'Interlink/UNI', and the BUSLINK the 'BUSLINK/LSI' .
