DF10 Data Channel
The DF10 Data Channel is a channel for the early PDP-10 models (KA10 and KI10) which had the PDP-10 main memory bus as a standard bus. It can connect to multi-port memory banks either directly, or via an MX10 Memory Data Multiplexor. It is also connected to the system's I/O bus, to allow the CPU to control it.
It has limited capabilities, compared to most channels from other manufacturers: it supports only the following types of channel command words:
- End of program
- Jump to new CCW list
- Discard data
- Transfer data to/from memory
It is used with device controllers such as the RP10 disk controller, TM10 Magnetic Tape Control, and RH10 MASSBUS controller.
Models
- DF10
Introduced 1968 for use with the KA10. Control words have a negated 18-bit word count in the left half, and an 18-bit memory address in the right half.
- DF10-C
Introduced for use with the KI10. The memory address is expanded to 22 bits, and the control word is reduced to 14 bits.
- MIT modified DF10
Used on the Project MAC KA10 DM and ML machines running ITS. The control word has the negated word count in bits 3-17, and the 21-bit memory address is split with bits 15-17 inverted in control bits 0-2, and bits 18-35 in the right half of the control word.
