From: alan@nabeth.enet.dec.com (Alan Rollow - Alan's Home for Wayward Tumbleweeds.)
Subject: Re: Need information on DEC VAX 600/310
Keywords: DEC VAX 600/310
Reply-To: alan@nabeth.enet.dec.com (Alan Rollow - Alan's Home for Wayward Tumbleweeds.)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 23:45:38 GMT


In article <Oct.13.21.29.13.1992.813@remus.rutgers.edu>, castello@remus.rutgers.edu (Vicente Castello) writes:
>
>	As the subject line states, I am interested in obtaining
>information pertaining to the DEC VAX 600/310. The following are
>some of the questions that I have:

First, for future reference I believe you mean a VAX 6000 Model 310;
note the extra zero.

>
>    1) What capabilities does this machine have?

The VAX 6000 series is a sub-family of the VAX line of computer
systems that share a common cabinet and set of I/O controllers
and adapters.  The basic cabinet is about 60 inches tall, 30
inches wide and 36 inches deep (154 x 78 x 90 cm).  All the
systems use the XMI high speed (100 MB/sec) system bus.  Many
systems also provide the VAXBI bus for additional I/O capabilities.
There is also room within the system for either two RA90s, RA92
or eight RA70s.  Most systems use the TK70 as the load device.
More recent systems may support RA71s or RA72s in place of the RA70s.

The XMI provides 14 backplane slots for CPUs, memory modules, I/O
devices and adapters to the VAXBI.  Three kinds of memory modules
are available at 32 MB, 64 MB and 128 MB.  Maximum system memory
is limited to 512 MB.  Five different speed CPU modules are
avilable.  I've listed the VUP rating, which is the speed relative
to the VAX 11/780 over a wide vareity of benchmarks.  Since the
VAX 11/780 is the baseline for the all the SPECmark ratings you
should be able to get a good idea about the rough speed available
from each system.

			VUP
	Model 200 -	2.8 
	Model 300 -	3.8
	Model 400 - 	7
	Model 500 -	13
	Model 600 -	32

All the system are capable of being configured as multi-processor
systems.  I believe the Model 200 is limited to four CPUs while
the others are limited to six.  The Model 400 and 500 also support
an optional vector processor.  The first digit of the model number
indicates the CPU module used.  The next digit indictes the number
of CPUs in the system.  In the case of your Model 310 it's a single
CPU system that nearly four times faster than the 11/780.

The variety of I/O controllers supported by the systems are:

CIXCD - Native XMI controller for the Computer Interconnect used
        for connecting to other CI adapters and HSC I/O controllers.
KDM70 - Native XMI SDI controller for the RA/TA series disk and
	tape drives.
DEMNA - Native XMI Ethernet adapter.
KFMSA - Native XMI DSSI controller for the RF/TF series disk and
	tape drives.

KDB50 - SDI disk controller for the VAXBI.
CIBCA - VAXBI CI adapter.
DEBNI - VAXBI Ethernet adapter.

Support for each device is operating system dependent.

>    Is it a standalone computer?

It can be, if that's how you want to use it.

>    Or can it be used within a network environment in order to 
>    facilitate other machines connected to a network?

I believe all systems include either the XMI or VAXBI Ethernet
adapter, so you can also it as a server of some sort.

>	2) How does this machine compare with other types of machines,
>	i.e Sparc 2?

The Model 300 is the 2nd slowest member of the family.  The I/O
capability of the SYSTEM make it a good server, if the work doesn't
require lots of intervention on the part of the CPU.  It is a system
intended for computer room environments.

>	3) In addition to running VMS as its OS, can Ultrix be used as
>	an OS?

Yes.  It is supported by the current version of ULTRIX (V4.3).  Of
the I/O adapters previously mentioned only the KFMSA and CIXCD aren't
supported.

>	Please send your responses via e-mail. Thank you.
>
>--Vicente Castello
>
--
Alan Rollow				alan@nabeth.cxo.dec.com