From Empty Chassis to Full System: My eBay PDP-11/73 Rebuild Adventure

Video Description

Join Dave Plummer as he rebuilds a vintage PDP-11/73 from a bare DEC chassis, step by step. In this episode, I install a QBUS CPU card, two PMI memory boards (for a full 4MB), and interface with RQDX3 and M3104 serial boards to bring everything online. I’ll show how I tackled slot configurations, DMA bus grants, and the magic of the QBone for emulating boot media. We’ll format a classic DEC hard drive, then load XXDP diagnostics, and prep the system for BSD or RT-11. If you’re into retro computing, DEC hardware, or PDP-11 restorations, this is your backstage pass to a full rebuild—from backplane setup to kernel tweaks! Free Sample of my Book on the Spectrum: https://amzn.to/3zBinWM Watch ShopTalk Now on Dave's Attic: https://youtu.be/5Emgx0lhllE Follow me on X: https://x.com/davepl1968 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davepl