Having demonstrated that it is possible to build a system using the 6016 and 6080 cards it was time to set up a more robust system.
I had a very large enclosure setup including the drive and an Adaptec SCSI interface card. It has a rear panel that supports lots of D connectors.
Although having 10 slave processor cards is overkill it would certainly demonstrate the capability of TurboDOS. None of the pulsar cages seemed to have the current capacity required for that many cards, but there was a spare Pro-Log cage that looked suitably robust.
The enclosure was designed for an 8” drive and the distribution disks are 8”. I had an unallocated NEC 8” drive from about the right period.
The power budget is as follows:
| Device | +5V | +12V | -12V | +24V |
| Master 6016 | 3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
| 10xSlave 6080 | 20 | 6 (I’d be surprised if it’s this high.) | 1 | |
| Floppy Disk Drive | 0.9 | 0.9 | ||
| Hard Disk (est) | 1 | 1.5 | ||
| Fans | 0.5 | |||
| Total | 25 | 7.6 | 2 | 1 |
| Used | 40 | 10 | 10 | 5 (will replace with 3) |
I used 4 separate supplies which complicated the mains wiring a little but matched the loads. The -12V supply is the same as the +12V but wired for -12V. The fans run off it to provide a minimum load.
The main switch was originally a key switch, but without a key it needed to be replaced.
Any mains wiring that could come into contact with low voltage wiring was sleeved.
The card cage already had a power connector and loom so it just needed reterminating.
Layout was a compromise. The supplies had to be mounted with the terminal blocks accessed from within. The 8” drive pushed the cage back as far as it would go while allowing access to the power supply terminals.
Three fans were included – one to cool the power supplies and the other to cool the processor cards. The case lid was modified to allow for the fan inlets.
Note to self: I wonder if that poorly mounted crystal accounts for keystrokes not being seen by the seventh card (The order changed a bit).
