Q-Bus

Q-Bus
Q-Bus
Created byDigital Equipment Corporation
Width in bits8 or 16-bit data, 16-bit address extended to 22-bit
No. of devices127 in theory, ~20 in practice
StyleParallel

The Q-bus,[1] also known as the LSI-11 Bus, is one of several bus technologies used with PDP and MicroVAX computer systems previously manufactured by the Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts.

The Q-bus is a less expensive version of Unibus using multiplexing so that address and data signals share the same wires. This allows both a physically smaller and less-expensive implementation of essentially the same functionality.

Over time, the physical address range of the Q-bus was expanded from 16 to 18 and then 22 bits. Block transfer modes were also added to the Q-bus.

  1. ^ Schmidt, Atlant G. (1990). "Unibus, Q-Bus and VAXBI Bus". In Di Giacomo Joseph (ed.). Digital bus handbook. McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070169233.