Resurrecting RK05

tony duell ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk
Tue Jan 6 12:59:57 CST 2015


> 
> I am also wondering, that since I have very few PDP8-sectored RK05 packs, and a ton of PDP-11 sectored
>  packs, if , when I first power up the drive after it has been connected up to the RK8E , I can put one of my PDP 11 > packs in there and spin it up, if the controller will be able to load the heads?    I'd much rather sacrifice one of 
> these packs if there are problems rather than risk one of my precious PDP-8 sectored packs.

An RK05 will spin up and load the heads without a controller. It is a darn good idea to have a terminator
fitted (otherwise noise on the interface lines can do interesting things, like cause write glitches, don't ask
how I found that out). 

It does need a pack with the slotted hub so that the drive electronics can tell the drive is up to speed before
it tries to load the heads. But obviously a 12 sector (PDP11) pack will do for that.

So yes, you can use a PDP11 type of pack to see if the heads will fly even though the drive is on an RK8/E

-tony


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