Hey all --
Got myself an HP 7980S 9-track drive (always wanted a 9-track drive...)
and accidentally mangled my one and only 9-track tape just after the BOT
marker (not sure what caused it, maybe the drive needs a bit of
adjustment...). So I have two questions: Where can I find a reasonable
replacement for the marker, and where does it go? I see the sense foil
on the part of the tape that got mangled, but I don't know what side of
the tape it was originally on...
Thanks!
Josh
P.S. The magical tape autoloading thing this drive does is the coolest
thing I've seen in a long time :).
> > > >
> > > >> You are right about the RD53s though. The one that came with the
> > > machine
> > > >> seemed a bit dubious to me but seemed at least to respond in
> some
> > > way (I
> > > >> could start a boot but it would never complete). Then one day it
> > > just went
> > > >> offline as if it is not attached at all, I wonder if this is not
> a
> > > >> mechanical problem but an electronic one in this case? Is there
> > > anything
> > > >> that can be done to revive them?
> > > >
> > > >Most likely you've run into the sticky pads problem. Hopefully
> > > Allison
> > > >answers this, as I believe she has experience reviving RD53's.
> > IIRC,
> > > >basically you open the drive up and remove the sticky rubber pads.
> > I
> > > really
> > > >don't remember the details as I went SCSI nearly 10 years ago.
> > > >
> > > >Zane
> > > >
> > >
> > > If it spins up then back down and repeats thats a stuck head
> > > positioner.
> > > When the drive is powered down there is a magnetic retract and at
> the
> > > end of travel there are bumpers that betwen heat and time get
> sticky.
> > > The windup then down is the failure of the heads to move and find
> > servo
> > > and it fails.
> > >
> > > There are two fixes, temprorary is to freeze the drive and
> sometimes
> > > they unstick. Me I open the drive, unstick the heads and reach in
> to
> > > the mech and pull out the goo they stick too. Never had a failure
> > yet
> > > and all 6 of my RD53s are salvaged this way and most were opened
> over
> > > 10 years ago (two approaching 15!) and they are well past their
> MTBF
> > > now. I haven't opened any in years since I haven't found more and
> > > generally RD53s are more useful to me as spares, swap or for the
> Qbus
> > > pdp 11s I have. Other than that goo problem they were otherwise
> > > reliable drives.
> > >
> >
> > I have opened up the drive by removing the top plate and I have not
> > found
> > quite what I expected. The heads are positioned under the platters, I
> > expected that when retracted they would be to one side of the
> platters
> > instead. The platters rotate freely but the heads so indeed seem to
> be
> > stuck
> > in that I cannot move the arm (at least not without applying some
> > force), I
> > am assuming that they are stuck because of the goo you mention. What
> I
> > am
> > not sure about is just how to unstick the heads, there does not seem
> to
> > be
> > much to get hold of and I am worried that applying too much force may
> > break
> > something. Once I have the heads unstuck the goo is going to be in-
> > between
> > the platters, is that right? I cannot see how to get at the goo to
> > clean it
> > up in that case.
> >
> > Any advice on what to do? Do I need to remove more parts, or can it
> be
> > done
> > just by removing the top plate?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Rob
>
> I tried a bit more this morning and I have managed to loosen the arm
> carrying the heads to some extent. I can now move the heads back and
> forth a
> bit, but only about 5mm across the platters. What I am not sure about
> is how
> free the movement should be when there is no power, should I expect to
> be
> able to move the heads across the whole surface, or just the 5mm or so
> I am
> able to do now?
>
> Regards
>
> Rob
Aarrgh! Just worked out the interlock mechanism that was stopping the heads
moving much, I can move them as much as I like now, but I am still unclear
where the goo that is causing them to stick is located and how to reach it.
Regards
Rob
> > >
> > >> You are right about the RD53s though. The one that came with the
> > machine
> > >> seemed a bit dubious to me but seemed at least to respond in some
> > way (I
> > >> could start a boot but it would never complete). Then one day it
> > just went
> > >> offline as if it is not attached at all, I wonder if this is not a
> > >> mechanical problem but an electronic one in this case? Is there
> > anything
> > >> that can be done to revive them?
> > >
> > >Most likely you've run into the sticky pads problem. Hopefully
> > Allison
> > >answers this, as I believe she has experience reviving RD53's.
> IIRC,
> > >basically you open the drive up and remove the sticky rubber pads.
> I
> > really
> > >don't remember the details as I went SCSI nearly 10 years ago.
> > >
> > >Zane
> > >
> >
> > If it spins up then back down and repeats thats a stuck head
> > positioner.
> > When the drive is powered down there is a magnetic retract and at the
> > end of travel there are bumpers that betwen heat and time get sticky.
> > The windup then down is the failure of the heads to move and find
> servo
> > and it fails.
> >
> > There are two fixes, temprorary is to freeze the drive and sometimes
> > they unstick. Me I open the drive, unstick the heads and reach in to
> > the mech and pull out the goo they stick too. Never had a failure
> yet
> > and all 6 of my RD53s are salvaged this way and most were opened over
> > 10 years ago (two approaching 15!) and they are well past their MTBF
> > now. I haven't opened any in years since I haven't found more and
> > generally RD53s are more useful to me as spares, swap or for the Qbus
> > pdp 11s I have. Other than that goo problem they were otherwise
> > reliable drives.
> >
>
> I have opened up the drive by removing the top plate and I have not
> found
> quite what I expected. The heads are positioned under the platters, I
> expected that when retracted they would be to one side of the platters
> instead. The platters rotate freely but the heads so indeed seem to be
> stuck
> in that I cannot move the arm (at least not without applying some
> force), I
> am assuming that they are stuck because of the goo you mention. What I
> am
> not sure about is just how to unstick the heads, there does not seem to
> be
> much to get hold of and I am worried that applying too much force may
> break
> something. Once I have the heads unstuck the goo is going to be in-
> between
> the platters, is that right? I cannot see how to get at the goo to
> clean it
> up in that case.
>
> Any advice on what to do? Do I need to remove more parts, or can it be
> done
> just by removing the top plate?
>
> Thanks
>
> Rob
I tried a bit more this morning and I have managed to loosen the arm
carrying the heads to some extent. I can now move the heads back and forth a
bit, but only about 5mm across the platters. What I am not sure about is how
free the movement should be when there is no power, should I expect to be
able to move the heads across the whole surface, or just the 5mm or so I am
able to do now?
Regards
Rob
In case you're seeing mysterious requests for money, that's me getting the
logic probe case group buy going. When everyone who's put their name in
has paid, I'll make the order. If you decided you want more or less,
pay your invoice accordingly and drop me a note saying what you want me to
do. The price is $4 per case and $5 shipping. Steve Maddison is the only
non-US taker I counted. Please correct me if I goofed.
If you didn't say so earlier and now want one or more cases, let me know
and I'll invoice you. The door closes when I hear from all the takers
(within reason).
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
Apologies for spoiling the mood, but I just learned about the passing of Paul Panks, aka Dunric. Whilst I didn't know him personally, I recently started learning a little about C64 BASIC and helped test one of the games he was working on recently (via emulation).
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?n=paul-allen-panks…
His website (recently moved from Geocities) remains up for now:
http://ppanks76.tripod.com/
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
-----------Original Message:
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:02:24 -0500
From: Chris Elmquist <chrise at pobox.com>
Subject: Micropolis 1015-2 floppy drive
Does anyone have specs or even better original documents for a Micropolis
1015-2 (aka mod II) 5.25" floppy drive? I have two connected to
a Micropolis designed floppy controller in an old S-100 system.
My memory tells me these were single sided, double density, 77 track,
100 tpi drives. But I may be confusing them with other Micropolis models
that were used in this particular S-100 system around the same time.
The S-100 system was built by Multi-Tech Systems Inc (the modem guys)
here in St. Paul, MN around 1980,81. It is a model MT-500 and is a
clone of an R2E design that came to market around the same time.
I wrote portions of the PROM and CP/M BIOS for this thing when I was
in highschool. I, of course, saved many pieces of the things and am
preparing to bring one of them back online soon.
Chris
--
Chris Elmquist
---------Reply:
Your memory's pretty good; they are indeed SS/DD 100TPI; there's
also a 1016-2 which looks like pretty well the same drive.
Vector Graphic used these drives with a Micropolis controller; I have
two VG systems that use them (with hard sector disks, FWIW).
The bare mechs were also used in Commodore 8050 dual disk drives
(as well as Tandon and MPI) but with custom electronics.
You can find a maintenance manual (26MB) at:
www.vector-archive.org
in the VG Docs CD folder.
The Micropolis controller manual is in the Manuals folder.
Good luck!
mike
****************************************
All:
I?m troubleshooting my IMSAI that has YE-380 high-density 5.25? floppy
drives replacing 8? drives, and I?m looking for schematics of the drive. The
YE-380 drives were originally used in the IBM PC/AT, but I?m sure other
machines used them too.
I did some googling earlier and didn?t come up with anything useful.
Does anyone have a pointer to the schematics or a pdf/jpg you could send me?
Thanks!
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.altair32.comhttp://www.classiccmp.org/cini
I've just taken possession of a PDP-8/L but its missing its core stacks.
If anyone has one they are prepared to be parted from could they contact
me off list.
Many thanks,
Toby
--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
>
>Subject: RE: TCP/IP for VMS 5.4
> From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com>
> Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:46:51 -0700 (PDT)
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>
>
>On Mon, 13 Jul 2009, Robert Jarratt wrote:
>
>> You are right about the RD53s though. The one that came with the machine
>> seemed a bit dubious to me but seemed at least to respond in some way (I
>> could start a boot but it would never complete). Then one day it just went
>> offline as if it is not attached at all, I wonder if this is not a
>> mechanical problem but an electronic one in this case? Is there anything
>> that can be done to revive them?
>
>Most likely you've run into the sticky pads problem. Hopefully Allison
>answers this, as I believe she has experience reviving RD53's. IIRC,
>basically you open the drive up and remove the sticky rubber pads. I really
>don't remember the details as I went SCSI nearly 10 years ago.
>
>Zane
>
If it spins up then back down and repeats thats a stuck head positioner.
When the drive is powered down there is a magnetic retract and at the
end of travel there are bumpers that betwen heat and time get sticky.
The windup then down is the failure of the heads to move and find servo
and it fails.
There are two fixes, temprorary is to freeze the drive and sometimes
they unstick. Me I open the drive, unstick the heads and reach in to
the mech and pull out the goo they stick too. Never had a failure yet
and all 6 of my RD53s are salvaged this way and most were opened over
10 years ago (two approaching 15!) and they are well past their MTBF
now. I haven't opened any in years since I haven't found more and
generally RD53s are more useful to me as spares, swap or for the Qbus
pdp 11s I have. Other than that goo problem they were otherwise
reliable drives.
I also have a boat load of RZ22,23,25, RZ55 and RZ56s in use and a pile of
RD52s (quantumn D540s). The RD52s are only 31mb but perfect for swap or RT-11
based systems as they were very fast for their storage size and unkillable.
I have better than 12 of the D540s as I use them in CP/M based systems as
well.
For backup I use the RZxx as backup as they are faster and more
reliable than TK50. TO create a new system I do a backup/image to
a same size or larger to clone the disk and system. Same for the
MFM drives. Old 1gb SCSI Baracuda drives are excellent for MV3100s
and anything with SCSI and the run forever.
If you going to mess with MFM drives you must have a MicroVAX2000 as its
a good RDxx formatter in a box (RqDX3 compatable). If it has decent amount
of memory and an RD54 in it they can be fun to play with as they are
small and very portable. The alternate is to MOP load VMS to it and use a
small 20-40mb disk for local files and swap. With two you can run LAVC!
Allison
At 9:46 AM +0100 7/11/09, Robert Jarratt wrote:
>Does anyone know if there is a version of TCP/IP around that will install on
>VMS 5.4. I only have UCX from a 7.3 CD-ROM which I cannot install on 5.4
>because it does not have the PRODUCT command.
UCX from V7.3 wouldn't install on V5.4 anyway. A better question
might be why are you running V5.4? Off the top of my head your best
bet will be CMU-IP, but I'm not even sure where you'll find a copy of
that (I probably have it, I'm just not sure where as I've still not
recovered from moving). I'm not sure how old of VMS CMU-IP supports
though. If you were running V5.5-2 you could run Multinet or TCPware.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
