Mr Ian Primus wrote:
I have other ESDI disks, and one other Micropolis
drive (non DEC)- I want to attempt to format and test
some of them on the Vaxen. I plan on attempting to
repair the RD53, but I'd like to be able to format and
test disks, since I need to scare up a replacement for
the other Vax.
The emulex boards should have onboard formatters for the ESDI drives.
No need for the "diagnostic tape"
I have heard tales of a magical diagnostic tape that
exists for these machines.
Tales they are ;-)
With the diagnostic tape, you can format formatted drives. If you really
like to format a MFM disk for a VAX, use a pdp11 with XXDP, or a
microVAX 2000.
Good luck
P.S. Go ESDI, if you have the drives already ...