17 Oct
2005
17 Oct
'05
4:30 p.m.
I did find the tech manuals (from classiccmp's mirror of bitsavers).
Tony, IIRC it says the early drives *did not* have brushes and later
model ones were equipped with them? Incidentally this drive started life
That's the opposite to what I've seen and heard. The RL01's in my MINC
are the earliest version, the drive logic board does not have the RL01/RL02
jumper, it's strictly RL01 only. That drive has the brushes. I've mever seen
an RL02 with brushes.
as an RL01 but also has a DEC sticker "changed to
RL02 by PCO" just to
further confuse things.
On a late-design RL01, that's a fairly easy change to make (a few links
on the boards, new heards, and maybe a new spindle if the older, less
accurate, one is fitted).
Do you still recommend I not install them? I think
that airflow and
I would not fit the brushes.
centrifugal force might be the only safe way to remove
particles rather
than "grinding" them across the disk platter surface with a brush, no
matter how lightly...
I think there may also be a "Fault" if the brushes are not parked?
I don't know if there was a logic change (maybe a different state machine
ROM or something), but I do know you can get a working RL02 without the
brush mechanism. I would assume your drive will work without it, at least
until you prove otherwise ;-)
Ethan, thanks for the suggestion about using a 40 pin
double-ended-Berg cable from inside the drive. I haven't taken the
electronics cover off yet. I only have one 8/A and one RL02 so once
mounted in the rack cabinet they'll stay there, connected to each
other. The 40-pin cable will be, of course, trivial to make IF the
pinouts are the same on both ends.
The pinouts are the same at each end...
But remmber if you do this you'll need to do something about termination.
Either kluge a resistor network into another connector at the drive end
of the cable, or use one of the connectors on the back of the drive with
a real DEC terminator (if you can get one).
When you open up the drive you'll see a short 40 way ribbon cable with 3
Berg connectors on it. One plugs into the drive logic PCB, on the bottom
of the cover. The other 2 plug into the back of the rear panel cable
connectors. You could make a longer cable with 2 conenctors near one end
(drive logic PCB and one of the rear conenctors) and a single connector
at the other end for the controller. Then just plug a terminator into the
rear connector of the drive.
One other minor caveat. The drive supplies 5V power on one of the corner
pins (check the printest) of the connector to power the terminator. This
is deliberately not connected between the drives (connecting PSUs in
parallel is generally a bad idea). I don't think it's connected anywhere
on the contoller board, but you might want to check the printset and
remove the offiending pin from the controller-end Berg connector if
necessary when making the cable.
-tony