7 Aug
2019
7 Aug
'19
7:06 p.m.
I think you could change heads in a TU10 and add or take out a few boards.
I've worked on 7 and 9 track versions in the day.
On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 6:43 PM Michael Thompson via cctech <
cctech at classiccmp.org> wrote:
thanks a lot for your hint to the DEC controller. I wasn't aware that the
TM11, TMA11 and TMB11 controllers can handle 9-track as well as 7-track
NRZI-encoded tape drives. However, all these controllers seem to be very
rare in the public out there. Not too surprising considering that DEC TU
and TS tape drives themselves are rare and that 7-track tape drives were
soon replaced by 9-track tape technology in the early days.
With best regards,
Pierre
The TC58 Magnetic Tape Controller for the PDP-8 and the TC59 for the PDP-9
can be connected to both 7-track and 9-track drives. The TU20 drive on the
PDP-9 at the RICM is a 7-track drive. The only difference between the
7-track and 9-track versions of the TU20 is the tape head. All of the tape
drive electronics is the same for both versions.
--
Michael Thompson