9 Jun
2015
9 Jun
'15
10:54 p.m.
On 06/09/2015 10:31 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Okay, I understand that. I use an old Chi ISA-bus controller for my
Pertec IF drives. It works okay, but without detailed internals, it's
hard to write a really good driver for it.
Any particular
reason why Pertec IF isn't desirable?
I already have 1-2 Pertec IF drives; my Kennedy 9610, and presumably
my TU80 based on the two 50-pin cables between it and my VAX. I don't
have any Pertec interface controllers on my modernish, up-and-running
computers, but I do have a fully-working Sun Ultra 60 with SCSI
interface, software support for SCSI tape drives, and capable of
talking to my NAS for easy file transfer to my main computer (Mac Pro
"trashcan"). I already have two Pertec-capable projects, and I'm
looking for something to help me bootstrap those rather than a third
similar project. So either getting a SCSI magtape drive or a SCSI to
Pertec bridge should get me there more easily. It's delightful for one, that's how! Think you
might make more than
one of them, or share the plans? It sounds like something I could
potentially use! I've considered making something like that myself,
but I have so many such ideas that I am happy to let other folks make
some of them for me. :)
It's sort of strange design, but what I wanted to do was approach the
problem step-wise. So I've got an XC95108 CPLD consolidating the IF to
a simple 8-bit wishbone bus affair. I'm currently using a PIC32MX795 to
interface with that and provide the USB interface, but too much CPU and
too little memory. A small ARM MCU would probably be better suited to
the job.
Anyway, a work in progress...
--Chuck