RK07 questions

No, it's not 'just like the RL01'. The RL's have embedded servo bursts -- tht is there are servo signals in the sector header regions of each data surface. The same head reads the servo signals and the data. This is one reason why an RL is so easy to align and why you don't need a special alignment pack. The RK07 has a seperate servo surface. There are 4 surfaces (2 platters) in the pack. One surface and its head is just servo signals. The other 3 surfaces are just user data (and sector headers, etc). In an RK07 it's necessary to get the data heads and the servo head correctly aligned so that when the servo head is on a track, the data heads are too. There are, apparently, 3 special items needed to do this, an alignment pack (which contains special signals on the 3 'data' surfaces, I assume a bit like the CE pattern used for a floppy drive), a tool to screw to the carriage to actually move the heads independantly, and some kind of meter to tell you if the heads are off-track. I have none of them (yet!). Since the data surfaces of a normal pack just contain user/OS data -- nothing essential for the operation of the _drive_, it should be possible to do a low-level format. Ah, right.... Remember I am a hardware person and deal with gates and op-amps :-) OK. It sounds like your drive is basically working. What I'd do at this point is look at the prints to see what should drive the ready lamp. And then check back from the output stage until you can find out why it's not being turned on. I can dig out my prints and take a look too. -tony