13 Sep
2002
13 Sep
'02
2:04 a.m.
--- Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com> wrote:
Yes. You are correct. Original DECtapes were open reel and ran on
TU-55 and TU-56 drives. I wonder what fills the evolutionary tree
as a TU-57 (engineering prototype? unreleased transport? skipped
for marketing reasons?)
>> I
have a 4951. It uses the same tapes as the HP-85, HP 9825, etc.
>> IIRC they're DC-100 tapes...
>> You can also reformat and use DECTapes.
>
>Right. That's what my boss used to do. I have plenty of
>4951-formatted DECtapes to last me a while (5-10, IIRC).
I've got quite a few reels of DECtape, and I can't imagine how you
could possibly jam them into a cartridge tape slot, nor how they could
be expected to do anything useful if you di.
Presumably the tapes in question are TU58 tapes, which are unfortunately
known as "DECtape II". Anyhow, the big problem with reformatting them for use
on other systems
is that there is no known way to format them back into TU58 tapes if
you ever need any. :-(
True.
And I could definitely use some TU58 tapes, but not if
they've been
formatted into something else.
I myself have never done it, but I have used ones that other people
reformatted. Better to use a DC-100 in your HP 4951, clearly, but
14 years ago, faced with two cases of DECtapes (yes, we did have
a bunch bought new from DEC, so not just diagnostic and distro tapes),
my boss chose to sacrifice half-a-dozen tapes. It was his company.
They were his tapes. Now they are mine. :-)
-ethan
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