22 Nov
2014
22 Nov
'14
5:57 a.m.
On Friday (11/21/2014 at 09:59PM -0800), Johnny Billquist wrote:
On 2014-11-21 16:54, Chuck Guzis wrote:
FWIW, the Heathkit H27 can low-level format RX01 media. There is a switch
on the front to enable the formatting.
http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/Heathkit-DEC-H11.htm
The H-27 floppy disk subsystem features two 256K 8" single side,
single density drives. The drives are DEC RX01 compatible,
and, unlike the DEC products of the day, are able to format
the floppies,.
There is another switch to select between "EXTENDED" and "RX01" and I
am
still trying to determine if "EXTENDED" is RX02 or something proprietary
to Heath.
I have an H27 but it is not running currently and I do not have a manual.
--
Chris Elmquist
On 11/21/2014 04:28 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
Yeah. The RX50. The Rainbow was the one machine that apparently was capable
of actually formatting them. But lots of other DEC machines used them.
I should probably point out that an RX01 or RX02
cannot actually format
floppies at all. They need preformatted floppies, in the IBM format.
Rainbow 100 floppies were initially like that--you bought formatted
media. But very quickly, someone wrote a formatting program. But you really have to wonder what DEC was
thinking...
Indeed. But on the other hand, it was probably a good source of income for
them, selling preformatted floppies...