Ethan Dicks wrote:
Doc
<doc(a)mdrconsult.com> wrote:
Erzatz-11 eval says you can read-write RX50 on a HD 5.25" drive. I
expect that emulators, or at least E-11, will like those....
I guess I can go that
route, too. I hadn't dug into E-11 enough to know
that I could use a real 5.25" drive with the emulator. It begs the
question, though - how well does a *real* RX50 drive work with a PeeCee,
with or without E-11? Any advantage?
Jerome Fine replies:
While I have heard than an RX50 drive will work on a PeeCee system
under Windows 98, why go to all the trouble of doing so? A standard
HD 5 1/4" 1.2 MByte drive is much easier to find although they may
have become less available over the past few years. It is compatible
with standard PeeCee software/hardware and handles BOTH standard
1.2 MByte HD floppy media in addition the RX50 media via a number
of utilities such as PUTR and Ersatz-11.
The actual RX50 can't read the 1.2 MByte media and can't do a LLF
(Low Level Format) on the media - at least it is NOT possible using
DEC hardware on the PDP-11, although I have heard that some RX50
drives (BUT NOT ALL) could do an LLF on a Rainbow.
However, the best advantage with Ersatz-11 and the standard 5 1/4"
HD 1.2 MByte PeeCee floppy drive is that it handles RX50 media
as standard RX50 devices and can be used with RT-11 without any
difference from using the media on real DEC PDP-11 hardware.
It also allows RX33 emulation if that is useful. Note that the RX33
on a real DEC PDP-11 must be used with an RQDX3. Neither
the RQDX1 nor the RQDX2 can handle the RX33.
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
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