30 Jun
2010
30 Jun
'10
7:58 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
The giant filter on the back confirms that it uses a lot of air. :-)
I like my Zip drives though - I've been lucky and have not had the click
of death. They are great for vintage machines - parallel port versions
for the PCs, and SCSI for anything else.
Mike
On 30 Jun 2010 at 20:01, Michael B. Brutman wrote:
Ok, good news so far then. I've never encountered the DC37M on SCSI
before so I have to find a cable or an adapter. All of my other SCSI
gear uses the Mac connectors (25 pin) or Centronics, so I'm stuck for a
bit until I find a source. (Or learn how to make a proper cable.)
- Is it SCSI? If so, what's the pinout on
the back? It has a 37 pin
female connector that I'm not familiar with if it is SCSI.
Yes, it is. The Iomega PC2 SCSI adapter has a DC37M on the bracket.
I believe the pinout is the old Novell SCSI one:
http://sysdoc.doors.ch/BLACKBOX/17972.PDF - Where is the
head mechanism? Is it fairly robust and protected if
there are no cartridges inserted? This one has no major dents, but it
has not been babied either. I don't want to waste time on it if it's
just going to be a heartache. (I have enough of that already.)
I like the old Bernoulli boxes very much. Because of the physics of
the thing (Bernoulli's principle), the disks were pretty much
uncrashable.
You can demonstrate the principle for yourself by taking a playing
card (or other semi-stiff card) and a common thread spool. Push a
pin through the middle of the card and insert the pin into the hole
in the center of the spool (the pin simply keeps the card centered).
Now with the card against the spool, blow through the spool as hard
as you can. You'd think that the card would be blown off, but it
isn't--it floats against the spool on a thin cushion of air.
Ah-ha! so if we substitute a disk for the card and a flat plate with
a head embedded in the surface, we have a crashproof drive!
The other upside is that the whole affair is at a positive pressure
to the atmosphere and so is self-purging.
Great stuff and very much unlike the Zip and Jaz abominations.
The early (5MB and 20MB) Bernoullis used a somewhat oversimplified
SCSI command set. I've never tried one on a late SCSI controller,
but it should work.
--Chuck