10 Jun
2013
10 Jun
'13
4:13 p.m.
On Jun 10, 2013, at 4:04 PM, Philipp Hachtmann <hachti at hachti.de> wrote:
Hi folks,
I'm currently sorting parts of my stuff. And I found out that I have less RK05 packs
with 16 sectors (PDP8) than drives. I have some 12 slot packs as well.
But I could need more 16 sector packs.
I have access to some masses of 12 sector packs... Probably I'm not alone with that
situation.
If there's enough interest it could be possible to machine new center hubs for the
packs. With custom sectoring. I'm quite sure that the biggest part of the cost would
be the programming and setup of the CNC that turns the hubs. Then changing the sectoring
to customer demands will probably cheap and easy. So the idea of making new center hubs
could be quite interesting for the folks who need the same pack style for other computers
with other sectoring. I know of IBM 1130 and some HP computers using the same packs which
were originally an IBM idea.
Any comments? Interested? Your feedback helps me to decide if it's reasonable to do
it or better put the idea into the trash.
An important point would be the amount of cash one is willing to pay for
one center hub.
This has been discussed at length among us DEC folks here in the SF Bay area. One idea
that's kind of neat
(I think it was Eric Smith who first mentioned it) was use insert a PLL between the
optical sensor circuit and the
controller that would allow you to specify the number of sector pulses that gets sent to
the controller.
As an aside, I'm in about the same boat. I have 4 16-sector packs and 200-300 12
sector packs.
TTFN - Guy