15 Aug
2014
15 Aug
'14
3:37 p.m.
On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 4:07 PM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
IIRC the 98217 is for the 9885 drive only, whcih is
conencted by the
98032 parallel interface. As an aside, the communcations protocol for the
9885 is not docuemtned in any maula that I've seen, I think it's possible
to deduce it from the publised routines in the HP9000/200 Pascal
technical manuals, but...
Well this is slightly embarassing....I knew I had some sort of
non-HPIB HP floppy drive downstairs. I just went to search for it
and...it's a 9885. So, in theory, if I got the parallel interface (a
few for $50 on ebay now) and the 98217, I'd have a complete system.
That is, if the drive works and I found the (also rare) formatter
tape.
It would see it would be better to hold out for the HPIB-enabled 98228
ROM, or as Glen says above, maybe someone will clone it.
Fortunately this is only a hobby and there are plenty of other
projects to attack. This one can wait :)
-j