I have used VTServer quite a bit to copy RK05, RL01, and RL02 packs from my PDP-11/40 to a Windows-based PC, and vice versa. I have not used it in a couple years, but it is my recollection that when you start the VTServer executable, and assuming that your INI file is set up properly, it opens the COM port, which is connected via (I think) a null modem cable to the console serial line on the PDP-11. It then copies an ULTRIX OS to the PDP-11 and boots Ultrix. It seems like it took a few minutes to copy the Ultrix shell to the PDP-11. Once Ultrix is up and running, you can copy files to and from the PDP-11 disk packs. I have pulled images of many packs to my PC this way, and I have also copied disk images from my PC to an actual PDP-11 RL01, RL02, and RK05. It always worked fine for me except when a pack had bad blocks. I think that my version of VTServer is more current than the one that Johnathan Engdahl has on his site. When I was working with VTServer, I encountered some bugs. Fred Van Kempen fixed these for me and sent me an updated VTServer system. It sounds like you could use a PDP-11 to create RL01 or RL02 packs for use on the PDP-8. However, as someone mentioned in an earlier post, you could not do the same with RK05 packs because the sectoring is different. I think the metal hub that is mounted on the platter is different as well and has a different number of grooves in the hub. If you want my version of VTServer, let me know. I may stick in out on my web site so it can be downloaded. Ashley http://www.woffordwitch.com