pertec interface - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

20 Jun 2001

On June 20, bill wrote:
...
  ISA Card? There were several. *very* expensive - maybe
$500
 I've got one - been thinking (maybe not very seriously) of
 putting everything into an ASIC or FPGA as a do-it-yourself
 project. Realistically, how many tapes are there out there
 that need to be read? 
  Be careful, it's very easy to underestimate this...a great many
organizations are still using 9-track tapes.

  Your FPGA idea sounds really neat.

...
  Found a Qualcom open style deck not long ago -
it's a SCSI,
 and a lot lighter and easier to haul around than those F-880
 Cipher pigs. Which are taking up space ''just in case''. 
  Heh.  You've never moved a Fuji M2444AC, have you.  The Cipher F-880
is tiny.

  The "right" way to do 9-track these days is the HP 88780.  SCSI,
caching, fast, quiet, self-threading, and as far as I'm aware, still
being produced.

         -Dave McGuire