13 Jun
2011
13 Jun
'11
6:54 p.m.
A couple of the items we "saved" this weekend from the garage in MN
included both an RX01 and an RX02 floppy system.
Unfortunately, the mice got to the RX02 before we did and really had
quite the palacial estate inside the cardboard box with foam packing
that held the unit. Needless to say, everything that comes out of a
mouse pretty much covered this drive system. Mouse effluent #1 turned
the whole thing to #2. It looks to be a total loss.
However, the RX01, in another box, was tightly wrapped in plastic
and appears to have survived. Also obtained were a spare set of RX02
"formatter" boards, which are the electronics that go in the chassis
and sit above the drives.
Does anyone know if a pair of RX01 drives and power supply can be
converted to an RX02 by just changing the formatter boards in the chassis?
Were the drives themselves different? or did they get to double density
by just changing the formatter?
Chris
--
Chris Elmquist
14 Jun
14 Jun
4:23 a.m.
On 06/13/2011 09:54 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote:
A couple of the items we "saved" this
weekend from the garage in MN
included both an RX01 and an RX02 floppy system.
Unfortunately, the mice got to the RX02 before we did and really had
quite the palacial estate inside the cardboard box with foam packing
that held the unit. Needless to say, everything that comes out of a
mouse pretty much covered this drive system. Mouse effluent #1 turned
the whole thing to #2. It looks to be a total loss.
However, the RX01, in another box, was tightly wrapped in plastic
and appears to have survived. Also obtained were a spare set of RX02
"formatter" boards, which are the electronics that go in the chassis
and sit above the drives.
Does anyone know if a pair of RX01 drives and power supply can be
converted to an RX02 by just changing the formatter boards in the chassis?
Were the drives themselves different? or did they get to double density
by just changing the formatter?
Chris
Yes, you can. My RX02 is a former RX01with a board change.
The other RX02, take it out and hose it down then scrub it the board may
be salvageable.
After the scrub with mild soap, de-water with 91% Isopopanal then dry well.
The mechanics may or may not have survived. Door latches, motors and
power supply board
should be salvaged and cleaned.
Allison
7:42 a.m.
On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 7:23 AM, allison <ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote:
The mechanics may or may not have survived. ?Door
latches, motors and power
supply board should be salvaged and cleaned.
Absolutely - I have at least one or two Calcomp drive mechs from
RX01/RX02 with a seized motor or a busted latch. All repairable with
the right spares.
-ethan
8:08 a.m.
On Tuesday (06/14/2011 at 10:42AM -0400), Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 7:23 AM, allison <ajp166 at
verizon.net> wrote:
OK. You guys convinced me.
The top circuit board in the RX02 (the board on the hinge) has had the
traces etched away by Mouse Effluent #1. I think that's a gonner.
ME #1 also attacked the large electroyltic filter caps in the power supply
to the point that the caps leaked their contents onto the metal below.
They're a loss too. The transformer was also soaked in #1 so I don't have
high hope for it either. The entire chassis is pitted and rusted as is
the front bezel.
The drives are jam packed with packing peanuts and shredded Instapak-like
expanding foam but if I can get the rusted screws out and remove
the bottom panels, I can suck all of that out and inspect the drives
themselves. I think the drives served as Duplex housing for two mouse
families and so I'm pretty sure it's going to be ugly inside the drives.
But-- since I have a second set of RX02 electronics and you guys believe
I can swap those with the RX01 electronics while keeping the same drives,
we could be in business.
The drives in the RX01 have cast aluminum frames which I understand to
be the Calcomp drives. The RX02 drives are not a cast aluminum chassis
and have the removeable base plate (well, assuming the screws aren't
unscrewable) and so are not Calcomp but something newer... and obviously
more attactive to mice.
Thanks for the info!
Chris
--
Chris Elmquist
The mechanics may or may not have survived. ?Door
latches, motors and power
supply board should be salvaged and cleaned.
Absolutely - I have at least one or two Calcomp drive mechs from
RX01/RX02 with a seized motor or a busted latch. All repairable with
the right spares. 
10:40 a.m.
However, the RX01, in another box, was tightly wrapped
in plastic
and appears to have survived. Also obtained were a spare set of RX02
"formatter" boards, which are the electronics that go in the chassis
and sit above the drives.
Does anyone know if a pair of RX01 drives and power supply can be
converted to an RX02 by just changing the formatter boards in the chassis?
There are 2 large boards bove the chassis, the top one (on a hinge) is
the controller, the lower one is the read/write board. Those boards are
bot different betwee nthe RX01 and RX02, and you must have a pair from
the same type of drive. There's no (simple) way to use an RX01
controller with an RX02 read/write or vice versa. It sounds like you have
a pair of RX02 boards though which will work together. I think the
itnerconencting cable between them is differnt between an RX01 and RX02,
but that it not a major porblem
The pwoer supply is indentical between the 2 typs of drive. So is the
chassis and the fan plenum
The drives are almsot the same. From what I remember (and you'd have to
check the prints or the pocket service guide), there's a resistor (1k?)
between pins on the head conenctor that must be fitted if it's ued with
one type of read/write board and remvoed for the other. I think all spare
drives came with it fitted, and you diked it out if you were fitting the
srive to the other type of unit..
IIRC, on a PDP11, you have to use an RX02 bus interface (RX211, RXV21) to
use double-density, If you have an RX11 or RXV11, you can only use the
thing as a single-density drrvie even if you fit the RX02 boards.
Conversely, an RX211 or RXV21 will not work with an RX01. On omnibus
PDP8s, the RX8e card wil lwork with boat types of drive unit, and will do
sdobule density on an RX02.
In one respect the RX01 is more interesting. There's a 36 pin edge
connector on the controlelr PCB. It's to connect a KM11 maintenance
board which will then dispaly th microcode PC, various flags, etc. And
one of the switches on the KM11 does a halt-microcode-on-errrr. I ratehr
enjoyed debugging mine that way. For the RX02, you need a logic analyser
to figure out what the microcode is doing.
-tony
1:10 p.m.
On Tuesday (06/14/2011 at 06:40PM +0100), Tony Duell wrote:
There are 2 large boards bove the chassis, the top one (on a hinge) is
the controller, the lower one is the read/write board. Those boards are
bot different betwee nthe RX01 and RX02, and you must have a pair from
the same type of drive. There's no (simple) way to use an RX01
controller with an RX02 read/write or vice versa. It sounds like you have
a pair of RX02 boards though which will work together. I think the
itnerconencting cable between them is differnt between an RX01 and RX02,
but that it not a major porblem
Yes... I have a pair of RX02 boards that has not been etched by ME#1
and I have a pair, in a rusted RX02 chassis, that have been etched by
ME#1 with about a 2" x 3" oval of missing traces.
The pwoer supply is indentical between the 2 typs of
drive. So is the
chassis and the fan plenum
OK. Only the one in the RX01 chassis will be usable.
The drives are almsot the same. From what I remember
(and you'd have to
check the prints or the pocket service guide), there's a resistor (1k?)
between pins on the head conenctor that must be fitted if it's ued with
one type of read/write board and remvoed for the other. I think all spare
drives came with it fitted, and you diked it out if you were fitting the
srive to the other type of unit..
I have learned that the RX01 drives are Calcommp drives. They have the
cast aluminum chassis while the Mouse Condo RX02 drives do not have the
cast aluminum chassis and _were_ a newer design.
IIRC, on a PDP11, you have to use an RX02 bus
interface (RX211, RXV21) to
use double-density, If you have an RX11 or RXV11, you can only use the
thing as a single-density drrvie even if you fit the RX02 boards.
Conversely, an RX211 or RXV21 will not work with an RX01. On omnibus
PDP8s, the RX8e card wil lwork with boat types of drive unit, and will do
sdobule density on an RX02.
Yes-- I am set here. I have RX211.
In one respect the RX01 is more interesting.
There's a 36 pin edge
connector on the controlelr PCB. It's to connect a KM11 maintenance
board which will then dispaly th microcode PC, various flags, etc. And
one of the switches on the KM11 does a halt-microcode-on-errrr. I ratehr
enjoyed debugging mine that way. For the RX02, you need a logic analyser
to figure out what the microcode is doing.
Interesting. OK. Well, if this pans out, I will certainly keep the RX01
board set in my collection so that I could change back in the future if
need be.
Thanks for the info Tony.
Chris
--
Chris Elmquist
15 Jun
15 Jun
10:40 a.m.
The drives are
almsot the same. From what I remember (and you'd have to
check the prints or the pocket service guide), there's a resistor (1k?)
between pins on the head conenctor that must be fitted if it's ued with
one type of read/write board and remvoed for the other. I think all spare
drives came with it fitted, and you diked it out if you were fitting the
srive to the other type of unit..
I have learned that the RX01 drives are Calcommp drives. They have the
cast aluminum chassis while the Mouse Condo RX02 drives do not have the
cast aluminum chassis and _were_ a newer design.
4939
days inactive
4940
days old
6 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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ajp166＠verizon.net -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
chrise＠pobox.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com