Did I get an RL01 pack instead of RL02? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

25 Oct 2007

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:00:39 -0500 (CDT), you wrote:

...
 Defective, or bulk-erased, which amounts to the same
thing. 
...
 RL01 were long behind it by 1983, which would make me
initially expect
that it probably was some other cause than RL01 vs RL02 issues,
leaving "blank media" or "non-DEC media" as likely issues.

-ethan 
I saw Al Kossow's response too - thanks, Al... I had no idea that
there were different (low-level) formatting on the same physical
media!

So I emailed the seller and got the following (excerpted)
response:

...
 It was in a rack with other discs that had been used on
a pdp11/23 PLUS system,
having two RL02 drives, and was presumably used to archive obsolete
paper-plant simulation programs, written in FORTRAN 77.  The disc
cartridges in this set were of multiple manufacturers, and seemed to
have been bought from the lowest bidder.  I have CDC's, Memorex's, and
even some DEC's. 
No idea as to whether it was bulk-erased, but that is starting to
sound more likely, given the above history. He has volunteered to
mail me a "real" (DEC) pack, at no additional cost - that's superb
fleabay service and definitely exceeded my expectations.

Meanwhile, anyone got one or two more packs I can purchase?

-Charles