IIRC, the brush assembly was not fitted to later drives (maybe all RL02s didn't have it), as it did more harm than good. Those tubes are air ducts. There are basically 2 airflows in the RLs. The first is the cooling air, which comes in at the front through the prefilter, through those tubes, which are a sort of heat exchanger to cool the disk pack air, and then over the logic and out through the muffin fan at the back. The second is the air that recirculates through the back and the absolute filter, driven by a fan on the motor. Although there is clearly some interchage of air (it's not a sealed-unit winchester or anything like that), doing it this way reduces the amount of 'dirty' air going onto the abcsolute fiter, so the filter is claimed to last longer. You will get a FAULT light if there's no controller connected. The drive needs a clock signal from the controller The 3 manuals I use a lot are the printset (obviously), a very complete technical manual (it even explains the contents of the PROMs on the drive logic board) that I've only ever seen on microfiche, and the pocket service guide, which has a remarkable amount of useful info in it. -tony

I have an RL02 cable that goes from the controller to the drive. That was commonly used in "package" situations where you had things like a 8/A or 11/23PLUS in a H96xx chassis shipped from the factory. Unfortunately on this cable the part that screws onto the drive has broken off, but I used to use that cable and it never affected anything, it works great. I ran a single RL02 with RT-11 on it for a long time, and played many games without problems. I also have a spare terminator. Let me know if you want it and maybe we can work out a trade or something. Julian -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Charles Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2005 10:47 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Looking for RL02 cable and terminator ... like the subject line says. Now that my 8/A is up and running it's time to hook up the RL02. I do have the interface board plugged into the Omnibus, the correct boot ROMs on the option board, and the RL02 has the Unit "0" plug but no cable or terminator. I could make my own if someone can tell me where to get the connectors that fit the drive end. Also, I think someone cannibalized the disk brush out of mine :( There is a big open area towards the right rear of the disk compartment and a pin with a snapring groove protruding downwards, but nothing in the empty hole there except two silver-colored tubes down below (air ducts?)... seemed pretty clean inside, as it should. So I left the heads parked (blocked by the transport plate), inserted the disk pack and ran the blower for a while anyway. Fault light was on, load light was not. I didn't hook it up to the interface board (obviously :) but not being well-acquainted with these drives I don't know if it *has* to be connected before the fault light goes off, or the heads free to load, or both... I do have a copy of the "RL01/02 Disk Subsystem User's Manual" but the service manual and parts list looks essential at this point. Hope it's on bitsavers ;) Thanks for any help. -Charles