Pardon my ignorance but, is it possible to interface
the IBM 8"
floppy model 9331-011 to any DEC PDPs? Specifically, can it be used
to replace the RX01/02 floppies?
Nowhere in the interfaces does the IBM unit have the same interface
as the DEC RX01/02 unit. Well, maybe at the 120VAC plug :-).
If you want to replace a DEC RX01/02 with something else, there
were a bazillion RX01/RX02 clones made with their own Q-bus/
Unibus/Omnibus interfaces. Again, not the same as the serial
bus between the bus interface and the DEC drives, but actually
far more generic.
Usually the clones use very standard Shugart 801 type interfaces
somewhere along the way. Some have a Q-bus or Unibus card
that has the 50-pin floppy bus on a header connector. Others
have their own serial-type bus and a "formatter" card at the
drive that turns that into the Shugart floppy bus.
There were probably 20 different manufacturers of 8" floppy drives
using the 50-pin Shugart bus.
Maybe, just maybe, the head load pads in the IBM drive
will work in a DEC RX02 :-).
Tim.