2 Oct
2018
2 Oct
'18
4:49 p.m.
Did DEC offer a rack-mount or tabletop box version of the RX50 floppy
drive, as they did with e.g. the TU58 and TK50 tape drives? I'm wondering
how they expected the RX50 drive to be packaged when used with a Unibus
PDP-11 via the RUX50 controller.
2 Oct
2 Oct
4:55 p.m.
On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 4:50 PM Eric Smith via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
Did DEC offer a rack-mount or tabletop box version of
the RX50 floppy
drive, as they did with e.g. the TU58 and TK50 tape drives? I'm wondering
how they expected the RX50 drive to be packaged when used with a Unibus
PDP-11 via the RUX50 controller.
Yes: We've got an 11/84 with a DEC-branded rack-mount enclosure for a pair
of RX50 drives. I can take some pictures if you'd like.
- Josh
5:23 p.m.
On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 6:50 PM Eric Smith via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Did DEC offer a rack-mount or tabletop box version of
the RX50 floppy
drive, as they did with e.g. the TU58 and TK50 tape drives?
Yes.
I'm wondering
how they expected the RX50 drive to be packaged when used with a Unibus
PDP-11 via the RUX50 controller.
We had an external RX50 on our 11/750 at work (so we could cut
floppies for our MicroVAX customers right from our main machine). The
box was the typical external DEC 5.25" drive box of the day, also used
for TK50 and RD5x drives - it could take a black sled, like the kind
used with the BA23, and had a PSU inside next to the drive. In the
back was a transition board that was different depending on the drive
type, but typically had between 1 and 3 DD50-P connectors. We had a
10' DD50P cable that went from the back of the drive box to an I/O
bulkhead plate on the 11/750, then an internal flat cable to the RUX50
controller.
I don't know the part number for the box, but with the cover off, they
looked like this:
https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images3/1/0816/09/dec-vax-pdp-rd-tk-driv…
(This one has the internal I/O board and cables for an RD5x drive.)
I happen to have at least 3 of these boxes, all have dead PSUs.
Nothing magical in them - 110/220 VAC inputs, and a single 4-pin Molex
drive connector with +12V and +5V outputs at a enough amps to drive a
TK50 or RD51.
We usually positioned the RX50 on top of the 11/750 next to the
console terminal so we could log in, fire off some DCL scripts and
make some floppies. The cable would have let it sit on a nearby
table or in the next rack over, but not any further than that.
-ethan
3 Oct
3 Oct
5:33 a.m.
I don't recall for certain, what floppy models were done as externals
for the DecMate I or II, but I think there were both RX01 and RX50
boxes as described. I don't recall hard drives til the VT278 desktop
box.
bb
On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 8:32 PM Ethan Dicks via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 6:50 PM Eric Smith via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Did DEC offer a rack-mount or tabletop box
version of the RX50 floppy
drive, as they did with e.g. the TU58 and TK50 tape drives?
Yes.
I'm wondering
how they expected the RX50 drive to be packaged when used with a Unibus
PDP-11 via the RUX50 controller.
We had an external RX50 on our 11/750 at work (so we could cut
floppies for our MicroVAX customers right from our main machine). The
box was the typical external DEC 5.25" drive box of the day, also used
for TK50 and RD5x drives - it could take a black sled, like the kind
used with the BA23, and had a PSU inside next to the drive. In the
back was a transition board that was different depending on the drive
type, but typically had between 1 and 3 DD50-P connectors. We had a
10' DD50P cable that went from the back of the drive box to an I/O
bulkhead plate on the 11/750, then an internal flat cable to the RUX50
controller.
I don't know the part number for the box, but with the cover off, they
looked like this:
https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images3/1/0816/09/dec-vax-pdp-rd-tk-driv…
(This one has the internal I/O board and cables for an RD5x drive.)
I happen to have at least 3 of these boxes, all have dead PSUs.
Nothing magical in them - 110/220 VAC inputs, and a single 4-pin Molex
drive connector with +12V and +5V outputs at a enough amps to drive a
TK50 or RD51.
We usually positioned the RX50 on top of the 11/750 next to the
console terminal so we could log in, fire off some DCL scripts and
make some floppies. The cable would have let it sit on a nearby
table or in the next rack over, but not any further than that.
-ethan 
6:44 a.m.
Did DEC offer a rack-mount or tabletop box version of
the RX50 floppy
drive, as they did with e.g. the TU58 and TK50 tape drives? I'm wondering
how they expected the RX50 drive to be packaged when used with a Unibus
PDP-11 via the RUX50 controller.
We had desktop RX50 and TK50 units for Micro 11/23 and 73s connected to an
RQDXE running off an RQDX3 controller. I still have a complete set that
work gave me when they retired them in the late 90s.
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest private home computer
collection?
t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs
w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
On Wed, 3 Oct 2018 at 00:50, Eric Smith via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
Did DEC offer a rack-mount or tabletop box version of
the RX50 floppy
drive, as they did with e.g. the TU58 and TK50 tape drives? I'm wondering
how they expected the RX50 drive to be packaged when used with a Unibus
PDP-11 via the RUX50 controller.
10:30 a.m.
Thanks to Josh, Ethan, Bob, and Adrian for confirming that there were rack
and table-top RX50 drives. It would be nice to get one since I have an
RUX50, but having never seen one before, I won't hold my breath.
It would also be nice to find the RUX50 manual and print set.
12:38 p.m.
On 3 Oct 2018, at 18:30, Eric Smith via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Thanks to Josh, Ethan, Bob, and Adrian for confirming that there were rack
and table-top RX50 drives. It would be nice to get one since I have an
RUX50, but having never seen one before, I won't hold my breath.
It would also be nice to find the RUX50 manual and print set.
Here?s a pic of my RX50 and TK50. I?ve not tried to power them up for years.
http://binarydinosaurs.co.uk/DesktopRX50TK50.jpg
<http://binarydinosaurs.co.uk/DesktopRX50TK50.jpg>
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
t: @binarydinosaurs f: facebook.com/binarydinosaurs
w: www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
5:09 p.m.
On Wed, Oct 3, 2018 at 2:38 PM Adrian Graham via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Here?s a pic of my RX50 and TK50. I?ve not tried to
power them up for years.
http://binarydinosaurs.co.uk/DesktopRX50TK50.jpg
<http://binarydinosaurs.co.uk/DesktopRX50TK50.jpg>
That looks entirely familiar.
-ethan
4 Oct
4 Oct
12:42 a.m.
New subject: TK50Z (was: Rack-mount or tabletop version of DEC RX50 floppy drive?)
On Wed, 3 Oct 2018, Adrian Graham wrote:
Here?s a pic of my RX50 and TK50. I?ve not tried to
power them up for
years.
Speaking of TK50 and since I'm playing with them at the moment, is there
any information on the SCSI command set for the TK50Z? My goal is to talk
to one on a Linux system, but the TK50Z is special enough that it won't
work as a generic SCSI tape drive, at least by default as it seems.
Christian
3 Oct
3 Oct
5:08 p.m.
On Wed, Oct 3, 2018 at 12:32 PM Eric Smith via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Thanks to Josh, Ethan, Bob, and Adrian for confirming
that there were rack
and table-top RX50 drives. It would be nice to get one since I have an
RUX50, but having never seen one before, I won't hold my breath.
It would also be nice to find the RUX50 manual and print set.
I have an RUX50 manual on the stack to be scanned.
-ethan
2052
days inactive
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days old
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