14 Oct
2016
14 Oct
'16
11:25 p.m.
I don't know that Digital ever had a Unibus disk controller for ST412
interface disks, but were there any third party controllers? I'm in
need of disk controllers for PDP-11/40 and think that might be an
option given the availability of reliable MFM disk emulators.
-chuck
15 Oct
15 Oct
10:33 a.m.
I can only think of one, the AED WINC-08 RL02 system, but that used 8" drives
Good luck finding one, and the matching interface card. I don't think Qualogy
Emulex or Dilog ever made MFM for Unibus. MFM controllers were mainly a QBus
market. I suppose some day I should make a list of all of the Unibus/Qbus disk
and tape controller vendors I can think of.
There is a project going on right now in support of the Y-Combinator
Alto restoration to create a Diablo model 30 drive emulator.
Given how many RK11's there are in the world, that might be an option
once it's working. There is also the German RL02 drive emulator, which
seems to have stalled again.
I hope someone gets a Q/Unibus non-mscp small disk emulator PCB built
some day. I wonder if Guy has had any time to work on his.
On 10/14/16 8:25 PM, Charles Dickman wrote:
I don't know that Digital ever had a Unibus disk
controller for ST412
interface disks, but were there any third party controllers? I'm in
need of disk controllers for PDP-11/40 and think that might be an
option given the availability of reliable MFM disk emulators.
-chuck
7:37 p.m.
On Oct 15, 2016, at 7:33 AM, Al Kossow <aek at
bitsavers.org> wrote:
I hope someone gets a Q/Unibus non-mscp small disk emulator PCB built
some day. I wonder if Guy has had any time to work on his.
No, I haven?t had any time to work on stuff. I still have the prototype
MEM11A only half built.
On 10/14/16 8:25 PM, Charles Dickman wrote:
I don't know that Digital ever had a Unibus
disk controller for ST412
interface disks, but were there any third party controllers? I'm in
need of disk controllers for PDP-11/40 and think that might be an
option given the availability of reliable MFM disk emulators.
-chuck
7:53 p.m.
On Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 3:33 AM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
I can only think of one, the AED WINC-08 RL02 system,
but that used 8" drives
Good luck finding one, and the matching interface card. I don't think Qualogy
Emulex or Dilog ever made MFM for Unibus. MFM controllers were mainly a QBus
market. I suppose some day I should make a list of all of the Unibus/Qbus disk
and tape controller vendors I can think of.
There is a project going on right now in support of the Y-Combinator
Alto restoration to create a Diablo model 30 drive emulator.
Given how many RK11's there are in the world, that might be an option
once it's working. There is also the German RL02 drive emulator, which
seems to have stalled again.
I hope someone gets a Q/Unibus non-mscp small disk emulator PCB built
some day. I wonder if Guy has had any time to work on his.
A plug-compatible Massbus disk/tape emulator would be a Good Thing;
there are things like pdp-10s that rely exclusively on Massbus and
rare finicky power-hungry beasts like RP06. I kinda heard that LCM
were working on something like that but don't know how far they got.
Setasi had a disk emulator system based on a PC with a Massbus-on-FPGA
card but they're rare and pretty unmaintainable too; I have one but
not got it working yet.
IBM channel-attached DASD would be another good one. It exists - the
FlexCub. I know LCM use those too - but the price is commercial and
way way up there. A hobbyist license for that would be helpful! I have
a System/3 pretty much ready to boot - but it never will unless I can
find or emulate the 3340 disks which are the only things it can use.
Mike
http://www.corestore.org
'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother.
Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame.
For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.'
16 Oct
16 Oct
3:07 p.m.
On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 4:53 PM, Mike Ross <tmfdmike at gmail.com> wrote:
A plug-compatible Massbus disk/tape emulator would be
a Good Thing;
there are things like pdp-10s that rely exclusively on Massbus and
rare finicky power-hungry beasts like RP06. I kinda heard that LCM
were working on something like that but don't know how far they got.
When I left in 2014, LCM's Massbus disk emulator was working quite well
indeed, and was running in 'production' to keep down the hours on the RP06
drives. ISTR the plan was always to open-source the hardware and firmware,
too.
--
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens
Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>
University of Washington
There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
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aek＠bitsavers.org -
chd＠chdickman.com -
ggs＠shiresoft.com -
isking＠uw.edu -
tmfdmike＠gmail.com