1 Dec
2005
1 Dec
'05
9:40 a.m.
I have a MicroVAX-II and I want to add a Kennedy 9600 9 track drive.
AFAIK, this drive has a standard Pertec interface and I was planning to use
it with a Dilog DQ132 controller. The drive is capable of both 800 and
1600bpi, and I need to be able to use it at both densities.
I installed it and cabled it all up - VMS (v4.5 in this case) sees the
DQ132 and autoconfigures it as MSA0 (a good sign!), and the drive seems
happy and loads a tape. VMS reports that MSA0 is a TSV05 (which is what I'd
expect) and doesn't log any errors. But, whenever I try to access the
drive, VMS says that it's offline and I can't get it to actually do
anything.
Yes, the Kennedy is actually online (the online LED is lit) and the
"select" LED on the drive flickers for an instant when VMS tries to access
the drive. The drive is set as unit 0, and it was working the last time it
was used (with an Emulex controller in that instance).
Just for fun, I tried the Kennedy drive with a real TSV05 (M7196)
controller that's known to work with a real TSV05 drive - same results.
Is there any obvious reason why this wouldn't work?
The 9600 is Pertec, right? If you Google for this drive you'll find a
couple of places that say it's SCSI, but that seems wrong.
Anybody got a manual for the 9600? Bitsavers has the manual for the 9610,
but it appears that the 9600 is substantially different.
Thanks,
Bob Armstrong
1 Dec
1 Dec
10:14 a.m.
Pertec interface is very simple. Try probing the signals--an online drive
should assert (negative logic; 0 = TRUE) IONL, which is pin 44 of P2. If
it doesn't, you may want to see if the transport address has been changed
on your drive. Most adapters assume 00 for a single-transport
address--check that with pins 46 (ITAD1) on P2 and 46 (ITAD0) on P1--both
should be at the +5 level. Finally, Pertec allows for more than one
formatter, but most adapters assume by default formatter 0. Check the
level at pin 48 of P2--it should also be high. Finally, check any
configuration jumpers inside the 9600 to make sure they agree with these
settings.
Cheers,
Chuck
10:44 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Pertec interface is very simple.
You might try using 800bpi tapes as well as a simple test (or blank
might work,
since this isn't a Cipher).
The reason is that 1600 and 3200 tapes have a PE burst at the beginning
of the tape
that causes the formatted interface to put out a bit of nonsense when
starting up that
is not there when you use the 800BPI tape, which is NRZI and has no such
detect
burst.
I don't have the specifics, but did run into such a problem with 800 vs
1600 on
a Microdata system formatted tape interface eons ago.
I know that the problems of the Microdata interface probably were unique
to that
system, but think it is worth mentioning. I did see problems on other
systems
when using a blank tape vs recorded, and I suspected it was the lack of the
PE burst that caused them, due to the way the system worked. That was in
using the drives with Overland controllers.
Jim
10:39 a.m.
On 1/12/05 17:40, "Robert Armstrong" <bob at jfcl.com> wrote:
Is there any obvious reason why this wouldn't
work?
The 9600 is Pertec, right? If you Google for this drive you'll find a
couple of places that say it's SCSI, but that seems wrong.
The 9600s we look after are all SCSI but you could swap out the SCSI modules
for others IIRC. The SCSI module will say what it is if you open the drive
up and check the card cage in the back.
Anybody got a manual for the 9600? Bitsavers has
the manual for the 9610,
but it appears that the 9600 is substantially different.
I think we've got the service guide; I can ask the lads that look after
them.
A
10:53 a.m.
Adrian Graham wrote:
The 9600s we look after are all SCSI but you could
swap out
the SCSI modules for others IIRC. The SCSI module will say
what it is if you open the drive up and check the card cage
in the back.
The interface board in mine is Kennedy #7113, Rev D. It doesn't say
anything about SCSI that I can find, but then it doesn't mention Pertec
either :-) It also has a nice little blue tag that says "Tests Good,
8/29/93" :-)
It does have two 50 pin edge card connectors labeled J1 and J2 - certainly
looks like Pertec to me. By coincidence SCSI is also 50 pins, but it
doesn't normally use a card edge connector.
I think we've got the service guide; I can ask the
lads that
look after them.
Thanks - I'd appreciate it.
Bob
2 Dec
2 Dec
2:37 a.m.
Robert Armstrong wrote:
Anybody got a manual for the 9600? Bitsavers has
the manual for the 9610,
but it appears that the 9600 is substantially different.
I have the manual and a complete drive for parts. Bad news is that I
live in the Netherlands and have no decent way to scan the manual. You
can have what you want for the price of shipping.
Bert
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bert＠brothom.nl -
bob＠jfcl.com -
cclist＠sydex.com -
jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk