9 Jun
2015
9 Jun
'15
3:15 p.m.
In order to be able to move data between my vintage and modern computers more effectively,
I am looking for one or both of these items:
1) DEC TZ30 tape drive. This is a TK50-compatible drive in a 1/2 height form factor with a
SCSI interface.
2) 1/2" open reel magtape drive with SCSI interface. Preferably with 6250 BPI
capability. Doesn't need to be fast or fancy; just needs to be working-ish.
I'm located in Riverside, California, USA. For an open reel magtape drive, a local
source would be preferable to avoid the need to ship the beast. Or possibly in Las Vegas,
where my folks might sneak it into the moving van later this month... :)
eBay and I are now seeing other people, so I'm cut off from that source. Ditto for
PayPal, so I'd pay by some other means (or maybe even trade).
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
9 Jun
9 Jun
3:44 p.m.
On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 3:15 PM, Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:
In order to be able to move data between my vintage
and modern computers more effectively, I am looking for one or both of these items:
2) 1/2" open reel magtape drive with SCSI interface. Preferably with 6250 BPI
capability. Doesn't need to be fast or fancy; just needs to be working-ish.
An alternative would be to look for a cheap Fujitsu M2444AC tape drive
(often seen with Sun badges). They have Pertec interfaces, but it is
probably easier and cheaper most of the time to find a Pertec tape
drive interface for a DEC system than a SCSI interface, and they can
be interfaced to ISA bus PCs. They are built like tanks and weigh
around 200 pounds, which is why they can sometimes be had for cheap if
you find one within driving distance because no one would want to pay
to ship one.
You don't do eBay any more, and asking over $300 is way to much, but
here is what the look like for reference:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191583247197
I have picked up a couple in the $50-$100 range.
Maybe you can find one on a somewhat local Craigslist page for cheap.
3:57 p.m.
On 6/9/2015 3:44 PM, Glen Slick wrote:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191583247197
I have picked up a couple in the $50-$100 range.
I had two of those which came with
Sun 4-280 systems. Hamilton used
them for doing custom Pal and prom stuff in their offices and I got the
systems there.
I suspect that some such systems were broken up if these guys have the
drives.
They also had the oddball SMD drives I asked about 2 or 3 weeks ago.
thanks
jim
3:59 p.m.
On Jun 9, 2015, at 15:44 , Glen Slick <glen.slick
at gmail.com> wrote:
An alternative would be to look for a cheap Fujitsu M2444AC tape drive
(often seen with Sun badges). They have Pertec interfaces, but it is
probably easier and cheaper most of the time to find a Pertec tape
drive interface for a DEC system than a SCSI interface, and they can
be interfaced to ISA bus PCs. They are built like tanks and weigh
around 200 pounds, which is why they can sometimes be had for cheap if
you find one within driving distance because no one would want to pay
to ship one.
I'm looking for a SCSI interfaced drive so I can hook it up to my Sun Ultra 60,
running Solaris 8. I don't run any ISA bus machines other than a 5155 Portable PC and
a very crappy old 386 box dedicated to running ImageDisk, and my Sun would be much easier
to use for this purpose, I think. It's also just new enough that it's not hard to
get it talking to my current machines over the network, so it makes a nice bridge
machine.
I already have a magtape drive on my VAX, and was pleased to see it pass the diagnostic
tests this weekend. It's a TU80. It hooks up to my VAX with a couple of 50-pin
connectors... Hmm, maybe it has a Pertec interface, so another option might be to find a
Pertec to SCSI adapter and use the same drive on multiple systems?
I also already have a front-loading Kennedy drive with a Pertec interface which is
earmarked for use on my future PDP-11/44 project. It needs some work, as it lost hub drive
in one direction shortly after I got it. Once I repair it, using it with a SCSI to Pertec
adapter would also eliminate the need to shipping yet another magtape drive around.
So based on your comments, let me amend my request to say that I would also consider some
sort of SCSI to Pertec interface. Thanks!
P.S.: For those of you who don't mind clicking on a Twitter link, here's a picture
of my VAX system as I was working on it this weekend, shortly before I took a break to let
the room cool back down:
https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/607650728459407360
The MacBook on top of the VAX is running tu58em. The Ultra 60 is sitting on the floor in
front of the TU80 after a previous dead-end attempt to get tu58em running on it, before I
figured out how to fix the issue I was having running it on my Mac. The two VAX cabinets
are bracketed by my PDP-11/03 on the left, and my Nova 3 on the right. The DECwriter III
is working nicely as the VAX console terminal. Oh, and my PDP-8M is sitting on top of the
PDP-11/03 rack waiting for its next turn on the workbench. Photobombing the picture from
the right is my IBM Mag Card II typewriter, also waiting for restoration.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
5:20 p.m.
On 2015-06-10 00:59, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Just fyi: the TU80 is 1600 bpi only.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
On Jun 9, 2015, at 15:44 , Glen Slick
<glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
An alternative would be to look for a cheap Fujitsu M2444AC tape drive
(often seen with Sun badges). They have Pertec interfaces, but it is
probably easier and cheaper most of the time to find a Pertec tape
drive interface for a DEC system than a SCSI interface, and they can
be interfaced to ISA bus PCs. They are built like tanks and weigh
around 200 pounds, which is why they can sometimes be had for cheap if
you find one within driving distance because no one would want to pay
to ship one.
I'm looking for a SCSI interfaced drive so I can hook it up to my Sun Ultra 60,
running Solaris 8. I don't run any ISA bus machines other than a 5155 Portable PC and
a very crappy old 386 box dedicated to running ImageDisk, and my Sun would be much easier
to use for this purpose, I think. It's also just new enough that it's not hard to
get it talking to my current machines over the network, so it makes a nice bridge
machine.
I already have a magtape drive on my VAX, and was pleased to see it pass the diagnostic
tests this weekend. It's a TU80. It hooks up to my VAX with a couple of 50-pin
connectors... Hmm, maybe it has a Pertec interface, so another option might be to find a
Pertec to SCSI adapter and use the same drive on multiple systems?
4:09 p.m.
On Jun 9, 2015, at 15:44 , Glen Slick <glen.slick
at gmail.com> wrote:
You don't do eBay any more, and asking over $300 is way to much, but
here is what the look like for reference:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191583247197
I have picked up a couple in the $50-$100 range.
If their prices weren't so high, I have a friend in Santa Paula who might be able to
help picking up something from them in Ventura and stashing it until next time we find
ourselves in the same place.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
8:45 p.m.
On 6/9/2015 4:09 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
I have a Fujitsu M2444AC sitting in my hangar up here in Santa Cruz. You
can have it if you can get someone to pick it up.
Photo's here:
http://www.dvq.com/Fujitsu/
Bob
--
Vintage computers and electronics
www.dvq.com
www.tekmuseum.com
www.decmuseum.org
On Jun 9,
2015, at 15:44 , Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
You don't do eBay any more, and asking over $300 is way to much, but
here is what the look like for reference:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191583247197
I have picked up a couple in the $50-$100 range.
If their prices weren't so
high, I have a friend in Santa Paula who might be able to help picking up something from
them in Ventura and stashing it until next time we find ourselves in the same place.
9:13 p.m.
On Jun 9, 2015, at 20:45 , Bob Rosenbloom <bobalan
at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I have a Fujitsu M2444AC sitting in my hangar up here in Santa Cruz. You can have it if
you can get someone to pick it up.
Photo's here:
http://www.dvq.com/Fujitsu/
You probably guessed already that my friend in Santa Paula is also a pilot! ;)
Thank you very much for the offer! If I'm not mistaken, that drive has a Pertec
interface, though, like the Kennedy 9610 that I already have, so I think I will let
somebody else have a crack at it. That drive model looks familiar; we probably had at
least one in the computer room I worked in during college in the late 1980s, and I may
have done a tape mount or two on them!
Hmm, I guess I have yet another option: Once I fix the hub motor drive in my Kennedy 9610,
maybe I could just make my own interface for it. Maybe a small FPGA to handle the
interface signals, and an off the shelf microcontroller (like a BeagleBone Black board?)
to give it a UI and interface it to the outside world. Much more effort, but also more
fun!
I may be able to borrow a SCSI-interface magtape drive locally, but I still wouldn't
mind having one of my own. And I am still hoping to find a TZ30 drive.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
9:44 p.m.
BTW, there was a SCSI variant of my Kennedy tape drive. I would be very pleasantly
surprised if I managed to find the card to convert my drive over to SCSI, though. I think
that finding one would be a real long-shot.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
10:11 p.m.
On 06/09/2015 09:13 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Thank you very much for the offer! If I'm not mistaken, that drive
has a Pertec interface, though, like the Kennedy 9610 that I already
have, so I think I will let somebody else have a crack at it. That
drive model looks familiar; we probably had at least one in the
computer room I worked in during college in the late 1980s, and I may
have done a tape mount or two on them!
Hmm, I guess I have yet another option: Once I fix the hub motor
drive in my Kennedy 9610, maybe I could just make my own interface
for it. Maybe a small FPGA to handle the interface signals, and an
off the shelf microcontroller (like a BeagleBone Black board?) to
give it a UI and interface it to the outside world. Much more effort,
but also more fun!
I may be able to borrow a SCSI-interface magtape drive locally, but I
still wouldn't mind having one of my own. And I am still hoping to
find a TZ30 drive.
Not complete off-topic, but I just received an email from Shaun Halstead
that he's looking to get rid of a CDC Keystone drive (vertically
mounted) (read: TU80 family, with Pertec interface) that was apparently
used on a Xerox system.
If you're in the Chicago area and interested, you might want to drop
Shaun a line at microfilm at microfilm.kscoxmail.com
Any particular reason why Pertec IF isn't desirable? I'm coding now for
a Pertec-to-USB interface board. How's that for an anachronism?
--Chuck
10:31 p.m.
On Jun 9, 2015, at 22:11 , Chuck Guzis <cclist at
sydex.com> wrote:
Not complete off-topic, but I just received an email from Shaun Halstead that he's
looking to get rid of a CDC Keystone drive (vertically mounted) (read: TU80 family, with
Pertec interface) that was apparently used on a Xerox system.
If you're in the Chicago area and interested, you might want to drop Shaun a line at
microfilm at microfilm.kscoxmail.com
I'm in southern California myself, but hopefully somebody else here will have a good
home for it.
I did a Craigslist search for tape drives earlier today, and found a Kennedy 9100 with
SCSI interface in the Phoenix, AZ area. Probably a bit too far for me. But it looks cool:
Seems to be the same mechanism as my TU80, right down to the membrane keypad, but in
vertical orientation.
Any particular reason why Pertec IF isn't
desirable?
I already have 1-2 Pertec IF drives; my Kennedy 9610, and presumably my TU80 based on the
two 50-pin cables between it and my VAX. I don't have any Pertec interface controllers
on my modernish, up-and-running computers, but I do have a fully-working Sun Ultra 60 with
SCSI interface, software support for SCSI tape drives, and capable of talking to my NAS
for easy file transfer to my main computer (Mac Pro "trashcan"). I already have
two Pertec-capable projects, and I'm looking for something to help me bootstrap those
rather than a third similar project. So either getting a SCSI magtape drive or a SCSI to
Pertec bridge should get me there more easily.
I'm coding now for a Pertec-to-USB interface
board. How's that for an anachronism?
It's delightful for one, that's how! Think you might make more than one of them,
or share the plans? It sounds like something I could potentially use! I've considered
making something like that myself, but I have so many such ideas that I am happy to let
other folks make some of them for me. :)
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
10:35 p.m.
Oh, and furthermore, I'm much more comfortable in a UNIX environment than anything
PC/DOS/Windows. Linux is fine, but I would expect pain getting drivers for some random
Pertec card. So, PC platforms that might accept a Pertec card aren't my preferred
environment.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
10:54 p.m.
On 06/09/2015 10:31 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Okay, I understand that. I use an old Chi ISA-bus controller for my
Pertec IF drives. It works okay, but without detailed internals, it's
hard to write a really good driver for it.
Any particular
reason why Pertec IF isn't desirable?
I already have 1-2 Pertec IF drives; my Kennedy 9610, and presumably
my TU80 based on the two 50-pin cables between it and my VAX. I don't
have any Pertec interface controllers on my modernish, up-and-running
computers, but I do have a fully-working Sun Ultra 60 with SCSI
interface, software support for SCSI tape drives, and capable of
talking to my NAS for easy file transfer to my main computer (Mac Pro
"trashcan"). I already have two Pertec-capable projects, and I'm
looking for something to help me bootstrap those rather than a third
similar project. So either getting a SCSI magtape drive or a SCSI to
Pertec bridge should get me there more easily. It's delightful for one, that's how! Think you
might make more than
one of them, or share the plans? It sounds like something I could
potentially use! I've considered making something like that myself,
but I have so many such ideas that I am happy to let other folks make
some of them for me. :)
It's sort of strange design, but what I wanted to do was approach the
problem step-wise. So I've got an XC95108 CPLD consolidating the IF to
a simple 8-bit wishbone bus affair. I'm currently using a PIC32MX795 to
interface with that and provide the USB interface, but too much CPU and
too little memory. A small ARM MCU would probably be better suited to
the job.
Anyway, a work in progress...
--Chuck
10 Jun
10 Jun
11:03 a.m.
Update: TZ30 located and ordered.
And now I'm thinking that I ought to build a custom Pertec interface (as is being
discussed in another thread) that's particularly suited for archival work, though I
might still be interested in a SCSI magtape drive or SCSI/Pertec adapter anyway.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
11:37 a.m.
On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 12:11 AM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Not complete off-topic, but I just received an email
from Shaun Halstead
that he's looking to get rid of a CDC Keystone drive (vertically mounted)
(read: TU80 family, with Pertec interface) that was apparently used on a
Xerox system.
If you're in the Chicago area and interested, you might want to drop Shaun a
line at microfilm at microfilm.kscoxmail.com
I've also got a Pertec-interfaced 9-track to give away, also in the
Chicago area. HP 9-track tape drive, badged as AT&T 1600/6250, Pertec
interface. In rack-mount case (not desktop) and has no rails.
Powers-up and passes internal self-tests. Haven't run a tape through
it yet.
I believe this model can accomodate HP's Pertec-to-SCSI adapter board,
assuming you can find one not already attached to a working drive.
j
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bobalan＠sbcglobal.net -
bqt＠update.uu.se -
cclist＠sydex.com -
glen.slick＠gmail.com -
jws＠jwsss.com -
nf6x＠nf6x.net -
silent700＠gmail.com