DEC RXV21 with 5.25 floppy - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

27 May 2001

From: jkunz(a)unixag-kl.fh-kl.de &lt;jkunz(a)unixag-kl.fh-kl.de&gt;

...
 I decided to write a NetBSD driver for the DEC QBus
RXV21 8" floppy controller. Unfortunately I have only two controllers, no
8" drive nor
medium. I thought that this would'nt be a problem, as it is possible to

If you have the controller (the qbus card) you have less than 15% of
an RX02 system.  IT's only an interface.

...
 Would it be possible to use some other machine* with
5.25" floppy drive to format the 5.25 media an way that the RXV21 can read it?

No.  RXV21 is dual denisty and the double density is a DEC oddball format
using M2FM rather than MFM.

Also the board that goes in the Qbus slot (RXV21) is an interface
not a floppy controller.  That "controller" is in the RX02 drive box
and is a 2901 based affair.

Allison