21 Feb
2006
21 Feb
'06
8:52 a.m.
Greetings all;
I am trying to help out a friend with a data transfer process to simplify
his business. The goal is to move a couple hundred Megs of data from a PC
to a PDP11.
Currently he has a DOS box with a Pertec controller, which he uses to copy
data to a 9 track, and then pulls off on the PDP.
This seems... inelegant, I can only assume there is a simpler way.
I'm sure I've seen mention of 'virtual devices' on the list where a PC is
running some software that makes it appear as a storage device to a piece
of vintage hardware, but my Googling is making no headway in finding
anything useful towards this end.
Am I using the wrong terminology? Could someone point me in the right
direction? Any advice?
The machine in question is an 11/34 (An SMS FWT machine, actually), which
has an 8" drive (unsure of it's model, it is built into the cabinet),
Winchester, and a Pertec interfaced 9 track.
Thanks;
JP
21 Feb
21 Feb
9:48 a.m.
On 2/21/06, JP Hindin <jplist at kiwigeek.com> wrote:
Greetings all;
I am trying to help out a friend with a data transfer process to simplify
his business. The goal is to move a couple hundred Megs of data from a PC
to a PDP11.
Currently he has a DOS box with a Pertec controller, which he uses to copy
data to a 9 track, and then pulls off on the PDP.
This seems... inelegant, I can only assume there is a simpler way.
I'm sure I've seen mention of 'virtual devices' on the list where a PC
is
running some software that makes it appear as a storage device to a piece
of vintage hardware, but my Googling is making no headway in finding
anything useful towards this end.
Am I using the wrong terminology? Could someone point me in the right
direction? Any advice?
ethernet and ftp?
or enen nfs
The machine in question is an 11/34 (An SMS FWT machine, actually), which
has an 8" drive (unsure of it's model, it is built into the cabinet),
Winchester, and a Pertec interfaced 9 track.
Thanks;
JP
11:08 a.m.
JP Hindin wrote:
I am trying to help out a friend with a data transfer
process to
simplify his business. The goal is to move a couple hundred Megs of
data from a PC to a PDP11. Currently he has a DOS box with a Pertec
controller, which he uses to copy data to a 9 track, and then pulls
off on the PDP. This seems... inelegant, I can only assume there is a
simpler way.
Is the data really going from a PC to a PDP-11?
I guess if you are talking just a few hundred megs that's
maybe only ten magtapes or so (GCR?) in which case doing
a bit of tape swapping is probably going to be finished
before you can even configure another solution. Especially
if you have N tapes and can have the source machine
continually writing and not having to wait for the target
machine to finish with the only tape.
Otherwise you probably should look at FTP (if you have
an IP stack for your PDP-11 OS), or FAL (if you have
DECnet for your PDP-11 OS) or Kermit.
Another option might be to write data to a disk and
transfer to the disk to the PDP-11. This assumes that
you have a disk that could plug into both (SCSI is
the likliest option these days) and that one end can
encode data for or decode data from the other end.
You might even find that SIMH or E11 come in handy
for this particular exercise.
Antonio
--
Antonio carlini
arcarlini at iee.org
2:41 p.m.
On 2/21/06, a.carlini at ntlworld.com <arcarlini at iee.org> wrote:
Is the data really going from a PC to a PDP-11?
I guess if you are talking just a few hundred megs that's
maybe only ten magtapes or so (GCR?) in which case doing
a bit of tape swapping is probably going to be finished
before you can even configure another solution. Especially
if you have N tapes and can have the source machine
continually writing and not having to wait for the target
machine to finish with the only tape.
Yes, the data really is going from a pc to a pdp 11/34. I have
multiple tapes available, but they're quickly degrading, and this is
an ongoing project. (For what it's worth, at 6250bpi, I can get about
160MB on a single tape.)
At present, I'm looking into a scsi controller, tied to a zip drive.
This should provide enough capacity to do the job, and I can still
get zip disks. Dilog still builds them, for about $1100, which is the
best price I've found for any unibus scsi interface.
You might even find that SIMH or E11 come in handy
for this particular exercise.
Unfortunately, I have a few custom interface cards which I have no
way to duplicate in simulation (they attach to some particular
equipment.)
One project I have slated for the near future is working out a way
to move the custom interface off to a pc interface, but it's not easy
mapping out 80+ signal lines.
--Shaun
pdp11/34, SMS FWT-100, STK2920 tape drive
pdp11/04
SMS1000
TDC w/ Xerox controller
Misc Xerox gear (built by DEC)
C=128, C=64
--
"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus
one day, so I never have to live without you." -- Winnie The Pooh
http://www.lungs4amber.org
3:12 p.m.
On Tuesday 21 February 2006 17:41, Wulf daMan wrote:
At present, I'm looking into a scsi controller,
tied to a zip
drive. This should provide enough capacity to do the job, and I can
still get zip disks. Dilog still builds them, for about $1100, which
is the best price I've found for any unibus scsi interface.
You might try talking to some resellers, (like Keyways, for instance),
and see if you can get a better price, but I'm not sure that you can do
much better than that, unless you get lucky.
You might consider some other medium besides a zip disk.
Actually, I think I'd go for a DLT4000 or 7000 drive connected to the
SCSI controller. Tapes are fairly inexpensive, and you can get
20/35GB uncompressed per tape. The media and drives are also IME
somewhat more durable than 9-tracks are. I've gotten DLT7000 drives on
ebay for less than $50 each; 4000s should be quite a bit cheaper, and
possibly more reliable. Used media - a DLT IV cart in either case - is
cheap (<$5/tape), and usually works just fine. New media is still
widely available, and not horribly expensive.
Plus, you might be able to find a "tape-only" UNIBUS SCSI controller for
less $$ than a disk-capable SCSI controller will cost (at least, that's
how it works for some QBUS SCSI controllers).
Pat
--
Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
6840
days inactive
6840
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
arcarlini＠iee.org -
jplist＠kiwigeek.com -
pat＠computer-refuge.org -
vax9000＠gmail.com -
wulfcub＠gmail.com