25 Feb
2009
25 Feb
'09
10:36 a.m.
Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
On Tue, 2009-02-24 13:14:06 -0500, David Betz
<dbetz at xlisper.com> wrote:
I obviously cannot help, but it would be nice if, once it is done,
describe the procedure for others.
Just recently I was able to read my MiniMINC (a PDT-150) floppies with
an 8" drive connected to an AHA1542B (capable of single density) with
Dave Dunfields ImageDisk. I didn't write them back yet (inverted write
protect logic, but assume it will be no problem...
Fred Jan Kraan
I have a
friend who has a number (10-20) of 8" RT-11 floppies he wants
to archive to CD-ROM or some other modern media. Is there anyone in
the Boston area (he lives in Medway) who could help with this? I
believe these are RX01 media since I think they were created on a
PDT-11/150 that I gave away to someone a few years ago. Can anyone
here help? What would the fee be for such a service?
25 Feb
25 Feb
11:12 a.m.
On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 1:36 PM, F.J. Kraan <fjkraan at xs4all.nl> wrote:
Just recently I was able to read my MiniMINC (a
PDT-150) floppies with an 8"
drive connected to an AHA1542B (capable of single density) with Dave
Dunfields ImageDisk.
Good to know. I have at least one 1542B running around, and an old
DOS box I can use to stuff it all into.
What 8" floppy did you use? I think I have a Tandon one (TM848?) I
can borrow from a non-DEC Qbus box.
I didn't write them back yet (inverted write
protect logic, but assume it will be no problem...
At this point, I'm personally more interested in reading than writing,
at least for the disk I myself have.
OTOH, I have real RX02s and real DEC CPUs, so I could probably just as
easily rig up a vtserver setup, but via serial, it wouldn't be all
that fast.
-ethan
11:34 a.m.
On 25 Feb 2009 at 14:12, Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 1:36 PM, F.J. Kraan
<fjkraan at xs4all.nl> wrote:
Depending on chipset, many modern PCs can handle single-density just
fine--no need for a separate controller. There are lots of old ISA
cards with floppy controllers out there than can handle single
density, not just the 1542--basically anything with a WD37C65,
National 8473/8477 will work--and there are others.
But if we're talking about RX02-style double-density media, nothing
short of a Catweasel is going to help. The RX02 double-density
format is DEC-unique, essentially FM sector headers with MFM data--
and funny MFM at that, with codes selected not to conflict with those
used as AMs in FM data.
Tim Mann has a package that works well with the Catweasel.
A Tandon 848 should be fine in any case.
Cheers,
Chuck
Just recently I was able to read my MiniMINC (a
PDT-150) floppies with an 8"
drive connected to an AHA1542B (capable of single density) with Dave
Dunfields ImageDisk.
Good to know. I have at least one 1542B running around, and an old
DOS box I can use to stuff it all into.
11:47 a.m.
On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 2:34 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 25 Feb 2009 at 14:12, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Right, but back in the day, I didn't have MFM or 40-200MB IDE drives -
I had SCSI since I came from Macs and Amigas. I wouldn't have ever
had a machine with 5.25" floppies without SCSI hard disks. Any
pre-Pentium machine I happen to have on the shelf would have a 1542A,
B or C already.
On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 1:36 PM, F.J. Kraan
<fjkraan at xs4all.nl> wrote:
Depending on chipset, many modern PCs can handle single-density just
fine--no need for a separate controller. ?There are lots of old ISA
cards with floppy controllers out there than can handle single
density, not just the 1542--basically anything with a WD37C65,
National 8473/8477 will work--and there are others. Just recently I was able to read my MiniMINC (a
PDT-150) floppies with an 8"
drive connected to an AHA1542B (capable of single density) with Dave
Dunfields ImageDisk.
Good to know. ?I have at least one 1542B running around, and an old
DOS box I can use to stuff it all into. But if we're talking about RX02-style
double-density media, nothing
short of a Catweasel is going to help. ?The RX02 double-density
format is DEC-unique, essentially FM sector headers with MFM data--
and funny MFM at that, with codes selected not to conflict with those
used as AMs in FM data.
Of course. I do have both RX01 _and_ RX02 media, so it's probably
just best to set up a PDP-11 w/RX02 and vtserver. It's not like I
don't already have 100% of the parts on hand.
A Tandon 848 should be fine in any case.
Good to know. Mine happens to be attached to a 3rd party controller
(it came in a Dataram chassis with a Rodime 10MB disk imitating an
RL02 via a DQ614), so it _can_ lay down RX01 headers on a blank disk.
I haven't ever had to do it, but it might come in handy some time.
-ethan
11:55 a.m.
On Feb 25, 2009, at 2:47 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Good to know. Mine happens to be attached to a 3rd
party controller
(it came in a Dataram chassis with a Rodime 10MB disk imitating an
RL02 via a DQ614), so it _can_ lay down RX01 headers on a blank disk.
I haven't ever had to do it, but it might come in handy some time.
Umm...a Dataram chassis with a Rodime 10MB disk in it??
That wouldn't happen to be an A22, would it? I love those
chassis, and coincidentally, not even an hour ago, I just exchanged
mail with my childhood PDP mentor in NJ in which he offered to give
me one of those.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
12:19 p.m.
On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 2:55 PM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
On Feb 25, 2009, at 2:47 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Yes. I still have it, but the drive has been dead since before I got
in 20 years ago.
Good to know. ?Mine happens to be attached to a 3rd party controller
(it came in a Dataram chassis with a Rodime 10MB disk imitating an
RL02 via a DQ614), so it _can_ lay down RX01 headers on a blank disk.
I haven't ever had to do it, but it might come in handy some time.
?Umm...a Dataram chassis with a Rodime 10MB disk in it?? ?That wouldn't happen to be an A22, would it? ?I
love those chassis, and
coincidentally, not even an hour ago, I just exchanged mail with my
childhood PDP mentor in NJ in which he offered to give me one of those.
I don't know the exact model, but if you sent me pictures, I'd
probably recognize it. I can't easily get to mine or I'd take
pictures for you.
We bought it at Software Results sometime before 1986, IIRC. It was
many thousands of dollars and pretty much never did what it was meant
to do. I ended up with it because nobody could make it work and I
think we were kinda left out in the cold for vendor support. ISTR
getting something going with the floppy controller, but we had no docs
on the DQ614 at the time (I think someone on the list sent me
something a while back) so I never saw this thing do much more than
run ODT.
It seems to be a nice (large) desktop package. At the time I saw
this, my small DEC experience was PDP-8s and the smaller PDP-11s like
the 11/34 and 11/24 (the /24 was the accounting machine, running RSTS
on 4 RL02s for OS and data). The Dataram box was, to me, a good-sized
"personal PDP-11" packaging. The BA23, when it came out, was clearly
intended for single-user or very small (2-4) groups, but prior to
that, all I'd ever seen was racked.
-ethan
3:29 p.m.
On Feb 25, 2009, at 3:19 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
I'll send pictures when/if I get the one that was offered to me
today. The one I owned in the past was WAY in the past...I think I
sold it around 1988 or so.
That
wouldn't happen to be an A22, would it? I love those
chassis, and
coincidentally, not even an hour ago, I just exchanged mail with my
childhood PDP mentor in NJ in which he offered to give me one of
those.
I don't know the exact model, but if you sent me pictures, I'd
probably recognize it. I can't easily get to mine or I'd take
pictures for you. We bought it at Software Results sometime before 1986,
IIRC. It was
many thousands of dollars and pretty much never did what it was meant
to do. I ended up with it because nobody could make it work and I
think we were kinda left out in the cold for vendor support. ISTR
getting something going with the floppy controller, but we had no docs
on the DQ614 at the time (I think someone on the list sent me
something a while back) so I never saw this thing do much more than
run ODT.
Wow, that is a surprise...what was wrong with it? Just lack of docs?
The DQ614 is a pretty nice controller, as I recall, but I haven't
seen one since then.
It seems to be a nice (large) desktop package. At the
time I saw
this, my small DEC experience was PDP-8s and the smaller PDP-11s like
the 11/34 and 11/24 (the /24 was the accounting machine, running RSTS
on 4 RL02s for OS and data). The Dataram box was, to me, a good-sized
"personal PDP-11" packaging. The BA23, when it came out, was clearly
intended for single-user or very small (2-4) groups, but prior to
that, all I'd ever seen was racked.
Makes sense. I really like Dataram's PDP-11 boxes. I have a
different one, I think it's called "A23" but mine is unlabeled, that
superficially resembles an 11/44 but has a strange hex-wide Qbus
backplane, and it also contains an 8" SMD drive.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
5778
days inactive
5778
days old
6 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
cclist＠sydex.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
fjkraan＠xs4all.nl -
mcguire＠neurotica.com