Symbolics MCD-405 tape drive / Georgens Industries

[Al Kossow]

On 10/9/15 9:32 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
>
>
> On 10/8/15 3:53 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
>> On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 11:15 AM, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org <mailto:aek at bitsavers.org>> wrote:
>>
>>     Does anyone have a loose 3M/Georgens MCD-405 tape drive they could
>>     take board pictures
>>     and firmware dumps from, or any of the other MCD-40 series tape
>>     drives? I'm trying to
>>     figure out how similar it is to the one in the Apple 40mb tape drive.
>>
>>
>> I believe I have one in my XL1200, I will check tonight.
>>
>> - Josh
>
> So, I'm a day late, but here are some pictures:
>
> http://yahozna.dyndns.org/scratch/3m/
>
> If this is the right drive, and if you need the EPROM dumped, let me know and I'll take care of it this weekend.
>
> - Josh
>

It would be good to get the firmware dumped
...hmmm just looked at the pics I have of the Apple drive and the firmware part number is identical!

Now that I think about it, someone on a lisp list from SRI said they USED an Apple tape drive on an XL!

I'm sure that is good news for anyone trying to read Symbolics tapes. The Apple drives are easier to find
but you'll have to fix the pinch roller. It looks like the roller on your drive is made from a different
material.