RX02 Difficulties

[Aaron Jackson]

Thanks for the tips! :)

Aaron.

allison via cctalk writes:

> If you have a system that can create/format SSSD (base RX01 media
> format) RT11 can
> reformat that as RX02. Of the top of my hear the command is INIT and
> you specify the
> drive and /double. It cannot format a blank disk but it can set a RX01
> format to
> double density.
>
> Note a RX02 on a PDP-11 will not boot RT11 if it has the RX01 boot drive
> in place, you must have
> the RX02 driver built into the boot.
>
> Whenever you have a disk fail its advisable to check the heads for crud
> buildup (on RX01, RX02,
> or RX33 and RX23) as sometimes the binder on the media goes to goo and
> coats the head. If
> that happens the next good disk can have the media gouged off. Been
> there done that. I
> always test new media (dir /bad) on drive 2 so if it fails the system
> still boots and likeliness
> of munging the boot media is lower.
>
> I use my S100 CP/M crate for format blanks for RX01 and using R11CPM I
> can copy files
> between the two system (sneakerware).
>
> To read a RX02 formatted disk you must have a RX02 or one of the
> functional equivalents like a DSD
> or Emulex. PCs cannot without a special board.
>
> A slick trick for Qbus 11s is install a RQDX2/3 and put a RX33 or RX23
> drive on that as the formats
> they use are PC readable at the base ODS. I managed to get a few RQDX3s
> just for that in the various
> Qbus 11s I have. Even if you do not have a MFM hard disk for the
> RQDX2/3 is a good choice for floppies
> and it can format media. It also can store more on the media.
>
>
> Allison
>
>
>
> On 12/16/2017 04:21 PM, Jerry Weiss via cctalk wrote:
>>  Glad to hear that you cleared that up.   
>>
>> For the other floppies.
>>
>> 1)  DUMP/TERM/RAD50/END:0 DY1: 
>>      If you share the listing that will give us some hints as to the OS on the floppies.
>>
>> 2) DIR/BAD DY1:
>>     will do a bad block scan to see if can read all of the blocks on the media.  It
>>     does not require an RT11 directory, despite the command name.  It uses
>>     the utility DUP.SAV with the K option, not DIR.SAV  You will hear the floppy
>>     reset if it sees a bad spot as it attempts a retry.  The number of retries
>>     is configurable via a SET command.
>>
>>     For files with an RT11 Directory, DIR/BAD/FILES will include the file name
>>     of files affected by unreadable blocks.
>>
>> You can do the same with the RL02 Drives.
>>
>> Jerry
>>
>>> On Dec 16, 2017, at 2:28 PM, Aaron Jackson via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> I just checked all of them in RT-11, out of 12 floppies, two of them
>>> were bad, or at least I am unable to perform dir in RT-11.
>>>
>>> My source of confusion comes from both A) not being able to boot from
>>> any of them, and B) not being able to dump them using vtserver. The ones
>>> labelled RT-11 don't actually have RT-11 on them, just some random
>>> files, and these were the ones I had tried to boot from.
>>>
>>> I'm not sure why vtserver doesn't seem to work though. I have Kermit in
>>> RT-11, is there a way to dump the other drive over this? I would like to
>>> put LSI Unix on one of the floppies, can this be done with Kermit too?
>>>
>>> While on the topic of vtserver, it also doesn't seem to like my RL02
>>> drive. If I try to write to it or dump a cartridge, it tells me that it
>>> was unable to read the labelsector. About the thing vtserver has done is
>>> launch itself over odt.
>>>
>>> RT-11 is unable to list the files on the RL02 drive, but maybe they are
>>> UNIX or maybe they are dead packs...
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Aaron.
>>>
>>>
>>> systems_glitch via cctalk writes:
>>>
>>>> We've gotten around the formatting issue by formatting SSSD using ImageDisk
>>>> on a regular PC (with a floppy controller that supports single density/FM,
>>>> of course). If you want RX02 media there's an XXDP routine to upconvert
>>>> RX01s to RX02s.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Jonathan
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 2:02 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <
>>>> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 12/16/2017 10:43 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
>>>>>> On Sat, 16 Dec 2017, Aaron Jackson via cctalk wrote:
>>>>>>> Well, would you believe it. It was the disks after all. I can't believe
>>>>>>> they are all bad!
>>>>>> I can believe it.
>>>>>> Were they "bad"?
>>>>>> Or just not what they were labelled as being?
>>>>> I suspect that they weren't formatted to the 3740 spec (26/128 FM).
>>>>> ISTR that the RX02 doesn't have formatting abilities.
>>>>>
>>>>> The other possibility is that the disks were DS rather than SS
>>>>> (different index aperture position).
>>>>>
>>>>> --Chuck
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Aaron Jackson
>>> PhD Student, Computer Vision Laboratory, Uni of Nottingham
>>> http://aaronsplace.co.uk
>>
>>
>>


-- 
Aaron Jackson
PhD Student, Computer Vision Laboratory, Uni of Nottingham
http://aaronsplace.co.uk