HP tape drive novel repair

[Mike Loewen]

On Tue, 20 Jan 2015, Jay West wrote:

>
> Mike wrote...
> ----
> I have a 7970E in a 7971A rack, which can take two 7970E drives.  I elected
> to mount a 2109E and a 9895A underneath the 7970E.
> ----
> Nice rig. You have one of the "newer" style racks which have a more
> (industry) standard post/mounting setup. I had one or two of those, but got
> rid of them in favor of standardizing on the older style racks which I had
> more of (02940-90306). Plus my dual 2100-based Access system is in the
> "correct" rack, which was the dual bay with the front "running board"
> (29404B).

    Those 7971A cabinets are HEAVY, even without the 7970E!  I'm very 
limited by space and rack availability.  The 7970 came in the 7971.  I 
took the whole rig to VCF East last year, along with a 2645A, a 2647A and 
a PC to run the HPDrive emulator, with RTE-6/VM.  This year I'm exhibiting 
a TRS-80 Model 4.  :-)

> So this system build will have 3 racks, two 2940's (one for two cpus, one
> for tape & 13037), and one of the 29425A's with a 7906.

    Nice setup.

    I'd like to find a 7906H, if such a thing exists in the wild any more.

> ----
> I've also worked on a 7970E in the slanted "low boy" cabinet.  There's a lot
> of wasted space in there.
> ----
> Very cool. I've always wanted one of those, just cause they look so neat.
> But like Marc, I have never seen one in the wild.

    As I mentioned, not very space efficient.  That was actually the first 
thing I worked on when I reported to work at Atlantic Tech Services in 
Gaithersburg, MD in 1986.  They rolled out the 7970E and said, "Here, fix 
it".  :-)  "Okay, I need the service manual, a scope, and something to run 
the diagnostics on."  They pointed me to a Tektronix scope sitting in a 
cabinet, and told me "Here's the scope, but we don't know how to use it."

    ATS was a 3rd party HP maintenance shop just getting started, but 
things ramped up very quickly.

    I really like the looks of the desk systems, like the 3000 Series 48. 
Space-wise though, I'm the lookout for a reasonably priced Series 42. 
There's been one on Ebay for months for $1,725 but I consider that 
excessive.


Mike Loewen				mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology				http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/