WTB /WTT DEC TZ30 and/or 1/2" open reel SCSI magtape drives

[Mark J. Blair]

> On Jun 9, 2015, at 22:11 , Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
> Not complete off-topic, but I just received an email from Shaun Halstead that he's looking to get rid of a CDC Keystone drive (vertically mounted) (read: TU80 family, with Pertec interface) that was apparently used on a Xerox system.
> 
> If you're in the Chicago area and interested, you might want to drop Shaun a line at microfilm at microfilm.kscoxmail.com

I'm in southern California myself, but hopefully somebody else here will have a good home for it.

I did a Craigslist search for tape drives earlier today, and found a Kennedy 9100 with SCSI interface in the Phoenix, AZ area. Probably a bit too far for me. But it looks cool: Seems to be the same mechanism as my TU80, right down to the membrane keypad, but in vertical orientation.


> Any particular reason why Pertec IF isn't desirable?

I already have 1-2 Pertec IF drives; my Kennedy 9610, and presumably my TU80 based on the two 50-pin cables between it and my VAX. I don't have any Pertec interface controllers on my modernish, up-and-running computers, but I do have a fully-working Sun Ultra 60 with SCSI interface, software support for SCSI tape drives, and capable of talking to my NAS for easy file transfer to my main computer (Mac Pro "trashcan"). I already have two Pertec-capable projects, and I'm looking for something to help me bootstrap those rather than a third similar project. So either getting a SCSI magtape drive or a SCSI to Pertec bridge should get me there more easily.


>  I'm coding now for a Pertec-to-USB interface board.  How's that for an anachronism?

It's delightful for one, that's how! Think you might make more than one of them, or share the plans? It sounds like something I could potentially use! I've considered making something like that myself, but I have so many such ideas that I am happy to let other folks make some of them for me. :)

-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/