[pups] Searching for 8" DSDD drive
SHOPPA at trailing-edge.com
SHOPPA at trailing-edge.com
Mon Nov 5 13:19:38 AEST 2001
>we are looking for someone with access to a working 8" DSDD floppy
>disk drive, presumably running RT or RSX on the PDP system. This is
>to retrieve some very interesting historic material regarding the
>Internet. As some of you may know, the IMP's in the 1980s, or fuzzball
>systems, were running PDPs.
You need more than just the drive - you need a compatible controller. While
most floppy systems were DEC-compatible in SSSD and SSDD modes (RX01 and RX02),
the DEC RX03 (DSDD) was never released and as a result there are literally
dozens of not-quite-compatible DSDD floppy systems. When the low-level
format agrees, you'll discover that the interleaving doesn't! (And there
are a lot more choices with regards to interleaving when you've got two
sides...)
If you can clue us in as to the make and model of the writing controller,
it'd help a lot.
>The actual floppies to be read are in Delaware, anyone close there
>would be a big bonus.
I'm sure I've got a couple dozen not-quite-compatible DSDD systems here
in DC :-).
Tim.
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