9-track tape drive: What is this?

From: Frank McConnell <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
Date: Tue Aug 19 13:18:42 1997

"Daniel A. Seagraves" <dseagrav_at_bsdserver.tek-star.net> writes:
> The front panel on the box says:
> HP 1000 A900
> HEWLETT PACKARD.

Fairly late-model HP 1000, replaced by the A990 in 1991 I think. I
don't know that much about them but think they are descended from the
HP 2100 and 21MX processors used in earlier 1000s (and would like to
find out more, so corrections are invited). What are the first four
digits of the serial number? That will give you some idea of its age;
first two digits are probably year less 1960, next two digits are
week-of-year.

> It says "hp 7970E"

It is a 1600 BPI 9-track drive.

Is yours in a lo-boy cabinet with the supply and takeup hubs side-by-side,
or in the tall cabinet with supply mounted above takeup? Mine is a lo-boy
but I have used both.

> Buttons a re LOAD, REWIND, ONLINE, RESET, 0, 1, 2, 3, OFF
> Connector is a small printer-plug looking thing (Like the plug on your
> printer, but smaller.

Sounds like HP-IB all right. Note that not all 7970s are.

> I do have a scratch tape, how does one get the tape into these?

As Tony said, there should be a diagram that shows the tape path.

Pop the lever in the center of the supply hub up, and slide your tape
on. Leave the lever up for now; you will be pulling tape off the
supply reel and if the hub were engaged you would have to turn it too.

Pull the tape off the supply reel, threading it around the stationary
post, then the tension arm, then the heads (lift the cover over the
read/write head to thread the tape through), then the other tension arm,
then the other stationary post, then onto the takeup reel.

Hold the tape against the takeup reel -- stick your finger through
the little hole -- and make a turn or two of the takeup reel to get the tape
firmly held on the reel.

Push the lever on the supply hub down to engage the supply reel.

Now you can push LOAD to get the tape drive to scan for the load
point. If it just keeps going and going then there is a problem with
the light/sensor assembly.

ONLINE puts the drive on-line. Won't work unless the tape is loaded.

RESET is "stop what you're doing and take the drive offline".

REWIND is "rewind to load point or 'til the tension arms lose tension
because the tape came loose from the takeup reel".

0, 1, 2, 3, OFF switch the drive's unit number; OFF is effectively
offline. Note that unit number may not have an obvious relation
to the system's device name or number. I don't know much about RTE
(the OS on the 1000s) but under MPE on classic 3000s it was a
component of either the DRT number or the unit number, which were
in turn referenced by the logical device number.

> Any info is appreciated.

Hope this helps, if you have more questions feel free to ask.

-Frank McConnell
Received on Tue Aug 19 1997 - 13:18:42 BST