RDWhatever floppies.

From: Daniel A. Seagraves <dseagrav_at_bsdserver.tek-star.net>
Date: Fri Nov 7 12:39:39 1997

On Fri, 7 Nov 1997, Tim Shoppa wrote:

>
> I'm going to make a guess that you're talking about DEC RX33 (5.25"
> half-height drives) or DEC RX50 drives (two 5.25" drives in a full-height
> 5.25" form factor) hooked to a RQDX3 controller. If you can specify
> that you're talking about one or the other, you'll get more specific
> answers :-)
>

It's RX50. Sorry.

>
> Um, what is the "it" you are telling to do the format? RT-11? VMS?
> RSX-11? What's the command you're issuing? What error message are
> you getting?
>

RSX-11. This machine appears to have been a graphics workstation, but it
has 8 serial ports, so I'm not sure. It has a thingie called USE that
lets you do other stuff, like read DOS floppies (Haven't tried that yet).
Help says if I say "USE FORMAT" it formats disks. I drop in a disk, say
"USE FORMAT" and it asks for a device and goes. It says "Checking bad
blocks", and starts grinding away.

>
> A RQDX3 is incapable of formatting RX50 floppies, but it is capable
> of formatting RX33's. RX33's have the same format as PC-clone 1.2 Meg
> "high-density" floppies. RX50's can be bought from DEC (1-800-DIGITAL)
> or you can format high-quality double-density media on a PC-clone HD
> drive (or a DEC Rainbow...) Note that you cannot reliably use HD media
> in a RX50; you need DD media.
>

Okay! PUTR does that! And I have a copy! (Somewhere around here...)

>
> Yeah, they're standard MFM drives, but the formatting on them isn't compatible
> with most PC-clone hard disk controllers. If you tell us what operating
> system you want to do a backup from, and what removable media devices
> you have on your PDP-11, I'm sure we can find some way for you to back
> up your RD53.
>

The XT runs DOS. IBM dos 3.3, to be exact. I was gonna use Norton
DIskedit, and make an image of the harddisk and save it on the Novell
server.
Received on Fri Nov 07 1997 - 12:39:39 GMT