>>RX50 formatting under RT-11 V5.7 (i.e. FORMAT/SINGLE DUn:) only is
>>supported on certain 3rd-party controllers like the Andromeda ESDC and
>>SCDC. It doesn't work with RQDX1/2/3's.
>Regarding my prior message, I stand corrected...
Well, in *this* particular case, Mentec arranged for Andromeda to
give me a SCDC controller with some SCSI drives and 5.25" and 3.5" floppies,
and that's the reason why the Andromeda is supported for this operation
under RT-11 5.7 :-).
>But even though an RQDX3 is not required (or useful) for this, I'll
>suspect an RX33-type drive still is. Is that correct, Tim?
Not necessarily. I just hooked a true DEC RX50 to my SCDC, configured
it, and it still lets me do a RX50 format:
SCDC User Service Port V3.06
B Configure controller HARDWARE JUMPERS
D Display/define physical DRIVE PARAMETERS
A Assign logical DU/MU UNITS
C Configure controller SOFTWARE OPTIONS
E Exercise a SCSI DISK drive
F FORMAT a DISK drive
P RESET controller and EXIT
? d
SCSI or Floppy (S or F)? f
Floppy drive number (0 or 1)? 0
Floppy drive 0: 800 blocks
Floppy drive types:
76 3.5" 80 track DS
134 5.25" 80 track DS
420 DEC RX50 dual drive
Floppy drive type (76, 134, or 420) [134]? 420
SCSI or Floppy (S or F)?
SAVE CHANGES- Are you sure (Y or N) [N]? y
SCDC User Service Port V3.06
B Configure controller HARDWARE JUMPERS
D Display/define physical DRIVE PARAMETERS
A Assign logical DU/MU UNITS
C Configure controller SOFTWARE OPTIONS
E Exercise a SCSI DISK drive
F FORMAT a DISK drive
P RESET controller and EXIT
? f
SCSI or Floppy (S or F)? f
Floppy drive number (0 or 1)? 0
Floppy drive 0: (offline)
Available floppy formats:
DD 800 blocks
Which format (# of blocks)?
Now whether you want to actually do the format on a DEC RX50 drive is
another question. According to Charles Lasner's voluminous posts on RX50
technical details, RX50 drives lack the required physical head-positioning
accuracy to make a RX50 floppy that's guaranteed to be interchangable with
other drives. Look at Charles's posts to alt.sys.pdp8 on the topic
from 4-5 years ago for more details about his tests.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
Received on Sun Jun 06 1999 - 08:18:41 BST