>IIRC, the DSD drives _can_ format floppies.
Absolutely, in both RX01 and RX02 modes. If you have the DSD-440
hooked to your PDP-11, you can just boot the utility floppy that came
with the DSD-440 and it gives a menu letting you select from several
different diagnostics and format utilities. You don't even need
a computer hooked to the drive to do it - you just set the hyperdiagnostic
DIPswitch pack on the in-box controller to format the floppies, and let
it rip. Never, ever, lose the hyperdiagnostics section of your DSD440
manual! Every DSD440 box I have (gees, there must be 9 or 10 now) has a
Xerox of the DSD440 hyperdiagonstics pocket ref taped to the top cover :-).
>> There were also bus adapters for the Unibus and
>> Omnibus available.
>I'd love to find an Omnibus module for it. Didn't
>know it existed.
It's a quad-size card marked "DSD 2131". There's a complete schematic
of the interface on page A-20 of your DSD 440 User Guide. Looks
to be maybe $15 in TTL chips.
--
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 Mon Mar 08 1999 - 09:29:24 GMT