TS05 Tape Drive Information

From: CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com <(CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com)>
Date: Sun Oct 8 18:40:05 2000

*> * Can anyone point me at a web source of information for a
*> * Dec TS05 tape drive.
*>
*> It's a rebadged Cipher F880. I don't know of any web sources of

*...and a crippled Cipher F880 as well. :-( Does anyone here know why
*DEC changed it to not work at 3200BPI?

Not *all* F880's work at 3200 BPI; a good chunk of them have the "HI
DENS" button on the front panel, but it doesn't do anything. (Well, in
diagnostic mode it has some functionality, but otherwise it doesn't.)

3200 BPI was never particularly common anyway. And the TS05/F880, while
cheap, was *never* a performance star. Many of the minicomputers they were
hooked to were hard-pressed to keep them streaming at 1600BPI, much less
3200BPI. And once you drop out of streaming, there's a huge performance
loss.

Tim.
Received on Sun Oct 08 2000 - 18:40:05 BST