TK50Z-GA and MicroVax 3100/90?

From: Christopher Smith <csmith_at_amdocs.com>
Date: Wed May 22 10:24:33 2002

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ethan Dicks [mailto:erd_6502_at_yahoo.com]

> Not AFAIK. It's the TK50Z-FA doesn't play nice with others.

Well, then he should be fine ;) Sorry -- I have both, and haven't
paid much attention to model numbers for a while.

> > Well, I've never heard of anyone getting it to work with anything
> > else. :) You could try it. It's the one without the ID selector,
> > right?

> Nope... the -FA is lacking the ID selector (device '5' always, ISTR)
> and doesn't like sharing the bus with anyone else.

That's interesting -- so you might be able to plug it into a MicroVAX
3100 with dual SCSI busses, for instance, if you allowed it to take
the whole bus for itself. (what a waste :)

> you could put -FA ROMs in it for use with a MicroVAX 2000, but I

Probably would need set to ID 5.

> don't know that you are required to do that. I don't own a -GA
> to test the theory, just a few -FAs.

I have one, but really would rather not swap the ROMs around just
now. I'll eventually get a programmer and save the ROMs in everything
I've got to a CD or something like that -- at that point, maybe I'll
try it.

> You will not enjoy depending on a TK50 as a primary backup device.
> It holds 95MB *max* per tape (it streams and if there isn't any

Not so bad, considering that people were "backing up" to zip disks
only recently, which hold 95MB max.

> data, it writes filler) and takes multiple passes to read one tape
> (the head physically moves up and down to read different portions
> of the tape on each pass). It is *sloooow*. Personally, I prefer

Yes, that's a problem...

> 1600 bpi magtape to the TK50, even though it take at least two reels
> for equivalent capacity.

I like them better than QIC- ... well, QIC-anything. :) If I were
recommending backup for this machine, though, I'd say a cheap 4mm
(DDS), or 8mm (D8) drive would be great. Forget about hardware
compression, though, just to be safe.

Chris


Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL

/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
 
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Received on Wed May 22 2002 - 10:24:33 BST