RK05 interfacing to unibus PDP-11 (was RK05 stuff)

From: Ashley Carder <wacarder_at_usit.net>
Date: Mon Jul 19 08:16:33 2004

Now that it appears that my two RK05J drives are fundamentally
sound, I'm ready to move on to the next step(s).

Can someone here on the list supply me with the numbers of each
of the cards in the RK05 drive's logic unit, for both the PDP-11 and
the PDP-8? I need to verify what's in my two drives and make
sure that they are correct for the unibus PDP-11.

Also, the numbers of each of the cards in the RK11 controller set
for a unibus PDP-11 (11/40, 11/34, etc). I have a 3-card set that
I got from someone and it's supposed to be the RK11 controller
card set, and the three cards are connected together on top by some
type of connector. Based on what I reading here, the RK11 set is
made up of four cards, not 3, and needs a dedicated backplane.

Can someone elaborate on the details of connecting RK05 drives to
a unibus pdp-11 or point me to someplace that explains this in detail?
What does the RK11 backplane look like, how/where do you
connect it to the other backplane, etc.

Thanks for any advice that anyone can offer!

Ashley

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ashley Carder" <wacarder_at_usit.net>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 10:44 PM
Subject: RE: RK05 stuff


> I reracked these drives into a tall cabinet today so I could
> get to the tops and bottoms of both drives. In the process
> of moving the drives, I unhooked the cable that connects the
> two drives together (drive 0 and drive 1). I decided to
> check the drive that did not have a cable connected to it
> (drive 1), and it magically works now (in standalone mode).
> The drive spins up, the heads move in, no terrible
> sounds or anything like that. The READY and ON-CYL lights
> light up and all appears to be fine. The other drive that
> still has the cables connected to it still didn't spin up.
> I then removed the M930C terminator card from drive 1 and
> put it in drive zero, removed the card that had the
> controller cable attached to it (M993 RK8E cable), and
> powered it up. I then tried loading a pack and this drive
> works too, spins up, moves the heads and lights the READY
> and ON-CYL lights.
>
> Next step is to make sure these drives have the right cards
> to be able to hook up to an RK11 controller (the M993 having
> RK8E written on it doesn't sound good), install the
> RK11 card set in my 11/34 and connect the drives and see
> if RSTS/E recognizes it.
>
> I do suppose that I should do some cleaning on these drives
> because although the foam hasn't turned to goop yet, I do
> see a few small fragments of the foam laying inside the drive
> area that I didn't see before.
>
> Ashley
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org
> [mailto:cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Tony Duell
> Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 12:26 AM
> To: cctalk_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: RK05 stuff (was RE: cctalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 74)
>
>
> >
> > I've tried both of my RK05 drives. They power on fine. Blower
> > seems to be fine. I put a pack in, press the run switch. The
> > motor never comes on that turns the drive. The same thing
> > happens in both drives. Neither drive will start spinning at
> > all.
> >
> > Any ideas on where to start looking?
>
> Firslty, put a termionator card (M930) into one of the cable connector
> slots if the drive is not cabled up anyway with a terminator in the 'out'
> slot of the last drive. I seem to rememebr that RK05s do odd things if
> they're not terminated (and you might also want to try it with the drive
> disconnected from the controller, with just a terminator, in case it's
> something like the ACLO/DCLO lines on the bus being asserted).
>
> Now, the spindle motor is controlled by a relay on top of the PSU. From
> what you say in another message that relay is never being energised. The
> next thing to do is to trace the relay coil signal back to the logic and
> to find out what has to be asserted for the relay to pull in. There's
> certainly an interlock switch circuit -- 2 switches in series IIRC that
> detect that there's a pack in and the door is closed. Obviosuly the RUN
> switch has to be on. And I think there's some kind of power-OK line.
> Maybe more. Now find out which (if any) of those signals are not being
> asserted (if all of them are, then trace through the logic itself, of
> course), and find out why not. Maybe just a switch that's not closing,
> maybe more.
>
> If you need more help, I'll dig out the prints, but it's a little late to
> do that tonight :-)
>
> -tony
>
>
Received on Mon Jul 19 2004 - 08:16:33 BST