DEC RK07 drive interface specs wanted

From: Frank Arnold <fm.arnold_at_gmx.net>
Date: Wed May 12 17:30:49 2004

cctech-request_at_classiccmp.org schrieb am 12.05.2004:
>Message: 24
>Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 17:12:00 +0200
>From: Jochen Kunz <jkunz_at_unixag-kl.fh-kl.de>
>Subject: DEC RK07 drive interface specs wanted
>To: cctalk_at_classiccmp.org
>Message-ID: <20040512171200.274707e7.jkunz_at_unixag-kl.fh-kl.de>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>Hi.
>
>All this talk about frontpanel emulators...

They are exciting...

>
>So I have this (mostly) working PDP-11/34, my one and only UniBus
>machine. It came with a RK07 drive. But the system was stored under bad
>conditions for years. There is rust and corrosion _everywhere_. The
>machine works so far but the drive is quite rotten. I have no other
>UniBus disk drive interfaces so I need either a new RK07 (unlikely) or
>a replacement for the entire conroler / drive combination or:
>
>What about a RK07 drive emulating hardware?
>A microcontroler with some TTLs to interface to the RK611 controler on
>one side and a compact FLASH card on the other. Maybe cache RAM in front
>of the FLASH to reduce write cycles to the FLASH. 32 MB is enough for a
>RK07 disk, even if the emulator stores raw data including all sector
>headers / trailers.
>
>Problem: Exact and detaild specs of the RK611 <=> RK0[67] interface.
>I found some hints in the "RK06/RK07 Disk Drive User's Manual" but not
>enough to build a new drive from scratch. Any pointers?
>
>
>tsch??,
>Jochen
>

Hi Jochen,

A solid state disc would be a great solution, however, wouldn't it be a
better (more general) aproach to work right off the unibus? That would help
anyone that -like me- has a unibus-cpu with nothing else attached to it.

If you have (?) the scematics of the RK611, how much work would it be to
put this into a fpga-design and add connect this to a (better four) CF-card
socket(s) Then a cheap 32mb CF card would become a RK07+ media...

If you follow the RK611-design, there is no bothering about driver issues,
just a patch to the block-count to get those extra 4 megs of a 32m CF-card.

A project like this would be a perfect entry for the VCFE of next year,
isn't it? (Hurry up, only 50 weeks left! :-)) )

Greetings,
Frank
Received on Wed May 12 2004 - 17:30:49 BST