DEC RK07 drive interface specs wanted

From: Patrick Finnegan <pat_at_computer-refuge.org>
Date: Fri May 14 10:39:52 2004

On Friday 14 May 2004 08:59, Paul Koning wrote:
> >>>>> "Patrick" == Patrick Finnegan <pat_at_computer-refuge.org> writes:
> Patrick> Added in 1973/4 pdp11 peripherals handbook: - RK11/RK05 -
> Patrick> 2.4MB disk pack - RP11/RP03 - 40MB disk pack
>
> You left out the RC11 and RF11 :-)

Intentionally, trust me. I didn't think they'd be terribly useful, at
their sizes

> Patrick> Added in 1975 pdp11 peripherals handbook: - RP04 - 100MB
> Patrick> (presumably same RP11 interface as RP03)
>
> Nope. RP11 controls the RP03 and RP02 (half of the RP03) drives --
> basically IBM 2314 lookalikes.
>
> The RP04 is the first PDP11 Massbus disk; it uses the RH11 (or RH70
> for 11/70s) controller. It's 88 MB (half of the RP06).

Ok, the handbooks didn't say either way, so I assumed incorrectly.

> Patrick> Added in 1978/9 pdp11 peripherals handbook: - RK06 - RK11,
> Patrick> 14MB disk pack - RK07 - RK11, 28MB disk pack - RM02/03 -
> Patrick> RM11 MASSBUS interface, 67MB disk pack
>
> RH11... there is no such thing as RM11.
> The RK06/07 controller is called RK611. (RK11 is the RK05
> controller.)

More things that the handbooks don't seem to say. Argh. How different
is an RK611 from an RK11 at a programming perspective? Is the RK611 a
superset, such that you could pretend it's an RK11? Or not?

> So actually that would be the RH11 for max flexibility; that gives
> you RP04/5/6/7, RM02/3/5, and RM80. You can have up to 8 drives
> (that's true for most of the others -- but RL11 is limited to 4).
> Also, two RH11/RH70 controllers per system is a standard config that
> most DEC operating systems support, while more than one of the other
> disk controllers isn't.

Ok, then maybe an RH11 and RP11.

> RK11 may be a good choice -- even though the drive is quite small --
> for *very* old OS versions. RP11 (RP03 drive) might also serve, but
> I suspect support for that isn't as common. For example, I know
> DOS-11 V4 works on RK11, I don't know if there's an RP03 version for
> it.

Hmm. Things I didn't know about, and couldn't consider.

Pat
-- 
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Received on Fri May 14 2004 - 10:39:52 BST

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