DECmate III and Rainbow 100+

From: Paul Koning <pkoning_at_equallogic.com>
Date: Tue Feb 22 11:35:41 2005

>>>>> "Ethan" == Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks_at_gmail.com> writes:

 Ethan> ISTR there are ways to read an RT-11 RX50 on a standard PC,
 Ethan> but at the moment, I'm drawing a blank on it. Catweasels are
 Ethan> not required... it _is_ an odd format (10 sectors/track, 80
 Ethan> tracks, slight different in header bytes from "standard"
 Ethan> usage), but it's all well within the range of what a PC
 Ethan> controller can do... it's all software at that point, and I
 Ethan> can't remember what is capable of doing it. Probably need
 Ethan> DOS/FreeDOS to run it, as I'd be surprised if anything exists
 Ethan> for Winders. Dunno about Linux, but as RX50s are somewhat old
 Ethan> and out of the mainstream, I'd be surprised if anyone
 Ethan> bothered.

Linux and DOS can both do it. If you dig up a copy of my program
"flx", you'll find the code that implements this.

For DOS, it involves using int13 BIOS operations. For Linux, it
involves setting up a nonstandard set of drive parameters on the
floppy driver, and then using the driver.

I did this for reading RSTS RX50s, so that program won't be directly
useable for you, but the sector addressing magic is the same in both
cases.

       paul
Received on Tue Feb 22 2005 - 11:35:41 GMT