Am Dienstag, 17. Januar 2023 um 01:20:22 MEZ hat Chuck Guzis via cctalk
<[email protected]> Folgendes geschrieben:
On 1/16/23 12:40, Paul Koning wrote:
> On the CERL PLATO system at U of Illinois, around 1977, we had 20-ish
> 844-21 drives, and maybe a few 844-41 as well. Those were roughly the
> same as the DEC RP04 and RP05 drives, same pack and track count.
> Different sectors, though; 322 12-bit words per sector. Those are 3600
> rpm drives, linear voice coil head actuator, dedicated servo surface.
> The details of the format was handled in a sort of microcoded bit
> handling engine, one of two engines in the programmable controller
> (7054). I actually have the source code still around, and the manual
> for that beast also still exists.
Most of our customers from that time had all of the drive farm as
well as the unit record equipment on MACs. (Predates Apple--Multiple
Access Controller). We kept Spence Preston busy... :
We had a 1311 on a CADET. Slow, but better than the alternatives (cards
or paper tape). Monitor IID, IIRC. Work cylinders were 0-25, IIRC.
No real file system, just DIM entries. I don't recall what options had
to be installed on a CADET to run Monitor, but I think indirect
addressing was a requirement.
My favorite was the CDC 6603/Bryant 4000. That bugger was engineered to
leak oil--it even had plastic jugs inside to collect the drippings. My
fondest memory was watching a COMSOURCE operator run to refill a 501
printer, hitting the Bryant oil patch and falling flat on his back...
Paul, Chuck, the hydraulic actuator-driven disk systems surely bring maintenance
and related issues to another level and stories :) Thanks!
>From what I see at least by the return on our list, there don't seem to be,
>for example,
servo writer and disk plattern mechanical alignment tools still around - at
least to the
knowledge of the cctalk list members.
I wonder, if the CHM could have any additional knowledge about this and I will
contact
Al Kossow out of curiosity regarding this.
Anybody aroundhere who used drives in the last 10 years to read multi-platter
disk
packs successfully?
At least the CHM did so to read single-platter disks and archive software
(thanks to the great
videos, curious Marc!), but I don't know if they tried to work with
multi-platter disks.
I recall that the Jim Austin Computer Museum tried to get a 9766 300MB disk
drive up and
running, but it suffered a head-crash after a few hours and they decided not to
go any further
down this road...
Greetings,
Pierre
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