On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 20:58, Jay West via cctalk wrote:
> Wasn't there some deal where a M/E/F could drive it at 45ips but a 2100
> couldn't (next lower speed)??
You might be thinking of the limitation regarding the use of the 12992D
Magnetic Tape Loader ROM with a 1000 M-Series and a 7970E (1600 bpi)
operating at 45 ips. This bootstrap loader used skip-on-flag
(word-at-a-time) mode, and the data transfer loop could not keep up at tape
speeds greater than 37.5 ips. The faster E- and F-Series CPUs could run
the bootstrap with the drive configured for the full 45 ips.
The 2100 and the 1000 M/E/F-Series machines had no such limitation if
DMA/DCPC was used to access the tape drive. DMA wasn't used in the boot
loader ROM because the code wouldn't fit in the 64-word ROM size.
(That said, I've rewritten the 12992D bootstrap to tighten the timing
loops, and it works fine on my 1000 M-Series and 7970E drive. I think the
original limitation was due to suboptimal coding.)
-- Dave
