[Simh] VAX 8200

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2017-03-17 19:35, Gary Lee Phillips wrote:
> Looking at what images I can find on the web, TU-80 seems correct. The
> one we had was just generally flaky, I guess. It was 1600 bpi, 2400 foot
> tapes, yes.

1600 bpi would definitely be the TU80 then.

> The MicroVAX we added later came with a TK-50 that never had any
> problems. That came in when a second unrelated project was added that
> required a VAX because code for it was written by a partner company that
> used DEC equipment exclusively.

That's funny. I've seldom experienced any drive with more issues and 
problems than the TK50.
While I don't particularly like the TU80 (slow, and don't store much), I 
never had much problem with them.
The TU81 is much better, though.

The TK50 on the other hand can be very annoying. First of all, you 
regularly need to open them up and clean them. Second, the operation is, 
depending on firmware version, rather broken, and can refuse to let a 
tape out, meaning you have to open the drive up and manually get the 
tape out, and then fiddly with it a lot to wind the tape in. Thirdly, 
the bloody pickup sometimes jumps the arm holding in, meaning once more 
you need to open the drive up to hook the pickup back on the arm.

When I worked at DEC, we had a TK50 hooked up to a VAX-11/750, and that 
drive was always half dismantled, so we easily could get into it and fix 
it when one of those things happened.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol