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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/26/2015 12:10 PM, Timothe Litt
wrote:<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 26-Jun-15 13:43, Hittner, David T
(IS) wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">What
PDP-11 used TU58’s, and what controller did the drive
connect to?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Dave</span></p>
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</blockquote>
11/23, 11/44, VT103, HSC50 -- among others.<br>
<br>
Host: Any RS232/423 (dumb) interface, e.g. DL(V)11, MXV11. 9600 -
38400 BPS using a packet protocol (RSP, IIRC) with XON/XOFF flow
control<br>
<br>
The drive itself has an embedded 8085 CPU that is the real
controller. It's not terribly smart. <br>
<br>
The protocol is roughly similar to MSCP (lighter-weight); the tape
is block-addressable, normally the 512 byte DEC standard block,
although there's a 128 byte record mode for dealing with
buffering/comm issues. Normally the controller assembles 4
records to make a block. Cartridge is formatted with 512 blocks
of 512 bytes each (0.25 MB).<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/dectape/tu58/">http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/dectape/tu58/</a>
has the docs.<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
As indicated the physical TU58 controller connects to a plain serial
line interface on the PDP-11. A DL11-W works fine for example. It
uses just RS232 TXD and RXD, no other sideband signals. The TU58
serial interface wants to be a 776500/300 on a PDP-11 for software
compatibility.<br>
<br>
The DEC DL11 serial boards run at 9600baud (normally the fastest)
which works for the TU58 emulation, but is a bit slow. Boots XXDP
diag in about 2 minutes.<br>
The PDP-11/44 has an integrated TU58 serial port that can run at
38.4Kbaud, which makes it a more usable configuration.<br>
It is possible to (reversibly) modify a DL11-W to run at 115.2Kb
(replace UART chip, bypass baud divider, new oscillator) that runs
very nicely on a PDP-11/34, for example. Boots XXDP diag in about 15
seconds.<br>
<br>
There is a command line program for Windows/CYGWIN, MacOSX, and
Linux that emulates a physical TU58 drive controller, up to eight
units.<br>
The source and Windows executables are now hosted here:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/AK6DN/tu58em">https://github.com/AK6DN/tu58em</a><br>
<br>
I also have a web page that has a number of useful XXDP diagnostic
tape images for various PDP-11 systems:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ak6dn.dyndns.org/PDP-11/TU58/">https://ak6dn.dyndns.org/PDP-11/TU58/</a><br>
<br>
I tried early on to configure SIMH with a DL11-W style serial port
and connect TU58EM running as a separate process and got it to work,
sometimes.<br>
This was a long while ago (a few years) and I have not tried it
since.<br>
<br>
It probably would not be a big programming project to build a direct
TU58 add in controller into SIMH. The documentation all exists on
bitsavers.<br>
<br>
Note that booting a physical VAX-730 requires a functional TU58 in
the system (either real tape drive or emulated tape drive via
TU58EM).<br>
Mark Blair just recently revived his 11/730 and got it to run
diagnostics and boot VMS using a slightly modified variation of
TU58EM running on MacOSX.<br>
The VCF forum:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?36113-Problems-using-tu58em-with-VAX-11-725-VAX-11-730">http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?36113-Problems-using-tu58em-with-VAX-11-725-VAX-11-730</a><br>
describes all this.<br>
<br>
Don<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:558D95B2.5050401@ieee.org" type="cite">
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">This communication may not represent my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed.
</pre>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:33855172c0d048a0a6df770cd593ca2f@XCGVAG24.northgrum.com"
type="cite">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF
1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
Simh [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:simh-bounces@trailing-edge.com">mailto:simh-bounces@trailing-edge.com</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Bill Cunningham<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, June 26, 2015 1:14 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Hans-Ulrich Hölscher; <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:simh@trailing-edge.com">simh@trailing-edge.com</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> EXT :Re: [Simh] TU58 device for
PDP-11s<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in
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<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-----
Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:#E4E4E4"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:hoelscher-kirchbrak@freenet.de"
title="hoelscher-kirchbrak@freenet.de"> Hans-Ulrich
Hölscher</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:simh@trailing-edge.com"
title="simh@trailing-edge.com">simh@trailing-edge.com</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sent:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
Friday, June 26, 2015 12:56 PM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Subject:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">
[Simh] TU58 device for PDP-11s<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Am
I right that there is currently no TU58 device
available for the PDP-11 series of computers?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">If
so, would someone be so kind as to implement it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thanks
in advance to all programmers who ponder on evetually
doing it!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ulli<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">I
don't know about simh, but there are several
simulators out there. There is something for linux
too. But it sounds like a worthy cause.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bill</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
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