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Can someone who has a pair of Gotek/FF drives connected to their Pro comment on what happens when the machine is booted with no images mounted in the Goteks? An empty RX50 drive doesn't seem to cause any issues, but with the Goteks I get a self-test fail on the floppy subsystem. Tried a bunch...

Use a scope to time the index pulse while you twiddle the speed pot?

Well, the good news is that one can use my Python utilities (posted above) to convert between a proper disk image and the rather odd arrangement expected by simh and friends. Very easy to tell what you have by looking at the first few sectors. UPDATE: I can probably code a heuristic to...

I'm not quite following your statement about Al Kossow. Are you saying you have scans of DEC PRO docs for him but cannot make contact? If you have these scans I can give you a dropbox area where you can upload. Please PM me?

To save others from the grief I've been though this week, here's a pair of little Python programs to convert between raw RX50 diskette images (sectors in logical order) and the format expected by Xhomer/simh emulators (sectors in physical order with track 0 moved to the end). If someone sends...

I tried searching most of those terms in Google and find only a Russian site with broken links for downloading.

Bummer. Johnny Billquist has them, but they're not stored at his present location. Probably also a matter of available "spare time" :) I'll ask all my high friends in low places to see if someone can help here in the US.

Are you after these for cosmetic or simply operational purposes? If the latter, there are at least two devices being made that adapt USB or PS/2 keyboards to the M12 standard.

I solved the immediate issues. Here's what tripped me up (in no particular order): RT-11 refers to the diskette drives as DZ0: and DZ1:, while the P/OS installer calls them DZ1: and DZ2:. So I was changing the wrong diskette. DEC machines ignore physical track 0 on floppy formats (Rainbow...

I'm really up the creek without the Frain web site as an online reference. Does anyone know the site owner?

So here's a question: When I boot diskette 21 and select install it eventually asks me for the PROSYSTEM32 diskette in "slot #2". Does that mean "put in the second drive"? If so, it never seems to be aware it's there! I notice that the DEC RX-50 is signaling the system when I close the door...

Lots of problems solved in the interim! Long story short: The only images that work on my Gotek drives have track 0 blank with the boot block and directory on track 1. Does that ring any bells with anyone? The raw disk images I downloaded are missing that blank track and none boot. If I...

One more step closer... That diskette you pointed to (PRO177) does indeed boot. But it then asks for the next volume, PROMAINT, in DZ1: (second floppy drive). Problem now is that it's not actually selecting that drive. I have a second Gotek / FF jumpered as D1 and never even see the...

I have those files from avitech. Are any of them bootable? As you point out the utilities diskette is not. The system on my Pro 350 hard disk is RT-11XM which apparently expects a different directory structure and cannot read any of the P/OS image I've tried.

After a LOT of flailing around it appears that every single teledisk image of P/OS that's out there is bad. I converted the Venix 'xfer' diskette to HFE and it boots right up from the Gotek. Haven't been able to find a single P/OS utility/maintenence image that boots.

Ok, back in the game. Turns out to have been a flaky scan converter. VR201 is showing a display. I am still unable to either boot from a P/OS installation diskette or successfully list its directory under RT-11M. Currently I have (2) Goteks wired in as drive 0 and 1, powered from a separate...

Jim Lill and I worked together on an Apple 2 related project in the late 80s. I never lived in the Rochester area but we did meet up a few times. Small world. I'll PM you with a link to my shoebox area on Dropbox. Lots of files and disk images that may be useful.

Drat. My Pro decided to stop producing a video signal. The joy of olde machines is neverending.... Off to do some troubleshooting!

The power connector on the supply board is a common failure point on these units. I pulled it and soldered the harness directly to the PS PCB and it's been working quite well ever since. One thing to be aware of: floppy data is inverted so you'll need to account for that if playing with floppy...

I'm fairly sure it was jumpered and configured correctly based on suggestions in this topic, but it's worth re-checking (again). Your point about the external supply is a good one. The Pro firmware may be expecting to see a drive very early in the boot process. I believe the floppy subsystem...