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9 track

Marty

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
3,141
Location
Boulder , Colorado USA
I have an old Board for reading 9 track tapes , which fits in an old 486 or pentium 1 type of machine ... the Board is a computer logics board..
it uses address , dma and irq
The programs for the setup says that I am stepping on something else, either the Dma or the irq ...
Is there a program to run to see what is at where ???? :confused: :confused:
THANK YOU Marty
 
Which Computer Logics board? There was a small one (PCTD-III 8 bit ISA) and a large one (16-bit ISA, full length).

The small one uses an early FPGA that requires its firmware to be downloaded by the driver and is a very quirky card and tends not to do well on systems much faster than a 386. The large one is much better. The drivers are completely different.

If it's the 8-bit card, you're generally safe in using DMA 1 or 3 and IRQ 2/9, 5 or 7 on a minimally-configured 486--if it will run at all.
 
9 track

hi Chuck;
I have the pctd iii .. I have the software for it , but is doesn't like my machine... nor my pentium machine either... but gives different errors for each machine...
THANK YOU Marty
 
A few years ago, one of the PCTD III's came into my hands. I couldn't get it to work on a P1 system and called Chi Corp. to see if they had any suggestions.

I talked to a fellow who barely remembered the thing and he suggested that it might run on a 386 if I didn't have a tape drive that was too fast for it. He wasn't optimistic.

The PCTD III has a small FIFO (256 bytes?--I can't recall) and a slow FPGA. The Pertec interface itself does not have complete handshaking--when reading, data is presented with a strobe, but no acknowledge, so there's no real controller-drive coordination. Essentially it's "Here's the data--think fast!" If the controller isn't there to grab it, it falls on the floor. The same siutation obtains with writes.

The full-length 16-bit PCTD has a 256K onboard cache (well, really a circular buffer) and does quite well even with a P1 driving it.

Wish I had more encouraging news... :(
 
9 track

Hi Chuck;
I will have to try all of the Dma 1 or 3 and all of the irq settings, and see IF I can get one that it will work on... So, Thanks again.
THANK YOU Marty
 
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