iainmaoileoin
Experienced Member
I am in the market for a DEC pdp11 tape reader/punch.
If you know of one let me know pls?
If you know of one let me know pls?
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paper tape reader/punch
- Thread starter iainmaoileoin
- Start date
Al Kossow
Documentation Wizard
pbirkel@gmail.com
Veteran Member
FWIW, that was a PC04, therefore wired with a 8 in mind. Mattis Lind was having fun with one a while back: https://github.com/MattisLind/PC04Reader
I suspect that Ian really wants a PC05. Closer to home :->?
iainmaoileoin
Experienced Member
pc11?
pc11?
You got it!
but I think I am looking for a PC05 or a PC11
also it does not have to be too close to home,
pc11?
You got it!
but I think I am looking for a PC05 or a PC11
also it does not have to be too close to home,
iainmaoileoin
Experienced Member
Aye ;-(
ebay in the UK does not always show (even on "worldwide" search) US items - especially if they have delivery conditions on them.
I have been searching for a while and *ing well missed that one.
ebay in the UK does not always show (even on "worldwide" search) US items - especially if they have delivery conditions on them.
I have been searching for a while and *ing well missed that one.
MattisLind
Veteran Member
As Paul mentioned I did some playing around with a PC04 punch/reader and made a small card that sits in the reader and provide a serial interface.
Mechanically the PC04 and PC05 is very similar. Electronics wise they have substantial differences. The PC05 incorporates the "intelligence" in three boards M705(0), M710 and M715. Where as the PC04 has these boards in the host CPU (PDP-8/L has them in the back plane or maybe the expansion BA08 and I guess that PDP-15 does this as well). This causes the PC05 interface to look a bit non-PDP-11-ish.
I also did some effort to interface my PC04 with a PDP-11 over serial port. This works quite well for the reader since there is a reader run on most serial boards.
For punching I had som difficulty since to have the punch work at the full speed it has to receive the character at the right timing. If I could buffer it would work at maybe 600 bps while the punch were running at maybe 50-55 cps. If punching big tapes the buffer will eventually overrun in the micro controller. I made a try to synthesize a tx serial clock from the punch rate and thus have them speed synchronized. It worked sort of but since I then happen to find a PC05 I never finalized that part of the project.
Anyhow it worked pretty well under RSX-11M which recognized the serial port as a punch/reader (no big deal just set the CSR to 176550) and I was able both read and punch tapes.
By the way PC11 is just the combination of the M7810 board and the PC05 reader/punch. There are supposed to be a M8010 to interface the PC05 to qbus but I guess they were not very common.
Mechanically the PC04 and PC05 is very similar. Electronics wise they have substantial differences. The PC05 incorporates the "intelligence" in three boards M705(0), M710 and M715. Where as the PC04 has these boards in the host CPU (PDP-8/L has them in the back plane or maybe the expansion BA08 and I guess that PDP-15 does this as well). This causes the PC05 interface to look a bit non-PDP-11-ish.
I also did some effort to interface my PC04 with a PDP-11 over serial port. This works quite well for the reader since there is a reader run on most serial boards.
For punching I had som difficulty since to have the punch work at the full speed it has to receive the character at the right timing. If I could buffer it would work at maybe 600 bps while the punch were running at maybe 50-55 cps. If punching big tapes the buffer will eventually overrun in the micro controller. I made a try to synthesize a tx serial clock from the punch rate and thus have them speed synchronized. It worked sort of but since I then happen to find a PC05 I never finalized that part of the project.
Anyhow it worked pretty well under RSX-11M which recognized the serial port as a punch/reader (no big deal just set the CSR to 176550) and I was able both read and punch tapes.
By the way PC11 is just the combination of the M7810 board and the PC05 reader/punch. There are supposed to be a M8010 to interface the PC05 to qbus but I guess they were not very common.