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Pertec ISA interface card

IT says US BUYER ONLY :-((
So, I can do anything.
This let me with TWO questions : 1 - Someone else recognize the ISA interface card type ??
2- **IF ** someone on the file is interested by this item ... Just let me know, may be we can "share" it ??
Obviously, I am interested in the card, and a copy of the manual and floppies.
Of course, I will "pay my share", if I may say so ... ( English is NOT my native language ;-) )
 
Hi Gerard,

The card looks similar to the 8-bit one offered by Electrovalue. Not fast, but then the 1052 isn't a fast drive.

Didn't you say that you bought a PCTD-2 controller? I do have software for it (if I haven't already emailed it to you).

I'm starting to revive my controller project--just need to run a few more simulations on my CPLD code. Right now, the MCU looks like it'll be whatever I have kicking around--a PIC 18F450 looks like it will do the job with a bit of external RAM, all of which is in my junk box.
 
HI Chuck,

Good to hear from you :D

"Didn't you say that you bought a PCTD-2 controller? I do have software for it (if I haven't already emailed it to you)."
Absolutly true !! But I am lacking time to go ahead with this. Right now I am batteling with a "very interesting" industrial PC ( with "help" from my son ).
I STRONGLY expect to be back to the qualstar story( ies ?? ) before the end of the month.

Please, bear in mind that I am strongly interested by your project and can even offer "help" , time permitting !!

Ho, By the way, the card is bought was a PCTD III ( because I was "tired" wainting for another type of PCTD card showing up )

About this combo offered on ebay : "Drive + Interface card + Drivers" : Interested in buying it and "sharing" something / some parts ???

( From France, I can't buy it and anyway, shipping the whole thing is going to cost me an arm ... I can't afford this right now. :( )
 
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It's a very slow drive with a very slow interface. Were it SCSI, I might be interested, but I don't really need another bit of ISA equipment. I've determined for myself that any future projects requiring an interface will be USB.

The software I have will also handle the PCTD III. All you need do for yourself is make up a cable.

Regardless of the drive you obtain for yourself, be sure to find a service manual! Sometimes the failure due to age is obvious, sometimes not. I've got an Overland auto-threader here that suddenly has refused to auto-thread. Looking at the drive, I see that the foam attached to the drive lid that forms a seal with the tape compartment has deteriorated to crumbs. Doubtless it's the resulting vacuum leak in the drive that's responsible. At least I hope so. In the meantime, it's the big Fujitsu streamer for tapes. Very fast, but it's in a rack near the floor and a bother for an old guy like me to thread up. :(
 
Hello !

Replies, NOT in any order :

I DO have the cable ! I am lucky, and I know that !

I also have the manual and schematics from "bitsavers" .... So, I have everything ( I think ) to start playing with this toy.

To be exact, I own a 1052 AND a 1260 ( but this last one has a small mechanical problem ..... and no Manual / Schematics ... So, "IT will run second", if I may say so ... )

and a bother for an old guy like me to thread up. I am sure you 'r not so old ;) anyway not a lot more than I am ;)

SCSI and other : Right now, and very recently listed, there is a 1260 **S** on Epay ...$25, no bid yet, shipping $35 ( in the US, obviously !! )
Item : 230926841853.

*** IF *** you might be interested by the SCSI to ISA board interface inside ( ??? ) Let me know, as I might also be interested in a spare magnetic head ...
and the left hand side " black roller" ( is that correct word ?? )

You have already understand where my 1260's mechanical problem is, haven''t you ? ;)

I also remember from CCTECH that : "Dec TZ88N-TA SCSI standalone tape drive" may be of interest.
But watch carefully, it is an **N** suffix, and I remembered that there is something "special" for this "N", is not it ??
There is one around $100 on Ebay BUT in Bratislava :p ( Beside that, seller seems "OK" )

I also saw an TZ86, in New jersey, $150 if I remember correctly, but not sure what interface type ...
 
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Gerardcjat said:
I also remember from CCTECH that : "Dec TZ88N-TA SCSI standalone tape drive" may be of interest.
But watch carefully, it is an **N** suffix, and I remembered that there is something "special" for this "N", is not it ??
There is one around $100 on Ebay BUT in Bratislava :p ( Beside that, seller seems "OK" )

I also saw an TZ86, in New jersey, $150 if I remember correctly, but not sure what interface type ...
Click to expand...

Yeah, just tooking for something to read TK50/TK70 cartridges. TZ87 seems to be the last of the TK50/70 compatibles--the "N" versions are not. There's a good deal on a TZ87, but in Israel (!). You can tell by the drive--the compatible drives have LED indicators on the front for TK50 and TK70 mode.

I'll have a look at the others suggestions.
 
Hi all,
I am the half-happy owner of a Qualstar 1052: I have found a Catamount ATC-16 card but don't have the right cable (have one for the Tx-8 / TXi-16 though)

I have also found a PCTD III, but still no cable.
I have searched pretty much everywhere to find some wiring diagrams to alter my cable or build a custom one, but no luck.
Even the Catamount documentation mentioned in this forum doesn't include any electrical diagram.

It would be GREAT if anyone who has any wiring scheme for the above two cards would share it, thanks.

Thanks
Antonio

PS I have found the wiring scheme for the Overland cards, but of course this is of no use for me.
 
Hello Antonio,

I have not answered your P.M. !! Shame on me !
Point is : I DO NOT have cable schematics.
- I DO have a cable that I can point to point trace, but I am not positive on what that cable it is for !!
- Qualstar 1052 on one side for sure, but on the other side ??

I will check tomorrow, and anyway, will "extract" the cable pinning.
OF course, Chuck(G) is probably right in his assumption ( as usual ;-) )
 
Thanks Chuck,

Yes, it does have the same D-Sub 62 but I want to be reasonably sure the wiring is the same before I attempt.

It would be very helpful if anyone who has the ATC-8 or ATC-16 could please check if the pinout is the same of the TX/Overland as described in this table:http://www.sydex.com/overcbl.html

Thanks a lot!

@ Gerard: No bother, I thought you were busy looking for that diagram!
However, if you have never hooked up your unit to any controller, checking the pinout of your cable (for ATC? PCTD? TX?) would be useless.
 
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If it helps, I've used that chart to wire up a cable between a PCTD-16 controller and a Fujitsu 2444 drive; it works just fine. You can double-check by seeing if the pins labeled "GND" in the chart are signal grounds on the controller that you have.
 
NeXT said:
Incredible.

It's been almost seven years and this thread is still going.
Click to expand...

"Listen, and understand! That Thread is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!!"

And you can only blame yourself for this! :evillaugh: LOL
 
Hi there, I'm happy to see this thread still alive :)

Here at "Museo dell'Informatica Funzionante" Computer Museum in Palazzolo Acreide, ITALY (http://museum.freaknet.org), we're trying to hack our QUALSTAR 1052 tape drive, to read raw data from it. We need this to recover some old computer tapes coming from a poland system (MERA-400, http://mera-400.pl)

We have an IBM 9348 drive but is only 1600/3200, this tapes are 800 BPI starting block, and data is at 1600, so our IBM drive can't read the data part, because the header is 800 bpi and give an error.

Obviously, we got the qualstar drive without any PERTEC interface board :( We only have his cable with that weird 3 row cannon.

So we took a look on schematics, and saw so many points from where we can maybe read some raw data.

We hooked an Arduino Mega, trying to read data from ENV, ZCD or other parts of the board - using RSTR (TP5) as a strobe, while the tape moves using the test mode (switch 1 on, others off). We have a tape written at 1600 BPI with a known pattern, but all we can read seem to be garbage - I think we can't find a good read strobe. We also don't have signals / data on J2 connector - reading there can be useful but nothing happens; when we read data on ENV connector (directly on the output of the LM319 line) we have data flowing also thru the "OUTREG" chips, but nothing on J2 (e.g. no IRSTR on pin 34).

It seem that, being in "test mode", the tape is not putting any data on J2 connector.

Any idea about how to read stuff, or about how to "fool" the drive forcing it to put data on J2 connector?

Any help is appreciated :D

Gabriele
 
asbesto said:
trying to read data from ENV, ZCD or other parts of the board - using RSTR (TP5) as a strobe
Click to expand...

There won't be a single strobe to read all nine channels as raw flux transitions. You will need to digitize the channels and do phase decoding on each channel individually in software since there can be skew between tracks either on the original tape, or in the head stack.
 
OK for the raw flux transitions - I can understand that I need to digitize and decode them - but doesn't the tape circuit do this? Can't I tap somewhere to read the decoded data directly? I mean, those data are fed to the PC interface, so somewhere they are in that circuit - can't we read them?

We spot TTL data on the output registers U40, U41, U42... they seem decoded, aren't they?
 
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