jmdhuse
Experienced Member
Hello All,
I've been working with a couple of TK50 tape drives, and I have them working with my PDP-11/53. I can read, write, and delete files, and I can make backups of the hard drives. The things that are hard to come by are actual tape cartridges with useful data on them. So, I am wondering, has anyone built a TK50 emulator that would hold files on a microSD card and would interface to the M7546 controller module? If such a thing does exist, I haven't been able to find it... if it does not exist, I'm thinking it would be a very interesting project to take on.
I'm picturing a small PCB with not much more than a microSD card socket, voltage regulation, a set of differential drivers and receivers, and a microcontroller. The communications protocol between the controller and the drive are explained in some detail in the TK50 technical manual, although I am sure there are some missing pieces that I would have to discover. I also suspect that it would not be terribly hard to extend the functionality to that of a TK70.
What do you think? Does anyone in the community feel this would be a useful tool? I have seen a few TK50 tape archives around, and there might be more to be found.
Cheers, Jon.
I've been working with a couple of TK50 tape drives, and I have them working with my PDP-11/53. I can read, write, and delete files, and I can make backups of the hard drives. The things that are hard to come by are actual tape cartridges with useful data on them. So, I am wondering, has anyone built a TK50 emulator that would hold files on a microSD card and would interface to the M7546 controller module? If such a thing does exist, I haven't been able to find it... if it does not exist, I'm thinking it would be a very interesting project to take on.
I'm picturing a small PCB with not much more than a microSD card socket, voltage regulation, a set of differential drivers and receivers, and a microcontroller. The communications protocol between the controller and the drive are explained in some detail in the TK50 technical manual, although I am sure there are some missing pieces that I would have to discover. I also suspect that it would not be terribly hard to extend the functionality to that of a TK70.
What do you think? Does anyone in the community feel this would be a useful tool? I have seen a few TK50 tape archives around, and there might be more to be found.
Cheers, Jon.