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Is there any way to read and write an HP 9144 tape drive with a PC?

J

jmetal88

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Derby, KS
My school is getting rid of a bunch of old tech stuff, and one of my professors told me I could just grab what I wanted and take it out of a certain selection of equipment. Anyway, one of the things I grabbed today was an HP 9144 tape drive and a box of tapes for it. It has an HP-IB interface, and I know I can get an ISA or PCI card that can physically connect to it, but is there any software for PC (meaning Linux or DOS, to me) that would actually allow me to read from or write to the tape drive? I found a work-in-progress Linux utility that can dump data from the tapes, but I haven't found anything that would allow me to use them as they were originally intended yet.

I do have the option to grab the HP computer that the tape drive was being used with, but I'd have to grab it today before the end of the day (e-waste comes by tomorrow), and I'm not sure I can find any space to actually set it up, so I'd prefer to use it with a PC if I can. It's slim, but has a really large footprint. Also has like a 19" or possibly 21" CRT monitor that I'm not sure if I'd have to take with it.
 
Let's assume you did find some software to run it. What would you do with it? A tape can hold about 1/10 of a CDROM. It transfers data at less than 20KB per second.

If you had another device that only worked with that kind of tape, then it might be worth doing data interchange with a PC using it. Or maybe if you had valuable data on those tapes that you needed to read.
 
A functioning 9144 with functioning tapes is a rarity. On these old things, the rubber capstan wheel is usually degraded past usefulness and the tapes themselves often have tension band (broken or loose) tension band issues. But Al K. should know about these things better than most here You might also try making some inquiries over at the HP Museum site, as they're more likely to actually be using the things.
 
jmetal88 said:
I do have the option to grab the HP computer that the tape drive was being used with, but I'd have to grab it today before the end of the day (e-waste comes by tomorrow), and I'm not sure I can find any space to actually set it up, so I'd prefer to use it with a PC if I can.
Click to expand...

You should grab the HP computer that goes with the 9144 tape drive if you can. That is most likely a lot more interesting than the tape drive. If you don't have the space and interest in it yourself someone else here might be interested in saving it from e-waste recycling if they could get it from you.
 
Hmm, I went by the lab again and took a look at everything. It looks like I'd have to take the monitor with it, since it's a BNC sync-on-green type connection. I'm not sure if it's worth carrying both of those to my car.
 
gslick said:
You should grab the HP computer that goes with the 9144 tape drive if you can. That is most likely a lot more interesting than the tape drive. If you don't have the space and interest in it yourself someone else here might be interested in saving it from e-waste recycling if they could get it from you.
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't see this before my last reply. Maybe I will try to save it, if I can. It's quite heavy, though, and I have to carry it quite a ways.
 
jmetal88 said:
Hmm, I went by the lab again and took a look at everything. It looks like I'd have to take the monitor with it, since it's a BNC sync-on-green type connection. I'm not sure if it's worth carrying both of those to my car.
Click to expand...

IF it's the HP branded monitor some people like them for completeness, otherwise I do believe most LCD panels will support a SOG signal.
 
I got it all home. Boy I wish I hadn't tried to just carry that monitor out! I actually lost my grip and dropped it on the way to the car. Miraculously, there is no visible damage to it, and it appears to still be fully functional.

Yes, it is the HP-branded monitor.

Anyway, the monitor works and the computer boots, but I can't really test it out any further than that because I couldn't find the keyboard cable anywhere. The keyboard was sitting right next to the computer and I grabbed it at the same time as the computer, but the cable connecting the two was just gone. The monitor cable and HP-IB cable were both sitting there, so I grabbed both of those, but I have no idea what happened to the keyboard cable.

EDIT: Dang! People on eBay are trying to rob you for one of these cables! They're charging around $50! Luckily, I found an independent store front through Google that's selling 'em for closer to $15, but I may still go back and see if I can find a cable in the lab first.

EDIT 2: Eh, I went ahead and ordered the $15 cable. It's not that much, especially compared to eBay. If I do find the one from the lab, I'll just have a spare.
 
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It's a 700 series. It says 'A1094A' under a flip cover on the front panel.

The monitor is a 19" A1097C.
 
You could search for and download this manual from http://www.hpmuseum.net/

720-730_OwnersGuideForHP-UXUsers_A1946-90001_163pages_Jun91.pdf

In Table 5-1 on page 5-4 it lists these part numbers:
Model 720 processor card A1094-69510
Model 730 processor card A1094-69515
Model 720 core I/O card A1094-69005
Model 730 core I/O card A1094-69009

Then Figure 5-1 on page 5-7 shows Core I/O Card Removal and Figure 5-2 on page 5-9 shows Processor Card Removal.

If you were curious enough you could remove the I/O card (you would need to do that to replace the BR-2325 clock battery, and/or change the LAN type jumpers between Thin LAN and Thick LAN) and check the part numbers of the boards. Might be too much work if you don't really care, although myself I like to take things apart and take a look when I get new hardware just out of curiosity.
 
gslick said:
You could search for and download this manual from http://www.hpmuseum.net/

720-730_OwnersGuideForHP-UXUsers_A1946-90001_163pages_Jun91.pdf

In Table 5-1 on page 5-4 it lists these part numbers:
Model 720 processor card A1094-69510
Model 730 processor card A1094-69515
Model 720 core I/O card A1094-69005
Model 730 core I/O card A1094-69009

Then Figure 5-1 on page 5-7 shows Core I/O Card Removal and Figure 5-2 on page 5-9 shows Processor Card Removal.

If you were curious enough you could remove the I/O card (you would need to do that to replace the BR-2325 clock battery, and/or change the LAN type jumpers between Thin LAN and Thick LAN) and check the part numbers of the boards. Might be too much work if you don't really care, although myself I like to take things apart and take a look when I get new hardware just out of curiosity.
Click to expand...

Well, those don't seem to match my I/O card. The sticker on my I/O card says A1094-66532. By the way, it was just held in with thumb screws so it wasn't really any work to remove.

EDIT: Pretty sure it's a 720. My CPU card isn't a 69510, but it is a 66510, and the 66510 is the one Wikipedia uses for the 720.
 
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I haven't found that part number in a quick look through online manuals yet, though these photos say the A1094-66532 core I/O board did come from a Model 720:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_01.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_02.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_03.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_04.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_05.jpg

The same core I/O board might also work in a Model 730 so maybe you would also have to check the CPU board if it is trivial to remove.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_01.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_02.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_03.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_04.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_05.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_06.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_07.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_08.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_09.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_10.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_11.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_12.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-CPU-Board-A1094-66510_13.jpg
 
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gslick said:
I haven't found that part number in a quick look through online manuals yet, though these photos say the A1094-66532 core I/O board did come from a Model 720:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_01.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_02.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_03.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_04.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HP-HP9000-720-Workstation-System-Board-A1094-66532_05.jpg

The same core I/O board might also work in a Model 730 so maybe you would also have to check the CPU board if it is trivial to remove.
Click to expand...

I guess you missed my edit, but the CPU board says 66510. That doesn't match either, but it shares 4 numbers with the 720's 69510, so it's probably a 720.
 
Yeah, does sound like you do have a 720. If you pulled the CPU board out at least you probably can also tell how much RAM it has installed if the memory modules have nice labels on them like the 8MB modules in the Wikipedia photos.
 
gslick said:
Yeah, does sound like you do have a 720. If you pulled the CPU board out at least you probably can also tell how much RAM it has installed if the memory modules have nice labels on them like the 8MB modules in the Wikipedia photos.
Click to expand...

Oh, it boots up far enough for me to know that it has 48MB of RAM without even counting the modules. All but two of the slots on the CPU card are filled, which I would assume means it maxes out at 64MB (they're all 8MB modules).
 
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