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Scored an RX02 !

Had the RX-01 drive out and running a couple months back but its disconnected and sitting on the floor right now. Am planning on using it on new system when it gets in but that won’t be till around the end of the month and then have to try to figure out how to get it going first. Do have several RX-01 disk but don’t recall what ones are good and what ones are duds but know that none of them will work in the RX-02 drive that I have. Let me see what I can do in terms of maybe attaching the 01 drive to a system and testing a couple disks and then maybe I can send one or two, that’s assuming that my RX-01 drive still works. Have you checked the condition of the AC drive motors? I had to disassemble, clean and oil the bearings on my drive motors being that ones I have were frozen in place. The design of the drives in keeping the motor spinning all the time the AC power is something I am not a big fan of and may end up putting a switch on my drive to avoid the stress on the motor and spindle assembly. Also I try to keep the drive doors open when not using to keep the top of the hub and head from constantly being loaded.
 
Qbus said:
Have you checked the condition of the AC drive motors? I had to disassemble, clean and oil the bearings on my drive motors being that ones I have were frozen in place.
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Hi Qbus,

Yes, that was one of the first things that I did. Both motors are running fine. I did have to clean up some gunk that had gotten down onto the spindles and the drive belts, but all is working well down there right now.

I agree that keeping the drive motors running all the time does not seem like a great idea. I also keep the drive doors open when not being used, too.

smp
 
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Marty said:
Hi All;
SMP, I am mixed up, not all that unusual.. If the RX01's are Single Density and they are IBM compatible, then You should be able to format then in Your S-100 system.. Which Boards and which processor do You have ??
If it is a Z-80, I had a format program that was able to do all sorts of formats, not only Single but Double Density and there was not a problem switching between the two.. Its mainly setting up the parameters..
THANK YOU Marty
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Hi Marty,

Thanks for paying attention.

No, I do not have an S-100 system with any disk drives, nor do I have any other system that uses 8 inch floppy disks. This is my only system where I have gone down the 8 inch floppy disk path, and it has turned out to have a bunch of surprises for me!

smp
 
Hi All;
SMP, I guess I mis-understood.. I thought You had an S-100 system, but, I take it that the Floppies You have were from an S-100 system.. Its Basically reformatting, these from Double to Single, I take it then.. Yes, 8" can be fully of surprises, If you are not familiar with them.. I have had many of an 8" system, though not DEC, so DEC is not familiar to me..
THANK YOU Marty
 
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I too have both a RX01 and a RX02 though I have not yet had time to work with them so still have the 8" fun to come.
Now my understanding of the diskette/format issues is as follows,

The media is the same for both RX01 and 02.
Nether the Rx01 or 02 drive can perform the " low level" track and sector format ( the sector headers ).
So the disks need to be preformed, the DEC disks come like this as new.
The format we can do using the DEC utilities is a " high level" and sets up the filing system .
The RX01 format is singe density and can be performed by say a PC with a 8" drive and the correct controller and sw.
The RX02 also has SINGLE DENSITY sectors headers , same as the RX01, BUT the data is a modified double density.
SO in theory one can put n RX02 disk in a RX01 and do a " high level" format, just writing the data part of the sector
AND one could put a RX01 disk in a RX02 and again do a high level format .
HOWEVER there is a gotcha, on initializing the RX01 and maybe the RX02 automatically does a read of track 0, sector 0 and if this fail's it sets the error flag, this is going to happen if its an RX02 disk in an RX01 or visa versa , and maybe this error condition will prevent any subsequent attempts to run the "high level" format.

Now this is just my understanding , I may be wrong , but maybe it will help, or muddy the water even more ;)

Dave H
 
For Sale: 12 8 inch RX02 floppy disks:

I have 6 DEC software disks and 6 more user disks.

The DEC software disks are labeled:

BA-M387B-BA
WPS-8/DECMATE BIN BASE RX2

BA-M387A-BA
WPS-8/DECMATE V2 BIN BASE RX2

BA-M386A-BA
WPS-8/DECMATE V2 BIN MATH RX2

BA-M469A-BA
WPS-8/DECMATE V2 BIN LIST RX2

BA-M470A-BA
WPS-8/DECMATE V2 BIN COMM RX2

BA-M471A-BA
WPS-8/DECMATE V2 BIN SORT RX2

The 6 additional disks are user disks with labels indicating "customers," "backup," "WPS documents," and the like.

I'd like to get $40, shipped free to the CONUS. Shipping internationally will cost a bit extra.

smp
 
In RT-11, the magic command that changes RX02 formatted floppies into RX01 floppies (when done on an RX02 drive in RX02 mode) is FORMAT /SINGLEDENSITY DY0: (or DY1: ) .

I'm thinking we need a thread for logging all kinds of RX01 and RX02 tricks (drives, media, non-dec controllers and drives). I have had a lot of fun with 8" drives - including alignments with analog alignment disks (got one and aligned four SA800s!)

Lou
 
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