Is there any replacement for the FloppyTape drive on the 3B1?

[Lenny Tropiano]

In article <688 at bacchus.UUCP> darren at bacchus.UUCP (Darren Friedlein) writes:
|>In article <358 at gizzmo.UUCP> mark at gizzmo.UUCP (mark hilliard) writes:
|>>In article <495 at icus.islp.ny.us> lenny at icus.islp.ny.us, I write:
|>>>I have a question for the net... I have in my possession a 3B1 tape 
|>>>controller board and the driver software.  My question is can I get
|>>>a tape drive that is similar in operation to the 3B1's? 
|>>
|>>
|>>Yes, you can find a Cipher drive at numerous surplus dealers.  The Cipher 
|>>drive IS the ATT drive.  They are even in the same case.  I have seen
|>>them for as low as $100.00.
|>
|>Since the tape drive runs off a floppy interface, would anyone be
|>willing to write a tape driver to run a tape drive off /dev/rfp020?
|>(hint, hint, Lenny :-)  Also - can it be made to run a >20M tape
|>drive (like 40 or 60?)
|>
This has been discussed a couple of times, and nothing has really ever
come of it.  The big problem I see is "timing".  I/O on the UNIX PC really
kills the machine, and since the tapes that use floppy interfaces have
to be "formatted" (to simulate a floppy diskette) the machine would have
to be shutdown completely (like it's done for the FloppyTape drive sold
right now), to insure proper no multi-user interference.

I'm not sure how these FloppyTape units for the IBM's actually work, but
it might be possible to hook one up, and just give normal floppy (WD2797
controller) commands to the drive.  (ie. use the "iv(1M)" command to format,
cpio to /dev/rfp021 to backup).  All the tape controller board for the 3B1
has on it is another WD2797 floppy controller, and some IC's for DMA
transfer to the UNIX PC...

The second thing which makes it "not worth all the trouble" is first having
to buy the tape drive that you "might not be able to get to work anyhow".
With the possibility of SCSI compatibility in the near future, one could add
a SCSI tape drive (>120MB if you want) and multiple hard drives, without
much hassle.

|>This could be asking the imposible, but I'm not sure what's involved
|>in writing such a driver.  We sell several 1/2 ht floppy (DC600?) tape
|>drives where I work (brand names: Archive and Mountain) and they come
|>with nice documentation which should make deciphering the interface
|>easier.

If you are willing to get us one for *free* :-)  ICUS will try to play 
around with it!

-Lenny
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