On Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 4:41 PM Chuck Guzis via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > On 11/30/22 01:30, Christian Corti via cctalk wrote: > > On Sun, 27 Nov 2022, Chuck Guzis wrote: > >> If anyone cares, I've been working on a Pertec tape controller design. > >> The initial version worked remarkably well with only a few bodge wires. > >> I'm assembling the respin of the design and do not anticipate any issues. > > > > I could really use some "Unformatted to Pertec" tape controllers. I have > > a bunch of ½" drives but no separate formatter. So ATM they are quite > > useless. > > It's not impossible, but was there a universal standard for the > unformatted side of the affair? There are small differences between > the formatted side between vendors as-is.
There is an unformatted Pertec interface, I've got at least one tape drive that uses it and have seen others. No idea if there are odd 'gotchas' between different drives though. It's 3 edge connectors, I think 0.156" pitch, all the same size (but without digging out the manuals I can't remember how many pins). Essentially, one is the write data signals, the second is the read data signals, and the third is the control signals. -tony
