MicroVax II diagnostic tape?

[e.stiebler]

Mr Ian Primus wrote:
> I have other ESDI disks, and one other Micropolis
> drive (non DEC)- I want to attempt to format and test
> some of them on the Vaxen. I plan on attempting to
> repair the RD53, but I'd like to be able to format and
> test disks, since I need to scare up a replacement for
> the other Vax.

The emulex boards should have onboard formatters for the ESDI drives.
No need for the "diagnostic tape"

> I have heard tales of a magical diagnostic tape that
> exists for these machines. 

Tales they are ;-)
With the diagnostic tape, you can format formatted drives. If you really 
like to format a MFM disk for a VAX, use a pdp11 with XXDP, or a 
microVAX 2000.

Good luck

P.S. Go ESDI, if you have the drives already ...