27 May
2026
27 May
'26
10:25 p.m.
Hello and thank you for the hints.
Short version:
Would you please tell me some more details about where to find " *Johnny's
tpw under 2.11BSD* " utility, which *"it achieved writing simh TAP to a
real TK50"* ? It will be of great help.
Long version:
I'm working at a PERTEC-interfaced tape emulator using some Am2900
bit-slice processors and a STM32. Currently I somehow replicated the simh
.TAP but it does not fully follow and respect its format. My emulator reads
tapes, dumps content inside 4 x 32MB EDO RAM for the data, and 1 x 4 MB EDO
RAM for the 'map of the tape' - file sizes, filemark separators and so on.
When EOT is reached, the tape is rewinded while the big RAM content is
dumped [AM2900 side] into a microSD card [STM32 side] while following the
tape map from the smaller RAM, in such a way that the resulting file
becomes a frankensteined simh tap file. It can also do the reverse - reads
that frankenstein TAP [STM32] and writes it to the tape.
The STM32 acts like an i/o interface to the microSD and also as a user
interface. All the rest (i/o protocol, interrupts, ram transfers) is done
with physical gates and some diode logic ROM, for me to keep the stm32
software part as simple as possible. Whatever I could implement with
external hardware, I did.
The big weirdness is as following: whatever format is dumped from the
physical tape inside my "not-quite-simh TAP" file, it appears to be
converted and written correctly back on another physical 9-track tape, as
it can be correctly read by another frankensteined half-breed dinosaur made
from some communist Romanian clones of PDP11 (called Coral 4030) - the
boards - and French CII IRIS50 (called Felix C-256) - the i/o peripherals:
tape drives, punched card, cassette tapes and so on.
However my "not-quite-simh" TAP is not accepted by simh and also not
accepted by the 'unvtape' program from you, mr. Jacob Ritorto, from your
github.
But if the STM32 sends data to its own RAM chip (the board containing
the stm32 is *waveshare's core429i*), then extracts it back, the simh file
format result is as perfect as it is supposed to be. But I can't use that
RAM with the rest of the system, as there are not enough spare i/o ports
left in order to talk to the AM2900 side.
The EDO Rams are tested and they work absolutely fine. I made some mistakes
for sure while building the physical board (bad/expired beer?), some little
mess with the gates which I can't fully follow - unable to replicate the
initial conditions, I no longer have that bad beer which gave me headaches
during the design phase. Now I have only the good stuff.
So I am asking for help in order to run that "*tpw" *program and follow
the registers, while graphing the physical measurements logic using two
HP1662 logic analyzers: would you please let me know where I may find it?
This is an older version of my pertec tape drive emulator. The project
advances slowly - not too much spare time available, not even to update
with new pictures and progress. My wife, child and workplace demand 99% of
my attention. Unfortunately I have limited knowledge about working with
github, mostly because it is owned by Microsoft (and used for inspiring
their business, that's why I refused to learn about it), and also because I
am used to the old times when programs were stored & exchanged on cassettes
and floppies, and version control was manually followed with pen and paper.
At this time it is easier and faster for me this way.
https://hackaday.com/2019/05/02/a-mainframe-tape-drive-emulator/
Thank you.
Vasile
On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM <cctalk-request(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 26 May 2026 12:08:09 -0400
From: Jacob Ritorto <jacob.ritorto(a)gmail.com>
Subject: [cctalk] Re: ...a .TAP by any other name...
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Message-ID:
<
CAHYQbfAspc+gs6mRZv5ePmt__kp_xb-WvFUBO9K-HiCsX8iNyA(a)mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Thank you for that ,Ken - good to have in the pocket!
I tried Johnny's tpw under 2.11BSD and it achieved writing simh TAP to a
real TK50. So I'm booting real hardware from that sept 1992 rsts/e image
now!
End of cctalk Digest, Vol 1186, Issue 1
***************************************
27 May
27 May
10:34 p.m.
New subject: ...a .TAP by any other name...
Hi Vasile and you’re welcome.
This is Johnny Billquist’s — he might have a more fresh copy but here’s the old one I used
on 2.11BSD just yesterday. I don’t know where else to find it other than asking Johnny.
You’ll need a fairly recent 2BSD system, if I remember right, for it to compile.
Pls find tar attachment (& sorry to the rest of the list ,I don’t know how to do
attachments :)
Love the one version of the story, btw! Good luck.
On May 27, 2026, at 16:26, Vasile Buruiana via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hello and thank you for the hints.
Short version:
Would you please tell me some more details about where to find " *Johnny's
tpw under 2.11BSD* " utility, which *"it achieved writing simh TAP to a
real TK50"* ? It will be of great help.
Long version:
I'm working at a PERTEC-interfaced tape emulator using some Am2900
bit-slice processors and a STM32. Currently I somehow replicated the simh
.TAP but it does not fully follow and respect its format. My emulator reads
tapes, dumps content inside 4 x 32MB EDO RAM for the data, and 1 x 4 MB EDO
RAM for the 'map of the tape' - file sizes, filemark separators and so on.
When EOT is reached, the tape is rewinded while the big RAM content is
dumped [AM2900 side] into a microSD card [STM32 side] while following the
tape map from the smaller RAM, in such a way that the resulting file
becomes a frankensteined simh tap file. It can also do the reverse - reads
that frankenstein TAP [STM32] and writes it to the tape.
The STM32 acts like an i/o interface to the microSD and also as a user
interface. All the rest (i/o protocol, interrupts, ram transfers) is done
with physical gates and some diode logic ROM, for me to keep the stm32
software part as simple as possible. Whatever I could implement with
external hardware, I did.
The big weirdness is as following: whatever format is dumped from the
physical tape inside my "not-quite-simh TAP" file, it appears to be
converted and written correctly back on another physical 9-track tape, as
it can be correctly read by another frankensteined half-breed dinosaur made
from some communist Romanian clones of PDP11 (called Coral 4030) - the
boards - and French CII IRIS50 (called Felix C-256) - the i/o peripherals:
tape drives, punched card, cassette tapes and so on.
However my "not-quite-simh" TAP is not accepted by simh and also not
accepted by the 'unvtape' program from you, mr. Jacob Ritorto, from your
github.
But if the STM32 sends data to its own RAM chip (the board containing
the stm32 is *waveshare's core429i*), then extracts it back, the simh file
format result is as perfect as it is supposed to be. But I can't use that
RAM with the rest of the system, as there are not enough spare i/o ports
left in order to talk to the AM2900 side.
The EDO Rams are tested and they work absolutely fine. I made some mistakes
for sure while building the physical board (bad/expired beer?), some little
mess with the gates which I can't fully follow - unable to replicate the
initial conditions, I no longer have that bad beer which gave me headaches
during the design phase. Now I have only the good stuff.
So I am asking for help in order to run that "*tpw" *program and follow
the registers, while graphing the physical measurements logic using two
HP1662 logic analyzers: would you please let me know where I may find it?
This is an older version of my pertec tape drive emulator. The project
advances slowly - not too much spare time available, not even to update
with new pictures and progress. My wife, child and workplace demand 99% of
my attention. Unfortunately I have limited knowledge about working with
github, mostly because it is owned by Microsoft (and used for inspiring
their business, that's why I refused to learn about it), and also because I
am used to the old times when programs were stored & exchanged on cassettes
and floppies, and version control was manually followed with pen and paper.
At this time it is easier and faster for me this way.
https://hackaday.com/2019/05/02/a-mainframe-tape-drive-emulator/
Thank you.
Vasile
> On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM <cctalk-request(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 26 May 2026 12:08:09 -0400
> From: Jacob Ritorto <jacob.ritorto(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: ...a .TAP by any other name...
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAHYQbfAspc+gs6mRZv5ePmt__kp_xb-WvFUBO9K-HiCsX8iNyA(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Thank you for that ,Ken - good to have in the pocket!
> I tried Johnny's tpw under 2.11BSD and it achieved writing simh TAP to a
> real TK50. So I'm booting real hardware from that sept 1992 rsts/e image
> now!
>
>
> End of cctalk Digest, Vol 1186, Issue 1
> ***************************************
>
11:02 p.m.
New subject: ...a .TAP by any other name...
Hello
Thank you. Tar attachment is my favorite way to send data via e-mail.
It also compiles and runs on both FreeBSD 14.3 and OpenBSD 7.8 with zero
errors. Now let's see if the stinky, oil-dirty marxist-leninist rusty
half-breed wreck obeys the new commands. I forgot to bring the sledge
hammer in case it acts stupid and requires a hard reset.
But first I have to read about mr. Jonny Billquist. It is the first time I
hear his name. The first google search result page made my eyes as big as
the tape reels in the drive so I have to grab some popcorns&chips and start
reading all night until tomorrow.
You helped me find another great and passionate scientist.
Thank you.
On Wed, May 27, 2026 at 11:34 PM Jacob Ritorto <jacob.ritorto(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi Vasile and you’re welcome.
This is Johnny Billquist’s — he might have a more fresh copy but here’s
the old one I used on 2.11BSD just yesterday. I don’t know where else to
find it other than asking Johnny.
You’ll need a fairly recent 2BSD system, if I remember right, for it to
compile.
Pls find tar attachment (& sorry to the rest of the list ,I don’t know how
to do attachments :)
Love the one version of the story, btw! Good luck.
On May 27, 2026, at 16:26, Vasile Buruiana via
cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hello and thank you for the hints.
Short version:
Would you please tell me some more details about where to find "
*Johnny's
tpw under 2.11BSD* " utility, which
*"it achieved writing simh TAP to a
real TK50"* ? It will be of great help.
Long version:
I'm working at a PERTEC-interfaced tape emulator using some Am2900
bit-slice processors and a STM32. Currently I somehow replicated the simh
.TAP but it does not fully follow and respect its format. My emulator
reads
tapes, dumps content inside 4 x 32MB EDO RAM for
the data, and 1 x 4 MB
EDO
RAM for the 'map of the tape' - file
sizes, filemark separators and so
on.
When EOT is reached, the tape is rewinded while
the big RAM content is
dumped [AM2900 side] into a microSD card [STM32 side] while following
the
tape map from the smaller RAM, in such a way that
the resulting file
becomes a frankensteined simh tap file. It can also do the reverse -
reads
that frankenstein TAP [STM32] and writes it to
the tape.
The STM32 acts like an i/o interface to the microSD and also as a user
interface. All the rest (i/o protocol, interrupts, ram transfers) is done
with physical gates and some diode logic ROM, for me to keep the stm32
software part as simple as possible. Whatever I could implement with
external hardware, I did.
The big weirdness is as following: whatever format is dumped from the
physical tape inside my "not-quite-simh TAP" file, it appears to be
converted and written correctly back on another physical 9-track tape, as
it can be correctly read by another frankensteined half-breed dinosaur
made
from some communist Romanian clones of PDP11
(called Coral 4030) - the
boards - and French CII IRIS50 (called Felix C-256) - the i/o
peripherals:
tape drives, punched card, cassette tapes and so
on.
However my "not-quite-simh" TAP is not accepted by simh and also not
accepted by the 'unvtape' program from you, mr. Jacob Ritorto, from your
github.
But if the STM32 sends data to its own RAM chip (the board
containing
the stm32 is *waveshare's core429i*), then
extracts it back, the simh
file
format result is as perfect as it is supposed to
be. But I can't use that
RAM with the rest of the system, as there are not enough spare i/o ports
left in order to talk to the AM2900 side.
The EDO Rams are tested and they work absolutely fine. I made some
mistakes
for sure while building the physical board
(bad/expired beer?), some
little
mess with the gates which I can't fully
follow - unable to replicate the
initial conditions, I no longer have that bad beer which gave me
headaches
during the design phase. Now I have only the good
stuff.
So I am asking for help in order to run that "*tpw" *program and follow
the registers, while graphing the physical measurements logic using two
HP1662 logic analyzers: would you please let me know where I may find it?
This is an older version of my pertec tape drive emulator. The project
advances slowly - not too much spare time available, not even to update
with new pictures and progress. My wife, child and workplace demand 99%
of
my attention. Unfortunately I have limited
knowledge about working with
github, mostly because it is owned by Microsoft (and used for inspiring
their business, that's why I refused to learn about it), and also
because I
am used to the old times when programs were
stored & exchanged on
cassettes
and floppies, and version control was manually
followed with pen and
paper.
At this time it is easier and faster for me this
way.
https://hackaday.com/2019/05/02/a-mainframe-tape-drive-emulator/
Thank you.
Vasile
> On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM <cctalk-request(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 26 May 2026 12:08:09 -0400
> From: Jacob Ritorto <jacob.ritorto(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: ...a .TAP by any other name...
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAHYQbfAspc+gs6mRZv5ePmt__kp_xb-WvFUBO9K-HiCsX8iNyA(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Thank you for that ,Ken - good to have in the pocket!
> I tried Johnny's tpw under 2.11BSD and it achieved writing simh TAP to a
> real TK50. So I'm booting real hardware from that sept 1992 rsts/e
image
> now!
>
>
> End of cctalk Digest, Vol 1186, Issue 1
> ***************************************
>
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days inactive
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days old
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2 participants
participants (2)
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Jacob Ritorto -
Vasile Buruiana