6 Aug
2026
6 Aug
'26
8:31 a.m.
Hi everyone,
I keep coming back to wanting a removable physical media other than RX33
for my 11/23+. I have a SyQuest MFM drive but haven't been able to find any
media for it. While the larger disks are all around, the older 15MB disks
seem to be unobtanium.
While an RK05 or RK07 drive would be really neat, I don't really have room
for something like that.
I have a couple of SCSI ZIP-100 drives so a SCSI adapter would work, but
the eBay prices for them seem to be rather optimistic. Does anyone here
have a QBUS adapter they would be willing to part with for a reasonable
price? Something like a UC07 for example?
Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a parallel ZIP-100 on a PDP-11?
Oh, I am running RSX11M+ v4.6 on the machine.
- Peter
6 Aug
6 Aug
8:41 a.m.
Hi Peter:
How about buying qBone from decromancer.ca<http://decromancer.ca>? This gives you
the choice of a number of “big old disks” and other storage, all emulated on an SD card.
Kevin
On Aug 6, 2026, at 9:31 AM, Peter Ekstrom via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi everyone,
I keep coming back to wanting a removable physical media other than RX33
for my 11/23+. I have a SyQuest MFM drive but haven't been able to find any
media for it. While the larger disks are all around, the older 15MB disks
seem to be unobtanium.
While an RK05 or RK07 drive would be really neat, I don't really have room
for something like that.
I have a couple of SCSI ZIP-100 drives so a SCSI adapter would work, but
the eBay prices for them seem to be rather optimistic. Does anyone here
have a QBUS adapter they would be willing to part with for a reasonable
price? Something like a UC07 for example?
Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a parallel ZIP-100 on a PDP-11?
Oh, I am running RSX11M+ v4.6 on the machine.
- Peter
10:15 a.m.
Hi Kevin,
I have looked at that one. It does look pretty nifty and would eliminate
the need for several of the cards I have in my 11/23+.
It is a bit pricey, but looks a bit like a swiss army knife. I'll have to
ponder it. Can you attach control panels for the emulated drives to it?
I have the MFM emulator David G. developed and it is working pretty nicely.
Just a bit cumbersome to swap disks in it.
I like the idea of a physical drive I can pop disks in.
- Peter
On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 12:41 PM Kevin McQuiggin via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi Peter:
How about buying qBone from decromancer.ca<http://decromancer.ca>? This
gives you the choice of a number of “big old disks” and other storage, all
emulated on an SD card.
Kevin
On Aug 6, 2026, at 9:31 AM, Peter Ekstrom via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi everyone,
I keep coming back to wanting a removable physical media other than RX33
for my 11/23+. I have a SyQuest MFM drive but haven't been able to find any
media for it. While the larger disks are all around, the older 15MB disks
seem to be unobtanium.
While an RK05 or RK07 drive would be really neat, I don't really have room
for something like that.
I have a couple of SCSI ZIP-100 drives so a SCSI adapter would work, but
the eBay prices for them seem to be rather optimistic. Does anyone here
have a QBUS adapter they would be willing to part with for a reasonable
price? Something like a UC07 for example?
Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a parallel ZIP-100 on a PDP-11?
Oh, I am running RSX11M+ v4.6 on the machine.
- Peter
7 Aug
7 Aug
4:12 p.m.
On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 12:31 PM Peter Ekstrom via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I keep coming back to wanting a removable physical
media other than RX33
for my 11/23+...
While an RK05 or RK07 drive would be really neat, I don't really have room
for something like that.
The RKV11 controller is somewhat rare (and only supports 16-bit DMA,
intended for an LSI-11) and there is no Qbus version of the RK611
controller.
Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a parallel
ZIP-100 on a PDP-11?
I am not aware of anyone using parallel ZIP drives on anything but a
PC parallel port. The SCSI ones work fine on pretty much any machine
with SCSI (Amiga, Macintosh...) and I know they've been used in a
PDP-11, but as you said, Qbus SCSI controllers are expensive.
-ethan
4:32 p.m.
> Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a
parallel ZIP-100 on a PDP-11?
On Fri, 7 Aug 2026, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote:
I am not aware of anyone using parallel ZIP drives on
anything but a
PC parallel port. The SCSI ones work fine on pretty much any machine
Maybe my experiences were atypical, or maybe that's a use of the word
"fine" that I was unaware of :-)
When they first came out, they were really cool.
But, they started dying. A lot.
Was the "click of death" there all along, or was there a design or
manufacturing flaw introduced later on?
I heard that some had a rubber bumper on the head assembly, and some not?
Could THAT have been the problem?
5:47 p.m.
On Aug 7, 2026, at 5:32 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I bought one of the early SCSI drives for my Mac PowerBook 520c while I was still in the
Navy, onboard the USS George Washington (CVN-73), and it was “amazing”. I got the laptop
a little over a year before I got out of the Navy, just after the one year mark the
laptop’s backlight died, and after I got out and bought a PowerMac 8500/180, I found that
the disks were largely unreadable (apparently click of death). My PowerMac G4/450 came
with a built in Zip drive, I never used it. I personally wouldn’t touch a Zip disk with
the preverbal 10-foot pole at this point.
I’m at the point where I don’t see me getting one of my physical PDP-11’s up and running
for probably another 10+ years, basically I view that as a probable retirement project. I
also consider the Capacitors in the power supplies to be a mandatory replacement prior to
applying power. I have SCSI adaptors, and despite my collection of SCSI HD’s, I’ll
probably opt for a SCSI drive emulator. I installed a couple in VAXstation 4000’s during
my last Sabbatical, and they’re awesome!
Sadly I rarely have any time for Classic Computing at the moment, and when I do it’s
usually Mainframe or VMS related, and done via emulation. I don’t have the time to keep
the physical hardware running. At least I was able to spend my last sabbatical doing
preventative maintenance on my Amiga’s, VAXstation 4000’s and to check over my Atari
TT030.
Zane
> Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a
parallel ZIP-100 on a PDP-11?
On Fri, 7 Aug 2026, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote:
I am not aware of anyone using parallel ZIP
drives on anything but a
PC parallel port. The SCSI ones work fine on pretty much any machine
Maybe my experiences were atypical, or maybe that's a use of the word
"fine" that I was unaware of :-)
When they first came out, they were really cool.
But, they started dying. A lot.
Was the "click of death" there all along, or was there a design or
manufacturing flaw introduced later on?
I heard that some had a rubber bumper on the head assembly, and some not?
Could THAT have been the problem?
4:44 p.m.
Yeah I realized afterwards I meant the RL01 and RL02 drives, not the
RK-drives.
A SCSI controller would open up several possibilities so I guess I'll keep
my eyes open and will see what pops up.
The parallel port question was a long-shot. I have one of those ZIP-100s
laying around. I have an internal ZIP-100 SCSI in my Amiga 2000 and an
external SCSI for my Amiga 500.
- Peter
On Fri, Aug 7, 2026 at 8:13 PM Ethan Dicks via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 12:31 PM Peter Ekstrom via
cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I keep coming back to wanting a removable
physical media other than RX33
for my 11/23+...
While an RK05 or RK07 drive would be really neat, I don't really have
room
for something like that.
The RKV11 controller is somewhat rare (and only supports 16-bit DMA,
intended for an LSI-11) and there is no Qbus version of the RK611
controller.
Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a
parallel ZIP-100 on a
PDP-11?
I am not aware of anyone using parallel ZIP drives on anything but a
PC parallel port. The SCSI ones work fine on pretty much any machine
with SCSI (Amiga, Macintosh...) and I know they've been used in a
PDP-11, but as you said, Qbus SCSI controllers are expensive.
-ethan
10:54 p.m.
I thought the RKV11 could be reworked to 18 bits.???
On Fri, Aug 7, 2026 at 7:13 PM Ethan Dicks via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 12:31 PM Peter Ekstrom via
cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I keep coming back to wanting a removable
physical media other than RX33
for my 11/23+...
While an RK05 or RK07 drive would be really neat, I don't really have
room
for something like that.
The RKV11 controller is somewhat rare (and only supports 16-bit DMA,
intended for an LSI-11) and there is no Qbus version of the RK611
controller.
Alternatively, has anyone ever tried to use a
parallel ZIP-100 on a
PDP-11?
I am not aware of anyone using parallel ZIP drives on anything but a
PC parallel port. The SCSI ones work fine on pretty much any machine
with SCSI (Amiga, Macintosh...) and I know they've been used in a
PDP-11, but as you said, Qbus SCSI controllers are expensive.
-ethan
8 Aug
8 Aug
7:13 a.m.
On Sat, Aug 8, 2026 at 2:54 AM Paul Anderson via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I thought the RKV11 could be reworked to 18 bits.???
I believe it can but that's an additional step after finding one (I've
had one for decades - i think it needs the ECO)
-ethan
5:18 p.m.
I've got one here collecting dust...
Paul
On Sat, Aug 8, 2026 at 10:20 AM Ethan Dicks via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Sat, Aug 8, 2026 at 2:54 AM Paul Anderson via
cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I thought the RKV11 could be reworked to 18
bits.???
I believe it can but that's an additional step after finding one (I've
had one for decades - i think it needs the ECO)
-ethan
2
days inactive
5
days old
9 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Ethan Dicks -
Fred Cisin -
Kevin McQuiggin -
Paul Anderson -
Peter Ekstrom -
Zane Healy