I sent this on the old thread The Univac 1219 tapes are: 7 track/ 556 bits per inch/ redundant format (3 data bits written twice across the head)/ Modulus 3 (three 6 bit data words transmitted to the computer as one 18 bit word. Also have a few 1218 NTDS tapes that I think were 200 bpi/ non redundant. I don't know of anyone with an operational 7 track machine. We don't want to place those tapes on the drive unless we have the machine up to the point we can copy tapes. My wife cant be left alone so I can't come up now. Might be a chance in the spring if I can get her daughter to stay long enough. I did write an untested program to read through a tape and dump files in Paper Tape format through my interface box on another channel but that would be if we could not get two handlers working. There is a super copy program (Super Dup Mod) on one of the tapes that tries 7 times to read a record ( FWD and REVERSE with normal, High and low bias. It also had the ability to patch the copy during the copy process. Duane On 1/27/2023 12:46 PM, Martin Flynn via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On 1/27/2023 12:42 PM, David Gesswein via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 12:21:41PM -0500, David Ryskalczyk via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Yes, a drive with a 7-track head, or a 7-track head for a swappable drive such as the Qualstar 1052, would be needed.
That said — doesn't the Univac that is present in the museum itself have a working 7-track drive?
Last I heard it wasn't working well. Is my information out of date? Don't know if it was the drive or control.
People working with the Univac had also made modern interfaces to the Univac NTDS interfaces so might be able to write a "simple" program to dump tapes through that if drives are working.
There was some discussion on using head from IBM 3480/3490? to read 7 tracks. Couldn't find what I remembered online and not cheap to acquire. I did recently pick up a 7 track head but its in bad shape so not sure if it is usable.
Just had ATR overhaul a head for an Ampex ATR-101 recorder - might be an option for your 7 track head.
-- Duane Craps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp On 1/27/2023 12:46 PM, Martin Flynn via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On 1/27/2023 12:42 PM, David Gesswein via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 12:21:41PM -0500, David Ryskalczyk via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Yes, a drive with a 7-track head, or a 7-track head for a swappable drive such as the Qualstar 1052, would be needed.
That said — doesn't the Univac that is present in the museum itself have a working 7-track drive?
Last I heard it wasn't working well. Is my information out of date? Don't know if it was the drive or control.
People working with the Univac had also made modern interfaces to the Univac NTDS interfaces so might be able to write a "simple" program to dump tapes through that if drives are working.
There was some discussion on using head from IBM 3480/3490? to read 7 tracks. Couldn't find what I remembered online and not cheap to acquire. I did recently pick up a 7 track head but its in bad shape so not sure if it is usable.
Just had ATR overhaul a head for an Ampex ATR-101 recorder - might be an option for your 7 track head.
-- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp