From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!whuxlb!eisx!npoiv!houxm!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!bcase
Newsgroups: net.periphs
Title: Re: ts11 FCO details - (nf)
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.1924
Posted: Sat Apr 23 21:42:24 1983
Received: Mon Apr 25 04:36:54 1983

#R:rocks34:-16000:uiucdcs:11600004:000:1404
uiucdcs!bcase    Apr 23 18:33:00 1983

I have also experienced the horrors of the stupid TS-11 tape drive.  My
undergrad college upgraded from a PDP-11/45 to 11/70; the 45 had a TU-10
and the 70 came with the TS-11.  The TS-11 ruined a couple of tapes by
winding most of the tape around the drive wheel.  The stupid TS-11 door
is mostly opaque plastic; thus, we did not realize that the tape was being
ruined until it became obvious that the two tape spools were turning in
impossible directions!  If the door were mostly clear, we might (but
maybe not) have been able to save the tapes.  The TS-11 almost NEVER
loaded a tape correctly the first time.  Quite often a tape would simply
dismount in the middle of a long operation for no apparent reason.  It 
often took several tries to get a tape to read without errors.  The switch
assembly (used for putting the thing in on-line mode, etc.) would bow in
at the middle whenever a button was pushed; it gave one a frightful feeling
of cheapness and fragility and left me wondering just how many button-
pushings it would stand before breaking.  Often the indicator lights would
flash impossible, contradictory status conditions; this left one in doubt
about the validity of anything the drive might `say.'  Oh, yeah, the door
would pop open in the middle of (it seemed like only) long operations; this
would, of course, abort the operation.  I could go on....

    Brian Case
    uiucdcs!bcase