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From: paul@vcvax1.UUCP (paul)
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.periphs,net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: IBM PC floppies and DEC RX50 floppies ?
Message-ID: <167@vcvax1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Jan-86 15:21:34 EST
Article-I.D.: vcvax1.167
Posted: Mon Jan 20 15:21:34 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jan-86 05:15:09 EST
References: <463@rna.UUCP>
Organization: VenturCom Inc., Cambridge, MA
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Xref: watmath net.micro:13557 net.periphs:970 net.micro.pc:6607

> 	Is there any way to read or write an IBM PC 5 1/4" floppy with
> a DEC RX50 floppy drive (PDP-11 or MicrovaxII), or vice versa ? Perhaps
> the formats are hopelessly incompatible...

The DEC RX50 floppies are formatted very differently than the
the IBM PC diskettesa.  I don't believe that the RQDX controllers on the
DEC PDP-11 or Microvax have the capability to read the PC format diskettes
(I know the VENIX driver we provide for the Micro-11 doesn't do it).

The closest you can come, I believe, is on the DEC Pro and Rainbow,
which have the capability to read (but NOT write!) single-sided
single-density PC diskettes.  Device nodes are supplied on VENIX/Rainbow
to read the diskettes; on VENIX/PRO, you have to build them by adding
in 8 and 16 to the standard floppy minor device numbers, to handle 8 sector
and 9 sectors PC diskettes, respectively.  (This is an unsupported,
undocumented feature on the Pro.)

Paul Kleppner
VenturCom, Inc.