Difference between revisions of "TK50 Image Archive"
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|MICROVMS V4.7 BIN TK50 | |MICROVMS V4.7 BIN TK50 | ||
|[[Media:Aq-kx71a-bn_microvms_v4.7_bin_tk50.tap.gz|Aq-kx71a-bn_microvms_v4.7_bin_tk50.tap.gz]] | |[[Media:Aq-kx71a-bn_microvms_v4.7_bin_tk50.tap.gz|Aq-kx71a-bn_microvms_v4.7_bin_tk50.tap.gz]] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | |AQ-NF65A-BE | ||
| + | |DEC PHIGS FOR RISC V2.1 tK50 | ||
| + | |[https://mega.co.nz/#!jRAQhBZC!F5x0DF-kGVRE3gvX_3Aqq3c7vSMZN6lCA0cfqpZmFmg Aq-nf65a-be_dec_phigs_for_risc_v2.1_tk50.tap.gz] | ||
|- | |- | ||
|AQ-NJ58A-BE | |AQ-NJ58A-BE | ||
Revision as of 08:09, 27 January 2013
The TK50 specification lists a design lifetime of 30 years for TK50 tapes. Some of the older tapes in my collection are starting to approach this age, so I think it's important to create a digital archive of these tapes before they become unreadable.
After some searching, I found some code to create tape images compatible with the SIMH emulator. This code successfully compiles on a CentOS 5.4 system, and works with an external SCSI TK50 drive, using the /dev/nst0 device. Using this code, I made the following images of my TK50 tape library. Several of these images have been tested with SIMH.
After the destruction of a tape, the TK50 became unreliable. Some searching turned up a TZ875-TA 5-slot tape changer, which is able to read TK50 tapes. This drive has proved much more reliable in making tape images.