[Info-vax] Anyone have a working DEC Rainbow PC200B?

[Richard B. Gilbert]

Bob Eager wrote:
> On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:25:34 UTC, "Richard B. Gilbert" 
> <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>> JCamCMKRNL wrote:
>>> Hello old friends,
>>>
>>> It's been a while since I have posted here, and I am back with another
>>> Legacy Computer issue. This time it is not for a PDP-11. Now for
>>> something a little more modern. A DEC Rainbow.
>>>
>>> I have two boxes of old DEC Rainbow backup 5.25" floppies that I need
>>> to get as much data off of as I can. Does anyone have any suggestions?
>>> I'm not sure what density they were written in, but it looks like they
>>> were written with something called an "IDRIVE", and no it is not like
>>> an iPod.
>>>
>>> Than you.
>>> Jeff
>> Once upon a time, there was a PC DOS and/or Windows program that would 
>> read Rainbow disks.  I think it may have been able to write them as 
>> well.  I don't know where to find a copy now.
> 
> But only if you had a PC/AT. You need one of the 1.2MB 5.25" drives...as
> that is an 80 track drive. Such drives weren't that popular - most were 
> 40 track ones. And you had to be prepared to program the controller to 
> DD rather than HD mode.
> 
> Once that's done, it's easy to read the blocks off the disk, and take 
> time to unpick the (pretty simple) disk format...basically standard 
> MS-DOS, with some reserved sectors on the front to hold the Z80 
> firmware.
> 

AIRC, my PC at the time was a "white box".  You did need the HD floppy 
drive.  I sold my Rainbow many years ago and did't buy the "pizza box" 
successor, whatever it was called.