[Info-vax] TK50 - this is annoying...

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 10/8/2012 8:19 AM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2012-10-08 11:28:08 +0000, Roßert G. Schaffrath said:
>> On 10/7/2012 9:38 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> Just having tried booting from one of those is enough to sympathize
>>> with that action.
>>
>> As bad as TK50's were, they were a definite improvement over the TU58.
>> I recall much lost time waiting for an 11/730 bootstrapping microcode
>> from one of those.
>
> Correct.  The immediate predecessor of the TK50 was not, however, the
> TU58.  It was arguably either the RX50 floppy, or the 9-track magtape.

A 9 track magtape was a lot faster to boot from than a TK50.

> As stinky as the TK50 technology is now, it was better than what went
> before it.  Both for DEC to create the installation media, for DEC to
> support (and then have to replace disks in) the installation media, and
> for the end-user to not have to swap the media nearly as often or to
> call up DEC to get replacement media.
>
> Booting a TK50 was a marvelous experience, back then.
>
> It was fast (for its time), and you didn't have to babysit five boxes of
> distro floppies, or a dozen magtapes and where one or two would
> seemingly inevitably cause the TU80 to start "maytagging".   Ok, so the
> hammerhead leader broke off from time to time, or MUA4224: showed up. It
> wasn't like floppies or magtape worked perfectly back then, though.

9 track, 2400 feet, 6250 BPI was both faster and could store more data
than TK50.

The TK50 tape drive was a lot smaller and a lot cheaper though.

Arne