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Jan 18, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read Read on X
finally got one of these cool MFM hard drive emulator boards! it can pretend to be a hard drive or it can analyze one. Image
plugged into one of my ST-412 drives. Image
it works! Image
maybe I should use it to analyze the drive in this HP9133. yeah there's a hard drive inside it. Image
the drive uses HPIB to connect to the host computer, so it has a controller board built in. Image
told ya there's a hard drive inside. it even has a bezel. Image
it's an ST-419. Image
looks familiar. very much like the ST-412. Image
interesting, it detects the controller format. Image
archived! the drive is also running a lot quieter. i'm running it upside down like @WysWyg_Protogen suggested for my ST-412s. once the lubrication warms up, it can flow back down into the bearings.
more info on the MFM emulator: pdp8online.com/mfm/
the HP 9133 uses a weird early Sony floppy drive. they tend to get gummed up so I'll need to take it apart to check the grease. if you don't do this, the disk won't eject, and if you yank on it, it'll tear out the upper read/write head. Image
sure enough it was a bit sticky. I added some grease and freed it up. Image
well, the controller isn't happy. I think there were some bad sectors at the beginning of the drive, so that's probably why Image
the diagnostic test jumper was on. it's set to a floppy drive test, and there's no disk in the drive, which is probably why it failed. Image

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More from @TubeTimeUS

Jun 13, 2023
here's a weird object! it's some kind of foot pedal with an IBM logo. is it for a sewing machine? electronic synthesizer? what do you think? 🧵 Image
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in honor of Sim Wong Hoo, here's a quick historical review of the Sound Blaster! 🧵
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Dec 31, 2022
Tube Time: a 2022 retrospective 🧵
(and stuff you might have missed!) Image
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on the bench of healing tonight: my coffee grinder which decided to bite the dust. Image
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Read 23 tweets

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