TU10 DECmagtape

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TU10
Tu10.jpg
TU10 drive
Tape speed: 45 ips (Forward/Reverse)
150 ips (Rewind)
Size: 19"W x 26"D x 26"H
Weight: 150 lbs


The TU10 is a classic big tape drive from Digital Equipment Corporation, able to store 5-20 Mytes on a 2400' 0.5" wide tape on a standard 10-1/2" reel. It supports 7-track operation at 200, 556, and 800 BPI, and 9-track at 800 BPI.

The tape transport utilizes a single capstan, with vacuum columns. The drive contains a fair amount of electronics, in the form of FLIP CHIP modules in a 19" wide wirewrap backplane (mounted fore and aft in the drive itself).

It was first used with the PDP-10; to connect to UNIBUS PDP-11's, a TM11 magtape controller is used. The TM11 controller connects to a 'Master' drive, which includes extra modules in the backplane; additional 'Slave' drives (up to seven) may be connected to the Master drive. Details of the controller-Master interface are given here.

Module Inventory

This table shows the number of Flip Chips of each type in the electronics backplane of the Master and Slave TU10's:

Table Master Slave Function
G050 1 1 Dual Gap Head Read Amplifier
G060 1 1 Mag Tape Compressor, 9-Track
G062 1 1 Mag Tape Peak Detector, 9-Track
G064 1 1 Mag Tape Slicer, 9-Track
G350 1 1 Mag Tape Write Driver
G741 2 2 Negative Clamp Load
G741YA 1 1 Negative Clamp Load
G932 1 1 Capstan Servo Pre-Amplifier
G933 2 2 Reel Motor Amplifier
G9340 1 1 Brake Logic
G9341 1 1 Brake Actuator
M050 1 1 Inverter Driver
M100 1 Bus Receiver
M514 1 1 TU10 Transceiver
M640 1 Bus Driver
M763 1 1 9-Track Write Buffer
M765 1 1 9-Track Read Buffer
M767 1 1 Clock and Skew Delay
M7670 1 1 Forward BOT Timer
M7671 1 Bus Driver
M7672 1 Command Buffer
M7673 1 Data Checker
M768 1 1 Delay Selector
M769 1 1 Function Control
M890 1 1 Motion Control
M891 1 CRC and Write Gating
M892 1 Write and Gap Timing
M895 1 Read Timing
M896 1 CRC Checker
M958 1 Positive Bus Terminatoh
W726 1 1 Switch Filter

Module Locations

This table shows the Flip Chip modules locations in the integral backplane in Master drives:

Slot Top Bottom
1 G933
2 G933
3 G9341
4 G932
5 M908@ G9340
6 M958%%
7 M929@
8 M640
9 M891
10 M7673
11 M7672
12 M892
13 M895
14 M7671
15 M100 M896
16 M7670
17 M903@ G741YA%
18 M903@ G741%
19 M903@ G741%
20 M768
21 M514
22 M922@ M767
23 M050 W726
24 M890
25 M769
26 M763
27 G350
28 M765
29 G064
30 G062
31 G060
32 G050

@ = Cable
% = only at end of device bus; M903 cable otherwise
%% = Not required when used with a TM1 control

Slave drives appear to hold a sub-set of this list; slots 6-15 are empty in Slave drives.

Note: In the TU10 Slave backplane drawings, slots 28-30 show different module numbers; however, those original module numbers are crossed out, and the same module numbers as in the Master drive are written in by hand. The captions in those slots (e.g. "Peak Detector"), however, match those of the written-in boards, not the boards originally listed. Thus, the original numbers may be erroneous.