TM11 magtape controller

The TM11, TMA111 and TMB11 magtape controllers are a series of UNIBUS device controllers, used with 1/2" magtape drives. They are all compatible, both in their interface to the drives, and in their programming interface.

The TM11 and TMA11 are almost identical in construction; they are implemented as a series of smaller standard FLIP CHIPs in a custom-wired 19" backplane.

The TMB11 is a re-implementation, using two larger custom boards - one hex (M7912) and one quad (M7911) - along with 4 UNIBUS-specific FLIP CHIPs (M105, M795, M796, M7821); all of which plug into a custom hex-high four-slot system unit (for a BA11, etc box).

Drive Buses

The TM11 series controllers connect to a 'Master drive', which includes considerable extra electronics; additional 'Slave' drives may be connected to the Master drive.

Much of the extra functionality is related to the operation of the drive (CRC, etc); however, the TM11 series controllers generate a Positive bus, which a Master drive (depending on the drive type in use) converts to a Negative bus for the Slave drives - Slave drives of that type have a Negative bus only.

The TM11 series controllers were initially used with the TU10 drives, for which the slaves are all Negative bus. Later, they were used with the TS03 drive (for which the Master drive includes an M8920 board). They were also used with the TU10W drive (which is the later TU16 drive, without the TM02 controller); and the TE16 drive, when it is upgraded to TE10W (Positive bus - Master and Slave) or TE10N (Negative bus - Slave).

TM11 and TMA11 Module Locations

These are the module locations for the TM11:

Slot	Connector A	Connector B
B	M111	M627
6	M111	M901*
7	M798	G736
8	M149	M149
9	M105	M784
10	M7821	M785
11	M796	M797
12	M795
13	M149	M149
14	M216	M205
15	M163	M112
16	M113	M111
17	M115	M121
18	M216	M216
19	M121	M113
20	M117	M627
21	M239	M113
22	M115	M205
23	M111	M127
24	M216	M127
25	M112	M127
26	M112	M111
27	M113	M901*
28	M203	M688
29	M113	M113
30	M304	M627
31	M307	M216
32	M304	M113

• = Cable

For the TMA11, slot 27B contains an M7854 "OPI/BTE Detector".

Drive Connection

The connection to the master drive is a standard dual-width BC11-A cable, as used for the UNIBUS. This is the pinout for the TM11 (the other two are basically identical to this):

Pin	Signal	Pin	Signal
AA1	SEL0	AA2
AB1	SEL1	AB2	Gnd
AC1	SEL2	AC2	Gnd
AD1		AD2	WD0
AE1	DEN0	AE2	WD1
AF1	DEN1	AF2	WD2
AH1		AH2	WD3
AJ1	WXQ	AJ2	WD4
AK1	FWD	AK2	WD5
AL1	RWD	AL2	WD6
AM1	WRE	AM2	WD7
AN1	Gnd	AN2	REV
AP1	Gnd	AP2	CINIT
AR1	Gnd	AR2	SET
AS1	Gnd	AS2	WDR
AT1	Gnd	AT2	PEYN
AU1		AU2	WFMK
AV1		AV2	Gnd
BA1	RDS	BA2
BB1	SDWN	BB2	Gnd
BC1	TUR	BC2	Gnd
BD1	Gnd	BD2	WRS
BE1	Gnd	BE2	CRCS
BF1	RD0	BF2	RWS
BH1	RD1	BH2
BJ1	RD2	BJ2
BK1	RD3	BK2	BOT
BL1	RD4	BL2	WRL
BM1	RD5	BM2	VPE
BN1	RD6	BN2	SELR
BP1	RD7	BP2	7CH
BR1	RDP	BR2	EOT
BS1	FMK	BS2	CRCE
BT1	Gnd	BT2	LRCE
BU1		BU2	LRCS
BV1	MAN CLR L	BV2	Gnd

For the TMA11 and TMB11, delete the "MAN CLR L", and re-name "DEN0" and "DEN1" to "DEN8" and "DEN5" respectively.