History (1984): DEC TU61
Half-inch reel-to reel 9-track tape drive
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on March 1, 2019 at 2:14 pmThis article was published by Computer History Wiki.
TU81
Big 9-track tape-drives for heavy backup duties
The TU81 servo/control module uses a Motorola 6802 processor, a variant of the 6800 with 128B of internal RAM and an internal clock oscillator.
There is also a 6821 Parallel Interface Adapter chip used for communication between the Servo/Control microprocessor and the Formatter Write microprocessor (on a different board).
Two 6840 Programmable Counter / Programmable Timer Module chips are used to count servo tachs.
The firmware is stored in two ROM chips.
Model: TU81
Manufacturer: Digital Equipment Corporation
Media: standard half-inch tape
Tape density: 1,600bpi (PE), 6,250bpi (GCR)
Tape speed: 75 inch/sec (high speed streaming mode) or 25 inch/sec (start/stop mode or low-speed streaming mode)
Year Introduced: 1984/1985
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