History (1975): DEC TS03

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TS03 magtape drive

The TS03 is a low-cost, smallish, modest performance magnetic tape drive from Digital Equipment Corporation.

It is able to store 5MB on a 600-foot 0.5-inch wide tape, on a standard 7-inch (i.e. small) reel.

It supports 9-track operation at 800bpi only, using NRZI encoding.

The tape transport utilizes a single capstan, with linear-drive reel servos, and mechanical servo arms to control tape tension.

To connect to UNIBUS machine such as a PDP-11, one of the TM11 series of magtape device controllers is used; the TS03 shipped with a TMB11. (Details of the controller-drive interface)

A single controller could handle up to two TS03 drives; the first TS03 drive is a ‘Master’, and contains a hex-sized M8920 interface board to adapt the TM11 interface to the drive; the additional ‘Slave’ drive may be connected to the Master drive.

A TS03 drive can be mounted on slides in a standard 10-1/2-inch mounting space in a normal DEC rack such as an H960.

Model: TS03
Tape speed: 12-1/2ips (forward/reverse), 120ips (Rewind)
Size: 19″W x 17″D x 10-1/2″H
Weight: 34lbs