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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Unusual hardware
« on: January 24, 2003, 09:13:13 PM »
:-) Recently, I found an unusual piece of hardware.  It connects to the computer via a SCSI port, and it seems to accept standard audio cassettes, or other cassettes of the same size and shape.  SCSI inquire on the Amiga reports it as a TEAC MT-2ST/N50, revision E.  

:-( Internet search engines failed to find drivers for it, but Aminet had something interesting: a driver for a TEAC SCSI floppy.  I’ve never heard of a SCSI floppy drive.

:-? Can anyone provide more information on these?  Specifically, were might I find drivers for the tape drive, and where might I find a SCSI floppy drive?
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Offline seer

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2003, 09:19:49 PM »
I’ve never heard of a SCSI floppy drive.

Well, at work we have a server (A dell, not sure about the model) and it only has a SCSI interface; Harddisk, Floppy, CD-ROM and a tapestreamer... It's quite old and is only used to support some user directories (store files)

Must admit I never seen a SCSI tapedrive tho  ;-), I guess you have better luck finding drivers for MS-DOS 4 or something like that.... Some kind of backup drive maybe..
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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2003, 09:27:21 PM »
seer said:
Quote

...Some kind of backup drive maybe..


;-) I have learned that it could only back up 150 to 160 megabytes of data, depending on which web page one reads.  Of course, standard audio tapes come in varying lengths/capacities, so the drive may be able to back up more than that.

:-( Actually, I'd been hoping to find a hack on Aminet of wherever that would allow it to read audio data into the miggy, to be spooled to hard drive, to be converted to sound files.  Another use would be to transfer old Vic-20 and C64 programs from tape to hard drive, for emulators to use.
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Offline seer

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2003, 09:30:17 PM »
I have learned that it could only back up 150 to 160 megabytes of data, depending on which web page one reads.

150 Mb ? Considering the technology that's not so bad.. Seems like it was from the era that a 20Mb HD was huge ?
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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2003, 09:31:21 PM »
blobrana boasted:
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Its a mac thing...
:-) Thank you, sir.  I'm down loading the PDF now...
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Offline seer

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2003, 09:31:49 PM »
Actually, I'd been hoping to find a hack on Aminet of wherever that sould allow it to read audio data into the miggy, to be spooled to hard drive, of converted to sound files. Another use would be to transfer old Vic-20 and C64 programs from tape to hard drive, for emulators to use.

If it is a mac drive, why not try to emulate a mac and find mac drivers for it ?
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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2003, 09:35:06 PM »
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...Seems like it was from the era that a 20Mb HD was huge ?
;-) Most likely.  And you're right, squeezing that much data onto an audio cassette is remarkable, considering that the old Commodores ran out of room with much less data than that...
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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2003, 10:01:28 PM »
seer suggested:
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...If it is a mac drive, why not try to emulate a mac and find mac drivers for it ?
:-D I've got a SCSI-equipped PowerBook, so I wouldn't need to run Shapeshifter or Fusion, but--

:-? Looking at the PDF that Blobrana suggested, this device seems more like a UNIX thing than a Mac thing.  

;-) The PDF mentions OS-9 and 68000, and the drive is on the SCSI interface.  These are all Macintosh things, so that’s a logical first impression.  But the PDF also mentions commands to be used with a CLI or Shell, and Macintosh OS 9 doesn’t have one.  Also, Mac OS 9 won’t run on a 68000 series processor; it requires PPC.

:-? Of course, it may be for Mac developers; that would be a little different.  I’ll need to read the whole thing to be sure.

:cry: Anyway, I was hoping to find Amiga drivers…
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Offline seer

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2003, 10:13:36 PM »
Hmm.. Well, this may of interest,  or this one.. Browse groups.google.com maybe you get lucky ?

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2003, 10:17:26 PM »
Tapes are always huge... my friend's got a Sony tape drive and its capacity per tape is like 200GB's or so... crazy huh?
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Offline seer

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2003, 10:22:27 PM »
Tapes are always huge... my friend's got a Sony tape drive and its capacity per tape is like 200GB's or so... crazy huh?

Well, yes, but those tapes were designed for that purpose.. But;

Quote
Quixote: it seems to accept standard audio cassettes, or other cassettes of the same size and shape.


considering how big a common 8bit game on tape was, 150+Mb is a big leap.
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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2003, 10:25:19 PM »
mips_proc mentioned:
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Tapes are always huge... my friend's got a Sony tape drive and its capacity per tape is like 200GB's or so... crazy huh?
;-) That's a drive that uses tapes custom designed for backing up computer data.  The one I bought yesterday uses standard audio cassettes, just as the Commodore 64 and Vic-20 used.
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Offline blobrana

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2003, 10:28:59 PM »
DON`T PUT  a normal tape into it...

I think they use a special metal tape(?), that looks  exactly like an audio tape...

Nice bit of kit to have, (in a sort of museum way) :-D
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Offline QuixoteTopic starter

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Re: Unusual hardware
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2003, 10:36:22 PM »
blobrana berated:
Quote
DON`T PUT  a normal tape into it...

I think they use a special metal tape(?), that looks  exactly like an audio tape...
:-( Crumbs.  I was hoping to read old Commodore data with it.  Now I'll have to find a source for the proper tapes...
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