9825 Tape Drive Emulator / DC100 data cartridge eliminator

[siege]

In an effort to get around failing DC100A cartridges I am planning to build a tape drive emulator.

If anyone as any information that would be helpful it would be greatly appreciated.

The emulator should be easily ported to other HP platforms that use the DC100.

Basically I need to work out how the 9825 requests data from the tape drive. I know that the data is formatted as SIF if my reasearch is correct. It should be a case of capturing the serial data from the tape drive and storing it in a file on a SD card that can later be retrieved. This should also make sharing programs more easily if the files are stored in a file format on a FAT formatted SD card.

If Anyone with intimate knowledge of the 9825 or any platform using the DC100 can share what they know it would be helpful to keep these ancient machines functioning as for the most part it is only the data cartridges failing and not the system.

[seravant]

Was wondering if any further efforts to emulate the dc100 tape drive or cartridge has been undertaken, or if any relevant information had been discovered?

[cruff]

https://groups.io/g/VintHPcom is very active and has much technical information.

[Dave Frederickson]

The DC100 drive in my 85B has been modified to accept QIC cartridges which are readily available. This way I can still listen to the whirr of the capstan.