Bill McBrine ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
 
: As title mentions, I have a 35401 AR tape drive here.
 
The HP 35401A is a tape autochanger based around the the HP 9144A tape
drive.  It is compatible with the 9144A and can usually be used as a
direct replacement.  It was produced in the early 1980s and ceased
production in the late 1980s.  It can store 67Mb on each 600ft
preformatted cartridge.
 
These drives use a command set known as CS/80 that was built on top
if the HP-IB protocol.  The command set is documented in the "CS/80
Instruction Set Programming Manual", part number 5955-3442.  The
version I have is the fourth printing dated April 1983.  This does
have the tape drive extensions, but does not have the autochanger
extensions for the 35401A.  This manual will be very hard to get hold
of today.
 
The HP 35401A was intended for use on HP computer systems.  It was
supported on HP3000 and HP9000 systems.  I cannot remember whether it
was ever supported on HP1000 systems.  Use on any other system woudl
require the writing of a special driver for the device.  This would
not be trivial.
 
Hope this helps,
 
    Mark Simms
 
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 Name:       Mark Simms         | Org: Hewlett-Packard
 Profession: Software Engineer  |      Computer Peripherals Bristol
 Unix-mail:  [log in to unmask]    |      United Kingdom
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          "Life is short and the ROM is full" (Bill Wickes)
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