Classic computing fanatic David Lovett has been engaged on restoring a Centurion MicroPlus minicomputer, together with having access to information saved on its 8″ exhausting drive — and, after a substantial quantity of labor, has been capable of report at the very least partial success.
“This can be a CDC [Control Data Corporation] Finch [Model 9410] drive,” Lovett explains of the storage machine he is trying to revive. “This solely weighs perhaps 20 or 30 kilos versus 130 kilos [for older Hawk drives]. I consider this one is a 32MB [capacity] possibility as a result of it has three platters inside. There’s a second Finch over right here that solely has two platters inside, so I believe this can be a 24MB possibility. The purpose is to get each of those Finches going, nonetheless they’re each damaged — and so they’re each damaged in several methods, which is nice [as] it means we will cross-reference throughout one another.”
The Centurion MicroPlus was a hefty minicomputer designed as a extra reasonably priced different to the Digital PDP-11 and Knowledge Normal Nova, although whereas it additionally billed itself as extra compact it hails from a time when “compact” meant “solely takes up a single cupboard.” The drives Lovett is engaged on belong to Classic Geek in Knoxville Tennessee, together with the Centurion MicroPlus from which they got here — however early efforts to revive the machine and its drives to working order have confirmed difficult.
Preliminary makes an attempt to switch a probably unhealthy line driver weren’t sufficient, although the alternative of a regulator which appeared to have failed proved extra profitable in permitting one of many two drives to move a easy search take a look at. A extra detailed take a look at, loaded from an older Hawk drive, revealed that whereas the repaired drive might search it could not learn — a fault which turned out to be traced to the disk controller itself, and as straightforward to treatment as swapping the drive throughout to one of many controller’s different ports.
“Okay, there’s a lot stuff on right here,” Lovett says of the disk’s contents, as soon as it was efficiently seen by the working system. “They stacked this factor full of information. It is actually largely boring recordsdata, there’s nothing actually thrilling on there. There are a ton of recordsdata in right here that begin with the letter O, and I believe that corresponds to it being a part of the oil and gasoline [software] bundle. However there was a one other one referred to as ‘zol’ and it is simply pure ASCII recordsdata that every one begin with the letter Z.”
These, Lovett believes, are supply code for an unknown piece of software program — however throughout makes an attempt to get better the recordsdata, the disk died as soon as once more. “It had a complete uptime of about half-hour earlier than it kicked the bucket,” Lovett says. “Now, I do not assume that the heads have crashed, I’m, like, 95 per cent sure that the platters are nonetheless good, the heads are nonetheless good, and we nonetheless have good information on there, as a result of if I get this scope out I nonetheless get a clear index sign and a clear chew clock popping out of the information cable right here on the underside.”
Lovett hasn’t but given up, although, and guarantees that the following entry within the ongoing restoration sequence on his YouTube channel, Usagi Electrical, will give attention to getting the drive up and working once more and eventually ending the job of dumping the supply code.
