[GanjaTron]

I have a Fujitsu boot disk from an IRIS 3115 that's been kicking around my basement for years. I no longer have access to the system it originally came from, and its owner (a former employer) apparently isn't interested in reuniting it with its drive, which would of course be the sensible thing to do. For all I know, they may even have scrapped all their vintage gear by now.  :^(

So I'm just asking if this is useful to anyone out there (can post pix if interested). Otherwise I may just hang on to it a bit longer.

--Roland

[Silicon-Burn]

Hi Roland,
Personally I'm not directly interested as I don't have a 3115 under my belt. But it is absolutely necessary to archive this system, do you know what this system is, it is noted on it?
And out of curiosity, I would like some nice pictures :-)

[GanjaTron]

Hi Roland,
Personally I'm not directly interested as I don't have a 3115 under my belt. But it is absolutely necessary to archive this system, do you know what this system is, it is noted on it?
And out of curiosity, I would like some nice pictures :-)

Hi Sylvain,

I agree with you 100%, and infact it was my original intent to archive the drive's contents (and reset the root password while I was at it) when I removed the drive several years ago. However, it turned out there was no way I could read that drive with any of my old PC-grade controllers, as the original Qualogic (?) controller in the IRIS uses its own low-level format.

This is why I contacted my former employer about reinstalling the drive, under the assumption they still _have_ the box, but they didn't even bother to reply.

So at this point I don't know what to do with this drive other than preserve it for a viable opportunity to read it.

I have some photos of the drive (including its label) which I can gladly post here in the next days.

Thanks for replying,

--Roland

[GanjaTron]

There ya go. I think the label reads: "Release GL-2 3.5R2" or something. Dated Nov. '87. Wow, good times! Was just outta skool.

--Roland

[jan-jaap]

That's an 85MB MFM hard disk. Just finding a rig capable of imaging that could be a challenge. Or would e.g. an old IBM XT clone be up to that? My first PC was an AT (80286) clone and already had IDE...

[GanjaTron]

That's an 85MB MFM hard disk. Just finding a rig capable of imaging that could be a challenge. Or would e.g. an old IBM XT clone be up to that? My first PC was an AT (80286) clone and already had IDE...

Hi JJ,

that's exactly what I tried it with. Yes, I still have a 486 with ISA slots for these occasions (and my XT clone from when this disk was still new!) plus some MFM and RLL controllers (and even an ESDI). But none of that kit could read the format.

The problem with these drives is that the controller dictates the recording format, not the disk itself. The Qualogy (not Qualogic) has its own ideas about how to record stuff. Too bad the SGI IRIS FAQ doesn't specify what chip it's based on.

Btw, according to Gerhard Lenerz' website, 3.5 was the penultimate release of the GL2 OS (http://archive.irixnet.org/sgistuff/soft...l#release3)

--Roland

[robespierre]

Each type of MFM/RLL controller is designed to read only disks that have been formatted on the same controller. So they are not useful for data recovery in general.
What you want is David Gesswein's MFM emulator. In addition to impersonating a ST412 disk to a host computer, it can also read and interpret the bits on most ST412 (MFM/RLL) type disks for data recovery.

[GanjaTron]

What you want is David Gesswein's MFM emulator. In addition to impersonating a ST412 disk to a host computer, it can also read and interpret the bits on most ST412 (MFM/RLL) type disks for data recovery.

Wow, thanks for that info, Robespierre. It even lists the Qualogy DSD 5217 as a tested configuration, if with another drive. I'll have to look into that -- and the Beaglebone it requires. I wonder if anyone here has experience with that setup...

--Roland