Quantum DLTtape DLT 2000, Руководство пользователя

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History of
DLTtape Technology
QUANTUM DLTtape HANDBOOK
3
3.1
In 1984, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and the real estate bust,
Black Monday, recession, and the collapse of the minicomputer
market were still years away. At home, Commodore 64 and Atari
computers were selling well. On the IS front, the Apple Macintosh
and the 80286 PC/AT were introduced and began to complicate life
in the glass house.
In 1984, Digital Equipment Corporation was on a roll, capturing
midrange and mainframe market share with its networked minicom-
puters. Digital’s MicroVAX II workstation system was nearly ready for
release, but it needed a backup system. A group of Digital storage engi-
neers, led by consulting engineer Fred Hertrick, worked day and night
to come up with a drive that could match the MicroVAX performance.
With time short and the pressure on, the group decided to use off-the-
shelf half-inch magnetic tape, the same kind of stock used in main-
frame-class reel-to-reel systems. Hertrick and his team devised a drive
that combined the qualities of reel-to-reel and cartridge tape systems.
No Take-Up Reel
The new system used a square cartridge that contained tape, but
no take-up reel. The take-up reel was built into the drive itself.
This design eliminated the wasted space typically associated with
cassette and cartridge drives such as the QIC, 8mm, and video cas-