Rx11 Floppy Disk System

Summary The RX11 Floppy Disk System (July 1975) is a mass storage subsystem designed by Digital Equipment Corporation for PDP-11 processors. The system utilizes the RX01 drive, which reads and writes to industry-standard, removable 8-inch "floppy" diskettes. Key features include:

• Storage Capacity: 256,256 bytes of formatted data per diskette (single-sided).
• Performance: Average access time of 483 milliseconds.
• Design & Reliability: The system is rack-mountable, features a microprogrammed controller to reduce complexity, and achieves an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of 5,000 hours. To preserve media longevity, the read/write head only contacts the diskette surface during active operations.
• Compatibility: It uses preformatted, industry-standard diskettes, facilitating data interchange and reducing hardware costs.
• Operation: The system is designed for simple, user-friendly operation, requiring only basic manual insertion and removal procedures.
• Technical Specifications: Supports up to two drives per controller, uses programmed I/O, and is available in multiple models ranging from single-drive to dual-drive configurations, supporting various global voltage and frequency requirements.