> Oops, I thought it held a lot more (20M!) So it would be trivial (2-3 tapes)

TU58's are still TU58's, I'm afraid!

> Even if I could fit the kernel on multiple tapes, I could do a net-install...

I don't think a DELUA/DEUNA bootstrap exists for the VAX.  Under
VMS you had to either boot a 11/750 from a local disk/tape or from
a HSC50.

> Anyway, I (about a year ago) had a good knowledge of all this HW, now I 
> don't :( What kind of controller does the TU-58 sit on, and where can I
> get disks for that?

The TU58 drive sits on a serial port - in the case of a 11/750, a
serial port run by the console microprocessor.  DEC has defined the
entire RSP (radial serial protocol) used to talk to to 11/750's in
their manuals, but AFAIK no other RSP device ever existed.  Everybody
was probably put off by the 30-second access times!

Folks have made RSP "emulators" that let other computers pretend
they are TU58 drives (and give you pretty decent access times).
See, for example,

ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/utils/tu58/

for some useful source code examples.

> :Unfortunately, since the untimely death of the TU80/TS11/TS05
> :driver for NetBSD, I think the only supported distribution media
> 
> Again, a year ago I was up on my NetBSD/vax-- what happened?

The TU80/TS11/TS05 driver has been broken for much more than a year.

> :Fuji Eagles are readily available, but shipping one across the continent
> :will cost more than the drive is worth.  Where are you located at?
> :Chances are that there are some mini dealers nearby!
> 
> I'm sure there are, but I don't think they'd be nearly as cheap as I
> could get off the net/mailing list/USENET.

So you're saying that you're willing to ship a 150-pound disk drive
from anywhere on the net?  Physical reality (and motor freight cost)
does set in quite quickly when you're dealing with Fuji Eagles!  Unless
you find one very local to you, the shipping costs will be more than
drive costs you, I'm afraid.

You don't say which model SMD controller you have, but some of the
later Emulex controllers are capable of handling the data rates that
come off of Hitachi 5.25" SMD drives.  *These* are rather easily
shippable.

Tim. (shoppa@triumf.ca)