Heathkit H-47 massive 8" Floppy Drive Unit

I bought an H-47 to go with my Heathkit H8 computer. This would have been a considerable upgrade back in the early 80s, going from the H-17 which offered 100KB per disk (later 200KB with double-sided support) to the H-47 which had one megabye per disk. The H47 is also considerably faster than the H17. In the video I take a few quick looks at the internals, then I format and sysgen a disk on my H8, prove that we can read files from it, prove that the disk can be read in the other drive. Then I try to boot it, which didn't quite work, but we're workin' on that... :) For more vintage computer videos, see www.smbaker.com/

[@theodricaethelfrith]

Neat! Awesome to see one of these alive and doing what it was made to do. I picked up one in Zenith livery along with a Z-89 (in orange spraypaint livery) a few years ago. I will, eventually, I swear, don't judge me, get it going with something :)

[@soupwizard]

Oh yeah, as a kid my mom would put my SSN on things in case we lost them. That was back when SSN was only used for reporting wages to the Social Security Administration, but then companies and other govt agencies started using it as an id for everything so now it's become a dangerous piece of data to spread around.

[@Lee_Adamson_OCF]

Ah nice. I was wondering who got that unit. I am glad it's someone who will document and share it with the world! :D

[@smbakeryt]

I will take good care of it! :D

[@SB-qm5wg]

Those capacitors are no joke 🔋

[@soupwizard]

Nice find! I've been keeping an eye out for a set of 8" dual drives to use on a RC2014 (although I may settle for a pair of 5.25" drives instead, easier to move around.). Maybe I'll use your RC2014 floppy controller design with them!

[@smbakeryt]

Let me know if you have success. One of the first videos I did on the RC2014 was connecting some 8" drives to it. They do come up every so often on eBay, though I'm told you have to be a little careful as there are sometimes issues.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

the OLIVETTI BCS M3030 used the very same discs some of the programs were lexapk,repapk and possibly ultapk not sure but but it was a strange system as it was a computer in a desk.

[@tubeDude48]

👍

[@fredrikbergquist5734]

Have you seen if any Heathkit 11 are for sale anywhere? Wonder if it would be possible to run Unix on it?

[@douro20]

What is the orange thing mounted to the wall?

[@smbakeryt]

The orange thing is part of my power distribution system. It's a meanwell power supply, with a few fuses. Probably 24VDC if I remember right. It forms a bus that runs around the lab, connected to various 12V and 5V step-down converters, also mounted on the walls.