17 Oct
2024
17 Oct
'24
12:05 a.m.
With help, I'm trying a combination of versions. It's an "odd duck" of
a
system - I've seen claims it has MS-DOS 1.25 built into ROM. But the
bubble cartridges are all booting to MS-DOS 2.00. Each cartridge also has
BASIC.COM (which just examining that COM, all it does is kick off running
BASICEXE.EXE - which a .BAT could have done that). That BASICEXE.EXE is
~61KB, so it's a full GW-BASIC right there. And if so, then why does one
need the BASIC ROM module inserted at the bottom of the system? (rhetorical
question, I'll experiment more on it over the next weekend on how
functional the system is with that ROM card removed)
We tried an MS-DOS 2.11 (Sharp image), but to be bootable even the manual
states that the bubble cartridges use 8 sectors per track instead of the
more typical 9. So the system can read either one (320 or 360), but it may
only boot to a 320 (TBD). Which leads to another odd thing: the bubble
cartridges are advertised as 128KB storage, but in doing a DIR and CHKDSK,
those are reporting file content of over 300KB on some of these bubble
cartridges. So I'm not sure if the sales team went to press before
coordinating with the engineering team? ;)
We did try /S on an MS-DOS 3.30 and tried booting that, but the PC-5000
said NON-SYSTEM DISK. But we're not yet sure if that's because it was a 9
sector per track instead of 8. Another thing is, the bubble memory
cartridges CHKDSK is saying 6 hidden files instead of the normal 2. I'll
look into that more also next weekend (attrib.exe didn't work for me on
that system, but have a couple other options to try). Another thing I
just realized - if IMD.COM can run on DOS 2.0, and has command line options
(because a text-mode "GUI" of IMD won't work on the 8 row screen of the
PC-5000), then I wonder if IMD could be used to image the 320KB bubble
memory cartridges. Will also try that next weekend, now that I know I have
a way to copy things to floppy (and the luxury of two disk drives, so can
run IMD and dump the image on the other drive)
For anyone interested, I'm keeping notes about the PC-5000 here:
Sharp PC-5000 — voidstar <https://voidstar.blog/sharp-pc-5000/>
https://voidstar.blog/sharp-pc-5000/
-Steve
On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 10:56 PM Mike Stein <mhs.stein(a)gmail.com> wrote:
What OS are you using to format the disk?
If you have a DOS system running (or can run DOS from a USB drive) you
might try FORMAT /S and whatever other options you need; make sure the
system files are in the DOS directory. AFAIK you can also use WIN98 or
earlier.
On Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 1:31 AM Steve Lewis via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Hi Thomas,
Do you happen to have also the original SHARP MS-DOS 2.00 disks? It may
have come with the CE-510F.
All my bubble cartridges have MS-DOS 2.00, and one of the cartridges has
SYS.COM. So... I did a FORMAT /8 on another x86 system and formatted a
320KB disks. Then I put that disk into the PC-5000, then did a SYS C:
from
the bubble cartridge that has SYS.COM, and it said "System transferred"
(and CHKDSK.COM agrees, there are 2 hidden files). I added COMMAND.COM
to
the disk, but it (the PC-5000) still won't boot from that disk. I turn
the system off, remove the bubble cartridge, power on the system with this
"new" 320KB disk inserted... and it says WARNING: NON-SYSTEM DISK.
So we'll be hunting for an original SHARP PC-5000 boot disk still.
-Steve
On Sun, Sep 8, 2024 at 4:09 AM osi.superboard via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
a
Sharp computers from the early 80's were
truly amazing. Every computer
part they produced was a joy to see and feel because of its accuracy and
design. If you've ever held a Sharp CE-152 data tape device, you know
what I mean.
Fortunately, I have a CE-510F with an internal power supply and floppy
disk controller.
If you're interested, please drop me a PM.
Thomas
On 07.09.2024 09:17, Steve Lewis via cctalk wrote:
> A while back I started studying more about the Sharp PC-5000 (and had
it
up
> and running at VCFSW in 2023). I'm now coming back to that project,
and
> one thing I was never able to find was a
compatible 5.25 disk drive.
>
> I've collected some information about this system at here:
> https://voidstar.blog/sharp-pc-5000/
>
> And I am hoping to put together a video about out. But one
challenging
> aspect is that its LCD screen is difficult
to record (lots of
> reflections). And despite having lots of schematic documentation
now,
I'm
> still not savvy enough to try to export its screen content to an
external
> device that might have a backlight.
>
> From my notes, as I recall.... The 37-pin connector at the back of
the
PC-5000
is not the same as the 37-pin connector at the back of the IO
card
with the original IBM PC 5150. I believe the
Sharp product model
number
I am looking for CE-510F (which might be the same
as MZ-80B in certain
markets).
This isn't an urgent thing - the Bubble Memory modules of this PC-5000
are
> still all working fine and make the system functional. But I do have
set
> of disk with the system that might be interesting to try out. So
just
> broadcasting here, on the off-chance someone
might be familiar with
these
and know
of a stash of accessories (most likely within a
Japanese-speaking
community, where I think Sharp products were
generally more popular).
Thanks!
Steve v*