If you want to copy raw floppy image files to the device, a simple "dd" command will serve, if you first use fdparm to set /dev/fd1 to 10 sectors per track. paul

I have no idea, I know nothing about IMD format. Is there a spec? Is it open? paul

On 7/28/23 20:19, Chris Zach via cctalk wrote: This sounds suspiciously like something I think was called Prolock or such.  Used screwed up disks, usually as the boot disk with a signature to enable the final bit of install.  Copywrite (I think it was) which did bit binary copying with timing on the disk could copy them.  Even had some things to align with the high track bit offset of the defect. A company I worked for bought them  but didn't study the usage manual and ended up with disks which could be copied by dos copy command, then write protected.  The genuine ones had to have the write protect removed.  The disk error from the write protect caused it to think the read of the protected part of the track was successful. thanks Jim

  Sounds like these may the long lost P/OS drivers. Contact Jörg Hoppe at RETROCMP - he's been scanning in a lot of DEC fiche of late. http://retrocmp.com/ -- Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR Control-G Consultants lee.gleason(a)comcast.net

When I did a RSTS port for Pro I named the drivers after the names used elsewhere, either P/OS or (more likely) RT11. DZ is the floppy, DW the hard drive. DY would be the standard RT11 name for the RX02 driver, that's an entirely different beast. paul

Answering my own question: Yes it does work. My Pro/380 now sees 320kw of memory instead of 256kw. Now to buy some sockets and upgrade these boards to 256kw each. One can go in the Pro/350 and the other plus the memory boards should take my Pro/380 to almost 1kw. I wonder if the CTI memory boards can be upgraded from 64k chips to 256k chips. Probably would require reprogramming the ROM as well on the board. Hm. On 7/29/2023 12:01 PM, Chris Zach via cctalk wrote:

Paul, A couple of years ago I did design and build a new daughterboard with modern SRAM that supports up to 2 MiB of RAM on the PC/380 and up to 512 KiB on the PC/350. https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/eBNkBw8x It even works. I never made a push to publish it because by the time I got to it the parts (Cypress CY62167G-45ZXI SRAM and ATF1504AS-10AU100 CPLD) had become unobtainable. Maybe things have changed, but right now there are only 3 of these boards.  I have 2 and I think I sent the 3rd to you, Paul. --Bjoren On 7/29/2023 10:36 AM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote: > >> On Jul 29, 2023, at 12:45 PM, Chris Zach via cctalk<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: >> >> Answering my own question: Yes it does work. My Pro/380 now sees 320kw of memory instead of 256kw. >> >> Now to buy some sockets and upgrade these boards to 256kw each. One can go in the Pro/350 and the other plus the memory boards should take my Pro/380 to almost 1kw. >> >> I wonder if the CTI memory boards can be upgraded from 64k chips to 256k chips. Probably would require reprogramming the ROM as well on the board. Hm. > The Pro Technical Manual (on Bitsavers) answers a bunch of these questions. If I remember right, the 380 will accept 350 memory daugher cards but also larger-capacity cards (bigger chips) that are 380 only. Also, the wiring for the board allows for larger memories than what DEC actually built; the details are in the CPU/Motherboard chapter of the manual. And/or in the schematics. I've thought about building such a daughtercard, I think the best case allows close to full 4 MB worth of memory. > > paul > >

On 7/29/2023 12:36 PM, emanuel stiebler wrote: Possibly.  This was only the 2nd PCB I ever designed, so I was very conservative and used a CPLD.  Now that the logic has been proven, I'm sure the board could be reworked using just 5V-compatible flip-flops, discrete logic, and a latch. As far as using the board as it is: I think the only other possible CPLD that would work would be the 25 ns version ATF1504ASL-25AU100.  I think that's still plenty fast enough, but it seems to be just as hard to get as the original. Sure, I guess.  As I mentioned I think the best thing would be to rework it with discrete logic so as to really reduce the susceptibility to future shortages.  Even if it increases BOM and assembly costs. The problem with reworking the board with a different CPLD is that it needs to be a 5V-compatible CPLD, and it needs to be able to buffer half of the address lines (9 in and 20 out).  That means it needs a high pin count.  These two criteria quickly narrow the possibilities down to almost nothing.  Add to that the wanting a reasonable price and availability for a few years and it really does go to nothing.. Digikey claims that the ATF1504AS-10AU100 is still an Active product and expects new product in April, 2024.  Maybe it just makes sense to wait?

I'll have to look that pro380 technical book up, I've always referred to my XT100 documents but those were pre-release for the Pro/350. Now for the real 50k question: Does the AVO socket next to it take the same board format for the 8 bit color video memory? Anyone have a picture of the AVO board? It's the same size and the board fits. Maybe it had more space for 256kb of memory chips for video RAM? C On 7/29/2023 1:36 PM, Paul Koning wrote: