Hi all,
I've been lurking here since a slashdot article on the
30th anniversary of Maze, the first lan/wan FPS, which was
run on an IMLAC.
I was very interested in this as I programmed an IMLAC -
PDS-4, I guess - in 1977/8 at Sydney University (au) and
have good memories of the machine.
I saw hints on the list that an assembler was imminent
and an emulator was under consideration. That was September
2002, and nothing since. I am really interested in an
emulator - I have an emulation of the main processor running
and got it loading 'paper tapes' from disk via the paper
tape boot loader. I've used this to load code from hand
assembled files to test the emulation and I would like to
go a little further a little faster.
Does anybody have information on the format of the data the
papertape block-loader reads and loads? The block loader is
the first thing the boot loader runs - it reads in the rest
of the tape.
Also, does anyone know of or has any software (source or binary)
on papertape or any other form? I have no idea of the current
ownership, if any, of the existing IMLAC software, and I could
write an assembler, but it's so much more cool to run the IMLAC assembler!
TIA,
Ross
considering that the ATA-1 spec included 8 bit transfers from the harddrive, I don't understand why no IDE drives that supported ATA-1 would not work on a PC/XT (unless the DMA speed was the problem).
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com>
Sent: Dec 9, 2004 1:52 PM
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Possible to speed up I/O subsystem of 5150?
Fred wrote:
> Yes, there ARE some 8 bit IDE controllers,
> but not all IDE drives will work with them.
To a first approximation, *NO* IDE drives will work with them.
8-bit support is not part of the official ATA specification. Even
back when 8-bit IDE adapters were being sold, not many drives worked
with them, and as soon as the adapters disappeared the drive makers
that had bothered to support them stopped doing so.
Eric
I think it acts like a TM11
with a Pertec tape interface.
--
correct. DU132's simulated TS11s
both are for pertec formatted interfaces.
I thought I had manuals for the 130 and 132, but they haven't
surfaced. Would be nice to get them scanned and archived on
bitsavers.
>From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
>
>> > One year, at the West Coast Computer Faire, we repaired
>> > 5 TRS80 ones for other exhibitors ('spose the flaky power
>> > at Brooks Hall might be responsible?).
>> > We opened them by flinging them down onto a carpeted concrete floor.
>
>On Thu, 9 Dec 2004, Tom Jennings wrote:
>> Shag, berber, or ...?
>
>It looked like cheap commercial grade indoor/outdoor. But you could
>probably get full specs from Greyhoud Exposition Services - just
>don't trust anything that they say - at the time, they also claimed
>that it was anti-static.
>
>Fortunately, all 5 were just blown fuse, the common failure of those
>warts.
>
Hi
I've seen two types of failure for non-fuse warts.
One is that the primary wire blows on the top of the
primary winding but there is other visual damage.
This is almost always fixed by simply jumpering a new
piece of magnet wire ( should be the same guage to
provide proper protection ). The other is that
there has been some obvious over heating of the
primary wire. These are always fatal.
Dwight
I thought they were somehow "ATA compliant". I
assume you're talking about the interface between the drive and the
controller, right?
--
The issue is what data bus width is assumed during DMA transfers.
16 bits is 'normal'. Apparently, it was possible to do 8 bit DMA
transfers on early drives. I've not looked at the interface for
CF. Guess it's possible 8 bits is supported there as well.
>From: "Hans Franke" <Hans.Franke(a)siemens.com>
>
>Am 9 Dec 2004 11:46 meinte Eric Smith:
>> Steve Thatcher wrote:
>> > considering that the ATA-1 spec included 8 bit transfers from the
>> > harddrive, I don't understand why no IDE drives that supported ATA-1 would
>> > not work on a PC/XT (unless the DMA speed was the problem).
>
>> I wasn't aware that 8-bit was included in ATA-1; I don't have a copy of
>> ATA-1 or ATA-2. Was the 8-bit support mandatory or optional? In any
>> case, it was certainly gone by ATA-3. I very much doubt that any ATA
>> drive manufactured in the last 15 years has 8-bit support.
>
>Well, original ATA was nothing more than a straight forward
>adaption of the MFM controler - and that one was still good
>for 8 Bit access. Also, there was never (at least in the beginning)
>a formal Standard, so as usual everything was possible ...
>just remember all the problems of Master/Slave combinations
>from different vendors.
>
>Gruss
>H.
Hi
As I recall, the commands were 8 bit compatable
but the data wasn't since this was not to the
controller but to the storage buffer. I believe
that the newer drives are not even 8 bit compatable
for the commands.
Dwight
"Eric Smith" wrote:
>Steve Thatcher wrote:
>> considering that the ATA-1 spec included 8 bit transfers from the
>> harddrive, I don't understand why no IDE drives that supported ATA-1 would
>> not work on a PC/XT (unless the DMA speed was the problem).
>
>I wasn't aware that 8-bit was included in ATA-1; I don't have a copy of
>ATA-1 or ATA-2. Was the 8-bit support mandatory or optional? In any
>case, it was certainly gone by ATA-3. I very much doubt that any ATA
>drive manufactured in the last 15 years has 8-bit support.
I'm out of my depth here, but I am curious - all of the CF drives I use
support 8 bit access. I thought they were somehow "ATA compliant". I
assume you're talking about the interface between the drive and the
controller, right?
sorry if I'm lost - it happens :-)
-brad
Folks,
We've got 3 of these things in for repair and we're a bit stuffed without
troubleshooting docs. The userguide is on the web but it's as useless as
this - *holds up useless thing* - and we need the means of interpreting
some of the hex codes they're chucking at us.
Anyone got any other docs?
TIA
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?
