> One of the boards (SMS le interface) looks like an interface to a
> disk controller. SMS made a dual disk system that had a 8" floppy
> and an 8" hard disk in a 3RU cabinet. The system has a controller
> in it that connected to the host via a 40 pin ribbon cable.
> I think the "le interface" is the host end of that connection... I still
> have one of the disk cabinets and controller. (somewhere)
Documentation for the winchester/floppy subsystem would be a nice thing to
find.
SMS made several different subsystems in the 80's with that interface which
weren't always compatible with DEC controllers.
I have some documentation on the FW series under sms on bitsavers
3000632D_FW_OEM_Feb82.pdf
Hi,
I've recently acquired an old Northstar Horizon S-100 system.
It has 3 cards; the ZPB-A2 processor card, MDS-A3 disk controller card and
the RAM-32-A1 card.
It has no diskette drives. The MDS-A3 card has a blown tantalum capacitor
(C6) and the motherboard has a blown tantalum capacitor (C1). The
motherboard is a HRZ-MB-4.
I'm going to clean it up and replace the blown caps and run some checks on
the power supply. I also have downloaded the relevant documentation to check
the processor and disk controller cards, and also the HRZ-MB documentation.
Assuming all goes well I need to get my hands on some disk images to run on
this system. Does anyone know where I can get such images? Also, can I use
old IBM PC full-height 360K disk drives in this machine?
regards
river
Charles wrote:
> > www.rogerwilco.org/mystery_boards/#Dilog_DQ130
>
> http://www.dilog.com/unibus.html
>
> DQ130 Qbus, Pertec I/O, TM11, 4 drives, Quad Height
Ah, yes, I'd forgotten that link which I came across a couple of months ago. Sadly, no doc online. I guess I could try out their support team and see how friendly they are with requests for informatoin on 25-year old gear. ;)
J
>
>Subject: Re: Northstar Horizon
> From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
> Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 10:02:05 -0800
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>On 25 Nov 2006 at 13:29, Dave Dunfield wrote:
>
>> Well - then I guess NorthStar was obscene... :-)
>
>My comment was directed toward your reference to the Tarbell
>controller, not the NS.
>
>> The single-density controller does indeed have 256 byte of ROM (in three chips!)
>> The double-density one has 512 bytes of ROM.
>
>A question crops up: why? What's the point--you need only enough to
>load a sngle sector. Was the NS controller so badly implemented
>that it required that much code to read a single sector?
I would not say badly implemented, more like dirt simple. NS* took the
software can replace hardware path. For example the code in the rom
sets the drive select, does the step direction and timing and walks
through the find the right sector, wait for sync flag and start reading
process.
Allison
>
>Subject: Re: Northstar Horizon
> From: "Barry Watzman" <Watzman at neo.rr.com>
> Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:56:01 -0500
> To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>
>
>The real problem is that it uses HARD-SECTOR 5.25" diskettes, which are just
>about impossible to find.
>
>Yes, you can use a PC compatible 5.25" 360k drive, if it's jumpered
>properly.
Correct! I'm using FD55BV (half height 48tpi two side) and they work fine
for either SD or DD. The official drive for SD version was SA400 (35 track)
and for DD SA400L or TM100 as by then both were the standard.
Allison
Fellow Techies,
I've said it on my web site, and I'll say it here: Scrounging is not so much ongoing acquisition as it is a 'flow-thru' of goodies. Any tech-scrounger will eventually hit the point where they Just Need To Move Stuff Out.
Such is the case with me right now, so I'd like to take a moment here to feed back to the same 'techie food chain' that I've benefited from for so many moons.
Specifically: I've got the following FREEBIES available for PICKUP ONLY, NO SHIPPING in Kent, Washington. The only condition I place on the stuff is that whoever takes it needs to be taking it to USE IT, not to sell it for scrap.
--HP DraftMaster SX Plus large-format pen plotter, in excellent condition. Includes a whole slew of pens (condition unknown, but they've been kept capped in an indoor environment) and two packages of big paper (including a pack of Size D sheets). This item is not that heavy, and it is on wheels, but it is bulky and tall. You will need at least a small pickup truck with an open bed to move it properly.
--Compaq ProLiant 6500 server with twin Pentium Pro 200's. This was the box that was originally running my FTP archive (I've since upgraded to a later model of ProLiant). Working condition, 512MB RAM, and I think I could find a pair of rack slides and maybe even enough 4 gig drives to make a small array if you twist my arm enough.
--A pair of Sun SPARC-10 systems with at least 50MHz HyperSPARC CPU modules installed. These used to run part of my Internet presence before I upgraded to HP NetServers, so I know they work. RAM and hard drives included (though I will need to wipe the drives before they're taken as they still contain security-sensitive data).
If you'd like any or all of the goodies (hopefully all in one swell foop?), just drop me a line. Keep in mind that I don't currently subscribe to the CCTech or CCTalk lists, so you'll need to let me know via direct E-mail.
If, for whatever reason, your E-mail bounces you can give me a buzz on 253-639-2996.
Thanks in advance for helping me find this stuff a good home.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"
Re: "But you will have a bit of a "chicken and egg" problem - the NorthStar
disks are hard-sectored, which means that you can only make them on a system
with the NorthStar controller. Unless you have other N* systems kicking
around you will have to use the Horizon. But the Horizon has no front
panel, or other means to easily bootstrap code into it other than the disk
drive."
Install the North Star disk controller card into a CP/M system configured
such that there are no memory or I/O port conflicts. Then you can assemble
source code of the NorthStar DOS using CP/M's ASM, and load it into RAM
using DDT. There are routines in the NorthStar ROM (which will now exist in
the CP/M system) for formatting a disk and writing out RAM to the diskette.
It's possible for a NorthStar controller and a typical CP/M soft sector
controller to co-exist in the same system at the same time, if you resolve
any I/O port and memory conflicts. This allows the use of CP/M and all of
it's facilities (in particular, source code editors, ASM and DDT) to create
a first NorthStar diskette.
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 06:56:50 -0500
From: "Dave Dunfield" <dave06a at dunfield.com>
Subject: Re: Northstar Horizon
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <200611251101.kAPB1t0K026282 at hosting.monisys.ca>
> It has no diskette drives. The MDS-A3 card has a blown tantalum capacitor
> (C6) and the motherboard has a blown tantalum capacitor (C1). The
> motherboard is a HRZ-MB-4.
Make sure you have the disk controller designation right - My single density
NorthStar controllers are called MDC-An and the double density ones are
called MDS-AD(n). You need to figure out if you have a single density or
double density controller in order to determine which boot disk you need.
If it's MDS, I think it should be double-density, but I expected the latter
part
to be "-AD3". I have photos of both controller types on my site the
difference
between a single-density and a double-density is easy to see .
> I'm going to clean it up and replace the blown caps and run some checks on
> the power supply. I also have downloaded the relevant documentation to
check
> the processor and disk controller cards, and also the HRZ-MB
documentation.
I have a lot of NorthStar material and documentation on my site - much of it
in
the Altair section (One of my Altairs has a NorthStar controller).
> Assuming all goes well I need to get my hands on some disk images to run
on
> this system. Does anyone know where I can get such images? Also, can I use
> old IBM PC full-height 360K disk drives in this machine?
I have many images for both single and double density Horizon systems on my
site - if It's SD, your choices are NorthStar DOS and my own DMF system. If
DD, the choices are NorthStar DOS, CP/M and UCSD Pascal.
But you will have a bit of a "chicken and egg" problem - the NorthStar disks
are
hard-sectored, which means that you can only make them on a system with
the NorthStar controller. Unless you have other N* systems kicking around
you will have to use the Horizon.
But the Horizon has no front panel, or other means to easily bootstrap code
into it other than the disk drive. If you happen to have an S-100 ROM card,
you could use it to bootstrap the Horizon. I've got a very simple monitor
that
you can use to bootstrap in the NorthStar tools archive.
Also - in case you are not aware, the 10 sector diskette are physically
different
than a typical soft-sector diskette (11 sector holes instead of one) - you
need
10-sector diskettes for the Horizon which can be difficult to find.
Dave
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html
******************
River,
I happen to have a Northstar on the table now, and I am in the process
of making backups of the system disks now that I have it up and running.
Here is a picture:
http://www.vintagecomputer.net/northstar/horizon/northstar_horizon_card_view.
jpg
Contact me off list for a boot disk.
http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/d_nstar.html
..is a good place to start for documentation and manuals.
Bill D
>
>Hi,
>
>I've recently acquired an old Northstar Horizon S-100 system.
>
<snip>
>Assuming all goes well I need to get my hands on some disk images
to run on
>this system. Does anyone know where I can get such images? Also,
can I use
>old IBM PC full-height 360K disk drives in this machine?
>
>regards
>river
