I just picked up one of these old CP/M boxes but, I've been unable to
locate any software for it or documentation. They ran a custom version
of CP/M called OS8MT and came with a few different software packages.
They were made around 1984 I think.
Old-computers.com has a little bit about it if it helps ring any bells.
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1078
If anyone knows of a source for any of these disks or docs I would love
to know about it. The system is in excellent shape and the monitor clear
and sharp. Really a shame for it to not be able to do anything but, hold
my doors open.
Thanks
>Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 07:11:58 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Cameron Kaiser <spectre at floodgap.com>
>> Anyone know of a decent memory test utility that runs on classic macs (68k
>> based)?
>>
>> I have an old Mac Portable that I'm struggling to get an OS on -- I
>> consistently get "bad F-line instruction" traps when booting from System 7
>> disks (floppies and CD-ROMs), which from what I can tell probably means bad
>> memory. I'd like to find out if it IS memory, and if so, whether it's the
>> onboard 1mb (I hope not) or on the 4mb expansion...
>>
>> My internet searches have come up dry (I've found stuff for OS X, and early
>> PowerMacs, but nothing for the 68k line).
>
>If you can find Snooper, I think it has a RAM test tool in it that will work
>and does not require the Snooper NuBus board to be installed.
RAMometer from (OOB) NewerTech works on older Macs. I know it will
work on 68030 Macs. I'm not sure if it will work on 68000 based
Macs. It might need the PMMU. I think there's a copy in my
webspace: http://www.io.com/~trag
Jeff Walther
Josh,
If you can't boot the OS, you'd be hard-pressed to run a memory test.
As you already suspect, that error strongly suggests a hardware error.
Assuming the memory is not soldered to the motherboard, the first thing
I would do is to re-seat the memory. If that doesn't work, I'd try
removing
some of it, and try different combinations of memory cards to see
if some subset works. Usually memory from that era needs to be
added and removed in pairs, and needs to positioned in the right slots.
--Tim
On Nov 1, 2008, at 5:09 AM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
> Message: 26
> Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:24:54 -0400
> From: "Joshua Alexander Dersch" <derschjo at msu.edu>
> Subject: Memory test util for classic macs?
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Message-ID: <E1Kw1UE-0002Q9-LD at sys27.mail.msu.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="utf-8"
>
> Anyone know of a decent memory test utility that runs on classic
> macs (68k
> based)?
>
> I have an old Mac Portable that I'm struggling to get an OS on -- I
> consistently get "bad F-line instruction" traps when booting from
> System 7
> disks (floppies and CD-ROMs), which from what I can tell probably
> means bad
> memory. I'd like to find out if it IS memory, and if so, whether
> it's the
> onboard 1mb (I hope not) or on the 4mb expansion...
>
> My internet searches have come up dry (I've found stuff for OS X,
> and early
> PowerMacs, but nothing for the 68k line).
>
> Thanks,
> Josh
Geez, the 419 was uncommon, even in it's own time. And then,
most of the ones I saw didn't work. If you don't mind 'wasting'
part of the drive, I would think just about any 6-headed mfm
drive would work.
There's some difference (which I have been unable to quantify)
between different models of MFM drives (of equal or similar
geometry) that allows some drives to work in some applications,
but not others.
If there's anyone out there intimately familiar with the
ST-506/412 interface, now would be a good time to offer
some suggestions as to why this is so.
-- Jos Dreesen / Marian Capel <jos.mar at bluewin.ch> wrote:
I am in the market for a known working ST419 MFM disk
System software forces me to the 306 Cyl / 6 Heads format (@ 32 256-byte sectors )
Location : Switzerland .
Jos Dreesen
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Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:30:49 -0500
From: Chris Elmquist <chrise at pobox.com>
Subject: Re: Looking for a ST419
I'm new here so I apologize for opening this old can of worms :-)
<snip>
That's the path I've been on. I envision over-sampling and then just
playing and recording what was sent to the drive. I'd make no attempt
to go inside that datastream and try to interpret what was read or
written.
If entire tracks were always written, then it seems rather straightforward
to just store track images and play and record them as they are seeked
to.
<snip>
Ya... so, again I'm new here :-) But I'll go away quitely and think about
this some more-- knowing now that I can't cheat and do tracks at a time.
Chris
-------------Reply:
Oh, I don't know; that's all it'd take to make a few of us Cromemco folks
with failing MFM drives happy...
mike
> From: Oliver Lehmann <lehmann at ans-netz.de>
> Subject: Re: Zilog System 8000
> So - none has a S8000... at home? ;)
The MARCH computer museum at New Jersey's Infoage
has a Zilog Z8000 model 21.
http://www.infoage.orghttp://midatlanticretro.org/
Sadly, I scrapped my model 21 and 31 when Linux overtook
Unix as the preferred software developer's platform.
I still have some pieces (SMD hard drive)
but I gave away some of the main boards
to someone claiming to want them for the CPUs.
I'm unsure how to get it running from bare boards
because I suspect the backplane
was not just parallel connectors.
All the slots were specific to the CPU, RAM,
disk controller, serial ports, tape drive, etc.
How I wish I had photos of the Exxon Office Systems office
in New York's Rockefeller center in 1982 when they were selling
the Zilog System 8000 running the Zeus OS as servers
to Z80 systems running Z-net (their proprietory coax network).
Only a few years later at the NJ Trenton Computer Fest,
a fellow was selling a pair from the back of a red pickup truck.
What a fall from grace!
> I'm missing a backplane so I tried at first hooking up power on my CPU
> module and connecting a serial interface to the tty1 (console) pins of
> the bus-connector.... powering on the system makes the cpu getting a bit
> warm but my console is quiet :( I'm not sure if I've to connect some
> other pins as well with +5V or GND. NMI... RESET whatever... so I
> wonder if someone has a S8000 at hand and can measure some things?
I suspect you'll need the front panel
with the reset and interrupt buttons (and a few LEDs)
to invoke the ROM monitor.
Or at least know where they connect.
Yes, I miss having a real ROM monitor
but it was no fun working on an abandoned system by myself.
> From: "Paxton Hoag" <innfoclassics at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Zilog System 8000
> I have a card set and backplane saved from a machine that went to
> scrap, nothing else. It is lost in my container.
I saved the hard drive since I was hoping to use it on another system,
failing to predict the amazing velocity of new technology
becoming available to everyone.
Anyone know of a decent memory test utility that runs on classic macs (68k
based)?
I have an old Mac Portable that I'm struggling to get an OS on -- I
consistently get "bad F-line instruction" traps when booting from System 7
disks (floppies and CD-ROMs), which from what I can tell probably means bad
memory. I'd like to find out if it IS memory, and if so, whether it's the
onboard 1mb (I hope not) or on the 4mb expansion...
My internet searches have come up dry (I've found stuff for OS X, and early
PowerMacs, but nothing for the 68k line).
Thanks,
Josh
Yah, I done that. The key is to find an MFM drive that has the
same or greater Cylnder/Head geometry: It has to have at least
the same number of cylnders, and at least the same number of
heads.
Keep in mind, though, that geometry alone does *NOT* guarantee
that this will work!! The 9133 seems to be allergic to some
MFM drives-- I could get most Seagate drives to work, for example,
but not NEC's. My fave at the time was the Quantum Q540. I
'wasted' over half the drive, but I had alot of them at the time!
When you format such a drive, you will not have a capacity
greater than the original.[1]
[1] Not quite true for the older 9133 V/X/XV drives. If you have
a 'V' for example, you can replace it with a bigger drive, adjust
the jumpers inside, and format for 10 or 15MB.
-- Jos Dreesen / Marian Capel <jos.mar at bluewin.ch> wrote:
Closely related to the previous post : I actually have an ST419, but is in use inside a HP9133D.
Looking back to old classiccmp articles indicate that it is not easy to replace the ST419 by other MFM drives of different geometries.
Has this changed ? i.e can somebody report a success in replacing the internal drive of an HP9133 ?
Jos
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Hi,
The original 1998 Catweasel mailing list has been reclaimed and is
operational again. If you are interested in Catweasel please join the
mailing list.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/catweasel
Thank you and have a nice day!
Andrew Lynch
> Could this indeed be useful, especially when sites like Bitsavers are indexed?
I've been watching this fairly closely, since I started to see the content being OCRed
on the mirrors.
