2 Oct
2001
2 Oct
'01
2:33 p.m.
On 30-Sep-2001 Tony Duell wrote:
There was one time I was glad I had a true IBM PC/XT
and not a clone. I
needed ROM BASIC. The reason was, my floppy controller had suffered a
hardward failure. The machine managed to give up trying to boot from
floppies, and fell into ROM BASIC. Where I could use OUT commands to
send values to the floppy controller ports, and I could look at signals
on the floppy controller card with a logic probe. Took me about 5 minutes
to find the dead 74LS273 latch that was holding the 8272 in the reset
state.
If I'd not had BASIC in ROM, I'd have had a long day ahead of me trying
to debug that machine...
You, sir, are, and I mean this in the best possible way, INSANE. I am in
awe.
-Philip