14 Oct
2000
14 Oct
'00
1:55 p.m.
Dwight Elvey <elvey(a)hal.com> wrote:
It sounds like you have what
was generically known as a series II type machine, although
there was usually one drive in the main cabinet next to the
CRT. The machine can be made into a CPM machine if you like
but the disk may not be compatable with other machines. These
most likely used M2FM soft sectored formats.
I thought they *always* had a drive next to the CRT, but recently
I got one that didn't.
AFAIK, the internal drive only supports single density FM, since
it is wired to the 8271 FDC on the IOC board. External drives
can either be FM or double density M2FM (which is unfortunately
not compatible with anything else).
You can even get a 8086 card for them if you look
around.
With the 8086 card (an RPB or RPC), it's called a Series III.
Many units were field upgraded, so even a 225 might really be
a Series III.
Earlier Series II have the 8080 IPB (Integrated Processor Board);
later ones and all Series IIIs have the 8085 IPC (Integrated Processor
Card).
Eric