26 Jun
2009
26 Jun
'09
8:18 a.m.
I have a hard drive that I bought 15 years ago. Western Digital Caviar
2420. 425mb IDE drive. Still works fine in my Amiga.
I recently tried to image the drive using DD under linux. While Linux
recognizes the model number and capacity, it's unable to read even a
single block off the drive. I get "ABRT" errors and "DRDY ERR" errors
during a read.
I have managed using another method to obtain an image of the drive as
I'm sure failure is right around the corner, but I'm still interested in
the problem I saw.
The ATA-1 standard was passed in the same year as the drive was made,
1994 --- it's possible the drive is "pre-standard."
The label on the drive says "AT Compatible Intelligent Drive."
Think semi-recent BIOS and new versions of linux should autodetect the
drive type ? Modify the (limited) info in BIOS? Use hdparam in linux?
Thanks
Keith
P.S. drive data sheet at
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?r=3
WD is awesome for still having this on their site. Although I couldn't
check the warranty status w/ the serial number, what the heck!?@# :)
26 Jun
26 Jun
8:39 a.m.
On 26 Jun 2009 at 11:18, Keith wrote:
Think semi-recent BIOS and new versions of linux
should autodetect the
drive type ? Modify the (limited) info in BIOS? Use hdparam in linux?
Most IDE drives shouldn't have a problem--I've got some fairly
ancient ones. Are you using a 40-conductor drive cable? If your
BIOS permits setting the transfer mode, have you set it to PIO (the
faster DMA modes don't work with old drives). And finally, you're
not trying to use it as a slave with another manufacturer's drive
being master (or vice-versa), are you? Old IDE drives were
notoriously finicky when paired up with other makers' units.
See if you can access the drive (at least on a physical sector basis)
under MS-DOS/INT 13 services.
--Chuck
10:05 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
http://www.markglinsky.com/Msgmus.html
Very interesting, manufactured a keyboard with the boards of a keypro
inside?!
5:51 p.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
On Fri, 2009-06-26 at 14:05 -0300, Alexandre Souza wrote:
http://www.markglinsky.com/Msgmus.html
Very interesting, manufactured a keyboard with the boards of a keypro
inside?!
Interesting, how's the voice generation done?
The Fairlight CMI and the PPG Waveterm were both based on off-the-shelf
6809 computers.
IIRC the Simmons SDX was some sort of off-the-shelf 68000-based machine,
at least for the prototypes.
Gordon
6:41 p.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
Interesting, how's the voice generation done?
The Fairlight CMI and the PPG Waveterm were both based on off-the-shelf
6809 computers.
And horribly buggy software. The Synclavier also had more than its
fair share of bugs.
I am ot sure what NED used - they started out as a minicomputer maker,
with their sole customer being the US government. I have only ever
seen parts of these minicomputers. I wonder if the Synclavier was
based on one of their mini designs?
--
Will
27 Jun
27 Jun
3:38 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
On Fri, 2009-06-26 at 21:41 -0400, William Donzelli wrote:
I know that the Synclavier workshop manuals were never released because
some part of the CPU design was classified...
I'm surprised there's not some more discussion of computer-based musical
instruments in here. A lot of them more than meet the ten-year rule.
The Ensoniq Mirage is basically a 6809-based machine with a disk drive
and a DOC chip as used in the Apple IIgs. There were various
third-party OSes available for it that gave different capabilities.
Even as standard Ensoniq provided normal Mirage OS, and MASOS with
sample transfer and advanced editing functions.
Gordon
Gordon
Interesting,
how's the voice generation done?
The Fairlight CMI and the PPG Waveterm were both based on off-the-shelf
6809 computers.
And horribly buggy software. The Synclavier also had more than its
fair share of bugs.
I am ot sure what NED used - they started out as a minicomputer maker,
with their sole customer being the US government. I have only ever
seen parts of these minicomputers. I wonder if the Synclavier was
based on one of their mini designs? 
9:29 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
I know that the Synclavier workshop manuals were never
released because
some part of the CPU design was classified...
If any part of it was actually classified, they wouldn't have been able
to sell it to civilians.
9:56 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
On Sat, 27 Jun 2009, Eric Smith wrote:
Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
This statement about the ABEL minicomputer (bit-slice design that underlay
the Synclavier) persists in on-line wisdom. It never made any sense to me
either.
I knew many folks that worked at New England Digital and it would be
stretch to believe that any had classified clearances.
--
I know that the Synclavier workshop manuals were
never released because
some part of the CPU design was classified...
If any part of it was actually classified, they wouldn't have been able to
sell it to civilians. 
10:04 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
I know that the Synclavier workshop manuals were never
released because
some part of the CPU design was classified...
What's to stop somebody buying a Synclavier, taking it apart and
reverse-engineering this so-say classified CPU? It's not that hard to
discover all sorts of 'secrets' from working hardware.
If it really was classified (in the military sense), I am very suprised
it was available for sale to the public. To me, this just sounds like yet
another ogus reason not to supply a service manual....
-tony
10:14 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
On Sat, 2009-06-27 at 18:04 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
Cost.
I nearly bought one ten years ago for ?1000, but that would have wiped
me out totally. Now you'd be struggling to find one for less than ten
times that, at least in the UK.
Gordon
I know that
the Synclavier workshop manuals were never released because
some part of the CPU design was classified...
What's to stop somebody buying a Synclavier, taking it apart and
10:23 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
I nearly bought one ten years ago for ?1000, but that
would have wiped
me out totally. ?Now you'd be struggling to find one for less than ten
times that, at least in the UK.
Even back ten years ago, that was a steal and a half. Synclaviers are
still very much in demand, unlike Fairlights.
--
Will
10:41 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
On Sat, 2009-06-27 at 13:23 -0400, William Donzelli wrote:
Yeah. I know that *now*, don't I?
Gordon
I nearly
bought one ten years ago for ?1000, but that would have wiped
me out totally. Now you'd be struggling to find one for less than ten
times that, at least in the UK.
Even back ten years ago, that was a steal and a half. Synclaviers are
still very much in demand, unlike Fairlights.
11:41 a.m.
New subject: Digital (music) keyboard with Kaypro computer?!
On Sat, 2009-06-27 at 18:04 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
Cost.
I nearly bought one ten years ago for =C2=A31000, but that would have wiped
me out totally. Now you'd be struggling to find one for less than ten
times that, at least in the UK.
Yes, but if you're talking about discovering classified (military)
information, then I don't think cost is a major factor.
-tony
I know
that the Synclavier workshop manuals were never released because
some part of the CPU design was classified...
=20
What's to stop somebody buying a Synclavier, taking it apart and=20
26 Jun
26 Jun
10:29 a.m.
Hi Chuck,
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Most IDE drives shouldn't have a
problem--I've got some fairly
ancient ones. Are you using a 40-conductor drive cable?
You mean versus an 80-conductor cable? No it's a 40.
And finally, you're
not trying to use it as a slave with another manufacturer's drive
being master (or vice-versa), are you?
I had it as a Master (and also tried 'single drive installation') on a
chain by itself.
See if you can access the drive (at least on a
physical sector basis)
under MS-DOS/INT 13 services.
I barely know what you are talking about here. :) I can just google it,
or if you have a good ref, I'll take that too. :)
Let me see if the BIOS lets me pick PIO.
--Chuck
Thanks
Keith
10:36 a.m.
On Jun 26, 2009, at 1:29 PM, Keith wrote:
Let me see if the BIOS lets me pick PIO.
I have a hunch that Chuck's suggestion of DMA modes is correct.
The BIOS won't have anything to do with it, though...Linux (along
with most other operating systems) doesn't use the BIOS routines to
access disks, it controls the hardware directly.
I think you can pass kernel parameters (via your boot
manager...lilo, grub, etc) to restrict DMA modes. Google is your
friend on that one.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
11:16 a.m.
On 26 Jun 2009 at 13:29, Keith wrote:
Well, if none of this helps, drop me an off-list message and I'll
email you a DOS program that probes IDE drives directly and lets you
know what's what.
Some of the early IDE drives were non-standard in their responses to
the IDENTIFY command. In particular, I recall that early Maxtor
models swapped the order of the words in the field used to report
total number of sectors, necessitating a kludge in some drivers (e.g.
If C*H*S ~= total sectors, try swapping the words). There were many
other peculiarities...
--Chuck
See if you can
access the drive (at least on a physical sector
basis) under MS-DOS/INT 13 services.
I barely know what you are talking about here. :) I can just google
it, or if you have a good ref, I'll take that too. :)
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