4 Feb
2004
4 Feb
'04
8:39 a.m.
I found a box full of these today. They appear to be disk drive
emulators using Flash memory. M-systems is still in business but they say
that these reached end of life in 1999 and don't have any software or
manuals for them. Does anyone remember how to program and use these?
They're half length 8-bit ISA cards.
Joe
4 Feb
4 Feb
9:41 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 5:39 PM
Subject: need drivers/manual for M-Systems PC-FD card
I found a box full of these today. They appear to
be disk drive
emulators using Flash memory. M-systems is still in business but they say
that these reached end of life in 1999 and don't have any software or
manuals for them. Does anyone remember how to program and use these?
They're half length 8-bit ISA cards.
Joe
What model do you have?
I dug up my Industrial Computer Source Catalog from 1999 (Edition 1) and on
page 59 they have the PCFD family of FLASH disks.
PCFD 1V to PCFD 32V ( 1,2,3,8,16,32 mb FLASH disk, ISA Bus Card half
length). They also came in PC/104 versions.
It states there are no drivers required.
"The "disk" becomes immediately available as either drive D: if you
already
have a fixed disk, or drive C: if it is the only "fixed disk" in the system.
It can work in conjunction with floppy disk drives. Up to four boards can be
installed in a system providing up to 128MB of FLASH DISK drive"
Features:
Up to 128MB FLASH Drive Capacity
ISA and PC/104 Models
Fill Read/Write Capabilities
No Drivers Required
Bootable Flash File System
MS-DOS, DR-DOS and Windows Compatible
Hope this is of help, I think I had full M-Systems catalogs back in the
1990's but probably left them at my old employer back in 1999.
10:04 a.m.
At 06:41 PM 2/4/04 -0500, you wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 5:39 PM
Subject: need drivers/manual for M-Systems PC-FD card
PC-FD with two 1Mbyte Flash chips. Oops! Juat found a sticker that says
Pc-FD-2 so I'm sure that it's a 2Mb card. BTW there are lots of unused pads
for more ICs. I wonder if more Flash memory can be added?
I found a box full of these today. They appear
to be disk drive
emulators using Flash memory. M-systems is still in business but they say
that these reached end of life in 1999 and don't have any software or
manuals for them. Does anyone remember how to program and use these?
They're half length 8-bit ISA cards.
Joe
What model do you have?
I dug up my Industrial Computer Source Catalog from 1999 (Edition 1) and on
page 59 they have the PCFD family of FLASH disks.
PCFD 1V to PCFD 32V ( 1,2,3,8,16,32 mb FLASH disk, ISA Bus Card half
length). They also came in PC/104 versions.
It states there are no drivers required.
One website that I found hinted that but I wasn't sure. It hints that
the programming Sw is built into the cards on-board BIOS but no hint about
how to access it.
"The "disk" becomes immediately available as either drive D: if you
already
have a fixed disk, or drive C: if it is the only "fixed disk" in the system.
It can work in conjunction with floppy disk drives. Up to four boards can be
installed in a system providing up to 128MB of FLASH DISK drive"
That sounds right. There's jumpers on the card to set them to any one of
four addresses.
Features:
Up to 128MB FLASH Drive Capacity
ISA and PC/104 Models
Fill Read/Write Capabilities
No Drivers Required
Bootable Flash File System
MS-DOS, DR-DOS and Windows Compatible
Hope this is of help, I think I had full M-Systems catalogs back in the
1990's but probably left them at my old employer back in 1999.
Yes, that helps clarify things a bit. Thanks.
Joe
10:26 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: need drivers/manual for M-Systems PC-FD card
At 06:41 PM 2/4/04 -0500, you wrote:
pads
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 5:39 PM
Subject: need drivers/manual for M-Systems PC-FD card
PC-FD with two 1Mbyte Flash chips. Oops! Juat found a sticker that says
Pc-FD-2 so I'm sure that it's a 2Mb card. BTW there are lots of unused
for more ICs. I wonder if more Flash memory can be
added?
The picture in the catalog shows a card with 4 rows by 4 columns of chips
(doesn't show the back side) so its either the 16V or 32V. I would assume
its the same board you have just has more chips added, not sure if the BIOS
is universal, so if you have a boxload of these try adding 2 more chips from
another card and see if it boots up to 4mb or not.
FLASH memory does wear out during multiple write cycles so the more you use
it the less memory you will have (the board has software to minimize the
losses). The specifications show 100,000 minimum cycles per bit.
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