15 Apr
2008
15 Apr
'08
3:48 p.m.
A very generous chap here (thanks Steve) sent me a bunch of media for my
Victor 9000, as I've had no bootable software for it. Most of the new
disks are application programmes, but there's one labelled:
SYSGEN 5/20/82, CP/M 86 2.2, BACKUP
Which I figure should be on the money (although, admittedly, I've never
used CP/M before, so I may have it wrong).
The Victor has a pair of Tandon TM100-3's, which as far as I can find
online are SS/DD - and the diskettes I have are also labelled SS/DD, so
that lines up.
I have read (in the Vector Tech Ref, thanks BitSavers) that the machine
will boot from either diskette drive, which is good since the drive latch
mechanism on my left-hand drive is damaged and won't allow the drive to
engage.
Anyways. I stick in the CP/M floppy and hit the switch. The VDU warms up
and, after it checks out the disk drive with the floppy in it, I get a
cute little floppy disk logo in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen
and next to it is "x 01", as in, "disks times one". From there,
nothing.
I've tapped all the keys on the keyboard without any apparent change. If I
remove the floppy the disk with 'x 01' disappears and I get a blinking
floppy logo, so it certainly appears functional in that respect.
The Tech Ref manual on BitSavers tells me how to low-level access graphics
and helpful things like that - but I need the "Victor9000 for Dummies"
guide to tell me what in the heck I'm even looking at.
Can anyone help?
Thanks much!
- JP
Iowa
15 Apr
15 Apr
4:39 p.m.
there certainly are those that can help on this list,
but I'm not amongst them. I can answer your question
though - I have definitely seen a V9K in operational
mode. Moreover...muahahahahaha...I've seen a Vicki
work too. That be the portable version. Rarer then
shark's nipples. But no I never managed to boot any of
these :( either. Glory days are coming though.
--- JP Hindin <jplist2007 at kiwigeek.com> wrote:
A very generous chap here (thanks Steve) sent me a
bunch of media for my
Victor 9000, as I've had no bootable software for
it. Most of the new
disks are application programmes, but there's one
labelled:
SYSGEN 5/20/82, CP/M 86 2.2, BACKUP
Which I figure should be on the money (although,
admittedly, I've never
used CP/M before, so I may have it wrong).
The Victor has a pair of Tandon TM100-3's, which as
far as I can find
online are SS/DD - and the diskettes I have are also
labelled SS/DD, so
that lines up.
I have read (in the Vector Tech Ref, thanks
BitSavers) that the machine
will boot from either diskette drive, which is good
since the drive latch
mechanism on my left-hand drive is damaged and won't
allow the drive to
engage.
Anyways. I stick in the CP/M floppy and hit the
switch. The VDU warms up
and, after it checks out the disk drive with the
floppy in it, I get a
cute little floppy disk logo in the bottom-right
hand corner of the screen
and next to it is "x 01", as in, "disks times one".
From there, nothing.
I've tapped all the keys on the keyboard without any
apparent change. If I
remove the floppy the disk with 'x 01' disappears
and I get a blinking
floppy logo, so it certainly appears functional in
that respect.
The Tech Ref manual on BitSavers tells me how to
low-level access graphics
and helpful things like that - but I need the
"Victor9000 for Dummies"
guide to tell me what in the heck I'm even looking
at.
Can anyone help?
Thanks much!
- JP
Iowa
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5:26 p.m.
The flashing disk icon, as you've ascertained, suggests the machine would
quite like a disk, please...
I *think* the "x01" means that it's found a disk in drive 1.
The fact it's not booting suggests that either the disk label is in error,
or it's not a Victor/Sirius disk, or the disk has corrupted over time and is
no longer bootable, or being a backup it was never bootable in the first
place. My knowledge of CP/M is also derisory, my machine came with an MSDOS
disk (v2.1 IIRC).
I can't give you any further advice just now, as a) my Sirius is in bits in
England, and b) I'm not in England.... However, one of the jobs I have to do
is re-assemble it after I return; and since I've successfully booted it from
floppy disk in the past, I'll check out what actually happens.
One question - if you listen to the drive, is it spinning, and are the heads
moving?
Cheers,
Ade.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of JP Hindin
Sent: 15 April 2008 21:48
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Sirius1/Victor 9000 - has anyone ever seen one working?
A very generous chap here (thanks Steve) sent me a bunch of media for my
Victor 9000, as I've had no bootable software for it. Most of the new disks
are application programmes, but there's one labelled:
SYSGEN 5/20/82, CP/M 86 2.2, BACKUP
Which I figure should be on the money (although, admittedly, I've never used
CP/M before, so I may have it wrong).
The Victor has a pair of Tandon TM100-3's, which as far as I can find online
are SS/DD - and the diskettes I have are also labelled SS/DD, so that lines
up.
I have read (in the Vector Tech Ref, thanks BitSavers) that the machine will
boot from either diskette drive, which is good since the drive latch
mechanism on my left-hand drive is damaged and won't allow the drive to
engage.
Anyways. I stick in the CP/M floppy and hit the switch. The VDU warms up
and, after it checks out the disk drive with the floppy in it, I get a cute
little floppy disk logo in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen and
next to it is "x 01", as in, "disks times one". From there, nothing.
I've tapped all the keys on the keyboard without any apparent change. If I
remove the floppy the disk with 'x 01' disappears and I get a blinking
floppy logo, so it certainly appears functional in that respect.
The Tech Ref manual on BitSavers tells me how to low-level access graphics
and helpful things like that - but I need the "Victor9000 for Dummies"
guide to tell me what in the heck I'm even looking at.
Can anyone help?
Thanks much!
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1377 - Release Date: 14/04/2008
09:26
5:19 p.m.
Thank you, Ade.
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008, Ade Vickers wrote:
The flashing disk icon, as you've ascertained,
suggests the machine would
quite like a disk, please...
I *think* the "x01" means that it's found a disk in drive 1.
The fact it's not booting suggests that either the disk label is in error,
or it's not a Victor/Sirius disk, or the disk has corrupted over time and is
no longer bootable, or being a backup it was never bootable in the first
place. My knowledge of CP/M is also derisory, my machine came with an MSDOS
disk (v2.1 IIRC).
I spoke to the chap that send me the floppies and he said each of the
diskettes should be bootable, as he tried them in his Victor before
sending them to me. Damning evidence.
I can't give you any further advice just now, as
a) my Sirius is in bits in
England, and b) I'm not in England.... However, one of the jobs I have to do
is re-assemble it after I return; and since I've successfully booted it from
floppy disk in the past, I'll check out what actually happens.
One question - if you listen to the drive, is it spinning, and are the heads
moving?
I know I heard the unit spin up, and I -think- I heard head movement.
Right now the machine is spread across my office in pieces as I was
working out why the left-hand drive didn't engage. I think what I _might_
do is take the latch mech from the right-hand drive and put it on the
left-hand to see if the right-hand drive has read problems.
Again, thank you for your thoughts!
- JP
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of JP Hindin
Sent: 15 April 2008 21:48
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Sirius1/Victor 9000 - has anyone ever seen one working?
A very generous chap here (thanks Steve) sent me a bunch of media for my
Victor 9000, as I've had no bootable software for it. Most of the new disks
are application programmes, but there's one labelled:
SYSGEN 5/20/82, CP/M 86 2.2, BACKUP
Which I figure should be on the money (although, admittedly, I've never used
CP/M before, so I may have it wrong).
The Victor has a pair of Tandon TM100-3's, which as far as I can find online
are SS/DD - and the diskettes I have are also labelled SS/DD, so that lines
up.
I have read (in the Vector Tech Ref, thanks BitSavers) that the machine will
boot from either diskette drive, which is good since the drive latch
mechanism on my left-hand drive is damaged and won't allow the drive to
engage.
Anyways. I stick in the CP/M floppy and hit the switch. The VDU warms up
and, after it checks out the disk drive with the floppy in it, I get a cute
little floppy disk logo in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen and
next to it is "x 01", as in, "disks times one". From there, nothing.
I've tapped all the keys on the keyboard without any apparent change. If I
remove the floppy the disk with 'x 01' disappears and I get a blinking
floppy logo, so it certainly appears functional in that respect.
The Tech Ref manual on BitSavers tells me how to low-level access graphics
and helpful things like that - but I need the "Victor9000 for Dummies"
guide to tell me what in the heck I'm even looking at.
Can anyone help?
Thanks much!
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.13/1377 - Release Date: 14/04/2008
09:26
5944
days inactive
5944
days old
4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
chrism3667＠yahoo.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
javickers＠solutionengineers.com -
jplist2007＠kiwigeek.com