10 Nov
2007
10 Nov
'07
6:09 p.m.
All:
Now that the weather in the Northeast is cold again, I?m picking up on
some old projects, among which is the floppy system for my IMSAI.
Here?s what I want ? a 5.25? dual-disk system running CP/M 2.2 (my IMSAI
has a Z80 board in it).
Here?s what I have ? plenty of 5.25? TM100 and equivalent drives, a
CompuPro Disk 1 and an SD Sales Versafloppy (not II). The Versafloppy
specifies SA400/450, but I think other 5.25? drives will work.
Here?s what I don?t have ? a working disk image for either of the above.
Dave Dunfield has a disk image for a Disk 1A but it?s from an 8? original.
Also, the ComprPro controller seems to require modifying the IMSAI front
panel to disable it (by removing the ground on pin 20 IIRC). I really don?t
want to modify the front panel. I browsed the Versafloppy manual quickly and
it doesn?t seem to require modifications to the host machine.
Given this, does anyone have a Versafloppy image I can use?
Alternatively, I?d gladly trade what I have for a board/disk that would
work. I would even consider trading other stuff for it, including the 8?
drive system I have that is the bane of my existence.
Thanks again for any help.
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.altair32.com
http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp
10 Nov
10 Nov
8:16 p.m.
At 02:09 PM 11/10/2007, you wrote:
All:
Now that the weather in the Northeast is cold again, I?m picking up on
some old projects, among which is the floppy system for my IMSAI.
Here?s what I want ? a 5.25? dual-disk system running CP/M 2.2 (my IMSAI
has a Z80 board in it).
Here?s what I have ? plenty of 5.25? TM100 and equivalent drives, a
CompuPro Disk 1 and an SD Sales Versafloppy (not II). The Versafloppy
specifies SA400/450, but I think other 5.25? drives will work.
Here?s what I don?t have ? a working disk image for either of the above.
Dave Dunfield has a disk image for a Disk 1A but it?s from an 8? original.
Also, the ComprPro controller seems to require modifying the IMSAI front
panel to disable it (by removing the ground on pin 20 IIRC). I really don?t
want to modify the front panel. I browsed the Versafloppy manual quickly and
it doesn?t seem to require modifications to the host machine.
Given this, does anyone have a Versafloppy image I can use?
Alternatively, I?d gladly trade what I have for a board/disk that would
work. I would even consider trading other stuff for it, including the 8?
drive system I have that is the bane of my existence.
I have some of those cards too, but no images either.
I hope you have more luck than me. I'm about to
get out the big guns and hook up a logic analyzer
to the disk drive. It doesn't seem to be reading sectors reliably. : (
Grant
11 Nov
11 Nov
9:29 a.m.
Oh, I also just found a Morrow DiskJockey 2D/B in one of my boxes. This
model has only a 50-pin connector and the manual talks about the SA800, so
I'm assuming it's an 8"-only controller.
On 11/10/07 8:16 PM, "Grant Stockly" <grant at stockly.com> wrote:
At 02:09 PM 11/10/2007, you wrote:
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.altair32.com
http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp
All:
Now that the weather in the Northeast is cold again, I?m picking up on
some old projects, among which is the floppy system for my IMSAI.
Here?s what I want ? a 5.25? dual-disk system running CP/M 2.2 (my IMSAI
has a Z80 board in it).
Here?s what I have ? plenty of 5.25? TM100 and equivalent drives, a
CompuPro Disk 1 and an SD Sales Versafloppy (not II). The Versafloppy
specifies SA400/450, but I think other 5.25? drives will work.
Here?s what I don?t have ? a working disk image for either of the above.
Dave Dunfield has a disk image for a Disk 1A but it?s from an 8? original.
Also, the ComprPro controller seems to require modifying the IMSAI front
panel to disable it (by removing the ground on pin 20 IIRC). I really don?t
want to modify the front panel. I browsed the Versafloppy manual quickly and
it doesn?t seem to require modifications to the host machine.
Given this, does anyone have a Versafloppy image I can use?
Alternatively, I?d gladly trade what I have for a board/disk that would
work. I would even consider trading other stuff for it, including the 8?
drive system I have that is the bane of my existence.
I have some of those cards too, but no images either.
I hope you have more luck than me. I'm about to
get out the big guns and hook up a logic analyzer
to the disk drive. It doesn't seem to be reading sectors reliably. : (
Grant
10:55 a.m.
"Richard A. Cini" <rcini at optonline.net> wrote:
Oh, I also just found a Morrow DiskJockey 2D/B in one
of my boxes. This
model has only a 50-pin connector and the manual talks about the SA800, so
I'm assuming it's an 8"-only controller.
Well, originally intended for 8" drives, but with a suitable adapter
cable glue and a slightly modified BIOS it'll do 5.25" and 3.5" drives.
Tim.
11:23 a.m.
Good. The Morrow controller then falls into the same category in my mind as
the ComprPro Disk 1 with the added bonus of not requiring mods to my IMSAI.
Now the thousand-dollar question -- does anyone have a suitable disk image I
could use?
On 11/11/07 10:55 AM, "Tim Shoppa" <shoppa_classiccmp at
trailing-edge.com>
wrote:
"Richard A. Cini" <rcini at
optonline.net> wrote:
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.altair32.com
http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp
Oh, I also just found a Morrow DiskJockey 2D/B in
one of my boxes. This
model has only a 50-pin connector and the manual talks about the SA800, so
I'm assuming it's an 8"-only controller.
Well, originally intended for 8" drives, but with a suitable adapter
cable glue and a slightly modified BIOS it'll do 5.25" and 3.5" drives.
Tim. 
12:40 p.m.
From: rcini at optonline.net> > Good. The Morrow
controller then falls into the same category in my mind as> the ComprPro Disk 1 with
the added bonus of not requiring mods to my IMSAI.> > Now the thousand-dollar
question -- does anyone have a suitable disk image I> could use?>
Hi
Does the controller have ROM on it? Often the image
on the disk has to match with the ROM. Sometimes
the ROM only has a minimum boot code and the disk
loads the rest of the disk code. Other times, the ROM
has all the disk code and the disk is just the rest of
CP/M that calls the ROM for disk access. Yet other
are mixed with patches in the disk code.
The exception is for a controller that does DMA and
self boots, like the Digital Systems drives( no ROM in
the system ).
Dwight
_________________________________________________________________
Climb to the top of the charts!? Play Star Shuffle:? the word scramble challenge with star
power.
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
1:21 p.m.
Both the Morrow and the CompuPro boards have boot roms on them. I took a
quick look at the code and it looks like bootstrap loader more than a BIOS.
But, I really need to look at the code more closely.
On 11/11/07 12:40 PM, "dwight elvey" <dkelvey at hotmail.com> wrote:
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.altair32.com
http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp
From: rcini at optonline.net> > Good. The
Morrow controller then falls into the
same category in my mind as> the ComprPro Disk 1 with the added bonus of not
requiring mods to my IMSAI.> > Now the thousand-dollar question -- does
anyone have a suitable disk image I> could use?>
Hi
Does the controller have ROM on it? Often the image
on the disk has to match with the ROM. Sometimes
the ROM only has a minimum boot code and the disk
loads the rest of the disk code. Other times, the ROM
has all the disk code and the disk is just the rest of
CP/M that calls the ROM for disk access. Yet other
are mixed with patches in the disk code.
The exception is for a controller that does DMA and
self boots, like the Digital Systems drives( no ROM in
the system ).
Dwight
_________________________________________________________________
Climb to the top of the charts!? Play Star Shuffle:? the word scramble
challenge with star power.
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
1:56 p.m.
I actually just dumped the 2708 EPROM on the Morrow board and the code bears
absolutely NO resemblance to the code in the instruction manual. It doesn't
even appear to do much I/O. I wonder if it's suffering from bit rot?
Does anyone have a dump of their EPROM that they can send me for comparison
purposes?
On 11/11/07 12:40 PM, "dwight elvey" <dkelvey at hotmail.com> wrote:
Rich
--
Rich Cini
Collector of Classic Computers
Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
http://www.altair32.com
http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp
From: rcini at optonline.net> > Good. The
Morrow controller then falls into the
same category in my mind as> the ComprPro Disk 1 with the added bonus of not
requiring mods to my IMSAI.> > Now the thousand-dollar question -- does
anyone have a suitable disk image I> could use?>
Hi
Does the controller have ROM on it? Often the image
on the disk has to match with the ROM. Sometimes
the ROM only has a minimum boot code and the disk
loads the rest of the disk code. Other times, the ROM
has all the disk code and the disk is just the rest of
CP/M that calls the ROM for disk access. Yet other
are mixed with patches in the disk code.
The exception is for a controller that does DMA and
self boots, like the Digital Systems drives( no ROM in
the system ).
Dwight
_________________________________________________________________
Climb to the top of the charts!? Play Star Shuffle:? the word scramble
challenge with star power.
http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
6099
days inactive
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7 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
dkelvey＠hotmail.com -
grant＠stockly.com -
rcini＠optonline.net -
shoppa_classiccmp＠trailing-edge.com