23 Sep
2002
23 Sep
'02
1:43 p.m.
Greetings to all --
About a year ago, Joe Rigdon very kindly gave me a number of old machines
(thanks, Joe!), among them a Xerox 820. At the time he gave it to me, the
unit didn't power up, but today I finally found the time to give it a
second look. After I reconnected a loose lead inside the box it came to
life! This is my only machine with 8" disk drives, so I'm interested in
finding a good use for it.
I could use some help from the list members, though. I found *no*
technical data via Google, and have *no* real docs for this beast. After
poking at the 820 for a bit, here's where I'm at:
--> The "B" drive is faulty. Disk initialization fails, and it will not
consistently read disks created on the "A" drive. Any pointers on
replacement drives? Even if a thorough cleaning revives this drive, I'd
like to obtain a spare.
--> Assuming I can't revive the "B" drive or find a replacement, how can
I
duplicate diskettes? The CP/M utilities all seem to want two drives in
order to do their job.
--> Two of the boot diskettes which I have boot up a pretty normal looking
version of CP/M 2.2, with a normal "A>" prompt, but another diskette
displays the following upon boot:
"Good Day! ZCPR 2.04 SYSTEM READY"
and the prompt is "A0>" (obviously user group 0). What is this
"ZCPR"?
--> Some of the utilities on the boot diskettes (FMT, for example) refer to
hard disk drives. What's involved in attaching a hard drive to this
system?
--> The flimsy "User Manual" which I have states that the RS232 port may be
configured to attach to a terminal or to a modem. How?
--> Lastly, does anyone have any documentation on this thing? If you can
part with it, I'd be glad to pay a fair price.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Although this system
doesn't appear to be special or unique, it does seem to be a sort of nice,
friendly critter, and I'd like to put it into use.
Later --
Glen
0/0
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if not now, when?
-- Pirkei Avot
23 Sep
23 Sep
2:04 p.m.
Hey Glen,
That's good news. I never got around to testing that 820. I did have a box of
disks and docs for the 820s but maybe Mike or someone else got it. ZCPR is a replacement
command processor for CPM. In simple terms, it is to CPM what DR DOS was to MS DOS. It
should run all the normal CPM commands plus others. I'm using an enhanced version of
ZCPR on my SB-180. I have a printout of a help file that you can borrow or I can copy the
file the next time that I have the SB-180 setup and running. BTW ZCPR usually includes
on-line help. Try typing in HELP and see if it's there. You should be able to find
info on ZCPR on the net. I know that I did when I first got the SB-180. There's also
a book called "ZCPR, The Manual" by Richard Kahn (sp?). I had a copy but it
didn't tell any more than what the disk help files did. I think I gave that book to
Bob Rief but he can't find it.
What kind of drive is in the 820?
Joe
At 06:43 PM 9/23/02 -0400, you wrote:
Greetings to all --
About a year ago, Joe Rigdon very kindly gave me a number of old machines
(thanks, Joe!), among them a Xerox 820. At the time he gave it to me, the
unit didn't power up, but today I finally found the time to give it a
second look. After I reconnected a loose lead inside the box it came to
life! This is my only machine with 8" disk drives, so I'm interested in
finding a good use for it.
I could use some help from the list members, though. I found *no*
technical data via Google, and have *no* real docs for this beast. After
poking at the 820 for a bit, here's where I'm at:
--> The "B" drive is faulty. Disk initialization fails, and it will not
consistently read disks created on the "A" drive. Any pointers on
replacement drives? Even if a thorough cleaning revives this drive, I'd
like to obtain a spare.
--> Assuming I can't revive the "B" drive or find a replacement, how can
I
duplicate diskettes? The CP/M utilities all seem to want two drives in
order to do their job.
--> Two of the boot diskettes which I have boot up a pretty normal looking
version of CP/M 2.2, with a normal "A>" prompt, but another diskette
displays the following upon boot:
"Good Day! ZCPR 2.04 SYSTEM READY"
and the prompt is "A0>" (obviously user group 0). What is this
"ZCPR"?
--> Some of the utilities on the boot diskettes (FMT, for example) refer to
hard disk drives. What's involved in attaching a hard drive to this
system?
--> The flimsy "User Manual" which I have states that the RS232 port may be
configured to attach to a terminal or to a modem. How?
--> Lastly, does anyone have any documentation on this thing? If you can
part with it, I'd be glad to pay a fair price.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Although this system
doesn't appear to be special or unique, it does seem to be a sort of nice,
friendly critter, and I'd like to put it into use.
Later --
Glen
0/0
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if not now, when?
-- Pirkei Avot
4:57 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-admin(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-admin@classiccmp.org]On
Behalf Of Joe
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 7:08 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Xerox 820 lives!
Hey Glen,
That's good news. I never got around to testing that 820.
I did have a box of disks and docs for the 820s but maybe
Mike or someone else got it. ZCPR is a replacement command
processor for CPM. In simple terms, it is to CPM what DR DOS
was to MS DOS. It should run all the normal CPM commands
plus others. I'm using an enhanced version of ZCPR on my
SB-180. I have a printout of a help file that you can borrow
or I can copy the file the next time that I have the SB-180
setup and running. BTW ZCPR usually includes on-line help.
Try typing in HELP and see if it's there. You should be able
to find info on ZCPR on the net. I know that I did when I
first got the SB-180. There's also a book called "ZCPR, The
Manual" by Richard Kahn (sp?). I had a copy but it didn't
tell any more than what the disk help files did. I think I
gave that book to Bob Rief but he can't find it.
What kind of drive is in the 820?
Joe
At 06:43 PM 9/23/02 -0400, you wrote:
Glen,
I have a very complete set of docs and software that I received in the last
month for the Xerox 820.
The package included several 820's and at bunch of Televideo TS803's as well
as Z80 development systems (ZDS-1, with complete hardware and the
documentation).
It includes ZCPR3 software and the manual Joe refers to above (by Richard
Conn).
I don't have the space or time to even take some of the stuff out of the
boxes right now, but when I do I can make some copies of the diskettes.
I hope to look around at what documents should be scanned since I've
recently had some good results with the autofeed photocopier/scanner at the
office.
What do you need? Immediately, its probably easier for me to scan stuff than
to attempt to copy diskettes.
Dan Cohoe
Greetings to all --
About a year ago, Joe Rigdon very kindly gave me a number of
old machines
(thanks, Joe!), among them a Xerox 820. At the
time he gave
it to me, the
unit didn't power up, but today I finally
found the time to give it a
second look. After I reconnected a loose lead inside the
box it came to
life! This is my only machine with 8" disk
drives, so I'm
interested in
finding a good use for it.
I could use some help from the list members, though. I found *no*
technical data via Google, and have *no* real docs for this
beast. After
poking at the 820 for a bit, here's where
I'm at:
--> The "B" drive is faulty. Disk initialization fails, and
it will
not
consistently read disks created on the
"A" drive. Any pointers on
replacement drives? Even if a thorough cleaning revives
this drive, I'd
like to obtain a spare.
--> Assuming I can't revive the "B" drive or find a
replacement,
how can I
duplicate diskettes? The CP/M utilities all seem
to want
two drives in
order to do their job.
--> Two of the boot diskettes which I have boot up a pretty
normal looking
version of CP/M 2.2, with a normal
"A>" prompt, but another diskette
displays the following upon boot:
"Good Day! ZCPR 2.04 SYSTEM READY"
and the prompt is "A0>" (obviously user group 0). What is
this
"ZCPR"?
--> Some of the utilities on the boot diskettes (FMT, for
example) refer to
hard disk drives. What's involved in
attaching a hard drive to this
system?
--> The flimsy "User Manual" which I have states that the
RS232 port
may be
configured to attach to a terminal or to a modem.
How?
--> Lastly, does anyone have any documentation on this
thing? If you can
part with it, I'd be glad to pay a fair
price.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Although this system
doesn't appear to be special or unique, it does seem to be a
sort of nice,
friendly critter, and I'd like to put it into
use.
Later --
Glen
0/0
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if not now, when?
-- Pirkei Avot
3:18 p.m.
On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Glen Goodwin wrote:
Greetings to all --
About a year ago, Joe Rigdon very kindly gave me a number of old machines
(thanks, Joe!), among them a Xerox 820. At the time he gave it to me, the
unit didn't power up, but today I finally found the time to give it a
second look. After I reconnected a loose lead inside the box it came to
life! This is my only machine with 8" disk drives, so I'm interested in
finding a good use for it.
I could use some help from the list members, though. I found *no*
technical data via Google, and have *no* real docs for this beast. After
poking at the 820 for a bit, here's where I'm at:
First off, Glen, is it an 820 or an 820-II? Since you have been in to
it, you should recall whether there is a daughter card that plugs in
vertically in the right rear quadrant of the motherboard. If it is
there, you have an 820-II. If not, it is an 820 and only capable of
read/write SSSD disks, and the drives are likely Shugart SA-800s. The
820-II is DSDD capable and likely has SA-850s.
--> The "B" drive is faulty. Disk
initialization fails, and it will not
consistently read disks created on the "A" drive. Any pointers on
replacement drives? Even if a thorough cleaning revives this drive, I'd
like to obtain a spare.
Make sure that the heads are clean and that the guide rails for the head
assembly are clean and VERY LIGHTLY lubricated.
--> Assuming I can't revive the "B"
drive or find a replacement, how can I
duplicate diskettes? The CP/M utilities all seem to want two drives in
order to do their job.
There is a program named MFT45.COM (also MFT48.COM) that is capable of
single drive copy. It is a little tedious because of disk jockeying,
but it does do the job. MFT stands for Multiple File Transfer.
--> Two of the boot diskettes which I have boot up
a pretty normal looking
version of CP/M 2.2, with a normal "A>" prompt, but another diskette
displays the following upon boot:
"Good Day! ZCPR 2.04 SYSTEM READY"
and the prompt is "A0>" (obviously user group 0). What is this
"ZCPR"?
Joe covered this pretty well.
--> Some of the utilities on the boot diskettes
(FMT, for example) refer to
hard disk drives. What's involved in attaching a hard drive to this
system?
If an 820, it is not a particularly reasonable thing to try. If an
820-II, easy if you can find the Xerox add ons. Rather more difficult
otherwise.
--> The flimsy "User Manual" which I have
states that the RS232 port may be
configured to attach to a terminal or to a modem. How?
Probably switching the port from DTE to DCE pinout.
--> Lastly, does anyone have any documentation on
this thing? If you can
part with it, I'd be glad to pay a fair price.
Cannot help there.
- don
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Although this system
doesn't appear to be special or unique, it does seem to be a sort of nice,
friendly critter, and I'd like to put it into use.
Later --
Glen
0/0
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if not now, when?
-- Pirkei Avot
24 Sep
24 Sep
4:19 a.m.
The 820, is, I think, my favourite CP/M machine. They can be twitchy
though, often stemming from dirty contacts on various cards.
The floppy drive is a Shugart. So, as a matter of fact is the hard
drive. The little 5-1/4's suck, they cripple the machine.
I might have some Xerox manuals somewhere. They might be buried deep,
though. Want me to look? WordStar runs very nicely on the 820. I used
it for a number of years. Most common printer I've seen with it is the
diablo 620.
On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Glen Goodwin wrote:
Greetings to all --
About a year ago, Joe Rigdon very kindly gave me a number of old machines
(thanks, Joe!), among them a Xerox 820. At the time he gave it to me, the
unit didn't power up, but today I finally found the time to give it a
second look. After I reconnected a loose lead inside the box it came to
life! This is my only machine with 8" disk drives, so I'm interested in
finding a good use for it.
I could use some help from the list members, though. I found *no*
technical data via Google, and have *no* real docs for this beast. After
poking at the 820 for a bit, here's where I'm at:
--> The "B" drive is faulty. Disk initialization fails, and it will not
consistently read disks created on the "A" drive. Any pointers on
replacement drives? Even if a thorough cleaning revives this drive, I'd
like to obtain a spare.
--> Assuming I can't revive the "B" drive or find a replacement, how can
I
duplicate diskettes? The CP/M utilities all seem to want two drives in
order to do their job.
--> Two of the boot diskettes which I have boot up a pretty normal looking
version of CP/M 2.2, with a normal "A>" prompt, but another diskette
displays the following upon boot:
"Good Day! ZCPR 2.04 SYSTEM READY"
and the prompt is "A0>" (obviously user group 0). What is this
"ZCPR"?
--> Some of the utilities on the boot diskettes (FMT, for example) refer to
hard disk drives. What's involved in attaching a hard drive to this
system?
--> The flimsy "User Manual" which I have states that the RS232 port may be
configured to attach to a terminal or to a modem. How?
--> Lastly, does anyone have any documentation on this thing? If you can
part with it, I'd be glad to pay a fair price.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Although this system
doesn't appear to be special or unique, it does seem to be a sort of nice,
friendly critter, and I'd like to put it into use.
Later --
Glen
0/0
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if not now, when?
-- Pirkei Avot
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
7972
days inactive
7973
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
acme_ent＠bellsouth.net -
at258＠osfn.org -
dancohoe＠oxford.net -
donm＠cts.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com