CWVG

[Jay Jaeger]

On 8/26/2021 2:51 PM, Jay Jaeger via cctech wrote:
> 
> 
> On 8/25/2021 5:58 PM, Mike Loewen via cctalk wrote:
>> On Wed, 25 Aug 2021, Dennis Boone via cctalk wrote:
>>
> 
>>     As a few of the signals on the 34-pin connector are different than 
>> the Shugart layout, I'm considering making up a custom cable and 
>> connecting it to my Catweasel MK4+. I have a utility from Andrew Lynch 
>> called "cwns", which is a modified version of "cw2dmk" to read 
>> Northstar hard-sector (10 SPT) diskettes. I might be able to modify 
>> that to read the VG 16 SPT diskettes, if the 1043-2 will work with the 
>> Catweasel.
>>> 
> It will not - but it has nothing to do with the cabling.  I already 
> tried with my catweasel.  I was able to read flux, but between the hard 
> sectoring and (possibly) different meta markers for the floppy sectors, 
> the .scp file is useless.  I just got my Cypress board for a fluxengine 
> in the mail yesterday, but haven't set it up yet - maybe tomorrow.  The 
> website for fluxengine indicates it ought to work.
> 

The fluxengine almost works with my Micropolis drives - but there are 
some problems.

1)  The drive select pins are different.  I am having *some* luck access 
one driver of my daisy-chained pair, but not the other.  The fluxengine 
setup and/or the drive also seem to get confused when I try to access 
the other drive.  I submitted an issue on github for more flexible drive 
selection / motor control capability.  One could work around this with 
suitable cabing / jumpering.

2)  So far I have not been able to read an entire Mod II disk 
successfully - lots of good sectors on two, but not all without errors 
on either one.  But I have not tried cleaning the heads on my drives, or 
trying the Mod I with different select jumpering.

3) The Micropolis drives are slow stepping, so I added multiple commands 
to seek to cylinder 0 to my script - not sure if that is actually 
working right.

> 
>>
>> Mike Loewen                mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
>> Old Technology                http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
> 
> JRJ

JRJ