Looking for North star software

[systems_glitch]

I've got a Horizon so native console is no problem.

I originally got Dave Dunfield's NST working with my IMSAI and Dajen SCI
monitor board, on a North Star MDC single-density controller. I couldn't
get NST configured properly with the Dajen monitor (you're supposed to be
able to give it a format for poking bytes into memory), so I ended up
customizing Dave's RAMless 512 byte monitor for the SCI's serial port and
getting loaded up that way.

Thanks,
Jonathan

On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 12:35 PM, allison via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:

> On 07/04/2018 08:37 AM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:
> > Yeah, you do need a monitor or something to get started on either Mike
> > Douglas's solution or Dave Dunfield's NST. I've used both successfully.
> >
> > If you have hard-sectored disks, I can just make you a boot disk. I have
> > both single and double density controllers.
> Makes sure they are configured for the NS* native IO.  If they are not
> your still
> stuck as then the OS is looking for an IO board that is foreign.
>
> I know that as before the horizon I had the bare NS* MDS in the Altair
> using the SIO as serial.
>
> Putting a boot monitor in is by far the easy way out.  I did that early on
> and it has serial transfer and embedded loader for soft sector controller.
>
> I rarely use the stock  NS* system but the older one with all the changes
> is still in use.  Hard disk (2x 31mb) makes it more useful.
>
> There is one excuse I use occasionally for pulling out the stock NS,
> UCSD Pascal.  The first IDE.
>
> Allison
>
> > Thanks,
> > Jonathan
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 12:39 AM, dwight via cctalk <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I'm told that the N* controller can write H89 formated disk but the H89
> >> controller can't do N* format. I could have that backwards but that is
> what
> >> I recall. One can't do the other.
> >>
> >> The H89 hard sectored controller is single density only, while the newer
> >> N* can do both single and double density, still hard sectored though.
> There
> >> is always confusion on the N* controllers as to which can do double
> >> density. My research indicates that the MDC-nA are single density only
> and
> >> the MDC-nDA can do both ( n is a rev. number 1, 2, 3, or 4).
> >>
> >> Dwight
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________
> >> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of Fred Cisin
> via
> >> cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2018 11:08:18 AM
> >> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> >> Subject: Re: Looking for North star software
> >>
> >> On Tue, 3 Jul 2018, dwight via cctalk wrote:
> >>> I'm not as worried about 10 hard secrtored disk. I still have the punch
> >>> I had made for my H89. I can create 10 sector from old 360K disk.
> >> If you have a working H89 (hard sectored), then you should be able to
> >> write a program to run on the H89 to write hard sectored disk images!
> >> Can it do single density 256 byte sectors?  or MFM 512 byte sectors?
> >>
> >> .ASM for PCTOFLOP should be available, as a guide to what you need, but
> >> will need modification for the H89 disk controller.
> >>
> >> Most of the NorthStar disk images should be availablem once you've got
> the
> >> H89 writing disks from them!
> >>
> >> Once you've got the NorthStar booting CP/M plus a copy of PIP, you can
> >> then continue on it.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>