Software disk archiving and disk creation

Klyball
Posts: 230
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 12:53 am

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by Klyball »

Hi and welcome

I have had success building disks this way http://osiweb.org/osiweb/osiforum/viewt ... ?f=4&t=178
but is a slow process

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask any questions

Grant
Replica 600 Rev D:8K,CEGMON
Replica 610 Rev B: 24k,MPI B-51 with Custom Data separator D-13
510 on the bench/replica 582 backplane/replica 470a /replica 555/original 570B/2 x Shugart 851
Ongoing : 630 ,620 ,510,542c,custom 590,SA1200,592,594,596,598
Jeff
Posts: 370
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 4:44 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by Jeff »

n0jcf wrote:My situation is that I have working hardware and no 5.25" floppies to boot from. I need a way to generate a bootable
5.25" OS65D disk.
That was my situation also, however, when I obtained boot disks I quickly discovered that although the drive "looked" like it was working, lights blinked, motors whirred, it would not read....which led me down the path to replacing the entire drive and adding a custom data separator.

I used the same procedure that Grant linked to in the previous post to build my boot disks. I have posted separated files of the images. They can be found here: http://osiweb.org/osiweb/osiforum/viewt ... =226#p1331

One of the first things you can do is modify your 505 board so that your serial port will run at 9600 baud. I will post instructions in the Projects forum.

Also, you should start a fresh thread in the Projects forum, detailing your restoration.

These are the two pieces of software that you need to send to your C4PMF over serial. Boot into the Monitor and press 'L', then stream these files. You only need to stream the TK0RW file when you are ready to write track 0.
C4PMF OS65D Boot and TK0RW LOD files.zip
C4P Boot Disk Making Utilities
(6.44 KiB) Downloaded 1133 times
The C4_OS65D315.LOD file is started by entering '2200G' after the file has been streamed. You will get an A* prompt and can then enter OS65D commands like INIT (on a blank floppy).
The TK0RW300.LOD file is started by entering '0300G'.

Cheers
/Jeff
Image
n0jcf
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by n0jcf »

Hi Guys--

It's all starting to make sense now. I appreciate the replies and the links.

Before I mod the machine for 9600 baud serial, I've been trying to just get connectivity at 1200
baud-- assuming I could use a terminal emulator to send the equiv of the .LOD text
by typing on the keyboard. So far, no joy.

I'm having trouble finding the pinout of the "PRINTER" and "MODEM" DB25 connectors in any
of the documents. I've got schematics for the 505 board which connects to another board
at the back of the machine with the DB25 mounted and it seems to be a mystery what the
connectivity is between the DB25s and the 505 board.

Does anyone have a pinout for these DB25? or in the end, the wiring of a cable you are
using to go from a PC DE9 (DTE) to one of these connectors? I think I am failing to
assert required handshake signals even after trying both connectors and swapping
pins 2, 3, etc per the age old serial port dance. My guess was that "PRINTER" is
wired as a DCE and "MODEM" is wired as a DTE but I have nothing to substantiate
that.

Chris
n0jcf
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by n0jcf »

Answered my own question!

The SAMS C4P service manual does disclose the pin out of the DB25s on the "A15" board.

The PRINTER connector (J8) does not have an RxD connection. It's output only so not a good
place to connect if you want to send stuff TO the C4PMF.

Therefore the MODEM connector (J9) is the one.

I used this cable configuration from a PC DE9 serial port,

DE9F (PC) --- DB25M (C4P MODEM)
2 <-- 2
3 --> 3
7 --- 7
4 --> 5, 8

Now I can download to the machine. Woohoo. No stopping me now!
Jeff
Posts: 370
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 4:44 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by Jeff »

Hi Chris,

Its great to hear that you got it connected. I use one of these and connect via USB.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3Ft-2-0-USB-to- ... 3f50b05ee2

/Jeff
Image
n0jcf
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by n0jcf »

Yes-- Thanks Jeff. I have lots of that stuff here as well as a "pile" of laptops with real serial ports
and so I tend to grab one of those. Used the same one I did for ADTPro to get images onto an
Apple ][ I restored. I do all this stuff with Linux so now I can put together some code to get
the images downloaded to C4P and go from there.

Chris
n0jcf
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by n0jcf »

Jeff and others,

Thanks for the help and I have made forward progress albeit slowly. The 5.25" drives had been literally
cut off the C4PMF that I acquired and so it was not clear which drive needed to be on which cable.
The ribbon cables had "1" and "2" written on them but of course the drives are addressed as "0" and
"1" and so this still left a challenge determining which cable went to which drive. I never did find a
schematic of the A13 board which might have revealed which cable is which.

In the end, and also after battling a failed 5V regulator in the drive supply enclosure, I have finally gotten
one drive to "do stuff" when I download and execute the "C4_OS65D315.LOD" that you provided.
With that, I am able to "INIT" a diskette and that completes without complaint. A few other
commands related to disk activity seem to also work as I can "EXAM" tracks and "CALL" tracks
and sectors and this seems to work without complaint, suggesting I am also reading the media.

However, I am stumped as to how to write the OS to the disk. I loaded "C4_OS65D315.LOD" and
"TK0RW300.LOD" and then executed the later with "0300G" per your instructions but this seems to
do nothing. No action from the drive, no text to the screen, just seems to hang.

Do you guys have a reference for the complete process for generating a bootable disk (and maybe
even one that contains the other goodies such as Editor/Assembler, BASIC, etc)? I have another
.ZIP that contains .LOD files for just about every track on a 40-track diskette, but I am not clear
what is done with these .LOD after they have been LOADed into the machine via the
serial port. There must be something to execute and additional commands to perform that
get the stuff committed to the disk...

Thanks!

Chris
Klyball
Posts: 230
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 12:53 am

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by Klyball »

Hi
Sounds like you have it going,

you need to load the track you want to write in memory say $4000 then use save command ie SAVE 01,1=4000/8 where SAVE TT,S=XXXX/P
TT=track #
S=sector #
XXXX= where data is
P= pages to write
do track zero last you can call it from track 13 CA 0200=13,1
GO 0200

I think track zero write program needs to go at 0200 if you use the lod file

Good Luck
Replica 600 Rev D:8K,CEGMON
Replica 610 Rev B: 24k,MPI B-51 with Custom Data separator D-13
510 on the bench/replica 582 backplane/replica 470a /replica 555/original 570B/2 x Shugart 851
Ongoing : 630 ,620 ,510,542c,custom 590,SA1200,592,594,596,598
n0jcf
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by n0jcf »

Hi!

OK. This helps me see the process. Thanks for that. Will have to make sure I have .LOD files with
correct stuff in them.

The TK0RW300.LOD that Jeff referred me to does load at 0300 rather 0200 so it seemed correct
to execute by 0300G but maybe there is another version of that "writer" that I need.

I have another .ZIP called "C4P-OS65D33-mike.zip" that I found somewhere on this site that
appears to contain all the stuff for all the tracks 00 - 39. Perhaps the writer on track 13
there is a different workable version.

Something to try tonight!

Thanks again,

Chris
MK14HAK
Posts: 356
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:49 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Software disk archiving and disk creation

Post by MK14HAK »

Chris, did you get this sorted ??

Mike
600RevB:16K,2MHz,64x32,470,CEGMON
SuperKit:502,540B,542B,CEGMON, 8" and 5" FDDs
Cards:PE IO,6522 D-A-D, AY3-8910,ProgramGraphics,Color,UK101
WIP:HexDOS,FDD Emulator
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