• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Cheapo IDE interface for Model 4 running LS-DOS

The power light on the SDCard adapter lights up, but the system hangs after entering all the parameters for the HDDVR6/DCT device driver.

I may have fried my 688 chip. I have to see if I have another, or else I have to order some.
 
Is this on the Lo-tech TRS-80 board? In my experience, SD and SATA adapters require external power source directly connected.
 
I just looked at a CompactFlash adapter (since that's what I had to hand), and the Pin20 power is fed through a diode, meaning about 4.3V is actually presented to the media when operating in this way. That's clearly way outside of spec, but seems to work OK for CompactFlash, but not so much for SD and SATA bridges (in my experience). A separate power supply (i.e. wall-wart) isn't necessarily needed, just a direct 5V connection to the SD-card adapter via the floppy-style power connector. You could pick up the 5V from the screw terminals on the TRS-80 IDE, for example.
 
Here's an updated drivers .zip file with all the disks converted to .IMD images. I didn't know how to reduce the CPM images to single sided. This really needs to be done because not all Model 4 computers have double sided drives.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17192101/TRS-80-IDE-Adapter-drivers-r03-dmk.zip

Someone please test these images and confirm they work (use IMAGEDISK to make physical disks and see if they work)
 
Finally got around to making the cable for my cheapo IDE interface (http://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/Lo-tech_TRS-80_IDE_Adapter_rev.2)

Making the floppy has been a bear.

Al, you should probably use the jv2dmk utility found in Tim's cw2dmk package. It will convert the JV3 to DMK which DMK2IMD should work with (DMK is vastly different from JV3, and DMK2IMD will not handle JV3 images to the best of my knowledge). The cw2dmk package includes MS-DOS executables, but I'm not sure they will run on anything less than a 386 (I haven't personally tried). You don't need a Catweasel for the jv2dmk and dmk2jv3 utilities.

I should have time later today to try doing this, but it will be quite a bit later today.
 
The jv2dmk utility doesn't run under DOS. It needs a 32-Bit Windows environment to work. I'd have to drag out an old computer and set it up.

Between my Model I, and the 5150 taking up every flat space, I don't have the room to setup another computer right now.

I'm having all sorts of wacky problems with LDOS 5.31 for the Model I on my emulator. I tried to make a 40 track, double density, double sided disk, and the system crashes if you boot to it.

I HATE LDOS!!!! Multidos is just a much better OS.
 
The jv2dmk utility doesn't run under DOS. It needs a 32-Bit Windows environment to work. I'd have to drag out an old computer and set it up.

I guess I'm just spoiled by doing everything in Linux.... anyway, if you can send me the JV3 images I can do the DMK conversion for you easily enough.

Between my Model I, and the 5150 taking up every flat space, I don't have the room to setup another computer right now.

I'm having all sorts of wacky problems with LDOS 5.31 for the Model I on my emulator. I tried to make a 40 track, double density, double sided disk, and the system crashes if you boot to it.

Model I boot disks must have a single density boot sector. Support for writing tracks with mixed densities is spotty at best on PC controllers, and I'm not at all sure ImageDisk can deal with them (but I reserve the right to be wrong).

I HATE LDOS!!!! Multidos is just a much better OS.

Hate it or not, it is the standard HD OS for the TRS-80 I/III/4 line. Write a single-density boot disk and it should work ok, if the address marks for the directory track are ones that a PC controller can write.
 
I built a Sergey's FDC and Comm port card. It passes every TESTFDC test on Imagedisk and successfully writes out a Model I MultiDos 1.6D, a Model I LDOS 5.3.1 SSDD 40 track image, but gets tons of NoAddr on track errors trying to write LDOS single density disk images, and the CPM .DMK disk images provided in the Lo-Tech Driver .ZIP file.

I've got half a mind to make two LDOS images in SSDD, and then on my Model I -- use them to recreate the SSSD disks.

The LDOS images are here: http://tim-mann.org/trs80/ld1-531.zip

If you can convert them from .LV1 to .DMK, I'll give them a try.

I tried this morning to create a 40 track, DSDD master of LDOS 5.3.1 and when I booted the disk in the emulator, it would crash to cassette BASIC.

But a SSDD works fine.
 
@Al Hartmann

I Found this it may help.

LDOS531DSSDM1_40T_DS


Is Ldos 5.3.1 Model 1 40 Track Double Sided Single Density

Patched with TWOSIDER/CMD
-==========================================================-

TWOSIDER utility for LDOS 5.3.1 MODEL 1 Single Density ONLY

Unfortunately LDOS fails to create a valid bootable dual sided single density disk.

The reason is that SYS0/SYS is 17 sectors long and extends from side 0 to side 1. The bootsector program doesn't understand double sided and expects it to extend to the next track.

If SYS0/SYS does reside to the next track it works. So I created a program that will take the last 7 sectors of SYS0/SYS and move them to the next track side 0, updating the directory entry so that SYS0/SYS has two blocks.

This program is what I made and it needs to be run after copying
SYS0/SYS only, I think because the invisible files will use the space
needed.

TWOSIDER might unfortunately fail if the area needed by SYS0/SYS is occupied. So run it with only BOOT/SYS, SYS0/SYS and DIR/SYS present.

Procedure:
format the floppy double sided single density

"backup sys0/sys:0 :1 (s,i)"

"twosider :1"

"backup /sys:0 :1 (s,i,n)"

Knut
-==========================================================-

Ray
 
That doesn't work. It creates a disk that crashes.

I gave up, tomorrow I need to put together a 486 system to make my LDOS disks. I'll run a 486 motherboard bare-assed and I'll have to find a small IDE drive and load it up again. The drive from the XT doesn't work on the 486.
 
I made updated images of all the driver disks. There has been no change in the driver code, but I cleaned up the disk images.

This one has disk images in .DMK format for use in most emulators to write out physical disks.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17192101/TRS-80-IDE-Adapter-drivers-r03.zip

This one has the disk images in Imagedisk format.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17192101/TRS-80-IDE-Adapter-drivers-r03-imd.zip

Please test these and let me know how they work for you. If they work for others, then James can put these on the Lo-Tech website.
 
I checked the dsk image for CPM and it worked. Its been a while since I ran that test program and it returns an 80 to the display and then starts the format.

Matt
 
I made updated images of all the driver disks. There has been no change in the driver code, but I cleaned up the disk images.

This one has disk images in .DMK format for use in most emulators to write out physical disks.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17192101/TRS-80-IDE-Adapter-drivers-r03.zip

This one has the disk images in Imagedisk format.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17192101/TRS-80-IDE-Adapter-drivers-r03-imd.zip

Please test these and let me know how they work for you. If they work for others, then James can put these on the Lo-Tech website.

Hey Al,

Hate to revive a 5 year old thread, but it was appropriate and seemed better than to start a new thread on the same topic. In any case, I've also built out the lo-tech ide device for the Trs-80 and I'm trying to use it with a Model 4. There are three images out there, one is LDOS, one is LSDOS and one is CP/M. The only one I've been able to convert and image successfully is the CP/M one. The LS-DOS could possibly work but it keeps trying to make it Double Sided, which won't work with my SS Model 4. Any chance you still have any IMD disks available for this that might be in SS format? I tried to do the whole emulator thing but had zero luck with any of those, and the effort to learn an emulator just to make a disk that I can convert to IMD seems exhaustive (I have it a shot with the TRS80.EXE program but couldn't figure it out at all).

I'm pretty sure everything is working, even the CP/M seemed to recognize my ide and possibly format it but since I don't know how to use CP/M, I couldn't figure out what to do next (and wouldn't be useful in the long run anyway). The documentation out there isn't great and any videos I found are just folks demoing it after it works and usually with a Model II. :)

Side note, did you do the bootable rom thing too? I'm going to look at that next, but one thing at a time (and that documentation is just as bad).
 
Back
Top