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CP/M for Northstar Single Density Disk?

So, here I am with a good working Northstar MDC-A4 single density floppy disk controller and a bunch of single density floppy disks that have Northstar DOS and BASIC or Lifeboat Associates CP/M 1.4 on them. All working fine.

I now also have an apparently working Northstar MDS-AD double density floppy disk controller, but no boot disks.

I want to load Northstar DOS for the Northstar double density controller into my system somehow.

I tried to use Dave Dunfield's NST (Northstar Transfer) program, but the code that runs on the Northstar side required that Northstar DOS already be loaded into the machine! It appears that NST is great for transferring disk images over once you are already up and running with Northstar DOS - but it is not a start-from-nothing way to get the first image of Northstar DOS into the system.

Does anyone know of a way to start from absolute scratch and push the double density version of Northstar DOS into a system?

Thanks in advance...

smp
 
smp said:
Does anyone know of a way to start from absolute scratch and push the double density version of Northstar DOS into a system?
Click to expand...

I have utilities for doing just what you are asking for the SD Northstar controller running on a Sol-20. I have written a collection of "PC2FLOP" and "FLOP2PC" utilities for a number of drive/system combinations over the last few years for the purpose of archiving disks and for creating new disks for a "cold" machine. I've planned on writing these same utilities for the DD Northstar for a while now. If you don't find a boot disk, let me know, it will be incentive to move my schedule for doing this up a bit!

Mike
 
deramp5113 said:
I have utilities for doing just what you are asking for the SD Northstar controller running on a Sol-20. I have written a collection of "PC2FLOP" and "FLOP2PC" utilities for a number of drive/system combinations over the last few years for the purpose of archiving disks and for creating new disks for a "cold" machine. I've planned on writing these same utilities for the DD Northstar for a while now. If you don't find a boot disk, let me know, it will be incentive to move my schedule for doing this up a bit!

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike, thanks *very* much for all your attention and assistance.

Your PC2FLOP utility worked flawlessly for me. As well, the DD CP/M disk images worked perfectly.

Thanks to you, I now have CP/M 2.2 DQ working with my Northstar DD floppy controller.

smp
 
How does one write a hard-sector diskette on a PC? Or, am I misunderstanding what these tools do? If there is a way to create DD N* diskettes from an image, I'd love to know about it.
 
shirsch said:
How does one write a hard-sector diskette on a PC? Or, am I misunderstanding what these tools do? If there is a way to create DD N* diskettes from an image, I'd love to know about it.
Click to expand...

The creation or archiving of a disk is all done on the target machine. The PC is only used to send or receive the image file using the XMODEM protocol. The program PC2FLOP (create a disk from an image received from the PC), or FLOP2PC (archive a disk image to the PC), runs on the target machine to handle the image file transfer and to do the actual disk I/O.

As an example, see the Sol-20 version for a North Star DD controller at http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=processor_technology%2Fsol-20%2Fsoftware%2Fnorthstar_dd_floppy%2Fdisk_image_transfer%2F

Mike
 
Ok, thanks. I understand now. This is very similar to Dunfield's utilities. Does anyone know if the hex stub will work the floppy controller on a N* Advantage?
 
smp,

I now have a version of CP/M 2.2 for the single density North Star controller running on my Sol-20. It can easily be patched for another computer's console I/O and memory size if you're still wanting to run 2.2 with your SD controller.

Mike
 
deramp5113 said:
smp,

I now have a version of CP/M 2.2 for the single density North Star controller running on my Sol-20. It can easily be patched for another computer's console I/O and memory size if you're still wanting to run 2.2 with your SD controller.

Mike
Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

Thanks very much for the offer. I'll pass (at least for now) on this, because the single density disks simply do not have enough space on them to do some of the assemblies I want to do. The old FIG-Forth source is quite large and I cannot get it on a single density disk and use ED to make changes.

Maybe a lame excuse, but that's what I'm doing with my machines.

Thanks again, and I'll keep this as a note in the back of my mind, should I ever decide it would be a good idea to try out.

smp
 
I'm interested in it! That's been a long-term goal for my NorthStar controllers, just never got to it.
 
glitch said:
I'm interested in it! That's been a long-term goal for my NorthStar controllers, just never got to it.
Click to expand...

Is this for a Sol-20 or another type of computer? If another computer, let me know the RAM size and the console I/O used so I can patch up a working copy for you.

Mike
 
I've got a few systems I use my single-density controller in, no Sol-20 though. I mostly use it in my IMSAI with at least 32K RAM (sometimes more) and a Dajen SCI for console. No worries about patching, I can handle it.
 
glitch said:
I've got a few systems I use my single-density controller in, no Sol-20 though. I mostly use it in my IMSAI with at least 32K RAM (sometimes more) and a Dajen SCI for console. No worries about patching, I can handle it.
Click to expand...

In that case, let me work on getting a MOVCPM working for this version of CP/M so you can size it, and replace the convoluted Sol-20 I/O code in the user area with a more generic I/O framework that will be easier to patch.

Mike
 
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glitch said:
I've got a few systems I use my single-density controller in, no Sol-20 though. I mostly use it in my IMSAI with at least 32K RAM (sometimes more) and a Dajen SCI for console. No worries about patching, I can handle it.
Click to expand...

I've got MOVCPM working which generates a "non-configured" version of CP/M with generic, easily patched I/O in the "USER" area.

How do you want this delivered: Physical floppy, .NSI image (Dunfield NST compatible), a MOVCPM.COM file you can upload and run on a CP/M 1.4 system?

Mike
 
Following are links to disk images of CP/M 2.2 for the single density North Star controller. These images can be written to a floppy with Dave Dunfield's NST utility or with the PC2FLop utility listed for each machine below.

Sol-20
Disk image directory: http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=processor_technology%2Fsol-20%2Fsoftware%2Fnorthstar_sd_controller%2Fdisk_images%2Fcpm2.2%2F
PC2Flop utility: http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=processor_technology%2Fsol-20%2Fsoftware%2Fnorthstar_sd_controller%2Fdisk_image_transfer%2F

North Star Horizon
Disk image directory: http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=north_star%2Fhorizon%2Fsingle_density_controller%2Fdisk_images%2Fcpm%2F
PC2Flop utility: http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=north_star%2Fhorizon%2Fsingle_density_controller%2Fdisk_image_transfer%2F

Unconfigured Version
Disk image directory: http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=north_star%2Fhorizon%2Fsingle_density_controller%2Fdisk_images%2Fcpm%2Funconfigured_disk%2F

Mike
 
I have added a version of "COPY.COM" to the disk images for CP/M 2.2 for the single density North Star controller.

This version of COPY is very similar to the typical version found on Lifeboat CP/M distributions. It provides the ability to perform a quick track-by-track copy of an entire disk, just the system tracks, or just the data tracks. It also supports single drive copies. Since these floppies hold so little data, just three swaps are typically required for an entire disk.

In addition to copying disks, the utility allows formatting of disks and verifying of disks.

The utility is specific to North Star single density CP/M 2.2. Source and a standalone version are available at http://deramp.com/downloads/index.php?dir=north_star%2Fhorizon%2Fsingle_density_controller%2Fmisc_programs%2F.

Mike
 
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