Heath/Zenith C-H8 Universal Disk Controller 8"

[MauriceH]

Hello Heathkit H8 owners.
Any one using Heathkit H8 with 8"disks?
I found a 8 inch CP/M system disk that with hold apparently , Single-sided 26x256

HEATH/ZENITH CP/M 2.2.09A 03/01/84
FOR C-H8 DISKS WITH OPTION(S)
Heath/Zenith Configuration Program Version 2.2.00
Serial Number: 000-00000
Modified For TRIONYX C-H8 BIOS

Think ,so as I read, a modified for use with the C-H8 Universal Disk Controller
Configuration Program

C-H8 Universal Disk Controller - Trionyx Electronics

Version: %1.1d.%1.1d %s

Copyright (c) 1984 Trionyx Electronics

I can not find any information about this C-H8 controller.
Can it also in use with a Heathkit H89?
Files attached the system disk ,made with IMD118, and a TXT-dump file to read the disk with editor.
Dump made with ANADISK.
22DSK142 does not contain definitions Heathkit or Zentith 8".

Are there H8 emulators that can read in an image file of an 8 inch disk?
Should be fun to see it going.

Maurice

 

[hmb]

Few H8 (or H89) systems were equipped with 8" floppy drives. The "official" Heathkit 8" drive product for the H8 was the H-47, a very expensive combination of a rather simple interface card (installed in the H8) and a peripheral unit containing the 8" drive itself along with all the logic required for it to communicate with the interface card.

Trionyx was a third-party manufacturer of H8 and H89 add-on products. Their C-H8 controller must have been produced in tiny numbers, since (as you pointed out) no information about it seems to exist. This controller board would only have worked in an H8, since boards designed for the H8 backplane cannot be used in an H89. I believe another company called Magnolia Microsystems did produce an H89 controller card that supported 8" drives.

Although H8 emulators exist, I doubt any of them provide support for this uncommon Trionyx 8" drive controller product. I don't know how much additional "fun" this would provide anyway, since there already is a standard Heathkit CP/M implementation designed for use with their standard 5.25" drives. Based on what I see within some of the files on the disk image you posted, this Trionyx version of CP/M may simply be a licensed version of the original Heathkit CP/M implementation, modified to include drivers for the Trionyx C-H8 controller.

I took a look at the contents of the disk CPMHZ22.ZIP you attached. It seems to be a "user disk" and not an original software distribution disk, and some of the files contain personal information in the Dutch language. You may want to reconsider posting it here in a public forum.

 

[mgarlanger]

I believe Trionyx only made hardware for the H8. I don't remember seeing any H89 products advertised, and I just took a quick look at some Heath vendor directories, and in the description for Trionyx there was no mention of any H89 products.

In addition to the H-47, Heath had a Z-67 which was a combo Winchester(10M) and 8" (DS/DD) floppy.

As hmb mentioned, Magnolia Microsystems (MMS), had a soft-sectored controller that supported four 5.25" and four 8" floppies. Another company CDR, also had a soft-sectored controller that supported both 5.25" and 8" floppies, not sure on the details. A third company, Livingston offered a 8" controller that only supported single-density. There maybe other companies too, this list was just from the devices listed in a manual for a Kres replacement monitor ROM - https://heathkit.garlanger.com/companies/Kres/manuals/kmr-100-working.pdf

My H89 emulator - https://heathkit.garlanger.com/emulator/cpp/ - https://github.com/mgarlanger/VirtualH89 supports the MMS soft-sectored controller and 8" floppies (implementation of that card was actually done by Doug - durgadas311, who is active on this site). You may be able to read the disk in the emulator, but it wouldn't be bootable. You would need to boot with a CP/M version that supported the MMS controller.

Mark