Amstrad / Schneider PCW IDE drivers an interface

[JonB]

Hi Jon, Care to share your schematic? I'd like to try it (or something like) on stripboard for a non Amstrad machine (my LSI M-Three)

I'm afraid not, because I don't know if it actually works, yet:

But please note, it's not tested yet as I have no materials on hand to build a prototype.

That sort of thing (it not working) could put a dent in your day.. and stripboard working takes a long time (as I found out when I built that video mod).

..my LSI M-Three

Oh THAT one.. I remember seeing the screen (it was on eBay, right?) and thinking no one would buy it. Well, good for you! And the restoration looks right classy. I assume it's a Z80 CP/M 2.2 machine. I have a TRS80 Model II with SA800 drive which I love, because it sounds like a real computer (whirr whirr clunk clunk), plus a second SA801 (double sided) drive sitting on a shelf waiting to be fixed. It seems unable to seek to 0, but if you set it there manually it works. Odd. Yes, you can definitely use my card with it (and the Z80 shim), and let me tell you - CP/M 2.2 with hard drives is dead cool. If you want to know what to expect from my driver suite, check out the readme.txt which I copied into the first post here:

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthre...-CP-M-LoTech-IDE-Adapter-Extended-Driver-v1-9

Don't be put off by the thread being in the Tandy forum, everything in the xdriver package is generic CP/M 2.2 and will be in any variant I produce for other CP/M 2.2 machines. Including your M-Three if you want it and are willing to assist me in finding out about your BIOS.

 

[SteveH]

I'm afraid not, because I don't know if it actually works, yet...

Fair enough. I can wait until it's proven working, or maybe assist where possible.

Oh THAT one.. I remember seeing the screen (it was on eBay, right?) and thinking no one would buy it. Well, good for you! And the restoration looks right classy. I assume it's a Z80 CP/M 2.2 machine..
<snip>
...everything in the xdriver package is generic CP/M 2.2 and will be in any variant I produce for other CP/M 2.2 machines. Including your M-Three if you want it and are willing to assist me in finding out about your BIOS.

Yep, it was on eBay. It needed a thorough clean inside and out, plus reparing the screen cataracts and re-capping the power supply. And as it didn't come with any software I disassembled and documented the firmware prom in order to write my own monitor prom for it - details of which Al kindly uploaded to bitsavers for me. I've since written a CP/M 2.2 CBIOS for it, patched it with ZCPR and have it running with a HxC floppy emulator. I'm in the process of re-writing the utility programs the operations manual said originally came with it.



What I'd really like to do with my LSI M-Three is incorporate the relevant IDE I/O into my monitor PROM and update my CP/M CBIOS so that it can boot directly from an IDE HD or SD card.

Back on topic - I'm certainly willing to assist where I can. I haven't got a PCW yet, but am on the look out for one (I purchased a number of 8256's new back in the day and would like to tinker with one again).

 

[JonB]

That looks right tasty.

It's very easy to access the IDE drive, using LBA. If you've written a CBIOS this will be trivial for you. Thanks for the offer but I don't need assistance with the PCW. The diver is already working. I meant that I would need your help to get the uIDE running on your M-Three.