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Cheapo IDE interface for Model 4p running MM CP/M

That's great to see - how did you achieve that?

More PCBs are on the way. I've also updated the design so that LEDs can be mounted directly on the board (instead of the 6-pin header) and the two addressing options are now 40h (as before) and C8h (as per the Tandy standard controller).
 
Great work FireBox. Apart from the port addressing what else required patching ?
Hope Santa brings you something nice.:xmas:
cheers
 
I disassembled the original binaries for the driver and the formatter and went to work. :)

There are a few changes beyond the port address including removing the testing for the controller on state and write protect switches and head addressing.

Matt
 
New version of the controller will use the original ports (C8h) - is it likely to be possible to patch the 4P ROM with those changes?
 
It really shouldnt be necessary as long as the HD gets spun up fast enough.
With the GIDE I do sometimes have to reset once, but only once.

But that's my experience... :D
 
@pearce_jj

Does the Version 1 ( IDE Interface for the Model 4p ) board require any hardware adjustments
( Links/Track Cuts/Jumpers ) to make it compatible with the Version 2 . Please
Or can we just use it as is ( I have a Model 4 and 3 That I use it on )
Ray
 
The only differences between the rev.1 and rev.2 boards are the address mappings and LED hole placements. On the rev.1, for some reason we went with 40h or C0h, but it should have been 40h or C8h - which it is, on the rev.2 - to have any chance of compatibility with model 4P boot ROM. AFAIK, the drivers provided by Firebox are all based on 40h (hence it is a moot point).
 
@pearce_jj

Thanks for the clarification ( I will turn the soldering Iron OFF :: }} )
Again thanks for the effort and work put into the Project.

I have Just acquired a Model 4P Yesterday Looks like i will have to order another for the 4P.

Ray
 
New MM cp/m driver for the el-cheap ide

New MM cp/m driver for the el-cheap ide

I just emailed a native MM CP/M 10 meg driver to pearce_jj for posting on his site. This driver works just like the original MM 10meg driver.

The commands I tried that worked were:

hdrs10m h=abcd f=ef

and

hdrs10m h=cd f=ab

enjoy,

Matt
 
Matt, thanks for that. I'll add that in (and the bug fix) later. The drivers are available via the board wiki page: http://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/Trs-80-ide

For anyone interested, I still have good stock of these boards (available here), which allow normal IDE drives or CompactFlash media to be connected to TRS-80 model III or 4, and to then be used as fixed disk. The PCBs are simple home assembly (all through-hole).
 
There are some TRS-80 IDE Adapter PCBs available still, and I've added complete kits and assembled boards (to order, in small quantities) as well.

See here.
 
@FireBox
Hi Matt , I was thinking has there been any thought to the Following :-
If I partition the IDE drive into say 2 or 3 Partitions
Partition 1 CPM
Partition 2 LDos ( Model 3 )
Partition 3 LSDos ( Model 4 )
If we had some way of choosing the partition to boot from this would expand the usage of the Project. ???.

IF we Boot into LDos 5.3.1 ( Floppy ) and have a program That Looked at the Hard Drive,and displayed the Partitions,
Allowed us to choose a Partition (Or have a Unique name for the Partitions to auto recognise).
Select that Partition.
Mount that Partition,
Transfer control, to BOOT from that Partition.
and away we go.

Perhaps its just a Pipe dream. ??

Yours Ray
 
This would be a lot of work. It might be easier to use multiple drives and do it in hardware. I have a separate CF for each OS which seems pretty easy to use and manage at this time albeit a manual process.

The FreHD might be able to do what you describe given it can save state (be reprogrammed for a different partition setup).

There are examples in the MM CP/M Harddrive docs about having both CP/M and LDos partitions. I have not tried any of these setups.

Matt
 
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@FireBox
Thanks Matt, i will have a look at the CF Card solution. It does add Flexibility.
I have searched for the MM CP/M HardDrive Docs and cannot find them, Do you have a link or the Name of the publication Please.

Yours Ray
 
Yes, the FreHd (I'm NO expert, mind you) allows multiple virtual hard disks on the CF card and they can be called individually with different boot disks. On my Model 4, I have a Model III vHD and another for Model 4, each seamlessly invoked by the proper boot disk. I assume that it would work with CP/M.

Mike
 
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