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compupro disk 1

Marty

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Jul 26, 2009
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Location
Boulder , Colorado USA
Hi all;
I have a Compupro Disk 1 Rev D.... What I need is drive routines for checking and running the drive from this board.... I have the manual, and the code for testing a drive from the manual, but some of the code I can't figure out, so I don't know what to put down, the basic 8080 command I have no trouble with, its the attributes that I don't get.... a hex dump would be fine, I can decode that... I had thought I could hook up the board to a 5.25 floppy, but after reading the docs, I find that it is not easily possible for now... So I have hooked it up to my 8" floppy drive (shurgart 800)... Please Help me !!!! :dontgeti:
THANK YOU Marty
 
Hi all;
I have a Compupro Disk 1 Rev D.... What I need is drive routines for checking and running the drive from this board.... I have the manual, and the code for testing a drive from the manual, but some of the code I can't figure out, so I don't know what to put down, the basic 8080 command I have no trouble with, its the attributes that I don't get.... a hex dump would be fine, I can decode that... I had thought I could hook up the board to a 5.25 floppy, but after reading the docs, I find that it is not easily possible for now... So I have hooked it up to my 8" floppy drive (shurgart 800)... Please Help me !!!! :dontgeti:
THANK YOU Marty

The Disk 1A (I've never seen the docs on the D-revision) is based on a fairly commod disk controller chip, the i8272 or compatible like the D765 from NEC. A little Googling should produce the data sheet for the chip which would go a long way to explaining the command attributes.

When repairing or bootstrapping these old machines, I usually collect all of the important data sheets and give them a quick browse so I know what I'm dealing with. Plus, they are handy to help fill in some of the missing pieces.
 
compupro disk 1

Hi Rich;
I have the Docs on the 8272 and Nec 765. The Board is a Disk 1 not a disk 1A, they are different, even though they both use the same FDC chip.
You said, before that you have your own routines that you wrote, Could I get them from you ???? even in hex ???? I just need something to acess the board and to see what it is or is not doing...
THANK YOU Marty
 
compupro disk 1

Hi Rich;
In the Doc's they show spec and lspec but I don't understand what they have in what follows , so to convert it to something I can put in the machine.. :( :( :(
THANK YOU Marty
 
Hi Rich;
I have the Docs on the 8272 and Nec 765. The Board is a Disk 1 not a disk 1A, they are different, even though they both use the same FDC chip.
You said, before that you have your own routines that you wrote, Could I get them from you ???? even in hex ???? I just need something to acess the board and to see what it is or is not doing...
THANK YOU Marty

I didn't write the routines so I can't share them without permission.

Accessing the controller requires sending it a "data packet" of variable length data (between 2 and 7 bytes) depending on the command (read, write, verify, format, specify, for example). Then, you read a status code back after the command. A working monitor program with port I/O is perfect for sending these I/O commands because it saves having to write and compile a full program.

The sample code in the Disk 1 manual is an excellend code example. LSPEC is simply a variable used to calculate the length of the SPEC data field. Part of the problem is the oddities of the CompuPro assembler, but the "*" or "$" is a common notation representing the current value of the instruction counter. So "LSPEC = $-SPEC" gives you the length of the SPEC data packet.

This is where the 8272 data sheet will come in handy because the data sheet will tell you what data bytes are required for the "specify" command. Each command has a specific set of command bytes that are required.
 
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compupro disk 1

Hi Rich;
THANK YOU for your response, and clearing things up for me... I will look into it and see what I can find. Thanks for putting up with me.
THANK YOU Marty
 
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