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Cromemco Z-2D Siemens (Wangco) Model 82 FDD jumper settings

jhalbrecht

Experienced Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
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93
Location
Mesa, Az
I got a signon out of RDOS with my Cromemco Z-2D. Check it out here for some pictures. ZPU, (2) 16KZ RAM cards and a 4FDC.

I have some possibly suitable drives, if my Siemens end up bad, from a Heathkit 3 drive enclosure. Not really wanting to break this up as I have an H8 I'd like to get booting (it's monitor comes up)... another day / story...

Z-2D.jpg


I inadvertently messed up the jumper settings on the Siemens, formerly Wangco, model 82 floppy disk drive while cleaning and lucubrating. Perhaps you have a reference for those settings? Cromemco and/or Wangco manual?

I do have it to a point where the drive activity LED lights after B<CR> in the monitor.

Does CDOS allocate itself to available memory at boot? Or does a correctly sized for memory system have to be generated? I currently have 32k in 2 16kz boards. I have two other 16kz RAM boards that are not working yet. I've got a 64k Tanner card that I know works. I haven't tried it in the Z-2D.

Any suggestion as to what might be a good reliable alternative to my current FDDs?

You wouldn't happen to have or be easily able to create some boot media for me would ya?

Glitch has a nice write up here as a possible solution to media creation. A disk in the USPS would be considerably less time consuming...

c ya...

Thanks, - Jeff
 
I got a signon out of RDOS with my Cromemco Z-2D. Check it out here for some pictures. ZPU, (2) 16KZ RAM cards and a 4FDC.

A bit of progress, the Siemens drive is responding to RDOS monitor commands. Check out this image off the Wyse terminal displaying the RDOS monitor session. I can see the drive light select as well as see and hear the drive seeking in response to the seek commands. That's encouraging.

IMG_3936.jpg

Here is an image of the Seek Track section in the 4FDC manual.

Capture.JPG

I'm not sure how to decoded this error. The error gives two hex digits. This error list only has 8 bits? At any rate I guess it's a moot point. I seriously doubt I have valid formatted media. And if I read Glitches article I'm at a catch 22 in that the monitor can't format a disk. And without CDOS I can't format the disk, and I don't think I have any suitable single sided single density diskettes either.

Side note;
I happened to look at my forum post without being logged in. Images were not displayed just a link. Is that an artifact of my member status when I uplload? The way I uploaded the image into the post? Or is it a global setting in the VCF forum software? I'd sure think the default behavior would be for the ability to read and see content anonymously.

c ya... - Jeff
 
Dave Dunfield and I both worked on a way to create bootable disks over the serial port; I abandoned mine but as usual he finished his ;-)

Not sure if it'll work with a 4FDC but worth a try:

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm

I believe Cromemco ultimately went to Tandon TM100-2 5 1/4" drives exclusively, and replaced the fast but fussy PerSci drives with Tandon TM-848s

Good luck and enjoy! BTW, there is a Cromemco Google group:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/cromemco

m
 
Dave Dunfield and I both worked on a way to create bootable disks over the serial port; I abandoned mine but as usual he finished his ;-)

Not sure if it'll work with a 4FDC but worth a try:

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm

I believe Cromemco ultimately went to Tandon TM100-2 5 1/4" drives exclusively, and replaced the fast but fussy PerSci drives with Tandon TM-848s

Good luck and enjoy! BTW, there is a Cromemco Google group:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/cromemco

m

Thanks for the heads up on the Cromemco Google Group.

From Glitch's article on creating boot media for the 4FDC; "Dave Dunfield has also provided a RDOS transfer utility but it’s geared toward the Cromemco 16FDC, which uses RDOS 2.x." -- not the 4FDC which runs RDOS 1.x.

I'll be picking up my CDOS system running a newly rebuilt Persci 299 on my way to VCF West where I will have it on display. It has a 16FDC so I may be able to attach a five floppy drive (if it works) and if I can find some five inch SSSD media.
 
Last edited:
Hi Jeff,

Didn't I just send you a 16FDC with RDOS 2.52 a little while ago?

m

Yup, you did. (Actually I found two) I quickly boxed it up with a ZPU, TUART and a 64KZ and sent them off to Martin who connected it to the Cromemco branded wood cabinet Persci 299 he just rebuilt for me in an IMSAI chassis! :) Can't wait to check out this CDOS screamer. I'll be picking it up a couple days before VCF. Not sure I'll have the time or a location to hook up a five inch drive to it before the show.

I bought the Z-2D on ePay with a local pickup in Klamath Falls Oregon last year or so (where the Perseid meteor shower was incredible) I really only wanted the beautify eight inch drives in the wood cabinet, some media and documentation. I'm hoping to sell the Z-2D while I'm traveling up northward, or at the consignment table at VCF West. It would be nice if it could boot for the sale. Don't know about time and logistics... or five inch SSSD media...
 
Ah, so I guess you don't have a system at hand into which you could put the 16FDC.

I wouldn't worry about the 5 inch media; any soft-sectored non-HD disks should work just fine, esp. the common DS/DD.

Hopefully someone in the US can send you a CDOS boot disk; last time I sent something similar it cost >$8.00 postage.

It's been a long time (most of my Cromemco experience is with Cromix and UNIX) but AFAIR CDOS does indeed have to be gen'ned for your RAM (and disk) size.

m.
 
Back from HOPE, figured I'd reply here instead of email for any future Cromemco 4FDC hackers :)

Dave Dunfield's RDOS utilities definitely don't work with RDOS 1.x, that was the whole reason for writing the Perl script in the linked writeup. The linked method is QUITE SLOW! The serial line pacing is what really slows it down, and I hadn't gotten around to writing a binary loader to write in first, since, well, I only ever needed to run it once.

I can write out CDOS disks, they should be a few dollars to mail in the US.
 
...Dave Dunfield's RDOS utilities definitely don't work with RDOS 1.x, that was the whole reason for writing the Perl script in the linked writeup.

I suspected as much but thought I'd mention it anyway; hadn't read your entire writeup at the time.

All my systems are post-4FDC so my experience is with 16FDCs and 64FDC/T/Xs.

m
 
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