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Floppy drives for an 11/73 with an RQDX3.

@Radix cool - i'm getting Message 17 - Invalid Device. I have a sort of 'blank' floppy image mounted because I don't have a bootable RX50/RX33 floppy image (would love a pointer to one). I'm beginning to wonder if my RQDX3 is out of whack, or I've miscabled.

here's how things are assembled right now. I'm hoping my 'pin 01 lead is correct (it's keyed in the distribution panel properly, and the GoTek has 'pin 2' labelled, and as I said I've set the Shugart switch
20230401_130702.jpg
 
If the cable is backwards, you usually get motor on and all drives selected - and an erased track on the floppy... So if you get any lights flashing or motor control, it should be right
 
Well remember this is a Gotek "drive". So i don't see any activity at all. I don't think the cable is backwards. But I'm also not seeing any activity on the drive, and get the error.
 
If there is no USB it doesn't show up as anything. Download a 400k image and it will show as an RX50. Switch to a 1.2mb image, RX33. If you need a formatted one let me know.
 
Anyway I have put some images onto my web server:


Look for
disk0010 which is RT11 5.3 disk 1 RX33
disk0011 RT11 5.3 disk 2 RX33
disk0012 RT11 5.3 disk 3 RX33
disk0020 blank RX50 disk

Enjoy!
 
Thank you CZ! I'll work on this soon. Wouldn't happen to have an XXDP floppy would you?
 
Would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?
But of course..

I just made a subdirectory called xxdp.

disk0029 for a minimal RX50 XXDP 2.5
disk0000 for a minimal DU XXDP 2.5
disk0001-0008 is the full XXDP distro in RX33 format. Disk 1 is bootable.
disk0009 is a blank disk in xxdp format RX33

As they say, you're welcome!
C
 
Of course this chat is more than 8 years old I'd like to followup.

Im do have the current version 3.39 stable successfully installed on my Gotek.

I also was able to put the floppy images accessible on my gotek at least I'm able to switch through the images using the two buttons on the gotek.

But, I'm not able to boot "No Disk present or drive is not loaded".

The system in Question is a 11/73, 512KW and a M7555/RQDX3.

Any ideas, e.g. jumpers on the RQDX3 or 11/73 CPU?
 
Jumpers set right on gotek? Set for shugart in the config file and not ibmpc?
 
This is interesting. I'm not getting the error @TomBombadil is saying. Here's what I see:

Code: 
Memory Size is 4088 K Bytes
9 Step memory test
  Step 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Starting automatic boot

Trying DU0      Controller Error
Trying DL0      Non existent controller, address 17774400
Trying MS0      Non existent controller, address 17772522
Trying MU0      Non existent drive

Message 04      Entering Dialog mode

Commands are Help, Boot, List, Setup, Map and Test.
Type a command then press the RETURN key: BOOT RX50

Message 17
Invalid device

I have mounted the disk images that @czunit has supplied, so they're showing on the front panel of the GoTek (DISK0029.IMG and similar), but it's like the RQDX3 isn't even seeing the drive :(

I'm going to start chasing setting up a TU58 emulator next, because I just keep hitting dead ends with the floppies. :(
 
shevett said:
This is interesting. I'm not getting the error @TomBombadil is saying. Here's what I see:

Code: 
Memory Size is 4088 K Bytes
9 Step memory test
  Step 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Starting automatic boot

Trying DU0      Controller Error
Trying DL0      Non existent controller, address 17774400
Trying MS0      Non existent controller, address 17772522
Trying MU0      Non existent drive

Message 04      Entering Dialog mode

Commands are Help, Boot, List, Setup, Map and Test.
Type a command then press the RETURN key: BOOT RX50

Message 17
Invalid device

I have mounted the disk images that @czunit has supplied, so they're showing on the front panel of the GoTek (DISK0029.IMG and similar), but it's like the RQDX3 isn't even seeing the drive :(

I'm going to start chasing setting up a TU58 emulator next, because I just keep hitting dead ends with the floppies. :(
Click to expand...
Um......

Try Boot du0
Or DU1
or Du2

RX50 is not a digital device. DU: is the driver for the MCSP type systems. The RQDX3 counts the disks usually starting with the HD at 0, first floppy at 1, second at 2, etc.

C
 
I HAVE PROGRESS. The images are loaded on the drive, and with the proper jumpers, I can do a BOOT DU0 (I pulled the RD52 out, so the first device appears to be the "floppy").

When I do it though, with any of the bootable images (XXDP or RT11), it reads for 6 tracks,., then stops. The screen says something like "Starting system from DU0..." but never says anything else. I've tried the DISK0029 (which is supposed to be a bootable XXDP), and DISK0001 (which should be the first boot disk of RT11). Both do the same thing.

So this sort of implies my RQDX3 is probably okay (in fact at one point I pulled the controller and powered up, forgertting I had pulled it, and got a NO CONTROLLER FOUND, so i guess that's good), and the drive is probably configured right. I'm SLIGHTLY concerned that the memory size is showing 4088 K Bytes - is that the right amount for a 256k memory board?

I did let the TEST in the console run for a half dozen passes, no errors.

I know the floppy boot is supposed to be slow, but this appears to be locking up on boot :( I'm going to let it sit for now to see if it's waiting to timeout on something. Hitting <enter> doesn't get anything from the console, so it appears to be halted :(. I can do a reset on the front panel and get the monitor back, or do a reboot, but seems to be wedged.

I think I'm doing everything right. I have YET ANOTHER KDJ11B board to try, but I'm saving that for a last resort. Am I doing something wrong?

1681428059041.png1681428099937.png
 
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shevett said:
I HAVE PROGRESS. The images are loaded on the drive, and with the proper jumpers, I can do a BOOT DU0 (I pulled the RD52 out, so the first device appears to be the "floppy").

When I do it though, with any of the bootable images (XXDP or RT11), it reads for 6 tracks,., then stops. The screen says something like "Starting system from DU0..." but never says anything else. I've tried the DISK0029 (which is supposed to be a bootable XXDP), and DISK0001 (which should be the first boot disk of RT11). Both do the same thing.

So this sort of implies my RQDX3 is probably okay (in fact at one point I pulled the controller and powered up, forgertting I had pulled it, and got a NO CONTROLLER FOUND, so i guess that's good), and the drive is probably configured right. I'm SLIGHTLY concerned that the memory size is showing 4088 K Bytes - is that the right amount for a 256k memory board?

I did let the TEST in the console run for a half dozen passes, no errors.

I know the floppy boot is supposed to be slow, but this appears to be locking up on boot :( I'm going to let it sit for now to see if it's waiting to timeout on something. Hitting <enter> doesn't get anything from the console, so it appears to be halted :(. I can do a reset on the front panel and get the monitor back, or do a reboot, but seems to be wedged.

I think I'm doing everything right. I have YET ANOTHER KDJ11B board to try, but I'm saving that for a last resort. Am I doing something wrong?

View attachment 1255442View attachment 1255443
Click to expand...
Hi - 4088KB is 4MB RAM - not 256KB, what cards with memory are you using? - Are they jumpered for 22 bit addressing? Best if you could show and list the card types you have - if the memory test passes, you do likely have 4MB ram
 
@Radix It's an M7551, fully populated, so probably 4mb. I'll need to update my video - i say 256mb, and it's actually 4meg, which really is a lot of ram. (
)
 
OK - so it's probably 4MB... Your next hurdle is booting a DU device... So on RT11, each DU device number DU0 - DU7, for example can be "set" with the set dev:du command to refer to a specific port (controller) unit (device number) and part (partition - a 32MB index into the data on the unit) - if you are booting from a different controller address or unit number to how the disk was made, it may fail as you describe if the disk number you are booting from does not match the configuration of the DU handler on the disk... You can avoid this by booting from a TU58 emulation as device DD: over a serial port and making the diskette bootable that way...

With the RD52 CONNECTED - did you try to boot from DU1 or DU2?
 
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well.........

What roms do you have in your rqdx3? Older ROMs could only support RX50's

Switch back to ibmpc mode for a bit, make sure you have the drive select jumper set properly. I had to do shugart when I was using the Pro/380, which means I was using ibmpc for the 11/83. Hm.
 
I'll try the switches fiddling when I get back from VCF - headed out now. Of course I went to try a few things (like reconnecting the RD52) to see if the RT11 or XXDP images were hardwired for DU1 - and now I'm getting ERROR 20 CONTROLLER ERROR. It's never easy. :)

I'll play with it more when I get back!
 
Code: 
Testing in progress - Please wait
Memory Size is 4088 K Bytes
9 Step memory test
  Step 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


Message 04      Entering Dialog mode

Commands are Help, Boot, List, Setup, Map and Test.
Type a command then press the RETURN key: BOO DU:


Trying DU0

Starting system from DU0


RT-11SB (S) V05.07
?KMON-F-File not found DK:STRTSB.COM

.boo zb1:rt11sb

RT-11SB (S) V05.07

.R MSCPCK

.ini du:    <- 400 KB image
DU0:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y

.dir du:


 0 Files, 0 Blocks
 786 Free blocks

.ini du:    <- 1200 KB image
DU0:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y
Volume contains protected files; Are you sure? Y

.dir du:


 0 Files, 0 Blocks
 2362 Free blocks

.ini du:    <- 800 KB image (80x2x10)
DU0:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y

.dir du:


 0 Files, 0 Blocks
 786 Free blocks

.

FF.CFG:
Code: 
interface = ibmpc
host = dec

Cable - straight, firmware 3.39

Tomorrow I will make a second connector on the (straight) cable and try two Goteks. Also I'll try to dig into the source codes of the firmware.
 
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