FreHD on Model II/12/16/16B/6000 - FIRST ATTEMPT

[Hans01]

@dano

You have a lot of options to connect a "harddisk" to your Model II (Model 12, Model 16, 6000)
At first there is the HxC adapter which can be used on the Model II family and the Model 1,3,4 and 4P
To connect the HxC to the Model II, the best way is to use the "50 Pin Floppy to 34 Pin Floppy Converter Board" from NF6X to interface
the HxC in an easy way.

The next option is to use the Lo-Tech ide adapter. You can use it on all models mentioned above.
To interface this adapter on a Model II you can use a Model II harddisk controller Type 2,
the hans-01 or hans-02 adapter see "The Right Stuff" site,
or the new DOM adapter which combines the functionality of the Lo-Tech adapter and the hans-02 adapter.
At this moment only available for LSDOS 6.32 and Lifeboat CP/M 3 (With master and slave functionality, software interface by JonB)

You can download all bootable disks for all options on all devices. There is an image of a DOM with all kinds of Model II software available for download.

You can find all info about this subject on this site. Search for Model II, DOM, HxC, hans-01, hans-02, Lo-Tech, repository, NF6X.

The possibility to use the FreHD with the model II is a long running project and don't expect soon results.

 

[dano]

Thanks Hans. I didn't realize that the Lo-Tech IDE adapter was working with the Model II currently, that's great news! I'm not sure how the find The Right Stuff site you mention, but from what I am able to find, it sounds like the hans-02 adapter is compatible with the Model II controller Type 2, only minus the IRQ hardware that is not used by LS-DOS & CP/M, and the hans-01 is similar only with some signals inverted, is that right?

This really answers my original question, I can use the Lo-Tech IDE on the Model I,II,III, and 4 using a hans-02, which should make file transfers easier between machines, and I won't hold my breath waiting for a Model II version of the FreHD just yet, if I get one I will just know that it'll be for the Model I,III, and 4 only.

Thanks to everyone who's been working on this hardware and the support for these machines. Several years back when I first happened upon one of these TRS-80s, there looked to be very little support/interest, it's nice to not be alone!

 

[Hans01]

@dano

Thanks Hans. I didn't realize that the Lo-Tech IDE adapter was working with the Model II currently, that's great news! I'm not sure how the find The Right Stuff site you mention, but from what I am able to find, it sounds like the hans-02 adapter is compatible with the Model II controller Type 2, only minus the IRQ hardware that is not used by LS-DOS & CP/M, and the hans-01 is similar only with some signals inverted, is that right?

The Right Stuff site is the site from Ian. http://ianmav.customer.netspace.net.au/trs80/
He sells and repair all TRS 80 products.
Yes, if you have a rare Harddisk controller Type 2, you can use it to interface the Lo-Tech adapter. The hans-02 does the same.
If you use the hans-01 (an older version) you have to swap one chip on the Lo-Tech adapter.
If you use a PQI 128 Mb. Dom you are maximal compatible. https://www.pollin.de/p/diskonmodule-pqi-ide-128-mb-701790.
You can download an LSDOS image with the drivers and ready to boot disk. There is also a image for the DOM available. https://www.dropbox.com/s/uyzigm74crgstds/MII-DOM.imgc?dl=0

Thanks to everyone who's been working on this hardware and the support for these machines. Several years back when I first happened upon one of these TRS-80s, there looked to be very little support/interest, it's nice to not be alone!

Here you can meet a lot of serious users of the BIG Tandys who are always ready to help if you have a serious question.

 

[CrAlt]

Did The Right Stuff stop doing business? I was starting to look in to a FreHD but the site has been 404 for a few days now.

EDIT:This post was from a few days ago but had to wait for moderation. I PMed Ian and all is well. His ISP is the problem and he hopes the site will be back on the air soon.

 

[dano]

Well, here we are 5 years later! I hadn't been keeping up on FreHD development but now I see, sure enough, there is a version available for the Model II/12/16/16B/6000, the FreHD F48. I am finally ready to pull the trigger and buy one, but then I realize that I haven't checked my Model II to see if I have a Type 2 drive controller (not likely). I wanted to confirm, will the F48 work with the Hans-02 adapter? From the answer given above, I believe it will work the same as the Type 2 controller as long as software requiring interrupts is not used, in much the same way it would work for the Lo-Tech drive. Has anyone tried this? For that matter, does anyone have a F48 with LS-DOS working on their 8" system? After some searching I find mention of a few people running Xenix but not much else. I'd really love to get this system going, it's been sitting a *long* time.