Future Domain TMC-950 16 bit ISA SCSI/FDC controller manual/driver?

[IBM Portable PC]

Does anyone have the TMC 950's manual/s and/or drives?

I'm particularly interested in drivers for the inbuilt floppy controller (based on the UM8388 FDC chip)

Some of the TMC850's had a chip labelled TMC950, however there was at lease one TMC950 16 bit card.

 

[Cimonvg]

hello
TMC-950 is mentioned in driver README here:
ftp://ftp.mpoli.fi/drivers_1/HD/OHJAIMET/SCSI/FUTURE/WINDOWS/
...if it helps..
/cimonvg

 

[RJBJR]

Not sure if the last version of Future Domain's pwrscsi , pwrscsi4.exe, would support it but worth a try. Looks like there are some jumpers to configure, that may be the way to enable/disable the floppy controller.

 

[alecv]

I've found a similar card: SSI-011SF. The SCSI part is the same Future Domain TMC-950
but floppy controller is built on the SPC2025

Fortunately, this card works on XT in 8-bit slot! It uses IRQn lnes only on the 16-bit part,
but work with IRQ5 too. BIOS v6.02 (Ouch... I can't attach a BIOS to my message, drop
a PM if someone need it).

 

[fatwizard]

hello
TMC-950 is mentioned in driver README here:
ftp://ftp.mpoli.fi/drivers_1/HD/OHJAIMET/SCSI/FUTURE/WINDOWS/
...if it helps..
/cimonvg

I have a TMC-860 which looks to be the same card without the floppy support. I always suspected it might work in an 8 bit machine, but I couldn't figure out how to get drives setup with it. The software from this site has put me in business!

Thanks

 

[RWallmow]

I have a TMC-885 on my desk right here with DUAL floppy ports on it, I have only ever tried the first floppy port, and a hard drive on the SCSI chain, and it works with no drivers or software, the 486 PCs BIOS I stuck it in handles the first 2 drives, no drivers required, and the TMC's BIOS handles the HD on SCSI chain. I have NO idea what is required to use 2 more drives on the second floppy port though, I have never even started down that road.

My 885 also appears it might work 8-bit, it uses the same lines on the 16-bit bus as "alecv's" 950, though this is speculation on my part, I have never tried on 8-bit bus (or 808x CPU).

 

[fatwizard]

I could never find a way to access a low level format routine in the TMC-860's BIOS. That's because, apparently, there isn't one. The files from Cimonvg's link, namely setup.exe, and data.com, serve that purpose. Setup.exe is the drive prep software, and data.com contains the drive tables.

I can now boot DOS 6.22 from a DEC DSP3105 one gig hard drive on my DTK turbo XT clone board running an 8088 at 10 MHz. No floppy controller mine though, much less two! I've never seen such a thing.

 

[alecv]

TMC-9xx BIOS does not contain 1.2/1.44 HD Floppy support. To work on XT I've installed DIY ROM-board similar to
http://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/8bit-rom-board
with DTK floppy BIOS (on the bottom of this page)

 

[Cimonvg]

hello
not being around my old pc these days - not having the possibility to try this driver out.
But here:
http://www.pcorner.com/list/HDUTIL/WIN_DISK.ZIP/INFO/
..is a driver for windows 3.1 and TMC controlers. Look nice - and i hope it works with my 5150+inboard+TMC850
/cimonvg

 

[Cimonvg]

hello
not being around my old pc these days - not having the possibility to try this driver out.
But here:
http://www.pcorner.com/list/HDUTIL/WIN_DISK.ZIP/INFO/
..is a driver for windows 3.1 and TMC controlers. Look nice - and i hope it works with my 5150+inboard+TMC850
/cimonvg

Hello Again
did try the 32bit driver with 5150+Inbaord386 , and it Works
..kind of strange having a 8bit bus computer with software saying 32bit access..
/cimonvg

 

[Chuck(G)]

I could never find a way to access a low level format routine in the TMC-860's BIOS. That's because, apparently, there isn't one. The files from Cimonvg's link, namely setup.exe, and data.com, serve that purpose. Setup.exe is the drive prep software, and data.com contains the drive tables.

Yup, strictly speaking, all SCSI mass storage devices use linear addressing (i.e. LBA), even tape drives. No cylinders, sides, sectors, etc. unless via vendor extension. Some SCSI drives use "zoned" recording, so no LL format at all.