• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Lanier Model 103 "No Problem" word processor

PhilipA said:
True, but if that's all is doing at the time- you can afford to have sub-optimal drive access. There's no screen handling required other than prompts at that time, which are minimal in terms of cycles consumed.
Click to expand...

I misunderstood--you have my apologies--I thought the 103 was a WYSIWYG wapro.
 
Found a faulty 74121 on the i/o board.

Going to order the two broken chips and see if it makes the slightest bit of difference.

Phil
 
Chuck(G) said:
The 8" disks were hard-sectored and MMFM encoded. Here's a sector sample from one showing the preamble:

Code: 
0000e050 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 55 55 55 55 55 03 19 1c fc |......@UUUUU....|
0000e060 61 20 66 69 78 65 64 20 70 65 72 63 65 6e 74 61 |a fixed percenta|
0000e070 67 65 20 6f 66 20 61 20 e1 fe 00 fd 00 ed 09 e9 |ge of a ........|
0000e080 67 69 76 65 6e 20 73 65 72 69 65 73 20 6f 66 20 |given series of |
0000e090 63 6f 6e 74 72 61 63 74 73 2c 20 73 75 63 68 20 |contracts, such |
0000e0a0 61 73 20 31 30 25 20 6f 6e 20 63 75 6c 76 65 72 |as 10% on culver|
0000e0b0 74 20 70 69 70 65 2c 20 31 32 25 20 6f 6e 20 e1 |t pipe, 12% on .|
0000e0c0 fe 00 fd 00 ed 09 e9 67 72 61 76 65 6c 20 6f 72 |.......gravel or|
0000e0d0 20 31 35 25 20 6f 6e 20 65 71 75 69 70 6d 65 6e | 15% on equipmen|
0000e0e0 74 20 72 65 70 61 69 72 73 2e 20 20 49 6e 20 6f |t repairs. In o|
0000e0f0 74 68 65 72 20 63 61 73 65 73 20 74 68 65 20 22 |ther cases the "|
0000e100 74 68 69 6e 67 20 6f 66 20 e1 fe 00 fd 00 ed 09 |thing of .......|
0000e110 e9 76 61 6c 75 65 22 20 67 69 76 65 6e 20 65 61 |.value" given ea|
0000e120 63 68 20 77 65 65 6b 20 6f 72 20 6d 6f 6e 74 68 |ch week or month|
0000e130 20 69 73 20 6e 6f 74 20 63 61 73 68 20 62 75 74 | is not cash but|
0000e140 20 70 72 6f 70 65 72 74 79 2c 20 73 75 63 68 20 | property, such |
0000e150 61 73 20 e1 fe 00 fd 00 ed 09 e9 74 92 71 aa aa |as ........t.q..|

So not like that 5.25" version.
Click to expand...

Hi Chuck, how did you read and dump the 8" Disk ?
 
Catweasel--this was perhaps 2012 or so--I'd have to check. You can see the lead-in to the address 55...55, then the cylinder (03), then the sector (19), the sum of the two (1C) and then the start of data marker (FC). 8" HS media is 32 sectors.
 
Last edited:
To go with the sector above, here's a histogram of Cylinder 3. Note 4 peaks, pretty much cinching the MMFM diagnosis:

Code: 
 Cylinder 3 side 0, 131071 bytes
  0      0     0     0     0     0     0     1     0     0     0
 10      0     0     0     0     0     0     5     0     2     1
 20      1     8     7     1     2   427 18278 29572  9289   988
 30      4     0     1     2     2     5     0     0     7   505
 40   7113 15248  3741    27     5     3     9     0     4     2
 50      0     1    60  2503 11518 24179  4264    10     4     6
 60      2     0     4     0     0     0    21   448  1514  1079
 70    175     4     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     2
 80      0     0     0     2     2     1     1     1     0     0
 90      2     2     0     2     1     1     1     1     0     0
100      0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
110      0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
120      0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
 
Chuck(G) said:
Catweasel--this was perhaps 2012 or so--I'd have to check. You can see the lead-in to the address 55...55, then the cylinder (03), then the sector (19), the sum of the two (1C) and then the start of data marker (FC). 8" HS media is 32 sectors.
Click to expand...

Hi Chuck,
I have received several AES 8" floppy disks and would like to examine them. Can you remember which tool you used with the Catweasel ? Can't remember that the standard Catweasel software supported hard sectored floppies.

One more question, what is the name of the AES system you have the floppies for. I haven't found anything on the net about AES systems with 8" drives.
Thanks,
Chris
 
Got me a really bad quad tri-state buffer, and an OR gate that works for about 15 seconds after it's powered up. Also every 7432 is glitchy.
Definitely getting somewhere.

Phil
 
This is on hold right now.
​​​​​ My house took a beating from the hurricane. We are still in Texas, evacuated.

Such is life.
 
The chips I ordered came in, but I've not had the chance to do anything with them!

Once we begin to get back to normal I might be able to fit them and see what happens.

Phil
 
My Multitech MPF-1 board has been found, and will be headed my way soon.
It runs a Z80 but for basic 8080 compatible code it's fine as a dev tool.
Going to try write some new ROM code. I have a PIC EEPROM writing circuit somewhere, can burn code in and execute some diagnostics.

Phil
 

Attachments

  • photo64780.jpg
    photo64780.jpg
    103.7 KB · Views: 2
MPF-1 arrived today! I found a suitable power supply from an old modem, plugged it in and it booted up exactly the same as it did when I last had it switched on about a decade ago.
Really happy. Ran my first program. 1800:76

Ran it and it halted for interrupt. Superb!

Phil
 
Tested the Lanier "pause" code (loop two stack exchanges a bunch of times) which, if register E is set to FF gives just under 2 seconds of pause on this board at 1.79MHz.
​​​​​​That's quite effective, is good for generating system pauses to wait for the floppy drive to seek and become ready.

Phil
 
Replaced 4 of the 7432's and 2 74125's, and powered up the computer.

Clickey clickey clickey floppy drives and screen full of junk.

Slightly less random than before. Slightly.

Getting somewhere.
 
Did I just read that you got the software for the 103 ? I might try to resurrect mine. A shame that it is so heavy! Mine has been standing on display upstairs for two years and I dread carrying it downstairs again for repairs.
 
bjorneven said:
Did I just read that you got the software for the 103 ? I might try to resurrect mine. A shame that it is so heavy! Mine has been standing on display upstairs for two years and I dread carrying it downstairs again for repairs.
Click to expand...
I have a copy, but it's in German. At home I should have the functionality to write a copy of the disk. It should boot, though.
Where are you located?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top