• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Newbie questions about the Northstar Advantage 8/16

retrobecanes

retrobecanes

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2017
Messages
145
Location
Florida
I received a Northstar Advantage 8/16 today with plenty of original documentation and software. The computer, although a bit dusty inside and out, still looks great. When I turn on the computer, it powers up, beeps, and displays "LOAD SYSTEM" on the monitor. The foam keypads are shot so the keyboard doesn't respond to keystrokes (but the CAPS LOCK and NUM LOCK light up). I am surprised however that the system doesn't show any drive activity whatsoever when powering on the system. I would have expected the lights to turn red and the drives to spin but it does nothing of the sort. Could this be an issue or is this normal behavior for this system?
 
mloewen said:
That's normal. It's waiting for a <RETURN> (load from drive 1), D2<RETURN> (load from drive 2) or S<RETURN> (load from serial port).
Click to expand...
Thanks! I removed all the foam pads from the keyboard, they were crumbling. I still had a couple of foam & foil pads from TexElec (I ordered more) and I installed one for the return key. Now when I press return, the drive spins for a few seconds but then stops with a beep. Nothing other than the original “load system” shows on the screen. I tried this with a few original N* disks I have and same behavior. Any ideas?
 
So it appears that drive A may have some marginal alignments issues, but I need to do further testing to really diagnose the issue. Sometimes it runs a disk, sometimes it doesn't. Drive B on the other hand seems to be reading everything well and this consistently. I may just swap Drive A and Drive B for the time being.
 
retrobecanes said:
So it appears that drive A may have some marginal alignments issues, but I need to do further testing to really diagnose the issue. Sometimes it runs a disk, sometimes it doesn't. Drive B on the other hand seems to be reading everything well and this consistently. I may just swap Drive A and Drive B for the time being.
Click to expand...
I swapped disk drives with Northstar Advantage with good results. You just have to swap the jumpers and an IC. I also had to rebuild the keyboard by replacing all keys' foam-and-foil. It know works extremely well and should last another 40 years, when it'll become someone else's problem :)

I recently got a DREM emulator and am looking for some software disk images. Does anyone know where I could download some images?
 
Now that I have the DREM installed and working in my Northstar Advantage, I'm trying to figure out what serial terminal program(s) might exist for it. I really want to use the thing to connect serially to a nearby Linux server.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
Uh wow. I used to use my Advantage to connect to Bulletin Boards through a serial modem. But it's been so long I can't remember the name of the software. Z-modem? maybe? I'll see if I can track it down.

Welcome to the forums. I have been thinking about getting out my Advantage and try to see if it still works. Your experience where it powered on and it reading disks is encouraging. I have been a little scared of the power supply blowing up on me. I don't think it's been turned on for over 30 years. And I'm not very good at troubleshooting power issues.

But now you've given me new hope. I'm going to dig it out.

Seaken
 
OK, I found my old N* disks. Here's the comm programs I used:

MEX 114
KMD17, RQ14.LBR
IMP245
BYE510

Unfortunately I don't remember too much. But I think the main one I used with BBS was MEX 114.

Seaken
 
Thank you Seaken. I don't know if I have the programs you mention, but I'll take a look. I downloaded a ton of N* Advantage stuff from the links given earlier in this thread by some kind folks.

I found kermit on a disk and was going to hook a scope up to the tx/rx lines of the serial port and see if I can wiggle them. It's such a great machine. I can't wait to set up the tools so I can cross-compile code for it.
 
After a long time I stopped by this forum again. With the help of Jack's emulator and based on Mike's ideas I wrote some transfer programs for the Advantage a few years ago. They are in my Github repository "NorthstarAdvantageUtilities" along with instructions on how to connect the Advantage to a PC. I never got the SectorPulseGenerator to work reliably, so I decided not to publish it. But if you have hard sector disks you will find everything you need.
Holger
 
I am relieved to report that my NorthStar Advantage powered up and the screen says "Load System". But when I hit the <Return> key nothing happened. I touched every key and the only key that got a response was the "U" key. It shows briefly on the screen and then disappears and the computer beeps. I tried several times. But no response from the <Return> key or any other key other than the "U".

I couldn't remember if I was supposed to see alight on the drive on power up or not. I found this thread and re-read it and I realized that the floppy won't light up until after the computer gets a response from the keyboard.

So, it looks like I have to replace the foam and foil on this keyboard before I can go further.

But this is very good news for me. I have been hesitating to power on this old vintage system for fear of blowing up the power system. I am very glad that did not happen and I am hopeful I will get my Advantage back after I fix the keyboard.

Seaken
 
BTW, there was a paper taped to the side of the cabinet that reminded me of the software loaded on the 20MB hard drive. From that paper it reminds me that the communications software I used back then was IMP245.
 
While I am waiting for an order of foam and foil to arrive I decided to try generating a <Return> with one of the foam and foil pieces I took out. I attached the keyboard PCB and turned the computer on. I got a beep but no screen yet. I placed the foam & foil piece on the the <Return> pad on the PCB and the screen came to life with "Load System". I put in the CP/M floppy and pressed on the foam and foil with a pencil eraser. It started up the floppy and booted into CP/M 2.2. Cool! I have a working machine! Now I have to finish the keyboard so I can test the hard drive.

IMG_20231225_233617984.jpgIMG_20231225_233606233.jpg
 
Yes, thank you Dave. I could never do this stuff if I didn't read this forum. I read through a lot of threads where I don't really understand. But I do pick up a few things that make sense. This thread has inspired me to finally "give it a try" and see what happens. I love this NorthStar Advantage and I am hopeful I will get it back soon.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
While I am waiting for an order of foam and foil to arrive I decided to try generating a <Return> with one of the foam and foil pieces I took out. I attached the keyboard PCB and turned the computer on. I got a beep but no screen yet. I placed the foam & foil piece on the the <Return> pad on the PCB and the screen came to life with "Load System". I put in the CP/M floppy and pressed on the foam and foil with a pencil eraser. It started up the floppy and booted into CP/M 2.2. Cool! I have a working machine! Now I have to finish the keyboard so I can test the hard drive.
Click to expand...
That is a really cool bit of debugging! Hopefully the keyboard restoration goes swimmingly and it is all you need to restore it working condition.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top