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Tandy 1000HX question

V

vbriel

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Hey, anybody know of ISA conversion or hard drive controller available for the 1000HX? I already have the serial card and memory board but a hard drive would make life easy, even if it is external. Thanks,

Vince
 
Vince:
The HX can use just about any HD controller that will work with the 1000 line of computers. All you need to do is make an adapter. The plus header is pin compatible with the XT expansion slot (1 to 1). All you need is a 62 pin header, a 62 pin card edge connector and a short piece of 62 conductor ribbon cable. I found all of these parts online for about $10 total.

The hard part is a Model 1000 compatible HD controller. The 1000HX used IRQ 2 for HD, not the standard IRQ5.
 
Two other options for using a hard drive with a Tandy:

1. 8-bit ISA scsi card--these are rare, but finding a good scsi drive is much easier than hunting for a functional MFM drive. You will probably have to boot from a floppy unless you find a very small drive and an adaptor with a boot rom.

2. Add a bidirectional or EPP printer port card and use a parallel to SCSI adaptor. You will have to boot from a floppy, but the speeds will be more than adequate for an XT class machine.

Personally, I'd leave the HX as a floppy machine and find a Tandy 1000 SX, TX, or later--they are much easier to work with and can use any free IRQ for the hdd.
 
That's great. Actually, I think I may have an ISA 1542 adaptec laying around! I'll have to see about making an ISA adapter. Does anybody know if a beast already exists? I would think somebody would have done this trick years ago.

Vince
 
Yes, it exists, but no one markets it any more. DCS industries had an actual "slot box" that had its own power supply and such. In 4 years of buying this stuff, I have never seen one on EBay
 
Anybody here want to make a few adapters? I want one to connect an SCSI card and then connect an external HD so I don't have to mount it internally and also don't stress the puny internal PS.
 
Go to www.vetcosurplus.com

Purchase 1 62 Pin IDC Female 0.1" (1.92 each) and 2 or 3 62 Pin Card Edge Female (3.96 each)

Go to your cable scrap bucket, and cut the ends off of 2 ide cables. Strip one down to 22 connectors and place side by side with the 40 connector one.

Carefully position them in the IDC female and crimp in a vise.
Carefully position the Card Edge connectors at the opposite end, leave a 1 inch gap, pay attention to pin 1, and keep the cable short. Crimp in vise again.

If you don't have a vise, use a pair of wide pliers, and work gently from end to end. $5.88 plus shipping for all the parts for a single slot unit, $9.84 for a two slot one.

Now that you know how to do it and where to get the parts, how much would you really pay to have one made? I'm serious. PM me with an offer.
 
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vbriel said:
That's great. Actually, I think I may have an ISA 1542 adaptec laying around! I'll have to see about making an ISA adapter. Does anybody know if a beast already exists? I would think somebody would have done this trick years ago.

Vince
Click to expand...

Oops, this is where your real challenge comes in. The 1542 is a 16 bit card and won't work in an XT (I've even tried it!). You need something like a Trantor/Adaptec T-130.

AT compatible 16-bit SCSI cards are plentiful, but 8-bit ones are pretty rare. 8-bit bi-parallel/EPP adapters do exist, though, and parallel-to-SCSI adapters (like the Trantor/Adaptec APA-358 ) are not as hard to find as 8-bit SCSI cards.

You will need to find either an 8-bit scsi card or EPP/parallel card and a parallel-to scsi adaptor to use with your ISA interface box. It may take some hunting. :)
 
I think you need an 8 bit ISA SCSI card that can do an oddball IRQ (is it IRQ 2)?

I have an 8 bit SCSI ISA card but think it does the normal IRQ selections.
 
Unknown_K said:
I think you need an 8 bit ISA SCSI card that can do an oddball IRQ (is it IRQ 2)?

I have an 8 bit SCSI ISA card but think it does the normal IRQ selections.
Click to expand...

You're right, I just checked the HX tech manual. It doesn't have the SX's ability to use "normal" IRQ's.

My Trantor T-130 has several optional IRQ's it can use, but IRQ2 isn't one of them.

This isn't an issue if you are willing to boot from the floppy and load ASPI drivers. ASPI, at least with my Adaptec/Trantor model, doesn't require that the SCSI board use an IRQ at all.

So if you want to boot from the HDD, you are probably stuck trying to find a Tandy-friendly Western Digital MFM card...

However, booting from the floppy really isn't a problem. Just have command.com on the hdd and set COMSPEC to point to it, and after booting the machine will run entirely off the HDD.
 
Seagate made the ST-01, and ST-02 (No Floppy, and With Floppy respectively, I believe) for 8-bit ISA slots.

I dunno about IRQ's, though....that goes WAAAAY to far back for me to remember.

Did have a BIOS onboard though, for auto-booting.



Tony
 
1000HX have special drives, the cable provides power and there are switches you need to set for drive 1 and 2. The drives also have a large eject button in the middle unlike the smaller ones found on the lower right of PC type floppies (but that is just cosmetic).
 
daflory said:
So if you want to boot from the HDD, you are probably stuck trying to find a Tandy-friendly Western Digital MFM card...
Click to expand...

I've done a little research:

Code: 
TANDY 1000 SYSTEMS - The WD1002A-WX1, WD1004A-WX1, WDXT-GEN2 and the 
WD1004-27X can be modified to operate in Tandy 1000 series computers, 
models SX, TX and the original or "A" version.  These computers 
utilize an interrupt of 2 (IRQ2) instead of IRQ5, the IBM standard.  

To modify the WD1002A-WX1 or the WD1002-27X to operate in these 
systems, you must cut the etch between pin 1 and pin 2 at jumper 
position W-7.  Then solder pin 2 and pin 3 at the position (W-7).  
To complete the modification, a jumper must be added to position 7 
of switch S-1 (2 rows of 8 pins).  To modify the WD1004A-WX1, 
WDXT-GEN2 or the WD1004-27X for your Tandy 1000 system, a zero ohm 
resister must be soldered to jumper position W-27.  This will change 
the interrupt from IRQ5 to IRQ2.

There are several WD1002A-WX1 on Ebay for $30 or less. If I was trying to get one of these working, it would be worth a try.

A few other notes I read said that the WD1002A-WX1 needs to have the latest BIOS, but not exact references.

Kelly

PS Here are some people that claim to have the WD1002A-WX1 for sale:
http://www.4drives.biz/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4380
http://www.computerjunk.com/catalog/items/item280.htm

YMMV
 
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Another consideration would be the size of the card. I have a couple of the 1002s here, and both are on 8" boards that might not fit in the HX's expansion compartment. OTOH, I also have a 1004A-WX1 which is on a shorter 5" card. And yes, they are available, pm me.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
Another consideration would be the size of the card. I have a couple of the 1002s here, and both are on 8" boards that might not fit in the HX's expansion compartment. OTOH, I also have a 1004A-WX1 which is on a shorter 5" card. And yes, they are available, pm me.

--T
Click to expand...

I have one HX with an 8" card, just kinda dangling out the back. The cables then run back inside to a 3.5" drive that's just a little too big for the floppy slot it is in. Looks kinda gross, but it booted when I got it, and it still boots after several years on my shelf.
 
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