wchao@topaz.UUCP (03/01/87)
I have recently acquired a Radio Shack 15-Meg. hard-drive with
controller. I have some questions for people have similar units...
1) Have you hooked-up the 15-Meg unit as the primary and buy
a non-Radio Shack drive as the secondary, i.e. a 20-Meg
unit with cables from the primary unit to the secondary.
2) In reference to above, how about just ripping out the original
15-Meg Tandon drive and put in a 20-Meg using original
software drivers(LDOS 5.1.4 or TRSDOS 6.x)
3) Have anyone out there tried the hard-disk driver from Powersoft?
I want to partition the 15-Meg into 6 or more logical drives
so that I can put TRSDOS 6.2/LS-DOS6.3 on one-half and
LDOS 5.1.4/5.3 on the other half. I do not have the TRSDOS 6.x
driver but do have LDOS 5.1.4 one. The problem is LDOS 5.1.4
allocates too much space for small files(original operating
system backed-up to the hard-disk requires almost twice the
amount of space), the minimum allocation is 4K.
I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and get the TRSDOS 6
driver from R/S($79) or whole new drivers from Powersoft for
$99, which will do the above and minimum allocation is 2K.
The Powersoft's drivers sounds like a good deal since I only
have to pay $99 for drivers on both LDOS 5.x and TRSDOS 6.x
Any advice from all you die-hard Model 4 owners??????
anyone out-there still own a Model 4?????
William Chao
ARPA: wchao@blue.rutgers.edu
UUCP: ..seismo!rutgers!topaz!wchao
CompuServe: 71460,1670news@umnd-cs.UUCP (03/03/87)
I seem to remember that Tandy did something weird with the drive interface, don't remember exactly what it was. I'd personally get the ProSoft drivers, Tandy has a nasty habit of creating drivers that lack flexibility. As far as allocation of space goes you're stuck, the allocation scheme for LDOS/TRSDOS wasn't designed with harddisks in mind. You can buy a program called "diskdisk" from Misosys, I think thats who sells it, that can kludge more usable space out of the file system. Diskdisk uses logical drive slots though, if you are already using all 8 slots you're out of luck. Let me know how you solve the problem, I'm getting a hard disk this summer although it will be a third party drive. -Rob Healey University of Minnesota, Duluth rhealey@ub.D.UMN.EDU or ..!ihnp4!rosevax!umnd-cs!umn-d-ub!rhealey
harris@dg_rtp.UUCP (Mark Harris) (03/09/87)
In article <9733@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> wchao@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (William Chao <Wchao@topaz.rutgers.edu>) writes: > > I have recently acquired a Radio Shack 15-Meg. hard-drive with >controller. I have some questions for people have similar units... > > 1) Have you hooked-up the 15-Meg unit as the primary and buy > a non-Radio Shack drive as the secondary, i.e. a 20-Meg > unit with cables from the primary unit to the secondary. > 2) In reference to above, how about just ripping out the original > 15-Meg Tandon drive and put in a 20-Meg using original > software drivers(LDOS 5.1.4 or TRSDOS 6.x) > 3) Have anyone out there tried the hard-disk driver from Powersoft? > I want to partition the 15-Meg into 6 or more logical drives > so that I can put TRSDOS 6.2/LS-DOS6.3 on one-half and > LDOS 5.1.4/5.3 on the other half. I do not have the TRSDOS 6.x > driver but do have LDOS 5.1.4 one. The problem is LDOS 5.1.4 > allocates too much space for small files(original operating > system backed-up to the hard-disk requires almost twice the > amount of space), the minimum allocation is 4K. > I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and get the TRSDOS 6 > driver from R/S($79) or whole new drivers from Powersoft for > $99, which will do the above and minimum allocation is 2K. > The Powersoft's drivers sounds like a good deal since I only > have to pay $99 for drivers on both LDOS 5.x and TRSDOS 6.x > > Any advice from all you die-hard Model 4 owners?????? > anyone out-there still own a Model 4????? > >William Chao >ARPA: wchao@blue.rutgers.edu >UUCP: ..seismo!rutgers!topaz!wchao >CompuServe: 71460,1670 Although, I don't have a hard drive on the IV, I have heard that the Powersoft driver is the way to go. Wish I had specifics. I notice that you have a Compuserve ID. You might post a question there. I have a question for you. If I waltz into the local RS computer center and order a hard drive (any size), what do I need besides the drive? Do I need a new controller? Finally, I get the feeling that there are a lot of people out there in NETland that have TRS-80s that are waiting for someone else to post. If so, let's do it. Anybody have any programs that isn't already on Compuserve or GEnie?
harris@dg_rtp.UUCP (03/11/87)
In article <423@umnd-cs-gw.umnd-cs.D.UMN.EDU> rhealey@ub.UUCP (Rob Healey) writes: > > I'm getting a hard disk this > summer although it will be a third party drive. > > > -Rob Healey > University of Minnesota, Duluth > > rhealey@ub.D.UMN.EDU > or > ..!ihnp4!rosevax!umnd-cs!umn-d-ub!rhealey What company are you getting it from? Does the fact that it will be a pain to get worked on bother you? Mark
wchao@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (William Chao) (03/22/87)
I do not believe you'll need a new controller if you don't have one already. You may want to check with your local R/S computer center for more info.... William Chao wchao@topaz
uhclem@trsvax.UUCP (03/23/87)
"Oh yeah? I can out-wierd anyone laying on this ceiling!" >I seem to remember that Tandy did something weird with the drive >interface, don't remember exactly what it was. I'd personally get the >ProSoft drivers, Tandy has a nasty habit of creating drivers that lack >flexibility. As far as allocation of space goes you're stuck, the allocation >scheme for LDOS/TRSDOS wasn't designed with harddisks in mind. You can buy >a program called "diskdisk" from Misosys, I think thats who sells it, that The hard disk drivers supplied by Tandy for TRSDOS 6 were completely written by Logical Systems Inc. Tandy does not even have a source license for the LDOS/LS-DOS product line, so don't just assume that Tandy botched the job. If you purchased "The Source", you have more source than Tandy does. Yes, there are restrictions in the L.S.I. driver, and most of those are restrictions of the original Model I directory stragegy for floppies, and doesn't have a lot to do with the hard disk driver at all. Blame Randy Cook for not envisioning that the Model I disk format would survive 10 years. (You can also blame him for only setting aside three bits for the year.) The L.S.I. hard disk driver "restrictions" are: o You need to be using the same ports that Tandy picked. That is, 0xc0 for reset, enable, interrupt and WP status, 0xc8 to 0xcf map directly to the 8x300/WD1010 port decoding. See those manuals for details. o You can only use 8 heads and 404 cylinders on a disk. This is due to the GAT size limitation. o The precomp is hardwired to be the half-way point on the disk. All disk manufacturers I know say it is ok for precomp to come on early, and most newer bubbles ignore the signal from the controller and their on-board microprocessor turns the precomp on at the right cylinder. If you need some other value for your controller, patch it. There should be plenty of room. If you need an address, send me some mail. o The step rate can be set to any value supported by the 8X300/1010 controller. All Tandy drives use the 50usec buffered seek, but the other speeds do work. o The granule size varies with the disk size. Yes, your 1 character files can take up 8K, but when you only have 202 8 bit words to describe an entire cylinder (worst case), you are forced to the high granularity. You should consider using DiskDisk or building library-style files for those smaller executables. When L.S.I. spun off it's utility business to Misosys (owned by Roy Soltoff, who worked on LDOS and the first TRDSOS 6.0.0 release), diskdisk did become available only from Misosys. Diskdisk is a very nice utility and lets you do neat things like exact images of floppies on your hard disk for mirror image backups, as well as implement a clumsy form of subdirectory support. <This information is provided by an individual and is not nor should be construed as being provided by Radio Shack or Tandy Corp. Radio Shack/Tandy Corp has no obligation to support the information provided in any way. Its just that I happen to know what was going on, something about testing it, writing the documentation, getting the bugs fixed, you know.> "Thank you, Uh Clem." Frank Durda IV @ <trsvax!uhclem>