mdgoodma@CRDEC8.APGEA.ARMY.MIL (Mack Goodman) (09/19/90)
Could someone send me a brief description of what this device is, and could it be useful for me. I have a Northstar Advantage. This device is called " CPM Companion 2.2 " It is a black box with a couple of ports on it and a "edge" connector? Private replys may be most appropriate, Thanks in advance. Mack Goodman
donm@pnet07.cts.com (Don Maslin) (09/21/90)
Not private, please. Let us all know!
UUCP: {nosc ucsd crash ncr-sd}!pnet07!donm
ARPA: simasd!pnet07!donm@nosc.mil
INET: donm@pnet07.cts.commdgoodma@CRDEC8.APGEA.ARMY.MIL (Mack Goodman) (09/25/90)
I have looked at this and have more information. But as of yet, no one has replied. Again, if anyone out there knows anything about this device, PLEASE tell me. It has three rs-232 type female connections on the back. These are labeled, modem, printer, and terminal. There is also a disk drive and a small indicator light which says "virtual disk" next to it. Hope this hepls someone identify this hardware. Thanks Mack Goodman
fzsitvay@techbook.com (Frank Zsitvay) (09/26/90)
In article <9009191229.aa09295@crdec8.apgea.army.mil> mdgoodma@CRDEC8.APGEA.ARMY.MIL (Mack Goodman) writes: >Could someone send me a brief description of what this device >is, and could it be useful for me. I have a Northstar Advantage. >This device is called " CPM Companion 2.2 " It is a black box >with a couple of ports on it and a "edge" connector? > >Private replys may be most appropriate, Thanks in advance. > >Mack Goodman i apologize for this seemingly unseemless thread, but the local piece of s--t mail system here keeps barfing this mail message back to me, which really doesn't make a whole lot of sense since we had this thread going in mail for the past 2 or three cycles. (i know it's a local thing because the system barfs the message within 10 seconds of sending it.) now, back to the discussion.... when this thread was so rudely interrupt by a flakey mail system, Mack Goodman wanted to know how to get his Companion (a cp/m 2,2 machine) up and running, mainly because his northstar advantage didn't know what to do with a soft sectored disk. --- well, the companion would be able to read and write soft sectored disks with no problem, assuming you could find a boot disk for it. if you can find such a disk, then you would be home free. just gut the ns advantage and use it's disk drives for the companion, and term software on the ns itself. whether a system uses hard sector or soft sectored disks is mostly a function of the controller. check the controller in the advantage and see if it uses a 179x or a 765 chip. if it does, then it's a matter of software. if it uses discrete logic, or one of the 177x controller, then you're out of luck. i say 179x and 177x meaning the series, as there is a 1791 and a 1793. same for the 177x series. the differences is in the interface electronics, but both are the same from a software point of view. if you are knowledgable about cp/m and assembly language, you can do one of two things... either configure cp/m for the companion, or rewrite the bios routines in the advantage to allow the use of soft sectored disks. and, if you can find a bios listing for a kaypro or other good cp/m machine, you could hack that until it works. this is basically how products like uniform work, they replace those sections of the bios with code similar to the machine it's trying to emulate the disk format. for the advantage, if it uses a 179x controller chip (like most decent cp/m machines do) then all you would need are the addresses of the controller ports. get a bios listing for sometthing like a kaypro, and just change the addresses in the bios to point to the right place. do this in ram with ddt and sysgen it onto a disk, and you would have yourself a boot disk for any floppy you want. for the companion, you would do something similar, except you would have to find the ports addresses, and since you don't have any docs, that can be somewhat difficult. what i would do is open the machine, and look at the circuit board traces to see what address the controller chip is located, and go from there. once you get a disk system working on the companion, the rest is easy, since then you could do your system exploring via software on the machine itself, which is much easier in my opinion from doing it from circuit board traces. where are you located at?? you might be able to find a cp/m machine cheap, and you wouldn't even need to do some serious hacking to get it working, either. unless it is something you like do, which is why i go through this sort of torture. (one man's pleasure, another man's pain...) i don't suppose a month goes by where someone offers their cp/m machine to me for the price of hauling it away. if you look, you can find some real bargains out there... -- fzsitvay@techbook.COM - one of these days i'll get it right... Version 2 of anything is usually the version that works.
gleb@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Glenn LeBrasseur) (09/28/90)
Don't forget that the old sugart 400's that came with the N* only have 35 tracks, as opposed to 40. Also the WD1771 only supports single density (and single side). It will of course handle an 8in floppy such as sugart 800 for a wopping 256KB. gleb@eecs.ee.pdx.edu I can see the future; It's a place about 70 miles east of here...
etrmg@levels.sait.edu.au (10/04/90)
In article <1990Sep26.091021.14560@techbook.com>, fzsitvay@techbook.com (Frank Zsitvay) writes: > In article <9009191229.aa09295@crdec8.apgea.army.mil> mdgoodma@CRDEC8.APGEA.ARMY.MIL (Mack Goodman) writes: >>Could someone send me a brief description of what this device >>is, and could it be useful for me. I have a Northstar Advantage. >>This device is called " CPM Companion 2.2 " It is a black box >>with a couple of ports on it and a "edge" connector? >> >>Private replys may be most appropriate, Thanks in advance. Not this one. . > > now, back to the discussion.... > > if you are knowledgable about cp/m and assembly language, you can do > one of two things... either configure cp/m for the companion, or rewrite > the bios routines in the advantage to allow the use of soft sectored > disks. and, if you can find a bios listing for a kaypro or other good > cp/m machine, you could hack that until it works. this is basically > how products like uniform work, they replace those sections of the bios > with code similar to the machine it's trying to emulate the disk format. > > for the advantage, if it uses a 179x controller chip (like most decent > cp/m machines do) then all you would need are the addresses of the controller > ports. get a bios listing for sometthing like a kaypro, and just change > the addresses in the bios to point to the right place. do this in ram > with ddt and sysgen it onto a disk, and you would have yourself a boot disk > for any floppy you want. > > for the companion, you would do something similar, except you would have > to find the ports addresses, and since you don't have any docs, that can > be somewhat difficult. what i would do is open the machine, and look > at the circuit board traces to see what address the controller chip > is located, and go from there. > If you want such software, look in SIMTEL's Kaypro section for the tinkerkit. As I recall, the video routines, line drawing and other stuff is in there. I believe the "U" ROM listing is there, or something. Contact me if you want to follow up. > > where are you located at?? you might be able to find a cp/m machine > cheap, and you wouldn't even need to do some serious hacking to get it > working, either. unless it is something you like do, which is why > i go through this sort of torture. (one man's pleasure, another man's > pain...) :-( :-) > > i don't suppose a month goes by where someone offers their cp/m machine > to me for the price of hauling it away. if you look, you can find some > real bargains out there... > > Absolutely!
fzsitvay@techbook.com (Frank Zsitvay) (10/05/90)
In article <176@pdxgate.UUCP> gleb@eecs.UUCP (Glenn LeBrasseur) writes: > >Don't forget that the old sugart 400's that came with the N* only have A >35 tracks, as opposed to 40. >Also the WD1771 only supports single density (and single side). It will of >course handle an 8in floppy such as sugart 800 for a wopping 256KB. > actually, the shurgart 400 drives will do forty tracks. it's a function of software -- fzsitvay@techbook.COM - one of these days i'll get it right... Version 2 of anything is usually the version that works.
gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston) (10/07/90)
fzsitvay@techbook.com (Frank Zsitvay) writes: > In article <176@pdxgate.UUCP> gleb@eecs.UUCP (Glenn LeBrasseur) writes: > >Don't forget that the old sugart 400's that came with the N* only have > A > >35 tracks, as opposed to 40. > actually, the shurgart 400 drives will do forty tracks. it's a function > of software No, it's hardware. You have to move the stop on the head guide bars (or wherever the stop is mounted--I didn't bother on the one I have) in order to get the extra 5 tracks. I verified that by testing (I have one early model SA400). Gary Heston, at home....
Mack.Goodman@samba (Mack Goodman) (12/18/90)
Could someone help me out a bit. I have found an old Device called a CP/M Companion 2.2. This is a small case with a handle on it. It has a disk drive and a small light on the front which says "virtual disk" next to it. It has three rs-232 type ports on it labelled, parallel, modem/host, and terminal. Do you know what this is and if it is worth while for meto try to use it? I have an Apple IIe. I thought maybe the disk drive might be useful or maybe some of the chips??? Any thoughts? I would also consider selling it if someone wants it. Please e-mail to mdgoodma@crdec8.apgea.army.mil or you may reply here. But the e-mail address is preferred. Thanks,