gonzalez@BBN.COM (01/20/89)
Well, after a three-month disruption (work and hobbies don't always mix), I have resumed my search for a C compiler. I've narrowed it down to BDS, Aztec and Toolworks. I had called Leor Zolman about BDS, and made a most distressing discovery: he doesn't distribute on hard-sector floppies. Subsequent examination of the literature from MANX and Software Toolworks revealed that they can't help me and my DSDD 10-sector drive, either. So, I guess I *first* need to get a soft-sector drive onto my system. Anyone remember that cute song about Dear Henry and the bucket? Anyway, I am pursuing two solutions. The first is to simply purchase a soft- sector controller and a drive, and hammer out the driver in Z-80 assembler. The disadvantage of this is cost: a new Compupro Disk 1B lists for $620. As the guy who sold me this system concluded, at these prices one is better off buying a PC clone. So, does anyone know of less expensive boards, or have one they want to sell? Does it bother anyone else that S-100 boards are getting more expensive while watches, calculators, VCR's and CD players have dropped in price? The other possibility is to build a SCSI ontroller, as some people on this list have done, and buy a SCSI drive. Assuming that I can find S-100 format prototyping boards, this would probably be cheaper. Also, I would relish getting back to component-level work. Any leads on prototyping boards? Has anyone on this list, in addition to Doug Braun, done this? -Jim. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Gonzalez AT&T: 617-873-2937 BBN Systems and Technologies Corp. ARPA: gonzalez@bbn.com Cambridge, Massachusetts UUCP: ...seismo!bbn!gonzalez ----------------------------------------------------------------------
wilker@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Clarence W. Wilkerson Jr.) (01/20/89)
Advertises in Coimputer Shopper They have Xebec 1420 SASI boards witha a floppy interface for $29 + $8 for manual. The manual to the Adaptec 4000 has a schematic for a SASI host adapter for a S100.
morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) (01/21/89)
In article <8901200353.AA26732@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> gonzalez@BBN.COM writes: >Well, after a three-month disruption (work and hobbies don't always mix), >I have resumed my search for a C compiler. I've narrowed it down to BDS, >Aztec and Toolworks. I had called Leor Zolman about BDS, and made a most >distressing discovery: he doesn't distribute on hard-sector floppies. >Subsequent examination of the literature from MANX and Software Toolworks >revealed that they can't help me and my DSDD 10-sector drive, either. So, >I guess I *first* need to get a soft-sector drive onto my system. Anyone >remember that cute song about Dear Henry and the bucket? > >Anyway, I am pursuing two solutions. The first is to simply purchase a soft- >sector controller and a drive, and hammer out the driver in Z-80 assembler. >The disadvantage of this is cost: a new Compupro Disk 1B lists for $620. >As the guy who sold me this system concluded, at these prices one is better >off buying a PC clone. So, does anyone know of less expensive boards, or have >one they want to sell? Does it bother anyone else that S-100 boards are >getting more expensive while watches, calculators, VCR's and CD players have >dropped in price? > >The other possibility is to build a SCSI ontroller, as some people on this >list have done, and buy a SCSI drive. Assuming that I can find S-100 format >prototyping boards, this would probably be cheaper. Also, I would relish >getting back to component-level work. Any leads on prototyping boards? >Has anyone on this list, in addition to Doug Braun, done this? > > -Jim. There is another solution - call Workman and Associates in Pasadena, Ca. at 818-791-7979 (BBS: 791-1013) and order BDS from them. One of their services is disk format conversion from (and to) over 350 different formats, including 8", 5 1/4", 3 1/2", CP/M (-80, -86, -68k), MS/PC-DOS, UNIX, Atari, etc, etc, etc. I just got off the phone with Barry Workman, and he has no problem with supplying a copy of the BDS with a second set of North Star 10 sector floppies - in fact he has the media in stock. Let me know if this helps. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #Include disclaimer.standard #Include quote.cute The opinions above probably do not even come close to those of my employer(s). US Snail: ...............UUCP: .........................Also: Mike Morris .............morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov ..... WA6ILQ P.O. Box 1130 Arcadia, Ca. 91006-1130