[Coco] working with the sdc

Sat Nov 3 22:54:04 EDT 2018

On Saturday 03 November 2018 17:01:16 tfadden wrote:

> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "Gene Heskett" <gheskett at shentel.net>
> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> Sent: 11/3/2018 1:13:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] working with the sdc
>
> >On Wednesday 31 October 2018 21:51:39 rietveld rietveld wrote:
> >>hi
> >>
> >>I just sent you the sdc manual and the latest firmware to update the
> >>sdc ________________________________
> >>From: Coco <coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com> on behalf of Gene Heskett
> >><gheskett at shentel.net> Sent: October 31, 2018 9:18 PM
> >>To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> >>Subject: [Coco] working with the sdc
> >>
> >>Greetings all;
> >>
> >>I thought, since my 1Gb Seagates are out of commish, I thought this
> >>might be a good time to make my first run sdc kit work,
> >>
> >>It seems to be recognized at power up by signing on as SDC 1.2, but
> >>anything typed, like a "dir"return is a sN error (IIRC)
> >>
> >>
> >>All 4 of the dip switches are "OFF" th red led blinks once at power
> >>up.
> >>
> >>So I guess what I need is a startup tutorial. Is there such a
> >> critter?
> >
> >Unforch, <rietveld rietveld <rietveldh at hotmail.com> it appears that a
> >working rsdos version of DW is required, something I have never had
> > as my hdb-dos is too old.
> >
> >Installing SETUP.DSK to a 2Gb sd is accomplished in just a few
> >milliseconds, probably destructively to the sd as this system has
> > never been able to access a 256 byte sectored device since I built
> > it a decade
> >ago, the floppy hardware, when asked to read a 256 byte sectored
> > device has from the gitgo, locked the machine up tight, responding
> > only to the hardware reset on the front panel, even the 4 second
> > timer on the power button doesn't run.  So there isn't any way I
> > have at my disposal, to actually copy SETUP.DSK to a floppy disk and
> > run it from that floppy booting to HDB-DOS 1.A in the floppy as the
> > disk basic.
> >
> >With this dd written sd in it, it still logs in as sdc v1.2, but
> >anything
> >typed is an error.
> >
> >So whats next? These are 2Gb sd's, same size as came in the sdc when
> > I bought it out of the first run. And not having os9 available, I
> > can't even rzsz it to a coco floppy. I need to bootstrap this from
> > scratch, from hardware that freezes this machine when asked to deal
> > with 256 byte
> >sector.
> >
> >I need a beer, but its too early for my 1 a day.  Near beer at that
> >since
> >I'm a DM-II.
> >
> >Suggestion/bricks thrown at an old basic challenged dummy? Never
> >figured
> >I have to back clear up to the tsr-15 days to get this started again.
> >Thanks all.
> >
> >--
> >Cheers, Gene Heskett
> >--
> >"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
> >soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> >-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> >Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
> >
> >Gene,
>
> What are you trying to accomplish? What you are saying sounds overly
> complex, and convoluted.  You shouldn't have to be messing with sector
> sizes, etc. The sdc media should be formatted to Fat16, and the image
> files just copied over like a regular file...  There are os9 images
> available.
>
> Let me know what you are trying to accomplish, perhaps I can help.
>
> I boot my system from floppy, and have a couple of scsi disks attached
> with partitions, able to talk to the sdc, and drive wire along with
> the regular floppies, and the 6 scsi partitions.
>
> Any how
>
> Take care,
> Tim
I did have all that, running nitros9 only. No capability of running dw 
under DEB because my burnt copy of HDB-DOS is too old. So I've 
apparently no way to get SETUP.DSK into a format I can plug into the 
coco3 to update it. Under nitros9, a  dsk is a disk image, and you 
overwrite it to the real storage media starting at track and sector 
zero. Perhaps that is not how the sdc does it? Before I wrote it, 
linux's automatic disk recognizer created /dev/sde and /dev/sde1 which 
would have been the dos partition 1 of a vfat16 or vfat32 formatted sd.
So I wrote SETUP.DSK to the body of the disk, or to /dev/sde, not sde1.

I'll see if I can restore it (the sd card) to a fat16 blank state, but I 
think what I really have to do is write it to a floppy, which because 
the floppy is a 256 byte sector, I cannot do on this machine with its 
broken FDC chip.

I have other linux boxen I might use for that as I keep an old Dell 
around for programming the fpga's on the interfacing cards that drive my 
lathes and milling machines. Its just the bother of dragging it in from 
its normal spot in the garage. And then recalling the magic twanger 
stuff to make its FDC write an rsbasic image in 256 byte sectors. Fun 
and games, no. If I can mount that machine useing sshfs, then moving the 
file is easy. Then I assume I can use hdb-dos to format the floppy, then 
carry it to the Dell to install SETUP.DSK and  bring it back to put it 
to work  on the coco3. Then the question becomes which do I boot to, the 
old hdb-dos in the disto controller, or the sdc 1.2 that I've no clue 
how to make it run something from a floppy. The instructions for that 
aren't in the little 1 page pdf. And the docs on the sdc are for 1.6, 
not 1.2.

So I'm still contemplating what to do next. Then broken fdc on this $300 
Asus motherboard upsets me everytime I need to use it for a non dos use. 
Sigh..

-- 
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>