deviceside FC5025

[Mark Garlanger]

Hi Guys,

   I know we've talked about the FC5025 before, but the last I see in my mail was back in 2011. Has anyone worked on getting H17 hard-sectored disks read with it?

Mark

[Norberto Collado]

Reading through it can only read floppies and it cannot write them. For image archiving should be fine. Do you have one?

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[Mark Garlanger]

No, I keep thinking about getting one of these types of devices to simplify the archiving of the disks. There is this, the disk ferret, and kyroflux (maybe others).  At about $55 for the FC5025, if it would work for hard-sector, it may be worth getting it and saving the wear-n-tear on the H89 and it's floppy drive. It should also be easy to add support for soft-sectored disks. Something I hoped to do on the H89 itself, but never have time to work on it.

Mark

[Les Bird]

Hey Mark,

Dan sent me Jacks FC5025 a while back. It worked for a while then died. I can't get my PC or MAC to see the device at all. A few months back I ordered a new one and started playing around with it. It's very picky about what kind of drive you use. They suggest a Teac 55GFR but I didn't have one so I tried a couple Teac 55F's and it didn't seem to like them. I then hooked up a Chinon FZ-506 (1.2M drive) and that seems to work. I've only tried reading some PC disks to test the device and I'm now in the process of building an Xcode project for the source code. I'll post when I have something working. I'm bouncing between a couple of side projects right now so not sure when I'll have something ready to go.

- Les

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[Mark Garlanger]

I'll see if I have a TEAC 55GFR, I think I do. Is there a programming guide? I found the source code and can extract info from that, but if there is some guide, that would be useful.

Thanks,

   Mark

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[Dan Emrick]

Hi, Les,

Thanks for reminding me of what I did with Jack's FC5025.  I knew it had been here, but couldn't recall its disposition.  I never got to spend much time on it.

According to my "inventory" list, I have a TEAC 55GFR.  Let me find it and determine if it still works.  I think I modified it for 300 RPM and used it for a while on an H89.  I'm not sure of its current condition (or location).

Dan

[Les Bird]

Mark,

There is a programming text doc for it but I'm mainly using the source code as a guide. I'll zip up all the docs and post them later.

I don't need a GFR drive, the Chinon is working. If I need one I'll let you know.

- Les

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[Mark Garlanger]

Was the programming doc on their website? I looked all over it but could not find it.

Mark

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[Les Bird]

Mark,

No, it was supplied on a CDROM with the device... A bit ridiculous if you ask me. Anyways, download it here (go to bottom of page):

http://sebhc.lesbird.com/storage/storage.html

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[Les Bird]

So while working with the FC5025 and gathering data about Heathkit hard sector format I came across Dan's very informative website. Love how you are documenting all this info Dan, it's coming in very handy.

http://www.danemricksite.net/pages/abstract.html

- Les

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[Dan Emrick]

Thank you, Les,

Glad the info is useful.  As noted, it came from various sources with the bulk being more clearly described in Heath's source code listings.  It was fun digging it out and actually finding out what is really in a Heathkit hard-sectored floppy data pattern.  (I used to train new investigators to look for "what is" not what you want or expect to find.  Had to follow my own advice!)

I could claim that I was following the SEBHC philosophy of saving such things for posterity - which is largely true - but I really write these things so that (1) I can remember things that I discover and (2) other people can review them and help me improve.

Let me know if you have questions or if you see obvious errors.

Dan

[Mark Garlanger]

Well, I broke down and ordered one of the FC5025. Hopefully, it'll come quicker than the 'about 8 business days' they quote on the confirmation page.

Mark

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[Les Bird]

Cool, I think we can get this thing to work. I have a good Xcode setup to start with if you're interested.

- Les

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[Mark Garlanger]

Thanks, when you have a chance, go ahead and send it to me...

Mark

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[Les Bird]

Mark,

Did you ever get a chance to play with the FC5025? Did you get my source code to compile?

- Les

[Mark Garlanger]

Hi Les,

    I was able to play with it a bit. I had some NorthStar disks (when I got an H-19 and H-25 from someone, they throw in a Northstar computer, disks, and manuals), and was able to image some of those disks (although not the one I really wanted to get - Cranston Manor Adventure).

   On the compiling, haven't done much. The latest problem I was running into, was getting the libusb to compile. It seem to need an older version of libusb. I was able to get the latest version to compile, but was having problems with the older one. I don't remember exactly what the error was. I'll try to make some time tonight to look into it.

Mark

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